Fargo roundtable weighs city tobacco licensing, stricter penalties and proposed flavor ban

City and public-health officials, retailers and school leaders met in Fargo to scrutinize a proposed ordinance that would require city-issued retail licenses for tobacco and vaping products, expand the city’s enforcement tools and prohibit flavored nicotine products.

Ian McClain, Fargo’s city attorney, outlined the draft rewrite of Chapter 35 and said the key changes are an annual city license for any retailer that sells tobacco products, stiffer penalties and new product and operational restrictions. “We would now require a license from the city to sell tobacco products,” McClain said, adding that a license would allow the city to suspend, revoke or refuse retail permissions and impose mandatory training requirements for employees.

The draft establishes spacing requirements — 1,000 feet from youth-oriented facilities such as schools and playgrounds and 500 feet between tobacco retailers — and would bar coupons, discount pricing, samples and the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products. McClain said the commission would set any license fee by resolution (so it can be changed without reopening the ordinance) and noted the ordinance would need three commission readings before adoption.

Public-health leaders said the flavor restriction is intended to simplify enforcement and remove products that have not completed the Food and Drug Administration’s premarket authorization process. “There’s a large number of the vape flavors … they are not authorized for legal sale,” Jen Fall, director of public health, told the group, and said some flavors and pouch products have been seized at ports.

Retailers said they generally support licensing and stronger enforcement against sales to minors but strongly oppose a strict cap on the number of licenses and a prohibition on transferring a license when a business is sold. “We’re not opposed to a license. We’re not opposed to a license fee. We are opposed to a license cap,” one convenience-store representative said, arguing caps would limit growth and reduce the asset value of a business.

Business owners suggested alternatives including a tiered licensing fee (lower for convenience stores, higher for tobacco-specialty shops) and offering scanners or training as part of an initial licensing package rather than as a penalty. Several retailers said they already use ID-scanning systems and WeCard-style clerk training.

Officials and retailers also disputed revenue-impact numbers discussed in public debate. McClain said municipal fines and existing tobacco-tax revenue are modest — he cited a 2025 tobacco-tax figure of $183,777.76 reported by the city — while some business representatives estimated much larger retail sales amounts and warned that an excessive annual fee (several participants referenced a proposed $5,000 figure) would be burdensome.

Participants repeatedly raised enforcement capacity. Retailers urged a clear, funded program of compliance checks; one business representative said Fargo performed no compliance checks in 2023 and that statewide checks have declined since 2017. McClain said the city could use licensing revenue — likely deposited in the general fund — for programs through an MOU with the school district.

The roundtable concluded with organizers agreeing to continue collaborative drafting between city staff, public health, the schools and the industry. The flavored-product policy was identified as the most contentious element and one likely to land before the full city commission for decision.