 We are recording. Okay. Hello, everyone. I'd like to call this meeting of the Community Preservation Act Committee to order at 6.01 p.m. on October 9th. Excuse me, October 29, 2020. We are being recorded because we are still meeting remotely because of the pandemic. So I want to first have a roll call attendance so that any watchers live of this meeting or of the recording later when it is posted to the town's YouTube page will know who we all are and what organizations, if any, we are representing. So I'm sure we all appear differently on our screen. So I'll just go through a list I have. So first the at-large members. So please just say here and wave. Sam McLeod. Here. Sarah Eisinger. Hello. Here. Katie Zobel. Here. Welcome. First meeting. Thank you. Diana Stein. Here. Thank you. And now for the Conservation Commission on Agothia. Hi. Here. Okay. For the Planning Board, Andy McDougall. Here. Thank you. For the Housing Authority, David Williams. Hello. Hello. And for the Historic Commission, Robin Fordham. Hello. Here. And I'm Sarah Marshall. I'm representing LSSC. So before we get underway with the agenda, we do need a minute taker. I'll do it. Thank you, Sam. I'm getting it out of the way. That was easy. Okay. Terrific. So, Sam, are you ready? We're recording this, correct? Yes. Will I have access, Anthony? What timeframe might I have access to the recording? So normally they upload fairly quickly. I'm not sure why last week's is taking a while. A couple days. But I, what I can do is I can send you a direct link to the, just a hosted file beforehand. So two days will be fine. I'll think I'll operate off that. It's not edited, presumably. I understand. No, I'm asking Anthony. It's not the file just. No, it's just, it's a VLC file. And then it just gets uploaded. Okay. All right. So I don't see that Sonya is here, but Anthony. That's, that's correct. Sonya will not be here tonight. She did tell me that there are no changes to the financials at this time. Okay. Can I ask that you send out as, as soon as you reasonably can last week's spreadsheet just so we can look at it before our next meeting and just, there's a lot of numbers and different categories. So especially for the new folks, if we, even if it's going to be updated next week, that'd be great. Thank you. All right. So then, I guess we can move directly into the presentations if the presenters are in the audience. Anthony can let them in. I am bringing in facility director Jeremiah LaPlant. Hello, welcome, Jeremiah. Oh, thank you for having me. Oh, well, look forward to hearing about two projects that the town is proposing. So let's just jump right in with the town hall front and side steps, which is submitted under historic preservation. You can summarize that for us. We could launch into questions. I think Anthony can probably throw up any of the documents or figures that you would like us to see. So over to you. Jeremiah, if you want to have anything on screen, just tell me and I will throw it up. I can also give you control if you want. I don't know if I'd go that far. Well, yes. So the first project is looking at restoring two sets of stairs at town hall. The first being the front stairs facing Boltwood, Av, and the second being the south side stairs facing the church. As you've probably recently seen, if you've been around the town hall area, there's been some wonderful work done on the big arch doors at town hall. And this is really a continued effort to keep that preservation going with town hall and addressing some of the issues that we're seeing with the front stairs. Now, the front stairs are in a much worse shape than I would say the south side stairs. We're having pretty significant detachment of grout on the sidewalls. You can see a lot of infiltration and some insensitive repairs that have been done on the granite steps. And there has been a lot of settlement in the stairs. So some of those monolithic granite blocks are detaching themselves from the sidewall. And it almost looks like it's being pulled apart and starting to lean forward and spread out on either side. So the idea is to do a comprehensive restoration of those front steps and look at doing the side steps as well. The only way to address the front steps is to systematically pull it apart. We've had some work done. We've been working with an architect and they did some draft proposals for us and we are sort of at that point where we could look at doing git construction documents. But every single one of those veneers, those granite blocks and the larger blocks on the sidewalls would be cataloged. And if you've seen some of the documents, they've already sort of listed them out. They're numbered, they're lettered, all of the sizes that they've been measured. And those would be pulled apart, cleaned up, and then set aside so that the substructure, whatever is underneath those stairs, gets removed. And a new foundation and new fill is put in place so that you can take all those blocks of the granite steps and put them back so they are back to original. But better so, because they're no longer pulling away and there's no vegetation growth coming out of some of the mortar at the pointing. So it will be a huge undertaking to pull that apart. I did see that one of the questions they was asked about particulars for the mortar. And by no means am I a master mason, but I'm certainly looking at the project, I've learned more and more as I've gone. But they would have to do some type of analysis because looking at a structure as old as the town hall. What happens oftentimes is that modern materials are used to repair these older buildings. And it's just, it's not the appropriate materials to be used. So if we were to look back at the mortar from the 1890s, it was probably mostly line-based and didn't have the Portland cements that today's mixtures would have. So ensuring that we are taking the appropriate steps and that we analyze the materials and that we preserve each one of those blocks and put them back, it's just important for the building and maintaining the character in that sort of architectural culture of Amherst. The south side stairs are in in better shape to a degree. They are still experiencing severe effervescence. So if you if you already look at some of the old stone buildings, there's even some of the newer stone buildings, it almost looks like they have this white powdery residue on them. And what's happening is those stairs are wicking up all the moisture in the hardscape and in the ground. And as it moves through the block, salt deposits are getting in. And now those salt deposits start pushing them their way out. And that that will damage that granite block. And if you were to look at some of the photos I did present, some photos, you can see that it is starting to deteriorate the the substructure on the south side. On the front steps, what that substructure is, I don't think that it is anything poured, but on the south side it does appear to have a poured concrete base. So that's why I said that it was in a little bit better shape. So I guess the the sort of the the the the general idea of the project is to really take those stairs and continue our efforts and and put those stairs back in the best shape that we can, so that the town can continue welcoming its townspeople for another hundred years. So that's that's the steps. Now the other project that I was looking at is is doing some restoration on a slate roofs. So they're one project at a time. Yeah, we take we just tackle them one at a time. Okay, otherwise it's you know, we'll be lost in information. Yes, thank you. So I will thank you for that. I'll ask the committee just to throw up a hand if you have. All right, Andy, can I mute? Thank you, Sarah. Thanks, Jeremiah, for the presentation. And I apologize if these were in the written answers. I haven't got a chance to get through my emails from earlier today. But do the either the stairs cases pose any sort of life safety risk? Or is this really a cosmetic preventative type of repair? Well, well, I wouldn't that's a hard one to say. I mean, any set of stairs could pose life safety risks and them. Now if I wouldn't say that the front stairs are in such disarray that one of the blocks is going to come tumbling off. I don't think that I mean, these are some extremely large blocks. Some of the smaller veneers on the side could could potentially come out in and sort of look at examining the stairs and picking at it. It's there's fill, it's just sand fill beyond these veneers. So there wasn't a solid structure on these side walls. So I wouldn't necessarily say that there's life safety risks that that we're going to see some sort of catastrophic failure. Okay, thank you Jeremiah. Thanks, Sarah. Diana. I too apologize for not having read all of the information on the stairs because I was out until shortly before the meeting. But how thick are these veneers? I was amazed that they that there were such on granite stairs. Could you tell me a little bit about those? Yes, so so most of the veneers on the side walls are about four inches thick. Now the caps are as wide as those sides. And if you if we start to come closer to the front of the stairs, though, there's there's solid blocks that are about 18 inch squared. So there's they're much larger, but the side walls are about a four inch thick veneer granite veneer. Thank you. That's very intriguing to me. I have a question. Am I right in inferring that these are the original steps and they have not been overhauled since they were put in place? Not to my knowledge. And yes, yes, they are. And not to my knowledge. There has been some some repairs. But as I stated, there, there's it looks like there's been there's definitely been some talk pointing, because you could see the difference in a color. They used a very bright red mortar for doing some talk pointing that has has crumbled out. And you could see the original mortar beyond. Anyone else? Robin? Can you speak a little? I know we went over this in the historical commission meeting, but a little bit more to the town funds that are available for this project. Certainly. So the town has some capital funding, a set aside for exterior maintenance and building envelope repairs. And I did try to separate the two of them and say, okay, this is building envelope repairs and use a separate bucket for for that the exterior maintenance. So if I was to look at building envelope repairs, it's it's roughly about $120,000. But this is not building envelope repairs, right? The stairs? It's the stairs I would consider it building. Building envelope. Yeah. If we were to, if we were to look at the exterior maintenance, there's about 50, 50,000, maybe a little over 50,000. And is that that fund for the town hall specifically or all town buildings or that that would be town hall specifically now that that is a six different line items. And I'm just sort of pulling them all together. So I think, as I said, in in the historic historical commission now, if I was to look at all of it, it's about 170. But that's that's me quite literally turning my pockets out. And it is a building from 1890. And we need to expect and prepare for other other items. So you know, I really do kind of need to hold on as much as much as I can. Katie, I think you had your hand up earlier. So, Diana, if you don't mind, you need to unmute. Just, Jeremiah, I'm not totally sure I'm following. The 120,000 is the maximum you have for envelope repairs, but you're saying that you wouldn't necessarily put all of that wouldn't want to or you're not intending to or you couldn't put all of that. Is that what I'm understanding? Well, I would I would have to hope that that everyone would agree that with having a building of that age. It's it's been incredible that the town has put set aside money. It isn't one for one particular particular item. But but to take it all and then start at zero for a building of that age would be would be almost damaging. It would be very extremely hard to I have to assume that there's going to be other work coming down the line. So I couldn't agree more. I don't I think from what I understand. But maybe is this an is this a a line item in the budget that so it's an annual line item or it's you're saying it's what you have. That is what an aggregate of the capital fund. So there is a one particular line item that was 100,000 that was set aside for the stairs. But right now it's it's around 74,000 because some monies were used to get those those draft documents as well as help with the door. Got it. Okay, thank you. And Jeremiah. Yes, the second part of Katie's question. It's not an annual item this capital, right? This capital is one year when he said capital. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Capital budget. I got it. It's a line. And yeah, Diana. Well, I some of this you've already answered but I was wondering what else the monies were. You said something about 170,000 but that some had been spent and then you talked about the drawings. So that took some of the money. Are there any other line items that we would be interested in hearing about? Other line items for that would go towards the stairs or or just other other envelope issues that that that may use that money. Right. Yeah. Well, the next project has some is for repairing slate roof on Town Hall. So some of that money could certainly go to the restoration of the slate roofs. Some of the other areas that I've I've seen walking around Town Hall. There's definitely some window issues, particularly on that basement or ground level. You could see there's some significant damage on on a few of those windows. And that's a sort of project that I would like to look at starting to address. Because again, you can't you can't allow that those items to sit for very long like that. It's only going to cause bigger issues and that costs more money. So the sooner that we can get to them, the better. Thank you. Robin first, then Andy. Robin, you're muted. What what is the urgency of the front steps versus the south steps? Well, the south steps are essentially used for staff only. It would be more so for like emergency egress where the front steps are used by normal circumstances by the townspeople every single day. So there's there's a much greater need to repair this the front steps. And plus I would have to just say that the front steps are in worse condition. There is there is a lot more damage and deterioration. I really should say deterioration. There's more deterioration in the front steps than there are in the south side steps. Andy. Thanks. A couple quick ones just on the the budget. Do you have any any contingency planning? Do you anticipate any unforeseen or I mean with something that's you know over 100 years old and just wondering whether you've whether you feel like you've got that adequately covered in your in your request? I like to allow for some but but not not inflate. I would have to say that the the amounts that I give is is a fairly honest amount. The the only thing that I would probably have to I would be concerned with is is if we are really needing to true up some of the steps if there was consideration for honing them. I don't think that the fronts the front steps have that much wear but you know having another professional eye look at them those would be some some of the things that I would be concerned with because we would want the same block to go back so if they did have to do any honing that would obviously have to be done off-site or at least in a safe area that's that that would be more appropriate. So a staging area and and I don't I don't see that happening on at least on the the town hall plot or possibly the the common so okay that would be something that I'd be concerned with. All right and then and then the other quick one is just would you would you consider splitting up the proposal and just only only tackling the main steps and not the south if I would I would I think the now the south side steps is much less money but I think that we could probably prolong the life of them. They are effervescing and they are there is some spalling but if we can manage if we can manage that that moisture somehow it might be just trying to add some drainage or a canopy but but if we could somehow get the moisture in in that precipitation away from those stairs it will prolong the life of those okay the life of them. Okay so I'm wondering then on the estimate if that might be something I don't know if it's appropriate to ask but you know if that's something if you might be able to sort of tease that out so we could we could compare that as like option a and option b might that might be useful for us as we as we consider all the other projects too. Yeah given some time I could certainly do that. I thought I saw them broken out I thought the south step was about 55,000. I mean the permitting the architectural set like the permitting material storage which is the the 90,000 is not and if that's a flat cost for both then maybe we're fine and we can just I mean I just see the four line items. Yeah and again the biggest one not. Okay well thank you again Jeremiah. Thanks Sam. A couple questions one following up on Katie's inquiry on the budget. Do you happen to know I don't know if you would or not what the typical contribution is from the town annually towards that envelope fund that is to say is 10,000 put in in the given year distinct from the capital accumulation any idea or is it just I don't it would if but if I were to look at that that capital our funding report it does appear that there is some money going in almost annually so if I was to look back as far as 2016 I on the list there might have been 7,000 then there was 10,000 and 17 or 30,000 and 18 and there's some in 19 and 2,000 there was the 100,000 so it is there is a commitment by the town to set aside money for those building envelope repairs but it is in a fixed amount it has changed I think with different ideas in projects that they would like to see addressed. Quick comments one to follow up to Andrew's comment regarding the side steps and separating the two out in the urgency. From your perspective would you or do you see any savings cost efficiencies by doing both at the same time would you envision you know if you had the bids broken up versus together would you guesstimate any form of saving and what might that be by doing the two together would you say 5 to 10 percent on the side steps if they were bundled in or not any ideas on that. I wouldn't be able to put a a percentage on that I'm not really sure but any any time that you can sort of bundle up a couple projects you should be able to create some savings that way and reduce your cost and I think what I did mention in in the slate proposal or that write up as well is you also create consistency by having the same contractor do it. So two different projects you're going out you're going out to bid on for those two separate projects now you might have this one very specialized stone mason for this one project and you might have someone different who could be qualified and reputable as well but there's there will be there could be a lack of consistency inequality of the work in the craftsmanship so those are some things that that should be considered. Final question and I'm not sure if you have awareness of this or not. Are there a new you know processes or technologies whatever you want to call it that would enhance the longevity of the stairs I recognize that it's granite that we're talking about not that much you can do and I understand that the mortar there's a lot of polymers and things that might work but what about on top of the stairs is there anything out there that I might not a third of or others that's relatively new that actually you can put on top that extends the life I'm curious I'm unaware of that. For first a lot of stone you almost have to treat it like a living breathing organism I know that in some preservation in buildings a sealence will be put on it because you know water tends to be the enemy of a lot of different things but you have to you have if you plan ahead and it's structured and built right with the appropriate materials it should be able to take that moisture and redistribute and kind of push that out rather than if you were to seal it or if you were to maybe apply some more modern technology onto that block or in the pointing you could actually be trapping the moisture rather than allowing it to sort of naturally come out of that block and a lot of those those blocks are going to absorb absorb a percentage of moisture as it rains as it snows and and that's that's a natural that's a naturally occurring thing you want that to happen but once it does pull in all that moisture you also want it to be able to naturally get rid of that moisture so I would just be concerned with it and again I'm not by no means am I a specialist in all it but I know that that is one of the the issues that a lot of these older buildings faces we have to rely on the experts if you happen to if there's any information that we contract or even architect for that matter provides what makes available if it exists that I'd be interested I understand what you're saying yeah I've read a few wonderful articles about it and I've been searching for more and more it is fascinating yeah well if no one else has a burning question I think we should move on to the roofs is that all right I don't see anyone looking unhappy so all right Jeremiah we can move to the next also historic preservation proposal which is to do repairs on three slate roofs on town buildings yeah so the the second project that I submitted for was looking at three of the different town buildings in in restoring the slate each of the buildings have has a different degree of needs so the three buildings are the town hall of the Munson Memorial Library and the North Amherst School and they all they all have very different slate so the town hall has the New York Red so it's a it's a fairly rare quarried tile that that was that's quarried out of the New York Vermont line so from what I hear it's it's hard to come by which also means that it can cost quite a bit more but the the town hall that it's sort of this it the sort of same narrative goes for for the front steps you know the town hall sits on a common and and again it's the building has been there for for over a hundred years and it's and it is so important to to really preserve that that architectural culture of the town and have this these buildings looked at and repaired the town hall does have some quite a bit of tile damage and there also is a small section of tile that's in the shadow of of the tower that was replaced with a gray tile and it would be nice and for and I just say it would be nice to have that restored back to the original red now the the reason that tile was probably changed out to a gray is that just due to the fact that that tile is so hard to come by it's not that it's not quarried it's just much more difficult to get to to acquire the tile there was probably a greater need somewhere out in one of the bigger fields so they took from the tile that you wouldn't see and put those those good tiles somewhere else and just replaced it with a gray so the the proposal lists not only some tile replacement but also includes some of the the snow barriers because we do have some areas that that couldn't use those barriers just to make it more safe for the individuals walking along the sidewalks over at months in memorial that building was evaluated it has a much thicker tile it's about three quarters inch thick and it's it's almost a gradient so the closer you are to the the edge of the the roof there's more exposure of tile as you approach closer to the peak there's less exposure of the tile and I don't remember exactly what I've derogated maybe or I'm trying to remember what the terminology was for the for the tiles but the months in memorial does have some missing or damaged tiles what it needs probably more is some flashing and in in particular the ridge so the ridge is a slate tile ridge but there is some issues that are happening with with that ridge it is starting to lift a bit and it's in shifting when it shifts and lifts like that then it will allow for moisture to penetrate into the building and that moisture can then do damage to the wood below and hopefully not get to an interior finish but that would be the next stop that the proposal that I submitted also included a new copper gutter for the back it does have a small small aluminum gutter off the back but it isn't really appropriately sized and it's not pulling away enough of the the water away from the building months and has had some water infiltration issues but a lot of that is along the the foundation but where does that water start it starts on the roof so if we can control the water that shedding off the roof then we can control the water at the foundation so it's just an extension of of that the efforts to keep the water out of the building and to preserve that so much less tiles but more metal work at months and and then the big animal is the North Amherst school which after so I brought in a slate tile specialist roofing specialist and he had a look at North Amherst school and told me that unfortunately he feels that the the tile has reached its service life so most tile that's quarried in our our area the New York Vermont area has a service life of between 60 and 120 years some tiles some of the harder tiles can last up to 200 years or plus so the the the it's a Vermont tile that was put on and it's a gray and brown in color and what I was told is is on the back so on the side not facing the road we were showing much more deterioration if we were to look at the North Amherst school you would you would see some brown streaking some darker brown streaking that brown streaking is the nails that that are holding those tiles onto the roof they've rusted and you start to see that rust now staining the tiles what that means is eventually those nails will let let loose and we're going to see more and more tiles slide off so we have a tile itself that has reached its life expectancy but we also have the way it was fastened it is getting to the age where it's going to be less safe North Amherst also has a flat roof section and that is a membrane roof um and I don't know exactly I know it's a white roof so I'm assuming it's JP Stevens then in the JP Stevens as it ages it will get hairline fissures in it um and those hairline fissures will eventually allow water to penetrate now walking through the space I really haven't noticed any any staining on the ceilings uh but but I know that I have I've experienced chasing these hairline cracks and in this white JP Stevens product and it's from that pier it's a it's a newer it's a newer older roof we'll call it so you know 20 20 30 years ago this JP Stevens was everywhere it was everywhere um but now at this time we're we're seeing a lot of those types being replaced and are usually using like a firestone product that that will hold up for 40 years or so um so I did combine all of those it is a huge amount of money um the the Slate's roof specialist was looked at North Amherst and said this is going to cost 200 plus and that's removing all of the that tile and replacing it with like kind so it would be just an enormous undertaking the other two buildings much less so I'm gonna chair's privilege here thank you and say um so the North Amherst school is the building at the corner of Sunderland Road in Meadow Street yeah more or less yes where the survival center used to be yes yes okay so clearly the town owns it but does the town use it the town uses it for we so the for the upper level is is um occupied by a renter in a portion of the basement is is also occupied by a renter the remaining section of the basement is used for our vital information and records so we store a lot of items there so um a lot of our uh human resource files are there a lot of the inspection files are there we have uh are a lot of election equipment there as well um and I think there's the legal stuff stored in a locked room in that location as well but no town employees work out of that building no town employees work out of that space thank you all right others Andy I actually wanted to jump on that too sir I does does UMass run part of the space I think there's so honestly I I I know that I probably don't so there's upstairs there's the community action head start program and there's also reach I think reach is the one that's UMass based it's the Amherst family center has been in that building that UMass runs and that's a drop-in center uh for families you know um but it's possible that it was closed or that it's not you know during COVID I don't know if it's gonna if it's reopened or not yeah the the building has been very the the occupancy has been very low so I still I go in at least weekly run water look make sure that everything is in is sound but yeah hits it's been quiet there I saw signs for WIC and head start when I go buy it on the two different windows WIC where the survival center emphasis used to be and head start on the back door it seemed to be that the WIC was appointment based activity I don't know though not familiar if they're one of the current tenants or if that was a prior sign yeah so recently I would say in the last few weeks to a month there has been one individual that has used that as their base of operations in the WIC space all right I and then the other question I had was just this is maybe a process question um well it is process question I guess so all the quotes are from the same company I don't know how many slave roofing companies there are but just you know given the size of it was wondering whether you got competitive bids and then also it looked like just the amount of detail varied so like the town hall was a little bit more itemized the North Amherst was really not itemized and um yeah I guess I'm just curious to know a little bit more about you know the process do you get multiple bids are there any questions you have relative to that that 250,000 I always get a little I always get a little concerned when I see like a really nice even number with no detail behind it um you know just how comfortably yeah and I would have to say that the the individual that that helped uh is is a very reputable slate roof roofing company um the the town hall they did a drone flyover and I I have uh some wonderful videos in photos of town hall um the other two buildings I I just sort of took them and said come with me we're going to go check out these buildings so the same level of care wasn't able to happen at at those two buildings I know Munson Munson is a little bit easier it's more accessible you can see more of a from the ground level he did climb up onto um onto North Amherst but I agree with you I I would have to think that that is it is a budget estimate and if we were to move forward on this we would absolutely have to not only go back to the gentleman who provided those initial quotes but look at other slate roof specialists uh in the area very good yeah because this that that was the most pressing of the three right um getting North Amherst taken care of North North Amherst is the the roof that needs replacement the other ones need repair so it's hard to say you know what which one the challenge the challenge is is any old any of these old buildings it's like having a car if you just let it sit in your driveway and you do nothing with it it's going to not work the way you want it to so even we have a building you could say well you know North Amherst it really isn't serving many people right now the moment that we leave that building alone is the moment that it's it's we're we're gonna have to change gears and go all right what are we doing with this because now we just have a pile of brick that's just neatly shaped into a building uh so so it's it's so important that that we keep these buildings in the best shape that we can and we keep them occupied because an occupied building is going to last much longer very good thanks Jeremiah thanks sir Robin um so can you rank the projects in order of absolute necessity um can any of them wait a year can any of them wait two years um I if if I were to rank them I and I think I put it in my the paperwork I think I put months in months in first town hall in the North Amherst and it was not easy putting North Amherst at the bottom but but it's also it's it's very expensive so is there I I'm not seeing staining on this in the ceiling so in the interior finish I'm not really seeing much water damage I've been up into the attic many times and I always like to look at at the different eaves where or any of the valleys and see what the wood is looking like it doesn't look like there's been water penetration in any of those areas and nothing I wouldn't there there certainly is issues but nothing looks new it looks like it's it's been there's been an issue and it could be some time ago uh nothing damp or wet but but it also is that that just means that I need to be up there more often and and really keeping an eye on it because as soon as it happens it really does happen rather quickly so that order is is probably what I would like to see done for those roofs thank you just say hold on Sam before I get anyone who hasn't posed a question Sarah yeah hi um are you have you considered at all a slate um um you know composite material that looks like slate I know there are those materials that are less expensive are you only looking at um real slight I I've I really haven't put invested a lot of time into synthetic uh slate um and I I I would have to say partly is because uh it would feel less like historic preservation uh and and just to just to share some of my own feelings when I walked up to months and I thought wow what a beautiful building and then I went oh is that vinyl so you know I know that there is synthetics I know that there is these different composite materials but but the work that we're doing uh and the work that the historic commission's doing is is to keep those that that character intact so it could it could probably be a I think it should be explored for North Amherst probably but you know I think my heart will hurt a little bit perhaps it would be um go ahead Robin you're still muted yeah oh I was just gonna say I'm not sure if it was replaced without slate it would qualify under the historic preservation one of the things I thought too I mean that whole building you look at I'm just looking at the picture online right now like the front has been um you know there's a front entry way like there are other components of that building that that don't that don't seem to have the historic integrity that we would want the one would want um yeah and I just have a but I hear you so thank you for that answer I wanted to ask Jeremiah do you know if the town has any long-term plan of being a more active user taking the whole space I mean I'm wondering well that's my question yeah unfortunately I don't have that answer but I would be certainly happy to to try to get that answer for you I mean I know it's it's responsible for the building it owns but I just wonder how big a priority this is in the town's portfolio so Sam well I want to reiterate that was what I was going to ask as well what might the long-term plans for the building be I think it is an important question Sarah and it may not be important in relation to the maintenance of the building it's a nice building and I want the fourth grade there I remember it's one of the old school buildings that are always under discussion in town but you know it would be helpful if there was some general information asking how it might be utilized let's just say post COVID let's say post COVID might there be some other I understand you've delineated some of the storage and other activities but I think it could be helpful to me and perhaps to the committee if there was further information related to that and Robin asked the other question I had as well which is the prioritization which I think is very useful for us to know as well so thank you okay Diana you had your hand up I think I was wondering if the project could be split over two done over two years given the cost for all three or just north I'm thinking about the North Amherst school and I know that it has functions that are useful or did prior to COVID yeah North Amherst if you were to look at splitting up North Amherst could it be done yes but it would be a lot more difficult so I there's really two parts to the North Amherst we have the slate roof replacement and then we're looking at the membrane now the membrane you could probably put that off the only problem with that is is that membrane roof should run a few feet underneath those those the bottom those bottom few courses of slate so if we if we decided to replace the slate roof but then do the membrane at a later date we would run into some challenges we would have to either try to marry these two pieces of membrane together or remove the bottom three feet of slate so that it can be done proper do the membrane first you could you you could it you you could do it it would probably more be a little bit more expensive than the number that's put that that's on the that document that proposal only because you now are still you're still handling some slate material so slate would have to come off and be put down it it wouldn't be as if you know you're just sort of pulling it all apart and then you're able to do both at one at one time so I you could definitely be able to do the membrane separately first but but I would anticipate the cost being more than what was on that that budget okay holly had hello holly whoops hello everyone I don't know what I just did but I'm gone you just turned off your now we can't hear you there I'm sorry um I just wanted to clarify something from the beginning of the conversation and I am not a hundred percent certain but I believe that the building envelope repairs line item in the town's budget is for all buildings not just the town hall building the exterior maintenance line items are only for the town hall building but the building envelope repair budget is something that started several years ago because unexpected things unexpected maintenance costs would come up and we didn't have anywhere to pull from so we started with like a twenty five thousand dollar appropriation for anything that may come up most years it's only twenty five thousand but this year it was bumped up because of some of these projects that we know were coming I'm sorry not this year but in f y twenty it was bumped up to a hundred thousand because of some projects that we knew were coming down the line but I Jeremiah and I will definitely check into it but I believe that that light item is for all town buildings not just town hall all right Sam and then I hope we're almost done with this as a follow-up to Andy's earlier question would you anticipate were a project of the scope to go forward to put it out for bid for multiple contractors and I'll wait your response and separately I do see a question I think it's from Kathy Shane and Q&A yeah absolutely would have to go out to multiple contractors and and sort of like I said earlier with the stairs is breaking up breaking it up over years it's it's obviously it's such a great amount of money that it it really would be a lot easier to to handle financially but but by doing so you're also there's those concerns with having that consistency and that quality and your vendors because three three different projects means potentially three different contractors so to to maintain that consistency over those three projects can be a challenge and we do have a question from the town counselor who's who's our liaison and Kathy I'll just read it out loud and if Jeremiah can respond it's several questions might there be a plan to sell the Northammer school building in the future can the town rent storage space elsewhere if UMass discontinues the family center what is the plan for a new occupant the hours open are very limited even pre-covid a larger entity rents and then other occupants pay that entity has has the rent included any allowance for repairs I don't have that information unfortunately on hand but that'd be certainly something in from that I could get for you Anthony are these questions somehow preserved I doubt it I doubt it should I take a picture with my phone picture of the question I mean you just read you just read it so that's right yeah but I'm not sure that I'm not sure that there are answers to those questions right now okay I don't to my knowledge we don't have any plans for disposing of any town property until the east street school is dealt with if UMass discontinues the family center we would have to lease it through a competitive process like we do any other property um same for renting storage space we have to okay thank you uh robin yeah um just a quick question um I'm just wondering if there's been any exploration um for outside grants um for historic preservation I'm just thinking of the mass cultural council and the historical commission and I know preservation mass I think has a new action grand out to find additional funding um for any of these projects for any of these yes yeah not that I'm aware of but but I I don't have all of that information so that would be something I would have to look into further okay then I think that wraps it up for these two town projects Jeremiah thank you very much for coming and answering all our questions right on the spot absolutely I appreciate you having me thank you all right bye bye thank you all right and then our final presentation for the evening will be given by bar bills the director of lsse and she's going to talk about the proposed lower pavilion at gruff park hello um I don't seem video there we go we hear you yeah we're there you are how are you hi everyone how are you tonight thank you for having me appreciate being here uh the proposal that I'm going to speak to you tonight about is one that would fall under the recreation category obviously and that would be the removal and replacement of the pavilion on the lower level of gruff park uh the proposal includes uh not only a demolition but a replacement of the structure with a similar prefabricated prefabricated uh structure that is very similar to the one that we have on the upper level of gruff park um the it would this particular structure would sit on a cement concrete floor and would be level to the ground the existing structure there is in really a dire state of repair I don't know Anthony can you bring up the photographs of the existing pavilion at gruff please and while he's doing that well I don't know slip in a question was this pavilion the same size as the one at the upper yes it would um that's my understanding I've worked with the planning department at dpw on this and um it is very close the same size as the one that we have on the upper level if not the identical size depending this would project obviously would still have to go out to bid so um we would be hoping to get the same contractor but because because it's going out to bid we we don't know that for sure but you can see the existing structure um for what it's worth uh it is a roof um but it doesn't um provide it does provide some shade but not much uh shelter from rain uh particularly it leaks apparently quite a bit from uh what i've been told from people who have rented this structure in recent years so it's in a pretty rough shape uh it sits directly as you can see on the dirt uh which makes it I don't know just there's no obvious way of cleaning it uh it's pretty rustic like I say we think it's 30 40 years old but it could be actually quite older than that we're not sure so it's heavily used um even in the condition that it's in uh pre-covid it was rented on a weekly basis at least we have within one mile of grove park you probably know this is an environmental justice population so it serves a great need in the community along with a lot of different outside groups including nonprofits in our community and schools etc that utilize this site uh so we're asking for 45 thousand dollars in this request uh we've done our due diligence making sure that we built in a contingency fund so that we'll have enough money to complete this project with those amount of funds so it's a pretty straightforward proposal if any of you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them thank you barb sure questions raise one was answered whoop whoa whoa please raise your hand and he raised his hand I I mean it was a joke anyway you don't just want to paint it I mean well you know why not a little lipstick on a pig why not it is useful that I think that's been there quite a while barb I seem to recall some events from Boy Scouts at that location back in the 70s unless it's been replaced no I don't think it's been replaced so yeah we were trying to do some research on how old it was but that's why I think I put 30 to 40 years but I think it's much older than that Diana wondering the one that's being used that you're going to replace this one with have there been any problems anything you would change in this new replacement we have only gotten compliments about that structure people are extremely pleased with that structure Anthony can you bring that photograph up but you can see it's it you know it's it's it's got great seating it's it's shade it's well built easy to maintain it's just a great pavilion and I would think this the concrete pad is kind to anybody with mobility issues correct the concrete pad would sit level to the ground to provide you know mobility to for individuals with accessibility issues to come into the pavilion you can get a car down there without much problem so you could someone who had accessibility issues could access the pavilion that way we did not include an accessible pathway into the into the pavilion down there because it would be extremely expensive and permitting might be an issue Andy actually a real question this time did the does the budget include the seating as well like what you have here in this pavilion or is it just the pavilion structure I believe there's enough money in here to do this seating as well okay and that may be something similar to this so three or four table or four or five tables four or five tables right this this is about the same size as what you'd be looking to do yes yes thanks Barb thanks Sarah sure hey everybody all the boxes are smaller now so yeah thank you thanks any hands okay I've got some more you said um that if if this proposal is approved you'll send it out competitive bid does that mean that you might not end up with the same struck the same supplier of the structure it might be a somewhat different pavilion or or be the installer who might change that's a possibility we'd be hopeful that the the contractor would be these or the vendor would be the same vendor and it's they are on the state bid list so I think there's strong possibility it will be the exact same structure might you include that request as a part of the bid that the structure be the same as the existing regardless of who wins the bid I'm not sure we're gonna be that specific but uh I'll leave that up to to Anthony is the pavilion itself from Emmy O'Brien or was it just the seating I believe it's Emmy O'Brien is still as well yeah and Emmy O'Brien is on multiple cooperative contracts so we would probably source them yeah catch him I can't really imagine you said the point Sarah made that's why I'm following up with that I it would be great for them to look the same given the same location absolutely I agree Barb you said it'd be very expensive to put in a path is that because of the grand change it would just have to be very long and yeah I think it's it's a combination of that as well as I the permitting issues involved um Dave is on and he could speak to that if you want to chime in Dave hello hi everybody I yeah Barb really kind of kind of covered this but yeah I think in the future we would definitely look to try to make the lower pavilion accessible fully accessible obviously the upper pavilion the the spray park and the and the playground are all fully accessible but you would add a very significant cost I would not be surprised if I would not be surprised if you're talking 60 to maybe maybe even a hundred thousand dollars to get down that hill with a split back accessible trail we also would have to address the issues that the pavilion as well as any new trail is in the river front of the Fort River so anything within the first hundred feet or 200 feet actually of the of the Fort River would need to be permitted which is all doable but would add to that expense so I think we're looking at this in phases saying can we replace the pavilion to match the upper pavilion and we may come back to you in in some years down the road and say hey does it make sense to make that lower pavilion fully accessible um as Barb said uh in certain cases if the upper pavilion is is being used there may be accommodations whereby if there was somebody with a disability we could allow them to access the lower pavilion if you fund it the new lower pavilion via car or or van so I think that's our hope thank you thanks Dave any other questions I have one about the rent I don't know what is charged for renting out the pavilion but would you be wanting to charge more to rent a brand new lovely pavilion or not really and is this more it really to just incur to encourage responsible use or is it to cover costs and some yeah that's a good question um our prices have remained fairly stable over the years uh we have always charged less for the growth park pavilion but now that obviously um less than we charge for mill from the for the mill pavilion but um you know if we brought it up to a standard like mill then I think we bring it so that they were all the same both both pavilions both parks would be the same hey I don't see any more hands so thank you well thank you thank you very much that's it appreciate being here have a good evening now okay all right so that concludes the presentations for tonight so we can take public comment if there's anyone wishing to make a comment at this time I would note we will have a public hearing I think in two weeks yeah I'm not sure what the difference is but is there anyone who would like to speak uh Meg Gage is raising her hand I'm gonna you see okay I guess here again I'll allow her to talk Meg you can unmute yourself and I think I just did yep great um I'm Meg Gage I live in North Amherst and I'm the chair of the participatory budgeting commission and we're looking at ways that uh everyday residents of Amherst can participate in more meaningful ways in budgeting we've been spending the last many months working on it and we have some months ahead and we're looking one of the areas we're looking at is some of the existing town committees particularly because of COVID it's unimaginable that we would create a whole new program um meeting funding um and it's been educational for me to actually submit a proposal to the CPA um which hasn't been considered yet but I'll just give you some feedback as first of all noticing that most of the proposals don't come from the community they come from various branches of government uh having gone through this process the timeline is extremely short it's almost uh luck if you find out when the deadline is um it's not very well advertised going through the process um mixed signals uh interpretation of criteria that aren't written out anywhere or clear uh so I really encourage you whether or not whatever happens with the participatory budgeting commission to really if you you know as you say community preservation act it's hard not to put air quotes around the word community um and I know it's hard I appreciate all the hard work you do in the hours and hours that you spend reading and asking questions and thinking about our town um but I really encourage you once this process is over to spend some time trying to figure out how to engage actual people in the community um the people who I appreciated all the projects that were discussed tonight the roofs and the grove park um but the rest of us are you know starting the starting line is further back because we don't know how the system works and we don't know we talk to people we regret the proposal turns out we talked to the wrong people or whatever so I just encourage you to think about trying to uh build on the word community in your name of your committee um and going forward thank you thank you I would say we do very much want to do those things so yeah I think this seat we're going to be taking a look back at this current season um it's my hope in in a you know in a month or two so um we do have we do have some ideas for getting the community more involved but I think we're encouraged we might have conversations the commission might be engaged in some conversations with some of you as well we have some ideas but you have better ideas probably we've set up an outreach quote unquote subcommittee Sarah myself and previously Nate buddington and uh I know Kathy Shane uh had an interest in some suggestions and it's certainly a motivation from what we've been talking about to speak with individuals and organizations like yourself we got set back based upon the whole 2020 phenomenon uh but uh you know up and through now during my participation in the committee it's certainly an objective uh that I've um heard positive comments from others on the committee that we find ways to broaden awareness and we're we're trying to work on that uh whether it be the just visual whether we put our signs out in facebook or more pragmatic speaking to groups and we've talked to a couple of groups and I'm sure uh a number of us on the committee would be glad to carry on a conversation with you I know I wouldn't make I would uh so just proceed further thank you so having my work before I retired was related to funding proposals and you know there's some people some groups need help developing a proposal uh and it's it's some people are operating with blindfolds if they don't know how the system works and uh right right so yeah we hear you okay hear you yeah we have we have some work to do we we recognize that and I'm sorry it's been opaque and uh well um not everyone's in the know uh Robin maybe has a response or oh I just yeah I wanted have a just a short response that I think there's also been a shift in the shift in the application period and it seems it seems like things are much more compressed right now and we definitely felt that on the historical commission and took note of that and are thinking about um actually exactly what you're bringing up sort of how we can have more interaction between the commission and applicants before proposals come to review so thank you just one additional thing if you could you know the the chart that you showed uh at your last meeting which I I'm not on the screen so I can't I'm going to hold it up for you to see what the eligible uses they're just one word and it's hard to know what they mean like preserve and acquire and support and create uh you know we it's just those are words that need to definition they apply differently of historic recreation and housing Anthony I I'll I'll point out that the chart is a is a quick reference we do have an entire CPA plan that has definitions of each of those aspects if if you if you go to the CPA plan document on our website but but many of these things are are a little bit murky it's not always obvious what is meant or what kinds of projects qualify so I appreciate that because I didn't know there was a document so I'm going to find it this evening thank you okay I thought I saw Katie's hand but no problem I just wanted to say thank you to Meg for her comment and I'm brand new and as Anthony knows I have had a hard time navigating so I can imagine others uh trying to apply that that could be a challenge so I appreciate you bringing it and it sounds like others who are on the committee are aware of this and I'm glad to hear that you know there's been thought and um an intention to do something different going forward so thank you Diana I was going to ask if Meg after she reads the CPA plan could make specific comments or places that she would like to see improved or amplified that could be very useful to have an outsider looking in and that and if or anybody who wish to do that I you know those comments should be emailed we wouldn't take them I don't think right no but our no plan to to have a meeting about that but certainly welcome any feedback so I'm just representing our neighborhood association and our steering committee would be happy to do that as a group and write send it in writing not not just me I happen to be the one uh crazy enough to sit in on meetings this go from six to eight okay that'd be that'd be great as far as I know I think that you would just send it to Anthony at this point yeah all right Robin did you have one more thing to say sorry you no okay all right then thank you Meg for appearing and we'll see you or at least hear you next week yes yep okay any other members of the public wishing to make a comment doesn't look like it okay all right then um for all the business I think we just have a couple minutes uh discussion about our progress on signs and some language that the town would like us to vote on have a formal endorsement of language that would go on on sign so Sam I'll turn that over to you are you able Anthony to place the wording from the email I sent to you on screen I sent it yesterday yesterday I can read it but you know I suppose I could share my screen as a means of doing so it might not be as clean as honestly it's probably faster to share my screen yeah I think so if you have it ready to go I can grab it let me uh I'll find it okay so this is uh we we have seen various examples of signage but we recognize that those are simply very rough mock-ups and it's the wording uh that is needed at this point and the intent is to have the committee enable the town to go through their processes and proceed further from here so uh with that as a backdrop uh I move to approve the wording this project or actual project name was supported by Community Preservation Act funds comma insert the year town of Amherst, Massachusetts for CPA signage and to request that town staff proceed with getting quotations and plans for procuring various types of signage including plaques permanent signs and banners do I have a second I will second it I I can do that right so Sam and I are the subcommittee all right so would anyone have a question too honest I was oh I'm sorry it's okay go ahead Andy are you sure mine was just really easy I thought like it might this may just be my own style but having town of Amherst before so this project or whatever was supported by the town of Amherst Community Preservation Act funds I think that might just read I mean for me personally I think that that that reading makes more sense but I'm no uh grammarian and would defer to to the committee but this was written based on the sign examples the green one if you can recall I could show it again uh the the town of Amherst mass was actually part of like a logo that appeared uh lower on but it included in phraseology I'll I'll show one very quickly here yet if it's not problematic that might clarify this for me where can I make my comment while Sam is pulling that up yes go ahead Anna so I think my my maybe I don't know if it's a suggestion but my question is if we added something like your community preservation act funds I mean this is something that's really it's supported by the community and and to not acknowledge that feels like it really separates it from the community and and I'd love to acknowledge that you know this is something that's built through through what we pay in and so um I'd love to have something like through your community preservation act funds or something like that that kind of gives ownership to the town so they can see themselves in the projects I have a similar comment put this back up here sorry please raise hands I can't tell who's speaking okay Sarah go ahead yeah I had a similar comment to Anna which was something like paid for by you know the taxpayers of Amherst but I like your as well I thought I heard another voice or Diana your you're muted Diana you're still yeah we don't hear you yet we don't Diana we can't hear you okay once you raise your hand again when you have found your all right I can't see the screen far enough down to unmute me that was the problem I was wondering if some of these things are more expensive by the number of words whether we have to stay account of Amherst or we could just say Amherst, Massachusetts I like your I think that's a very good change and the other thing I was wondering are there ever banners for um noting CPA funding I can't recall seeing it so I'm just curious well there could be like at the dog park during construction something like that we the thought process is we could use some for temporary projects under construction dog park would work as well as cpc on north north excuse me north Hampton road that's why we put this in the back we've seen class and permanent signs but also banners okay and I'm trying to edit this to include the word your as a potential edit and then Andrew was suggesting well no if I clarify real quick I I actually love Anna's idea put your in there and then just Sam when you brought that up I understand now I mean the the idea of the language there is more the logo than the words is what you're saying right yeah and they there were a few different signs this one here's an example let's say this project or the actual name was supported with your we could say your funds from Amherst Community Preservation Act this is very generic it's not actually what something would look like but the intent is to get phraseology and have the town proceed they'll you know we trust they'll make good decisions they the projects that they've developed all look good and you know there could be a different look for plaques as an example Diana Stein had this this is what the type of look a plaque might be but if we can get the phraseology down then this ball can get rolling and we can focus on the the projects before us so thank you for your feedback on that Andy and this is the edit that I've made all right Katie I just had two questions one since I may have missed this in the materials but is this a requirement that we have to have a sign or this is something we're choosing to do we are choosing we started last year a discussion on the committee of introducing this practice and that it be a requirement well certainly in the public projects easy to do I'm not totally sure how we get any private organizations that receive funds to do it but we could at least start putting signs on projects that have already been done like you know Groff Park just opened finally you know where the dog park will be coming up so you know let's just start and see the intent is to raise awareness of the types of things that we're doing with the hope of both spreading the word and you know the more we can get the word out the more that there may be more community-based projects come in our direction such as what maybe was referring to right and there would be different types of signs there would be kiosks that might exist at Groff Park or at dog park there would be potentially plaques that could be non-intrusive inside buildings and there may be additions to the existing trail signs that will just go on the already existing posts and if we can approve the you know simple phraseology then they that the town can generate lots of options for us to consider that they would be added so I guess my my follow-up you know my other question is around you know determining when the sign goes up because you know you wouldn't necessarily put a sign up every time you know if say the slate roof was fixed or you so there there's probably some discussion that has already happened about how to because it's an additional cost and I I love the idea of raising awareness but I'm just you know there's maybe some projects that make sense and some that don't and and then the last thing I was thinking about when you said the banner and like what when Sarah said you know oh when the dog park was under construction I'm just thinking you wouldn't want to have the year I mean potentially not have the year on the banner but just say this is brought to you by or this is funded by the community print so you could reuse it at different places I threw the word banner in there to indicate that that's something we want to do as well it's not actually identical for this the town would tweak it if we can get the ball yeah that the actual thought for the banners was your CPA funds would work uh without a year or date but we want to get them so that he can start the ball rolling and get some real designs and samples and Dave had previously indicated he knew he could think of 25 to 30 town projects that have already been completed where they would like to they can envision quickly adding signs that would work well and this is our means of initiating that right we I think we'll pick the try to pick the low hanging fruit where it's easy to put signs and then you know we'll have to figure it out as we go but I think the town doesn't want to go out and hire or pay for graphic design services unless you know we're telling them what what we want it to say so yeah so now we have the an amended motion basically inserting the word your so any more discussion good with this I think you can always change we can always change it in the future but let's I would say let's let's move on this okay in that case we'll take a roll call oops a roll call vote for the amended version on the amended yes language so all I will ask you to vote in if you are in favor um please indicate by saying I when I call your name you may also say nay and you may abstain all right Sam hi Dave uh sir I have a question well we just had a discussion about the word banner banner or banners for me I'm thinking something that's temporary the signage that we are voting on are permanent signage that we expect to be there for years yes now am I out of order in raising this question well this is a motion so why don't we just we are only voting on that strictly speaking on the language okay and we can put it on whatever we want and we could have different language to go on different items we're going to request that the town also proceed to get quotations and things so we could I don't care if we keep banner in there or not they're certainly aware of the intent to have different types to have different types of signages okay now this is so this is this is a little out of order but should we just go back and strike banner from that paragraph would that people be happier with that I'm good either way be care no all right let's keep going Sam I'm good either way okay your your call Sarah let's strike the word banner all right so we've now amended that motion twice to insert the word your before community preservation act and strike the word banners all right so let's do this again so Sam uh based on the second amended uh wording I say hi Dave David hi Robin hi Diana hi Katie hi Andy hi Anna hi Sarah Isinger hi and Sarah Marshall loads I okay thank you so it may be some time then till we have designs coming back from staff so so we probably won't talk about it for a while now uh now minutes we have minutes thank you Anthony so I said now he's in danger of being asked to take the minutes every time because these are minutes of our meeting of June 30th so certainly several of you were not there for that I know Diana is hasn't yet gotten to the minutes of last week but will okay so that's fine um so Diana yeah um those are look like wonderful minutes that Anthony said but they're very long mine won't stop me that well but you guys talk a lot but I regret well I didn't think we don't get quoted so much but could we please have a week defer these so I could read them more carefully um because there was a lot of material there so would other people be willing to wait till next week to um to vote on Anthony's wonderful minutes does anyone object Andy I don't object I agree and I just I have one at least one question I should say too my plan is to abstain I want to understand the minutes but I would feel comfortable abstaining on item two I'm sorry wait item four about public comment we're talking about Janet attorney mediator and planning board member notes that this is an unsolved legal issue yeah what issue is that yeah I had actually I was gonna point that out on for both uh for both of those public comments they were about the Jones basically the entire meeting was about the Jones and I didn't I kind of assumed it so I will amend both public comments to know that they were talking about Jones uh similarly on item two um I didn't say what minutes were being discussed there it was March 5th so I will amend item two to say which minutes are being discussed okay and then the only other and it may be in I also have like I did a quick scan for this it's just for the motions I'm guessing it's in there but like do we have the actual language in there because just bouncing around it's like someone amended this and so forth and uh just so oh yeah I included every word of the motions right you know very good then those are in there thanks Anthony and and of course the minutes would not be so detailed if we didn't have the video now that was our first video and to Diana's point they our minutes have never of course been this detailed um so I don't I don't think anyone should feel obliged to attain quite this level of detail wonderful as it is thank you again Anthony so um why don't we why don't we just take them up next week then thank you Anthony tell me what the if there is a practice about um small edits to the minutes can people email you those ahead of time or do we just hold on to everything until we take it up during a public meeting so uh previously we've said that small edits especially edits of uh of of punctuation yeah of punctuation those would be emailed and only major changes should really be discussed in practice we've we've discussed everything but uh yeah I think it's it's fine to since I'm not a member of the committee to send those suggested changes to me and then it's not an open meeting law problem so if you do have little changes not substantive really you can email those to Anthony you can copy me if you want but don't email to all okay is that clear everybody could be a long meeting otherwise well yes all right then we will table review the minutes of June 30th until next week all right um I have no topics I didn't reasonably anticipate I would Sam was I supposed Diana raised her hand first oh I'm sorry oh no I'm raging uh just given the comments that Meg had regarding looking at the plan that exists on the website I'm wondering if we might place the most of today's version on the site it's not major but they are going to be looking at it apparently with the intent of making some errors well I didn't wonder yeah since we never finalized that document where the current draft is I mean I don't know if Nate has it I don't know I think we could locate it it might it might well be with Nate it's not with me okay um I can reach out to Nate okay it might make sense I don't know what do you think I agree we put some real work into that all right I so the only other thing I wanted to say is that we will have agenda planning as an item on the agenda from now on so we can float topics for discussion so and we've already heard some tonight um so I guess Anthony will take a look at what kind of time we think we might have after the presentations next week some of these things might have to wait because we will need to review or decide on agree on a process for the evaluating the voting and you know what we do once the presentations are over so we're going to need time to talk about that yeah next week is the remaining four proposals which are the two from uh municipal affordable housing trust uh then district one mill river trail and the north common I anticipate those could be lengthier but uh shouldn't go shouldn't go over our normal time okay and our normal time is six right we try to yeah Sam I'm sorry Sarah Sarah I missed the first two meetings the last couple weeks um obviously because I wasn't here um but I'm wondering if I could add an agenda item where we and I don't know if this was some people's first meeting I don't I sort of heard that it was Katie's first meeting I think it'd be really nice to do introductions and say who we are and how long we've been serving on the committee um I don't know if we have to do that tonight but we could maybe be nice to start the meeting next that next week like that well I will you know have everybody introduce themselves at every meeting again in case because I'm not you know people see our names maybe but they don't know why we're here so right and we don't know each other right okay great good suggestion thank you Sam so um just as a follow-up then I'll see if I can locate what might have been the updated edits to the plan if we can find a document and I will send that to you Sarah well well I don't think you would have anything more recent than I have um it was me it was Nate who was you know you can reach out in the typing so he's the one to contact so so if we receive it if we're able to acquire it send it to you and Anthony or you know should we you know I don't think you need to pursue it I think Anthony's gonna do it that's what I wanted yeah if it'll be followed one way the other I'll let you on a secret I've got a wind tab open right now and I'm emailing you have a what I have a tab open right now I'm emailing so oh okay it's such a multitasker all right um let's see is it uh so has if anybody has yet to write any questions um to pose to next weeks presenters ahead of time so they can consider those and put them in writing please get those to Anthony very soon kind because the sooner they go to the applicants the sooner we can get the answers back you know hopefully at least 24 hours ahead of time all right I think that does it for tonight thank you all uh I guess we need formally to adjourn also so would someone like to say Anna we'll move go ahead to I move that we adjourn Robin is seconding we'll just raise our hands all in favor raise your hand tonight all right the meeting is adjourned 744 thank you everyone hi thank you good to see you Katie thanks good to be here yeah thank you hi good night everyone good night