The Vandalia-Butler Chamber of Commerce and Butler Township will co-sponsor the Taste at the Crossroads on Tuesday, June 5 from 5 to 9 p.m.  The event will be held on Towne Center Drive and feature local restaurants in Vandalia and Butler Township with entainment on the big stage.

The chamber board has decided to move this event, normally held inside during April in Vandalia, to the outdoors in Butler Township.

Beer and wine will be available for purchase and tickets for the food will cost $15 for anyone 10 years and older.  Children 9 and under are admitted free with a paying adult.  Look for your $5.00 coupon in the May reach magazine.  All coupons can be used at the door.

Restaurants featured will be Creative Catering, A Fat Boys Pizzeria, La Doux’s, Frickers, Hickory River BBQ, Krogers’s Vandalia, McDonalds’s Restaurant, World Cafe, Wal-Mart, Kohler Catering, Max & Erma’s, Smashburger, Boston’s Bistro and Pub, Hooters, Ice Sculptures by Ramon, Skyline Chili, JD’s Frozen Custard, Duck Wagon, Old Hickory, and Victoria’s Italian Cuisine.

There will be six different beers available for tasting from Boston’s and eight different wines from the Liquor and Wine Warehouse located in Butler Township.  Tickets for alcohol will be sold separately from the entrance fee.  There will also be a beer brewing demonstration form some local beer entrepreneurs.

Please join us on June 5th from 5 to 9 p.m. and taste a selection of foods from Butler Township and Vandalia restaurants.  You will be glad you did!

Starting May 1, 2012 the Butler Township Fire Department and the Vandalia Fire Department will begin joint staffing at the Vandalia Fire Station 1 located at 8705 Peters Pike.  Butler Township will staff two firefighter/EMT’s at this location enabling both departments to provide improved service delivery to citizens in both communities.  The joint staffing project began in 2008 with conversations between the township and the city about how to best provide better services to each community, while reducing expense and increase service delivery. 

For both departments, it doubles the staffing on one fire engine to a nationally accepted norm as opposed to the crew of two, these collaborated forces will be able to provide a four person firefighting crew.  This allows fire crews to more rapidly deploy and immediately begin mitigating the emergency.    

 Butler Township will benefit by moving the crew from Station 89, closer to the majority of the township’s service demand.  73% of the departments call volume is south of National Road.  The township crew will be five to six minutes closer to the southeast portion of the township which accounts for a higher concentration of the service demand for fire and EMS services.  This staffing will also allow Butler Township to provide additional resources to those on need in the northern portion of the township.

Butler Township will soon combine administrative and police functions into one building at 3510 Sudachi Drive to save money on utilities and to share common spaces.  Butler Township trustees decided to award the contract to VanCon Inc. in March and construction should be completed by October.  The current government center and police station at 8524/8526 N. Dixie Drive will be sold and the meeting room will be moved to Fire Station 88 on Little York Road.

The township will also sell the property at the corner of N. Dixie and Reinwood and the site for Station 87 on Little York Road at Guilford.

If you’re planning a fix-up project around the house this spring or summer, don’t forget to check with Butler Township to find out if you need a zoning permit.  Generally, any construction that adds building space or covered area to a lot, or that requires structural change, requires a permit.

It’s best to make your zoning inquires BEFORE you begin your project.  Please contact the Butler Township Zoning Department at 898-6735 for more information.

Planning a garage sale?  Garage sales held over one or two days do not require a permit.  While not strictly allowed by zoning laws, garage and yard sale signs are forgiven for short term sales provided such sign are not attached to traffic control devices such as stop signs or speed limit signs and  removed immediately after the event.

To welcome the springtime with landscaping ease, Butler Township residents can utilize the township’s free brush disposal every Saturday, running April 14 through May 19 from 8 a.m. to noon.

Brush disposal is held at the Service Department, 3710 West Natioanl Road, for Butler Township residents only.  No commercial disposal will be permitted.

Butler Township asks you to remember the following brush drop-off requirements:

• This program is for brush only.  No construction material, old firewood, yard waste, landscaping or lawn service debris will be accepted.
• Don’t chop brush and limbs too small, this makes them more difficult to handle.
• Brush must be free of nails, wire, rootballs and other similar items.
• Valid ID showing current residence in Butler Township must be presented to participate in drop-off program.