Russell Trustees Ban Adult Use Cannabis Operators
Following discussion at two prior meetings, Russell Township Trustees officially voted to ban adult use cannabis operators at their Feb. 15 meeting.
Following discussion at two prior meetings, Russell Township Trustees officially voted to ban adult use cannabis operators at their Feb. 15 meeting.
Trustees Kristina Port and Matt Rambo attended informative sessions about the ongoing changes to legislation around marijuana while at the Ohio Township Association meeting in Columbus.
Port described one session as “contradictory.”
“What I learned is, nobody has any idea how this is gonna work,” Rambo said.
Port said while they can pass a resolution now, changes to legislation may cause complications down the line.
“We can do a resolution today. However, it may be subject to change depending on whatever the law changes to,” she said.
Rambo also noted township resolutions do not override state laws.
“When the state does issue licenses, they don’t care what your local resolutions say,” he said. “If they issue a license and you’ve already told them that you can’t have an operation here, it doesn’t matter. Their license trumps our resolution.”
The vague wording of the resolution also came into question.
“That’s another problem I have with this resolution, is that it says ‘adult use cannabis operators,’” Rambo said. “That’s a fake term. It doesn’t say sales, it doesn’t say manufacturing, it doesn’t say processing … it just says ‘operators.’ Operators is not a defined term.”
Despite the discontent, the resolution passed unanimously.
Fiscal Officer Karen Walder also noted some upcoming technology upgrades to the current administrative building, the community building and the recycling center.
These include the admin building getting security camera replacements; the recycling center getting both cameras and license plate readers; and camera placements for the community building, as well as data drops and wireless access ports.
Walder described two phases to the project.
“The first phase is really getting the cameras in the current admin building converted over and getting the new cameras’ server that will support all of the cameras for the admin building, for the new building and for the recycling,” she said. “So, our phase two would be the security cameras for inside and outside the new building, and the new security cameras and license plate readers for the recycling area.”
The cameras will be in color and will have zoom capabilities. As the new cameras have an extended range, replacement of the old cameras may not be one to one, she said.
Cost estimates are still up in the air, but Walder hopes to have firm numbers by the March 7 trustees meeting.
Walder added they have been looking at electronic access control for the new building and admin center, which could be used to limit access to a building when somebody has it rented, or tell which employee accessed a facility at what time.
