The Lawrence County Commission

agreed Thursday to apply for a loan from the Ohio Water Pollution Control Fund to help pay for the design of improvements to the Union-Rome Sewer District.

Doug Cade, engineer with E.L. Robinson engineering, said the loan will be used only if the county does not receive grants to pay for the project.

"Truly this is our fallback, if we don't get other monies. This is our fallback, to say we can do the project," Cade told the commission. "This satisfies the EPA Š This is a program we've never tapped into before because we've always been able to get grants. But grants are drying up, number one, and number two, they're small in comparison to the cost of projects."

The $1.4 million loan is actually a line of credit, meaning the county may only take part of the money if it is necessary, and does not have to take or pay for the entire amount. The county should know by the end of October if they indeed get the line of credit from the water pollution control fund.

Cade said he should know in January if the Ohio Public Works Commission will approve a $300,000 grant and a $300,000 zero-interest loan and he said an application for $250,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission "looks promising."

The $14.3 million project will renovate and expand the capacity of the plant from one million gallons a day to two million gallons a day. The design work should be completed in February 2006. Actual construction should commence shortly thereafter.

The commissioners also agreed to send a letter to the Ohio Board of Regents, expressing their displeasure at the BOR's opposition to the creation of a community college at Collins Career Center. But there is some dissention on how the letter should be worded. Commissioner George Patterson said he wanted a sternly worded letter while Commissioner Jason Stephens said he preferred a letter than was direct but less stern.