ESCANABA — After years of discussion, the Escanaba City Council could approve the ordinance necessary to legalize commercial marijuana operations within the city Thursday. The council could also lay the groundwork to install surveillance cameras across the city.

MARIJUANA

Three ordinances related to marijuana are on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting: an ordinance authorizing and regulating adult use marijuana establishments, an ordinance amending the city’s zoning ordinance to regulate where marijuana establishments can locate, and an ordinance temporarily banning marijuana establishments within the city.

The ordinance authorizing commercial marijuana and the ordinance temporarily banning the businesses will both be introduced for the second time, have public hearings held, and potentially be adopted by the council Thursday. While the two ordinances may seem diametrically opposed, the ordinance banning commercial marijuana is being considered by the council to create a buffer between the authorization ordinance and a sunset clause in the city’s existing ordinance opting the city out of the state’s commercial marijuana law. If the Sept. 15 sunset is reached without the authorization and zoning ordinances in full effect, the suggested regulations in the state law would be the only rules for where, when and how commercial marijuana operations could operate in the city. The moratorium should give the city enough time to get its own rules in place.

The zoning ordinance, which specifies which types of commercial marijuana businesses can locate in each of the city’s zoning classifications, will be subject to its first reading Thursday. A second reading, public hearing and the ordinance’s possible adoption is tentatively planned for Sept. 15.

SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS

The discussion of installing surveillance cameras across the city to reduce crime was requested by City Manager Patrick Jordan. Exactly where these cameras would — or could — be installed is unclear based on documents released by the city prior to Thursday’s meeting, however the city is looking at surveillance services through Flock Safety.

Based in Atlanta, Ga., Flock Safety provides cities with solar-powered surveillance cameras and related support. The services cost $2,500 per camera, per year, including hardware, software, solar power, data, cloud storage, ongoing maintenance, and access to license plate data collected by the system. Flock claims the service reduces crime by up to 60%.

WATER

The water department has two expenditure requests on the agenda. First, the water department will ask to purchase a tandem trailer with under-body tool boxes at a cost not to exceed $25,857 from 2 & 41 Sales of Rapid River. The water department will then ask the council to approve the hire and retention of C2AE of Escanaba for the completion of an EGLE Clean Water State Revolving Fund project plan in an amount not to exceed $54,000.

PUBLIC WORKS

The public works department will ask the council to approve hiring Payne and Dolan, of Gladstone, for paving in 2022-23. Payne and Dolan was the only company to bid on the project, presenting a bid of $1,211,650 to complete the project as presented by the city.

LAND SALE

The city will consider selling property on North 32nd Street to Servpro of The Upper Peninsula, which intends to expand with a physical location in Escanaba. The company has placed a bid of $16,500 for the land, which has an appraised value of $15,000 and a value of $16,500 according an opinion from the city assessor.

ROAD CLOSURE

The council will also consider closing 8th Avenue South and South 11th Street on Sunday, Sept. 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the “Dance for Hope” event, sponsored by The Red House UP.

JAIL REDEVELOPMENT

Once again, a discussion on the current status of the sales and redevelopment projects planned for the sites of the former Delta County Jail and Chamber of Commerce properties is also included on the agenda. This unfinished business item has been a relatively brief portion of recent meetings, with Jordan filling the council in on the state of negotiations and related documents and contracts.

The updates will remain a staple of city meetings until the issue of the properties sales is completed, when it can be officially removed from under the “unfinished business” banner.