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DANVILLE — With an approved motion to reconsider and then a 9-5 re-vote Tuesday night, the Danville City Council reversed its vote from last month to now allow on-site customer cannabis consumption lounges in the city.

The issue came back at the request of aldermen Jon Cooper, Mike Puhr and Ed Butler. Cooper and other aldermen last month tried to get the vote postponed due to two aldermen being absent and eight votes needed for approval. 

The zoning ordinance amendment for cannabis consumption lounges failed with a 7-5 vote last month.

Aldermen voting for the cannabis lounge Tuesday were: Butler, Heidi Wilson, Mike O’Kane, Bob Iverson, Puhr, Rick Strebing, Tricia Teague, Robert Williams and Cooper. Those voting against it were: Carolyn Wands, Jim Poshard, Eve Ludwig, Sharon Pickering and Darren York.

The council voted against the opinion of Corp. Counsel Leon Parker with the re-consider vote.

Parker said regarding a motion to reconsider, state statutes and city ordinances aren’t the same. No statute allows for a re-vote in an instance such as this due to a greater number of votes than the majority.

The motion to reconsider is improper, Parker said.

Danville Mayor Rickey Willams Jr. said Parker was out on bereavement leave late last week when the motion to reconsider item was put on the agenda. Williams said he honored the aldermen’s request to place the item back on the agenda.

However, Parker’s opinion this week was that the council had to have a super majority vote of 10 aldermen to temporarily suspend the council’s rules to reconsider the matter to vote again.

Strebing pointed out state statute also requires eight votes, a majority of elected officials on the council. Teague said the rules already provide for a motion to reconsider.

Parker said he doesn’t have a position in this matter, and only was following the city’s ordinance and what the council has followed most recently.

“You can take my advice or not,” Parker said, adding that the mayor and council can make their own decisions.

Wilson said she didn’t really care what Parker says.

Other aldermen said they’ve gone against the corporation counsel’s opinion in the past.

Puhr said the mayoral administration has in the past too brought back, at least two times he can remember in his 24 years on the council, a couple motions for the council to reconsider when the administration wanted something approved and they had initially failed.

“Are we not allowed to do that?” Puhr questioned.

Seven Point cannabis dispensary’s attorney John Beardsley said according to statute and the city’s rules, the motion to reconsider was allowed with aldermen action, and needed eight votes to pass.

Pickering said she’s elected, not like the zoning commissioners who are appointed by the mayor and unanimously recommended the consumption lounge, and she listens to what her constituents want.

Several residents and business representatives spoke Tuesday in favor of the consumption lounge and said they want to the city to be more pro-business. 

Tyler Zindars said Danville deals with Tilton competition, and this will be a positive impact on the city. The cannabis lounge will be good for the casino and hotels, and it will generate additional tax money. He said lounges are highly regulated by the state.

“Let’s continue to support our businesses,” added Katie Osterbur. “Show them Danville is the place to come do business.”

Seven Point CEO Brad Zerman has continued to request an on-site consumption lounge. The dispensary opened in May 2024.

Anyone using the lounge has to be 21 or over, just like required to enter the store and they would only be able to consume products purchased from Seven Point in the lounge.

The city council also re-voted and again approved regulations for a consumption lounge and included language regarding sealed cannabis containers in a vehicle.