 Meeting is now being recorded to the cloud. It will be uploaded to the town of Amherst YouTube channel. Thank you everyone for your participation. Thank you Angie. So welcome to this meeting of the Jones Library Building Committee. We are meeting virtually pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021. And a grateful we have two attendees. I'm going to ask the members of the committee to signify their presence vocally. Christine. Here. George. Here. Anika. Here. Xander. Here. Thank you. Sharon. Here. Alex. Here. And I'm Austin, Sarah. Okay. The first item of business is the approval of minutes from May 10. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? So moved. Thank you very much. Other corrections to the minutes. Okay. Seeing no hands. I'll just ask you again to signify your approval. Yes, or you don't approve. No, George. Yes. Thank you. Christine. Yes. Alex. Anika. Yes. Thank you. Sharon. Yes. Xander. Abstain just because I wasn't present. Thank you. And Austin votes yes. Okay. The next item is the finance committee. The finance update. Sean is not present. So I don't know whether or not there is a, an invoice that needs to be approved. Good because we're not going to prove it. Okay. So. Next item. Item four. Report from Colliers. But before calling on Craig, if I may. I'd like to ask Sharon to give us the update on the Kestrel land trust proposal. Yeah, so we had a great meeting last week. And we discussed what the proposal is to, to take many of the plants from the Kinsey garden. And move them to a property owned by the Kestrel trust in. South Amherst. And it was approved unanimously. They were really excited. Actually, they thought what a, what a wonderful proposal, a really great solution to this. What, what could have been a bummer of a problem, but so that's the update. So what will happen is the spring, a professional landscaping company will come in and root prune the items that will be moved. Then we'll go through the summer and then in the fall, the landscaper will come back and actually dig them up and move them. And then George and his team will swoop in and fill in the holes. So the backyard will be a safe place for people, but we won't be planting new plants. We won't be redesigning the space. We'll move into our construction project. And then during that process, a new landscaping design will emerge. So that's the update. Thank you. Any questions? About the Kestrel land proposal, trust proposal update that Sharon has just provided. Thank you, Sharon. And thank you for shepherding it through the historical commission. Craig. It's so nice to see you. Thank you, Austin. If I may, I will share my screen. Go for it. Thank you. Okay. So I think it's a good idea. Go for it. Thank you. Okay. So I think you should all be able to see that now. So here is our overall project schedule. For folks at home, if they're seeing this for the first time, the, on the left-hand side are the phases. Or across the top is the timeline. We are right here at this red vertical red line. Which indicates that we are in schematic design. So I'll leave in schematic design. So final Alexander has been working on layout updates. We actually just had a meeting with Sharon. Where they were reviewing the latest and greatest. Just minutes ago. And so things are progressing. And then we have a design subcommittee meeting on Friday. So the design team will be presenting everything they showed Sharon. To the design subcommittee on Friday. And that's where we are. Also. I still haven't corrected the spelling mistake down here, but the temporary. Location for the library is now we're getting the gears turning. And that's all I got. Getting gears turning. That's a vivid metaphor. Can you give us, what does that mean getting gears turning? So Sharon has, I don't mean to speak for you, Sharon, but Sharon has, has reached out. About some to, I think it was a local real estate person. Somebody inquiring about open spaces, you know, spaces that are available within Amherst. Or will become available in Ham and Amherst. And so then the exercise will be once we have a handle on what's available or becoming available. So I'm going to go ahead and go through the, the town and, and I can help will look at. What temporary services are to be provided. During the construction phase when the temporary locations and operation. Kind of put the two together. It'll most likely be multiple spaces around town. This space will be, you know, for the office functions, this space will be for different functions. So that is just now in the very beginning stages of. I think we're going to be available. Great. Thank you. Any questions for Craig about the. Project schedule. I see no hands Craig. Thank you for updating the project schedule. It's really helpful to see and really helpful to see it on an ongoing basis. And. I'm sure we all feel the same level of real excitement that we're now kind of in the thick of it. And really will be interested to hear from. The architects through the design subcommittee about. What the first work, what the first work is. So the next. Next items are subcommittee reports. And we have two very active. An important subcommittees. So let's start with the design. Subcommittee. Yeah. Hi. So we had a special meeting last Thursday on the 19th, just to focus on the public comments. So the outreach committee has been working very hard and they have a spreadsheet where they're continually. They're. Ongoing collecting public feedback and comments. So there was sort of a snapshot done. And so we had a lot of, a lot of the spreadsheets say May 12th or something. And our OPM Craig went through. About 245 comments. And highlighted ones that are more sensitive and could impact. Schematic design. So we focused as a subcommittee on those. I don't know if Angela or someone could share it was in our packet, the spreadsheet that you are all provided that I hope you've. Taking a look at, but I'll try to give some more. Explanation of what the spreadsheet is. I'm happy to share this, share the spreadsheet if you guys are ready for that. Yes, please. So, um, I'll wait until it loads. So, oh, cute. So I can, um, explain exactly the same thing when I'm looking at. So this spreadsheet, like I said, has about 245. Comments. Um, and they've been very organized and grouped very nicely. Again, this is the outreach group. Subcommittee. On the left, you notice there's ones that are highlighted that, um, say May 13th. So those are the ones that's when we got them as a design subcommittee. And we all took a look at them. And then on the 19th, we went through them and you'll see under column E. Is where. Um, those comments are, we all agree that they're already being implemented and FAA is already aware of them. And it's a consideration that's already sort of being addressed, but we're glad to see, you know, that we're still going to be able to do that. So we're going to have to look at these comments as support to what's happening. Um, so then this three columns says F, G and H. And F is green. Meaning agree. Uh, G is yellow, meaning we were. Not sure what the comment was or what to do with it. There's very few of those. And then there's H, and H is green. And then there is a group. And this is our summary. And, uh, our recommendations to how to handle this first batch. Um, and just so everyone knows the future, we are already planning sort of round two public comment evaluation part two, which will handle the next group, maybe not the remaining two 45 on shore. Again, Craig or OPM is going to go through them and identify the future. Um, and then we're going to have to look at the next group. Um, uh, don't have an immediate impact. Those later items are more aesthetic furniture, colors. Um, Programming stuff like that. But, um, again, you know, we will continue to evaluate and look at all these comments that come into us. So Mr. Chair, we are sort of passing this to you and us as a group. Um, how you want to, um, move these forward to FAA so that they can then look at them and. You know, give that thought or an implemented to possibly implemented to design. Oh, Christian. I think the easiest thing to do, which will make good is that. Um, I think we should, so to speak, move the approval of the things in green. Someone will second it. And then we can have an open conversation about them. People can disagree. People can amend. People can, people can change. And then once we've had that conversation, we can vote on what it is that we as a committee want to forward to FAA for their consideration. Um, So I move, sorry to cut you off on Mr. Chair. Uh, I move, uh, that we as the JLBC. Uh, approve the items in column F. That are green through. Please hold. Um, through. The comment number two 46. Great. Great. And just to be clear, once that is seconded, if people end up wanting to move things that are different columns into the approval, comma, column, they just say they want to add it to the approval, comment. We can discuss it. Is there a second to Sharon's motion? Okay. I would just like to clarify it. Um, Sharon, I don't think you meant through. I don't think you meant through 45. I think you mean that are highlighted. In the first column. Yeah. All the ones that are highlighted. If you want to say that again. Yeah. I think Angela will make me sound much better. Yes. We're referencing that the last one of them in that column is numbered. Whatever it was to 86, but okay. So, um, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know this particular. Uh, things you want to explain why it is that. Uh, these seem to be right. And the others did not. Uh, just to get our conversation going. Um, um. So. If you write, if people know, there's only about. I don't know. 12. 14. In that. Yes. So, um, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know this particular column. And again, I want to, um, Restress what you said that if anyone in the group. Who sees one in the yellow or the red, and they want it changed. To be incorporated in the. Possibly in the green to bring that up. Um, now. So we could just go through the green ones. And then we could open it up that if anybody wanted to adjust it. So I think the best thing is. People had a chance to look at this before the meeting. Because if we, if we have had a chance to look at it. Maybe the best way to proceed is just to open the, the floor, so to speak to. Comments conversation about any of these, um, any of these items. Um, I do want to just make sure Craig that what we are saying about the FAA is we would like you to take these into consideration. As you do the schematic work FAA may come back to us and say, gee, that one we're going to have real difficulty with. So this, these are not mandates to FAA as in you must do these things. They're a request to FAA to make sure that they pay attention to these things. I think that's perfectly stated Austin. Okay. So. Uh, comments, questions about. The list of proposed recommendations, things that are in the. Uh, maybe calm things that are in the. Probably don't agree. Column. I think I see Alex's hand. Thanks. Um, so I. Didn't see this document. I must have overlooked it because I was specifically looking for it, but I. Did watch the meeting and made my own notes. So I'm trying to sort of. Connect the two as we speak live. Um, So. Green. Are things that we want to send. To them. Um, so I think I see Alex's hand. Thanks. Um, so I didn't see this document. I must have overlooked it because I was specifically looking for it. Um, so I guess. Sorry, I'm looking on mine because it's easier to see on mine. Um, I think the only question that I. Had. So one talks about, um, I mean, I guess broadly speaking. So in the meeting that we're talking, there were, there were comments throughout. And sorry, this is going to just sort of. Cut across. Um, So in my understanding, right? We're on there otherwise is. A lot of those are sort of the same thing. I think there's a desire for. Spaces where people who either have sensory issues or want to be in a lower sensory area. Have that space. And what I heard in the design. Meeting was the desire to create that space. So, um, Some of the, like. I guess for me, it would be cleaner to sort of. Package that for the designers. Like right now it's kind of broken into multiple places. But I think at the end of the day, like what some other libraries have done is they create a sensory space and then people might go in and use it as a meditation room or kids or adults might go in it and use it as the space where they engage with the library. So I guess my sloppy recommendation is to sort of take all of those. Comment numbers that are talking about whether it's, you know, meditative room, waiting to exhale. Or sensory space that those are all probably things that can happen in the same space. So I don't know that we're looking for like. Five different spaces, if that makes sense. Other comments, Craig. Do you have any reaction to that? The things can be grouped. As Alex was describing. Yes. And so what I, what I heard from, from Alex was, um, Perhaps there were some that are in the yellow or red category having to do with a quiet secluded space. That, um, Alex is recommending be moved over to the green. Am I, did I interpret correct Alex? Alex. I don't know, because again, this, this chart, I didn't, for what I looked, but I didn't see it. So I'm trying to, um, Yes. I mean, I think a lot of. I don't know. I don't know where they are on this chart, but I think what I heard in the design meeting is that a lot of the sort of sensory spaces were approved, but then some were like, maybe, and I'm just saying that. I don't think we need to have like seven sensory spaces in the building. Like I think it's. A desire for a space and that many of the comments. If we are. Recommending, which I think somewhere in there we did. And correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think we need to have that, that we are probably addressing those other requests. I'm just going to say that in the meeting, I don't, we didn't approve. Like we didn't say like, yes, this is in or yes, this is out. Like if you take comment two, two, one, which was teens. Low sense. Right. You agree. We just put it in green and just said agreed. Cause we're not really telling FAA like exactly what to do. I mean, if they came back and gave us seven sense, low sensory rooms, they would be pitching that. I think we're just trying to give them, we're just sort of evaluating public comment and then saying, like we agree with that comment. Not necessarily like. Do it exact. We're just giving them guidelines or guidance or. We're just trying to give them a better understanding of what we like and what we're leaning towards. What we like or what we don't like. So I think my comment. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. I'm sorry, Alex. I think what. We will do is we will communicate to FAA. These kinds of comments, which is look at these things. If it's possible to do them all in one space. That's what we're thinking about. We're just trying to give them a better understanding of what we like to do. Craig. Thank you, Austin. Yes. And I think now kind of connecting Alex's previous statements with what Christine just said and what you just said. I'm in agreement. FAA will send them these things. They may be, they may be three comments that they look at and they say, okay, well we're responding to all three of these comments with this one design move. Right. And then. The town can say that's acceptable. We agree. That's a good solution. A good response to these three comments, or maybe we'd like something a little different or whatever, whatever have you. Right. We just want to make sure that they don't look at this and say, Oh, what they're asking for is seven different spaces. That's Alex's point. And Craig, you can communicate that to them. We'll do. Anika. Yes. Excuse me if this was just answered. I. I think we have a lot of, a lot of horrific national news. Blashed across the screen. The, the comments in white. When we approve them are we saying these are set in stone or we're just. We are just sending these off to the design team. I think we're sending these off to FAA. And they're going to come back to us and say, this is workable. That isn't workable. Gee, we'd like you to rethink this. No, don't, don't, don't do it that way. So it's, as I understand it, it's, it's not a set of commands. You know, they must do these things. It's a set of recommendations from the committee, things that we want them to make sure they consider in the, in the schematic phase and that they communicate back to us. So when they communicate back to the schematics, one of Craig's jobs is going to be to look back at this. Table and say, you know, they said yes to this and they have questions about this and have questions about that. Okay. Does that help? Yes, it does. Thank you very much. Craig. I think I also heard in your question had to do with what's the column E the column that's in white. Or right now it's highlighted gray. Those are items that the design subcommittee reviewed and, and believe are already in the instructions to the designer. Right. So if one of the comments were like, we want a building with a roof on it. That it would appear into the, in this white column. We've already instructed them. That's what we want. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anika is that are you, are you set? That's very clear. Thank you. Thank you so much. Xander. So if I'm understanding the process correctly. The. It seems to me to make sense to move all of the yellow comments that say maybe ask expert into the green category, but we're not going to do that. We're not going to do that. We're not going to do that. We're not going to do that. We're not going to do that design. We're sending it to them to figure out if that's possible, plausible, et cetera. And then they'll have a chance to basically respond. But if we don't include them now, then we're effectively saying no. Before the experts can tell us now, right? So I think the purpose of the yellow was to focus our discussion. I don't think we would consider it, but I think the purpose of the yellow was we wanted to look at these items. A make sure we understood them because some of them, it was just unclear what they were, what was being asked for. And B to make sure we all agreed that this is what we. Want to ask them to do. So. I think before we do the default, which might be what we end up wanting to do, we should make sure that we've looked at them individually, understand what they mean. And then we'll see whether or not we all agree because the design subcommittee didn't reach agreement on all of those items. In part for some of them, because we just didn't understand what was contemplated. So I think if people have thoughts about, we could look at the particular. Ones that are in the maybe column, if that would be helpful. And there are a few of them and just. Just talk about those items. Would that be okay? Sharon, do you want to talk us through those maybe. Yeah, sure. So the first one, Burnett gallery natural lighting. We put ask experts because I know that having a lot of natural direct natural light onto art is not good for the art. So, but if the experts say, yes, we want some level of natural light, then, then that would be great. So that's why we, we just weren't sure. I'll keep, okay, I'll keep going. That's that one. Yep. The next one, children's social justice center. So I don't, the committee wasn't sure what this meant. So that's why we put unclear. There's not going to be a separate social justice. Room for that purpose, but there will be, you know, parts of the children's collection will have books that have to be published. And then there will be a separate social justice. So I, I, we weren't sure if that's what that comment was trying to get at. As we go through these each individually, if someone wants to speak to the particular thing, let's speak to them as we go through them. That would be great. So as far as the Burnett gallery natural lighting, I would be happy to put that into the agree column and then we'll move on. I was using my hand in agreement. Any of these that turn into like the natural light. Or the. All of them, but the social justice one seem like they could possibly move into the green. So does anybody have any other thing they want to say about the natural lighting? Okay, let's go Sharon to the next one. Go to the social justice. Does anybody have anything to want to say about that? Recommendation Christina, your is your hand up. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. Anybody. Okay. Sharon, go to the next one, please. So the cafe, coffee bar, water bar. So it has, it has been the trustee's intent all along. To not be the point of sale. But so we do have a cafe space. In other words, people get to bring their own food and drink. To enjoy. And so what the committee was saying was. For now. No, the plan is not for us to sell. But, but we would like the infrastructure to be there as in, you know, plumbing, maybe some cabinet so that in the future, if the library wanted to start selling coffee and refreshments that they could. So I think that's. That's what that was. So are there any other thoughts about this one? This one has financial consequences. That are not now, I think contemplated. So I don't know, Craig, you know, what it costs to say, we want you to put in the plumbing that would be necessary. If at some point in the future we decide. We want to have a sink there or something else. I don't know what can you give us a sense of what that would involve. Yes, Austin. So it would certainly be. If you're thinking holistically, it would certainly be less expensive to add the plumbing in while the walls are open. Okay. They call it cap it off behind the wall. So it's behind the wall, but you don't see it. And then at a future date, if you wanted to actually go forward with that, then you'd hire another contractor to open up that wall, make those connections, but they only have to make a small opening. They don't have to rip out the whole wall drill through the floor and get to the source of the water. So the concept is you spend a little bit of money in this construction project under this budget, but save a lot of money if you do in fact want to go forward with that. And there are a couple of considerations. One would be, so you wouldn't want to just put water supply to a random spot. You want to have it kind of in mind how it should all work, you know, where the sink should be, where the countertops are going to be so that you're kind of setting yourself up. You're setting the project up for a successful design in the future. So that's something that we, so we'd essentially be asking the design team to come up with a, a rough design for how this future, potential future cafe would, would be laid out. Just, just Craig and Sharon to be clear right now, there's so to speak cafe space, at least in the last schematic that I saw as I remember it was a kind of pass through. So this might impact where that thing, because maybe you don't want a cafe. That's a kind of pass through. Okay. Yep. Alex. Yeah. So I just wanted to say that I agree with having the infrastructure in place, but also just to, in conversations that I've had with community members, specific to cafe spaces. A lot of what I've heard is interest in having, you know, maybe like access to water or a countertop. And I've heard everything from, you know, people maybe having, you know, their book discussions, like in our cafe versus having them in their homes. And so having, you know, a counter space there is helpful. There's another community member who talked about being able to use a cafe space with an infrastructure is almost like an incubator for, they were specifically talking about like a black owned business bakery that might be able to like, you know, sell in the library and then maybe they'd actually go elsewhere. And so I've, I've, I've heard from many different members of the community ideas around what the space could be. So I'm just conveying that to the group in terms of what I've been hearing when talking to people around the cafe. Other thoughts. Yeah. Christine. So infrastructure can be. And I think, you know, Craig saying the capping off plumbing and electrical, but I think we'll have to be sort of a, trying to decide here is it. So everything I've always heard is that at least be a countertop or a couple of countertops from back or something, but it's sort of like, well, is there gonna be a sync? I mean, money-making cafe kind of thing. Do we want a sink? And to me infrastructure, it's also about how can what we build be changed, meaning pass-through or open countertop area where people are bringing food and people are walking up and sort of like self-serving or whatever. But if you changed it to a cafe, obviously you'd wanna close off the kitchen-y area because you wouldn't want just anybody walking into it. So I think that's what we're trying to communicate to FAA is we want a flexible space that can easily be shifted to whatever the library's needs are, but we also have to decide is it a community or a design committee? Like, are we having a microwave there? Are we having, that's later, I know that's a plug-in thing, but like a sink. Where is the refrigerator? Alex, before I call on you, Craig, I wanted you to, I'm sorry, my question wasn't very clear. Can you give us a ballpark about what it would cost additionally now to tell FAA you need to run pipes, you need to have electrical so that you can have an oven, you need to do this or that. What are we talking about? Ballpark-y. Well, off the top of my head, I couldn't say. Okay, that was helpful. Yeah, sorry. I think the first step, if you want to pursue that line of inquiry, the first step would be to ask FAA, Fine Gold Alexander, to make a recommendation for a layout. And I think there, for them to do that, they would need to have the answers to the questions Christine brought up of what are we talking about? Is it just some plumbing and electrical in a corner or is it something bigger? Like you could tear down this wall and this could be your kitchen, your mini commercial kitchen, your future counter location transaction counter. Well, I think it could be as simple or as involved as you would like. Once that's decided, then FAA can certainly put together a layout. Once we have a layout, then we could get an approximate cost on it. Right, Alex Lefebvre. Yeah, so, if folks don't mind me sharing my screen for a second, I can show a cafe space that I think, I don't know if folks mind that or not. Let's see, this is topic, okay, so. What is it that you're about to do? So just this, just showing a space that this is one of the pictures that we've had out there that people have looked at, just in terms of when we're gathering feedback. And so in this picture, it actually still is a path through space. It's not stove and fridge. I mean, it's literally just sort of a basic infrastructure. Not saying this is what we're doing by just giving people an idea that there's, like I don't know that we need to limit FAA at this point. I think it's just whatever, yeah. So I'm just pouring that out there. Other thoughts about this, and again, the thing is to recommend to ask FAA to think about the kind of making sure that there was infrastructure so that at the later point, a cafe space would be developed or if this committee were to decide later on if you really want a cafe space. So any other thoughts about that at this point? I am concerned. Can I just want to say that I'm concerned about adding cost. And it's, I don't think this is something we necessarily need to decide right now, but then there's a difference between an added cost of $50 versus $500 versus $50,000. And I guess I'm just throwing that out there. So it's not only the added cost of that, it's the added cost of asking FAA to do something else. Which is again, de minimis. It ain't great, but it increases their, they have to spend time doing this rather than something else. So Christine. So we're just sending them these comments and ideas. And I like how Craig was saying, you're just sort of throwing it out there and then they'll come back. We're not having them do anything more than they would have normally. They're already gonna have plumbing and electrical there. And when the walls are open, that's the easiest time to run a line and cap it. And it's just there for the future as the library evolves and decides what it does or doesn't do with its cafe space. The other part I want them to consider is just, it's about good design and flexible design. And I just want them to give it a good thought that if right now we're like in the near future, we just want to pass through some countertops. That's great, but that they, and they know how to do this, that they're gonna do a layout that's flexible so that if we want to change it, the library needs to change in the future to address more cafe needs or whatever, that it's easy and cheap as possible to do because that's the way they laid it out with that in mind. Does anybody have an objection to moving it into the green column? Great, Sharon, you want to go further down. Thank you. Keeping the front rooms and woodwork for cozy areas, meeting space and special exhibits. We'll see the new design on Friday. You'll see that the front rooms here, especially where the children's room is, that is absolutely gonna stay that way. But in my office, for example, this is where the Automated Materials Handling System is gonna be. And so that's why the comment is as the design allows. Any objection to moving it into the green column? Christine. The way Sharon just spoke, maybe it needs to go into the white column. It's already being addressed in a way. So moving it into the green column is, again, green column, white column, we want to make sure that they're paying attention to it, right? So if you put in the green column, you're calling it to their attention and they can come back and say it's already there. Okay. I assume we're giving them the white column too. We're giving them the whole thing. Sharon, please, more. That's it. Okay, great. So let's look at the reds now. So let's make sure these are things that the designs, right, Christine, the design subcommittee did not think should be forwarded to FAA. Karen, do you want to go through the list? Yeah, so the first one was moving the Burnett Gallery and the Special Collections exhibit spaces into the front, basically where I am right now and the committee disagrees because that's where the Automated Materials Handling System will be. Great, Alex. Yeah, so putting, let's pretend for a second that the Automated Handling Material System isn't in those front rooms. Would we even be able to do it because of the requirements for Special Collections around the words escaping me at the moment? The way you need to keep the rooms for Special Collections is keep them preserved. Security. Climate control. Yes, thank you. I was like, the word is just escaping me at the moment. The climate control. You have to have the climate controlled. I don't know whether that would even be... It's a question, I don't know. Not the exhibit space. So the exhibit space is, they're all the reproductions. We don't put the originals there. So they could go in these main spaces. But then you would have the exhibit space far away from where the collection is. Yeah. So you would potentially create a staffing issue, I assume, because you want the staff. Like I'm just trying to, I mean, I see the idea, right? I mean, it's the historic part of the building and I can see a sort of beauty to having it there. But I guess I'm just trying to figure out logistically whether it's even feasible because of all the pieces that go with Special Collections. Yeah, it doesn't, from my point of view, it doesn't make sense to separate the exhibits from the Special Collections. And the Burnett Art Gallery, the architects have been able to make that space available during after hours, where it will be. It would not be available after hours if it were in the front part of the library. Thank you, George. I would just also add that there's really not enough square footage for either in the front offices areas, especially the Burnett Gallery. There's windows in that whole area of the building. So there just isn't enough wall space to have the gallery in that area. Great. So anybody want to say anything else about this particular thing in the red? Okay, thank you very much, Sharon. What's next in the red? So as much as the committee loved these ideas aloft, there's one in the suggested for the children's room and in the teen room, but the committee agreed that this was not really a good idea because we don't want children and teenagers falling from lofts. Okay, are there any questions, thoughts about this particular? Okay, Sharon, please go down. ESL having a living room. So there won't be a living room for ESL, but there will be a reception area, which will be fabulous. So that people who arrive before their conversation circles or before their tutor time, they'll actually be chairs to sit in and they can have conversations, but that'll be in the reception area. Great, thank you, Alex. Yeah, I guess I don't see those as dissimilar. I mean, I saw the disagree, but I mean, I think really, I mean, the way I read that anyway is that the reception area is a welcoming place that invites people to linger and converse. So I'm not sure that, I'm not sure it's different from what you're talking about, and I think that probably comes down to more interior design and less space program, but that's my interpretation. Good, thank you, George. My interpretation is that living room implies sofas and couches, and those are things that the NBLC wants us to avoid altogether. So that's why I was concerned about the language of using the word term living room. Thank you. Other thoughts about this? Somehow it appeared in the green. Okay, any other thoughts about that particular issue? Sharon, go to the next, please disagree. Larger office for the ESL director, we have that in the disagree column because all of the staff offices will be about the same size. Great, Alex. Again, so I think this is semantics. My guess is what was being said is that they need a larger space than they have now, and it's going to be 55% bigger than it is. So I think that one goes into the white, like it's already in the design. Okay, any other thoughts about that particular issue? Okay, Sharon. Sorry, I got overly excited there. Okay, an art space. So a part of this was not, we weren't sure that the comment was clear enough. So regarding an art space, there will not be a separate place for adults to do art. There will not be a separate place for teenagers to do art. There will be a children's activities room where kids can come and do art as part of a pre-put-together program. So I put that for the art space comment for adults, teens and kids, just kind of clarifying. So similarly to what Alex was saying, this could go into the already in the works column. It's programming versus separate rooms, I guess. All right, any other comments on this one? Okay, seeing no hands, Alex. All right, Sharon, am I remembering correctly that there's gonna be an artist in residence space? Is that still a thing or was that in the original design that got? No, there will be a space for that. And that is for the library would pay an artist to come and they sit there and they do their art while patrons walk by and ask questions, that kind of a thing. Yeah, so again. That's different from patrons doing it. Yep, yep. Okay, Sharon, the next one. Conference room meeting space. So there will not be a separate meeting room just for teens, but the teens can certainly reserve the other meeting rooms just like adults could. Are there any comments on this one? So Alex, are you, is this a new comment or? Yeah, well, doesn't the design have like a sort of any glass, like glass walled in spaces within the teen space or not? There's, it's called a teen collaborative room. And it's kind of to be determined what that kind of space will look like. We've traditionally called it a maker space, but I, so when I think of meeting room and maybe incorrectly so, I think of a bunch of chairs sitting at facing a podium and that kind of thing. It's not supposed to be that kind of space, although it will be flexible enough for the teens to do whatever they want in that space. But there won't be like a separate closet for chairs and tables. Right, yeah. I guess I just, when it comes to like 15s, we might reframe what we're thinking. And it's, again, I don't think we disagree with this, but it might be something that's really more about interior design and flexible space later on. Like we're not gonna create again a new room, but there is a room that could accommodate this. And I just don't want, I don't want these kinds of comments to get lost when it comes to thinking about the flexibility of the spaces. So it may not impact design now, might be later. Thank you. Any objection to using the word flexibility? Okay, Sharon, more in the red column. Audio, video, recording rooms. There will not be separate rooms for people to come in and record audio. There will be quiet study rooms that people can come in and there will be computers there. People can do their own thing. They can zoom in those spaces, but there will not be rooms outfitted with equipment that they can make their own movies and that kind of a thing, like with a green screen and all of that. Okay, any comments on that particular? Okay, Sharon, the next one. Don't make the Amity Street front entrance accessible. The committee disagrees because everybody should be able to come in every entrance and exit through every exit. Any comment on that one? Thank you, Sharon. The teen loft idea, the committee disagreed with that thought as much, even though it would be a lot of fun. Any comment on the teen loft? Okay, thank you, Sharon. The teen art space similar to the art space for adults. So, again, there won't be a place where there's a room with art supplies where teens can just come and do art. There will be programs that involved art that are run by the library where supplies will be held, but it won't be a separate room just specifically for that purpose. Thank you. Other comments on that? Other views? Okay, Sharon, the next one. The teens being separated from the rest of the library. Again, we were a little unclear by the comment. I think what they meant, I'm hoping what they meant was we want a teen space that's separate from the adults and separate from the kids. But I didn't, I wanted to make sure that people weren't thinking there would be a separate entrance and exit from outside the building, that kind of a thing. Okay, others? Alex? Yeah, no, I agree that I read it the same way. They wanted their own teen space, but you brought up the separate exit. And I know that there has been a request for a separate exit, not necessarily a separate entrance, but since school is getting out later under the new schedule by the time the library, by the time teens can come to the library and inhabit the teen space, the library is closing shortly thereafter. So there was a request if there is a way in the design so that teens can have a way to exit and stay in their space after hours. And I have no idea what that means from a design perspective. I know that there's the old door that used to pass throughout to the exit. I don't know if that's a relatively easy thing to do. Other comments on this question? Sharon, do you have a response to what Alex just said? We can ask FAA if they can make that space available for after hours. It does seem to be self-contained. I don't know about, yeah, let's ask. So what does after hours teen space mean in terms of library staffing? It means that the teens are in there and there are no library staff because the library is gone. No, there would need to be. So this is, again, a kind of consequential thing in terms of staffing of the library. Yeah, George? Also, the existing door off of what is now the fiction room, which was originally the auditorium, that's on a second level and that would not be able to be made handicap accessible very easily. So while it probably could remain as an egress, it might even exist as an emergency egress, I just don't recall, but it would certainly not become an accessible space by using that door. Okay, thank you, George. Christine. That was my same point. Okay, so shall we leave this where it is? Go on to the next one, please. At least one dark, womb-like corner. We disagreed with this. We don't want dark spaces for safety purposes. Alex? And this is the one I would argue, if you create a low-sensory space, that meets this need. So what should we, yeah, what do we do? So why don't you put in the green spot where it says at least one dark corner. We understand this as having to do with creating a low-sensory space. And we'll see what they tell us. Excellent. Okay, now more in the red. The size of the building should be trimmed down. The MVLC will not allow us to do that. And that is the end of the reds. Okay. So is there any other discussion? Are the motion on the floor is to approve what is now the amended list of green things to send on to FAA? Christine? I would like to amend the motion and send them the white, the green, the yellow, and the red because even a no answer gives them insight on how to design. I don't know, I'm gonna say this is a friendly amendment. I mean, it's fine, we'll send them the whole thing so long as it's clear what we're asking them to do. Is that okay with the mover of the amendment, Sharon? I mean- Yeah. Great. Okay, any other comments? Okay, so Alex? Yeah, I just wanna make one quick comment and just really thank Colliers and the design subcommittee because this was 84 unique comments. And as of today, when we look at the frequency, it's 292 comments in total just in these 84. So almost 300 comments and I would say almost all of them were moving forward. So I just wanna express my appreciation for really hearing public comment and incorporating it and forwarding it onto the designers. So I just wanted to say thank you. Okay, please take down the screen, Chair. So let's vote yes to send on the, the now slightly revised spreadsheet to FAA. No, not to, Christine? Yes. Thank you, George. Yes. Anika? Yes. Sharon? Yes. Alex? Yes. And Austin votes yes. And I do wanna just again, thank Alex and the outreach committee and Christine in particular for leading what was a very complicated discussion in the design committee and to remind us all that this is just the beginning. This is the first kind of trudge of these comments. I also, it's not really our business, but what Anika referenced, there's been another school shooting in Texas and it's just, it's in the background as we do our work, another instance of gun violence in the United States, which has taken the lives of young people. Okay, so outreach subcommittee. Oh, I'm sorry, Christine, anything else from the design committee? Forgive me. Yeah, so sorry, a couple more things because we've got a lot of things going on here. So we also sort of finalize the benchmarking field trips that are coming up. So Wednesday, June 8th, we have a visit to the library, public library in Holyoke. And then on Friday, June 10th, we will be going to Medford and Wuburn's public libraries and there's, Craig, our OPM has sent us out a doodle poll that everyone I assume can still click onto and add themselves if they want to join one or both of those field trips. A reminder that this Friday, we have our next meeting. We will have FAA there bringing us some design work that they've done and also they'll be addressing some of the gender inclusivity options and information. So if anyone wants to join us, that's on Friday at 9 a.m. And I talked about the 10th, the field trips. And then on the 16th of June, we will be doing, I'll call it public comments, public comment eval part two. And there'll be a part three and a part four but on the 16th, so Craig will be getting back to us for the new grouping of highlighted comments that we are going to go through. And then we'll be back to a regular meeting on the 24th of June, which is kind of mind-blowing because then we will be into July. And that's all we have for design. And we're gonna hear from Craig or someone about possible transportation options for these trips. Craig. Yes, so let's see, where do we leave that? I think Paul is gonna figure that out for us. So I didn't mean to call you out at this particular moment. We are contemplating ways of getting to these places to save gas or people wanna travel together and we will be hearing about that subsequently. That's what I meant to say. Yes, and Sharon reminded me I've gotta put a call in to Paul Barkleman as he mentioned that a town vehicle may be available for that purpose. Great, great, George. That is on my to-do list. Thank you, Craig. I just wanted to mention to Craig, if Paul should ask, I believe I'm the only one on the committee that's a licensed driver for the town. So let him know that one of us is licensed to drive a town vehicle. I will, thank you. Thank you, George. Are you a good driver, George? I haven't crashed yet. Thank you for that evasive answer. And also adding that I'm only available for the second trip and not the first one, but the first one is only in Hoya, so. Okay, great, thank you so much. Christine, anything else from the design committee? Thank you. Yeah, that's all. Again, thanks for the work. So next is outreach, Alex. I'm sorry. Well, you all know my husband's an elementary school teacher, so that was rough to hear. Sorry, I tried to pull myself together. So the outreach committee had their last meeting on May 17th. We talked about the online comment platforms and approved a bunch of them. So we're using Amherst talks, which is the UMass participation tool that's up and running. We've already received our first comment from Matt. We also approve the use of a padlet, which is as Anika likes to say it's for the skimmers. And so it's basically taking images from other libraries and then people can go and like and make comments on. And I think that will probably be more useful as we get further into interior design, but we're already getting lots of good comments on that. And I haven't quite figured out how to incorporate those into the public feedback yet, because I think those are probably more be design centric later. We talked about and approved using Community Click as a test run at the May 27th meeting when FAA is presenting. And so that will just allow us to sort of put out there for the public that attends the ability to either like or say that they're confused or they have questions or whatever. It'll be something that we'll see ourselves, not necessarily share, but the public and it'll just be a test for us to see, is it a successful tool that we want to use in the future? Engage Amherst has been updated to include our project, the SUFA, and it'll tell me if I'm saying that wrong. There's a QR code, that's all the little town signs that you see. You can scan our QR code that takes you to the padlet. We also talked about keeping the community informed. We had our first inaugural newsletter that was blasted out to many, many people. And that happened on Sunday. We were also handing them out at the Farmers Market and at the event that we went to at Olympia Oaks. And in fact, handing it out to the Farmers Market was how Mindy Dom found out about the Olympia Oaks event and wound up coming to the event, which was great. The newsletter is gonna be done weekly while we're in this phase of the project and then we'll probably shift to either every two weeks or once a month throughout the duration of the project to keep the community informed. And then as far as outreach events, we're at the library on, I mean, I'm sorry, at the Farmers Market on Saturdays. We went to Olympia Oaks this past Saturday. We had three library trustees, including myself there, and got some good feedback from the community, both in terms of the project, but okay. Alex, could you just tell us roughly how many people were there, roughly? The 20, 30 people maybe. So yeah, Olympia Oaks is a wayfinder property and they do a really good job of like when they have a community event, like they were grilling on the barbecue and Amherst Rec was there and Chris Earl Miller was there. So it was a nice event. Thank you. For sure. Applewood, we're not gonna wind up going to Applewood, at least not at this phase of the project. Their summer was booked up essentially. So in the time period we were looking at, it just didn't work unfortunately. So we can still go out with them at a later phase in the project and talk with them. And then we start at the Survival Center this Thursday from 11 to one, where we'll be tabling at the Survival Center to collect feedback there as well. There's two potential meetings, which we haven't talked about in outreach yet. One is June one, and the idea would be to have a meeting on June 1st at 6 p.m. and it would be a virtual meeting to review the updated schematics that we get from Fine Gold since the design subcommittee meetings at 9 a.m. And it would just be an opportunity for us to collect feedback basically from the public upon seeing the schematics, just keeping people in the loop that these are constantly evolving and this is the latest set. And then we also talked about, we, not the outreach committee, we, Angela and I, the CPO, talked about having a meeting on June 8th, again a virtual event, really just to keep the public up to speed with what's been done to date on the project, the tools that are available to the public to reach out the timelines and then have a Q and A, but more about how they can be involved and how we can reach out to them and less about, because we wouldn't have Colliers or FAA there, it would be more a community outreach virtual meeting that's really designed on educating the public on where we are in the process and how they can continue to be involved. And then the next meeting is May 31st at 4 p.m. Thank you, Alex. And thank you. Amazing, amazing, amazing work that the outreach committee is doing. The newsletter was just great. Any questions for the outreach committee? Okay, thank you. So we have no correspondence. There's no topic that was not anticipated. So we have four members of the public. If any of them wishes to make a comment if they would signify that by raising their virtual hand, that would be great. Well, thank you to the four members of the public for attending. Thank you all for attending, doing the very good work that this meeting did. And let's just adjourn and everybody stay safe and we'll look forward to seeing you as soon as we can. Bye-bye.