Mayor O'Dekirk Breaks Tie On Marijuana Vote For Joliet

JOLIET, IL — At Tuesday night's Joliet City Council meeting, Mayor Bob O'Dekirk cast the deciding tie-breaking vote on whether to impose a Cannabis Retailers Occupational Tax within the city. The measure passed on a 5-4 vote. Besides the mayor, City Council members who were supportive of regulating recreational marijuana for businesses were Terry Morris, Bettye Gavin, Mike Turk and Don "Duck" Dickinson.

The council members on the losing end of the recreational marijuana vote were Jan Quillman, Pat Mudron, Sherri Reardon and Larry Hug.

Afterward, O'Dekirk told Patch he was surprised the vote was close.

He said he figured Reardon and Mudron would have been supportive of the city staff's recommendation to adopt the measure since they portray themselves as being pro-business. After all, Joliet is already home to 3C Compassionate Care Center, a medical marijuana dispensary that recently was awarded a license from the state of Illinois to begin selling marijuana for recreational purposes starting in January.

The mayor said that 3C has been an exemplary business since moving to Joliet a few years ago. The city has had no problems at all with the 3C Compassionate Care Center, he added.

"We have a company that is respectable and viable that's already been selling it for years in medical marijuana," the mayor remarked. "I think (tonight's vote in favor of marijuana regulation) was the right thing to do. To vote no on this, in essence, you're telling them to leave Joliet and go somewhere else. Why would you do that?"

City of Joliet staff also explained that regulating recreational marijuana businesses could generate at least $1 million in new annual revenue for the city. "I would much rather raise revenue through legitimate businesses than raise taxes," O'Dekirk added.

After the meeting, April 2 city council candidate Vincent Alessio, who lost in his challenge to Mudron, took to social media to praise the council.

"Thank you to the city council for agreeing to allow cannabis sales in Joliet. I believe we will be an example to other surrounding communities by implementing a sensible policy (that) demonstrates economic development, personal choice, and the opportunity for good paying jobs within our community," Alessio said on Facebook.

(Patch article continues below Alessio photo.)

Tuesday night's vote does not mean that somebody can open up a recreational marijuana business anywhere in Joliet.

In the coming weeks, the Joliet City Council will likely vote on zoning regulations. The city will likely address each proposed marijuana business on a specific case by case basis, just as the city does when it comes to liquor license applications.

In fact, the Joliet Plan Commission's Oct. 17 meeting agenda includes a number of items related to creating a zoning ordinance amendment regarding adult-use cannabis and adding an adult-use cannabis dispensing organization as a special use in the city's B-2 Central Business Districts and as a special use in Joliet's B-3 General Business Districts.