So far, everyone in Neosho Rapids wants the city to sell its natural gas business to Black Hills Energy for $64,664.
Lyon County Clerk Tammy Vopat said Tuesday evening that all of the 101 votes cast and counted after the election were in favor of the sale.
A total of 107 voters took part in the election, with 101 of them voting a touch-screen ballot. Six provisional ballots, including one advance-vote ballot, are pending and will not be included in the totals until the official canvass on Friday.
Vopat was amazed at the overwhelming turnout, with 107 of the 158 officially registered voters taking part.
“That says a lot for this community,” she said. “I’m so proud of them.”
Jesse Howard, city gas employee and a leader in the drive to get voters, initially had been concerned that the vote on the ordinance approving the sale might be difficult to pass. This morning, he said he was ecstatic with the results.
“It was an outstanding community effort,” Howard said. “I’m really proud of the community. It’s just like a big family. We’re 300 people, roughly, that put aside their differences and all and came together for the good. And that’s basically what Neosho Rapids is. We try to be a family-oriented community and everybody kind of looks out for everybody else.”
Howard credited the Community Service Club for disseminating information about the reason for the sale and the benefits that are expected for the community. The club also went door-to-door to talk personally with potential voters. Six new voters were registered as a result, he said.
The residents also managed to get in touch with some of the voters who had moved but were still on the county’s voter registry.
“I know they filled out change of address forms and were taken off,” Howard said. “Everybody was doing a lot of work, you know. It’s all behind the scenes. It was a community effort is basically what it turned out to be. I’m extremely proud of the community.”
An interpretation of state law required that a majority of the officially registered voters would have to vote “yes” for the ordinance to be passed. Howard estimated that around 30 or more officially registered voters had died or moved from the area. If that interpretation of the needed majority held true, the city would need an enormous voter turnout, with almost 80 “yes” votes needed for approval.
Despite traditionally low voter turnout in Lyon County, 101 Neosho Rapids voters went to the polling place and voted yes, with six more ballots to be counted on Friday.
City leaders and representatives had worked with the Kansas Legislature for weeks to pass a bill that would require a simple majority on the total number of ballots cast, rather than the overall majority of registered voters.
The bill went to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and was signed on April 10, Vopat said. It did not get to the Registry in time for publication that week and is expected to be published in the April 23rd issue.
The publication date should not have any effect on the election. Voters gave the city a rousing turnout that far exceeded the majority of registered voters. And, at least until the provisional ballots are counted, voters agree 100 percent that the city’s business needs to be sold to Black Hills Energy.
Vopat and several of her workers went to the Neosho Rapids Community Center to count the votes and bring the equipment and documents back to the Lyon County Courthouse Tuesday night. The election ended at 7 p.m., and they were heading back to Emporia by 7:30 p.m.
Vopat plans to use the Neosho Rapids election as an example of the way voters need to participate in the democratic process.
“I’m going to really push that,” she said. “... They set the standard; they set the bar. They deserve kudos for that. They worked hard on it.”
The next step in the sale will be scrutiny of the purchase agreement by attorneys. That may take a week or two, Howard said; he anticipates the city council will be able to vote on the sale contract at its May meeting.
Black Hills then will submit a proposal to the Kansas Corporation Commission for approval, to ensure that the transaction will not unduly burden the company’s current customers.
“I’d say probably July before it’s all said and done,” Howard said.