An undisclosed company has proposed turning the former post office at 322 E. Main St. into a medical marijuana dispensary.

On Monday night, the Niles City Council discussed the offer during a committee of the whole meeting.

The business is offering two potential options to the city, including buying the entire building for the cost of $650,000 — which it would pay off in four years. The other option was to lease the first half of the main floor, which is about 3,600 square feet.

City Administrator Ric Huff said he received the business’ request about two months ago.

Second ward councilman Daniel VandenHeede described the financial offer as “great,” but said it might not send the right message to Niles’ residents and visitors.

“In the long term, we have to think of what our vision for the city is,” VandenHeede said. “I for one, do not think that is the vision that I want.”

Prior to this offer, the city council was considering the option of leasing the building to the state for 10 to 15 years. But last week,  state officials wrote a letter stating they were no longer interested in the building, Huff said.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Huff said he was not sure why the state was no longer interested in the property.

Two tenants are currently using the building as leased office space. One of the tenants will be moving out in 30 days.

Second ward councilman Bob Durm said a medical marijuana facility would likely be successful no matter where it is located.

“If I had a medical marijuana facility, why would it matter whether it was downtown or in the industrial park,” Durm said.  “… [The industry has] certain clientele that will [visit] whether located in the industrial park or Main Street.”

The historic building has approximately $200,000 in maintenance on the windows that would need to be covered if the city continues ownership of the property. The city has already planned for this maintenance, Huff said.

No action was taken on the offer Monday night, as the council still has to adopt an ordinance, which will provide zoning guidelines for the facilities.  Unless the council decides to allow medical marijuana facilities to operate downtown, the business has no chance in bringing the dispensary to fruition. 

The city will be working with the planning commission to develop zoning recommendations.

Additionally, the council must decide what types of medical marijuana facilities it is willing to permit and how many will be allowed to operate.

At the meeting Monday night, members of the Niles Main Street Downtown Development Authority, including Director Lisa Croteau, who confirmed they were in support of allowing up to two medical marijuana facilities to operate downtown

To reach a consensus on medical marijuana ordinance guidelines, the city council is asking for more research on the topic.

Councilwoman Gretchen Bertschy, who represents the first ward, suggested Huff reach out to other municipalities who have passed medical marijuana ordinance guidelines.

Bertschy cited potential “stench” concerns in regards to grow operations, as well as finding out how cities had dealt with safety concerns in regards to the marijuana oil extraction process.

“We do not want to make the same mistakes another community has made,” Bertschy said. “Are there communities out there that say ‘we wish we would have?’”

In response, Huff said the city had done a lot of research that could help to answer these questions, but that he would also be reaching out to municipalities with the aim to garner more answers.

By Tuesday morning, Huff said he was already working to get in touch with several municipalities of a similar population to Niles, including cities in Colorado.

The council is planning to have another committee of the whole meeting to continue discussing both the medical marijuana ordinance and the post office offer. A time for the meeting has not yet been decided.

The public will be invited to attend, but will not be able to make comments throughout the meeting as there is no public comment period.

Mayor Nick Shelton is advising residents who want to speak on the topic to contact the councilor in their ward and share their opinions.

“We all definitely need to talk to the people of our city and the people of your wards and get their feedback,” Shelton said. “We know they want medical marijuana facilities, but we have to make some tough decisions.”