Some Woodland residents voiced their displeasure, last week, over the City Council’s earlier rejection gathering public input through an advisory vote on whether the sale of cannabis should be allowed in the city.
Despite public backlash at the July 15 regular council meeting, the four council members who denied the vote remained firm in their decision.
In a previous July 1 meeting, Woodland’s City Council rejected an advisory vote, 4-3, to ask voters to share their opinions on allowing cannabis sales in certain city zones. If allowed on the Nov. 5 ballot, the advisory vote would have ascertained public opinion rather than created or changed policy. Council members Douglas Freimarck, Carol Rounds, John Burke and Terry Hall rejected the public ballot idea due to their stance against the retail sale of cannabis in Woodland, even though it is legal in the state. July 1 was the last opportunity for an advisory vote to appear on Woodland’s general election ballot.
During the regular council meeting last week, Woodland resident Monica Rehm said the council’s previous decision to not allow Woodland residents to vote on the matter did not reflect what community members wanted. She also disputed some council members’ beliefs that a retail store would endanger children, as residents must be 21 to enter.
“I did not realize that seven people were gonna make this decision for the whole community. That doesn’t represent us, I don’t think,” Rehm said. “It’s not even a matter of if you are for the marijuana store or [if] you’re against it. What matters is that we all have a voice that we would like to be heard on this decision.”
Woodlanders in attendance applauded Rehm’s statement. Mayor Todd Dinehart, who has no vote regarding the decision, agreed with Rehm’s assertion. Dinehart supports allowing Woodland’s 3,800 registered voters to share their beliefs, even if the council members, themselves, disagree. He noted that the community has grown since the topic was first discussed in 2012 when the state legalized cannabis, furthering the need for a public ballot.
“How do we create closure? How do we create unity? How do we bring a community of 6,500 people together that says, ‘Hey, this is what we as a community want?” Dinehart said. “... Me, personally, I don’t know if it would be a yes or a no … it provides our community the opportunity to decide something that has been over our heads for [nearly] 13 years.”
Councilor Gabe Huston, who voted in favor of the advisory vote, added, “I think they’re scared it’s gonna pass,” referring to the four council members opposed. Councilor Melissa Doughty, also in favor, agreed an advisory vote would provide closure, adding she never said whether or not she’d vote in favor of allowing retail cannabis sales in a certain zone.
“Right now, they see over half our council as not even wanting to listen to them,” Doughty said of residents.
Jennifer DeLuz, another Woodland local, criticized Councilor Terry Hall for citing religious and moral reasons for rejecting an advisory vote. During the July 1 discussion, Hall quoted the Bible about the possibility of a cannabis store in the city.
“It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble,” he said at the time.
“Your speech last meeting was an excellent example of religion … and the way people distort and manipulate what they want from the Bible,” DeLuz said. “I find it morally wrong and disgusting that you try to label anyone and everyone who’s any type of cannabis user as immoral. Jesus loves me. I’m just a sinner saved.”
DeLuz said she felt deceived by Freimarck’s vote against the advisory vote, citing his campaign for City Council. She recalled seeing Freimarck’s campaign ads at 20 after 4, a cannabis store that was shut down in 2023 for violating Woodland’s zoning ordinance, during the last election season.
“Councilors Freimarck and [Carol] Rounds staked their seats against their beliefs, taunting the people to vote us out if you don’t like it,” DeLuz said. “Personally, I feel like I was swindled out of my vote when I voted for Freimarck. I have talked to several people who feel like you put your name on a hot-ticket item and knowingly deceived the voters who thought that you were, at the very least, open-minded about the subject.”
Freimarck denied any involvement in the ad placement and claimed he had asked the owner to remove the ads.
“If you want to vote against me on the next election, that’s fine. If that happens, I think me and my wife would move out of town … I doubt that I’d want to stay here because I know it’s gonna happen to it in the future,” Freimarck said regarding cannabis retail.
Rounds, Burke and Hall all stood by their previous vote denying a public vote. Woodland resident Maggie Smith, who spoke during the proceedings, said the issue was not about the public’s desire for cannabis but about their voices not being heard.
“Give us a chance. Are you guys really afraid of letting us vote? I don’t know [how] I would vote, but at least give the citizens of Woodland a chance. Put it on the ballot so we can say yay or nay and let it rest.”
The City of Woodland has missed its opportunity to place a public ballot in the general election, which would be a less expensive option. Having worked with the Cowlitz County Elections Office before, Dinehart previously estimated a separate ballot measure could cost the city upward of $70,000.
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