Local authors will be speaking and signing their books at the Adrian Community Library on Saturday, June 18 beginning at 10 am. Those sharing their books will be Don Arndt with his publication “Frontier Village”, Diane Rogers with her many local history books and Carolyn Schallert (aka Nicle Sorrell) with advice to new authors.
The Adrian Community Library is located at 116 E. Main street and the public is highly encouraged to attend.
-our thanks to Roma Welch
“We’re in the very early stages of discussion about this” said Kermit Kauffman, who addressed the Butler city council last week. “And it’s going to take a lot of cooperation and people coming together to get this done” as he outlined a rough plan to remove the existing Youth Building and replace it with something more modern and useful for the entire community.
During his remarks to the council, Kauffman referenced the Benson Center in Clinton, Mo located at 1008 E. Sedalia Ave which in terms of size, would possibly compare to the main section of the Adrian Optimist building and their vision would be a structure approximately that size that could include an aquatic center and indoor track; all while still being utilized for exhibits and other activities during the annual Bates County Fair.
He went on to say that there’s a lot of work ahead including the organization of committees to oversee every aspect of getting the project off the ground and more details can be expected possibly later this year.
In other council news, approval was given for the use of mitigation grant money to proceed with the purchase and installation of a backup generator to be located at the Butler city lake intake. The water plant already has a generator and having one at the intake will make the system completely self sustaining in the event of an extended power outage.
City Clerk Corey Snead reported that the city audit is complete and the results of the auditors findings will be revealed on July 19 at 6 pm with the regular council meeting to follow at 7 pm.
In recent times, the city of Butler has struggled to get a reasonable number of bids for various projects and repaving of streets is no exception. The city has about 300k set aside for this, but only one bid was received the last go around, leaving the council with concerns and questions. Ward 2 Councilman Mike Irick pointed out accepting the one bid, while it was very close to the budgeted amount, could raise public concerns and felt “it would be a disservice” to citizens of Butler to accept a single bid. The decision was made to table the discussion until a later date.
On a related note, repaving will begin at the Butler Municipal Airport this week. One bone of contention, KC Skydive, who owns the large hanger nearest the highway is desiring to permanently close the gates that allow south side access to the tarmac and taxiway so their aircraft can have a more direct access to the runway. This closure however, will restrict access for the trucks that fill ag planes who normally use that route and a meeting was held last week between Burns Custom Spraying, area farmers and the Airport commission. While a temporary solution was reached, the issue will be ongoing as access to the airport is of great significance to both parties- aerial application of fertilizer and chemicals covers some 80,000 acres in the immediate area while KC Skydive brings business to the Butler area as well. Concerns voiced by the commission and KC Skydive center around weight of the trucks on the tarmac among other things. A long term solution will be needed before ag planes get busy next year.
Also noted during the council meeting, young and old alike are enjoying the newly remodeled North park and the need to get porta pottys at the location is growing. City clerk Corey Snead says they have been ordered and should be on site sometime soon. Likewise, a dedication ceremony for the park is slated for sometime this Summer.
Remember, the Butler city council meets on the first and third Tuesdays 7 pm at the Butler city hall.
The event was orchestrated by the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) led by Butler Mayor Jim Henry who noted that many other local agencies had not yet had an opportunity to see and learn about the equipment and the training provided an excellent opportunity to learn more in case the need ever arises. The exercise was concluded with a question and answer session and it is likely that more such training is yet to come.
