 All right, so this is being recorded and I'll share the agenda. That's fine. That's interesting. Can everyone see the agenda? Yes. Thank you. Yeah, it's fine. They actually. Dang, I updated my zoom, but I can't now. There we are. It's a little different. Can't see you though. Yeah. And I can't. Oh, there we are. Let me see if this helps. I didn't like, I don't like updates because then it changes your whole, you know, how you view the software. All right. I think that's good. All right. I think we're all set. Everyone else hear me and. The Ben Breger is here. He's a planner with the town. I think it's on the previous meeting. And he'll slowly be taking over a block grant responsibilities. And, you know, it'll be a transition over the next so many months, but he's kind of learning the ropes. It's a little difficult actually. With remote working and everything. So. Yeah, certainly. Well, I'll kind of take, take the time over the next few meetings and next months, I guess, to kind of just see how the process plays out. And be able to learn from Nate is a master of all things CDBG. Yeah. Great title. And another announcement is that we interviewed a number of candidates for the vacancies on the committee. And the way it works is, you know, we have these 15 minute interviews with the chair of the committee, the applicant, the town manager, and then someone on the resident advisory committee. And then the town manager is the appointing authority. And the town council has 30 days to review or approve the recommendations of appointment. And so there's two or three. I think three member new members that'll be appointed. And one is Becky Michaels. I think that's Becky's name. And she's on the call as an attendee. And then there's a gentleman named Lucas. And then. And then there's someone else named Rika. And they may attend tonight. They haven't officially been. Sworn in or I'm not sure they, the town council has reviewed their appointment yet, but hopefully they'll, they'll be able to join us for the next meeting so they can, you know, be here for the remainder of the grant application cycle. And I don't have any other announcements if anyone else does. All right. So we have a contract with the HCD. So we have three 21, five, seven, seven. And the, all the contracts started are starting. This month. So Valley CDC. Has a hundred and $40,000 in grants to give out to micro businesses. And they have a webpage that's set up for the Amherst program. They hope to go live November one. It'll be an information session. The next, maybe two information sections in the next two weeks, but essentially they started putting documents online just to allow people to see what they're looking for. And get prepared. And then they can apply. It's the first come first serve basis, but. We think it'll be. We've been working with a bit in the chamber. And it's a little bit more outreach, but people are already starting to. You know, get, they can sign up together. And they can sign up together. They can sign up to get the notification and everything. So we're hoping that program. Reaches everyone that needs it. Do you know what the maximum grant will be to small businesses? It's, I think the range is 2,500 to 10,000. And, you know, but it's a micro enterprise is five or fewer employees, including the owner. And that's not full-time equivalence. That's just five employees. And the owner has to be income qualified based on family income. So. You know, it's, it's, it's interesting because the owner, the business may, the business may not be doing well, but if they're, you know, if the family income. Is okay. They may actually be ineligible. Income eligible. So. You know, there is some process. To review, to make sure the business is qualified. You know, there's a, the state put a few other requirements. So, you know, they have to have been in business as of January 1st, 2019. They have to be in good standing with taxes and other things. And then. They have to show a loss of income because of COVID equal to the amount they're requesting, which shouldn't be hard, but. You know, maybe some businesses might, depending on, you know, it might be a lot to ask them a business to have that documentation ready to apply. And so. You know, Valley's administering this for a number of communities. And so they're trying to streamline and we've, we've met a number of times to try to come up with a, hopefully as a straightforward application process or as straightforward as it can be. And then, you know, there's three, social services. There's the survival center is getting money for their food pantry. They have a year to spend that's all the social services have everything's a year at least till next September. You know, the survival center has seen a huge increase in their, in their demand. So that's, um, I don't think they have, they could easily justify that expenditure. We're funding a three quarter position with family outreach to help with housing stabilization and case work management. So they'd already been doing this with Amherst. They go to housing court now to almost once a week. And they've been providing a lot of additional services for households, families, mostly families with some individuals. And they've been providing additional services for families, mostly families with some individuals. So they'll be continuing that and actually bringing on or increasing the hours of their case workers. And then Craig's doors, they operate the seasonal shelter in town and the resource center. And they are getting about 20,000 for help to try to find housing for homeless individuals. So. That's, you know, that's, um, I think that'll be challenging depending on, you know, the market and, but, you know, it's something that would be great to, um, use that money to try to get some people out of homelessness. And so I think, you know, I think the committee for the effort to go through this summer in a quick, quick process, I think it's been, you know, we've just started, but I think we're in pretty good shape. You know, the organizations seem like they're ready and they can fulfill all the grant requirements. You know, for instance, like with a micro enterprise program, we have to do weekly reporting. Pretty terrible. Really every Tuesday by 2pm. Um, which, you know, they're, they're okay. It's just, it's only the last two weeks. They have a template spreadsheet and then we have to provide a brief narrative, but, you know, Um, so it's kind of a lot to just do every week. You know, for the next three months or whatever, four months. Um, you know, as Craig's doors done any of this type of reporting and compliance before? I'm not sure if they've received CDVD funds before. It's been a while. So they have, um, it's been a while, but they have an office manager who I think is capable and Kevin Noonan is, um, the director, I think he's familiar with it. So I think, you know, we've, I've, they're going over the contract right now. And I think, um, I think they can, I think they can do it. Um, and they do get, they were getting HUD money, uh, an ESG funding for other things. So I think they're familiar with reporting and kind of, you know, stricter grant requirements. Good. Yeah. No, they have had a lot of questions about the contract, which is good. So at least I know they're reading it. Is the money actually going to be in. It's distributed. You know, it's a reimbursement process. So, you know, I'm assuming in a month, a month from now, we'll be getting reimbursement requests from some of the social services and you know, Valley might bill a little bit. Um, but you know, we set out a 12 month budget for the social services. So it'll be, you know, they might just pro rate the budget and then just say, you know, roughly X amount every month for the next 12 months. So even if they may be, they could spend it down as fast as they want or they might, you know, I don't know how. Sometimes they like to keep it within a fiscal year. So like to spend it by June just because, um, you know, You don't have to carry it over on their books. So I don't, I don't really know how they'll spend it down, but you know, in the grants for small businesses, we're assuming that by the end of the year, we might have, um, We, but, you know, we think we might have given out enough grants to, you know, to be done with that program essentially. And then we still have to do follow up reporting for, for a while though. Okay. Are there any other questions, any questions about that or anything? Or, um, So I will say, unfortunately, the state has not provided any information about the upcoming grant cycle. So I think it's good. I think it's good if we set a schedule and we can, you know, stick to it. We can be a little flexible. Um, you know, I'm assuming they're not going to change much, uh, from last year. You know, I mean, really it's, there's been, there hasn't been any, um, any issues with the state level yet as far as I can tell, or if there has been, it hasn't been distributed. So. Usually at this time, you know, we've received at least, um, an email and they have, you know, a draft action plan or something, but I don't, I'm not sure they've gotten to it. I think they've been busy with everything else. So, uh, you know, my thought is we could set a schedule for the next few months. Talk about the RFP process and target areas and everything. And we could just, you know, we'll assume everything's copa aesthetic until we hear otherwise. Um, you know, I think they have the ability to, um, the state has the ability to, you know, to adjust the program if they think they need to because of COVID, not, you know, I don't, I'm not sure they will, but, you know, it could be that, you know, that the state might say, Oh, well, we're actually, we need to do a second round of emergency funding or something, you know, I, you know, for instance, and then maybe our process changes a little bit, but I haven't heard about that. Um, yeah. So I wish I had more information. I feel like, you know, I don't think we'll have to repeat anything. It's just, it's hard to, to, I think to structure something when we don't have any guidelines, but. But it's still, it's still happening as far as you know. Yeah. So this is Amherst third year. Um, you know, we have a, we're a mini for three years. This is the third year, this upcoming grant is our third year as a mini entitlement. And then the state said that they wouldn't, you know, have to review the whole mini program every three years. So. I think we're good. And then, you know, we'll hear next spring about what's happening with. Um, You know, what happens in the future, which. Hopefully we're still many. So I don't know if anyone has any questions or what we think would be, um, You know, if we could work backwards, we use sometimes we do that, or if we. Um, I think that that seems to be helpful. Anybody else have any thoughts. Yeah, my recollection was that last year we started a little bit earlier, which was helpful because we built in more time. So that we could go, um, Um, You know, after all the proposals came in, we could go back with questions, which was, I thought really good. Um, No helpful way to do it. Yeah. No, I thought that was good to have the questions and answers. And then. You know, we had an extra week built in there. So the applicants could respond and then, you know, the committee could review them before. Making preliminary recommendations. So I, I thought that was helpful too. Um, I could build up a calendar and then we could, um, Uh, I was a little bit, a little bit concerned because last year, we had the, um, the first, you know, public. Being on October 29th. And I was looking at the counter this year. It's like right before the election, you know, people are going to be focusing on this or, you know, it's going to be happening right before and after the election. Yeah. And maybe that is not a good, um, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. After it or do we wait up to the following week? Um, well, Becky had said that she can't really be involved much before the election. So that was her email today. I don't know. Um, you know, considering her. How, how we want to finagle the schedule. I mean, you could say something like, you know, the week of November nine, you know, that gives us four gives one, two, three, four weeks. Um, you know, you know, you know, you know, notice is out there asking people for comments about what they think community priorities are, what they think, you know, it could be for the next year. Um, and then we, you know, we could schedule it. You could schedule the hearing. Um, you know, like on the 10th, say, you know, 10th is a Tuesday. Or, you know, some, something around there. Um, And then if we wanted to, um, just look at like a calendar, you know, we can meet that, you know, like a week or something to review the RFPs and then try to get them out there. I think last year we had them out, you know, right around the 25th of November. So, you know, it's maybe two meetings and, you know, a week after each other to get the target areas and the RFP and everything out there. Um, you know, we could talk about outreach strategies. I mean, like, I, you know, we can have a few more email, you know, we're not doing a lot in person, but I think through, um, you know, we have a rental assistance program and then a micro program. Do a few different databases of people who could email and let them know and ask if they have any comments or, um, Suggestions for priority. So, you know, we could talk about that outreach, but does that sound good? Maybe like November 10th as a public hearing. Sure. That's Tuesday. That's going to be a big day in the supreme court. Oh, what's that? That's ACA. Yep. Do we not want to? I mean, I think, I think the news cycle is so bad. If we, if we dance around the news cycle. And then if anyone has any ideas for outreach, you know, we can talk about it now or you can email me, but, you know, we've talked about, you know, how do we get the word out for priorities? You know, I mean, well, I expect the social services will come. Um, and, you know, make a pitch for their programs, essentially, but. Yeah, if there's any other. I thought last year, Nate, the, um, the outreach that you had done resulted in some pretty interesting. Feedback from various, you know, whether the senior center or just other places. Um, I thought that was really helpful. Yeah, I can, I could, yeah, that's great. I can go back to the health department and the senior center. Um, there's the, um, Amherst mobile market, which is one we could, uh, it's a nice grass root lead, lead effort. Um, I can ask them to do some help with that. Do you think because everything's, yeah, I know the health department was good. Yep. No, go ahead. I was going to say because everything is remote this year, do you think it's going to be more efficient, less efficient, easier and more difficult? Yeah. I mean, we could set up a form on the town's webpage website, like on the committee webpage where someone to submit, submit, you know, comments. So we could just create a pretty simple form. It could just be one long, um, you know, box, you know, they could just type in, you know, you know, paragraphs or just one or two lines. Uh, we could make, you know, multiple choice giving, giving priorities and they could rank them and order. Um, yeah. I mean, you know, my thought is, um, you know, sometimes I feel like zoom is good. You know, I think it can help. And other times that, you know, if you don't have the ability to log on or, you know, then it's, it's hard to attend a meeting. Um, I was going to say as we have a new health director and a, um, the senior center director has been there for a little bit. But yeah, I thought that was helpful when they, um, you know, they kind of canvassed a few, um, a few different, maybe partners and then came back with what they were seeing from the community. So I think that's a good idea. Yeah. I mean, we have to do it over a zoom. I don't, you know, there isn't really another, but you know, in terms of trying to get people to provide comments, I mean, you know, I can, they can always email, email me or call me. Um, but we could maybe try setting something up on the website. I mean, last year we talked about maybe doing a survey, but that hasn't, you know, we haven't, that hasn't really, um, come together. But what do people think about like an online form? Um, I think that's a good idea. I think that's a good idea. I think that's a good idea. Um, just with maybe an open dialogue box. Have you done, have you had much experience doing it before? Yeah, we've done it before. Yeah. We, we, you know, we've done it for different projects. Um, you know, we could use survey monkey or we can just use the, use the platform for our web. Our website anyways. It's not, it's not too hard to do. I think that's good. It's easy to, for you, because it's just all lands in one place and you don't have to, you have a barrage of interruptions during the day that you're feeling obligated to read or listen to, and everything just goes into one portal and then you check it whenever. Oh, I don't answer my phone anyway. So that's fine. I mean, it doesn't get answered or you personally don't answer it. No, I'm just kidding. I, I do answer it. Although I have, um, I'm at home. So I'm working remotely most of the time. So I have it finally forwarded to my, um, from work to my cell phone and, um, I for a while, I couldn't, I don't think people could leave messages, but they finally left a message today. I could see sometimes they would call and I would try to answer. And then it would, something funny would happen. And then I never had voice messages and like, what's going on? But someone left one today. So I know it's working. It's been a few weeks. I'm not sure of myself. So yeah, I think online, we could try that. We can try reaching out to a few different places. Um, I mean, would we try reaching out to. Um, like United Way and see if they have any ideas for Amherst or foundation. Um, That's a great ideas. So if we're doing something on the, um, the website that's like an open dialogue box, I think that sounds really, really good. But I'm also wondering if, um, in addition to that. Um, I think that is the technology there so that. There would be a spot that we have for social services activities, various types of activities that we had listed last year, have household stabilization support services for homelessness, youth development, these things. Is it possible to have a list of those things? And people could say, you know, one to five. You know, how important is this for you? Yeah, we could do that. We could set up a rank order, um, question. I think I'm pretty sure we can. So yeah. We're not necessarily. Ranking them because, you know, some might be. I might be like three fives and one one. You know, but, but just how important. Yeah. How important. Okay. Yeah. I can, um, I see what you're saying. Yeah. One to five. I can, uh, yeah, we could do like how important on a scale of one to five or five. Um, we could set up a rank order or something and they could just put a, right. Each of those categories. Maybe. Yeah. Instead of just a rank order, we could have something like that. Uh, yeah. Let me, I can, I think that, that we could do that. I mean, if not on our webpage, we can do it in Survey Monkey and then embed it. And on the website. Yeah. I don't want to make it too complicated that would, you know, kind of be a barrier for people. But, but it, it, it, it, Nate's Nats suggestion makes it easier. For folks. To have the information there. Yeah. And I think as long as it's. Uh, he froze. And Ben can easily do this. He's, you know, but I think this, let me know. Yeah. No, I think it's what we can try this. I've set up forums before so we can, uh, Does the town have a do we have a survey monkey account? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. But then also civic plus has two forms module. So you can, you can go right in. Plus and then I think that one would be easier. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm trying to think, you know, You know, we are going to say we can send something home through, but I can ask the schools to distribute something or, you know, I can send an email to a few people at the schools and they see it and see how they can distribute that. And then if we have a web, if we have a link to this web page, we can include that with the email, you know, my email address. And so at least we can try to get a few things outlined. So it's, it is easy for comments. Yeah. The school, schools have. PGO emails that go out to all the families. So it would be a pretty easy thing for them to include. An email I think. Yeah, we've done that before. I just would have to find out who would do that. Yeah. And I think. Oh, you know, so you know, it's kind of, yeah, you know, it's interesting. I was thinking that. Yeah. I mean, hopefully, you know, it'll be great. Hopefully by in the next few weeks, we can have some guidance from DHCD because they did mention. So I just look at my notes that I know for, for 19, and I thought that one point that they mentioned for 20 grants because of COVID, they might lift the cap on social services. So, you know, that could mean either you could fund more than five activities and the dollar amount as a percentage of your grant could change. So, you know, I guess we have to stay tuned, you know, for instance, what if they allow it? And we hear that, you know, we hear from a lot of agencies or, you know, that there's a few more priorities or something. So I think. I don't want to say for certain, but, you know, maybe just, you know, imagine that we're going to allow that for the 19 grant. If people have any unencumbered funds, but you know, we allocated ours already, but for the 20 grant, and maybe for this year, they had, they had mentioned that there could be that possibility. So, you know, I guess we have to stay tuned. You know, and maybe that this year we end up, he couldn't award, you know, more social services. I, you know, don't quote me on it, but. At one point they had mentioned that that could be a possibility, but without any guidance, I don't know that it's just one of those things, right? It could change, it could change the review. Well, they let you know within enough time. So that during our process, we can factor that in, or you know, cause if it's too late, it's going to, you don't know. Yeah, I'm hoping by the end of this month, they have some documents out because otherwise then, you know, their application will be, you know, my thought is it was, you know, right now the application will probably do in either late February or early March and some, in some years they pushed it off until April. And so, you know, if they don't get their information out soon enough, you know, they might push the application deadline back. So, you know, we could either then delay our process a little bit or, you know, I think we could, my assumption is let's start with the mid-February application, late February application date. And I like the November 10th hearing date. And then we can just kind of work from there. And if we need to adjust, we could. But I know the housing authority and some others have already asked about, you know, this grant cycle. So I know they're still interested in, you know, both social services and capital projects. So I'm assuming we'll get, you know, the kind of the normal response and, you know, both social service and infrastructure projects. All right. So if we like that, I can talk about that for outreach. I mean, that seems pretty good for now. If we meet on the 10th, usually, I mean, the hearing might not be a long time. We could either just have that be the hearing. I think we did that last year. And then the following week, we had a meeting to review the, you know, RFPs and the criteria and everything. So would we want to do that? So, you know, if we meet on the 10th, we, then we meet again on the 17th. To talk about getting the draft documents and good shape. Is that sure. And Becky, if you want to, if you have a question or comment, you can raise your hand and Gail or I can recognize you. One quick question. Thinking about people to reach out to. So you said, so Julie is retiring, right? She is. So, but I'm wondering if there are other town of Amherst department heads that might make sense to ask. So I'm thinking about, I mean, you would know much better. Nate, but I'm thinking about like senior services, right? There's someone there. And, you know, you know, maybe Mike Morris. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, I don't know that schools and, I mean, I don't know. There aren't a lot of people are obvious to me who. Wouldn't have incentive necessary to just push their own thing. And we'll get, you know, lots of input from, yeah, all those sort of social service and other folks anyway, but I think it is helpful. You know, I mean, what you, what Julie did last time, even was helpful, I thought. You know, I think it was a great idea to have that. You know, I think it was a great idea to have that sort of united win. So on anyway, if you know any, or if anyone has ideas about who those. Couple three other people might be, that would be great. But I think senior services that I'd be interested to hear what that person has to say. I don't know who that is. Yeah, I know Mary Beth. She's the director of the senior center. I'll reach out to her. She's, she was new, I think last year. So she's been there maybe a little over a year now. That's a year and a half. So she. But she's really pretty active and I think in touch with a lot. I think she's been there for a long time. I think she's been there for a long time. I think she's been there for a long time. I think she's been there for a long time. The new health director, I think is somewhat local too. So she may actually have. You know, so maybe able to provide some, some insight, but I like the idea. If not Mike Morris, I know there's a fate Brady was with the schools and I have another name. I'm an email from someone else. I think I could, you know, that would work with. Both of the local and regional schools that could offer some help. Becky has her hand raised, but I don't know how to call on her. I don't know. You can speak. Okay. I just unmuted myself. I just had an email actually, because I couldn't figure out quite how to get in, but can you all hear me now? Yep. Okay. One thought. And maybe you do this all the time, but was to post the survey on the, in the COSA newsletter and to ask people to send it out to their constituents for all those organizations. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Amherst has a Amherst human service network. Which a lot of the agencies overlap with COSA, but I usually send it to those two umbrella organizations. Okay. That's good. Yeah, that's, yeah, actually, yeah. So. We can work on the, I think we have to work on the webpage first. If you can get a link to it, you know, for comments, and we can send that out when COSA could easily distribute it that way as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. You know, I probably see through this application round and then, you know, for say like the next year's application round. I, you know, I'd be, I'd be in, I'd be in the back seat and Ben would be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Although with everything that's happened in the last six months, you know, there's some ideas that I was going to start staffing the planning board and maybe doing some other boards and committees that hasn't happened. So it's, you know, it was an idea of how to rearrange staff. Well made. I'm sorry to hear about your demotion. Yeah. Well, you know, for a while I was staffing, I think like six boards and committees. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice that Ben's on board. We were short. You know, it was, I was pretty busy. Granted, this has always been a committee of mine. So it would be different not to be involved. And I know the state is comfortable with me. It's fine. They weren't at first, you know, now. They are. Well, maybe we can send emails from your account still or something. I'll give you my login information. So they think it's. Yeah. So I'll be, and I'll be here for this round. Yeah. Yeah. So I've been there as ideas for outreach. Let me know. I think the schools are good. The senior center. You know, we can. Yeah. I'm curious to see how it looks online. I hope. I'm hoping it's an easy, you know, way for people to just either. Rank, you know, not rank, but identify their priorities in terms of services. And then, you know, have an easy box for them to type. But, you know, even if it's just, you know, a few paragraphs or even a few lines is, you know, pretty clear to them. Do some. So a user how to do that. That'll be something new. Let me just ask, let me just write the Jones library, just to make. And then the 17th, we can, you know, I emailed them out. So anyone, you know, from now, and you know, at any time, if you just want some, you know, Nightly reading, you could look over the RFPs and their review criteria. And see if we want to change anything. I think last year's work pretty well having the page limit and having a few more. I think we were a little clear on what we were asking for in the budget. Help and I do like I did like I wasn't sure I was going to but I did like having the questions being asked and then having applicants respond I think that really helped clarify things for the committee before making recommendations so I feel bad it was more work for you, but I think it really helped committee. It wasn't it wasn't too bad for me I mean you know it's like, you know. Yeah, I do like that I mean I think, you know, I think last year's people asked about having presentations from the applicants again and I guess that's a committee question you know is that you know is that worth the time of having someone present their proposal and that be part of the you know they do that for the committee makes recommendations so would we have, you know, a presentation by all the applicants as part of the review process. You know, that's, you know, it's your as a committee that can be your decision I don't anyone have any, any thoughts there. My initial instinct is that it doesn't sound like it would be very additive. It would not be very what Nate, not would not be very additive to the process just not sure they do much added value. Once we're at that point. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I think it's more useful to more helpful to, you know, be able to read and think on it a bit, organize whatever questions we have and then be able to ask that, as opposed to live. I mean, we would read it beforehand and then they would come and essentially present what we just read, which then feel added to either so. Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's what right they would still submit their proposals and then, you know, there'd be a hearing where you know the committee would have read the proposals and then they'd make a presentation on what they submitted but, I think the question and answer back and forth was probably more helpful than a presentation. You know, everyone was really thoughtful about what they were asking so. I guess just one question. You know, so. Yeah, so we, we were struck on the page limit. Or made it clear that you know the what 15 pages all inclusive right. And I just wonder if any of the people who were used to effectively longer submissions complained has anyone suggested that 15 pages really isn't sufficient to provide the information asked for. I think there are some, there are some, I think there was, you know, some challenges, maybe with some some agencies to get it to 15 pages because I like to put in a lot of information. I will say that DHCD in the last two years, maybe because they're, you know, running less staff as well they, they're stricter on their page limit so. So some of the issue is, for instance, when, when the town submits for a social service activity to DHCD, they only want three to four pages describing that program, a budget page, and maybe some beneficial information. They don't, they don't care about all the attachments. And so, even if an agency submits it to the town, and I submitted to DHCD, I'm not sure that they read it all. So, you know, when an agency used to submit 40 pages, I remember one year the reviewers like they wrote in one of the comments, it's too long. We can't read this, you know, they, you know, a reviewer might review seven communities, 10 communities, and they're not going to spend the time so they're, DHCD is really strict about page limit. I think last year I felt good about having that page limit because it's, in turn, it makes it easier for the town to then, you know, I asked the applicants after the town manager recommends them I work with the applicants to refine their description. So that we can submit a really good package to DHCD and so if they, if they're actually writing too much it's actually harder to then, you know, refine it for the town's application so. I think some, I think there were some challenges to, you know, maybe to do that but I didn't, you know, I think there were more questions at first about what, you know, how to, what do they put in their, you know, in those pages but I don't, I'm not sure people really complained, but. So good question, Andrew. I'm wondering, we're talking about the, after we initially read and then have people come in for that next week meeting, if we could limit how many people say the same thing and have it be more focused on questions and answers that we might develop in reading them and having them there to respond that it might be helpful. Can we do that? Is there some way to say that? That would be in the review meeting, Paul? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I think that's, the committee can discuss that and then, you know, the chair and I can help try to, you know, a lot, you know, to kind of run the meeting. It's difficult though when it's a public hearing and, you know, you, you know, we have to allow the public to speak and then they repeat themselves. So I think Gail last year did say a few times that people that we've heard that can we, can we move on but if someone, you know, just start speaking it's difficult to anticipate what they're going to say so sometimes it may be repetitive but. I think the way we formatted last year is that if there were multiple representatives of one organization we would, in other organizations only had one person we'd go down ABCDEFG but if there were three people for B, you would go back to B. After everybody at least had one representative speak like you couldn't have four people in a row speaking about your organization and, and a bit of lack of a term like sucking up the time of other people who hadn't had a chance to speak yet so I thought that that seemed like a fair way to do it. I also think limiting to have four people saying the same thing about the survival center is not says it's not additive it's just repetitive. Yeah, I mean that's yeah I think you know so you know is there then, you know, in the request for proposals or in the review criteria I mean is there a statement that says you know, is there something like, you know, limit the number of people speaking, you know, presenting to the committee I mean is there is there, you know, would we want to write something like that I mean yeah last year the survival center you know lined up their speakers which was really strange, because I called on someone and then labs like no they're not supposed to talk in that order and it's like well, the care is funding round it's like well, I mean really like you've teed them up so that you know you're like, it's like, you know, this, you know, I don't know, I just that's not built to the climax. You can you can see it in a kind way in that you know we asked that no more than three representatives speak on whatever date we're doing this. I mean, yeah, the committee likes that we could put that in. You can put that in their view, you know, their criteria are in the request for proposals this doesn't have anything to do with the proposal they submit but it's just, you know, previewing how the committee would review proposals, you know, you could say something like, you know, at a time of review with a committee, please, you know, limit, you know, you're, you know, to three representatives who speak for your proposals or something I mean, we could put it out there just as a, not to be too contrarian but I would almost worry the opposite that if we say no more than three that every organization will come up with three. So give us some better language around that. I don't know what it is. Yeah, maybe something we just do. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Go ahead, Nate. Oh, no, as you're gonna say it's like, when we sometimes we go out to bid if you put a bid price or an estimate everyone bids the estimate it's like they don't actually then they don't do any thinking about it you know if you say something's gonna be 50,000 everyone bids 50,000 you know they don't really come up with their own price. And I mean I find the, what I find myself wondering. I'm going to have to Matt's point is what additive would look like actually in that context right so my own sense is that, you know, obviously we haven't really spoken about this and, you know, probe how each of us thinks about these things but I really doubt that any of those right sort of public comment certainly the the folks who are you know the clients say, I mean it's nice to hear. And especially, I mean it's just night for me certainly as right this is new exposure for me. So I like but I don't I really don't think it does anything to my assessment. Right. I think it adds nothing to how I assess those proposals which is what it's all about the proposals and then the conversation among us is 99.9%, if not 100. And I suspect that's true for all of us I could be wrong. So it's not even so much the repetitiveness is sort of made it could be complimentary, but at least to date I can't think of a time that I think what I've heard. I think from Lev right I think it's most super organized and there are a bunch of people I don't think that adds more information more to my consideration of those proposals. So then I'm wondering what would additive look like right like beyond what goes in proposal what could someone say, and is there a way to give guidance around that, as opposed to number of people and obviously number of people can, you know, can be an issue in that, but I honestly just don't know what that is. That would really add more grist for the middle of our consideration, you know, who gets money and how much they get. We used to allow more pages and then they were like testimonials and chromiums that that were attached. And then we kind of limited the page, the pages and that eliminated that process right. That's really that's mostly what we're getting right is testimonials. So, and I should say I mean, you know we could say those testimonials are you know, whatever we call them. Whatever we call them are not just about our consideration right that there is actually value and having people support the programs be able to say that publicly clearly they find value in that. And maybe that's, you know, and maybe that's sufficient right. And then yes it's just about you know how much time they can take collectively or a number of people or you know, whatever it is but, but that's still a different thing right it's a different value and okay I'm going to take that away and you know that's going to affect the decision I actually make. Yeah, no, it's a really interesting point, you know when the town does any, you know, procurement review we rarely have testimonials right we have references, but we don't you know I do think the testimonials a different right a different value. Yeah, I don't have a really good answer I mean we could have a call out an RFP that says you know where we allow, you know, exclusive of the page limit or something is you know we could have so many pages of testimonials or something. You know, some agencies used to really stack the deck and they'd have like 10 people speak to an agency and so, you know, now I'll tell people you know maybe bring two or three, maybe, maybe four at the most I mean they asked sometimes and I also will say that if you know a participant is uncomfortable please don't, please don't have the speaking part of the committee thinking it's compulsory as part of the participation in this program right so I sometimes I felt like maybe participants thought they had to speak. You know as part of their requirement of say attending a class or something and I don't want that to be thought that I don't want them to think that way right we're not we're not providing money to agencies to then have people who maybe to you know nervous or or something that didn't speak in front of the committee. And so I think if they've been good about it but you know, a number of years ago I mean I was surprised at how many people would speak and they would seem really uncomfortable and really nervous and I couldn't tell if they wanted to speak or how if they were pressured but you know I feel like the ones in the last two years have been pretty good, but agreed if they're not helping the committee assess the proposals you know how do we factor that in do we factor it in or how do we then how do we shape it as part of the review process. I don't even know if this needs to be said I'll just but I'll just offer that. You know, mostly what I get from those typically is the speaker thinks the work is really really important and it's really touched their lives and it's an invaluable service to them their families or kids etc and, and that's almost that's never the issue with us right. There just no doubt about that certain in terms of the social services so like we believe you. So again though I wonder I mean I didn't know if it's, I'm still wondering, is there something that's not in the proposal and doesn't amount to an expression of that person's investment in that program, so that we could give some guidance and I'm not I don't I'm not identifying anything myself. And again just to go back to the other thing and and if there isn't something. Do we say okay that's that's okay still again there is value in giving people a space. To offer that that testimony because it's important to them and it's important to, you know, the agency heads and let you know, enjoy having right appreciate having people speak for them publicly like that and and you know in this in the scheme of thing that's actually not that much time that they're asking of us right so we're just going to provide that form and that's okay. I will say that as a public hearing we can't if people want to speak we can't limit it it's just, you know, if an agency wants to, you know, have 10 people come, you know, that's something different where it does get repetitive but, you know, as a public hearing it's open to the public so. Yeah, that's all I was just going to say that even if even if we even if they are there are program participants you know we still have to let them speak, you know, and they may not have been, you know, even if it's been coordinated with the agency as a public hearing we can't really say no unless we, unless we all of a sudden say well we've already heard that you have something else you can add but. I mean, is there any way that we can ask people not to solicit people to come and speak because I thought it was pretty clear that some people had been asked to come in and participates the show numbers. And that I didn't find helpful but I did find it helpful to hear from some of the people that have participated. I don't know I mean I think that's something you know, I think it's all part of the same question that you know you, Paul you've asked and Andrews talked about how what's, you know, is it. You know, is there a way to fold this into the process or if not is it you know, does it really does it doesn't take too much time so it's still important just to hear it. So, yeah, I don't know I mean I mean we don't have to answer that tonight but I think it's something we could you know just think about over the next few weeks I mean we could say as you know as the hearings. Before the public meetings I mean it may not be formally written in the, in the RFP but we could tell people you know limit it to two or three people to speak to the organization or to the proposal, and you know that way someone doesn't come in and have you know a number you know a kind of choreograph to speak to it. Yeah, I'm not sure. But I think that's, you know, now, now I think in Andrew you said it that there wasn't, they didn't help a lot with the assessment of the proposals and I guess for me that's it's the question that is a well what you know what, what's the better, what's the purpose of it like or how can we make it part of the review, you know or it can or is it just, you know, what having written testimonials then as part of the proposal do we have a you know some something that that we allow for some of those as part of the proposal, you know, and, you know, we get those up front as part of the review, because if they're, you know, I agree I mean it is nice sometimes to have the personal touch and understand what's happening from an attendees, you know, a participant's perspective. But if it's not necessarily helping the committee, assess and evaluate proposals then, you know, I don't, you know, doesn't need to be how does it how then how is it part of the process or doesn't need to be part of the process I guess. It's tugging, it's tugging at our heartstrings just like the Supreme Court hearings when you hear, you know, Senators bring the people that are benefited from Affordable Care Act and they're just sitting there and you're hearing about their stories and it's tugging it's, it's the emotional component. But I don't, I agree with Andrew that I don't think it factors into my decision because you're doing it not just for one person but you know, relatively for the full entire organization. I was wondering if I bet it doesn't move any senators either. Rose me. Well, you're you're undecided where you go. We took like an eight and a half by 11, and we did like two boxes, and we did two pages of that so we could get four testimonials like does that, that would only add two pages. I mean we're kind of in the weeds right now and it feels premature but I'm just throwing it out there. My thought is that we set 15 pages for the application and then we could say we allow an additional five pages of testimony or, or you know or something or you know like our participant statements or something I mean I don't know two pages of participant statements I mean there's maybe a way to do it. Yeah. You know they, it's, there's some people who to write who wouldn't speak and there's some people would speak who wouldn't write. Right. Right so. Yeah. Yeah, and like I said as a public hearing we have to allow, you know people to submit written comment or if you want to speak at the hearing we you know we have to allow we have to allow that so, but you know at least we could find a way to encourage the organization is not to kind of grandstand everyone. All right, Becky you're free to speak if you. Okay. Obviously I've never done this before. And I can imagine that the meetings going long and maybe that's part of the issue here but I guess I would just say as I'm just coming out of the process of starting or helping to facilitate the opening of a new community organization and what I hear from members of the community is how much people want to be heard and how much they don't feel heard right now so I guess I would just throw that out there as, you know if it's not too much trouble on the part of the committee to hear everybody and to let them really speak what they're feeling right now I think it's in that serves its own purpose for people to feel that the that the board is really understanding from the constituents who are in the community what's going on. So even if it feels like a huge time that it's taking up so much time and it's not particularly helpful to making a decision, it may be helpful in other ways. But as you can't see me which I don't know why my phone isn't doing that but so you don't know that I could promote I mean I you're an attendee I can promote you to panelists. It's okay. I just did that that way. Yes, yeah, so your panelists now so you could just speak freely now and not. Yeah, I mean I don't want to have a process where people feel like they don't think the committee is listening. I'm not sure that's that's it I think. Yeah, you know I think one thing that you know, usually in the hearing we're talking about in November we asked for public comments on priorities and usually agencies come and they really just promote their, you know their program. And so we were trying to talk about a better way to get a community and put that in earlier on in the process about what our community priorities and what are things that funding could help. And then you know the comments we're talking about now or when agencies have actually submitted proposals and the committee is reviewing them sometimes you know agencies are an applicant may line up you know seven people to speak to the proposal during the committee review process and sometimes it's helpful and it sounds like sometimes it's not you know maybe good that you know personal testimony but it doesn't necessarily affect the rating of the of the program. And Gail was interesting you said right, it's only one person it's not the program. It's nice to hear the value to them of the program but it may not actually help the committee determine if the program is, you know feasible or has good capacity or organizational structure. No, I think but there I would like to maybe try to find a way to capture those. You know that some of that that personal testimony whether it's like you know some added pages during the proposal submission, or something but we don't have to solve it tonight, but I would actually so that that said, I mean I would put in a vote for essentially keeping it as it is. I do think, and as opposed to actually the pages, the pages of testimonial at the end, I mean I do think that are my guests is that a big part of the value again is being able to speak publicly. And it's, you know, as much as anything a signal, folks send each other right, they sent to the agency head and sort of public appreciation is just important. And at the end of the day, I mean I think it's not, you know, actually, you know, so much time. I mean, you know, it doesn't always feel awesome. When you hear the, you know, and person, but, but I get it that method as long as we are, I think, aware as we're being now what's happening there and why we're doing it. Yeah, I think it's not that purpose that's I think that's okay. I think if we're clear that, you know, the proposal review is based on say what's written and some other things so people, you know, there's not a false assumption that you know it's a public hearing and they're trying to sway the committee one way or the other, that you know, yeah, because I think, you know, we used to do that years ago and I think sometimes people still think that the public, you know, presentation or, or the, you know, someone speaking is going to have the committee change their mind at the last minute and maybe it helps you think of something but I don't. Yeah, I think if we can frame it the right way it can so be helpful. Alright, so I just want to talk schedule of November 10 and November 17. You know, then the rest is on me to pull together the documents and say to try to get them out by the end of November and I think last year. I think we gave we gave applicants five weeks to submit their proposal and that seemed, you know, plenty generous granted there's holidays in there but I mean, when would you want I guess the question is when would you want proposals to be do buy. Usually do it right like right at Christmas right. Yeah, 23rd, I think. Such a bad time of year. If they go out on the, if they go out on the 30th it's really one, two, three, it's like three and a half weeks that's. The committee meets in the 17th, and we can finalize the, you know, the documents I could get them out on the 20th, November 20th. And that would be better. And then got them back right before Christmas. On the 18th. That feel like enough time. Well, so then, then the question is the committee would need to review them and then provide me questions and then I'd ask applicants to respond so let's just me just write November. 20th. Let's see how we're saying December 18. They're due. When would they see. And then we'd read them like through the holiday break. And so when, I mean, that's the question like, how, what, what, what, what would be a good time for the committee to then over those holidays to read their proposals and give me questions. What do you say, you know, have questions to me by Monday, January 4th. I mean, is that fine with me. And then, you know, I'd ask applicants to respond by the 11th. And then, you know, the committee could meet that week. The following week have the meeting to, to make preliminary recommendations. Does that give you enough time for the February deadline? Oh, he's frozen. But he's poised for action, isn't he? My gosh, I can't wait to see what comes next. This is crazy. Looks like he's about to push that chair back and head out. What are you going to say? This is tension. I can't show you really funny. I can't see him. He's frozen. Okay, so he made you the host and probably just backed out of the meeting. Me, the host. Yeah. Hold on. No, I asked him if we go. If the questions. If you have any questions to Nate on the fourth. And the committees. And then the applicants get the questions back to us on the 11th. My question was, is that enough time for him? Then we make our recommendation. And then he's got to rewrite everything by February, but does he have the date in February yet? I'm not sure offhand. I think it sounds fine if we, I mean, we, I mean, we could, we're, we're, we're just kind of hashing out these dates right now. So I think it sounds okay. The episode we send, we would read over the Christmas holidays. Everybody okay with that. And we're going to have two new committee members too, who are going to have to. Take itch some time out of the holidays. Well, I don't want to be traveling anywhere. How about that? Yeah. Second, the date by which we would get the proposals. So we would, they would be due. The RFP would go out on the 20th of November. That the RFPs would be due. Back to Nate. And then he would turn them out and get them to us on December 18th. And then he would send it to us. And then we would have, from the 18th of December until January 4th, which is one. Two, a little over two weeks. Two and a half weeks to read them. And then we would submit questions. Oh no, I'm looking at the wrong calendar. I'm sorry. One, two. Yeah, a little over two weeks. We would get questions to Nate on the 4th. And then we would send them to us on December 18th. And then we would have from the 18th of December until January 4th, on the 18th of December. So we would have to send it to us on the 11th of January. And then we would get questions to Nate on the 4th. If we had any questions on any of the proposals that would, then he would turn around and then give those questions back to the applicants, the applicants would have one week. To therefore respond to those questions and get the questions back. To Nate. And then he turns around and gets them back to us on the 11. That's, I think that's kind of what we did. last year. Yes, well last year we met on the 15th of January after we had the responses to questions and everything. OK. And when did the, when did, I'm just looking here. Oh, hey everyone, sorry, I don't know what happened. I think it's the same basic schedule. It's the Monday after the holiday that we sent our questions to Nate last year. So I think we're following the same pattern. Yeah, Nate, Ben somehow kicked you out of them. Talk smack about you. It was awful. It's not good. It was not good. Good thing this is all that reported though. Oh yeah. So I think my question to you when you froze was if the applicants respond to the questions on the 11th and we move forward as we typically do, is that going to give you enough time to get everything together in February? Because would you have your date in February already? That's what we were talking about. No, last year was due on like the 12th. It was like the week, the day, you know, the right around Valentine's Day. So if the applicants respond by the 11th, we could have a meeting like January. We could either, we could, you know, meet on the 14th. And does that give the committee enough time to review the questions? Or do you want to meet the following week on the 19th? That's really up to the committee, I guess. Well, last year the comments came back to us on the 13th. And we had the public hearing on the 15th. So we only had two to turn it around. So I'm fine with, I like to keep the process moving. I think it keeps it fresh in our brain. So January 14th would be a public meeting to review, to make recommendations. And then, you know, after the recommendations, I provide that to the town manager and then we could schedule a public hearing for you know, late January at the 28th or something, February 2nd, something like that. That cuts it, it's not too, cutting it too short for you. You work better under pressure. Yeah, no, it's a little, it's a little close. I'm hoping DHC pushes the deadline back maybe to the end of February. And then it'll work, you know, if not, then nice. Sorry, some interruptions there. I think that's fine. I think that's fine. I think it gives the, you know, applicants enough time to respond, the committee to review them. I don't mind being a little pressured just to allow that. Okay. And I have been to help me now. Yeah, it's gonna say, I'm here, Nate. Offload some stuff on me. Yeah, I don't know if anyone plays Dragonwood if you know the card game, Dragonwood. That's what it's called. I don't know that. My youngest just came in to say you beat his sister in Dragonwood, so yeah. Big news. It is. All right, so yeah, I mean, I guess if I can share screen again, if, yeah, I think, you know, until I hear otherwise from DHCD, I think this seems like a pretty good schedule. And, you know, like I said, you know, committee members, if you have any questions or comments on the actual documents or review criteria, we could, you know, you can let me know any time and then we can talk about it again in November. I think the, you know, I always feel like people still have questions about what we're asking for in the budget, you know, for whatever reason. And so I thought we clarified that a little bit last year, but if people read it and you still think it's not, you know, it's not clear enough, just, you know, I'm not gonna be offended if you wanna change some things. But, you know, we ask for a program budget and sometimes we ask for the, you know, the agency's operational budget and they are two separate things. And I think it does help show capacity and feasibility. And sometimes I feel like, I don't know, for whatever reason, that just seems to sometimes be difficult for agencies to separate those two or explain it to, but. All right, and let me just do a new share. According to the agenda, we're gonna look at target areas and, you know, DHCD, I still think is gonna require the town to target, you know, non-social service projects, like, you know, infrastructure or housing. And so the last few years, we've used these three target areas. One's Amherst Center. Can everyone see this, the map? Yeah. Amherst Center in red, East Amherst in orange and then the Pomeroy Village intersection and it's kind of purplish. So, you know, if we wanna change those, we can. You know, the difficulty, for instance, is if, you know, someone proposes a project that's not in these target areas, it's essentially ineligible. So, you know, what DHCD likes to think of as a target area is a place, you know, some type of, you know, cohesive area where the town is doing some work and where other things are happening. So, you know, we can justify these pretty easily in terms of the infrastructure work that's happening and what the town's considering. I don't think DHCD would allow the town to have more than three target areas. So we couldn't, you know, for a while, we had North Amherst, we had four. And a few years ago, DHCD said you really can't have four target areas, which is kind of a bummer because, you know, we had a nice big North Amherst target area. So, you know, if we want to add one, we have to remove one. So, you know, it's just something to consider moving forward. How would we, you know, do we like these areas? And North Amherst has all that development now. So it feels like, you know, things have changed in a positive way there. So they wouldn't, the need would be, is not as great. I guess, you know, I'd have to update this, but the green areas are the income eligible block groups in the town. So the areas in green, shaded in green with income eligible areas, I think it may have changed actually. I thought this was, assuming this is what's 20, I don't know, maybe the 2000, I'm not sure what data we use for this, but, you know, maybe it's changed a little bit in terms of the block groups, but I'm gonna make a note to actually update the map. Nathaniel, what about the library in North Amherst? Is that usable since the population is gonna, you know, increase substantially down there? Yeah, hold on, I think an eligible block group. The, when North Amherst was a target area, we did put block grant money into the North Amherst school a number of years ago to, you know, for building envelope repairs and a few things. And then, you know, Head Start was in there and the survival center was in the basement. You know, so the difficulty now is it's no longer in, although it's not in an income eligible area, it's not in a target area. So, you know, that's what makes it somewhat tricky. You know, for instance, you know, it could be a good area, but I mean, we could try to say North Amherst as a fourth target area and see if we get any pushback. Can I just ask if you take the area to the left of the red block and that kind of goes up towards the top? Is that North Amherst? Those kind of three blocks that are in that, yeah, right in there, is that North Amherst? Yeah, I mean, this is, you know, this is the University of Massachusetts and then this is on North Pleasant Street. Okay. So this right here is the intersection of North Pleasant and Meadow Street. So, you know, here's the North Amherst library right where the cursor is and then, you know, here's boot 63 going up. Okay. And so, you know, originally, you know, at one point the target area was, you know, something in this area just because we were, you know, putting money into trying to work with the roadways and the school and, you know, for, you know, for instance, this area right here, you know, towns looking at acquiring Hickory Ridge, we've been doing the Groff Park and, you know, the East Howley Road work. And so, if it's into this target area, we've been trying to talk about maybe doing some public infrastructure improvements to this intersection, making it more accessible, you know, East Amherst, there's been some work happening in here with the East Amherst School. And then the town center is kind of just this big area. Did the spray park ever get finished? It did. And then it did. It was open for a little bit. And then I'm announced to me at the end of the season, it was closed. I don't think it was actually broken. There was a warranty issue, but to be safe was near the end of town closes. So, actually, you know, there was like a hot day in late September and I was like, oh yeah, let's go down. We were down there once. So, let's go back down to the spray pad. And so the kids were really excited. It was like 3.30, we get down there. They're all wearing their swim outfits. And, you know, it's all dry. And I'm like, huh, so I'm like hitting a button. Like, I don't know why it's not working. I see like a handwritten sign saying clothes for repairs. The kids were so annoyed. And I look around and like half the kids in the playground all had their bathing suits on. And then while we were sitting there, like four more families came and the kids were like running, smacking the thing and it wouldn't start. And it was so funny just because we had just experienced the same feeling of disappointment to see. But it did. It was finished. And, you know, there was simply a little bit more work there. We're actually applying, I think, for some CPA funds to fix the lower pavilion. And yeah, I mean, it was, I was surprised, actually, how I was there a few times this summer. I was really busy. It's good. Yeah, it was a lot of people there. Great. Yeah, so the target area is, yeah, we will have to target. So I guess, you know, and they're not set in stone. So I guess I would say that if, you know, for the capital, the non-social service activities, if we get a lot of proposals for a certain area of town, you know, at the public hearing, the committee has the ability to say, okay, well, I think this area should be a target area. We could, we could always manipulate it a little bit if we need to. But, you know, I know the housing authority might come in with a proposal. The town might come in with one or two. I don't really know, you know, I haven't been hearing about much, but, and yeah, I don't know if there's any, I mean, if we don't, we don't need to necessarily go through their proposals right now or their, you know, their request for proposals. Excuse me, so I don't, I mean, unless there's much, anything else to talk about, I guess we could, you know, I can send the schedule out and we can say November 10th would be a public hearing and we, you know, we'd be all set until then. Any, any comments or anything? Sounds good. Oh, I guess my, I do have a quick question. Do you know when the potential new appointees will, when the town council's meeting next to confirm the new appointees? I, you know, I thought soon, I know Paul had mentioned, you know, if not this week then next week. So, you know, I think they're trying, I think there's more than just this committee. So I think there might be a number of committees that they'll review appointees for. So I'm hoping it soon, at least by the 10th because, you know, it'd be great to, I know, I think the, you know, Becky who was on the call earlier, she has some experience, at least in, you know, some proposal review, not with block grant, but the other two members, I don't think they have. Well, Rika did, but not, not in this capacity. Right. And so I think it's going to be a learning curve for the newer members. So, you know, it's nice that they're, that we have some, but yeah, it'd be nice to, they, yeah, Gail, my thought is if they're, if their confirmations are their appointments are confirmed soon, you know, you and I could meet with them over Zoom again. I was thinking, sure. Yeah. Oh yeah, let me just make a note to that. I just, I can reach out to them and. Yeah, if you let them know that they, that we have the November 10th schedule. And actually, since that's a public hearing, technically they wouldn't have to be part of the committee to attend and listen anyway. So. Right, true, right. Yep. Yeah. And I emailed everyone at least so that they, you know, I've sent them links to DHD's webpage and to the committee's webpage in the document. So at least they're all, you know, they have the ability to do a little homework even if they're not on the committee yet. And is it, I can't pick up the word, acceptable for you to share our contact information with them, each of us individually once they're confirmed. So if they want to reach out to any of us for questions. Yeah, I think, yeah, you know, they can, my email, you know, list has everyone's email address, but that's all I would share. I don't, you know, unless the committee wants to have some type of, I don't, you know, wouldn't really share personal and other information. And even, you know, someone, you know, Gail, for instance, as chair, if you're like, oh, they got my phone number, but otherwise I'll just leave it to the emails. Okay. Reach out. Yeah. Typically we don't provide, you know, personal contact information for board or committee members. No, I didn't mean like, you know. Yeah, I know, yeah. Go to your house, but not that that would be fine. Who gives out the best Halloween candy? I guess they'll also have public meeting law training. So they know like what they can't talk to us about. Yeah, when they, when their appointments confirm the town clerk's office would send them the open meeting law guide and a packet of information and then they have to take like the ethics online training. So yeah, I'm assuming all that, you know, I could touch on that. Let me just write that down. But usually that's through the town clerk's office. Then I would, you know, I would just help them understand the block ran piece, but I, we could talk about the open meeting law too. Cause I think some of them are new to even open meeting law. Like the, you know, during the interviews we mentioned how everything else we done in a public meeting and you really can't be discussing, you know, things with committee members outside the meeting. And I think that was new to some of them. And it is different. I mean, you know, to be able to have to talk publicly about proposals, you know, and the applicant is sitting in the meeting. It's a little different. Yeah, that'd be great to have them. And then I can, we can outline the schedule. And if we need to adjust a few dates, we can, but I think, I think we've given ourselves, you know, a good schedule to work with in the applicants, you know, everyone enough time. All right, well, I guess that's it. We could always end by 830. Right, so, so which of you does give out the best Halloween candy? My girls need to know. Well, Gail and I live next door and our neighborhood has always been Halloween central, but I have no idea what to expect this year. Is it happening in Amherst? I have no idea what to expect. I was just last year and didn't turn my light on. Oh no. I don't like the seventh, eighth and ninth graders. It's, I don't know, I'm like, you're too old. You don't say thank you. And we have, we usually have like 200, 300 kids who come by. And yeah, it's usually packed and we have a parade that goes through the neighborhood. And they're not sure they'll do it this year, but then, you know, my wife's seen on Facebook where people are saying, can this neighborhood just still do the trick or treating? And I'm like, I don't know. You know, like, man, if we have that, if we're the only one will have so many kids. It gets a little crazy. Yeah, I mean, I think one year I bagged it. You know, I've had like, I made like 175 bags of like a few pieces each. And then that was two years ago, we actually ran out and then luckily we had other candy. But I'm like, oh wow, we actually went through, you know, I tried wanting to keep track of actually how many, how many people we actually saw. It was over 200. Where do you live? Where do you live? How many feet did you get? Yeah, right, I know. And then usually at the end of the night you do get the high schoolers. So I think it was last year, some kids that are like, they're all dressed in black. They look like they were up to no good, but they're actually nice. And they said, oh, can we have some candy? I'm like, sure. And it was like, not much left. I said, oh, just take what's left. And then they're really happy. And then like 10 minutes later, the priest drove by and they're like, have you seen some teenagers? They've been causing trouble in the neighborhood. I'm like, thank God I gave them some candy. Yeah, I don't know. No proclamation has been made about Halloween in Amherst. I haven't seen anything. No, there's been safety guidelines, like least safe, like least risk to highest risk. And there may be something that, yeah, I don't know who's discretion that is or. Maybe Governor Baker will have rules that apply to red zone communities like ours. Yeah. Maybe we'll get back to green by that point. Who knows? Yeah, I don't know. I know I'm trying to think what to do. We have a lot of pumpkins to carve, at least. I'll send pumpkin seeds. I'll give pumpkin seeds out. I'll be at least favorite person this year. My dentist gives out toothbrushes. She's like, everybody hates it. Someone down this street was giving out little water bottles and apples last year. I was like, no, all right. Yeah. I've been doing it for 20 years here. I'm kind of feeling done. There aren't any little kids, too many little kids anymore. All right, are we done? I think so. All right. I'll stop sharing and I'll stop recording. Well, thanks everyone. Thank you.