For the Butler County Development Corporation, it's an uncomfortable situation that one of its own — a member of the board — is seriously delinquent on a $50,000 loan that was acquired from the nonprofit entity in 2004.

But uncomfortable or not, it was unacceptable for the development board not to quickly address a pattern of late payments that began in the year the loan was acquired, and which has continued to the present.

As of Dec. 31, $34,639 was owed on the seven-year loan with a 2.8 percent interest rate. Of that amount, $14,435 was delinquent as of the end of last year, not including additional interest accrued on the delinquent amount.

The recipient of the loan in question is former County Commissioner Scott Lowe, who served in his county position from 2002 through the end of 2007, and who remains a member of the development corporation board as well as the board of the related Butler County Industrial Development Authority. Both entities have the same board members.

The industrial development agency makes loans of $1 million or more; the development corporation makes loans of less than $1 million.

Lowe, who borrowed the money to buy video conferencing equipment for a business he plans to start later this year, has said he plans to resume loan payments in October. But county residents who have borrowed money to buy a house or car, or make use of credit cards as part of everyday life, can attest to the fact that their creditors don't give them the option of deciding when to make their payments.

Most people missing just one payment face serious ramifications from the bank or credit card company that is owed the money — that is to say, late fees, much-higher interest rates and a bad entry in the records of credit reporting agencies.

According to an article in Sunday's Butler Eagle, in Lowe's case, the development corporation, by way of solicitor Leo Stepanian II, was content just to send Lowe a total of six letters between Jan. 5, 2005, and Jan. 4, 2008, reminding him that he was not current on his payments.

The last letter reminded Lowe that he was 15 months behind — a situation that would not have been handled so nonchalantly by a bank or credit card company.

For the development corporation, the Lowe situation is a blot on its management record. And, not only is the Lowe situation eye-opening, but so is a $25,000 loan at 3 percent interest made to the Redevelopment Authority of Butler County in 2006.

The loan to the redevelopment agency was for a feasibility study on a proposed sports exhibition complex at Alameda Park.

In a decision that smacked of poor administration of funds, the development corporation tied loan repayment to the project receiving private or public financing — allowing the possibility of the loan never being repaid if the project never came about.

And, anyone trying to visit the sports complex at the park today isn't going to find it, because it never was built.

It can be asked, what was the development corporation thinking? It's unlikely that any member of the corporation board would have agreed to such repayment uncertainty — even to a responsible community agency such as the redevelopment authority — if the money was coming out of their own pockets.

Regarding Lowe, only the development corporation can decide how it will deal with his delinquency, if it continues. By now most creditors would have repossessed equipment or whatever else was purchased with their money.

Meanwhile, it's long past due for the corporation to install provisions in its loans to discourage future lenient situations such as Lowe's.

The county created the development corporation in the early 1990s — about 25 years after the formation of the industrial development authority in 1967 — because of a need to help smaller businesses.

The intent behind the corporation's formation was solid, but the county obviously failed to monitor the group closely enough to ensure that appropriate loan safeguards were installed.

During his county service, Lowe worked hard on the county's behalf, and it's unfortunate that he now finds himself as a delinquent debtor to a county agency. But regardless of his past good works, he must address his responsibility to the development corporation, while he makes decisions as a member of that board.

His situation is uncomfortable but it isn't going to go away. Likewise, the corporation's mishandling of the Lowe delinquency can't be put aside and forgotten either.

All entities that loan money must know how to ensure that all responsibilities connected to their loans are met. The county development corporation has failed to demonstrate that level of loan-management expertise.