10-11-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Fischer and Members of the City Council FROM: Heidi Heller, City Clerk/HR Manager DATE: October 11, 2023 RE: Ordinance 882, Amending City Code Chapter 802, Tobacco to Allow General Sales & Display Tobacco Licenses for New Owners of Existing Businesses ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED The City Council is asked to consider adopting Ordinance 882, which amends City Code Chapter 802.025, Tobacco, to allow a new owner of an existing business to be issued a general sales & display tobacco license. BACKGROUND The City has two types of tobacco licenses: Tobacco Stores, and General Sales & Display. The General Sales & Display licenses are issued to retailers that only have a small space in their establishment dedicated to tobacco products, such as gas stations and liquor stores. On May 25, 2022, a number of amendments were made to Chapter 802, Tobacco, including sunsetting all tobacco licenses. The city code now only allows tobacco license holders as of May 25, 2022 to reapply for a tobacco license – tobacco licenses will no longer be issued to any new person or business. Many years down the road, this amendment would likely eventually lead to no tobacco sales in Little Canada. The way that would occur is the retailer either had to close because their business is not sellable without a tobacco license, or there is a new business owner which would not allow a new tobacco license to be issued, so they would have to stop selling tobacco. City staff was contacted by the Little Canada bp gas station owner because he wants to sell the station and has a willing buyer, but he has indicated that the potential buyer is not willing to purchase the business if they cannot sell tobacco products. The bp station owner has requested that the City Council reconsider the amendment that does not allow a new business owner to get a tobacco license. Gas stations are unique in that the main product they sell is gas, but they rely on the other products that are sold inside the store for a lot of their profit. Since gas stations have a pay-at-the-pump option (and many stations now only allow that option), they rely on certain items to draw customers inside the store, and tobacco products is one of those products. The City Council discussed this requested change at the September 27 Workshop, and majority of Council members were supportive of moving forward with amending the city code to allow a new owner of an existing business who was holding a tobacco license on May 25, 2022, to be issued a new general sales & display tobacco license. This change only pertains to the general sales & display tobacco licenses.