 Good evening and welcome back to Byline. So today's show is going to feature one of our three community outreach officers here in town and Angela and her colleagues were here oh maybe two or three months ago and we learned what their job is and the history of it but some of you may not have seen that show. Let's take the first couple of minutes here and just remind people where did this idea come from? What do you guys do? And we discussed the last time how unusual a construction we have here in town compared to other communities for this idea which is done in some other towns but very very differently. So give us the download on that. So thanks for having me back and officially the title is Community Participation Officer. Very good. So we have ourselves as CPOs and the charter is really specific that we are tasked with increasing engagement in all levels of you know town politics but not just that but also the volunteer boards, committees and commissions so we're trying to bring diversity to town hall and then also reflect what exists in our community through those boards, committees, commissions and all over town in terms of volunteer opportunities. And the idea of breaking this up into the parts of jobs of three different people as opposed to going out and hiring one more new person and putting all of that in that person's portfolio, how is this working and whose idea was this and how is it working? So town manager Paul Blokerman is the mastermind and he saw in each of us kind of a unique connection to the town of Amherst. So I've lived in town for over 20 years, Jen Moisten who's also part of the CPO team grew up in Amherst, went to Bay Path and has lived in town for her whole life and Brianna has great experience in Worcester working for that municipality and is starting her young family here in Amherst. So we each have different connections and the three of us connect to different parts of town geographically as well. Right and you also have, we're all employed by the town prior and you each had a different portfolio and the focus, although you work as a team, you're kind of building on your past experience in the area that you were focusing on before. That is the best way to put it. And basically you're adding and integrating into that job, this community participation and I'm glad you corrected me on that because it is all about participation. It's really about trying to get people engaged because that was one of the fundamental values and the underpinnings of the charter movement was we want more people to be engaged. We want different people to be engaged. We want the engagement to look like this town. Absolutely. And so how is that going in terms of diversifying because I remember you did a lot of work in with volunteers and boards and all of that and that's a big part of your focus as a participation officer. So how is that going? Where are we with that? Visibility has been a huge part of it and getting the word out about what we are trying to do. And so the three of us set up a tent at the sustainability fair. And it wasn't come and sign up for boards, committees and commissions but it was more of an introduction to the community like this is who we are, grab a piece of fruit, come and chat with us about your experiences here in town. And so really the first few months have been an effort to make it a part of our job description and a very meaningful way and to figure out how we can bring people to the table without piggybacking on organizations that are already so stretched for volunteers. I think for me that's kind of the tricky piece is finding events to attend that aren't events hosted by other non-profit organizations also looking for volunteers. And so we have a list of events that we will attend and we're really excited to kind of be a part of the community, the first night event on the town common. We should warn you there's going to be some dates and information so you might want to get a piece of paper and a pencil to get your electronic device and take some notes because she's going to give us a lot of opportunities and ways in which you can connect with what's going on here in town so go for some of those. August 27th, the first day celebration on the town common which is hosted by the schools. And what is that event actually? It's the night before the very first day of school and lots of departments from the town like the police do a nice setup, the fire department does a great setup I think they even bring a truck and there are lots of little kiosks all over the town common where families can come celebrate the end of summer, celebrate the beginning of a school year and so CPO's will be there we'll have like a bubble wand making station and it's an opportunity for families to get to know us as community participation officers but also reconnect with friends who they might not have seen all summer and hopefully enjoy the great winter. And it's not just for people connected to the schools it's for the whole community to celebrate education and to cheer the kids on and the teachers on and the families as our education cycle begins for the new year. Absolutely, absolutely and the chorus comes out. Some good food around there too. Some great food, some great food. I don't know if there's food on the common but I know that there's great music on the common. Great music and there's all the restaurants around so you could stop and have dinner and come over or you could come over and go have dinner. Some people even bring a picnic right on the common. It's excellent. If the weather holds it could be a great event. Great. Are there other events of that sort that you guys are going to be at? Absolutely. So the block party which happens September 19th where we shut down the main dragon town and everybody comes out. All of the businesses are present. It's a great event to welcome all of the new college kids to town, the new kids at Hampshire and Amherst and UMass and we will be there along with the clerk's office because it is a great time to register to vote. Yes, absolutely. And if you're running for office it's a great time to gather signatures. So you know it's so good to mention that. And we have an election coming up, don't we? Domination papers are available for school committee, Jones Library trustees, housing authority and the elector Oliver Smith Will. So papers are due back by the 17th of September and if you come into town hall right on the first floor and visit the clerk's office you can request those nomination papers. And so again just a quick review for people. You want to get on the ballot to run for one of those offices. Correct. You have to gather a certain number of signatures from registered voters in town. It is a process but not as onerous as you might think. Right and it doesn't matter whether they're Democrats, Republicans or unenrolled. Anybody can sign your nomination paper and then the clerk looks at the list and checks off which ones were actually registered voters and hit the magic number. Your name is going to be able to appear on the ballot. You'll be a candidate and you get to go in campaign. Yes, which is a great thing in our town. Absolutely. So again which offices? So again it's the school committee, the Jones Library trustees, the housing authority and the elector Oliver Smith Will. Excellent. So if you've wanted to serve on a board and really engage and start your political career, this is a good place to start. Right, but not all boards are elected so we have lots of volunteer opportunities. So let's talk about that because and again let's go back a step before that which is we've always had a form you could fill out to say you wanted to volunteer to serve on whatever committee that's of interest to you and it could be finance, it could be planning, zoning. It could be health, it could be housing, it could be any number of things and your team and you were kind of the lead for this because this was your major area. Your team worked with the town staff, the other town staff and Paul to revise the form. Tell us how that's going. Is it still? It's revised form, it's up for discussion I think again. We refer to it as the CAF, the Community Activity Form. Activity Form, good. And it's available on the website and it's linked to lots of different pages on the website so it's pretty readily accessible. So you could go and read what the board is, what the options are and then you can go back to the form and fill out which ones you want. Correct, but the other piece that's been really great as we've gone through this process anew is people have been marking general interest and so that prompts a phone call from my office to you saying, so you've marked general interest, here's what we have available, talk to me about what you're really interested in and let's try and get you in for an interview. So you try to help them think through the options a little without trying to direct them in any particular direction but go from general, I'm generally interested to oh I never thought about that, that might be a boy that I should focus on. And for many people it's about the time commitment. So we have certain boards that only meet quarterly and we have other boards that meet weekly and we have other boards that meet monthly and so it's more especially for young families it's more a conversation of what can fit into your schedule right now. And it's also about skill sets. Yes, absolutely. And background and interest so. And a willingness to learn things that are new. Right. So I'm remembering that very recently under the charter there was a deadline for naming new members to Planning Board and ZBA as I remember. Correct. And so that's come and gone. Yes. So those. And the town council did a fantastic job with that. And so again that was a bunch of people said I'd like to be on Planning Board or ZBA, then there was an interview. Correct. And the interview was with Paul and a committee or with a committee and then Paul. So for ZBA and for Planning it was run by the town council and their committee of the council called the Outreach Communications and Appointments Committee. An appointment, okay. Designated a representative. Okay. And they kind of ran the show. Excellent. So that was really driven by the council. Correct. And that's because the charter gave them the authority to make those appointments. Precisely. Okay. So now and by the way some incumbents got to stay on and others other and new faces were put on. Yes. So it's a combination of some history. So you're not starting from scratch with the board. Right. And some new voices and new eyes. Yes. Okay. But now there's more. Many more. Many more. So what's the next batch look like? So we have four spots available on the cultural council. Cultural? Okay. And we have I think more than one spot available on the Agricultural Commission. Okay. And so that's a specialized skill set. We're looking for people who are involved in farming lands that are within the borders of Amherst. Mm-hmm. So it could be a family farm. It can be a small farm. It can be a half acre plot. Mm-hmm. And it could be... Could it be a container garden on my porch? Absolutely. Okay. Because I did a good one this year. See? And I think that definitely gets you a seat at the table. Okay. So... Don't worry. I won't be competing for one of those seats. So if you're watching and you want a seat on there, don't worry. I'm not competing with you. There are several seats available on the Disability Access Advisory Committee. Mm-hmm. And the Munson Memorial Building Trustees, I think we'll have one or two seats available there. And that's the Munson Library. Library. It's the actual building itself. Yeah. Which not many people know is a great space to rent out. Mm-hmm. There's a wonderful old auditorium there with some gorgeous windows. I've been to some concerts and even dance presentations. Mm-hmm. And then down the stairs, there are some meeting rooms that are all wired for meetings, large and small. Probably 20 or fewer people. Terrific. And then... Do you actually have to rent those meeting rooms? Yes. Those are coordinated through our office. Okay. You want to speak with Jennifer Moisten. Okay. And there's a great rate for town residents and then a reasonable rate for people who are not residents of town. Got it. Good. Mm-hmm. And... Participatory Budgeting Commission. There's one spot left. Uh-huh. And I think that spot is town manager appointee. Okay. And the registrar of voters. So that's just three representatives. Oh, three representatives on registrar of voters. Correct. Okay. And how many positions? If there are three vacant, how many in total? There are three total. And they're all vacant. They're all available. I believe so. Okay. I believe so. So that doesn't mean they're vacant today, but they are available for appointment. Yes. Got it. Yes. Okay. So there's a lot of variety there. There is and Water Supply Protection Committee. Okay. Which is also a pretty specialized skill set. Great. So you need to know about contaminants and you need to know about water and water tables and lots of science-y parts of water. And be willing to learn more if you know some but not enough. Yes. Okay. And so if you're interested in any of these, you go to the town website. Or just call our office. Or just call your office. Some people don't feel comfortable filling out the form online. Mm-hmm. So I can take their information over the phone. Okay. But you can also start by going to the website and reading the charge of each of these committees. Yes. We've just updated those. And you can see who's already sitting on the committee. Mm-hmm. And you can see who's coming off the committee because their term is up. Yes. We have all those dates up. And so you can call or bump into people in town and say, hey, I saw you serve on this committee. Are you getting off? And how was it serving? So you can get some firsthand validation about the value of sitting on the panel. Correct. Great. So what will be the process after they either fill out the form or talk with you, then for each of these, because their town manager appointments, there's going to be an interview? It's brief. It's 15 minutes with the town manager, usually in his office. Mm-hmm. Paul is joined by a representative from the RAC, the residents advisory committee. Okay. And that's Jim Pistering, Connie Krueger, and Keisha Dennis. Okay. So Jim sits in and they'll meet all of the candidates that are interviewed for one position. There's a little bit of deliberation that goes on. But each candidate comes in separately. Yes. So you're not talking in front of your competition? No, not at all. And it's usually back-to-back. So we set aside an afternoon or a morning. Yeah. And then Paul has to take the nominee and present them to the clerk and also to the town council. Okay. And previously they've been referred out of town council down to OCHA, who we've mentioned before, which is a subset or a committee of the whole. Committee of the town council. Correct. And they do a separate vetting, which doesn't involve interviews. It doesn't at all. They review the documentation and the notes from the meeting and all that. And then they make a recommendation to the full council. Yes. That's pretty much how that works. And then we're able to issue the appointment letter. Great. And then it's pretty simple. People have to read through a couple different open meeting law requirements. And then they come into the clerk's office and they get sworn into office and become a special municipal employee status. Great. So let's, is there anything else on appointments that you want to mention? No, only that we are desperately looking for volunteers. So you still don't have enough people in the pool. I think we'd like a more robust pool. I think we'd like to see lots of different people apply. So more robust, more people apply. So is that to say you're getting too many of the usual suspects, meaning the same people who apply over and over again to a bunch of boards. We are. And you really want to diversify the pool in that way. You want to diversify it by neighborhoods. You want to diversify it by gender. You want to diversify it by class, meaning income and race. All classifications of people, you're trying to get it to be more of a richer pool. Correct. Okay. We'd like to see all of those things, but we love all of our volunteers. Yeah. We'd just like to see some new faces. New faces. Okay. Very good. So I recently, I understand some collection of you went door to door. We have been in the hopes of... And I'd really like you to focus on that experience first. Let's just explain what we're talking about. This is connected to the proposal for a new DPW facility. Right. So talk just a little bit about that at the 50,000 foot level. And then what did you guys actually do and what was the experience? What were you hearing from people? Right. So the overall scheme is to construct two new public safety buildings. A new central fire station. And also a new DPW. Okay. And as CPOs, we are lucky to be invited to be part of that conversation. And we... I think Jen Moisten said, you know, it would be great for us to think of this as we're reaching out to our neighbors. We're putting ourselves in their shoes. And what would we want to hear if one of those two buildings was being constructed in our neighborhood where we live right now? What we want to know. Right. And so it was a pretty easy conversation for me to have because I live five doors up from the current DPW site. And I have experience hearing the trucks only in the winter. And I have experienced seeing the trucks go by early in the morning. So what we hoped to do by going door to door was to really listen. And that was our purpose, was to listen and to take notes and to hear what community members had to say. So it was a great learning process. I met some new neighbors. And it was great to see old friends like Jim Brasette, who I had been on LSSE with. And so who was in the group who went door to door? I was paired with assistant town manager Dave Zomek. So you went in pairs? We did. Okay. And Jennifer Moisten was with Guilford Mooring, the superintendent of Public Works. And Brianna Sunrid, our communications director was with... Communications manager was paired with Chief Nelson, the fire chief. So as a former candidate for public office, I did a lot of door knocking in my career. It's exhausting. And it's exhausting, but it's also engaging because you're actually meeting your neighbors and you're talking with people. But I found that 90% of the people weren't home when I came. Right. We left notes. So you left notes. We did. And you said, we came by, you weren't there. And we'll be back. And we'll be back. Okay. You didn't say please call. You said, we will be back. We will. Okay. So we did a list of events to follow up. We hosted a Saturday morning with pastries and coffee at Kiwanis Park. And then we did two follow up district meetings that were spearheaded by Lynn Griezmer and Pat DeAngelis. And those events happened at Fort River in the cafeteria. Okay. And I assume you've got a variety and a diversity of opinion from those engagements. What kinds of things were people expressing? First, were they grateful that you actually came to talk to them? So we were really focused more on the process as CPOs. For us, it was a learning experience in terms of how to engage in this new way. There's a skill set that you know you need when you go door to door. It's different than addressing a crowd at a graduation or speaking to people at a public hearing. So as CPOs, we really were hoping to make that one-to-one connection. And for the public safety buildings, it's all about safety. It's all about looking at what's great for the common good, what's going to help all of us in town. And neighborhoods are difficult places to figure out. So we heard from people who supported it. And I think probably the thing that stuck with me the most was the person who said, what builds a community the most is when everybody gives a little bit. And so maybe this is my opportunity to give a little bit. That's really well said. That's great. I was impressed. I was impressed with the life experiences that people shared with us and also the willingness to help make Amherst better. So over what period of time do you think you're going to be continuing to knock on doors and at what point do you shift to other modes of communication? I think regardless of where these buildings are constructed, as CPOs, we feel, and we've said this to Paul, we should do this for every municipal building that gets built in the next few years. This is a part of the process that is super important in terms of building community and making people feel like they're a part of this place that cares for them and values them. So regardless of where they put the DPW or the new fire station, I think it's the boots on the ground piece is something we're definitely going to do again. Great. And it just seems like this is really an actualization of a concept that was embedded in the charter, which is consistent with a couple of fundamental points. One was transparency. And the second was civic engagement. And so the government, in this case, is actually going the extra mile. They're not just leaving it to people. We have a hearing or a meeting you can come know. We're coming to you to tell you what's happening, to answer your questions, and to reach out to you. I don't think it gets any better than that anywhere. It's better than a door hanger, right? It's much better than a door hanger. It's better than a hear the meetings, come to the meetings. Yeah, that's great. So I remember that in our last gathering with the CPOs, we had conversation about the new website that is being put together. I use the town website, and I'm not great on technology, but I find it useful, and I can get around it. But it needed some renewal, I guess. And so can you give us a quick snapshot on where we are in that process? Because it does take a lot of work and time to build a website, especially that's going to be user friendly. Right. And Breonna is doing most of the legwork. Breonna Sundred, the communications manager, is doing all of the meeting with department heads, and meeting with the people who will be doing the continuous updates. I think the rollout is planned for late in the fall, I believe is the last that I heard. Late this fall. Late 2019 or 2020? Yeah, I would be shocked if a really robust new piece could be rolled out that fast. Right. So good. But it is coming along. The work is going on with the planning groups within the town. And do you know if a contractor's been selected yet? I do not know that piece of it. But it's definitely progressing. Yes. It's on the A-list, on the front burner. Yes. Because it's so important to access. It's super important for every part of the constituency. Yeah. Any other activities that you can think of? I know that we've got our community, I'm sorry, our district counselors, and the large counselors are doing meetings. So those are still. And the office hours and the coffee hours. And this coming Friday, town manager Paul Bachman will be at Atkins in the morning from 7.30 to 9.30 with the new director of senior services, Mary Beth. Great. Now is that tied to this initiative that relates to the utilities and energy? Isn't the attorney general's office and the town manager's office working together to help our seniors not get built? Yes. Can you tell us a bit about that in our final two minutes? September 24, 6.30 at the cafeteria at Crocker Farm. The AG's office, the attorney general's office, will be coming out to talk about competitive electric supply. So their study last year reported that Massachusetts customers paid competitive electric suppliers $176.8 million more than they would have paid for electricity from their utility from 2015 to 2017. So that's pretty remarkable. So what's going on is people are contacting our residents and saying, we can get you electricity cheaper. Yes. People sign up. And then, lo and behold, the bill goes up. The next time they turn around, the bill actually went up instead of down. That's a consumer fraud type of situation. Everyone has to beware. But it's a special responsibility of the attorney general's office to try to help protect us in that situation. But in this case, the town is looking out for the residents of the town and is building this program to try to help make sure that people don't get built. And it's pretty tricky because they can do it by phone. They can do it by a postcard in the mail. And the opt-out in the opt-in is pretty deceptive. So it'll be illuminating. And so this is a situation where people have to come to the meeting to learn about it. The town will be promoting this meeting. Absolutely. And perhaps even finding other ways to continue to follow up on that. Because if 50 people show up, it doesn't mean there's only 50 people who need to know about it. Right. We're trying to get the word out. Yeah. Great. Well, thank you so much. You folks are doing a wonderful job. And thanks for keeping that. And keep knocking on those doors. Thank you, Stan. Thank you for joining us. And we'll be back. We're taking another few weeks off from recording. But you'll see some older shows if you tune in on Friday and Friday evenings and Monday evenings. And we'll be back here recording more live shows right around Labor Day. So thank you for joining us. And thank you again. Thank you.