The Red Wing City Council is looking to the recreational cannabis industry to potentially diversify city revenue.
Council President Kim Beise is putting together an ad hoc committee to study the topic after most councilors were supportive of researching the city’s options on April 22.
The ad hoc committee is slated to research a cannabis dispensary, the financial impact it could have for the city and discuss whether operating a dispensary is in the city’s best interests, said Marshall Hallock, the city’s administrative business director.
With the state’s licensing structure coming together and more cannabis legislation coming, Red Wing is at a point where “significant decisions” are needed on city policies regulating cannabis, Hallock told the city council.
“The city council needs to decide how the city should approach this issue,” Hallock said.
In addition to potentially adding to city revenues to decrease its reliance on property taxes, a municipal cannabis dispensary may enhance community safety by creating a strict regulatory process in Red Wing, according to Hallock.
Several city councilors met with the Prairie Island Indian Community’s Cannabis Regulation Commission earlier in April to discuss opportunities to collaborate. PIIC is working on its own cannabis dispensary, Island Peži, which is slated to open this summer.
