Your Friend Owes Littleton a lot of Money, Chuck
After learning that you, Chuck, are friends with Jason Sidman, the CEO of Sanctuary, I decided to see if the terms in the HCA that you negotiated on the town’s behalf with Jason—specifically the three contractual terms to benefit the town—were up-to-date.
Benefit I (Annual Payments to Town):
A. In 2016, when you negotiated the HCA between the town and Sanctuary, Sanctuary agreed to “annual payments” to the town: $50,000.00 in Years 1 & 2; $75,000.00 in Years 3 & 4; and, $100,000.00 in Year 5 and beyond. All annual payments would be made in two equal installments.
Payments were to start six months apart after Sanctuary received its building’s Certificate of Occupancy (COO). Littleton’s building inspector gave Sanctuary its COO on March 16, 2018.
B. In a June 27, 2018 “side letter” to Sanctuary’s 2016 HCA with the town, Sanctuary agreed to pay Littleton $10,000.00 annually, in recognition that Sanctuary would now be growing cannabis for recreational purposes, and not strictly for medical marijuana purposes as laid out in the 2016 HCA.
The $10,000.00 would come to Littleton’s coffers in two equal payments. This “side letter” payment was set to begin (just as the annual payments were) six months after Sanctuary received its COO.
Two other town-related benefits were part of Sanctuary’s 2016 HCA:
Benefit II: Sanctuary agreed to annually contribute $5,000.00 to public charities in town; and
Benefit III: Sanctuary agreed to commit 150 “man” hours annually toward community service in town.
I have no idea if Benefit II and Benefit III—objectively two “townspeople-related” benefits—have, over the last seven years, been satisfied by Jason/Sanctuary. For now, let’s set those aside, and take a closer look at whether Sanctuary’s been compliant with its annual payments to the town.
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Sanctuary’s very first payment ought to have come in on September 16, 2018, which was six months after Littleton’s building inspector gave Sanctuary its COO. Sanctuary’s second payment (in Year 1) ought to have come in on March 16, 2019.
In Year 1, according to our town’s assistant town administrator, Ryan Ferrara, Sanctuary paid the town $25,000.00 in April 2018 (which was early) and $25,000.00 in December 2018 (which was also early) to meet its $50,000.00 obligation.
However, there is no record of Sanctuary making the $10,000.00 “side letter” payment.
This ignored-by-Jason/Sanctuary, unenforced-by-you/Select Board contractual term left Littleton $10,000.00 short in Year 1.
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For Year 2, those two payments ($30,000.00 each = $50k + $10k) ought to have happened in September 2019 and March 2020.
Instead, Sanctuary paid $35,000 in August 2019; $0.00 in March 2020.
This ignored-by-Jason/Sanctuary, unenforced-by-you/Select Board contractual term left Littleton $25,000.00 short.
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Two years into Sanctuary’s annual payments, Littleton had been stiffed $35,000.00.
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In Year 3, those two payments ($42,500.00 each = $75k + $10k) ought to have happened in September 2020 and March 2021.
Instead, Sanctuary paid $60,000 in September 2020; $0.00 in March 2021.
This ignored-by-Jason/Sanctuary, unenforced-by-you/Select Board contractual term left Littleton another $25,000.00 short.
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Running total for Years 1, 2, & 3?
$60,000.00 short.
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For Year 4, the payments ($42,500.00 each = $75k + $10k) ought to have happened in September 2021 and March 2022.
Instead, Sanctuary paid $60,000 in September 2021. Nothing in March 2022.
This ignored-by-Jason/Sanctuary, unenforced-by-you/Select Board contractual term left Littleton, for a third time, an additional $25,000.00 short.
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Running total for Years 1-4: $85,000.00 short.
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In 2022, some (already filthy rich) owners/operators of recreational cannabis shops filed a lawsuit challenging the “Community Impact Fees” that were incorporated into their HCAs. (FWIW, Jason’s/Sanctuary’s HCA with our town is to grow cannabis in Littleton, not sell it to the public from a Littleton storefront.)
The plaintiffs (recreational cannabis shop owners/operators) complained to our commonwealth’s highest court that the Community Impact Fees—which were calculated by a percentage (usually 1-3%) of the gross sales of cannabis to the public—were a form of unfair taxation by “greedy” municipalities.
The SJC said that municipalities couldn’t just collect money (at 1-3% of gross sales) from recreational cannabis shops. Instead, if a recreational cannabis shop cost its municipality money, the municipality could seek reimbursement from that recreational cannabis shop to cover the cost, e.g., paying for a police detail on April 20th to alleviate any traffic issues.
On November 1, 2022, town counsel advised the Select Board to renegotiate the HCAs the town has with the cannabis entities in town that have “Community Impact Fees” in their HCAs.
The words “Community Impact Fee” are not in either Sanctuary’s 2016 HCA or its 2018 Side Letter. Completely absent.
Moreover, since the payments from Sanctuary to the town had nothing to do with a percentage of gross sales of recreational cannabis to the public, it seems any change in the law, relative to Community Impact Fees, would have zero effect on what Sanctuary agreed to pay to Littleton as an “annual fee.”
Year 5’s payments ($55,000.00 each = $100k + $10k) ought to have happened in September 2022 and March 2023.
In Year 5, Sanctuary paid $0 to the town.
Zero, zippo, nothing.
Of course, I suspect you know all this already.
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The running total of money owed to Littleton by your friend Jason, after Years 1-5: $195,000.00. And by missing the September 2023 payment (in effect, the first payment for Year 6), another $55,000.00 gets added to the running total.
Grand total to date: $250,000.00.
A lot of money, Chuck.
I was thinking that maybe you could call your friend Jay and see if he can take a break from the beach and cut Littleton a check for a quarter of a million dollars. And while you’ve got your friend there on the line, please ask about the $35,000.00 that he promised (in a written contract) to give to Littleton charities and the 1,050 “man” hours of volunteer work Sanctuary contractually agreed to.
TTYS,
Jkb