“I thought it was going to be a godsend and like I said, my legacy,” said Murphy, a local veterinarian who served as mayor for 20 years and does not want to see the partnership end. “I just, I got something in the air that makes me feel like things have changed.”An at-times pointed debate has unfolded behind closed doors in recent weeks as both parties revisit the terms of the deal, copies of which the town and company would not provide to The Washington Post.
“We get 5 percent of the profits, and quite frequently in these types of arrangements, there’s a bit of a disagreement on what constitutes a profit,” said Town Manager Michael Faith during a recent Facebook chat with residents about town issues. “Well, we didn’t make any money this year. Well, we think you did. So there’s always a little back and forth.”
White said along with direct payments, the town has benefited from the company’s support of “the ecosystem that keeps a small town like Hancock alive.”over profits. A Trulieve spokesperson did not answer requests for comment about the negotiations. Faith said Hancock is still happy to have the company in town but the two are involved in an “imbroglio” they are hoping to work out.
“The wacky thing is there wasn’t anything that said it couldn’t be done,” said Darryl Carrington, a lobbyist who worked as a consultant on the project, noting that cannabis businesses are federally illegal. “With this, there’s no problem with zoning. No problem with police. There’s no problem, everybody is in on it.”Hancock would become a nonparticipating equity partner.