 Sit on your screen saying this is being recorded and pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via zoom or by telephone see the instructions blow no in person attendance of members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means and so I'm calling the meeting to order at 402 p.m. And so we're just going to go ahead and do some quick welcoming and some introductions this is the first meeting for the community safety and social justice committee. My name is Jennifer moisten for you. Those don't know me and I am the assistant director to diversity equity inclusion. And so I'm just going to have everybody introduce themselves by what I see on the screen and so in the top corner I see Sean mangano. Hi, I'm Sean I'm the director of finance for the town. And Allegra. I'm Allegra Clark and immersed resident. And Paul. I'm Paul buckling I'm the town manager. And Fred, I don't want to mispronounce your name I'm sorry. Hi, I'm freki at a and I teach at the college. And D. Yes. Hi, I'm the Shabazz freki at a what college you teach at college. Oh, okay. You said it just college I didn't know so so many here. So I teach at several different colleges, but I'm a resident here in Amherst. And Deborah. I'm a attorney with office general counsel at UMass Amherst, also formerly with the community safety working group and Amherst resident. And Ms. Pat. I'm on the back home, mother of five children. I miss resident for the past 37 years. I'm self employed I had a company in badly, and I'm a miss resident. And a former CSWG member. Sorry. Yes. Yes. So I'm going to share screen next we're going to go over the agenda quickly. And we will be changing the order a little bit the, Sean has to leave earlier so we'll move the finance overview up. And as you can see, we'll have, we'll move public comment towards the end so that way if you guys have voted for a chair that they can run the public comment period. So our first is election of a chair review of the charge you all should have just received the charge shortly. And then we'll go over the open meeting law and the financial overview and then we'll have an update or a Miller will be joining us was the new director of the community responders for equity safety and service, and then I will give an update on the DEI department. And so that's what we have for the agenda today. And now I'm going to hand it over to Paul. And welcome everybody and thank you so much for dedicating your time to this committee. So the first sort of thing we have to do is elect a chair. And the way we do that is that I'll ask for nominations for the chair, and you can self dominate if you so choose. It does not need to be seconded, and I'll continue that process until we have all the names on the floor. And then once we have all the names on the floor, I'll go around person by person and you will say who you would like to elect as your chair, if you're prepared to do that it's good to have a chair. The committee can change chairs at any time it's it's the will it's the will of the committee to make its decisions on this. And I think, you know, so I will. And then if you want to have a vice chair, the chair will then as soon as we elect the chair the chair takes over the meat running the meeting. And then they can elect a vice chair if you so choose or any other officers typically there is a vice chair who can run the meeting in case the chair isn't available or has a conflict or something like that. So I'll open the floor for nominations for a chair. Miss Pat. I like to nominate Dr. Shabazz. Do you accept the nomination? I mean that I can't get my sound to work right, maybe not. I, I'd like to hear other nominations but I'll accept it on behalf that Miss Pat nominated me but I would like to nominate Allegra. Do you accept the nomination? Yes. Okay. And I would like to nominate Ms. Deborah Ferrara. Ms. Ferrara, do you accept the nomination? Thank you for that lovely nomination Allegra but I'm going to decline just because I'm just too too busy folks already know that I usually don't take the chair position but thanks though. Are there any other nominations to service chair? So, since you're officiating this town manager, and there's a possibility of having a vice chair or co-chair point of order, are we to do that after there's a chair that has been elected? Yeah, so there'll be a chair and then the chair takes over and can run an identical procedure for vice chair. It's two different actions, Ms. Ferrara. What about though if we wanted to nominate like co-chairs, could we do that? You can do that. All right, so I'll nominate the me chair and Allegra as co-chairs. Okay, so that you both would have to say yes to you would be willing to be a co-chair. Absolutely. Yeah, if Allegra's willing to do that then I'm willing to do that. Okay. So we have one nomination on the table for co-chairs, meaning Ms. Clark and Dr. Chavaz. And I hear no other nominations, so we'll go around and I'll ask you if you vote for this nomination. So Ms. Clark. Yes. Okay. Mr. Dr. Este. Yes. Ms. Ferrara. Yes. Ms. Pat. Yes. And Dr. Chavaz. Yes. Okay. So I am assuming with co-chairs, we don't need to go to the vice chairs, but I'll turn the virtual gavel over to whichever one of you would like to run the rest of the meeting. I agree you want to do it. I think we can decide at some point how, you know, we want to officiate the meeting. You can work it out between themselves. Yes. I, I suppose I will run the rest of the meeting. You'll be fine. You'll be great. And just to note that I think Jen mentioned this that we, on the, the, on justing the agenda is that Sean McGonaugh does have a commitment that so if we could raise him to the upper part of the meeting says he's just going to do a brief overview of the process of how do you get, how the finances for the town work. He's got like three slides I think to show. Can I just ask a question? Sure. Is, is the chair responsible for note taking or is somebody else note taking. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now I can't find my agenda. Can you share screen if you would like. That would be wonderful. I just have to my minutes are over here. Okay. Sorry, my dashboard is a little out of control. Okay. Can you see the agenda? I see the charge. Oh, right. So sorry. Am I able to share screen. Oh, I have it. Right there. So we are reviewing. So are we asking to bump D up to B? Is that okay? Yeah. Sean, are you able to share your screen? Yeah. Do you want me to go ahead and start? Does everybody see the. Power point on the screen. Okay. So thank you for inviting me and I appreciate your flexibility moving in the schedule around. So I'm going to go through this. I'm going to talk about some of the different pathways for requesting funds. I'll start with the sort of the major pathway with the. The town operating budget, but I'll go over some of the other funding sources as well. And if there's questions, if we have time for questions, I'll do questions. If not, you can always send them to me or go through Jen and send them to me. So I'm going to start with the general fund budget. So the, this is the major budget that the council is working on right now. Right now they're considering it for the FY 23 fiscal year, which starts on July 1st of this coming July and ends on the following June 30th. That budget process really kicks off in November. So if you look at this sort of a tannish color where it says November financial indicators, that's the kickoff of the, the general budget, budget process. And so that presentation is where we. We do a forecast of our revenues for the upcoming year. And we also look at different benchmarks about how, around how the town is performing. So what our operating expenses are per capita, how much new growth we're bringing in, a whole bunch of different measurements. So we present that as sort of a kickoff to the budget process. And then shortly after that meeting, there will be a budget forum. So the budget forum is designed to hear from the public. Really for the staff to hear from the public, but also counselors and the town manager to hear from the public. And at that meeting, anyone can come and say what they like in the budget, what they don't like in the budget, what they would advocate for the following year in the budget. And we hold that intentionally in November, because it's very early in the process. It's before we really start developing parts of the budget. For the upcoming cycle. We hold that early to get that input in the process. The finance committee will then start drafting budget guidelines. These are the council's budget guidelines, but the finance committee generally will draft them. So moving down to this sort of grayish color down here. So the finance committee will draft budget guidelines, which really lay out the, the framework for how the town manager will develop the budget. It talks about the things that the finance committee and really will want to see in the upcoming budget. It talks about their concerns, things of that nature. I'll give you a tangible example. The town has talked about a ladder truck for a while. And until this year, there was really no tangible direction from the council about. Go ahead and purchase the ladder truck. This year was sort of the first year where they said. Fix this address this issue. And so the budget guidelines will be drafted by the finance committee. They'll go to the council and then they'll be adopted by the council. So the budget guidelines, one thing that's not in here, but I'll just mention, so the budget guidelines coupled with the town manager's goals, those are sort of the two key inputs into the budget process. So we look at these guidelines and then whatever the updates to the town manager's goals are really closely when we start developing the budget for the following year. And we want to make sure that budget makes progress on each of those, anything that's specifically identified in the guidelines or goals that are outlined for the town manager. So after the budget guidelines and the goals are issued, we take the next three to four months to develop the budget. We work with departments and we get requests from each of the departments. We talk about any additions they may want, but really from January through the end of April is, is the town manager's budget development. The town manager must present his budget to the town council by the first of May. And so that will go to the council and then they'll automatically refer it to the finance committee. And then the finance committee will meet several times throughout the month of May to dig into the really department level budget information and ask questions and they invite all the departments to come speak with them. And so on. By the end of May, the finance committee has to make a recommendation on that budget to the council. The other thing that's held in May is a public hearing on the budget. So this is sort of like the forum, but now that there's actually a document for the public to react to. And so it's a, it's an evening meeting. I think we held ours on the 16th for this year. And this is the opportunity for the public now to react to the actual budget that the town manager presented. And then so once the finance committee makes their recommendation, it will go to the council. The council will discuss it. Usually this happens in June and then they will, they have to vote on the budget or take some action on the budget in June. So I'll go over, I'm going to go over. I'll stick with this process before I go back or some of the other processes. So sort of the key points to participate in the budget process. So the budget forum is the first one and probably one of the more important ones because it's before the budget is done. And then the next one is the public hearing. So this November date, whatever, whatever it's set for this coming year, this is a critical point for conveying any requests or any feedback on the budget to the council and to staff. The next opportunity really isn't until the public hearing. I mean, you can always, you can always communicate with, with counselors, the town manager, when they're developing their budget guidelines or developing their budget. So the public hearing is really the next one in May. But other ways to participate, you can always communicate through your staff liaison. So for this, for this group, your staff liaison, I believe is Jen. So if there's thoughts or requests for the budget, you can always communicate through Jen. If you, if this group. And this was originally developed for another group. So I'm not sure what recommendations will come out of this group or what, what, yeah, there will be recommendations, but if there's any recommendations that are specific for the schools or for the library, those would go directly to those committees. It wouldn't come to us per se. They have their own budget processes that are a little bit earlier than ours. And then again, you can always communicate with the town council, the town manager, or once we have put together a budget document and proposed it, we use engage Amherst to solicit feedback. But in terms of if this group is going to make recommendations or voice feedback, I think the November budget form is really that critical date to hit. So that's for the general fund. Again, the large 80, 90 million dollar budget. There's a couple other funding streams that don't follow this exact timeline. So there's the community preservation act, which is, it's a separate. Surcharge on the tax rate. And it can fund. Recreation open space. Affordable housing. Historical preservation. And what one of my missing, Paul. Conservation. You're muted, Paul. I'm linked to myself. Yeah. Conservation historic preservation, recreation. Okay. I think we have space. Yeah. So, so there's this, this font, these funds are a little bit restricted to certain uses. But the application window for requesting community preservation act funds usually opens up around the, either the end of August or early September. And that will be a month for that application is open. And so you can submit, anybody can submit a request for CPA funds that. I think. Resident or physically located Amherst can submit a request. And. That will go to the CPA committee who will consider all the requests that come in and then develop a recommendation. And that recommendation will go to the council for consideration. But the, the key timeline for CPA or community preservation act. If there's anything that would fit into those, into that criteria would be that late August month of September timeframe for submitting a request. And they usually will hold an information session during, at the beginning of that process as well to sort of communicate their priorities or address, get questions from the community. The other process that's available to the public is the resident capital request. The main budget is sort of the operating side. There's also the capital. Funding that goes along with it. And there's a mechanism where it's open to the public. So anybody could submit a capital request. And that also is usually open for a month. And that month is typically October. And there will be a. Social media blast and it'll be put on the website when it's open. And we're trying to actually. Fix this, not fixed, but improve this process this year. Cause we receive feedback that it's sort of complicated or overly cumbersome. So we're looking to make this a little bit more user-friendly this year, but this is the opportunity for anybody to submit a specific capital request in town. These requests would go to the joint capital planning committee. And then the joint capital planning committee could recommend. These projects be part of the town manager's capital improvement program. And a specific example of one that has happened in the past. A few years ago, there was a request to do a feasibility study at cracker farm. Of what it would look like to expand the cracker farm or. Add classrooms, I believe. It was part of the whole school project process. And so that was ultimately approved and included as part of the capital improvement program. And that study was done. So there have been a few projects that have gone through this. Avenue. And then the last one I'll say, it's not here on the screen, but I was talking with planning today. So there's also. A couple of other projects that I'm going to talk about. I'm going to talk about. Something called the community development block grant or CDBG. These are funds that are targeted for low and moderate income residents of the town. So any projects, that's the eligibility criteria for those funds that has to sort of specifically. Service low to moderate income residents. But that process is an annual one. And the application window opens up. Between November and December of each year. And then they will submit them to the town manager for approval and then submit them to the state. And get approval from the state. So there's, there's sort of multiple streams, depending on what recommendations come out as to how different things could be funded. And then there's also, you know, there's, you know, there's, you know, you know, there's, you know, there's, you know, there's a lot of different ways of how different things could be funded. And, and yeah, I think I'll end it there and see if there's any questions. I do have a question. Thank you for the presentation. And is that a reason why different. Budget. Timing. It's different from one another. Is it possible for the town council or the town. To make it the same time frame to make it easier for people to remember. For example, the CPA is August. And then you're talking CSE, whatever. And then the main capital and general funding. That's one thing. Second thing is that. I don't see too. Many opportunities for residents to weigh in on budget. You're talking about the general fund in November and the next, you know, for public input and then the next one is May. I'm hoping that the town council would do something to at least have one or two more opportunities, maybe in February, April or something like that. I've lived in this town for a long time. I still not very clear about how the budget process work. When it be possible to, you know, for the town also to mail budget process to all households in this town. So that people get educated and know when to start advocating for some project or services. I just feel that. Residents need to be more involved than we are actually. I mean, those are the comments. I'm not expecting you to give me all the answers. It's just. We need more education as resident. We have people who don't have access to. Computer or don't know how to navigate the system and people who speak other languages. And yeah, it's just, there's a lot of flaws in our budget process. Thank you. Yeah, no, those are really good comments. I think one thing we've started doing is using the tax bill when we mail out the tax bill to communicate information. The hard part about that is that it doesn't necessarily get to everybody. If, if you're a renter and you don't ever see the tax bill, they wouldn't get all that information. So we'd have to still think of another way to reach everybody. But there may be some things we can do around the tax bill and using if people provide their emails to us, there's ways we can blast out information. In terms of additional meetings, I think February and April would be tough because again, that's when sort of the town manager has taken the input and developing a budget document. So if there's input that came in late, it would be tough to include, but I agree with you about finding more ways to get input. And one thing I want to try to do this coming year. And if you guys will have me back, I would like to meet with this group is I, and I did this at the schools a little bit is I want to meet with sort of the key groups in November and December before the budget is starting to be developed and just go over like the financial indicators report, the projections, what we're thinking, and sort of get direct feedback from the committees. So, so, you know, this group I want to meet with, I know that AHRA is also would be interested in that. We've heard a lot from sort of the disability access advisory board and groups like that. So I want to meet with some of the key stakeholder groups or directly early in the process and get direct feedback before we start really developing the budget. And that may be one way to get more resident input. And then in terms of your first point about just sort of making the timelines more in sync, I think we have heard that as well. That's a really good point. I think it's, we're constantly trying to get them a little bit more aligned, but one of the issue we run into is if we have them too aligned, there's so many boards and committees trying to meet at once. That is just, it's impossible for staff to be in all, to do all the boards and committee meetings. So for example, if CPA and JCPC and the finance committee, we're all meeting to discuss the budget at the same time. They're separate pieces of it. There would just be too many meetings for staff to get to, to talk about all of those things. So some, it's been intentionally split up a little bit to just allow sort of the space it out throughout the year. But we can also, but in terms of like application windows and things like that, when residents have an opportunity to submit requests, we can try to do a better job of aligning those windows. Thank you. Thank you, Sean. So I'd like to address, and maybe you can clarify from me, something that Ms. Pat brought up about making things accessible. Wasn't there some funding that was brought in by Mindy Dom? Yes. Retaining to translations. I haven't seen any of that going on, whether it's town council or any other meeting. So can you let us know what's the status of that? Yeah, absolutely. No, you're absolutely right. I think it was about 80,000. The really nice thing about those funds, usually earmarks have to be spent by June 30th. But that those funds actually have a much longer timeline. So they can be spent over multiple years. But those funds right now are with the community participation officers who are coming up with a plan for how to use them as intended, of which Jen's one of those, one of those people along with Angela Mills and Brianna Sunrid, thinking of how they would use those funds to increase community participation. So it's sort of the two goals of those funds were to increase community participation and engagement. And to make materials more accessible through things like translations and so on. Okay, so for clarification, so it was earmarked through that I could see where that interpretation and maybe that's the logical place, but also community safety and social justice, I would think should be a part of that conversation. Yeah, no, I think the good news is Jenna's your liaison and she's one of the one of the key people that's determined how those funds are spent so she can keep you updated or if they want to sort of share the tentative. I don't think anything specific has been we've sort of broken them into buckets of the types of things that they might be used for in terms of translations and interpretations. Going on, but Jen might have more information on where that's at. Okay, love to hear it. So I might have time for one more question that I'll have to run, but again, I can, you can email me questions after this or give them to Jen. I see Deb. Yeah, I mean, I think it's some of the same things, Sean. I mean, just what really want to impress upon you and, you know, and Mr. Bachman, but Paul about it is that like for me, you know, and I have access to computers and everything else. And I didn't know about, you know, when it was that we need to give the feedback when it was that we can, you know, be responsive when it was that these decisions were being made. Never mind like what Ms. Pat said and what Dr. Shabat said, which is, you know, those that English, English is second language, they have accessibility issues, things like that. I mean, we have to do better in terms of really getting that information out there, because if not, we're not being inclusive, not being able to really, that other people take part in our town government. And that's, you know, that's what we want to happen. And then the second part in terms of our committee, and I'm hoping when we talk about the charge, we'll get more clarity around that because, yeah, I do think we need to be an integral part of kind of getting, you know, our, our feedback in regards to, you know, how the budget is going to be spent, as well as, you know, I want to get more clarity in terms of our charge, right, you know, are we going to be obviously overseeing what Community Safety Working Group recommended, but are we also going to be making some recommendations? Because I think that that will also kind of tie it in and bring more clarity in terms of what it is that we're going to be doing so that we know right from the beginning what we need to do. Well, thank you guys again for having me. And if you have any questions, either send them to me directly, or you can go through Paul or Jen. And I, you know, I appreciate the feedback about trying to do a better job communicating the process to the public and those opportunities to, for that, for the public to give us input. And, you know, if you have specific suggestions or specific strategies that you'd like us to consider, you can also send those along. Thank you. Thank you, Sean. And I will put Sean's PowerPoint into a packet. So once I have all of the things from tonight, I'll put them all in one complete packet and load them to the website and send them out to you guys as well. And so before we move further, Philip has arrived. So I would just like him to introduce himself to everybody. Hi everybody, I'm Philip Avila. Work at Amherst Survival Center. I've been a part of the town since 2018. What was that you said at the end? I was just saying looking forward to working with everybody. Okay, great. And so Earl Miller has joined us as well. Earl, do you want to give an introduction? Thank you all for having me nine weeks in. So I apologize if there's any unsatisfactory answers, but as Chief Nelson says, we're building the plane as we fly it, which is tricky, tricky stuff, but I'm really glad to have you guys here. Good to be here. And I'll give my pleasure to, to the kind of depth of knowledge you all have. And I'm really glad that I've met, I think, most, if not all of you in person at this point, which is, is nice for a Zoom meeting. Great. And a liquid to you want to move on to the next agenda item. Yes, which I believe was reviewing the charge. Yes. So I've sent two versions of the charge out. With the most recent one. Yes, please. And you can guys, we'll see the charge. Yeah. Perfect. And so Paul. So yeah, so I'll walk through the charge to be good. The top part is just sort of a summary of what the charge is. It's the name of the committee. We usually give a little acronym CSS JC to a committee. So when we refer to it, we can, you know, we know we're talking about. It is a town manager appointed committee that's done under the authority, the home rule charter. The liaison is right now, Jen moison, but we will have our director and that department as your primary liaison. So it'll be both Jen and Pamela Nolan, who will be here. Nolan young who will be start on honor about July one. So we're really excited about having her start. And they will be your primary support team as you go through everything. So you have various, the first, your terms of appointment vary at different timelines because we stagger them for the first, first appointment. So the composition is seven voting members. You note that we only have six members appointed. So we still have a vacancy. And I think that the interview team that had gone that you had all met with felt like they went to reserve one spot and to create a little bit more age diversity. And some other goals. So if there are other candidates who want like to serve that that's still an opportunity available to anybody that you know, or that others express interest. Yeah, really quickly. Yeah. In terms of that, I thought about that, you know, in terms of like making sure we can get like, you know, young person on board. You know, young voice, that would be important because I know with CSWG, we had a lot of younger adults and obviously a youth member. So I think that would make a difference if we could have some more, you know, young voices. I totally agree. And so, you know, and I think, you know, we did at the, actually there were two people at the reception at the gruff park. That Jen connected with two students from the high school who are now, I think, Phillip, you'd share the human rights commission. I think they're putting their names forward for the human rights commission, which is kind of exciting. Right. Yeah. So two members. Ms. Pat and Deborah are representatives of the former community safety working group. So because this is, we call this the successor group to the community safety working group. And so that is to have the legacy of that group. And that the sort of shared knowledge coming forward. And then, you know, the third bullet is that we try to be as representative of the, of the town's socioeconomic diversity. And I think that's a good point. I think that's always a challenge for all of our committees to get a broad range of people because many times people is people of means who have the time. You all have very difficult time. It's really hard for us to schedule this. So I know your schedules are really difficult, but a lot of folks are serving, you know, working two jobs and stuff. Just don't have the time to put into serving on a committee. So we continue to strive for that. And I'll just read the next one. The next page is really the where we want to talk about the charge itself. The purpose is to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and community safety and Amherst. The committee may provide advice and support to all town government entities, including the town council, town manager and town committees to fully realize the resolution. This is a resolution adopted by the town council affirming the town of Amherst commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity for black residents. That was adopted in December of 2020. The committee shall work to support all members of the Amherst community to understand and enjoy the benefits of the community that's truly diverse, equitable and inclusive of all and shall serve as a voice to marginalized and underrepresented residents. So this is the charge. And this is what you were starting to reference Deb, I think. So it's to incorporate and continue the work done by CSWG for systemic change. So CSWG is basically laid out a road map going forward. And, you know, that, you know, it's, it's not a Bible, but it's, it's the best, it's the map we have at that moment, this moment in time. And I think, you know, this group will look at it and say, oh, we've got a different idea and we can adjust that as we see fit as you see fit. It's to ensure the implementation of all CSWG recommendations that have been adopted by the town council and or the town manager. Some things land in the town council's lap, some big policy things. Other things are in the town manager's lap. And then the track progress on the community responders for safety for equities. That's interesting. We missed the word equity for equity, safety and service, the Crest program. And that's what Earl is running. And he will update you on that. And then the DEI department, which we created, which when our new DEI director starts, she will be representing updating you on that work as well. The youth empowerment center in the BIPOC multicultural center. Support the work of the DEI and Crest programs and employees that address the needs of BIPOC and other marginalized groups, including the youth empowerment center. The youth empowerment center and BIPOC multicultural center. Recommend funding sources, including grants focused on targeted priorities for marginalized residents. With the most impactful and sustainable pro projects. Ensure that the town implements a robust translation service, which we talked a little bit about. And then provide input to the town manager. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. That's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. And that's what we're doing. That's what I wanted to talk a little bit about. And then provide input to the town manager during the budget process. And that's one of the reasons we wanted to have Sean Mangan, here at your first meeting. So you could see when those. Entry points are. And as he noted. You know, there is the CPA process in August, September, and then really November is the time when we're pre budgeting. We're sort of talking about where, but resources we have. So I think this is open for discussion to the co-chairs. Yes, any questions? I mean, the first part of the purpose seems very similar to the Human Rights Commission. So I do appreciate the breakdown and the specificity in terms of the charge, because as I've worked with at least half of the people on this group, we will pay attention to that and do our utmost to make sure those things happen for the residents of this town. So that's my comment regarding the charge, particularly looking at the Multicultural Center and the BIPOC Youth Empowerment Center and of course Cress. I saw Ms. Pat and then Ms. Deb. So I just want to thank the town manager for reading out the charge. I think it reflected what CSWG had put together. Thank you. For me, yeah, again, it was great to kind of go into this. But I know that obviously myself and Ms. Pat, we have a lot more kind of knowledge because we work within the community safety working group. So hopefully we'll have a way to kind of bring everyone else up to speed. And then I know that everyone here probably was obviously monitoring and keeping a pride in what was going on. But there's a lot of information. So we're going to have to figure out how to make sure you all have that information so that we can really kind of, because one of the main things was to really make sure that this group, as a successor group, would be able to really kind of hone in on those recommendations and really kind of figure out how it is that we'll hold the town to task to make sure that those recommendations are followed up on and follow through on, especially with budget behind it and with the voice of the community. And when we're talking about the voice community, BIPOC community included in those margin lines, making sure we're getting that feedback. And with that, I want to make sure that if we do need even ourselves, and those are some questions I have. So if we need any budget to make sure that we're getting the information out there to people who are marginalized, who English is second language and I think how does that work? Because if we're trying to make these things go through, we need the community input. We need the community to be on board. How do we make that happen? So that's my first question. And then my second question is that since we are a committee that's going to be here for the longevity of it, it's not a working group like CSWG was that ended. Obviously there might be other, as we work through and hopefully put the other things that CSWG recommended in place, there might be other recommendations that we see as we continue our work, right? That become very important and very critical. So are we able to make recommendations and what would those look like and what would the process look like? So those are two questions budget. And then let's say we, how do we go about making other recommendations? Yeah, I think it's a, in terms of the budget, yes, definitely need to, it's explicit in the charge that the charge for the committee is to provide input to the town manager during the budget process and that can be identifying needs in the community, priorities for the community, things like that. And I think it's not just the town manager. I think what's also important is to communicate that to the town council when they set their financial goals. That's a really important document from us in the town manager's goals and to communicate to the council because that's, they're my employer. And as I start to develop the budget, I really look at what they have voted on that. So that's why it's not, it's to communicate at both levels, I think. And in terms of making other recommendations, yeah, that's up to, you know, if there are things that you see that you can make recommendations, I mean, part of it is to look at the roadmap that CSWG laid out and part of it is to support the DEI and Cress programs. And I think these are big programs that we really need to support actively to make sure they become successful. It's, I'm really committed to making sure both of those programs are successful. And I think we've got great leaders to help make them successful and successful over the long term. That's the important thing from my perspective. I don't want something that's going to be here and gone in two or three years. This is going to be here forever. And that's how we're looking at every, all of these different, these two programs in particular because these are the two big departments that we've created, we haven't created a new department since the 30s or 40s. So this is an important statement by the town. So, and then if there are other recommendations that the committee has, you know, that sort of things that committee can review, study, make recommendations on for sure. Can I ask a clarifying question? Because I was understanding Deb's question is like, if we need a consultant or if we are doing a community forum and we want to provide childcare or pizza or whatever it might be or translation services, are we, does CSSJC itself have some discretionary funding that we can use for those sorts of events? Right, so the CSSJC does not have a budget. Most committees do not have budgets. There are departments that have budgets. There's a probably not a big enough budget for the DEI department. And then there's the $80,000 that Sean referenced, which is the earmark. But that's part of the conversation going forward like what should that budget look like, you know, as we build our budget next year and what are the needs in terms of translation services and interpretation services. And, you know, we're just scratching the surface of this right now. But I think if there are funds that are needed for specific things, you know, I think we can talk with what we see, what sources we have right now that we can utilize. So as a committee, we wouldn't have a budget, but if we were doing something and say decided to partner with Cress or DEI to put on an event or to do a community forum. So the budget could come from that department first. Yeah, I don't want to spend Earl's money, but... But you can talk about that. So for my clarity as well, just in terms of the structure of the town, I guess I just needed articulated. So the department is DEI. Cress is under DEI. No. No, no, no, no. Okay, so that's what I need. Is there like a new structure tree for the organization within the town? Yeah, that's an excellent clarification. So we have two new... So the town's structured as a town manager with we have like 15 departments or something like that. New department DEI, which is the DEI director and the assistant director, and they're located on, you know, on the mezzanine and then the new department Cress, which is going to be located at the Bangs Community Center, separate department. Right now, both are direct reports to the town manager. They don't, there's no, nobody they interfere with that direct report. And so hold on. So then as this committee, we are situated again under the town manager. Yes. Okay, so just in terms of the structure of the town. Yep. No budget. I did hear that. Ms. Pat and Jeff. So just for some of the members who may not be familiar with how we got to two departments. The reasoning of having the I department and Cress department was the fact that CSWG recognized in our town that we don't have BIPOC leadership in any department. And so that's how we pushed for the two departments just to bring history to all of you. That's how it happened. And so it's good to have some people of color in leadership position in our town. So I guess like from hearing what Dimitri just said, I think it would be good part of that. And I don't know if you all have this already, but just to have an org chart. I mean, if you all have an org chart to share with all of us to kind of really showcase, you know, where everything lies and who reports to whom and which departments report to whom. I think that would be an important piece of, you know, document to share with us. And then in terms of the budget, you know, thank you Allegra for like following our approach for those questions and clarifying questions because those were the things that I wanted to find out more about. I think, yeah, I think it's gonna be, you know, as we we're starting our work and we continue our work. I mean, those are some of the questions I wanna keep bringing up because I think it's gonna be critical for the work that we do to make sure that these recommendations go through, that the community is kept very much a prize and that a community knows what's going on. And if there's not a way to either use budget that's already existing to the ADK or to use other budget, I don't know how that's gonna happen because for me, you know, I don't feel like I can just speak for the community or I don't think any of us here can just speak for the community. You know, we need to be in close communication with a community with marginalized voices, with BIPOC voices to make sure that we are, we have the pulse of what they want, right? And what they want us to bring about, you know, and make sure that it's current. So that's why hearing that, you know, we have no budget basically, it kind of makes it a little bit trickier. So just know that I'm gonna be asking those questions because, you know, I don't work in isolation and I don't wanna work in isolation. It has to be with, you know, making sure that everyone that we know what folks want and that we can follow through on it. And then lastly, you know, I know we're talking about DEI and we're talking about press, which is wonderful and we gotta, you know, make sure that, you know, these two departments are successful but the other recommendations that we are obviously as a group are going to be asking about is youth empowerment and also the BIPOC Multicultural Center, which, you know, from what I keep hearing and I don't have all the information, I might be speaking partly but it's kind of like, I don't even know if those are even being talked about, there's any budget behind them. So that needs to also be, you know, up there, up top in terms of the list of things. Yeah. Allegra, if I can. So let's see, I'll go backwards. Hope they remember. So yeah, org chart. Yes, we don't have an update at org chart but that's a really great reminder because we need to update that. The only org chart we have is the one that was done during the charter and that was, you know, so we need to update that. That's a really good point because that will come in useful on multiple levels. In terms of the, what was the second thing? The budget. So there's a lot in terms of outreach. So there's a lot of people, a lot of committees working to connect with members of the communities. The Jones library committee is doing, building committee is doing a lot of outreach. The elementary school building committee wants to do additional outreach. The community participation officers are working on community outreach. The Cres program is pretty active in community outreach. The recreation department is doing community outreach and, you know, there's the CPO's community participation officers. Just for those who don't know, in the charter, it requires us to have, it says a community participation officer. We have instead assigned, pick three employees, Jen, Moison being one of them, Brianna Sunridt being the other and Angel Lill Mills being the third is our sort of trio of community participation officers who are also working in the same area about engaging people in the community, in town government. It's work that everybody's chipping into. It doesn't land just in one. It's part of all of our work. And I think what your job is, when we looked at the charge is that, your job is say, are we doing it? Like, are we paying attention to this in a good way? And the counselors, I have to say, we just had a meeting with one of the counselors about how each individual counselor is also trying to reach out into individual, into different communities. And your third point was? Oh, around the youth empowerment and BIPOC multicultural. Yeah, yeah. So those are things you may know that we have a new recreation director, Ray Harp in the Youth Empowerment Center. We sort of landed in the recreation department, but we quickly realized that was a pretty big task. We have assigned, we have put half a million dollars of ARPA funds to support the Youth Empowerment Center. We have not spent that money yet. It's not for a study. It's to help figure out what to do. What's the next step for the Youth Empowerment Center? But we have put that money aside. And some of this, some of the work that we were doing, it's just a matter of capacity. How much work can each individual department take on at a certain period of time? Ray is relatively new. And we've realized that we need a team to work on this for the Youth Empowerment Center and to figure out what that's going to look like and who it would serve, where it would be located, things like that. I saw Dee and then Ms. Pat. So really just again language is important and clarification is necessary as we begin this process. I hear a lot in listening to Town Council, the Planning Board and the Finance Committee of Youth Empowerment, yet it does not include BIPOC Youth Empowerment. And all youth, of course, deserve to be empowered and would have access to such a center. But CSWG specifically, you know, envisioned and recommended one that is for BIPOC Youth. And so in that, they be the focus. And so I just, I don't want us to get away from that charge set forth by the CSWG. Ms. Pat. So again, going back to CSWG, Town Manager, thank you for your comments. I'm kind of confused why Recreational Department was even involved in exploring youth empowerment program or center. CSWG, what we had recommended is to have youth center under the leadership of DEI. Same thing with the BIPOC Cultural Center. And the site supervisors must be the pool of color is what CSWG recommended. So that the reasoning being that the youth center can accommodate any youth in our town from different racial background. But it's very critical that youth of color see the leadership in that center as people of color. The staff has to be people of color is what we recommended. So I'm kind of confused about half a million dollars upper fund to be explored. We just need space. When DEI director is up and running, let her hire people she wants to hire and have it running. I don't understand the Rec Department because our vision about youth center is beyond recreational. We need a center where youth can be mentored for careers, get help. And I can go on and for arts, music, all that stuff not just Rec alone. So that's one thing. Another thing and I will shut up and I know some people have not spoken and I don't want to dominate this meeting. But I hope that we don't repeat some mistakes we did with CSWG. We had the sponsored public forum. And I remember we discussed compensating folks who took a whole like bold courage to speak their pain of racism of what they went through in this town. And our group discussed that we're going to give them give card and it never happened. And MS is very well resourced. If we're doing outreach, we're reaching out. Not everybody is financially OK. If you want to reach diverse voices, we have to compensate them in order to get their input. So I hope that moving forward that our new group will ensure that when we're reaching out to people of color, low income marginalized people that we compensate them. It's similar to having professors, you know, being paid to review something. Why is that different from marginalized people? We need to think about that. I don't I don't even want to hear that I was, you know, we don't have money without our time is where resource is a question of where are we putting our priority? If we're saying that we're going to push for equity and diversity, we need to see it by action. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat. I don't know if I want to weigh in. Anybody else have any final comments? I guess I do, actually. I guess my question was I really I think the charge is looking good, but I am wondering I just didn't see any reference to any of the kind of recommendations from Part B of the community safety working groups work. And I do think that that report had a lot more policy recommendations than necessarily things would be putting a budget behind. And I just want to make sure that we're also supposed to be working on those things as well, because I do think that there were a lot of very good recommendations that would increase equity and hopefully decrease racial profiling and potential for negative police interactions for BIPOC residents. So this I'm sorry. So I think this charge was drafted actually by members of the CSWG. I don't know if it's actually voted on by CSWG. It may have, but so this is I know I remember working with representatives from the CSWG on the charge and sort of coming to this is what we agreed on is being a successor committee charge. That's fine. If I may. So with CSWG, we came up with two future committee, one of them being this committee and also the resident oversight board. I believe Miss Allegra, what you're referring to is something that the oversight resident board will take on. I believe that was actually myself and Alicia Walker drafted what the charge and then it was reviewed by the CSWG as a group and then we adopted it. Does that answer your question? Yes, thank you. And so I guess that is my question. Oh, how did that change? I'm somewhere else now. It's amazing what's going on my computer. So my question is about the resident oversight board and is that something that we will help to shepherd in as the CSJC and then secondly, having to do with Cress, that part B seemed to be part of that. And so, yeah, so I guess I'm asking for for clarification. Where do we start and then this other one, you know, and then in? And where does that start, Deb and Miss Pat? Well, I mean, for me, I really think that like all of the, you know, the recommendations that we were talking about, of course, these were the main ones that we were discussing. But I think all of the recommendations that we were talking about, we need to make sure that the town is following up on, you know, that's in CSWG, what was in part A and what was in part B, because that was the thing that since we were a finite group that ended, we weren't able to make sure that all of those other recommendations that we made were followed up on. So we basically ran out of time, you know? So since we are a successful group, we need to make sure that, you know, like even the the, you know, the panel there, what is the resident oversight? Yeah, the resident oversight board, you know, even though we're not going to go into the specifics of the work, they're going to do that, obviously. But we want to make sure that they do get up and running, you know? We want to see, you know, where are things at with that, right? You know, you know, is the town moving forward in putting that group together because that's a critical group that needs to happen to oversee the police and, you know, the complaints that come in about the police and to make sure that community members feel safe to complain about the actions that the police take. So so I think we have that kind of overlying oversight in regards to it, even though we're not going to be doing the specific work, but we want to make sure that those recommendations, you know, do come to pass because, as we do, we ran out of time. So what's the timeline for that, Paul? I mean, I'm already folks that, you know, saw in the paper that I was on this committee, they have questions, you know, kind of these gray area questions such as, you know, if someone's walking on my lawn and it's a resident complaint because the person's walking on their lawn or littering or whatever, that's, you know, does a person with a uniform and a gun need to show up, you know, to to enforce that complaint. I mean, such things is that people are already trying to figure out, you know, how can we limit? And these are just regular residents limit policing for these types of low, you know, type of complaints. So I'm asking, what's the timeline on this this board? So if I can answer that. So two things. One is I think that the thing, the example you used to actually would be a Cress response and Earl can address that because that's exactly why Cress was one of the reasons I mean that Cress was developed in terms of the resident oversight board. That's landing in the DEI directors. Bailey Wick. So when she gets up and running, that's going to be under her to develop that because there's it's it's you just can't just create a committee. She we want her to make sure it's done right and that we we've already had people interested in serving on that. So that will be a priority for her when she gets up and when she gets here on July 1st. Miss Pat. Yes. So in addition to what Miss Zebra had explained. I just have one more thing to add while we are under. Not under that. Well, we're going to be working with DEI staffers and making sure. Yeah. Also, our role would be to also support Cress program to support the Cress director and the personnel. The resident of our board is more to hold the police. Department accountable to monitor them to, you know, take on complaints from residents and so on and so forth. While Cress program. Our group are supposed to provide support to that. That makes sense to people. And yeah, I just wanted to I mean, Earl's only been here eight weeks, nine weeks, but he's made so much progress. I'm really excited for him to explain where he is already on this this program. And it's it's really an exciting place to be in. The vision of CSWG to create a Cress program, which is which is different. And I credit totally what the CSWG for putting it as a public safety response, City of Northampton is doing it, but they're calling it public health response. There's most communities are doing public health responses, where we put this one in public safety and Earl can talk more about that because he's really embraced this approach. And whether it's the right approach or not, we don't really know. We're working through it. But, you know, I was really very compelling arguments from the CSWG and why it should be considered public safety and not public health. It's people will do studies on this, I think, into the future, comparing Northampton to to Amherst on how the two different approaches. So do we have to do anything other than review the charge? Do we have to like? No, this is just to inform you. And this is you'll probably take time to read it over again once we. I saw I noticed the one I sent that Jen sent out. I had the wrong footer on it, so I apologize for that. So she'll send an updated one that has the right footer on it. Yeah, it's just for you to review everyone whenever you want to. And then I just had a question. Do you think it would be possible if we have a packet that's put together to include the CSWG's part A and part B reports in it so that we can have those as review and reference? Yeah, we can go through the logistics of that. Maybe after at the end of the meeting, Jen can tell you how things how things will work going forward and creating packets for you and what will be on your website and things like that. Thank you. Does anyone have anything else they want to add about the charge before we move along? So open meeting law. And I just wanted to check in because it's about 510. So I just wanted to give time update on that. So I have a PowerPoint from the town clerk on open meeting law. And so I guess the question would be because of the time is 510. Do you guys want to go through the PowerPoint? Do you want me to add it into the packet and you guys review it when we can go over questions at the next meeting? Just trying to make sure that we get everything in because we still need to like Earl needs to speak on crests. We've got D.I. And then also kind of have to determine we're going to obviously think wait for Pamela before we schedule the next meeting. I don't know what you guys want to do or if we should wait for her to let us know when she's available. So yeah, I would say we can hold on the open meeting law presentation or go straight to Earl. That's agreeable to everyone. Thumbs up. Can we do a thumbs up vote? Is that official enough in Zoom world? OK, so let's move along. I hope I can be more entertaining than open meeting law presentations. So I can just go. Yeah, well, thank you all. I I feel really strongly about the public safety approach. The sense that I get from talking to folks nationally is that it is easier for public safety to work with public health than vice versa. And it does give us a clear charge. Our responsibility is ultimately the safe of the community. And then, you know, the name, equity, safety and service, the equity is a core piece of what we're doing. Outreach, I'm really heartened to hear you all talk about that. We have events scheduled that just about all the apartment complexes. I think we've done one so far at Olympia. We have one coming up on the 11th, I believe. Is it Village Commons? I might be getting the Village Park Village Park. The names kind of all flow together at this point. I apologize. But really, the the approach to outreach has really been as much as possible to get in front of folks to sit down and have real conversations about, you know, what this means to them and what the challenges they're facing. So currently, meeting with some folks who have some concerns really related to mental health around not receiving crisis services and trying to reach have meetings with those folks ahead of time, as well as some parents who fear that they may need to involve us with their kids and as much as possible, what we're saying is we would like to meet when things aren't so hard. I think one of the challenges is that if we're only meeting people on the worst day of their life, it's always going to be hard to make kind of real sustainable connections. And so I would love for you all to be a part of that and whatever way makes sense into we have some funding for engagement that Sean really is helping me with. Again, I haven't been here quite that long, but really that is targeted to increasing people's knowledge of Cress and capturing their input. And whatever means makes sense for folks. We are really rocket speed for public safety. In general, it takes months and months for firefighters and police to come on. We wanted to thank you in particular, Deb, the basketball tournament turned out to be a wonderful, wonderful recruitment event. We are, you know, we have we have some candidates we believe really strongly and I don't want to be unfair. I get too deep into that as folks are really just getting that notice and making their new their their the news known to their families. I want to give them a chance to do that the same way I receive that opportunity. But I do believe that we will be fully staffed when we when we start. We have a targeted training day. Pretty almost almost in in solidness, which is as close as it's ever been training start date of July 5th. There was a there's a lot of course correction that happens here. And I wish I could explain it all. But I talk about this for about 10 hours a day. So I get really, really I mean, Jen, we're at the middle school this afternoon. Boring all of the middle schoolers, except one, who got to get really, really specific into insurance inequities, which which was I liked, but I don't know that everyone else was as excited. So I get to get really into the minutiae. But the training thing was an issue of whether we were going to start when we had everyone or start with half the team. And this is a really new opportunity to have everyone come in at the same door at the same time to start together to really have them go on this journey together and not giving everyone that same opportunity. Felt like an inequity that would have been baked into our fabric. So we made the decision to start when we have everyone. We've had amazing candidates. I've said this before, I'll say it again. The candidate pool has been not huge, number wise, but incredibly deep in as far as the real diversity of folks backgrounds, racial backgrounds, language backgrounds, where free people are from, what their family makeup looks like and the ability of these folks to be honest in interviews was something that we were really looking for folks who we felt could speak really frankly with folks and and really, you know, I think in my mind, it was what I want. These folks in front of my daughter, what I want them in front of my family, what I want them in front of me in one of my hard times. I feel confident in the folks that we're looking at. There are a lot of other decision points coming down the line that it would be great to have conversations with you all about everything from vehicles, which we have been working really valiantly for. We ultimately ended up having to use the state contract. So that'll be a point that comes a little bit further down the road to what neighborhoods we're spending as we look at kind of patrol patterns where we want to be when there isn't anything happening, which is a weird decision point. I didn't necessarily think of eight weeks ago, but that is a really important thing. Where are we going to spend the in between call time? And what does that kind of upstream engagement look like? So I have the CSWG is absolutely the reason why I'm here. I know two other communities that are right now reviewing those videos to figure out their own process as they consider joining us on this journey. And I do have real hopes that we won't be alone in this public safety approach, which will be important. The more people go in this way, the more information we can gather quickly. And so we're working really, you know, as strongly off that as we can and keeping in mind that, you know, a big piece of this was how do we support folks who feel concerned or challenged about the police being their first point of contact? And what a great example of a neighbor dispute. Those are things that we've already started to have some touch points with. We're starting to negotiate and work out some mediation processes for folks that and what are those agreements look like, right? Because mediation is a challenging process. Folks really do have to agree to what a middle ground might look like. Yeah, so that's and as far as our visits to the apartment complexes, we're really focused on the family apartment complexes over the summer. Recognizing that those folks are in town all the time and they deserve to be kind of the first folks up. But there also there's no college there aren't that many college students. So and then really putting the places where students are mostly for September so that we can meet them as they come back and be a part of the town's welcoming and expectation setting with folks as we started this journey. So I couldn't talk for hours and do and I don't want to bore you all. But I'm certainly interested in any questions and apologize ahead of time for any unsatisfying answers. I have not considered every question yet, but I'm but I'm sure you'll have some new ones for me. Miss Pat. OK, so. How many staff are you planning to hire and what is your what is your department budget for FY 23? So we nobody has started yet. There is a program assistant who is in the who's we have has a start date. And then the other folks are very, very early in the process. We had we had a second interview this morning and how close we are in that process. So they're very early. It would be a staff of 10. The budget it's hard to say that right now because there's still the conversation about kind of where folks are going to come in, I could have a much more a fuller sense of that for your next meeting. I don't want to I don't want to give a number. That's a guess when when I'll have a real number in the next week or two. So but it is in line with the with with the town manager's budget. That's what we're working off of. This fits neatly into it and it's 10 staff positions. Sorry if that's an unsatisfying answer. Well, for me, I just wanted to jump in before before you go to make it real quick. Yeah, like for you, thank you so much for for giving this report. I mean, the way I look at it is that we're going to hopefully be seeing you quite often and we're going to be having a continual conversation because I know I'm going to have lots of questions and also ways that we can support you, like what do you need from us? Or how can we be your advocates? How can we, you know, kind of go to bat for you in terms of what it is that you need? So I think that it is going to be like a building of a relationship with us. You see what I'm saying? And for us to like. So I think as we create our, you know, when we're going to be meeting, then hopefully we can create also some standing meetings with you, right? So that, you know, OK, you're coming in, you're going to be reporting to us and we'll have we'll start building this relationship of building this conversation in terms of questions we have and how we can be supportive of. That's exactly how I would frame it as a kind of conversation that doesn't have an endpoint as soon as we kind of come to the next point. There's there's going to be more to consider as we grow and expand and see what we can do and what we can do. You know, my my thing right now is really not to get too into hypotheticals. The work is right around the corner and I value the conversations. We'd love to have standing meeting times. I'm in town just about every day. So also recognizing your schedules, if those times need to be different than kind of the regular nine to five also being available for that. So I just thank you again. And I know you are working hard in very few weeks here. I just would really like to get caught up, I guess, on what has transpired, such as with the grant that was written by Mary Beth, I believe, how that has been utilized, the funds, where are we? With that grant and spending down on that and the implementation team. I understand you've been here, you know, eight weeks, but a lot has transpired to get to this moment. And I guess I'd like to just fill in the pieces from, you know, the CSWG and the implementation team. Is there someone that could maybe come next time? And speak to us about, you know, the implementation team and getting to this point to kind of fill in the gaps. I could certainly ask folks from the implementation team if they'd be willing to. They're, you know, I think as this group stands up, that group is starting to kind of sunset to make space for the work you all are doing. I'm trying to wrap my head around that time span because I recognize what you're asking for is a more global answer. And so since I've been here. Or a report. Or a report. And so I didn't want to like charge them with, oh, well, can you all actually submit a report? But maybe if they could just come and speak with us, that would be helpful. I can absolutely ask them. And I think you know those folks, they're able to carry their own. In my time here, what they've been really supportive with is decision points, a lot of reality checking, which is really helpful. Hey, this isn't, I don't live in Amherst. So sometimes when I first got here, it took me a little, maybe a few days to realize that an email wasn't the same as knocking on someone's door, that there was a culture of I needed to go kind of be in front of folks. And the implementation committee was really helpful in understanding what outreach looks like in Amherst, what it has looked like and what folks expect. Chief Nelson has helped with some grant writing for some pieces for the vehicles. The DPH grant, we are in some degree of active negotiations with the Commonwealth on that. So I don't want to get too ahead of myself as kind of we're still waiting for some decision points. The reality is we started a little bit later than we had hoped to. I feel pretty good about that because I wouldn't have been a candidate if you all started too early. So I'm glad I'm here. And we're working with them to, they have been understanding and supportive of the reality that it was always gonna be a challenge to spend that money down. And we're working with the partners that the CSWG set up to allocate the money out. ADMA is doing a training in the community on implicit bias that has been well received. And we've had some referrals out to them for case management. So I can get a report for you. I need to sit down with Sean to really dig into that. But yeah, so I can work on that between now and your next meeting. I'd appreciate that. And I think, you know, and I, again, I'm not sure how much Phillip and Freke Ate, you know, are familiar with some of the things that you just introduced and that I, you know, would like some clarification on. But I think it would get us all up to speed to at least have some reference point. Okay. And I actually have to do that sort of thing anyway. So for the Comptroller, so it's not new work, it'll just be kind of putting it into a format for you all. The most of the work has been really centered around getting the training up for folks, which has been challenging, partly because the, as hiring has shifted, that has moved dates. And also meeting with, I met with the folks in Akron, Ohio. They gave us some really interesting ideas for modalities we might approach. I have a call this afternoon with some folks in Seattle. Sean Donovan in Northampton is going out to Oregon and is gonna let me FaceTime into part of his trip to really pick some of their brains. We're still in real touch with Leap and then building the relationships kind of in the community that everybody else has. And recognizing that we are an absolutely new entity. So even the folks who should know us don't. It's brand new. And the limitations of right now, I'm the only employee of Crest. So there's also the limitations of just, I'm one person going as fast as I can, but I think to town manager Bachman's point, we are building this out for the long term and that has taken some real work on my part to not try to outrun the program that this is gonna develop the way it's supposed to, that the right people are gonna show up at the right time. That may sound like magical thinking, but it's been true for most of my life that if you put the right things out, the folks show up and it's been true for us. So, and having lots of conversations with partners who might not be kind of easy to think of, but like the state agencies that might interface with us, the sheriff's office, the folks who work at the jail, Cooley Dickinson and their folks. I was at the Masanti Center this morning getting a tour. And then again, community engagement, which is really critical to make sure that, again, folks aren't meeting Crest in the middle of a hard time, but we have met them kind of at everyone's on a regular day. And it's been fun. That sounded like I was listing off some Herculean task. I spent four years at a desk. I was really, really looking forward to this part of the job and being at events with people and being a real part of your community. That has been, there have been some absolutely gorgeous moments in my life in the last two months that did not exist before this. So as much as I'm describing the work I do, I just wanna thank you all for the opportunity because it has been beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you all. We're glad to have you on board. And I see Jen, you have your hand up. I was gonna say, because we have a series of community events that are coming up, I've opened them up to, you know, other departments and boards and committees. So if you guys would like to attend those, please let me know and then I can get the information out. Because it's... Sorry, Jeff, I just wanna share that that's a strategy that we wanna remind folks that we don't exist in isolation. We are a part of a bigger continuum that we interface with all of these town agencies and these events are a really great opportunity for us to demonstrate that collaboration and that we're all in the same place. Thank you. Yeah, I just wanna add to what... First off, I also, we're really fortunate to have Earl. He brings a ton of experience to this endeavor and he's a real leader and a visionary. And I, you know, we talked today that he ought to be taking notes because this is gonna be a story, this is gonna be a book, this is gonna be a legacy for our community and... But also it's just really important because we're based on the inspiration, we're re-envisioning what public safety is, looks like. And I think that one of the things... He was right, I was part of the interview team for the finalist of the Crest Responders and it's really inspirational. And, you know, I mean, and how people... One of the questions we asked is how did you find out about this? And so many of them were at the basketball tournament Jen put me in touch with you and it's like these communities sort of connections and some people read about it and we're waiting for it. So it's really terrific on those, that end. By the way, just I think we have a lot of work but and also as he said, we're building it for the long haul, we wanted to ensure that these jobs are union jobs so that there's vested interest by our SEIU union that these are jobs that represent them too. And so when we created these positions, we said these are union jobs and went to SEIU and said we want you to recognize these positions and they did. So, you know, this is really, you know putting as much scaffolding around to make sure that this is going to be here for a long time. Sorry, again, I talk about this all day, so I get excited. One of the really unique opportunities here is that we're town employees. When you look at most of the places doing this, their contracts that either the police department or the city or town enters into, which really has made the communication with other departments pretty seamless. And I know, you know, we're being supported by folks figuring out dispatch but I really do think that the approach here of making these jobs meaningful, putting them on par with other public safety positions has really borne fruit. And I want to make sure that as that CSWG report kind of comes to life that when something just works that we just acknowledge that the way the positions are placed, the importance placed on them attracted folks and those events, I would say more than half of the folks we took to second interviews said, hey, if I didn't met you, if someone I knew and trusted had it brought me over and said I should consider this job, I wouldn't have. So the fact that I have every reason to believe we will be fully staffed at the start, which is a luxury most human service startups are not able to enjoy is a real testament to folks believing in this. And then investing in that with their friends and family. I think that there's nothing like this, particularly in a town this size. And I think it seems like it's really, it makes a lot of sense here. So just wanted to add that. Any follow-up comments, questions, concerns from any of the committee members? Well, thank you, Earl for sharing with us. And we look forward to hearing more and working with you on an ongoing basis. Thank you, Earl. Thank you, I forgot that. Oh, I'm muted. I will figure out Zoom by the time we meet in person. That's my goal. Jen, were you gonna give us an update on what's going on with DEI for now? I can, I think the most exciting thing is that the DEI director has been hired and she will start in July. So that's very exciting to have her start. And we're looking forward to her coming. We have the core equity team where we are staff who all want to see equity advance in Amherst. And so we all are creating a list of priorities as we understand the culture and she might know how to implement or she knows how to implement. And so together we can kind of work those out together with her implementation skills and our priorities and understanding of our culture. So we're excited to have her join that group as well. And I went to the school with Earl today and spoke on the department with the kids who was definitely a tough crowd, eighth grade. It's pretty hard. And so I've been working with the equity task force over at the bit in the chamber, at the chamber and there's a new group at the Amherst Survival Center called JEDI Justice Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. And Phillip is on that as well. Yeah, so I guess for me, Jen, obviously so excited that you're on board and you have this position. I guess the same thing that I said to Earl would be the same thing to you. I think it's gonna be a conversation. I know we're already at 534, we're supposed to be done at 530, so it's not like I wanna ask you a ton of questions but I guess for the next time when we meet and as we continue the conversation, I'd like to know like one, how you're doing because I know it's a transition into this position. So has this been a good transition? Are you feeling supported? Do you need any support from us? And really to kind of really get more of a sense of what are the priorities and things like that? Because I know that obviously when you start a position like this, being that I did diversity officer work for UMass, it's such a big position. So really kind of honing it in and having those priorities and then having kind of like a strategy in terms of how to attain it. And I know obviously there's the director. So again, it's gonna be one of those things that we're gonna wanna know more specifics in terms of that and how we can be helpful but how we can obviously move these priorities along because been a resident of Amherst for a very long time and left the town, but I know there's also a lot of resistance, a lot of ingrained kind of thinking in this town that it will take a lot to move this town forward in terms of equity, inclusion and diversity and especially diversity and equity and inclusion that's like hearing voices and really how can I put empowering those voices and moving based on what people want to see happen. So I'll just leave it at that saying that there'll be more to come. So can I say something real quick, Ms. Pat? Just in terms of going back to that organization chart, what's important to me at this juncture? You know, yes, I was contracted a seven gen working with the very competent CSWG members, but looking at DEI kind of across the board as Deb talked about, it could be very general and it could have some specificity. I think for us to function under our charter, I would like to see what is that specificity in terms of the DEI director and then the gen's position, okay? What does that look like? How is that assembled under the town structure? And even this core group town manager that Jen has talked about and you've talked about, if that's just an informal group, then they could go away next month or next year. So if this is something important to the town, I would like to see it created within that structure, a new chart done, you know, it's a great PR moment to say, hey, we're rebranding in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion and this is what it looks like. But I would like to see if that's a core group, you're talking about what you say is it's Jen, Angela and Brianna, okay. You know, if they're not there, then who gets into that position? You know, will you hire, will you look for, will you recruit someone else within the town staff? So I'm just saying, you know, these are things that we're talking about and they're all great things, but I would really like to see it implemented and created within the structure of the town organization. Ms. Pat. I'll be very, very brief and I know we're running out of time. So Ms. Marston, you had mentioned that the town also worked with equity tax funds, the Chamber of Commerce. This, I would like to hear more about this group. Why do I say that? Because some of the upper fund went to Chamber of Commerce. Can you repeat that? In the town, you can't hear me? Can you just, there was something you said as I was typing and I didn't hear it, so I guess. Okay, so what I'm saying is that the equity tax cost, is that what it's called with Chamber of Commerce? I would like more information about the work they do as a former BIPOC business woman in this town. And I know friends who are BIPOC business people who do not feel included with the Chamber of Commerce or the bed. So I would like to know what exactly what they're doing to move equity forward. And some of the funding, taxpayer funding that goes to Chamber of Commerce and Big, I would like to know more about the spending, where it's going, who is it that is benefiting from it? So I would just stop at that. And who is in the leadership? Who are the board of Chamber of Commerce? Do we have people of color that can help make decisions that impact their businesses? So there's a lot of issues I have with Chamber of Commerce being a former member. And I will never join that group ever again. I'm done. But can I just follow up with Dr. Chavez quickly? Dr. Chavez, you had mentioned, I think I got confused or misunderstood you because I thought you were talking about the core equity team. And then you spoke about Angela, Breonna and myself. So those Angela, Breonna and myself are in that group of the core equity team, but we're also community participation officers, which are completely separate and the core equity team has additional staff in it as well. Okay, does that make sense? No, so that's awesome, because it sounds like you're spread out and you're doing so much. And I know that you are, but what I'm trying to say is that I would like to actually see that, within the town organizational chart. You can even use software to create a visual representation of that, but I would like to see it so that we could have some sustainability as the town manager pointed to, if we're doing this for the long haul, these particular positions, shouldn't just be informal in some way, even if there is some integration of positions and what people are doing, these should then be very specific and part of some type of organizational grouping or chart to show where do they lie within departments who's filling those positions so that if someone, for whatever reason, moves or is no longer in that position, and then seek to fill it or have something very similar. So again, we're talking about a lot of what's going on, it's all good work, but for sustainability, it needs to be within the structure of the town and it needs to be specific. Paul. So that is precisely the conversation I had with our new DEI director when she was here. You're absolutely right. The core equity team was a grassroots group of town employees that started to meet together on their own. So the leadership came from the employees saying, we need to start talking about racial equity within our own and there's people from the library, from the first floor to the second floor, the mezzanine, really, Jen was one of the leaders of the group, Mary Beth was part of that group. So there's a large number of people who were part of that, but it really was grassroots oriented with the leadership coming. The conversation I had with the DEI department does is give structure to the purpose. And the conversation I had with the DEI director was how much of this should be top down, how much of this should be bottom up and how much of this should be, how do we require? And so there's lots of conversations about and I think she will benefit a lot from the experience that Deb and others have about building these types of departments. She has done it at Smith College, she did it at the University of Notre Dame, so she has experienced building DEI departments, but I think knowing our town, it's a little bit different, obviously. So knowing how to structure this for the long run, I think exactly that we're on the same page on that. Jen. I was just gonna add to my part of the DEI report that Pamela, Earl and Paul and I all meet weekly on Fridays until she starts, just to kind of check in. There's gonna be a lot that happens. So she wanted to kind of have questions answered and bring suggestions ahead of time. So we do meet weekly now. Does anybody else have any further questions, concerns, comments regarding the DEI department? So I know we were planning to take public comment at the end of the meeting today. Are there any members of the public that wish to give any comment? Excuse me, Allegra, can you read the paragraph first? Is there something? Yes, please, thank you. I got this new phone and now I have to look at it. Oh, I can share screen if you would like. Here it is, I got it. During the public comment period, the chair will recognize, this is that what I'm supposed to be reading. The chair will recognize members of the public when called on, please identify yourself by saying your full name, preferred pronouns and residential address. Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair based upon the number of people who wish to speak. No speaker can see their time to another speaker. The CSSJC will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during public comment. And so for those of you who haven't been, that involved with local government, when we have public comment, you cannot respond to the public comment, but we could perhaps put it on the agenda for the next meeting or follow up in other ways. So there's no public attending. No, well, Ash is here right now. Oh, Ash, no. I believe it's Ash. And the public would. Oh, sorry, it's Art. Raise their hand if they wanted to speak, is that how we do it? Okay. Yeah, that's Art. Art, as nobody has responded to give public comment. Are there any other topics that were not reasonably anticipated? So before we adjourn, I'm sorry, Allegra, before we adjourn, it's up to the chairs to request to have this broadcast on Amherst media. I would like to do so to increase, of course, public engagement, community engagement, to make it accessible and to broaden our reach. So if there is no problem with any of us, you know, agreeing to having this shared and broadcast with the Amherst media, of course, it's a public meeting, I would like to connect with them to have that happen. That would be awesome if they can do it. That would be nice. Thank you. Most certainly. And I saw six thumbs up for the record. Yes, Deb. So one question. So in terms of when we're going to be meeting next, we're going to do it again, the doodle poll, what's going to happen with that? So I would honestly say if you guys can come up. So the new DEI director starts July 1, if we can give her like at least the first week and then you guys can pick, but it's really hard to get all of you guys together at one time. So if we already know, like, if we can just have that quick discussion now before everybody disperses, otherwise we'll have to do it through doodle. A hard one lesson I might give her two weeks. The first couple of weeks, there's a lot of settling you have to do before you're really able to speak to it and just a recommendation. And so then the question is, do you guys want to meet again before that or just wait? So that's... Ms. Pat. So I had a question. I know it says WGW we're meeting every week because it was a short timeframe. I don't know what all of you are thinking, but I cannot meet more than once a month. That's what I'm looking at. So that's what I'm going to put that out there. That sounds reasonable to me, other members. Considering it took us three months to figure out the state it seems like that would probably be once a month. Yeah, so I would like to make a request that four is difficult, particularly folks who are working from nine to five, that we try to schedule this once after our regular work hours. If that's at all possible. And so I don't know if it warrants a discussion right now, but I think we need to figure out, as you said, Jennifer, it's hard to schedule all of us at the same time, yet many of us do have kind of nine to five type of jobs. So if we could figure out a time, not four, but after five or as close to five as we can. I'm wondering if even later would be an option. I'm hearing a lot of commotion with two small children in my home. So it has been a distraction for me. And also I'm feeling somewhat uncomfortable and also a feeling of somewhat guilt that I'm not handling some of the crisis that seems to be unfolding downstairs. But that's my personal preference. I will work around things as much as I can. Does Tuesday work for people in general? I know summertime it might be more relaxed for some people and then September for the academia. Does Tuesday work for everybody? Oh, sorry, Wednesday. What is today Wednesday? I'm sorry. It's Wednesday. Wednesday is usually tough for me. I only agreed to this Wednesday because we were trying to find a date and so Wednesday is usually tough. Tuesday, Ashley, when you said Tuesday, that actually works better for me. Tuesday night. And like what Demetrius said, it would have to be either five or after five or later. Yeah, five or later because I wouldn't be able to do it during work hours. So was there some agreement on Tuesday from everybody? That will work for me. It works for me too. I'm good with Tuesday. Anytime after five. That also works well for me. This is good. So 536. Maybe six. Six, please. Six would work. So six on Tuesdays. Yes. All right. But what, when would we do our first one? Do we want to do like every second to the pitch month or. I would say maybe the first one would be July 19th. Okay. That would give Paula time to. She can join us in August. It would be too much like what Mr. Earl has said. Maybe give her like July to get settled and maybe invite her. You know, in August. Just not just my opinion. So what you're saying, Miss Pat, if we did July 19th and we would meet together and perhaps Earl, you would have the report from the implementation team. And what was the other thing? The kind of the DEI charge and maybe a chart by that time would be great. Potentially members of the implementation team. Attending if that you still want that. Yeah, that would be great. And then maybe have the DEI director come. You know, in August. Oh, I think the DEI director is going to be eager to meet you and we'll want to be here in July. I can guarantee that. Yeah. I mean, we'll put out the, yeah, the invitation if she wants to meet with us. Yeah. And then the other thing maybe in between now and then would be just to share. I know we didn't talk about the packets, but just to kind of share part a part B. And then any other information that would be helpful in terms of like how the town works and, you know, like that. The PowerPoint from the financial person with kind of like the months and things when, when budgets need to be decided and things like that, all of that would be good to kind of read up on refresh on before the next meeting. Yep. So I will be doing that. I will be doing that tomorrow because I have to upload a packet. Everything that was viewed here needs to be uploaded into a packet and available to the public. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you. And I know, Jen, you're going to be busy, but if whenever you could send that link or if you want to send the link of the recording to Amherst media, I'd be happy to do it, but whoever does it, that would be fine. I'll let them know it's on its way. I got it in about, I'm 15 minutes from after we were done. So I can just send it to whom I sending it to. You could either send it to me or send it to Alexis Reed. Okay. So the, okay. Yeah. And then Jennifer, the only other thing that I remember you all let us know about that. And I don't know if you shared with this group was the whole thing about not replying to all and I know that was confusing to me in the beginning when I wasn't used to the town culture. Yeah, I send cute little names that say do not reply all. So if, if I'm to send, or if the co-chairs are to send an email out to the group, you cannot reply all because that puts you as an active quorum. And so what we want to do is avoid being in a quorum outside of our public meetings that we've, you know, basically advertise what happens is I have to come. The co-chairs will give me an agenda. I have to post that agenda 48 hours in advance of the meeting. And so only the things that are on that agenda can be spoken about, but you, so it's hard to have conversations. It's also hard to attend other meetings in town because you don't want to fall into that quorum. So basically don't reply all ever. But I mean, that gets the work around though is just to kind of reply back to Jennifer or reply back to just the chair, you know, things like that. So you can still kind of communicate or just, just reply back to the email. The Saturday morning emails from CSWG members. Yeah. Miss Pat. So first of all, I want to thank the co-chairs for taking on the responsibility. And Miss Allegra, you did a great job running this meeting. Yeah, you did great. So for both of you, when do you want us to send you agenda item suggestion by, so that you can, you know, win? Um, it has to be posted what 48 hours before the beating. And weekends, weekends and holidays don't count. So if we meet on Tuesdays, I need to post by Friday. Okay. I would say within. Like a week before 19th. Probably. Okay. You're fine. Yeah. So. You're fine. I mean, I don't have plenty of time, but yeah, a week before the 19th. Yeah. That should work. Okay. That's the 12th. That's the 12th. Okay. So, would you send out a reminder or we should take on that responsibility? The coaches. Yeah. Well, I'm just want to make sure, because I know oftentimes Jennifer is on top of it. So the 12th, we would need anything for the agenda item. So Allegra, you and I will send out a reminder. Yeah. Can you just make sure that you, can you CC me on it? Yeah. Yeah. The African way. I noticed that our two great members. They didn't speak tonight. Do you guys have anything to share or comment? I know, you know, some of the stuff we've been talking might be very new to your guys. So what are your thoughts? How do you think the meeting went and so on and so forth. Who wants to go first? Yeah. I think that's fine. But, you know, Go first. Thank you. Especially for the African way. I sat down to listen because a lot of this is, if not necessarily going over my head, you all have been here much longer. And you're more integrated into what is going on. And so I thought it would be best to listen and learn. And I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. And I have learned. Quite a lot. Even during this short time. So thank you. Thank you. Yeah. That was kind of the approach that I took. I am weirdly getting. To know the. Ins and outs of this. WG. I've heard about it for a while. And kind of went into looking at it. But then this was just kind of more of a gathering information that we've seen. And it was just really, really good. I have a lot of similar thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts about it. And I think that's what I like from California. Also. A little bit. Thank you. I'm very excited to work with everybody. And I'm hoping that our group will be another CWB. Team. So. I hope we work together. I'm very excited. Thank you, Miss. Pat. For. All of you up and making sure everyone's voice was heard. So should I be putting it as Ms. Pat has said before, like every third Tuesday of the month? Is that what we're going to do or should, are we just going to do the first one in July and then kind of decide what's Pamela's on? I think we should do that because, you know, we don't know, without her input, we don't know where, you know, what her availability is. But right now it's set for the 19th and tentatively we should all think for either the second or the third Tuesday of the month. And we'll get more clarity, I guess, when she joins us. Okay. Sounds good. Yeah, sounds good. I guess we can move to adjourn. Yes. No one has any comments. Well, I make a motion to adjourn. Seconded. All in favor? Aye. Aye. No, no motion to adjourn needed, but I do need a time. So I do need you to announce a time. 602. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone. Thank you all. Yeah. Bye. Bye.