Thread by @shayshinecastle

Another quick public hearing: Some biz license changes.

Kinda boring, but I'mma tweet it anyway. Staff presentation: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

One of the changes is for Marijuana key holders
City requires application and fee every time a marijuana retailer makes an employee a “key holder” - a person who can perform specific duties.

“Keyholder shall include any person with managerial authority in the business, and any person that has access to lock or unlock the safe, to lock or unlock the business, or set or disarm the alarm” (Boulder Charter)

There's been lots of turnover - 190 applications per year, 1-3 hours each = 380 FTE hours each year

Biz can now fill out one-page form each time key holder personnel changes, to be reviewed yearly at license renewal

These changes will reduce workload on that to 26 hours

That's “Because the city no longer does separate background checks for Keyholders, there is not much informational benefit to Licensing or to enforcement personnel by the filings”

Other changes:

Pawnbrokers / secondhand dealers, of which there are 21 in Boulder.
Last substantive change to city law was 20+ years ago
Changing: Electronic record-keeping and uniform holding period, consistent with state laws
Boulder PD already following state law, not city

Lastly:
Licensing of Itinerant Merchant (5), Mobile Food Vehicles (53), and Tobacco Retailer (68) changing from one-year to two-year renewals

Plus secondhand = 147 licenses of these types x 3 hrs each = 144 FTE hours yearly

“For the majority of licensees that comply with city requirements, there are not significant changes in a 12-month period”

Changes will reduce yearly applications to 74, staff time to 221 hours

So to recap: Just easing some paperwork, to reduce staff hours (and hours that biz spend on these things)

This *might* be part of the red tape-cutting council talked about a year or so ago. boulderbeat.news/2020/01/09/bou…

This change means we won't need to hire another licensing staff, Mishawn Cook says.

Detective Ed Burke, who is the designated pawn guy at Boulder PD, is speaking on the changes about secondhand dealers. Reminder: Those city rules haven't been updated since the '80s.

Young: Why are background checks not required anymore for keyholders in marijuana retail stores?
Cook: We stopped requiring those a couple years ago bc there is so much turnover, as with other businesses.

"We reserve our background checks" for owners, managers, etc. — "those who can actually exercise oversight," Cook says. The state requires background checks for keyholders. We rely on those.

Young: "Anything that updates our code that hadn't been updated since the 1980s is good."

Brockett (joking): We know how problematic the carnival menagerie codes have been, so this is a welcome change.

Those were also included, if you missed that. But I don't think there *are* any of those in Boulder, so I didn't include them in my notes.

Like I said, pretty boring. But for that one person out there who might need to know... you are welcome.

Unanimous approval.

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