McComb selectmen again delayed action on adopting an ordinance decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Selectman Devante Johnson made a motion to adopt the ordinance, with no discussion offered. Selectman Donovan Hill, the measure’s sponsor, seconded.
Selectman Shawn Williams, however, offered a substitute motion to table the matter until after the board’s next work session.
“I think we need to discuss the consequences more,” Williams said.
Selectman Michael Cameron seconded, adding that, with board attorney Wayne Dowdy absent, “I want to table this because we have no attorney here.”
Hill was exasperated by another delay in voting on the measure, but resigned himself to it.
“It’ll just be another two weeks,” Hill said. “My phone has been available, and only Mr. Brock has called to offer any suggestions. ... This is just kicking the can down the road.”
Selectman Ted Tullos referred to a letter he said he had sent to the Attorney General before the previous meeting, and said he had received an opinion from the AG’s office.
The opinion, given to the Enterprise-Journal by Tullos on Thursday, says the AG’s office does not opine on or interpret municipal ordinances, but notes that “a municipality may enact an ordinance with appropriate criminal penalties if it does not conflict with state law so long as it is reasonable in scope and can pass constitutional muster. ...
“An ordinance that conflicts with state law is preempted thereby.”
It goes on to cite the Mississippi Supreme Court’s ruling in City of Amory vs. Yielding.
, which says that “since a municipality cannot validly expand or contract the application of a statute defining a misdemeanor, its ordinance must conform thereto ...”
The opinion points out the maximum $100 fine in the version of the ordinance supplied to the AG’s office by Tullos, while state law allows a minimum $100 fine and maximum $250 fine, and implies that would be enough to find the ordinance in conflict with state law.
Though the opinion said the AG’s office does not attempt to opine on or interpret municipal ordinances, it does say, “There appears to be a substantial risk that municipal ordinances enacted in the area of marijuana possession could interfere or conflict with what is a comprehensive state criminal regulation of all controlled substances, including marijuana.”
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said “the $100 the Selectman Hill is advocating is in line with state law,” but added that keeping the $100 level for second and third offenses might not comply with state law.
At the previous week’s work session, Brock had suggested raising the fine to $200, and Hill said at that time that he had no objection.
Hill was dismissive of Tullos’s report on the AG’s opinion, saying it was just that.
“We would not be the first city to pass this,” Hill said. Jackson has already passed such a measure, and Hattiesburg, like McComb, has been considering it.
Hill said he was open to discussing the ordinance again at the work session on Tuesday, but he would rather have voted that night.
The vote to postpone action on the ordinance was unanimous.
