Some folks say their town is going to pot. Grayville City Commissioners last night confirmed it. But not like that. They did so by opting in for the state’s Recreational Cannabis retail option. Municipalities around the state have the decision whether they want to allow a dispensary within their city limits. Based off Amendment 64 in Colorado, Illinois legislation allows a local option for retail prohibition within a city’s limits. While the provisions of recreational use aren’t prohibited in a city has has opted out of sales within it’s limits, it would mean that those municipalities won’t allow a store to sell recreational, and in some cases, medical cannabis. Mayor Travis Thompson believes the revenue stream could be a boon to the city saying he had already been approached by an individual wanting to bring a dispensary to Grayville. The lone commissioner to vote no was long standing councilman David Jordan. Attorney Jay Walden says Grayville will be able to lean on the Illinois Municipal League for assistance in creating the correct ordinances, saving them from having to reinvent a wheel.
Even though it ended up being tabled, it appears changes are coming to Grayville’s liquor ordinance as well. Thompson says Chappy’s approached him recently with a request to allow individuals aged 18+ to be able to deliver, but not mix or directly have a hand in making alcoholic beverages. Thompson says the business has had a difficult time finding wait staff that are over the age of 21 for all shifts creating a hardship. The request is two fold after talking to other businesses, according to Thompson. In addition, business leaders have asked to do away with Grayville’s dual license as a tavern and a restaurant and go to a single tavern/restauranteur license. Commissioners all seemed to be alright with altering the ordinance. Attorney Walden asked for a short amount of time to review the current ordinance so that he could work out appropriate language and find the specific reasoning for there being two types of licenses initially saying if it wasn’t an emergency, he would request a stay until next meeting which was honored.
A bit of dissension on the Dumpster and Fencing around it Policy agenda item raised it’s head last night. It was discovered the current agreement with Republic doesn’t end until March of 2020 rather than within the next few months as was previously expressed. New questions arose in the form of “what constitutes a load” and officials are awaiting to hear more about an electronic gate from Kieffer Lumber including pricing. While the vote was to table the matter once again, Mayor Thompson and Commissioner Tyler Howell voted no indicating they wanted to see movement on the measure.
There was no action taken following the early meeting executive session. We expected to hear about some changes within the Grayville Police Department. Commissioner Chris James voted No when it came to resuming regular session…difficult to read the reasoning on that, but it was noteworthy.
Maintenance Supervisor Scott Irvine, in his report, explained what happened last Monday when critically low water levels made for a day of scrambling throughout Grayville.
Finally of note, Attorney Jay Walden says to expect a “boatload” of ordinance violations to be coming in and jokingly said it may amount to enough work to make the city attorney want to walk away from it all, but on a positive note, he thinks the city has gotten the attention of some of those regular violators. Commissioner Jordan noted oil income of $1,236.21 since last update and Commissioner James warned residents against mowing grass clippings and leaving them in roadways.
A Special Public Hearing is coming up on Friday at 10am. The meeting has been called in reference to Ordinance #875, which will grant an Oil and Gas Lease to Fischer and Fischer Oil. The Washington, Missouri based company was established in 1934. Current estimates show Fischer with about 30 employees and annual revenues exceeding 16 million dollars.
Grayville’s Treasurer report shows $2,226,817.95 in assets including more than $890,000 in investments, 1.1 million in restricted accounts and more than $6,000 in Bonds, leaving the city with nearly 150,000 in cash on hand.
