Glenn pushing for dispensary ban at today's council meeting

A proposed ban on medical marijuana dispensaries and grow operations in Colorado Springs may end up on the November ballot after all.

City Councilman Darryl Glenn said Thursday he’s going to ask his council colleagues  at today's 1 p.m. meeeting to refer the question to the Nov. 2 ballot. He indicated he has four votes and needs just one more to make it happen.

“I’ve spent a lot of time working this particular issue, both with private citizens and other elected officials, and after the mountain of e-mails and those consultations, I feel an obligation as my district representative to bring it forward,” Glenn said.

A group of residents in Glenn’s council district, which encompasses the northeast part of the city, took out petitions to get a ban on the ballot. But the group failed to collect enough signatures.

Glenn, who is running for county commissioner, said he wasn’t grandstanding or leading the push for a ballot question to score political points.

“I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “Whether people believe me or not, that’s their issue.”

Glenn needs the support of four other council members to refer the question, which could prove tough given previous votes on the contentious issue.

The council recently enacted an ordinance to register medical marijuana businesses on a 6-3 vote, with Glenn and Councilmen Randy Purvis and Scott Hente opposed.

“If I didn’t feel that it was within one vote, I wouldn’t bring it forward,” Glenn said.

Glenn can also count on Vice Mayor Larry Small’s vote.

“It’s probably better that we do it now than later because if we go down the road that we’re on without asking the question and it comes up later ... it’s going to be very costly and disruptive to change course,” Small said.

Mayor Lionel Rivera and Councilmen Tom Gallagher, Bernie Herpin and Sean Paige have all said they oppose referring the question to the ballot.

“It’s a shame that Darryl, who’s been sitting safely on the sidelines on the issue for eight months with absolutely nothing to contribute while most of the rest of us have been trying to constructively deal with it, wants to get the city entangled in a contentious ballot battle and costly lawsuit on his way out the door,” Paige said. “Why doesn’t he just wait until he’s at his next political perch with the county than try to make an even bigger muddle of things?”

Councilwoman Jan Martin could not be reached for comment.

According to insiders last week, Councilman Scott Hente is the swing vote.

A few weeks ago, Hente said he was “not sure” if he would vote to refer the question to the ballot even though he is “hugely opposed” to the dispensary model approved by a council majority.

Hente said Thursday he’s given the issue a lot of thought but he’s not ready to change his mind “just yet” and refer the question to the ballot.

“You know how strongly I believe in representative government,” he said. “I believe representative government spoke on this. I think representative government made the wrong decision, but I’ve taken some pretty hard stands with regards to what representative government should do in the past.”

El Paso County commissioners are also considering referring a question to the ballot. They will take up the matter again next week.

Glenn said his request comes with one caveat: If proponents of a strong-mayor form of government don’t collect enough signatures to get their proposal on the November ballot, then he’ll withdraw his request.

“If they come up short, then I’m not going to force this issue on the ballot because we have to pay for that election, and that election could be $200,000 to $400,000,” he said.

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