Legislate in haste, repent at leisure

Honorable Mayor and Council,

            “Marry in haste, repent at leisure.”  The same could be said for legislating. 

It pays to give people time to think about a proposal, and inform you about its consequences.  It pays for you to take time to think on what they said and search out more information.  That’s why our county charter requires two readings of an ordinance, two weeks apart, with public comment at each, before the Board of County Commissioners votes on it.

            July 15^th, you passed an illegal ordinance banning marijuana outdoors with no public comment allowed, because you had voted for it two weeks before, after only one reading when you were tired and irritated with the people telling you not to do it.  On the 15^th, I wanted to tell you that Representative Carl Wilson had told you by email that it was illegal before the first reading and point out exactly why it was illegal, but I was not allowed to; your ears were stopped by your previous vote.  I will tell you at your next meeting; I’ll be talking about this as long as it takes to fix it.

            Sometime before I started attending City Council meetings, some Council lost the point of having a second reading of an ordinance.  They started your present routine of: vote to read; vote on the ordinance; immediately vote to read it again; and vote again if the vote for the second reading is unanimous, which it usually is.  Otherwise, the 2nd reading is held off until the next meeting.   And you are supposed to talk to no one about it in the meantime.  Really?

            What is the point of this ritual?  It’s just a rigmarole, which makes no sense and ticks people off.  It is an avoidance of information from the public, a rush to judgment, thinly disguised as procedure.  I’ve never seen the Board of County Commissioners reconsider an ordinance.  It is common with the City Council.

            Please reconsider your outdoor pot ban, which, your Recorder read in the second reading, includes possession.  I do not want to sue you over it.  I do want you to pass a city sales tax.  This ordinance and that tax campaign are not compatible. 

You can’t offend the poor, pot smokers, and shop owners and expect to keep your seats, much less pass a sales tax.  You can, however, reconsider and repent your illegal ordinance, and adopt the County’s procedure for passing ordinances.  A little repentance and reform can soothe a lot of hurt feelings.

P.S. Their unknowing prohibition of outdoor possession got an immediate response from one councilor.  She explained that it is too late to reconsider the ordinance; it cannot now be changed or repealed for 6 months.  I said that the Manager must stay enforcement of it; publicize it, so we need not fear to call the cops; and the Council must repeal it in 6 months.  I repeated this in an email to the Council, Mayor, and Staff, and gave them two weeks to do it or I will retain an attorney and sue.

                   

August 5^th speech and protest issue, published in GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com

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Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

The ordinance was amended September 16, 2016, to remove any references to possession.  The rest of it is still quite illegal.