Butler's Revitalization Committee, which was appointed by city council, is ready to move Main Street up to the next level by hiring a Main Street manager.

This is something that was done before, but many officials are optimistic that the ending will be better now than before.

In the 1980s, the city's Renaissance Commission hired Jim Lokhaiser as the Main Street manager under the federal government's Main Street Project, which helps cities with planning and financing of projects to enhance main commercial corridors.

Through this program, The Bus and the Butler Township-City Joint Municipal Transit Authority were established, tax abatement programs for new businesses moving into the city were set up and beautification projects, such as new sidewalks, were completed.

Lokhaiser's salary was paid for through a declining grant, meaning the commission received a portion of his salary, but that portion declined over several years until no grant money was coming in.

It was the responsibility of the commission to establish a self-sustaining method to pay for the manager, but that was not done later in the 1980s and the program folded.

That is something Lokhaiser said he hopes doesn't happen again, and is something Vince Tavolario is betting won't.

Tavolario, owner of Natili Restaurant and Lounge, 104 W. Wayne St., who is chairman of the revitalization committee, said Thursday the committee started out as a large group of city business owners, community leaders and influential residents who were asked to serve by city council and Mayor Leonard Pintell.

"But after a while, it almost fell apart. People don't have time to volunteer like we used to," Tavolario said.

Now the committee hopes to form a board of directors with about nine "serious" members with other interested community members, he said.

That board will be in charge of projects the manager would work on, Tavolario said.

As for being accepted by the newest version of the Main Street Project, with federal funding and oversight provided by the state Department of Community and Economic Development, Tavolario said the committee is working closely with the Community Development Corporation of Butler County.

Diane Sheets, CDC deputy director, said Friday the CDC's expertise with government programs and grants will give the committee an advantage that the commission did not have in the 1980s.

"Having the CDC involved gives the committee the chance to cultivate finances in a self-sustaining capacity, through grants and loans," she said.

"But there still must be a commitment made by the community for the program."

Tavolario said he believes support for the program dwindled in the 1980s because the commission tried to fund the manager's position and projects through a system of donations based on the size of the businesses.

"But people didn't think they should have to pay for the work we were doing, so it stopped," he said, adding the Downtown Butler Association is an offshoot of the commission that has survived.

However, he said the DBA may have run its course and now it is time for the committee to step up and push the downtown area forward.

"It's time for the next generation of the DBA that is not strictly retail and not strictly on Main Street," he said.

But details of the committee have to be ironed out.

Tavolario said he would know more in a few weeks about the committee's plans and the plans for the Main Street Program.

"We did a lot of good things in bad times back then (1980s)," he said. "It's time to do good things again."