Sumpter Township Board gets information on new marijuana law

The Sumpter Township Board of Trustees discussed the issue of medical marijuana for 40 minutes during its work/study session starting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 12.
Wes Crumby of Au Gres Township and Tom Wright, chairman of the Au Gres Township Planning Commission, had been invited by a board member to give a presentation on the issue.
They said they are a free resource that help people get licenses if they are interested or just to be informed if they don’t want marijuana in their communities.
As Crumby started his presentation, he was rudely cut off by township attorney Rob Young, who said, “We have been involved in this ad nauseam … We know all of that. The ship has sailed. We’ve had quite a bit of discussion on this. I’m trying to save you the time.”
“Sounds like you already know…” Crumby said. “Have you made a decision?”
Young replied that the zoning ordinance language caused confusion. He said the Michigan Township Association recommended a community make sure nothing is in its ordinance sounds like approving marijuana businesses.
“There was some consternation … as if I was trying to say the township would opt out…” Young said. “You know we’re already out until you opt in.”
“I spent extensive time on the phone with the attorney,” he said, adding the township could give itself time to opt in in the future.
“There are very few options we’re given as a township as to whether we want or don’t want businesses,” Young said. “This is the only one I know that we can say yes or no … We’re not compelled to do something … We get two to three calls a week about this … Got an email today asking me to opt into the MMFLA.” He referred to the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act of 2016 that goes into effect in December.
Young went on, saying that LARA probably will enact temporary rules on the law before Dec. 15. He referred to the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
“You should know what the rules are before you decide whether to opt in or out… Let’s see, we need police ordinance, zoning ordinance, inspections to make sure this will be handled correctly… You’re going to have drug companies, big companies, by not obtaining illegal grows … There will be tracking from seed to grow…” Young continued, finally taking a breath.
Crumby said that he knows Sumpter will make its own decision, but communities who choose to opt in early are making a lot of money. He said they dropped off a check for $78,000 that day for permits for a community.
He said no licenses are expected from the state until the first quarter and then it takes 16 weeks to produce a crop.
Crumby said Bangor Township attracted a large player.
“If you’re going to opt in, but you decide to wait and see, you’ll be losing money,” Crumby said, noting Pinconning has 55 grows.
Crumby’s associate Wright said Section 9.6 of the ballot initiative said that if municipalities didn’t initially opt in, once the ballot initiative is passed, it can opt in, but the State of Michigan will not allow any more licenses and there could be no facilities for two years.
He said in the ballot initiative, planned for the November 2018 election, licenses under the State of Michigan will be a valuable commodity. If a neighboring community opts in and the ballot initiative passes and you want to opt in … the first two years after the ballot initiative takes effect the MMFLA will continue in effect. The guy without a license will be boxed out, he said.
When the ballot proposal passes, and recreational marijuana is legal, you will have to be MMFLA licensed first and then two years later it changes, Wright said.
“I work with municipalities all the time,” Wright said. “Many townships are doing nothing … and that’s fine if you don’t want them… They’re scared of the people with the torches and pitchforks.”
Wright said Au Gres is a rural township and they are allowing grows in Agricultural and Industrial and have amended the ordinance to allow Light Industrial in Commercial.
He said grows can only be placed in Agricultural or Industrial or unzoned, and provisionary centers and processing is up to you.
“Secure transporter and testing? Who cares where they go? You’ll never know what they’re doing,” Wright said.
Treasurer Peggy Morgan asked if the township opts in and in six months or a year wants to opt out, can it stop?
Wright replied: “Say Joe Smith wants to grow in Sumpter Township. The state will get ahold of the clerk or deputy clerk and ask if the township has an ordinance and a license. If not, no state license is granted.”
Wright said to opt in, the board takes a vote and tells the planning commission to work on ordinances. Then the commission puts language together on police power with information from the township board (Au Gres met in joint session) and then the commission makes a recommendation to the township board.
“A lot of townships are trying to get things adopted ASAP … They want to cross every “t” and dot every “i” so the state will give licenses,” Wright said.
Wright said Crumby is on the Au Gres Township Planning Commission, too, and in 30 days it was law. He said in Gaylord it was 60 days start to finish. An applicant can get a local license.
Crumby said in October you will be able to start putting in fingerprints. They are trying to get prepared. Maybe they will limit numbers restrictively.
“They probably won’t get licenses until May and then sit on it for 17 more weeks for seed tracking,” Crumby said. “Every year you have to renew.”
A man in the audience, who did not give his name, said the township should stay mindful of the “invisible hand” that removes projects from the smaller investor. He said it takes $4,000-$8,000 to apply to the state and they can still say no.
“Many people will fail,” he said. “It’s very expensive and a lot of work …but there is an opportunity for small investors but it will scale up real fast and only millionaires will be in … Those in other states can participate.”
He said a fee for a grower’s license for 1,500 plants is $10,000 to $57,000 for one license.
Wright went over, in detail, the way the 3% state excise tax on the product will be distributed.
“If Township A has three facilities and Township B has one, Township A gets 21% more,” Wright said.
“In 2018 everybody knows it’s going to
pass,” Crumby said. “It’s going to be recreational.”
Mary Ban, a registered nurse, said THC is very dangerous and leaves deposits in the brain tissue and bone marrow. She said it is a gateway drug and people can be left with no memory, like someone she knew.
The unnamed man in the audience said he learned of medical marijuana for 70-year-old clients who had the choice of opioids or cannabis. He said it is simply a plant and there are kinds for those who choose not to get high.
He said the alternative is the current epidemics for opioids.
In other business at the regular meeting, the board:
• Approved the second reading and adopted an ordinance to establish certain zoning classifications for the construction and development of medical marijuana caregiver facilities;
• Approved the second reading and adopted the ordinance to repeal Section 6.55 and portions of Section 4.15.2 and 4.16.2 of the township zoning ordinance because they don’t make sense under the new marijuana law;
• Approved hiring Sta-tha-kis Cleaning Service for twice a week for the township hall, community center, and police station at a monthly rate of $1,442.15. Clerk Esther Hurst said the township had been paying $1,700;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Mary Sherwood to the planning commission with a term to expire Sept 23, 2020;
• Approved purchase of a Western 8-Ft. Pro Plus Snow Plow for $5,050 from Harold’s Frame Shop;
• Awarded demolition bids for two properties, 43114 Judd and 5340 Oakville-Waltz, to Bush & Son for $47,500 to be paid with federal Community Development Block Grant Funds. The approval is contingent upon all proper permits being obtained and review by the township attorney; and
• Heard Mary Ban ask God’s blessing on the board in making the decision on medical marijuana dispensaries for Sumpter. She also said the closed bridge in New Boston is killing the town and the county is not using its head in solving the bridge problem. “Business owners are in dire straits,” she said. Treasurer Peggy Morgan said, “We can squawk all we want. The people will be given more information at the Sept. 20 meeting. They thought they needed parts and now they are going to replace the bridge.” Ban said there are 32 bridges around that need repair, but those are not killing a town.”
The board went into closed-door session after the regular agenda ended at 7:09 p.m. to consider updates to two union contracts and to discuss the law suit Po vs. Sumpter Township.