Butler police recognized with safety award
The Butler Bureau of Police received an award for the traffic safety initiatives it promoted throughout 2022.
Bureau of Police chief Robert O’Neill presented a plaque the department received from AAA to Butler City Council during a forum meeting Thursday. The plaque awarded the city with the 2022 Community Traffic Safety Gold Award.
The initiatives were all funded by various entities that go through the county, according to O’Neill, who also said Lt. Dave Villotti coordinated the initiatives to promote certain safety measures.
“We had about a two-week period where officers would go out and basically give warnings to people saying that you can’t,” O’Neill said. “We also had approximately six other different things. Aggressive driving, click-it or ticket.”
O’Neill said the bureau received a silver award some time before 2020, and Villotti is typically the officer who coordinates traffic safety efforts for the bureau.
In other business, Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy said he and other city officials met with the buyer of the Penn Theater, Bryan Frenchak, on Monday to discuss the future of the facility.
He said officials are discussing how the building can best be adapted to fit the needs of the city and especially the downtown area.
“It was really an interesting part of the discussion, how this will impact the entire downtown area moving forward,” Dandoy said. “Things like housing businesses, tax base and all that stuff.”
