Freetown irons out agreement with AmeriCann

The Board of Selectmen met briefly Monday with AmeriCann CEO Tim Keogh to iron out details regarding the town’s business arrangement with the medical marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility.

FREETOWN — The Board of Selectmen met briefly Monday with AmeriCann CEO Tim Keogh to iron out details regarding the town’s business arrangement with the medical marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility.

The town has a host community agreement with AmeriCann’s 52 acres of building space and operations. AmeriCann intends on leasing space to individual companies intending on growing their own marijuana and producing their own products. Instead of a simple letter of support to go with a company’s application to lease space from AmeriCann, each company must meet with the selectmen and receive a separate host community agreement with Freetown before acceptance.

“The goal is to get the framework and legal work done here,” said Keogh.

Under this arrangement, AmeriCann will pay property taxes to the town. Companies leasing space to the facility will pay all personal property taxes on all their equipment and materials used for growing and production.

Board Chair Robert Jose said that getting this settled was important as it will prevent confusion by future selectmen over business relations with the marijuana industry.

“We need to get all of them in here sign an agreement,” said David DeManche, town administrator.

Construction of the company’s full campus includes a 30,000-square-foot facility to be occupied by BASK Inc., located in Fairhaven. This building is scheduled to be completed in the summer.

Another manufacturer will be AmeriCann Brands Inc., the company’s crossover subsidiary that will produce consumer-packaged goods, such as cannabis beverages, edible goods, vaporizers, and many other products, as part of its extensive Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center, which will span the majority of the campus.

Other companies leasing growing and manufacturing space from AmeriCann are still to be determined.