The Athens City Council will vote at its next meeting, June 12, on whether to repeal an ordinance allowing for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city of Athens.

The issue did not appear on the published agenda prior to the council’s meeting Monday, May 22. Prior to the meeting, a large alliance of pastors and others opposed to the ordinance filled the council meeting room. During the work session, Wales announced that a motion would be introduced to repeal the medical cannabis ordinance but no vote would take place until the June 12 meeting.

The ordinance was first introduced at the council’s Nov. 14, 2022, meeting but Council President Harold Wales requested more time to consider it.

At the Nov. 28, 2022, the city council voted 4-0, with Councilman Chris Seibert abstaining, on an ordinance that would allow the operation of medical cannabis sites. No parties were in attendance speaking for or against the ordinance.

“The ordinance does not guarantee a dispensary in Athens,” the city’s attorney Shane Black said. “Currently, the commission is only allowing four dispensary licenses. That would mean a licensee could only operate up to three sites. That puts a real limit on the actual number of dispensaries in the state.”

Wales voiced concerns before finally voting in favor of the ordinance.

“I want to protect our city. I don’t ever want to see it where it is so easy to be able to get this drug, and that’s what it is, without all the boxes being checked. My family has been touched with cancer and so many things. Even they have encouraged me to support this. I am going to support this even though I have voiced my concerns,” he said at the November 2022 meeting.

Applicants had until Dec. 30, 2022, to apply to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission for a medical marijuana license. The commission received 94 of the 133-page applications statewide with two applicants from Limestone County. The application process included a non-refundable fee of $2,500. Of those applicants, the commission will award five licenses.

At a March 27 meeting, Wales allowed an alliance of area ministers to speak against the ordinance. Councilman Chris Seibert and Councilwoman Dana Henry were out of town. Mayor Ronnie Marks was out with COVID. Upon hearing of Mayor Marks’ absence due to illness, it was reported that the guests in attendance questioned his absence.

Pastors from Athens First Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church, West Highland Baptist Church and Madison Street Baptist Church spoke for more than 20 minutes on the reasons they oppose the actions taken by the city council.

“Nobody knew about this action, and I know y’all put it in the paper, in the legal notices that nobody reads. It wasn’t on the front page. I assure you, this group right here, had it been on the front page of The News Courier, we would have been here,” West Highland Baptist Church Pastor Joe Teal said.

Stories about the proposed ordinance and the passing of the ordinance ran on the front page of the News Courier on Nov. 16 and Nov. 30 of 2022.

Henry Pollitz addressed the council in favor of the ordinance and was given two minutes to speak. He told the pastors of his son’s struggle with cancer and said, “When he was throwing his guts up, if they could have been there and seen that, they would have a different opinion.”

The alliance of pastors returned to the April 24, meeting of the Athens City Council. This time, the mayor and entire council were present. During the public comment portion of the meeting, the pastors asked the council if there was a possibility of repealing the ordinance. They also questioned whether the city was required to take action when they did.

“Just because we opt in, does not mean this place is going to hell in a hand basket with marijuana. We opted in. It’s y’all’s choice. You don’t have to do it but leave the option open,” resident Kelly Range said in response to the pastors’ request.

Prior to addressing the pastors’ questions, Marks addressed another matter.

“I regret not being here because I had a really bad case of COVID. I understand that people questioned whether my presence was here because of that. I assure you I was sick and I don’t avoid any issues,” Marks said.

Wales spoke to the city attorney prior to the meeting to make sure he fully understood the time frame in which the was required by the state of Alabama to opt in.

“Before we voted on this to either vote yes or not to bring legalized marijuana to our city, I did not receive anything from anyone,” Wales said. “Once I voted for it, I started receiving calls all the time.”

Wales continued, “I just voted for it at the time because we were told it was time sensitive and we needed to vote in order to either opt in or opt out. So we voted and it went in. We voted yes. Since then, I got with our attorney, Mr. (Shane) Black. I asked him, ‘What can we do if we decided that we wanted to opt out?’ He checked it and checked it and he came back to me and said, ‘There is a way to do that.’ He explained to me that we could do this. We could have another vote and say no to it. That’s possible. I have read everything I can get my hands on. It talked about the license. The license is $50,000 per establishment. That’s lot of money but here’s the kicker — that money has not been paid or collected. As far as I know, that money will go to the state. It’s not coming to Athens. Yes, you can opt out. You sure can. I think June 12 is the deadline that the state is giving where there is no return.”

Monday, when Wales announced he was adding the issue to the agenda, Councilman Wayne Harper offered to introduce the ordinance. With no other council member volunteering to suspend the rules needed for the ordinance to go to a vote at the next meeting, Wales stepped down as chair and relinquished the chair to Henry so that he could suspend the rules.

Previously, Wales had told several pastors, who spoke out against the ordinance in March, that if three city council members came to him wanting to address the issue, it would be placed on the agenda again for a re-vote.

During the public comments Monday, multiple pastors addressed the council reiterating their opposition to allowing dispensaries in Athens, while several other community members spoke in support of medical cannabis.

“There will be a huge increase in people who are driving on the streets of Athens under the influence of marijuana,” John Crocker said.

Scott Marshall, a cancer survivor, spoke in favor of medical cannabis.

“I didn’t have to use it. If they are not able to get it legally, they go to the back alleys to get it. It helps that much. I don’t want to disagree with all these fine clergy people, but they are telling you the same thing that they’ve told you over and over. They are telling you facts but we don’t know where they are getting their facts. Where were they when we approved this in 2022,” Marshall said.

Although the medical cannabis issue was not on the published agenda, the pastors sent out messages on social media and other means encouraging those wishing for the ordinance’s repeal to attend the council meeting. In doing so, one of those in support of medical cannabis was made aware to be there when her pastor mentioned it at church on Sunday.

When asked how the council’s willingness to re-vote on the medical cannabis decision differs from other recent council decisions that were later met with strong opposition, such as the de-annexation of property on Moyers Road and rezoning near Cloverleaf Subdivision, Black said, “Most ordinances, it could be the speed limit or it could be the zoning ordinance or something else, are always subject to change. You’ve seen this council amend the alcohol ordinance. Council has the power and control over any legislation it passes. It can always amend that. Can you come back and undo a contract when you’ve already spent $10,000 on it? No, but if it is a law or ordinance like this is, then that’s how the council has the power.”

Three votes from the four council members eligible to vote will be needed at the June 12 meeting to repeal the medical cannabis ordinance. Seibert said he will abstain. The Athens City Council meets for a work session at 4 p.m. followed by the regular meeting at 4:30 p.m.