 All right, awesome. Hi everybody my name is Bobbila from the human rights commission. We do not have a form right now we're waiting on one more member. So I, I don't know if I should officially start the human rights commission meeting or if we could have CSS JC start. Yep. Okay, so that's just you can start. My name is Allegra Clark I am the co-chair of the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee we do have a quorum. So it is 634 we are calling our meeting to order. Do I have to do something else. I'm sorry I have to do the do I have to do the official thing though the read okay. Hold on, I apologize, I was clearly not ready. I can't read it off Allegra. I think that's fine. Right. Doesn't have to be a co-chair. Yeah, pursuant to chapter 20 of the access 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via zoom or by telephone. The attendance of members of the, of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. Thank you, Phillip. So you call the attendance. Yes, thank you. I was like there's something important I have to do I'm sorry I feel like that's all right. I've done this. Miss Pat, can you hear us. Yes, yeah. And we can hear you. Philip, can you hear us. Yes. All right, we can hear you and Dr freke at a can you hear us. You may have had to step away for a moment, perhaps. We can move forward. So let's see the purpose, the main agenda item for tonight is a conversation with the Human Rights Commission about the, there is a note in the chat saying that Dr freke is Wi Fi is a little spotty, but hopefully that he is there and can hear us. Again, the main topic of tonight's joint meeting is conversation with the Human Rights Commission about the town manager and DEI department report that came out in March, and our joint response to that. So that will be the main action and discussion item. So we have a public comment period both before and after our discussion and there is an opportunity for announcements. Prior to opening up the floor for public comment. The one announcement I would have is that the Amherst African Heritage Reparations Assembly is conducting a survey, survey, survey. And it's about race and reparations in the town. So if, if anyone is interested in that, I believe that there is an engage Amherst web page for HRA that you can find it at, or through the town's website and clicking through to find their committee. Hopefully people will see it around town. As I know they've been doing some, some outreach to try and get folks involved in filling that out. So that's my announcement miss Pat you have an announcement. Oh yes, to follow up on what you just said the survey is for all residents. So people know, I've already filled it out. I encourage, you know, I'm as resident to please fill out the survey. So I have, first of all, I want to congratulate Miss Jennifer Moisten for being recognized on state level. And I saw that on social media congrats well deserved. Thank you for everything you do in our town. Thank you. And I'm another announcement is on CSWG is planning on writing an article. Next month. I'm post. What has happened in our town have made any progress. So I'm wondering if CSS JC I can speak for HRC. For us to consider writing something and sent to MS and sent to local media to see where we are at. Since 2020 that joy flood was murdered. And what progress have our town made. It will be telling, you know, where we are after three years. And let's see what else. Yeah. So, Dr. D. Sheva's couldn't join us today because she has a time conflict. My understanding is Deborah Ferrara is on vacation right. I believe so. Okay. That's all I have. All right. Thank you, Miss Pat. Does anybody else have any announcements to make. I see none. Okay. We can open up our first public comment. Period. I'm going to read the things I found it during the public comment period. The chair will recognize members of the public when called on please identify yourself by needing you, but. By stating your full name preferred pronouns. No speaker concede their time to another speaker. The CSS JC will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during public comment. So I see there are seven attendees at this time. If you would like to make a statement, please use the raise hand. Function and we can get you into the room. And there will be a second public comment period at the end of the meeting. I am not seeing any hands up right now. Oh, I am seeing a hand up Michelle Miller. Welcome Michelle. Thank you. Hi everyone. Nice to see you all. I just wanted to, first of all, thank you for announcing the HRA survey really appreciate that. And I wanted to just express my gratitude for the listening session that you hosted for the press department. And I just wanted to just say thank you to the audience of our panel. It was very rich and informative for me, even as someone that is already, you know, sort of in the mix of things. And I just, I hope that lots of folks will be able to engage with the presentation that Earl went through and just sort of the space that you held. I just really appreciate it. So much for being here this Saturday, just really, really appreciate it. And just thank you for for all that that you do for the community. I'm sorry, I don't say it enough. I'm trying. I think we all were all trying to say, thank you more, but I just I want, I want you to know how much I deeply appreciate everything that you do for the community. So, thank you and have a great meeting. Well, not seeing any other hands, there will be another public comment period at the end of the meeting. So I guess we can get into it. Would it make the most sense to share screen? Yes. Jen, can you do that? Cause I feel like whenever I try and share a screen, I've been lose everything else. I'm not very good at it. Oh, you're muted. Zoom. Again, we were only like four years into it and I still, it is still happening, but let me just grab the packets. I'm going to use CSS JC's one since that's the meeting that we're. So while you're doing that, I just want to thank Phillip and Freke for putting, you know, all the information together for us and for your time. And I know you took a lot of time to do it. You can't see it. I don't know what is going on. No, you can't see it. We can see it. Could you cause mine was, it was really small on my end. And then it just went away. It was there. I see Laverne Kelly in the. Oh, yay. Perfect. Did you find a form now? Yeah, we will have a form once Laverne enters a room. Nice. Okay. Now we can make decisions tonight. Now we can make some decisions. That's right. Laverne care. My screen just went weird. I'm using a different device tonight. Yes, I do see. Okay. Then I will call the HRC meeting at six 45. And I'm just going to call on members to just basically say here and that we can hear you. Ronnie Parker. Yeah. Tyler. Yeah. Laverne. Laverne, can you hear us? Oh, there we go. I hear you now. Here. All right. And of course I am here as well. So that is our quorum. All right. Thank you so much. Allegra, if you want to proceed. Okay. So. Our packet. Let's say that. So this is the original letter that was sent to the town council back in July. So that's the original letter that was sent to the town council. So that's the original letter that was sent to the town council. Outlining the steps. That we would like to take this as February. Let's say. So I guess. We are looking for something that would be dated. In April of this year. Correct. Did that cut was that in the packet or was that a separate email? That was a separate. Email. So I will have to add it to the packet. So I will have to add it to the packet. So I will have to add it to the packet. So I will have to add it to the packet. So yes. I'm talking on mute. Yes, it did come from. Oh, it's great to know I'm not the only one. We're all going to get through this together. And by the end of it, we'll all know how to zoom and mute and unmute, but I myself. I'm still struggling. I'm a little bit buried here now with open tabs. Can you see it? Yeah. So the email, not the documents. Attached. Okay. There you go. Thank you. Yep. So let's say. The first paragraph that starts with background is just kind of, I mean, exactly what it says the background. And then there's a list of documents that we wished to attach. As. Appendix is. Appendices. Append. I don't know. That was passed on November 14th. So those are the seven points. So that's all taken directly from that motion. And then. There's the list of. Documents that we wished to attach. As. Appendix is. Appendices. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Whatever, whatever they are. The documents that will go with the. Response. And then it's broken out by each. Specific item. So. It doesn't make the most sense to start with the specific items or did anyone have any comments about the background? Let's see Ronnie's hands up. So. One of the things that was really, that has is really striking to me is. How long this has been going on. Because I'm fairly new to town. So I think of July 5th and I built from that. But in reading these documents, I can see how the same thing has occurred over and over and over. So one of the things I would like to see in the background. I think that the first paragraph. Is sort of referencing the dates. And if that's too much to write out, if it makes the background too dense. Where the attachments are, you know, the links are. I think it was good. It would be good to put the dates of those things. So the readers aware that this is something that goes back. You know, many years. This is really about something. And I think it's important to cite that in the background part of this. Document. That's my comment. Thank you. Thank you, Ronnie. Miss Pat. So I like how. The introduction to make it clear that we're centering. Our response. Focusing on July 5th incident. And also CSWG recommendations. I think they link to. CSWG. Recommendation. Pat A and B that was linked to. People won't read it. That's a lot. So, but the one that Jennifer moisten sent. I believe today. Was actually condensed. The original report for CSWG is. About 100 and something pages. But we need to highlight. What we want people to read. That's a lot of. Things that doesn't even cost money. On Pat B. Now that we need to highlight for. People to read. So what I'm saying is that. We should replace. The CSWG. Recommendations. The ones without graphic. Those are only 14 pages. Versus. 100 and something pages together. Will be my. Suggestion. Because we don't want to lose the readers. We should still have links for. Seven Jane. Research as well as leap. Those two documents have to be included. But the actual presentation by CSWG. With graphics. I'm just concerned that. We might lose people. Trying to read through everything. Because some of them. Have already. Be gone. Even though not fully funded like Chris. The I. And so on and so forth. I will stop there. Thank you, Miss Pat. Can I ask a point of, I guess, clarification in that. When we submit something to the town council, do we submit it in a play in like a format where they could click through links? Like, is it a. This is maybe a question for Jen. Like, is that something that. Has worked in the past? Because I'm imagining if it's, if something is like has links in a packet. The public can't actually like click on those links to get anywhere. Because it's like PDFE. Or. You're. You're, you're not muted, but you connect with. You can link and use the links in the PDFs. And so anything that is linked that you send to council. And as a PDF, we'll still be able to be able to be, you will be able to access that information. Okay, perfect. Thank you for the clarification. Liz. Hi. I'm looking at the dog. I read it earlier. The question I have is I'm seeing the proposals at the town council. Past emotion directing the town manager too. But were there any specific timelines attached to each. Plan. And where are we in those plans? Because that I think will drive. Some of our response. Maybe. My understanding is that. The motion over all just had a report back. In four months. On progress. So it was kind of. It wasn't, there weren't like specific. You know, we will have this in place. By X date or anything like that. From my recollection of things. Yeah, I think that's a good point. Yeah, I think that was done that night. If I remember on November 14th, because even this four month deadline to have this. Go out from town manager. Was kind of seen as a short timeframe. And so I think they wanted it as a more. Open ended timeframe to get tasks. Done. So I think that that could be a recommendation that we put in there as well under. The conclusion of having a more solid deadline. Because yeah, I, I hear you Liz. We could be talking in 2025. And still on number seven or number six, whatever it is. And that to me would be concerning to Ronnie's point. That this has clearly been work done. Many years prior to the July 5th incident. So I think that's a good point to add in. At the bottom. If I may, I think it's good observation. Liz. And also Ronnie. And this is what we've been dealing with. With our town government, our town officials. DRL. DRL. And DRL. That's the strategy. This is not accidental. It was done on purpose. No. Timeline deadline. That's what we've seen this town. And that's the elephant in the room. Because this issue is not priority to them. This is done purposefully. Just to say we did something. Check off the box. So I'm glad that some of you. You know, I. Observe that, you know. CSWG. We saw that too. We had to push. We had to push. We had to push. We had to push that. We had to push that too. That's WG. We saw that too. We had to push a little bit. And we need to do that here. I'm looking at. Some of the, the, the bullet, the points. And one of them was about a youth empowerment center. And O and or a retraining center. Center. And. Not to say that May 2nd is going to go positive or negative. a new school. If that goes through, you have an existing school, Wildwood, in a few years, that could be used for some of those things. A youth center for our kids. It's got a gym in there. It's got office. It's got classrooms. I don't know what they were going to do with Wildwood once if Fort River's new building passes and they moved the Wildwood children to Fort River's area, there's going to be a building there. What is going to happen with that building? I can see there's two things here that that building could be used for if they plan correctly. Thank you, Liz, for mentioning that. I think it's been certainly on the minds of WG and CSSJC as well. However, a very good point, I think what we're pushing for, I hope, is that the youth center while, you know, the Wildwood school in four or five years, it will be a good site. What we're saying right now is that it doesn't have to be a big space, even to the town can rent two spaces for youth center to get it going. What the town is trying to do is put and do youth programming out of the schools, current schools that we have. And that's traumatic for some of our youth. And that's not what CSWG recommended. Some kids go to school because it's the law. So they're sick and tired of, you know, after school weekend to see in that building that, you know, that is not very positive experience for some kids. So I hear the Wildwood school, I'm all for it. But right now, we're talking this year, rent two spaces for youth center. Find space for Bicultural Center. When white people need something, it gets done right away. Jones library, trustees and their group, they got what they want. And so we shouldn't wait for five years. We need something now this year. And then in five years, let's talk about if the program needs to move to Wildwood school. I agree. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's a really good point. I think for the sake of document and to get through this, I think we should probably just break it down kind of like how we are doing like background and links. So if anybody has anything else to add for background or links, you could raise your hand. I have already made notes. And I think that's an excellent idea, Ronnie to add in dates, nets to the links. That's pretty easy to do as most of the documents are dated themselves. So I can go back in there and do that. And are we all in agreement that both the CSSJ start CSSWG CSWG? Oh my gosh. The CSWG part A and part B, be taken out and put in the shorthand link recommendation that is in the packet. Or do we want all three of them? Are we voting with our hands or are we? I was answering the question. Short link. Yeah. Okay, let's let's hear Ronnie first and then we'll go to you, Yeah, I think the link should be there. And I found the reports though long to be very, very powerful. They have very good table of content. So if you don't want to read the whole thing, it's pretty easy to see where things are. And I think anyone who takes the time to click on a link actually wants to know more. And then assumption isn't that they will read the whole thing, but maybe there should be just the section, you know, I mean, I always just go to the table of contents. I just sat down yesterday and read the next general report and completely, even though I'm very interested in the topic, but I was always switching going to sections that I wanted to know about. I think it's good to have it there so you can access the whole. So I guess I'm in favor of having it. Maybe a summary of the short version could be in the front of it. Right. Sort of like an executive summary. Thank you. And I won't be mad if you decide otherwise. Okay. Allegra. Two things. One, I don't know if it might help in the background to put some sort of statement before like, I guess, following the incident, the CSSJC met with council in August, October, November, and has attempted, you know, for April and has not been able to meet. Just to show that this has been an ongoing thing. We've been trying to meet with them. It's been pushed off, pushed off, pushed off in terms of meeting. And, and then those can those kind of link up with the different documents that are there. And I think, like Ronnie said, I think having the full document for all those reports is important and having just like the summary of recommendations is important. So I don't know why we couldn't do both. To say, you know, this is a, this is the summary of the recommendations. Click here for the full report. Click here. Maybe, you know, having access to both could be helpful. Okay. I'll make note of the CSSJC. I might, if you could help me with that as well, because I'm my timeline is shaky with the meeting times that we met in August and October, November, all those other dates, but yes. Ms. Pat. I mean, it's understandable if people didn't read the documents that Ms. Jennifer sent today, I believe, or yesterday, like very soon. So a couple of things. One is that the big, the main recommendations, the presentation by CSWG. My concern is that some of the counselors will go, well, we've done this. Haven't we done this? We've done this. Another concern is that CSSJC was actually created to make sure that all the recommendations are implemented. I think what the public know is DEI crest and maybe anti-racism work, you know, in the police department, but there are other important issues that were recommended by CSWG. I'm just concerned that the whole document that is hundred and something pages, you know, people are going to get lost as to what, what is it that we're demanding. So I'm very concerned that we're going to do that link that is already a 14 page that basically focused on what our town government has not implemented. And that was sent out to us today. So what I'm trying to say is redundant that we have those 14 pages and then we have the entire CSWG presentation. We will say have link for the leap report and also for the seven gen. We will have that, but to have the part A and B as was presented in 2021. I just feel that people who pick and choose and we get lost again. And it might be different from for each I'll see, but CSJC, we need to remember that we also need to raise awareness about part B recommendation. That's what I'm trying to say that we not include the bigger one, the one with graphics is what I'm advocating for. Because I spoke to some of the CSWG members as well. Yeah, I, I hear that. And does someone else have their own up or no? I mean, this is not on the screen. No, I think that we either, I mean, a decision needs to have to be made. So I guess it's going to go up to about is what it's going to go down to for HRC. I don't know, like, or is that how you want it to be done for CSJC? That sounds good. Okay. So what we're voting for is in favor of keeping or not keeping of putting in the short link and taking out the CSS, that part A and part B of the CSWG recommendation. So if you vote, your vote will be in favor of yes, to remove those two and put in the shorthand and no would be to keep the two and also put in the shorthand. So that makes sense. I'm seeing some links stairs. So a yes vote would be remove the, the part reports and only put in the shorthand. Yes. No vote would be keep the original reports and additionally put in the shorthand. Yes. All right. I have a question. One would be the benefit of having both version, the long version and the short version because it will be repetitive. I'm just curious. What is the reason for that? I mean, my reasoning would be, I think, to Ronnie's point is that people looking at this document to look at the full CSS, CSWG report because even in my finding, I mean, I had to go to the town website and find CSWG old homepage and then pull up the report. And so that was a search on my end that I would be looking for as opposed to if I saw this and I chose to choose on the link, that would be my recommendation for pushing it through. It's my because that there's similar document is just that the short version of but AMB is condensed without graphics, without repetition. It's fine. Let's vote. Let's see how we we do before we vote. Yeah, point of order. So first, I would just say that they're, they're just links. So, you know, people can click on them or not. But more to the point of before you guys vote, you have to vote as two different separate groups. And I also need you guys to create motions so that you're not just saying, Hey, do you guys want to? Thank you. That's it. Can I piggyback off of Allegra's motion or do we have to really word for word say fun? Well, we need someone to make the motion. Can Philip make the motion since he's in both and then we both can vote the same thing. All right. All right. All right. The motions are coming from chairs, I think. I motion to I motion to keep both links with the addition of adding on the short handed link into the CSWG conversation. Is that good enough? I've seen Jen's eyes. I know that's not good enough. Jen, you're on mute. I just need a little more detail. So motion to keep both links. What are both links? Okay. I motion to keep both part A and part B of the CSWG report with the addition of adding in the short handed recommendation link. Someone to second that. Oh, sorry. Is this the CSSJ? No, no, no, you're good. You are. You're good. But can I just clarify that now the yes and no would be reversed? Yes. For what, Philip? Yes. I'm sorry, everybody. Hang in there. We're going to get through this. And so Allegra now needs to motion herself. Could that not be the same motion from now? I think you guys can have the same motion. But so first, Ronnie seconded, then you need to open it up for discussion. And then after that, I need the HRC members to vote on it. Okay. I didn't see that part. I was typing, so maybe you did, but I didn't. Right. HRC, any discussion on that? I have a comment before. I have a comment. Quick comment about the motion. Good. Okay. I think it would be more clearer if we are voting on keep long version and short version. Something like that. Because they're the same document. It's just that not everything was included in the short version that the town has started implementing. We're talking about the same document. Right. But the long version and short version is what I'm trying to say to do the motion that way. Does that make sense? My understanding is that the motion is not long and short, but all three. They're not three. That's what I'm trying to say. They're not three. They are three links. They're not three different materials. There's A, B and condensed version. No, no, no, no. The condensed version is A and B. I know. I know. But A and B are longer versions. So the reader can choose a link to just read the condensed version. Or the reader can choose a link to read the full version of part A or the full version of part B. That's what the motion is saying to put all of that there. So yes, the same information appears twice, but there are different links and the reader makes the choice about whether you're reading the whole long thing or just the little thing. And I just want to say too that the benefit of having both is that if the reader reads the short one and then says they want to find out more information, they don't have to go searching through our website for a committee that's been sunsetted and then find that information. I mean, we want people to read all of it and everything if they're going to, right? So the more people, I mean, that's my personal opinion is that we want people to read all of it. Whether they do or don't, we don't know. But we have to give them the opportunity to read as all of them, or whichever they choose, if that makes sense. To my brain right now, and that is what if, because the short version is only 14 pages, why don't we put it in the body of our report? Because this is something that CSSJC are charged to do to make sure that the recommendations are actually implemented. So it's in the body. And then there will be a reference. If you need to read more, go to this link for the two comprehensive version or something like that. I think in the body, I just don't want people to get, you know, not read the part B. In the body, we do have like CCSWG report. And we can just link also that to in there. So that way it is in there. I hesitate the document is already five pages. And even in that, I was kind of like, is the town council even going to read this or Paul even going to read this as being five pages? If we now add on 14, then that's 20 pages. And to your point, Ms. Pat, if we're concerned about the CSWG report, part A and part B being long, this would also be a concern of mine if our report to the town manager, then it's now 20 pages in the response. But we want it to be 20 pages. It has to be long pages. The main thing, people will read it. So I just have to interrupt real quick and say that I need the HRC to continue back with their motion. And then Ms. Pat, you can hop in during the CSS JC. Thank you. Okay. So discussion on HRC. Anybody have anything seen some head shakes not seen anything. All right, if that is it. So again, reminder is a yes vote is to add in all three links. A no vote is to only add in the short link. So I will just call as I see on my screen, Ronnie Parker. Yes. Liz, hey, good. Yes. Laverne. Tyler. Yes. And I am a yes as well. So I think that is your cue to make a motion now. Okay, now I have to move the same thing that Philip did, which I let's so I move to include the link to the condensed version in addition to the sorry, Jen's giving me the look like I need to be more specific. So I move to include the condensed version of recommendations from the CSWG's reports in addition to links to both part A and part B of the original reports. So a yes vote would include three and a no vote would replace the two original links with the condensed version. How does this work? Can I make an amendment? Yes. No, we should have to have a second first and then there's an amendment made. Roger, whose rules are we following? We're just making up our rules. Yes, that's me second. Thank you, Philip. Okay. And now Miss Pat can make an amendment. The amendment is if the 14 page short version recommendation could be in the body of our report and then have linked to other two long version. Is there a second to that amendment, right? I have to second the amendment, Jennifer. Don't hear a second. So I believe that. Oh boy, this is not good. I believe the amendment fails. So the motion on the floor is the original motion. Please repeat it. Do you know what you're doing? Clearly, all these rules and regulations, like if you know what, I'll go along. Let's move on. Open it for discussion. And if there's no discussion, then vote please. Okay. Does anyone from CSSJC have anything to say about the motion on the floor? No. Okay. So we can vote and I will vote based. I will call on screen. First, I see Philip. Yes. Okay. Miss Pat? No. Freke? Yes. And I am a yes. So. So then that means that we will be adding in the three links saying that CSSJC and HRC voted a yes. Who left? No one left. Jen, can you pull back up the document? Oh, Jen, you're talking on mute. Yes. I have a few documents open. So please be patient. Well, Jen's opening up that document. I think if no one else has anything for background or links, then let's move on to number one. And if anybody has anything. Okay. Do we want to add the letter from one of the parents that had gone to Town Council earlier as a link, Mr. Stewart's letter, or might some of that information be included in the broader document that the families had put together if that is still a document that. Yes. I was going to say something before the end of the meeting. The document for the MS-5 meaning BIPOC families is ready. So. Does it include the document that Allegra's talking about or say anything about that document? Which document? The letter that had gone out. It was from one of the parents. No, no, Stewart, right? That was different. No. The BIPOC families prepared a report. So do we know when the Town Council wants to meet with us? So the Town Council had offered a time slot at five o'clock again, which was what they had originally offered at the beginning of April that we said wouldn't work because of work schedules. So what I have done is I have invited the Town Council to the CSSJC meeting on May 10th because that way we can just, that can be the focus of the meeting. And there won't be any other things that might push it back or shorten the discussion or anything like that. I am still waiting for confirmation because I think the other date that Lynn had given was May 6th, May, one of the teens may whatever that week is that has a teen number in it for May. And I believe that is in the middle of like their budget forum stuff too. So again, it doesn't seem like it would be a meeting that would solely be focused on this discussion. I see Freke has his hand up. I thought it was another hand up except I am misreading. But what you said, I was under the impression that we weren't having a meeting in May or I'll be. We have, yes, yes, as JC, we have a meeting made 10th, second Wednesday. Yes, we do. I believe our original intent was not to have a meeting in April because we thought we were going to meet with them at the beginning of the month and then it got pushed. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Ronnie. I'm not completely clear on the budget schedule for the town, but I fear that as it gets put pushed forward, you know, we'll miss having anything to say about the budget. And some of these items, as we talk about them, I'll raise my budget concerns. But I think if we wanted to get in this year's budget, I think we really need to push to at least address that piece. I know I'm not being specific enough to be helpful, but that's because I don't really know the budget cycle of the town yet. But I fear that's what's going to happen somehow because it's going to be May when we meet and then usually June, then there's the summer. I don't know. Maybe somebody else knows better what the sort of how we would have to work now to ensure that we get consideration in the upcoming budget. Thank you, Ronnie. Miss Pat. So it wasn't what I wanted to say, but my understanding is that, you know, the budget process, it will start from the fall. And part of, you know, having CSSJC is to advise the town on different issues. We've made effort to invite like the finance director to CSSJC. He has never showed up. The finance committee could have put us on their agenda to present our budget proposals. It did not happen because this is a majority BIPOC committee. We don't matter. We're being ignored. That's the truth. So we're in April and it's like almost till end of budget season. The town manager has, you know, representing his recommendation or maybe he already did, but I mean, we can try to push for it. But one of my frustration is that the council leadership lane has not utilized the talent with CSSJC and HLC, including lived experiences. I can't speak for HLC. They were being ignored. They checked the, you know, check box with created CSSJC. I don't know if that, you know, answers your question, but the thing is that they do not want to involve us, but we have to push. They did the same thing with CSWG. It's the same pattern. The same pattern. That's all I can say. Thank you, Ms. Pat. And just as a point of clarification, I do believe that the budget is due May 1st. And there should be a series, okay, let me see. There is a, there is a council will receive the budget on May 1st. And it's likely that that time they would refer the budget to the finance committee, which should meet on May 2nd to begin the budget review May 5th again May 9th. And actually on May 12th is the at 1pm, the finance committee is meeting about the public safety and community services portion of the budget. And then May 15th is the public hearing on the budget, which I believe was the date that was offered to us as a meeting. So I believe that would be a tricky day to meet since if a public forum is happening, typically people might show up to that public forum and public comment can go on for hours. So there's no guarantee that if we said, okay, we're meeting with you at 7.30 that we wouldn't be waiting until 10.30 to, you know, get on with them. And then it looks like the vote on the budget is June 12th perhaps. I believe that is the calendar that was sent to me by somebody the other day. So yeah, it does look like on the calendar, it seems like that final action plan that says town council action on budget on June 2023. So I think if we have that May 10th timeline, if they're able to come to see us just JC meeting, as well as we need to open it up, if HRC is able to attend, that's one of the things we're going to see in our meeting as well, that that that would meet it in time before the budget is finalized. And it would be two days before the community safety, no, the public safety and community services portion of the finance committee discussion. So it could be a somewhat timely discussion if the May 10th meeting would work for the council. It's still later in the game than I would like to be, but perhaps better late than never. But I did submit CSS JC budget priorities, what we were pushing for to her. And it's also included in a packet as a response to town managers report as well. So if people are wondering, it is included, and they already have it, Lynn has it. So let's see what she can do with it. I see Jen has her hand up and then So I'm sorry, I had to take a phone call regarding one of my kiddos. And so I just, I didn't know where you guys were with the whole understanding of the budget, but I pulled up the budget calendar. So I don't know if you guys reference that or not or use that. So you have an idea of what's happening. I was looking at something called consolidated meeting planning that was sent from Athena. That's going to most likely have all of the same. You have June 13th as the date that there. Okay, perfect. I guess this is an open end question to HRC. Are people able to make that May 10th if council is able to make May 10th and our meeting CSS JC Allegra starts at 6 30? Yes. So do we have contingent plan if the town council can meet with us on May 10th? Do we know what we want to do if they can make it? I mean, I can, we can open it up to the HRC meeting, which would be the 17th at 6 30 if you all are able to do that. CSS JC and other than that, they can make Wednesday the 17th. If you know the only time that it's convenient for council to say some Mondays if they can, what is our plan? That's fair. I'll tell you what I'm thinking. I'm not on anything else. I would like our report to go to the media so that we know where our time government is in terms of the so-called equity and addressing racism in our town. We just need to send it out. I don't see issue with that and we obviously would have to vote as bodies, but once this report is finalized and we send it off to town council, I think it can be as public as anybody would like it to be. So I will suggest that Allegra, you reach out to the council president again to get confirmation so that we know what we're doing. If they can meet with us May 10th, I would strongly recommend to just send a document to the media. And is May 10th okay for HRC? I think was that that was agreed upon. Is that all right HRC? Laverne, I'm seeing Ronnie, Shakerhead, Laverne, yep. Liz? I'm good. Okay, and Tyler? Yeah, it works for me. Perfect. And then we would have a form, so yes. So tomorrow I will reach out to Lynn. I will say we confirmed at our meeting that both bodies could make the May 10th. Please let us know if council will be able to attend. And just confirming we're talking about evening, right? Yes, it's 30. Same time as this meeting. So one more thing, I think one of the ask is to have the report to the town council has five days to meet in. So I'm assuming. So the next time we meet is May 10th because of open meeting law. Part of our game plan in terms of approving the vinyl version because, you know, the town councilors needs to get this five days prior to the joint meeting. I thought that that's what you guys were doing now. I thought so. Oh, I think that's what I was just making final amendments. And then I just need to ask quickly, Oleg, I'm sorry to cut you off. Is the May 17th option for the age for council to attend the HRC? Not an option. It's an option. Oh, I can't speak for everybody. I think I can do May 17th. Precke, is that an okay date for you if the 10th doesn't work for council? And then I would just say we would push our regular meeting to only that date, not have two meetings. So the question is between May 10th and May 18th. 17th, 17th. Okay. Give me a moment and I'll get back to you. Thank you. Wait a minute. Isn't that graduation period? May. I don't know about high school. No. No, I mean colleges. What's that one in May, the Memorial Day weekend? I think, okay, Liz is not available the 17th from the chat. I believe both UMass and Amherst are graduating Memorial Day weekend. Oh, okay. Hampshire College is the week before, I believe. Okay. We're just 20 something or 17? I think we're still in the 20th. May 17th is a Wednesday, so nobody's graduating on Wednesday. I don't believe anybody's graduating on Wednesday. So should we move back to the document then? Yes. Or Precke, you have your hand up. Yes. I believe May 10th works for me on a Wednesday. Okay. But not 17. It works more than 17th. Okay. So it looks like we're leaning towards 10th then. Yes. Okay. I have to say again, I'm so sorry, so sorry. So if the town council can meet with us on May 10th, then what? So that would be no meeting? I will, no CSSJC meeting? No, no, no, no, no. If the town council cannot meet with us on May 10th, because it looks like some of our members may not be available on this 17th. So what is that? I'm asking again, because of open meeting law, we can do stuff without announcing an order protocol. What is our backup plan? Well, I think we said it. We said that we would make it public. We go send it out to media and I mean, it's got to be out there either way if they meet with us or not. Is that what you're going off of? Yeah, I just want to make sure, because that's what I have in my head. So I want to make sure whether or not they meet with us, we'll still have the document for them. We'll still send it to them and to the media. Got it. Okay. So should we look at then the first bullet point response? Yeah, I think if we just say number one and if anybody has anything to add or change or or so now would be your time to raise your hand. So then the library I can see you and then we can go from there. So if you have any comments on number one, Ronnie. So after writing this and submitting my comments, you know, I like number one, but it occurred to me when I got to the end that by saying, yes, go ahead with this, we're really saying start over. And you know, as I've read these other documents, the visioning has already been done. Exactly. I would like to propose that instead we say identify the gaps in the visioning that has been done so far, like what was left out, and then go forward with the strategy. And the second concern I had, which I'm not sure I put in my notes was that when I actually looked at what the training of trainers they did, it was largely work with town staff, which I think is fine. I've no issue with town staff at all. But if it is going to be a visioning exercise, I really liked what the next gen people did, which was they got people from the community to go out and talk to other people. So it seems like the training of trainers should be targeted to people within the community, not just the town staff. I don't know how comfortable people are with town staff. I'm very comfortable with them, but I mean, it's a community visioning, right? So I may have misread that. So I'm just proposing that we say identify the gaps in the visioning that's already been done so we can be efficient with our time and our money. So we're not redoing the same thing. Anyway, that's my comment. And again, I don't take offense of your go-go, however people want to go. And can I just, this is when I always have a hard time, whether I should say something or not. But the visioning and the train, the trainer is not limited to the town staff. We just haven't moved that far out. And I think that the report says both. It's just that it lists, it actually lists out everybody from the town side. It doesn't list the community members because we probably wouldn't do that and B, we don't have them all yet. So we've just really begun with the training. So that's all I'm going to add to it. Thank you. Yeah. So that's not a big deal. For me, the thing just is add to what's already there because somehow what's there was not accepted. For some reason, something was perceived as being missing from it. What's missing? What did they miss? Go to that is what I would say. Ronnie, does the line that says also intentional outreach should be made to marginalized communities? Does that cover kind of what you're saying and put with Jen? I think that does cover it. What it doesn't cover, what this doesn't cover for me is just that it's a repetition and it's throughout. What they're proposing is very good, but it's the same thing that others have done. So there's a little fuss. I would almost just send one paragraph response saying, all of this is great because it is great. It's just that it's been done again. And what is this going to add to what's been done that will give it legitimacy? So I'm sorry to be difficult here, but if you all are okay with this, I mean, sentence by sentence, it's fine. So I mean, I'm not going to hold it up and hold us up at 741 at night, especially because yeah, it sits good. I mean, I'm not opposed to it overall. I'm just thinking about all the stuff beforehand. Okay. Ms. Pat. May I clarify something? So what you have on CSWG recommendation, because I was a member, was that we invited Dr. Barbara Love and Jennifer helped me out here. We met with her openly and we liked what she said, what she suggested about visioning. And then what you have in the recommendation is what she sent to us. So when I read what the DEI director, Ms. Pamela, has sent to us, I'm assuming it will also, there will also be other groups within our town, beside town employees is my assumption. So there has not been any visioning done. Those are just what Dr. Barbara Love thinks that the visioning should look like. And that's what you have in CSWG recommendation. Does that make sense to people? I just want to put out the recommendation at the clarification. And we have met with Dr. Barbara Love, who will be doing the visioning, but we just haven't finished, finalized all of the contract pieces. And so people are in and out of town. And so we are including Dr. Love in this process. That's in the town manager's memo as well, that Dr. Love is looking to be the consultant, hopefully finalized, I believe. It was something or something. But yeah. And what I'm saying is that what you see in CSWG document is from Dr. Love. It's what I'm saying, Dr. Barbara Love. It's what I'm saying. That's good to know. So that way. Yeah, that's why I want to clarify. Yes. It's almost the same work is just being continued on by the same consultant. So that is. No work has been done yet. Okay. It hasn't been done yet. The proposed work is going to be then continued by the person, Dr. Love. No, no, no, no. No visioning has been done yet. Sorry, I'm not. What you have in CSWG document is what we got from Dr. Barbara Love. Okay. A proposal. Correct. A proposal from Dr. Love. Thank you. Proposal. Yes. So the proposed work. Yes. Dr. Love will be continued by Dr. Love. Yes. The contract is just being finalized. Yeah. And she did not simply sit for that. We, the CSWG advocated for the time to consider to do the work for the town. So does anybody have anything else about number one that is questionable or they, we think we can go ahead with leaving that as is. Up a little bit. Yeah. I think. My apologies. I was scrolling through looking at it and then I realized that I was sharing the screen. Yes. So do we, do we want to, should we just, you go Phillip? Yeah. No, I think let's, if no one has anything, let's just keep moving. And then at the end of it, we can motion to basically accept the overall draft since that way we went through it for time wise. So that way we don't have to go one by one. That's right. Yeah. So let's go move on to number two. If no one else has comments about number one. Sorry. Just, just a small comment. I think point eight suggestions made by the town manager seem more appropriate release police. It may be right. But I don't think it really belongs here because we're really being asked to comment on what the DEI proposed. Not what the town manager has said. So I would say delete that otherwise I'm okay with number two. Well, I think it's town manager and DEI director letter that was sent to us by the town manager with Pamela as well. So it's both parts. Then I would add, and the DEI, if that's what you're saying. I think it may, this is, this is a strong statement. And I think you just have to, I think we just have to think about what is behind it and what, I'm not protecting the town manager, but it's just like what are we, what benefit are we getting from it and what's the risk at every point that we make? Yeah. That's, that's fair. Are you talking about line eight? Yeah. I did have that impression in reading the document. So I'm just wondering if we should say whose recommendation, because the document did emphasize the requirements of the police for a resident oversight board, but not the requirements from the community side. So, yeah, so I would say just take it out, but obviously others have other thoughts. Allegra. I mean, I know that I had written that as a note in my thinking, and I don't remember specifically now what it was referring to, but I guess my overall concern with the idea of a resident oversight board in the first place is that many of them get put into place and don't have any actual teeth or aren't, aren't able to really serve up accountability in the way that it's needed, just from some of the research that I've done. So I think, you know, I can't speak to exactly what I was commenting on in that statement. And I don't know if other people felt the same way, but I guess my concern would just be, and I know, I know Dee has talked a lot about the need to have subpoena power to be able to do anything worthwhile, for example. So I just, I'm fine if people feel like that statement is too vague and doesn't specify what it's related to and wants to take it out. I think the statement could change to say like overall, we hope the oversight board will increase accountability of police rather than maintain the status quo. That would be a friendly amendment to the statement. But I see Tyler. So I don't know if Tyler had something to add about that line. Is it frozen? Yeah, no. I agree with Ronnie about the strength of the statement. I think that a statement that's as strong and I guess accusative as that really would need to be backed up by some specific examples or some sort of elaboration. Since otherwise it's highly accusatory and inflammatory, but not so much constructive. But I do think that it would be worthwhile to include some sort of note like Allegra was mentioning about the necessity of having actual teeth to a resident oversight board about subpoena power and such because that is definitely an important part of it. And it would really be a shame to see a pretty important institution that's probably way overdue end up getting used more as a shield for police or as a PR stunt than as an actual source of accountability and development of safety. So if there was some sort of amendment made to number eight to say the vision of a resident oversight board would be create accountability and I don't know how to word it. Would you say that's addressed in number six? Because we do say that the oversight board will operate independently and that it will get data from the police and monitor? Well, independent operation would be one part of it, but I think subpoena power would be separate and probably would also require more specific action from the town council than just the independence alone, which I think sort of backs Allegra's suggestion of amending point eight is to address that more specifically. I think Ms. Pad has something to say. Ms. Pad, go ahead. So I appreciate what Ryne, Tyler, and Allegra had said. For me, and I think I bring a different perspective since Deborah is not here, but Jennifer may relate. When I read that actually, I interpreted it differently because I know what CSWG went through to push for resident oversight board. It's not recommendation that our town government wanted it to happen. And we can see since 2021 that we submitted our recommendation, meaning CSWG, I'm not speaking for everyone, but nothing has happened yet. We're yet to create the board. So when I read that, I said whoever wrote this, it put me back two years ago of what we went through to even have something and even the LEAP recommendation is no longer being used or talked about because what LEAP recommended is not what our town wants to hear. I encourage our residents who are listening or who listen to the YouTube to please take their time and read the LEAP report. Our town is pro police. I don't know why we're skating around word. It is the truth. It is the truth. Our town doesn't want resident oversight to exist with power so that whoever are selected on this committee can actually do their work. They don't want it. Our town government is pro police. It is what it is. So that's how I read it. I read it from what we went through two years ago. So what I'm saying is live the sentence the way it is. If it's okay with people. I don't really have much to say about the sentence structure itself. I just do want to say that it's very interesting the way that the who governs the police. So right the union governs the police and the union negotiations have either already happened or halfway through. And so all of this stuff needed to be discussed then at the beginning of the union negotiation. So I'm just a little bit like I just want to make that note that all of this stuff like subpoena power and anything else would have to go through the union of the police department first because you're taking something away from the police department. You can't do that without checking in with the union. And so however that happened or why it happened the way that it did that's what happened. But you can't I just want to make sure that people understand like those things can't just happen without the union. I certainly hear that. And I think there's even been references to like the town lawyer having to get involved with anything. So there's that Tyler. Yeah. This is kind of a little bit of a tangent but I was kind of wondering is are Crests responders under the same union as the police department? No. No. Because I'm kind of wondering how that's going to factor in because the more responsibility that Crests gets the more it starts to undermine the negotiating power of the police union. Certainly not completely undermining it but it does start to provide an alternative mechanism to emergency response that begins to make the police union and police department have a bit less of a monopoly. So I do wonder how they're going to respond to that and whether that's something that the police union might start taking an increasing interest in going forward. Yeah. So I guess for number eight we either are striking it completely or we're amending it or we're leaving it. So I don't know if someone wants to take that on. I propose striking it just because of time and whatever because I don't think it gives us anything but it does. It is inflammatory. It does attack and it doesn't say exactly what we intend to say. So we can either decide to rebuild it which would take some time or just get rid of it. So in the interest of efficiency I propose just deleting it. Can I suggest that maybe we add the word accountability into number four so if we're trying to set a standard for police resident interaction to international standards of human rights and monitor accountability something like that just because I do think that it's an important piece of why there should be a resident oversight board. I just am not coming up with this is happening. So I do agree that this section would benefit from having the word accountability in it somewhere. Number four. Yeah. So the standard for police resident interaction to international standards of human rights and maintenance of accountability. I think it's standard for police resident interaction and accountability interaction and interaction and accountability or somebody has. Yeah maybe something roughly like that's what I sort of was trying to throw in there was like a adjective like meaningfully actually I think that's an adverb for ensuring accountability but I think it might be a little important to have something about effectual enforcement and investigative mechanisms. I think that that's sort of wording kind of emphasizes that our focus here is on stuff like subpoena power that would let a resident oversight board have actual ability to conduct its investigations and give some teeth to both its investigations and into its determinations. I like the wording in the chat. Can we replace number eight with the chat wording with that? Can we do that? And by we I mean Jen. Can we take a vote because I'm comfortable with you know we need to use strong words. That's what get people's attention. I don't think this is any accusation. It's the fact. It is fact our time government is for police. What is wrong with that? It's not a question of whether it's a fact. It's a question of us giving feedback on a proposal to do some work and the proposal there's nowhere in the proposal where the town manager says anything about pro police so for us to say this I like Tyler's version. I'm happy to go with that. Can we take a vote? Even if I'm I don't mind if I'm in minority and voting but I want to speak my conscience. I think we take too much time that I've been too too you know using the you know correct word and everything but let's talk speed is big right there. Our town government is for police. It is so. I like your uh motion there or Miss Powder suggestion to take a vote so yeah let's take a vote for so Jen if you could put up what Tyler put in the chat into number eight. I do think Freke has his hand up as well. Oh okay thank you. I just wanted to mention that in the conversation taking place I'm noticing that we seem to be talking over ourselves and part of what the rules give us is the opportunity to allow everyone speak and respond to what is spoken so if you could just pay attention to that thank you. So for some reason I can't just copy it so I have to type it out okay so I'm live typing I'm so sorry that is why I'm under so much pressure trying to do that. You're just fine yeah. Oh there Jen I'll try and help you out while you're live typing I'll try and get the vote going by reading it off so. Well I have to record that. Accountability okay I feel like there's something missing out of that chat though so Tyler do you want to make sure that I have that accurate it's in bold under eight. Yeah I think it's pretty much word for word I mean I think possibly the first part should be the resident the oversight board since I kind of was just abbreviating it when I typed it out but I think it would be like the oversight board must be empowered and then meaningfully ensure I think I might have used a couple so many I think there's an adverb in there but yeah it looks pretty much word for word. So are we taking out the first part of eight and leaving Tyler's statement? That's what we're going to vote on so that's what this vote is. Okay never mind. Does everybody see that because I rather I need to stop to share. Yep thanks. Freca you still have your hand up is that something to this conversation before the vote? Um my apologies I'm on my using the phone so that's way harder than the laptop. I just wanted to recognize you before we go into it. So thank you. I appreciate that. I guess Tyler if you want to make the motion to add in the wording for number eight. All right then I motion to replace the wording of point eight in the document under I believe it is section two discussing the resident's oversight board for the Amherst police department to be changed from its current version to the oversight board must be empowered to meaningfully ensure accountability for the APD through effectual enforcement and investigative mechanisms. Second. I'm so glad this is recorded but that was very thorough thank you Tyler. That was a really good one. All right so HRC then we will be taking a vote so Ronnie. Open for discussion first. Oh sorry open for discussion. Anybody? None. None. None. Okay so then we will go to vote Ronnie. Yes. Lever. Yes. Okay. Yes. Tyler. Yes. Liz. Yes. And I am a yes as well. Okay so the SSJC members the motion on the table is to replace number eight in paragraph two with the oversight board must be empowered to meaningfully ensure accountability for the APD through effectual enforcement and investigative mechanisms and a no vote would leave the sentence as it is. Right second. All right so now the motion is open for discussion. No discussion. No discussion. All right Miss Pat. I've seen. Philip. Yes. Freke. Yes. I am a yes so the motion passes and we are in agreement with with the Human Rights Commission so that can change in the document and we can move on to number three correct? Yep. Yep. I closed it. Oh no. All right so let's say number three. Jen if you could just yep I say you're doing it never mind. Oh wait are you taking out the other part of eight just before we move on. No you're going to do that this is the official vote I'm going to scratch it out I'm going to do this. Got it. So in terms of number three organize the review of public safety protocols for responding to and handling public safety calls involving all residents including minors in order to recommend changes to these protocols if appropriate. Does anybody have any additions or concerns with what was already outlined in the document? Yes I do. Yes Miss Pat. So again CSWG recommended 24-7. Our police department has 24-7. I think that's what we should put. I hear you know the idea of 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. sounds reasonable but our town is where resource that is money to fund 24-7 corrects. So what I would like to see there is instead of 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. I'd like to see it 24-7 because I have to speak to what CSWG has envisioned with recommendation so I'm not going to settle for less even if I'm in minority vote it's okay. It has to be 24-7 like it's non-negotiable. The town has to fund 24-7 press program. We can't take less for an answer. Any discussion? Ronnie. I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that comment because I had not thought about this but actually if crisis to take over police functions it does have to be available 24-7 so I think I can see this point of just stopping the sentence after the parentheses and not having not offering the perhaps option which I can see that because they'll never be able to really take over from the police if they're only working limited hours. Thank you Ronnie. Tyler. Yeah I agree as well and I think it's especially important to have the overnight and early morning and late night hours in part because if someone's having an emergency at that time of night it's kind of especially important that they get the help that they need in the most appropriate mechanism possible because quite frankly I mean I don't have data on it since I haven't really studied it but I'd imagine that if I was to be having an emergency in the middle of the night and I'm probably under an especially large amount of stress I'm probably sleep deprives more so than usual and I would especially appreciate having the most appropriate and the best match possible response and having less resources available in those hours having Crest be entirely offline just wouldn't really make sense considering that its mission is to service more marginal and not quite everyday needs of emergencies. So I completely agree that Crest needs to be 24-7 and I wonder if there's a way to kind of somewhat bridge the gap right now like having on call hour like on call 24-7 at this moment because they're not fully staffed overnight shifts yet but that again is the most looking at the leap report that that kind of I think it was like really 8 to 2 was really the highest utilized time and that's when they go offline so I don't know either I think it just Crest needs to be 24-7 and that's the statement or something to the lines of like on call services should be made available immediately while staffing is building up something like that too. So again I'm going to say maybe one or pick A or B because changing the schedule from like on call and all that is going to include the union from the Crest department so you kind of it would be best and I'm only saying these things because I'm trying to let you guys know kind of how that's going to play out like that is going to change everything from union and then there's not much that we can do about that. So what I heard from the CSWG about the Crest program I was on the understanding that this was going to be 24-7 would replace certain calls that the police should not respond to so while I appreciate that the Crest program is up and running at certain points I want the statement as Miss Pat says that Crest needs to be 24-7 stop period end of discussion that's it and however the town needs to make that happen that's on the town but Crest needs to be 24-7. So I move to change number three to just say Crest needs to be 24-7 I guess is there a second from CSWG? I don't know that you have to make that motion because the only reason why we had motions the other two times is because somebody basically called to ask for a vote to be done to kind of hash it out but it seems like everybody's in agreement here so I think you can just make that change. Okay cool thank you all I'm trying my best to represent CSWG Deb is not here tonight so I'm trying and so where are you where what is supposed to be coming out or what is striking strike while from number from yeah and so just strike the while and then strike everything after it says 24-7 so from to utilize to the end of that sentence put a period there instead of a comma anything else from number three? Nope. All right then we will move on to number four it looks fine to me um Ronnie go ahead sorry I actually was wondering if we know what fully funded is because it would be good to be more specific in this piece like when Crest puts forward its budget what are they asking for because then we can say that's what they need to get so the gaps we have right now they don't have weekend shift they don't have overnight shift and in the so yeah so maybe we need to say fully funded and fully staffed 24-7 yeah yeah so that whatever that that's the funding that we think they need to have yeah and I don't know if they feel like they're fully they're not fully staffed right so they would have to triple their staff because they need three shifts instead of one shift. It's possible that we could find a way to tie the wording to demand for Crest services so we could define fully funded as Crest being able to meet 100% of the demand for its services at all times of day although I think 100% technically might be above what police departments are usually able to do but I mean I guess it depends on the jurisdiction because I assume that not every emergency department is staffed to that capability and there could be search periods but I still assume that some sort of wording like that would probably make it the most clear at what we're saying by this and be hardest to misinterpret by the either by accident or more deliberately. I would say maybe if it read overall the work Crest does is important and needs to be treated as such by fully funding and fully staffing and then they're in parentheses 24-7 based on based on recommendations by the CSWG. Oh Ronnie you're muted. I just you know the CS it's not the CSWG it's the seven gen report had this wonderful chart that showed how you would reduce police staffing gradually so you know if something similar could be where Crest staff is increasing even well no I'll go back I take that back I guess I'm getting tired. Uh-oh we have a lot to go through let's zoom through this. Is that correct Allegra? I think that looks good like that yeah yeah anything you have a lot to cover yeah anything else under number four all right let's move on to number five what is that oh my god this is a hot topic my time is actually about four still oh okay there's a question at the very end of number two I think we want to strike that out for just so who determines what's meant by fully funded and fully staffed I think yeah somebody was thinking that's gone right yeah that's right yeah thank you Ronnie number five then yes yes the big one oh my goodness oh that's what it is okay I don't have a comment please please please please let's take off number four CSWG does not want to be associated with Jones library expansion and youth empowerment center that CSWG is proposing Jones library will still have their youth center but that's not what CSWG is recommended Jones library will do what they want to do but yeah there was another comment as well from Deborah to also strike number four oh okay oh she said that too okay yes she sent over a comment oh okay okay are we I'm okay with strike number four I don't yeah it's very controversial it went into election it's you know vote yes or no on Jones library whatever it's not a project that CSWG you know and dust so let's not even bring that in at all can I ask who the stakeholders are for section one oh okay let's see section one you said yes section we'll paragraph five section one paragraph five it says there is no reason to gather further input from stakeholders who are the stakeholders oh yes yeah yeah okay yes so basically seven gen was paid by the town to conduct research they met with our youth the stakeholders at the youth they already did the work and they articulated what they want what our youth want they want a center they want a safe space so there's no need to to be doing other research that our town wants to engage in it's already been done just read the reports I didn't write that but whoever wrote it that's how I understood it I don't know who wrote that I mean so but how are they so so and I can't I didn't read the CSWG I mean the gen 7th report this time so I can't remember off the top of my head but like what activities and what's held in there it has all been defined so again what activities are in the youth empowerment center are have already been defined what is housed in there because I wouldn't that fall under doing like wouldn't that be part of something that they get from the research that they get from stakeholders like what what do the kids want in the youth center you can't just create a youth center it's in the report it's in the report gen that's what I asked yeah they want mentorship they want academic support they want just to chill out they want you know whatever youth does that's what they want but they want it in a separate safe space right and I'm not arguing that factor I understand that completely I'm just saying like do they want basketball courts do they want a field like all of that stuff has to come from research so it's either you'd be a little more specific with that or or drop it maybe if you understand what I'm trying to say like I don't think that they're trying to go and find out if the youth want a center and I think part of it is is that you can't just build a center and you say okay the youth want this and adults you don't want adults to plan that you want the youth's input there they already gave input to someone gen it's already been done we have public caring at cswg and you know my recollection of cswg discussions the youth center may not provide everything like you know either soccer group you know is it soccer yeah or other sports you know we already have that in town it's not what we're talking about we're not going to duplicating you know services with yeah but I know that if my son's gonna we're not going to have like if my son goes to a youth center he's gonna want a basketball court to be there so I'm just saying or a pool table or stuff like that and so what I'm saying is don't you think we need to find this we need to ask the youth for that kind of it's specifics is what I'm trying to say it's what I did been done by someone Jen okay is my yeah Ronnie you have your hand up yeah um actually I'm just looking at the seven gen report I have it on hand because I really enjoyed reading it it's just awesome it does talk about multicultural centers where it speaks about youth center and it says it's you know it's talks about community based and culturally shaped programming and events open to all of the town of Amherst it talks some more about it but not in the kind of detail you need for what Jen is talking about which is you know if you walked into this youth center what would you see like who would be there what would they be doing that kind of thing um but it is strongly recommended in this report so maybe the wording has to be changed so that it shows that it links more explicitly to the work already done that's what I'm saying yeah actually what I would like the time to do is to start the implementation stage how are you going to plan something without even locating space instead of doing research again what do the kids want it's already been done but what I would like to see is for the town to focus on how do we implement CSWG recommendations to save time and just that's just my opinion got it Tyler yeah um I think I'm a little bit concerned about the sort of stop the research approach because I think it's important for stakeholders and youth to be involved in all phases of the planning and eventual construction of a youth center and that means through ongoing research and I'm also a little bit concerned about relying too heavily just on what's already been done since especially as a project like this starts heating up more and more then there'll be more potential to conduct broader scale research and that means less risk that some of the earlier research might have been less well represented representative since I know that some of the largest problems that can come up with this is for smaller scale studies earlier on it might be disproportionately participants who are already more engaged already more inclined to have their own ideas for how they would want to interact with this sort of center and more perhaps even viewing the center more positively leading and needing less outreach specifically to them since those are the people most likely to respond to those sorts of community development surveys and join focus groups and attend meetings and such so for that sort of sampling reason and just to keep people engaged throughout the process I kind of am not fully on board with the there is no reason to gather further input from stakeholders line Liz so this might be stepping on some toes of stepping out on a limb but if I'm not mistaken well I know I'm not mistaken in the statement which was we used to have a men's resource center and in that men's resource center there was a lot of youth of color men young boys of color that were there to be mentored by men of color it was Mike funk it was Julius Ford it was Bryant Lewis it was at God oh oh my god cancel council it was a number of men and when I when I see in my head a youth empowerment center I'm liken it to that type of structure where the kids went um all the ABC boys had to go every Wednesday and they got mentoring and they got academic support and they got um they were taking places that they normally wouldn't be taken on field trips and things like that and I know through poku that Mary custard does a lot of that these kids have been to Washington DC they've been to the Holocaust Museum and the African American Museum of Culture and History they've been to all the monuments we took them to the Museum of History they took we took them to the Aviation Museum and the Native American Museum and when I'm thinking about a youth empowerment facility I'm thinking about all of that and so we have resources in people who have already done some of this work um and we have the youth who say on top of that here's what I'd like to see so I'm not I'm concerned that for whatever reason we're not listening to those who have it in their mind that how rich this place can be once we find a space for it to be I'm not sure if I made myself clear but I'm just thinking out loud well said that's the thinking well said I just wanted to say yes was well said yes well said really well said it's not about sports only yeah life skills too I just wanted to I agree with everything that miss pat says and everything everybody else has said so I I I have a problem with the wording there is no reason to gather further input from stakeholders because I do think that once the center is implemented and up and running it's going to be really important to continue to circle back with the youth and the people providing programming to say like what's what's working what's not how can we make this better I think that I think that the problem with the way that things were outlined by the town is that it's talking about are we even going to do this recommendation not what are we going to do once it's done so I think that the I I agree that there's no reason to have further conversation about whether or not this is needed I think this has been identified as a need I think that perhaps if we struck the thing that says there's no reason for further input but said we should go straight to implementing the recommendations I like that I like that I like that and Allegra I think that that's similar to what I was trying to say I wasn't trying to say that it was only about sports I'm just saying like we have to get the input from the kids of everything that they want to have it to make them want to come to it not just one set of things but it needs to have house everything because that's how I think that it would be more successful honestly is if it can obtain everything which includes mentorship it includes you know a place to go you know play basketball it includes a place to go chill out a computer to apply for a job all of that it includes all it's inclusive to all of that so and I'm going to stop talking oops sorry I was just gonna say I don't know if even making stronger the first statement by saying like the cswg identified this as a need through research with the community like to say like this research has already taken place and this is a need and it's been identified so let's move along and implement it yeah the only thing I wanted to say very quickly is that cswg also recommended that once the youth center is up and running there has to be youth board that actually helps staff make decisions so it's not only staff making decisions for the youth there has to be a board made up of youth majority BIPOC youth but the center will be for all youth in our town of all races but the board will be majority BIPOC youth white kids can also be on the board I know cswg recommended that too so how do we modify this the sentence would saying something like the cswg already identified the need for youth empowerment center through community interviews um implementation yeah so let's see identify the need for a youth empowerment center through community interviews and I say the next phase should be implementation yeah like they did with press implementation phase and then I think yeah we can go straight to the implementation of the recommendations yeah for the implementation phase yeah that that's more concise yeah because the word research you know feels I can't speak for everyone to me it feels it feels like you know reinventing the wheel again like you know wasting time again when it's already paid consultant to do the work for us two years ago I don't know if maybe adding one last statement like ongoing consultation was recommended by cswg to to ensure that youth's needs are being met something like that to to say you know it's not we're not going to never talk about this again we're just we're not doing the initial research phase because that's already been done that's an important point because as you all know each generation gets a little different that's right working for the generation that we have now may not work in four five ten years is that correct Allegra I would I would say like ongoing community consultation or something to to indicate that I think or even just like the youth board that miss pat just outlines yeah because I think that obviously the cswg was thinking about this and yeah youth board was was recommended yes and then we like that sense and structure has to be changed a little bit more so because are you going to put in here that cswg recommended a youth board and then yeah we did yeah it was yeah it was recommended yeah right I get that but are you going to put that in here because otherwise it just says ongoing youth board consultation is recommended by this well I guess that's fine I don't know let me see what do people think ongoing youth board consultation is right I'm looking at time is 8 40 oh my goodness long day and my husband just came home so it's almost time for me to beg off oh no no we got two more bullets come on let's go please please we did get down he has her hand up no if it matters really I thought that number two is long and that it could be could just the first sentence could just say the cswg identified the need for youth empowerment center under the scope of the DEI department and then the next part would be you know to move on to the implementation we recommend that the next steps we support the next steps advocated by the DI report something like that yeah that's fine this can go on it's it's really not even important anymore which one number two I was just simplifying number two by adding um under the scope of the DEI department instead of glad to see that blah blah blah just the cswg if I'm now I'm going to number one the very first sentence youth empowerment center under the scope of the DEI department that's all you're saying to strike up the recreation department I was just clarifying editing the language to make it tighter and to make it more precise so that's okay it doesn't matter so strike number two and add at the end of the first sentence no at the beginning of the scope add at the beginning of the first sentence where it says youth empowerment center the beginning of number one first set number one add empowerment center under the scope of the DEI department oh I see what's right number two yeah and strike number two because I think there's just a lot of words there and the point is it but I think it's important for the right for the public to know that our town big plan did discuss openly about movies youth that's fine it's really not a big deal okay we can remove my proposed edit it's fine love the undo button okay all right number six I see nothing there then number seven where it's number seven I see six oh seven right there yeah um I don't only think that we have to go under I'm sorry under six do you think that you should add just oh it says within the town never mind I read that wrong but training for the general community should be ongoing like you can have an anti-racist staff but if the people in the town are racist I don't consider ongoing and council and staff I will add business community to number one to thank council staff business community after staff after staff thank council comma staff and the business community because they get tax dollars from our town by business community you mean like the bed yes well that's not I mean yeah all the businesses or just the chamber in the bed because those are two different things the chamber and the bed because they hold all the power so then we should say that if we make change if we make change that level it will have impact like you know looking at their board representation look at how they are working with different groups like black business association you know and things like that so no ongoing training for the community so how do we define community though I'm fine with that but you know you have to offer I mean sure but you know is it realistic like you know how do we define do we mean non-profit organizations do we mean parents you know how do we define community I don't know but I used to watch Sesame Street and community was everybody that was in the general area including police including the mailman including the okay put it in yeah that's fine yeah it's important okay yeah sounds good all right you know what is missing here um I don't know where we can stick this in but it's been bothering me um we have upper funds that was allocated for people who may need to you know who are behind rent and I have a copy of the federal upper rules nothing in it that stated you have to have eviction notice three months eviction notice to get help to pay your rent and so why our town did a great job in allocating fund for people in need it is not working out for everybody some people wants to be in good terms with their with their landlords and they don't want to get eviction in order to get help the policy of getting eviction notice to get help is for homelessness prevention the upper fund is a little bit different yes you can use it for that but the upper fund said you can use that money if you have hardship so people may want to pay their rent may and then have their car broken down so my point is I don't even know where to put this but I've had community members come to me I said you know there's no way they can tap into that fund even though financially they are struggling my point is the policy that was imposed is unrealistic is discouraging our people are hurting in this town somewhere here I would like it you know putting that the agency that is handling this change their policy so that families and individuals can get the relief that they that they need you don't have to you don't have to arrange for three months if you're one behind you know I would say that I hear I hear you miss Pat and I completely agree with that sentiment I think that in the language though about raise awareness and community about these efforts in this whole document ARPA funds is not mentioned at all and so my concern with bringing up our ARPA funds is that it it kind of comes out of nowhere in this last bullet point and I'm not saying that we don't have to release a statement at all I just don't know that to your point of where to put it I don't know that it it belongs would be my argument right now yeah I guess for me it doesn't even have to be number seven I think our response you know the town council created this just to put us in a pigeon hole and we don't have to be in that between hole I've struggled about you know where do I introduce ARPA funds you know black business communities is hurting you know people who need to pay their rent they're hurting and so on and so forth it is part of equity we're addressing equity here isn't that what we're doing here safety and equity and resource allocation is part of equity and our town you know has struggled to do you know to do the right thing it may not be in this document you may be right I just want to voice it that I don't know another opportunity that we have perhaps CSSJC might do end of the year report of you know what our town has done well and what you know they need to work on if even if we don't get it into this document but it's something I've struggled with I would I would say that you could add child care services and stipends or child care reimbursements in that no yeah we we have that in a different document actually the our budget priorities that were given to the council president already and we have a copy as a link to this document we have that already but nothing about our funds yeah I struggle with that though and I feel bad that it's not being addressed and I'm not blaming anyone but if we're talking about equity that should be part of the equation I mean this is an opportunity to do that but it's almost nine o'clock it is what it is and we still have two million dollars left for our funds that hasn't been used so I I would say that our funds I think we could send something out CSSJC yeah something yeah so then uh moving on to the conclusion Jen can you just go up just a little bit uh the first sentence there in addition anybody have anything to add and I see in the comments of having an end time of nine o'clock I think maybe we can agree to that ten minutes anybody has anything to I guess add to that and then if we're fine with that then everything that proceeds and italicized is fine to to have in there and so I just I guess to preface this this was kind of a way that I thought we could show what the town council did not agree to and then also introduce the statement from the families yeah because that was one of the things was that we would adopt a final official record um I like the addition of it I don't know if anybody opposes the addition of it that's fine with me maybe I didn't read this very well but is there any way in this document um where references made about how this came about because it was a leisure so how the emotion and there was strike out and then it came to this version but it would be nice to um it's too late now I'm tired it's okay all right and then since we're fine with everything in italicized and the last sentence there or last paragraph and then all all input the um the document from the families were highlighted I left that highlighted so that way I knew to put that in there yeah you get that to me miss captain all yeah I will yeah and then the last paragraph uh overall this report aims are we referring to the report from town council right the point one through seven yep yeah maybe we could clarify that okay coming after the long yep document or maybe me I don't know how long the document is but maybe there could be some sort of like separation of pages so that anybody else then if that is it with no one else's hands going then I motion for the hrc to accept all changes that have been done in this document I will edit them as it is and send out a final report to hrc and cssjc and I get a second second and then we will vote so uh Ronnie you're just having to be the first person on my screen so go ahead okay yes Laverne yes Tyler yes Liz yes and I am a yes as well so that passes for hrc all right for cssjc I move that we accept the proposed changes to the document and use this as the final version to be submitted to the town council allowing Philip to make the changes discussed prior to sending it all right yes do I have a second for cssjc thank you miss Pat voting discussion voting voting no discussion no discussion anybody else have anything to say before we vote yeah I'm just too tired to call Philip out on the discussion um so starting with Freke I was just going to say that we may not get all that we want but I think we've done a good job um discussing and coming to broad agreements specifics might differ but only broad agreements and I appreciate the time that is spent this evening and so I vote yes thank you for okay um Philip yes miss Pat is a yes for me is productive meeting we got it done accomplished thank you miss Pat um and I am a yes so it passes for nothing for cssjc awesome so I just yeah cssjc can you um dismiss and then Ronnie I just need two minutes of your time before you get off like I need two minutes of the hrc time oh okay are we you want to please cssjc adjourn so it is 8 56 and I am adjourning the meeting of the cssjc thank you all thank you all thank you good night good night thank you everybody yeah so hrc members um we just quickly need um so we're doing a timeline so the the archivist over at the Jones library is um creating um a timeline of Amherst from 1600 to current for Juneteenth or actually 1749 from when we became Amherst and I wasn't sure if folks felt like we could do that on a national level as well and seeing how we already have a timeline mapped out from the um black history month although it's music based it does give a lot of highlights of the important time times in in history if members who are not going to be actively participating in the event itself could contribute to creating the timeline and this is for Juneteenth right this is for Juneteenth which will be June 19th so what I I need is I need the members to kind of help with that yeah I would be happy to help um I don't know anything about I'm really bad on history because I didn't study in school not a musician so somewhere in there if you could find something for me to do I'd be happy to help that would be great yeah and Tyler are you able to because I know that you're still away so this could be how you contribute as well yeah I finally figured out when I'm going to be back in Amherst which is on June 12th so I should be there for that um yeah I I mean I'm now hitting finals so which is kind of going to be for like a bit over the next month so what sort of time commitment would it be for the timeline project yeah I think that the timeline project for the national history of of the african-american community is a little more easier and will be less time consuming than trying to limit the history from Amherst so um I I don't have a good idea but it's like you know obviously 1600 you know it's things like when slavery was first enacted right and then kind of you definitely need to include the civil war in there and then you've got the Jim Crow laws and you know what I mean like we're kind of going to move like that so what I would say is whoever's going to help with that you guys can think of a creative way to divide that time up that time frame up so if there's two of you then maybe you guys can cut it so one uh one of you are doing like 1600 to I don't know like somewhere 1800s and the other person's picking up 1800s so current does that make sense or 1900s you're just asking us because we're here but somebody else could do it right like I know somebody who is a great historian who would love to I don't know if he'd like to volunteer as time but I could talk him into it I don't you know however you guys come up with the timeline is okay with me you'll take anyone right you'll take anyone right somebody like me I could do the research but I don't know stuff so like I don't know the things that I didn't since I didn't grow up in the American education system it would take me a lot longer to find stuff that everybody knows yeah from learning from the timeline but I you know I mean putting it together I know somebody I could ask who I think would be great so if it's not doesn't have to be a human rights thing then you can assign it to me and I can find somebody to if it's for somebody else to do it the other thing is there's some really good timelines online that you can look at that break it kind of down to the most historical points and you can move from there but I don't really care how it gets done or who does it I just don't want to do it and oh yeah sure I'm happy to help yeah and I didn't mean to say I don't want to do it that sounded bad but I don't and so Tyler yeah I think that I can help with it as well although with the caveat that since I'm approaching finals my time is going to be pretty heavily limited until the end of May right would it be easier if you did like from 1900 to current does that make it easier or no um it depends on how much detail we would need since I know that like I know enough of the history of Jim Crow to put together something possible but I didn't really study American history much since like early high school so I it would still to get like a large amount of detail and it would take me quite a bit of I don't know I might be able to but I'm a little hesitant to risk accidentally over committing myself yeah I'm if if no one else is available then I can definitely try to do it and see what I'm able to get done but it's not really the greatest time of the year for me nope that's okay and I anticipate you out there Juneteenth so Ronnie since you have someone who you feel like you can work with to create this timeline do you have an issue with taking on the entire timeline or yes I cannot take the entire timeline all right but you can give me some old period like the 1600s or 1700s I don't know what how you're breaking what makes sense to break things up but you can give me some time in the past because I think the person I'm thinking of aka my husband is really into history in general and knows a lot about American history already okay um all right so yeah no Jen I think one you're not going to do it by yourself I think we'll send out an email to HRC for members that are not currently present yeah and see if we can pick it up there and um yes we'll go from there actually if you group it if you deviate up and say there are like five sections we can sign up for a section maybe okay I would do that that would help me all right that sounds good and I can include the timeline from the black history month too because it gives a little bit of a guide yep that'd be great okay sounds perfect that was all I needed right thank you everyone HRC meeting adjourned at 903 wait but youth here youth here rewards are still on May or June 11 11th 11th yes we were having a basketball tournament and a youth and youth here awards and then the following weekend we have Juneteenth just wanted to throw that out at people all right thank you bye yep bye all right thank you