Fredonia Trustee Jon Espersen wants to get rolling on a community cannabis committee, putting out a call this week for members.

In a press release, he noted the Board of Trustees formed the panel Feb. 22 “to keep the Trustees and residents of the Village informed of the existing and pending New York state regulations regarding cannabis, evaluate what the Village’s responsibilities and choices are and how to move forward, specifically looking at zoning, hours of operation, types of businesses, enforcement, protection, education and health aspects, to name a few.”

The committee, which includes Espersen, is looking for Fredonians willing to join it. No special qualifications or training are required, but joiners must be a resident of the village. If interested, please contact Village Clerk Annemarie Johnston at 716-679-2302.

As Espersen noted in his release, each municipality in the state had to decide by Dec. 31 to either opt in or opt out of allowing sale of cannabis and associated products.

“To take no action was to opt in. The prior Fredonia Village Board voted to not opt out. What that decision essentially did was to allow the sale of cannabis products within the village limits, and would consider allowing an entity to open a consumption site,” wrote Espersen, who took office in January after winning election in November,

He also wrote, “At this time the state of New York is not prepared to accept applications for any of the nine licenses that will be required to cultivate, process, distribute, sell or deliver cannabis products, or to open a consumption site, co-op or microbusiness.”