Subcommittee recommends renewal of Janice Helping Hand's secondhand-dealer license after background checks; one member recuses

The Leominster City Ways and Means Subcommittee recommended granting Janice Helping Hand Incorporated's request to renew a secondhand-dealer license for 52 Mechanic Street after police and tax-collector reviews found the application in order.

The chair said the police and the office of the tax collector had both provided positive recommendations and noted a new police practice of conducting more extensive background checks for new applicants. "The police informed me that, because it was a new applicant that they, they check the background of whoever the applicant is a little bit more extensively now," the chair said, adding that the new practice caused a brief delay but that "everything is in order."

A committee member announced a recusal on the record: "I'm recusing myself from this matter," the member said. The chair and the other member expressed support for recommending the renewal to the full council later in the evening.

The subcommittee recorded the recommendation that the license be granted; the formal council action on the license is scheduled later in the evening.