Butler City Council agreed Tuesday to buy a new door with security features for the front door of the City Building at a cost of $5,240.

Council members unanimously voted to buy the door from North Star Communications of Pittsburgh, the city's phone service provider, which submitted the lowest of five bids. The door comes with a five-year warranty.

The building is closed for walk-in service due to the COVID-19 pandemic and appointments for services must be made.

Councilman Jeff Smith said people currently have to ring a doorbell to have someone let them inside, but there are security concerns with the system.

The new door will have a pad with buttons for the city clerk, code and zoning, and treasurer offices. People will have to press the button for the office they want to visit and someone in that office will be able to remotely unlock the door.

Employees will receive access badges they can use to enter the door, Smith said.

In unrelated business, council authorized solicitor Tom Breth to work with the Butler Area School District to review a property reassessment request filed by Hari Hotels, owner of the SpringHill Suites on East Jefferson Street, and other significant reassessment requests, and to attend reassessment hearings to object if it's in the city's best interest.

“For a major hotel that has been there for a couple years, it shouldn't be allowed,” Smith said.

The $8 million, 76-room hotel opened in April 2018.

Breth said Hari's appeal was filed recently and he hadn't seen it yet, so he didn't know the amount of an assessment reduction the hotel was seeking.

The hotel can file its property appraisal with its appeal or wait and submit it during the hearing, he said.

The city and school district will have to have the property appraised and commercial appraisals can cost $5,000, Breth said.

He said his staff is reviewing all reassessment requests involving property in the city, so council can decide which, if any, to appeal.

In addition, council is putting together a list of expenses related to COVID-19 and will apply to the state for reimbursement.

Councilman Mike Walter said the deadline to apply is Aug. 21.

He suggested applying for reimbursement for the purchase of personal protective equipment, glass barriers installed in city-owned buildings, the technology used to conduct council meetings online, COVID-19 rule signs installed at city parks, the new door for the city building, and the Code Red alert system the city recently purchased.

Smith suggested adding the overtime hours the street department works spent cleaning city buildings.

Also, council, acting as the board of health, declared a house at 110 S. Sixth Ave. detrimental to public health and ordered its demolition.