JAY — Residents will be asked in November to consider allowing adult marijuana businesses in town, repealing a fireworks ordinance and allowing the Fire Department to recover certain costs for services.
Town officials are working with an attorney to draft a “very simple ordinance” to address adult use marijuana cultivation and manufacturing, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said. The ordinance will be titled Ordinance to Allow and Regulate Adult Use Marijuana Cultivation Facilities and Adult Use Marijuana Products Manufacturing Facilities,” according to LaFreniere.
Jay resident Mark Mancini previously asked the Select Board to consider a revote to allow adult-use marijuana cultivation and manufacturing businesses to go before voters Nov. 2.
In April 2019, residents voted 204-200 to reject the operation of adult-use and medical marijuana stores, cultivation and product manufacturing facilities.
Voters will also be asked if they want to repeal the Jay Consumer Fireworks Ordinance approved by voters June 11, 2013. The ordinance outlines the hours of use and the type of fireworks allowed, and requires a permit from the Fire Rescue Department.
The ordinance is not working, LaFreniere said. If it’s repealed, the town will follow state law.
Another article will ask voters to consider adopting a Fire Department Services Cost Recovery Ordinance. It would allow the town to seek payment for the cost of services provided by the Fire Rescue Department to nonresidents, or upon request of mutual aid from other municipalities, according to the draft document.
Residents may be billed for calls involving negligence or repeated false fire and/or sprinkler alarms after three incidents in a 12-month period, and car accidents related to negligence.
Services the town will seek payment for include those involving hazardous materials, vehicle crashes and/or fires, and aircraft crashes and/or aircraft fires. Other services include standby for utility lines in roads caused by crashes and any other incident as determined by the fire chief.
Voters will also be asked whether to exclude its full-time public works and town office staff hired on or after Dec. 31, 2021, from participating in a regular plan with Maine Public Employees Retirement System. Full-time is defined as 35 or more hours a week, 52 weeks a year.
They will also be asked to appropriate up to $70,000 from the undesignated fund for payment to the retirement system for the associated partial withdrawal liability as outlined in the system’s rules.
If approved, it would authorize the Select Board to enter into an amended agreement between Maine Public Employees Retirement System under the terms and conditions they deem in the best interest of the town. It would also authorize LaFreniere to sign any documents necessary to amend the agreement.
The retirement system option was previously eliminated from the union contracts involving the Public Works Department and between the board and Town Office, LaFreniere said.
The Maine Municipal Association told LaFreniere to overestimate the amount needed for payment because the actual amount will not be known until October of November, she said.
There are still positions in the town that have Maine Public Employees Retirement System, she said.
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