{"id":173567,"date":"2023-12-12T04:40:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T09:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=173567"},"modified":"2023-12-13T04:50:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T09:50:24","slug":"council-might-decide-on-recreational-marijuana-dispensaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/12\/12\/council-might-decide-on-recreational-marijuana-dispensaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Recreational pot sales to be decided"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will recreational marijuana dispensaries be legal in Van Wert? That\u2019s a question to be answered sometime in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Monday night\u2019s meeting of Van Wert City Council, Mayor Ken Markward noted medical marijuana dispensaries were deemed off-limits in the city limits several years ago, after Ohio voters approved the use of medical marijuana in the Buckeye State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it failed locally, the majority of voters statewide approved the legalization of recreational marijuana last month, and Markward said it\u2019s time to determine if recreational marijuana dispensaries will be allowed in Van Wert. If the next council eventually decides to ban such establishments, they\u2019ll have to pass an ordinance to that effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Law Director John Hatcher will research the legality of recreational marijuana dispensaries in Van Wert. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Markward told council he asked Law Director John Hatcher to look into the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything that is not medical marijuana wouldn\u2019t fall under (ordinance) 150.95<\/a> at least the way you read it so that will have to be reviewed,\u201d Hatcher said. \u201cOne thing that I\u2019m looking for in the legislation that\u2019s going through the Statehouse is what kind of prohibitions local government can put in on placements and whether or not we can. I would assume since we could for medical that we can for recreational but that\u2019s an assumption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hatcher also noted that once the issue, known as Issue 2 passed, state officials gave themselves nine months to set up rules before recreational marijuana dispensaries could open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not expecting to have an answer for you at the next meeting or even shortly after\u2026there\u2019s a lot of political issues that they\u2019re working through, (including) the number of licenses and what to do with the revenue generated,\u201d Hatcher said. \u201cI don\u2019t expect those questions to be answered quickly but I will keep my eye on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council members did not discuss their feelings on the subject one way or the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least one Ohio city, the Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted, has already voted to ban recreational cannabis facilities from operating within the city limits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In other business, Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming reminded water customers that with the switch to monthly billing with the new meters, water bills must be paid on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a stay on shut-off but that\u2019s going to stop with your February bill if you\u2019re delinquent,\u201d Fleming said. \u201cYou\u2019ll be on a shut-off list and we\u2019ve got some people that haven\u2019t paid for some time now because of this so they have to get current.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several people were re-appointed to various boards during Monday night\u2019s meeting. Markward re-appointed Jim Sowers to the city planning commission and Rick Turner to the community reinvestment board, while councl members agreed to re-appoint Julia McGrath to the board of tax review, Mark Bagley to the community reinvestment board and Fred Fisher to the design review board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council members heard the second reading of an ordinance to approve the city\u2019s 2024 budget, along with the second reading of an ordinance regarding fences and planting screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just four of the seven voting members of council were in attendance at the meeting. First Ward Councilman Jeff Agler, Third Ward Councilwoman Julie Moore and At-Large Councilwoman Judy Bowers were excused to attend a school Christmas concert. Their absence meant some financial ordinances, including bonuses for water department employees, slated to be passed on emergency had their first reading and will be re-visited during a special council meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, December 18, in Council Chambers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next regular meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 27, in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St. The meeting will be the final one for Council President Jerry Mazur, Second Ward Councilman David Stinnett and Fourth Ward Councilman Andrew Davis, along with City Auditor Martha Balyeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Will recreational marijuana dispensaries be legal in Van Wert? That\u2019s a question to be answered sometime in 2024. During Monday night\u2019s meeting of Van Wert City Council, Mayor Ken Markward noted medical marijuana dispensaries were deemed off-limits in the city limits several years ago, after Ohio voters approved the use of medical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-04 05:17:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173567"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173613,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173567\/revisions\/173613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}