10-01-2024 8:49pm

Osseo Considers New Proposal For Municipal Cannabis Store

Tom Akaolisa Editor

Osseo Considers New Proposal For Municipal Cannabis Store

The city of Osseo is looking at a new partnership to operate its proposed municipal cannabis store.

A firm called Red Pine Group spoke to the Osseo City Council this week.

The organization is offering to buy real estate and pay the upfront costs to operate a municipal cannabis store for the city.

In early contract proposals, the city of Osseo would get 25 percent of the store’s profits, while the rest would go to Red Pine.

“For me it really breaks down to just the upfront capital expense,” said Council Member Mark Schulz. “I mean it’s just, you can’t look past that. There’s definitely aspects of this, and we talked about it, sometimes when it sounds too good to be true it is — sometimes it’s not.”

According to Red Pine, the city could expect approximately $500,000 per year.

The Osseo City Council members were largely supportive of the proposal, which asks for little financial investment from the city beyond staff and attorney time.

“I think that our risk is much lower,” said Council Member Juliana Hulstrom. “Initially I brought this to this [council] because I saw revenue.”

City Staff Concerns

City staff members were somewhat more cautious when considering the proposal.

Interim City Administrator and Police Chief Shane Mikkelson was concerned about the city’s ability to influence the operation.

“I have some concerns, just to be honest with you, with a large group,” he said. “With the controls, and if they’re going to be putting up millions of dollars, that they’re going to allow the city to be a part of, and making decisions and things like that down the road. I do have concerns with that. I’m a pretty good reader of people, and big groups like this that swoop down at the last minute concern me.”

The city’s attorney also noted that the state’s cannabis laws have not been finalized. It’s not clear if the state will allow a private company to operate a municipal store on behalf of a city, or using a city’s license.

Moving forward, the city’s attorney will look at the proposal, and could bring back modified language to the council at its next meeting.