 rules if you're eating in a meeting you have to bring it up for everybody else. Yeah I missed the cookies and the pizza too. Alright we are recording so whenever you want to read it. Alrighty so there are a couple of things that I have to do to start the meeting. First of all is to remind everybody that we're being recorded. I think that's that's oh it says it here and then I have a little script to read that makes all of this official to have a public meeting via Zoom which is to say that pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law general law chapter 30a section 18 this meeting of the Transportation Advisory Committee is being conducted by a remote participation roll call to check and make sure everyone's video and audio working properly. Okay I think we've done that. The meeting is being recorded and could be shown on Amherst Media and broadcast on a town of Amherst YouTube channel. Call the meeting to order also remind the people you're dialing blah blah blah talking about being muted but we're all very good Zoom participants so you need to worry about that. And then we hosts and co-hosts have the authority to move people to the attendee from between the two lists of attendee that we can't see her here to the panelists that we do see in here. Speaking of which I have been open up there all the way. Okay and so close that. So thank you very much for for everybody for for coming and I appreciate for coming a half an hour earlier than we said we might want to come last time that helped some of us to be a little bit earlier and I don't know given that it's so easy to travel back and forth between Zoom meetings if this is an okay time generally for me it is but we'll talk about that at the end when we set up our next meetings. Hi Tracy. Hi I've been on Zoom meetings for the last four or five hours. It's a really beautiful day out. You know you can zoom from outdoors too. I know I'm not on my laptop but I might I might try that. Yeah no the problem with outdoors too is a glare that's I've been doing that outside just because it is. I might just turn off my I might turn off my video. You're allowed. So and Amber thank you very much for the we're sending the agenda. I don't know if you've all seen it. There's a lot of stuff on it. It really a lot of its pro forma. I appreciate that. We're trying to the town is trying to organize things. So we are called to order. I have no announcements and I'm gonna hold off public comments if there any for a little bit later. We haven't any hearings and I Gilbert I still think that's a mistake because we don't have authority to hold hearings. So I don't know if we could change that word to listening or public events or something else like that. I maybe I should talk to Paul about that and we don't have any minutes to approve. So I want to get right down to number five which is committee organization. We when we formed well one of the things that we never have done as a committee and it becomes a maybe a little bit more important as we talk about as we try to figure out how we're going to work in this new system of government that we have going on. We never talk about how we organize ourselves. We've twice picked chairs and vice chairs and I think I think we're required also to choose a clerk. Is that right Gilbert? Up to you whether you want to choose a clerk or not. That's part of the rules you also need to put together because you this committee has never put together rules. So we don't have any rule we've been operating kind of and I think even before we dig into our charge and and consider our formal relationship with the town government we might want to just organize that. And I don't know Gilbert you having a lot more experience with all of this than us. Are there some suggestions for how we might might be organized? I think you guys have a good you have a good stuff the way it is now for the way the committee functions. Bernie might want to throw in some other things but yeah we only really need a chair and we need to have we need to be certain minutes are kept whether that's a transcription the recording doesn't count as minutes. For when that chair is not available. Yeah we've we've had a vice chair and I do like that because that makes it easier to organize things and and I don't know if we want to retain the office of clerk for for this because the transcription automatic Amber is that what I understand? So I'm still trying to figure that out in this so this is automatically recorded and then it has a running transcript down the side. I there is a transcript with it but it's in a file that my work computer could figure out how to open so I'm emailing it about it but yeah I mean there is technically a transcript but I don't know exactly how to suck it out of zoom just yet. What's the file type? I don't even remember it's something I've honestly never seen before. Yeah we don't have it as a text file. Okay that's hard. Yeah. So I'm going to suggest that we then retain the office of clerk just as somebody who can be the point person for whatever has to happen with that transcript even if it's just to make sure it gets published or just make sure it gets brought to the committee so that we can we can accept it or whatever it is that we do to minutes. That was easy part now comes the interesting part is when when do these offices one of these officers when are they renewed when does that when does the the period for them for their their term their responsibility start and in the past it's been understood never written down but understood that when there is a reconfiguration of the committee when somebody during one of the regular elections and nominations at the end of that process when the new person comes on or a seat is refilled that we ask the question again who should be our three officers and I would offer that as a proposal for how to do business. That really happens with me. Yeah sounds good to me. Which which then sort of goes on I'm trying to remember so so Amber I guess maybe maybe you can help given how much stuff has been postponed and repost boned and when our terms official now. I don't I think Gilleford's gonna have to answer that it's yeah I really am not sure I haven't seen any communication from Town Hall about wrapping everything up after this. So everybody's term is valid right now and you have one vacancy. So you have two people Tracy and Aaron who will their terms end in July end of June next year. Excuse me Kim get officially renewed. She has a message from the manager saying she's to stay on and she's in the process of being renewed. Okay that's what I was gonna ask yeah because I mean sometimes when she's being renewed right it will go to that it will go to the TSO and stuff too like sometimes like you know with right she was expected to like fill out the the form again like the calf again and to like quote like kind of formally reapply even though you're a reappointment. She actually did that and it got lost in the shuffle about March April time period and everything was shutting down and not meeting so yeah that's been the and so that's that's all part of all of this this yeah kerfuffle I guess has to do with in our case with just getting started again because we were in that hiatus as well we fell into that that hole. So I guess one question I had about the vacancy is I'm in the town manager has been working for a while to fill vacancies of different committees but I haven't seen the attack advertised yet so I mean it is always really helpful to be to be at a full strength of the committee so it's easier to have a quorum. Yeah I mean we did talk about that at the meeting last week as you remember Tracy Tracy and I were at the TSO and we talked about the charge which we'll be getting to next and I think just regarding that the the vacancy part of I'm going to guess because that's all it can be part of it's not being filled is because it's not clear to me anyway that anybody knows what to do with the TAC what its constitution should be is six enough seven do they really need to fill a spot there seems to be a lot of uncertainty and well I think I called it benign neglect so I'm not going to worry about that quite yet that's something that that we might tackle I guess I mean I mean it's just a question in terms of having quorum that's all right because of where committee is well I guess either either way for six or seven you have to have a majority so you always have to have four is that right so or yes yeah one of the things that I did say the TSO and I mean it is that you know I'm not too worried about quorum because all of you have been very good about getting to meetings and doing the work and so while I would love to have seven I and I'm going to and maybe even urge that we get the seventh it seems to be that you've all stepped up to do the work and they want to continue to mine neglect us and not fill that spot like we can get a lot of work done nonetheless all right so it's my tendency my habit to sort of roll a roll the conversation along and let it be a consensus and not call for votes on on things I know that it's just because it's me you know I spent a lot of time in Quaker meeting where things are work do tend to work out by consensus and actually again the committee has been very good about dealing with contention and you know figuring it in but I imagine Guilford or maybe I'm gonna put out the committee that we ought to just say yes that we've organized ourselves in this way chair vice chair clerk and that the the offices are reappointed by some magical process at the course of and would it be called a fiscal year or a committee year what is suggest you pick a date you know the committee reorganizes every June or the committee reorganizes you know you can either fiscal year be you know at the end of June I would I would just I just pick a date and and not go by you don't have to worry about it I mean there's no I don't recall from the bylaws that they're in and really would need to check but I don't recall in a couple of years now that there was a there's been any kind of formal process in the bylaws around organizing a committee you need to have a convener you need to have a chair basically a members of the committee can call the meeting in the absence of the chair and I would just pick a date so I was just gonna suggest that you don't pick which is kind of the date we used to use public transportation and bicycle committee because so many people are sort of off and the committee often doesn't meet in the summer so make it more like May 1st or something yeah just pick a date and in terms of operating by consensus that's fine as long as the minutes show that there was you know there was a consensus there was no objection yeah and the only time that that would be a problem is if both the chair and the vice chair cycled out at the same time and were replaced but I I'm not so sure I would even worry about that that's another reason to do it off the July 1st because that's when the you'd be need to lose your people yeah either that or on July 1st because you might lose those two people and you know the mechanism for replacing them immediately but that I mean that's sort of what happened this time and then there was no vice chair and I think you guys want to have it ahead of time so Guilford one is a one is a good date in the in the calendar of things to consider and I would say sort of accepting that the Bernie's proposal that it's the first time that we meet in the month of and I don't know what that month would be well may is a good this may be suggested that's as good a month as any and you're gonna know who's gonna be cycling off the committee by you know by then so hi Kim hello sorry I'm late thank you at all if we've been able to roll on quite fine without you I'm sorry to say no so actually though I had a question about if we make it in May and I mean in some cases right like recently the town manager didn't reappoint people who are eligible for reappointment to committees so maybe we want to make it in April or something or like the first meeting in May I'm just wondering like if it ever extends if the discussion about that is that can be an issue and you know if there's a vice chair that if both the chairs are not disappearing at once there's a there's a ready solution for that or ready remedy for that so Kim we're just we're just figuring out our organization we're up to number five already so we've decided you can kind of skip a lot of stuff yeah no you give it away any event so we're we're we're moving towards some sort of formalizing and I guess it's it's again it's not my my style so much but I think it's important in this case to take a vote on having three officers chair vice chair and a clerk and the duty of the clerk is a little bit different now because of automation and zoom and everything else but it'll just be to to collate and be sure that we get the the transcript of our recorded meetings you know into the committee in a suitable manner to a suitable manner so they can be minutes that can be accepted and we're trying to figure out when a good time might be to select and elect those officers in the course of the calendar and right now I guess the first our first meeting in May sounds like it might be the leading candidate okay thank you sounds good to me I think everyone keeps talking about me so let's just use me is there a motion I motion that we move to redo the committee every May the first meeting in every May and I'm going to just just as part of further discussion to point out that that includes the three officers and their duties that we've outlined yeah for their discussion it's been a long time since I've done that all those in favor I guess yeah I guess we don't have this is not the roll call we're required to make this can just simply be my don't know voice a voice vote all those in favor say aye and we'll just sort of let it tumble over aye is there anybody abstaining and anybody voting no excellent thank you very much I'm gonna have to figure out that process I don't know that worked out so well maybe we might need to run through by name by name yeah yeah yeah that's actually how the council does it they do right all right Kim has a Kim has a hand up just curious as to who you so you're the chair is Eve still the vice chair that's a good point we haven't a vice chair or a clerk right now because I'm not on the committee so right so perhaps we should you know make one a vice chair at least for now I think that's a very good idea do you have a suggestion Kim just who might want to be vice chair I'm gonna nominate you if you don't say something yeah I could do I could do that important for the continuity of the meeting you know I'm a very bad example by being late no but no I appreciate that and and I just point out that I guess there's so that that's that's that question is answered thank you very much and so that'll be the term will be until our first meeting in May do we want to consider selecting a new chair or a chair at this point since it's been I think the first year is perfectly fine I appreciate I understand that this is that that being perfectly fine ends at our first meeting in May and that's that's I think that's good okay so the the the hard part considering the committee's charge is number six I just just by the way on the plan on the on the agenda I included is number seven develop the conference of work plan and a developing the prioritization matrix which is the name that I call it E probably the smarter name for it I'll talk get you to you and then and then committee comments and I don't know that we'll get to those directly to or even tonight those I put them there because they were part of it seemed to be an important part of the discussion that we had with the TSO but that I had with the TSO last last Thursday so Eve sorry I just wanted to suggest that you guys actually vote on the chair and the vice-chair I actually had a question to Aaron so go ahead mention that your term and my term Aaron are up in June of 2021 now I mean I'm a first this is my first term so I could be reappointed right now but I guess you're not able to be similarly to a the policy would be that you would have to well okay you see we have a nice mechanism in place for replacing any offices that we happen to be rotating out of when it comes that time so so I think I think Eve it's an excellent suggestion and I'm going to look for a motion Bernie I so move is there a second second for the discussion all those in favor raise your hand so the camera can see it so I don't know how that's actually recorded that sets you I'm going to say it out loud so gets into the transcript is unanimous but I think we need to name by name I think that's you can do it yeah the motion was was the motion that Aaron would be chair and Kim would be that's correct yes yes but I heard yeah so the next I so I went to the TSO last week to talk about what I guess in a nutshell what our the TAC's role might be in our new town governance in the structure that we have and actually it was well received there were some concerns raised the principle among them was that the charge that we have is not a good fit with it's not it doesn't describe well what our work is relative or should be relative to the new town governance and the idea that we might just strike out select board and put in town council doesn't work so well doesn't work perfectly and so the the the big task that I took away from it was for us to rejigger our charge so it does fit into as a proposal to the TSO and to town council as as you know how we might as a description for how we see TAC should interface with the town government the so I presented to the TSO basically what we spoke about two weeks ago including our reluctance to take on downtown parking and and like I say it was well received there were state the principle question besides or questions besides well how does your charge work in the nature the way things are now was you know so so what what are your what documents what documents do you use how you know how would we interact with the public that doesn't either sort of come against the way the town council wants to interact with the public how do we hold public meetings or all of these sort of these questions that swirl around in the intervening week since I've been thinking about that and then Tracy was also was listening into the meeting I don't I think she was there for most of it or most of the time that I was was chatting and and talking with the with the TSO but it was generally well received although there seems to be a big quite good comfort was there as well so I'm gonna look to go for to chime in and make sure I got the high points anyway really they're curious about how we would do our work what that work is in our new in our new system of governance and the vehicle for that would be the you know the charge and so the big task that I think we took away from that is to rework our charge so so Guilford Tracy did I do that okay I would say yes so I'm hoping that you've all had time to look at our charge and and maybe even the the best practices which was a follow-on to the transportation report that that Nelson Nygaard did for us did for the town not for us but for the town to help them figure out how best to constitute a transportation advisory committee and they took some case examples and they found one model seemed to fit best with with the town of Amherst and the select board at the time agreed and that's that's that's how we came into being and I one of the things that I liked about that document in trying to think about how we might frame our discussion today let me get it up is that it was very clear about four things that that the the advisory committee should do to work where is that now specifically the TAC should have four primary roles maintain a work program and that's that's in our charge review summarize and then funnel transportation related requests to everybody committees boards town staff and the public upwards to the select board and we understand why that's problem with a recommendation for action and then to receive transportation related directives and requests and move them downwards from the select board review summarize and assign responsibilities including to town staff and other boards and then internally generate transportation related requests of subcommittees other committees the select board and town staff is necessary so I sort of as a foundation I think that is what I would like to suggest that we work with and having read those out loud I'm wondering what we think do you mind could you share your screen and that that document yes what I'm going to do all right I mean let me do a little little hocus pocus I have to I want to cut this one page out because it's a big oh yeah yeah sure actually used to be on the town you see on your page on the town website but I don't see it now yeah it isn't I noticed it was gone but I did send it to everybody it's title is my last LTAC best practices I'll look yep Aaron is that on the tech website I've actually never seen this document before no it used to be on the tech website until well it was there at the beginning of the year I remember thinking I've seen it and when I went back to look at it look for it after the TSO meeting there's a there's a blanks there's a placeholder where it used to be on the website it is buried in the document archives that if you go searching you can still have to look at the history of that because I haven't changed you guys this website around at all so somebody else must have gotten in there and taken it off well I could imagine that as because it's buried so deeply in the archives there's a number of links to get to it and any one of them could have been broken actually let me try to share with you now see this works is it am I seeing anything yeah definitely thank you hey all right then I could have done it thank you Gilbert these are new zoom powers I have and I'm trying to experiment with them yeah it isn't technology grand so I you know nice your screen so we can see oh that's all four of them are right there sorry that's all four they all fit it's very you know it's it's as you know something so comprehensive it really is very very tidy and small and I don't know if you can do that for the for the the charge feel for it as well I believe I have the power you can yeah you could you know the problem with the charge is it's like two pages long so it's huge well you know even at two pages is that really huge yeah it is huge is things go I mean you're really I mean I've read through it twice now and I'm still have to go through it again I apologize I've been working on I've actually been working so I'm not as much time as as I might but you know I think what we might do is we've got these four primary roles maybe fall through each of those and see what see what we can come up with is sort of a start well you know that's that's good but I was I was thinking sort of the other way around and by asking the sort of the first question is well okay so we have this charge and as you point out it is kind of I think it might be the longest it's certainly the most comprehensive because when you say transportation you're including well you know I'm going to say there are five networks that that you know we've come to understand are part of transportation there's the cars that we all think about there's the sidewalks that we all you know think about when it's winter they're the bicycling paths that we we're trying to build in town but there's also a transit network and a commercial network so how buses and how trucks move are you know separate networks have separate considerations so I was going to sort of maybe work at the other way which is to ask well what part of the charge needs to be changed or you know including maybe taken out and I actually in sort of going over it and underlining the tasks that are in it um you know I kind of like it the problems that I have with it are specifically with its relationship to the town government because it it it does indicate how we're supposed to work with a select board um town manager and and public works are in there which is appropriate and probably that that relationship it hasn't changed but um how do we how do we fold this into a um into a town select board into a town council um and I'm I'm happy um to do it the other way um it may may be um um now we we can I was just throwing out a year you know you're you're driving the bus here keep it in transportation related so just let's let's go with what you're suggesting no no no I'm coaching the team I'm not driving any bus at the we we got a no it's actually as much a matter of how comfortable we can be with the charge and I would accept you know hey you know it's it's just too unwieldy it's crazy and and maybe it's not worth salvaging um even as much as I as I like it and maybe partly because I was um I think two of us were at the founding we didn't write much of it but we were there when it was happening do we do we need to call out the five different kinds of uh transportation and not just talk about the townway versus the nox townway and like actually kind of refer to it like that because I mean otherwise you know okay cars what about motor scooters what about you know everyone's going to just kind of start going what about what about what about let's just stick to it like if it's tarmac it's us if it's a path it's us and then we're good to go you know sorry and then I see Tracey's got a hand up so I will um yield my time I know Mark is still I mean I think that I wish a second in your point um I mean there's a and I think it would be helpful because a lot of it seems like some of the discussions with the council and with the TSO about the TAC have been because you know the TAC is I mean because the council is are officially the keepers of the public way which the select board were also officially the keepers of the public way but whatever that means and when I've talked to counselors about it I've also said well we also look at a lot of other aspects of transportation besides just directly tied to day to day things related to the public way so I would like to see that in the charge um and I did I did have a few other comments too I don't know are we just opening it up for general comments air yeah no I don't I haven't figured out a good way to to structure it and I'm not ready to zoom in on the the individuals the quads themselves but just before you're not I'm going to let you go on Tracey but just I just want to say the reason the reason I mentioned the five networks is not for the charge but that's for us the charge is very clear in that there's no clarity it says it's it's about the public way it's about transportation and it does mention um public transportation bicycles and pedestrians as as individually but um I guess it takes for granted that everybody knows about buses and cars and trucks yeah I would I would know well and things and things that are off-road too right like I mean we talk about sidewalks and paths and things that aren't close to public ways and I would think that we would you know be promoting the development of footpaths between you know like the grot the one that goes from grot path to southeast you know just yes public way yes not public way but not get into like visibly hiking you know it's just like we start getting too um too descriptive then we you know then we start losing our abilities but I I mean maybe a thing just to have something up front like in terms of like we different modes to make it clear that we're about different modes yeah I mean isn't there I mean we're actually on the second page right now is that correct of the charge like because I think the front of the charge oh right we're I'm sorry we're in the best practices yeah we're we're scared yeah what we're looking at is best practices what we're talking about is perilously close to the front of the of the charge right I don't know so I mean I do have two like main top main comments as I read this over again so I guess with regards to work program and I saw that this was work program is on your agenda too but it seems to me right so I mean we are volunteers in this like when I look at number one maintain a work program across time frames responsible parties for each and every transportation policy and project within Amherst it seems like some of the that functionality is a staff functionality like I'm sure Guilford is DPW is keeping a list of like different projects I mean we don't we're not even always aware I mean as you know as came up at some of the meetings including our last tack meeting we're not always even aware of all the different projects that are going on that have transportation ramifications like including that project down on South University Drive for example and things that haven't come to the tack you know and the point was made that we don't necessarily need to be involved in everything so I feel like some of that job I mean yes we can we can help prioritize things you know based on our recommendations but I don't I don't know if it's realistic for us to be like the responsible party for keeping the master list of like all the transportation work that's happening in town so I'm sensing here the compromise between Bernie and me since we're talking about number one on the best practices I'm looking over at the at the charge and see that are associated with that directly are to the task actually there's only one task and that is to establish and periodically update a work program that will track evaluate and prioritize all transportation issues as specified in the Amherst transportation plan Amherst master plan and as requested by the select board or the town manager and departments reporting to the town manager or other boards and committees so what what that the problem that I'm hearing us talk about with this is that well what is that what is that work plan and maybe that's something that we could be our charge could be more clear about and now I want to point out that's a little bit awkward normally committees receive charges I guess we're very fortunate that we're able to create our own so this really is our interpretation you know the seven of us the six of us um on on you know what we should do what we want to do so um well what do you think I'd like to echo what Tracy said I I think a lot of this is beyond our capacity especially keeping uh maintaining the the costs and time frames I don't see how we could do that that does sound more like what the staff would do to me it seems more logical that we would just set general priorities and that we would have a work program based on our prioritization plan but I don't think I mean we can talk about costs but I don't see how we could monitor that on a on a weekly or bi-weekly basis that just seems beyond our ability so um maybe as we're we're going along I'm trying to think of what the process we might enter into to actually get this done this this rewrite done and um I think so it sounds like um somebody and and we can decide we can volunteer we can decide who might do that uh might want to take this second bullet in the in the charge um which responds to this number one and distill our conversation into rewriting it specifically um I'll not ask for a hands on that yet unless somebody really wants to jump in Guilford um you know reading this again and actually having the two of these in the same looking at them both at the same time what if you just got rid of all the bullets in the charge stuck the four bullets that are here in there with some tweaking so that you're you're not maintaining that you're prioritizing and you know providing input into the work program maybe some maybe some tweaking to the words of those four just get rid of all those bullets because the first comment is I mean the first comment tells you what you're supposed to use and things you're supposed to do and but then the other all those bullets are telling you how to do your business but you really don't need to be told that specifically I think and I kind of like these four these four bullets are kind of the four things that actually have a piece in every one of these if you actually read it a bit you're talking Guilford about the four primary roles maintaining a work program reviews summarizing the funnel transportation you're talking about those four okay I'm talking about those four replacing replacing the bullets in the charge that makes sense to me you know I mean I think I agree that I don't think we have the time nor the people to maintain a work program of costs and timeframes and all that sort of stuff but I certainly think that we could be made aware of what is going on by the DPW and move through how how that is going on what's going on so that we at least have the ability to have input to that I wouldn't want to you know remove one but at least like Guilford saying like modify it somewhat or a lot so so the idea wouldn't be so much to maintain that work program which suggests creating it and assigning all those costs and everything else as much as it would be to to keep track of whatever work programs there are which is not this similar to what the Public Works Committee did as far as reviewing let's say the the paving plan for next year as an example and I don't know what other plans what other working plans there are we have our list of projects that are prioritized I don't know if that would be another list that we might include in our charge or suggest in our charge to look after so what what is the work plan that we would be monitoring or what what is the verb that we would be doing to it was is we're not maintaining it and what would the plan be that we're doing that to yeah I think I mean review might be going too far because I mean review would suggest that we have a little bit more input than maybe we want to um but yeah the choice of verb is Matt I was going to suggest monitor a work program yeah yeah monitor I mean what I mean I mean and we could say make recommendations or something I mean Guilford has come to us you know in the past with like oh here's this project oh here's this project or I'm changing this policy I mean just to let us know about things you know monitor and provide recommendations as appropriate or something it doesn't mean we don't need to weigh on on everything we just can think about what seems the most important the charge references to documents the transportation plan and the master plan the transportation plan is five years old the master plan is going to be it's it it's the end of life it's you know gotta gotta be updated it's after 10 years those are the two documents that the charge references and maybe what we're doing is looking at that transportation plan or directly because the master plan is going to get reworked and using that as a basis to shape the work program sorry but can Aaron can you see hands because both Kim and I have had our hands up and nobody's called on us what happens is people scroll on my screen people scroll off I can't when he's doing a share screen I don't think like all of us can appear at the same time yeah so you guys the best way to do that is to go up on top and go to view options and then do the side by side mode and then you there's a little bar in the middle and you can scroll over so that you can get the document on one side and then it can be a bunch on the other side so that way we can see everyone but yeah Kim and Eve have been trying to speak for a little bit so I know Kim was skipped over before if you want to let her have a chance thank you Amber I do I have a little trouble getting accustomed to this it's a peripheral vision doesn't work well on this at all so so yes Tracy I'm going to let Kim have the floor Kim yeah so um so so the way that I see that that we've actually been working right is that we're developing this kind of prioritization plan which takes into account our um you know our transportation our our transportation plan and looks forward to the projects that are feasible in the you know that have come forward to us and we prioritize them I feel like we don't actually um you know the the plans that the jobs that are actually being performed right it depends on like surprise money that comes available or other projects that get done which could accomplish the priorities that we you know that that while they're getting done can accomplish the priorities that we have on our list so I feel like our our our real charge is to develop this prioritization plan that's in charge that that that um takes root from the um transportation plan and push that give that to um our our colleagues in the public's works department so that when job when the next pot of money comes available it you know that's not closely tied with a very particular project it can go to slot number one on the prioritization plan so I feel like that's really isn't that really what we've been doing that's that's been our interpretation of how to maintain this work plan is and part of the maintenance is to you know slot everything into the right priority but that seems like a good way of doing we've been going with that because it seems like a very good way oh you're muted oh yeah um yes I'm done yes okay got it sorry because because I feel like we don't I mean we don't necessarily maintain a work program we maintain a prioritization list for the town you know and for our transportation plan that's what I feel like yeah that's that's right that's how we've done that so um eve yeah so I agree with Kim and I was headed in that direction too um and I would say not only a prioritization plan but specifically we've um assumed that our job has been to update it once a year so I actually think that that could go in a new charge is that the intent is that the tack will develop update a prioritization plan once a year um and then to follow up on Kim's other point which is the other thing that could go into the charge is what gets taken into account um and the thing that I think is missing from these four points is the idea that the committee is also thinking about sort of long-term priorities and plans um and and actually you know trying to shape those in thoughtful ways um and also just to follow up from birdies uh the charge does mention those two documents but there have been other documents since then like the complete streets policy and the head plan which is only in draft form that should also just you know so it should be like a general reference to doc other than to specific documents I'm done yeah it's it's interesting those those other documents that you mentioned um they we created those those afterwards I mentioned the TSO I guess we ended up having identifying nine documents that we work with so I'll get to you Tracy but let me get the marker all right sorry I just wanted to add on I think that uh Eve brought up a big point I mean there's absolutely no big picture parts to the four primary roles here and I mean that should be potentially like a fifth primary role right is our our big picture view we're not here for the here and now just here for the here and now I should say we're here for the long run and that that's uh the one of the biggest roles I think we have yeah an expansion on uh a number two because we're viewing summarizing and funneling an interesting verb no I don't think so I think that's because that just that just assumes that we're reacting right number two is dealing with reacting to the day to day I think what we're doing is developing a sorry my hand's disappearing off into Puffer's pond apparently um but we are creating a path forward for Amherst that is in a bigger picture you know we're not so we're not reacting we're being proactive we are being strategic in our thinking and number one two is not that and so that's where we need to I think potentially have five or a number one whatever yeah I mean I would see those comments being part of number one that we're you know the prioritization is coming from the guidance of the other documents that that one of our roles is to look at the transportation plan to look at the ped bicycle network plan to look at the complete streets policy that was adopted by the select board and so on and to make sure that there's consistency between those documents and what's being focused on for the work the work and the priorities yeah Tracy I think that's certainly part of number one but do we not want to continue to look forward and that's I think something that we can't no I think yeah of course I mean I think it could be both right yeah yeah that we're doing it but I do I mean one thing that comes up in my mind a lot is I hear about you know different transportation projects in town is how do they tie in like do they reflect the values and the priorities that are in these other plans that Amherst has already adopted I mean such as a complete streets plan or whatever so so I I I mean I do think you want to see I mean I'm not sure whose role it is to see if things are consistent but I would think that that could be part of our advisory responsibility yeah I just I just think that Marcus is making a separate point that that he's agreeing that all these things should reference the existing plans this I'm speaking for your Marcus but tell me if I get it wrong um but there may be other plans that the committee is still invested in producing in the future that are actually not anything that's listed in these four things that may um be thinking about you know like uh like the ped bike plan that was never finished you know that may need to be updated or maybe there's a transit plan in the future there's a sidewalk plan in the future whatever but there may be future plans and that part of the role of the committee is to think broadly enough to be able to think about those um those I don't know that kind of broad long-range thinking and also develop our own plans too right you know not just go with what's written or what we think may be written by somebody else but we're an advisory committee on transportation let's kind of think outside the box yeah yes thank you Eve yeah I agree so I can only see five of us at a time I saw if their hands going out I don't I don't know um maybe Amber is there a way to Aaron Aaron that's what Amber was saying is that you have this split screen that has the shared screen on one side and the view the little all of us the Brady bunch of us on the other side yeah you can drag drag the you can split the window differently basically you can make it more like half that's better I got it I not that I've heard the full instruction I uh or paid attention to the full instruction I never knew that so thank you Amber yeah you're learning from you every day here yes Gilbert right yeah when your kids have more zoom meetings than you every day you learn a few things so so I guess what what I'm understanding is that um we haven't talked about anything else but number one and number five but number five would be in addition to these four um and I'm and I'm sort of thinking about you know the actual you know pan on paper construction of this I think we're only talking about the the one and five because we generally agree with the two three and four no that's fine I just just want to be clear that that's all and and um and maybe following uh Bernie's lead we'll we'll talk about two three and four uh specifically uh next um Eve I think it's worth looking at the charge bullet by bullet if not in this meeting then in a future meeting to see if there's any other pieces that are in the existing charge that we feel like or you feel like excuse me um are still missing from even one through five well I will I will confess to be doing a little exercise here besides learning how to zoom um of looking at our charge at the same time we're looking at these bullets and sort of imagining which pieces of the charge would slide underneath the number what bullet would go under which number um and that that might become the the foundation of the exercise to to start the rewrite I mean pay attention who who's that Tracy go ahead um so with regards to two I mean uh to start with two let's see so I feel like three is pretty straightforward right that the well not this like board obviously but the town town staff the town council and so on can ask us to get involved or to take a look at different topics so at one of the TSO meetings right that TSO said wow we really would like to hear the tax weigh in on the Lincoln and sunset for example um so two to me feels a little more complicated um I think you know one one of the things I've heard in terms of feedback um and Guilford raised this and Paul raised this at the TSO meeting Paul Buckleman is just where you know it's somebody and I actually and sometimes too like I get emails from friends or colleagues and they say I have a concern about this transportation issue or this you know this intersection in my neighborhood or whatever and where do those requests go um and it ties to me a little bit into one too so I know that like Guilford has come to us before with his long list of all the different requests that have come into the town um but then I didn't know whether I mean this is pretty specific but like there's also that c-click fix program that has some big and some small transportation things is that incorporated into the spreadsheet that Guilford shared with us is that a different stream um and then the question to me too is you know if a if a community member and we've had people come to our the public comment and comment like public comment part of our meetings I mean sometimes there can be a lot of public comments you know people have come about amity and people have come about north amherst and so on but the thing is if are we I mean is it good for people to come to like what's this what's the order in which people should be contacted like what's kind of like the chain of authority or you know um if you will because I think that people can get really frustrated if um if people come to us and they say wow I'm very concerned about this but then nothing happens um like are we the are we should we be the first line you know or and how does that then get put into I mean or maybe to make it really clear about how that then becomes one of the priority projects or not um just like or should you know should people like I know sometimes I've been forwarded emails that were sent to town staff or to the town manager or certain council members or whatever so and they they go to them first right so which we should you know somebody like Paul or a council member say oh no wait the the tack is looking at this like that can be on their next agenda so just to make it clear to community members when they have concerns about where to go and how the process continues in terms of how they're how it's considered so that that's that's that's excellent point um oh by amber um that's a very good point in that um um which and it leads me to tell a story as I do one of the important things that the select board thought uh the the TAC would do or could do or should do um is to be sort of the place you if anybody has a question and and that there is there was an issue um with um the community uh not uh being satisfied or receiving satisfaction in uh when they made a request regarding um regarding uh uh transportation issues and and the lack of satisfaction was as as well mostly perceived as hey I don't know who to talk to I just don't know where to go and and and I go here or I go there and I don't get an answer and I don't get any any reasonable response and the the the sense that um that I brought to the attack was that yeah we're we're that you know we're we're charged and it is in the charge and I've got to find the um the actual phrase with that primary communication and um when I spoke to the TSO I sort of interpreted that as being yes we're we're we're a place for people to bring issues um but we you know we'll only take you know we'll put them into the right place I mean if if it's if it's a maintenance issue you'll forget it if it's if it's a design element of the pedestrian bicycle network then we'll take that and put it into that project is it straight if it's traffic calming um that's a separate process if it's a stop sign we don't want to talk about it um speed limits we might consider but at any event everything would come to us and then go off into the right place um and one of the things that has been valuable um in in our past is that we've said no you know you're you're not you know that's not you don't get that that's not something you know or so that's been that's one thing and the other thing has been huh that's a good idea we need to figure out how to implement that no that's not traffic calming that is you know the need for something else or that's not something else that is traffic calming isn't that just um something though in terms of how the public access the town so it's a way it's a you know website access it's some some means that channels you know it's more procedural I should say than rather than our operational issues right well I mean I guess I mean so part of the question is you know for example if a community member contacts contacts the town manager or if the community member contacts dpw like do we should those go to the tack too yeah I mean I just I mean or is attack even going to hear about those I think I would I mean so it's like it just has to be sort of clear like the I mean to me a little bit on the lines about how things come and how things are dealt with and I mean I feel like the tack doesn't get a lot of those messages that come to the town manager or the town council or the dpw but I mean we don't necessarily again you know back to like the work program idea we don't need to weigh in on everything and I mean Guilford has stuff on his list that he's shown us that are like I mean I mean they're not going to be high priority items like they are brought up by one person and you know there's limited resources and so on and I mean yeah no I agree Tracy and I think Guilford you were gonna say something I think that's the second step after you figure out your tack your your charge and then we can start talking about how to roll things together but because even even the even the council hasn't pulled that together yet of how they want this to roll so figuring out what you really want the charge to be and then you can sit down and we can go through different types of things and figure out which ones yeah because if there's the maintenance thing you're not going to see it if it's a maintenance thing and people keep complaining about it then maybe you see it but those would be the next step I would think you might want to take one by the element. We would not want to see it either and so so the task that I'm sort of the editing task I'm seeing coming out of this is to to to enumerate or in some way the requests that we would see as going on to our work plan and just to something that we would handle and everything else goes off to the right place which is not us necessarily. I think some of it I mean now that we have an agenda we just set an agenda item that says DPW provides a summary of incoming requests from the last you know since the last meeting or something I mean that's that's really the way to handle that we don't necessarily need to write to Gilbert's point we don't need to write it into anything here that's just something we do operationally and we continue to move forward I think the bigger thing is you know getting these four or five rolls into that charge getting that nailed down looking at the bigger picture what are we here to do and then the the individual project staff the you know the complaints that sort of that's that's just a gender items you know because we I think I think there is a need for us to understand those because yes you might get it from one person but it might actually trigger you to consider it in a bigger picture for a later thing you know a few years down the road or whatever but just being aware of what is going on is certainly helpful but I don't think it's necessarily a something we need to write about. But I guess to me I like I feel like when I look at number two I just want I mean I agree that we don't need to have all the specifics about how that works but at the same time I think it like if we're going to have it in our charge like are we you know review summarize final requests from committees board staff I mean I guess to the select board I mean I would think that like staff and some of this thing would go right from committees your boards or staff to the town council directly and that I just I I mean I just even from a conceptual standpoint about like what happens with staff from the public I mean does I mean Guilford is there a master list of like all the requests I mean the c-click fix is that like tied in with other lists too like is there some master list of everything that people are requesting are they are they different documents before you answer that Guilford I want to hear what Eve has to say you know this is unfortunate because you know in a real meeting I can actually sort of nod and so you don't have to keep raising your hand but I can't do that Eve thanks um Scott I just wanted to give Marcus a little background on where this came from and maybe Bernie too um so back when we did the transportation plan about five years ago one of the key things that came out was that there's so many different places that people go to with transportation requests that it gets to be this complete tangle and certain parties go to you know and then the select board now the town council other would go to town meeting others would go to the TAC others would go straight to the DPW and sometimes there gets to be a sense that certain people and certain issues get heard by more powerful you know forums than others and so one of the key recommendations that came out of the transportation plan was that there really needed to be a single point of contact and if you look at the charge that's actually where it starts is that the charge of the TAC is to be a single point of contact and I think it's reasonable what Tracy's asking about whether it really needs to be a single point of contact for everything but that is where that concept came from and why it's being discussed is something that might go in the charge as opposed to just an operational thing. Yeah so it is an interesting question you know what requests do we want even you know to entertain and I guess part of that so there's another another document that will shadow the the charge and that will be our you know internal documents as to how we handle things specifically and that that would include for instance sort of the the the the standing request that we get this this report or that report from Guilford as to what has been asked for but yeah so so what I'm hearing is that we need in we need to figure out how how to filter those requests and get the ones that that we want described in our charge. Marcus. Yeah sorry just to add to that I have a concern with calling us a single point of contact so a single point of contact would you know say whatever however we get information into the system we are now on the hook to reply to that immediately you know within 24 hours and there's you know six seven of us that's not feasible so I don't think we have a single point of contact I think we're a focus point within the group within the town council or whatever but we're certainly not a single point of contact just I just want to lay that out there and I think Bernie has a point. Yes no that's well well taken Bernie. Yeah I just want to second what what Marcus just said I don't think we should be the single point of contact and I don't think we should be the contact people for ongoing issues around maintenance in you know that really falls to DPW to take those concerns now we can from time to time if we want to look and see how well DPW was actually responding to that stuff that's that that would be a role but I don't I agree I don't see this as a single point of contact of we we've got a we are an advisory committee and what are we going to give advice up you know to I mean that's what I think we need to go back to and say what do we what kind of inputs do we want from other boards and committees so we can kind of monitor things overall but what what do we what are we really looking at yeah and the charge maybe doesn't have to describe that specifically but certainly needs to outline or generalize it well I mean so I think in both two and three right it's giving us a role of like summarizing I mean we're taking on I mean I know you know some of the people in the town council that sort of spoken out about sort of why is the tack you know taking on so much responsibility and doing so much on its own and the way both the two and the three are phrased is like in three right it says that we're going to receive requests and assign people to do work like do we have that is that actually our role as an advisory committee and I could see where some council members might be like wait a minute like why are you telling us what to do um but I think but one of the things that hit like chris presup had brought up at the last tack meeting right is that like for example to get us to get the tack on the list or to get you on the list erin about different different projects that are being reviewed at different by different boards and committees of the town and if those are things and if they come to you or they come I mean those could be things that the tack could weigh in or not weigh in for example like the south university drive project or other projects that just to even be aware of them and have them on our radar yeah that that would be happening that would be in that that shadow shadow yeah of course teachers would include you know a request standing request that those kind of things right uh so my hand I forget who's it was no okay Tracy you had something else well I just is our meeting ending at eight I mean seven we started at five thirty are we doing an hour and a half or it should be ending in seven minutes and and the ambulance in her car I'm sure she's ready so like that was one with life and yeah that's that's I intend even though they're they're 17 more items on the agenda I didn't really expect to get them um so um I'm I'm and your your point is well taken it's getting close to debate time um or dinner time whatever it is it's coming next um one thing that we do need to do before we leave is to talk about our next meeting before I open that subject um I'm I guess I'm going to volunteer huh to um to take these these four uh primary roles and um put our notes against it as much as possible you know Bruce maybe maybe I'll um maybe Dragu and you to give me a hand on that maybe we could uh in the in the intervening weeks um pass stuff back and forth um trying to fit in um you know current charge language with the primary role and take out some of the things or not include some of the things in the charge that we've talked about not including like single point of contact um we haven't talked about parking but we may want to consider what our role is on parking um just just as a as a recollection um our sense is that um you know the parking downtown you know what to charge uh and at a meter um how much to charge for a handicap license and handicap parking place infraction whether or not there should be a parking garage or even parking on Lincoln that's that's not part of transportation sort of parking along roadways outside of rental units that in a place in a way that might obstruct um the other uses of that transportation network might be uh Tracy I mean I would think with parking right so the TSO is looking at parking the town services committee and I think it's because they're focused on like day to day things so I would think some of the parking related stuff is very similar to maintenance it's like very day to day it's like in the present but I do I do and this can be a discussion for next time but I mean if the town is going to have like in terms of parking like overall parking policy like bigger picture parking policy I mean I do think that perhaps and if you're also looking at townwide approaches um that I do think there's a place for this hack like Guilford you know last year earlier this year right he had come to us and said well the DPW would like to ban on street parking like on all these major roadways and make it official and he brought that to us and it seemed like that was a good thing for us to weigh in on and so I would I would just think again I mean just as we think about the charge is like we don't want to just do all the little little things like we but it is but parking you know like a long-range parking policy does have an impact on transportation in a lot of ways and so I would like that to stay in our charge okay thank you I think that is a general consensus and a thumbs up there for Marcus thank you um so um um I'd like to wrap this up now if there's something something um a codicell that people want to add to um so Aaron were you were you volunteering to draft a new version is that what what you were just doing yeah I'm gonna I think unless somebody else is really dying to do it um yeah I would I'm offering to take these four points and and apply existing you know the charge language to it sort of as an exercise I think that'll go well until about oh the second half an hour when I'm going to realize that ah they're really not compatible in in any significant way and then I'll wonder why in the heck I volunteered to do it well I mean you can circulate things to us too I mean it's very hard to do it I'll buy yourself and even if it comes back to the tack you know we might have a lot of feedback so I was just gonna echo what Tracy said that if you want to circulate it we can all try to help you with it yeah no that's and I appreciate that and maybe the idea is uh to get stuff thrown on the wall and let people pick off with what what they want Bernie we we got to be careful not to deliberate outside of the meeting exactly yes so if you're going to send stuff out people make comments on it and send it back to the chair right right you know yourselves um we got to be careful with that your point is well taken and actually is very much worth reiterating um I'm already eating a bar and talk either well in a bar where I need to go well the bars are mostly closed now right but that would be a gathering yeah that's right that would be a problem for other reasons yes okay all right well thank you for doing that is five thirty uh on thursday the first and third thursdays of the month okay for everybody wait the the are we doing the third and what what oh the first and the third so does does that mean that we're not meeting again until november november 5th why don't we just meet on the 29th we can but we talked about regularly doing first and third just first and third is fine but yeah every once in a while there'll be a three week gap like well I see more than once in a while it's often but um I want that that that will happen next um isn't the third thursday thanksgiving no no the yeah the fourth thursday thanksgiving okay cool yeah we've talked about the holiday season yet so um I mean I want to wait until fifth or do we do we are we really anxious to add so the fifth and the twelfth would be our next meetings are we anxious to add one more meeting on the 29th no I mean it's a good idea but I don't we would then we'd have meetings on back to back weeks right yeah if we if we that came back on the first weekend and uh I think um twice a month is fine um just just generally and and and I don't I don't know if we all agree to that if we want to meet more we can well I have a question about restarting the subcommittee like if we were going to have other meetings maybe the subcommittee could meet on the 29th or something are we able to do that you you are but you'd have to like do the same thing where you'd have to post them and so for no of course we yeah so would there be a like do we as I think I asked in the last meeting right I mean I work at UMass I have a zoom account and if we made the public meeting a public meeting like is somebody from the subcommittee able to send out the invites or does it have to be like through town staff well amber even if we even if we post the meeting so I mean amber can take care of that like she'd last time it's just so that would be the same yes well just in general but yeah well I mean we don't like on the subcommittee we could meet on a Wednesday or you know a different day or something do you still want to be on the subcommittee bruce uh yes I am going to be away that last week of October that's why I want to meet that particular sure okay thank you but you'd still like to be a part in general yes so the the I think the formal that is that the the the tax sort of agree and without objection I think is fine that we want the sub the subcommittee to start their work again expecting that there'll be occasional reports and and I don't know so Tracy I don't know if there's something that you would want to send to all of us just as a reminder of what you're doing or if you want to rely on me to do that because I have I have all of that that stuff um or do you want to yeah so I would I would I would want us to I want there to be something for the committee to see as you as you get started um do you want do you want to send us something I mean I think um well I mean we have that matrix that we had worked on before and we were getting far along on that I think um you know I could send that out or even I could look at it again it's been a little while um but we could we could send that out I mean I think we were trying to get it to a stage where it could we had gone through a lot of it with attack and then we wanted to take it to the council and then have some kind of public forum or something yeah it would be would be nice if you included with that some some description of your use of the terms you know loss of service and how that's means something a little bit different on the matrix and and because the principles that that are outlined in that difference in definition are very important to um level of service right so yeah it was LTS level of service whatever it was Erin when do you want that five um whatever I mean we have three weeks now until our next meeting so um yeah Tracy you and I can work on that and do that and none of us are going to read it until the night before the meeting anyway so okay sounds good um so we will see you on the fifth at five thirty and Bruce is there a motion I move to a turn for a second second and thank you amber yes thank you amber thank you so much thank you Erin all right thank you hi hi everybody say bye ardent bye hey Erin I heard a hey Erin yes hi Kim so where's the I I can't find the chart where is it can you send it out I will send it out it's it's on the website it is on our page it's right there it's right there on the front page it's it's it's right there okay thank you all right it's on the left and the bottom okay thank you so much good night throws on the right and here man good night