 Okay. So, so do you want to call it to a specific time? Sure. It is that clock is wrong. It is 637. And this is a gathering of the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee. With the extension of 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 instructions below. 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. So on our agenda today, we have a call to order announcements. We're going to table minutes because we don't have quorum, public comment, member reports, the action and discussion items, which I'm imagining we might not get through all of tonight. But there is Crescent DEI updates, Rob and Youth Empowerment Center update, Police Chief and Crest Director update, the restorative justice and other budget cuts at the regional schools, civil rights complaints, co-responder and police activities in schools, holding future town forums and a town council liaison. And then more public comment and then upcoming agenda items and meeting schedules and other topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours in advance of the meeting. So that is the agenda. Hi Pamela. So we, Everold is having some Wi-Fi issues. Lisette is not able to come today and I haven't heard from Isabella. So we understand we can still meet and listen, but we can't vote on anything today because we don't have quorum at this time. Well, meet, listen and discuss. Yes. So I will read, does anybody have any announcements? I think we were talking about a couple of announcements actually just kind of, you know, chit-chatting before. So I'll just say the announcements, which is one, this is my brother, my actual brother, blood brother, Tim Blest is a stage name, but Tim Ferrera, he'll be performing at the Drake. And as you all know, he's a hip hop artist and does a lot of good work as an educator in Amherst with Amherst schools and other organizations within Amherst. And he'll be performing on March 22 at the Drake. So hopefully folks will come out and support. Then I know that the Cape Verdean Student Alliance organization from UMass, they're having their Cape Verdean cultural night on March 30th. And that starts, I believe it, like six o'clock or six 30. And it usually goes until about 10 or 11. And there's like a series of events and cultural events, food, music, some dancing, they're going to have a band, they're going to have like a drumming circle. And then yours truly will be doing some poetry because I do some spoken words. I'll be doing some poetry that night too. So hopefully folks can come out to that. Can I just ask a point of order question? It's Cape Verdean Student Alliance, is that what you said? Cape Verdean Student Alliance is a student organization at UMass and they're the ones hosting this. I know I'm missing one announcement, but you can go ahead Allegra and then I'll see if I can remember my other announcement. Yeah, I don't, I don't think I have anything. I think my brain is a little bit fried today. I think I had something on the same, but we can keep going and if I remember it, I'll bring it up. So why don't we open up for public comment? Sorry, I just hit the button and it disappeared. Okay, now remember it before we go into public comment. The other one was around the 80 acres free store. So that's the store in Amherst, so they have clothes, household items, toys and more, all for free. There are hours of operation on Tuesdays, 1.30 to 5.30, Wednesdays 12 to 4.30, and last Sunday of the month, 3 to 6 p.m. They're at 284 North Pleasant Street across from Kendrick Park in Amherst. Okay, so for anyone, you know, lots of good things that they have there and it's all absolutely free. Can you just repeat their hours again? So they're hours Tuesdays, 1.30 to 5.30 p.m., then Wednesdays, 12 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., and then the last Sunday of the month, 3 to 6 p.m. And they're also looking for volunteers. If people want to volunteer there, you know, just contact them 80 acres and you can find out more information. Public comment. During the public comment period, the chair will recognize members of the public when called on. Please identify yourself by stating your full name, preferred pronouns, 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 cede their time to another speaker. CSSJC will not engage in dialogue or comment on the matter raised during public comment. So I'm Martha Hanner. I live in South Amherst, District 5, and I just wanted to say that it's very exciting to hear the news that a new press director has been now chosen and hope that tonight in this meeting that we'll learn a little bit more about her. So I'm eager to hear the news and very excited that we're able to move forward. So thank you. Thank you, Martha. Another public comment period at the end of the meeting. So I will move along. Any member reports? You know, just want to say that I attended the Julie Brooks conversation earlier in the month, or maybe was it the end of the month? I forget when it was, but it was a very good session. It was brought on by the League of Women Voters, the Equity Justice Committee, and it was on the black business of the Amherst area, Black Business Association of the Amherst area, and they had a variety of black business owners. They provided a lot of really great information and how they got started in terms of their businesses, and obviously all the hard work that it took for black businesses to be able to establish themselves within the Amherst community, which of course, you know, has its challenges, especially around being a black business owner and person of color. But I thought it was really well done in terms of the presentation, as well as provided really critical information. So I wanted to thank Ms. Pat Onani Baku and others from that group that continue to do the work that sometimes is very thankless, but of course that we need to see. I know for my kids, it's wonderful that they're there, that they see these role models in the community, and that they can see, and I'm sure other young people can see, that they can also do it if these folks are able to do it and have their business in our community. I think some of the other things we'll kind of talk about it when the agenda items come up. Action and discussion items. I'm wondering if we want to put the Crest Director update first and then talk about what Crest has been doing. Is that okay with people? And so, there is a new appointee for the position of Crest Director. Her name is Camille, and I believe, is it Theronique? Am I saying that? No, no, it's Camille Ferriac. That's how you pronounce her last name. Thank you. And so she was formerly a firefighter in Holyoke, along with our Chief Nelson, and then went to school to become a social worker, so she has spent the more recent part of her career doing clinical work with people with significant mental health and substance use issues, most recently in Holyoke as a member of the program for assertive community treatment, which is a really intensive kind of wraparound service provision model for people with usually department of mental health clients. So she will be starting in April. On the 8th, April 8th. And the Town Council meeting to approve her appointment is the 18th, so this coming Monday. Our first round of interviews was back in January. And we had a really, I felt a really strong candidate pool and she definitely had a great energy in our meetings. So I'm hopeful that we can work together to, you know, move Cress forward. And I'm excited to hear from the temporary leadership about the possibilities that they're putting forward in their kind of transition report. Well, yeah. And so for me, like before we hear about, because I'm also interested in finding out more about the transition and what is going to be happening as we transition to the new director. I'm also very excited about this new director. Like when I even previous to her appointment already sent an email to Paul Bachman, you know, stating and requesting, communicating a request for us to meet with her so that we can have conversations while she's onboarded and when she's onboarded. So we'll be looking forward to that. But I wanted to hear from the both of you in terms of, can you share a little bit more about her? You know, I'm assuming you both met with her and everything. Why you think, you know, she has the skills to lead Cress forward, especially in terms of the mission and the vision. And when I say that the original mission vision of Cress. So I don't, I mean, I was I did not participate in the in the search at all. I met her with the responders for and probably an hour when the responders met with her. I do know her and have known her for a long period of time. But I think the the answers to your question are probably best provided by the people who committed, who were, you know, part of that search process, which I was not a part of the search process. Pamela, I get that. I understand you. That's not what I'm asking. I'm just asking what's your take? What do you think in terms of like, I wasn't part of the search at all? I don't know really anything about her besides the little blurb that I received. So as someone that obviously is CSSJC and of course, a case tremendous, tremendously for CSS for a Cress and one of the original members of CSWG. I'm just interested in finding out more about her. So you did get a chance to talk to her. So and you said you know her otherwise. So I just wanted to get a take. Yeah. So I think that that given the fact that the Cress department, well, first, let me say before I forget that we're planning a public reception for her. I have to confirm the space, but it's likely to be Thursday, which I believe will be the 11th of April, the 11th of April in the afternoon. So we are planning that public event so folks will have an opportunity to meet with her and talk to her. And in addition to that, I think when I think about what my personal opinion would be a good for the department is someone who can help it become the third branch of public safety, which is what it's envisioned. And so I think having that public safety background will be really helpful as far as aligning the department with the goals of a public safety branch and understanding how that branch needs to interact with both police and fire, which she would have had experience in in her previous job in Holyoke. And I'll just add, like, I've never worked with her. I know her personally. But, you know, I have no experience about what her life was like at work or other than knowing that she was a firefighter and that she had the, you know, the clinical background, which I think will also be helpful in helping the town meet its overall goals for the Crest Department and meet some of the manners that other departments like this are being utilized around the country. Like, I think it's a good combination of skills. Okay, thank you. What about for you, Chief Nelson, anything that you can share in terms of your take? I think she's a great, great choice. She was my choice from the start. I've known her, Jesus, good God. I've known her almost probably now for 30 years, I think, almost that long. She came into work for us. She had been laid off from the Springfield Fire Department right after their Academy. And a few of those recruits came to work at a whole wheel of fire. So she worked for me when I was a tenant, captain, and deputy chief. Hard worker, smart, tenacious. I mean, she was a sing-sing single mom, done great things with her kids, bringing her rate, raising her kids. Smart, good fire for the firefighter. No, she's been through some trials and tribulations, and she used that to just grow stronger, stronger, stronger. She left the job, I won't say why, but it was one, it was the same thing where she didn't want to leave, but it was just better for her in the health, health wise. But she overcame that, went back, back, back to school, pursued another pamp, pamp fashion. And again, I don't know, so, so, so, so short. She, I forget the name of the program, but she went, went there. Thank you. Did great, great there, and since then, it's done really, really good things. So I think she's got the right mix of, of technical expertise and practical knowledge. She knows, she knows what it's like to work in a public safety agency and work with different public safety agencies. She left the job as a tenant. So she knows how to, she knows how to manage people. She knows how to supervise people. She'll be good, good for the department, because she's got one, again, one foot in the social service service realm, one in the public safety realm, and she knows how the two can mix and mix, mix well. And the other, the other thing is she, she's what, what the, what the department department is going to need. They're going to need a legal leader. So someone that, that can, you know, pull, pull, pull group together, together, lead, and lead, lead, lead them in the corrective direction. And think, think that I, that one thing that I've, that I've said so in the past is she, she can be a boss, you know, and that's, you know, you, you got to be via department, department head. She's going to be, she is, she will, will be a department head. She's going to have some folks who are working for her. And it's not all, all, always pee, peaches and creams. Sometimes you've got to be a boss and that's just the way, way, way, just, just the way it is. I think she brings the right balance, the right experience, the right 10, 10, 10, 10 permit as well. I mean, you work, you know, when you work and live with some, someone as we do, doing a fire, fire, fire, firehouse, you can't, you're not, you're not going to hide much in terms, in terms of who, who, who you are and what, and what you're all about. And she used the real deal. She, she'll be good, she'll be good for the department, department, department, she'll be good for the, the, the responders, the responders, should be good for the town. You know, so I'm, I'm, I'm excited, excited, excited for, I'm happy for, for, for, for, as I said, I've known, I've known her a long, long time. So that's, that's my take. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. And now, like what Allegra had kind of posed before, which I'm interested to just kind of like what the transition process is going to be until she, she starts, I know you all had mentioned some type of report that you all were putting together. So yeah, you can get some information on that. Yeah. So we're still putting together the report. I would describe it as a working Bible for, so it has, I, I didn't think to bring a list of all the sections, but they're, there's, it's divided into sections. So there's a section on, on dispatch, there's a section on departments, relationships with other departments. There's a section on the memorandums of understanding with the department. There's a section on personnel. We, during the last, I guess, four or five months have put together a, an operations manual that she'll have. There's some other policies that the, the team has put together. So all of that will be in a binder set for her, for easy access, right, rather than, so she could flip to it and, and have like a quick sort of overview. So with each, within each section, there's going to be like, you know, a cover page that just gives a little bit of an overview about that information. A section on qual tracks, so the software data collection system. And it's still a work in progress. We're still putting it together and adding additional pieces. I thought it would be a good idea to include a copy of the case studies that we use for training, as well as the other sort of information about the training program that the new responders went through. So, you know, as, as I would describe it as sort of a working Bible, like, you know, here's one place where you could go to get a quick sort of overview of various aspects of the operations of the department. And of course, the plan is for, for, for the trans, for the interim leadership team to step away. Like April 8 will be probably the happiest day of my life in the last two years. I plan on wearing bright colors, because I've been wearing gray for six months. Like, so when I, you know, show up in purple or red or something, it's, it's because I've been wearing gray for six months. We haven't really talked, the leadership team has not been able to be together at, I think since the last meeting, people have been on vacation. Cat was away on vacation and Janet is currently away on vacation. So we haven't ironed out all of the transitional plans, but, you know, obviously I will be right next door. And there will be a plan to have people, you know, step away. Janet will be vacating the office that she currently has, because that's the office space for the director. So she'll be moving back to the police department, but I think we'll spend some time sort of providing some support on the areas where she led in the leadership team as we transition. So we're hoping we should all be back together as a leadership team on Friday to sort of plan out our schedule for what, you know, the actual steps will look like. I know that we've all committed to being supportive, but we haven't, we haven't ironed out a plan. I mean, other than I know that, you know, the office will have to be vacated by April 8th. And we are working on putting together that bible and we have delayed some decisions until after the arrival of the new director. So, you know, we've been talking a lot about the Qualtrics contract, and that's the purchase of the software system that the department is going to use for a data collection that was recommended by the Donahue Institute. That contract is signed and they will be ready to go. And just today I sent an email saying that, you know, there's no way that they would want to have any discussions about the implementation of that until the new director is on, right? So some things I think have to be held for it for the new director, but it's signed and ready to go. There's no decisions made, it's paid for, it will be in place for the next three years. So we're trying to do all of those types of aspects of the job, but leaving those big decisions and discussions for the new director. Another example would be the Harvard Government Performance Lab has indicated that they want to come out and do a site visit. And again, I've said to them, I think that, you know, that that visit have to occur after April 8th. And I, you know, what I said is to them today was like after April 8th, give her a little bit of time to get acclimated, right? So that she can actually participate in a meaningful way rather than having members of the leadership team be there. Yeah. Hi. Yeah. What's the, I'm a little bit confused as to the delay implementation of the software into the New York directories. And if that is a software that we will be used for the next three years, is there something specific that she needs to be there for for the implementation? Right. So they're going to customize it. And so it's not just a plug and play. It requires customization. And I think that it would be wise for her to be a part of those discussions about customization, rather than having the interim leadership team design something, you know, for the department that we're going to step away from. So it will be, they'll be completely customized. Yeah. And she, and she, she's going to need, need to put her, that's one of those things that the, the director needs to put their stance, stance, stamp on this, some other things that we've discussed in the past that we haven't touched because that, because they're, you know, long, long, long term, term things that the director should help guide and that, and should be within, within the directories per year. I mean, one of the keys to a good smooth transition is continuity. And I would call the Bible a continuity book. So it kind of helps you guide helps guide you along, along, along the way, as, as you kind of, kind of, as, as the leadership team steps, steps away and the director, the director takes a larger role. And that's the, and that, that really works. It really does nice, smooth, easy transition. And the other reason for somewhat of a delay, and it'll be a short delay is that, and we had a, you know, as, and a virtual site visit with the Department of Public Health about a week and a half ago, and they are, are creating some different metrics that they would like us to use. And we've had some discussion about aligning their requirements with some of the things that we're going to do and so again, I think that's another conversation where it would be important for the director to be the person who's ultimately making those decisions. And the DPH, when they met, when we met with them, I think actually like that during the first week that the interim leadership team was in place, they were still trying to figure out what their metrics would be. They, we, they did present the department with a preliminary Excel sheet to, to complete. Cat did complete that in the meeting that we had, you know, about, I guess now like two and a half weeks ago, there was some discussion about refining it there. They want us to capture the data a little bit differently than we have captured it. And so, you know, there, I think there are going to be multiple requirements that the software system is going to need to meet like the data that this committee and the community wants to, to capture the data that needs to be captured for the DPH grant and thinking about ways to have those things align. And I think that should, you know, the director should really think through that. The other piece of that is that the part of the DPH grant supported the initial Donahue assessment that was done last year that made the recommendation to purchase Qualtracks. And in the recent meeting that we had, there are still money. That's a line item for assessment. And they've made it clear that we need to do have the another assessment done by the Donahue Institute. So I think, you know, we'll try to get, I don't know if we'll have that assessment, probably we'll not be able to have that assessment done by April 8, but we will try to push that ahead so that it's, you know, it's moving ahead and we might have the capability of having those results in before the Qualtracks contract goes forward. You know, there's just a couple of different pieces that I think need to align. And I do just feel that it's, that alignment needs to be thought through by the director. I have one more software question. How does this software work with dispatch and software? It does not. So one of the questions that the department wrestled with, and this was prior to the interim leadership team coming in, was whether to try, the CAD system, I guess nationally, is scheduled to have some updates made to it that would better reflect the work of, you know, like a Cres department or other departments like this. And the information that the department received from IT and from the CAD system is that that update, those updates are not, you know, they're not going to happen anytime soon. So rather than waiting for those updates to occur, the recommendation was to proceed with a different, you know, with a different system. And they're not going to speak to each other. But I do think that someone, and it won't be me because I don't have that technical expertise, someone who really understands the technical expertise of like what is captured in CAD and what can be captured in Qualtracks and how those two systems, even though they won't talk to each other, how they might be able to complement each other. So IT is going to be very instrumental in working to make sure that both of those systems work well for the department. One thing about that, you can always find someone or something to build a bridge between two systems. And dispatch is looking at going away from the present dispatch of the system because it just leaves, they've had it for a long time and it leaves a lot to be desired. One of the things they'll look at is they build a new system or get a new system, acquire one, is how well it works with other systems. That's going to be one of the decision points. But again, there's always a way to build a bridge. It's just how difficult that bridge is going to be to build. Thank you. Thanks. So I have a couple of questions about the transition. But I guess since we were talking about records and data, I guess I want to talk a little bit about that and hopefully when we move on from transition, maybe you all can share some data with us. Because as you all know, for several meetings now, we've been asking for data from you all and we've been getting the same kind of response that about some software and you all can't share data and so on and so forth, which again is concerning to me. So I want to say it clearly that we put in, myself and Allegra put in a public records request because the last meeting we had, I remember Sergeant Janet Griffin saying that if we wanted data, put in a public records request, so put in a public records request to ask for data on Cress. And so we submitted that. I did receive a response from the town person who handles the public records request and saying that we should be getting a response on or before Monday, March 18th in regards to the records that we're requesting. So I'm talking about it now too is that for the new director for her to know that this is going to be critically important to get this right and to get some information, get some data because we need the data. That's a key part of us being able to monitor what is happening to know what is happening and also for Cress to be able to be transparent about the work that it's doing. And it's very much tied in to the success for Cress and tied in to getting more funding, which is critical, which is something that we've been asking for for Cress for a long time. So hopefully we'll be getting some of that information and I don't know if this is the appropriate time, but is there going to be some data that you are going to be sharing with us tonight or? I don't really have anything to share tonight. I do want to want to speak to the fact that there that there has been that I've been really adamant about about making sure that what we provide is accurate. And I think I don't know if Earl shared the Donahue report when it was completed. But I think what I would say that what the takeaway that I would would want the committee to understand is that there was some sort of a and I'm saying it this way purposely. There was some sort of collection that was done by the department early on. There was an assessment done by the Donahue Institute, which found lots of room for improvement. And and the number one takeaway from that report was the obtaining the Qualtrics system, which we have obtained and will be the department will be able to implement. And in between the Donahue Institute review of the first sort of data collection and where we are currently, there have been two different types of internal collection methodologies, which I would argue that someone who is very familiar with data would say is inadequate, right? I think the thing that will help the department and provide the accurate data you want is to follow the Donahue Institute's recommendation, which was to buy Qualtrics and to build out a system. And that hasn't occurred yet. So you know, what what we do have is the, you know, the the CAD reports from from December 18th. And we do have the the last internal system that's being used. But, you know, quite frankly, that's not going to tell the whole picture. And it's in my opinion not going to tell an accurate picture because it was made without the finesse that really you need for this type of data collection, which is why we've been pushing so hard to purchase Qualtrics and follow the recommendation of the Donahue Institute. I mean, the bottom line line is that you can you can you can get all all the data data that you want. But if it's bad, if it's collect, collect, collect, collect it in an accurate way, all you've got is bad, bad data data. And that's that's not going to help anyone. So, and stuff like this, take, take, take, takes time, you know, you have to go out to bed, you have to have to find, find the right, the right, right suite and all that. So it takes it takes time. And you know, the Donahue Institute made made a really good call in terms of saying, you should look at this particular software. And that's what's what's going on. I said before, we can we can either get this thing done or get it done right. And we're going to get it done done done right. But it takes it takes time. It just takes time. Yeah, I mean, I get that. But I know that, you know, for for us, you know, that are in the community, we get pressured by the community that right now, you know, for several months, we haven't seen any data from from Crest. So send them send them send them send them to us. All right, have to have to have to have them call call call us we can explain explain it to them. But you know, I understand the whole preference pressure piece. But you know what, it's going to take as long as it's going going going going to take. And it's good. And we're going to do this the correct, correct, correct way. But folks folks are around or after a complaint, plain planning or whatever, send them our our our way. That's not a big deal. You know, we've got big shoulders to the shoulders. Yeah, I get that. But for them, it is a big deal. And for them, you know, and for me, you know, we want at least a picture right now, we don't have any picture, we don't have any idea in terms of what is going on with Crest and in terms of the data. And that's why, you know, we want to make sure that we get some of this information. But anyway, hopefully we'll get some information through this public records request. But to kind of keep us moving on, in terms of the transition, several of the things that I would like to to to say in terms and hopefully see as the director gets on boarded and transitioned in is one I want to know, like, you know, I'm assuming she's going to be getting some training to align herself with what the Crest responders have gotten, especially around the mission. So, you know, we'll be looking forward to hearing about some of that training and what it was that that she's going to be receiving. Also, of course, very important and critical that she reads all of the reports, you know, the CSWG reports, any and all reports from Sevens-Jan and Leap and so on and so forth and any and all like meetings and minutes and so on and so forth between CSWG and CSSJC. That's particular to Crest, so that she gets the full idea in terms of the mission vision of Crest. Also, in terms of when is it that she should be meeting with CSJC? And then also, like I said, already, we already brought it up to Paul, but, you know, I'll bring it up to you all. When is it that Allegra and I will have a meeting with her? It's all well and good that there'll be a public meeting with her. Fun and dandy, I'll be there, but I want to obviously have a sit down with her and not be talking over people, you know. So, you know, I don't know if you have answers for that right now. I mean, bottom line, you know, she's the part of her head. She'll meet with folks as she sees fit. I'm sure she's going to, but that's really going to be, excuse me, that's going to be on her, on her plate. And for her to decide when and where and how it's going to be, because there's a lot that she's going to take. And you talked about reading the reports and all that. Yeah, she'll do that if she hasn't already. You know, she's a good study. She's a quick study. Well, there's going to be a lot of stuff going on and she's going to do it and she's going to hit each piece as she should in a timely fashion. So, I don't think there should be a concern about that. She'll meet with whomever, you know, but it's going to, but she's going to decide when. Yeah, I get that, but I don't think we're a whomever committee, you know, seeing when a committee is charged to oversee, you know, all of the recommendations of CSWG, which is Crest. So you all are in term leadership. So I think you all should be having her, you know, communicating to her that we are one of the pivotal committees for her to meet with as opposed to just being kind of like, oh, well, she'll meet with whomever, whenever and so on and so forth. You miss, you miss, you miss my point, please. Can I interject for a second? So let me interject for a second. So I have not built out her schedule and Kat and I will start to build out what her initial schedule will be during the, you know, during the first couple of weeks, but we haven't built it out yet and I'm happy to build in time for you all to meet with her. But we haven't started, we haven't, you know, like the announcement was yesterday. We haven't built it out. No, I get that. I get that you all have built it. I just want to make sure that we're put into the schedule. That's all. And thank you, Pamela. I appreciate it. That would be great. Thank you. So just to, I only have a couple of other things to talk about for Crest. So I can maybe just, I just hit those points. So I know that part of the discussion that you had, one of the issues that you guys had raised was about having Crest, having more public face and brochures and pamphlets and more public spaces. And that was actually also a suggestion that came to the leadership team from the fire department when we met with them and had conversations. So that is now complete. We've been, it was in the works, but we were waiting for the announcement of the new Crest director because we didn't, it wasn't worthwhile to print out any information without having that director position completed. And I did communicate with Camille that she had a chance to see the brochures and pamphlets today and she's approved the photograph of her that we're using. So those can just move forward. And I'll, we'll be happy to send you, to send you those tomorrow when, you know, we, they'll be finalized. Those will have the new responders too. Yeah. Yeah. They have the new new. So it's been completely updated with, with the new responders and with the director. So they're done. The new responders completed their training on the 1st of March. And so they're all in deployment, you know, rotating through the various activities that they have. And I think that so far things are going fairly, fairly well. We, we use this their final day of training case studies that the, I call them the OG responders, but the case studies based on actual cases that the, our veteran responders had dealt with, they wrote the, the veteran responders wrote the case studies, the, and facilitated the conversations. And there were some role playing so that we could provide them with some critiques and information about what their actual work might, might look like. So that was a very intense day. They were completely exhausted at the end of the day. And they went through six case studies, one from each of the responders and one from, from Sergeant Griffin. And then we actually have additional case studies that will probably complete, but, you know, that was the six really filled the day. The cross responders have had a lot of requests for community engagements. So I'm, you know, they were at the town council meeting on the Gaza resolution. They were at the school committee meeting last night, the Tibetan proclamation. They were asked to, to table at the Hampshire college queer conference. And then they also visited classroom at Hampshire college. They were written into the Blarney blowout operation plan. So they participated with the other. Well, police fire and the other public safety departments that assisted Amherst police in working Blarney blowout. And I will say one of the things that has happened that's been really good is that as these large events have come up, you know, chief team or interim chief team has been really good about sharing the operation plan, making sure that Cress was included and making sure that, you know, those two departments worked well together. So Cress responders for the Blarney blowout were divided into two teams of four and tasked with assisting, you know, young adults to stay safe and a number of different ways of escorting people who were, you know, overly intoxicated or advising them about alternatives for things that they might engage in. And so they they I think they felt like they were part of a larger group. They were the day starts out for the police department and the fire department with a operational meeting that starts at eight in the middle school. They were fully included and incorporated and introduced to all of the other departments from the supporting community. So they really had an opportunity to be that third branch of public safety and assist to, you know, deescalate situations or assist folks and during during the during the event. Hi. Can you, if you can, you talked about case studies that the new trainees did. Can you articulate one case study? I'm just interested to see what's exactly. Sure, let's see. So the one that probably comes to mind is assistance with an individual who was a veteran who was seeking services and was needed support from Craig's stores that they assisted to obtain housing and direct. I'm trying to think of some of the other ones. There was one that worked where one of the responders was working with an immigrant family. There was a case study, I think, and hopefully I'm remembering this correctly, where I'm trying to think of the names that were given to them to see if I can remember. So I know there was one around assisting a veteran. I know there was one involving Craig's stores. One case study, I think, involved responding to the Amherst survival center. So in lieu of police, the cross responders were called to respond to, I don't want, altercation is too strong of a word, but you know, and some sort of a disagreement at Amherst at the survival center. I can't recall the other ones off the top of my head. That's okay, thank you. So that's pretty much it for Cress, if you have other questions about Cress, but those were the highlights that I had. Yeah, I do have some questions. So in terms of dispatch, do you have any more kind of examples or information in terms of how many situations they were dispatched to this past month? And you know, obviously it's awesome that they're doing a lot of outreach and being integrated in this way and helping out in regards to a lot of community events, but also in terms of just you know, either people calling in or them being dispatched, information in terms of how they were. Yeah, so all of the calls are logged onto dispatch and then within that, so everything goes with every call that they receive, whether it's someone calling directly into the department or receiving a call from dispatch to the department, every call is logged into dispatch. That those records are the most accurate about their activity overall. And we are still, we have not expanded the seven call types, they still are the seven original, well I think it was seven original and one additional, so maybe there are all the eight call types that we talked about before, they have not expanded that. Dispatch, the bulk of the calls are still self-initiated, either calls that are coming, calls that the department, the responders are calling in and placing on dispatch and I'm not using the terms correctly because this is not my area of expertise. But I know it is very accurate to say that the vast majority of the calls are calls that are coming in directly into the department are self-initiated. There are very few calls where dispatch is receiving a call and then directing it to Cress. There was, oh gosh, I'm tired so I'm not going to get the date correct but I think it's been about three weeks ago when there was a GPL call with, and GPL is the Harvard government performance lab call, with our dispatch team to start building out what the triage document would look like so that more calls can come in, more calls will be directed from dispatch to Cress. But as I said earlier, that's one of the places where we have not moved very quickly because we think that the work that Harvard is doing should really be done with the new director as opposed to the interim leadership team. But I would say, in my opinion, the dominoes are stacked so that things can move very quickly once the new director is in place. Like the preliminary conversations have been had, we've done some work on what the expansion would look like so when that person is in place they should be able to move at a more rapid pace. But by a long shot the vast majority of the calls that are documented on dispatch are still self-initiated calls and calls that are coming directly into the department. So you're saying self-initiated, you're saying, so this hypothetically, me, I need help, I'm calling directly to Cress, not to dispatch. Right, exactly. And so I will say this, it is still a process in working through the how dispatch is going to direct calls. And the most recent example would be, oh, this probably, I'm going to say that it was like three weeks ago. I'm tired so the dates, I may be off on the dates, but we received a call directly into Cress about an individual who appeared to be in distress and that was in the middle of the road. And the caller who called into the department said specifically, I don't want to call the police, but I think someone needs to respond to the situation. And we were dispatched to people to go to the situation. While they were getting ready to respond to that situation, someone called the town manager's office to make a complaint about there's an individual in the road and someone else called directly 9-1-1 about the same incident. So having very clear directions about how calls are responded to is going to be critical to how things work. And I think that our responders sort of felt as they started to make the call or to proceed, they were told directed by dispatch that police was already on the way. And I think they felt like, wait a minute, that was our call that came into us. Why is it being redirected to the police department? But unbeknownst to us, there were like multiple calls going into various locations. So having a triage plan is going to be extremely important. Following that call, the chief and I, and I don't, was there any, I think, I don't know, I think Kat was on vacation. Was Janet there? So the chief and I and Sergeant Griffin met with Mike Curtin and with Interim Chief Ting to discuss like, let's use this as an example so that we can figure out like what the protocol should be. How can we better have clarity for all of the various departments about responses? And we did make some, you know, we did come up with some some some suggestions and training. And then our, I don't know, Jason's title, I'm going to call him the second in command at dispatch, then met with our responders to give them additional like training and support about about what occurs on that end. So it's, you know, it's, it is, it's going to require some additional work and certainly a specific sort of triage protocol. The Harvard government performance lab has walked several communities through the creation of a of that triage protocol. And so when I say I think the dominoes are lined up for things to move very quickly once the new director is in place, you know, they will, she will be able to, you know, meet with them, have discussions, review all of that doc, all of that information and sort of move things forward. I know everyone, you have a question, I'm assuming about this issue, but let me just do a follow up. And then you can ask your question, because then I have other questions show to on something else. But, but in terms of this, I mean, I think this really showcases that example that that you showed it really showcases, you know, some of the issues that, you know, we've been wanting to talk about. Because again, you know, what the caller was saying, listen, I don't want the police to show up, I want, you know, Crest to show up is exactly what we've been talking about in terms of the community and the feedback that we get from the community, right? And so for us too, it's about building, you know, trust, right? And, and again, Crest has created as an alternative to policing, right? There's, there's going to be those situations that yes, police are the ones that need to go right violent, you know, threatening, you know, they're, you know, there's some type of impending threat and things like that. Yes, the police won't go contact them and all of that, but there's a variety of different circumstances that is really very appropriate for Crest. And so how are we going to communicate to the community, right? Because of all of this upheaval that's been going on with Crest for all these months since Earl left and all of this back and forth around dispatch and things like that, that, you know, Crest can be a department, right? That can be depended upon for people to be able to contact them and know that they're going to be responsive and be able to. And let me tell you, I mean, I've received feedback from the community, some of it not very good about Crest, right? In terms of the fact that, you know, they feel like, yeah, this type of thing happens, right? That they don't feel secure that if they contact Crest, Crest is going to be responsive and they're going to do what's supposed to be done. So the director is going to have a lot of work to really build this, this, this. Yeah, I think the question that people have to think about and really think through is that, so you have one community member A who calls Crest and community member B who calls the town manager's office and community member C who calls police directly, you know, calls 911 and asks for police response. And so it's going to be the critical piece, right? That is going to need to be figured out because all those people want a response and they all feel that they have called the place where they want to respond to them, right? And they don't know who else is called or who hasn't called or what the other calls is, you know, then, you know, dispatches in a sort of precarious predicament of trying to figure out who's going to, you know, who are they going to send to respond? And so I think that is where the triage protocol is going to be critical. And I think that, you know, as I said in the meeting that we had with Chief Ting and with Mike Curtin, you know, mistakes are going to be made, people are going to be feel like this was not a Crest call when it could have been a Crest call or this really is a Crest call when it's probably not a Crest call. And so trying to figure out how that is done in a nuanced way that supports the overall mission and goal of the press, but is also aware of all of the other moving parts is definitely going to be a challenge. And I think that the Director's ability to work with, you know, I keep relying on this, but I think it's true that Director's ability to work with the Harvard government performance lab, which has walked other communities through the process, will be critical. Because each of those people who made that call all thought that they were doing what was in the best interest for that particular situation, but you had three very different approaches. And that's going to happen repeatedly as this, you know, as the department develops and grows and builds out. I think that, you know, I said, and I'm not sure if I said it here or elsewhere, the one state that I feel has done this work the best is Virginia, because they created their statutes and created the regulatory system in advance to rolling out. And they create so that for them, it's really clear, like they already know the answers to those questions that are that that you're proposing. And this in the Commonwealth, it's unclear, you know, it is completely unclear. And what we tried to do, and one of the results of that meeting was to clarify the communication between dispatch and crest. In that particular case, dispatch knew of a history with this particular location, and knew that there was a potential for, you know, for violent altercation. So, you know, they aired in the way or they, you know, they aired in air. Yeah, caution. I can't I'm tired. So let me add, let me add to add that. I said a long time ago that we're going to learn from our successes and our mistakes and all that. And this was one of those times which was a teachable moment. This dispatch got this call, and it was a police call. The way the way the reporting party described the situation, this was a guy was in the middle of the street creating a traffic and himself. So that that that's a police matter. There were multiple calls about this and went to different places. And, you know, yes, and crest called and said, we're responding to this call. And dispatch said, well, we've got more information on that. We're going to have have have have you not not re respond. That was the smart thing thing to do. What that but what that identity identified was a communication gap, if you will, that that we we we discovered and and there and there's a simple six six to that and and that has been it's an institute to it. So and as I said, you know, we're we're going to learn learn learn along a long way. And and that's and that's just ways because this is all brand brand brand new, you know, we're still still new, new, new at this. So there's going to be stops and starts. This this was a good time. This you know, episode was a good to teachable moment and a chance to learn. This is some something that we didn't think think of. And we're and then we're going to fix it with a very sense and simple fix. But all in all, but folks did what they were supposed to do. The crest response responders did what they they they were supposed to do. The police did what they they were supposed to do. But this was a police police matter. It's true true and true. So, I know you have a question and then I want to ask I do. Thank you. So I have comments and questions. So I have an agreement that this was a very good teachable moment. What I what I don't agree with is that crest was overruled by the police because typically it's, you know, a call comes in dispatch would probably say who's responding. And apparently crest couldn't say they responded because there's no direct line between crests and the police. And so that is something that that's not I'm sorry. That's not accurate because there is a direct line. They can and that's what that's what they did. They called in directly to dispatch to say that they were responding. Right. Because because dispatch had had already received the call about about this person and had sent the police to the call. So and they and and the police were on their way to the call before crest called called in the dispatch to say that they were going to the call. So so the so dispatch had this information that that that to them and which which may make sense that this is this this is a policeman matter that you're not going to send crest crest crest to and that that's the right call they have have to make it you know they treated triage that they based on the information they were given by the report reporting party and crest came in a little a few minutes later later to say that they were responding to the call. Dispatch says well this is the same same call that I have police on on the way way too. I mean so hold so crest hold hold hold hold on this is a police matter we have a history with with this in in in in the did one some and some of that his his three is five five or violent so okay thank you for the clarification because I thought it was crest town office and then the police okay that makes that makes more sense. So so there's it and that was going to be my question there is a direct line between crests and the police okay yes you're so the other question too is I believe I heard where the police has history with I mean was this address or this person but does that necessarily mean that you know the police is going to respond every time because of the history because the whole it depends on what go go go ahead because part of crest is de-escalation and perhaps you know it's one of those situations where if the police is so familiar with this individual or neighborhood it could be a situation where okay we're familiar however from our experience when we're there things escalate maybe crest should respond and the police will be there as backup. But that and that and that that that could there there will be the case at times but in this in this case the judge judge it was you know what this is a police matter and again as I said we're we're we're gonna learn as we go go go go go along and and and look looking at his history and come up with a a good plan and ideas to what okay if we have this type type of his history at this address yeah maybe we we can send the same crest but the same thing is don't don't forget gentlemen was in the middle of the street creating on how a railroad and combined it with the fact that that there there's a there's a violent his history there so you know when you put those things together you're like okay wait wait wait wait a second you know maybe if if there if if he he wasn't in in in the in the in the street creating a ha ha ha hazard it may it may it may may been different but that but what he was doing constitute to today police police stand standard police police response so it's every every call is going to be different and we're going to gain more knowledge and experience as time time time goes on as as I said with this this call we call we learned a couple of things the kind kind kind of adjust how how how the how the responses communicate get it so so other than um the police notifying crest that they were respond they were responding or did respond um was was there any debrief with crest after this to say you know this is one of those situations where you know yes it was yes yes yes there was yes there was I just want to clarify so it's the communication is going through dispatch so it's not crest calling the police or the police calling crest the communication is going through dispatch right just there there the link between sending police out or sending sending press out and we have a direct line to dispatch that's why when I mentioned earlier like every action that the the responders make they call in it's record you know it's it's documented I don't know all the proper law enforcement tech you know terminology but it's doc documented in the caste system so they are they're recording all of the all of that yeah and so they're what the debrief was initially with chief nelson sergeant gruffin and myself and then we went back to meet with the press responders and to debrief with them and talk about you know how what the where we saw there was a lack of communication where what we think what what follow-up needed to take place and then following that is when the responders had a second meeting or with as a as a group with dispatch I don't know jason's title I just jay jay jason's the assistant supervisor and and what what he did after that call was was completely pleaded he talked with one or two two of the of the uh response sponsors to fill them in on what what happened and why he told told told them not to respond so okay um one one question one final question on um none about this but I don't think I I heard anything about this in in the can I can I ask them one more question about this though before you get asked that's a new one so in terms of this though I think one of the things is and I don't know like with this patch I'm glad to hear that you all are trying to figure out how it goes because it is the right thing for this patch you know for like crest to contact them police to contact them that sort of thing dispatch to kind of figure out who's going to be responding that's the right way to go however is dispatch getting training in terms of when and when when is the appropriate time to send in crest went into sending police and I think because before it was just the police in the fire department you know emt's now there's this whole other department so they need to really realize when is it that they need to send in crest and what I'm saying that is that there's going to have to be a new thinking in regards to that because if there's not going to be a new thinking it's always going to be the police because chief all respect to you even with this situation and you've said that this person they've the police have has had like you know interaction with them that has been violent but guess what maybe it's time for crest to try and resolve that situation because maybe they'll get a different result we need to start thinking a little bit differently as opposed to the same way which is yes the police has been the one to always respond to that situation that has ultimately resulted in violence crest is there to actually de-escalate and have hopefully a different result so we need to start thinking about that so even in this circumstance I'm not totally convinced that that was the right option to go and I think we need to start thinking about and I'm really saying this you know in terms of really providing this patch and this whole communication around the police and crest and regards to it because again I want to I want to really hone in on this that for the community this is a trust issue they're not going to be calling in to the police they're not going to be even calling in to crest if they think that when they do call in the crest who's ultimately going to be sent in is the police because this patch is more comfortable sending in the police because historically it's always been the police being sent in so we really need to to focus in on that because if not what we're doing is again yes great wonderful crest is going out for outreach and so on and so forth but they're not being an alternative public safety department that's there to be unarmed and and de-escalate and and and really interact with people in a human fashion to really deal with with situations that that traditionally right the police are dealing with which usually results in arrests and so on and so forth so I really want us to hone in on that because when I'm hearing all of this conversation I'm still hearing traditional responses and not traditional responses and I'm again hearing crest being utilized in a way that's okay yes outreach social service so on so forth but again not as an alternative to police department which is what they were created to do so I just want to make sure that we keep that at the forefront okay so there are two things that are in line to further that the training in the relationship with the dispatch one is the work that will be done with the harvard government performance lab we have indicated that our number one priority is working on on triage and on dispatch and then the second thing is that the we received a supplement to the initial department of public health grant that would fund three trips for the director a press responder and a member of dispatch to visit locations that are up and running so that they can you know learn from their peers nationally and see how that done so we're we're building in those opportunities that will for training both with harvard and with these site visits that are coming up and this is again an you know an area where well I guess the the money has to be used before the end of June so they're likely to be three site visits with the new director a press responder and a member of dispatch to other locations who are who so that they can can have an opportunity to learn and and we can provide some of that training piece so yeah we have anticipated the the need for for more training in and cross training in that area right everyone and we had another question I do I'm not sure if I have heard this given that we do have any director in place was it a recommendation made or will they be recommendation made to have a permanent home for cress other than the bank community center oh so I think that that will be a part of our recommendations right but you know I can tell you just knowing where the town is on on buildings in space like they that recommendation is going to be behind the DPW and the fire department you know so is it likely that there will be a new home like structured home anytime soon no I we I have had some conversations with with Dave Zomac the assistant town manager about space and location but you know it's conversation I don't I don't think there's any guarantees that there will be a different space or our location in the short term so to that end then is there any recommendation to extend the hours of the bank community center so I actually I think that there are a couple of different ways that that we can can address that and some of them actually came through conversations with the fire department because one of my thoughts was um is it possible for us to have the overnight shifts in a location where there's actually public access 24 for seven in the fire department would be a possibility you know would be as you're thinking through things a possibility not this was not an idea that was favorite by the firefighters because they are over cramped and need a new building and need new space and so you know but I I do have some other ideas in my mind I don't know if I would say that they're fleshed out enough that I would share them but I think included in the among the many recommendations that I anticipate will be some recommendations about about space and about how you could actually expand the hours to go 24-7 I think there are ways to get there it's you know they these are policy decisions that the that the new director and the town manager will have to you know we'll have to discuss and move on but I you know there are ways you know you could you I'm sure creatively could think of ways in which that can be done you know I think one of the challenges and I there I have even thought about this one of the challenges of simply opening the bangs longer hours is where the crest department is located on this on the second floor right so one way that you might be able to address that is to open the building and there there is a small I don't know if I could even call it an office but there is a small space on the first floor of or the ground level floor of the Baines Community Center so one thought might be okay we're gonna we're gonna open up the Baines Center the rest of the building is probably pretty much going to be all shut down but could we have the people who are working in the evening or overnight shift in that space that's in the on that ground level so that it's contained you know there and so I mean you know I think it's a matter of thinking creatively about some of these problems and proposing a variety of solutions and then you know the town manager and the and the new director will have to make you know make decisions about which way they can go but I you know I'm certainly thinking about all of those things about space and location and hours and expansion and they will they will be part of the recommendations that you know that I'll include in the in the continuity continuity booklet so yeah so I I know I don't make policy for the town but I've been at my office for the last same space for about six or seven years and on that block there has been no less than four empty office spaces for the entire time period on South Pleasant street which is very close to the fire department across from town hall very heavily foot traffic in the middle of town they've just been sitting there empty with for these signs on them for the last six or seven years so yeah so I you know I don't I don't write the checks so I mean you know I think that's certainly that could be an option but it's not going to be it's not going to be something that I would be able to you know to make happen a new state yeah so can I in the same vein around expanding hours is there thought or consensus about a recommendation for an assistant director position and then who would would that role right now still fall to cat in the kind of ongoing director so I so I can't speak about to whether the role would would fall to cat what I can say is that we were strongly advocating for an assistant director the the town charter requires that every position be have an open search so that's the situation that we that we find ourselves in I I strongly think that the that the department needs an assistant director I I have said I think I think I've said this publicly before and I've know I've shared it with the town manager I I believe that the original organizational structure for the department in and I will say that in my opinion was flawed because they tried to to combine two positions so that in many ways the program assistant position was both an administrative position and had responsible I would argue had responsibilities of an admin but it was also in the union so you know again this is my personal opinion I don't I felt very strongly that that was not the best structure and you know certainly we've had conversations about what I think an ideal structure would look like and I can say that in the current we have not had our budget requests meeting yet it's coming up on Monday but in in in the budget narrative we have advocated for a revised structure that would include an an assistant director thank you so um you know yeah and and hopefully that would be something that will will definitely pick up especially when the director comes in because we do not want what happened previously to happen again which is not to have a number two and the organization so once the director is on board that's going to be something that we're going to be really bringing up very often in terms of a of an assistant director and making sure that that hire happens um but I have some questions around whatever was was asking um around the space with the banks community center um you know as you know Pamela myself and and Allegra went by last week to um you know have a conversation with Cress and kind of you know go go by it and talk and yeah it was kind of concerning um that one the the elevators weren't weren't working so I'm not even sure how someone with accessibility issues is able to to even uh you know go up to Cress and I don't even know how how you all are being able to deal with that in terms of like ADA kind of violations and things like that so you know that was really concerning and I guess I want to kind of hear more about you know how you all are being responsive to it right so and then wait and then I have some other questions and then when we could I could I take can I'm sorry to interrupt you but I am really tired and brain could could you just could I answer them one at a time it will help me be able to to answer more thoroughly sure so in response to the elevator obviously you know that is the responsibility of the town and um the elevator situation uh did not pass um inspection or the the certificate wasn't up to date and so it has been um has been out for approximately I would say three weeks um I think that's right I don't know Jennifer correct me if I'm wrong and um and so on all of the entrances the main entrances there are signs that indicate that the elevator is out and there is a number um where folks who are coming in can enter the bill who are coming into enter the building can call Crest directly and press responders can meet folks on the accessible floor so if you come in on on the parking lot entrance uh by Johnny's tavern that there's a door there that that folks could access and then if you on the ground level there's also a door that's accessible and both of them both of those entrance ways have signs that not only for Crest but for Crest and DEI there's a number written where our folks can call us directly and we can if need be go down to to meet with them um inaccessible spaces um I thought there was I I thought that the elevators were going to be up and running last week because there was an inspection or someone came by to to review them um last Wednesday and so I last Thursday I thought oh when I go in there's going to be an elevator today um but there wasn't so I'm not quite certain what the you know where there's a hold up there but that's the hold the hold the hold the hold the hold is it uh to pass inspection they need there's some parts that need need need to be be be replaced so with that they're waiting or waiting on parts so it's either the end of the end of this this week be the beginning of next next week then then and then the parts that have to be be installed and then it has to be reinspected yeah I mean I get that but it's just like you know Crest again is a priority we're building uh uh you know trust in a relationship with a community and you know uh you know not having a working elevator and not making sure that that the elevator saw the town I'm speaking to the town not necessarily to you all but for the town to not you know see this as a priority for for those that have accessibility difficulties is is problematic you know and then it's another layer of challenge for folks that are trying to access Crest like I said we get the feedback from the community and I know a chief that you say for us to send the community to you but not the community is not very you know they they go to folks that they trust right so they trust me they're going to come to me right I mean that's that's all well I mean that's that's all well well good but I mean I mean we're talking about a broken elevator here town is doing the best best they can to get it fixed it it yeah they are you know so I mean they they are you they're waiting waiting for parts I mean they're waiting for for for a part then you know I mean then in in in the world we live living now the whole um oh crap I forgot to forgot to forgot the phrase but the whole the uh supply supply supply supply chain issue issue we we we we wait wait we we wait wait for stuff that that's critical as well that's the world we live the town is doing the best best can to get the elevator fix and that's fine time it's timely fashion because they know it's needed needed by you folks things break yeah but you know what if I if I'm someone that has a disability I don't think I would I would be as just um relaxed about it right so I'm I'm again I'm the voice I'm the voice for those that that that are voiceless and can't you know kind of talk about those things you know that English is a second language and so on and so forth because I'm an immigrant to this country so I remember my parents when they weren't able to discuss these things they didn't have access to these buildings and so on and so forth so I think creating another layer where they have to call in to get crest to come downstairs and so on that's that's already a layer that they're going to say you know what I'm not even going to bother you know what I'm saying I'm not even going to go there so I'm just telling you all something you all can hear me or not you know you can disregard me you know but I'm telling you something right now right and I'm telling you that us CSSJC we're here because we're the voice of the community people come to us because they don't feel comfortable just going directly to you or going directly to you Pamela also on and so forth right so I'm telling you something so if you want to disregard me go right ahead but I'm telling you something right which is the voice of people who are coming to us and letting you know some of the things the the reasons they feel uncomfortable accessing crest and the reasons they feel uncomfortable accessing that building and then the other layer which I'll continue forward is the layer of then when we did walk up the stairs then there's this whole kind of like again calling and buzzing I mean that was not the the visioning of of of crest crest was supposed to be a place that's open to the community anyone can come in at any time and hopefully extended time not just like I don't even know what the hours are 834 or something like that to be able to deal because these are folks that are in crisis that are dealing with serious situations and they need assistance so why is there another layer of buzzing call in let me in so on so forth I don't understand that and then again what I'm telling you is that people are going to say why bother and we do not want crest to be not successful and not utilize we want them to be a resource for the community so yes can you respond to that too so that that decision was made by the former director and I don't know what the right it wasn't that that those those systems were already in place when I first got got that well when DEI moved in those those those those systems were are were already in place it was not a decision made by the leadership team and I don't know the rationale for that Jennifer your issue I thought you turned your camera on because you might have known something but I just came back I just step away what was the question the question was about the security fobs that are at the end of the hall and I was just saying that they were they pre existed like the leadership team they they that was a decision that the former director made so I don't I don't know the rationale behind that yeah I get it but I mean you know you all have made lots of changes that are different than what the the former director did but with this one you just decided to follow it I guess I don't get it yeah this one is one that in terms of like access to making sure that it's it's open to the community so that a community can go there and not have another extra layer of challenge but then you know that's so in the I would say hundreds of decisions that we've had to make about Cress yeah I this the there were other things that were a higher priority from my perspective and I actually don't to be honest with you I don't even think that I realized because I never took the stairs before the elevator was out I don't even know if I had a second thought about stairway access because the elevator was how I entered the building until the you know for the until the last three weeks so okay so now hopefully now that you know then hopefully some changes can be made then yeah well no I am I am on a April 8th is my deadline for for making you know I am preparing not to make decisions for the department during this next transition like I you know I'm trying very hard to have the energy to move things forward on in for the things that are the major what I would say are the major priorities which is continuing to work with Harvard around around dispatch moving forward we need to move to get the Donahue Institute to do a second assessment because that's required by the DPH grant you know so I'm I am going to do my best to do what I think are the key priorities and while it is inconvenient I certainly get that while it's not ideal I certainly get that I I'm not I don't have the ability to correct the situation with the elevator you know I don't you know I'm I am at the mercy of facilities like everybody else so okay so the community have an access to to Crest is not necessarily a priority right now no that's not what I said and what I what I said was I don't have the ability to correct the issue with the elevator and that there is access available for folks to be able to meet with a Crest responder and there is very like downstairs in the lobby I mean is there a separate room that there are there are rooms available downstairs yes okay so they're going into a room I would assume like a private room right right here to deal with like crisis situation exactly exactly in fact earlier in this conversation I said one of the options that I would recommend is that for extended hours there is a room on the on the ground level floor that might be a possibility to have so that you could have that part of the bill you could open up that the door the access to that door and have space for folks to come in so there are there are there are rooms available downstairs for folks to meet with Crest responders or for DEI we're in the same we're in the same situation where folks aren't able to access us either by you know at in a space that's accessible downstairs okay well I guess I'll be taking this up again with the director once she's on board okay yeah I'm done with my questions talking about Crest several do you have any other questions I do not thank you um so why don't we move on to DEI updates and thank you chief Nelson for joining us and if you need to go we understand yeah yeah probably uh well gene gene gene genus ticked ticked off of me already so yeah it's okay thank you chief Nelson appreciate your time not a problem we'll see you take care so Jennifer please weigh in I just again have a short list for DEI our national day of racial healing event which was originally scheduled for January was rescheduled for the 29th of February and I and the event went well I don't know if we I can't remember whether we discussed that at the last meeting um and um the there's a group of facilitators for what we're calling the becoming beloved community initiative that are members of both town staff and community members we have tentatively agreed to a schedule to meet on a bi-monthly basis the next event will be in April and we have for the for the next event the topic will be microaggressions and implicit bias that group will be meeting on Thursday of the not tomorrow but a week from Thursday to to talk about and prepare for our facilitation for the next group and for the next meeting in April and then our goal is to continue those events throughout the year so would be at least now six events annually and hopefully at some point we will have a little feel a little bit more capacity to build that out we received the final report of the on the resident oversight board on community engagement I think it came in late last week I have not even read the report yet I've just been overwhelmed with other things on my plate but that one is received so that we can now proceed and Jennifer and I reviewed the RFP for the technical assistance portion and that we provided feedback to the procurement office and finance today so that is in queue to go out my guess best guess will be that it will be published sometime in the next week or so and which I think we are still in on a good track to have a resident oversight board in place before the end of the fiscal year so the technical assistant grant seeks the consultant to do the policies and the procedures the training of the initial members of the board so that once that the completion of that portion of the technical assistance it would be up and operational so that's moving ahead the DEI office has applied for a grant to support its cultural events Jennifer if you can I can't remember who oh that was through the a Pirna Valley planning commission right PV I can't remember I think it was PVPC the grant that we sent yesterday okay so that that grant was completed that grant application was completed yesterday we are in communications and have are looking at applying for another grant through the mass cultural arts commission again that would support efforts around becoming beloved community and just in the very preliminary stages have had an initial conversation and we'll we'll be thinking about that there's an upcoming webinar on the grant application process and the grant itself is not due until I think May and the funds would not be available until September so we have a little bit more time to work on that there's a staff event on gender as part of our regular monthly DEI events for employees on Friday and I don't know if I have anything else Jennifer if you have something else to add please weigh in oh Jen is going to you're going to the school when tomorrow for youth environment okay can we see the report from the consultant is that something that will be made public or is that yeah I'm sure I don't I don't know I don't know where we would publicize it like if we wouldn't necessarily maybe necessarily I guess we could post it on the DEI website which would be happy to do yeah I just I have had so many other things going on I haven't had a chance to read to read it but it is complete so yeah thank you and so Jen for can you talk a little bit more about the youth empowerment in the schools so tomorrow will be my first visit at the middle school to speak to the kids going to a specific classroom for two periods I believe on and I'm bringing the survey and then the qr code to the survey so that students can fill it out there so we can get a little more feedback I'll have to do the data entry once I get back and then from there hoping to do the lunches at both the middle school and the high school moving forward thank you Deborah I'm asked Jen a question um are you doing the rise program with Becky as well I am yeah yeah so maybe talking a little bit about um about that so Amherst rec apd dei are working with rise which is the national organization to work on dei issues with middle school aged children in the police department so it is going to shadow the morning movement program and it's in a way it's about that same time and with the PD that have already attended some of those morning movements and so they spent one it's a two hour event so we're half hours dedicated to dei work and the other time is dedicated to them having about playing basketball thank you um yeah so I have some questions um so around the resident oversight board um just to kind of clarify and reaffirm so you're saying that based on the report then you're going to be hiring at the certain I guess I'm confused and then and then there should be a board in place by June 30th I think that that is the plan that there would the the um the original RFP that we have that we issued last year of course we weren't able to have a successful um to that wasn't successful and so the plan thereafter was to divide that that work into two parts so the first part has been completed the second part had has always been that there would be a consultant hired to do the technical assistance um and a portion which is all of the writing of the policies and procedures training of board members it's it's everything that's needed to stand up the resident oversight board and um and I think that um uh that we are still on a good track to have that work go out for bed and to have a to have it completed before the end of the fiscal year so I think it'll go out to bed as I said like probably next week so if um if we um which means that we would be hiring someone probably in April and they would have you know the all of May and all of June to complete the technical assistance so that the new board would be um would be up and ready for the new fiscal year which is July 1st so I aim you know I obviously can't foresee um everything that might occur but the the we're on the right path to have that occur um before the end of the before the end of this fiscal year to have everything in place and ready to go by July 1st and um when when would the report be kind of posted because I know you haven't read it so it's not like we can engage in conversation about yeah will that be posted because I'm thinking we'll probably have some questions the next meeting yeah sure um I mean we can we can post it probably tomorrow or the next in the next day I mean the um I don't yeah I don't know that we um have anticipated making any changes in the technical the the technical assistance port of a portion RFP was was drafted months ago because it was always anticipated that it that the first portion would be provided to whomever is higher to do the second portion um so that they will will utilize um the knowledge and comments and all of the information that has has come the the technical assistance RFP also makes reference to the community the work of the community safety working group so all of that is included as background and supporting information for whomever is higher to stand up the board all right so we'll we'll get more information as as that continues um what about the the youth empowerment um so you know we're still at the phase of I guess just like surveys and and questions so there's no programming yet or um um any idea for space for for youth empowerment so um yeah the space issue has um and I think I've reported this before that the space issue the town manager had said that he was going to form a working group to work on space so space is not something that the DEI office has taken on that the issue of like space in a um the creation of a youth empowerment center is is is not in our purview at this moment our focus has been on programming um and it's it's been a very disappointing year because we really anticipated that the AmeriCorps member would have would be able to be very helpful in pushing along the work around youth empowerment and that just did not occur that um AmeriCorps member position was designed specifically to be shared by Crests and DEI to work around youth empowerment um so you know unfortunately that it you know it's a failure because we haven't been able to move that um along and you know my I uh regret not digging in my heels and and doing programming because I I sort of I believe that if as a department we had started with program that was initiated by the department we would have at least gotten the ball rolling and there would have been ample opportunity for uh for the youth to provide their input about future programming but having um conceded and tried to obtain um information from the youth first and that has not hasn't happened there's been no programming and um you know essentially the entire year has that project has not moved forward at all it's you know that's just the reality there's very little um that we can say that has been accomplished um yeah and I mean you know for us you know we think that I mean obviously AmeriCorps I think there's more kind of like a situation because of the budget the budget problem but as we've stated previously we need more you know full-time uh employees within DEI to be able to carry this out and that's why we were very concerned when you were pulled off of it to go help the Cres because some of these other situations in terms of the youth empowerment which is something you know that we need movement on and you know we haven't seen what the budget item for the next fiscal year you know will be for the youth empowerment in terms of from the town manager so there's there's a lot of concerns in terms of moving that forward and Nina said we're not even talking about the multicultural center that's the other you know that's another um you know recommendation that still hasn't gotten any traction so um you know there's a lot on the plate that needs to kind of you know focus and I'm hoping after the eighth there can be some refocusing on on some of these DEI initiative especially the ones that were within CSWG before yeah so I mean I hope that as well I mean it has been certainly has been a burden to have responsibilities for two departments um both you know physically and mentally and and both departments have probably uh suffered you know certainly the DEI office has suffered greatly because I haven't been able to support Jennifer she's had to take on a lot of the responsibility and there have been things that we haven't been able to address um not only youth empowerment but one of the things that um that we did in our first year was to visit every department in the town to provide some workshops and that has not occurred that this year and I've you know I've made that clear to the town manager that for me that's a that's a huge uh loss we're going to attempt to do um some combined workshops for departments probably in April and May and in June but you know we've lost a full year of momentum and every department lost in the first my the first fiscal year had an opportunity to work with us individually so certainly the responsibilities of the Crest department have has had a huge adverse impact on the DEI department um you know it had been my sincere hope that um that a hire would happen within three months and I knew that that was an aggressive schedule but you know six months is a long time to be wearing two hats and trying to to manage and support two departments that you know I needed a clone months ago I don't have any other questions or do you have any questions related to Rob or youth empowerment I do not have any questions thank you Pamela and um just haven't sat here with you month after month I'm very excited for you that April 8th is almost here you you have been doing a lot so thank you again yeah but for me but for me though I mean you know that's why we were saying that some another type of decision should have been made in regards to the press because we knew that DEI was going to suffer if a panel was pulled from that to then focus on on on Crest so you know it's just problematic that what we had kind of foretold came to pass our agenda is the police chief search so um my my update is going to be very limited and that's deliberate um so we we met with um first one candidates and we are scheduling second round interviews with the intent here to be um we do in-person interviews and then followed by a public my public I mean the general public as a whole is invited to come in and ask these candidates questions um openly as to um why they want to be chief of police in terms of Amherst and essentially see how they respond to public inquiry so to speak and in that regard then make recommendations to the town manager who then will meet with the candidates and um whoever hears whoever he chooses as well for that um additional part and then make a decision either to choose someone or extend or continue the search if now he's not comfortable with how the candidates responded to public questions and or how they deal in the second round interviews um the HR office is working to coordinate times the intent here is to have the second round interviews and followed by um public meetings slash interviews one for the next couple of weeks we're hoping that we can if we're lucky get something on the books either in the lord in the last week of march or in the early weeks of april and we're trying to put it a little bit far out so that the public can be fully apprised that this is happening and that way they can come to um the meetings will be interviews slash meetings will be done at town hall that way they have access to these people they can come and ask questions off them so we're trying to be as um give essentially the people as much as their voice in this show as possible so we want to be able to advertise that this is happening um before we do it so as many people can come um and ask questions of their potential chief points i'm glad to hear that there will be public meetings that's i think a good thing yes um so um again the hope is to have um a full day where they'll be available to for secondary interviews as well as meeting with the public um so all happen in the same day because these are in person and so we're inviting people who do not live in amherst to come to amherst and um have these interviews so ever let me ask you a question um well i guess are you at liberty to share you know how many um candidates have made it or will make it to the second round i cannot okay uh what about whether we have a diverse pool and when i say diverse not just racially but everything i mean but racially included too do we have a diverse pool i think we do have a diverse pool um i think um we we started with a very diverse pool and then of course in meeting together as a committee we've limited some people um so we did go through that process yeah which is yeah which is part of the process obviously you start with the bigger one and then you start kind of shrinking the pool yes understandable yeah okay um the other question in terms of when they come so from what i'm hearing from you is that they'll come for a full day of interviews which will include the second round and then interviews with the public which again it is good news because i was part of you know a lot of the feedback we gave to the consultant that had initially gathered information from you know all of us in the community but i guess for me in terms of getting information from the community and from us because obviously i would like to be there to ask some of these questions is you know it it's going to be in person is the hybrid component because i don't think everyone's going to be able to be in person at town hall so people don't feel comfortable being in in the town hall and going there because it's not a very welcoming place so is there a hybrid component um and for either the in person or hybrid whether there's going to be translators there to make sure that other languages people who english not is the second language that they'll be able to um ask the questions um for the public um you know when they come out and then you need to think about when are you scheduling these right so at the end of the day if you're only going to schedule one component for these interviews then making sure that it's you know at least after five so that it can hopefully accommodate more people being able to um take part in it because usually during the day a lot of people can't do that so i guess those are some of the questions that i have um had had some thought been given to this so i will have that conversation with melissa about availability for translation services and a hybrid model um we did not discuss that yet what we're trying to do is trying to lock down the schedule um in terms of um timing we were looking at um the biggest issue for us um right now is the committee schedule because every person in the committee has a regular nine to five and so it's been challenging um but i can tell you now that the um we're trying to do afternoons to your point we're trying to do afternoons or options to see and looking at the um the availability now it seems that even more likely than not will be afternoon session um that this will happen so hoping that people will be um i cannot say it will be after five um i cannot say that would certainly it will be after five but i know that the afternoon sessions that we've talked about now will not start before 2 p.m with the understanding that it will run beyond um we didn't put a time block as to when it will end but we didn't schedule anything after five the time frame that we're looking at starts at two and then just continues yeah well yeah if if if you can take take back that that feedback you know because like i said a lot of times evenings really would be the better situation to get you know more people um engage and and again yeah if there's a hybrid because i know the town hall can do that they can do hybrid um so i don't see why it wouldn't be because that would be more inclusive to be able to have you know people who can be there in person and those that can't to be able to to to be on you know in hybrid and then obviously of course you know making sure to publicize this really well share it with our group so that we can get it into our networks because of course we'll need to you know get out the word as as much as possible so people can be available to ask questions but yeah if you can share that feedback because i think if if you all end up holding it at a time that's not accessible to a lot of people um then you know what feedback are you actually going to get you're going to get the feedback from the the usuals who are going to be able to go but then what about those that actually need to go and be involved with it that might have more critical kind of understanding and information that they want to share and ask questions um and then they won't they won't have the access so i think we you know i think when this gets scheduled it's going to be really important and i think as long as the town has a capability to do the hybrid i don't see why we wouldn't do it um because again to your point the intent here is to have as much public engagement as possible jenna if i see your hand yeah i'm most likely going to be at the community events and i can run the hybrid meetings after you talk with melissa about that okay she doesn't have to worry about that piece of it um and then one more question so towards the end so after all of these uh meetings and the feedback so the feedback will go back to the search committee and then the search committee kind of makes final recommendations is that how it goes i guess i'm just i just need a point of clarity it would the goal here is to recommend um someone to the town manager after these meetings slash interviews and then the town manager will meet with them with h.i. director but leave is melissa and maybe another person and then they'll make a decision whether or not they think this person is a good fit or if they should extend or continue the search to see different candidates one thing i have other questions okay questions if what i like what we couldn't hear you i'm sorry did you say you have other questions or you think that's it no i don't think i have other questions okay um so the next item on our agenda is pamela has her hand up pamela has a question oh i don't have a question i'm just wondering if you need me for the remainder of the uh agenda i was um with the responders last night uh pretty late and so i and if you don't need me then i will um excuse myself and review the the minutes especially since you don't have a quorum and won't be voting on any actions tonight fine with me yeah the the only thing that i saw at uh on the agenda that's coming up and i i can't recall whether i sent you guys an email was about the civil rights complaints did i send the information about the hrc having that bylaw so but all right well thank you very much i'm gonna try to get some dinner and go to sleep have a good night good night thank you so much yeah right at the time and looking at the agenda and thinking we're probably not gonna get through all of it tonight so i'm wondering if we can talk about the restorative justice and other budget cuts because that is time sensitive i think that i would probably put off talking about the co-responder and the police until in the schools until we could actually like figure out somebody to come like perhaps the co-responder clinician coming or somebody um and then and then yeah i added the the holding the future time forms i think it's just just for us to kind of stop thinking about that like when we might want to do that um but we don't necessarily have to kind of discuss it i think that could be also just kind of a hold for at you know keep it on our agenda so that that can stay top of our mind until we think we're ready to kind of do that and that would be you know forums actually in places where the community is as opposed to holding it at the town hall or what have you um and then the last one too i had added that just to see if there was any updates on the town council liaison i have not received anything from when um so i don't i and again when the i think it was february 26th meeting was rescheduled or i can't remember if that was rescheduled to march forth there was something like that when that meeting was rescheduled i think they pushed off a bunch of things that were on the original agenda um so i think the discussion about liaisons might have been one of them so okay so we can just leave it on and then we can you know see if we can check in with them between now and our next meeting to see if there's any updates all right so then um well i i still think like if we have the bandwidth we let's talk about the restorative justice if we have the bandwidth if we can talk at least a little bit i'll begin the conversation around the civil rights complaints not like we can make any decisions anyway just at least have a conversation yeah um so let's start with the restorative justice and then move to civil rights complaints alegrin do you mind kind of starting that because i know you were able to kind of were you there for the entire meeting yesterday okay so yeah so you'd probably be the perfect person to start our stuff and then i can chime in and everything um so the school committee had a really long meeting yesterday about the proposed budget cuts at the regional district level so that's the middle and the high school and um one of the positions that is planned for cuts um the the restorative justice coordinator position at both the middle and the high school um and so that was a position that had come about to kind of address some of the disparities in discipline and it really has been a conflict resolution problem solving skills you know relationship building program um and a bunch of kids came out and talked about their work with mr buford who's in the high school um and a lot of teachers talked about kind of the ripple effects of having restorative practices in the schools to you know not just the social emotional aspects of things but seeing how it plays out in the classrooms um so that is one of the major cuts there are also cuts to mental health staff being proposed um a full-time staff person at the high school and a half-time position at the middle school they are talking about changing the uh the structure of how they deliver language instruction at the middle school from every day to every other day which really would be about twice a week um so the concern would be that kids aren't going to get enough preparation in the languages they're studying to actually in high school continue on to um to reaching AP classes um they are planning to consolidate department heads which would again result in more work for fewer teachers and um there's some changes to a math position and a computer science position and um also removal of positions from the prep academy which is kind of the intervention for kids who are struggling um and often can help kids avoid um you know getting placed into special education classes and then from the AIMS program which is one of the special ed programs as well I think I think I got them all um so it's a pretty significant set of cuts and it cuts a lot of very vulnerable student facing positions um as well as having impacts for BIPOC youth and youth of low incomes and English language learners which is why um Debra and I wanted to put it on the agenda because it is a social justice issue in our schools um and so what ended up happening yesterday was the committee did not take a vote on the budget they did ask for the superintendent to put a budget together that included funding to restore the teaching positions that they would then vote on tomorrow which is the deadline for them to pass a budget so that it can go to the other regional towns town meetings we can't hear you as well sorry um so that was the request that they made of the superintendent um and tomorrow will be the day they have to vote on the budget can you just repeat the request because you kind of like yep um so the request was that the superintendent rewrite the budget with including the include there's about a million dollars in cuts that would be directly impacting the classrooms and then there are some other cuts that are kind of consolidating things here and there and then you know um I think there were two central office positions and two janitor positions that were also being cut which certainly the facilities need all the support that they can get as well um so the request was that he put a million dollars back in the budget and then they would vote on that and then if it passes they would then have to ask for more money from the towns and possibly look to partner with um some of the local universities to see if they would increase any of the funding that they give to the schools so um I mean I think with our one of the focuses that we have being youth empowerment and I think restorative justice ties in with crests and with youth empowerment I just I did want to bring it to everybody's attention and to let people know that they can still show up tomorrow at the meeting at the high school which I believe is at 6 30 so was was there any rationale for the budget proposals other than money saving money um not that I heard did you hear any rationale besides saving money is just that they aren't able to balance the budget and this was the way that they were going to be able to balance the budget because you know I think there's there might be some repercussions or something but you know one of the big things is like why would you make decisions based on you know as like we're said positions that would really impact those that are most vulnerable and most marginalized and you know need those services especially around like if we're talking about restorative justice that is an alternative to discipline and we know that disproportionately and adversely you know students of color by park students are the ones that are impacted people you know students with disabilities yes cell students and so on and so forth and so and needless to say the position being cut would be a black male who would be cut from that position um one of the things that I shared yesterday which is you know very kind of like you know just personal and real time is that you know my son hasn't had a black teacher throughout he's an eighth grader right now you know he's a black boy hasn't had a black teacher um throughout his education he had one art teacher in the seventh grade in the middle school for a few months which actually he was excited about they were all excited all the the black boys in the middle school were very excited about it and then he got terminated you know within the first like two three months at the middle school in a devastating way that he was kind of crying because my son came home and was like mom they fired him and all of that so actually that was traumatizing and so now he was going to finally get a teacher once he gets to high school because he's a rising ninth grader soon and the position you know with the black is the one that's on the chopping block so it's that and a variety of other as Allegra has stated you know language another real-life example my son is in the middle school again he wasn't even able to get language now he wasn't even able to take the class now and I talked to the language coordinator at the high school so he said that my son for him to be able to get to the park to be able to do ap right to take language all four years he's going to have to double up you know and and and and really re-order his his schedule so if they're going to further take away positions in the world language kids are not going to be able to take classes in the seventh and eighth grade and be impacted again what do we send up our kids for right this is a we say that we're sending them up for that verse you know world for a world that they're interacting with others and then you're cutting positions that deals with language um you know it doesn't make sense right in terms of you know the decisions that they made and who was impacted and so there was an outpouring yesterday outpouring you know I know myself a bunch of us mobilized the community others throughout the community all mobilized the community and there was an outpouring in person and and through you know calling in and leaving messages and basically saying that this was not okay and that they needed to look at the budget again and they needed to think through you know other decisions so as not to to cut these positions did you have other questions Avril? This one million dollars um is it is it just specific to the school's budget or the town budget as a whole that's not that cool the school's budget so that's why one of the counselors did this proposition of you know still kind of not making the cuts and then you know going and asking the towns right because it's regional so there's Amherst, Pelham, Shootsbury and what other one is there another and Leverett so four towns so then seeing if the towns would then make up you know the difference so that there wouldn't be these cuts and basically yesterday it was really like a historical kind of also getting the history around it this bin cuts already and that's why I said and that's why so when my oldest was in high school he was able to get I mean in middle school was able to get language both years so now that my youngest you know what is it you know five years later is in the middle school he's not able to get language for both years right so every you know every few years they're cutting they're cutting so everyone is basically yesterday in terms of when you know there there were people there who worked in the in the system in the school system been there for years and so they're telling us the history of how these cuts have been coming and have been coming and so what we're saying is like you can't continue to make these cuts especially to teachers you have to find other ways you have to find other funding sources you have to find other ways to really make this happen right and as we say this you know you know even the town so let's say if we do go to the towns to ask for this money that should be a priority to fund our school to make sure that our kids are getting the education that they need right especially around restorative justice there was so many young people yesterday that came in and really shared how restorative justice has been helpful to them and it's youth of all racial backgrounds all orientations everyone that utilizes restorative justice right and so it really is kind of showcasing how important you know the this would be and these cuts would be so one other thing too I went to the ninth grade a rising ninth grade a conference you know preparation to selecting courses at the high school I believe it was last week and it was a great you know seminar to kind of prepare us parents so that our kids will know how to pick the courses and it was interesting because one of the cuts is to consolidate the department heads because right now I don't know they might have like maybe 11 department heads don't quote me on that but let's say apathetically it's 11 but when I when they introduced all of the department heads again nothing I don't have anything personal against anyone I believe they're all great people but I was astonished to see that they were all white people right that there wasn't any department head that was at least seemingly to me of color um and so if they consolidate um it you know one not only is it going to create more work for for for these folks but it's also going to lessen the opportunity for anyone of color to actually be a department head why don't we have department heads of color besides the the principal obviously you know mr. Sadiq is a personal color but besides him I didn't see anyone else in leadership positions right and so that's detrimental to our students of color to not see other people that look like them in leadership positions so so again these cuts would further kind of delineate the option to really hire you know more diversity and more inclusivity in regards to it um you know the other one is in terms of math which which I have you know they're the cutting math there's also issues in terms of the math program right now they have a math program that kind of like forces they they they they pick which kids go into a higher math or a lower math um which that doesn't make any sense to me and I've talked to them that you know that really doesn't show equity that you either have one math or you let you know kids choose which math they want to go to you can't force a kid to to go into one math or another based on subjective tests and assessments which you know a lot of times are not equitable towards you know by-part kids kids with disabilities ESL kids so on so forth I mean the same marginalized group right um and so cutting math is only going to exacerbate this situation and I've been very vocal I've I've met with the curriculum math person in the middle school and at the high school and and everyone that's related to math and now I see the cuts because for me my kid went through this and it was not pleasant and so I don't want other parents to go through this in terms of math especially when you're a kid of color and then if you're forced to be in the lower math you know what happens right in terms of your confidence and stigmatizing and so on and so forth right um and what are those decisions based on um and unfortunately and I have to say it because I see it all the time with my kids being black voice right being black males they've always been underestimated within the Amherst school system that they you know always couldn't be too much work for them they're not are they really able to do it and things like that which then I have to be like yes they are able to do it my son is a sophomore NYU so yes I think he was able to do it but I got those questions when he was in middle school all the time like are you sure he can you know do this you know AP work and or you know in the middle school that he could do the higher math and this and that and I'm just like what wait but so so those are the types of things that is just like if we let these cuts it's already tough if we let these especially for BIPOC parents if we let these cuts happen it's going to be a lot more difficult so I just want to share some real life examples because I'm feeling it right now with my with my children have felt it you know with my oldest and now with my youngest who's in the system right now as an eighth grader very helpful thank you so I was hoping and I'm hoping that you all that have younger children we want to do it so that you all kids don't have to go we want to do right we want to do things for the other ones the younger ones and the future generations by a student I was hoping we could vote to like support it as a group but obviously we can't because we don't have a quorum but if you choose to do it on your own you can choose to do it on your own I believe there's like 225 signatures from various people so yeah and there's also a link a school committee link that you can write something to to support and also you can call into them because tomorrow that will be key right it was great to have that outpouring yesterday but tomorrow also be key for for showing in person or sending messages or emailing the school committee just so that they understand that just because they said that okay we're going to pause and think about it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to vote to reject the budget and do something different so you know we still need to continue with the pressure tomorrow so tomorrow anyone that can attend tomorrow high school library 630 or phone in call in and you know or or join in through zoom so that you can see what's going on civil rights complaints having some sort of body to address those um and again this was brought up at our forum which seems like it was forever ago now um and now I can't find that the email that Pamela had sent me did she send that to all of us or was it just yeah she did but I haven't I haven't looked at it and I think you know I think we just want to introduce the topic we don't necessarily have to discuss it today I think we do need to look at Pamela's email and kind of think about it but what we what we want to introduce so that you know we can think about it and anyone who's listening in can think about it and can send us any feedback that they want to send us about on this is is like Allegra said it was a community constituent who shared this with us um in in the forum and really brought to light the fact that you know there really isn't a body right now within the the town that can really um look at civil rights complaints that communities have right um you know when we think about the July fourth situation with the young people there really wasn't a body to really be able to kind of investigate look at and it would be something separate from the um you know resident oversight board which would be focusing on the police um this would be you know a body looking at civil rights but I don't think we need to create anything new and I think that's what Pamela might be leading to that maybe HRC is going to have that that power because right now currently as HRC and and their kind of bylaws and what have you is stating they don't have that power to investigate complaints and make recommendations for um you know solution and addressing and possibly even discipline right because there might be discipline recommendations that need to be made so if HRC let's say does not will not end up getting that power then what Allegra and I have been talking about and this was also provided to us from um you know like Miss Pat Winani Baku who was part of CSSJC before and others who have said that we could take on that that challenge too to to be up that body to to look at these um civil rights claims doesn't necessarily mean that we need to investigate them but we can outsource the investigation or whatever we can create create the whatever kind of um process we need to create for it but it needs to be a body to really look at civil rights complaints because you know we hear that feedback all the time in terms of community members really needing a place to come forward and and file these types of claims um because nothing gets done you know within the town if there isn't a body that's going to be dedicated to looking at that. So I agree that um it makes sense to have a body that's specific to that but thinking about the structure of this committee and um our meetings I am concerned that there would be a conflict if it was here because if we took that on then whatever we decide based on our charge would be binding and based on what we do now in the current structure we're more community friendly we we're we're we are um we're voiced for the community and I think the civil rights complaint um division or whatever it ends up to be has to be a neutral because what we do now is we advocate for um our community and for the people who cannot and some of those people might be the ones who come before civil rights complaint to complain about certain things and I and I don't think we could be able to do that because again um neutrality would have to be there when we issue like a binding decision based on facts and evidence that we've reviewed and gathered so I think we should think about that as well. Yeah I mean you bring you bring up a good point because yeah I mean of course investigations that need to be you know um uh neutral and uh objective and obviously follow processes you know I mean that's my area of expertise that's what I've done for more years than I can count and I don't want to date myself but it's been at this point a very long time that I've done investigations into civil rights claims and things like that so um so yeah but that's what I'm saying I mean you know I hear you it doesn't necessarily mean that we need to do that but it could be that we oversee or make sure that those civil rights claims get investigated or what have you I just think that there needs to be some some a body or someone that that kind of makes sure that the community has a place that they can follow these civil rights claims you know to to you know within the town that will actually get some type of resolution and address it maybe HRC will be getting that and we need to kind of look at that more closely because that would be great um but so that needs to happen. May I ask this question in terms of the resident oversight board and I know resident oversight board we're thinking you know oversight for the place but um why can't it be both I mean I imagine any resident oversight board for it to be effective has to have subpoena powers and have to be able to issue those kind of decisions so why why can it be both if they're really going to have that charge um it seems if it's going to be you know within their wheelhouse to say um okay here's here is board that has these powers that does these kinds of investigations let's add civil rights to that charge as well um that way again I imagine HRC does something similar to what we do in terms of advocating for the community and the resident oversight board is not going to be that um I mean we as a committee um can say to our community um you know here is resident oversight board there is some validity to your claim of civil rights abuse and violation take it there that's part of our advocacy for a community um so is is is there some concern as to why they cannot do both the resident oversight board I see Jennifer as her hang up so maybe there's some yeah no I don't I just I think one of the hardest problems about having a town board do anything that has to do with people coming who might want to stay confidential out confidential is how are they going to relay the information to you or how do you come up with the resolution because or how does one group decide okay this is something we're going to take on without doing that in a public meeting I mean that is one of the hardest parts for the HRC that's why the there's the complaint process through the HRC director and there's a very good point um but in previous lives like think about large corporations with um big HR departments where like if you have um compliance violations you can report those compliance violations anonymously and confidentially but there also has been understanding that if it gets reported to civilized complaint board and they find that there's something there to be investigated um it is going to become public unless the person reporting it decides to say you know what I do not want it to be public they have to make it's going to be difficult but they have to make that choice to either withdraw the complaint or how to be investigated and for transparency purposes it is going to be it's going to be public and they should be made aware of that before we do anything that puts them in fear or you know makes them uncomfortable and I would I would just say that we have had some people just in response to the process that we go through shy away from that because they're scared I mean these are people who are not um they're not residents or they're not they don't have US citizenship rate and they're trying to there's something about their employer that's wrong and they need to find an avenue to complain about it so I'm just saying like you should really kind of think about how you're going to flush that out because sometimes people get really really sensitive to that when it comes to it being in a broader picture that's all I'm just one more thing to think about no that makes sense and those are very valid concerns I have an idea with clients who are not permanent residents who are in the shadows and also deal with people that are juveniles and what the Commonwealth does for juveniles is quite frankly they're not known to people so there are ways to do this without exposing people to um potential more detrimental consequences and I think that's something that should be sparse about to make sure that these people are actually protected and they feel safe making these complaints knowing that it isn't going to be investigated their voices are going to be heard and at the same time they don't have to worry that there'd be retribution from shady employers or other people so there are ways we can do that I think we just have to sit down and talk about it and figure it out but at the same time um as an attorney and the right to face your accuser is big in law in that so we have to balance that as well yeah yeah and I think that those are some of the things that we thought about through resident oversight board and we are going to have to figure that out you see what I'm saying and for me too obviously being from that investigative background so we're rights investigative background that is important right to be able to you know know who um you know accuse you and but to have a process right to have a process so that you're you know very clear around non-retaliation and and you know those types of things so that you are monitoring that to be able to to assure the person or at least make the person as comfortable as possible because obviously with any situation any process is not going to be full comfortability or guaranteed right but all you can do is kind of have those processes in place and those things in place to give that person as fair shake as possible but yeah but there they should be a fair shake as you were saying ever you know that kind of like you know objective you know impartial process so that you give both parties you know a fair shake in regards to it and the the accused should have an opportunity to know who who's accusing them you know um you know and and what happens like even in the you know sexual harassment sexual misconduct realm is that so let's say if someone a complainant doesn't want to be the person to complain like be the face of the complainant you can have so we could have you know someone else who's kind of like let's so let's say is a resident oversight board you could have the resident oversight board chair bring for the complain complaint however the person who was the target would still be named right but they wouldn't be the ones to kind of bring for the complaint they would they would be more as a witness but at least the person would know okay what's the allegations being brought against them right so there's ways to kind of like lessen the kind of target um potential to it but yet the person still knows what the allegations are that being brought against them and who brought them he said um so so but Eberle you bring up some good points and I think that's why we want to have this discussion right because we need to think about what's all the possibilities around the resident oversight board kind of taking this on my only fear around it and I think we need to discuss it more and I know again tonight 22 and I'm getting exhausted everyone's exhausted then we just put it back on when we have you know a full quorum is the fact that you know how it's been just to get it to this point right and supposedly is going to it's going to happen by June 30th so if we tack this on you know will this be another reason to be like oh now we got a wage we got a pass and blah blah blah blah you know what I'm saying so I don't know I don't know what the question is but you do bring up the point you know in terms of like what our mission is and what our focus is and what HRC's focus is so on so forth but the bottom line is though we do need to figure out because we do need that is a gap within the town right now um not having a space or a place to bring forward the civil rights complaints so that you know they can be some a place for them to to be brought forward and to have a process in place to to deal with them impartially and then hopefully address them bring them to full resolution and some recommendations for you know given a possible discipline or resolution solution and just for clarity my my my preference for the resident oversight board is that it's taking so long to get here to get one and if we're actually going to get one then rather than having this much resistance again on this yeah yeah if there's a if they're empowered and mandated with you know actual investigator subpoena powers and they can do things then it may be easier to say if you're already empowered to do these things just add this other thing so yeah yeah that could be the way to go yeah bring up some valid points definitely because they do they would have to you know that's structured that's how we had a vision to swsg and kind of talk about that whole process all right we have time for one more public comment if it's there to be made all right here you go miss pat i think you can yeah okay can people hear me yes oh okay good evening everyone long meeting um very helpful a lot of information you guys shared um i have a couple comments let me start with the last topic that you guys discussed regarding where to take uh several complaints to this is just my uh suggestion um i think this year that is the charter review this is the time to you know contact the committee that is working on the charter to include a language that will give cssj c hrc um resident oversight board the power to make decision and also throughout the night two things you know keep coming up for me and that was um resistance resistance resistance about different things and to me the way my brain works is you know uh rules of engagement need to change people of color we need to start making our own rules as well because rules as have have always been from top down it needs to change and so for example with the civil right complaint that power needs to be written in the charter because that's what powerful people do they create this charter and said we can change it this is the way it's going to be no it needs to be changed so that's one thing you know uh to be in mind i also want to um comment there allegra and so many people who rallied yesterday and spoke so powerfully at the school committee and as i was listening and again the issue of resistance is some is more like we have to pass this budget by that date to me as i was watching it was like why not talk about the highest paid people in our town let them take off ten thousand twenty thousand dollars from their salary people who are making more than hundred thousand dollars in our town the town manager the assistant manager the superintendent take money away from them it's called changing the rules of engagement why should the court come from vulnerable um people of color and students programming that will benefit the people who needed the most why why why should the court come from there why don't we take money you know for people who are making too much already why are we spending money on duck pack why are we spending money on renovating the front of uh the town hall why are we focusing on uh building mega library and yet we can't find one million dollars to fully fund our school i don't get that so we we need to to continue to push we want our leaders to reduce their salary and make up the gap um thank you deb for mentioning bbaa uh with the league um i just want to say the uh our young bbaa members did that uh money card pay uh cage alisha brands and baba today a jail um i really appreciate them you know for making the presentation uh and this reminds me um on monday march 18th uh the town manager will be presenting the upper funds distribution uh 4.9 million left uh today my group bbaa we submitted a request for upper funds and part of the request we are making is that we're prepared to provide some youth programming that the town has not been able to do to do so um i want to use this um platform to encourage residents of our mess to come out in full pause on monday because we also requested direct payment to low income residents in our town including seniors uh black uh resident black businesses i think the rest of the money should prioritize people instead of buildings and roads and um so in the spreading word for us we want people to come out and support bbaa in what we are requesting for we want to have this upper funds to address the harm that was done to marginalize group in our town the three people who were implicated from the first round of upper funds the town finance director um son magano resigned the uh business improvement district director uh uh gold resigned the chamber of commerce director resigned three of them without even acknowledging what they did with by not providing any funding to existing black businesses so this time we want to change the role of engagement the residents need to um be the lead of how the rest of the money needs to to be spent so have three hundred thousand dollars given to drake whose building is owned by one of the richest land developer in our town it's just doesn't make sense so we need to start changing roles of engagement in our town that is strength in number i would like to see as many people as we can on monday let's fill the town hall and demand for the upper funds to be distributed equitably and let's see i have a quick announcement i was told today that 80 acres is starting an exciting uh program called mom squad and they're looking for volunteers and basically the program is to help you know families with chores like helping people with grocery shopping or childcare or you know driving people to appointments i thought that's a very great idea so um i got the application form i'm happy to email it to people i'm going to be you know spreading the word you know among my network people i think that's what we need in this town so i'm excited for for this program and lastly and i will shut up is uh i just want to remind you guys um this cssjc group that um when we talked about uh leadership and crest if the town decides to you know hire assistant director it has to be a person of color just has how csscsw fought to recommend people of color to head dei so we have miss pamela young and we have uh miss moisten so if we're going to have an assistant crest director it has to be a person of color we were very clear that those these two departments has to be led by people of color period i just wanted to say that and i just want to appreciate you know uh miss pamela jennifer moisten uh mr nelson you know um for you know taking on extra work i may not agree with everything that was said tonight but i get it it's extra work but it is what it is and i'll shut up and thank you all for your time so much i'm enjoying you emirad you know i hope to meet you someday thank you alligra for your leadership thank you debra for your leadership thank you jennifer thank you everybody thank you miss pat yeah um so let's see excuse me oh my god um you okay i'm okay i think um i can i'm gonna is it okay if i stop recording yes because i have to make like should we do like should we adjourn then you don't have a quorum yeah oh i didn't even i mean like i didn't have to take minutes but i figured it'd take minutes so april 10th