A very good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hinton US paper analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy. Today's date is 12th December 2023. Now, before getting into the news article discussion, I have an important announcement for you to know. Batch 4 of pre-storming the series of Shankar IAS Academy is going to start on 16th December 2023. Even though the orientation was started on 10th December 2023, you can even enroll today itself and have your test on 16th December 2023. You have ample amount of time. So, what are you waiting for? Just enroll and check your progress in UPSC civil services examination preparation. So, with this good note, we shall look at the list of articles today. These are the list of articles that you are going to discuss today. So, without much delay, let us get into the first news article discussion. Look at this news article. As we all know, the recently occurred Mechang cyclone has inundated most part of the Chennai city During flooding, the crude oil was mixed with the flood water in the Ennoor Manali region of Chennai. It is said that the oil was spilled from the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. CPCL. The oil spill has adversely impacted the livelihood of the fishing community. It caused damage to the fishing nets and fishing boats. Apart from this, the fishers also died and floated on the water surface. So, yesterday, the Tamil Nadu government's state of oil spill crisis management group met to discuss the remediation of the oil spill. The group had directed the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. CPCL to undertake rapid mitigation efforts. And this is the crux of the news article given here. So, in this news article discussion today, let us understand about some oil spill remediation methods. First, let us see the impacts of oil spill. See, crude oil is an ancient fossil fuel. We use crude oil to run our vehicles, then to generate electricity and to power large sectors of our economy. But when oil accidentally spills into the ocean or any other water bodies, it can cause big problems. For example, oil spills can harm sea creatures and result in loss of habitat. It also impacts local economies due to low share of beaches, waterways and commercial fishing. And the oil spill also makes seafood unsafe to eat. So, quick remediation measures should be taken to prevent the harmful effects of oil spilling. Now, let us see the important oil spill remediation methods. See, the first and most common method is the use of oil, contaminant, booms and skimmers. See, booms are nothing but temporary barriers made up of plastic, metal or any other materials. The booms act like a fence to prevent the oil from further spreading or floating away. After the prevention of further spreading, the oil can be sucked using skimmers.  Once the oil has been confined by using oil booms, skimmers can be deployed using the boats. The skimmers, in turn, remove the oil from the water surface. So, this is the first method. The second important method is using sorbents. See, sorbents are materials that are used to absorb oil. They are made up of peat moss, straw, clay, plastic, foam or fibers. They look like sheets or rolls. The sorbent can soak up oil by observing them and prevents further contamination. This is the second method. The third important method is insight to burning of oil. See, in this method, the oil floating on the water surface is ignited to burn it off. This insight to burning of oil can effectively remove up to 98% of an oil spill. But the problem here is that the toxic fumes released from the burning can cause significant damage to the environment and marine life. The fourth important method is using dispersants. See, some chemicals have the ability to disintegrate oil. They are called dispersant or dispersal agents. The dispersants are sprayed upon the oil spill with the help of aircraft and boats. The dispersants allow the oil to chemically bond with water. This ensures that the oil, like, does not travel over the water's surface. Also, they aid in the natural breakdown of oil components by microbes. The fifth important option is using bioremediation methods. See, bioremediation refers to the use of specific microorganisms to remove any toxic or harmful substances. For example, various bacteria, fungi and algae can be able to degrade petroleum products by breaking them into smaller and non-toxic molecules. So, the bioremediation process also helps in remediation of oil spills. And finally, manual labour is also used to clean the oil spill. See, as the name itself suggests, this method requires hand-held tools and manual labour to clean up the oil contaminants. It involves the use of hands or shovels to clean the surface oil and oily debris. So, manual labour is also one of the methods used in the remediation of oil spills. These are all some of the very important oil spill remediation methods that you have to know about. Make note of them. So, with these learnt points, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Look at this news article. The news is that Mr. Gautam Kumar, who is a school teacher, was allegedly kidnapped from his place of work and forcefully married at gunpoint. This is called the practice of Pakadwa Viva. So, in our news article discussion, let us see what is Pakadwa Viva? It's a distribution reason for such practice and consequences. See, Pakadwa Viva means forced marriage or marriage of a groom by abduction. In case of Pakadwa Viva, the groom is abducted by the bride's family and is forced to marry. Here note that in Pakadwa Viva, neither the consent of the boy nor the girl is taken for marriage. This practice is prevalent in Bihar. Bihusarai, Lakisarai, Munga, Kagarai and Navada in the state are considered hotbeds of Pakadwa Viva. According to Bihar State Crime Records Bureau, 70,194 forced marriage cases were reported in the state in 2020. So, here comes the question, why does this practice start? See, believe it or not, these Pakadwa marriages were organized as a social initiative. Eligible bachelors in Bihar, like all other states of India, ask for a huge sum of money as dowry. The higher the caste, the better the job, the more the dowry. But Bihar is one of the poorest state in our country. Bihar's pet capital income for 2021-22 was 54,383 rupees against the national average of 150,007 rupees. The parents of the bride, most often, will not be able to afford the huge dowry demanded by the groom and their family. So, to marry their daughters to employed men, especially eligible bachelors, the parents of the bride started the practice of Pakadwa marriage. This happened in the 1970s and 80s. Since the 1990s, this practice has been taken over by criminal gangs. The parents of the bride started employing criminals who abducted the groom at gunpoint and forced them to marry their daughter. So, we can summarize that the main reason for such practice still exists is because of the prevalence of dowry and lack of employment opportunity in Bihar. In addition to these two reasons, lack of reporting of this matter to the police for fear of violence and societal pressure is another reason why this practice is still prevalent. Finally, before concluding, let us see the consequence of such a practice. See, as I mentioned already in Pakadwa Viva, neither the consent of the boy nor the girl is taken for marriage. So, due to forced marriage, both the bride and groom would be traumatized for life. There are also cases where they would be able to lead a normal life as well. So, these are also of the important points that you have to remember about Pakadwa Viva. You can use this as a case study wherever in your main sense of Viva. So, with these learned points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. This text and context article is about a report published by the Financial Stability Board, FSB. So, the report is on multifunction crypto asset intermediaries. Here, multifunction crypto asset intermediaries is basically a cryptocurrency trading platform. The report seeks to enhance cross-border coordination and information sharing among local authorities. This is to effectively regulate and address gaps in multifunction crypto asset intermediaries, in short, called as MCIs, operating globally. Now, remember this term MCI, it can be asked in preliminary question. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us see some points about Financial Stability Board, FSB. See, the FSB was established in 2009 after a G20 summit. The FSB replaced the erstwhile Financial Stability Forum. Its headquarters is located in Bissell, Switzerland. The FSB is like a global watchdog for the financial world. It monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. Now, what are the objectives of the FSB? See, its objectives are to ensure international financial stability and increase the stability of international financial markets. To achieve these objectives, the FSB performs the following functions. The first function is that the FSB assesses vulnerabilities affecting the global financial system in a timely manner and recommends related actions needed to address these vulnerabilities. The FSB also promotes coordination and information exchange among authorities responsible for financial stability. It also reviews the working of the international standard-setting bodies. Finally, FSB collaborate with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, to conduct early warning exercises. Here note that FSB's decisions are not legally binding on its members. The FSB instead operates by moral, suasion and peer pressure. Suasion is nothing but persuasion as opposed to a force or compulsion. So, this is about the objectives and functions of FSB. Finally, let us see the organizational structure of FSB See, the FSB has one plenary, one steering committee and three standing committees. The plenary is the sole decision-making body. The steering committee acts as a bridge between the plenary and standing committee. It takes forward operational work in between plenary meetings and three standing committees. The three standing committees are Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities, SCAV, Planning Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation, SRC, Standing Committee on Standard Implementation, SCSI. So, this is about the operational structure. I hope you got a clear idea about what is FSB and how it functions with its objectives. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, look at this news article. Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the power of the president to abrogate special status of Gemma and Kashmir under Article 370 of the constitution. The court held that the president has the power as the special circumstances warrant a special solution. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, we will write an answer for a mains question related to this judgment of Article 370. So, while discussing the mains question, we will also cover some of the important points that is mentioned in the news article as well. Let me read out the question for you. Gemma and Kashmir does not have any internal sovereignty and Article 30 is only a temporary provision. In the light of this recent Supreme Court judgment, analyze its implications for Indian polity. See, this question can be asked in GS paper 2 and it comes under the syllabus topic. Issues and challenges pertaining to federal structure, devaluation of power and separation of power. Now, again have a look at the question. This question is a straightforward question. It asks you to analyze about the Supreme Court judgment and its implication. So, we should show caution while answering this kind of question as we need to be impartial, objective and respect to the institution of judiciary. So, in the introduction part, you can start by talking about the Article 370 and its abolition. See, Article 370 was the first article of Part 21 of the Constitution of India as temporary transitional and special provision. Know that it granted special autonomous status to the erstwhile state of Gemma and Kashmir. The various provisions include firstly, it allows the Gemma and Kashmir to have its own constitution. Secondly, due to Article 370, the parliament needed the concurrence of the state for applying all laws to the state, except certain exceptions like defence, foreign affairs, finance and communication. These provisions were abolished with the constitution Application to Gemma and Kashmir Order 2019 issued by the President of India. Technically, it has not abrogated Article 370 completely. On the other hand, it withdrew the special status of Gemma and Kashmir. So, you can write these points in the introduction part. Now, moving on to the main body of the answer, here you have to analyze the implications of the judgment. Firstly, you can write about federalism. See, the judgment made a conclusion that when a state is under President's rule, parliament can do any act. Note that such act can have irreversible consequences on behalf of the state legislature as well. This interpretation could pose risk in the future. It could be used to undermine the rights of states and basic structure of the state. Now, secondly, with respect to the misuse of the President's rule, note that before abrogation of Article 370, the Union government introduced President's rule in the state and made the governor as a substitute for the elected assembly. This has two issues. One is the governor is the representative of the Union government in the state. So, consulting him does not mean the state assembly in a moral sense. Moreover, the President's rule is a temporary phenomenon. So, the decision of a permanent character such as changing the entire status of a state in this setup is not questioned in this judgment. The judgment noted that the President could remove the state's special status without any recommendation. This could be a dangerous sign because it can happen to any other state as well. Thirdly, the judgment recent that Article 370 does not give internal sovereignty and it should be based on the principle of asymmetric federalism. But it didn't explain or analyze how the historical obligations and promises could be taken away without even a proper consultation with the state and its people. Fourthly, an important issue of reorganizing the state of Jemoon Kashmir and its downgrading to a Union territory. See, technically, Article 3 allows for changes of boundaries of state, their names and even identity. But it is silent on changing the status of a state itself and downgrading it to a Union territory. The court's failure to give its ruling on whether the Constitution permits the reorganization of Jemoon Kashmir into two Union territories is an example of judicial evasion. The judgment avoids this issue by simply accepting an open-ended promise from the government with no specified date that statehood will be restored. Fifthly, one of the judges proposed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This called for an analysis of the suffering caused by both state and non-state actors. Moreover, this should be based on the non-partisan communal lines. But we need to see whether this will be implemented. Finally, even though the court held that the Constitutional Order 272 which changed the meaning of Jemoon Kashmir Constitutional Assembly and Jemoon Kashmir Legislative Assembly as Governor, this conclusion did not affect the outcome of the judgment. This is because the court held that the recommendation of JNK Constitutional Assembly was not necessary for the President to declare Article 370 as inoperative. This observation could be also open to interpretation for the future government. So you can write these points in the main body of the answer. Now coming to the conclusion part, here you can write like abrogation of Article 370 in itself would not solve the Kashmir issue. There should be a balance of both security oriented approach which curb the radicalization of the youth and reducing the terror attacks and the developmental approach which aims to improve the growth of economy, reducing poverty and etc. There should be policy of conciliation with all the stakeholders of the process like the regional parties, the civil society organizations, etc. for a holistic development. However, we should follow the strategy of Insaniath i.e. Humanism, Jamho Riyadh i.e. Democracy and Kisha Riyadh i.e. Kashmir's Legacy of Amity. So this way you can conclude the answer for this question. So these are all very important points. It can even reflect in 2024 main's question. So make note of it right now and revise it frequently. So with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next part of this article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion. We have only one question for practice today. Now look at this question. How many of the statements mentioned here about financial stability board, FSB or correct? Four statements are given here. First statement says it was established in 2009. At the G20 Bitsburg Summit, the statement is correct. Statement 2 says India is a member of FSB. This statement is also correct. Statement 3 says an active member of FSB. India has three seats in its planetary represented by secretary, then deputy governor of RBI and chairman of SEBI. So this statement is correct. Statement 3 says it is hosted and funded by the bank for international settlements. This statement is also correct. BIS is like a bank for central banks around the world. These big banks work together and assist in managing and coordinating financial activities between countries. So this statement is also correct. Now look at this fourth statement. It's decisions are legally binding on its members. This statement is incorrect. It is not legally binding on the member. So the correct answer here is option C only three. So displayed here are the main practice questions for you today. Just go through the questions and try to answer it in the comment section. With this we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video, hit like, do comment and don't forget to subscribe to Shankara A.S. Academy YouTube channel. Now thank you so much for listening.


I played AFL as a young kid down there as well and obviously football from under sevens and it wasn't really until I moved to Queensland at about 10 years of age that I really started to focus on my football and became a goalkeeper and started training hard at that and I just love the sport, I just have a real passion for it and I'm not sure what it is or the specifics of it that really attract me to the game but what I get up in the morning is that I can become a better goalkeeper. I was at Gold Coast United which was obviously the club that collapsed to pay the way for the Wanderers to be created so obviously having to go through all the things that come with losing your job and being out of football was a long process from the time that we knew Gold Coast was finishing up to signing here at the Wanderers but obviously being able to compare the two now I think the CFFA made a fantastic decision and obviously the people of Western Sydney will certainly agree with that and certainly all followers of the AL League will probably agree with that as well and I'm very happy to be here. It was just a special year, I've been fortunate enough to talk to a lot of the people that came and supported us last year and jumped on board with the club and it's not just a football club and I think that was the real success last year is we didn't just build a team that played on weekends, we created something that everyone felt a part of and the clubs changed a lot of lives and so I really enjoy talking with the people of the community, I really enjoy being around them and I know when I was young I had idols of my own and it was always met the world to me to be able to go and meet one of them or to spend some time or to talk to them and I always said that if I ever got into the position where I am now where I'm living my dream and doing something that's important to my life that I wouldn't be like that and I'd be someone that was always open and available to the people that looked up to the position that I'm in. I've only been here for about 12 or 13 months but Western Sydney definitely feels like home now and it's somewhere that I certainly hope to be for a few more years to come. I developed a stress fracture in one of my lower vertebras and unfortunately it became quite painful and walking was an issue, sleeping was an issue, I couldn't bend down to pick up a ball and it just got to a point where I wasn't able to help the team and we had to make the decision just to sit out for a few months. I won't lie and say that it was easy, it was a very difficult time and it was probably one of the most difficult times that I've had in football. Something that's great about this club is that we're varied together as a team and the boys never allowed me to feel left out and it's been tough but five or six months later and I'm feeling good again and looking forward to another massive season, fitter and stronger than I've ever been. I learnt a lot last year being able to sit back and watch and see how he, Arnte plays the game and obviously working with Ron Corrie and the thing that I really love about him is that he's always pushing for perfection and Ron's really good with us with that. Obviously he's got an enormous wealth of experience and knowledge on the game that he likes to pass on to both of us and I've certainly benefited from working with him over the last year or so. Certainly in the short term my focus and my concentration and all of my energy is going to be going towards the Wanderers and I'm sure that if we keep improving as we did last year that we'll continue to taste success and we have very ambitious players at this club and we're a club that wants success, we want a lot of success and we have the opportunity to win a lot of silverware this year and we certainly will be doing our best to do that. The positive thing is that it's all in our hands. If we want it then we have the opportunity to go and do it but right now it's going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice and we're going to have to prove once again that we deserve the right to be in those competitions. We were great last year but this is a whole new season, all the other teams are strengthening and improving and we have to do the same or we're going to fall behind.


in terms of getting the vehicles in And out but also people making the corner safely just in a regular vehicle And so I'd really like to entertain the idea of making those changes just those those couple changes to the intersections And then refer any other changes to another box Kathy I'm just building on Alyssa's and When we get to the other side of Amity When you get to where Gaylord is the map is pretty unusual if you look at there's 30 feet there versus 60 feet So going back and saying why so small when that small street needs visibility to so that notion of How far from an intersection should the minimum be 60? I don't know what the right number is, but when you get up to McClellan at 60, then we're at 120 so To just go all the way down Lincoln since we heard that the intersections are problematic at several places I want to make sure that if there is such a motion that it's worded with precision and That may take just a little while to do So If you're planning to make such a motion, please start working on the precise motion Cat yes, Dorothy, and I'm also told not to be so close to my mic. So he put it away from me When is the new TSO committee? starting it starts it's officially appointed as of next Monday and Based on the memo that I sent to all of you. I will call the first meeting I am suggesting that that first meeting be the following Monday at 930 and What date would that be? That would be The 23rd, thank you. Okay. So if this were referred to the new TSO then it would be considered on That date no it would be part of that agenda There are a couple items that would be so then it might be a long delay before the TSO got a chance to look at it Okay, Pat Because of that delay, that's why I think what Alyssa saying is important about the intersections and that we can do something about that right now Okay Could we put up Athena? Could we put up the recommendations section? I think it's right on page one the memo and then basically we could just Circle all the ones that are the intersection distances as opposed to the stretches Andy Yeah, I think that's a good idea because I actually have it on my screen right now and I think what Would be suggested if we did that would be to enact And it's this is really a first reading so it would require a second reading Anyway, but but enact as a first readings subparts one two and three on under recommendations and They probably would need to be read into the motion to avoid Confusion even though it would be easy because it's cut and paste for the clerk later to do that and then I Think we would have to then consider a separate motion on referral to a committee for the remainder of the proposal as Mandy has suggested Alright, so Mandy Joe So I'm not sure it would be that easy, but since we couldn't vote on it tonight. I think we could buy next time for the intersection issue Get better because those subparts don't include the 60 feet on either side of On McClellan because the proposal is the full length of that side So, you know, I think we'd have to look and maybe craft a motion Separately if that's what people wanted to act on first Do we want that to do we therefore want today to be considered the first reading? Or does it have to come back with more precision first today can be the first reading so if we need to have crafted a motion that Basically increases the setbacks at the intersections Yes And would that include increasing the setbacks on the block of Lincoln? between Amity and North Hampton Road Because I I think that they are smaller than they are I'll say around the motion can I mean them the same the motion can include am I correct the motion can include those as well Paul Just a clarification so I just want to understand are you referring are you saying we want to Approve items one two and three and this is the first reading or are you referring one two and three? No, we're we're saying that we want to prove one two and three We want to prove one two and three and this is the first reading, but we will work it up into a Properly worded motion for the second reading which will be on March 23 Thank you, which will be on March 23. No Paul. You're looking at me strangely That's not our next meeting Maybe I'm lost on this, but I don't think the council usually acts takes a motion on our first reading. No, we don't We will craft the motion and it will be Presented at our second reading which will be on March 23rd Yes, I'm looking at these recommendations on that page one of the memo and it seems to have forgotten a number It doesn't have the parking prohibited 60 feet on either side of McClellan anywhere in the recommendations It has the eight to five up to those 60 feet lines Which is four and five, but nothing about the 60 feet on either side. I think we forgot a number Somehow if you look at the map they circle that as a change But they built what Mandy saying is they built it into a longer sentence rather than doing it the way The number two did it on Gaylord where it was just explicit on both sides Can I just say that because this will be in a full motion next time that kind of thing can be Corrected and am I correct that we can also extend this to the north side of Amity we can't we don't have to have a separate hearing just to do curb setbacks I'm sorry, so I feel I don't know why we're talking about the north side is something separate when I feel like that's already in there except and then the only one that's not Appropriately covered in one two and three is that part about McClellan and but the problem is if I understand that we don't like Craft a motion for a first reading but on the other hand We can't say this whole proposal is under first reading because this whole proposal is not under first reading because we are not Considering this whole first pros so we have to say some things the subject of the first reading So basically have to tear the recommendations apart, right? It's those three things were part of the first reading and then the wording that Mandy Joe once for to be you know to be determined associated with McClellan and When that is put together with then staff can review again on that on the Gaylord just to make sure that they didn't intend for it To be larger. I mean I believe they intended it to be this but they can double-check it All right, so Let me make sure I understand this since somebody's got to work with mr. Backelman and Athena and that will be staff. We're basically now Want to move on the setbacks increasing the setbacks because We all agree that at a minimum we're going to do that Okay, and that we will have a motion that is explicit and demonstrated on a map For our next meeting which will be officially the second reading of This portion Yes, I just want to clarify that we're talking about The numbers The what is in this paper? But with a change that the toe zone on the east and west side of Lincoln Avenue for distance instead of it being here It says 30 feet north and south of Gaylord Street But it says 60 feet north and south of McClellan Street And I believe there was a statement by some people here that it should be the same number Around Gaylord as around McClellan You didn't say that We yeah What we this is something where we will go back with staff We will check on the appropriate amounts of setbacks, etc. And Come back to you with the map and the actual actual motion Nandy Joe are we This is a question for another part of this recommendation because what we pull out is not going to be part of the referral then that's correct So I'm I'd I'd wonder if the council might be ready to move on. I think it's number seven Which is prohibiting parking 24-7 on the west side of Lincoln Avenue from essentially Amity to North Hadley is that part of Question for this council as to whether we want to do that or not or is that something we might be able to move on without further study by a committee Let me just refresh my memory which is represents no change at all from what we've been told for now But comment here There's going to be construction by UMass right in that area when they tear down the Lincoln apartments and There's been great concern about large vehicles how they're gonna get in and out So I would think that this is Reflects that that we should keep the 200 feet tow zone around North Hadley Which is we way up by the University and very close to the Lincoln Avenue apartments number seven says tow zone the whole length of Lincoln from Amity to North Hadley and I'm wondering whether the council needs that referred or whether they're comfortable with Keeping that on sort of the first reading as part of a motion next week Is it doesn't represent a change from what we've been told from what the current regulations are Yes, keep we'll add that to the this being the first reading. We'll add that to the motion for the second reading Okay, then what are we referring? Four five and six four five and six okay, so I Don't need a motion for the first. I need a motion to suspend rule 8.4 for four five and six Oh, it doesn't okay. Thank you. All right, so we need a motion to refer four five and six to TSO so I moved to refer Proposed parking regulations under the recommendation numbers four five and six the Monday to Friday eight to five prohibit prohibition and East well the east side prohibitions eight to five and permanently from bearing to North Hadley To the town services an outreach committee with a report back to the council within 90 days is there a second second Any further discussion? I'm George. Well George I Just would like some help from my colleagues as to what TSO which has not yet met yet is Supposed to do or what you imagine them doing They're supposed to take into consideration Some of the concerns raised apparently by some of you are the I mean we have a proposal from the staff and There it is now you're referring it to TSO and What do you want them to do with this proposal? Do you want them to I'm just trying to understand maybe the council just doesn't want to make a decision about this as it stands Are you looking for some compromise? You leave it up TSO. I would help if you could give TSO Some sense of what you expect them to do other than just have it land in their laps Okay, so let me try to I think that's an absolutely and appropriate question Do we want TSO to only look at four five and six? That's one option Do we want TSO to look at some of the broader issues raised today? About impacts on other parts of the neighborhood Do we want TSO to look broadly at Things like how wide can a street be in order to have parking on one side or two sides? So that's just giving you a sense of the range of what I believe George is appropriately asking. What do we want TSO to look at? Evan so one of the things that I I'm thinking something of this in two ways to respond to George's question One is this to me is very similar to the recommendations We received in the downtown parking working group where we received recommendations and then we sent them to CRC and said all right now We've gotten a proposal What does the council think vet these a little bit more? But I think to me there were a lot of a lot of questions that were asked of of Superintendent and the chief and Where we got the response of we were looked at we were tasked to look at parking on Lincoln We were tasked to look at parking on linking which was they weren't looking at this in the context of Parking more broadly. They weren't looking at this in terms of how might this affect sunset? They were asked something fairly narrow, and I think that's where the committee then broadens the discussion They were given a task. We have their proposal and we say okay Given all of these other things we're looking at is this something we actually recommend the town council go forward with Because I know for me I have questions that are are still unanswered Especially with regard to potential spillover effects, and I think that's where that where the committee could become useful Okay Steve Yeah, so I'm Ready and willing Enable to vote on the parts that we said that we're ready to willing and able to vote on For me I think that four or five and six are part of a macro problem much bigger than Lincoln and I'm not sure that I'm still uncomfortable talking about Lincoln When these might be other problem because we can think of all kinds of other streets that have these We've been hearing from People during the break that they've had all kinds of problems on this street and that street Nobody's answered their emails. So I can you know gudos to Lincoln for getting this on the docket But there's all kinds of other problems out there including Taylor Street right in my neighborhood. So I Would bet I think that the issue is rather than referring four five and Three four and five to TS whatever it is to the TSO I would rather see a strategic Methodology for looking at when we deal with parking issues and when we don't deal with them Pat I actually would like to vote on four five and six because tonight and Then refer all of the parking to TSO spill over How you know Lincoln Avenue versus Churchill Street for you know to a real looking at the broader issue? But I'm ready to vote on four five and six Dorothy, I just want to be sure about six. I think that's what it has always been So I think we should be talking about four and five the eight to five Because there's a reason why parking has been prohibited In six and it has to do with very narrow roads and streets. Yeah, Paul has an answer here Paul The motion states repeal all existing regulations and this is substituting this So we have a clean slate for all the regulations that are going to be on Lincoln are going to be applied Based on this vote. So even though they're pre-existing the first phrase is repeal existing parking regulations and replace So if you didn't replace six there would that would not exist anymore my question is why is that controversial because that that really is Is not really part of it. It's it's much narrower area It it basically when you repeal you repeal the whole set and even as you bring back Pieces that you already have you bring them back and state them the way they are so I know that but we would look doing it four and five because there's a lot of Discussion that needs to take place About that you're right that four and five really is the only thing that would change And so therefore it is the only thing that would probably go to TSO Mandy Joe So I actually don't agree with six if we're looking at eight to five on four and five. I will state right now I am Disagreeing at this point. I disagree with having Fearing to north Hadley different than McClellan to fearing and I'm not sure why they're different I didn't get tremendous answers. I think that's something that TSO could help me with I think Even if those three are referred TSO can come back with what might the bigger problem be if we do adopt it here What are all the other streets that are the same width that have parking on both sides that then residents might say well You did it to Lincoln here's where we might be facing it so that I know what the scope of this potential change the the outcomes of this potential change are to The rest of the town when everyone else finds out Oh, we just limited it here We'll do it for mine because mine's the same with street or where that overflow might be so I agree with Evan that it needs there But I can say at this point I'm not sure I could vote for number six because I'm not clear why on a road that is the same width We're treating one small portion of it completely different than others That was answered by it was a very transient area crazy parking of Student apartments with many many cars and that the police found it a very difficult area So that's why they did answer that amongst many thousands of other things today May I also say that as long as it's Referred it stays the way it is until such time as it comes back and there is a recommended change so we aren't repealing and replacing in This motion at all we're referring Lissa, thank you because yeah, we the repeal and replace went away when we decided to call the first three things Something we were putting under our first rating and then we added in seven We added one two three seven well. It's one two three part of five Right because we said that we needed to have that distance. So it's one two and three for sure. It's five revisited By staff to tell us what's the equivalent of that setback for that intersection and then seven because seven is Currently existing conditions that we're just reaffirming Yes Sarah So I think one of the other things that I would wonder if TSO could do for us is that there was a lot of like Suggestions about maybe safety things that could be done and I wouldn't want those also to be ignored So maybe that would be also something like could we paint those areas by driveways or by Fire hydrants like I think that that when we talked about all these different things I think that there was other facets of how to help that street out And so I would like to be able to kind of have a little bit of a more of a comprehensive Plan whether we take all of it or not, but I think TSO could help in sort of examining some of the other things that were said So can I suggest that we might make the motion for TSO to Come back with a Plan for how they want to proceed versus sitting here and Trying to craft exactly what we want them to do Unless it is that we want them to come back with a recommendation regarding the rest of Lincoln Ave basically the remainder parts of four or five and six and Then separately we want them to do come back with a plan something that allows Them to be responsive to this proposal but also Recognize that there's lots of other issues Shallony Yeah, in addition to the safety issues Regarding with respect to intersection. I just want to highlight the backing is the other area So if that's another thing for the TSO to look at with the safety issues and also the question about how are we treating this public parking as a resource for the community and the people that it's affecting so to address that as well We keep this up and we're gonna have to rename TSO Let's not get into that one. Okay. Thank you So Is there a motion with regard to referral to TSO which is four five and six and It was seconded. Yes. Is there any further discussion? Alyssa, sorry was it 90 days? Okay, 90 days and that's remember our thing of report that doesn't Report can be we're still working on it All right. Are we ready to vote? Yes, all those in favor of the referral to TSO With a report back in 90 days for items four five and six of the recommendations Raise your hand and say aye. I Opposed I'm waiting to keep your jab them all abstain. Okay All right, I'm sorry. What was the final vote? It was ten three I Thought it was nine four Okay, please raise your hand again all those in favor In favor in favor Got it Abstain none. So it's nine to four. Thank you So so Lynn just on the the set bucks the amount of space on intersection We're keeping that and we're going to come back to it next time we meet time Okay, it'll be a second reading next time. Okay, and can we have that request be the second reading if People really meant 30 on Gaylord and 60 on McKellan. So just get that clarified back and clarify with them. Okay There that it's also possible that they Based on the hearing they may decide that it's appropriate to change it too That's that's what That's what I would hope okay Dorothy. Can we call them tow away zones rather than setbacks? Because setback is a term we use meaning something else with buildings. Okay Yeah All right, we're moving on to the finance committee charge Andy oh Actually, go well. Let's start with you You're doing finance committee charge Yes, so You have in your packet both the clean and the track changed version of the finance charge And you studied it carefully, yes, so I can ask you all questions about it good We had the pleasure of having Andy Steinberg come and speak to us and he brought to us Suggestions from the finance committee which we considered and we asked Andy questions And what do you have in front of us as the result of that conversation? We had already voted this once before but in our Generous and magnanimous spirit. We did it again. So what you have now is the revised version of the revised version the changes that are made if you're looking at the track changes a piece of the Purpose that was an original document has been moved down to the charge So it says consider all any of all questions Which it deems appropriate for the purpose of considering the budget and it refers Charter 5.5 b That so that's not really a change just moving something from the purpose to the charge The word finances was added to under the charge where it says finance finance shell colon The word finances with added at the recommendation of the finance committee The seventh bullet point we had a fair lengthy discussion about a pond referral from the council Had been recommended by the finance committee that that be removed and the final decision by our committee was that we prefer to leave it in so it was left in and There was a bullet you can see a bullet point that was Suggested by finance it's stricken with the lines through it That was discussed at some length and then we decided not to put it in so we did not make a lot of changes to this But the two that might be of some issue have to do with the pond referral from the council and bullet seven And the fact that we did not take the suggestion Which says consider and make recommendations All other financial measures etc. We decided not to include that other than that There was agreement between the finance committee and gol and we voted this document 4-0 with one absent to be clear consistent and actionable and now it's in front of you Is there a motion You have to have a motion first before you amend okay Is there a motion? Mindy Joe, so I'll I'll make a motion to rescind the current finance committee charge and adopt the proposed finance committee charge quote Finance charge gol voted 2020 o 226 clean as presented effective immediately Okay, so the motion has been made in seconded Kathy Okay, I'm I appreciate the changes that were made that came out of finance and I would like to make one Additional change to the document. We're looking at the bullet that was completely removed When we discussed it finance the purpose of that it was to open up and make it clear that the finance committee in Its role is thinking about financial matters might at times Originate an idea could be about revenues or other issues, so it was Meant to be parallel to what we saw in other committees, but I don't think as well worded as it could have been So what I'd like to put back in add back to not change anything, but add one more General statement that would be review and make recommendations to the town council on matters related to the financial health of the town of Amherst and If we cross looked over to CRC and some of the other committees they have this general wording And I found when I was looking at finance committees and other cities and towns Can I just get a second and then okay, so is there a so I shouldn't explain why first? Okay, now go ahead. Okay, so it's it's a general it opens up the possibility There's a revenue idea that comes up There's some issues that we haven't specifically been talking about but we want to bring them to attention So this review and make recommendations, which is very similar to the wording used in a CRC in there with their focus and I looked at Cambridge and a lot of other cities and towns and they Ex they do more general language generally than we do they're not a specific but there is this broad intent that That you could originate you could be creative in a committee You wouldn't have to just work on the budget issues. So I think this opens up that as a possibility That is parallel to the way we've done in other committees So to clarify this would make bullet eight Athena yes, yes, could you put the can I ask that council shame repeat? I'm sorry. Should I read it again? Okay, so I'm proposing that we add an additional bullet to the list that's under a Budget and finances, so it would be on a new last bullet That would be review and make recommendations to the town council on Matters related to the financial financial health of the town of Amherst That motions been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Then we'll vote on the amendment to the motion first all those in favor raise your hand and say aye I opposed abstain Okay, so it's 11-1-1. Thank you and Now we're back to the main motion. The main motion is to adopt this is to Get rid of the other charge and basically adopt this charge. Is there any further discussion? I'm going to say I move that we adopt the charge as amended Already been moved and seconded. Okay. Any further discussion all those in favor? Raise your hand and say aye. I opposed abstain Yes, no, and that vote was Enanimous, okay. Great. Thank you moving on We are now at the mullin roll and Paul you wrote the memo on this do you want to speak to it, please? So the mullin roll is a You have them memo in front of you It's a section of the general law this Massachusetts general laws that allows a member of a committee to Participate in a disc in a disc in a vote of a decision in front of it and a judiciary committee typically If they've missed one session as long as they attest that they've viewed the Minutes or the recording of that session. So currently This is can be was you was approved be utilized by the select board planning board conservation Commission in the historical Commission And the request is to allow the zoning board of appeals in the local Historic District Commission to utilize the mullin rolls as well The vote required is for the town council to allow those two boards to utilize the mullin roll Are there questions? Mandy Joe so I noticed the original town meeting action included the select board on the But list of bodies that could utilize the mullin rule at that time They were our license commissioners or the equivalent of the license commissioners I'm wondering wondering if there's any need potentially for the town council to be included on this motion We do sometimes have hearings on water and sewer rates I don't know whether that was the reason the select board was included in it But is there something that we should be is there a reason we could potentially be looking at Including the town council on this There could there could be other committees that could avail themselves of this or with health for instance or license board of license commissioners Not sure about the town council if there would any be anything that you are doing in terms of an adjudicatory hearing that Requires attendance at all the hearings before you make a decision But these are the two committees that have requested this Alyssa Since it doesn't involve killing dogs or doing alcohol licensing which were two Responsibilities the select board had before I don't believe that Thank you, and this is we did wave Our rule associated with this so that we could do this tonight as opposed to having to do that was what we were Going to do and then Darcy asked that we not do that and so are we still Since we didn't wave our rule under the consent calendar if we want to act on this tonight We still have to wave the rule separately for this item Can I ask another question? Is there any reason any other board you can? Think of that should be under this So again is the only two that we could think of and talking with the town attorney were the board of health and the Board of License commissioners and again this was prompted by a by an action by the zoning board of appeals and Historic district commission because they had a pretty lengthy hearing. They they felt a need for it as well We haven't felt the need from it from the other commissions yet. You could Offer it but we would bring bring suggest that we bring that back as a separate action. Okay Thank you, Alyssa. Yeah, I We talked brief Paul and I talked briefly about board of health and it does make sense to either wait for them to ask this does not Unlike most things. It's not a wise thing to be proactive about This is a case where they might not want to do that as a board They might not want to give their own members the option of doing that and also remember There's this you have to file the form that says you've listed listen to an audio recording right now There might not be audio recordings of those particular meetings and so they wouldn't be able to do it. Thank you I think I only I had a comment on this that at one point during the summer I tried to Zoning board of appeals hearing that I wasn't able to Attend I wanted to look at the minutes of it and I discovered there were no minutes They don't do minutes so I couldn't find what's going on and They don't do a video so I couldn't watch what had happened and there is an audio tape that I then just Staff sent me one. They aren't great It was okay, and I finally figured out a way of making it work but I think it's important in Waving this that there's a very good audible tape that if the idea is you you miss the hearing But want to know what's going on that you can hear because I I had to do a lot of jury rigging with my Laptop to get the sound loud enough to actually hear the discussion back and forth because it's more like an aft You know it wasn't a it wasn't these kind of recordings, so I think the Sentiment here, you know, I know with planning board you can actually watch the video or you could watch our so I just want to Make sure we have the capacity to produce a Good audio tape, you know, I'm not doubting I just know my one experience whether this I had to struggle to to find it. Okay Any other questions at this time? All right, then let's go to We first need the motion to suspend the council rules Do I hear motion? So moved Okay, is there a second? Okay, so the motion is to spend council rules for the procedure rule 8.4 for the current agenda item It's been made and seconded all those in favor raise your hand and say aye aye opposed Abstain and the vote was I'm sorry Okay, unanimous. All right now Then we're going to move on to the actual motion and that motion is to accept for the following boards Committees and commit or commissions holding adjudicatory hearing In the town the provisions of mass general law chapter 39 paragraph 23d which provide that a member of a board committee or commission holding and due to Judicatory hearing shall not be disqualified from voting in the matter solely due to the members absence From one session of such hearing provided that certain conditions as established by said statue are met Zoning Board of Appeals local historic district commission. Is there a second? Is there any further discussion? Darcy, I just want to make sure you were the one that asked that we pull this off the consent agenda Is there any further question on your part? Okay, thank you. Then all those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye aye opposed and abstained abstain So 12 to 1 0 Sarah did you oppose? Oh? I'm sorry No, we're fine. We're fine Her hand was up too long. Thank you Okay, we're moving on to the Bylaw amendment on non-criminal disposition 2.2. This is the first reading and George. I believe we come back to GOL Yes We voted this clear consistent and actionable on the February 26th meeting on the vote was 4-0 with one member absent and I think our comments are in the report Which I can read to you, but you can read it better than I can Mandy also could speak to this perhaps more Strongly, but we got a clear consistent actionable Okay, is there any further question on this? Okay, this is our first reading it will come back on the March 23rd agenda No questions All right, then moving on to the town council rules or procedure rules 8.28.6 and 10.3 Again first discussion first reading This is again GOL This is really just a housekeeping measure and so I'm kind of wondering why we have to go through the Two readings that basically what we're asking you to do here is We're just replacing Oka with TSO. I believe I have the document in here somewhere But essentially it's just housekeeping as a result of the changes we made at the last meeting in terms of Permanent Standing Councils of the Committee of the Council so given those changes Certain changes had to be made in wording to 8.286 and 10.3 and if you look in your packet, you'll see it's strictly housekeeping Changing out swapping our names great. Is there any question on this? Pat I just wonder why something like that couldn't have been on the consent agenda since it was just a wording It's a change to our rules of procedure which requires two readings So we'll just quickly go through read it once come back to March 23rd. Maybe it'll be on the consent agenda next week Yeah, there you go I'll make a note of that and maybe we can put The chapter the non-criminal disposition on consent to Okay, all right we're going on to appointments and You've received three memos from me. The first is the actual presidential appointments to the committees the Standing Committees of the Council and Soon as I find my memo This appears in your document was also sent to you so that I do Reappoint outreach communications and appointments. They will continue until June 30th they only have one charge and That is basically to do the appointments for The Zba and planning board Which essentially continues them almost as an ad hoc committee With that one single focus the finance committee was previously named the new appointments are For governance organization and legislation town services and outreach committee and resource community resources committee and in every instance I state the time in the agenda I Had to change my time for one of them for two of them And let me just say that I will be at the first meeting of each of those three As we elect the chair and I will organize the first meeting for TSO by consulting with the members on that committee and Would like to know for the members on that committee whether Monday It's so it would be the week after the town council meeting so the first time it would meet would be next Monday the 16th You cannot meet Okay Okay, then the following time that we could meet or maybe I'll at this point I'll just pull the committee find out when you can meet and we'll try to meet as soon as possible Okay, because okay is not actually meeting. It's just schedule slightly changed Three it meets 330 and 413 currently is my understanding So that if you want to work around those dates for instance TSO could meet on the 23rd So Oka is meeting on 330 Oka actually tried to intentionally get its meetings off of the town council mornings Okay, when possible and so our schedule actually it's a little bit incorrect there And so when are you meeting you're meeting on? March 30th And then again on April and what time 9 30 to 11 30 So same day same time, but just the different dates. I got it. Yeah So in theory TSO could meet on the 23rd. All right. I will pull TSO and move forward I also want to just point out on the memo There were two places where I did not properly recognize somebody who had served in a Previous committee and that is the diagonal line through and that would be Evan Ross previously served and Continues to serve on outreach communications and appointments and he did serve on go well So the next memo is your choice. All I did was the polling You we already have JCPC and it's been up and running and Kathy Shane is now the chair of that Participatory budget Budget and commission is up and running and we had that commission finishes at the end of December And so I didn't see any reason to change people off besides I believe it was a two-year appointment So the budget coordinating group three counselors expressed interest the way the present charge reads It's two from finance the counselors that expressed its interest in this are counselor Brewer Griesmer and Shane Is there a motion? Yes, Mandy John. I move to Approve the following town council appointments to the budget coordinating group under rules of procedure 10.6 counselors appointed to committees named in the Charter effective amiss immediately for a term to expire January Sixth, I don't know one year from like January 6th January 6th, 2021 Lynn Griesmer and Kathy Shane is our second George second is any further discussion All those in favor raise your hand and say aye. I opposed Abstain you abstained, okay, so it's 12-0-1 All right, the next one I I Did not recommend But just communicated to you who expressed interested interest in being liaisons and what their ranking was and So affordable housing at this point. No one has expressed interest. Is there a change in that? Then we will not have a liaison to that it and Board of Health the three people that expressed interest were Brewer Ryan and Pam and So at some point we need to select one of them all those in favor say aye Okay, okay All right, and you're taking your name off Board of Health and that is Ryan and Brewer Okay, and the next one also leaves Ryan and Brewer. Shall we flip a coin? I will yield to my colleague I actually have a more serious question, but perhaps this isn't the time And so I will let the president decide what she wants to do. What is your serious question? Well, if you look at this list seven counselors did not Express any willingness to serve on as a liaison. That's a majority of the counselors an eighth counselor only put down one And a ninth counselor put down two So it seems to me that the majority of counselors really are not Committed to this idea. So perhaps spite of all the work that Lin is done and Oka has done and other people have done it seems that the council has voted with its feet and So I'm wondering if at this point We just need to throw in the towel and say until maybe there's something for the retreat to discuss But just based on sheer numbers Half of us are going to do this and half this or more than half this or not And I think if we're not all in I'm not sure why we're doing it That's my problem Sarah So when I was I do believe in liaisons and when I was trying to decide I actually Actually, I will be honest thought probably I would end up being on TSO And then I thought if I was on TSO I probably would want to counsel on aging And I probably would want to be with people with disabilities because I thought that that would be a good place for liaisons But actually now I'm wondering with CRC and its scope if those two things might fit more handily There so I'm more than willing to handle a bit of those are ones that already have That already have people who are interested but if I mean I could also do al SSE if it wasn't if Dorothy didn't if she was like Where am I crossing you off Okay, and I'm putting Swartz there and Sarah you've also said counsel on aging but Pat you're there Sarah. Do you want counsel on aging? Okay? all right and Community preservation Kathy you're there and also Pat and Pat you're also on disability Kathy you're on CPAC and you've got transportation been going to CPAC and learned a lot so I you know I That's was I was worried on what we would do as we continue this So I've gone to every meeting and would like to continue doing that I might the other one I put down was tack and there is We can see there's lots of people that want tack, so I'm happy to give up tack Can I also just point out CPAC is almost done for the year Yeah, it's at most one more meeting right now the decisions have all been made. Yeah That's okay. Yeah. All right All right disability Brewer at the angels and Ryan You're happy to give it up. Did you say? The else wants it more I got board of license and Siri. I've got you down for two. They'll be you mentioned disability, but Pat wants disability got it and Transportation advisory Ryan Pam and Dumont. Oh, I'm sorry LSSE Pam Sarah Sarah said yes. She wanted it and Dorothy Dorothy withdrew Yes and transportation advisory Darcy you're the only one there that doesn't have any Dorothy and George, how do you feel? Okay, George Happy to yield to Darcy. All right, so I'm going to make the following motion and look for a second The motion is to appoint the following counselors as stated as liaisons to Trent affordable housing counselor Dorothy Pam Board of Health counselor George Ryan Board of License Commissioners counselor, Alyssa Brewer Community Preservation Act Committee Counselor Shane Counsel on aging Counselor Sarah Schwartz Disability Advisory Access Advisory Committee Counselor D'Angeles LSSE Commission Counselor Schwartz and Transportation Advisory Committee Counselor Darcy Dumont. Is there a second? All those in favor raise your hand and say aye. Thank you That went a lot faster than I thought it was going to all right We are moving on to Committee reports Community Resources Committee manager We always get I'm not used to going first in committee reports still So we are moving along with Trying to figure out how to craft a comprehensive housing policy We will be having a second discussion this coming week on that and that will continue to be on agendas and For the foreseeable future at this point and we have a draft process for Getting zoning by-law changes and proposals through the all the required Steps in state law in the charter and all of that That has been to the planning board For brief discussion has been to CRC once and is coming back this week to that Hopefully we can have that to the council soon And we will also be working on the master plan update. We had elected and and Counselor DeAngelis over here as our representative to the planning board for the master plan update Unfortunately, she is no longer going to be on CRC. So we will be electing someone else But we thank her for her willingness and to serve on that It is my understanding in terms of just trying to update on zoning And I'll try to have a written report on some zoning potential zoning by-law changes coming forth as I get more next week But I believe the planning board is looking at a zoning by-law change on voting quantums for Special permits I think it is and so that will probably be our first test of a draft Process for working its way through all of the required State law and charter requirements for that and it's been billed as a Update because the planning board changed in size from nine to seven and there was a by-law That did not change its voting quantum for that in accordance with that reduction And therefore we're trying the planning board is trying to update that to sort of match that charter change in size So that should be coming soon. I haven't seen any actual language yet, but I know it's in process Yes, Dorothy. Oh You've almost answered my question, which is the new CRC is going to meet in two days. Is that correct? No No, so so the old CRC will meet one more time this Wednesday because the new committees I thank Lynn for this the new committees do not take effect until next Monday so that the current CRC as The one that has been meeting can meet one final time to clean up some stuff and send stuff over to the new TSO that It needs to do and and do all of that. So so we look forward to having you Dorothy and Andy And Pat join us on Wednesday morning. If we don't we won't have a quorum Okay, and New members of CRC of course are welcome to attend. Yes, absolutely Wednesday morning at 8 30 finance committee and So finance committee you have Perceived in writing with the number of attachments. So I'm just going to kind of repeat what they are What we covered and then really just treat it as a matter if there are questions But trying not to go through the material that has been previously presented The discussion First was about the audit and the meeting with Tonya Campbell from Alanson Heath and there was a several pieces that you've received at various times including the entire and rather lengthy audit report itself and the The PowerPoint that she presented as part of her presentation And having served on previous audit committees under our old form of government. I actually really Appreciated the change that came about by getting to the finance committee and I mentioned this and that is that We've never before had a presentation of the audit in a meeting that was actually televised in the in there for a really public meeting and The PowerPoint was done at my suggestion in order to both help the committee and help the public and I hope help the council But if there are any questions about it beyond what I wrote in the report or about what I wrote in the report I'll treat that as the Appropriately the other audit issue is already been taken care of which was the motion to retain Melanson Heath for one more year and to Implicit that is beginning a process that was started by the previous audit committee to have a selection process for Audits for a future term The last item that was discussed was something that used to go to Town meetings and select boards and that's the second quarter financial report We received the report. I ask that it be Appended to included in this packet Just because I I felt that it was important to have it there though I do know that the town manager Also, appended it by reference in His report. So I think that is what we did at the last meeting and We are not meeting again until two weeks from now So if there are any questions Otherwise my report is done Okay any questions Okay, GOL George We are going to continue to look at rule 8.4 and other rules related to the referral process in The illusion that we might be able to Move things along more quickly We're going to look at consent agendas and see if they need to be put into our rules of procedure and of course, we're still Mulling how to proceed with bylaw changes and revisions as referred to a number of meetings ago Referred to you to us by you and of course, we still continue to look at the public ways process and Hope to make some progress is there as well Okay, I just have a request on the bylaws that were referred The one that I had Question when we were reviewing them was we removed entirely a bylaw on on co-op and condo conversion and so one of the things we said would be a fuller discussion of If we wanted one of those at all, what should it be? So if you could notify me when you might get to that Because I collected other towns and what they've done, you know, just So I could just come Can I ask that there also be a general There's a general request that people whose issues like for instance percent for art is Coming up for GOL and I Did want to make sure that Bill Cason knew that it was coming up and so I let him know but would chairs of Committees in the future let people who were either part of that or interested in it know that it's coming up on the agenda If at all possible Darcy, I also wanted to mention the single-use plastic container bylaw I I didn't see it in the list of future bylaw Issues coming up. So maybe it was in some other category. I don't know but I know we had a Time limit for when it was going to come back Which I can't remember I can't remember what the date was but It was it's there for a finite amount of time Any further questions for GOL JCP see Kathy Kathy JCP see JCP see that's it Kathy in her new role we we had the I guess it was the second meeting and the first meeting of Considering an actual proposal and it was the only proposal We only had one proposal this year from a resident proposal and this one was particularly interesting because it came from two high school students We're Talking about potential solar panels over the parking lots are on the roof But what was being proposed is a study on where and how you might do them what the options might be so we had a Discussion about that and Then a preview and I And my new role as chair should have put in some notes into to tonight's but The new Procedure that we're going to be going through for those who want to come to meetings is the entire Townside which is police fire and all the departments will all be in one meeting this year rather than come in separately and The town manager is doing a lot of meeting in advance in the attempt to come in with a more consolidated Proposal so next week Actually this week now. We're meeting with library and schools And so the agenda is put up you can see what the issues are coming up each of them And there's a response we put this in the town manager's performance goals And we said this at the end of last year that Trying to come up with five years worth of JCPC where not just the first year, but the other year's work more or less in balance You know rather than saying we can't do everything this year So we'll put it to next year, but we'll be in a deficit next year But trying to think that through so it's going to be a very different process this year on trying to see how quickly We can get to that So am I correct that you're meeting this week, but not next week Yes, I just misstated it's the meetings are on Wednesdays at 5 30 Okay Any further questions for JCPC? Okay Oka Evan yeah, so Oka is focused around two things right now one is We are looking at the community activity forms For potential recommended revisions to hopefully make them more useful and also returning to the conversation that's been lingering in a lot of these conversations about whether or not to Maintain them as personnel records or for them to be public documents and what it even means for it to be a public document if so So stay tuned for more information and recommendations from Oka on that front more pressing Many of you all are aware we've had a vacancy on the ZBA since September 11th We have a regular member. We received recently a Resignation from an associate member effective immediately And we also have the chair of the ZBA who originally had submitted his resignation He was only appointed for one year term that was going to expire June 30th He had decided to leave early. He had given us March 13th as his early departure date It sounds like I don't know what his new departure date is but it sounds like he is going to serve Beyond that because he's currently impaneled on a project So he's at least going to see that project out. But what that means is that of the nine potential Seats when you combine associate and regular members on the ZBA We're about to be down to five of them being filled Which puts the ZBA in a really precarious position and so Oka is looking to move on the ZBA We do have an applicant pool this morning Oka took the first steps towards moving to fill those vacancies So we declared the pool sufficient this morning to proceed to interviews That doesn't necessarily mean sufficient to fill all of the vacancies, but sufficient to proceed to interviews to maybe fill One two or all of them. We also adopted selection guidance To guide those interviews, which you know what that means because you all did this recently with the planning board Is we will now be moving to develop interview questions and set up interviews and so as we did last time you should expect an email from me Probably not tonight at this point, but probably tomorrow With the reminder of what our process is and with the adopted selection guidance For the ZBA asking you to submit If you have interview questions that you would like us to include for the ZBA interviews So that'll give the council opportunity to submit them And then we will be developing those interview questions at our next meeting on March 30th And of course once we have an interview date I will make sure the council is aware of that Okay, any questions Okay, percent for art. I really don't that's going to GOL and then we'll be Excuse me potentially on our next agenda depending on GOL's actions based on the attorney's recommendations. Okay Can I ask do we get the attorney's recommendations? We did. Oh, I'm sorry. Did we? No, I didn't think we did yet I'm sure the town manager will be on the phone tomorrow morning. Thank you He's right there. I was on the phone Friday and today. Yeah Thank you, Paul. We appreciate that and so and Just ignore the next one for TSO we put it on there because we know we have to put it on there for the future and As I said before it will pull for the meeting We've already taken care of the minutes. We're moving on to the town manager's report Thank you. I have a few things. I want to mention then there's a big thing I want to talk about at the end so cup of joe is Friday at Jake's at the mill and I'll be with assistant town manager and native son of North Amherst David Zomek We have a team working very hard on the complete count people will start very soon to receive be receiving in their mailboxes if they have mailboxes the Letter asking to participate in the you in the United States census has differentiated from the town census So it's really important and there's been a lot of effort to educate people that everyone participate in the census that you Reply to it and you include everybody in your household including children. It helps Massachusetts. It's helps the town of Amherst The town elections went off very well as our town clerk's first real election And I really give credit to our town clerk and the entire staff who helped and were working 20-hour days that day to make sure everything went well and We didn't we had enough ballots for everybody and everybody did it did well Very very pleased with the outcome very large turnout crisis crisis time for us So really terrific. We met today actually to start preparing for the September election September state primary and the November election there will not be early voting for the September primary but there will be extensive early voting for the November and Election we're going to be we're trying to work with UMass this spring to set up the early voting for the fall because once they get back When students get back in the fall, there's not a lot of time before they organize themselves. So if we get that set up this spring That's our goal Just and also just to note, you know, mr. Steinberg noted that the Quarterly finance report Was included in your packet every quarterly finance report is posted online. There's a link to to it in my town manager report But we automatically post those quarterly finance reports on to the town's website for several years now the big thing I want to talk about was COVID-19 so We've been pretty much Spending an enormous amount of time preparing for COVID-19 the corona virus for the last several weeks now As of 4 p.m. Today, there are 13 new presumptive positive cases bringing the total in Massachusetts bringing the total of confirmed and presumptive positive cases to 41 of the 13 new cases 9 are associated with the biogen conference of The 41 32 are associated with biogen None of the 41 are in Hampshire County of although five are in Berkshire County So the message we've been sending to people is that we are on it. We have systems in place and we have experienced staff We're on it means that we've been paying close attention and paying and managing and monitoring the situation for since January Having systems in place means that both the public safety arm of things and the public health arm of things are Aligned and communicating it at a very high level So the public safety side is through MIMA and the Hampshire County Emergency management team of which our fire chief is as part of that and our public health side is coming down through the Department of Public Health Flows down usually typically from the Centers for Disease Control at the federal level To the Department of Public Health at the state level to the local health Department we're a little bit different than the rest of the country and that we don't have counties so every Every town has its own Board of Health We recognize that we have a sort of a leadership role in this area and our team takes a leadership role for our smaller communities Who might not have as robust a organization as we do? So Those two arms public health and public safety are linked in two of our top leaders in Tim Nelson who is our fire chief and Julie Fetterman who's our health director? So they're both working very cooperatively we've established a core team that includes the police chief Scott Livingstone Because not only the public safety, but also he's in charge of the dispatch unit Which is highly important at whenever there's a call for anything that always goes to the 9-1-1. So and David Zomek is our public information officer. So that is our core team We have an expanded team that supports that score team core team The way we are approaching this has been through our first thing is what's called force protection And that means that you're ensuring that your own staff are able to respond to emergencies police and fire do this as By habit they they they have systems in place. They're really good at it But we have to make sure that if our any of our employees are exposed that they are taken care of and so that goes for everybody in terms of decision-makers and things like that and So force protection is our first thing incident command is this next thing there will be a case and Amherst at some point It's coming. It's it's considered It's not like we're gonna get hit by a tornado, but it's like a big way of a tsunami coming and we can see it And we have time to prepare. That's the good news as the fire chief says It's good news as we have time to prepare and we are using that time wisely So the incident command is when there's something that happens communications between the police and fire and Everybody knows how to respond properly and they've had some experience with this and a lot of our folks have had experience with prior instances of Emergencies like this with SARS and H1N1 whatever the different things Ebola The next phase for us is what we call the coop, which is commute continuity of operations Program plan and so we have our core teams including IT HR finance DPW all working along those realms along with every department head who's who's has a can will be have Well, we're expected to have a continuity of operations plan And this is to make sure people get paid, you know, and we if there's a we are anticipating You know what happens if the worst we're worst-case scenario planners What if everybody in payroll is at the same party and they all come down with the flu or something like that? Or whatever it is and they're an ice there and they're quarantined for two weeks That's what the plan is and do we have technology that allows folks to work from home and things like that Another big element is communications So that's where Dave Zomek is working closely with Brianna Sunred and with the school department in terms of making sure our Communication to the outside world is really important. We want it funneled through one point of contact we have newspaper reporters and People coming into town all the time looking for stories. We want our message to be consistent and measured and based on Subject matter experts like Julie Fetterman and Tim Nelson who are telling us what is where should we be and what is the accurate information? We're looking we have it. We're looking at our programs LSSC library senior center and Making we want to be consistent In terms of how we're how we're messaging out We don't want one department go off and say we're canceling programs or not canceling programs We want us we want us as a team to be making a group decision based on science Which is what we're basing our things on our in our decisions on We have we reached out to our community partners which includes the Chamber of Commerce the business improvement district our institutional partners high-level communication with all of them To see what their needs are and to be able to work with them We have a lot. We're working on Special effort with our vulnerable populations seniors Social service providers shelter guests non-english speakers immigrant communities Center for extended care Arbor's and Wayland Clark house Applewood all the places that you anticipate and we're making contact at different levels with them to make sure They're all many are highly aware, but Some people don't have the resources and we want to see if they what resources they need So there's a lot of work being done Work meeting with them town employees to answer their questions because everybody has concerns and You know what are our procedures if you are quarantined for two weeks and you don't have enough sick time We have to make some decisions along those lines. So The first thing is we we make some Preliminary decisions we meet with employees and people who are in the field say how does this sound to you? So we're actively managing that Tonight while we're meeting Amherst College announced that they were closing their school Effective March 16th all students are asked to be off campus and not to return Unless you can't and they will make allowances for students to come back So there's more and more of these types of decisions being made and it's it's we don't know what's going to happen because no one's makes any We don't want to be in the prediction business But we want to be in the preparation business and that's where we're spending an enormous amount of our staff time right now So if people are a little bit late and getting back to you, I've told them this is top priority for us and you know, we you know, it's communicating with Repdom and Senator Comerford about what the state can do one of the things that has come up with the council is How do we meet if we don't have a quorum or a quorum people have self-quarantine for whatever reason and The state law requires you to have a quorum in the room before you can meet That's something the state could release us from and you know, there's lots of little things like that We were you know when we think about our water treatment operators, you know Can we do we have to have a certain number of them on staff, you know Available at all times and so DPW is thinking about well, how do we do we sequester or some and you know So there's lots of things in play in anticipation of the worst and we hope that it doesn't go there But we want to be prepared if it does because we have vital functions that we deliver to the public 24 hours a day and we have to make and that's our core mission and that's where we are putting all our efforts so there's a whole lot more than that's happening but it's basically all hands-on deck and our goal is to make sure that we maintain our operations and serve the public without delay and without Sort of so nobody notices anything that is but we want to be prepared in case There are some disruptions in service and we have to fill in the gaps Are there questions? Yes, Dorothy Well, now do you feel that you were wrong when I wanted to put in the town manager's goals handles emergencies well and you said well, what if I don't have any then how do I grade myself and I you know, you've just dealt with the election you sent out really almost paramilitary Reports on Blarney Day Which we're fun to get you're gonna handle this and I have to tell you that what I tell My grandchildren is and people who talked to me. I said, oh, we don't really have to worry too much because we have We're in Massachusetts. We're a well-run state and we live in Amherst and Amherst is a well-run town and don't worry. We'll be doing fine and I do totally believe that so thank you Thanks. Yes, Steve so regarding the coronavirus obviously the health and safety and welfare of everyone that lives here and works here is is Paramount so but I want to pull two of the issues together the census and the fact that We know that Amherst college students are being asked to stay home. Who knows what'll happen with other organizations here April 1st is census day so I Had not put those two together. Have you I'm working on the complete count committee with Brianna and our town clerk And we're working with the Amherst college to make sure that the students are counted as a Block of data that comes from the college rather than sending out individual forms to college students We're trying to make sure that all the Data that the census needs in order to count those students is included in what sent but we're working on that too So maybe we should invite all the other evacuees to come to Amherst on April 1st So it's not where you live on April 1st. It's where you spend the majority of your time But that's a really good point, you know, yes Darcy I just have a couple questions about Amherst College are they they're not coming back from spring break and Are they is there is it for the whole term or? Well, I told during the break I spoke with a representative from Amherst College and they They purposely didn't put an end date on it because they want to have the flexibility But they are prepared for it to be the rest of the academic year and are the students Do they have a protocol? Where they're working remotely so the students are actually still Going to school getting credit sort of it's all on their website, but I mean Manage only no more as of last faculty meeting which was Tuesday of last week the Administration told the faculty that the semester would be finished if it need to be finished remotely They would find a way to finish it remotely with online classes and all of that So the intent is to finish the semester and complete it without losing the semester as of last Tuesday And they've already been working on how to do that remotely Yes, Evan. So this is related to that. No, it's gonna be not but So obviously as Steve said the health and safety and continued services is paramount The other thing that's been I've been thinking of now that I've seen the Amherst College is closing and I'm Bracing for the potential that UMass could do the same as if you talk to any local business owner They'll tell you the hardest time for them or the summer months when the students are gone And we're potentially looking at an additional three months of what would be summer and what that could do economically to our community community So I'm glad you said you're partnering with the bid and chamber and I hope that's Also being thought of that a lot of if the students go if UMass does Amherst Maybe they can withstand a little bit of UMass does go that's going to be a significant economic hit to our community Which then brings me back to another thing. I'm curious about which is where are we on an economic development director? So just for my bit, you know, I went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and then went to the Amherst cinema this weekend I encourage everybody to do that That's needed and also that the economic impact will be on the town as well Our water and sewer usage will be down our revenues. Therefore will be down You know Things that produce revenue for us ambulance runs and things like that will be down So that type of thing it has an impact across the economy For all you know all different levels Economic development director. We have a meeting with the chamber on Thursday So that's our last group to get they've asked for us to before we start to move on that that we Hear from them. So we plan on doing that on Thursday, and then we're we have a meeting on Friday to release the the advertisement the recruitment Listen could follow up on that If TSO had already existed would you have asked TSO or any other town counselor? What they thought when it came to economic development director because we've had no input to this at all But yet stakeholders in the community are being asked what they think about in economic development director So I have had conversations with individual Counselors who've expressed interest in this area. So If there are other counselors, I'm very willing to have any kind of conversation with anybody who knows that this is out There and would like to have a conversation about it Yeah, maybe Joe I'm gonna go back to the potential economic fallout of this COVID Issue Many states have declared state of emergencies. My understanding is It's not always because of how many are infected in the state But because it frees up a whole bunch of funding from the federal government. Do you know whether? The state of Massachusetts is thinking that or whether it would be beneficial if say UMass closes if Amherst College remains closed if This town declared one would that free up money for small businesses in this town from some sort of state or federal State of emergency and should we be considering something like that if for example UMass goes ahead and potentially closes Yeah, I think that's a little premature at this moment in time I think we take our lead from the state and if the governor declares a state of emergency if we deem that it's something That we need to do or if it's something that we have to do in order to Access state or federal money and because I think that led to the state the federal government just Appropriate 8.2 billion dollars or something like that. So we want to get our share of that if there is some out there And that's certainly something we would look to do. Yeah Are there other questions at this time? Okay, just wondering so reference was made to the non-event this weekend which was a bigger event than it had been in the past and there was Again well managed, but a little bit Is the same that we had the same Police presence and response rate that we had in the past, but there was there were more Arrests made that we had in the past. So Alyssa I just want to say not ever in the past But certainly in the in the recent past in the last few years nice section where we've been so prepared But the other thing I did just want to mention that if you could pass along to our people Of course, we completely appreciate everything they did and at the same time I still get complaints about people driving through town feeling like they're driving through an armed camp and I'm talking about adults Not students. So it's a very non-amorasty feeling to have such a large police presence And so it's just always good when we put out I think it was it's really helpful like you did to put out the public releases because then the public understands better like Why we're doing this and so they they do there's a lot of preparation that goes into this from the police department, especially They gather everyone who's on the street in advance of the meeting of the day That morning and they explain to them what the product the protocol is we don't believe in Zero tolerance. It's about presence and visibility. So we want people to notice people We ask them to wear the yellow jackets So it's we want it's about visibility and Assisting people it's not about, you know, trying to arrest as many people as possible So that's the you know, our officers get that but it's the other seven forces that come into town that might not and so we really the Captain Ting who is in charge of this operation makes that explicitly clear about what what the the Feeling is about and in the way we approach things in Amherst, which is different than a lot of other communities but it is about presence and it's about Letting everybody know that there is there are police available and large parties super large parties who are not Not something that we were encouraging Sarah So as someone who lives on Meadow Street, I definitely noticed that the spirit was high on this non-event day And we were we definitely we had a lot of police officers on our street But the tone was still jovial and I definitely one of the things is I feel like I Feel like it's just safer kids seem to be having fun But I definitely felt better about their safety and so the north end of town that was good. I appreciate it Dorothy I Have really want to know why the headliner rapper Refused to go on was it the police presence or I mean because that's very titillating to read in the paper and not to be given the reason why I Think you'd ask the university for what the reason was I do not I'm almost it's not the police presence To two other acts performed without incident Okay, any other any other questions regarding the town manager's report President Town council comments. I've sent you something regarding the retreat Which we are still planning to have Hang on Please let me know if you have comments about that. I've received comments from one counselor so far I also wanted to mention following up on what Paula said that Mandy Joe and I will also be following up with Paul about how we deal with meetings, etc. And I've already had one excellent suggestion from our clerk of the council regarding how we might accommodate public comments So we want to make sure that we're still visible to the public but safe ourselves Are there any other future agenda items? Councillor comments Okay, topics not reasonably anticipated Moving right along is there a motion to adjourn? Second all those in favor region and say aye aye opposed abstain done