The Cassopolis Village Council discussed at length at its workshop meeting Monday night the potential of a cannabis growing operation located within the village limits.

The discussion was prompted by an email received from the Southwest Michigan Economic Growth Alliance that was sent to several village and city managers gauging the interested in those communities.

Despite agreeing to have a boulder placed at Clisbee Park to honor the late Dan Lee, Trustee Cynthia Jackson-Ash asked for the subject to be placed on the agenda Monday night.

She is in favor of having a sign that can be seen from the street rather than a boulder that people would have to pull up and park, get out of their cars and walk up to it in order to read.

She is concerned that a boulder would be overlooked in most instances and believes that Lee deserved more than that.

Since the council had already approved the boulder, Village Manager Emilie Sarratore is going to get a quote for a sign, which can be hung and be more visble.

Sarratore informed the council that the demolition at 306 E. State St. has been halted.

The village has been trying to have the building taken down for more than a year now and was in the process of having it demolished when a state resolution forced the project to be put on hold.

“The Land Bank had an asbestos evaluation done and the report came back with no asbestos,” she said. “That was given to our building inspector (Rich Drews) when the contractor pulled the demo permit. Apparently in the state of Michigan, anytime you tear down a commercial building regardless of whether or not you have the asbestos report that says there is no asbestos, they want an additional report.

“They received a complaint from someone in the village about the dust in the air that was flying around while they started the demo while it was raining. So the Land Bank got a call from the Department of Environmental Quality requiring them to halt the demolition a week and a half ago now. They came out last week on Wednesday to do an evaluation. It is my understanding they decided to take a sample and did not care if we had a report and we are now waiting on the results.”

The village had another form main break, its 10th in the last four years.

This has been an issue the Department of Public Works and others have been working to try and resolve, but have yet to find a concrete reason for the breaks or how to stop them from happening.

Sarratore and DPW Director Ben Anderson have decided to bring in three independent engineering firms to review the sewer system and bring back a proposal/plan.

Wightman & Associates, which the village uses as its engineer, has also been asked to supply a proposal.

Following the last break, the DEQ requested a meeting with the village and Wightman, which will be in early February.

It is Sarratore’s hope that they will have the recommendations from the engineering firms to submit to the DEQ and come up with a plan to address the situation.

The council also discussed selling the village’s old dumpsite on Pokagon Highway.

The site has not been used for many years and a party has approached the village about purchasing the property.

Sarratore said that she has been in contact with the village’s attorney about implications of selling that property, but has not finished her research on the information requested.