The county commissioners on Wednesday, Feb. 5, awarded $4.8 million in contracts to replace the water and sewer systems at the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Business Park in Allegheny Township, and left a $952,000 shortfall in project funding in the hands of the park owner.

Wednesday’s meeting was reconvened from last week, when the commissioners tabled action on the bids in hopes of working out an agreement with the park owner and owners of businesses in the park to fill the funding gap.

Soil sampling is expected to begin soon and construction will begin in about a month. The work will take 6 to 9 months to complete followed by six months of mandated testing.

The bids were $1.2 million over budget and the commissioners ordered a review of some of the bids to find ways to lower the costs

In addition to awarding the contracts, the commissioners said they will vote at the Feb. 12 meeting on a motion to pay $4,000 the county’s engineering firm HRG to manage construction.

The county has committed $4.7 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds and grants from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the state to the project, but it remains underfunded. A $931,000 state H2O grant, which is part of the project funding, expires in June.

The commissioners and Joe Saeler, Butler County Community Development Corporation executive director, met with park land and business owners since last Wednesday’s commissioners meeting about the funding shortfall, said Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman.

Some of the owners were willing to assist with payments based on water usage, but some of the owners of larger businesses in the park “may not be willing,” she said.

Osche seemed dismayed that an agreement with the owners couldn’t be reached, saying the park was in a state Keystone Opportunity Zone for 20 years when it opened. Property owners in KOZ’s pay no real estate taxes while the designation is in place.

The lack of an agreement leaves the $952,000 shortfall in the hands of the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Development Corporation, which owns the park, Osche said. The eight businesses in the park own the property where their buildings are.

“The stars are aligned for them to have a successful project with funding available to get the project done. The ball is now in their court to get it across the finish line,” Saeler said.

However, ownership of the park and the systems will transfer to the newly formed Allegheny-Clarion Valley Authority after the project is completed and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection lifts the consent order that mandates upgrades to systems, Osche said.

She said work was previously done to have the DEP lift its order to not consume water at the park and extend emergency permits for the existing water and sewer facilities for years.

If the commissioners hadn’t stepped in to help, businesses in the park might have eventually not been allowed to use the water and sewer systems, and would have been forced to close or relocate, Osche said.

Park management didn’t charge the businesses enough money for water and sewer service over the years to have any money to add to the replacement project, Osche said.

The commissioners awarded contracts for the water system to Book and Proch Well Drilling of New Castle. The contracts are $3.3 million for general construction, $284,890 for electrical work, $75,250 for plumbing and $37,240 for heating and air conditioning.

The contracts for the sewer system were awarded to Konzel Construction of Erie and Hey Electric of Butler. Konzel received a $1.06 million contract for plumbing and Hey received a $44,000 contract for electrical work.