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Attachment A Regular City Council Meeting Monday, January 11, 2021 Page 15 627 sale of this product is. He stated what the Council would do by banning flavored 628 tobacco is to put this legal product on the black market. If licensed retailors, who 629 are neighbors and their kids go to the same school and are the first line of defense 630 against underage use of tobacco, are forbidden from selling this product, he guar- 631 anteed that person selling cigarettes around the corner is not going to be checking 632 IDs. In addition, there are people coming from other cities, people that know other 633 people, and most young people get their cigarettes from social sources and not from 634 licensed tobacco retailers who have a lot to lose by selling to minors. He asked the 635 Councilmembers to go to some of the smoke shops or the convenience stores and 636 spend a couple of hours and see the products that are trying to be regulated. He 637 noted pipe tobacco only comes in flavored form and is not something that young 638 people try to buy. The same thing for Hookah tobacco, which has always been 639 flavored, so banning flavors would eliminate this category of pipe tobacco. He 640 asked the Council to reconsider this action. 641 642 Mr. Tim Gross 643 Mr. Gross stated he is the executive director of the Minnesota Petroleum Marketers 644 Association. He explained the 450 business members own and operate the majority 645 of the 2,300 convenience stores found across the State. Some of his members from 646 Roseville are on the Zoom call to share their stories. He thanked the Council for 647 allowing them to voice their concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the 648 slow down of transportation, the member chain store operations experienced a 30 - 649 50 percent loss of fuel and inside convenience item sales. The members are in need 650 of help. They are in a time where the members are looking toward Federal aid, 651 State aid, and support from local government units like the City of Roseville. He 652 felt the proposed prohibition of the sale of all flavored tobacco products will hurt 653 the retail members in their time of most need. The proposed ban would include 654 menthol cigarettes which makes up approximately 30 to 35 percent of all the ciga- 655 rette sales. The ban would also include the flavors of mint and wintergreen which 656 makes up 80 to 85 percent of the sales of smokeless chew and snuff. The members 657 are responsible retailers who do not want to sell to children and young adults, as 658 proven by industry compliance records in Roseville. That all being said, it is im- 659 portant to point out the majority of convenience store members would not oppose 660 the flavored tobacco sale ban if it did not include the flavors of menthol, mint, and 661 wintergreen. Their message to the Council is very simple, their association and the 662 City of Roseville retails members ask the City Council for its support and to not 663 include the flavors of menthol, wintergreen, and mint in the proposed amendment 664 to ban flavored tobacco products in the City of Roseville. 665 666 Mr. Josh Kath 667 Mr. Kath explained he owns the Holiday gas station at County Road C and Snelling 668 and is in the convenience business. The ordinance, as drafted, might be a tipping 669 point for his business. He explained they used to own two locations in St. Paul as 670 well and after they invoked similar measures both of the St. Paul stores were closed 671 because they could not be sustained. Mr. Kath indicated they do not sell many of