City of Baker approves marijuana dispensary application fee By Brad Mosher
Chamber donation
Jade Boggs, president of the Baker Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture presented Baker Public Schools superintendent Aaron Skogen with a check for the After School Program. The chamber donated the profit from the 3 on 3 basketball tournament held in July to the program.
Childers winner of Baker Chamber promotion
The first winner of the Be A Winner! Shop In Baker! promotion, sponsored by the Baker Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, was Sid Childers of Marmarth, ND. He received $25 in Baker Bucks.
Baker Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture Christmas Lighting contest winners
bmosher@countrymedia.net The City Council has approved a resolution establishing a fee for marijuana business applications at its Dec. 2 meeting. According to Mayor Steve Zachmann, the decision set the fee at $500 for submitting a marijuana business related application in the City of Baker. “The ordinance was originally established in 2006 or 2007,” the mayor explained. “There was not an application fee established at that time.” “This isn’t directly related to the vote in November. The medical marijuana law has been in place for a number of years. But, we did have some interest in applying for a medical marijuana dispensary in town. That is why we established the fee.” “The recreational marijuana thing is a whole different ball game, so to speak,” he explained. “That will be something that the state, the attorney general and legislature will be working through some guidelines on that and how it will affect municipalities.” According to the mayor, the recreational marijuana did pass in Montana but had a provision in the referendum that municipalities and counties could ask their electorate to approve or disapprove of the sale of recreational marijuana in that area. “It can be left up to the citizens,” he said. “It is my understanding that the governing bodies themselves can not deny on their own. It has to go through the electorate. The local governing bodies can pass a resolution to not allow it until the electorate has a chance to vote on it,” he said. In addition, the recent passage of the marijuana referendum still leaves a lot of details which have to be worked out at each level, from the state down to the local levels. “Under federal law, it is still a controlled substance and is not legal,” the mayor warned. “Even though the state of Montana allows for the sale of small amounts of recreational marijuana and the possession of small amounts of medical marijuana … it still can have an impact on employment, especially in the trucking industry, heavy equipment operations and in the oil fields.” Officially, ballot initiatives I-90 and CI-118 legalized the recreational use of marijuana for adults in Montana over the age of 21. I-90, which was called the Montana Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, set up guidelines to follow and a 20 per-
cent tax on recreational marijuana sales by vendors that are licensed. It also allowed individual counties to prohibit dispensaries through a local vote of citizens. It also set up a deadline of Oct. 1, 2021 for the state’s Department of Revenue to create the rules and regulations … and accepting/issuing dispensary applications. CI-118 was a constitutional amendment which set the minimum age allowing purchase at 21 years old. The state and county officials are getting together soon and the mayor said that the recent passage of the two ballot measures and how to structure the framework for the dispensaries and usage should be on their agenda. Other decisions In other agenda items, the council finalized the agreement which connected the local gun range to the city water system. “There were some edits made to the document and it has been finalized. The water has been delivered. This was just a formality to tidy things up.” With the closure of the city recreation department because of COVID-19 and budget constraints, the council also had to finalize closing the positions. “This was a formality terminating those positions and those employees that had been furloughed will receive their severance pay,” the mayor explained. There has been structure changes to what had been the recreation department. “The after-school program has been taken over by the school system and with support of the county. The county is helping with expenses there as well as contributions from the community,” the mayor explained. “We used to be quite active here (Recreation Department). It used to fulfill some needs for youth and families as well as adults.” “The city is not planning on re-establishing the Recreation Department on its own because of budget constraints.” “But, we have done pretty well in this community coming up with solutions for different things. We are hopeful that will happen (again).” “If we get past this current situation with COVID-19 and get some improvements in that area, that could shed a whole new light on things,” the mayor said hopefully. Also, City Councilor Brittany Hoversland was selected to be on the Mainstreet Grant Committee. The council also completed some formalities which were connected to the promotion of Kyle Rogge to foreman in the city’s Public Works Department.
1st Place - Jason & Lisa Dulin
2nd Place - Kory Dolph & Taylee Tolzein
Children and adults add some color to Santa Days in Marmarth as they chalk up Main Street in downtown as part of the annual celebration Saturday afternoon. PHOTOS/Brad Mosher
Santa makes stop in Marmarth for slightly smaller Santa Days Staff Report
3rd Place - Allan & Trish Barth
Sometimes masks made it hard to get a good look at Santa as one visitor found out Saturday when his mask started to climb up and cover his eyes while talking to him outside the historic Mystic Theater in Marmarth.
Santa Days in Marmarth looked a little different Saturday as the community started celebrating its first COVID-19 Christmas. With little fanfare, Santa took up his location at the front of the historic Mystic Theater at 2 p.m., drawing visits from dozens of children and even a few who had left their childhood behind. He had visits from infants, toddlers and even a few teenagers. But when he left, the focus for the chil-
dren turned to playing games and activities on the middle of Main Street in the small Slope County community on Highway 12. According to one of the organizers, Laurie Reichenberg of nearby Pastime, it was a perfect day for the event, thanks to clear skies and temperatures in the mid to high 40s. The Santa Days had games which included a potato carry when competitors had to carry with no hands and drop the tuber into a bucket will competing against the clock. They also had a variation of a
cranberry toss... using only their mouths to send them flying down the street. The children also got a chance to chalk up Main Street with drawings before eventually heading inside for more craft oriented activities, Reichenberg added. The annual event was sponsored by the Marmarth Ambulance Service, the Marmarth Community Club and the City of Marmarth. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the Santa Days events had been canceled.