Mayor Beech Forms City Strategic Planning Committee
The Cordell city council changed its course on medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits and voted unanimously to reduce the permit fees established at the council’s last meeting. On a motion from council president Steve McLaughlin, the council voted unanimously to set the initial permit application fee at $500 and the annual renewal fee at $100. The fees were set at $2,500 for the initial fee and $2,500 for the annual renewal during the council’s Aug. 5, 2019, regular meeting.
During the discussion council members referenced the driving factor in the permit fees as being the city’s costs to perform the required inspections, and discussed the permit fees charged by the city to other types of businesses, including liquor stores, pharmacies, and plumbing and electrical contractors.
During his opening remarks at the meeting, Mayor Jerry Beech announced he had randomly assigned three members of the city council to take part in a new strategic planning committee he has formed. The committee, he said, will look at all of the city’s assets, including financial assets, property, buildings, and personnel, and begin estbalishing long-term plans to best leverage and utilize those assets for the good of the city and its residents.
Beech asked council president Steve McLaughlin and council members James Newman and Vona Hicks to serve on the committee. In order to comply with Oklahoma open meetings and public records law, only three council members can serve on the committee with Beech. Any additional council members present would constitute a quorum of the city council.