Ritzville City Council discusses marijuana ordinance

The Ritzville City Council reviewed and discussed Ordinance No. 2105 pertaining to establishing regulations for marijuana production, processing and retail sales within the city limits during their meeting on Thursday, Jan. 19. The meeting had been postponed due to weather conditions.

The Ritzville Boy Scouts began the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and Scout Leader Bill Banner expressed his gratitude to the Council for allowing the scouts to participate in the meeting.

Clerk-Treasurer Kris Robbins presented the ordinance and stated the Planning Commission recommended the Council review the document and note any changes they would like to take place prior to adopting it at the next meeting.

Robbins said a member of the Planning Commission would be present at the next meeting on Feb. 7 to answer any questions about the ordinance.

A public hearing will be held prior to the next council meeting and adopting the ordinance in order to give the public an opportunity to voice opinions about the details of the rules and regulations.

At their last meeting on Jan. 3, the Council approved a 60-day extension to the temporary marijuana moratorium to allow the planning commission additional time to work on the document, Robbins added.

Councilmember Dennis Chamberlain voiced his concern about directly quoting the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) due to the constant changes.

Robbins said while discussing this issue with City Attorney Mark DeWulf, he recommended they quote the RCW and also have it written out in their own verbiage to avoid the issue.

The Collective Garden is still a concern, stated Councilmember Michelle Plumb, as the city’s current collective garden does not match the RCWs.

Robbins said when they began the process of regulating the marijuana industry, they used an ordinance from Ephrata. At the time, collective gardens were not regulated.

When the state changed the distance where established industries were allowed from 1,000 feet to 500 feet, they also changed the collective gardens regulation, she added. Chamberlain recommended the Council documents state collective gardening is not permitted in any zoning districts or residential areas in the city.

He also suggested they state home businesses would not be allowed in residential areas.

Mayor Gary Cook announced DeWulf informed him any marijuana businesses who had not begun a legal application prior to the moratorium were not allowed to move forward.

Robbins stated a zoning map would be provided to the Council at the next meeting for them to review.

During the Mayor’s update portion of the meeting, Cook said he would be meeting with the city’s grant writing group about a grant offered through rural development. The group is looking to use the money from the grant to help fund public safety services, he explained.

Robbins then announced the city had received an offer for the property located at old high school and it is currently being reviewed. While discussing the property with DeWulf, he suggested the city declare a surplus on the property, but are currently waiting for the bidder to sign the agreement for legal reasons, she explained.

Public Works Director Larry Swift requested approval for the cost of the annual contract from Land Profile in Spokane required by the Department of Ecology pertaining to irrigation crop management plan for the city’s waste water plant. The amount totaled $6,795, which had already been included in the budget, said Swift.

The Council motioned to approve the contract amount.

Due to the shaft on Well No. 8 breaking, Swift said they are looking into their options of either fixing the issue or using the well as a back up.

He also announced the transmission on one of the city’s snow plows went out and they are currently discussing the cost of the repair.

Police Chief Dave McCormick announced he contacted Keiser Mechanical Services Incorporated to fix the heating unit in the department building. After making three separate trips to the city, McCormick said the mechanic found the problem to be the main blower motor on the furnace.

The bill totaled $611, which is a much lower cost than the previous company they had look at the problem charged them, he explained.

Robbins reported she is currently working on the year-end report to present to the Finance Committee and the city had a total of 100 dog licenses issued for 2016.

Ritzville Fire Chief Bill Banner announced former Ritzville Fire Chief, Jim Bostic, died and the department held a flag lowering ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 18, in his honor. He said the flag would remain at half mass until Sunday, Jan. 22, in remembrance of Bostic.

Banner then informed the council they had a problem with one of the department’s ladder trucks during a training session, which required the vehicle to be towed back to the station.

After having Pete’s Autoshop Services work on the vehicle, they discovered the truck’s fuel gauge was faulty.

Banner said in order to prevent the problem from happening again, he spoke to the city officers and crew members about establishing a regular fueling schedule for the vehicle.

He then presented the Council with an annual department report for 2016. Banner said last year proved to be a busy one for the department as the number of calls for service they ran increased from 43 calls in 2015, to 68 in 2016.

The number of calls for the volunteer personal totaled 153 emergency calls for service for Ritzville and surrounding fire districts, stated Banner.

Banner then informed them he contacted the Washington Fire Chief Association about installing the National Fire Incident Reporting Systems for the department. The software is free of charge and is used for fire departments to report on their activities, including emergency medical services and equipment involved in the response.

He said the Washington Fire Chief Association agreed to help install the software.

Ritzville Downtown Development Association representative Corey Umland said the committee is currently looking into repairing the neon sign for downtown, which recently burnt out.

License, Rules and Permits Committee representative Scott Yaeger said the committee has gathered examples from surrounding cities in order to draft an ordinance for false alarms calls.