Earlier today, I was trying to remember the approximate date that you first brought up your concerns that the Select Board wasn’t getting updated information on the HCAs and TIFs—aka contractual agreements—that the Select Board has with those businesses that hold these HCAs and TIFs in town.

I went online to LCTV’s YouTube channel (Did you know Littleton was on YouTube, Cindy? YouTube!?) and found the meeting where you brought it up: August 22, 2022.

If you click HERE and go to the 1:30:00 mark, you’ll see yourself introducing the issue.

Cindy, I think you would agree with me when I say that it’s worthwhile to watch the robust discussion that the then-board had about our town’s HCAs and TIFs.

I have to say, for me, looking back now at that meeting today, with all that I’ve learned about the management (offered generously) of cannabis in town, it’s clear where the Select Board members’ loyalties lie.

Spoiler Alert: Chuck uses “celebrate” and “Sanctuary” in his comments, starting at the 1:42:00 mark.

That evening, early in your comments, you made it clear that the first time you brought this up as a matter worth addressing, i.e., the HCAs and TIFs the town has with various businesses, was “in May.”

So, I’m going to count May 2022 as the first time you brought it up.

Well, I want you to know that after nearly two years—myself asking multiple times: by email, during Public Input, in person at the Select Board’s Office on the 3rd Floor at Town Hall—the information is available in a “table”—that’s how our Assistant Town Administrator Ryan referred to it—“summarizing the HCA’s [sic] and TIFs.”

There are sixteen businesses on this table.

Eight of these—several of which go back many years—have been “satisfied,” which I take as “these businesses owe Littleton nothing further” vis a vis the HCA or TIF that was agreed to.

Of the remaining eight, one HCA is void and one HCA was a change of location.

Three HCAs are “pre-operational:” MRM to make cannabis edibles at 160 Ayer Road; Community Care Collective to make cannabis edibles at the same location on Great Road where Community Care Collective is selling recreational cannabis (separate HCA); and Littleton Apothecary to sell recreational cannabis at 160 Ayer Road where the permission to build there—the Special Permit from the Planning Board—has lapsed.

One HCA is operational and collects 3% excise tax for the town. (Community Care Collective, in its capacity as a seller of recreational cannabis)

One TIF needs to report the number of employees it has. (Patriot Beverage)

One TIF is not in compliance. (Potpourri)

So, to be fair, really only six businesses of any relevance on the “table.”

You know, Cindy, it’s true what they say about the wheels of government . . . or, are those slow-grinding wheels attached to something else?

Either way, it’s good news. After 21 months, the Select Board now has the up-to-date information.

In a table,

Jenna