Butler City Council voted at a meeting Thursday, Feb. 22, to waive the application fee for the entry-level police and firefighters civil service tests through 2024.

According to Butler Bureau of Fire chief Chris Switala, the test costs $50, a fee normally paid by the applicant. Butler Bureau of Police chief Robert O’Neill said most testers don’t require a fee anymore.

“This is just waiving that fee to see if that helps increase the number of applicants,” Switala said. “There is a $50 fee that was due at the time when the application was submitted.”

Council also voted to prepare a 2023 Ford SUV for the Butler Bureau of Police department at a cost of $13,699. O’Neill said the company, Ibis Emergency Vehicles, already performed the work and the SUV is police department-ready.

Council also voted to terminate an elevator maintenance contract scheduled to automatically renew in July. Councilman Dan Herr said the contract with Schindler Elevator Corporation was for six years, and the company maintained the elevator in Butler City Hall and in the safety building.

Councilman Don Shearer said the city is looking to get rid of most of the auto renewal contracts it has currently.

“We’ve been trying to clean up these evergreen contracts,” Shearer said. “I personally don’t think they’re anything the city should be involved in; nothing should auto-renew at the city, it should be up for discussion.”

City clerk Mindy Gall said the city won’t have to put a contract out to bid because the expected cost is not high enough to require it.

Council also voted to fix a shelter in Butler Memorial Park. Herr said the shelter had been inundated with mold and moss and needed to be repaired, particularly, its roof. The city will pay Thrower Home improvement $5,750 to repair the roof, but there is not yet an estimated date for when the project will be completed.

“It’s a heavily wooded area, there is a lot of moss growing on the shingles and it’s starting to deteriorate,” Herr said.