NAPOLEON — City council is considering a moratorium against marijuana dispensaries within the city limits.
With the recent approval of Issue 2 at the state level — which commercializes, regulates, legalizes and taxes the adult use of marijuana — Napoleon Council discussed whether it will allow dispensaries within the city limits at its last meeting, with no decisions made.
At that time, Law Director Billy Harmon noted city council previously decided to prevent the sale and cultivation of medical marijuana in the city and it could also choose to do so with recreational marijuana, noting the discussion is not only about dispensaries but also warehousing and other phases of the process. Harmon noted a portion of that discussion in 2017 regarding the medical marijuana was that marijuana was still prohibited federally.
On Monday, Harmon noted that an alternate to making a decision now is a placing a moratorium on operators to not allow the businesses within the city on a temporary basis while the state rules are worked out and further discussions are held.
“If council is concerned about timing and wants to have something done quickly, perhaps we could do a moratorium in the situation,” he said.
Harmon noted the moratorium would have an expiration date, so council could choose to let it expire, end it earlier than the expiration date or pass legislation to prohibit it moving forward.
Council President Joe Bialorucki said he has not yet made a decision on his vote, but said he is in favor of the moratorium to give them more time to gather information. Council members Ken Haase and Ross Durham said they are not in favor of allowing the dispensaries, while council member Robert Weitzel said since council began discussing the issue, all feedback he has received has been in favor of not allowing the dispensaries. Mayor Jason Maassel reiterated that while the issue passed statewide, a majority of residents in Henry County and Napoleon cast their votes against the issue.
A draft of a moratorium on the dispensaries will be considered at council’s next meeting.
In other matters, council approved continuing the temporary reduction or temporary elimination of certain residential building permit fees.
Maassel said the reduction or elimination of the fees has been in place since 2018 as a way of trying to spur economic growth, especially housing growth in the city, but needs to be renewed each year if council wants to continue them.
“I think if you ask your employers in the area if they need more employees, the fastest way to do that is to have employees live closer to work,” he said.
“From the city government perspective, it’s a small price to pay and for a small developer, it could be a significant cost,” added City Manager J. Andrew Small.
Council also approved a change order of $71,500 for the wastewater treatment plant project.
Small explained there was a bearing failure on one of three screw pumps.
“These screw pumps used to be utilized only during heavy rain when the equalization basin was in use, but they are now … operational all the time,” he said.
All three pumps are 15 years old, and Small said the recommendation is to replace all three at this point for $71,500 for material costs. This does not include the labor and equipment costs, which will be brought to council once the work is completed.
This is the 10th change order for the project, bringing it to 6.38% above the price that was bid for the project.
•Approved the first reading of ordinances that would give 3% pay raises to the city manager, finance director and law director. The first readings for the city manager and law director were approved 7-0 and the first reading for the finance director position was approved 6-1 with Weitzel voting against it. Following the meeting, Weitzel declined to comment on why he voted against the pay increase.
•Approved the second reading of the 2024 appropriations budget of $56.5 million, including $8.7 million in the general fund.
•Approved the second readings of other pieces of routine legislation related to the 2024 budget, such as splitting the income tax revenue with 65% to the general fund and 35% to capital improvements, establishing a new position classification pay plan for employees, fund transfers and competitive bidding.
•Approved the second reading of legislation to contribute $45,000 to the Henry County Community Improvement Corp. for 2024.
•Approved the second reading of an ordinance amending the tax code to reflect changes made in House Bill 33 which was passed at the state level.
•Approved the second reading to execute the 2023 NPP Power Pool Participant Schedule with American Municipal Power.
•Approved the final reading of adjusted fees for the golf course for 2024.
•Approved write-offs of uncollectable accounts totaling $111,245.93. Of that amount, $59,563.42 was for EMS services for accounts prior to 2020 that do not have a payment arrangement and $51,682.51 was for utilities and miscellaneous for accounts before 2021 with no payment arrangements.
•Held an executive session regarding the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee or official. No action was taken following the session.