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Council Consensus <br />• It was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to research the legal steps <br />and considerations to move to an even year election for municipal officers, for <br />future consideration of the Charter Commission and/or City Council as <br />appropriate. <br />• It was the consensus of the Council to designate all seven polling locations that <br />were used in 2024 for the 2025 Municipal Election and to designate Anoka <br />County as the absentee voting site for 2025. <br />The City Clerk stated that the research question regarding odd/even year elections <br />would be brought back at a future meeting once completed. The resolution setting the <br />polling and absentee voting locations would be brought back for formal action at the <br />December 9, 2024 meeting, as there is as December 31St deadline designating polling <br />locations. <br />6. 2025 State Licensing of Cannabis Sales and Associated City Registration Regulations <br />Police Captain Owens reported that the State of Minnesota, Office of Cannabis <br />Management is working on rules to begin licensing business under several different <br />categories after January 1, 2025, when the new state licensing laws go in to affect. The <br />City of Lino Lakes will be asked to register the businesses under the state licensing rules. <br />The City can adopt an ordinance further regulating the businesses but must allow for a <br />minimum number of businesses under state law. The minimum is one per 12,500 <br />people. So, Lino Lakes would be required to allow two businesses at this time. There is <br />also a County minimum which the City could cross-reference in any adopted ordinance. <br />Captain Owens asked if the Council was interested in drafting an ordinance to further <br />regulate business operations. Specific regulations for the consideration of the Council <br />include limiting the number of businesses, creating buffer zones between the businesses <br />and other uses (i.e. schools), and hours of operation. He suggested modeling the license <br />requirements after the current liquor licensing regulations adopted by the City. He <br />noted that there are sample ordinances and information from the State and League of <br />Minnesota Cities that can be used in drafting an ordinance. He confirmed that the City <br />can charge a fee for the registration. <br />The Community Development Director stated that the timeline for drafting an ordinance <br />would include presenting the land use ordinance amendments to the Planning & Zoning <br />Board. It is anticipated that a draft could be prepared for consideration in January with <br />final approval by the end of the first quarter. <br />Council Consensus <br />It was the consensus of the Council to direct staff to draft an ordinance regulating <br />cannabis sales and setting a fee for license registration for consideration by the City <br />Council at a future meeting. <br />Page 3 of 6 <br />