FRANKLIN TWP — Butler County’s quest to ensure a stable infrastructure with projects ranging from broadband internet to transportation was detailed Thursday, March 7, at a State of the County breakfast.

These elements are fundamental to a thriving business community and spawn quality of life benefits such as higher paying jobs, available housing, growing education systems and recreational areas, according to Mark Gordon, chief of economic development and planning for Butler County.

Butler County Commissioners Leslie Osche, Kevin Boozel and Kim Geyer, along with Gordon discussed these topics among others in front of over 300 business representatives and public officials at the Butler County Chamber of Commerce’s event at the Atrium.

Broadband internet access has been an issue for Butler County residents, particularly in the northern parts of the county. Through a collaborative effort with Armstrong, the commissioners have been working to determine where it is needed most.

“One of the critical pieces is making sure our young people and students have access to broadband,” Osche said. “By looking at the project by school district, it was important to know where to start.”

Particularly, she said the county is looking to prioritize projects bringing broadband to Slippery Rock and Moniteau school districts.

Osche said the county has taken a “wait and see” approach for anticipated federal funding and seeking partnerships to ensure any fiber lines installed would be effective.

A major transportation project, the improvements to the Route 228 corridor, was highlighted. The $26.5 million project, which improves the connection of Route 8 to Cranberry Township, is anticipated to be complete by early 2025.

Osche said the commissioners had just returned from Washington, D.C., where they discussed federal funding for the Route 228 to Franklin Road segment. Further funding still needs to be secured for the last three miles of the project.

The commissioners said they have joined the fight to keep the Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works operating and producing grain-oriented electrical steel.

According to a proposal by the U.S. Department of Energy, new energy standards could be released in May favoring the use of amorphous metal steel cores in electric transformers, instead of grain-oriented electrical steel. If adopted, the rule would go into effect in 2027 and could result in the closure of the Butler County plant, costing upward of 1,000 jobs.

Osche said the Cleveland-Cliffs plant in Butler provides the highest amount of payroll taxes of all the employers in the county, maybe even the region.

Manufacturing has been prevalent in Butler County for a long time, and grain-oriented steel is just one of the products and innovations made by local manufacturers.

“Our manufacturers are improving auto safety and are assisting in the commercialization of space with parts for NASA and SpaceX,” Osche said. “We are producing grain-oriented electrical steel for transformers that provide energy. That just touches the surface.

“If manufacturing is strong, all of the rest of the businesses are strong.”

Gordon announced during the panel discussion that five businesses have expressed interest in coming to the AK Steel Plant 2 site. He said demolition has been completed and brownfield remediation is underway.

“I cannot talk about who the five businesses are, but there are letters of intent from five businesses,” Gordon said. “The net result of that would be about 250 to 300 employees.”

He indicated the jobs would be in manufacturing.

In previous Butler Eagle reports, Joe Saeler, Community Development Corporation of Butler County executive director, said about $40 million will be invested in the redevelopment of the former Plant 2 industrial site where the old Bantam building was in Butler City over the next five years, with about 85% of the funds coming from private investors.

Gordon also highlighted how the Butler County Commissioners and officials from surrounding townships and counties helped break ground in November 2022 at the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Business Park for sewer system repairs.

Gordon was able to provide an update on where the estimated $5.5 million project.

“We anticipate having water and sewage taken care of by the end of 2024,” Gordon said.

Boozel addressed the needs seen by county emergency medical services, such as staff shortages, low income and low reimbursements.

The commissioners have been working with Independence Health System and Butler Ambulance Service to address the staffing issues in the northern portion of the county.

“In Slippery Rock, they contract paramedics to come up to them so they have enough,” Boozel said. “We know there is a way to work together. These are not long-term fixes, so we do need to go back and look more.”

He noted the county is working to reduce the shortage of emergency medical technicians by supporting an accelerated course at Butler County Community College to train paramedics and quickly introduce them into service.

Osche noted the importance of Independence Health System to the community as it offers a “diversity of jobs.” After nearly a year and a half of financial strain, reports indicate the recently merged Butler Health System is showing signs of stabilizing losses.

She said there are ways the county can support the local health system.

“The department for mental health needed some upgrades and we were able to bring some funds to the table for those basic human services,” Osche said.

She also recommend the Butler YMCA and Butler Memorial Hospital get together to talk about child care.

Education was also on the minds of the commissioners. Geyer said that in January, Gov. Josh Shapiro presented his plan to unite the state’s university system and community colleges.

Geyer expressed concerns with this proposal, including the possible loss of local control.

“Would this system come under once chancellor?” Geyer asked. “Would our institutions lose our autonomy? What would be the impact on our taxpayers and students?”

The commissioners touted the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport, saying it is the fifth busiest in the state. A runway expansion, which would have cost $25 million, has been discussed for years, according to Geyer, but was finally determined to be too expensive.

Geyer said, though, time has shown the airport has thrived without the expansion.

“The runway is not short by any means,” Geyer said. “The newer aircraft coming in have newer technology and are no longer requiring longer runways. So we may have saved ourselves some money.”

The county’s airport has expanded in other ways, including renovations to the administration building and outdoor seating at the Serventi’s On The Runway restaurant.

Boozel noted the Can-Am Police-Fire Games were coming to Butler County. The multisport Olympic-style event gives competitors from fire rescue, law enforcement, and emergency medical services — among others — the opportunity to participate in competitions that include skills used in first responders’ day-to-day work.

The games will be coming to Butler County from July 15 through 21.

“They are taking over every event center in the county for the games,” Boozel said. “First responders will compete in everything from clay shooting, fishing and so many others. We want to draw people in and see the quality of life, and there is economic value to that.”