URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n662/a05.html
Newshawk: Herb Couch
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 01 Nov 2016
Source: Courier, The (OH)
Copyright: 2016 The Findlay Publishing Co.
Contact:
Website: http://www.thecourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2293
COUNCIL OKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA MORATORIUM
Findlay City Council made sure to give its two-year moratorium on medical marijuana a final vote Tuesday, but tabled legislation that would continue funding for the Arts Partnership of Greater Hancock County through the city’s hotel/motel bed tax.
Council voted 9-1 to enact a ban on dispensing, cultivating or processing medical marijuana within city limits until Sept. 8, 2018. That will be exactly two years from the date the Ohio Legislature legalized the drug. Council plans to revisit the ban once state officials establish rules, which is expected to take at least two years.
Seventh Ward Councilman Tim Watson voted against the moratorium. Watson has been outspoken in his opposition to making the drug inaccessible.
At its regular meeting Oct. 18, council did not take a final vote on the ban after giving the legislation its third reading. Council voted twice on the moratorium at the meeting: once to lift the legislation from the table, and once to amend it, setting a two-year time limit on the moratorium. The final, missed vote was discovered after the meeting, upon review of the minutes.
In a story published Oct. 19, The Courier incorrectly reported that council had enacted the ban.
About 15 people attended Tuesday’s council meeting, most to encourage council to approve continued funding for the Arts Partnership. The partnership has received 10 percent of the city’s share of the hotel/motel bed tax, which amounts to about $40,000 a year, since 2014. The funding is set to expire Dec. 31.
However, At-Large Councilman Grant Russel made a motion to table the ordinance, which was set to be given its third and final reading Tuesday.
Russel said the Hancock Historical Museum approached council with a request for a portion of the hotel/motel bed tax in 2014, but was turned away. There was discussion in 2014 of organizing a committee to develop guidelines for use of the tax money, but the committee was never formed.
Without guidelines, Russel said, groups seeking funding from the city’s hotel/motel bed tax are subject to the “ebb and flow of who is on council” and the groups they favor.
He said in fairness to the historical museum and other “great organizations in town,” the committee needs to be formed now, and a process put into place for handling similar requests. Russel said it’s a decision that would be best made during the city’s budget process.
Council had discussed renewing the commitment to the Arts Partnership for one year while new rules are developed, but no effort was made to amend the ordinance before it was tabled Tuesday.
Courier reporter Denise Grant will have more on Wednesday.
MAP posted-by: Matt