St. Cloud City Council Passes THC Product Sale Ordinance, OKs Preliminary Budget, and Approves Fire Station Planning Study

Originally posted 5:58 a.m. September 13th, 2022

Updated 7:49 a.m. September 13th, 2022

(KNSI) — Numerous topics were covered Monday night at the St. Cloud City Council meeting. Among them is St. Cloud’s preliminary budget.

The budget was set at $82,216,300, a 4.04% increase from last year. Council members George Hontos, Steve Laraway and Carol Lewis asked Mayor Dave Kleis about a 17% increase in property valuations and new growth.

“If we don’t capture that growth, we would not be able to hire six additional police officers. We would not be able to do the road surfacing that we’re doing because those inflationary costs are hitting the city no different than they are in the valuation.”

Kleis says residents shouldn’t see the same kind of increases in the coming years.

“It’s a healthy market. It is what you sell your property for. We don’t set the valuation. We also look at trends. You’re not going to see the double digits in the predictions that we have going into next year. That looks like the values are going to level off. We already see that in those trends.”

He says the city is spending a million dollars less when adjusted for inflation compared to the 2012 budget a decade ago. The city’s budget cannot be increased between now and when the levy’s final vote will take place in December.

St. Cloud also became one of the first in Minnesota on Monday night to approve an ordinance regulating and licensing the sale of THC edibles.

City Attorney Renee Courtney says the products are legal as of July 1st in Minnesota and will whether the city approves an ordinance or not. She says having the regulation gives the city some say in how the products are sold, including confining them to stores.

“Not a pop-up shop. They are not selling it out of the back of a car. At festivals, you may have seen where people are setting up a tent, things of that nature. That’s really the goal here. We want it to be a retail establishment. So we are not preventing the sale because they’re allowed to sell it, but we want to make sure that it’s being sold at a fixed location. Currently, right now, they could sell it anywhere they want.”

Nathan Philippi owns Mr. Nice Guys in St. Cloud and supports the city’s ordinance. He plans to sell the products and looks forward to working with the city.

“It is mainly older individuals with a lot of medical ailments that are coming in requesting a lot of this stuff. We really want to work with the city to make sure that it’s regulated fairly and to make sure that we’re not selling to anybody under age.”

He is asking the city for help understanding the labeling and packaging requirements.

The new THC product sale regulation section is an addition to the city’s 2007 Code of Ordinances. It sets up a schedule for compliance checks similar to those for establishments selling alcohol. At least once per year, the police department would send an underage buyer to each store to try and make an illegal purchase.

Stores must pay a $500 license to operate, and each application will be forwarded to the police for review. Products would be barred from using cartoon characters or packaging mimicking toys or other brands sold primarily to children. Offering samples or selling THC products at a discount would be prohibited. Self-service kiosks would also be banned, and all THC products must be held in secure bins behind the counter.

Penalties for any code violation begin at a $300 fine. A second offense could result in a 30-day license suspension. Anything more than that during three years would result in a store having its license revoked.

The measure passed unanimously.

St. Cloud also approved a professional services agreement for a planning study to build a new fire station and regional training facility.

The planning commission recommended the station for south St. Cloud due to growth in that part of the city. According to the city, south St. Cloud has experienced significant development in recent years, including a combination of single and multi-family homes, commercial and several large educational facilities. According to the fire department, many of the city’s fire stations are too far away for a timely response.

Officials say firefighters throughout the area travel extensive distances for required live fire training and education. This facility will provide compliant training for St. Cloud firefighters, coordinate fire service delivery throughout the region, and take advantage of the financial benefits of co-locating with a fire station.

The goal would be to have a new station in place by the end of 2024. The proposed study will cost around $35,200. It would be the city’s sixth fire station.

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