am a 2003 Amherst regional high school graduate and I did return to the Amherst area in 2018 to raise my family. I'm also a forensic social worker and I see racism in my role within the criminal justice or injustice system on a daily basis. In the courts, I've seen what community safety is not. Five police cars responding to a man expressing paranoia to his community outreach worker, causing an aggressive reaction resulting in criminal charges. Member up before the court for fitting the description of a black male in a brown jacket, which the mass Supreme court in commonwealth versus war in 2016 has deemed racial profiling. A woman held in custody where she would be quote unquote Sandra blended and destroying the cell resulting in further criminal charges. The community as a whole can't be safe if our vulnerable residents are BIPOC neighbors. Our unhoused community members are disproportionately affected by structural violence. They're viable alternatives to a militarized police force, especially for the 90 plus percent calls of nonviolent behavior that BPD receives. There's been numerous citations of the Cahoots model in Eugene Oregon. Eugene is a town about the similar racial background as Amherst and they have replaced police on many calls. When they go into the local fire police ambulance communication center, they will dispatch a team consisting of a medic, either a nurse or an EMT and the crisis worker who has at least several years of experience in the mental health field. This week who provides immediate stabilization in case of urgent medical need or psychological crisis assessment information referral advocacy and in some cases transportation to the next step of treatment if needed. That sounds to me a lot more like community safety than sending police with guns to respond to people facing mental health crises. So I asked myself what is community safety? Focusing on a community where we promote wellness rather than punishing illness. A place where all residents have people access to housing, food, healthcare, education, employment and recreation opportunities. I hope that that can be a shared vision with this town council and the residents of this town to move forward and make Amherst a place where the police are obsolete. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Zoe. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you. So Tom manager Backelman, you said just a few minutes ago that people's time is valuable and that this work costs money. And I want to underscore that yes, yes it is. People's time is valuable and yes, this work costs money. And we've been telling you in these meetings for the past two months feels like that you need to be paying black people and black organizations to guide this work in our town. So instead of asking for quote newly formed organizations like Defund, four and three Amherst and the racial equity task force to continue to continue doing this work for free. You need to be paying people, which is what we've been saying. You've heard us ask you to spend that $80,000 to pay a black consultant. And instead you've decided that it should go to the Human Rights Commission, despite having said previously that you were open to hearing from people about how the money should be spent. And we've heard from a member of the Human Rights Commission that they don't really have any intent to act and that they're really slow and that it probably won't go anywhere. If this is going to put in the hands of the Human Rights Commission. So it's already kind of insulting enough that your call today to do more interviews and research and focus groups and more studies about the past work that the town has done. And I think that that call devalues the work that we have done for free. It also devalues the stories and testimony that community members have shared during budget meetings. As Bailey said earlier, it makes us feel like all of this work that we have done, which you have asked us to do, we continue to do because we believe in this work that that work is not valuable because it has it because it's been done for free. And it doesn't inspire confidence that further work will lead to action because the work that has been done so far has not led to action. It's led to promises to listen now. Furthermore, talking about implementing incremental reforms over probably years shows that you aren't really viewing this as a real emergency. Unlike COVID, COVID prompts a real emergency where you make immediate changes within two weeks. Instead, in the public health crisis of racism, you aren't reacting like there are actually people being harmed now. We should be doing anything and everything we can to lift up and protect. But there are, that is happening. It is an emergency. Instead, this approach shows that you're comfortable where you sit. You feel safe and you're willing to make empty motions to us, your constituents, for long enough that we'll stop talking.  So thank you for your time. Thank you for your comment. Demetrius. Can you all hear me? We can. Great. Thank you for listening to the people. It is really important that we as a community, not only listen to one another, but feel we are heard. So I appreciate district five. Holding a session, a listening session. And it sounds like you heard us. I appreciate that. And all of those who also voted to not consolidate. What I'd like to speak to at this moment, however, is about the abolition of policing and Amherst. And I think that, you know, I was not initially a supporter of this, but when I looked at the research of D fund 413 Amherst. And looked at what other folks are doing across the nation. I see the sense of it. I see the sense of having something akin to cahoots that works where someone is not uniformed or armed. You know, going in to see about someone who has a history of a mental health issue. I also see the sense of it because my sons. My friends and neighbors sons who are people of color have been targeted and profiled. I have as well. And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the police, the police, they were following me, you know, until I realized, oh, I'm in my skin as a person of color. And that is what they are indeed seeing. In addition, I'd like to speak to town manager, Backelman's $80,000 and what the council has appropriated. Let me say as a person who studies history. Who respects the history and contributions of all people of this nation. $80,000 is insulting. It is insulting because when we think of reparations that needs to take place, not only in this community, but across this nation for the work and the contributions that have been done by indigenous people were forced to do in this country, but African Americans, it is insulting. And so I begin to think about, well, what could we do with $80,000? Well, $80,000 could help in perhaps creating what we have done with the racial equity task force in a people's assembly in the United States. And so I begin to think about the importance of paying community elders and community young people in creating a council that then decides through deliberation and consultation with community members, how we are to be represented in Amherst. Where is the monument for indigenous people? Where is the monument for African Americans? We have a plaque project that for 15 years has been in storage. There's a few of us in the community who have been working on it. This plaque project represents the voices and the sacrifice of both black and white soldiers during the Civil War. We have yet to have a full-town council be a part of that and placing these historic plaques in a place that is visible and that can be appreciated by both community members and folks who visit, just like how they visit, you know, Emily Dickinson's home. We need something like that. That is something we could get behind. We need a commission that is headed by folks selected from the community. And we need subpoena power. Because we will need to see documents of past wrongs committed by police officers. And we will need to then work to make sure that these police officers are no longer employed. So when we talk about, you know, what to do with $80,000? Again, insulting, it's not enough. But if it's going to be a start, it has to be something where community members decide what to do with it. The HRC does not represent the community. The HRC, how it is configured has very little teeth. It is symbolic at best. We need something more than that and we deserve something more than that. There is a petition going around for reparations in this community. It has to do again with the history and it has to do with what is a way forward. I suggest you all, I will gladly send it to you if you have not seen it. But it is a start in terms of this conversation. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Lydia. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Lydia irons. I live in district four. So. I also would like to call back to what town manager Paul Bachman said about time being valuable. As a community organizer in this town who has been working. With. Not the academic set, but the community set. We did some work for you. We sent out a survey to the BIPOC community of Amherst. On how they would like to work. The town council held accountable. For the vote on the most recent budget. So we sent out the survey. And our question was, how would you like to see the town council show accountability after their racist vote on the budget? Some of the responses were in order to add new answers and opinions. So we have percentages here for you. So we have a number of responses. So we have a number of new answers and opinions. So we have percentages here for you. 59% of the people who responded to our survey. Said that they would like you to share resources with the town residents. That are clear. Concise and transparent. On how the budget process works. So that next year we can set up strategies. For how we can be more. And how we can be more involved in these meetings. So that you have no choice but to cut the APD budget. Because you will hear from so many of us. 51% of those votes. Asked that you publicly. Recognize the harm you have done. Publicly recognize the harm you have done. More than half of the people who took our survey said that. 48% of the people who took our survey asked that you donate money. To the youth of Black Lives Matter. To counter culture educators. And to other black led organizations in our community. 33% said that the budget process needs to be more transparent and less bureaucratic. Multilingual and accessible. I'm going to say that again. Multilingual and accessible. These meetings are very silencing. They are unbelievably hard to participate in. And the fact that you do not have translators. And interpreters. You don't even have this live on zoom. With closed captioning. For deaf and hard of hearing folks. Is absolutely ridiculous. 33% of people who took our survey said. That we just need to vote you all out. I personally am in favor of that. We had some write-in suggestions as well. That having the funding that goes to APD. Go directly to community initiatives. I think it's a wonderful one. We also had. Hold hearings where they deeply investigate. What younger residents want. That they are overly focused on the needs of the older set. And the people in Amherst. Who are economically comfortable. And I just would like to end my public comment to you tonight. With the fact that. We're doing this work. And it is not taking us. So much time.  It is not.   There are real people's lives at stake. And real people in your community. Want to see these things happen. And want to see public safety changed. And the way we do it here. Thank you. Thank you. Alicia. Please state your name and where you live. You need to unmute. Thank you. Okay. Hi, my name is Alicia Walker. And I'm an Amherst resident. And I'm an Amherst resident and the parent of three young black children in the Amherst regional public school system. I attended elementary school in this town. And I'm an alum of the Amherst regional middle school, the Amherst regional high school and a graduate of UMass Amherst with a bachelor's degree in sociology. And a focus on equity and anti-racism. I'm also a part of the 1% of teen moms who earned a four year degree by the age of 30. I currently work in the criminal justice system advocating for the safety safety of all of our community. And I think that's a great idea to place on the town manager's comment that his perception of community safety does not be quite that of the BIPOC community. And although I singularly do not represent an entire community, I can share with you that my experience as a person of color who has lived in Amherst for their entire life has shown me time and time again, but my safety has never been connected to policing. But instead has shown me that for certain residents, it is completely the opposite. A threat to our safety. filed and arrested for misdemeanor crimes. Plainly said, arrest and incarceration don't work and do not keep our community safe. Just as many black and brown men I grew up with have taken their own lives in the past 10 years, which I cannot separate from the racist systems of sing-and-amourist. This pulls many, many fathers from their children and their families and enables a vicious cycle of trauma. These same men grew up relying on community organizations like the Tapestry Health, the Amherst Survival Center, the Hub Youth Center, and the Center for Women and Community. This is because these places do work and they do help the community feel safe. What if patrolling police were replaced with boosts and community workers for mental health services like ServiceNet, sexual health like Tapestry, and teachers, professors who lead educational and healing spaces for youth and adults of color? Isn't that a world we'd all like to live in? Don't our black and brown youth deserve it? We need to center the voices and needs of the youth of color who live in Amherst for the educational, social, and economic opportunities they deserve and are too often robbed of. These voices continue to fear our police and jails and continue to trust our community partners. I demand the town stop talking and asking black and brown folks to re-traumatize themselves by sharing endless stories and start acting based on the community feedback that you already have. Appoint educators, youth, and families of color.  And they will help navigate the anti-racist work with equitable compensation. It is your job. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Georgia? Hi. How are you, Lynn? Fine. Thank you. It's been a long evening, right?  I, to be honest, I kind of left the meeting and I just want to say this, you know, people are saying what Paul is saying.  I'm like, talk to the district, you know, Doreen Cunningham. She has a great, you know, great system in place to be inclusive, to have different voices at the table. And he basically was very dismissive, you know, and he says, we're not there yet. End of conversation. So I got it. You know what I'm saying? There's no real commitment to doing the work. And there has to be a commitment to want to do it. So I, Paul, I got you very loud and clear. There's no commitment. So I never responded because I have to pick my battles because I have to tell you. I am fighting this battle, I work in the school district and because of the racism I face there, I'm taking medication and I am doing therapy because it's been ongoing. And I know I'm under social justice fatigue. I'm in the union and I just was like, I can't. So I want to read my letter because I know I have limited time. My name is Georgia Malcolm, a black woman, an immigrant, and a nine-year resident of Amherst in district one. I moved here with my black then 10-year-old son, Carrington, in 2011 after the death of my mother. When I moved here, everyone told me Amherst was great. Oh yeah, social justice, it's fabulous. And I have to tell you, Amherst is not so great. There's a deep-seated, insidious white supremacy culture in every fiber of the institutions in this town. I was cautiously optimistic when this new government was elected. But deep down, I felt trepidation. And that is why I was not surprised by some of your recent decisions. What I am disappointed, what I am is disappointed. I am disappointed because I lie to my son about the work you would do and the wrongs you would work to undo. My son and I spoke when he was writing his speech because he was the student speaker at your inauguration. And I promised him that you would listen to all the voices in Amherst, regardless of skin color, because as elected officials, that is a promise you made to your constituents. With that in mind, the fallen is an irked excerpt of his speech at your inauguration. This newly formed town council is a catalyst for possibilities and an opportunity to bring unity and reassurance to our community. At the end of the day, this newly elected government is encouraged to listen to and engage with the people. This is not about individuals. This is about Amherst and its people, making sure that most people feel that their voices are heard. Although there will be some disagreement or opposition, the important thing to recognize and acknowledge is that people have different visions. But ultimately, they want the same result. The very best for Amherst. With that in mind, we will move forward because it is our solemn duty to dedicate our efforts into continuing to make Amherst better so that we can pass a sacred mantle onto the future generations without any regrets. Knowing we did our absolute best to lay a foundation for a brighter future. Lastly, I just want to share with you a quote from President Obama's speechwriter, Cody Keenan, who said, I know what idealism can be hard. It can be an idealist to open yourself up to the possibilities of what we can do together. It's never an easy thing. Thank you and good luck to everyone on this journey because Amherst is depending on us all. So here we are witnessing Amherst, a microcosm of what is happening under the Trump administration against BIPOC community and immigrants. I am angry and I'm saddened by your recent decisions. They have lacked courage and instead are meant to retain power because racism operates from a position of power. George Floyd's death did not provoke any kind of compassion from you and a call to action. They're nothing well. Black and brown people in this community have gotten your message loud and clear. Consolidating voting stations that is voter suppression and impacting our fundamental right to vote and be part of the decision-making process. The right that many of our ancestors died for so we could have a voice at the table. A dear friend said to me recently, white people will march with you all day long. They will hold signs in their yards. Black lives matter but they will never share power. She also told me anytime you're planning because like I said I'm an executive board member on the union and she said to me whenever you're at that table and you have a voice, the decisions that you make you have to take into account the people that are most vulnerable and disadvantage. If you're committed to achieve an equity and inclusion because the people that are privileged will not be adversely affected by these decisions. I was split and angry when I heard how you came to the decision on redirecting funds into social programs and training for police. Do you know why? Because my sweet innocent trust in Black Sun, you need not think of him and other Black boys and mothers when you made this decision. I was told that the decision was made based on like equal people foreign against. I mean it is ludicrous because the decision should have been made based on the Bible community because they're the most vulnerable and disadvantage. Black men are being killed at the hand of the police at this proportionate rate. How many white mothers have lost their sons at the hands of the police? None.  For us, not so much. My son, he's out now and I can show you my text. He texts me every half an hour. I am good. I am good. I'm on my way home. And then only when he comes in through that door can I go and put my head on the pillow. If he says I'll be home in 10 minutes and 15 minutes, I grab my car keys and I'm headed out the door. That is what, that is my reality. The reason I felt compelled to write is because of an incident with my son on Thursday. He was hanging out with a friend and the car died. He called me after 12 o'clock and said, Mom, can you come? That was George Floyd calling for his mother. His car would not start and a police car kept coming in and out of the lot. And then another police car joined him. He said the police were sitting there watching him. But he can't leave because the car is dead. He was scared and he would leave the vehicle because he says, you know, my black skin, right?  He should have been able to feel comfortable getting out of the car and asking for help from the officers. But he could not. Why? He knew his black skin would have been seen as a threat and the difference between life and death. I immediately drove to my son, approached the police officers' vehicles and told them that my son's car would not start and if they could assist. One officer left. And like I said, the other two officers were fabulous. Very nice. We chatted. They chatted with my son. It was great. But the outcome could have been different. I could have gotten a phone call that my son was killed. This is what we're asking for. We're asking for ways for the police officers to be trained. We're asking for funding so that we can develop a relationship with the police office and there can be a mutual trust between law enforcement and the community. We're asking for de-escalation training. And we're asking for investment in social programs and in order to save our lives. And you know, really and truly, there has to be some anti-racism training for the police and for Paul Buckleman for all these people who are at the table because I'm gonna tell you, the lens that are being used are not the lens that can make decisions that is going to impact positively the black and brown people in this community. And I don't want to be, I'm a straight shooter. Mike Morris will tell you, I just, you know, race stand with me.  You know what I'm saying? I can be an ally, I will be there by your side, but you guys have to do right by us, I'm sorry. And I'm wrapping up. But the need for collaboration in this work is apparent and why it is important to have different voices at the table. You have to include people who have lived these experiences because race is a social construct.  The town council has some serious work to do if they're committed to serving all their constituents. There's a need for some serious anti-racism work to take place to help in dismantling this white supremacy culture in your organization because it is impacting your decisions. And I'm hoping that, you know, that the voices here tonight has somehow reached decision makers in this process because it's a difference between life and death.  Thank you. Thank you. Micah. Hi there. My name is Micah Lanalves. I live in East Emerson, Echo Hill. I'm in district two. I've been a resident of Emerson for about four years now. I just want to thank everybody for sharing the stories and the comments that they have and also thank you to the council members for being here tonight. And I would like to share a quick story of my own. So one day I was driving down Gatehouse Road. This was about a month ago when I saw two kids, a girl and a boy, in the middle of the street. And I pulled over to see what was happening and at first I thought they were just playing. But then I stuck my head out the window and asked if everything was all right.  And my heart kind of dropped. So I put on my blinkers and got out of the car. And when I got over there, the boy was on the ground. His bike was a few feet away. He was crying. He said he couldn't move his leg. There wasn't any blood and he was on his back, one hand on his right knee, which looked like it might have been starting to bruise. His sister arrived shortly after I did and she said that their mom was coming soon. I wanted to do something to help, but I don't really know any first aid. And I wondered, what is a person supposed to do in this situation? Do I bring in the police?  Or do I call an ambulance, potentially settling a family with an enormous cost? No, I don't think the police would have helped this situation. In fact, I know that having an officer there would have only escalated the situation. And as has been echoed by many others, the police do not invoke a feeling of safety, but anxiety and fear for many people in our community. Once the mother arrived, the mother of the boy, she burst out of the car. She eyed all of us that were standing around there and she said to her son, what are you doing up here? What are you doing up here? What are you doing up here? Now this was on Gatehouse Road and so I only assumed that they lived down the hill in the apartments. And I knew that she knew the terrible things that can happen to her son outside and inside their own home. And I knew that too and that's why I didn't call the police there. But you know, what would have helped in that situation and what would make me and I think a lot of other people feel more safe is knowing that there are culturally sensitive people who have received non-racist training, even multilingual medical and mental health professionals available to call at all hours of the day, people who don't have a mandate to arrest and who don't carry a lethal weapon. So that's why I'm asking you really just to expand your imagination, Council people, of what is possible and to take immediate actions. And the last thing I will say is if you wanna find a place for the money of defunding the police, there is not a single educator or teacher in this country who would not be elated to receive $2 million or $1 million or any amount of money. So Amherst Public Schools is one place you could send it there. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. We're moving back to the Council now and are there comments at this time on this issue? So the town manager has put before us a proposal. Are the beginnings of a proposal and thinking about this? And he is looking for our feedback based on what he has said and what we have heard from others. Dorothy? With a certain amount of fear and trepidation, I will read some of the questions that I wrote down when I read this. My first one was who is speaking? There was no name on the report. Two, where is the place for research? Three, are there only those three models which are not explained? The best way to examine how to deliver social services to all people in need, including those with mental health issues? And four, will we examine in detail what we do now? I don't know what happens.  They did not have on masks. And the man said, I want to get my mask on. I want to get my mask on. Now, I don't know the details of the story. I don't know where he was going, but question is we've never talked about what happens when the police pick up somebody who has been behaving, because he'd been yelling in public, okay, near the library. What happens? We don't have, we don't have social workers. We don't have any of that. Do we take them to what agency do we take them to? And where does that agency take them? Why do you need to be in handcuffs to go there?  And I know that our police make very difficult choices, but we've never even talked about what they do. So, and I think we need to know that before we talk about what would be a better way to go. So, I just also, the same question would be for people with addiction problems, because if they're just taking them to jail, they're not going to be kept there. It's not going to help them. And we all know that. So, $80,000 can't fix a totally destroyed mental health system in this country, but I don't really, I don't really feel like a lot of talking about generalizations, about this and that, when I don't even know how people are treated and where they go and what happens to them in our own town. That's my comment. Shalini. I just feel it's really hard to, it's very difficult processing. It's hard to wrenching to hear what people are going through in our community and what might be the stuff that's taking steps forward because clearly there's a breakdown of trust and anything we say is not important. At this point, it's what we do as a council. So that's, it's really, really important for us too. And that's what we are doing here and Paul has presented the program. So I'm just happy that we are here. We're talking, we're sitting in the midst of, discomfort of just figuring out what what are the right steps to do. So one of the questions that's coming up for me is is just the intentionality. As a council can we create a clear intentions for what would we like to see happen? For example are we are we looking at the public safety? Is that the intention that we want to ensure the public safety or is it we're looking at systemic racism in our town or are we just looking at policing? So what is our intention as a council together? What would we like to see happen? The second thing is that I think there's been a lot I mean it seems like there are some immediate steps we can take. For example what we're hearing is in having a committee or having people who can be called like a team who can be called like for the example that was given right now when kids have fallen or someone needs help in town and who are trained in culturally and bilingual and could we create some immediate steps or those would be the immediate steps of creating a team that can be called for addressing these kind of issues but then I also see there are some long-term systemic issues that need to be studied. So I'm not talking about a committee that's going to sit and talk about it but there are models out there that have researched and one example is in Chapel Hill where they're using human center design for community engagement and what that looks like is where we are reaching out to the community members especially the people who don't don't feel safe to come to these meetings but we find ways to engage people and use the stories and the lived experiences and maybe even pay people for their time in receiving that information but then it's through that information we redefine even the questions that we're asking because a problem often is that we can come in as if we know the solutions and this is what you need but I really feel we need to look at what are the root causes of the problems in let's say if it's public safety we need to reach out to the different stakeholders including children including the youth at school what does public safety look like to them including parents and teachers and youth and BIPOC communities and so really reaching out to all the stakeholders because we've also been hearing from a lot of people during this COVID time what happens if the police has taken away and how do we ensure the safety when the students come in the businesses are concerned about how do we ensure safety in downtown if you take away the police so there are these can seemingly conflicting needs in our town and we have to find a way maybe it entails creating two caucuses for the BIPOC and for non BIPOC people so there are systematic ways of reaching out actively reaching out to people and then having the two caucuses talk to each other and figure out so I don't know I'm just saying that there there are things we need to do in a very systematic way there are things maybe there are things we can do immediately but then there are models out there using human-centered design where we can systematically engage the community use empathy in the research models and this is not academic research but this is really grounded research action research where we are working with the community members to define the problems and to figure out the solutions together that yeah okay that's all for now thank you Pat T. Entomus the only thing I'm clear of right now is that I have no wisdom but like many of us I need to speak anyway I'm I am very I was appreciative Paul of what you created as sort of a general outline of a working group of committee about bringing community together about surveys and all of these things and what I feel very strongly about it I don't know I honestly don't know what next steps are but what I feel very strongly about is that the that we need to have this committee this looking at policing looking at systemic racism and Amherst looking at racism in housing we need to have the community of color the BIPAC community open themselves up in ways that they feel comfortable and then for them to create this committee to have representatives from the the diverse BIPAC community here in Amherst and and really ask them to move first and for them to create the charge for this committee and for you know I'm sort of stuck here because I want to be involved I feel very strongly that they're that each segment of the BIPAC community elders young entrepreneurs business people people who are working hourly jobs for less than minimum wage etc. students we need their voices and their work and I I'm a mess about this I guess I'm really not carrying any wisdom but I know that it needs to be driven by the BIPAC community but I also am asking the BIPAC community to join to join me in in sharing information yeah I spent I've been spending a lot of time these last few days reaching out to people of color in my life and finding out what their experiences with the police I've been doing work on my own and I've heard a mixed reactions from I have trouble with Belcher town and Hadley police but Amherst police are pretty good I'm scared when it happens but and I'm not somehow or rather it can't just be that you holler at us and call us out as racist I own my racism I know I was raised as a racist but if you want me to work for you I need to hear you and I need you to step forward and and meet with me and then believe at some level that I'm hearing you and also believe that if I vote for something that you don't agree with it isn't necessarily because I am sunk in my racism I may be voting anyway in a certain way because I feel strongly that it what would it would be beneficial for the full community so just I need you to speak with me and not holler at me in the sense of and I'm speaking very much right now and I'm sorry I'm ranting I'm speaking very much right now to the white people who smoke the young privileged white people who are telling me that I am a bad person when they don't know me and I am getting really resentful of being prejudged by other white people you know nothing about my work and you know nothing about my life I have much more hope that I can make real connections with people of color than and then I can make with white privileged people who think now that they have the right to judge over and over again every other white person and literally I think not look at themselves and I didn't expect to go there and I'm sorry but I'm gonna stop right now are there any other counselors that would like to speak to this time or provide Paul with additional thoughts on next steps Alyssa oh I'm sorry I didn't think my hand was up next that was very powerful in terms of trying to say things that are different right so we don't just say what everybody said humans do love stories but that doesn't make it incumbent on BIPOC people to share their stories with the white power structure so to all the people who feel like they felt pressured to do that at a zoom meeting you know or some other uncomfortable space I'm really sorry for that you're right we don't have all the right spaces set up but it is not your job to prove something to me it is really helpful when we can talk one-on-one or potentially in small groups because as many of you have mentioned we have this crazy public comment thing that's not a dialogue one of the things I keep talking about and so when I was talked about organic groups when I talked about progress is doing an act some actual things and I'm hearing from some people that they want to do actual things and I think that's great but I don't want those actual things to be as other people have reference just talking about things I personally have been involved with taking the anti-racism basics course that was offered to the school teachers 15 years ago I've been part of some informal study circles on race and class which were amazingly organized even though they were informal we used to have becoming a multicultural school system we used to have becoming a multicultural town and I'm really desperate for us to not just do some cool work together and then kind of just let it fade away which is been my experience here in Amherst having been involved in all those things and so I really appreciate whenever anybody can offer to us and that's when I refer back to the organic part of what would various segments of the BIPOC community want us to do right now I understand that some people want us to abolish the police force right now and I don't think that's something that's when it happened right now practically speaking but what is it that we can do that would help us make progress toward using those models from other communities what are things we can do I am both to send this off to some committee that we argue about for hours how to even compose when it's going to get appointed by the town manager and be subject to all the frustrations of open meeting law so how do we get how do we as a council offer the opportunity for people to tell the town manager this is what I want to do next and then the town manager come to the council and say you said you want to report at every town council meeting what I'm doing this is what I'm doing next and then we say wait did you hear from people about that and he says oh yes I need to talk to these other people I also just want to clarify in case nobody else gets a chance that no one's given that $80,000 to anyone yet it's not gone to the police it's not gone to Human Rights Commission it's not gone anywhere and I agree we need to figure out a way to start spending it even though it's a very small amount of money but I'm really looking forward to hearing some concrete ideas that don't involve setting up a formal committee yet as to what to do what's the next thing we can have before our next town council meeting and the town council meeting after that Sarah Schwartz you have your hand up so I I guess the same as Pat it's it's it feels hard for me to make any kind of a comment on this when I I'm white and I know that I was raised and just by being white in a racially biased situation and I'm racist I think that there's there's a lot of us who are more than willing to own that I think that I'm very moved by all of the pain and I also have to say that you know what we're hearing over and over and over again and I'm hearing from people who are younger generations from me saying that people want action and I think that Alyssa is is right in the form that we have to show action I also think that we have to we have to make sure that we are able to explore our biases and I think that one of our biases as as people who are either have a certain income and always have or have family to support us or you know who are white is that I think that all of us need to have some training on the fact that I think when I'm hearing a lot is that privileged people and white people see the police as protection we're the only people that seem to think that police are protection and I think that we have to find some concrete ways I think we need to take a look at I think a Shalini said you know what what is policing and what is actually taking care of the public and public safety and you know people want us to defund the police and we really have to take a look at what they're saying because they're screaming it and they're they're they're pleading and it comes from a deep place of pain and it is an emergency for them that is true and and I would like to see if there's any way that that even as a council or that we have some training in like the fact that Dorothy said I don't know what happened like genuinely at least she's reaching out and saying I don't know what happens when these people you know do we arrest them what happens I think we need to see some concrete steps on on maybe looking into what does it mean to defund the police and what does it mean to set something else up and I think that we need to have deadlines and we need to make people feel heard because they're really just feeling like this is lip service so that's I guess it's Pat said I'm not sure that how much wisdom that is but I want to be mindful of everything else we have on our agenda tonight and we went to 11 30 the last time we met and that what Paul has asked for is some thoughts from the council about next steps and so I'm going to try something just whether it's a committee or not the real one of the things I keep hearing is let's look for alternative models for dealing with homelessness mental illness and drug addiction and so for things that we don't think are always best dealt with by by police and we asked the town manager to at least begin looking at those models and come back with us with the idea that as we move into our discussions for the next budget we start thinking about how can we fund a model that provides some different ways to deal with mental illness drug addiction than we presently provide I'm I'm I'm a person who wants action and I can't continue to think that it's going to be productive for us to have further conversations without saying let's do something and that's one theme I've heard okay that's one thing I've heard many others about other kinds of money that we should put elsewhere but one thing I keep hearing is let's find alternative models deal with mental illness homelessness etc. Maybe others in the council don't agree that that's a place to start but I'd like to just and and I really have to say we do need to move on we have other people waiting and so let's make sure our comments are on the issue of how do we move forward Dorothy I have a simple step towards equality and that is something I've brought up before fund internet for everyone in town you've heard the old saying don't give a man a fish teach him how to fish the inequality of access to internet in this town is perpetrating inequality so that is something we could do it's expensive but it would make a great difference in the lives of many people so I'm just putting it out there okay Shalini I think the other tangible action is that that was brought up is the transferency in the budget and educating people about a budgeting process so they can be they can participate that's one thing the second thing I do want to emphasize is that what I agree that let's take these immediate actions like the one that Len proposed which I think we were clear I mean that we need alternative models to address these issues so there's no no issue with that but any other solutions that we provide I think is again we invest all that money in providing a solution but that's not the real core problem the root cause of the problem might be the education system the that youths don't have they don't feel empowered or they they're not equal opportunities for BIPOC people to start businesses or get loans or so if you don't know what what the problems that our people our different community members are encountering we cannot fix those problems so I really would want us to to figure out a way like I said a human-centered design approach or some other similar approach where we look at and identify what are the problems that our people are encountering with transportation whether it's getting to groceries whether it's getting health or education and and and then let the solutions come from there rather than us saying that the simple solution is this and I know what the solution is because we don't know the solution George we have a committee town services committee public safety is a fundamental service that provided by the town to its residents just strictly from a council perspective that would seem to be an appropriate place for a conversation to begin amongst at least five counselors with input from others as they see fit we're not going to be able to do this 13 of us all in a meeting like this if we're looking for a way for us to move forward as a body apart from what's happening in the community at large would seem one possibility is to turn to one of our committees and ask them to begin to explore some of the things for instance that you've suggested Lynn and others it's a standing body and this is what it's supposed to deal with this town services I'm perfectly fine with some of that but I think we need some response back and I think you need to be working closely with the town manager since he is your late liaison anyway I I really feel like we need to move on it's now 1021 we have several more items on our agenda and when we get to the 17th we really don't have mine for this we will again on the 31st when we meet this is a very wrenching issue and we all feel that way so um and I think we all feel like we don't have any solutions um so I'd like to move on to the next issue which is got its own area and that is the issue of um the higher ed student return the update um we have various things we want to talk about but we've been joined tonight at our invitation by Nancy Pofone associate vice chancellor for university relations Joni Morales executive director external relations and university events and Jeff Hescock executive director environmental health and safety and emergency management and they provided us with a report right before our meeting and I'm going to call on Nancy I believe is the most senior of the group to talk about the update on from UMass and let's start with that sure and I I do recognize that it's been a long night for all of you so I will try and keep this short because I'm sure you all have questions um I I think that overall our goal has been to try and create an academic environment for our students that was um safe both on campus and off and so um we have had a number of different plans and those plans have changed because we've been watching what has been happening with the COVID-19 virus in the state and so as you all know last uh Thursday evening the chancellor um made a uh shift to move away from having a lot of students on our campus um we will end up with a max of about 1200 and 1250 students on campus we have encouraged our off-campus students uh to not move into their off-campus student apartments uh we recognize that that is challenging because many of them have now signed visas and so they have financial commitments and we are hearing from them and their families but uh we are limiting their access to campus but um we have not at all backed away from our commitment to making sure that they are following best health public health practices and I think um Tony and Jeff can Tony can speak to the uh collaboration that we've had with the town around student behavior and some of the success that we've had in the the best approach and Jeff can talk about some of the testing protocols um I do want to just comment quickly that um there's been a lot of talk about the UMass agreement um that is the document that um we have outlined both for students on and off campus about our expectations for their behavior related to the pandemic and so um I don't want to um go through this document um line by line um but what you can see and there's there's two pieces to it so one the first two pages looks at the Amherst area in particular um and then the second the third page looks strictly at Amherst and we're still developing um the analysis around some of those statistics but overall um what you'll see is that there is um a high level of positive engagement from our students especially our undergraduate students who have signed the agreement and will um you know have promised to abide by the terms of that um for those who have not yet responded or who have declined we have staff that are following up with them because we view this as a really important agreement um that there there's an understanding between the campus and the students that um they they recognize certain steps that they need to take in order to help keep both the campus community and the broader community healthy and that's what's really um critical for us right now um I'm going to stop there and maybe Tony do you want to talk a little bit about some of the um engagement that we are doing in partnership with the town and then maybe Jeff can talk about testing I'm also going to suggest that we take the screen down so that we can talk with each other thank you okay evening everyone um thanks for having us on um so uh you know many of you know so many of the steps that we that we do do but you know for the public and for those of you who are not familiar um we take a multi-pronged approach to intervention and outreach and it's with our partners in town uh led by uh me and Sally Linausky and on-campus student life Bill Laramie from the the Amherst police department John Thompson uh town building inspector uh we do a number of different steps including proactive outreach to off-campus student renters um that happens every year but this year we've been doing that proactive outreach including even in the summer as it has been a summer in which um there have been uh a number of uh complaints about students uh and student uh parties uh we do outreach with Amherst residents uh just recently we're at um Councillor Schreiber and Councillor Ross's neighborhood meeting we do that uh often we've been at um Councillor Pam and Ryan's uh district meeting as well and we are more than happy always to meet with members of the community to talk about uh work that we do we have regular meetings with area landlords and keep a very close contact with them as you might expect it's been of the utmost importance particularly given the changes to the campus reopening that we were aware of what trends look like off-campus there has been a lot of volatility in the market this year as we have come up with our plan and um there's been a lot of indecision in the market seems like the rental market at this point is near what it normally is um there have been a lot more inquiries lately but this is the kind of information that uh that we get we're still not completely 100 clear what our numbers off-campus look like but um we will continue to follow up with you about that um we do follow up on all noise and nuisance calls um so we get a noise report from Amherst police department each week and we follow up um and make sure that we are meeting with the students at the landlords and at times with neighbors um to talk about community standards and what we expect for the semester and those calls are you know often um terrific interventions and are lasting um for um the both the you know whatever semester that we're in so um if it's if it's in the fall semester it's usually a lasting type of thing we continue to check up with those students throughout the throughout the full year as well um we also um as many of you have known we we do employ alternative environmental design principles um we work closely with area landlords around problem areas where there are a number of large high high risk gatherings um you know most notably the townhouse apartments where working with landlords we change some of the environmental um conditions so that it's less hospitable for large gatherings to occur and um that is an active committee of the campus and community coalition it meets quite often um and then um you know as Nancy was talking about there is the UMass community agreement which is a new tool in our toolbox for this year um and uh you know with the success that we've seen with the number of students that have signed the agreement to this point um we are um really pleased that that many of our students are taking the upcoming semester seriously so there are many other things that we do including countless meetings that are in partnership many of them overlap the campus community community coalition is one some of you um have attended those meetings we also have a weekly on-call meeting with public safety um dean of students office uh and um also the town of Hadley participates in that as well so that where we share information concerns and come up with strategies to intervene where we need to so um have to take questions later but I think we can pass it off to Jeff for some of our testing um discussions just before we do just to piggyback with what Tony was saying um about you know creating a culture of compliance is really important to us right now and it's a similar approach I think to what you all are doing with the board of health mask ordinance in the downtown that it's really about education and not enforcement and so we are working on a um public health messaging campaign and um what was really interesting was the the first rounds of concepts that we shared with our students the feedback that we got back from them um it was a small focus group but it was really that it was um too authoritarian that if they didn't want to be told what to do that they wanted something that was engaging and empathetic and so we really went back to the drawing board and our um our new campaign which you will see soon all over campus and we want to also um extended uh in our partnership with landlords and property owners by giving them some posters and other things that um represent the campaign but we're we're trying to have a little bit of um uh lightheartedness without um being um too quirky about it so we have a dual campaign uh that is focused for faculty staff and students and there's um one of the the taglines will be it's hard but it helps and so you know it's it's hard to wear a mask but it helps it's hard to social distance but it helps and then the other um flip side of that which is geared a little bit more to our undergraduate students um is it's weird but it works um so it's weird to you know being in your uh res hall and wear a mask or what we've got all kinds of uh um fun things I I know the town is doing a yoga mat for social distancing our agency came up with um 17 vegan burgers for social distancing make sure you're 17 vegan burgers apart so we're we're going to be utilizing that all over campus and like I said I'm partnering with uh property management landlords to give them some of the posters as well with that I'll turn it over to Jeff all right thanks Nancy Tony so good evening everyone um thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening so I'll give a couple just a couple an overview of a few things and then happy to answer any questions so one I just want to state is we really have a great long history of working very closely with uh the town of Amherst and the board of health department Julie Fettelman and her team there um for many folks you know sometimes as we're educating our campus community uh campus community and students that we do serve as a local board of health um for the campus and that strong partnership we have with the town is so important when we talk about contact tracing from any types of infectious disease and from planning and training we have a long history of partnering with everyone so in terms of even now as we're preparing for the fall semester with students that live on campus or off campus we do partner with Julie and the team public health on that contact tracing element and we're hiring additional staff to be able to help out with that um so we can partner from that perspective in terms of testing a couple things so you know we've been doing symptomatic testing at university health services basically since mid-march and that include any student living on campus off campus faculty staff member that works on the campus and then from there working with their appropriate local board of health if somebody did um test positive we originally were sending out those test results now university health services for the symptomatic testing is actually able to do those test results in house and it's been about a day turnaround time and um even a little less sometimes but that will continue for the fall semester no matter what you live on campus you live off campus employee faculty staff if they have symptoms so every student again no matter where you live is asked to do a daily health screening a daily health check basically monitoring your symptoms and if you have any of those symptoms employees go one route students go a different route and then they'll be able to get in that day to get tested the other thing that we're doing we're spending significant resources on this is coming up with a surveillance asymptomatic testing center so as part of our public health team that has been working closely um you know since the spring and early in early summer and even looking at what different cdc guidance says that says asymptomatic testing is not something they recommend we uh we went above that recommendation and we do think it's an important element here um as we bring students back so from that perspective we've actually started testing this last week um this asymptomatic surveillance testing center is going to be run out of the mullen center uh basically nine to five uh monday through friday with some different times as we welcome back students to the community um the first weekend uh coming back next weekend and all students that live on campus or off campus um prior to their arrival or shortly thereafter uh to the amherst area will get tested um from that perspective so we'll be working closely and there'll be some uh specific specific targeted outreach to all those individuals that will help us tremendously from that perspective and then what we are going to do is conduct uh twice a week surveillance testing of all students living in the res halls as well as any off-campus students who have face-to-face classes and then that also include we will we're still working this out but we will do weekly testing for employees that are designated on-site and also includes researchers and our faculty members so a lot of these folks also live in our in our communities um in the amherst area so these individuals will also be part of our surveillance testing program and then in addition to that to further monitor you know off-campus students and students in residence we're going to conduct what's called an adaptive testing program so basically what we'll do is continue to evaluate we have a a team made up of of a lot of individuals that are our advisory group so we'll continue to monitor trends and then we can bring individuals in um to the Mullen Center to be able to conduct additional testing from that perspective people ask kind of how are we going to do this so this is a strong partnership with environmental health and safety university health services in our college of nursing so um we're going to have a number of college of nursing students that are able to help support us for the fall semester which is key to this from a staffing perspective um we have contracted with the Broad Institute um and that is the institute that is also working with other institutions of higher education so when individuals come through and get registered it's a self-administered self-administered but observed test that individuals will do and our goal is to so it's like I said saying earlier we do that every day Monday through Friday nine to five and then those results will be sent out that evening and then those results are tech are coming back within 24 hours so then after those 24 hours we'll get the test results back and then we'll be working with um you know with our campus partners on um on follow-up uh with that perspective so with that I could talk for a while but I'll turn it over to to Nancy or Delaney and not happy to answer any questions thanks yes we'll start with questions from the council Darcy is there any possibility of testing the people of Amherst who have not been tested people are very worried about the students coming but we don't really know whether we're all asymptomatic we don't know we know nothing that's um this is a real question yeah so the the testing facility is for UMass faculty staff and students and there's specific designations that individuals have to have in order to get tested we um we're spending significant resources in terms of to support the testing that we have right now from that perspective so um so that you know part of it too I would say it I don't know from the the uh the state government and looking at if there's opportunities for them to bring additional testing centers out there but like our goal right now we're scheduled to do about 10,000 tests a week if you're looking around the Commonwealth right now I don't know of anybody doing 10,000 tests a week so our staff we're maximizing what we are able to do for our campus community and area thank you George you just have two questions so one it seems you've had a pretty good uh response rate from students in terms of signing the UMass agreement is that fair reading I'm just looking through what you sent us it seems I see a figure of like 99 percent um is that true of all students across the board or is that just students who've listed Amherst as their uh as one of their home addresses uh and plan to access the campus um I guess I'm asking what is the percentage overall or do you know of students who've actually signed the agreement that's my first question so I think uh actually the 99 percent is of of all students who um all students who have how do I want to phrase this who have answered the agreement 99.5 percent of them have have signed it and agreed to abide by it there are students who have not yet responded and so they so that's not I'm not including them in that 99 percent 99.5 percent so very high engagement and if I read that agreement correctly one of the things that they signed themselves to was to limit their social engagements to groups of 10 or fewer is that correct that was an older version of the agreement George it has been revised because the uh when the first draft of the agreement was out the governor changed the regulations in terms of gatherings so there's been some just adjustment to that what we are recommending through our party registration program which will only be there really to ensure that there is instruction and education prior to anyone registering it's not about sanctioning parties of course it's more about making sure that students really understand the risks of what they do understand releases etc but within if any student off campus does go to register a party the recommendation will be to keep gatherings under 10 but there is I guess then Tony in the current agreement or the agreement that these students are signing there's nothing that explicitly addresses um social gatherings that's not in the document social gatherings are social gatherings are addressed the number is not explicit number is not explicit that's correct or specific not explicit sorry being did Joe George was getting to my question a bit um which is we've heard a huge amount of concern about both indoor and outdoor social gatherings by residents in this town um particularly young students but obviously as this pandemic goes on longer and longer many more people in town want to have these social gatherings so it's not just limited to young students but you guys are here with UMass um so the question I have for you is um you have and and we've worked out an agreement and a nice um working relationship with the town and UMass regarding noise complaints that uh the APD might receive on a night it gets forward and if it's determined that it's a UMass student house or something someone who lives there is a UMass student it gets forwarded to you is there some such agreement regarding gathering complaints or failure to wear mask complaints violations of the governor's orders I know he just changed it last Friday to a maximum of 50 we'll be talking about that I think later tonight but a maximum of 50 or eight per 1,000 square feet outside and a maximum of 25 or eight per 1,000 square feet inside but also I think there is a thing of if anyone is over 10 number number of 10 people must have masks on so if the town receives a complaint and it is on this list of residents that happen to be UMass students are you guys prepared to respond to that and follow up in the same manner that you respond to noise complaints and enforce it that way too yes so we're talking about also with the town and within the working group around an email line and a telephone line that will be hosted by the town then then any complaints that may involve students would be routed to likely to me and to Sally Lenowski for follow up we will work it from there but yes we do expect to respond in the same way education first I want to make sure that I emphasize however so egregious complaints of course would have disciplinary disciplinary action or do you have a question just a quick follow up Tony in the past I believe you needed police reports to bring about any kind of disciplinary action this alternative phone line or email messages to you or to someone in your office would be a somewhat more informal process would that be sufficient from your perspective if you had to move to some kind of more severe disciplinary action or do you would you still need an official police report in order to proceed it's hard to really answer that without specifics but you know I think you know from the hypothetical situation you know from a hypothetical perspective I think it's a case by case basis so you know we already respond when we don't have a police complaint but if there's an email that comes in that that cites a certain address we will be in we we're usually in contact with the landlord to you know get the the student renters and then we have a follow-up meeting so we're already following that process I think what we're doing with the line during the pandemic and the email address again administered by the town but what we will be doing as those complaints are routed to us is you know the same thing that we're always doing but there is a line that people will know and will be able to easily find and can I just correct something on the data just quickly to clarify for George because I want to make sure we're clear on it the the 99.5 percent positive response is for students who have provided a local address that doesn't mean that it's necessarily right here it could be western mass it could be in the region and to have indicated that they will be accessing the campus so I just want to be clear about that thank you Kathy Shane um I just want to follow up Tony on the question of it's not a noise complaint it's another kind I heard of a couple in the last week and how would a neighbor who sees 15 cars with New Jersey license plates thinks do I call the police do I call someone else it's not yet noise and then looks over it's 25 it's 30 it's 40 people in the backyard with masks on at some point it's going to be noise how will they know that there's an email and a phone number um will it be you know in some of these neighborhoods could we put up a poster could we you know so people don't naturally think of somewhere on the town website is something beyond a police number um and in one instance they did call a police number and they said if it's not noisy yet we won't do anything and so wait a little bit and then call again and then there wasn't a record so it's just that it's how can the community help um I have no idea where the counselors can help it all of this but knowing that it's going beyond just a noise complaint now but it's around masks it's around gatherings Kathy the first thing I have to say is that I take exception that you bring up New Jersey it's just not fair as a New Jersey no I'm a New Jersey I'm from New Jersey place can I know about New Jersey place but but they were they were emphasizing I'm kidding we're easy it's all right no you bring up a good question we're in the final processes of coming up with the the phone number and the email address I think Paul you might want to jump in here because again it will be administered through town hall because the the actual phone line and email line but once that is settled we will certainly publicize that and make sure that it's known and then I think it could be reiterated during town council meetings you know we'll make sure that you know through you know different different means we'll be able to get it out with our partners whether they be the business community or you know other means so Paul do you want to add anything to that or sure so yeah we we have we'll have an email address and a phone number that people can call in we'll have people monitoring that line it won't be like a 911 call or anything like that the idea on it is to gather all those types of reports so that they're not going to 911 they're not going to the health inspectors that where they're already unindicted and that we have somebody who can triage the calls and then sort of deal them out if it's a university issue or if it's a police issue they can sort of deal out the field the calls and then deal them out and we hope to have that staffed pretty regularly or at least have someone on call so that we can respond to it to it and pretty and pretty real time not it won't be like actively answered that's at least our impression right now so that's great there's a group that will put it out in a little newsletter it doesn't go out to a huge you know but goes out to people and we can add some names to that that are in neighborhoods where it's more things yeah we'll try and spread the word as best we can yeah and you can help amplify that Alyssa knowing it's late but that we needed to have this conversation and this is the first chance we've had to have it so this I guess then is directed at the working group which includes Lynn and Paul and following up on what Paul and Tony both just said is the traditional follow-up like George was talking about with police reports and Tony was saying well it doesn't have to be a police report this a huge amount of this is about managing expectations right Kathy's talking about posters and putting it in newsletters people need to know what's going to happen when they call they're not going to get someone show up from the university at the house what they're going to get is either the police are going to show up or the police are not going to show up and later at some point in the future UMass is going to be discussing this as they do with other types of behavioral issues so we just need to make sure we're making it clear to the public that Tony Morales is not coming to their house at two in the morning because the students next door are having a party we are going to be talking about the governor's order later if we're not asleep by then and that specifically empowers the police to follow up on things that aren't noise complaints and we have obviously huge concerns about how we're going to manage that in Amherst so that's a separate conversation but I just want to make clear to the community no matter what we put in the newsletter we need to make it clear nobody's coming to your house or to the house next door to deal with this the night of because that realistically is not happening that's not being negative that's just being fair to the public to manage their expectations the other thing is in regards to the data we received tonight a few minutes before our meeting started we obviously didn't have any time to digest it and so while I appreciate that it was provided because it's always better than no information and we can think about it later it's not something we had any chance to look at obviously since the meeting started it also does not include any copy nor have we ever received a copy of the UMass student agreement so when we tell people that students are signing something because we want to show yay UMass is taking responsibility nobody knows what's in that agreement it says students themselves and finally I just want to be clear that I understand all the struggles that the university is dealing with people have heard my disclosure before for the fact that my husband works there and I work part-time on campus but I want to be clear that looking at these numbers it doesn't emphasize the number of students who haven't responded at all obviously because that doesn't tell a good story but it also doesn't say anything about what happens if they refuse to sign it I appreciate that staff are taking the time to reach out to them I know it's been confusing I know graduate students have expressed concerns but if they don't sign it I don't think it matters and so I think it's important that our community understand that as well I appreciate the positive educational approach it's have been a great success in so many of our neighborhood work so far but it's not fair to tell the community that students have to sign an agreement when in fact it doesn't matter if they sign it or not because most students are not going to based on the new decision have access to things on campus anyway if they wanted to go to a dining hall before they had to sign it now the dining hall is not going to be open to students from off campus as I understand it in this unfolding situation therefore they don't have to sign it so that it doesn't affect their behavior on or off campus so it's purely an optional thing as far as I can see and I think that we need to again manage people's expectations about what's happening there and yes be taking this very positive educational approach but not expect people are being punished whether it's by having Tony come to their house at one in the morning or that they can't somehow access classes because they will refuse to sign the agreement neither of those is true um can I just make a couple of notes and Alyssa you're right I'm not going to someone's house at two in the morning I hopefully will be asleep but we will respond that that is that is one thing I do also want to emphasize just froze sorry to say I did Lynn no am I here can you can it can you all hear me we can see you for real time I think Lynn is frozen on my screen now so um one one thing I just want to emphasize is that the um needed on today Mindy Dom and Joe Comerford have been working on trying to get a can you hear me we can now yeah Mindy Dom and Joe Comerford have been working on trying to get a state testing site uh in town however frankly with Smith and also Mount Holyoke now deciding not to have on campus classes the call in terms of the numbers are in some people's minds going down I think for many of us uh the issue of the actual number of people living off campus in Amherst is the big issue and that's something we continue to work on given the lateness of the hour if there's any more questions I want to thank our panelists invite them to stay since we're going to continue to talk about um safety and and um for the next couple of minutes and perhaps you'd like to hear about that then could I just say one one last thing uh two quick things one the students had to sign the UMass agreement by July 31st so um if they did sign it it is in place um and it doesn't it it's not impacted by their inability to access the dining commons the other thing is that the UMass agreement is on the UMass website we've tried to be as transparent as possible if you go to UMass.edu slash coronavirus we have FAQs that are updated on a regular basis um the agreement is there if you can't find it I'm happy to send the link and Alyssa I will send it to you so that you have it but we are trying to be very transparent about everything we're doing thanks for the opportunity tonight. Well this is me we'll send the rest of the council um so thank you both to all three of you Nancy and uh Jeff and Tony um I'm sure we will have more questions in Poland I'll be tweeting with you again on Thursday um I want to just quickly say I don't unless anybody feels we need to go over the border health regulations or Paul you have any comment on that uh I think we need to move on to this the latest governor's report Paul any comment on the border health regulations no just that they did pass it um it went into effect on August 3rd um and it has it it's a defined area in the downtown area and there are signs up uh at the entrances throughout and throughout downtown to make people aware that it's a mask required area shall any view of a question about this yes there was a concern from constituents at least in district five to remove strikeout one of the lines involving the police because it is creating concern for um yes that is being reviewed by the the Board of Health on Thursday thank you thank you um and then the governor recently put out an order reducing group sizes again um and this we included that order in your packet including some yellow marked areas are there particular questions about that Dorothy I can't hear you Dorothy constituents have asked why it's not a bigger mask area and perhaps they thought just this just said the three village centers um and certainly the bike trail has come up uh a lot of people reporting people on top of each other not masked and a really unsafe situation um so the the other thing is the governor's order uh is just too excessive too many people and um I I believe do we have a motion on our motion sheet saying um group should be limited to 10 there's not a motion on that that's if the issue is going to be whether or not the Board of Health could deal with it as an additional regulation and then the issue is important yeah I for us again Lynn yeah well I would just I'm going to conclude but say there's a lot of concern about masks all over the town of Amherst and about groups and I've received a lot been receiving a lot of mail to please limit the group to 10 20 at the max outdoors all right and other comment I'm sorry I need to go to my participant thing uh Lissy you have your hand up I'm sorry but since no one else has asked the question what are we going to do in response to the governor's order in terms of using police for enforcement we obviously just heard as I have heard before as was discussed at the Board of Health meeting itself whether or not to use the police to enforce the Board of Health's order that's one question and even if the Board of Health strikes that out of the central mask thing which is they're entirely empowered to do that's just for them the governor's order specifically empowers the police to respond so my question is what are we doing in Amherst just as in the past when we had decriminalization we did not prioritize police showing up I think it's very clear that many in our community want the police at the the neighbor's house that has too many people and they want them there right then and the next person down the street obviously doesn't want the police there at all because it's an armed response to you know a party so what is our direction here well so um it is not our intention to use police to enforce the social gathering or mask bylaw we are looking at alternative means we are hiring a bunch of ambassadors for mask wearing but also hoping that they can um move into a broader relationship where they can help respond looking at having them to be on off hours or in evening hours where they can either go with a police officer if there is a situation to try and have somebody other than a police officer respond to situations like that the Board of Health intends to take it is by understanding that they are going to be reviewing the role of police and its regulations on Thursday the governor from what I understand from the police community added the police as being the enforcement agency without really talking to public safety officers and whether they had the capacity to enforce this and so what I'm told is there's more definition of this to be coming down the road but so at this point um police police are under the governor's order police and other inspectors are able to respond to it um but if someone says there's 27 people in a basement in someone's house we're probably not going to send a cruiser there Kathy am I I just want to um follow up on Dorothy's mask rule if we think that masks should be mandatory in the village centers up in North Amherst where our little complexes are is it each individual counselor just reaches out to the board of health and expresses it as an opinion do we do something more as a group so it's a question I've I've been asked to do that by uh people here and I'm perfectly willing to do that I'm just wondering is how how best to express that that we have other places where lots of people are getting in and out of cars that are little shops and we we don't have a big area up here but there is an area so unless the council decides to take a position so and makes a motion and says the council wants to do this I think the best avenue is to contact the board of health directly and say this is a concern that I've heard from lots of buying the people that I'm I listen to um you know it's not something that staff are recommending or pushing forward at this point so George I for one would appreciate the board of health input at least on just from a purely public health perspective um given the town we live in which is different from many other towns and Massachusetts whether gatherings of 50 people or 30 people um where they're not masked and not following the guidance that the governor's laid out is a serious public health threat and whether we either through the board of health or as a town council should consider a more restricted number whether we should accept the governor's numbers um and and work with that um I don't I have conflicting views on this I've certainly heard things from constituents who the number 10 keeps coming up um that's not necessarily my number I'm not sure there is a number the governor's number is 50 and 25 inside I just would like to hear from the board of health and from the the health director some public health guidance some thoughts maybe they think I just don't know what they think and um it's I don't believe it's on their agenda for this coming meeting but they do have a 48 hour rule and I really would like to hear from them um if they're willing to to weigh in um because if we were to consider as a body um say setting a limit I don't think we would proceed without their input anyway I mean I think we would turn to them and say you know from a public health perspective does this really make any sense and then obviously Paul there's the enforcement issue that you've raised and if we're not going to send police um you know maybe we just live with the governor's order and just hope for the best so I could reach out to the health director and ask for an opinion or a recommendation to that might come to the council or to for your consideration as a by-law change or might go to the to the board of health for their regulation it's not on their agenda but if you want to get the health director's opinion that's something that I can certainly request it seems to me that the uh the court the request is that the board of health consider two things the idea of further limitation on numbers of people and the second is extending the mask rule to other to the village centers and I would like to add to that because it's not defined as a village center university drive I would encourage you to put that into a motion so we can convey a motion to the board of health if that's what the council wants to do right anybody want to make the motion elissa I tried lowering my hand yeah didn't work fast enough all right why don't you make a motion to request that the board of health report to the town council in time for a date somebody else is going to name meeting whether they would consider extending the mask order to additional areas including north amherst university drive and whether they end to provide advice to the town council on possibly limiting gatherings both indoors and out more strictly than the governor's order 46 does is there a second I second that George okay is there any further discussion Darcy you need done mute I think your your original suggestion Lynn was um uh all the village centers which elissa only lists to the university drive and um north amherst yeah so I I would like to make sure I would like a friendly amendment to that that it be all village centers and university drive yes thank you got it oh cool motion's been made and seconded shallony do you have a comment I just want to again I reiterate what we heard very loudly in our district meeting and that was again it's not represented of the whole town I understand but these were people of color by about people who uh stated very clearly that getting why can't we enforce this using ambassadors and friendly messaging because enforcing it through making it an order and a police involving the police is it is creates more fear and safety issues for us so I mean it's a dilemma and I don't know how to do it well let me just mention because we running so late on time paul has not had an opportunity to describe the ambassador program that he in fact is setting up through and paul why don't you just give us a quick up in that yes we have hired someone uh to sort of oversee the ambassador program and we're recruiting now for a number of um probably student ambassadors who will be identified and be able to walk around downtown give out masks to people educate them trying to create a culture of compliance if we're able to get them training and feel that they can be safe and be sort of side by side with police officers when they're responding to house parties things like that but it's that's those things can you never know where those things go and it's up to the individuals if they are welcome welcome to that but it's something that the police definitely want to explore elissa I'm sorry I just want to follow up on something that was said earlier about 25 persons that's actually not factual you have to read the entire statement indoor gatherings are limited to eight persons per 1000 square feet of accessible indoor floor space never more than 25 in a single enclosed we do not have any houses in town that would allow for 25 persons in a single enclosed floor space if you're only allowed eight per 1000 square feet I'm only allowed I'm allowed less than 16 people in my house not 25 so let's just make sure we're not asking anyone to weigh in on 25 we're talking about maybe something that's clearer than this rather than measuring the floor space of your house but the limit is not 25 it is eight per 1000 and if you have a huge house never more than 25 so that is different because there are students who are going to hear I live in a big house and we can have 25 people and so that's not I think the message we want to give heaven I just want to request that the motion be read back before we vote okay is there any other questions at this point if not angela can you read back the motion councillor perler perler removed requests that the board of health report to the town council by blank meeting I'm gonna whether they would consider extending the mask order to North Amherst all village centers university drive and provide advice to the town council on the feasibility of governor's order number 46 to limit the number of individuals at social gatherings indoor and outdoor uh can I ask that that the response come back to us in time for our meeting on the 17 that may not be possible just meeting wise okay then as soon as possible and no later than august 31st yeah how's that is that a friendly emotion amendment alissa yes absolutely absolutely just like yeah clarifying not sure how the words came out on the governor's part of it but it was the idea was being where are we going to be more restricted than the word strictly was in there yeah and more restricted you were the other seconder is there any other discussion on this if not I'd like to call the question all right then I'm going to go ahead and take a vote um shall any yes alissa yes pat d'angels yes d'arcy d'mont yes Reese mersey yes hannoky yes pam yes ross yes ryan yes chain yes triber yes steinberg shorts thanks the votes 13 zero zero none absent uh we are now at the point where we're going to move on or we're going to read delay what is the wish of the council at this point if we delay we have to either add this to an agenda on the 17th which is generally reserved only for the evaluation of the town manager otherwise it moves to august 31st i'm hearing nothing so okay george well maybe i should be quiet since you've heard nothing i think we should just soldier on but um should we try to get through it tonight i know it's late i'm tired i'm everyone's tired but my vote would be to continue all right then second gaffey gaffey my question is of the things that are still on the agenda are the things that if we don't soldier on the moment passes to work on them um you know so that they're they're very time sensitive after i don't have the agenda in front of me you know so what i mean is there's there are a couple big items and i just don't know whether we want to go to one or two in the morning so so if there's one or two of them they're not time sensitive they're just our time that if it's august 31st it's fine it's not like the roof collapses but if it's something that actually needs a decision sooner rather than later um i also want to point out that um chris breastrip has joined us mandy joe you have your hand up yes there is under chapter 40 mgl chapter 40a section five um i'm not sure of the exact date but the zoning bylaw amendment must be heard within 90 days of the town council hearing the town council hearing was june 17th we're already up close to that 60 days um so you know we have to vote on it within 90 days not just hear it um so we're getting closer to that time where it would run out um so i would be concerned about postponing it too much longer because of that but it could be heard as late as the 31st and still be within 90 days unless there's a counselor right to postpone then i would get concerned okay um and the valley cdc chris we may ask if you are there and awake which is a big order at this point uh do um where do we stand on the valley cdc's hearings um valley cdc is continuing its public hearing with the zoning board of appeals we don't expect it to um be concluded um before sometime in september at least right then i think we can defer that so the zoning and the master plan request manager you want to weigh in on that can be deferred um i don't i mean christine the planning director can speak to it um it is it would simply be a vote to essentially say don't work on the update um and give the planning department clarity so i'm not sure she's working on it now um as a delay anyway so i'm not sure two more weeks would have her putting time into that unnecessarily then i'm going to suggest that we um can in fact defer defer the valley cdc project to august 31st we can in fact defer the zoning bylaw 11 250 to august 31st and the master plan update to august 31st and the capital inventory to august 31st any objections pat de angeles no i was jumping ahead i was going to suggest that committee reports be saved because they are in the packet we should have read them um and so i don't think they have to be spoken for a while thank you haven't ross i have no objection to um the those items being delayed as someone who has to be up at 6am tomorrow um however uh given that this would be the second time we delay um the spr voting quantum and given that our planning director has been on on the has has been on zoom for the past five hours thinking we were going to get to it my one request would be that we put it as the first agenda item at the meeting on the 31st if we do delay it out of courtesy for staff i would suggest we move all of those out of courtesy to staff and the others as well alissa i i would much rather do the quantum of vote now because we've been getting letters from the public we've had staff wait and i am concerned that if someone moves to postpone in august then we are going to have a problem with our deadlines apparently although we don't have that in writing any place as to what that interpretation is this zoning bylaw 11.250 yeah pat it helps you have your hand up i forgot to take it down thank you all right let's go ahead with the zoning bylaw 11.250 and make sure we get done with that uh so the motion i'm going to ask first of all call on mandy jo hannity community resources committee report yeah i will be brief because i gave a um more extensive report last time i'm just going to remind everyone of what the community resources committee voted and what the planning board voted on this um the amendment itself as presented was supported by the planning board in a five to two vote and supported by the community resources committee in a four to one vote um i would like to ask sarah i know she was not at the meeting where we first presented this i did present her position there but um i think it's always nice to ensure that the person in the minority that had a um dissenting vote have a chance to speak to the position of themselves and their vote and since she didn't have that opportunity the first time this was brought up i'd like to offer that to her as as a member of seracy sarah do you have a comment at this time very kind of mandy jo hannity that i will keep it very very quick um i just um from the discussion i felt that it was that it was just few too few people and we hadn't ever had that few people before having to vote and it i think um one of the planning board members had said that not having um a decent majority to vote on something like that had not happened in the last year or two years or three years and it just it made me feel uncomfortable um that it was just three people i i didn't think it was sufficient okay thank you for your comment so let me read the motion and then see if we have amendments to amend zoning bylaw 11.250 planning board decision to delete the phrase at least two thirds but not fewer than five and replace it with the words a majority so that the section 11.250 reads the concurring vote of a majority of the members of the board participating and voting shall be required for any decision on a site plan application abstaining members being considered not to be voting is there i'll second that okay and just for clarification in this case a majority would be how many so if this zoning bylaw that this amendment passes as written if there are seven or six members present and they all vote um it would be four if there are five or four members present and they all vote it would be three to pass the site plan review okay there's a hand up kathy shane yes um mandy could have kept saying if there are four vote people present and one abstains it could be two you know so it keeps it keeps going down you know um if there were three still voting the way it's now worded so it could go down to as few as two so what i don't know is there is a i have a substitute that would put the word four in a majority but at least four so at what point do we first vote on the with no minimum do we then come back um you now need to amend okay then i am proposing that you amend it and the concurring vote of a majority but no fewer than four of the members and then the rest would read the same as she has um so it puts a minimum of four which is a majority of seven so it is getting rid of the two-thirds majority but it's going to majority and keeping it for and i just want to my thinking about this and i express excuse me kathy i need a second okay is there a second Dorothy a second did it is us if you want to briefly speak to it thank you okay so my thinking is that you know i realize that reviews have often got unanimous there if it's a very important site plan review i'm hoping that as many members come as possible and it gets scheduled at this time making decisions by fewer and fewer people in town for things that affect the whole town doesn't feel to me like the way we want to go and we've reduced the size of the planning board and so saying that it's got to be at least four is as mandy said if there's six people there four would be the number if there's seven four it's the two majority so leaving putting a minimum number of people um to me says we need at least four positive votes before we go forward with the site plan okay so that's a rationale it is a majority and keeping it at that floor the motion's been made in second there's now an amendment so that the motion would read to amend zoning bylaw 11.250 planning board decision to delete the phrase at least two thirds but not fewer than five and replace it with the words a majority so that the section 11.250 reads the concurring vote of a majority but no fewer than four of the members of the board participating and voting shall be required for any decision on a site plan application abstaining members being considered not to be voting comment garcy yeah I I just very briefly would say that um you know I thought it was unnecessary to to change it from super majority to majority to understand why that was even proposed but I would support this compromise that Kathy's putting forward as a reasonable uh compromise okay ma'am did you know yeah I I just wanted to do a couple of housekeeping so there was a main motion Kathy made a motion to amend our next vote will be only on the amendment to add the phrase not not fewer than four right on the whole thing I also wanted to mention that the planning board chair is in the attendee section in case there are any questions for her to ask of the planning board that she's she's attending to along with our planning director Evan you have your hand up yes and I'll try and be brief I want to just need two quick points um one for me why this is important and I guess respond to Darcy's um uh question about why even change the number um a lot of this to me is about the message that we're sending about our community we talk about branding ourselves as a community that's open for business that's not um anti-business and that's something that we hear sometimes and I think when we require a super majority for site plan review something that we say is something that fits with the zone and bylaw and that we want not a special permit but site plan review I think that sends the wrong message to people who might be looking to invest in our community and what concerns me I understand Kathy's rationale what concerns me a little bit um is that if we have a minimum bar of four at all times um I worry that in circumstances where one or two members are absent we we we still create a super majority vote and I think that that's fine for site plan for a special permit but I I think that sends the wrong message about our community to people who are looking to invest in it with site plan review because the site plan review is something that should go through and so we shouldn't be erecting unnecessary barriers to that I also want to just note that we had a super majority vote of the planning board in support of the original proposal on the on the table and a super majority vote of the CRC they were not unanimous votes um but to me it's also important that we respect the the deliberation that occurred at the planning board um what's talked about a number of four Kathy's proposal was our amendment was brought up during that meeting um and the planning board which are the people who actually do this who so I think they're we need to give weight to their decision because they're the actual ones who are debating this and having to do this um by by a super majority vote recommended the simple majority over the threshold before and I think that's important to consider that the people who are actually implementing this by a super majority went for the simple majority versus having a threshold number Randy Joe you have your hand up I just forgot to lower it sorry tell me you have your hand up yes uh what helped me make a decision in favor of what we decided in CRC was the an explanation for what uh a site plan review is and what I I think I would appreciate uh maybe Chris giving us what the purpose of that to help other um people other counselors to understand um that this is not you know it's not something like a special permit and the reason I say that is because I've been hearing from professionals we know I'm not talking about big developers and stuff I'm talking about doctors and other professionals who are so exhausted and it's so costly for them every time they put in these things that are not necessary that it creates an excessive burden on them and I know a doctor who's thinking of moving out of Amherst and we don't have that many doctors here we don't have I don't think they have many dentists we don't have many professionals who want to open the business in Amherst because we make it so hard with every time there's a change they have to bring in a lawyer they have to do all of that and so I would really like us to consider what is the purpose of a site plan review and can it be done in the most peaceful manner for the professionals in our community and ultimately I mean our neighboring towns like Northampton have a simple majority as well so Chris would you please give us a brief explanation if you could please Christine Chris you have to unmute I'll start over excuse me the use that's being proposed for a site plan review is something that's considered to be acceptable and ordinary in the location in which it's being proposed and that's as opposed to a special permit a special permit is really a use that is considered to be potentially slightly disruptive or inconvenient or may pose issues to the location where it's being proposed so site plan review is really the planning board looking at the details of what's being proposed rather than the use so there the planning board is looking at the parking the lighting access it's really the physical manifestation of the project and and they're you know they're looking at the use of the sense that they want to know what the management plan for it is but they're not looking at it in the sense that they would be considering denying it does that does that help are there further questions Steve Schreiber oh i'm just going to urge all of you to respect the vote of both the planning board five to two super duper majority and also the CRC four to one I think Councilor Ross just mentioned that the other thing is that um SPRs by themselves are often non-controversial projects resurfacing of the Amherst College fields you know things like that the controversial projects spring street one is pleasant um and I'm sorry I'm losing track almost always come with a SPP so there's SPR site plan review there's almost always an SPP special permit planning board attest to that so we're not touching at all that special permit planning board requirement which will remain two-thirds of the body so that that'll remain in not if I'm saying this correctly Christine I think I'm saying this correctly but um almost all of those the ones that make the newspaper the controversy is almost always about the special permit the SPP part of that not the SPR it's not challenging the the use of this or the right of this building to exist but it's challenging the right of the building to be that high or that close to the street and those are not affected by this vote not in every case but in most cases Dorothy well I I know that some towns do have something like this but the majority of towns actually still are two-thirds and having a majority I don't see how it becomes a super majority to have a minimum of four the part that bothers me are the phrases present and voting now that means the very few people could approve of something if there aren't that many people present in voting then you can reschedule the meeting because what this I see this sets up is first of all I say why now okay and it does kind of raise some my antenna and I think it opens things up to gamesmanship and to manipulation because they can say oh these people are here now we can get this thing through if there's a problem reschedule the meeting yes many of the projects are not that controversial but why reduce it for something like three out of seven which is not a majority all right it's a below majority it's a minority could do it and I believe that the planning director herself said that she favored the minimum of four because she thought it was important that with buildings and things that are coming into shared spaces that there be a bigger buying we have our share of controversy in this town and I think we'd all be happier to have a little less of it so that I think that we could just remove the two-thirds majority but to keep it as a majority a minimum of four we could get business done we're not going to be putting undue burdens on people but it would cause more people to think about it and I think we'd have more of a buy-in and it would be a more peaceful situation right there most there's a motion on the floor it was seconded and there's an amendment to the motion on the floor and it's been seconded we're going to move to the motion of on the amendment the vote on the amendment is to add in the phrase but no fewer than four okay I'm going to start with a we'll call vote and I'll start with Hanneke no ham yes ross no ryan no shane no oh wait a minute am i vote i'm voting in the four yes you're voting to add in this phrase yes shriver now that was the first um i'm voting no no lost track seinberg no schwarz no ball mill no i'm sorry no brewer alissa i'm sorry my phone has decided i'm driving and so that made it complicated the question is the to make sure i'm clear is for that katie's amendment and my vote is yes the angeles no humant yes and greasmer is no so the vote is one two three four in favor and nine opposed and no abstentions so the the amendment to the motion dies so we're back to the original motion and the motion is to amend the zoning bylaw 11.250 planning board decision to delete the phrase at least two-thirds but not fewer than five and replace it with the words majority so the section 11.250 reads the concurring vote of a majority the members the board participating voting shall be required for any decision on a site plan application of staying members being considered not to be voting i call it's i'm going to move to the vote and this time i'm going to start with pam no ross yes ryan yes shane no shriver yes steinberg yes shorts no all-milm yes brewer yes the angeles yes humant no greasmer is a yes and uh hannockie yes vote is nine in favor four against and zero abstaining and it passes could i just note for the record that it needed two-thirds and it received the two-thirds thank you um all right i'm looking at the rest of this agenda i believe that we are going to do the following we are deferring until a later on august 31st the cdc project the master plan update the capital inventory criteria there's no appointments committee and liaison reports are in the thing are in the agenda packet your approval minutes can wait until august 31st uh questions on the town managers report seeing none paul your thank you for your report any town council comments i have none okay any further topics no executive sessions i declare the meeting adjourned at 11 40