Voters in the town of Washington opted on Saturday against imposing a temporary hold on accepting applications for marijuana retail stores. The floor vote came at Town Meeting, which was held at Prescott Memorial School.
Selectman Thomas N. Johnson said after the meeting that the vote was taken by a show of cards rather than secret ballot. “It wasn’t unanimous, but a significant majority was against it.”
He said the voters felt that they wanted to wait until the state’s rules were announced.
Johnston said he expects to see a vote on the issue again at a special town meeting, likely in December.
“That way we’ll have time to work on it once we know what the state’s rules are,” he said.
Recreational marijuana was legalized in Maine by voters last November, and since then, many municipalities across the state have enacted moratoriums temporarily banning marijuana-based retail stores from opening.
In late January, a yearlong statewide moratorium on retail marijuana sales was enacted.
All the other warrant articles passed; however, voters opted for the Budget Committee’s recommendation of $100,000 for road maintenance labor rather than the $105,000 recommended by selectmen.
The two boards’ recommendations on other monetary items were identical.
Selectmen had proposed a $718,283 town budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Johnston estimated that 50 people attended Saturday’s meeting, and some of the discussion centered on which roads needed paving and maintenance.
Johnston, an incumbent selectman, was re-elected Friday; and Guy Barrie won re-election to the Regional School Unit 40 school board. The term of office of each position is three years.
Town Clerk Ann Dean said about 80 people voted at the polls Friday.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
