Beech Tree News Network

Signatures on three petitions for Local Option "Wet-Dry" elections that were submitted on July 25 have been verified by the Butler County County Clerk's office and an election date has been set for Tuesday, September 27, by Judge-Executive David Fields.  The petitions for the Butler County cities of Morgantown, Woodbury, and Rochester were submitted by Josh Hampton, spokesperson for Citizens for a Better Butler County, the group that conducted the petition drive last year that resulted in a countywide vote in January.  That effort came up short by a little over 300 votes.   

 According to Butler County Clerk Sherry Johnson, Morgantown needed 89 verified signatures and the petition had 122 verified; Woodbury needed 5 verified signatures and had 9; Rochester needed 12 verified signatures and 35 were verified.

The September 27 election in those three cities will involve portions, but not all, of several voting precincts as only the parts of those precincts fall inside the city limits of the three towns.    The city limit portions of both the East Morgantown and West Morgantown (Morgantown); part of the North Second precinct (Woodbury); and a portion of the South Third precinct (Rochester) will be eligible to vote in election.  

The question on the ballot will ask voters if they are in favor of the sale of alcoholic beverages in these communities.  If approved, package stores and restaurants meeting certain criteria will be allowed to sell alcohol.  No bars will be allowed.  

Voter registration for this election closes August 30.  Election school of poll workers will be September 20. 

According to Superintendent Scott Howard, school will not be closed due to the election.  There is only one of the voting precincts that uses a school (North Second votes at BCHS) and County Clerk Sherry Johnson is seeking state approval to move that precinct to an alternative site for this election.       

Click here for Morgantown Petition

Verified Morgantown Petition for Alcohol Sales.pdf

 Click here for Woodbury Petition

Verified Woodbury Petition for Alcohol Sales.pdf

 Click here for Rochester Petition

Verified Rochester Petition for Alcohol Sales.pdf

 Click here for the County Executive Order 

County Executive Order.pdf

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ORIGNAL STORY:  

Group submits local option petitions for Morgantown, Woodbury and Rochester

Three local option "wet-dry" petitions have been submitted to the Butler County Clerk's office representing the cities of Morgantown, Woodbury, and Rochester.  That's according to Josh Hampton, spokesperson for Citizens for a Better Butler County, the local citizens' group spearheading the movement.  The petitions were submitted on Monday, July 25.  A previous local option petition for Woodbury was submitted earlier in July but apparently before the change in state law was set to take effect on July 15.  The 2016 Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation earlier this year that made it possible for cities of any size to hold its own local option election separately from the county's status.  Changes were also put in place to allow cities adjacent to a federal or state waterway to hold its own local option vote.  

Based on the number of voters who cast ballots in the last General Election in the jurisdictions of Morgantown, Woodbury, and Rochester, a relatively small number of petition signers was needed from each city.  According to Hampton, 88 verified signatures were required for Morgantown and the petition contains 149 total signatures; 5 verified signatures were needed for Woodbury and the petition contains 10 total signatures; 12 verified signatures were needed for Rochester and the petition has 51 total signatures.  

As previously reported in Beech Tree News, Butler County Clerk Sherry Johnson will give the petitions to Butler County Judge-Executive David Fields for inspection.  Judge Fields will return it to the county clerk's office in order to verify signatures on the petitions.  State law still requires a special-called election.  The judge-executive  will set the date for the election.  Based on specific criteria regarding local option elections and if the petitions are verified, the election date would likely be set for a Tuesday in September or early October. 

Links to the actual petitions will be posted as soon as the petitions are verified by the Butler County Clerk's office (see above).