Three projects aimed at improving local communities will inch closer to completion after county commissioners Wednesday approved seeking bids.

Harrisville, and Jefferson and Marion townships will receive funding through the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, program in 2022. The CDBG is a federal program aimed to “build stronger, more resilient communities.”

Butler County receives funds from the CDBG annually to direct toward projects that will support community development, such as infrastructure and economic development projects.

Harrisville’s share of the county grant funds will be aimed at a stormwater project, which Wendy Leslie, county CDBG coordinator, estimated would cost roughly $190,000. In Jefferson Township, the monies will fund the renovation of restrooms in the park at an estimated cost of $88,000.

Both Harrisville and Jefferson Township’s projects will likely begin this year, following the receipt of bids from contractors and the commissioners’ awarding of contracts, Leslie said.

The Marion project will involve the Boyers Water Reservoir. Leslie said the project will likely cost around $510,000.

Unlike the Harrisville and Jefferson projects, the Marion reservoir project will likely not go out to bid until either later this year or in 2023.

Butler County will not expend any of its own funds in allocating money for the three major projects, according to Leslie, as all funding comes via the block grants.