FAIRMONT– The Martin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday reviewed the draft ordinance regulating cannabis businesses within the boundaries of Martin County. County Attorney Taylor McGowan stressed that it’s only preliminary.

“Every county is kind of doing their own thing… making their own tweaks so we have to figure out what works for us,” McGowan said.

Commissioner Elliot Belgard said it sounded like there was still a big gray area and asked whether McGowan was waiting for information to come from the state. McGowan confirmed that he and others were still waiting for the state to establish the Office of Cannabis Management and that preliminary applications would have to go through that office.

“Right now I think that applications will probably go through a point person in the county, maybe Mike (Forstner)… that’s the details that we need to figure out,” McGowan said.

However McGowan said at the local level the county will need to set up its own standards on where the businesses can be located and how far they need to be located away from parks and schools.

He pointed out that some jurisdictions, such as the city of Fairmont, will make up their own ordinance but that he assumed many of the smaller towns in the county will fall under its ordinance.

The commissioners also talked about whether there was a requirement or limit on how many cannabis businesses could be in the county. McGowan said it’s still unknown and he said the county will need to see what the demand is.

Belgard said he and Commissioner Steve Flohrs were recently at a conference in Waseca and the general consensus there was that no other county had yet finalized an ordinance and that many were waiting for word from the Office of Cannabis Management.

“Do they even have a director yet? It’s been two years and they still don’t have a director so no one has done too much because it could all change,” Belgard said.

Commissioner Kathy Smith said she thought the county needed to establish a stakeholder group and the board approved of it.

Count Coordinator Scott Higgins said it’s recommended to include two county commissioners, county attorney, the auditor/treasurer, some from from public health, someone from the planning and zoning office, the county coordinator, a city official and a township official. He said that more could be added if the board wanted.

In other business:

— A representative of Northland Securities was present to go over the sale of $4.2 million in general obligation bonds to finance two ditch projects, judicial ditch 99 and county ditch 28.

— Doug Hartke of the Fox Lake Conservation League was present to give the board notification of the league’s intent to purchase 169 acres in section 22 of Manyaska Township from Bruce Eisenmenger. Transfer of the land to the Minnesota DNR will be in 2025.

— The board approved a government-to-government purchase of a used 1993 Gilcrest ProPaver from the city of Fairmont in the amount of $5,000.

— The board accepted the resignations of two part-time communications officers in the sheriff’s office and authorized recruitment for both.

— The board accepted the retirement resignation notice from IT Director Steve McDonald, effective Dec. 31, 2024. McDonald has been with the department for 27 years and the board thanked him for his service.

— The board approved recruitment of a full-time sheriff deputy to cover the city of Truman starting Jan. 1, 2025.

— The board set a public hearing for 10:00 a.m. on Dec. 3 for a single family home tax abatement request from Michael and Dawn Lopau and a public hearing for 10:05 a.m. on Dec. 3 for a single family home tax abatement request from Dan Bebernes.

— The board approved a tax abatement request from Krystal Stover for construction of a single family home in Rolling Green Township.