City Council to Administration: Public Input Necessary on Cannabis Decision
The City Council will hold a Public Hearing on November 4
One of the interesting aspects of writing a newsletter that pays attention to things happening in City Hall, is that eventually City Hall understands that people are actually paying attention to the unproductive and unhelpful things they are doing.
Last weekend, this publication went to great lengths to talk about how the well established procedure for making amendments to the city’s zoning code was being thrown aside as a six-month moratorium on cannabis operations was quickly winding down.
Well, just hours before the Community and Economic Community Development Committee was to meet on this issue on Monday, October 14th, a memo was sent by the City’s Top Bureaucrat to the President of the City Council asking the Community and Economic Development Committee to extend the current cannabis mortatorium.
Clearly, the City Administration recognized that trying to ram through a total prohibition on cannabis operators in an expedited process and keeping public comment at bay was not going to be a popular move. So, what did the administration do? They are recommending adding more time to the clock. By adding an extra 90 days to the moratorium, the city council can now go through a more deliberative process that would actually welcome public input.
At Monday’s Economic and Community Development Committee meeting, the City’s Top Bureaucrat stated to the committee that “our intention never was, nor has it been in the past, that we would not invite public comments” and he made other comments stating that no one wanted to rush anything through.
Really?
On October 11th, this administration was more than happy to have a positive recommendation prohibiting cannabis operations made by the committee and brought for a council vote at the next council meetings. Oh, and let’s not forget the same person saying these words sits on the City’s Planning Commission, which still holds a posture of not having an open public comment period during their meetings.
And yet, we are asked to believe that the administration was so magnanimous that three days later they saw the error of their ways that they now want a full throated public hearing on November 4th?
Does the city administration really think the citizens of this town are nothing but a bunch of rubes?
This City Administration is acting disingenuous towards our citizens. If the City Administration valued public input, they would have taken this zoning text amendment through the same procedure that has been used time and time again, which require a public hearing.
In the end, their despicable actions speak louder than words, and this administration’s actions showed that they were more than willing to use an expedited process where citizen input would be limited. It was only after they got caught, did this administration change its approach.
To their credit, a majority of the City Council members in attendance at the Community and Economic Development Committee meeting indicated a real desire to hear the public on this topic, especially given the fact that Issue 2 passed in the City by a 52% to 48% margin last November.
Two important actions came from Monday’s Community and Economic Development Committee Meeting. First, The City Council will hold a public hearing will be held on Monday, November 4th at 7:00 p.m. to receive public input on whether retail cannabis operations should have the opportunity to be established in the community. If this is an important issue to you —- it is imperative that you show up and let your voice be heard! If you can’t attend, the city council wants you to email, call, message or mail your comments to them. Second, the committee recommended that the current moratorium on cannabis operations in the community will be extended by another 90 days; ensuring that there is more time to have a more deliberative process.
What do you think?
Do you think the city does a good job of getting public input in issues facing the community? Could the city do a better job? Our paid subscribers are more than welcome to leave their ideas and insights in the comment thread!
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Sometimes your questions make me chuckle a bit. I think it's fair to say that there are very few people that think the city does a good job of getting public input on issues facing the community. I really think the biggest reason why is they don't ever go to where the people are, and they don't invite ideas or initiatives in the form of citizen or business action councils. When is the last time we've had any sort of town hall where people can hear a plan and ask questions?
I believe that public input is important, but you have to work to get it. You have to spread that message in as many places and methods as possible. If you're the leader of a community, a city, I want to know what is going on, schedule a quarterly meeting in a place that doesn't feel so unwelcoming (the city building). Psychologically when you are in a place like that, that represents power, people naturally shy away from participating. Have meetings at the library, have them at different times of the day, have a live town hall online. But do SOMETHING...
Please tell me you will run for mayor in the next election!!!!!!!