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City manager shares possible law changes with school board

Albert Lea City Manager Ian Rigg gave a presentation to the Albert Lea school board Monday regarding the city’s consideration of THC product regulation following the Minnesota Legislature’s legalization of certain tetrahydrocannabinol products starting July 1. 

THC is a natural compound in cannabis plants including marijuana and hemp and produces a high sensation.

“It left a lot of cities sort of wondering exactly how this was to be enforced given the amount of time leading up to when it was adopted and when it was allowed to become legal,” Rigg said.

His main goal was to find a way to prevent THC products from getting into the hands of those under 21 years old. Then came the question of how to make the changes.

“We felt that by amending our tobacco ordinance and calling it “tobacco and edible products,” and then treating it similar to tobacco products, [it] would be the best method for us moving forward,” he said.

Rigg did not want to tie it into alcohol because alcohol had its own, different regulations.

“We want to prevent harm to children and young adults, yet still allow retailers to take advantage of this market,” Rigg said in a press release. “By requiring a city license to sell THC products, we can make sure certain safeguards are in place.”

If the regulations are approved, the city of Albert Lea would prevent people under 21 from buying and possessing THC products. The city would also separate THC products from other products so as to make it clear to consumers what they are purchasing and be behind the counter or in a locked case.

“What we did is we added edible cannabinoid products to the ordinance,” he said. 

Under the proposed ordinance is a new term, licensed product, that will refer to any tobacco, nicotine or edible product.

“At that point, now that we’re regulating this, we’re just saying these particular licensed products need to be regulated through some sort of … licensing process,” he said.

But permits for edible products will be separated from tobacco products and potential sellers will have to apply for different licenses.

“It’s not our intention to ban the sale, but it’s our intention to regulate this as allowed under state law,” he said. “Our intention is to make sure that people under the age of 21 do not get their hands on it.”

Stores selling only THC products will only admit people 21 and older.

Rigg said the city will have stiffer regulations than the state, and if the changes are approved it would be illegal to be in possession, hand over or use THC if a person is under 21. 

Rigg also said the city would continue to work with vendors or those interested in selling to ensure products were not sold to people under 21. He also wanted to distinguish THC products from other products that could look similar and wanted them separated and labeled.

Those who violate the rule will pay $300 for a first offense, $600 for a second. Licenses would also be suspended or revoked.

“We have a lot of work,” he said. “We have a lot of work in educating the distributors, educating the public on what these products are and then adding these to our series of compliance checks moving forward to make sure that everybody is following the rules.”

Proposed changes will go to the Albert Lea City Council during the Monday work session, with a potential vote at its Sept. 26 meeting.

In other action, Mary Jo Dorman, executive director of teaching and learning, updated board members about results from the spring’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test results.

Dorman said parents and guardians would be receiving individual student results this week and next in the mail.

“There were some successes that we saw in all grades three through six in reading, math and science,” she said, referring to increased scores from last year except for fourth grade reading. “Fourth grade reading we have to look at some opportunities there.” 

Dorman said looking at results from students in seventh through 11th grade was harder, particularly due to the lower participation rates.

According to Dorman, the district’s next steps will include “digging in,” with teams identifying potential gaps in Tier 1 instruction and looking at supports and instructions for Tiers 2 and 3.

Dorman also said she had not looked at demographics, only the raw results.

Ron Wagner, the district’s superintendent, said it was important to monitor the growth of each student and said it was the district’s role to determine if a student needed additional supports or extensions to determine what strategies to use to meet student needs.

“Ultimately our goal as a teacher, as a district, is to ensure the students reach and exceed the state benchmarks, which are the state standards,” he said. “That is our goal set forth by the state.”

To do that, he plans to bring principals to future study sessions and discuss their strategies in order to determine how they support students.