Based on the context provided and the phonetic clues in the transcript, here is the attributed townhall transcript. Note: Some names in the transcript (like "Bringgold" and "Lundell") appear to be council members present at the 2022 meeting who were not on your specific list, while others like "Neil" and "Dan" refer to the City Administrator and Public Works Director respectively. *** **[5:07] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** good evening everyone i'd like to call the august 2nd 2022 city council meeting for the city of canon falls to order we have roll call please **[5:34] City Clerk Sara Peer:** bring gold? **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** here **City Clerk Sara Peer:** nobach? **Council Member Chris Nobach:** here **City Clerk Sara Peer:** jeppesen? (on mute) he's up there **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** here **Council Member Derek Lundell:** here **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** here **City Clerk Sara Peer:** zimmerman? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** would you rise for the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god **[6:00] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** okay approval agenda any corrections or additions **Council Member Derek Lundell:** i'll make a motion to approve the agenda **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** second **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** motion by lindell second by bringgold to approve the agenda any discussion all in favor aye **[6:32] Council Member Bill Bringgold:** hi **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** hi **Council Member Derek Lundell:** all right **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** all right **City Clerk Sara Peer:** okay prove this jen is approved let's get into public input public input is intended to offer the public an opportunity to address concerns to the city council the public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length and each speaker will have no more than three minutes to speak speakers may address topics relevant to the governance of the city speakers must sign up in advance provide their name address and topic they intend to address comment comments must be on topic respectful **[7:18] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** pertinent to city business and here into the apical data privacy rules any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down if the speaker refuses to comply they'll be removed from the meeting speaker shall not address topics that are subject of a public hearing all such comments should be made at the public hearing the city council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input but may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda okay zach rohr you're up howdy how's it going tonight good good thank **[8:05] Zach Rohr (Mini Grown):** you for taking the time to let me speak this evening my name is zach rohr i'm here representing my company mini growing uh we're hemp manufacturer in town out in the industrial park uh we've been here since 2019 uh manufacturing federally compliant state compliant hemp products um you know since we've been in this community my whole family is from here my other business partners are also from the city of canada falls and we've invested uh millions and millions of dollars into this community and into this business to see you know economic growth within this category in the state the reason that i wanted to speak tonight is that i know we're proposing a thc ordinance for the city of canada falls and i just want to say that i completely understand you know the need for you **[8:51] Zach Rohr (Mini Grown):** know discussing this we see other cities throughout the state that are moving fast and you know uh you know doing these moratoriums you know to ban the sale of thc products so i completely understand you know why the city of canada falls is discussing uh this issue with that said you know we've had open discussion with city leaders throughout the week yesterday we were able to have a great discussion on you know what this ordinance you know means and what it means for our business and we just want to say thank you for that open dialogue and that we are here to be an asset for the city right now you know a lot of other businesses that we work with throughout the state their cities are putting in these bans and it's substantially hurting their business and what i'd like to do is come **[9:37] Zach Rohr (Mini Grown):** together with the city of canada falls to develop one safe regulations for our citizens on how we can sell these products but to also become leaders in the states we can provide a template for these other cities to follow so i just want to speak tonight and let you know that i want to be an asset for the city our company wants to be an asset for the city of canada falls anything that we can do to provide input on what regulations and licensing might look like we definitely want to be there for the city of canada falls with that said i just want to you know also address that you know i think that a lot of the media coverage on these products has been a little outblowing um you know it seems that uh you know this was kind of passed through the legislature um unknowingly but from what **[10:24] Zach Rohr (Mini Grown):** i'm told is that there were several discussions between the republican party and the democrat party on coming together and getting this law passed with that said you know these products are you know all regulated through the federal farm program minnesota you know we have one of the best hemp programs in the country we actually had the first approved usda hemp program so all the products that we produce are you know farm bill compliant federally and have always been regulated through the state of minnesota through the board of pharmacy um so you know we have a tremendous amount of knowledge you know my background i went to school at mitchell hamlet school of law and graduated from there so i really understand the regulatory side of things and licensing so um with that said i just um you know **[11:10] Zach Rohr (Mini Grown):** if you guys have any questions as you know you guys are working through this ordinance we definitely want to be an asset for you we did propose um in addition to the ordinance um you know one thing that we'd really like to see instituted in the city is that the products being sold in the city are doing things the right way and what i think that means is that the folks that are allowed to sell these products distribute them make them have to be a registered registered hemp license holder through the minnesota department of agriculture and by doing that it'll just provide way more regulatory oversight literally from the seed of the plant all the way to the sale of the product you know so one thing that we'd like to propose in you know addition to this ordinance is that you know we'd like to be able to **[11:56] Zach Rohr (Mini Grown):** continue to sell our products in cannon falls while you guys are doing the due diligence and working through the zoning and the licensing and the regulations um you know if we are able to you know have that you know and i can send this over youtube we redline just a couple sentences uh but we'd really like to see if that the people who have been doing it the right way for the last you know four or five years can continue to do things the right way and that's really what all we're asking for other than that thank you for your time tonight **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** thanks zach joe you want to talk i said it all but you had a couple things **[12:49] Joe Rohr (Mini Grown):** hello everybody my name is joe or a lifetime resident of canada falls minnesota and proud of it um we um exactly i started the uh the um have business quite a few years ago and right from the beginning i called dave before i rented the before we bought the building in the industrial park we called diane here and wanted to make sure that we had a license to do so and since then we rented the building uh for six months purchase the building for well over a million dollars we've got another million dollars in start-up costs and uh do it and with all the license through minnesota and the federal government we've done everything a hundred percent **[13:35] Joe Rohr (Mini Grown):** um finally finally we're starting to make possibly see a profit and i kind of feel like we're being cut down at the knees here and the funny thing i don't understand about all these cities putting in these moratoriums us and a few other competitors here in the in minnesota can ship to anybody they can order today to get shipped out tomorrow be in their home in two days that's the law we can go right through the post office there's more terms i really don't understand um the city's doing this yeah so if they're going to regulate the sale of tnc products through canned falls um no sale can be made well somebody just has to drive out of town if they want to do it legally they can just drive out of town black black on the other side of us **[14:20] Joe Rohr (Mini Grown):** and um put an order right on their phone it goes out in the u.s mail the next day or that day even and they're delivered to their home the products are delivered to their home the next day so i really don't understand why people are wasting all this time in moratoriums i do understand one city they were honest about it so they wanted to they wanted to find out who was selling it so they could tax accordingly they wanted to tax it like liquor i understand that but they're being uh you know forth worth um that's what they want and i if that's uh what people towns are doing i totally understand that i just kind of wonder how long this moratorium might last because it's going to hurt our business because we'd rather do like we've been doing selling our legal products right at our store besides shipping to camps people in **[15:06] Joe Rohr (Mini Grown):** canada falls i think we've shipped out just last two weeks three 350 orders to people uh in canada falls at their homes and plus we've had people come to our door and purchase the products it's kind of been a whirlwind and we're working our way through it um so i just want to take that if you can take that into consideration how long this moratorium may last but i really don't see how it even affects or uh um but what i don't think it does a lot of good myself but um because all these towns everybody's coming up prior lake last night it was apparently came out of the moratorium and we had four shipments today go to residents of prior lake so that's all i got to say i appreciate your time thank you so much **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** thanks joe thank you **[15:55] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** okay we'll close the public input okay we've got a couple public hearings tonight the first one resolution 2643 certifying that unpaid utility bills be collected with taxes Jon you want to just comment on that **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** yeah each quarter we notify the property owners that they have unpaid water and sewer bills and we do this public hearing to give them a chance to speak otherwise as in every quarter we certify them to taxes so that's why the public hearing okay **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** okay let's open the public hearing **[16:42] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** on resolution 2643 is there anybody who would like to comment on the utility bill charges being collected with taxes now is your time to talk **[17:00] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** second call third and final call hearing none will close the public hearing on resolution 2643 and i'd take a motion to certify unpaid utility charges be collected with taxes **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** so moved **Council Member Matt Montgomery:** a second **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** motion by bringold second by montgomery to approve resolution 2643 any other discussion all in favor mm-hmm roll call oh i'm sorry i'll never get that it's all right **City Clerk Sara Peer:** bring gold? **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** hi **[17:46] City Clerk Sara Peer:** nobach? **Council Member Chris Nobach:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** jeppesen? **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** cronenberger? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** lindell? **Council Member Derek Lundell:** aye **City Clerk Sara Peer:** montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** okay resolution 2643 passes six to nothing okay the second public hearing tonight is introduction and first reading of ordinance 386. **[18:13] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** it's an ordinance annexing land located in canton falls township goodwill county minnesota pursuant to minnesota statutes 414-033 subdivision two pertaining annexation by ordinance diane you want to introduce that one **Council Member Diane Johnson:** yeah our proposed annexation is um owned by greensmith as of today congratulations it's currently located in the cannon falls township it is approximately 53.86 acres and it's proposed to be zoned to the r3 medium density residential district **[19:02] Council Member Diane Johnson:** planning commission also unanimously approved this annexation at the last planning commission do you want to introduce um aaron smith he is the owner of greensmith and he is going to give presentation to everybody **Aaron Smith (Greensmith):** hey everyone well this is not as exciting as thc unless you're in the market for a new home but we're really excited uh the total the two phases of the project will be 129 homes we hired jlg architects out of minneapolis they're a very renowned firm to start doing the land planning am i sorry should lean in **[19:48] Aaron Smith (Greensmith):** to do all the land planning and the conceptuals to move the project forward so we again couldn't be more excited i tried the pizza at uh brewster's tonight i'm excited to spend more and more time in your great city and we look forward to getting started very very soon any questions from anyone i think on this track land there's about a hundred lots on that previous 8.6 there's 29 total lots so that's kind of how the breakdown goes and really that preliminary plot not much has changed since the since the preliminary plat we did have some conversation with city staff about potentially doing a outlet to the west which would give the city some **[20:34] Aaron Smith (Greensmith):** variability on a future road going north or kind of to the west side and we're open to that as well but we'll continue working with them very closely as we lay everything out and yeah **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** are you still thinking of uh solar applications in your house like at one time john's gonna ask you every time i ask you that every time but okay i wanna make and everyone can come out after and see my new f-150 electric so all my gas for my f-150 is free from my solar array on my rooftop which is pretty cool so i just think when we think about the cost of housing we need to think about the utilities as well and solar's just making more and more sense **[21:20] Aaron Smith (Greensmith):** to keep utility costs under control to keep families budgets under control money that they don't spend on utilities is money that they can spend in the community so yes i'm i like solar i still do john **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** okay just checking **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** yeah uh plan on moving dirt before uh winter comes **Aaron Smith (Greensmith):** the most of the earth moving companies are pretty booked now through the end of winter but i think the second that we can get in in the spring will start moving dirt **[21:59] Council Member Bill Bringgold:** any more questions **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** well thank you great thanks so much we want to open the public hearing anybody that wants to talk on this ordinance on the annexation feel free to come up **[22:26] Babel Garman (Resident):** babel garman cannon falls i've been in around here for several years and listening to all this building going on i happen to be in the trades myself so i'm all for it but um there comes a time and a place when one's enough enough and this has nothing to do with mr smith to solely um i'm wondering if you folks have and i've never heard it here in this room about ceta anybody know anything about that they did a comprehensive study and i happen to have some **[23:11] Babel Garman (Resident):** and it's just partial there's 279 pages or something with this thing but in that packet and i mean it's a vast array it's a sea to study comprehensive housing needs for goodyear county and what's interesting is ceta was spot on in the last decade and i have yet to hear anybody bring it up in this room so i'm wondering if you people even know what it is and i'm wondering if anybody has read it and seen it but i'm wondering how you make a decision if you don't follow this comprehensive study that is quite in depth about housing in goodyear county **[24:13] Babel Garman (Resident):** the total number of households by 2030 is only supposed to grow by 113. that's households he alone is going to build more lots than that and we've got keller apartment and up on sandstone ridge and various other developments all over town that means the population according to seed is only going to grow by 243 people not housing units just by people if you go through this it talks about single and multi-family home needs and we are building way way beyond what ceta is recommending they talk about rental apartments and **[24:58] Babel Garman (Resident):** townhome needs we are building way way beyond what cedar recommends i don't see anywhere where we've addressed senior needs and ceta says that's one of the most important and i'm kind of wondering why you folks have not been privy to ceta it's laura quality's boss that put this together and i assume it costs quite a bit of money and it is quite in depth and why would we want to over build cannon falls especially when we're still up on sandstone ridge from 20 years ago to clean up the mess that was made **[25:45] Babel Garman (Resident):** and i know that there's a housing boom right now that's how i make my living but the other shoe will drop it always does it says that greensmith is building 154 single-family homes and ceta says there's only 96 needed and like i said there's other developments in town and the one that really behooves me is glenn mulva hill's right across from the school there's 40 acres sitting there there's what been four or five houses on that street on the far west end of it there just isn't a call for it i mean that's their problem **[26:31] Babel Garman (Resident):** you know it's their investment but it was up in sandstone ridge and who ended up with it in their lap we did and we're still trying to get out from under it i think um [Applause] greensmith the next eight and a half acres about a year ago their lawyer said they were going to put 25 residential lots in i have not seen any and i think i just heard that they haven't even moved any dirt yet and so my question is is okay the 25 makes sense to me okay and nobody's ever discussed it **[27:17] Babel Garman (Resident):** but if you haven't started the 25 and you've had the ability to do that why all of a sudden we're going to put another 100 plus more on top of it and you haven't even started yet i i don't understand that and i haven't heard anybody in this room ask any questions about any of it and i have yet to hear anything about this sita which took me some time to go through and analyze and you should probably take the time and look at it as long as you're making the decisions thank you for your time folks **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** anybody else ray **[28:07] Ray Otto (CF Township):** good evening i'm ray otto with canon falls township i'd like to make a clarification to what was published in the paper that the township gave its approval for the annexation i don't recall that ever being the case we were not in favor of it but the comment was made that there's nothing we can do to stop it so i just want to go on the record that the township is not in favor of it okay **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** hey thank you anybody else **[28:58] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** seeing none let's close the public hearing on the ordinance 386 and does anybody want to make a motion **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** i'll make a motion to approve **Council Member Chris Nobach:** a second **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** motion by montgomery second by nobach to approve the first reading of ordinance 386 annexing land in the canton falls township pursuant to minnesota statutes is there any other discussion could we have a vote on that **City Clerk Sara Peer:** bringgold? **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** aye **City Clerk Sara Peer:** nobach? **Council Member Chris Nobach:** aye **City Clerk Sara Peer:** jeppesen? **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** cronenberger? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** lindell? **Council Member Derek Lundell:** hey **[29:44] City Clerk Sara Peer:** montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** hi okay the introduction first reading approved six to zero okay get into consent agenda consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolutions council business item a justin correct claims for the accounting period ending july 28 2022 item b minute meetings for the july 19th 2022 city council meeting is there anything that council would like to pull down **[30:33] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** hearing none is a motion to approve the consent agenda **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** so moved **Council Member Chris Nobach:** second **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** motion by bringgold second by nobach to approve the consent agenda any other discussion we have a vote on that **City Clerk Sara Peer:** bringgold? **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** aye **City Clerk Sara Peer:** nobach? **Council Member Chris Nobach:** i **City Clerk Sara Peer:** jeppesen? **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** cronenberger? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** lindell? **Council Member Derek Lundell:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** hi consent agenda passes six to zero okay again console business item a is the introduction and first reading of ordinance 387 interim ordinance **[31:19] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** prohibiting the sale and distribution of products containing the thc within the city of cannon falls **Joe Rohr:** it says distribution oh ok **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** thank you so let's go over this again introduction of the first reading mortgage 387 an interim ordinance prohibiting the sale of products containing thc within the city of cannon falls is that right **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** that's correct sorry about that our city um clerk had gone on vacation and that change came after she had gone on vacation you're right joel thank you um um john do you want me to comment on this video **Council Member Diane Johnson:** okay first i want to thank zach and and joe for um giving a nice presentation tonight and for your offer partnership we really appreciate that um secondly **[32:42] Council Member Diane Johnson:** um real quick i just want to clarify something so there isn't any confusion um the background on this is there's been a number of cities in the state that have been temporarily putting a hold on the sale of thc edibles and basically where we're doing this is to try to give the city staff time to determine which regulations surrounding zoning and licensing would be appropriate we don't want to ban anything and i think with zach and joe yesterday um i think we came to an agreement we all understood that that we want to work together we just want to get our feet under us basically and a moratorium um joe your question was a really good one how long is the moratorium going to last um like i told zach the wheels of **[33:31] Council Member Diane Johnson:** government sometimes move a lot slower than we like what we would try to definitely get this moving as quick as we could you know more triumphs can last up to a year i would not like to see it last that long be honest with you um the quicker we can get this done and do it right um with the help of jeff our city attorney neil myself you know we have a good team and we have you guys willing to work with us i think that we could get some good things done comments from the console **Council Member Derek Lundell:** just one question on item c it's in written in red on here the moratorium will not prohibit the **[34:16] Council Member Derek Lundell:** sale of products by the holder of a license does that mean they could sell it out of their um their warehouse **Council Member Diane Johnson:** you know we haven't had a chance to talk about that yet derek um it's something that we could talk about and um zach i did copy that so we could give that to the council you had um alluded to that in your presentation earlier you know that's one of those moving parts derek we haven't had a chance this is something that was just given to me this morning um and i did tell zach we would talk about it but um we do need the time to be able to have a meeting on that one **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** yeah the the stuff in red the red print um has not been presented to our attorney yet so just keep that in mind **[35:03] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** if this thing gets approved and goes a second reading we'll have to whatever you guys decide tonight we'll make the adaption to the ordinance however you guys decide but the the writing in red was uh brought to us by many grown and the the other was drafted by the city attorney just so you know **Council Member Derek Lundell:** well there's no way we want to hamper the the sales you guys got in mini growing i mean we're here to support you for sure but i don't know maybe there's i don't know how the console feels maybe they don't want to burn **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** well things like this you know if you compare it to tobacco and alcohol **[35:48] Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** the states really make all the rules and the cities are just left to enforce it the state didn't make any rules so if they didn't make any rules then maybe we just leave things be and we can come up with what we want but until then you know if if the tobacco shop in town wants to sell it and maybe a couple gas stations or whoever you know let them go for it that's what i think anyway **Council Member Chris Nobach:** i agree with derrick i'm i'm leaning towards no action at this time what diane had said those things any city regulations we can work on that while letting this the state law uh stand um i don't i don't think there's much there **[36:34] Council Member Chris Nobach:** there at this point because the tobacco shop has edible gummies with delta eight in their store right now and i know that the on the state level the delta nine is what they tried to bring it in for regulation and all that so it's it's opened a different door but i talked to some local businesses too liquor stores because the thc beverages um those are also legal and i'd like to be able to give that a try um i think that if we did a moratorium i think that we can work on regulations at the same time while having it be legal and i don't foresee there being any problems or any rashes of you know things that would hurt the community if we let it be legal **Council Member Diane Johnson:** i oh i'm sorry go ahead the only thing with that one matt is um i did get a **[37:20] Council Member Diane Johnson:** hold of alcohol and gambling about the um off sale liquor stores and they're not permitted to sell it at this time **Council Member Chris Nobach:** what will they have to do to become a licensed dealer **Council Member Diane Johnson:** i'm not sure because i understand the edibles because food versus you know what i'm not sure um they're running trying to get their feet under them too which is kind of why we propose this because the league is running um aged is running i actually talked to the gentleman up at tobacco licensing which i usually don't and when i asked him what his opinion was he said if it were him he would probably just put some minimal rules in place but just something to protect the city i don't know what the right answer this is totally new territory i think that i **[38:06] Council Member Derek Lundell:** totally get that i think the cities all these cities have overreacted to the situation myself **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** well i tend to agree with you guys on this i whenever i look to an ordinance i think what problem are we trying to solve and i can't find one here i don't find a problem yet um not that i want us to be knee-jerk and react you know oh my gosh we've got a huge problem but i just i mean this law just went in isn't even in effect yet right august first i think it was july the first first okay but i mean i i just don't see a problem that we're trying to solve sorry **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** well i would i guess i would i i like the uh what you **[38:52] Council Member Bill Bringgold:** guys put here in the red for us to allow like mini girl because they're um have the proper license right my problem is if we do nothing and that it's sold willy-nilly out of whatever then when rules are put in place and say we we eliminate a couple of places then they're going to be howling mad that well you let us do it for a while but now with the new rules you can't do it **Council Member Derek Lundell:** well the same thing will happen though if we put a moratorium in place and take it away you know same thing it's just in reverse i i just don't no i don't i don't i don't i don't see it that way **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** i'm i'm in favor of putting **[39:39] Council Member Bill Bringgold:** a moratorium as as written here um i just you know but teach their own **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** outside of the red verbiage does this stop anything that's happening today **Council Member Diane Johnson:** it just doesn't let us open up new stuff until we understand what we want to allow and what we don't want to allow **Council Member Diane Johnson:** yeah and a lot of it laura when i talk to the gentleman up at um tobacco licensing has to do more like with the convenience stores who can pick it up and that and that's all all good but like he said you could put in simple rules like having it down underneath the counter much like tobacco so it's not easily accessible **[40:24] Council Member Diane Johnson:** for kids you know or somebody just to walk by and grab and have some of the wrong people get a hold of it he wasn't talked about anything real specific just simple common sense rules like that and if we don't put this in that could start happening tomorrow like casey's could start selling it tomorrow yeah on the counter you could probably see it on the counter and family fair wherever you know um wherever they want to put it **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** do you really think it's going to be on the counter though **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** couldn't that be some of the regulations **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** really think that do we really think they're going to put edibles on the counter i think it's really pretty expensive yeah i thought **[41:10] Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** they would wanna and maybe this is one of the regulations but i thought this was very similar to liquor store because it's 21 plus so liquor stores i think it was just them being the devil's advocate and that makes sense i think the important thing to remember is that when the state passed this there really wasn't a ton of discussion a ton of public discussion on it there might have been some behind the scenes discussion some limited discussions most of law enforcement including myself heard about it when i hit the news you know when you look at liquor i don't think you have a equal comparison the statutes on liquor are very very specific 21 to purchase 21 to serve there is absolutely no language on who can sell this **[41:56] Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** so you could have a 15 year old clerk at a convenience store selling it how are they going to ensure that they're complying what regulation is there to comply with who can verify that we've heard from the chiefs conference or chiefs of media i was at one of the two said that they have been trying to do some auditing and they've gone in and asked okay do you have your reports that show you know your your content is compliance and the answers were basically we don't have to show you anything you're not the department of pharmacy i think there's some really good actors i think we've got a very good business in our community that wants to make sure that this gets done right not just for their business but for their community yeah but i think it's important to remember **[42:41] Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** that you have retailers that are being reached out to by people that are not our local business and whether or not they're going to be getting sold what they think they're getting sold is hard to say without the ability for you know verification and that type of thing um it's a sensitive topic i get it um bath salts were a sensitive topic in duluth all they had to do was keep changing the chemical substance in one molecule and they could continue to sell it legally same outcome was negative but that was a dynamic it was a game that was being played of cat and mouse um in this case it's really up to you guys i i think that the retailers that have reached out to us are looking for guidance and there's hardly any guidance we can give them right now **[43:26] Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** and i think the concerns of what's a big deal are valid concerns but at the same time i think the concerns of well what if we change the rules and somebody who made an investment of ten thousand dollars now can't sell it is also a valid concern and diane has been taking the lead on on looking into this uh much more than i have well maybe there's more you want to add **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** it's it's my impression statewide that these the cities that have put these moratoriums forward you know going along with what you're saying there's there's not much rules or regulations it's it's a way of just waiting and seeing what the state's going to do next year **Council Member Diane Johnson:** i don't think that's necessarily what they're doing really the league is putting together a task force to come up with best practices for cities to to follow and how to regulate **[44:12] Council Member Diane Johnson:** i think that so we would be if we passed this we would be i think if we want to look at it going ahead much like it was discussed maybe becoming a lead in you know legislation that would regulate we don't have to wait for the league like i said there's some really good actors out there that have a passion for doing this right and i think we've got the advantage of having some right in our community but i definitely think there should be some more regulation i think we should have control over who can sell much like if you you know go into a restaurant you order something to drink if your waitress or waiter is 18 the alcohol is going to come to you from somebody that's over 21. **[44:54] Council Member Diane Johnson:** that's kind of a common sense approach i think that in this environment if anybody could sell it that would be a common sense type of approach since somebody can't be more than or under 21 to purchase it maybe the restriction should also be 21 to sell **Council Member Derek Lundell:** what's the age for tobacco to be able to sell that 18. i'm not 21 if i don't know if they change that within the the stuff or not i think it's the i know the gas stations in town have high schoolers working there and they're selling but they also have them in you know more restricted areas there's aren't that requirement on the on this legislation that it be i get it it's expensive but that doesn't mean you can't put it out you know in a basket somewhere else that's up to a retailer to decide uh well you could put in place a requirement that be behind a counter or **[45:41] Council Member Diane Johnson:** somewhere that's not you know just grabbable which to me would make the common sense approach any other comments **Council Member Diane Johnson:** i just have one more and zach i'm sorry i'm going to pick on you again we have a great leader over there and um he has a lot of experience with this and he was so kind yesterday to offer to help us put together a really good program and he too wants to be sure that people that are not mini-grown are maybe not necessarily be able are able to sell without some sort of rules and regulations because there are unscrupulous people out there and he has concerns about those himself i mean if we could work together with them like i said i really feel like we could put something out there that would be helpful to the city **[46:39] Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** would it make sense to either send this to a committee or even create like a new ad hoc committee just for this and maybe one of those guys could be part of it **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** i think that i think that's a great idea **Council Member Diane Johnson:** it would make sense to me too yeah to do that because the one thing i'm not hearing and i realized why you can't do it is i don't see any timeline you know there's no timeline i could go it could go up to a year it could in the meantime we've got people not sure what they can and can't do i think if we do it in-house like jeff suggested i think we can do it a lot quicker mary jill it's just a matter of how quick we can get it you know from meeting to meeting and **[47:24] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** okay what's your pleasure **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** well can we can we put a smaller timeline on this **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** that's kind of what i was wondering too thinking maybe like a 90 day or something like that **Council Member Diane Johnson:** see i would i think that i think we could accomplish something within 90 days and maybe use an existing um committee like the police commission or i mean you're talking about regulations i mean whatever the council pleasure is you guys can choose **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** and we are short a citizen on the commission so oh yeah fill out an application and we will consider it no i'm kidding i'm kidding **Council Member Derek Lundell:** well as long as this isn't **[48:11] Council Member Derek Lundell:** going backwards like i don't want them to all of a sudden they can't sell or they can't ship or they can't i don't want them to go back **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** no i agree **Council Member Derek Lundell:** as long as that's the case and we're just making sure that we you know get our ducks in a row that's fine but i don't i don't want to wait a year **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** is the shop is the tobacco shop in town currently able to sell these or are they does they don't know **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** they are they are **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** so they're you know if we pass this together one they're going to be sitting on it anybody could have you know been purchasing to sell yeah um with the exceptions of you know some that are controlled by other sections of state statute so yeah **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** well i agree with you laura i think we can put something together and give them a shorter timeline i agree **[48:58] Council Member Bill Bringgold:** well if that's the case i actually i'll make an ordinance to approve or make a motion to approve ordinance 387 with one change and that is the the term length and uh let's make that 90 days **Council Member Chris Nobach:** couldn't we work on the regulations and have the without putting any moratorium and certainly i mean we could do that too i'm all for everything i just i think the moratorium just isn't needed okay to be honest i think as far as we know there's one place in town that has it it's pretty expensive i'd be surprised if other places would want to get in without knowing what the future is since they don't know right now i mean and maybe if there isn't a moratorium it gives us the **[49:45] Council Member Chris Nobach:** the um ambition needed to get our ducks in around get it done yeah otherwise it's too easy to let it go yeah **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** well that's how the council feels always draw my motion if somebody want to make a motion to leave it be does it require any action **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** just drop it **Council Member Chris Nobach:** do we want to make no i don't think we want to drop it because i think we want to i think we need to remind it to the police commission **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** i agree **Council Member Derek Lundell:** so we look at regulations yeah promotion that the uh the police commission take this up and come up with the solution as soon as possible **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** i'll second that approach have been made by london second by montgomery **[50:31] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** to refer this ordinance 387 to the police commission any other discussion vote **City Clerk Sara Peer:** bringgold? **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** aye **City Clerk Sara Peer:** nobach? **Council Member Chris Nobach:** aye **City Clerk Sara Peer:** jeppesen? **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** cronenberger? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** lindell? **Council Member Derek Lundell:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** hi that motion passes six to zero okay okay let's get into reports i don't see kyle here tonight kyle who's here oh there she is hiding back there why would you hide you're just behind me i'm kind of big oh well no no no not gonna say anything joe **[51:17] Kyle Paulson (Chamber):** only a long time not at all evening city council and community um i am kyle paulson in he reporting here for the chamber of commerce and the first big event that is coming up is called the cruisers car show or car club and it is this friday night august 5th it's the setup starts at 5 p.m down at artisan plaza the drive or the cruise itself will be 20 miles and it will be starting from artisan plaza going out and about lake billsby and then coming back into town and they're going to have food and music and there'll be tons of cars there to **[52:05] Kyle Paulson (Chamber):** see so i hope everyone comes out the music is uh 50s and 60s music and all sorts of car viewing and bench racing until 10 p.m and so please support the cannon cruisers car club then the chambers next big month or big event is on thursday august 11th and that is our fun fest and the fun fest is the good old original fun fest where we block off mill street from 4th street to over the bridge the vendors will be right on the street we do currently have three food vendors possibly another one i'm hearing the sweet corn is coming **[52:54] Kyle Paulson (Chamber):** and so come out for that we do have the the kristen uh hartl family and friends band and they are bringing in multiple friends to keep the music going and then also the bethel rock church band will be there for several uh songs as well and so um a big variety we're at 28 vendors right now um i've had two more calls in today and so this could be a very nice event for everyone and so um come out thursday the 11th 4 30 to 7 30. we'll be on mill street having a lot of fun so i hope you join us any questions **[53:42] Kyle Paulson (Chamber):** that'll be it okay **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** thanks kyle you bet the rock climbing clock **Kyle Paulson (Chamber):** the rock climbing wall is coming back that's the 25 foot wall and that is coming from the minnesota national guard and so they have they have harnesses hot dogs no no not hot dogs this particular time you're going to have sweet corn you're going to have snow cones you have don's crumble beef sandwiches rancho loco and i haven't heard back yet if the lions are coming with their spam sandwiches so we've got things in the works things will fall into place here really soon **[54:29] Kyle Paulson (Chamber):** and so any other questions and thanks to dan he was checking electrical outlets for us today thank you very much **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** thank you thanks kyle well the one last meeting that we had in between since our last council meeting was the cannon valley trail board anything there **Council Member Diane Johnson:** yeah we um took a field trip down and um they're putting a new there they want to put some new sidewalks in is that correct laura um near the trailhead in red wings so we took a look at that went down and looked and all looks pretty exciting it's going to be good that was about it **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** you know when we were at that bonding thing last fall **[55:15] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** asking for money for john bridge park red wing was there they were asking for like four million dollars for it to increase their trails throughout red wing barnes bluff and all over the place yeah of course they didn't get any money like we did either **Council Member Diane Johnson:** yeah they'll be back **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** okay let's go around the horn Jed? **Jed Petersen (Public Works):** it's got a couple things um water tower rehab work continues in the next week you should start seeing activity downtown they'll start pulling wire for the new stoplights and that should be progressing in the next week or two our river road sewer extension should begin tentatively august 15th so that'll be the work up by egg **[56:00] Jed Petersen (Public Works):** partners they'll be installing those two manhole structures the compost piles have been screened so that's all done so there's some fresh clean black dirt down there now bring your pails and shovels and just a heads up after uh 21 years of service at the public works building our air conditioner quit i know so the fact that it that building houses our control room for the scada equipment and our lab we we got that installed pretty quick so yeah just wanted to let you know that invoice will be on next month and the payment so that's it **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** thank you uh jeff **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** for the uh police commission we'll be uh trying to find some potential dates to meet i know we've got three members up sitting up there and try to get some uh action moving forward we can react to you guys that's all i got fan oh they're all there **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** Jon i got i got a little um item i'd like to discuss i'll pass out some information um at the last meeting there was a discussion i want to on the dmv and i want to make some clarification that maybe it isn't quite what it seems **[57:37] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** as presented at the last meeting so what i did i i talked to the auditor to put together a a four-year cost basis so if you look at what i passed out um when you dig into the register fees the top line is what the deputy register actually made for the year okay and all the lines underneath it are all the expenses so when you get down to the bottom um all four of them numbers are in the negative in in 2018 it lost 12 769 dollars **[58:22] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** in 2019 it lost eighty five hundred and eighty four dollars in 2020 it lost twenty five thousand nine hundred and twelve dollars and in 2021 unadjusted now um it lost eight thousand eight hundred and eighty eight and it wasn't open a full year and and the only reason it lost eight thousand dollars and not more is because our deputy register uh closed resigned right actually in july and we closed in october right so there weren't no more payroll charges there wasn't no more money going out i want to add one caveat to that um in that **[59:08] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** somewhere back in the budget cycle of 12 16 and 12 17 or in 2016 2017 there was a item removed from the motor vehicle a line item that is no longer charged against the department and you see it highlighted there on on the page i handed out and building rental expense it was sixteen thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars so from there on forward um the deputy register or the motor vehicle didn't pay for building rent insurance **[59:54] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** gas heat electricity none of that stuff i don't know if there any business would take that deal no so when you look at back at the first page that i handed out you need to if you really want to run a business you need to add sixteen thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars to all them line items negative line items so in 2020 um you're looking at closer to forty thousand dollars it went in the hole right so um the reason that uh at the public input that there was a sixty six thousand **[1:00:39] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** dollar plus positive number is because when we close the account the compensated absences were taken off which were seven thousand dollars and uh there was a decrease in uh pension liabilities of almost seventeen thousand so that brought that up into the positive okay so you look at the dmv as how much money is coming in based on register fees deputy register fees that's the top line you can't include the thirty eight thousand dollars that **[1:01:26] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** we got for grant money from the state because of mnlars that's not real money you can't count the the transfer over of twenty thousand or twenty five thousand from taxes that's not real money you gotta look at deputy register fees if you're gonna run a business right because that free money isn't free money it's coming from taxes i just wanted to straighten out um what was said because it's not it wasn't accurate now i want to get back to uh um the 2022 budget if this would have still been open here is the 2022 budget that was discussed when it was brought **[1:02:13] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** up about how it would be thirty to thirty five thousand dollars in the hole and that was a discussion that we had so if you look at the bottom of the page i used 135 000 as the deputy register fees now coming off a pandemic i don't know what that number would be it could have been more it could have been less who knows how many people are going to walk in the door right so i grab the highest number that we have ever made 135 000 and put it in as revenue i looked at expenses which is on the second page we had expenses and now i do these **[1:03:00] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** employee wages and all this stuff are calculated with all the employees that's how i do all the budgets and there was a hundred and eighty thousand dollars worth of expenses okay now you guys can do the math but 135 thousand and 108 in revenue and 180 000 dollars in expenses my 30 to 35 000 wasn't enough talk about too much it should have been 45 000. right so i just wanted to make clarification on it and uh if you got any questions just let me know that's all i got mayor thanks **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** well i i would just say to address that is unfortunate that **[1:03:46] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** a particular individual who discussed that is misleading the public because he cannot read a financial sheet so we've got to keep that in mind when people mention things in public input that about 95 of the time they're wrong i just want to say that it's never been the intention of this console to get rid of the dmv we that this town deserves a dmv in town be great to have one and uh we just ran into unfortunate incident where deputy register quit and then we had two retired gals there that quit within a short period we didn't have time to train anybody in **[1:04:32] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** but long before this happened we had been talking about privatizing the dmv here in town for a long time if you look around the surrounding towns like red wing that license center in west 7th and red wing has been there for 20 25 years city red wing has not been in the in the dmv business for a long time and that's true for hastings northfield faribault all of rochester they're not in the dmv business they've all privatized the business because it wasn't making any money no and uh i'm just saying that i want a dmv back in this town you know we've been talking to the state and they promised that they **[1:05:18] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** that they'll find somebody to come in and do it and anything with government you know it takes time so bear with us we're working on it so yes **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** as i if i understand correctly we're waiting on the state to make a decision we do have interested parties that would like to have a dmv yeah here **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** but i had two interested parties uh actually and one of the parties actually put in a request when i got to finally talk to the supervisor that does this he sent an email and i i believe i sent it to most of you i don't remember i know steve asked me the other day and i gave it to him again but there's a process that it has to go through **[1:06:03] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** and what he did tell me is they're trying to get 22 licensed bureaus driver's license stations up and running well if it takes as long as that to do one of these it might be a while so it's got to get in front of the commissioner and and then what he did tell me an email is when you see a letter coming requesting if you want to turn it down first it goes to the county the county turns it down because they get the first bid and then the city and if the city turns it down it goes to private and then that interested people that will put a **[1:06:50] Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** bid in on it and the most qualified will will get it and as we discussed in the very beginning it would be perfect to have it right back in the spot that they're in whether that happens or not it's probably going to find out here shortly i did send off another email on monday i believe yesterday or last last week asking where we are in the process that answer is slow to come back always has been so that's it okay **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** laura **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** matt i wonder if uh communities like **[1:07:35] Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** stuartville and cassin manterville and pine island have outgrown the pace that was suggested in this study it's just a study it's not even a recommendation so thank you for sharing but i think communities grow at their own rate **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** bill? **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** nothing **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** derek? **Council Member Derek Lundell:** nope **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** steve? **Council Member Steve Nordin:** anything up there nothing for me thank you okay **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** i got some important announcements here openings for mayor and city council open today they'll be open today the 2nd of august **[1:08:20] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** through the 16th of august we have an opening for a mayor which is a four-year term and we have two two-year terms for council and two four-year terms for council four councilmen and one mayor position and those uh applications will be taken to august 16th that'll be in the beacon this week i think we had to mix up with the beacon they didn't get it published last week but it'll be in this week and then don't forget the primary next tuesday november 5th it's a lot november 9th august 9th well i'm thinking of a general election august 9th okay next tuesday and the citizens vote right here in city **[1:09:07] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** hall ward one and two here in city hall okay upcoming **City Clerk Sara Peer:** i can just add to that so you can vote now and if you vote in city if you're in city limits you can vote now at city hall when it's at 8 30 to 4 30. 8 to 4 30 monday through friday and then on august 9th everybody can vote at their own polling place and you can always vote at goodhue county courthouse **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** what do you have to show when you come in to vote absentee like that **City Clerk Sara Peer:** driver's license driver's license that's it yep and then the clerk that assists you is your witness for your voting okay it takes five minutes **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** okay well i'm gonna go through meetings that are coming up this thursday we got eda we got public works time change on public works it's at six o'clock park board on thursdays at five o'clock **[1:10:15] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** finance committee next monday august 8th planning commission is august 15th the library board is august 8th too so other than that anything else from the council **Council Member Matt Montgomery:** motion to adjourn **Council Member Chris Nobach:** so move **Council Member Bill Bringgold:** second **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** motion by montgomery a second by nobach to adjourn all in favor hang hang on hang on hey oh okay roll call i gotta find sorry **[1:10:55] City Clerk Sara Peer:** duncan? **Council Member Chris Nobach:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** hi **City Clerk Sara Peer:** cronenberger? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** hi **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** past 6-0 we adjourned