By Burton Cole
FALMOUTH — City Council is considering letting voters decide this fall whether they would welcome medical marijuana dispensaries into city limits.
“It’s one of the biggest things I have been dealing with over the last two weeks,” Mayor Luke Price told council members during their meeting last Thursday.
While members informally tended to favor making it a ballot issue, council agreed to delay making the decision until after it hears from Stephanie Green of the Pendleton County Champions Coalition at a special 6:30 p.m. Aug. 1, with a caucus immediately following, at City Hall.
Champions is the local chapter of Champions for a Drug-Free Kentucky.
The Kentucky Legislature legalized medical cannabis, and left local jurisdictions to decide how to handle dispensaries, and grow and processing sites in their communities.
City Attorney Brandon Voelker told council members they had several options: Do nothing and let the businesses come; change zoning to regulate where facilities can be placed; operations; or put it on the ballot.
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The deadline to place an issue on the November general election ballot is the second Tuesday in August, which this year is Aug. 13. That would give council time to hear from Green on Aug. 1 and still meet the filing deadline.
“I think at a minimum, we should put it on the ballot,” Councilwoman Sabrina Hazen said.
“If we say no, they (dispensary supporters) could petition to put it on the ballot,” Councilwoman Amy Hurst said. So putting it for voters in the first place makes sense, she said.
In May, Green addressed Pendleton County Fiscal Court, which also is dealing with the issue. She told the court that medical cannabis is not approved by the FDA and has gone through no medical trial.
She said that medical cannabis is not the same as marijuana that is grown in or around a person’s home. It is more potent, up to 90 percent potency as opposed to 10 percent potency found in what is commonly known as “pot.”
She claimed that studies show when the product is used for mental health purposes, the condition actually becomes worse.
KRT
Council voted 4-1, with David Klaber casting the no vote, to grant Kincaid Regional Theatre $7,500 for education outreach programs.
State Rep. Mark Hart, R-Falmouth, KRT board president, and Cassandra Jacobs, KRT director of fundraising, appeared before council to give a progress report and to make the request.
The R.C. Durr Foundation gave KRT a $197,000 grant to pay off its mortgage, Hart said.
“We now own the building, but now we have to maintain it,” he said.
The building at 208 Memory Drive needs $160,000 in renovations. “We raised that,” he said.
The community theater company was asking the city to renew its commitment for $7,500 to allow it conduct workshops and be a community outreach for education in the performance arts.
“We’d love to become (an ongoing) budget item,” Jacobs said.
The city didn’t do line item budgeting for donations, Price said this donation would come out of the LGA fund, he said.
Klaber said he voted no because he doesn’t believe the city should donate that amount of money.
TAP FEES
By a 5-0 vote, council approved a second reading and passed new water and sewer tap-in fees refer to the cost for a home or business, to access to the city’s water/sewer system. It does not affect utility rates.
The price now is $750 for a three-quarter-inch line, $1,600 for a one-inch, and $2,400 for a two-inch line.
Currently, the rate is $650 regardless of line size.
Money from tap fees generates revenue for the utility fund, which goes toward maintenance of the city’s utility system.
OTHER BUSINESS
• Council voted to buy a Case mini excavator for $55,715, and an 18-foot Big Tex trailer to haul it on for $7,400. The mini excavator can get into places that give the city backhoe difficulty, and can be shared — both use and expenses — across electric, water and sewer departments, Price said.
Richard Courtney, maintenance department supervisor, said he also received quotes on John Deere and Cat equipment that ranged up to $98,000, but said he recommended the Case because it’s cheaper and “they all do the same thing.”
• Council agreed to draw up a letter of intent, which is part of the process to sell the Klee property across from the southern Dollar General Market to the Northern Kentucky Community Action to build a new Head Start building.
Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. Currently housed locally at 409 Barkley St., it is buying the property for $100,000 for better facilities and to move out of the flood plain.
• The city agreed to donate a plot of city-owned land next to American Legion Post 109 on 111 Montjoy St. to the post. The post has been maintaining the lot, and the city had already agreed to give the lot to the post, but no formal action had been taken.
• Councilwoman Joyce Carson suggested adding a note to utility bills to remind residents not to blow grass and lawn debris into the street.
Price said code enforcement will be addressing the issue as well.
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