The Pineville City Council decided to take no action on medical cannabis at their regular meeting on Monday night. This means that the state law making medical cannabis legal starting next January will also go into effect in Pineville.
Mayor Scott Madon and several council members held a town hall meeting in the Bell Theater for an hour before the start of the council meeting. About 15 citizens shared their views on the matter. Most were in support of a dispensary opening in Pineville.
The council met in a brief executive session to discuss the legal ramifications of voting in favor of or against medical cannabis in the city with City Attorney John Gambrel, then decided their best course was to take no action.
“There are still a lot of unknowns and after talking with our city attorney we felt like it was best for us to not take any action. Which means it will be state-run and state-managed,” Madon said. “The state will have to regulate it. It will be up to the state to issue the licenses.”
The state will be issuing up to four licenses for dispensaries in Region 5, which includes
Bell County as well as Harlan, Knox, Laurel, Whitley, McCreary, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Lincoln, Casey, Wayne, Russell, Clinton and Cumberland counties.
Those who would like to operate as cultivators, processors, producers, dispensaries, and safety compliance facilities can apply for licenses with the state through August 31. If more than four applications are submitted for Region 5, four will be chosen in a lottery.
At this time, Madon said he didn’t know of anyone who intended to open a dispensary in Pineville. He said most citizens in the city would be ok with having one.
“That seemed to be the general consensus among our folks. People are sympathetic to the needs for children with epilepsy or people with cancer, things like that. There were also some with concerns because of all of the unknowns,” he said. “I feel pretty comfortable with the restrictions the state has in place as far as a dispensary having to be away from a school or daycare. That pretty much takes it completely out of our downtown area.”
In other business, the council approved advertising for bids on milling and blackcopping Cherry, Pine and Walnut streets, Virginia and Kentucky avenues and Summit Drive.
Madon said he didn’t have exact numbers yet but by switching from grade one to grade two pavers on the sidewalks around the courthouse square the city would save between $250,000 and $300,000 and that savings could be used to have all of the roads around the square repaved.
“I added Summit Drive because that’s the only big hill we have that hasn’t been repaved,” Madon said.
The council also accepted the resignation of Andrew Schneider from the Main Street Board and appointed Shannon Hampton Elliot to take his place.
“Shannon was helping Tammy Jones and Johnna Callebs as a co-director of Main Street but she came to me a month or so ago and said she just didn’t have the time to do that, but she wanted to go back on the board when a spot opened,” Madon said.
Two updated resolutions were approved for matching grant funds for up to $99,921.41 for a USDA grant for new cruisers and for funds to match a $138,925 LWCF grant for a splash pad and pickleball court at the park on Walnut Street. Both resolutions had been previously approved by the council but were updated to show the funds requested were from HB 273 instead of HB 9.
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