A Butler County judge ruled at a hearing Tuesday that the number of members serving on Evans City Borough Council can be reduced from seven to five.

“I think it’s a positive thing for Evans City,” said Lee Dyer, council president, who spoke in favor of the reduction at the hearing.

“I think it puts us in a position to being right-sized and managed, and I’m very hopeful that qualified candidates will present themselves to run for borough council and other volunteer organizations within our borough.”

The petition to reduce the number of council seats from seven to five was presented by three council members to President Judge Thomas Doerr.

Evans City consisted of 1,208 registered voters as of 2016. At least 5 percent, or 61, of the registered voters had to sign the petition for it to be presented in court. Ninety-six voters signed the petition.

Three councilmen — Dyer, Kim Armstrong and Paul Foster — all testified to their reasons for supporting the petition.

“It would reduce the cost of the council first of all, and second, it would allow us to do things more efficiently,” said Dyer, who is council president and was elected to the board in 2011.

Dyer also said council has fewer duties, as it is no longer responsible for the police department or the Evans City Water and Sewer Authority.

“We have less work to do,” he said.

Armstrong, board vice president who was elected in 2011, said the borough is struggling to find volunteers for its municipal positions.

Foster, an eight-year councilman, echoed her sentiment, and said this creates problems for competitive elections.

“To get four people to sign up (for an election) is difficult,” he said.

Evans City Borough needs 32 people to fill its municipal positions for mayor, borough council, zoning board, water and sewer authority, police department, planning commission, constable, tax collector and EDCO Park and Pool. The council also is responsible for working on several internal committees.

Doerr noted before coming to his decision that no one had objected to the change or contacted the court following advertisement of the hearing to find out if they could be present to object.

“It is troubling to the court that there aren’t more people getting involved in local government,” Doerr said to the councilmen. “I just want to say thank you for doing a good job.”

Attorney Sean Gallagher, who represents Evans City in this matter, said that typically the number of council positions on the ballot would be reduced by one per election.

However, one of the positions is a vacancy that is being filled for the late Linda Bicehouse, and the election would be to fill out the remainder of her term.

Gallagher said that because of this, the borough will try to work with the county Bureau of Elections to reduce the number of council positions on the ballot in the 2017 election from seven to five.

If a reduction to five does not happen in 2017, the ballot will be reduced to six council posts in 2017 and five in the 2019 election.