The Veterans Affairs folks are becoming more open and engaging about not answering our questions.

Questions and frustrations about the construction of the new VA health care center in Center Township dominated a town-hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3, on Monday night at the American Legion in Lyndora. Those in attendance included representatives from the VA offices in Washington, D.C., who fielded questions on the controversial bidding process for the new center.

Butler Township manager Ed Kirkwood asked why the VA selected a new site on North Duffy Road in Center Township after the Deshon Woods site in Butler Township had been deemed the best location a year earlier.

The Ohio-based developer Westar originally was set to build the new VA center on the Deshon Woods site, which is adjacent to the existing VA campus on New Castle Road. However, the bid eventually was vacated after the government found that Westar had ties to two men who had served prison terms for crimes unrelated to Westar or the Butler project.

When the project was put out to bid a second time, the VA selected Cambridge Healthcare Solutions to build the facility on a new site in Center Township, even after another developer proposed building it on the previously approved site.

The VA officials from Washington said mistakes were made that led to the issues surrounding Westar’s bid.

Jessica Kaplan, director of the VA’s Central Office of Real Property in Washington, said the bid process has been tightened following the canceled contract with Westar. But she didn’t specify what changes had been made.

David Cord, director of VA Butler Healthcare, said Kaplan will provide a summary of the new safeguards at a meeting on Jan. 7. We look forward to reviewing the summary.

Cord defended the VA’s handling of the situation with Westar. “Because of their hard work, we’re not stuck in a contractual relationship with a crook,” he said.

That may be true. But our view is that we came too close for comfort. The contract with Westar had been sealed before the VA rescinded it.

Also, because of the soured deal, Deshon Woods is ruined — a pristine wooded park reduced to mud and weeds.

The only new development, disclosed by Kirkwood, not the VA officials, is that the Deshon Woods site will go to a sheriff’s sale in February.

The county seized the property after a Westar subsidiary, VA Butler Partners Company LLC, defaulted on its mortgage with AmeriServ Trust, of Johnstown, according to court documents.

Let’s hope an investor buys up the site and develops it.

That would remove a topographical scar in Butler Township, a constant reminder of a VA project that went wrong, and for which many still wait for a reasonable explanation how it happened.