Dandoy to take office
Bob Dandoy, who was elected to Butler City Council in 2019, will be sworn in as mayor Monday.
He said he wants to open communication to people with ideas, to bring change to the city that will improve quality of life for residents by the end of 2022. Bringing people to downtown Butler is one way, he said, he hopes to accomplish that.
“Whatever the city can do, I'll get my ducks in a row; I don't want something to not happen because the city didn't respond,” Dandoy said. “Get people to come down to downtown Butler so they go to shops, they go to restaurants and the momentum carries through the week. How do we do that? By having cool concerts in downtown Butler.”
As councilman, Dandoy was liaison for the city's Zoning Hearing Board, Code Management Appeals Board and the Butler Area Public Library. He was the director of public safety for the city and he is a past president of Butler Downtown.
The Democrat said his experience on council, as well as his involvement in these organizations, has informed him of some goals he has for his first year as mayor of Butler, and how to work with people in different departments to accomplish a shared goal.
“We won't be able to achieve anything in the city without partnerships,” Dandoy said. “That's how it'll be done, is by working with the organizations to move the ball forward. It's got to be through shared investment.”
In addition to Dandoy, Republican Donald Shearer and Democrat Larry Christy also will be sworn in at the meeting.
As mayor, Dandoy will head the Department of Public Affairs and Bureau of Police, and other councilmen will be assigned to the Department of Accounts and Finance, Department of Parks and Public Property, Department of Public Safety and Bureau of Fire, and the Department of Streets and Public Improvements.
Dandoy's election as mayor means the council will have to appoint a city resident to fill his now-vacant seat on council. Dandoy said the council will issue a call for submissions of interest, which will help the current regime find someone to finish out a two-year term.
Having been director of public safety, Dandoy was the councilman in charge of the Butler Bureau of Fire, and will now take over duties with the Bureau of Police.
He said he plans to work alongside the police in an accompanying fashion.
“It's not my style to micromanage,” he said. “I would never have presumed I would step in and tell these men how to do their job. I'll be able to check in with the departments.”
Additionally, Dandoy said he wants to focus on developing culture in the city, to increase quality of life for residents.
“I'm excited for growth of the arts and performance spaces,” he said. “When we raise the quality of life in the community, that's when people and small businesses want to invest. That increases revenues for the city and we need those to maintain police, parks, fire, infrastructure.”
Dandoy said he participated in a group trip to Erie earlier this year, where he and other people heard about how that city developed in recent years.
He said one takeaway from that trip was that he would like to be open to people with ideas, in the interest of improving the infrastructure of Butler. Dandoy said he thinks changes will be possible within the year through community collaboration.
“There are things I have been working on, as of late, to plant some seeds that will hopefully sprout and flourish for people to see development in downtown,” Dandoy said. “We have to have clean streets, nice streets; we have to have nice parks; we have to make sure the budget is balanced. Beyond that it's increasing that quality of life in any way we can.”
