During their regular meeting last night, the Northfield City Council approved a second reading on the licensing program to sell 
edible cannabinoid products within the city limits. However, after a significant amount of debate, the council could not agree on an appropriate fee for a license to sell cannabinoids, and no decision was made on that item.
The proposed ordinance set the licensing fee at $3000, which would match the rate for an on-sale liquor license. While discussing the proposed fees, Police Chief Mark Elliott said the cost was set at $3000 because that is about what it would cost for enforcement of the ordinance.
Pat Ziegler, the co-owner of Ziggy’s gas station told the council that he sells cannabinoid gummies right now in $30 bags, and they sell one every other day, on average. A $3000 license, he said would cause him to stop selling the product.
Councilor Sean Allen proposed the fee be dropped to $800 saying the costs of starting an enforcement program should not fall on small business owners. Councilor Jessica Peterson White countered at $1500 saying she believed those who sell the products should have reason to be careful with how they are sold. Peterson White’s amendment did not pass, nor did the ordinance pass with an $800 license fee.
The assumption is the ordinance will be brought to the council again at their next regular meeting on October 4th.
Rescheduled Flannel Gala will be a casual “come-and-go” event
Laura Baker Services Association will host its annual Flannel Gala tomorrow night at Armory Square. Rescheduled from last May after a Covid situation forced the postponement, the Flannel Gala is one of two major fundraisers held by LBSA each year. 
In contrast to the formal gala held each December, the Flannel Gala is a more relaxed experience. Instead of an in-depth program that looks at all the aspects of what Laura Baker Services does, LBSA Director of Community Services Andrei Sivanich said the Flannel Gala is as much about socializing and having fun as it is about raising money.
“It is a casual event,” he said. “It’s meant to be fun. And really when you look at the history of Laura Baker, two of the common themes over the 125 years that we’ve been in existence have been community and music. This event really highlights those two things.”
Indeed, those are the two major components of the event. With a minimal program, attendees can feel free to come and go as they would like or arrive late without feeling they have missed very much.
The music this year will be provided by The Zillionaires, a local band led by Wendy Smith and her husband Dave Drentlaw. Preceding them will be Helen Forsythe and Mikey Marget. And making his final appearance in Northfield before he retires, Uncle B will bring his Last Chance BBQ Shack to the gala for one last big event.
The scavenger hunt, which was a rousing success last year we’ll return this year, said Sivanich, and there will also be a silent auction.
Tickets for the event are a $20 donation to Laura Baker and can be purchased on the organization’s website. While there might be some tickets available at the door Sivanich strongly encouraged people to get their tickets in advance.
“We encourage people to buy them in advance just because we do want to sort of manage the number of attendees. We don’t want to go over [capacity]. It’s likely you’ll be able to purchase some tickets at the door as well, but we encourage the purchase in advance. one of the advantages of doing that is we’ll open up the silent auction early, so if you’ve purchased your tickets ahead of time, you can participate in the silent auction that morning. We’ll open it up and you’ll get a text saying it’s time to start bidding.”
The forecast for Thursday evening is calling for temperatures in the high 50’s and low 60’s, which will be perfect for the suggested flannel attire. As Armory Square is an indoor-outdoor facility the event will be rain-or-shine. For more information, please visit laurabaker.org.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with LBSA Director of Community Services can be heard here
County upgrades audio/video services for Commissioners meetings
Rice County has announced that after necessary and long-overdue upgrades were made to the audio and video equipment in the County
Boardroom, they will now be able to provide closed captioned videos of every Board of Commissioners meeting online and on-demand.
All open sessions of the Board of Commissioners are available live on Zoom. Shortly after each meeting, uncaptioned recordings will be available online in the Agenda Center of the county website. Captioned videos will be posted when captioning is complete, usually a few hours after initial upload.
The county has offered a low-grade video option to watch Board of Commissioners meetings live for quite some time, but the upgraded equipment, as well as the closed captioning, will make it far easier to watch and listen.
In addition to viewing Board of Commissioners meetings on any number of devices via the county’s website, the recordings can also be seen on the county’s two local community television stations, Faribault Community Television and Northfield Public Broadcasting. Both stations plan to incorporate the meetings into their programming schedules and will make the recordings available on their respective websites so they can be viewed on demand.
The Board of Commissioners meets as a Committee of the Whole at 8:30am on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. The sessions generally contain updates, informational items and topics for the board to hash out before making a decision at a subsequent business meeting. Business meetings, then, are at 8:30am on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. Meeting agendas and supporting documents are available in the Agenda Center section of the County website. Agendas and meeting packets are typically uploaded the Friday afternoon prior to each meeting.
The announcement did not include an exact date upon which the new program will go into effect. For more information, visit the Rice County website at co.rice.mn.us
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnrao.net
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