Dover to consider recreational marijuana dispensary ban
Bob Everett attended his first council meeting since being named the new part-time safety director for Dover.
Dover Council heard a presentation from members of the Empower Tusc Coalition at its council meeting on May 6. The group, which works to prevent youth substance abuse and promote mental health wellness by implementing prevention, education and awareness strategies, requested the city to consider a ban on recreational marijuana dispensaries.
Kerry Metzger, the chairman for Empower Tusc, and other members of the group were in attendance to show their support. Dover previously passed an ordinance that banned medical marijuana dispensaries within the Dover city limits with Ordinance 31-16.
“State Issue 2 was driven through by the urban communities in the state of Ohio,” Metzger said, adding Tuscarawas County turned it down with 57% of the vote and Dover by 54%. “However, the good news is that State Issue 2 at least does allow municipalities to adopt an ordinance to prohibit the location of recreational marijuana dispensaries.”
The timing of the prohibition of dispensaries is extremely important, and the group encouraged city council to pass the legislation by emergency ordinance.
“Once an operator is to be given the certificate of operation license, it's going to be much harder to ban or prohibit the dispensaries,” Metzger said. “From what we're hearing through the state Division of Cannabis Control, they are working with regulations, which when completed, they will begin to issue these licenses as early as June of this year.”
Mayor Shane Gunnoe made a request for a committee assignment for an emergency ordinance prohibiting adult cannabis use operators within the city limits under 3780.25A of the Ohio Revised Code. He also requested an assignment for an emergency ordinance to amend the codified ordinances of the city to prohibit commercial cultivation, commercial processing and retail dispensaries.
In his mayor’s report, Gunnoe announced that in the past year nearly $2.25 million in grant funds and private donations have been received that will directly benefit the city.
“Last week we applied for an additional grant of $500,000 from the Governor’s Office of Appalachia for improvements to Crown Road and partial funding for a power line to the site,” Gunnoe said.
The next Food Truck Thursday is scheduled for May 30 at Dover City Park. The Canal Dover Festival will be held May 24-26 with the parade on Saturday at noon, and Challenger Baseball will have its opening day at Dover City Park on May 18 with a 1:05 p.m. start time. The city will participate in the Downtown Dover Chocolate Walk on June 8 with a booth in the square. Tickets are available at the Dover Public Library.
Work is continuing on the park’s basketball court overhaul, which could take one month or more depending on the weather. The court will be closed until renovations are completed.
Council passed Emergency Ordinance 22-24 authorizing the safety director purchase a new ambulance for the fire department in an amount not to exceed $369,990. The city’s other ambulances were purchased in 2009 and 2014.
The department includes specifications for the inside of the vehicle to be laid out as closely as possible to the vehicles they currently own.
“If one of the members steps in the back of an ambulance, everything's in the same place,” said Russ Volkert, fire chief. “Because over the years, we've had so many services and so much equipment. The more common denominators you have makes it easier to just operate if there's less for people to remember.”
Resolution 9-24 was approved authorizing $5,000 of bed tax money to Ernest Warther Museum for signage at the museum that will include directional signs and story boards.
A sum of $5,000 in bed tax money was approved for the Dover Lions Club for the replacement of signage at Dover City Parks in Resolution 10-24.
Ordinance 19-24 approving the final plat for the Crimson Cove subdivision had its first reading and was held for a second reading. The project, owned by Lawverbuilt LLC, is a subdivision of 14.3 acres divided into 30 lots. The plat was approved by the planning commission in April. The date and time of a public hearing on the ordinance will be announced soon.
Bob Everett attended his first council meeting since being named the new part-time safety director for Dover. He has an extensive safety background.
“I am looking forward to working with both the police chief, fire chief and the departments to try to make what I consider a valuable and very professional product even better,” Everett said.
The next Dover Council meeting will be held Monday, May 20 in council chambers, 121 E. Second St., Dover.