The Marijuana Advisory Committee will present a letter they penned to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission which asks the OLCC to consider making an exception to its licensing suspension for new marijuana producers, which was enacted through Senate Bill 218.

Senate Bill 218 was signed into law in July, and its purpose was to curb surplus marijuana created in Oregon. Business Insider reported in April that Oregon had as much as 1 million pounds of unsold marijuana.

This issue is created because the surplus product cannot be shipped outside of the state.

The bill gives the OLCC the ability to limit the number of permits issued to growers in order to solve this problem, but the Marijuana Advisory Committee argues that areas like Klamath Falls are negatively affected by this law because they have only recently allowed marijuana businesses.

“Whereas Senate Bill 218 became effective in June 2019, revised local standards governing the siting of non-retail recreational marijuana facilities became effective July 2019 after the Senate Bill’s passage,” the letter states.

The letter argues that the local marijuana retailers are forced to get the product from sources outside the county, placing the city in an economically disadvantaged position due to the loss of tax revenue, locally circulating dollars, and jobs that could have been created.

“Local retailers estimate more than $2 million per year is spent outside of Klamath Falls to bring product into the City — money that would otherwise remain in the region, spurred by new producer and increased processor and retailer transactions — and that number will only continue to increase as planned retailers open,” the letter continues.

The council will be voting on whether or not to approve the letter and send it to the OLCC.

Economic Improvement District

The long-discussed downtown Economic Improvement District will be a topic of conversation. The city has hosted two public meetings and also provided an online survey on this matter.

The EID is on a five-year renewal cycle and is due to expire and be renewed in the coming year. It was originally created in 2004 to offset maintenance costs downtown. The proposal for the renewal is for a three-year term.

The proposal lines out a structure in which property owners will be charged an annual fee of $2.42 per linear foot of street-fronting property on Main Street and a $1.21 per linear foot of street-fronting property on other streets within the district.

The fee is not to exceed $303.62 per year for any single property. The fee will increase by 10% every year for three years.

The fund pays for things like garbage and snow removal, flowers, benches and banners downtown.

The council could introduce the resolution by title only, or move to approve it, or council could move to schedule another public meeting about the EID.

The council will vote on whether or not to approve a liquor license for a new restaurant, bar and nightclub, which is located in the same building as Mazatlan Grill Restaurant and is called Noa-Noa.

Mayor Carol Westfall will present a certificate of service to Ronald Milligan for 10 Years of Service in the Public Works Wastewater Division.