By Ed Pierce
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| Shaw Dwight is the owner of Paul's Boutique in Windham, one of two businesses that were awarded adult-use retail marijuana licenses by the Windham Town Council on Tuesday. CannaRX Windham also received a retail license from the town. Retail marijuana sales open in Maine on Oct. 9. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
Capping a long application process and review, the
Windham Town Council awarded two adult marijuana retail licenses at a special
council meeting on Tuesday evening.
Following a two-hour discussion and lengthy examination of
seven different applications and a council vote to clarify the term “retail” as
outlined in Windham’s marijuana ordinance, councilors scored each application
based upon operational plan, security measures, safety, experience, product
handling, any violations on record and other specific criteria. The top two businesses scoring the highest,
Paul’s Boutique and CannaRX Windham RSL, were then awarded provisional one-year
retail licenses pending verification of the collection of sales taxes in other
communities.
Before any scoring was unveiled, Councilor Clayton Haskell
said he would abstain from voting or scoring applicants.
Windham Town Manager Barry Tibbetts said that each
application was well over 100 pages and that the review process was extensive
and time consuming.
“Hours were spent reading through them,” Tibbetts said.
“Councilors spent more than two days reading applications and I want the public
to know that a tremendous amount of work and effort went into getting us to
this point tonight.”
During the meeting, town attorney Kristin Collins advised
councilors on how to score categories, including how to rate one section of the
town ordinance that asked applicants to list retail experience in locations
other than in Windham.
Town Council Chairman Jarrod Maxfield said he understood the
ordinance term “retail” as having a storefront and clearly defined hours of
operation with customers coming and going, but other councilors suggested that
they understood “retail” to mean having paid sales taxes for transactions to
other communities. A vote was taken, with councilors David Nadeau, Nicholas
Kalogerakis, David Douglass, Timothy Nangle and Brett Jones voting for sales
tax collection to define “retail” and Maxfield voting for it to mean an actual
storefront elsewhere.
Under the scoring system, Paul’s Boutique accumulated a total of 15.58 points, with CannaRX Windham RSL coming in with 14.67 points. Next in line was Jar Co. at 14.33 points, followed by Kind & Co. with 13,67 points, Sticky Bud with 12.75 points, Legal Leaf at 10.25 points and Maine’s Alternative Caring with 9.83 points.
Before a motion was made to award the licenses, Councilor
Timothy Nangle told applicants that the
town would ensure details contained in
the applications were being adhered to.
“We’re going to hold you to everything you submitted in your
application,” Nangle said.
Councilor Brett Jones said he was glad to see the
application and review process finally come to an end for the adult-use retail
licenses.
“Personally, I would give licenses to all the applicants,”
Councilor Brett Jones said. “I don’t feel this is the right way of going about
it but that’s my personal opinion. I followed the criteria and made decisions
based upon what was in front of me.”
Maxfield said he was grateful to all who participated in the
process.
“I just want to say thanks to everyone, to the council, the
staff and to the community,” Maxfield said. “We’ve done the best we can.”
Under state law, the first day that adult-use retail
marijuana sales may be made is Oct. 9. Under terms of Windham’s marijuana
ordinance adopted by councilors in May, successful applicants must pay $2,500 to
the town for the adult-use retail licenses.
Previously Tibbetts has said that Windham will use money
collected from the licensing fees for substance-abuse education and prevention,
but the specifics for that have yet to be worked out by the council.
Councilors also voted during the special meeting to extend a
public hearing regarding the awarding of caregiver licenses and four medical
marijuana storefront licenses in town to the council’s Sept. 22 meeting. <
