Welcome to the September 12th select board meeting this meeting is being called to order at 6 35 We had some technical difficulties there. So if necessary, we will make public comment go until Five minutes later till 6 50 so that we can get in the full 15 minutes I want to announce before we start that we are here with acting town manager Dave Zomek as folks know Town manager John Musanti had an accident last week which he is recovering from we'll receive an update on that later But tonight we have mr. Zomek with us which we very much appreciate on the other thing I'm going to say before we get started is as I had made pretty clear at the last meeting that we had the discussion of the housing and homelessness structure Situation that we were going to try as best we could to make this a working discussion of the select board tonight There is it's only possible that we will take public comment during that item So we will take public comment now We will only take public comment as necessary during that item if we feel we need more information to make our decision So with that would folks like to make public comment tonight first I'm going to call on the gentleman who was who was here first this evening just because he was here so We have a several people just a show of hands approximately how many people want to make public comment Okay, so you're all looking at around a minute and a half each So that I can fit in as many people as possible because we do need to stop at 6 50 So please identify yourself for folks at home. Sure My name is Sam Andrews, and I'm a relatively new resident of the town I moved here last December after a 35-year absence from being here during college I think I probably read just about every article letter to the editor and editorial over the last eight months or so on this Issue or debate about the homeless shelter in the committee, and I just want to voice my support for it I've through business and Personal I've had about 30 years of experience with town Governance and many as municipal entities and so I am Very aware of the fact that the select board has enough on their plate already and as valuable as the Downing board or the audit committee or the personnel board or what have you To you so is the homeless committee, so I would I would urge you to Support it instead of dismantling it and empower it even more For the oversight of the shelter and homelessness in the town as a whole as an issue And that's it. Thank you very much appreciate you coming in other folks folks We haven't heard from before mr. Kussner We haven't heard from you on this issue and please be as brief as possible So we can fit in as many folks as possible and identify yourself. I'll try Rob Kussner former colleague of yours and Welcome mr. Zomek in the role. I hope John's better soon I'll be brief in 2007 I was a member of the board that created the committee on homelessness and the reason we did it was we felt that such a committee Filled a role that wasn't being filled by any other town committee. I Realize and respect and even applaud the review you've made of Its role over the past few years and I think it's important to do that sort of thing to review and reconsider Decide whether such a such a committee is appropriate or not I applaud you guys for thinking of instituting an oversight board that's separate from the committee on homelessness But as the previous speaker indicated, I think There is a role for advocacy Among town committees and boards. There's a role for boards to Be at odds with each other. I think we learned from that dialectical experience. Whatever you want to call it is sometimes valuable I think if you guys can create an Entity that provides appropriate oversight to the day-to-day activities and encourages the members of the committee To appropriately engage with that oversight board I think you'll create something that's better and more effective in the end for addressing What's really a serious problem? We were concerned seriously enough to create the committee almost as an emergency back in late 2007 I think now would be a An awful time to abandon that committee So I hope you'll move forward with some of the positive things you're doing and consider these comments in light of some experience with the issue Thank you. Thank you very much other folks We haven't heard from on this issue miss me near gaudy and please identify yourself my name My name is Eleanor. Manier gaudy. I Have served on the Amherst committee for on homelessness for several years This committee is a group of special people who have significant understanding and experience of the pain and struggle of being homeless Being being homeless is bad under any circumstance But is increasing with the worsening and deterioration of our economic system therefore The Amherst committee on homelessness is needed more than ever We have been criticized for my micro managing the shelter But we have seen problems that we thought should have been corrected our biggest sin was wanting the best for the dispossessed There is no objective criteria to measure the worth of the committee on homelessness This committee has done much good for the poor of greater Amherst and deserves a longer life Thank you very much other folks who would like to speak mr. Marron And I have some experience a number of years of working with the homeless from 1985 to 1995 then I was on the committee that Established the task force then the committee and I think that We did a very good job in Supporting the homeless During most of the time that I've seen but I the reason I'm here is because I read a report by a reporter in the newspaper, which talked about oversight and I think it was mentioned that there were a hundred visits during the last year of 300 days something I don't know if I have the exact figure something like that a hundred visits by members of the town in three hundred Three well a hundred visits anyway. Anyway, what I'm saying specifically to be more specific is that I think there should be a Criteria established for how the oversight is conducted So it's within reason and that it can be and and it can't upset people it shouldn't upset social workers and it shouldn't upset town residents who are advocates for the homeless either and I would say that a good rule of thumb a barometer would be that if there's a homeless committee and they're probably I think there should be a homeless committee they should have two visits a month to evaluate the shelter and that those two visits and their Their reports should be taken seriously and and addressed where necessary. I mean, that's it You know, I'm saying that some criteria should be established so that we don't have over oversight Which upsets people or no oversight, which is no good That's all thank you very much anyone else who has not spoken on this issue before before I get to folks who have Ms. Gray Carol Gray Precinct 7 815 Southeast Street I'm speaking in favor of maintaining the homelessness committee and I'd like to speak to a couple points one is The importance of governance through our town committees. I have seen that part of the proposal That was handed on the back table is to create a shelter resource group that would be A pool of folks available to Dave Zomack when needed It's advisory at least is what I'm quoting from the handout advisory But the real power does not lie in that situation with the with the committee with the people and our town has Traditionally been run with major decision-making being made through town meeting the select board the planning board and town committees I don't think the homelessness issue should be taken out of that arena of citizen control another point is that This we're very lucky in this community to have people who are so passionate about Trying to serve the homelessness community people die when they're homeless in the winter sometimes they freeze to death even in Hampshire County and So we have a committee where people are very zealous more zealous than maybe some members of Town Hall or of the select board are comfortable with but we should be grateful that we have such a zealous committee They're not always going to agree But I don't think we should start a precedent where when we don't like a committee being zealous we dismantle them That's not a way to run a town I don't think we should be able to deal with difference and allow a zealous committee to work on its differences without setting the the idea that any committee that Advocates a little too much might be dismantled that would not that would be very unfortunate And I hope that the select board will not follow that path. Thank you very much. Okay folks who have already spoken miss Simula My name is Rika simula gooding Although I am in the vice chair of the committee on homelessness. I am here tonight to speak as a private citizen I want to address the two points made by the chair of the select board and hers July 25th notes on discussion for new committee charge The select board chair saw milestones voluntary departure as a setback for the town to attract a high-quality Shelter operator and felt that the committee on homelessness has done too much advocacy For the people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless In my opinion the lack of oversight by the town on milestones last winter is what precipitated the impression That the committee on homelessness provided too much oversight and was too involved In the operational Monusha Monusha of the shelter The fact that none of the staff or for that matter none of the select board members Have been to the shelter during its operation last year is in stark contrast to the fact that the members of our committee volunteered Not as committee members, but as private citizens on nearly a hundred nights combined During the shelters hundred and eighty nights of operation The extent of the oversight provided by the town was merely through phone conversations and Periodic written reports by the shelter operator This is simply not enough your criticism of our committee's Over-involvement would be better placed on the town's lack of supervision of the shelter To move forward, please stop blaming the committee But start examining on how the town can exercise its oversight role as the entity that will be providing over a hundred thousand dollars This winter good oversight is what will ensure a high-quality shelter That will benefit our homeless residents the town can attract a high-quality shelter operator only if the town holds the shelter operator Accountable this winter is a fresh start Please work with our committee and learn what makes a shelter a high-quality place That respects and safeguards the well-being of our homeless residents Secondly the charge of the committee is to make policy recommendations to you the select board on How best to address homeless problems and to assist the town and town manager to implement policy recommendations? Yes, I agree through policy recommendation and implementation the committee is indeed advocating for the homeless or those on the Verge of becoming homeless However, I am puzzled by why our committee is being faulted for doing our work Is it because homeless people like myself who has been homeless many times in life are less worthy Things say a tree a soccer field or historical building the shade tree committee advocates for preservations of trees in public ways leisure services and supplemental education commission Advocated for construction of Plumbrook soccer field and the creation of other recreational facility facilities Council on aging advocates for the senior citizens to ensure the programs and services provided will meet their needs conservation conservation commission preserves and promotes the preservation of open space historical preservation commission advocates for the protection of historical architecturally significant properties To do their jobs and to fill fill their official charges these boards and committees work to advocate for their stakeholders What makes it legitimate to advocate for some but not for others? I believe safe and decent sheltering like health care is one of the human rights When some segment of our population in this country will experience homelessness at the rate of one out of a hundred people This makes homelessness a significant issue if the committee does not advocate for these people what other boards or committees in town will I come before you today not to ask for your pity I am in a very financially difficult situation in my life. My housing situation is not the best I personally know 60 or 70 other people in Amherst that are in the same situation We might double up or sleep on someone's couch for the night We do not know where we might end up sleeping the next night I am blessed to have friends who can help me You are all very blessed to have a home to go back to but let us remember those who are struggling and do not have a roof over their heads winter is coming the committee on homelessness has Recommended Craig store a very qualified agency to run the shelter this winter I have every confidence. They will provide the best sheltering experience for our homeless residents in my experience with them I know they treat the homeless with respect and dignity. This is something very hard to come by. I Hope the town will consider their application for the shelter operation. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight Thank you very much. So I have to put an end to public comment now But all of you coming in and expressing yourselves is very much appreciated. So thank you very much We are running five minutes late in the agenda already. Is there anybody here for the stavros? No Is I won't give you an extra five minutes. Is there anybody here from the stavros Center for the for that request? Okay, then our 650 item will deal with the stavros parking request as an untimed item We are now have the 650 item is the ceremony honoring the Amherst African-American Civil War veterans And we have veterans agent Steve Connor and mr. Bob Romer here to speak to us about that And if you could both identify yourself, please Hi, yes, my name is Steve Connor. I'm the director of veteran services Official position I guess I represent the impromptu committee on recognizing our black Civil War veterans Let me take a couple of minutes to explain how we got where we are and what we plan to do I've given you folks a Very brief handout which I actually put together for a talk I agreed to give tomorrow at the Amherst Club, but I thought I'd bring it along for you Only a couple of years ago. I used to run six miles every morning Now I walk three miles every morning in about the same length of time and I go various directions from my house and on the day before Memorial Day I just happened to go through West Cemetery and I noticed all the new flags out on the veterans graves for Memorial Day and Since I know about the graves of some black Civil War veterans. I was Looking forward to seeing their flags for instance for Charles Venomore who Fought in the mass 54th whom I have known so to speak for 10 years now and there was no flag and I noticed other flags other sites without flags and I thought this is a problem that needs to be fixed and who's going to fix it. Well, first of all me so my wife and I went to Hastings and bought some flags and put them in the ground and Then this has to be fixed more permanently So I went to see Steve Connor our veterans agent who agreed yes, we have to fix this and Let's make a ceremony out of this which I thought that was a great idea And that's how we got started By the way, I'm absolutely sure that they're not having the flags on those particular sites was simply an accident We probably don't have great records as to which gravestones need flags that truth And We thought about doing this in July and Reynolds Winslow who was agreed to emcee the ceremony said Let's wait until after Labor Day because and that was a good idea because since then we have learned a great deal more about these men for instance There's Mars Jan Alvin Who is buried in West Cemetery and as of May I would say no one in Amherst knew who he was No one not even Jim Smith We didn't know whether he was black or white whether he was really a veteran and now with a little clicking and some help clicking on the computer from Kate Boyle at Jones and my son and his wife in Binghamton We now know a great deal about Jan Alvin Mars and I decided would be really nice if we could find some descendants of these guys But I am obviously incompetent so far at genealogy because I concluded that there were no living descendants And then Scott Mertzbach wrote a story about this in the bulletin and the Gazette and I discovered the easy way to do research You notice a little problem you fix it Somebody writes a story about it and then you sit back and you wait for emails from people you never heard of Who are sending you information? You didn't know you wanted? First thing that happened was I got an email from William Harris in Los Angeles who I'd like to say that he reads the Gazette online every day, but actually it was his mom in Greenfield who put him on to this and He told me about his family Of the five men that we are specifically honoring next Sunday or three Thompson's and their descendants include William Harris of LA and his brother Dan and and over they include Dudley Bridges who died a few years ago They include the famous Gil Roberts our banjo player who's on the mural at West Cemetery And there are scads of relatives in this family quite a few of them are coming and Just for instance Christopher Thompson Is Dan and William Harris's great great great grandpa Every year we honor our veterans, but this is the first time that we have specifically honored our black Civil War veterans and So we're honoring five men in particular out of the 20 black Amherst men who fought for the Union in a Civil War including three of the five Thompson's who fought and Excuse me. It means a great deal to these descendants who are coming that the town of Amherst is honoring their ancestors so We've arranged a program for Sunday. We've got the two choirs of Hope Church and AMD Zion Church Which are two originally all black churches who are doing a couple of musical numbers jointly writing a Color guard of some kind Steve knows all about that the two pastors Mr. Roberson from Hope is here and the pastor of AMD Zion are participating We're gonna have remarks by family members and others including me because Charles Finnemore has no descendants to speak for him. We have a bugler to play taps We have the UMass Roxy. I think isn't we hope we hope and We were hoping to lead off with some welcoming remarks for the town by Mr. Musanti and maybe We can get mr. Zomac to come instead And afterwards there will be a public reception at Hope Church And I might add that this cost the town essentially nothing right a dollar or two for electricity maybe at West Cemetery so yeah, and So that's where we are and the weather forecast right now. It looks great. I don't believe in five days in advance, but So Steve and I are here to take questions That's wonderful Thank you so much for all of the work all the research that you did and all the effort you've put into making the ceremony happen I just want to reiterate for folks that this ceremony is going to be Sunday September 18th at 2 o'clock PM at West Cemetery and as you stay here. This is rain or shine Okay And this is on the town website. Is that correct mr. Zomac? Okay, and any place people should go if they're looking for more information or to have questions answered They can call my office either at the Amherst office of 259 3028 or they can contact the main office 587 1299 and we can fill anybody in on any details Can't get Steve you can get me my home number is 25377 72537748 Any questions or comments from the select board All right. Thank you That's very exciting and that's a wonderful thing to have as part of our history and culture going forward And it's nice to know that those graves now will always be decorated on on Veterans Day. Thank you both so much You look forward to this ceremony. We will see you at 2 o'clock Yes, and I will be in touch with both of you before the weekend. Okay, we're holding you to it Thank you very much. Thank you very much Okay, so no one is here from Stavros, so we will deal with the Stavros question The parking request later on as an untimed item that was uncertain whether they would be attending or not Okay for our seven o'clock item This is part of the continuing conversation that we've been having over the past several meetings regarding housing and homelessness And how the town addresses that we have been talking about whether Considering all of the circumstances the very changed landscape that we now Exist in with a an existing homelessness shelter with so much progress having been made on the town's Sheltering issues in the last couple of years whether the structure that we're working with with homelessness as well as housing partnership Fair housing is the best way to address our needs going forward Folks did mention during public comment that this was about criticism of the committee on homeless or that that their advocacy wasn't as valuable as other committees and And so I'm simply going to reject those stipulations and those characterizations of the situation But the select board is trying to do is make sure we are taking the information That we have now and making sure we're making the best decisions going forward So we've been looking very in-depth at the structure and as part of this Oh, and the other thing I'll mention before we go on is folks were concerned about the end of public comment I just want to mention that yes while indeed the meeting did start five minutes late public comment continued five minutes late also So we had the full 15 minutes of public comment. So you were not denied that okay, so We at our last discussion the select board spent a lot of time identifying what the particular needs are for the town to address Homelessness issues going forward to make sure whatever structure we deal with whatever structure We end up with dealt with those particular needs after that meeting and conversations with mr. Zomek who is the when he's not being acting town manager is Is the point person and manager of the sheltering team for the town? He is mr. Musanti's point person on dealing with all of the operational and oversight issues of the town and We realized that as we talked about the kinds of oversight needs that there are what we needed to have Was a picture from the town of what had been happening? So I'm gonna turn this over to mr. Zomek now who has several members of his sheltering team here He has a document here that has been made available to the audience and the select board is just receiving and Thank You mr. Zomek. Thank you very much miss O'Keefe. I Just want to take a moment and acknowledge the select board. Thank you very much For asking me to step in for John. I know John is a very big Baseball fan as am I and I look at this as kind of pinch hitting for mr. Musanti while he's Recovering and we wish him well and we'll have an update on his condition in a few minutes if I could I might ask Captain Gunderson and our health director Julie Federman if they might join me up at the microphone They provided some of the background on our efforts Last season So if I could I'll try to be fairly brief. I do want to give Julie and Captain Gunderson a chance to add some of their comments and perhaps some Some additional information around the edges Prior to mr. Musanti's Accident he had asked us part of our part of his sheltering team that he put together over a year ago to come in and make some comments Relative to the conversation. We're having this evening and one that's been going on for some months I guess I want to start very briefly by saying that you know I very much would like to celebrate the positive of what happened last season the 2011-12 season excuse me 1011 season was a Fantastic sheltering season for Amherst. We made great strides from the year before Three years ago. We didn't have a shelter. We transitioned into something called the warming place That was a step forward and I think we made great strides last year in operating a very very successful Shelter, I think mr. Musanti's comments at earlier meetings have have been Very much in line with that. We should be very proud working with the committee working with residents and especially working with our two partners Milestone Ministries and Our wonderful wonderful partner at First Baptist Church We put together a terrific terrific sheltering Season and kept people safe and warm and fed throughout the the winter I Want to briefly go through and quickly go through what I've outlined here for you is really the team that mr. Musanti put together of myself Ms. Fetterman Ms. Weeks our building commissioner captain Gunderson and her staff and mr. Rosenblatt and Ms. Taylor provided our cdbg administration We worked very closely as I said with with Jack to Roche and his staff Frank Kelly The shelter coordinator and of course our wonderful wonderful contact at First Baptist Jerry Gates The the sheltering team really was many months in in preparation for the the season itself Mr. Musanti asked us to really oversee asked me and our wonderful team To oversee everything from permitting contracting and the actual oversight of the shelter during the season We I was the designated lead contact And we worked very closely with Milestone from the point of contracting to the final report that was produced in May I Take great pride in the amount of communication that went on between our staff and I'm gonna let My two colleagues in a minute add to this but I take great pride in the amount of communication and the amount of outreach We did the amount of communication feedback between and among staff Milestone volunteers I think was fantastic and really the the result of that was a wonderful end product I think By anybody's measure the shelter that everyone contributed to including the business community and many others and volunteers in this in this town Was simply a terrific product Members of our shelter management team made numerous visits to the shelter and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute We reviewed and went over with some diligence All the reports that Milestone Provided for us both the financial reports as well as the documentation of the social service work that they and Their partners were doing at the shelter And again members of our team communicated regularly with representatives from from Milestone about ongoing issues issues related to weather issues related to any Updates on behavior on capacity, etc So I think it was a very very comprehensive approach to sheltering in in the season I will say as always there's room for improvement. I think what we're trying to do Is really use last year as a springboard for an even better season this year. So let me turn it over perhaps to Ms. Vetterman and Captain Gundersen and see if they have anything they'd like to add based on their their pieces of the report that they provided So as Mr. Zomek has has said I think one of the key Things that happened last year was that there was a lot of communication by telephone in person and by email between the health department building department police fire and Milestone ministries In terms of the health department, I made one two-hour visit to the shelter after to been operating for a few weeks Prior to that we had all done inspections When the facility was being used as a warming center and then pre operationally for the shelter So we knew going into it that we had a physical facility that was all set In terms of food preparation and sanitation that was something that I worked with Jack to roaches on from Milestone Ministry and I was very happy with the food plan that was finally decided upon during my visit One of the things that impressed to me the most was The actual staffing the eat the nighttime staffing that was there They had excellent protocol for sanitation for managing food service for interacting with the clients and I was very impressed with what I saw that night I did continue throughout the season to have conversations with Jack to roaches and also with Peg Keller and Pamela Schwartz who are part of the regional effort on Sheltering I felt that it was really important that Milestone be part of that regional conversation And I couldn't have been more pleased with what I saw and with the communications that I had There was no need to go back for another visit from the health point of view Partly because police was there so frequently So we had that constant contact that if there were any issues that would involve food or sanitation that that Information would be coming to us through the police department And if I could just also echo what Julie said really this year the communication was was great Not only in the town, but also with with Milestone that was operating the shelter Our focus and goal this year was was to really emphasize the safety safety first of the guests That are at need out in the streets that we could get to the shelter The guests that were already at the shelter and the employees so to tackle that issue We assigned a consistent face Every single evening it was primarily officer Linda Newcomb who was the liaison officer to the shelter She got to know very well the guests and the staff and the management and the volunteers that were at the shelter and we felt that that was very successful To having her build a relationship not only with the staff, but with the guests and on those very rare occasions when Linda's Nightly visit had to take a little bit of a different role in enforcement is probably too strong of a word, but If somebody had to be removed from the shelter She gained voluntary compliance Which we really felt that that was something that we wanted to have That we wanted Linda to be able to go there the next night with that same guest and be able to have a decent relationship with that guest And with other ones We think that The operation of the shelter and the communication with Milestone and their trust in officer Linda Newcomb really made that possible if I could also Highlight I Think I already discussed the couple of issues that we needed to To address oh talking about the amount of times You know something that that we were guided on the previous year We did try to show up a lot of the nights, but we show up at midnight and one and you know We were really educated like this is a place where people are resting Why would you send your officers to go there so late and that just really it just hadn't dawned on us to do That so Linda worked very hard to try to get there by 9 o'clock when people were showing up and You know when people were ready to have some conversation and discussion We also wanted the midnight shift going there So they'd go in the morning when it was break down time not as consistently just because of the scheduling and other duties and Requirements they had in the morning, but just so they would be able to Have they couldn't go at midnight when they started their shift There were some very rare occasions that they were called there say it's two or three in the morning But so they could also meet with the guests and the staff So we said seven o'clock would really be a target there. So we felt it was successful Thank you. Mr. Zomek anything else you'd like to add before we start asking any questions Could you tell us a little bit more about the kinds of communications that you would get from shelter management shelter guests and The kind of issues that those were about and what you would do to deal with them Just have a sense of the kinds of things that you were dealing with on a daily and weekly basis Sure, I think one of the bullets speaks broadly to that this Was the type of season and the type of operation where we could get I could get emails or phone calls really 24-7 and mr. Muzanti Got used to getting calls from me Follow-up calls from me if those issues were of a level that he needed to weigh in on but there was always a back-and-forth between The milestone staff particularly Frank Kelly who was fantastic in there most nights myself Mr.. Muzanti particularly on issues for instance during the couple of cold weather weather spells that we had But issues around capacity for The most part of the behavior-based Admission policy worked quite well I can tell you that we I never took any call from the Amherst police department I think officer Newcombe did a fantastic job. These were mostly check-ins between milestone and myself on How to proceed if a certain circumstance presented itself, but I think it's no Exaggeration in my memo that I I state that there were literally hundreds of phone calls emails and Ultimately meetings milestone was was in the in this building many many times throughout the season Meeting with myself with miss Federman or mr. Muzanti on three or four occasions So it was a very fluid situation and I feel very good about our our communication And I think it resulted in a very good product as I said earlier this is an evolution of Where we were two three four years ago when we had nothing and I think each year we're getting better and better And I think it would be hard to argue that that's not true. We're getting better For a variety of reasons, but I think our oversight of the contract Was very good. We learned some things We'll ask for and we have in the in the new RFP that went out a few weeks ago Some additional feedback as part of the feedback loop for the town Particularly from guests and so the new provider whoever that will be will be required to provide that as well But I will say that I took calls from guests myself During the season and then immediately was on the phone to Frank Kelly or Jack de Roche directly to try to figure out The circumstances of those situations Ask one more question then open it up to select board Could you tell us a little bit more about things that you learned from this year and that you would change going forward? And that would be a question for both of you also any any kind of specific things that you're going to be looking to do that That you learned so you spoke about feedback and that's very valuable. I think the feedback loop will be very important I think getting input from the gas you know throughout the season and Right up through the last month or so We've talked about and what ended up in the RFQ, which is a public document are things like Surveys throughout the year not having season quarterly surveys or something of that sort but but giving the guests an opportunity to to submit Surveys and input nightly perhaps even as simple as a suggestion box We've also talked about things like having a hotline Some sort of hotline that guests could call if there are problems at the shelter that could be an impartial Person to simply Way the Circumstances of the concern about the shelter and then follow through with the town and or their provider Thank you to either of you have anything you want to add about specific things that you'd learned from this year And that you'd be looking to change going forward I just know that when we looked back at at our interaction at the shelter. We were surprised that our overnight shift Wasn't as consistent as we originally thought they'd be we thought it would be Four out of six days that we would be able to have an officer go by there So we want to be a little bit more consistent So Linda is the primary but we want the guests and staff there to be able to see another face of ours in the morning That's just I might two other quick pieces in in this evolution of And as we get better and better Collectively as a community in doing this. I think two other pieces that have come to light one is The notion that if we can provide some if the town Or within Amherst can provide some services during the day. I know that some of the face faith-based Organizations are looking at whether they could provide some sort of an outreach space during the day For people who are homeless a place where people can get warm during the day, but also perhaps Get some services that would be a wonderful addition to our Our efforts the other piece that you know I our partner at First Baptist Church is doing a terrific job But I know that Jerry Gates is looking at whether there's any possibility to open the shelter a little bit earlier That was a bit of a challenge from time to time Certainly that late start of the shelter opening was was always challenging, but We're lucky to be there and and we're very grateful. So We'll we'll leave that up to the new provider and the town to work with First Baptist on Thank you, and Miss Fetterman anything else that you wanted to add about things you learned before Social services offered in the evening is not really the best time to meet this population's need And so to have that happening during the daytime I think would be a really important piece to work on this year It's like board members questions for Mrs. Oh Mike Okay, well, thank you, Mr. Were you raising your hand? Was I raising my hand? Yes, actually I would like to get a sense because we're talking about some of the changes and some of the things that ended up in the RFP Which I know I looked at as the liaison to the committee on homelessness and some of the things I think we were just trying to be more specific about others We left somewhat open for example when we talk about surveys We mentioned that in the monthly reports, which were previously not required to have as much detail monthly Monthly reports will now have more details many more questions And if there is some type of survey instrument or feedback instrument Whether it be some combination of the different things you talked about that that would be reported in there However, it doesn't actually require a specific kind of feedback Mechanism again talking more. I think like we've talked about here recently as a board What we want to know rather than the method of obtaining it and so but knowing that we want that feedback loop One of the big Changes that we made when we went from having a warming shelter to having an overnight shelter some of the issues that we really wrestled with And the committee on homelessness were really helpful to us about at that time We had very long conversations with Miss Vetterman and other groups were associated around the behavior-based policy Whether or not we'd be able to serve both genders and provision of a hot meal Those were all big changes from the time not only were we letting people sleep actually which is what we'd wanted But we were also looking at those particular issues Moving into this next overnight season I Don't see that we have made any policy shifts in what we're planning to do and what services we're planning to provide I can hear some things that we want to do that we might do more consistently in terms of you know That nice interaction between the police department and that we're asking for more detail on reports And so we're making some tweaks to things like that I'm not seeing any big policy shifts from last season to this season And I just wanted to to see if that was your sense also because I think we've learned so much moving from the warming To the overnight that really although we want to constantly improve things There are no big changes in store that hours are going to be the same the number of people we can serve obviously the facilities the same Etc. My understanding the feedback I got from mr. Musanti and and from the board prior to the RFP going out was that there were no Significant policy shifts you name the three that were in the RFP and and and formed the foundation of the of the Shelter last year and we rebuilt the RFQ around those same three policies, but there were some tweaks and there were some buffering and Building up of some of the feedback mechanisms in the RFQ But there are no major policy shifts The questions or comments from select board Mr. Heaton, yeah, I'd like to sort of a beginning comment You know, I I've not been as directly involved in this as as Miss Brewer for instance I want to appreciate mr. Cousner's and Miss Greeny's Efforts in establishing the Committee on homelessness Certainly It's a noble experiment. I have a sense that four years ago when we entered into this we hadn't a clue What? Service now, let me be careful when I this find we certainly many people the police department The health department had a sense of the services that the homeless in town needed The select board may not have and I think it is a noble effort that they put together This committee on homelessness to begin to understand the issues and to bring Resources town resources to bear What what is exciting? at this juncture is that we have the experience of those four years two of which include actually operating and watching the operation of of an overnight shelter and I'd like to point out that we have Significant responsibilities over the police department and the fire department and I can't say that I've ridden on the fire truck in at least 15 years and somehow I didn't think that's okay any event I really appreciate What we what I have learned about the issues that Get lumped together in under this this homeless homelessness label. In fact The the members of the committee who've been who've been seeing us week after week helped me understand That there are five areas that need to be looked at And and this was defined by them and and you know, I'm trying to sort of make them clear to myself First of all that it is a regional problem That since we opened up a shelter that that had Among some of the easiest rules for entrance of all of the shelters in the area a lot of people have come and Have admitted to coming from places that are 30 and 40 miles away There is a need for emergency shelter There are people who will find themselves Without a place to spend the night on these very very cold nights. So we experience sometimes in New England The committee also helped me understand that a Lot of the guests a lot of the people who take advantage of the services of an overnight shelter a warming shelter any of these these homeless services Are people who are not able for whatever reason to Be maintained in permanent housing And that it really needs to be part of the effort to give them the help that they need to be able to Qualify and even to take on the responsibilities of a permanent home Related to that but very separate issues of course is finding a permanent place for People who would otherwise be homeless SROs ESR rose there. Those are all things that are out there and last of all There is again a different and Related but separate requirement for many of these guests to get Access to social services Social services as basic as you know get the third meal in the day As to you know getting the aid that is available I Don't know how generous Massachusetts or Amherst is relative to the country, but I have a sense that there is a great deal Of generosity. I know Cheryl's all is working very very hard. I You know was really Kind of amazed at first Baptist Church's efforts along these lines milestone ministries the other there other part of the work There's a lot of stuff going on that that we wouldn't have known If the the committee hadn't helped us Having said all of that tonight We're speaking about only one-fifth of that This emergency shelter and I Don't know how to untangle everything else out of that Except maybe to say that we really do need to Or else it's going to be hard to administer an effective contract Okay, so that's a good segue if nobody else has Looks like we're has questions for the shelter management team Okay, so what we did last time is we talked a great deal about What is the town's role in addressing homelessness needs and what bases? Do we want to make sure that we cover with whatever structure we have going forward? We have a current structure and now we're looking at a potential new structure and We came up with through great discussion and based on various sets of Notes and recommendations that have been provided by myself miss Brewer and Miss Stein all of which are available on the website Some of them are on today's packet the September 12th packet a almost I think the entire package of everything We've talked about it before tonight is available on the August 8th meeting packet so folks can go there if they're interested And we have had a great deal of feedback from folks Along the way lots of emails lots of There have been letters to the editor etc about this So we have sort of put all of that information together and at the last meeting We spent a long time talking about what were the key needs that we feel the town needs to meet and Not looking at the structure from meeting them, but just identifying those needs and so I'll just review those The need to review and give feedback on the shelter RFP that Mechanism is needed for continued collection and processing of feedback on shelter operations That focus and we need to focus on assuring future emergency shelter. Well needed Need to focus on securing permanent shelter Need to focus on permanent housing Focus on transitional support necessary for successful permanent housing and focus on regional efforts And how Amherst fits into that and that was what we decided is really those those elements are within the towns Appropriate role here now There will be differences of opinion about other things that the town should do But these are the things that the select board agreed are are the things that we want to make sure Are covered going forward. I Think that the report from the shelter management team tonight helped to Address how a lot of those things are already happening and I think that that's fantastic has really helped to fill out our picture of things So I have a document here that I've circulated to folks mere minutes before the meeting and Is on your desks is also available at the back table and I'm not sure if it made the web or not But probably not but it will be there tomorrow And so in on the first page of that document I just kind of gave my thoughts on each of those different areas and then on the second page. I Recommend a structure for dealing with that a lot of what I have recommended here is Reflective of what Miss Stein was recommending at the last meeting and also Incorporates the details of Miss Brewer's draft charge when she first proposed a Changed committee structure and I'll without going through the whole memo I'll say that I think each of those seven points kinds of falls into two different areas One of them is a committee that's dealing with sheltering and housing And that was kind of the original proposal that that we're still kind of fleshing out and seeing if that's what we're interested in but Points, what do I say here points three four five six and seven? Most of the points all fit into that focusing on assuring future emergencies shelter well needed focus on securing permanent shelter Focus on permanent housing folks on transitional support necessary for successful permanent housing and focus on regional efforts And how Amherst fits into that those are all part of kind of the spectrum of sheltering and housing issues I Would suggest that those would fit very nicely with the other housing issues that are part of the Affordability spectrum that we've been talking about things that are currently dealt with by our housing partnership fair housing committee And things that we're not really dealing with adequately at this point at all So I think that those things really kind of work well together We've also talked about the other points which are points one and two The review and feedback of the shelter RFP and the mechanism for continued collection and processing of feedback on shelter operations To that I propose A shelter resource group This is a little bit less formal that what Miss Stein's original recommendation had been But I'm wondering how she and all of us feel about that in the wake of all of the things that we learned tonight and from Mr. Zomek's memo and some of us have known more about this because we're kind of closer to it than others Already, but I think that Mr. Zomek and the team would benefit from having Other perspective other feedback other eyes to be dealing with certain situations And I think that to have a structure to give him and them that resource is Is valuable and important? I Don't think it necessarily needs to be Formal as a committee that meets on a regular basis I think it could be something that meets as necessary to assist him with discrete Issues such as the RFP Review or RFQ. I'm sorry. We're calling it the RFQ that went out previously Miss Brewer and Miss Stein met with mr. Musanti and him and mr. Zomek and Two members of the Committee on homelessness to go over, you know kind of just some give-and-take about that And and all reports are that the document was better for that Additionally things could come up during the year that are Something that that that he might need the shelter team might need some more expertise or just more eyes to look at and consider So I think that having a shelter resource group to be another bit of oversight is Extremely valuable. I just don't think it necessarily needs to be a new committee I don't think we need to replicate that structure. I think that we have our bases covered very well So the other point that I put in there No, that covers all the points in there. So I'll just put that on the table for now Miss Stein I'd like to Say I agree with the basic structure that you put out. However, I do think there is value for a more formal Shelter resource group I think it should be more open to the public So that when there are issues they I don't think it has to meet like every week or every second week or every third week I think my original proposal was for once a month, but it wouldn't even have to be that often I think however Meeting in a way that's transparent would I think bring To the public the fact that we are dealing with problems as they come up and Be reassuring to the public in general so I I would Not necessarily stick to the format that I had but the idea of a more permanent committee and I think this committee should be staff and select board and maybe a representative from the CBG Fair housing committees as well if if that's a format that agrees with everyone Miss Brewer and then go to the other side Not having seen what miss O'Keefe was going to propose until as she stated Very late. I'm sorry, but we need we we can't hear each other. Thank you Having that because miss O'Keefe has had a lot of other things to do this week So I really appreciate the way you looked at this because you know previously we'd had my piece Stein's piece in this piece and Okay, all right. Well good. We'll work on that too Does this help at all yes, we're now amplified within the room, so the mics are very important all right, so I remain Unconvinced by miss Stein's previous proposal and what she has just reiterated here Despite the fact that we normally get along on everything associated with committee appointments I think that perhaps because Some might perceive I'm too close to the issue I don't think she's been as close as as she could be given that what I think we're lacking understanding here is that The transparency that you're looking for is not possible Given the nature of the issues that people have at the shelter the discussions that take place between the fire between the police department and The town manager's office mr. Zomek About how to deal with particular issues are it If they're not just the hours of the church, which we already know the answer to That would be nice to talk about in public except we've already done it If it's anything in regards to managing any type of behaviors or any difficulties That's going to become easily personally identifiable really quickly So I'm concerned about I don't want another body that's similar to our semi-secret parking commission, which is something something I constantly complain about I Also don't want a body that can't actually have a substantive Conversation because they can't talk about things too personally And I have not yet seen based on the types of issues that I've seen and the types of feedback that we've gotten from all the Different letters and for those of you out in the public who are concerned about the amount of public comment We had we get constant letters and emails about this all which are available in the office and online mostly and online mostly is That I'm not seeing what could be dealt with in that venue that would somehow Convince the public that we're actually doing something there have been many statements made that there was no town oversight Well, that was absolutely not a fact if there was town oversight Maybe we could communicate that there's oversight or you know more effectively We've not been known to use press releases a lot, etc But I'm not convinced there actually is a place for Anybody off the street to come in and say you know I saw this letter to the editor that a person was really concerned about a thing they heard happened at the homeless shelter How are you dealing with that? That's not a public meeting subject. That's something to be talked about with an individual So I guess I'm still not seeing what the content of that would be and since I don't see that I'm seeing these other things as being oh Okay, so if you had a question about the interface between the shelter operator, which is who we're actually hiring and Some of the bodies that come in to work with them I believe Elliott home services was one of them possibly Center for Human Development Elliott home services for sure and That interaction and how that works between like Elliott home services and in last year's case milestone ministries and first Baptist but again those seem like management issues between those three bodies as opposed to The public needing to be at a meeting to discuss that rather than the public saying hey I'm concerned about this go look into that and expecting mr. Zomek or someone else to go look into it, so I'm just not I'm not feeling what they'd accomplish I'm actually gonna go over here first. We'll get a little bit more feedback and then you can respond because it might all Work together. I'm mr. Walhead as Andrew. Thank you. I mean as I've said before I think I'm still really have an open mind about this I'm trying to figure out where I stand because there's a lot of expert knowledge from the select board from town staff From the homelessness committee who all have different perspectives and just different expertise And I think what miss Stein and miss brewers had helps to answer some of my questions The proposal that we just received from you today is also very useful because I think we're moving toward a kind of a consensus That's some kind of consolidation is useful. I don't want to speak for others necessarily but that Some combination of services make oversight of services make sense as proposed here in the sheltering and housing issues committee Whatever we call it but at the same time there's been a very strong public sentiment Which I hear from the homelessness committee and from its friends and supporters in the community that they feel some kind of special Body dedicated to oversight or whatever you want to call it engagement with the shelter is also valuable I mean the fact that something is popular doesn't make it justified the fact that it's not doesn't but that's that's a fact of life We should deal with there's a public perception that some kind of engagement with the cell shelters should take place at a government level In a distinguishable way from other committee and service activity So the question is how and I guess what I liked what miss O'Keeffe said here As she has other contexts that we should focus on the how of the what rather than the how In other words, I got our main can all of us come here. You know no one is here with bad will or Lack of sensitivity. We're all here because we care about the homelessness Problem because we care about social justice because we care about hunger. We want to protect people and make our citizens welcome and safe That's that's not a matter of debate So I guess my question it would always be what of the specific proposal advances those goals What might not advance them and which ones don't really make a difference. I mean that ladder in a neutral sense so for example If we have the shelter resource group, I guess my question would be and we've been getting at the beginning of an answer You know, well, what would be the harm in making it a committee? Obviously, there's no sense in making committees for the sake of making committees So I'd like to know what concrete things it would achieve and Miss Stein has suggested Transparency and so forth. Miss Brewer who knows these things also better than I do suggest that's not the case But to me, that's a kind of a fruitful discussion to have I'm not saying make a committee to make people happy, but I'm saying what you know, what is the best form to get the job done? Apropos that I'm the liaison to the town commercial relations committee, which I haven't visited in a while But I keep in touch with people and hear what's going on. That's a committee that was brought into being also for a fairly particular need As I understand it from conversations with the members and what else I hear They weren't quite sure they needed to continue at this point. Their decision was to They want to remain in existence, but perhaps not meet regularly so they could be called upon as necessary And I guess that's the that's one of the questions I would want to have going forward here with regard to Miss O'Keefe's proposal and Miss Stein's and Miss Brewer's comments What would be the really the pros and cons of a resource group versus a committee? Is there something that one could do the other couldn't maybe I'll leave it at that for now? Mr. Hayden, did you have your hand up? Oh, I do, but that's gonna be continued. I have I have Half-form thought but I want to Keep clear I'm looking at these two groups as to for instance with a shelter resource group What resources are we talking about? I think it's important that we keep in mind that the resources that we the select board and Town meeting ultimately talk about are the resources the town has to bring to this One of the things that struck me about milestone ministries report was actually Reverend Gates tag-on as to the number of Institutions that I had never heard about who were involved that he had engaged in Resolving the issues around His one shelter amongst the dozens of shelters that are in the western part of the state here You know resources that include alumna from Amherst College as well as any number of agencies all around so You know, I think we need to be a little bit careful that we can say it's shelter resource group is nice, but The resources that I think we need to be responsible for are the resources that we can be Responsible for and that we are indeed as part of our elected duties the The sheltering issue I'm just gonna toss an idea out there again thinking out loud. This is kind of fun. We don't often get to do this The what The resource that we might bring to the issue of Permanent temporary shelter Temporary permanent shelter whatever whatever that concept is the ESRO the SRO that a place where a Permanent place that anybody can come at any time when they need to get in out of the bad weather the resource that we might bring to that is Knowledge on the ground I think it would be really valuable for a group with The seal of approval of let's say the select board Maybe town meeting to Go out there and look for The facility the resources that could be developed As a permanent place for emergency sheltering Because there are a lot of resources we can bring to that we can bring the CDB gene money we can bring CPAC money we can bring if it's infrastructure state monies that support Infrastructure improvements So I think that would be an important part for your first idea here Have I gone past my time limit the second thing that I would add to that? is I would Suggest That we make part of the committee that deals with sheltering and housing issues charge and I don't know monitoring twice a season or every week or whatever, but I would be happy for them To in some well-described way Report back to us Us report back to the select board What they see is going well and What they see might we might improve in our next contract with the shelter provider First I want to just make sure our folks able to hear us you're hearing us better Okay, I'm not taking public comment right now. I'm just making sure you can hear us. Okay, Miss Stein First of all in in the document that you drafted you talk about I Let me find word said this to review data and reports at the end of the shelter season One of the I thought milestone ministries did a wonderful job. I was not Totally thrilled by their final report. However One of the advantages of having a group that meets and asks for in specific information During the course of the year, maybe four times only. I don't know Is that you can see what's missing? What else should we ask for so that's not privacy issues That's general management plan. How is it being put into effect? How could it be changed? How could it be bettered? I do think there are It would be helpful to have a group Who has a face which has a face that the public could recognize also to come and say I have a concern about this that I saw while I was volunteering. I just don't think the volunteers should be running the show All right, so Mr. Wild Kind of focused the question nicely on pros and cons of a committee versus not being a real committee and so Let me separate these two issues for the moment first of all say okay Are we are we feeling pretty good about the idea of a certainly a formal committee? That's dealing with sheltering and housing issues never mind if the details are exactly what what I've put in here We would continue to work on the charge and really clarify what we would want that committee to do But are we feeling pretty good about that? concept of of a formal committee that's dealing with sheltering and housing people are generally nodding and saying yes Anybody saying no, okay. All right, so so we can we can sort of put that to the side for the moment And and then deal with the other question. So then the other question is this this oversight and resource potential So we talked about the pros and cons Talked about talking about the pros and cons of being a committee versus not a committee Miss Brewer identified some good issues about privacy, etc. I would say that I think it's very important that we don't Create another oversight structure that's getting in the way part of what milestone told us is you know, you have to sort of Let this ship sail, you know once we've kind of created it and not get in the way So I don't want to considering the experience of last year and kind of how the press of that all went I wouldn't want to scare anybody else away that we're creating yet another kind of shadow structure to deal with it But I also hear what folks are saying about It is good to have this this group have a face to be Identifiable that all right you are a representative from this group and That there certainly are issues that you might want to talk about that that lend themselves to a public meeting And in fact that could be a resource for the resource group is some things are very You you really want and need that kind of public input and that kind of a forum So now I'm kind of thinking what if we merge these concepts So what if we have this shelter resource group? Maybe as Miss Stein suggested it meets several times a year But then and and it deals with in public issues of public her point about kind of how are things doing? What do we what do we want to make sure we get more of in a report next time? Always going through you know staff kind of managing this I think that has a lot of value, but maybe these people would also be available for the non-public meetings To mr. Zomek and the shelter management team such that you know, it's time to do the RFP Well, you know, you might have certain individuals who are on that shelter resource group who would bring particular skills and talents to that Maybe you're having a particular problem with a guest a recurring guest that becomes a town issue Well, you might have certain people on that resource group who could particularly help The the shelter management team to deal with that particular that wouldn't be in a public meeting That would just be kind of the pool of people who are available to to give you feedback and assistance On an ongoing basis when you need it if you need it How are people feeling about that concept that this would be sort of a hybrid that it would be it would have names attached to it But it wouldn't meet really very often It would meet a couple of times with some specific concepts and then it would be available and and then don't worry I'm going to ask for mr. Zomek's thoughts on this You're giving me what? So so let's just kind of play with that idea for a minute and see where it gets us miss Brewer One of the thoughts that has occurred to me in addition to complaining about my favorite pet peeve The parking group is that it actually would be more could be under what we're talking about more like the water supply protection committee From the standpoint that that's not a group that meets every month That's a group that meet that is a known group of experts that our resources when something comes up that needs to Be dealt with beyond our usual Expert town staff and people with more Information on the ground and one of the things that popped into my head when you know looking at your layout here of the shelter Resource group was certainly for example one of the discussions a number of us had associated with this year's RFP was how to address the issue of Services that were being provided and the qualifications of the people providing them because we didn't want to get into a Situation where we made a contract with a provider who was going to give what we felt would be lesser Services than what we've already offered in the past, you know We always want to improve certainly offer at least the same level of services not something worse We wanted to make sure we kind of define that because we didn't know who would apply and What would have been helpful if we'd been able to get the timing right was to talk more with for example Elliott home services which had done Various service provision at the shelter to say okay given what we're trying to get to What are the right words to use and you know? We even made a mistake earlier in the in the RFP saying license to work with the homeless Which is not a real concept, but it was trying to express what we were trying to get to So when you have that group of experts like the water supply people you don't make mistakes like that because you know Oh, I can just go ask. I think the one of the things that I was trying very hard to avoid Was a group that felt like okay this year we get to decide what's in the RFP Rather it's you know all the information we have and we still go through the normal process of doing bids RFPs RFQs whatever we end up calling them in any particular circumstance, which is largely town staff and that it would be perfectly fine And everyone would understand it was perfectly fine to you know have meetings Whether it's border layer. However, obviously be a little it would be affected by the shelter season itself and Then also it would be perfectly fine for staff to say I want to hear some more from somebody in the western mass Regional network about how we might incorporate X or I want to call so and so and they should not feel Pressured that they have to have the whole committee weigh in on everything That's what I'm trying to avoid and that they can continue to exhibit their person their Professional judgment in terms of who to look to and we can kind of continue to accumulate resources for them But that this group would not necessarily therefore get to be part of every single conversation I think we're getting to sort of the same place here where they're coming so we're here Yeah, you went first. I'll wait just very briefly As as this begins to develop I sort of want to I want us I want us to keep in mind. I'm certainly going to keep in mind that the object is at the very bottom sort of you know The last thing that happens before the shelter opens is that a contract is signed and We need to be sure that contract can be effectively Observed adhered to that it is that it covers what we need to and I think the the idea the watershed Protection committee is a very interesting one But at the end We are going to be put a lot of money on the line Probably twice as much as we actually pay and we learned how much more expensive it is than we actually end up paying but And we're putting a lot of people's Professional Professional lives on the line these people who provide these services You know I have to abide by all kinds of rules and I just want us to be clear that What we're aiming for is an effective contract one that provides the services that we need and Describes what those services are well enough to people who can provide them so that They can be provided effectively And that we don't make this so onerous that nobody wants to work with the town of here Well, that's the other side I mean it's not an effective contract if nobody wants to enter into it Okay, so I'm gonna go with mr. Well, and then mr. Zomek you can sort of think about what kind of feedback you have on What we're talking about here. Okay Are you ready for you? Well, I haven't had Time to really absorb this because I'm seeing it for the first time. Um, I would agree with with the the Connections made to the water supply protection group. I think that's a good analogy I like the idea of You know having this resource group Give input on things like the RFP or RFQ Providing some sort of more feedback loop Review of reports review of They're now monthly reports That was one of the changes we made that they're due the the first week The first week in every month so that we don't have a long period of time going by before we get those reports My primary concern would be Issues of privacy that we don't get into and it's as Ms. Brewer pointed out It's very easy and you very quickly get into specific issues with specific guests and that's not an area for a Group like this or a committee Frankly, it's an area where Staff we need to leave that to the professionals some of whom we have here Representing town staff and others at Milestone Ministries and in the past year and Elliot Services for instance The other yeah, so the main issue is is is privacy and then letting the social service agencies and those providers Do their work? They're the experts. I am not an expert on those social service issues that and the incredible skills and experience they bring And we we need to step aside and let them do the good work that they do Thank you. It's time. I think that's absolutely great But I think those parts of the reports that can be shared on a monthly basis It doesn't have to be that this committee meets every month. We could speak a little bit louder. I'm sorry Sorry, what I'm saying is that I understand the privacy issues and that certain problems can't be aired in public because they would unwittingly identify a client or a pay Participant in the shelter, but I do think that Large part probably of those monthly reports and as I said them the committee wouldn't have to meet every month It can meet every two months To review those reports and see if we're getting the kinds of information we would want Or if things could be modified in some way to improve them I don't think we want to wait to the end and I do think there are issues that could be raised that don't Tread on privacy Mr. Walton In a similar vein, I guess I wasn't thinking of the charge having to do so much with those kind of privacy issues though They're important and I don't know if we need to clarify that further I would assume for example also there must be some in somebody's overseeing something all the time in different ways So I assume there are ways for people to raise issues whether it's about the behavior of the shelter management or the shelter guests That need not involve this committee or this committee in its entirety in public sessions. I don't know if mr. Zomek or Couldn't clarify that but it seemed to me that there's enough here to do without without getting into that and Those could be addressed by other means. Is that reasonable? That's reasonable. Yes so going back to this Analogy of the water supply protection committee, I agree That's a very strong analogy to use for what the structure would look like So this is a committee that meets as necessary so it could meet a little more formally than water supply protection committee That doesn't meet on a regular basis, but you know that could be you know to be determined but also that is and an identified town recognized Selection of people who are interested in and knowledgeable about the subject that Mr. Moring or mr. Musanti can go to when there are questions or issues if they arrive Arise during the year. They don't necessarily have to call a meeting of the whole committee They might call in two people and say listen, you know, I want to bounce this around with you So I think that I think that this Committee could work this this resource group could work that way also It would be a committee that meets a certain amount of time to address certain issues But then is otherwise available as a research. You're gonna have to be quiet if we're gonna stay in the room. Thank you The that would be available to Town staff as needed. We don't know when it would be needed, but we're just saying here. This is this is an option to help you Okay Other thoughts on where we are we sort of Which seems like we're kind of on the same page. Did we answer your question, mr. One? Okay Miss Brewer. I'm probably going to push you further along than you necessarily wanted to be at this point But given where we are time-wise and given where we are in the year with the shelter and also with other issues Associated with this body and the current housing partnership for housing committee. I'm wondering What our various options are in terms of forward progress knowing that for example Most committee members on most of those committees have terms have expired But we've asked them to continue to serve till we figured out what we were doing and they're legally able to do that But there's also the question of how long they should continue to meet with their current charges Given that we know we're moving in another direction. So just trying to sort out the logical part So I think that we are coalescing around this concept that we have a formal committee that meets regularly and will have a a very comprehensive charge and That we would be looking for real experts to assist us with that will be dealing with the range of sheltering and housing issues and That we are looking at this shelter resource group that would meet formally on Some to be determined schedule, but then be a resource going forward During the year for town staff and that we have moved away from the concept of the committee on homelessness And the housing partnership as they currently exist Do we agree? Mr. Walt not agreeing or disagreeing, but what would be the mechanism for creating such a resource group? Would we create it would it look like a committee in all but name in other words Would it have appointments and terms and everything else but Since we just been working with in such detail thanks to miss stein on the committee handbook It might be an interesting issue to to consider Yes, and I think that we don't need to get bogged down on those details necessarily tonight We can keep looking at you know the we can keep clarifying getting more specific about the structure and the charges of both of these Groups, but I think it would be a formal committee. I think it would going back to water supply protection as our good analogy, you know that But and and I think like the water supply protection group We would be looking for people to fill really certain roles on that so Okay, so we'll keep clarifying that okay, so to miss Brewer's point. There is a lot of Uncertainty about the other committees as they currently exist And I think that we owe it to the committees because we seem to be at a point of not being uncertain about how we're looking to proceed from here to be To be definitive about this. I would like to state for folks who are concerned I feel very strongly that this does not represent the town moving away from its commitment to homeless people and their needs I think that this is an evolution and a real Progress step on how we better as a town Try to meet those needs so so for folks who are concerned that getting rid of the committee on homelessness is is Stepping back from our commitment. I see that as quite the opposite So then It's only to make a motion then to dissolve the current committees as they exist and to proceed with the structure that we've talked about tonight So moved for a second second. Thank you for the discussion Maybe we're saying I I'm sorry for the discussion Okay, um, we should say for discussion then This would be effective essentially immediately and we would be looking to move forward with these new Committee charges and clarifications as quickly as possible Exactly, and again, I mean this is clear to clarify yet again And there are going to be people who don't accept this but the reality is yes This is an evolution just as we had an emergency homelessness task force when we realized wow we really need to do something here in Amherst and Then we moved into having a committee on homelessness and now we're moving into this model That's not moving away. Even if we didn't populate either one of these committees We'd still sign a contract for the shelter season That would still happen with the town staff even if there were no committees associated with this So I want to make sure that's really clear to people that we are not leaving Anything behind and in terms of timing issues It actually seems to be a relatively good time to do this Given that there has been input to the RFQ the contract is much more of a formality and negotiation between town staff and possible providers and It's not, you know, super heavy CPAC time or a block grant time or anything like that So I don't think we're messing anybody up by doing it this way either Mr. Hayden. Yeah, just very briefly to go back to an idea that I brought up earlier I mean this is our next experiment And so what I would tell our viewers and everybody in the audience is watch this space because whether or not you believe That we are in earnest about helping people without homes Get to shelter and be safe You can watch our actions and see that itself Thank you, and like all things we try and improve them and make them better as time goes on and that's what we're doing All in favor say aye Opposed abstaining that was unanimous. Is that correct? Yes. Thank you very much Okay, and give our heartfelt thanks to all the folks who have served on these committees through the years and We appreciate your continued involvement and all your commentary That's absolutely right and and your advocacy on behalf of the homeless should continue. It's just no longer officially a town committee Thank you very much, and we appreciate you're coming tonight. I'm sorry, ma'am I understand that you're disappointed and we appreciate your feedback and you're coming in. Thank you very much All right moving along Next on the agenda is we have the acting town manager's report mr. Zomek I Thank you, I'll try to be brief given the the hour I Think as most of you know you may have received a press release from the town manager's office today reporting that mr. Musanti is Recuperating at home. We're very thankful that he is now at home and has Returned from Bay State, and we wish him the very best and everyone in town hall And I think in the town of Amherst are sending positive wishes for recovery his way I don't know if you wanted to add anything to that. I will with this opportunity We went through an extraordinary situation last week, and I just want to say how well the town town staff Town hall responded to that I thank mr. Zomek very much for being willing and able to step up and fill a very big role on extremely short notice in Really difficult circumstances. I thank very much the chief of police who has been extraordinary in in keeping me informed And keeping mr. Zomek informed I think Deborah Roussell who is the assistant to the town manager who has just Stepped up and known what we needed to do to kind of keep all of this going This was a this was a big void to fill suddenly and for all the various Emergency management type plans that we do this isn't really the kind of emergency that we plan for And I have just been incredibly impressed by how folks have handled this and managed this It is a tribute to the team that mr. Musanti has put together and a tribute to just town staff in general and How well they work together how truly committed they are to the town and it has just been Just extraordinary to watch and I think mr. Zomek and the rest very much. Thank you Let me continue and run through a couple of quick updates for the board and the public I did want to announce that the DPW has instituted a temporary road closing This is in support of the extensive road work being up being Completed as part of the Atkins Village Center project Country Corners Road at 1 16 I think everyone is familiar with the the construction that's going on down near the Atkins and so from September 12th today through September 30th the east end of Country Corners Road will be blocked off and this is really an effort to try to Get in a little bit more control some of the the traffic issues that we were faced with during the last couple of weeks down in the Atkins Village corner So that is September 12th through 30th, I will say that mr. Moring Has has done a great job and reaching out to the community there in the last couple of weeks and and some of the neighbors and residents and this seems to be a solution that is supported by People who live in that neighborhood Don't mind now just add a little bit more to that also poor mr. Zomek hasn't dealt with a select board meeting before You just have to sort of punch me every soften when I get in your way This is a great example of public feedback Helping us to correct a problem. We were getting a lot of feedback on this the public works committee Was dealing with it mr. Moring was dealing with it This was a an unexpected well in some ways it was expected but considering certain circumstances that occurred this was unexpected for exactly how this happened and and this This solution is a great way to address it was brought from the folks on those roads who were so affected And this is a great way to address their concerns as part of a Necessary construction detour. This is an extraordinary project that's happening in South Amherst and this is and it requires a Different sort of a response and so to anybody who's concerned that you know just because neighbors complain about traffic You know then we shut down the street or whatever folks who watch a lot of select board meetings know that actually we don't do that and In a meeting with mr. Zomek and mr. Moring we talked about whether this needed to be a select board issue But actually realize that this is much more appropriately a DPW issue and that that gives greater Flexibility to them to be able to open and close that road as necessary and make adjustments as opposed to making it a select board issue Which would then actually establish a significant precedent so so thanks very much to all the folks We're involved in giving us the feedback that this needed to happen and in the to the folks who helped to make it happen Mr. Brewer question about that and and I imagine you probably already had this conversation But speaking as someone who was not involved at all in any of the conversations beyond just getting the angry emails is That I think we still have a little room for improvement on how people can tell us things before they get to the Really panicked and upset stage Of course some people are immediately that their reaction, but there seem to be building Associated a building concern associated with this that we although we can't personally do anything about it as a select board We weren't particularly aware of as being an issue and I just wonder if there's a way we can clarify as these Conversations continue to take place. What's a good way for people to be able to say hey You know that project and I can I'm worried that this isn't quite going the way I thought it was gonna go if they can say it that way early and who they should say that to because I think some people felt Like they must have talked to the wrong people and now they weren't getting their concerns heard And of course it all worked out in the end But in the medium term if we've never really figured out that whole suggestion box Concern thing and I'm not sure if we've thought of another way to maybe approach that I so I think that folks were directing their concerns very appropriately the Discussion about the traffic the increased traffic that this whole project would lead to in that area has been happening for a long time then things really came to a head under under peculiar circumstances, which is that the Roadwork has been progressing much faster than expected and that meant that they suddenly needed to make a detour an official Detour through this area that had always been promised would never happen Well, you know desperate times call for desperate measures and once that happened That's when things really got to be messy and so this is a state project It has to do with communication with the town and whatever we're learning from it and going forward But this one is a little bit unusual as far as trying to model as as how we make it better going forward because it's it's weird Hopefully, they'll never be another one right exactly like it But in terms of if they're if there are concerns if people do in general just have these concerns What who's their best initial contact if it's about traffic issues select board and or DPW right because there's a separate traffic section basically on the DPW website, so Everybody do that. Okay. Other questions or comments about this. Mr. Hayden. Yeah, I just add one more Not a detail, but sort of a side light on on the on what happened that there was actually a Remedy that was attempted to you know get the detour to go some place else besides Through the neighborhood which didn't work. So I think you know, certainly the Public Works Committee learned from that as well so it was a lot of stuff that Went that we'd learned because which is a good thing. Sorry about all the traffic and the accident that was sort of amazing In the neighborhood Thank you. Mr. So I'm moving forward I believe the the board is aware of the mass works Grant deadline upcoming. It was extended from I believe the 9th of September to the 16th Mr. Mooring, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Malloy and other staff are working very diligently to try to meet that 916 deadline this grant will focus on Waterline improvements and other improvements to Pine Street to support our efforts on improvements to the North Amherst Village Center Again, I think it'll be a fairly sizable Grant request and we're working on those details now and in the next couple of days Thank you questions or comments about that CDBG process I believe Thanks in large part to mr. Malloy and mr. Rosenblatt and others the the CDBG process is very well outlined on the town website Proposals are due on 915 later on this week At that point staff will as we did last year scan them and so they will be available to the public for viewing on the website I think that was very well received last year and we'll be doing it again this year on 920 the CDBG advisory committee meets for their public hearing and presentations will take place As you know, these will be for both capital and social service projects and then on 922 there's a public meeting and discussion at which time the CDBG advisory committee will Fully discuss each proposal last follow-up questions And then the expectation and this this latter part of the process is a little bit fluid But recommendations to the town manager would be expected sometime in mid-october And there's some flexibility there and it's really up to the to the advisory committee as to how they move that piece forward Again, we're expecting a very robust response both on the capital side and the social service side of our of our CDBG period Thank you question about that. Miss Brooke. I Frankly don't have any idea how either you or mr. Zomac are keeping your heads around all the different things They've been happening this past week in addition to your usual stuff But while I have one piece of information that people may have heard something about I know people had expressed concern Obviously due to the federal budget situation that we might lose money as a many entitlement committee Community just as some other communities had you know Northampton gets their money directly from the feds And they knew they were gonna get a cut we get ours through the state It was seemed like we were okay. We weren't quite sure Well, we aren't we now have $900,000 total instead of a million total so it doesn't change what we've already done But it does change going into that hearing that just means there's that much less money to go around and unfortunately We have to a portion that cut of a hundred thousand dollars to all three areas capital Social services and administrative we can't just take it all out of one for example So that leaves our social service agencies who have been you know competing when they can only have we can only Have five of them anyway as a mental entitlement Now they're competing for less plus we are spending more on the shelter because we knew we needed to that's probably still not enough But we know we need to put in the hundred and one thousand dollars to that so it's gonna It's gonna be a real struggle So I guess a heads up for that the social service agencies are aware of this of course They're well on top of it, but we'll probably be hearing more Concerns expressed by them that they're very frustrated that they can't get funding from us Thank you Any any other questions on CDBG? Let's see Sheltering just a quick follow-up As your most of you are aware the RFQ deadline for show the town sheltering Proposals was Friday At 3 p.m. We did receive one proposal that was from an organization called Craig's Doors Which is a local non-profit? We will be as per mr. Musanti's Directions to me some weeks ago. We will putting we will be putting together a small staff supported review committee Likely one or two members of the select board would would join that small group to review that proposal for completeness whether they have met all the requirements of the RFQ and They would then make a recommendation to the town manager Upon their review So we hope to have that done within Just a few days Miss Brewer. I did want to make one clarification about Craig's Doors. I appreciate mr. Zoma mentioning that it's a local group Although it was stated previously that there had been some discussion about support of an agency that had been Serving someone well Craig's Doors is a brand new agency It has people in it who have served in other agencies and in other capacities So it's one of these things that's come together with various people's experiences, but that agency hasn't served anybody yet It's a brand new thing that barely has we assume they have their 501 C3 So there are some various experiences they bring to it, but we I just want to make sure it's clear We can't call anybody for references on Craig's door because there aren't any But there will be of course for individual for the various individuals that make up the group and so be an interesting proposal to look at Thank you. Mr. Aden. Were there any near responses one response is kind of Pretty thin pickings Not that I'm aware of it's not as puny as you think We really actually don't usually get I mean when we did the warming shelter and when we did And when we did the shelter last year, we usually only get two one or two It's not something that we get tons. We didn't have three to choose from though It didn't turn out to be three to choose from so it's not like a lot of other things like back when we did the master plan We had five or six people that wanted to do it with us. Yeah Other questions or comments Thank you Okay, then before we get to member reports, I want to make sure this gentleman. Are you here for stavros or anything? Okay, it should have been communicated to you that you didn't need to come in tonight First of all, if you're not on the agenda, then we're not actually gonna prove your license anyway Secondly, we don't make taxi driver applicants come in anymore. Once your paperwork gets completely dealt with Upstairs and if it's recommended for approval by the police chief who does a background check and everything then it comes to us And we just approve it, but you don't need to come in. I apologize that you've been sitting here for however long you've been sitting here and Because our meetings are fascinating Could you tell me what your name is and what company are you looking to drive for? Okay, all right, I apologize that you're not on here right now and Unfortunately, we have no mechanism for dealing with that But we will make sure that you're on the next agenda and and at that time you don't need to come in So we just we just have to make sure we have the the paperwork and recommendation to us and I apologize that something slipped through The cracks is you've probably heard we've had a bit of drama this past week with the town manager and the office and everything So we will double check on this and make sure somebody gets back to you. Thank you. I apologize Thank you very much Okay, yeah, sometimes these things do happen. Sorry All right Back to Okay, back to the agenda where we have member reports Confirm liaison assignments We had at the last meeting talked about our various liaison assignments and mr. Hayden wasn't here for that And while we did talk about assigning everything to you in your absence. We decided that would simply be mean Because then none of us would ever want to miss the meeting. So that would be bad So at that time we had essentially confirmed all of our Keeping all of our assignments, but in the meantime Miss Stein and mr. Hayden have spoken. So if you want to talk about what what you're looking to do now I asked if there was anybody who would be willing to take over the zoning subcommittee and while we couldn't Give it to Aaron with in his absence. He has subsequently agreed that we could trade And so he will be taking over zoning subcommittee for me And we have notified the planning staff about that and I will be taking over the Kanakasaki sister City committee from mr. Hayden and I have notified Nancy Pogano about that So I think we're all set except I have a very large package that I need to deliver to you. Oh Little bedtime reading. Well, you don't want all the stuff From the zoning subcommittee, do you I mean I can give you packets and packets, but I think you will probably start what I need Yes, I do want I'm only giving you what you really should have Okay, all right, we coordinate that part after so we just want to make sure we're talking about this meeting So then the other question was a design review board. Do I have that on here? That was an error Yeah, I thought that Aaron was on it and he and I were gonna switch for that and he'd forgotten that Jim had taken that off It did say that It's now been it's okay. It's a well represented. It has been fixed Okay, so So presumably since none of the other select board members Assignments previously Okay I'm sorry. I missed the meeting because there is a blank on the list here that I Would like to fill The the recycling and refuse management committee Typically, I think that that has not had a liaison just generally because their work is pretty self-contained but they they contacted me and Wondering how to go about getting a liaison because they do have a project coming up that Might take more of our attention than the work usually does. This is the zero Actually, I've got to be careful there. They're discussing whether they should call it the zero waste plan Because you can't get to zero and you don't make it impossible for people to but they're looking at ways of reducing the waste stream And so would like our attention to that which I would give Okay, so that is currently a committee without a liaison. Does anybody have a problem with mr. Hayden taking over that lease on Excellent on that subject. Miss Stein had had a concept for Committees that don't have liaisons. Would you like to talk about that? I began to feel sorry for the list of committees that we cannot staff because we're already Liaisoned to so many and I suggested that perhaps miss O'Keefe would write a letter on behalf of the select board to those committees Saying that we're always available by email And even an occasional attendance if so needed to discuss any problems issues give any Information that we could just so that they had some kind of a Contact with us. I've done that informally with the cultural council But I thought it might be nice for some of the others that have never heard from us to hear from us Mr. Hayden and and this the request coming to me from their recycling committee Sort of brings to mind in our sort of an extension or discussion about liaisons and what they do I mean, they have a project and the project really would I imagine benefit from The select board's attention when the project is over. Maybe I'll remain being liaison, but may not be as engaged That might be sort of an extension of what Miss Stein is suggesting if any one of these other groups is needing some help either With an issue that they're with a you know policy or plan that they're developing or With the presentation to town meeting or to the select board for that matter, you know, I certainly Would expect you to get a letter making the request that somebody help them I think that's a great idea to really kind of clarify things and say just because there isn't somebody assigned to your meeting You know, we still are here as a resource for you. Yeah, and I would I would add one other Item to that resource list and and that might be organization I mean if the committee itself needs help, you know establishing Officers and policies, you know just internal operating policies We might help but we might Be willing to help with that too Not that I know of any committee that needs that help now But I know that a couple of hints that I've given to some of my committees have helped a lot and I just happen to be there when something happened I'm gonna actually move away from this time before I say this but forgetting what it says Forgetting what it says in the committee appointed committee handbook about liaisons Whatever it says Yeah, we should put in this letter which I'm thinking mr. Hayden sounds like he really wants to write from his okay To just sign off on because he's got a lot of ideas for what should go in it So I'm really thinking it would be a good idea for him to write it But it they need to match up because whatever whatever if we've got any reference to it whatsoever People I've actually heard of people like referring to this thing now And so we want to make sure they're connected in some fashion So that and obviously we'll continue to talk just as last week. I when you weren't here I said with Ms. Stein. I said oh good Let's not send anybody to zoning subcommittee because then the planning board can't accuse us of micromanaging their process But now we're sending you And I know Not that we'd ever do that I think You raise an interesting point, but I would Be sure that whoever writes this letter would make it very clear that this would not be a formal liaison But because we cannot possibly manage to provide a liaison for every committee. However, we would be a resource blah blah blah So I think it we're all kind of good with that concept. Okay, great. Thank you. All right liaison representative reports anyone Okay, we want to do that before taxing licenses fine I'm sorry liaison reports. Yeah, did would you say about tax licenses? Well, I was just wondering what you wanted to do next. That's all so are we I'm trying not to depart from the agenda Are you thinking that we're departing from the agenda? I guess I was sorry We're under member reports second bullet is fine reports. Okay, okay So I think we all went to the community breakfast, which was very nice a little poignant as it was Holub's last one And the first time without our band leader Our former band leader September 1st we attended some of us attended Well Stephanie and I attended the international student reception And that was very lovely. It's always great to meet these wonderful people who come from all over the world to to spend a year or more in Amherst and That night there was a first-day celebration on the common And Stephanie and I were there and Aaron was there. I That's who I remember The next day was in the morning at 830 and Alyssa was there was a marvelous Absolutely marvelous presentation by our students one of the best I have ever seen there were about five of them speaking about what Amherst schools and particular teachers meant to them and it left me with just the most glorious feeling about our schools It was really terrific You agree. Yeah, that was great. Let's see to September 6th Went to with a you know Stephanie to a zoning board of appeals administration discussion meeting and there was very good dialogue amongst the members About their current practices and ways to increase efficiency September 8th was JC. This was very busy as I had to write it all down JC PC we had our introductory session and Jim Walden. I were there we talked about a number of things but particularly that Our allocation last year to capital was 6.45 percent of the tax levy But that that's only approximately 3% of our total budget and Mr. Poehler pointed out that that's sort of low Compared to other communities. So our goal of raising it is is a good one whether we can do it or not is another story It's too early to Project where we would be this year Another point that received a lot of attention during that meeting was the fact that some departments have not expended all the money that JC PC allocated to them and Although the departments do report to Sonya in some cases At least one that comes to mind It's not been clear to JC PC that one of the department comes and asks for money That they still have money in their pocket and why they're sometimes Good reasons for it because they need to get several years in a row of allocations to get enough for what they want to do But in some cases it almost seems like it's Forgotten so we are going to track that a little better this year Mr. Wilde you want to elaborate on JC PC add anything at all to that around that subject I think Ms. Stein has been pretty comprehensive We also discussed committee structure whether we have to have a formal chair and vice chair and so forth And I think with the JC PC it's it's a little bit similar to some of the CPAC money something, you know We should make clear. It's not being wasted. It's not going away anywhere No, it sits there if it's expended it's expended if not it either remains or can be returned to the account So there was some sense that In order to help these bodies. I think the Munson library has been going back to 2002, you know Now it's not always clear the right-hand knows what the left-hand is doing So it seemed useful to take a look at it But we also made made clear that we're not an oversight committee We're simply trying to monitor things and to keep the information flowing properly the main task is allocations as Ms. Stein said and and the main goal was to raise the share of money to go to the capital because it's not where it should be But that's a result of circumstances obviously We're on you do you want to add anything to any other General refrain from these things in the interest of time, but since we're having fun I mentioned TCRC I've been in touch off to follow up with the chair My understanding is they would like to remain in existence, but don't feel the need to meet as often or regularly There'll be some issues about committee charge or composite composition. I should say that's an old issue Public arts is I wasn't able to attend Because of my own schedule this last two weeks But they are getting ready for the art walk and gearing up for the usual things We have some interesting conversations there about that and as you saw there are previous questions about clarifying You know who has control over what public spaces for what kinds of display and we'll try to agitate those issues That is we in the select board will try to help clarify what the procedures are there Historical commission I should just mention the only thing it's of interest general interest there Above and beyond the kind of things you've heard about with the cemetery And the commemorations there was apparently a request For us to help out with some kind of restoration work for the county town hall and the committee Decided appropriately in my view that that's not the way to go these are based on local taxes and we have our own issues their own projects and To try to commit to some kind of regional Collaboration that way is not the root we want to take right now And I think those are the design review continues to review Sign proposals new buildings and so forth, but nothing dramatic any report on a detail Miss Burr Quickly try me quick about since you brought it up and since we have gotten a letter as a select board as well from it's from Hampshire Council of Governments right trying to preserve the building in downtown, Northampton and thinking Maybe we could use some CPAC money or something like that from individual communities And of course my immediate reaction was no, but so historical commission's reaction has been the same thus far Okay, that's good to know moving forward. Thank you. I'll just add a point of clarification It's for the courthouse right so that it does have some regional use, but even still We have such a limited number of funds and so many worthy projects that supporting it just and so that was specifically a CPAC Recommendation is that correct as I understand I was not present at the meeting It was the first one since I stepped down as chair So I'm letting them do their thing before I liaise with them in person, but this was for mr. Maloy Report, okay, so I'm just wondering I can follow up with mr. Maloy if you'd like but I'm just thinking about what happens going forward like So we typically get a kind of a report on all the CPAC proposals that are Recommended for funding as well as information on those that were not recommended for funding And so that would fall into that presumably because we we talked about the things that don't don't even make it out of committee Never mind getting to CPAC itself And so I just want to make sure that the folks who made the request Understand the process that's going on and kind of where they are in it My understanding is that they could appeal essentially even though even though the historical commission is not Recommending that money these folks could like anybody who their committee was their proposal was not Supported by the committee to whom they recommended it could then go to the CPAC Grand meeting and make their case is that right I suppose I should say to the process is really just starting up now Mr. Zomek no may no more usually it's in the course around the middle of September or so late August whenever we issue that is the town issue is a Request for Suggestions for these projects and Miss Stein can talk about this too They come to the committee structure then toward the end of the calendar year They move forward and reach CPAC for formal deliberation early in the next year So this is you this is really very preliminary Given the pattern of requests in the past I just want to make sure they're kind of informed about it so that they're not hanging out there having no idea Miss my CPAC is having its first meeting this week Thursday. Great. Thank you. Mr. Zomek Did you want to add anything? You don't you want to know Thursday is the first meeting and mr. Wald was correct? I mean there there is an opportunity for the group to come in and make a You know they could make a presentation Regardless of what the recommendation is from the historical commission Okay, thank you Miss Burr and and again It's just a recommendation obviously because I'm not on either of these bodies and we're liaisons to them But just I think it is good to continue to formalize those kinds of things because sometimes it's people who know people who understand the system better That's in each individual community because everybody does their CPA committee a little differently even though they're all under state law I think it would be great if Historic commission does at some point say no, thank you But the next step is you go direct to them rather than just you're out of luck and then they find out later Oh, we wish we had gone directly to them because it may be that in another community It it works differently and so even though I personally want to say no to this particular project I agree that they need to understand the process so that they don't end up feeling short Whatever Mr. Wald does that seem like something that would be reasonable for you to Relay to them from us or to staff or whatever just to sort of keep them informed just that whole transparency thing All right other liaison reports. Mr. Hayden. We wrapped up that a couple the recycling and refuse management committee is working on project to reduce waste Well had to vell policy to reduce waste an interesting Little side light came out of that meeting. They are also wrestling with The problem that the transfer station will be closing Probably a year earlier. Well, well a year earlier than we had expected and probably at all because the Turns out it's funny how these things all get connected because the solar farm. This is the PV farm Is on hold one of the things that it was going to support was the transfer station Which in turn supports the folks in town who only recycle and don't have much trash already So that's all going to go away now. So that's something they're dealing with right now Aray We are working with the final recommendations out of the Visioning study that we had which generated Suggestions for some further studies We Came across the idea we we support the idea that it's no longer just a gateway Process, but it's a gateway in downtown sort of Kendrick Park that whole area Because we discovered the visioning process We all discovered the process that people understood a much broader area needed to be brought together under the whatever rubric There is for designing. So there'll be a number of studies. We'll probably have some requests of town meeting this fall for Resources to go ahead with the various studies Interesting the Planning board now has a liaison to the array Which I think is a very good idea Speaking of the planning board the public the zoning subcommittee Had a very a nice presentation of the the village center the two village center zoning Proposals that will be in front of town meeting this fall They met basically in preparation for the public hearing that the planning board had later that evening Where we heard a lot of for where a lot of the same concerns were heard that we had heard in the zoning subcommittee so they're gearing up for Bringing that forward and really Informing town meeting members. It's a It's very interesting. It's while it's a simple idea Because it's two simple ideas that are lying on top of each other it gets confusing and and so there's a lot of work It's gonna be done to try to pull them apart so people that understand How form-based code I forgot to mention that this this zoning that we're talking about is a form-based code which will be Lying on top of the current Zoning By way of a very brief explanation the zoning the underlying zoning the current the original zoning Regulates the use the form-based codes which are being put on top of it will regulate the form That those uses the buildings that those uses go into easy to say hard to understand and the The town meeting court committee is meeting Thursday They have a number of things on their agenda, which I can't speak to yet because I haven't been to the meeting But I will mention that there has been some effort some headway on Trying to straighten out the sound issues for town meeting I've met with Brian Eccleston who is the technical director for the schools and I've had a long conversation with Jim Lesko and We've come up with a number of improvements Some sort of better heads put together that we hope to be trotting out in front of town meeting This fall we'll talk about that on Thursday as well It does a form-based code. Did you want to add anything to that zoning thing, Mr. Walton just briefly if I could since I was at that meeting as well I Think mr. Hayden is quite correct except maybe I'd say it's easy to describe and he's it understand But still people are not getting it part of the problem not a problem It was a nice presentation But what the Cecil group talked about was specific plans for these two areas That's complicated to two very different parts of town North Amherst Center and Atkins corner And so this meeting itself did not contain I think you would say an explicit definition or Elaboration on form-based codes and most of the concerns I had to do had to do with mr. Hayden said use so people would say They saw proposals for types of things and they we've heard the same kind of concerns about student housing and Crowding and and so forth so I think we have some homework to do as a as a town government to make sure that people understand these issues very clearly and The sooner the better because time gets tight as we go on so that's an excellent point This is one of the things that town meeting members should have as sort of in their tool chest of preparation and homework going forward It won't answer every question it will raise some questions But there will be other venues for continuing to try and answer those questions But town meeting members should definitely try and watch that meeting which is on a CTV and can be streamed live on the website I should say Amherst media. I apologize and that meeting was September 7th There's also really great information on the town website that our own staff have put up explaining these things So I'd urge people to take a look at that very carefully. Thank you very much The only piece that's missing right now is the final proposal the final form-based I think it's very close to being mounted draft is very close to being mounted on the website. I would Just just remind Our viewers who are interested in these things and go look at that draft that it's not finished There are lots of details But the concepts are very clear and well, I think are clear and certainly What's presented can help guide questions or queries and so that's a starting point for folks That should be their introduction and then we can see where they're where their questions lead and how those need to be addressed Okay, other liaison reports. Oh, sorry mr. One to follow up with that if it's not inappropriate You know some of us here have gotten mr. Hayden as an expert in this stuff Miss Brewer and I have dealt with it to some extent we we're happy to talk to people too if people have questions They can address them to us and then just to follow up on the CPAC thing Double-check my notes here. So what the action that the Commission took was to direct its reply directly to CPAC So I don't know whether that requires a separate plan or apart That's the state of things right now though, okay Yeah, I think we're just wanting to make sure that the folks who who applied have some idea of what comes next so that they're not Just hanging out there wondering what we did with their request Okay, other liaison reports. I think I might have a couple. Oh, I'm sorry. Miss. Well, I mean So committee on homelessness and housing partnership per housing committee will have many angry emails to me very Moments, I'm sure But I'm confident that the way we're moving forward makes sense and that I will have a lot of conversations with them as I have been over the time Community development block grant advisory committee is preceding a pace. Luckily, we did appoint two new members They have been sworn in and Nate Malloy is working on giving them a real Orientation as to what they're getting into and they both had some familiarity with the projects prior to that so that was great and So that's feeling better because they have enough people on CDBG advisory committee that they think they can get through the entire process Whereas that was looking a little iffy when they only had four members So that's a plus obviously we can progress on the housing and shelter issues and the only other Committees that I'm currently fully with disability access advisory committee as I mentioned last time is something having a hard time making it too, but maybe I'll have more time to do that now they tend to meet at 1115 on Tuesdays out at Stavros and They meet tomorrow and leisure services is meeting Wednesday night And I will attempt to go to that and one of the things that they'll be talking about is an update on Where things are with being able to be ready for War Memorial pool to be open next summer Which I know people will be and I will be leaning on them about the fact that town meeting will and the fall will Want some kind of report on what's happening with that and so hopefully they will be prepared with whatever aspect of that They can work on so that would be good And the other thing that's probably part of your chairs report because I know we talked about it at the last meeting was this I Got to say a little bit odd mailing we got as town meeting members That's just kind of a bunch of random stuff. That's financial stuff and calendar, etc So exactly where this came from and how this was put together might be cool Okay, so I didn't actually open that Because I thought I knew what it was. So this was supposed to be this was our The year-end report for the fiscal year with a cover memo from Andy Steinberg chair of the finance committee That didn't make it in well No, because it said it's the report that's to us and so it's just a little funny that it doesn't say dear Okay, so so there was a there was there was cover Okay, so this is one of these things that kind of the end result came together last week Well, we were dealing with crisis it went to town meeting members There's a lot of good material in it. It went to town. Right. So it just doesn't have quite as everything So it's like four different things, but it went to town meeting members and it's all good stuff We have all seen before okay So so what this was supposed to be was the report that we had voted and decided that would get sent year-end to town meeting members I'm not clear why the cover memo from mr. Steinberg will be very upset and apologies mr. Steinberg chair of the finance committee That was supposed to be part of that report the other stuff that's in there is from town meeting Coordinating committee that I understand it was going to be a three-page thing from them calendar and some explanation perhaps. Yes, okay So they Tell me in coordinating committee is working very hard to try and give town meeting members a much broader exposure to the budget process so they've been Working with feedback from me all kinds of different folks from different committees on what the calendar the budget development calendar looks like going forward This is a working a living document But it's an it's a way to let town meeting members know that here's a whole bunch of process going on here Are things that you should be paying attention to and be aware of and and you know participate in if you can So that's what that was supposed to be and clearly we're gonna need to put some email Communication out to folks so they have more information about this miss Stein I think what they needed was a cover letter saying here are four documents Because you are a town meeting member Yeah, that you would be interested in and instead it came up across my when I opened it I thought why are we getting this all again? And my husband opened it and I said well, I think now I understand what happened It's to inform you about town for town meeting. Okay, so that's what was missing Otherwise, it's a great idea and just to make you feel a little better Andy Steinberg's memo was the last thing and so It's in there you wouldn't think they went together, but it's in there So, you know, we just need a little work on the execution, but the and so I'm not complaining I'm simply saying that we might want to put something on the website that are something that says hey town meeting members Did you get your mailing because this is really cool because it actually has the end of this brand new document That talks about how to contact JCPC and stuff. That's very helpful I just I'm afraid they'll ignore it because they won't know why they have it. Okay. Thank you I'm glad to know that and that's what happens when you don't open your mail, okay But I didn't open it because I thought I knew what it wasn't so so so just so people are clear and mr. Steinberg in particular Your memo is in there. It just was not quite had you made it correctly and piled. Okay Yeah, it's been one of those weeks. Okay other liaison reports before I Okay, so let's see mine Amherst housing authority I haven't made it to that lately just as I always say I can't but as I mentioned before They are in the midst of creating a process for Finding a new director executive director for the housing authority So I will check in on them with that and see how that's going and see if they need any assistance from us conservation Commission, they are having a public meeting on all their meetings are public They're having a big public meeting on September 28 Is that correct? Yeah, which is going to be talking about the policy for dogs on Conservation land there have been a lot of really serious issues happening at amethyst brook And they are looking to clarify and perhaps take action on What the what the dog policy is going to be going forward? There are just a couple of places in town amethyst brook and mill river are I believe the only ones of conservation land not to be confused with mill river recreation land But of the conservation land mill river in amethyst brook are the only places where you're allowed to have your dog off leash currently And so they're going to be looking at whether or not they're able to continue to do that for everyone's safety and that is again Wednesday September 28th Budget coordinating group has not met yet. Mr. Steinberg who co-chair with me on that And I have been talking about when to first meet considering the situation with the town manager and considering the Four boards meeting on October 13th, which is our big meeting to really start off the budget process Give us the most information. We expect the first BCG meeting to be after that Campus and community coalition did not meet because it didn't have enough members a couple weeks ago Counts on aging meets tomorrow. I missed their previous meeting and I think that's all I have to report for liaison reports Anybody else on that? Okay, Ms. Brewer. I just wanted if Mr. Zemeck with all the different hats here you guys are wearing Could clarify I know there was something about a sign being put up at Amethyst or Mill River And what was the sign clarifying now? I can't remember because we just did this Mr. Zemeck the sign was clarifying the current policy that Allowing dogs off leash, but under voice control is is allowed. And so that was at the request of a number of Dog owners who use Amethyst Brook for walking their dogs There's been so many incidents down there this summer that tensions are very high And so before the hurricane we put up a nice new Lemonated sign there, and I hope it made it through the weather and So So folks who have a particular interest in that one way or the other should definitely attend that conservation Commission meeting on September 28 Okay, open meeting will update Miss Brewer anything? Well, I do I'm working on the quorum issue because our lawyer and the folks at the Attorney-General's office have different ideas of what should represent the quorum and I did have a correspondence with the man Who's he's going to pursue this further? He he kind of let it slide I think But it's really an issue because we have committees that are actually meeting without a quorum They think they have a quorum and they don't According to mr. Bart, so I'm very eager I might it would be my hope that they would include a definition of the quorum in the open meeting Well, and I think I might actually ask that They don't have it in there at this point They have a ruling that they give people which differs from what mr. Bart said so Otherwise, you know We have to think about rewriting charges for committees that are having trouble maintaining their membership So it's very just so folks remember. This is something we talked about several weeks ago or several meetings ago about whether a quorum is defined as a majority of the seats that are supposed to be on the committee or By the majority of the people who are currently filling the seats And so the town's practice has long been the former that it's based on if you've got a seven-person committee You need a four-person quorum some people and including a rather disturbing Ruling or advice from the Attorney General's office consider the quorum to be if you've got three Absences on your seven-person committee, then you've only got four people So now you know three is a quorum or whatever It's a very different concept And so we need clarification because we all have opinions on it, but the opinions don't matter We need we need clarity. So thank you. Miss Stein