A new ordinance was passed by Meadville City Council officials which will give a lesser penalty for those charged with carrying marijuana.
Meadville City Council officials made their vote on October 20th and passed the ordinance giving those in the community a lesser penalty.
However, the mayor said that it is still up to the police on what charge you get depending n the circumstances.
The ordinance allows those who are found with an ounce or less of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia to receive a summary offense rather than a misdemeanor charge.
“If you are caught it’s more of like a ticket, more of a fine. What’s being proposed is $300 per violation,” said Autumn Vogel, Councilwoman.
Aside from easing the penalty, a big push for this ordinance was because they city would receive money.
According to city officials, when its a misdemeanor charge the fine money would go to the commonwealth and the state, but now that there is an ordinance, the fine money will go to the city.
“We get to see the fine money come back it’s our officers time and things like that,” said H Leroy Sterns, Mayor of Meadville.
“It was presented to us originally as a revenue option for the city. By us collecting fines rather than the courthouse collecting court fees,” said Vogel.
Now that the ordinance has passed, the mayor said that this can help first time offenders.
“People make mistakes. Then, for something like that. We can help them a little bit better than going through the whole court system,” said Sterns
The mayor said that the money from the fines will go toward the general operation budget.
This ordinance will go into effect on October 30th.
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