Local automobile businesses are chipping in to fix Butler's police vehicles.

Butler Tires for Less has been doing repairs on the vehicles — at no cost to the city — for the past few weeks, while Advance Auto Parts, NAPA Auto Parts and Hovis Auto & Truck Supply donated parts for repairs.

“There are still some good people out there (who are) willing to help,” said Jim Sgro, a service manager at Butler Tires for Less. “We put our two cents in and we're very happy to do it.”

The police department drafted a letter to Butler City Council in August expressing a need for four police cruisers to replace ones that are in need of repair.

Council discussed the matter at an August meeting, and councilman Michael Walter said in August that replacement vehicles likely wouldn't be able to be purchased until 2018.

“We had read the article in the newspaper about some of the cruisers in dire need of repair, so (owner Dave McKivigan) at Butler Tires for Less and I discussed it at a meeting and contacted some auto parts stores locally,” Sgro said.

Initially, Butler Tires for Less was working on the four vehicles mentioned in the police department's letter to council.

However, Sgro said they have since expanded their repair efforts to the entire 11-vehicle fleet.

Mechanical work, such as fixing air conditioning and heater issues, replacing tie rod ends, and doing front-end alignments, has been done in the past two weeks.

Sgro estimated it will take four to six weeks to finish repairs, and that if there is anything Butler Tires for Less can't fix, he will make calls to auto repair shops that can make those repairs.

He also gave credit to McKivigan.

“He's the one who got this rolling,” Sgro said. He called me to the office about it. All I did was the leg work, and the fingers pushing the buttons to make the calls to put this all together.”

Councilman Michael Walter, who also is the director of accounts and finance, acknowledged that the repairs will save the city money, though he said it has not yet been determined how much.

“It shows the community working together to help everybody in the city, because we're all working together for the betterment of the city and public safety,” Walter said.

Police Chief Ron Brown was happy to see the repairs being done.

“It's great to see members in the community come together and help the city when they're in need,” he said.