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Home My WebLink AboutC-20-96 - Fresno Clinica Center RedactedApplicant (Entity) Information Application Type Proposed Location Commercial Cannabis Business Permit Application C-20-96 Submitted On: Dec 04, 2020 Applicant Richard Sereghy Applicant (Entity) Name: Tranquil Meadows CO DBA: Fresno Clinica Center Physical Address: 4142 E Church AVE City: Fresno State: California Zip Code: 93725 Primary Contact Same as Above? Yes Primary Contact Name: Richard Sereghy Primary Contact Title: Vice President Primary Contact Phone: Primary Contact Email:HAS ANY INDIVIDUAL IN THIS APPLICATION APPLIED FOR ANY OTHER CANNABIS PERMIT IN THE CITY OF FRESNO?: No Select one or more of the following categories. For each category, indicate whether you are applying for Adult-Use (“A”) or/and Medicinal (“M”) or both Both Please make one selection for permit type. If making multiple applications, please submit a new application for each permit type and proposed location. Permit Type Retail (Storefront) Business Formation Documentation: Corporation Property Owner Name: Gilbert Luis Romero Trustee Proposed Location Address: 4142 E Church ST City: Fresno State: California Zip Code: 93725 Property Owner Phone: Property Owner Email: belen@fresnoinsuranceagency.com Assessor's Parcel Number (APN): 480-235-32 Proposed Location Square Footage: Supporting Information Application Certification 1400 List all fictitious business names the applicant is operating under including the address where each business is located: Better Health Group, 3611 Sonoma Blvd Vallejo CA, 94590, HTP Group 4345 Sonoma Blvd Vallejo CA 94589, Has the Applicant or any of its owners been the subject of any administrative action, including but not limited to suspension, denial, or revocation of a cannabis business license at any time during the past three (3) years? No Is the Applicant or any of its owners currently involved in an application process in any other jurisdiction? Yes If so, please list and explain: Lake County California, Ana Garcia and Richard Sereghy, have received a Major use permit for Retail Cannabis in the County of Lake, City Lower Lake California, we are in the build out stage, we have not applied for our State Licence yet. Ana is also involved in Pacifica CA, they are finalizing the build out stage, and have secured all city permits and just recently applied with the Bureau of Cannabis Control. Ana is also involved in the County of Mendocino, city of Ukiah, they have secured local authorization for retail Cannabis sales and are in the build out stage of the shop. Juan Garcia is also involved in Pacifica with Ana. Juan has also submitted an application with the City of Fairfield for Retail Cannabis, City of Fairfield is in selection process. Juan is also involved in the city of Sacramento he is involved in the process of completing a cultivation site. I hereby certify, under penalty of perjury, on behalf of myself and all owners, managers and supervisors identified in this application that the statements and information furnished in this application and the attached exhibits present the data and information required for this initial evaluation to the best of my ability, and that the facts, statements, and information presented are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. I understand that a misrepresentation of fact is cause for rejection of this application, denial of the permit, or revocation of a permit issued. In addition, I understand that the filing of this application grants the City of Fresno permission to reproduce submitted materials for distribution to staff, Commission, Board and City Council Members, and other Agencies to process the application. Nothing in this consent, however, shall entitle any person to make use of the intellectual property in plans, exhibits, and photographs for any purpose unrelated to the City's consideration of this application. Furthermore, by submitting this application, I understand and agree that any business resulting from an approval shall be maintained and operated in accordance with requirements of the City of Fresno Municipal Code and State law. Under penalty of perjury, I hereby declare that the information contained in within and submitted with the application is true, complete, and accurate. Iunderstand that a misrepresentation of the facts is cause for rejection of this application, denial of a permit or revocation of an issued permit. A denial or revocation on these grounds shall not be appealable (FMC 9-3319(d)). Name and Digital Signature true Title Vice President Please note: the issuance of a permit will be determined based on the application you submit and any major changes to your business or proposal (i.e. ownership, location, etc.) after your application is submitted may result in a denial. All applications submitted are considered public documents for Public Records Act request purposes. For details about the information required as part of the application process, see the Application Procedures & Guidelines, City of Fresno Municipal Code Article 33 and any additional requirements to complete the application process. All documents can be found online via this link. For questions please contact the City Manager’s Office at 559.621.5555. Zoning Inquiry P20-04288 4142 East Church Avenue Page 2 November 25, 2020 The subject property is not located within 800 feet of the property boundary of any of the above-mentioned uses. The subject building meets the separation requirements, per Section 15-2739.B.1.b of the FMC, for a cannabis retail business. 3. Prior to commencing operations, a cannabis retail business must obtain a Cannabis Conditional Use Permit from the Planning and Development Department per Section 15- 2739.N of the FMC. 4. No more than two cannabis retail businesses may be located in any one Council District. If more than 14 are ever authorized by Council (more than two per Council District), they shall be dispersed evenly by Council District. The subject property is in Council District 5. There are currently no cannabis retail businesses located in Council District 5. This location requirement is satisfied for a cannabis retail business. Please review the entirety of Article 33, Chapter 9 (Cannabis Retail Business and Commercial Cannabis) and Section 15-2739 (Adult Use and Medicinal Cannabis Retail Business and Commercial Cannabis Business) of the FMC to understand other requirements of cannabis retail businesses, including but not limited to, application requirements, signage, etc. This information was researched by the undersigned per the zoning request. The undersigned certifies that the above information contained herein is believed to be accurate and is based upon, or relates to, the information supplied by the requestor. The City of Fresno assumes no liability for errors and omissions. All information was obtained from public records held by the Planning and Development Department. A copy of the Fresno Municipal Code may be obtained by contacting the City Clerk’s office at 559-621-7650. The Fresno Municipal Code may also be searched on the Internet, free of charge, by going to www.fresno.gov. If you have questions regarding this matter, please contact me by telephone at 559-621-8038 or at Marisela.Martinez@fresno.gov. Cordially, Marisela Martínez, Planner I Development Services Division Planning and Development Department 1.1 Qualiﬁcation of Applicants Ana Garcia The owners of the proposed Fresno Clinica Center in Fresno bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of operating a retail cannabis business. This project represents a cooperative effort by the owners of two long-established independent retail cannabis businesses and a specialist in retail cannabis security. Ana Garcia serves as vice president of Better Health Group Inc. (BHG) in the City of Vallejo. She is also the CEO of E&A Family Venture Holdings, which holds local permits for a retail cannabis location in Paciﬁca, scheduled for opening in January 2021. E&A holds medical and recreational cannabis permits in Ukiah and Lake county as well, with projects in different phases of buildout. Ana is also currently employed at Kaiser Permanente, and the Fresno Clinica Center project extends her commitment to education and growth in the medical ﬁeld. Ana Garcia has been with Better Health Group (BHG) in the City of Vallejo since 2016, bringing quality products and services to the region’s medical cannabis patients. The organization continues to pursue that mission today as it serves the broader community under the new regulatory framework. The BHG dispensary was founded in 2011 and its management and staff have developed an extensive body of practical knowledge in the medical applications of cannabis products - knowledge they will share with local management and staff in Fresno. Given the current lack of reliable clinical data, there is no good substitute for hands-on experience working with medical cannabis patients and listening to their feedback. Local employees will learn practical skills that expand their opportunities in a growth industry, while local residents interact with knowledgable and friendly staff. The potential beneﬁts for area residents extend well beyond the organization’s demonstrated experience and expertise in therapeutic applications of cannabis products and formulations. BHG’s level of involvement with local organizations and charitable causes reﬂects Ana’s ongoing commitment to the community at large as well. The owners intend to continue and expand on their history of local engagement in southeast Fresno. Local organizations supported by BHG include Rebuilding Together, Neighborhood Rising, and Loma Vista Farms. During the ﬁres in the area over the last few years, they helped organize relief funds, clothing, canned food drives and toy drives for those affected during the holidays. BHG recently partnered with members of the Vallejo Cannabis Industry Association to improve the pedestrian crosswalk on a dangerous thoroughfare used by students of Grace Patterson Elementary School. As pioneers in a city that began the process of regulating the local cannabis industry relatively early, Better Health Group has worked responsibly with local government to help develop a regulatory framework for the cannabis industry in Vallejo. Their integrity and determination to remain transparent and legally compliant during a sometimes-contentious political process has earned the appreciation of City ofﬁcials. The spirit of cooperation and experience with local government that Ana brings to the table will ease the process of integrating a new retail cannabis storefront into the southeast Fresno community. The owner’s combined depth of industry knowledge and available resources to draw from dramatically lowers the risk of failure for a startup cannabis business in what has become a complex and rapidly changing regulatory and business environment. Ana and the team of owners enjoy an extensive set of trusted relationships with well-established industry producers and distributors. Those established relationships confer a crucial measure of stability in a dynamic marketplace. Ana and company are well qualiﬁed to train locally hired managers and team members, and provide them with practical operational knowledge in what is an undisputed growth industry. Their long and continued success in operating retail outlets during a turbulent period for the nascent cannabis industry speaks to their competence and the value of the information they can impart. Ana, Rick, Juan, and Ed look forward to sharing their knowledge with a committed and caring local team of management and staff to provide quality service and a safe and pleasant shopping experience. Experiencing ﬁrst hand the disproportionate harm inﬂicted on low income communities of color by the war on drugs, Ana is committed to helping entrepreneurs who have lived with those hardships by providing mentorship, ﬁnancial support, and retail shelf space. Social equity permit applicants in Fresno can beneﬁt from the network and practical knowledge Ana brings to the table. Qualification of Applicants Richard Sereghy Richard Sereghy has over 35 years experience in business management and marketing, and has been involved in the regulated medical cannabis industry for more than a dozen years. Rick established the HTP Group in 2011 (from Health Through Plants), and has been operating a fully compliant storefront dispensary in Vallejo since 2013. His early focus on high quality and cutting edge cannabis products led to a growing enterprise that now generates over 4.5 million a year in sales. Rick has worked extensively with older customers and patients to guide them in the use of the myriad new cannabis products and formulations coming to the legal market. His interests include the use of cannabis as a safe alternative to pharmaceutical sleep aids and opiates for pain relief. Rick has successfully coached several residents at the Veterans Home in Yountville, California in using cannabis products to get out from under debilitating opiate addictions. He continues to focus on quality service for seniors by providing consultations for new customers and information regarding new products and applications. Rick shares in the commitment to giving back to local communities. He was in Arizona for medical treatment when his driver’s license expired, but he resides in Napa county and owns a home in Lake county. Local organizations he has supported over the years include Wounded Warriors, Solano county Sheriffs, the Solano AIDS Coalition, and the Vallejo Symphony. HTP is currently a participating member of the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce and participated extensively in recent fire relief efforts. Rick believes that building strong community ties helps to build a successful business, and he will continue that practice as the owner of a cannabis business in Fresno. As pioneers in a city that began the process of regulating the local cannabis industry relatively early, Rick worked with the owners of Better Health Group and local government to help develop a regulatory framework for the cannabis industry in Vallejo. Their integrity and determination to remain transparent and legally compliant during a sometimes contentious political process has earned the appreciation of City officials. That spirit of cooperation and experience on the part of the owners will ease the process of integrating a new retail cannabis storefront into the Fresno community. The applicant’s combined depth of industry knowledge and available resources to draw from dramatically lowers the risk of failure for a startup cannabis business in what has become a complex and rapidly changing regulatory and business environment. The owners enjoy an extensive set of trusted relationships with well-established industry producers and distributors, which confers a measure of stability in a dynamic marketplace subject to short term fluctuation in the product supply chain. Members of the local community stand to benefit from the owner’s many years of combined experience in guiding medical patients in the use of cannabis products. With very little in the way of hard science currently available, there is no substitute for the knowledge gained by working directly with patients and learning from their responses to the array of product formulations available today. The applicants look forward to working with Fresno residents who can benefit from the therapeutic applications of cannabis products, and sharing the expertise developed over years of hands-on experience. The owners of the proposed Fresno Clinica Center cannabis retail outlet come with a combined fifteen years of experience owning and running two separate successful and legally compliant medical cannabis dispensaries in the City of Vallejo. They’ve decided to extend their history of mutual respect and cooperation in a team effort to bring that wealth of experience to Fresno. The owners are well qualified to train locally hired managers and team members, and provide them with practical working knowledge in what is an undisputed growth industry. Their long and continued success in operating retail outlets during a turbulent period for the nascent cannabis industry speaks to their competence and the value of the information they have to impart. Rick and the Fresno Clinica Center team look forward to sharing what they have learned to offer quality products and service to local residents. Qualification of Applicants Juan Garcia Juan José Garcia-Flores is a professional licensee with a business and educator background, specializing in internal and external asset and personal protection. He has conducted security training on a local, state, and international level. At the local level Juan has enjoyed working with the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District with the Special Education Department since 2010. In 2009 Mr. Garcia established the Security Enforcement Alliance, PPO #16530, which provides physical security guard and consulting services for many major retail cannabis businesses. Juan has provided several hundred jobs for the community, many of which have led young women and men into careers in law enforcement and the public works sector. Juan’s primary role in operating the Fresno Clinica Center project will be to oversee all day-to-day asset protection operations to secure the facility and contribute to an overall safer neighborhood. Juan is a member of Rockaway Enterprises LLC, which holds local permits for retail locations in Pacifica, along with fellow applicant Ana Garcia. He is also a member of JAAR California Enterprises LLC, which is involved in the process of completing a cultivation site in the city of Sacramento, California. There have been no sanctions for unlicensed/unpermitted commercial cannabis activity ever imposed by a state or local agency against the businesses or applicant. Juan has worked with Better Health Group (BHG) in the City of Vallejo since 2017 to bring comprehensive asset and personal protection services to the area’s medical cannabis patients. The BHG dispensary continues to pursue that quality of excellence today as it serves the broader community under the new regulatory framework. Juan will bring that same commitment to protecting property and enhancing personal safety to the daily operation of the Fresno Clinica Center. Ana, Juan, Rick, and Ed look forward to sharing with local residents what they have learned through years of hands-on experience while providing quality products and service in a safe and secure environment. Qualifications of Applicant Edward R. Blakeley Edward Blakeley (known as Eddie), has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. He brings to the ownership team, not only experience starting and successfully running a business, but also the specialized skills to analyze, acquire, build-out, and manage real estate. Eddie spent his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley. As a Golden Bear, he studied Economics, and it was at this time that he started to develop a love for real estate. In 2013, he purchased his first investment property, and has continued to grow a residential portfolio in the bay area. This was also the time that he decided to employ some of the construction knowledge that he had learned from his father growing up. He decided to start a handyman service, Chelu Renovations, that would fix his investment properties and assist in the renovation of rental units for property managers. As the business grew, Chelu Renovations would ultimately become Chelu Construction LLC. Upon graduation, Eddie began working as a commercial real estate agent at the Flashman Investment Group. It was here that he began to work closely with investors, and became proficient at analyzing investments in Excel. These skills were important in helping Eddie close over $15M dollars in real estate, make great connections in all facets of the real estate industry, and also understand how to improve his construction business. Through the networking done as a real estate agent, Eddie began doing projects and investing with the owner of All Phase Construction out of Vallejo, CA. Understanding that there would be great benefit to partnering and vertically integrating the real estate investment sales with the construction business, Eddie made a deal to become a partner in All Phase Construction. The firm continues to take on projects throughout California and grow the real estate portfolio today. Eddie has always been a believer in the healing powers of the cannabis flower, and upon meeting the team of partners for the Fresno Clinica Center, he knew that this was a great opportunity. There are professionals from all of the different facets and skill sets necessary to run a successful cannabis retail store. It is evidenced by the fact that a number of the partners currently run successful stores. Eddie is excited about the opportunity to do work that he believes in, and bring the therapeutic, economic, and community benefits of the business to the Fresno community. Budgetary Estimate December 4, 2020 Juan Garcia-Flores Partner Fresno Clinica Project Dear Mr. Garcia-Flores, Thank you for working with our design, project development, and engineering teams on your proposed project. We are confident that you will be very satisfied with the services that we offer, and the deliverables you will receive. All Phase Construction has assembled an experienced team of design, engineering, and construction professionals that are committed to assisting you with your project ideas. We are excited about the opportunity to turn those ideas into reality. If you have any question related to the attached budgetary estimate, I can be reached at (714)760-2638 during normal business hours, or via email at allphasebuilderspm@gmail.com. If, for any reason you are not satisfied with my assistance, please contact Jeff Lindsey, Senior Vice President, West Coast at (707) 249-2918. As your future needs arise during the permitting process, we will be happy to assist you in any way possible. Again, thank you for your confidence in our team, and I look forward to working with you in the future. Sincerely, Edward Blakeley Project Manager Disclaimer: This estimate is an approximation, and is not guaranteed. Estimates are subject to change and should be refined as the specific project requirements (scope) are defined, and finishing materials are selected. The actual project cost may change once all project elements are finalized. 1 Budgetary Estimate Purpose The purpose of this budgetary estimate is to determine a conceptual cost of renovating a commercial building located at 4142 E Church Ave. in Fresno, CA. The building, which is currently a tire shop, will be renovated in accordance with approved plans for a retail cannabis dispensary. Project Scope Clear existing debris from parcel, obtain necessary building permits, and complete tenant improvement work per approved plans for retail cannabis dispensary. Budgetary Estimate Qualifications The attached budgetary estimate is an initial projection of cost based on preliminary observations, quantities, general construction methods, and material assumptions based on the conceptual design provided. The estimate was developed by drawing on historical cost and current construction cost library, as many of the finishing materials and specifications have not been determined. The actual cost may vary (+/- 30%) of the estimated amount. If the estimate as presented meets with your approval, and you would like to proceed with this project, please contact the project manager, Edward Blakeley, at 714-760-2638 to continue to refine the details of the build. 2 1. Business Plan 1.5 Hours of operation, opening, and closing procedures. The business will engage in sales or deliveries between the hours of 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM, and only during the window speciﬁed by current City ordinance. The opening Manager will inspect all access points on arrival for signs of any overnight disturbance. The Manager veriﬁes that an armed and uniformed security guard is stationed at the front entrance 30 minutes prior to opening. If not, the Manager contacts the contracted security company and ensures a guard is in place before opening for business. Security personnel will be licensed by the State of California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services personnel and subject to prior review and approval by the City Manager or designated staff. Security personnel will carry ﬁrearms at all times when they are on duty. The Manager on duty is responsible for seeing that an armed security presence is maintained at all times during hours of retail operations. Licensed security strictly controls the single public entrance, and conducts an ID screening before allowing access. The closing Manager makes sure that the night security patrol is on duty, and checks that all access points are secure and the alarm and video systems are active when leaving the premises. The day security makes sure that all employees have left the parking area safely within a half hour of closing before leaving the site. Applicant Ana Garcia serves as Vice President of Better Health Group, a retail cannabis business which operates with the following set of detailed opening and closing procedures. The policies for the Fresno Clinica Center will show the same attention to detail, and represent a synthesis of best practices gathered through years of operating multiple cannabis retail and security businesses. Operating procedures at the Center will incorporate all the speciﬁc requirements in the Fresno cannabis ordinance and municipal code. To provide an in-depth procedure of all opening duties with appropriate documentation to ensure Better Health Group is consistently opened with efficiency and intention for daily retail success. Bureau of Cannabis Control Order of Adoption: ●CCR § 5403. Hours of Operation ●CCR § 5403.1 Requirements While Not Open for Business 1.Reception Preparation NOTE: All employees must clock in at the beginning of their shift at 9 AM in the Employee Break Room. 1.1. Manager verifies the tasks on previous day’s Daily/Weekly Cleaning Checklist were completed. If any task was not properly completed, perform the task and note action on the previous day Daily/Weekly Cleaning Checklist. 1.2. Ensure the Reception Area is neat with everything properly displayed, stocked, and organized. 1.3. Ensure the Visitor Log is prepared for any anticipated visitors, vendors, or authorized individuals performing inspections, touring the facility, or performing equipment maintenance for the day. 1.4. Restock any materials, such as receipt paper, printer paper, and non-cannabis inventory in the Reception Area.   2.Customer-Facing Sales Floor Preparation  2.1. Ensure the televisions are on, displaying the updated Better Health Group menu of current strains of flower, types of concentrates, vaporizer cartridges, edibles, PURPOSE RELEVANT REGULATIONS PROCEDURES beverages, tinctures, capsules, pre-rolls, topicals stocked in the Secure Sales Floor Inventory Drawers. 2.2. Associates will confirm each cash drawer for the opening shift contains $ in the following form: 2.2.1.Cash:   2.2.2.Coin:  2.2.3.Immediately report any discrepancies to a Manager.  2.3. Manager will check Better Health Group email and answer messages as appropriate.  2.4. Manager will open FlowHub and log in inside the Manager Office to assign cash drawers to Associates using unique username and password, per the instructions in the FlowHub Training Manual. 2.5.Once assigned a drawer, Associate will sign into assigned register terminal using a unique username and password. 2.5.1.Enter employee username and password in FlowHub to access the POS System and the active cannabis inventory menu. 2.5.2.Permissions will be tightly controlled by the Dispensary Manager as to prevent inconsistencies and discrepancies while preparing for opening and day-to-day operations. 2.5.3.Verify the Queue is completely cleared from the previous day prior to further use. 2.5.4.Update online digital menus with new products and specials (if applicable). 2.5.5.Ensure the cannabis product menu displayed on the televisions is correct and current. 2.5.6.When prompted, fill in the required fields and click “SAVE” to move forward with cashing in your drawer.   3.Stocking the Customer-Facing Sales Floor  3.1. The Inventory Manager will check the Secure Sales Floor Drawers to reference levels of inventory beginning at 9 am. Mondays through Saturdays and 12 pm. Sundays. !Should active cannabis inventory need restocking of a product, the Inventory Manager will take a photo of the drawer and return to the Active Inventory Storage Room. !Enter the Active Inventory Storage Room according to Inventory Management and record entry on Storage Area Access Log.  3.2. If applicable, the Inventory Manager or Assistant Manager will bring any returns to the Inventory Intake room, following the procedures outlined in Product Returns. 3.3. All returned cannabis products from the day before will be brought to the Inventory Intake Room and sorted accordingly by the Inventory Manager or Assistant Manager, as needed.   3.4. Referencing the Inventory Movement Log, gather products on a cart for stocking the Secure Sales Floor Drawers, and record movement on the log.  3.5. Close and lock the Active Inventory Storage Room. Transport the products to the Secure Sales Floor Drawers on the Customer-Facing Sales Floor.  3.6. Arrange products in the display cases to be viewed visually observed by customers in the facility. 3.7. Verify that all display products can been seen and viewed at all times. 3.8. Wipe all glass cases with Windex or glass cleaner and ensure shelves are free of dust, fingerprints and smudges. 3.9. Assistant Managers record all refrigerator temperatures on each Refrigeration Temperature Control Log.   4.Meeting and Inspection  4.1. Manager inspects facility to ensure all setup tasks have been performed properly and recorded on Retail Opening Checklist. Manager ensures all above tasks are compliant, using Management Daily Checklist.  4.2. Manager conducts a brief meeting with staff to discuss special promotions, and other business-related comments or concerns. During the meeting, employees will discuss out-of-stock items and Better Health Group Demos.   4.3. Security unlocks the doors for operating hours at 9:00 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10:00 a.m. on Sundays. ●Inventory Movement Log ●Active Inventory Storage Room Access Log RECORDKEEPING To ensure proper steps are taken in closing Better Health Group with appropriate documentation completed. *Keep in mind, no closing duties are specifically for any employee. The facility’s employees are all a team and must work together to close up the floor as efficiently as possible.* Bureau of Cannabis Control Order of Adoption: ●CCR § 5403. Hours of Operation ●CCR § 5403.1 Requirements While Not Open for Business 1.Reception Area (1st Floor) Closing Procedures  1.1. A Security Officer locks the doors downstairs at the appropriate time.   !Lock the doors at closing time (7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 p.m. on Sundays) in order to complete the sale of products to customers in facility. !Employees can begin some closing procedures before all customers have left the facility.  1.2. An Associate turns off all TVs.  1.3. An Associate restocks all necessary paper collateral for the next business day.  PURPOSE RELEVANT REGULATIONS EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES Cleaning Wipes Trash Bags Broom Glass Cleaning Solution Gloves Dustpan PROCEDURES 1.4. Manager turns off music. 1.5. Associate ensures all media and electronic equipment is being charged. 1.6. Associate straightens up the Reception Area by putting all chairs, tables, and accessories in their appropriate places, and wipes down countertops with cleaning wipes. 1.7. Spray all glass display cases with glass cleaning solution. 1.8. Restock all printer/copier paper, receipt roll paper, apparel items, and any non- cannabis items in the Secure Reception Drawers, such as smoking or consumption accessories, in the Reception Area.   1.9. Clean all downstairs rooms and restrooms according to General Sanitation SOP and Restroom Cleanliness SOP; record actions on Daily/Weekly Cleaning Checklist and Restroom Cleanliness Checklist.  1.10.Designated Associates take out all other trash bins, including those in the second building offices.  1.11.Manager brings up any cash and the Tip Jar from registers to complete cash counting and drop procedures in the Manager Office.   2.Retail Cannabis Sales Floor Closing Procedures 2.1. Associates and Assistant Manager ensure unsold products at the end of the business day are organized and locked in the appropriate designated Secure Sales Floor Drawer or brought back to the Active Inventory Storage Room.  2.2. Place cannabis products in their designated locations according to a First In First Out (FIFO) schedule in both the Active Inventory Storage Room and the Secure Sales Floor Drawers. 2.3. Close and lock the Active Inventory Storage Room.  2.4. Dispensary Manager prepares cash drops according to Cash Drop SOP. Record all information required in Cash Drop Checklist.  !Complete the Daily Deposit Bag with cash drop form.  !Drop the Daily Deposit Bags into the Deposit Vault in the Manager Office.  2.5. Clean all BHG rooms and restrooms according to General Sanitation SOP and Restroom Cleanliness SOP, and record actions on Retail Closing Checklist and Restroom Cleanliness Checklist.    2.6. Complete all written paperwork and file. Complete sales reports in the designated computer programs.  !Organize paperwork to be used the following day.  !Email detailed “Turnover notes” for anything requiring follow-up or completion.  2.7. Turn off all TVs.   2.8. Turn off all lights.  2.9. All employees clock out.  2.10.Security Officer sets the alarm and locks the last exit door. ●Closing Checklist ●FlowHub POS System End Of Day Reporting RECORD KEEPING 1.6 Daily Operations Customer Check-in Procedures Security personnel greet customers at the entrance and check for government-issued identiﬁcation to verify the individual is 21 years of age. If the patient is not 21 years of age security veriﬁes that the customer has a current valid medical recommendation that matches their identiﬁcation and is at least 18 years old. Qualiﬁed underage patients will be allowed on the premises to purchase medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products. Security will not allow a person under the age of 18 to enter the premises. Following the ID check, security will allow customers through the single front entry door into the lobby/reception area. The receptionist veriﬁes return customer information in the electronic customer information database. First time customers ﬁll out a form to register as new customers and the receptionist enters their information into the electronic customer tracking system. The reception area is physically separated from the sales area, with access through a security door equipped with a “buzz-in” commercial grade locking system. The receptionist allows customers who complete the check-in process through the security door to access the sales ﬂoor. All employees or other persons acting for the applicants will display a laminated or plastic- coated identiﬁcation badge issued by the applicant while engaging in commercial cannabis activity. The identiﬁcation badge includes the owner’s “doing business as” name and license number, the employee’s ﬁrst name, an employee number exclusively assigned to that employee for identiﬁcation purposes, and a color photograph of the employee that clearly shows the full front of the employee’s face and that is at least 1 inch in width and 1.5 inches in height. New employees are assigned a unique employee ID number randomly generated using the time clock system that will be used throughout the length of their employment. Authorized individuals who are not employees of the applicants are assigned a temporary ID and badge, and are escorted by an employee of the applicant at all times while within limited-access areas. The escorting employee logs access by an authorized non-employee, including the visitor’s name and reason for entering a limited-access area. Receiving Product Deliveries All product deliveries arrive at the delivery entrance at the back of the building between the hours of 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM, as shown on the premises diagram. The loading/unloading zone lies inside a privacy fence accessed through a sliding gate which is kept secured during product transfer operations. The delivery entry security door is kept locked at all times. The Manager on duty logs the date, time, and the supplier and escorts the driver through the delivery entrance where the supplier’s invoice is checked against the delivered items to ensure accuracy and required labeling. If the items do not come with compatible bar code labels, those are applied in a manner not to obscure required labels, and the Manager enters the items into inventory in the POS and the State METRC track and trace systems. Once the cannabis goods have been entered into the inventory the Manager carries the items to the sales ﬂoor or into the limited access product storage room to place them in the storage vault. The Manager receiving a delivery of cannabis goods from a licensed distributor inspects the products to see that the items match those listed on the sales receipt. The Manager veriﬁes that the batch number on the package labels match the batch numbers on the corresponding certiﬁcate of analysis for regulatory compliance testing provided by the distributor. He or she veriﬁes that the products are not past the expiration date. If the applicant receives a shipment containing cannabis goods that differ from those listed on the sales invoice or receipt; or receives a shipment containing cannabis goods non-compliant with labeling requirements or exceeding its provided expiration date, the applicant will reject the portion of the shipment that is incorrect, non-compliant with labeling requirements, or expired. Any such rejection will be recorded in the State METRC track and trace system and indicated on any relevant manifest, invoice, or sales receipt, including the speciﬁc reason for rejection. All deliveries are logged with the date, time, and name of the driver. Cannabis goods delivered by the licensed distributors are inspected for required labeling before scanning into inventory. The receiving Manager checks the primary panel for a generic descriptive or common name, the universal cannabis symbol, the net weight or volume, and THC and CBD content per package in milligrams. If the product is an edible, the primary label must also include “Cannabis-infused” in a larger text size above the common name, and the THC and CBD content per serving expressed in milligrams. The receiving Manager also looks for an Informational label that includes a manufacturer name and contact, the date of manufacture, a list of ingredients in descending weight or volume, instructions for use, the Government warning statement in capital letters and bold font, and an expiration or batch date, if any. The Manager veriﬁes that any non-edible products with more than 1000mg of THC are also be labeled “For Medical Use Only.” The information panel for edibles must also include the sodium, sugar, carbohydrates, and total fat expressed in grams per serving, along with any major food allergens or artiﬁcial colorings. The Manager enters the accepted items into the POS and track and trace systems before moving them into storage or the sales area. Point of Sale System - Inventory Control The applicants will ensure tight control over all cannabis products on the premises at all times. Only the owners and managers will have access to the areas where cannabis goods are stored. In addition to the full coverage video surveillance system and contracted security presence, the limited-access area where cannabis goods are stored requires an electronic card to open the commercial-grade lock. A computer dedicated to maintaining card log records documents the time, date, and employee card number used to enter a storage area. Managers and security personnel can watch multiple areas of the premises simultaneously in real time during business hours through video surveillance system monitors. Restroom facilities remain locked and under the control of management. Access to the rest of the premises is controlled through use of solid doors with electronic key fob commercial-grade door locks. The system automatically logs an electronic record of each unique employee fob used to enter through a limited access lock where cannabis products are stored, with the date and time. The business will only stock that quantity of cannabis and cannabis products in the retail sales area of the premises sufﬁcient to meet the daily demand for sale, with the remainder secured in a limited access area in a locked vault or vault equivalent. All sales are run through a state of the art FlowHub POS system designed for the retail cannabis industry that automatically synchronizes with the State track and trace inventory control system. Only one POS location will be needed on the premises. Trained Managers assume responsibility for accurate entry into the POS and track and trace systems when cannabis products arrive at the premises, using a bar code system to track items. Employees are instructed in the use of the POS system to record all types of transactions, including returns, breakage, or spoilage. Trainers emphasize the need for accurate entry, and highlight products that might easily be confused with each other and entered incorrectly. Designated employees are trained in systematic physical inventory procedures using standard printed forms to ensure accurate and comprehensive counts. Managers who have completed the State METRC training do all the inventory reconciliation in the electronic POS and track and trace systems. In addition to weekly cycle counts of product categories, employees conduct a full physical count of inventory at least once every 30 calendar days to reconcile the physical inventory with the METRC track and trace system database. Employees use a standard printed form to record inventory counts and work through the stock in storage and on display systematically by product category. Discrepancies with the electronic record are recorded and a manager conducts an audit to determine the reason. The ﬁnal count is reconciled with the METRC track and trace system and POS along with the reason for the changes. The applicants will notify the City and Fresno police department within twenty-four hours of discovering any signiﬁcant discrepancies identiﬁed during inventory. A discrepancy of two percent of inventory for a product will be considered signiﬁcant. The police and City Manager will be promptly informed of any suspected diversion, theft, or loss, or any criminal activity involving the cannabis business or any agent or employee of the cannabis business, or any other breach of security. If a physical count shows a minor discrepancy, the Manager on duty will determine the reason for any missing inventory if possible and record it when removing items from inventory in the POS and State track and trace systems. A small amount of cannabis waste is generated in the course of conducting retail sales in the form of customer returns, expired products, broken packaging, and otherwise defective products that are not returned to a vendor for exchange. Senior level employees carry products slated for disposal to the limited-access storage area designated for cannabis waste. A Manager trained in using the State METRC track and trace system records the product identiﬁcation, amount, and reason for destruction or disposal and ﬁlls in the same information on a printed form kept in the storage area. The cannabis products designated as waste are rendered unusable and unrecognizable by grinding and incorporating the cannabis waste with an equal amount of non-consumable, solid wastes like soil, paper waste, or food waste. The resulting cannabis waste is stored in a locked container supplied by a contracted third party waste hauler. The responsible management level employee records the items converted to waste in the POS system to reconcile inventory. In the State METRC system the employee also enters the name of the employee performing the destruction or disposal, the reason for destruction or disposal, and the name of the entity used to collect and process the cannabis waste. The applicants will maintain records from the entity hauling the waste that indicates the date and time of each collection of cannabis waste at the licensed premises and a copy of the documentation prepared by the entity hauling the waste that conﬁrms receipt of the cannabis waste at the solid waste facility for each delivery. Customer Trafﬁc Estimates The applicants rely on numbers pulled from the POS system of a retail cannabis storefront operating in a similar sized market to estimate the number of customers to expect per hour as an average. The ﬁrst full year sales at this facility totaled $1.1 million with an average transaction size of $51.00, which equates to 21,569 transactions annually. The store was open 10 hours/day 365 days/year. That averages out to 59 transactions/day or just under 6 transactions per hour. Five to eight customers per hour would be a reasonable estimate of the number served on average once the storefront is established in the neighborhood. Customers typically spend ten or ﬁfteen minutes shopping, make their purchases and leave. In general these are low impact businesses and the host neighborhoods beneﬁt greatly from the investment in physical improvements to the property and the continuous security presence. Product Mix The retail operation will offer local residents a full range of cannabis product formulations in addition to ﬂowers, as indicated in the pro forma sales projections. Cannabis products can be grouped into four general categories: ﬂowers, concentrates, edibles and topical/other products. Demand can vary somewhat depending on local demographics but based on real world experience we anticipate that ﬂowers will account for approximately 42% of cannabis product sales. Concentrates are projected at 31.5%, edibles approximately 16%, and topical and other miscellaneous product sales will contribute around 10.5%. The limited access storage room is climate controlled to optimize the range of temperature and humidity for product storage. Items are kept in closed containers on shelving. Stock is systematically rotated to ensure that items that have been in stock longest go out to the sales ﬂoor ﬁrst. Employees carefully monitor the storage area for signs of rodent or pest activity and conduct routine cleaning and maintenance as part of the employee job descriptions. Delivery Service The single fully enclosed delivery vehicle is outﬁtted with a dedicated Global Positioning System (GPS) device for identifying the geographic location of the delivery vehicle. The dedicated GPS device is owned by the licensee and used for delivery only. The device is afﬁxed to the delivery vehicle and remains active and inside of the delivery vehicle at all times during delivery. The licensed retailer will be able to identify the geographic location of all delivery vehicles that are making deliveries and provide that information to the City on request. Cannabis goods will be stored in an opaque locked container secured to the inside of the delivery vehicle. The delivery vehicle will be unmarked with no indication that the vehicle is transporting cannabis or cannabis products. Orders will be taken over the phone by an authorized employee trained to work with the customers to generate a delivery request receipt. The employee taking the order veriﬁes that the delivery address is a physical address and not on publicly owned land or in a building leased by a public agency. The Manager on duty assembles the order speciﬁed by the delivery request receipt and provides the detailed inventory ledger that must also go with the driver. For each cannabis good, the delivery inventory ledger includes the type of good, the brand, the retail value, the track and trace identiﬁer, and the weight, volume or other accurate measure of the cannabis good. Deliveries will only be made in person by individuals directly employed by the applicants who are at least 21 years of age. Drivers return directly to the licensed premises between each order and will only carry the quantity of cannabis goods speciﬁed by a single delivery request receipt. When preparing to make a delivery, the driver checks the contents of the assembled order and inventory ledger against the delivery request receipt to verify the order is correct, and enters a route into the GPS navigation. He or she veriﬁes possession of a copy of the retailer’s current license, the employee’s government-issued identiﬁcation, and an identiﬁcation badge provided by the employer before leaving the premises. The driver is responsible for seeing that cannabis goods are kept locked in the container secured to the inside of the vehicle during transport. He or she will ensure that the delivery vehicle is locked and secured while left unattended. The driver will only travel between the premises and the delivery address without stopping for breaks when delivering cannabis products. Only employees of the retail cannabis business are allowed in the delivery vehicle while transporting cannabis goods. When arriving at the delivery location the employee checks the customer ID to conﬁrm legal age of the customer. The driver reviews the order with the customer to ensure it is complete and correct and that the items are packaged in resealable child-resistant opaque exit package. The delivery employee accepts payment, records the date and time of the delivery on the delivery request receipt and obtains the customer’s signature on the receipt. The employee leaves a copy of the signed receipt with the customer and returns a copy for the licensed retailer’s records. When the delivery employee returns to the licensed premises, the driver submits the log entry of the delivery for the retailer’s records. The Manager on duty enters the purchases from the signed delivery request receipt into the POS system. If the customer rejects delivery of any items, the Manager will prepare a new receipt reﬂecting the actual purchase and returns the rejected items to inventory. 2.0 Social Policy and Local Enterprise Plan/ Workforce Plan Local Hiring The management and staff of the Fresno Clinica Center will necessarily be made up of local residents, since the applicants do not plan to relocate or permanently move members of their current management staff. The Fresno team will be recruited from local talent and trained to operate a safe and compliant retail cannabis establishment - one that enhances the neighborhood while providing quality products and service. The applicants commit to hiring at least 30% of employees who are bona ﬁde residents of Fresno who have not established residency after the submission of an application for employment with the applicant/permittee.   Recruitment Planning Finding local hires who are City residents, and recruiting employees who meet the criteria listed in the Social Policy Section 9-3316 (b) (1) of the Fresno Municipal Code, presents a particular set of challenges in southeast Fresno. District 5 is broken up by nearby Calwa and the Sunnyside Country Club area, both county islands. In addition to the fragmented jurisdictional boundaries, the socio-economic proﬁle of district residents vary considerably by area. District 5 includes poorer industrial areas near South Orange Avenue and the commercial Ventura/Kings Canyon corridor. In the census tracts to the north and northwest of the proposed location, thirty to sixty-plus percent of residents fall below the poverty line. East of Peach Avenue newer neighborhoods attract residents with higher- paying jobs. Demonstrating their commitment to hire bona fide residents of Fresno who have not established residency after the submission of an application for employment, the owners have already identified three local hires, all of whom will also qualify under the social policy criteria. Justin Gonzales will be a Manager trainee. He resides at in Fresno. Justin’s phone number is (and his email address is . Michael Childers and Levi Acosta will train for entry level sales counter positions. Michael lives at in Fresno. His email address is and his phone number is . Levi resides at His email is and he can be reached at It will be important to hire and train a local team in a short time frame, which may not allow for reliance on sporadic events like job fairs. A recruitment strategy that uses more traditional advertising methods to cast a wide net would waste time and resources when the desired set of traits among potential pool of applicants is so narrow. In addition to meeting the commitment to hire at least 30% City residents, the Social Policy code section calls for a minimum of one-third (1/3) of the total annual work hours to be performed by employees who meet one of the following criteria: (i) Annual family income below 80% AMI; (ii) Convicted for a cannabis related crime that could have been prosecuted as a misdemeanor or citation under current State law; (iii) Lived in a low to moderate income census tract in the city for a minimum of three (3) years; (iv) Veteran; or (v) Former foster home youth who was in foster care as a minor. (vi) Unemployed; or (vii) Receiving public assistance The applicants want to bring jobs where the need is greatest. Fortunately there are new technological tools that enable businesses to narrowly target their recruiting by location with personalized messaging. Today a remarkable 95 percent of Americans have a mobile phone. With the prevalence of mobile phone ownership, it makes sense for companies to use phones as a channel for reaching candidates. Location-based marketing targets smartphone users who have their location services turned on, delivering them content, alerts, and push notiﬁcations for a business based on their current location. Geofencing is a marketing strategy that uses location-based technology to target prospective candidates in your area. With a geofence, businesses can establish a virtual fence around a speciﬁc area and send ads or messages to users in this fence. Geofencing for recruiting allows businesses to target prospective workers in a designated area with personalized ads to ﬁt the culture that deﬁnes an area and the people in it. With the amount of personalization available in geofencing, the business can create an ad strategy that drives engagement and conversions, which contribute to the goal of building a team of top-notch candidates. Rather than sending out mass advertisements that look like spam, the company can use personalization to make users who meet the social policy criteria feel like the recruitment message is just for them. The campaign can also target speciﬁc candidates based on educational records or online proﬁles. Geofencing focuses on targeting a speciﬁc audience to get the recruitment ads in front of the right people. The company plans to try various advertising forms including text messages, push notiﬁcations, and pay-per-click ads. Since initial recruitment and training is time-sensitive the ads will convey a sense of urgency and results will be evaluated weekly. Factors to consider include conversion rate, click-through-rate, bounce rate, and cost-per-click. In addition to eye-catching creative copy and design, the messages will also make it convenient for people to respond and apply. It will also be important to communicate that the company respects the privacy of the target audience in order to establish a trusting relationship from the ﬁrst. Education and Training There is little available at present in the way of educational institutions that offer training programs for prospective workers in the cannabis industry. A simple online search will return results for dozens of cannabis education courses and certiﬁcations that promise to help aspiring industry employees to get their foot in the door. Currently, there are no national standards for training dispensary employees, and the value of these online programs is questionable. In the near term the Clinica Center management and sales team will beneﬁt from the guidance of two experienced retail operators who know how to successfully manage cannabis retail outlets and provide quality customer service. With their long track record in the industry, the applicants are well qualiﬁed to educate employees in the properties and uses of cannabis products. Oaksterdam University in Oakland is the only regional example of a well-established institution that offers a comprehensive educational program for aspiring entrepreneurs and workers looking to enter this growth industry. The Clinica Center will offer a scholarship for the Business of Cannabis online course series to employees who want to continue their education after their initial training. Comprehensive Cannabis Education Our students beneﬁt from an unmatched educational experience, learning from the world’s most respected cannabis professionals and surrounded by peers with a wide array of backgrounds, perspectives and talents. Newly hired staff will undergo intensive focused training while site development is underway. The applicant’s currently operating retail facilities can provide hands-on training for new hires. They will be mentored by experienced staff currently working in the operational role that will become their responsibility when the Fresno Clinica Center opens for business. They will also receive extensive training in the properties and uses of the array of legal cannabis products, embodying the best features of an apprenticeship program. The combination of hands-on operational experience coupled with access to the knowledge the applicants have developed through years of working with medical cannabis patients will help prepare employees to provide superior customer service. Learning and development will continue once an employee becomes comfortable in their initial role in the company. Cross-training employees gives them the opportunity to learn new skills that can make them more valuable, either in their present job or in a different job. Learning a new job can also help keep team members stimulated and reduce boredom. The business stands to beneﬁt in a number of ways. Cross-training helps ensure stability and provides valuable ﬂexibility across teams. It can deepen employees’ understanding of the business and how their role impacts the business and contributes to the company goals. Redundancy in skill sets can allow increasing scheduling ﬂexibility and safeguard against unexpected loss of key personnel. Cross-training staff can also help preserve institutional knowledge that might be lost through inevitable staff turnover. While the beneﬁts of cross-training employees may seem obvious, it’s not without risks and requires planning to be carried out successfully. Doing it wrong can negatively impact worker morale. Cross-training should be consistent, planned and organized. It is important to consider what will be accomplished and what knowledge and skills will be required. The cross-trained employee should know exactly what the new work entails and what is expected. There will be a learning curve that must be planned for in the implementation period. The company will help employees understand why they’re being cross-trained, and clearly communicate the rationale and goals. This project represents a cooperative effort on the part of experienced cannabis retailers who have operated in the same market for years, and might easily regard each other as competitors. Local residents who have not had the opportunity to gain experience in this growth industry will have a chance to learn from operators who have proven their ability to adapt and thrive in a dynamic regulatory and marketing environment. The applicants are eager to share their knowledge and experience to develop and guide a local team in all aspects of running a retail cannabis business. That spirit of sharing and cooperation will extend to relationships with neighbors, City staff, and other local cannabis industry businesses. Wages and Beneﬁts Local jurisdictions nationwide have become laboratories of policy innovation for labor standards. Currently 53 counties and cities have put a ﬂoor under local wages with minimum hourly rates set higher than state and federal standards. The City of Fresno is not among them, and some California cities like Hayward and San Carlos are now choosing to delay scheduled increases in light of the effects of the Covid pandemic. In California a wage hike of 50 cents per hour became law in January 2017, with an increase planned each year until it reaches $ an hour in 2022. The Fresno Clinica Center team believes that employees are more productive and better able to serve customers when they aren’t worried about providing for their basic needs. The ‘living wage’ model offers an alternative to minimum wage standards or comparisons with the federal poverty level threshold. Poverty thresholds don’t account for living costs beyond a very basic food budget and do not take into consideration costs like childcare and health care. These costs not only draw from one’s income, but can determine one’s ability to work and to balance employment with other aspects of everyday life. Poverty thresholds also fail to take into account geographic variation in the cost of essential household expenses. The living wage model draws on geographically speciﬁc expenditure data related to a family’s likely minimum food, childcare, health insurance, housing, transportation, and other basic necessities like clothing and personal care items. It uses these cost elements and the rough effects of income and payroll taxes to determine the minimum employment earnings needed to meet a family’s basic needs while maintaining self-sufﬁciency. The living wage represents a minimum income standard that draws a ﬁne line between ﬁnancial independence and the need to seek out public assistance or suffer consistent and severe housing and food insecurity. We can then deﬁne the living wage as a minimum subsistence wage for persons living in the United States. The following table illustrates the results for Fresno county. Employees will be compensated well above minimum wage, and more in line with the living wage standards for the county. New employees start at $ /hour and become eligible for bonuses once they prove a good ﬁt. Assistant Managers will start at $ /hr, again with bonus opportunities. Managers earn a minimum of $ /hr, and the company believes strongly in hiring local talent and promoting internally to reinforce the company culture. California was one of the ﬁrst states in the nation to require employers to pay sick leave to employees. The Healthy Workplace, Healthy Family Act of 2014 applies to all employers regardless of their size. Under State rules full-time and part-time employees accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. California’s paid sick leave begins accruing as soon as the employee starts to work, although an employer can prohibit an employee from using accrued paid sick leave in the ﬁrst 90 days of employment. Employers may “limit an employee’s use of paid sick days to 24 hours or three days in each year of employment.” Unused paid sick days to carry over to the following year, but employers can place a 6-day (48-hour) cap on the paid sick day accrual. Some cities like San Francisco and Oakland have passed local ordinances with more generous caps for employees. The Fresno Clinica Center team believes paid sick leave helps promote a healthy workforce that doesn't feel obligated to go to work when they're sick and risk infecting others. The importance of those considerations has been heightened with the risk posed by the Covid pandemic. Company policy will limit an employee’s use of paid sick days to 40 hours in each year of employment with a 9-day (72 hr) cap on accrual. Knowing they have that safety net for themselves and their families will boost employee morale and productivity. The company will also provide forty hours of vacation time for all employees and additional paid time off accrued at the rate of one hour for each 24 hours worked, or two weeks per year for full time employees. California has some of the most generous state laws for family and medical leave in the nation, including the California Family Rights Act. The Act requires employers with at least 50 employees to give employees time off to bond with a new child, recover from their own serious health conditions, or care for a family member with a serious health condition. Employees may take up to 12 weeks off in a 12-month period for this purpose. Much of this law overlaps with the federal requirements, but it also applies to domestic partners and children of domestic partners. All employers with at least ﬁve employees must allow employees to take time off while they are disabled due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. Employees may take off a “reasonable” period of time, up to four months. This time off is in addition to the leave available under the California's family and medical leave laws and the federal statutes. California also has a recently enacted law, called the New Parent Leave Act, which requires employers with 20 to 49 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of leave to their employees to bond with a new child only. Employers with at least 25 employees must allow an employee with a spouse in the military to take up to ten days of unpaid leave while the spouse is on leave from deployment during a period of military conﬂict. The employee’s spouse must be a member of the National Guard or Reserves who has been deployed during a period of military conﬂict, or a member of the U.S. Armed Forces who has been deployed during a period of military conﬂict to an area that the president has designated as a combat theater or combat zone. Employees are eligible for this leave if they work an average of at least 20 hours per week. Employers with at least 25 employees must allow an employee to take time off to participate in activities at a child’s school or day care. Employees may take up to 40 hours off in any 12-month period, not to exceed eight hours in a single month. The Fresno Clinica Center will disregard the standards for minimum number of employees and offer all categories of family and medical leave provided for in the California statutes. In addition to unpaid leave, California has a state temporary disability insurance program, funded by withholdings from employee paychecks. Lower-wage earners who are unable to work due to a temporary disability (including pregnancy) can receive up to 70% of their usual wages, and 60% for higher-wage earners. The state’s temporary disability program also funds paid family leave. Eligible employees can collect the same beneﬁts available for a temporary disability for up to six weeks in order to bond with a new child or care for a seriously ill parent, spouse, domestic partner, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or parent-in-law. The Fresno Clinca Center will make up the difference for employees on temporary disability leave so that they can continue to draw 100% of their salary. California employers are not required to provide any paid vacation or paid time off (PTO) to their employees. The Fresno Clinica Center team feels that giving employees time off to relax beneﬁts not only employees, but the business as well. Happier, healthier employees usually mean greater productivity and better employee retention. In general, vacation accrues over time as an employee works. California law considers accrued vacation to be a form of wages that have already been earned by the employee. This means that accrued vacation cannot expire and must be paid out to an employee upon termination or separation from the employer. Unlike some other states, California does not allow “use-it-or- lose-it” vacation policies, but does allow a cap on vacation accrual. Employees of the Fresno Clinica Center will begin accruing vacation time after 90 days of employment at the rate of 10 vacation days per year. There will be a cap on vacation accrual at the rate of 1.75 times the annual accrual rate. In addition to paid time off, a healthy workforce requires quality health insurance coverage. The business will work through the Covered California for Small Business program with employees to select the plan that ﬁts their budget. Covered California for Small Business has six health insurance companies that are available for year-round enrollment in the small-business program. Because employees have the opportunity to compare and select health plans at a variety of price points, the result is greater choice and coverage that is more closely tailored to individual needs. Social Equity Incubation The Fresno Clinica Center project is in large part a collaborative effort by owners of two retail cannabis businesses that have operated independently for years in the same market. The application further demonstrates their commitment to cooperative development of the industry as a whole. In that spirit the applicants would be happy to help support a local cannabis social equity businesses in the form of mentorship, training, and/or a percentage of shelf space dedicated to Fresno equity business products. 1 Labor Peace Agreement by and between Tranquil Meadows Company (Employer) and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (“ILWU”) WHEREAS, Employer holds or intends to apply for one or more State Licenses to engage in commercial cannabis activity, and intends to become a licensee to engage in commercial cannabis activity, as such terms are defined by section 19300 of the Business and Professions Code; WHEREAS, Employer desires to construct and operate commercial cannabis activities within the Union’s geographic jurisdiction, and desires to do so without disruption, unrest or delay that may be occasioned by labor disputes; WHEREAS, the Union seeks a means of efficiently and amicably resolving disputes relating to its potential representation of employees engaged in the industry in which Employer seeks to operate; WHEREFORE, the Parties voluntarily enter into this agreement, which shall be binding on them and hereby establish the following procedure for the purpose of ensuring an orderly environment for the exercise by employees of their rights under section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRB”), in order to comply with California law, and to avoid picketing and/or other economic action directed at the Employer in the event Union decides to conduct an organizing campaign among the Employers’ employees: 1. This Agreement shall cover the following bargaining unit at the employer’s location/s in Placerville, California. A. All full-time and part-time employees employed in all jobs constituting “commercial marijuana activity” as defined in Section 26001 and/or “commercial cannabis activity” as defined in Section 19300.5 of the California Business and Professions Code at the Employer’s operation in Placerville, California, excluding all managerial employees, office clericals employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRB”). The employer agrees that these Bargaining Unit Employees share a strong “community of interest” and therefore constitute “an appropriate bargaining unit” as these quoted terms are defined under the NLRB, for the purpose of exclusive representation and collective bargaining by the Union in the event the Union makes a showing of majority status as detailed in paragraph 2 below. 2. The Employer shall recognize and bargain in good faith with the Union as the exclusive representative of all employees in the dispensary bargaining unit upon the Union’s showing that a majority of the respective bargaining unit employees have authorized the Union to represent them for the purpose of collective bargaining. 2 3. The term “Employer” shall be deemed to include any person, firm, partnership, corporation, joint venture, or other legal entity that substantially controls or is substantially under the control of the Employer covered by this Agreement or one or more principal(s) of the Employer covered by this Agreement. 4. The Employer shall remain neutral with respect to the Union and its representation of employees covered by this agreement. The Employer will not take any action nor make any statements that will directly or indirectly state of imply opposition by the Employer to the selection by such Employees of a collective bargaining agent, or reference for or opposition to any particular union as a bargaining agent. 5. The Union may engage in organizing efforts in non-work areas during employees’ non- working times (before work, after work, or on meal or rest breaks) and/or during such other periods as the parties may mutually agree upon. The Employer will make arrangements to permit these conversations to be held in an area where the employee(s) will be able to speak to the Union representatives without monitoring by the Employer, subject to the Employer’s legally mandated worksite requirements for security and safety. 6. During the life of this Agreement, and except for a material breach of these provisions going to the essence of this Agreement, the Union will not engage in picketing or other economic activity at the Employer for the purpose of obtaining recognition. This paragraph will expire upon the Employer’s recognition of the Union as the representative of the employees. 7. Within ten (10) days following receipt of written notice of intent to organize employees, the employer will furnish the Union with a list of all its full-time and part-time non-supervisory and non-management employees engaged in commercial cannabis activities, the Employer shall provide to the Union the names, home addresses, personal telephone numbers, including cell phone number(s), and personal email addresses of these employees. The Employer shall update this list regularly and no less often than ten (10) working days, if requested in writing by the Union. The Union will keep employee names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses confidential and not use them for any other purposes than for the purposes of this Agreement. The lists provided by Employer shall be used, and be regarded as a conclusive eligibility list for the purpose of determining whether the Union enjoys a majority of support among the employees. Any disputes regarding eligibility, the eligibility list, or the sufficiency or authenticity of the Union’s showing of majority status shall be determined by a mutually agreed neutral third party appointed to ascertain the majority status of the Union. 8. The parties agree that any dispute over the interpretation of application of this Agreement shall be submitted to expedited and final, binding arbitration with Matthew Goldberg serving as the Arbitrator. If he is unavailable to serve within fourteen (14) days of notification, then another mutually acceptable person shall be the arbitrator. If the parties cannot agree on a replacement arbitrator, then Mr. Goldberg shall designate one. The arbitrator shall have the authority to determine the arbitration procedures to be followed and to establish substantive and procedural rules for how to conduct the card check process to ensure a fair and reliable process that prevents the employer from knowing individual employee choices for or against the Union. The arbitrator 3 shall also have the authority to order the non-compliant party to comply with the Agreement. All arbitration costs shall be equally borne by the parties. The Superior Court of California in the county in which the Employer’s facility at issue is located shall have exclusive jurisdiction in any action concerning arbitration under this agreement. The parties hereto agree to comply with any order of the arbitrator, which shall be final and binding, and furthermore consent to the entry of any order of the arbitrator as the order of judgement of the court, without entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law. 9. To the extent one or more terms of this agreement are determined to be invalid by a court of law or by a final decision of an administrative agency that is appealable only to a court of law, the remaining provisions shall be unaffected and shall remain in force and effect. 10. The parties warrant that their respective representatives who have executed this agreement have full authority to bind and obligate the parties to the terms set forth herein. 11. Under no circumstance in the initial year following recognition will the Employer withdraw recognition or seek an NLRB election unless it is legally compelled to do so. 12. This Agreement shall be in full force and effect from the date it is fully executed on behalf of the Employer and the Union for a period of two (2) years or upon recognition of any union including the Union as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the Employer’s employees, whichever is sooner. Agreed and accepted this 22 date of April, 2019 By: ________________________________ _____________________________ Employer’s Name Signature Title: _______________________________ For: Tranquil Meadows Company By: ________________________________ ______________________________ Name: Signature Title: _______________________________ For: International Longshore and Warehouse Union 2.0 Social Policy and Local Enterprise Plan/ Workforce Plan Local Hiring The management and staff of the Fresno Clinica Center will necessarily be made up of local residents, since the applicants do not plan to relocate or permanently move members of their current management staff. The Fresno team will be recruited from local talent and trained to operate a safe and compliant retail cannabis establishment - one that enhances the neighborhood while providing quality products and service. The applicants commit to hiring at least 30% of employees who are bona ﬁde residents of Fresno who have not established residency after the submission of an application for employment with the applicant/permittee.   Recruitment Planning Finding local hires who are City residents, and recruiting employees who meet the criteria listed in the Social Policy Section 9-3316 (b) (1) of the Fresno Municipal Code, presents a particular set of challenges in southeast Fresno. District 5 is broken up by nearby Calwa and the Sunnyside Country Club area, both county islands. In addition to the fragmented jurisdictional boundaries, the socio-economic proﬁle of district residents vary considerably by area. District 5 includes poorer industrial areas near South Orange Avenue and the commercial Ventura/Kings Canyon corridor. In the census tracts to the north and northwest of the proposed location, thirty to sixty-plus percent of residents fall below the poverty line. East of Peach Avenue newer neighborhoods attract residents with higher- paying jobs. Demonstrating their commitment to hire bona fide residents of Fresno who have not established residency after the submission of an application for employment, the owners have already identified three local hires, all of whom will also qualify under the social policy criteria. Justin Gonzales will be a Manager trainee. He resides at t in Fresno. Justin’s phone number is and his email address is . Michael Childers and Levi Acosta will train for entry level sales counter positions. Michael lives at in Fresno. His email address is and his phone number is . Levi resides at His email is and he can be reached at . It will be important to hire and train a local team in a short time frame, which may not allow for reliance on sporadic events like job fairs. A recruitment strategy that uses more traditional advertising methods to cast a wide net would waste time and resources when the desired set of traits among potential pool of applicants is so narrow. In addition to meeting the commitment to hire at least 30% City residents, the Social Policy code section calls for a minimum of one-third (1/3) of the total annual work hours to be performed by employees who meet one of the following criteria: (i) Annual family income below 80% AMI; (ii) Convicted for a cannabis related crime that could have been prosecuted as a misdemeanor or citation under current State law; (iii) Lived in a low to moderate income census tract in the city for a minimum of three (3) years; (iv) Veteran; or (v) Former foster home youth who was in foster care as a minor. (vi) Unemployed; or (vii) Receiving public assistance The applicants want to bring jobs where the need is greatest. Fortunately there are new technological tools that enable businesses to narrowly target their recruiting by location with personalized messaging. Today a remarkable 95 percent of Americans have a mobile phone. With the prevalence of mobile phone ownership, it makes sense for companies to use phones as a channel for reaching candidates. Location-based marketing targets smartphone users who have their location services turned on, delivering them content, alerts, and push notiﬁcations for a business based on their current location. Geofencing is a marketing strategy that uses location-based technology to target prospective candidates in your area. With a geofence, businesses can establish a virtual fence around a speciﬁc area and send ads or messages to users in this fence. Geofencing for recruiting allows businesses to target prospective workers in a designated area with personalized ads to ﬁt the culture that deﬁnes an area and the people in it. With the amount of personalization available in geofencing, the business can create an ad strategy that drives engagement and conversions, which contribute to the goal of building a team of top-notch candidates. Rather than sending out mass advertisements that look like spam, the company can use personalization to make users who meet the social policy criteria feel like the recruitment message is just for them. The campaign can also target speciﬁc candidates based on educational records or online proﬁles. Geofencing focuses on targeting a speciﬁc audience to get the recruitment ads in front of the right people. The company plans to try various advertising forms including text messages, push notiﬁcations, and pay-per-click ads. Since initial recruitment and training is time-sensitive the ads will convey a sense of urgency and results will be evaluated weekly. Factors to consider include conversion rate, click-through-rate, bounce rate, and cost-per-click. In addition to eye-catching creative copy and design, the messages will also make it convenient for people to respond and apply. It will also be important to communicate that the company respects the privacy of the target audience in order to establish a trusting relationship from the ﬁrst. Education and Training There is little available at present in the way of educational institutions that offer training programs for prospective workers in the cannabis industry. A simple online search will return results for dozens of cannabis education courses and certiﬁcations that promise to help aspiring industry employees to get their foot in the door. Currently, there are no national standards for training dispensary employees, and the value of these online programs is questionable. In the near term the Clinica Center management and sales team will beneﬁt from the guidance of two experienced retail operators who know how to successfully manage cannabis retail outlets and provide quality customer service. With their long track record in the industry, the applicants are well qualiﬁed to educate employees in the properties and uses of cannabis products. Oaksterdam University in Oakland is the only regional example of a well-established institution that offers a comprehensive educational program for aspiring entrepreneurs and workers looking to enter this growth industry. The Clinica Center will offer a $1,000 scholarship for the Business of Cannabis online course series to employees who want to continue their education after their initial training. Comprehensive Cannabis Education Our students beneﬁt from an unmatched educational experience, learning from the world’s most respected cannabis professionals and surrounded by peers with a wide array of backgrounds, perspectives and talents. Newly hired staff will undergo intensive focused training while site development is underway. The applicant’s currently operating retail facilities can provide hands-on training for new hires. They will be mentored by experienced staff currently working in the operational role that will become their responsibility when the Fresno Clinica Center opens for business. They will also receive extensive training in the properties and uses of the array of legal cannabis products, embodying the best features of an apprenticeship program. The combination of hands-on operational experience coupled with access to the knowledge the applicants have developed through years of working with medical cannabis patients will help prepare employees to provide superior customer service. Learning and development will continue once an employee becomes comfortable in their initial role in the company. Cross-training employees gives them the opportunity to learn new skills that can make them more valuable, either in their present job or in a different job. Learning a new job can also help keep team members stimulated and reduce boredom. The business stands to beneﬁt in a number of ways. Cross-training helps ensure stability and provides valuable ﬂexibility across teams. It can deepen employees’ understanding of the business and how their role impacts the business and contributes to the company goals. Redundancy in skill sets can allow increasing scheduling ﬂexibility and safeguard against unexpected loss of key personnel. Cross-training staff can also help preserve institutional knowledge that might be lost through inevitable staff turnover. While the beneﬁts of cross-training employees may seem obvious, it’s not without risks and requires planning to be carried out successfully. Doing it wrong can negatively impact worker morale. Cross-training should be consistent, planned and organized. It is important to consider what will be accomplished and what knowledge and skills will be required. The cross-trained employee should know exactly what the new work entails and what is expected. There will be a learning curve that must be planned for in the implementation period. The company will help employees understand why they’re being cross-trained, and clearly communicate the rationale and goals. This project represents a cooperative effort on the part of experienced cannabis retailers who have operated in the same market for years, and might easily regard each other as competitors. Local residents who have not had the opportunity to gain experience in this growth industry will have a chance to learn from operators who have proven their ability to adapt and thrive in a dynamic regulatory and marketing environment. The applicants are eager to share their knowledge and experience to develop and guide a local team in all aspects of running a retail cannabis business. That spirit of sharing and cooperation will extend to relationships with neighbors, City staff, and other local cannabis industry businesses. Wages and Beneﬁts Local jurisdictions nationwide have become laboratories of policy innovation for labor standards. Currently 53 counties and cities have put a ﬂoor under local wages with minimum hourly rates set higher than state and federal standards. The City of Fresno is not among them, and some California cities like Hayward and San Carlos are now choosing to delay scheduled increases in light of the effects of the Covid pandemic. In California a wage hike of 50 cents per hour became law in January 2017, with an increase planned each year until it reaches $15 an hour in 2022. The Fresno Clinica Center team believes that employees are more productive and better able to serve customers when they aren’t worried about providing for their basic needs. The ‘living wage’ model offers an alternative to minimum wage standards or comparisons with the federal poverty level threshold. Poverty thresholds don’t account for living costs beyond a very basic food budget and do not take into consideration costs like childcare and health care. These costs not only draw from one’s income, but can determine one’s ability to work and to balance employment with other aspects of everyday life. Poverty thresholds also fail to take into account geographic variation in the cost of essential household expenses. The living wage model draws on geographically speciﬁc expenditure data related to a family’s likely minimum food, childcare, health insurance, housing, transportation, and other basic necessities like clothing and personal care items. It uses these cost elements and the rough effects of income and payroll taxes to determine the minimum employment earnings needed to meet a family’s basic needs while maintaining self-sufﬁciency. The living wage represents a minimum income standard that draws a ﬁne line between ﬁnancial independence and the need to seek out public assistance or suffer consistent and severe housing and food insecurity. We can then deﬁne the living wage as a minimum subsistence wage for persons living in the United States. The following table illustrates the results for Fresno county. Employees will be compensated well above minimum wage, and more in line with the living wage standards for the county. New employees start at $20/hour and become eligible for bonuses once they prove a good ﬁt. Assistant Managers will start at $25/hr, again with bonus opportunities. Managers earn a minimum of $35/hr, and the company believes strongly in hiring local talent and promoting internally to reinforce the company culture. California was one of the ﬁrst states in the nation to require employers to pay sick leave to employees. The Healthy Workplace, Healthy Family Act of 2014 applies to all employers regardless of their size. Under State rules full-time and part-time employees accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. California’s paid sick leave begins accruing as soon as the employee starts to work, although an employer can prohibit an employee from using accrued paid sick leave in the ﬁrst 90 days of employment. Employers may “limit an employee’s use of paid sick days to 24 hours or three days in each year of employment.” Unused paid sick days to carry over to the following year, but employers can place a 6-day (48-hour) cap on the paid sick day accrual. Some cities like San Francisco and Oakland have passed local ordinances with more generous caps for employees. The Fresno Clinica Center team believes paid sick leave helps promote a healthy workforce that doesn't feel obligated to go to work when they're sick and risk infecting others. The importance of those considerations has been heightened with the risk posed by the Covid pandemic. Company policy will limit an employee’s use of paid sick days to 40 hours in each year of employment with a 9-day (72 hr) cap on accrual. Knowing they have that safety net for themselves and their families will boost employee morale and productivity. The company will also provide forty hours of vacation time for all employees and additional paid time off accrued at the rate of one hour for each 24 hours worked, or two weeks per year for full time employees. California has some of the most generous state laws for family and medical leave in the nation, including the California Family Rights Act. The Act requires employers with at least 50 employees to give employees time off to bond with a new child, recover from their own serious health conditions, or care for a family member with a serious health condition. Employees may take up to 12 weeks off in a 12-month period for this purpose. Much of this law overlaps with the federal requirements, but it also applies to domestic partners and children of domestic partners. All employers with at least ﬁve employees must allow employees to take time off while they are disabled due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. Employees may take off a “reasonable” period of time, up to four months. This time off is in addition to the leave available under the California's family and medical leave laws and the federal statutes. California also has a recently enacted law, called the New Parent Leave Act, which requires employers with 20 to 49 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of leave to their employees to bond with a new child only. Employers with at least 25 employees must allow an employee with a spouse in the military to take up to ten days of unpaid leave while the spouse is on leave from deployment during a period of military conﬂict. The employee’s spouse must be a member of the National Guard or Reserves who has been deployed during a period of military conﬂict, or a member of the U.S. Armed Forces who has been deployed during a period of military conﬂict to an area that the president has designated as a combat theater or combat zone. Employees are eligible for this leave if they work an average of at least 20 hours per week. Employers with at least 25 employees must allow an employee to take time off to participate in activities at a child’s school or day care. Employees may take up to 40 hours off in any 12-month period, not to exceed eight hours in a single month. The Fresno Clinica Center will disregard the standards for minimum number of employees and offer all categories of family and medical leave provided for in the California statutes. In addition to unpaid leave, California has a state temporary disability insurance program, funded by withholdings from employee paychecks. Lower-wage earners who are unable to work due to a temporary disability (including pregnancy) can receive up to 70% of their usual wages, and 60% for higher-wage earners. The state’s temporary disability program also funds paid family leave. Eligible employees can collect the same beneﬁts available for a temporary disability for up to six weeks in order to bond with a new child or care for a seriously ill parent, spouse, domestic partner, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or parent-in-law. The Fresno Clinca Center will make up the difference for employees on temporary disability leave so that they can continue to draw 100% of their salary. California employers are not required to provide any paid vacation or paid time off (PTO) to their employees. The Fresno Clinica Center team feels that giving employees time off to relax beneﬁts not only employees, but the business as well. Happier, healthier employees usually mean greater productivity and better employee retention. In general, vacation accrues over time as an employee works. California law considers accrued vacation to be a form of wages that have already been earned by the employee. This means that accrued vacation cannot expire and must be paid out to an employee upon termination or separation from the employer. Unlike some other states, California does not allow “use-it-or- lose-it” vacation policies, but does allow a cap on vacation accrual. Employees of the Fresno Clinica Center will begin accruing vacation time after 90 days of employment at the rate of 10 vacation days per year. There will be a cap on vacation accrual at the rate of 1.75 times the annual accrual rate. In addition to paid time off, a healthy workforce requires quality health insurance coverage. The business will work through the Covered California for Small Business program with employees to select the plan that ﬁts their budget. Covered California for Small Business has six health insurance companies that are available for year-round enrollment in the small-business program. Because employees have the opportunity to compare and select health plans at a variety of price points, the result is greater choice and coverage that is more closely tailored to individual needs. Social Equity Incubation The Fresno Clinica Center project is in large part a collaborative effort by owners of two retail cannabis businesses that have operated independently for years in the same market. The application further demonstrates their commitment to cooperative development of the industry as a whole. In that spirit the applicants would be happy to help support a local cannabis social equity businesses in the form of mentorship, training, and/or a percentage of shelf space dedicated to Fresno equity business products. 1 Labor Peace Agreement by and between Tranquil Meadows Company (Employer) and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (“ILWU”) WHEREAS, Employer holds or intends to apply for one or more State Licenses to engage in commercial cannabis activity, and intends to become a licensee to engage in commercial cannabis activity, as such terms are defined by section 19300 of the Business and Professions Code; WHEREAS, Employer desires to construct and operate commercial cannabis activities within the Union’s geographic jurisdiction, and desires to do so without disruption, unrest or delay that may be occasioned by labor disputes; WHEREAS, the Union seeks a means of efficiently and amicably resolving disputes relating to its potential representation of employees engaged in the industry in which Employer seeks to operate; WHEREFORE, the Parties voluntarily enter into this agreement, which shall be binding on them and hereby establish the following procedure for the purpose of ensuring an orderly environment for the exercise by employees of their rights under section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRB”), in order to comply with California law, and to avoid picketing and/or other economic action directed at the Employer in the event Union decides to conduct an organizing campaign among the Employers’ employees: 1. This Agreement shall cover the following bargaining unit at the employer’s location/s in Placerville, California. A. All full-time and part-time employees employed in all jobs constituting “commercial marijuana activity” as defined in Section 26001 and/or “commercial cannabis activity” as defined in Section 19300.5 of the California Business and Professions Code at the Employer’s operation in Placerville, California, excluding all managerial employees, office clericals employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRB”). The employer agrees that these Bargaining Unit Employees share a strong “community of interest” and therefore constitute “an appropriate bargaining unit” as these quoted terms are defined under the NLRB, for the purpose of exclusive representation and collective bargaining by the Union in the event the Union makes a showing of majority status as detailed in paragraph 2 below. 2. The Employer shall recognize and bargain in good faith with the Union as the exclusive representative of all employees in the dispensary bargaining unit upon the Union’s showing that a majority of the respective bargaining unit employees have authorized the Union to represent them for the purpose of collective bargaining. 2 3. The term “Employer” shall be deemed to include any person, firm, partnership, corporation, joint venture, or other legal entity that substantially controls or is substantially under the control of the Employer covered by this Agreement or one or more principal(s) of the Employer covered by this Agreement. 4. The Employer shall remain neutral with respect to the Union and its representation of employees covered by this agreement. The Employer will not take any action nor make any statements that will directly or indirectly state of imply opposition by the Employer to the selection by such Employees of a collective bargaining agent, or reference for or opposition to any particular union as a bargaining agent. 5. The Union may engage in organizing efforts in non-work areas during employees’ non- working times (before work, after work, or on meal or rest breaks) and/or during such other periods as the parties may mutually agree upon. The Employer will make arrangements to permit these conversations to be held in an area where the employee(s) will be able to speak to the Union representatives without monitoring by the Employer, subject to the Employer’s legally mandated worksite requirements for security and safety. 6. During the life of this Agreement, and except for a material breach of these provisions going to the essence of this Agreement, the Union will not engage in picketing or other economic activity at the Employer for the purpose of obtaining recognition. This paragraph will expire upon the Employer’s recognition of the Union as the representative of the employees. 7. Within ten (10) days following receipt of written notice of intent to organize employees, the employer will furnish the Union with a list of all its full-time and part-time non-supervisory and non-management employees engaged in commercial cannabis activities, the Employer shall provide to the Union the names, home addresses, personal telephone numbers, including cell phone number(s), and personal email addresses of these employees. The Employer shall update this list regularly and no less often than ten (10) working days, if requested in writing by the Union. The Union will keep employee names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses confidential and not use them for any other purposes than for the purposes of this Agreement. The lists provided by Employer shall be used, and be regarded as a conclusive eligibility list for the purpose of determining whether the Union enjoys a majority of support among the employees. Any disputes regarding eligibility, the eligibility list, or the sufficiency or authenticity of the Union’s showing of majority status shall be determined by a mutually agreed neutral third party appointed to ascertain the majority status of the Union. 8. The parties agree that any dispute over the interpretation of application of this Agreement shall be submitted to expedited and final, binding arbitration with Matthew Goldberg serving as the Arbitrator. If he is unavailable to serve within fourteen (14) days of notification, then another mutually acceptable person shall be the arbitrator. If the parties cannot agree on a replacement arbitrator, then Mr. Goldberg shall designate one. The arbitrator shall have the authority to determine the arbitration procedures to be followed and to establish substantive and procedural rules for how to conduct the card check process to ensure a fair and reliable process that prevents the employer from knowing individual employee choices for or against the Union. The arbitrator 3 shall also have the authority to order the non-compliant party to comply with the Agreement. All arbitration costs shall be equally borne by the parties. The Superior Court of California in the county in which the Employer’s facility at issue is located shall have exclusive jurisdiction in any action concerning arbitration under this agreement. The parties hereto agree to comply with any order of the arbitrator, which shall be final and binding, and furthermore consent to the entry of any order of the arbitrator as the order of judgement of the court, without entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law. 9. To the extent one or more terms of this agreement are determined to be invalid by a court of law or by a final decision of an administrative agency that is appealable only to a court of law, the remaining provisions shall be unaffected and shall remain in force and effect. 10. The parties warrant that their respective representatives who have executed this agreement have full authority to bind and obligate the parties to the terms set forth herein. 11. Under no circumstance in the initial year following recognition will the Employer withdraw recognition or seek an NLRB election unless it is legally compelled to do so. 12. This Agreement shall be in full force and effect from the date it is fully executed on behalf of the Employer and the Union for a period of two (2) years or upon recognition of any union including the Union as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the Employer’s employees, whichever is sooner. Agreed and accepted this 22 date of April, 2019 By: ________________________________ _____________________________ Employer’s Name Signature Title: _______________________________ For: Tranquil Meadows Company By: ________________________________ ______________________________ Name: Signature Title: _______________________________ For: International Longshore and Warehouse Union 3. Neighborhood Compatibility Nuisance Avoidance and Complaint Resolution The applicants intend to develop and operate a commercial cannabis retail facility on the site that will contribute to the safety and desirability of the surrounding neighborhood, while acting promptly to address any perceived negative impacts to neighboring properties and businesses. The operation will provide a valuable service to nearby residents, while adding a vibrant new business in an attractive setting that will enhance local property values. The applicants believe that early outreach to neighboring residents and businesses will be a necessary step in establishing cooperative relationships for mutual beneﬁt. The owners will contact neighbors to inform them of the proposed retail operation and address any initial concerns they might have. The applicants have begun reaching out to immediate neighbors to inform them about the proposed project and address their concerns. A page from the Neighborhood Engagement Log is included at the end of this section documenting their feedback. The applicants plan to continue to expand on the dialogue with neighboring residents and business owners. The operation will be responsibly managed to avoid any negative impacts on neighbors and the surrounding community. Trafﬁc impacts will be minimal, with an average of around six customers served per hour, as detailed in Section 1. Shoppers typically spend ten or ﬁfteen minutes shopping and then leave. Loitering on or near the premises is strictly prohibited and enforced by the on-site security presence during all hours of operation. The site includes adequate parking space for employees and customers. Owners will maintain the premises and infrastructure so that it is visually attractive and not dangerous to the safety and general welfare of employees, patrons, surrounding properties, and the general public. Employees will pick up litter daily from the premises, including adjacent public sidewalks and the parking lot under the control of the cannabis retail business. These areas will be swept or cleaned, either mechanically or manually, on a weekly basis to control debris. The business will provide a positive retail experience for customers with a ﬂuid ﬂoor plan and quality interior and exterior design and ﬁnish materials. The entrance will be clear and attractive with discreet signage containing no logos or information to identify, advertise, or list the services or the products offered. Signage will inform patrons that no loitering or consumption of cannabis products, alcohol or any illicit substances will be allowed on the premises. The owners will secure a sign permit from the City and follow all applicable signage ordinance provisions. No window displays of products or accessories will be visible from the exterior, and a friendly and watchful security presence will monitor the property to prevent any nuisance impacts associated with unwanted loitering. The operators and security guards will ensure that no cannabis consumption or nuisance activity takes place on or in the immediate vicinity of the premises. No nuisance noise is associated with normal retail cannabis activity. Lighting will comply with City ordinance requirements to safely illuminate the property without creating a nuisance for neighbors. Security lighting will be activated by motion detection where practical. Any grafﬁti on or adjacent to the site will be cleaned or covered within 24 hours of appearance. The applicants will look for opportunities to cooperate with neighboring businesses and residents to enhance security and protect property. The applicants will actively engage with the neighborhood residents on an ongoing basis to address any concerns they might have with regard to operation of the commercial cannabis business. The owners will provide neighbors with the name, phone number, and email address of a Community Relations Director for the cannabis retailer who will be readily available to deal with any issues that arise. A complaint form will be available at the check-in counter of the storefront to register complaints in writing, which will promptly be referred to the community relations representative. A copy of the complaint form appears on the following page. The Director will keep a log of all registered complaints and resolutions. The operators will also have a web site active within 90 days which will include a complaint form that goes directly to the Outreach Director’s email. The representative will immediately contact the person lodging a complaint to resolve the issue amicably. The business will offer a variety of high quality safety-tested products, and carry only products supplied by State-licensed distributors in good standing. Courteous and knowledgeable staff will advise customers on product selection and safe and responsible use. The business plans to play a role in the cultural life of the neighborhood and larger community. Product menus will read in both Spanish and English. The owners want to host bilingual education classes in a friendly, welcoming atmosphere where residents can learn about cannabis science and the uses for the many new cannabis products and formulations. The operators plan to capitalize on the location and make the Fresno Clinica Center a destination for shoppers from neighboring communities. The convenient access combined with a pleasant shopping experience will encourage repeat customers and word of mouth advertising. The applicants intend to build a business that will be a consistently positive inﬂuence in the neighborhood - providing a valuable service while enhancing local property values. FRESNO CLINICA CENTER COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION REQUEST FORM Our community goal is to provide an open door communication policy to enhance safety and a peace of mind that our community remains in the best living:working conditions. Address to be Investigated: (List business or resident name and address) Nature of Complaint – Please be speciﬁc: COMPLAINANT INFORMATION (Check all that applies) Loud noise Marijuana/unusual smells Lighting or safety concern Suspicious activity Other____________________ You can call in for questions or concerns 24/7 o Requests for case information updates may be made by calling (855) 812-1732. Name (Please print)_________________Phone Number(s)________ Email (optional)____________________Signature________________ Date________________ Staff Use Only Received By: Date: Odor Impacts and Control As experienced operators of retail cannabis storefronts in a changing and patchwork regulatory environment, the applicants have installed odor control systems to meet various local permitting requirements. They are well versed in the design of negative pressure carbon ﬁltration systems suitable for eliminating odor release, even from concentrated indoor cultivation systems, and are ready and able to comply with any conditions required for permitting in this regard. Neighbors of proposed cannabis businesses often raise the specter of nuisance odors emanating from the project as a cause for concern. The odors commonly associated with cannabis that some ﬁnd objectionable can originate from either of two different sources. The ﬁrst is the smell of the burning plant material or concentrate associated with the most common means of consumption. No consumption of cannabis or cannabis products are ever allowed on the premises of a retail cannabis business, so that is not a possible source of nuisance odor for the Fresno Clinica Center. Those strictures will be rigidly enforced at the Center by management and security personnel. The second source of odor associated with cannabis operations that some people ﬁnd unpleasant in high concentrations is the mixture of volatile terpene compounds that characterize different strains of ﬂowering cannabis. The composition and volume of these emissions vary signiﬁcantly by strain and become noticeable in the ﬁnal weeks of ﬂowering. These volatile terpenes largely dissipate during the ﬂower curing process. No cultivation or curing of cannabis ﬂowers will occur on the site in conjunction with retail sales, so that is also not a potential source of nuisance odor for this project. The most effective mitigation measures for eliminating any potential for nuisance odor in retail operations are the packaging requirements instituted following passage of Proposition 64. Gone are the days when medical cannabis dispensaries were repackaging large volumes of cured cannabis ﬂowers in a back room and a faint plant odor could occasionally be detected on the sales ﬂoor. Today all products arrive at the retail outlet already in their ﬁnal packaging and any lingering volatile terpene compounds left after the ﬂowers are cured remain sealed inside. Manufactured products are generally odorless and also arrive sealed in their ﬁnal packaging. There are good reasons to address air quality in the retail environment besides just the potential for nuisance odors. The applicants will provide a stand-alone IQAir HealthPro Plus HEPA ﬁltration unit in the sales ﬂoor area to capture 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns in size - things like bacteria, mold, dust mites and pollen. The virus that causes COVID-19 is 125 nanometers in diameter, and squarely within the particle-size range that HEPA ﬁlters capture with extraordinary efﬁciency. Healthcare industry, schools and ofﬁces commonly use this technology to help maintain sanitary indoor conditions. HEPA ﬁlters do not remove odors, smoke, fumes or chemicals, so the IQAir HealthPro Plus model units will also incorporate MultiGas ﬁlters using activated carbon impregnated with activated alumina to capture those substances. A speciﬁcation sheet for the unit follows. The HEPA unit will scrub odors and recirculate room air through separate sets of carbon ﬁlters, and the stand-alone building occupying its own lot offers a natural buffer from neighboring properties. If the City requires a more elaborate odor scrubbing system that depends on maintaining internal negative pressure and passes all exhaust air through carbon ﬁltration, the applicants are familiar with the design and installation of these systems. The attached air quality diagram and equipment speciﬁcations illustrate an air supply and exhaust system capable of scrubbing odors from all the air leaving the building while replacing it with air that is conditioned and disinfected. Waste Management Plan Cannabis and cannabis products arrive at the premises already safety tested and sealed in their ﬁnal packaging. The discrete items packaged for sale are compact in size. As a result the proposed retail cannabis operation will produce signiﬁcantly less trash than a typical household. Weekly product deliveries will generate only a small amount of cardboard waste. The other main component of the operation’s waste stream will be the small amount of trash brought onto the site by employees or customers during the course of a work day. The trash receptacles for the business will consist of the smallest carts available from the local waste hauler for trash and recycling, and will be kept out of public view. A very minor amount of cannabis waste can result from customer returns, expired products, bro- ken packaging, or defective products. Defective products will go back to the vendor whenever practical. The State has promulgated a detailed set of rules for recording and handling cannabis and cannabis products slated for disposal. Management level employees will carry any products in need of disposal to the limited access storage area designated for cannabis waste and store it in a locked container. This will be in a secure room protected with a card reader lock on the door. Storage of cannabis goods allocated for disposal will be kept separate and distinct from other cannabis goods. To be rendered as cannabis waste for proper disposal, including disposal as deﬁned under Public Resources Code section 40192, cannabis goods must ﬁrst be destroyed on the licensed premises. This includes, at a minimum, removing or separating the cannabis goods from any packaging or container and rendering it unrecognizable and unusable. Defective vape cartridges do not need to be emptied before destruction. The products are rendered unusable and unrecognizable by grinding and incorporating the cannabis waste with an equal amount of non-consumable, solid wastes like soil, cat litter, paper waste, plastic waste, cardboard waste, or food waste. The resulting cannabis waste is stored in a locked container in the limited access area. The manager records the items converted to waste in the POS system to reconcile inventory. In the METRC system the manager also enters the name of the employee performing the destruction or disposal, the reason for destruction or disposal, and the name of the entity used to collect and process the cannabis waste. When taken to a disposal site the date, time and facility information is logged. The operator will report all cannabis waste activities, up to and including disposal, into the track and trace system, as required under Chapter 1, Article 6 of Title 16 Division 42. Garbage and refuse on this site will not be accumulated or stored for more than seven calendar days, and will be properly disposed of before the end of the seventh day in the manner prescribed by the local solid waste hauler. All waste, including but not limited to refuse, garbage, green waste, and recyclables, will be disposed of in accordance with local and state codes, laws and regulations. Employees will maintain the exterior of the premises daily and keep the surrounding area clean and free of litter. Rick Sereghy / Tranquil Meadows 12/03/2020 4142 E. Church Ave. Fresno CA 93725 PH. (707) 731-2893 CELL: (707) 484-2465 FAX: (707) 731-0193 Email: ernmanager707@gmail.com To whom it may concern, My name is Jon Schleicher. I have over 38 years in the fire protection systems and equipment industry. I am the President of Hangtown Fire Control Inc. located in Placerville CA. I started Hangtown Fire Control Inc. here in El Dorado Co., in August of 1982. Hangtown Fire Control Inc. specializes in the sales and service of all types of fire suppression systems and equipment. I have a specialty “C-16” license (#651858), and an E License (#E1204), issued by the State of California, allowing me to conduct business as a fire protection contractor for fire sprinkler and suppression systems, and also for the sales and service of portable fire extinguishers. I am writing this letter in response to a request by Tranquil Meadows, to review a Fire Safety Plan they will be submitting to the City of Fresno, in order to apply for a permit to open a facility located 4142 E. Church Ave., Fresno CA 93725. I have reviewed their Safety Plan, Safety Floor (Evacuation) Plan, and Safety Site Diagram portions of their permit package. I found that all three documents are comprehensive, well structured, and meet or exceed the City of Fresno’s permit application requirements regarding Safety and Fire Prevention, yet are still flexible enough to allow for the addition and / or modification, of any other equipment or procedures that may be required by the “Local Authority Having Jurisdiction”. It is my opinion that Tranquil Meadows has done their due diligence regarding the Fire and Safety concerns required to open a facility in the City of Fresno CA. Sincerely, Jon Schleicher Jon Schleicher ~ President ~ 12/03/2020 Rick Sereghy / Tranquil Meadows 12/03/2020 4142 E. Church Ave. Fresno, CA 93725 PH. (707) 731-2893 CELL: (707) 484-2465 FAX: (707) 731-0193 Email: ernmanager707@gmail.com Dear Rick, I am writing this letter in response to your request for a Fire Safety Consultation Letter for Tranquil Meadows, 4142 E. Church Ave. Fresno, CA 93725. I have listed the requirements I feel are necessary to satisfy the City of Fresno’s permit application requirements regarding Fire Prevention. 1) Install (4) 5lb. 3A:40BC Fire Extinguishers at each area listed on Safety Floor Plan. 2) Test the existing Emergency Exit Lights located above each exit, to insure they are in working order, and replace the batteries. 3) Install “This Door to Remain Open During Business Hours” signs above each exit. 4) Design and install at each exit and the breakroom a “Floor Plan / “Evacuation Map”, showing the new floor plan, exits, and the quickest “path of egress” to a central gathering area, in case of an emergency. 5) Install Carbon and U.V. Filters to the existing HVAC System. 6) Install an alarm system that meets NFPA 72 -2016 Standard with the California Amendments. 7) Add, Modify, or Install, any other additional equipment or procedures required by the “Local Authority Having Jurisdiction”. Hangtown Fire Control Inc. can help you satisfy numbers 1), 2), 3), and 7). #4 can be completed by your Designer, #5 by your HVAC Contractor, and for #6, I recommend contacting a local fire/security alarm company. If you have any other questions or concerns, please give me a call at (530) 626-6243 or send an email to jon@hangtownfirecontrol.com. Sincerely, Jon Schleicher President ~ Hangtown Fire Control Inc. ~ 12/20/2020 4. Safety Plan Maintenance of a safe working and shopping environment relies on a combination of physical infrastructure and established emergency and accident response procedures. The safety plan anticipates and considers a range of situations that can pose a risk to employees and customers speciﬁc to the location and operation of the retail cannabis business. The plan includes the means of reporting ﬁres and other emergencies to ﬁrst responders, and evacuation assignments and procedures. Accident and incident reporting procedures We train Fresno Clinica Center staff to report observed accidents or incidents involving either employees or customers to the Manager on duty, whether an injury results or not. The Manager will ﬁll out an incident form describing the incident and will discuss strategies for prevention with staff. When appropriate the solution is incorporated into operating procedures and these records become part of the training program for new employees. Evacuation Routes The store’s main public entrance/exit faces northwest, with the driveway off East Church Avenue to the north. The primary evacuation route will travel back out the main entrance and straight across the parking area to the assembly area at the corner of the property. In the event that the primary route is blocked, customers and employees will exit through the rear delivery door and travel southeast to assemble across the alley along South Cedar Avenue. Managers will direct evacuees to one or the other route depending on the assessment of which direction is safest. Employees are directed to the to travel to the designated evacuation assembly area after helping any customers in need of assistance out of the building. Once verifying that the sales area is clear, the Manager on duty will go to the designated assembly area and account for all the employees. If emergency response has not arrived the Manager will place a call for emergency services. The Manager will determine if the assembly area is at a safe distance or instruct employees to relocate to a safe location. If any employee cannot be accounted for the Manager will immediately notify a responding ofﬁcial. Location of ﬁre extinguishers and other ﬁre suppression equipment. Fire extinguishers are distributed around the store, where they are conspicuous and readily available as shown in the accompanying Safety Diagram. The facility uses ABC ﬁre extinguishers which can put out ﬁres caused by ﬂammable liquids, electronic equipment, and burning paper or plastic. They rely on monoammonium phosphate - a dry chemical that is able to quickly smother the ﬁre. All employees are trained in the location and use of the extinguishers. A ﬁre hydrant is located next to the East Church Avenue driveway entrance, as indicated on the site safety diagram. Procedures and Training for Fire and Medical Emergencies. Facility Fire Alarm System The ﬁre alarm system alerts employees and customers inside the premises to an emergency. The system relies on smoke detection monitors to trigger alarm sirens, and sends an alert to local ﬁrst responders. The detection system is monitored by a contracted security service which notiﬁes the local ﬁre department immediately when an alarm is triggered at any time of day or night. The system is regularly maintained by the contracted installer, whose name and contact information will be listed in the Safety Plan when the contract is ﬁnalized, along with contact information for the alarm monitoring company. The applicants use Bay Alarm to provide alarm monitoring for their existing facilities. Notiﬁcation If an alarm is triggered overnight when the storefront is closed, the contracted security monitoring company will notify the appropriate local authorities in the event of a ﬁre alarm or security breach as well as the designated store employee and security contractor. If an alarm goes off during business hours the Manager on duty will direct employees to begin evacuating customers, and immediately call the emergency services number to report the incident in addition to the monitoring service. The Manager will ensure that employees in all zones of the premises have been alerted to the alarm, checking the employee break room and bathroom if necessary, and continue to assess the nature of the emergency. Evacuation/Shelter Procedures Other types of emergencies besides a building ﬁre may call for an evacuation to protect the safety of employees and patrons. Depending on severity, an earthquake may necessitate evacuation of the facility. The construction of the building may factor into that decision. Most buildings are vulnerable to the effects of disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes, ﬂoods, or explosions. The extent of the damage will depend on the type of emergency and the building’s construction. In a disaster such as a major earthquake or explosion, however, nearly every type of structure will be affected. Some buildings will collapse and others will be left with weakened ﬂoors and walls. Managers will exercise caution and err on the side of employee and customer safety when determining whether to evacuate. Protecting the health and safety of everyone in the facility will be the ﬁrst priority. In the event of a ﬁre, an immediate evacuation to a predetermined designated area away from the facility will be the best way to protect employees. The designated primary evacuation assembly area lies near the northwest corner of the parcel as shown in the Safety site plan. On the other hand, evacuating employees may not be the best response to an emergency such as a toxic gas release at a facility across town from the business. A disorganized evacuation can result in confusion, injury, and property damage. The Manager on duty will assess the situation and determine if an evacuation is required. Employees will be trained to follow the instructions of the Manager and direct customers to follow the prescribed evacuation routes. To the extent possible, staff will work to ensure that evacuation routes and emergency exits are clearly marked and well lit, wide enough to accommodate the number of evacuating personnel and customers, and kept unobstructed and clear of debris. Diagrams that show evacuation routes and exits will be posted at multiple locations throughout the premises. Staff will be trained to look for customers in need of assistance in an emergency situation and help them to evacuate, seeing that all customers are clear of the building before leaving. The Manager will ensure that all customers are clear of the sales ﬂoor before exiting the premises and will verify that all employees are accounted for at the pre-arranged assembly area outside. Where a shelter-in-place response is necessary employees will direct customers to shelter in the appropriate zone. Immediately following an evacuation, employees will assemble in the designated area shown on the safety diagram. Accounting for all employees following an evacuation can be critical. Confusion in the assembly areas can lead to delays in rescuing anyone trapped in the building, or prompt unnecessary and dangerous search-and-rescue operations. The Manager will account for all employees and inform a responding ofﬁcial in the event any are missing. A list of employees and emergency contact information will be kept off-site and available. Medical Emergencies Many customers will be patients who treat their medical conditions with cannabis formulations, so there may be a slightly elevated risk for a medical emergency to occur on the premises during business hours. Employees working in the store and security personnel monitoring the parking area will maintain awareness of the potential for such emergencies and monitor customers for signs that they may need assistance. The Manager will call the designated posted number for an emergency medical response when needed. Many of the medical patients will be seniors, some with ambulatory issues that put them at risk for injuries resulting from a fall. Staff will ensure that no liquid or obstacles remain on the ﬂoor that could result in a slip or trip. The senior population is also at increased risk from the Covid-19 virus and staff will follow the guidelines set out by responsible public health agencies for respiratory protection, disinfecting surfaces and the like. The operation will also install a freestanding HEPA ﬁltration unit to help scrub interior air of viruses and particulates. Robbery Employees will be trained to watch for and report suspicious actions of people inside and immediately outside the premises. All employees will follow good cash handling practices i.e. keep minimum cash on hand, use a safe, and take precautions when making bank deposits. Cash reserves stored on premises overnight will be secured and employees cautioned to always keep money out of reach of customers. When possible, employees and customers will be instructed to retreat into a secure part of the store. If confronted with an armed robber employees will be trained to take no action that will jeopardize their safety, or that of others. They will do nothing that will agitate, threaten, surprise, or startle the robber or attempt to chase or follow the individual. Instead they will focus on remembering details about the robber to provide police with a useful description. Hazards There are no hazardous materials involved in the normal operation of a retail cannabis storefront. Smoking is not permitted, or any open ﬂames in a store display. Employees are trained to observe, and correct or report any ﬁre hazard on the premises such as exposed wire from lighting or electronic equipment, improper chemical storage of cleaning supplies, or combustible materials left near a heat source. Staff will ensure that any large appliances like refrigeration units will use a grounding plug in a grounded circuit. Employees will keep all walkways clear and all cardboard or paper products away from hot surfaces. Products in aerosol cans will be stored away from any heat source. Managers are responsible for seeing that systems and equipment are maintained and housekeeping is conducted in a way that controls fuel hazard sources. The operation could potentially face an emergency involving hazardous materials such as ﬂammable, explosive, toxic, noxious, corrosive, biological, oxidizable, or radioactive substances. The source of the hazardous substances could be external, such as a local chemical plant that catches on ﬁre or an oil truck that overturns on the nearby freeway. In such an event the staff will monitor and follow the instructions of ofﬁcials to determine the appropriate course of action. Safety Training The company will educate its employees about the types of emergencies that may occur and train them in the proper course of action. It will clearly communicate to employees who will be in charge during an emergency to minimize confusion. General training will include a review of individual roles and responsibilities; threats, hazards, and protective actions; notiﬁcation, warning, and communications procedures; emergency response procedures; and the location and use of common emergency equipment. Employees will become familiar with the proper precautions to prevent the spread of the Covid virus for as long as the public health emergency persists. 5. Security Street view looking west from South Cedar Avenue. Aerial view of the intersection of East Church Avenue looking west. Building Renovation The building will undergo an extensive remodel inside and out. Half of the covered parking area will be enclosed for an employee break room plus the reception/lobby area where customers check in before they are allowed through a security door onto the sales floor. The remainder of the area covered by the projecting shed roof will be used for parking. The break room and lobby area lie outside the main security zone, with the only access to any room containing cannabis or cannabis products through a buzz-through security door. These rooms will include windows, which in addition to adding light and architectural interest will help with security monitoring by allowing a view from inside of the S. Cedar Ave entrance and parking area. All exterior glass on the main building will be replaced with solid walls. The southeast portion of the building will serve as the sales floor, and the northwest end will be partitioned into three sections. At the back of the building there is a security delivery door, and a fenced loading and unloading zone accessed through a sliding gate. The existing bathroom will move 8’ feet to the north and the existing exterior door frame filled in with a solid wall. That space will now serve as limited access product storage. On the other side of the restroom will be an office that also securely houses the video surveillance equipment. The facility will provide an enjoyable shopping experience for customers, with a fluid floor plan and quality interior design and finish materials. The entrance will be clear and attractive with discreet signage on the entry door that contains no logos or information to identify, advertise, or list the services or the products offered. The exterior treatment will be professionally designed to transform a tired commercial structure into a clean and attractive asset to the neighborhood. 7. Community Benefits and Investments Plan The applicants have a long history of community involvement as reflected in the owner qualifications statements, and they will make giving back to the community part of the Fresno Clinica Center culture. Those contributions will take many forms, including obvious benefits like the transformation of a blighted property into an attractive and energy efficient asset for the neighborhood. The applicants would also like to provide direct ongoing financial assistance to worthy local charitable organizations and offer mentoring and other resources to local equity startups. The pro forma section of the business plan shows the anticipated annual contribution to selected nonprofit social benefit organizations that will result from a 2% levy on gross sales. The applicants are sensitive to the needs of the predominately Hispanic community in the area of the proposed project location in District 5. In addition to bringing new jobs and business to the neighborhood, the applicants want to help promote broader economic development and job creation in the community with a direct ongoing financial contribution. Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation. One recipient nonprofit will be the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation. The organization was founded by a group of local business owners in 2001 to meet the needs of an expanding Hispanic business community. Since opening its doors, the FAHF has been committed to developing strategies and policies to better serve all Spanish and English-speaking business owners interested in the welfare of the Fresno-area Hispanic community. The FAHF continues to support the growth and development of the community by bringing together business opportunities and assisting families from low-income households through specially designed philanthropic events. They offer budding entrepreneurs a wide range of support services from office space to funding. The FAHF provides workshops, technical assistance, and micro-loans aimed at startups and business expansion. They also run targeted programs aimed at helping women entrepreneurs expand their network and business. The Foundation’s bi-lingual Technical Assistance experts support entrepreneurs during each stage of their business lifecycle, from the intense start-up phase all the way through to successful launch and eventual growth. Their trained staff patiently guides new owners through planning, marketing, financing, and operating. So far the FAHF experts have guided more than 5,000 owners on their entrepreneurial journey. The Clinica Center team would like to contribute to helping the next 5,000 find their opportunity. Comprehensive Youth Services of Fresno. Another effective results-driven nonprofit the applicants wish to support with a percentage of gross profits is Comprehensive Youth Services of Fresno. CYS is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing quality mental health and supportive services to children, adolescents and families who have experienced abuse or domestic violence, and for those who are at-risk, or who are struggling with difficult personal or family issues. The Clinica Center team feels that early intervention offers the best chance to bring meaningful change to the lives of youth who will otherwise suffer an increased risk of substance abuse and socially destructive behaviors. Comprehensive Youth Services (CYS) has worked to eliminate child abuse and neglect and to strengthen families in Fresno County for more than forty years. From CSY’s web site: Since 1973, Comprehensive Youth Services (CYS), a 501(c)(3) community benefit nonprofit behavioral health agency, has provided quality mental health interventions and supportive services to underserved, at-risk and/or violence-exposed children, adolescents and families in Fresno and the surrounding communities. The agency’s primary goal is to prevent child abuse and neglect, to ensure the well being of every child/youth, and to aid in building stronger, more resilient families. The agency has a long history of expanding and enhancing services – often in partnership with public, private and nonprofit providers — to meet the ever changing needs and challenges of our diverse community. We are passionate about contributing our skills, knowledge and experience to create measurable positive changes in the lives of children and families. Over the years, the agency has contracted with school districts, local, state and federal grantors and private funders to provide quality counseling and mental health services to thousands of children, youth and families in Fresno County. Through the experience gained in working with vulnerable populations, CYS understands the many and varied challenges faced by children, youth and families, who are often plagued with many barriers to wellness and recovery including poverty, language, culture, lack of access to needed services, and family instability. Services are available to all eligible individuals regardless of race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or income level, and are entirely confidential. More than half of the services provided by CYS are delivered in the community – on school campuses, at resource or community centers, and in the homes of consumers. In addition to prevention programs promoting family mental wellness, CYS offers services and resources to youth that are related to drugs and drug addiction. The organization provides on- campus crisis counseling for children and youth at numerous Fresno Unified School District and Fresno County schools and Neighborhood Resource Centers. Their rural programs include: Keep Kids Drug Free, One-to-One Mentoring programs and the STOP program. The breadth and reach of CYS in the Fresno community makes this an organization worthy of significant ongoing financial support. Fresno Community Reinvestment Fund After witnessing first-hand the disproportional damage that cannabis prohibition policy has inflicted on low income and communities of color, the applicants will be happy to help equity businesses get off the ground in Fresno. They have a wealth of practical knowledge to share that can help an inexperienced entrepreneur avoid the many pitfalls waiting in what is truly a unique regulatory and marketing environment. In addition to mentoring and training opportunities with the operators and staff of working retail cannabis outlets, the Clinica Center team will commit to contributing an additional 2% of gross sales to the Fresno Community Reinvestment Fund, established to support local cannabis equity businesses. That significant investment in bringing equity to the local industry is also reflected in the pro forma numbers. Additional Community Benefits The applicants would also be interested in hosting workshops to explain the legal options available for erasing some types of convictions from criminal records. Finding local residents who would benefit but might be hesitant to come forward could present a challenge. Along with traditional advertising and flyers offered at the retail location, the recruitment strategy using smart phones might be adapted for this purpose, in order to narrow the search with directed messaging. In developing and operating the project, the applicants will remain mindful of impacts on both a local and regional level. At the local level, the project will provide a much-needed facelift for a tired legacy property. In addition to the professionally designed exterior treatment for the cannabis retail building, the applicants will fund a complementary treatment for the appliance repair shop that shares the parcel. The advertising painted on the walls will be replaced with signage that conforms with current City code, and the two buildings will take on a coordinated appearance. Along with a 24/7 security presence, the visual transforming impact will immediately enhance the neighborhood. At a regional level it is increasingly important to consider energy efficiency and resource conservation in developing and running a business. The building remodel will incorporate extra insulation to help reduce the cooling requirements in the Fresno summers, and the HVAC system will include the most up-to-date efficiency standards. The lack of windows in the main section will eliminate heat gain from insolation during summer months. Water and toilet fixtures will be low flow and any perimeter landscaping will rely on drought resistant plants. Product displays and lighting fixtures inside and out will be selected to consume the least amount of energy needed for the task at hand. The choice of delivery service vehicles will balance fuel efficiency with security needs. The cost of solar energy has fallen a lot in California over the last 5 years, and Fresno is one of the best places in the nation to install solar panels for a home or small business. It has a lot of sun, and utility power through PG&E is expensive. PG&E is now required by law to provide net metering to all their solar customers. This combination of factors combined with incentives from local companies can make installing solar panels a great investment as well as a responsible choice. The applicants will explore options for installing solar power on the roof of the Clinica Center building. Rooted in our humble beginnings, Fresno Clinica Center looks to bridge the gap between cannabis and the community, in order to educate and serve the public. We want to serve as ambassadors for the industry - supporting worthy local charitable causes that reach the lives and minds of those in need. The patients and clients we serve, the families we help, and the lives we touch daily are changed forever by the dedication and compassion of our staff. The Fresno Clinica Center will provide transparent educational guidance in Spanish & English that presents information in a familiar cultural context. We’d like to develop group workshops and zoom classes informing local residents about cannabis products and uses, as well as one-on- sessions. We feel we will be a good fit for this location and hope to have the chance to develop a network of mutually beneficial relationships in the immediate neighborhood and the larger Fresno community. The Fresno Clinica Center has been a cooperative project from the beginning and that spirit of collaboration will show itself throughout the implementation process. We want to thank the City and staff for their work on the ordinance and selection process, and the opportunity to be considered for a retail cannabis permit in District 5. INDEMNIFICATION AND HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT FOR COMMERCIAL CANNABIS BUSINESS PERMIT APPLICATION To the fullest extent permitted by law, the City of Fresno (City) shall not assume any liability whatsoever with respect to having issued a commercial cannabis business permit pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code Section. 9-3333 or otherwise approving the operation of any commercial cannabis business or cannabis retail business. In consideration for the submittal of an application for a commercial cannabis business permit application and/or issuance of a cannabis business permit, and to the furthest extent allowed by law, Applicant does hereby agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the City and each of its officers, officials, employees, agents and volunteers from any and all loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs and damages (whether in contract, tort or strict liability, including but not limited to personal injury, death at any time and property damage) incurred by City, Applicant or any other person, and from any and all claims, demands and actions in law or equity (including reasonable attorney's fees and litigation expenses), arising or alleged to have arisen directly or indirectly out of the issuance of a cannabis business permit. Applicant’s obligations under the preceding sentence shall not apply to any loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs or damages caused solely by the gross negligence, or caused by the willful misconduct, of City or any of its officers, officials, employees, agents or volunteers. Applicant must, at the time of permit issuance, maintain insurance at coverage limits and with conditions thereon determined necessary and appropriate from time to time by the City Manager. Applicant shall conduct all defense at his/her/its sole cost. The fact that insurance is obtained by Applicant shall not be deemed to release or diminish the liability of Applicant, including, without limitation, liability assum ed under this Agreement. The duty to indemnify shall apply to all claims regardless of whether any insurance policies are applicable. The duty to defend hereunder is wholly independent of and separate from the duty to indemnify and such duty to defend exists regardless of any ultimate liability of Applicant. The policy limits do not act as a limitation upon the amount of defense and/or indemnification to be provided by Applicant. Approval or purchase of any insurance contracts or policies shall in no way relieve from liability nor limit the liability of Applicant, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers or invitees. City shall be reimbursed for all costs and expenses, including but not limited to legal fees and costs and court costs, which the city may be required to pay as a result of any legal challenge related to the city's approval of the applicant's commercial cannabis business permit. The City may, at its sole discretion, participate at its own expense in the defense of any such action, but such participation shall not relieve any of the obligations imposed hereunder. This Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement shall survive the expiration or termination of the Application and/or Permit. The undersigned acknowledges that he/she (i) has read and fully understands the content of this Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement; (ii) is aware that this is a contract between the City and Applicant; (iii) has had the opportunity to consult with his/her attorney, in his/her discretion; (iv) is fully aware of the legal consequences of signing this document; and (v) is the Applicant or his/her/its authorized signatory. Signed on this day of 2020. Applicant Signature City Employee Signature Print Name and Company Name Print Name Address Title Telephone Number Telephone Number DocuSign Envelope ID: 851BB16E-C760-420F-9E38-C50EC236BE42 Juan J Garcia-Flores-Fresno Clinica Center December 4142 E Church Ave, Fresno Ca 93725 4th INDEMNIFICATION AND HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT FOR COMMERCIAL CANNABIS BUSINESS PERMIT APPLICATION To the fullest extent permitted by law, the City of Fresno (City) shall not assume any liability whatsoever with respect to having issued a commercial cannabis business permit pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code Section. 9-3333 or otherwise approving the operation of any commercial cannabis business or cannabis retail business. In consideration for the submittal of an application for a commercial cannabis business permit application and/or issuance of a cannabis business permit, and to the furthest extent allowed by law, Applicant does hereby agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the City and each of its officers, officials, employees, agents and volunteers from any and all loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs and damages (whether in contract, tort or strict liability, including but not limited to personal injury, death at any time and property damage) incurred by City, Applicant or any other person, and from any and all claims, demands and actions in law or equity (including reasonable attorney's fees and litigation expenses), arising or alleged to have arisen directly or indirectly out of the issuance of a cannabis business permit. Applicant’s obligations under the preceding sentence shall not apply to any loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs or damages caused solely by the gross negligence, or caused by the willful misconduct, of City or any of its officers, officials, employees, agents or volunteers. Applicant must, at the time of permit issuance, maintain insurance at coverage limits and with conditions thereon determined necessary and appropriate from time to time by the City Manager. Applicant shall conduct all defense at his/her/its sole cost. The fact that insurance is obtained by Applicant shall not be deemed to release or diminish the liability of Applicant, including, without limitation, liability assum ed under this Agreement. The duty to indemnify shall apply to all claims regardless of whether any insurance policies are applicable. The duty to defend hereunder is wholly independent of and separate from the duty to indemnify and such duty to defend exists regardless of any ultimate liability of Applicant. The policy limits do not act as a limitation upon the amount of defense and/or indemnification to be provided by Applicant. Approval or purchase of any insurance contracts or policies shall in no way relieve from liability nor limit the liability of Applicant, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers or invitees. City shall be reimbursed for all costs and expenses, including but not limited to legal fees and costs and court costs, which the city may be required to pay as a result of any legal challenge related to the city's approval of the applicant's commercial cannabis business permit. The City may, at its sole discretion, participate at its own expense in the defense of any such action, but such participation shall not relieve any of the obligations imposed hereunder. This Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement shall survive the expiration or termination of the Application and/or Permit. The undersigned acknowledges that he/she (i) has read and fully understands the content of this Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement; (ii) is aware that this is a contract between the City and Applicant; (iii) has had the opportunity to consult with his/her attorney, in his/her discretion; (iv) is fully aware of the legal consequences of signing this document; and (v) is the Applicant or his/her/its authorized signatory. Signed on this day of 2020. Applicant Signature City Employee Signature Print Name and Company Name Print Name Address Title Telephone Number Telephone Number DocuSign Envelope ID: 35910B61-93A0-4F2F-B5CC-FB1DF6B039DD December 4142 E Church Ave, Fresno Ca 93725 Richard Sereghy Tranquil Meadows CO 4th INDEMNIFICATION AND HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT FOR COMMERCIAL CANNABIS BUSINESS PERMIT APPLICATION To the fullest extent permitted by law, the City of Fresno (City) shall not assume any liability whatsoever with respect to having issued a commercial cannabis business permit pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code Section. 9-3333 or otherwise approving the operation of any commercial cannabis business or cannabis retail business. In consideration for the submittal of an application for a commercial cannabis business permit application and/or issuance of a cannabis business permit, and to the furthest extent allowed by law, Applicant does hereby agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the City and each of its officers, officials, employees, agents and volunteers from any and all loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs and damages (whether in contract, tort or strict liability, including but not limited to personal injury, death at any time and property damage) incurred by City, Applicant or any other person, and from any and all claims, demands and actions in law or equity (including reasonable attorney's fees and litigation expenses), arising or alleged to have arisen directly or indirectly out of the issuance of a cannabis business permit. Applicant’s obligations under the preceding sentence shall not apply to any loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs or damages caused solely by the gross negligence, or caused by the willful misconduct, of City or any of its officers, officials, employees, agents or volunteers. Applicant must, at the time of permit issuance, maintain insurance at coverage limits and with conditions thereon determined necessary and appropriate from time to time by the City Manager. Applicant shall conduct all defense at his/her/its sole cost. The fact that insurance is obtained by Applicant shall not be deemed to release or diminish the liability of Applicant, including, without limitation, liability assum ed under this Agreement. The duty to indemnify shall apply to all claims regardless of whether any insurance policies are applicable. The duty to defend hereunder is wholly independent of and separate from the duty to indemnify and such duty to defend exists regardless of any ultimate liability of Applicant. The policy limits do not act as a limitation upon the amount of defense and/or indemnification to be provided by Applicant. Approval or purchase of any insurance contracts or policies shall in no way relieve from liability nor limit the liability of Applicant, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers or invitees. City shall be reimbursed for all costs and expenses, including but not limited to legal fees and costs and court costs, which the city may be required to pay as a result of any legal challenge related to the city's approval of the applicant's commercial cannabis business permit. The City may, at its sole discretion, participate at its own expense in the defense of any such action, but such participation shall not relieve any of the obligations imposed hereunder. This Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement shall survive the expiration or termination of the Application and/or Permit. The undersigned acknowledges that he/she (i) has read and fully understands the content of this Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement; (ii) is aware that this is a contract between the City and Applicant; (iii) has had the opportunity to consult with his/her attorney, in his/her discretion; (iv) is fully aware of the legal consequences of signing this document; and (v) is the Applicant or his/her/its authorized signatory. Signed on this day of 2020. Applicant Signature City Employee Signature Print Name and Company Name Print Name Address Title Telephone Number Telephone Number Edward R. Blakeley - Fresno Clinica Center 4th 714 760 2638 4142 E Church Ave. Fresno, CA December INDEMNIFICATION AND HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT FOR COMMERCIAL CANNABIS BUSINESS PERMIT APPLICATION To the fullest extent permitted by law, the City of Fresno (City) shall not assume any liability whatsoever with respect to having issued a commercial cannabis business permit pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code Section. 9-3333 or otherwise approving the operation of any commercial cannabis business or cannabis retail business. In consideration for the submittal of an application for a commercial cannabis business permit application and/or issuance of a cannabis business permit, and to the furthest extent allowed by law, Applicant does hereby agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the City and each of its officers, officials, employees, agents and volunteers from any and all loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs and damages (whether in contract, tort or strict liability, including but not limited to personal injury, death at any time and property damage) incurred by City, Applicant or any other person, and from any and all claims, demands and actions in law or equity (including reasonable attorney's fees and litigation expenses), arising or alleged to have arisen directly or indirectly out of the issuance of a cannabis business permit. Applicant’s obligations under the preceding sentence shall not apply to any loss, liability, fines, penalties, forfeitures, costs or damages caused solely by the gross negligence, or caused by the willful misconduct, of City or any of its officers, officials, employees, agents or volunteers. Applicant must, at the time of permit issuance, maintain insurance at coverage limits and with conditions thereon determined necessary and appropriate from time to time by the City Manager. Applicant shall conduct all defense at his/her/its sole cost. The fact that insurance is obtained by Applicant shall not be deemed to release or diminish the liability of Applicant, including, without limitation, liability assum ed under this Agreement. The duty to indemnify shall apply to all claims regardless of whether any insurance policies are applicable. The duty to defend hereunder is wholly independent of and separate from the duty to indemnify and such duty to defend exists regardless of any ultimate liability of Applicant. The policy limits do not act as a limitation upon the amount of defense and/or indemnification to be provided by Applicant. Approval or purchase of any insurance contracts or policies shall in no way relieve from liability nor limit the liability of Applicant, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers or invitees. City shall be reimbursed for all costs and expenses, including but not limited to legal fees and costs and court costs, which the city may be required to pay as a result of any legal challenge related to the city's approval of the applicant's commercial cannabis business permit. The City may, at its sole discretion, participate at its own expense in the defense of any such action, but such participation shall not relieve any of the obligations imposed hereunder. This Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement shall survive the expiration or termination of the Application and/or Permit. The undersigned acknowledges that he/she (i) has read and fully understands the content of this Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement; (ii) is aware that this is a contract between the City and Applicant; (iii) has had the opportunity to consult with his/her attorney, in his/her discretion; (iv) is fully aware of the legal consequences of signing this document; and (v) is the Applicant or his/her/its authorized signatory. Signed on this day of 2020. Applicant Signature City Employee Signature Print Name and Company Name Print Name Address Title Telephone Number Telephone Number DocuSign Envelope ID: DDD3D72C-0189-458C-9A2F-D7DA6AA203B6 4th Ana K. Garcia - Fresno Clinica Center 4142 E 415Church Ave. Fresno, CA December