[Victor Schrader]: I'll call the roll. Chief Buckley.
[Jack Buckley]: Present.
[Victor Schrader]: Mary Ann O'Connor. Present. Bob Dickinson. Present. Neil Osborne. Present. And our new member, new Building Commissioner for the City of Medford, Bill Forty. Present of all. Right, right. So, for bills benefit and and others on the call. We only have one agenda item on the agenda this evening it's a review of on route deliveries application for a marijuana delivery only license. And per order, ordinance 855, the CAC is charged with recommending applicants to negotiate a host community agreement with the mayor. And upon completion of the CAC's evaluation process, they will present their findings to the mayor and make recommendations regarding which respondents should be engaged to negotiate a host community agreement. As I said today, we're reviewing en route, and they are proposing a marijuana delivery facility at 151 Mystic Ave. On September 27th, the CAC voted to accept their application and invited them to host a community meeting on October 24th on route held the community meeting by Zoom. And based on our review, they have completed the application requirements. I do want to note, and this was our error, that on route did provide a recording of the community meeting. There were some community members that were in attendance, but The meeting recording was not posted to Medford Community Media until today, I believe. So I just want the CAC to be aware of that. This is a recommending body. If folks in the community watch that recording and have any concerns, they can certainly forward them to our office or along to the mayor for consideration when negotiating the agreement. As with other applications, the CAC has provided individual scores, which our office has compiled into a consolidated score for the applicant. We're really not comparing this to other applications. This is done on an individual basis based on the merits of the On Roots application. This will be provided to the mayor for consideration along with the application. The applicant is available to answer any questions that you have. As with previous applications, based on direction of the CAC, I am happy to type up a memo to send along to the mayor with your recommendation and any conditions or comments. We also have a public participation opportunity for public participation this evening. So if there's anyone on the call that would like to make comment, we can open it up to public comment, or you all can deliberate however you'd like to do that. That's my report.
[Unidentified]: Could you scroll down a little bit, Victor, so I could see the bottom?
[Victor Schrader]: Sorry, we haven't formatted this as one landscape page maybe Teresa in the future we could do that so we can see it all.
[Theresa Dupont]: We'll do that.
[Bill Forte]: Mr. Chairman, because you are sharing the meeting. Uh, question for, uh, the applicant, um, because we didn't have a chance to listen to the, uh, community meeting. Um, were there any, uh, significant. Um, um, points brought up that were detrimental, uh, or, uh, any, any serious concerns. Um, I'd like to hear from, um, someone that was at the meeting, um, whether that be the applicant or a, um, opponent or proponent about how that meeting went.
[Victor Schrader]: Thanks, Bill. I believe Brian Keith, the applicant is on the line or Solomon Chowdhury.
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Hello. Sorry about that. I was trying to find the mute button. Apologies. I want to say it was about a 30, 45-minute conversation. The presentation itself was maybe about 15 minutes, and the rest of the conversation was community questions and answers. In my recollection, there were no major concerns brought up about our presence. There were questions about logistics and operations, but at the meeting, there were no express concerns that I can recall. Brian, do you mind introducing yourself? Sure, sorry. I'm Brian. Hello. I'm one of the owners, along with today's Salman Chowdhury is on the call. I'm representing the ownership team. And the two other owners are my wife, Joanne Keith, and Salman's wife, Rokia. I also act as owner, but also the chief operating officer of the business.
[Bill Forte]: And just so I can get up to speed a little bit, you are operating right now in Boston, is that correct?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Actually, we, today, yesterday, we received our, what's called our PFLI, our post final license inspection date. That date is going to be November 29th, which means the Cannabis Control Commission will come to our site and do their final inspection. And then we'll be able to open our doors probably the first week of December. But we are in receipt of our final license from the Cannabis Control Commission in Boston. I see.
[Bill Forte]: And that's strictly delivery, correct?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: That is actually a recreational dispensary, adult use dispensary.
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: We have, we're working on our provisional now with the CCC for delivery operator, the same license as Medford in Boston as well, but we are that we're close to having our provisional for in Boston for that.
[Bill Forte]: Just again, just getting up to speed, I did have a chance to read the application and the narrative. I thought it was very thoughtful, and it was very articulate, and it looks like you've covered everything else. But I did have a question regarding the vehicle. So as I read through the narrative, it appears as though the vehicle should be basically unidentifiable otherwise than what is, you know, it doesn't have like a marijuana delivery like, you know, logo on there, obviously you wouldn't want to attract that kind of, you know, that kind of attention. But just tell me a little bit about the vehicles, what they look like.
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Sure. So the vehicles will be completely nondescript. It's actually a cannabis control commission protocol, a regulation, I should say, that the vehicles cannot have any identifying marks on them. It can't say Brian's Bud Shop or anything like that. It can't be any type of vehicle or marking that draws attention to the vehicle itself. So the vehicles that we'll be using will either be single color vehicle, white, black or gray, something like that. There'll be smaller delivery vehicles or regular passenger vehicles. And our goal is to have an all electric fleet. So not only are they nondescript, but they're also not, uh, causing any issues with, um, uh, you know, pollutants in the air or, uh, noise when they start up, um, uh, you know, four neighbors that happen to be close by. Um, so, you know, our goal is always to be as, uh, to have the least amount of impact on the community as possible.
[Bill Forte]: Are they commercial and non-commercial plates?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Uh, they would be commercial plates.
[Bill Forte]: Commercial. All right, I don't think I have any other questions at this point for purposes of the recommendation, but thank you very much for the information. Much appreciated. Thank you.
[Unidentified]: Do we have any other questions for the applicant?
[MaryAnn O'Connor]: I guess my only question would be, I was looking at the, The product that you're going to be selling and delivering out of Medford would be out of the warehouse in Medford, not coming from the Boston, obviously, shop, correct? And then how much inventory will be there typically in the warehouse?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Sure. So that is correct. The product that we have at Medford would be delivered from our wholesale vendors to our Medford facility. And then from Medford, we would deliver it directly to customers' doors. So that's the answer to the first question. The second question, the facility itself is about 2,000, somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet. So it's hard to say the exact amount of product that would be kept in there as far as a dollar amount. But if you can imagine, the packages themselves are quite small. So, you know, It would be hard to think of like a rough amount as far as dollar or volume, but think of, you know, a warehouse with baker's racks that are set up along the walls and then, you know, also set up in the interior of the space where individuals have the ability to walk through. And then you've got 2,000 square feet of that. And then product is placed on the shelves of the baker's racks. Our goal is, you know, with safety, We don't want people who are climbing up on a ladder to get things, because if someone's on a ladder, someone's destined to fall at some point. So our goal is to have things that are arm height or at most step stool height. So that's as high as it would go. That's about eight feet or so. And then just around that 2,000 square foot space. And then it's 2,000 square feet, but some of that will be back office. Some of that will be restroom, break area. So the entire square footage of the building won't be dedicated only to cannabis product. So, you know, if you think about like 1,500 square feet of the 2,000, 2,500 square feet would be dedicated to cannabis product.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Thank you.
[Bill Forte]: Well, while we're on the subject of inventory, I just had a question when I was reading through the narrative. It appeared to me, are you cultivating this as well offsite or is this all prepackaged product? Because it looked like there was some quality control there and I wasn't sure if the cultivation was done at a remote site. And if you could just maybe elaborate a little bit on that, that'd be great.
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Yep. So our goal is for this to be as, you know, an easier lift for us as possible. So, you know, we don't want to have any cultivation or any manufacturing on site. There are, you know, there are some individuals who have the ability to package live cannabis product and place it in packages themselves. Doing that sometimes will drive the price down because you're packing it yourself. We don't want to do that. Everything that we receive will be prepackaged from our vendor, our vendors that we work with. So we'll be getting complete packages that would be then ordered by customers and then delivered. there won't be anything loose in the store. For our purposes, everything that we receive will be prepackaged.
[Victor Schrader]: Bill, just for clarification, and Brian, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you were to cultivate or manufacture on-site, you would need a different license.
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Cultivation, manufacturing, those are their own licenses. There are ways for retailers, they do have the ability to receive what's called bulk product, and then package that bulk product themselves, we have no interest in doing that. Our focus is receiving a product that's already packaged, because it's just a lot easier to do that. There's less product around, and the product that is around is in sealed containers that you just need to place them in a bag and then give it to a customer, versus having to then repackage and things like that. So all of our product that we plan to have in the store will be packaged products.
[Bill Forte]: Is the ordering actually done online on a secure website?
[Unidentified]: Yes, it is.
[Bill Forte]: And basically the purchasing options for the buyer would be pre-packaged, right? There would be no like customized, you know how like a drugstore will do compounding, right?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: That they wouldn't be in that as part of your- No, no, absolutely not. Not at our store.
[Bill Forte]: No, absolutely not. This variety and this strand and that strand and you know, nothing crazy like that, right?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: No, so you can, that's the thing. You can purchase as many options as we have in the store up to your daily allotment that you're allowed to purchase. And you can purchase different strands of, of, uh, of marijuana products. but we won't be packaging any of that in the store. It'll all be pre-packaged items. We won't be compounding like they do at some medical facilities. There's none of that that's happening at our location. It's all pre-packaged items that come from the vendor ready for sale once they reach our store.
[Bill Forte]: And just for clarity, you would or wouldn't cater to someone with a medical condition. So in other words, has the over-the-counter or the OTC element kind of been taken away from the medical marijuana industry? Is that fair to say?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: No. So the difference between a medical, typically, typically nine times out of 10, the difference between a medical grade product and a recreational product is the potency. One unit of product on the recreational side is only allowed to be at maximum 5 milligrams of THC. Medical grade, you can go up to as much as 50, sometimes even more on a one unit product. So because it's medical, they're allowed to give out higher doses in a single unit, whereas someone on the recreational side would have to have 10 units because each unit can only be 5 milligrams. So that's really the main difference in the product on the medical versus recreational. The other piece of it is if you're purchasing medical. The medical retailer can offer discounts to the customer and the customers are not allowed there they don't have to pay the taxes that are levied against recreational buyers so those are the main I guess pluses that you get from a medical versus what you get on the recreational side.
[Bill Forte]: And will you cater to medical patients?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: I mean, we will cater to them. There's no reason why. Some medical patients can be 18, but for us, we can only serve individuals who are 21 years or older. So if a person with a medical card comes into our facility, they don't have to show their medical card. I could not go to a medical facility or purchase from a medical facility because I don't have a medical card. But someone with a medical card could come to a recreational facility. So they can come to us and we would cater to them, but we can't serve the medical products that they would get at a medical dispensary.
[Bill Forte]: Right. Yeah, I got you. Great. Thanks for the clarity on that. I appreciate it.
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: You're welcome.
[MaryAnn O'Connor]: Could you just talk a little bit more about the So they brought up the age, the online system, the online age and ID verification, how that's going to transfer to actually the delivery itself. I know a lot of drivers are getting in some hot water right now because they're leaving alcohol, you know, at the front door and walking away without, you know, knowing who's going to open that door. So can you talk a little bit more about how that's going to be addressed?
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. One thing that I didn't mention to you, Bill, is that I was kind of mentioning it as if we were recreational. There won't be any customers on site. So all of our transactions happen at the door. There will never be a customer at our site. And then to answer your question, Mary Ann, when a customer first logs in to our website, they would go through the process of deciding the items that they want. The first thing that they see is RE21. We can't control who says yes and who says no, but that's the first block. If you're 21, yes, you can get onto the site. If you say no, it'll send you to Google or something like that. Once they're on the site, they would choose the items that they wish to purchase, and then they would move to checkout. Part of the checkout process would be the individuals uploading their driver's license or the ID that they have, which would then be sent to us along with their order. So that's the first step. When we see that ID, we can confirm virtually that it's a valid ID, that they're 21. And then we would, you know, place the order on the van or the vehicle, and then the vehicle would then go to the customer. There are two drivers in the vehicle at all times. The drivers both wear body cameras. The body cameras are activated when they leave the vehicle to make the transaction with the customer. when they have to see the customer in order to leave product. They will never, it's against CCC regulations to leave product at the door without handing it to the individual who placed the order. The drivers will then reconfirm the ID. We have mobile ID scanners. So the drivers will reconfirm the ID. at the door and will confirm that the ID that they're confirming is the same ID that was uploaded to the portal. And they'll also confirm that the person providing the ID is the same person that they're giving the product to. If there's any discrepancy, the drivers would leave and return to our facility with the product and not hand it to the customers. If it is the right customer and everything's been verified, the financial transaction would take place and then they would hand the product you know, to the customer. And then, as I mentioned, everything, as it's all going, as it's all happening, it's all being recorded in real time through the body camera that they're wearing.
[MaryAnn O'Connor]: And the system you have in place is, I know I have this already, but the system that you have in place is able to detect fake IDs or, you know,
[MCM00001384_SPEAKER_02]: Yep, yeah, we have licenses and that type of thing. Yeah, so we actually, when we did our, our PP, what's called the PPLI with the, with the state for our first location in Boston, the first thing the investigators did when they come and came inside was confirm that our scanners were working. So they passed us on that, you know, with regards to, you know, confirming our ID scanners. And we would use those same, we have a desktop scanner, and then we also have mobile ID scanners that connect to Wi-Fi and are able to, or connect to the internet wirelessly and are able to do the ID verification mobilely. So yes, we would be using those same systems that we have in the store in the vehicles.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the CAC?
[Victor Schrader]: I'd like to open it up to public comment, and then we can certainly come back if you have any follow-up. If there's anyone from the public on the call that would like to make a comment or ask a question, please raise your hand or unmute.
[Unidentified]: Seeing none. Answer any other questions or entertain a motion.
[Bill Forte]: Mister chair at this time. I'm not sure procedurally if this is correct but do we close the do we close the public hearing on on this matter.
[Unidentified]: We can I sure yeah.
[Bill Forte]: So I move that we are seeing that there is no comments or questions from the public I move that we close. The public hearing and deliberate on the matter.
[Unidentified]: No seconds. All right overall call chief Buckley.
[Victor Schrader]: Yes, Marianne O'Connor yes. Bob Dickinson yes new laws were yes bill 40 yes. A comment closed and open it up for deliberation.
[Bill Forte]: Mister chairman at this time I move that we recommend. on route to the mayor for a recommendation for host agreement signage. And I believe that this, I do have to say that I'm impressed with the narrative. I find that they meet or exceed all of the requirements that were laid out. And my motion is to approve, to recommend to the mayor to sign a host agreement.
[Unidentified]: On that motion, do I have a second? I can offer a second. Thank you, Chief.
[Victor Schrader]: I will call the roll. Mary Ann O'Connor. Yes. Bob Dickinson. Yes. Neil Osborne.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Victor Schrader]: Chief Buckley.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Victor Schrader]: Bill Forty.
[Bill Forte]: Yes.
[Victor Schrader]: Great, thank you. I will write up a memo and forward that along to the mayor with your recommendation. Moving on to the next item, public participation in general. If anyone has any comments on for the CAC's consideration related to past proposals or we're into hearing those.
[Theresa Dupont]: And additionally, we did not receive any written public comments for this application or any CAC
[Victor Schrader]: Not seeing any. We can move on to the next item, other business. I don't have any other business for the commission. We don't have any other applications we're considering at this time. Bill, for your benefit, we've been operating kind of on an ad hoc basis as applications come to us. be sure to let you know if any do.
[Bill Forte]: Yeah, it would be good to have a little bit more than a week to look at something. Although I got to tell you that Teresa did give it to me probably two weeks prior, but I was just still figuring out where my parking space was. So, you know, certainly by no fault of hers, I did have very little time to read this, but I was able to engage in it enough to get a sense of what we were voting on. And, you know, I think this is going to be a great experience for me and I'm very
[MaryAnn O'Connor]: I think, Victor, the only other comment I had is the question I asked earlier. Is there a limit to the delivery licenses that are available or that are in the ordinance or anywhere else? Is there a limit on delivery?
[Victor Schrader]: No, Marian, there is no limit to to the delivery licenses or or any other licenses besides the retail which was limited to 3. So that all.
[Jack Buckley]: Are you aware of any restrictions that of the the this committee wanted to put a hold or moratorium on because we voted 3. Retail one cultivation to delivery. Yes Sir and we don't have anything open. thought and my my mind is telling me that, you know, perhaps we should let this sort of develop and take root and start, you know, see how it affects the, you know, our the impact on the city, how it's going before because otherwise, in theory, we could just keep saying, yes, yes, yes, and have, you know, way too many on board without seeing the impact marijuana is going to have in our community. Let's take a step back. Let's let's these establishments open and and see where we go from there. And I, you know, I've looked at the statute, and I don't see any restrictions on us doing that. But I just want to meet you off on that.
[Victor Schrader]: You're correct, we don't have any establishments open. There is one under construction, Theory Wellness is the first to pull a permit and start their demoing their future home on Mystic Ave. I don't believe that there's any restriction in the ordinance from proposing and placing a moratorium. I believe that would have to be done by city council. if it's a recommendation that came from this body, I would think they would take that seriously and consider it.
[Bill Forte]: I think that it would be, we'd be well advised to check with KB Law on that to see if legally it can be done. I know that there were moratoriums set by the Cannabis Control Commission and they were allowed to be up to one year while cities and towns had time to adopt a new ordinance. And we actually got an extension of Waltham But I don't I don't know that the that the mechanisms, you know, I don't know what it would take to, you know, to initiate a moratorium, I certainly could ask the question if the if the board wants me to seek that I can certainly do that.
[MaryAnn O'Connor]: I would agree with the chief on letting, letting us see what happens what the community impact is how these facilities operate, how the delivery facilities operate and get a feel for for what's happening and how you know how, if there are impacts and what they are. So I guess we should probably follow up with legal advice to see if we can put that to the, to the city council. But I would agree with Chief Buckley on on letting us take a pause to see what.
[Bill Forte]: Yeah, I certainly do agree myself I just want to make sure that we're grounded in fact before we send the request to the city council for the moratorium.
[Theresa Dupont]: Victor, do we know who's going to be open first in Method?
[Victor Schrader]: Gosh, no, not definitively. Like I said, Theory Wellness is the only establishment that has pulled a permit, and they are under construction. So I'd say they have a pretty good head start.
[Bill Forte]: Yeah, they're just demo right now. They're in the process of getting building permit approval on they all are over there doing some side working utilities. But nothing substantial until they have a building permit so you know they're they're just trying to get stuff in the ground for the winter comes on but obviously they you know they've got a little ways to go before they get the actual building permit so they've got to start playing review.
[Victor Schrader]: Yep, they have and and have their special permit.
[Bill Forte]: Okay. So then I would guess they're not far away. I think they were waiting for some things from the city engineer. So, but they should be underway shortly.
[Victor Schrader]: And you'll follow up. None of the other applications that that applicants that have host community agreements have. have been through the zoning process to receive the special permit. So they're the only one that has their special permit. I'd be happy to follow up with legal counsel on this and provide the group with more information on your options. That works very good.
[MaryAnn O'Connor]: Okay. Yes, because we've done all three of what's allowed, as far as the retail go, right. Yes, yep.
[Victor Schrader]: Yeah, there are three host community agreements for retail, one for cultivation.
[MaryAnn O'Connor]: Retail that we can have three is the max.
[Victor Schrader]: Yep.
[Theresa Dupont]: Victor will this need to be a motion that comes out of the council.
[Victor Schrader]: I don't think so. I think direction to me to do some research and come back to the group with information to consider. Does that sound okay?
[Bill Forte]: I agree with that, yeah. Okay. Question, do we meet monthly regardless of whether or not we have an application?
[Victor Schrader]: No, we don't meet on a regular schedule. It's based on application review. So I think in this case, once I am able to do some due diligence, we'll call a special meeting for consideration unless there's another application to consider at that time.
[Bill Forte]: OK. So when we call that meeting, we would want to hear the public's view as to whether or not the moratorium should be recommended. And I would think that we should have one public hearing on that. cases an applicant in the works that all of a sudden realizes now that they can't submit an application. I think they should be heard as well, you know, just to make sure that we're thorough and that there's no others coming in.
[Victor Schrader]: Great idea. Thanks, Bill. Any other new business? With that, motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn, yeah. Second. Great. Marianne O'Connor? Yes. Bob Dickinson? Yes. Neil Osborne? Yes. Bill Forty? Oh, yes. Chief Buckley? Yes. Enjoy your evening. Thank you, everyone.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you all very much, everyone. Appreciate it.