{"id":19964,"date":"2019-11-06T12:49:18","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T19:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=61370"},"modified":"2019-11-06T12:49:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T19:49:18","slug":"craig-voters-push-through-recreational-marijuana-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/craig-voters-push-through-recreational-marijuana-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig voters push through recreational marijuana sales"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Elections workers Arloa Gerber, left, and Ann Dodd unload a full ballot box Tuesday, Nov. 5, a few hours before polls closed and voters decided whether businesses in Craig can sell recreational marijuana.<\/strong>
Clay Thorp<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

CRAIG \u2014 Voters in Craig legalized the recreational sale of marijuana Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

All three of the city\u2019s marijuana-related ballot initiatives passed \u2014 including allowing recreational dispensaries to sell marijuana to tourists, visitors, and residents. Voters also passed the city\u2019s proposed 4% variable tax on recreational sales \u2014 the proceeds from which will all go to the Craig library and the Museum of Northwest Colorado for five years.<\/p>\n

Lastly, voters approved of all types of subsequent marijuana related businesses in Craig, including grow operations, testing facilities, courier operations, and others.<\/p>\n

Measure 2D \u2014 regarding amending the Craig city charter to move the April election to November in odd years starting in 2021 \u2014 also passed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was busy all day long with people registering (and voting),\u201d said Craig City Clerk Liz White as votes were being counted Tuesday night. \u201cIt was nice to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email Monday, City Clerk Liz White said almost 1,700 registered municipal voters had cast their ballot by Friday, Nov. 1. By Monday, Moffat County Elections Coordinator Debbie Belleville had amended that number upward to 2,774. According to unofficial estimates obtained Tuesday night from elections personnel, by the end of election day Tuesday, a total of 2,550 of 5,833 municipal voters were approved to cast their ballots, making municipal voter turnout about 44%. By comparison, about 1,600 Craig residents cast their votes for mayor in April\u2019s municipal election for city council.<\/p>\n

About an hour before polls closed Tuesday, dozens of voters could be seen dropping their ballots off outside while others waited patiently inside at the clerk\u2019s office for more personal assistance using one of several voting machines. Several workers could be seen assisting voters with their machines and answering any questions voters had.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the best election judges ever,\u201d Belleville said Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Moffat County Clerk and Recorder Tammy Raschke agreed as votes were being counted Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur election judges have been great. They\u2019re seasoned,\u201d Raschke added.<\/p>\n

Craig City Councilors reacted late Tuesday to the news city voters passed their recreational marijuana initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t know how the vote would go,\u201d said Councilwoman Andrea Camp late Tuesday moments after unofficial results were announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surprised,\u201d Camp said.<\/p>\n

Councilman Steve Mazzuca said he\u2019s glad voters ultimately decided the marijuana question in Craig.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to finally have a vote from the people,\u201d Mazzuca said. \u201cIt sounds like a lot of people turned out to vote. We as a city council could have just passed it like Hayden did. So it\u2019s nice to have a vote from the people of Craig.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mazzuca said council\u2019s next move will be to decide what the variable tax will be on recreational sales and who should get their hands on one of only three recreational sales licenses available under the city\u2019s new ordinance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like people wanted the extra tax to go to the library and museum, so we should probably figure out what that tax is going to be,\u201d Mazzuca said.<\/p>\n

Though he wasn\u2019t happy about any extra taxes, Councilman Paul James was celebrating Tuesday night when reached by phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not thrilled about the tax, but I\u2019ll take it as a consolation prize,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

James has dedicated the last several years to passing recreational marijuana in Craig \u2014 having tried and failed multiple times to gather enough signatures for a petition to legalize recreational sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been six years of my life trying to get this through\u2026\u201d James said. \u201cI made this as a campaign promise and it\u2019s happened. I did everything I could within my power and everybody showed up to the ballot and actualized it.\u201d<\/p>\n

James said he wants residents to see a better future for Craig now that recreational marijuana sales in Craig are a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope everyone involved sees prosperity in their future,\u201d James said. \u201c\u2026It\u2019s good for locals and I hope it\u2019s good for the people who decide to invest in Craig.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elections workers Arloa Gerber, left, and Ann Dodd unload a full ballot box Tuesday, Nov. 5, a few hours before polls closed and voters decided whether businesses in Craig can sell recreational marijuana.Clay Thorp CRAIG \u2014 Voters in Craig legalized the recreational sale of marijuana Tuesday night. All three of the city\u2019s marijuana-related ballot initiatives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 15:12:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}