BRILLIANT — The Brilliant Water and Sewer District has lost an appeal of a state agency’s decision to pull a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant, which was an important piece of the funding package for the district’s new water treatment plant.

Mike Nichols, water district president, said the district was informed last week the appeal of the loss of the grant was denied.

Jefferson County Commissioner Thomas Graham said an environmental review of the project wasn’t completed by Martin Sohovich, the former director of the county regional planning commission, prior to work beginning on the new Brilliant water plant. As a result, the planning commission lost a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for Brilliant’s $3.6 million project.

Nichols and Graham said the appeal was a long shot.

Nichols said the district is confident the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will give the district a no-interest loan. But Nichols said the $500,000 loan will have to be repaid as opposed to the $500,000 in CDBG funding.

“We don’t know what we are going to do next,” Nichols said, adding the district will be asking the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association for assistance in finding other sources of funding.

Nichols said work is continuing on the project. He said nearly all of the transmission line from wells to the plant are in the ground, and also said groundwork is being done at the future site of the treatment plant.

The district provides water to about 589 residents, but its major customer is the county water and sewer district. Nichols said Brilliant supplies about 10 million gallons of water a month to the county, which feeds the south end of the county. He said the district’s customers pay an $11 surcharge per month, which will help pay for the new plant.

Graham said the area’s federal representatives will be asked to contact the federal Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the CDBG program, to see if the denial of the appeal can be overruled.

“The HUD requirements were not fulfilled by the former regional planning commission director,” said Graham. “It was a huge mistake. Rules are there for a purpose and (Sohovich) didn’t follow those rules.”

Sohovich is running as a nonparty candidate against Graham on the November ballot.

The commissioners sent a letter to the Ohio Development Services Agency asking that the denial of the grant be overturned. The agency runs the CDBG program in the state.

“It was a long shot, but we did it on behalf of the people of Brilliant,” said Graham. “It is sad for Brilliant to have to bear the brunt of the mistake by regional planning.”

Sohovich resigned in May after the state pulled the CDBG funding for the Brilliant project.

The planning commission advertised for a replacement and the executive committee interviewed two candidates before the full board offered the job to Betty Lou Tarr, who had been serving as regional planning interim director. Tarr, who is a deputy clerk in the commissioners’ office, has submitted her two-week notice to leave the commissioners’ office. Tarr had worked at regional planning for 21 years before moving to the commissioners’ office.