November - Early December 2015
www.oceanpinestoday.com
Vol. 11, No. 9
443-359-7527
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress Commissioners refuse to endorse Showell elementary plan
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
County declines to support medical marijuana applicants Individual commissioners may decide to write personal letters of endorsement, but as a board and governmental entity, they opt to keep arm’s length from business people who want to take advantage of new state law By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer hile not objecting to the notion of a medical marijuana cultivation site in the county, the Worcester County Commissioners have declined to offer their support to individual applicants for the 15 state licenses that will become available later this month. The topic wasn’t listed on the commissioners’ agenda but at the close of their Nov. 3 meeting, Merry Mears, the county’s newly appointed economic development director, approached the commissioners with a request for a letter of support from one potential applicant for a medical marijuana grow license. The state law provides for 15 sites, which could be located anywhere in Maryland, where medical cannabis can be grown and processed. The law also authorizes 94 dispensaries statewide, two in each Senate district. “This is something that could be a little bit of an economic boon to the county,” she said. Mears, who was just promoted a few weeks ago from assistant to economic development director, said she has been approached during the last several months by numerous people who are considering applying for a license to medical marijuana. While many of them
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how to best reach out to county officials, so far only one has formally asked for a letter of support to submit along with their application to the state. “They are conc e r n e d other counties are supportive and providing letters” of endorsement for companies interested in
cultivate and process wanted to know
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bringing grow and processing facilities to their jurisdictions, Mears said. Commissioner Bub Church said he too has been contacted by parties who intend to apply for a license to operate in Worcester County. He said he met with one applicant “reluctantly.” H e asked Mears for her recommendation regarding letters of support. “This is coming. This is a statewide initiative,” she responded, adding that with the licenses come opportunities for employment for local residents and revenue for the counties in which they ultimately locate. She said she would be inclined to provide the requested letter of support but added that as economic development director she is looking at the opportunity from a different perspective than elected officials. She acknowledged that “it is somewhat sensitive” politically and “not a lot of people have taken time to become educated on” the issue. Mears said the applicant who requested a letter of support is an established business person in the Snow Hill area and has an existing facility that To Page 9
The Worcester County Commissioners and the Board of Education have reached an impasse over the cost of constructing a new Showell Elementary School. Unable to persuade the school board to revise its student population and cost-perstudent per-square-foot estimates for the proposed new school to fit within the $38 million the county is willing to allocate for it, the commissioners have refused to sign off on supporting the project. The commissioners instead voted to send a letter to the state Interagency of School Construction detailing why they will not endorse the school system’s plan. ~ Page 4
Collins calls for fee reduction, renovation of Beach Club Ocean Pines Association Director Jack Collins is not exactly saluting and playing nice with OPA Treasurer Tom Terry’s proposed budget guidance to the general manager as he and his staff draft a new budget for 2016-17. Indeed, during the Board of Directors’ Nov. 29 monthly meeting, Collins read into the record a onepage document that while not expressly critical of budget criteria drafted by Terry, nonetheless took a few shots at the process used in its drafting. ~ Page 10
Directors still working on budget guidance to GM So much for arriving at “budget guidance” to the general manager in October, something that Ocean Pines Association director Bill Cordwell insisted on during the Board of Directors’ September meeting. With Cordwell out of town and unable to attend the board’s Oct. 29 regular meeting, the directors were unable to finalize instructions to the general manager as he and his staff work on preparing the 2016-17 draft budget for release in January. ~ Page 19
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