BUTLER TWP — City and Butler Township officials will gather for a joint meeting tonight to discuss common interests.

The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the township municipal building, 290 S. Duffy Road.

“It’s a neighborly meeting to discuss like interests,” said Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson.

Items on the agenda include: public safety, the city’s K-9 police dogs, fireworks, contractor equipment, township development, the Centre City project, truck traffic on Main Street, VA Butler Healthcare and a proposed Dunkin’ Donuts downtown.

Township manager Ed Kirkwood said the meeting will be an informational session.

“It’s beneficial for everyone to know what’s going on,” he said.

The two municipalities met last fall to discuss common interests. Donaldson said another meeting was supposed to occur later last year but never did.

Donaldson said he intends to request some financial support from the township for joint interests, including the annual July 4 fireworks and the city’s K-9 police dogs.

“We may not have fireworks this year,” the mayor said. “Last year, we were short on money and had to put money we didn’t have toward it. We can’t afford to do that again this year without outside help.”

Donaldson said the city requested a donation from the township last year but it was declined.

Donaldson said he also will request financial assistance for the city’s two police dogs.

“The surrounding municipalities benefit from them,” he said. “It would be great if multiple municipalities donated to the K-9s.”

Donaldson said he doesn’t expect the two municipalities to discuss the countywide mutual aid agreement for fire protection. The city late last year expressed interest in neighboring municipalities reimbursing the city for calls its paid fire department responds to outside city limits.

The majority of those calls were to Butler Township.

Kirkwood said the township changed the call-out order to certain areas in the township, removing the city from the first response list.

“Some of the areas just didn’t make sense,” he said.

Kirkwood said the two municipalities still have a working mutual aid agreement and said the city is still on first response to areas near city limits.