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HomeNewsLegal NoticesLake County Board Of Commissioners; April 9, 2024

Lake County Board Of Commissioners; April 9, 2024

Lake County Administrator Matthew Huddleston shared information from the Minne­sota Office of Cannabis Man­agement (OCM) with the Board of Commissioners at last week’s meeting. Local of­ficials face a pretty big learn­ing curve as legislators in St. Paul and staff from OCM work to iron out details on how can­nabis dispensaries will be es­tablished, licensed, registered and regulated in the state. The projection from St. Paul is that businesses that sell cannabis products will be able to begin operation in 2025. While this is welcome news for many res­idents across Minnesota, there are many details that local units of government will need to work out.

For example, county officials will be required to register retailers and perform compli­ance checks on retail outlets. County and city officials will need to adopt ordinances ad­dressing where dispensaries can be located and when they can operate. They will have to determine where cannabis products can or can’t be con­sumed in public spaces and how products will be taxed. They will need to per­form inspections of retail busi­nesses, conduct age verifica­tion checks and provide training for law enforce­ment officers. Additionally, decisions will need to be made as to whether or not cities will establish their own municipal cannabis stores and law en­forcement and the courts will need to prepare an expunge­ment process.

One could say that America has a history of a failed approach to law enforcement around the use of cannabis products. Pro­hibition has clearly not worked and, it can be argued, has cost U.S. taxpayers enormous amounts of money. Idaho and Nebraska are the only states in the Union that continue to pro­hibit the use of cannabis while all other states have legalized marijuana use either for medi­cal or recreational purposes.

Lake County Attorney Russell Conrow, will be retiring as of May 31st. The Board of Com­missioners thanked him for his service to the county and wished him well in retire­ment.

In other business, the Board approved two resolutions in support of providing much needed housing in Lake Coun­ty. One resolution authorized the transfer of $2,000,000 to the Lake County Housing Trust Fund from one-time federal funding sources including the Local Aid and Tribal Consis­tency Fund and the American Rescue Plan. The other resolu­tion supports the Lake County Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s use of $1.2 million from the overall Housing Trust Fund account to go toward the Silverpoint II apartment proj­ect in Silver Bay.

The next County Commission­ers meeting is scheduled for April 23rd at 2:00.

Rick Evans
Rick Evans
My wife, Marsha Kinzer (a proud DEHS Greyhound, class of ‘77) introduced me to the North Shore on vacation in 2012. It became our regular escape when the stress of our careers in education became overwhelming, and it didn’t take me long to fall in love with the breathtaking scenery, the nice people, and “salad” containing Jell-o and marshmallows. So you can either blame or thank my loving wife for my being here, because when we needed to choose a retirement hometown, Marsha advocated hard for her beloved Duluth, and here we are, six months later. Yes, this will be my first northern Minnesota winter. Yes, I welcome thoughts and prayers. Government, public policy, and social justice weighed heavily in the curriculums I taught at the high school level over a thirty-eight year career. In addition, we were a laboratory school focused on critical thinking in conjunction with technical and scientific writing. So when I found myself adrift on the great ocean of retirement and spied a raft, I jumped at the chance to take up what I’d left behind…minus the bad teachers’ lounge coffee. My position at the NSJ allows me to combine my passions for government and writing, and it’s helping me to feel less out of touch in new surroundings. When I’m not being “Cubby” (Marsha’s favorite new nickname for this green reporter) I enjoy pointing at eagles and saying, “Look, honey. There’s an eagle.” I’ve had an active side hustle as a professional musician for almost as many years as Charlie Parr. As a guitarist/singer/songwriter, I graced the stages of clubs and festivals around southern Wisconsin, including an appearance on A Prairie Home Companion. Should I even mention A Prairie Home Companion, or am I the only one here old enough to remember what that is? Look! An eagle!
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