Medical Cannabis not put on November ballot for City of Louisa

By Roberta Cantrell

BSN Editor

The Louisa City Council met in regular session Tuesday with an agenda including a medical cannabis ordinance, tax rates and motor vehicle taxes.

After calling the meeting to order and approving old business the city council discussed adopting an ordinance to separate itself from the county on sales of medical marijuana if it is passed in the November election.

The Lawrence County Fiscal Court voted in the meeting last month to accept putting it on the November ballot while the city council at that time voted against it.

However, the city said they aren’t sure they want to separate themselves from the county if the county votes yes to the sale of medical cannabis.

“We voted against putting it on the ballot before we knew what the county was gonna do,” said Councilwoman Rose Lester.

Mayor Harold Slone said according to the state legislation although they deemed medical cannabis a necessity, they still have allowed each county and city in the state of Kentucky to decide for themselves, however, if they do nothing the state would allow the sales for those counties who did not act either way.

“I don’t use it and I don’t plan on using it,” said Mayor Slone. “I’m not looking at it as revenue, I’m looking at it as it’s beneficial.”

Councilman Keith Chaffin said he doesn’t think it’s the medical part that is bad and if the people who want to use it for recreational use want to smoke it there are going to find a way to get it anyway.

The council voted to table the decision until after the election saying they will let the county speak before they decide.

The request for 2024 motor vehicle and watercraft property tax rates letter KRS 132.487 was set at 0.456 per $100. of assessed value.

Setting property tax rates for 2024 was also a marked item on the agenda.

The council was given three choices one was to lower the rate from .240 (that was set last year) to .238, keep them the same or raise them to .247.

Mayor Harold Slone made the suggestion to keep them the same and so the council, in agreement, voted to do so.

City Councilman Joey McClanahan, along with Councilman Caleb Farley are heading the committee to do a time capsule for Louisa/Lawrence County.

McClanahan said the council approved start-up funding for to get the project going.

The city will bury the time capsule before the end of 2024 to coincide with the city’s yearlong bicentennial celebration and will be offered to city and county residents.

The way the project will work according to the committee is manila envelopes with an official seal will be sold for $20 with a suggestion of handwritten letters, as many as you can fit in them and addressed to your descendants and when the capsule is opened in 2074 they will receive what was written to them by you 50 years in the past.

The time capsule committee will also be forming a committee of current Lawrence County High School students to oversee the opening of the time capsule in 50 years.

As soon as materials are ready to be sold, they can be purchased or dropped off at the Lawrence County Public Library and there will be a spot at Septemberfest where they can be purchased. All money raised will go toward paying for the cost of materials, burial vault, labor for burying it and marking stone. Any proceeds exceeding those costs will go to city improvements.

Burial location and dates are still being determined.

“I was one year old when the City of Russell buried their time capsule which was opened just opened this past June after 50 years,” said McClanahan. “I received four letters from my parents, grandparents and great grandparents and great grandmother and those letters were more precious than gold to me. I wanted to bring that joy to Louisa and Lawrence County families.”

The committee will also be seeking help from Lawrence County Tourism and Louisa Rotary Club to promote the time capsule in the coming weeks. “Be watching Lawrence County Library and City of Louisa Facebook pages for when sales go live begins as well as Big Sandy News,” said McClanahan.