 OK, so we are recording. And so whenever you're ready, Myra. Today is October 19th. This is the Disability Access Advisory Committee meeting beginning at about 11.33. And in attendance, if you're here, please say your name. So, Saryn. I'm here. Elise. I'm here. Tori. I'm here. Ruth. Here. And Myra. I'm here. OK, so I heard Tori has a question. And so go ahead, Tori. So in our March meeting, there was a person waiting to address us. And it was Andy Bristol, if you guys remember. And then I think because the public comments were at the end of the meeting, he left the meeting early. And he has asked me what our stand was on the library renovations, the accessibility renovations. And that was in March. And so would I direct him to read the minutes? Or how would I handle that? My sense was that she wanted somebody on this committee to serve on the, you know, to be either, to work with the building committee. I don't know that anybody stepped forward to do it. I don't know that we were really, I don't know that we were ever really given a plan to discuss as far as our stand on the accessibility. And we never got a plan. I have a clarifying question. Or, Tori, are you talking about the Jones Library or the North Amherst Library? I'm at the main library of the Jones. We did absolutely discuss the North Amherst Library from the standpoint of accessibility. I don't remember discussing the Jones Library from that perspective, except that she asked us if one of us would help them out on their committee. And I don't know if anyone ever stepped forward. They never came back to us. They never brought us a plan. And as far as a committee is concerned, we're not allowed to take a stand on whether the community should vote for it. Cause it's not what we're supposed to do, but good question about the accessibility of it. Cause I don't think she ever offered to discuss that, except in the way beginning, right before COVID. Yeah. So Tori, right before the meeting, I had indicated that on March 9th, the DAAC discussed this. I was mistaken. I thought you were talking about the North Amherst Library. So the DAAC reviewed that on the March 9th meeting. And as Myra pointed out, so the library director, Sharon Sherry, came to a DAAC meeting. Honestly, it was pre-COVID. Yes. So I couldn't even tell you when, I feel like it was the winter. So it's like, what year are we? It was February or March of 2020. Maybe January, February and March of 2020. We haven't seen her since. Yeah. Or heard from her since. It's January. Okay. I could certainly, if this committee is interested to hear, you know, where are they, you know, where they are at with Jones Library project. Yes. In relation to, you know, thinking about ADA improvements, I could ask Sharon Sherry to provide us an update about that. Is that something that folks would like to hear? Definitely. Given that there's a vote on it in November, I think we should, absolutely. Well, we won't meet again before the vote, but as soon as, if it passes, we absolutely have to get involved with it. Exactly. Okay. All right, I'll reach out to Sharon Sherry to just touch base with her about that, you know, perhaps it's something that, you know, it's going to, as you all indicated, there's a vote for it in November. So if she doesn't have information right now, I'm sure as the, you know, months go on after this vote, you know, I'm sure that that's something of interest for the town to start talking about. Is there anyone on this committee that would like to work with them on those issues directly if it passes? I don't think we can be appointed to the building committee, although initially I think she was even interested in that. But is there anybody who really wants to work with them, who's a, you know, who uses the library a lot, who really wants to? Can I just say something before we see if there's someone, you know, there's a very good chance it's going to pass because in, you know, in the newspaper, most of the letters have been pro and part of their argument for the renovations has been to expand the aisles so that people in wheelchairs or whatever, you know, can access the books. So I think it's really critical for us to have input even after the vote, you know, given that especially after, but there's a good chance it'll pass, yeah. So does anybody want to step forward to work directly with the committee and be sort of a conduit between us and them? She asked us to do that. And perhaps this whole, well, there were probably multiple reasons maybe that never got sort of implemented was probably because of COVID and how members of the public have, you know, questioned, you know, whether the Jones Library should be expanded or not and hence the vote. And so perhaps that's why Sharon Cherry didn't have the opportunity to reach back out. I don't care about blaming, I'm not interested in that. I just want to know if anybody wants to do it. I'll do it with somebody. I personally don't have time to step forward and do an extra. I wouldn't tell. Well, I don't know, but you can, you know, if it passes, I mean, it's two weeks away. If it passes, you know, we should have a name that we're willing to put forward of somebody who wants to get involved in planning. I don't use the library very much. So for me, it would not be a useful thing for them. I mean, I wouldn't be useful at all. But, Sarah and Ruth, anybody? Well, unfortunately, I'm scheduled for some surgery, so I'm not really going to be available. But I think that, you know, even if we don't have someone, they, I think Sherry or whoever else is, you know, going to be responsible for the implementation should be asked to come back to this committee with, you know, the more concrete aspects of how they're going to make it more accessible so that we can have comment and input at that point, you know, even without somebody from this committee, you know, being a liaison, we could still ask them as a whole committee to do that. Myra, this is a years and years ago, maybe it was in 2018, or maybe even before that. I remember a group of us went to the library and met with Sharon. And I know in that group, there was Joe Tringale was there in that group too. So we looked at the things and we raised our comments and made our comments. And one of the issues was getting upstairs to the meeting's room and to the gallery up there. So we, they heard from us enough. So if there's any concern that they still want to bring some issues to us, you know, we are here, you know, and we can be easily accessible for them. But I don't think there's anything that we can bring up that there's not already been discussed and not in their ideas. I wish I was as idealistic as you, Sharon, if you were there three years ago, you probably said everything that needed to be said and whether it left that room and got to the architect or got on the paper or was, you know, taken off but someone didn't like this or that. I have no idea, but they do need some oversight. I think Ruth is absolutely right. And, you know, it's our job to do it. So Maureen, if it passes, I think it's really a good idea to have her come to the meeting, which is our next meeting would be normally scheduled for the week after the election, which would be the 9th of November. And if she can come and talk to us about where things are, then we'll have something concrete. Because if it doesn't pass, there's no point, right? Sure, yeah. So I'm happy to reach out to Sharon Sherry and get an update from her and invite her to a future meeting to discuss this. And so, yeah, I'm happy to do that. Okay, cool. Thanks for bringing it up, Tori. I have two announcements. One is we, I think everyone received some communication from Lynn Grisimer, who's the chair of the town council, requesting our input. If we have anything to say that we want them to think about in the evaluation of the town manager. So I just wanna make sure everyone got that and knows that we've all been invited to provide input. I don't think we're supposed to provide it as a committee. I think we're supposed to provide it as individuals on committees. So did everyone receive that? I don't remember getting that. I think I got it, but it was a while back. She sent another one reminder yesterday. All right, I'll have to look at it. Directly from her? From Lynn Grisimer, yeah. How do you spell J-R-E-I-S something? M-E-R. Myra, could you perhaps either just forward me? I can forward it, yeah. I can send it to everybody right now. There you go. Yeah, I got it. Did you get it, Ruth? I did, and actually I got two of them. So obviously the announcement did go out, so. All right, I can send it again to everyone just to make sure. I don't know if anyone, what you're supposed to do is read, they're all attached. You're supposed to read the goals for the manager and you're supposed to decide whether you have anything to say that pertains to our committee about whether those goals have been met. And one of them has to do with safety, health and safety, one of them, I don't know, there are a bunch of them. Some of them are pertinent to this committee and some of them are not. And so if you have anything to say about the ones that are pertinent, she wants a response by the 29th, which I guess is a week from Friday. And I'll just forward it to you before the end of the meeting. The other thing I sent you this morning, because I got it yesterday, about accessible voting, which would not necessarily pertain to anyone, except maybe Elise and me. But apparently Worcester and Boston have developed mechanisms for people who are blind or visually impaired, cannot read a ballot and to vote independently from a computer electronically if you want to. And so I sent you the communication that I got. It has all the information about what you're allowed to do, even if you don't live in Worcester or Boston, if you wanna do that. And somehow I think that should go to the town clerk. I assume she has it, but we haven't heard from her about it. So Myra. I sent it this morning to everybody. Yeah, I'm actually trying to open the link right now, to be honest. It doesn't open? Could you, yeah, could you just resend the link? I think that, oh wait, nope, I didn't get it. The link was broken, unfortunately. Could you just resend it? Yeah, I can just, I can paste the text onto the front of an email. Yours doesn't work either. I'm looking. Okay, anyway, I can, if somebody else wants to take over for a minute, or when Maureen's talking, I can just go and look and send those things again. Yeah, mine is working there. And yours doesn't work. Okay, I'll try to paste the text in the face of an email. It says nothing. You know what, I was able to Google it. I will, I'll email it, I have it now. So I'm gonna email everyone the link. Yeah, it says, in me, 404 MathFound. Uh-huh, that's okay. Somehow it, maybe it just got lost in the translation because I was able to open it when they sent it to me. So, okay. All right, but anyway, it's a cool thing. And it's available to people all over the state. And I think the town clerk should have it and the town clerk should make it known somehow on the website. That's what I would hope that this committee would ask her to do because it's sort of cool. People in Boston and Worcester worked for it and it does pertain to all of us. And the one that they have pertains through all elections through 2025, which is pretty cool. Very nice. All right, so we have, those are my two announcements. And you want me to send the thing from Lynn. So I will do that right now. You wanna go on to the next thing Maureen? Sure, let's see here. So let's see here, starting with new business. Well, actually, firstly, we can, there are no members of the public presence. So we can skip over the general public comment period but we can loop back to that at the end of the meeting in case anyone from the public is in attendance. Under new business for recently, the item is recently completed ADA improvements in downtown. So I wanted to, if you give me a minute, I don't know if my, just give me a minute. I pulled together some slides and might not be ready yet. Hold on one second, see, Jones Library, projects, town projects. Well, I just wanted to highlight on some town projects that have been completed, that have been finished in downtown that specifically deal with ADA improvements. And so as you know, the town received a Mass Office on Disabilities grant a few years ago for the couple of crosswalks and for a sidewalk. So that work has been completed. And so the crosswalk that's in front of CVS has been reconstructed and repainted and the crosswalk that is at the corner of Coles in North Pleasant Street where Ruger's Bagel has been replaced as well. Those, the existing conditions before construction were really crumbly and pieces of pavement were sort of broken up. And so that has all been resurfaced and this nice and smooth with restriping. And then the sidewalk that connects North Pleasant Street to the back parking garage, it's known as Pleasant Walk has been resurfaced and it was in poor condition and now it has a brand new concrete walkway that's nice and smooth. And DPW, and so that was grant funded. DPW went ahead and reconstructed this crosswalk that's in front of Zano's which is along North Pleasant Street and they re-striped it as well. And the crosswalk that is along Amity Street in front of the Jones Library has been re-striped as well. I saw Elise at the ribbon cutting for the new ADA accessible ramp for the Bang Center which I'm so glad that you were able to attend that Elise. So the town constructed a new ramp connecting the Musanti Health Center to the Bangs which is located within the Bang Center. And so the ramp connects that doorway to the Boltwood Walk area and then it also provides a nice connection for residents at the Clark House and they did a really good job with landscaping as well. And part of that project focused on providing a brand new ramp next to it is existing stairs which were in really bad shape, crumbling in pieces. And so the staircase has been reconstructed and so that is in good condition now. And let's see here. I believe those were the projects I wanted to highlight that have been corrected in the last year. So it's definitely a good step in the right direction and the town is always trying to find grand opportunities in projects in downtown and throughout the town to make ADA improvements. They did do a good job. It looks great. Yeah, good. I got to touch the whole thing. And for capital projects requests. So I did go ahead and there is a new mass office on disability grant cycle. The grant was due last week and we did file an application for that which will be for fixing a broken automatic door opener and there's of the front door entrance to the bank center. And so it currently is not working and there's also problems associated with the door itself and there is some sloping issues in the front walkway leading up to the door. So the grant will focus on that. And part of our due diligence of figuring out will what projects would fit well for this MOD grant. We had also looked at providing assisted listening devices. Unfortunately, the grant only can cover so much money-wise. And so the door projects, again, looking at the automatic door opener and replacing the door and fixing the sloping issue, that is about $100,000. So in the assisted listening devices is also around the same amount of money. So we did not include the assisted listening devices we did part of that process of looking into which project would make sense. We had a sound consultant come in and meet with staff. He met with myself, our IT director, our facilities manager and our senior services director. And we all met at the bank center and we looked at the various rooms. Of the bank center and explain what kind of uses typically take place there in non-COVID times and also during COVID times with there's vaccination clinic there and there's meals on wheels. And there in non-COVID times, the rooms are used for fitness classes for seniors. Occasionally, town staff use it for public meeting rooms. I think the town council have perhaps even had meetings in there at times. And there's all kinds of human social services provided there. And of course, the senior services is located there as well as the veteran services. And I'm sure the list goes on and on of who uses those rooms in for what purposes. So we gained a lot of valuable information about that. And we were able to get a cost estimate from the sound consultant who the way I found out about the sound consultant is that he recently worked with the city of Northampton to provide assisted listening devices. And so we, Jeremiah LaPlante, our facilities manager is going to, has made a request he did this last week as part of the capital projects request to provide assisted listening devices based on our consultation with the sound consultant. And so that will be put in for the capital project requests. So that's something that I think I personally am excited about. So, and I know that Helen who's our senior services directors is very excited about that as well. What happened to Mary Beth, is she gone? She has, before she worked for the town she worked for the DA's office and she has returned to that role. I had no idea. Yeah, that happened. Feels like two months ago that happened. So Helen, I can't think of Helen's last name but she is at least the interim senior services director. I don't know if that will be a permanent thing or what. So Mary Beth I think is still providing some guidance in the sort of transition a little bit. Yeah, and so does anyone have any questions about the completed ADA projects and the MOD grants and the assisted listening devices? Yeah, Maureen, I have two things come to my mind although these were discussed previously but just for me to go over that maybe there might be some room in one of these grant proposals for it, if not too late. One of them is I watched a in the local news last night I watched something they're doing in one of the towns south of us can't remember which town they are installing lock boxes in the outside doors where seniors and disabled folks live and they were explaining what it was like if there is a call 911 call and they will know that this person they identified whether they're senior citizens or disabled people and they know that there is a lock box here and that might be something and they said the town invested like I forgot my $35,000 and they got 150 of these and they're now waiting for calls and they're ready to come and install these devices. Can you explain this? I don't understand what you're saying. What are they doing? They showed the pictures it is some kind of a box that only the fire department or the 911 ambulance and things like that can have access and they have a key hidden key in that that will open the front door of your house. Say I'm in bed and I feel bad and I press 911 and they know how to open my door without breaking my doors. Right. We have that in front of for our building. Yeah, so I thought that was a very nice thing and I don't know where Amherst is because I remember vaguely that they were talking about it and another thing that also comes to my mind which was discussed previously was to have a database of people that are disabled and that are seniors. They want to be on a list like when I called 911 for some service, they know that, okay, this is coming from Seren and then she's disabled. I mean, this requires building a database. I'm sure there are some people that will be against having their names there. So be it, if they don't want to be identified, they don't have to be, but there might be some of us that want to go 911 call center to know that we cannot just come easily access the door or come and let them in. It was called Enhanced 911 and there's an application. It's E911 and there's an application for it and it's voluntary so that it doesn't matter what town you live in, but you can sign up for it so that the first responders are aware that you're a person with a disability and you live in such and such address and you're there if a fire happens or a medical emergency or something that- Well, in that case, is there any way this could be publicized in the town site because I'm not aware of this? I will definitely look into this and we'll report back any information that I have and I can speak with our first responders. Tori, do you have the application link? Starros has the application. So I mean, is that something you give out routinely in your work so that you could even send it to us? I could get a copy. I don't know how up to date it is, but when we were doing intakes with people in person, we would let them know that it existed and give them the option to fill that out and then- Okay, well, then you don't, if you don't think it's up to date, maybe then Maureen, if you could get us one that's up to date. Yeah. And yeah, I like the thing with the voting. There are certain things that should be on the town website. Yeah, exactly. And I don't know where they should be. Amherst may have their own form or you may be able to do it online now, but it is something that Starros was making people aware of when we were in person. Well, thank you, Saren, Tori, and Maire for bringing this up. And I wasn't aware of this E911 and this application. I've heard of it, but I was never aware of what it really was. Yeah, so let me look into it and I will get you guys, I'll report back of the information that I learn of and see how the town can help educate and inform residents of this and see if it, does it make sense to put it on the website? And if so, where, et cetera. Oh yeah, totally makes sense to put it on the website. But where? I mean, are we gonna have a section? I mean, this is another conversation that we need to have about the website. Yeah. You know, about the website, where do we put things like that? Are we going to have, are they going to put on or should they put on a part that says for citizens with disabilities? And then you can put a lot of things there that pertain to a lot of different things as well as, you know, I mean, I think we haven't heard anything about the website. They talked about, you know, redoing it, but we haven't heard anything about it. And we should probably have the web developers come in at some point and talk to us about, you know, are there going to be ways for people with disabilities to quickly access information, not buried five levels down in the website. So that, I think that's another thing we could, we could, that would grow out of this conversation because the voting things should go on there and this thing should go on there. And I'm sure if we thought about it for 15 minutes, we'd come up with other things. Yeah. The enhanced 911 would not have, you know, people would not be giving their keys to the first responders. Right. No, it's just to make them aware that you live at such and such of an address or apartment complex or, you know, wherever and that you are a person with a disability. Yep. Yeah. And the keys thing, I don't know, it would be interesting to talk to the senior center person to see if they are actually working on that with the town. And if they're not, I don't know, I mean, if we were to work on it, it would be for a very small population of people who want to say they have disabilities to the town and put out a key. Otherwise, you know, put out a lock box. Otherwise, it would be senior citizens, you know, their safety in numbers. It would be really good. There's power in numbers. It would be really good if that could be a joint effort if people want to participate in it. So that's cool. What station did you see that on, Sarah? I think it was on Western Mass News. And do you remember what town it was? No. I feel like, was it Agawam or, yeah. And it was last night. And I said, well, I would really think this is so important and it's not really, it's not only for disabled people. There are lots of seniors in that situation. Yeah, that's why I said we should work with them on it. Yeah. And they were saying that it will cost so much more money for the owner of the house to get new doors because they will break through the windows and right there, windows next to the door and things like that. And they said, how secure it is. And if no one can really open that lock box besides the officials. In the past, you know, I'm sure there are people that will break into those boxes, but, you know. In the past, the senior center has advertised the lock box in its newsletter, if I'm not mistaken. Oh, OK. If you get the senior center newsletter, which anybody can get, if you go if you go to the town website and go to senior center, you can log on to click on to get their newsletter. And I think in the past, they've advertised the lock box. So went out to a larger population, just not just to people with disabilities, but to any senior. Well, I will certainly bring this up with Helen as well, who's again, yeah. Yeah, that's good. Public works, maybe. And the the I don't want to trust them with anything. The lock boxes that you're referring to, anyone can purchase them and put your own key in it. Right. Yeah. But if they have a certain kind of one that the first responders can open with some kind of a master, that's right. Although that is a little bit scary, I have to say, but. And the entire department was installing these and they were waiting for calls from the people. OK. Right. So that's good. We can try to find out about that. And now I'm not even sure where we are on the agenda. So what would be let's see here. So a capital project request. So I have I will I think it might be helpful that I know at the last meeting we the committee had discussed what is the capital projects? Request process. And you had asked if Kathy Shane could attend councillor Shane. So it is, as you all know, the campaign season for the upcoming election. So folks have been very busy. And so I think that after the election, that would be helpful to, you know, either if, you know, her or someone else could either provide explanation by email or even better, come to a meeting and sort of explain that. And also, I think it maybe would be helpful to invite our assistant town manager, Dave Zomac, who could give a sort of broader overview of town projects and and sort of what are what are upcoming what are current town projects and what are upcoming town projects that he's aware of and to also talk to him about the broader view of capital projects. And then Kathy Kathy Shane could then get into the nitty gritty of what is that process look like, particularly in in relation to, you know, ADA improvements. How do how do all these town projects capture ADA improvements? OK, so you already told us that they have put these the assistive listing devices in, but we don't know how many years out they have a plan. We don't know what things we write. I mean, it would be good if we could say, OK, FY twenty two is in there or FY twenty three. I'm not even sure what that's for. Maybe FY twenty three. But yeah, it's OK. So so we should find out what we would need to do about sidewalks and about other ongoing issues that are not just for the downtown, but for this whole town, sidewalks, some of the roads that are in dreadful condition, you know, and that that it just really needs to continue to happen and that it is a disability issue. Not just a driving people issue. And I know some people with disabilities drive. OK, any any. Yeah, so for so we're talking about Kathy coming. Maybe she could come in December. Maybe we could get Sharon Sherry to come in November if it passes. Right. Sure. And again, this is all based on their availability. So, yeah, you know, yeah. So Kathy is going to win because she's unopposed. So yeah, yeah. So we just I just want to say, like, you know, Sharon Sherry could be on vacation the second Tuesday of November. Or yeah, or what, you know, we don't know what their availability is. Specifically, yeah. But we would definitely like to hear from those people on those two topics. Anything else? I forget. Oh, yeah. We had to get to the you told us you sent us an email that the conversation about Pomeroy had been delayed again. So it didn't happen last night. It's now going to happen in November. Yes. So let me check my notes. You know what the holdup is? I don't. Yeah. What is that? So I I I keep on updating my calendar so I don't forget. So. It did get pushed back to November 8th for the town council to discuss it. And I have it in my calendar to check with their staff liaison the week before to say, is it being pushed back again or what's going on? So I'll I'll I will provide you updates as they become available. And you don't know what the holdup is. I don't. OK, but there's still only a 25 percent. They have not progressed beyond that. Correct. And they they can't do that until the town council signs off on it. Of course, the town council. So hopefully the town council will invite us to speak to it even during the conversation of it. I guess we should contact Lynn. And ask her to make sure that we have an opportunity to speak when it comes up, not just in the public comment period. That's before the discussion happens, because that's not useful. We would need to be able to respond to what they say. Can we? I suppose I can send her an email and ask her for that right. Correct. What do you think? You can certainly ask because their comment period is before before it would come up. And then we we make comments and then they just do what they want and they never hear from us. So I don't know if we're supposed to be included directly. I mean, if they're doing it on the 8th, we have a meeting likely on the 9th, although we didn't determine that exactly yet. Somebody should come maybe to us about 25 percent. What do you think? It's the same it's the same week. What do people think? Did the project start at all? Or are we expecting them to speak to us when 25 percent of the design is completed? Well, that's what it is. They yeah, that's when the town council expects them to come and they have not. I mean, they keep canceling it. So but it happens that their meeting on that they're going to discuss it as the 8th and our meeting is the 9th. So it would be useful, I think, to have somebody on standby to talk to us at least. I mean, I don't know who intends to go to the meeting on the 8th. It's all Zoom, so it's not hard to go to it. But it all depends on, you know, how you would do it. Perhaps, Myra, you in your email to Lynn. You could indicate and then during the meeting itself, you could indicate that if this if if the if the committee feels that you all want to review this project at the 25 percent period, which is. Well, we already asked for that. Yeah, so you could remind her and say that the DAAC, you know, respectfully request that the town council provide, send this project at 25 percent review to the DAAC for review and comment and have a project representative attend the meeting to, you know, OK, to explain it and all the ins and outs and all that. OK, all right. I also I had a lot of trouble. I guess when I'm on Zoom, my computer doesn't like cooperating much. So I was able to send you the thing from Lynn Maureen, but I wasn't able to put anybody else's name in it. Maybe Tori is still in there. I don't know. I got Tori in, but I couldn't get anyone else in. So you'll have to send it out. The request for comments about the town manager evaluation. Sure. Yeah, I'll forward that along. Did you get it? Not yet, but I have actually received my own version of it. So I'll. Oh, OK. Well, you didn't get the thing I sent. No, no, not yet. Oh, my God. OK, my computer doesn't like to multitask. That's right. Yeah, I try to send it to you when we're done. Yeah. OK. So that's for and the. I think you told us about the North comment that there was going to be a meeting to discuss parking in town, handicapped parking. So I didn't know where you if you had any more information about that. Yeah, so I actually did have a brief meeting with staff about the North Common Project and it they staff will be working to finalize the plan in the next several months. And as part of that process, they will return to various boards for review and comment, including the DAC. OK, yeah. So definitely this will be a project that this committee will have an opportunity to review and comment. OK, because there were serious concerns about one way streets parking on that street in front of Boltwood, you know, and I don't know that we ever heard of resolution because their proposal was to make it one way street, which was not really an acceptable option. So I don't know how far they got with hearing what we had to say because they made a plan that had to be a one way street. And they never even thought about the problem that you can't park. Vehicles with, you know, which direction was that one way? So was it from a main street? Yeah, route nine direction. And then and also we I remember, Mori, you were telling maybe we should look into handicapped parking behind the town hall. And I just happened to be parking there a few weeks ago. And I said, let me see what it is. And I could only see one then accessible spot there. And then there was a nice electric car charging station there. And then I did not see. And then I know there were some spaces reserved for staff and but maybe more handicapped parking could be provided there as well. I don't know. I don't know. I just hope they're not going to get too far without thinking about the fact that they created a place for parking that is not viable for handicapped parking. That's right. Right. And that's what I that's a message. I think we were hoping that they would get. So the fact that they're going to come and talk to us, that's pretty nice. But that couldn't come to us pretty far into the process. That's why what did you what did they say when you told them that that bolt would one way was not an acceptable option? Did they care? Yeah, of course. Of course. Yes. Of course, staff is. They they took that information as valuable and. And as they start to make those revisions to get into the final stretch of finalizing the plan, they'll definitely take that into consideration. So, yeah, I thought those comments were really useful and I did pass those along to staff. So they haven't had an opportunity to start working on making the revisions to the plan. So, but they they will start to do that in the next couple of weeks or a couple of months. I'm not really sure where they are. Timeless. OK, but, you know, this changes fundamentally their plan. So I want to make sure that they either fix it before they get very far into it at all or figure out how they're going to compensate for it. And they they took away the parking lot. So yes, I don't think I mean, this is not a down the road when they get closer, take it into consideration. This is a beginning before they get involved with it at all. Their fundamental plan had what this committee deems to be a real serious flaw. So I'm not sure I'm not sure when they're going to think about it. But so many things just happen and then they go, oh, yeah, we're sorry. We didn't we didn't we heard you, but we didn't do anything about it. And I just keep hearing, you know, the reading the Triangle Street, DAC minutes and knowing that they were completely ignored. So we have a DPD, a DPW that has a history of ignoring things. So I want to make sure that it that it doesn't happen, that it is just too late to do anything about it. So this is I mean, I'm sure the committee agrees. Yes. Yes. Yes. All hard to say, Myra, I don't even understand why they chose this project because all in the papers, they're talking about parking problems, not just handicap parking, but parking period. And then all of a sudden they are getting rid of a nice parking place and for aesthetic reasons. I don't know. It's just mind-boggling to me. Doesn't make sense to me. But, Serene, I have a question. So you parked behind Town Hall, correct? Yes. And so I'm wondering, did you find that a long walk from or a long way from where you were going? Yes. Yes. Yes. I've found that. Yeah, we were we were going to go to Bothwood Inn for dinner. And it was a long walk, but I was not alone. I was together with my daughter and my granddaughter. It's also uphill. It's still it's still much further uphill. Yes, it is. And also the sidewalks that we I was walking on, I kept telling Yixin, wait, go slow, go slow. There's a crack, you know, on this concrete sidewalk. There's so many cracks that I have to my eyes were on the sidewalk. And Yixin doesn't see it because she's behind me. So I was alerting her and I said, what in the world? Why don't somebody put some concrete or something to those little gaps here and there until they get really big? But. Yes, I'm tired of bringing the same issues. And I'm sure it's not only my personal issue. No, I'm sure there are lots of other is and also mothers pushing strollers will face the same issues as well. Also, it's if I'm thinking of the same place you are, like I used to park there too, next to where the where you could charge your electric vehicle. Yes. Yes. You want to get back to Main Street, you have to walk through the driveway that other cars are coming into. So it's not necessarily the safest either. For that's true. Yes. And this is why I want to say to them, it really is not an alternative option to park back there because it isn't safe to walk through that driveway or a wheel or whatever you're using to mobilize. But and it's it's too far away. Whereas if they would just keep that parking lot. It's much closer to town restaurants, wherever you want to go in town than parking behind town hall. Yeah, Maureen, who's in charge of that project? Do you know? Dave Zomek. Yeah. OK. And I remember Chris, Chris Birstrom. I think she talked about it, too. Yeah. Yeah, she's part of that team. Yeah. They're in the equitable number of spaces anyway. There are more spaces that they're talking about taking away. Yeah. And then putting back in. So it's, you know, it's a problem all around. Well, the people who took away the parking lot are the town council. A majority of the town council voted, I believe, idiotically to take away that entire parking lot. And I'm sure the rest of this committee thinks that too. But there were a bunch of town counselors who didn't think there's a parking problem who thought that there was plenty of room that you could go park behind CVS. This is all ableism, if you ask me. You know, it's like, sure, I'm 40 years old. I can walk or I can ride my bike. So everybody else can, too. Big deal. That's why because they want the green stuff and they want, you know, the grass and they want the park and they want it brought back to its original purpose. And all of that, that's what they said. I listened to it with dismay. And I I don't know, you know, then it all came to us. The town council told them to do that. So in all fairness, it's not the decision of of Dave Zomek or Chris Brestrup. They have to implement the completely ridiculous charge that they got. However, what part of the charge was to do away with all reasonable handicap parking. So they are not allowed to do that. And whether they got a charge for that or not, they have to fix it because they're not allowed to do away with the handicap parking. You can't park on the street. You can't park on Main Street. You won't be able to park on Bultwood. You won't be able to park in a parking lot. They have done nothing to fix that. And the town council really doesn't have authority over whether or not there's going to be a handicap parking downtown. I mean, that's the state law and the federal law. So I think that, you know, I'm going to write a letter to. I assume this committee would endorse a letter to Dave Zomek telling him that this committee has we should take a vote. I think. But I guess the purpose of my of the letter would be to let them know that we are extremely concerned about the loss of all handicap parking that is reasonable to use to get to town businesses because Bultwood will not be usable and the town and the the parking lot is done so that they need to think about what they're going to do. Even given their charge to take the parking lot out, they're going to have to make some kind of accommodation for handicapped parking. Yes. And street parking, parallel parking is not acceptable because it's not safe for us. We don't want to open into the street, you know, right? Get out of our equals right in the street. OK, can we take a vote on this? Because I think it's not OK. Coming from I will second that motion, Myra. OK, take a vote. Tori agree, disagree and agree, Ruth. Yes, Elise. Yes. Um, Sarah said, yes, I say yes. Oh, yeah. And speaking of which, there's only five of us here. Marty is absent, but we're supposed to have another member and I've heard nothing. And that's it's been a couple months already. So do you know what's going on with that? I'm not sure where where the the town is with that process. I can reach out to the town manager's office to see where, you know, I believe that they have advertised that there is a vacancy available on this committee. But yeah, I'll touch base with the town manager's office about that. If I'm remembering correctly, I thought at the time that Xander was appointed, wasn't there more than one person interested? Oh, yes, there indeed was. Yes. And I don't know if that person is still interested, but that person was qualified for sure. I think there was that person was a physician. And then he now or she. No, no, no, that was the original appointment. That was before Xander. That when when we interviewed Xander, we also interviewed another person. And that person was also somebody who would have been very good on this committee. And so I don't know. I mean, at the time I remember asking, do we just get can we just contact that other person and see if that other person is still interested? But I don't know. Maybe they can't do that. I don't know what they're legal, what they're legally bound to do. I think they have to post it. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Do we have anything else? I didn't get a chance to draft the meeting minutes from September 21st. OK, so next month. It's it's hard to keep up with with everything. Yeah, I'll absolutely right. So I'm writing two letters. One to Lynn Grisimer and one to Dave Zomek, correct? Right. OK. And then we're going. Somebody was going to forward this Lynn Grisimer's email asking for comments. And I know I did not get it. OK, so Maureen didn't get what I have. You have one that maybe went to town employees. Maybe you have a different one. I it might be a different. Yeah. So I can send the one I as soon as I'm off of Zoom, I'm sure I'll be able to forward it. My computer was just not cooperating. So I can forward the thing from Lynn. Anybody have? Well, I'm not very good at sticking to agendas, but we are good at discussing things. But I do have I do have a comment. OK. So sometimes our meetings get pushed to what is this, the third week of the month. And we typically are supposed to meet on the second of second Tuesday of each month. And I happen to be on another committee that meets the third Tuesday of the month. And I'm finding it difficult to have two Zoom meetings in one day. So I am asking that if we need to push to the third week, can we meet on a a different day than Tuesday? Or can we stick with the second week? Or is I I understand it's difficult when there's holidays. And stuff and commitments. But I'm just putting a little bit of time I'm just putting it out there. Yep. Well, I apologize for last month. I somebody died on Sunday and the funeral was Tuesday morning. So I didn't have any choice about that. But it turned out that a bunch of other people couldn't be here either. And and that's fine. I'm just I just want to put this out there that maybe if it needs to be pushed to the third week, could we meet on Wednesday or I cannot Wednesday or Thursday. I have Zoom classes on those days. But I can do Monday. I can do Friday. I cannot do Monday and some Fridays I can do. I'm on the same other committee that Tori's on. And I get I understand the problem. But let's just do our best to see what we can do to stay with the second Tuesday of each month. And and if for some reason it needs to get postponed, you know, I could I could offer different times or days as a substitute. So, you know, maybe it like, you know, we meet the fourth Tuesday. I don't know if people are available. But, you know, it's a rarity that we switch the meeting date. But, you know, things sometimes pop up. Right. Yeah. So this is just two in a row. Yeah, I understand in a row. Yeah. Yeah. And I completely understand that I'm just asking if we could maybe explore another day if that has to happen. Yeah. The next time we have to do it, we'll put out more than Tuesday. And we'll see what what, you know, what what people can do. OK. Mornings. Thanks for the. Say that again, please. Mornings, I'm flexible, except mornings are the best for me. OK, to know that afternoon. OK. All right. So the next meeting date in that vein next meeting date should be the 9th of November. And hopefully hopefully we can have the library director or somebody having to do with the 25 percent status of the project of the of the primary project. Right. Those were the two things. I have a concern which I just want to share of the capital to. It's more like on a just one sec. I'm just marking my calendar for the AC meeting for. OK, I got it. So it seems like there are some people in the town that are looking for what grants are available out there. And they say something and they say, huh, this makes sense. And without going into what the impact that it would be, like I think this a common project is a similar thing. So I know they're going to get some state funding for this. So the town says, sure, let's go ahead with it. So without really looking into the pros and cons of it, that's my feeling, but I don't know how correct I am. And the Pomeroy Lane also, I was hoping to work on it to improve it rather than tear it down and do a turn. Like what is that? The the the circle kind of application. Because there are lots of businesses in the area. It's not like something that will provide easy traffic flow, like I have seen at Cape a lot. So that was my concern. So all the little struggles I see happening. It's after they start that project. And in a way, there is the commitment. So what is going to happen? And it's the same thing that happened with the library. They already made the commitment, commitment that they are if they're getting the grant from the state. And now we have to work around it, whether they were enough signatures or not. So that was an issue. Just to clarify about the Pomeroy Village Intersection. So, you know, the town council, they needed to vote on what improvements should be made to the intersection. And they made that vote, I'm guessing, in May. I'm a little fuzzy on which month. But so the months leading up to that May vote, you know, the town had public outreach opportunities and had various meetings to discuss, you know, what are the existing conditions? What doesn't work at that intersection? And what improvements do members of the public want to see there? And so the vote made by the town council was a reflection of what what what folks would like to see there. So it wasn't just it wasn't just, hey, we're going to do a roundabout. It was based on reaching out to the public and asking for their input and reaching out to the, you know, the property owners and the business owners within that vicinity. So it wasn't just sort of decided upon that, you know, at random they're going to put a roundabout. There was a lot of due diligence provided by staff that engaged the public for several months about that. I just wanted to clarify that. They absolutely did engage the public. There wasn't unanimous consent by the public as to whether it should be a roundabout or not. There were certainly business owners that didn't want a roundabout for the reasons that Saren just said. So it wasn't like there was a unanimous opinion about it. They the town council that they did reach out. They did hold all the right meetings. I'm not sure there would have been. I'm not sure that anybody would have been happy if they went if they, you know, I'm not sure everybody would would have been happy if they went the other way either. But, you know, they had to make a decision. They made a decision that, you know, they made the one they made. They also had a lot of public input for the North Common. They did. They asked the town downtown business people. The downtown business people said we need the parking lot. They decided to vote against it anyway. I mean, they did do that. So, you know, and as for the what was the other one you brought up, the library, the library, the town council voted on the library. They had a lot of input. They had, you know, the signatures, all that stuff came up. But it all started by one person. They didn't have enough signatures, just like there weren't enough signatures to force the to force the the moratorium. I mean, you win, you win, you lose, you lose. But I can't say they haven't gone through the procedures. I wouldn't say that that I would say that I would say the town council has not made good decisions, but I wouldn't say that they didn't go through the right procedures. They just did what they wanted to do in the end anyway. I mean, that's my feeling. Yeah, yeah, but that's why we have elections. And that's why I mean, that's the hope, you know, you don't like what they do. You're supposed to if you have an opportunity to change who is running or if you have an opportunity to run yourself, that's what you're supposed to do. I mean, I'm, you know, unfortunately, you know, I mean, I've not won too many elections in my life. You know, most of the people I vote for don't win. But, you know, that we I think process wise, they're clean. Decision making wise, maybe not. But I'm just concerned. And what I'm really concerned about is when committees in the town when the business community says we want a parking lot, they vote no. When the DAAC says we need some kind of signalization in the in the Triangle Street roundabout, and it just never happens, that's not OK. I mean, for me, that's what's not OK. So, you know, we'll see what they come up with for Pomeroy. But, you know, they voted to do a roundabout. They did do all the they did their due due diligence. And maybe they made the right decision and maybe they didn't. But they did they did do what they were supposed to do. Anyway, I think what what we what is left to us is to make sure that given the decision that they made, that it's handled the right way. And that that's where I'm looking at it from. We don't have the choice to tell them they can't do it. But we have input into how they do it. If they listen to our input at it. Yeah. Yeah. Otherwise, if we don't give them our input, then we can't say that we gave them our input, you know, like, hopefully they'll listen. But I think the thing with the North Common in the parking downtown, I think that's really serious. And and they need not to get very far into this before they realize that they cannot do entirely what the town council told them to do. And they need to go back to the town council and they need to tell them why they can't do it. So I will write a letter and. I think you're writing a letter and we support it as a committee. Shouldn't we all see it sign the letter? Well, that's why we took the vote. You know, even if it's digital digital signature, I mean, you guys have a couple options, you know, if you want Myra to draft the email and just send it out, that's fine. Or if you would like Myra to draft the email and and she can email it to me. I can forward it along to everyone. Everyone could get a chance to review it. And if you have any comments, I could tweak it and then email it back to Myra. Whatever you think. Yeah, what's your pleasure? Are we going to this a bunch of times? We can at least say that it's from the entire committee, right? I mean, yeah, that's why I asked you to take a vote. OK, right. Because then because then I can say that we voted unanimously X. OK, yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't send this one. I won't ever send anything from the committee without asking you to take a vote. Everything that I've sent out, we've we've we've dealt with on a vote. OK, yeah, I just wanted to make sure that. And they understand that the whole committee feels this way. Yep. Yep. And Marty would, too, she wasn't here. But, you know, I mean, she certainly she had all kinds of technical things to say about why they can't do it. OK. All right. And do we have a motion to adjourn until the 9th of November? I second that. Somebody needs to make the motion. All right. I'll motion that we adjourn. OK. I second that. Cool. All right. Elise. Yes. Ruth. Yes. Sarah. Yes. Tori. Yes. And me. Yes. OK. OK. All right. Thank you. We're done. Thank you. Thank you. Remember to vote November 2nd. Yes.