When the Butler County commissioners vote on a site for the proposed new prison, they should explain fully the logic behind their votes.

But, ideally, the three commissioners should tell county residents in advance how they intend to vote, and explain their thinking in as much detail as possible. This is a very important project, and county residents should be afforded the opportunity for last-minute comments.

And, if the commissioners opt against using the approximately 150 acres of county-owned land near Sunnyview Home for the prison, the commissioners would seem to have another task before them - returning the land to taxation.

In recent years, the land has been rejected for a juvenile detention center, mental health facility, golf course and other uses. Regarding the detention center and mental health facility proposals, people residing nearby voiced strong opposition, claiming that their property values would decrease and children attending McQuistion Elementary School would be in danger.

For those people, the same viewpoint prevails regarding using the land for a prison.

If the Sunnyview land is rejected for the new prison, and if officials don't envision a day when a new or expanded Sunnyview Home would ever be needed - some people question whether the county should be in the nursing home business at all - the most lucrative option would seem to be to sell the land for single-family residential development and then reap the resulting tax revenue.

The Butler School District and Butler Township also would benefit significantly via the additional tax revenue.

With no other non-housing uses deemed acceptable for the land, there would be no justification for keeping the land off-limits to residential development. The county has plenty of farmland; the loss of that open space wouldn't pose a problem.

At this juncture, it is important for county residents to take notice that District Attorney Timothy McCune and Sheriff Dennis Rickard, members of the county prison board whose day-to-day responsibilities keep them in touch with the prison, favor the Sunnyview site. Their view is in contrast to the thinking of two of the three county commissioners - James Kennedy and Glenn Anderson - who also are members of the prison board and have expressed preference for a site in downtown Butler, near the site of the current prison.

The downtown site has so far spawned no controversy.

Commissioner Scott Lowe, who also has a seat on the prison board, says the downtown site is not his top choice, but his vote alone cannot put the prison at Sunnyview or anywhere else.

The prison board, as a separate entity from the board of commissioners, has no control over where the new prison is eventually located.

Meanwhile, a national prison consultant hired by the county recommends a green site, such as the Sunnyview property, over a city site where the county would be required to build a high-rise-style prison. It has been reported that the consultant will present a report specifically comparing the city and Sunnyview sites. Whether and how that report will impact officials' current opinions is an interesting unknown.

What is before Butler County then is whether fear of controversy, and however that impacts county politics, will take precedence over the opinions of people with expertise regarding prison siting, construction and operating such a facility.

The commissioners are faced with a difficult decision, and it is a decision that will impact the county for a long time.

Therefore, it must be the correct decision.

- J.R.K.