Merced to talk about marijuana dispensaries, crime stats at meeting

Hiring a marijuana dispensary consultant and the city’s latest crime statistics are on the agenda for Tuesday’s regular Merced City Council meeting.

The council will meet at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 678 W. 18th St. The meeting was bumped a day due to the Presidents Day holiday Monday.

City staff members will ask the council to hire Fairfield-based SCI Consulting Group to suggest regulations and set up a process to select the city’s four medical marijuana dispensaries, according to records. The $108,290 contract is compatible with Proposition 64, the voter initiative that legalized recreational marijuana, according to city staffers.

The consulting group has worked with San Luis Obispo County and the cities of Avalon, Coalinga, La Mesa and Vallejo, according to records.

Last summer, a split Merced council approved four medical marijuana dispensaries and indoor cultivation.

The dispensaries would be allowed in commercial offices, but the council said the city will not take applications from potential dispensary owners until the city has a regulatory system in place.

The council Tuesday will also weigh whether to change its meeting times. The staff has asked the council to move regular Monday meetings to 6 p.m.

The council already has made changes this year on how meetings operate, moving the public speaking dais from an elevated platform to the side of the council to a ground-level podium directly in front of the members. A number of city department heads also now sit flanking the council.

Police Chief Norm Andrade is scheduled to present the city’s latest crime statistics, according to records. The city of Merced reported one homicide in 2016, after reporting 11 homicides in 2015 and 15 violent deaths in 2014.

Andrade has said the plunge in homicides likely was the result of a combination of factors, including the work of the Gang Violence Suppression Unit, which pulled more than 100 guns off the street last year. That, the chief has said, along with the countywide gang task force, improvements in “predictive policing” technology, “excellent police work” and help from residents contributed to the downturn.

City Council meetings are streamed live on the internet; a link to the meeting and past videos is at www.cityofmerced.org. The meeting is also shown live on Comcast’s Government Channel 96.

This story was originally published February 20, 2017 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Merced to talk about marijuana dispensaries, crime stats at meeting."