Recreational marijuana moratorium to expire, town must vote in November

Sept. 25, 2019 | Danielle Eaton
DanielleE@thereminder.com

AGAWAM – Agawam residents will have the chance in November to vote on if they would like to see recreational marijuana shops come into town.

The city council initially discussed whether or not to put the question on the November ballot during a special meeting on Aug. 5. Agawam has had a temporary moratorium on the sale of recreational marijuana within town limits since Sept. 18, 2017 when the town voted down the legalization of marijuana in what Barbara Bard, administrative assistant to the Agawam City Council, said was a very narrow margin.

While the moratorium applied to the growing, selling, distribution, and purchase of marijuana products, it did not apply to medical marijuana. The temporary ban will expire on Dec. 31, meaning that come Jan. 1, if Agawam does not make a formal decision regarding their position on recreational marijuana sales, sales will automatically be allowed when the moratorium comes to an end in 2020.

During the Aug. 5 meeting, the majority of the council and Mayor William Sapelli agreed the most fair way to handle the decision was to put it to a ballot question. On Monday, Aug. 16, during the regularly scheduled city council meeting, the councilors took a vote as to put the question on a ballot or not. The conversation surrounding the vote was tense with disagreement between several councilors.

Councilman Robert Rossi was the first to speak on the matter before the vote, and made it known that he was not for putting the question on the ballot. He had several reasons for his decision, with the first one being that he believed the town wasn’t actually allowed to put the question to a ballot vote.

Rossi explained, “One of the measures were... if the cities and towns voted for the legalization of marijuana, approved the legalization of marijuana, those cities and towns could sell the retail marijuana and the city government could only ban it through referendum.” he said. “The second option being that those cities and towns that voted against it, such as Agawam did, can vote to ban the retail sales of mriajuana without a referendum vote.”

He continued and stated that from his understanding the ballot question the council was voting on was non-binding, meaning it is essentially a way for the residents to voice their preference, but the council is not legally required to follow the outcome of the vote. Rossi said given that the town did not vote in favor of legalizing marijuana in the state of Massachusetts, it would be illegal to put a non-binding question regarding the recreational sale of marijuana on the ballot.

“Well that in itself is illegal, as I understand it with the options that were built into that measure that the only way retail sales of marijuana can be in this city is by referendum over veteoing over that vote. That’s the only way. An advisory petition can not advise this council to act in any way because it’s not legal. It’s just an advisory non-binding initiative and has no place in telling this council how to vote,” he said. ”So if this council wants to vote to have retail sales of marijuana it’s going to have to put a binding resolution before the voters in order to get rid of what the voters have already voted against. Or they can vote no. Those are the two options as I see it, and I think we’re making a terrible mistake by sending this non-binding resolution because it means absolutely nothing.”

Councilor Robert Magovern said while he initially spoke in favor of putting the question on the ballot, he planned to vote against the question.

“I believe in the people, I believe in the people should have a voice, but they also believe they elected me to give my opinion and my opinion is that I just can’t go for this. I mean I can’t legalize marijuana in the town of Agawam,” he said. “If it came to the council for a vote regardless of how the people said, I would vote against legalizing marijuana. I think it’s wrong for the youth and for the adults to use recreational marijuana.”

A number of councilors, however, spoke in favor of putting the question to a ballot, no matter the outcome. Councilor Dino Mercadante said that while he respects Rossi’s position, “I also stand with the people.” He continued, “Whether it has to be a binding referendum, or a non-binding referendum I’m all for giving the people the chance to vote on this question.”

City Council Vice President, Cecilia Calabrese, emphasized that the vote would not change whether recreational marijuana would be legal in the state of Massachusetts or in the Town of Agawam. “What this vote simply does is it puts it to the people of agawam, now that we know that recreational marijuana is being sold in surrounding communities, do you want to have it here in Agawam?” she said.

City Council President, Christopher Johnson, disagreed with Rossi’s interpretation of the measure and the law. He said that “according to our law department, is not accurate.” He also echoed what Calabrese said and added that the potential ballot question before the council was different than the initial vote of legalizing recreational marijuana the town had initial taken.

Johnson also told the councilors that if the majority of them intended to vote against putting the question on the ballot, then they should speak up now as to not waste the time and energy of everyone involved, including the voters.

“When we had the workshop on this issue the question that I posed to everyone is either you’re going to put the question on the ballot and agree to abide by the voters decision or not. If the answer is not then don’t ask the voters their opinion if you don’t intend to follow it. It’s a waste of everyone’s time,” he said.

He continued, “So if, frankly there are four counselors up here that are going to vote no, no matter what the people say if we put this ballot question on please let us know now so we can not waste time and put the question on the ballot. It’s utterly a waste of time and contrary again to what has been characterized the voters of Agawam have never voted saying they don’t want the sale of recreational marijuana. They voted to say they didn’t favor the legalization of marijuana. Two completely different questions.”

Councilor Gina Letellier, while agreeing she was also committed to following the will of the people, also expressed concerns regarding the way retail marijuana shops store their money. She pointed out that at the moment, despite bills pending before the federal government, the retail shops are not allowed to use banks.

“Where does the money go? Do they just keep it in a safe? In which case that makes it more of a target for theft, so that’s always been one of my main concerns,” she said. “Until there’s that they’re allowed to deposit money in the bank then it sits there. They have to pay their taxes in cash, they have to pay their bills in cash and of course cash businesses rarely report their proper income. Or at least I’m going to assume that.”

This, she said, made her concerned that crime would come into the area. She said that if the ballot question passed the council would have to be cautious when picking an area where recreational marijuana shops would be allowed and they’d have to work with zoning and planning.

Ultimately, despite the sometimes tense discussion and disagreement between some council members, the council voted to put the question on a ballot by a vote of eight to two.

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