Moorhead City Council

Committee of the Whole meeting

Monday, May 19, 2014

*At the Committee of the Whole Meetings, Council Members discuss City business or other matters of interest as determined by the Council. No official action is taken at Committee of the Whole meetings.

Presentation: Clay County Public Health – Minnesota E-Cig Regulations

Clay County Public Health representative Keely Ihry proposed stricter regulations on e-cig vendor licenses. The suggested changes would help combat the product’s adoption from the public especially to teenagers. Presently, Ihry stated that the majority of promotion is directed to the young and presented a series of examples to the Council. Because current laws do not require a registry, compliance checks are not being preformed. The issue will be brought before the Council as soon as June.

Ordinance Housekeeping

Housekeeping 1: Tobacco Sampling Ordinance – Amendment to the Moorhead City Code. Police Chief David Ebinger requests the changes.

-It is an ordinance to amend the City code to eliminate the practice of non-legitimate sampling of tobacco products in retail establishments that are licensed to sell tobacco products.

-In addition, the request to amend the City Code to remove the individual administrative penalty of $50.00 charged to persons who sell tobacco to a person under the age of eighteen (18).

Housekeeping 2: A proposed amendment to eliminate licensing of dances

-It has been established that the enforcement of the policy is very difficult to regulate. For example, all establishments or anyone holding a wedding dance must apply for an annual or special event license. Further, a review of City records has indicated that there have been no applications requested within the past six (6) years for a dance permit. Conduct at dances which the city would have an interest in regulating such as liquor licensing and service is already cover in other sections of the City ordinance.

Housekeeping 3: Amending Liquor License Penalties/Compliance Checks

-The change would bring Moorhead in uniformity with Fargo and West Fargo as both offer a written warning for the first violation. The recommendation is to eliminate the $250 administrative fine for the first violation and issue a written warning to those businesses in violation.

-Adds to the ordinance that any person holding a license to sell intoxicating liquor or 3.2 percent malt liquor shall be subject to a minimum of four (4) compliance checks per year to determine if alcohol is being sold or disbursed to minors. Staff is also purposing to add a provision that would prohibit establishments from banning minors for life from the establishment who are employed by the City of Moorhead or the Moorhead Police Department in conducting the compliance checks. If City Council agrees to these modifications, a newsletter notifying all establishments of the changes will be mailed.

Comstock House to Open

The Comstock House at 506 Eighth St. S. Moorhead will be opening on May 24 for the 2014 season.

Hours will be Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00 pm and Thursdays from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. The house will be closed on holidays.

The annual free admission Open House will be held on Sunday, June 8, 2014 from 1 to 4 pm.

The Comstock House is an 1882 Victorian Home with the original furnishings of Moorhead pioneer Solomon G. Comstock. A State Senator, Comstock is considered the founder of Minnesota State University Moorhead, and with his wife, Sarah, was instrumental in establishing the first public library in Moorhead.

The City of Moorhead Forestry Department

will be celebrating Arbor Day on May 29, 2014

A tree planting demonstration will take place in Gooseberry Park. Forestry Department staff will be on hand to plant several trees, talk about Arbor Day and to celebrate Moorhead’s 28th year of being a Tree City USA.

Staff will be replacing several trees in the park. Gooseberry Park is a large community park on the south side of the city. An effort is being made to replace some young trees lost to flooding over the past several years. The City is using a mix of different tree varieties to help lessen the impacts from disease and insect pressures.

The public is welcome at this Arbor Day event. The ceremony will be at Gooseberry Park, 100 22nd Ave S, in Moorhead. There will be several planting sites spread throughout the park. This event will start at 1:30 pm on Thursday, May 29, 2014.

No Garbage Pickup-Memorial Day

There will be no garbage pickup on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2014.

Monday and Tuesday routes will be picked up on Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday routes will be picked up on schedule. The recycling schedule will be the same as garbage pickup.

Starting time will be 4 am on Tuesday.

The City of Moorhead Garbage Transfer Station, and the Compost Site will also be closed Monday, May 26, 2014.

3rd Annual M State Juried Student Art Competition and Exhibition

Minnesota State Community and Technical College – Moorhead is pleased to announce the results for the 3rd Annual M State Juried Student Art Competition and Exhibition. The 10 works of art in this exhibition include painting, photography, and drawings displayed at Spanky’s Stone Hearth in Frazee.

Please join us in congratulating the following students for their outstanding contributions to this exhibition:

Anthony Gerling – Chocolate Covered Biscuit Sticks – Best in Show

HyunJung Choi – Life – 1st Place

Keah Nelson – Untitled – 2nd Place

HyunJung Choi – Washing Away – 3rd Place

HyunJung Choi – Forwarding

Someyyeh Khavari – Iranian Lady

Cynthia Kile – Initials

Holger Loor – Hallway

Trevor Raymond – The Reeses

Daniel Sauvageau – Untitled

Through our affiliation with Josh Hanson & Spanky’s Stone Hearth, M State is able to strengthen our presence in the community and expand our students’ outreach. Furthermore, this exhibition enhances student community involvement in the greater lakes area and beyond.

Additionally, we would also like to thank Kris Kerzman, Digital Media Producer for The Arts Partnership for his contribution as Juror of this exhibition.

We would encourage everyone to stop at Spanky’s Stone Hearth to support our student body and their achievements, located 34785 County Highway 4 in Frazee, Minnesota.