 It's so nice to have you here. Great turnout. They gave us a really big room for this topic. We're here to talk about public health and wellness in our community. I worked in substance abuse prevention for now, about 25 years as a separate prevention consultant. Doing prevention, yes, working with treatment, but there's prevention, there's intervention, there's treatment, and then there's recovery. And so as we think about health, let's think in those four categories and not just like the treatment. And in prevention, there is a definition, which I think is a nice definition of wellness. It says, creating personal attributes within the individual and conditions within the community that promote well-being. So, let's just, in full group, just throw out, what does wellness mean? What are we talking about when we talk about public health and wellness? What are the categories? Just throw it out. Mental health. Mental health, what else? Everybody has a safe place to live. Okay, so we're talking about housing and shelter. What else? Issues associated with aging. Aging, okay. All right. Clean food, water. Yeah, clean water and food, okay. Environmental health. Environmental what? Environmental health. Okay, so this is a good way to look at it. If you were observing environmental health or any of these, what would you be seeing? So, why don't you share what you mean? I mean, for me, I'm just admitting is it healthy to eat it. So, in connection with housing, for instance, yeah, okay. Making of air, water. Air, water, mold. Environmental water, air. Yeah. And if anybody heard of an NPR, trees. There are communities that have no trees and trees really help the environment. Anything else? Physical well, physical health. Give an example of that. Well, if someone has severe mobility issues due to their health condition, that can really affect their ability to be safe to be comfortable to get around. Pain. Chronic pain. Excuse me. Chronic pain. Chronic pain. Yeah. Lots of pain in all different areas. And I'm going to also put as part of this, safety. Yes. I'm addressing the infectious disease contaminants that have recently literally fell in our city. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Right. Infectious disease. I'm sure there are many people that don't even want to walk on bike yet. Or on the Montpelier Green because of any contaminants that might be from the flood. Yes. Just integrating physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Yes. And I'm also hearing biological. Biological, social, spiritual, physical health. On the wellness side, collective joy. Joy. Collective joy. Okay. We can continue to add to this. So when we're talking about this, this is what we're talking about. So in front of you, you have, and if you don't have, I have a couple more here, some orange pieces of paper. And if you have a pen, please pull it out. And if you don't, I've got some here. And there might be people running to spaces around us or give them out to people that need it. So here is your task. Really? Here is your task. We're going to talk about one thing that's happening now in the area of all these areas. And you could just choose something environmental or something with mental health or you could combine it. One thing that's happening now, what's going well? What's happening now? So we're sort of looking at what resources do we already have and that we want to keep as we move forward in the short term and certainly, you know, as we look forward towards resiliency, which will be our vision for the future. And then we're going to go right into areas and ideas for action steps. So we're looking for action steps. This is not the place to be exuding the concerns. Try to just go a little higher in your thinking and imagine and brainstorm and think. If things were going wonderfully in health and wellness in the short term in our community, what would we be seeing? What would we be seeing? And it doesn't have to be something that's normal, that we normally see. It would be something really different. Like I'll give you one example of that for me. I see a river running through Montpelier. A river is running through our city and it's beautiful. That kind of thing. So think out of the box if you can and if you want to. And so you're going to come up with ideas and action steps and then think about whether is this an action step in the short term that we can do now? Or is this something that we need to consider over time? Okay, we're just trying to divide that. Then we're going to take these ideas and before we go back, we're going to suggest the top one to three. We can just put one priority and say this group came out with this is what we want to see happen. This action right here. Or it could be two or three priorities. Then we'll go back and then each of the groups are going to report these three priorities and then they'll be the next meeting. For those of us that came in late, would you let us know how this board came to be? It says welcome, relates to the other two. Yeah, okay. Well, welcome to the public health and wellness discussion. And so I asked people what does health, public health and wellness mean to you? And I created a definition of creating attributes within the individual and conditions within our community that promote well-being. Okay, so that's a general, that's a nice vision. Then I asked everyone what does it mean? Mental, it means mental health. It means housing. It means safety. It means environmental health. It means biological, psychological, social, spiritual wellness. It means joy. We need housing, mental health, aging. So that's how it came about. This is our gentleman. Yes. Can I ask a clarifying question? Yes. On the first one up there, one thing that's happening now and then what's going well, is the one thing that's happening now have to be something that's going well? No. But if you know, but if you know a great clarification question, if you know of something that's happening now, we could rate whether it's being successful or not. It could be a program. We can rate whether it's successful or not. We may need more resources in that area. That's okay. What's happening now that helps with mental health? What's happening now that helps with housing and shelter? What's happening now? And try to keep it on the positive, because we never look at what's going well. And that is a ton of resources. We have a ton of resources. And we don't look at what's going well. We just look at what's not quite right yet and how to make it more right. And we need to boost our, we need to be well and we need to be really responsible and honest by looking at what's going well first. That's what we're going to do first. So with a partner, someone you do not know, just turn around or whatever, and I'm going to ask you to discuss something that's, one thing that's already happening now in any of these areas and share it with your partner, you literally will have one minute each. Okay? So now, because we really want to get to the second question too, I'm also a professional personal life coach and there's never a session that we don't begin with what's working well. What's going well? What are the resources? What are you grateful for? We never go there. They just want to talk about what's not going well. And one way to help what's not going well is to take responsibility for what it is. Yeah. So, okay. So what we're going to do now, we have a very fast typist here. And his name is... So close. That's great. I don't think Todd is close to Seth. And you fast typist? It looks like you are. Okay. Can you share who you are? My name is Seth Leonard. I work for Vermont Housing and Finance Agency. Nice to be with you. Thank you. Okay. Yes. Thank you for being here. Okay. So now, what I'd like to do is let's just hear from some of the things that are going well and we'll figure out what we'll do with the rest. Okay? Everything's going to be recorded at some point. So let's start. Who would like to start? Okay. We keep our responses to 30 seconds to one minute. And I understand that it's hard to do that. But this is not full discussion. This is getting to your specific idea as clearly as possible. Thank you. I talk with... Can you say your first name? My name is Tori Brodeen and I'm a social worker in town. A great thing that just happened were analogous. There's a physician for a mental health intervention as a police force in McPhilly are very... not great things. It's been open for about a year and it's been thrown down the job as soon as underpaid. Please add funding to that. Please add funding to that job and it gets somebody who's really good in that job. Is that an action that you're proposing as well? That's absolutely an action. So you just didn't... Yeah. And so you want more funding for a mental health intervention? More funding specifically for the position of the embedded mental health intervention as a police force the funding right now I think it's the only obstacle. And that would... from my point of view it would go far in terms of the being of support to some of the most invisible people affected by the flood right now. Thank you. Go ahead. Introduce yourself. My name's Eric. My name's Eric. I work with the police department. So I'm not here to selection ideas. We did put in for another 24,000. Thank you. 12 from Mary. 12 from my player. Wonderful. That isn't the only issue is finding the right fit. That's a challenging job. Okay. So let's keep it... you don't need to have the right that job. I've been trying to assist in finding the right person. I don't want to take up too much time. We did ask for the additional. Okay. Thank you. That's a perfect example of what's going well even though it's not going really well. Yeah. But it's there. It's going to get the money back. Okay. Let's go around the circle here. You can get the money. You can get the money. Right. You can ask for it. Yeah. Do you have anything you want to share? My name is Lisa and Mutual Aids Community Connection Community Organizing. And what's that Mutual Aids? That's going well. Both showing up for each other. Coming to the tent at Montpelier Live volunteering helping strangers. Can we give a hand for that source that's going well? People are coming out of the woodwork with hope, with love and with their physical labor. Yeah. My name's Daphne. We had, but we were on similar wave lengths around community connection. So I think people instead of moving in their individual lanes, coming together, I've seen people share contact information, really check it, check in on each other. People live next to you. I know that's true for myself. I've become closer to my neighbors because of this and it's been a catalyst for making those connections. Thank you. Yes. Okay, Yemi, with the flood having stopped two feet in your apartment's Montpelier. Who's it? Montpelier, your housing authority is going well. They're caring, aware listeners. A lot of people have been displaced and I go back and forth in and out of my apartment watching them do a really good job taking care of people. That's nice to hear, isn't it? Yes. I don't hear that up at Mary Hill where I live. Yes. I'm Thomas and I was mostly focusing on housing as well and so as well as we do have some low income housing that is state subsidized and is high and dry out of harm's way. And where is that? Let's name it. I know there's some up on Berlin Hill and then where I live in Plain Hill, which is in the Montpelier area, it's safe as well. Also on Hill on Elm Street? Elm Street has some and the Transit Center? The Transit Center by what used to be the Econolodge, which what's on the Barry Montpelier Road and housing, we also have the Good Samaritan Shelter. All the Down Street properties. And Down Street? Yeah. They're all good. Okay. Thank you, Tom. My name is Carolyn Wesley. I'm here tonight representing Congresswoman Becca Ballant, but I'm also in the Montpelier resident and I my two things it's interesting to talk with Sharon about our different perspectives on what was good or could have gone well better but there was an attempt to feed the entire community in the days after the flood that seemed like something I hadn't seen before and then also that there has been a continuation of community events like Mountaineers, like Park Berluza, like concerts and plays in the park and even with a lot of our infrastructure down many of those joyful, a little kid particularly family focused events it's been great to have that continued through summer. Yes, I would love to have bringing this cultural family events and community events in the Bargainsburg and the Bargainsburg and all these things need to be a list we need to keep them up on our wall while we're feeling desperate and feeling like oh my gosh what's happening to us Hi, my name is Shannon Bates and I will be honest it's difficult for me to see at times what's going well being a business owner and a business owner in the middle of State Street that was destroying What business? It's called ENA ENA? So well, I will say we had a really great meeting with Becca Ballant yesterday that business owners are coming together to in an attempt to address a lot of needs that are not being met Can you name one need that's not being met? Well, the reason I'm in this meeting is because we have not had any support from the Department of Health or the State as far as cleaning up guidance and being a restaurant owner I'm very educated in infectious disease foodborne illness it's like it might might be after 20 years in the industry and our businesses the whole downtown is flooded with sewage This does not go away just because it dries out I mean the list of infectious disease that is still present in the community that has not been addressed is hard for me to wrap my head around The Health Department is not even doing three inspections for opening the business restaurants so basically the guidance is look around if it looks clean if it feels clean and safe and that's not a reality So that's an action item that I'd like you to give a small print to put on your these two pieces of paper you can use front and back because the next thing I'm going to do is put your ideas on here that one really needs to go there protocol and developing a relationship health and wellness is all about relationships it's all about relationships developing a very strong relationship with the Department of Health and health organizations We're going to go back there we're going to just shake it up a little George My name is George what's going well that I've been able to see is the community that's been stated already but the fact that people donate their time and effort to help others that's going great I know it's very inspiring Yes, it's Annie and it's my name and I had the same thing that I'm all here alive just did this amazing job of coordinating and getting people Yes, how about me here I feel that we are becoming the city more of a family that we're recognizing the individuals in the city and understanding some of the problems that are brought up by this crisis that's happened to us all So I'm hearing that you're seeing and feeling more connection and there's more communication Yes Yes Thank you I'll just echo I'm Judy Casper I was also said about providing food and dehumidifiers and fans and shuffles and the provisions was really great Yeah Yeah Okay, now we'll go to you Oh, yes down the street and I just think it's awesome to see churches may have been flooded but they're showing up every day putting lunches out in front of Christ Church Yes, I would like to actually have that go in there a coordinated effort by our churches continue to provide community lunches and warming shelters for those that don't have housing and that warming shelter really comes into play when it starts to get cold and there's no place to go until you can get into a shelter even if you can at like 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock at night so at 4 o'clock they don't want a shelter That is fantastic Yes So I'm Tanya One thing that I think that's going well is that our schools are starting and opening on time on schedule I think our young people need as much predictability and normalcy as possible throughout this Yes Thank you And have any Yes Well, I can sort of cheat things at once One of the things that's happening now is that in walking around town there's still a lot of toxic silt and dust everywhere it basically gets shoved aside in the public areas and I think that's a concern on all levels it's mentally reminds us of the flood it feels yucky and it feels dangerous I'm hearing that as an action step and I have an action step a really specific one which is the green up people are coming on Saturday and they are looking for projects to be defined for them and I would hope that the city with proper gear and safety precautions might put some of those volunteers to work to clear up some of the silt that's in the particularly high traveled walkways and things where people are taking it up they're getting it on their shoes and taking it home every time it dries out every once in a while when it dries out and we get the swimming pool who will be in contact for that to get that list well, I think the city because green up is coming everywhere I imagine it won't kill their lives the city meaning the mayor or the manager well I think it would be the manager okay so that's one major that's a short term well very short term that's just because there's an opportunity to help all these people in town doing stuff and that would be a really good thing to do rather than plant flowers no fencing flowers but we really need to get rid of the toxic silt yes and connecting that with the Department of Health who's guiding and supporting I don't know that the Department of Health knows anything about the toxic silt specifically who to contact about the volunteer work and Saturdays is in front porch form today okay and there's links so if you could put that call out and then maybe put a special call out just to that great thank you yes sir my name is John one thing that I think worked well was the night of the rain I'm assuming it was good Samaritan organized to pick up a lot of the unhoused people downtown and taken to the shelter because all of their campsites were devastated I don't know who will organize that I'm assuming you're assuming the shelter you're assuming the shelter like that what's that good Samaritan haven yeah so they gave organize and that seemed to go well and the good Samaritan haven works hand in hand with another way which is a place for people to go during the day who are experiencing mental illness and also additions or anything that's disturbing or challenging for them could I throw one thing into that that's related which is we're going to move on making sure that everybody gets a chance and then I'm coming back to you okay you sir hi I'm Todd Delos I actually just hear this and I appreciate hearing some of these concerns I'm from the agency of human services so I'm more of a resource person but there's a lot here can you say what do you do at Human Services I'm the deputy secretary okay thank you so you're really in leadership thank you for being here yes hi my name is Rose and I'm also here for two reasons one I get to be the commissioner for the department of mental health and then two my wife owns a business in downtown Montpelier so we've been directly impacted by the business down the station downtown so I'd like to say just kind of two things from what I'm hearing here okay can you do yes it's wonderful to hear about community connection as we're looking at our highest rates of people dying by suicide and overdose and connection to your community is one of the main things that can support folks in being successful in living happy healthy lives is that they feel connected and valued by their community so I just want to highlight how important that is for humans yeah that's right and the way we do that is we communicate and we talk and we just we are we listen and we're present we develop a relationship yes sir back there thank you we're used in Moreland I work with the law center for independent living and I'm also a resident I'm kind of living in the past right now because I'm trying to follow captions on YouTube which is still late so I'm not going to hear a lot of you until ten minutes later but we'll get back to that I want to say what's happening now is that the disability community is really stepping up with the disability community and I don't know if a lot of folks know that the deaf community did not have ASL interpretation it's almost almost two weeks after the flood and not many people in the deaf community were directly affected although many were and I saw a lot of people stepping up on their Facebook pages and sign language interpretation for each other like I said I'm severely part of hearing a lot of the press conferences that are still not captioned and so I'm looking forward to chatting with everybody can you help us can you work with whoever can is in charge of this emergency service like for the you are so you are connected to the people you can no of course not that's why I'm saying so write that down on your arm sheet for an action step and we also have set and also recording it so ma'am sir ma'am yes ma'am I I think one thing that's going well is that the city is convening meetings like this and that sort of opening forums for people to speak really well as well thank you do you one thing that's going well my goodness we need to hear that from you I know that you have that program that we talked about but yes I think it's brought a lot of different resources to one table to build relationships so once we get into recovery which we're starting to go into now those are relationships that we have I'm going to get us a little bit further along hopefully a little quicker I feel for you on the state I dealt with the state during the first 48 hours at this flood and it was a challenge at best so I was very compassionate for that but if you give me my 24,000 what's one what's one relationship that you especially connected with or are connecting with that you haven't before that you really feel is increasing our well-being short yeah I mean we have an incredible relationship with Washington County mental health and then we started a crisis intervention team so we've actually brought them kind of a non-traditional crisis intervention team where it's not just going to be law enforcement it's just screeners and we felt like that fit our community better than what the standard box was for CIT so we're kind of making it our own and so those relationships that we have going forward when we respond to these calls it's not just the cops it's not just the fireman or whatever but it's us going together you might see us there first because we're going to get the call but knowing that those people are coming is pretty good and that I also want to applaud I'm sure all of us here but it is mental health but if there is we don't know we don't know really and this connection where now a mental health person is there with you responding and you making referrals to them and all that is a very powerful program that I think we've been keeping in the long term the big piece that we added to it now is the substance abuse piece of the turning point so that kind of it's all the trying before how many people know okay, not everyone it is one of 14 centers in the state where anyone in the world traveling through Montpelier or Barrie can go into this place and find like-minded people be welcomed without judgment and who are struggling or ready or wanting but yet not doing it yet to address their additions and we've got people from presidents to presidents wise right through the community someone who's homeless you know needing those services and they're free okay that's a major and now the police are connected with people who are inebriate or on opiates and drugs and doctors are starting to get connected it's just great you know to have those relationships working together yes my name is Julie Pierce I'm not a provider and I'm a trauma educator and one thing that's been really working well is I've been working at the food pantry and we we were serving at least a couple hundred people with food you know from all the area we were actually working with the rainbow bridge and Barrie and it is like the food pantry volunteer network is like a well or an oiled machine and right now we're in a temporary space because we're flooded out and we have to move and where are we going to now we think we're going to the back of the city center basically in a couple of closets but there's also interest because so many people come into the pantry for social time too it's you know it's a place where people feel safe and there's there's an interest in creating a resource center for the community sounds a little bit like a turning point but as a place to hang out a place a third of space where people can connect and actually not someone who maybe maybe need legal help maybe you just need to you know run it by somebody maybe you just want to sit and have a cup of tea but we don't have anything like that so could you put that down on you know on your orange sheet for an action set for an action set what we have the Sunlight House which is exactly can you explain quickly the Sunlight House it's a peer support in the health drop-in center that has food exercise peer support mental health drop-ins substance abuse when they have food entry and as well and I think you're also saying what about just a community a gender point right now we can go to FEMA up at Vermont College and anybody can go yes Joe hi yeah it's been said I talked about community connection and what I noticed is it got down to the reality in terms of opening their homes for people to take showers that's really really strong community and just to talk about the toxic silk it's one in one the garbage cans are they move them so they can pressure wash the sliding wash and it also in the streets good to know that's happening when we get upset that we there are OK Martin hi I'm Martin I emphasize the community connectors just on the street level working kind of day to day in the cleanup I've just seen so many people from different walks of life opening their hearts and that I had to know that people had to know each other landlords to unhouse people to people with severe mental health issues just coming together to work has created a sense of love and compassion that really has touched me very deeply I'm going to put love and compassion and empathy really important they're not just words they're they're required of us and the small touches that have emerged since then you know the flowers I think have been really beautiful that some stories have put out some artwork like the poem in front of the drawing board if anybody please see that very beautiful so some of the art and the natural beauty that's emerging has been really quite touching and beautiful thank you so much so I'm good whether the short term or the long term we want community connections to continue and even get more attached I know what others have said Rainbow Bridge Community Center in Berry I see as being a very positive resource connecting connecting volunteers who to you know local homes the need of volunteer efforts as well as just being a hub in Berry for the LGBTQ community and yes and thank you so much for pointing out a number of you that this is not just about Montpelier it is about central Vermont and beyond did everybody get a chance to speak once we're going to take you and then we're moving on to the next guest something that went well was the incredible way that the young people turned out to help in the immediate aftermath of the flood and I give a big shout out to Alex from the Parks Department who did a lot of organizing with his Conservation Corps kids but what I'm concerned about and that is happening now look around the room the youth are not being engaged in this process I don't know what kind of outreach has happened to invite them or encourage them to join these sessions but I was there were more folk and other folks at the first meet so I think something that needs to happen is a bigger emphasis on outreach especially as school is back in session but youth to get those same folks who volunteered to talk about what they want to see and what they feel is needed as we go forward well you can put that down there it could be done in the schools where most of the youth are it could be done in certain athletic groups even we can put that down as a very specific action step that really can be taken in the short term okay now we're going to move to your ideas and hopefully they're in the form of a specific action step let's just come up with a couple of ideas before I have you going to small group just for a few more minutes so we can each aspire each other I'm going to throw out an idea that I feel strongly about it's not just me it's going to be it really falls under long term and that the legislature in the state of Vermont made mental health a number one priority this is this is me okay you don't have to use me priority it is time yes it is time to learn about it to understand it and to hear from the experts what we can do about it and we are doing good things about it remember let's never forget that we're not but we need a more comprehensive approach with targets multiple targets and you know at the Google Thomas you have one could you just share one because we talked about it earlier I just want to give an example I kind of have this short list of a few things but long term it's moving from a rental town to a homeowner's town where everyone owns the home that they live in and that how is that you're thinking that it was so so paint the picture to us short term it's eviction moratorium rent control tax rentals and Airbnb is more and then you have the city provides zero interest loans so that renters can buy out the property they live in so there are ways there are ways that other communities throughout the United States and other parts of the countries do this and okay thank you another idea that you know you want to include right now and yes does that mean we also need a lot more housing we've lost a lot of housing and we need to just build a lot more accessible affordable homes acceptable affordable homes where? accessible accessible oh yeah yeah I'm sorry I think we can have a public process to support there are a lot of public processes happening and I think we need to do a lot a lot more to provide more housing options for people regardless of what their needs are people are going to be moving out because we don't have enough housing and now we've lost so much already okay that goes on your large that goes on your orange sheet and the Elk's Lodge project yeah where is that and what's being built over there well that is certainly a space that we as taxpayers are investing in and we'll be hit the long term and that is a place that's being looked at because we don't have much land but there's land up there I heard that the high school have flooded for a second time and that it might be good to consider relocating the high that's an action step that if you feel is a good is something that you like to see I mean personally for me I'm for that taking the high school down and making that a that I see a community with a river running through it and how we get the businesses further up where they go to the Mount College we recreate our our center of the city I don't know Joe Clinton yes sir activation of sites that have potential and then consideration of sites that continuously flood is that a fair summary of that yes okay you first and then you I'm going to build up some other people here but I think in the short term I've heard a lot of people talking about the strength of people coming together and sharing resources and that's one of the things that made people feel connected which comes into your health I wonder it doesn't seem like it would be that hard I'm known to be naive about these things to find a way to just solidify those structures or continue them like people put in here like here's one I'm available here's what I can do people reaching out for help here's what I need I mean all of us probably did a version of that or showed up and said here's what I need or I have a day I can do this I just feel like there must be a way to keep that going and keep it vibrant don't you think that's one thing that is going well that we have that Montpelier Live whoever did it created these links where we can communicate where we can put our ideas in and also where we can help but it needs to be more structured I think more I don't know what everybody else thinks about it easier to access or something like that what you're saying is doing that is that there are community needs that are not even necessarily flumberly what I'm hearing maybe they're maybe not necessarily and that system that was built maybe doesn't need to go away can come on a different sort of system for community support what you're saying thank you and says guys just on that same note just having a brick and mortar building not just like a link because there are people who can't access links and having a place where it's safe that's new that doesn't have any past trauma it's a new place that's welcoming that's common and for having more alumni but that's you know it's a human connection that someone's obviously you can have a cup of tea or you can you know maybe get some help with whatever's going on there is a lot for our community to learn about suicide and suicide prevention I just went to a two day training and it basically turns its head on what the new research is saying I won't go into that now but learning about trauma being trauma informed we all know someone or we ourselves have dealt with trauma why not be really informed so which would increase the compassion and the empathy and love and the understanding and the communication now I'd like you to write down take a minute individually and take your pen if you don't have one we'll get you on and write down one to three ideas if you don't have any ideas great don't write in if you have just one that's all we're looking for but if you have three or more write them down and then after you do that I'd like you to prioritize them as what's most important for you and in your view of the needs that are sitting in what we would share just take two minutes to do that and that includes everyone here if you have some ideas as well officer you don't have to put your name on these if you want to by your means choose one or two or three put one two three okay so you may have five ideas we do want them all so we will collect hope you're writing so we can read we'll collect them and put them in our notes but right now what I'd like to do because we only have 25 minutes left before we have to go back into full group I would like maybe the back table this table will go first and we can start with your name again Shannon Shannon if Shannon and everybody in the back just stand up and come around and I don't know if these are we're just we're going to put them on here but I don't have to take them and some of them won't stick they stick but it's okay I'll hold them if they just don't stick so why don't you just come up and read your one two three ideas come on up promise you got more come on up are we trying to like stack like one like and like find the priorities I'm sorry I didn't hear are we finding the priorities are we like stacking life on life I think you mean if you both have a similar yes we'll do that and put that in minutes but we're not going to do it quite enough okay so and then if this side would come up and if you don't have anything don't come up so this whole table so if you can speak loudly and share yes I think our priority needs to be the blood dealing with the disaster we have we do not have a town right now for downtown and I think that the priority should be to make it safe meaning healthy and viable and what's one way that you'd like to see it made safe healthy but I would like to see that I would like to see whatever section of the government is responsible for public health there hasn't been anyone that's really stepped up give businesses guidance on how and landmarks how this needs how to make things safe I have been proof on the ground through the entire process and knowing what I know I'm not sure that I want to work downtown I don't I don't travel quite yet to that point because somebody raised my awareness yeah I don't think the public is aware okay thank you yes okay number one this is my dream clean dry apartment for everyone who wants it by the end of October two NIMBY proof small three to five person roof homes for various peer groups mental health peers alcohol peers moms who were running away from their abusive people peers and number three move the high school to a higher ground thank you and I'll take it thank you um how about you yeah so I actually I'll tell you what you were saying in the past we've got a lot of a couple of neighborhood and your capital area neighborhoods those connections took place I'd like to see those come back and those connections and we can get ahead of a lot of this stuff just by face to face communications getting issues discussed get the neighborhood can groups going again meeting in their neighborhood creating those connections and wellness yes please yeah so the first thing is as I said moving to a home ownership society with more tax money in order to fund buying out properties by dwellers and the second thing is a better understanding of digital poverty this is kind of before the flood the changes to the bus structure where there were a lot of folks who we used to depend on getting on the bus at a particular time and now they have to have an app on their phone and there's I think there are a lot of unhoused elderly cognitively disabled and impaired folks who literally could no longer get into the hospital because of that system and the reason we don't hear from them anymore is because they literally died so this is unacceptable that was basically a eugenics policy to take away the buses that got people to the hospital and the third thing is develop the hills if we have to develop public park I know it's uncomfortable but we might have to do that and then undevelop where the downtown is and turn it into a park that's a big long term project but eventually we're going to have to do that because you can have forests and when they flood the river gets cleaner and you have sewage and diesel river gets less clean so we're going to have to make changes and develop more like places that flood thank you sir what's next come on up if we could keep moving and just form a line because we want to make sure we have enough time I already said my one but my number two is to support our schools to be vibrant well resourced and to be the needs of young people so I love the idea of getting a library series together where folks are sharing their stories eventually maybe six months down the line because I don't ever want anybody to make any assumptions about a person's situation their identity who they are how they show up in the world and I feel like this disaster is bringing up an opportunity for folks to be seen and heard and then I have a few more but one that I will share is that I love for the Montcullier Foundation to pay for quality testing and all the downtown buildings and then remediate accordingly yes and actually do that on an ongoing basis because this isn't going away anytime soon from mold to absolutely nobody's talking about mold I'm talking about mold next in and this table come on up do you want this one that you gave to me but why don't you want that one no sorry that wasn't the size it was starting to be the size of the contact information for Greenup Day that's the contact information for Greenup Day if anybody wants to volunteer for Greenup Day on Saturday the contact I'll put it down Greenup for resource volunteer I word it down yeah I'll write it down okay okay my number one prayer is safe and adequately supported housing for everyone including rent control and all of the other strategies that have already been suggested oh yeah thank you so much for your suggestions thank you yep so I have just two short terms one is with a human coordinator reach out to people who have a room apartment wing in their home many of us have extra space in our houses some of us empty nesters and what would their ideal match look like and create a list of both of individuals couples and families that need short and midterm housing and help bring those matches to fruition offer follow along supports communication and agreements in a similar way to home share but more on an acute need second one is if we could have something like an ombudsman service to represent or be a person for the city to help people navigate through home repairs and permitting and all those things that are really kind of elusive and tricky thank you my husband my main point is continuing on this housing scene and I've heard some rumblings that this is already maybe in the works but I'd like to see a vibrant attendance union so that we can continue building on this connection that we've seen and not let those relationships die out and we know that collective change happens from the lot of money so I don't see it thank you okay this group right here yes a lot of I think I'm already talked about but creating more third spaces like a place where people feel really comfortable that's not could be could be for everything in Montpelier that also helps us feel a sense of purpose the place we go and you can actually volunteer you can help out and you can connect with all these things and yeah having Pierce Port trauma informed trauma informed trauma informed thank you yeah this is very aspirational okay very aspirational but when people are in crisis sometimes they need an attorney away and somebody who said I'm ready to go into action for free and I'm saying it's aspirational at people's health and wellness clinic medical practitioners go in there for free we have a lot of attorneys in Montpelier so there are there is a central development corporation has library and they have free attorneys free financial consultants I do believe that at this point the attorneys are not there all the time but you can go in there and get an appointment with one or from a law school I think that anyone can we have attorneys in Montpelier who live here who can be on call when something goes down and you know there's an RFA that's needed I'm talking about lady community health that people need that they can not afford and involuntary commits we need to get out of there because they don't belong and she is a lawyer and this group you guys come on two stand in line I'd like to see access for three years for the blind and visually impaired and my biggest priority is what we like to say nothing about us without us thanks yes put it up yeah also don't assume gender identity yes yes one of my is about housing thank you to all of the people yeah who've said lots of ideas that I have not heard before but also connecting Montpelier to the surrounding towns to share resources and support because we have so much here and so many other things what is your voice business me oh that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was there but it relied so much on volunteers and the coordination was difficult they would be great at the city and the state were more supportive of homeless services and we moved it from volunteers to maybe more professional service and the second one this woman talked about a housing referral system where housing that's available could be an option to kind of try those together right yes come on up yes Martin and friends yes yeah affordable accessible new safe Brazilian options for housing and then my second one was language access options and continued language access outside of times of crisis starting with an assessment of needs the city still haven't done any language on identity conflict mitigation processes so accountability for the city and for independently harmed individuals thank you oh you've got more okay Martin we need to move along we've just got ten minutes we've got to come up with that sweet priority and serve one mine has more to do with I guess it would be air quality and general atmosphere and so I want to propose an event for around healing it's a twilight community sing and smudging with Sage I actually smudged the capital stationery side of the block the other day and would like to continue doing that through Dundan main and state street with singing and music so that's mine okay I'm just going to put this under the more housing because more housing um um um um but I'm also you know a short-term and long-term wondering like are folks from Vermont Housing and Conservation Board in the room where we are with Act 250 being revised um and what can Montpelier and the surrounding towns do to move that conversation forward thank you okay so now we have a number of um action ideas yes um this is bad in the realm of um mental health I realize this is a great opportunity to let people know that the trauma um trauma response network from um from the local EMDR network is um available to provide up to 10 sessions of free um EMDR trauma therapy um to anybody who needs it and um I can um effort to respond to this one thank you please pass the word on to people on this one okay so help me and Seth come up with let's do this together what were the key categories housing housing anything about housing in particular that you've heard inadequate at this moment okay how to the need okay folks where are they uh okay so housing affordability and places to be and everyone gets asked and I think immediate solutions I mean like the country club project that's 10 years down the road but at home sharing you know somehow coordinating people who got space with people who need space um it's a more immediate you know short term either short term in the sense that someone's needs are short term or it can be implemented more quickly and building stuff right okay so it's clear housing uh what's what's another priority mental health yes and what about in particular um education resources and uh support safer spaces and recognition third spaces are you heard me trying to come to a number one suggesting action stuff is that what we're trying to do right now mostly general right now what we're hearing is that housing is but mental health is too we don't know we're not at that point yet okay I thought that's what we were supposed to bring back yes it is detoxification yeah cleaning the air cleaning the ground cleaning the spaces mold mold bacteria cleaning testing yeah cleaning testing and also information sharing about handling seems like a category that is awareness yeah okay that's a short term right yeah um what else did you hear what would you really like to see right out there okay let's take housing what's one specific idea that really jumped out of you and we said short term work with the resources that we have some people in our community to find places within homes right is there any that does that already here in central Vermont I mean I know home shares often home shares I'll take your it is and I wonder if even like the senior center could be a hosting place for that network yeah okay so and and mental health making it a priority in legislation in this town and in our larger community um so let's say we've got three things here which one goes first housing mental health we're cleaning up testing information sharing detoxing our air water and streets well we're well much the rating system like what uh for yeah in order to know how to rank them I would like to know what the rankings will be which one do we have the best leverage um in our community which one do we have the most um you know resources energy um support that could be something that gets done quicker than something that doesn't yes I mean if that's realistically the thing that you probably would get done quickest would be cleaning up all the toxic moisture yeah yeah safely yeah and then certified by some incredible benefit but I'm saying we need to look for ourselves for the resources rather than looking at the government right now short term like you can look some of this stuff up on the internet that's what I'm saying that that's a short term okay number one priorities yeah detox but maybe a community group that comes together to work on this and you're in it the issue is that there has been no standard standards right and so you have this guy over here doing one thing this building hasn't been downed yet so you know I mean my role were open after two weeks and the mold was this big so how is it in a space that not even the walls haven't been open or hasn't been removed so there's no there's no standard for what needs the bare minimum of what needs to be accomplished to allow the public in to a space I get there's a debate about people people's homes you know they do what you want but when you're having the public I'm going to interrupt you there so can we have come to a consensus that this be our first priority? no only because I'm hearing this person say we don't have the leverage to make it our first priority and have it really mean anything so at this point I'm concerned that maybe it should be third because okay okay alright yeah okay if this is a priority we're going to make this happen we're going to get the standards in we're going to call the people in and we're going to hurt you know pressure on them like housing we need more housing healthy first yeah so finding homes for everyone before winter before the cold really sets in and that means for everyone so is that a good doable short term I think that we've got a lot of good resources and people who are really interested and if we say that this is this is what we want this is where we want to start big time you know then it's very targeted and then mental health what about mental health for me I want it as number one priority of such but what do we want for mental health yes I mean if we're talking short term and do a little and I think yes to all the veins I'm just like there's practitioner it's my thing mental health but like oh you are but I think in the short term it's doable and what's also coming out of prevention okay it's the third space it's like those third spaces say that again third space places together the isolation have people have a place to gather okay so I'd like you know this popcorn um what did you like about this this meeting and time together let's put a close to it a moderate patient thank you and what um what else did you like all voices were heard all voices were heard what else we're respectful yes respectful okay and then how about for the next time we get together at these small group meetings how can we do it a little more right don't assume gender identity yeah don't ever assume gender identity that is really a big piece of more small more small group time more small group time certainly are you sure we're improving you somehow yes okay thank you so let's all come together to have um some legislature in the big group