The county commissioners approved two of six projects identified for loans from the county's new infrastructure bank.

The county's new infrastructure bank will lend $500,000 to Marion Township, as officials attempt to figure out a more economical way to solve a sewer problem they didn't ask for.

Mark Gordon, the county's director of planning and economic development, told county commissioners at their Wednesday meeting that Marion Township has applied for a low-interest loan through the infrastructure bank to improve the sewer processing system that serves 24 homes in the Boyers area.

The lagoon treatment system, Gordon explained, was privately owned for many years and the owner was financially unable to perform the upgrades required by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Ownership of the system was then transferred to the township by the DEP.

The township hired an engineering firm to assess the problem, and that firm recommended $4 million in repairs to bring the system up to DEP standards.

“What was not done in (the engineering firm's) analysis was a good evaluation of alternatives (to correct the deficiencies),” Gordon said. “There are alternatives.”

He said Marion supervisors applied to the infrastructure bank for $500,000 to pay for preliminary engineering and design of system upgrades, as they realize the current system is a public health and safety issue.

Gordon told the commissioners that approving the $500,000 would not commit the county to any funding for the sewer project, but would buy Marion Township time to consider options for sewer service.

Read the full story in the Butler Eagle.