The agenda for the state Cannabis Control Commission’s subsequent assembly exhibits the pot-growing farm pitched partly by Chair Shannon O’Brien will quickly seem earlier than regulators for last license approval.
Greenfield Greenery LLC, a deliberate out of doors develop operation, set within the metropolis of the identical title, and for which O’Brien apparently served as CEO, is listed on Thursday’s agenda underneath a piece titled “Staff Recommendations on Final Licenses.” O’Brien’s annual wage with the CCC is $181,722.
A late September story by the Boston Herald revealed former state Treasurer O’Brien, earlier than she took over the company accountable for implementing and drafting pot rules, had herself twice appeared on functions for hashish cultivation services.
An software for a cultivation facility in Charlemont lists O’Brien as an advisor, noting her earlier place in state authorities.
A second cultivation facility, Greenfield Greenery LLC, in accordance with the license software filed with the fee, exhibits O’Brien as an “Owner/Partner” in that enterprise.
O’Brien spoke to the Greenfield Zoning Board of Appeals on June 10, 2021, when she was listed as CEO of the enterprise, in accordance with the board’s accredited minutes of that assembly.
“I provided consulting services to two outdoor cultivation farms in Western MA to help them obtain their HCA and provisional license. I ended work on their behalf in or about September of 2021. For about a year, I was co-owner and CEO of Greenfield Greenery LLC. In December, I gave up all equity, ownership and control of Greenfield Greenery and signed an attestation confirming this fact,” O’Brien stated in a press release to the Herald Tuesday.
“I disclosed this work when I applied for this position. Further, I spoke with the Ethics Commission and was told that because I do not have any ownership or control of these licenses and retain no ability to gain benefits from this licensee, there is no actual conflict of interest. However out of an abundance of caution, I have determined that I will recuse myself from any deliberations regarding these companies,” she stated.
A spokesperson for the fee stated the company had not but acted on a change of possession submitted in May. The kind has not been publicly launched.
A bunch of self-proclaimed grassroots hashish activists say they are going to be holding a protest of O’Brien’s obvious battle of curiosity Wednesday afternoon on the State House, the place in accordance with organizers they may name for O’Brien’s resignation.
“The company’s listing on Thursday’s agenda raises serious transparency concerns,” Grant Ellis, a J.D. candidate at New England Law and one of many protest organizers, advised the Herald Tuesday.
According to Ellis, the truth that it appears nobody has seen the change of possession kind is particularly regarding forward of Thursday’s assembly.
“It is not clear how or why the CCC would issue a final license for Greenfield Greenery when the company’s apparently pending change of ownership request has not been made public,” he stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”