Butler City Council on Thursday voted to create a grants coordinator position and develop a draft job description.

Councilman Jeff Smith said much work is needed to develop the job description before anyone would be hired.

Council members have talked about creating the position for years, but formal action had not been taken, he said.

A salary for the position wasn't discussed Thursday, but Smith said the employee would pay for themselves with the grant obtained for the city, and some grants include reimbursement for administrative costs.

Councilman Bob Dandoy said the job description should be drafted and approved before the position is created.

Councilman Mike Walter suggested hiring an independent contractor to apply for grants instead of creating a new position in city government.

Smith said the job description could be expanded in the future to include other duties.

The motion, which passed in a unanimous vote, directs City Clerk Mindy Gall to develop the draft job description.

In unrelated business, council approved a 15-year lease costing $1 for 15 self-contained breathing apparatuses with the Butler Township Volunteer Fire District.

Fire Chief Chris Switala said the city used grant money to buy units for the fire department more than five years ago, and the volunteer fire district just bought new ones for its firefighters and bought enough through a quantity discount to lease some to the city.

He said the city department has 19 units for its 18 firefighters, but the incident commander and equipment operator don't fight fire and don't use the breathing units. He said 14 firefighters used breathing units at the last fire the department responded to, and 14 firefighters respond to most structure fires.

Council also renewed its mutual firefighting assistance agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Switala said the VA Butler Healthcare fire department responds to all structure fires in the city.

In other business, council approved the first reading of a zoning ordinance amendment that would add duplexes as a permitted use in the central business district in downtown.

Council also approved an employment agreement with Police Chief Bob O'Neill that includes his salary in the 2021 salary ordinance, which is $94,833.

The second and final reading of an ordinance amendment changing compensation for some elected officials was accepted. The amendment increases the pay for council members and the controller from $2,500 to $5,000, reduces the treasurer's pay from $18,000 to $5,000 and eliminates the option for all of the elected officials to receive health insurance through the city.

Council adopted a policy that lists places where benches and other street furniture can be placed on city property. People who buy memorial benches will be able to select the location for those benches from the list.

Council agreed to buy new municipal accounting software from Tyler Technologies for an up-front cost of $66,456 and $10,006 a year. Walter said the current software won't be supported after this year. It will take until November or December to fully install the new software.