Beech Tree News Network

A local option ("wet-dry") petition submitted for the city of Woodbury has been rejected due to its date of submission.  The decision was reached last week after Butler County Judge-Executive David Fields received the petition from Butler County Clerk Sherry Johnson, whose office had received the petition from Citizens for a Better Butler County for the city of Woodbury.  Fields sent the petition to Butler County Attorney Richard Deye, who reviewed the petition.  According to Mr. Deye, the changes in Kentucky statutes permitting a city of less that 3,000 residents did not go into effect until July 15.  Those changes were made by the 2016 Kentucky General Assembly.  The Woodbury petition was submitted to the Butler County Clerk's office on Friday, July 8.  

"I have made a review of the petition in light of the applicable law.  I have primarily been looking at KRS 242.125," said Deye, in his letter to Judge Fields.  "The statute restricts applications filed for local option elections on behalf of cities filed prior to July 15, 2016, to cities having a population of at least 3,000 people."  

Deye continued, "For these reasons, I believe the petition fails to satisfy the requirements of the applicable law and therefore must be rejected."

Mr. Deye, in his letter, did comment on the new laws going into effect.  

"I would point out that the legislature has made a change in KRS 242.125 and that the change would be effective as of July 15, 2016.  The essence of the change is that the legislature removed the requirement that a city must have a population of at least 3,000 people to submit a petition for a local option election," said Deye.  "I have spoken with one of the principals involved in submitting the original petition and explained the circumstances.  It is my understanding that a new petition will be circulated and submitted shortly."  

Josh Hampton, spokesperson with Citizens for a Better Butler County who submitted the petition, said he has spoken with Mr. Deye about the matter and understood the reasons for the rejection of the petition.  However, Mr. Hampton feels like his group could have prevailed on the validity of the petition if they had chosen to go that route.  

"If we had wanted to pursue it legally, I believe we could have had the rejection overturned," stated Hampton.  "But, the easier option for all parties involved and the faster option would be to go back to Woodbury and re-collect the necessary signatures - which we've done."  

Hampton said Citizens for a Better Butler County is also circulating local option petitions in Rochester and Morgantown, as well as Woodbury.

"We expect to submit all three petitions at one time in the near future," added Hampton.  

Local option petitions are initially submitted to the county clerk's office, who then forwards to the judge-executive.  The judge-executive reviews the petition and returns it to the clerk's office to verify signatures.  After the verification process is complete, the petition is then returned to the judge-executive's office, who then sets a date for a special election.