Kathy Kline

Butler City Councilwoman Kathy Kline said she wants council to adopt some new initiatives, and one she has been pursuing for a couple years, if she is re-elected in the upcoming election.

Kline, a Democrat who is council’s director of public safety, is running for her fourth consecutive term.

One of the new initiatives is an ordinance mandating annual fire inspections of commercial properties.

Council adopted a fire code in 2013 but didn’t make inspections mandatory or create an inspection fee schedule, Kline said.

Currently, she said, the fire department’s six trained Uniform Construction Code inspectors conduct inspections when property owners request them. At least one inspector is on duty during each shift the firefighters work.

“We always have an inspector available. We used to have only one inspector, but now we have six so we can be proactive. This is about public safety,” Kline said.

She said the firefighters work with code enforcement officers to conduct inspections for occupancy permits and those are currently the only required inspections for commercial property.

Inspection fees would range from $30 to $300 based on the square footage of the building, she said, adding that the ordinance she is proposing is based on Butler Township’s ordinance.

Kline brought up the ordinance at the October council meeting and said she hoped the first reading would be approved. The proposal was discussed, but it was not acted upon.

The same fate befell a residential rental property inspection ordinance written in 2015 but never adopted. Kline said she hoped the first reading would have been approved.

“I’ve worked on it for years. I brought it to council several times. I think it’s needed. We’ve had this ordinance for one and half years,” she said.

Inspections would be conducted every three or four years and fees would be charged only if the inspectors from the fire department have to return for follow-up inspections, she said.

“I don’t want to penalize them. If they pass the first time, I don’t want to charge them,” Kline said.

Firefighters would conduct building code and fire inspections and the city would have to hire a contractor to inspect wiring and plumbing, she said. If the ordinance is adopted, Kline said the city would tell landlords what will be inspected to give them a chance to make repairs in advance.

She also brought up a resolution establishing a neighborhood drug watch at the last council meeting, but no action was taken. The drug watch program involves residents obtaining window signs meant to let drug dealers know they are being watched, she said. Ideally, the program would be integrated with the existing Neighborhood Crime Watch program, Kline said. In addition, she said she would like to hold monthly forums on the drug abuse problem in the city and officials from U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and FBI are willing to speak at those meetings.

Kline, 63, works as the extension services director for the Butler County Federated Library System and she covers the North Trails Public Library and Chicora Community Library.

Before she started working for the library system in 1997, she owned Kline’s Paperback Book Exchange in downtown.

Kline is divorced and has a grown, married daughter, Tara Hamilton, who lives in Center Township.

She said she has a lot of experience that she can use to help the city.

“I have plenty of experience working in communities. I’m definitely a team player and work well with others, and I respect other folks. I would absolutely continue to work hard for the community. The heart of our community is the people,” she said.