MIDDLESEX TWP — State funds may be on the way to restore Glade Run Lake.

About 50 people on Monday night heard a hopeful message from state Sen. Randy Vulakovich regarding the restoration of the lake.

Vulakovich, R-40th, told the Glade Run Lake Conservancy board and those who at the board meeting at the township municipal building that restoration funding could come sooner than expected.

He said that Gov. Tom Corbett’s office could release funds for the lake.

He declined to give details to avoid derailing the potential plan, but he said Glade Run Lake has been moved up on the governor’s list of priorities.

“We are in a position now that I never thought we’d be in,” Vulakovich said. “Even I’m amazed.”

He said he would make an announcement as soon as the potential funding becomes available.

Glade Run Lake off Overbrook Road was drained in 2011 after the state Fish and Boat Commission determined that its dam was faulty and posed a potential hazard to buildings downstream.

Although the conservancy formed quickly and began raising money to fund the $4.3 million repair, the state funding necessary to restore the lake seemed years away because the lake is one of 14 statewide in need of repair.

Vulakovich credited the Fish and Boat Commission, the governor, and area legislators with the lake’s hopeful new status, but he said it is the conservancy’s tenacity that made the difference.

“You’ve done such a wonderful job, and you’ve got a great team, although Siggy is a pain in the neck,” Vulakovich said, referring to conservancy president Siggy Pehel’s relentless pressure on his office to have the lake restored.

Butler County commissioners William McCarrier and Jim Eckstein also attended the meeting.

McCarrier intimated that a donation could be coming from the county.

“We could have a significant amount of money for you,” McCarrier said.

Like Vulakovich, McCarrier did not divulge any details regarding the potential funding.