 Good to go. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the Act of 2021 and extended again by chapter two of the Act of 2023, this meeting will be conducted by a remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so in the following manner by emailing stevemccarthyatmccarthysatmrstma.gov. That's m-c-c-a-r-t-h-y-s at mrstma.gov. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the proceedings in real-time, biotechnological means. In the event we are unable to do so for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, we will post on the MRST website in audio or video recording, transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. That done, we'll call the meeting to order at 5.03 p.m. and take a roll call of attendance. Dylan? Here. Allie? Here. And I'm here, so we are three here with two absent, Doug and Gaston. And then next up is public comment. Is there anyone here for public comment unrelated to anything on the agenda? Please hit the, let me see, do we have anybody here? No, so I guess there are no attendees. So we have no public comment, correct, Steve? I guess not. I guess not, okay. We have no licenses, so we just have discussion topics and we'll start with those. Discussion topic A, marijuana regulation. Dylan, you said something, or Steve sent it around for you. I did, Steve sent it around. I'm realizing, I think I sent you guys the super rough draft, but it is okay. The rough draft isn't a whole lot different. If you look there, it's essentially we've got our purpose there, our authority, anything I've kind of highlighted in yellow there, that's essentially that first section there that's just gonna be changing to say mass general chapter laws relating to marijuana is the general idea anywhere it's referencing mass general law, I'm just gonna be changing that to marijuana. The big thing I actually wanted to talk about though with everybody here, if you scroll down you'll see things like tip certification, manager of record, physical space site plan, all these types of things. And then if you go down even further, manager of record, employees, days and hours of operation, all of that, my idea here is I think we should really just eliminate any of that all together. I don't think it needs a replacement because we're really talking about making it an equivalent to alcohol. This is really more so strictly talking like a package store, a liquor store where you're taking and consuming off-premises. So I think a lot of these regulations that apply here to alcohol, I don't think need to apply to marijuana. Does anybody think differently about that or do we all think that those major highlighted sections can just be removed entirely as opposed to kind of edited down? I would say, well, I don't know. I mean, is it possible that some of them need to stay? Just kind of, is there any, like I'm just, my eye happened to glance on capacity. So is there any maximum capacity, which obviously is a problem for an on-premises, but is there any reason we'd need to, I mean, would that pertain to a package store also or? I mean, that's more of like a health safety building, inspection regulation. Right, oh, okay. Safety, then. Okay, yeah. Then something. Yeah, I don't think we would be out here suspending a license because they had too many people in their store. Whereas, you know, with a bar, that's clearly a little bit more in our purview because it's like. Right. Yeah, we all want to pack every, as many people as we can in a Friday night gas, but, you know, it's a little different. So I'm thinking that one again, with hours of operation as well, this is kind of going more into that, you know, are we really operating that late night bar, kind of pushing it farther than we should be? Again, days and hours of operation. I think it's, you know, yeah, like at that point, are we saying like, and you have to be up the fire code. It's like, well, you know, the fire department says that, not us. So my kind of thinking generally, when it talks about employees, again, it's talking more about, it seems a little bit cumbersome to ask for all of this for just a retail store where they're not really monitoring the consumption. So that's why manager of record and employees, I don't think we necessarily need that level of record keeping, I guess you could say. If we wanted to keep something manager of record, maybe even just like a sentence or two of saying like, you know, if you got to have a manager on record, but then I guess the real question is here with that too is, you know, Steve, do we need somebody like that? Is that one something we want to keep? And I mean, I guess the rest of the board as well, is that something we want to to keep similar to how we do like a bar. We want that same level of strictness to it when they're not necessarily overseeing consumption. Well, that does exist for package stores as well and things like that too. So with a package store then, you know, they can't change the manager without prior approval from the board of, from us, like if Spirit House gets a new manager, they have to get the approval. Is it the same procedure? Well, I guess depending on how you use the word manager, I mean, the manager of record, yes, who's on the liquor license and supposed to have, you know, kind of oversight over everything going on, not necessarily like, you know, the nice shift manager or something if you use them. So we're a manager in that way. But yeah, every liquor license business does have to have a manager of record and have to do the change process. Does the, like the manager of Spirit House, do they submit their fingerprints to the Amherst Police Department? I don't believe they submit their fingerprints now. Got it. Okay. Cause that's the one here where I was looking at manager of record and I was seeing something like that and like that seems, seems like a lot. And that seems like a big ask. They would have to have a background check. I think they're required to be a U.S. citizen for a liquor licensing, but I don't think they have fingerprints. I'm going to go ahead and just delete that section then. But employees, we all are okay. The employee section, just to get rid of that. Let's just ask, yes, Doug. Hey, hi, Doug, nice to see you. Yes, nice to see you everybody. Just going back to manager of record for a second, that that line of having the Corey check and the submit fingerprints part, that may be part of the CCC regulation. So they're going to do it anyway. So just having us have a record of that, maybe all we're really sort of asking for just provide the same stuff you're providing for the state level stuff. I'm just not recalling offhand. I'm just, that may be why that's there. I think on the employees, I think that, I don't know, I'm a little more of an opinion given that marijuana retail is still new, meaning it's, what is it, four or five years now. But I agree they're not necessarily, they're not watching consumption. I mean, I think that's when we get into the cafes and whatnot, we'll have to deal with that. But I think that there has generally been an approach of having a higher level of expectation around the businesses because it is so new. I think the other piece around sort of training that we want to kind of and have asked for, and we certainly asking liquor licenses for the tips training and we've gone back and forth about how much detail we want regarding that. And people usually tell us, yeah, that their current staff, when they're applying for the license has all that, has the tips training. We haven't sat on any short-term license. There's not the equivalent here, but I think that the parallel I draw is that, not that there's very medical marijuana facilities are very few now, but there's, as part of it as a drug for the purposes of prescription, you have to be able to consult people about the prescription and dosage and all that sort of stuff. So if you go to the pharmacist, you have a new drug that actually are supposed to take a minute and talk you through the ins and outs of it. I don't know. It's a little bit of that that I would want to keep, I think, just to be a little cautious at the beginning, but I don't know. I mean, managing it, like you say, I think the management of sort of keeping the list and keeping it up to date is a headache, but I don't know. There's some things that we have to do for us anyway around some of the payments for education and that sort of stuff that's kind of required in host community agreements, that sort of stuff that this may be just an easy thing to add to that documentation that they got to do anyway. So I don't know. I'm split-minded, I guess I should say. I'll put this out because I agree. And if there were something, I think like a tip certification for marijuana, I definitely support it because I know tips, it's like a little tedious and it's a little silly, but like when you actually do it, there is good information in there that it's worth the two hours it takes to do it. The issue with marijuana in the sense of why we want it because it's so new, the problem is it is so new when so many of the problems haven't been discovered that if you walk into these retail stores and you ask them about the marijuana, it's even from a professional standpoint, it's a lot of hand-waving. It's like, oh, well, this one is this breed of this and it has this effect. And it's like, you don't know that, it's just a sales gimmick. And we're kind of at that point and that's fine. And if we're having people do a training, it's like, well, what is this training? I don't know if it exists yet. So to say, I think it might be something that I think the mistakes just might have to get made for people to realize, oh, wait, now that we know it's an issue, we can address it then. We're to try to get ahead of it, where the solution just, I don't think exists yet because we don't know what that problem looks like. I'm thinking if it doesn't exist, let's just kind of let it be as my thinking about it. One follow-up question, and I just don't recall, is there a maximum amount you can buy at one time? Or can you just walk in and say, I'll take all of it? The reason I ask that question is if there is a limit, then there's certain regulations of the CCC that the employees need to be knowledgeable of. And at least the employer should have them certified that they know what the CCC regulations that they have to follow are. So an example would be if there's a limit on how much you can sell in one transaction, if there are other sort of constraints from the CCC, that would be the sort of, because I agree, there's no tips training or parallel. And again, this is more like a package or instead of a retail consumption restaurant bar kind of thing, but if there are certain regulations that all the employees should know, and I think the CCC requires them when they're going through the CCC process to do a little bit of that, us just getting a confirmation that they've complied with that, because it could be that they're running simultaneous with us and the CCC application. It's just a thought, but I think, I agree with you, yeah, let's not over-regulate in a circumstance where there's no there, there yet, and it's a bunch of busy work that nobody's gonna actually look at. That's not helpful for anybody. But if there are aspects of the CCC process that we can just say, hey, verify this with us. And I think especially if these run in parallel tracks where they're working with us and the CCC simultaneously, then having them just verify those things could be helpful while they're simultaneously trying to process with the CCC. So then they don't have to do all the CCC and then wait and come to us. They can be kind of in a parallel process, but they need to give us a few of the same things they're given the CCC. Now, I like that, I think we could even keep a line that just says, employees must be kept up to date and knowledgeable with regulations for the CCC, say, regarding, and I'll leave you just to write this out, regarding limits on marijuana, gold, I mean, one chance, actually. We could put something in there, like I don't necessarily mind something like that. It feels like it keeps this section, then if we need to add to it later, we've got the section right here. It's a single line for now, and then we build on it if we need, you know. Yeah, and we've got hours of operation. Do we want to really say anything there? I think, again, that's, we could, but I think it's just, I don't want to say out of our purview, but it's less so, because again, I don't think anyone's operating the late night marijuana retail store, you know, quite like, you know, it's the same as somebody trying to run a bar that stays open till 2 a.m., you know, when people come up with that brilliant idea, it's like, why don't I just sell to people under 21 and stay open till 2 a.m.? I got no competition. I don't think we're running into that same issue necessarily with a retail store or a liquor store. Yeah, the other thing I'll add is that around the hours of operation, is that they do have to get a special permit from the ZBA or the playing board, I'm not sure who has it, I think it's probably ZBA. They're going to limit the hours. So they're going to own, you know, ZBA is going to own that. So we can let the ZBA own that. And I know it's actually both. I've done it with the zoning board of appeals. We approved red cardinal, but then I believe it was the planning board, I think, who had approved pleasantries or it was ZBA before I got there, I believe so. But it could have also been the ZBAs before I got onto the ZBA and that's why I'm misremembering it. All I know is I didn't do anything with pleasantries, but I worked on the one for red cardinal. And then the other one too, you know, speaking of kind of what's handled by planning boarders, ZBA was alterations of physical alterations. This one I know pertain to us because you didn't want to have people create, you know, these blind zones where a bartender couldn't see and keep track of alcohol consumption. Where once again, now if a marijuana store wants to change their register location or where the line forms, I think again, where I don't see us being concerned with changes to the physical premise. What do you folks think about that? I wouldn't think so. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so I'm getting into that one too. I think you have to. Maybe you could share your screen as you're doing this, Dylan. I'm trying to get into the Zoom meeting on my computer. I'm on my iPad as I'm talking. Let me do this. Just a moment, I'm trying to join the meeting here. All right, can you, I'll mute this. Can you see that I joined Steve on another account there? I should be in the audience. Yes. Oh, you're an attendee now. I'm an attendee. Excellent. Host, disabled, participant, screen sharing. I can make you a co-host, I guess. Thank you. Say when? You should be, I'll say. Host, disabled, let me try again. Nope. I'm not sure yet. I might have done the wrong one. I did your iPad one. All right, so we can all see this here. So, employees, just keep current accurate list of names. All right, so I'm just gonna expand this section here just to essentially say, you know, keep current with. And that's just an example there. I'm gonna change the wording on that. But again, regarding such, here we go. I'm gonna slowly do one transaction. So we've got that. So manager of record, because we say manager must meet all CCC requirements and submit a criminal offender record information certification and submit finger drinks to the Amherst Police Department. I personally wanna just get rid of this section here because if it's required that they do that by CCC, then it's required that they do that by CCC. I don't necessarily think we need the manager over there submitting fingerprints. I'm not gonna say. Either that it's too cumbersome, I've certainly had jobs. You know, I worked at a high school and I submitted fingerprints for that job as well. I don't think it's certainly unheard of to ask for. But I just think we would need a reason to ask for it. And I personally don't see what that reason is. But if you folks do, please let me know. I think if there's good reason to keep it, we could. I would say if it's part of the CCC process, then I definitely don't think we need it as well. The other thing with any of those is it tells you what the circumstances at the time they do it, but what about a year later when they do something? So we're not gonna continue to sort of check those records. All right, so we like that there. Board and the CCC. I'm gonna go ahead and say prior approval of the board because if the CCC requires it, then the CCC requires it. We don't care if they let the CCC know if the CCC doesn't care. That's, all right, that'll look good there. We like manager of record. Yeah. Yes. Excellent. I'm just gonna go back to employees. We like employees. Do we wanna make any changes to that or that sounds good? I think that sounds good. Capacity, we agree. We don't care about capacity. That's in this case, not what we're really concerned about here. All right. Sales to intoxicated persons. This is one we could, the sale or delivery of, I think it would be the mail of, sorry about the formatting, is prohibited like, I don't think it hurts to keep it. I'd keep it. I think just calling it intoxicated is fine. Yep. If you come into the point where it's obvious. Yeah. We like that all there. Building, licensure and permitting. I think this kind of might as well keep it in there. Why not in public health emergency? I think these are both fine. Just now a matter of changing these all to one, two, three. Four. Yeah. Maybe CC should just be CCC at the end of that. Yeah. 504. Yeah, I had a couple where I left some in there. Like I still have to change like the authority of where we're pointing to. Right. And then the disciplinary hearings. I really think, this makes sense to keep something like this in terms of what we do for alcohol. We can do the same for marijuana. I don't see a reason why we would need to treat them differently in that regard. Does anybody think we should treat marijuana differently when it comes to violations? No, I think it's easiest to keep everybody the same. It's fair and. Insistent. Well, I was far less complaints or grievances. Now, this is one that I thought was kind of weird even that we do this for alcohol as well. So I kind of highlighted this one to get everybody's take on it. So if we suspend somebody, they have to put the, no alcohol served for the Board of Licensing Commissioners for the town of Amherst. Now, I feel like that we're doing to let, if a restaurant loses its license, it can still serve alcohol. In this case, or it can still serve food, just not alcohol. So to have that sign out front makes sense. But for marijuana, are we doing something like that? I would suggest we have some sort of notice. A consumer might want to know in a sense. Like, I'd rather go by my pot from a place that hasn't had a violation. I'm just. Yeah, no, I agree. I would agree. And some sort of notice is appropriate. Like, hey, why are they locked? It's Tuesday at three o'clock. They're always open Tuesday at three o'clock. Oh, I see. Well, they broke the rules. Maybe I should buy from somebody that's, or maybe that makes them want to buy there more. I don't know. But yeah, I think some notice makes some sense just so if you see the store hours on the door and they're not open during those, then it's like, oh, here's why. Well, in that store of a branch is out to selling. Other accoutrements that don't contain marijuana might, they could still technically be open then maybe. So you're saying if they're selling Doritos and Oreos along with the, with the. Yeah, or T-shirts. Yeah, T-shirts or whatever, then they can still be open. Right. Okay. All right, so I'll go ahead and just make this essentially say that. I know we have, with the exception, I, what do we want to say? Just, we can even just delete this whole thing here. Excuse me. Delete this whole thing here with the exception of restaurants. You've been the premises of such time. I'm just going to go ahead and remove this whole section, man. If it's carving out, yeah, an exception for restaurants, but I think it's implied here. And this was something that seemed to just apply to when the, this section here was adopted for alcohol, saying that, that specific section was going to take place April 1st. I think it was to what, give people time to come into compliance with that. Right. Cool. So I think we can get rid of that section entirely. And then this is section eight, section seven. So what do we think? Any other major changes we're looking to make here? Or is this all kind of flow well? It's just going to be a matter of just cleaning up some of this, this language here and then just changing the authority. Which Steve, I think I want to work with you on that one just to see what is mass general law that we should have this kind of all point to in terms of our authority here. Because do we have this authority yet explicitly in mass general law? No. I believe there's kind of a catch-all section in one of those chapters, but I don't, it's not explicitly. Yeah. Okay. I think there's a section of mass general law that says that a town may create licenses as they see fit and your licensing board is the one that regulates and enforces those licenses. Some generic thing like that where it's not specifically alcohol. Oh, right. Yeah, I've seen that. Yeah. Because I think we have one for something really like secondhand stores or something like that, thrift shops or something that we have that's not like in state statute, but we have or a keg law. Actually, our keg by law that had, I think had essentially that same thing where you essentially get a one day license for a keg. That's not a state thing at all. We created that under the broad general license or license language. Perfect. So I think we got that there. The last thing I just want to change is just wherever I'm saying marijuana. I want to switch it to say retail marijuana. So I wanted to define that as a store that sells marijuana for recreational use, consumed off premises to make it clear that these are the regulations that we're having apply to retail stores that currently operate. And I think we'll be taking a different approach when we start thinking about how we want to do onsite consumption, should it go that way? So just one question there. That would mean if you wanted to open just a medical marijuana shop, you wouldn't have to get the license. That's my understanding. Are we looking to do something different for medical? Well, I think you can just say for medicinal or recreational use, so you could kind of put it there and it covers both and then they have to go through the same process. I mean, that's just the way I thought of it. Most of them aren't both at this point. They're just doing the recreational, because the medicine is a lot of hoops to jump, but it's the most important part. This is part that's a really critical part, I think. Yeah, I'm fine to say medicinal or recreational. The, I guess my question there is, is there some reason why we would want to not weigh in on medical? My initial feeling was no, but I mean, now that it's being questioned even a little bit, I'm like, yeah, I guess we can regulate it the same. I think it's just consistent, because often places want to do both. So it's just, it's the same process for everybody and I don't know, I find it's just consistent. So I think that it's like, oh, this is the process you have to do if you want to sell it. I don't know, so whether you're doing it as medical or recreational or both. All right. Well, how do we like all these as they are? Do we just agree? Last thing I'm gonna do is change around authority and what chapters we're pointing to and just anywhere else where I've left in ABCC. Other than that, do we like the way this reads? Do we think there's anything else that we should include? I don't think so. I think it looks good. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Dylan. All right. Thank you, Dylan. Then I will put on the finishing touches to this and then we can vote on it next time we all meet. Does that sound like a plan? Yeah, so do we, so we can vote on, these are the regulations, right? And not the bylaw, not the bylaw and that's gonna come, that's a separate part, right? Yeah, that one's, that'll be separate. Gaston is working on that one. Gaston's working on that. Okay, all right, that sounds great. All right. I think it'd be good to have an attorney go over to Dylan's, this is kind of a breaking new ground and I'd be happy to go over it too in a little bit more detail and I had a chance to do so today and we can bring it back and maybe try to coordinate the town council as well with that bylaw and take a look at that and just make sure everything integrates properly. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Let's have an attorney look at it, make sure that it all looks good and there isn't something glaring that we should have included in here as well. I don't really think it's a good idea but I'm comfortable with them as they are with those needed changes. Yeah. Okay, great, thank you so much Dylan. Totally. We'll look forward. So we'll see the next draft at our next meeting. Yes. Okay, super, great. Okay, so discussion topic B, lunch cards and food trucks on Pre Street. Steve. Yes, so that should be a go for tomorrow. Oh, great. We have two food trucks coming. Lavera Crizzana has a food truck and Rooster's Roman Cantina which has been doing it on Kendrick Park. So they'll be getting there at eight and serving by eight 30 until two a.m. and they'll be cleaning up afterwards. Road will be blocked off by the police department at eight and should be, should hope it's a success. We'll see. Fantastic. Busy Halloween weekend, but. Yeah. We'll see how it goes. Yeah, yeah. It's exciting. Yeah, it's very exciting. Yeah, thank you so much. Any questions for Steve about the new and exciting? It's been marketing on UMass campus or anything. I don't think there'll be then any marketing or outreach. I mean, I think it could be good to not have it get mobbed the first time and see what the foot traffic is like. And, you know, this is just a pilot program. So we'll see how it goes and take some first baby steps tomorrow. Great. Super. Thank you. So we'll look forward to hearing about that. Okay. See process for chair and vice chair elections and Gaston brought this up last time because we last voted on chair and vice chair in 2021 for 2020. I think it was 2020. 2020. It was a long time ago. It was after we were online. So I guess we want to think about that. I do have, I did check, I wrote down in my notes somewhere that we'd maybe talked about years ago, talked about doing the elections in January or after the appointments were made sometime after renewal season in the first of the year. So I don't know, does anyone have any ideas? Should we just... I can say I did reach out to the town clerk and the only really rules on this would be, you know, just Robert's rules of order, the normal voting procedure. So however the board wants to structure it would be fine. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I know we talked to Gaston about it earlier today which I think the general consensus it's where we would love to keep having you as chair, Marianne, so long as you're willing to do it. But we should definitely get in terms of getting back to doing the proper formalities of actually doing the elections of it. I mean, I talked to Gaston, I know he's not looking to do chair or vice chair. So I think he's fine with the, if we even wanted to, if we have consensus you can even take a vote now to nominate our chair if we want to do it. Does anyone want to officiate it or do we want to put the stamp on with everybody? Yeah, Doug. Hold on for a couple of things. So I think to actually do the election we just, we have to put it as the election chair, vice chair and then generally what happens in that circumstance is that Steve runs the meeting until the chair is elected and the chair runs the vice chair, just formal steps and stuff. But we can have that on any agenda at any time. So we can pick whatever. I was just looking at when our terms end and they're all June 30th. Oftentimes the board will always when they get new membership sort of take that topic up so we could do January or we could do July because that's July's when things will turn over. But we can also by consensus say, yeah, we don't need to do anything. So should we wait till July or is there anyone have a burning need to change or? I don't, you two are doing a fabulous job. I'd say let's wait for Gaston to be out of meaning but I think if terms are July or June 30th then I think we should plan on having elections in July moving forward. Yeah. Okay, what do you think Dylan is that sound good or did you want to be chair or vice chair? I have absolutely no desire to be chair. I would accept vice chair on the condition that I don't actually have to do any chairing. So I have no burning passion to do either about you. Well, and do you want to wait? I mean, I feel like do you want to wait till after town council election still and because if you win, I don't know if you can be on this board. Well, don't worry, I'm not winning. You missed that conversation. My work has picked up immensely this last month. It's been the real busy season for us. So I've gotten to knock on doors since like actually turning in my papers like one night so far as how much I've gotten out there. So I'm not worried about that but even post-election right now I have a lot going on that I'm not looking to chair. I will put that out up front. If I were, we'd be talking June, July, any ways when I would even think considering that. Look, look, we're all volunteer bureaucrats. We love our bureaucracy. We love our procedure. I just love following the, having the vote to reinstate, reinstate Mary and making it official on there. But I honestly have no strong preference on this. I'm happy to wait till July when we would normally do it. I think we can definitely just kind of get it back into the rotation of things we do. Okay. Well, I guess we can wait till July and if that's okay. And then does Gaston have a, I guess he should be able to speak for himself. Did he like express a strong preference or he was just thought of it? No. Okay. I don't think he really, he, I think on the same team, not to speak for Gaston but the sense I got is just the following of procedure as the strong preference. Cause I know I asked Gaston. He's like, what are you, are you looking to do? He's like, no, God, no. He's going out to Northeastern University. I know he's looking at, he's got a lot on his plate as well. So I think, I think Mary and really we'd be giving you the opportunity to jump ship if you wanted to. But if you're looking to do it, I think you've got everybody's support here. So. Okay. I didn't really, you know, I was just, didn't really matter to me if someone wanted to be chair. I'm very happy to step aside, you know, or take a vote. But I'm also, you know, I can wait till July. No matter what, I think you're stuck till July. Okay. All right. You're not getting out of it. Is that the not it kind of? It's a little bit the not it, you know. Okay. Sorry, you couldn't do that for school committee, Doug. I know. All right. Exactly. So we will wait till July. Sound good everybody? And yeah. Okay. All right. Where are we? Okay. ABCD licensed renewal and consideration of businesses not open. So I was talking to Steve about this and I noticed and Steve that, what is it? It's not protocol. It's the other one, the oyster bar whose license we granted in 2021 is still under construction or not open. And we are not at quota, correct Steve? But still they, like they're, and you know, maybe their landlord is happy, but they're still sort of in a business spot in town and not running a business, you know, using the license. So, and I know that that's, I don't know what's going on there. I know the other one I noticed was the Chinese restaurant, the new one. And I know that's a common Vic, but still it's just, you know, and I don't know how much we want to get into this, but like what do we do about businesses which have licenses but have not been using them in some case for more than a year? And there's also the coffee shop in South Amherst. Yes, the coffee shop and then the place, I don't know what's going into where Kelly's used to be, if they have a common Vic, did they come before us? They did. I heard from a town counselor, Anna, who said asked if we could support, help them, I'm like, we don't have the money, but I guess they ran into some health department issues. Yeah. Yeah, okay. I think maybe we just send a letter just checking to see. Right. And now Steve, you pointed out that the Oyster Bar is gonna come up for renewal this year. I mean, in December, right? Yep, they would, yeah. So I think- We were there for dinner two weeks ago and they said November for the Oyster Bar when I asked. Oh, they did. Okay, that's true. Okay. So I don't know, what should we get, Doug? Do you have any ideas? What I thought I have is this. I think in circumstances where they're not open, I think if they're in the process, like Oyster Bar is trying to open, I think we're probably more lenient in that circumstance. I would suggest we should be if they are able to show that they're continuing to have access and control of the property. I think in circumstances where, their lease is not, or their ownership is not as clear, like if they're not open, I think we have the right to ask the question when they renew, do you still have access to the property? Because we've run into that where we didn't ask that question and they didn't, or they were losing it, they were in process of losing it. So I think we wanna, in cases that we have questions about their access to the property, I think we wanna pose that question about whether they will continue to have access or not. I mean, if they're in a conflict with their landlord, I don't know if we wanna get in the middle of that, but if they clearly have access to the property and I think it's a different question if we're at quota. Right, okay. But if we're not at quota, then I think it's a matter of, do we have a sense that they're gonna, they're continuing to try to open. And if they are, then I think, hey, if you wanna pay us another $3,500, we'll take your money. Okay, so we don't have to worry. So we'll just ask them when they come up for renewal and the same goes for everybody else, or do we just be patient because people have problems or struggles? Yeah, I think we should just, I would say to Steve is just to ask for confirmation, they still have access and permission to be in the property. Okay, all right. Yeah, I do believe Amherst Oyster Bar does, they are still under construction and they're actively being inspected, so I know they do. Yeah. Okay, all right. And then some of the other places are just. Yeah, I mean, I don't really know if we have to worry about common vix at all, liquor licenses, I mean, part of the renewal is that they have to certify, they still have, they're still in operation and I guess they can put an asterisk there and plead their case before the board for renewal, but common vix have no such requirement. So, there's no quota for those. I don't think that's really anything to stress about if they want to get it and maybe they'll open and maybe they won't. I mean, there's no shortage of common vix licenses. Okay, it's just not something we have to worry about. Okay, that's all I wanted to know. All right, so, great. Next one, e, licensing fee review. So Steve sent around a chart and you said Steve, there's a window coming up or opening up or. Yeah, as the budget is being worked on for next year, there is a bit of a window to reconsider fees. And I know we had talked about this a couple of years ago at this point, maybe something a year and a half, something like that. And I think we ended up changing just the all alcohol off premises fee, but there was consideration that, some of these don't really make sense. And maybe we should kind of go over it more comprehensively. So, I thought this would be a good time to start that conversation. I know we had some fee comparisons with other towns that had been done at that point. I could send those along as well. I don't really know what philosophy people would like to take or how to balance these different things. Some things do seem pretty auto-actomy, like the wine and malt general on premises is 1,000, but the alcohol is 3,500. That seems like quite a difference for not really a huge variation in inability. So also something like the wine and malt restaurant club off quota, I'm not even sure what that's supposed to represent. Okay, so when would these have to be, like what is the end of the deadline? When is the deadline? That is a good question, not exactly sure. I don't think it's like two weeks from now, but I would say we should definitely get working on this if there's any changes. If anybody wants to make any changes. Yeah, I think Gaston did those fee comparisons last year or the year before. So should we just take a look at them again? Yeah, I can send those along for people to look at. Okay, and then we'll put it on the agenda for next time. Question. Yes, Dylan. I guess two questions. One, coin off amusement. Didn't we eliminate those? Yes. Yes, we did. I guess we just forgot to take that off. Oh yeah, that's September 16th. And then the, I know I think we learned this when we got that license back. The fees have to just be what the cost is of administering the licenses. Am I correct about that? There is some kind of statute along those lines. I don't know exactly. I think it says something more about the cost of the town. And I'll have to review exactly what that language is in that statute. Because I mean, let's not sell ourselves short because if Steve, you know that these are, you know the work that goes into it more than we do. And if we're coming in low here, you let us know. But a lot of these kind of, I think make sense. So one day license seems to be pretty low. Which that one seems pretty. Which makes sense. I can't imagine that a one day license takes a whole ton of processing. But I don't know how much goes into an all alcohol, general on-premises license on your end, Steve, or down in town hall. So probably not all that much, not 35 times as much as a short term. But I think a lot of communities also price in the cost of emergency response and other externalities that might come out of that. That's what it's gonna offer. Police coverage and emergency responses, part of what you're trying to collect with some of those other licenses. Cause there's other costs to town. Do we, do we think we accurately captured that? Or do we think we're a little bit under? Cause I know policing is not cheap. Fire is not cheap. Do we think we're a little bit low in that regard? I guess is the real question here. Or do we think that's accurate? I don't know, Doug? I'd say for me, I think the 3500 is kind of not a bad place. I think we'll have to, I think the comparison will be helpful in that regard. I think some of those that are a thousand for just the one and malt could probably be a little higher because I don't think they should be quite as high as all alcohol, but at the same time, one and malt, you know, they have some of the intended costs and hassles as all alcohol. You have to drink a lot more beer to get to the same place as shots, but regardless of how you get there, the resulting problem is the same as far as what we deal with as a community. So that's my thought at the moment. I think the comparison will be helpful. I think the 3500 is kind of in the right neighborhood for that one, whether some of the others might need a little bump. I think that's what we think about between now and the next time. Okay, great. So any other questions about this? If not, Steve, you will send around those license, those fee comparison charts. Yes. And we can talk about it more next time. Great, great. Thank you. Oh, and next up is agenda items for next time. So we have marijuana regulations. We have license fee comparison. What else do we have? Oh, Steve, are there any license, there are some short terms pending and also from UMass and also the new one that's going into where Hazel Blue Lagoon was, correct? Is that correct? Yeah, there are some short terms. Those are all well into February. So we will put those on and we get a chance, but if those have time to work their way through, I did get to check for that today. And yes, the GABS underground, which is going in where the former Hazels was, will be coming. That's the one from Westfield? Yeah, yep. And that'll be maybe not, I guess this is also a question, are we gonna revert back to the first and third Thursdays? So also, thanksgiving maybe is the 23rd. So yeah, we would wanna do that. Yeah, so can we do, is everyone okay with doing the November 2nd and then November 16th? Yes. And then we skip the 23rd is Thanksgiving, right? Yep. And we can, that leaves the 30th open in case we need a meeting for some reason, but maybe not, probably not. And then we go back to December 7th and December 21st. Yeah, this would, and maybe we should wait for guests on, but we do wanna maybe think about our schedule cause usually it's good to have a meeting late in December for those last minute renewals that came in so they can be voted on. Right. So that leaves like the... 28th maybe. 28th, if every people around or as long as we have three people. I mean, obviously that's a busy week and busy time of year. So, we could just kind of schedule a special meeting at a weird time if need be to just kind of approve the last things that come in, but... We could do a New Year's Eve because just be part of the festivities of New Year's Eve. Right. Right. Depends on the time. I'll be on an airplane on New Year's Eve. Very exciting. Yeah, I'm more than happy to dial in for 10 minutes on New Year's Eve. It'll be a fun way to bring out the year. Yeah. I'll do it. I'll do it Sunday. Count me in 10 minutes. Right. Dialing in, no camera. I'll be somewhere. Right. I think the Thursday's probably better, but... Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I guess just something to keep in mind that I also don't really know if we will have that much to discuss next on the second. Oh, okay. I think the 16th to be good. I think that should give us a good timetable for games underground when they want to come in. Well, November 6th, do we would just want to... So are you suggesting that possibly, you know, we just cancel the meeting or we could just keep the second and then if nothing turns up, push off, push it off until the 16th? Or I am just spitballing here, but we could tentatively push off the 16th, maybe the 30th, the 14th, and the 28th? Oh, that's a brand new schedule, Steve. Okay. That would just kind of keep us on Thursdays. I mean, I'm just totally spitballing here. I haven't really even thought this out, but it just struck me. We'll want to kind of have a meeting kind of late, but that would keep us, you know, roughly every two weeks going forward. Okay. Does that sound good to people? If maybe we don't need that. I don't know. I'm just kind of shooting out ideas. Yeah, we could do that. It's a radical departure. We do the, what is that, the one to, well, a lot of weeks in November, huh? Yeah, because there's five weeks in November, so. So that's like the third and the fifth week of November. And then the. So really the change would be shifting the, shifting the kind of from the first and third to third and fifth in November and then in December, switching from 1st and 3rd to 2nd and 4th. Right. We could just do that. Doesn't even have a. We can, we can check our schedules and. Okay. We would have to make this decision today. I guess, I guess the question would be, do we, I don't know if I will have any word back from the attorney for marijuana by the 2nd. You have no, so you've got nothing, right? You wouldn't have anything about by the attorney. You have no, the short terms aren't due until February. You won't have any games until the middle of November. And all we'd need would be the, and you need to find out the, the deadline for the licensing fee changes. And that is not, that's by the end of the year, you think. I don't know exactly. I'll have to check on that. I don't think it's like, you know, November 5th or anything, but. Well, if we have no licenses and no short-term licenses and discussion topics until we hear back from the lawyer. Well, we could talk about how the, how the food trucks went, the elections, process for elections and the fee review. If we, if we wanted to, I guess I'll leave it up to you guys. It doesn't make much of a difference to me. Okay. What does everybody think? Do we want a meeting next week or do you want to just wait till the 16th? Go either way. Any preference done? Do you think? No. 16th. Okay. Let's just do the 16th and the 30th. Does that sound good? Yeah. Okay. And then the, what was it? The 14th and the 28th? I mean, you, we can all check our schedules. We can check with Gaston too, but maybe I'll just send an email with that proposal. Well, we'll confirm the next meetings. The two next meetings are the 16th and the 30th. Yes. That would be great. Thank you. And we will, and then we will go and, you know, potentially the 14th and the 28th, although really with that time of year, I mean, it's good to have one in that last week. Right. Just so the people who are late for renewal can, late on renewal can get their license renewed before the first and then I have to wait for us to have a meeting before they can reopen from the year, new year. Okay. But we can, but yeah, we can, you know, it can be really anytime we're all flexible at the time of year, I guess. So we're busy and flexible. All right, great. Super. So the 16th it is. Let's see. Topics, I don't know, this is maybe an agenda item, but also under topics not anticipated 48 hours prior to the meeting. Does anyone have one? I have one. Yes. So I heard from town council that we need the annual report. They've actually let me know a month before, instead of a week before the annual report is due. So that will be going, I'll have a draft, I hope, by the 16th, everyone can review it. And if you have anything to go on the annual report, send it to Steve, who can send it to me. And that's my topic. Any other topics? No? Okay. If not, is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Thank you, Doug, is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dylan. Let's take a vote. Dylan? Aye. Kelly? Aye. Doug? Aye. And I vote aye. That is four to zero with one absent. We're adjourned at 6.01 PM. All right. Thank you, everybody. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, Steve. See you on the 16th. Bye. See you all then? Yeah.