JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Jamestown City Council held several committee meetings on Tuesday, March 20th and discussed several items.

During the Finance & Legal Committee meeting, funding for the development of the Jamestown Airport Business Park was discussed. Mayor Katie Andersen says the total funding amount was based the completed design of the park.

The business park funding was $3.5 million with a City Share to be $2.8 million and paid from the City Sales Tax Fund. The project is estimated to begin this summer.

Later discussion was held regarding the amendment and re-enactment of Chapter 2, Article IX of the City Code pertaining to the Forestry Department. Councilmember Dan Buchanan had worked closely with the City Forrester to update the code to more modern verbiage.

After discussion, it was determined that the group adjusts some wording to allow more freedom in decisions for the city forestry board.

In other committee news, Jamestown Police Chief Scott Edinger brought forth the need to have guidelines in place when it came to licensing, background checks, and associated costs for taxi and towing services.

Edinger requested a committee get together to determine the standard when it comes to background checks for both taxi service and towing services. Mayor Andersen brought forth the issue of transportation service apps Lyft and Uber with those discussions as well.

A committee was formed to explore the issues and bring forward ideas of how to address them.

As a continuation of that, Deputy Auditor Jay Sveum informed the committee of the revised list on the Drug and Alcohol Policy for Jamestown Taxi Service.

The policy was approved.

Later in the Building, Planning & Zoning Committee meeting, a first reading was held regarding the change of zoning ordinance for medical marijuana.

The update in the ordinance would update the city code to be in compliance with state century code as the state works towards legalizing medicinal marijuana. A second reading will be held at a later date.