 So I can, I can go. Why I was waiting. So it is 630. I'm sorry, my computer is not correct. It is 632. On Wednesday, September 13, 2023, and I'm calling the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee to order. So what we tip, I have to read the thing. I'm sorry. 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. I 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 just to review the agenda. We have announcements and introductions for our new members public comment member reports, action and discussion items, including crests and di updates, the resident oversight board consultant progress update on the police chief search and a discussion about police followed by additional public comment at the end and then agenda setting and meeting schedule for the next for upcoming meetings. And if there's anything that we did not reasonably anticipate within 48 hours we can talk about it after the agenda items and then adjourn. Let's see why don't we do introductions first. If we could just all go around and introduce ourselves with our name and kind of maybe a brief sentence about why we wanted to join the committee. And then, and then we can turn it over to announcements. So I guess I'll start my name is Allegra Clark I am the chair of the committee as of right now. And I first got involved with the conversations around community safety and Amherst in 2020 after George Floyd's murder. And I was really interested in seeing alternatives to policing to keep our community safe, especially with some of the racial profiling that does go on in town. So I thought that it would be best to learn from strong black leaders in our community who did put forward a very excellent plan in the community safety working group. And after the opportunity to continue that work was presented I wanted to join with them. So that's why I'm here. I would like to pass it to Deborah, as she is a member of the original group. All right, look at this I'm so excited look at all these beautiful faces come on you can be a little bit more active a little bit more excited and stuff I'm excited to see you. Because now I heard something when I got on that we might have a quorum. I mean those that's like, you know, music to my ears right now. I'm very excited to see you all here. So as Allegra said, my name is Deborah for era so I was actually part original part of the community safety working group. And then this is my second year serving on CSS JC. So, you know a lot in terms of my background, I've been with Amherst for 21 years, and then before that four years when I came to school here at UMass. I work at the university I'm an attorney there for the university. And then before I just do an in house for the university. I basically ran title nine equal opportunity diversity for the university for 17 years. The diversity equity inclusion social justice is very dear to my heart. And, you know, one of the main reasons why I joined, but another main reason is because I have two kids one 19 year old and one 14 year old while black males. And of course, you know my whole life has been about making sure that people people can be who they are I'm an immigrant to this country I'm Cape Verdean from West Africa. I've been really growing up as an African in this country, it always came with a lot of challenges right a lot of the isms and phobia and so on so forth. And so that's why I've dedicated my life to making sure that people can be who they are without fear and intimidation, and well fear of being harassed discriminated against and being targeted. When I got to to George Floyd, I got more involved in town politics as a letter said after George Floyd was murdered, especially given the fact that I have two black males, right and I was very very afraid for their lives. And for interacting with the police. And so for me, although I was part of the protests and everything else. I said I wanted to do something that was a lot more meaningful and impactful. I'm CSWG and then CSS JC. And even though I have obviously a lot on my plate and a lot that I have to do in my life. I think that this is critically important. So, yeah, so I did to have you all here and just be ready because we're going to be doing a lot of work, a lot of work, because there's so much more to be done. Thank you Deb. Hi, my name is freka it and I think the question is, speak about why join the committee. Okay. I would send me new transplants to Amherst up in here about three or so years. And over that time I've gotten really attached to the town. And so I wanted to be part of just working with the town in any capacity that I could offer myself is to do so. One of the reasons besides the fact that I like the town, one of the reasons I joined the committee is to serve as an example to others, especially my students. I was teaching political science at Amherst College, and I would always in class speak about local government and public service and so I got sworn for the CSS JC actually had one of my students accompanying me to this where I'm in. So I think, besides public service, it's also to serve as an example for others to be part of local government. Thank you. Good to see everyone. Ask everyone to go next just because he is he rounds out our quorum for tonight and then. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Edward Henry. I am a local attorney in Amherst. I do criminal defense, I do immigration and I do contract law for criminal defense. I spend a lot of time in court representing people who cannot afford attorneys. Social justice matters to me very much. Representation matters to me. And so when I have a chance to be part of this committee, I thought it would further my helping people. So, I do like the idea of what we're trying to do in this committee because there are many times when I'm in court and I have a client in front of me. And I read a police report and I'm thinking, why is this person here and when there could be alternatives to as to them being charged. And having a person charged has a lot of unintended consequences that police don't think about and in their defense, they're not supposed to. But at the same time, there are situations where things can be de-escalated and I don't think that's ever factors in. So I want to be part of the solution and I think being part of this committee affords me to do so. I do also work with a homeless clients. So again, I work with health equity, which quite frankly, when you think about it, health equity law, it all ties together. So I work a lot with homeless populations, try my best to do what I can to get them resources in the community. So I think being part of this community is going to afford me the opportunity to be of more help. I have an immigrant family. My family is Jamaican. I grew up and raised in Maryland. That's home to me. So I went to college in Pennsylvania. I've had mixed experiences in Pennsylvania. But when I moved to Massachusetts in 2008, I was told my friends that I won't live in the right state or purple state. I like knowing where my politics is going to go. And I say that because I like knowing that the people that I vote for are committed to doing what I want as a voter. And I think one of the biggest things that Massachusetts did recently is criminal justice reform. I was very proud of what we did during COVID when COVID started. There's a lot of people that were incarcerated that could have been released and the governor afforded the opportunity for them to be released. So being in Massachusetts gives me a chance to say what I do matters. And I think it does because we have people like this committee who fight for people who don't have voices. And I think most importantly is representation. And I want to be a voice for people who do not have voices. And I think being part of this committee gives me a chance to continue to do that. So I'm happy to be here. I'm committed. I'm a hard worker. And so I am all in. We're happy to have you. Isabella. Hi everyone. Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm Isabella Monkvis. Sorry if you can hear my fan in the background. I realize that can be a night. I'm a junior at Amherst College from Tampa, Florida. I'm studying political science in French. And I really wanted to join this committee because not only do I have a personal commitment to social justice coming from a multicultural background. I'm Cuban. And I also did an internship this summer in Sweden for Amnesty International doing a lot of grassroots human rights stuff. And one of the things I was doing is trying to raise awareness about petitions about various human rights violations across around the world. And a lot of them are actually taking place in the US, even in places that we consider really not having those kinds of human rights violations. So I think after my experience in Sweden this summer, I was really interested in exploring and really resolving human rights violations and social justice issues here at home. Thank you and welcome. And last but not least, Lisette. Hi. Good evening, everyone. And thank you for, like Alissa said, having a very warm welcoming. So my name's Lisette Paredes. I am currently a sessions clerk for Springfield for the trial court. I've been a resident of Amherst for the last 23 years. I pretty much grew up here in Amherst. And I really wanted to be a part of a group of individuals that are willing to listen and come up with ideas. And, you know, I really wanted to be heard and come up with different strategy strategies and ways to connect with the public. I too am a immigrant. I'm from Central America, specifically from El Salvador. And I really enjoy that our, you know, living personally, I live in South Amherst. And we have such a diverse group of individuals here in South Amherst and just Amherst in total. But I look forward to putting my experience and, you know, gathering any ideas and experiences that looks like this is a very well rounded group of individuals with a lot of cultural backgrounds. So I look forward to it. Thank you and welcome. So I think that that was a nice welcoming and hello. And we do have a piece of Saturday news, which is a goodbye. So I'll turn it over to Deborah. Yeah, I wanted to just take some time to acknowledge one of the members from CSSJC, Dmitri Shabazz, who unfortunately passed away. I believe it was yesterday. And she joined CSSJC, you know, last year, she was one of the co-chairs with Allegra, fierce, fierce warrior for justice, who jumped right in and did so much work with us and really helped us to really establish CSSJC in terms of our parameter, our mission and really stay in focus in terms of what we needed to do. I'm sure some of you know that right when we started, there was this incident in July 5th where young people had this really horrific interaction with the police, where they were told they had no rights. And Dmitria D was one of the people that obviously, you know, kept us on course and was part of the different town council meetings that we have to go to to make sure that we were being heard. And then even before that, D actually had a company called 7th Generation. I think the 7th Generation, there was another product to it. It was called Mint Collective, I believe. Yeah, Mint Collective, I believe, yes. And we always call it, you know, familiarly as 7th Gen. And they were an integral part of the community safety working group, basically being able to gather the information that really supported and the data that supported our recommendations that we made. And that group is in existence, right? Because I'm, you know, one of the original members and so we relied on D and her staff and the people that she had on board, all the people that she brought on who were all fabulous and marvelous to gather the data and why I love the work they did was that they went in and really had people from all backgrounds, age, you know, orientation, everything, right, language to go in and really go into the community to talk to people that we usually and normally would not listen to the people that we actually had to listen to in terms of interactions with the police. And they did it in a way that was respectful, sensitive, you know, honored and respected everyone, and they did it during the time in the heat of the COVID, COVID pandemic when we were, you know, shortly after really being shut down and quarantine where still people were, you know, very much getting infected. They were out there getting that data. And even though, you know, a lot of people in the community try to shut down the information that they brought. And, you know, their information was critical and important to really substantiate what we are trying to talk about in terms of what people are feeling in the community, right, that not everyone has a positive interactions with the police, and that people have ideas and suggestions in terms of what needs to happen in this community, in terms of public safety. So, and, you know, and with the, you know, I knew her also from, you know, UMass, she was a professor at UMass. She was, you know, at Amherst media. She's done so much for our community. And obviously my heart goes out to the entire family. Her husband, Amelka Shabazz, and her children, who, you know, is just devastating that obviously she's not here with us in the physical but I know that, you know, she's joined the ancestors and she'll be a fierce warrior on the other side too. And we'll continue to guide us from there. So, I'm so grappling with it, but, you know, want to just give her the honor. So I'll pass it back to you, Allegra, because I know you wanted us to, you know, just have a moment for her, but also, I'm sure if anyone else wanted to say anything else about the idea of comrade and ally and compatriot. So if we could take a moment just to silently reflect on the work that Dee has done to help us get here. Appreciate that. The spirit will always be with us as we continue this march. And I just, you know, I just think about her way with words and how when we would work together to craft statements. Things would just come out of my brain and she would really take the time and reflect and sit with them and put them together in such a way that was just so powerful. And I just appreciated the way that she was able to communicate with people. So I, I hope that perhaps next meeting we can invite the CSW G and CSS JC members who are no longer part of the committee into for another little celebration of sorts. I think today we honor her memory. And we love to her family. We can, I suppose, move along to our agenda items, starting with any announcements from people on the 21st. Yes. So hopefully folks will be there and then Pamela I'm sure you'll, you'll kind of remind us about and you wanted us to do some tabling and stuff then you can work with us in terms of the schedules or whatever so with a listening session yesterday for the police search. Well too. But we'll also talk more about that during the agenda. And I believe there will be some time slots for the 18th and 19th that we can either attend individually or as a group or as partial groups was what Paul had said so I think I have any other announcements. There's an event on is it the 24th, September 24 the Latin American heritage. Month kickoff is that what it is. Yes, will be the Latinx heritage celebration is on the town common from one to four on Sunday the 24. There will be some salsa dancing a live DJ and food and crafts for children. So we can move along to our first public comment period. We do have one at the beginning and one at the end, just in case anything comes up during the meeting that the public would like to comment on at the end. So if you would like to make a comment you can use the I have to read something. Oh my gosh, I'm so bad at this formal thing. Okay, during the public comment period the chair will recognize members of the public when called on please identify yourself by saying your name for pronouns and residential address if you want to residents are welcome to express their view for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair based upon the number of people who wish to speak. No speaker can see their time to another speaker the CSS JC will not engage in dialogue or comment on a matter raised during public comment. So if you wish to make a public comment you can use the raise hand feature and then we will admit you to the zoom room. Dorothy Pam has our hand up our lovely town council liaison, and then Brianna. I just want to say I'm an absolute shock. About these death, and thank you so much for your nice presentation. And, you know, we have to do more is all I can say, but thank you so much. That's it. I'm really excited to join you all tonight. So many new faces and I'm so excited for the work you all are doing. I'm here to public comment because I'm a little bit concerned about the search for the next police chief. I hope that this group can advocate for a virtual forum. I know that the town manager has already started in person forums, but I don't think for people more working more than one jobs or people that have busier schedules that that's an ideal time for their voices to be heard. So I hope that this group can look at alternate ways that different voices can be heard to provide feedback and what they're looking for in the next police chief. And I think beyond that I'm hoping that this group can talk about how they're working with the consultants to find the next police chief because I don't think meeting with consultants to say what we'd like to see in a police chief is enough. I think we can all agree that we want somebody that's anti-racist. We want somebody that's kind. We want somebody that understands de-escalation, but I don't think that's where community engagement should stop. Thank you, Rihanna. I see Ms. Pat has her hand up. Ms. Pat, it says that you declined to be promoted to panelists. Ms. Pat, can you try it again? She lowered her hand. I do see Joella Tarbotton. Ms. Pat's hand is up again, too. You should be coming in. Can people hear me now? Yes. Okay. So first of all, I want to welcome, you know, the new CSSJC members. Thank you for joining. My name is Pat Onanibako. I was a former member of CSSJC. I want to thank Allegra and Deborah for the kind words with D. And I just want to echo what both of you said. And she left a huge hole in our community. Our community is so lucky to have such a giant, a pillar of our community, a role model, very generous. Not only with her time, with her resources, I'm definitely going to miss her. I just wanted to thank both of you for doing this, you know, to honor her tonight. She did a lot for our community and her legacy must continue. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat. Thank you. Yeah. And then we have Joella. I can't see you. I don't know if you can see or hear me. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, first of all, this is my first time attending this meeting. I'm a person from North Hampton. And so you have somebody who's very distinguished. I met you Deborah once at a rally. It's police brutality in North Hampton. And so someone told me to come. So I jumped on now. So pardon my tardiness and I didn't get the very beginning part of it. I just wanted to say thank you for having this. And we're your sisters and brothers in North Hampton and I need this like the doctor ordered it. So thank you for doing what you're doing. And that's all I wanted to say is to say hello and keep on keeping on. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else would like to make a comment you can raise your hand otherwise we will have an additional public comment period at the end of the meeting. Thank you for your hands up. So the next item is member reports. I don't think of Deborah has her hand. Do you have. Yeah, and I want to thank the previous public commenter for reminding me that yes, I went to a rally in North Hampton. And I remember that some groups put together several weeks ago around police brutality that happened to a woman who was is not from this country English English is a second language was actually a video of the treatment and the horrific police brutality that happened there. She's actually bringing a lawsuit against the police department but I mean, I just got sick to my stomach, you know, when I saw the intimidation, the brutality of the policemen that interacted with her. And at some point her screening like, you know, called the police because she didn't think they were the police. She thought that these were two thugs that were there, a costing. That's how bad it is. And I mean, just brought tears to my eyes. And this is North Hampton. This is a sister, you know, neighborhood, you know, city over here that this is happening. And so this is not anywhere, you know, across the way in California, big city New York. No, no, no, this is North Hampton. Okay. So, you know, the work that we're doing is is critical critical, like I said, and extremely important. And there were, you know, a variety of different people there, you know, basically sharing, you know, their interactions with the police and obviously, you know, saying that things need to change. And I don't know if you all know this, but North Hampton actually just started their responder, community respond to program, which they actually learned a lot from our community responders here in Amherst. But I'm just so happy that they have begun their own program out there because obviously it's, it's very much needed. So, you know, these are some of the things for the new members, you know, that obviously we do a lot of us just kind of do things on our own, but then obviously share when we come in and meet together. Because all of this is about us, you know, us North Hampton of the towns, banding together, because we know that the divide and conquer technique is something that is utilize a lot to keep us apart, as opposed to all of us coming together to do this work together, which is really about, you know, caring for one another in humanity, and making sure that there's no separation, and no separation with the police either. It's not an us or them situation. It's about us and us, you know, and cheating everyone with humanity and equity and, you know, respect. So the other thing too that I want to say, and I guess I'll say it here is, I think we have said it before and I know Jennifer, you and Pamela you all are very busy, you know, because you're only a two person office that that's doing a lot so, you know, I don't want to take away from that. But just again another plug to make sure that we have the agenda items kind of sent to us a couple of days before, you know, the meeting so that we can see what else to add because actually there was one other one that I had sent to I wanted to send out a copy, but it's not, it's not on here and stuff like that, because that will be helpful, you know, to kind of ground us so we know what what to add in terms of agenda items, and then also first to get a copy of the agenda, a couple of days beforehand I need that copy because I'm, I'm, I'm getting the word out about this meeting this meeting is critical and I hope you all also do that, get the word out send out the agenda to other people in your networks, so that they can be on this call every month. So because people need to know about what's happening in the community and what we're doing in this meeting. So for me I need that agenda item. And so, I mean the agenda, so that I can share so that people have time to think about it so that then when they come on they're already prepared when when they're listening or when they want to do the public comment. So, just a plug again. You know, so that we can get that going, keep that going. Thank you Deborah. May I add something. Yes, please. So, as someone who practices in North Hampton, as well as other courts. I am familiar with the reputation of the North Hampton PD. And to Brian is really your point. I think it's paramount that we have the right police chief because North Hampton has any police chief. But the culture of the police department didn't really change. And so they do have a history of not treating people very well. I have had clients with body cams slash cruiser cams where there is police officers kneeling on a person's head or a person's back in the cell. I think, you know, I know it's North Hampton and they're not Amherst, but if the culture doesn't change, then nothing gets changed. So, while they have a new police chief, I think it's important that if we have the opportunity to influence who is hired in Amherst as a police chief. I think it's important that we do that. And just to kind of follow up from what you said, it's, yeah, the police chief actually with the case that I talked about actually said that it was not excessive force that that was appropriate force in terms of what they did. And that's what exactly they may stir. They, they kind of kneeled on her, all sorts of different things. You know, no, no, the woman couldn't even understand what they were saying, had no compassion whatsoever just kept yelling and swearing at her and everything. I mean, just, just terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible. So, thank you for that. And that's a point very well taken is that the culture. The culture might say the same if a police chief doesn't come in and proactively do things to change it. So that, that's a good note into, into things that we would think about when we are able to talk with the consultants. Does anybody else have any update or report back. We, so can I ask Pamela or Jen for a question. So, Earl is on leave Earl is the crest director. Will we be getting a report from crests in his absence. So, I am going to give both the update for Crest and DEI. Because there are some information to share. So, I can start with that but before I go into the Crest and DEI updates. I do just want to confirm I saw an exchange of emails today that the town manager has confirmed that the consultants will have a virtual session with a number of individuals so I mean, a lot has been going on but from my understanding that that was confirmed later this afternoon so there will be a virtual session and I, and I, I thought that that information was sent out I can double check to make sure I'm giving you correct information but I believe that that has been established. And the last thing I want to say about the police search is that the engagement that occurred over the last two sessions and then and for the next session are meant to be engagement around the what's desired in a police chief it's really the job description. It's not going to be the sole mechanism for engagement on the selection of the of the police chief it was meant to be what does the community want to see in their next police chief so that as they do conduct the national search the job position the description reflects community needs. So, I, I know, I, I'm fairly certain this is not going to be the last opportunity for community input on the police chief search or selection. So I'm going to start with with DEI because I think that'll be fairly quick and I think you'll probably have a lot of questions about the Crest update. So, the both DEI and Crest. Oh, and before I go on I just wanted to make sure that the new members I know you had a chance to, to, to meet me briefly but Jennifer moisten and I are the members of diversity, equity and inclusion for the town to members in that department and we are the staff liaisons for this board as well as for others so you'll see us at your meetings we regularly give updates and try to keep the the board up to date on things that we're doing as well as respond to request from from board members for additional information so that's who we are and why we're why we're here. So the diversity, equity and inclusion office, and the Crest office are sharing an AmeriCorps member ASA our AmeriCorps member started on September 1. He is going to split his time between our office and Crest. And the focus of that position is to develop and conduct programming for youth. So he'll be looking and has looked at the youth empowerment programs that were discussed in the prior community safety working group report is going to be meeting with various departments in town to start developing that. And then, we had hoped to have an event for youth a, you know, open forum for people to come and meet him and start for him to be able to start to gather information at within this month of September but because of other obligations that's just not going to happen so we have a target date of early November for that engagement. I mentioned the Latinx heritage. I'll talk a little bit more about the community visioning so the town has engaged Dr. Barbara love to conduct training for facilitation training for community members and municipal staff to service facilitators for what would then follow multiple meetings are in the community around community vision or a liberatory visioning those facilitation trainings will take place on the 25th and the 26 in the bank center in the evening. We will provide dinner and we will provide childcare. So that link was sent out for registration, and we're scheduled I think to meet early next week with Dr love just to give her an idea about who has who signed up Jennifer you might know how many people have registered today I'm, I don't, I'm not aware of the numbers. So there are 14 people registered that are both community members and staff members so it would be nice if you guys know folks help spread the word I'm going to resend the link out tomorrow so then everyone will have it. Our target is to get a group of 30 25 to 30 people. In our office we're continuing our rounds of doing diversity equity and inclusion training with municipal departments. We had a training or workshop with the Jones library staff or members of the Jones library staff. This morning we'll do a second section with them tomorrow. And that will leave the department's in town hall and wreck and we will be setting two dates. Jennifer's taking the lead on this to, to have workshops and training for those departments. And we have a target of October, probably late October and early November for those two things to take place. The block party is going to happen next week. We expanded some of our funds to get an actual tablecloth that says the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion so people will know where, who we are when we table at the at the town's block party. And the library staff have volunteered to create some buttons for us that have. There will be buttons that that have CSS JC that you can wear and keep and then there will also be some other buttons that have just various words so equity inclusion diversity access. Accessibility as phrases and reparations where the words that we chose and there'll be a variety of those, as well as some other probably like, you know, candies that we'll have for giveouts for our table. Right now. I think that we've had one member from our maybe 2 members of the Human Rights Commission have said that they will also table. And the three members from this group have said that they will table. I think it would be great if you staggered your time. So if I am remembering the details correctly, I think that the block party starts at five and goes to sunset. So if you each wanted to take an hour or 45 minutes shift, that would be wonderful. The goal was, we have a very long table. The goal was to have one member from each of the various boards that the office supports their presence so that, you know, we'd have a big presence. So that's our plan. We don't have anyone who's volunteered to come from the disability access and advisory committee. So if more than one of you wants to be there at the same time, we'll probably, you know, have room for that to happen. So I'm trying to think. All right. So that is pretty much the DEI update. I think had we moved over to banks at the last meeting. Okay. Yeah. So I think that's pretty much the DEI update. The next thing I'll mention is actually an update for both Cress and DEI, which is that we will be attending the neighborhood resource fairs that are being organized by UMass. And at least we'll be at the first two. The third one, which takes place on September 26th. We'll have a conflict with because of our, you know, we have a lot of facilitation training, but there's one tomorrow afternoon. And then a second one, I think on September 19th, if I have, if I'm remembering the date correctly. So there are a lot of updates to talk to you about Cress, which as you know, has been, yep. Can we, because I think it might be a lot. Sure. Yeah. I'm trying to like remember all the questions. So do you mind if we don't go ahead. Yeah. Great. Awesome. So thank you for the, for the report. Yeah, I do have questions in regards to it first around the AmeriCorps. You know, help her there. You know, that's good. That's great that that he's on board. However, or not, however, and what are we doing in terms of finding a space and a place that is inclusive and safe and where young people will want to go to, to actually be part of some of these like events that, that he or whomever will be putting on. All right. So that's. So as I think I stated one of the prior meetings, the town manager has stated that he is going to have, I guess lead a task force to work on the. Securing a permanent location for the youth empowerment center. And so he is in charge of that aspect. And the DEI office is going to use the facilities that we currently have access to within the town. And as I had mentioned before and actually reached out and had some conversation with some of the members of the committee. We're limited in town to looking at the library, the banks, a center, large activity room. We do have an offer from Amherst college to use their space. And I did at the bequest of this board asked the town manager to inquire about the use of the space on main street that was the prior home of is it, is it the hastings? Right. And I have not gotten any additional information about whether that space would be available. When I, when I inquired about the space, I was told that there was an understanding that there was going to be another use that had been proposed to the owner for that space and that they felt that the owner would be pursuing the other opportunity. Yeah, so I think, I think with that, you know, that you have several options. I think one of the things would be to, you know, really kind of survey some young people, right? You know, I'm assuming you all are connected to, to, to young people in the community. And, but to really, you know, communicate with the young people and really get a sense from them, what space would actually be a good space for them, right? And even with this, like with the AmeriCorps member, it would be good to get this person to really connect with young people to really find out what it is that they're looking for, you know what I'm saying? What it is that they want that types of activities and things like that. Because remember it's not just kind of having sessions and then hoping they show up, you know what I'm saying? So how are they partners in creating, you know, the space, the place, what's going to be discussed and what is it that they want? You know, maybe they just want a hangout spot. Maybe they don't even want a session. You know, I don't know, you know, so that's the, that's the point, right? Is how do you connect to young people and really have them kind of created because that was with CSWG. That was what our intent was when we were talking about a youth empowerment center. It was really a youth empowerment center led by the youth and making sure that they're the ones making the decisions. And we as adults are really just supporting those decisions. Well, in order to start those conversations, we've got to begin somewhere. So we need to at least have an invitation to have that initial conversation, which is what we're trying to do. Any programming that we have are going to have to have some support by either members of this office or other adults because in order for us to engage in those spaces and have those spaces available to us, we need to be around. We're not allowed just to open the door and walk away. But it is certainly our intention to engage with the youth and ask the youth what they want to do, which is why we want, you know, we need to get started. And unfortunately, there have been a lot of things that have taken time away from having that as a primary focus, which is really what I had hoped to be spending a lot of the fall on, but it is still a focus and we're moving ahead in the best way that we can see possible. Yeah, so let me just add a clarification. I'm not saying to open the doors and then the adults flee. No, that's not what I'm saying because I'm part of a youth led group in town and everything. And so what I mean by that, so let me make sure I clarify, is that as adults, you're there to support, but really it's the youth that kind of are the ones that are leading the discussions are the ones that are there, but you are there to support, you're there to guide, you're there to assist, right, provide the resources, things like that. But I'm just saying that it's not the adults kind of taking over and leading everything. And also you might have to be creative in terms of how and how you communicate with young people. It might not be you just saying, hey, come have a session. You might have to go to where they're at. You know what I'm saying? As opposed to them coming to you. So again, remember for Pamela and Jennifer, we at CSSJC, we're a resource to you all. We're here to help you all and to give you all kind of tips and ideas in terms of how to move forward. And so that's why myself and others, like I said, I've been part of a youth led organization for close 20 years at this point. So I have some expertise in it in terms of just how to relate and interact with young people. So that's why I'm sharing some information. But I also have more questions. I have questions around the community visioning. I just want to get more of an idea of how is it that you all are doing the outreach to people to be part of this, these meetings? Because obviously I'm very excited that Barbara Love is the one that's doing the community visioning. Obviously she was one of the people that CSWG had recommended to take on the community visioning. However, it can't be just the traditional outreach methods. And I was talking and talking about Disha Baz and her legacy is to say how D and her group are able to go into the community and really outreach to make sure that those that we usually don't listen to would actually take part in some of this. So that's the things. And not only because I guess for the 25 and 26 is what, a trainer-trainer. It is a trainer-trainer. Yes, trainer-trainer. So not only for this portion, but also, of course, even more critical will be for the participants too. And both, though. Not even, I don't want to, for the trainers and for that. Because the trainers too are going to be the ones that are going to be helping with the visioning and creating the space and creating the sense of hopefully safety for people to be able to and build a trust for people to be able to communicate and be honest and things like that. So you're going to need folks that are from a variety of backgrounds and be very inclusive. Because if you're not hitting that target, it's not just about the numbers. It's about who is going to be part of this, right? And the other kind of note that I want to make is that I don't, I forget who was on the flyer. I know there was like, maybe it was the equity task force or something that was on the fly. I also want to make sure that we're kind of mentioning that CSWG or CSSJC, I mean, we want to make sure that the correct history in terms of who made the recommendations, why these things are happening are put in some of these flyers, are communicated at these meetings. And also, like CSSJC, we would definitely be happy to partner with you all with a DEI to bring some of these things forward. And I think it would behoove DEI to work with us again, because we have a lot of access. We know a lot of people. We can do a lot of the outreach. So kind of again, I'm doing a plug to like utilize this. I don't feel like we're being utilized as much as we could be. So again, and I know I've said this, I'm probably a broken record at this point, but utilizes. So that being said, I'm happy that you all did reach out to us to do the block party to the table. But again, if you all can coordinate that, because you know, you know, I don't know when who's going to be doing what at what time. So if you all could coordinate those spots and just let me know, okay, who's taking when blah, blah, blah, blah, so that then we can accomplish that. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Because me, the sooner I know what time my slot is, the better so that I can plug that into my calendar. Right. So we can assign slots to everyone, but there was an email chain where folks were asked to suggest when, you know, if and when they were would be available. And that was a few weeks ago. Yeah. As far as the block party. Yeah. Can you resend that then because now again, you know, the schedule now. And that and could we also include new members. Yeah. Email so that we can make sure everybody gets it. Deborah was where you, did you have any other comments or questions? And I think that was it. I see every old has a hand. I do. I am the term you for me is very broad. So when we do say youth, how are we doing with who we target in under that category? And how are we doing so? So in the. It is very broad in the community safety working group. I think the target was really anyone under the age of 20. So like high school and medical school students primarily, but it is a broad term. And I think the focus for the AmeriCorps position working with the MSI and Crest would be to focus on middle school and high school students. Has there been a conversation out making an introduction to high school missful students at school? So there, the, the AmeriCorps member has, I keep one in the state intern, but that's not the proper term. So I'm stuttering a little bit over that. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that the AmeriCorps member has been on, on staff for about a week. There are plans to have introductions at both the high school and the middle school. And the. Crest department has a memorandum of understanding. With the school department that the person will be working on. So we're, we're a little bit slow off getting off the ground, but there are plans to. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. Thank you. Does anybody else have any comments or questions about the DEI initiatives prior to moving on to Chris? All right. So moving on to Chris. As you know, the Crest director, Earl Miller is still out on administrative leave. And I can't say more about the HR. There has been a vacuum in leadership at Crest in the interim. While the director has been on leave, and there have been conversations with the town manager and other members of his leadership team about how to best support the department. And to provide some management and leadership. During the, during this, you know, interim absence. So this afternoon, the town manager, myself. The HR director and the union rep for the responders met with the responders to discuss with them a proposal for an interim leadership team. The team has four members. Myself. Cat Newman. Chief Nelson. And Sergeant Janet Griffin. The four of us are, are, are scheduled to meet to help to work with the department. To ensure that it continues on its, on its mission. And we've met with them today to discuss some of the, some of the challenges that they faced in the absence of having, you know, a leader in place. They've had a number of different concerns over the last few weeks. Some of them sort of related to a lack in leadership. Some of them are other sort of HR issues. For example, they did not receive their step increase on their anniversary date pay differential. Like I said, not that they continue their work. But that the HRW and the HRS are, the HRS are helping to get their position. The HRS and the HRS is working to make all of those corrections around retroactive pay that's due shift differential pay that stew. The union rep was there to talk to the, about supporting the. The responders and with some of the other concerns that they is to really make sure that we are setting up the department for to be successful. One of the obstacles that had been to their ability to be more successful was their working relationship with the Amherst Police Department. The Petrolman's Collective Bargaining Agreement was recently signed and adopted, which does provide for Crest to work with the police department. So one of the things that the previous director had tried to do was ride-alongs to build the rapport and relationship with the police department, and they did not take place. So now that there's a new collective bargaining agreement in place, some of those legal issues have now been addressed. The town is currently in negotiation with the SEIU Union, which includes the dispatchers, to address some of the issues around the ability for the department to receive 911 calls or calls from dispatchers. And at one of the last meetings that the director had attended with this group, I remember him saying that he felt like his responders were ready to go, but there were some other obstacles that needed to be overcome. And so we're working to sort of address those obstacles so that we can have the responders be able to receive calls from dispatch. So those things are all in process. This plan, which is, I will say, still being developed, was shared with the responders today. I am taking the lead of the leadership team, so the buck will stop with me. I've shared with them that public safety is not necessarily my area of expertise, but as far as working with them to ensure that they have a plan in place, a vision in place, policies and procedures in place to help them be successful. I am all in and I will be leaning on them to learn about the work that they've done. Now that we're physically located in the Bang Center, we're adjacent to them, so I'm right next door. I plan and have committed this afternoon to meet with each of the responders individually to learn more about some of the challenges that they faced individually as well as as a group. And the goal is to ensure that the department is successful and that it fulfills the mission that was established a year ago, a little over a year ago. I vote. Is there no number two at Crest? I mean, it seems as if, and you may be able to answer, it seems like things are falling apart with the directive being gone, is there no number two? Yeah. So the answer to that question right now is yes. And that is because there was a change in roles. So Kat Newman, who I think most people might have presumed to be the number two person or to be Earl's assistant or primary, took on a new role that had the title of Implementation Manager of the grants that have funded the organization. So the structure was not clear as far as hierarchy is concerned. And the current leadership team will be looking to make some recommendations around that. Is there a concern about delaying the responders taking that when one calls because there's a vacuum? No, so I sort of feel that there are a number of different issues that are all occurring at the same time. So the responders were not receiving 911 calls prior to this administrative leave. And that was due in part to the fact that there were some legal obstacles that had not been cleared through the collective bargaining process. So and those were separate and apart from the personnel issues. One of the things that the prior director had said to this group when he last addressed the group was that he felt that his responders were ready to start receiving 911 calls and that the start would be limited. So one of the things that's on my to-do list is to go back and look at the old minutes from this meeting because I believe that in those conversations, he had identified three to five different call types that he felt would be appropriate for the responders to get started with. There was also some delays due to like there was a delay in them getting transportation, having their own vehicles. There was a delay in them receiving their radios or their walkie-talkies. And so there have been a number of things that have sort of delayed the process, but they were not receiving 911 calls prior to the administrative leave. So part of the task of the leadership team will be to make sure that all of the obstacles have been removed and to get them started on that process. And some of them, I think it's safe to say, I mean, I'm still very much learning about what has occurred and what hasn't occurred. I think it's safe to say that the sort of physical, they have transportation, they have their walkie-talkies or their radios. All of those things I think are in place now, but there are still some legal issues that need to be addressed. And you're a lawyer, so you know that that is a process. Did anyone provide a time frame as to when the legal issues may or may not be resolved? And I'm asking because a key part of Crest is taking those phone calls. So that's how you do intervention. Right. There is ongoing conversations with the SEIU union as we speak. And it is hopeful that that contract will be resolved soon. I believe that the patrolman's contract was signed within the last 30 days. So yeah. Thank you. Deborah. So I mean, for me, I'm just like extremely, extremely, extremely concerned with what is going on with Crest. And I do want to hear more details in terms of what Crest has been doing for the past five weeks because I've been counting the weeks since Earl Miller. The director has been put on paid administrative leave. I understand that you can't talk about it, but one, I feel that this process is taking very long. And so myself, this group, and the community is looking at this. This cannot continue till infinity. This needs to be resolved in terms of this process that he's responding to, which is fine. Obviously, there's a process, but it needs to be done as quickly as possible. As you all know, as the town knows, Crest is a new department. It's a department that was created by CSWG's recommendations that had a lot of resistance from the town, from Amherst. So right now, with this not happening, and with the fact that there's no number two, that it was never any type of clan in place to actually deal with the situation. So basically, Crest has just been left to flounder, really, is what I'm hearing for the past five weeks. Crest, which is a department that is very important to what's been happening in terms of people actually getting resources and help and really being dealing with the alternative to police. Everything nonviolent should be and needs to be going through Crest. So now the viable department that was set up to do that is actually floundering with no leadership. And now there's this, which I have questions about in terms of this. And it's just continuing on in that way. So for me, in terms of me talking about the eye is very close. This is a microscope. I mean, everything that is happening right now, we are taking notes and is being documented. I mean, this is no joke, because this is a new department, as we know, that had a lot of resistance that people want to fail. Let's just be clear and honest. I don't miss words when I come on this meeting. We know that there's a lot of people out there that want this department to fail. And so for me, I'm just really frustrated and very annoyed that really there hasn't been a plan in place. And also, when I'm thinking about the names that you talked about with yourself, include a Pamela, and as you stated, you don't have this type of background, I'm just like, why hasn't one of the responders been tapped? This is a majority people of color department. Why can't one of the responders be one of the ones leading and helping to make some decisions here? Are we sending a message that they're not capable of doing that? A question, right? That once when the director was put on paid administrative leave was Newman that was put in as the interim. But why weren't one of the other responders tapped to help lead or to lead a crest during the time, since they're the ones that have been out there doing the day-to-day work with it? Why isn't there some type of training process to make sure that they actually understand how to do things too that is part of leadership? So for me, that this is going on way too long in terms of the process. From the community, we're not hearing any information about when this process is going to be done in terms of the director. And then we're not having any transparency in terms of how press is being handled. And now there's this interim team put together so it's Chief Nelson from the fire department, someone from the police department, and then Cat, and then yourself. So I think you raised. Where is this going? That's what I want to know. And what have they been doing for these past five weeks is another thing I want to know. And third, when is the dispatch going to start? When is the issues? Because this has been going on since for months. I remember Earl Miller talking about them being ready to do the dispatch back in May. We're in September now. Why hasn't that been resolved? Why hasn't the legal issues been resolved so that actually dispatch, that was part of the community safety working group recommendations. Cress is a safety department. First and foremost, it's an alternative to safety. It's responding to safety calls. And why hasn't that happened? So I want three of my questions answered. Right. Well, I can only really answer one of them, right? I think they're valid questions, but they're not questions that I'm able to answer. But I think you answered your own question about the composition of the team. So as a distinction to how North Hampton created their department, which is placed in public health, the Cress department has been placed in the town of Amherst in public safety, which is why the leadership, interim leadership team includes members of the public safety departments in town, right? Obviously, we have expertise from the police and fire that they can bring to the table for these discussions. And as I said to the responders today, if there is a way in which they can envision their work being done without being in relationship with police and fire, then they please tell me. But I think it's necessary for them to have relationship with the other public safety departments in order for them to be successful. Does that mean that they are second to them? No, but they need to be in relationship in order to work together. And I think that it's going to be really important for that to be a strong positive relationship. So one of the things that I said to the responders today is that I'm going to lean heavily on their expertise. I want to hear exactly what they feel like they have been doing well, what things have not been working. There is a high learning curve for me. What I can offer them and what I have said to them is really important to me is mission. I can provide insight. I can ask critical questions. I can help them with policies and procedures. But no, I don't have an expertise in public safety, which is why I think it's critically important to include the other public safety departments in the conversation. So I do envision that there will be ample opportunity for the responders to be a part of the process and shoring up their department as they go forward. And as you also know that they're in a union. And so there are some parameters to how we engage with them because of their union. Their union rep was there for the meeting today. They have raised concerns to the union rep and there are processes for having those concerns addressed. I think it was critical to have Kat as a part of the team because I think many people in town, myself included, saw her as the second, although that was not officially her role and she has a lot of the institutional knowledge about what has occurred and what hasn't occurred discussions. But we're gonna listen from everyone. All of the responders are gonna have an equal voice and equal opportunity to share their experience and what has about what Cress is and how we can enhance it. And we wanna, you know, I think the term that's been sort of bandied about is reset, an opportunity to sort of reflect and see what's been really great about the work that they've been doing, what could be improved and how can those improvements happen? And I think part of that process is connecting them to the other public safety departments in town. Okay, so I have follow up Pamela because I mean, first, the way you're talking is almost as if the director's not coming back. I mean, when you're saying reset and so on and so forth, you know what I'm saying? I'm just kind of like reset from what, you know? Are you saying there was problems at Cress? Is that what you're saying? And so now there's a reset? I mean, I don't get that. So I want you to explain that. Second, I did not say for Cress not to have any communications or not to work collaboratively with the other departments. Of course they have to work collaboratively with the police and the fire chief and the ambulance and, you know, the empties, all of the other public safety entities. I've always said that. I've never said otherwise. However, I'm not saying that now they have to be part of the leadership, now leading Cress, because they have a whole different mission and vision for their own departments. The departments are not Cress. Cress is its own department and Cress has to be at the same equal level as all of their other departments. So my fear is that by having them be part of this process of the leadership process is that Cress is now going to change its mission and the focus of Cress is going to become different. And so I hope you're listening to me and you're hearing the difference in terms of what I'm saying. I'm not talking about working with them collaboratively. It's about changing their mission and changing what they're supposed to be doing. So I think that we tried to be very clear today when we met with the responders that their mission is not changing. But as, you know, as I've said it, I don't have expertise in public safety. And so we've got to rely on individuals who can bring some expertise. And it's not, not only police and fire but we are also looking to gain expertise for some expert, some national experts and from the relationship that the director Miller described at Harvard. So Amherst is part of a cohort of like-minded or of other like organizations and municipalities around the country whom the Kennedy School of Government is helping them to review, revise, expand on their policies and procedures to help them grow and develop this, you know, emerging field. So I, what I envision is that there will be certainly lots of opportunities for responders to be a part of the conversation. Lots of expertise coming in from various different places, both locally and within the Commonwealth and nationally. And I am, I use the word reset because I think we're at a point where we do need to sort of take a pause and reflect and figure out how to make this department better and supported as it goes forward. Not to suggest that there has been any decision made about the decision to make. Not to suggest that there has been any decision made about any HR or personnel manager, but we're at a reflection point if that sounds better because there has been admittedly so a lull, right? And during the last five weeks. And so I think now is an opportunity to take a step back and reflect and sort of think about how we can shore up if I may just add to Deborah's comments, they are in the same vein. And Pamela, I understand and appreciate that you're the person here, so you're getting all of this. But I agree with Deborah. I do not think that law enforcement should be on the leadership team at all. It is counterintuitive to what Chris is about because if they're on the leadership team, then they essentially dictate how and what Chris does and that is not what the program is all about. So I appreciate that collaboration is important and we should foster that. They cannot be part of the leadership team that makes a decision as to what Chris does. Right, I don't think that that is the role of a sergeant correspondent. I think the role is to provide some expertise about public safety, not to dictate what will happen with Chris. I mean, the town manager has been very clear that this is a new role and responsibility that I'm taking on in the interim. And I want to say interim, right? It is just not something that I'm seeking to be part of the portfolio for the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion but I have been the person who's been selected to be where the buck stops as we try to shore up the department. My question to you Pamela is you all already short staffed. So how is it that you have time to now take on a new responsibility? Again, it makes it zero. Yeah, Jennifer and I are going to have a conversation tomorrow about how we're going to look at the responsibilities that we have for our department. I think the plan is that this is gonna be short term, that this is not something, a responsibility that will be permanent. And having worked in many different types of employers, there are times when you have to take on an extra responsibility for a short term and you just work really hard and make it work. And just like any of you, I had some reservations about taking this on. I had conversations with my family about how I'm gonna manage my time because I will, in addition to the meetings that we have currently with these four boards, I also need to be available to be with press responders as they're doing their community walks and as they're engaging with the community. Some of their other activities, evening's activities have coincided and overlapped with DEI. So the neighborhood resource fairs are an example of that. I attended them last year, so did the press department. So I get to wear two hats when I'm in town tomorrow evening and Crest has been a great supporter of many of the DEI efforts last year when we held the National Day of Racial Healing after the Martin Luther King holiday. It was the press responders who I asked to serve as facilitators for those events. And so there is some overlap and we'll just be very mindful about what responsibilities we can take on and do the work to the best that we can. I think some of the administrative tasks that I have taken on will be shifted and I've had some conversations with the town manager about that. Few questions. And I just wanna echo the concern that have rolled in Deborah. I have so astutely pointed out about leadership versus collaboration and what that could mean in terms of even if it's not the intention what the community could perceive as to be happening if law enforcement is involved in Crest leadership even in an interim period. So the Crest responders are part of a union. Correct. And is that union separate and distinct from the other public safety unions or are they part of one of those? So there are two separate collecting bargaining agreements for police and also two for fire. So for each police and fire department they would have a patrolman's union and collective bargaining agreement and a supervisors. The dispatchers as I understand it and I'm still coming up to speed with all of this information. The dispatchers as I understand it are part of the same union as the Crest responders but even within unions sometimes there are some classifications or some distinctions among people who are part of a broad or union. So they could have some distinct contractual differences for different classifications of job. And I have not reviewed all of the contracts yet so I'm giving you broad terms at it but it's my belief that the dispatchers and the responders are part of the same union. So and again I know this is not really your responsibility but I brought up the part A of the CSWG report because I know that the recommendation was to have more structured leadership. So I just wanna read, I'm gonna read very quickly like what was proposed originally as the leadership structure. So one full-time Crest director, three full-time shift responder supervisors, an administrative assistant, three full-time dispatch supervisors, 12 full-time responders and six full-time dispatchers. So in that structure there would have at least been an intermediary between the director and the responders that have a supervisory capacity not just an assistant to the program capacity. So I think that that is an important thing to think about in terms of the structure. And I know that that would come with funding and it is part of the original ask that CSWG had put forward, but I do think that this is showing that the program as a whole is under resourced in terms of the staffing level and staffing structure in a scenario that we might not have predicted. So I just wanted to draw the attention back to the original CSWG recommendations and remind people that they have not been fully funded as they were proposed. But I was also looking at the job descriptions because Earl had sent them to me when there were openings so that I could send them up to people I knew. And I noticed that it was actually the program assistant who was in their job description, it said that they would be a person to step up in the interim if the director was away. And so I understand Kat used to be the program assistant, but now she's the implementation manager and she does have some more of the institutional knowledge, but is there a program assistant? That position is vacant. Vacant, okay. All right, thank you. That was my question. But I still don't understand why none of the responders can be part of, I mean, can you all hear me? I know. I'm just gonna shut off my video because it's saying that my internet is unstable. I still don't understand why the responders aren't tapped for more of the leadership. I understand that they're in a union, but maybe one of them could be interested in taking on more roles. I just am very concerned that a majority people of color department, when there is a situation where the director's put on leave, then none of them could be tapped to actually take on more roles in their people of color. So I don't know what the message is that's being sent out there. And then like I said, and then what's happening is that it's the police that are being tapped to not be part of the leadership. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't look good. It doesn't sound good. It doesn't smell good. And like I said, this is a message to the town manager and to whomever else is making these types of decisions, especially for YouTube panel, because we know how it is, right? So the ones that are there aren't tapped. The ones who are of color aren't tapped because of whatever reason, but the message is being said, sense that they're not able to step up and be leaders, which again, is always what people of color happen is they get devalued. And then though, then there's the person of color that is in another department. And then you, she is then put upon, right? And you don't even have the qualifications to really do stuff around the enforcement. But now you're put upon to be the super person of color to come in and save the day. I mean, you're being set up. You see what I'm saying? And so now you're not able to really do, take care of your department. And now you're having to deal with a totally new department that you know everyone is looking at very seriously and it's under microscope, because we're not going to let this fail. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen under my watch. It's not going to happen under this groups watch or the communities watch. So if that's the intent, I just want to say that it's not going to happen, not today, not any day. So I just want you to look at that because as someone that's from the outside looking in, that's what it looks like to me. So I just want to point out that three of the four members of this interim leadership team are people of color. And I also want to state that we're at the very beginning of the process, you know, as I said, I met with the cross responders this afternoon at 3pm and have said that I will meet with everyone individually where they will have an opportunity to talk to me about what's going right, what's going wrong, what opportunities they would like to see. So all of that is unfolding as we speak and there may be an opportunity for someone to come from the ranks. But at this point, I think that the plan that we have in place will be a plan that supports the continuation of the development and, you know, the strengthening of the department. I certainly don't want to see it fail. I mean, when I talked to the responders today, I shared with them a personal story. So Kat and I as supervisors of the AmeriCorps member had to go to a training that the organization had held. And one of the things that was part of that training was to sort of reflect on your own personal values, leadership styles, how you operate in the world. As it turned out, Asa, Kat and I were in and they use the compass as a way whether you're North, South, East or West. As it turned out, the three of us were in different directions but the one thing that sort of made me choose my direction which was North was that it is mission-driven. I am more concerned about outcomes and attending to the mission, that's gonna be my focus. And I at the end of my career don't wanna be in charge of an organization that is failing. I don't want that for my own self nor do I want it for the town. So I'm trying to do everything within my possibilities and authority to make sure that Cress is successful. And that includes taking on a little bit of extra work for a short period of time. So Pamela, I think we all appreciate that. I think we all would agree that that are your intentions but the concern still remains. And here's a very simple question. I think it's a very simple question. Right now with no director and there are four people essentially in this leadership role, who makes the decision to say Cress is now ready to take 911 calls? Okay, that will be me. So not the four people just you. Right, cause ultimately I have the decision. Okay, thank you for that clarification. And if I may suggest going back to something like we said earlier when she was looking at the structure of Cress, I think I would say no one anticipated the leadership vacuum. So if I may suggest a director, definitely a director, a manager and a supervisor, something there needs to be to Deborah and Allegra's point, somebody internally who can say, this person's not here, this person in charge. And if two people are out, somebody there has to be able to step up. And while I understand, if I haven't seen anyone's resumes and it's plausible that no one there right now has ever had a leadership role, but this is part of the goal is we teach leadership to these people. That way they can be elevated. So it's not to say where you start is where you have to end up. You're there and we train and we teach and that way they can be elevated. Yeah, I totally agree. And I think part of, I think that the strength that I will bring to the team is to really look at that structure, to look at the job descriptions, to look at the policies and procedure that are in place. Because those are where my areas of expertise lie. And I am going to do the best that I can to make sure that the department is successful. And then it's really, it's meeting its purpose, which is meeting the needs of the community. And I know that they have been, I will say stellar in trying to do that in the absence of having a leader, that they've been still trying to show up and go to community events. And so the goal is to have this group and the department be successful going forward. So speaking to that Pamela, what have they been doing for this past five weeks? So they have been returning to calls. They've been doing some of the things that they have been. I have not, I mean, today is my first official day from three p.m. this afternoon of getting, of having this responsibility. So I don't have the details that the director Miller would have previously provided to this group about the types of calls and the types of interactions they have. But I will be gathering that information and we'll provide it to you. I'll actually try to provide you some information in advance of your next meeting. So I won't wait a month to provide you that, but as soon as I learn and I'm able to update you on some of these issues, I'll be happy to share it with the committee. Well, I'm hopeful that before our next meeting though, that this process that's going on to respond to, you know, Earl being on leave will be resolved way before that. And also to say that I'm just extremely concerned and I'm going to be looking at this whole thing, you know, with a Hawkeye, because I'm not happy with these decisions that have been made thus far and especially with this leadership team that has been put in place. I'm happy. Pamela, I do wanna say thank you for your willingness to step up, but at the same time, you've already got so much on your plate. We wanna hope that it won't be for a very long period that you'll have to be in this role. And I think that perhaps revisiting the implementation team and tapping, I know everybody is very busy, but tapping some of the members of CSWG who are on that implementation team, if they are willing to provide any sort of guidance, I can't imagine that they wouldn't be. This is their baby after all as we've referenced it over the years. And everyone wants to see it succeed. So... So I will be meeting with the current team members on Friday morning. And the goal is to try to map out the next 30 days. And that's included in some of my thinking about, obviously we need to return to what the original design was and look at what's here and really try to make sure that we're meeting the needs that were defined for the department. Jen to back up, keep them away. So we have the Rob RFP consultant progress. Is there an update on that? So there is an update on that. I have met with the members of the finance department on town on two different occasions to review and revise the language of what would be the first party. And so much has been going on. I'm not sure where I left off in this conversation. So let me take a step back. I know that at the last time that we met, I shared that the RFP process had failed for the original RFP. Did I talk to you at all about what the plan was going forward to separate the contract? Okay, so let me go back and tell you. So at the last time we talked about the RFP for the resident oversight board discussed that that process had not been successful. I have since that time been in conversations with the town manager and also with the members of the finance department about how we could restructure a procurement process for consultants to engage in the activities that were described in the prior RFP. What we have proposed now is a process that would look for technical assistance. So someone who would a consultant who would bring in the expertise to develop the policies and procedures, do the train the trainer for the initial members of the resident oversight board all of what I'm calling the technical assistance. I have a draft of that document that needs further review by the finance department but then could be submitted. And I know that the next part of the process is somewhat controversial with this committee but I do still feel that there is a need to have some community engagement around this process leading into the technical assistance. So what we have thought about is a very limited sort of opportunity for members of the community to hear about the proposal for the creation of the resident board and the aspects of the technical assistance. That document is in draft form as well. It specifically asks for consultants who would be able to provide their services in several different languages that would conduct outreach to underrepresented and marginalized communities so that there's some bit of community conversation before we jump into the technical aspects which will also have some opportunity for the community to get in. So we've moved that along. I sent the documents to finance. I think my most recent sort of back and forth with them on the language was today on one of the documents and then like two weeks ago on one of the others. The procurement process is a queue. So unfortunately, each time that I'm bumped out of line I have to address what areas of concern that the finance department has identified in the document and then I need to get back into the queue. At this point, if things go smoothly from this point out then there would be the first of those documents or first of the procurement processes would probably begin in November. I had anticipated that they would begin in October but I got knocked out of the queue. And I am being intentionally vague because as most of you understand the laws around procurement for municipalities are very complex. The process has to be adhered for as far as open bid and lowest bid and all of those things. So it is moving, but it is moving a little bit more slowly than I had anticipated. April. Two questions as a new person. What is the intent of the resident oversight board? And given that the fiscal year already started is this a long-term project that's not in this year's budget or? No, so the resident oversight board as it's been called in the town of Amherst would be a civilian oversight board for law enforcement. So the community safety working group envisioned a strong board of civilians who would be able to review, investigate, examine actions of police conduct and so the process that we're trying to do is to establish that, to get it up and running. The original RFP, which I believe was made public, I wanna say in February, I'm not sure now of the exact date, looked at two phases, a phase that involved community engagement like discussing of what is a resident oversight board? What are the different models and stuff? And there were many members of this board felt that that work had been completed by the community safety working group and felt that it was repetitious and unnecessary. And then the second phase of the RFP was the technical assistance part, like someone who has experience in writing policies and procedures for the civilian oversight board, training the initial board on their operations and just moving it from concept to operations. The first RFP I think was overly in retrospect, looking at it now is probably overly detailed. It had some very specific requirements that I personally still think are important and hopefully we'll get them about the consultants having expertise in Massachusetts law, about the consultants being aware of the post commission to our knowledge, the resident oversight board in Amherst would be the first one created after the existence of the post legislation. And so we wanted someone who had a lot of expertise and who would be able to look at the legislation and then ensure that the board followed both federal and state law. So that's the process. The funds are there and are in place there. So there's not a fiscal restraint on this year's budget to prevent it from going forward. It's a matter of getting the technical assistance to go forward. And a short follow up, the name was confusing to me. I understand sickle in oversight board when I heard a resident. I know, yeah, exactly, exactly. So in the RFP, I use both terms because I think, and I wasn't here so I don't know why the term in Amherst was resident oversight board. In the RFP, we made reference to both terms so that people would understand what we were seeking their services for. So I can speak to that in terms of why we chose resident oversight board as post citizen because as we know, citizen has a lot of multi layered definitions, especially for folks who are undocumented, folks who might have other statuses while they're here in our town and we wanna be inclusive. And a lot of times citizen really also goes towards connotations of patriotism or connotations of all variety of different things. So we felt resident was a lot more neutral and it really did kind of depart from the usual quote unquote names that have been made before. But again, we were also very intentional in terms of why we wanted to use resident as opposed to citizen. And sometimes citizen also even has a lot to kind of can bring in military type connotations and things like that. So yeah, we were very purposeful in terms of using resident over citizen and really departing from using that language, that term to- And that's citizen Deborah, civilian. Oh, I thought it was citizen that you were saying because a lot of them say citizen oversight board. No, civilian versus citizen. Because I- No, but civilian, I mean, we didn't get that. A lot of them were called citizen oversight board. So in terms of civilian oversight board, the same type of thing. Militaristic has different connotations that really wouldn't be as inclusive as resident. I can barely hear you, but yes. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can. Okay, sure, thank you. So my question is more so in terms of timeline because again, having the resident oversight board in place is gonna be critical for folks to be able to bring forward any complaints because as we know that while this group is not in place, this board is not in place, people do not feel comfortable complaining about the police. And so I do wanna hear about a timeline in terms of the resident oversight board. And then just a quick kind of tip. I guess one of the things Allegra, and I don't know if we even thought about this for the new members. And maybe this was communicated to you all, but one obviously the important thing is to read those reports from the CSWG because one of our, and if you look at the charge, I'm assuming you all have been given our charge, but that's the other part, like to go over the charge for the CSSJC, but one of the primary charges is to put into place the recommendations of the CSWG as one of its main charge, but also obviously it's evolutionary, right? And we're gonna take on other things too, but this is the big foundation of CSSJC. So that, and then also one of the things we learned when we started with CSWG is that a lot of times members don't know how actually the town kind of, the town processes work, the town budget works. So I think, you know, folks need to be given some information in regards to that. And then also if you all have questions after that type of information, really feeling free to meet with any of us that haven't been part of CSSJC, right? On a one-on-one, because I know we can't meet like three or four, blah, blah, blah because of open meeting laws, but one-on-one, if you all have other questions, you all can also meet. So I think that's some of the things that we need to think about when we're talking about onboarding. I don't know if any of that has been given any thought to the new members, which I know it's a lot thrown at you all, and we need to, you know, of course provide you all with the information so that you're equipped to be as helpful as possible. I appreciate that, Deborah, because I do think that at the beginning of our group meeting, that was sent to all of us, but I did not send it to the new members. So I can send the CSWG reports, the seven gen report. And I think we did the LEAP reports too. I think those were all part of our first packet that we had. And in terms of the budget on the town website, I think I have like a how to look that kind of stuff up. And usually the cycle starts again in November. So I think I will, some sort of budget. I see Jennifer has her hand up, and then also Nadine in the audience has her hand up. I know there's another public comment period at the end of the meeting, but I am fine having a question as needed if others are fine with that. But first Jennifer. Yeah, so I just sent the information with the link to the CSWG and somewhere there is a breakdown of the budget and how it works. It was the same PowerPoint that the CSSJC received. So I will forward that as well. And please wait for public comment as opposed to asking or allowing individuals to answer questions or ask questions. Thank you for that. Why is that Jennifer? Just to get some clarity. It's the way that the agenda is written. And so public comment happens under, she's got to make the same statement again about public comment. So if we just, we've got two more items, I think that hopefully we'll go pretty quickly and then we can open up for the second public comment. I'm also, I am looking at the time and I'm wondering if people would feel comfortable pushing the police in schools discussion to the next meeting. I think partially it would be helpful to have the MOU with Cress, but I don't know. I mean, I think the police chief search is something we need to address tonight because of the meetings coming up. But if people are okay tabling that agenda item for next time and perhaps for next time we could invite the AmeriCorps volunteer to come meet with us since their role will be working with the youth. So perhaps that would be a good conversation for that person to be involved with as well. And if things aren't resolved before our next meeting and the leadership structure is still the same, I wanna meet actually with all four of the people who are in the leadership structure because I have lots of questions. So I'm happy to invite Asa to the meeting. We have a very specific time frame under our contract. So we need to make adjustments if we have him attend the meeting but we can surely accommodate that. And Asa is working Monday through Thursday on Friday. They have programming for AmeriCorps that they have to attend but we can make an adjustment for him to attend the next meeting. And I can certainly extend an invitation to members of the team to come. That would be great. Jennifer, you have your hand up still or did you not take it down? Oh, I'm sorry, but I was on the police chief search. I don't, were you not able to find that the virtual? It wasn't, okay, I... So I got an email at 5, what was it, 5.15 today from Paul Buckleman. And for whatever reason, I can't use my Gmail anymore on my laptop, but so it says the police and let me know if this is not the right email. It says, the police chief search consultants have given us times to meet with you on Monday and Tuesday next week. Their availability is shown below in highlighted yellow. Please email or call with the time slot you would like to promote efficiency. We will schedule up to two people with the consultant if needed. So I think that email I think is for your one-on-one conversations, but there was, I mean, so much is going on, I could be wrong, but I am 90% certain that there was another email earlier in the day that confirmed a time and date for virtual meeting. That would be open to the whole community? That would be, yeah, open to the entire community, but I thought that it had come at the request of Brianna, Deborah, and Ms. Pat that you had had communications with him about holding a separate virtual meeting and he had responded that that had been arranged. I can double check for that email in the morning, but I'm 99% certain that that was a yes. Yeah, so just a clue everyone in. What happened is that CSWG members, which I'm a part of, we were communicating with a town manager to ask for a third virtual forum that CSWG members would facilitate to just to make sure that there would be an opportunity for those who voices might not feel comfortable to have gone to the sessions that were in person or not have the availability. Like for instance, for me, I wasn't able to make any of those time commitments. When I work during the day and then in the evening, I have commitments with my child to bring to sports. And so I'm sure a lot of other parents were in the same situation as I was. And so CSWG basically, we're communicating with the town manager to ask for the consultants to be present and for us to be able to have that because we're gonna outreach to a lot of people to make sure that they have that opportunity and to have a virtual opportunity as opposed to it just being in person. And so yeah, Pamela, if that's the case, I would be really excited about that because yeah, as of yesterday and even this morning we were emailing the town manager, we hadn't heard any confirmation. So yeah, as soon as we can hear some confirmation, that would be great so we can start outweaching to the community. Yeah, I am 99% certain that I saw an email that confirmed that and I can send it in the morning. Okay, that would be great, thank you. So it looks, and Jennifer, I don't know, can you screen share the email? Because I forwarded it to you, I think. Would you be able to? Yes, I put it on a Word doc, so I will enlarge it just so because your email address was on there. Right, thank you. Can you all see where does it need to be larger? So I guess the question would be, do we as a group want to try and meet both individually and as a group together with the committee or the consultants? Oh, Debra, can you move a little closer to your mic? I said I would rather meet as a group. As a group. I would also agree. Anybody else have thoughts on meeting as a group versus individually? The group is fine. That's always the question, isn't it? I know for me the 19th will be difficult. Okay. So the Monday would be better. And obviously like after five or like five and on. A little bit. So I'm assuming that the way that this is written, that block, right? I don't know, I'm not screen sharing. I just see my mouse. But the five o'clock, Monday, yes. So five, that block is from five to five 30, I'm assuming. Jennifer or Pamela? I'm sorry, I muted myself and turned off the camera so that I could try to see if I could locate the other, of the other email that I referenced previously. This is the first time that I'm seeing this document, but I'm assuming as you said that that is a block of time that's available. So it looks like the only evenings are for consultant one. Is that on the Tuesday the 19th evenings and the other ones are in the day for consultant two on the Monday, if I'm reading that correctly. So days I think are difficult for me and I imagine most other people who are working on a full-time job or have a class scheduled to keep up with. So I don't know if five o'clock to five 30 on Monday would be enough time for us to meet as a group. But is that a time that would mostly work for people? If, yeah, I mean, I could do like, we could propose like five to six and then see what the consultants can do, you know? Yeah, I mean, I think that makes sense. If people. And in virtual. Yes, right, this is, I believe these are virtual sessions. Is that, let me just see if I can pull up the email back up again. It does not say whether or not it's a virtual, it does not say whether or not it's a virtual, but I'm, I suppose that's something that we can ask or request. Yeah, that's what, I think it makes the most sense and perhaps one hour versus three hours would be, you know, look good for them. So propose Monday five to six as a group with consultant one. And I just, I'm just gonna, you guys all on my screen for a second. Can we give like a thumbs up emoji or something like that if that works? Is that the official way to vote in these meetings? No. I think they'll be fine. Just for the new members. Just so you all know, we're not big proponents of Robert. I don't know who Robert is. I never met him. So I'm good with them. His rules are a bit stodgy. Okay, so I will reach out to Mr. Backelman and see if that is a go for us as a group. And I guess if not, I suppose I will ask if I can just forward that to everybody and they can choose their own time, which is not ideal. But the first one seemed like either five to six or even like five, 30 to six, 30, you know? Yeah. If we're just gonna do with one consultant. Right, right. So I think either or like, you know, five to six or five, 30 to six, 30, I think we should be able to work for consultant one. And like you said, it will be one meeting as opposed to them having to be with a bunch of us. You know, certainly. Are there any big themes we as a group want to put forward, right? Like in terms of things we think we should agree on do we, how do we foresee this conversation moving forward with the consultants? Either way, in terms of like, you know, either we can talk about it now or we can just kind of, you know, share when we meet with the consultants. I just wanna make sure to kind of communicate while we're here in the meeting, right? This public meeting to kind of let it be known that this process just needs to be as transparent as possible. Even if it is just a process at this point to get the job description, but this is the job description that's going to get the person who's going to be in place to, you know, guide the police department, which as we've heard for these past couple of years, we wanted to go in a different direction. We wanted to be a transparent department, a department that's going to be welcoming, inclusive, respectful to all people. You wanna make sure that it's a department that's gonna have translators there, just gonna have interpreters, so on and so forth, right? So we want this process to be as transparent and inclusive to get the feedback from people. So we just wanna make sure that as much opportunities as possible is being given for people to contribute and for feedback to be shared. And then I know that one of the things to kind of just put out there, you know, one of the main things obviously for me is that, you know, the process and the applicants know that they, you know, about them being anti-racist, right? As being one of the critical thing, but also whatever we end up doing in terms of like, when there's like, you know, credible finalists that end up happening at some point is to make sure that there's a forum for the community again to be able to meet with them. Maybe even several forms, some in person, some virtual, so that we're able to meet with these folks so that they're able to ask questions. And then, well, I think I lost my train of thought, so I'll come back to it because there was another piece that I wanted to share, but other folks can chime in. Does anyone else have anything that they think they want on a list? I did write down the culture of the department as well from the earlier discussions, but... I just want to add that there was trans or interpretation and translation services available as well as childcare at the evening event. And there was translation interpretation at the day event. Wonderful. Anybody else have anything to add at this point or do people feel comfortable coming with suggestions during our slot? Oh, this was the thing that I was remembering is just to make sure that our group as well as CSWG and then any other group that's like HRC or operations if they want to be part of it is that more of our membership is plugged into every part of this process, right? In terms of the search committee, that there's actual members from our different groups on the search committee, so that the search committee itself is as diverse and inclusive with people from all different backgrounds, so that again, it can be people that, you know, have the kind of the passion to choose and the time to choose the next police chief, but to make sure that we're involved in every part of the process throughout the search process. I agree with that. And I think just a thing to add from our earlier conversation is having somebody that's willing to collaborate with the Crest Department and have their dispatchers direct calls to the Crest. I'm sorry, I feel like there have been 100 emails over the past couple of days about this process and I can't find the one from Paul that I'm looking for because I don't wanna miss quote, but I believe, so there is an online portal that they've started to submit things, to submit comments and characteristics. They would like to see in a police chief. I can't find it because I thought there was some clarification on asking a member of CSSJC to be on the committee and I can't find where it went. Pamela, do you have any recollection of whether that sounds like something that we are supposed to think about? It is, if I'm remembering correctly, I thought that there was gonna be an invitation extended to members of the communities to the CSSJC as well as HRC to be on as part of the search committee. But I would have to, I will really have to double check but that's my recollection is that there will be representation from both groups as part of the search committee. But that person has not been identified yet and we would potentially be the identifiers of that person. That I'm not certain of. Perhaps he would as a board be able to make suggestions but the appointment is the town manager's appointment. So I think it's ultimately his decision who he appoints to the board or to the search committee. Okay, wait, here it is. The police chief advisory screening committee I will be asking for CSSJC to select a member who can serve on this committee. Yes, okay. I don't know, I don't have a timeframe for when that is supposed to happen. All of them, let me look at the police chief search memo. Allegro, you were reading my mind because that was my next question. It looks as if recruit and appoint members to serve on advisory screening committee does appear to be an August September issue and finalized criteria for police chief seems to be under September. When does the, let's see. Time frame but considering the fact that they haven't written or posted the job description I think there's a little bit of some time there. Okay. I mean, I think if worse comes to worse perhaps we could call if we need to have a meeting to have just a meeting to appoint a person or to put forward a name perhaps we can call for a meeting that would just have that on the agenda and nothing else and hopefully that would not be very long. But I guess our people, would people be interested in that? Is there anyone who is like, yes please me? I would be interested. Okay. Well, then maybe we don't have to have a meeting if. I would be interested also. So we have two potential candidates. So why don't, can we, let's say perhaps we could look at a tentative meeting date for the, let's say the last week of September if needed, if they say, oh, you have to have somebody appointed by. I'm willing to give it to Evryl. You're willing to give it to Evryl? Yes, Evryl could take it. Quit with that. All right. My life is busy now. All right. Well, then maybe we have an answer. And then the other thing too for the next agenda item would like for the next meeting, so vote in a co-chair. Co-chair, you're right. Okay, so I think that's a good idea. Are we good on the police? Thank you, Evryl, for your service. So we're good on the police chief search topic. We will propose Monday five to six as a group. If that does not work out, we will identify our own times, which is less ideal. So if, if for whatever reason, the Monday from five to six as a whole group would not work out, is the plan B to just identify our own times and meet individually? Or is there a way that Tuesday evening could work? Because I think that. Tuesday, yeah, it's not gonna work. Unless it would be like later. Like after seven, like seven and on for me, because I have a meeting from six to seven, six to seven. Yeah. Jennifer, do you have, yeah, I guess maybe I can see one today. What did they say about? I'm sorry, it's so hard to having all these little screens around. It looks like they would have like six 30 to seven 30 or start, you know, seven to seven 30. Yeah. Yeah, seven, yeah, seven to, I can do that. Seven to seven 30 is a second option. Okay. And is that okay with everybody else that time slot on Tuesday? Simple thumbs up, thumbs down. Freca, that looks like a thumbs down. That's not gonna work. Why don't I get back to the group because I can email the group for agenda setting purposes if the five to six does not work out on Monday. Five to six Monday. And if that does not work out, does it work for you, Freca? I mean, could we have like somewhat of a revolving door of people coming in and the core group coming or? I was just going to say that we could have those two options and it would be easier to adjust knowing which one works. It is on Tuesday. It's not ideal, but an adjustment could be made. Okay, perfect. So I will email Paul after this meeting and get back to you with the final decision. Um, anybody else with anything about the police chief search process? Okay, not seeing any other hands. It looks like it's, I'm for our second public comment. So now I have to find the thing I have to read again. 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. If you feel comfortable doing so, residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair based upon number of people who wish to speak. No speaker can cede their time to another speaker. CSSJC will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during public comment. So I see two hands up right now if we can bring Nadine in and then Pat and then Brianna. And if anyone else wishes to speak, they can raise their hand as needed. Hello, my name is Nadine Desard. I am a Amherst resident off East Pleasant Street. I have something, I've been waiting and I have something to go to to do that. I just wanted to first and foremost talk about the fact that I did attend yesterday the police talk. There's still a lot of unclarity with regards to the crests, what's going on with crests and that leadership team. I'm not quite understanding how much responsibility that the city keeps adding onto Pamela and what her role is. And I'm really questioning all that. And I do think that the process or whatever's going on with the director needs to be done ASAP because it's not helping community understand what's going on with crests and we still have no transparency. And then the other thing I just wanna keep mentioning is that whatever venue, whatever we do, I'm grateful that we're finally having something virtual. We need to continue to have kind of give people access virtually so that people can come in at their convenience and come in and provide commentaries. But other than that, I just wanna thank you for all the work that you've been doing. I see that you're processing different kinds of parts. This is not easy and I wish you the best. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat. Hi again. Can people hear me? Yes, yes. Okay, Pat, Anani Baku. So, wow. I have a lot to say, but I will shut in it as much as I can. First of all, I wanna thank Ms. Pamela for your presentation tonight. It looks like, you know, you've been doing a lot and adding more role to you and I'm very concerned. So I worry that you're taking on so much. What I wanna comment about the Crest Department, I want to make a few issues very, very clear tonight about what CSWG recommended. And Deborah has touched on it, but we were very clear that Crest is an independent department that can collaborate with other public safety independent departments, meaning APD, the fire department dispatcher. So to have four people on leadership team as an employer myself, it tells me that it's so much chaos in our town. This is a no-no. It's a no-no because the fire department, their role is different from Crest, even though some overlap, should not be doing this. Ms. Pamela, you already said, you know, this is not your expertise. The police being part of this leadership team just made my stomach like ground. What are we doing in this town? What message are we sending? To say they'll have a police officer not attacking the individual. It's not about the individual that was asked to step up. But what is the message that we're sending out there? This is not the purpose of what CSWG had recommended. I think what was not mentioned tonight, I mean, Allegra touched on it. I think the focus should be on the power holders of this town for not fully funded Crest program that the way CSWG had recommended. So our town manager, our finance committee and our town council, I had to say this. I kind of knew that Crest was set up to fail. So this did not surprise me. It's not because, you know, the director was placed on leave but it was not sustainable. The funding is not sustainable. Diaries no second in command. Also to be clear, you do not need anyone with public safety background to run Crest. I wanna remind us all, it's all about people who have people skill, social work skill, people who have experience dealing with people. So I don't know why it's so hard that we can be creative in appointing someone some retired social workers or psychologists or somebody or even within, even within. What message are we saying? We have a lot of BIPOC responders. We couldn't train them to take on the role. What CSWG recommended was to have a director to have supervisors. I don't want to repeat what Inodebra already said. And CSWG recommendations were ignored. What the townholders want to do in this town is to erase CSWG work, period. And it's not, it will not work because we're here to stay to continue to push. So this was set up to fail regardless of what is happening to the director. This was done because we had a lot of resistance in doing this. So no surprise right there. I also want to remind us that Crest, we were very specific when we pushed for these two departments, Crest Department and DEI Department, we were very care. It has to be BIPOC led. It has to be BIPOC led at all times. So I just want to put that out. Moving forward, I want to touch base a little bit about the process for the police search. Thank you Ms. Pamala for mentioning that, the town manager had a change of mind to include that. I'm very grateful that that's happening. In the process, I read a memo that the town manager sent to the town council where it stated that, so it looks like the three finalists will not meet the public. So I'm urging the CS SJC to put pressure on our town on a town council. The public need to meet the three finalists before our town manager appoints hires the one person. I think it's the right thing to do if we really want to continue to engage the public. So that's what I want to say about that. I won't talk too long. One more thing I wanted to mention is that, Black Business Association of Amherst Area group are still hurting. That is upper funds left. And the last time that it was discussed at town council meeting was during summer. We don't know what is happening moving forward. And it needs to happen quickly because there are still businesses who have not recovered from the pandemic. And that brings me to the fact that BBAA were calling for the building commissioner, building commissioner Moran to resign for racism against Black Own Club Hazel for delaying opening for eight months, leading to substantial amount of business revenue loss. We're calling for him to resign. Why he allowed a white-owned entity club, nightclub Drake to open on time and was even allowed to open with temporary ramp that was in violation with the state building code while the two Black owners were not given that choice. So, I am urging CSSJC and all activists and residents in this town to support BBAA in calling for building commissioner Moran to resign. It looks like when white men, administrators misbehave in our town, it get overlooked, but when there is issue with administrators of color, like the assistants who pretended in our school system was put into administrative leave. We have a Black man, Crest Director put on administrative leave and we have a white man who caused financial harm to two co-owners of a business and people felt like nothing. They lost their business, their livelihood. They were evicted because eight months of not having any revenue, I used to run a restaurant so I know what I'm talking about. You can never recover. Food business is a highly competitive business people and also rent is very, very expensive. And guess what? The building commissioner allows commercial landlord in this town to rent out junk places, buildings that have structural violations to tenants then to point in money. People should not be spending more than $100,000 or 75 to upgrade buildings that some of them should have been handled by the commercial landlord. So he needs to move on. He needs to resign. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Ms. Pei. I see Brianna and then Alicia. Hi everyone. I would like to make another public comment after hearing that press update. Kamala, I wanted to thank you for all your time and energy in stepping up to support leadership right now. I also just wanted to voice a huge concern that I have as a member of the community and also as one of the co-founders of Cress. I think more people in leadership is a lot of cooks in the kitchen and I'm really, really concerned that police is stepping in to manage the program. When we were investigating what type of alternate public safety services that the community would need to invest in, the CSWG heard constant complaints on the gaps that the APD was unable to fill. So I think that this reset could be really damaging to the longevity of the Cress program. I also just wanna amplify what Debra and Ms. Pat had also mentioned about Pat stepping in to leadership. I do think that Kat is incredible but her role that she was hired to do was more around grants and deliverables. So I'm really worried about her stepping in on the leadership team. I know there are long standing members of the Cress team who have been in Amherst and have experienced the things that we envision Cress would de-escalate and resolve. So I hope that you take these comments to consideration. Thank you. Thank you. And we have Alicia. Alicia, you're muted. Sorry, can you hear me? I have a time trying to get my self-taught mute. Yes, you're muted. Thank you. My name is Alicia Walker. I am an Amherst resident. I was also former co-chair with Brianna of the CSWG. So first I wanna thank you all for your work. I know how incredibly difficult and time consuming this work can be. And I do appreciate Pamela really jumping in and taking on so much work, even just in the name of DEI. And so I do wanna highlight that because I do recall conversations of needing help with just the DEI work. And so that you're willing to even further take on more work to try to at least try to support the town in these initiatives, which can also be seen as DEI initiatives I think is really incredible. And I appreciate that from you. So yeah, like Ms. Pat said, there's a lot that was talked about during this meeting that is very concerning. And I'll try to keep it brief because most of what I had wanted to say has already been touched upon but I just want to like further emphasize a few points. First Cress, it is a new department and I think we did anticipate in a new department that things would go wrong. So like it's not surprising that things are going wrong that things are failing. And I think that this is an opportunity for us to reassess and to make corrections. And so when I'm thinking about some of the things that were talked about during this meeting that delayed Cress in any way or that is causing any issues like vehicles or the fact that there is no assistant director those are all things that came through from the original recommendation from the CSWG. Before Cress was ever even a department the CSWG said that Cress will need these things. And because these requests were ignored now there are challenges. And so I think we're learning now that we made some bad decisions. And so I think it's time to correct those decisions and start to make better decisions. Cress needs to have an assistant director when we're looking for the director. We cannot put ourselves in this position again. That's something that I don't even hear people talking about. But that again came through as an original recommendation and needs to be considered when we're thinking about moving forward whether or not Earl returns. The leadership team is very concerning for all of the reasons that everyone has already mentioned. And my concern is again with the mission changing I think that's something that Deborah brought up. And I think to be honest it's almost completely unreasonable to expect that there's no way that the mission would change under the leadership of this group of people. Because how can their mission not change when the leadership is comprised of people who specifically tried to fight back against the creation of the department itself and who had issues with the original core mission itself from the beginning. There is absolutely no way that they even have the capacity to withhold the core mission of the department. And I think that is the most concerning part because it's one thing to just sort of like say we need placeholders until we can figure out what's happening with the director and what we're going to do. But it's another thing to have people who are going to make really important decisions in terms of like policies. We all know policies can be inherently racist. And so we need people who have the core mission and the core value of anti-racism to be creating these policies and the procedures for the department that is supposed to be anti-racist. And when we're taking it away from other departments like there was a reason for the separation from other departments. And like, yes, we always saw all of these departments working together. They're all under the public safety network in the same way that the fire department works with the police, but do police go and do fire fighters jobs? Like, no, that's not how it happens. Of course they can support each other. That doesn't mean they need to work within the same departments. And so I think there's a big difference between like saying we need their expertise on certain specific tasks or certain specific questions we need answered and to pull them in to ask certain specific questions but to have them be in charge of literally everything is very, very concerning. And although BIPOC led is definitely part of our recommendation. And I see that the team who is being proposed to do this work is a majority BIPOC. It's not just having a majority of people of color in leadership. It's also about the values and the intentions. And I think that's a huge piece of what's missing here and why it's so concerning. Moving along to the resident oversight board. I think I expressed my frustrations at the last meeting but I will do so again that this is taking so long. I have heard that this has been in negotiation for almost two years. Why are there still legal issues that need to be sorted out? It's been two years since it has been with the legal department since it has been within the negotiation with the union. I really, really don't understand what's taking so long and what the pushback is. And so I'm hoping that there are ways that we can move this forward. And if there are any huge legal issues holding it back are there ways to sort of omit things and move things forward? And then when we're talking about the RFP, I'm sorry because I was multitasking so I'm not sure if you've said this already but there were certain parts of the RFP that may have been like sort of overambitious. I think you may have said Pamela. And so are there things we can just take out instead of separating because I did hear that you said you wanted the consultants to do outreach to the community and that's great. And I'm not saying that the community should not be involved in the process at all because they absolutely should. But there is an entire report from the CSWG. There is a report from LEAP. There is a report from SevenGen. And all three of these groups have expertise, have done the outreach and have data that is readily available and can be utilized by consultants. They do not need to redo that work again. They simply need to implement the resident oversight. They need to just move to implementation. And so I'm hoping that we can skip the research part again because we've already spent town funding on consultants to do the research that was complained about for spending too much money. And so we need to just move to implementation. And so then that was my second question is about the funds. You said the funds are in place and does that mean just for the consultants or are we also including like stipends or any materials that would be needed for the actual functioning of the resident oversight board? Have those funds been secured? Because I don't believe so but I'm not 100% clear on that. So that would be helpful information to know. And then lastly, I just wanted to uplift and emphasize Ms. Pat's comments in regards to Hazels and what happened with their situation. And something that I have noticed is a huge issue in this town. Something that I would like for you all to think about and I would be happy to think about this in collaboration with you all is that the town has, there is no mechanism to report instances of injustice and to have them actually addressed. So like this situation happened, we know it happened. We know it was not okay. It was not right what happened. It was blatant racism. And so what do we do? Like how do we address this and how do we correct instances of injustice? And so I know we have like the Human Rights Commission but they have a limited capacity to make actual changes. And so is there some way that we can create something that can make that happen? Because this does need to be addressed and I'm not exactly sure how we can make there be substantial changes so that this does not happen again and so that it's remedied. Like we can't just say, oh, that sucks. Now we're gonna try not to happen in the future. But like Hazels is owed. Like the town owes Hazels. We need to correct our wrong and undo the harm that we have done. And I'm hoping that this group would choose to be a part in facilitating seeing that to fruition. So again, thank you all so much for your work and your time. Yeah, and have a good night. Thank you, Alicia. We have Ms. Custard and then Edgar Cancel. Hello. First, I would just like to pay my respects to Demetria Shabazz also. She was definitely a warrior and she did so much work, not just in Amherst but in our region. She was amazing and I do hope that there will be other celebrations of her amazing life. I wanna thank Deborah especially because she's asked a lot of the questions that I have. This investigation, five weeks, it's a long time. And honestly, it feels really shady. I don't understand why it's taking so long to make a decision either way and to give Crest the leadership that it deserves. I also have concerns about this leadership team. I know that's not the vision of Crest as its leadership. I know all the hard work that people put in to put that recommendation for Crest together and that leadership team does not represent that. I did wanna let you know that the... There was a listening session held at the high school. In my opinion, it included a very small number of students and considering we have almost 900 students, I don't think that was the best way to get youth input. So I would say the input they got, I listened to a lot of it, it was great, but I don't think it was representative of all of our students, all of the youth in our school. So I would also suggest that there be virtual opportunities for the youth to also participate. And I agree with Miss Pat's suggestion that like many institutions, the last three or so candidates are presented to the public and the public has a time to meet and ask questions of them. So I think that's important for all of us to participate in. I also wanted to let you know that Crest has been working with the high school during this five-week lack of a director. We have been trying to put in place an alternative to suspension and or detention. We don't really have detention at the high school either, but that's not what I'm gonna call it. I've sort of named it positive behavior intervention Saturdays. So they've been working with us to set up two Saturdays a month for students that we feel could benefit from doing some kind of curriculum on thinking about their behaviors and also doing some community service to show that they are thinking about their behavior or decisions they made and how to change those. So that work is being done and we've been talking with Kat about that. So what is the person's name that's gonna be working with the youth again? I didn't write that down. Do you have his name, their name that's coming out of the DEI office? So the person's name is Asa Stanley Kimmler. Okay, so I'm happy that someone's going to be working with the youth, but I think that more people that work in town hall should be doing more outreach with the youth. It shouldn't be just be one person that's most likely temporary working with our youth. I think that everyone that works in town hall and for public safety should be building relationships with our youth. So I'm glad that there's a person who will be dedicated to that, but I also support stepping out of town hall and really doing some relationship building with the youth in our community. Let me see, what else? I think that's all I wanted to say for tonight, but I again wanna thank Deborah for bringing up a lot of the issues that not just me, but others in the community have concerns about. And so I do want the powers that be in our town to know that we're watching. We may not all be speaking up, but we are watching. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kester. If you know any high schoolers who wanna be a part of this committee, please encourage them to apply because we would love to have the youth voice here as well. Sorry, I wasn't supposed to do that because I say I don't. Thank you. Everill, I mean, excuse me, Edgar. Hey y'all, my name is Edgar Cancel. I'm a Northampton resident, but also a longtime member of a sub-community in Amherst called the Old and Young Basketball Tournament. We've been doing for many decades and I have often been one of the organizers. I'm involved in many other capacities in the town of Amherst, but I have been attending these meetings and we'll continue to support you all in the good work that you're doing. And I will also echo and elevate those concerns that people brought up in regards to the delay with Crest and the resident oversight board. And I'm just here to support, to observe and to be of help if ever needed, but I do wanna commend y'all for your work and that's about it for me tonight, thank you. Thank you. Do not see any other hands up. So I think we can move along to the next meeting agenda and I know that we set our meeting for October, the last meeting that we had. Typically, I think we've been trying to keep it to the second Wednesday of the month at 6.30. Clearly today was a bit longer because we were doing introductions at the beginning, but I would say actually two, three hours for us is a pretty good meeting length. And I believe that I didn't write it down in my calendar, but the second, I think it was October 11th, correct me? Okay, so October 11th, 6.30, we had said we would move the police in schools discussion and include ASA, did I get that right? I know you just said that ASA is the, yeah, okay. Obviously our regular Crest DEI updates and with particular focus, again, on the leadership and deployment of 911. Yeah, inviting that leadership team if that's still the case in the month from now. I imagine regular updates might also include progress on the police chief search. Yeah. And then also co-chair. Oh, right, yeah. And perhaps we could set aside a little bit of time at the beginning to invite any comment around the documents from CSWG and the leap report if anyone has any. We say just like review of documents including CSWG and then our charge. All right, that sounds like a lot of things to me about, but if anything comes up what I usually do as chair is send an email out around the week before our meeting with a reminder of the time date, what we've talked about and request, see if anything else has come up as an item and I think, does anyone else have anything they would add to the list at this time? All right, I think. Oh, sorry, did you put police in our schools? I did, yeah. Okay, all right. So yes, I will reach out the first week of October with any requests for further items. And I, let me just make sure there's nothing else on the agenda, but I think it could be time to adjourn unless anybody else wants to stay in chat for longer. So again, welcome to our new members. Typically our meetings run till around nine, I would say, and I appreciate everybody's input. I think we can adjourn and see you all next week at the- I just needed time, please, Allegra. Oh, it is 9.35. Thank you. Bye. And a second. Good luck, Barty. No, Allegra, and a second. Second. Can somebody second the adjourning? Or else we'll stay here. Second, second. Okay, oh, Deborah, Deborah, thank you. All right, have a good evening.