Riley County Commissioner, Dave Lewis, will be traveling to a number of local towns for presentations on the new sales tax. Lewis’ next stop will be Ray’s West Apple Market on Saturday, September 15th from 9-11 a.m. here in Manhattan. There is no list of the sales tax presentations currently available, but Lewis raised concern about this during Thursday’s commissioner meeting. Commissioners will be looking further into putting a list of where and when presentations will be located on their website. Riley County Clerk, Rich Vargo, added the presentations will be available to view on the website as well.
Community Corrections Director, Shelly Williams, was also at the meeting to give a staff update. Williams mentioned the possibility of having to make staff cuts in order to abide by the ten percent reduction. If the reduction is passed, it will go into effect before July 1, 2013. The main problem with cutting back staff is the impact it will have on cutting services and posing a risk, in terms of safety, for the community.
Also giving an update at the meeting was Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce President, Lyle Butler. Butler introduced Trent Armbrust as the Existing Business Manager and talked about different issues such as the importance of shopping local and job creation.
Counselor/Director of Administrative Services, Clancy Holeman, also spoke for a few minutes about the upcoming legislative conference and the law library lease.