1 tiny Kansas town fails to dissolve; another’s fate undecided

? One of Kansas’ tiniest towns has failed again to vote itself out of existence, and the election to decide the fate of another was too close to immediately call.

The towns of Frederick and Freeport have only a handful of residents between them, and measures to dissolve them were on the ballot Tuesday, The Hutchinson News reports. Frederick is about 75 miles northwest of Wichita; Freeport is about 45 miles southwest of Wichita.

The dissolution vote ended with a 2-2 tie in Rice County’s Frederick, which has no approved budget. There will be no coin flip to decide the outcome; the measure needed a two-thirds vote to pass. Frederick voters also got a chance to discorporate last year, but the results couldn’t be counted because another community mistakenly cast ballots on the issue.

“Until they decide they want to do it again, they are stuck being a city,” Rice County Clerk Alicia Showalter told The Associated Press.

In Harper County’s Freeport, there were 2 votes at the polls to dissolve the town. But Harper County Clerk Ruth Elliott says a couple more ballots are in the batch that won’t be counted until canvassing Monday.

Freeport’s Carol Peterson said it was a unanimous decision to put the Freeport question on the ballot, and the issue is not controversial there.