So, this afternoon I picked up a certain sense of dissatisfaction, I started to feel frustrated that I wasn't getting what I wanted, things aren't moving fast enough, I started to feel like a lot of my efforts are in vain, that time is passing by too quickly with nothing to show, and I had to sort of pull myself together, take some deep breaths, look out the window, say quiet prayer, calm my mind, and then I had the clarity to realize that I was once again looking for an easy way. And it seems so normal that we all want an easy way, we all want what we want, when we want it, without having to work too hard for it. I mean you say it like that, and you know it does sound a little bit silly, but at the same time it's completely normal, that is what we are trained, we train ourselves into wanting an easy life, the way that we live in a world of convenience, a world where we want to get things done very easily. So we're simply, most of us, and I can at least speak for myself, are not habituated to hard, patient, long struggle for eventual benefits. We want things now, instant gratification. Perhaps we can assign some blame to the world of advertising, popular culture, the media that presents us, this consumer vision where we are being catered to, in the most simple and lowest way that is simply almost like animals that are being triggered by advertising, and we're trained to expect to get things quickly and conveniently. And many of us know some of the perils of going too far down that path of laziness, complacency, expecting easy road leads into mediocrity, dissatisfaction, regret. And then when we start to make changes, start to move down a path of self-development, you certainly can find that it is a lot slower than this consumer package of pre-made convenience and ease that it seems to be competing against. We can get some of those quick joys. There are joys along the way, of course, making early wins, making gains, feeling improvement. When that feeling of improvement hits, it is so satisfying to get that feeling like we really are making steps in a good direction. But that feeling is not all the time. And of course, all these feelings fade. So if I look at my place in life now compared to a couple years ago, if I were who I was back then, and suddenly could become what I am now through some instant transformation, I would be elated that, wow, my discipline, my strength, my organization, my power has greatly increased my clarity of mind, my sense of purpose. All these things have improved, but it is still such a small step along the way. And after we adjust initially to the pleasant feeling of improvement, then however we improve becomes the new normal, and it is no longer stimulating. And that is something that the hard road of self-improvement cannot compete with the world of easy convenience and pleasure and gratification in offering the quick stimulation. Essentially it is the world of drugs and the world of mental drugs and the drugs of entertainment and the drugs of easy living, the drugs of convenience and consumer packaged life. The hard road is not as fun. The fun really sneaks up on you. The fun is not something that is there all the time. So what I've realized today is how much I am addicted to this easy life and how much it is built in to my personal training even as I on some level, I reject it. On some level, I have overcome it. And yet it is still built in through my deep training to just have this feeling like I deserve an easy way. I deserve an easy path through. I deserve what I want now. And so it's yet another reminder. There's a long way to go. So continue to take care of the fundamentals, get the rest and recharge and refuel that I need and continue on the road.


This time, I'm just going to go through a number of examples in various bases. I'll start off with a common example in base 16, which is to add DEAD to BEEF. So, F plus D will give me 1C. And the easy way to do this is to recognize that I've got this F. It's 1 less than 10. I'm just going to take something from my D and put it over with my F. That'll give me 10. And whatever is left is what I'll put down below. So, my result is here is 1C. So I write down the C, carry the 1. Now, 1 plus E puts me in the same position I was in before, where I've got this F down here. So I'll borrow something from the A, put it with the F. Now I've got 9 here and a 10 down here. So I'll write down the 9, carry a 1. Now I've got 2E is in a 1, so I can say either one of them is in an F, borrow something from the other. I'm left with 1D. So there's my 1D. Now I've got 1 plus D gives me E, which is not quite as nice to work with as F, but it's pretty close. So I need to subtract 2 from my B. B is 11. 11 minus 2 is 9. So this will also give me 9, carry a 1. Then my 1 just comes down. And these strategies will work in any base that we're interested in. So I can also do addition and say base 5. If I have that number in base 2 and I want to add another number in base 5, so 2 plus 4 doesn't give me 6 because I don't have any 6's in base 5. I have 11 instead. So write down 11. 3 plus 4 plus 1 would normally give me 8, but again I don't have any 8's in base 5. I have to represent this as 10 plus 3. So I'll write down the 3, carry the 1. 1 plus 4 is 10. 10 plus 2 is 12. 1 plus 1 plus 3 is 5, which is again 10. So I get 1, 0, 2, 3, 1 for my answer in base 5. But I can do that same problem and say base 6, and I'll get a slightly different number. So 2 plus 4 is 10 in base 6. So I'll write down a 0, carry a 1. 1 plus 3 is 4. 4 plus 4 is 12. So write down a 2, carry a 1. 4 plus 2 is 10. Plus 1 is 11.  So I get a number that's about half the size in base 6, as it is if I do that same arithmetic in base 5. Again I can move up one more base. Look at this problem in say base 7. And again the main concern is remembering what base I'm in, so I remember what 10 is. 2 plus 4 is 6 this time, because I have 6's in base 7. 3 plus 4 is 10 because I'm in base 7. And now I've got 1 plus 4 plus 2 is also 10.  So my base 7 number isn't too different from my base 6 number. And if I move up to doing this in octal, I would have, and now I'm looking for blocks of 8. So 2 plus 4 is 6. 3 plus 4 is 7. So I now have 7's in base 8. 4 plus 2 is 6. And then 1 plus 3 is 4. Now because I didn't carry anything, if I increase the base any further, I'm going to end up doing the same arithmetic, nothing's going to change anymore. So this won't get any more interesting. But as long as there was some carrying to do, there was some potential for some interesting change to happen there.


Police departments are checking out a new technology to get to the truth and help protect all of us It may sound simple, but it involves a lot of science all to determine if you have lying eyes You were asked to choose a number between two and nine in just a few minutes We'll ask you some general knowledge questions infrared lights are calibrated to a person's eyes And then the computer takes over rum roll This is always the moment of truth if he's lying or telling the truth the Computer said that you were deceptive on the number six. Please be the number six. There we go The company Converis is bringing a new type of light detection to the world. It's called eye-detect in that little five-minute test We took about thirty thousand five hundred Measurements of your left eye and thirty one thousand measure thirty thousand five hundred measurements of your right eye PhDs at the University of Utah created it in the early 22,000 partially funded by your federal tax dollars, but how it's being used now is what's new We need to screen candidates to make sure that the officers that are out there to protect us Have not committed crimes in their past that would disqualify them To be an officer of the law or a corrections officer Hardens and parole officers are also checking it out to use on criminals all based on pupil dilation Eyes do dilate. That's one of the physiological reactions We do have when we're lying or scared or any other kind of emotions that affect the body Patrick O'Berke with the American Polygraph Association says he's been evaluating it for about 18 months now It's somewhat less intrusive because we don't place components on a person's body It simply looks at and looks at the pupils of the eyes San Antonio is on the list of cities that may start using this new technology in the next several months


I will see the record on my computer or record in the cloud. Okay. Um, the next section would be public comment, which we have no other attendees. So we can move on, I believe, to the next agenda item, which is a CPAC update, which I'm curious because I haven't heard much. Oh, really? On that, Sarah? Yeah. Oh, well, the LSSE's request for $25,000 for pre-development studies to support grant applications was approved by the committee and approved by council. So that's, that's done. That's a done deal. All right. So that was the contingency fund. Right. Everybody familiar with what that was for. Okay. Good. So that's good. And by council. Excellent. Yes. And that was the, that was the only proposal this year. Do you have any updates? I'm just curious on what, what else was, uh, whether, and I know that there, there was something that was controversial. Isn't it interesting. Oh yes. You really want, okay. Yeah. Sure. All right. Let's see. I can't, it is a little seems like a long time ago now. Um, Well, many requests were approved or recommended by the committee, if not for the full amount. Um, I think it would be, I think it would be, I think it would be, I think it would be, I think it would be the commission's library for funds to support construction of this, of a special collections department and infrastructure. Within the renovated or new or new slash renovated building, but it would be contingent, of course, on that project proceeding. So I guess, I would say that the best way to vote was to, uh, recommend, um, bonding a significant amount of money for that purpose. And then COVID stroke struck. And then a lot of some people started having second thoughts about the specifics of the proposal and whether it was really permissible. back and forth about whether the proposal met the definitions of historic preservations and the town asked its legal counsel and then there was a other so there was a big hoo-ha about that and in the end first of all counsel didn't really want to hear about it because first of all it was bonding and there was no hurry because there was no project there was no library grant yet received offered or a council vote to proceed so it was like there was no hurry about it but then the vote was rescinded actually and the committee asked the Joan or encouraged the Jones to come back with a new proposal that was unambiguously compliant with the historic preservation requirements and that's and that's where it is okay we'll see but all but all of our cash awards so to speak were approved we're approved by council see I knew we get the inside scoops there thanks all on public record you can go watch the tapes not that that's amazing I mean I did hear you know mostly through the news and so forth but yeah yeah I should and I should add just because Nate Buddington who was chair was on LSSE for for so long he stepped down from the committee because he and his family are moving to Wilmington so right yeah maybe gone I don't know yeah I saw him yesterday and he's leaving next week oh do you know is does he have a may or does anyone know about his forwarding email address or his personal email address other than I know he has a town one I know I know his personal address I can send it great thank you send him a note he's done so much I mean for LSSE and the the town is a whole you know it's just been just great so we wish him well and we will miss him that's for sure he was a big advocate for LSSE especially in CPAC so you have some big shoes to fill sir you're great advocate too well he so until he stepped down he was the was one of the at-large members right so the town manager will need to somehow find someone to replace yeah so we were have in historically been very fortunate and we've had great representation on the on CPAC so you know if any of you are interested I you know we should start lobbying now to get us another you know LSSE another spot on that committee because it's a it's an important one and it's very powerful and it's very interesting work I enjoyed it tremendously the group works really well together and it's been fascinating all right that's good to know I think what I'll do then is I'll make the town manager aware that you're interested in that Becky and I'll talk to you sometime in the next week or so just to see I think we just have to put I would hate for another you know I know they're there there there are issues as I'm gonna be very diplomatic here but they're important too but I think it's important for our issues to be in the forefront as well so I will I'll talk to the town manager and then I'll I'll be in contact with you Becky I did shoot a minute email asking what the process or the timeline would be and I have not heard back which is fine because you know what's the hurry but I'd be interested yeah no I understand me too all right so that any any more questions about CPAC all right let's talk a little bit about the strategic plan I'm interested to hear your comments concerns questions it's it is the this is the fun if you will the final draft plan I thought she did it's pretty it seems very comprehensive as I reread it again tonight just to make sure tees were crossed eyes were died eyes redotted all that good stuff but you know I think the key is now going to be in the the phase that is the completing the program plan which is you know at some point then I think we you know in terms of what our role will be is making sure our priorities are all in the same are all you know all the same I guess I mean I think it's seem clear to me that the name change pops up as wanting as as people wanting for that to happen in the fall which is I think doable and you should know too that there there is a high possibility that we may be moving locations our physical location back to the bank center so so that might be a good opportunity for this to happen sort of to have a coincide with that the town managers expressed a desire to have us more in the forefront not you know kind of off outside of downtown but to really have all the town services together in a in a place that is more visible so the big brothers and big sisters will be moving I what I've been told will be moving out in leave somewhere in mid September which probably leaves us a couple of months for probably October November where we'll be moving in to the most likely the third floor space but I'm not that hasn't been confirmed yet but regardless will be there I think it'll be good all of community services will be in one location again and the school needs basically there's another motivation for this is that the the school is looking for four room as well so so where we go we're welcome back kata coming back to the bank center so we'll I'll keep you posted on that so I think that actually works as I go back in on just what I said before though that works pretty well with with the name change possibly a new logo probably not doing a fall paper brochure but we'll be doing some sort of a flyer to educate people as to where they can go to access our programs and registrations so so that's good so other comment are now your comments about the strategic plan in general well I have a couple things I could say a couple things sure please if if there's any if there are any other more significant edits than this little one I have I wouldn't redo the whole thing just for this but I think it's page three like the introduction in the top half is about LSE and the bottom half is about the Donahue Institute and just the last sentence of the paragraph about LSE refers to the theater productions it just says it is staged extravagant productions and to me extravagant means you've wasted money you spent too much like over the top unnecessarily so I would just strike that word I would just say that top quality productions why not just give it a try I you know coming from a mother you know Sharon's son when he was younger quite younger but he had many roles as a you know an actor in this so she's probably very proud just see that but we can certainly I can certainly have her take it out I agree with you too but that's probably not the best thing you want to have in the forefront like here is like whoa how much did it cost you know feels they're smarter than everybody else so all right in anything else Sarah did you yes I had a comment on page six the bullet and I and I'm not making up I'm making a different point than what I've said before the coordination of local sports and recreation opportunities it says to have LSSEs be a point of entry for all local sports activities to me that just sounded too broad I mean there are for profit maybe you don't consider these sports but hamster gymnastics you know DRU really would we try I understand the nonprofit sports leagues but there are also for profit business you know for profit businesses that I don't think it would be our role so if that's if it's correct to say I would do that okay that that would make sense just as a point of information hamster gymnastics is closed and it won't reopen until after a vaccine is prevalent that's just that that's just an aside but I think nonprofit inserted there instead of all does it do people agree with them yes and I also thought our intention was with youth sports the not adult sports leagues that was my note on that all right that's a good good point to not trying to take over hamster athletic club right no anything else well then I hope I hope we'll have a conversation about the last section I think section six the one about the planning program or program planning that it all struck me as new and maybe I just forgot about it but I wanted just a little I'm kind of surprised and I don't know if Sharon well it expects to be a part of that or how that how she wants to proceed so I still myself need more guidance on that as well and then the next steps oh actually I miss I misspoke I do have questions about the annual planning thing but section six is called fun development and sustainability so but pages and absurd no no I guess I said it right the first time page 16 mm-hmm yeah the fund development and system it was a little opaque I mean this is really developing funding sources and sponsors and stuff like that right so are you talking about and develop an annual fund development well then under item B on that section item B the first bullet refers to complete the annual program plan and I didn't recall having heard about in the annual program plan so I was puzzled by that but it seems to be discussed in the next page right oh so it was just confusing okay yeah that's what that is is just um what are we gonna do in the first year and I think my understanding was that the plan is where we could go next right so the strategic plan was this is what we want to do and then now we have to come up with a working plan and pick and choose what's you know the order of how we can tackle some of these things yeah and I agree and I think so what will probably happen is we'll schedule a meeting with another one of these was with the staff and the commission and then we'll prioritize what we're gonna do this first year so let me make a note of that would it be appropriate to invite friends of Amherst recreation since it's talking about development kind of things like to invite them to speak at that meeting what do you think you chef you're the president I don't know if it's too premature like right now you know what I mean I think let's decide let's let's look at all these things and say okay this is year one you're through your three maybe break them down and then figure out what we're like the funding fundraising would need to go in and then bring them in you know what I mean like I think let's see what we want to do first before we kind of get other people involved there's my gut no I think that's good you'll have to excuse me I'm kind of jotting down now notes you're gonna contact her to to ask how to proceed with a fund development plan because I agree I'm kind of lost that at this point like how do we proceed with that how do we are they gonna lead us is that the next step how to develop a fund development plan just part six was not I think it was barely talked about it was kind of like the last you know how do we create funding and that and it was just left at that kind of you know I think we can I don't know if they need to come in I think that there is we could probably have someone do that pro bono to help us with the fund development plan okay I wouldn't bring them in again and that's just one of the kind of the objective or the goals okay so then what I'm hearing is the next step is for me to schedule a meeting of staff and commission again bring everyone together and at least let's map out the first year of where we're gonna go and have a timeline is that makes sense well did anyone else have yeah anyone else have comments right thanks sir did I miss is someone talking I'm sorry no we said it looked good okay sorry I just a little bit of a leg I think here we've got Jill's on a another Zoom meeting so I'm hoping our bandwidth between two of us here okay all right so if there aren't any more comments on that we'll move to the directors report could I could I just say if we didn't already convey our thanks to the Donahue Institute I thought it was I mean it seems like it started a hundred years but it was very interesting experience and I think it will be a really helpful document I think if you look at where it says next steps on seven page 17 I kind of you know I think like the step two is really what I think of a step one you know like you look at you know what I'm talking about as the next step but I have to read the first one a little more because it's glossing right now but basically you know figuring out what goes in what year you know we had three years to do this and then failure is not an option you know so that's I think maybe where we could spend some time when we get together with the staff sounds good so I am going to suggest you said you seem like you have a good panel on this maybe you can help me with this part of it then if indeed and I think it is that Sharon's time with us is probably over I have I have faked her a lot but maybe I'll send her a card or you know that maybe we can all sign I'm not sure how we can do that or something on behalf of the Commission how's that if we even if we can't sign maybe a few hours or something because I think she did I mean this was incredible in that it was just so sort of disjointed because of the pandemic but that she was able to pull it off and we now have a working document is really to commend them I thought that she and her her crew did a great job so we were we were fortunate to have them and I know there was there is a lot of you say I whatever we paid them they probably should have gotten at least twice that so there's a lot of pro bono work here as well so I appreciate that all right anything else on the strategic plan for right now okay okay quick quick updates you have these I sent them out so I'll try not you know to but I'll just kind of run through them quickly we did have a few sports happen this summer tennis track and golf all of them were maxed out in terms of enrollment so that is voting well for a fall programming for sports there's there's a lot of interest and we're finding that we have found ways to be COVID compliant if you will and to offer at least clinics at the least and sometimes competitions depending on what the various sports are so we will proceed this fall with ultimate Jim Pristing has offered to do a clinic this year again our series of clinics for us is it so that's great he's going to be working with middle school children specifically as he has done the past and he's very excited to do that football of course would be non-contact in terms of it would be more of skills type of a clinic of course cross country could could involve some competitions as well as skills golf combination of all of the above in soccer soccer has now entered for the time being the realm of sports that are equivalent to to to track and tennis and so forth so they must add a very strong lobbying group and but they are required both in baseball baseball yes so let me just kind of bring you up to date there so the the town health department has been meeting and that's pretty specific now under the new new god the newest guidelines that have come out for soccer and baseball that that mask are going to need to be worn by all players so and there have been signs posted at the community field and at mill river we're outlying all the different COVID regulations so those are up so just be aware that they should be wearing masks at all positions and there are there are a number of other restrictions on how many you know people can be that it's catchers and coaches in the dugout other players should be separated along the fence and so forth it's very specific but that's in that's happening now it's mostly the cofax leak although I understand that there there is another group I just learned today that was using the community fields I've got to look into that without and they didn't schedule it so we've got to kind of keep our eye on that whether that was just in you know just a team just having us kind of players scrimmage or practice I don't know so we'll look into that so it is something that but that we're aware of aquatics has been sure please so seeing as they've had a lot of rest times they've desperately needed do you know the condition of the fields well from my observations and I'm not a professional by any means you know I just have cherry hill to compare it to but that's the the a standard they are actually doing really well they're getting a lot of recovery time obviously with very very little play they look great they're letting DPW is of course let the grass grow a little longer and being you know kind of conscientious about that that's sort of an important thing to do that we normally wouldn't be able to do so there they seem to be fairly resilient we did have that dry patch which it didn't help but what they also were watering with the the big water guns yep during that period which is good build in particular so I think they they're doing great and then if we get some more you know hopefully this streak of cooler weather and maybe some more rain will help them even more yeah okay any other questions on fields facilities code rules all right but I have a question I just can't recall are there any signs of the fields telling people that I don't know under what circumstances you need to reserve it and how to reserve it or what you know when you can just come and play if it's dirty no no they're not and there should be it's funny that's Nick and I we're just talking about that today fields we should have a sign-up that says fields need to be reserved through these fields need to be reserved you know whether it's Mill River or a community field or the other places Plumbrook that those need to be reserved be reserved through us especially as we're entering the college time of the year or the university is back and so forth but that's a good point Sarah appreciate that and I forgot to mention that but yes that just having a QR code on the sign that could just take the phone right to information you know so if after hours you know it's no point in calling but like that I wonder if we have the hopefully well we'll find out it's super easy to create a QR code oh it is well then figured out she's been able to figure out a lot of this stuff I'm just like wow that's awesome okay anything else those are good all right the the pools pools very busy busy busy and we started out with working with the health director and also with the health inspector we met with you know various user groups the Triton's and so forth our managers and I think we actually developed a really good plan and we knew going in though that it was fluid and that there would be most likely changes made based on you know you see it you know it looks great on paper but then reality hits and you realize oh this is this is not going to work so one of those had to deal with do with lap swimming in particular we have a robot a robust lap swimming program now I believe we're probably one of the very few I think maybe now chickpea has their or department of conservation recreation that the pool and chickpea and others are open now but there was a period where they weren't open and so we were getting a lot of a lot of swimmers from out of town and that tended to create a little bit of a problem just because you know people could reserve their laps when but we were we were saying at the time that if for instance if we had two people in the same house so they could swim in the same lane well there were other people who felt sort of uncomfortable with that being in the lanes adjacent to them so we did some more investigation on what other towns were doing outside of Western Mass and for the most part most of them that were were just only doing the one person per lane there were others that were doing every other lane but our lanes are eight feet wide and so we did the math and I think we're we're definitely within the regulations and the requirements and again working with the health department and the health inspector we made that little bit of a change and then we ended up our adding another hour of lap swim to sort of compensate for the loss of being able to double up in one lane so we have received overwhelming an overwhelming positive reaction to what's going on there both for lap swimming and for open swimming we have one person on the deck at all times and they're I'll look at the kitty and their their job they are the designated social distancing uh enforcement oh no jeez where's where's lana bring it bring out all our cats sorry bring your cat to zoom i'm sure that's hysterical i don't think this is like a sea unicorn to see unicorn that's great in the world so that's going really well so far so good you know we may end up extending the season we'll see because you know obviously we're not going to be able to have a an indoor season this year and if the weather holds I think we will have enough staff at least to keep one of the pools open a little bit longer so I did mention that in my meeting with the town manager and we'll look at a budget and see if that's possible but clearly we're getting a lot of use but it is I think it's very safe and I feel very confident in how we're running that and it's going really well but it was initially a big challenge so that's good golf course golf course is also now let Yusef speak to this they're packed right now by the way there's a golfer here but it's yeah it's yeah we're doing 10 minute t times now instead of 15 minutes which you know the regulations changed so we were able to have more golfers we're certainly going to get with the university folks arriving the kids we're going to get a lot more play so we're managing that and the course you know considering not having a lot of rain I think is in great shape we were able to bring back two two part-time seasonals to help out on the course which has been very beneficial especially to John so we've gotten some more things done that needed to be done one person and 64 acres of turf is too much so he was pretty overwhelmed there for a while but Yusef do you have anything to add to about the golf course no it's running pretty smoothly you know everybody's respecting the t times and you know only one afternoon we were there and there were people that were jumping on four and five and we kind of like gave them a hard time a little bit because you knew you knew that they were just there trying to jump in between people so it was delaying everybody else but other than that it's been fine yeah yeah were they did they uh come in on from pulpit hill rope I think so I think so yeah well yeah we're creating there's even like new parking spaces up there that people have created we is I'm sorry but is ridge open at all this season or if they shut shut for good hickory ridge we shut for good they're shut up it's quite sad actually the practice screen at one point when we were really on that hot hot weather streak without any rain was totally like dark brown very sad just to see that how quickly it reverts to just terrible terrible kind of conditions that I don't know if it could even be brought back as a golf course at this point I don't know but I don't I don't even and now I don't know what the plan is for cherry I mean for hickory Sarah did the two hundred thousand dollars so get approved for uh CPAC for us didn't that get approved for hickory ridge that was that was the previous cycle oh that was previous cycle and it did and it's spending negotiations dave domex says ever since part of the part of the delay I think it has to do with the solar installation that either I think it is there already or I don't know the getting some getting with the solar thing so I think that's part of what needs to be resolved but as far as I know they're still trying to make it happen okay yeah that's sort of what I've heard just wondered anything else um but yeah not not too much you know Becky and I live near there and I don't see anything happening there Becky they've started um removing a lot of stuff from the buildings they brought dumpsters and they're emptying out the building which hadn't been done previously so interesting we shall see that building looked like it was going to fall down anyway so oh wow ouch there was a but there were a lot of holes in the walls outside like when you went up the stairs yeah the last year we were there we were just all you know we're like pointing at them and stuff yeah it was they weren't keeping up on the building that's for sure the restrooms and the locker rooms were really in bad shape but that's true um all right so we'll be erifying the greens at cherry hill on the the 10th which means that day it's closed and and for those of you aren't familiar with what that means it's basically we're plugging holes in the greens and then we top dress them with a mixture of of loam and seed and fertilizer so that just helps to create an environment that makes the grass stronger and more resilient so that happens we try to do that twice a year but this because of various different things obviously this this year we weren't able to do it in the spring so we I've actually because it's uh about every five years you want to go a little deeper and we don't have the equipment for that this year we're bringing in a professional group to do the the deep erasure that it needs so that just strengthens those roots and and creates a better surface and more long lasting hopefully so that happens about every five years so we'll be doing that and closing the course for that day uh all of my full-time staff right now are working various shifts at cherry hill so there is probably just one or two maybe yeah one or two slots that are being covered by part-timers in the clubhouse but the rest is all done by the full-time staff so questions on cherry hill it's hard to really tell where we're at our first this is the first month and the revenues were at 29 three one seven but you know we weren't we were doing 15 minute separations and tea times now that we're doing 10 that's more that is what the normal kind of rotation is so we should see that come up but clearly we're getting hit with the inability you know just don't have the pro shop sales that we normally would in terms of you know anything from golf balls to to shirts and support because people can't really come in and see them so there's not that ah yeah that shirt yeah great i'll get one and also beer and wine sales just aren't what they normally are because we're trying to do some things to put more signage up like cold beer and so people buy there instead of bring their own in but we shall see let's see so all right prime time some interesting developments around the after school program well i'd start with by saying that the school is not allowing us to have an after school program uh but that said and Becky could probably speak to this as well we're gonna you know we still don't know whether the schools are even going to you know be having in in person classes and to what degree if they do however they've asked us to provide child care for their staff as well as town staff uh at crocker farm if they do have in person classrooms uh and so there's a lot of unknowns there's a meeting this friday there's the school board meeting was canceled last night uh because of the weather and uh it's gonna happen i believe on thursday night instead so we'll probably have some more answers then and uh this is again a work in progress this is one of these things we're just kind of rolling with the punches and we'll see what happens and we'll try to be as helpful as we can um to to uh kind of move this forward if indeed it is a possibility under obviously the covid 19 restrictions and working with our state state of mass rep who oversees our program for licensing which i've who i've already been in contact with sarah yeah um this is this would be or will be daycare during the school day correct and though aren't those children themselves supposed to be in school somehow and so is the daycare part helping them do their schools most likely this will be children who don't live in the district who are doing remote learning and we would be assisting with their remote learning okay yeah normally they would obviously if they're if they're you know i don't know what the percentage of teachers and staff who actually live in amherst so i don't know again unknown so well who has to supply come up with all the chromebooks or whatever well each school district has their own protocol i mean it then chromebooks and things like that so um so the kids would bring their own children would bring their own right yeah any other questions on that becky did you want to add something i was going to say the final vote from school committee and which plan they're sending to the state is tomorrow um so that'll set a lot of things in place depending which phasing model they pick that'll determine when kids are going back um so we should have a stronger idea by friday morning what it's going to look like but i know that um the district has been collecting information on who needs child care what districts do they live in kind of thing so right they've also been reaching out to um daycare providers in the area for the younger kids like the below school age kids to try and help staff find appropriate placements for their kids very good i mean it's as we know this is this is uncharted chartered territory and you know it's sort of wait and see and just try to be as flexible as possible and we'll see where we're at but uh i will keep you updated as to what happens with that all right any other questions on the after-school program or in-school program for a child care program where will it be barb it would be a crocker because that's our licensed site okay and then there the other two providers would also be providing childcare at their sites which i think is interesting but ours would be larger because we would also have the town staff's children if they needed child care is there like a cap a number of kids per room or there is per teacher yeah yeah there's a whole set of really strict guidelines and i don't know what is the what is the maximum number of kids that could be in this program yeah i don't know i'm thinking around 30 based on our score footage it could be less do you know what the hours of operation will be it would be probably um well before work starts it's eight so probably like seven 45 to four 45 something like that they're changing the school hours and not requiring staff to be on uh site until half an hour before students would arrive right so those are yeah the schools i believe the elementary schools aren't even gonna start until like 945 or something like that yeah yeah but but that but that's the the town staff starts at eight so it's ah them so there's the so we would be wrestling by the way do you know how many kids there are how many towns no no we haven't surveyed we're waiting and and seeing at this point we're kind of like okay and then we'll figure it out but yeah then we'll do what the schools did you get a quick uh grip on how many people we might anticipate serving all right adult and in youth education we are currently offering a the key qijong class outdoors outside behind the library that's that has been well received and so we're looking at other programs this fall that we'll be able to offer in the out of doors and i think that's gonna that's coming together more fitness programs things like yoga and other you know like i i think the examples here mountain biking geocaching and so far so for youth and adult ed we'll um we'll look outdoors now special events are a whole another i met with nicky today and uh you know we're we're thinking about halloween and we're we're looking at ways we can collaborate with the chamber and the bid to just kind of change up what we've done in the past obviously we couldn't do an indoor carnival a parade is out of the question but there are other you know we're looking around what other towns are doing and i'm gonna put our heads together and and come up with some sort of a program for the halloween season or day or not sure what we'll call it but so we're working on that and the same with winterfest we're already thinking in terms of gee what how will that look and and what what could we be doing uh outreach and summer camps well obviously snow summer camps but we've been very busy with our well i shouldn't say no summer camps because we did an art in a camp bag which was really um a great little program then we were able to distribute to about the 80 low-income families so lots of activities in in the bag that were basically paired with programming through online kind of contact so it was cool and nicky did that um we also did the some nature kits that we put together a little bug kits and so forth the kids could go around and collect their specimens and then there were program components to that as well and that we did at two different housing areas as well as that puffer's pond and people just love those we also did a scavenger hut at puffer's pond and on two consecutive wednesdays in july and that was really well received and we'll we'll be doing some programming at groff park once that spray park finally opens so let me um well we'll get to that so what the status is strategic planning we've covered software and web pages let's see we're still updating we did have an issue with our rec track so we're going to have to get an updated version it looks like so we'll so we'll actually be moving very quickly on that objective because they're no longer going to service us if we don't upgrade so it is involved in that and is working with mary and and donna to work on those upgrades we won't and as i said we won't be doing a paper brochure but we'll do the advertising about how to redirect people to our website around our offerings for the fall and groff any questions so far on any of this okay groff park uh latest update is that the part was supposed to come in this week and then it was going to be tested next week and then hopefully open the following week or maybe even next week so i'm crossing my fingers that all of that fell into place i don't know i don't have a definite answer in it i haven't i tried to get ahold of gilford before the meeting and uh but i didn't hear back from them so uh once it is open though we will have an attendant there it'll be one of it won't be a light you know they're not lifeguarding but they'll be an attendant they'll be clearly marked as employees and well they're their main responsibility is enforcing social distancing question yeah sarah is there do you kids have to wear masks when they're running around in the water spray no because the water is the mask ineffective right so it's more of you know practice that's why you have the social distancing attendant right are we going to have people sign waivers we won't be signing waivers but we will be doing this just like we do at the pools we we take we have a social contacting protocol where people have to come in they the one family member provides their name and their phone number is it going to be and the guards that are going to do that or is it going to be other people no it'll be one of the rotations for the lifeguards so there'll be an attendant and a lifeguard or the attendant is yeah it just happens to be a lifeguard so one person right and then another question um i know the the slide that's going downhill yeah there's there are plans to put a fence there that grass is getting pretty torn up is it really all dirt like we went there with my girls the first day it was great we went last week it's it's getting torn up that's too bad you're talking about the grass that's on the sides of the on the side yes it's a slide and then there's some rubbery stuff crawling up and then yeah because the kids instead of going up the rubbery stuff rather like so my understanding is that would be solid yeah yeah well of course yeah that makes sense to tear up the grass i guess yeah eventually what my understanding is and correct me if anyone knows differently but what i was told is that there will be like a sort of like a climbing wall installed there okay great though it would be more of a synthetic uh soft surface again that was my understanding as well as part of this plan as part of this park as part of that slide area it was it's a lot it was a steeper grade than we anticipated by far uh we actually i was under the understanding that that that that would be filled and it wouldn't be a steeper grade as it is that slides fairly steep so you know kids obviously are just grabbing onto the grass to get up and then again and plus their shoes and everything just climbing up is going to tear it up so that's why there had to be some sort of a barrier or and then we think like we would just put a little hole that the kids could climb through after they screwed up the climbing wall or something to that effect i'm not sure where we're at where dpw they were going to put that in but um i'm not sure where they're at with that it was also hard like becky and new stuff and i all went down the slide at the open which is fun um we went a lot of the we we used a lot of the playground that day but yeah you did um but it was hard to get back up that hill got that it's yeah it's pretty funny i had a comment after the pictures were posted on the town website it was like well why weren't there any children there and then i had to explain well it was a low-key opening and well seems like the adults were having a good time it was kind of funny um already uh so i'm just sorry one more question about the spray park is that um so at some point well open hopefully and is when will that close though is that going to close at the same time the pools too or is that going to go until it's kind of too cold i think i think it'll go until it's too cold yeah this point just because it's opening so late right yeah so my guess is toward the end of september well i i hope and i know you post it there uh the l my open mid august i hope so because the season i know we're just like and i know this part was supposed to like open a long time ago too yeah but then what are the hours like when is the spray park spraying except like all the you know eight a.m to five p.m yeah i think it's going to be like until dusk i mean it's so that you know not quite to dusk but to that yeah when eight to i i feel like a lot of it push the buttons you know so it's not like constantly running i feel like the spray park area should also have another sign with its own rules i don't know with a half like the date and times and who to contact if something happens if something's broken because i know when you enter the main park there's a covid warning and a bunch of rules then the spray park area should probably have some too so if no mask required please remain social distance because no masks are required don't hang on the don't hang on that don't push other kids i mean that's obvious but no that's good those are good points yeah and i'll i'll make sure that happens another signage yeah more signage there will be a kiosk as well so that hasn't been maybe like some separation too because i do see kids wearing masks in the park area once the spray park opens which is great i mean seeing a bunch of little kids were actually being able to wear masks playing around it's um great but yeah once the spray park opens i feel like there should be some division there it's like a gate or something like now i'm gonna go to the spray park take off my mask sign a little and put in put it where right masks all over the place yeah parent would hold it i would assume barb i was thinking about how you said there would be no paper brochure this fall and then step or somebody just mentioned a kiosk i think it would be great if there could be some printouts posted publicly of what the programming is going to be because maybe everybody has a cell phone you know everybody's totally connected but maybe not or maybe there are people from out of town who would see it but no that's i think we actually are intending that i'm sorry if i didn't make that clear we'll have something and that's going to be part of the advertising that'll lifts like the program but it won't be the booklet the traditional booklet just because it's so fluid and last minute you know because we're so up against whatever the newest guideline is so it's what we can offer but yeah no i agree i agree and we'll get something thank you those are both good points thank you so much we'll work on those so again i just want to thank my staff and just point out that they're they're still you know they're working at puffer's pond i don't know if any of you have been there victor they are all there smiling away it's fantastic yeah it's been a great i think a great thing actually i yeah i've appreciated having like the the parking attendant at the beginning of state street and then having the people at the entrance of the pond and having only the one entrance of the pond and it really it's it's so much nicer around i'm sure you stuff couldn't attest to this as well but it's just such it's a much nicer place so like the umbrella walk around not the umbrella the the hula hoop on the ground i i loved it and everyone was kind of in their own little space nicely out didn't give me anxiety you know like everyone you know right that's such a funny point they bring that up because at first i was like hula hoops like like that's so immersed it's perfect my first worry was oh kids are gonna move and went ah they did so what and then you know the parents still were and the family groups were still in one place and so let the kids play with them it was fine we've lost you but we've been able to replace them so it's it hasn't been a big deal yeah i think it's been uh extremely well received and um sort of like the pools people feel safe they feel gee there's some there's a little more order to it but not too much that it's infringing on the kind of swimming hole environment that they like so it's definitely cleaner as well yes much cleaner definitely appreciate that so is this something that might continue even after it isn't absolutely required i think it's probably it's at some point yes in some kind of fight not some point but some some sort of rendition of what we're doing now yeah i i think it's just been so successful and so well received and and that and the point that someone made about just there's there's a main you know you you drive in it's one way parking so much easier now uh you know i think it was it was really unsafe i think before with two directionals people coming in and out of cars and so forth now the real test will be in a week or so when the students come back to see you know how how we um how how they do with their social distancing and and so we have had a couple parties there we've had still people you know make contact me this weekend we had people on the dam oh yes and jumping off the cliff but the water is low as it is i'm like there's no water coming over the dam they're still up there jumping like oh i drove by today and it looked like a mom was sitting on the dam and the kid was running on it i'm like oh my god well yeah and i text barb and i was out like walking the dogs i typically walk daily with them um uh pulled the hill and around the pond and back my like two mile loop and um i was down there and i was walking by and the parking attendant was down there and just i think he was sitting like on the foot of his car at that point or something but it over the dam there was like 10 people sitting on the dam and then i come around the corner and could see the boulder and there's like six seven kids up there and then kids down below and then the kids in the car standing outside of the car right behind the parking attendant like cheering those kids on to jump and i was like oh my gosh i'm texting barb i'm like the parking attendant's supposed to do anything about this stuff i was in charge here with this part yeah that part's you know the whole thing actually is run by conservation so it's a concern issue i did make dave aware of you know it's there's still that issue and who who is responsible or is anyone responsible right and it and it still doesn't seem very clear yeah it definitely see i mean like normally with the waters that it's normal level like yeah it's an issue but with it this low like i've jumped off those rocks like 20 30 years ago or whatever it was but you know it's like i know that there's other rocks down below that you know when the water's low it's not the safest thing to do yeah no it isn't i agree and they there was a near drowning there i don't know people they kind of kept it on the qt but there was this year early in the year there was a near drowning there fortunately there was a doctor and his wife was a nurse i believe and they were able to resuscitate the kid and get him in then he was transported but so that's still happening yeah and uh you know it seems need to be you know i think you know vigilant and do whatever you know it's good to have personnel there all the time so that's a good thing and again it's been extremely well received so they're working you know between the senior center puffers pond um helping with town hall duties in terms of taking minutes for various committees on zoom and working with the it department everyone's keeping fairly busy uh and we'll probably be helping out in other areas as we you know move through the fall uh we've got the election coming up and there's still some discussion as to whether there's going to be the normal number of polling places or one polling place this year it kind of went back and forth so on that i guess at the last town council meeting so regardless though there's there's been a big upswing in mail-in ballots so they're going to need help opening counting all of that goes along with i've helped with that process before and it's it's it's uh it's quite it's very time consuming and it requires a lot of people so we'll be helping with that as well for the next the two elections that are coming up all right so i think that is all i have uh any comments or um concerns questions okay if not then we let's i think we should continue now that we're able to to meet monthly again get back into our regular routine so uh september dates any uh is this a good week for people in terms of this being the first week of the september does that work for folks well you'll be counting ballots the first you know that's coming up maybe we should do the second week yeah yeah second week looks good yeah second week the week of the sixth so that would haven't is labor day i don't know if that even matters anymore but how about wednesday the ninth that gives us a daybreak it'll be wednesday sir wednesday the ninth at six o'clock is this a good time yep all right and uh i think i've uh this is just an aside but i did hear from somebody about and i just told and i apologize i've totally lost it but someone had a recommendation for an individual who might be interested in joining the commission do you remember who that was was it one of you no i remember you mentioning someone yeah i do too and i was so long ago that i've forgotten so uh if you know of anyone we still have the one vacancy we'd love to have them so let me know and i'll also put that out to staff as well maybe it was a staff member who knew someone i'll double check now that we're back to hopefully our regular routine okay if there's nothing else we have a date can i forget anything meg when do we want when do we want to schedule the staff and commission yeah why don't we wait i know i know that i'll be gone for a week in august at the end of august and i think other people are taking vacations i know my staff is so let's why don't we schedule that after our commission meeting in september is that all right okay and i'll check in with the staff but i don't really soon after that maybe you'll know more about your move which i'm sure would know everything flow everything down a bit yeah yeah yeah we should know we will hopefully know more okay sounds good it was good to see everybody it was good to see everyone thank you all for coming enjoy a beautiful evening thank you too all right so take good care of your kids too all right bye


Our litigation has marked the take-off of the modernization of the E-Customs project, scheduled to be undertaken by the federal government to boost revenue collection for the country. This revelation was made by the Ministry of Finance and the Customs during a one-day public hearing on the need to resolve the defeat between the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and other mega-systems limited. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Honorable Femi Bacabiamila, represented by the Deputy Majority Leader, Peter Paterson, said the aim of the investigation was to find out why such a laudable project has not taken off since its conception. The federal government, according to the House, loses $8.81 billion annually, money which is said should have been used to finance budgets year-in-year-out, instead of going on a borrowing spree. But in its reactions, the Ministry of Finance blames the countless litigations as responsible for the setback. The Nigerian Customs, on its part, described as illegal the secret award of the E-Customs contract to a Danny mega-systems limited by the CBN Committee. It said that Danny lacks the capacity and experience to deliver such an important project, but was also curious on why the House, that earlier sanctioned the contract, is now calling for a fresh investigation. These of the then joint committee also showed that there are three compliance to the Procurement Act 2007 and that the consortium that was selected exhibited high technical expertise and financial capacity capability to execute the project. The committee for the failure of a Danny mega-systems to present its written submission, which would have guided the investigation however adjourned to first aid the first of March for the continuation of the matter.


I just think that this specific project is really important just because I feel like there's a lot of ignorance that's kind of been brought out recently, unfortunately. So I just think any awareness is really important. I'm really excited that they're doing this, and especially right now, like in the current political climate, to kind of push that these refugees are human beings and that they deserve to be treated like human beings. To see what happens when natural disaster strikes or political strife or ethnic hatreds, to see the effects it has on real people's lives is very dramatic and very sad, and you see it on the news, but you don't really feel it, you don't know what it's like, and as small it is to experience a few minutes of that, you definitely have that sense that definitely takes you a little bit out of your comfort zone and a little bit into the shoes of the refugees. The whole purpose of the exhibit is to try to get people to really understand what it might be like if you had to make these decisions, if you had to become a refugee yourself. They were really happy all the time to get all of you out there, 100% of them made a part of what we see in the future. Well I suddenly feel we're very fortunate, you know, to be part of the world that have a really decent life. I mean I know people have different opinions about this, about refugees, but you know it's sometimes you just think about what if that was you. I mean we're lucky, but how about if you're not lucky and you become one of those people and what do you want the world to treat you. So I think it's very important for people to see this. It's very important for us living here to understand what refugees are going through all over the world. I understand people from different political sides of the debate can have different opinions about what we should be doing, but even those on the side that want to do us should know and understand what it means to be a refugee and that's why I would absolutely agree everybody should spend the 45 minutes and take a walk through.