Logan County Board says no to marijuana dispensaries and hooka lounges; prepares to ask voters to approve funds for courthouse repairs

 

[October 17, 2019] 

On Tuesday, October 15, the Logan County Board held its Regular voting session with several motions from various committees.

Board members present were Dave Blankenship, Emily Davenport, Janet Estill, Bob Farmer, Cameron Halpin, David Hepler, Steve Jenness, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker, Annette Welch and Jim Wessbecher.

Board votes whether unincorporated areas of the county may sell marijuana

Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman David Hepler brought forward two motions.

The first was a motion to disallow marijuana dispensaries. The committee has discussed the issue for the past couple months and looked at various sides of the issue.

In previous discussions, some board members had expressed concern about allowing dispensaries, though others said they would support allowing them.

The motion to disallow passed with an 8-4 vote.

Blankenship, Estill, Farmer, Hepler, Jenness, Sanders, Schaffenacker and Wessbecher voted yes.

Davenport, Halpin, Ruben and Welch voted no.

No hooka lounges

The second motion, which was to disallow hookah lounges and similar establishments was unanimously approved.

Plan to pay for courthouse dome and roof repair expenses

Building and Grounds Chairman Dave Blankenship brought forward a motion to place a request for a tax for building repair on the spring ballot:

- a resolution providing for and requiring the submission to the voters of the county of the proposition to impose a public facility sales tax at the general primary election to be held on the 17th day of March 2020.

The board voted in August to move forward with a Proposition to Increase Local Sales Taxes for Public Facilities Purposes. This tax would be Option 4 on the ballot and the question posed will be: To pay for courthouse restoration, shall the county of Logan, Illinois be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by one-half percent with a 20-year Sunset Clause?

A tax for public facilities purposes relates to “the acquisition, development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, financing, architectural planning, and installation of capital facilities consisting of buildings, structures and durable equipment.”

The facilities tax is also “for the acquisition and improvement of real property and interest in real property required, or expected to be required, in connection with the public facilities, for use by the county for the furnishing of governmental services to its citizens.”

The resolution was unanimously approved by the board.

[Angela Reiners]