Board passes one cannabis registration, cannot agree on a second

By Robert Williams

Editor

The Otter Tail County Board of Commissioners considered a pair of cannabis registration applications from Wildflower Cannabis and Elevated Dispensaries, both located in Pelican Rapids. Commissioners denied its first cannabis registration application in August for a future business to be located in New York Mills due to the retail establishment being too close to NY Mills High School per ordinance.

“Buffer requirements are one of the bigger requirements in our ordinance,” said Land & Resource Management Director Chris LeClair.

Section 300.10 of the Ordinance requires the following minimum buffer distances:

A. Otter Tail County prohibits the operation of a cannabis business within 1,000-feet of any educational institution or public or private elementary, middle junior high, high school or college

B. Otter Tail County prohibits the operation of a cannabis business within 500-feet of a daycare

C. Otter Tail County prohibits the operation of a cannabis business within 500-feet of a residential treatment facility, group home for developmentally disabled, halfway house or correctional facility

D. Otter Tail County prohibits the operation of a cannabis business within 500-feet of an attraction within a public state, county or city park that is regularly used by minors, including a playground, lake public access, or athletic field

E. Otter Tail County prohibits the operation of a cannabis business within 500-feet of another cannabis business

“The reason for those buffer distances is in part for public health and public safety,” District 3 Commissioner Kurt Mortenson said. “This satisfies those upper distances and if we have an ordinance that is guide us this seems to fall within that ordinance.”

Wildflower Cannabis’ location meets all buffer distances and all other statutory conditions were met. The board approved by a vote of 3-1 with District 1 Commissioner Dan Bucholz casting the nay vote.

The City of Pelican Rapids delegated registration requests to the county. Land use and zoning requirements will be heard by the City for approval.

LeClair noted a discrepancy in the location of Elevated Dispensaries, which met all buffer distances except the retail business is 460-feet from Veteran’s Memorial River Park. The measurement was made measuring the closest property corner of the proposed cannabis business to the closest property corner of the park.

The main question was if the park was regularly used by minors, which was refuted by Board Chair and  District 2 Commissioner Wayne D. Johnson.

“I’d have a hard time saying it’s regularly used by minors,” he said. “The only actual events typically held at Veteran’s Park they now hold from 3-6 every Friday in the summertime. They hold their Farmer’s Market there. Is that frequented by minors? From me being there I haven’t seen much for minors.”

Johnson also noted there are three other parks east of the location with playground equipment and frequented by minors.

Commissioner Mortenson stated he was uneasy with the board being placed in the position of being a fact-finder and he struggles with an adequate factual basis how this park or any particular park would be used by a minor and that he leans toward the protection of public health.

“I’m not so sure what the remedy is to that,” he said. “Absent clear evidence that it’s not used, I tend to lean towards protection of public health concerns for the community. I’m not sure how we, as a board, obtain information that we need to make a clear decision on use.”

County Attorney Michelle Eldien also weighed in after a prompt from Mortenson.

“We bring up children, but we often forget that we’re not just talking about five-year-olds on playground equipment,” she said. “I think the whole purpose here of the statute and the buffers was all children, including 18 and under and 21 and under for use. That’s where I struggle with parks and a lot of times that’s where teenagers find themselves and some of that vulnerable population to controlled substances.”

District 4 Commissioner Robert Lahman brought up the language of the ordinance regarding “regularly used by minors.”

“If you’re going to use those kind of standards, if a kid walks by it are we going to say we can’t do it?” Lahman said. “These are business districts. Kids are going to be there. They’re going to walk by. It’s in town. To me, it’s become very difficult to make this decision that it shouldn’t be – because of the language that’s in it.”

Bucholz, having already voted against a cannabis registration that met all buffers, brought up the 40-feet discrepancy.

“We say 500-feet, not 460, not 470, we said 500-feet,” he said. “End of discussion.”

“Whatever we decide, it needs to be consistent, whether it’s Pelican Rapids, or Perham or Vining,” Johnson said.

Chair Johnson, in an effort to speed up the meeting, proposed three potential motions: to deny because of not meeting the set back; to table to sit down and figure out the language, especially “regularly used by minors;” or motion to approve.

District 5 Commissioner Sean Sullivan chose the table motion, stating, “so we can arrive at some consistency of our definition here so we don’t struggle with this every time.”

With a second there was no vote needed and the decision was automatically tabled.

Discussion in committee will be done on Oct. 14 and the decision is tabled until Oct. 28 at 10:15 a.m.

Budget

Interim Deputy Administrator Kris Vipond presented the adoption of the 2026 proposed levy and budget.

The county-only number discussed was an increase of 5.74 percent. Adding in the library, lake improvement districts and the CBA and HRA levies it’s at a 5.55 percent increase over last year.

“That is, I feel, better than we anticipated in the beginning,” Vipond said. “Our departments did a good job taking a strong look at their budgets and what was really necessary.”

The total gross proposed levy is $61,561,943.

“Once we include all of the different areas and subtract out the county program aid we are at a net property tax levy $58,628,841, that’s the 5.5 percent increase over payable year 2025,” said Vipond.

The proposed budget is $130 million which includes inter-fund transfers between county accounts.

“Preliminarily, I think every county across Minnesota was talking about a nearly double-digit increase just to meet all the demands and all the things that were either cost-shifted or moved onto the county from the state and federal budgets,” said Johnson. “With that, yes it’s an increase in our levy that we’re going to be required to do but I thought that staff did a really good job of being frugal and prudent with their budgets and proposals.”

A commitment to budgetary restraint was echoed by other board members and the resolution was passed unanimously.

The Budget and Levy public hearing will be held Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m. 

Health

Public Health Director Jody Lien provided background of the Prairie Lakes Community Health Board and recommended a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA).

Late in 2024, Otter Tail County withdrew from its then-community health board PartnerSHIP 4 Health, along with Wilkin County. Both counties have been working together since early 2024 to form the Prairie Lakes Community Health Board.

Commissioners approved the JPA unanimously. Wilkin County approved it last week. The Health Board will begin official operations in January.

Health Educator Reese Ellison gave an update on the work over the past year on the Partners for Suicide Prevention, along with submitting a proclamation of October being Suicide Prevention Month.

Partners for Suicide Prevention is a community coalition of approximately 20 active members representing a diverse cross-section of our community—including schools, faith leaders, healthcare providers, veteran services, and mental health professionals—united by a shared commitment to mental health and suicide prevention.

The coalition utilized a state grant to pursue their core values: Community Engagement; Awareness of mental health struggles as well as available resources and services; Resiliency building across all ages and all areas of the community and empowering every individual with hope and support.

“I’m encouraged by the multi-disciplinary makeup of your coalition – that it includes schools, faith communities and other organizations,” Mortenson said. “That’s certainly important in conveying this message.”

Highway

CSAH 35 Widening (Dent to Vergas)- Paving and the project should be completed by early October.

Land & Resource

The following were approved after submission by Land & Resource Management Director Chris LeClair.

• Gregory and Marjorie Johnson ––  A Conditional Use Permit Application Request: Alter existing topography to allow for construction of a single-family home, separate garage building and driveway. Shoreland Alterations consists of 3,000 cubic yards. The proposal is located at Lot 1 Blk 1 of Gergenbrech Addition, Section 29 of Scambler Township, Pete Lake (56-941) NE, Parcel No. 55000990926000. The lone condition: A pre-construction meeting must be held with the Land & Resource.

• Paul Halvorson and Alicia Kropuenske –– A Conditional Use Permit Application Request: This property is currently zoned agricultural. My husband and I are purchasing this property from my parents to begin farming the property. We currently raise cattle and chickens. I would like to request a conditional use permit so I can open a farm market store on our farm property which would be a direct-to-consumer store. I would sell our farm products such as beef and eggs, garden produce and bakery items listed under the cottage food laws of Minnesota. The proposal is located at 18266 Co Hwy 59, Vining, MN 56588, Section 19 of Folden Township, Unnamed Lake (56-102) NE, Parcel No. 27000190130002. The lone condition: Adhere to the operational details, hours of operation, lighting, etc.

• Dale and Deborah Formo Trust. This is a first conditional use permit request of its kind in the county – to manufacture cannabis infused edibles; I am pre-approved by the state to start working. Proposal is located at 3110 Pebble Lake Rd., Fergus Falls MN 56537, Section 14 of Buse Township, Unnamed Lake (56- 830) NE, Parcel No. 06000140094002. Michael Erickson, owner/operator of Agriculture Consulting and Design, represented the Conditional Use Permit application. Buse Township issued a Special Use Permit to the applicant. 

Approved with the following conditions: Manufacturing only facility; No retail sales; No public access; No exterior signage. This does not need registration like other cannabis businesses, as it has no retail sales, according to LeClair.

LeClair will be meeting later this year with townships to discuss future zoning and permitting jurisdiction.

Sanitation

A bid was awarded to Steve’s Sanitation for single sort recycling collection in Battle Lake and Henning.

While the lowest bid for the city of Battle Lake was from Long Prairie Sanitation ($59,695.40) and the lowest bid for the city of Henning was received from Alex Rubbish ($35,422.00), the department felt that awarding the bid to the overall lowest bidder (for collection in both Henning and Battle Lake) would be the most effective from a management standpoint. Steve’s Sanitation had the lowest bid ($98,910.25).

Companies had the option to bid on one or both cities.

The department cited the following reasons for the decision:

There is a cost saving to manage a single contract with a single business for both communities and the department recently purchased a truck mounted camera with quality control management services for a cost of approximately $35,000. The camera can only be mounted on one truck at a time. If collection routes are awarded to two haulers, the county would essentially lose about half the value of the camera’s value, or $17,000.00. 

Sheriff

Sheriff Barry Fitzgibbons submitted for approval the annual grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, for traffic safety enforcement projects during the period from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. The grant award was $52,350 and was approved by the commissioners.