Special Committee on Special Permits and Licensing — July 15, 2026

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Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

It is 7 PM on July 15th, Wednesday evening.

I'd like to call to order this committee on the special permits and licensing here in the New Bedford City Council chamber, room 214.

I am joined by my colleagues in government this evening, members of this committee: Councilor of Ward 2, Scott Pemberton, Ward 1 Councilor Leo Choquette, and myself, Councilor at Large and Chairman of this committee, Ian Abreu.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Note, this meeting is being live streamed and recorded.

City Council and committee meetings can be viewed on the City of New Bedford's homepage under Quick Links, then Meetings.

I will ask the clerk at this time, are there any letters to be read into the record, sir?

I have 2 letters to read into the record, and this one's from Councilor Carney.

I am writing to inform you that I'm arriving late to tonight's Committee on Special Permits and Licensing meeting due to a previously scheduled commitment.

Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues and the public aware of the reason for my absence.

This one's from Councilor Lopes.

I am writing to inform you that I will be unable to attend tonight's committee meeting due to previously scheduled work commitment.

Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues and the public aware of the reason for my tardiness.

Motion received and placed on file.

Both letters as appropriate.

Well, someone needs to make the motion.

Made by Councilor Choquette.

Seconded by Councilor Pemberton.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

The chair would like to acknowledge Councilor-at-Large Naomi Carney has joined us.

Thank you.

I'll ask the clerk to read item 1, which is now properly before us.

Item number 1 is a communication.

City Clerk, Clerk of the City Council, submitting an application for a new private livery license on behalf of George Almeida, doing business as All Needs Transportation, 32 Liberia Lane, New Bedford, Mass.

The term of the license, July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

It was referred here on May 28, 2026.

And number 1 is now before you.

I need a motion to receive and place this item on file.

Made by Councilor Carney.

Second, I need a second.

Uh, Councilor Choquette or Councilor Pemberton, I need a second on that.

Seconded by Councilor Choquette.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

Now, Mr. Almeida, are you here?

Please take the podium, sir.

All right, Mr. Almeida, good evening.

Tell us a little bit about your business, what you're looking to do, and then I'll open it up for questions.

Yeah, it's fine.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and the business.

Oh, my name is George Almeida, and, uh, I'm a retired correctional officer, which Mrs. Carney knows who I am.

And, uh, I retired like 7 years ago, and I've been doing this kind of business for about a year now.

And I was thinking of doing it on my own now because I liked it so much.

So I would love to start my own business.

That's why I applied and see if you guys can approve it.

Thank you very much.

Colleagues, questions for Mr. Almeida?

No questions?

Oh, shall I recognize Councilor Carney on her first?

How are you?

Hi, Councilor Carney, always a pleasure seeing you.

It's always a pleasure.

So, um, how many cars will you be having?

2.

And will you be driving the cars?

Yes.

And you'll hire somebody else to drive the other car?

I'm going to do it on my own.

I'm going to— I'm starting it very, very slow, very small.

And, um, will you be parking off the street?

Uh, I shouldn't have a problem because I live in a cul-de-sac and I have a huge driveway, so I don't think that's going to be a problem.

Awesome.

That's all the questions.

And thank you.

Thank you, Connie.

Okay, great.

Is that it, Councilor Carney?

That's it.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Uh-oh.

Okay, I just, uh, one question from the chair, if you'll allow.

Do you plan on conducting airport runs, sir?

Uh, no, just medical, like dialysis.

Just medical.

Any transportation for school or just medical?

No, no school, just medical, like dialysis If you decide eventually you do want to delve into airport runs, just know if you're gonna do Logan, you have to be certified by Massport, okay?

And the state police are all over that.

They'll, they'll take pictures of your license plate, you'll get fined.

So if that's something you want to do, Green is no problem in Rhode Island, but Massport for Logan, just so you know, okay?

I won't be doing that.

There's not much money into that.

I won't be doing that.

Yeah, okay, no problem.

Councilor Pemberton, you had a question?

No, no, no more.

Colleagues, any other questions?

All right, what's your pleasure on this item?

Motion to, um, approve with the favorable recommendation to the full city council for approval.

Sorry, for approval.

Made by Councilor Carney, seconded by Councilor Choquette.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

Okay, so Mr. Almeida, you have been given a positive recommendation from this committee.

It will go now to the full New Bedford City Council.

And that meeting will be on Thursday, August 20th.

That's the final vote for approval, okay?

It'd be at 7 PM here in the chamber.

So if you would like to join us, you can join us that evening for the final vote.

But you did receive a positive vote from this committee tonight.

So next Thursday, will I get anything in the mail?

August 20th, my friend, is the meeting.

August 20th at 7 PM?

Yes.

So we take a little bit of a summer recess, so we don't meet every 2 weeks.

We meet once a month in July and August for full council.

That's fine.

Thank you.

But you can call the city clerk once we vote to ordain this on the 20th, and the clerk's office will tell you when your paperwork is all set.

Okay, sounds good.

Thank you.

We'll give you all the instructions as you go along.

Don't worry, we got you covered.

I appreciate it.

All right, thank you, Mr. Almeida.

You're free to go if you'd like.

Have a great night.

All right, item 2 is now before us.

Item number 2 is communication.

City clerk, clerk of the city council to the city council, submitting a petition.

Anna Thomas, Fall River, Mass., doing business as All Things with Anna, 127 West Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford, Mass., requesting a waiver of residency in accordance with Section 15-38 of the city code to obtain a license to deal in junk, old metals, or any other secondhand articles.

It was referred here on June 11th, 2026.

Item number 2 is now before you.

I need a motion to receive and place this on file.

Made by Councillor Choquette, seconded by Councillor Pemberton.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

Okay, do we have Miss Thomas here?

Please take the podium, ma'am.

So tell us, what are you looking to do at the Kilburn Mill?

And tell us about the business, and we'll open it up for questions.

Um, so I'm wishing to open a secondhand store, thrift store.

I was previously at Far River Flea Market that closed down.

And so I've been in New Bedford through my day job, which is working for the state across the street from Kilburn Mill for a while at the DTA.

And now I just wish to move into Kilburn Mill and open an actual store instead of working in the flea market part-time.

Okay, great.

Colleagues, questions for Ms. Thomas?

Chair recognizes Councilor Choukoutian as first.

Good evening, thank you for coming in tonight.

So when you say secondhand, is that like consignment?

Yes, type stuff.

Yeah, so clothing, yeah, uh, household goods, toys, just, yeah, those type of things.

All right, great, great.

Have you ever run a business before?

This is your first time?

Plenty.

No.

Okay, I've had a hair salon, I've had a cleaning company, and, um, again, I worked at 4 Fall River Flea Market for the past year and some change until they closed down to sell the building.

All right, awesome.

Well, best of luck.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I yield.

All right, thank you, Councilor.

Anyone else for this applicant?

Pretty, pretty cut and dry, right, folks?

All right, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

Motion to approve and refer up to City Council for final approval.

For a positive recommendation made by Councilor Carney, seconded by Councilor Choquette.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

So, Miss Thomas, similar to what I said, Mr.— to Mr. Almeida, you have now been given a positive recommendation from this committee.

It will now go to the full New Bedford City Council on our Thursday, August 20th meeting for a final vote of approval.

It'll be at 7 PM here again, so if you'd like to join us, we'd love to see you.

Okay, thank you.

Have a great evening.

You're free to go, and good luck to you.

Best of luck.

All right, item 3 is now before us.

Item number 3 is written motions, Councilors Abreu and Oliver, requesting that the city council engage the appropriate city department heads to explore the feasibility of the permitting host community agreements, HCAs, for on-site cannabis consumption establishments, commonly referred to as cannabis consumption lounges or social consumption establishments, in accordance with the Massachusetts General Laws and Cannabis Control Commission regulations adopted in 2025.

And further requesting that said departments report back to the City Council with findings, recommendations, and any necessary local actions required to lawfully implement such establishments within the city of New Bedford, to be referred to the Special Committee on Special Permits and Licensing, the Health Department Director Stephanie Sloan, Police Chief Jason Thode, Planning Department Director Jennifer Carloni, a city solicitor Eric Chakes, and a representative from the Mayor's Office.

The item was referred here on February 12th, 2026.

On March 19th, 2026, it was heard and then tabled.

Number 3 is before you and it remains on the table.

I need a motion to remove this item from the table.

Made by Councilor Carney, seconded by Councilor Pemberton.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it, so the item is now properly back before us.

I did receive a note, colleagues, uh, from Planner Carloni before for this evening's meeting.

She was not able to attend tonight, but she really had no updates for us, she had said, from a zoning standpoint, from her colleagues and everything else that she'd been dealing with, with the state and networking and all of that to find out where things were at.

So she had no updates from her end and what others in her position were doing.

So that was her update.

She wanted me to pass along that there's really not much movement there.

From her perspective.

But we do have several other department heads, and I know it's been a while since this committee heard it, and it's always good to take these things off the table, to dust them off and see where things are at.

And either we can leave these items on the table, or we can just take action, or refer them off for no further action.

So we'll see what happens.

Um, colleagues, I mean, I, I— is there anyone you want to hear from first?

If not, I can call up the first individual tonight, or I'll open it up to you all first.

You don't know?

Well, we have the police chief here, Chief Thody, if you'd like to take the podium, sir.

Good evening, Chief.

Good to see you.

Good evening.

Good to see you as well.

I know it's been a while.

As the clerk mentioned, it was February when we had this first punted over here.

Any updates from a law enforcement standpoint on what the state or some of your colleagues are doing?

As it relates to cannabis cafes starting to get online in the Commonwealth, or how are other municipalities in your type of line of work tackling this, or are they not yet, I guess, is the question.

Yeah, I mean, I think, I think, you know, I don't think anything's changed since the last time that I testified.

You know, the biggest problem is, is recognition of impairment, and that goes for operating a vehicle.

We don't have roadside tests that that would be really effective in, in, in recognizing impairment to be able to enforce OUI.

Recognizing impairment as far as being overserved is an issue that, that's, that's out there that, you know, other chiefs and we have discussed.

It's tough because some of it is like especially edibles or like late onset.

So overserving is a little bit more difficult to figure out than, than alcohol.

So, you know, mostly it's, it's road safety, I think, is the primary one just because we don't have an efficient way to measure it.

You know, but we've got, you know, I think it's too early to really tell what kind of a tax it's going to put on the police department as far as, you know, we're already short-staffed and, and what establishments like this could bring as far as extra details or that we may or may not be able to fill.

We know that predominantly cannabis is a cash business because it's still federally regulated, that they don't have the same access to banking systems.

And credit card systems and things like that.

So they do become— these locations have become, you know, in doing a little bit more kind of reading, they've become targets for burglary, robbery, things like that, just because it's a lot of cash on hand.

You know, all of those are just, you know, a matter of whether we can— whether we have the staff to cover those things or not.

Biggest concern is, is operation and identification of being overserved and being, you know, under the influence.

Either because you've been overserved at the establishment or because you're operating the motor vehicle.

I know that us locally, and if you'll allow from the chair, when we in the ordinance committee or through council, when we write a law or an ordinance with our legal counsel, with the solicitor, we don't write something and/or pass something without law enforcement being at the table as it relates to enforcement, right?

Making sure that there is a mechanism that gives you the teeth and the leeway to do your job to enforce the law.

I just don't understand.

I'm asking you a question to which I know you don't know the answer, but I just don't know how Boston, meaning Beacon Hill legislators, can pass a law without law enforcement being at that table.

Because to your point, there's still no mechanism to test for high while driving, like drunk while driving.

There's nothing.

So it kind of hamstrings you a little bit, doesn't it?

Yeah, I mean, it's even beyond roadside.

I mean, like I said, and just kind of doing some, you know, stay— trying to stay up on this and keeping up with the research.

I mean, even blood— even blood tests for THC are not super reliable.

So I don't know.

I mean, that was a question that I had.

I mean, I'm not an anti-cannabis chief.

I guess there's some out there, but like, I'm not that guy.

No, me neither.

I like to make something legal without a mechanism to— that's correct— to kind of enforce the road safety piece.

I mean, we know how bad impaired driving you know, that we lose, we lose a lot of lives and get a lot of injured people.

Um, in fact, you know, one of my focuses for this year in, in the budget is, is driver safety and road safety.

I've doubled the size of the traffic division here in New Bedford because of that.

So this is kind of frustrating for us not to be able to enforce that.

So I don't have a good answer other than, well, that's my libertarian side.

I am all for adults making adult decisions.

I know there are economic impacts, right?

Job creation, tax base growth.

But if there's no mechanism in place for you.

I don't know.

Colleagues, any questions for the chief while he's up here so he's not back and forth?

Councillor Choquette.

Hi, thanks, Chief, for coming in.

Sure.

So, um, I heard you correctly, right?

You said there's no real reliable even blood test?

Yeah, even— or at least at the level that we could actually use in detection of THC.

Again, it's— it enters the body differently than alcohol, and even the tests like the— like a blood test is even less accurate as far as THC levels go.

I didn't know that.

That was through some, you know, some additional research.

But, you know, kind of if we're doing a blood test, it's kind of too little too late at that point.

A lot of times there's a, there's a serious physical injury accident or a fatality where we're getting a warrant and getting somebody's blood to try to show impairment.

So that's kind of, you know, that's kind of later.

But even that is not, is not really accurate.

There are DRE courses, drug Recognition Expert courses.

They're in excess of 100 hours for the officers.

I don't think they hold up in court as well because it's not an actual test like BAC.

It's a serious lift.

We don't have any in New Bedford.

So I mean, there is something there, but I'll be honest with you, like reading it and kind of how it works, I don't think it's like blowing into a breathalyzer where you get a— where you get a number and you say, okay, this is where we're at.

I think that's the problem, is that it's hard to get those numbers.

So it's a concern.

All right, thank you.

I yield.

Thank you, Councillor.

Chair recognizes Councillor Pemberton.

Hi, Chief, how you doing?

Good, how are you?

Good.

Um, so I know we say that we don't have nothing in place, like there's nothing out there that we can tell, but let's say like we have a regular routine that we— that someone does get pulled over, uh, and they do— they're under influence.

What are the procedures that are taken there that will— I mean, like, how do they know, like, if there's no procedure, you know what I mean?

Like, if there's nothing in place for tell if there's anybody under the influence of marijuana, but they get pulled over.

Well, so that's just it.

There's nothing right now for somebody, you know, to, to be able to, to, to— like, like nystagmus is present with alcohol, it's present with some opioids and some other drugs.

Um, it's not true for cannabis.

So the enforcement of it is, is extremely difficult.

Most of the, most of the instances of enforcement of OUI with cannabis that I've seen have happened like post-accident through some kind of testing.

It's interesting to see that the blood test is not as reliable as it should be because I imagine that that'd be a reason to get away with it in court.

You know, it'd be something that a defense attorney could poke holes in.

So I just think it's not, you know, it's kind of the cart before the horse, right?

We just don't have the ability to test those kind of things and I can't say why some communities have decided to, you know, kind of increase the likelihood that folks are driving around the streets under the influence of cannabis when we don't have a good way to enforce it.

And even, you know, you've got, you know, the bar— the bartender training for alcohol has been around a long time.

In kind of reading, there's not a lot that's effective in that either for them to find out when somebody's had enough.

To shut them off, for lack of a better term, at, you know, at a facility.

With alcohol, it's much— it gets into your system much quicker.

It's much easier to identify intoxication and being overserved where they might stop somebody, take their keys, right?

All those things that we know we do with alcohol, it's just not a thing with cannabis yet.

I hope someday that technology comes out and I hope I'm the one that develops it so that I can retire comfortably.

But it's just not the case right now.

Thank you, Councilor.

Anyone else for the chief while he's here?

We don't want to ping-pong it back and forth.

Councilor Carney?

I just want to make a comment.

I'm with you.

Um, I think this cart's before the horse.

I think this is way too soon.

I don't want to see any cannabis cafes in the city of New Bedford.

Maybe 10 years from now when I'm older and I'm not in this position.

And yeah, but I, I think it's the cart before the horse.

I think when they did the, uh, when they, when they did the cannabis, whole cannabis thing to begin with, they got before the horse.

There was nothing there.

Now for you to sit there in your house or in the park or with friends, whatever, and leave a house, there's no way to detect it.

So I'm with you, it's cart before the horse.

I'm not ready to see cannabis cafes in New Bedford anytime soon.

Maybe I'll join you there in 10 years.

Yeah.

And listen, if I'll get in on finding a way to detect— yeah, partners.

I like it.

All set, Councilor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else for the chief while he's here?

All right, my friend.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

All right, we have Stephanie Sloan and Eric Jakes.

Does it matter who we hear from next?

Any particular— Director Sloan?

Hi, Stephanie.

You have to adjust the mic after the chief is there.

Any updates for us?

Yes, actually I do.

So between now and the last time that we met, the Massachusetts Health Officers Association had— they invited the chief of staff from the CCC to speak to a bunch of public health professionals.

So I attended that meeting.

He spent most of the time giving a presentation of the stuff that we already know, you know, the types of permits and all that sort of stuff.

But we did have an opportunity to ask him questions.

I asked a lot of them.

And I'm shocked, I tell you.

One of the first ones I asked is, you know, what does the timeline look like?

I know, you know, you had expressed and some other councilors had expressed, you know, we don't want to be so far behind other communities.

And so I asked, you know, what is the timeline going to look like for when you anticipate, you know, all the training being ready and being able to actually give out the first permit?

And I sort of got a non-answer.

They're like, oh, if you have someone who's interested, let us know.

But that doesn't— that's not That's not giving me an idea of when everything's actually going to be in place.

So they did say that like they have the host community agreements on their website for the marijuana distributors, they'll also have a list of all of the communities that say opt in.

I also asked a lot of questions about compliance.

They said that each facility will be assigned, much like the current establishments, each establishment will be assigned a compliance officer who will work with them through their permit process to make sure that they're in compliance.

They said that they would also respond to complaints.

So if complaints came up, either that came to the health department or that the community had, they would have a portal that you could put complaints in.

But when I asked about— I asked about routine compliance.

So with our tobacco compliance, we do routine inspections, we do complaint-driven inspections, and we also do our youth compliance inspections.

And so I said, you know, the state has a very successful model for tobacco.

Will there be routine inspections?

And he said no.

And then I asked about youth and youth compliance inspections, and he said, well, that's a good idea.

So I didn't have a lot of confidence that they've sort of thought through all the pieces of the compliance piece yet.

And he also said that it's an an opportunity for communities to collaborate with the CCC, which means to me it's going to fall on us locally to do the compliance, particularly when it comes to events and hospitality.

Because for those types of permits, the event or the instance when a complaint happens is probably going to be over by the time their compliance officer— by they get the information and they come down to New Bedford to check it out.

So I do have concerns, you know, aside from public health, traditional public health concerns.

I do have concerns about the compliance piece.

I feel like a lot of it's going to fall on, you know, local public health police to sort of enforce.

I did also speak with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of the health officials in the Large Cities Coalition that I'm a part of.

And they are all in various stages, but a lot of them are sort of waiting and seeing.

Some haven't had any discussions about this.

Some have had discussions but want to see, you know, what the CCDC comes out with for training and what they officially come out with for compliance.

So that is my update.

I knew you would come with your homework prepared.

I knew it.

I know you.

Well done.

Thank you.

Any questions for Director Sloan?

All right.

So we'll be in the holding pattern still like everyone else right now.

We'll kind of see where things are at.

But thank you for the update.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Anything else for Stephanie before I sit her down?

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

Thanks.

All right, Eric, you're up.

All right, Solicitor, any, any updates from the administration as it relates to even having a 30,000-foot view discussion about any type of ordinance or regulation?

Are we not even there yet?

We're not there yet, and I'll be very brief in my comments.

I want to pick up on the compliance comments and the organization and operation of the CCC.

You'll remember that our original HCAs for retail establishments were promulgated 3 years ago and initially approved.

The CC is just now getting around to making changes and corrections to those HCAs, like the 3%, right?

Actually, even looking at the documents and saying, we don't like the way this is worded.

I got one in today for one of our current retailers that they want to make a change.

And then I would remind you that I spent a significant amount of time appearing before you with regard to social equity applicants and our social equity policy.

I would remind the council that that was submitted to the CCC in August of 2025.

I have not yet had a response as to when that will be reviewed or any comment on it.

So when Stephanie says she questions whether or not compliance checks are going to occur, if they can't get their act in gear reviewing paper documents, what makes us believe that they're going to come down to New Bedford on occasion for compliance?

Now, isn't the CCC no longer constituted or constructed the way it once was?

It falls under the executive branch, right?

It has been restructured as far as its oversight, but the folks that are working there have not significantly changed yet, nor has there been any significant increase in staff.

So things could change with time.

Yeah, but right now I'm not convinced that it's even worth discussing this right now.

We certainly have the cart way ahead of the horse.

And that was the point of this motion.

I think I'll speak as one of the co-sponsors, have that discussion, because it's going to come up at least now when the wheels are put into motion.

At least we already have had a little bit of a foundation.

So I'm glad that we're a little bit ahead of the curve, at least having this sometimes even an uncomfortable conversation about it, so we know where we stand and we know where we may or may not want to go.

Any questions for the solicitor while he's here?

Councillor Chouquette.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, Councillor Chouquette.

Um, so I apologize, uh, Solicitor Jakes, when you were talking about that CCC body, um, is that a state level?

Yes, it's the State Cannabis Control Commission.

Wow, they're not known for their celerity, are they?

A whole year and they haven't reviewed stuff?

That's correct.

Wow.

Okay.

Um, have you noticed that— I mean, how do you have any idea how many people are on that?

I don't.

No.

So I will tell you that they're picking up because now they're looking at some of these things, but I'm just not convinced that there's going to be a lot of compliance down here in New Bedford aside from all of the other issues safety-wise.

That have been raised previously by the administration, by Stephanie, and by our police chief.

Well, I suppose, uh, you know, Massachusetts government tends to be Boston-centric, right?

So unfortunately.

Okay, well, thank you, Mr. Jakes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Anyone else for Solicitor Jakes?

Colleagues, I think given what we've learned and what we heard from Planner Carloni, the police chief, Director Sloan, Solicitor Jakes, I mean There's no movement to be had on this right now.

The state is still, quite frankly, a mess when it relates to this.

And we'll take this back up in the future when we get more and receive more state guidance.

If and when an ordinance is appropriate, we can have another motion, file it in the appropriate committee, have all these folks at that table, and we can craft something.

So I think with that being said, a motion to refer to the full council for no further action is appropriate at this Made by Councilor Carney.

Second by Councilor Pemberton.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

Seeing there's no other business before us tonight, motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn made by Councilor Carney, seconded by Councilor Pemberton.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

We are adjourned at 7:31 PM.

Have a great evening, everyone.