CENTER TWP — Township officials will meet with the Butler mayor to discuss the possibility of expanding the city’s police coverage to the township.

The township supervisors said Wednesday night that Mayor Tom Donaldson approached the township this week to pitch a regional police department.

“We’re just in the fact finding phase,” said Supervisor Ken Frenchak. “We don’t know what could happen down the road.”

Donaldson contacted four municipalities in October offering to rent police presence at anannual rate of $25,000 for 10 hours of weekly coverage.

Supervisor Chairman Ed Latuska said Donaldson mentioned that offer in his latest pitch, but added the mayor also expanded the scope of the proposal to a regional force.

Donaldson this morning said the new proposal is “completely different” from the past offer.

“This would be a totally different police department,” he said.

The township, which has about 8,000 residents, does not have its own police department, but rather depends solely on state police.

The supervisors appointed Frenchak and Supervisor Alan Smallwood to a committee to meet with the mayor to get more information on his ideas.

“We will then bring the information back and share it with our constituents,” Frenchak said. “The township as a whole will be involved in any decision.”

Donaldson said he thinks the idea could benefit both municipalities.

“There’s a lot of growth going on up there,” he said.