Mount Pleasant City Commission elections to be held Nov. 5
The sun sets on City Hall August 25 in downtown Mount Pleasant.
The City of Mount Pleasant is holding a city-wide election where voters will fill two city commissioner seats and decide on regulations for local medical marijuana businesses.
The elections will be on Nov. 5, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., said Mount Pleasant City Clerk Jeremy Howard. The commission race and marijuana regulations will be the only two things on the ballot, he said.
The two vacancies in the city commission come after current commissioners Kathleen Ling and Tony Kulick chose to not seek re-election. Voters will choose two of the five commission candidates to fill the vacancies. The candidates are:
· Mary L. Alsager
· Barry DeLau II
· Brandon McQueen
· Kathy Rise
· George F. Ronan
One of the candidates, McQueen, helped petition for the marijuana ballot proposal. The proposal lays out certain limitations for recreational marijuana businesses, which Mount Pleasant City Manager Nancy Ridley said will start the approval process in January of 2020.
McQueen said the proposal is meant to counter the ordinance that City Commission approved this year. Some of the key differences with the ballot proposal include:
· Allowing non-retail marijuana businesses to open in non-industrial zones, which are limited to just industrial in the city’s ordinance.
· Eliminating the 1,000 ft. buffer zone in the city’s ordinance between marijuana businesses and K-12 schools, only saying that they can’t be adjacent to the school.
· Allowing designated consumption establishments (smoking lounges) in Mount Pleasant, while the ordinance does not.
The full language of the proposal can be found here. If the proposal passes, Ridley said any regulation defined in it will override what’s in the city’s ordinance. Anything related to recreational marijuana not mentioned in the proposal with be decided by the city commission. If it doesn’t pass, the city ordinance will take effect in January.
Those who are eligible can register to vote by mail up until Monday, Oct. 21, or can register on certain times and dates after the 21st at the clerk’s office:
· During the offices regular business hours at 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
· 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 2nd
· 7:00 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
