City Commission - Regular Meeting

Call the meeting to order. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. I invite you to join us. To the flag of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Coac here. Strand here. Turnberg here. Pepcorn here. Mahoney

here we have the last phase of the state of the cities video. [music] [music]

[music]

Working hand in hand, Fargo continues to find collaborative solutions that strengthen our community. [music] Local Gov works to build momentum to achieve cooperative projects and [music] initiatives that move the metro forward together. Through thoughtful discussion with the public and in [music] partnership with local organizations and sponsors, the downtown engagement [music] center found a new home at 2001st Avenue North. The new facility known as the resource and recovery center will [music] continue to connect clients with housing support and referrals, substance use disorder treatment and mental health resources, filling critical gaps and improving [music] access and efficiency for clients. The new space will provide necessary room for additional on-site partners and providers and will allow for enhanced collaboration and programming. With the retirement [music] of Fire Chief Steve Dirkson, the Fargo Fire Department honored his legacy of leadership and welcomed a new chief, Gary Loren, a former Fargo firefighter who returned from Grand Forks to lead our department into its next chapter of continued [music] excellence. During the battle of the badges and battle of the city's blood drive, healthy competition between public safety departments [music] and our neighbors in Morehead helped save lives through a record number of donations, showcasing the power of teamwork and selflessness. Through our Metro Fire [music] Academy, Fargo, Morehead, and West Fargo Fire Departments prepared their 13th class of fire recruits to serve the region with skill and determination. This unique joint [music] academy allows our local departments to share resources, save money, and produce firefighters of the highest quality. Our regional water treatment plant delivered more than 5 billion gallons of highquality drinking water in [music] 2025, serving Fargo and surrounding

communities with reliability [music] and care. At the same time, our regional water reclamation facility completed a major expansion to meet growing demand from Fargo and neighboring [music] cities. This project increased capacity to more than 50 million gallons per day and strengthen wastewater treatment for the entire region. In November, we celebrated the opening of the NP parking garage as part of an exciting new mixeduse development in downtown Fargo that will soon be home to the Fargo Morehead Community Theater along with [music] new apartments and local businesses. It shows what's possible when the city, private [music] partners, and the community come together to turn an underused site into a vibrant destination that creates lasting economic [music] value. Collaboration across communities is a way of life in the Fargo Morehead [music] West Fargo area. In recent decades, we have strengthened that tradition, building a legacy of cooperation with neighboring cities and community partners to deliver [music] meaningful, measurable results for the entire region. A powerful example of this collaborative spirit is the Red River Regional Dispatch Center, which opened a new facility in 2025. Since its establishment in 2002, the dispatch center has remained a rare operation that serves across state and county lines. This seamless coordination among multiple agencies continues to enhance public safety throughout the metro. The Fargo Morehead diversion project reached key flood protection milestones, including completion of the Red River control structure with its massive gates that raise and lower to control flooding. This extraordinary collaboration [music] of communities across two states continues to drive the project forward, ensuring [music] that nearly 260,000 people, their homes, businesses, and property will be protected from flooding for generations

to come. The Red River Valley Water Supply project also continued to make significant progress in building a pipeline that will deliver Missouri River water to eastern North Dakota during times of drought. On track for completion in 2032, this vital effort reflects the strong cooperation among state, local, and federal partners working together to secure the region's water future. As a metro area, we are investing in what matters most. With modern infrastructure, robust public safety, and enduring regional partnerships, Fargo is building a community where every resident can thrive. Argie. Nice. Nice comm team effort on this one. They did a great job. So, thank you. Do I have a motion to approve the order of agenda?

I move. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Motion carried. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting February 17, 2026? So moved. Second. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Motion carried. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 29? I move. Is there a second? Second. Roll call vote, please. Pepcorn. I. Culpek. I. Strand. Yes. Turnberg. I. Mahoney.

Hi. We have item 30, 31, and 32 that are going to be continued until March 30th, 2026. They're all applications for alcoholic license. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Uh, roll call vote, please. Pepcorn, I. Strand, yes. Coac, I. Turnberg, I. Mahoney. I. Item 33, a uh med first edition approval recommended by planning commission on 2336 zoning change from multiple building residential to limited commercial with conditional overlay and first reading the resoning ordinance. Donald Crest has this one.

Good evening, commissioners. Donald Crest with the Department of Planning and Development. Uh this item includes an ordinance prepared by the city attorney's office which is also in your packet. As the mayor stated, our item here tonight is the Mel first edition. This property is located here on the corner of 25th Street South and 35th Avenue South. Uh there's actually interestingly several churches that surround this. This is Northview Church, Gethsemane Cathedral, Hope Lutheran Church, and Community Baptist Church. So there's a lot of church activity there. Uh the request here is for a zone change from MR3 multi-dwelling residential to LC Limited Commercial with a conditional overlay. Uh this shows the site here. Uh looking from the 35th Avenue side, this would be the back here. And uh this right on 25th Street is the uh the front here uh [snorts] on the 25th Street frontage. The current zoning is uh MR3 multi-dwelling residential and again the proposed zoning is limited commercial. Uh the proposed use here is a daycare. Uh the conditional overlay is typical of the conditional overlays we have on arterial streets. Of course, 25th Street is an arterial street and uh just it mainly applies to future development uh so that we don't end up making anything non-conforming. Uh so that's uh we've gone through this and gone through it with the applicant and they're uh comfortable with this. The applicants Bobby Horoger and Brook Salisbury of Cozy Cove Child Care are with us this evening and may wish to address the commission. Uh planning commission's recommendation is stated in the staff report. Uh commissioners, if you would move to approve this, please use the miss u motion on the screen. Slightly uh improved wording from the one in the staff report there, but both recommend approval. This concludes staff's presentation. Thank you, commissioners. Is there anyone present wishes to speak to this zoning change? Anyone president wishes to speak? If not, I'll close the public hearing. Do I have a motion?

I'll make the motion. Is there a second? Second. We're going to have more child care in town. Is that what's going on? Yes, sir. That's their plan. Any discussion? We'll call please. Pepcorn. I. Turnberg. I. Copac. Strand. Yes. Mahoney. I. Thank you. Commissioners. Item 34. Renaissance zone new construction project for Central at Horizon located at 11th 12th Street North. Nicole Crutchfield to explain.

Uh, good evening commissioners. Uh, the city received a Renaissance zone application from Central at the Horizon LP to construct a new five-story multifamily building with approximately 262 units with um above indoor ground level parking at 1112th Street North. Um, the extent of the application is in your packet today. Um, the applicant, David Wesner, um, from the Annex Group, I believe, is in person as well if you should have any uh, questions. And um in summary um this was heard by the Renaissance Zone Authority back in September. There was a little delay in getting to your agenda um because of um there's also a simultaneous pilot application that was being heard. That pilot application has been since withdrawn and um and really just moving forward with the Renaissance zone application today. I I know you like to look at the investment per square foot and what's being proposed today is an investment over $93 million. Um with $262 a square foot, it does meet all of the standards for the Renaissance zone development plan as well as uh state and local regulations. Um once the uh commercial tax rate and property value is estimated at today's value um after the five years is uh $1.3 million annually for tax value. it is um good to be subsidized housing and perhaps if the uh applicant is here he can talk a little bit more about that but there would be a um partnership potentially with the North Dakota housing finance agency that he's working on um in lie of the pilot that was being asked for here at the city

so they may go ahead the pilot the school board turned that down so this may be another way to get that project yeah so they want to proceed as as um per their own finan financing plan. Okay. Does developer want to address the issue to the commission? That microphone right that other microphone.

David Westworth at the NX Group. Um can go ahead and provide a little bit of clarity as to kind of what the process has looked like. Uh as mentioned, we uh were applying for both the Renaissance zone incentive as well as the pilot incentive. uh and have found a way um through a state specific uh tax um pilot for affordable housing um to be able to move forward without the the city sponsored pilot, but we still need the Renaissance zone incentive to make the the project feasible. There will still be a somewhat substantial tax payment to city, county, and schools post year six, post the Renaissance zone incentive. So, we've been able to kind of go back to the drawing board, make that that that work. Uh, and looking forward to support hopefully. Um, I can answer any questions you guys have.

At some point, I think it'd be nice if you talked to the school board because I don't think they fully understood how all the incentives work. One of the concerns was is that how much money did your group have in the investment and I think you explained that to us in the tax incentive committee. You go out and find projects and these things happen. And I think as we understood in order for these things to happen, you often times find a lot of different investors to do that. Is that correct? Yeah, that's correct. Yeah. [snorts] Any questions? Mr. Turnber, can you explain to us what you consider affordable housing to be? So, what would the rent be for these units?

Yeah, we can't commit to what the rent's going to be because it depends on what the area median income is uh upon completion of the project. But that being said, uh, every unit will be at a 60% area median income and also rent level. Uh, I think right now those those rents vary between $1,000 and $1,400 depending on uh, the bedroom type. Any other questions? Continue. Commissioner Turnberg. And are is your group able to build this um project without help from the city? And if not, how do we know that your business plan is solid enough to see it through?

Yeah, I I think uh especially without the city sponsor pilot incentive, uh the project would not be feasible without the renaissance zone incentive. So that that really is what we're requesting from the city. Otherwise, uh we're fully self financing and funding the project other than just requesting this Renaissance zone incentive. [snorts]

Mr. Pip, just a couple quick things. First of all, this site was a toxic site and so to have anybody build on it, we're very fortunate. And so they're having to use some special construction techniques just to be able to use the site. The second thing is this is affordable housing and workforce housing, which is what we've been trying to accomplish in the downtown. We're trying to get more people to live downtown. And you can correct me if I'm wrong, but but what they do is they go by uh how much money you earn. And and so that's how they set your rent. It's by it's and so that's part of it. But this is fantastic. Uh I'm very disappointed obviously that the pilot was turned down, but to have this this is literally checking multiple boxes that we've been trying to accomplish. And so I'm I'm thankful that they found another way to get this to work because this this is this is a big deal. Exactly what we want to do. We want to have more people that work in downtown Fargo be able to live downtown. And even though $1,000 sounds like a lot for rent for a two and threebedroom, that's that's affordable housing, unfortunately. So anyway, this it's a great addition uh and so I will be supporting it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Strand,

thank you. I I a question I have I'm I'm getting confused as I age. Is this a 5year or an 8-year renaissance? Fiveyear. But wasn't there a discussion about modifying it to eight years potentially on occasion or no? Or we were not able to amend the plan because it failed to get through the school district. Right. I'll say this. I thought it was the county. It didn't get through

or the county. Sorry. I I will say this and this is a terrific investment in our community. I'm I'm at the point I've I've never seen a a a Renaissance zone application that I don't endorse because of the program is so solid. It's not forever. But I wouldn't be voting for a pilot if you were here asking for that. I'm at the point where I'm not going to vote for hardly any incentives until we refine our policies and are we're on the same page going forward. But I fully endorse what you're doing with the Renaissance zone. That's what it's for. Mr. Copek. Yeah. First, a question for Nicole. Um, so can you speak to the 62 out of 90 point rating that this first received on September 24th, please?

Yeah. Well, it's uh appears like it's 62% of 100. And um I will clarify this is a subject that the um staff is working on with the Renaissance zone. We um if you look at the downtown and focus plan that was adopted in 2018 uh it's really looking at a different economic response if you will to the market related to first activating that first floor with retail. Um as we know um we also have that housing study that is asking for more units and affordable housing. So, it's a situation where we have a scoring metric as a guide for the Renaissance zone, but it's not necessarily um the truth test, if you will, to u whether a project is approved or or recommended by the plating department.

Mr. Chair, do you and then a followup and Michael, I I might be putting you on the spot, but we talked about this earlier today. So, first of all, I I do support more housing, especially subsidized housing here, especially for workforce. Um, you know, our senior citizen population as well. Um, and this investment and I and I have typically supported incentives where we are today with with school and county looking at their incentive policies. Can you speak to what's in process there and any concerns? should this you know moving forward with changes coming to both.

Yeah. Thank you mayor and commissioners and commissioner coach. Thank you for the question. So there uh is some discussion at the school board level with Fargo public schools uh not west Fargo public schools but Fargo public schools about changes that the school board is requesting to incentive policies. We've been forwarded a copy of a draft policy for just remarks and feedback that we may have as it relates to incentives and their award of incentives at the school board. So, we're going to be really discerning what that means, you know, for us and and talking to the EDIC about that. That was just received here uh this morning. And so, we'll talk about that, but we'll make sure to bring that feedback back to the commission as well as EDIC, too. If there are would be any changes that would be material, we obviously don't want to proceed with projects or or pre-applications that are not going to be supported by the other political subdivisions. We just really need to be careful on that and make sure that we're doing all of our due diligence with the other entities as well. So that'll be on our docket here for the next month to try discern what that will mean for us moving forward.

And Michael, in light of Mr. Strand's concerns, maybe we could have a brown bag to discuss the county, the school board, and then this our our policies. We just redid our policies. [snorts] So it might be good to have a discussion about that again since it seems to be a topic of discussion. Yeah, mayor and commissioners, we'd be happy to schedule that. Um, I do think if there are changes obviously that happen yet this year uh before the summer and the election transition that would be good to have the the commission today discuss that. That's a great idea. So, thank you,

Commissioner Strand. If you take away the the tiffs [clears throat] or pilots, what happens in the Renaissance zone? It may be an opportunity to look at extending it to eight years because then you could get more bang for your buck out of the Renaissance zone for additional three years. And the difficulty in construction right now, it's down. We're down. We're not growing right now. So, every time we look at a project, we're going to have to look at how can we incentivize people to build in our community. So, any other discussion? Do I have a motion? So, move. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Roll call out vote, please. Strand, yes. Pepcorn, I. Coac, no. Turnberg, no.

Mahoney, I. Public hearing on special assessments for nuent debatement fees. Angie Bear to explain.

Good evening mayor and commissioners. So in front of you we have the annual nuisance abatements. This is for the mowing Dutch elm disease which we have one year or five years. Uh code enforcement and dog waste. Um so customers do have the opportunity. We do invoice them and they do have the opportunity to pay once um we send them a letter, let them know that they have the invoice available. We also notify them ahead of time that they, you know, are going to be charged for mowing if environmental health has to come out and mow. So once they have not paid, we do put these towards property taxes. Um I don't know if you have any questions regarding any of this in front of you.

What does deed stand for? Dutch elm disease. Okay. And that's for taking the trees down. Correct. And can they special assess that or do they have to pay the fee? Nope. So it' be special assessed and they can do the one year, but we do have an option for them to do five years to spread it out over five years to pay if they'd like to. Correct. And is that at a certain interest rate, Angie? Um I do not know that off the top of my head for the interest rate. And you have code enforcement for 30,000. What would that be? That was a demolition. I did look that one up. I have a home. Any questions? Commission. Do I have a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Roll call vote, please.

Copc I. Turnberg. I. Pepcorn. I. Strand. Yes. Mahoney. Hi. You have my recommendation. Oh, excuse me. presentation of the Gate City Bank neighborhood revitalization initiative. Nicole Crutchfield to explain. Uh good evening. Uh we are excited to announce the uh a $2 million investment by Gate City Bank in honor of the neighborhood revitalization initiative. And we have Gate City Bank representatives here with us today. So I'll just turn the microphone right over to them and I'll be here to answer any questions you might have. Thank you.

Hello. [clears throat] Thanks for having us. Um, my name is Brandy Olsen and I serve as a retail manager for Gate City Bank. At Gates City Bank, our core purpose is to create a better way of life for our customers, communities, and team members. We're incredibly thankful for the communities we call home, and we're proud to invest in them so we so they remain beautiful for years to come. Uh, today I'm excited to share how our revitalization program will help create a better way of life for our residents of the city of Fargo. The home improvement partnership does not or does just that and is one of the multiple multiple similar programs we offer across our region and is designed to rei revitalize neighborhoods helping homeowners make repairs and upgrades at below market interest rates in in 2026. We're happy to allocate 2 million for this initiative which will encourage the preservation of our wonderful homes and add to the long-term value of properties and neighborhoods. Uh qualifying projects will range from patio additions, new garages to safety repairs like furnace replacements and accessibility adjustments. Uh funds may also be used to address code and structural corrections, energy improvements, general property upgrades. Um Gates Bank has been supporting and investing in these programs for many of our local communities since 2003, contributing 127 million to date. In 2026 alone, we've allocated for 23 million um for participating communities across North Dakota and central Minnesota. And then today we are we have 2 million allocated for the city of Fargo. So open to questions if you have any for us.

And uh you Nicole, you want us to come down? The commissioner come down and take a picture. Is that right? Sure. Okay.

All right. forward. Good luck.

[applause]

And I didn't know if there was any questions as you're sitting down. Nicole, could you explain to residents what criteria needs to be met to access this money and where residents can find out how to apply for it?

Absolutely. Thank you for that question. So, um, basically in the there's a geographic boundary, um, for, uh, east of the interstate and if you go south to 32nd Avenue South up to the north edge north of Trollwood area along the ri that area in there, um, basically um, if the house uh, is appraised or assessed, I should say, less than $300,000 and the um, project construction project, so it's for the purpose of um, adding value or reconstructing into your house, it could anything, kitchen, bathroom, garage, um basically anything. Um and that uh project amount between 10 and $100,000. If you go to the uh city website, fargod.govnri, it's called the neighborhood revitalization initiative. Our office can help you apply um and if you have any questions and uh the home must be 40 years or older as well. And we strongly encourage people to do it because we have $2 million this time. Last year they lived $535,000. So it'd be nice if we could utilize more of the funds for the community. So we encourage people to apply. Thank you. Thank you, Nicole. You have my recommendations for Civil Service Commission. Do I have a motion?

So moved. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Roll call vote, please. Strand. Yes. Col. Hi. Pepcorn. Hi. Turnberg. Hi. Mahoney. Hi. You have recommendations of applications of property tax exemptions for improvements made to buildings. Do I have a motion? I move. Sir, second. Second. Roll call vote, please. Pepcorn. Hi. Turnberg. Hi. Colpek. Hi. Strand. Yes. Mahoney. Imm 39. Recommendation to grant 60day extension to the human rights commission. Brenda Derek to explain.

Good evening, mayor and commissioners. [clears throat] Um, so since your January 5th uh commission meeting, the HRC has been meeting um about every other week to talk about what that path forward looks like. Um, they've added to um along with their board members meeting and discussing. We've also talked we've brought in past members. We've brought in the North Dakota HRC and then also the new American Resource Center to talk about some different options of how to move um that board more community focused. Um on February 19th um there was a proposal that was moved forward to their meeting. It had a very tight turnaround for the board to vote on it. Um, so they are wondering and asking the commission if they could have an extension to give them some more time to work on that proposal um to bring back to the city commission. So they are asking for a 60-day extension to complete their work.

We have five speakers for this. I go to the speakers next. Commissioner Strand, would you like to say anything? Absolutely. You'd like us to do the speakers first? I was just going to make the motion, but let's hear from the speakers first. Okay. Secure leaf as chairman of the HRC. And I remind the speakers when they're speaking, they have two and a half minutes to complete for the speech. Oh,

good evening, mayor and commissioners. My name is Saku Serle and I chair the Fargo Human Rights Commission. I stand before you today not in anger but in conviction. The forgo human rights commission was created by this body to serve as an advisory forum to educate inform to build bridges and to elevate concerns before they become divisions. That role is not radical. It is responsible governance. Human rights are not political slogans. They are the foundation for civic order. equal protection, fair treatment, opportunity, and dignity. These are values that protect business owners and renters, seniors and students, veterans and law enforcement alike. When human rights are respected, communities are stable. When they are ignored, trust eros. Fargo is growing. We are more diverse today than we were 10 years ago. With growth comes complexity. A human rights commission is not a luxury in such a city as ours. It is an infrastructure for civic cohesion. For several weeks, the HRC has engaged in stakeholders has engaged with stakeholders, commissioners, and the mayor, drafted a restructuring proposal, and work in good faith under the two months extension granted by the commission. We have requested an additional two months to find at last a streamline accountable community-based model that reduces burden on the city while strengthening public trust. This request is reasonable.

But let me be also clear respectfully and without hostility. First, to request a commission chartered by you to restructure itself without input from the city is highly preposterous and a mockery are attempting to fix anything. This is an attempt to make the HRC selfdestruct while hiding your hands. Secondly, the human rights commission has created was created by ordinance. This is a body determined if this body determined that it is no it no longer sees the value in the commission then it should resend that ordinance directly and transparently. It is we are prepared to

your your time is up. We have some other speakers beside you. So, Carolyn Becraft, Carolyn Becraft, Barry Nelson. Good afternoon, Mayor Mahoney, members of the Fargo City Commission. My name is Barry Nelson. I'm the old guy of the Human Rights Commission. I've been on the commission for two times um totaling about 10 years. I no longer serve on the human rights commission, but I feel strongly enough to come talk to you today. Um after 25 years of the after the creation of the commission, it does seem right to be holding this very important conversation. As a charter member of this commission and having served on it for 10 years, I perhaps can give somewhat of historical perspective. I draw your attention first of all to the ordinance which created the commission in 2002. The commission originally had all the excitement and purpose of a newly founded organization. We had great regional and national consultations. We were excited and anxious to promote the organization out into the community and we were determined to have positive impact and I believe we did. We received and tallied human rights complaints demonstrating that this organization was needed. We conducted outreach meetings to persons of color, LGBTQ disabilities. One of those conducted outside of the then community homes right after a horrific attack of two residents originally from the Sudan inside their apartment. The amount of people that came to express their horror and fear at that time just reinforced the value of having this organization.

We also convened discussions around the ten commandments on city property and definition of family membership at the wide MCA. We prompted the conversation and eventual passage of a hate crimes ordinance. We conducted a nine-month study of the impact of refugees on the community and presented a report to the commission. We became the go-to institution to which the conversation around the killing of Shane Denville was held. The commission has consistently over its duration attracted extraordinary citizens, volunteers willing to serve their community through the human rights commission. that this quality and level of service needs to be amplified not canled. Having said all that, the HRC as it may have recently struggled with purpose and mission, the relevancy of it has at no time been greater. At a time when a great number of our residents are fearful, when attacks and threats against persons of color or members of the LGBT community are frightfully rising, when our own state government chooses to target the most vulnerable, this institution needs to not only exist but to be infused with new vitality, new purpose and support. Thank you,

Christopher Cohen. Yes, Christopher Con, Fargo resident. So, um, I think the city owes us an explanation, especially in these times, of how it will fulfill its civil rights obligations to us, which it created the HRC to address. I propose an HRC that would administer itself without city staff interference. If you reject that, give us a plan or a roadmap for how you will respect our civil rights going forward. You give us a plan. Uh, every level of government has the responsibility to respect and address civil rights issues. That means your right not to be discriminated against due to your sex or religion or your age. Everyone has civil rights. They protect individuals from discrimination by prohibiting unfair treatment based on characteristics such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and disability in various areas like employment, education, and public accommodations. These laws ensure equal opportunities and provide mechanisms for individuals to report and seek redress for discriminatory practices. Now, it's been said that there's been a a 14-month plan on eliminating these. No, I've been in every one of those meetings. That was not said 14 months ago. Um, last June, in fact, it still was not said that you're talking about these three commissions and um

a variety of things of what you could do with it. Nobody up here decided what would be done or what course of action would would be taken until the January 5th, 2026 meeting in which we it was proposed that the three just be eliminated immediately. So that's the first time I heard that proposed. So we were blindsided with that. We're not we're not there yet. Maybe that's where you are. And all of that, by the way, should have been done in the p before the public. There's not supposed to be decisions being made behind the scenes. You know, there's laws u regarding how you have to conduct government.

We have a virtual Dalton Ericson.

I am here. Uh hello. Uh thank you all for allowing me to speak today. My name is Dalton Ericson. I am the executive director for the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition. Uh I have been engaging uh in the process as the deadline has been given uh for the Fargo Human Rights Commission. Uh I come from the nonprofit sector of working with human rights and now more than ever I would call that a citybased human rights commission still exists in alliance with co uh the coalition or other community partners uh to ensure that human rights are protected during this trying times. Now more than ever, we are having human rights problems surge throughout our country as well as those being facilitated by the federal government. Uh I cannot mince words of how troubling it would be that we would be getting rid of our human rights commission. Yeah, that being said, uh we have been as the human rights coalition, uh swamped with work, uh defending people's human rights, connecting people with one another, and yet we would still we're still more than happy to take time to put our work in to preserving the Fargo Human Rights Commission. And I know that we can do far more together. A partnership between the city and the public to defend our human rights is going to be far more effective than simply one that is just the city. So I hope that you do listen to the concerns of those speaking here today and those of us that work heavily in this field to try and defend rights. So please allow an extension so we can provide multiple proposals if needed to ensure that we can continue defending human rights in our communities. Thank you.

That's the end of our speakers. Commissioner Strand. [clears throat] Mayor, I advance the motion to grant the 60-day extension to the Human Rights Commission to allow for additional working sessions to complete restructuring of the board. Is there a second? I'll second it. You can. Mr. Turn.

I'm a little perplexed as why people are equating disbanding the HRC to the equivalent of you losing your civil rights. That's just not the case. This group has been ineffective and grossly disorganized as witnessed in the last meeting for sure. um and even now listening to a speaker that went on and on when there are rules in place and the parliamentary procedure is just ignored at these meetings. So when I met with them and asked what has been brought forward since I have been a part of this commission, [snorts] no one could come up with anything. So to me, we're just kicking the can down the road. It has not been effective and I think we just put a stop.

Go back.

Um, [clears throat] excuse me. So, I appreciate the comments today. Um, I want to say that um I truly believe that the human rights commission in a different format um with a liaison city commissioner attached to it but not utilizing staff and resources could be impactful with clear scope and um clear mission and and um a good understanding of the work that's before them. I do know that to Dalton's points that the offer has been extended to be a chapter of the state human rights coalition which I think is a is a very good solution. I know that there was from other commissioner members during the conversation some disagreement with that alignment but my understanding and I would like clarification perhaps Mr. Chair, if I could ask Commissioner Strand um that um that they were very that they are very close to bringing forward a proposal. So, I would be willing to entertain it that the proposal come to the next city commission meeting if they're that close for consideration. Um because I think adding another 60 days is is um belaboring what has been asked. And it was 14 months ago. This work was supposed to start with four commissions. The other three through work of the commission members themselves got the work done including tonight's proposal from the Native American Commission that's on the agenda which I will support. Fargo Youth Initiative and Arts and Arts and Culture Commission came forward a couple weeks ago with their solutions and and I will share I just attended the last Fargo Youth Initiative meeting and it's going to be an incredible evolution of what it can look like to be separated from city government and be a working community board or commission. Um, and so I'm

willing to make a friendly amendment that this proposal, if it's that close, come back to the commission at the next meeting for consideration. Otherwise, I will not support the 60-day extension. Mr. Stran, I would ask that be presented in an actual amendment, not just a friendly amendment. Okay. So that it's formalized. That question would be formalized. Then can you make a motion, please? Yes. I would like to propose that the final um proposal for the future evolution and state of the Fargo Human Rights Commission be presented for consideration and approval at the next Fargo City Commission meeting.

Is there a second? Is there a second? Nice for lack of a second. Mr. Strand, [sighs]

these deadlines, it's really difficult working on deadlines. I live in a world of newspapering where deadlines are whoosh. You know, that's a but you know what's wrong with giving people a little bit of room to do what they need to do to try to get it done to the best of their ability. You know, if they care if people cared, I do about human rights and human people that are fall through the cracks and unre represented and recognized even sometimes. I don't know, you know, I I it is really not fun and easy to kind of to take a a a board like this and put it in the shoulders of the people and say reinvent yourselves and and they're seeing us pass the baton off to them. And so I don't know. I just like to see what they'll come up with. And I know you we have a June election coming up. That was part of our thinking. I I I believe they're close. It's really not easy. and and I I um so no, I'm I'm just of the mindset for the moment of of sticking to the motion of a 60-day extension. Difficulty with this commission is often times the solution hasn't come forth in a timely fashion. Difficulty we have is that's been offered numerous time. Commissioner Turnberg asks an interesting question is why do you need to be part of the city? And I think that's a good question to ask is why does it have to be s of the city? I I did meet with the chair and talk to the commission and uh actually Christopher Con made a good point is the new resolution or new thing they wanted to do was not very timely. It came out very quickly and the commission was asked to make a decision quickly. To your point, Commissioner Stan, this is something that's been debated, needs to be solved or come up with a solution. We have given other commissions opportunity to come up with solutions and they have arts, culture, Native American commission commissions. If they have value and worth, they're worth to do that. Barry Nelson makes a good point. It's a commission for a long time is very much part of our our venue, part of our what went on. The question is right

now, do we really need a human rights commission and what is their purpose? And that needs to be defined and uh that's what I think is really the concern is is what is it that uh we're going to do and what are we going to see? They have no rights to investigate. They have no rights to do certain things that in some investigative groups would that be part of it. So then what are your meetings about? What are you going to try to do? What are you going to address in the community? And we have other things. It's interesting you talk about it. But with civil service commission was just put a new member on them today. You can go to civil service commission if their civil services are not respected or done. So there are different avenues that people have. I I think please do some productive work and get get some answers to us and if you need more help Brenda or from Commissioner Strand get it but come up with some solutions not let's continue dialogue

I just want to make a point that the work can continue if if the vote tonight wouldn't pass for a 60-day consension extension they could still continue in the community to do the work with the offer that was made um or go in a different direction as a as a commission independent of the city and the rules of the city. So, um I'm not saying that that work shouldn't continue to find a solution. I I'm saying that the reason this was originally brought forward because of city time and resources and every other commission found a solution within the time frame. So, Mr. Turner,

except [clears throat] no one can define what the work is. Even members of the commission can't define what they're supposed to be doing. They don't have any authority. They can't investigate. It sounds really good. and voting for keeping it makes it sound like you're all for for human rights, but we're all for human rights. No one's against that. Um, I think the Native American Commission needs extra kudos because they have taken it upon themselves organized. They had a dinner last Monday and and they're continuing without being a part of the city and doing their work and they know if there's ever an issue that needs to come forward to the commission, they can do that at any time. So instead of passing this making us feel good because it sounds like the right thing to do, I just nothing has come forward from this commission since I've been elected. We sat in a meeting and no one could come up with one issue. So to that I say it just seems ineffectual.

Any other discussion? Mr. Chair, just real quick, Mr. Pipcorn. To me, this was two months that we kind of gave them the instructions. This is giving them an additional two months. What's the rush? I want them to do it well. Want them to have a good plan, have a good succession. We want them to succeed. So, two months, that's that's what we should do. So, I support it. Uh instead of trying to to rush something, it's a lesson we should follow in a lot of ways. Let's make sure it's a good product. So, I support the the additional time. Any other comments or discussion? Roll call vote, please. Strand, yes. Pepcorn, I.

Colpac, I. Turnberg, no. Mahoney. I.

Number 40, recommendation regarding proposed transition plan for the Native American Commission. Nicole Crutchfield to explain. Good evening. Uh with me tonight, I have our uh chair of the Native American Commission, Ashley Little Wolf. And um as you just heard on the previous item, um over the last 60 days, I would just uh like to thank Ashley and the committee members as well as past community members that were part of the Native American Commission to uh develop a a transition plan, if you will. And um so at this point I'll uh pass the mic over to Ashley.

Yeah. Buju. Good afternoon. Um evening commissioners. So uh my name is Ashley Little Wolf. I'm an enrolled member of Boys Fort Band of Ojiway. Um and thank you for allowing me to share the Native American Commission's transition plan. Um I joined the NAC in 2021 and I currently serve as the chair of the city of Fargo Native American Commission. And this uh action plan is in response to the request within the two-month deadline following the January 5th city commission meeting. Um and this uh action working draft plan was shared um and prepared in a memorandum with in partnership with Nicole. Um but I want to start off by acknowledging our appreciation for the city of Fargo um and its staff who have supported this commission over the years. Since 2006, the NAC and the city of Fargo have worked collaboratively with us to build trust, strengthen respect, and foster representation of native voices. And I really want to honor the years of dedication from past and current NAC members who were also instrumental in developing this trans transition plan and as well as the guidance from city planning staff, the liaison uh that supported us um planning department and everyone else who has shown up over the years to support Native American commission. And so this plan really outlines and understands the respect of city resources. We intend to remain visible and consistent without reliance on city funding or resources. Tonight is not simply about approving a document. It is about defining how the city of Fargo chooses to engage with one of its fasting growing and historically underserved population. This plan that we've put together reflects where we go next. So, um, some I'm not going to get into the background here, but, uh, the Native American Commission will continue to serve in its essential advisory role, providing guidance and recommendations to the mayor and the city of Fargo on matters impacting native Native American community. At the same time, the

commission will transition to operating as an informal volunteer community-led body that functions independently of city administrative oversight for its internal operations and administrative duties. This structure will preserve the commission's advisory relationship uh with city leadership while allowing greater flexibility, community responsiveness, and self-directed governance. The NAC has always been and continues to be a conduit to inform and represent city sponsored opportunities and activities and continues to see a need in that effort. And so our our goals are to make sure that we have native representation in city decision-m provide structured civic input and open forums. um advance economic development and entrepreneurship, support sovereign partnerships with tribal nations, promote cultural awareness and education, and ensure ongoing access and accountability to city city leadership. So, I'm not going to go in depth to uh all of the plan, but what we will focus on and how we will operate is being volunteer and communitydriven. Uh we will continue to host bimonthly public open community meetings. Um there will be no cost to the city to continue supporting the Native American Commission. What we're hoping and what we're asking for is that uh the city will continue to appoint an official leaison. Um that we will be um provided meeting space in city hall if needed um throughout the years to provide education or awareness. Um, and an example of that would be for Indigenous People's Day planning and announcements of events that might be happening in the community or different opportunities for our community to come together to raise awareness. Um, the city partnership could look like offering communication platforms for announcements, uh, receive

and consider recommendations and just collaborate on outreach and engagement. And so the the Native American Commission will continue to uh provide a collective Native community voice. And I just want to reference um the original resolution in 2006 states that while there are several organizations in our community who focus on serving Native American clients and customers, a city-wide committee that spotlights Native American issues and needs will increase community awareness and hopefully better coordinate resources to enhance the community experience of Native Americans living in Fargo. This plan will continue to honor and support that action. It will just not be reliant on city resources and funding. And there will be complete community ownership of the Native American Commission moving forward. And so this plan is about sustainability, accountability, and shared progress. It allows native community to grow while maintaining a clear line of communication within the city of Fargo. And we truly hope that the commission, city commissioners, and the mayor will support this plan so we continue moving forward together in partnership, not dependency. Mwitch. Thank you,

Ashley. Excellent work. Your team did an excellent job on this and we appreciate that. I also know your leadership has been very helpful in the community and people respect you for what you do as well and for the needs in our community. It's fantastic to have this good partnership. So, I appreciate that. Thank you. Any questions, Ashley? John, any comments? Native American Christian.

You know, I have a big lump in my throat as we're doing this conversation. You know, um I'm not native, but I grew up in North Dakota with native peoples and never understood the culture until I got a little closer to people in leadership capacities here. And the lead the learning is endless. You know, in native cultures, for example, they they look sever seven generations down the road. Imagine if that was our criteria with our decisions that everything we decided we also discussed well what will be the impacts of something seven generations later we could really learn from that you know there it's a really matriarchal feminine lid le community population that's just really terrific in my mind um north Fargo was I wasn't here at the table but Fargo was the first city in the country in the country to establish something like a Native American commission of you know first one we were the 12th city in the country to decide that indigenous people's day is what we would celebrate on early October you know and and so on you know the the look at the leadership we have here I mean uh Ashley Little Wolf is just absolutely stellar gifted and humble, you know. So, I yeah, I have a really big h uh lump in my throat and I I hope we can turn this into something better. It hasn't the community support hasn't been adequate anyway ever probably, but maybe we can step it up. I when I first was arrived, I've been at the Native American Commission in the school board first for a couple years and then the city now for 10 years. But the first messaging I had as an outsider to their table was don't be so timid [clears throat]

with your asks. Don't be so shy. don't be so, you know, because that culture has been so beaten down that they that it's hard to even ask us the rest of us sometimes for things. So I I really wish the population the communities we have five tribes I think in our community and we are on Indian country. People don't like to say that but we are. This is Indian country. We all came later. the rest of us, your first Americans, the first, you know. So, no, I thank you sincerely for your involvement, for your leadership, for for not giving up hope, Ashley, that we would be able to come out of this with something Nicole and your team and and Catelyn, good work. You've always been there. Let's make this work. And don't be timid. If the native community has asks of us, be the first at our door and line up and ask. You don't need permission to speak and ask and be present and to lead in your community and challenge us to do better. So, I wish you the best and I hope this works.

Mr. Stan, do you want to make the motion, please? I I I make the recommended motion to support the proposed transition plan and to authorize the coordination of the city attorney's office, planning department, city administration to retrofit all associated processes and resolutions to implement a new government's model for the Native American Commission. Second. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Chair, Mr. I would like to add I I look forward to seeing what the next evolution is for the Native American Commission, just like we're watching with Fargo youth and what's eventually going to happen with arts and culture as well and hopefully the Human Rights Commission too when they come back. So, well done and good work. Thank you. Thank you. Roll call vote, please. Strand, yes. Coac, I Pepcorn. Hi.

Turnberg. Hi. Mahoney. Hi. Item 41, receive and file ordinance relating to sale of tobac tobacco products relating to definitions and relating to classification of ordinance violations. Jen follow to explain.

Good evening, mayor and commissioners. Tonight I have Abby Lang with me, the new director for the health promotions division at Fargo Public Health. Tonight we'll be talking about the comprehensive tobacco nicotine ordinance. uh prior to it arriving here. It has been developed and supported by the Klay County Public Health, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, and the Cancer Action Network, Southeast Behavioral Health Clinic, the Campaign for Tobaccofree Kids, Tobaccofree North Dakota, Essentia Health, Sanford Medical Center, Foundation for a Healthy North Dakota, the Multi-Partner Health Collaborative, the Fargo Police Department School Resource Officers, and the Public Health Law Center. It also comes before you with the resolution of support from the board of health and also from the state agencies of the city county health agencies which is the 28 other health public health entities across the state of North Dakota. The background on public meetings held on this include [snorts] the first request that we had for permission from the commission in July 31st, 2025 to work with the city attorney office to review and revise the tobacco ordinance chapter 35. Uh Fargo Public Health presented anformational session regarding the ecigarette vaping and tobacco nicotine pouch use at the board of health. On October 3rd, 2025, Fargo hosted a joint meeting between the board of health and the city of Fargo commissions on January 15th, 2026 to discuss the elements of a comprehensive tobacco nicotine ordinance and also to look at the uh harms and effects. We have a panel of speakers representing uh at that particular time. Fargo Cass public health requested ongoing permission to work with the legal team on January 20th in front of commission to further examine components of a comprehensive tobacco ordinance to include but not be limited to the licensing and flavor policies. Fargo Public Health held a special board of health session on February 20th once

again to review the comprehensive tobacco ordinance with our board of health and received that support of resolution. So we are here today to talk about number one what is a tobacco product. It has really changed over the last few years. It used to be um I remember when I was a kid we was basically filtered or unfiltered cigarettes. You had um snuff that was moist or you had the loose leaf tobacco. We've had a lot of evolutions in the last few years with the market. And what we've noticed first is nicotine salts. They are what is it's nicotine basically with an organic acid added to the chemical structure. And all that does is it increases the potency. It's why a lot of the products now can be so small but have quite a bit of nicotine in them. Unlike before where the nicotine used in cigarettes is called freebased nicotine and that would require just a bigger cigarette if you wanted to put more nicotine in it. Fast forward even further and we have moved on to seeing synthetic and tobacco leaf derived nicotine. Uh the synthetic is just made in a lab. But the tobacco leaf derived nicotine, it all works together. Whether it's a nicotine salt, freebased nicotine, synthetic made in a lab or coming from the tobacco leaf. All of it works the same and the impact on the bodies are completely identical. What it matters is that nicotine is the drug that's being delivered. Whether it's being from a cigarette, a vape, or a nicotine pouch, the drug still is nicotine. When we look at what is a flavored tobacco product, this has um been something that has been newer as well, is that we've all probably heard the phrase this that smells so good, I can taste it. And really in our brains, the smell and taste specific areas of our brains are really separate, but they work really closely together. What the brain

perceives is the overall sensory experience of someone having a flavor of something is both the smell and taste kind of of our brains coming together. It's how the smell of a cigarette or a nicotine pouch immediately creates a positive experience, especially for a youth. There are numerous products that we use in our everyday lives that elicit the exact same experience. Candles that smell like birthday cake, hand soap that's strawberry kiwi. Flavorants are generally recognized as being safe everywhere. However, how how it enters our bodies is what matters. And so while it's absolutely safe for us to use a candle that smells like birthday cake and hand soap that's strawberry kiwi, when we start adding into the artificial flavoring into our lungs, there's been a lot of studies showing the damage that it's causing specifically from the artificial flavoring. A youth that experiences then that tobacco product that smells like their favorite dessert, maybe even tastes like it, like their favorite body wash, they immediately have that illusion that the product is really safe because all of those other things that we use in our life is completely safe. We never think using strawberry kiwi hand soap is going to cause us any danger. The original flavor, of course, is menthol. It's the most well-known flavor and the only legal flavor that's to be sold of cigarettes. Menthol has been proven to cool and numb the throat and making it easier to use. So youth are noticing that it doesn't seem so bad because it doesn't hurt, so it can't be bad. Making it really easy for them as first-time users to use again. The flavored tobacco products are intentionally designed and marketed to increase their appeal to certain populations, including and especially youth. Sales restrictions on flavored products in the United States and Canada have been shown to reduce sales of tobacco, youth trying flavored tobacco, youth ever using tobacco products, and youth current use of tobacco products

decreasing, particularly when restrictions apply to all flavors in all tobacco products. This comes from the surgeon general's report. Of the 39 ecigarettes the the FDA, Food and Drug Administration have authorized only menthol flavored ecigarettes have been authorized for sale. The FDA has not authorized any ecigarette products that have fruit, candy, dessert, liquor, or other sweet flavors. Retailers selling ecigarettes that look, taste, smell like these things are are doing so illegally. No regulatory body has approved the level of any chemicals, including flavors, in tobacco products, also from the Surgeon General's report. And the determinations of flavorins that are generally recognized as safe in foods are not applicable to the inhalation of tobacco products. These are things that should be digested in your stomach, not your lungs. The ingredients when inhaled may be directly toxic to the lungs and could result in higher absorption and further harm to the lungs. Also from the surgeon general's report in our ordinance which we've been skimming quite over. You have had a packet in your packet all of the components highlighting here are licensing protocols in the ordinance proposed. We currently don't have a local license for tobacco retailers in North Dakota. We have uh the alcohol licensing for localities. Um so we are imposing that we would have a local license to sell tobacco in the city of Fargo and then use the applicable laws for the city of Fargo uh to manage that. We would strengthen our compliance efforts while supporting responsible businesses who abide by these rules. We'd ensure consistent and equitable enforcement and successfully implement the communities across the country. we would require the local retail license in the city of Fargo um which

would have the same term that would go from July 1st to June 30th and match up with that of the state. The local license would offer the ability to enforce those laws. Uh we'd be able to have quick action. Um and we again still want to support reasonable and responsive businesses. Many communities across the country have already adopted local licensing and across North Dakota, uh, Grand Forks, Willist, Min, Wedin, Valley City, and more have done that. Sorry. Another really important element of our ordinance is requiring retailer education. Currently, the city of Fargo has alcohol retailer education requirement for alcohol establishments and that is called the responsible beverage server training. The FDA has a weard training that they can do at the federal level. Um, and that is just on a webinar that you can access at any time. However, that only goes into federal compliance checks and what their violations are. We want our local retailers to understand and be aware of the laws that we would have in the city of Fargo. Our goal would be to give them the knowledge and skills to understand the health risks of using tobacco and nicotine, especially before the age of 21, and give them strategies to decline a sale to a minor. Including in that too, we would also talk about um different products. So, if they've never seen them before, they wouldn't really understand. We would make sure that they could learn. We've also looked at the maximum number of licenses also in line like the alcohol licenses in North Dakota. Smoking kills more people than alcohol aids, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined. A maximum number of license limits youth access. It c and the cost of convenience here is that we have 144 lo locations within the city of Fargo to purchase nicotine or

tobacco. Everybody who would be a current entity selling in Fargo would be grandfathered into the clause. We would then like to move to our maximum total number of licenses to be 139 in the city of Fargo, which would match one per one location per 10,000 residents. And when we really think about licensed people who are actually able to purchase these things, um that's only 65,000 people in our city that would be qualified able to purchase. So one per 10,000 is a ratio supported by the National Institutes of Health. Other ratios out there is one per 5,000 in a population and one per 10,000 in a population. Of the 144 locations within the city of Fargo, 17 are specialty shops. two are online. The rest are grocery stores, bars, gas station, and vending machines. We can state that when we started doing this work in and presenting in October, seven shops joined the city of Fargo between October and February. The graph that's on your screen is a graph from the CDC Foundation. It has conducted a teen study looking at youth uh youth use but also up to young adults going from ages 13 all the way up to 26. A common misinformation that we hear a lot is that the youth are gathering these items online. You can see from this graph that the smallest number of places is actually through social media or over the internet. What we have seen not only with our work when we are working with youth that have been cited in the city is they have supported this anecdotally. We do presentations in health classes and we work with ones to quit to quit whether they want to quit or not and we hear the same thing over and over of where

they're getting getting them. Another piece about it is why won't they buy online? They're less likely to want to buy online as we've heard straight from them in that they want something today. They don't want to wait two days for it to ship to them. But we have a lot of brain science that goes to to correlate with this as well. There's a lot of research that has been done on the impulsivity and impatience of an adolescent. And at that time, in that age, they are increasing their ability and desire for risk-taking because they already have the dopamine reward system in place in their brain. But their prefrontal cortex that is in control or their frontal lobe that's in control of their executive decision-m and their impulse control isn't quite fully fully formed yet. When you're born, you're born with basically all of the brain cells and neurons that you ever get. But what you learn over time is connecting those neurons. And those neurons still need to be connected in that front frontal lobe of the brain. thus making them much more susceptible to impulsivity. The same can be said for that they are at that time of age where they're trying to be adults, but maybe they're not quite ready yet. So, it becomes very normal for them to be looking for a way to get a product that they think would be fun. And that's what we've heard from them as well with compliance checks. This would not be um anything especially new. We already do compliance checks, but our goal of doing these [snorts] would be that all of our retailers would be held to the same standard. All of them would have to be able to sell the same basic products that would be FDA authorized. Our current protocol that we do is we have uh individuals between the ages of 18 to 20 go and they're not to dress to look older or younger than when they go out on a compliance check. We have officers that accompany them and they attempt to buy often marble cigarettes, uh, Zin pouches or a vape. We want to help keep the market fair

between our retailers so everyone is held to the same standards. We understand the purview for compliance checks is under the is under the public health division and also the food and drug administration. The Food and Drug Administration has been partnering with the Coastal and Border Patrol entities which are seizing large quantities of these items at ports um as nearby as Chicago. The Food and Drug Administration has not done a compliance check in the city of Fargo since December of 2021. for the administrative penalties for those that would be in violation of this is are the first violation would be a $500 fine and a uh probationary period that is increasing. Uh we would keep the same fine that we have right now. The second violation would then go on to a $1,000 fine and a 7-day suspension of the tobacco license. The third violation would be a $2,000 fine, a 14-day suspension, and then at that time, we would uh provide the retailers a forensic ID scanner at no cost. We use these a lot in our alcohol establishments so that they are able to not only detect fake IDs, but have if the clerk is doing oftentimes multitasking, it's easy to maybe not have the math completely math or that it's easy for them to be distracted. This uh forensic ID scanner has kind of like lights that basically pop up that would show green or red if they could make the sale. So, it would make them make it a lot easier for them to recognize if it was going to be an honest mistake. After that, then we would have the subsequent violations would be a $2,000 fine and a license revocation. Also, one thing that we hear a lot of is that uh people can use these nicotine pouches or ecigarettes instead of

cigarettes. However, again, there are plenty of studies out there showing that people will just use especially youth in addition to. So, if they have started vaping, instead of just sticking with vaping, they will start using cigarettes because again, nicotine is the drug that's being delivered to them. It doesn't matter the delivery device. they will get it wherever they can and so if that means that they know a cigarette is bad for them but that's all avail that's all that is available they will do that also the only thing that are FDA approved sessation methods are seven pieces and we would happily give them out to anybody free of cost at farcast public health people are instead becoming where they are using numerous products where maybe they only started with one

in 2020 24th the surgeon general put out a report which is the eliminating tobacco related diseases and death addressing the disparities a report of the surgeon general it's an 839 page document uh for anybody who wants to go through that uh throughout the document it is encouraging the states and localities and urging them that they must step up to protect youth in the priority populations by prohibiting flavored tobacco products. It also documents uh statements from the industry tobacco industry uh that they are using and suggests that product design and flavoring was a deliberate and iterative process to optimize the appeal of these things to youth particularly women African-American people. So these are the priority populations. We're specifically looking at our youth and the use that it has in the state of North Dakota but especially here in Fargo. I said earlier that the FDA is the other component for the compliance checks. The FDA and the Coastal Border Patrol have seized nearly $34 million worth of illegal ecigarettes during joint operations in Chicago. And that was in May of 2025. It was an estimated retail value of that 300 or 33.8 million. It was 2 million different units of ecigarettes that they seized at that port. In September uh of last year, they seized one of the largest ever operations um again in Chicago, an 86 million dollar seizure and it was uh how many was it? 4 million different ecigarette units. Um the enforcement action to the FDA broader aggressive strategy is against childhood vaping. So this is why they're not making it into the local area convenience stores when they can seize these at the major ports.

to clear the air on some of the things we've been hearing since this has been out. Um, that we risk the loss of tax revenue for the city of Fargo. To be clear on this for all of you, vapes, ecigarettes, and pouches are not part of the tobacco excise tax of 28.6%. I might be wrong on the point percent. Um, they are not part of that. They are only taxed at a general tax rate of 7 and a half%. We have not talked about getting rid of vaping entirely in Fargo. We are looking at those flavored products that are being sold illegally in our community. North Dakota has pledged to be the healthiest state in the nation. Once again, the state health improvement plan identifies the goal to curb tobacco use in the state. Regrettably, the state has not passed legislation to regulate tobacco in the past 33 years, which places us 49th in the nation for the lowest tobacco tax. It contributes to our youth use rate being nearly two and a half times greater than the national average. Fargo's youth can't wait for the state to pass legislative matters, legislative motion on these matters. We encourage the commission. And I wish we could say that we were pioneers like we were back in the day with the Native American Commission, but we are not pioneers on this. We encouraged the commission to join the six states and nearly 400 localities that have passed restrictions on flavored tobacco in addition to the over 200 localities that have restricted the sale of menthol cigarettes in addition to other flavored tobacco products. The motion before you tonight is to move and receive is to move to receive and file the above stated ordinance which was in your packet and amendments.

We now have a set of speakers [clears throat] are going to speak before we go to the motion in person. I have Reeba Math and Jacobson. Same rules two and a half minutes. You'll see the speaker go off and please respect the time constraint. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Reeba Mathn Jacobson. I live in South Fargo. I'm a social worker and I've been raising my three kids in the Fargo Public School District. As an employee of the American Lung Association, I thank you for taking up this important issue. ALA has been part of the local safe coalition since its inception, and we've been working to reduce the toll of tobacco together with advocates in Fargo and the rest of the state for decades. We are deeply concerned about the vaping epidemic among youth. Nicotine is addictive and harms brain development. Youth who vape are significantly more likely to go on to smoke traditional cigarettes, a product that kills half of all long-term users. Nicotine interferes with attention, learning, mood regulation, and impulse control. Vapes have numerous toxins and carcinogens, and youth that vape report higher levels of anxiety and depression. Research supports what I know from my own conversations with people who smoke cigarettes or vape. Most people want to quit. The tobacco industry claims that vapes are effective smoking sessation aids, but that is not supported by scientific evidence. Switching isn't quitting. The industry promotes vapes as a much safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. However, the science is still emerging on these relatively new products, and a new head-to-head comparison of actual disease in ecigarette users compared to cigarette users shows that this assertation is

wrong. So, let's stick with the evidence-based safe and effective treatments, including medications, nicotine replacement therapy, and behavioral counseling. My specialty at the American Lung Association is the intersection of tobacco, mental health, and substance use. Tobacco and nicotine use primes brain pathways for future addiction to other substances. So, from a professional standpoint, I see the value in removing these temptations from youth. I also appreciate this ordinance as a resident and a mother as I've heard my kids and their friends talk about not being uh willing to use the bathrooms at school because that's where vaping happens, about their classmates using Zen pouches in class, the struggle to quit and developing addiction to other substances. This ordinance will help us do better by them and for the health of our whole community. Thank you,

Jason McCoy. Thank you, Mayor Mahoney and Fargo city commissioners. I come before you um as a Fargo citizen, as a dad with two kids in the school system, uh NDSU grad, and I have worked on the other side of the river now for 11 years for Klay County Public Health in tobacco control. In the 11 years that I have worked for Klay County, um I've also been loaned out to adj adjacent counties and I have passed and helped pass cities and counties passed 34 individual ordinances around tobacco. Um I'm here to remind you that the tobacco industry has a certain playbook. They will always tell you that there the border is an issue. If you can't buy it here, they'll go somewhere else. They'll also tell you that if we can't sell certain kinds of tobacco that our stores will go out of business. I'm here to tell you in all of those communities, we've only had one store shut and it wasn't because of tobacco. It was because they sold illegal cannabis to teens. Yeah. To teens. Um what has happened was amazing. Morehead passed their ordinance to to ban all the sale of flavored tobacco in October of 2021. Right after that, in February of 2022, the Minnesota student survey showed that we had a 14 to 15% high school tobacco use rate. I'm happy to tell you that now in 2025, that number is reduced to 5%. That's a 75% reduction. How many kids' lives were saved because of those ordinances? Yes, there is education going on, but to quote a superintendent that I've worked with quite a bit, they need help. They need your help. On top of that, I just wanted to weigh in. I think um our public health director said this very well, but vaping does not equal cessation. It's really important. I don't think this has been said yet as

I've been following the all the news that the FDA in 2008 to 2009 regulated vapes as a drug device. Various vape companies sued the FDA successfully saying we are not a cessation device. We want to be listed as a tobacco device. So people who try to tell you that vaping is cessation are ignoring the fact that there is more nicotine, there's more chemicals in these products and they are not something that is safer than smoking. That has not been proven. In my entire career, I have seen one person quit smoking through vaping all the way down to the end where there was nothing. That person then turned around and started vaping again a couple years later. [music]

Tony Burke.

Good evening, Mayor Mahoney and fellow city commissioners. My name is Tony Burke, government relations director for the American Heart Association and a founding member of the North Dakota Multiartner Healthcare Collaborative. Together, we're working to become the healthiest state in the nation. Again, reducing commercial tobacco and nicotine use among our youth is needs your leadership today. I'm not going to repeat a lot of the things were mentioned out of respect for your time. Big com big commercial tobacco companies target children with candyike flavors and aggressively market to rural communities, low-income families, and marginalized populations. In a recent survey of 1,5 to 24 15 to 24 year olds who frequently use ecigarettes, 60% 60% say they did not know using these products could increase anxiety and irrit irritability. Local control is an important part of North Dakota governmental culture. We are not here to address adult usage. We are here to address access, proximity, and influence on our youth. That's what tobacco and nicotine real retail licensing will do. Nationally also, you are not alone. The United States Conference of Mayors representing over 1,400 cities passed a resolution in 2023. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the United States Conference of Mayors supporting prohibited all to flavored tobacco products. With this resolution, you have the nation's mayor supporting your decision to take steps to address this issue. Now, let's talk about the economic reality. Opponents claim commercial tobacco control hurts local businesses, but the math does not add up. In 2024, Fargo collected $21,592 in tobac cigarette tax revenue. That same year, a Fargo teen addicted to vaping since age 16 required a double lung transplant costing over $1 million so far. One case wipes out years of tobacco revenue. The real economic burden falls on families, taxpayers, and our health care system, not big tobacco companies. Your leadership matters today. By acting now

through implementing new policies like restricting flavors and retail licensing, you can protect Fargo's youth, save lives, reduce health care costs, and position Fargo as a public health leader. The American Heart Association stands ready to support you every step of the way. Thank you for your time, and I stand ready for any questions. Thank you, Patrick Map.

Good evening, Mayor Money Commissioners. I'd like to first start by addressing the claims of the seizures from the Department of Health. Those seizures have nothing to do with uh teen vaping that uh has to do with the tariffs of the Trump administration and he has come out and spoke against those. So, please just to disregard those claims. Um I want to start off by saying we all share the same goal, keeping nicotine out of the hands of our kids. Uh but as I've spent the last few weeks digging through the data, it has become clear that we are attempting to perform surgery with a sledgehammer rather than with a scalpel. According to North Dakota Health and Human Services, we are actually winning this battle already. Since 2019, youth ecigarette use has plummeted from 33% to 18%. We are trending in the right direction. Because of the hard work that US compliant retailers do, yet this ordinate suggests we scrap the progress of a high-risk all-out ban. I wanted to see the reality behind the numbers. So, I spoke with local teachers recently. I asked him, "Would a flavor ban fix the problem in your hallways?" The answer was a unanimous no. Why? Because the problem isn't the flavor. It's the lack of accountability for the person actually breaking the law, the minor. Right now, if a student gets caught in schools in our city, the consequences are a joke. They get sent to inschool suspension. They sit on their phone until mom and dad picks them up. There's no sting. There is no deterrent. Imagine if the city of Fargo decided to stop speeding by banning the sale of fast cars. If I'm doing 90 at a 35, do you pull over the guy I just passed and take his car away? Do you sue the dealership that sold me the vehicle? No. You pull me over and you hand me a heavy fine. Yet, this ordinance does the exact opposite. It ignores the person speeding, the minor in possession, and instead punishes the dealership, the lawabiding local business owner. If we are serious about the youth, we need to stop treating them like they have no

agency. We need direct deterrence. But more so, why are we rushing this? Mayor, commissioners, don't punish the compliant businesses for the actions of the offenders. Let's put accountability where it belongs. Let's find the speeder, not the shop they drove past. I moved to Fargo six years ago with my husband because this was supposed to be the city of far more, not the city of far less.

Yeah. Johnson. Good evening, Mayor Mahoney and commissioners. My name is Cameron. I stand before you as someone who swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. I stood ready to protect the freedoms that define our nation. And it is painful to stand here in my hometown and watch those freedoms eroded by an ordinance that treats grown adults like children. We are told this ban is about safety, but true safety doesn't require the surrender of basic adult liberties. I find it incredible that I was trusted to carry a weapon and potentially take a bullet for my country, but I'm not trusted by this commission to choose a flavored vape in my hometown. If I'm old enough to defend our way of life, I'm old enough to decide what I consume. Understand this. You are not going to stop me or thousands of others adults from using these products. If you pass this ban, you aren't saving anyone. You're just forcing me to take my business and my tax dollars to West Fargo, Horus, Harwood, or Grand Forks, or I'll simply order online. You won't stop the use. You will only punish Fargo's small business owners and send our local revenue to our neighbors. This ordinance carries an indisputable cost to our economy and our reputation as a city that respects freedom. We should be focusing on holding people accountable for their actions, not outlawing products, and treating law-abiding citizens like second rate citizens. I fought for my country where adults are free to make their own choices. Don't let Fargo be the place that takes that right away. Thank you, Jeremy Duckworth. Good evening, mayor, commissioners. My name is Jeremiah. I'm a 23-year-old and

I work at a local tobacco specialty store here in Fargo. Every day I stand behind a counter and I look at eyes of adults, people my parents age, who have been claimed to 30 years smoking habits. I have seen the literal relief on their faces when a flavored product finally helps them to do what they thought was possible. Walk away from cigarettes for good. To you, that might be statistics. To me, that's a neighborhood's life being changed. I'm the one who gets to help them do that. I take my responsibility to the community to heart. I am the person on the front lines every single day acting as the line of defense to keep these products out of the hands of kids. The data is clear. Specialty stores like mine aren't the problem. We account for only 5% of compliance failures. We aren't the ones cutting corners. We are the ones actually doing the work, following the rules, and protecting our youth. What hurts the most is the rush. Why is this happening so fast? Why is the voices of public health are the only ones at the table while the livelihoods of taxpaying law- abiding citizens and are treated in collateral damage? Why are we rushing to shutter businesses without a real open conversation with the people who will be losing everything? I will never tell a public health official that their job does not matter. So why is my city telling me mine doesn't? This isn't just a policy debate for me. This is my life. This is how I pay my rent. If you ignore the data and choose a ban that wipes out local businesses, please understand this is something my generation will not forget. I will make it personal. I will make a personal mission to ensure every voter voter in my circle exactly who sat here

tonight and chooses to ignore us. Please don't punish the people who are actually on on our on your side. Help us find a solution that holds everyone accountable who destroys our lives. Thank you for your time. Zachary Johnson. [sighs] Good evening, Mayor Mahoney and commissioners. My name is Zach Johnson. I'm the owner of Sports Vape, a local business that has served this community for 12 years. In over a decade of operation, we've never failed a single compliance check. Not one. I'm just a business owner, or I'm not just a business owner. I'm a neighbor who takes the rule seriously. But I'm not [snorts] here to speak tonight for myself. Over the last 5 days, I've been out in the community talking to your constituents. I have gathered 1,074 signatures in less than 5 days of Fargo residents who are standing against this ban. Commissioners, your job is to listen to the public. These 174 people are telling you what they want. They want you to protect local businesses, not destroy them. They're asking you to vote no and to protect the people and to vote no on the overreach of the ordinance. Not. And just for clarity, this is to prevent the ban. Not that we don't agree that miners are getting the product and we need to stop it. They're asking for their voices to be heard. While everyone is focused on flavors, the fine print of this ordinance is a death sentence for small businesses. First, it strips away my right to compete. [snorts] It would be an administrative violation for me to run a sale offer a coupon. Ask any retail owner in the city, how can you

survive if the government tells you it's illegal to reward your customers? Second, [snorts] and most devastating to me personally, is the ban on license transfers. I have poured my blood, sweat, and tears into building my shop. This ordinance says I can never sell my business because a buyer cannot secure the license. With one stroke of a pen, you are wiping out 12 years of our hard-earned equity. You're telling me that life, my life's work that that I built has no value. Finally, by capping licenses and having the commission handpick who gets them, you are creating a closed market where the government, not the consumer, picks the winners and losers. I have played by the rules. Your constituents, these 1,74 people, have spoken. Please do not punish responsible businesses. Listen to the public you represent and vote no on the flavor ban. We agree though that we'd like to do something to prevent minors. As many others have said, we should be holding others accountable for their own actions, not the businesses that have not broken the rules. I'm here to work with you. I want to be a part of the solution. Please give me a seat at the table so we can get this right together and take our time and make sure it's actually effective and we don't punish businesses.

Darius Andre Mayor, my name is Darius. First, I I wrote something up, but I just want to say first, I find it very ironic that the same group of people that's okay with handing out millions of needles to inject an illegal drug wants to ban a pack of menthol flavored cigarettes. Ironic and very hypocritical. I'm going to say that. Nobody else did, but I'm going to say that. So, if this ordinance passes, this will not hurt small businesses. This will destroy them. We're talking about hundreds of local businesses and thousands of employees whose livelihoods depend on these stores. That economic damage won't be hypothetical. It will be immediate. The ban will not stop usage. It will simply move it elsewhere. The ordinance does not make it illegal to possess, just illegal to sell. So consumers are going to go to Harwood, West Fargo, Horus, buy those same products and bring them to Fargo. Fargo will lose millions in tax revenue while neighboring cities will gain it. Their econom their economies grow and ours takes a hit. Even worse though, Pandora's box will get opened with online sales. I ask every commissioner before you take a vote on this to do a Google search and look at some of these sketchy Chinese websites where you can buy these vapes from. The city does not want that on their hands. Online sellers have no local oversight, questionable ingredients, and weak, if any, age verification. Age checks become nothing more than a box that anybody can click. Packages are shipped directly to homes with no face-to-face ID checks, no trained clerk, and no accountability. That actually makes access for miners easier,

not harder. Many of these products are sc sold by these sketchy third-party vendors. Some imported with unknown ingredients and inconsistent nicotine levels. If a product makes someone sick, hurt, or even worse than that, who's a combo for that? Does Fargo really want this responsibility on their hands? Fargo can inspect a store, you can revoke a license, but you cannot shut down a website hosted in another state or another country. This ordinance does not eliminate tobacco to kids. It eliminates accountability, local jobs, and local control. When the time comes, I strongly urge you to vote no to this. Thank you,

Elbert Mada. Uh, can you hear me? Good evening, um, mayor and commissioners. Uh, my name is Elbert. I'm an employee at one of the specialty tobacco shops here in Fargo. Um, but more importantly, I'm a father. I'm a neighbor. I'm a provider for my family. I'm here tonight to because when we talk about the ordinance that they're trying to do right now, um, we talk about products and policy, but for those behind the counter, this isn't policy debate. It's a countdown. Um, if you pass this ban, you aren't just regulating a shelf. You are effectively looking locking our doors for me and my co-workers. You know, um, that means immediate loss of our livelihood. And today's economy, a paycheck is very important to us. You know, it's a line, a lifeline. Losing it doesn't mean that I'll just go find a new job tomorrow. It means a family crisis in my in my home. You know, how am I supposed to provide for my family, my kids? Um, how am I supposed to look them in the eye and tell them that, you know, tomorrow we're banning something that is, you know, age requirement, ID requirement, and stuff that I check all the time and these legal adults are buying them, but the city says it's not not for sale anymore, and I'm going to have to just lose my job because we're not going to be able to provide for that person at need. Um, have you ever had to sit down at your kitchen table and look at and wonder what bill you're going to have to pay or wait on? Um, have you

felt that hollow pit in your stomach wondering if you can keep the roof over your head for your children? [snorts] How long will this la last? You know, next month, you know, two months. like this weight that you're asking us to carry to stress the financial instability doesn't stay at the office. It ripples. It's an effect for my whole family. I have children myself. Um this ripple affects my marriage, my mental health, um the security that to feed my family and stuff. Um all we want is a healthy cargo. You know, I do my job. I I I check IDs. Um, it's a sacrifice I make every day to go to work and, you know, check make sure that we're not giving to teens and minors and stuff, legal adults. I've been doing it for years.

Susan Decker.

Good evening, Mayor Mahoney and commissioners. My name is Susan. I stand before you today as a mother of six and a grandmother of three whose health was saved by the very products this ordinance seeks to ban. For years, I was a heavy smoker and I was terrified I wouldn't be around to see my children grow up. I now have three beautiful grandchildren that I get to watch every day. I tried every medical option to quit, but nothing worked until I found flavored vaping. I gave it gave me my life back and allowed me to be healthy and active with my kids and my grandchildren. If you passed this allout ban on flavored products, you aren't just passing a policy. You're taking away the tools that keep cigarettes away from me. Like many adults, the flavor is what separates the experience from the taste and smell of the tobacco that once controlled my life. Without it, the risk of mothers like me falling back into smoking is a reality I absolutely do not want to face. I am deeply passionate about preventing youth nicotine usage. Don't get me wrong, I have six reasons that are at home and I again have three grandb babies that I want to protect from this. The ordinance is a threat that could push adults back to more lethal products while potentially driving youth toward unregulated markets. Instead of an all-out ban, let's try having a conversation with those of us that this affects. Please don't ignore the progress we've made or the lies of adults that are finally smoke-free. And let's protect our children not by destroying the health of their parents. Thank you.

We one speaker online Brading Epaldine Thank you, sir. [clears throat] Go ahead.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor Mahoney and members of city commission. For the record, my name is Brad Heralding and I'm one of the owners of Northland Vapor and CBD in Fargo and currently serve as the company's president and CFO. As a two-term mayor of the great city of Lactic, Minnesota, I understand how thankless your positions can be as there's never an issue that is agreed on by 100% of your constituents. Northland Vapor was founded 11 years ago in Fargo by my two sons and it's still a family-owned business with primary focus of harm reduction by offering alternatives to cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. [clears throat] We currently have three retail locations and one warehouse and distribution center, all located in Fargo. and we we have employed upwards of 60 employees at a time. These are not minimum wage jobs. We have very strict hiring and training practices and we pay up to $21 per hour plus benefits for employees who typically range in age from 21 to 28 years old. I understand your objective and corresponding result must be aligned. If the objective is to keep flavored nicotine out of the hands of miners, the corresponding result will not be accomplished by eliminating 21 plus brick andmortar establishments. We don't sell to minors. Minor can't even enter our stores. We have a long-standing policy at Northland. If an employee ever fails a random ID check conducted by the police, the employee will be terminated immediately. When we get a letter from the Fargo Police Department [clears throat] that says uh one has successfully passed an ID check, that employee gets a $100 bonus. We take 21 plus very serious. To date, we have never ever failed random ID check or sold to a minor. However, there are over 100 locations in Fargo that sell nicotine products that are not 21 plus retail environments. Eliminating minor access to these products could could put

a dent in your desired result, but eliminating the products completely will only enhance the online opportunity to fill the void created by this proposal. We propose several things that we believe have equal, if not more impactful results, increase the annual sales uh annual license fee per location to provide additional resources for the Fargo Police Department to ramp up random ID checks. Number two, increase the first time penalty for selling to a minor to a,000 bucks for the business and for the employee. They will begin to take take this seriously, including individuals contributing to the delinquency of minors. Number three, consider following the offsale liquor regulations by creating only 21.

Thank you, Brad. You can uh send those recommendations in as well. Just for the public to know, we also received correspondence from the chamber. Um Kel Dunwy had offered to have some listening sessions with the owners of different shops and the health department as well just to get their recommendations in a sense to maybe open up more open dialogue. Appears that some of the retailers have not had a great opportunity to have a lot of conversation. Uh Commissioner Strand, I open this up for discussion. Uh any questions? is a Jen foul from the the commission. I I do have one question, okay,

that I think would be good to clarify for for my sake if nothing else and this might be for Ian, but

and and for the people out there, I'm I'm chair of the board of health. So I've been at the table watching this evolve and process this process going forward and I perceive my role to be try to help them be effective as whatever their desires are as a board and to to navigate the system. But this this motion it says presented for your consideration and approval are numerous changes and then it says uh move to receive and file. I I'm I'm sorry I just don't quite know what that means to receive and file. Is that an approval or is that putting it into the into the feeder system to get addressed and me vetted and looked at or I I don't know what that means.

So our ordinances require these ordinances to be on for receipt and file unless four fifths of the city commission will will wave it. So the purpose of going on for receipt and file by state law we could just go on for first reading and have a second reading and be done. But the city of Fargo has this receipt in file because we want to get input from the city commission into these ordinances and also from the and from the general public. So instead of bringing it to you on a first reading and saying here it is and and and the feedback being this is the first time we've ever seen it. We don't want to vote on it. That's why we do this receipt and file on most ordinances. Typically it it doesn't mean it does mean it's going forward. So it go to a first reading if there were three votes tonight for receipt and file then there have to be a second reading. So this at least has to come in front of the city commission twice more. So the fastest that could ever happen is March 16th and March 30th. Um, traditionally I would say people tend to vote for receipt and file if they do want to at least move forward in the discussion with this ordinance. And just Ian to make clarification, it doesn't necessarily that you go on to first reading to in next commission meeting. You could do that over 30 days, 60 days, whatever. Receive and file means it's on there and now people should address it.

Yes, that is correct. It doesn't mean the first reading has to be on March 16th. Yes, Mr. Strand to advance the discussion formally and to represent the board that I chair I I would for the moment present the motion that they asked us to consider and that's to pre receive and file their recommended motion. Is there a second turnber? John, would you allow discussion prior to the Well, if there's no second, it won't matter anyway. But then there's more room for other motions and to see where I'm just advancing this to see where we are and are are not and what our avenues are.

I just I think you have a Can I allow her just to ask a question? Can Did you have a question about something that you wanted?

Well, I I feel like there's too much one-sided data and no discussion for us to be moving this forward without being at the table. So, I wouldn't even vote for it to move forward until it is revisited at the table with both sides because the data that was presented, much of it was erroneous and can be disputed. So, I want the ability for people to have conversation and not just be told this is how it's going to be with government overreach. So, motion's on the table. Is there a second? I'm going to set down as chair and do a second, John, just because the team did bring this forward to us for recommendation. So, if it's not going to proceed as an ordinance, but have discussion afterwards, that would be why I would support it.

So, uh, Commissioner Copac, you get to chair rest of this discussion. All right. Any any more discussion? Right. So, who I What do you mean that you're chairing the rest of the discussion? I'm confused. I second. I have to turn it over to

Oh, gotcha. I didn't hear you second it. I got you. Um, I I would like to make some points if that would be all right. Commissioner Turnberg, I find it especially frustrating that the department that handed out some 6,000 crack pipes for an illegal substance now wants to enact prohibition on legal products and penalize hardworking legal business owners. I spent 30 seconds online and was able to find out where to buy some of these products on Tik Tok. I'd also like to know where all that information came from from your study of or the data from where people are buying vapes. Um, now to clarify for grown adults, you're telling people who have free will that public health is better equipped to make decisions than they are. This ban also bans menthol cigarettes, winter green skull, uh, big league chew. Is that true? Gum, bubble gum, cigars, beef jerky that looks like chew. So, when will we ban Sunny D seltzers from liquor stores and Boonfar and wine or soda? When will we ban soda? Ice cream stores, Twinkies, uh, diabetes is is a public health threat. So, when does it end? There's so much wrong with this ordinance that I honestly think we should table it until after the election because it's too tumultuous to to be voted on clearly without input from business owners and only hearing one side from public health. So I don't like the no discussion. Um I think the penalties are incredibly poor. It seems like this should almost be brought to the state level and not the city level because if we're going to in uh enact harsher penalties that starts with them, not the city, um why not make it like a minor in possession or contributing to the delinquency of a minor. If we're going

to enforce rules, let's have some teeth in them and actually um make make it so that making bad decisions for a minor have consequences. Right now, there are no consequences. So, I would move that we table this until after the election and create an opportunity for both sides to come to the table if that's a brown bag lunch where all entities can come together. We have a second to that amended motion. I would second that. We have a second. Further discussion. Commissioner Strand

and and and and Deputy Mayor, you know, I I think there's room for more discussion. I think there's more room there's room for us to learn more from each other. I think there's room also in this process. We're we're not negating the the intention of the public health folks in in their lanes, but it's also the community discussion. I'm I'm all for us learning and more and getting see if we can get to the same page. I don't know what that would look like if it would mean anything. I there's no doubt that this this topic is is is a a a pretty significant one for businesses and for families and health. So, I'm okay with that. I I I I I'm I'm just I don't I don't know if there's a downside to vetting it to the point where we get there if that's where we all are are at. And if we're not there, we're not there anyway.

Further, mayor,

it's always difficult when you have health decisions come before this board, what to do in my background, what I do. Um truly, if you listen to the retailer space, it seems that you do enforce the rules. do not sell to minors. It seems like the retail people do take this pretty responsibly and do the right thing in what they do. We had an excellent panel in the health commission, the board of health did an excellent job of outline all the issues with the vape and what happens and the flavored vape and what's going on and the nicotine that's part of that that does harm to the lung. So it seems like yeah we all concur that we should not allow youth to be in the vape area but in the other part you don't necessarily want to respect adult or take adults and restrict what an adult could choose to do. Adults don't always make the best decisions but they have the freedom to make those decisions. It appears that when we did this process we probably should have had the retailers involved more to have a discussion. It's always difficult when we start restricting space and we haven't had a good discussion with retailers. We have the board of uh the alcohol board Dave that you sit on and the beauty of that board is we get to hear from the people that are in the industry to give us advice of how to do things and that often times keeps the balance in check between overly restrictive or doing different things. Now in the liquor industry we do have a limit on how many liquor license we give there. There's data behind that why you do that and that's been a process the city has had. We've never restricted the amount of licenses we have in tobacco industry and actually gentleman brought up a good point there. If you build a business and want to sell it, you're restricted. You can't sell it. So it makes it difficult for somebody to do normal business. I do concur that this might be something better served to have discussion over the next several months. Wait till the new commission is seated and have them make a decision. still eventually somebody has to make a tough decision. I will stand in support of let's have a

discussion. Let's sit down and work on this. The chamber has offered to help that out if you want to do it that way. Different people have offered to help. So I think in my brain it's not bad to have a pause. Let's have a discussion and find the best path forward. But I think I'd go with the retailers. You'd probably agree with me that we do not want youth to be using bait products. We want to keep people who are adults can make that choice. We want people who served our country to be able to do the things they need to do and they serve for us to have that freedom. So I I will be voting in support of this delay. Thank you, Mayor Mahoney. Any other Commissioner Strand?

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I'm just a question of process and I think I think this is a good direction, Commissioner Turnberg, to have us stay on this path but not close any doors and not make any finalized decisions right now, but just a sense of process. Would would it be okay for have a a a who should who should handle this conversation if it if we table it? Would it be a public health or city? I'm just wondering how do we make sure that the next steps happen because I think that's what we're asking for is how do we make the comm if the chambers offered to help with this and engage and listen. Um I'm just so we know what does happen.

Yes, Commissioner Turberg. uh would it be possible to have a neutral party and I don't know if this is overstepping but even a city administrator to coordinate the meeting with the chamber hosting a meeting even here to be broadcast um within the next 30 days. I mean we gave the human rights commission 60 days um that brings us almost to the election actually. So perhaps a month and we meet and then discuss what we've learned from each other. Did you have comment, Commissioner Stra? Any more comments from you, Mayor Mahoney?

I So that's a great question. Probably if I may now. I have a couple comments. Um Michael, that's probably a question for you. And I don't know, Director Fowl, if you want to um also add anything, but um let me let let me let me have you answer that. and then I'm gonna make a few comments.

Uh, deputy mayor, commissioners, to the question about a delay till after the election, we could absolutely work in concert with the Chamber of Commerce. Appreciate their letter sent to the commissioners. We'd be happy to work [cough] with them [clears throat] if that is a neutral entity that could help us out uh in facilitating some conversations with industry. So, we could certainly do that. um your your motion right now would be delaying that until after the election, but if you wanted to take that up earlier, if that would be something in April, for example, that you would want to do, uh that could certainly be uh changed in your amendment uh proposal. But uh yes, we could certainly work uh to facilitate a meeting. If we were to host a meeting here, that would be recorded, too. There would be a public meeting that would be available for others to view after the opportunity to gather people together. So, thank you.

Thank you, city administrator Redinger. Does that answer your question, Commissioner Turberg? I I think it's important to note that come June, we may have three new people on this commission. So, they would need to get up to speed. Um, I don't know that we have a meeting then prior to the election or we just wait until the new commission is sat. Well, the motion as it stands would table this till after the election so that Mayor Mahoney.

Well, number one, he had a lot of people show up here tonight to do this. I think it'd be nice to have a meeting because it's a received file. You don't have to take it back up until after the election that the ability to get the industry together at this time and when our health department has worked hard on it too. It might be nice to have theor you know it's part of we would have to do amendment to the amendment but to have a meeting within 60 days to have some discussions with the industry partners and to work on some solutions to what we may present then to the new commission after the election. But it would not let it sit for say three months and no discussion. Thank you, Mayor Mahoney. Commissioner Pepcorn.

So, can I just ask for a favor? We have two motions and seconds. So, before we start, I mean, it's it's gotten to be on and on. And so, I think we should vote on the first two, have votes on that, and then if you want to have further discussion because otherwise it gets a little bit confusing to me.

So, the last is the is the motion we'll vote on first, which is tableabling it. But before that, I will make a couple comments. um as as as temporary chair because I haven't made any yet coming into this meeting. First of all, I want to commend the board of health for a lot of work over the last year on this even though it was in many of their meetings. I know those meetings were public um and as I said to director Fowl today, you know, three things can be true. the best intention was there as the conversation started in my opinion and also shared at the brown bag with city commission and the combined board of health um where the clear emphasis and focus was on stopping flavored vaping for minors um in the end and the other thing to me that's true is the or the draft ordinance as it came forward to us talked and touched on many issues that were not talked about at least transparently in that setting where I haven't sat in on all the board of health meetings. I'm not the liazison commissioner. I have now since watched them. Um but it seems like there was a bit of a of a of a disconnect in to Commissioner Turnberg's points bringing and Mayor Mahoney's points bringing the public along in the conversation and getting feedback that would inform the final ordinance. So my request was going to be very much let's have as part of this conversation a very comprehensive strategic communication strategy that supports this community conversation. It includes public input opportunities. Um we incorporate that feedback and we come back with a remedy ordinance that succinctly addresses the concern about minor and flavored vaping. If other issues come out from those community conversations, then we'll address those with different remedies and ordinances and have that conversation along the way. But transparency is the key. So, those are my comments. Any other follow-up comments before we vote on the amendment?

Mayor Mo's questioning. Can we have whatever the first vote we're going to have? Can we have the motion read to us so we know what we're doing? Yes. The motion has to be the table motion has to go first. Yes. The table. It's the motion is to table this conversation until after the election. That's the first vote. No, no. We have Commissioner

Peporn there's two motions that have had happened before that and so we need to do we need to take take action on those first. That's what I request because otherwise this is getting too confusing. Now we have So what I'd like to do is have the motions repeated that we've had motions and seconds on. We'll vote on those and then we'll go from there if that's okay. I believe there's been two motions. There's the motion to receipt and file which was motioned by Commissioner Strand and seconded by Mayor Mahoney. Then there was a motion to table that discussion to table that motion until after the election. And my understanding is that supersedes the first motion for voting order. Correct.

Per parliamentary procedure. So the vote will be a roll call vote on tableabling this until after the election. That's the first vote, which then that would answer that would settle the first. Can I request that that that be read out loud so we know exactly what we're voting on? Thank you. Sure. Commissioner Pepcorn, Attorney General. Attorney General. [laughter] Whoa, you just got voted. You just went up. Sorry about that. As attorney as acting attorney general, I hereby [laughter] commission. My apologies. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe your motion is to table the discussion in the original motion to receive and file the ordinance until after the June 9th election.

Commissioner, I do not want to receive and file this ordinance, but I would like to table the discussion until after the election. Correct. Okay. So, roll call. Are we are we clear? Madam Madame chair for the moment with our sense that what we're asking for is this dialogue and engagement that's why this is tabled as I understand it is to create that window for administration to work with the public health public health pargo cast public health and the chamber and the industry and the community correct that's the window okay yes thank you commissioner strand [clears throat] mayor mahoney

not to make it any more confusing is that you really don't want the receiving file to after the election, but could the staff work on having discussion with the industry during that time? The receive and file motion would not come back to this commission until after the election, but we could have ongoing discussions in the community. So, when they come back to receive and file, it could be an honest discussion. Otherwise, you got people sitting out there not knowing what we're going to do. It's not an amendment. It's not anything. But it's just saying I think the staff has to clearly know that we expect them to have some discussions before this comes back to us and that's otherwise we're wasting 3 months.

That's the understanding. All right. Are we ready to vote? Roll call vote, please. Can I just ask Can I just request that that we repeat what we're voting on because we've had this is a lot of discussion with a lot of different motions and I want it to be clear what we're voting on. Thank you. CD. The motion would be to table Commissioner Strand's original motion, which was to receive and file and to table the discussion until after the June 9th election. Thank you, Ian. All right, roll call vote, please. Turnberg, yes. Strand, yes. Coac, I. Pepcorn, no. Mahoney, I

thank you. I give the chair back to Mayor Mahoney. We take a fiveminute recess. We'll come back. call the meeting back to order. Uh just want to thank the speakers for falling to quorum today and doing a nice job. Uh a lot of times when we have public speakers we have people not following the rules and you all did a nice job. I appreciate that. He's on commissioner time. Commissioner Pepcorn.

Uh sure. Hey this for the first time I actually have something cuz Nicole gave me something I have to relate and Nicole left. So that's that's how much pull I have. The public is invited to a joint to join the code connect a live online information session about the new Fargo Land Development Code uh 2026 featuring updates, contacts, and a Q&A about the project and it's on Thursday, March 5th at 12 noon. Uh the project website is www.farggoc.org for more information and a link to the live onlineformational session. Just real quick about this, mayor, this LDC, that's a huge deal. You already know the diversion once it's done, which is hopefully going to get done now at the end of this year, but then it has to get certified. And once it's certified, all that land in South Fargo will develop very quickly. And the the new land development code will help all that go be more expedited. And so the developers will know what our standards are. So that's the end of my this is my only update I've ever given. [laughter] So I don't have any pictures. I don't have any PowerPoint, but that's it. So I apologize for going on and on. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Commissioner Kernburg. I will have um activities and updates for Fargo Public Libraries on my Facebook page. And that is all.

I went to Washington a few weeks ago and talked to Senator Hovind about the money for the diversion. We are trying to get two tranches of money back for the core work and it's 60 million in the spring and it's another 60 million in the fall and that is being worked on and appears to be coming our direction. We're also in the Pentagon meeting with the head of the army corps and wants to compliment city of Fargo and all their partners in the diversion. They have never seen anything in which we took federal money from 75% partnership to a 25% finished the project on time and finished a project ahead of schedule. So or excuse me, ahead of budget. So they're very excited about that. In addition, our Red River Valley Water Supply, we've got their first trot of 50 million to help us with that and that is proceeding. So it was a very uh interesting trip, a good trip and I think Cal's here. The chamber was out there as well. We talked about military affairs and support for the military and had very successful meetings as far as that went. Mr. Copek,

thank you. Which is my first slide today, that trip, because I was able to go and represent the city. So, I have five slides tonight. It's been a busy couple of weeks. As as the mayor said, I was grateful to be included in that trip to DC February 24th through the 26th. It was important the North Dakota Guard and all active and retired military personnel from across the state. We met with delegations because it is an FM West Fargo chamber organization on both sides of the river, including the 19 and the the issues we talked about were the 119th Wing Air National Guard being included in tuition assistance, um releasing and reimbursement disaster funds to states from the Treasury Department, increasing access to behavioral health services for active military members, um and supporting the efforts for a new armory in Jamestown. So, they were very productive at conversations. the cohort that went there. This is a picture of us. The bottom picture is a picture of all of us on the steps of the US Chamber where we had a dayong worth of meeting. Kale Duny and his team put together a fabulous extremely welloiled machine when it comes to these flyins. And so if you ever have an opportunity to go with the chamber on one of these, I highly encourage it. And I also for the first time really had a an opportunity to get to to know Major General Michael Hogan. And um it was just a great experience all the way around. So, thanks to everyone who went.

I have four or more slides. Sorry. The Fargo Youth Initiative met yesterday. Um, it was the first meeting with at the boy at not the first at the boys and girls, but the first with the newest members who have joined. Um, we had a really good representation of uh um the school board member um superintendent of public schools led the meeting. Robin Nelson was on the phone in Mesa doing other things. And then Zoe Absy from Parks as you know as part of the effort here. The Fargo Youth Initiative has expanded to include other political subrepresentations so they learn more about the community. There's a lot more to come there as liaison to that. Um and so I just wanted to share this was at the school bar meeting where the new members were announced and um I will say that the school board members themselves are really excited to fold this new group into into their work as well. Um including they're already planning for the next um iteration of MLK Day. um and and they really want to lead the charge on that. So, that was exciting. Um also just I want to share some updates on the convention center since I serve on the on the committee. The process for selecting a site and developer for Fargo's convention center is moving forward and now the community has an opportunity to weigh in on the newest proposals. So, please visit fararend.gov/convention center input to see the four remaining proposals and share your comments. It's open till 4:00 March 12th. In the fire department, um, if you or someone you know is considering a career in public safety, the Fargo Fire Department is currently looking for dedicated individuals to join their team. They're accepting firefighter applications through Friday, April 3rd. We have a paid training academy with comprehensive benefits starting day one. So, join Fargo FDE FD.com to learn more. Um, and then I had the opportunity to speak at the surveyors convention um, and welcoming the North Dakota Society of Professional Land Surveyors to their annual convention held on February 4th.

As you know, surveyors are essential to shaping communities, working with cities and other political subs, supporting development, infrastructure, and flood protection in their partnership with Fargo and other governments to provide long-term planning that benefits residents across our region. So, it was a good group of folks. And that's my update, Mr. Strand. No update, Mayor.

Wow. Okay. We have some people that want to speak tonight. I have four speakers. Uh Jeremy Gordon or excuse me, Jeremy Schaefer. Hello, mayor and commissioners. It's fun to be back again. My name is Jeremy Isaac Schaefer. I'm speaking in lie of the recent talks have been spoken about the food push carts that have come about as far as those conversations have done. I've seen that there was a uh public survey that was open as well. I did that. I pushed along for other people to do too. I think it was about a month month and a half ago they had um conversation with bid and uh you guys know him as Terrell or the bomb dog guy. I know him as box. he came and spoke and Nicole was there too and they had a conversation as to you know how do we address what's going on with maybe what some concerns are for the push carts downtown. So um I don't run a push cart. I have no financial investments in the push carts. I just think it's a great business for them to go ahead and do and it adds to the vibrancy of one downtown any of the other um big time events that go on the uh what's it called? [sighs] I can't remember what the name of the park is. There's a brand new venue that Jade Presents does a lot of their entertainment there. they allow a lot of the food carts to go ahead and come inside of that venue space because you're not going to fit a food truck inside of there. So, it's really nice to have those guys there, too. And because they're essentially running a small business, um you [clears throat] know, their costs aren't as high and it's just kind of their way to get their leg up on the ground. So, any what I'm getting at here is the proposal is potentially either to get rid of them from being downtown or try to centralize them all into one space. I know what it actually looks like downtown because I was running a petition for the state uh for legalizing all tint on your vehicle. So, I was actually set up downtown on the corner next to Fort Knox from like 10:00 p.m. to about 2:00 a.m. So, I seen where, you know, what the actual foot traffic looked like and what these guys were doing while they're running their push carts. And they added a lot to the environment that went on down there. Whether that be, you know, one when it got closer to kind of bar close night,

there were some people who had a little bit too much. And if you could tell that they were having issues, whether that be one getting their Uber or if they're being a little disorderly, those guys that had their push carts, they were right there. They're able to go ahead and step in and intervene with them. And I know the conversation's been brought up. The brickandmortar businesses pay a lot more into bid. And bid's a great program for what they do downtown. And I've heard some other conversations with the push cart guys. They would be very much open to paying a higher amount than what they do for just having their permit. Um because I think they do a great job of cleaning up their garbage, too. All of them have a garbage receptacle right there. It's hard to, you know, control people after they get their food what they do after that. But all in all, I'm saying they're a great uh great asset to having in Fargo. If the vote ever comes up to get rid of them, I would highly suggest against doing that and you go ahead and keep them with what we have with going on the city. Thanks.

Thank you. Nicole Benson.

Nicole Benson. Christopher Con. Yes, Christopher Cohen, Fargo resident. I wanted to say well uh first I wanted to mention that I thought that the city staff um enga uh city staff um engagement survey was useful. Um I had no idea um what sort of engagement level they had and it was edifying. I really think that we should do one on public engagement. to find out ways to get the public more involved in the city. Um, mayor, you once asked me that and I didn't have any ideas for you and I'm usually an ideas person. So, um, that occurs to me to be something that would be very useful. And then secondly, uh, I think a public survey to uh, rank which uh, city services that the city residents most uh, value. So going forward, if there needs to be more cuts and deeper cuts that we have an idea of where the public um what services they most value um because I think it might come down to that if the legislature doesn't give any uh relief and um uh having gone through the budget for 2026, I realized that there was hardly anything I could think to cut it. it all seemed uh quite important and uh it's very hard uh decisions to be made and um the public probably has strong opinions but they they might they might not be telling you so um they need to know how important it

is that they that they think about what they want to lose because that's what it's going to it might come down to. Thanks Carlos Miranda. Carlos Miranda. I do not see my last speaker. If that's it, we are ajourned. [snorts]