 Glad that it just did not give me the option to. Record to the cloud so let's hope it's doing that. Okay, it does say it's recording so. And there you guys go. Our boss is coming on coming in. Perfect. So it is 615 sector 617. We have a quorum and so we will begin. Welcome to the African heritage reparation assembly meeting for Wednesday, October 13 2021. And we have a virtual meeting statement for this is that pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via zoom or by telephone. Please see instructions below. No in person attendance of members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time by a technological means. I have two announcements. One is that we asked coffee, who I see in attendees as listed I think this is coffee Dixon, but also contacted us from the common good co op is in the audience and is available to speak with us about the opportunity for a screening of a reckoning in Boston when that agenda item comes up so we'll bring that up again. And then I just wanted to issue a reminder I know it was a super quick turnaround from Friday to Wednesday with a holiday in there, but I just want to encourage everyone. If they plan to present anything or a meeting to always get it to Jennifer so we can get it in the packet beforehand. It would be much easier to respond thoughtfully if we've had a chance to read things beforehand. So just thrown that out there and we'll try to make sure the meetings give us enough time to do that in the future. So a quick review of the agenda we have seven items today, including the screening, the census, more talk about email and how this committee can have, you know, interface even more with the public than beyond these public meetings. And then I updates about finance legal and visioning, and then all of our standing meetings at the end are standing. I don't set the end. So, finally, the other thing we need to do is to prove the minutes from last Friday. Were there any. Nope. No, I have them and I didn't put them in the packet so I can't anticipate you guys to approve them so we'll defer them to the next meeting. That sounds great and totally understandable. Thank you, Jennifer. So, Michelle over to you. Great. Yes. Now we will open it up for our first of two public comment periods. And if you'd like to speak in public comment you'll have up to minutes, we will not be responding to public comment but we will certainly be listening and taking notes. If you'd like to make a public comment now please raise your hand. And Jennifer will let you in. And again there will be a public comment period that will happen at the end of the meeting as well. Thank you. And just to clarify for Kathy, so this is the public comment period, which you're welcome to speak at and we also hope to bring you back coffee during the first portion of our agenda. The item of the screening is the first item that we'll be talking about tonight. So I'll table my comments and open the floor up to another public comment and wait for the portion on the agenda regarding the documentary. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you. So if there are any other public comments please feel free to raise your hand. So I think we can go ahead and move into our action and discussion items. And so coffee you're right here we'll bring you back, although. So just to sort of preface by saying this is something that we spoke about last week. And it sounded like there was a solid support of exploring this a bit more, and coffee was generous enough to join us this evening. If there's an objection I don't think we need to vote to bring coffee here to answer our questions and offer a little bit more background on this. So we'd like to bring coffee in to do that now if there's an objection we can vote on whether or not to move toward doing that so if you could just give me a thumbs up if you're good with it, and then we'll bring coffee in. So it looks like maybe we want to have a discussion. First, to see if this is the time to bring coffee in to discuss the reckoning and Boston screening. So, if you'd like to address this please go ahead and raise your hand and I don't usually like to call people out but Alexis, Dr. Shabazz or three folks who didn't give a thumbs up so love to hear from you. Sorry. I just didn't see that other people were giving those I'm sorry so I yes I'm interested in hearing about the film. I'm also interested I was actually reading something on another part of my screen at the time but yeah so we're, we're good to go. Good. Okay, excellent and herb are you you're good with that as well. Oh yeah I was lost in thought. Excellent how I saw that you had your thumb up so excellent alright let's go ahead and bring coffee and thank you so much for joining us. We're really excited about this opportunity and we're going to open the floor to you to talk to us about this now. Thank you so much. I now feel a little less guilty I think everybody is at the end of their day. As well so I will be brief. Again, thank you to the assembly for allowing me to come to tonight's meeting as a representative and co producer of a reckoning in Boston. A reckoning in Boston has been shown around the country and is airing on pbs in January 2020. And hearing the work about the assembly and the foundational work that's being done in Amherst around reparations. One of the things that myself and some of our interns from Tufts and Harvard thought it would be interesting to partner with the assembly and doing a screening and even more importantly, holding a conversation panel after the screening. To talk about to contextualize what systematic racial oppression and marginalization, the economic and mental health impact that it has had on communities of color, as well as to spearhead the conversation that the work still continues. We have a fear that once this conversation around reparations is picked up, not just for African American communities but also for our indigenous brothers and sisters, that there might be a propensity to maybe fall into amnesia about how we continue to hold these conversations up, and how we continue to make them impactful and tangible. A reckoning in Boston. The documentary itself in contextualizing how redlining and, you know, Brown versus Ed and many other things within our country and our region. And how they play out in modern day access and self actualization of black, brown and indigenous communities. Again, regathers the conversation and creates a visual insight for the experiences of black, brown and indigenous who experienced the generational oppression that brings forth the conversations around reparations systemically and structurally. And summation my hope is to join the assembly we hope to join the assembly in the foundational work in conversations you guys have been able to do as a national model and thinking about reparations and to act as a guide towards other cities who are beginning to engage the questions of what reparations looks like. And what it is and what it should be. Right. And to do it through a visioning of a reckoning of Boston, and I'm available for questions of course. Thank you. Thank you so much coffee for that that was very helpful, and inspiring. So yes, if there are any questions this would be a great time to ask coffee. Go ahead Alexis. I guess I'm just curious about the, the licensing for this film. If you wouldn't mind speaking to that. As a co producer we're working with an impact producer who I think I nearly, I must have stressed around so many times talking about bringing this to the assembly. I'm so sorry. You know, there were definitely different directions that people wanted to go with the documentary and who was, who was our audience, right. Specifically, as again a generational New Englander and a black woman. I'm part of a BIPOC community. I said, our audience are people who are spearheading impactful conversations around healing and essentially reconciling right. So the licensing conversation would be would be fine tuned by Marga. The impact producer, but I, in my belief in the work that has been done in Amherst by the assembly. I would definitely advocate for the needs of the assembly as far as accessing a documentary and using it as a tool and possibly maybe even archiving it if that's something that makes sense for the assembly. Okay, thank you. Dr. Shabazz. Thank you, coffee if I understood that answer sounds as though you were, you're basically generously sharing the screening of the film to us. And that being the case. I do thank you for that offer. I also wish to congratulate you as being the founder of Boston's first worker on owner. You're a co-operative for women. And, and for the work that you've done there. I read as well that you tuned out of school at 15 and went on to make these accomplishments against that backdrop. And so again, for your resilience and for your, your ongoing efforts. Thank you as well. What I'm really wondering is, how do you foresee an impact. This documentary might have on a small town like ourself. We're far cry from, from the scale of Boston, redlining or spatial oppression such as it existed in Amherst definitely was on a different scale and context than Boston but what knowing the film is you do and how it, how it, it impacts audiences. What do you think might be a takeaway for our town in, in, in, in screening this, this documentary. I, I thank you for reading my background I forget how much information is out there about me and the vulnerability I brought into the documentary as a woman of color and asking other women of color to speak to generational. And how space relates to them right municipality in space from their historic experiences and generational experiences. So, I asked am her not to sell yourself short as a small town you're a small town that took up a big conversation. And although I, my love and endearment for Boston is not solely in Boston is, and it's not solely in Massachusetts in the, the, the region of New England, and the, the successes and the failures but even holding up the successor successor successes as thought leaders and conversation from abolition work forward. Right. The good and the bad of abolition because I don't want to say that everybody who held the conversation for abolition, necessarily also saw people of color as equals right. But how do I hold the conversation how do I see the conversation and am her one and a very practical level. And this is not to speak ill of my city again, Boston is doing this work, but the small town of Amherst picked up this conversation. Well before the city of Boston. And in looking at that, the leading that thought right. One of the factual things, according to the census is the city of Boston is losing its African American community. You might even, as we think about the migration from the south to the Midwest to Chicago. There is actually a migration going on within our region that is unspoken and intended to. You know what have happened to the children we have they gone. A lot of the African American community and not leap moving out of the city of Boston they're moving they're migrating across the state. And some of them will, and if not have ended up in a central mass Western mass straddling the borders of Connecticut straddling the borders of Vermont pits field. Right. The city of Boston unfortunately in the mannerisms and what it which attended to its displaced homeless communities ship these communities all throughout the state of Massachusetts into homeless shelters and what is it subsidized based housing. The conversation about reparations brings up another larger conversation about the culture of African Americans. And again the successes and the failures of supporting the community in the region. If we can bring those those conversations again back to community the impact even in the small town of Amherst. The University of the UMass Amherst and Amherst College to also a very liberal open space and thinking about relationship to space is to create even a deeper understanding for who will be their neighbor. And to understand that indigenous and African American people have always embodied the region of New England and we're founders with a deep history. And unfortunately the racist racism and bigotry and misunderstanding right. A lot of the legacy and the, a lot of the education the legacy the economic development that could have been done from Boston, all the way over to Great Barrington was taken away from us and an intention, potentially to either marginalize us and for some to annihilate. The fact of holding the documentary by the assembly in Amherst again is to just stay ahead of that conversation as our communities begin to change. And I'm not just talking about our communities as African Americans as indigenous. I'm talking about our communities as we just did a screening at Tufts. We are not to the Asian American community, the Asian community in Chinatown has also been displaced at the pace that African Americans are being displaced, and that also are trying to organize around what it looks like to push back against gentrification not just from developers but from a university. So the impact of Amherst holding this conversation is one for me Amherst holding it in a safe space, I consider it a safe space. There's a cocktail going on in Boston that is still the old guard against a new guard, old Boston against new Boston that still has a very capitalistic perspective involved in it. That will slow roll this conversation where you already arrived as an assembly. My last point on working with the impact is my perspective in this work as a cooperative is based in history and presence. Cooperatives have always been a stronghold for marginalized communities African American communities to exist in violent spaces. I think the common good co op which was originally the woman of color co op was a nod to existing in violent spaces cooperatively and pushing back against that violence with understanding tools and resources. I think there are many aspects around our workshop with love and acceptance. As more people move out to center mass and Western mass. Their needs my feeling is that what will be required to build better communities will be not just charitable assistance, but in deep dignity capital investment. The impact and doing in a partnership with the assembly is to call the community CDF eyes stakeholders and economic investment to provide communities that are probably coming there and trauma of being displaced in a way that away from their families, the community around what building new communities looks like, and the economic investment that was taken from us that may need to be short backup. So my perspective is to do a partnership with the assembly and to call on our financial institutions to foresee the economic and capital investment. That should be prepared for to build stronger communities and not just for African Americans, but stronger communities for all of our domestic migrants new Americans generational communities to actually give them. What we haven't had for a long time, which is a fair start. And that's what the the small town town of Amherst. Amherst can be a beacon. Alongside places like rattleboro Vermont Burlington Vermont places like Windsor Connecticut. Great barring 10 with which what once was Martha's vineyard right which once was the ink well and is now Martha's vineyard. So the small town, which took on a large conversation can continue that large conversation with a projected voice. Again around capital investment into communities that unfortunately being displaced into all over the state of Massachusetts, but how do we receive those communities and how do we resource them. Thank you so much coffee thank you that was really helpful and I see that Dr. Jimison's hand is also raised. Yeah, thank you, Michelle and thank you coffee. What I wanted to ask next actually was, it's the boring part but it's it's logistics right. So one of the things this committee will need to know I think to do the best job with putting on a screening is sort of like a little bit of what the expectations are in your side what's, what's needed, and also sort of, since you said you would help with hosting the conversation afterward. And I think you mentioned in one of your descriptions that you usually bring the director a couple of other people involved with the film so could you talk a little bit about like, in terms of film or theater and capacity and what sort of the expectations would be based on events that you've done like this before. Yes, thank you. Interesting enough, we screened at Amherst theater a few weeks ago. And I think that's how I found out from one of the professors at Amherst college more about the conversation or reparations. So, but this we are primarily due to COVID, you know, technology and all of its awesomeness I guess. Most of our screenings have been virtual. One of the things. So we do have a system to set up the logistics, fairly simply for virtual screenings. So we could in the theater or in the university. I think the logistics are fairly simple. On our end, it's usually done through show and tell and pre registration and click a link. And then it attaches to a meeting room where the panel is held typically either do show and tell or zoom, depending on whether the partner in organization is recording it or not. That is super helpful. Thank you. I have a thought that came to me as as you were speaking. So we have a food co op here the common share food co op that is not yet established as a grocery store but is working toward that goal. And I think this would be something that the board and the leadership in that organization would also be very interested in being involved in and supporting I may be speaking for them but I think I'm pretty confident. I would love the opportunity to also bring them into this conversation. And given I'm just wondering from the group given how packed our agenda is tonight and how exciting this opportunity is and I'm wondering if we should, we should add it as an agenda item for discussion next meeting so that we can really take some time with the information that coffee presented, and, and then be able to sort of discuss and deliberate around how we might move forward. There are other points of view on that. I think that might be our best bet. I think the, we might even can move one step further folks are comfortable. I, I'd like to ask if Alexis would particularly look into the screening dynamic, possibly even through Amherst media, whether in the studio but then also through our live stream channels and work with I know this came up at one time when they were discussing how to screen Elsie Fetterman's documentary on the Holocaust and in the diaspora over to, to Connecticut in this region. So, there was, there was talks about how to screen that and, and I think Alexis is well positioned to take to maybe interact with coffee and really see how what you know and bring us an actual logistical plan how does that sound Alexis. So, that's why I had asked about licensing so that, because that's exactly that's exactly what I was thinking about. We have a lot of options. I don't know if I, I don't think I need to take up meeting time about it. You know we can handle it behind the scenes but yes I am. I am the programming director at Amherst media so that is exactly in my wheelhouse and I can definitely take care of that. Can I say when we all prepare to do a thumbs up to that plan for Alexis to move the logistics and grade. I have a definite thumbs up with that as well and I want to nod and just finish and let you guys get on with your meeting. And while my dog is walking up and down the stairs waiting for me. Yes, Michelle. I very much putter through the whole entire region with my Chautauqua hat on in my Bruins Jersey, and when you're at the farmers market. I did have a nice juicy conversation with the common share food co-op I think is their name and upholding their work and then letting them know that if they ever needed any assistance, you know to holler at me so I was receiving the emails for a while and that was because I knew they were doing membership raising, and there was there was any way I could contribute to the conversation. The second thing is the last thing is, I guess I'd like to have a, I don't know if this is the appropriate space to have the conversation but to ask is the assembly does have a fun. The assembly does have a fund that if there were, if people, if they were philanthropic organizations that wanted to contribute to the assembly's work and ongoing work and ongoing support of the community. Would it, would there be a fund that they could contribute to and did the fund, could the fund necessarily extend to community resourcing. And if you did not would you consider down the road. I guess I'll just say I think that that gets a little bit we should we should definitely talk I will I will link up with you. And yeah we'll talk about this stuff because I think that it depends on the type of like permissions that we have legally about it will specifically tied to the stream I think about collecting donations but I think that if it were, we have to figure I will I will I will. This is not for our purposes we just find that if it's really great work we want to encourage people to keep continuing to that work in. And do you guys have the ability to absorb that. But that's a whole other conversation please feel free to reach out to me via email and James Rutenbeck. And Marga impact director and Carl Carl also the co producer who's an indigenous man himself, and I look forward to re engaging this conversation and I feel hopeful, and that the hopefulness is bringing on a lot of excitement. And as we prepare again we just did an interview with voices of America, and they let me know that there's a reparation conversation happening in Boston and I was still steadfast about you know I really like to hold that conversation with Amherst. So, thank you very, very much. And I look forward to hearing from the assembly. Thank you. Thank you coffee and I did you have coffee before. I was trying to understand the mission of resources was or those resources and conjunction with the streaming of the film or resources available to this committee in general resources available to the committee in general. Yeah, to the committee in general and to continue work I really do believe without being my nerd hat is for soil science, not not not for statistical research. I do believe in the understanding that there will be new beautiful vibrant communities created, and maybe it's my optimism and utopian society, sorry. I look forward to how Western mass grows and it's in its diversity and it's continued diversity. And just as we start these conversations, how are we holding resources that people would like to commit to the development of those new communities. And I guess the anchoring I guess I would like to say. Thank you coffee. Thank you. We're working on it. As I understand we have an account for a fun but we have no funds in the account, but our roles is about to enlighten us on how we're going to change that and get some cash in that account. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Dr. Thank you so Jennifer, Dr. Jamila, Heather Alexis, reach out to me by email. Look forward to this conversation. Good night. Have a good evening. Bye. Cool. All right. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for not to jump the gun so we will we're we're all like so ready for your updates. We've got a couple more things we're going to try to get out of the way first. And one of them was to talk about this question about the census that came up last week. But I thought we were kind of trying to understand two things. The large overarching question is, can or will the HR a take over the census process. And if we were going to do that. How would the funding for that work. And if that complicates the funding, you know, we sort of back to possibly bam having to do it so. That was my understanding of kind of like where we left off so was someone charged with finding out what the procurement process was or like what we would need to do to get funding and earth sorry are you is that hand up for this already. I think it's, I thought it was going to be all parties at the presentation because they are perfect. Okay. Okay. I'm okay with, can we just sort of like, do you all the money now with anybody. He said about that. I think I missed what just what or what did you just say or that you were ready to present on the fine financial piece. Because that was my charge and I'm ready to go through it and there are questions and there are issues, and there are also answers. All right, and I think that might include the census piece as well so. Sure, so we just are going to move a little out of order, bump up the finance on the agenda and then come back to these other pieces is that correct. Yeah, folks, people. Okay. Alexis you good with that. All right. I'm going to assume you are in unless you tell us otherwise. Okay. Great. Take it away. Dr. Reds. So I had a great conversation Jennifer was in attendance. This was Sean, the finance director. Today, I was really encouraged and I was really, I came in with a whole list of questions. And we went through that list of questions every last one of them in fact. But so, let me just start by going through the questions, and then providing some input in terms of how Sean looked at it and Jennifer you can jump in at any point in time. And please do. So my first question was, when and how much money will be added to the stabilization fund. The second part of the question was, can annual deposits authorized by the council be deposited into the stable stabilization fund on an annual and continued spaces. So, the answer to the first question is that, once the free cash is certified, which will be any day now as I understand it. That money can be moved in to the stabilization fund and that's $200,000 plus. And talk somewhere around by November. That would be an account so there will be that amount of account that by the way is exactly the same amount of money the council had authorized in the beginning. All right. The second part of the question, which was of interest to me was. Can annual deposits authorized by the council be deposited into the stabilization funds on an annual and continued spaces. Yes, they could be. Because when free. When there is a surplus that surplus can go into different accounts. So, for instance, if we were able to say, hey, look. We would like to have 10% of that surplus go into the stabilization fund on an annual basis. To fund our project. Yes, that could happen. We can. That is something if we want to make it happen we can have make it happen on an annual basis. The challenge would be to get this before the council and say, and say, we would like to have. 10% of the surplus that goes that would be going into the stabilization fund. Put into the stabilization fund on an annual basis. From now on, in other words, make it permanent. And have that vote so it's permanent. Any questions on that. Yeah, so they're depositing money this year. And then so for us to make that request for an annual deposit permanently. When is that is that business we can do anytime or does it have to be done sometime in the next month, six months. I think I think what I would like to do is make it a continuing resolution. That is brought before the council. And I guess what I'm saying is that I would like for that to be a line item in the budget going forward. That's what I would like to have happen. And we need to get busy on it if we are going to do that. In other words, we'd have to vote for it. And I think what we would do is before we vote. We would get additional information, get our language together, and then have that brought before the council for action. Thank you. I love a plan. I just wanted to follow up on that question or the, the funds that you're saying could be deposited on an annual basis, are they only funds from that free cash account. Is that what you're referring to, or let's say is cannabis up for discussion did any, any conversation happen around that you're jumping down the line. Fair enough, fair enough. I can answer that question right now because this, this is an issue that came up in Sean and I guess Paul would like all the money that we want to, we want to have for our use deposited into the stabilization fund from cannabis from CPAC from all sources. All right. I, for one, do not like that idea. The reason for it is, and so the pros of doing that is as Sean said what you know it's always going to be there. And so you can change the bills up this fund bill from all sources. All right. And so it's always there you don't have to spend it on an annual basis you can spend it over time, if you want it. All right. That's a pro. The con is if we took all the sources of financing and allow them to be the deposit in a stabilization fund in order for us to get them out. We would have to have a two third majority vote and the town council. Every time you wanted to move to move money out of there. To me that's a negative some people that may not think that's a negative. But I do. And maybe it isn't. I mean, and maybe, you know, you know, my fear is that at some point where we have a project or that we want to move forward with or our successors or whatever want to move forward with people would have to come back to the council and get a two thirds majority vote. And the problem with that is that we're done in June and June 30. We're done. So what is going to be our legacy in terms of money to spend on a going forward basis and how are those decisions going to be made when this group will no longer exist. Jennifer. To say I think that part of Sean's reason for everything being deposited into the stabilization fund is because otherwise it becomes a line item on the budget which means if we don't use it, we lose that. And it gets put into the mass general fund. Right. So I think that that was that. Right. Double sided edge, which you, you know, implied but again, our challenge, our challenge is that we can we can identify money to spend. But we have a limited time available to us to make decisions on how their money is going to be spent. And one more time, we can have 200,000 this account. We can have money. And go on to a lion Adam from cannabis. We can have all kinds of money happening. But the question is, how much time do we have to spend that as a committee as this committee. We're out of business, June 30. Thank you for bringing that up that's actually something that's been in my head is, you know, what will decision making structures look for this look like for this money as we go forward. So I'd love to see that the agenda item for discussion in the future. I bolded it in my notes and they see Michelle is putting it down so that is a great question and I will definitely tackle it. I would love to hear the rest of your questions and answers though as well. Here, the other one was, and this goes to some other other items. The spending under $1,000 need to go through the procurement process. No, doesn't have to go through the formal procurement process where you have to go out to a bid, etc. In fact, anything under $10,000 does not need to go out to to bear or through the regular procurement process. So that comes back to the question about senses. So, in terms of spending money on the senses, we would have to decide how much money we're talking about, and who is going to do the work, do that work on the senses. If it's going to be a private another group or a nonprofit group doing it. Then, as Sean said, then you go through what is called, you know, best business practice and you look at the one goes up as does the group or organization have some kind of track record that would it would be able to demonstrate that it could handle the task correctly. And the good thing about that, you don't have to go through the bidding process. So, yes, the other the other thing that came up in relationship to this was the website and I'm also get that out of the way right now. Yes, we can spend money on that website. The suggestion was made that that the town go ahead and do that website. That can be done. The question for us is, do we want it to have it that way or do we wish wish to have some other private group that is, you know, there may be a minority with own firm do that work. Again, if it's under if it's under $10,000 it does not need to go out to through the procurement process or bid, but it would have to be a reputable group. That is a question that needs to be answered by this group and we'd have to talk about discuss it to see how we want to move on. Any questions. Yeah, are there. When you say reputable, reputable, are there a specific criteria, and also who gets to make the decision about reputable is that us or is that that's the town manager, town manager. Okay, great. And then this wasn't necessarily exactly about money but it was sort of a question. It sounds like Sean suggested the town of Amherst putting the website together. If Alexis, should she, she said, Oh, I got a, I can do those sorts of things was going to put the website together. One is that a conflict to would we basically just have to like that her as a reputable person. Yes, interesting question. I mean I just finished the conflict of interest course. Alexis, if I'm not mistaken, you're, you're not an employee of the town of Amherst. No. And we're talking about Alexis or we're talking about Alexis or self doing it or doing it through Amherst media. That's not a service that I provide through Amherst media so it would be through like free or like, like a subcontract or contract. All right, so you would be doing it as an independent contractor. That is correct. Now, the only, the only, I don't see an issue with that but the town may might or might or might not. They would then ask the question of your Alexis in terms of your qualifications, etc. So that they could get comfortable and saying hey, you can go out you can do this work. And by the way, if you decided to do the work. And here's what I would advocate since you obviously have the skills to do it I would advocate for the, for the work to be done by you. And the reason for that is that you can't get paid until the work is done. Um, well, I mean typically what happens is that there's like a deposit. And so, So I think that I already feel like there's a problem like with me. Yeah, so I'm going to, yeah. Let's, I see that Jennifer has her was raising her hand and also counselor brewer our liaison is here and has her hand raised. So I think it would be great to hear from both of them. Yeah. So first, you guys are special municipal employees I believe you have the SME charge charge and I've never seen a committee member subcontract but that's not to say that it couldn't happen. But I'm pretty sure that that is a conflict although I would agree Alex, that would be great for you to do that. There was, and the way that we work is we don't pay until the work is done typically or we you can what you can do is you can set it into stages so like you have like stage one this part of it is done and then you get paid a portion of it and then you have stage two and then the next portion can be paid for, but I can let. Oh, Miss Brewer and and then she can speak on it some more. Hi, Lisa. What Jennifer said. And so I'm so glad you had her speak first you're all municipal employees. That's true. You have special municipal employee status as well, which gives you a little more leeway in terms of this exact sort of conflict of interest but it's more about you to interact with a different body of the town or a different department of the town, like if Alexis had a landscaping business. So it wasn't about reparations is about landscaping and she wanted to do landscaping work for the town. That would be in a different position. It's unlikely that she would be able to do work for this committee, but look at special municipal employee status. I want to be dig into that when you're doing your ethics training and that should help you answer the questions as to what's possible they give a bunch of examples in the interest in the conflict of interest training and obviously then, once you have that sorted out then you just go ask Sean a bunch more questions as Irv indicated. Thanks. Thank you. So, you know, a list of, you know, again, I just finished that course yesterday. I finished that course. And yes, Alexis because if we gave her and the town gave her an exemption. Because she's a special municipal employee. She could do that work the exemption would have to be extended by the town. I think without town manager Bachman here we're going to want to table this particular piece of the discussion. But I do think that all of the information that you provided her around the possibility of us moving forward with developing the census is something that we should come back to here and as a group if and I'd love to hear from Dr. Shabazz. I know we had briefly talked about you touching base with somebody at BAM or some other folks there. And so maybe there's some feedback that is available. Before we go to Dr. Shabazz, I just want to make sure that if we are going to do something. And I think we should do something in the area of the census and other website. If if we want a website we need to vote on that so yes we want that website. I am we will have the town to do it or we will find someone else to do this. Let's make a decision so we have something that was done. Secondly, in terms of the census. We need to make a decision. As to whether we want to, we want to do this. And how we see it being done. We need to really define what are the tasks that are going to be there. And then we can assign a monetary amount to those tasks. But if we are serious, let's move on that make some decisions and then move forward. Great. Dr. Shabazz. Thank you. Thank you, Irv, for your overall report. I'd like to. By the way, I'm not finished with that report. Well, maybe we should continue to have you complete the report now, because I don't want to speak to just one one item I have comments on all I all parts of your report. So please I yield. All right, so let me just go through it. There was, I asked the question. You're appropriated for the shower trailer for Craig's doors. If you follow the newspaper items, there was a shower trailer that was happened. And the reason that was of interest to me is that that money was going was appropriated. Where did it come from? How did that happen because my obviously my interest was in well, if you can do it for Craig's doors, why wouldn't you be able to do it for reparations. If all the legal things. So it turns out that that came through cares money. Which is part of the covert money. And that's the whole other topic we will talk about later on in here. All right. The other question is, how can CPAC money be used for reparation purposes? What is the process? Two parts that there are two things there. The CPAC process is virtually over. However, there is a supplemental part of about $500,000 that they always have in reserve that we can target for our purposes. If we so wish. The other question I had was, can CPAC use money to fund projects via a bonding process. And yes, they can. Why is that important to us? Is that let's say that we wanted to have a building of some kind. And we want to have one half of the building to pay for that over the course of the next 20 years. That's CPAC. That's bonding money. And they have done that. And they do do that kind of thing already. All right. The other thing was looking at the town ownership of a building. And then that building being used for specific purposes by. Charities for a project or projects. And yes, the town can do that. That is something that they've done. The issues around that all come back to the legal parameters that we have to deal with in terms of how we target the use of that money to what populations. How can we're in the various budget accounts can. The heritage, African heritage reparations have been tapped into sustainable funds for projects. That's all within our purview. It is those knowing that those funds are available and having them as budget accounts and budget items and line items. That's up to us to identify and to pursue through the regular council process. And. And then I went into a couple of things were just or items that I thought we need to have some information on is how can we use money for various after school and before before school projects. That are being funded partially or in full by the town or, or that we could have supplement and. And again, those are things that we would have to discuss. And from my point of view, those things are very, very possible and Sean was the same thing. So that ends my report. Did you, did we talk about cannabis and I missed that or no, I did. I did say cannabis cannabis cannabis money is available to us. Okay. The impact, the impact part, the impact funding part of that is, we don't even want to think about that. But the tax money that comes in. Yes, that is available for us. Thank you. And Dr. Shabazz, I think you said you had some comments. Thank you and thank you. Thank you, Dr. Rhodes for all your digging on those items, let me raise some points and then I actually have, if it's possible, a motion for folks to entertain, if not for this meeting another meeting on the basis of at least one of the items. Well, with reference to the deposits to the stabilization fund, I would like for us to be kept abreast of the certification of the free cash and of the depositing to that account. So chairs could make a note of that. And I think that will be a be a historic moment for the town with with respect to that actual step being taken and completed. Along with that, the question of annual deposits on a continue on a and going towards some sort of continuing fun. I think that the, this is something we ought to be aiming to get ourselves perhaps to a place that we can make a recommendation in our October report, our report at the end of October, which is basically to say that we do imagine a the stabilization fund of constituting a discrete pool of money that would not be spent on or that we're going to recommend expenditures of in this cycle of our assembly. By our June report, we're going to recommend this 200 K that's in there be spent x y or z way, I would like for us to, to be at a place where where we're clear by our October report that that we, we countenance a fund emerging by this June. That will be set earning interest that future a future body will actually determine how that how resources in that pool in that fun in that endowment would be spent but that we're not trying. We're coming by our October report or by our final June report to actually say, this is how funds going into that stabilization fund. This is specifically where we wanted spent before we, as we go out of commission in June. I don't think that should be in our on our docket but that's, that's my input to that. So that's the second item about all funds going into this stabilization fund. I, I don't like the sound of that that sounds a bit nebulous and confusing. I think in fact what we ought to be thinking about both for our to our October report in an indefinite ways by our June report is what we might refer to as a fund development So this stabilization fund that right now is an empty account, but we foresee money's going into it. We ought to be thinking through before our final report in June, a strategy for developing that fun. That amount we see it growing toward how we see it being set up to to fund projects on a continue, you know that that on on on an annual basis that come before it as proposals. That's all something we need to develop a strategy around. So if it's cannabis, some amount from cannabis to fit some percentage of the surplus free cash from year to year, we, we look at what all those possible funding sources are. Over the next over the next few years, there would be a funding strategy a fund development strategy that would say if we look at these sources coming in over the next three years or five years. We might project that in five years time, this fund would be built up to $10 million, or might be built up to whatever the math would show. At that point, it could begin to be distributed toward projects that a future body would be would be in would be that is as our co chair said that decision making structure. So those are my my thoughts in relation to that that we need to have on our radar. And that's exactly proposed by our June report, a fund development strategy. So now we have information on the fund that's been created on a forthcoming deposit to that fund on other possible streams that could go into that fund. We're looking through a fund development strategy with Sean Magano in looking at what these likely sources could be what if we got the council, if we recommended to the council that they would approve specific percentages out of surplus is surplus or free cash out of cannabis out of whatever the mix of potential sources might be that that would go into a an actual strategy that would actually create a fund that at some future date would then be able to go on from that point on, offering annual disbursements. Question of the website, the census of spending under $10,000 not required. Not requiring. Excuse me. Okay. I think that that this question of whether it goes through procurement or not through procurement. I think we're, we're, we need to get, get a little clear on on what we're after. First of all, my concern about a website and the census building process is such. It's such that it's not as time sensitive as our October report. I think we've got some we can take some time to deliberate and to, to move toward the question of how we get the census created. So again, the census is about a process of getting the will of the injured harm community, the harmed community about projects. So it's not immediate if this is not as crucial as some of the other items, I think we need to be signaling about for October report I'd love to see it done sooner rather than later but it's not as to me as pressing and and so here's my specific motion in relation to that. I move that we, the Amherst heritage reparations assembly. Authorize the creation of a website via the town of Amherst. So I would like, pardon. So shall we have discussion. That would be a good time. Yeah, let's do that. So, I do think consistent with things we've talked before I think Alexis was making a point or hollow was making a point on even how we're documenting our current process that of this of this assembly of this town body itself that there ought to be a website where that information over the coming months, through the release of our report in June has space, perhaps beyond the, the little space currently on the town website, but a little space where links can be provided information can be provided above and beyond our packets. Things anticipating if we, if we do promote a screening, work out a screening of a day of reckoning that that we would have a little website that could operate to inform the community and form the public. We're providing our information. And again, what that looks like how much it, it may build off of the existing space on the town of Amherst website. I would leave that for others to, to look into but I do think that we ought to look at. And this is just consistent with the way CPAC has a website the way of the Amherst Historical Society the Amherst local historic commissions planning to, you know, all of these bodies have websites where they share the information and address of the work. I see no problems. I think we, we should empower the, the creation or the building out of the of our website via the town of Amherst. I'm just going to just a clarifying question. Dr. Shabazz is your proposal, just that we have a website period, not specifically that we that that website that we're creating is for the census. No, exactly. And, and thus, the question of how this ties in with the census is another one that right now I think is in a little bit, you know, murkier waters we need to clarify but what I'm saying is, regardless of whether this the the AHRA's website becomes of the platform for building the and reporting the black census or to what extent it as part of the outreach that can all be determined at a later point. But the, the value of us having a space where, where we share with the public we document with the public. All the things that are possible in a website, particularly a blog based type of website but, but whatever type. I think is valuable and something that I'd like us to empower through through through the through the town. Just add. Oh, sorry, Dr. Jonathan, go ahead. Just another another question is about specifically so who decides what the content is and who's putting it up there. Good question. Obviously, the contents going to have to be decided by this body. And people who really want to work on it. And obviously the town is going to be doing it, and it's going to be assigned to a specific person. And we are going to have to have some robust input into that in terms of what's going to go on there. So, um, yeah, it's, it's going to be us we're going to have to make those kinds of decisions. And I would add that I, I very much support this recommendation. And if we look at Evanston as a model, they have put together an excellent municipal website that is specific to their reparations work. I think it was incredibly useful for for us as we were moving through this earlier stage of the process and I know a lot of people are using those resources. So, and I'm also wondering. Jennifer, I don't know if Jennifer would be tasked with the content aspects of this, but as much as we could do to provide the resources and things like that to Jennifer. I just want to make sure that I heard what Irv said that, that there was an option for having a more built out reparations website of the town, but I'm also a little bit. I guess just have some questions about the time and the commitment that that requires. Yeah, I mean, it just seems like this is. Again, it's a committee with a short term. And I'm, and I'm always like a little bit flabbergasted by that. And so I, I mean, it seems like it needs there needs to be a standing committee you can't just dump funds and expect to this group to lay out what's going to happen over the next 30 years, right. So I, I, I mean, I, that should, you might want to think about having that as a recommendation, whether it's this group in or a new group of folks or, or part of you guys continue on with the work because we can't have a website and then not have the committee behind the website anymore that doesn't make any sense. And right. Yes, I can throw stuff on it as it comes to me but that's what you guys are supposed to be doing is feeding, you know, so I would just think about that. Right, like how to either you guys need to extend or make it standing or, you know, and then there is going to have to be an ongoing group committee, etc. That is going to be charged with the expenditure of funds over time, over time, as it relates to the funds that we established. We obviously could decide upon the criteria, a sector of those funds expenditures but someone's going to have to be able to make a decision so Jennifer you're correct we, we need to be thinking about how to, how those funds get, get after our time is up. And my recommendation would be that we recommend and found a report that a standing committee be put together, who makes those decision decisions, and that committee can change over time, but it is a committee that will be charged with deciding upon how those funds are extended. Yeah, so back to the motion at hand though that that's all good for other future recommendations, but for the motion at hand. What I'm hearing from you, Jennifer, is that we can build out either from the present space that we already have on the town of Amherst website, or potentially through some other aspects, and that on the larger level, then we might also want to make recommendation but I'm really envisioning what are our web based resources for sharing the work of this assembly between now and June. I'm looking at those specific months that for example, we are considering partnering with Amherst media and perhaps others to have this screening and discussion of an important documentary that may raise questions about about space as part of visioning reparations in this town. We want a way to promote that we want a way to have an event right or have something that can be there for the registration. I wouldn't outsource that to Amherst media if they do join us as a partner in the screening, which we don't know as but I wouldn't want to outsource that I'd like if this body is the one approving it, the Amherst African Heritage Reparations Assembly of the town of Amherst, I would like this body to be able to have its own space on the online web to promote this event or down the road if we have a public hearing about some some some aspect of our work leading up to our final report in June, where is the Internet resources for doing that. I think we ought to be thinking about that we ought to be building out. If it does involve some some resources to do it, then I think we need to have the discussions to get the resources, but this, this vote on the floor is really about over several months through June. How do we develop because I don't want to just burden existing staff helping us who have that a staff that already has numerous other committees and councils and and whatnot they work with. I'm really wondering if we envision there is some work that to go out on the web. Um, between now and June that we are appropriate this bill, this motion on the floor is say we agree to that and we're asking for the town to help us create those find those resources to do what we need to do on the web. I would like to call question. Yes. Go ahead. I said I called the question. Oh, sorry. Okay. So he's calling the question, but it sounds like Dr. Jemison maybe had an additional piece of. I saw Jennifer's hand up. But if you, if you, but now I'm getting the no, I know I think I was trying to respond to something that Dr. Shabbat was saying and then I, I don't know, I was typing and and lost it but whatever resources that you need for a website I mean there's multiple things that we can do and if you whatever it is that you want guys want to build. We can bring that to our department here and they will either say this is something that we can handle or they'll say we don't have the bandwidth and you guys are needs going to need to hire out. Right. So it's as simple as that but we got to know what it is that you guys want to do. Right because we can put resources on the current what we have now currently, but it's not as, but, you know, big and exciting because it's got all of the other governmental stuff on it right. And so what I'm hearing from this group is you want something that's more dedicated to a HRA itself. And so that could possibly be done through us. And I spoke to her today after we met with Sean and she said you guys just got to bring it to us and we'll figure out if we have the capabilities of doing that. Thank you. That's really helpful that clarification. So, word has called the question, which means we now will move to vote a roll call vote. Correct. Is that right. Stop me if I'm wrong. Okay. So, Earth. I Dr. Shabazz. Hi. Yes. Alexis. Hi. Dr. Jemisin. Hey. And Hala. Lord I. And Miller I. So that motion passes. So 12345 yes and one no. And thank you Dr. Shabazz for bringing that forward. Okay. So where are we? A couple of more things left on her. Yes. But, but thank you all for that. Before you go on Dr. Shabazz, I just want to check in with Hala and Alexis and just know that there's going to be additional space to come, you know, to, to discuss any of herbs findings as well. Can I just jump in quickly, because I'm going back to, I moved that the AHRA authorized the creation of a website via the town of Amherst. And so you were saying about this over the, the amount of time that we work so I don't know if you wanted to refine that and include that into the motion. Because this makes it sound like we're starting this tomorrow, which could very well be, but I know that you had mentioned, and we're very strict about like the AHRA that's current and the time constraint that it has. I will work with you and the communications department or wherever you direct me to begin to identify using the Evanston one as a model. And then of course all of that coming back to this body to agree or tweak or modify. But yes, I can get with you on that. You know, and again, whether it becomes part of the June report to keep it going, that's all to be determined down the line, but I think for right now we're just trying to identify how we can, I'll work with you to identify what potential social media, website support AHRA could use and, and then begin to be able to come back and report to the assembly what what we found out and what what we may be recommending as a as a kind of space. As far as the other two items and then others, certainly I know want to weigh in on on what herb brought us, but the, the questions that you found out about C pack and the supplemental kitty, I hope from the visioning work to have something to bring to this body to to look to support that would would go toward the CPAC and the and the supplemental funding. That was interesting what you found out about a bonding process I think that underscores, but I don't want to dovetail into the legal discussion that that Michelle will bring but it does dovetail the question of the legal model of C pack as something that we might be recommending going forward for for this work. And then finally, the, the question of sustainable funds for projects no really the question of the, the census building. I just will wait until after bam has its next meeting and can be able to discuss its role on that work. The, we already know that the, you know, the clerks town clerk's office and other potential sources. I don't want to bother them till after the election there, their, their plate is really rather full on trying to pull at some of those databases that might support the census building work so again, I don't think I don't have anything concretely to say in response to her's report on some of that information right now, but thank you again for all of that. And I yield to others. I don't know if did you want to talk about CDBG or did you talk about CDBG. I didn't I didn't and that's the community block grant money that's done on an annual basis that is another source of funds that we could tap into. Thank you Jennifer. And just to piggyback on that. Was there any discussion about the, the American rescue plan funds, I don't know if I just. funds. Yeah, there was discussion and that was part of what I said cares. There's opera is a part of that also. And so I think the town overall, this time with the ARPA funds is trying to do it through the lens of DEI, you know, and making an attempt that it's trying to move money forwards to closing the gaps or help filling the gaps across the board as opposed to just having funds dedicated to one specific thing. They're trying to spread it across. Yeah, and what's important about that DEI is important. But when we look about spending that money that is available. For me, if we can find a window of opportunity to expend those funds on something that we want to do. We certainly could do that and we certainly would fall into the category of DEI. And just sort of expanding and we can come back to this at a later time but we're talking about reparations for residents of African descent, and the town is making efforts toward racial equity as a whole which is what Jennifer's referring to and so there may be a point in which we want to coordinate with other groups that are working on these things because if we're looking for example at cannabis, there are some communities that have said, we want to capture X percentage or all of this cannabis money for racial equity and then it sort of gets determined how the community is allocated and so just to kind of broaden ourselves out a little bit and think about wanting to coordinate with the new safety and justice committee that has just been formed which is an extension of the community safety working group and other bodies that may be working on these similar issues so thank you so much Irv that was all extremely helpful and I think we need to decide what next steps we need to take and we're going to have some time I hope to discuss agenda items for the next meeting and maybe have a little time between now and that next meeting we literally had one business day from the last meeting to get anything done so I am in all of all of this work that's been produced in that period of time, but I did want to also come back to Alexis and Hala and Dr. Jemisin again and just see if there was anything to add in terms of the financial discussion. Yeah, go ahead Alexis. Um, I guess for me I was just wondering. I guess when, or, okay, are we going to be talking more about that like general racial equity. Like situation or is there something like how do we find more information about that is that going to be for next time. I'm sorry I. I wasn't sure where we like ended on that. You mean when we said, I'm, I can't I'm having a hard time so do you want to know when we're going to be doing more talking about more about racial equity. When you were talking when you were speaking specifically about the, like a larger general umbrella motion by the town to attack racial equity and that like was going to be like a, what I assume and I could be assuming incorrectly that was like a larger fund that multiple groups would be pulling from. This is a very large funds and then, you know, it's like a. But so I think what is happening is all of the town departments and different bodies and boards and committees will be trying to look at things through a more equitable lens to achieve things or to, and, you know, like the health report went out and they were having a really hard time with outreach for COVID vaccines and so that's a place where they might want to. I don't know how to explain it best but because I don't want to put words or make any actions but. I think it's important that we recognize that we're focused on reparations for residents of African descent and there's a, there's a laser focus that we're having in this particular committee. And there's this larger discussion and so at what point do we have more of a holistic conversation of that includes, you know, our group, the safety and social justice group, perhaps the human rights, you know, commission commission so because that's where the town is headed overall. And there's all these pots of money, and we're all we all want to get from each of those pots. And there might be this way to really strategically work together to make sure that that larger mission is accomplished, as well as the individual missions of each group. And so I think that's a great question. I think that's a great question. I think that's a great question. I think that's a great question. I think that's a great question. I agree with you, Michelle. And the thing that I've said before is we need to have these legal parameters settled for us. So we know how we can expand these funds that we know are there. The question is, all right, do we have to, how do we frame our proposals are we framing them in light of having what we do and the money we we come up with specifically targeted to African Americans. And that has to be decided because there are parameters that we're going to be having to deal with in terms of use of that money for that specific purpose. Are there ways of accomplishing that specific purpose through other language. Yeah, that's a great, great question. Dr. Jemison your hands up. Yeah, just a quick logistical question. So excellent and very thorough report or one thing that I just wanted to double check. Are there any dates we need to be particularly aware of so we can make sure that the committee moves to act by that time. Yes. The same dates that that are there for the budget calendar. Those of we are going to go after any funds. We're going to have to fall into that budget calendar. We want to add to review the budget calendar or have that, you know, for our next agenda to really dig into that and how we're going to approach this. And I believe I sent everyone Sean's report because that has the budget framework in it. Yeah, and it's also in our packet. Yeah, I think it was added. So yes, we should have that Dr. Shabazz. Yeah, I just want to say in the spirit of as I heard Alyssa Brewer say in one of our previous meetings that that October report deadline really will position us well. We're making recommendations at that point for some of these time sensitive issues. So if we are looking at by our October check in report with the council recommending actions be taken around cannabis revenues. I'm recommending to the council to do that. If we have an item in there saying we're recommending that surplus or free cash continue to flow in our stabilization account. In the way that this current amount has flown flowed in or some percentage, then I think we'll be moving in the right direction to catch a lot of those time sensitive budgetary things if we're looking to make those recommendations by our end of the month report. Just keep in mind that we are going to be in competition for some of these funds. And the reason for it is that there are additional new new items that are coming forward on the on the budget scene that weren't there last year. And as a and B, we need to think about and be really strategic as in our thinking and putting together these funds so that they continue over time and do not get bumped off by other kinds of necessities that may come up in the future. In other words, I'm talking about sustainability. I just want to acknowledge that we have heard you on sustainable funds and on the October report. I will do one last call for anything on on budget and then particularly given that we are eight minutes eight would like to move on to other topics if we can anything else about the budget hearing none Michelle would you like to give us a legal update. I would. All right, so there are a few pieces to this. The first is Dr. Jemison and I will be meeting with rep dumb, either tomorrow or Friday. So we'll be meeting with her and wanted to ask this group if there were particular questions other than some of the questions that we've already talked about in relationship to the legal memo that we received from KP law. If there are specific questions, I, you know, perhaps they could be sent to us between tonight and tomorrow's that we're not taking up too much time here to talk about them. I'm going to run through these and then we can come back to questions. Robin rue Simmons of first repair has connected us to two people from one from Howard University and one from Columbia that are specifically working on the legalities of local reparations. Bill Quist Wilkerson and Linda man, and Bill Quist is the managing director of the third good Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University. And so we're in the process of setting up a meeting. The question we have for the body here is. Do we want to invite them to a public meeting and if so, what would that look like. And then I also wanted to let the group know that I had a really informative discussion with community member and retired lawyer, need a sorrow. Anita was so kind to review the report that we received from KP law and follow up with some feedback for the group and the feedback that I received from Anita is first just to acknowledge that this is very complex and that we are one of the first municipalities to be doing this so it's also new, and there's not a whole lot of case law that's actually apples to apples when you're looking at it. Anita recommended that we really work to determine our objectives and continue to work on this process of visioning and what the group has in mind and really wants to pursue. Building coalition with the allies and friends that we have that we know are interested in moving this forward so like meeting with rep dumb and perhaps making the connection sooner than later with the folks in Cambridge, and also folks in Boston. I know Boston King Boston is a coalition group that's been heading up the state wide reparations conversation and so we have that connection. And one other item that I talked about with Anita is the benefit of defining public purpose, what does public purpose mean and if special legislation is going to be sought, really understanding what that means in with respect to public purpose. So that was a lot and and I'm happy to answer any questions at this point Dr. Jemison and I are going to be working on this legal piece together and so Dr. Jemison will also be there to meet initially with Bilquist and Linda from Thurgood Marshall and then of course we should have discussion about bringing them here. Yep. And so this is a good time for any questions that you may have. I know Anita Sorrow is here as well and we have time envisioned, perhaps for closing public comments but I would like to drill down a little bit more on the public purpose idea and legislation that could happen at the state level that might clarify or give us here at home some sound ruling authority on which to base our reparations plan, our proposed reparations program. The framework that again I've looked at and I know it isn't apples to apples, it may not even be apples to another fruit, it might be apples to cereal in a box but still the question of the Community Preservation Act, did that come up in your legal scan conversations with Repdom or anyone in terms of are we looking at some type of legislative initiative at the state level on the order of the Community Preservation Act that can create the home rule legal authority. And that's all to my question. Yeah and Dr. Shabazz that's top of the agenda, one of the main discussion points that we'll have with Repdom and also Repdom has been very supportive in helping us in any way that she can and so if we after this initial discussion want to invite her to come to talk more specifically, I think that would be really helpful. Are there any other questions or I guess I definitely want to make sure that we make a decision because if, if when we speak with Bilquist and Linda from the Thurgood Marshall Center, I want to make sure that we're able to or that we're ready to invite them to come to a public meeting, given that they have very busy schedules and things like that so I wonder if that's something that we need to vote on or if we just can do it. It's my understanding that if there's no objection to something like that that we can move forward with it without a vote it's only if there's an objection that then we have to kind of go through the process of the vote. At this point, with respect to inviting Bilquist and Linda into the into the committee for a meeting. Is there any objection to that. Okay. Irv yes please question like the question is what would be the purpose of this meeting with these two and what what do we wish to get out of that meeting at the end of the meeting what do we hope to walk away with. Yeah, it's a great question. Well, you know, I think that given that Robin has recommended that these are the folks that are working on this actively. I've learned a lot from them and what knowledge they have. I've also provided them with KP laws. Legal recommendations. And so I'm hoping that based on the experience that they have in the work that they're doing they'll be able to speak to us directly about those recommendations. And also be able to highlight parts of the recommendations that they may, you know, have information to add to or whatever whatever the case maybe I think it's more getting an exploring and getting information from folks that are invested in this and and doing this work. I would be really interested in that, especially if they came into a meeting with us, ready to talk about their perceptions, reactions, comments, opinions on that KP law that would be particularly valuable. And that's what Dr. Jemison and I will will sort of flesh out with them when we meet with them is what, you know, capacity they might join us in. And I think that Bill quits provides testimony from what I can understand it on the on the bio that I read. And really, I think these based on what I've taken in and understood these would be really, really valuable discussions for us to have and Dr. Shabazz I see your hands up. I say definitely without objection. I don't know that it needs to go to a vote I didn't hear what Dr. Rhodes raised as an objection so I think it's without objection. I just would add as well that I give great trust to both of you co chairs in agenda for holding for for our discussions. So if from your meeting with representative Dom you think they're that, you know, and can schedule time for her to come and and check in with us. And I think we'll find appropriating 510 whatever you all would see as the amount of time necessary. Likewise, with these discussions with Linda man with also Bill Chris, that, you know, definitely I give, I give latitude to that there could be value to us. And I'll leave with this. The, the legal piece is probably something more relevant for our June report. It's not as actively pressing, if you will, for our October recommendations and our October check in with the council. I think really are our sleeves over the next couple of weeks ought to be rolled up around bearing down on, you know, whether we're recommending the council move to encumber some of cannabis revenues or encumber free cash or encumber other sources. I think it's going to be really critical to to press on between now and the October report that we're charged with with with presenting some of these other legal questions, if we can look to calendar those more in November and out from there. That's, that's better. But right now, I think our next couple of meetings to to before the end of October, we really need to see if there are what what the financial recommendations are that we want to let the council know and hopefully take action on. I didn't hear me but I just breathed out a really big sigh of relief. I really appreciate that recommendation to focus and put our efforts toward the financial questions here. And, or I see that you're right. And I'm, and I'm thinking, yes, I would love to do that. But we have to have a purpose for what's just money is going to be expended. It has to be a purpose. It has to be some target audience. All right, and that target audience right now is wrapped up in a conundrum. You know, surrounded by some kind of paradox called a legal. And we need to have some legal clarity. We recommend something to the council that would have no legal legs to stand on. Quick follow up to that, please. Briefly, yes, please, Dr. Shabazz. I respect not trying to take up a whole lot of space, but, but just quickly, the beauty of these recommendations in October is that it becomes the, it then puts the ball with the council. And if they need further deliberation about rationale about whether the legal underbrush has been cleared up, you know, for them to take action, then, you know, we can work with them but I don't think we ought to anticipate what all their questions are I think we need to, in the same sense, mind you, that they committed this 200 plus to a stabilization account that they authorized the town manager to create and that Sean Magano has created. I think it's in that same spirit. We can expect the council to in good faith, move within the budget cycle. To encumber the resources. Again, these would be other demands that may be made for equity and inclusion strategies and so on, but on the basis of that we're doing this work that they can come because here's the rub. If down the road it would be all determined that well none of this could ever be spent in the way desired by this body. The money isn't lost. It's right there in the count, the council can take it and move it back into into spending on other purposes. So I really don't think we have to be worried about the legality and eligibility and all of these other kind of rationale questions to make these valid recommendations about the financial instrument and encumbering funds to flow into that instrument. And I think that's what ought to be our major debates and conversations around over the next two weeks, leading into October these other questions of rationale. I think right now we can step out on faith that our council is with us and could move to encumber funds and make decisions around funds now, expecting that by June, we will have greater clarity about the mechanisms for spending those funds. There's no argument that I have with you what I'm saying to you is that, yes, that those funds are going to be put into that account come November. That is not a question. They will be put into that stabilization fund for our purposes, because that it already that has already been voted on by the town council. I'm not sure that's understood. I am not talking about that. I am talking about the expenditures of such funds or any other funds that we have. How that will occur, if we do not have really legal clarity. So there's two issues. One is not an issue because it's already been voted on the money is going into that account, the stabilization account that's, that's going to happen. The other question is, what are we going to expend those funds on in the immediate future when I say immediate future for for the upcoming budget cycle, or other funds that we can identify to be expended. What are we going to expand those funds on, but in surrounding all of that are the legal questions. The legal legal questions have nothing to do with those fun. The funds in the stabilization fund zero they're going in. It's going to happen in November. Thank you. So, I'm just going to bring over our awareness to a couple of things right now. This is the impasse we hit at our at our last conversation and I think, as it gets late we might be talking past each other a little bit. There is clear urgency to make sure that funds are secured that is dictated by the budget calendar. And I appreciate Dr. Shabazz's encouragement that in the next very near term meetings, we handle those questions to make sure that we can secure funds, not only money that already went into the stabilization fund or is imminently going into the stabilization fund, but from those other sources. So, can I, are there any other comments on this one or because we've got two topics we haven't covered yet and open comment period to get through on what everyone already agreed was a long day so Dr. Jemisin the only thing I would say is do we want to between now and our next meeting assign each of those funding sources like one to each of us. Have that person dig in and then come back and report to the group what they found so we've identified several different sources that I've heard throughout this meeting and so maybe we just want to divvy them out and say hey you go find out everything you can about that particular source of funding and bring it back to the next meeting. I am. I personally am for that proposal. I just although I do want to ask it would be an undue burden on is it Sean who would be answering all these questions is he want to hear from seven of us or it doesn't matter. I think we'll probably be end up going to the individual committee heads who like her, you know, and in there might be some cases where we have to ask Sean, or check in with town manager Backelman but I think we'll be able to get a lot from the committee heads. For that I think that would be a really useful way for us to really be able to come back next time because I'm not sure that all of us understand each of these funding sources and how they work and what the processes for utilizing them. Yes, there's herb and then Dr. Shabazz and just I didn't I brought this so that we have something to move toward for the next meeting and also very aware of what Dr. Jemisin said that it is late and we still have a couple additional items to get through. So maybe we can just make these couple comments quick and then move forward. Go ahead. So, great suggestion. But, you know, but I think that, you know, practicality is going to have to roll here. We, we need to move in an expeditious manner. We need to have if there is any additional information that is needed on these funds. I'm definitely willing able to bring all of that back to you. Sean is overwhelmed. Very new father. And so, therefore, you know, having other people because it's once he's the source. Sean is the source. And every and whatever money that we're going to request has to be requested through the budget process. And then and then that that budget process is a discrete process that is known that goes through the council through the council. But first, we have to decide what money do we want and how much do we want and what it's going to be used for. If we can't answer that last question. But in some kind of way, what is going to be used for because the council is certainly going to ask it. Then we were going to be losing, I mean, using using up a lot of time, going nowhere. Because that last question, what are we going to use it for is the important question. I think it's important because you have a lot of knowledge about this, but we don't all and the public doesn't all so I'm simply suggesting that we are getting a brief overview. Like, you might know what CPAC is and what, you know, all of these other items that were mentioned that my brain is not able to come up with right now. But not everybody in the group knows exactly what those funding sources are and what they, you know, look like. And so that's where that suggestion came from. Thank you. In the spirit of both your comments, I'd like to move it forward with my first volunteering for one of them. I will reach out to CPAC. I will reach out with a specific proposal that I have in mind that could perhaps come out of that supplemental funding that I will then bring back to this body to look at. That I that I think this body can both endorse and that I think CPAC, it would fall under their Community Preservation Act, particularly the history component of it. So I will be glad to take CPAC. I think I understand the point now of IRV is not so much about the funding like the stabilization funding that's going into an endowment. It's about within the current budget cycle, how might we be requesting in the name of of of reparative justice for African heritage people, what are specific ideas and projects under some of these. So I don't know who might take Community Development Block Grant within this body. I would nominate Michelle maybe to look at cannabis revenue and make coming back with a specific revenue because I know she and the group she founded, we're looking at that have been looking at that idea over the last two years or a year and a half. So I think they could probably I think she could probably bear down on any specific recommendations we might want to make out of the cannabis revenue which to me saying put encumber this amount of the cannabis revenues for this coming fiscal year and put it in our stabilization fund. That's that that we're growing an endowment. That is the rationale. There's no more specifics. I think for that one is necessary. It's to grow our endowed endowed fund that our June report will will point toward a mechanism and potential ideas and work out the reality of. So I think that might be sufficient for cannabis. I don't know about ARPA funds. What would qualify in this cycle, or who best to take that up. I don't know about Community Development Block Grant. But I might say the rest. All right. No one cares act or пот relief money, but I will take on see past. Thank you. Thank you, Dr Shivas. Can I also asked if you were planning to go to Council with a proposal. That is a representative of this committee. Could you maybe tell us what it is. the specific recommendation, and I could even send it beforehand, the recommendation is basically for an African American Heritage Marker Program where we would mark historical sites in the town of Amherst with a marker program. It will require money to build the markers. It will require money to have those planted. So that's the budget piece of it that I think could come out of CPAC developmental, but that's just a thumbnail. Great. If you have that in writing, it would be really wonderful if you could provide that for us, even just a sketch so it can go in the packet. It's always wonderful to have full information so everyone can have a considered opinion. Shabazz, your answer that you're going to get from CPAC is, yes, you can do that. 100% yes. That was one of the things that came up in yesterday's meeting. Yes, you will be able to do that for memorials, monuments, etc. Great. And just to follow up with Dr. Jemison just said, Irv, if it's possible to put what you propose to Sean in writing and the answers in writing, so they may be included, although I guess they'll be in the minutes of the meeting, so maybe that's not even necessary, but I do want to make sure that all of that information that you provided to us tonight is captured and I can do the same thing, although again, like I said, it's probably going to be in the meeting minutes. I can do that. I've only stopped the video because I'm sick of looking at myself. Fair enough. Okay. Dr. Jemison, do you want to move us on to the next? Yeah, I regret that we skipped what I thought might be a quick item, which we were going to hear a little bit more information from Jennifer about us having an email dedicated to this or a communication dedicated to this group. I will have to follow up next weekend, not next weekend, but at our next meeting. I just honestly didn't have the time to check in with Paul, and sometimes even though we're on the same floor, it's like ships passing. Again, only one working day, so we totally get that. No worries. Thank you. We will table that for the next one. And then, so I think our last item for this week was some visioning, and again, recollecting that we only had one business day for this. Dr. Shabazz, did you? Oh, go ahead. I'm so sorry. Did somebody take on CDBG, and did somebody? Not yet. I mean, can we assign those? Okay, those things are just floating. Well, no, can we assign them post-meeting? Yeah, I think Dr. Jemison and I can get together to start to develop the next meetings agenda, and we'll quickly kind of try to assign those post-meeting so that we're not caught up in that right now. And if somebody wants to take one on, please email us and say this is the one I'd like to take on or something along that line. So, I mean, it's fine, but we seem to have lost Hala. So I don't know if she's dropped accidentally or had a time constraint, just acknowledging that she's not able to be here but we still have a quorum. So, away we go. So, yes, our last item was visioning, and Dr. Shabazz, do you have an update on that this week? Yeah. Yeah, I think we can more hold on that for now. I hear you loud and clear on putting some specifics in the packet before our meeting ahead of time. So, I will go with that, follow that recommendation. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. So, that ends the items we put on the formal plan part of the agenda. Do we go now to the public, the second public comment, Michelle, or did we want to get clear the other topics or the understanding topics? I think we could do, we could call for public comment right now, and then we can, you know, we basically can, I think, just say if there are no member reports, we just move beyond that. There probably aren't, but maybe there are. And then really just coming up with a next meeting date and other topics that the chair did not really anticipate, which I don't have any. So, let's, yeah, let's open it up for public comment at this point. So, if there is anybody here that would like to speak and we do actually have one here, Anita would like to join for public comment. So, Anita, you have up to three minutes and we will listen and take notes. Sure. And I will try to be even quicker. I just wanted to clarify one thing on the legal discussion and that is that a lot of what drives a legal opinion in this context is not really the words on the page. You know, this is about sections of Massachusetts law and Massachusetts Constitution that has then been interpreted over the past 150 years through different cases that brought very specific facts and circumstances for a court to consider. So, instead, in situations like this, I would just urge everyone to have some clear expectation of what a legal opinion could do because it's not the legal opinion that is going to make it easier for you to vision what you would like to do. It kind of works in reverse. The legal opinion is by and large based on what goals, what objectives this group has in mind. What does reparations look like for you because the KP law opinion, there's an implication that they were interpreting reparations in the narrowest sense possible, which was individual grants. And exactly. So, I think, you know, the visioning is going to be extremely important, partnering or seeking out allies who are doing this work in Massachusetts like Cambridge. If Cambridge feels like they are going to be able to use town funds for specific things and they've gotten clearance from their lawyer, that would be interesting to see. So, all I'm saying is don't wait for the definitive legal opinion. Do your visioning, set your goals, draw the picture that you want for the town and make the argument that there is public benefit here, that we all will be benefited if it comes to, for instance, awards to allow a small business that will be owned by an African American. How does that relate to public benefit? Well, it creates more for the tax base. It makes the town vibrant, you know, kind of pulling out those thinking in that way, but certainly thinking first about what you would like to see and then looking at the legal context within that framework. So, if I could just wave a magic wand and say, don't worry about it for now. Open up your mind to possibilities and have at it. That's it. Thank you, Anita. Is there anyone else? I see we only have Council Brewer here. So, if there are no other public comments, then I think we can move on and determine our next meeting date. That's always fun. And are you still meeting as a community safety working group, Jen, next week? Are they still going to be meeting next Thursday? I'm not 100% sure that they're meeting next Thursday, the 21st. I'm thinking they're meeting on the 28th as their last meeting, but I would feel uncomfortable like booking that day if we could just wait the two more weeks and then we could go full scale to Thursdays. I would feel better. And also, you can't have two Zoom meetings going on off of my one account, so somebody's getting kicked out. So, was this time okay for folks if we did next Wednesday, 6.15? So, I have human rights commission on the 20th. Okay. Also, she's going to need time for open meeting law to publish this meeting, so it can't be any sooner than one week out, right? Or is it 48 hours? It's 48 hours that I need, but I could have Angela come back and attend this meeting, and I could cover the HRC if this is the only date that works. Like, I'm not going to hold everybody up, so if this is the only day that really works next week, then we'll make that happen. Tuesdays are pretty good, I don't know. Oh, but Hala has school committee. Irv, Dr. Shabazz, Alexis, Dr. Jemisin. I know you're traveling, right, Alexis? So, you, right, okay. Yeah, I was just going to default to everybody else. Yeah, I have the evening, three Tuesday through Friday, so. Okay. Dr. Shabazz is Wednesday night. Is that, okay. And Irv, are you available on Wednesday night? Is that the 20th? Yes. Yes, I am. Okay. Sorry, Jennifer, for this weekend, hopefully moving forward, we'll be able to stick on. No problem. But that's good, because we don't want to miss Hala on Tuesday night, so let's set it for Wednesday, 615. And Dr. Jemisin and I will work on the agenda and trying to get items into the packet. And so, I think then that moves us. Are there any member reports? We've reported enough. And upcoming events. Anything, Jennifer, relevant in terms of upcoming events that we need to announce? No, usually I've always got something up my sleeve, but I don't have anything today. No, unfortunate. Great. And Dr. Jemisin, did you have any other topics that you didn't reasonably anticipate, reasonably anticipate? My words aren't even working anymore. All right. Yeah, not this evening. Oh, Dr. Shabazz. Well, I just would note that at the University of Massachusetts tomorrow at 12 noon, the UMass branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has called a gathering of to be revolutionary in the face of the different challenges we have with racial and sexual harassment on campus. So they're doing that at 12 noon at the student union on the campus. Thank you. So I guess we can move to adjourn the meeting. Is that sound good to everyone? Second. All right. Well, then, good night. What was that? I want to have an avatar for my next meeting. Can you just tell me the time that you're adjourning at? Are we calling that 8 30? It's 8 30. Let's call it 8 30. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, everyone. Bye, everyone. Bye. Good night, all.