PUTNEY — Putney residents debated the virtues and drawbacks of allowing a retail cannabis store to open in their town during their informational meeting Saturday on Town Meeting issues.
Residents were divided about the Australian ballot issue, which will be decided on Tuesday, and whether Putney should join other towns like Brattleboro, which voted last year to allow retail sales of cannabis starting this fall.
There was plenty of opposition to the idea, with people saying the town needed to study the idea before adopting it, and pointing out that without a local option tax (which Brattleboro has and Putney does not) there would be no direct financial benefit.
Under state law, towns must “opt in” to allow cannabis sales: about 40 Vermont towns are taking up the issue at Town Meeting, including Rockingham, Marlboro and Wilmington.
Resident Billy Straus said he is opposed to the plan, and said the town hadn’t really studied the full ramifications of letting a cannabis store open.
There are five schools in Putney, Straus, an Emmy award-winning children’s musician, said. Only Landmark College has students over the age of 21.
“This is not the time,” said Straus, noting there are “way too many unknowns.”
Supporter Tim Morris, who is running for a seat on the Select Board, said allowing a retail cannabis operation in town would attract more retail dollars to a town that needs more retail activity.
Morris pointed out no one under the age of 21 would be allowed into a retail cannabis store, and he also noted that the medical marijuana dispensary already in town would be allowed to sell cannabis under the law.
Others said a retail store selling cannabis is just following the natural progression of things, since cannabis is now legal in the state of Vermont, and there is plenty of cannabis already being grown privately in town.
All cannabis sold in Vermont must be grown in Vermont, Rep. Michael Mrowicki, D-Putney said. He said the legislature purposely wanted to keep “Big Tobacco” out of the Vermont market.
Kate Dodge, who owns Putney Mountain Winery, said she had always hoped to call her business “Putney Mountain Winery and Pottery.”
Dodge said she and her husband, who both make and sell fruit-based wines in Putney, favored allowing the town to be home to a retail shop. “I don’t see the difference,” she said, noting she did not use marijuana herself.
But if it costs $25,000 for a state cannabis license, as one person pointed out, no one will open a shop in Putney, Dodge predicted.
State law establishes an annual fee of $25,000 for the retail stores, after a $2,500 non-refundable application fee, and an initial $20,000 first-year licensing fee.
Dodge’s pun wasn’t the only joke during the discussion: one woman said she is concerned the town’s name would morph into “Potney.”
Retail cannabis was only one of a multitude of issues the 70 or so residents discussed during the six-hour virtual meeting, which was held in advance of all-day Australian balloting.
The traditional floor meeting for the second year in a row was a casualty of COVID, according to Town Moderator Meg Mott, who stressed that she wasn’t acting as the traditional moderator Saturday but as a “facilitator.”
In addition to the lively discussion about retail cannabis, residents talked about the proposal to expand the select board from the current three members to a full five members, which most neighboring towns have.
Again, there were plenty of pros and cons. Laura Chapman, a former select board member, urged townspeople to expand the board and make it more diverse. She said most non-profit boards have more than three members, and a larger board would lead to diversity and “varying skill sets.”
Others agreed that if the board is larger and has more diverse people on it, it would increase the participation.
“I think this is a really good idea,” said Lyssa Papazian, a former select board member.
The board can sometimes be viewed as a closed society, some people said.
Expanding the size, and dividing the work of the board among five instead of three, would be an attraction for other potential candidates, some said.
On the other side of the debate was the worry that by increasing the board, it would allow legal-but-private discussions of town business by only two board members, said resident Lorie Cartwright. Two members does not constitute a quorum under Vermont meeting law.
And current board member Joshua Laughlin said he is concerned that there wouldn’t be five people who wanted to serve on the board. This year, there are three people running for one vacant seat, which is a welcome development, he said. “We need to increase our volunteers,” he said.
Resident Howard Fairman raised many questions about procedure and how the town is handling its finances.
Fairman said a $550,000 bond issue passed by voters two years ago for a new fire truck had been dropped by the board, without consulting with the voters.
Laughlin and Town Manager Karen Astley said the board decided not to pursue the bond because the town’s finances were in a “precarious” position.
But Fairman asked what they are basing that assessment on, seeing as how the town has a healthy surplus.
But Astley said most of that surplus has been already designated or assigned to reserve funds.
There were also questions about the proposed $1.4 million town budget and the $1.1 million highway fund, and whether the town is doing enough to counter climate change, including buying a hybrid or biodiesel-fueled highway truck. The budgets include a 3 percent cost of living increase for employees.
Astley said the price of a hybrid truck is about double the cost of a diesel truck.
Astley said the budget includes a new, part-time position of grant manager, to help the town decide how to spend its COVID relief funds. And for the first time in a long time, the Putney highway department is running with a full complement of six employees, Astley said.
If voters do agree to expand the board to five members, another article calls for a special election to be held to fill those new positions within 60 days.
Mott, at the beginning of the meeting, threatened to start singing songs from Mary Poppins if voters didn’t follow her general guidelines for the virtual meeting.
“Assume goodwill,” Mott said.
All Putney registered voters were sent an absentee ballot, Town Clerk Jonathan Johnson said. A secure drop box for ballots is available outside the town office. Polls will be open Tuesday at the Putney Fire Station from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Contact Susan Smallheer at ssmallheer@reformer.com.
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