COLRAIN — The Selectboard approved and signed a new host community agreement with MA Craft Cultivators at its meeting this week, while supporting the cannabis company’s plans to expand from solely cultivation to cultivation and manufacturing.
Cultivation is the actual harvesting of the marijuana plant, while manufacturing involves breaking down the cannabinoids (aspects of the plant such as its THC and CBD), extracting them and concentrating those parts of the plant into controlled substances. These aspects can be turned into edible marijuana, vapes and oils.
Wes Richie, the co-CEO and co-founder of New England Craft Cultivators, the parent company of MA Craft Cultivators, spoke to the Selectboard at the June 9 meeting, detailing the plans to expand the company’s work in Colrain. MA Craft Cultivators is located at 108 West Leyden Road.
New state regulations prompted the need for cannabis companies to renew their host community agreements with municipalities. These new regulations, under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 65, Section 19, say that the state will “develop a model host community agreement, minimum acceptable standards, and best practices for municipalities and prospective licensees during negotiations of host community agreements with social equity businesses.” The new rules were adopted on April 19.
“Under the state regulations, we all had to get new host community agreements, and so we are looking at this as an opportunity to slightly expand our operations from just cultivation into manufacturing,” Richie explained on June 9. “We recently amended our special permit through the Planning Board, which was great and helpful.”
The recently amended special permit expanded the growing field, adding a roughly 115-foot-by-375-foot space, plus a 55-foot-by-110-foot area around an existing greenhouse. Richie told Selectboard members that the company held a community outreach meeting, where they took questions from residents and Police Chief Chris Lannon.
The new host community agreement was contingent upon Lannon receiving the updated security plan from MA Craft Cultivators, which was received, allowing the Selectboard to sign the new agreement.
According to Town Administrator Diana Parsons, MA Craft Cultivators only has a cultivation license, but is in the process of securing a manufacturing license in line with state regulations. For now, that part of the host community agreement has been left blank.
MA Craft Cultivators currently only operates out of its one location in Colrain. It does not have a dispensary in town, but instead supplies dispensaries in Dracut and Pepperell.
New positions proposed
In other business, the Selectboard approved Treasurer/Collector Paula Harrison’s appointment for the job of assistant treasurer/collector. Maggie Smith, Colrain’s current administrative assistant, will move into this position while retaining her existing role.
According to the job description, this will be a 12-hour-per-week position with an hourly rate of $28.50. Smith will work in the Treasurer/Collector’s Office on Mondays on Thursdays, and will be in the role of administrative assistant on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as the Selectboard meets on Tuesdays.
However, Smith will only stay in the administrative assistant role until an altogether new job description and pay grade can be figured out for an executive assistant role, which Smith would move into. As an executive assistant, she would be the lead person among clerical staff, although Parsons mentioned that wouldn’t represent much change for Smith.
There was some discussion over the language in the job description. Currently, Smith does not supervise the clerical staff, “though she does coordinate,” according to Parsons. The current language states that Smith would be supervising, though Parsons said she will rewrite the description to make it more clear that she’ll be coordinating instead.
Also on the agenda for the Selectboard was a job description for an administrative assistant for the Police Department. Lannon said this job would be around 10 to 15 hours weekly, and would generally be focused on helping with pistol permits, budgetary paperwork and any other paperwork, thus freeing up time for him to be in the field more.
Lannon said an administrative assistant would need about 40 to 50 hours of training. This person would not be a uniformed officer, so they would not be able to respond to calls.
The Selectboard didn’t take votes to approve the job descriptions for the executive assistant and the Police Department’s administrative assistant, as member Ben Eastman said he would like more time to review the job descriptions before taking a vote.
