##VIDEO ID:QM7rHOdzkgM## and I did Jeff just so you know I called all of you on Friday everyone said they were coming thank you I know that the meeting of the Cannabis Control Board of the city of Jersey City held Monday September 23rd approximately 5:00 pm in accordance with the open public meetings act whoops oh God known as the Sunshine Bill adequate notices meeting was provided by mail and or facts roll call please you're doing the roll okay I'll do the roll call chairperson Bunny here uh Vice chairperson cerero absent has anyone heard from Mr cantero as to why he text me he said he's sick he is sick okay commissioner kapitz here uh commissioner Marte Dublin here all right uh the first application is final approval pursuant to chapter section 8451 of the municipal code CCB 22-2 the second application we heard MMD New Jersey Inc 655 nework Avenue somebody here for that please step forward all right is there an attorney present or is this proos all right who's going to be giving some testimony all right please uh well who who's going to start first well let's do this all together please raise your right hand all three of you the swear firm the testimony about to give the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth help you God starting with you if you could you can have a seat put your hand down starting with have a seat please state your name spell your last name and give us your address Del Rosario D I ever Street newe all right until you're right Ash H 549 Lou Avenue in C California all right long commute for you next Sarah Dale dth parou Angeles all right okay okay so before we start I just want to make an announcement that we we are not hearing um Garden greens tonight we're not hearing sarafin Suns tonight and we're not hearing top of the pot tonight so if you are here to speak out against any of those applications uh those have been adjourned to the next meeting okay all right uh what do you want to tell the board if anything um first of all we really want to say thank you um it's been a long journey like all the Journeys in Canabis have been so we're very very thrilled to be here um we actually having our grand opening this Saturday 655 nework uh please join us we're gonna have a ribbon cutting uh Senator mcnight will be there some council members and our nonprofit partners that we supporting are to be us as well toate EXC really fantastic back to the board members any questions anything that need to discuss are there any changes to the ownership right any other major changes that the Board needs to be aware of all right then uh motion for final approval for CCB 22-2 made by motion to pass second all right all in favor all in favor I I that'll be three votes in the conations congratulations best of luck always thank you so all right uh so apparently there is no other no there is it's not on the agenda but we do have um I don't know the CCB number but we have the other side dispensary here who's coming up um they have a bit of an issue with a state delay um so it I'm told it's it's being looked into because it should have been on one of the agendas and it was overlooked so they're looking into that but in the spirit of trying to not handcuff these people from opening their business we decided to let the other side come in today so that they don't have to wait a full month to open so they can't open until they have their state license but I would like to make a motion um well let's go ahead we got to swear in and we got to ask her a couple questions nice to see you again please raise your right hand do sare from the testimony about to give you the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you God can put your hand down please state your name and give us your address I think your your mic's not on try that mic Eliza Eliza Bard Rodriguez and my address is 141 Van Horn Street Jersey City New Jersey 07304 all right what would you like to tell the board if anything then I'm excited to finally get open it's been a long road and there's you no ownership changes nothing right everything is the same okay so um just just so I know for the record um it's not on the agenda because of it was supposed to be I don't want to prove it I just wanted no it was It was supposed to be on the agenda right originally and then we it was taken off the agenda because she doesn't have the state had a meeting in August they don't have another meeting until October so she should have been on the August agenda we don't know why she wasn't on the August agenda she's trying to get in touch with somebody at the state it has been escalated to the highest level that it can be to figure out why she wasn't on the August agenda but Eliza is exactly what the Jersey city ordinance as we are supposed to be looking out for she's a veteran she's a woman she's a minority she's a member of the lgbtq community and she is who we should be advocating for not not msos she is and she's a Jersey City resident she is ex what we are supposed to be advocating for she was in front of this board almost two years ago and she's at the point where she has to open or she's not going to be able to have this business it's it's come to the point that it's no longer sustainable for her and so because I believe she is who we should be advocating for and because I believe that's what this board's job is to do we are letting her come in front of us to give her I would like to make a motion to give her a conditional approval that the minute she gets that state license if it's tomorrow Friday Saturday whenever that license is in her hand she can open and I don't disagree with that and I'm all and fair of that but I wish we could have done the same courtesy for the previous uh applicant who had to leave uh we couldn't because I can't vote on it so the Law Department wouldn't have let it through we don't have a quorum I understand that but I I am upset uh overall of this entire process and this has nothing to do with you it you know respectfully but you're taking the moment to make it about me and this is a problem because I have been an upstanding citizen in this city and done a lot for this city and this is not my issue this is the state issue this L License will come in before the end of this weekend and this is just to support me getting to the other side that's all I'm going to vote for you I appreciate okay so let's make this about her and you can bring your grian happen before so when we're done with this we can sit here and debate that but Eliza doesn't need to be caught up in it Eliza should be able to open when she gets her state license by the end of the week that's why I I asked Maria and aenda and Maynard to put her on the agenda because she cannot wait until October 28th and also if the ordinance passes on Wednesday this step will be removed so why I'm I'm just the other side I am not voting against it I am just right I know so let's stick to the topic and then you can everybody the same uh okay but okay I made a motion move on I made a motion we need a second second all right all in favor I I recognize that's three votes best of luck congratulations conratulations Eliza good luck how we done I believe that would be it uh that's other than clarifying Jeff you know I feel okay no let me clarify I called every single board member on Friday to confirm that there would be three people here so we could hear all of the applications okay all three board members confirmed to me that they would be here as you are very well aware Courtney resigned from the board and we have not had a new member since the date of her resignation it is not my job to appoint a member it is the city council you are the chair and if you know this is a problem you should be knocking on every door of the council including the council president and demand that this board is properly and and I have but I if they don't move on it I I my hands are tied well so you can stand up here and Bash me Jeff I can't control that Jose is sick I made sure there were three of you who should have been able to hear the application but if I am conflicted out and there's no way that the law department is going to accept two votes what but I didn't find out until 4:30 so I I don't know what you want me to cherson you should be sitting and knocking on the doors and demanding that this happens otherwise there'll be no hearings put your ass on the line for this board that's what your function is yeah je this is the problem with the city this is not appropriate behind it's listen Jeff wants to bash me that's fine I do a lot of work for this board Ron can attest to the number of times I call him a week the the council can tell you I've spoken to miror I've spoken to J have we asked the council to increase the amount of yes i' asked for alternate I've asked to expand the board but I get nowhere Ron knows I've asked I've spoken to me I've spoken to James I've spoken to Yousef I've spoken to Amy I've spoken to Danny I have spoken to every single person that is I've spoken to Joyce Joyce knows that we don't have a fifth member so you're a board member do your job it's not all on me we have equal power I'm the chair that just means my job is to do the the quarterly report which I do and facilitate the meeting that's that's my job so Lobby the council I will go for it you know these are volunteer positions and you can only do so much and I'm sure Jeff that you would agree that the chair has been pushing she's called me a bunch of times I know that I've tried to get involved remember the letter I was Drafting and then it didn't get sent because we've got a new ordinance on the table so and the ordinance was heard it's on the agenda for Wednesday but it's going to get pulled again because they're making more changes because the problem with this is that constantly evolving the situation is constantly evolving but if we only meet once a month Eliza sent an email to every single person in the city that if she does not open by the 28th she has to declare bankruptcy we're getting to the point where these businesses are yeah but listen they changed their address that is a completely different situation and I am now conflicted out I can't control the Law Department saying if I have a conflict two votes are not enough I did my job I made sure they were going going to be three of you and there is no longer three of you Jose text me at 4:30 p.m. for a 5:00 meeting telling me he wasn't coming so I called Ron I said I wasn't going to come I told Maria Maria did I tell you I wasn't coming right but then then there would have been no meeting so as the chair I changed my plans and I came here to do my job can we or the uh or Ron send uh council president Waterman an email I don't know where no not just I don't want anything just going to the council president because it should go to the entire Council it should go to Sean Gallagher so it's the entire Council to tell them that if we do not appoint someone because we have to recuse ourselves for some of these applicants that these people are going to lose money well not going they are losing money but but they know this they've been told they're well aware of the situation and they know we don't have a fifth board member I asked for alternates I've said it several times we need alternates there are people you're a realtor from time to time you have conflicts because of my job from time to time I have conflicts Sonia has conflicts but it you can't be mad at the three of us who consistently show up can I offer a potential solution with the board's Authority and blessings I would like to speak to the Law Department and ask for permission um in instances like this one um sarif if we could have a virtual it would literally take 15 minutes would it fix the problem with if in times where Britney has to recuse herself and then on times that I have to would that Sol it's it doesn't solve the issue the only thing there is an application that was going to be heard tonight that both Sonia and I are recused from so even if Jose was here and Jeff was here it can't move we need more either a fifth member and we need a member who actually wants to do the work because the last board member resigned cuz that person wasn't here for 13 meetings right I agree wholeheartedly but what it does what he's saying is it it it solves one small problem whereas we don't have to reserve this room we we could just have a zoom meeting and get these people because the goal and my goal is to to try to get these people through as quickly as possible they're all hitting the point where it's becoming financially unsustainable I understand that I don't want to hand I don't want to tie anybody up why can't we have Ron asked to do for he can't ask I didn't say he can't we're not OB we're talking about the bigger problem the bigger problem is we need board members who want to do this work and we need board members who are going to show up I already told Jose he cannot tell me again unless it's an emergency cuz if he was sick he knew he was sick this morning and he should have told me this morning because then we could have called saraf and said don't come here but I found out 30 minutes before so Ron said we'll deal with it when you get here Ron can tell you the minute I got the call the text from Jose I called Ron you can see it in my my call log like if you think I'm not listen if you think I'm not doing this work anyone is welcome to take the chair I would be happy to not do it at this point I'm not a Maria how many times on a meeting week or the week before do I call you or text you yeah exactly it's a it's it's a lot and I've been do it's a volunteer job in addition to all my other obligations so Jee like if you want to be the chair I'll resign right now we can make you the chair in this very meeting and you can take it on and you can have the frustration and the aggravation I would be thrilled to leave this role thrilled trust me so I don't appreciate the way you speak to me I don't appreciate the [ __ ] you you said to me before because I'm doing the best that I can with the tools that I have in my toolbox I don't have a council that is is supporting what this Board needs the applicants are getting more and more frustrated Maria can attest to it it's it's just a mess but it's a constantly evolving situ sitation and I'm try I I know there's a lot of last minute changes but I want to accommodate these people cuz I want to I feel bad for them I do genuinely feel bad but I'm not going to vote on something that I have a potential conflict on and get myself in trouble because that makes it more convenient I'm sorry I wish Jose was here I I wish we never had conflicts if if do we have enough time like if Joyce was to pick someone for the next meeting if she picks someone now we have enough time for that person to be he could walk it on the agenda it's it's a direct appointment I don't even believe they vote on it no I'm saying is there another council meeting before our next meeting I I don't there is there's two there's there's one on Wednesday but I I walk it on to that one or the following in the time that we've been say yeah I know but let's just say she don't have one for Wednesday does is there enough time if she doesn't have one for Wednesday to go to the next one I I called me or preri about this at 3:09 this afternoon she texts me I'll call you after cockus I said okay I'm in CCB but we keep getting screwed because we don't have a fifth board member so we need the fifth person or I'm canceling the next meeting I'm telling the people there's there's nothing more I can do I believe mayard also reached out to the council president and had a conversation as well so you call her Jeff you have her phone number I mean I I I intend to I mean I'm going to call everybody tomorrow listen so to reel it back in for a moment um yes you can ask for the zoom meeting for saraf I will not be on the zoom meeting because I have a conflict so when Sona Jose and Jeff are available if the Law Department grants it Maria will help you facilitate it won't be Zoom it'll be teams because that's what the city uses but Mario is happy to facilitate that for you I again apologize okay let one question about the SAS um person what did I hear their application cuz the name does does it's a new application because it's to listen to it before we can even it was previously approved but they had a change in address yeah okay so that that will that matter for me or do I have to listen to their whole application well I think it would be in your best interest to at least review the YouTube or the documentation you could read the transcripts we had a uh sonographer back in 23 I don't believe we ordered the transcripts okay I'll just listen to it on YouTube I just want to know which one it is is that the new address 3 um 3662 can that's a new address it's yeah it's s e r a p and Sons 3662 uh John F Kennedy Boulevard that's not the original but that's not the original uh address the original one is uh hold on a second here 784 Garfield Avenue and it was heard on April 10th 2023 okay April 10th 2023 now whatever you need just call me or text okay uh we do need to memorialize MMD is there a motion motion followed by a second all in favor I hi all right this resolution is now memorialized and then you'll have to do the one for Alisa if you could just try to have that ready I'll sign it whenever you if you could try to get it to me at ASAP I will all right so now even though we gave her a condition will she have to return back to us for a final or that's it no she that was it it's literally because it's a dire situation it was a courtesy to help her she should have her state license by Friday and then she'll open up over the weekend and if the the changes in the ordinance aren't deemed too drastic I anticipate it will pass on Wednesday night but in light of recent events was this even publicly noticed the when we just conditionally passed it was on and then it was taken off so I have I have a question with the it was on it was on the original and it was taken off so it was noticed it was noticed correct if that ordinance passes and they don't have to come to us for final approval they still have to come to us for review right so I mean renewal they have to come back for Renewal yes but I I want to make a point of clarification or not not a point of clarification in light of recent things that have happened the ordinance may not pass on Wednesday because the CCB in present form doesn't have the ability to suspend licenses and now that we've realized there are some licenses not behaving in the way that is appropriate the council needs to go it came up in caucus today we need and Ron has told me because Ron and I have been discussing this extensively so while Jeff said I don't do my job I spoke to Ron on the phone Friday Saturday Su we're in we're we're not being told this stuff you know Sonia doesn't know about this conversation that you're having with him I don't know it it would be kind as a chairperson I'm telling you right now I had these conversations of course we're having a fight right now that's why you're telling us but you shouldn't be fighting with me this is a volunteer board so if you're going to come here and fight maybe you shouldn't be on the volunteer board well you could always ask the May to have me thrown off it's his discretion I okay I just want to know what happened I can you tell me what will these I want to be able to know if we have issues like I always mess up these people's name the ones that we're having issues with now in pedestrian Plaza which are very dire and I know that I have to abstain from it but I want to know in the future if another cannabis facil um facility so it it just again it's a constantly evolving situation we just had the meeting I don't know it was last Monday MH okay so I started making calls to the council members to tell them this is a problem I read the new ordinance which all of you can do the same homework that I'm doing but I said I spoke to mea I said there is a problem there's nothing in here granting us the power to suspend so the only thing we can do is not renew the license but even that we don't know if that works because they have Municipal support so the council would have to revoke their Municipal support and go to the state level correct so again it's a constantly evolving process the council never thought to put suspensions in there mea just told me it came up at caucus so I'm going to call her as soon as I leave here to go over it with her and tell her what I think needs to be in there but if that happens they either have to pull it or they have to pass it in present form and then amend it again but it's there's there's so many the whole process is flawed the whole process is broken people should not have I think now in the ordinance at least because I advocated for this the municipal support expires after one year because we also know there are a lot of businesses that are never opening that are holding the licenses or trying to sell the licenses now so my concern is because these this that particular um well we can't discuss an an applicant when they're not here so right but I just in the future if something happens with an applicant yes we need to be able to to have some sort of enforcement enforcement mechanism which we presently don't have so it's the like I can't stress enough this is a volunteer job it's a lot more work behind the scenes than you guys think it is and I'm doing the best that I can with it and I have already said I will resign if you think you can do better by all means do it I I don't want to be the chair of this board anymore it is too much work it's too much stress I am the face of something that is a complete failure that I have no control over it's it's not it's not a joy for me and I have board members that don't want to come here and do the work seemingly so I and again I I had a conflict tonight so I was not going to be here but when as soon as I learned Jose wasn't coming I turned around around and I made it here by 501 so that we could hear who we could hear the saraf situation I can't control because I have a conflict I have you problem and the attorney told me not to vote and I'm always going to take the advice of counsel over you telling me [ __ ] you so well I apologize for cursing it that I apologize listen is no different than Garden greens beinging to a woman I am telling you right now that as chairperson I think that you have an obligation to inform the board I'm informing you right now I would have informed you in our in our remarks at the end I always tell you guys what's going on but I don't always know what's going on I listen there is a a political shift happening in Jersey City we have a mayor who's running for governor we have council members who are running for mayor and Sonia can tell you it's it's just it is what it is it is what it is it it just is you not tell me I've lived in Jersy okay you seem to think that I the Council does not answer to me I they do not work for me so yeah but but you know something don't the board doesn't meet and constantly doesn't meet and just keeps on cancelling it all those people who are donating to their P or going to say something that's the that's well they would have to say something that's what she just stated she's canceling the next one unless there's a fifth person there's no fifth person we can't meet because we don't know who's coming in front of us and what who accuse themselves it's not listen it's not fair I 100% agree it's not fair to every single person that's on this board that shows up that we don't have a fifth person there should always be enough people so we don't have to do this but there's only one person who can appoint the fifth person it is the council president you can call her Sony can call her and the Cannabis applicants should say something I bend over backwards to try to bring them in and do the right thing I bend myself in a pretzel Maria can tell you we've we voted by phone we voted by email I add people to the agenda I in the beginning I added all those extra meetings no one has tried to be more accommodating to the these businesses than me but I am just the chair of an Advisory board that is where my power begins and ends I control the agenda I can tell you if you're speaking out of turn and that's about it so Ron will send another email and I would suggest now that you said you're not you you're not going to um we're not going to meet again until we have a fifth person maybe that puts some fire underneath them I think it's a good idea that yeah she just said I told mea I told her to say it at caucus there will not be another meeting maybe that'll put some fire if there is not a fifth member because again Sonia and I had a conflict on one of the applications tonight that we both have to recuse ourselves and the law department has told Ron mandelo our attorney that two votes if there's not a quorum it doesn't count so even if Jose was here we would have had a similar problem at least on one application so fortunately we knew about that and we were able to tell them not to come but I did not know about saraf until 4:30 everybody was already on their way here if you want to yell at someone yell at Jose I CU it's not my fault I can't control illness and if someone's not here I I short of going to his home and forcing him to come here I had no power so I understand frustrations I share a lot of them but I don't know what else we could do besid cancel all meetings until there's a fifth board member yep I agree at this point I mean even if Jose comes in then the if when you and I recuse ourselves for that other applicant they're still not going to pass correct we need to have a full board and and we should have alternates there should be people who can come here and do just like the planning board has alternates you may not get called but you may have to sit in the audience and be on standby cuz well they would actually sit up here they just couldn't vote yeah well they could participate and it's encouraged right I mean yeah I I don't have anything else to say we're beating a dead horse so I make a motion to adjourn second all in favor I any opposed I'm going home all right take care of a fun times oh wait I didn't turn that off okay