Pot is your buzzword of the year

Town could end up being epicenter of Blackstone Valley’s marijuana industry

UXBRIDGE — Cannabis was the major news story in Uxbridge in 2018.

The town could end up being the epicenter of the new marijuana industry in the Blackstone Valley now that the town has signed six community host agreements with marijuana companies, including Deep Roots Craft Cannabis, a family-owned cannabis start up that is looking to establish a marijuana growing and processing operation on West Street.

The company is seeking a micro business license from the state Cannabis Control Commission, which will allow it to cultivate, market and distribute cannabis products wholesale to partnering dispensaries. Cultivation and manufacturing operations will take place in an existing 14,500-square-foot building located at 420 West St., which is zoned industrial. If approved by the state and town, the company’s principals estimate that the business could see revenues of more than $10 million in three years. The host agreement approved by the selectmen would provide an

impact fee to the town of 1.75 percent of gross sales for the first five years.

The town has already voted to enter host community agreements with three recreational marijuana establishments – Grass Appeal, Gibby’s Garden and Caroline’s Cannabis, LLC; Blackstone Valley Naturals LLC, which is looking operate a cultivation and manufacturing facility, at 660 Douglas St.; and Baked Bean LLC for a marijuana processing and transportation establishment at 504 Quaker Highway.

Prospective marijuana businesses like Deep Roots Craft Cannabis are required to secure host community agreements before they can apply for a license from the state. Under the law, local officials can also set the tax rate on marijuana sold within their city or town’s limits, up to 3 percent. Unlike medical marijuana, recreational cannabis will be taxed. The state plans to levy a 6.25 percent sales tax and 10.75 percent excise tax, and leave to the discretion of municipal officials an option to levy the local tax up to 3 percent.

The fledgling Massachusetts marijuana industry is making significant inroads in the Blackstone Valley where towns like Uxbridge, Blackstone and Millville have been courted in recent months by marijuana businesses.

Here’s a look back at what else made news in Uxbridge in 2018:

• Massachusetts Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash joins Town Manager Angie Ellison and other local and state officials to announce a $1.7 million MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant for utility work in the Douglas Street area. The award will be used to add 2,700 linear feet of utilities from Taft Hill Lane to the new business park being developed by Campanelli Construction, and is located in a Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Priority Development area.

• Firefighters battle a threealarm fire at the Aldrich Street Kennels in Uxbridge, saving eight dogs before the blaze is brought under control. Two firefighters were taken by ambulance to Milford Hospital for evaluation and were later released, according to fire officials. Located at 610 Aldrich St., Aldrich Street Kennel is a longtime and familiar business in town, where the owners breed Siberian Huskies and Golden Retrievers and provide boarding, grooming and daycare services. The property includes a residential home and three kennels, one of which is destroyed in the fire.

• An Uxbridge doctor and her former employee is arrested and charged in federal court in Boston in connection with a federal drug conspiracy involving the amphetamine Adderall. Dr. Leslie Caraceni, 56, of 8 Concord Lane, Uxbridge, was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute Adderall and three counts of distributing and dispensing Adderall. Her former employer, Rene Ruliera, 51, of Southborough, was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute Adderall, and four counts of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute Adderall.

• Lucille’s Floral Design hands out more than 30 random bouquets as part of the 2018 Petal it Forward campaign. Every October, the Society of American Florists (SAF) and florists nationwide randomly surprise people on the street with flowers in more than 400 cities in all 50 states. Lucky recipients will receive two bouquets – one to keep, and one to share with a friend, family member, co-worker, or even a complete stranger.

• Seven months after losing its longtime police chief, longtime fire chief William T. Kessler announces that he is leaving to take on a new role as fire chief in Mendon. Kessler, Uxbridge’s fire chief since 2012, officially assumes his new duties in Mendon in December.

• The town hires Marc Montminy, a 30-year veteran of the Manchester, Connecticut, Police Department, as its new police chief. Montminy, who will earn a salary of $110,000- a-year, succeeds former Police Chief Jeffrey A. Lourie, who left in February to become chief of police in Westborough.

• The Uxbridge Dog Park Committee breaks ground on the new town-owned, off-leash dog park on Sutton Street. The Dog Park Committee, consisting of five members appointed by the town, will oversee and manage the activities of the park, which will open in a few months.

• The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announces that Uxbridge High School is one of only four schools in the Commonwealth to be named an Innovation Pathway school, capping a nearly year-long application process. Launched by the Commonwealth last year, the Innovation Pathway program is designed to create partnerships with employers in order to expose students to career options and help them develop knowledge and skills related to their chosen field of study before they graduate high school.

• The Uxbridge School Committee votes to offer the job of school superintendent to Frank Tiano, assistant school superintendent for the Framingham public school system. Tiano replaces School Superintendent Kevin Carney.

• Longtime Police Chief Jeffrey A. Lourie resigns to take on his new role as chief of police in Westborough. Lourie, 52, was appointed to the $132,000-a-year Uxbridge job in 2013. It was the first time in the history of the department that someone from outside the department had been chosen as chief. Louries is widely credited with bolstering the department’s community policing program, expanding the department’s presence on social media and bringing in the department’s first K9.