Butler County Community College confirms it is considering having a future presence in downtown Butler.
What that presence will look like is unclear.
The topic was brought up at this week’s debate between the candidates running for Mayor of Butler and Butler City Council. All candidates agreed it would be extremely beneficial for the city to have a BC3 campus downtown.
“I think it would be wonderful,” Butler City Councilwoman Kathy Kline- who is running for re-election- said. “It would be a big asset and benefit to the downtown area.”
Councilman Ken Bonus- who, too, is seeking re-election- agreed.
“I think getting education into the city is a critical element,” Bonus said. “It helps people who can’t find their way out to the BC3 main campus. It’s also nice to have an organization with such a respectable track record to choose to want to invest in our city.”
City council candidate Jeff Smith said, he too, is fully in favor of having a BC3 city campus and despite the organization being a non-profit, it would still be beneficial.
“Unlike a lot of nonprofits, they would be bringing people onto the campus who would be spending money downtown,” Smith said. “It would also bring a youthfulness to the city.”
Butler Mayoral Candidate Jamie Lee Goehring said the BC3 board of trustees invited her and her opponent Ben Smith to be a part of meetings surrounding the school’s future strategic plan.
“I plan to work with them regardless of the outcome in November,” she said.
“Of course we want the community college to come downtown,” Smith said. “It would sound ridiculous to say no.”
The college hopes to meet with community partners by the end of the year to begin to figure out how or where BC3 could fit in the city.
BC3’s Bill Foley said the college has embedded a “town and gown” relationship with the city of Butler in its strategic plan through 2022. As part of that strategy, Foley says BC3 plans to explore how they could have more of an impact with the communities it serves, including downtown Butler.
The school has studied models from towns that have had successful relationship with their communities- including in Altoona; Indiana, Pennsylvania; and Lorain, Ohio.
“BC3 takes its role as the community’s college seriously,” Foley said in an email. “We are aware there are many groups trying to elevate the city of Butler to what it once was. BC3 is excited to partner with those groups in developing strategies along those lines.”
Written By: Kayla Molczan for the Butler Radio Network
