Southaven to hold public hearing on cannabis zoning

Hernando approves hiring new police department personnel

SOUTHAVEN: Southaven aldermen Tuesday moved to advertise for a June 7 public hearing date as it begins the process to zone for medical cannabis in the city, when the city decides to opt into the new law passed by the 2022 state Legislature.

Southaven opted out of the law before the May 2 deadline to allow it to get the zoning issues settled. 

The board would have to change its comprehensive zoning plan to form a medical commercial zone where medical cannabis could be sold in the city. The comprehensive zoning plan would reflect the use of medical marijuana as part of the “Medical Uses” listed in the plan.  

Aldermen also approved an ordinance that would allow the driving use of golf carts on residential streets in subdivisions where the speed limit is 25 miles per hour or less. 

“All of your arterial roads and your big collector streets are going to have speed limits higher than 25 miles per hour,” said Mayor Darren Musselwhite. “It’s a way to allow a quality-of-life thing for the people that like it. It also allows golf carts at controlled intersection crosswalks.”

Golf carts will not be allowed on any state highways or federal highways that are not interstate highways, so no golf carts on Goodman Road or Highway 51, for instance.  

HERNANDO:  Mayor Chip Johnson told aldermen the city to this point in the fiscal year was $328,000 above last year’s sales tax numbers, but Johnson added because of the way the budget proposal was initially put together, the budget numbers thus far are actually better than that. 

“Even though we are around $328,000 above in actual numbers, we are about $440,000 above our budget in sales tax numbers,” Johnson said. 

The mayor told the board he was not sure why the numbers are coming in higher than originally projected and that property tax numbers were coming in higher this early.

The discussion came as Johnson asked the board to fill two new positions in the police department that had been held back originally to see where the dollars fell through the first six months of the fiscal year. The city also wants a sally port built, a secure separate entry into the Hernando police station where prisoners can be transferred into and from a squad car.  

Following discussion, aldermen moved to authorize the hiring of the two additional police personnel and to authorize the advertising of bids for the sally port. The vote was 6-1 with Alderman Chad Wicker the only ‘no’ vote on the motion. 

Without discussion board members approved a resolution for the DeSoto County Hazard Mitigation Plan and new Parks Director Jared Barkley will sign an agreement with Tinkergarten for Nature Play classes in Conger Park. Ten percent of the revenue would go to the city. 

OLIVE BRANCH: Olive Branch aldermen heard presentations from three people who spoke about their nonprofit organizations. The three were Leonard Cochran, Executive Director of Leah’s House; Angelina Hines, Executive Director/Founder of Ella Bebe Angels; and Rebecca Treadway, Executive Director of the Arc Northwest Mississippi.  

Mayor Ken Adams presented two Mayor’s Awards. One was to IT Director Josh Cornell and the other was a group award to members of the Parks and Recreation Department who put together a recent tournament that was said to be the largest the city has ever had.