Manitou Springs City Council approved a rate increase for the city attorney and passed a first reading of an ordinance regulating psychedelic natural medicine businesses during the Dec. 3 regular meeting.
“Our firm rates are increasing commencing on January 1, 2025,” read a letter from City Attorney Jefferson Parker included in the meeting agenda packed. “Our last rate increase was January 1, 2023, two years ago. The last rate increase before then was 7 years ago. As with our last rate increase, this one is necessary to cover increasing business costs and to retain talented lawyers and support staff. There will be no further rate increases during 2025 and 2026. As always, we will continue to strive to provide legal services as efficiently as possible at competitive rates into the future.”
Hoffmann, Parker, Wilson, & Carberry, Parker’s law firm, will be paid $275.00 per hour for all legal work and $135.00 per hour for paralegal work. A city attorney generally handles civil cases, advising the City on legal matters and representing it in court. City attorneys may advise city officials on a wide range of city business, and advise City Council on the legality of proposed actions and assists in the drafting of city ordinances and resolutions.
City Council also approved the first reading of an ordinance regulating natural medicine businesses. In October the Manitou Springs City Council first discussed the ordinance in compliance with Colorado’s Proposition 122. Passed by voters in 2022, Prop 122 allows for legal regulated access to psilocybin mushrooms and psilocin. The state is expected to begin the licensing of natural medicine businesses as of Dec. 31. Municipalities are not allowed to ban such businesses, but they can regulate locations, hours of operations, and total number of such businesses.
“At a conference session [Colorado Municipal League annual conference] I attended, there’s a lot of communities that don’t want this,” said Councilor Judith Chandler. “Because it’s state law, say we don’t want it, the only restrictions we can apply are time, space and manner, and so several community representatives in this meeting were trying to make it as restrictive as possible and still be within the letter of the law. That’s why they’re using restrictions from parks and schools and trying to get it as small an area as they could get … in our community that could be too restrictive.”
Natural medicine businesses will not be allowed within 1,000 feet of schools or childcare facilities with no buffer for parks. Hours of operation will be limited to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. The total number of natural medicine “healing centers,” which allow for the consumption of psychedelic substances, will be limited to four.
“I’d rather be more guarded initially rather than open the floodgates,” said Mayor John Graham.
