Mayor: Would not sign for grants if pot stores allowed

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon said at an Ordinance Committee meeting Tuesday night that he would be perjuring himself by signing for federal grants if the council decides to regulate through zoning rather than ban medical marijuana storefront dispensaries.

During the meeting, Council President Andrew Brekke, who chaired the committee meeting, unveiled possible language to be added to the city's zoning plan.

Nearly 62 people showed up for the hearing at City Hall.

"When I sign something I read it, I believe it and I am not gonna sign something that perjures me in my position and that is why I am laying it out there," Solomon said.

Council member Caleb Hutchins asked Solomon if the city decided to zone rather than ban storefronts, if he would refuse to sign future grants.

"Yeah, if the grant has that wording in there - as long as they have that wording in there," Solomon said.

After the meeting, Solomon backed off of his statement, saying he would not refuse to sign for federal grants but feels he would have trouble doing so.

Cities throughout Montana have weighed whether to regulate or ban storefront dispensaries.

Havre is one of the only cities with about 10,000 or more people that has not banned or regulated the dispensaries. Billings, Helena, Great Falls, Kalispell and Belgrade have all banned storefronts. Missoula, Butte - Silver Bow and Bozeman have regulated storefronts.

Hutchins asked the mayor when the last time was he signed for a federal grant.

Solomon said he signed for a grant for the Havre City County Airport not too long ago.

Dispensaries, Hutchins said, are currently within the city limits, and the mayor has still been signing for grants and cashing federal checks each month.

Kim Faechner, owner of Green Releaf, a dispensary in the city on Second Street West, said the mayor was using federal funds as a scare tactic.

Brekke said that because the city has not made any decision at all about medical marijuana dispensaries technically being legal or illegal, they currently have more legal defense than they would if they took action that would allow for dispensaries in the city.

"That has been the determination of city attorneys throughout Montana on this issue," he said.

"It's illegal under federal law. You either arrest and prosecute or you are in violation of federal law, and we don't arrest people in Montana who have a medical marijuana card," Attorney Brian Lilletvedt said.

Lilletvedt said it is a shell game to say to the city is going to zone or it is going to ban because it is risking federal grant money when they are already at risk because the city doesn't enforce the federal law.

Hutchins asked the mayor if he, Police Chief Gabe Matosich or the city has received any letters or guidances from federal grantees telling them they are at risk of losing grant funding because of Montana's medical marijuana law. Solomon said he was not. Hutchins added that no state that has legalized medical or recreational marijuana has lost federal funding.

He said that the U.S. Justice Department issued the Cole amendment in 2013, an order during the Obama administration that said as long as a state where medical marijuana is legal takes steps to prevent drug trafficking, works to prevent use of medical marijuana by minors and meets other requirements, the Justice Department will not prosecute federal crimes involving marijuana.

Brekke said the order was later codified into law in 2015 as a policy rider in a larger bill, but unless Congress acts to renew it, the policy is set to sunset by year's end. He said U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked Congress five times to end the policy.

Lilletvedt said it can be hard to determine what the federal government will do. Though U.S. attorneys in states like Colorado and Washington did not prosecute cases where state laws conflict with federal law, he said that in Montana at the same time the federal government was aggressive in going after people who broke federal marijuana laws.

"So what the feds do, we don't know," Lilletvedt said.

The city, Brekke said, has four options moving forward when it comes to storefronts. The city can do nothing, issue a temporary moratorium, regulate them through zoning or outright ban them.

Not doing anything, Brekke said, would leave many concerns by law enforcement and questions by the medical marijuana industry unaddressed and open the city up to legal scrutiny.

A temporary moratorium would allow existing storefronts to operate as they do now but not allow any new ones.

"It basically gives us breathing room to make certain decisions," Brekke said.

He added that although a moratorium is an option, he thinks the city is in a place where they can either ban or zone the dispensaries.

Brekke presented draft language for a potential ban that says "no use of land shall be permitted or conditionally permitted within the city of Havre that is in violation of federal, state or local law."

A proposed zoning amendment that Brekke wrote, says "Retail sales as permitted under Montana law" would be added to city codes related to zoning.

Brekke said there are certain legal advantages to the ban because it solves the concerns of law enforcement and of other jurisdictions about grant funding.

The ban also does not mention medical or recreational marijuana, so if the federal law changes the law does not have to be changed, he said.

"If it becomes legal, it is now legal and we don't have to revisit our ordinance," Brekke said.

The ban proposal, Brekke said, is the simplest and most legally defensible.

The proposed zoning amendment would be a little more difficult, he said, because Havre does not have the self-governing powers that most other First Class cities have.

Most First Class cities, generally a city with a population of 10,000 or more, have a charter that grants it broader self-governing powers, Brekke said. Because Havre lacks that self-governing power and because, unlike most of the other cities, Havre does not issue business licenses, that means they do not have the bureaucracy in place to conduct inspections, he said.

Brekke said if the city opted to zone the storefront dispensaries it would do so in the city's commercial general district, which is the area where the two dispensaries in Havre are located.

He said that if the city banned dispensaries they would be pushed out into the counties.

Most counties, he said, have much looser zoning restrictions.

Debbie LaTray, who said she is a licensed provider who was thinking of opening up a dispensary, asked if Brekke had talked to the Hill County Commissioners about a ban.

He said that he had not.

Next Ordinance committee meeting will be 7 p.m Wednesday, Nov. 29.