FARMINGTON — Selectmen Tuesday, March 9, denied a request to amend the number of marijuana storefronts allowed, but did agree to a review of the town’s Adult Use and Medical Marijuana Ordinance for possible amendments.
The request for an additional storefront came from Corey Boyker and Jyssica Bourdreault, owners of Farmington Pawnsters.
“I ran a pawn shop for eight years, done my best to run a great business,” Boyker said. The COVID-19 situation caused him to close the doors and his next idea was to put a marijuana storefront in that space.
“Not only for me, but for others it would provide more jobs,” he said. “I’m asking for a little bit of a favor here. I helped recover a lot of stolen items for this town. We need some help.”
Boyker and Bourdreault are growing medical marijuana in Mexico, Maine.
“Help me understand how allowing them a license would help him if you’ve got people waiting ahead of him in line,” Town Manager Richard Davis asked Code Enforcement Officer Steven Kaiser.
There are eight ahead of him, Kaiser said. Interested parties submit a letter of intent, then when a slot becomes available it goes to the first person in line, he said.
“If we do extend any numbers we’re going to have to provide enough to be fair,” Kaiser said. “You’ve reopened things up with this discussion.” This is just the beginning of assessing whether more slots for any category should be available, he noted.
Seven storefronts, four adult use and three medical are allowed per the town’s ordinance. Seven cultivation facilities, five for manufacturing and two for testing are also permitted.
“Several years ago when we grappled with this policy and set the numbers they seemed like a reasonable number for the town to support,” Selectman Michael Fogg said. “I’m not greatly in favor of changing the ordinance this way. If you want to go back and relook at the ordinance, then that is what I propose we do. We’ve got a little rewriting to do.”
Earlier in the meeting, the board had approved the transfer of a license for an adult use marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility providing $18,250 in past due fees were paid in full within 30 days.
Selectman Scott Landry asked what the market might bear.
“I don’t think any of us knew what this was going to be when this came out,” Selectman Chair Matthew Smith said. “We didn’t want every other building being a storefront. Even if we opened it up, there would be no more in what we call the downtown.”
Wilton just opened up their policy, there have been no issues there, Smith said.
“I look at it as free enterprise,” he added.
“There was some impact on how those numbers were arrived at, had to do with population and other factors,” Davis said. “A lot of work went into this. We looked at ordinances from all over the country.”
Amendments to the ordinance would have to go before voters for approval, he said.
There are seven storefronts, four adult use and three medical that have submitted notification of interest and applications, Kaiser said. There are also one cultivation and one manufacturing facility with both, plus two testing facilities that have submitted notification but no applications so far, he said.
“Focus on the storefronts, where the most interest is right now. Since people took time to get on this list, it’s probably a good idea to create enough spaces for them,” Kaiser said when asked what his recommendation would be.
“Where do you stop,” Davis asked. “I feel strongly about this. I don’t usually give my opinion. I think you have enough. There was a lot of thought that went into this ordinance. I don’t see a reason to increase it. Whatever you decide, we’ll follow through but I don’t think it’s necessary.”
How to handle late payment of fees and possible penalties needs to be addressed, Fogg said.
“There’s a feeling amongst many that the medical could get squeezed out of this eventually because of taxation by the state,” Landry said. “You might want to consider what happens to these medical licenses if they want to change to adult use. Maybe it’s a good time to look at the whole picture and try to plan for something like that.”
“The state is writing new medical laws,” Smith said. “One of the things they’ve come up with is if you are a caregiver, you have to have a storefront or you can’t sell your stuff. Some in Farmington won’t be able to sell their product. Within a few years, medical is going to be pretty much gone.”
Farmington has a marijuana reputation because of odors from cultivation facilities, Davis said.
The odor issue is the only one so far the town has had to deal with, Kaiser said.
Amendments to the ordinance will need to go before the Planning and Zoning boards. A special town meeting mid-summer for voters to consider those amendments was possible, Davis said.
In other business, Police Chief Kenneth Charles was given approval to implement hiring bonuses.
The department is three staff members short, with openings for a supervisor, detective and patrol officer, he said. New patrol officer Christoph Mutschin didn’t make the list for the next Maine Criminal Justice Academy, but looks to be in a good spot for the fall, Charles noted. There is a backlog, 114 candidates for 70-person class, he said.
“How do we get people on the rolls relatively quick,” Charles asked before suggesting hiring bonuses.
Newly hired full-time certified officers would receive a bonus of $2,000 on hire, an additional $2,000 at the beginning of the second year and $4,000 the third year, providing no buyout is required. For officers who need reimbursement to another department to cover Academy attendance the bonus amounts would be $1,000 on hire, $1,000 year two and $2,000 year three.
Police departments with an officer who has graduated from the Academy within five years who then moves to another department are compensated about $40,000 for each year, Charles said.
A neighboring community offers a hiring bonus, as does a larger southern Maine department, he said.
“They have a lot to offer. A lot of positions, a lot of growth potential, different specialties attractive to new officers,” Charles said. “Somehow we need to compete with that. I’ve talked a lot about trying to sell what we have here as quality of life, quality of service.”
A third category for untrained officers was asked about by Selectman Stephan Bunker.
“That could be negotiated, perhaps $1,000 to $2,000,” Charles said. “We’re looking for quality applicants. Life background, military experience and education, that’s all helpful. It’s what the person brings to the table that is most important.”
Bonuses would be taken from the Academy Reserve Account, Charles said.
“Instead of spending that money and sending someone to the Academy, we’d be saving time and money in getting that position filled,” he said.
That account is used to reimburse other departments for officer buyouts, Davis said.
“I’m a little excited because during the interview process to hire you, one of the things you were asked was what you were going to do to recruit people,” Fogg said. Good job, this is new to this department, commend you for coming up with something that may work to encourage recruits to consider Farmington over Waterville, wherever it might be, he said.
Approval was also given Charles to consider incentive bonuses for current employees who recruit staff to the department.
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