Motorists make their way through high water at Route 19 and Beaver Street in Zelienople last May. The Butler County commissioners agreed to hire an engineering firm to evaluate flooding issues in nine municipalities in the county's southern tier and to come up with projects that could help mitigate flooding.

Southwestern Butler County residents have heard little but radio silence after the county and 10 municipalities approved a study suggesting fixes to stem the tide of flooding in May 2021.

Behind the scenes, however, the municipalities are planning their next steps.

Harmony on Tuesday became the first of the local governments to approve a $2,000 expenditure on a study examining how best to finance, begin and implement the stormwater fixes.

“We’re in the beginning stages of this, and every municipality should be asking for the same vote,” council President Greg Such said Wednesday.

The study will look at what "organization could best finance and deploy stormwater improvements, particularly those mentioned“ in the report adopted by the county and all 10 municipalities, Jackson Township manager Chris Rearick said.

Included in the group are Adams, Cranberry, Forward, Jackson, Lancaster and Penn townships, as well as Evans City, Harmony, Seven Fields and Zelienople boroughs.

Rearick said some examples of formally organized groups for the municipalities could be a joint purchasing agreement or a multi-municipal authority — in Pennsylvania, authorities can charge fees to residents to fund different projects, such as stormwater improvements — or something less organized but still promoting cooperation, such as inter-municipal agreements.

The proposed study would see what would be best for these specific municipalities, both for how to implement the improvements and how to best promote inter-governmental cooperation, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, Such said.

Southwestern county municipalities have met since at least the fall of 2019 to discuss the best ways to prevent flooding in that tier of Butler County.

In early 2020, these local governments began signing on to a study to be performed by engineering firm Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, looking at how to correct stormwater issues. Later that year, the governments identified specific trouble areas to examine.

The report, made available to the county and municipalities in early 2021, recommended both countywide changes, such as amending Butler County’s stormwater release rate ordinance, and more localized corrective actions, primarily in Harmony, Jackson Township and Zelienople.

In those three municipalities, the HRG report suggested improvements in the Glade Run watershed, plus the “Swampoodle” area in Harmony, the segment of the borough near Swampoodle Park south of Route 68.

Both the individual municipalities and the county adopted the HRG report, but no public progress on implementing the recommended changes had been made until Tuesday.