This transcript has been updated with speaker names based on the context of the officials and the flow of the Rosemount City Council meeting. [0:00] [Music] [0:16] **Tami Klimpel (Councilmember):** Yeah you do it you do it line by line shot I had to go pick up my groceries at Target my new favorite thing you just have to deliver well I sometimes I do but the curve stuff like the curve yeah you pull in and you say I'm here and it's awesome we do that all the time all the time awesome works great oh gosh yes [Music] [1:02] **Paul Essler (Councilmember):** Happy your New Year's um good so far good so far days left yep [Music] [1:32] **Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** It's that seat it's another DED one get that seat happened to me last time. [1:40] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** I'd like to call the regular city council meeting for Tuesday January 7th 2025 please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. **All:** I pledge allegiance to the flag 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. [2:06] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Good evening and welcome to the new year first item up we have are there any well yeah call um we'll go ahead and have the oath of office so turn it over to our city clerk. I was looking for the agenda thing here so I guess don't need to do that yet. [2:39] **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** [Administers the Oath of Office to newly/re-elected members]. [3:06] [Music] [Applause] [3:14] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Welcome [Laughter] back yeah all right are there any additions or corrections to the agenda? **Councilmembers:** No sir. [3:25] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Seeing none I'll move the agenda all those in favor signify by saying I. **All:** I. **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Opposed? We have the agenda this evening. First item up is presentations proclamations and acknowledgements. First one is the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting award I'll turn this over to our administrative director Teah. [3:59] **Teah Malecha (Administrative Services Director):** Good evening Mr Mayor members of city council. The city staff submitted for the government Finance Officers Association certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting in June of 2024 for the city's 2023 audit. We were notified last week that we received it for the 28th consecutive year. It is a great achievement, demonstrates the diligence of our staff so we're just beginning the 24 audit we expect hopefully the same thing for the 24 audit but exciting for the 28th year in a row that was all I have. [4:26] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** That's it great hard work to our staff yeah very just I'll open up to I'll open up to council then to uh harass you. [4:46] **Tami Klimpel (Councilmember):** Yeah no I was just—thanks mayor. I I just wanted to say you know this is one of those areas of just due diligence that I mean 28 years is phenomenal but what you and your staff have done um to really just set us up for success and set the residents up for success with all the different projects and all the different things that are going on and happening in the development in the city just very proud of you and very proud of your team so thank you very much. **Teah Malecha (Administrative Services Director):** Thank you. [5:10] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Anyone else? No? Thank you, congratulations very much certainly appreciated um again acknowledging your uh your team and being able to Model a lot of things going on currently dealing with changes and then the existing systems that are in place and still recognizing 28 years is fantastic for for that whole department uh as well as yourself leading them so thank you very much. **Teah Malecha (Administrative Services Director):** Thank you. [5:31] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** That completes uh item 3A we'll move on to four response to public comment uh this evening I don't believe we have any so we'll move on to item five for public comment anyone wishing to speak before us at this time may do so please come forward state your name address and your comment. Seeing no one we will consider the uh public comment closed and we'll move on to consent agenda. This evening we'll have Bill listings, minutes of the December 7th regular council meeting, the appointment of our acting uh acting mayor, designation of the official newspapers, naming of our depositories and financial institutions, annual electronic funds transfer authorizations, appointment of directors to the Dakota 911 Center, donation of the acceptance from the Hosanna Community impact team uh an in-kind donation that was received, 2025 Solid Waste hauler licenses uh we will have six residential five construction and seven commercial in the community, 2025 Community Development block grant allocation uh representing $41,778 and the MNDOT agreement for I Road uh or state road three the uh which were is round the roundabout at the uh high school. So anyone wish to pull anything for further discussion comment recognition? If not um someone like to entertain a motion for the consent agenda approval? [7:10] **Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** So moved. [7:11] **Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** I'll second. [7:14] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** I have a motion by Theisen second by Freske. Roll please. [7:18] **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Essler? **Paul Essler:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Klimpel? **Tami Klimpel:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Weisensel? **Jeff Weisensel:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Theisen? **Paul Theisen:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Freske? **Heidi Freske:** I. [7:34] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** And that completes item six consent agenda 5 approved. This evening we have no public hearings no unfinished business we'll move to 9 a new business establishing a cannabis and hemp business regulations I'll turn that over to both of us both of you yes our city clerk and development directors. [7:51] **Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** Thank thank you Mr Mayor and council members um this is a continuation of a discussion that we've been having as a city as as most cities in Minnesota have been having for the past six or nine months or so um establishing looking to establish cannabis and hemp business regulations we'll give a little bit of a an overview of kind of what we're here what we're here to talk about um what the council Direction has been to staff so far uh timeline and then kind of steps moving forward so I'm going to start us off here so this is very much a tag team between uh myself and Community Development as well as um Erin as our city clerk to talk from a both a licensing Regulatory and kind of how we how we approach this here in in Rosemount. A little bit of a a background: this is all derived from Minnesota State Statute chapter 342 which talks about establishing definitions licensing parameters and then our ability as a city to enable local controls over uh cannabis and and hemp regulation um part of the guidance we receive is via the state's office of cannabis management we'll call it ocm kind of for uh this presentation here and as was was a part of the um original legislation and the majority of cities took the state up on this is that a moratorium had been in place until Janu January 1st of this year which is since just recently expired which the idea was to give cities and City councils the time to discuss the topic um outline parameters for how we wanted to regulate it within uh each of our communities and then um put forth ordinance under um review of both our City attorney and then guidance through the office of cannabis management. Part of the the wrinkle and kind of you know the the little bit of a lack of urgency that many cities have had on this is that um it's not able to be enacted until the ocm actually finishes up the rulemaking implementation from a state perspective we can talk a little bit more about that here coming up but um you may have just seen in the news that their director at at ocm just recently resigned again so they have now another interim back in place um that will be um tasked with the the roll out of this across the state. So what we'll talk and focus largely on tonight is Rosemount our our regulations draft ordinance provided and then next steps from there um and then the draft ordinance that is included in the packet for this evening was provided via our City attorney who is here this evening to help us with any questions that may arise and that was at Direction at city council and then um staff direction as well so there's been a number of meetings uh with city council that have taken place talking about everything from public use to what our local control should look like and the direction that staff and our attorney has received from city council uh kind of put into three buckets here so essentially um allow us to establish a limited number of licenses again based on that state statute based on our population of 1 per 12,500. The current interpretation of that would mean that Rosemount would have uh three licenses available should we choose to enact that portion of ordinance here and then there are some buffering allowances that are um um allowed for there you can kind of Select what you want to do and how you want to approach that and the direction was to establish a buffer around schools of a maximum allowance of 1,000 ft and then I'll show a map here on the next one kind of what that looks like here in Rosemount and then also aligning our operating regulations again via state statute but largely trying to align them with our how we uh regulate liquor liquor um operations here in town then overall compliance with state law. I mentioned the school buffer 1,000 ft from uh a school k12 um here's a a map that our GIS team had put together and this was also seen previously at a work session so this is not new news but just to acknowledge that it does incorporate the new middle school that's under construction as well as the uh new Elementary alpaboner and Akron that's um finishing up construction so um just kind of it it doesn't incorporate everything but it does take up a a fair amount of real estate here in in town where the buffers would be enacted. Think I turn it over to Erin from there. [11:39] **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Absolutely so I'll discuss the next steps here. So as we had mentioned the next steps would incorporate enacting the ordinance that was included in your packet this evening which would be establishing the Cannabis and hemp business regulations. This would then become in effect as soon as the ordinance is public which would likely be the January 17th um should it be approved here this evening. Next we will look to await further rulemaking and clarification from the ocm. So as Adam had mentioned as well there's a little bit longer delay as we can anticipate with the new director um coming into play here in the in the next coming weeks and then next most importantly I think it's important to note that the city has the ability to modify this ordinance in the future should there be a need to provide extra uh regulations clarifications I mean just as we learn more um about the new Guidance with the ocm as well as as we learn more just going through the process um with getting potential licensing um it's just important to know that at any point in time we can look to amend the ordinance as needed um it would just be a simple amendment that would bring back forth um in front of the city council. So with that the recommended action before the city council here this evening is a motion to adopt an ordinance establishing cannabis and hemp business regulations and approve a resolution for a summary publication uh that would be included in our newspaper. So with that we can stand with any questions you may have and as well our City attorney is here too. [13:28] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** I'll open up the floor to Council. Any questions for staff or legal counsel? [13:30] **Paul Essler (Councilmember):** So just to be clear if if there is a business that wanted to go forward they can do so now or are we still in a holding pattern until the ocm establishes all of the rules? [13:42] **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Correct so once the ocm provides additional guidance then us as staff can also further determine our process here. So as Adam had mentioned we'll try and do the similar guidance as we do with our liquor regulations. Um it's also important to note that if there was someone who was interested in applying they would first reach out to the state first the state would go through the approval process go through flush it out that way and then based upon their guidance and potential approval then they would submit it to the city then okay um for our review and approval and then it additionally then it goes back to the state again for final inspection and review right. [14:18] **Tami Klimpel (Councilmember):** So just for clarification this we're doing this today or you're asking this recommended action because moratoriums run out more than anything else it doesn't mean that this is all of a sudden you know open? **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Correct. **Tami Klimpel (Councilmember):** Okay so they still have to go through the state and the states just lost their director so they're working through a lot of stuff so this is just kind of us taking the next step because that moratorium run ran out and so we're just sticking to the guidelines that were already set in previous administration? [14:43] **Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** That is correct and the other way to look at it to council member is that this is also establishing Rosemount's kind of Baseline regulations for how we are choosing to to incorporate and regulate it here um so not just from a resident perspective but also from the industry perspective. So there's um plenty uh out there and we've been contacted by at least a couple that said hey when when you guys have your your base ordinance in place let us know because then it helps them as a larger industry determine how and where they want to start pursuing licensing within any number of communities in the entire state. So if you have some cities that say we're not going to put a limit on it that's maybe a different narrative than here where staff is proposing that we enact the one per 12,500 limiting us to to three. So companies out there making different types of real estate decisions based on some of these parameters that say putting in place so so the the the three but then also with the caveat that they can't go within a 1,000 feet of schools as well so that's all established and that's what this does we're laying the groundwork and providing the base rules for for everybody. [16:03] **Paul Theisen (Councilmember):** But just get clarification on the three license establishments that we're obligated to allow at least three right we don't have the option to restrict to zero right? The state requirement says we're obligated to have to have three because it's rounding up for every 12,500 correct residents? Okay just just make sure the community is aware of that that we don't have an option to to to not allow less. [16:21] **Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** Yeah City cannot You Can't Ban y couldn't ban the businesses but you can limit the number right and that's that that we're looking at here yep right okay thank you nothing. [16:32] **Paul Essler (Councilmember):** Yeah I just wanted to reiterate it and uh from Council there um by doing this we're meeting Our obligation but we're actually required by the state to take some action or just have it no no ordinance and whatever the state would say then that's what we would have or are we obligated to make an ordinance as well? [16:51] **City Attorney:** So the state will do the licensing as staff has described and then the cities are required to register the or the businesses so there is an there is a requirement to have an ordinance for the registration process which is what this ordinance does. [17:03] **Paul Essler (Councilmember):** And offhand do we know how the other communities in Dakota County are coming around this issue as well? [17:19] **Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** Uh yeah I can speak to that I we we do know I we've got a spreadsheet of kind of where they're all at I don't think any of the three of us have it memorized tonight but like we we've been tracking that and talking amongst each other and I would say it's safe to say that the majority of the major cities in Dakota County have stuck with the maximum a couple have said no maximum which is the other option for the uh the the city to take but most have stuck with the 125 and then just doing the math from there and then some have done the buffers as well. [17:48] **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** And mayor if I could add also along with the registration uh one of the key components of this is also doing the compliance checks for those businesses so that's also something that that is a responsibility of the city that goes along with the registration process. [17:59] **Paul Essler (Councilmember):** At least checks would be similar to what we do for tobacco correct or liquor? **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Uh underage drinking that that's correct purchase I guess. [18:07] **Paul Essler (Councilmember):** So one followup is that if they if this commission um brings in a new director and they have stricter guidelines or anything like that we could change this as well correct? [18:18] **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** At any point in time if there's any direction that we want to change within the ordinance we have the authority to amend it as long as we're obviously of course still following any state guidelines. [18:28] **Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** Everything is based on state statutes because it's in the rulemaking process which is then being done through that agency it's subject to interpretation a potential legal challenge this is at least letting us have that that kind of that Baseline in place so that if there's a different interpretation that comes down as the state is going through their licensing program now we're able to fairly readily incorporate it into anything that we choose to versus having to rework the entirety of kind of what we put in place based on maybe a a different perception or something else thank you. [19:10] **Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** And then uh regarding the Thousand foot buffer um what was the how did we land on that as a determination? [19:17] **Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** That's the maximum um via State Statute that can be enacted for schools. [19:22] **Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** Okay so even as a city body as a municipal we this is the most that we could have or most restrictive I guess? [19:27] **Adam Kienberger (Community Development Director):** Correct. **Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** Correct okay thanks. [19:35] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Alrighty any other questions or comments? Alrighty since I feel like we're in a little bit of a pickle since we can't do a whole lot because the state's mandated this um someone like to move the uh motion to adopt the ordinance? [19:47] **Paul Essler (Councilmember):** I'll move to adopt an ordinance establishing cannabis and hemp business regulations and approve a resolution for a summary publication. [19:57] **Heidi Freske (Councilmember):** Second. [20:00] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** I'll second motion by Essler second by Freske. Roll please. [20:04] **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Essler? **Paul Essler:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Klimpel? **Tami Klimpel:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Weisensel? **Jeff Weisensel:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Theisen? **Paul Theisen:** I. **Erin Fasbender (City Clerk):** Freske? **Heidi Freske:** I. [20:12] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** The ordinance passes 5. Thank you. Moving forward to announcements City staff updates Mr Martin. [20:17] **Logan Martin (City Administrator):** Mayor thank you I I think uh I didn't have anything for tonight beginning of the year we're kind of fresh off off off of the holidays so nothing on our end tonight. [20:25] **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Alrighty uh anything from Council uh regarding any updates from them? Seeing no one uh go ahead and talk about Community give me a a moment here... here we go all righty so uh the 7th the 7th all right so the next item up for us is the 20th of January Martin Luther King Day the city hall will be closed our next Port Authority meeting is January 21st 2025 at 6:00 to 7:00 in the city Chambers and our next city council meeting will be on January 21st as well from 7 to 8:00 and with that if there's no other business to come before us this evening I move to adjourn all in favor signify by saying I. **All:** I. **Jeff Weisensel (Mayor):** Opposed? We are adjourned thank you. [Music]