 Good evening and welcome to select board meeting of June 25th 2018 call. I'm calling the select board meeting to order at 6 34 p.m. As is always the case we start with our Opening remarks announcements and agenda review Are there any things on the agenda that my colleagues wanted to mention or note about it as far as what we've got on tonight's agenda? I don't think there's any Real additions or changes per se there And so yes, you know the only thing was to remind you that under number five that there is a request We talked about committee boards appointments and reappointments Okay, I think Paul had one thing on there and I have one thing on there. Okay, so Yes, I have one announcement I'd like to note that I'm very pleased to welcome Angela Mills to our meeting tonight This is her first day of work as the executive assistant to the town manager Previously she was the administrative assistant for the Crocker farm school for eight years She's an Amherst resident grammar graduate of Amherst College parent coach worked at multiple other institutions Really impressed during her interview process, which was a pretty rigorous process Went through three sets of interviews with some a lot of good people and Always brought a real can-do attitude She's bilingual. I think she's came in sort of a little bit sad this morning because she was leaving her Crocker farm family But we're really really really pleased to have her starting today. So welcome Angela. All right, so welcome and so we'll So I guess the first question I have is are there Any people here for public comment not related to an agenda item because we'll do that public comment when we get to those if not then we'll go through and we'll do public comment at the time of the Agenda items. We do have a public hearing tonight a formal public hearing which will not take up until about seven o'clock Just because it was noticed in the paper as a seven o'clock start time. So we'll do some other things in the meantime So the first order business tonight is under action discussion items section 4 of our agenda is the town manager performance evaluation review of the timeline So in our packet was a Two-page I believe Timeline of things relative to the current year's review of the manager And I guess the first question was I got some feedback from from one member about their schedule and how that played into how this evaluation timeline works and Could be complicated for them as the summer rolls along And I was wondering if anybody else had Notice any problems or issues or things they wanted to mention relative to that timeline The only thing that and I had previously noted that I will not be here for the one meeting on the 27th of August Okay So that's race is an interesting point because we may end up in a circumstance the lion's share of the work relative to the to the The managers evaluation will really take place on the previous Monday when we all sit and read and it's Exciting television because we're just sitting reading each other's evaluations for the first time but that following Monday is usually when we Try to sort of finish things up and potentially go into executive session to talk with the manager about his contract for the coming year So we may need to shift that date because it sounds as though a couple of us may not be able to be here and participate as fully So we'll see Mr. Walden returns what his summer schedule looks like so we'll we'll keep that one as a question mark that last one and The 27th of August. Yes Because we may need to investigate A following meeting or maybe even a special meeting if we need to to sort of continue with that. Yes Mr. Slater, could we talk for a minute then about the schedules of the people who are here in terms of moving that up to Later in the week of Monday August 20th if that helps at all, which it doesn't say for example of mr. Stemmer's leaving the 21st, but Or if it's Later in that week what I'm saying is you know if it's not Monday the 27th Is it going to be at all that week or would it need to go to the following week or do we back it up a little? I mean just to give ourselves a sense of what we're looking at here, right? At least to the people who are here so for me personally You know later in the week of the 20th 20th is the Monday 27th is a Monday as well Is an available week There are days that week that are available to me, so we could potentially certainly personally I can do that We're scheduled. I think if the the interesting thing that happens after the 27th is we run into the Labor Day weekend and election day Primary election day is the fourth Which would push us back. We have our scheduled meeting on the Fifth which is Wednesday, so if we didn't do the 27th then we went later It would be the fifth just probably why he suggested is there a time before that Monday that was Workable for other folks and so We don't know what mr. Wall schedule is like, but yeah, I mean the other thing you have to think about is your own workload because If you're going to be revising The major piece that's being discussed on the 20 20th how many days do you need to turn that around and So you should think about that and not commit tonight, right? The other possibility is if it's not Major changes that happen afterwards We could give our comments to you Individually that we who are whoever is not here to you by email and Then you could Have it for the know what we said on the night of the 27th, but we couldn't share it with the group obviously In addition to that which is of course true that you need to be really thoughtful about Predicting how much you might have to change between the 20th and the 27th Fortunately, it hasn't been so much the last couple of years that this group has been working together So I think that that that you know is some slight consolation that might not be a lot But the other concern I have beyond the individual comments that say mr. Steinberg for example could provide you is that he Would then miss the executive session And I'm less comfortable with that I'm much happier to have all of us present for executive session And I think I had sent the chair and in the manager my schedule and potential conflicts and while I Might be able to be here on the 27th. It's not particularly a good day for me because I Am going to be doing something all day long somewhere else and rushing back for that So similar I wouldn't want to miss it, but if it was the only day I would try to come but would prefer to push that back So what if we proposed the Friday? How does that comport with peoples The peoples who can't be the 27th can those peoples be available the 24th for an evening Doesn't really matter when we schedule it for me. So my question is why do we why can't we just push the whole thing out? Into September if we can't do it in August there isn't it's a self-imposed deadline It's I think I want I want to understand why we can't make it take a little longer if people are going to be away It's not going to work for us with these states So generally generally the idea was we tried to get it over with it didn't always happen There were years prior to your serving on the board where it certainly didn't happen in this time frame. I Think to some extent it's also There's some questions to how much it matters to us that there's a primary election in there and how that might be Influencing individual people's workload before and after and if that appears to have any Influence on the executive session in Terms of the incoming council whereas this is still hours at this point and still very much the select board's role Whereas one might conceivably argue that as people make it through the preliminary Election process it'll be more real who people might be and what their views might be associated with moving forward So this year as a year. I would be less inclined to say let's just not worry about it Let's do it in the middle of September and just be done with it. I'm a little uneasy about any appearance of any Influence there as opposed to Okay, so let me put it bluntly So we finished the evaluation and then we think we need to work on a little bit more and then a week or so later We have an executive session and there are people who are running for counsel who say you know what? We pay that to our manager too much. That would not be a good time to be having that executive session I would rather do that before we move further into the transition I hear your point, but I actually don't consider it a plausible issue In in this case that I don't believe it would affect Those evaluations, but I think it's it's sort of a good theoretical consideration, but I think Just An election some people are candidates some people are not but we're doing our work and we're doing it with integrity If we can if we can't do it within the time frame as proposed We need to make adjustments if we all want to participate. So if it's the 24th and Depending on if that's even going to work that would leave the Chair taking the comments from the 20th and completing the Compilation we call it composite by the 24th. Is that right? Right so the goal would be in in that circumstance if we did it on that Friday that you know Hopefully it wouldn't be a circumstance where we show up to meeting. I hand it out I'd hopefully have it ready for you in advance of that a little bit. So you had some time to look it over Which is really the 23rd for you, right, which is 22 21 22 and 20 Right, which is so possible, but it's not optimal, but at the same time Hopefully again depends on sort of how close I get it on the 20th Because the goal is to sort of capture the you know the essence of you know the five evaluations into a single Coherent document, but Yeah, and I have to be Honest unless we were meeting first thing in the morning on the 24th I couldn't attend a meeting on the 24th. Anyway is actually leaving so We'd have to be the night of the 23rd or first thing in the morning on the 24th And if that's not a doable thing, then I think we should go back to The original plan and I do remind you that the same thing happened with my absence last year for the exact same meeting so and then we survived Didn't you guys did well So in that case are you saying partly we were balancing the fact that miss Kruger's also indicated She might not be available on the 27th, which would mean two people that would not be available for executive session Which is even worse, but if that were not true Are you saying you feel relatively comfortable based on last year's experience not being there for executive session if we Decide to go ahead with that or would you or as are we leaning toward after Labor Day at this point? Will people be back? It's my other question if I mean, I don't want to belabor this longer But if you decided to me later in the day on the 24th, and I could be there. That's what I was referring to I'm sure you guys will do great If we have four people we know will be there What's your cut-off time on the 24th? You said if it's the morning Yeah, I don't like Friday evening at all No, I would I would probably we would probably need to leave by late morning So So should we Suggest that mr. Slaughter gives some thought and get back to us Yeah, I think I'm gonna need to because we'll also need to get some input from mr. Walton, I'm not sure we fully know his schedule yet Right and the other part of it is if you could talk to mr. Bachman and see if he has plans associated with those dates as well or Standing meetings that are hard to move but so theoretically we're looking at the morning of Friday the 24th early like how like Just to give people some options so Friday the 24th at like eight The other issue associated with that is in terms of what we normally get done then like you say a lot depends on how much Was done on the 20th and so how many edits you have to do Before that maybe it's two sentences, or maybe it's two pages Is that we would normally have a press release that day even though and then that would include the revised composite evaluation, so that's the other piece, too So if it's just so complicated then Pushing it out might be the other option, but perhaps I'm what I'm saying is perhaps offer Friday the 24th Say whatever eight o'clock. I don't know what works for people To mr. Wald as well and then say if not then then our next meeting is Wednesday the fifth right If that's somehow better And it also means we may need schedule an additional meeting in September then if we're adding this meeting Right to September's workload, right? That means we might have some additional work in September that won't get done on the fifth You'll let us know you'll let us know I put it in for the morning of the 24th as a placeholder So I don't schedule something else right, but I think that's a good idea Pencil it off just in case and so hopefully we'll Try to bring some clarity to that fairly soon. We'll get some feedback from mr. Wald anybody else has Subsequent and later thoughts on the matter Those are all at this point, you know fine for me I think So I think was there anything else in the timeline that was noticeably missing and or Seemed often anyway, I will say that it I did put in fiscal year 19 goals with you know as a Way of describing it. I don't know that that's necessary. It won't be the classic goals that we usually do because We'll be transitioning mid-year So we'll that's a way to describe it that probably will not necessarily be exactly what it looks like and how it's shaped So some of our conversations will be about what we want it to be and how we set that up for our Town council will follow us So I will follow up with people and And try to find out What will work best as far as late August and getting all of us there in case of an executive for the executive session and finalizing the managers evaluation Just so that I understand so If all comments are due by Friday the 13th When what's the integer of time where we will have everything to work on our own? Written evaluation looks like it would be so you have from So by Monday the 16th of July I'll make sure that everybody has a copy of all the the input and feedback we've received from staff and and books around town And you will have until the 6th of August which Which I Think is the same like the time we had before which I want to say is Two three weeks From the 16th to the 6th and that allows us where we have other Things in our own lives that we have confined some time between So this the 16th you because I you deliver us those packets. Yeah So everything's due by the end of the day on Friday And I will get those and it may actually drop them off to you before Monday, but no later than Monday. I'll get copies to you Meaning the 16th of July, which is Monday, so you should have three four weeks with all the materials. Yes just confirming that yes well and In the recent past a lot of it's all just been emailed It's just been re-forwarded to us so that hasn't been difficult as opposed to yours when we've had lots of paper But the the packet for the Friday is supposed to include the self-evaluation from the town manager So that won't be news to us Monday night it will in theory have been delivered to us Friday night So even though we may not have all the public comments in our hands We will at least have had a time to read that because we then talk to the town manager about That document that night and if it's not in the packet that makes it really impossible to talk about it. So Okay So there's a certain amount of pressure on the manager to have it completed so it can go in our packet on the afternoon of the 13th So I think we'll move on we have a couple minutes before 7 o'clock So we'll wait until 7 for our for our public hearing. So I think at this point Why don't we and I think our marijuana discussion this evening will be rather lengthy? So I think that Why don't we Take up our consent calendar items because those should be fairly quick unless there's some Certain issue with those and so we can take care of that and get that out of the way If someone would like to make the motion relative to those I guess the one question I had on the consent calendar is it's somewhat unusual that we're being asked to approve the change of dates for Where the both the original and the new date were in the past? Yeah, and I was just curious Explanation to go with that there was no paper to go with it. So that was a judgment call We had to make whether to have a formal vote and a post After the event occurred we had reviewed this and Made the decision that was a minor change You had already approved the substance of the motion But thought thought through transparency and for you know the record it would be better for the board to have a vote on it See yeah, right C in this So I'm comfortable then going ahead and making the motion without them in the pause in case somebody else has Something they want to pull from it before I do I Move to approve the items listed on the consent calendar for June 25 2018 as presented Is there a second second? Is it for the discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Hi unanimous with one absent Yes, if I could just make a note I really appreciate the fact that we got this beautiful map That actually shows us where things are at EMS. I think that helps us understand better what they're attempting to do So given that we're still a little shy of seven o'clock I think what we'll go to is under section five of our agenda's committee and Boards appointments and reappointments, and I think mr. Steinberg You had a couple of things you want to mention relative to this topic and maybe mr. Bachman you did as well So I'm not sure who would prefer to go first. I Think there are two committees One with mr. Bachman sent us a memo on so I should let him speak to that So we receive notification that as of June 30th the historical Commission will not have enough members to hold a meeting One seat is vacant two members terms are expiring on June 30th 18th And they do not wish to be continued and one member has resigned because she is moving out of town The historical Commission is a seven seven member body. It needs four members to have a quorum the charter allows for requires a Quorum plus one which would equal five for this body So at the end of June the historical Commission will only have three members So two members you're permitted to appoint up to two members to the historical Commission And we have two applicants who have submitted Caffs already who are in our files and I just would looking for direction to initiate that process of the interview and Things like that and to also sort of publicly let people know that this is a vacancy That that will be seeking to fill in under the terms of the transition provisions of the charter Yes, so this being a town manager appointment. Yeah, that Sounds reasonable to me to do interviews. Also. This is a great way of letting people know Hopefully they all read our packet this weekend that said oh look I could apply I'm the historical Commission and that would be great. I am not Eager to Recommend the idea that the historic district Commission members be moved over to the historic Commission I think we've those are very separate agencies and while they're certainly familiarity and enthusiasm and some previous service Associated with some of those. I just don't think that's a good choice I think you have to confirm though Any other comment or suggestion for the manager relative to this? Yeah, so select board has to confirm the appointments Yes The only Final comment is is that given the importance of this particular board that has the ability to Make some very important decisions regarding demolition and property and Needs to Function in an appropriate manner. I would feel more comfortable if the town manager had one more at least one more minimum person to consider than a point than positions to fill so I would hope that through public notice and Any other efforts we can that we can Provide that to him so as a reminder to folks who are watching or might be watching later the Citizen activity form or the CAF is available online And that's one way if you're interested in serving on the historical Commission You can submit your name for such consideration We don't under the transition provisions have a lot of latitude to go appointing All around but in this circumstance, we're going to be shy of a quorum and give them what mr. Steinberg said about the legal authority of this particular Commission, it's important to keep that fully staffed up with citizens Thank you, and sometimes the the CAF's we have on file which we consider personnel records We don't people have moved or whatever and so sometimes it's always not always a slam dunk that they will be available So I hope people will consider applying given our staffing situation with Ms. Mills. Just joining us today, etc I'm wondering if the town manager might direct staff to put a news flash out about this opening We have not done that a lot with committees and boards Sometimes we do it when we have a whole list of vacancies, but this one might catch a few people's eyes So do you have another topic? Yeah, I don't know if you wanted to Go to the hearing and the other issue or come back to it But for the sake of the public notice in any way, I'll mention what the other committee is At a minimum and that is we had been required by the transition provision in the charter to appoint a committee that had the responsibility to review the existing bylaws of the town and To provide to the council when it is first seated Information about those Bylaws that it might need to consider for revision and we added to the committee charge one additional piece Which is hey? Well, you're doing that if you notice any bylaws that seem particularly outdated or Otherwise you would think require attention to also include those in the list for the just so that brought to the attention of the committee the council and So that's what? There is a vacancy that occurred because we appointed the committee for one person for has had to submit a resignation so I have been working on filling the Trying to find applicants to recommend to you because this one is a select board appointment role and I had several people who've been recommended to me three in particular and one of them has indicated unavailability and Second person is considering it and it's going to get back to me later in the week The third name is somebody who is recommended by a current committee member in is not a resident of the town of Amherst but is a resident of an adjoining town and There were strong reasons that the one committee member had for making that recommendation when I spoke with him when you look at the Charter itself Because we are sort of operating under the Charter and the Charter says that The Committee members should be residents of the town of Amherst unless Proposals made otherwise and for good reason stated to the council We do stand in for the council is under the Charter provisions for transition, so it's a two-part question that I think that this Board of Need to I was hoping to get some advice from and I'm not sure I want to we want to get into that conversation now But just to explain what it is is one is whether there's any feelings as to whether The decision should be made at all about whether to consider somebody from outside Who's not a resident of Amherst whether that feels is a comfortable and appropriate Decision to make and then if so Whether there's any input people have on that underlying issue. I Think we'll hold off on having that conversation because we are now just after seven o'clock and so I think we will have that a little bit later, but we'll thank you for bringing that up and and Letting us mull that over over the intervening time so At this point we've reached just after seven o'clock and so we need to open our public hearing relative to Parking regulation in town and so I think we need a motion to open the public hearing the one we have on our motion sheets rather lengthy I don't know that we need the entirety of that someone would like to make the motion to open the area We'd probably start and stop right at the end of the coal in there just to I don't know if we need to Identify all the particulars, but I'll take the motion We usually read the legal Basically the same so in the ad that was was In the newspaper It says the Amherst Select Board will hold a public hearing on Monday June 25th 2018 beginning at 7 p.m Town Room Amherst Town Hall to solicit public comment on proposed new and or review of existing parking regulations one off the off lot off of Kellogg Avenue adjacent is the Ann Whalen Apartments Parking area to East side of the boltwood lot off of Kellogg Avenue 3 South Pleasant Street 4 Fisher Street and 5 Olympia Drive the select board will be considering changes to parking regulations including but not limited to parking Restrictions tow zones and or addition or elimination of restricted free or mirrored parallel parking spaces so that's our actual Legal ad and so with that Do we usually vote to go into I'm not recalling since we haven't done this in a while. No, we just somebody oh, so it's I think you can just announce. I think I can just announce we're opening it at 7 0 6 So At this point we had several different pieces and so I believe I have a memo from the downtown Parking working group, correct And so We'll go through those items So the the recommendations of the parking working group whereas follows Over here this all right There are 13 parking spaces off of Kellogg Avenue adjacent to the Ann Whalen apartment Apartments on the east right of the parking lot making them available at 50 cents per hour for a four-hour time limit Was one recommendation so that's an area just behind the bank center Second recommendation was to eliminate the five taxi parking quotes Space along the east side of South Pleasant Street at the North Common These spaces are currently reserved for taxicabs from 11 p.m. To 2 p.m. Thursday through Saturday And there are currently no taxi companies operating in Amherst The third recommendation was to add a second 15-minute free parking space in the east side of the boltwood lock Lot I cannot speak this evening. Sorry off of Kellogg Avenue to provide a quick place for people to to pop in and out of some of the Restaurants and and businesses in and around that area and then The other items that we're discussing are also on Fisher Street. We had a we took action last September to Make no parking essentially overnight between 9 p.m. And 6 a.m. On Fisher Street on both the north and south sides and then the The other recommendation was on Olympia Drive. We had In again on that September 11th meeting last fall we had Added meters to Olympia Drive and changed some some other parking it on Olympia Drive but in particular the question was whether or not the Current two-hour limit for that should be extended some longer period of time and the manager Had a recommendation relative to that. Did you want to speak to that? this point Sure So Fisher Street we talked about you had a public hearing or you met last September neighbors came in and talked about the issues that they were facing and I and you put forward a temporary Pilot of having no parking from 9 p.m. To 6 a.m. You've got some correspondence from the neighbors who I think are appreciating that and We've checked with the police department the fire department and the Department of Public Works And there's there are no real issues that have popped up up there I think there was one ticket issued at one point in time By the wise people are abiding by the no parking rule on Olympia Drive You created 33 parallel parking spaces on it at the same time The issue for that is that those parking spaces aren't being used very often through By paying through the meter people are using them and then getting ticketed and it seems like we have not aligned our The length of time it takes for someone to utilize the the meter with What people's needs are so people are overextending that there's their time at the meter and getting tickets And I think we what we try to do is to align our use of What people's needs are with the meter time for that? Many people who utilize these parking spaces are using that to go to class or something at UMass and This it's on the bus line people are able to get down there two hours isn't long enough to go to a class and come back to your car And so the idea to extend the time frame would be to accommodate people like that And if you are able to accommodate people on Olympia Drive There's some sense that that might relieve some of the long-term parking that's being That's occurring downtown. It might relieve some of the long-term parking at the CVS parking lot So as far as how we discussed this I think We'll have a bit of conversation about this I think and then we'll potentially open up the the mic for for public comment relative to parking issues, but I wanted to give the board itself an opportunity to sort of offer opinion and and Discuss these different items. Yes so I'm I Totally appreciate the idea of Practically reflecting how people are using something we try and do that with pathways and parks and that sort of thing as well However, I think we actually want to discourage the activity. You just mentioned we I'm unaware of us Desiring to provide metered parking for people to take the bus to class from Olympia The idea of the parking there was for the residents, which we knew UMass already had huge lots for the Resid students well before the residents were there It was our understanding that that's why we didn't require parking there was because they were going to be UMass residents Students who could then buy permits from UMass and we have talked many times in the past about One of the reasons we charge for parking downtown is so that students don't park downtown and go to class this is the first I'm hearing of CVS slot being used that way in any way that's really impacting Availability of the CVS lot, so I'm not feeling really comfortable with what to me is a very new idea of The way that we'd be using that because I don't want people parking at Olympia and going to class and coming back I want people living at Olympia or people who are visiting people at Olympia, which could include parents etc And should put quite potentially be a longer time period Based on when UMass doesn't enforce versus when it doesn't force, but I don't understand the part about Hoping to cover people while they go to class because that's not what it's there for as far as I understood Well, I can delight in agreeing when this brewer on this point Going back and thinking of the permitting for Olympia place the idea is that you buy a parking Plackered whatever they call it at UMass and parking UMass lots. This was the four guests and visitors and Others at Olympia place because there seemed to be a willing nearly kind of Unmanaged parking where people were parking in the it wasn't metered. It wasn't lined and it wasn't safe I Can see matching I can see going from two hours to four hours Because maybe for a visitor or an occasional user that makes more sense The ticket revenue has been really high So it makes me think people have not taken on the behavior of paying for UMass parking and are trying to use this I don't my worry about the eight hour for so it doesn't match anything except the CVS lot but if you Park for eight hours, and then we stop at a force minute six You basically got it for 24 hours, and that becomes your de facto parking space instead of buying the UMass Permit that you're supposed to have we have no data that shows that UMass students are parking at CVS That might be true. It might not be true until we have some data that establishes who the CVS lot users are You think it's mere speculation that this is going to draw from that Just this was never supposed to be UMass parking. It was supposed to be Olympia Place visitor guests delivery short term Kind of parking What I remember from the hearing we had before was mr. Moring and I had a disagreement about whether it should be 50 cents Or a dollar an hour, and I'm still I would prefer the dollar an hour because it's a deal compared to what UMass charges at their spaces, so it would be Charging half of what are less than half of what UMass charges, and it seems to me If you're gonna park right in front of that building at least some of those should be that should match what we have in town but I Can see multiple perspectives on that but I to go from two to eight without any data seems like a big leap to me So I'm not there yet Steinberg any comments relative to that Since we've taken on the Olympia Place Yeah, on the Olympia Place. I think the issues have been outlined I'm Hopeful of some of the information that will receive from the public tonight might shed some light on some of those issues But I don't think I have anything I can add right now Fantastic So Is there anything we wanted to mention right off the bat amongst ourselves relative to the other topics that are covered in the parking recommendations that to us if not, then I'll See if there are folks in the audience that wish to speak Relative to parking the various topics that were brought up is anyone here for public comment relative to parking Evidently not But Yes, certainly, but yes, so you did say we could keep talking about the memo So yeah, I started with Olympia Drive because that was the most recent when we talked about for Fisher Street I believe we received the information that we asked for we wanted to know Were their problems was it taken care of and also did it in negatively impact Harris Street? And so we'll probably hear a little bit more about that and that's covered in one of the letters But that's why I didn't ask about that one because I felt like we got the information. We were looking for associated with that trial and then Might I if I might yeah Maybe we could ask that the public talked to us first about Fisher Street and then maybe about Olympia But then we take some time to talk amongst ourselves about the downtown parking working group before we move into the public part of that one Sure, I think that's a fine So of those here to talk about parking The topic on which you were wanting to talk about was it Fisher Street mostly Okay, please just make sure to see who you are at the microphone So that the general audience knows who and then our minute taker can can record that as well And so introduce yourself and and let us know. Thank you. Thank you very much. My name is Scott Paul I'm a resident with my wife and newborn infant Amelie 1-5 Fisher Street and we've been there now for almost five years And so since we've enacted the no parking zone the environment of our neighborhood has changed overnight literally and We've been very grateful of the change and it's worked very well for this environment We have seen a few cars parking on Harris Street so it has increased, you know periodically but I'm a little detached from that. There's at least one neighbor that's a little closer and She could speak better to that but there's there's also an apartment there as well So that's kind of drawing some of the traffic in that corner between Harris and Fisher Street but from perspective of the neighbors mainly on Fisher Street, we've seen much reduced traffic on our street and There's none of the incidents we've had I have a zero calls into the police regarding any kind of noise incidents As well as any kind of nuisances that I don't report. I've had zero issues with that this year So so far so good. We have also, you know corresponded with some of the local You know residents Students or whoever the tenants so that's also helped as well trying to keep that relationship going with some of the houses It's been key as well. So we'll continue to do that, you know every once in a while We have a live band, you know pop up But besides that for the parking and that was the main issue that noise has definitely been reduced So thank you and DPW to awesome action really fast. It was amazing signs went up in a matter of like think two weeks Thank you So is there other public comment relative to Fisher and Harris Street? So if you want to come forward and share your thoughts on that I'm Kathleen Carol Carol at 11 Fisher Street, and I'd like to thank the select board for Having this pilot project. It has significantly improved the quality of life On Fisher Street. I feel like I went from living in a parking lot to now. I'm living in a residential neighborhood So, thank you Thank you Anyone else? Yes Hi Nicola usher, I'm I live on Harris Street So speaking on behalf of some of us on the Harris side, we just want to echo what our Fisher Street neighbors have said and really supporting the existing The existing parking situation has worked really well for them in terms of negative impact on Harris Street I live on Harris right at the like right where Fisher is and I can say there's been maybe one or two cars that parked Overnight it has not had a significant impact for me Me personally we had an email going I heard from two other neighbors on Harris one in the middle of the street one closer to pine And we all agree that there's no need to extend it to Harris Street for now that it's not a Significant problem, and it sounds like this was dealt with very rapidly when it did become an issue for Fisher Street So I guess we just hope that if it does become an issue for us the same thing would happen But with the winter overnight parking ban Where we're in good shape. We have not Felt a significant impact. Thank you. Great. Thank you Is there anyone else for public comment rolled up specifically to sort of Fisher and Harris streets and That neck of North Amherst it looks like no there isn't And so we could Take action on things as we go or we could I think we have to close the hearing before we can take action though, right? Right, right Right there all sort of lumped. It's usually you have to like one topic with several so Let's see was there any other comment from colleagues or anyone relative to the Olympia place and and excuse me Olympia drive I should get that right Olympia place is the place that it doesn't have parking because it's where people are Olympia Drive has parking because that's an actual place of That's a street town So if not, and I think we'll we'll take up the topics that were covered by the downtown parking working group recommendations and so if Any of us had other comments relative to those Then is there anyone from the public that wanted a comment relative to the Changes recommended around the taxi stands the 13 spots off of Kellogg the addition of a another 15 minute Free parking spot short-term parking I'll take that as a no since no one's jumping up to come talk to us about that so Anything else from our colleagues relative to these topics that we have in front of us tonight. Yes I just Forget the date, but a prior slip word meaning you had a first look at these So now we're formalizing we bring it to a public hearing which we have to do so these shouldn't be brand new Just like for no We did see them in the same we saw these three suggested changes That's correct meetings ago. Yes public size of public caring as we have to do actually I think that the original memo from the downtown parking working group was quite a while ago as far as suggested things these are the final ones that get forwarded to us, but I Think the only other comment. I'm gonna offer relative to any of these is that Just back to the talk pick of Olympia Drive. I think that I Could see the extending of the time period to four hours, but I don't see a need to go beyond that I think that point that Miss Krueger raised about eight hours creating a much more complex circumstance than what we intend there And I think some turnovers, okay So I think that's you know, sort of my only thought that I want to express in in regard to that I think there were some comments we got from folks that really we should probably forward to to the University because I think it has To do with their parking enforcement and so we should share that with them so they're aware of some frustrations that people might be having and and so They may not be aware of that. So if we could share that with them that would be a good thing I think So is there any other Comments we want to make or do we read it? Yes, I would actually ask if we could pause for just a moment because I have not had a chance to Review again, although it's actually not new information It's information that was placed on our desk tonight about the planning board talking about Olympia Drive To just take a moment to refresh my memory of when we read it six months ago since we've been provided this again, but I'm Thinking it's just since it's all just the information we had before Perhaps although it's very thorough and it's help. I think it'll be helpful that it gets uploaded to the packet Perhaps some of the Olympia Drive residents who've expressed concern will find this of value in terms of understanding where Our thoughts are coming from associated with that, right? I guess mr. Bachman to speak to this more, but it's my understanding it Was in the packet, but it somehow didn't it was in the electronic packet. It just fell out We were supposed to have it, but we didn't get it So it in fact was in the electronic packet. I don't think I don't think it's any It was supposed we were supposed to have it just to be clear and we didn't so, you know because It relates to what we're talking about from the future So just to paint that picture a little bit for the audience since they're not likely to be seeing this necessarily a multi-page Document which which goes through You know the emails from town staff to other town staff relative to Requirements of the zoning agreement with the development there at Olympia Drive and what the Constraints and requirements of the permit were that required that were relative to parking it So we have a multi-page document that goes through a Variety of topics, but but it was Particularly the the record of decision officially from the from the it's a planning board relative to Olympia Drive in the in the place of The department complex that's called Olympia Place And so those requirements and and restrictions and and ideas behind that So it's a it's the context of how we got to where we are right now as far as the the thought of what? residents of Olympia Place would do relative to parking and so In short, I think that that the Given that who was required or who was eligible to live in Olympia Place and availability of University parking That seemed to satisfy the need for parking in that area in a broad sense, but there were other constraints relative to that articulated in this in this memo so If it's not in our electronic packet it will be But it does provide the context of where we're at in this the material that you had in September when you set up right Right and along those lines Thank you for just pulling that all together for us because it's like oh, right This is exactly what I recognize from before the more I page there So and it was really helpful when we had it then to remind ourselves of how things had all come about as miss Krueger Also talked about tonight So I appreciate to what you said mr. Slaughter about Forwarding the feedback we did get along to the University because talking about the cost of the University Permit is a UMass issue talking about the condition of the lot is a University issue And also in the other letter talking about enforcement not happening there So then residents are feeling like people who didn't buy the permit and don't live there are parking there And so then that's an enforcement issue for UMass obviously because it's impacting the quality of life of the residents who live there and have Paid for permits the one thing I am wondering about and we don't talk about this very much in town because it just kind of sort of works out is The person who pointed out that there was no clear legal place for delivery drivers to pull up and as we know that happens in Emergency lanes and cetera all over town, which does not mean we're giving tacit approval to that but We haven't yet gotten to the point where we have said Developers need to provide a space specifically for that and if all the meters are full and all of the UMass permits are full Then it does make sense that there is no place for those cars to technically go although They were only there for a very brief few minutes So I don't know if anybody had any ideas based on other communities experience with this issue But I don't have one is my point and I didn't know if downtown parking working group had talked about that at all Particularly in light of you know, we don't really need taxi stands anymore. We need places for people to pull up for things like uber I Just don't have to solve that problem for them. We're not talking about Olympia But the other issue I am talking about Olympia But I'm referring to the taxi places as in we now know we no longer need those spaces as taxi stands because well We don't have licensed taxis in town anymore But also because that isn't the current model of people providing transportation So speaking to that Olympia place parking we didn't isn't the parking committee Obviously, it's not right. I just wanted to make sure yes We've talked from time to time about the ride-sharing services uber lift and that They have replaced to some degree taxis And we've looked at but really didn't spend a lot of time on pullover spots for those Because the little bit that we looked into it They really didn't want to have an idling spot up by where our particular taxi spots are but they really Do is circle around and I know there were some issues about how where when they were picking people up But it was something we didn't the parking done a parking working group didn't feel like we knew that Transportation patterns are changing, but we didn't have enough expertise or knowledge to figure out how to address it We within our own scope of work, so We're happy to have input and ideas We anticipate a parking consulting consultant coming out in the fall So we were not unaware of that shift, but swapping out the taxi places for that The little information we had said that wasn't going to be worthwhile I think that's useful. Thank you So do we have other? Topics or comments that we need to make relative to the parking if not then we can Which I perhaps take a motion to close the hearing and then we can actually take action on those items that are on our list Oh, I'll move that we close the public hearing on Parking right second. There's a second Is it for the discussion hearing none all's in favor, please say aye. Aye. So the hearing is closed at 731 And so now I would presume that we have actions that we might be ready to take relative to the recommendation recommendations that have been made to us so So would want to offer a motion relative to those those things Yes, why don't I start with the easy one? So that would be midway through the motions move to adopt a year round No parking tow zone on both the north and south sides of Fisher Street Between the hours of 9 p.m. To 6 a.m. 7 days a week permanently second It's a motion a second. Is there for the discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Aye And that's unanimous with one absent. We ready for another motion So to I'm a little confused rereading the sheet The one above is the downtown yeah, I'm working group and that encompasses three actions So that one takes all three in there. You could separate them Is there's the parking lot up of Kellogg Stan Wayland the taxi stand and the one parking space That would become So how would people feel about me saying move to and then just basically items read by item one and have that be the actual Motion so for example, we could try move to a Move to adopt the recommendation the downtown parking working group to meter the 13 parking spaces off Kellogg Avenue adjacent to the Ann Whale and apartment parking area on the east side of the parking lot and make them 50 cents an hour with a four-hour time limit So we have a motion in the second Is there further discussion? Yes, I think that it's fine for the motion and I don't think this thing I'm about to say has to be included in the motion, but It says in the memo from mr. Bachman will take and whoever many weeks to order the meters and put them in and I'm wondering if in the interim We could take that tow zone Signs down and let people park there until they have to start paying to park there because right now It's pretty much empty and it just says You can never park there and that Could happen pretty quickly and then we could move towards the metering Just start attracting customers now, right? I think we might need to take that as a separate action perhaps to officially do that I don't know. No, well We never officially authorized those to go up So it's just to suggest I think it's a manager's function, but I just until while we're waiting for the meters We could potentially open that up. Of course, it's summer. So part of the sign is showing For the comment or suggestion on that So I guess I need some more information because I'm not sure I quite understanding circumstances here, so I Get the part about the fact it'll take the meters a while to get there I get the part about how there's a sign on the fence right now that says you'll be towed away even though I haven't been yet and We can continue to not enforce that but it also is also not good to scare people when in fact They can go ahead and park there At the same time, I'm still not clear on The last sentence of mr. Buckleman's memo which references a previous conversation We had here about whether or not those meters are going to be included as a place that seniors who've purchased parking stickers from Senior center can park. I know there's some confusion over When and how we did that approval and there was not a 100% clear documentation that I remember that we located associated with that So I think if that's true that they are not just meters, but they are also meters that Seniors can park at with the senior parking permit Just like they can park with the senior parking permit in the boatwood parking garage I think we should specify that somewhere in our motion To make that so at least now it's clear going forward or we should say it's not okay, whichever. I don't care I just think it should be made clear So what the memo says is that given that let's assume that they can park there If I have my senior pass to use the bank center under the criteria for that And I go and there's available space. I can use it With my senior permit if all the spaces are already filled I'll have to look for another one that is eligible to me with a senior pass The downtown parking working group is looking forward to Some future set of recommendations that are much more kind of holistic that Look at all the town different parking scenarios Together so where they might end up where where that might end up not necessarily that committee but Bringing everything under one kind of comprehensive view and management so Chose not to review Anything to do with the senior parking permits right now, but suggest that it be brought under one unified parking management system So kind of letting that issue rest for now and not tackling it So the way I read this is you might not get a hundred percent of your projected revenue because some of them may be taken up by seniors with that option but that would presume one that they were all filled all the time and Then a non-paying senior was there so there's a lot of speculation And I would recommend we don't mess with the senior thing until we get to that more holistic view that I hope is coming up over the next year and That was clear rambled Maybe Because what I would like to do in that case is to continue with the understanding that The person who issued those permits gave the seniors who purchased them that that would be one of their alternatives But that we clearly state in our minutes Therefore in the document that hasn't been updated in a while of the different kinds of things we do with these hearings Associated with parking it will clearly say that those are spaces that can be used By the senior permit as well because that is literally the only program we have that allows people to park there without park mobile Without putting money in the meter and to just make concrete that that's true And then if holistically something changes in the future then something changes in the future But to make sure that's marked in our records that we are Understanding that in case there is some confusion in the future as to whether or not that was supposed to be enforced there or not I think having it in our record that at this time we believe we we are saying that the senior permit substitutes for part Mahomal or The park or putting money in the meter under the conditions that were outlined for its use which is please don't park here all Day, but please park here while you use the senior center Yeah, I mean the other use of the building now that we need to continue to remember is the Musee anti health center and Because the entrance to the health center is on the lower level those may in fact be the most Convenience in spaces for people some who because of illness or disability will benefit from Those spaces in particular So I'm not sure that We should be assuming that the downtown parking working group is going to assume that those are good spaces for the senior center Because they may want to consult with the Musee anti center about its demands in needs As a part of its investigative process So I think I might want to hold off on trying to encourage seniors into that lot until we know on the means anti center need So the point of my mention is in the memo is just to note that this is the status quo that seniors are able to use this Unless you vote to change it. It's going to stay the status quo So I'm not sure if you need to address it unless you want to say I want for the record to say we are Formalizing the the program that the senior center puts out so I don't in your motion You don't mention it. So I don't think you need to mention if you want to state have the status quo continue I'm a bit uncomfortable with the status quo since it's not Entirely clearly documented that it is the status quo in the past. It is what's being done That doesn't mean we have an obvious place where it was written down that we agreed that that was true Just like we're having this hearing now and this is supposed to get documented not only in our minutes But hopefully on a document that shows changes We've made like this over the years because obviously sorting through the minutes of years and years of parking Hearings is much more difficult. So is there given the length of time? Those permits are sold for are those sold on a calendar year basis from January to December? Do we know offhand? I don't either Rock go look at my car because it has It's my mother-in-law used to have such a permit some years ago when she was still driving I Appreciate that we're not trying to make things more complicated for future discussions What I do not want to have happen as I do not want the senior center to be Advertising those permits in the absence of us having had a discussion once the health center is open That's what I'm trying to avoid that and the fact that we don't have clear documentation that we approved it in the first place So it might be a time-limited issue in terms of if they're gonna want it they're gonna want to issue permits again at some point and Knowing what they're for I would presume if it's like others. It's probably on a fiscal year So for example, if you get a sticker for the dump, it's July 1 so in the month of July you have to renew your Dump sticker. I don't know if the parking works that way or not, but I don't think it does Screw I mean, I would think the main issue is enforcement if the enforcement officers are told a senior Parking sticker holders are eligible to park here. They're not going to get ticketed I think Miss Brewer point is more like trying to create a record, but I Think until we want to open the can of worms and really take on if we're going to rearrange the senior parking Criteria that we just leave it alone and understand that people with senior passes will park there and They will not get tickets because the enforcement officers are going to be acting under the prior practice. I Know if that's enough. I mean I hear I hear you So while our minutes can reflect that and the motion doesn't have to say that and if we can feel some assurance that our Minutes will say that parking will continue not parking enforcement will continue not to ticket people who have the Because those were the conditions. They were sold under. I still want us to talk about a future date so that I Believe it was on the calendar year basis because this was earlier this year that we came out in the newsletter And so if that's true, I can easily see this getting away I'm selling the permits again and then saying oh, but by the way Now we have the health center demands. So you can't park there anymore. I feel less comfortable Selling something to somebody and then changing where it's good for but Put it on a future agenda list The minutes could reflect that we really would be capable of doing that and then having a follow-up In December for example Let the senior users and senior center Right have plenty of notice that we were that was under consideration Or if it just continues for a whole nother year and we we would evaluate after a year of the health center being open That's what I think and I think they sell them basically on a rolling basis Just have it I Think that's a reasonable solution And we should just go forward with the motion as stated and so we can complete this work and get onto the marijuana issues, right? So is there further discussion which I'm guessing where it's not on this All those in favor, please say aye aye aye and opposed. So that she knows with one absent so We have a couple other parts to the recommendation from the downtown parking working group So I move to adopt the recommendation in the downtown parking working group to eliminate the five Taxi parking spaces along the east side of South Pleasant Street at the north At the North Common second Emotions in May is there or the discussion on the taxi stands? the only other the thing though Ms. Brewers to add to your motion Anything that we need about Metering and what the metering? That's what I was trying to read again. They're already they're already metered. Okay, just eliminates the the only thing that they're Liminating is from 11 p.m. To 2 a.m. Okay The Yes, the memo says 11 p.m. To 2 p.m. But it means to 2 a.m The May 14th member. No, it was a May typo. You don't have to take credit for that one Which really just means that no one who was putting meters No one was putting money in meters to 11 o'clock But this is letting people know that for example unlike the loading situation right where people are reading the hours Am I allowed to park when this is not a low commercial loading zone? There's no longer a sign there that says that and it'll just be like it never happened Is that correct? It'll just have meters and it'll just be normal and they'll just be normal hours with normal costs and It's really a kind of a cleanup because it's It doesn't affect revenue because we're not collecting meter money than anyway And for somebody like me sort of nearsighted when I see taxi stand. I'm probably not even able to read the 6 to 2 or whatever it 11 to 2 so it's it seems to be kind of an inhibitor rather than a welcoming That's equal to all other spaces on that street because it's not being used now So if his motion wasn't seconded I do second. Okay, I believe it was but we've locked that in so It's a further discussion Hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye. All right And that's unanimous with why absent as well. And so if we could have and then I could say I moved to adopt the recommendation of downtown parking working group to add a second 15 minute free parking space on The east side of the boat would lot off of Kellogg Avenue Second, right Is there further discussion on that one? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. That's unanimous with one absent as well So do we have So we have one item remaining correct Okay And so I could move to increase the parking time limit for the 33 parallel parking spaces as shown on the sketch dated June 20th, is it really still 2017? Yep Thank you From two hours to four hours And I took off eight hours as recommended by the town manager. I just said from two hours to four hours Is there a second? Second. Yes the discussion so So this has nothing about rates. So this would be I believe at four hours at 50 cents an hour It wasn't really part of the motion we could have How do people are we content with 50 cents versus what's your mouse on $1.50 an hour $1.25 an hour I know people aren't using it now. So we're not collecting revenue or collecting tickets And that's not a long-term pattern that we'd like Not sure I have a strong preference although it is a you know, I would suggest that You know in the downtown the idea was the dollar rate at them the rip at the spots we want to turn over the most often and At those spots that aren't we have a lower rate and longer time window So I think this falls into that category. So I would be inclined to stay with the same rates and with a four-hour window Um Question I have for mr. Bachman. Is this gonna be is this a park mobile zone as well? Yeah Is there further discussion yes, so I suppose then one of the questions would be and obviously we are somewhat just Making this up although we also have some expertise based on the idea that downtown parking working group looked at this and and made those zones that we referred to is That if what we're trying to do is discourage people from parking there to go to class then a dollar an hour is a better choice Than 50 cents an hour if what we're trying to do is to be more kind to people who are just trying to visit their friends I'm looking for a place to park then 50 cents an hour seems more appropriate So I guess and the other problem the other Challenge would be if we start with 50 and we still find That they are constantly full and there's no place for visitors to park during the time that UMass enforces Parking in the rest of the lot that maybe we can revisit it. So that that seems like another alternative Anything to add mr. Samberg So at this point why don't I shall we go ahead and add to the motion to continue at the rate of 50 cents per hour So it's from two hours to four hours at 50 cent remaining at 50 cents an hour. I'm just trying to show for the record that we didn't change that Remaining 50 cents an hour for now All right, is there further discussion hearing none all those in favor, please say aye So that's unanimous with one absent. So I believe that That's taking us through the Parking Three-minute recess. Yes, we'll take a short recess and then we'll head into our next topic Which will be on the marijuana topic move our many pounds of paper We're building a certain urgency by making I School love started so it's likely we have both. I was for the 24th because Scrubber that evening. Yeah, the morning would be fine. Yeah, the morning sign. Yeah, that evening. We want to do a thing Just get commitment from fire, right? I don't know if you've heard from Scott yet I think All right, so we're back from our short recess So next on our agenda under action discussion items is 4b, which is marijuana update a couple of topics underneath that mr. Kravitz is here to guide us through his memo and and thoughts on the matter and so if you'd like to share with us What you think he was? Sure, so The memo was in response to a lot of the interest from potential recreational marijuana retailers in town I think that Towns staff didn't necessarily feel comfortable that we had a good process for whether or not to sign a host community agreement No real way of evaluating The the companies that were approaching the town on whether or not They had a good track record a good business plan things like that so essentially sort of a Called a potential quick fix was to say that Amherst residents voted for recreational marijuana Basically the memo proposed allowing the medical marijuana dispensaries to also service the recreational market and then to implement a local licensing Process which would help the town understand the viability of other potential recreational marijuana retailer businesses in town Without some sort of Process we felt that it would create a Race that could potentially be a race to the bottom the quickest ones to open would be the ones that get to open And if they're located in close proximity to each other it would effectively knock others out there's also the potential that Businesses would invest significant sums of money and then not ultimately be able to open because somebody else was able to get there faster so trying to avoid the situation where Businesses are out a lot of money and aren't able to operate in Amherst and so this was a potential solution By no means do I think that it is an ideal solution, but it is a solution that at least would allow Recreational marijuana, which is something the voter said that they wanted in Amherst And because the medical marijuana dispensaries have gone through the Department of Public Health Registration process gone through all the security measures to open medically Gave the town some confidence that they were responsible operators and Not something that we would be as concerned about As far as others that we would have to sign a host community agreement as an initial step before they even apply to the state so we don't have any of the application materials at the select board I believe was Privy to when they sign their letters of support for the medical dispensaries So just to frame that a little bit so For the viewers everybody there's medical and then there's recreational right now We have one medical marijuana facility that opened on May 21st, and it's currently operating We have three others that have received letters of non-opposition and support from the host community And host community agreements signed by the town by the town manager One medical marijuana facility is seeking a new letter of non-opposition support to substitute the one already issued And three have special permits from the zoning board of appeals. So that That those four facilities are sort of working their way through a process one has actually opened And there's a chart that was in your packet that summarizes the medical Mr.. Kravitz put together a new chart for for recreational, which is a different world And those that's it was the recreational new world that we're trying to address and think about It's changing there's an article when the Attorney General is changing her mind and how she's interpreting some things so Things are changing day by day But there are as evidence tonight. There are people who are eager to open facilities in the town of Amherst and Hoping to have a discussion with you about How we should be proceeding the town meeting adopted zoning that identifies that there will be eight recreational marijuana facilities That will be available But that there are geographic limits on where they can be placed and how in the proximity to certain facilities Where children congregate on a regular basis for instance that they can where they can be placed so Seeing that that we are a welcome generally a welcoming community I think the industry is looking for some guidance from the board and from the town is to Where can we go to do to do this because this is a legal? As of July 1, this will be a legal product for us to sell. So that's the discussion. We thought was important to have with you tonight So I look to our Do you want to start? You want me to start so you can tell me how incorrect Okay, I will I will I will try so as select board members know and perhaps some members of the public know and certainly has been Discussed at town meeting associated with the multiple Bylaws that we have passed at town meeting associated with marijuana use we keep looking at a safe and Deliberate implementation of a legal product that our community overwhelmingly supported In doing so I would argue they overwhelmingly supported decriminalizing Recreational adult use they did not overwhelmingly support having it in every possible place in town Which is one of the reasons we came up with the various proposals associated with numbers and With the zoning that was worked on so hard by the planning board and presented to town meeting on multiple occasions and How meeting agreed with it? Honor agenda it says we need our specific things mentioned Specifically called out in addition to just you know update in general is local licensing and letters of support or non-opposition so one of the things this memo talks about is you know What's happening and then also? The fact that we have not as a board Partly because we were looking at the potential change in government etc Talked about the possibility of whether or not we're going to sign any additional letters of support or non-opposition for an Additional medical facility which includes one that has asked for us to do so, which is at a location Which we had previously provided one for But also then at the same time We're really trying to shift our emphasis to the eight retail locations and when we say eight establishments that we Established at town meeting Those are the retail establishments and as as mr. Mackleman points out and has been discussed elsewhere talking about testing cultivation research and Manufacturing which are allowed in some places in town. Those aren't part of the eight They all have to have host community agreements They're just all slightly different kinds of host community agreements And we don't have an example one yet as to what it looks like because everybody's building this plane as we're flying it And so I appreciate the town council's been working on and that's one of the things we look to Kp law for us because they were They'll work with so many different communities So I know that we we have talked about all the multiple issues associated with this in the internal working group at our Multiple multiple meetings and some of those have we've come to some areas of consensus and some just amongst that small Working group and in other areas we we really haven't and so we thought it was entirely appropriate especially after this memo of May 14th came out that We try and have another public discussion about this in a way that we haven't done in these sort of Both general and detailed terms since last fall when we had a specific Time set aside at a select board meeting to talk about marijuana before we got to town meeting But then and then we also had the big town meeting discussion before town meeting about the articles And we had this discussion before town meeting about the articles this time But in terms of all the other things that aren't subject to being town meeting articles What do we do? And so I totally appreciate mr. Kravitz needing to work with mr. Backelman and say, you know, we're getting phone calls on a daily basis. How do we deal with this and At the same time, I don't know Exactly what our community is expecting from us in terms of how to answer all those questions So I appreciate that there was also mr. Kravitz even though we didn't talk about it at last week's internal working group Meaning came up with these additional figures as to all the different things that people have been asking about and shows all the different types of marijuana things like cultivator product manufacturer testing lab That have already called us we are all aware because we've talked about it select board meetings that community outreach meanings have been held by two of the medical marijuana places that are looking at doing recreational adult use and While I appreciate the comment made earlier that Having all the materials we did when we did the support and non opposition letters, which were all support letters That that material is not necessarily available To the town manager who signs all the host community agreements Before the host community agreement would be signed on a recreational It's also true that all the things they talk about or I should say 98% of the things that the two meetings I was at that were community outreach meetings that were talked about in terms of things the Organizations were planning to do were all things they were required to do by the state They were not oh and here's these amazing extra things. We're gonna do they're all required And so all the security and all that is all really detailed in the state rules and So the question is more what do we want that we think is special amorous flavor to add to things and that brings us back to the host community agreement and or Board of Health regulations, which of course are completely independent of this body end of town meeting and the conditions put forth in a special permit because there does have to be a separate special permit for Recreational adult use even if it's already on the site as medical So even if it's the same building they need a separate special permit for the recreational adult use And so mr. Moore has been incredibly helpful in coming to these many of these internal working group meetings as well Well, sorry, I couldn't be here tonight, but he will be available on July night So I'm thinking you know, I don't know how far we'll get with tonight's conversation But there may very well be questions that come up that we want to ask him directly or that people want to get to Mr. Bachman ahead of time to get to him so that he could answer for us at that Meeting as to for example, what conditions would look like my underlying concern beyond not knowing what the community wants Exactly and we've kind of struggled with that all along. We didn't get a lot of turnout to our previous conversation about this is That we are the local licensing authority right now for alcohol Board of Health is for tobacco one of the things we fought for at all the different hearings We went to all the times we had public comments Whether it was mr. Cravens miss Krueger myself miss Breastrup Miss Fetterman Everybody went to all these things and one of the things we would continually bring up as we wanted the ability to have some level of Local licensing just like we do with tobacco for the board of health Just like we do for alcohol for the select board is local licensing authority We never really knew what we were exactly gonna put in it And so that's where it starts to get complicated and so trying to figure out if the other instruments we have like board of health rags and Conditions in a special permit are enough and one of the concerns I have associated with that is that all of those decisions are made by appointed officials so the host community agreement Never came to the select board. I mean starting before this town manager Never came to the select board for any input. It's not our job It's town managers authority clearly, but there was no discussion as to what was gonna go in and they were kind of wrote But still we didn't really know what the possible levers were to pull anyway within the thing because it was still so new That remains true For the recreational adult use so again It's entirely up to the town manager and it will remain entirely up to the town manager under the future firm of government Right now the select board appoints the zoning board of appeals. It's not elected The board of health is not elected in the future board of health will still not be elected It'll be appointed by the town manager as it is now and the ZBA will continue to be appointed by the town council But that's not quite the same as when we've had Town meeting looking at it as another elected official and as this group of five Also working with the town manager because the town council in the future will not be part of the executive branch They'll be part of the legislative branch So it feels like if we don't Get some sense now While this is a time-sensitive issue because in theory people are going to start getting their approvals from the state Any day now for July 1st Then we are going to miss our opportunity to have Input as elected officials that the community has entrusted to do this with and put it all entirely on Appointed officials and I just don't know if we're quite ready to do that given all the advocates We've we've done up to this point and what we think that might look like I'll try to speak to a couple of different points then what miss Brewer covered my concern about This sort of advisory memo That mr. Kavitz put together and I agreed there isn't a perfect answer and I Appreciate the struggle people calling you and you're not knowing what no it shouldn't just be first in the door However, I'm not sure either of these memos. It tells me how we are going to proceed to differentiate One proposal from another and we talked up. We threw some ideas around at the last arm Working group meeting. Mr. Buckham was there, but I don't know How this gets us any closer to having a qualitative criteria or a strategy So what I worry about is when we when we set the ceiling at eight up to eight for now We didn't want to give the existing for Medical license that time applicants like a lock on the recreational because The state gave them a way to Go from medical to recreational even though they still need a special permit and a separate agreement I'm worried that this is kind of within our kind of open-door approach We're creating a mini moratorium within what we've set up because we're saying the four we have for medical could transition under the current state rules to recreational and maybe that's enough for now and We don't have to go any further for maybe another year and so it gives those for a benefit and I think I'm Less than happy with that although I would like more qualitative criteria for how we differentiate The proposals that we're getting and how to set something like that up I think I mean favor of local licensing, but I don't think the licensing is Necessarily a qualitative criteria. I think it's another enforcement tool sort of you got your special permit You got your host agreement you're in but if you screw up you could lose your license and the license is another tool But you don't go through the whole application process and Then say oh, we don't like you you don't get your license because I don't think that's fair to business people either I think we do need to try to articulate what we want if there's competition for a couple of possible downtown spaces how to Articulate what we're really looking for so we can differentiate and I'm probably of the people in the working group more embracing of the idea that we are Branding ourselves as a welcoming community for this new industry and I'm worried that by saying oh, yeah But we're just going with the four or the three for now is counter to having that kind of welcoming Attitude or projection so I very much want to hear from people who are here to her to comment because I don't have an answer and I think we're At a place where we need to make some decisions and we also need to decide are we going to entertain anymore? support non-oppositional under some medical knowing that we're really getting recreational that it's this It's the easy path in and I Fortunately, I don't have any confidence that because someone got a medical license It means we know them and they pass some more rigorous tests is a test for recreational is pretty rigorous so I that by itself isn't convincing to me, but I Want to I want to think about these issues. It's don't have a ready answer. I would just add that the Cannabis control Commission is working their way through the priority applicants right now. I I don't know I didn't check today How many licenses they've issued? I know they should their first license But it's not unreasonable to think that if if we were serious about setting up a licensing process that It would be we would be able to do that in time for the CCC when they start accepting applications for non-priority applicants Likely sometime in the fall That would make you feel any better, but I understand the concerns Sir Simon, did you anything you wanted to offer at this point? I think I'll wait until later after I've heard more Public okay, so I think that the only thing I'd offer at this point as far as my thinking about this In particular is that you know, we've created, you know In similar fashion to liquor licenses where they actually in some towns get sold from one sort of, you know Establishment to another one. We've almost created a circumstance of a similar nature here by having an upper limit of eight But I do think having criteria and I think licensing might serve this purpose But I think that you know to your point about sort of does it you know sort of Baton switch someone if they've gone through the other hoops in the process They've done a host community agreement. They've done they've gotten the special permit, you know, then we go Oh, but never mind about that I think that it's critical for us if we do a licensing to have a set of rules that we're trying to apply And and not that they necessarily have a perfect point system or something like that, but some some relatively clear You know either goals or or Criteria that we're looking for from from someone and I do to to miss Bruce point I do think the notion of having You know an elected body sort of weigh in on that is important because I think there's a level of control and a level of of sort of Community authority that that grants The process that that appointed folks it's not that they're not attuned to that But they're not as beholden to that as a as elected officials are so I think there's some You know it can that can work both ways in some respects But I think that those are all critical things and I think about well, what what would be those criteria? What are the things we're trying to think about? You know, we've articulated from a zoning standpoint how we're trying to Insulate certain areas from from the business to some extent and then how do we create as fair a playing field as Possible to to mr. Kravis's point about you know, is it a first-come-first server or is it? More thoughtful process, and so I'm Struggling with that to some extent, but I also am thinking about things that I I think are important to the to putting in our criteria but Did you have anything you wanted to offer? So I think at this point given that I think my colleagues are wanting to hear from the public at large and it seems as though We have an audience for that purpose Given that there are people here tonight And they didn't talk about parking and they didn't come to our regular public comment part So I presume you're here for this Are there any folks in the audience that wanted to offer comment or suggestion relative to this topic and the idea of licensing or or for that matter any and other related marijuana topic so I'm Open to taking people's comments. So sure if you come up just make sure to identify yourself with the microphone and and And offer your your comment and suggestion relative to that Hello Frank Perula from Lewis Wharf in Boston Thank You mr. Chairman and select board members. Thank you manager Backelman. I'm here to speak on behalf of chain homin CEO of our bulge group Herbalogy has worked to cite a cannabis establishment serving both medical patients and adult use customers In amherst since the end of last year. I'm here to advocate for the issuance of a medical letter of non-opposition Herbalogy group has met with the various town officials who have oversight of cannabis establishments presented in front of this board and presented to a community to the community at a public meeting and We have or we would agree to sign a host agreement for the maximum allowed by state law I would also urge this board to look at things like excise tax and preference for local hiring All things that we've seen in other host community agreements Excise tax on vehicles working out of the of the site Herbalogy group is a minority in veteran-owned nonprofit Invited to siting by DPH and ready to purchase the property at 422 Amity and start serving medical patients and adult use customers Consumers responsibly We will not do either or it's our preference to do both We are committed to the medical market and that's a commitment that we we stand by and where we're going to stick to At a previous meeting this board Had a discussion regarding the previous letter of non-opposition given to happy valley ventures at the very same site The setting profile has expired for happy valley ventures. It is no longer an impediment to issuing a new letter in our view The herbology group is hoping this board can offer a letter of non-opposition As have the nearby towns of East Hampton and Greenfield to our biology group We we want to continue the discussion. We will hold another public meeting another community meeting as we promised We want to be that trusted community partner in local business providing the well-paying jobs and Revenues for the town of Amherst that we know this law will provide and that's all I have to say. Thank you very much Are there others here for public comment relative to the topic? I'm Steve George. I'm on the board of health, but I'm speaking as an individual with interest in it a couple of things that we've noticed in attending the open meetings of People seeking approval. I agree with what Ms. Brewer said about They are only talking about what is mandated and one thing the board of health is very interested in is the educational aspects for the provision of educational materials for the clients How that's going to work? It's possible that the town would provide it and perhaps there's some economic reason for that or there would be an expectation of the for the Businesses to provide this but the issue of diversion to miners with security of the materials once you've got them home And so is there is a real issue that needs to be addressed At the point of sale at least the first time somebody buys So that's one issue and another thing that the board of health I know it's been concerned about is edibles and The our understanding I guess is that at least originally these are not going to be considered as food from the point of view of regulation I think that may have changed but the issue of especially if things are produced and you know cooked and packaged in the town of Amherst this is really as food issue and It seems like it might be possible for it to just kind of escape all regulation If we're understanding the rules correctly Things that come from outside that already packaged may not be so much a problem but when if any of the of the outlets plan to actually bake and and provide This as food. It seems like it should be dealt with in the same way as Food that is provided to the public and that's cooked and provided on site So those are two of the issues that the board of health was concerned with we certainly totally agree with what the town has done And I think that in some other towns the boards of health have been more activist on this issue because at the The council level or select board level there's been a more lax approach, but Amherst has done a really great job Especially with the zoning and so on so we have no concerns about that at all and the limit on the number Thank you. Is there additional public comment? Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman members of the board I'm Tom Reedy an attorney with Bacon Wilson here in Amherst You notice Matt Yee is in the back President of the Massachusetts market for GTI now rise And really they're the only medical operator here in town They were the second to get to the to get the permit first to market We have been working closely with the town at every turn Probably one of those folks that mr. Kravitz mentioned calls almost daily to find out where we are in the process because GTI rise is a priority applicant timing is crucial and one of the things that they're looking for is Timely action by the town and so whether that's the institution or development of a policy Articulation of criteria Getting to that next step for the the host community agreement pretty specifically. We had a pre-application meeting with Town planner building commissioner mr. Kravitz and also the senior planner for the zoning board of appeals Discussing the 169 meadow street site because there is and has been interest in Co-locating so to have medical and recreational at that facility And so really what we're looking for is the most certainty we can get from the town at least laying out the rules And as quickly as they can do it I know that there's also interest in downtown locations and I think that's what mr. Kravitz suggests when there may be a race And I think it's not necessarily good for the town and it's not necessarily good for the applicant to try to race Just to be first Or to expend all the funds and not be in there at all So whatever this board can do to as clearly as they can articulate The requirements if there is a policy or if there's not a policy Just to really give us on this side of the table as much predictability and certainty as you can we'd really appreciate it Thank you for that Anyone else wanting to offer comment relative to this topic? All right, so now I turn back to my colleagues See there's a comment that they want to make or What's about next steps I would take that as well I Was just gonna break up a typo. I want you to do something substantive Unfortunately on the status of Amherst recreational marijuana establishment applicants June 22nd So that's the newer chart the one we haven't seen a bunch of times The Brice Address was a cut and paste from a different place Yeah So it is 169 Meadow Street and the other community outreach meeting that's been held is by Urbology for the 422 Amity Street site the former Lee Happy Valley Mr. Steinberg Yeah, I mean there have been several questions that have been raised by the comments and things that I've been thinking about Because one is question of the role of the Board of Health and what We might be able to do or want to do to formalize a structure for Permitting as indicated to think those to Kravitz for either the Board of Health or the Council of eventually the select board during the Interim period of transition. So there's that set of issues. We had somebody who raised the question the herbology applicant and Request for the letter and I don't know if we're prepared to take that discussion tonight since it was not specifically on the agenda I think that's a matter for the chair to determine. What's this? Appropriateness of that discussion taking place further tonight and then the other is I think generally a question of How quickly we should move forward and the advantages of Moving forward so that we can provide clarity and encourage applicants within the community and for all of the There were reasons stated By Mr. Kravitz there is a counter question, however And that's the gets back to the Charter all over again and that It's generally our direction from Charter that we not act unless there's a specific reason to do so Standard which I'm not quoting here But there's also a question that was on my mind I don't know if mr. Kravitz has looked into this and that is There's a provision under the Charter for the Board of License commissioners or whatever the exact title is and There was certain definitions of what was to be included within their area of Responsibility that particular board and Trying to read it to determine whether the Marijuana licensure issue Is vested in in that particular board by the Charter or is left where it is now in Have you looked at that at all Instagram? I know that there's a Board of License commissioners And didn't see if marijuana specifically mentioned but just sort of assumed that that They would get first crack at any Licensing Do you know what statutory chapter the marijuana is under So I can answer your question. Yes The Charter does give the Board of License commissioners the authority to talk about marijuana if there is any local licensing of marijuana It is very specifically in the Charter and they did in fact attempt to call out the statue in one of the other sections but it's definitely on page so Just to clarify there there is no one right now Who is the local licensing authority for marijuana? There isn't anybody? What there is is there's a select board that does alcohol because that's what we do under our previous Charter and There's a Board of Health that does tobacco But there is not a local licensing authority There is no direct line like there is for ABCC to say your local licensing authority is your select board in this case because your Charter doesn't differentiate from that and or doesn't Diverge from that and so since our new Charter says marijuana goes under there That doesn't mean they'll actually have any local licensing authority because there has not yet been anything put forward by the CCC if you want to try and look at it as the equivalent of the ABCC that says and here's your Responsibility We just kept saying we wanted to have some room, but they did not come up with a thing that was like that Well, I think it's it's always wise for us to go back and look at the Charter and the transition provisions With almost everything we do because we're that that makes sense to me But we're not stopping you showing what liquor licenses are common fig chiller licenses in the interim And I think this is somewhat equivalent. I don't think it's fair to have ongoing businesses wait Well, we and say we're gonna wait till the council seated and do this that we have this responsibility in the meantime Right now we don't have local licensing So that's it. That's a decision you might argue that deciding to have local licensing should be left for the Commit the council or not, but we don't have that so it's not who's gonna give the license It's about who's gonna give the letter are we is this board gonna give any more letters of Support or non-app opposition for medical knowing that that means they can co-locate We got to a place where we sort of got to this limbo on that issue and Herbalogy came in and we went into our town meeting cycle and we didn't decide and I think The question is are we open to? Considering and perhaps we don't have to do it issue issue a letter of Support or non-opposition, which is the same letter because it opened. It's the ticket to go to the CCC so we have a Holder of that letter Somebody tonight said it's expired. I don't really have any information about that But there's a way we could if we wanted to issue a letter to a Different applicant for that same site There's ways to finesse meaning can't we don't want to have two people holding the letter for the same site But there's a way to do it So I think we at least have to answer the question about whether we're going to go back and review that and either issue Or not issue that letter I don't for me that that's not something that it's left for the council But whether we want to venture into designing a licensing system and adopting it I Don't know how essential that is right now just like Board of Health regs Might come into play at some point, but we have a pretty robust system right now for managing the medical and the future recreational establishments are coming along so I see it as kind of our job to wade in and figure out are we going to give letters for any more medical Just the same as for recreational really and what's our position on how? Quickly we want to give out the rest of the up-to-eight Post agreements or do we want to have some qualitative? Criteria and if we wait for the council and say well, that's theirs those criteria Could wait till next spring and applicants have options to go to other communities and I Just think we need to decide and what it's only fair to let people know where we're at about all that We've been hanging and not deciding for a while So that makes me that begs a couple questions for me personally relative to this and so first is our in some ways independent of the Transition our authority to create a local license. Do we have that authority or do we need in other words in general? separate of the topic Can we create a local license for sort of anything and I presume yes is the answer to that So I think the other thing for me relative to that is if that is the case, which I presume it is that You know the timeline for Adult use At the state level is going to be Earlier Then the transition to the council. So I think in some ways it we have to put some frame in place I think we're gonna If if we think licensing is a good idea I personally am leaning toward the idea that yes, we should we should have some process that Provide some clarity about some some things that aren't going to be tackled by Board of Health per se not going to be tackled by zoning not necessarily going to be tackled or Incorporated into a host community agreement. I think there is another area of of And You know that a local licensing you know sort of fills a set of questions there And I said and I think so we're I think in my opinion. We're gonna have to move in that direction even if it's to just Get an initial frame that can then be built upon by a council, which I think is Probably likely to be the case, but I think just given the timelines of When the CCC is going to start issuing licenses Even if it's you know, even if they don't offer any to anything but medical currently medical ones even if they don't do any of those and I mean if they only do those for the next six to eight months I think it still behooves us to put our Process in place at least to get an initial start on that so that's kind of the direction I'm leaning at this point in time is that I think we will need to take some action because I think in action What's this in a situation where someone's gonna press because we don't have local licensing then you you know They're gonna want to open and there's nothing if we don't put something in place. I Don't think we can just say no forever We can't think they get the other pieces of the puzzle they could potentially just open their doors with adult use We don't That's not accurate. No, no, so They can't hurt anything that says that they need a whole community agreement, right? So that would be the only stopgap would be the host community agreement which is another option that that the host community agreement is the gatekeeper and You know applicants need to demonstrate through the host community agreement and whatever criteria or standards that We all come up with that that they meet or exceed those and then the host community agreement gets signed For those that that seem reasonable, right? But at this point time is if if he were to sign one tomorrow correct for adult use There is then no more Place to stop that absolutely that's right. So I mean obviously that that would be at your risk I'm sorry. Yeah, there's there's the right in the zoning for the special permit would also be another those two pieces Though are the only current stops once the state has authorized The adult use unless we set up some structure that fills in that That other area potentially we're talking about and I think If if we do have local licensing then would Would the town sort of just sign? host community agreements with more than eight operators knowing that only eight can operate and it would be up to the local licensing Authority and the permit granting authority to say oh, you're the ninth applicant. We're not gonna Because then the host community agreement if it's a standard agreement there can be more signed than we anticipate Actually operate so a couple things one is We've been asked that and I think this is a legitimate request that we bring some rationality to the system that's Unstable and so what we've put an enormous amount of time in especially two members of select board and then the staff have been working on this is to Think through a very difficult difficult challenging things that a moving World and trying to bring some rationality to it. So that's that's what the the industry is asking for us I think our there are people who live in the community are saying well, what is the what is the path forward if we want to take a path forward and I think that I Think part of the path forward. I know there's a differentiation between elected and appointed officials It's going to be appointed officials who are making most of the decisions The licensing commission is going to be appointed officials if there is a licensing commission town manager as an appointed official Most of all the permitting, you know the playing board and zoning board are appointed officials. So Elect officials are critical in setting the tone and the direction for what we want to accomplish And I think that's why this is a really really important discussion tonight because I need direction from you before Taking you know as you said going on your own risk because that's not where I want to be I want to be that we're unified as a community and you are the ones that are really Hold the the decision-making on where we want to go as a community So I think where you wind up is where we will go. So that's that's the key piece and I know that there's been the the licensing is an optional We don't have to have licensing if we don't want the but the key piece is the host community agreement I'm not gonna sign a host community agreement until I'm clear with where the board wants to be as a general policy Place in terms of where we were where we're going I think Ms. Krueger pointed up the first one which is we do owe the people from her biology an answer Like we're going the select board is going to offer the letter of nonopposition or support or not You should just be clear and offer that and maybe we schedule that and say you guys can it's I don't think it's right To do it tonight. I don't think we've advertised it But I think that that is a responsibility that you should embody at some point in the relatively near future in terms of Where we go for the recreational piece? I Think that's a More difficult one the path that I think mr. Kravitz laid out was to say well We already know we've identified four locations for Medical so we sort of know we've already made some decisions on that so let's say okay to those four and sort of hold off on the others Until we get more information down the road and we also at our last meeting talked about Doing small steps, you know, it's a We don't want to push everything directly over the line right into Hadley which will happen if we take no steps But we also don't want to like Fullheartedly go into a embrace an industry that is is is running around trying to figure out its own path, too It's a maturing industry. Nobody really knows where it's going. So it's a really uncertain time It's really difficult for public officials like you to to grapple with these things But I think it's really important for for you to do so I Could I'm gonna ask one hopefully quick question of the communities that surround us, you know, sort of geographically touches How many of those so that'd be you know Leverett shoots very Sunderland Hadley Belcher town I don't think I miss me. How many of them moratoriums and do any of them not Grandby actually does as well I think South Hadley has one is the closest so the others do not have a moratorium That you're aware not I want to say that Leverett brought it up at the town meeting But I don't remember what because if they did that would change the conversation It's sort of in as far as the the question of whether something's gonna go across town line And if there's not a moratorium then it very likely is but I will say that Northampton did sign a host community agreement with New England treatment access, which is the medical dispensary there. So they do seem open to recreation or recreational. Yeah, yeah I could just maybe make a suggestion Well first, I think we should plan to schedule in the near term the herbology Meeting and discussion and with the idea that we'll try to be ready to make make a decision one way the other But I'm wondering if in a relatively short time We could look to our staff To come up with a list of what some of those qualitative Criteria might be maybe try that out with the Internal working group or not and maybe a kind of proposal for a path like the sort of incremental Path that we we just started tossing around at our last working group meeting We say here's our criteria and we're going to offer Two host agreements over the next six months or 12 months and then after that they'll be two more available So we can front load the qualitative criteria in association with the host agreement That can be the gatekeeper, but we have to be able to put out what it is worth Measuring on in order to dispense those And then if we stagger that we could get up to the eight and even when we get to eight they may not all Stick around so there may be something that opens up And then we always thought we would re-evaluate an year or two or three whether it was the right number I'm also concerned if we don't figure this out and have a sort of rational approach and Reasonable approach we will be less likely to attract the businesses that I think we really want were the testing and research labs I think by establishing our community as a welcoming community to this industry Working with people and keeping as up to date as we have we're positioning ourselves to get some of the pieces that I think might be Really good fit for our community So that's that's why I want to make sure we are continuing to be rational and fair in our approach, but You know, I don't want to say we want two weeks We're gonna have worked out some qualitative criteria and bring it back You know we you know one that was thrown out tonight was you know local hiring that can be one There's some financial Things it could be as mr. George pointed out, you know a really robust educational approach to young people That goes beyond the letter of the regulations So those those are just examples. There may be other things that could be the quality of the space and how the space is I know I'm concerned that if it's going to be co-located that the Just speaking for myself that the medical side of the house really Take that seriously and give people privacy and separate space and not just be Well, we're doing medical because we said we would but we're really recreational That some real thoughtfulness be given to the medical part of the co-located space So those are those are some and we probably think of others and probably mr. Travis is that of some mr. Bachman, but if we could start looking at the qualitative criteria and Link that with the issuance of the host The community agreements that post community agreements. I think we could have that kind of gatekeeping function of upfront So the other thing the question I have is are there any specific limitations on things that can be in the host community agreement? You know are there other bounds that the state is set around these in general not specifically there are That has not stopped communities from going beyond those limits So what what kinds of things so the law states that? Community impact payments have to be no more than 3% of gross sales and have to be reasonably related to costs incurred by The operation of a marijuana establishment on the municipality Agreements can't last beyond five years they expire after five years You've seen in other communities is saying Here's our 3% for community impact Here's some community benefit stuff You want with it? They're saying it's not an impact payment. So we think it's okay to do this and Industry has signed those whether or not that's enforceable whether or not a court would uphold those payments Whether or not that's something we even want to ask for whether it's gonna make it harder to do business in Amherst whether or not it's gonna You know Keep the business is sustainable in the long term if they're making these additional payments, or they'll choose to go elsewhere Those are all policy questions, but that so the law says 3% and five years That's specific to marijuana, but is there other are there other constraints around these type of agreements? In general so you can have a host community agreement with a number of people for a number of things generally, you know I presume there's one in Springfield relative to the MGM coming in. I mean, that's a different that's like development agreement But I'm just saying, you know, there there are potentially you could sign a host community agreement on any topic That you wanted to encourage or discourage potentially are there, you know generally you generally don't but but You know, I'm just sort of curious mostly just to see sort of you know, obviously usually around Hiring practices use of local contractors to do work the ones that I've seen You know it if it's taking away Public space maybe including a public park it on part of the property or something like that if it's those those are the types of elements I've seen to Development allowable. There's no but you're not aware of any things that aren't allowable as far as constraints other than what's articulated currently in the I mean, there's no case law. Yeah. Well, that's so you can you can speculate anything Right. I just didn't know if there was you know for other Agreements if there was you know, these are specifically these are specific to marijuana use a very specific right, right? I Really, I really appreciate you asking that question though in that way Mr. Slatter because that is in fact One of the things we've been talking about all along is what can you aside from what the state says? What can we do? It says the 3% gross sales that says the five years But what if we did this or what if we did that and we don't know what and and and to some extent We also don't know what might be that thing we could ask for and so that's one of the ways We've been depending on our relationship with the university and mr. Kravitz's relationship with other organizations throughout the country who have been you know Dealing with legalization already to say well What kinds of things did you guys ask for and maybe we'll see if that would be a thing that we could ask for here? But one of the things that makes that difficult is like so many other things Nothing is set up exactly the same way as it is in Massachusetts So there's county-based regulation in Colorado for example And so it's not down to a local licensing authority in the same way And so there's more of an argument between what the county and the state are doing and it's just a lot different And so it's a little hard to say take this piece off this column and stick this one in our agreement Because it is we're just pushing boundaries. We're not quite clear on what we can push and so Some of the host community agreements for medical were signed long ago And then as things developed and again none of those were discussed with the select board before they were signed Because I think they were just considered Here's the form letter you sign, but they are different from each other and those are online for people who want to look at those So it's not obvious and it's not obvious. I know that some years ago We didn't but some other communities did do more of an RFI RFP sort of approach and said we want some of these things what it went these medical things tell us what you're gonna do for us and Of course, that's always a little trickier when you don't own the property They're gonna put it in If we had no mill building we wanted them to put it in then we could say tell us your best job for that But we don't have that so I'm not sure how we can how how we take these criteria that we develop and then overlay it on the host community agreement in a way that is basically just an agreement between this select board as part of the executive branch and this select board as the licensing authority for alcohol and Parking and that sort of thing that then somehow follows through you know on to the next form of government That's gonna be a little different in terms of one thing that I think is really important to keep in mind that we were reminded of at our internal working group is Aside from any feelings we may have about individual medical sites Becoming either entirely focused on recreational or providing both and co-located is that there is no Reason to assume that they will get all the way through the local permitting process Associated with their special permit to have recreational when some of them are constrained in terms for example Just one example of parking and so medical appointments is a lot different than just dropping in whenever And so there could be different traffic concerns that would be examined by the ZBA So that might be a kind of question We want to figure out a way to get to mr. Brockman to ask mr. More before he comes before a future meeting that has more detail on that although obviously Ms. Krueger could explain to that a lot of that to us I'm glad that we've been talking about whether or not to schedule the Herbology thing because we talked about it before obviously and that's why we very specifically it isn't that oh It's an is it listed or not. No, we made a conscious choice Not to list that on tonight's agenda what we made a conscious choice to put on tonight's agenda was Our let's talk about whether or not we're going to do additional letters of support or not a position in general Because if the board's feeling was in general nope done with that Then there was no point in scheduling it But it is indeed on our parking lot of of items to be scheduled depending on how tonight's discussion turned out So indeed the intention was if tonight's discussion was yes, we do want to talk more about a specific one We would schedule that but also if we want to talk more about How we're going to make that decision because that was the other awkward piece that we were trying to avoid When we were talking about it an agenda setting is that we didn't want to just have an agenda that said Herbology is coming forward to talk to us for a letter of support or non opposition. Oh, by the way What's our criteria for that? For the first time to have that conversation with them there I mean obviously they come watch it because it's a public meeting, but it seemed to be putting undue pressure on them So I don't know if people are going to want to talk about that More tonight in terms of the five-year completely separate note in terms of the five-year Agreement that doesn't mean we have to sign a five-year agreement Although one of the again one of the ideas that came up in our internal working group is just as when you hire a town manager For example, they tend to prefer to want to hire three or five-year contracts rather than one-year contracts And so that could play into an organization like this as well on the other hand If you have a shorter contract period then it can be made much more clear that hey The environment may have changed by the time a year has passed And so therefore it's easier to talk about those changes Although I believe mr. Kravitz had already indicated that there was a way to put in the host community agreement that if a licensing Local licensing process is developed at some point that could in theory be included in the host community agreement Someday we may have one and if we do you'll be required to comply with it whether or not the host community agreement has expired whether or not that'll scare any potential partners is another question but That theoretically when we're talking about kinds of components you can put in there I think we thought that we could probably put that in there, but I Don't know so that's that was one thought at one point was that well Maybe we only sign a host community agreement for a shorter period of time as we figure more of this out And then we'll be able to tell them because again that goes back to the predictability issue right the sign a five-year agreement And then we develop a licensing process that you didn't really feel like you knew about that suddenly starts being an effect Eight months into the agreement that didn't feel like the kind of way we like to do things But I do want to make sure that if we were going to talk more about How to talk about I know I'd like to joke about we like to talk about how to talk about things But the letter of support or non-opposition because I don't know that anything we've said tonight yet Given all the things we've talked about has gotten me any closer to having any idea of how I would come to a decision at a future meeting what under what criteria I would be looking at Another letter of support or non-opposition At that time just like we're talking about other kinds of criteria like you know local preference hiring and numbers of jobs and Dollars those seem like all great things we could talk about associated with Potentially the host community agreement because that seems like they only wouldn't fit in Board of Health and wouldn't fit in special permit conditions But I don't have any idea What our criteria is supposed to be for deciding whether or not to do another letter of support or non-opposition Yes, I guess I still and where I'm Behind you two of my colleagues here is you who have been working on the issue Through the internal working group are more familiar with the regulations and the statute probably than I am at this point is to What either the statute of the regulations provide about local communities? Legal authority to do their own licensing there is one sentence that says That they are not preventing us from doing local licensing. It doesn't say who will do it. No guidance. That's all there is So we do have the authority to do local licensing I assume that we have our getting guidance either from our regional planning Or our council that I'm sorry. Mr. Slaughter. I should have waited Okay, we wouldn't be having this conversation if we weren't illegally authorized to do it We wouldn't be talking about doing it in theory if we were just trying to push the envelope We got them. I'm sure it was our influence that encouraged the CCC to include that one sentence Which I'll find and quote to you about that's a local licensing That doesn't mean as we have said already we have to do it and it's also we were as Ms. Krueger said what feels like hours ago We wouldn't it's probably we wouldn't want to do it at the last minute either We wouldn't want it to be something like you've jumped through 85 hoops and oh by the way not this one It would be earlier in the process But we do have the authority to do it We don't know what it includes Pioneer Valley Planning Commission doesn't know either KP law doesn't know either so we are That's why we're talking to different people and trying to figure this out. Nobody has a Plant a template for us on how to do this unfortunately. I think we're writing the template that then other people will use While we were sitting here they got a tweet from the Cannabis Control Commission said need assistance with licensing process as a local level Then be sure to check out our municipal guidance document and other great resources on our website Because in fact that I'm sorry go ahead It doesn't say much because in fact all along the thing that we've been struggling with is that they want to talk about Zoning as being local licensing and so I finally had to pin down a couple of the commissioners and say You're not just meaning zoning because most of that municipal guidance is about zoning and they're like oh You have the ability to zone for it. Well. Yeah, we have the ability to zone for houses, too But I mean, you know great. Okay, that's something but we do have that one sentence that allows us that to do this undefined local licensing in addition to that so we're left with I Did look at the charter During the course of the conversation in six point three which is the section on the board of licensed commissioners does specifically provide That the board's law of all powers with respect to other licenses for which the town has statutory and regulatory Authority unless otherwise assigned to another town office or officer by general law so I think that we are Recognizing that this will become a function of the licensed commission and at a future date and of course the other thing that we have been talking about is the transition provisions and You know, I think that we I am in agreement with the general discussion that has been essentially taking place which directs that There shouldn't be any Action taken Civilians Unless well, I'm not going to go back into it, but Unless there's substantial reason to go forward essentially and I think that without going back into the language right now because I'm not going to look through the charter to find that specific phrase, but I we are in a position where I think the Interests of the town Promoting responsible marijuana retail marijuana mandates that we develop essentially a licensing process and criteria now that this under the transition provision it cannot wait until there's a Council seated Because too much time will have elapsed but before they can Organize themselves to have the kind of discussion that has to take place Don't disagree with you mr. Stenberg the only the only piece I'm kind of stuck is when we talk about criteria I don't understand why we can't have the criteria Be applied to whether or not we would issue Host community agreement. I know it's the manager's job But if we say these are the six things that we're going to evaluate you on That becomes qualitative criteria and the manager said I'm only going to do two more host agreements This year and they have to score well And I don't mean scoring necessarily numerically but evaluate highly on these criteria or you're not going to get one of the two available host community agreements, so I don't know that it has to Again, I'm not opposed to licensing But I think it plays a different role than that selection criteria upfront So we put out a clear message. This is what we're looking for. This is how many are available and then it's Like in RFP process, but not literally that Does the board think that medical existing medical sites should be given precedence over new sites? well No I mean, you know in in some ways they have that already by virtue of the way the law Currently is playing out Do they need any further incentive that's where it gets a little trickier I think in other words Do we hold off on any other licensing? accept that allowed by that's a it's a bit of a Significantly unfair advantage in some respects maybe but I guess I should clarify my question Right now that the gatekeeper is the host community agreement in Order to move forward for recreational and operator needs to host community agreement. It's the only thing they need from the town So There's lots of different ways to decide how to award those who say yet Lace mr. Krava says yes to everybody say no to everybody you can say we value this Because you know we provide existing pre-approved medical facilities we value a Site that's going to generate a lot of economic growth There's lots of different ways to look at it so I think that that's sort of the things I struggle with in terms of whether to sign a host community agreement well first off Should we sign one or not but also? What are the values that you want to bring to that kind of Decision and especially if we're going to we know we can only do eight That's under our zoning, but how do we want to help this industry roll out in the town of Amherst? Is the real thing I struggle with Well since you asked the question I would agree with miss Brewer not necessarily We may ask in the list of qualitative criteria it might be experience as an operator here or elsewhere and then they could play into it It could be locational preferences, but I wouldn't automatically say just because you have a host agreement for medical that gives you a leg up for recreational and unless it's but I but having criteria that might Kind of get you to the same place like operating experience or enforcing security systems or whatever whatever it was that was of value, but I wouldn't automatically make that my own preferred criteria All right, I would suggest that it's it's very likely that the host community agreement for Regrational is going to have a much or adult use is going to have And we'll continue to have a different set of criteria It'll be I think the the medical will be a baseline and then the The other will be and then on top of that will be an additional set of criteria or constraints that were we're seeking from from potential adult use retailer and I think the thing I'm struggling with most and I in in some ways is what are the things that would be Inappropriate for a host community agreement that would be appropriate for a licensing Authority whether it be us or the subsequent licensing You know sort of one of the questions that that fall into that category that you want answers to that aren't necessarily want to put into binding contract That aren't necessarily Potentially You know Executable in a contract I think is what I think about is that are there things are there questions? We want to pose are there answers we want that are not ones that can be bound to a contract or not Why is to be bound into a contract which is essentially what a host community agreement is I? Think about like the the idea of putting in oh if we come up with the licensing thing we do it later I think that's that's a difficult circumstance to put a business in because you know, it's kind of signing a bit of a blank check Relative to that that they're going to sort of set up and have all these expenses Relative to getting started and then you're going to apply this licensing criteria that comes in after they're in place That may be very difficult or untenable for them from a business point of view And and so I think that's that's not a I start with the fairness of that as well So I think trying to have some of that in advance is is the more we can have it advanced the better off We are in that regard, but it's just I'm here. Yeah, I mean I Three that come to mind to that came up during the course of the present Tations of prior discussion that we've had one is this that There'd be criteria that's required on public health Instruction that in information that is provided to purchasers of recreational marijuana so that That public health interest is being served a second one that was raised in prior discussion was that if there's a co-location Criteria for the co-location to keep the two entities going strongly, but separately so that the needs of each individual population seeking assistance are both met and not impinged by the other and The third is really implicit in all of our licensing that we've been doing with alcohols And so we might as well look back on our experiences is to make sure that if there is a violation of a Provision either locally derived or statewide derived like the age limit being the most obvious That we have is clear authority left to our licensing authority Or to Suspend the license if there's a failure to adhere To that provision even if it's provision that's by state law and not by our own doing So I feel like we're back at the beginning of the circle because One of the things we're still having trouble teasing out is the difference between what these terms Meet not those criteria, which are very clear But what these terms mean in terms of what we're calling licensing and what we're calling criteria for a host community Agreement and what we're calling contents of a host community agreement So I would argue that Some of the things that have been discussed Are things that mr. Bachman has indicated he would can With guidance from us would entertain as being This is why I would sign this host community agreement versus a different host community agreement Not that those things would necessarily be in the host community agreement For example, I don't have any idea how we would calculate potential economic impact But what unless it was more specific around jobs or particular Lot that was going to generate particular taxes, but I don't need to figure that out right now But that is the kind of thing that arguably Could be something that would be more of a checklist That the town manager would be looking at would obviously have been communicated to the economic development director and would be Do you meet? You know three or five of these things that I'm going to be more likely to want to pursue a host community agreement with you that's not a local licensing process and so a local licensing process in particular sounds like it goes with The violations issue and I know Board of Health has expressed some interest in having Inspections although whether or not they have the bandwidth and resources to do additional inspections is always the question of course But they have it has been made clear in the law that you can have additional Local Board of Health inspections associated with certain things the food complication being slightly aside so In and it's but if we send an enforcement You know similar to when we had problems with a liquor licensee, which we don't see very often for some reason that ABCC sometimes hands down liquor license violations But we have done very few here locally and so if we did something like that like revoked up if we had a license we could revoke it if we don't have a license we can't revoke it and so does that become Something that's housed within the Board of Health or is that something that's in the licensing Authority like us or the future licensing Commission and then are those things like you know Economic development minority owned and things things that we would give credit to your local residents being preferentially hired Would those be criteria as to whether or not to consider and and how would the town manager apply those I think Versus you would an applicant would come and tell the local licensing authority. They were planning to do those things I'm we're just not sure what that mechanism would look like and which of those things is which Which column it fits under? So I think at this point I'm thinking about sort of what we we should think about regarding next steps I think that obviously we're not In order we intend to have some definitive sort of vote on something this evening I don't think but I think and and I do want to come back to the topic of letters of support non-opposition And and to that topic it's by itself But I think with regard to the the concept of local licensing. I mean, I think what I'm hearing as far as just to you know that there's some Since we should move in that direction and and try to articulate that pretty well and and I think how it interplays with you know sort of violation enforcement and host community agreement Components, I mean those are all sort of intertwined in some ways and we'll probably have to start to draw the lines between those But I'm thinking about what as a board what we want to think about from the from a next step standpoint So so I I think I have three takeaways one is Herbalogy schedule Licensing start to pursue what that looks like and host community agreements come up with criteria that you can look at So I think that you know those are certainly certainly there What I would also suggest is that as as each of us and certainly if the public wants to offer Suggestion to us they're welcome at any time but I think when we as board members are thinking about the distinguishing pieces between You know, what are things for licensing versus one of the things that we want you to include in a host community agreement, you know And start thinking about those concrete things We've had a few mentioned tonight, but I'm sure there's others that will want to think about a little bit and start to compile our lists and if they want to send those to the manager or to mr. Kravitz or you know We should start to do that now because you know to to try to think more deeply about that and Over a little bit of time. I think it's better than just trying to come over them on the fly Mr. Steinberg yeah, I do think that it's very important that we structure our thinking about Who is going to monitor enforcement of the license of state law and Who's going to take action as a result and I Now I'm reflecting on what I have heard about problems with alcohol enforcement and the Commonwealth that ABCC Carries on a large part of the charge But is not really adequately funded and adequately staffed to really do the kind of job that we probably would ideally like to see them do and Then it falls on local police to sort of backstop where ABCC Just has reached the limit of its ability. So we want to make sure that There's a process since we don't know if there's going to be Significant enforcement by CCC the Cannabis Control Commission at this point So we do need to be prepared to make sure that if there is not that our local police have the ability to Monitor and that we have a mechanism to deal with violations Miss Gravitz, please. I just wanted to add You know, it's it's the end of June now and I know that revenue is not the primary concern. It's you know, a Responsible and safe rollout but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that that the price of marijuana in Colorado over the first two years declined significantly all the counties that Ban marijuana sales Switched around and did not make nearly as much money as those that had originally allowed it and I'm just Thinking about the timeline and is this could this potentially become a political issue in the races as we get closer to the elections? I Don't know what else is on the select board agenda, but I'm just saying I could see it I could also see the Council when they take over Are probably going to be spending the first few months getting settled in and then immediately going into the budget. So this isn't gonna, you know, I Don't know how high on their agenda Moving along a licensing authority or ensuring that licensing happened so You know, I don't know I'm just I I don't know that we've given and I'm again that that's not necessarily the point but I don't know that that we've given the Business interest in the room any sort of clarity coming out of this discussion that at some point soon They're probably gonna have to make a business decision of whether or not they want to continue to pursue something in Amherst and unless we have a clear path forward Relatively shortly, I don't know how that's gonna work. So Well, I would suggest I'm gonna express my opinion all offer, you know an opportunity the others and on the board but I think that I Certainly, you know understand respect to the urgency and I'm less concerned about town revenue I'm being a not but I mean it's not the primary focus, but but I think at the same time we understand I certainly understand the the the more we delay and The difficulty it puts businesses in to make good business decisions and there gets to be a point where they just have to move on and make Their own decisions relative to that but but I my own thinking was that you know As we said earlier the conversation is the need for this to happen relatively soon It's pretty important because I think a we overly advantage Medical facilities that have a quicker path through the CCC if we don't have it in place in some reasonable way But I also think just you know as a as as miss Gruver said being a welcoming community to the to the idea of Doing this and trying to do it. Well, so I think From my point of view, I mean, I think we're we're still a little Early Because we're still trying to get our heads around exactly how we want to sort of shape this a little bit But I think we're gonna try to do that to my mind. I certainly want to do that fairly quickly You know because I think for a variety of reasons, you know our own self-interest But also in in the interest of of that, you know business community and wanting them having Clear rules to operate within because that's critical for them So in my mind, I think Mr. Bachman's three points as takeaways make sense, but I don't think we said Definitively we're not gonna go any further till we have all the licensing. I'll figure it out That's kind of an add-on and we can address it in those agreement You shall participate if we have that but I don't think we were saying we're gonna wait till we get that piece I'll figure it out before we're gonna go ahead and Use a criteria based Release of some host agreement. So I'm a little surprised because of mr. Kravis's memo For b it says delaying additional retail marijuana establishments until such a Time as the town develops and implements a local licensing process is a prudent course of action because of the significant Interest Emerson's received by potential recreational marijuana retail operators that it seems a little contradictory to what you just said I don't disagree with what you just said about if we make it to take too long or too arduous that could have some Detrimental impacts, but here you argue that because we don't have the licensing we shouldn't act but doesn't that memo say that we would allow the medical to be Co-located with recreational so we would have the revenue from recreational establishments What I'm what I'm worried about is we're saying we're not doing anything until we have license okay, but okay So if we say we're not we're not we're not preference We're not at least what I hear from this group We're not we're not going with part a in your part b says therefore Wait till you get the licensing before you do any more in addition to the potential for but So if we take that first part out Then I would say don't take the second part I wanted to be clear because I was a premise Don't do anything else to your licensing, but just do the four and we're saying well, maybe not just before so therefore not bad either okay So that that was my understanding to beyond the fact that it was what I wanted I think it was also what we agreed is that we are not following one memo, which is that we are not giving preference to the medical and that's that's As of this moment no longer a criteria at this time As opposed to what it says here, which is what mr. Brackam and said he's following for right now We are not giving them preference in terms of Again, I'm belaboring this because I'm not sure we're getting the difference is that talking about criteria That are in the host community agreement as in you will do a thing. You will provide maybe it's a Way of dealing with the educational materials, for example, you put that in the host community agreement Versus economic impact that some amazing rubric is developed That's not going to be in the host community agreement more than likely that's going to be more of a criteria of whether or not The town manager is willing to sign a host community agreement and that can all be done Separately while we're continuing to talk about the enforcement piece the part about the licensing So we don't have to hold anything up for the licensing per se as long as We feel like for example We don't have to hold anything up for our licensing process if what we're saying can happen in the meantime is one We are not giving medical preference to we are going to develop very quickly some criteria as to What you host community agreement? We would enter we would have town manager entertain signing based on the kinds of values We've expressed tonight as being important values some of which may not end up being Delineated within the agreement, but that was the idea behind why those have a preference and so I Think we can talk about the enforcement piece like not like a really long time from now But at a future time because one of the other things that came up in talks with the CCC and formally is that in terms of Interpreting their sentences about municipal requirements and local rules regulations ordinances and bylaws I said you do understand that we do things with liquor licensing for example That are regulations not bylaws. They're not zoning bylaws They're not general bylaws the regulations and they said yeah, sure. That's fine. You can do that so the council could pass ordinances That say things that the licensing authority will do but in the absence of them having signed any ordinances The having passed any ordinances the local licensing authority could go ahead and make up regulations Just like we've been attempting to make up regulations associated with alcohol So I mean it's not like the council they have to wait for the council. They can work Independently on this it would just and so that's one of the reasons it would be nice to give them something to start with as well But again, I still think the licensing part of it can be worked on at the same time We're trying to move forward with giving people clearer ideas So I agree with that. I think but I think the licensing Endeavour is a pretty significant undertaking. It's not gonna happen overnight. It's not gonna happen in a few months It's gonna take a long time to develop all the criteria and the systems because it no one has invented this yet We can say we want to license it like tobacco or for alcohol But no one has invented a like a local license for marijuana yet And if we're gonna devote an enormous amount of time to doing that it's gonna be a pretty I mean, you know what it's taken already just to even talk about host community agreements Which are sort of there's a whole bunch out there already. There's hundreds so I think there is some market sensitivity that that I'm sensitive to I think that there's a rational approach to to saying and I appreciate the feedback that Because you have a medical facility doesn't give you a leg up or an automatic Buy-in to his community green but it is My inclination is that we would want to issue a couple of host community agreements sooner than later And then phase phase them in over time. I think that's a rational approach. I think that's Where we need to be as a community and we need to you know talk about the public safety public health about it What what needs to be what would those things look like but to you know, a lot of communities are stalling You know or or put a moratorium on on on this and I think there is gonna be it like that actually buys us some time I think and then In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but I think where we are as a community is that we are looking to implement this rational Not not rushed to to to implement them, but to get it moving and get some some Licenses out there, so I think we'll Leave that there for now, but I do think there's a bit of a conversation we need to have about the letters of support and non-opposition and answer of The point was bro raised earlier about sort of our criteria around those And what we're thinking about Relative those I think our other conversation plays into that, but I do think it's important for us to We can articulate sort of how we view those now Versus how we viewed them Two years ago or whatever That was earlier this evening, but But I but anyway, so I do want to have a little bit of a conversation about that I don't know that it has to be a long conversation per se, but I do think we should Frame that a little bit because I think you know what I've heard tonight is that from an agenda standpoint we should Take up the topic relative to the folks from urology, and I think that's fair to them as well But I also want to give them a frame with which we're trying to view that Conversation partly for our own sake But also an opportunity to give them a chance to repair appropriately So if anyone wants to offer Some suggestion about how they see the these letters of Support or non opposition at this point given the changes that have occurred When happens when we tire us out So one of the things that helps me Actually is something we already agreed to which is the idea that we would not Automatically Give the leg up on getting a host community agreement locally So we understand that the state has established its own process about saying if you have medical You jump to the head of the line for getting your recreational application approved I Don't agree with what the state did but that doesn't matter because that's what the state did But since we locally have just established I believe that we are not giving that additional leg up at the local level as well. I feel less conflicted about Medical at this point in the process because again for the thousandth time we wanted medical to open three years ago We finally have one we thought we were going to potentially have up to four although I don't think we all really thought it was all can actually work out for all those places As they were building and buying etc So we wanted medical Town wanted medical years ago. We've only got one and that's great. I don't know at this point that we Need to make another medical Letter happen in order for recreational to happen because those two are not necessarily connected And we're not necessarily giving priority and we aren't giving priority locally to people who already have it on the other hand People have you know invested in a process and so I don't know how we decide at this point earlier on It was easier because we could just say sure we don't know what we're doing go ahead and figure it out You've seemed to have met all the criteria We don't have any reason to say no. We figure the market will sort you out. Please somebody start selling medical That's why I'm frustrated now because I don't I appreciate you saying what you did about the frame because I don't want to put Another applicant through the process of saying well, we don't know what we want and so how do we decide? I Think for me around the medical I mean I think I think back to what we we looked at before and that was you know, certainly There were certain things that that were presented in varying forms from the from the different applicants, but you know how they're you know So I think I would I would be judging sport non-opposition based on the same kind of frame that I would take to it As in the past which was independent of the adult use and so, you know, what is their? Security protocols are they having you know, what's their medical staff like on you know on site? What's their? You know process for you know Transport and security materials Advising clients on use and and support around that Those kind of things because I think you know if we're gonna if The host acute community agreement for recreational is entirely separate process, and I think we'll have different criteria for that Then then I think I sort of fall back on what was what was I thinking about with regard to the the medical at the time? And so I'm gonna think in those same terms. It's like well. Are they being a good medical provider? As if it were any other medical facility if we had this level of control over pharmacies What are you know? What's our expectation around that? You know and and I think given that you know again I think we're still in the same place we were before which is in some respects Given that one is all that's opened of the of the before we've dealt with I think that you know the market will Do what the market does as far as sorting out did we oversubscribe on medical? I don't you know that hasn't the case so far We've got one I doubt that that's the entirety of the medical market in our town So I think that will will sort itself So I don't think it Especially relative to medical. I don't think it is a is a circumstance where Will be a wash in it In a way that we'd be concerned that it's being abused in some way I don't see that happening so I'm I'm thinking I'm gonna use the same kind of criteria and thought process I used before which is you know, are they a good medical facility? Are they gonna you know, are they taking that part of it? Seriously, are they treating their patients? Well, are they trying to care for people that are struggling with with you know medical conditions that are Chronic or extraordinarily a painful or both, you know in a way that's sensitive and and matches the values that I think people wanted when when they were You know supportive of medical marijuana to begin with so I'm gonna kind of use the same frame Personally I think but I'm curious of what other people think around that This topic I want to push back on that after they talk well Being the one who voted who didn't vote yes on the Happy Valley application And I sort of have to get like back as to why I didn't vote yes on that application they have to having voted yes on three others and I think that some of the criteria that I was concerned about was that Zoning says what it says, but that didn't require us to issue letters of support just because zoning allowed it and it seemed that the proximity to two other establishments That were potentially and I thought more than potentially I thought likely to be there because I thought that there was a real interest in know these they have gone ahead and And continued on the process including ZPA special permits, so it's gone all the way through so I did think about that aspect of it I thought about the fact that there's a proposal to build mixed use housing directly across the street and the question of how that factored in and How that was playing against the zoning rule and sort of this question of You know once you've given the letter Can you then pull it back as a sort of the first first use out of the gate and that whole set of questions as a little bit uncomfortable the fact that We didn't know what was going to happen with Legalization of recreational marijuana and what kinds of additional rights would be given To the establishments and we have a little bit I said little bit of Clarification on that issue So I agree that I would look at the same kinds of questions that I looked at before I think that there's others that I'm not sure But I think about them that sure that they're appropriate or not. I have to almost get some legal counsel to know On some things whether we could whether they can be officially criteria that we could Consider as we make the decision It's pretty good. I think I want to take each application, you know separately on its own merits Although I will admit as we heard the first couple. I'm not sure we really knew what we were looking at There's a lot of presentation and not a lot of our ability to Decipher the the depth or sincerity So we get you know a very nice presentation or a pause present presentation, I think I Like the idea of having other criteria when it comes to issuing the post-community agreement So I think it gives us that but I'm interested in hearing more Applicants and see if they are persuasive So my pushback is what is persuasive mean, so I totally understand a specific criteria like Because because we did have this very special situation where the zoning allowed for it We'd planned for that center. That was great But we really had carte blanche as far as we knew to decide on yes a letter of support or opposition or not and Unlike for example, if we decide not to give out a liquor license We have to have some certain types of justifications other types of justifications ABCC that the community might think are very justified ABCC has Said are not there wasn't case law. There wasn't regulation around there weren't opinion letters That had been provided by someone that said oh, you can't judge it on this you can judge it on that so it's still just a made-up thing at this point is what it comes down to and the reason I was I got the part about being concerned about a Proximity, you know because even though the zoning by-law says X about proximity That can also be a value of the community as well again because ABC We don't have a group like ABCC is telling us you can't just say that liquor store will compete with that liquor store Therefore you don't want it or you don't want too many liquor stores close together You you can't just say no for that reason we could say no for that reason for Medical letters of support or not opposition. I'm not saying we should I'm not saying that's the list We should go down, but we do have more but the fact that we have more flexibility means we also don't necessarily have criteria And so at one point during one of those conversations We are presentations conversations amongst ourselves. There was some discussion about whether or not somebody was actually the kind of nonprofit They were presenting themselves as and I got very frustrated with that because I didn't really think that was ours to decide but again Whether or not they are sincere in their desire to help medical patients. I did that. How do I quantify that? I mean, they are going to they have met a ton of requirements Working through the state as nonprofit as having certain types of medical personnel available to do certain types of things Will they go above and beyond will they say they'll go above and beyond? I just I've still got nothing to work with other than gut I all I'm hearing is gut and if that's all we've got then I guess that's all we've got but I'm not gonna try and re-judge the same things the state judges because they've already been through that and the state's Done a lot more of those than we have in terms of ferreting out whether or not somebody's really a nonprofit or whether or not Somebody really understands the security requirements We don't have additional security requirements unless we establish them. So I'm still lost I'd agree, but I think we've also heard, you know, there's there we've gotten just to the security question I think we've gotten different Explanations of how they choose to approach that So there's a level of specificity that we've gotten from some of the organizations Relative to how they're going to do that and that provides again a comfort or discomfort level with us Which again influences our opinion about whether to give or not give a lot of support on opposition So I think you're right. I think it is a Disatisfying process a lot of ways because we don't have a sort of you know, measurables per se that we've articulated. I'm not sure we can There are a number of measurables obviously the state has gone through with regard to its requirement and process and in some ways That should provide us a certain level of comfort, but but maybe not depending on our faith in the state system but you know, it's it's You know, there are you know, it's kind of like when we're enforcing You know, we've had hearings about enforcement of of you know violations of liquor laws, you know What's the right penalty? You know, we've we've had to do that kind of freelance as well I think we're we're still operating within that there's not a long history of sort of this is kind of what people have done or not done or these are kinds of things that you know our our You know the sort of metrics that people have used and in regard to that So I think we will in some ways, you know be Hanging our hat on our own judgment and and trying to you know Express in our meeting with our questions that the kinds of things were concerned about and Hopefully providing a Sense of due diligence to the community that we you know trying to Extract not extract from them, but you know get some reassurance from from from them that that they've you know met some some level of of Effort and thought about these kind of things, you know if you ask a certain question, and there's no answer whatsoever I mean that could be a deal-breaker. It's like you know if you ask I can't think about question I've thought my head, but I mean, you know, it's like You know, are you going to have? closer to monitoring of you know the vault You know if they said oh, we never thought of that that would be really problematic for me, but you know, that's Quick example of something, but you know, it's not that it expressly required by the state That was certainly maybe maybe not so I think that there are you know Ways in which we can get to a sense of of comfort with or discomfort with you know providing a letter Even if we don't have this as robust of processes. We really all like I think Well, just I think sometimes because this is new and we're trying to do this really thoughtfully Maybe overthinking some of this so we don't know how many medical Establishments the market can support and as long as we have some base criteria Which essentially is is provided by the state and maybe our gut feeling or you know show your face tell us who you are We want to know who you are in our community a Lot of this is going to be figured out in the permitting With the ZBA because they're going to have specific conditions possibly the license as another enforcement tool. I We're going to have to put a foot in the water and try some of these and I'm expecting They're not all going to last that there's going to be a sort of market level at some point where no We can't support eat medical or maybe not even four, but we don't really know and so To act like or sort of ZBA setting all these conditions might I mean I'm beginning maybe because I'm tired now. I don't feel well I think we might be overthinking this and so for me I'm willing to let some of these go and see how they do and I think the market's going to make some decisions about Who's the best place to go to get the kind of service? I want when I have a medical condition and we can't necessarily figure that all out up front Ask another question. Yes so one of the things that you brought up and then I know has come up in other conversations is the idea that is that is not as As I understand state law not as strict in the state regulations about Providing the privacy for a medical patient Whereas there have been other places that have just basically put a tape line down and said this is the aisle This is the express lane so to speak This is the medical line and this is the adult use line and like there's no Treatment as though it's it's more like CVS than it is like a concierge doctor So I mean there there are differences there and so it I don't know if that's something we can Encourage the ZBA at some point to include in their conditions And if that's where part of our conversation and ends up going especially as I have a note here to remind us to Send letter to questions to mr. Backelman for mr. Mora it or he can decide if they're for mr Mora or for mr. Kravitz or whatever Ahead of our july 9th meeting when mr. Mora said he can be here If that's the kind of thing that because the slept board doesn't normally say to the ZBA that we appoint All these are the things we think you ought to think about that doesn't usually happen Maybe this is enough of an odd situation where we do think that's appropriate But is that maybe the kind of thing that you're talking about asking people so like the vault thing that it's not required by law But it gives you a sense of what Their intentions are in a way that Isn't just they already jumped through all those hoops with the state So I'll just raise The fact that you won't I don't think have the opportunity to ask recreational marijuana establishments how they're Monitoring their vaults. So is it is it about the medical stuff? I'm just you know So I just bring up the point that this isn't the there isn't an opportunity for Recreational establishments, and I don't know how that plays in or not But are you holding the medical ones to a higher standard and is should you be or vice versa? Do we put that as part of the licensing process, but Just a point we've talked about this before we have a number of licensed pharmacies in town that have controlled substances and we don't Seem to have the same level of concern about their security because this is new putting all these layers on And again There's a lot of other dangerous things happening and we don't put this level of scrutiny on and I'm not saying we shouldn't care about that But in the special permit, they're gonna have to have a security plan. It's gonna have to meet certain criteria So it will be hard except the gut feeling to ferret out Do we want to go ahead or not? But it may just come down to how we vote and you know when our Fifth member comes back from Prague, although I'm not sure The whole dynamic you might have a whole different other take but I think if we could I'm also feeling we for the first time We you know we have somebody who's taking notes for us And they're gonna end up with carpal tunnel if we don't end up if we don't end this discussion soon because this is good really Right going on for quite a while, right? So I think you know we Kind of made this sausage here a little bit tonight, and so that's the way it goes. I think in summer sex, but I think it For me anyway, it's really clarified what I want to think about between now and and our next meeting relative to What and how I would approach this and and that may evolve a bit over the ensuing week or two So you know unless we have anything else we want to comment relative to this I think we should let mr. Kravitz go and perhaps our other guests are ready to go as well and and Unless there's some next steps that someone wants to mention relative to this specifically I mean we've got so we'll send comments to mr. Buckleman and he'll sort out Right if certainly on the on the early talking about your licenses and those community agreements and and that sort of stuff Certainly. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the right thing to do is and to him and prepare Those to go to either this more Mr. Kravitz appropriately So we'll think of things over the you know ensuing days that Could help inform us for our continued conversations about this. So, yes So thank you very much all for being patient Bring us out. So next on our agenda. This is topic of a carrying Throwing around the idea. We have to come back to the by-laws Committee, right? Yes. We do but you were saying I was just saying do we have anything on the charter transition? Thank you, mr. Chair the Legislature the House and Senate have engrossed the bill and that means they they've passed it now It's on the governor's desk for him to sign. He has 10 days to sign I know the governor we've been in contact. I've been in contact with the governor's office two people in the governor's office And they are doing their due diligence on the bill They have actually made an independent inquiry to our town clerk to get some information about deadlines for Denomination for about for the candidates and things like that. So It seems that they're paying attention to it and they're on it. So I'm looking forward to hopefully Having the governor sign it and then relatively near future great Hurray, yeah, just just because it settles the question. Yes, that's the you know independent people's thoughts about the project but So are there any other does anyone else have anything relative to the charter transition that we need to bring up this evening No, if not, then let's go back to the committee boards appointments and reappoints and in the topic Mr. Steinberg brought up earlier relative to the to the question on on the bylaw review committee So if you'd be so kind Obviously if anybody from this board or anyone else has People to suggest they should do so Because we still are Looking but in any event we do have this one recommendation from a current member of Board the committee that we did appoint and That recommendation is somebody Who is not a resident of the town of Amherst but is a resident of an adjoining town But According to the pitch that was given to me, obviously somebody with strong credentials and I think the question is Do we think it appropriate to even consider the issue and Is there any guidance that Is if the This this select board says no we don't want to consider anybody is not a resident of the town then we shouldn't even bother to Go any further with that right review, I have to say I'm a little uncomfortable with it personally because I think that you know it is There are some aspects of that review committee that are really pretty straightforward sort of stuff, but there are aspects that require some Some interpretation and some nuance and I think Having Someone from outside of town do that is makes me a little uncomfortable It's not that they're not entirely capable of coming to the exact same place somebody from town would come from but I think it it could be I Think it could end up being problematic if if something were controversial and then you know the the idea of of Someone's you know Bias or non bias, you know might come into play relative to them being not a resident so I see it as a little Problematic, but that's that's my own opinion. I don't know if the others have similar thoughts or not. I mean, there's some ether or I mean I I Have some discomfort, but I don't know if it's sort of rational It's like I would rather it be somebody but I also don't want to take too long because the committee had gotten going They're enthusiastic and they really need that third member and we've tossed out names You know amongst ourselves and tried to recruit and it's it's hard. It's been hard a hard sell We're looking for a particular skill set and temperament If it's someone who's willing to roll up their sleeves and is known to one of the committee members you know I I don't want to wait too much longer And so I would I would accept my discomfort with that person if we're gonna be weeks out without somebody It's not really an answer right So having had at least four people turn me down Two more recently another that I forwarded along to mr. Steinberg who's since turned us down It is a very specialized sort of set of skills And we definitely had these we were so thrilled with our initial pick of three that seemed to meet those so well And many of these other would have been terrific substitutes But yeah, they didn't agree So I guess without just saying, oh, do we know the person if the person has a particular set of skills that Really seems really super relevant as opposed to just somebody they like to work with because they have before You do I guess I And and the and both of the two remaining members think it's a good idea Then I guess with some reluctance I mean like I said, I had so many people that I mean we thought about a lot of people but Specific people we recruited that just for whatever reason can't make the time to do it at this point And you know now is the time it needs to be done If I could ask mr. Stamak, do you have one pending possibility and then if that did not pan out then this would be the Next possibility. Yes, there is one person who's resident of the town who I have talked with at the recommendation of Somebody who works for the town the department head and I Asked him to talk to the three current members of the committee or some combinate some number of them and then get back to me and That individual is planning to do that this week Then we would have a recommendation from a town senior staff person and could have recommendations from the committee and We might want to set up a little bit more of an interview process But that would be somebody who would be within the town. Otherwise We have no one else At this point and the person who's not from Amherst I have not reached out to at all because I didn't even feel comfortable doing that without some guidance from this group Oh, I think I think what I'm hearing is that you know, pursuing the person that's in town and that's preferable I think to everybody's but if not, then I think we may need to widen our field view on that so Hopefully that's somebody's listening Perhaps we're hoping someone's listening the person not for me. We're is is truly interested right? Yeah, that's right, but it's theoretically so I would I would say If everything else falls out, then yeah Meanwhile, if you think of anyone else You keep thinking keep thinking I know we all have Okay, so I think next up is How management report I do have a few things I want to mention first is that People in the community may have noticed that are some of our neighboring communities Haven't impose water limits or water restrictions those are communities that are Have a different measure than we do in terms of when they have to Institute water restrictions as part of their permit. We do not have those restrictions on part of our permit We have plenty according to the DPW have plenty of water We have sources that we have not even begun to tap yet. We're in pretty good condition It was a conversation we had with the University and we are preparing a communication to the colleges and to the University to update them on where we are at this moment in time And we'll be doing that through the summer because it's a highly sensitive issue for the for our institutional partners So we're in pretty good shape We'll give you more detailed information your next meeting Noted the addition of Angela Mills who's who's sticking with us whether she'll come in tomorrow or another question Town clerk Sandra Burgess, this is her last week and Will be missing her Sue I debt who is the assistant town clerk will be acting town clerk for the month of July and then Margaret Nardowitz will be starting August 1st. We've also reached out to Sandra Burgess to help during the election process which miss Nardowitz has Nardowitz had requested. I also miss Pupple has agreed to or we've offered her the opportunity to Help with the transition to miss Mills, but also to help with cleaning up the minutes that we have outstanding The health insurance for the town employees and retirees is in the process of switching over People should have received their their insurance cards by now or tomorrow at the very latest This will Become effective on July 1. So a lot of credit to the people who really Managed through the process on the town in the school side for making that happen. It's really an important change over and we still as you know have the self-insurance Program that we're still anybody going to the doctor today or me because of my foot That will be under the old plan, but the new plan will be kicking on July 1 Want to note that the there's an economic development form the third in the series on June 27th from three to five in this room The I'm not sure if members will mention these things, but if I'll just mention touch on them the North Square dedication the Valley bike You may want to talk about that Kickoff two kickoffs one in Northampton one in Amherst and The other thing was that we had a meeting with the town of Hadley tonight immediately prior to this Meeting in the transition of their ambulance service to action ambulance that is scheduled to go into effect on June 29th Which is Friday at 9 a.m. We give us a day in case anything goes wrong in terms of the switch over The key thing is where are the calls being directed once they come into? Into the Hadley Dispatch center are they going to go to action or are they going to go to Amherst right now? They they just push if it's a medical call They just push a button that automatically transfers to calls the call to our dispatch center on June 29th Those will also begun begin going to Hadley. We will we have a mutual aid agreement We are working on with Hadley. We will continue to provide Services through June 30th at midnight to them is as needed to help cushion that They're very confident that they will make this happen on June 29th, which we're very pleased by and we appreciate the cooperation and Cooperation of our firefighters and dispatch center in term and helping to make this a change over for the town of Hadley So that's all I have to report today. Thank you. So now we'll move to select board member reports Does anyone have a member report? About our Participating in we participated in the town of Sunderland's The 300 300th anniversary celebration and Mr. Slaughter and Mr. Steinbringen myself rode in the town's Electric all electric vehicle. I think it's a sustaining Amherst and we actually got a lot of Chairs and claps as we went by and we had the town banner tied to the front of the car Oh, I forgot the quarters. I owe you. It only flew up twice And I think that was a nice thing to do and I Don't really have any other memory reports because my committee work has been pretty quiet the last couple weeks I've no committee reports so I'm gonna You're sure that the one thing that I will report on is that mass school building authority was Made a side visit to the Fort River school and two members of the school committee were president superintendents the Our buildings Specialists mr. McPherson was present and I was there representing Select board since as you know, we needed a select board representative and I thought it was a really very thorough and productive conversation and It was pleased to see that After all that had happened that we put in a statement of interest and They didn't Schedule initial visits with all communities that submitted statement of interest, but they selected to come back Damer stand to tour the Fort River school and to meet with all of us and They I think that we answered The questions that were posed to us and they allowed us to make a presentation of what the need is and They are working on somewhat of a Rolling basis where they're trying they'll do assessments and determinations of The amount of money that they have available in the size of the projects that they have seen in making a determination So we could hear as early as December, but if we don't hear in December, it doesn't mean that we aren't in the next Stage of this round. It's just that they are Gonna treat it on some what Somewhat of a rolling basis to as they go through the process And there were several events that I attended with various members of This board in the past few days including the habitat We're we're our chair spoke and Ms. Brewer and I were at the meeting at the first Congregational church We're a congressman McGovern and many others spoke very eloquently about issues and among those Was the CEO Perez who spoke very eloquently about the current crisis in the immigration That's basically it Ms. Brewer Following up on that list. I was very sorry to miss the habitat Hammers Community Land Trust having been to the groundbreaking and then the dedication So I appreciate all of those who you could be there for 1073 to 1075 North Pleasant The they say that was the 40th and 41st unit, but that's quite an impressive feat in Amherst. That's really amazing Thank you for mentioning the McGovern Talk where lots of people talked about things they could do practically speaking and helping support in a variety of ways Both Lucia Perez and directly and then also Who to write to and who to put pressure on? The survival center flipped their switch and our chair spoke at that as well and Flipping their switch had to do with their solar panel. So that was great And we have a new chamber director starting on July 9th Who is eager to meet with any of you individually to get your perspective on things? Happens to be a friend of mine named Claudia pos money who starts on July 9th. She's on vacation right now So you don't have to email it right now and then the Commonwealth Secretary and This is where I'm gonna have to start working with Ms. Mills as to what gets quoted in the minutes that Alyssa says So Secretary Galvin came to town for what I would assume was his first visit ever to Western Massachusetts and He talked about talking about Right-ends at some point in the future to some group of people at some point So it was not a workshop that some of us assumed it was going to be it was an announcement about a workshop but we made sure thanks to helpful town staff including Ms. Burgess and Sunred to move the Amherst flag that we worked so hard on into the picture So it didn't just look like a beige hotel wall in Ohio that he was visiting us in Not that there's anything wrong with a beige hotel arm in Ohio, but nonetheless, you know It's like when you go to a conference am I anywhere that I actually get to go outside at the conference? Yes, come to Amherst at least be with the Amherst flag We were hoping to have him on the steps, but apparently he wanted to be inside and he left us a poster About right ends, but mainly he there is going to be a regional town clerks meeting in July And he's going to make sure he or someone in his office is part of that To make it really clear how right ends work because one of the weird things for example as was covered in the Gazette article If you put a sticker on a space well first of all don't put it under the wrong race That would be a bad thing But the other thing is I won't count But the other thing is if you put a sticker under somebody's name that's on the ballot and you don't mark the oval next to the sticker The intent it does count the intent is that you put the sticker on so you didn't have to mark the oval However, if you put the sticker on You are definitely not voting for the person on the ballot So you really have to be careful and so there's going to be a lot of hand counting done By staff because when it goes into the machine it goes a different place if it's got a sticker on it And so that much more work for our election staff With a new while returning but still a new town clerk During a new town election on the day after Labor Day So it is not going to be an easy challenge for staff So I appreciate that he did come out and you know wants to get everybody on the same page as to how write-ins work in particular in this and another community that's having a lot of write-ins Are you also? So I think since I have been at a variety of things with colleagues of mine on this, but not mr. Wald I've not been I've not been anywhere with mr. Walter Still in Prague So I've not been but I've been speaking at a lot of different things Trying to be very brief generally and so I will be brief this evening But I will mention that Thursday there are two different opportunities relative to the valley bike share So we've partnered with a number of communities here in Western Mass to to cooperatively get together and buy Bicycles for use In the variety of communities and so North Hamptons having the sort of full Everybody come from all the communities event at 11 p.m. 11 p.m 11 a.m. On Thursday morning at I believe it's Plasky Park So right there in the middle of downtown North Hampton We are going to have our version of it our local event at three o'clock on Thursday afternoon And so people can participate either one of those and come see the new bikes actually here You'll actually get an opportunity I think you're gonna have a few of the bikes out there electric assists You get a chance to ride your bike if you do I would recommend bringing a helmet That's always a good thing to do when you're riding a bike, but we will That's right There will be some some gift certificates given out to to get people an opportunity to sort of try it out Without having to put out their own But they're not an infinite amount of those a limited amount of those but there are some gifts tickets They're gonna be available at that event as well So we do want to encourage people to come out try out the new bikes Sort of hear about where they are and and how the whole system works And I think that's all I have PVTA meets on Wednesday this week Go ahead so I had two things one I want to ask you a question but and so I'll ask that and then I was hoping that between the two of you You would say something about the fact that I know it was a whole week ago But we had nor we had the amazing North Square ground breaking with Baker here So maybe we can end on that and I can ask my question in the meantime Which is we had had questions raised many times over the years about polling locations But I know specifically ones come up associated with the primary for Crocker farm And so we will want to get back to people about the potential for Having it at either months in which unfortunately isn't on the bus line or potentially in one of the community rooms on East Hadley Road Again a thing with the whole changeover and staff etc But given the day after Labor Day being the first day of school for kindergartners that makes that has been expressed to us If we could follow up on that and I just said I'd mention it tonight Because I know you're already working on it with the town clerk, but Tell everybody about how awesome it was to have the governor visit us for the amazing North Square ground break So the so the governor did come out and and I was Asked to speak I'm speaking a lot of things lately, but I got to speak with that and at that event You know it was a lovely event in both the weather and it's always nice to have you know the folks from vegan as well as The Jones family who's the landowner and we got to speak and the governor spoke for for a bit as well And he actually stuck around longer than I thought just you know His schedule doesn't always afford that and so it was nice to have him Be there for a little bit of time and share some of his schedule with us and and So it was a great opportunity for us to to as community to kind of come together and celebrate an event that you know Does a lot of things for us as a community You know it creates more affordable housing it creates housing in general not just affordable But affordable housing it creates more commercial space for us in town it it redevelops an area of town that that We're seeking to have that kind of redevelopment in which is one of our village centers And so it was really a nice opportunity and and a lot of nice press for amherst And it was nice to have the governor out and I think he also took the opportunity to swing by and see the chancellor at UMass a little bit But it was really nice event and and A beautiful day as well, but so we You know or anything like that, but it was a Great opportunity for us to sort of showcase the fact that we are serious about and and committed to affordable housing and and And yet at the same time trying to do things like economic development and And those other components of making our community strong and reflective of our values So it was nice Is there anything else anyone wanted to mention? If not, I think we've completed our agenda for the evening. So I would take a motion to adjourn Second all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. And so we're adjourned at 10 14 p.m Thank you all and thank you to Amherst media and Congratulations on completing your first day And night, please come back tomorrow