Smoking marijuana may lose it’s felony categorization but gain attention with the possible passing of a city council ordinance.

The ordinance set to be voted upon by the city council Tuesday states that a charge of possession of 2.5 grams of marijuana or less will be taken to court by the city attorney instead of sitting on the shelf in the state’s attorney’s office.

Furthermore, getting caught will no longer be considered a felony, but a misdemeanor.

“It allows us to enforce the law in a timely manner in a way that’s not going to taint somebody’s life for the rest of their life,” said Charleston Mayor Dan Cougill.

Currently, 20 cases of people caught with 2.5 grams of marijuana or less exist in the State’s Attorney’s office. Instead of wasting the state’s attorney’s time, Cougill said, they may spend more time working on high-profile cases like that of Anthony Mertz, who is charged with the murder of an Eastern student.

However, without the council passing an ordinance they were unable to handle the marijuana cases.

If the ordinance passes, the city’s attorney can handle the cases that will be charged as a misdemeanor and give a $250 fine.

“We’re all going to make mistakes in our life,” Cougill said. “Do we hang you on your first mistake? No, a lot of people learn from their mistakes.

“Hopefully, you learn from it, it’s a painful lesson, and you get on with your life.”

Also on the council’s mind this past summer was the possibility of a new business moving into town.

In the past five years, Cougill said about eight or nine site consultants have taken interest in Charleston, wanting to put in additional business. An unknown site consultant has recently taken interest in Charleston and in the upcoming months will make a decision.

Cougill said the interested company or industry anonymously sends questionnaires to several cities asking various questions in regards to their needs for their business or factory. After that, they make several “cuts,” during which cities are eliminated.

Right now, Charleston is being looked at by an unknown business that is also interested in five other Illinois towns and two Iowa towns.

“We put enough on the table to make sure we’re still in the game, but not show our whole hand,” Cougill said.

If Charleston makes the next cut, which is expected in the next two to three weeks, there will be one additional cut before the final decision.

This opportunity for Charleston is a positive one if the company can offer jobs to the community, Cougill said. But, Cougill said if businesses wanted to put in a hog farm next to Eastern’s campus, it would not be in the city’s interest.

If the city makes it through the next cut, Cougill said it would be able to find out more about the industry and what its plans for Charleston would be.

“We’re a little reluctant to say we’re madly in love (with the company),” he said.