The first ballots had not even begun to arrive in mailboxes when the Englewood City Council took up an emergency ordinance to address one of the outcomes of the 2012 election.

At its Oct. 15 meeting, the council unanimously approved a moratorium on the opening of recreational-marijuana businesses sanctioned under Amendment 64 — the partial marijuana-legalization measure that Colorado voters ultimately approved.

“The last time, with medical marijuana, we got behind the eight ball, and we were not ready for the distribution centers to come in,” Englewood Mayor Randy Penn said Wednesday, explaining why the council took action on a measure that hadn’t even passed yet. “We want to just make sure we’re doing everything properly and we have everything in line.”

The first recreational-marijuana store won’t likely open in Colorado until January 2014; the state must first issue regulations on how they would even operate. But Englewood is one of a number of municipalities in preparing early. On Tuesday night, the Montrose City Council gave initial approval to a moratorium on pot shops. The council will take a second vote on the ordinance next month.

Rachel Allen, an attorney at the Colorado Municipal League, said other cities are looking to do the same. The explosion of medical-marijuana dispensaries in 2009 and 2010 caught numerous cities unprepared. Many now want to get zoning and business rules in place without the pressure of applications waiting on their doorsteps, Allen said.

“This is just a belt-and-suspenders approach,” she said.

The concern comes as state officials are scrambling to put together regulations for Amendment 64’s recreational-marijuana industry.

The amendment gives the state until July 1 to adopt rules for the industry. If those are to be permanent — not emergency — rules, then the state must hold a rulemaking hearing by the end of April, according to the state’s administrative timelines.

In order to hold that hearing, though, lawmakers must have passed legislation giving guidance on what the regulations should look like.

“We really have no idea where they want to go,” Penn said of lawmakers.

Local governments can begin issuing recreational-marijuana business licenses as early as Oct. 1. They can also ban the businesses. None, so far, has moved to do so.

Given the long advance notice before stores can open, at least one city has opted against a moratorium. Town leaders in Steamboat Springs decided a moratorium would be redundant.

“It’s on our radar now,” Steamboat City Council President Bart Kounovsky said, according to Steamboat Today. “And it’s not going to slip by us.”

John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold