 Okay, thank you. So pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted in person and via remote means in accordance with the applicable law. This means that members of the public body as well as members of the public access this meeting in person, or via virtual means in person attendance will be at the meeting locations above. And it is possible that any or all members of the public body may attend remotely with in person attendance consisting of members of the public. The meeting may also be accessed via. Missing some notes. I believe via the, the links with the town, or via the zoom when required by law or allowed by the chair persons wishing to provide public comment or otherwise participate in the meeting. They may do so by in person attendance or by assessing the meeting remotely as noted. Additionally, the meeting will be broadcast in real time via zoom. Oh, I read the wrong one. So I'm glad I know that you are all super patient. So we're going to start this over and I'm going to read the one that Matt circled in red for me. I thought it sounded wrong. Alright, starting over 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 in the following manner. 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 in the event that we are unable to do so. So for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, we will post on the town website and audio or video recording transcript for other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. And I will need to take a roll call to assure that everyone's audio is working. Jenny. I am here. Thank you. Christie. I am here. Great. Arthur. Yep, here. Rachel. I'm here. And Matt. Present. Thank you. And Jennifer, thank you for being here. And I believe we are officially able to begin. So, Julianne, I am. I'm double dipping and I apologize. I can give a quick. Oh. Hello, Joy. I see joy. Hello. Okay. Hi, everyone. So I guess we, we would look to approve the minutes that were sent out in May, but I think given the time if nobody objects, we should move to Jennifer. Moisten, who is, as I said, our co-host slash our liaison slash also our guest speaker, our first guest speaker tonight. And just sort of move the conversation to her since we want to respect her time. I think we have an objection with that or wanted to do the minutes first. So, so I just, I wanted to say that this conversation started about a year ago when we saw the Northampton cultural council running into a few issues relating to race, equity, diversity, and particularly a piece of indigenous art that turned into kind of a big. And so we reached out to the town manager's office at the time and asked if there's anybody we could speak to about the nascent diversity, equity, and inclusion office in the town, just thinking that, no matter where that office was at, and where we were at as a cultural council that we could maybe benefit from establishing a really clear firm partnership with the DEI office from the get go. Right away, Jen, who's been, and I'll let you I'm not going to try to characterize your career you can kind of describe for us how long you know what you've done with the town but but suffice to say been a long life long Amherst resident and member of the town council team or town offices team, Paul put me in touch with her and we've had several good conversations since then and really have been just looking to find a chance to bring bring her in and kind of find out what DEI is doing and there's several big updates including recently hiring a director for DEI so I think this is just sort of an introductory conversation between the ACC and the DEI office to sort of get a feel for what some of the goals and objectives that you hope to pursue look like and maybe some ways that the ACC can engage with those. Sure. Thank you. So, my name is Jennifer Moisten, and I am a lifetime resident or community member of Amherst I grew up here and went to school here. My kids have gone to school here I've worked for the town for nine years. And previously, I was the administrative assistant to the town manager's office and the human resources department, and actually kind of wore a lot of hats I was the human rights staff liaison, as well as a community I'm also a community officer. So, when our government changed its charter, it kind of freed up everything I did previously was very administrative task driven. You know, town supporting town meeting and licensing but licensing move downstairs and town meeting went away, and the council got their own liaison or their own staff. I really just had a little bit of time not a lot. I would hate to say that I had a lots of time, but and I kind of dove into the work of DEI. And so, as a member of the town, first, before an employee I definitely have seen and heard and and experienced, you know, things that shouldn't be based on or what appears to be based on race and so that part of me that thinks that Amherst is so great would like to continue to see Amherst continue to be so great by kind of stepping, stepping up a little bit when it comes to race and and equity. And so, I also feel that as a municipality that we have a responsibility to move forward with racial equity. Right. And so, with that being said, we started a core equity team here. I mean I sit on several DEI oriented committees and boards and committees but in house we have core equity and there we have a training and so the idea was that this training would go throughout town because in order for us to be able to truly to move forward with equity we have to kind of do that internally and we need to know that everybody has the same the access to the same language and same knowledge, so that no one can say well I didn't know that that was an inappropriate word or I didn't know that that might make someone feel some way. And it's really just the training was to give everyone a basic understanding of DEI kind of like an ABCs of DEI, and that the town has a responsibility. So, since, and then somewhere in there I've been trying to help support community members that have cultural events. It can be seen by a broader audience because that is one of the best ways to kind of break down some of the barriers that are here in town by people actually experiencing what other cultures do and how they celebrate. And no one, nothing gets people together more than food and music so it's always great. There's a lot of work in the community in the apartment complex is working with Amherst Breck, and then the pandemic kind of happened and it stopped all of that. And so, once that stopped it kind of changed the way the community participation happened there's actually three of us myself, Angela Mills and Brianna Sunrid are all the community participation officers and so we so it kind of changed the way that we had to envision community participation which was, we can no longer anticipate people to come to us and we were really trying to go to where the people who we don't hear from so much are right like in the world of municipality we actually create rules and make policies and we don't have equal representation or we don't have fair representation of what our community looks like on these different boards and committees that are making the decisions for everyone. And so part of being a community participation officer is kind of trying to open that box and let people empower the community to know that their voice matters, and that the things that they say and experiences that they have are valued. And we need to hear that to make the world to make the town a better place. And so, right now I'm in the midst of planning Juneteenth so we have a really large celebration this year it starts off on Saturday afternoon morning with a heritage walk and then we kind of move over onto Sunday with the jubilee on the common. So all very very exciting. The nice thing about the heritage block is it's direct stories from the descendants of Amherst residents the first black and indigenous people that we can date back to in Amherst so that's really exciting the bridges family. And then the jubilee who doesn't like a good party every once in a while right so it's always a nice celebratory event, which if you kind of look back at the history of Juneteenth that was that was a big that's a big piece of it right even from the start of Juneteenth where people are celebrating. So, kind of back to the training and the purposes of that was to kind of, you know, I kind of I don't like to typically look at things from a hierarchy perspective because hierarchies kind of drive me a little bit crazy everyone should be treated nicely. But, you know, we need the support and guidance from the top up in order for it to go up to flush down and to be really acted upon by the rest of the staff. So part of it is that it's not just the staff that needs it but our boards and committees because we have so many folks from some who have different point of views and don't necessarily understand or realize that, you know, there's a whole community out there that isn't being heard and isn't being seen and that they need to be brought in and their voices need to be heard and so we're really working hard to kind of connect, you know, connect all of that so. So as the DEI directors will be starting on July one, the nice thing about having Pamela come in is that she has started DEI department several like I think twice in two different schools and so, you know, it's one of those things we will partner she understands because she knows the way to implement and move forward and I understand the culture of the town and the culture of the town government itself and so together I think that that will make a really great combination, you can't have one without the other. So, you know, I'm just here, it's, you know, it's kind of a weird time because I think like last year if we had had this conversation that would have rolled out a little bit different but it's a little bit hard because the director's coming in and so we will have to have her come and enjoy but I know one of the top things for us to do is to create a training program. The problem with that was like just she and I could not train the whole entire staff, we've got a staff of, you know, when we include all of our part timers who would need it to have 500 plus right so we can't train everybody and then train the board and committees, because it would take a year to get that done. And then the first group who was trained will be looking for more and, as you know di trainings can't just happen once a year they need to be part of an ongoing conversation they need to be embedded in the things that people are doing on the day to day basis in order to move forward in a progressive way. So that's just kind of where I'm at right now. Does anybody have any questions. Yes. Any suggestions, ideas, info on how the cultural council can continue because we are dedicated to increasing diversity and accessibility, and kind of just jumped in we're not quite sure where to go who to contact on what we can do, where we can find information and connections what we shouldn't be doing. Who we speak with how we, you know, form alliances. I mean anything really. Yeah, I mean I typically tell most boards and committees like one of the things about di work is it's kind of like you have to move out of your comfort zone a little bit and outside of your immediate group and kind of expand that horizon which is really the point about celebrating so many different cultural events because then you're there, and you're usually around folks that you don't necessarily. You know, that aren't in your inner circle or your inner group. And so I always suggest like I don't know how many people know this was my thing about local government before working here I never knew we had boards and committees I didn't know the town. I didn't know anything about the town and I don't know that I necessarily cared right until there was a policy or something that was made that directly affected me and then I would maybe have something to say, but outside of that. I don't necessarily know anything and so I would say one of the things is you have to be visible because people. I don't know who it's like the same people know that the ACC is here right and that's fantastic, but you need to broaden that and so it's if if you're out there it's hard to broaden it so I do say like, you know, if you're going to Juneteenth make sure that you have conversations with folks attend other events that are going on town I would try and table that as many events. And I don't, you know, and I know that you guys do do grants I don't know how far your reaches or, or you're able to reach like are you limited to Amherst or can you find artists outside of Amherst to support or to bring into the town. Um, so, you know, and then I would say we would have to have the DI director come in and kind of help you guys move forward and then yeah I'm thinking of the public arts commission so I'm so sorry I apologize for that. It's all, you know, all of that's true we have increased our visibility. But, you know, we probably could do that more and can bring you don't have to live in Amherst to get a grant, just have to serve the Amherst community. Which would make me lead like think about, you know, the different artists and holy ochre Springfield that you could kind of have come in and do different things here in Amherst or even in Williamsburg and Northampton for that matter but just. But I think, you know, we would want to kind of do a make sure that we've done a solid hard hard search for Amherst first because we always of course want to support our hometown. You had a lot of little questions there so I don't know. We're still working on what how to figure out where our questions are. So, or what questions to ask for. So, that's why questions pieces of, you know, who and where and what and what to do and. Yeah, I mean where it steps at a time so. Yeah, yeah, I mean you can only take baby steps at first right I would totally agree with that. And Leah. Yeah, I was, I don't know if my camera is on right now because my computer is kind of switching. I was going to ask when you talk about outreach is there we've been trying to do like social media and then kind of like event, or we're doing like a video showcase but do you have specific ways. Like, how would you suggest really getting the word out there, like in general with like to reach like, like, do you have advice on how to reach like diverse and like. Um, geographically wide groups of people. I mean, I think that it's one of those things where I was going to say, you know, you guys could always put stuff in, in the PGOs at the different schools for the parents but again I kind of feel like that creates one of those bonds where it's kind of the same. Yeah, folks that you you already deal with but again, like, um, you know, working with the Amherst direct is always great because they do a lot of outreach in the different communities and neighborhoods and Amherst and so that's always that's kind of who I tag along with like just like hey, then we have the new Crest program so they're going to be doing plenty of community outreach as well. And so I would suggest we have this one might be a little bit too short but we have an event on the 11th that Village Park, and then we have another event on the 23rd at rolling green. So it's possible that if you know if you guys were just to kind of show up maybe not table that one at rolling green you probably could the one at Village Park is the space that we're using is a little small, but meaning just to meet other people in the community and find out what kind of things that they're they would like to see happen would be good to Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. What are you doing with Village Park. I live in Village Park and. Oh, I just sent them. Yeah, I just, I gave them a flyer last week and so they're supposed to distribute it I maybe I should resend it, but we are we are having the Crest Department is coming to kind of do a like a community outreach event. You know crisis, I still crisis community responders for equity safety and service which was a community driven new department that was created similar should end the same way that DEI was it was a push from the community. And so crisis real model is kind of to be proactive and to go out into the community first before having to respond so that people, at least their faces look familiar or they know of them because trust is of an issue with everyone right to some degree and so, you know, it just seems a little bit easier if you're if you already know folks or if you're more proactive in in and your outreach in that manner and so we'll be having a barbecue right there by the office on Saturday. What time. I. So you're going to go to different 12 to two, we are different places around hammer and talk to people. Yeah, and introduce the Crest responders and Crest director and the DEI director. You know when we do a place that's large like rolling grain or the boulders it you can and we can invite many more right so we can actually have DPW come up in one of their big trucks it's like an all inclusive, you know, opportunity for everyone to do a little bit of outreach right because there's a lot of space there, you know, and DPW has some really cool trucks that might attract the children and then you know we're feeding everybody those are ways to get people out of their homes sometimes the kids come running over mom can I go cheeseburger they want to know where, and, you know, and then you, and the child tells her parent will outside with these folks and then parents come out. So we usually like to work with Amherst rec when we do these two because they can help provide stuff for the kids to do Nikki over at Amherst rec does a great job setting stuff up for the kids. And, you know, I kind of feel like a lot of things are about outreach and just connecting with the community, because I think it would be really good for you guys to kind of have an understanding of what the community wants so that you guys could make that happen. Because you guys, you know, do have great generous with your grants. And so, you know, but we have to make sure it's kind of meeting the needs of everyone right like, so it can be spread evenly across and then Rachel. Hi, Jennifer is finally, it's nice to finally meet you I've heard a lot about you. So my friend, you know, who are kind of active in the crest initiative and also I'm sorry I missed the reception at the graph park. That was by the League of Women Voters I heard that was very successful. So thank you for all the work that you you have been doing and continue to do. So what you just said and also to follow up a little bit with Robin's question about outreach is that, yes, I think it's easy to just become siloed in our respective little, you know, worlds and whether you know it's it's grant making or so one thing that occurs to me is, is there any opportunity for different for members who serve on different committees or councils within the town government to actually meet each other. Sorry, because I was just about to say that I feel like learning about DEI work in the same way we're learning about work that's related to accessibility is like it's not so much like we're going to achieve equity by doing XYZ is more like the lens which we operate all the time. Right, so I think I think it makes sense what you're saying about like outreach and just talking to different people who, you know, because we're all volunteering, because we're interested in, in creating and furthering community in this town in various ways so I personally would love to meet other volunteers who serve other committees, doing very different things but you know that could spark a lot of interesting ideas about how we might want to communicate with or reached the other people that we don't get to see. And then also it would help just to kind of validate some of the different experiences that everybody has I mean I can't really see that there's a lot of that I mean that sounds like a full positive way. Initiative to have and so I can look into how we can try and with the other community participation officers on how we can try to expand on that and make that happen by having some type of event or you know here at town pre COVID the town manager used to have meetups with the town manager and that would be when a staff person from each department would go and have a meeting and they would sit down with Paul and the and then people the response from the staff was that you know I've never from the library never met anybody from DPW right like and so that was really good and so I can I don't think I've ever really thought about the committees like that but you're absolutely right. And also it gives a better understanding of kind of how you can how the committees can help support each other and the different work that they're doing right and and so I just that's a fabulous idea, Rachel and so I leave a CPO meeting tomorrow and so I will bring that up and then I can send you guys an email kind of what our thoughts were about that. Thank you. Thank you because when you said that to about the DPW, you know, workers and being at this reception or you know event coming up I thought yeah I'd be interested in meeting them because we see them working all the time. Yeah, you're welcome. And then Leah. I was wondering, do you have like a calendar or a way to access like when the events like the community outreach events are. Yeah, so we, I just I don't have much from the after the 23rd because it's always hard to get in touch with someone from the boulders and Caimans. Because the complex is over there and so we're still trying to get in touch with those two groups. And actually Caimans because they own colonial village and then they own the small one over in North Amherst behind the Cumberland farms. Right, those are two, you know in that small complex I don't think gets much community outreach wayfinders is always really nice that's the butter not butter, but are not apartment complex off of Long Metal Drive and the Olympia Oaks that's parallel to Village Park across the woods there. But wayfinders are usually really good about community outreach and wanting to work with the town and different initiatives so I would suggest if you guys want to do something that that's a good, a good group of people. Village Park can kind of be hard sometimes too so I was really glad that we got in there but you know the thing about having one in the boulders is that you can pull the people there's like five complexes over there plus the houses across the street. And so we're going to try and pull all of those folks over to that one side and the field over at the boulders is so large that we can actually get everybody we just need a confirming date we did one pre COVID so I couldn't see that they wouldn't be but when their management changes it's not something that the person in the office actually answers it has to go to the district level, because there's liability issues and such I would assume so just more complicated. Jennifer that I'm going to jump in because I, you reminded me of the two things that are kind of most challenging for us as a cultural council, at least when as a reverse, you know relates to the I. Number one, we've really worked hard to diversify the recipients of our grants. A lot of public info sessions, you know we've been trying as many different formats as we can to just sort of, you know, get a more diverse range of grantees so that we can support, you know, the big cultural organizations and also the individual artisans and people from all walks of life. And you're just making me think, you know that if you are having events, we would love to piggyback onto some of those events and just share the information about these grant opportunities that are out there. This is a compared to the big academic grant the big grants, fairly simple grant process. However, if you've never written a grant before, it's not a very simple grant so you know we're all about being a part of community outreach and and please you know as you know, Pamela Nolan, Nolan Young are making your agenda, you know where you're going to go and when you're going to go there. If you're looking for folks to help broaden access to town government. Think of us, you know, because we would, we would certainly I mean I can volunteer myself just as a member and I'm sure others would too. We would certainly be happy to come along and help you and help interested parties learn about the grant process and you know what it means to us. I would also say in this this kind of transitions to our next part of the meeting as well. I would also say that we are, we have quite a bit of membership turnover, several terms are ending and you may have seen Joyce chat message just now joy is moving out of town so we're in the process of getting together a group of applicants for our next, you know for three, at least three slots on the cultural council. So we would love to, in the same breath, you know speak to some members of the broader community and see it more folks want to come, but their name in the hat in terms of being members of the council so you know grant applications as well as, as well as council members both those things I think we'd love to work with you on just expanding access to Yeah, and I so I would definitely suggest that Juneteenth will be a great and excellent I mean you just the diversity of people who attend who attended last year was so great we had elders and the youth and it was just a really great time. So, I do suggest that you can start there right like, and the heritage walk is one way and then and then there's the jubilee on the common but I think that both of those events will enable you to kind of connect with folks that you might not connect with. You know, had you attended that. I mean if you have, like, are you suggesting a table like we would set up a table or what do you think I think the table will definitely be hard for the heritage walk right so. You also walk with the table. Yeah, and you know, I think if you. I mean, I guess if you want to do a couple cases of water out on on the jubilee and even maybe for the heritage walk that would be helpful right and just sit there and talk to people as you're giving them water. And then again happy to come on the 11th to village park and happy to have you definitely happy to have you guys join when we go to rolling green on the 23rd, which is, I have a flyer for those. Let's see. That's July 11 and 23rd. Yeah, nope, June. No, I just, you know, we just, we just stay going. So the 23rd is from 430 to 630 at rolling green. Okay, and they have a pretty big space so you know we can set folks up in different ways for that one. I just, I need to get through the one up the 11th to really start diving into the one on the 23rd. And what time is the one on the 11 noon to two noon to two and I will be there. Walk up. Hopefully they will tell people because they haven't told anybody. Yeah, I know a couple of folks out there so I might just reach out and see if I can't have them start to kind of spread the word. I actually grew up in village park when I was young. So, what was your encouragement now? Well it was a, it was, I, you know, I always call it a village, it takes a community and that's kind of what it was when I grew up there. You know, everybody's dad, somebody's dad was everybody else's uncle. So, you know, it was great. I just want to get along just for the sake of time and, and Leah, Carver has joined us hello Leah, Leah. I'm not sure if Sean's going to be able to join us because I know he was off to the library so, but, but we'll, we'll hold, we'll hold your item until six if that's okay just for the sake of. You should be done around six I think. Okay, that'd be great. I'll keep moving through the agenda unless folks have other questions or comments for Jennifer. I have a quick question. Jennifer, how did you choose the venues and the locations at which to host these specific kind of gathering. So I'm not necessarily always very data driven to find out that, you know, are we're missing a lot of our black and brown, and folks in boards and committees, but you can see it right and so that's, that's a popular that those are communities that we don't rarely hear from. And so it, and they're usually the ones that are affected most by whatever policy or procedure that we move forward with. And so I think that is, you know, I think that COVID kind of showed us that too to a certain degree there was a lot of folks who it was great that that the public health department was going out with mobile but there was like a lack of access there to some of the places of transportation or, or trust I mean it was just, and I also have grown up in apartment complexes and so part of my thought process is, you know, having grown up and even lived as an adult and most of the complexes out here at some point that really do I hear conversations about local government. When I'm going to the trash can I hear people, maybe perhaps complain about the experiences that they had going into our town buildings but I don't necessarily hear people talking about local government and so when I got here and I'm always a little bit embarrassed but this is my story right. Each department here in town hall uses the word warrant, but they use it for something different, slightly different right. And so, from my understanding warrantment you were going to jail like that's that's that's how I understood the word warrant and so, you know, it's these little small things like I was so detached and not now I'm so. I'm not detached but I'm my thought processes there's just got to be other people out there who want to be involved but just don't know if we can somehow empower those who would like to be involved because the other piece of it is that some people just they're not interested in local government and that's fine you can't push it on them. Some people want to be involved but maybe a border committee is not the way that they want to go so it's like how do you keep people involved in local government if they don't want to sit on a border or committee because that's really the only way, you know the other piece of it too it's like how do you expect someone to want to be on a border committee if they feel like they weren't treated well. When they came in to pay a bill or or they were overhearing another committee meeting and they heard one of the committee members speak ill or you know use terms that that were insulting to them so you know part of that can be resolved through training some of that has to just, you know, it's a little bit of a cultural change and so that's kind of how it's just my own life experience really. Thank you. May I just ask one quick, another just follow up question to that is. Have you found the schools or the school system to be an effective channel at all in reaching like the adults in the family or maybe the older students or how has that experience been for you if, if that's relevant. So what I'm like, you know, one of the things about being a CPO is like so now I'm on the PGO for the high school and so I kind of I've been, you know, on the PGO newsletter every week I've been including the different events that are that are hosted by the town when we celebrated a API when celebrated black history month I like to have those, you know, included into the, the high school PGO which can get spread around to the, to the different schools but again I, I, you know, the PGO kind of works the same as the town where it's a little bit of the same folks and so, you know, I know this year for Juneteenth like we have a group of kids. There's well not even for Juneteenth. So at the DEI and Cress reception at Groff Park there were two high school students and so they both have signed up to be on the Human Commission. So, you know, we're going to, I think that having youth on boards and committees is great. I know one of the things that the CPOs have wanted to do for a long time is have a youth center like a youth civic committee or board commission. And also, I've been asked several times in for the out to go to the middle school to speak to the middle schoolers about civic engagement and diversity and so that is a tough crowd because Earl and I both went and it was like crickets over there but I think if we kind of styled it differently and, and, and change the way that we are approached that it could be much more successful like have them come to the town hall building first and kind of see what we do and then kind of then hit them up with the boring talk right so. Thank you. Yeah, Leah. Yeah, I was going to say that speaks to me a lot because I'm currently in high school and like definitely like between like youth and government there's definitely like a big, like I really had no idea, like, like all the like boards and I had no idea that this just like happens and my teacher actually recommended this to me. So I think having like, like just like as you said like in like morning announcements or going through like emails to students, like I think that, and especially like one connection because sometimes I feel like if there's like a thing in the announcements, I would be less interested to do it if like, then if like a friend told me about it so I think just like spreading word of mouth throughout the high school is like something that's interesting to me because I think a lot more people would be motivated to do this kind of work if they knew. Just like what it was, but yeah thank you so much and I feel like the aspect of the council that I think has been taken away a lot with coven is like the community outreach element of it but I feel like for me that's like the most rewarding is getting to see and talk with people. So I'm really looking forward to like partnering maybe with the DEP or the to like do more like events and then continuing that now that some of the COVID restrictions are left. Sorry. No you're good. I was just going to quickly say that you know one of the things is. So, you know Angela Mills is one of the community participation officers and both her kids and my kids are, you know, played sports so often we can get the the athletic teams to be involved in some of the stuff that we're doing. So we could should really expand that from just there like have Poku or there's a business one I don't know if it still exists at the high school or not but the business it's like business leaders of of the school or something like that but the different communities like that, you know, in connecting with the teachers and their teacher liaison so like if there's a business entity or at the school, the high school then having them meet up with our finance department right so they can kind of understand how the local government works a little bit on a deeper level, or maybe businesses and the right one but accounting but something very similar to that right. So I know, you know, my son plays lacrosse so I know the lacrosse team is has been tasked with signed up for volunteering for Juneteenth and we have the poetry slam group from the high school coming to perform on Juneteenth and a couple of graduates so hopefully that'll motivate them the other thing is, I think it's always easier when people see folks who they recognize so at least when we're hiring. I know I try really hard if I'm on the hiring committee if there's like a local person to if they're qualified of course right there's no bias really but there I think that there is value in hiring someone who is from our community. Their faces are recognized more and it just kind of brings a different feel. So, I think that's, you know, those kind of things always are beneficial for the town. And for some cases it can help reduce that that lack of trust. Right, so. So, thank you Jennifer and again I mean I really we just want to open this conversation. And, you know, as Rachel said, not not kind of a one and done but you know an ongoing relationship as as you and Pamela you know sort of get your legs underneath you and start doing this work and I think ACC we're all we're all kind of out there. You know when it comes to community events we try to attend as much as we can. And we all we're all representatives of the council and so we try to get the word out. But any help that you can, you know, any form that you can that you see where it's like, boy, you know, we want to promote government involvement. This is a pretty low risk pleasant, you know, pleasant way to go about that. And it's, you know, it's it's given away state money for the arts. So it's, you know, it's, it's a pretty enjoyable way to participate in town government. So I have a couple things I want to just make sure that folks are aware of because, because it affects us as a council. But of course, we would certainly invite Jennifer back again soon. Yeah. So, so am I okay. You're good I think are you hope are you hosting us though. Oh wait if I close right now, everybody is done let me make that I'll make you host. Okay we're flying without a liaison so you know I mean I can stay if you need me to stay I think this was I think this was Angela's idea so okay we'll do our best thank you very much Jennifer. Alright, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. And so I'll just go through the items that we had put out on the on the agenda. Actually there's nothing nothing that needs action but but we just needed to know and talk about a little bit. So I don't believe we have any grant amendments that need to be acted on I didn't find anyone Robin correct. That I'm aware of however when I saw Cindy last week. She said she's since she's no longer in a place she no longer get into the email, which means our email. So there, I don't know if you've been being forwarded any email or you can get into it. You're working very very well Julie I'm saying there might be some that came in that we don't know that. It's a little bit stressful we use the town's email address as our primary point of contact and there's been a little bit of a lag on that hopefully between myself Julian Robin and others who have been who have helped with grantees. So we're reaching out on more than one forum but right there's been a there's been a glitch on the town side which then has restricted access that jumps to another item on the agenda so first Cindy. Yes ma'am. Real real quickly. I believe that all the folks that we're requiring an amendment from we have correspondence with them directly in our in our personal email. So I'm not overly concerned because I believe yeah that that our personal emails have been on copy as well so they, they should know where to get a hold of us even if they're not hearing from us so I just think it nothing's come in. I don't know I do want to resolve it with the town but I'm pretty pretty sure that you know they know how to get a hold of us. Yeah, I hope full I mean that's assuming that, you know, but that's assuming that there's nobody who wants to change things that we don't know about but, you know, true. Yeah, yeah, but the ones where where the funds are not distributed because they need an extension, we've been directly in contact with them. That's right and I think it's unlikely that anybody would give up so we are. It's definitely an issue we are working on it. The underlying issue there of course is that Cindy has left for greener pastures which is very sad and thanks to everybody who helps contribute we Robin thank you for or Julian both of you for pulling that together and we did give her some flowers I think in a card or something like that. It was two big things of pennies and irises and to look penis I think anyway she was very happy and moved in. And I put a card in thanking her for her help and her quiet wisdom and strength because that's how I view it and wishing her well from all of us. So she said to leave but she's really excited. It's a great opportunity for her. And so our liaison officially right now is Angela Mills, who is Paul's, you know, executive assistant which means she has a lot on her plate, as it is and if you happen to know any town employees. I think that this is a standing program I believe there's a stipend for I'm sure there's a stipend for them. Well I'm not sure I believe there is. Is that wrong. But it's a standing program for them to all be assigned as liaisons. So, you know, please put the word out I mean they literally they were like, do you have anybody that you'd like to be your liaison and I said well the children's library has been wonderful with my son but that's about as far as I know after two and a half years in town so. I don't think of anybody, you know, and kind of gently persuade them we do need a, we do need a liaison, because that's really an important function for us in terms of working with the town manager's office and the town office. So then, the next thing that falls from that of course is memberships. So, we are, we will have three vacancies summer for vacancies this summer, Leah we are hoping that you're going to be accepting our request that you join as a voting member, which will leave us at three. But you know that's that's substantial because if we have eight, we have eight voting members and and three vacancies. I'm sorry, you know we really we really need to full we need full participation to get to a forum. And in the summer we can survive the summer without you know that that's okay but but when we get into the fall and we start having the grant making cycle we really have to have that sort of voting quorum regularly. So we have to have to be an official committee that can make decisions. So we're a nine person body. So we have to have five. You have to work warm. Yeah, so even if we had four vacancies but all five showed up. You know we could still, we could still act but that's a lot of pressure on us you know when we all have lives and emergencies and so you know counting on full participation every single meeting is a lot. I am going to follow up an email to Jennifer to to try to get, you know, to encourage her to help us with the recruiting since she's doing so much out and about and I think I think she'll be game. Hi Leah. Yeah and why don't why don't I go ahead and introduce Leah since she's here and her hand. Leah Leah is our town. Grants ARPA. And, and, but go ahead please. I just had a question about membership in terms of being on the committee if it has to be a town member, or not. Has to be a town resident, town residents. Okay. Yeah, that's been that's been a challenge for us because we had a couple people moving just, you know, one just one town over just right. We'd have to get a an exception from the, from the town council for for folks to serve out of town, out of town or so to speak. Okay, just wondering. Thank you. Yeah, definitely thank you. So we have a couple more minutes before six. Do we want to set up a time and a date for our July meeting now so that we don't have to do that at the very end. Are we having a July meeting. Well, I've, I would ask that question I would, I would say no, except, you know, we sort of set the stage to work towards the accessibility round table. You know, we set those funds aside and that is something that needs attention. And then of course, getting our new grant application up and running I mean that's, you know, that's always just sort of a running question but I also, I mean I hesitate to say this because I know people are varying feelings about subcommittees. I do think that it might be smart to do a little ad hoc accessibility subcommittee for the sake of getting that round table squared away. And that way we don't need a full form of the of the council and we can be sure we're doing it. If we don't do it, then the funds just go back to the general pool and we distribute them next year so it's not like it's not like that money disappears if we don't do it. But I also feel like we made a commitment to it, at least, you know, a tentative commitment to it. And then we had that great event with Charles Baldwin feels like something we should build on the momentum. So I would be willing to serve on a subcommittee towards that end and I think there's, you know, if others are also willing. This is a subcommittee within our committee with our within the council, or is it like working with a broader committee. Sorry, I. Yeah, yeah, a subgroup of our group. And we're such a small, we're such a small group to do a subgroup. One, one thing is it might, it might be more realistic as far as July considering that we still need a liaison I mean we could potentially schedule it and not even be able to get someone to host the call. So, we might go ahead and let July go from that perspective but then we'd have to be able to commit to definitely August because we, you know, we do need to do an overhaul of the requirements. That's not the right word to the guidelines thank you. You're right it is kind of funny to think about a subcommittee of a small group but a subcommittee allows us to meet without a forum. So I actually think there is there's a good, and we have good sort of good experience with those last year. So I would, I would, I mean I would say if we don't meet as a council on July which might be wise given vacation schedules and everything else that we, we do agree to do a subcommittee. So, I would be willing to, to serve on that. And I know Julianne would as well. We can, if it's not going to be an official council meeting we still need to post it but we can determine that Christie. Yeah, I can do it. Okay, great thank you. So we can we'll determine the date by email and we'll get it posted through Angela. Why don't we hold off on a July meeting for the sake of vacation schedules, and not wanting to worry about a court because it is stressful to not know if you're going to have a forum or not. And then do we do we want to throw a date on the calendar for August then just just so we don't have to do that. That decision is hard over email and you're trying to get a forum locked in. So fine, not doing it I just feel like it's, it's, I hate walking away from meeting and not knowing when our next one is because it just means the email chains get long. Are people okay with the second half of August or no. Any time for me doesn't matter. I mean we're still on zoom right. Yeah, still on zoom. Okay. The town is supposed to read, we visit in July, but we don't have any news so I would assume now that it's in section rates are rising so. Can I toss out the second Tuesday the six or I guess that's the 260. The second Tuesday is the ninth in August. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry. The third Tuesday. So I could do either one of those. It sounds like Christie could do either one. Does anybody have a preference I could do either. I prefer the later one please. All right so why don't we say the 16th. And the folks like five o'clock or can we or back to six or some other time. Five for Christie. I know Julian prefers five. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, wonderful. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And now it's my pleasure to introduce our town finance director. And I will reintroduce our town. I'm going to call it an initiative just because I'm not sure what the exact noun is, but it's, it's a use of our federal ARPA funds in the service of economic empowerment with a big cultural component to it. I'll just turn it over. I'll be honest I was kind of hoping Leah was going to just going to get this done by the time I got here. Because she waited till six exactly that's perfect for you. Sorry, Jones library building committee another cultural, you know organization going on. All right, I'm going to share my screen so we can talk through this a little bit. Can you all make this bigger. You can you see that on the screen the word document. Yeah, it's great. Okay. So thank you all for having us and thank you for being one of the early groups that we've met with when we were doing some of the, the listening sessions related to ARPA and back, I don't know that when it was but I want to say maybe spring 2021 or summer 2021 sometime around there when we first met and got feedback from the from this council. And so that feedback really helped direct some of what we did with the ARPA money or how we allocated it. And some of the, the themes I took from that meeting and from subsequent feedback that came from the council. The artist community a needed a central point of contact or sort of some streamlining around how, how to access certain either pieces of equipment like staging access areas of the town for events. Just one place to go to make it clear how they can complete whatever they're looking to complete. The current system was a little disjointed. I, we also heard that you know there's sort of different cultural groups that represent artists downtown, and again have a central point of contact that can kind of bring some of those groups together would be helpful. And I think the final thing we heard is just someone who can promote and create opportunities for local artists to, you know, obviously have some economic benefit and some gain and to put create these events where local artists can come and and do whatever they do. So one of the things we looked at coming out of that first session, and I think Matt for kind of directing me to it was what North Hampton does. And so North Hampton has a cultural I think they called a cultural director or arts and culture director. And so we looked at that position and that job description and tried to, we know we couldn't do all of it, but we tried to carve out pieces that we thought went together and that we might be able to accomplish with this grant. So, going from there we originally thought we were going to hire a person internally but as we've gone through and getting feedback from the council we're trying not to hire people with funds that may be temporary. So we've been looking for contracts or to work with organizations that might be able to provide some of these services, and maybe leverage other grant funds into the future to continue these services. We put together this sort of economic empowerment initiative, which brings in three sort of primary economic goals for the town. One is supporting local artists and cultural organizations. The second is supporting entrepreneurs. And the third is building economic building on economic partnerships with the college and the colleges and universities. So tonight I'm just going to focus on sort of that first theme but it's all sort of the same bucket of funds that we think at this point we're going to contract out. So what you see on the screen this first paragraph here this first bulleted list. These are the responsibilities or the tasks that we're asking the, the, the contractor to provide. So service the central point of contact for the local artist community including local boards and councils including so that would include this one, provide leadership and support and marketing fundraising and public relations for local events, maintain strong relationships with area artists and work on projects that are beneficial to the arts community in the general public, organize regular community events that showcase local artists providing them with an economic benefit, collaborate with local cultural organizations in the development of community events, and other activities are all activities that shall strive to reflect the different cultures of Amherst. So this would be, this would be what the nonprofit or the contractor would have to do and we've allocated funds for the next two years, possibly longer but right now the funds would allow these services to be provided through the end of f y 24, which is 2024. But again it's possible if it's successful that we could continue it for another potentially up to another two years. The next piece below. So one of the things when we set this up. And this is really core to the ARPA grant is that we needed to think of ways to hold people accountable that these things actually get done and you know it's not just, you know either continuing to do what they're already doing or. So we, aside from actually having actual benchmarks and actual goals, we built in some additional pieces into this sort of contract or framework that we've developed. So one of the things that we will be asking the grantee or the person gets a word of these funds is to develop an evaluation tool that tracks progress towards these types of initiatives, something that we can measure. We can do some sort of baseline and then tracking it. I think it's quarterly basis, the reporting for this program. Yes. And then the other piece is that the grantee will put together an annual report that really kind of brings together all the initiatives they've been working on. So that can be presented to the town manager and potentially the town council, and then the town manager can decide based on that annual report are, you know, is the town getting the value for what it's putting forward so we'd be looking to make sure that there's there's tangible progress being made for each of the initiatives. And so, yeah, so that's sort of where we're at. Right now we are. So the group that we have been in contact with the groups that we've been in contact to potentially perform this contract would be the bid in the chamber. They both sort of, you know, have connections downtown and throw Amherst and they've, you know, they, they've already been supporting the arts and culture scene in a lot of ways, as it is and so, and a lot of ways they make sense. They haven't executed a contract yet but we're moving towards that. And so I'm happy to answer any questions or feedback if there's, you know, if there's, we can't make I want to say major changes to this right now but if there's, if there's things you think within these themes that we should clarify or highlight. We can certainly still do that there's still time to make those changes. So selfishly I'm going to just ask a question that relates to our previous discussion. So currently Angela Mills is filling in as our liaison. And I'm just thinking about, again, you know how, how Northampton does it not to say that that's, you know, this position is very different than what their person does I think your vision for us is uniquely immersed. But I do think that a, you know, somebody in this role, one nice concrete job function that they could have would be to be a liaison to the Amherst cultural council. You know, which, and Cindy, Cindy really was fabulous for us and I can't say that enough. You know, especially who's whose job function, like their day to day job function was centered around, you know, arts and entertainment and culture would be even maybe, you know, be a slightly different direction but I think would be appropriate for us, especially if we're trying to merge the, you know, or at least overlap some of the, some of the events that the various cultural institutions do. And the reason I put it out there now is, you know, that that's kind of a change from the existing town liaison structure and so it would have to be something that, you know, you guys have to consider internally and see if you're comfortable with it but I think that might kill two birds with one stone in terms of, you know, our, our, our need and then you know giving this position early clear some really clear responsibilities. Yeah, I like that idea I think we, I think we will have to think about whether. I think it's in addition to the town liaison as opposed to instead of the town liaison, just because there's some things like, you know, related to the grants, and things like that that we may still want the town, the direct town presence there. But I can certainly, I certainly think it makes sense that this person would be at these meetings. These meetings are monthly. Is that once a month these meetings. Yeah, well, actually, important caveat so more or less most of the year, but for about two months we meet about once a week. When you're reviewing the grant applications. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Okay, no I think that that's something that totally makes sense and we will, we will clarify that understanding before we move forward with the contract. And I totally get the point if it's a subcontractor you may want to have a town liaison present as well. But how does this tie in with what we do or, or that with us to them or them to us and how can we contribute to each other and support each other. Yeah, each other. That's a good question I mean I think we'll get as much out of this as we put into it so I think I could see early on, once it starts is inviting the person to the cultural council to sort of have an initial sort of kickoff meeting. And to talk about the ways that you can partner, you know I could see this committee, you know, bringing any issues you're hearing from the arts. Just blank on the word community to this person to see if there's, you know if there's problems or issues that you hear they're dealing with that maybe this position could help address. If you know events are coming up and you need help with publicizing it. If there's events coming up and you need help with getting, you know, getting the space rented or the, you know if there's the stage put together depending on what it is. So that's one of the things I could see this council or the artist directly going to this position. That's another thing I'll say and of course, folks feel free to, you know, jump in but I, you know, I think we've been very focused on just the grant making, you know, COVID has really changed. So we've been focused on the grant making focus on the accessibility. We have an event this, you know, a petacucha event that past few years we've not been able to put on so so really the ACC hasn't put on anything, you know, in person or we've had a couple of virtual events I suppose but I think, at least I just speak for myself as a member I would be interested in, you know, starting to move back towards some kind of, you know, events where we're showcasing the work of the artists and in town. You know, another area where I think having somebody who was able to do this during their workday would would help, you know, because we're a volunteer group and for those couple months we're reviewing grants it does feel like a second job for it really. It's a lot of time that we commit at that time. So, yeah, just building off that again if there's events you think maybe this group can't put on but you think it should happen in the town. You know, maybe we can always learn from neighbors and other communities if you know if you're become aware of a really nice event that another community is doing that you think would be great for Amherst. That's again, it's one of the things we could, we could try to get this position to take on this sort of organizing that type of event. Yes, hi just clarifying question. Does the town employee that the person doesn't need to be a full time employee right now right. This position that we're talking about here. Yeah. So this position doesn't, it may not be a full time employee or maybe part of a full time employees position it won't be a town employee it'll be a employee of the bid or the chamber. Oh, I see, I see. But it'll likely be part of somebody's responsibility. So somebody who's a current town employee there's no conflict in them taking on this responsibility in addition to what they're doing for the town, or is that exclude them from. Well they wouldn't. It's not a current. It's not. Yeah, it's not going to be a town employee period it'll be we will have a contract with a bid in the chamber, who will hire somebody else to do this work. Yeah, what I'm one of my question is, is somebody who is a current town employee who's working maybe just part time for the town. Gotcha. For this or is there some. They might be, I think it would depend on what they do for the town and we'd, I mean we could always if that if that issue pops up we could get an opinion from, you know, they probably could whether there's an ethical issue would probably depend on the position that they're currently in so. Sorry. No I was just going to say so it's not automatically excluded or like, it is, or is it kind of a fuzzy line that. I think I'd have to think about it more because again the town would be contracting with a nonprofit. And what you're saying is, could an employee, an existing play of the town also be a part time employee of the nonprofit and fill this role. And I think I'd have to think about it more like we can talk with sort of our human resources department maybe get looking see if there's any rulings about that. Yeah, I think it would sort of depend what the position is but yeah, I'm not aware of any current situations like that. Thank you. The idea is to have it be a full time position with the bit in the chamber. So, right, right. So, so good example that not many people probably. So, for example, we've, we've contracted like we've bought stuff from Atkins, and I know there's some town employees that also worked at Atkins during during the summer or whatever. But I think if it was sort of, again, if their role here was doing art arts and culture which I don't think it is because we don't think we have a dedicated position to that. And then a contract with them doing the same thing somewhere else I think that would be an issue but if they're two completely unrelated positions. It might not be but don't quote me on it, for sure. And will this position be in place or at least hiring committee. Yeah, so. So, I don't know exactly what the position because it ultimately will be up the bit up to the bit in the chamber to just give us the plan the staff in plan for how they're going to accomplish these tasks. But we hope to get this contract signed or executed I'd say in the next couple of weeks. It's, we've been working on this for a while so. So yeah we hope to have be able to start doing something tangible around this, you know, mid summer, you know maybe fall at the latest to start actually seeing some benefits from this. And so your your contractor would then post, you know they would hire for a grant on the position for two to three years and then that would be kind of a normal hiring timeline from there hopefully. Right they would. Yeah, if the, again, I don't know what their existing staffing looks like but if they're. They would, again, they're aware that these funds are theoretically only through FY 24 right now and we've told them if it works well which we hope it does there's potentially funds beyond that to make it maybe through the end of 2026 or through June of 2026. Any other, any other sort of specific things that you think we should make sure it gets covered through this so I like the idea about making sure that the person participates in these meetings. And then, you know, I think we kind of clarify that you can funnel feedback and request to them. If there's anything else that I'm trying to think back to what we heard there's anything else that you can think of specifically if not tonight certainly email it to us. And if you go to us before the end of the week, we're not going to have the contract signed this week so we can, we can still work on it. Well selfishly I think these meetings are the most important ones but I would also say that, like the, the cultural districts, the downtown Amherst Foundation has an arts component, I believe. So, because I know the vision is a unifying type position so you know as much as possible to be in attendance at all those various groups meetings and I think just helping to kind of find and find synergy cross pollinate ideas, you know, connect, connect people. And I just think that that's for us that I mean that's that's really core and I think the thing that I'm most or most intrigued by is how you all have wrapped in the university functions to it. And I think that's something that's really evolved with you over time and I just want to share with you and somebody else might do a better job but this year, you know, I think there was an old clause in our guidelines that basically ruled out students. You know, basically said the grants, you know this grant will not go for for your degree program. And so people who thought outside the box could say well, you know it is my degree program but it's also, and then they would be also is what we would judge them on. But I think historically it's it's been, you know, we've not been giving grants to students much, at least in the past four or five years, but this year we had two or three students that made really compelling cases for their like thesis projects that also had, whether it was a second performance in town, or you know really directive outreach to community members in town. We had, we've had fabulous membership Leah is in high school but we had a fabulous Amherst College member who just actually left the country sadly but you know so so I think we as a counselor again I speak for myself but we'll be really open to, you know, deepening our late with the schools both in terms of, I feel like I'm on repeat because I said the same thing to die to Jennifer, both in terms of grantees, but also members of the council so so that's just an area that you know this person, a way that we could we'd be happy to work with the the colleges I guess makes sense. One last thing Sean and then I think I'll be done with my questions for now. There's also the small the grants that are administered through the bid small business grants, some of those I think arts and culture institutions might be eligible for. Yeah, so I think they so there's two. Well this there's three grant programs so there is a startup grant program so this would be for businesses that don't currently exist. And so, you know, is businesses if they're related to some sort of art yeah would be able to apply for that. The there's a growth grant so existing businesses can also apply and and these funds are so the startup obviously it's help them start up with growth it's to help them grow their business or to expand their business in some way or make some sort of efficiency that helps them have a more successful business. And then the last one is technical assistance which can kind of be for either either group which is somebody just needs like an architect or an engineer or somebody to come and provide some sort of evaluation of a maybe a space for example if they're looking to go into a space. There's a space in the past where people will sign a lease not really knowing if their business can go into the space, and then they, they sign the lease and they're locked in and then find out they can't and so we wanted to try to avoid that by providing this sort of upfront evaluation for potential businesses so they don't get trapped in a lease that they can that they can actually do their business. So yeah those potentially are open to any to existing businesses and perspective new businesses. So we're a lot of our grantees too so we, you know, if there's a bit already put out that application those applications or is that still in. So the, the growth one is out lia is that correct. It's open until June 30. Right. The other thing I'll just make this group aware of because I know, you know, the arts field can be challenging sometimes. Especially during COVID. The other thing that's going to be going out soon as a resident emergency aid program. And so we're working with family outreach of Amherst to administer program where a resident of town, hit some sort of financial struggle. There's going to be potentially some grants for that as well to help pay, you know, for overdue mortgage payments or utility payments things like that. We're not going to help the businesses but we also want to help residents as well so that program. All these will be rolling out either they're currently out there they'll be rolling out in the next month or so. How would someone apply for that. The rest network. Yeah, because I know a few people who really. So we're actually having a meeting with family outreach of Amherst tomorrow to talk about. So we have a we have our agreement signed with them. And now we're ready to say, how do we publicize this to people and how do they apply. So there will be some sort of application form that's developed or and they would meet with family outreach of Amherst who would would go through the process with them. So we'll leave. I'll make a note Lee and you and I, neither one of us forget to send the information back to this group once we have more better sense of the timing but it should be, I would say this month. And yeah it'll be publicized on the town website and pushed out through social media once it's available. Yeah. I was going to say we've been talking throughout this whole year and also just our last thing with the DEI about finding outreach, both like outreach to the community with like social media and that. So outreach to like other people on councils like in terms of diversity and accessibility and things like that so having a liaison who might be sitting in to like other arts meetings and hearing things and then kind of like reporting to someone who's maybe goes and connects us with like a DEI thing that's kind of connected through this arts thing sounds really interesting, because we've been talking a lot about making connections with other people so that just seems like a super cool way to further that so thank you. Yeah I agreed, agreed. Sean and Leah Carver. Thank you all both very much I know it's been a long day. Thank you. Thank you. And again if you have any other ideas, send them to us or send them to Matt and he knows how to get him to us so thank you. Thanks. Thanks y'all. Hi. So, I think, unless there's any, any other business that folks have regional Robin sorry. Julian was there some information from her media, or, or not. That's a little bit slow moving I actually need to connect with Matt about that. But they did send us over a release form. But honestly, I need to follow up on that. Thank you. Okay, so but nothing we need to get that in. And the other one is Jenny. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. I don't know what you're doing at the meeting. She's being a wonderful public servant. Is this your last meeting or. You're muted Jenny. I'm sorry, you are the birthday wishes. I'm not sure if this is my, if June or July, but I guess I'll have to look at the list and see. Well, I was going to ask one thing of both Jenny and I'll say it Arthur, because I want, you know, so both Jenny and Arthur will be rolling off for different reasons. And we do have, you know, we have permission from the town manager's office to extend until we fill those slots. So, you know, just so y'all know. We're working with joy as well. I think so, so, you know, obviously you're, you're free to go, but, but we're hoping to get it's just it's just all moving a little bit slow with the liaison transition and other things. So we don't have any interviews scheduled I know there are candidates in the, in the shoot. So it's just a question of getting them getting, getting all scheduled. So we'd love to have you for another month or two until we can do a transfer but totally understood. I mean, you know, please don't feel pressure to do so. I'm happy to stay until everything's all settled so I'll have to put some thought into it because I have like a lot of work coming up and travel for work to actually so I'll have to let you know I'll think about it. Okay. All right totally understood Arthur. So man there are people who are interested. Yeah, I think it's I think Angela was, was making a couple more passes in terms of whatever recruiting, you know, arms she has but I do know that she's got, she's got some names on there. I'm just asked someone, well, his grandmother to ask him because I don't know how to reach him. He might be interested. And that would be awesome he helped organize the pow wow. He's like, works with a lot of disability stuff and indigenous stuff and so we'll see I'm not sure if he's interested but he might be. I have a couple friends. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see it. Go ahead. Go for it. If I wanted to go up to like a full voting member. Um, should I fill out, because I remember I filled out like some forms before being like what's the process for that. Yeah, I'm glad you asked so we did check that with Angela Mills. Yeah, I think that's idea first, which by the way, this idea came up a long time ago. She just needs a recommendation from us from the co chairs and she's there in support because you've already been through the interview process. I don't need to go through an interview. No, no, but you might need to sign the Whatever it is that we had to sign and Yeah, there's some training to there's a, yeah, there's Okay, thank you. So, we'll send that email just to say that you're you're willing and thank you very much. Then I think they'll let you know what if there's anything else you need to do. Are other two high schoolers want to remain on. Nandi, Nandi regretfully said that she had, she does have a lot of commitments and she just wasn't able to do it. Sydney, honestly, we haven't heard from Sydney in the year and a half so we're going to take that as we're just going to take it as a non interest. So should we seek out two other What we're talking about. 1011 10th graders. Well, maybe but I think let's with Angela's schedule the way it is right now. I think we should probably just try to get that. I don't know, you know what I take it back maybe I'm being pessimistic but I just want to get these voting slots filled that and that's, and I don't I just don't want to throw anything else at Angela but if anybody wants to recruit any 10th graders on the side. Like the heart of but yeah. Yeah, yeah, I can talk about putting it maybe in like morning announcements or something like that. That'd be cool. That'd be very cool. Sorry I didn't mean I didn't mean to be negative on the idea just, yeah, so trying to stay focused on the voting slots but you're right we should continue to recruit because non voting spots become voting spots right and that's, that's a wonderful thing. And then Rachel did put in the chat about the minutes I apologize I call took them last month and I just didn't send them out so I will have to send will have to approve may and June. When we meet in August. I have minutes for tonight, I didn't catch all of what Sean talked about because he went really fast. But, um, yeah, so you guys can approve that partner, maybe he'll share that you can share that with us as well. Good. Just so we're kind of clear on on that. It sounds like it's, it's more morphing anyway into whatever it's going to be and we'll, we'll learn more when they hire somebody to. That's right. Well thank you all very much. And we'll connect again in August, if not, if not before then. That's great. See you all. It's been a couple of months though. All right, be well. Have a happy birthday. Thank you.