County Commission hears from Rep. Williams

Rep. Kristey Williams visited the Butler County Board of Commissioners Tuesday and discussed funding options for Butler Community College.

Rep. Kristey Williams visited the Butler County Board of Commissioners Tuesday and discussed funding options for Butler Community College.

Williams said she would like to see the college’s mil levy reduced by five mils. She also said that 60 percent of Butler Community College employees live outside of Butler County, enrollment is dropping and expenses are going up.

In the state of Kansas there are 19 counties that have community colleges. Of those 19 counties, 55 of the 125 members of the House of Representative have those counties as part of their district. That is a challenge when trying to get more state funding for the college from the state, Williams told the commissioners.

Board Chair Dan Woydziak is contacting commissioners from the 19 other counties that have community colleges to go to talk to state legislators in Topeka.

Williams said a united front from the counties would give the current minority more push when it comes to community college funding at the state level.

The Board will hear the Resolution brought before the Commission on April 24 as an action item at Tuesday’s meeting.

That resolution is what has sparked conversations between Butler County and Butler Community College. The two entities met on May 23 at the El Dorado Civic Center.

Janet Brown, a homeowner in the Prospect neighborhood east of El Dorado near El Dorado Correctional Facility spoke to the commission about concerns of a “bikini bar” going in at the old Retreat location on U.S. Highway about three miles east of El Dorado.

Brown said there has been a neighborhood watch citizen coalition formed in the area to help fight drugs and thefts. She said adding a bar would only attract the element they are working hard to keep out.

She offered facts from the last time a similar style bar was there, two deaths occurred in a little over six month. The first death she pointed out was Emily Sander, the Butler Community College student that was murdered in the El Dorado Motel on Nov. 23, 2007.

A 32-year old male bouncer of the establishment died, Brown said.

Since April 2, 92 times the Butler County Sheriff’s Department has visited the Prospect neighborhood and a drug house has been busted.

Brown suggested the county make the establishment sell 30 percent food in order to get a liquor license. The commission informed Brown that all liquor licensing is handled by the state and that the county has no authority over that.

Butler County Administrator Will Johnson said the last bar in that location was shut down by the Butler County Adult Entertainment Code.

In action items the commission:

-granted special event cereal malt beverage permits for a barn sale at Mercedes Camac in Douglass.

-approved a service agreement for $12,700 with the Symphony in the Flinthills for emergency services support.

-approved a temporary asphalt batch plant at the corner of U.S. Highway 196 and NW 30th for work being done in 196 by APAC-Kansas, Inc.

-had an intersection study for SW Butler Road and SW 150th Street.

-had a work session to discuss long and short term commission goals.