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V O L . X X V I I I N O. X X I X D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 2 2 6 U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that a total of $746,562 was awarded to emergency service pro- viders in Cumberland, Knox, and Waldo counties to enhance their ability to safely respond to mental health crises. The funding, awarded through the Fiscal Year 2022 Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Response Program, will also help to divert more mental health calls to the appropriate service providers. Coast 93.1, 98.9 WCLZ and Rewind 100.9 raised $23,750 for Preble Street, a statewide social service agency based in Portland, as part of its Stuff the Bus fundraiser. Town & Country Federal Credit Union in Scarborough awarded a total of $25,000 to eight nonprofits in Cumberland and York counties as part of its Better Neigh- bor Fund. Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Portland announced the creation of the Nan Heald Black Fly Fellowship, an initiative to in- crease access to free civil legal aid in western Maine. The fellowship is named in honor of Nan Heald, who served the organization as executive director from 1990 until her death earlier this year. Maine Behavioral Healthcare in Portland said recently installed solar panels at its Glickman Lauder Center of Excellence in Autism and Developmental Disorders have reduced energy costs for the fa- cility by approximately 30% while also reducing 13,329-plus pounds of CO2 emission, equivalent to planting more than 100 trees. The U.S. Department of Health and Hu- man Services' Center for Mental Health Services awarded Spurwink, a Portland- based behavioral health and education services organization for children, adults and families, $800,000 to help to ex- pand the trauma therapy capabilities of its ShifaME Trauma Systems Therapy for Refugees project. B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state Maine's top cannabis regulator comes from Brookings Institution B y R e n e e C o r d e s J ohn Hudak, a political scientist and public policy analyst with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., will succeed Erik Gunderson as Maine's cannabis regula- tor starting on Dec. 30. Hudak's appointment as director of the Augusta-based Office of Cannabis Policy was announced Dec. 1 by Commissioner Kirsten Figueroa of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services. The announcement cited Hudak as a leading expert on state, national and international cannabis policy. The Office of Cannabis Policy, created in February 2019, is responsible for the over- sight of all aspects of legalized cannabis in Maine, including products for both medical and adult use. Gundersen, the Office of Cannabis Policy's inaugural director, stepped down in October and launched a cannabis consulting firm called ERG Strategies LLC. He is also a senior advisor with Cannabis Public Policy Consulting, which studies how U.S. states regulate cannabis. "With the appointment of John Hudak as OCP's next director, Maine will remain in a position to effectively and responsibly license and regulate cannabis establishments statewide," Figueroa said. Hudak brings more than a decade of experience at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in the nation's capital, where he served as deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management and as a senior fellow in Governance Studies. For the past decade, he has led Brookings' research into cannabis policy, regulation, implementation and politics. "I have a significant appreciation for the ways in which Maine has imple- mented medical and adult-use cannabis," Hudak said. "I am eager to continue the work of OCP in addressing existing policies and regulations and in engaging with stakeholders to ensure that both of Maine's cannabis programs thrive." Hudak holds a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from the University of Connecticut, and both a master's and doctorate degree in political science from Vanderbilt University. "John's work as a public policy analyst has given him the tools necessary for navigating all aspects of the cannabis landscape," said Vernon Malloch, OCP's interim director. "He offers an academic perspective that will be a welcome addition to the OCP team. We look forward to his leadership." N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E S T A T E W I D E N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N S O U T H E R N A S K AC E A n s w e r e d b y C a r r i e Y a r d l e y o f Y a r d l e y E s q . P L L C Q: What legal tools are available to manage risk in my small professional service business? ACE Advises: I recommend three tools: 1) professional liability insurance, 2) the right business entity and 3) a contract that a client can understand, matching the way you do business. Of the three, insurance protects you from a profes- sional's greatest risk: that you will make a mistake. An insurance policy is a legal tool. It is a contract shifting the cost of your mistakes to an insurance company. Every profession has its own perils, and the costs of your error may outstrip your annual revenue. If you are a financial consultant hired to develop a business strategy, you may learn that there was a significant mistake in your assumptions after your project is over. If you are a marketing consultant and mistakenly use content copyrighted by a third party on a client project, both you and your client may be liable for copyright infringement. With adequate insurance, a business entity may be less important. Many solos never form an LLC, corporation or any other limited liability entity, particularly if their overhead expenses are low. If your business includes a number of practitio- ner/owners, it makes sense to create an entity protecting personal assets from business debt AND defining the rights and responsibilities of each stakeholder. Finally, make sure that your agreements with your clients are well-documented. Nailing down your scope of work and deliverables will protect you from a dispute more effectively than any legal terms any lawyer might draft. Legal terms must dovetail with your scope and your business practices. It makes no sense to allow the client to terminate a contract for convenience if you get paid upon completion. But first, get insurance. Retail sales of adult- use cannabis through October total $129.6 million, compared to $82 million for all of 2021, according to the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy B I Z M O N E Y P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F T H E B RO O K I N G S I N S T I T U T I O N John Hudak The Association for Consulting Expertise (ACE) is a non-profit association of independent consultants who value "Success through Collaboration." The public is welcome to attend its regular meetings to share best practices and engage with industry experts. For more information go to www.consultexpertise.com. ACE board member Carrie Green Yardley is an attorney at Yardley Esq. PLLC, a law firm providing services to small businesses and their owners from start-up through succession. She can be reached at carrie@yardleyesq.com For more advice on starting and managing a consulting, coaching or professional service practice, register for ACE's Consultants Academy on Jan. 20 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. consultexpertise. com/event-5016045 ACE thanks its sponsor, Maine Technology Institute's Maine Entrepreneurial Resource Corps for supporting the Academy. MERC matches entrepreneurs to qualified technical advisors and provides grant funding to make that technical advice possible. mainetechnology.org/mti-funding/merc @

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