Two candidates with experience in Butler government are planning to run for the city mayor's office.

Mayor Ben Smith said he is not running for reelection, but City Councilman Bob Dandoy and Fred Reese, chairman of the Butler Redevelopment Authority and a former councilman, said they are entering the election.

Reese, who was elected to a four-year term on council years ago and served a brief appointed term to replace former Councilman Corey Roche after he resigned in 2019, said he will run as a Republican.

The co-owner of the Monroe Hotel, Reese said he is still gathering signatures for his nomination petition.

Dandoy, who is in the middle of his four-year term on council, said he is running as a Democrat. He said he has the signatures needed for his petition and plans to submit it Friday. He is a retired teacher from the Karns City Area School District and a former instructor at Butler County Community College and Slippery Rock University. Dandoy is also a past president of Butler Downtown.

Smith said he is fulfilling a promise he made when he was elected in 2017 by not running for a second term.

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