 Okay. Well, my name is James Pepper. I'm the chair of the Vermont Cannabis Control Board. Today is October 12th, 2022. It's one o'clock. Call this meeting to order. First off, we just are starting to get a few emails from applicants suggesting that their logging credentials aren't working in our licensing portal. If that, if you find yourself in that circumstance, please email us at ccb.applications at vermont.gov and we'll try and resolve your issues. And just a few words about our licensing protocols more generally. Individual board members like Julie Kyle and I are not involved in the prioritization or the review of individual applications. We set up the processes that the staff here executes. We keep an arm's length from the review process, so as not to create even a perception of impropriety. Julie Kyle and I made ourselves available in ways very few regulatory bodies have. Between our advisory committee, the board, we've held 147 public meetings since we started back in April. We've hosted banking and municipal roundtables, town hall events, and networking events. We've spoken on panels. We've appeared on radio shows, TV, and podcasts. We did this because we needed the industry's help in crafting a market that would actually be inviting and accessible to the legacy market. And there's a level of access to us that I would say is unusual when you look at other cannabis commissions. The consequence of this approach, however, is that we don't get involved in our view of applications. No one should be calling or emailing board members, Julie Kyle or myself, to ask about the status of their individual application. The only response we will give you is that we can describe the system of review that we set up, and we will direct you to email ccb.applications at vermont.gov. The average response time for emails that go to this inbox is 24 hours or less. That's the best and only way for you to get answers about your individual application. I would add that the vast majority of our pending applications are in incomplete status. If you're in incomplete status, the ball is in your court. The staff here has sent you all the information you need to proceed, and they are moving on to other applications until you resubmit. When it comes to site visits, I want to stress that it's not helpful for us to conduct a site visit on an operation that's only partially complete. Our inspectors don't want to come to a location and look at equipment that's in boxes or the place where you're safe is eventually going to go or pictures of cameras that are being shipped. The purpose of our site visit is to verify that everything that you put in your application matches up with the conditions on the ground, not some theoretical set of conditions in the future. Once your application makes it to a place where we are calling you to schedule an inspection, you should also let our enforcement team know if your security systems are operational. And this site visit is the last step before an application is recommended for licensing approval. And once you're licensed, you're allowed to possess cannabis on site, which means that all of your security facets must be operational. Just a reminder, don't put off reaching out to fire safety, particularly if you're in a town that has a municipal inspection agreement and requires additional coordination with a local safety inspector. Cannabis is just one small portion of fire safety's workload, and at least in our experience, they don't have the resources to shift around their schedule to prioritize cannabis applicants. Social media, please make sure your social media posts meet all of our advertising guidelines specified in rule two. The entire community is doing a good job of policing one another. We're receiving complaints of out-of-compliance products from social media posts as well as posts that do not meet the child-friendly standards. The legislature wrote into statute some of the strictest advertising restrictions in the country, and they have no patience for anything that appears to be targeting youth or associating youth with cannabis. We in turn made our advertising violations some of our most serious offenses. Everyone should take a moment to re-read our rules about advertising and our advertising guidance and make sure you're complying with these standards. A reminder that our product registration form and payment portal is live on our website, ccb.vermont.gov. If you have questions about product registration, feel free to email us at ccb.products.vermont.gov. Also, our inventory tracking forms are live as well. We're going to be sending out an email to all licensees by the end of the day today with instructions on how and when to submit these forms to the board, so please keep an eye out for that. Finally, just to address a rumor that is making its rounds, the board is not contemplating closing the application window for retail establishments. I don't know where the rumor originated, but there is no truth to it. If we were going to close the retail application window, we would make that decision in a properly noticed board meeting and the window would remain open for at least 30 days after that decision. Well, in that, just have to approve the minutes from our last meeting on October 6th. You guys had a chance to look at those, right? Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Seconded. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, Bryn, I will turn things over to you. Okay. Here is the medical and adult use cannabis register for this week, starting out with the medical cannabis program. This week, we've gotten about just under 100 new and renewal patient applications. I wanted to point out that the medical team who's working on processing these applications plowed through just a huge number that were received last week. There was over 200 new and renewal applications last week, and they did a great job getting through all of those. And we, as you can see, were well within that 30 day window that we have by statute to process applications that come in. So we are kind of through our backlog and back on track with the medical application processing. I'll move down to our adult use license applications. So this is the data that was pulled this morning from our system. You can see down here, just a comparison from last week, we've gotten about 45 new applications in the last seven days. And what I want to point out is that these three numbers down here at the bottom submitted, received, and under review, the number of applications in these first, like initial three statuses when applications are submitted to us when we receive them. And when we start doing our review, these numbers are essentially the same as they were last week. And then reviewing prior weeks, I can see that they are remaining pretty static week after week, regardless of the number of new applications that we get in. So as the chair mentioned in the outset, the vast majority of applications are either in the incomplete status or over here in the issued status. So as this number, as this total number grows, what grows with it is the incomplete status, the resubmitted status, and then the approved or issued status. So what that tells me is that our licensing staff is really steadily pushing applications forward through the process and getting the incomplete letters out to folks and making sure that, like the chair mentioned, the ball is really in the applicants' court or pushing through to the board for our approval. So just to re-emphasize how much work our licensing staff is doing every day at pushing these applications forward and getting them through to the board. So for this week, we've got seven, we've got seven applications up for review by the board for approval. We have four retailers and two indoor cultivation applicants and one manufacturer. So this is the list for the week. These are all applicants that have demonstrated compliance with all of the requirements for licensure both in board rule and in statute. So we have Orban's Finest applying for an indoor tier three cultivation license. Pognizant's Sparks applying for an indoor tier one cultivation license. Rowe by MJ Cultivators applying for a tier two manufacturing license. Graham Central applying for a retail license. GB LLC applying for a retail license. LaMoyle County Cannabis LLC applying for a retail license. And the Green Man LLC applying for a retail license. So that is your list for recommendation today. I'll move on to our license amendments information. We've got, this looks pretty much the same. We still have 12 all together getting my license amended. And then here is the submission status of social equity applications. So you can see we're pushing people through. We've got one new social equity application in the queue. And we don't have any status pending today. So no applicants up for social equity status determination today. But here is where they fall in the queue. So we've got 11 that are still pending their social equity status determination. So we should probably see more on the register next week. That is where we are for this week. Great. Any questions for Graham? No. All right. Is there a motion to approve the staff recommendation? I move that the board accept each of the recommendations for licensing approval as presented to us by staff in this meeting. That was second. My favor. All right. All right. Little head of schedule today. Why don't we shift to public comment? I did want to make a few points about public comments before we get started. The point of a public comment period is to allow members of the public to participate in the decision making process of this board. Give us your thoughts. Give us direction. Provide your input. Help shape our thinking. Tell us where we miss something or we're being over prescriptive. You know, we've had a public comment period at every one of our meetings. And they've been very helpful in shaping our regulations. The public comment periods are not Q&A sessions with the board or an opportunity to ask about the status of your individual application. You know, when it comes to the former, in almost every circumstance, the board members cannot answer your questions directly. The three of us cannot advise you on an issue that might lead to a dispute that needs to be resolved by the three of us. This would be like if you were in court and the judge was also your lawyer. We know you have questions. We know our regulations leave some ambiguity. We've developed a lot of guidance documents and FAQs that are available on our website. If you don't find the answer to your question there, you should email us at ccb.info at vermont.gov. Nellie is the air traffic controller of that inbox. You know, basic questions get turned around very quickly, usually in a less than a day. More complex questions might take a little bit longer, but no more than a couple of days. And I should note we have separate email addresses that are topic specific, whether that's about applications or compliance or fee payments. They go directly to the person that can answer those questions. Find all of those email addresses at ccb.vermont.gov slash contact. So with that being said, I'd like to open this up to public comment. If you will do it the same way we always do. If you have a comment and you join via the link, please raise your virtual hands. Once we get through those, we'll move on to people to join via the phone. Jesse is first. Jesse, are you there? Just can you hear me now? Yes. Thank you. Maybe we didn't quite understand the language. Was Graham Central Retail approved for licensure during this meeting? Yes, it was. Thank you. Bobby. Hi. I want to thank the board for all the work you guys do. I know it's a lot, but I have to also express a deep concern. It's been a seven month ride, and it's very hard to get our questions answered. And I appreciate that you're telling us not to reach out to anyone, but when you're in the dark for about a month or two or three and your life and investment is on the line, you have to appreciate where we're coming from too. This is our livelihood and our families and a business we're trying to build. And it has been a very frustrating and disappointing, deflating process because I'm in a state of utter confusion all the time trying to get clarification. I just want to send that over to you guys because maybe you can have a little sympathy for us out here too. And I appreciate the work you're doing, but it's been a very deflating experience. Maybe at a future meeting I would love to get a little clarity. I think the public could use a little clarity. I know other retailers who I've been speaking with could use a little clarity. On the testing, the potency testing requirements for manufactured products, there doesn't seem to be a lot of consensus among licensees as to what's required and whether a product that is made from a distillate that has been tested for potency using a manufacturer's formulation that has been tested once, whether testing must be done again on the next batch of product made from that same distillate using that same formula. With a little more clarity, I think the market could really operate a little more smoothly without additional testing delays in situations where there really is no public safety benefit from doing batch testing on every single batch. It just makes products more scarce and more expensive. I'm happy to talk with you guys more about that offline, but I think just a little public clarity would help a lot. Thank you very much. Yeah, thanks, Dan. JP. Hi. I had a comment on the security requirements around manufacturer tier two and how that relates to trying to use a home kitchen like a manufacturer tier one is probably expected to do. I understand having a camera makes a lot of sense to me, having cameras monitor the full area where any production goes on, but as long as you're storing the produced product in a secure location with all alarms and cameras running, it seems to me that the requirement to have all your windows of your house alarmed just so that you can do the production portion in a home kitchen is excessive and difficult to comply with. Thanks, JP. Anyone else who joined by the link and if you joined by a phone and would like to make a comment and unmute your phone by pressing star six. The phone number ending in 8-8-2-8 has unmuted. Hi. We just want to say thank you. This is the Moio County Cannabis and we are super excited. Thank you. And we do appreciate all the hard work you guys are doing. It's been quite a journey. Thank you. Thank you. Marie with grow. I just wanted to actually say the same thing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I so appreciate. Melissa Anderson has been amazing. You guys all have been diligently working hard and I know that and I just want you all to know how much I really appreciate it because I do know other markets could be so much worse and so much harder. And thank you. Have a great weekend. Thanks, Marie. Tree frog farms. Hey, guys. Just wanted to go the same thing. Amazing job you've done. I'd also like to speak to the compliance team. I had my visit on Friday and let everybody know listening right now that that was more than helpful. They're happy to answer all questions and extend where they can go and find answers and email you back. So there's a lot that you can get from them when they come to see you. The other comments last question I had maybe you could address in another meeting is I know we have the visitor's log to sign in as well. But being required to wear passes if we're doing a tour of the field with somebody maybe for insurance or other purposes, I didn't know if there would be a visitor's pass available for that kind of situation. Thank you guys again for everything you've done. Thank you. Anyone else for a public comment? I'll close the public comment window. I know we heard the kind of anxiety about getting questions answered. I really wanted to stress that the public comment window is not a venue to ask questions if you are expecting an answer. The board members need to be able to kind of make decisions based on live disputes that come our way. So we can't advise you and then turn around and make a decision that might not go in your favor. So if you have questions or a team is here to help and ccb.info at vermont.gov for questions. It's just the board members can't individually answer questions. Anything else? I would just say we totally I think all of us and staff I don't know if sympathy is the right word but empathy perhaps is a more appropriate word. We know folks are starting at so many different points in this process with certain levels of understanding whether it's cultivation business technical you name it and I think as our staff starts to work at a more appropriate pace and we can really look to build out a lot more guidance and and you know FAQs whatever you want to call it to help folks speak answers to questions without having to wait any time at all for a response from staff you know that's really what we view as the next phase of our work so so hang tight certainly appreciate the comments congrats to everybody that was licensed today Colonel Forums made his ascent that's a reference if you know you know type of thing if you're a fan of a certain band I'll leave it at that. I will adjourn the meeting then thank you all and we'll see you next week.