Cannabis ordinance changes tabled

CLOVIS — The Curry County Commission on Tuesday tabled changes to the ordinance that sets conditions for cannabis businesses locating in unincorporated areas of the county.

Commissioners questioned whether distance requirements between cannabis businesses and homes should be the same as the 1,000-foot separation currently called for between cannabis businesses and schools, day care centers, cultural centers, community centers, public parks or government buildings.

District 4 Commissioner Seth Martin asked whether the commission should add a distance requirement between cannabis businesses and homes.

Martin noted that distance requirements between a recreational cannabis business and homes had been reduced in Clovis and Portales.

Martin also asked how distances would be measured, from property-line to property-line or door to door.

Other commissioners agreed such questions must be resolved before changes to the cannabis ordinance could be considered, and then decided to delay action on the ordinance.

The commission also approved an intent to pass an ordinance that would grant a franchise for the Roosevelt County Rural Telephone Cooperative. The franchise would allow the cooperative to cross county lands and roadways to provide service to its Roosevelt County clients.

The ordinance must be published and a public hearing held before the commission makes a final decision.

The commission on Tuesday also heard James Corbett, principal with Initium Health, which is conducting a feasibility study for a regional mental health facility that would serve the Curry County area, discuss how the study would be conducted.

Subjects to be studied include the need for the facility, costs of land and construction, recruitment of staff, operational costs, a business plan and potential grant funding.

District 1 Commissioner Robert Sandoval asked about the cost of the facility.

County Manager Lance Pyle said the feasibility study would be followed by explorations of total cost and funding sources.

Ladona Clayton, executive director of the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy, told the commission the conservancy has obtained 13 water rights leases worth $2.3 million, and eight letters of intent with landowners for rights to reserve water in wells to be used by Cannon Air Force Base, and Curry and Roosevelt counties in case of severe drought.

The conservancy is collecting reserves of water in wells that will be set aside in case of urgent need.

Clayton explained that the main concern of the conservancy is Cannon Air Force Base, which the U.S. Department of Defense has identified as an important Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration site. The importance of wells that are part of the Ogallala Aquifer for city and county water users is also an important reason for the conservancy, Clayton said.

The commission also heard a summary from Rob Burpo, president of First American Advisors, Inc., designed to provide guidance on the county’s investments.

Burpo said inflation should no longer be considered a short-term phenomenon. It is likely to be permanent.

With that in mind, he said, the Federal Reserve is likely to start pushing up interest rates to try to curb rising prices.

That could result in the cost of short-term debt rising to be nearly the same as for riskier long-term debt, which could discourage short-term investing.

Banks, Burpo said, are going to have difficulty selling loans, he said, which could curb overall investment.

That would likely result in declining value in stocks, but could mean a rise in interest rates for Treasury debt notes and other bonds and debt securities, Burpo said.