(E) The director shall adopt written criteria to ensure that fiscal controls are established for prudent administration of the drinking water assistance fund. For that purpose, the director and the authority shall enter into any necessary and appropriate agreements under which the authority may perform or provide any of the following:

1. (1) Fiscal controls and accounting procedures governing fund balances, receipts, and disbursements;
2. (2) Administration of loan accounts;
3. (3) Maintenance, management, and investment of moneys in the fund. Any agreement entered into under division (E) of this section shall provide for the payment of reasonable fees to the authority for any services it performs under the agreement and may provide for reasonable fees for the assistance of financial or accounting advisors. Payment of any of the fees to the authority may be made from the drinking water assistance administrative account established under division (G) of this section.

(G) There is hereby established within the drinking water assistance fund the drinking water assistance administrative account. No state matching moneys deposited into the fund under this section shall be used for the purpose of paying for or defraying the costs of administering this section. The director may establish and collect fees from applicants for assistance provided under this section. The total fees charged to an applicant under this division for assistance under this section shall not exceed the following:

1. (1) For the environmental protection agency, one per cent of the principal amount of the assistance awarded to the applicant;
2. (2) For the authority, thirty-five one-hundredths of one per cent of the principal amount of the assistance awarded to the applicant. All moneys from the fees shall be credited to the drinking water assistance administrative account in the fund. The moneys shall be used solely to defray the costs of administrating this section.

(I) All moneys from the fund credited to the water supply revolving loan account, all interest earned on moneys credited to the account, and all payments of principal and interest on loans made from the account shall be dedicated in perpetuity and used and reused solely for the following purposes, except as otherwise provided in this section:

1. (1) To make loans to community water systems and nonprofit noncommunity public water systems, subject to all of the following conditions:

   1. (a) The loans are made at or below market rates of interest, including, without limitation, interest-free loans;
   2. (b) Each recipient of a loan shall establish a dedicated source of security or revenue for repayment of the loan;
   3. (c) P eriodic payments of principal and interest s hall be required on the dates and in the amounts approved by the director;
   4. (d) All payments of principal and interest on the loans shall be credited to the water supply revolving loan account.
2. (2) To purchase or refinance at or below market rates interest debt obligations incurred after July 1, 1993, by municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and interstate agencies having territory in the state. If any debt obligations are purchased or refinanced under division (I)(2) of this section to provide financial assistance for any of the purposes allowed under division (I) of this section, the repayment period may extend u p to forty-five years. However, the repayment period shall not exceed the expected useful life of any facilities that are financed by the obligations.
3. (3) To guarantee or purchase insurance for debt obligations when the guarantee or insurance would improve the borrower's access to credit markets or would reduce the interest paid on those obligations;
4. (4) As a source of revenue or security for the payment of principal and interest on general obligation or revenue bonds or notes issued by this state if the proceeds of the sale of the bonds or notes are or will be deposited into the account;
5. (5) To provide subsidies in addition to any other financial assistance afforded disadvantaged communities under this section;
6. (6) To earn interest on moneys credited to the account;
7. (7) To provide any other assistance authorized by the Safe Drinking Water Act or any other federal law related to the use of federal funds administered under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

(J) The director may provide financial assistance from the water supply revolving loan account after determining all of the following:

1. (1) The applicant for financial assistance has the legal, institutional, managerial, and financial capability to construct, operate, and maintain its public water system and the proposed improvements to it;
2. (2) The applicant will implement a financial management plan that includes, without limitation, provisions for satisfactory repayment of the financial assistance;
3. (3) The public water system of which the project for which assistance is proposed is a part is economically and nonmonetarily cost-effective, based on an evaluation of feasible alternatives that meet the drinking water treatment needs of the planning area in which the proposed project is located;
4. (4) Based on a comprehensive environmental review approved by the director, there are no significant adverse environmental effects resulting from all necessary improvements to the public water system of which the project proposed for assistance is a part;
5. (5) Public participation has occurred during the process of planning the project in compliance with applicable requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act;
6. (6) The application meets the requirements of this section and rules adopted under division (M) of this section and is consistent with section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act and regulations adopted under it;
7. (7) If the applicant for assistance is a water district formed under Chapter 6119. of the Revised Code that operates a public water system and that water district seeks to extend the distribution facilities, increase the number of service connections to its system, or provide for any other expansion of its system, the water district has consulted with the board of county commissioners from each county in which is located the proposed extension of distribution facilities, increase in the number of service connections, or other expansion of the public water system;
8. (8) The application meets any other requirements that the director considers necessary or appropriate to protect public health and the environment and to ensure the financial integrity of the water supply revolving loan account. Upon approval by the director of an application for financial assistance, the Ohio water development authority shall disburse the appropriate financial assistance from the water supply revolving loan account. If the proposed financial assistance is a loan, and if the payments of the principal or interest on the loan are or are expected to be pledged to secure payment of bonds issued or expected to be issued by the authority, the director shall submit the application for the loan to the authority for review and approval with respect to any matters pertaining to security for and the marketability of authority bonds. Review and approval by the authority shall be required prior to the making of such a loan.

(N)

1. (1) For the purposes of this section, appealable actions of the director pursuant to section 3745.04 of the Revised Code are limited to the following:

   1. (a) Adoption of the drinking water assistance management plan prepared under division (K) of this section;
   2. (b) Approval of priority systems, priority lists, and written program administration policies;
   3. (c) Approval or disapproval under this section of applicants' project plans submitted under section 6109.07 of the Revised Code;
   4. (d) Approval or disapproval of an application for assistance.
2. (2) Notwithstanding section 119.06 of the Revised Code, the director may take the final actions described in divisions (N)(1)(a) to (d) of this section without holding an adjudication hearing in connection with the action and without first issuing a proposed action under section 3745.07 of the Revised Code.
3. (3) Each action described in divisions (N)(1)(a) to (d) of this section and each approval of a plan under section 6109.07 of the Revised Code is a separate and discrete action of the director. Appeals are limited to the issues concerning the specific action appealed. Any appeal shall not include issues determined under the scope of any prior action.