TOWN HALL MEETING SET ON MED POT, MORE LOCAL ISSUES

City Council has scheduled session for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at
Municipal Justice Center.

Several City Council members want to convene a town hall meeting next
Wednesday to let city residents comment on local issues --
particularly a proposed ordinance that would let city voters decide
Nov. 2 whether to allow medical marijuana centers in the city.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the community room of the new
Municipal Justice Center on Main Street.

The gathering won't be an official council meeting, but is intended to
let council members hear from the community on local issues, according
to Councilman Steve Nawrocki. Because more than one council member
will likely be present, public notice and posting of the meeting is
required, he said.

Medical marijuana is commanding attention from city and county
officials this week as July 1 passed. That was the deadline, according
to state officials, for marijuana centers that have been operating to
file some kind of document showing local government approval. Those
centers that didn't must close until the state establishes it own
licenses in July 2011.

Pueblo County's planning department received 17 applications by
closing time Thursday to operate marijuana centers in the county.
That's more centers than county officials were aware of.

On the city front, officials delivered a cease-and-desist order to
MediMar Ministries, 112 Colorado Ave., on Tuesday. It was the only
marijuana center that had been operating in the city despite a city
moratorium on licensing those businesses.

At its July 12 regular meeting, council will take up an ordinance from
Councilwoman Judy Weaver to let city voters settle the question of
whether to allow marijuana centers in the city. The new state law
passed in May gives local governments the discretion of whether to
allow them or not.