FR temporarily bans medical marijuana

FORT RECOVERY — Medical marijuana is legal in Ohio, but you won’t be able to buy it in the village, at least for now.
Village council unanimously approved Monday night a six-month moratorium on the establishment and operation of marijuana-related businesses.
Earlier this year, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 523, which legalizes medical marijuana. The law went into effect Sept. 8.
At council’s Sept. 19 meeting, village solicitor and grants administrator Erin Minor explained the house bill establishes the Medical Marijuana Control Program, which will be overseen by the Ohio Department of Commerce and Ohio State Board of Pharmacy and is tasked with establishing rules for medical marijuana.
“Essentially, all it is right now is a framework. The agencies that have to implement this particular bill have to come up with rules that are really going to determine how program all works,” Minor said.
The temporary ban allows the village time to look at and review the rules that will be established by the Medical Marijuana Control Program, Minor said Monday night.
Fort Recovery joins a number of other Ohio municipalities that have imposed similar ordinances. Locally, they include the villages of St. Henry and Coldwater in Mercer County as well as the Village of Versailles in neighboring Darke County.
Meanwhile, council heard updates on a handful of village grants and projects.
Minor informed council that an Ohio Public Works Commission grant application for construction work on Williams Street has been completed and submitted. The village should learn in November whether it will be awarded funds.
The village will also apply for an Office of Criminal Justice Services grant to upgrade its police department’s computer system. The application deadline is Oct. 31.
Village administrator Randy Diller told council that reconstruction work on Elm Street is complete. The final cost on the project totaled $111,771.31, which was $5,102.69 less than the original bid.
Construction is moving along on a recreation trail being constructed at Community Park. Tom’s Construction has completed concrete work on the portion of trail across from the pool, Diller said.
“Their plans are to get stone down on all the trail this week, as long as the weather stays like their calling for,” Diller said. “If they get stone down, then they can finish some odds and ends they gotta do and then be looking at getting the black-toppers in here in the next couple weeks to get asphalt (down).”
The project is slated to be completed this fall.
Council also OK’d Diller to move forward with paperwork on a project to install tennis/basketball courts at Community Park.
The project will cost at least $300,000, which is higher than originally expected. The village received $125,000 in state funds for the project, which is planned for next year.
“There’s cheaper ways to do this, but I’m of the thinking that if I’m going to do this, I want to do so that it’s going to hold up for a long time,” Diller said.
In other business, council members Dave Bretz, Erik Fiely, Dave Garman, Scott Pearson, Cliff Wendel and Al Post:
•Authorized the sale of 6 acres in the village’s industrial park to D.M. Service and Repair LLC.
•Heard from Minor that the village received all the signatures on a settlement agreement to annex 30.5 acres in Gibson Township. The agreement was recorded Monday in the Mercer County Recorder’s Office.
•Authorized advertising for bids for the lease of farm ground in the northeast portion of the village, near its wastewater lagoons. The land is currently leased to Mitch Hemmelgarn and the lease expires at the end of this year, Minor said.
•Approved St. Henry Bank as a depository for village funds.
•Heard from Diller that the village’s finance committee will meet at 7 p.m. Oct. 17 prior to council’s next regularly scheduled meeting.