Commissioner Jerry Rapp will serve as the chair of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners for 2025. Rapp, re-elected in 2024, represents District 3 which is located on the eastern side of the county. Commissioner Shane Schmidt, who represents District 5, will serve as vice chair. District 5 is in the Alexandria area. Newly elected Commissioner Jeff Way began his service at the January 7 meeting and represents District 1 which covers much of western Douglas County.
Filling leadership positions is one of the first duties of the board during its organizational meeting. Commissioners also selected low bidder Shutter’s Tire and Auto for vehicle maintenance and the Echo Press as the legal publication for 2025.
Dates for county board meetings are also now set as are commissioner committee assignments. Each commissioner serves on multiple committees or boards. The list of these assignments and more information about board meetings can be found on the Douglas County website at www.douglascountymn.gov
Following the organizational meeting, a special board meeting featured various requests from department heads, a request to pave a road near Andes Tower Hills, and an hour-long presentation on cannabis.
Counties across Minnesota will have big decisions ahead in 2025 when it comes to registering cannabis selling businesses and developing zoning ordinances for potential large-scale growers. Following the state’s legalization of cannabis, the county formed a workgroup to discuss the process, but Land and Resource Management Director Dave Rush wanted to provide additional information to commissioners as well as receive direction from them on how the county should proceed.
Jarrett Kujava, an AmeriCorps Public Health Coordinator with Horizon Public Health, began the presentation with basic information on cannabis and its effect on users.
The terms can be confusing, so Kujava started by explaining that the cannabis plant contains about 540 chemical substances. Marijuana is the part of the plant that contains substantial amounts of THC responsible for the high or euphoric feeling associated with marijuana use. Hemp, he said, refers to the parts of the plant that contain primarily CBD which is unlikely to get a person high. He explained the marijuana of the 1980’s had about 3 percent THC while the pot of today has about 15 percent. With the rise in concentration of THC, he says, comes the rise in addiction.
Short term use of marijuana, Kujava said, can cause increased heart rate, higher blood pressure, and slowed reaction time, among other risks.
Dave Rush followed the information on cannabis with information on what legal options counties have to register businesses, licensed by the state to sell products to be smoked, vaped, eaten, or consumed in liquid form. He also discussed possible zoning regulations. Rush asked commissioners to raise concerns, questions and to provide guidance after his presentation.
He said cities can adopt their own ordinances, and in Douglas County, the city of Osakis has already completed that process. Counties can cap the number of cannabis retailers they will register at one for every 12,500 residents. Local municipalities can restrict where cannabis is publicly used and where retailers are located, for example, one thousand feet from a school. And they can restrict when those businesses sell their products.
The workgroup will develop a Cannabis Registration and Compliance Ordinance which will be brought to the board for review and a public hearing to gather input from residents. The workgroup includes Horizon Public Health, law enforcement, the county attorney’s office and two county commissioners. The Planning Commission will assist in working on a draft zoning ordinance and make recommendations to the county board.
Following the meeting, Rush said, “It’s fair to say commissioners appear to want to take a conservative approach- limit retails sales as allowed to protect the community.”
For more information on cannabis registration and zoning, contact Land and Resource Management at 320-762-3863.