Acme Healing Center was accused Tuesday during a hearing of improperly storing marijuana products and not having a working security system.
After the retail marijuana shop on County Road 203 was robbed in November, Steve Barkley, the city’s code enforcement officer, discovered the shop violated city ordinances.
The Local Licensing Authority hearing gave employees of Acme Healing Center a chance to respond to the allegations. In February, the authority will decide whether the business was in violation of Durango City Code and what consequences it might face, City Manager Ron LeBlanc said.
He encouraged company representatives to work with the city attorney on an agreement for the board to review at its February meeting.
“I think the most successful outcome is to work something out between yourselves and the city attorney,” LeBlanc said.
Company representatives said they believed they were in compliance with city rules at the time of the break in.
The security system was disconnected in July by a Charter employee who was changing Acme’s internet service, and it was never reconnected, said Molly Rogers, Acme’s compliance officer.
“As far as everyone knew, everything had been working and functioning properly,” she said.
The business and the Durango Police Department found that the security system wasn’t working when it didn’t go off during the burglary, which was discovered hours after the fact, said Deana Sheriff, CEO and chief operating officer for Acme.
The burglar has not been caught, she said.
The security system was fixed immediately, and the business has since added an additional layer of security, Rogers said.
The company added a door that created an outer room and customers must present identification before they are buzzed into areas of the building with merchandise.
The company also believed the room where the product was stored fit the city’s guidelines because it was behind a solid-core door and under video surveillance.
“We really felt that we had constructed a safe room,” she said.
The company passed a city inspection in May, she said.
However, Barkley could not inspect how products were stored overnight, because he visited during the day, he said.
As for the cash, at the time of the burglary, the store was keeping $200 in the register so that thieves might take the cash and not go into more secure areas of the store, Sheriff said.
The company will not keep cash in the registers overnight anymore, Sheriff said.
The city inspects marijuana businesses every six months, Barkley said.
“Violations are very far and few between with any of the businesses,” he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
