For Warren Third Ward city councilman Greg Greathouse, it was as simple as listening to the voters.

"Every ward in the city overwhelmingly passed that amendment to establish the adult use in the state of Ohio," Greathouse said Wednesday.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that a measure he co-sponsored to establish three recreational pot dispensaries in the city passed unanimously at Wednesday's meeting.

"We've capped it at three, no more than three locations. They have to be located on commercial corridors within the city, and the zoning has to be appropriate, it has to be commercial," said Greathouse.

At-Large councilwoman Helen Rucker also sponsored the emergency measure.
She explained that in addition to abiding by existing state rules, "it also included the operation hours...having a policeman on duty...and so we really didn't add a whole lot," Rucker said.

Council also OK'd a measure co-sponsored by Greathouse and Fourth Ward councilman Jim Shaffer.
They're pooling more than $700,000 of ARP money to partner with Seven Seventeen Credit Union.
Together, they'll leverage that ARP money into $7 million for low-interest home improvement loans in those wards.

"You can take a tree down, you can put a tree up, you can put siding on, new roof, fix your sidewalk, whatever you want to do up to $10,000," said Greathouse, adding that time is of the essence with this initiative.

If those ARP dollars don't get spent by the end of the year, they go back to Washington.