The Story County Board of Supervisors accepted a recommendation made by Story County Attorney Stephen Holmes to repeal a pseudoephedrine ordinance Tuesday.

The ordinance, which would have required products containing a high level of pseudoephedrine to be kept behind the counter at the retail level, was passed in February and would have taken effect later this month. The ordinance would have also restricted the number of products containing pseudoephedrine a person could purchase, require purchasers to provide photo identification and have their names included in a log of purchasers.

On March 22, Gov. Tom Vilsack signed a bill similar to the ordinance, making the restrictions on pseuodephedrine statewide.

Wayne Clinton, Story County supervisor, said uniformity and clarity was one of the main reasons for repealing the ordinance at the county level.

There were some differences between the county ordinance and the state bill pertaining to the liquid quantities acceptable to be sold over the counter, and Clinton said the state should supersede the county.

Jane Halliburton, Story County supervisor, said because the bill would be enforced on the state level, the county ordinance could have caused confusion for retailers, as well.

“The state law will be the one everyone looks at,” she said.

Clinton said the second reason the ordinance was repealed was to make the adjustment to the deadline easier.

“It will undo the burden upon the merchants to adhere to an earlier deadline,” Clinton said.

The state deadline, May 21, allows more time to comply than the county would have and is the only deadline merchants will have to worry about now, Clinton said.

“Holmes has received a lot of contact from merchants offering tremendous support,” Clinton said.