 There are other counselors joining us and the time for calling together is 6 30 p.m. Let me just start by sharing my hoped-for timing. It's ambitious if we stick to it. We're out of here at 10 o'clock. But let me use this as an opportunity to just say after the announcements we'll be moving to the hearing of the zoning by-law upon closing the hearing we will immediately proceed to item 7 a 1 where we ask the council to officially conduct the second reading of the zoning by-law and Then this will be followed by 7 a 2 which is adopted an adoption of the zoning by-law After that we will resume the agenda in the order at least that's the plan for now Let me just mention that the council will meet on will not meet on August 5th The council will meet on August 19th We will begin at 5 o'clock the major goal of that meeting is the evaluation of the town manager however, and therefore the first part of the meeting and maybe later in the meeting is pretty boring because basically sit here and watch us read which we all learned at an early age. Thank you and Then however at 6 30 we will stop and do some small amount of business and reconvene to go back to reviewing the town manager no later than 7 30 and Their council may require additional reading time, but at some point in the evening as president I'll ask the council to discuss the draft memo summarizing the key points of the evaluation Just as an aside we have solicited and received staff comments town committee comments and public comments and that period of public Comment and staff comment is closed The council will again meet on Monday may August 26th at 6 30 We will take up normal business and at no later than 7 30 Go again to the town manager review and at the end of that session We will go into executive session to discuss the town manager's compensation package The town council will meet on Monday, September 9th at 6 30 and the agenda will follow its usual outline So we are going to begin Our meeting tonight with a hearing This is This hearing this is a hearing to determine whether the town council should amend the town's zoning by live by repealing the Existing zoning bylaw and adopting a new zoning bylaw The action is the result of a change of government when the town adopted its new charter last year specifically this public hearing is to review the June 12th 2019 recommendation of the planning board that the town council vote to amend the zoning bylaw by Repealing the zoning bylaw in its entirety and adopting a new zoning bylaw including amendments recommended by the bylaw review committee That those will bring the zoning bylaws into confirmation with the Amherst home rule charter That was adopted by the community on March 27th, 2018 Mass General law section 40 a section 5 States that no zoning ordinance or bylaw or amendment there to shall be adopted until after a public hearing is held At which interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard But the planning board held its public hearing on June 5th Mass General law also requires that the notice of the public hearing be posted not less than 14 days before They're hearing both in the town hall and published in newspapers That was done by posting both online and outside the clerk's office on July 1st and Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on July 8th and July 15th 2019 that was so that we would have this hearing tonight Charter section 2.10 Requires reading of any proposed bylaws at two separate council meetings. The first reading took place on June 17th 2019 the second reading will take place tonight And then this Charter section 2.10 also requires a proposed bylaw to be published on The town bulletin board not less than 14 days prior to its final passage So in other words, it will be posted after this for 14 days We will require when we get to the vote we will require nine votes and We will begin with a presentation brief as it will be by Bob Ritchie chair of the bylaw review committee and Chris Brestrup Okay, good evening to cover that the ground that we've been over before the You need to move your mic a little closer. Thank you the proposal before you is to act on a repeal in replacement of our zoning bylaw So this is a partial delivery of a product that was mandated by the Charter And tasked to the bylaw review committees that have existed to carry out that mandate The process has been long the committee met over a long period of time and the mission basically was to bring the bylaws into conformity with the new Charter and also Importantly to fulfill or more implement implement the Charter Which is a charge that was encouraged to be broadly construed so that we could migrate from near Secretarial changes to the text To make it into a document that is more useful for the Charter and the town going forward So you have before you tonight Draft of what we hope to be a baseline document that carries forward Substantively all of the provisions of the zoning bylaw that we have known and loved all these years through amendments Up to the time of the Charter change Just to make a point of it. There have been no changes since the Charter has taken effect So this will be the first a legislative action with respect to the zoning bylaws since the Charter took effect It basically replicates the old bylaws with those necessary changes that were forced By the language of the Charter Obviously changing the name of select board to town council or town manager things of that sort So we have actually done that the committee's methodology was basically iterative and had focused on the general bylaws and the zoning bylaws both of them being bylaws With most almost substantially all of our time devoted to the general bylaws which by virtue of their History and the evolution of the bylaws into what produced something like a relatively unorganized body of law the zoning bylaw on the other hand Was a highly developed. It's internally consistent. It has a rational plan of organization It has a rational alphanumeric Outline to it. So the the Attentions of the committee to the text of the zoning bylaw that you have have relatively few changes And those were those of course mandated by the Charter and and a few others that That the committee felt were Appropriate to fulfill the second charge of the committee to make it a more useful document and to better implement the Charter and those were largely Reorganizing the text for example taking Disparate provisions relating to marijuana and aggregating them into one section so that logically it fit within the body of the bylaws So those were relatively few changes, and I think you've had documents that Summarize them and you have available to you the red lines strike out track track changes version And those are the the changes that that you will see reflected one semi substantive change related to the manner in which Associate members were appointed but that was minor but fulfilled the intent of The thinking on how zoning boards and planning boards were constituted under the new Charter, but with the The role of associate membership being fleshed out so as to be consistent with the way we have actually done it in practice so Having complied with all of the procedural prerequisites for council action It strikes that the committee that the matter is Is poised for action by the council? Okay Let me just make note that since the first reading There have been changes to the cover page To page 92 section 8.21 reference to general bylaw changing back to the original wording page 94 section 8.42 reference to general bylaw change back to original wording page 98 section 10.01 and 10.02 as mentioned before Clare clarification of the ZBA and planning board membership and appointments and page 117 section 12.58 Reference to the general bylaw changing it back to the original wording. We'll start with questions from the council Then we'll go to questions from the audience. Oh, I'm sorry, Alyssa no, okay, we'll go to questions from the audience and See none then we'll go to Are there any people who would like to make statements in favor of this change in opposition then We'll go back to any further Questions from the council Alyssa One thing I'd like the council to see the next time we look at a zoning bylaw is the steps that we need in order to Do this you went over a lot of information verbally that we don't have anywhere in writing And so I would find it very helpful myself to know where we're at at any given point in the process But to this in this particular case, of course, we've had to postpone etc And so that's fine But the next time because we know for example that the planning board is working on some zoning materials for the fall Which is why we're trying to get this all set for them to work from a clean copy But when that happens, we need more information about as a joint hearing for example as we've discussed Here before etc. We need a written document to follow because We need a written document to follow because the documents we have in here I've been looking at this a while and I find a little confusing to know where we're at at any given point So I would appreciate having such a document. Okay Any other further comments at this time? Dorothy So one of the purpose I'm assuming that one of the purposes of doing this besides getting it Coherent with the new charter form of government is that When we look at the zoning by-law It's in a clean state so we can then think about how we would like to change it. Yes, the alternative would be to Make these changes incrementally which leaves us with a range of confusion about the Birth date of the document Since there are internal cross-references that we want to be consistent throughout the the body of the law We'd like to have a clean new baseline document to work with Okay, yes Chris I Do have a clean copy both electronically and in paper if you'd like to see it I can pass the board was provided the council was provided with both a marked-up copy and a clean copy Okay It's it was in your packet. I believe well, it's it's online. Yes. I like paper sometimes. Okay, we'll get you one Pat Mike I want to thank you Bob Richie and Bernie Kubiak and Jeff Kravitz for all the work you've done I know that Alyssa and Evan and I Have put in a little bit of time But you folks have really carried the burden and and I'm grateful and I think the document as well edited and taken care of so thank you Back at you. Thank you As being members of the second committee we really made progress with the inputs and it improved our ability to Reconciled and coordinate with the functions of the council and the legislative prerogatives of the council So we weren't acting in isolation. So having you on the committee Really elevated our efficiency. I think I want to just second all of those Thank yous to every one of you both in the past committee and now the present committee because this is no small job And you still have the other by-laws to go so Are there any other questions from the council? Hearing none, then we're going to declare the hearing closed and we are going to immediately move to Item number 7a on our agenda, which is the official second reading of the by-law and Again, is there any further council discussions? Okay, and then if not, we'll move to the adoption of the proposed zoning by-laws and the Motion as it reads is to adopt There is actually a very long motion and it's in your packet and it was reviewed by the town attorney and Includes a variety of statements regarding The work that was done and concludes with the statement now therefore Be it ordered by the town council of the town of Amherst that the Amherst zoning by-laws Be amended by deleting the current zoning by-laws in their entirety and inserting in place there of a new zoning by-law in the form set forth in the document attached here to and Incorporated by reference entitled complete zoning by-law July 2019 and further to authorize the town clerk following consultation with the town manager to make sure ministerial Ministerial and clerical changes of form only with respect to a denification of articles chapter sections subsections paragraphs and sub paragraphs as Are needed to bring such by-laws into a chord with the format of the by-laws of the town of Amherst their emotion Second Any further discussion All those in favor raise your hand and say aye That was unanimous, so there's one two three four five six seven eight nine there are ten eyes They're abstain Nose, I'm sorry no and then abstain no nose no abstention and three absent Okay, we're going to move on to the rest of the agenda as it appears the next Portion of the agenda is public comment There are two other times during the Period of the agenda that we will have public comment one is for item 5 a And the other one is for 6c. Is there anybody who wishes to speak to other than those two items on the agenda? Seeing none, then we're going to move on to the proclamations and commemorations and The first is the resolution in support of the row act and I've asked the petitioner One of whom is Pat de Angelis on the council To have some summary marks and there might be one other person to comment So please come forward and identify yourself State your name where you live and also sign into the sheet there Hello, my name is Lynn Morgan. I live at 34 Cherry Lane in Amherst. I've been a resident of Amherst for 26 years I'm a medical anthropologist and the author of two books and many articles about reproductive politics so I thank you very much for considering this resolution which was introduced on the recommendation of councillor Pat de Angelis to Affirm support for access to safe and legal abortion in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and across the United States Why the need for this resolution? because as you doubtless know new Abortion restrictions have been enacted in several states and because the administration is trying to restrict access to abortion contraception and other reproductive health services Second because some Massachusetts abortion laws are outdated and need to be strengthened to protect the rights especially of pregnant minors and those diagnosed with fatal fetal anomalies and Third because we want to support pending legislation to ensure that Amherst residents No matter their age income or insurance will always be able to access safe and legal abortion So one of the questions that came up was why the town council should consider this resolution Since laws are made at the state level and the federal level and not at the council level And there are various answers to that question one because this affirmation helps to destigmatize abortion and supports the Amherst residents who in our lifetimes will avail ourselves of abortion services Second because it supports our elected officials who represent us at the State House and the Capitol Our backing helps them and it urges them to act and Third because you won't be alone Many city and town councils across the United States have passed similar resolutions just this year including Northampton and Somerville, Massachusetts So what does this resolution ask you the members of the Amherst town council to do? One to commit to protect our rights to make our own reproductive decisions to to support passage of state and federal legislation as outlined in the resolution and Three to share this resolution with our elected officials. I Would like to thank you for considering this and I'd be happy to answer any questions I just received before I came here tonight a note from Mindy Dom who would have liked to be here But she's still on her way from Boston So she asked if I would read this statement that said that she wanted to thank the community members for leading this effort To get a local resolution in support of the row act at the state level as a Cosponsor of the row act and a strong supporter of abortion access. It was a great honor She writes to stand in support of the bill at a public hearing several weeks ago Close to 30 state legislators stood in support of the bill and one of the more meaningful Experiences I've had in the state house was that as we each introduced ourselves We identified the towns we represent from Framingham to Amherst the Merrimack Valley to New Bedford The roster of towns represented was stunning I believe the local resolution can be helpful in expressing our community's shared concerns and beliefs and Ultimately in demonstrating local support for this statewide initiative It says our town is a vocal leader for reproductive justice and during these challenging times that voice can use every megaphone available This resolution is one such megaphone Thank you, and I'd like to turn the mic over to my colleague. Dr. Miranda Balkan. Thank you, please. Thank you My name is Miranda Balkan. I live at 591 Bay Road. I'm a family doctor I'm the former past president past president of medical students for choice, and I both live and work here in Amherst The decision to continue the pregnancy or to have an abortion belongs only to the person who is pregnant Nobody else but myself and the patient belongs in that decision-making process An abortion is a medical procedure and a common one We see about a million abortions per year in this country Which means that about one in four American women will have one by the age of 45 I do not have termination statistics for transgender patients But I do know that LGBT teens are actually more likely to get pregnant or cause a pregnancy than their straight cisgender counterparts The anti-choice faction is saying that the RO Act allows infanticide in the case of accidental delivery of a live fetus This is simply untrue. In the first place, Gonzales v. Carhart requires us to stop the fetal heartbeat before performing a termination In the second place, it is always the choice of the parent whether to resuscitate a preterm infant with little hope of a normal Neurologic outcome regardless of what the desired pregnancy outcome may have been Abortion is a social justice issue Abortion allows girls and women to achieve their life goals Education career and more attentive parenting to the children. They already have in this decade Abortion has become concentrated among poor women in the United States 49% of all abortions performed are performed on people who live below the federal poverty level Abortion is safer than pregnancy particularly when it is done early Studies have consistently failed to show any adverse mental health mental health outcomes related to abortion 90% of abortions take place in the first trimester and the rate of medical complications most of which are quite minor is about 2% Fewer than 1 in 100,000 abortions ends in death Whereas the maternal mortality rate for this fair nation is 26.4 per 100,000 Perhaps our most vulnerable population for complications is teenagers One in five girls ages 15 to 19 who is sexually active will become pregnant and most of those pregnancies are unintended Adolescents have been shown to be at increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes ranging from pre-eclampsia to preterm birth Fetal growth restriction and infant death The consequences carry far forward as both parents of a teen pregnancy are less likely to complete their education and more likely to live in poverty The children are more likely to suffer from poor physical and cognitive health more likely to be abused or neglected and less likely to complete high school Parental notification laws do not protect the current or future physical or mental health of our teenagers And it is time we overturned ours. The row act allows us to strengthen our state's commitment to the well-being of all of our citizens Thank you for your consideration Are there questions or comments from the council Dorothy? just to add my support for the amendment for the motion and to say that We can't have a modern society if women don't have control over their own bodies And I'm a very pro-child person, but that means every child should be a wanted child and without abortion Cheap easy and available. We can't have that Are there other comments or questions from the council Dorothy Darcy, I'm sorry. I just like to thank the petitioners for for coming with this resolution I think it's extremely important and that we can't underestimate the importance of Providing support to our state legislators when it comes to this type of issue they really need to show that citizens and Municipalities are behind them. So thank you other other comments from the council at this time Thank you. Are we ready to vote? Are there other public comment? Excuse me? Are we having trouble mr. Backelman? Okay No, we're fine. Okay, great. Thank you Then do I hear someone making the following motion to adopt the resolution and support of the row act as presented? Pat and seconded Dorothy seconded Okay, any further questions then all those in favor raise your hand and say aye Opposed abstain So it's seven of ten in favor No against zero apps zero abstain and three absent okay, I Want to thank you, but state that we really Ask people not to display publicly their approval or disapproval But on that note We want to thank you for bringing this forward Have a nice evening Okay We're going to move on from this To the presentation and discussion the first one is the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and This is Jack Jemsik and Christine Gray Mullen who at our request are coming forward with their report and We will Have an opportunity to ask questions and hear what you have to say Jack Jemsik I'm the commissioner for Amherst for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and I guess it's been several years since I've been the commissioner The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission takes on quite a bit of Their mission is has many bullets They come up with resolves each year in terms of what they want to focus on but they are an advocate for the region and provide a Great amount of assistance to the towns if you have your packet we have a Letter entitled report to Town Council regarding Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, so I Could read it, but I I hope I don't have to But basically if if anyone has any questions I We put a lot of detail in here and then also we have We have listed the interactions between PVPC and the town of Amherst on A number of things the Joint Transportation Committee The Valley Bike Share local technical assistance hazard mitigation plan Downtown retail assessment report municipal vulnerability Program community choice aggregation Task Force meetings More with bicycle pedestrian and Then there's a PVC Valley Development Council that the Pliny Department tends and Just a number of other Pioneer Valley Plany Commission sponsored events and Edition I I took Notes basically from the agenda and impressions that I had for During the attendance of the four to six meetings that we have that are not the executive meetings, but just general commissioner meetings, and I could Go over high points on that and then obviously I think this all The interest was piqued because of the executive director Tim Brennan been there for 40 years and it was If you've read the papers, it's an interesting process because They've never had to elect a director before and they had some bumps on the road but Kim Robinson was was voted unanimously last week last Thursday by the commissioner 18 Commissioners were their president. It was 18. Oh, and I think Wayne flight removed his name From that second boat. I don't know if you are familiar with the Though it was a it was a secret ballot. It was just Wasn't done properly This is Christian gray mullin Okay questions Yes, Pat your your mic If you could clarify for me the region Yeah, I realize that you work regionally and which is an excellent idea But can you address how you're looking at homelessness and affordability? Well, there's a lot of programs that they're Think they're they're always looking for Supporting the towns in different social justice measures one of the first ones I Meetings attended the topic was food getting proper food out to Communities that that might be below the poverty level, you know, if your average convenience store Doesn't necessarily serve the most healthy of foods. And so that was something they took on I know There's the domestic violence program there, which is quite unique if you look at other regional planning commissions Most don't really take that on And I And I'd actually have to do some research to go more than that but I know that that That component is is strong within the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Yes, I would recommend if you have specific issues that you want to look at that the PVPC works on to go to their website and There's pull-down menu of specific things And there's also a tool that you can utilize that you can pull up her community at you know Meaning Amherst or other ones or it can pull up all 43 and give you data So I highly encourage all of you to go to their website if you're looking for data, they have it That is their specialty and they have many initiatives going on with housing, but we wouldn't actually get involved with that It's more that you know They finish with a report or a project and they either presented it the meeting we attend or on some cases We might vote on to accept a report or something, but we don't usually get involved in the in the work They have additional questions Yes, Darcy. Hi. I'm just interested in and hearing about the criteria that you used in voting the in the first round for the Director, how did you come up with? Your reasoning for how you were going to vote. I'm interested in that First off, it's still a legal issue right now There's been some open meeting law violations with the whole process and like Jack explained It was the first time I've ever tried to do this So there have been some as he said some bumps. So with that and how it's not final yet We feel sort of uncomfortable. We know what's basically been in the paper and and we're not privy to any other information so There was an a closed vote before And then that was removed. So then they did an open vote, but mr. Fiden removed himself so there was only one candidate and 18 of the commissioners were there last week to vote and they voted unanimously But again, that doesn't make that the executive director. It's just one more step in the hiring process. I Would say that both candidates were highly qualified though. Yeah, it was it was I I don't think the Piner Valley planning Commission could have done wrong with either And I am I correct that the next step is that they will begin the negotiation process with the candidate That's what it said in the paper Steve so thank you for coming and Sorry a couple comments I was the PVPC commissioner from Amherst for a little bit Before you guys actually and there's a couple of things a couple of observations so PVPC in a way Advisor for communities that don't have their own planning staff So it was never clear exactly what the role it was like Amherst and Northampton and Springfield that have fully formed, you know Planning departments, you know other than technical advisories things like that But in a way, you're being here tonight answers one of my questions which is Since the PVPC is dealing with issues that are often much larger than what the planning board deals with like the location of the Amtrak line. I was the the Neurotic rail trail. I mean these are the So the projects are really regional often way beyond the jurisdiction of playing boards How do how do we the town council stay informed on important issues? So like the inclination of a PVPC commissioner May be to pay attention to the issues that deal with planning But not necessarily the issues that are larger or different than planning. So that's question one question two is To that same so a lot of the action at the PVPC happens on the executive committee. So so To me the executive committee's always was like one of those circus hat tricks where there's like a limited number of people in the hat Geeks getting passed around in the circle, but it would be great if somebody from Amherst And I'm looking at you to could ever volunteer and get yourselves on to the onto the executive committee Because I think that can also help shape the directions that PVPC takes Did you want to respond to either of those please? Yeah, the annual meeting was in June and the executive Committee was elected then and I don't know that's entirely an open process And I did talk to Tim Brennan and I thought it was interesting. I actually have notes here about How that that happened and what the qualifications of the people on there and there's I think there's about seven And they do have a lot of years into the pineal pineal valley planning commission The chair has 11 the another person has 13 10 5 19 25 years 9 years 8 years 13 years. So it's a very seasoned group there And yeah, and they're they're all you know I'm planning boards and and Tim did say like the smaller towns are electing their Planning boards and the the larger towns and cities are appointing them, but I think Tim I Knew I was you know curious about about the process and I did talk to Walter Gunn who's the chairman there, but Yeah, it's it's a little bit. There's a lot that goes on. I definitely agree with Steve and that regard And yeah So I think part of what we're saying is the executive committee pretty much has people who have been on their planning boards for over 10 years And we might be invited at some time to be on executive committee But right now we're a senior members of the planning board. We have three or less years of experience So, you know, we're newcomers at this and we're still learning a lot and I think it's about what you can bring to the table to Contribute and not just you know be there and listen or get Yes, Dorothy Does Amherst the town of Amherst pay into the group and How much is that and I guess I'm really wondering what do we get for the money? Yeah, I would refer to Chris or Paul. I think we just got it an invoice from them. It's a on a per capita basis. I believe Chris Chris Brestra planning director. It's a little over $6,000. I think it's something like 6,500 I don't have the exact number, but the planning board did receive a letter a copy of a letter that was sent to the assessor I think last month So it's about that amount It's based on the population. Yeah, okay Are there other questions? Yes Maybe more question from my colleagues then for the two of you, but How do we keep abreast of or do we want to keep abreast of what PVPC is doing? Is it do we expect the commissioner to say would we invite the commission to come here once a year and just sort of give a brief report? Does it come through? Chris Brestrup and her planning department. I guess I'm asking all of you Or do we do this on our own? I mean obviously the websites a place that some of us should begin exploring But would it make sense on a yearly basis to have someone speak to us about what Has happened this year with PVPC since we pay into it and since it's a regional body And we want to think large at times So I guess the question for the rest of us Just a ponder. Well, we ever see these commissioners again Until the next head is elected. I hope not, but so I just wondering okay, so one of the questions that This brings up is in fact how we can keep in regular contact with you and not just on the issues that relate to planning but also on issues that would maybe not be seen as planning board issues, but also issues that might be of more immediate importance to us as a town and I think that it was first Steve that asked that we hear from you and Given that we're a new council that seemed like a good idea I think what we would like to do is figure out how we can hear from you regularly and also Be assured that as issues arise within the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission that You bring them to the attention of the president of the council and the attention of the town manager immediately So that if we need to weigh in We have an opportunity to do so Are there other comments or questions? Yes, Alyssa So following up on that one of my questions back when we were still developing this visit that we So kindly were provided in the lots of written documentation that you gave us Thank you very much is that our new charter does say that unless otherwise provided blah blah blah The town manager serves as the town liaison to any regional entity and so we had it had been asked by me in email To ensure that it's okay because it usually is but I don't know if there's a rule and state law associated with this That the town manager can delegate that because this is different I mean with it what they are doing is great and that's what we've been doing for a while but Although a select board member at one point was also engaged as a rep as an alternate and so One way of knowing what was happening would be if the town manager was going that would answer the question, right? We would already know but if he'd like to delegate that still because of all the involvement with the planning board I would totally understand that he wanted to I hope that one that's Allowed legally and it's fairly clear that Pioneer Valley Planning Commission may not have the answer to that themselves but that maybe our legal counsel has the answer to that and Then that would help us figure out this information flow back and forth to yes So I think we do want some clarity on Particularly I guess it's the alter alternate appointment because the planning board appointment is a given But it's the alternate appointment and since it appears that Christine you as an alternate have been attending as regularly frankly is The two of you both go which is excellent. I am just I I have very long ago history with Pioneer Valley Planning Commission when they were doing the plan for progress Now we're talking ancient times So it does seem to me that In fact, I'd like to ask the question in the last couple of years that you've been representing us Are there specific issues that have been very relevant to Amherst? Second of all are the ones that you think have been particularly critical to the Valley that you found difficult to deal with There there's I come away from some of the meetings and I'm enlightened because You you know here. We are in Amherst and you realize like some of the Hilltowns. It's a total different story there in terms of their needs and and And I have to admit that they they pull in Policy issues, you know from from Boston Early in the process of things that you wouldn't necessarily know I don't the average person wouldn't know that certain policies going on there, you know range it from, you know energy To the marijuana You know regulations and the cannabis control Commission was there because a lot of towns Well, how did they deal with with those bylaws that they never even see before? So that was a support that Pioneer Valley Planning Commission was was extending to them There was a very interesting one on age age friendly designation, which I think Chris Preston Took and but I think we have Well, we have a change of the garden there, but I that that was something that above and beyond the handicapped or accessibility issue, it's more just signage and Facilitating Or the Adelaide in terms of navigating in town having restrooms available real simple things But it's a designation like why can't Amherst happen? I think Northampton does there's a presentation on a database they have a fantastic database and Actually, I made some notes If you want statistics about Amherst versus other towns, I thought this is interesting We Okay, I Sent an email to the planning board on this. So that's why I don't mind Saying this so our Residential tax rate is the sixth highest within the Pioneer Valley and the Pioneer Valley region is is the two counties Pioneer Valley is the three counties that includes Franklin County. So that's 68 municipalities Our taxes have risen by 30 percent in 10 years Whereas Northampton who has a lower tax rate there they rank 42nd But they they their tax rate is risen by 50 percent over the last 10 years. It's interesting. We have the third most acreage of open space within the 60 68 communities But on a percentage basis we were far and beyond So, you know Amherst has done a great job in terms of open space So We've got that covered We are one of only nine municipalities that achieve 10% affordable housing within the Pioneer Valley Leverett Amherst and Pelham have the highest medium value of owner occupied housing and Behind Springfield and Holyoke Amherst has the third highest percentage of non-white residents at 28.2 percent and Amherst Regional High School is in the bottom 14 of the 68 municipalities percentage-wise Graduating from high school. So the graduation rate is 92.5 percent, which isn't so so hot and Again with that database, which I love numbers, but it's kind of skewed because we have this huge study student population so a lot of things You know you look at it's like. Oh, that's because we have You know so much of the the team in early 20s But you know that in the nutshell though, that's some takeaways I have had In the recent music. Yeah, I just want you all to think that is Jack just pointed out PVPC is a data Collection, this is their driver. It's about uniting all these communities in the Pioneer Valley and then providing information so we can have Initiatives to improve ourselves and improve the area So they take you know, they're out like a quasi government agency So they they drive on grants so they get grants so they have in-house projects that they're working on all the time And we only have so much say on how they do that But the other part to remember is they're sort of like a Consultant that you can use and that's how a lot of our personal interactions with Amherst have been like an example is Jeff Kravitz was that economic plan last year right so You know they hired or they utilized PVPC as a consultant to help them create that report So some of that is you know, again, you'd have to go to your director of planning Chris Vesta of every year They must decide well, what are we going to ask for how are we going to try to use them? You know, what do we can we get for free and what you know, can we pay for more? So that's how to sort of when you're and I again I have to say go to their website everything from the posting of their Public relations where they announced their reports and they put everything up so it's a huge resource So I think sometimes in the issue of you know wanting to know there's so much we could Go on and on like every time there's a meeting about all the things They're working on but part of it is you're gonna have certain issues that you're concerned about like the marijuana one was Very big last year and so PVPC was a huge resource in helping staff and and select board You know stay abreast of that So I think it's about learning how to use PVPC as a tool for yourself individually yourself as a group and Again as a is the tap Can I just ask a clarifying question? Is that a report that you did for the planning board? Did you were reading from her? Oh, oh, no, I just I think I sent an email to Chris with Just the high points just kind of perusing through the database wondering where Amherst Stood on all these things so that is If you want to take a note, it's Pioneer Valley data. Or they launched it about four months ago That's why Pioneer Valley data no periods or anything that thought it would Chris. Did you have a comment on that? So I just wanted to say that I do receive updates Probably about once a month or quarterly or something like that from Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. They have someone who is a Tasked with communicating information about what they do So I could next time I receive one forwarded to the town manager and he could forward it to you Would that be of interest that would be excellent. Thank you. Okay. Yes, Andy. You had a question earlier Could I just have one thing on Chris and you can all sign up for their email newsletter? That just that anyone can do and you get it's only about once a month and it gives you all We'll make sure we provide you with the information for how to sign up for that Andy Yeah, this is maybe as much a comment to my colleagues on the council as To We're here to speak with us But a point was made earlier that we may need to think about and that was that we've had ongoing discussions at various times about the value of turnover and positions and the value of maintaining stability and What is gained by stability and a point was made that? Advancing into leadership positions on the Regional Planning Commission depends upon the amount of time that people are in positions and we're creating a System that deprives us ever of having seniority in these positions. That's a consequence That I think that we ought to be talking about lesson I agree I suggested actually that Jack mentioned that because he'd mentioned that to me personally as Being an ongoing part of our conversation It's also true that we've had people serve on the planning board for a long time and still never been on the executive committee So we it didn't solve our problem in the past But it is something more in terms of getting on the executive committee when people had served 10 or 12 years on our planning board They didn't necessarily get on they didn't get on the executive committee But that doesn't mean that it isn't something we should be we should be taking track of the other thing I did just want to make a small disclaimer to make it clear that actually Pioneer Rally Planning Commission was a very little use To us when it came to the marijuana bylaws we were ahead of the game and it was actually Chris helping them So and that's that's often the case with us is that because of our planning staff being very forward thinking We serve as a resource to them in many cases as well as them serving as a resource to us But it's always good to know what different things they do make available to us like the economic development series from last year Sarah I Also thought it was interesting that was brought up and Steve originally had said that you know a lot of planning boards and zoning boards are Elected so it's interesting to me to find out that you know towns that are a little bit bigger or cities actually do that So that's something I definitely would want to look into and see how they do that. So that's another interesting part According to our charter we appoint so it would mean a charter change, but yes Steve Yes, so counterintuitively oftentimes. It's the elected planning boards like Hadley that have people that serve for 20 years You know, it's crazy I mean so you would think that'd be the other way around that the elected planning boards would turn over more often But it's actually the the opposite the other thing is And now we're getting down into the weeds The PVPC uses a nominating committee and I frankly I don't like nominating committees because of the reasons that you're stating that they have some sort of an imaginary list of qualifications for positions that actually are not way outside of what the bylaws state and You know if there was one thing that Go Amherst that we could push is to get rid of the nominating committee or to challenge the nominee committee run from the floor But that's if you want to Log the time in Another option is to challenge the makeup of the executive committee so that it has to include people with younger tenure with less tenure So that you don't they have to fill slots with people who might be Not as experienced Yes, George want to come back to data for a second I sometimes feel like I'm trying to think of things or make decisions that I really don't have a clear sense of You know like a snapshot of our community and I'm getting the feeling that this is actually a very valuable resource For getting a sense of a picture of the community at given time And I guess a question also for Chris whether she finds that this is the main source of data for her or whether she has many other resources But where we get our data and how up-to-date it is so that we're making decisions say on issues about aging or housing That we have numbers that you know we can rely on And so this is obviously an excellent source, but I'm getting the feeling it's not the only source And I wonder if Chris has any just a comment as to where else she goes Maybe that's a long long answer so she can just say no thanks We do rely on the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission for some of our data, but we also have Resources in our own department people who are very good at doing research and so we rely on our colleagues as well I think Amherst is kind of blessed with really good staff people particularly in the planning department, so Thank you George so what I dream of and it may very well exist in it's just again another example of my ignorance, but That we would have this sort of stuff that we could look at on a regular basis as we're making our decisions the snapshot from year To year to degree that it's possible I'm thinking particularly of issues about aging, but also housing That there are numbers that we get updated and that we have actually we get or are told where we can go to get them That's kind of what's in the back of my mind And there does seem to be a basis for at least the start of that with the work that Jeff Kravitz has done And just adding to that to the extent that you know we can pick up other databases as well Are there additional comments quit? Yes Dorothy? Well one easy way to Let us know what the PVPC is doing is on the our Email there was a calendar That you'd put out and I looked at it and I said oh this looks interesting I tried to print it it came out all funny and the print was too small for me to read anyway So if you had like an age-friendly calendar that you gave to us for the coming year We would actually each month read something about what this group does And it would be an easy way of getting us more familiar with the group Pat Baudry is his title is director of Media, but he does more he's outreach and he offered to come or if he was invited he would come but If we ask him I know we can get copies of the calendars and full and they're normal size. Yeah for everyone. So He would be thrilled That they the calendars are a new approach because I think when they normally do things nobody really looks at it It's just more boring black-and-white text But so they they jazzed up and I think that's what people are doing now kind of making it more interesting So but and all the information is in there. So it's good Had beautiful pictures Pardon beautiful pictures. Yes. Yes the best of the valley Are there other comments or questions at this time? Thank you for the update. We look forward to hearing from you periodically Thank you. Yes So the town managers has asked whether we would be willing to take seven C Which is the dog park public way request and if I will as President make that change please come forward mr. Zomac Good evening and thank you for squeezing me in here. I will try to be brief. I Want to leave time for councillor questions. I'm here tonight Really to give a brief overview of the dog park project with a specific focus And I believe that that this request will be referred tonight but as keepers of the public way the town council has authority on any project that may have an impact on one of our roads or our streets our public ways in town and Tonight, I just want to outline quickly One such project, which is the dog park We have a modest request off of old Belcher town road To add some parking some paved parking and access for the proposed new dog park Before you on the screen, I have a couple of quick slides and I just wanted to go through these and I'm happy to take questions Oops if I could stay with the first slide, thank you very much Athena So for over a year now the dog park task force chaired by Jim Pistrang and With a vice chair of dr. Ted Diamond a local vet has been working closely I've been working closely with them to identify a place for a dog park and Try to search for funding for that dog park and I'm happy to say that we have both We have an excellent location and we've put together a funding package Where most of the funding for the dog park is coming from a private foundation called the Stanton Foundation After searching high and low all over town We determined that the best location for the dog park was at the old capped landfill off of old Belcher town road Indicated by the large Overly large red dot there on old Belcher town road. We are not going to build a dog park in the water It will be on the west side of old Belcher town road The landfills the old landfill is about 55 acres just to give you a scale We're talking about one and a half acres. This is a very modest park the dog park task force Started out their efforts really saying they did not want the Cadillac of dog park. They want something functional They want something simple and they wanted something fairly inexpensive They did not want to break the bank on this project and I appreciated all of that That direction so we found this site. We've been working through various processes We to date we have been through the conservation commission the design review board the Disability access advisory committee the planning board and we're working with the natural heritage An endangered species program because there's endangered species on the landfill and we're working with the DEP because this is a capped landfill The funding for this as I said is coming from the Stanton foundation a wonderful foundation out of Boston They have funded the design and they'll fund most of the construction of the dog park Town meeting as some of you may recall also voted to authorize some Modest use of CPA funds for this project So we think we have a pretty good funding package the dog park task force is now working on private funding to Supplement some of their work. They're also looking for donations and everything from boulders to Entryway kiosks, and they've already gotten some people to donate Substantial things to the project so our site is old farm road all Beltran Road, and if we could squeeze that a little our design firm is Berkshire design out of North Hampton and as you can see this is a conceptual design that is the basis for our Bidding documents as I said, it's a that's a one and a half acre site It will be fully fenced for the safety of the users as well as the dogs It'll be broken up into two areas one on On one side because I always get this messed up as to what you're looking at and what I'm looking at so on the larger side on the on the South side will be for large dogs Again a very simple design Everything has to be ADA so there'll be an area of peace stone in the middle of the walkways. You can see the walkways Well in any event for the sake of time, I think the walkways are clear the multicolored structures are Shade structures on both sides, so they really mirror each other One is for small dogs and smaller on the other side is for larger dogs The dog park task force is coming up with rules and regulations They're going to form a friends group to support the dog park and also work toward kind of monitoring the park for behavior-based Things as well as to raise money in the future Again a simple design shade structures walkways some digging areas for dogs Some sandy areas for dogs to dig these specifics of the design are that we have to be very careful of the cap of the Landfill so we actually have to bring in a fair amount of fill to put on top of the landfill cap Because we don't want dogs people or any of the vertical structures Which are few here, but to pierce the cap of the landfill the other Fortunate thing we have is that this part of the landfill there's actually no trash under this portion of the landfill It's actually where the stump dump was so basically all organic material went in this area not refuse So again simple design old Belcher town road if we can go to the next slide and we might jump back Here are some of the simple features. We'll be looking at dog watering stations Trash receptacles recycling receptacles benches welcoming kiosk the shade structures will be very similar to what are at Mill River Park Their their flies really there in the upper center picture. They'll be seasonal So we'll we'll install them in the spring provide shade for people and dogs throughout the year and then take them down And then there'll be a simple structure for maintenance equipment to be stored on site. So not a lot of vertical Not a lot of vertical construction in this project next slide if we could Enlarge the second one would be more helpful. Thank you and these were This these two slides were in your packet essentially What we're asking for tonight and and hopefully in your referral will be to Construct what you can see the red line is the public way associated with old Belcher town road and what we'd like to construct in the public way our portions of there'll be 22 parking spaces for visitors two of those will be for handicap spaces and All vertical structures will be constructed out of the public way on the parcel But we're asking for permission for use of the public way for Nose in parking I've been working with Guilford mooring our superintendent of public works and his staff and They've been reviewing the plans as we've gone along So I think I'll stop there take questions and we'll see where where we go from there Questions at this time. Yes Dorothy I have two One is a suggestion and one is a question. I would suggest that there be a porta potty There as part of it being a friendly spot for owners as well as dogs And I'm just wondering the I don't have a dog, but I was I read somewhere that they are very hard on Land and turf so that there has to be just as on the athletic fields There has to be updating of it and is is that something that the friends are going to take care of or is that? How is that going to be dealt with so that's a great question So the area inside the two loops will be a piece stone and there was been a long debate about this And we're fortunate to have a number of people on the dog park task force as well as our designer Berkshire design They have done many dog parks and they suggested two Surfaces one is a piece stone in the center of each one of the walkways And then on the outside will just be natural turf and this allows us to do a couple of things One is when the turf wears out and it does wear out from time to time You can actually fence off the piece stone area and let the turf regenerate you can also flip that and open the turf and Water down essentially you do need to from time to time Dewater or water the piece stone to just clear it out and it'll just filter down through the piece stone into the Essentially into the old landfill. So we're definitely taking that into consideration We looked at artificial surfaces many dog parks have them around the country They're incredibly expensive to put in and we the dog park task force said no They wanted to go natural and less expensive the porta potty issue I think is something we're gonna have to look at we did not design in a restroom as you can see The typical visit to a dog park is 45 minutes For dog and dog owner So we're gonna have to see whether porta-potties are really necessary or not It's not something obviously it would have added considerable cost if we had included a bathroom a restroom out here and You asked you asked specifically about whether the friends would be taking Responsibility for the upkeep it'll be a combination and I'm speaking with mr. Moreing and Alan snow our director of trees and parks. There certainly will be some Responsibility for DPW as well as some responsibility for our animal welfare officer Carol Hepburn Carol has been part of the planning for this all along is hugely supportive of it and in all likelihood she will be Brought in as part of the Emptying dog waste percepticals the task force is also looking at composting those many communities like Cambridge actually have worked pretty actively to Compose the dog waste. It's a little more complicated than it might seem but we're looking at that in the future Composting dog waste, but certainly removing the dog waste as it accumulates in the receptacles additional questions Shall we so? My understanding is the nonprofit and the friends are paying for this. What is the cost to the town? The only town funding there certainly is staff support. I work on this Nate Malloy has been assisting me in recent months The Stanton Foundation will contribute on the order of about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars toward this park town meeting authorized $90,000 and the rest will be made up through private fund raising and This is a I will tell you this is a modest This will be between three and four hundred thousand dollars to construct which is actually a very inexpensive dog park for Massachusetts Sierra So I'm just wondering because of there is obviously maintenance and it's as an acre I'm assuming some mowing unless the dogs like absolutely like Trump threw so much that they're mowing themselves Do you know approximately how much a town will pay a year just for? mowing and turf upkeep and You know, I'm just some at some point, you know the shade Cloths will have to be like redone. Do you did you guys have any like just ballpark idea? How much you pay a year? We haven't really ballparked the annual maintenance I will say in terms of the the built structures the Stanton Foundation is Incredibly supportive of the initial construction and then they allow you to do five-year incremental Improvement so if you need a replacement shade structure Stanton can pay for it if something breaks if you want to add something to your dog park You can reapply to Stanton. So once you're into in in the Stanton Approved project list you can go back to them for incremental improvements, but I think mowing Again, this is not going to be need to be mowed like a an athletic field if you will it's going to be more natural and can be mowed by different kind of mower more More in line with what we use on conservation trails or something like that So this will not be closely mown grass like at Plumbrook or community field So it'll be a rough surface perfect for dogs and and play dog play I believe Steve you're next. Yeah, so Bill Cazan's not here unfortunately But you haven't lived until you've seen the St. Louis University dog park and sculpture park Which is a combination of those two? those two uses art park and and dog park and I mentioned this in part because well if the percent for art bylaw were law then this would presumably be Some part of this would presumably be affected by That but I think we can I hope we can have more fun with some of the structures than Then the examples that were shown would seem to be sort of off-the-shelf sheds, but I think that this being a You know a town facility You know, I think we can do you don't have some more fun We're we're all all open to fun. Yeah, as long as it stays within the budget Shall me so would I mean this is not Taking away from the dog park and I have I love pets, but and Would putting money here be taking away from the town putting up something for homeless people as we've been all part of the conversations of Where do we put some of the homeless people who have been living on private properties? So the funding the town time that we're putting investing in this would this in any way be taking away from that I don't really think it's taking away from that nor is it taking funds away the CPA dollars that were allocated toward this project Are in the open space category? So it really can't be used for other purposes, so These were these were voted I'm gonna say two years ago in town meeting so And Again 225 I think to 250,000 is coming from the Stanton Foundation, so I will say again We responded to a need the need that was articulated to us by dozens and dozens of residents was We would like a dog park like many other communities in Massachusetts, so Jim Pistrang and others for years. We're approaching the town saying can we form a group can we get it together? Can can we organize around this topic? When mr. Backelman joined us Jim was right there early on and said I'd really like to he'd really like to spearhead this effort, and that's when we put together the task force So for over a year and a half they've sought the funding they've helped write the grants and they've put this package together I think in the end it will have modest Upkeep requirements, but nothing near a playing field or something like that Are there additional questions at this time? So the reason this comes before the council at this point is because it needs to be referred to CRC and David will be there since he's the liaison to CRC and so Are there council questions regarding that? I think we've determined this is not an issue that needs to be taken up by finance Because at this time it's not a financial request. It's a public way request Yes Pat I was just Thinking about $90,000 and that feels like a Not compared to 250,000, but it's still a lot of money for the town right now So I'm having questions about The value for the project That money was previously voted by a previous legislative body I know but I don't think we have the power to rescind that And I will say again just Actually a good portion of that money is already committed to the environmental studies. We've done a notice of intent or Wetlands permitting we have to do what's called a peak up, which is a post closure use permit for any portion of the landfill So we'll actually be studying to make sure that the landfill Methane or any co2 gases coming off the landfill are safe for dogs and people We believe they are we've had extensive discussions with DEP But that's all part of the process and all being paid for with these funds. So That were previously committed by a former legislative body of the town And and I realize I haven't spoken specifically about the right-of-way But I assume that that would be what I would go into With the CRC and then come back to you with a specific recommendation In terms of number of feet and getting into those kinds of details. Yes Pat Okay, other questions Steve Anticipating referral to the CRC the jurisdiction then are the reason for it is the right-of-way. Yes, as opposed to the design exactly It is because when we as we passed the our own rules about what needs to be Looked at by the council when it's permanent right-of-way. It has to be looked at and voted on And this is an easement on the permanent right-of-way Additional questions So the motion, I'm sorry. I could just go it actually wouldn't be an easement. I'm sorry It's a town project. It is simply a permanent use of the right-of-way So the town doesn't seek an easement on itself. Thank you It would be in fact the way the motion reads is to refer The requested permanent changes to the public way at 95 old Beltertown Road To the Community Resource Committee and report back to the town council on August 15th 2019 so It's a motion to refer are there further questions before we move to the motion All right Then is there a motion and the motion is to refer the requested permanent changes to the public way at 95 old Beltertown Road to the Community Resource Committee with a report back to the council on August 15th 2019 Dorothy I move that we do that and second George I second any further questions comments Then all those in favor say I and raise your hand I and opposed Abstain, okay. Thank you very much. So it's 11 4 Zero against zero abstain and two absent Okay Yes, let's take a break we will take a break till 8 o'clock. Thank you We're going to be Thank you I've given you a 15 page Self-assessment or response to the goals that were set by the select board last year So first I want to start by thanking you for allowing me to serve the town and this is a Dream job for me. I really love my work and I love working for the town. It's a real privilege So this is sort of a thing where like when you're in the middle of a project or something and You're sort of straightening them up a mess over here And you're sort of putting out a fire over here and you're pushing somebody ahead of you. You're pulling somebody behind you sometimes you forget to look up and so this Process allows us the time to sort of stick our head up and look and see how we're doing and I think we're really doing well If you look back where we were a year ago and what we've accomplished in the last year It's really remarkable what the town the council the staff the appointed boards People who have been coming to your meetings and talking to you on a regular basis How far we've gone as a town to change our form of government? So This When we think back, you know, we've used a lot of analogies like building the plane while we fly changing the tire while we drive So I sort of always think of it as is Building building the government From scratch and that's what we did and I there were no Plans that came with the toolkit that we had and we were just sort of did it ourselves And I think that it really looks good I think it's being responsive to the people. I think it reflects the values that the people in the community were hoping for when they when the Charter was written and when it when it passed So I think that this the Part of this was because I think that the select board did guide the transition in the first place They were looking forward. I think that the council the council came together people who didn't really know each other and sort of Talked to each other and worked out differences and continue to work out differences. That's the way it's supposed to be. It's messy And then the town staff every time that we've asked them to do something they came and did it and I sort of look at This room is being emblematic of that that again, I've told the story where you know We were about to contract this out and town staff said can we design and build it and every time I'm in here for a meeting I really appreciate You know the it's not fancy, but it's it's very attractive It's very handsome and it works really well and that's sort of how I feel that we've built this government It's not fancy, but it works really well and so I credit the town staff who stepped up to do this So the review provides me The assessment of how we're doing What how we're doing it's not perfect. We have more work to do But I am really proud of what we've done so the 15 page report that you have basically just tracks the goals that were established by the select board and That's the purpose of that the select board separate the goals into two sections short-term girls for the for the select board prior to their demise and Mid and long-term goals that the select board recommended to the town council. There are 10 categories 24 short-term goals and 60 long-term goals Reviewing the goals last year one select board member said we are something to behold And admiring not maybe not admiring but saying wow, this is quite a document So I'm not going to talk about what I wrote because I think the document speaks for itself I want to focus on the bigger picture And I'm not going to take a ton of your time because I know there's a lot of other things on tonight So first off I want I want people to understand the scope of our operation We're a large operation. We're 85 million dollar budget. There are 250 town employees in a similar number in the Amherst public schools and I want to cover six. I think six big topics So that would things that we can look back as accomplishments or things and there's I don't have slideshows or anything like that So you just have to listen to me So it's a change in government so we talk about this one way or another every day every week. There was no road map And I think I worked hard to make the transition successful This room I mentioned was is very symbolic of it So some of the things that we did to try to make it successful We're the meet the candidates where it's the first time I met many of you that in July of last year Where we brought department heads to come and talk to candidates because I thought it was really important for any candidate who would Who had achieved a spot on the ballot? Felt comfortable that they had a baseline knowledge of government local government Because you have incumbents and other roles people who'd served on other committees But and also to sort of say we're all starting at the same level and if you want more information, please talk to me before After the after the election And then I also offered to me with any in any any candidates as well There were two post-election meetings that we had after the election, but before you were sworn in With when we talked talked about open government public records conflict of interest We had excellent trainers there to help us and to do some team-building things with Stan Rosenberg and others I think the inauguration was thoughtfully planned and Recognize the importance of the transition and we did it the Amherst way We the council had a retreat Early on to help where you sort of came together and started talking about what your your values and goals were We brought in departments on a regular basis and you commit at the time Throughout January and February to learn more about each individual departments our departments really valued that they worked hard to prepare their Presentations they were excited to be able to get in front of you and I appreciate that you all devoted time to come in So they could have that opportunity We developed procedures for reviewing and improving appointments We started a lot of new committees the ECAC Ranked choice voting license commission all the council committees These are all new committees that normally in a year if you started a committee that would be an accomplishment This groups in the town started a whole bunch all at once So that's the changing government That's one sort of thing that I went to hit on the second one is fiscal management We are in a strong financial position and we're getting stronger with new growth and new sources of revenue and with cost containment This is going against strong headwinds with entities that don't pay taxes to us and place demand on town services And it's more and more all the time How have we done this? We've contained costs with I want to focus on health insurance, which is up to 10% of our budget at times This happened a year ago, but was continued into this year We identified the problem We noted that the increases in health insurance through the health trust was not sustainable That the increases that were going to be necessary was going to break the back of our employees and of the town and the school The town of Pelham and the library We mapped out a path to go forward We worked with our union partners and implement and implemented a significant change where we went from a Self-insured program to a fully insured program and then we implemented over time with dozens of meetings with employees at all of our different locations We got there and it paid off We have a stable insurance that's fully insured This year we had a point six percent That's less than one percent increase in health insurance which really stabilized the schools and the town's budget and We paid off the surcharge which we had to carry over because we were the health trust was in debt We had to carry that over into the into this fiscal year and we paid that off early As as as we got more revenue coming in from Blue Cross and from Harvard So so we had the changing government with fiscal management were strong and we also the other thing on the fiscal management is new revenue new revenue comes from marijuana money that is starting to come in from new taxes on the Airbnb Short-term rentals and then new growth that's being developed throughout the town all those new buildings You see going up bring in new revenue to the town The third category is people This town runs well because of the town staff who are so dedicated and professional Our working for the town is a real opportunity that people Work hope to get to in their careers and we're the envy of other communities We have Given our talented people more tasks we haven't added a lot of added a lot of new bodies We've asked people to do more for instance our the finance director at the school department is now our capitals projects manager He has done a superb job with the finance committee and meets tomorrow afternoon to present the new tool for Analyzing how we can afford four projects. So this is a talented Staff member who's taken on additional roles Our facilities manager at the Jones library has taken on the additional role of being facilities manager for all town buildings again Someone who was looking for growth in his in his job and and saw it on our side And it was a win-win situation because we did not have to fill that position The economic development director has taken on a lot of new things. He's been our marijuana czar. He's been our bylaws are He's our parking czar at this point and he still does all of his economic development work as well we've done some we've We've eliminated one position, but that person did not lose the job they got transferred when we brought the the billing for ambulances in-house and That increased our ability to bill more comprehensively and kept keep our billing up to date We did so we have one less person But that individual was able to fill a job that had been vacant in another department We were we were successful for a while when we had the town clerk also served the role of clerk of the council And we were really fortunate that Margaret was there to do that and I think what we learned is that That was an unusual situation and I think wisely the council and we realized that they are two jobs Sometimes you know unless you have any unique person to do it you have to recognize when it's not going to work out That's too much for one person and I think there was nobody that had Margaret's Town management management experience and town clerk experience those we did was going to walk through that door so having that separated I think was Having it together was a good decision when she left it made good sense to separate So we need to know when when these cost savings are good and when they're not The comptroller is serving as our finance director We've promoted one of our key IT staff to be the communications manager because we know we've wanted to increase that capability The building commissioner has taken on additional capital management actual Project management of some of our town buildings The assistant town manager does a dozen different things that you know You probably never even see but he does a million things all the time And our superintendent of public works has also fills the role of managing many of our larger capital projects And then I think the biggest success for us is our community participation officers I'm really proud of that decision and that you supported To instead of picking one person that we were hiring to locate this with three talented Women who were willing to and are excited about taking on the task brought all different kinds of skills to the Project and I think just have really rocked the whole CPO thing and they have a million more ideas that they Are eager to get moving on and Then finally, I think we we were really fortunate to have a lot of people step up and volunteer to be serve on committees So many people in their interviews would say to us I Was excited by the change of government and I put my name in and I was I wanted to be part of the change And it was really exciting and so we filled you know We worked with the residents advisory committee and the Cpo's to recruit interview and appoint dozens of board and committee members So fiscal management change of government people and then communications the One of the things that has been really we've talked a lot about is that communicating is a really important task That local governments usually aren't very good at and we need to get better at it as well We and I think you being out there in the fields are telling us more You can bit get better at some of the things that we do to communicate. We do some good We do some stuff and it's really good, you know, I do the town management reports But it doesn't get wide enough distribution We share it with department heads and some people share it with their constituents But we can take that and make that into a more usable document for the public The cup of Joes are pretty popular. I tend to keep doing those You know we get a you know a dozen people at every one and it's people like it Even if they don't show up people tell me I really like that you do that I so you've never come and they said I know but I'd like that you do it. Okay The meet-up was a manager. We're five Random employees from the town come and meet with me. We had one this morning at DPW. They choose HR just gets five people from five different departments and they tell me what they think and I learned a lot of things about Someone who's been here three months, but who felt like we weren't really onboarding them aren't training them well that really hit me that we Hire someone and then the person there's somebody there who has to train them, but we don't train them how to train and Then this person was feeling that she felt resentment that she didn't know her job because no one trained her and it was just Really instructive to me and we had a police officer there who would talk about what they go through to train Before they're allowed to go out and it was really instructive when she started to describe the process of not just the Academy But they spend a year with a mentor in the department who they check in with and then they go to another person for another year And then they go back to the original mentor to sort of circle back. It's a really Amazing kind of process that the police department follows and It's something that other departments really Admire about our department because they know that we really invest a lot of time and effort into this You know, we do press release releases The other thing I'm really proud of is the efforts that the LSSE has done to take their Their programs into neighborhoods Something that you know, I encourage them to do and that they actually want an award for a recognition for Doing it the way they've been doing it. We had the clean up day, which was a modest success We learned a lot from what worked and what didn't work, but I think it'll be a lot better We intend to do it at least once a year Cpo's are thinking twice a year. I'm not so sure about that but They're excited about maybe engaging the college community when they come back as being a way to invest in the community as soon as they get on on campus And again the Cpo's I think have done a spectacular job of reaching into the community showing up at district meetings all those things So the communication pieces is working So there are The big Projects after fiscal management are capital projects Rows and sidewalks we talk about a lot. We're putting more money into those The capital plan you'll hear more about in the coming weeks the finance committee will get a view of the tool This capital plan is going to be really important in the fall It's one of the big projects that I think the council's got to grapple with can we afford these four projects? Are we are we able to move forward on them? Are you going to be willing to appropriate money to do schematic designs of several of the projects? The library is now number two on the waiting list. The school will know on December 11th It's December 11th if they get funding or not so all these things are are Teed up and that's something that the town is the council is going to have to start to grapple with and Establish where your values are and which ones you want to have bill for a debt exclusion Which ones you don't want to have to do a debt exclusion which ones? How Expensive how much money do you want to spend on them? Those are all variables that you'll be able to play with in this tool and you're going to want to hear from the public on What what where the values are? The the decisions you make will be the values of the town. So it's a really important decision that you're going to be facing So I think we've had successful relations with Our our institutional partners as much as I wish they paid us more We've had a lot of challenges with them Hampshire College went through two leadership changes three leadership changes now It's of August 6th. So the third president and That's been a challenge because it made it really hard to communicate with them when we were looking for Land or whatever it is. We were trying to do They were unable To make substantive decisions because they were just struggling with their own existence So that was a time-consuming challenge that involved a lot of people as we started to work about the What their future was and that's why the commissioner of higher education will be here on Friday to hear more about What was the impact on our town because it did have an impact on our town and on the college and what does that mean? Successfully worked with Amherst College to secure a significant piece of land that could serve as a DPW We're in that sort of exploratory phase now and that's what they've given us permission to do to explore The council has had multiple meetings and I'm proud of the process We're using actually where we did door-to-door. We did a neighborhood meeting just outside under a tent We have two community meetings and then after tomorrow night's meeting. We will sit back and The council and others will say okay What information did we gleaned from this because we are getting good information from this process and what people's concerns are and where? Where the challenges to this particular site Any place you put a DPW or like a lot of things there will be neighborhood opposition No matter where it is unless it's in the middle of an industrial area, and we don't have any of those So we have to be prepared for that But we also have to not be blinded by we were moving forward on this no matter what so it's an important process That we're engaged in and I wanted to be make sure that it's really an authentic and genuine process And I think that's the way the council is approaching it said we haven't made up our mind With this is a really unique opportunity that's been offered to the town, but we need to hear from what people think We've had You know we've had some other capital Investments are really good Mill Street Bridge is open good Station Road Bridge is open and some people love it and don't want it to change from what it is right now Because they like this sort of quaintness of it We have things that are on the docket like the North Amherst intersection in the future of the North Amherst area The the library the Jones library the North Amherst library, and of course the schools So those are our big sort of categories of things that we've accomplished this year, which I think is a lot You know we got two bridges open We bought one So what's coming up, and I think this is kind of the more interesting piece is what do we see and this will be in Conversation with you as you go through your retreat to say what are the things that you as a council are going to prioritize for the town? The capital plan the capital program that we want to do what are the are you going to be? What are your values your values will be reflected in what you decide about the capital plan? And so that's a really important big discussion that the entire community is going to be care a lot about We want to as part of that We want to educate you about the costs of all these things because you need to see what the impacts of your decisions are We want to educate you about roads and sidewalks because I think there's work to be done to understand You just don't go out and pave a road It's a very complex decision-making process, and I think that we'd like the opportunity to talk to you about that As we do Nord development in town and it's it's you know Chris Brestrup earlier today was talking saying that she's been here And there was like it's kind of really quiet for about ten years It wasn't a lot of development and suddenly they're slammed There's development going after development and what's and she said we were in good shape because those ten years They had done a lot of planning to prepare for the development what they wanted and things like that But now these actual developments each one brings a whole set of issues with that and they're bumping up against neighbors And so when you do development you have neighborhood issues, and that's all stuff that the staff has to has to grapple with We have a lot of other issues coming up anything to do with North Amherst because Development is heavy up there, and we need to be paying attention to what the beacon project is going to have the impact It's that it's going to have on the neighborhood The census is really important to us because that matters a lot in terms of where we are Federally in terms of money that comes to the town and we have a population that has a high likelihood of not participating as Fully as they should so we need to be in front of that issue Craig stores you've heard about the issues with Craig stores important cultural facility for us Not sure exactly what is going to happen with that, but the town will be fully engaged in that the future of that The Valley CDC project on North Hampton Road again something that's really important to the community I think we've did a bit of it we in terms of engaging But there's a long way to go for that project in a long lot of conversations to be had through permitting and funding the East Street School Marijuana there's a whole world of that still has to be addressed of regulations and permits and agreements that we have to reach with marijuana And then lastly one things we're working on Prospectively is preparing for when we do borrow money We'll be seeking a bond Rating so we're trying to put all the pieces in place to make sure that when we go for our bond rating We've got everything that they're going to look at ready standardized Examinable, and we're ready to move forward So that's not really Exactly my self-assessment, but it's sort of where we are as a town in a way and Actually the 15-page document is sort of is what Speaks for itself, and I welcome comments that you're gonna have as you after you have a chance to read that And I encourage you to talk to other people encourage you to talk to any employee or anybody so you get a full Assessment of how I'm doing in my job and how the town is doing in its job Thank you So let me just say that this is a time to ask clarifying questions. It's not a time to get into the evaluative statements That obviously will come as we go get into the month of August in the packet there was a Slightly revised and I'll point out the revision in a moment the calendar for the evaluation of the town manager The report that you received from the town manager is performance goals and his assessment Self-assessment is meeting one of those goals The other let me just quickly find it for you Well, we were able to get some of the material out to you by Monday, which was the Monday after the deadline to receive comments from The public comments from committee Chairs and members and comments from staff. I did send you some individual Summaries of each of those in separate emails. I just want to remind you that those are not public documents The only documents that will be public from the town managers evaluation are in fact the ones where we each Do our evaluation and then the summative document that we then work with and come forward with So the only change was it took a still took me until Thursday to get you the summative documents But saying having said that are there any other Clarifying questions with regard to the performance report at this time Yes, Dorothy when you were talking about the multitasking of the town staff and I Thought of it looking at it two ways one it's you know great leadership to do that and I looked at it from the point of view of the worker and I was feeling Wondering if there was any unhappiness or burnout, but you used a phrase there Somebody looking for career advancement. So I'm wondering did you pay it when people take on part of another job? Did they get addition to their pay? Yes. Yes, okay And sometimes it's they don't typically do it for the pay But we feel it's important to recognize the additional responsibilities. They take on a Lot of people want the new challenge or the new and and sometimes they like to take it on because it might not be permanent And that's one of the things that they want to try it and see if it's something that they really like doing or not And that's been a benefit to us And there's some employees that we know that they don't if they're not challenged They start looking around if they don't like doing the same thing all over and over and they're looking for new challenges Listen, I want to rewind the tape a little bit to go back to something that I think reflects Incredibly well on your generous spirit of personality, but kind of practically speaking kind of Maybe not what you actually wanted to encourage us to do Because I believe you indicated that you encouraged us to talk to any employee about how you're doing in your job Which was a really nice thing for you to say, but I would really strongly discourage this council from doing that We got input from employees who chose to participate Which as you've seen in past reports is always a small number And of course if you see somebody at the farmers market and they want to tell you how awesome the town manager is That's awesome, but I am quite certain you do not want us calling up your employees and asking them to meet with us about your performance So let we'll take that in the spirit in which it was offered, but we will not follow up on that Practically speaking I want to thank Alyssa for that clarifying that generous But inappropriate comment Could mark down now I also just want to point out that And I've said this to you you did not you received some comments They are hardly even a representative sample and it's something we will wrestle with as we decide what to do with those comments Okay, any other questions or comments at this time? Yes Shalini Could I just get a sense of how many employees do we have because we receive clarity? And is that as Alyssa just alluded to that is that's typical that we just received 30 think as of today We have 257 full-time employees Thank you, and that on the town side does not include the schools and the schools are how many more 280 for the town. Okay. Thank you because we did receive some I think we received committee. Yeah, go ahead 259 Schools Okay, thank you. Yes Alyssa quick follow up on that So and in the past not necessarily now but in the past we would always have at the end of the old evaluations Which you can find online Justistically how many people employees we had in again because we have fewer employees now than we have had at other points in the past so But would show you that that yields pretty small just to follow up on something I noticed that that I know our president is very focused on What's a representative sample and what isn't it's something that's really important to her because of her other careers and I appreciate that But I want to make clear that it's mine to make sure I'm clear on my understanding of the process Which is that we are all taking those into account Given that we understand they are a very small sample I am not in any way expecting the president to mention anything about them other than to say We heard from a few people about this that are the other thing not We don't want to you know make it seem like it wasn't worth them turning it in given that a bunch of other people didn't bother But we do we do understand this is not like a survey survey I have professional firm that got us real answers But we're all thinking about those answers as we're filling out our report But there would be relatively little about it as has been done in the past in the final Summary document because there's just very little there and the same is true for the public Yes, we say we use team and say town meeting members, please write to us and like almost no one ever writes to us Shalini Follow up on that. It sounds like this has been the case every year and then have you looked at what are the reasons? Employees don't participate and how can we remove the hurdles and get more Let me just say that We even tried this year by using survey monkey Where they could do it online and anonymously Hoping that it would encourage an increase in response and it did not You could also turn it in paper wise Andy I just want to add that this has been a long standing challenge for select boards and having been on the select board that Actually evaluated more than our current town manager. I Was involved in other evaluations of another town manager But this is an ongoing issue that we each year try and find a different way to address it and We'll again next year exactly Pat I Just wanted to say about public Responses I'm being stopped in a variety of different situations Where residents are talking to me about you? And I find that very invigorating and very supportive of your work And I know diversity is something that we are as a town and you are struggling with But that it's recognized by many of the people in town those efforts Thank you We'll have opportunity for addition additional evaluative comments later That's okay It's very easy to move on Are there additional comments or questions at this time? Yes, Paul? So in response to a question I think I spoke to globally not everyone someone takes on a new task. It doesn't mean they get more money It if someone's taking on a new significant responsibility But for instance the economic development director if he suddenly is doing some more tasks That doesn't mean his pay changes, right? So there it depends on what it is if so it But for example the person who added a custodial responsibility He did right okay, so it's it's not just I felt like oh people might think oh every time somebody takes on something Do they get more money? It's not the case right? Thank you for that clarification. Shellingy Is this one acknowledge I know we're not going into substantive stuff But I just want to acknowledge how every person I've an employee I've interacted with including herself has been so responsive and and At the same time I want to say that because you've been so responsive even on weekends How concerned should we be about your burnout? I Think this goes to our president as well. I think this I think this weekend would be a double way to burn out given the demands that were made on DPW fire and police with parking problems and the heat and Everything else and they all deserve enormous amounts of credit For handling some very tense situations at the high school And then in our town next to us there was another meet going on so in general the town was pretty crowded and Our staff was feeling it all over the place. I mean I appreciate your concern I think we care for each other and we pay attention to each other and I think asking the question is really valuable, but Yeah Is the HR person would that would the new HR person be looking into something like this? at all in terms of Burnout Would probably come up through the performance view process more than But it's something she they do a lot of wellness Programs, but probably the people who needed probably would not engage in them and they all Dorothy Well, it does seem to me that you've done an incredible job of getting the work done with the staff you had But I also think it looks like we need more staff Because I this kind of thing it can't continue too long before people get unhappy And I don't know what's any in the in the budget coming up. Is there anything for more staff in FY 20? We haven't done the budget for next for FY 21, but I think that that will be a It comes up here. It comes up with lots of different departments I think this year We'd get a better. We'll have a better sense of what the demands on We need to get to a steady state that we can't really judge on the first seven months of the council because it was It was right truly crazy time. We're hoping we'll get into a steady state I think we we've learned in the clerk's office that there are certain demands that have that were it was really a strain to meet them this year So managing that other departments as well, so But we talk about that a lot it came up to that this morning actually about needing the additional staff in one of our departments I think the council is looking for a steady state as well Are there other questions at this time Okay, thank you very much We're going to move to a quick slide presentation and this is a way of bringing you all up to date and I just want to ask Paul and also my district to counselor to join in this since it's been a Project as mentioned earlier by Dave Zomac and by Paul we've had an Opportunity provided by Amherst College To actually actively now explore a site for DPW and a site for the fire station The process has begun by having Six different people from staff Including our three community participation officers head of DPW head of fire and Dave Zomac The assistant town manager go out and literally knock on doors Leaving messages trying to go back And I know at least in one case where Pat herself is followed up with someone who was not able to talk to one of those people We then had a Saturday where we met with people under a tent on Kiwanis field We were joined at that time by two of our at large counselors as well and then on the 8th of July We had it what we call a district to meeting, but in fact it's open to anyone We have another one of those tomorrow night And we invite you to come again. We were fortunate to have at least two of our counselors and I think Darcy you came to that one as well And so again, it's at Fort River at six o'clock tomorrow night. This is the presentation from July 8th by tomorrow night We will have a few additional slides. Let's just quickly go through them So you understand what we've been talking about to the public We think of this as our three legs the of public safety police fire and public works This just gives you a sense that the most recent building we've built was the police station That was back in 1990 So almost 30 years ago The fire station headquarters was built in 29 the north station in 75 and public works Well, it was a building was built in 1915. We occupied it for public works into in 1940 next slide so we looked very closely at what is fire and emergency medical services and Gone over what they do. This is very much similar to the kinds of orientation we had when we talked with the fire department and then we've just shared for instance the budget the fact that there's 50 employees and Remembering in in all occasions. It's not just fire. It's fire and EMS next slide So we have the two different stations obviously it's the one central that is the most out of date Although I don't want to dismiss the fact that north fire station is also it an age facility go ahead Obviously take out a few mirrors every once in a while We keep supplying them. I think we're out right now and then we give them some more background about the fire stations and particularly the various studies every one of them from 1966 up to 2006 Recommended that something be built to the south of town and you can go to that in fact I think recently I sent a map to somebody Darcy maybe Where I showed the difference coverage of the it wasn't Darcy. I'll have to figure it out, but it's in the fire station study continuing So back in 2018 town meeting did Authorize seven hundred seventy five thousand dollars. There was a Feasibility study done. All that does is provide a conceptual design In fact, I like many people have come to say I wish they would never put a dollar figure in them But they do because the dollar figure is enormously misleading That in that study we looked at a variety of different locations Some of which the town had access to some of which they didn't Ultimately what is really the best location is the current DPW site two of the other most talked about locations one is right off of Pomeran right behind the Valley Transport It's a smaller location and it has a protected species on it It's just a barely over two acres and we really need three to four acres for the fire And then the other one was the south Amherst Commons where the old school is and again, it's not it's I think it's two point nine acres But has some slope problems with it, etc. This is the DPW site right off of West Street 116 you can call it any number of names. I've heard at least three names for that road And that's where the DPW site is right now We would basically move to most of the front of the space the back of the space actually would not be as needed It's about 7.5 to 8 acres, so it's not big enough for a DPW Moving on so once we get to the point we say okay DPW would go here and fire would go here Now we move to what's called schematic design and one of the reasons why this is so important to the council is That the schematic design is what allows you to get to the point you can start making decisions what's actually going to go into this building and how big does it have to be and What will it approximately cost you get to the better cost estimates? And it's only then that we can start saying well, you know maybe we can't do it this way because as we look at all four of the big projects in order to do them we have cut back someplace and This is one of the issues and then you move to your actual Construction documents and actually move on to construction and funding the construction the thing that this Schematic design has to include that the feasibility study did not include is the application of the net zero energy requirements and so that's an additional thing that has to be engineered into this one as well so Moving on to DPW because if we're successful and After listening to the public and standing back and talking about it. We really Are hoping to look seriously at this site that Amherst College has offered DPW is a comprehensive DPW if you compare it to other DPWs you have to do things like Does that DPW deal with water? Does that DPW deal with cemeteries? Does it do the wrecks and rec recreation? Parks and recreation Etc ours is a comprehensive DPW again giving some sense of what they do They present facilities. There are actually four. It's the old DP. It's the DPW site There's the water treatment plan There's the trees and grounds Which would be desirable to move to the new facility. It is next to the pool at The high school so it's not even in an optimal place and then there's the transfer station Obviously the transfer station and the water wastewater treatment plant can't be moved Nor can the water sources, etc. Okay So we have the old DPW building we've talked about it before if you haven't taken a tour, please do we will make an opportunity for that It is a challenge. It's actual foundation is crumbling. There's parts of its roof that have collapsed There's newer parts of the building and and yet older parts do not have the kind of safety and ventilation opportunities if you actually look at the Study that was done in the feasibility Renovation of that facility would cost as much as tearing it down and starting over Next Like with Just like with the fire. There was a feasibility study done again. It cost 75 000 And out of it nine sites were actually looked at We are going to be including those in the slides for tomorrow night And for various reasons some of those sites are no longer available. Some are not considered optimal sites And actually the amherst college site was not even in those because it had not been offered at the time of the study So this is the field How best to describe this on your left Is southeast street on your far right going off this way is route nine and then stanley street comes down into that point with it and Of the field is the bigger field in the center Uh, no, I think southeast southeast is on your left Up here southeast is on your no southeast street is on your left. Okay. All right So it's that large field has access both the stanley street and to southeast street Obviously some of the area however is wetlands moving on So one of the things about having a site is you can't do a schematic design until you have a site And so one of the reasons the DPW fire station advisory committee basically stalled out Is because we didn't have a site So what this provides is an opportunity to seriously look at a site And if we move forward Then we can do the schematic design with all of the things that go into it like traffic studies and environmental and geotechnical investigations, et cetera And then you move like with the other It also When we did the when the DPW feasibility study was done It did not include net zero So the schematic design study will have to include net zero And that really brings us to the fact is this a done deal and the We're we're in the process of exploring both sites to determine suitability for both DPW and fire And we're soliciting and listening to concerns of neighbors and abutters We've even had a couple people Suggest to us that this is the way the town should do projects, which is nice to hear that we've actually gone out We've provided feedback forms meetings And again urge if you are willing to have another night out tomorrow night at six o'clock You can hear what some of the neighbors have to say Questions This is not the last time you'll hear about these projects Yes, Dorothy In looking at the field There's one area where it's pretty up to the backyards of some houses What amelioration effects have you Have they suggested or have you been thinking about? To make it more acceptable That is a question we have out there To people, you know, do they feel like we need to put berms in do they feel like we need to put would they like to see more At you know some kind of park athletic facilities gardens We're not even there yet at this point pat. Do you have further comment on that? But it's one of the things we're asking the neighbors I will say that in the process other neighbors have come forward and said but what about our streets and what about route nine So it's an opportunity for this Neighborhood to kind of put it all out there, which is fine Yep other questions Okay, then we're going to Continue to move on So the next item is rules of procedure first reading We're now back to action item And in this case, it's seven b and um So evan you're On for this one Since mandy joe is yes not available. So After our rules of procedure committee wrapped up, uh, there were a few things that were Outstanding with rules of procedure And one of the things that the ad hoc rules of procedure committee did was provide Uh a list of sort of unfinished business along with some insight into the debate That they had had and even in some cases some recommended Text or recommended actions Now that ad hoc rules of procedure has been dissolved the rules lie with governance organization and legislation And so over our past three meetings We have discussed the List that was given to us by rules of procedure Since mandy joe is not here. I will be speaking to them as vice chair So you saw in the go l report that is in your packet all of the changes that were made I'm not going to go through all of them because some of them were fine We're fairly minor some of them were just corrections But I do want to just highlight some of the things we did and perhaps provide some insight as to why Beyond what was provided in the report. Um, so We did add a table of contents We did and this is to mandy joe's credit because this was a tremendous amount of work added hyperlinks That linked to the charter mgl Or cmr and in fact if you if you click on the hyperlink, it doesn't just take you to the charter It takes you to the page of the charter Where that reference is So it's not just a charter. It's the page that it's on so I will take no credit for that That was all mandy joe's work Which should surprise no one Um Some of the more substantive things we did run through these one is rule 2.2 h Which is on page three of rules of procedure We added a rule that did not exist before With regard to one of the rules of the president The rule reads the president shall serve as spokesperson of the council for all inquiries and correspondence addressed to the full council There had been a lot of Questions and uncertainty over when it's appropriate for counselors to respond to correspondence when it's appropriate to respond to press inquiries And we sought to highlight that the only person who can speak On behalf of the full council To increase in correspondence that are addressed to the full council would be the president But we did not want to restrict the ability of any individual counselor to respond To a press inquiry or correspondence as an individual counselor Simply to clarify that anything that's looking for comment from the council as a whole would come from the president Page six rule 3.5 before Has to do with executive session minutes This was something that was actually brought to us not by rules of procedure. I don't believe but by our former town clerk Who acknowledged that even though we have been going into executive session With some regularity that's not always the case and sometimes there can be fairly long spans of time to go into an executive session And since you can only approve executive session minutes in executive session That means there's the potential that there could be really long spans of time in which executive session minutes are not approved And so this rule requires us to Go into Executive session not more than three months When needed to approve executive session minutes This differs from other communities. We should say I believe that North Hampton don't quote me on that Allows the president to just approve executive session minutes And so GOL by consensus decided to keep this responsibility with the council but to make sure that's done regularly Page 17 We changed rule 8.2 c so this has to do with referral. So right now All town manager appointments are automatically referred to oakah and all bylaws are automatically referred to gol but All financial measures have to have a council referral. There was no automatic referral And gol wanted to see automatic referral of financial measures Authorizing a loan living a tax expenditure of money However One issue came up, which was that The town manager files the budget on may 1 if it is an automatic referral of the budget To the finance committee that means the finance committee then gets referred the budget on may 1 the finance committee then has 30 days to report back to the council that is really difficult to do Because that essentially gives the finance committee Two meetings given our meeting schedule to report back and given that that last monday is very often a holiday It actually gives the finance committee an even shorter span of time And so if you remember this month the finance committee gave the report, I believe in our first june meeting. Um, and so What this rule does is it automatically refers all financial To finance committee with the exception of the budget so that the budget is still Referred by the council which buys the finance committee a little bit of extra time To report back to the council. So it doesn't have to be done by may 30 Recognizing that that can be logistically challenging Uh page 22 of the rules One thing that we did is appendix b Was intended to be copies of all the committee charges We recommended deletion of appendix b and instead inserted hyperlinks to the charges What this does is one it doesn't add just a whole bunch of pages to our rules of procedure But also should these charges be updated or revised We don't have to go back and replace them in the rules of procedure because they'll be replaced on the town website and this hyperlinks to it Page 23 This was a rule that we are recommending deletion. It is uh 10.6 j. We're recommending deletion and ring numbering 10.6 K to 10.6 j. Uh, this rule previously read committees have the right and obligation to be creative offer opinions Including majority and minority views and produce documents. Uh, there was a feeling that this rule didn't necessarily Do anything. Um, it wasn't actually it's it's labeled as a rule But isn't actually a rule we felt it was more of a value statement that actually exists already within appendix a which is the town council values um and the statement that There needs to be inclusion of majority and minority views is actually already included in what is now the new 10.6 j One which includes minority views and so we felt as though the only actual rule which was inclusion of majority minority views Is already in an existing rule. Um, the other part of it was a value statement and so we're recommending deletion of that I'm almost done. I promise Um And then the last sort of substantive one was uh 10.10 Had been left the finance committee may include members of the public who shall have no A voice but no vote in the finance committee deliberations and we just specified that the appointment of that It lies with the council. There was some discussion about whether we wanted to actually write out The appointment process the oca appointment process for finance committee and we decided not to do that Just to specify that it's not a presidential appointment But is a council appointment and the very last thing speaking of oca that we did was recommend deletion of appendix c oca appointment Um an appointment confirmation process given that that is sort of influx given that that might be perpetually influx It didn't seem wise to include it or necessary to include as part of the rules Um, so those were the I would say the major revisions There were a lot of other smaller things we did like I said most of them were simple corrections Um, but the major revisions to the rules were those the one thing that we have not gotten to Is 10.5 work groups? That is one that we were tasked with we have discussed it I think twice in oca and we uh simply have not gotten to the point where we're ready to bring forth a recommendation It is on our agenda for wednesday's meeting Perhaps we will have something to you by august 19th, but that's the one rule that we were Referred to that. We did not get to the one other thing I want to note just because it was in the rules of procedure Recommendation sheet was there was a suggestion of adding an index We opted not to do that one because it is logistically challenging and two because we felt like picking which words would go in the Index would be both a laborious and arbitrary Process and so we felt that the table of contents that we added Was sufficient to provide guidance to people So at that point I'll entertain any questions. This is just a first reading We're not voting tonight because we adopted a rule that we don't do that. Thank you um and First of all for an amazing technologically Current document. Wow So uh questions at this point Yes, elissa So one's a question for future, um GOL consideration especially because of the great technology you guys are using But um, we knew that the rules were going to get revised fairly quickly because we knew we'd found a typo And the way that we laid out the part about the voting and that's sort of things So thanks for fixing everything and clarifying things, but I think it's important once we have them Adopted that we have them available on the town website as well as in our share point because I have a difficult time Accessing all the documentation. That's a share point say on my phone or through a different thing And sometimes I want to look up. Hey, how many votes do we need for that? In the charter and in the rules and so because the rules are a little more plain english version of things So figuring out where to keep things I know is one of the things that rules ask gol to help figure out Comes true for policies too, and I appreciate the appendices that you took off But again, just where we should expect to ourselves find things on the town website and where we can tell other people to find them So that's a future discussion in terms of a specific question actually or comment, I guess is More accurate in 2.2 h one of the first ones you brought up of an associated with president of spokesperson With the disclaimer that I was desperate to put this rule in in the first place and got out voted at rules of procedure So I'm super happy to see it in here But what I would also like to mention is that I appreciate that you Tried to be sensitive to the worries that were expressed back then at rules and again, apparently at gol about you know Quashing individual members ability to talk or something which people were nervous about and that's why it didn't end up in the first version And I appreciate what this says But at the same time I still think that as a culture that this body should agree And somehow perhaps in future make it clear in our rules if we at least get this one in then Maybe we can revise it again in the future That when it comes to speaking for the town council It is the president's job to do that We said that when we elected the president or if the president wants to say oh, you know pat You go talk about that thing and that's fine if you designate somebody But I don't want anybody I hope to interpret this Rule now because of the way it was carefully crafted that just because the newspaper calls you and asks you what the town council did I don't think it's your job to answer that unless you're the president or the designee I think it's fine when you're talking to a constituent that's talked to you personally about a thing and you're not committing the council To something and you're talking about your viewpoint And I think it's fine that it's clear in this rule now That if somebody writes to town council at that everybody's expecting that the president's going to respond Or she's going to say hey, you've talked about this a lot Would you go do it and that would be fine too delegation's a great thing But I really don't want counselors to see this as carte blanche to If the newspaper calls us up to ask us about our rules discussion tonight that I should just go ahead and discuss that I don't think I should I think that should be the president's Choice to do that or to designate somebody else to do it additional comments or questions I'm sorry steve Yeah, so in that example, I don't think we were very careful for a rule that Didn't prevent the counselors from talking to the media about so there shouldn't be anything that prevents me from Talking to the media about the rules discussion as long as it's clear That I'm not speaking for the council, but it might be an issue. That's really important to me and I might be You know a very good resource for a particular issue so the I think that media relations is actually a really important part of the training that we should have like when to speak to the press and But not to speak to the press, but I don't think So we're all political figures, right? So we all The media plays a very important role between individual counselors and the whole council And the constituency so it's a way of communicating additional comments or questions This the first reading is there are there any particular changes that have been made that you want to further discuss Yes, dorthy. I have a question on page 20 9.4 9.5 number of votes required. I'm just Curious about them. I If I guess 9.5 Some things take 10 votes in favor for passage and some take nine and The one that took 10 was a properly protested zoning bylaw change But it takes nine for a zoning bylaw change. So I don't know what properly protested means Mr. Backelman, would you like to take a stab at that one? Or perhaps one of our former planning board members wants to do it I believe that in the There's a nuance in the lot in the zoning bylaw that if you if you are protesting a zoning bylaw, it has a higher threshold I don't know the citation. I'd have to look it up. I'm sure there's proper steps You have to follow To be on record that you are properly protesting that bylaw And if you follow those steps, then it's considered proper and therefore the threshold To on that one would be 10 versus 9 Which was what it would have originally been So I guess it means if you want to change a bylaw, you don't protest it You kind of keep it to yourself so that it only takes nine votes to change it I mean, it's Um, Evan, do you want to speak to this? You look like no, not really. Um, but what I just want to clarify is That the the rule that the vote that Dorothy's Um, I'm sorry. The rule that Dorothy is highlighting was not something that gel changed No, it's master that was something that was already in there. It's mgl It's also in the charter the only change that we made to 9.5 Was votes on unpaid bills and borrowing authorization And that was just moving them from items requiring at least a two-thirds of councillors present to items requiring at least nine votes And that was in response to town attorney opinion And so those are the only recommended revisions that gel is is is making When we get to the issue of anything being properly protested, I am sure we will consult with our town attorney Other questions about any of the recommended changes again, this is only the first reading and I will say that if gel comes back with Uh, anything substantial on the issue of work groups, then We'll discuss that and we'll have to delay the second reading until We've had a second time to look at that Okay, but otherwise we'll Go ahead with the second reading on the 19th of August Okay, Dorsey, I just have one comment. Um, having been on the ad hoc rules committee I, um, I guess I find it disconcerting that You know, there are a couple of things in here That the ad hoc rules committee Uh, discussed and voted on And then the full council voted on To accept But now the gel is Either deleting or adding something that we didn't put in but that we did discuss in the ad hoc rules committee So That seems Wrong. Could you be more specific? Please. Yeah. Uh, well the uh, 10.6 j There was You know discussion about that we voted on that in the ad hoc rules committee And then we had discussion about that in the full council and we voted on it and it stayed in And The section that elissa was mentioning and Like she said that was something that we discussed in ad hoc rules And voted on Then the full council didn't vote on it because it didn't get into the rules Um, so now the gel is putting it in So I know that gel is now taking over The rules so That is their their responsibility now, but it just feels like it's um Like they're that the gel should respect at least the work that's already been done By the ad hoc rules committee and not flip it Are there comments my opinion I understand your point. I don't know that I agree with it, but I understand it I mean at at any point in time a committee assigned to look at to relook at something Can come back with a change Recognizing where it has been in the past and what the action might have been And the council can decide they're not going to accept it or not But the committee gel in this case was assigned to look at that Evan Yeah, I do want to also make clear that I think gel and discussing these gave great deference to what came out of ad hoc rules and procedure including when Language was put forth to us from ad hoc rules and procedure We we always use that as the starting off point And so we used what rules and procedure gave us And I think our work was in large part Fixing in some places and then also Finishing up some of the work and in the discussions and looking at how to finish up some of that work There were realizations that perhaps some things Didn't need to be there or did need to be there based on prior discussions But I will say you know one of one of the reasons that we haven't finished work groups Is because there's been some questioning in gel about whether Work groups are something that are workable And we wanted to pause that discussion because we wanted to give deference to to to ad hoc rules and procedure and go back to Your deliberations to make sure so I think we are actually doing a great deal to respect the work of Rules of procedure But at the same time with gel is now the keeper of the rules And and and we're working to make sure that the rules are as effective as they can be So given this however, I would like to go back to two point to age And ask if there is further discussion about this And that is to add the sentence serve as spokesperson The president shall serve as spokesperson of the council for all inquiries and correspondence Addressed to the full council that doesn't mean the counselors themselves Cannot talk to the press it just means that when we're actually responding on behalf of council It's the president's job And since I do emails to the point that It's crazy Yes, yeah, I had kind of wondered about that So when an email comes to all the members of the town council And I see that she's replied right away. I'm really happy most of the time I say wow She did that I can't imagine how she did it and then I kind of feel I don't have to reply Unless I have something particular to add Is that appropriate the real issue is you can't get into deliberating And so you want to be careful about Replying I try to create a response first of all, I mean I After seven and a half months of doing this And having volunteered Because I did not want a Standard reply that says I've received your email and we'll get back to you later to me. That's not What my job is my job is to be a lot more responsive and you will notice that on occasion when I reply I use exactly the same words No matter You know who it is If you then want to reply further you can but What and please feel free to do that at any point in time But what you have to be very careful is we don't get into a Deliberation on that at that using that email as the base Are there further advice on that from paul or anybody? alissa Yes, I was just gonna ask that we just all then just as you said just keep in mind that if you do decide to Do that one you probably want to check in with the president first and say well I've been having a long conversation with this person and so I'm going to talk to them about this I think that would be a perfectly reasonable check-in And the other thing is to only respond to the person potentially copy the president But don't copy two or three other counselors just saying well, that's not a quorum So it's fine Don't do that because as soon as one of them shares that information at the coffee shop with somebody else Now you're really flirting with serial deliberation So make sure that you keep it to yourself and potentially to the president or you know like if paul's involved for example And I will tell you and I think Each of you may be at some point of experiences if it's an issue at which to which I think you know more about this than I do And I need your advice. I will often seek your advice before I write the email So the if somebody sends an email just to me That's different. I can answer that good. So I haven't been answering the ones to the whole council But I was feeling guilty about it. So now you're saying I should not feel guilty No Yes, shall we so I've also been copying you and paul when I respond one on one And is that recommend? I mean, I think it's recommended. Yeah Certainly there are individual conversations, but it does help keep us surprised of what's going on it doesn't have to be but Yes, so these are viewed as good practices and and good sense, but I felt we didn't think there's any way you could put this into a rule so We could create a rule which is counselors are required to use good sense, but I We felt that that this was And we would be violating it a lot. Yes So that's why it is as vague as it is, but we felt that this was yeah Okay, any further discussion on 2.2 All right, then the other one I want to go to is 10.6 J is that the one Darcy Yes Is there for is their discussion on this? This is the one where we struck the words Under powers and duties of standing on hot committees we struck j which says committees have the right And obligation to be creative offer opinions Including majority or minority views and produce documents and I believe that Some of this was because it was covered right below that So we actually felt that all of it was covered So including majority minority views and produce documents. That's the next rule one which is all about Producing reports that include minority views and then that first part community committees have the right obligation to be creative We felt was adequately covered under appendix a the second bullet creativity and innovation And so it seemed duplicative and it didn't necessarily seem like it was That first half didn't feel like it was a rule necessarily was unenforceable and unadministered I personally want to say Looking at what gel has done the fact that they had the tremendous work of the ad hoc rules A procedure committee to start with has made their job a lot easier So it's not in any way to diminish that or any previous council discussions If there's no further discussions we'll conclude the first reading but let me go back and say if you want to come forward with a Suggestion for work groups. I'm going to suggest that at on the 19th we deal with this as the second Reading and that work groups be done as a separate conversation or addition to the to the rules So that we do first of all, I don't want you to feel the pressure of having to get it done by then And second of all, I have the feeling it's going to create some conversation That I don't want to prevent these changes from being made Yes, alissa I want to agree with you 100% on that for exactly for all the timing reasons you just described And I think we could end up having a really long discussion about working group And the other thing I just wanted to mention because I didn't want dorthy to walk away thinking about the nine and 10 votes a lot If you look up the mgl reference It is an extremely obscure portion of state law I bet steve has this memorized Where three There's a three quarters vote required, which is how we got to 10 and it's associated with Ownership of 20% or more of the area of the land proposed to be included in the zoning change So it's this really weird provision. That's about people who own property around a change in zoning They protest and then there's a 10 person vote. I've when we talked about this A year ago or something I hadn't ever heard of it being used in amherst people didn't even know it existed as general law So it's a really odd thing, but it's important It's important to include it in you know in the vote counts But it's not something you're going to get to use as a clever point of order during Thank you. Thank you for the clarification and for pointing out that obscure law to us When we talk about your backyard dorthy, we'll talk about it Okay, are there any other questions at this point on rules or procedure if not, we'll move on to appointments Okay So appointments the first one Is the director of senior services and let me just point out that although There is an item under items to Topics not reasonably anticipated by the president 48 hours in advance of the meeting I'm going to move that up and that's the board of health So we're going to talk both about town manager appointments to the director of senior services And then also the appointments to the board of health evan Okay, let's start with paul paul director senior services, and then i'll call on the committee. Okay Thank you. So I am have referred mary beth Ogulovitz Who as from east Hampton, messachusetts as the director of senior services There is a memo in your packet that talks a little bit about Her background have included her resume and her Cover letter as well The Mary beth is a as is a practicing attorney. She's been an attorney Uh, she began her career working for A court but then also has moved on to Serving as a in the as a district attorney And Was the focus on a criminal prosecutor where she focused on homicide sexual assault child abuse and elder abuse She'd be in her legal career as a law clerk in the for the justice of the superior court Um She has a bachelor's degree from boston college a law degree from western new england university and master's in social work from westfield state She has an unusual path to become this because she started as a lawyer. She moved into social work and Um, and I think mostly motivated by personal circumstances with her parents became very engaged in senior issues concerning seniors um She impressed everyone That she that we interviewed her with her passion and Her creativity and how she wanted to appra and approach Delivering senior services to the town of amherst and We felt that the or I felt that this was the right person at the right time because She's filling very large shoes in the sense that Nancy bagano has been with the town for 47 years and whoever was going to come in Following Nancy was going to be have a very large job to fill and I think mary best was the right person to come in and sort of address the issues For that that always come up when there's change happening She's a really good listener She's a high communicator And really eager to contribute to the town of amherst Okay um Now go well Okay, okay, you're wearing a little too many A double duty this week chair of both committees um, so okay, so so the town manager filed This appointment on july 9th unfortunately G Okay, look what you did to me. Okay Uh, I didn't have a meeting until this morning Which was the early issue we could consider this so my apologies to my colleagues on the council for not having a written report on this But I did not have sufficient time to produce one Given oca's two hour and 38 minute meeting this morning um So this is the second time oca has been referred A town manager appointment to a department head You'll remember the first one was in january with the human resources director At that time oca was still getting itself together and did not really have the capacity to Thoroughly make a recommendation this time we worked hard to Have a have a really I think rich discussion in the committee about sort of what we're looking for It as to our role in this process and what we are looking to advise you on and so We were lucky to have the town manager present later in the meeting Which gave us early part of the meeting to come up with Our questions for the town manager. It was a good discussion I do want to go through some of them because I think that some of the questions that we asked And that he answered might be questions that you all have And since you weren't in the meeting And it'd be too late to go watch the video later I can give you them now. So the one area of concern was the fact that Of 28 applicants two people were put forward But because one withdrew only one person was actually interviewed and there was a question about What the conversation was like? Why why when one person withdrew was not another name put forward? And wasn't sufficient to only interview a single applicant The response to that was that the screening committee put forth two people because they felt like those were the two people who met their standards And that to go back and put forth another person just because someone withdrew Would not be appropriate because they didn't put that person Forward in the first place because they didn't rise to what are the very high standards of this community and and this position The second one was there were some questions about Becoming essentially director of the senior center, but having no experience In a senior center And a lot of that came from a question about what the town manager's vision is for this position And I thought that was really interesting that was brought up by one of my colleagues to my right With regard to You know hearing where is where is this going? What is this going to be doing? And the town manager describes a vision of director of senior services that goes beyond just the senior center But really actually it's really interesting that you gave we have this in front of us today because literally he asked the question What does it mean to be age friendly? Which just happens to be on the cover of the municipal advocate? And there was talk about how with the focus of aging in place A lot of this position is less so about managing the building and more so about policy thinking about transportation activities And then that goes beyond just managing a senior center And so even though this person didn't necessarily have the supervision experience or Or the experience running a senior center or working a senior center or even working directly with elder care The experiences this person brought matched what is his vision for what senior services look like in amherst And and there was an interest in sort of out-of-the-box thinking One thing that was interesting that oka brought forth that I think will eventually involve all the council Is the idea that it was really useful to hear the town manager's vision for senior services And it would have been even more useful perhaps to hear it several months ago and not when we had A candidate in front of us and one of the conversations we had that the town manager seemed amenable to At least this morning Was coming coming to the council I think earlier in a process and saying here's my vision for this department where there's a vacancy And providing the council an opportunity to perhaps author their vision which is derived from our experiences with our constituents So that the search can be sort of guided from the beginning through that But also later when we're looking at candidates we can say well We have this discussion about what your vision is does the candidate you bring forward Do the qualifications match what you told us was your vision for this department? And so involving the council At least oka, but if not the full council earlier in the process would be really useful and we Sort of started that this morning with the town clerk And what some ideas were we had of what we're looking for in a town clerk Um There was a question about the screening committee and whether there's any outreach to people who actually receive services Um, and the answer was that there was some informal outreach, but no formal outreach to figure out sort of what the needs are Um, we also asked for demographic information, which you should have received in your email about 45 minutes to an hour ago Just oka, I guess I don't know Never mind You know, we're always asking about demographic information and so um, there's always a question of If the pool is too small that information might be identifying But we felt that with a 28 person pool it would not be And we also asked for uh, at some point the job material so we could see where the position was posted And so my hope is that you feel as though oka this time around did a very thorough job in Looking at the candidate asking tough questions making sure that we feel comfortable moving forward And by the end of the meeting oka did vote unanimously to recommend the town council Approved the town manager's appointment to the director of senior services Questions or comments from the council I only have one comment and it comes from years of experience of hiring people And that is while I have a vision it is often during the interview process That my vision gets solidified and sometimes changed And so I hope that we will give the town manager that opportunity And in fact I find the best candidates are the ones that come themselves with a vision and can help shape the future vision So I want to make sure we Don't hold fast to some pre-stated vision without room for flexibility Okay, any other questions here or comments Then uh, the motion for this is to approve the town manager's appointment of the senior services director Do I hear a motion? George a second Shallony We got many a seconds. Okay Shallony is the official second. Is there anything for the comment all those in favor raise your hand and say aye Aye opposed abstain It's 11 400 and two absent Okay, we're going to move to the Board of Health and again, this is town manager recommended appointments And again, this was just acted on today But we are going to go ahead with it since we Won't be meeting for four weeks. So Can I start with the town manager? So you have three names in front of you one is a Re-appointment of steven george Which I did not put his address in Apologize for that Mr. George is an existing member of the board of health has Been on the board of health since 2016 He's a long-term member of the embers college faculty where he teaches neurobiology There are two other people and there were two vacancies on the board of health The first person is marine melia 1510 southeast street who is a retired physician. She was the General she had general internal medicine in a variety of settings But for the past 20 years she served as a medical director of student health services at mount holyoke college And the third person is timothy randa here Who is a professor at the university of massachusetts and a scientist who specializes in environmental Science in hydrology. He lives at 100 columbia drive So the board of health is a very broad mandate and part of the packet is to sort of is to list the charge of the committee But also some of the information in addition that was That the board of health is responsible for and board of health You think of just health issues, but it also approves well permits. It addresses Drinking water situations in the schools And it can address Outbreaks of contagious diseases. So they always like to have a physician on the board They always like to have someone who knows who has an engineering background of special hydrogeology They have a very strong can Member in dr. John divison now, but they Worse identified as a need as someone who will also Bring additional tools to this and both People have the time and capacity to take on this responsibility Okay This is us any two I'll keep this from brief oka voted unanimously this morning to recommend town council approve the town manager's appointments to board of health There is minimal deliberation mostly with regard to Conversations with the town manager about what to include in appointed profiles Is there any further question or discussion? Okay Athena i'm gonna make this motion Read exactly like the other one we have Since we've gone through a review of that So it would be to appoint the following individuals as members of the board of health For a three-year term to begin july 23rd 2019 and expires on June 30th 2022 Steven george And for a two-year term to begin july 23 to now 19 and expire on june 30th 2021 Maureen millia and timothy radhair Do I hear a motion Second pat any further discussion? What was the verb? Huh, what was the verb in the motion to appoint So we're not a point was you said a point, right? Yeah, it's it but it's approved. It should be to we're not appointing It should be to approve. So we'll take that as a friendly amendment Is that acceptable? Okay, it's to approve Okay Okay, all those in favor Raise hands on say aye. Aye opposed Okay Abstain none and two absent Okay Moving right along non voting members of finance committee This is Totally goes to okha This one goes to okha, but i'm going to Hand it over to Darcy Okay, I was the The okha designee in charge of these these particular appointments of non voting residents to the finance committee And on july 1st we we had a vote After three Deliberation our three Days meeting days where we discussed procedural issues and the applicants And we voted three in favor two against To recommend to the town council The appointment as non voting residents of the finance committee These people mary luteilman for a term of one year Sharon povinelli for a term of two years And robert haggner For a term of two years so I am not going to go through The three days of deliberation and everything that happened we have that in our report you can read it And but i am going to talk about the the applicants themselves if you i'm on page 12 of 23 of the report If you want to follow along That's my actual report to the okha committee About the applicants their profiles and so on and what happened why why i recommended them So I recommended mary luteilman She has Been on the former finance committee. She was the Chair of the most recent finance committee and she has a Broad wealth of knowledge about municipal finance the budget and Specifically the amherst amherst finances She has a special interest in schools and she recently Currently serves on the regional school district planning board um, and she was someone who um, I chose Partially because the finance committee specifically requested someone who has Expertise in municipal and amherst financial Issues so, um, secondly, I chose Sharon povinelli Um, she also had been on the former finance committee. She had just Finished just over one year before the former finance committee dissolved She has A financial expertise also she's a downtown business owner She's a treasurer of both her business and of The bid And finally I chose robert hagner who he's new. He's a fresh face. He's He really stood out to me as having For 11 years been A senior vice president at a 1.2 billion dollar global consulting firm Where he managed a 79 million dollar HUD cdbg contract To help new jersey recover from hurricane sandy And he has experience with all aspects of financial management Um, I was especially interested in the fact that he had developed innovative financial and project management dashboards that track performance against program expenditures And provide projections of future performance So he would be someone new Um, I used the finance committee suggested criteria Is listed here on this report, which is um experience serving on finance committees or other private or public boards training expertise in economics finance policy or comparable areas or experience Or interest in municipal finance Um, I asked sonia aldrich the interim Finance director to join me in the interviews Because I do not have expertise in finance and So that was very helpful for her to be involved And in helping me evaluate the candidates and You can see the various in the report you can see The applicant letter That was sent to The people who were offered a position You can see the interview questions Um, the demographics it actually the demographics and the interview questions are there's an amended report That is just before this in this long list of information That will that tells about the demographics and the What the exact interview questions were? So I am going to stop there I'm hoping that the the council will Will appoint these three new members of the Of as non voting members of the finance committee Are there comments? Yes, shallony I think it was really Exciting to see that there were so many really really good candidates who applied For I ask other question. I just want to hear from The two committee members who didn't vote for this and what was their perspective Be happy so I The oca vote on this was three two I was one of those two so If you'll remember from the first time we introduced you to the oca process We we put a fair amount of power in the oca designee They are the only person who attends the interviews and they are the only person who puts forward names Recognizing that power oca sought to impose some checks so that It's not unfettered power one of those checks was at the oca level and the other was at the town council level Um My vote was in my opinion to use one of those checks and the reason for that being that Uh, we had a discussion in oca a long time ago about if you saw People in the pool Who you thought Would be better suited to the appointment if you saw people in the pool who you would prefer What do you do because as you all know we don't bring forward Or even discuss names of people who aren't brought forward And the answer was well you vote against the recommendations And ask the oca designee to bring forth someone new with the hope that it's someone that you are looking for And that's the situation I found myself in I found that we had a very rich pool of qualified applicants um and my concern happened to be with One of the people brought forward, uh, which was mary lew talman And the reason for that has nothing to do with her experience or expertise. She has served this town for a long time and and done So very competently um But with the idea being that although, uh, oca has not been rigid necessarily with term limits There's been an idea that we are generally trying to abide by them Mary lew talman has served even though this is a new finance committee in many ways. This is still the finance committee Mary lew has served on the finance committee Since 2008 she is she is uh, was appointed to four different terms This would essentially be her fifth term on the finance committee And I felt that at some point it's useful to say to someone we appreciate your service and we thank you for it But it's time to bring on some new people There were people in the applicant pool who I felt had the experience and qualifications that darcy referenced that finance committee was looking for But did so with either a shorter tenure on the finance committee who I thought were deserving of what would be perhaps a reappointment And who and who didn't have The 10 years of already serving on finance committee And so since it was not possible for me to make a motion to replace one name with another my vote was Against the recommended suite with the hope that we could go back into The pool of applicants and pull out some other people Who have the experience the expertise? But do not have Four terms on finance committee already under their belt Were there additional comments or responses Sarah so my problem with this had more to do with procedure and sticking to what I felt that Oka had used For rationale in the other appointments that we had made and one was looking at the general health of a committee And how it would function with certain people on it and and that I felt that again what Evan had said was that one of the things we took in consideration was How long people had served and of course that was also balanced with um How much institutional knowledge was already there and I just felt like Putting someone on it was not personal it. I just felt like when you already had some Very solid institutional knowledge on finance committee. Um I just didn't see the rationale of putting on someone who had served for so long Again similar to what Evan had said when there were other there was the pool was so much larger So that was just I was trying to stick consistency to the things that we had already said Are there additional comments? Darcy I I'm not going to argue this issue, but I just would point people to The report the deliberation the three days of deliberation because we We uh, we discussed the issue of term limits for one full meeting almost Um, so you can see the arguments pro and con about term limits there, which I Don't necessarily think we need to go into here Are there other comments at this time? Yes, Alyssa I just want to add that a while it of course is perfectly fine for any town counselor Including my friend Shalini to ask us to repeat anything that's in a report when we write a 23 page report We really like to feel like maybe some people read it So it's awesome if that happens and if you have suggestions just as we're going to be talking about the whole process And how that's going to work as we move into the fall We're going to have lots more conversations about process in general Whether or not you want this level of detail of a report or other things included and other things left as An aside we will look forward to hearing that as as part of that conversation too because we realize These are very long reports to have to get through when we already have a whole bunch of other things In our agendas, but we wanted to give you everything right that shows all of our process So we look forward to talking about the con how much to put in a report as well as the process itself in the future Darcy and I think we all know that oka Is going to be in the process of really Looking re-looking at our processes And one of the things that we probably will also be looking at in the future is Whether or not we want a firm term limits policy Which we don't we don't have right now so That could be something that the council wants and that we want in the future We just don't We didn't have that During this process Dorothy Well, I appreciate the long report This is one which somehow I didn't see and didn't get until tonight I did in quickly skimming it see that the question was brought up which we've talked about before Which is about seeing the whole pool and I May be wrong. So correct me, please It seems that that hasn't been answered yet that we can see the whole pool or see You were provided with a document with the whole pool We had the whole pool the public does not have the pool, but we do and with the qualifications Yes, and the and each member on the council has Received the copies of the CAFs of the whole pool Wait, I tried tonight to find it on my computer when I realized I didn't have this Document I couldn't find it. I'd have to go back and look for the CAFs would not be in the share point You should have an email from angela mills on june 3rd, right june 3rd email with the CAFs, right? Thank you All right further questions or comments Yes Shallow me. I just want to clarify. I did read the report And it just Little confused for me because we had such a long discussion and again This is not pertaining to the particular candidate because I think everyone is excellent who's been appointed It was just confusing to me reading that we had such a long discussion in a previous appointment why some very You know very Very qualified people were let go off because they'd been in the You know, they'd been for six years and now we're appointing somebody who's been Longer and it wasn't it just wasn't clear to me what and and and again I don't want to obviously penalize the person But I do want to speak to the process. Can we have some clarity and consistency around what are we doing and why are we doing that and Yeah Yeah Are there other comments particularly about this Not the process or anything else because when we get to the process I'm sure we all have a lot of comments Yes, Evan So the question of term limits has come up in the prior debate we had over planning board and zba It's come up in ochre So we the the select board right had a policy Of two terms Right And so it's true that the council has never officially adopted that and ochre never officially adopted that But I do think in many ways we're operating under policies That were set before us and we're continuing them until we change them ochre had a discussion before planning board and zba that basically said We're not going to rigidly adhere to the term limits because we might get A pool of applicants who are unqualified or insufficient Or we might feel like we really did need that institutional knowledge And so one example of where we did that is By reappointing mark parent to a one-year term to the zba despite him having served for a very long time Because there's a feeling that in this transition We would want that institutional knowledge to carry over I don't find that we're in that situation right now I think that we had a pool of people that had great expertise Many of which brought some institutional knowledge the chair of the finance committee right now brings great Institutional knowledge of finance committee. And so my feeling was there was no need to suspend the term limits Due to lack of qualifications or lack of expertise And this was a case where it would be really I mean 11 years is a really long length of time when there are other very qualified people who could serve in this role And to me this was not a time to suspend Our general policy on term limits Sarah And just to make that clear like evan said is so it was keeping institutional knowledge While still paying attention to term limits that have been in place Before us which would be two terms So we're still paying attention to what had been before we have not changed that although we could And then looking at what what institutional knowledge and what other things you're looking for in the health of a committee so similarly Someone who had who has been a chair who had a lot of institutional knowledge Was not there except that and in that we all talked about was there still enough knowledge on the board and was this a better decision? So I do think term limits is something that we've Sort of talked about and covered and certainly could revisit I think there are many things to revisit in this appointment And um At this hour, I don't think we are going to get into them But I do expect then when we get to review of the issue of term limits the issue of The process for appointments, etc That this will be a full council discussion. It is not an ochre policy. It is a policy of the council Okay Are we ready to move to the motion? all right The motion is to appoint the following individuals as non voting resident members of the town council finance committee for a term to begin july 23rd 2019 and expire on june 30th 2020 Mary lute talman for a term to begin july 23rd 2019 and expire june 30th 2021 Sharon povinelli and robert hegner Do I hear a motion? So moved a second? Okay, pat's second andy I would like to offer an amendment And the amendment would be as follows To add To the end of the motion as presently presented the following The council will evaluate the finance committee process and committee charge prior to considering appointment To the vacancy that will occur on july 1 2020 to assess how the addition of non voting resident members Has affected the committee and its work That's a motion a driver's second a second. Okay further discussion on the motion Could you repeat that? I'm sorry Did you just repeat it repeat the motion, please repeat the motion then if I may With the president. I'll speak to it also But to repeat the motion It's to add to the end of the motion as presently stated the following The council will evaluate the finance committee process and committee charge Prior to considering appointment to the vacancy that will occur on july 1 2020 To assess how the addition of non voting resident members has affected the committee and its work And the reason that I put that forward There were really two things one is I wanted to acknowledge How hard oka has worked on this and the amount that has happened already which is Well stated in the rather lengthy oka report that has been referred to several times It in that report It notes that I met with oka on october 24th And oka posed three questions for finance committee consideration one of which was Having been through one budget cycle does the finance committee see a need for changing The description of what they seek in candidates finance experience versus broader citizen perspective And then the report goes on to report that Several members of the oka committee met with finance committee the following day on june 25th Where we were devoting virtually the entire meeting To talking about the community preservation act proposal for 132 northampton road And the oka report states I read again there appears to be a consensus that finance committee continues to have not To want to have non voting resident members We didn't really have a substantial time to discuss that But I do think that that was a fair conclusion of what was Discussed at the time. I'll leave that to other members of the committee if they want to add to that but The other thing that I want to then point out is That the council adopted the finance committee charge that includes having The non voting resident members pretty soon after the inauguration of the council And before we started our work and certainly before the finance committee started its work and in The intervening months We have experienced how the finance committee has functioned And hopefully you've had a chance to observe how the finance committee has functioned I have personally some concerns about Whether the addition of three new members is going to change how our committee functions I Invite all of you to think about How your committee would function differently if three members were added to it and suddenly All of the time that you're putting into it To your meetings with the number of people that you have on your committees Is suddenly changed to add a substantial additional number That isn't quite doubling but it's coming close to doubling the number of people there in addition I'll turn back to the rules of procedure that we just did a first reading on and 10.6 I talks about What the committee process is? for producing reports and how to handle Matters that are committee process matters I don't think that we've really as a council Our committee or in any place Had the time to sit back and think what does it mean? When we're going to add members who are not members of the council to a committee and I Think so I as I have pondered both of those questions. I have really Been concerned about how this is going to Move forward and whether it will affect what has become a very effective committee And I thought about two different approaches One was to exercise Right that I would have as a member of the council to ask to postpone the vote for one meeting I decided not to do that. I pointed out if others on the committee wish to do that. I certainly I understand and That they have the right to make that request The reason that I decided not to go there is because of respect for Oka and respect for the people who applied for the committee But it did get me back to the point of at least Making the motion that I've offered Which was to require that we evaluate this Um before any further appointments are made At the which of course comes at the expiration of the one year term that is being recommended for one of the three Their motion has been made seconded an amendment is now on the floor for discussion Is there anybody else who would like to speak to the amendment? Could you just repeat it one more time? The motion was to add the following to the end of the motion as presented the council Will evaluate the finance committee process and committee charge Prior to considering appointment to the vacancy that will occur on july 1 2020 To assess how the addition of non voting resident members has affected the committee and its work George Would it be your understanding that then that would be sent to oka and we would Look into it and then report back to you or do you envision having a 13 member discussion of this for a couple of hours? I think that's a matter that the council would have to decide at the time. I don't think that I Did think about that and I felt that it was Not appropriate to put that into the motion that I was suggesting Because there could be other places that the council at that point might refer it Probably is not as you indicate appropriate for a 13 member discussion, but For example, how does the finance committee get involved in that discussion too? I think it's an important thing that for the council to consider at the time Dorsey I would like to to separate the two parts of the motion Can I move to amend the amendment? Tell me what you'd like to do and then we'll figure out how to do it in other words Have the amendment to be a separate motion I don't see how that can be And why would you want it to be a separate motion? Seems like two separate issues the the The appointment of the three people and this other Motion seems to be a separate issue which Could be fine, but I don't see how it's related to the appointment of the three people So I would move to do that if I knew how There is a way to do this it's moved to separate the So I think what will have what will happen is you will vote on the amendment first as a separate vote And if that passes then you vote on the main motion if it fails you still vote on the second on your Main motion, so there will be two different votes. I don't think that was the question I think the question was can we have this is just entirely two separate motions We vote on this and then there'd be a whole separate motion that we do the evaluation That's the way I understood your question Darcy And there is a way in roberts rules to split the question and Alyssa, but it's not one question yet So the the only way to accomplish that thing like we used to do at town meeting would be to Have a positive vote to amend it and then split it apart which seems kind of insane in this particular case So perhaps like mr. Balkan was talking about you know You have the vote what fails and then you go back to the other thing But to try and put it together and then split it I'm not sure that mr. Pistering would have let us do it quite that way Florida town meeting All right, so then let's do it the way mr. Balkaman has described which we vote on the amendment Is there any further discussion about the amendment? Dorothy well, and he said he thought about suggesting we postpone the vote and declined I see there are some advantages in not postponing the vote This is very central to the finance committee and a key member of the finance committee is not here tonight So I I guess I I would like to postpone So you're moving to postpone And then that does it. Yes Seriously, there must be a way to do this without that madam. Yes So I I don't have the charter in front of me, but I think that the nuclear option can't be It has to be done before there's another motion. Uh, yes. Yeah, I don't think it can be I think it has to be proposed before another motion. Okay. All right I agree with you on that So right now we are speaking to the amendment pat I guess I have a I need a clarification To me now there is ultimately one vote. There is The acceptance of the three people or rejection of the three people or and then the saying at the end of June 20 20 or july 2020 we will look at residents non-voting members residents on the finance committee So those two things are now tied together if we vote on the amendment and it go it is not it happens I'm not sure why Why it isn't one motion you vote on the amendment and then the amendment if it passes it becomes part of the Original motion got you and then I vote on the original. Thank you. I needed that extra clarification may I also point out that there are other Um options for review. In fact, I believe the charter requires that we review all committees But I'm not charter the rules of procedure um Evan So first I Have a clarifying question For hindi Which was you said review the finance process Do you mean the would I don't know what you mean by that Andy yeah I was going back to get to look at the exact wording as hyphen put it forward I think that the reason that I wanted to look at the finance I but I was really Talking about is how the finance committee is functioning Because as I pointed out adding three members Could really be a benefit to the count to the committee. It could be a detriment to the committee We don't know if we don't try And I and I think that's why I put part of the reason that I put the two together is that If we're going to go ahead and do it um Then we should at least be clear That we need to be committed to looking at whether this has been a benefit or a detriment to The committee process before we go forward and appoint anybody else again and It it seemed that As I said, I if we My preference was to just go ahead and proceed and support what okah has Done so far, but I wanted to Make it clear before any other appointment or re-appointment is made for any of these positions That there'd be a process to thoroughly look at whether this has been a benefit or a detriment to the finance committee as a working group and To the council as what it expects and receives from the committee And When I pointed out that rule question Um, there was there was also this peculiarity that again, I have to ask all of you to think about for your committees which is Minority report, um, we're now putting in a very unusual situation where There are three people Who are not members of the council? They were not elected by The public the electorate at large Um, and we are giving them The status of members of the committee But theoretically the way that that rule is written would have the right to participate in a minority report and I think that we really need to take a Pause before we continue with this process by doing even a re-appointment And think about that because the the other thing I had thought about as I said was to Invoke the nuclear option to give the finance committee an opportunity to have this discussion more fully Because I don't think we have But um, I didn't exercise that So there is a motion on the floor and the motion has been amended and the amendment has been seconded Is there anybody else who wants to speak to the amendment? Dorsey just have a question You're saying that The council will have a discussion after a year and At that point one term will be complete Two of the terms Will not be complete. There'll be two year terms So we would be deciding as a council whether we wanted to continue The people that already had unfinished terms I think that is in the council will have to deal with that at the time if it Wishes it to do so I not Trying to pre predict what Where we will be a year from now The if the council chose a Leading up to july 1st 2020 if the council chose to change the the charge of the committee In any way and specifically with regard to this whether or not there were non resident members of the committee If the council voted to Discontinue non resident members of the committee I believe that would mean that those members that were appointed for two years would not complete their terms I think it would be similar to dissolving a committee that If we go back in for any of the myriad committees that exist in town government Voted to discontinue a committee Then people who've been appointed their terms end when the committee is discontinued So I guess that would be the analogy I would put forward I've had my term ended Alyssa so obviously we just heard about this amendment tonight and so I Do appreciate though the thought behind it and the attachment To the actual I appreciate that it may enable some people to vote for this that may not have been otherwise able to do so Knowing that we will have a more formal process of discussing it in addition to what's already written into our rules about looking at things And certainly that conversation as you know from the report did come up Do we even given that we said it was okay to wait? Well, then we waited and then people got their process going Before these people came on and so does it actually make sense? And I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect the council some well Where before well before june 30th to have had a real conversation about this and I don't want anyone Please to do the nuclear option because I don't believe that the finance committee having a meeting About this is going to solve the problem in the short term. I think in the short term I think we would end up with the same place of well We said we would try it So let's try it and then let's look and see what happens It seems like it would be very strange for the finance committee to finally to come to a place in the next couple of weeks To say, you know, we don't want these people anymore that that just doesn't seem likely and so given that I don't see the point to postponing and so that's why I think that this compromise makes sense Dorothy, I really don't remember In the finance committee where we all said yes, it's a great idea To have I I remember saying we were going to think about it We were going to talk about it, but I don't remember that we firmly committed ourselves to it Yes I've been holding back Because I'm not sure exactly where my comment goes. It seems to me that the having resident members Of the fine of not voting resident members of the finance committee is an important thing to do because it Opens us up to minority opinions possibly, but it opens us up to three more Collaborators three more idea makers three more people looking at complex Budget a complex financial world fine and complex financial questions I didn't bring it up because I thought I'd wait till we discussed it After a year But I think I need to bring it up now because you know, I feel like Andy you're presenting very strongly You're feeling it'll interfere with your committee. I actually on a couple of my committees would really like a couple more people for a variety of reasons all of them positive And I I feel like we need to move forward and not stop this not I that it's a easy out It's a It's a waste of our time Are there additional comments to the amendment? Shellingy I'm I'm still a little confused, but I will try to articulate. I'm trying to understand the if you If you're going to appoint three Residents, then and then have this new rule added. How does that sound to them? Like they came in with a certain assumption And then now we're like But in a year, we're going to I mean they weren't told that it's weird They're on probation Darcy Yeah, I would that's an inaccurate description. I would actually I would agree with uh, Shawnee on that and also I it seemed it seems like if The reason that we would be doing this is because we want um, we don't want Differing opinions I mean, I think that's the whole purpose of adding um, resident non-voting members is just to To have some new voices Who they might possibly have differing opinions. We don't know um, but we we want to be open to All voices in town so um, I am I'm confused by that being a reason why After a year, I mean again, I feel like it would be chilling to people coming on to this committee if if they heard that if after a year We saw that they had expressed some dissent about something They're off, you know so, uh It it doesn't that doesn't feel right to me Can I um, I'm going to step out of my role as president as I periodically do when I want to express an opinion um I just I want to pick up on something andy said And I'd like each of you on the committees that you're on whether it's oka gl And think about the people who might like to be on those committees because they don't like what you're doing the process Etc They have plenty of opportunity. They come for public comment They can write us They can be there at hearings but This is this is one thing the charter allowed. We decided to try it And what I think andy is suggesting is that we evaluate it And we may decide after a year Based on various pieces of input that it didn't work that messing Meshing a council committee with non-council members that aren't voting Leads to confusion May lead to may thank you for that correction may lead to confusion It's just a statement of evaluating it. It's an option that was provided in the charter We as a council very early on chose to Exercise that option We went back and forth through many a discussion about length of terms appointments Who should appoint who should be involved in the interviews? This particular item on our agenda has come up many times and Right now we're sitting with three appointments and the amendment is basically to say Given that it's come up Several different times as to whether or not this is a good idea Who should make these appointments, etc. Or who should do the interviews? We're just saying give it a year and see what it's like That's what the amendment's about Evan Thank you. I think that was actually really useful. So I wasn't sure where I stood on this amendment until Like five minutes ago. So I'm glad we've had this discussion Um I want to first say I just to correct the record a little bit that Our understanding on OCA, which I think was the understanding of the council Was that the non voting resident members of the finance committee were never intended to bring differing views or dissent It was intended to bring expertise that perhaps might not be On the committee understanding that elected officials Don't always come with financial expertise And so I I'm concerned about any characterization that Andy's trying to do this to keep off differing opinions Or we would kick off anyone who would Descent that was never the intention of adding people on to the first place But I think that the concept of having a non voting committee members can feel very strange And I think that it's a unique situation and in the end given what Darcy said and what Lynn said Um, I I'm planning to vote in favor of the motion because I think it is useful to have a conversation in a year And it might be awkward, but you know So is voting for people whose names are public Right sometimes things are awkward. We've done awkward On Let's go with final comments george very quick. Um, I just feel like we'd have this conversation anyway I don't see the need of this amendment since this is a conversation We clearly will be having um, whether there's an amendment or not Um, so I and also have a sense like this does send a message to the people that will be appointed They may not even know about it. So maybe it won't matter, but um, this is conversations We're going to have anyway. So I don't see the point of this amendment. Um, so I'm not going to vote for it Garcy, I was just going to say exactly the same thing that we can do this without a without an amendment We can just bring it up in a year We have we have the ability to do that at any time Okay A listen while that's true I actually for the exact reason you said want to include it so that they are so they know that we are going to do this That is why to have the amendment is so they know we are going to do this That's that is that's actually what sold me on it is so that they know That we are doing this. I think that's totally reasonable If it really really upsets people then change the terms all to one year That's that's the other option. Let's change all the terms to one year and be done with it We have an amendment on the table at this point to do this evaluation prior to july 1 Is there any further conversation about that amendment? Okay, I call the question all those I'd like the Motion to be read Athena The council will evaluate the finance committee process and committee charge prior to considering Appointment to the vacancy that will occur on july 1 2020 to assess how the addition Of non-voting resident members has affected the committee and its work Okay, all those in favor Raise your hand and say aye Keep them raised for so that we have a and this is one of those that votes you have to publish by tomorrow sometime Okay, do you have it all? Athena opposed abstain and Two three people not present so The motion passes seven to four and so the motion now that's on the table is the motion that includes The three people their terms and this amendment Is anybody like to speak to the motion? I'll call the question all those in favor of The following motion which is to appoint the following individuals of non voting members resident members of the town council finance committee for the term is beginning July 23 and expiring July 30th 2020 Mary Lou tolman for a term to begin july 23 2019 and expire june 30th 2021 Sharon povinelli robert hegner the council will evaluate the finance committee process and committee charge prior to Considering appointment to the vacancy that will occur on july 1 2020 to assess how the addition of non voting resident members Have affected the committee and its work I'll call the question all those in favor. Please raise your hand and say aye Aye All those in favor of the motion This is the original motion as amended Okay The original motion as amended all those in favor opposed abstain Okay and three absent Okay, so the motion pass i'm sorry Final vote The final vote was 9 2 9 in favor 2 opposed no abstentions 3 absent 2 absent i'm sorry 9 in favor 2 opposed No abstentions and 2 absent. Thank you Okay, moving on By the way, the finance committee meets tomorrow at 2 o'clock just to be clear Committee reports audit committee The audit committee Has not met but we'll be meeting in august after i meet with sonia oldridge to understand the rfp process for Okay Bylaw review The bylaw review committee We've had a lively discussion a robust discussion of the mull and rule and how it affects planning and zoning and meeting attendance And we're going to be starting our next meeting by looking at the net zero energy bylaw to clarify two different definitions that are Involved one about plant building site Um, it's defined in the bylaw, but it's not used anywhere And also project site, which has is used but is not designed or clarified That's all Okay Um Community resource committee the crc met this week and we continued well actually concluded just Discussion of goals as it aligns to the town council goals we forwarded those to to our president We also continued our review of the master plan We had a robust discussion about the public art proposal and basically how to move that forward so And I know that we're out of 45 days So we have not done anything other than to discuss with the proposers Of how do we move it forward, but because it's been referred to two different committees We feel that we can't form a subcommittee to look at this So we we sort of we need the The president's help on how to move this forward So at this point, let me just say that it is on the finance committee agenda for tomorrow And perhaps we'll have better ideas then on how to move it the discussion forward You have actually fulfilled your responsibility by coming to report to us with an update So you're still within the letter of the law. Okay The council goals and hot committee We actually met but we did not have a quorum I used the opportunity to integrate everything I've been given into one document We'll be pulling the committee and having a meeting and that document will become part of the basis for Our discussion at our retreat in september Finance committee Yeah, well, you now have heard many times that the finance committee is meeting tomorrow and we will be Taking up percent for arts And just to add to that a little bit is also as a member of CRC We had in a discussion is to The appointment of a work group and one of the things that had held us up a little bit was that the Rules of procedure that has to deal with appointment of work groups Is still itself something in progress and that was part of the dilemma and trying to tie two committees together and think about Creating a process that doesn't exist The the other thing that's on for tomorrow. I sent you a notice about I just wanted to remind you and there was a little bit of it in the Presentation that the president made about the dpw and The fire station buildings But we think that it's really important for the finance committee and invite the entire council to the meeting to hear a presentation that we're going to receive about How building processes work in a little bit more detail where you talk about how you go from initial design feasibility studies to Schematic design What the opm process is all about? The approval process for funding How contracting occurs The construction through to completion and acceptance of the building after completion One of the things that Mr. Schreiber pointed out was that there were actually two different processes for procuring construction services for public buildings one known as design build process and the other construction manager at risk process And there are statutory sections and mass general laws that apply to those That will be included in the presentation tomorrow And we will be taking that up first thing at the beginning of our meeting If you can't make it and you're only interested Hopefully Amherst media will be with us and it will be available Thank you Let me just mention we have not called that as a committee of the whole So if you do come it'll be to just be part of the audience Okay And hopefully we'll get done by six o'clock to get to Fort River Um GOL Evan Two quick things I mentioned since you've heard quite a bit from gl tonight One is again, uh, we are meeting this wednesday When we intend to discuss Workgroup rules we are not voting on any rules then it's simply a discussion Um, gl has had a thorough debate on this already One thing I will say is if there are members of Rules of procedure who were heavily invested in the concept of work group We would welcome you to come to our meeting Because we are working as a new commit as a separate committee Our only member who is also on rules of procedure Mandy. Joe will be absent At the Wednesday's meeting. So if you were a rules of procedure proponent of work groups We would love to hear from you as to what you were envisioning as we struggle through this The one other thing I want to mention is that at the council's july 1 meeting We were referred the process under charter section 7.6 publication of candidate statements on the town bulletin board Mandy joe as chair of gl drafted And an email to town attorney asking for town attorney input Sent that to the town manager who sent it off to town attorney And so we were told to report back by today and our report is we've emailed the attorney and we'll or we'll find out if it's even possible You fulfilled the requirements of the motion. Thank you Okay Quick question. I'm sorry. Yes. Could you tell us when is the geo meeting? Wednesday at 10 30 a.m in this room Okay, thank you Okay No further report from okay We have approval of minutes for july 1st 2019 Let's put the motion on the floor and then to see where we are To approve the july 1st 2019 town council meeting minutes as presented. Do I hear a motion? Second second Steinberg second any further questions corrections additions Okay, then call the question all those in favor Raise your hand and say I I Uh, I need to have you keep your hands up opposed Up staying So the vote was 840 Against three abstentions And two absent Um town managers report highlights Highlights. Um, so thank you It's sort of hard to believe that this weekend was so hot since people are shivering in here But it was kind of a brutal weekend I just want to commend the police fire library communications lsse dpw school maintenance It everybody was on duty this weekend addressing A giant lacrosse tournament that was causing consternation in the neighborhood at the high school The impacts on our pools and in parking Traffic lights the main traffic light downtown being out phones being down at the at the Certain phones being down at the police station air conditioning tripping in In the town hall and at the police station even though we declared the police station one of our cooling zones And so there was a lot going on this weekend and staff were in addressing all these things and just a facility didn't mention facilities They were working all weekend as well. So When you have hot weather or very cold weather these things happen And it's sort of we understand it where we think about in advance But it we got through the weekend Learned some things and so just thank you to all the employees that that stepped up and came over and Addressed the situations The a couple other things So puffers pond it was very busy this weekend people There's some parking issues that the police started to address And but otherwise pretty well managed and and working that the new traffic pattern seems to be working pretty well the As you all know the station road bridge is open My first call two things one several people thanking us But also as one person saying keep it as I mentioned just keep it just as it is We don't want a brand new big multi lane bridge. We're happy the way it is so But what my response to that is that we don't want to build a new bridge until we get state funding The odd part of this is that because our bridge is actually actually passable it lowers down the ranking because they tend to Pay for bridges that are impassable. So we've heard ourselves But this is I think really important for the neighborhood to have a place to pass through it And I think that looks really attractive actually they did a really nice job The craigs doors you've heard about the staff all announced their resignation effective august 1 We have had conversations with our state rep state senator with a major funding source at the hcd They get about 175,000 dollars or their budget comes from DHCD They get about 15,000. I understand from the united way They private raise around 30,000 dollars and that's pretty much their budget. So DHCD is the major component of their budget And they will pretty much decide who and what will happen with craig stores Everyone is committed to having the shelter open On on november 1st as it's planned to and I think we will achieve that How it get how we get there is going to be another question The next step is for DHCD to come in and do an analysis of the site and of the finances of craig stores They expect to do that this week. They're they are on it. They're actively investigating And they will come up with a recommendation Julie fetterman our health director is with the lead on this for the town Um She has been working in this area for a long time Is It's the staff who resigned were really excellent staff. It's a real loss that they are all leaving But it's also an opportunity because we see the shelter as part of a regional Approach to addressing the problem of homelessness and um So it's we're so many years the town looked at the craig stores as our own little shelter But it doesn't it works in a larger Relationship with other shelters and this might be an opportunity for us to have that broader conversation and there are people in the region Hampshire and franklin county and even hampton county who want to engage in that conversation and the state has to Wherewithal to bring all those people together The board board of trustees the board of directors of craig stores had been trying to do this work with some other agencies But there was never enough Uh opportunity there for the other agencies to come in but they have an appropriation from the state They have a location. I think they might be attractive to some other agencies at this point in time. So we're optimistic Um, but it might not be exactly the way it has been in the past. So we'll see it's really going to be up to the state um Three other things uh hampshire college has a new president and he starts on august 6th I think it is 7th something like that Um, I have not met him, but he'll he'll be in town relatively soon We continue to have conversations with the university on the strategic partnership agreement Um, I've included a copy of the existing strategic partnership agreement as part of my town manager report if you're interested in looking at that um We're trudging along We've the town has gone in said we don't want just a rollover of what we have currently So it's become much more engaged and elongated kind of conversation that we're having with with representatives from the university It's I expect that I will give you a full Update with more detail come september We hope we have an agreement by then if we don't I would expect that you would have me give a full explanation Why we don't have an agreement by then um and the last thing I want to mention was that um We're looking at adjusting some things on our website. So the uh, just uh, just as a one-off thing on this is that um The charter calls for references things being posted on the bulletin board. It says the town website can be the bulletin board There's nothing on our website that says bulletin board So we're looking at putting a section of the website that says this is the bulletin board If it's referenced it says it'll be posted on the bulletin board Here's where you will find it just to make it easier for people because we can post jobs Next to a public hearing notice and it's both in the charter says it should be posted on the bulletin board But it'd be in two totally different locations. So just something we're exploring to try and make it easier for people to find Notices and things like that and people know where to go Are there questions or comments Dorothy Two questions. Um the young women who resigned from craig's doors Often when people resign and I would have to say I think more often when women resign They're doing it to make a point that doesn't mean that they don't want to do the job And I just want to make sure that when whatever needs to be straightened out get straightened out that they are considered If they want to to come back to their jobs because I mean, I haven't talked to them. I don't even know what they were referring to But I just know from say from my own background that when somebody resigns It's not because they necessarily want to leave. Is this the only way they can get their point across Well, that might be the case in this situation for them. Um They are they were employees of craig's doors and the board of directors would be the employer Would make the decision whether they come back or not Or if they want to come back You had a second question Yes, I thought it was great that you opened the pools and you may have to do that a lot more this summer I'm just wondering how do you get the lifeguards on such short notice? We had been talking about this earlier in the week in preparation. We we were sort of waiting Till later in the week to decide if the weather was going to be That bad. So we had talked to the the lifeguards in advance about extending the pool hours So we decided that we would extend the pool hours and make the pools free Until they extend until eight o'clock and make the pools free and they were very popular For those both both pools Steve So living near the high school, it did look like wood stock So what was the um I call it the invasion of the really big cars because but the um Was it it seemed unmanaged? So was that one of the issues that? Um, this is a very large lacrosse tournament. Um with teams from Eight to ten year olds who were the youngest players were playing at the high school The older students who were all high school students were at the university The university has several of its fields under construction. They're putting turf down on boyton field. So those were unavailable To this tournament The university is very gracious and allowed us to have many of our team sports on their fields in may when our fields were Unplayable and so the athletic director felt it was quid pro quo to allow them to use our fields when they needed fields And it was a reasonable Request and a reasonable response. What we did not anticipate is the number of cars Frankly the arrogance of the people who are driving the cars and feeling that they don't care where you tell them They should park they were going to park under the shade or on the grass wherever it was And that was the frustrating thing the tournament organizers were superb at cooperating Uh hiring police details when we told them they needed to Um if there's any damage to any property fields or non-fields, they're they're prepared to pay for it um superintendent was Excellent in being in touch with everyone over the weekend as well So, um I think that you had college kids who were trying who were there at starting at 5 45 in the morning trying to direct people Where to go? But some people just didn't care and I've had direct contact with some people and they basically said Give me a ticket. I don't care So and that and it but and the problem for us was that same attitude problem Merged into parking at puffers pond, which is where it becomes apparent when you have a very large Fancy car with a new york or pennsylvania. Connecticut license plate on it That's those people aren't usually making puffers on a destination and then also happen at our pools, honestly And where some of our lifeguards felt they were Not being listened to when they were instructing people on how they should behave in the pools and they were you know Little cross players typically from this tournament And so we did a good thing, but the one thing we did we did we the dpw is very cooperative on Community field they moved Which is they have their office or their facility for parks and rec They moved all their vehicles onto the grass. We blocked that off We had a lifeguard sitting out there and said resident parking only for use of community pool Because there was no place to put your cars the middle school parking lot was jammed The high school parking lot was jammed So we did have a space that we carved out for residents who needed to go to the pool Okay Evan So there were lots of exciting things in your town manager report But what is perhaps a sign of how sad my life has become is The most exciting one was that you're going to have a town bolt and board part of the website Because that that has really been an issue and I think That was something I recently asked the gol chair to put on our agenda of what is the town bolt and board and what does it mean To have all of these things on the website. So as expeditiously as that could be done would make me so happy We are on it If that's all it takes paul Go for it. The gentleman from district four needs to get out more Right A little more vacation for you All right, elissa I was going to say thank you for taking one of my four items. Evan. So I only have three In regards to the it is actually very important ranked choice voting I'm uh, I don't need an answer now, but in reading your report again It's saying that the state legislature is talking about ranked choice voting bills lauren golberg coming to talk to us Which makes me uneasy that we don't actually have the ability to establish ranked choice voting Which our charter requires But the implication from the report if i'm not reading it incorrectly Is that maybe we can't just do it because we want to I don't know the answer. That's why we're going to have so that's exciting for all of us So okay moving on then the other is in regards to the shelter just again I appreciate all the perspective you gave us on that and I would like to make it clear that while of course We don't own the shelter anymore because we stopped being the main funding source for it a long time ago We do put a ton of people resources into it in terms of various departments going in there But we don't hand the money anymore like we used to and we've never owned their employees, right? That's always been their board or previous organizations boards that were there But I do want to make clear when dhcd comes in I hope it is expressed to them that the reason we agreed to have a shelter in this community Included the fact that it was going to include both men and women That it was going to include cooked food not just prepackaged granola bars and that it was going to be behavior based So if any of those things are going to change Based on either dhcd's input because we are unusual in this way in having the shelter that is a regional shelter We do have people in the in the community who don't agree with the decisions that we made in those three areas But we did make those decisions actively So i'm hoping what i'm asking is that we please don't just have those decisions change Without there being another community conversation because if for example dhcd says you know what you know what you need to do You just need to have men and no and no cooked food There's needs to be another conversation here in the community because one of the reasons we've had this organization is Because we wanted those things So i appreciate that being shared and then the other thing is in regards to the umas strategic partnership agreement I realized it sounds like things are not going exactly as easy as they might have been But i want to be clear that before it's presented to us as a final document That we find a way to have a conversation as a town council with the town manager as to these are why these things are in it These are the without giving away the negotiating position These are the other things that i'm thinking of having in it because what i don't want is I don't want it to be presented to us at the end and have a bunch of us say well, wait I don't know why you did that I don't want to authorize you to sign that because then that puts in many a worse position So i hope we can find a way to do that I assume that could be done in the executive session We have to check on that Okay, shallony I had a question about the flood mapping project and what implications that has on landowners And how are they being informed about it and have what has been Coming showing up for people like the 20 people who attended with any concerns I don't know the answer if they were concerns or not the this has been in the works for a couple years now It's gone to town meeting a for funding a couple times already The implications it's for it changes the lines of where potential flooding is So it does has impact have impact on property owners some for better some for worse I I would have to I would defer to chris breast drop to get more in more detail and she can come in and explain that more but I just know that it's been a pretty lengthy involved process And that's why they put it they've been trying to do as much publicity as they can They don't go in that you know inform every property owner. I don't think Okay They'll find out if their insurance suggests they have to flood insurance I hate to say it, but that's That's how it translates. Yes, evan So one other thing, uh, so when i'm july one we asked the town manager, um to Start the conversation with the town attorney about the charter sections regarding lowering the voting age And allowing uh, non-citizens to vote the town manager has emailed the attorney He gave us the reply which seems to be the answer is we cannot do it without special legislation. Um I guess my question which is maybe more for the council is have we Fulfilled our charter requirement to investigate the possibility under what was a 10 10 b and c and If so, are we stopping this conversation or are we continuing what now that we have this opinion would what's What's next or is it nothing? Thing that strikes me as you ask that question is that we also know that every city in town That has come forward to the state legislature to ask for any of these kinds of exceptions have been refused Are we going to spend our time Trying to get to the point that we take something to the legislature and Like everyone else refused So I would think that at some point you'd want it on your agenda so that you and the public can engage in the conversation Um, and then you would have to make exactly that decision And if you take it to the legislature, how much you know effort are you going to be Putting into it some you know, it used to be that the town would every year file the same thing over and over Um But I think you'd also want to engage your your state senator and state representative to say what is your advice on this We it's something we would like to do. We understand the limitations of what we're allowed to do It's all rest with the state I think having it on the agenda as an explicit item would be the best at the time then to do it We will Darcy. Is there pending legislation? For which uh for then non for the non citizen voting There are a couple bills that I reference one in in the in the report There are a couple bills that are being reviewed by the state But what I'm told is none of them are going to move But they're they've had a hearing or something like that So we could support them. Mm-hmm. Are there any question further questions on the town manager's report? Okay, then moving on just Yes, it was a question about That this is about whether there's going to be a hired minute-taker for committees any action on that Yes, so the school department is doing the same thing. I reviewed a job ad for that today Um, so we're looking with the school department to hire people who will do this job So that's it could go out as early as this week And it would be hourly Hourly paid. Yeah, and we may have one person who takes on a lot of committees But my expectations that we'd have one person per committee We'd like there to be some allegiance to the committee, but we'd have a stable of people who could step in Okay Thank you for that Okay, any further comments Okay under town council comments just two things. Um, I did refer The row act resolution to gol on july 8th This was based on our conversation this last time that all resolutions if at all possible would be reviewed by gol before they come before the committee and it was reviewed and it was considered I'm going to get your words of and I have them right here Declared it clear consistent and actionable, but we voted on it earlier and thank you very much Yes pat I know that we're tied up in the next few council meetings, but I would like to get back to having A future agenda items being listed. We do it in gel and it's very helpful, right? Okay, the other one was the referral for the director of senior services That appointment was referred to ochre on july 9th 2019 and obviously we went ahead and acted on that The future agenda items you've mentioned you'd like to see the list. We're trying to get it refined Thank you Anything else on future agenda items I've written down a couple so yes, uh, councilor comments lisa marijuana Thank you Are you offering Hi I know you may find this very to be a rather much of a prude, but I wouldn't have not darkened their doors So there's still process unfolding the town manager obviously at any point could speak and and does in his town manager reports About the internal review team that is looking at actual applicants who are opening Attempting to open businesses. Some of you have been to the community meetings There's another one coming up in a couple of weeks as I understand it So you watch for the postings of those coming through for people actually intending to open businesses in terms of things like social consumption And delivery there are in fact draft regulations that have been written associated with that. I did serve on the Social consumption working group for the cannabis control commission We didn't get everything we wanted in the draft regulations including the idea of events was dropped But there is a comment period that's open right now It is intended that at least a couple of us Locally in the marijuana internal working group including mr. Kravitz and this Fetterman his breast strip kind of Kruger myself Would potentially attend a hearing that's going to be in springfield on those draft regulations to offer our comments based on The work we've been doing over the last four or five years on marijuana here in this community It is a long way off to look at a possible social consumption pilot model at this point Even if it's voted in september that it's included in the regulations, which is not a done deal There's still a legislative piece that would have to take place before any communities could actually opt in Then there's a process in terms of how you actually opt in with the state and there's a whole bunch of steps after that So there will not be an offer to go to a weed cafe anytime soon after a town council meeting because there won't be one But those things those things are being looked at and I know also at the same time that the planning board is considering the possibility of changing the buffer zones around items other than retail so types of establishments other like re like cultivation And testing and that sort of thing here in amherst to enable more of those businesses to open With less focus on the retail which has been our primary focus Although mr. Kravitz is always working to attract those other types of businesses here too And if you have additional questions, I would be happy to answer them at some other point Okay Any other comments at this time in the council? Okay, we had one other item that was brought forth with less than 48 hours notice And it is a testimony in support of house resolution Uh 2836 and senate resolution 1958 These are both bills. I'm sorry. It's the 100 percent renewable energy act. Darcy developed a draft it's been in your folder since Friday and If there is no objections, I would go ahead and sign it. Are there any changes to it at this point? And do you feel the need to vote To support the letter. I'll move to support the letter. Okay second pat Okay Then are there any changes or additions? All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye Aye opposed abstain unanimous I'm sorry 11 00 with two absent Um, are there any other business that I haven't anticipated at this point? Then can I have a motion to adjourn? Second George's second all those in favor raise your hand and say aye. Aye opposed abstain It was unanimous