• Board also discusses use of cannabis products in public areas

By Melanie Stegner

news@pctribune.com

The discussion regarding an ordinance directed toward the issue of at-large and nuisance dogs continued at Tuesday’s work session of the Pope County Board of Commissioners. Among those present for the discussion were Pope County Sheriff Tim Riley, Chief Deputy Nathan Brecht, Minnesota DNR Conservation Officer Dan Baumbarger and Dinara Dykema, a board member of Pope County Humane Society.

Riley and Baumbarger addressed the board first discussing some of the situations they have legal direction on and situations that are lackluster. “With running dogs, we have no direction except placing a call to the owner and telling them they need to tie up their dog,” stated Riley. “With dangerous dogs we just fall back on state statute.” 

Baumbarger added that the DNR can only deal with dogs that are chasing or attacking deer as they are the only wildlife addressed in the law, but there’s a catch. According to Baumbarger the dog needs to be caught in the act in order to be dealt with. 

The humane society receives stray animals, and their policy is to hold the animal for seven days before they become humane society property and then are vetted and put up for adoption. “It happens frequently, especially in the fall,” stated Dykema. 

The commissioners agreed that an ordinance needs to be pursued. County Administrator Kersten Kappmeyer agreed to work on a draft ordinance for a future meeting.

The second topic of discussion was the public use of cannabis products. Several area counties and cities have adopted ordinances addressing the topic of public use as concern for use at public areas such as parks are a concern as the presence of minors is likely. “Since the topic was last addressed at the meeting, Douglas, Stearns and Swift Counties have adopted ordinances,” stated Kappmeyer. “While the state statute prohibits minor use of cannabis, it does not address a penalty.”

The issue is that state statute considers improper use a petty misdemeanor, making the penalty for use as a minor a lessor penalty than an underage drinking offense.

“It seems that the penalty should be the same as alcohol, but the legislature has tied our hands with the maximum penalty,” stated Brecht. Sheriff Riley added that since the legalization of recreational use they have only had a few calls regarding nuisance use and they have involved a person smoking outside and a complainant walking through the area they were smoking and tenants smoking inside their apartment, which is considered private property, and a neighbor could smell it. 

Kappmeyer will bring forward a draft ordinance at a future meeting to reiterate the stance of public use in the county. 

Commissioners also discussed a funding opportunity for the Public Land Survey System Monumentation process. Pope County has roughly 2,460 monuments which are a local responsibility. 246 need to be re-monumented because there are no GPS coordinates. 

A discussion on roadway jurisdiction came to the table as well regarding taking over 260th Avenue as a county highway. County State Aid Highways are around 240 miles within Pope County and are near the limit of CSAH miles that are available for the county, so in order to delegate that area as a county highway, something else needs to come off as a county highway.

The next meeting of the County Board of Commissioners will be on Tuesday, February 20th in the third floor meeting room of the courthouse.