By Mani Souphom – R & J Broadcasting | July 17, 2025

Warroad, MINN. – On Monday July 14, 2025, the City of Warroad met to discuss ordinance changes, updates on the Marina Project, requests from Emergency Services, and hosted a presentation by the Warroad Community Development team regarding their website. In attendance were City Council members Dean Dorholt, Joe Olafson, Kevin Thompson, and Michele Vandal, with Mayor Tom Goldsmith and City Administrator Kathy Lovelace presiding.

At this meeting, it was raised that a business had submitted an application to open a cannabis retail location within the City of Warroad. Marijuana for adult recreational use was legalized in Minnesota August of 2023, and a provision which allowed local governments to prohibit cannabis businesses in their jurisdiction expired January 1, 2025.

Warroad Mayor Tom Goldsmith spoke at length of the decision the City of Warroad would take in compliance with Minnesota State law:

According to Minnesota State Statute 342.13 local governments cannot prohibit establishment or operation of a licensed hemp or cannabis business, but they can adopt reasonable restrictions to time, place, and manner of business that would not interfere otherwise with these businesses. The City of Warroad is working in tandem with Roseau County, and has chosen to commit to a zoning ordinance that will regulate this new kind of business to operate only in the C-2 designated zoning:

The meeting continued with the City Council unanimously approving a motion to award Spruce Valley their bid for the Marina Project, as well as approving a dock proposal for slips at the marina. While the project had come in $250,000 over the engineer’s original proposal, the City noted that $390,000 was available for the docks via money provided by grant proposals.

The next order of business was a request from the City of Warroad’s Emergency Services Department to retain an ambulance that had been set to retire. Currently, the City of Warroad operates with just two ambulances, and a new one is being purchased from Premier Specialty Vehicles in the amount of $281,417 to replace the 2013 Dodge model designated for sale or retirement.

For the first time in many years, Warroad’s City Council was deadlocked in a tie over this issue, with City Council members Joe Olafson and Kevin Thompson voting to deny the request to retain this ambulance, and members Michele Vandal and Dean Dorholt voting to keep the ambulance. Mayor Tom Goldsmith broke the tie, ultimately denying the request to keep the ambulance

While retaining this older model ambulance would provide a third emergency vehicle for use by the City in case of multiple calls, there were questions raised by the Council regarding liability issues and concerns of available space to house a third ambulance. The emergency services team representatives, Damien McMillin and Joy Bukowiec, made the Council aware that three ambulances could be held at the City’s current location, but it would require compromises that council members and the Mayor were not certain were attainable.

This led to a discussion regarding expansion of the City of Warroad’s Emergency Services building, in which a proposal had been submitted before that was estimated to cost the City of Warroad and its taxpayers an additional $2-2.2 million. While Warroad’s population has grown, the City Council and Mayor did not feel that the growth merited the cost to expand this building at this time.

Moving on, the City discussed no-wake zones on the Warroad River, and who enforced speed limits on the River. Glenda Phillipe was tasked with determining which authoritative bodies, if any, were responsible for placing buoys on the Warroad River.

Other traffic concerns arose regarding City crosswalk zones. Warroad’s Chief of Police Wade Steinbring raised that since construction on Highway 11 had begun, previously designated crosswalks had become more hazardous. Pedestrians were also beginning to create hazards by utilizing unmarked paths to cross roadways in the absence of clear pedestrian crosswalks. Jaywalking, while not frequently enforced, is considered a petty misdemeanor in the state of Minnesota and is punishable by fines. The Warroad Police Department and the City will work on communicating to residents the urgency of abiding by the law and practicing safe commuting procedures.

The last order of the meeting was for Sarah Carling of Warroad Community Development, and Katie Pieper of Sandpieper Designs, to present to the City Council a new website design and planned logos to help unify organizations within the City.

KQ92 and KRWB Radio will continue to cover and follow Warroad City Council meetings, and updates from the City of Warroad.