d for a chancellor to be a true community partner so I have some language to add to the ask for questions to cover the following things and I can read my language I'm not stuck on my language but I thought what I've felt we've been missing is that true community partnership between the chancellor and our town so what I came up with briefly was the need for the chancellor to be a true community partner with the town to address as a partnership the challenges faced by the town as a result of the university's presence in town and the decisions it makes with respect to schedules student enrollment building construction parking and student housing so I would like to suggest based on the extent of those suggestions that we not act on this tonight that I collect individually but not replying all various changes and I bring it back on the 17th and the reason I'm suggesting that is because there is not the urgency on this one that there is on others okay and the only thing I would like to ask and that is I'm more I'm more than glad to have this be from the council and on behalf of the council unless you tell me you don't want that I just wanted to clarify I'm I managed to be on behalf of the council so I'm unless there's further comments about this I'm going to send something out to counselors I'm going to take suggestions and come back on the 17th with a something a revision how's that Pam Maroney for your consideration of that of that material the the recognition of of inadequate and you would put it much more positively inadequate pilot payment or other alternative compensation to the town would be of interest I totally agree with the with the seeking a candidate who has proven exemplary in in sustaining and supporting the host the host communities are working in collaboration with I think that the quote about the transitioning to adulthood came directly from the chancellor's community breakfast talk right it may not be the way to use in there however here Michelle just I have a general comment about the process here so while I appreciate that you wrote this letter Lynn on behalf of the council I think was the intent I think we were individually invited to come to listening sessions and whether we did or didn't we may have particular vision or recommendations that we would like to provide individually to the committee and I think that in particular this is a really political matter in some sense that we all have different viewpoints on and it's very difficult to create one letter that would capture all of that and have all of us feeling like it accurately represented our voice I don't feel like this letter it gets to some pieces of how I might express myself but it doesn't accurately represent my voice in this matter completely so my question is if we are to have a letter sent on behalf of the council first of all I'm not even if you take all of our input it's going to be really difficult I would imagine to put it into one letter but I'm wondering if we are not prohibited from writing our own letter from our own personal self right to the committee you are never prohibited from writing your own letter okay and in that case would we write it as a resident would we write it as a town counselor or both and is there just any sort of guidance it doesn't matter it's it's but I think you should identify who you are yeah yeah absolutely that's you know a resident and a district one town counselor got it okay I'm not I'm not I haven't even like thought far enough to think if I would write a letter I just want to kind of put that out there that this is a tough one I think to get this council all in one letter and so I wouldn't want any one of us to feel like it didn't accurately represent our voice or our concern in in this matter thank you Athena you wanted to chime in sure I just wanted to point out that the counselors could write their individual individual letters and indicate that they're counselors and residents but not that their viewpoints in the letter reflect that of the whole council they could write a letter on behalf of the council yes so only the chair can write a letter on behalf of the council and even that comes with some approval process by the council that's correct getting okay and the and the only time that I have ever not come and come back is if we've already voted and all of a sudden a hearing gets scheduled on an issue then I will go ahead because we have voted okay in this case we didn't vote so is there any other questions or comments in that one okay then we're going to go on to the next one which is you're gonna have to pull it up on the screen I guess I didn't copy the right oh no I did this is the one that would go to various members of the senate and the house in massachusetts it is in support of adding funds or otherwise to the m mass board of library commissioners coffers so that they in turn could give us and 11 other towns money to make up the difference that we're all experiencing because of inflation this was also a letter that several people that you all got an email encouraging individual letters and so this is you and some of you have already sent those individual letters I know of one counselor that has I did not receive copies from other counselors and if you did that's great but this would be on behalf of the council so Pat yes I had a resident who requested that I vote against this against sending this because they were concerned it might have an impact on money coming forward ARPA money coming forward for the school building project do you have any idea whether that that there there is that those two things are connected they're not connected per se but there is a growing effort to try to get mass school building authority which drives its money elsewhere it derives it from a sales tax to increase their levels of funding that they also could be looking for money from ARPA but it's there the way that mass school building authority is funded for the project that we are seeking is the sales tax is that correct pal yes so it they're different pots of money per se thank you okay are there other questions or comments alisha you specifically asked that this be with taken off consent um so the reason why I wanted to be taken off consent is because like I just myself don't agree with it and so I don't think that anything should be sent on behalf of all people who don't all agree like I think even one person should be not on behalf and if everyone feels very strongly about it then everyone can write their own letters um I also like specifically don't agree with the mentioning and the specification of the ARPA funding um because I personally believe that ARPA funding was prioritized for other things even at a federal level and should remain prioritized for those other things um and so I just prefer if counselors to send their own into the door letter alisha I maybe other people are not having problems but your voice is not as clear tonight as it has been other nights and so I'm hoping I understood that but I'm not sure I did are you using ear earphones or something yeah that is exactly I've been also having like connectivity issues um and so I was hoping that this would help um because like can you really not hear me or do you want me to say it again or do you want me to try to tell me in a different way yes if you would please I'm sorry I I just can't understand sorry can you repeat yes go ahead can you not hear me or if you want me to like try to go without my headphone so it's it's like a muffled connection but alisha can I try to summarize what you just said and see if that is correct um yeah that would be helpful thank you what I heard was that you don't agree with the letter and therefore you thought it was inappropriate for the council to send a letter on behalf where the president to send a letter on behalf of the council if even one counselor disagrees with it um and if if it's not a unanimous vote then it should only be on behalf of the counselors who voted for it um that was the gist of basically what I got and then I think there was something in there about reasoning why you didn't agree with it that you thought there was ARPA funds for that should be used for other reasons and maybe not this one but that one was where to me you know got muffled even more alisha does that capture what you were saying yeah I apologize but yeah so the beginning is spot on and the second part about ARPA funds is also spot on just that I just don't agree with that specification of funds okay um I'm sorry I I think we I think we have it other people had their hand up jennifer yeah so I just had a clarification getting back to pat's question um because I had a constituent expressed the same concern so for the um for the school so they their source of funding is it's not ARPA funding but the town might still go and request ARPA funding for the school just like is that because we the library's getting funding from the master's sport of library commissioners and we're also going for ARPA funding the funding for these schools for the school construction project comes from sales tax okay that does not prevent mass school building authority from seeking additional funding however at this point we are not aware that they are actually seeking additional funding okay so I guess my question so the town would never be writing a letter like this for the school if I guess that's if the town wrote a letter it would probably be in conjunction like this with other school other municipalities that are seeking money for schools and it would probably be to the mass school building authority asking them based on inflation to consider some changes in their formula appropriation of their existing funds that does not mean that mass school building authority when asked for ARPA funds but that's not where their funds come from thank you and the town it wouldn't even be worth the town asking the state individually for ARPA money it would only be if there was a collective effort okay thank you Andy yeah I I guess I have two things that I need to say in response one is that the council takes all sorts of actions on behalf of the town that's what we were elected to do we just passed a by-law where there was a split vote but we passed it and it was we were making a collective judgment and when we state an opinion about a matter that affects the town again it's something we vote on but collectively that's what we're elected to do so I as a matter of principle felt that I needed to start with making that point as you know I'm on the MMA financial policy committee we've talked about this a lot at the financial policy committee I think we all have to recognize is that we were led to believe by the mass board of library commissioners that we received some of money that was a percentage of the construction project and as that chart showed the construction costs increased significantly the MVLC did not increase its share and put the entire burden of paying the difference on the library and the town and it has been what has caused all of this recent agony that we have been dealing with and I think that it's important that we do something to say that we really support the any effort that's possible to get the mass board of library commissioners money that they are directed to use to take its share of the cost increase and not leave it to the towns and I think that that's an important statement also to be made for the schools which is subject to we've discussed also the financial policy committee but it's a different funding source it's a different issue it's a different set of problems the MVLC has additional money it's a question of how it chooses to use it as opposed to the board of library commissioners which gets an appropriation that's a flat amount of money and it has no you know it can only go back to the legislature so they are different funding mechanisms that get to those two entities but I think that it is quite possible and if it happens we should support an effort also for the schools I don't think that they're mutually exclusive I feel very uncomfortable tape making that choice I think that you know they're both important projects both important funding sources and even if we didn't have any stake in the game I would still feel the same way I don't think that I would want to choose choose one over the other Dorothy well my question here is you have ARPA funds or any other available state funds and I guess I'd prefer to have it other available state funds because and please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm kind of feeling like Alyssa that ARPA funds are perhaps more suited towards the school many people do see these projects in conflict with each other but Andy just said that the MBLA does have other money and the library I just feel that we don't want to pit things against each other I do agree we should join with the other towns and ask for more money from the board of libraries I totally agree with that but I'm wondering whether we want to say ARPA funds in that sense that's my statement it's really my question too some of this goes to the background of the joint efforts of the 12 towns okay there is presently a supplemental budget which is considered it's quote considered the close out supplemental budget that is presently under debate there is the outside possibility that there will be another supplemental budget before the end of December and then the third option and in supplemental budgets generally we're talking about using state revenues not ARPA revenues per se on the other hand there's also a the economic development bill and the whole proposal that was between the governor and the legislature that dealt with ARPA money specific that included ARPA money so the reason the letter and I actually added the words or any other available state funds because the original letter said only ARPA the reason I thought it was important to do that is because at a minimum you're trying to hit two if not three funding opportunities between now and the end of December Michelle I wanted to clarify two things the first Andy when he started talking about the council I think being elected to represent the town or to send something on behalf of the town I'm not sure if that was in response to what Alicia said but what I heard Alicia say was not whether or not the council is representing the town but whether the president is representing the council so I just wanted to clarify I don't know which is which but that's how I heard two different things and then the other thing is so did the treasury earmark these ARPA funds specifically for library construction projects because the way that I'm reading this is an additional 87.7 million of ARPA money earmarked are you asking that they do earmark the pool of ARPA funds for library construction or is there already a pot of money that has been earmarked for library construction that you're then asking for additional monies to be made for that to the best of my knowledge there is no present ARPA money earmarked for libraries this is a request to earmark ARPA or other funds for additional library does that answer your question I think it does I'm not sure it's clear but in the letter necessarily that that's what is being said but yeah yeah that's just I wouldn't have read it that way like I would have read this saying that you're asking for an additional 87.7 million of ARPA money earmarked for library construction projects like that it was already an earmark but just for transparency what we're saying is we're asking for an additional 87.7 million of the ARPA money that's already been you know like which category of the treasury does this fall into you know the treasury had categories for how the ARPA funds were supposed to be used which particular category does the library construction projects fall into let me suggest an edit and see whether this helps okay so that in the third actually what's fourth paragraph the 12 libraries have collectively sent an appeal to the governor and lieutenant governor to include an additional 87.7 million of ARPA money asking that it be earmarked for construction yeah or to be earmarked something like that that that clarifies it for me much better definitely okay all right I agree with that are there any other changes and going back to Alicia's comment I certainly appreciate uh various uh counselors and their vote but in the past our vote of majority vote for proclamations of a majority vote for resolutions and a majority vote for letters means that it is on that is in fact on behalf of the council if you want to change that would mean a rule change Alicia hi thank you I hope you guys can hear me I just wanted to state this because a few people said my name on that my name is Alicia um so I hope that you can correct that also that um yeah so I was making the statement not for a rule change but in this region because I was trying to clarify why I asked for it to be taken off the consent agenda is because I don't agree and so like I understand and I I thank Michelle for the clarification because that was caught on in terms of what I was trying to say um and like I understand these things come on behalf of the council and that we are advocating for the town but I am also advocating like individually myself and if I don't agree and if doesn't follow my viewpoint that is why I'm taking it off the consent agenda because I don't agree and I don't think that anything should be sent on behalf of the council when when everyone doesn't agree it's different when we're voting for something that has to be passed than writing a letter for recommending certain funds we appointed for certain things that I don't agree that those funds should go to those things anyhow um and so it's just I feel like a very different thing and I understand that this is a process but this is my reasoning for this specific act to take off the consent agenda thank you thank you so are there any other questions on this letter there has been one change and that is in that fourth paragraph where it says 87.7 million of ARPA money to be earmarked for library construction projects Kathy I just have a question Lynn on focusing on that sentence we have already I understand this that we have already asked for this this letter is now to Joe and Mindy is that who it's to for ours it's actually there's a whole list of people at the attach to the letter and it goes to the president of the senate the speaker of the house the head of ways and means on both the house and the senate then it goes to members who are either ranking members or head of library caucus and then Joe and Mindy okay that you answer my question so it's they're already out there working for us on this our representatives and absolutely are and the governor and lieutenant governor are aware of this and so this letter is going to a broader audience and I assume the 87.7 which is a very specific number was calculated to was that calculated to get back up to the percent we thought we were going to get where did that number come from it was calculated by being in touch with each of the library projects taking what they were given by a mass school building or what the total project cost was when they either got their grant or would be slated to get their grant then an estimate or in some cases real numbers could now tell us what that project now cost and the 87.7 million is the full amount not just to bring to the percentage so it's the full amount so we're so in the case of Amherst we're asking for all 10 million if we say it's 10 million more expensive correct yes okay it was the idea as you asked for as much as you can and then you see what you can get and and do you expect that anyone will that you're writing this too will understand that's how you came up with 87.7 I leave I leave explaining that to the okay senator and representative who okay have requests in to meet with the houseways and means and senate ways and means thank you I'll be more than glad to accompany them if they need it they're more than capable of doing that Anika so I have a question asked for clarity I'm not sure that this would be able to be answered here but you know I know clearly there are you know we have residents that have concerns with use of the ARPA funds and what that entails however you know when you look at the list of who this letter is going to these are people where they're you know outreach of her views beyond the the the town of Amherst so my question is and even so they would not be the people personally writing the check if this were to happen so my question is where this money was cut where this money would potentially come from is there any question whatsoever that those sources would not as well I'm seeing as their people are looking at the state would not be aware of the impacts that this could have on the school or any other important projects that you know affect people and you know so I'm just wondering because I know you know just what what has been stated that this could this money potentially take from other important projects so and I'm just wondering like how especially with this list going on that we would have money being you know that just overall outreach and overall outlook in answering these questions would not account for what other projects statewide would be affected by this because unless I'm wrong and I've missed the memo do we have any clear facts yet as to how any of these of the four capital projects within Amherst could trickle down and impact the others do we do we even have that yet I hope I hope that that was clear I know I probably asked about four questions in one let me try to back in the only place that the town would be getting state dollars for any of our capital projects at this time are the school elementary school and the library there are no state funds a pot of funds available at this point for any other municipal buildings so they won't be competing with the two other projects two of the four okay your question about would it be competing with other requests to ARPA yes and that's why this goes to the legislature and that's why they spend hours and days and weeks debating this uh this is a pile of requests and they get to figure it out shallony um I'm just speaking I suppose um like in my mind I was a little conflicted whether the letter comes from the council or do we send individually and um and I I feel that as a council they're going to be you know differences in our points of view about certain issues and once we come to a decision as a majority and I think it's important to hear all the different concerns and I think this has been a very helpful discussion to at least get some sense that we are not you know it's not competing necessarily um the school funds are separate and the library and there are 11 other municipalities who are already going ahead and asking for those and it's kind of to me it feels that we are part of a larger community of municipalities who are working together to make this happen and to have some portion of the ARPA funds go towards the libraries I feel that as a council we have um even though there were differences we pat you know we supported the library to the next phase uh that we made and so I feel that the letter should come from the council in if it passes as a majority vote right now it should come from the council because um you know we are supporting the project up to a certain level that we just did then our vote on this letter ensures that we are doing everything that we can as a town to try and get funding to make that project happen and that takes into account that we will have different points of view and that's okay so that's why I will be supporting the letter thank you Pam um question about you know if this request comes in from Amherst clearly we're in collaboration with a number of other towns but if it comes in from Amherst what is the time frame that we would conceivably be going back to the legislature asking for supplemental ARPA funds for the school what what is the timing of that request if it were to happen that's a very good question with an answer that's not known there is a request uh to meet with Senator Comerford and Representative Dom regarding additional MSBA appropriation but it's not even clear that it's to go for ARPA so in other words we're paying attention to that issue as well but if that request may be more of trying to get MSBA to use some of their existing funds to help increase the formula for what they support for square footage the fact that they do not support but yet they herald um green schools and they uh only reimburse up to eight dollars a square foot I think it is for site prep so there's kind of three basic things not right about the formula for schools but again their money comes from a sales tax and if there's any additional money that they want from ARPA that's that decision hasn't been made can I follow up please so presumably they um they have a set budget like everybody else in the state government so they have a certain amount of money coming to them for MSBA and and the ability to borrow um they're they're very rigid they've they've proven themselves extremely rigid I'm I'm not excited about waiting on them for you know change of heart um if you will so I'm I'm still really really toying with you know with or playing with what the chances are of MSBA revising and increasing its funding to me it seems fairly uncertain they actually have increased their square footage reimbursement about every year or two so I'm not as negatively inclined to believe they won't do it again if you look at there at that chart that has all the dots all over it that's on reimbursement they they have changed um but that doesn't mean that ARPA is going to solve it for them because the fact that they already have their own source of money is probably doesn't put them high in the pecking order for additional state appropriation and I don't know what their revenue looks like I'm told it's it's significant so I don't Kathy I guess I guess I think the only answer on this what could ARPA mean for the school is we don't know because and so are we competing the state only gets x amount of ARPA funds I don't know how much they've already designated um you don't even know what the pot looks like the the mblc yes it has increased so it went from 330 dollars to 360 at a point all the schools were coming in at 500 and 600 so it doesn't come anywhere for square foot it hasn't come anywhere close and it's one time had a graph of three years so would mblc be more willing to move quickly if they got an infusion of ARPA funds I think I would say maybe you know so I think we just don't know because the Lynn you're expanding it to any other state funds is a good one because ARPA is a fixed amount of money whatever it is and if there's other money you know so I I don't think there's a clear answer to this that we're not competing because it's we're competing with housing for example ARPA money can be used for affordable housing and they could they could give the town of Amherst more ARPA money except that I think we've already got our designation and they they divvied it up among the town so I it's I don't think there's a clear answer here that we're not competing I think it's I think it's uncertain yeah and you could one could argue we are because it's a fixed pot so it's good that it says other state funds I mean in many ways one should say then we should submit letters for the 10 projects we would like ARPA to fund and let the legislature decide because frankly whether we write a letter or not isn't going to influence right them saying yes or no yeah it's going to it's basically putting our stake in the ground that this is one of the things we support that's it but if you have a crystal ball maybe you want to predict what the legislature no I have no I have no crystal ball I'm just saying that that's the question being raised and we don't have an answer that says these are different issues they're they're co-mingled yeah that's why you want to make what you want to make people understand what you want yeah and then they get to decide you don't always get to decide um Jennifer I hope this is a quick question um yeah I hope it's quick question uh so if we are successful and get some ARPA funds that I sounds like it would come it this may not matter whether it comes directly to Amherst they give it to the 12 how it gets divvied up but let's say there was a change in how the library project proceeded are the funds for the library no matter how we go if we you know ultimately do you know maybe can't add the total square footage but some lesser amount I mean once we get those money that money is it tied in the same way that like the mblc money I don't know if you can answer that are you talking about school or I'm sorry library library okay this request is for the library the library has any an agreed upon plan that was based on specifications from the mb mess mblc okay that is the basis upon which they gave us a grant but we can't change the square footing right but this request I said we get ARPA funding it's funding here it's totally separate from mblc great no this request would the money would go to mblc and they would then allocate it out oh okay actually this is not a request that says write the check to Amherst it's a request that says write the check to mblc and I also there has been a very significant meeting of legislators from all 12 of the towns with the mblc to make sure that they're in agreement to receiving this because one of the other things that happens with these kinds of funding initiatives is is you want to make sure you don't offend and do something that the agency that has to administer it is not willing to do and the sense that mblc has given the legislators from the 12 towns is that they're very willing to go along with this if the state wants to give them more money but it would all come through mblc not directly to the town thank you Anna I'd like to make a motion yes I move to authorize the town council president to submit the letter to legislators regarding mblc funding for the jones library second no is there any further discussion or question michelle just a quick question is there any sense that because so this is a coalition of 12 municipalities coming forward that are all in the same boat so to speak do we know if there's a similar situation with the schools that are receiving the grant through the school grant program so it's possible it's it's it's we can assume that there is a possibility that this could occur similarly yes okay perfect I I hope it will thank you okay the motion's been made it's been seconded there any further discussion or comment thank you then we're going to move to vote and this is a vote just on the letter to legislators regarding mblc we're going to start with mandee joe hannacky hi anika lobes hi michelle miller hi dorthy pam yes Pam rooney I abstain kathy shane I abstain indy steinberg hi jennifer tov hi alisha walker no shallony bomen yes pat de angeles hi anna deboling goth here hi lindry smir is an I so it is 10 in favor one opposed two abstentions and no absence correct thank you we're going to move on to the letter to the css jc and in your letter in your packet is the letter from them and then they also appeared before us back in august and the letter that you have in front of you is draft and so um a couple different people I think wanted this pulled are their suggestions for changes Dorothy do you want to go first I did not like the language relevant to the police report it just sounded like a rehash of all the reasons that police departments don't give reports and don't respond to the public and I I do feel that the css jc is is correct that a lot of time has gone by and um you know it's like it's stonewalling why can't there be a report so that I don't paragraph I don't like your so you're referring to page two at the bottom of the page where we start while we support the release of investigative reports we are aware that there are various rights and responsibilities the town is required to honor including personnel rules collective bargaining agreements and personnel personal privacy information that is correct that mean those reasons may all be valid but still is there is there any kind of response is there responsibility to the people in the town and that just tells you why you can't get an answer and I think that the committee has very clearly stated that they've waited a long time and they wanted to have a report and this is just the language that says we're not going to we're not going to do it um so that doesn't make it go away that doesn't make the people who really feel they would like to have a report not want one you know it gets makes it worse so I'm interested in peace in the town I mean I so I would just really state that very strongly I'm very interested in peace in the town and I think that some kind of police response to the request would help create that is there a way in which you would like to modify the letter I would like to say that you are that you would be that you're hoping that such a report comes soon why why do they alone not have to give a report I mean the other things are also the timelines are just so so stretched out it's going to take what two years for the police oversight of board that's a long time and here it sounds like it's never for the police report so I I'm feeling that there was a lot of frustration amongst the committee members because they felt that they had been respectful and they had asked for things that were reasonable and yet they felt they were being stonewalled and so I am passing that on to you okay Dorothy what yes so you would like us to request that a report be released a report was released from the police department was a report the DEI officer gave a report right she gave a report which we said at that meeting I mean I certainly originally praised that report then after hearing listening to the response from the citizens of the town I agreed with them that it was a good start but that it was incomplete and they I thought that we were going to get a more thorough report and that there'd be some report from the police department and that hasn't happened and there seems to be no plan to have such a thing happen so I'm just saying that if you want people to feel positive about the town and positive about the changes that we're trying to do there has to be more response than that okay I'm I'm trying to come up with a sentence maybe Joe did you have your hand up on this one particularly well I just wanted to respond and say I think the way we've worded it or the way Lynn worded it in this draft is perfectly acceptable you can desire all you want about all sorts of things in this town but it doesn't mean it's legally possible and you can't always get the release of an investigative report just because you want it there are legal requirements which are set forth in here that might be the reasons why you an investigative report cannot be released there's personnel requirements there's privacy reasons there's and the privacy might go to also the people who were involved not necessarily the workers the staff members who were involved the DEI director gave a fantastic report in my mind about what whether there was a violation of civil rights um there in my mind there isn't a need for another report um because she answered the questions that were out there was there a violation of civil rights she answered those questions in a thorough report she talked about them we're not necessarily entitled to things we want just because we want them and that's what this letter says and it may not be a satisfactory answer but it is an answer and I'm not sure we can go much farther than that Jennifer so then I by the way I would like to stick to this issue before we go on to any others okay Jennifer so so then are we saying that there won't be a report because we already got one I mean just what Dorothy is I agree with Dorothy that we there should be some a report or some information coming from if so what what um Councillor Hanneke just said is we got the report so then that does contradict what's in here saying a report will be coming which I agree is too vague but um one or the other I mean I don't think anybody believed that the the that we have already gotten a report what would you call what we got well I mean it says here the town manager has agreed that the extent possible or the town will make information available as requested so sounds like can I I just want a man was saying he was requesting it it just seems very open-ended about when we'll it will come so the CSSJC in their letter specifically said in addition the CSSJC would like to recommend the following once an investigation occurs we want the report immediately released to the public so I wrote a sentence that was not specific to this report but to all reports all investigative reports and couched it in the issues that we have to all respect and then the town manager has agreed that to the extent possible given the issues that are stated there the town will make information available as requested so I'm trying to answer the question that they asked and not it and it was not they wrote this letter before the report was released I mean I agree with uh Councillor Pan that we want to reach a place you know a piece in consensus but I think I think what she's saying is that when because we can't because of privacy it also is not conducive to a certain accountability because it was and if there's a way and I think there's a feeling that there hasn't have been a full reckoning of the situation that occurred on that night I'm waiting for edits Michelle I appreciate that you're waiting for edits Lynn I also think that it's not that cut and dry for us to just provide edits in the moment here I think it's a bigger discussion so I'd like to share my perception in terms of the reports I see two different reports I see a report from the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Director and I just I want to say that Pamela came into this really she just started in her role and came into this and I'm not privy to what led to the direction that she took in terms of making a determination in her report but I want to share that from my perspective what that report would have done from a DEI director is to give an analysis of how the situation was experienced by the people involved and how those experiences impact diversity equity and inclusion in the town of Amherst so while I appreciated what Pamela put together and again I'm not privy to what gave her that direction in terms of making a determination and making the report really focused on a determination in the future if a situation were to occur in this you know and I hope that it doesn't but if it does and I think I said this from the very beginning what I would have liked to see in that report is really an analysis of the experience the perception the way that this impacts our goals in terms of diversity and equity and inclusion because I don't think I think that there's there's a lot that wasn't that wasn't expressed with respect to how this situation has impacted us as a community and then a separate report coming from the police department that gives more of an investigative idea about what occurred and while I hear what Mandy and others are saying about the limitations there might be I would like to know more clearly from either Paul or Chief Livingstone or whomever really not just to say there are limitations because of privacy but to really understand what type of investigative report can the police department release to the community within the limitations that are being set out and then I also just want to say that I really would have I really wish that the police department and Chief Livingstone would have spoken to this or made a statement much sooner I know that we talked about it in a council meeting maybe six weeks after the incident occurred and Chief Livingstone did speak there and I appreciate that but that piece I think sort of set the tone for all of the rest of the way that this has moved those are my comments thank you I'm sorry they're not edits but I hope that you will incorporate what I have said and what others are saying somehow into this Alisha so I think just saying on this specific topic that much Michelle stated very well a lot of what I was going to say so I won't say it all over again but just in addition that I think during the conversation that we had that included Pamela Young and the police chief and where we were all present in the BFFC that there was a specific request set forward by them to be able to sort of continue to work on the report with the DEI director as they thought that that would be part of their role as a committee and I think that we talked about that possibility but never came to an actual resolution like yes that is possible or no that is not possible and I think that we should also address that because I think that we I also agree that I feel like we're kind of like leaving them hanging not giving them enough information and it feels like it's really incomplete what putting this forward and I have other specific things but this is the only one for this specific topic so if that's okay with my idea we'll talk again later about the other things if that's what you wanted okay Alicia I'm going to do my best to recap and tell me if I missed something please please please so you're saying that you were echoing what Michelle was saying and that you also added there's the other element that the CSSJC wanted to work on the report with Pamela and you didn't want to ignore that request as part of this discussion and then shoot there was something at the end to anybody was then that's that's what I got and of course sorry no yes that was everything and just that I had other comments about other sections and I was sure Lynn wanted me to wait for those things Alicia also has other comments that she'd like to share but she will respect if you want her to do them now or wait if they're about this particular paragraph and the reporting that's what we're going to stick with now and then we'll come back to other comments we should there'll be plenty of opportunity okay so then that is it for now just that I wanted to like honor and acknowledge the request of the CSSJC to be working on this alongside the BEI director as they expected that that would be their role as the committee and to see if we can also add that to this discussion because I think I personally think we should allow them to do that but I think there was no actual conclusion to that suggestion you wanted to acknowledge that CSSJC had had believed that part of their role would be to write and and work on the report with Pamela and Alicia believes that they should be doing that and wants us to have the discussion as to how how to make that happen I think and Alicia correct me if I missed something okay I'm going to try and see if I can make myself clear yeah this might not completely be about an edit I have a question for Paul in the letter Lynn you state and I felt comfortable with but the the town manager has agreed to the extent possible the town will make information available as requested and it does it was a while ago when the community safety and social justice committee sent this letter so I'm wondering why we don't have answers and I'm asking Paul this in essence I think why we don't have answers to their questions um has outreach occurred to the youth and their families by the town has the chief of police filed a report or issued a statement regarding the abuse of power demonstrated by his officers and were the officers removed from active duty or suspended those are questions that and we haven't gotten that information so the to the extent possible I'd like to hear some of the answers to that Mr. Rockwell yeah so outreach was done to the families I won't speak on any kind of actions that were taken with employees that's not considered public information um I believe and I will talk with the chief if um I think is his intention I believe to put something in writing to the human rights commission because they've written to him directly and I think that's that is his intention thank you that's helpful okay um ma'am thanks I do appreciate the effort in putting this letter together I think I'm not comfortable enough with it to put my name to it for all of the reasons that people have brought up uh earlier um my understanding was that well first of all that the police oversight advisory board it was something that but I'd like to stick to this issue if we're done on reports well okay so is there any other comment on reports okay if we're talking specifically about the reports it was my understanding that I think it was stated in the meeting with chief Livingstone that the very clear what I would call a findings report by the new DEI director was was very helpful very clear but that in fact there was going to be additional information forthcoming from the police chief and that I don't think any of us have have seen I would agree that in in some part of this document that we would acknowledge that we want we want to understand how the town has learned from this experience and what what steps we we would want to be seeing and that's that's a poor way of wording it but um you know let's let's say to the committee we acknowledge that we've been slow in pushing through the legal and and administrative hurdles to provide you with real information and real feedback and we have not adequately included your feedback and your input in the solution so in essence rather than giving the reasons that we can't provide all the information we should be acknowledging that we kind of haven't acknowledge that I'm that we that we sort of haven't provided um much we haven't made much progress and acknowledge that when people say we haven't made much progress it leaves me with questioning being more specific meaning we haven't I mean but let me just take that back I I'm I'm trying to do something that I don't think we can do so let me just rephrase that that we acknowledge that we need to be pushing through the legal and administrative hurdles to and work with the committee to incorporate their input and their and their experience the experience of the community in a more complete report Dorothy I appreciated Pam Rooney's suggestions I just want to make a very simple point that we should not be hung up on all the formal and legal reasons why we can't do something and remember that we are town counselors we represent the people of the town and we're seemingly getting caught up in protecting town workers but ignoring the children and my responsibility will always be to the children first and it's been well three or four months and it's been a very traumatic event and we're just you know talking about things and not doing actions and I think it's time to really move forward and I think we have to acknowledge that we have not we have not done some of the things we should have done. So when I think of what happened here and I think of compassion as at the heart of this work that we're doing that CSSGC is doing and to me compassion means understanding the causes and conditions that led to the event to take place and so in the 53 second video it does not capture for me the context within which those statements were made and and without knowing the context or what led up to or what were the causes and conditions that led the police to make that statement was it stated in a certain context and and if not what led to those statements being made without knowing what led to those to that event we can't solve for it and just as an example if the context was you know if the statement was made in a certain context explaining that's a different situation but if it was made out of the police people being overworked or it was too late in the night or they were in their third duty or you know like I don't know what led up to that to me is the compassion piece that allows us to then not us but the police and the staff to kind of provide the kind of support that's needed to deal with that whether it's training whether it's we need more staff or and so to me we don't have enough information to really solve for what's happened that's one thing and and I understand that you know there is we are working within the system that has been created in the past and we're bound by it legally and and there's the trust of people involved it's a delicate issue and there is youth involved and what was the impact on them so my question was more around the youth also that there was outreach done and can we I mean I it just feels like I that there's not enough information for us in council to to support the youth in a way that supports them without knowing what harm was done and and so do we have a sense from the outreach done to them what was the harm done what is being provided to them as support and then from the police side what was the context what are the cause and conditions and so it just feels like we're sort of in the middle in a vacuum not knowing and we're trying to and in the least I'm hoping that we can create a safe trusting space to have a conversation with cssjc with the police with with the different people involved here so those are my questions andy well shallowness really said a lot of what I wanted to say and so I'm not going to repeat it but I just want to add that yes we do need to be sensitive to the residents in our community and all residents in our community to make sure that they feel heard that they feel respected that they feel supported but that's also true of our employees because if we fail to support our employees and make them feel that they have been treated fairly heard and respected we're not going to have any employees anymore and we need to make sure that we're looking at the entire community and setting a sense of values for the entire community and recognize that our employees are a part of that community and so I when shallowness was describing because what I was thinking too is that what we espouse is the sense of values and that we should make sure that we're clear about our values and then we make sure that our values are equally put across the entire community and that we recognize that all employees are there too and I sort of keep thinking about this because someday somebody's going to be unhappy about what our Crest responders do and how do we want our Crest responders to handle that situation respond to the community support the community but also feel that they're respected too and so I think that we really need a broad look at this and I hope we get there Jennifer and I guess to respond to Shalini or in response to Shalini I guess that's for all the questions she raised is why I think we're looking for you know a fuller report because it was what happened did go before you know there was something before and after the 53 second video so again that's just why we're asking you know for a full report you know and if CSSJC working with the DEI director and the police department could come up with that could create that report would be really helpful for everyone in town. Alicia. Okay I hope you can hear me a little bit better now so I hoping because I have a lot of challenges with this letter and a lot of things I would want to change but most of them all like follow back to the action or inaction of the council and not necessarily like the content of the letter but rather that the of how the content of the letter relates to like the reality of what has happened and what is going to happen and so while I don't agree with the contents of the letter and I hope we can change it it also is because I hope that we can change what our actions are in response to this letter and that that in turn will change what we have to write in the letter and so this conversation is kind of strange because I know like the whole vote is whether or not we agree with the letter and I don't agree with the letter because I don't agree with how we as a council have responded to the situation and so what I'm hoping will come out of this conversation is not just like yes we agree with this letter and no we don't agree with this letter but like what are our concrete next steps as a community and how can we better respond to these kinds of situations because again let alone from the content like it took a very long time for them to even get a response to this which is a serious issue and should have been prioritized and so like what changes can we actually make and then circling back to what I said earlier in terms of the CSSJC did have a specific request in our conversation to be able to revisit the report with the DEI director and sort of fill in pieces and we say that outreach has been done to the family and so is that going to be included in the report is the report going to be updated I think there are still a lot of things that we don't know again which I think a lot of other counselors have also said but and so aside from just approving the wording in this letter what are we actually going to do like can we actually allow the CSSJC to work on this with the DEI director and I'm looking for like a response to this question not that we just move on to the next counselor because I already asked this but I want to know what we can actually do aside from changing the wording of this letter one of the difficulties in writing in drafting a response and I'm just going to be honest I probably have gone at this thing 20 times it's the most difficult letter I've ever tried to put together and while I tried to respond to their letter what I'm hearing from the council is you wanted more you wanted me to respond to the situation and you wanted me to lay out things that should be done and yet many of the things that I'm hearing are not the job of the council they're the responsibility of staff that we hire and we evaluate and in the letter we've I've tried to lay out what our role is and some next steps but there was no way I was going to be able to write a letter that says the answers all of the many things that you've now raised and yet I also feel that a response was needed to this letter as even well before now so I'm feeling caught between a response to their letter versus I think what people are asking for is a response to what we've heard so far and to the situation and I that's not what I tried to do I tried to write a response to their letter not to what should we do how should we move forward and whether or not we should be telling people that we are part of our staff how they should behave and I'm I'm just saying I want to just tear the whole thing up and start over again and yet that doesn't get us anywhere it it means we have no response to this letter and I'm I'm just sharing I it's I have as much many strong feelings about this as each of you do about the people involved about the youth involved I also have very strong feelings that we need to figure out a way to move forward and we need to figure out how to say this happened this is what we're doing we value our employees we value our residents but we need to move forward and we have already put in place enormous and I mean enormous steps to help us move forward we have voted for Crest we voted for DEI we have put money and budgets for all of those but we're not going to heal this town if we as a council can't figure out how to move forward and if we just get stuck on well the report should have said this or we need this done to this report versus what kind of training what kind of things but also what is our role as a council versus the people who work for the town and in the process we have also said things that lump all situations with all of our employees and particularly our police and other first responders and it's come across as totally devaluing everybody and frankly when we devalue everybody we devalue ourselves so what I need from this council is do you want a response to this letter and if you do we need to deal with the letter or do you want some other conversation but I really need you to put it through the filter of what is our role I'm sorry I I've just spent too many hours trying to put forward some words to help us move forward I need to call a break let's do five minutes thank you for doing bits come back at 1046 thank you it's exactly right as you return please put on your video to let me know you're back I'd like to ask counselors to spend a moment reading the letter from CSSJC and then reading the letter the draft I have no problem with people wanting to change words in drafts the purpose of this discussion was around the letter it was not for the purpose of rehashing again what should have happened didn't happen what needs to happen but the the lens that you need to look at this letter with is what is our role what is the role of the town manager what is the role of individual committees and what is the role of staff none of us work full-time for the town some of us may feel we do but none of us do okay so Michelle are your comments about the letter well you know I have enormous amount of respect for you Lynn and I just respectfully disagree with this approach I really think that we're digging ourselves into a bigger hole here I think I appreciate that you wrote a letter in response I appreciate that open meeting law doesn't allow us to communicate in between meetings I had offered to look at this letter you know and and and offer some feedback to you and I really think what the approach is is we need to have a conversation about how this council wants to respond to the situation and then from that conversation be able to draft a written response to sort of enshrine and formalize what we've talked about as a council and if and I appreciate what you're talking about in terms of the lens but we are we how do I say this was up without sounding so Paul in a sense reports to us so if we're not in a sense but he does and so if we feel like there's something that is not within our purview to address but we feel strongly about it we need to be able to communicate that to Paul and I don't think that we have had that discussion as a council I don't think that we have talked enough about how we want to respond to the matter what sorts of reports we want what sorts of timelines we want to offer how we want to engage with the community safety and social justice committee in the future I don't think we've had any of those discussions so writing the letters sort of like I don't know I just feel like it we need to do some more work before we can write a letter in response and that's so I would ask that we include a conversation it's 10 50 at night I think we're all tired I think we all care a lot about this and I would ask that we have an agenda discussion at our next meeting where we can talk more about this because I won't support this letter as it stands right now so and I don't think it's just about editing some language in a sentence I think it's a bigger discussion Anika sorry so I I do agree with a lot of what Michelle just said at this point I know that we did come looking at editing this letter but like the letters that we have seen before personal opinions and accounts are coming into account I think that for one Pamela Young is is not with us and just you know a quick reflection on the last meeting I think that we did all see Dr. Pamela come in with the information that she had and during that she gave her report and then at that time there was information that was brought up that she was you know told wasn't included but she didn't have the information to include you know I just I think that this is a packed and loaded subject we have not been able to respond I am you know being open and honest I don't know where we are confined with open meeting laws how we've talked with to each other we have you know on one hand the pressure that we do not need data to to care for or respond to a community and and on one hand it's confusing who are we not responding to because we're hearing that the the parents and the youth involved are traumatized and they are not reaching out or speaking to anyone besides members of the CSS JC correct me if I'm wrong with that and if that is the case where is it in our purview that we at some point we are talking about legal implications we are talking about reports and what is in our purview what can what can we actually release so and I would and I would imagine as as Pamela is a direct report to only poll that is there some way that we as a council can help to facilitate so at least and if she doesn't she may have this information so at least there is someone else that is communicating or at least building a relationship to communicate with the parents and the youth involved here because at this point it says if we're ignoring people who haven't responded you know and I know for myself my lens with police and what can happen with the police good bad and ugly is not a response to you know 2020 you know I it's you know a little difficult for me if I'm going to pick in get into this letter but I think that you know some of us were dealing with some people here who have probably only witnessed some of what we're talking about through videos and through the internet and really you know have seen and had this in their lens after after 2020 and it's I don't mean to sound cynical I think this is very important and there was no one who would tell me I do not care about you because I've dedicated so much of my life to this but I've also dealt with a lot of these situations where unfortunately there are some ways that you are tied that legally we have to have certain information that I think that we are blurring here in the council so I do think that we're having two different discussions one is like response and demand for information and the other is like you know I think it's very important for us to be clear what are those legal implications that we are or administrative hurdles what what pending reports are there that haven't been released to make sure that we have actually all that information and most importantly can start to build a relationship so the the parents and the youth involved are not just anonymous I understand that youth names can't be out there but you know how do we really move forward if it is just on the CSSJC to read letters anonymously you know how do we get to the the people involved I would just imagine and in my opinion that would be uh through Dr. Pamela but you know again I think this is a circular conversation at this point at least for me I'm feeling like I'm rambling and it's not intentional but I do think that what started out as a letter and I do understand and I absolutely respect all the time that you put into it Lynn I think just it's a spiraling effect from all of the letters today they've all been inclusive of our opinions and and this is one that I would imagine is the monster of all even thinking about getting reflecting all 13 opinions and feelings behind this letter thank you I'm not worried I'm just trying to figure out where we're moving for next I mean probably taking the letter off the table and we'll see what goes on next Pat well I said to you in after I read the letter in the packet that I thought it was a good letter I think I even said it was an excellent letter because it generalized what the council response was I'm gonna ramble but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do it for very long but and I still actually stand by the letter as it's written what we have not done is really address the issues and that's got nothing to do with the letter we don't look at ourselves as a community as a council as individuals very often and really address issues of white supremacy or structural racism we have and we hear anger on the part of some people of color people of African heritage Latinx people we hear anger and it feels like a tax and we run for cover and comfort so and we get too shy to say where we agree and where we disagree with those voices even among ourselves so


What's up guys, Michael Rajaspis with our first break of the day on this fine Thursday. Happy Thursday to everybody We've got a two-box break 2023-24 Bowman Chrome University basketball two-box break random letter. It's one box of delight one box of hobby We're actually giving away three free spots in this break. So that's the first order of business here Thank you to this group for getting in top three names. We'll get an extra spot in this break So we're gonna roll the dice Make it it making it harder for me on the first first roll of the day 11 times 11 times good luck two three four five six seven eight Ten and eleven All right, eleven Congratulations to Simon Brandon and Alan All three of you guys getting one free spot in this break Let me Do this real quick And then we're gonna randomize the letters and Get the break on Simon Brandon now Cool pop the names into this list. Who could be calling me right now? scam All right, so updated list same names just with Simon Brandon and Alan in there Got all the letters in here So let's roll the dice again see how many times we'll randomize All right, that one's a little bit easier one and a four five times, so we'll start with the names one two three four and Five five times there got Jason down to Chris Pop you guys into my list here and we're gonna do it again five times for the letters one two three four and five Five times there got K down to J match them up Make it look a little nicer So Jason with K Jason K with K actually Joe with C Simon with T Francis with a Kevin with L Brandon's free spot got O and P Brandon with QW and X Joe with D and E Alan with B Simons free spot with S Alan's free spot with H Joe with F and G Robert with I and N Alan with R Joe with M and Z and all other letters not listed and Chris with J. We'll give you guys. I made it here for a little trade window if anybody is Interested in trading we'll pause the video and when we come back. We'll see if there's any trades All right guys, we're back. No no trade chatter. So this is the official list. We're ready to go We'll switch it over Print it out. The Pacers Nix is the watch. I Don't know. I think Lakers Lakers Celtics, right? Any or Lakers fans? I don't know. Maybe it'll be a good game, but Doesn't what is this saying it doesn't tickle my fancy Although I think it's Tyrese Hallburn back I'm restricted minutes or something box one. We're gonna start with hobby His prop is 15 and a half. Wow. The only reason why I know that Duncan is because Oliver took him last game took whoa red shimmer Oliver took him Over 11 and a half assists and in like 22 minutes yet 10 Which was crazy first up hobby Good luck everybody Kwame Evans is that gold it is 7 out of 50 Kwame Evans in the 07 Bowman I believe right anyway, that's spot K going to Jason K I sit there killing Clark The tiktok man Jordan Dingell Out of 99 back-to-back X-fractor both of those are going to spot J Which is Chris? AJ Hoggard to 399 Going to a that's for Francis Jeremy fears purple shimmer not numbered another one for the spot J No autographs yet Johnny broom X-fractor another one for J Kyle Filipowski going to K out of 150 Jason K Angel Reese You do Wagner Look at that Isaiah Collier on card autograph Going to spot I that's for Robert. I said red shimmer first That is Devin Williams center from UCLA three out of ten three out of ten Spot D that is going to Joe. I Said Joe he's a freshman Six ten two oh five maybe I'll go watch and play this year I'm still looking for one more autograph. There's Cody Williams Ronnie Spot B is Allen and the second autograph is Riley Cougal point guard from Florida refractor auto Spot are that's going to Allen 160 out of 250 sophomore six five two oh seven big boy There we go to close out the hobby box got another brawny. This is that first Collier as well And a green Zaden high Green shimmer that's for spot Z and all other letters going to Joe 32 out of 99 and Solomon ball That's it for the hobby box. Let's get Let's get the delight box. This is my first time actually ripping a bowman you delay box I've only done hobby Well basketball that is I Said that too last time I was here when I did the bomb is best the way I'm gonna assume It's like the football version. There's brawny at a 150 nice For spot B. Namari Burnett base auto Spot and is Robert Next auto is Javante Taylor Refractor auto for spot J. That's going to Chris 174 out of 250 and we got Aiden hallway Point guard from Auburn going to spot a that's for Francis Tomorrow Jason No one's live there tonight. So that's gonna happen tomorrow. Here's a nice one page Going to spot B. I mean P Which is Brandon and his free spot? It's out of 299 Isaac McNeely to 399 Tayson Chapman To 299 Terrence Shannon to 399 Kevin McCuller Green and see what the gold is mookie cook Small forward that is 80 out of 99 there and the gold is 24 out of 50 we sleeve these up and then we'll Do a little recap for you guys Here we go. So at the page to 299 Aiden hallway autograph Javante Taylor refractor auto brawny James to 150 Namari Burnett base auto Rylan Cougal refractor auto red shimmer of Devon Williams 3 out of 10 and then Isaiah Collier Insert autograph there. He's not numbered but on card auto So pretty nice if you guys liked what you saw I posted number 19 So we posted another one of these breaks. Thank you once again to everyone who got it to the break Thank you guys for watching and I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye guys


Abstract cells have been found to contain liquid-like condensate within their interior, which can be reconstructed in vitro. These condensates interact with membrane-bound organelles, but the exact mechanism behind this interaction is still unknown. In this study, researchers demonstrated how interactions between protein condensates and membranes can produce remarkable morphological changes, providing a theoretical framework to explain them. By manipulating the solution salinity and membrane composition, the researchers were able to observe two distinct wetting transitions, from de-wetting to partial wetting to complete wetting. This process was accompanied by the formation of intricate curved structures which were determined to be caused by the interplay of adhesion, membrane elasticity and interfacial tension. These findings suggest that wetting phenomena play a significant role in cell biology and could potentially be used to create synthetic biomaterials and compartments with tunable properties. This article was authored by Augustin Mangierotti, Nan Nan Chen, Ziliang Zhao and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.