WEST SPRINGFIELD -- Anticipating defeat at Monday's Town Council meeting, Mayor William C. Reichelt Friday discussed what he feels can help him on the recreational marijuana issue -- voters.

"It's not the 'devil's lettuce.' I think the vote would be different," Reichelt said in his Town Hall office.

Reichelt wants the Town Council to place another ballot question before voters asking whether they want to permit or still ban sales of recreational marijuana here, a step based on two keys, he said.

Attitudes about recreational marijuana have changed and some of the stigma about pot has weakened since voters here rejected a 2016 statewide ballot question to legalize pot for recreational purposes, he said.

And the reality is that the majority of Massachusetts voters opted differently than those here. That means Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana in 2016 and sparked a whirl of prospective new businesses promising jobs and revenue in the communities surrounding this one, he said.

The point is that marijuana for recreational purposes is legal in Massachusetts, regardless of how the town voted in 2016, so why not lift the ban here and seize the benefits, he said.

The Town Council has scheduled a special meeting for 6 p.m. Monday at Town Hall with the single agenda item of voting whether to override a veto that Reichelt issued June 27. That veto rejected the Council's 8-1 vote of June 4 that banned commercial marijuana here.

A two-thirds majority of the nine-member council, or six votes, is needed to override a mayoral veto.

"I would prefer that they don't override, yeah, but they have 30 days to override, then my veto stands," Reichelt said.

If the Town Council were to vote to place a "permit it or ban it" question to voters, it would have to be nonbinding, under state law. That's because of West Springfield's having voted against recreational marijuana legalization in 2016, he said.

But such a balloting would still be beneficial by offering a more up to date gauge of voters' sentiments on commercial sales of pot, he said.

West Springfield voters rejected recreational marijuana by a vote of 6,239-5,814, or over 50 percent to nearly 47 percent. Three percent of ballots were blank.

During the Town Council meeting June 4, District 2 Councilor Nathan A. Bech noted that the Massachusetts recreational pot law runs counter to federal law.

"This is a federally illegal substance that we're talking about, so let's not forget that," Bech said.

Also, said District 4 Councilor Daniel M. O'Brien during the meeting, "The people have said they won't want it."

Check back with The Republican and MassLive.com for more coverage of the West Springfield marijuana issue, including video.