In a split vote Thursday, Butler City Council approved the sale of the tier parking garage and the parking lot adjacent to the City Building for $3.75 million.

They also approved negotiations for parking enforcement services for the garage and lot.

Council members voted 3-2 in favor of the deal with Transportation Services Consultants, the only company to submit a bid. Councilmen Mike Walter and Bob Dandoy voted against the motion.

The motion authorizes solicitor Tom Breth to negotiate a contract with the company to provide parking enforcement at both sites.

The sale won't become final until council approves the final sale documents and the enforcement contract.

The city solicited bids with several alternatives, Breth said. The base bids was for the tier garage. Alternate 1 added the lot next to the City Building to the sale. Alternate 2 was for all of the city's parking assets. Alternate 3 was for parking enforcement.

He said the tier garage has about 420 parking spaces, but the company wanted 500 spaces.

Walter said the lot has about 66 spaces.

Councilman Kenny Bonus said the garage needs a lot of repairs and is a liability to the city.

Dandoy and Walter said they want to sell the garage, but not the lot.

In addition, Walter said the company could raise the parking fees for both sites.

Mayor Ben Smith said the company will set those parking fees.

The motion came after council voted 3-2 against a proposal from Butts Ticket to install 17 parking kiosks at various locations for $104,975.

Bonus, Ben Smith and Councilman Jeff Smith voted against the motion

Bonus recommended tabling the motion on the kiosks because the motion to sell the garage and lot could include kiosks, and because of the cost. But he said he supports replacing existing parking meters with kiosks.

Dandoy and Ben Smith also said they wanted to table the motion to buy the kiosks.

In unrelated business, council voted to retain Huntington Capital Markets as the underwriter to refinance in bonds issued in 2015.

About $6.2 million is left in the bond issue. Refinancing the bonds at a lower interest rate would save the city about $50,000 a year through 2040, or a total of $991,897 based on interest rates from Wednesday.

In other business, council accepted Ken Henry's resignation as a city representative on the Butler Area Sewer Authority board of directors and accepted Dr. Henry Sinopoli's resignation from the Civil Service Commission. Council voted to replace Henry on the authority boar with Lance Calvert.

Council members expressed condolences to the family of 2-year-old Tristan Oesterling, who died in a fire in his family's home on Knox Avenue on Dec. 31. They commended city fire fighters, police and other emergency responders for their efforts in fighting the fire, which injured the boy's father and Tristan's 1-year-old brother, Jax. They also applauded people who donated money to help the family.