Spectrum Local News
The acting chief of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management has started to impose changes in the troubled department — now more than 90 days since the state Office of General Services released a report that showed deep inefficiencies within the agency.
The May 10 report found the department failed to grant cannabis business licenses to 90% of applicants and other issues in the agency’s structure and communication habits, which led to the ouster of former Executive Director Chris Alexander.
Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed OCM Executive Deputy Director Felicia Reid to lead the agency while the Executive Chamber conducts a national search to select a permanent replacement.
And Reid accepted the task to serve in both roles — ready to make changes.
“At the end of the day, this agency is a regulatory agency and needs to just work,” Reid said during an exclusive interview Thursday with Capital Tonight. “It’s not just me, it’s not just you, it’s all of us, and so we’ve got to make this work.”
This past spring, Hochul directed OGS Commissioner Jeanette Moy to assess issues within OCM after calling the rollout of the state’s cannabis industry “a disaster.”
After taking the helm June 10, Reid held several meetings with senior OCM staffers, lawmakers and other stakeholders about department gaps, including a shortage of staff and need for improved communication.
Reid said she has focused on restructuring staff to focus on their skill set after learning of widespread disorganization within the agency, which is less than three years old.
“It’s a process,” she said. “When I came to the agency… folks had fingers in every single pie, and I’m like, ‘This can’t work for any of you on a daily basis.'”
OCM also needed more robust auditing practices, she said, and the department had a history of providing little direction to staff as the industry took shape.
“People thrive when they have a sense of what to expect and what the rules are and when those expectations and rules are even-handledly applied,” Reid added. “There wasn’t a whole lot of that, I got the sense, before.”
The report gave OCM recommendations to implement over three- and six-month periods — including building up staff and licensing operations and improving internal and external communication to unclog the application bottleneck.
Reid said the department continues to be woefully understaffed with 180 workers, but is hiring 65 more people.
The department will soon have a direct contact for license applicants. OCM has open positions to hire customer service representatives who will help the public.
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