ZELIENOPLE — Borough council started an application process for a portion of a multi-municipality grant through the Butler County Infrastructure Program at a meeting Monday.

The amount of the grant the borough will seek has yet to be determined.

Several of the listed applications Zelienople is working on include waterline replacement on Market Street, a geographic information system to help track stormwater projects and a storm sewer project for the fire department.

The Butler County Infrastructure Program has been working with nine municipalities affected by flooding in the region for more than a year. Borough Manager Don Pepe said this is the first time the county is coordinating stormwater management on a regional basis.

“It’s going to help the whole region,” Pepe said.

The grant money, which comes from the county’s share of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, will be distributed by the county for various stormwater project applications submitted by the municipalities.

“Each of the municipalities has put together a list of projects that they would like to submit to Butler County to have funding,” Pepe said. “Some of them are multi-municipality projects.”

Council President Mary Hess is excited about the grant program.

“Stormwater has been such a horrendous issue in southern Butler County,” she said. “This is unprecedented what they’ve done with all these municipalities.”

But starting the application process for the grant application was just the first step. The grant proposal still needs to be written.

“Applications need to be completed by August 31, so we need time to be able to pull them together,” Pepe said.