No. Should I start? Yeah, I'm sorry. It's been a couple, I guess a few weeks and I was like, oh, we're not recording. Oops. All right. Let me start over again. And let's say pursuant to. I'm sorry. Jen just reminded me to state the time for both the start of the meeting and the end of the meeting. It is six oh four. PM. Do I call the meeting to order before or after I do all of the reading? Now I'm confused. I'm all off my game. Well, yeah. So I think you can, you can do the reading and then call the meeting to the order. Record. So it's now it's six oh five pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021. This meeting will be conducted via remote meetings. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via zoom or by telephone. See instructions below. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. So I'm going to make sure everybody can be heard. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Starting with. Oh chair. Demetria Shavas. Can you hear me? Yes. Hello, I'm here. Sorry. Thank you. I have Ms. Pat. Yes. Thank you. I can hear you. I have Deborah. Yep. I'm here. Thank you. I have freke. Present. Thank you. And Phillip. Here. Okay. So we are all here. We can all hear and be heard. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody have any announcements? I just have a question because I've had to access. Some of the YouTube. Records of these meetings. Show up on this meeting. And that when it's sent and uploaded to YouTube. That those subtitles are also made available. You have to actually set that in the recording properties. So I have no idea what the correct answer is to that. Question. Okay. And in none of the prior meetings have been told to like. Change the recording settings and it's all been my understanding is that it was. All of those settings have been done sort of automatically, but I. Can check with Jen who is really in the background. For this meeting and also with it. But I'll be taking the notes for the meeting. So, so it's really about accessibility as well. So that's, that's why I'm trying to, um, Jennifer usually is pretty good at, you know, with those settings. Her hands up. There we go. Jen, you have a answer for me. Yes. Yes, I can. I'm on my phone. So it's a little bit harder for me to figure out. But I couldn't hear on my computer downstairs, but I can still access. So I will switch it momentarily and then. I'll be on my phone. I'll be on my phone. I'll be on my phone. I'll be on my phone. Remain on the phone. Yeah. And then when it's uploaded to make sure that the subtitles are also accessible. I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I see Ms. Pat has her hand up. Hi, everyone. So I talked to, um, The health department, our town health department, one of the staff. Um, On Monday, December 5th. That folks, some folks from Boston will be coming down to. Admin is, um, That that would be COVID vaccination with $70. A gift card or something like that. So spread the word. Um, so I just wanted to share that. Um, just to. You know, With the great people who haven't been vaccinated to. Come at banks, community center in our midst. I believe it's $70. Gift card or 75. I'm not sure. So. Thank you. Thank you for that, Ms. Pat. Um, sorry. What did you say it's happening? Ms. Pat. Um, COVID vaccination. But where? Where? December 5th at banks, community centers. Okay. So the difference is that, um, whoever shows up and get vaccinated that day will get $70 gift card. I think it's 75 70 or $75. I'm not sure. But people could use it for holiday shopping. How about that? Spread the word. Um, any other announcements? Oh, sorry. Nope. Okay. Um, the next thing is agenda review. So we will approve minutes. Um, public comment, member reports, action and discussion items. Um, I am wondering if we can move item E, which is the crest and DEI updates to the beginning of our action and discussion items so that we can hear first from those departments. Um, and then move on with the other. Items that are listed the first. Um, I think we can also change this order if people feel strongly about moving things around. Um, but there's proposed cameras at the new elementary school. This was a request that came in with, um, from a member of the school committee that we perhaps discuss this since it does have to do with safety and security. At the school. Um, if we can update on the Amherst nine, then there's the incident that happened on Hampshire college campus on October 19th. Um, the UMass police incident that happened. This past week and the budget forum moved to November 21st. Then we will discuss any upcoming agenda items and meeting schedules. Any other topics. Um, I think we can, we can, uh, comment at the end. And then we will adjourn. Um, does anyone have any other questions about changing the order or does that sound okay to people? So I, I like that simply because I think we always push it to the end. And, um, maybe we can get those reports out of the way. And then if we have questions, you know, we can address that, if possible. Anyone else. Thumbs up thumbs down. Perfect. Okay. Um, so can we put the minutes up on the screen? Yeah, I can do that. Give me a moment. I have notes on it. I don't want it. So let's see. One moment. I guess it wouldn't matter with my notes. Share screen. Host disabled participant screen sharing. So unless you're going to put the agenda up, Jen, we need access to it. Okay. Can I do it? Nope. Can't access the agenda. I'm wondering why we're waiting for the technical stuff. Maybe do public, the first public comment. Right. Um, so I'm trying to work off of the two things. So I can get the closed captioning. I don't quite understand what's going on. Demetre. Uh, Dr. Sorry. Are you having problems sharing your screen or do. It's saying, it's saying host disabled. So I like the idea, Miss Pat, if we want to go ahead to public comment. Um, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. While we figure out the technical part. That sounds good. Um, so. Now I find the reading thing again. Sorry, I apologize. Um, public comment. Uh, during the public comment period, the chair will recognize members of the public when called on, please identify yourself by saying your full name, preferred pronouns and residential address. Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. No speaker concede their time to another speaker. The CSS JC will not engage in dialogue or comment on a matter raised during public comment. Um, I have to go over. Right now we have six attendees. If anyone would like to give public comment, please raise your hand and then we will call on you accordingly. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll just press allow to talk to us. Let me do it. Let's see. There you go. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, this is very cage. Um, president of Amherst. I want to. Um, I'm not sure about, uh, the presentation around the. Camera installation. Um, I'm not sure if it's going to share my initial reactions that I'm against it. Um, you know, my. Children, I believe, um, it's going. The. It may be installed at a proper farm. I know there's, um, A basketball court there. Um, and I'm not sure, you know, I'm not sure that, you know, in the past, there have been attempts to put in, um, At the high school, especially, um, Security measures like a metal detector. Um, And I think that it's, it's, it's definitely not something I want to see, you know, Installed at schools. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Would anyone else at this point like to make public comment? We do typically have another public comment period at the end of our meeting. Can we. So I can share now. Okay. Perfect. And the, uh, subtitles are working. Thank you, Jennifer. Okay. Everything's on my computer. What is it on my computer? Oh, so everyone can see the agenda. I can make it a little larger. Here we are. So did we finish member reports? Allegra, are we still in the midst of that? Um, I, I think we were still up in call to order. So we did public comment and then we can go back up to the approval of minutes, I think. And then if there are any member reports, we can do that after the minutes. Okay. Sounds good. So the first set of minutes are from September 7th. So hopefully folks have had an opportunity to read the minutes. I thought. This particular set. Um, Seems very close to what was said. Which one is this? Which one? This is the very first set September 7th. Okay. Um, Did anyone have any edits? Amendments to this. Set. Understand that. And maybe Jennifer and, um, Pam young can correct me if I'm wrong, but the minutes are the official record for the town. So, um, Um, I don't know if I can. As close as it can. So I do have an amendment. Okay. To the, the September 7th one. Yes. Okay. Where. Um, Number four. Okay. Let me go back. Okay. Under ARFA. Um, yes. It's not actually a man, then it's not the one I'm looking for. Nevermind. Um, I think Pamela has her hand up. Okay. I can't see it. So. So I, um, asked about the minutes as far as the necessity for exact detail. And the response that I got was that. Um, because these. Meetings are being recorded. The recordings can actually serve as the official. Record of the proceedings because everything is. Um, recorded. Every word is, is. Recorded. So I'm, um, I think as long as the minutes. Um, capture the gist of what's, um, Being stated that they should that, that they and the recordings are an accurate record. Oh, okay. Thank you for the clarification. So anything for September 7th. Yeah, I was going to say thank you. For this minute. And minutes. It's really good. So this. Yeah. Yeah, I felt the same. Yeah. I like it. Okay. So we ready. Vote to approve this set of minutes. So I move that we approve the, um, Okay. Let me go back to September 7th, the September 7th. Set of minutes. Second. Okay. Seconded by Ms. Pat. I can't see the, the hands. Um, so I'm going to let you do that. Allegra. Okay. Um, I. Yes, I vote. Yes. Well, all in favor. All in favor. Yes. Yes. All right. We have approved the note. The nope. September 7th. Okay. All right. So let's go to the next set. And the next set is from the August 23rd. So just. We'll flip there, but August 23rd set of minutes. Okay. I don't know how to remember back that far, but again, these are all on YouTube. If anyone's ever. Interested in checking it against what is written. So this is. Oh, Miss Pat. Yeah. Um, this is also good. Um, just number five. You know, just small type in errors. Statement from. Number five. Yeah. Since this is in, um, a PDF. Okay. But it will be statement from. Not form. Yes, exactly. So I, what might be helpful and just for the future. One of the things we did with the board of registrars is, uh, convert these, uh, Uh, I don't know if this is directed towards Jen or, um, Miss Young, but that would help in case there are, uh, amendments or corrections to the minutes. We could do that together. Sure. Or you can just jump. I just want to jump in quickly. So if you guys state them, typically I write what you're saying, down and make the correction because I have the word doc at, in the office. Okay. Okay. All right. And then. And then took with one. Um, On the last page. Uh, the, um, where it says the letter and statement. Right. So that is a R. E. That needs to be deleted. Uh, the letter in the state. That's right. Right. Right. That's something like that. Yeah. And then the last one is on public comment. Uh, it wasn't complete. Does anybody remember what the public comment was that, that night? Second public comment. That's it. So. Yeah. I can view it on YouTube, but. Yeah. Right. Number eight. No, yes, I see that. So can we actually, you know, just, I hate to be a bureaucrat here, but can we actually approve these? If we don't know what that is. Unless we're going to view that now. And I don't think we have time. To view that. So you can vote them with the corrections. And so if there was public comment at that period, when I go back and look at the video, because I have all the recordings, then it will. It will stay the public comment. Is that you were talking about the public comment. Yeah. So we can table these minutes for tonight and then the next meeting. If the corrections are made, we can vote. To approve. Is that correct? Yeah. So I think the second set of minutes. I'm sorry. I don't recall the date. I think it's nine 28 or something similar to that. I think the nine seven and nine 28 ones. You can pass. The nine seven ones past the nine 28 ones. You can pass with amendments. And then you can table the third. The 10 16 ones. Okay. That's not what we're looking at. We're actually looking at August here. This is August 23rd. Oh, there's something wrong with that then. Yeah, those. Okay. I'll have to go back and look. So I would just. Disregard that for now. All right. So let's table August 20. What's labeled here, August 23rd until that's rectified. That might not even be the right date then. Exactly. Yeah. So the, the last set of minutes is October 12th. Yeah. And. We have anything to add to October 12th. Okay. Two. I can't see who raised their hand. I see Miss Pat has her hand raised and I will see if I can figure out who else Jennifer does. Okay. Miss Pat. So again. I want to, on this second page. What is the paragraph? Wait. How do I do this? Second page. The third last paragraph. All right. So under DEI department. Yeah, go down. Okay. Where it stated something about. The director also received criticism regarding the town. But what that failure to announce it involvement in an event with young, young African leaders. Uh huh. That's not what I said. Okay. So I would like that area be amended. I wouldn't want us to approve this minutes tonight. Deborah, I don't want to put you on the spot, but I believe the prior statements. I don't know if that reflected what you said. Even though our names were not mentioned, I don't know if that's when I brought up just to remind the audience. I read from the town managers reports to town council. Regarding a project that our town has way. Another city in, in my home country, Nigeria. And when I read it, I was actually excited. I was happy that our town is doing something like this. So I did at this meeting last, last month, I believe. I had mentioned that it would have been a common courtesy for the town to. Notify Nigerian community in our most. So can I, can I say something, Miss Pat, because this paragraph. I never directed to our director. The town managers reported not mentioning anything about event at UMass. It was the first time I heard it. And the way it was written here, I, I like it amended basically. Yes. And I agree because this is, um, I had a problem with this paragraph.  And, um, you know, it seemed very much like there was more feeling within that paragraph and trying to condense a lot of what was going on.  What transpired.  And it was suggested that the director not participate in the future town meetings regarding the issue. So when you actually listen to the video. Um, the director was the director, uh, who was the director of the city's, of whoever wrote the minutes, but, uh, that is not what was said. Furthermore, the director's prior report was criticized and it was stated. The report exonerated the police officers. That is probably the most factual statement in that paragraph. The director was advised to watch what she says. Again, in regard in the town's reported failure to announce the involvement event. So you know I understand people's feelings you know however you know may may be in this invested in this but for the sake of writing minutes and checking it against the record I think it amounts to a lot more feeling and passion than actually what took place. Thank you Dee. I just want to finish my thoughts I think you know I brought something to our group something good I was excited about it because it involved my home country and I felt very sad when I read this paragraph like wow. So Miss young I was not attacking you I did not criticize you I made a comment about a town should have notified Nigerian community. I never mentioned your name specifically I did not even know UMass was involved at all it was not stated in the managers report to the town council and my thought was the communication director not you so I'll be happy you know when the minute is amended. So Deborah I don't know if you have any any thoughts about yeah no I mean I just to agree with what has been said by you Miss Pat and as well with you Dee that that that needs to be amended because it does seem like it's just kind of like you know someone's kind of interpretation of what was said because I know I said some things and you know and others did but yeah definitely you know not how it's stated here so I think yeah we need to be very careful about how we do this in the future so this will need to be amended so yeah one last I'm so sorry enough I was talking so much I do want to thank our DAI director for doing the minutes I know your plate is full you're very busy you know we appreciate you know the extra time for putting these minutes together it's just that this document is history who knows in the future who will take a look at it and I just want to make sure that whatever I said anywhere publicly is recorded accurately that's the only thing but thank you for writing the minutes as well and it sounds like there am I can you hear me yeah now we can okay it sounds like there's just a request that minutes kind of reflect the facts and and perhaps not some of the feelings that come up and acknowledging that we are a passionate group and this is a topic that we all feel strongly about so there are there are passions that come out when we speak and and that the minutes should reflect again what was stated and to echo what Miss Pat said we do appreciate all the time that goes into putting these together and and being here and and being the liaisons to this group yeah someone that writes minutes for another board that I sit on it's not pleasant but thank goodness that we can record them by zoom now and there's a there's a bit more support in that could I make a request to table this and I would refer people to the recording for this October meeting and I have it on you know the timecode that you would have to forward it to in order to see what that paragraph represents if anyone's interested but certainly you're welcome of course to look at the whole meeting so should we table it yes okay so what I would suggest is that we table it and the that particular paragraph be rewritten to reflect more accurately less passionately what took place and I don't know if there's help needed in doing so but I would be willing to help if that's you know useful if not that's fine as well but um yes I would suggest people look at the recording thank you D okay thank you does anybody have a member report are we ready to move on to member reports so yes um I do have a member report and I I shouldn't have stopped sharing okay all right so member report so um I attended the Majuba that was put on by the bridge for unity group which I'm a part of it's an anti-racist dialogue group that was also attended by the ahra and quite a few people who are also working on reparations in the north hampton um quite a diverse group attended um the Majuba was to uh celebrate and commemorate our african ancestors to offer healing um and then to talk about reparations and so um we divided up into groups after this very you know moving ceremony took place um and we had a couple of questions to address and um people talked about reparations uh amongst themselves and then we reported back to the larger group and we also you know broke bread or ate uh together so very nice event on sunday and um I I just think we should have more of these opportunities in our community to um you know not only celebrate together but to think deeply about these issues and have these kind of one-on-one or small group conversations I find them very helpful um in getting to know uh people in the community thank you d anybody else have anything you want to report back on um so shall we move on to the Crescent DEI updates great want me to go first sure awesome so I just want to uh apologize for a misunderstanding on my end at our last meeting um it wasn't appropriate for me to present like a sorry Earl um could would we be able to stop sharing just so we can see everyone's faces if anyone up there okay you're not missing much I'm I'm tired um so I just wanted to apologize at the last meeting I presented a report that was inappropriate kind of recognizing the charge of this group and so um I do want to present data I'll do that in a quarterly fashion which kind of lines up with how advisory groups generally are presented information um but I'm glad to kind of just talk about where we are with things um so we did we were able to fill our last position um can't really speak much about the the candidate except to say that they do fill a really important diversity need for us uh as well as being a really exciting candidate we're we're happy Pamela town manager for the first time a responder was involved in the hiring of a responder which was really important for us um and so this is somebody I I believe deeply in um we're putting the pieces together to train this person um they will start with us hopefully the 28th of this month so I'm excited for you all to meet them we're working really hard on the website um recognizing that it's important to have a place for people to get information and data as we're able to get there um so you should start to see what days we're closed because we're nine to five with the union folks will take holidays off that'll end on that January 7th date but because we're nine to five Monday through uh nine nine to five Monday through Friday they still get those holidays off so we will be closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas this year um with but not next year um we got hit by COVID I got COVID uh we had a responder get COVID so that's really um one of the challenges of such a small department is that we are uh always going to be vulnerable to a couple absences um the uh Kate Shapiro and Kat Newman did a wonderful job keeping the department afloat while I was out but it is just a vulnerability for folks to be aware of that um we're now you will see responders with masks we are being very very careful um and doing our absolute best and I don't know that that I can avoid COVID entirely if I figured out I will tell you how um tabling lots of events we were at the South Asian festival on Saturday it was a wonderful time um really working on getting the word out to folks so um to that point we were at the football game on Friday uh just want to point out that the our guys did get a win on Friday and deserve some some love for that they were even if they were playing Holyoke uh and I'm a little little divided there um they they played really tough we are I know we're getting the MOU across the line right now it looks like it'll be signed by Thanksgiving and um the school board is really happy we were able to address all of their concerns in there and um you know it's not often that an MOU process can end with everybody feeling satisfied but this looks like a rare exception to that um we're still doing a lot of a lot of our calls right now continue to be wellness calls um a lot of them sent by folks neighbors um asking us to check up on somebody who's struggling um we're doing a lot of housing work right now and I think that has a lot more to do with the housing market than it does anything we have to do about it but um we're finding folks to be fairly reasonable with us as we're trying to work with landlords to make accommodations for folks so people don't end up outside in the cold um we have some services coming online this month that I'm really excited about um three support groups um alternatives to suicide uh hearing voices groups and a dual recovery anonymous group which is an alternative to religious-based 12-step groups those are coming through our DPH money which requires us to spend half of our funding on community-based providers and so we've used that to firm some things up those groups are all groups that community members have asked for alternatives to suicide is a space where folks who experience suicidality can speak about that experience without feeling like they will be institutionalized um the hearing voices group is for folks who have the experience of hearing or seeing things that other folks don't um to kind of have that conversation in a non-judgmental space um and the dual recovery group is one that a lot of clubhouses use and for folks who aren't served well by traditional 12-step providers it just provides another space um do that contracting we're bringing peer bridges into the hospitals particularly Cooley they will be supporting Amherst residents as they transition out of hospitalizations recovery coaching through chd and the wildflower alliance which will really allow us to have peer substance use supports for folks we are working with craig's door to to firm up some of their services um really you know the case management services to help with that and we have motivational interviewing training which is available for any group that wants it and we will have some sessions that are available to the public motivational interviewing is really our framework and so the idea is what better way to get folks to understand what we're doing then give them the opportunity to go through the same trainings we did with the same trainers so I don't know if that's a new idea but it's one we feel really glad for we really are proud of that training so I'm sure there's other things I could talk I certainly have COVID brain so I will do my best to answer any questions and if I'm a little slow on the upkeep today I hope you'll forgive me um but glad to take any questions um I see Miss Pat and Dee Miss Pat so Mr. Miller I hope you're on demand sorry about the COVID situation thank you for the presentation you know what you stated tonight as part of CSWG vision you know um dealing with mental health issues in our town and I'm glad that we have some funding through DPH to do that I'm being the your area you know that's you know mental health I have that background too um so I'm very excited about that I have question for you and I like to go with my inkstone I am extremely nervous about Chris going into the school system for a couple reasons like I'm curious to know um the content of the MOU whenever it's ready to go public but this is not something that and I'm you know CSWG had discussed or recommended being that Chris department is social staffed in terms of resources um I worry about Chris department being overextended and I know you know there's never enough resources for all departments but our public schools are uh entitlement services and um to make Chris going into schools to me feels like resource officers it's not something I'm comfortable with um that's you know that's just my take I mean so thank you for saying that exciting stuff already yeah so thank you for saying that because actually that's a lot of what we were able to address we we do not intend to be school resource officers we don't intend to have a permanent onsite presence really this is about specific situations in which the school might need support that they can't already provide and those examples have looked like really parents struggling the occasional transportation in the school um and really kind of consultation with the school they're looking at service providers do we know somebody that we can help with um we've been working with the school since I got into town my understanding from the leap report from the CSWG work was that trauma informed was kind of a core piece of this um and all of the best evidence says that if you want to kind of limit the amount of adverse childhood experiences folks have um which are a lot of those big health indicators that you need to provide those services as early as possible um I kind of think of this MOU as the Dracula rule we only show up when when we're invited in uh for that specific situation um the MOU is very clear that we are not there to surveil we do not have the technology nor an interest um that parents must be notified when we're involved in a situation and that we are consensual even to the student so um we only work with folks who are interested I think the reality is we were going to end up working with the school whether it was uh through this kind of direct line of communication or the fragmented way of running across youth in the community and not having a formalized way of of dealing with it and the big reason for the MOU was to address some concerns from from folks on the school board which I think mirror a lot of yours um you know this town does not want police at the school um we don't intend to be them but a good example is the arson at the school the fire chief requested us um and thankfully we were able to just do this in the moment with the superintendent there but um this does allow us to formally respond when there's something uh an example of uh to live uh invited uh principal Sadiq invited us to come to the football game on Friday and and that was because of some you know some some challenges those challenges didn't arise I mostly just ate chili and watched a football game but if they had we would have been there so I think this is one of those things the MOU will certainly be available we're hoping before Thanksgiving um and I think it's one of those things I don't know that I'll be able to to assure everyone on that but I do encourage folks to watch us do the work and if you're concerned like just keep observing and if there's something we need to correct we will but we don't we don't expect this to be a large amount of time and the MOU is clear we do prioritize public safety in our our main mission goals this is when we have capacity to be supportive that we will thank you doesn't the school have family center well they have lots of folks and actually uh we're providing some of the MMI training to the folks at the school um to help you know make them better too so yeah there's a lot of folks at the school and we don't intend to take their job either I mean family center is that does that still exist because what I'm here okay let me just I'll let it go I yeah I don't know anything about the schools I just know when they call me in that uh I I know there's a family resource center I met with those folks in the spring I don't have any sense of what their day-to-day operations look like thank you I'm Dee yes thank you Earl so one of the questions that came up actually before you mentioned uh Craig's doors was how Cress or is Cress working with these other social services within Amherst such as the Amherst community connections with which also find short-term housing and um you know Craig's doors similarly they they you know look at the unhoused and and folks but how is Cress formally working with these different agencies so that's one question the other question I have and this has to do with kind of sustainability and and looking at this long term um you're saying that Cress won't be available for holidays at least this year and understandably um you'll ramp up hopefully for next year um but you know when it comes to um Cress being available during these these breaks where you know folks usually need kind of mental health services during holidays during these particular times what is the plan for Cress to ramp up to uh that capacity uh to be able to take you know to to look at holiday time and and that type of thing and then lastly and this is something just to put in the back because um I would like a I'm sure y'all are collecting data but I would like to see that data um available at some point so we're aware as a CSSJC what needs to happen to advocate for Cress in terms of services that are needed you know or equipment that is needed or what have you and this data um having us you know be aware of that data uh would be helpful in formulating such arguments particularly during budgeting periods but I may take those in reverse order and I may forget that first one so if I forget one please chime in for me um the last one we are thinking about that a lot right now we are currently in talks with a well reputed a well uh institution with a good reputation for data stuff um to work with us we're working with a class at UMass that's doing some data evaluation um as soon as possible we would like to have our data available to folks in as close to real time as possible on the town website uh folks want a preview of what that's going to look like I do invite you to look at the Durham North Carolina website um we are looking very closely at them we're in some conversation with them we're going to get some folks out to them soon um their data is 24 hours accurate so it dumps every night you can see what it looks like um and one of the pieces they collect that I'm really excited about is actually how safe did the responders feel so uh we we're hoping to get that on the town website ASAP the deadline um is within a year of our start we need to report out to everyone so um we will have a very robust annual uh kind of data collection but I don't want folks to think that's going to stop us from sharing it as freely as we can we're really proud of it and we also know that everybody just needs to know whether this works or not um excuse me so the second piece about holidays that one is the easiest um after January 7th we will work 365 days a year so we will be staffed up on holidays uh vacations every day so this is just kind of the last little bit of this before we're past that um so any holidays after January 7th we will be staffed we will be working we work with folks on that and and we expect to be doing our regular hours unless there's a reason for us not to um so that would be 9 a.m to 10 p.m for for now um I I lost the first one I'm so sorry I thought I was gonna get there yeah that's okay you did good so and I I got COVID the last week of uh spring semester and I won't say you know my students gave it to me but you know it's just it was going around it was a umat so anyway um COVID on the brain is is real uh the the first question now the last question has to do with um how is Cress working with agencies within the town these these other social service agencies and and namely when you mention uh housing Amherst community connections comes to mind yeah so we had a meeting we have a social service meeting that happens the first Wednesday of every month today it was in the conference room in town hall on the first floor and we had I think 29 people at that meeting I don't know if Amherst connection is invited currently I will make sure they are for the next one we would like everybody to be able to come there those meetings are really um right now we're thinking about just making sure that we have practices that line up with folks um and that when there are opportunities that we can all work together we're we're really aggressively writing grants at this point um and a lot of those involve other folks I would say um one of the things I'm really excited about is uh case Shapiro won her first grant which allowed us to join this council of government learning community and in that group we actually have Cooley Dickinson hospital CSO Holyoke hospital and some other local community organizations who are actually a part of that learning community with us and are helping us to form those things uh there anybody who wants to be a part of that we would like to have them I think some of it is just us you know trying to start things quickly and maybe not catching everyone if folks have an idea of people they think we should invite we will um and so we we want to collaborate we're doing our best to that's another one of those people limitation things we kind of have to say all right we're going to work with these 10 folks right now get that relationship up and then move to the next folks um there are some folks we haven't got to but I think I think we've caught we've got most of the state agencies most of the regional agencies and so we'll make sure we get everybody else um but yeah and we're also looking to create a individual provider meeting at some point so for private practice clinicians who aren't a part of a large collective but are still doing work in our community to have a touch point with us so I think the answer to your question is I'm not sure if they're invited yet but they absolutely will be after this meeting thank you thank you Deborah yep uh thank you for you know answering all those questions in the report and I'm glad to hear that you know the data it's going to be forthcoming I think in the meantime you know probably and I think you already know this right to just have some data when you do present to us would be helpful so that then it can you know be shared with the community but I'm glad that that's something that's you know that you're focused on because that's really important in terms of what we're doing and really to you know as you know to get you more funding for Cress um the other thing too and I know you had talked about it before but just again it's going to be kind of one of those things that I'll continue to focus on which is making sure that Cress continues to amp up so that you all can respond to noise complaints noise complaints and any other um you know any other incidents that are non you know violent right because we want to make sure that you all are the ones that are responding and so I think that's why sometimes we get a little bit like apprehensive right like in terms of you all going into the schools or what have you because when we were with CSWG we were more so kind of focusing on anything that was non violent which is more so around like those noise complaints which is very important which we've seen right in terms of that July 5th incident um how key you know it will be for you all to to really take over anything that's not violent you know here within within um Amherst because you know APD is not prepared to deal with any of those things you know so we don't want you all to be spread thin you know what I'm saying and not really kind of deal with the things that really be envisioned you all dealing with which is because you know everyone's going to want everyone's going to you know want you to do everything um however we want you all to stay as closely kind of focused to to to to that vision and that vision includes like you know some of these major issues like noise complaints which I know you said you all can't do as of yet and you have a plan in the future but that's why it's kind of like so you got to be careful about not being pushed into other areas um that possibly like the schools where they have other resources and things like that you know every once in a while yeah you all can help but just be careful you know so that you can you and your team can focus on some of these other bigger issues where APD is going to be called in on a regular basis okay yeah so just to clarify we have already responded to things that would have been noise complaints uh my folks have done that uh I think if you find yourself downtown you will find us with some noisy folks every once in a while um the reality of the noise complaint thing is on my end of things we are we're ready to take any call that that we're sent on I you know I don't I want to make sure that I uh that I balance out the reality of us existing in a larger system with the fact that my folks are roaring to go um you know this this last piece is really to make sure we get the dispatch system on board um we're we'll be ready to take whatever noise complaints are sent to us by dispatch uh I just I think the conversation for us to be have will be that the number of people we can address will be limited just by our size um I think you know if there's more than 20 people the odds that Crest is going to be uh dispatch is just going to be low you no matter what but people being uh loud downtown we've already taken those calls we've handled them well um you know I you know I don't want to say my my folks are aware of the challenges but they're not afraid of the work we're not afraid of doing it and and we're you know we're ready and the schools won't spread us then the schools are schools are fun most of it is just you know uh spending time with the folks over there and you know I want to be honest that does make us better you know we're able to to work with experienced folks who know the community who can help us uh understand things better an example of like things that weren't in the CSWG report but our things we did are yesterday if you voted in the town of Amherst you did not run into an armed officer you ran into Crest responders we were at almost every polling site all day those are things that weren't in the report but I understand to be the spirit of the report the spirit of it to be to take things on that we can and so I just want you all to know that any opportunity there is for us to step up we are taking we have taken and we will continue to take um and and I also I hear what you're saying and I will I will remember that yeah and I mean don't get me wrong I mean obviously I know that you are going to go beyond it you know what I'm saying um but it was more so in terms of like just you know addressing some of the stuff that we at least included it but of course you're all going to go it's going to morph right it's going to change you're going to have even new things that we never thought about you know but it's just in terms of like you know at least addressing some of some of those things and even when you say like okay well if there's like a noise complaint with 20 people or what have you maybe you all can have some hybrid models for the time being though right where you all go with the APD I just will be very nervous about just having the APD show up on on their own you know what I'm saying even if this 20 30 40 so I want you all to kind of think about those things because again it's about you all being there that's the vision the vision is for you all to respond to it um and not to have APD respond to it on their own because as we've seen you know just for the July 5th incident they're not capable of doing that in the way that that should that that we envision it being done so you know so again and I'm sure you're thinking about these things but you know obviously we're here to help and support that and kind of support you know in terms of that thinking process and making sure that that it goes down this path you know where you all are kind of doing a lot of these things because it's very needed and the de-escalation option is is what we're looking for as opposed to escalating and ending and really bad situations yeah I think you know part of this is that you know like we're all going to learn things through this that we kind of envisioned like public safety looking different looks different and I think that's something that we'll need to think about as a town our approach is not fast our approach cannot be fast I haven't found a way for us to without force calm people down without really kind of taking the time to hear them to hear what they're concerned about and so you know that's the feedback I've heard from folks is well crash shows up and maybe they take 45 minutes and that's just something I think as we grow well folks really need to understand I I don't intend for us to get faster if it costs us any of our compassion or any of our ability to really trust people and that's something I think as we take as we get to that place to take you know he's in place that will really need your support and getting neighbors to understand is the not forced way is the slow way and I I think it's the right way I took the job because I think it's the right way but it is it does mean a little bit more tolerance in the community for folks who are being disruptive or being experienced as disruptive because that's that's the thing we're hearing is like well you showed up and the person was still mad for 10 minutes like yeah well they their feelings were were real and so we didn't just kind of make them stop feeling them and so I just there's going to be bits of this that we will need really help with the messaging and having those conversations and you know I need to talk to the town manager I know you got everybody had a forum last year kind of in January I'd like to have us do another one of those and another kind of community forum where folks can come together and you know we can talk through some of these ideas we have lots of big policy things on the table and I'd love to get folks together and see how it comes out in the wash I appreciate you guys thinking so much about us and you know I intend as much as possible to be out in front of you I think the next time I'll have data for you that'll be meaningful will likely be January just because we're still very much in this ramping up and so my hope is to be able to talk numbers when we're concluding this phase so that we can kind of clear the slate and start looking at what the full deployment numbers look like thank you rld I see you have your hand up again so what I would request and we can request it maybe down the line is that even if it's a preliminary report for the community and whether it's whether it's given in a forum but a report that visually people in the community can understand the numbers and the capacity that would be really helpful so not just you know for cssjc but maybe the community would would be able to be a part of that to understand how has how his crest changed you know response here in Amherst and really see some kind of meaningful figures you know although again we're talking about at that point what nine months um but you know some type of report like that and again we'd know it would be kind of preliminary but uh something visual for the community to to understand appreciate yeah absolutely um you know I just I just want to give the group some kudos right because there hasn't been much time to say what's gone well um we are the fastest department from the start to deployment in the country um we deployed after uh September's nine months uh nine and a half months from the town council making the declaration um and you can see from other communities around us it isn't that easy to get here um we're fully staffed which most departments you know struggle with you know that first month reports 270 calls I think you're going to see those numbers really reflected in our month to month work that's about where we're at right now and right now um and that's a testament to other departments collaborating with us and being willing to let us take on some work and you know right now we very much are a hungry department for work into depth I imagine there's going to come a day where I'm less hungry for work and I'm less chasing it um but right now you know the folks we have are fantastic the town should be very very proud of them I'm very very proud of them every day we're not perfect um but we weren't aiming for that either way so I just you know I know there's a lot of challenges but whatever we got here is is really something magic and I'm I'm lucky enough to be the person in this seat but I I think it wouldn't have been hard with the folks I got to to make this thing move um we are we are doing some really you know I we did the trunk retreat at the UMass off campus family housing and uh and I watched we had a mother come up and if you see our uniforms our pronouns are on them and that's something that you know isn't historically like a public safety thing and we've had multiple parents like visibly like touched by that and so those little things that I know were important to everyone here that we're putting into play um are turning out to mean a lot to people in town and so you know we're hearing from folks that that they're glad we're here and that's really the first step right the first step is that they're glad we're here next step is figuring out how to serve them and then you know how to do it every day for as long as we can you know or I really appreciate that and you know I think once we look at this historically yes it the credit will go to you as the first director and hiring the right people but CSWG I have to tell you laid that groundwork to um you know set it up where you were able to come in and uh deliver but again it's about hiring the right person and getting the right people for the job so I do appreciate that but someone that does cultural social you know history in that way we must remember the struggle because it was a struggle to get the town council and the community to agree to this and thank goodness that they had the wherewithal and the and the moment of clarity to say yes and it has paid off so I so appreciate I hope you all heard that that's what I meant though no is that the fact that that work the fact that that work came out of here is like you know when when communities come to us and ask how they do this the first thing we do is send them to the CSWG info uh I think that process was it clearly not the most fun all the time painful in a lot of ways but really important um and for me like the fact that I came in and didn't have to do that work that there was already clarity in the vision that there was already a sense of it uh has ultimately made this work doable and you know the first thing when someone comes to work with us or intern with us or spend meaningful time with us we have them do is read the leap report look at the CSWG final report like we have them examine everything in that page because we recognize that it's it's part of our DNA we hold that that really dearly so I appreciate it yeah I appreciate you all all right thank you mr. Mila can I ask a question really quick two questions actually um the first one was dispatch equipment still not being fully up to speed or our calls coming where are calls coming from that's the easiest way to put the the question and the second question is if you can share what are your budgetary requests or what do you see as like your ideal staffing pattern at this time knowing that in two weeks there's a budget forum for the town yeah so the first question is our dispatch equipment is here um it's going to take us right now we're in the midst of training on it so it's not just the radios we have which are actually really good they're on the cellular network not the I won't get through the weeds it is very boring but it allows us to have much better coverage throughout town while mimicking all of the features of a radio system there's actually a console that sits in dispatch now so they're really training on that to make sure when our calls come in they can incorporate them we're we're probably we're probably right on track we have 30 business days we think about that a lot 30 business days till the 7th um to have that in the next three or four weeks to have folks trained up to a good good level um and our folks are going to shadow with the fire department our system looks closer to the fire department than police so spending that time with them will allow them to see how they use this stuff in the field um how they kind of carry themselves so we're looking forward to that um and I just got my budget worksheet like three days ago so I don't have a much of an ask but what I would say is I don't think it's any secret that we need some help supervising and uh you know that's that's a pretty clear need um we're going to work through that worksheet I know it's due beginning of December we'll get it back in and but you know I we're small and and I don't you know I think the for everyone in a way is yeah I think low and slow has worked for us I think we've seen other communities that have started out really big and struggled um so you know in my mind I'm thinking about growth is not just in terms of what do we need next year but what do we need in five years and what is the thing that is beneficial to hold off until we have some experience so I you know I there are obviously systemic limitations but there's also the limitation of you know we there isn't there isn't a school you can go to to be a community responder there isn't a place you can go and so that's really being defined every day by these folks and you know I worry about growing so big that we dilute that kind of um the integrity of our process the kind of thoughtfulness of our process so I don't have an answer to that again these are all questions for the community to answer and ultimately the town council but um you know I think it's it's important that there be a dialogue about what does that ramping up look like and and do we lose some of the the values that have been baked into this if we just start to expand for the sake of expanding so I think there's arguments of both sides I will let the community you guys are much better equipped for that I live in Aguam and but yeah I think there's pros and cons but supervisors are or something I would hope for that's tricky so sorry if that was a I I try not to give too too opaque of an answer but that's the best I can do with two days of the budget worksheet thank you anybody else have any further questions about crests miss pat it's not a question it's just to thank mr miller I like your approach of community engagement in that way the community is getting to know crest the word is getting out so continue doing what you're doing and also remember that one of the primary purposes also to deal with noise complaint we can't say that enough that you know we're not saying crest responders should just go alone sometimes if it's a large group it's fine to go with police officers but it makes a huge difference to have civilian present so it's all juggling acts thank you so much no I appreciate that so much we are in Minneapolis is the community that has really taken this on and it's work so we're doing we have some meetings with them to look at what's worked for them what approaches have been meaningful so this is one of the benefits of us being a part of this larger conversation is that we're able to really learn from our peers so um you know however we get there ultimately we will get there it's just a matter of how soon but I I'm committed to doing uh to being a public safety department and noise complaints are a part of public safety thank you thank you de I so uh in no particular order um uh Jen and I met with uh Dina Levy the director of the workforce equity and inclusion department at Amherst college today um we both participated in a disability uh access um or actually the it's a let me get this get the name straight so it is the mass office on disability and they had a two-day training on community access monitoring so um we are I guess both certified to review buildings and other locations to see if they comply with ADA requirements um in addition to that uh I met with the disability access commission on which is one of the town boards um regarding the interaction of our office and the work that they are going on there's a core equity group and I don't um I don't know if you all are familiar but uh Jen and I believe five other town staffed formed a core equity group which was based on the GAIR model GAIR is the government alliance for racial equity and they have an established programs for how municipalities can engage and DEI work so there has been a core equity group in the town that's met for the last um I believe close to two years now that group has agreed to serve as subject matter experts for the DEI department's self-assessment tool so we have completed a self-assessment tool it's a waiting approval by the town manager that will be sent out to all of the departments to conduct their self-assessment and um the core equity group has agreed to serve um as subject matter experts so if department heads have a question and they don't want to have to ask the question of the principal um you know or come to the DEI office then they can um ask other subject matter um you know experts in town to assist them in completing the form and that's the first step and having each department create their own DEI strategic plan uh like uh Earl I have started to meet with Sean about the budgeting process for the office and um I know that you have that later on your agenda so I will um I'll just say that I think the biggest biggest ask for DEI will be for funding for a consultant to work on the resident oversight board um and that's that that's probably the primary ask um but uh you know I I met we got the forms as Earl said a couple of days ago I met with Sean yesterday just to make sure that I am familiar with the processes for Amherst and um actually had a really wonderful training today through the northeast government executive council on municipal financing and both Jen and I attended that was really good um we have completed the HR director search you probably saw maybe the announcement of the HR director I think she's going to be a great addition to the town I actually chaired the search committee um but um included on the search committee was um Sean um um uh someone from the personnel board um Amy Rusecki from uh DPW and oh and Gabe team so I think those that was and um and Angela Mills so those were the core members of that search committee um um the HRC has added uh two new people to their commission they have yet to be sworn in but the um they um I think they're both going to be good additions and we have a third person who will be interviewed in two weeks so that would bring that board up to capacity which will be great um uh the DUI strategic plan for our own department plan and um a plan for rolling up the other departments into a a town plan uh is basically under review Jen and I spent a lot of time working on it went back and forth a lot of editing we are seeking some additional edits but that is moving along um quite nicely and I have started drafting just the beginnings of what might be a fact sheet for the resident oversight board oh and uh so Sean also um uh invited Jen and I but we had a conflict to participate in a commonwealth training on um diversifying the procurement process so Jen and I were not able to attend but Sean did attend and then we met with him separately to review um the information that he gained from that training and one of the outcomes may be seeking for the town to sponsor probably regionally a um a workshop and training so that we can encourage more um BIPOC and veterans and women-owned businesses to be registered in the state um supplier diversity uh diversity database there are lots of businesses in the database but very few of them um relatively speaking in western and central mass so it makes it difficult to use the state procurement process for uh you know to identify those people so we're we're thinking that there might be a possibility of um of having some sort of workshop to get people signed up for the procurement process and that actually was also part of the discussion that we had with the workforce development director at at Amherst college because they are really um trying to put in some effort into identifying BIPOC women-owned businesses as well so that they can have that as part of their um plan to engage the community um and I do believe that that's pretty much uh I will be sitting on another search committee um for the comptroller's um position but um that has not started yet sorry I couldn't unmute Dee so thank you Pam it sounds like uh you and Jen have been uh fairly busy um on a variety of things I have a question about the latter part of your report about the uh procurement workshop I think that's a great idea as a um black woman-owned business uh owner myself I've been to a couple of those and um um it you're right for western mass it's uh few to none in terms of these types of workshops and um promotional um meetings and my concern is that what I've seen listed for BIPOC and women-owned businesses in this town it relies on a list from the chamber which is extremely limited um I know several uh particularly black-owned businesses and business owners and they're not even listed on the chamber so I would encourage and it sounds like you're going to maybe not even you didn't reference them but I really encourage um you and um others who are putting together such a workshop which again I think is a positive to move beyond this reliance on our chamber that historically has not represented you know and I'm not saying they're bad people but simply historically have not represented BIPOC business owners and services in this community and so um when you put that together um you know I'd be very interested in uh I guess how that is to be organized again my own personal interest but to benefit the community in terms of diversity and equity um you know who you're going to send the the announcement out to that type of thing how it gets distributed that you let us help you this is what we're here for the CSSJC. Ms. Pat certainly is a business owner several times over and I'm sure there are others you know I know represented in this group who have family members who are entrepreneurs and business owners so we're a resource so thank you. So I um I don't know if Jen is still listening in but that was also a concern that was raised today in the conversation that we had at at Emmer's College and um so I have only met with the once have had one meeting with the chamber and one meeting with the bid but I from the conversation that I've had with Jennifer and and she would really have to verify this it's my understanding that the chamber's list is not complete because membership in the chamber is required and that sometimes presents an obstacle for um you know for new and emerging businesses so that was part of the discussion today and I think you know it would be perhaps a discussion that we might be able to have um with the group I see Jennifer has raised her hand so I will she certainly has much more knowledge because she's on one of one if not both of the diversity boards I think for so I'll let her finish the thought and and provide more information. Okay sorry I had to unmute um so yes the the chamber is the equity task force on the chamber has been working on how we can be more inclusive to the other businesses whether it's that people um you know there's other businesses that have larger incomes and they can sponsor some of the other if it's a price that they're looking for for the chamber help to sponsor the other businesses um in a way that doesn't insult anyone right like it's just it's very easy to be done and then one of the concerns was that the list of businesses and where do we find other businesses right so um I know even for Juneteenth I've I've you there's a Black Association's business list that I have used to to find different businesses and vendors for different events and so um we really just have to get out into the different towns because this will be regional right so that's going to I'm assuming that it's going to include Springfield it's going to include Amherst it's going to include Northampton and Hadley and and really get out and see the different businesses right because it just can't be and then for anybody who knows them as well so that would I don't miss Pat I don't think that you're on the list and D I think Seventh Gen is on the list I'm not 100 sure but I thought I saw it on there yeah I didn't pay for it so somebody must have done me a solid put me on the list but that's cool too um so we you know I think that's part of it is really getting out and you know above and beyond what has been done in the past to to recruit and to um bring people in right so I think that the the workforce will be a good um the workshop will be good that's a it's a good thing right we just have to make sure that we are reaching as many people as we can in a very inclusive way thank you Miss Pat so this is my favorite subject business first of all I want to thank um Miss Young and Miss Moisten for all your time what you've been doing and um just to in addition to what Dr. D said I agree with everything as a former member of of chambers I think it's beyond membership fees it's all about how the chambers and bead system is created if a person of color you can never be comfortable or quote unquote fitting in fact as a result of that we actually have black business association uh of pioneer valley and our group meet at uh a hairdresser's saloon once every month on Saturdays we have an association we have tried the town to you know to put listings of BIPOC on businesses that has not happened I remember when I used to run restaurant people who came some people who came to my restaurant would tell me that they found my restaurant name from Amherst college listings of people of color their own businesses so that is a problem of over reliance on chamber of commerce I don't want to repeat what Dr. D said but I think um it's time to form a BIPOC business group that will work with the AI department regionally not just Amherst maybe Hampshire county or beyond up to Springfield and Holyo this is what the black owned businesses were trying to accomplish within us um but you know we all get too busy and we get overextended so this would be really opportunity to get BIPOC folks together you know we're here it depends on you know where people are looking thank you thank you miss Pat Phillip no I think that this is a great idea and uh real need I just want to be or just add in that um if there's any efforts for non-english speakers um for business owners um the Latinx community as well as any Asian community and so on just to make sure that that reaches being explored as well because sometimes an English speaker will come and put a flyer up do whatever in a business doesn't inherently mean that the understanding is there as to what is trying to be done so I just want to put that on the radar absolutely and you know in Boston there are different BIPOC business groups and Bethma is one of the the largest and it's supposed to be Massachusetts Y BEC MA um but it doesn't really have a foothold here so it's been more you know localized as miss Pat says in terms of organization I'm actually yeah I'm actually a member of that actually I am me too I'm a member yeah we need local we need local we need local right here right and we we already have a group but we need to expand it beyond black own business association we need to expand it to BIPOC and we would like to work with our town and this is what DI is all about absolutely can I just jump in because I had my hand it just stayed up and so I did yes yes no please yeah I just wanted to comment on what Phillip said and you know that is something language barriers or I don't even want to call them a barrier because they're not necessarily a barrier for everyone but um you know being inclusive isn't just limited to to the BIPOC community in the sense of having people who and I maybe I speak too general um of different races it is inclusive of everything so that does include those and and I know I've spoken with Claudia about it several times about how to reach out to community members she said you know that to business owners who she doesn't already have a relationship with and you know how does she engage and so we've talked about those things and and we're working on those as well and um I was on that website today Miss Pat and Miss Dr. Chavaz of the BMAC that's what you said it was um I actually saw that today and so I I do think that there should be some type of organization that helps you know it's good support for the businesses people can relate to each other and validate each other and help each other grow so you know I think that you know Pamela and I and and CSSJC and and the other institution that college institutions and the businesses can all make that happen thank you I'm getting excited yeah Chamber of Commerce is white business owner thing I don't see myself feeling fitted in at all I'm sorry but that's how I feel no I'm with you I've never paid dues and I don't see myself represented so if we could have something better um and as Philip uh indicates uh with you know language diversity uh all sorts of uh you know um diversity and supports so people who are entrepreneurs who want to create businesses uh in this community that they have the supports in which to do so so I'm excited about that thank you Pam thank you Jen um I wanted to follow up on um you said you went to a disability workshop um that is a major concern uh for me both personally uh in this community but also just uh the community in general um how this how the the environment of Amherst is not necessarily for physical disabilities um accessible oftentimes and um our transportation system you know I have personally given rides to people with disabilities who've been waiting at stop and shop you know for the bus to come and get them and it takes it's going to be another two hours you know and so I take them with their groceries home I don't even know them but I mean it's it's a type of situation that is sometime desperate particularly when our busing system is is not working you know beyond the school semesters and that's that's when folks really need rides so I don't know what the plans are Pam in terms of assessing I know they did do one based on senior citizens and dementia in the community but I don't know if there's been a survey um regarding uh physical uh disabilities and and the environment of Amherst so the uh the training that we did was actually um like so pretty much two full days from nine to two thirty and it was online but um given by the mass office on disability and the process um is to train the individual participants to be sort of civilian um like a civilian task force to be able to go and assist uh buildings um or you know land property owners to see if there are buildings are accessible um and also to be a or like a reporting agent if you see something that it doesn't meet uh the the ADA compliance so I think that was very helpful just to have that information the town itself has done I would say a very comprehensive ADA report which is available on the disability um access commission website on their website and uh when I say comprehensive I I I think it's hundreds of pages but it what basically what it did was review all of the physical facilities in town to see whether they met the um federal and state requirements and there are different requirements between the federal and state requirements and in some areas the federal requirements are more comprehensive and in others the states are more comprehensive and then it prioritized those within the city so I mean I'm sure you all know that um any new buildings have to meet the standards and generally if you are um you know making any sort of a change to an older building that it has to be brought up to the current standards but beyond that you know cities and towns and businesses have to sort of make a make a decision about the prioritizing um which of the various multiple um you know non what would be in non-compliance with concurrent standards they address so I so I know that for the town there is definitely a very comprehensive plan in place and and a set of priorities of which ones they would address first with the Pyreneur Valley Transit Authority I am not sure what the governance structure would be because it's not like there was a county government um so I'm not really sure how uh who would be the legal authority for that but transportation was raised um at the meeting of the DAC that I attended um and and to your point that um in general just attending any sort of a town function or event it's quite difficult to arrange transportation where you're not waiting for hours for a van to come and get you and there were particular questions raised about um about uh different events that are sponsored by the town so I I would be happy to to send you the link to the website of the town's list of priorities um and I don't know um who the legal authority would be for PBTA but I can check into that yeah please please do because it's something that for a long time has um really concerned me and and my friends who have physical disabilities and trying to get around and participate in this community so thank you any other questions oh there we go miss pat yeah so I'm actually glad that um miss young um raised the disability commission that we have in this town and I'm very familiar with the work that they do and they don't get enough recognition but I'm so glad we have a committee like that I know one of the church that they do is they recognize um businesses that is accessible with people with disability and I remember one year one of my dentists and my dentist actually got recognized um because she will you know um service um client patients with you know with disability in her practice so I just want to publicly thank that commission they do good work a lot of good work happening in our town but goes unnoticed thank you for raising that tonight miss young sure yeah I um I had my first meeting with them on I believe Tuesday and um members of the commission have volunteered to work with the DEI department and to do some in-house training around some of the issues that are really important so we will be following up with them around that yeah plus that's what I do I work with people with disability elderly Alzheimer's so I'm in that community anyways so good job okay thank you so I'm just trying to be aware of time I know that we wanted to get to the school issue which I think is important um but we also want an update on uh what is going on uh in terms of July 5th so if that's okay I'd like for us to move to the discussion about cameras in the school um is that all right with everyone yes okay let's make sure we're on point here yeah so it was the proposal uh for have cameras at uh the new elementary school um raised by one of our school committee members what's our position on that can I just read the part of the email that she sent me and I apologize for not getting that yeah and actually that's that's what I was gonna say whatever background you all have on this please share yeah um so I received and de-received an email from Jennifer Xiao saying um I'm contacting you as co-chairs of community safety and social justice committee to ask if CSSJC would discuss and weigh in on the topic of security cameras at the new Amherst elementary school the planning and design of the school which will be cited at the current Fort River site and will serve 575 students grades K through five is happening now the building is scheduled to be completed and open to students by 2026 the Amherst school committee discussed this matter at our October 18th meeting with most members generally being in favor of the idea the plan would be to have security cameras outside of the building as well as inside at entrances exits hallways and stairwells there would be no cameras in classrooms offices bathrooms etc video feeds would not be monitored but would record for later viewing if needed my feeling is that whenever the topic of security cameras is at hand there always needs to be a balance between safety and privacy various opinions and anecdotal stories were shared at the meeting but I think we need a broader scope of opinions and perspectives and would love to have the CSSJC discuss this after all the committee name perfectly describes the things that I think need to be considered when it comes to security cameras community safety and social justice the next meeting of the school committee is Thursday November 17th at that time I believe ASC will be asked to decide vote on guidance to the school building design team on the presence of security cameras that's basically the request so discussion so I have a question do we know if Jennifer won is this like official from school committee or you know is she expecting us to write to the school committee um what is our plan tonight when we deliberate when we discuss I think that it's not necessarily asking for a formal statement yay or nay but just kind of you know she said that if you have a discussion it would be helpful to you know to go back and view what you have to say just to kind of get the perspective so it's kind of like a broad just my instinct I don't trust security camera in public schools especially for you know kids of color if they're going to be used against them I can see you know having had a child with special need you know if he were the only child I can see it okay I can see the value to it but I'm not feeling that I'm not feeling the security camera in the building that's just my opinion thank you yeah yeah so I guess like um Allegra and I Allegra I don't know if you have this this answer because I know she sent an email so I guess so they're gonna be voting on this did they say what's the basis for putting those cameras in in the new elementary school um was there any reason why they're they're installing cameras where I don't think there's any cameras in in the other schools I did not read anything in the email specifically about it I'll be honest this email came in I think the day after the first meeting that we had with the town council in which the the motion was made to postpone the discussion and so it was in my email box and it kind of slipped my mind um so I you know I don't have the exact answer I mean from what the email says it doesn't sound as if it's necessarily well as if they're positioning it as a surveillance thing necessarily that would be continually monitored but I'm wondering I think that's a I think that's a good question like is it what why are they there is it is it because of the climate around you know school shootings and and going back and seeing what what people see because I I think the back gets invoked a lot as as um kind of a obvious and obviously it is a safety concern and but I don't and I I don't have an answer for your question is the short answer okay no no problem um so for me in terms of my take um on it my thoughts um I think you know I have to go like with what Miss Pat was saying too that yeah for me it would be a no go um just because you know right now they're saying they're not going to be viewing those the footage but who's to say they they won't be viewing the footage right when they when it suits them and also um yeah what will it be utilized against students who are marginalized you know students who be begin to be on the administrators radars right and then now they're going to be tracking them you know more so on those cameras I was asking about the basis because obviously it's like why are you making this change is there a reason it doesn't seem like there's a reason you know in terms of here you know obviously I understand nationally so on so forth but in terms of in our community um and it is you know once you stop putting cameras then you know it's it's kind of like you know kind of as they say right big brother big sister big whatever watching and things like that um and you know it really encroaches upon privacy and especially our young people you know we're the ones that have to protect them right their minors a lot of times they they um don't take their viewpoints or their voice into consideration so for us as the adults we have to be the ones to kind of be like no this is encroachment on their privacy um and if there's no basis for it um why are you making this this you know why are you trying to put cameras in this new elementary school um and even if there was basis I would have to really look at what that was and really you know have a conversation in terms of that you know so um so yeah for all of those reasons I would say not not a good thing thank you depth um D yeah so it's it's a lot of red flags for me someone that studies you know communication Simone Brown had a really good book on uh surveillance of black bodies and it always ends up reinforcing racism um just because you have that data and who's looking at that data how is collected how it's used uh eventually so that's really problematic for me for our kids you know already uh to to be tracked in that way the other thing that comes up in any of these schools is the question that Deb put forth what's the clear statement of you know the the school district and the school committee as an appropriate reason for installing cameras into this new school I mean have they made an argument or do they just think oh this is great technology this is a good idea we have a new school let's install the new technology to protect our building so you know that that's really problematic I'd like to hear the argument that they're trying to make and then what's the the responsibility of those folks who were going to be uh accessing those cameras who is it you know is it going to be uh school administrators teachers uh crest uh you know paraprofessionals there there that's going to be someone's job so I'd like to again have have a clear line of who's going to be maintaining accessing this this data um and then you know kid goes to high school for years or elementary school or you know whatever how long is this data because it's all digital data how long will it be kept so those are you know those are concerns you know kept until an incident occurs for evidence how how long is it kept how is it used so I you know it sounds like I need to attend that next uh school committee meeting to ask these questions because um if there's not a clear argument and they can't make a really good argument other than oh we have funding for this and it seems like a great idea um it's unnecessary thank you freka I think for a project that is coming on mind in 2026 if I heard correctly um we need to have more time to get some of these questions answered and quite a few of them um I don't think there might be much point in perhaps we could still deliberate this evening but um from my in my own perspective by reflex I'd be opposed to it but that's nearly an uninformed position it would be good to know what the issues of cameras in schools generally are and also what that would apply to in this specific case so I think we just need more time for such a really um topic to discuss thank you thank you um Philip do you have anything you want to add I just will echo the yeah I mean I'd like to know the reasoning like why what's what's the point of them and to the other point like why in the new elementary school but then not make it in the middle school or the high school like it just it just seems very strange and I just would like to understand the reasoning and with that I think that I can't really speak too much about it okay um I certainly agree with all the concerns that have been raised about why why the cameras might be put in and what what their intent versus what their impact might be um I mean speaking from my previous experience working in a girls detention facility where we had cameras everywhere and one of my jobs as the clinical director was to review camera footage when something happened like I know that the impact of those cameras are often you know to identify wrongdoing and and dole out punishment um and while I could understand perhaps a you know I guess the putting my parent hat on and and all the horrible you know things that have happened especially in the fall day with elementary school shooting last year obviously there is some heightened anxiety that goes and waves after these school shootings happen so I you know if if there was a security reason for the perimeter to be observed but I think still if if something happened outside they could still go back and review that footage and get in trouble for something that unrelated to a big security breach um I I think I would be affirm no on inside of the school I think that that especially is um questionable to me and and um I think I think that it's true like the information provided um in the email at least didn't didn't in my mind give a specific reason for why they were asking you know why they're talking about putting cameras in and I think you know I haven't gone back to review the meeting that she referenced so it's it's possible that the reasons are outlined in that meeting and I just haven't done my due diligence um but I do I do think that it's certainly questionable and then does it open the door to like oh well we're going to put the cameras in all the schools and and then we're you know how are we going to use those cameras elsewhere and um and I think that that opens the door for some trouble yeah I think we need more information and you know I can find out from uh Jennifer shall page um uh Jennifer shall and um if she wants to provide more information but I guess yeah we can go back and look at the committee meeting but maybe she can sum it up miss pat so I just want to thank Jennifer for uh shout for bringing this to CSS JC attention um you know when I saw that on our agenda um what came to my mind I said I can see where this makes sense for daycare I know my kids were not saying you know my grandkids to daycare that doesn't have camera because they like to monitor you know they say wait for parents young parents to monitor what is happening to their kids at daycare centers for me as a parent who has you know a child that has significant needs like physical included you know I would react differently as opposed to my other kids like you know um I can see where they benefited but definitely not in our school system daycare yes but not in our school system um are we you know is there going to be like preschool at Fort Worth are the new school I'm just wondering why somebody will suggest camera in elementary school it's just out of curiosity that is that 100 percent no for me but then we don't have any powers just to you know give our opinion that's it thank you Ms Pat Freke um I suppose by bringing this up to the committee um what is needed from us is not deliberation but areas of concern and in that case it might come from some questions that we may have and so I would suggest that uh if the meeting is on the 17th do I get that correct you I um November 17th um 7th yes so if it's by that time if um we have questions we could um send that out to my email have them listed and maybe send to um that meeting or to whoever is um appropriate to get some of those questions answered I think that's a great idea um and should we do it the way that we did for the finance director where we send all of our questions to either Pamela or Jennifer um so that we're not violating open meeting law is that Jen is that okay or Pamela um uh sure you you would let you're gonna send uh send to Jen and I the questions that we will then send out back to the group for um for school committee for the questions pertaining yeah to the uh surveillance uh I'm sorry college surveillance but the cameras in the schools yeah sure I think that we we can um get gather that that information so let's see if the meeting is the 17th today is the 9th um what if we try and send everything by next Wednesday or Thursday at the latest and then is that is that a reasonable time frame the week from today um so that so these are individualized questions is that right they're not like a statement from the group correct so I think that's pretty easy if we get it by that Monday or Tuesday um so Jen can have it because I'm sure they have to put there um you know in the agenda and all of that so um meaning Jennifer shall um so if it's just individualized questions couldn't we just send them to Pam and uh and it wouldn't have to be so formal where we have to create like a list or a statement from the whole group sure I'm asking yeah hi yeah it's an expecting formality yeah that way it'll go quicker is what I'm saying so if they're just questions that we have to send to Jennifer shall thanks for you know could be really short email that's composed at that point thanks for bringing this to our attention these are some of the questions that came up from our group perfect that works good yeah so try and send that information to Pamela and Jen by Monday I mean I have my questions basically the ones I stated to you all all right by Monday so would it be okay if because of my guess is that some of you guys have the same questions if we just consolidate the questions yes that would be great okay all right so I think what we're gonna get done here tonight just a suggestion is the update on uh what's going on July 5th and then what do y'all think about adjourning after that I think that's I think that's good and I just I mostly wanted um the two incidents on people's radar screen if they hadn't heard about them because I do think especially in the UMass incident there is the component named of racial discrimination possibly towards the student from the officer um and in the Hampshire College and sent the dean of students wrote to the entire college saying please don't call the police unless like you're in serious danger of dying so I think that's pretty significant I just wanted to make sure that our our record shows that we are looking at all all of the police departments right now and and seeing what what they have been doing and and being abreast of other complaints that have been made absolutely I mean we can look at it all together does someone um want to give the summary of where we are with the July 5th issue before before we do that I have uh like two requests to make okay okay with people so um some community members would like to know and I myself included like to know uh would like to request a list of contractors and consultants so MS police department and I like uh time frame of 10 years from 2012 from 2011 to 2021 list of consultants and contractors of MS police so miss young miss moisten is that something you guys will request on behalf of csjc or is there something I should be requesting directly I'm not clear as to in terms of any documents um I try I try to request document from the finance department director on app app funding um usage for bed and I still have no we have no received it for 650k that was given to bed um but I would table that for next next month but what is the process of requesting documents because that's what csjc is like you know for us to be looking at everything that deals with social justice and safety yeah so I well the contractors and consultants would that go through the bid process will be on the website a lot within the same ones that are from the police station because they all go on the same they're they're all there under I think if you go I I don't have my computer up right now but those things should be online under the accounting department well what thank you miss moisten but what people want is to be part of csjc packet and you know um you know we want like specific lists for people who are you know who are being contracted by APD that way we know where people stand you know when police misconduct happens we know why they're saying what they're saying so we need to expose the list of contractors and consultants with Ames police department in this town that's the reason no I understand that I'm just trying to think of how like how to make that happen into the packet so well that should come from a little bold I mean the the information is online and so I you know I can check in with Sean and see but and then the stuff for the bid should be online as well too I guess for me it's so we're talking about history here like you know if somebody wants to look at the work of csjc I don't think they will go I hear what you're saying and I appreciate what you're saying miss moisten but I don't to me personally I know there is tons of information in our town website it is exhausting for me sometimes to look for stuff so it will be nice to have you know csjc packet for people it's a public record forever for people to post stuff so we need to know the list of consultants and contractors to apd the list from 2011 to 2021 should I be asking the finance director for that well I think so I'm just I'm trying to make sure that it does if you ask outside of the csjc then that becomes a public records request which there's a fee attached to that so let me just see why don't I just do this why don't I get in touch with the accounting department tomorrow and then I'll email everybody from csjc how we should proceed with that okay Jennifer well can I can I interject one quick thing just to add to what you're saying though miss pat I mean I guess like what we're asking Jennifer is just that obviously you know we're a volunteer group you know we as you know right we do a lot to kind of be in here and and trying to to read up and prepare and everything so what we need is to kind of really minimize what else we need to do outside right outside of this meeting and things like that to go hunting down on online I mean I get it that the information is there but to go hunt it down we'll take out another couple of hours so what we're asking is that you know like miss miss pat already had asked for that information from Sean you know I get it that you all are busy and stuff like that however we're a group that we need this information needs this data right so how is it that we can get this information so if we need something in order to be able to deliberate into order to be able to make sound decisions we need that information so how is it that we can get that information right so is it you know with you you know we don't want to have to do a lot of this legwork again outside of this because we don't get paid for that you know what I'm saying I'm like you know so how can how can you or Pamela or whomever you know maybe as a group we need to ask someone else but we need to get that information though it's not okay that that we've asked this information beforehand and we haven't gotten yeah the upper funding for bid thank you Deb for saying this so much the upper funding everybody listen 650 thousand dollars was given to business improvement district and then hundreds and hundreds of business owners in this town was only allocated hundred thousand dollars how is that equity how is that equity I've been asking for the utilization of funding to bid wealthy commercial land owners in this town how is that fair 650 thousand dollars okay we need to get the full utilization of the funding included in our packet I've invited our finance director to come and do presentation on upper funding and he's busy I get that but it's not going to go away I'll bring it up again if it's January or February it's not going to go away fine you know finance of this town follow the money we're going to expose everything thank you so if we could put that on the agenda for next time I know it's a conversation we've been trying to have but we can center on that for next time and again we're making the request it sounds like for the ARPA funds report and now in addition to a report on contractors that the police have worked with so even though it's out of order please take note and let us know if you all are able to to have that for in our packets for the next meeting Pam I believe that Sean had provided the information on the ARPA funding and it was included in a packet but from several meetings ago but it kept getting postponed that is my memory is that some documentation was provided but the issue didn't get addressed in the meeting and it got postponed but I so I believe that the information it has been included in a prior packet and we can take a look to see if that's doesn't address everything that you want but I know that in one of the prior packets there was information that was provided as to the second part of the question I don't know the answer to that but I know that in one of the prior packets there was information provided by Sean in the finance department okay Ms. Pat before you go I just want a point of order as a crew because it is 816 that's right yeah are we going to discuss any updates having to do with July 5th and the two recent incidences on Hampshire College and UMass's college involving UMass police and then town police well for me I think I only have bandwidth to talk about the situation because that's coming up you know next week in terms of a meeting so you know that's what I'm asking before we we start talking about you know ARPA you know funds and etc which is all important but I just want to keep us straight in what we all have bandwidth for tonight as well so yeah if I may suggest let's table the UMass and Hampshire College they're very and you know they're very important incidents I think we should discuss July 5th the only thing I wanted to say about the you know the bid ARPA funding that I requested and the business is we needed to know who applied who get funded who was who were denied all those information we didn't get that's all I have to say thank you thank you miss pat yeah so oh okay Pam you have a question or comment oh your hand's still up okay so um as you all know because we were all there the last meeting with the town council from my understanding maybe Allegra can help me out here is that our next meeting there's going to be another motion maybe a couple of more motions regarding this issue from the town council or town council members so the meeting is on the 14th Monday I don't believe it's a joint meeting I believe we because they have gotten to the point where they are discussing the motion and possibly voting on the motion we are not part of that discussion so the motion that is on the that was on the floor at 1245 before the before Mr. Seinberg motions to postpone the meeting is the motion that Lynn Griezmer had put forward and I believe that Jen Moisten had sent out an addendum to the packet right before the meeting which does include the motion that was on the floor some councillor's amendments to the motion and then an additional motion that will be discussed after the first motion so I don't know oh I can screen share right let me make sure I hope so because I'm looking for it I apologize if I don't do this correctly there we go I did it can you see it are we in the packet yes yes endems at the end oh okay yeah so let me see yeah this is the motion that is on the floor so I guess and I see Deb has her hand up I guess would it be helpful to frame our discussion for the remainder of the evening as to whether or not we want to voice any support for this or any of the motions would that be helpful to frame our discussion in that way or doesn't or are we just generally discussing things well our response to the motion you know is this because you're saying this is Lynn Griezmer's motion or is this a whose motion is this I believe this is Lynn Griezmer's motion because this was the motion that was on the floor okay and then if you scroll down or if I scroll down there are additional amendments some of which maybe they will put in no they don't it would be nice if they just then put what it would actually say not just a lot of red striking out but that's just my brain so there's a second amendment a third amendment and then the additional motion so Deb you have a comment or question yeah so I mean first I have a comment and and kind of like uh idea I guess or or an opinion around these motions so first a comment is just in terms of obviously we were on that meeting um you know the last time uh for over six hours you know and I decided that meeting with there needed to be action and something done around July 5th this has been going on since July 5th and nothing came out of that meeting yet again you know so totally frustrating totally if I'm frustrated I can't only imagine the young people in the families who have actually been impacted by this right and so um just continuing to prolong this and now now with these gazillion motions right that you know then they you know they change one sentence and then they vote against it you know I mean it's just really you know very ridiculous at this point um and so for me it's just kind of like you know what are we going to do as a group to really send the message that this is not okay and then I sent Lynn a separate email when she had sent that that email about what was going to be happening on the 14th so there's disrespectful that CSSJC is not part of the meeting I'm sorry I don't care that it's just that they're talking about motions these have the decency to invite us even if we're just going to be there as panelists and stuff like that it's just the right thing to do what's the half is there because that's how we started it right it was a joint meeting to discuss this issue now they basically kicked us out and and I'm now going to just have this endless you know um grew haha for the next I don't know how many hours next time you know around tweaking sentences and words and so on so forth you know what I'm saying and and and again it's just going to prolong the issue this motion uh you know I don't agree with it you know um it just you know talks about the town manager you know working with you know town staff to to you know to to kind of go you know to look into the things and it's very soft language uh in terms of follow-up um and and it kind of really doesn't have us in terms of our group and HRC and AR sorry I messed up the other one AA RH I'm sorry for the third group but anyway the reparations group to have us front and center you know in terms of having reps there um and I think we need to be involved in in whatever happens in regards to this I don't have any confidence in the town manager being able to come up with anything um you know that really would address the issues in terms of our demands and what we have said about accountability apology compensation fund and and oversight board and so on so forth so anyway those are my points those are my thoughts what are we going to do as a group to really send the message to yet again they've wasted our time they've wasted the family and youth's time and they're disrespecting us thank you Ms Pat I'm not going to labor this issue too long to give other people opportunity because it's like 825 right now first of all to address um Debs what are we going to do I think what the town council uh leader and some of the white folks there is that they don't want the whole truth to come out however the truth has come out but we need a group to put it all together so my uh uh suggestion would be for CSSJC to write a comprehensive report of what happened on July 5th to include the voices of the real people who were there because the reports we've heard did not include you know the victims and I hate to use this word we need to put everything for history sake so that it will be in our pocket it will go to all the media everything we put it out there okay so that's one thing to send a very strong message that the police chief just wasted everybody's time and you know defending his officers like that's one that's one action we can take okay the second thing is that there's not going to be any reconciliation that doesn't even make any sense how are we going to have healing and reconciliation in this town when we you know there's no plan to get a comprehensive report there's no public apology um they're not even talking about creating compensation funds I have news for our town you know there are other options this families and youth can take including the legal process and the town will be forced to negotiate and settle and guess what when when when issues get into lawyers attorneys it costs more money so if it if if it's that wrong there will be no reconciliation that's why CSJC our committee is trying to advocate for you know a better positive approach of justice compensation fund so there are other avenues and as for the meeting that is coming back on on 14 it's another show it will be another fourth show the first one in august where we have the chief police report without the youth input the second one in october when one hour meeting was scheduled on reasonable time allocated the third show one was when I read six motions being put before the meeting and then at the meeting it was seven so again on monday it's going to be another show to drag it because this is not a priority for the council chair and some of the white folks at town council let's face it and I'm calling on our town manager to do something he's a smart guy he can do better being quiet isn't enough thank you thank you miss patty yeah thank you miss pat so item four does talk about research into the feasibility of a compensation fund my main problem with all of the motions is that it does not include the police chief taking responsibility and an actual apology that hasn't happened I don't you know there has been all this stuff in the public the police chief has not apologized okay he said oh his officer made an error but the police chief has not modeled you know reconciliation and social justice by just admitting hey there was that's it's my misstep you know and getting a statement out there and apologizing quickly vacation or not okay so that's that's the first thing with all of these motions it doesn't include okay the other thing it doesn't include for any of these items is a timeline so they're going to explore they're going to conduct research they're going and each one of them you know manifest this same thing in different ways someone a higher consultant some don't um but there's no timeline so my concern on all of it is that it will never get done so I actually like the idea of writing a report we would issue our own report um but then what happens beyond that the report so you know in terms of accountability I do see as you say miss pat it going towards um you know a legal uh uh legal procedure and that's that's not our responsibility at that point we have done all we could do in bringing attention and trying to care for these young people and their families we have other stuff that we that needs to happen and I'm it's not that I'm saying to move on but I think we will have to diversify our roles in our tasks here so while that's going on in the background and we stay on it like okay you have this motion we can critique the motion for what it fails to do but we do have other things that are kind of um in the background that we need to attend to they are saying and and some of the motion such as the youth empowerment center you know as part of the capital improvement plan I really need to see what that means in terms of the funding and again the timeline you know what about the multicultural center there are other things that the cswg brought up that when we talk about community safety they were all a part of it so I agree this these motions fail to really provide um a solution and an answer for our community thank you D Philip or Freca do you have anything about this motion that you wish to share I think for a body that is deliberative and legislative there's no problem with these motions it's what they do and I think the deliberative legislative process is supposed to be slow um and so for these motions I um don't really have an issue with them with regard to a timeline I think that could be done in these motions now they are nine that I see here and what could happen is we figure out what is most imminent and create timelines according to what we think should be done immediately and leave more time for what can be done afterwards that really isn't a problem in that regard um with regard to a statement from the youth I would be in support of that as long as we recognize that that is not a comprehensive report but it is an opportunity for our group to um or our committee to allow the voices of those who were part of this incident um express themselves it would be in that case some kind of malice but if that happens then we are left in a situation where you have a standstill between two voices which takes me back to what I have maintained and I will continue to maintain which is that we should find a way to get um to the bottom of it in terms of the reports that has all those um voices together um I think for now that is what I would like to settle with that is one for the council for them to do their work they have to discuss and then they have to come to um some kind of motions where they can put up or down that is fine that is going to take time we can help them by um creating some kind of priority and giving a possible timeline for some of those motions and then two um we can amplify the voices of those youth and perhaps I'll end with this there is nothing wrong with illegal solution if the town the town since fine with that and if the youth seem fine with it as well then so be it but I think we've done enough and we can move on to other things thank you thank you for okay um Philip do you have anything you want to add uh yeah I just I will add that I think that there was an effort on the town council to push us out of the conversation and it was definitely successful on their end we are not in this next meeting and majority of these motions that like motion two motion three like motion three is very clear that whoever was highlighting or editing out that that even discussion with the CSSJC and the HRC and the AHRA is out of that motion on the amendment and so like motion two has the victim compensation fund crossed out and so all these just efforts on their end just to have basically another go around as it is said and Miss Pat highlighted from August 15th to when the first discussion happened that now it'll happen on November 14th and I can't imagine I mean we only went through one motion that night and spent six hours I don't know how they're going to get through these three motions and come up with the solution so I think I I will just voice my frustration in that and that it does not seem that this is a high priority for the town council and that efforts to push other voices other than the town manager um was successful and so with that I will just say that highlighting and amplifying the and amplifying the voices of the families and the youth I think is a great strategy on our end to still be active in this and possibly if that's releasing a letter or releasing whatever it is just to have kind of something to contradict us Miss Pat put also just to have it on the history books that like hey the police report wasn't the only report out there there are some discrepancies that just didn't get looked into if that's all our body is able to do and I guess that's that's all I have thank you Philip Freke your hand is back up I can't reiterate this enough the legislative process is frustrating and perhaps it is supposed to be frustrating you have different interests that are coming together and they will not all agree and that is why you have a lot of that red ink by the way yesterday was the midterm elections that we had and the results out and very soon we'll see the same thing play out in congress we might not like it but that's what the legislative body is intended to do it is intended to frustrate and it frustrates bad plans and sometimes in fact a lot of the time it frustrates good plans but at the end of the day action sometimes can be good and action sometimes can not be good the question would be would we rather push through because when we're looking at the town council and when we're looking at this committee and we're looking at this incident it becomes a question of what is the president set for other things that might come before such a body and before the town and so I say embrace the frustration but put a sex light on it and point out what the process is so that if there are ways in which we can grease the wheels to make things run smoother then we do it but to focus on these motions as being counter amount to pushing us away I don't think that is the case I think it is the council doing what it is meant to do no I think it was Deb wasn't it yes yeah I mean I mean I get what you're saying you know obviously you know we're in a country that has all you know the different bodies and so on and so forth and a lot of bureaucracy a lot of kind of processes and things like that and we know in congress that you bring up this gerrymandering right that you know you just keep things going around and around around and you make it go you make it that basically uh but for us we we are not you know that body right we're here to really you know look at a situation give voice to the voiceless right which was those young people in terms of what happened to them you know on July 5th when they were basically you know had you had them all sit down almost kind of like they want to line up and then had them you know let them know that they did not have any rights okay um at a majority people of color you know youth of color group um and then you know proceeded to do all different things I mean we've we've gone on and on and on in terms of all of the information that we've we found out and then really the only time they really ended up really listening was when thankfully the white parent you know that was there told his side of the events and all of a sudden everyone's like oh wait a minute wait wait wait wait you know this happened whereas before all the other parents and young people had made the statements it was still kind of like what what do you mean I mean just that is again racism and all its ugly facets right um so you know we have to push this is what's happening with this this is the fourth month that this has happened you know and the town council taking its own sweet time and and continuing in this process of you know diluting you know what it is we've we've sent you know a list of things that we wanted to happen over and over again at the last meeting one of the council's Mandy Joe was just kind of like oh I didn't even know what you all were asking what you mean you didn't know we're asking you've sent documents to the town council you know really clearly stating what we were asking you know for so it's it's again the run around you know that's what we're receiving is the run around um and it's not the whole thing about you know things take time you know when they want things to go quickly it happens quickly especially when it's arresting a black body or brown body that happened very quickly however when it comes time to remedy and and look at and take accountability for actions you know and I remember I was at the at the town meeting when the town manager basically said that he felt like the chief was the best police chief in massachusetts I'm just kind of like so how how are we going to rely on him to take the correct actions to remedy the situation without representatives from our from these three groups who are majority BIPOC groups how are we going to rely on him to do what what should be done to deal with this I'm sorry I'm not going to rely on it and I'm not just going to sit back and wait for the legislative process or the town council process to continue down down the path we need to voice what is happening here which is a lot of nothing you know us pushing and nothing happening and that's what's going on and so we need to figure out what we need to do to to to make some results happen thank you Deb um Dee yeah I just really feel strongly this is a failure of our town manager in his capacity as Ms. Pat has put it as the CEO it is his failure as the head of all the departments in this town to take responsibility and to act proactively on behalf of these young people and their families it is his failure now the town council they you know their responsibility in their deliberation freke to push and to demand that the town manager and so I hear you about the deliberation and this is the process but as we've said before there are things that could happen that are much more immediate that could help these families and these young people feel whole that they can act on as a governing body and then there are the long term and many are listed within these motions for the long term so you know that are that take deliberation that take discussion it is a failure of our town manager and that larger governing body to respond once again to incidences where black and brown people have been unfairly treated straight no chaser now again as as us we have to decide well what do we do do we become more activists in that way and you know bring this to bear or do we function as a committee and sit solidly in what our mission and our goals have been put forth by the town manager to do and that's what we have been for the last four months practicing beyond you know what our charge is even so this is a failure of our town manager and the town council period and I think we need to really challenge them on that and and you know have the community really challenge them on that this is where our tax dollars are going are not going so um freke I want to address this to you briefly I hear you about legislative branch being sometimes the process slower however I think I want to remind all of us what our role is is to provide input to all departments and committees in this town and the town council has chosen to continue to disrespect us and so I use the wisdom that I gained when I was in the leadership of CPAC and advice parents and I continue to do that and I said you know the school will you know run you around so much just do other stuff that let them like you know run you as long as you're not breaking the law and I hope that this will start sinking in with us with this group okay it is very clear that the town council does not want the truth to be out there so they don't want to go there but we need to do the opposite we need to get the voices the full report of the witnesses who were there that night I will get a draft for our next meeting for people to read the full report of what happened that night so they don't want that but it's going to come out they can't stop us we have some power but we don't realize it take your power you can do that we would we will get that out that's one thing the second thing is the elephant in the room I predicted several years ago about the former superintendent not doing good with special education I call for that superintendent to consider stepping down people did not listen to me she eventually stepped down on her own on a different matter but I knew and I'm using the same guy with our current police chief okay protecting his officers being arrogant refusing to apologize and I'm still waiting for the town council chair to publicly apologize to me for silencing me when I made a comment about the police chief considering to step down that's not going to be healing in this town where we have the police chief on the hem of APD that's not going to happen because this guy is not ready to unite people to get you know to apologize he's too arrogant for our town we can do better as a matter of fact I think the the town manager might have a point if he considers our police chief one of the best in our state if that's the yardstick of comparing the best police chief it should make all massachusetts resident worry that's the way I took it if that's the measure of excellence it's our police chief people should worry about our state of other police chiefs that's the way I look at it and so we have moved needle if people remember when I brought I first brought it up in our group that you know the BIPOC youth have approached me to be their spokesperson person I made a prediction that this incident will define our town for 2022 I don't know if people people can go back and look at you too and it happened it happened because I know the town we're dealing with black people BIPOC people do not matter to decision makers the people who have more power in this town that's what it's all about it's about white supremacy it's about racism this is why this is being stalled the same time council had no problem okay increasing or um approving a building Jones library duck pack they you know if they want to deliberate something fast they will they don't want this because this exposes the truth that's what this is all about I will attend the meeting on on Monday and listening but it's all for sure that's what I'm calling these meetings it's all for sure but we have power let's use it let's use it we've already accomplished something and I hope people will take care of themselves I want to use this opportunity to thank people who have publicly supported CS SJC thank you you know who you are people who have supported us privately we appreciate you this work is very hard but we're not doing it for personal gain we're doing it because we want to make a messy better place and I want my great great grandkids in the future to read my role in this time as well thank you thank you so I just had one other thing to add to and I think I'll echo a little bit about like yeah if we're saying that this police chief is the best police chief in this state that is definitely an interesting statement and way to process the whole being of unbiased investigation if that's where the direction that we're going and that if we're allowing this body this town council to proceed that way without any other input that that's not the route that I would like to go but uh and forgive me I it's a little bit late and I'm losing my thought there but I will come there it is that the town already has pushed it away in a way that I think that it's it's just going to be difficult to come back to and back from in that policing in this area has already become so much more problematic in this little time frame since july 5th of the hamster college incident the umass incident that where some person of color has been arrested there's a tiktok video that is going around on umass and I know we're not talking about this it's an aside won't get too much into it but that these um young black women were stopped and almost thrown off of a bus and different things in the police officer there which I believe was a umass pd officer told them to go to the back of the bus and telling someone of black heritage that is that just is very very just problematic in that way and well we're gonna say oh that was a misstep of word so you shouldn't use a statement you shouldn't do this it's kind of one of those things where it's like what like what what century what era are we living in because it seems as if we're going way back and that's this is what sets those presidents right like had there been a better response to this incident in town maybe police officers would have been a little bit put on notice for what they say and a little bit as to oh yeah we need to really like watch what we do and what we're going on and correct me if i'm wrong but was the answer not that we sent our apd officers to umass for training on de-escalation because of this response of july fit and we're sending them to de-escalation training that now there's another video out there that we just sent them to like a problematic place right so i just don't understand the process and that's the point that i wanted to highlight and thank you for traveling with me on there so pam has something to say but real quick um i want to ask are we trying to make a motion to respond to this to send a message uh for the next meeting since we won't be present what what that's our goal in our own deliberation so just i'll hold that pam if you can speak yeah i just want to um clarified that the de-escalation training was held at umass but it was not delivered by umass police department it was done through another organization affiliated with the department of justice thank you pam for that clarification um i asked to get back to de-es question my my thought was i'd like to know if we wanted to respond or not um and it certainly sounds like many people are saying they don't want to respond formally to i and i before we make that decision i do want to bring up the last motion which isn't amendments to this motion but actually kind of gets at what other people are saying um so i see frekka has his hand up excuse me i'm sorry i didn't mean to interrupt you i don't know if you that's that's i'm not i i'm i'm also trailing at this time um i suppose for the committee they are different reasons why we all would agree that we shouldn't respond to this motion so i would just like to give my reason which is simple um it may happen that none of those motions pass and in that case it is ineffectual whatever we have to see right now it might be more effective if um we respond to a motion that has passed to either give our sense to that motion or express our um disagreements with it thank you for that um so it sounds again like we don't want to make a formal statement related to these motions do we want to just look at the alternate motion um because there is some interesting word edge word that's not a word um do we want to do we want to look at the last page of this yeah i i appreciate it okay um so this is the additional motion um and it's my understanding that all of these motions have been sent to the town attorney for kind of input as to whether they actually would make any sense um or could be done um but this motion in particular has um language around a joint statement um to council and town manager and um i i believe that might have been taken out and then asking for an official public report on July 5th instant to include the following documents from the town manager particularly direct reports from police and dei directors as well as from members of the public involved in the instant or with relevant information such as video factual statements or perspectives um and then pensatory repair options for the youth and their families um and that does give a short time frame of by December 19th and i felt like this was maybe a more direct motion to deal with repair for the incident that occurred on July 5th and i think it also brings back to light the fact that a lot of the opposition to the motion last meeting was that um there would be an alternative record created um and i think that that's important whether or not we do it within the framework of emotion passing i think that it's something that should be done and something to keep the youth's voices at the forefront of the discussion um so that's all i wanted to say on this i don't know if other people besides d have comments they want to make um but d yeah i mean um this is much closer to dealing with um the the topic at hand um and not trying to go around the edges i mean certainly we need a youth empowerment center certainly we need all you know um a discussion on process and procedure all of that's needed but in dealing directly with these young people and their families um this is about the closest motion that gets to it it does have timelines um December 19th it doesn't you know there's no guarantee that they'll vote on it to say yes you know there's some type of compensation or you know um i do like how it's very open-ended about that repair options including but not limited to cash payments educational scholarships business startup funds home or