60 residents attend St. Joseph town hall on recreational marijuana dispensaries
By DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com
St. Joseph, Ill. – What do residents in St. Joseph want their community to look like?
This is the question posed by Mayor Tami Fruhling-Voges at Tuesday’s town hall meeting to gather opinions about the legalization of the sale of recreational marijuana within Village limits.
All municipalities within the State of Illinois must decide on whether they want to follow the application process to be considered to be one of the towns that are allowed to host one of 75 new licenses to sell recreational marijuana after May 1, 2020. There will be a second wave of licenses issued.
The 55 existing medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state will be allowed to open recreational dispensaries on their site, and apply to open a second dispensary if the local governments allow it.
Board members Jim Wagner, Art Rapp and Dan Davis listened to comments at the meeting. Fruhling-Voges said the discussion would continue at the Aug. 27 Board of Trustees study session, then potentially voted on at the Sept. 10 meeting.
The Village of St. Joseph was a dry town until 2005 when, by request of community members, the Board of Trustees opened up limited liquor licenses for packaged alcohol, restaurants and wineries. The Village continues to not issue bar licenses.
Unlike other states that put the legalization of recreational marijuana on the ballot, Illinois legislators made the measure legal on March 29, 2019, leaving municipalities not with the decision of whether or not marijuana could be used recreationally, but whether or not the municipality would allow the sale within its limits.
Fruhling-Voges said if the state had taken the ballot approach, St. Joseph could understand what the community wanted.
“But now we need to decide what’s best for our community,” she said.
Fruhling-Voges believes that St. Joseph is not a good candidate to be approved for one of state-approved the licenses being in close proximity to Champaign-Urbana and Danville, where medicinal marijuana dispensaries are already located.
She also stated that the cost of the application and registration fees, annual fees and licensing fees are expensive. The Village would also have to consider the costs of enforcing its own rules and regulations, alongside unintended consequences such as drug abuse, mental health issues and possible access by minors.
The community of approximately 4,000 has a hard time supporting local businesses, Fruhling-Voges said.
“The biggest thing St. Joe needs to consider, even if we thought there was a demand, our local businesses have a hard time making it because of our proximity to Champaign and Danville,” she said.
Fruhling-Voges continued to say that the local IGA struggles because people use it like a convenience store and that establishments like the hardware store went out of business because it’s hard to pay the bills when customers are buying one nail at a time.
Towards the end of her remarks, the Mayor pointed out that Naperville already opted out of applying for a license because the board said that a recreational dispensary did not fit in with the Naperville brand.
Fruhling-Voges said that the St. Joseph brand is a church, family, small-town atmosphere where neighbors help each other.
“Is this a business that will fit into that image and that brand?” she said. “That’s what the trustees need to decide.
“What is your brand? What brand do you want the Village of St. Joe to be?”
Jim O’Brien was the first resident to take the microphone, stating that he believes the Village should take the same path as it did with alcohol and put the issue on the ballot.
“Then everyone gets a vote,” he said.
Mark Maddock said that the Village made it a priority to change its ordinance in respect to use of golf carts on public roads even though there are not many residents who use them.
“We permitted the adults to drive them,” he said. “Why limit an adult the ability to buy and sell it in our town.”
Maddock also said that aside from tax revenue the Village would see, the research he did showed benefits to communities that had legalized the drug: 11-percent drop in traffic accidents, people don’t die from marijuana use, the availability of legalized marijuana cuts down on black-market and cartel sales and that violent crimes decrease.
He implored the trustees to listen to the constituents and find out what the community wants.
Jim Sandquist objected to the idea of going through the licensing and legal process to attempt to get a license because he believed the process and enforcement was a waste of tax dollars. Sandquist believes tax dollars are better spent when used in schools and public infrastructure.
Jackie Martin moved to St. Joseph 20 years ago from Champaign to raise her family in the St. Joseph-Ogden School District. Martin said that families move to St. Joseph to escape the environment in Champaign-Urbana, and the trustees should consider why families move to the town.
Sandy Paprzyca plans to retire in St. Joseph after moving from Chicago in May. A nurse who helped take care of babies who were born with drugs in their system, she also watched her sister pass away from drug addiction.
“I don’t want this to be another Chicago,” she said.
After working with children for 50 years, Gary Garrison said that he has seen a lot of heartache from drug abuse. He doesn’t believe that marijuana dispensaries will serve St. Joseph economically or socially.
Garrison said that he has seen marijuana ruin lives, including a man get a 12-year prison sentence over a fight for drugs, and a woman who had black teeth from meth use after beginning on marijuana.
Les Cotton followed Garrison with his story of redemption to sobriety after going through the Lifeline Connect program.
Cotton talked about the adverse statistics showing that the first states that legalized marijuana recently issued reports that show an increased in traffic accidents, homelessness and school expulsion.
Urbana resident Vincent Sims said that anyone can find reports that say anything.
“But can you get buzzed on marijuana?” he asked. “Will that impair you when you get behind the wheel of the vehicle? Yes, it will.”
Sims was frustrated because he believes Chicago politicians make decisions for downstate Illinois.
“Just because they say it’s okay, doesn’t mean it’s okay,” he said.
Greg Smith talked about the increase of children becoming poisoned after ingesting brownies, lollipops and other candies and snacks laced with marijuana.
“What kind of town do you want to leave for your children and grandchildren?” he asked.
“This isn’t about tax revenue, the Village of St. Joseph is about people.”
John Kenneth Young said St. Joseph residents won’t want their children or grandchildren crossing the street when a driver is impaired.
“They are putting a price on people’s lives. Every life is valuable. The only reason to have sales is to make money,” he said.
Young said that the St. Joseph community has tripled in size since he moved there, and he attributed that to the town’s values.
“Much of the growth of St. Joe happened because people were escaping the vices of Champaign-Urbana,” he said.
One resident was concerned the proximity of exposure to a marijuana dispensary will make residents of St. Joseph feel the effects of the drug in a greater way than they would if it were not there.
Ryan Anderson said that the discussion of whether or not marijuana would be used in St. Joseph is mute because that State of Illinois has already legalized it.
Anderson believes in the free market, and while he said he does not believe that a marijuana dispensary would thrive in St. Joseph, that is not for trustees to decide.
“If they want to do it, the should be able to try,” he said.
Angela Page agreed that the measure should be put on the ballot, but Fruhling-Voges said that it would not be possible prior to Jan. 1.
“The people who are against it are so passionate about being against it,” said Angela Page. “And the people who are for it are equally as passionate about being for it. I don’t know how anybody would not welcome this to be on the referendum.”
St. Joseph does not fall under the same freedoms as Champaign because it is a non-home-rule community.
Amber Anderson said that even though it cannot be on the ballot this year, it should be a priority for the Village to get it on the ballot.
She pointed out that the Village made it a priority to make sure that the golf cart ordinance was passed.
“Maybe it depends on who wants it pushed versus who doesn’t want it pushed,” she said.
A math professor, Anderson encouraged the Village not to take a straw poll as was suggested by some in the crowd because the 60 attendees did not represent a good sample size.
“If we actually want the community input, then we should put it on the ballot,” she said.
Anderson called for a commitment.
Sara Buttjer, a teacher, said that it is the responsibility of adults to set an example for the children they serve.
“We are an example for our children, the children will take that example,” she said.
Amber Anderson said that arguing the good and bad of marijuana is beside the point because it has already been made legal within the state.
She said that like alcohol, there are limitations that have been set and consequences put in place to provide regulations.
“This isn’t a free-for-all,” she said.
Sandquist said he pays four-times what any of his family members pay for property taxes, and he reiterated that he does not want to see that money wasted on studies and legal fees for marijuana.
