McMinnville City Council met in Civic Hall on 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, and discussed issues concerning marijuana in town and banning dispensaries from 1,000 ft. of Linfield College.

A work session was held before the City Hall regular session beginning at 7:30.

In the work session, council members and City Attorney Walt Gowell discussed issues involving the medical and commercial sales of marijuana as well as growth and production of marijuana as was voted on in Nov. 2014 and made legal.

Various issues including the buffer zone offered to schools and places where minors congregate, operating hours, and specifically the proposal of a 1,000 foot ban around Linfield College were discussed by council.

Council members voiced their opinions on the growth and production of marijuana in the city as a result of Measure 91.

Council President Kevin Jeffries led the charge for an all-out ban in the city claiming that the OLCC and regulatory agencies were still forming.  He referred to the current situation as “playing in the dark”, in regards to the recreational sales of marijuana.

Councilor Remy Drabkin opposed Jeffries and the ban claiming that the people in Oregon had already voted.  She empathized with Linfield College but viewed this as “Linfield’s battle, not the city’s.”

Drabkin also worried the council’s actions on the matter were merely reactionary.

Council president Jeffries shared earlier in the meeting that the Boy Scouts he works with were asking to attend city hall meetings for various communication badges and Jeffries advised them not to come because of the topic of marijuana, claiming it was the free talk of a substance that many programs were funded to protect the children against.

Mayor Olson commented that he supported the buffer around Linfield but also respected the Free Enterprise market.

Jeffries claims that the propaganda and campaigning for Measure 91 was misleading and focused on the “use” of marijuana differentiating from the growth and production.

This comment was met with anger from the audience. One man voiced immediately, “We knew what we were voting for.”

During the regular session of the City Hall meeting, when Mayor Olson opened the floor for members of the audience to speak, citizens voiced further concerns regarding Jeffries implication about voters’ intelligence.

The majority of audience input was opposed to the ban, while one citizen voiced his support of a city-wide ban of recreational marijuana sales.

After a wave of opposition to ban, Mayor Olson asked Attorney Gowell to read the proposed ordinance that would refer a ban on marijuana sales in McMinnville to a people’s vote that would occur on the Nov. 2016 general ballot.

Councilor Scott Hill clarified that, should the new ban pass, the two marijuana dispensaries already running in McMinnville would not be effected as a result of a grandfather clause.

In the vote, Councilors Drabkin, Menke, and Ruden opposed the ban while Councilors Jeffries, Yoder, and Hill supported a ban: a 3 – 3 tie.

Mayor Olson stated his position with a preface of his view that Measure 91 clearly stated the use, growth, and production of marijuana to be allowed by the law, ultimately voting “nay” which was AGAINST a ban on marijuana sales.

The issue was concluded and the ordinance of a proposed ban was thrown out.