All right, we're recording. Okay. Good evening. We are going to. Call the meeting to order and then move immediately into. The state of the town addresses. So let me start this by saying governor Bakers, March 12th order. Suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. Allows us to hold this virtual town council meeting. I will call upon each counselor by name. And at that time they should unmute and say they are present and then mute again. This is also how we will conduct. Questions later on in the general meeting. When you raise your hand. I'm also going to call on a couple other special guests who are with us this evening. And part of the state of the town to make sure that they can also hear and be heard. So given that we have a quorum of the council. I'm going to call the council meeting to order at. 633. Let me start with the role. Alyssa. Present. Pat DeAngelis. Present. Darcy DuMont. Present. Lynn Griezmann. Present. Mandy Joe Hanna key. Present. Dorothy Pam. Present. Evan Ross. Present. George Ryan. Present. Kathy Shane. Present. Steve Schreiber. Present. Andy Steinberg. Present. Sarah Schwartz. Present. And Shalini Palmil. Present. I'd also like to make sure that the following people can hear me and we can hear them. Paul Backelman. Present. Allison McDonald. Present. And Austin Serrat. And also point out that we're joined this evening by superintendent, Dr. Mike Morris, and also library director Sharon Sherry. This is an evening that begins with the state of the town, which is a prescription of the charter. And I'm going to begin and then after that, Paul Backelman will follow me. After that will be the chair of the school committee, Allison McDonald, and then we'll move on to library trustee president. Austin Serrat. Okay, we have the slides, please. So welcome. This is the second state of the town address. It continues to be an honor and a privilege to serve as president of the Amherstown council. And I'm going to start with the Amherstown council for our second year. I enjoy the challenge. Next slide, please. Our speakers tonight. As I mentioned before our Paul Backelman, Allison McDonald and Austin Serrat. Next slide, please. And let me just say that this is an address. As I mentioned before required by section 2.2 of the charter. Next slide, slide, please. The Amherstown council. The Amherstown council. It's a group of 13 people. They are outstanding in many ways. Very talented individual and independently minded. Our at-large counselors are Alissa Brewer, Mandy Johan ke and Andy Steinberg. Our district one counselors are Kathy Shane and Sarah Schwartz. Three is represented by Dorothy Pam and George Ryan. And district four is represented by Evan Ross and Steve Schreiber. Representing district five are Shalini Balmille and Darcy Dumont. Now more than ever, each brings an important set of values and perspectives much needed in this town. Each councilor strives to represent those who are not apparent in the body of the council. And while a virtual meeting limits how we are able to recognize people, I ask that you let them know of your appreciation in the same way that you let them know about issues that are important to you. Next slide please. Fulfilling the requirements of the charter, the council continues to fill the requirements of the charter and we continue to take notes about what we would like to change. Upon recommendation of the planning board, we adopted the master plan this year, thus fulfilling one of the charter requirements. We have held public forums on the budget and the master plan and other public forums required when we intend to spend money off cycle, such as the purchase of a new energy efficient ambulance that allows for less emissions during standing at the hospital and other places. Each district council has that councilor has held no fewer than two district meetings. And the at-large counselors are often present at the district meetings. There's no doubt that this year has presented a major challenge that has defined all of us, but with the leadership of our town manager, Paul Bachelman, our outstanding clerk of the town council, Athena O'Keefe and our very adept information technology staff, we rapidly moved the meeting virtually as of Monday, March 16, 2020. As of the end of December this year, we will have met 44 times this year in regular meetings, joint meetings and with the library and schools, or town meetings, committees of the whole public forums and hearings. 37 of those meetings have been virtual. We look forward to seeing you all in person again. And that does not include town council committee meetings. We recognize and we reorganized our four standing committees and continue as members of the joint capital planning committee, along with the schools and library. And individual counselors are liaisons to eight town committees and all are available to any committees. Well, next slide please. Well, the challenges of this year have limited in-person meetings. Counselors are regularly in contact with residents through email, phone, Facebook, news, newsletters and yes, text messages. While we have not been able to gather on the town steps to read proclamations since March of 2020, the council continues to pass proclamations, resolutions and attend numerous virtual meetings. One outstanding example is the resolution before the town council this evening, a resolution affirming the town of Amherst's commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity for black residents. To the extent possible, we continue to attend events and meetings of other organizations, virtually of course and on rare occasion, outside socially distance and with masks on. Next slide. Despite the special challenges of the year, the council has had some notable accomplishments. Next slide. They include passage of the percent for art bylaw, the wage and tip theft bylaw, the responsible employer, public construction contracts and agreements for tax relief bylaw and prohibiting the use of wild and exotic animals and traveling shows and circuses. In addition to that, we have made amendments to the open container bylaw, the single use of plastic bags and noise violations. Next slide, please. We've taken some specific actions to support local businesses and farmers. They include adoption of a temporary zoning amendment and changes to the public way policy, allowing more rapid approval and flexible use of outdoor space for retail and dining in the downtown and village centers. We approved a plan for the farmers market to use the town commons, thus providing a safe and welcoming environment for one of the town's brightest events every week on Saturdays and for farmers, one of the most profitable. And we've addressed other public way requests, helping local builders move their plans forward. Next slide, please. We didn't just do our budget once this year, we did it twice. We did a 112th budget and then an annual budget. And during the annual budget, we froze two police positions, which has forged the way to the appointment of the community safety working group by the town manager. Thus far, we have not dipped into our reserves to balance the budget. And while it includes limited capital dollars, we continue to improve our roads and sidewalks. Our audit as usual indicates sound financial management. Next slide. Right after the state of the town address last year, Amherst was accepted into the Mass School Business Authority program to build or renovate and repair one elementary school. We have accepted a gift that allows us to make significant renovations and in addition to the North Amherst Library. And we broke ground on the dog park, cut the ribbon on Groff Park and the plans to build a playground at Kendrick Park continue forward. In the area of affordable housing, we have continued to support the renovation and construction of affordable studio apartments at 132 North Hampton Road. But stay tuned. Next slide. We heard from many of you as we looked at polling places and that led us to ensure safe access with significant resident input. We developed and improved a polling location plan that provided for safe conduct of the presidential primary and general elections. And we proudly certify our results is accurate and without any evidence of frauds. Next slide, please. The future and our challenges. As we move forward, we are facing several significant challenges. These are reflected in the town managers performance goals and include addressing community safety, racial equity and social justice, identifying a path forward for our four major capital investments, adopting a climate action plan to help us reach our goals and supporting the economic recovery and vitality of Amherst. Our goals include also include continuing to pass responsible capital and operating budgets, review and revising zoning bylaws and the adoption of a comprehensive housing plan. Other pending bylaws that you'll see include water, sewer, surveillance technology and facial recognition. And finally continuing to make the counselor's job more manageable. Next slide, please. As we bring to a close the comments this evening, please allow me to focus on and thank the town manager and our outstanding town staff as well as others. During this challenging time, you were still protected by our first responders, police, fire, EMS and the Department of Public Works. The streets were plowed, you received water and sewer services, you were able to vote, pay your taxes, get a dog license or a building permit. In other words, our town staff kept the place moving forward despite the pandemic. In August, we evaluated the town manager's performance with input from residents, committees, staff and all counselors. Paul Bachmann was hired in 2016 and he is now in his second contract with the town. He instills confidence in local government and this has never been more demonstrated as he addressed the impact of COVID-19. Never missing a beat, he did not hesitate to make the moves necessary to keep the town operational yet safe. When Push came to shove, challenged the university about their plans for returning students leading to significant positive responses from UMass and weekly meetings between the town and the university. Continuing to serve as clerk of the council is Athena O'Keefe. She is simply outstanding, need to find something she can. Without hesitation, she helps all of us stay on track, never missing a beat. And we also wanna recognize the many town committees and residents that serve on them and the staff who also work with those committees. We have learned lessons from this period of virtual meetings that we need to examine carefully and along with those committees incorporate them into our future meetings once we return in person. The members of our town committees apply to be on our committees. They get interviewed, they share their expertise in areas such as personnel, water supply and contaminants, energy and climate action, housing, et cetera. On behalf of the town council and the town of Amherst, we thank you for your past and ongoing service, your willingness to provide us with sound advice and to put up with our sometimes far-ranging questions. We really wanna particularly acknowledge the planning board, the board of health and the board of licensed commissioners. This year, the planning board and the board of health helped move special legislation or passing special regulations to help our businesses and protect our residents. And once again, we recognize the board of licensed commissioners for assisting businesses during these challenging times. To other serious notes of appreciation, go to Amherst Media for working with us to bring meetings into residents' home with the added features such as displaying the names of those who are in the audience. And to our residents, we have helped Amherst through these challenging times. Thank you and please continue to follow all guidance regarding gatherings, masks, social distancing and public health. As I close on the next slide, a few final observations. Nowhere in any of our election materials, speeches or panels did we ever state or were we ever asked how we would respond as an elected official to a pandemic, but we did and Amherst continues to move forward. The charter continues to be an outstanding document providing guidance to even the most obscure issues. We value the many ways in which we hear from our residents, ask that you continue to tell us when something is wrong and when we get it right. Being president of the council means balancing one's democratic ideals and the need for leadership. The council keeps me in line, but most important to remember is we are all elected and each person has one vote. We stand as equals. Leadership means hearing and seeking solutions. Please let your counselors know that you appreciate them and recognize the dedication they each bring to this important role in our community. We're going to move on to town manager Paul Bachman who joined us in 2016. And rather than going to a lengthy introduction, I'm going to have Paul go right ahead. Thank you, Lynn. So this is a different sort of state of the town speech than we did even, not that we have a long tradition, but we have one year of tradition. But there's no pomp, there's no circumstance. It's just another Zoom meeting with people in little boxes talking to people who are at home on their computers, most likely scanning the internet or reviewing email. I see you. So I'm sure it'll be a cliche pretty soon to say that 2020 was a year like no other. And while I continue to see challenges, especially during the next three to four months, I believe there are reasons for optimism. So next slide. So at first let's go back. A year ago, I reported on the accomplishments of 2019 and the advent of the Newtown Council. We were discussing bold new initiatives like destination Amherst, which would bring renewed attention to the tired centerpiece of our downtown, the North Common, the construction of a privately funded performing art show and possibly a new garage and a new play structure and other improvements in Kendrick Park. Each of these projects were to be funded by a combination of state grants, private guests and investments, business support, Community Preservation Act funds and town funds. There were other initiatives in the pipeline, affordable housing on North Hampton Road, residential developments on Southeast Street, University Drive Extension and Spring Street. The university was preparing to make significant new investments in its residential housing stock. We had just received word, as Lynn mentioned, that the Massachusetts School of Building Authority had agreed to fund a new elementary school in Amherst. Things were moving forward and long overdue needs were being addressed. Then COVID hit. Many of these projects and initiatives were put on hold. Priorities were reordered, town staff were redeployed and all of our focus was on responding to this once in a century emergency. But, and this may sound strange to you, I've never seen town staff more adaptable or perform better than in the past nine months during this pandemic crisis. It was early March. I had called the department head's meeting. We had covered our normal updates, but the focus of the meeting was this unknown virus and the limited knowledge we had of it at that time. I said to those in the room that this was likely the last time we would all be together in person for a very long time. I actually didn't really mean it. I mostly said it for dramatic effect to drive the seriousness of the situation at home, but unfortunately it turned out to be true. By then our COVID response or what I call core team was meeting regularly. At first it was twice a week, but by mid-March we were meeting every morning, seven days a week. There was so much information to process resources to Marshall, staff to manage and so many decisions to make. We followed basic emergency management principles of incident command and force protection, i.e. making sure our command structure was clear and employees were safe and healthy so they could deliver the services the public needed. And we established operating principles, such as relying on the most recent science to inform our decision-making. And lastly, we were explicit to honor the value of forgiveness. We were all making decisions quickly and with incomplete information, we had to be resilient and that required forgiveness. Although the scheduled decision-making uncertainty and sheer volume of work was grueling, there was great comfort, camaraderie and mutual support among the team. Next slide. I want to recognize the core team by name because their work and commitment to the town was simply outstanding. Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Tim Nelson, Police Chief Scott Livingstone, Public Works Superintendent Gilford Moreing, Interim Finance Director and Comptroller Sonja Aldridge, Assistant Town Manager David Zomak. And providing leadership and subject area expertise was Health Director Julie Fetterman. Julie has since retired and didn't really get to have in a retirement party, but her knowledge and ability to provide a framework for decision-making were crucial at the stage of the pandemic. I relied on her judgment, good cheer, and let's get this solved mentality, even if it was sometimes delivered with some salty language. Working together with Superintendent Schools, Mike Morris and Library Director Sharon Sherry, I want you all to know that the town was well-served by these dedicated professionals. Next slide. One of the most vexing challenges was that of the most vulnerable members of our community, those without housing, who we quickly realized had no options if they had to quarantine at home because they had no home. We worked many hours developing options to find suitable housing. None worked out until Hampshire College stepped forward. When so many others could see only reasons not to act, Hampshire's President Ed Wingenback said, these are members of our community, they're in need, of course we'll help, let's get started. You remember actions like this in a time of crisis. Next slide. In responding to the pandemic, the sheer number of initiatives undertaken by the town is impressive. Everything from emergency rental assistance for those who could not pay their rent to a range of actions designed to support local businesses. Many of these ideas came from the tireless creativity of the leaders of the chamber and the bid. We worked with the university and pushed back when we felt it necessary to ensure that bringing students back to the town would be done safely, both for the students and for the general population. I'm pleased to note that our ongoing relationship is steady and durable. Next slide. Every town department stepped up during the crisis, every single one. The communications manager organized and has hosted 33 community chats. These are the weekly calling shows where callers can ask me or any of our guests, Superintendent Morris was on last week, any questions that they want. And we continue the monthly cup of Joe, albeit virtually at this point. And we have another one coming up on Friday at eight o'clock. Next slide. In addition to these initiatives, some of them are listed here. Staff continued the work we were hired to do. A new playground across park open, ground was broken on a new dog park. We continued to move forward with the purchase of the Hickory Ridge Golf Course. An anonymous donor has promised to fund it in addition to the North Amherst Library. Next slide. Town staff quickly implemented policies designed to sustain our residents and business community. The planning department shepherded the affordable housing on North Hampton Road through the comprehensive permitting process and reviewed and approved several other projects. Next slide. The town clerk's office put on two major elections under new rules, utilizing social distancing protocols and dealing with a tortured national election process. And the acting town clerk secured a foundation grant to ensure our election workers were safe. The IT staff has set up dozens of employees so they can work remotely if needed. LSSE, now Amherst Recreation, totally transformed their operations, taking on new tasks and doing jobs normally done by summer help. Next slide. The town was incredible at securing grants. You're not gonna read them all here because there's so many. With the largest being the most, the recently announced 1.5 million mass works grant to improve Pomeroy Village and its intersection. We've raised millions of dollars through aggressive fund raising through grants. Next slide. The finance department prepared and as Lynn said, the town council reviewed and passed two budgets for the FY21 fiscal year, a one 12th budget, then a full year budget. Next slide. As we close the books on FY20, despite the challenges of COVID-19, we were able to finish the year with a positive balance as staff are able to offset unforeseen expenses with spending controls, federal support and careful management. Even though revenues are down, our finances are solid as we have made the hard choices to manage the taxpayers funds wisely. Next slide. We've faced many challenges this year and in the years ahead. Fortunately, we are well situated to withstand these difficulties and at this point to make progress on the many needs that we all recognize we must address. The uncertainty creates a difficult environment for all of our budgets. Next slide. Our entire operation is predicated on a strong financial foundation and we are rock solid, but we must be vigilant to maintain this solid footing. We face many challenges moving forward. We have taken on the job of improving community safety to ensure that we live in a community that is safe for black and brown people. We stay committed to making the town a leader in sustainability by taking steps to move forward on climate action initiatives. Next slide. This year has been energizing and exhausting. Moments of frustration and disappointment have been offset time and again with flashes of selflessness and genuine acts of kindness. In spite of all this or more accurately because of all this, I am pleased to report that the state of the town is strong. I appreciate the opportunity to serve you and the people of Amherst. I'm privileged to work with an incredible staff. I love living and working and being part of the special community. And I appreciate the progressive intelligent governance provided by the town council and most directly the leadership and guidance provided by town council president Lynn Griezmer. I thank you for the opportunity to serve. Thank you, Paul. We're going to move on to Allison McDonald. Allison moved to Amherst 18 years ago, choosing Amherst for the strong reputation of its public schools. She is a communications and marketing professional and since 2015 has worked with the Hadley based national nonprofit, Venturewell. Over the years she has volunteered with the parent PGO at Fort River and helped out with her son's youth sports events. After serving on the district's enrollment working group in 1917, I mean in 2017, I'm sorry Allison, you're not that old. Allison was elected to the school committee in 2018. She is now serving as chair for both the Amherst and the regional school committees. Allison, it's your turn. Thank you. You could go to the next slide please. Amherst public schools host a diverse and engaged student body that leads in our communities in many ways, including through political and civic advocacy, gardening programs, community enrichment, performing arts, academics and cultural events. This school year has placed many new that demands on all of us, including learning new ways of teaching and learning. We are proud of our students, educators, staff and volunteers for their efforts, their many efforts in the face of these challenges. Next slide please. Amherst has three public schools that serve nearly a thousand students in grades K through six and an additional 32 students in pre-K. Our three schools, Wildwood Fort River and Crocker Farm are roughly similar in size and demographics. Our student population is highly diverse and more than half are black, indigenous or other people of color. Half of our students are high needs as defined by the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or DESI. One in three are economically disadvantaged and more than one in five have disabilities. Our elementary school budget for the current year is $23.9 million. Next slide please. We enjoy a strong statewide reputation for all of our public schools, a legacy that our community values and prioritizes. A few highlights in our elementary schools include the district consistently meets state progress and accountability goals. The persistent gaps remain among our high needs students and other groups. We provide art, music and technology education through weekly specials classes as well as through integration into grade level unit studies. And we enjoy low average class sizes to promote learning and a student teacher ratio of approximately nine to one. Next slide. Amherst is one of four member towns in a regional school district with two secondary schools. The Amherst Regional Middle School serving grades seven and eight and the Amherst Regional High School serving grades nine through 12. The schools serve a total of 1,283 students from the four towns, Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Schuetsbury. Our student population in the regional schools is also highly diverse and nearly half are BIPOC. Nearly half of the students are high needs as defined by DESI. With nearly one in three being economically disadvantaged and more than one in five having disabilities. Our secondary schools budget for the current fiscal year is $32.1 million. Next slide. Like our elementary schools our regional schools enjoy an excellent reputation thanks to our dedicated and high quality educators, staff and administrators. Our schools provide strong community and school programs that support student wellbeing and social emotional health including our family center, the bright program and restorative practices. We prioritize smaller class sizes that promote learning. Our schools provide high quality in district specialized programs for intensive special needs students and we offer a wide array of electives, clubs and sports which together which define the rich character of our regional schools. Next slide. Looking a little deeper at our budgets our current year budget of $23.9 million included a total net reductions of over $700,000 versus what was needed to provide the same level of services a year ago. Next slide. Looking at next fiscal year the draft budget proposed in November is a reduction from this year and is level funded versus 2019-20. This would be a $1.4 million less than what is needed to provide services level to our 2019-2020 school year and would mean permanent cuts to those level services. Next slide. Taking a look at the regional schools budget the current year budget of $32.1 million includes a total net reduction versus a level services budget of over $800,000. The town of Amherst funds $16.4 million of that budget. Level funding in 21-22 would be nearly $1.7 million in what is needed to provide services at the same level as 2019-2020 and would mean dramatic and permanent cuts that would fundamentally change our regional schools. Next slide. Student enrollment in our elementary schools has been declining in recent years and declines this year during the pandemic were steeper than prior trends. The district recently surveyed families who have left the schools and the presentation of results are available on the school committee webpage. Next slide. The proportion of our students in elementary schools who are high needs grew this year and is comparable to the overall trends in the state. Next slide. Our elementary student population is more diverse than the state average. Next slide. Similar to the trend in our elementary schools, regional schools student enrollment declines were steeper in the current year and the results from that survey are also in the same presentation on the website. Next slide. Regional schools student population is roughly comparable to the state averages with regard to needs. Next slide. And our regional student population is comparable to the state averages with regard to diversity. Next slide. Both districts and our communities have prioritized increasing the diversity within our staff with support from our participation in the Minority Student Achievement Network, or MSAN, which is a national coalition of multiracial school districts that have come together to understand and eliminate opportunity and achievement gaps that persist in their schools. As well as teacher diversification grants from the state, the district has realized a 47% increase in BIPOC staff since 2015. Those staff now represent 28% of our total staff up from 19% in 2015. Next slide. Looking forward, here are some of the key initiatives and challenges we are focusing on this year. With pandemic learning plan, we developed a robust plan that prioritized in-person learning. Yet it is unclear when students will return to the buildings. Going into next year, we will need to focus additional support to address the learning loss and academic deficits that are exacerbated by this extended period of distance learning. As mentioned earlier by others, we were accepted last year into the MSBA program to support a new elementary school building to replace Fort River and Wildwood. And as the pandemic restrictions are lifted and we return to full in-person learning, we will face significant space challenges at those two schools, Fort River and Wildwood, due to COVID alterations that effectively eliminated half the learning and working rooms in those schools, including the rooms where specials are taught. Third, we are facing significant budget pressure this year following the cuts made with up-to-med level funding and further pressure in the coming school year due to the increased needs and the further cuts needed to meet the level of funding going into next year. On a brighter note, we built off of a highly successful first year of the Kaminantes dual language program at Fort River and expanded this year to 36 kindergarten and 38 first grade students. Next slide, please. Additional goals we're working on this year include social and emotional wellbeing of our students and staff, defining post-pandemic education and continuing to work to increase teacher and staff diversity, work that will be supported by another state teacher diversification grant of $110,000 that was recently awarded to the district. Next slide. And finally, we expect to complete and report on two studies in the coming year, one on the viability and implications of moving sixth grade to the middle school and one on expanding access to early childhood education in Amherst. Last slide. We thank you for your support and we invite you all to share your questions with me and my colleagues on the school committee or with superintendent, Dr. Morris and our email addresses are on the slide. Thank you very much. Thank you, Allison. It's informative. Austin Sret will now be providing remarks on behalf of the Jones Library Trustees. He's a professor and administrator at Amherst College where he has been for 46 years. He has served in a variety of other capacities including the zoning board of appeals as well as the board of the common school and a volunteer at Amherst neighbors. I'm going to stop with that, Austin and let you go ahead, please. Thank you, Lynn. Thanks for the opportunity to address the council and my colleagues and the citizens of Amherst. I present this report on behalf of the Jones Library at the end of what clearly has been a very challenging year. To say that 2020 has been marked by uncertainty, fear, loneliness and loss is to name just the obvious psychological and sociological and personal facts of this pandemic year. A perhaps less obvious fact is how important library services has been during the pandemic. Following town guidelines are buildings closed. Yet town libraries remained open via online access. Library services and programs have been lifelines for the old and the young, the well-off and the disadvantaged, longtime residents and those who are new to the community are services of connected town residents to each other to library staff and to the vital resources that the library provides. If 2020 is indeed rightly characterized by uncertainty, fear, loneliness and loss, other words, resiliency, creativity, invention, devotion, indeed, dare I say courage, are the appropriate ways to name the work done by our library director and her wonderful staff. Never has Sharon Sherry's abolience, optimism and can-do spirit been more in evidence and more necessary. Without her, the library's considerable achievements this year would have been impossible. So as Sharon herself would say, a huge shout out to Sharon and her staff. And thanks also to my fellow trustees, Bob Pam, Alex Lefebvre, Lee Edwards, Tammy Ely and Chris Hoffman. They have provided a steady hand as the library has had to navigate the challenges of 2020 and they've kept their eyes on the future, making sure that planning for the much needed and long overdue renovation and expansion of the Jones would be brought to fruition thanks to each of them. Now let me say briefly a word about the day-to-day work of the libraries this year. During COVID closure, our overall circulation dropped by 14%, that in itself is not a surprise. Still our staff has received and responded to more than a thousand request for materials each week and has sent 500 items a week through into library loan to other libraries around the state. Our library staff has gone out of its way to call and reach out to patrons who they knew to be regular users of the library in order to apprise them of ways that they could continue to access library holdings. And if patrons could not come to the buildings during library hours, staff have accommodated and made deliveries to them. Not surprisingly, the number of items we delivered has doubled in comparison with last year. And our fabulous reference department has been similarly busy answering inquiries from residents. We've expanded our digital resources and moved several in-person services online, including library card application and renewal. We've also launched a print from home service for patrons who in the past were able to come into the library to print. And we've expanded our Wi-Fi hotspot lending program. Last year we had 10 hotspots to lend this year, 30. And COVID has certainly affected how the library expended its funds this year. Because patrons were required to stay home starting in March, the library focused much of its purchasing on e-content rather than physical items. And operations and maintenance expenses increased by 37% and 8% respectively due to the need for extra cleaning supplies and PPE once the building reopened. Utility costs, on the other hand, decreased by 28% due to the closure. Since March, the library staff has done a truly remarkable job moving programming online. They've created a series of interviews with the local authors. These interviews have been live streamed on Facebook and have introduced viewers to recently published titles in fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature, all from distinguished authors in our community. The Children's Nonfiction Book Discussion Group continues as does our very popular Sing with Your Little One. And our new Civics and Democracy series provides monthly programs to help people understand both the virtues and challenges associated with participation in democratic government. Our English as a second language has also successfully adapted to the COVID world. Conversation circles have continued, which was important because our ESL students were isolating linguistically as well as socially during this year. And our community can be particularly proud that two ESL students have gained citizenship this year. And every week, remarkably, library staff went to the Amherst Farmers Market, where people could use a laptop, sign up for library cards, or indeed borrow some craft kits. Since last spring, the library has been busy working on an anti-racism agenda, coordinating with town-wide efforts to ensure that we tear down all barriers to equal and dignified treatment of all Amherst residents. But in all of this work, we've had to cope with the serious inadequacies of the Jones building. Our Special Collections Department again sustained damage resulting from an HVAC system long in need of replacement. And COVID has further highlighted the building's shortcomings. Among other things, the rooms in the Jones are too small to have multiple people in them, and our HVAC system may not provide an acceptable air exchange rate. During this year, the trustees completed all needed steps to present the town council with what we regard as a compelling renovation and expansion plan, a plan that will help the library be adequate to the work it does for all residents, but especially for our most vulnerable citizens. This plan will move the Jones from being one of the least sustainable facilities in Amherst to making it a national model for sustainability. And let me be clear, no one will derive greater benefit from our plan to renovate and expand the library than the disadvantaged and dispossessed in our community. They rely on the library, its hospitality and its space. And what we've been able to provide them in the past has been barely adequate to their needs. And we can learn from the experience of almost every neighboring community which has renovated and expanded their library about the importance of those renovations and expansion to the disadvantaged and the dispossessed. The trustees decided to ask the town council to vote on our proposal by the end of April, realizing full well the fiscal challenges that Amherst now faces. We did so for multiple reasons, not the least of which was because we expect to be formally awarded a state grant in July of 2021. Unless it be forgotten or simply taken for granted, the library had to do an enormous amount of work to prepare for and submit and succeed in winning the state grant. Taking advantage of the state funding is a once in a decade opportunity. We've asked the town council to vote by the end of April because we are convinced that we have a sound and feasible plan for financing the project. We did so in addition, because the serious maintenance issues and structural problems which plague the Jones urgently need to be addressed. We've asked the council to vote on our plan because the alternative to a renovation and expansion stays very little money and is clearly inferior. As requested by the town council, we investigated the cost of repairing the existing building and found that it would cost between $14 and $16 million simply to repair the building and make it accessible as required by law. This is close to the amount that town would have to contribute to achieve a renovated, expanded, accessible and sustainable Jones library. We asked the town council to vote on our proposal by the end of April because delay risks both in escalation and cost and further deterioration in the building. We did so because children, teens, English language learners, immigrants, disadvantaged people, students of Amherst history, families, book lovers and all those who flock to the Jones deserve a facility that is as inspiring as their dreams. But most importantly, we did so because in these dark and dangerous times we do not wanna put the future on hold. A renovated and expanded Jones will, we believe, be a beacon of hope and a reminder that a great town deserves a great library. We look forward to working closely with the town council as it determines when and how to consider our plan and our request. But remember what I said about this year of uncertainty, fear, loneliness and loss. During this year, we were reminded yet again that Amherst libraries are among the town's most important facilities. Indeed, history teaches that libraries have always played a critical role in disaster recovery, whether in the depression or following Katrina or in communities devastated by hurricanes. Post COVID, residents of the town who've been cooped up and confined will no doubt eagerly return to the Jones, the Monson and the soon to be expanded North Amherst library appreciating all the more the chance to take advantage of the democratic spaces they provide. And as we all know, public libraries in fact, one of the last free spaces in the United States where vulnerable populations can seek out unemployment assistance, have internet and computer use and daytime shelter from the streets. In conclusion, 2020 has shown us again that Amherst libraries aren't only in the business of books, they're in the business of building, serving, sustaining and strengthening our community. Thanks so much. Thank you for your comments, Austin. I wanna just acknowledge that joining us tonight at least on the website through Zoom are several members of the school committee and the library trustees. I also wanna mention that in the packet that's available for the meeting tonight is both the annual report from the schools, the library and also the annual report from Carol Gray who is the Oliver Smith Elector and also Doug Slaughter who is chair of the board of licensed commissioners and also Michael Burkhart for the Amherst Housing Authority. And with that, we're going to now conclude our part of the tonight's meeting that is in fact the state of the town and move on to the regular meeting of the town council. Thank you for joining us for this part. Sean, would you go ahead please and put the announcements up? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. These are our various up and coming meetings and while I'm not going to go through them I will note that in addition to these we've had a late announcement today that UMass will begin offering COVID testing to the general public on a limited basis. That announcement will be also available on the town website along with additional information. With that, we're going to have no hearing tonight so we're going to move on to public comment. So please take the announcements down. Thank you. We are having regular public comment. This was, this is the only public comment tonight. I'd like to see a show of hands of those people who would like to make public comment. And Sean, you might want to return to the matrix vision on the screen. To the announcements, is that what you're, oh, yes. So we're not just looking at a big name. In other words, the gallery view. Yeah. So I'm back on the gallery view. Is everybody else on the gallery, okay. No, we have not moved to the gallery view. I think you control yourself. Thank you. Okay. I see at this point, five hands. Are there any other hands for people who would like to make public comment tonight? Okay. Then I'm going to begin with Josea. Please state your name. We'll bring you into the room so we can hear you and state where you're from. You have to unmute. Thank you. Can you speak up slightly? Hello? Yes. That's fine. Good evening. My name is Josea Shabazz and I'm a resident of district five. I'd like to share with you the comment of my mother, Demetria Shabazz, was this to say about a resolution on the agenda of the council that you might be noting on. All right. Dear Amherstown council, regrettably, I'm unable to attend this evening's meeting because like many people of color in Amherstown working at this hour. I did, however, wish to offer my ideas regarding the resolution to the structural, to end structural racism that is up for a vote. This is a good step that I hope leads to two tangible steps to repair the inequities that shape our daily interactions and understanding of who we are as African descendants in Amherst and the Commonwealth. There is still much work to be done and I implore you to not stop here because we have only begun to bridge a deep divide which exists in this valley. The resolution counselors, I hope I don't bunch of their names. Bob Milne, Brewer and D'Angeles bring forward is emblematic of a broken process that needs its own reparative effort. What we most need to resolve is to create a conciliative process with people of African descent here in what is commonly referred to as the black community. To discern what members of the community would like to see happen to make their lives better and their connection to the town made more meaningful in the center of policy making decisions that have a direct impact on them. As with other policies and documents and often passed by this council, there's not a process in place whereby discussion occurs, specifically a vetting which extends beyond the usual suspect counselors, no. But to a group of community members described by the racial equity task force under item three of our documents submitted in August. My father, but in the letter it says my husband, but for me, my father in particular has made revisions which improved the document greatly but even this underscores the need for the council to have a conciliative process in place with our community. I want to stress this is not a criticism of the white community members who brought forth this measure but of the town council itself, but of the council itself. The GOL meeting where vetting and shaping of this documents language took place occurs at a time during the day when few working people are able to attend. Members of the Afro descendant community obviously have a stake in a speech act that acknowledges the harm white supremacy inflicts and has inflicted on us, but to really get our feedback there has to be a better way for working people to be able to attend. Members of the Afro descendant community, oh wait. Oh, sorry. There has to be a better way to reach and involve us. What I ask is that the council look closely at not this document but the process of a whole as a means of reparative work. Essentially we need to create a conciliative process, practice with people of African descent that looks at issues from policy to renaming streets to displaying tablets honoring our veterans of the civil war to affordable housing to a houselessness to the need of a youth oriented cultural center. Policing and how it affects the BIPOC community are important but what we asked for in August still stands. The creation of a commission of black residents allied in a larger BIPOC group where others desire to come together that way. Similar to how Evanston, Illinois has a reparation stakeholders group which leads the effort to readdress and repair the damage that white supremacy has caused in that city. We demand a means of ongoing discussion and consultation with stakeholders in the community so that our diverse voices are heard. Our white dominated almost entirely white staff town government must develop a process that harmonizes with the racial makeup of the town being 74.6% white, 6.1% black or Afro descendant, 0.5% Native American, 13% Asian and Pacific. Islander and 4.5% from two or more races with 6.9% of the population being Latinx or Hispanic of any race. You must hear from us, see us and let us lead when it comes to making laws or resolutions that address our reality. Regards, Dr. Demetria Rajoshaba's fifth district resident, Amherst and May. Thank you for your comments.  Please enter, state your name and where you live. Sean, are you able to bring Bill into the room? Yeah, Bill appears to be unmuted. Okay, he appears to be unmuted, but Bill, can you hear us? Bill just disconnected. We'll come back to Bill. He comes back on. Next speaker is last name Shabazz. Please enter the room, state your name and where you live. Yes, it's a milk cart Shabazz and I live in district five. I just am responding to the resolution as I understand a speech act that acknowledges, apologizes for the harm of white supremacy. And I get it as a step that's positive to take. We had a, you all authored a resolution on June one that sort of continues in that tradition, but goes a bit deeper or a bit broader. There were portions of it that at the point that I was drawn in to really look at it that I felt the document would be improved by excising. And I have submitted a draft that takes those sections out. The only thing that I saw fit to add and I do encourage you all on the council as well as the entirety of our town's population to take a look at the proclamation of the General Assembly of the United Nations that declares this, the international decade of people of African descent. That is from 2015 to 2024, we are in the decade of people of African descent. It is on the web. If you go to the United Nations, you can look up international decade of people of African descent. And the framework is astounding. I say look at the accomplishments. There's a tab that says accomplishments. You can see what's being done in other countries along this lines of the very thing, this resolution and the very thing we say we want to grapple with here in becoming a town that is anti-racist and varies white supremacy. People are doing it around the world. They're doing it in the context of the framework of human rights. And this international declaration is something I do encourage the town to promote, to study and to align our efforts with. So that's the only language that I added to it. It's in the last, be it further resolved, everything else is all the wording of the original document. It just takes out some parts that I felt did not work well in regards to the overall message. But that is my offering. I do support it. I support your taking action on it. And more importantly, I support moving on to developing the kind of consultative process that we need in this town with specifically with our people of African descent, other communities as well, but specifically that community in regards to a municipal program of reparations. Thank you for your attention to this. Thank you for your comment, Dr. Shabazz. Janet Keller, you have your hand up, please enter the room and state where you live and your name. Janet, you need unmute. Janet, can you unmute? Sean, is there any way to help Janet unmute? I've hit the ask unmute button. So Janet should be getting a request on mute. Do you want to jump back to, Bill is back on, do we want to jump over to Bill and then come back to Janet? I'm sure, thank you. Bill Cason, let's try it again. Bill, can you hear us? He says it's not working for him. I can put up the slide with the phone number for both Bill and Janet, if they'd like to connect that way. That would be, thank you. I'll have that slide up while Jennifer is assuming you want to go to Jennifer next. In the meantime, bring Jennifer in. Jennifer, please state your name and where you live. Hi, my name is Jennifer Page and I live in Amherst. I'd like to comment on the process for bringing the racial equity resolution to the council. I admit that I don't know many of the details about the process that was followed, but it sounds to me that members of the community feel that there was not enough community input, particularly from the black community in Amherst. Well, at the same time, my sense is that the sponsors and petitioners feel that they did considerable outreach to get input. So there's a disconnect here where people in positions of power think they did their due diligence and members of the community feel that they didn't have an opportunity to give feedback. This isn't the first time I've noticed this dynamic in our town. In fact, I think it happens a lot. I don't know what the solution is, but I think part of it is that it's almost always a good idea to take the time to get more input, even if you think you've already gotten a lot. I think a resolution like this one is so important and would be so meaningful, and that's why it's okay if you don't vote on it tonight. Now that you've heard that more people wanna give input, take the time to do that. After all, you have multiple readings of a by-law before it's voted on. So give this resolution the same time and space to percolate in the community. Now that it's being discussed tonight, it will have a better chance of reaching black community members who are not in the closed circle of town counselors and the petitioners and more people can weigh in. So I hope that you have a robust discussion about the resolution tonight, and I also hope that you pause on voting on it and allow more people to give their input. Thank you. Right, Kathleen Anderson. You state your name and where you live. Yes, Kathleen Anderson. I live in District Five, and I would like to support the resolution as has been revised by Dr. Chavaz, and I would like the town council to highly consider implementing the actions that were commented by Dr. Chavaz and just now by Jennifer Page. There has been an effort in our community over the years to engage members in conversations around race and class. And then one of those efforts has resulted in a possible decision, well, a decision but not a follow-through action for white people to engage with each other, a learning episode on white supremacy and how whites people can actively work to undo that. There is a member in our community, Phyllis Labanowski, who is a racial justice activist and educator who was interested in working with a group of whites in our town to engage in these kinds of conversations. I would also like to additionally comment that resolution needs to be passed. And as Jennifer mentioned, it doesn't have to be passed tonight, but I would like our officials to give it their full consideration, full reading and make sure that there is input by the people who are actively and affected by the white supremacist policies and practices that happen within the school district as well as in other areas of town government. So I'd like to encourage all of you council members to take a good look at the revised resolution that Dr. Chavaz, Amilkar Chavaz has submitted. And I would like you to work with members of the black community to get our continued input on how best to implement such a resolution. I thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments, Kathleen. We just need to... So we do have one phone caller who joined. I hope you'd like me to turn their microphone on and we can see if that is Bill or Janet. Sure, go ahead. Is this the person who is... Okay. Please go ahead. Yes, can you hear me? Yes, Bill, thank you. Yes, thanks. Sorry, I don't know what the technical glitch was. Thanks for your help, Sean. This is Bill Cason. I live in district one in Amherst. I'm calling to bring up a slightly different topic which is the continued closure of our schools to in-person learning. I have two children who are at Wildwood Elementary and I call, while I know that the council is probably familiar with some of these issues, you know, I've in my conversations with people, both parents and teachers and just people in general, there's been a couple of things that I think are worth just sharing publicly. One is that despite rising cases of COVID, all of our neighboring towns were most, I think Hadley was in and now they may be back out, have returned to in-person learning or currently in in-person learning in one way or another either fully or partially. And this includes Leverett Elementary. And Leverett, of course, is part of the regional school district. The other thing is that the memorandum of agreement signed between the school committee and the teachers union is in effect for the rest of the school year and has really no flexibility in it. And the metrics that are baked into that can't be altered. What this means is that in the spring, given that UMass is bringing back more students, when the weather gets nice and when we have potentially beautiful tents outside paid for by CARES money, we still won't be able to get kids back to in-school learning or at the very least keep them there in all likelihood. So what I'm hearing from parents and certainly what I'm feeling is that we're getting, we're starting to get concerned about next fall and returning to in-person learning then, will we or will we not get back to that by then is what we want to know. And parents have already started the ones who are affluent enough pulling their kids from the district. Well, come February, parents will be able to choice out of the district as well as spend money to send their kids to other schools. And I'm concerned and I think other parents are concerned that we're gonna see an even bigger hit to our numbers next year if there's not a strong commitment on the part of both the teachers union and the school committee to get kids back to in-person learning next fall, let alone this spring. So, you know, I'm not a healthcare expert. What I would like to see is to, you know, and I don't think I should be making the decisions about whether or not or how safe the schools are. We'd like to see the current memorandum agreement gotten rid of, which can only be done if the teachers union and the school committee go back to the table and agree to do it. And I'd like to have healthcare professionals including our town health director helping to guide our decisions. I'd like to see any new agreements we have whether the current one is thrown out or for the fall have flexibility baked into them so that we don't have to be stuck in the position that we're in now. And so that kids and teachers can all be safe when we do return to in-person learning. Thank you. Thank you for your comment, Bill. And I'm sorry about the connection difficulties. Janet Keller. We have another person coming in by phone. So Sean, would you please confirm if that's Janet? Yes, I will bring that car in in just one second. They seem to have hung up. So let's see if we can- They should be. I'm sorry, go ahead. They should be connected now. Okay. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Is this Janet? Good. Thank you. Janet Keller, I live in district one. And I would like to offer comments on the CRC rezoning proposal. I would like to ask for more background information so that we can understand where the zones are that are being discussed. It would be terrific to have math. And to provide more details about what the changes suggested would do. Some things are pretty opaque to a lot of us out here. And we'd really appreciate more explanation since these are going to be very long lasting impacts from changing the rules in this way. And the other thing I would like to ask with a great deal of urgency is that the CRC add inclusionary zoning to the things that they are going to examine and recommend. I think the need is only increase during these difficult times. And we've got some good inclusionary zoning proposals that have been proposed in the past. And I would hope that the CRC would put their of recommendations in for those. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comment. And I'm glad we were able to straighten out the technical difficulty. We are finished with public comment at this point and we're going to move on to the consent agenda. The consent agenda, the following items were selected because they were considered to be routine and it was reasonable to expect they would pass with no controversy. To remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion later in the meeting, please raise your hand and ask the president to remove that item. This does not require a second. The motion is as follows to move the following items and the printed motions there under and approve those items as a single unit. Six A, adoption annual human rights day proclamation. Six C, adoption of official citation in honor of Marilyn B. Patton. Eight B, in parentheses one, amendment to section four of the town council policy regarding the control and regulation of the public ways. Section eight B, two, approval of the permanent use of the public way for SOFA, solar information and communication signs project. Nine A, one, approval of town manager appointments to the following multi-member bodies, community development block grant, CBBG advisory committee. And approval of minutes 11, November 9th, 2020 special town council meeting minutes, financial indicators, November 9th, 2020 special town council meeting minutes, November 14th, 2020 special town council meeting minutes, November 16th, 2020 special town council meeting minutes, public foreign form on ambulance appropriations.  Yes, I'd like to move and have a quick discussion on 8b to which is currently worded as a permanent approval of the sofa communications. Thank you. I'll, I'll move that off of this consent agenda. Are there any others at this time? Okay, the motion is the one that I just made minus 8b to approval of the permanent use of public way for the self solar information and communication signs project. Is there a second. Ryan second. Okay, thank you. Is there any further discussion at this time. And I'm going to begin with. Pat D'Angelo's. Yes. Darcy DeMont. Yes. Riesma is an eye. Yes. Pam. Yes. Ross. Yes. Ryan. Yes. Shane. Yes. Shriver. Yes. Steinberg. Yes. Shorts. Yes. Balmille. Yes. And Brewer. Yes. Passes unanimously. 13 to 0 to 0 to 0. I'm going to move on to the one remaining resolution and proclamation. And that is the resolution affirming the town of Amherst commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity. For black residents. This was sponsored by town councillors. I'm going to move on to the next one. I'm going to move on to the next one. Michelle Nibal Mellon. Alyssa Brewer. And Pat D'Angelo's. On behalf of two other resident sponsors. Michelle Miller and Matthew Andrews. Who've joined us this evening. I'm going to ask these counselor sponsors. If one of them is speaking first. And if not, we'll just go right on to Michelle and Matthew. We should go on to Michelle and Matthew. first. I will then thank you. Thank you, counselors. I'm going to speak a little bit about the process and how this resolution came to be. Reparations for Amherst was formed on July 15, 2020, by myself, Matthew Andrews and Cren Andrews. A petition was drafted and made public on July 30, 2020. RFA had a meeting on August 25, with Town Council President and Vice President, to better understand the process of bringing petitions before the council. RFA wrote to the full council on October 1 to request support, and on October 8, three members agreed to sponsor the initiative. On October 16, Michelle and Matthew met with the sponsors and continued to meet over the next month and a half to draft the Written Speech Act, the first step. Beginning November 13, RFA sent a letter with the resolution attached to members of the community, including the Human Rights Commission, members of the JCA, chairs of the Racial Equity Task Force, and Cobra New England via Kathleen Anderson Chair and many others in the Black community to request feedback. On November 18, RFA, along with the council sponsors, had a review of the resolution with the GOL committee. On November 27, RFA had a guest column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette to educate community members about reparations and invite them to an upcoming event to learn more. A public symposium of reparations was held virtually on December 1, 2020. The resolution, along with a history appendix, was revised in accordance with the GOL and community feedback and brought back for a final review of the GOL on December 2, 2020. And here we are this evening. And Matthew. I can just add that our inspiration in bringing this forward was about healing. And we have a sense from the events of the summer, the murder of George Floyd and the general, what might be called an awakening to people around the country, to the real racial inequity that exists. We had a sense that healing was necessary, but it's actually through our research that we've done in preparing this resolution that we get a sense of what that looks like practically. And we've uncovered real overt racism, structural racism within the town, collusion with slavery. And of course, the wealth of this country was built on slaves. So for every instance that we've turned up of a person owning a slave in Amherst, or these details that we've laid out in the history document, everybody, all of the general community, was benefiting from the explosion of wealth. Cotton was oil. The oil today, that's what cotton was. And 80% of it was coming out of the American South. So America's rise as a superpower and the wealth that was built came out of that. And it hasn't ever really been reconciled or atoned for. We have a persistent racial equity gap in this town that's demonstrated in the document itself and in the history document that racial equity gap has to do with income, has to do with housing, it has to do with education, education outcomes. And those details are there that you can see. Healing starts with an acknowledgment. And as white residents of Amherst, we were motivated to participate in creating that acknowledgment and that apology. The work of moving forward from the apology, moving forward from the acknowledgment, that has to still be done. And it has to be done with broad community support, broad community consensus, collaboration, and especially if we're talking about what remedy looks like, what repair looks like, that has to be led by persons of African descent unequivocally. And Michelle and I both look forward to getting started on that work once we've had an opportunity to, together as a town, acknowledge and apologize for the persistent structural racism that we've documented and presented in our documentation. Thank you both for your comments and for the background regarding the development of the document. GOL, you had two meetings where this was. George Ryan, would you please report on that? Yes. As was mentioned earlier, we met twice on November 18 and again on December 2. And after a long discussion and back and forth, the committee voted to declare this resolution clear, consistent and actionable. I voted 5 to 0. The vote was unanimous. Thank you, George. Are there councilor comments at this time? Shalini? Yeah, I just wanted to share some of the thought processes and questions that went through my head when I decided to sponsor this. And along the way, some of the questions that have come my way and I thought would be helpful to share with everyone. So one thing we can all agree is that we're here because we all agree that for over 350 years, Black Americans have been the target of structural violence and systemic racism. So what I do want to clarify, which I think Matthew also briefly mentioned, is that the resolution today is just making a case for reparations and it's not a plan for reparations. So which of course, the plan itself would involve the larger community and it has to come through different stakeholders from the Black community. I want to just thank also and acknowledge all of the different people and the residents who have been working on these issues for such a long time. And especially this year, we had people from DFUN413, we've had people from the Racial Equity Task Force. And then tonight we heard again from Kathleen Anderson and Dr. Shabazz and who presented as revised documents. I want to acknowledge that. And we are definitely going to be discussing. So I just want to acknowledge that I do appreciate the additional line that includes support of proclamation of the General Assembly of United Nations. That's something that we should definitely consider adding. I also want to thank Michelle, Matthew and all of the other people behind the scenes who've been working for several months and at the reparations for Amist and to bring forward this resolution today. So some of the things that went through my head were like why reparations of Black people are not focused on just income inequalities as a town. And what I've learned is that it is different, that income equalities that are related to white people are very different from what Black people go through. And there is this, I think many people may have read the Tanahasi Coates article in 2014 where he, for example, gave the statistics that the achievement gap does not close the injury gap, in which he said that Black college graduates still suffer high unemployment rates that white college graduates, then white college and Black job applicants would... OK, let me just read that again. So just as an example to show how white poverty is not the same as what Black people are going through, he stated that Black college graduates still suffer higher unemployment rates than white college graduates, and Black job applicants without criminal records enjoy roughly the same chance of getting hired as white applicants with criminal records. And he also highlighted that even if he did address income inequalities, that would not get rid of the issues of white supremacy. So we have to address the case of Black reparations and just focus on that as a separate issue, which is not to say we should not be addressing other systemic issues in our town. I also want to again similarly highlight that putting in Black reparations together with all BIPOC issues, again, similar idea that I am an immigrant and I'm a person of color and I have encountered racism in this town socially and professionally. And yet my issues are very different from a Black mother who's afraid that Hasan might be stopped on the streets at night for the discipline that the Black children go through in schools. And so they are very different issues and they need to be treated separately. Some of the other questions that have come about are around data and the inclusion of the history that we have, of course, it's a very partial history and in no way is it meant to be exhaustive or even ever suggest that it will allow us to understand and experience what Black people have gone through. And yet as a person who did not grow up with that history and for many white people too who ask like, why Amherst, we don't have any racism here? I think including some of that history in the document is important and that's just my perspective. And of course, I'm very open and listening to other perspectives here, but I think it is helpful to have some of the history there as part of the education and that we all need to have around before we even decide on what we want to do. The lack of data is another important issue where we heard from a lot of people this summer and sometimes we were told that or some people felt that does this really reflect racism or systemic racism in whole town or it's just a lived experience of few people. And the fact that it's a lived experience of few people does show that there is a problem in our town and the lack of data actually is a symptom of the problem that we haven't placed anti-racism as a priority and that we need to actually be systematically collecting more data. The last thing I want to say for now is that I hope this document and this resolution really creates a safe space for all of us who are coming with very different perspectives, different experiences to learn, to listen, to really listen to each other and it opens up an opportunity to bring people with different perspectives together to move forward in a way that we really do something because as we know nationally, the country is very divided and it's not going to happen. The House Resolution 40, it was a bill to establish a commission to investigate legacy of slavery and reparations has been there for 30 years and nothing has happened. And the way I see it right now, we're only in a worse place. And so the only way things will change is locally. So I really encourage us to take a very serious look and make sure that whatever it feels right but we do do something about and acknowledge is a town that we acknowledge what has happened here. We acknowledge and we apologize for what's happened and we commit to correcting the wrongs that have happened in the past and continue to happen in the present. Thank you.  Thank you so much. I will try not to repeat anything because we didn't rehearse our parts ahead of time. So thank you, Shalini, for all of that. I'm imploring my fellow town counselors to focus on something that was stated earlier which is how best to implement this work, not on how to revise the wording of this particular resolution. It is actually really important to act tonight, not on December 21st or some future time because beyond the many upcoming cultural and family celebrations, we're all trying to figure out how to plan in this terribly difficult pandemic challenging our ability to be together at all and certainly to work together. Acting tonight keeps the momentum going from the work we started this summer, included outreach to various groups and individuals. We can always be talking to more people to the reparations symposium, hundreds of our community members tuned into last week and that luckily a recording is available of, to the community safety working group based report that the town manager is gonna give us in January. Passing this resolution tonight gives everyone time to say, okay, we did this. We declared the town council must act now and that we commit to our black residents leading the way on the next steps, on the path of remedy, meaning that moving forward tonight doesn't leave anyone behind. It's figuring out how our black residents can lead our next steps to implement the intent stated in the resolution. And that starts tonight, tomorrow morning, depending on when our council meeting ends. So thank you. Pat, you have your hand up and down. Two minutes, go ahead. Yes, I'm finding things that I was thinking about saying already been said. So the one thing that I want people to realize is the inclusion of even partial history about Amherst. That partial history is supplemented by a larger document that has been created by a subcommittee and historians who have been working with Matthew and Michelle. And we are hoping that the council has had a chance to look at that. And so we did pick and choose to get a sense of what Amherst has been like since the 1600s to the 2020. This is truly something that as a white person, we, I needed to have my eyes opened and this is not the only time I've seen some of this information. But often we've seen or I've seen the information in the history in a broader outside of Amherst realm. And so I could talk about redlining. I could talk about all these aspects of how Jim Crow, et cetera, et cetera. But taking my lens downward into the microcosm really of Amherst has been a critical step for me. And I believe it's a critical step for the council and for the town. This looking and owning that the bubble we are, the progressive town that we are needs repair is an honest and important step. And at no point have we avoided or communicating with the community of color. And the resolution itself has gone out in time and yet we only heard responses yesterday. And the difference has been stated is the removal of the historical statements and the addition of the proclamation from the UN. And I do not believe that that history should be removed because I know there are plenty of my white neighbors right on my little street who don't know any of that history. I don't believe that it is important for us to step forward to the larger proclamation from the United Nations because I want us to sit in the smallness of what we are, getting a real sense of the ramifications and the power that we have had to determine how safe, how comfortable, how enduring the lives of people of color have been in Amherst. So that's I think where I'm gonna stop. Thank you. I'm going to suggest before we move on to other councilor comments that one of the sponsors put the motion forward. I'll read the motion and then one of you can put it forward. To adopt the resolution affirming the town of Amherst commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity for black residents. Is, so who would like to put the motion forward? So moved. So moved. And is there? Shalini second. Shalini seconded, okay. Further town councilor comments. Dorothy Pam, Dorothy, you need to unmute. Thank you very much. I want to thank the people who have been part of this resolution for all the work that they've done and to remind people that it's always easier to do nothing than to put yourself out there. I also want to applaud Michelle Miller for the wonderful reparations meeting that was held. And Matthew. And Matthew. I went out of obligation and I was really excited by the really fabulous speakers. And I think it was a very important event and I'm glad that it's recorded and I guess available on the town page. I also appreciated the Amherst history. I knew much of that, but it's always good. And I do agree with Pat. Let's not think about the big whole picture. Let's look about what's in our own backyard and look at our town and to say we've been part of a large process and we want to make a new statement. I did have a worry, some people contacted me about the question of whether enough outreach had been done but I think the clarification that Shalini made that this is a case for reparations, not a plan is very important. And cause of course any plan for how it is implemented must have very, very wide participation by the black community. So I just want to say that I support this measure and I'm going to vote to approve it. Thank you. Darcy, hand up. Yeah, I have a couple of things. One is I wanna make sure that the emails received commenting on the resolution are going to be archived so that we can have them for the future. Secondly, I have a quick question and that is did the resolution get automatically referred to GOL? Yes. I think that might be a problem in our process in that counselors, the other counselors didn't have noticed that it was even happening. So for example, I didn't know it was being considered. And so I didn't contact my constituents until the packet came out, which I was surprised because I didn't know it was happening and also I didn't have the actual document. So anyway, that's a problem. I totally support the content of the resolution but as others have said, I hope that in the future we abide by the rule that states that the injuring party should not shape the remedy. That was something that was said repeatedly in the presentation, the reparations presentation last week and it sounds like that's sort of what we're agreeing to. So, I'd also be perfectly supportive if we wanted to make an amendment to the motion to add any of the language requested by Dr. Shabazz. Darcy, I need to ask, are you making that as an emotion to amend? I, yes, yes, I can make that motion to add the additional language. There is a section at the end that Dr. Shabazz wanted to add. Could you please repeat that language? I don't think I could repeat it because I don't have it in front of me but it had to do with endorsing the UN framework. Let me see if I can find the language since it was sent to all of you earlier today. And we just point out the public hasn't seen this language. It's not been part of the packet of posting or anything. So it's new language for the public tonight with zero notice. Lynn, I can read it if that would be helpful. Thank you. The language that I believe and Darcy will have to confirm this that she's trying to add is to the very end after another further resolved paragraph that the Amherstown Council supports the proclamation of the General Assembly of the United Nations of the International Decade of People of African Descent 2015 to 2024, promote the study of its theme of recognition, justice and development and align future town activities for racial justice with the advancement of human rights for all. I will move that. And is there a second? Second, Shawnee. Shawnee is seconding that. So then we're going to stay with the amendment and meantime, I'm going to send that language to Sean. Athena, you have it. Can you send it to Sean, please? Yes. Thank you. It was shared with the full council before the meeting. So the motion's been made in second to add the language that was just read by Mandy Johannike. Is there further discussion about the motion to amend? I see several hands up. And so I just want to make sure this is discussion of the motion to amend. Alyssa, is your hand still up? Yes, I'm sorry, I was talking with my mic open earlier. If the objection is that people didn't get more than 48 hours notice of what was in the resolution that I don't know why adding it with zero notice is adding anything to it with zero notice is a better idea, given the public hasn't seen that at all. But given the content that's involved, I don't have an objection. It just takes us as was just discussed a little further out again with the lens whereas we were staying focused inward. But if it's really important to people, I'm not going to fuss about it. I just thought that we were focused on the smaller and given that the town council has not support has not read that proclamation. I'm not sure why we're saying we support it because the town council couldn't have read that given that we got that email this afternoon. So unless we're gonna take the time to read it and see if it is in fact something we support, I'm just a little uneasy about complaining on the one hand that there wasn't sufficient notice and now doing something without public notice. Thank you.  Yes, so I think that Alyssa just said pretty much what I intended to say. I am very uncomfortable as a matter of course in doing an amendment that we haven't had a chance to explore and discuss in committee or think about ourselves. And mostly it's thinking about ourselves and the fact that it's supporting a proclamation I expect most of us have not had opportunity to explore. We may be very enthusiastic about it that Dr. Shabazz is always very thoughtful and thorough but I think that for us to adopt that without having read it ourselves is a dereliction of our own duty and I'm uncomfortable with doing that. Evan? Yeah, actually Andy said largely what I was going to say which is that I don't feel comfortable voting to endorse a proclamation that I've never read. And so if we're going to insist that this goes into the proclamation, into the resolution, I'm not sure it's prudent for us to vote on it tonight with so many of us having not read it. I also just wanted to say I really appreciated Pat's explanation about why she did not want to add this language and I just did a really quick reread of the resolution and really liked that it sort of closes out very focused on the work we're going to do here in Amherst and I think that adding this last piece to that as was mentioned broadens it out. And so I really want to respect the work of the sponsors who worked hard on this and keep to the version that was presented to us tonight. At this point you're only to be showing that last paragraph, not anything else. Fix that. And are there any other comments with regard to the amendment? If not, we're going to move to vote on the amendment. The amendment is to add the paragraph that you're seeing on your screen to be it for the resolved. Okay, we're going to move to a vote and I'm going to start.  Yeah, I just put my hand up because I know I'm not supposed to do what I just did but I Googled the proclamation so I could read it and it's encouraging people at a national level to link to other international cooperation and regions so it's a big broad international. It doesn't go down to the local level. I don't have a problem with what it says but one suggestion I have with this conversation is the town of Amherst wants to have a statement or a resolution that says we want to unite with other towns in Amherst or the state of Massachusetts or the US with the UN because this is talking about cross nations and cross countries. So Pat's point about most of the resolution up until this point would be about us resolving in the town of Amherst to take actions here. So I don't know whether we're prepared to take it to the national and international level. So that's what I'm reading is in the bigger... I don't have a problem with it. It's just a really big stretch from where the current resolution reads. Okay, I'm going to call the question and amendment to the motion as to the resolution and we're going to start with Darcy Dumont. Yes. Rhysmer is a no. Anarchy? No. Pam? No. Ross? No. Ryan? No. Shane? No. Schreiber? No. Steinberg? No. Schwartz? No. Balmille? Yes. And Brewer? No. And DeAngeles? No. The amendment fails two in favor, 11 not in favor and none abstaining and none absent. We're back to the original motion. The original motion is to adopt the resolution affirming the town of Amherst's commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity for black residents as presented.  Yeah, I just wanted to take a moment to thank the sponsors, but also to publicly thank the folks that put that timeline document together. That was not the, that was a little bit of a depressing read, but it was very interesting. It was very informative. There was a lot there I didn't know and it looked like a lot of work went into putting that together. And so I wanted to make sure that we think not just the people who are on the screen here tonight, but also everyone that was involved in putting that document together. It was a really useful appendix to provide context to this resolution. Thank you, Evan. And I have to say I second everything you just said. Kathy. Yeah, I had my hand up earlier and put it down, but I was going to make Evan's comment and go just one step further. I think the appendix is a terrific addition and I liked its statement in the middle that this is a living document that more will be added as they're finding it because I had one example I called into Pat that I'm going to try to substantiate. So I wanted to make sure we find a way to link it to the resolution. So if people find the resolution, it's a hot link right away to the appendix because the resolution rightly picked out a few things, but this is a very rich appendix going through hundreds of years. So I wouldn't want to have it get lost the way documents can get lost that somewhere over there, there's another appendix. So just hot link something that keeps them together and allows just, and I just applaud the work that went into putting that together. The document, by the way, for the public's knowledge is in the packet and it was updated, I believe, as recently as today. Andy, you have your hand up. Yes. Well, I too want to thank Matthew and Michelle and all of the others who were very much involved in bringing this forward. And I enthusiastically supported, I've been doing a lot of reading on my own on the national level and local level. I think that we are in a place where with this resolution where we need to go. One thing that came up in the GOL meetings as a member of the GOL committee that I wanted to just report to you is that the word, there's a word in the final resolution clause reparative and it is in the sentence that reads in part, this resolution as a first step in the reparative process. And we did receive a memorandum that raised questions that we needed to think very carefully about what the law allows us to do in Massachusetts. And but I think that it's an overreach of the word reparation or reparative to do that, which is the point that we discussed in the GOL committee because in the dictionary that I looked at during the second of the two GOL meetings we had, the word reparative, the first definition and the one that is in bold is the following, the act or process of making amends for a wrong. And then it gives in sub-definitions other things that including the possible financial. But I think that during the discussion with the sponsors participating in the discussion, we focused on that first wording, the act or process of making amends for a wrong. And I think that's exactly where we are right now. It is to set up a process and then to work later to find out what it means. And, but I did want to report that to you, so thank you. Okay. Are there any other comments or questions at this time? Seeing none, we're going to move to a vote. And I'm going to start with Lynn Griezmer and it's a yes in favor or the word I, as someone told me recently, I should say. Mandy Johanicki. Yes. Dorothy Pam. I. Evan Ross. I. George Ryan. Yes. Kathy Shane. Yes. Steve Schreiber. I. Andy Steinberg. I. Sarah Schwartz. I. Shelley Balmille. I. Alyssa Brewer. I. Pat DeAngeles. I. And Darcy Dumont. Yes. The resolution passes unanimously 13 in favor. We are going to move on. Thank you. George Ryan, are you back? Yes. I'm here. Okay. All right. Let me just introduce this by saying this is a requirement of the charter. And although it's slightly delayed because the pandemic, we are pleased tonight to have the rank choice voting commission join us. I want to point out we did not call this as a meeting of the rank choice voting commission. So although I'll introduce people and they are available to answer questions, they are not available to engage in debate or dialogue. There'll be plenty of opportunities for that if we want that in the future. So we have rank choice voting commissioner, Chair Tanya Lees. And we also want to thank the other committee members, Jesse Kraft Finch, Vice Chair, John Brian, and Ellen Lindsay and Peggy Shannon and Sue Audette, the acting town clerk for their significant assistance, for her significant assistance with this committee. Also, I might mention while managing an election, major election. As I mentioned before, we asked the committee members only answer questions directed to them by the chair of the commission and not engage in dialogue or debate with the members of the council. I think we need to think of this as a first reading, although we will decide at the end whether or not people are interested in acting on this besides accepting the report and whether or whether or not we want to bring it back for additional discussion next week, two weeks from now and or referral to a committee of the council. Eventually it does have to go to the legislature so that we can get it approved as a special act. So with that, I'm going to have Tanya who has prepared slides for us and have her introduce those and we'll move forward. So Tanya, here you go. Thank you so much. We really appreciate this opportunity to present to the town council the commission's work. As Lynn mentioned, the rank choice voting commission was mandated by section 1010 of the Amherst Homeral Charter for the purpose of proposing a measure to adopt and implement rank choice voting in Amherst. It's been a great privilege to work with this group of people over the past year and a half. It's really been a fantastic experience and they have been really a fabulous set of people to work on this with. Just as a quick note, I will use throughout the presentation, RCV to stand for rank choice voting. So just really briefly, what is rank choice voting? Voters will have a ballot in which they can rank their candidates, first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on. The essential method is that there is a threshold set for a candidate to win the election. The first place votes are counted. If a candidate meets the threshold, then they win the election. If no candidate meets the threshold, the weakest candidate is eliminated. Those ballots are redistributed to the next choice candidates on those ballots and the process is repeated until one of the candidates passes the threshold and a winner is declared. For local elections in Amherst, the complication is that most of our local elections involve multiple seats. School committee, the library trustees, town counselors have two per district and the three at large counselors. And so there are some further elements that need to be added to the method in order to fill these multiple seat positions. In the small example I have here, it's showing a contest where four candidates are competing to fill three seats. Again, there's a threshold indicated by that dashed line. The threshold is determined by the number of seats that are to be filled. If any candidates have enough first place votes to pass the threshold, then they win seats. If then there are still seats remaining to be filled and no other candidates pass the threshold, the surplus votes of the winning candidates are distributed to next place choices on those ballots. If still no one meets threshold, the weakest candidate is eliminated. Those ballots are redistributed and this process iterates until all seats are filled. The idea behind this method is that it tends to lead to much more representative outcomes, a greater proportion of the voters contribute to electing the winning candidates to fill the seats. And so it tends to have some very good outcomes. However, it also, as you can see, leads to some further complications. So the commission spent a great deal of time carefully looking into the different methods and calculating ranked choice voting results and how this method could be successfully implemented in a town like Amherst. We spoke to election officials in multiple towns. We met with the town attorney to ensure that we would be compliant with state election law. We met with experts. We spoke with representatives of voting machine companies to research the hardware and software options. And we also ran a couple outreach events to connect directly with Amherst voters. And I just wanna share tonight a few highlights of some of the key steps, the essential actions that need to be taken soon if the town decides to implement ranked choice voting in time for the November 2021 local elections. One really key thing that needs to be done is to submit a special act to the legislature permitting use of ranked choice voting in our local elections. We provide text of such an act in appendix one of our report, which was drafted with the assistance of the town attorney to smooth the acceptance in the legislature of this act. We recommend several actions, including working with the state's election division to ensure that they are satisfied with our implementation plan to solicit support of our state representative and state senators, as well as others in the legislature who may support ranked choice voting. And also to talk with East Hampton who recently passed such a act and have been using now ranked choice voting their elections to build on their experience, which could be really helpful to us in streamlining our own effort. We need to acquire a ranked choice vote in enabled hardware and software. This includes tabulators for all of the precincts and have one in town hall. The central results calculator, which would then pull in the results from all the tabulators needs to have ranked choice voting enabled software. One issue that we saw is there's really only one company providing commercial software that can handle the multi-winner ranked choice voting that would be required in our local election. So that's probably our best option. A couple other key issues I'd like to highlight is accessibility. We need to make sure that our auto marks can be programmed for ranked choice voting ballots. And if not, we need to work with the state to identify replacement to ensure that our elections are fully accessible. And another issue is of writing candidates because manually entering a ranked choice ballot requires quite a bit more work than a regular ballot. It would be very helpful to have a feature turned on in tabulators that would enable direct writing in of the writing candidates into the cast vote record. The town should also be aware that there is substantial work to be done in updating our procedures for training, testing, and security if we were to implement this new system. That election staff and poll workers will need to know how to work with the new equipment. The different procedures will need to be updated. And I'd like to highlight, for example, the recount procedure, which would be rather different under ranked choice voting than under our current system. And of course to ensure that everything is fully secure in the elections. A few other policy decisions that would need to be set by the town is to finalize all details of the method used. There are a number of small details. For example, things like tiebreaker rules. If two candidates both sort of tied for as the weakest candidate, you need a tiebreaker to determine who would be eliminated first, for example. We would also need to work on ensuring we had a very clear ranked choice ballot design that was as friendly as possible so that voters could be confident that they're filling it out correctly. Voter errors are much more likely in this kind of ballot. There's sort of more ways to mess up. And so we need to make sure that it's very clear to people how to fill it out. And also for the town to set clear rules on how to interpret ballots with errors so that we can do our best to determine voter intent wherever possible. A last issue I wanted to highlight was a question of preliminary elections. And the question of under what circumstances would the town hold preliminary elections to narrow the field of candidates for local contests? The key thing we really took away from our meetings with elections officials in other towns that are using ranked choice voting is the importance of voter education and voter outreach. That what really made for a successful rollout of ranked choice voting was to utilize multiple media, contact as many different constituencies as possible to educate them in how to fill out a ballot and make sure that they understood the basics of how the elections would then be decided so that they had confidence and trusted the new system. The town should also be aware that this will require some additional resources to roll out ranked choice voting. We'll need of course the new hardware and software that is ranked choice voting enabled but we're also gonna need to update many of our procedures and take then staff time not only to update those procedures but to do training, testing, carrying out the elections may take some extra time just because of everything being under a new system. There's the time then also for this voter outreach and education effort that we strongly recommend to really increase the chances of a smooth rollout and voters feeling confident in the new system and it may also require some extra staff manning the polls to assist voters if they have questions about filling out these new ballots. And that I will wrap up. Thank you. And the commission is very happy to answer your questions. Okay, I'm going to go to our council and the first of hand up is Kathy Shane. Hi, I wanna thank you for an amazing report for starters. I mean, I actually read all the way through it and I thought, okay, you've anticipated questions and what the message, the other thing that came through to me is how complicated this is. You went through, you just showed us a very simple graphic on called surplus votes. And so I wanna ask some specific questions as I went through this. So I actually tried to do a ballot and I thought, okay, I would need a lot of instruction because one possibility is I would just, if I had seven candidates running for five slots, I would just pick my five and make them all ones. And in your document, in your document, you said, there goes my ballot, pachum out the door, cause I've done it wrong. So let me just go to some of the nitty gritty part, but in the graphic you showed, if two candidates came in and above the threshold, you take their surplus votes and you give them away to the other candidates. How do you pick which surplus votes? So if one said Kathy and Mandy was this and another said Kathy and Evan or Kathy and Alyssa or which one of those is my surplus? So it's gonna matter because the second person that that person said is gonna get that surplus vote. So that's my first question on it. And is there any, so should I just give several Lynn cause I have just two more that are questioned. So my second would be, could we do a trial? You gave a, the school was listed with the seven people for five slots. Could we try it out with 300 people and see how hard it is to tell people what they're doing? And cause I'm worried that we might suppress the vote because people find it's difficult or with errors. So just a trial. And then the last is I just reread the charter language and Mandy will be able to answer this. It says the council shall adopt. It does, do we have the ability with or without amendments, but we have to adopt a ranked choice? Do we have to adopt some ranked choice method? Cause you went through some choices within it, but could we decide that we can't get this all up and running by 2021? We need a trial period. We need more information cause there's a lot of costs, both machines and people and time. So do we have, can we say no if we decide to? So that one may be a Mandy question. So my first two on distribution of surplus votes and could we, before we go to the legislature to get something approved, do a trial? So why don't we pause and go ahead, Tanya. All right, great. So those are great questions to answer sort of the simpler one first in the outreach events we held where we had people fill out ranked choice ballots. People were very easily able to learn with just a little guidance and usually found it pretty intuitive. The elections officials we talked to in other towns said that that was something that people pretty quickly learned to do, especially if you made very explicit materials saying don't make this mistake, don't rank more than one person at the same choice level, don't skip ranks, you just, you lay out exactly what to do, people learn very quickly. In terms of the surplus, I oversimplified it a bit. It's actually a fraction of every one of those votes that voted for that winning candidate that are transferred. And so it's evenly spread across that entire group. But then you get into this idea of a fractional vote proportional to how much of a surplus it was gets transferred over to the next choices on all those ballots. So it does not treat any voter differently from any other voter. And in total, you do not get more than a single total vote. And the last question, actually I'm going to turn to Mandy Jo on that one. Yeah, so I had my questions, but I'll answer that one first. It is the intent of the Charter Commission in writing the language shall adopt with or without amendments that the intent was to not give the council any leeway that the council must vote yes. It could modify it, but it must vote yes. And the Charter itself actually said, we have to vote within, I think it's 90 days. I didn't have time to move the Charter down from the section seven that I'm staring at, election section. But I think we have 90 days, three months to actually adopt. You'd need an opinion from the town attorney on if the council actually voted no or voted to refer back, who could potentially sue the council for not following the Charter language. But the Charter Commission's intent was that the council vote has to vote yes, that they could not even refer back. Is there anything you'd like to add to that? I think there is potentially some leeway in the timing. I don't think there is anything in the measure that required it to be accomplished by a certain time. So if the town feels it can't get all of this done in time for November 2021, or for example, if there end up being holdups in the legislature, I think there is some flexibility in the timing. But the commission is hopeful to see all of this followed through. Can I just clarify on this particular issue? If we did not pass it, then would there be a primary in, right? That's the answer I wanted you to come out with. So the Charter Commission wrote into Section 7 of the Charter, which is the elections section that there is one town election, November, the first Tuesday and November of the odd years. There was a preliminary for our election only that was written into a transition provision of the Charter in Article 10. But Article 7 does not provide for preliminaries. And in fact, the school committee and library trustee election that the RCV commission kept going back to for ballot names did not have a preliminary because the Article 7 does not allow for a preliminary. It does not provide for one. Susan, do you have a comment? Susan, I don't. No, I confer with Mandy Jo. Okay. I just want to make sure that if you have anything to add as our person who is seen to have the election official responses that you chime in, okay? Absolutely. No, I'm just sitting here nodding. So yes, I'll speak up. Thank you. All right, Mandy Jo, you have a question. Yeah, I had three questions. Two of them are timing issues actually. And the other one goes to ballot ranking options. And so I guess the question I have for the RCV commission is do you guys believe that there is and pursue too that there is still time to implement for the November, 2021 elections if we get this to the, you know, I know there's a lot of ifs to go with this because obviously if the special act doesn't get passed till September, it probably can't happen. But if everything goes our way, is there a belief by the RCV commission and our acting town clerk that it could be implemented for November, 2021? I ask that because while we have to act and adopt in 90 days, we can probably choose which election to adopt for or goal, go for. And so I'd like to hear the thoughts on that one. Similarly, if there is a thought that we could do that, is it wise to start the purchase of the new tabulators now? I saw on the report that was fabulous. Thank you so much for the report and all the work that went into this that we're looking at new tabulators anyway. And so the question is, should we be buying them now in anticipation that we get a special act passed? So we buy the right ones for that? Or is it wiser to wait to see? So those are my two sort of timing issues. The other one was the sample RCV ballot in the appendix where you listed three different, you had school committee, you had library trustees and you have the housing authority listed and you had seven ranking abilities for school committee, library trustees had six, housing authority had three. And I thought in my first reading that that was too little for some of them. And so I wanted some clarification on that because the special act language had for each contest, the ballot must allow a voter to mark rankings for at least the smaller of either the number of seats plus two. So for school committee, for library trustees, that would be eight or the total number of declared candidates plus writing candidates. And I think that's where I got confused because I thought we always have to have five or six or three write-in options on our ballots. And then you add candidates on top of that and you're probably always going to be over that number of openings plus two, yet the sample you guys provided pretty much followed the second of that. So is that language supposed to mean the total number of declared candidates, the names on the ballot? Plus those who are known to be write-in. And I put that in quotes because we always have write-ins but we don't always have declared write-ins. And so was that language meant to be someone like when we go back to the Senate election when Joe Comaford was elected in the primary, something like that where there was an actual campaign for a write-in that that would count to it. And if there isn't an actual campaign, it's just the number of names on the ballot. So that's my other question. Can I end? Oh, who wants to go? Yes, Sue, please. Okay. Mandy, Joe, the write-ins are actually dictated by mass general law. You have to have equal number of write-ins to the number of seats available. So if we're electing five there have to be five write-in spaces. Okay, so I'm not looking at the examples that we gave. So I'm not sure how to answer that but I can at least address the write-ins. Okay. That's helpful. Yeah. And just note that the sample is provided to us by ESNS. So we didn't have any control over how many ranks they put on each one. They're just trying to show us an example. So we would recommend definitely put as many choices for people to fill in as is reasonable. So yeah, so don't be, that's not supposed to be representative of the number. We definitely recommend having a good reasonable set of choices for people to bubble in. Could we go back to the two questions with regarding timing? Is there still time to do this? And should we start purchasing machines? Timing is a good question. I like the if, if, if, if, if. That's all I can say is I agree. If this goes perfectly, if that goes perfectly, if this goes perfectly, yeah, I think we all agree we would just have enough time. When did things always go perfectly?  That's just my opinion. I like to have everything well oiled out ahead of time, you know, well worked out, having all the kinks put out. You know, you want to, you want to roll this out as Tanya was saying and the rest of the board with a lot of confidence from our voters. You don't want to have any glitches in the system. So I personally feel we should hold off and try to take as much time with every single step of the way, make sure we've worked through every single thing before we move to the next. Just pursue on the if, if, if. And that is at what point and at what time would you feel it needs to be a definite in order to pursue November, 2021? I'd have to look at a calendar, Lynn. I'm not, I couldn't answer that off the top of my head. I think that's a critical question for all of us. There was a second question about the purchasing machines. And that's on your, is Jeff, is Jesse on here? Yeah, I'm here. Okay. Both the machines that the committee has recommended support both rank choice voting and typical plurality voting, what we use right now. So if you decided to buy machines sooner rather than later, just be aware that it will lock you into specific solutions for rank choice voting. But if you purchase the machines and have not adopted a rank choice voting act that you will still be able to use them for the normal operations of elections and Amherst. Oh, did you have a comment that you wanted to make? Okay. Is there any other comment from the committee on the issue of machines? Okay. And then I guess the other, did we, Mandy, Joe, did we answer the question about the write-ins? And then appendix? You know, I know, Sue, that the law is that we have to have a space for every single office for a write-in or every single, you know, if there's three openings there have to be three write-in spaces. The question is when you use the phrase the total number of declared candidates plus write-in candidates, does that always mean the number of candidates on the ballot plus those three spots on the ballot? Or does it mean the number of candidates that are on the ballot plus if we know someone is running as a write-in like happened with Joe Comaford back in the state Senate election two years ago now that that would get added on but otherwise that write-in issue wouldn't get added on to that. No, it's the first situation. If you're just looking at seats and write-ins even if somebody's running a writing campaign they're taking up one of the write-in seats basically. Okay. All right, so if there's five seats there's five lines for write-ins, got it. Okay. Alyssa, you have your hand up. Sorry for the delay. Yes, indeed I do. And I think part of the interesting aspect of this is we have to do something. The timing of something is a little bit questionable in terms of could anybody really go after us for not doing it for the next election? I'm guessing not, but I don't think we have the choice to just say now, we don't like that ranked choice voting. So this is really complicated because it's a matter of both understanding the information we've been given and then understanding what choices we still can make within the fact that we have to do it in some fashion. So I just wanna make a bunch of comments and I'm not sure that actually they can be answered as questions. One is I really, really appreciate that you got the report to us so far ahead of time because it was really dense, a lot of information in there and even for those of us who've been to cookie parties and beer parties with voting before, before you started your candy explanations with the various local organizations that have been promoting this for a long time, it's still really important to see how each of those circumstances got teased out. So thank you so much for getting it to us far enough ahead of time. I wanna comment that it's really all well and good to say it's easy to explain, but when the people who have ignored all of our outreach actually show up to vote, we can't hand them a piece of paper that says, here's how you fill out a ballot like this to the best of my knowledge because we've never been able to do that before. So I'm not sure, I know you mentioned the education on the spot, like you might have somebody there who kind of explains it to people as they're going in, sort of like a stacker when we were like making sure people were in the right precinct to vote. But that makes me uneasy because I wish we could hand them something like your wonderful handout and I don't think we're allowed to do that. So I'm a little concerned about that because we do know that people are gonna show up cold who knows what we're gonna be able to have for mail-in voting and in that, maybe we'd be allowed to include something, but I doubt it. I'm not sure why people who were working for you didn't give you any control over what an example ballot would look like. I would have hoped they would have done that. I wanna point out that in Minneapolis for the people who are using that, and I realize Cambridge is our local example, but that's Cambridge.  So Minneapolis has only five seats that are at large. That's none of their city counselors. That's stuff like their tax authority and their parks. And they literally only have five seats that are at large that we have to manage. But as you carefully pointed out here, we have every one of our districts has two, at large has three, we got five school committee members, we got six library trustees, we've got three. It just doesn't seem to scale particularly well. As much as I love the idea of ranked choice voting, it doesn't feel like it scales well for Amherst. And so that is, as you say, why the educational process is so important, but I don't see any communities that are doing it given the number of multiple positions that we have that are actually doing this. Now I also see, like I said at the beginning of my remarks, we don't have a choice, we have to do it. But it's gonna be way harder than it is for Minneapolis to explain and for Cambridge to explain and everybody else. I'm not sure why preliminary elections were discussed at all, because Mandy Jo very coherently pointed out that we had one preliminary election. We can't just decide we're gonna have a preliminary election just cause we feel like it. We, that would require a different charter that would require special legislation. So that's treated in kind of an offhand manner in the report and that concerns me because it's definitely not something we currently have the authority to do. So that would be a separate process where we decide to do that. One assumes that if we don't get this done for November of 21, that we would just be completely at large like East Hampton was, for example, when they didn't have preliminary votes. And we just have all the names on there just like we did for school committee unless we had some different special legislation other than what's put here. I'm concerned about the choice that was made for resolving duplicate rankings and maybe that's a place I can actually ask that we can amend something, which is where it talks about if in the cases of when people screw up their ballot, the people who are below that, I have this all written out, but I know I'm running short on time, that then all those get thrown out. And that really concerns me because one of the big reasons to have ranked choice voting is to say, hey, there are five candidates. Let's pretend there are only five, Har Har, but there are five candidates for three seats. You have like five inputs as to how the selection works. You don't really get five votes, but you have five inputs. If you screw up your ballot, you maybe get one or two inputs.  Now it's gonna be really easy to do that and it does feel like it's going to worry people that they're going to be disenfranchised. So I wonder if we might rewrite that section of the special legislation that I thought I'd copied that I believe is an item D associated with that picking a different choice there. And then the other thing like that that's mentioned very, I thought in a rather generic way, we recommend avoiding random tie breakers like flipping a coin. I can't with a straight face ever explain to a voter that we're gonna flip a coin in Amherst. That's just not gonna be a thing. And so it does need to be clear what that's gonna be like. I understand that the special legislation says town clerk, board of registrars, et cetera, but we're not gonna flip coins. Like that just makes me crazy. But I do wonder how strongly you felt, given all the work you did about that piece that I said we maybe could amend that said, if you spoil your ballot rather than it being, and you have all the different methods laid out there that you stop at that point and everything that's after that is just tossed out the window. If there's a way to at least take that into account, there's like another option there about apportioning that. And so I wondered if you had like split feelings about that or if you came really strongly on one side or another for a particular reason. Thank you. And listen, for the sake of clarity, I wanna just ask and make sure that it's really that one question that you're asking. The other concerns all remain, but it is one, that is one question that I think we could write an amendment about because there seems to be another method that's fairly straightforward associated with that. It's just a matter of if it makes as much sense as it seems to make to me when I read it and I tell people they've spoiled the ballot. So it's okay. Tonya? Yes. So could I call on Peggy Shannon? She was sort of our expert on this and we did talk very extensively about this issue in the committee, please. So Alyssa, you raised a very good point and it was, we did have mixed feelings on the committee what to say about that. And I wanna just speak to it in a couple of ways. One is that the tabulators that we use have some settings for recognizing mistakes in the ballots. So depending on what we choose to use for tabulators they may be able to kick out a ballot that has a mistake on it. And so people voting in person would have that opportunity to then fix their ballot or cure their ballot as they say. So we're hoping that the machines that we choose will be able to pick up a lot of the errors that people would make. That's not gonna work for the mail-in ballots obviously or people may choose not to fix their ballots. In terms of why we made the decision we did one argument was that the charter has very few requirements for the ranked choice voting system but it does say that a lower ranked choice cannot hurt a higher ranked choice. And so what would we do with a ballot if somebody ranks two candidates at number one say or at number two, what do we do with that information?  So there's a concern and perhaps there's a workaround certainly willing to talk about it but there's a concern that by not throwing out all of the lower rankings we are then not following the very explicit language of the charter. All right, George. Yeah, I don't know, I just lost my picture but you don't need to see me really. There I am again, I'm gone. First of all, thank you to the committee. I wanna echo that great amount of work, very impressive and getting it to us in a timely fashion. This is much appreciated. I am concerned about the timing here. 2021, we've already heard that basically everything has to go perfectly pretty much and we know that's just not gonna happen. We're still in the midst of the COVID crisis and that's gonna make it even more challenging. So I have serious concerns about the timing, getting this done by September, November, 2021 from what I'm hearing. I'm also hearing new machines, software, educational materials, staff time. Sounds like we might be talking about real money. So I'm just curious if there's any sense of what this is gonna cost. Apparently we don't have any choice but maybe we have some choice about more expensive versus less. I'm just curious about the cost of this. Okay. I think the second is really the question since we've already talked about the first. Are there any? Excuse me, are there any estimates of cost? So as far as staff time, there's really no way that we could speculate on that cost. We have received some estimates from one of the companies and either Sue or Jesse may be better able to speak to what those extra costs would be for that machine. So I would pass the ball to them. Jesse, Sue? I'm trying to find it, Sue. If you have it first, you can pitch in. I got an early quote. You got a more recent quote. My early quote was around 78,000 for the voting equipment but you got a better quote. Or at least more recent. Would that include software as well? Yeah, so let me see if I can find that email real quick. Here we go, I found it.  I have it up right now. Yeah, the total for, so we have two options going for us and one of them we have a quote for. The other one is more difficult to estimate because it has some variables which we can't account for immediately. One quote is from LHS Associates and it's for the Dominion ImageCast Precinct and Associated Software and that would be a total of $71,500 for one Precinct Tabulator, or sorry, 11 Precinct Tabulators and a software bundle plus a annual license for that software which is $800 per year. So the other company is ES and S. They have a Precinct Tabulator, the machine at the precincts which can scan rank choice ballots, but they do not have software that can then run the election for it. And so as a result, we would need to use a third party open source software and that would require, depending on what you wanted to do, hiring a software developer, getting it vetted by the state. It's kind of a messy situation and it's why we recommend the other solution, but we don't have a quote from them. The expectation is that potentially we can get money from the state or the federal government for these machines as an upgrade because there is money set aside for that or there was, I do not know if there is anymore. Okay. Is there anything else on that particular one, George? Did we answer your questions? Okay, Dorothy. I'm gonna talk about timing in a different sense. We're at a time when a huge number of people are questioning elections, which we keep being told have been carried out with good security. But if I can't explain to somebody how this works, and there's no way I could ever explain what you were talking about the surplus votes in a satisfactory way to somebody, then what we're doing is we're creating an aura that is not good where people, because it's not opaque, people can't understand it clearly. If you did it just when I thought it was gonna be just your second choice, your third choice, but there are all these fancy other things that have been added on, make it so that people would say, how can you check what's going on? And then in the discussion this evening, when people talked about problems, you talked about judgments that are made. That's what has been driving people crazy or at least the thought that there were judgments being made in the people who've been challenging elections around the country, the thought that the people there were deciding, well, this one's okay, but that one's not. Well, I think this is a this or maybe it's a that. So if we have to do this, I don't think this is a year to do it. That's all, it's, for example, when you're gonna make a big change, you need a big lead in. When Holyoke Community College decided it was gonna quit forbid smoking in any building and on any part of the campus, it was a three or four year lead up with signs that were telling you and telling you when it was gonna take place. And there were smoking cessation, clinics offered. And I see a lot of need for education and education in person to person education, not COVID socially distanced, I'm wearing a mask kind of education. So I just see this as an idea which is very exciting to a lot of people has been done in many other places. And I guess it's gonna be done here at some point, but I don't see it that this is the right year to do it. That's all. Andy? So I guess my question really gets back to the special legislation and the timing of special legislation and whether anybody has reached out to Representative Dom and Senator Comerford about it as of this point to find out when they think that they would like to have proposed legislation before them if we're going to ask them to act on it during the first year of the next session. Mandy and I have had some experience with this because there was another provision in the charter transition that governed the timing of the election that all of us ran in two years ago. And it required special legislation too and was challenged by some citizens on some legal issues. It was not a simple matter. And as a member of the charter commission and member of the select board, the two of us were involved in going down to Boston to testify before the joint committee on elections and it was not a quick and simple process. So with that observation in hand, is there any way that we should consider or could consider asking the legislature to file our legislators to file a bill immediately even before we adopt a report and then would they accept amendments to the legislation and would they recommend that as a better process? I'm gonna call on Paul Bachmann because I know he has already given Mindy and Joe heads up and that's the extent of what I know at this time, Paul. And that's literally the extent just to give them a heads up that this was coming to the council that they could read the report if they so chose Lynn and I are scheduled to meet with Senator Comerford later this week so we can talk to her about that if we'd like. An excellent questions, Andy, about whether or not you can file something and then amend it later on.  Yeah, I just wanna build on some of the other questions. On one, I don't know how many people ran into this but in our first election for council, I can't tell you how often I was asked was I sure that there were two people from each district that it wasn't just one person. Then they said, and what is this at-large thing? And I'm not in district one, I'm in precinct one, where does precinct three? So the sh