Commissioner says November is too early for airport vote

One Leavenworth County resident has been circulating a petition to put the matter of an airport and business park to a vote before the completion of a site-selection study — but Leavenworth City Commissioner Lisa Weakley said there’s no need to rush.

During Tuesday’s commission meeting, Weakley mentioned an article that appeared in the Leavenworth Times on Jan. 19 regarding the petition started by rural resident Irene Tork to make the issue of a countywide airport and business park a ballot item.

Janet Klasinski, Leavenworth County Clerk, said if there are at least 618 qualified signatures on the petition as of the March 8 deadline, the Leavenworth County Commission will have two choices — either drop the charter resolution professing support for the airport and business park or call for a special election within 90 days.

In the Jan 19 article, Leavenworth County Commission Chairman J.C. Tellefson said that he would not support a special election for the question because of its $30,000 price tag, but would support adding it to the November General Election.

Even that, Weakley said, would be too soon. She said the site-selection study, the next step in the process, could not be completed in time even for the November election deadline.

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