Jeff Smith, a longtime local politician, has started a write-in campaign in the race for a Butler City Council seat. Smith announced the campaign Monday evening.

Longtime local politician Jeff Smith entered the race for Butler City Council in the final hours leading up to today's primary elections.

Smith, 62, of Butler announced Monday evening that he will be a write-in candidate in the Republican primary.

As to why he didn't throw his hat into the ring until now, Smith explained that he initially thought there were going to be more candidates on the Republican ticket.

“It was my understanding that a number of people were running in the primary, and I was good with that,” he said. “But then when I saw that there was only one person on the ballot, and as I listened to all of the candidates talk, I don't feel there's enough focus on the neighborhoods.”

Smith said that while reviving Butler's downtown is important, it is essential to strengthen the city's neighborhoods.

“You've got to save the neighborhoods if you're going to save the city,” he said.

Smith wants to promote more home ownership as opposed to out-of-town rental property managers buying properties in the city. His focus will be on zoning and ensuring code enforcement is done properly, so it is more expensive for property managers to buy housing and turn them into “multi-family dwellings.”

“(We need to) stop the out of town slumlords who buy the property and carve it up, and it just makes that whole block deteriorate,” he said.

Smith is running alongside fellow Republican candidate Jim Kemple. There can be up to two Republican candidates on the November ballot.

If Smith gets 100 write-in votes in the primary — the same number of signatures needed to be on the primary ballot — he will be on the general election ballot in November.

“If I'm fortunate enough to get 100 write-ins, I'll have from now to November to get my message out,” he said.

Smith served as the Executive Director of the Butler County Council of Governments from 2007 to 2016. He also was the city treasurer from 2012 to 2016 and formerly served as chairman of the Butler County Republican Committee.

He moved to Butler in 2007. Prior to that, he served as president of the Harmony Borough Council.