Butler County Treasurer Ruth Fechter has resigned from her position effective July 14, she announced to the Butler County Board of Commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting.

Fechter put in her resignation May 2. She requested and audit be done immediately following her resignation.

John GiffinEl Dorado City Editor

Butler County Treasurer Ruth Fechter has resigned from her position effective July 14, she announced to the Butler County Board of Commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting.

Fechter put in her resignation May 2. She requested and audit be done immediately following her resignation.

On April 27, Fechter stopped offering driver’s license services in the Treasurer’s Office due to a lack of resources. She informed the County Commission of the decision at the April 24 commission meeting.

Since then the option of moving driver’s license services to the County Clerk’s office has been explored. The Commissioners are adding a position to clerk’s office to handle the driver’s license services and are looking to fill the vacancy in the Treasurer’s Office that was the cause of Fechter announcing the elimination of offering the services.

The two positions will be funded by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The Butler County Republican Party will appoint an interim Treasurer on Fechter’s departure.

Fechter said her resignation is not tied to the recent issues.

Tony Wilhite of the Butler County Sheriff’s Department presented information about the purchase of new patrol vehicles.

Looking to make an order replace 12-15 new vehicles before May 17, the Sheriff’s Department received a price of $23,300 per patrol car. That includes the installation of equipment to be an operation law enforcement patrol car.

For 15 Dodge Charger all wheel drive police cruisers, the total price would be $349,313. Earlier this year the commission approved the purchase of two patrol cars, but those were for a car that had been wrecked and an additional car for patrol in Douglass and were not part of the rotation.

The cars the Sheriff’s Department is looking to replace range in mileage from 103,000 to 84,709 miles.

Whether to purchase the vehicles and how many will be decided at the May 15 Butler County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Commission Chair and District 5 Commissioner Dan Woydziak attended the Kansas County Commissioners Annual Conference in Wichita May 1 to 3. Woydziak informed the commission that other counties that have a community college are looking at alternative funding options to keep mil levies lower.

The Butler County Commission is awaiting a meeting with the Butler County Board of Trustees to discuss alternative funding options for the college.

Woydziak said as a commission they are not looking for the college to absorb the $10.1 million loss in tax revenue. Rather, he hopes the college can find other ways to make up the revenue.