Who is responsible for Andover Township losing what was projected to be nearly $3 million in future cannabis-related revenue?
The answer is not one person. It is a failure of oversight by multiple officials and professionals who had a duty to protect this township.
The Land Use Board approved Mollitiam NJ LLC’s application in April 2025, yet there appears to have been no verification that the company had received the required cultivation license from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission before operations moved forward. Local approval is not the same as state authorization, and that distinction should have been confirmed before any cannabis cultivation was allowed to begin.Instead, the operation planted and harvested crops for months. When the NJ-CRC later suspended the operation, the anticipated transfer-fee revenue disappeared with it. The township collected only a small amount in local application fees, while the projected long-term revenue vanished.
According to reliable sources, municipal employee raises were approved based on the expectation that this revenue would materialize. If true, taxpayers are now left paying for spending that was based on money the township never actually received.
So who bears responsibility? <br /> The township land use board and committee members at the time: Mayor Tom Walsh, Janis McGovern, Michael Lensak, Ellsworth Bensley, Paul Messerschmidt, Eric Karr, Krista Gilchrist, Richard Skewes, Richard Then, Joseph Ordile, Eric Olsen, John Carafello, James Casler, and Karen Rozek. And perhaps most importantly, the attorneys whose job it was to guide these boards and identify legal risks: Thomas Molica and Fred Semrau.
These officials had a responsibility to exercise due diligence, verify compliance with state law, and protect the financial interests of Andover Township. If that did not happen, then this community deserves an honest explanation of why. It does not appear as though any Andover Township official asked for Mollitiam NJ LLC’s license after being told it was pending. Meanwhile, the investors behind Mollitiam Capital LLC, Mollitiam Holdings LLC, and Mollitiam NJ LLC may move on to other ventures. But Andover Township residents are the ones left without the promised revenue and with unanswered questions.
This community deserves a full accounting of what happened, who knew what, when they knew it, and what safeguards will be put in place so this kind of failure never happens again.
Kenneth Collins
Newton
