After receiving a small but passionate response to the moratorium vote this past Monday, I feel a brief clarification of the vote is in order. The emergency ordinance failed in part due to my vote, but in no way did my vote address the merits of the moratorium itself. As I made clear last week, my “no” vote addressed the merits of the “emergency” ordinance itself and what I felt was an abuse of process.

The “emergency” ordinance presented contained language discussing the “potential for abuse, financial mismanagement, regulatory complications, injury to the public health and damage to the town’s reputation.” This is blatant fear mongering by the town board and these justifications for an emergency ordinance could be used in the future to label nearly every ordinance that comes before us an “emergency” of some sort, allowing the board to dispose of them with little media attention and little opportunity for public input.

The town has an emergency ordinance process for a reason — to address true emergencies in an expedited manner. I have no doubt that commercial/industrial marijuana will not find a home in Windsor, but your elected officials should not be able to game the system regardless of the issue. I want the public to know that if the board brings forward an emergency ordinance in the future, it is because a truly emergent situation exists.

You deserve an honest process and deserve to know the town board handles issues truthfully and correctly. You also deserve to have the town board address issues in a calm and rational manner, free of overreaction, emotion and political gaming. I voted against the “emergency” moratorium to help insure the board remains honest with the community.

Jeremy Rose, town board member