WSLCB - Board Caucus
(October 31, 2023) - Summary

2023-10-31 - WSLCB - Board Caucus - Summary - Takeaways
[ Event Details ]

Board members delved into survey responses detailing selected social equity applicant demographics, then themes and possible improvements from their own staff focus groups.

Here are some observations from the Tuesday October 31st Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus.

My top 2 takeaways:

  • Director of Licensing and Regulation Becky Smith brought board members up to speed on the selected social equity applicants; touching on self-reported demographics and concerns around local government control; and finding suitable financing and retail locations.
    • Staff previously talked about the status of social equity program applicants on October 25th, and Smith last addressed the topic publicly on August 9th.
    • Smith established that the board was informed that “staff were completing the survey on all the applicants.” She said, “we have had folks begin to fill out the survey,” and while not “all 42 applicants” had done so, “we do have a good pool that I wanted to share with you this morning” (audio - 4m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
      • Explaining that 22 survey responses were in, Smith showed a graphic of responses which indicated:
        • The “number of folks that are Black or African American and that is 12”
        • “Hispanic or Latino: three, so 14.29 percent”
        • “White or Caucasian: three”
        • Remaining respondents included one identifying as Asian, one as ‘Other,’ one that “prefers not to say” any racial identifier, and one that didn’t provide any answer to the question when submitting the survey.
      • Smith recalled, “when we had Ponder [Diversity Group] also send out a survey when…applications first began to be processed, and you can see here that 47% identified as Black or African-American,” she found their new survey “demographics look a lot similar, of course in a…smaller percentage because we only do have 42 people…going through the process.”
      • Smith was doubtful there would be “more than 42 people fill out the survey since we have had contact and people…in general fill out a survey at the very beginning, or in the middle, and then they just stop. That doesn't mean that we won't know the demographics of who these folks are.” She emphasized other questions on gender or veteran status, and that there would be other information “like criminal history” that will help WSLCB staff get “a better understanding of who those, those people are that are going through the process for social equity, but I do think…that this really shows a good mix of folks that were most harmed by the war on drugs,” a mandated criteria of the program.
      • Board Member Ollie Garrett interpreted the “50% of the folks that…have filled out the survey, 47% African-Americans applied, and so far with the 50% [responses] we have 57% African-Americans that ha[d] gotten into the industry under social equity.” Smith confirmed that was the case. Postman commented these were “great numbers,” and he liked seeing how half of applicants who’d responded “matches pretty closely to the big pool.” He asked that Smith update board members if more survey responses came in (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript)
    • Smith continued, indicating a letter had been distributed to “about 300 local authorities” with county and municipal governments “beginning last December” to let them know about the equity program. “A question was posed to us [as to] whether or not” equity applicants completing the licensing process “had to stay within their allotments and within a city,” but Smith indicated “they have to stay within their jurisdiction, but not within their city allotment.” As equity licenses had one-time portability, she reported some applicants were “going to the cities and asking” about possibly “setting up their business in a particular city or town, and the jurisdiction is coming back and saying ‘no, we don't have enough allotments.’” Smith planned on sending out another letter to local officials reminding them that siting an equity retailer was allowed beyond State-established retail allotments, while also having WSLCB staff “remind the applicants that sometimes it's not us…sometimes the barrier to get over is the allotments in that particular city” (audio - 2m, Video - TVW,  Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
      • Her examples were local ordinances in Renton and Bellevue that had set a maximum on retail allotments, and she emphasized “that's not something that's determined by the Board. That's…determined by the city themselves.” Smith added that staff would be “reaching out” in an “effort to make sure that folks understand that and know that we're here to assist them.” 
      • Garrett clarified that there was no mechanism for WSLCB to override local control. Smith agreed and noted many jurisdictions had restrictions which would impact siting of a cannabis business, naming distance requirements for cannabis stores in Seattle as one way that local zoning or laws might hamper retail placement. Garrett was pleased that new letters would go out, since “there's turnover and some people take the knowledge with them when they're no longer in those positions,” so city leaders might not realize they could allow more equity allotments (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
      • Board Member Jim Vollendroff wanted to know which officials in local government were receiving WSLCB letters on the equity program. Smith said it was based on “specific contacts…every so often we ask for an update of who they'd like that letter to go out to, or be sent directly to, sometimes it's the mayor, sometimes” a “county commissioner” (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript). Vollendroff followed up to say sometimes letters could go unread for “weeks at a time,” and advised including the jurisdiction equity applicants when sending letters “so they also have a copy.” Smith called this a “great idea,” and Garrett suggested letters be sent to all applicants, so "they can't say ‘it's the LCB’" blocking their business from opening when it was a local government. Smith noted they had separately provided applicants a letter to show prospective landlords explaining their status (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
      • Board Chair David Postman commented on the broadness of local zoning powers as they were applied to cannabis operations, and that state lawmakers had shown reluctance in diminishing that power, “so people need to understand that that's not going to change.” Smith concurred the “flexibility” being given to equity applicants to move to a different jurisdiction didn’t override local control. Postman observed that a change by the City of Pasco earlier in the year had allowed two stores to open in a community that previously prohibited them. “I think the letters and everything else we're able to do could spark some conversation at least at the local government level, but we just can't force them to do it,” he remarked (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Garrett wondered if applicants had challenges in finding locations for their businesses. Smith answered “the difficulty right now is financing, is finding a way for, to finance their businesses” (audio - <1m, Video - TVW,  Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
      • Garrett followed up to ask about financing for equity applicants, and whether someone loaning a retailer money could become part owner of a license. Smith affirmed that arrangement wasn’t allowed. Financiers could be paid interest on repayment of any loan, but they could not accept an ownership stake in the business (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
      • On October 27th, Washington State Department of Commerce (WA Commerce) officials announced a request for proposals (RFP) “from consultants or firms qualified and interested in participating in a project or firm to administer a Cannabis Social Equity Technical Assistance and Grant Program over two years.” Black Excellence in Cannabis Co-Founder Peter Manning called attention to both the lengthy timeline of implementation for the program, and the lack of grant availability as applicants were ready to seek financing, during the board meeting the preceding week. Existing statutory language in RCW 43.330.540(3) had required that WA Commerce officials be able to issue grants to “cannabis license applicants and cannabis licensees holding a license issued after April 1, 2023, and before July 1, 2024,” adding to an already protracted application process.
  • The board discussed results of internal focus groups related to an employee satisfaction survey, which found positive sentiments from staff, plus ideas and policies on how WSLCB could improve as an employer.
    • Postman relayed that agency leaders had undertaken a “follow-up to our Employee Engagement Survey and member Vollendroff was the board lead on this along with” Policy and Performance Manager Jessica Dang; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Manager Jim Weatherly (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Dang shared that she would cover the WSLCB focus groups, and leave Weatherly and Vollendroff to address themes and possible improvements, respectively. The focus groups were conducted following the survey “over the summer and early fall, and the purpose of these focus groups was to promote open, productive conversations, help us discover the why behind some of our results, and then explore ways that we can improve the employee experience here at LCB” (audio - 5m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript)
      • Dang said focus group sessions of “about two and a half hours” were held around the state with “six to 14 participants per session” for a total of 64 employees. “We ha[d] the pleasure of going to Spokane, to Tacoma, Federal Way, Mountlake Terrace, and we did a couple of sessions here in Olympia,” she told the board. “We had high participation…from our Enforcement [and] Education Division…likely to the fact that we traveled out to the field offices there,” Dang suggested. “We ha[d] participation from the Director's office, Licensing, Finance all, all of the divisions were represented,” she said.
      • According to Dang, the four questions they focused on were picked because they’d shown “high correlation to overall employee satisfaction and we thought that by focusing” on them agency leaders could learn “insights that it would help us improve our overall satisfaction scores.” A “pulse survey” was used “to see if there was any difference between how people responded when they did the survey in 2022” until “the time period that we were looking at,” with Dang reporting “there was really not much of a difference in terms of responses.”
    • Postman asked how engagement survey responses from WSLCB were scored and compared to other state agencies. Dang knew agencies were scored on a “scale of five,” and promised to check back once she’d seen how WSLCB fared in comparison to other state institutions (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Weatherly articulated the main themes as being about “career growth,” “culture,” and “communications.” His presentation broadly described themes while including some specific feedback from focus groups (audio - 7m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript). Dang followed his comments to explain she’d prepared handouts on the three main themes which she was in the process of sending out (audio - 2m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
      • One communications idea Dang mentioned was sharing more “feedback from our customers” when staff were “connecting and I had never heard those stories before and…we thought that would just be a great opportunity to hear more about the work that our team members are doing in the community.” Postman asked for an example of that. Vollendroff replied that there was “hidden work” at WSLCB worth celebrating, like how Education and Enforcement staff “participate in local prevention groups in their community.” He mentioned they were “helping deal with how do we keep product out of the hands of young people from a broader community perspective, and we've got enforcement staff who [were] volunteering their own time, not their own time necessarily, but they [were] not required to do that, but they are seeking out these community groups in areas that they're responsible for so that they can actually be a part of the community, which is fantastic” (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Dang explained that she was sharing what they’d learned with focus group participants, the Board, and agency management team, adding that the management team’s five year strategic planning process was due to start in November (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Vollendroff explained how he’d attended focus groups to represent the Board and provide a message from agency Executive Director William Lukela to participants. He had spoken with Lukela ahead of each focus group, and the Executive Director participated in one of the Olympia sessions. Vollendroff identified potential improvement related to staff exit interviews, assault benefits if employees were injured in the course of their work, as well as recruitment and retention policies (audio - 5m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Dang said focus groups “had overall really high positive ratings…out of five we had 4.8” from participants. This helped staff “pivot as needed at our next focus group to make changes,” she stated. “We did have a few sessions where we had management and line staff in the room,” said Dang, along with “some feedback” on “separating management from line staff” in future focus group sessions (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Postman had Dang confirm that results were going to be sent out that day (audio - <1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript) and then thanked the group for their efforts in planning, hosting, and analyzing the sessions. “I'm glad we're following up on, on the survey. It's great,” he commented (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).
    • Vollendroff added, “we heard more than one time appreciation from staff having board presence and…they they felt like the board really did take the survey serious and appreciated the fact that we were participating at this level” (audio - 1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Transcript).

Information Set