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Nicollet County to offer cannabis delegation agreement to townships; board notes statutory minimum of three licenses
Summary
The county authorized staff to offer a delegation agreement allowing townships to have the county enforce local cannabis regulation and licensing. County attorney reported six townships have expressed support so far and noted the statutory minimum of one license per 12,500 people, yielding a minimum of three licenses for Nicollet County.
The Nicollet County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 10 voted unanimously to authorize offering a delegation agreement to townships that would allow the county to assume local responsibilities for regulating and enforcing Minnesota’s cannabis statutes for participating townships.
County Attorney (unnamed) told the board the item had been discussed previously at workshops and township officers’ meetings and that the delegation would operate "in the nature of a joint powers delegation agreement." He said he had received "6 yeses from townships" so far and that one township wanted more information about the proposed ordinance. The attorney added that cities would be considered separately at a future board workshop.
On statutory limits, the county attorney told commissioners: "By statute, there we're required to have 1 per 12,500, and it's a round up, not a round down. And so I believe it's 3 for Nicollet County." He clarified this is a statutory minimum rather than a hard cap: "That's the minimum. It's not a limit but it's the minimum."
Commissioners had brief questions about how many licenses might be allowed; the attorney explained the minimum is statutory and local communities may set their own numbers. After discussion the board moved, seconded and approved the motion to offer the delegation agreement to townships and to circulate the agreement for township consideration; participating townships would pass a resolution to enter the agreement and then return signed agreements to the county for final action.
Next steps: county attorney will send the delegation agreement to townships for their review and resolution; the board indicated plans to discuss smaller cities later in a workshop.
