ORDINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING

 

OCTOBER 18, 2017

 

Committee Member Mr. Meyers opened the meeting at approximately 6:03 ­­­p.m. Members of the Committee in attendance were Mr. Meyers and Mr. Spotton. Present from Council were, Mr. Kasunick and Mr. Evers.  Committee Chair Mr. Hoefle, Mr. Zuren and Council President Ms. DePledge was absent and excused.

In attendance from the Administration were Mayor Morley and Law Director Klammer. 

There were no members of the public in attendance.

 

PROPOSED

1. Format changes to Council-As-A-Whole and the Regular Council Meeting to reduce redundancies.

   Mr. Meyers: I will now turn it over to Mr. Klammer.

    Mr. Klammer: We had talked about this over the years and our prior Council Clerk and I think that the Mayor will attest that she was very defensive of procedures that had always been the case.  So from time to time I would mention it and she would kind of cringe because she didn’t want to change anything.  I love her and she is the best but she was kind of defensive of those things.  I am just proposing so that we don’t have to go through…under Robert’s Rules of Order you can adopt the agenda for the night.  A lot of places adopt the agenda before the meeting starts…that’s the official agenda.  What I am proposing is that you are going to have these things in Council-As-A-Whole and you can have your objection.  If anybody has an objection of something winding up on the agenda you will have that discussion in Council-As-A-Whole.  Then when you get to Council-As-A-Whole it will be on there as a proposed item.  So instead of going motion by motion to add it to the agenda…I’m just saying it winds up on the agenda we will do one motion to adopt the agenda.  That is just going to eliminate one set of readings…motion to add such and such to the agenda.  You’re just going to go right into your normal procedure like any piece of legislation.  You’ll discuss it…three readings the waiver…I am just trying to eliminate that motion for each one to add it to the agenda.  So you’re just going to propose to putting it on there and one motion to adopt the agenda and then just move it forward, as opposed to seven motions, a second and a roll call just to add it to the agenda, little lone to vote to adopt.   That’s all that I’m proposing, because it will be on for Council-As-A-Whole you’ll hear if anybody has any objection and we will just eliminate that one from the motion to add it, if there is a debate on it.  That is just too kind of stream line it.  So everybody will still get their debate in Council-As-A-Whole and you will still get to vote as normal on the actual adoption.  I’m just trying to eliminate the motion to add process.  We can try it for a few meetings and if anybody has any anxiousness we can go back to the old way, but it is certainly permitted by the rules.

    Mr. Meyers: Anybody have any thoughts?

    Mayor Morley: I brought it up the last time when I was on Council so, but like he said Mrs. Cendroski didn’t like to do those things.  I just think that it…not stream lines it…it’s on there and you adopt it again.  Like what Mr. Klammer said if there is something on the six that are on there that someone has a problem with then you just bring that up.  So when you guys vote to say that we are putting it on the agenda tonight…to do a roll call vote it’s already there so it should just go to the agenda.

    Mr. Klammer: You can even do it if you have five or six things that are all rather uncontroversial she can just say if there are no objections I am going to take that the agenda is adopted by a unanimous consent and you can vote on that.

    Mr. Spotton: So we are still going to have Council-As-A-Whole to have your chance to discuss items and that is not going to change at all?  So now we go into the Regular Meeting just adopting one through whatever with no objections as one shot.

    Mayor Morley: Right.

    Mr. Klammer: One shot yeah.

    Mayor Morley: Instead of reading each one and voting…

    Mr. Klammer: You’re still going to read each one when you vote to adopt that…we a just eliminating the motion to add it to the agenda for each one.  Each one will still be considered on its own when you do your motion to adopt.

    Mr. Spotton: I just want to make sure I don’t lose the time in the meeting to say Mayor can you make a comment?  Just as long as we still have that…the meeting then.

    Mr. Klammer: Like I said we can try it at a couple of meetings and if we don’t then we can go back.  I don’t think that we will have any problems though.  At the meeting that we had recently we must have had about ten of them and I was just like enough’s enough I have to propose this again.  I will walk with Mrs. Simons and Ms. DePledge on how to do it and take it from there.

    Mr. Meyers: Does anybody else have any thoughts or comments?  I would like to poll the Committee…Mr. Spotton would you like to move this forward?

    Mr. Spotton: Move it forward.

    Mr. Meyers: I vote to move it forward also.

    Mr. Klammer: I will get with Mrs. Simons and Ms. DePledge and see what is best for everybody to kind of stream line it.

2. Regarding Chapter 770 Titled “Medical Marijuana Licensure” to amend Sections 770.10 “License fees” and 770.11 specifically Subsection (e).

Mr. Klammer: As I explained in my Director’s Report last time…it is actually more extensive than this, but what Mrs. Simons printed here was a segment from my email to Buckeye Relief when we were making another change to that section.  So this is actually a more comprehensive change in just those sections.  We are adding in a whole section for licensure of the dispensaries. So we didn’t have dispensary at all before so we are adding in a whole new subsection and in the process we also had to add in some new definitions and stuff.  If you were to compare this to our…things are different but we had to add some definitions and move some things around.  Substantively though the big thing that we added was fees for the dispensary and that whole new subsection that I think is 770.11.  It is the whole subsection for dispensaries.  Before we didn’t have dispensary and now we have dispensary.  We tried to add in some sections here to make sure that it is going to be classy for the lack of a better term.  Obviously no drive through that was a given anyway, but added thing’s about interior and exterior design, to be consistent with a medical facility as opposed to basically a head shop, so that they are nice facilities.  No darkened windows, no moving or flashing strobe lights, no loitering.  Just wanted to make it more of a medical facility like it is…more like a drug store or a clinic as opposed to it…you hate to have it end up looking like a head shop or something like that.  Buckeye Relief is aware of those conditions and they were in agreement with them.

Mayor Morley: What I have explained to the people that have called in…I was telling Mr. Menn…who used thebe the Mayor of Flagstaff, AZ, I talked to her today and she has six of them in Arizona.  She just wanted to see where the areas that they are going to be in…like what we talked about in Staff…it is in the B-1 district.  I know that some of the Councilmen may have had some concern about maybe putting them somewhere else, but I think that what we talked about yesterday the B-1 works.

Mr. Klammer: I think that they’ve hit within the definition already of B-1, because that covers drug stores and pharmacies.  That seems to be consistent with that district anyways.  M. Menn had some concerns that he wanted identified in the ordinance and I think that it is covered by the zoning.  Look at the licensure separate from the zoning.  He did text me earlier today to indicate that he agrees that it should go in a B-1 as well, which is basically buying some spots on Lakeshore.  Again we a limited by state and county…two Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula…

Mayor Morley: Lake, Geauga and Portage…there will be two total.  Like I said and I think when Mr. Hoefle asked me and I may have talked to Mr. Meyers…if it ends up eventually going to recreational then we will just look at a whole different ordinance for that, because again I don’t want them to be up and down Vine Street either.

Mr. Klammer: Well we don’t have…and this is all by definition medical marijuana anyways.  So if it were to change to recreational we don’t have zoning that allows recreation or a licensure that allows recreational if that makes sense.

Mr. Spotton: Two per county…every article is…

Mayor Morley: There are going to be two in three counties.  Lake, Geauga and Portage…two at this point and again I don’t know if we will even get one.  But we have to be set up with…what all of this is about is and everyone that I’ve talked too.  I’ve probably talked to about five or six people that want to look at dispensaries, they have to have it into the state by November 17.  Like what we had to do for the cultivation, they have to have a contract like if Buckeye or Growth Orchard, they have to have a sales contract when they hand it in, that they have somewhere to put it.

Mr. Klammer: You mean for the real property?

Mayor Morley: It has to be November 17 that a few of them told me and a few of them told me that some of them want to hand it in by November 3.  I’ve had November 10 and that’s why when I talked…depending on how many meetings you guys want to do on it or as long we try to have it by the end of October.  If we have to have extra meetings that’s what I’d ask, but that’s your guys call.

Mr. Klammer: So they already have I think a contract contingent upon getting a licensure for a property already.

Mayor Morley: The other one said that they were going to call in when they have a property and I said to check with the Building Department to make sure it’s a spot that they would be eligible. 

Mr. Klammer: Yeah that’s it…really just to add a dispensary and can we increase the fines or the fees for the dispensary to $15,000.00?

Mayor Morley: Yeah from $5,000.00 to $15,000.00.

Mr. Klammer: So there is an additional fee for the dispensary.  It seems to be the wave of the future.

Mr. Meyers: Does anybody have any thoughts?  Mr. Evers or Mr. Kasunick?

Mr. Kasunick: Were there any serious proposals to put a dispensary in Eastlake?  Or did anybody…I know that you said that you talked to somebody.

Mayor Morley: Buckeye is the only one that I know that spot land so far.

Mr. Kasunick: That was for the…

Mayor Morley: They bought land for the…

Mr. Kasunick: For a dispensary as well as a…so in Eastlake.

Mayor Morley: Yeah and there are a couple of others that…like I said today the former Mayor of Flagstaff is looking.  We’ve had four others and we’ve had numerous calls and that is what made us to start having a discussion with Mr. Menn and Mr. Klammer.  Numerous calls about people who are going to apply but they have not yet that we are aware of…purchased any land or put anything under contract.  The only one that we are aware of is Buckeye.

Mr. Kasunick: Where did they purchase land at?

Mayor Morley: Right on…do you know where Bonkers used to be?

Mr. Spotton: Where Blue Sky Bicycles.

Mayor Morley: Where the Blue Sky Bikes are…they bought that plaza.

Mr. Kasunick: Okay.

Mr. Klammer: Subject to getting their license yet…it is contingent as least as what I understand we don’t…

Mr. Meyers: Mr. Evers?

Mr. Evers: Anything under suspension…suspension and revocation it’s the last page.  “All licenses issued under this chapter shall be suspended or revoked upon recommendation of the Board of Zoning Appeals”…if for any reason something illegal happens do we have to wait for the Board of Appeals to have a meeting to suspend a license?  To me we are saying that no matter what happens and we want to revoke that license it’s got to go through the Zoning Board of Appeals and I’m not happy with that.  The Safety Director or the Chief of Police…suspend that license temporarily until the Board of Zoning Appeals it.

Mr. Klammer: Can you let me look at it more carefully to see if there’s any…

Mr. Evers: It’s a question on my part.

Mr. Klammer: I think that this is the existing…that part is in the existing ordinance now.  But I couldn’t imagine even if we changed that it’s going to slow any of it down.  They are still prepared to go forward.

Mayor Morley: There is going to be one that is going to BZA tomorrow and it will eventually come to you guys on some other issue.  That is the language that we’re using.

Mr. Klammer: We do have that the Safety Directory has the authority to suspend and revoke.

Mayor Morley: I think that’s just giving them an option to go to BZA.

Mr. Klammer: Usually we give them the right to appeal, but I want to make sure…

Mayor Morley: That one section you did have the Safety Director.

Mr. Klammer: Let me double check to make sure that they are consistent.  No matter when you suspend a license they have to have the right to appeal it.  I will look at it again.

Mr. Evers: Thank you.

Mr. Meyers: I have a question in reading through this it says “that we will not allow home delivery of medical marijuana.”  I do know that some states are allowing this, is that something that we should possibly consider?

Mr. Klammer: I don’t know if the state already prohibits it…the MARA prohibits it.  It looks like that provision was probably a draft.  That may have already been added by Buckeye Relief when they did the revisions.  The drive-in and drive through sales and the home delivery.  I think that is prohibited and I would have to double check to give you an answer. They want to have the license when and take their license and all of that stuff in the facility.  Good?

Mr. Meyers: I think so.

Mr. Klammer: I need to look at that and was there another thing that I needed to look at?

Mayor Morley: You said that you think that state won’t allow the home delivery.

Mr. Meyers: Should we move this forward or schedule another meeting?  Mr. Evers and Mr. Kasunick are you okay?

Mr. Kasunick: I prefer moving it forward to the Committee…so inclined.

Mr. Meyers: Mr. Spotton?

Mr. Spotton: Move it forward.

Mr. Meyers: I agree to move it forward also.

PENDING

There was nothing under Proposed.

MISCELLANEOUS

There was nothing under Miscellaneous.

RECOGNITION OF PUBLIC

There was no one who wished to speak.

 

MAYOR’S COMMENTS

Mayor Morley had nothing to report.

There were no further questions or comments for the Mayor.

LAW DIRECTOR

Mr. Klammer had nothing to report.

There were no further questions or comments for the Law Director.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:19 p.m.

 

tms

 

APPROVED: __________________________

 

DATE: ______________________________