[0:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender: of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome. Let the role reflect that we do have all members here and a quorum has been established. Tonight we will be presenting um Hastings Historic Preservation Awards. And for this item we will have Justin Forney, our city planner, along with Cindy Toppen, Ashley Alex Adele, and Wendy Schultz Johnson. Welcome all. [0:41] Justin Forney: Uh hello, Justin Forney, city planner. Um, I'm going to be brief because I'm just pretty much in technical services for the HPC for the preservation awards. They do a lot of hard work uh in looking throughout the city every year to look for good examples of houses that were um properly maintained over the years or had a lot of uh new um rehab done to them. And they also do a lot of research on the properties uh for presenting that to the city. And I'd just like to uh thank um Don Scully for with uh the city's um uh communications coordinator. Thank you for um um doing the uh the poll on the [1:28] Cindy Toppin: Facebook City's Facebook page for uh the Century Homes. Um so with that, I'll turn it over to uh Cindy Tobin and she can uh present the awards with the rest of the commission. Good evening. I'm Cindy Top and I am here with my fellow commissioners Ashley and Wendy who have already been introduced to present the 2025 Preservation Awards. These awards date back to 2001 when we began recognizing homeowners and business owners who have done an admirable job of preserving older buildings in Hastings. older residences as well as downtown historic district are a big part of tourism in Hastings and something that we want to preserve as part of our history. So, I'll begin with the awards and um the first house is 410 Forest Street and current owners are here. They'll be coming up in a minute, Nick and Julie Langley. So, the house at 410 Forest Street was built in 1910 on land initially owned by Henry Sibi, Alexis Bailey, Henry Bailing, and Alexander Farbo. These four owned the original core of Hastings. The house today is twice as big as the original house. A previous owner ran a machine shop out of the house and garage and added a wraparound porch, but kept the outer walls. There are large porches in front and in back. The house has four bedrooms and original leaded glass windows. The [3:00] Cindy Toppin: original wood inside was rough saw Douglas fur. A unique point of interest about this house is that it used to have an elevator. A previous owner, Dave Bulan, liked to fix classic cars. He would drive them into the elevator, lower it to the basement to work on over the winter. The current owners, the Langleys, have continued preserving the house while updating the inside to fit the needs of a large family. So, Nick and Julie, if you want to come up, congratulations. Congratulations. [Applause] [3:56] Wendi Shilts-Johnson: Hello there. I'm Wendy Schultz Johnson and the next building is 313 Ramsy Street. Current owners are Kim and Lorie Dong. Uh the building located at 313 Ramsey Street is uh was historically known as the Jacob Shai Building. Uh it's an historic structure dating back to around 1865. It was built by Patrick Ryan who's a stone cutter and the building was constructed out of limestone that was quarried from the edge of Lake Isabel. Uh designed as a commercial building with living quarters above. It was purchased by the Shaylor brothers, Jacob and Michael, as a p uh a speculative investment. The Shaylor brothers were French American immigrants. Uh they were known for founding Hastings first brewery in 1856. Over the years, the building has served various purposes including a soda water factory, a secondhand store, mortuary, and a plumbing shop. Uh the building remained in the Shaylor family until 1946, and it was granted local historic um the local historic designation by the city council in 2008. [5:02] Wendi Shilts-Johnson: Today, it functions as a duplex and stands as a reminder of the area's rich commercial past with its limestone facade, rebel sidewalls, and exposed interior wall reflecting its historic significance. Uh, once located in a more commercially oriented block um with nearby establishments like the Western Hotel, the building now resides in a residential neighborhood at the edge of downtown. Um, and an also interesting note, there is an inner courtyard that had been um that had been added and there is a bonsai tree located in there for added interest. And I don't believe they Oh, they are here today. Oh, wonderful. Could you come up? Would you like to come up to receive your award? [Applause] [5:56] Ashley Alitz Edell: I'm Ashley, one of the commissioners for the HPC committee. And the next property uh is for the stewardship steward stewardship awards is 107 Sibi Street owned by Rachel and Andrew Valeris. The Songer Hof House, currently located at 1007 Sibi Street, is likely the finest example of Victorian Queen Anne architecture in Hastings. Some elements of the architecture borrow from classical revival as well. This late 19th century home stands three stories tall, topped with a gable roof with a raking cornice and full pediment conicle roofed toret. The h the home the home sports a clapboard exterior, a large wraparound porch, a third floor, a fir a third floor porch, a large tim chimney, double hung windows, many stained glass windows, three full bay windows, and a 20th century cement block foundation. [7:00] Ashley Alitz Edell: The garage was added in 1970. The interior boasts 18 rooms. The first floor features a large octagonal room, five adjacent rooms separated by lattice work and sliding doors, an open staircase, wood paneling halfway up the walls, murals, open beam beam work, and a large fireplace. There are 11 stained glass windows that are currently being releted, including one in the linen closet. The heart the heart the woodwork is done in oak and Georgia pine with bookshelves that bear an H hinting at the name of the original occupants. The house was commi the house was commissioned in 1899 by Charles Hansen a Swedish immigrant by way of Redwing. The impressive home was originally built on a lot located at 903 Vermillion Street. Mr. Hansen along with his brother John were second generation grocerers and the family operated Hansen Brothers Grocery in Hastings from 1886 to 1960. In 1884, Charles had married a Hastings woman named Hilda Ericson. Her father is credited with the m her father is credited with the masonry and foundation work that was done at the original location on Vermillion Street. [8:17] Ashley Alitz Edell: Hilda died in 1923 and Charles in 1935. Two of the eight children, daughters Florence Hansen Soniger and El El El El El El El El El El El El El El El El El El El El Elma Hansen Harf lived there with their respective husbands Leslie and Arthur. Mr. Soniger had served as a Hastings school district Hastings school district superintendent and Arthur as a and Mr. Harf a school board member. Both sisters had their wedding ceremonies in front of the fireplace on the first floor. The sisters and their families rented the room rented the rooms to school teachers until 1966 when they sold the house to the school district to make room for a parking lot located to make when they sold the house to the school district to make room for a parking lot for the school located across Vermillion Street. In the same year, Earl Grouse appears to have been the legal owner and sold the house to a Hastings teacher, Robert Sharf, who is credited with moving the house to its current location, 1007 Sibi Street. An antidote shared by the owner is that when the house was moved, a full glass of water was in the sink. [9:29] Ashley Alitz Edell: Supposedly, the glass did not spill during the move. In 1967, Grouse sold the house to In 1967, Grouse sold the house on its new lot to Art and Edna Svener. The Svenollers are credited with having done well to maintain the originality of the home. The house was made into apartments sometime prior to 1993 and is currently owned by Rachel by Andrew and Rachel Valeris who are working hard to restore the house and repair damage. They are unable to attend tonight as they are active military duty, but their longtime housekeeper, Terresa Gan, is here tonight to accept the award. [Applause] [10:18] Cindy Toppin: All right, and we're moving on to the second stewardship award. And again, these are houses that would have received award 20 years ago, but they've been maintained very well. So, this house is 221 West 8 and it's owned by Tom and Bernie Nesbbit. The house was built in 1903 by architect Dan Herman. It has six bay windows and a full front porch with spindle work. The house was originally the Cartur Funeral Home. Anybody ever heard of that? Yeah. K with a K. All right. Inside there is original molding throughout the house. It's approximately 5 in with etched corners. There are two stairwells going to the second floor. The front staircase has two beautiful arch stained glass windows. The back stairwell is quite steep and narrow. The second floor has the original clawed foot tub. The current owners, the Nesbbitzs, bought the house in 1978. The Nesbbits tore down the garage which had the outhouse attached to it. Tom was well known in Hastings. He was the first man from Hastings to graduate from West Point. He served 33 years in the Army, ending his active duty as an adviser to the Iranian Army under the Shaw of Iran. He also served on the Hastings City Council. Tom died at the age of 90 in 2020. His wife, 95 years old, still lives in the house and took the time this summer to repair the woodboards on the outside of the house and paint paint last summer. She is well deserving of the stewardship award. And unfortunately, she and her daughter were not able to be here tonight, but let's give them a round of applause as well. [11:46] Cindy Toppin: Our final award tonight is for a mid-century modern house. And the definition of mid-century modern is that they were built between 1945 and 1969. Our house tonight is in the South View area and the owner is Tom Connell. So Lewis France Meyer owned this section of town. Mary has heard of France Meyer. How? Raise your hand if you've heard of France. All right, good job. He was a truck farmer and was the first owner of a farm stand on 14th in Vermillion where Hastings Farm Market eventually was and he sold fruits and vegetables there. This particular lot he saved for himself and he built this mid-century modern home in 1968. The lot is 1 acre in size. Originally, it was outside of town limits and it had its own well and septic system. The house has two furnaces and two water heaters. It has redwood siding and inside the house there are pocket doors and jam switches so that when you enter a room the lights go on. The house has a lot of paneling which is also typical of this type of house. There have only been three owners of the house. The current owner is Tom Connell who has continued to maintain this fine property and he's here tonight. Tim, but that's okay. Tim, did I call you Tom? The plaque. The plaque is right. [13:31] Cindy Toppin: Our our final award tonight is for the Facebook contest. So, we have a Facebook contest for homes turning a 100. So, we thank Don Skellyy and Justin Foring for helping to promote our contest. Um, we're starting to have more houses that are turning 100. So, this year we actually had 10. So, the votes were really split. The winner of the contest this year is 515 Springst Street. That is not it. I'm just going to go through them. Oh, you're going to go through them all. Okay. So, why don't you There we go. Happy birthday. Yes. Spring. And this is our winner. This person, the the owners were really very enthused about this and wanted to make sure they won and they did. Uh so it's Leah and Tara Egan and they weren't able to be here tonight, but Andrea, who's the sister, right, is here to receive the century plaque. Congratulations. You were very competitive. Great. the runners up, the other nine are eligible to rece to purchase a century plaque for half price. Um, and anybody who owns an old building is an old house is is eligible to they have simply have to write the eligibility paperwork with Justin and purchase their own plaque as well. So, congratulations to all the winners tonight. And now we'll have a picture. [Applause] [15:29] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you. [Music] I know. up there. Okay, here we go. Three, two, one. One more. Two. Nice. Thanks. Yeah, thank you. [17:24] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Yeah, I always appreciate this night when we can um award our old homes and the people that take care of them. So, thank you to Cindy, Justin, and the committee for that. Okay. Under approval of amendments, council members, are there any corrections to the May 5th workshop or regular meeting? Okay. At this time, we will have comments from the audience. Does anyone wish to speak to the council at this time, please step forward, state your name and your address, and we will welcome you. [18:03] Rita Clem: Hi. Council meeting. Um, good evening, council. Mor Mary Mary. Um my name is Rita Clem. I live at 61 Jackson Place and u my comment is about the water quality. The water at my house and the neighborhood and what I believe to be most of Hastings is undrinkable. The water smells like bleach and stinks terribly. I tried to make ice cubes and they smell like bleach, like I'm in a pool. I have had to buy wild bottled water and I know other people have had to install filtration systems. I know of other Hastings residents that have had brown water coming out of their faucet. And this is not just happening right now. It's been happening for a while. I called the city and asked to talk to someone about this in the water department. And I spoke to a guy and he had no idea what I was talking about. and I tried to explain that the water is just terrible. You can't drink it. All my neighbors, everyone I know in Hastings, which I believe is most of Hastings, having the same issue. And I am upset that um it seems like nothing's been done about this issue and it seems like no one either cares or is just ignoring the problem. And it's a big problem. I I've been asking if we could do something about this and I know of a lot of young people that will not come to Hastings because the drinking water is terrible. And I'm not even talking about the PAST problem. I'm talking about this problem. And you have left us now because of this. We have to pay for new wells and increasing our water rates because I know that that is what is going to happen. And I know they're going up 10% and I know they're going to go up some more, but you can't even drink the water. And I feel that um hopefully in the future that the talking about the fe pas problem that the future wells will not have this. I'm not sure about that. And I guess I don't really understand why 3M is not having to pay more for the people in Hastings. I know that they've been polluting since in the 80s because I know someone who knows that and it is just wrong. I do appreciate the council, Mayor Mary, our legislators. I appreciate that they are you are trying to find funding because I know this is very much needed. So, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. [20:20] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you, Rita. Anyone else to wish to the speak to the council at this time? Anyone on Zoom? No one on Zoom. Okay. Council members, are there any items to be considered? Okay. Council, I would accept a motion for the consent agenda. Council member Pemble, Council Member House. Any discussion? Council. All those in favor of the motion state by saying I. I. Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Tonight under administration, we have a resolution for the cannabis retail business registration selection. And for this item, we will have an introduction by assistant city administrator Kelly Merta. Welcome, Kelly. [21:24] Kelly Murtaugh: Thank you very much, Mayor, council members. I'm going to catch up and find my presentation here. Good evening. As the mayor said, uh we're here to chat a little bit about uh the selection process for cannabis retail businesses within the city. So, the first thing I want to do is just uh review just a little bit of language with you. And if you could just pause and not look at the chart I handed to you, then we'll go through this. I promise. uh but we'll go through through this hopefully in a logical manner that will make sense as we get to the decision that we need to wrestle with this evening. Uh so just to remind you uh in chapter 117 which is our cannabis ordinance for registration of cannabis businesses the zoning we dealt with at the last meeting. Just a couple of quick notes uh in that ordinance before operating a business um before operating the business must be licensed by OCM, the office of cannabis management and the business that must then register with the city. Applications are submitted on forms that have been created by the deputy clerk and myself and all applicants shall comp comply with that process. We'll go through the process in just a moment. All applications shall be considered and approved or denied by city council. So that's your role in this process. Then as a reminder, the city will not issue more than one cannabis retail registration per 12,500 residents as determined by the state demographers's most recent estimate. And that is in statute that we can limit it to one per 12,500. And that's what we did in our ordinance that we adopted last December. The cap on retail registrations though does not apply to medical cannabis combination businesses or the lower potency hemp folks that we already have operating in the city. Those two things are in statute and then therefore reflected in our ordinance. So that's why they're called out separately. Okay. Any questions on that before I move on? Good. Okay. [23:44] Kelly Murtaugh: Now the chart. So I thought it might be easier for you to look at if you had a paper copy. Um, but I also have it on the screen for everyone else to see along with us. So, what I wanted to show you here is this is an image um, produced by the Office of Cannabis Management showing the licensing path that folks are in right now toward uh, all of the various licenses except for the uh, lower potency hemp edible licenses. Those will come much later in the year. So, this is a process and so a lot of folks have started this process. If you go on the website, you can see lots of people have applied for the various licenses that are out there. What I wanted you to note in this chart is one, it's kind of a long process and I also wanted to note where uh the touch points are are for local government. So the touch points first one is right before you begin on the upper leftand corner number three talk to your local government. So that so OCM has been encouraging any applicants to have communication with their local government so that they're aware of all the rules and and ordinances and laws and things that they need to do on the local side. So that's before they even begin. They recommend that. Then we kind of go through they go through this process where they submit the application and there was an application window earlier this year that folks could apply to become part of the pool of candidates or applicants for a license from OCM in the various license uh categories that they have identified. So you see we go through all of this process step one step two 2 A and 2B uh which is the uncapped license approval and the capped license approval. To refresh your memory maybe if we've talked about this before uh there are capped and uncapped licenses. The the capped licenses are four categories of licenses that were specifically stated in statute. this is the number of licenses that you will give out. Now, I've also seen in statute that that can expire or expires after July 1 and I think OCM then has the the capability of looking at and redoing those numbers. But statute sent set the cap. So that's where the cap came from and those are on specific categories and the caps are mezo business cultivator manufacturer and cannabis retailer. So those are the ones that are capped. Uh and they will be part of a lottery coming up shortly. Uh June 5th is the lottery for social equity applicants in the cannabis retailer and everybody general and social equity in the other categories, the mezo, the manufacturing and the cultivator. How we doing? We doing we're doing okay. This is confusing and it's taken me months to learn. So if you guys catch on with this little graphic, you are sharp as tax. All right. um all the other licenses. So there was a huge list of licenses uh created by statute. Um those are all uncapped or unlimited licenses and can be so it's like the low potency hemp edibles as well as transporter and some of the other um micro businesses. Some of those are all uncapped. Okay. Uh let's see here. They're going through the process of reviewing applications right now. Many are in various stages of preapproval and preliminary approval and you can see those things uh noted here. So like for example right in the middle where it says you are now a preliminarily approved applicant that means that they're getting ready to go on to the background study and you can track progress right on OCM's website for all the licenses. So it's it's a very fascinating thing if you're interested in that. Um, and then, uh, so as they continue to go through the process, you'll see after step three, there's another red circle, secure your business location, and it says again, communicate with your local government. And then they submit final documents. And then OCM, this is the first time OCM connects with the city, they will send us communication saying, hey, this person has applied for a license in this area. Do they meet zoning? And we have 30 days to respond yes or no. We'll respond faster than that, but we have 30 days to do that. And then so that's the first touch point with us and then we have to respond. And so those are the touch points. And then from there on there are no more touch points with the city till the very end uh when the license is awarded to the LE. If they are in a retail business, then they have to reach out to us for registration. So that's kind of the whole process. There's a lot of little things that go along in there, but that's the process. I will pause for any questions at this point. [29:05] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thanks, Kelly. Um, so much information for you, for all of us. So I we appreciate all the time that your staff is putting into it and we appreciate the patience that our community has as well. So yes, thanks. [29:21] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thank you, Kelly. We're all learning so much, aren't we? So every day, every single day. So in regards to the capped licensing with that lottery piece. So our example, uh let's say we'd only had one apply. Let's just say that for argument sake. Are that is that one person that applied going to be in the lottery? Because I'm looking at it going there's only so many in the state. Is that what the deal is? Is that why there's this lottery they're talking about? Okay. So hypothetically, we've got two businesses that have applied with the state. We know that that to be true that we know for sure. Correct. Only one of them would be required to go through the lottery. One of them was a micro business and one was a cannabis retailer. Only the cannabis retailer would be part of the lottery because that is capped. Micro businesses are not capped. So right now, am I misunderstanding our last meeting that we do we not have two um cannabis retailers that have applied? [30:27] Kelly Murtaugh: We have two small R retailers that have applied for special use permits and they were granted special use permits. There's no difference in the special use permit for those two businesses for retail operations. So, it the retail the special use permit looks the same, but we had two applicants. One was a micro business and one was a cannabis capital R retailer. They're micro. And that just gives them different capabilities in the license definition. There are different fees for the licenses. Um, but I can tell you want to ask more questions. Gosh, you're so good at this. I know. I can just read you like a book. [31:19] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: So, a micro business lower potency edibles. [31:22] Kelly Murtaugh: No, no, no, no. All the ones that Stop. Micro business is u regular potency cannabis. Okay. Regular just like meo cultivator medical combo. But they can also sell low potency if they receive a license and a registration from the city. [31:39] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: So under the circumstances that we are that we have right now, the downtown location, the Vermillion Street location, those two businesses have both got the necessary zoning approval from the city of Hastings. Correct. They have both gone on to the state of Minnesota. Correct. Are you saying they both would not be required to be in the lottery? [31:43] Dan Wietecha: Correct. The lottery is only for capped businesses. Okay. Micro businesses are not capped. So they are not going to be part of the lottery. So they so once they have gone through the background check, then the state will say, "Hey, city of Hastings, do they meet zoning?" And we'll say yes, no, otherwise. And then they continue on in their process. The retail business that is part of the lottery has to be drawn in this first round to continue any of those other steps. If they are drawn, then they go through the same steps. If they are not drawn, they wait for a lottery that's going to be I believe I read in July. There'll be another lottery. So capped one capped, one applying for a capped license, one applying for an uncapped license. Correct. If the uncapped licensing comes through from the state before the lottery, the the lottery is in two weeks. Yep. Because that's the issue we're having is our next issue is Go ahead, Dan. I know you've got a Okay. So the next question comes down to if they both get the licensing from the state, what is our decision? And that is why we're here this evening. So the piece I'm not connecting and I'm sorry guys, help me out here. I'm not connecting. Okay. Who's the capped license? [34:11] Kelly Murtaugh: Cannabis retailer, cannabis cultivator, yep, cannabis manufacturer and mezo and mezo business. Okay. And that is the location downtown. Okay. Then the bar location is micro business. Micro business. Micro business. Yes. with a retail endorsement which is the retail piece that needs the registration from the city. It's right retail piece. If they didn't want to do any retail, it would be a different conversation. They want to do retail, they'll get the retail endorsement, which means they have to come through our process to get registered with the city because I'm sorry. Aren't they both going to be retailers? Yes. Can I jump in? I don't get how they're different. Are they selling different things? No, no, but Dan. Okay, thanks Dan. [34:48] Dan Wietecha: Following statute, there are several different types of licenses and the two we care about for this conversation is micro business and retailer. They are both th those are very specific types of business with definitions in the statute and and our ordinance. However, they are both different types of retail sales and just the average person going in might not really be able to tell the difference. It's it's a retail establishment, but they are different licenses. So, it's somewhere that that small R retail re they're selling versus capital R fitting the definition of what license they are. Unfortunately, it's the same word and it's confusing. But they are two different licenses, both of which would allow them to sell um cannabis, full strength cannabis. Uh the micro business has some additional abilities and I don't know uh that they've applied for for those other endorsements, but uh it is a different license. They're treated differently in the process. um depending on the state's reviews and approvals, one could come forward before the other one or the other could come forward before the the the other. You know, it's it's in the state's hands. We don't know. We don't know that either one will be approved, but we we don't know and have no say or control or any decision towards the sequencing of what might come out from the state. [36:34] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Then Dan, so these two licensings though Mhm. It's a state thing. Yep. But they can sell the same products. Yes. [36:49] Kelly Murtaugh: Let me explain to you just a little bit. Give me Let me give you just a little bit of a a the definition of micro versus the definition of cannabis retailer. Okay. Some of these again, it's nuanced in what they are allowed to do, but once they're given a license. So, for example, a micro business gets one license for a single location. They can grow. They can transport. They can sell immature plants, adult use cannabis, lower potency he hemp edibles and other products authorized by law to for B cannabis business customers. So that's what they can do. And then they can get endorsements to do a whole bunch of stuff. cultivation, extraction, uh, production of consumer products, retail, edible canabonoid product and handler endorsement, medical cannabis cultivation processor, retailer. So, they can do lots of things in one spot. Okay. Now, a cannabis retailer, the capped one, can have five retail locations. So they could be in five different cities under one license and they can operate these uh facilities and let's see more than one cannabis retail business in one city and three retail businesses in one county. They can sell the same kinds of things that the micro business can sell. They can get two different endorsements medical retailer and edible canabonoid product handler. So there's a lot of overlap, but there are some differences. There's some significant differences in the fees, for example. [38:28] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Kelly, that was an excellent summary. Thank you. Uncapped, one location, capped up to five, one license. Right. [38:43] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: Be like a McDonald's with weed. [38:46] Kelly Murtaugh: I don't know if I'm going to say that that's exactly what they're going for, but okay. If that helps you understand. So, what we're talking about here though is um versus what? Yeah. What's the word I'm looking for? Multiple. So, you've got your one location and then you've got somebody else who's got different, you know, Yep. different shops in different cities. Kelly, you are awesome. Thank you so much. Very welcome. I'm glad you understood. Again, this this has been iterations over months. I know that there's at least one or two people in this room who could verify that we're learning as we go. Um, so uh, so I want to quickly echo the mayor's sentiment in that we are learning as we go and we are grateful for everyone's patience in this process. Uh we hope to not make any mistakes, but we're learning as we go. And it's a very very complex licensing y topic and we only get the registration part of it. Uh I am I am appreciative that we don't have to do the super complicated stuff but at the same time it's still complicated for us. So we will learn this together. [39:56] Kelly Murtaugh: Okay. So I'm ready to move on from this if you all are unless you have more questions on this chart and kind of the process. Good. [40:02] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Can I ask one quick? Thank you mayor. I think I know the answer to this, Kelly. Bear with me. But the part that's kind of tripping me up is that if only one of these actually needs to be admitted to the lottery, right? That seems counterintuitive, but that's because some a different city could have 10 that were going through a lottery. It just happens to be that it's only one Hastings. So, I can't think of it that way. Right. It doesn't seem like it's only Do you see what I'm saying? It I do. And what a what seems silly for one to go through a lottery, but it's a state thing. It's only one that has made themselves aware to us. Oh, okay. Made us aware of them by applying for a special use permit. There could be 70 who have applied for locations in the city of Hastings who maybe didn't do that talk to your local government about zoning thing and so we might not know about them. Okay. So there's they're not limiting how many are in the lottery from Hastings. They don't even know they're from Hastings right now. They haven't gotten to that point yet. They're doing the background check and they don't even know about site until step three. Does that help? Yes. Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Council Member Vihrachoff. [41:19] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thanks to Wordsmith over here. The word I was looking for was franchise. Ah, thank you, Tim. So I looking at that and hearing this piece really in for the first time that making sense where we are right now in the state of Minnesota. I don't love the franchise idea. I'm personally I'm just going to throw that out there. This is starter. This is grassroots. This is you know something that's getting going. That to me is the I don't know to compare it to smoke shops. You've got a local smoke shop, they've got one shop. You've got somebody who has a dozen shops. Well, guess what? That dozen, they're going to be able to sell their products a lot cheaper than that person that has one shop, right? Generally speaking, that's how economics work. So, just for myself, I just want to throw out there that understanding this capped uncapped thing. I don't love the franchise idea down the road, possibly. Yes. Right now, that's not what I'd be looking at. I'd be looking more at that your hometown shop, right? Your one shop and this is what they do. So, that's just my two cents. And thank you guys so much for making sense out of this for me. [43:03] Kelly Murtaugh: So because they're allowed to have five doesn't mean that they will, right? So that remains to be seen certainly and isn't necessarily part of our registration process. So we may not know that whole thing. Okay, I'm going to keep us moving. Okay, it's a very engaged topic, but I'm going to keep us moving. Okay, so the registration approval process. So at the beginning I said I will review the registration approval process that we that we agreed to in ordinance last December. So the And this is a key uh key phrase here. The city council must take action on each new we don't have a renewal right now, but each new application within a reasonable time frame following receipt of the recommendation from city staff regarding the application. I'll explain that in a moment. at the city council meeting at which the application is considered. The registration will be approved by city council if they are in compliance with the chapter and all zoning, paid the registration fee, current on all property taxes and assessments, has a state license uh and is current on and on payment of all other city fees. We're also requiring that they give us a certificate of insurance like we do for every single license in town. Uh so those things all need to be part of this process. So, we've created an application form and on the application form is just a simple date and time next to each thing that has to be checked or done. And some of the things are submitted by the applicant like the application form, certificate of insurance, a copy of the driver's license, so we have accurate spelling of the name and fees. And then the rest is on us. We check to make sure are they current on all their property taxes and assessments. Do they issue anything or do they have uh any outstanding fees or anything? And do they have a license with the state of Minnesota? So once all of that is done, then we will date and time stamp the form in the upper right hand corner saying ready to go to council. Okay, that's the plan at this point. So the decision before you and our recommendation is that exactly what we do. They they come in, we process them. If they are complete, we note time and date stamp. If the next council meeting isn't for a week and a half yet, that will be the first one you see. If another one comes in at the at uh the next day after that one, they'll go through the process. We'll date and time stamp that one. And so they'll come in first completing our process here. And then we would re make recommendations in that order based on that date and time stamp. So that's our recommendation for how we move forward. If we get simultaneous applications for registration and they move right along with each other and that date and time stamp is the same, then we propose that we do a random drawing of those applicants for approval simply to be fair. We believe that that would be fair. Yes. [45:55] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Kelly. This is really helpful. I don't necessarily disagree with any of this. Not that you're looking for a personal opinion on this, but just so that I can get clarity. I love to hear I'm I kind of nerd out about stuff like this. When you came up with the when staff came up with these recommendations to council, are these based on what have worked well in other states? Are these based on what cities of similar sizes and are are doing? Do you know what I'm saying? Are these just things that we that city staff is recommending particularly for this community or is there some kind of precedent or research or data that shows that this is probably the easiest and to use the mayor's word most fair way to go about this? Does that make sense? [46:53] Kelly Murtaugh: Uh, that's a fair question and we did not study other states. We did not stutter study other cities on how they're doing it. I know some folks are looking at a very complicated scoring process and uh we aren't interested in that. Um, I think if we were a city of a different size or had other things happening, maybe we would I would look at something complicated. I don't want anything complicated. This whole thing is complicated enough that I don't want to add to it. Um, when this was being drafted last year, we had a conversation with our city attorney at the time talking about this and our conversation at that time, casual conversation was first come, first serve. If you can get through the process, let's go. Um, that's fine. Let's go and then we we can move on from there. Uh and so we feel like this is the most appropriate path for the city and the staffing levels that we have and the complexity of the uh process itself not wanting to add to it. [47:50] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Completely understand and respect that. Thank you. [47:52] Councilmember Mya Beck: Just a quick clarifying question. How many sta like is it just one staff member looking at these applications at a time? I'm just confused on the time and date. like if you just give me a stack of applications, obviously the first one I look at is going to be the first one that gets sent to us first. [48:19] Kelly Murtaugh: So, how we're going to handle that is we're we're going to handle it much like we do elections. And so, election applications when they come in, they are date and timestamped and and that's kind of then where the similarity ends. But, uh but we will we will do that at the front desk or they'll connect with Emily. So Emilyy's going to be our point person. Deputy uh deputy city clerk is going to be our point person. More than one of us will look at them to make sure that because we want to make sure this is done well. Uh more than one of us will be looking at them uh because this is going to be our first time going through this. But she will be the point person and she's here most of the time. Uh and I'll be her backup if she's not and we'll be very clear about how things need to go through the process. Uh we've alerted our staff um in finance to say, "Hey, if we get some applications, we're going to need some quick turnaround on checking if everyone's um clean on their property assessments and that kind of thing." So, we've already kind of done some of the groundwork to be prepared to move it through quickly because we aren't interested on sitting on these at all. We we do want it to be as fair as possible based on the rules that we set forward. Sure. Thank you, Council Member Beck. [49:56] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Any other discussion? Councilmember Vihrachoff. [50:00] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: I'm sorry, Kelly. Just one other thing. Um, have you heard from any of the applicants or any of the invested parties if they have strong feelings or thoughts about this process? [50:11] Kelly Murtaugh: Not that we have to and not that I have not personally. Um, I know that John Hinsman sent this that this was going to be on the meeting agenda tonight. He sent that to both of our SUP uh applicants. Okay. Um, to let them know. Okay. But I have not personally talked I guess we talked a little bit, but uh I have not gotten any specific feedback on what folks think about this proposal. All right. Fair enough. Thank you. [50:30] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you, Mayor. Council member Vihrachoff. Okay, council. And I would accept a motion for a resolution for cannabis retail business selection process. Council member Pemble and Council Member Vihrachoff. Any discussion? Council. Council member Leifeld. [50:42] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thanks Jonor. Where does the so social equity verification process fit into this? [50:45] Kelly Murtaugh: So, in as I understand it at this point, uh, for the uncapped licenses, and Greg, if I go down a bad path, kick me back into play. Uh, for the uncapped licenses, they're going through the approval processes, they're checking their forms, they're doing their backgrounds, and they're just continuing on right along. And I believe that those are being touched before the general, but I don't know that there's a separation of them necessarily. But the ones I've seen, if you look on OCM's website, you can see that a lot of the social equity applicants for the uncapped licenses have moved to the next stage. Many of them, whereas some of the general license applicants have not moved, say, to the pre preliminarily approved stage. For the capped licenses, the June 5th lottery for cannabis retail is only social equity applicants. For the other three cap licenses, it's the general and the social equity because the numbers are think are a lot lower for those licenses. Whereas for the cannabis retail, thousands of them. So they are c they're starting with social equity and then those who are not selected in social equity will move on with the general in July for the next one. That helped me. Thank you again. Absolutely. [52:16] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thanks. Uh and verification on the second for council member Vihrachoff. Did you second it? I saw your light on. That's why it was a safe assumption. I am so sorry that was an error but I'm very happy. Okay. Thank you. So there is a there is a first and second. No other discussion. All those in favor of the motion state by saying I. I oppose to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Kelly, once again, thank you and thank you for your continued efforts to keep us educated and things moving forward. Uh council reports. Anything from council for any announcements of any sort? Okay, I do have a few. Uh, [52:53] Mayor Mary Fasbender: this week is National EMS week and National Public Works Week. Please join me in a great and heartful thank you to the employees in these departments for their service for our community. And we'll clap. City offices will be closed Monday, May 26th in observance of Memorial Day. Memorial Day events 1100 a.m. at Rotary Pavilion, Levy Park, hosted by VFW Post 1210. Council member Lawrence, happy birthday. Next week on Tuesday, June 3rd, join in for the summer kickoff of our 2025 Levy Park events. Live reggae music, food trucks, inflatables, foam park, foam party, crazy hair, caricature artists, airbrush tattoos, henna artists, face painting, and more. All ages are welcome and this event is free. Tuesday, May 20, May 20th, 7 p.m. Heritage Preservation Commission meeting. Wednesday, May 21st, the cancel uh the parks and recck commission meeting has been cancelled. Tuesday, May 27th, 7 p.m. Planning Commission. And the utilities committee meeting for Tuesday, May 27th has been cancelled. Monday, June 2nd, 5:30 council, we do have a workshop. It is the start of our 2026 budget and 7 pm city council regular meeting. With that, I would ask for a motion for adjournment. Council member Leifeld and Council Member Pemble. No discussion. All those in favor of the motion state by saying I. I. Oppose that motion state by saying no. And we are adjourned.