In recent months on this page, the Eagle has praised the city’s efforts to demolish blighted properties and examined how there needs to be a balance between communities enforcing their nuisance laws and residents being responsible homeowners.

This week, Butler Police Chief Robert S. O’Neill gave City Council an update on another initiative that affects residents’ quality of life.

The city’s police department has identified 46 properties in the city that are deemed problematic — primarily locations visited by police for drug violations — and a total of 57 letters have been sent to property owners.

Councilman Jeff Smith said the initiative is the result of an amendment to the city’s disorderly house ordinance last year that tracks homes with repeated drugs violations.

So far, some landlords have cooperated with the initiative and have evicted tenants who are causing problems.

This is good news.

Butler County’s numbers relating to fatal drug overdoses have been up and down the past few years.

In 2017, drug-related deaths peaked in the county at 92 incidents, but that number was chopped in half the following year.

However, as of September, there already have been 36 overdoses that resulted in death in Butler County — which means this year’s overall number is almost certain to surpass last year’s decreased rate.

This makes the city’s efforts to step up its enforcement of the disorderly house ordinance all the more important.

If the city is able to shut down a property where there is consistent drug activity or convince landlords to kick out residents who are disobeying the law, this could prevent there from being centralized locations where residents know they can buy or use drugs.

While it’s great the city is cracking down on properties where residents are dealing drugs, we hope the city will incorporate a treatment component for sites where people are using drugs.

In an editorial last month on nuisance laws in county municipalities, we wrote that there should be a fine balance of residents striving to be good neighbors and tending to the upkeep of their properties, and townships being reasonable in enforcing ordinances and publicizing such laws.

But in the case of Butler’s disorderly house initiative, we’re fully in support.

“I think it’s time to ramp it up a bit,” Smith said of the initiative.

Agreed.