Alexander Planning Commission sends medical marijuana dispensary proposal to city council

In a unanimous vote the Alexander Planning Commission agreed to recommend the Alexander City Council accept the request to establish a medical marijuana dispensary in the city. If approved by the council, the location of the dispensary will be the former funeral home near the corner of Highway 5 and Alexander Road.

Speaking for the group of investors present and their corporation (Natural State Medical Group), Dr. James Adametz presented their proposal to commission members and others in attendance. Also attending the meeting were Mayor Paul Mitchell and council members Harold Timmerman (Ward-2), Dan Church (Ward-3) and Joe Pollard (Ward-1).

Adametz said their plan is to first open as a dispensary and eventually grow some marijuana plants inside the building, or possibly in a green house. He explained that state law allows dispensaries to, “Cultivate a small number of plants.”

“I am a neurosurgeon,” Adametz said. “I treat pain, mostly chronic pain.”

“I got interested in this because I think it’s one more tool for doctors to treat chronic pain,” he added.

Adametz said he tries to avoid prescribing opiates. Citing 2017 statistics he said, “411 people died in Arkansas from opiate overdoses. In states where medical marijuana passed that number goes down by about 25-percent. We literally could save a hundred lives this year by having medical marijuana as an option. That kinda sold me.”

Planning commission member Tonya Prowse said the Arkansas Heart Summit had “released a statement” that opiate overdose deaths have declined since medical marijuana became available “this century.”

Adametz cited other medical issues that can be helped by medical marijuana including arthritis, fibromyalgia, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “[I]t’s safer than Valium (for PTSD),” he said.

“As much as I had some additional concerns, as I suspect some of you do,” he said. “It’s a safer alternative than the typical pharmaceuticals we have. We believe it will bring benefits.”

Besides health benefits there are some financial ones as well. Adametz noted they will be hiring ten employees at first and another ten later on when they begin to grow and process their own plants.

In response to a question by planning commission vice-chairman Juanita Wilson concerning the type of employees to be hired, Adametz said the first ten employees will include an office manager; pharmacist assistant and counselors, “To help patients decide what’s best for them.” One of the investors is also a pharmacist.

Another financial benefit will include sales tax. Unlike regular pharmaceuticals medical marijuana purchases are taxed. According to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article, published August 26, sales of medical marijuana for May, June and July hit $6.04 million. The first dispensary opened in Hot Springs in May.

Wilson asked Adametz what he expected in sales. Adametz said sales could be at minimum $1 million per year. The city’s 3-cent sales tax would generate at least $30,000.00.

There was also a question concerning security.

“There will be cameras everywhere,” Adametz said.

In addition to cameras the doors will have finger-print activated locks and there will be, “[S]ome kind of guard on duty most of the time,” he added. “We don’t want to scare people off so it looks like they’re coming into a prison, but we do want to have very tight very good security.”

Prior to the vote Mayor Mitchell said he spoke to his department heads during their weekly meeting held on Tuesday. He said both the police chief and fire chief supported having a medical marijuana dispensary in the city. Adametz said he will want to meet with them.

What has put a time-crunch on this process was trying to locate the Circle-K developer who is considering buying the property. According to Adametz a developer wants to build a Circle-K on the Alexander Road end of the property. They’re plan was to only use one acre and sell the rest. Adametz said Circle-K has a contract giving them the option to buy the property until the end of the year, but they are still in the decision making process.

Since the Arkansas commission that oversees medical marijuana applications meets September 18, Adametz offered to buy the property and leave the one-acre area vacant until Circle-K decides what to do. According to Adametz this all came together last week.

He then contacted Planning Commission Chairman Michael Huck to determine how the property is zoned and the approval process. There were some questions as to whether special zoning was required, or just a special use permit. As it turns out neither.

Council member Dan Church contacted an attorney with the Arkansas Municipal League. According to Attorney John Wilkerson the property only needs to be zoned for drug stores or pharmacies. Since the property is zoned Highway Commercial, which includes Neighborhood Commercial, which includes drug stores, zoning is not an issue. Church was also told the council must approve the request.

As for the process, the planning commission was already trying to schedule a special meeting to make up for the regular meeting canceled earlier in August due to the lack of a quorum. The dispensary question was able to be added to the agenda before the special meeting was announced. Now that planning commission members have made the recommendation to approve the request it is up to council members to make the final decision.

Besides commission members Huck, Wilson and Prowse; Stephanie Beck was also present. Wilson is also a member of the city council representing Ward-2.

The city council’s next regular meeting is September 16. Adametz said the next meeting of the commission that approves dispensary applications is September 18. Mayor Mitchell will try to schedule a special meeting for the council on Tuesday, September 3.

If the council accepts the commission’s recommendation this dispensary will be the second one to open in Saline County. The other is in Hensley. There are two others waiting for approval in Little Rock along I-630.

In other business:

Planning commission members were able to get to the original purpose of the special meeting held Tuesday evening August 27. After some corrections commission members approved sending an ordinance to the city council that will establish fees concerning development and zoning regulations.

Earlier this summer the city council passed two ordinances written and approved by the planning commission. One was City of Alexander Subdivision Rules and Regulations and the other was City of Alexander Zoning Regulations. Each one makes references to fees the city did not have on the books. This new ordinance will address those issues.

Medical marijuana dispensary on Alexander Planning Commission agenda

The Alexander Planning Commission will hear a request from Dr. James Adametz who wants to establish a medical marijuana dispensary in Alexander. The location he has chosen is the corner of Alexander Road and Highway 5, where a funeral home once operated.

The proposal will be made during a special meeting that was already scheduled for Tuesday, August 27 at 6:30 PM. The meeting will be held in the courtroom at city hall. The public is invited to attend.

The original purpose for the special meeting was to make up for a regular meeting that had to be canceled due to the lack of a quorum. Besides the additional request to establish a medical marijuana dispensary, the agenda also includes one more discussion concerning an ordinance that will establish fees cited in the new Subdivision Rules and Regulations ordinance and the new Zoning Ordinance passed earlier this summer. The city attorney has given her approval on the language of the ordinance and now the planning commission members must vote to send it to the city council for final approval.

Alexander council keeps 1.5-mills tax rate

The Alexander City Council has decided to keep its current real and personal property tax rate of 1.5 mill for another year. The tax rate will be levied for the 2019 tax year to be collected in 2020.

In 2017 council members agreed to lower the tax rate from its normal 5-mils to 3-mills in anticipation of the passage of a one-cent sales tax in a November 2017 special election. Lowering the property tax rate was a promise made to voters in exchange for passage of the one-cent sales tax increase. The 3-mills rate was levied for the 2017 tax year collected in 2018.

Since the sales tax increase passed, at the suggestion of Mayor Paul Mitchell, the property tax rate was cut in half in 2018 to 1.5-mills. That rate is being used this year to calculate property taxes collected for 2018.

Mitchell told council members they have the option of cutting the rate in half again. It was decided to maintain the current rate, keeping the promise they made to city residents. Mitchell said this still gives Alexander the lowest property tax rate in Saline County.

In other action at the August 19 meeting;

Council members passed an ordinance amending an annexation ordinance that was passed in April. The annexation involved a 1.73-acre parcel added to the southwest corner of the property belonging to Ample Storage, located along Highway 5. Mayor Mitchell said the legal description of the parcel had an east west error in the legal description that placed it in Bryant instead of on the edge of Alexander.

At last month’s council meeting there were only five members present, which limited them to a first public reading of the ordinance. Six (two-thirds) are required to suspend the second and third readings and pass an emergency clause. There were seven council members present at the August meeting allowing the ordinance to be read by title for the second reading, the third reading was suspended and the emergency clause was passed allowing the ordinance to go into effect immediately.

Council members approved the sale of the police department’s two oldest cars purchased in 2008, the street department’s only single-axle dump truck and an Isuzu truck. The dump truck has been replaced by a twin-axle dump truck purchased from Government Surplus. This gives the street department two twin-axle trucks.

Another ordinance, “Permitting council members, officials, or municipal employees to conduct business with the City of Alexander” was approved by council members. This ordinance increases the annual dollar amount of, “compensation for the business” conducted with the City from $2,000, established by a previous ordinance, to $12,000. Mayor Mitchell said the $2,000 amount in the earlier ordinance was an error.

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, September 16 at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander council meeting tonight

The August meeting of the Alexander City Council is scheduled for tonight (August 19) 6 PM in the courtroom at city hall. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander issues over 15 thousand dollars in construction permits so far this year

The City of Alexander has issued 36 construction permits in the first seven months of 2019. Nearly all are for new residential construction, while three are for commercial construction. The amount collected so far is $15,382.00.

The Alexandrian will be posting new construction permits monthly. Below is a list of construction permits issued from January 1 to July 31.

Month - #Issued - Type   -   $Amount    -    Monthly Total

 Jan. .......... 1 ............ Res. ..... $    408.25 ......... $    408.25

 Feb. ......... 11 ........... Res. ..... $  3,745.75 ......... $ 3,745.75

 Mar. ......... 2 ........... Res. ..... $     678.25 ......... $    678.25

 Apr. .......... 5 ........... Res. ..... $ 2,735.25 ......... $ 2,735.25

 May .......... 3 ........... Res. ..... $     977.00

 May .......... 1 ........... Com. .... $     567.00 ......... $ 1,544.00

 June ......... 9 ........... Res. ..... $ 4,296.25

 June ......... 1 ........... Com. .... $ 1,080.00 ......... $ 5,376.25

 July .......... 2 ........... Res. ..... $     678.25

 July .......... 1 ........... Com. .... $     216.00 ......... $    894.25

The residential permits are for single-family homes in the new Meadow’s Edge subdivision and a five-unit apartment building at 13411 E. 1^st Street. The commercial permits are for construction at Ample Storage on Highway 5, USA Storage on Highway 111 and new office space at the corner of Cornerstone and Central Avenue.

In 2018 the dollar amount of permits issued for new construction was $20,341.25. At the end of June this year the total was $14.487.75, over half of the total dollar amount issued in 2018.

There’s a new judge in Alexander

(UPDATED, paragraphs two and three: Aug. 2, 2019)

The City of Alexander has a new judge. District Court Judge Josh Newton recently took over the cases tried in Saline County District Court, Alexander Department. He replaces Judge Stephanie Casady who is now permanently assigned to the Bryant court. Until now the judge serving in Bryant also covered the cases in Alexander.

His appointment to the Alexander court followed his appointment as a State District Court Judge. According to an article on MySaline.com Josh Newton, of Bryant, was appointed in May State District Court Judge for the 32nd District by Governor Asa Hutchinson. Newton’s term began July 1, 2019, and expires December 31, 2020. He replaces Judge Mike Robinson, who retired.

This will cause a change in the court schedule at Alexander. According to Accounting Department Office Manager and City Treasurer JoAn Churchill sometime later this year the day for court hearings will move from Mondays to Thursdays. “Better for him and better for us,” she said.

In the same MySaline.com article a bio of Judge Newton is provided. “Since 2015, Josh Newton has served as the primary attorney for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. From 2009 to 2015, Mr. Newton served in the Office of General Counsel in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has clerked for 8th Circuit Judge Lavenski R. Smith and federal bankruptcy Judge Margaret A. Mahoney. He is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas and the University of Arkansas School of Law. Newton volunteers for Project Zero, a non-profit for the benefit of foster children; the prison ministry Angel Tree; and as a coach of youth sports in Saline County. He and his wife, Shannon, have two children, Nash and Nyla.”

At the city’s July 15 meeting council members approved removing Judge Stephanie Casady from the court accounts at First Security Bank and replacing her name with Judge Newton. The accounts include Court Automation, Bond & Fine and Administration of Justice. Mayor Paul Mitchell was unable to provide a reason for the change in judges.

In other business:

The only other action item on the agenda involved amending an annexation ordinance passed in April. The annexation involved a 1.73-acre parcel added to the southwest corner of the property belonging to Ample Storage, located along Highway 5. Mayor Mitchell said the legal description of the parcel had an error that placed it in Bryant instead of on the edge of Alexander.

Unfortunately there were only five council members present, which meant the mayor could only conduct the first of three public readings. In order for the amended ordinance to take effect immediately it requires two-thirds, in Alexander’s case six, council members to override the three public readings requirement and invoke an emergency clause. If there are six council members present at the August meeting it should be able to go into effect then.

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, August 19 at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander Farmers Market Saturday

The Farmers Market is held in the city park every Saturday from now until September. The market is open from 8 AM to 1 PM.

There is no charge to vendors. Spaces under the pavilion are available for produce or craft based items only. Other vendors may set-up outside the pavilion.

Call 501-837-0885 for questions or set-up information.

Directions to park: Take N. Alexander Rd (Hwy. 111), to Robert Evans Street between bridge and Dollar General. Watch for signs. See map below.