Elgin council members open to decriminalzing marijuana

Elgin will take a serious look at decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana after city council members said Saturday they were amenable to the idea.

Councilwoman Tish Powell is proposing handling such cases under the city's administrative adjudication process, which means people would not get arrested but instead get a ticket and have to pay a fine.

The current punishment for misdemeanor marijuana possession is too harsh, Councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger said during a special committee of the whole meeting Saturday. "We're just being proactive with what's changing in America, and what's changing in our community."

Council members unanimously voted 8-0 to direct staff members to draft options about decriminalization. Councilman Toby Shaw was absent.

In Elgin, there were 1,400 marijuana arrests from 2011 to 2015, 83 percent comprising people under 30, and 42 percent of those comprising people under 20, Powell said.

Cook County has not been prosecuting marijuana possession under 30 grams since April, which leads to inequities in Elgin because it straddles Cook and Kane counties, she said.

Criminal records especially can affect young people's chances of getting employment and federal loans, she said. "I don't want them to pay for a stupid mistake for a long time," she said.

The goal is to address the issue not via jail sentences but drug rehab programs offered by Cook and Kane counties, Powell said.

Following Cook County's decision, Elgin police have been arresting people for small marijuana possession only in Kane County, while officers just confiscate the drug found on people in Cook County, Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said.

"Having some type of ordinance would allow us to equally enforce in Cook County and Kane County," he said.

Councilman Terry Gavin called decriminalization "a reasonably good idea" that would also bring additional fine revenues to the city.

Aurora, Chicago, Springfield and Carbondale have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, Powell said. A pending state bill awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature would decriminalize possession of under 15 grams of marijuana.

An option could be for Elgin police to issue a fine for the first and maybe second offense, and then arrest people on the third offense, Swoboda suggested.

"Certainly the goal is not to just keep fining people that are habitually breaking the law," Powell said.

Her initiative "is no way meant to legalize or endorse" the use of marijuana, and a local ordinance in Elgin would not affect how police handles cases of people driving under the influence of drugs, she said.

The discussion started with a testy exchange between Councilman John Prigge and Mayor David Kaptain.

Prigge contended that the marijuana issue had been placed on the agenda improperly, but Corporation Counsel Bill Cogley said that wasn't the case.

Kaptain accused Prigge - who earlier this week said he wouldn't be able to attend the meeting on Saturday - of showing up only to make that point.

Prigge denied that, saying a prior work commitment was canceled. "You sit on the couch with a dog in your lap," he told Kaptain. "You're retired. I'm a working guy."