Laingsburg's marijuana renewal fee sits blank in Tuesday's packet

Laingsburg's marijuana permit holders will learn what an annual renewal costs them only when the City Council says it out loud Tuesday night. The resolution setting the fee, Resolution No. 2616, is in the council's Sept. 1 packet with the number missing: the operative line reads "$________________ per annual permit renewal application."

The fee is the second half of a two-step change. Ordinance No. 2026-02, up for second reading and adoption Tuesday, amends Sections 18-302(g) and 18-304(b) of the city code so the renewal fee is no longer fixed in the ordinance but "established from time to time by resolution of the City Council." The ordinance also keeps the requirement that a renewal application reach the clerk at least 90 days before a permit expires, and warns that a permit holder who misses that deadline "shall be deemed to have forfeited the permit." The city fee is on top of anything owed to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency and any costs tied to the special use permit.

The Current reported Aug. 28 that the dollar amount was absent from the agenda. The full packet, posted since, does not fill it in. The council approved the first reading of the ordinance unanimously on Aug. 11, on a motion by Council Member Robert Miller seconded by Council Member Jason Innis, with no changes.

The same meeting takes up who represents the city. The packet includes a 12-page request for proposals for municipal legal services, seeking "qualified attorneys and law firms" to advise the mayor, council, clerk, treasurer, police chief, DPW supervisor, Planning Commission, DDA and Zoning Board of Appeals. It asks bidders for hourly rates, retainer options, mileage and meeting-attendance charges, three municipal references and disclosure of any professional discipline. The city prefers a primary attorney with at least five years of municipal experience and "does not guarantee a minimum amount of legal work or billable hours."

The RFP does not say who does that work now, or why Laingsburg is going out for bids. The August minutes show only that under "other items," Council Member Tim Leonard moved and Innis seconded to authorize City Clerk Kim Hamilton to prepare an RFP for municipal attorney services, and that it carried unanimously. The proposal due date, due time, the submission email and the questions phone number are all blank lines in the document as posted. The RFP also lists the city's address as 114 N. Woodhull Road; the council's own letterhead uses 114 Woodhull St.

Also Tuesday: the LSW budget for 2026-27 returns after the council tabled the prior year's budget Aug. 11 until documents named on pages 12 and 13 of the local agreement were produced. A staff memo in the packet says the city has since obtained a previously unavailable 2009 amendment to the LSW interlocal agreement and informal guidance from the Michigan Municipal League's general counsel — offered with the express caveat that it was not a formal legal opinion, because he is not the city's attorney — that the interlocal agreement controls how costs are shared and that the city's fire millage and ambulance special assessment are funding methods. The memo says the open question is "what costs and expenses are being divided among the incorporating units, and how was Laingsburg's requested share determined?" The memo adds the review "is not to question the value or importance of LSW emergency services."

Two other items in the packet touch daily life. Staff is asking the council to discuss banning parking on city streets from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. between Nov. 15 and April 1 so DPW can plow, with the Williams Street municipal lot designated as the overnight lot and overnight parking barred in other city lots; the memo notes the current ordinance references a 2 a.m.–6 a.m. zone but "does not clearly identify where that zone is located," and asks the council what the fine should be. And a first reading of a Chapter 58 amendment would keep ORVs, mini-bikes, pocket bikes and dirt bikes off sidewalks except to cross a driveway, and require riders of bicycles, e-bikes, scooters and skateboards on sidewalks to yield to pedestrians and slow at driveways, alleys and lot entrances. Violations would be municipal civil infractions.

What happens next: the council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, at the city offices, 114 Woodhull St. The fee resolution takes effect only when Ordinance No. 2026-02 does — after adoption and publication. The Chapter 58 rules are a first reading, so adoption would come at a later meeting. The Current will report the fee amount, the RFP deadline and the LSW vote once the council acts.