Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Leominster - The City Council on Monday voted to allow three applicants that hope to open medical-marijuana facilities to move forward in the city's selection process, and the vote led to a short debate over how the application process is being handled by the council.
A fourth applicant was eliminated. DO Health Massachusetts' application to open a dispensary was unanimously voted out of the running by councilors after it scored the lowest on the city's applicant grading rubric.
However, councilors were less united when it came to determining how to move forward with the three remaining applicants.
At-large Councilor Claire Freda, a member of the legal-affairs subcommittee, suggested tabling discussion on the applications for Alternative Therapies Group Inc., Middlesex Integrative Medicine, and Prime Wellness Centers Inc., effectively taking all three applications off the council's agenda until questions regarding each could be answered.
"There are just a number of questions I feel we need to have answered before we pursue this any further," she said, suggesting that councilors perform site visits to dispensary locations before making a decision.
Freda also offered some criticism of how the grading process was handled.
"It's not a secret here that I didn't agree with the way we did the rubric without having the interviews first, because we were asking questions when we had no one around to answer them, and we were guessing what some of the answers were," she said.
Ward 4 Councilor Mark Bodanza argued that the council had handled the application process responsibly and said he would support a motion of further time, which would allow for the matter to be further discussed at subcommittee and council meetings over the next two weeks.
"We owe it to the community to move forward in a thoughtful and deliberate way, and that is why I would support the motion of further time," he said.
Ward 1 Councilor Gail Feckley, who had made the recommendation for further time, did not support the motion of tabling the discussion but said she agreed with the points made by Freda.
"My attitude toward further time, basically, mirrored what you just said," she told Freda. "It wasn't that we were going to go into a subcommittee meeting and rush into a decision."
In response, Freda said, "I'd rather not see us go two weeks and ask for further time again because that only gets people more excited about us dragging our feet."
With the exception of Freda, all councilors present granted to give further time to all three remaining applicants.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Three Medical Pot Facilities OK'd To Move Ahead In Leominster
Author: Peter Jasinski
Contact: (978) 343-6911
Photo Credit: Luke Runyon
Website: Sentinel Enterprise
A fourth applicant was eliminated. DO Health Massachusetts' application to open a dispensary was unanimously voted out of the running by councilors after it scored the lowest on the city's applicant grading rubric.
However, councilors were less united when it came to determining how to move forward with the three remaining applicants.
At-large Councilor Claire Freda, a member of the legal-affairs subcommittee, suggested tabling discussion on the applications for Alternative Therapies Group Inc., Middlesex Integrative Medicine, and Prime Wellness Centers Inc., effectively taking all three applications off the council's agenda until questions regarding each could be answered.
"There are just a number of questions I feel we need to have answered before we pursue this any further," she said, suggesting that councilors perform site visits to dispensary locations before making a decision.
Freda also offered some criticism of how the grading process was handled.
"It's not a secret here that I didn't agree with the way we did the rubric without having the interviews first, because we were asking questions when we had no one around to answer them, and we were guessing what some of the answers were," she said.
Ward 4 Councilor Mark Bodanza argued that the council had handled the application process responsibly and said he would support a motion of further time, which would allow for the matter to be further discussed at subcommittee and council meetings over the next two weeks.
"We owe it to the community to move forward in a thoughtful and deliberate way, and that is why I would support the motion of further time," he said.
Ward 1 Councilor Gail Feckley, who had made the recommendation for further time, did not support the motion of tabling the discussion but said she agreed with the points made by Freda.
"My attitude toward further time, basically, mirrored what you just said," she told Freda. "It wasn't that we were going to go into a subcommittee meeting and rush into a decision."
In response, Freda said, "I'd rather not see us go two weeks and ask for further time again because that only gets people more excited about us dragging our feet."
With the exception of Freda, all councilors present granted to give further time to all three remaining applicants.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Three Medical Pot Facilities OK'd To Move Ahead In Leominster
Author: Peter Jasinski
Contact: (978) 343-6911
Photo Credit: Luke Runyon
Website: Sentinel Enterprise
