Agenda - Council - 11/25/1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

b� Food-N-Fuel, Inc. 4366 Round Lake Road West Arden Hills, MN 55112-3923 (612) 633-7863 Fax: (612) 633-0015 November 24, 1997 MAYOR TOM GAMEC 16021 Neon St. N.W. Ramsey, MN 55303 Dear Mayor: I am writing to you on behalf of our Food-N-Fuel store located at 13939 St. Francis Blvd. in Ramsey. Our store manager has provided us with a copy of a proposed retail tobacco ordinance that is being considered by the Ramsey City Council. Food-N-Fuel has always supported efforts to prevent minors from buying tobacco products. We have internal store policies on training cashiers and clerks and on requesting identification of a customer who appears to be under the age of 27 and desires to buy cigarettes or other tobacco products. There is one significant concern that we have with the ordinance being proposed in Ramsey. This ordinance bans all self-service displays of tobacco products. In contrast, the new state law only bans self-service displays of individual packs of cigarettes and chewing tobacco. The state legislature banned these individual pack displays to help prevent against theft. The state law specifically allows multi -packs and cartons of cigarettes and chewing tobacco to be sold in self-service displays. It appears that a model ordinance distributed by the League of Minnesota Cities was used to draft the Ramsey ordinance. However, the League of Minnesota Cities' ordinance is more restrictive than the state law. The model ordinance claims to be based on the state iaw and, in addition, new Food and Drug Administration rules which ban all self-service displays. What the League of Minnesota Cities may not have informed you of is that the FDA rules regarding self-service displays are not in effect because of a federal court injunction issued earlier this year in April. This injunction is still in effect. If and when the FDA rules do take effect, then the rules will supersede any state law or local ordinance. In the meantime, we ask that the city council consider changing the proposed ordinance so that it conforms to the state law on self-service displays. By changing the ordinance some retailers will not have to incur significant expense to remodel their front counters to