 Start and and and see how it goes if we need to adjust we can My name's Ben Doyle I'm the president of the preservation trust of Vermont Which is a nonprofit organization that builds community through the preservation of historic buildings villages and downtowns I work with caucus still a lot on community visioning projects I think mostly because in another life. I was a high school English teacher And I'm standing up in front of people and listening and watching the clock And so that's really what my job here is tonight, right? We're gonna have a conversation about leadership leadership systems in the in the city of Montpelier and really a conversation about Is it working does it need to be tweaked? What are ideas for fostering leadership in the community that can help us in this really singular moment, right? We all know that whatever we're gonna do is gonna take, you know Exceptional leadership and so the question for us to consider is what does that really look like? And what can we do as a community, right? The key thing here is we're not coming up with a list of 25 things for other people to do Right, this is about what are the three or four things that we can all work collectively on to do together to move us forward in a Positive direction. Okay, so my job again is really just to watch the clock stir the drink Make sure that everybody who wants to speak gets the opportunity to do that And so I'm gonna be really kind of strict about the clock, you know I think we need to just trust the process and What we're gonna do is have about 15 minutes where we talk about what is the state of city leadership right now or What has leadership looked like in response to the flood what systems are working? Who has stepped up for leadership all of those kinds of things and then the next question? We're gonna ask ourselves is, you know What what could be different moving forward or what do we need to address moving forward or create or think about or collaborate on? moving forward To make sure that we get the ends outcomes that we want and then the last thing we're gonna do is really just prioritize Right, we're gonna say okay We just came up with that list of 20 great ideas and we can get none of them done or we can prioritize three and Really try to move them forward and there's just a preliminary thing, you know all of these ideas all of these there's notes being taken Thank you again, Joan for taking notes on this conversation all of the conversations There's gonna be similar themes right if you're in the downtown session leadership is gonna come up I'm sure the downtown is gonna come up here right but all of that's gonna be analyzed by Paul and the team They're gonna do a cluster analysis Find the points of overlap and then raise those to the surface when we talk about prioritizing things at the next meeting Okay, so this is just a kind of preliminary step for that So we're gonna do the what's going on right now for about 15 minutes What what do we need to do for the next you know for about 30 and then we're gonna spend the last 10 minutes Kind of prioritizing and then we're gonna all go back to the house chamber and hear what everybody came up with Any questions David you good? All right, all right great good. Let's start so who wants to talk about Leadership and coming out of the flood what examples of great leadership. Did you see? What did leadership look like? What does it look like right now? All of those things. I'm sorry You may want to start Yeah, I Was not in town when the flood it I was in at a conference in a UVM so I witnessed it from afar and Seeing the organization and how quickly Katie and others I know that supported Katie But of course my failure life was the the bullhorn, but there are a lot of people involved in that effort I know that the volunteer in 2000 people signed up in over a couple days You know all that coordination was just spectacular We heard from all over the country people seeing that and witnessing that in kind of an awe of the way that our community organized Yes I don't think yeah, I'm not sure how clear it was, but like all those won't fill your life science parks department staff It's still Team effort such a great team. I was in awe of Alec and Mark and Layla who like just shifted us I was with the Montpelier conservation core. They just shifted us like seamlessly It just plugged us in and I was like wow you guys rock. That's awesome. Yeah, great. Thanks for that. Yes I think one thing that made Montpelier alive so successful is they had a Communication lines already open to all the downtown businesses And so I think the line of communication is really important when we talk about leadership and they have it nailed down Both in an email list. They have a Facebook group that she can talk to all the businesses And doing monthly or weekly meetings since the flood all have been great That's great. Yeah, so an established network made it easy for them to kind of engage their leadership Good what else I Mean a means of communication that was great was from porch forum I mean, I just think a lot of people would go to it and find out where things are What's happening? What was going on? What else I think social media was a supporting as well not everybody reads from a porch forum But the people who don't read from a porch forum probably look at Facebook and there was a lot of good communication there Can you talk about more like communication from communication from Montpelier live communication from the city communication from the business owners and residents It was really coming from all all sides. Yeah, great. Good. So multiple vehicles for that communication, right? Exactly Yeah, and to jump on that those social media. How are people talking to each other? I have a I'm on a signal thread a chat thread that is mutual aid That's usually like who has a, you know Pair of boots I can borrow and it just it blew up, right? And so that was just I need three people here now to come help with this task So and so from here is asking for this and that was really cool to see that like work the way it is supposed to work No leadership there just who needs what asking for it Can you can you talk a little bit more about that because I find that like fascinating on multiple levels, right? And I will say like having visited some other communities and regions that are experiencing You know extensive flooding damage these mutual aid organizations like critically important Can you talk more about how it works here in Montpelier and the fact that what you just talked about like Disaggregated leadership sounds like yeah There are people who know a lot more about mutual aid than I do I think that what was striking to me is I I ended up helping a couple people in really specific ways And I was able to ask for or I was getting asked for a more specific help through that channel So somebody would see that and say like I Had a friend down on Route two who had flooded out. I wasn't there anymore But she knew I had some connections that I could ask for help She needed another crew of people to help get her kitchen cabinets out. I Mentioned that on the signal thread somebody saw that they were on their way down to Montpelier alive They mentioned it at Montpelier alive a crew of people from timber homes showed up at her house like an hour later I'm at all her cabinets And it is it is I Think there is established trust amongst the people on that thread that everybody is there for the same reason And to help and that it doesn't matter that nobody's in charge Thank you for that. That's really interesting I had huge cases one of them 400 pounds that I needed to move and Not only did I get four people there? I went to the hub and said Do you have any moving? Blankets anything like that because these are glass and I'm putting them in a truck and I've got to go up a bumpy hill and They said no, we don't have anything like that, but we'll get back to you And I thought yeah, sure okay, whatever and I said the trucks come in at two o'clock 45 minutes later somebody had gone to you hole and ended up with a dozen blankets It was so so the response wasn't to me phenomenal Yeah, you know not only the physical help but something like a little outside the box like that And then I saw people using those blankets for the rest of the time that to move things great And so so it was it really was the community Helping you know like you call donating 12 blankets just you know because they wanted somebody thought to go and ask Excellent. Thank you for that example right and it just strikes me to write again coming back to the Communication channels that allow leadership to be possible and then also the responsiveness right and the following through on what they said They were going to do right. Yeah, what else? Yes, sir. I just sound superficial any other day, but I want to give a shout out to Domino's Because they really gave deep discounts for food. I was purchasing stuff for myself as well as all other people within the cleanup efforts and When we miss the pickups at the tent for food and they really they did a great job That's great. I just want to I want to shout out the food. Yeah, thank you. I hadn't heard that. Thank you for sharing What else what else do we see in terms of qualities of leadership? Yes Well, I may have missed this because I had to step out of the room I don't know how well things work for people who couldn't move fast I Okay, so that's a really interesting question right like we were seeing examples of success right but where were the gaps and Are there opportunities for leadership to develop systems that could address people that might Otherwise fall off the radar or they had a very specific need that the current systems aren't set up to help Okay, so the one word that she said was magic and not to diminish but it What I've heard overwhelmingly is that the community came together and this person did this and this person did this and it kind of happened by magic but that For business owners and people trying to recover wondering where to go it seems clear to me that there is not one organization that owns the responsibility of Coordinating those answers. We have a lot of government institutions each one of them exists in their own silo And it's unable to coordinate to say oh, this isn't the silo for you. There needs to be another one I think that there needs to be and An organization of some type whether it's an arm of Montpelier alive a totally new thing or whatever I don't know, but I don't think there should be a government associated with with any any level of government so that that Entity can operate outside of bureaucracy and help direct people to the various bureaucratic silo government entities and other Resources that need to be there as well as consider Do we have folks that have mobility needs? Can we rather than rely on? One social media platform or another one or a mutual aid platform Is there some way that that can be coordinated to blast out to all of those platforms and then collect that information from those platforms and blast out to all of the platforms so that People who don't use text or phones or social media or whatever everyone can then maybe be reached Okay, great. Thank you, and you're really here There's a lot there and a lot of good stuff and you're kind of moving us forward into the next part right of like what do we need to do Right, but before we get there and go more on that I do want to just provide an opportunity for other folks to if we want to talk about you know We've talked about the magic right that happened here, right? Are there other examples of leadership or gaps that we saw? Yeah websites Watching these Other institutions that are I'm really interested in there's there's sort of established government. There's my pillar live There people show up Organically mutual aid groups, but then we also have these Established businesses with their lanes looking around and saying, okay, what can we do food? You know dominoes says we can do this a bank says we can provide some capital so I'm liking watching that and I love what you just said about Essentially navigator or coordinator or you know our traffic control or something because I think there is that Who can connect me with this? That's great. Thanks. I Just want to comment to on that the leadership like and it is its leadership from a lot of these kind of anchor businesses in downtown So frankly, I don't know about you folks, but day two or three I'm like are they coming back and the fact that some of them have Chosen perhaps in this moment against their financial interest to do that as part of a larger commitment to this community I think is a real example of leadership. Yes I think this was something that happened, you know in proper honoring time You know to pass between the initial tragedy But individuals and groups that were interested in finding ways for people to come together not only for labor but for leisure and You know providing concerts providing you know Little, you know food trucks or something like that to sort of be together in easier ways I think that was a really important thing and similarly I don't know who Initiated this, but there's a really beautiful altar on Langdon Street that I think Just thinking of the emotional impact and the grief impact for all of us Taking that like individuals and groups that are taking the initiative to honor that side of it as well I think this has been really important. That's great. Thanks for sharing that I think he's already been stated It's kind of filling that gap for like who is the person that knows everything and it kind of was Whoever was kind of stepping up and it wasn't of your as you mentioned So I just want to second what you were saying. I guess I had a question about whether there was a sense of Related to safety if people felt like there was a gap I don't know that we were at least was getting Vermont alerts Which is something you can sign up for for emergency alerts But I don't know who is feeding into that and whether there could have been more information or a way for people to know Like just in the immediate as things were flooding like I'm over by the roundabout near Elmond spring And there was a lot of panic like is it are we safe? Should we evacuate the swift boats were there? How do we you know? I don't know if that's a gap or maybe an opportunity But just want to maybe ask some questions about that. I know there's another group Emergency preparedness but in terms of maybe gaps or needs for leadership for No, that's great, and I think it's really I mean I think we will see residents between these different sessions right but I guess what I'm hearing is Is there an opportunity for greater leadership around that kind of emergency planning or notification or communication? Informate like who has the information? Where do you get the information who can answer a question? Like those are something and it could be related to safety. It could be related to resilience But that's something that I think I kind of echo what maybe what you were sharing a little bit about it seemed pretty distributed And I'm not suggesting that it should be centralized There's a balance there right between Disaggregated and the fact that it's organic and can happen and yet there's the risk of gaps And then at the same time we don't want it to be too centralized where it just becomes a bureaucracy and Sir, yeah, I just want to talk about a little bit about the gaps related Actually really it's not just disabilities. What about people who are homebound? What about people who are? In low-income. What about people who are in isolated areas? and You know we used to have something called can Capital area neighborhoods and it sure would have been great if we had can there because for example my community where I was a Can coordinator I could have gone to all 30 of the homes in my neighborhood and there were people but I Wasn't getting information that I could disperse Yes, we have all these emergency Notifications so forth, but some of them are technical all of them require a computer the capabilities I have people my neighborhood who don't have computer That I have to go next door and if I can't go next door and there were people calling me because I used to be I wasn't getting the information either So can I ask like I'm sorry. I live in my pillar 15 years first Is that like a is that is that still a sin? Is that a thing? Yeah, and that's probably Factor of who the people were who stepped up to kind of get it going. Okay? I think the intention was to create neighborhood focus so that you can look out for the neighbors Mutually who might be forgotten about it was a form of mutual aid mutual aid and mutual communication Okay, I did it in two different communities And it's true. It works better in some communities and others But it but it was it didn't have the support of the city Okay. All right. Thanks for sharing that perspective What okay, so now I I do want to move us forward to right and we've already got some good stuff on the table Right of like what are we and not what other people going to do? But like what can this group or this initiative right move forward? Yeah, so I Appreciate hearing everyone's concerns Offer a little bit of insight about what didn't didn't happen So that we don't spend time there were a lot of questions and issues raised. Yeah, so I'm the city manager Okay, so bill. I just got to do it like I just want we want this will be this will be super like point-by-point No, no, I don't I'm not rebutting great. That's what people understand So the day that we knew we were gonna have flood we met with my failure alive and the team So we had already plea pre-deployed the parks department So it was definitely the city and my failure alive the attention and so not they did a great job so that was pre-plead and That was intended to be the hub where people could get walk-in information the Vermont alerts are by phone or text or email You can choose so you don't have to have email you get a phone call. So but that such system is in place and Lastly just about the resources we have to communicate with what's called the state emergency operation center for us to get any Supplies so it kind of does need to be a single focus thing So basically the hub would tell us what we needed we'd call the state get it ordered and Take care of it from that end and then that Related to give us an example like this like what was kind of thing water? Masks yeah gloves all those kind, you know all the supplies that people had And we got by the way just great donations from Walmart and Amazon believe it or not And those were in the rec center So there was a lot that people didn't see like that stuff didn't just magically show up It was all coordinated and I totally appreciate the concern about having the information part of the problem is when you're dealing with FEMA They don't show up for a couple of days So we were trying like crazy to get information to share with people and once they came You know we started giving but we actually asked them and they finally put a table at the hub So people could go up and talk to them directly and now they have a disaster recovery center at from our college We're all there things are so people can go and go there It's but it's you know five or six weeks later. I really I just want people to know those things as we think about where to And that's really really helpful, right? I think what can appear like magic, right sometimes Or magic with a little bit of help, right? Yes if there isn't precedence for Retaining that information there should be moving forward so there aren't any gaps I mean great, so let's start this can we put this can we just move right now to action steps, right? And there's one right there, right like you're saying like let's make sure that we learn from this experience And if there were lessons learned right that those are kind of memorialized, right? So one of the other things I think that I'm I'm not I tend to walk around the city very early I've lived in Washington County for 20 years, but I'm a super recluse. This is highly important for me So that's why I'm here, but thanks But I've worked in this area and I've been here for 20 years, but an inclusion colossal inclusion is important not only that the Just the unhoused You know, I know everyone has seen this this woman with no shoes on walking around And sleeping in the dirt part of like where the new bus station is And and you know, it's like we have to be cognizant from from the the Jacobs to You know this late. Yeah, and so I just want to keep that moral compass focus. Thank you I think that you know that's it. Yeah, as we think about leadership, right that moral compass is the central Yes, I guess I'd like to throw out just Idea that I would love for people to pick apart when it comes to like thinking about leadership moving forward And I kind of think about it into two two buckets one is the people who are going to be trying to get the financing to fix the river and The big picture thing of having to like redirect the kind of like moving forward future I would love there to be like a committee almost somebody who's connected financially or federally or statewide like I think there's a moving forward leadership team that needs to happen and then I would also love a Second leadership team of like the needs that need to happen now kind of like the Montpelier alive But I love the can idea like what if we split Montpelier up into 13 neighborhoods And then those three lead 13 leaders from every community go to this other Leadership teams to like the things that need to happen now But I really think we need a leader in a position that has ties federally financially and State government to get what needs to happen. It's so big picture. Okay, so two tracks Right immediate needs but also that kind of neighbor-to-neighbor thing right that informs the larger or not larger But more 30,000 foot level about like what does the future look like and how do we pay for it? Yeah? Yeah And I should have and I probably you don't need an introduction But Sue Minter is here from capstone who's been just an incredible leader for central Vermont on this whole thing and also was the chief recovery officer during I read so talk about like the person who knows Lessons were learned. So I don't know. Do you want to just? Add in or I mean, I'll simply say that I was also here in 1996 Bill was a young manager at the time And we started what was called the Montpelier downtown community association, which is Montpelier alive It didn't exist before this master plan that we developed and to see how it has risen to the level of exceptionalism in this Moment is so extraordinary. I also come from Waterbury, which after Irene was devastated And it was our downtown organization that that actually created another arm called rebuild Waterbury And I think your point about sort of near term I think what you're talking about is sort of in what they call in disaster management and after action report Everything that happened is a learning experience, especially the gaps And I saw so many communities do this after Irene and think about those folks Who didn't have access to their meds and the neighbor who did know and go get them And so I think cataloging that because we know it's going to happen again And we're going to be even better whether it's our mutual aid or our organizational strategies But thinking ahead I think it is really I would have seen success Organizations coming together both to focus on the recovery what they call recovery whether it's the business is getting back Or the home's getting back and there are layers of layers of bureaucracy To access some of the different FEMA programs that have already started to come You don't even know about them the direct housing assistance, which we were just announced I don't even think it's been publicly announced But there are things that are coming that someone really does need to know and be in touch with and then funnel down But at the same time I fully support the idea of longer-term thinking about the river and how we live with that river And how we think about mitigation and there's funding around mitigation So there's lots of future ways of living your dream But it all takes local leadership to start sharing the dream and I love everything you're saying and I just commend you I've been in Berry City doing similar work, and it's hard work And I really just want to also say it's really important to grieve The losses, and I also know you're doing that. I don't know if that's helpful But I've seen different forms of leadership emerge out of disaster throughout the month May I ask is a direct follow-up since you were here in 1996 and 2011 the after-action reports and These these sort of plans rather than us trying to figure out what to do from nothing There must be existing Conclusions from previous floods that we could draw on to begin this building process Yeah, I was I think even after 92 not only action after action But results they made some investments that I think help now that was an ice jam Not just a flood, but I'm sure that there are things to draw on you also have tremendous Expertise in building resilient design of the Waterbury State Office complex I want to say which flooded out and Waterbury flooded out We recontoured the entire floodplain after Irene the Waterbury State Office complex We filled in all the tunnels. We built up. We sustained historic preservation and It flooded exactly as designed meaning it's perfectly usable now my building in Berry City is 10 years old it was designed to be in a flood zone and every single building around us is flooded and in mud encased in my Hours is just it flooded right to where the design was so these designers at least at this moment are Succeeding and I think a lot of things that we were able to do after agreeing to help other communities So I'm just saying I think there are smart people here in Montpelier that have thought a lot about this and there are reports Some of which are really relevant and some of which are too old. I can really quickly answer that question Yes, we do after action reports 2011 was nothing like this. It was really we were open in a couple days It was the basements that kind of thing I mean basements has been the biggest structure But the biggest learning piece so we are debriefing actually tomorrow We're having our action after action meeting with our own team like what did we do right? What did we do wrong? Being informed about what we hear tonight But one of the biggest thing that came from it was the city's flood hazard Regulations that's who just talked about and the buildings that did not flood in Montpelier the buildings that have been Newer and are built to code the transit center city center even was built You know the ones that are elevated that So that is where we need to focus is how do we what do we do with our old historic buildings that are sitting low? How do we make them, you know, that's one of our challenges going great So I want to just make sure that we're keeping it on track in terms of the actions for leadership. Yes Thank you. It's great discussion so far I had two points just thinking about looking at the future one is I think there's been a decent amount of discussion of resources Especially from FEMA. I think we're at a moment where there are also a lot of other relevant federal resources You know, there's a new I mean for many of these the programs are still being announced But it's like environmental and climate justice block grant So we're new investments, which are not necessarily for recovery, but which I think could be put towards You know more resilient future. So that's I think a Moment of time that perhaps the city can take advantage of and then I'll share this is more food for thought I work in a national policy job and in my last role my organization provided a lot of support to an international Philanthropic initiative where chief resilience officers were embedded in city governments So I kind of felt called to this group because I saw the idea about the recoveries are in the commentary and From just being a part of that initiative in a supporting role. So I don't really have all the ins and outs They I really observed You know for many of these people who are really motivated and came to that those roles with a huge amount of passion and knowledge They really were not empowered if they didn't have budget and staff That's such an obvious thing to say But you know, there were major cities that would hire someone in this, you know Incredibly important job directly reporting to the city manager mayor and they have one member of staff And they were supposed to like design new committees that all the other departments would You know create a filter review their work through and I think sometimes they managed to make progress But at the end of the day The ones that made more progress were when the city made a decision to make a structural change to prioritize Resilience as a topic and then maybe like public works and housing and zoning Like rolled up to that as opposed to that person going around and giving ideas to everybody, right? So that was there were much, you know, there were studies of this initiative about what worked what didn't I think one other thing which I observed that seemed to work was again when they This was in the case of where people had no staff Sometimes they managed to influence the structures to kind of change the dialogue over the long term So for example a city's historic preservation review board had to have two appointees that knew about sea level rise So it's like okay. Well, then that's going to change the discussion every time You know building that permits are reviewed. So that's just a little bit of food for thought These are bigger cities, but I think the the you know, there's some similar dynamics No, I think that's super interesting, right? So like I just want to try and boil it down to the idea of like is there is there a designated position in the city? Right now, right? It's either that chief resilience officer or recoveries are whatever you want to call it, right? And and if there were to be someone like that, how would they be empowered to actually affect change, right? Okay Joan My scribe role for a moment, you know when we talk about leadership in this right now I feel like there's also an opportunity for us to be Less sort of exceptionalist and isolationist in our thinking like I mean, there's certainly issues that are Particular to Montpelier and there's so many that are not just particular to Montpelier So I wonder about what kind of leadership structures we can build that actually help us Reach beyond the city to both share information and resources But also to be of more mutual support to neighboring Towns and cities like I was just reading the BT digger article on Berry City about their housing issues. I'm like You're not a lot right. We're not alone in this and so how can we actually create or and even build upon existing leadership? structures where there's already some You know we cross Geographic lines To help to help all of us So and I don't know exactly what those all are but I know this I think the city like our emergency system right is sort of a collaborative with very and so maybe that's just one example We're like, oh look, we're already doing it in some ways, but you can also be talking about I mean I'm just thinking about like during COVID right Where mutual aid societies actually created a net like a mutual aid network, right? The BCRD actually helped coordinate right that there could be something similar here of flood resiliency around communities in central Monter even broader, right? So I will just say that there are recovery committees of different sorts emerging in Waterbury in Berry I Assume here, and I think what is so important is that all recovery is local but the more we can share and understand each other's Struggles and and successes. I think the stronger the region is and you know, I'm also In in Lamoille the same thing is happening and that's much more rural. So I think I Super agree with you, but I think starting something whatever it looks like is going to be great And it's going to be right for you I think thinking about businesses and homeowners and renters and recovery FEMA will anticipate that you need a particular structure to be able to receive some of what they have to offer So I'm just mentioning that and case management will help in the long run So there will be these FEMA bureaucratic opportunities to benefit from but however you feel You should grow the leadership based on what you've got going here. That's so magical and unique Is where you need to go? But I do think there are I know many things that are happening elsewhere and the sooner you get going and dreaming I so support your view that there's a lot of resources out there in this moment And I really want to encourage Part of whatever happens being the big picture dreaming because you got to have the vision and then you find the money great great Let's go to Nathan and I'll go right to you. Yeah You just envision which was gonna be one of the things I would say I keep thinking about You know when I just think about the downtown, we've got city government in its role. We've got private landowners We've got businesses who are often tenants and don't actually businesses. That's just one example It struck me from I don't know your name. I'm Nathan Carlton Carlton Well, you said Carlton about inclusion, you know, sort of designing from the margins colossal inclusion But to me I feel like if if we have gonna identify some of the shared values, right? How are we gonna go about this because I see just looking at front porch forum, which in some ways is wonderful And in some ways is exposing I think some of our Less noble impulses What wouldn't it be nice if we could all if I could begin my front porch forum post by saying Through because we care about inclusion because we share a vision of X I think a good path forward is this and those are that's that's naming an abstract idea And it's naming a value and it's offering something positive as opposed to What the last person says it's We can do better so I love to see some convening and and I think you know Then if you're the if you're monthly or live and you're most connected to this network of business community, you know What are the shared values there and then communicating across those groups? You know Bill Frazier and city government can say we care about infrastructure resilience Whatever those things are. I think that will be communication and coordination for like the 10-year mission or the five-year More effect. So I just want to like say it back. So like we're talking about this idea of like having some kind of Conversation community conversation about our shared values that inform everything we do whether it's the vision the communication the way that we talk to each other All of those things but that we this is a moment really to come galvanize. What are the shared values that we care about? Colossal inclusion right things like that Okay, because I yeah because you're gonna have these different groups. Yeah having their own conversations. Yeah And they're not only gonna be able to come together. So if they every time I'm in a meeting with my Yeah, one of 13 every groups because I remember yeah, we care about colossal inclusion. Yeah, and through that lens Let's try to make this decision. That's great. Thank you Yes, I was just thinking like on what Sue was saying even what you were saying like the watchword sounds it sounds like community communication Coordination if a lot of the expertise and reports already exist and we don't need to invent You know, we don't need necessarily some subject matter experts like that's not what's missing Then maybe the leadership gap or where we should be orienting resources to like Holding more community meetings and engagement and providing more information and like I don't know if the city has like a communications coordinator or a press officer or someone who's like sharing information or I'm not saying that's the solution But it sounds like we have capacity as a community But like I have never attended a community meeting except that I saw this posting and I saw it from Fort Ford Now I'm here and so let's like figure out what this is the leadership that's happening and this is the forum so how do we just get this and capitalized on capitalized on it rather than just You know continuing what we've been doing, so I'm excited about where this is headed Excellent, thank you Yes, I'd like to come back you started this before it was time and I just Said to this whole idea of trying to collect some wisdom about where the where those resources are and find you know a system for Managing how to communicate them. I think that's why the hub work. There was you know There was initiative, but there was also systems. There were structures There were ways to keep track of things so that people weren't stepping over each other And just in my church, you know There's a little committee that went off looking for where all the grants we could go for right away and One person coordinated and needed that such that you know We didn't forget about any of the possible avenues and that was to be going on and you know 50 other Places and somehow that's okay when it's that immediate you do what you have to do and you go forward but in terms of the more long-range kinds of Larger scale projects that we need to kind of find it some way maybe there's a study group that Just does that collects that information from all those places and finds a way to then let some of the operative units in the city Kind of figure out which part of that they want to stay connected to so that can be Continue to be shared more widely and not be you know through some sort of one source So memorialized kind of systems Institute kind of systems that will allow for the collection dissemination And I'm particularly thinking about all the things that people have mentioned about all these school programs that we could access If we already knew there were such a thing. Yeah. Yeah Yes Oh, I'm sorry. I Witness the 92 flood that's how I made a proposal the other day which I Think it's unfair Clarifier build off this we're talking about we have amazing networks of community that are working together we need to make sure that those continue to have the support that they need and some sort of Someone who's helping to coordinate resources there who's maybe not just the city government so that there's enough resources and then at the same time potentially bringing in Someone to be our resiliency czar for lack of a better phrase And at the same time making sure that they have the support and the team to then do what they're actually Proposing what they what they know is the right next step because that's Was hearing like if we if we have somebody in leadership who doesn't have the staffing That's not doing us any good either So we have a big group of people who need a little bit of leadership And then we want to bring in somebody in leadership and make sure they have enough I did it's kind of a new idea. I know we're moving into action steps. Okay. Go for it. Okay. Okay. Yeah This that I love the two buckets and I think a way that I see an important Interconnection is that when we're thinking of the future of this place and the immediate recovery I'm concerned about Building back more expensive and it becoming not something that can be financially sustainable for younger generations And so I don't know what type of leadership would be able to have eyes on that but something that checks gentrification basically in the In the rebuilding process Yeah, maybe that's the values. Yes. Thank you for that Yes So one thing that I heard over and over again was Communication and collaboration and so I just want to think about like what's something we can do right now to Maybe help bolster that and like thinking about what worked the hub Maybe a lot of people don't know this but the hub like just created a website websites were working Social media was working from torch form was working, but we were also missing out on people there. So like how can we like can we Find someone like maybe even a volunteer like really like route these in Like a permanent like place where it lives where everyone can come look at it and we can see when the meetings are and we can see when Like, you know high schoolers can access it like I was working with high schoolers They were just texting their friends and that's how people showed up, you know, yeah or through the So are you talking about like sorry over used the word but like a communication hub where all different channels of communication Can be employed to spread information. Yeah, like something that lives like in one spot I think was really really helpful in person And so maybe creating a website because I know that your life had a lot of information But you're alive and the people at the hub are actually different people There was some communication break occasionally. So maybe like one website, right? It's like or even just a shared understanding of like who's in charge of talking about this thing, right? Like so that there isn't kind of cross purposes or confusion. Yes So I'm just kind of reiterating on something you said, but I was thinking about reiterating it before you said it But the what we're looking for is leadership for now for recovery. Yeah leadership for the long term for resilience And there has to be what was your word colossal? Involved yeah in that process. So really leadership that looks at our values and whatever we build mirrors our values Okay, excellent. Thank you Yes Bringing a lot of things together. There are a lot of resources about what has happened in the past There are a lot of communication resources. There are a lot of ways to raise money. I think what we need most is an organization that identifies what your job is to understand what are all the ways people communicate and That it's your responsibility to know that you you understand What are all the funding ways that we can get from the government and that is your department to sort of know that and Etc. Etc. But again unfair to ask the city to take on that extra burden the city's got enough to do Yeah, my period life has enough to do. Yeah, so I think it needs to be Sir Sure It's kind of a value and an idea Somewhere in between. I guess it's a it's a suggestion of a collaborative dynamic with city government I fully, you know appreciate frustration city government But at the same time I worry that what I don't what I hope doesn't happen is an adversarial dynamic as this moves forward I think the the problems are extremely complicated that go beyond the city of Montpelier So whatever is pursued is done collaboratively with city government and officials In addition to whatever else happens great. Thank you for that Yeah, I was just gonna say all of this is really on point and there are so many lessons learned from previous events And I do think it's really important for it not to be a city Responsibility because to your point there they're gonna have their hands full dealing with FEMA and they're gonna be able to help Whatever organizations you build Get more resources through FEMA and you're going to rely on ongoing fundraising And I definitely just want to amend that it not be volunteer You've got to hire someone you have to create a structure where you can hire people in the water very weak They hired a case manager a volunteer coordinator and a construction That was for a hundred and fifteen homes. Sorry. They were two hundred and thirty, but hundred and fifteen got rebuilt I rebuild waterberry that was up now an offshoot of the existing 501c3 We are revitalizing waterberry like Montpelier alive, but it had a whole different arm different agreements, but they didn't have to establish a new 501c3 and We're able to raise the money to get every member of their community back in their home I didn't solve every problem of those members, but it was inclusive It was fundraising. It didn't rely on FEMA and they were the first standing operation and they were the first one done and that process happened in 13 communities across the state and guess what the least The most low-income people took the longest time to recover, but our state didn't Demobilize until every firm honor was back in a home We get are able to do that again many more people and many more housing challenges But I definitely want you to realize you got to hire people This is a two to three year endeavor at a minimum and then there's the long term I mean that's the short term is two to three years. I would anticipate and Waterberry raised 2.3 million Thanks, Waterberry Sorry to speak out of turn, but I don't want any of this to be construed as adversary with the city Thank you very much to Bill and the city for everything that they did That's great I just want to quickly recognize people that have their hands up and then we're gonna I'm gonna read back some ideas I think of what we saw the priorities. Yes, okay One of the ideas that we keep coming back to this something Can is on the table what can so I think that should be on there My opinion it shouldn't be can because that didn't stick But I think a real open communication of something that that maybe is a little more Post disaster oriented. I'm not sure are we talking about like some kind of Network of neighborhood networks. I don't need to call it can but like yeah Something along those lines, but something something that I think needs to be envisioned a little more from the ground up Oh, I agree. Okay, and I think as long as we as Nathan was saying we emphasize shared Values that's gotta be I'm a cynic. I Get all I don't believe oh my god But the truth is watching stuff play out on front porch forum and watching people get adversarial That the the fact that everyone's as the spontaneous You know Expression of shared values that has come out of all this they're like if you'll pardon the poor metaphor the Rock in the stream that the water just flows around and everyone's forgotten that they said Okay, thank you Yeah, please I think one thing I've really heard is just the affirmation of the strong community and I need to build a more inclusive Community, and I think from your point that it's not feasible for this to be all volunteer long term I think it's really inspirational that people are coming out with so much enthusiasm and giving their time But yes, it's inequitable long term to expect that everyone can yeah come and engage Without any kind of get compensation. I think as we're also thinking about this almost counter to what you're suggesting with the Neighborhood-led initiative being post-disaster focused I hope that if if something longer term were to build out of this time, you know right now the focus is recovery but longer term there are going to be other issues and Having that strong framework can help people be more prepared and you know you look at like Maui They were you know that that community was prepared for coastal hazards, and then we're not prepared for that hazard So I think it's important for us to think about right now everyone's talking about flood, but there are a lot of other You know crises. Yeah, he smokes So and I think all of those crises will benefit from or not crises But the community who benefit from having that strong infrastructure in place Whatever it is that like comes next great me but post-detector post what we know now. Yeah, okay, so I want to This is either gonna work or it's not Like I Honestly, the most important thing to me here is the process right and so I'm trying really hard to listen and Joan You got to help me out with this like but I I Feel like the things that I've heard the most enthusiasm for are this kind of a hub of leadership That goes in two directions one in the short-term recovery and short-term being two to three years, right? And like a central place where resources can be Uncovered and and and shared right and then on the second part of that is this kind of long-term Community engagement process around the long-term vision of resiliency for Montpelier. I feel like that is one action step that to track I asked much of one thing because you said something really important that I didn't want to get lost and it is about getting back into the city a resilience a position whose job it is within the infrastructure to sustain the work because Irene happened and we had a lot of intensity in the areas that had happened and Has to be sustained so I do want to suggest that Yeah, I mean going going back to kind of Nathan's idea right like show me show me your budget I'll show you your values, right? We're really talking about values. Do we value the person enough to Yes Comment earlier that's like countable leadership So innovation resilience has been thrown around a lot and that's all well and good But you know you say what you will about local government beliefs You can hold people accountable through elections and I do worry a little bit about like a position or positions Where there's very little accountability So ensuring that that's a core principle as whatever happens Okay, I really just want to I have to like do this I have it's my own anxiety, but I really want to be able to stand up there and say that we came up with these Three things right so one is this kind of two track of leadership, right? I think One other thing that I heard a lot of residents on is just Colossal inclusion right that all the leadership all the work that we're gonna do in the coming years both the long-term vision and the immediate recovery has to serve with the principle of Colossal inclusion right and bringing everybody together and that I also heard a lot of I think a lot of interest in Fostering or empowering existing networks of mutual aid and neighborhood connection And Okay, I'm gonna suggest that those of the three things. I think communications and keeping that communication hub is really So Just say it one more time We're gonna talk. I'm gonna talk about when they say, oh, what do you what are the action steps here? one is to two track approach of Hub for leadership short-term long-term to the colossal inclusion and everything that we do three empowering and fostering things that we worked whether it's mutual aid societies or Neighborhood networks and then for just centralizing centralizing is that the right word? communication Yeah It's gotta be in there. It's gotta be like the base Are we good with that? Yeah, those four things that but everything's about the values. Yeah I can amber alert almost from up to Coordinating communication great already. Can we have a round of applause for Joan and Ben