Colorado - In a 4-3 vote Monday evening, the Florence City Council did not have a majority vote of three quarters, or six out of seven council members, to put Ordinance 4-2010 on the Nov. 2 ballot, which would have asked voters whether to prohibit the operation of medical marijuana centers, optional premises cultivation operations and medical marijuana-infused products manufacturers' operations. Council members Nichole Prickett, Bruce Schneider and Charles Giebler, along with Mayor Paul Villagrana voted to allow the measure, while council members Ron Hinkle, Larry Baker and Joe Caruso voted against putting the measure before Florence citizens.
Though the ordinance was put before the council at the July 19 meeting and passed 3-2, with two council members absent, City Attorney Bryan Fredrickson said the vote didn't count because the measure called for an approval of three-fourths of the council, which would require at least six votes for the measure. "At the last city council meeting, there were five people here – a quorum — ordinarily enough to conduct business," Fredrickson said. "The vote on the ordinance last time was three to two; typically enough to pass an ordinance, which needs the majority of a quorum under state statute, unless the ordinance has what's commonly known as an emergency clause. If it has such a clause, state statute requires an affirmative vote of three-fourths members of the city council." The reason for the emergency clause, Fredrickson said, was to enable the ordinance to make the ballot by the November election. "I deem that an appropriate and proper use of the emergency clause under the statute," Fredrickson said. "The bottom line here is that even though the vote last time was three to two in favor of the ordinance, it fell short of the six votes necessary to pass." Prickett said she felt the council needs to hear from the citizens as to whether they want medical marijuana dispensaries within Florence. She also said citizens passed a similar ordinance in 2000. "I would venture to say we had an official ballot on this measure already," Prickett said. "Regardless of anyone's opinion — I don't care one way or another whether we have this or we don't, unless our citizens deem that it's necessary — but they've already said yes. If we want to prohibit this, we would need a vote from the citizens because they've already said yes. We are not up here to second guess them or say somebody voted wrong the first time." Caruso said the 2000 ballot concerned the use of medical marijuana products and not dispensaries.
"The state of Colorado and Florence citizens voted on Amendment 20 on the sale of medical marijuana for the use and treatment of debilitating medical conditions," Caruso said. "They did not vote on the acceptance or denial of medical marijuana dispensaries or use of infused products or manufacturers' operations." Fredrickson said citizens who disagree with Monday's decision have a short time to get a petition going to reverse the council's decision. A requisite number of signatures are necessary by Sept. 6. The current moratorium continues in place until next summer. Since the ordinance to put the measure on the November ballot did not pass, the council will conduct a workshop in the near future to decide how to proceed. In other business, the council approved an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Florence and the Western Fremont Fire Protection District for the city of Florence to provide dispatching services on a 24-hour basis using city personnel. During the term of the agreement, which begins today, Fremont Fire Protection District will pay the city $20 per call. "This is on the western side of the county," Finance Officer Sunny Warzecha said. "We currently provide dispatch services to Florence Fire Protection District; we provide dispatch services to Penrose, and we provide them to Northwest EMS. This is just adding another entity that we would provide services for. They average about 18 calls a year, so it's not a huge increase to our dispatchers." In other action, the council:
- Approved a special event liquor license for Florence Elks 611 for Sept. 16-17.
- Approved the award of a bid for water tank demolition and removal to Bonnie's Car Crushers.
- Approved acceptance of a Cirsa quote for the Junktique Market on Sept. 17-18 for $177. 29.
- Approved acceptance of a Cirsa quote for Pioneer Day Festival and Parade on Sept. 18 for $520.28.
The next Florence City Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Aug. 16 at 600 W. Third St.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Cannon City Daily Record
Author: Karen Lungu
Copyright: 2010 The Cañon City Daily Record
Though the ordinance was put before the council at the July 19 meeting and passed 3-2, with two council members absent, City Attorney Bryan Fredrickson said the vote didn't count because the measure called for an approval of three-fourths of the council, which would require at least six votes for the measure. "At the last city council meeting, there were five people here – a quorum — ordinarily enough to conduct business," Fredrickson said. "The vote on the ordinance last time was three to two; typically enough to pass an ordinance, which needs the majority of a quorum under state statute, unless the ordinance has what's commonly known as an emergency clause. If it has such a clause, state statute requires an affirmative vote of three-fourths members of the city council." The reason for the emergency clause, Fredrickson said, was to enable the ordinance to make the ballot by the November election. "I deem that an appropriate and proper use of the emergency clause under the statute," Fredrickson said. "The bottom line here is that even though the vote last time was three to two in favor of the ordinance, it fell short of the six votes necessary to pass." Prickett said she felt the council needs to hear from the citizens as to whether they want medical marijuana dispensaries within Florence. She also said citizens passed a similar ordinance in 2000. "I would venture to say we had an official ballot on this measure already," Prickett said. "Regardless of anyone's opinion — I don't care one way or another whether we have this or we don't, unless our citizens deem that it's necessary — but they've already said yes. If we want to prohibit this, we would need a vote from the citizens because they've already said yes. We are not up here to second guess them or say somebody voted wrong the first time." Caruso said the 2000 ballot concerned the use of medical marijuana products and not dispensaries.
"The state of Colorado and Florence citizens voted on Amendment 20 on the sale of medical marijuana for the use and treatment of debilitating medical conditions," Caruso said. "They did not vote on the acceptance or denial of medical marijuana dispensaries or use of infused products or manufacturers' operations." Fredrickson said citizens who disagree with Monday's decision have a short time to get a petition going to reverse the council's decision. A requisite number of signatures are necessary by Sept. 6. The current moratorium continues in place until next summer. Since the ordinance to put the measure on the November ballot did not pass, the council will conduct a workshop in the near future to decide how to proceed. In other business, the council approved an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Florence and the Western Fremont Fire Protection District for the city of Florence to provide dispatching services on a 24-hour basis using city personnel. During the term of the agreement, which begins today, Fremont Fire Protection District will pay the city $20 per call. "This is on the western side of the county," Finance Officer Sunny Warzecha said. "We currently provide dispatch services to Florence Fire Protection District; we provide dispatch services to Penrose, and we provide them to Northwest EMS. This is just adding another entity that we would provide services for. They average about 18 calls a year, so it's not a huge increase to our dispatchers." In other action, the council:
- Approved a special event liquor license for Florence Elks 611 for Sept. 16-17.
- Approved the award of a bid for water tank demolition and removal to Bonnie's Car Crushers.
- Approved acceptance of a Cirsa quote for the Junktique Market on Sept. 17-18 for $177. 29.
- Approved acceptance of a Cirsa quote for Pioneer Day Festival and Parade on Sept. 18 for $520.28.
The next Florence City Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Aug. 16 at 600 W. Third St.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Cannon City Daily Record
Author: Karen Lungu
Copyright: 2010 The Cañon City Daily Record
