City Councilman Moritz Rebukes County Rep. Boyer on Charter Council's Authority

Arnold Ward 2 Councilman Bill Moritz rebuked Jefferson County Councilman Bob Boyer during the open comments period of the Arnold City Council’s meeting last Thursday night.

“I don’t think you should be coming in here to swing a stick you don’t have (at the Arnold City Council),” Moritz said to Boyer.

The County Council does not have authority over the City of Arnold, Moritz said.

"You know that," Moritz said to Boyer.

Boyer should have politely requested Arnold City Council members to consider restricting sales of cold medicines that contain Pseudoephedrine to people who have doctors' prescriptions only, Moritz said.

If Arnold would not restrict cold medicine sales, Boyer said the Jefferson County Council would reach into the city and order it to limit sales of drugs used to create methamphetamine.

“The county charter says we can act countywide for safety and health concerns,” Boyer said to Arnold Council Members. “This could be forced upon you.”

Methamphetamine, also called meth, is an addictive drug that causes a short-lived sense of joy or euphoria, the National Institutes of Health website states.

Meth can be made from certain cold medicines containing Pseudoephedrine, a drug that reduces congestion and swelling in the nose, states the Food Marketing Institute website.

Moritz said he agreed with Boyer about the issue but disagreed with his approach towards city council members on discussing the problem.

Moritz said he hoped city council members would listen to detectives and specialists about meth, its effects on the population and effects on crime. Then the city council would make its own decision on the issue.

Arnold ordinance currently limits over-the-counter medicine sales, which do not require a prescription, to six to nine grams of pseudoephedrine per package. The ordinance also says those medicines can only be displayed behind a checkout counter or within 10 feet of the unobstructed view of an attended checkout counter.

RELATED ARTICLE

Jefferson County Legislators, County Executive Appeal for Arnold to Restrict Cold Medicine Sales

Clarification: An earlier version of this article omitted that Moritz wanted the city council to hear from specialists about the meth issue and that Arnold has ordinances that limit over-the-counter sales volume of pseudoephedrine. The writer and editors erred. The article has been separated into two shorter articles for the readers' ease.