SALEM — The question of whether to permit a marijuana dispensary within the city remains stalled for further discussion.

City council first voted to place a moratorium on the issuance of building permits and or certificates of occupancy for any building, structure, use, or change of use that would enable the cultivation, processing or retail sale of recreational marijuana in city limits on Jan. 16, 2024. At that time the moratorium was set to be temporary — a 12-month stopgap while state and local officials solidified how to implement the changes enacted by the passage of Ohio Issue Two and the legalization of marijuana in the state and to solidify the regulatory systems which would govern its production and sale. However, that moratorium was extended indefinitely, with a call by Councilman Ron Zellers to revisit the matter in February being met with strong opposition from residents in council’s Jan. 18 meeting, and equally strong calls from residents to permit a dispensary in council’s April 15 meeting.

In council’s meeting Tuesday, prior to discussing a proposed resolution which would place the issue of permitting a dispensary on the ballot in November for residents to vote on, council was addressed by Michael Dombrowski, owner of Mike’s Meds and More. Dombrowski previously spoke in favor of permitting a dispensary in April and did so again Tuesday, arguing that communities with dispensaries across the state were seeing as much as 25% more traffic entering their community, and that increased traffic would increase the likelihood of businesses choosing to open within the community. He also argued that a dispensary would create new permanent jobs within the city, jobs which are comparatively resistant to automatization, for years to come.

Another resident asked if city council had done any research which would substantiate those potential benefits for local businesses. Councilman Andrew Null said that the city council’s investigations have been more centralized on the legalities of a potential implementation and have not yet reached the point of investigating the potential economic development impact.

“We haven’t done a deep dive into the economic benefits quite yet, when the state doesn’t know how they’re going to handle it and we talk to our law enforcement and they’re not sure how to handle it, and the money from the dispensary can’t be handled at the federal level, we want to make sure we have all that sorted out before we take the next steps,” said Null. “We’re trying to do our due diligence to make sure our citizens are safe, and our police forces are in lockstep with what we want to do. We want to lay that foundation first and once that’s in place, then we’ll move forward and do a deep dive into [the economic impacts.] I think it’s great to bring up those question, but we’re trying to take things slow and try to wade our way through the weeds right now.”

While Zellers made a motion to suspend council rules so that the resolution could be discussed by council without being discussed at the committee level first, every member of city council except himself voted against the motion. As a result, the resolution could not be formally presented for council consideration, and no vote could be taken for passage. Instead, Null motioned to refer the resolution to the committee of the whole for further discussion by all the members of council before voting.

“I feel such an important measure should involve every member of city council,” said Null.

The council ultimately voted unanimously to refer the resolution to the committee.

The city council canceled its next regular meeting on June 17 and will meet next at 7 p.m. July 1.