Flowery Branch considers pulling synthetic pot seller biz license

FLOWERY BRANCH – The City of Flowery Branch has decided to wait until state crime lab results are returned before scheduling a public hearing aimed at possibly revoking the business and alcohol licenses for Best Buy Quality Foods on Atlanta Highway.

City Manager Bill Andrew explained, "The state legislature…passed some laws…the Governor signed them into law…one of those laws was making the sale of synthetic marijuana illegal."

"When that happened the Police department came to me and suggested that we send out a letter to all businesses that might have sold those materials or (might) look to sell those materials in the future," Andrew said.

"We hand-delivered those letters and subsequently found that this company was continuing to sell those products. As we began to look into some other situations there we found some misrepresentation of the business license and some other issues of the property."

Andrew added, "And because of that we feel that there’s, perhaps, a reason, or several reasons, for the Council to consider this (license suspension or revocation) process."

City Attorney Ron Bennett interjected, "At this point the Police Department is conducting an investigation that leads staff to believe that there have been violations of laws which would subject both the business license and the alcohol license to be pulled."

Flowery Branch Police Chief Gerald Lanich approached the table where Bennett was seated, leaned over and whispered into Bennett’s ear.

Bennett paused and then redirected his attention at the Council. "Chief just made a good point. Part of the investigation involves sending off some samples to the state crime lab and he was not sure when those might come back."

"It could be three weeks. It could be six weeks," Lanich told the Council.

When asked about the status of his investigation Lanich said, "We pretty well have it sewed up, except we are waiting on our results to come back. That’s where we’re at."


OTHER HEARINGS PLANNED

Last year the City Council tried to formulate a strategy to recover power costs incurred by a wide variety of street lights throughout the city. The Council hoped to include those costs in the property tax bills which were ready for mailing.

Unable to reach accord on how to fairly distribute those fees and add the appropriate charges to individual tax bills before the mailing deadline, the measure was tabled.

Part of the complexity in calculating and distributing those costs before the tax bill mailing deadline last year were the unique street lighting situations in three Flowery Branch subdivisions: Portsmouth, Newberry Point, and Madison Creek.

Councilman Joe Anglin reintroduced the measure and hopes to get an early start this year in determining whether lighting districts need to be created or not, and then how to equitably recapture their costs.

Mayor Mike Miller promised plenty of notice once the dates are set for public comment.