The county has received grants for the Butler County Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s programs that address eviction prevention, acquisition of properties and rehabilitation of properties.

The Butler County commissioners at their Aug. 12 meeting approved the award letters for the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s $250,000 grant for the acquisition and rehabilitation program, and the agency’s $150,000 eviction prevention program grant.

The redevelopment authority is receiving $250,000 for its acquisition and rehabilitation program, which combats blight, expands affordable housing and revitalizes neighborhoods across the county.

The program acquires foreclosed, abandoned or deteriorated properties and either rehabilitates them into safe, affordable rental units or demolishes and redevelops them as new housing.

The housing authority is receiving $150,000 to support a targeted eviction-prevention initiative aimed at sustaining housing stability for low-income and hard-to-house individuals in the county.

This program will focus on residents who are at risk of eviction due to challenges maintaining their homes, such as issues not related to missed rental payments but rather the inability to manage essential upkeep.

In unrelated business, the commissioners voted to apply for a 2026/2027 election integrity grant of $720,371. The federal grants are administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

The county uses the grant funds to pay poll workers and for printing ballots and envelopes. Counties that accept the grants are required to begin counting ballots 7 a.m. on Election Day and continue until all are counted. The grant is used in primary and general elections, and was not used in the recent special election for the state House of Representatives 12th District, officials said.

The commissioners approved change orders that reduce the cost of the $2.7 million SEBCO Pool renovation project in Jefferson Township.

Based on a recommendation from the manufacturer, $86,950 for plaster removal and preparation for a liner was deducted from the project in one change order. Another change order added $9,952 for an adjustment to the pool plumbing lines. The change orders resulted in a net deduction of $76,997.

The county will try to recover all or some of a $17,500 change order the commissioners approved for construction of the coroner’s office morgue on Woody Drive in the Pullman Center Business Park.

The change order covers two weeks of pay for the foreman, project manager and project engineer that was needed because heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment was not delivered on time.

The commissioners also approved modifying $222,163 in leftover 2023 Community Development Block Grant funds from a Butler Township stormwater project for the West Sunbury stormwater project, and revising $33,000 from the 2024 CDBG funds for the county housing rehabilitation program to the West Sunbury project.

The county will advertise for bids once the state approves the CDBG changes.