City Council plans to discuss 2014 laws tonight

By Stoney Stone

City Council meets today to discuss changes to DeKalb’s municipal code in response to state legalization of medical marijuana and concealed carry.

The City Council meeting will be held at 5 p.m. at the municipal building, 200 S. Fourth St.

City attorney Dean Frieders said there will be a process for how the city will handle legal code changes since the legalization of medical marijuana.

“A prescription from your doctor and a medical permit [are required] to possess a small amount of cannabis … [and] under very limited circumstances,” Frieders said.

Frieders said people “are permitted under state law to use that cannabis in a private location not visible to the public and typically not on public properties.”

There are no plans in DeKalb’s future for a dispensary as Illinois will have only 60 dispensaries, according to the plan laid out in the Compassionate Use of Cannabis Act.

Alterations will also come to DeKalb based on changes the city makes in regard to concealed carry.

The city will put up signs indicating buildings are gun-free zones as soon as the weather permits, said Public Works Director T.J. Moore.

“State law has a number of exemptions saying places that you can’t carry firearms, like municipal buildings, schools, university property, parks, certain kinds of forest preserves, hospitals, businesses that prohibit it [and] bars and taverns,” Frieders said.

In regard to the proposed changes, Mayor John Rey said the goal is to make the changes necessary in order to bring the municipal code in line with state laws.

Rey said renovations to City Hall will also be discussed at the meeting.

Rey said the city’s options are moving council chambers across the street into a remodeled annex building or moving the chambers downstairs to the first floor of the municipal building.