The Ocean Shores City Council on Monday selected Lisa Griebel, the principal at Miller Junior High School in Aberdeen, to replace the resigning Dan Overton on the seven-member municipal governing body.
Four people had applied to fill the vacancy created when Overton announced he had taken a new job assignment in Olympia that forced him to be late for current and future regular council meetings..
Mayor Crystal Dingler announced the applications on Aug. 8, which was the deadline in the process outlined to replace a council member. The applicants were Griebel, a member of the city’s Library Board; Susan Conniry, a member of the Planning Commission who ran for mayor last year; former City Council member John Schroeder (who lost to Overton in the last election); and Michael Darling, a member of the Parks Commission.
The applicants on Monday were first invited to speak, with each having three minutes to make presentations, followed by three questions from the council under the process. The council then went into executive session and emerged with a 5-0 vote in favor of Griebel after a motion to approve her from Councilman Bob Peterson. Councilwoman Jackie Farra was absent and Overton officially resigned his seat just before the council vote.
The departing Overton said it was “an honor and a privilege to serve the city of Ocean Shores. I would like to continue, but providence such as it is has stepped into my life.”
“I want to thank those who continue to keep my water clean and flowing, my streets safe, my library open, my dunes from burning, my Weatherwax property open and preserved, my city budgets planned, and so many others who make this a wonderful place to live,” Overton said.
Griebel will serve out the Position 3 term until the November 2017 election certification.
Since moving to Ocean Shores with her husband as full-time residents in 2013, Griebel has been a member of the city’s Library Board and also is involved as a Woof-a-Thon board member.
“Being in Ocean Shores is more than just living here,” she said in her statement to the City Council. “Being a true person who lives in Ocean Shores means you share a common experiences.”
She described coming to the city for years as a tourist visiting the beach, experiencing the Community Club or shopping at the local ACE Hardware store, then moving here, marching in parades for local organizations, or picking up agates along Damon Point. She also described herself as a “problem solver. And to solve problems, I like to listen to people and weigh all of the things that go into making a decision, and then make a decision that’s best for all of the people.”
“To really be a true resident here, I would like to do even more service, and I would like the opportunity to be on the City Council,” Griebel said. “I would think as a member of your team, you would find me to be a very positive person. I think you would find that I have a sense of humor and am a person who likes to get things done efficiently, and that comes from my years of experience being a school administrator.”
Marijuana moratorium
Once Griebel was seated, the council promptly revisited and then approved a six-month moratorium on new marijuana-related businesses or growing and processing operations. Griebel voted in support of the moratorium, which was approved 5-0 with Jon Martin choosing to recuse himself from the vote as someone who once applied for a state license that ultimately went to the owners of the current Have a Heart store on Ocean Shores Boulevard.
The council on Aug. 8 failed to pass the marijuana moratorium after being split 3-3 on two votes. That means the moratorium could have effectively expired Aug. 22 without further action. The state Liquor Control Board, which governs marijuana rules in the state, has allowed local jurisdictions more flexibility in determining the buffers and zoning issues that go into determining where future marijuana businesses are located.
The city’s Planning Commission has been asked to review the new rule changes and the impact such businesses would have.
The marijuana measure, Ordinance No. 970, imposes a new six-month moratorium prohibiting the production or processing of marijuana, as well as any new recreational or medicinal cannabis stores, clinics or marijuana collective gardens or co-ops not licensed by the state Liquor Control Board prior to 2016. Several people spoke in favor or against the moratorium on Monday, with Have a Heart representative Phillip Dawdy also urging the council to impose it. He questioned how many stores a small city like Ocean Shores should have, contending that having two stores in a town of 6,000 residents would be “the highest per-capita allocation of any city in the state by far.”
“We would like to see the moratorium on retail extended,” he said.
