MENOMINEE, MI – Menominee’s marijuana boom was supposed to generate a windfall from Wisconsin customers streaming across the border.
Instead, it ignited a six-year power struggle that has divided residents, spurred at least 11 lawsuits, led to personal profits for some city leaders or their relatives and created a questionable power dynamic that involves marijuana companies paying the city’s legal bills.
An unorthodox settlement approved in 2023 sits at the center of the controversy.
In it, the city agreed to give favorable treatment to certain retailers and allow them to cover some of their marijuana-related legal bills — a deal some call problematic and others warn could invite state or federal scrutiny.
State Sen. Edward McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, whose district includes Menominee, fears there is “a real possibility” the AG’s Office or federal authorities could intervene and investigate any possible corruption.
“And that would be really ugly,” he said.
Over the past several years, there has been a flurry of lawsuits, ballot proposals and other legal wranglings as different companies attempted to get a toehold into Menominee’s lucrative border marijuana market.
Amid all the infighting, a recent lawsuit drew attention to an unusual settlement.
After attorneys for Puff Cannabis submitted at least two offers to settle a lawsuit with the city, the marijuana company’s attorney Jennifer K. Green of the Clark Hill law firm said she learned the city’s legal team was not only sharing insider information –including the settlement offer details – with competing marijuana businesses but also being paid by them.
“I about fell out of my chair. I could not believe it,” Green told MLive. “You cannot take money from people who are doing business in front of you
“You’re giving my direct competitor the right to say yes or no to keeping us out of the city?”
“The private cannabis companies should not be permitted to pay the city’s legal bills and to hold sway over the City’s decision to settle with Puff,” Green wrote. “This is an illegal delegation to the cannabis companies of the city’s authority… “
How much the marijuana companies have paid for Menominee’s litigation over the years remains unclear. Legal invoices obtained by MLive through a records request show attorneys representing Menominee are paid up to $275 per hour and billed nearly $120,000 between October 2023 and Dec. 4, 2025, for work tied to three marijuana lawsuits.
But it’s unknown how much of that was paid for by the marijuana companies.
City Manager Brett Botbyl, who hasn’t responded to multiple requests for comment, previously told MLive marijuana-related legal bills have been paid by the city’s liability insurance provider, the Michigan Municipal League, and the marijuana businesses, but he couldn’t provide a breakdown.
MLive spoke with three attorneys and a public policy expert who said the arrangement is troubling.
“Any kind of preferential treatment in a regulatory setting is going to raise a lot of red flags in terms of not just ethics but legality,” said Doug Linkhart, president of the National Civic League, a nonprofit that assists local governments across the U.S. “It just opens a can of worms for potential corruption and influence.”
Matt Abel, a retired attorney who founded the Cannabis Counsel, a law firm devoted to marijuana law, has followed the Menominee saga for years.
“It’s unusual, at the least,” Abel said. “I can see all kinds of problems arising from a deal like that. There’s no incentive for the city to act right …
“What the hell were they thinking?”
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