 It's recording now. Okay. Okay. I am going to start and hopefully Allison will be joining us. I want to welcome everyone to the June 13th, 2022 meeting of the elementary school building committee. Given that we have a form of the committee present. I'm calling the meeting to order at 832 a.m. Brighton early. The meeting is being conducted by zoom and pursuant to the acts of 2020 and 2021 allowing meetings to be conducted remotely. The first thing I need to do is make sure I can, everyone can hear and be heard. I want to make sure I go around the room and don't miss anyone. So I'm going to be calling people out by name. It's actually alphabetical by last name. And please just indicate that you can hear and be heard when I hear your name. Angelica. Here. Paul. Here. Simone. Here. Allison. Don't think has joined us yet. Ben. Sean. Here. Phoebe. Here. Mike. Here. Rupert. Here. Jonathan. Morning. Tammy. Here. And Alicia. Here. I decided to print out the names because I don't know. We see everyone on the screen. Margaret is going to show the agenda on the screen. And then I'm going to be making some opening remarks to try to set up. What we're doing at today's meeting. Margaret. Okay. Can everybody see that? Yes. If we just, I, that, that's great. You know, as everyone knows, I think everyone knows today is the first important decision we will be making as a committee. And rather than going into the community forum, which I think a lot of people heard, I'm just going to lay out the process that I hope will work to get to a preferred solution. So Dinesco can then proceed to write the report and get. To get to the report. We are going to be selecting and recommending with preferred solution based on our assessment of a range of options. Today's decision represents the first major step forward to moving to a new elementary school for Amherst children. And bringing this from an aspiration to reality. Our design team has provided us with a wealth of comparative information, including development of classroom and program layouts that meet the education program goals. In three different building options. They provide us with extensive analysis of the conditions of two sites and steps that would be taken to mitigate those site conditions. Analysis of traffic. And the relative costs of six options. That include HVAC systems that will meet the towns net zero bylaw. As a committee, we have established a criteria matrix to help evaluate and compare the alternatives. And I'm engaged in an open public process, including multiple community forms that have generated substantial. Public comment and questions. This input in my personal view has added much value to the process. We have a wealth of information, likely as much as possible at this still early stage in the project. We are fortunate. That we have two excellent choices of where to locate the school. Both sites would work well for an elementary school. This also makes the choice more difficult. As Wildwood and Fort River have significant, but different strengths. Once we make the selection today, we'll be able to focus and keep our eyes on the price, which is a new elementary school that will meet the educational needs of our children for decades to come. In a daylight filled, innovative energy efficient building that moves us off fossil fuels and toward a renewable energy sources. This is an exciting moment. We have six options to consider. Adreno on either site, new or three story, building on either site and which site is preferred. Last Monday, Alicia made a motion. Seconded by Phoebe to remove Adreno option from further consideration as the preferred building option on either site. I made a mistake in my less than adequate parliamentary role. Two mistakes, actually. We had a majority of people at the meeting and that's all we needed. We had six. I counted six. When I went back and watch the video. There were actually eight votes. Yes. To remove Adreno. One no, one couldn't make audio work. And three missing. So unless someone wants to reconsider. That option. We don't have to make a decision on Adreno today. We've already made and voted on it. That leaves us addition, decision on three versus two story and the site. As you saw on the agenda. And I'm looking at any hands that are questioning this. Yeah. Paul. Can you just clarify what the vote was? It was to eliminate Adreno as an option, right? Adreno as an option. It was removed Adreno for further consideration on either site. So it was to remove it as an option. And there were eight yeses, one no, one who was there, but wasn't able to vote and three people who weren't at the meeting. So we have, we have a record of that vote. Okay. So, and, and we will. Encapsulate that for the MSBA as we move forward. So today we're going to be focusing on three versus two. And then on which site and what I would like to do on the site is before we vote on the site, go around the room, calling on our educators first to get anyone's, everyone's view. Before, and then we can hear you. Other and then we would move to a vote. But to start us all off, Margaret is going to show us the evaluation matrix. And I have to thank Margaret. Because although she asked everyone to get it to her by Saturday morning, she was a trooper. And I see Phoebe's hand is up. She was a trooper. And then we would move to a vote. But to start us all off, Margaret is going to show us the evaluation matrix. And I have to thank Margaret. She was a trooper and she was except accepting. People scoring as late as Sunday night. And I think one more came in this morning and she will do it. So I'm going to have her put it up on the screen, but Phoebe, I see your hand is up. So I, let me call on you. Margaret, did you get my email? I just sent it a few minutes ago. I think the scoring down at the bottom was. Not totaling right. I didn't see that and Margaret's in control. So, so she can, she can figure out. And I don't have the Excel, I didn't have the Excel version. I just had the PDF. So Margaret, why don't you show it up on the screen? I'm going to enlarge this so everybody can see it. And you need, you need to at least some mice move it over. Can, does that work where everyone, does everyone have a visual? So Phoebe, are you saying the bottom line totals don't. And you added them up, didn't work. Yeah, the, the totals and the total of priority criteria. I think in the priority criteria, there was a couple that are one that added a couple of times. And then I think the totals were just off by. I think one, if I'm, I don't have my own up, but. So I'll do a quick check on them, but Kathy, why don't you continue. So if I want to make sure everyone can see it, Margaret, on my screen, the top is cut off. So if you can move it down just a little bit. A little bit. You know, and maybe we, so one of the things that I think come out of this is there was a lot of consistency when we, when we were marking it up and voting last time on, and discussion and ranking. But Margaret can talk a little bit of about what we see here. But one of the things that comes out down at the bottom is some preferences about site and some preferences about three versus two. And I know people sent you in some comments, Margaret. So maybe you can just take over from here and make some observations. As we're moving into. We're going to be talking about the decisions we're making today. The other thing I do want to say is that although there are differences in the bottom line. One can see what we've been saying is it's a difficult choice because the, the, the scores are much closer than they might be. If there was really a huge distinction between each of the things we're looking at. And so I think that's one of the things that I think is really important. I think that's the least preferred and we have eliminated that. So Margaret, if you want to make some comments. Yeah, you know, I think. As Kathy said, the. Discussion, the level of detail here has been. Incredible. What struck me looking at these was I keep going back to the priority items. I think that on project costs, particularly once the ad rentals are off the table, you know, that there's really. The, the level of difference, which is a couple of million dollars in either procurement. Construction delivery method is, is extremely small. Obviously optimizes energy efficiency, which is this line item is a really important one that came through in the program, but we have the same across the board. So the really strong differentiators. Where you see a, like a big range and the scoring on the priority items are these items. Where, where you're looking at the duration of the project and the impacts on teaching and learning. As well as the outdoor space for community use where there's, you know, a pretty significant difference. So I think that's worth noting. I also just want to. And I think that lines up with them. I'm just going to switch. Slides briefly. Well, we heard at the community forum. With the top priorities, the community forum. And Donna and Dennis coaching. Thank you for that. I thought it went really well. Outdoor space. Optimizing energy efficiency, minimizing construction impact on students. We're really the top three. So I think your scoring of these lines up with the community preferences. Just to pivot to the comments that were received. Can everybody see this? I may need to reshare this. Hang on a second. People should just raise their hand if they're having a, or speak up if they're having trouble seeing it. I can see it. See it. See it. See it. See it. See it. See it see through. F2. Okay. Yeah. So it's a little bit longer. So this is the document I sent out last night that summarized the comments. That we heard that were reflected in. When the criteria that we're sent in. So there were a couple of comments from Rupert about the scoring of public transit and access by walking and Rupert, I'll come back to you in just a second. Okay. So there were a couple of comments on education. About. Kathy, I think you were. Questioning whether. The items one, two, and three. Educational should be priorities. There were. The question that Alicia raised. At the last meeting about whether. The child would. Should be, well, sir, whether educational benefits from location adjacencies was a positive. And there was, I think Alicia question. Mike responded that he thought that there was. On this item three. Alicia had questioned whether the Hawthorne site should be considered. And Kathy. Responded in her comments that she thought it should be. The last comment. Well, there was two here. Kathy, you questioned whether. Providing flexibility for expansion or future site risk as a result. Of climate change should be deleted. So. I'll leave it up to the committee, whether we want to talk about a little more. And then Simone. Last item. Commented that. She did not see a big distinction. Between the two sites. Those were the points of discussion that were raised in the criteria. And we can revisit as many of them as seems appropriate, or we can leave this as a record of the fact that the committee doesn't agree on all items. Kathy, do you, should we have Rupert just talk about his comments? Sure. If Rupert would like to. And I don't know whether everyone has that this was sent to everyone. So maybe you can take the screen down so we can. Sure. So I, I welcome any comments or additional discussion about the matrix. And we can. One more person sent. I'm not sure. Their scores in today and Margaret can incorporate them so that we get a matrix that actually is an average to extent people were, were different. The scores will just get averaged in. So Rupert, I see your hand is up. Thank you. So I'm sure people can read my comments quicker than I can say that. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. So item E, the equity. And access. What would all three types of construction got classed as a. Unpopular number one. I don't think that that's accurate because it puts it in the same. The same category as the adrenos. Where construction is going on in the building structure while students are there. So I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Both Fort River and Wildwood, the students are inside the building and construction inside the building is completed. For the fall of 26. I also. Recommend that. Fort Rivers. Disruption index. Be reduced from a four to a three because. There's going to be. An uncountable number of trucks. For a very long time. And getting it distributed and compacted, I think. Is not what we would call highly favorable. To the educational process. I could stop there. And then when we get to the. The transportation side, maybe chime in again. So what I, what I'd like to propose is that we spend. A lot of time on the voting. Not that much time on the matrix. So we can get to the voting. So I think anyone should highlight. Either areas where. What they saw, they would want to potentially change the scoring where there's a difference of opinion. And we, we can reach a final score. This is meant to be a tool. So it's not making the decision for us. So, um, I know I've not been. Part of trying to do this complicated a matrix with 13 people before. Um, but we can, if we want to change. Some aggregate scores. We can do a final scoring for the record. Um, and I would just propose people raise their hand if they want to make any more comments. But I would like to get to the. Um, I don't think there's much time for that. Um, so. Can I just add. You and I should talk. I just checked the math on these and they're correct. So, you know, we should maybe have a follow up conversation, but I don't believe. If anyone wants to look at those totals. There is an error there. Okay. And you know, there was, there were, you know, some questions that we were talking about earlier. We talked about, you know, how it spreads on a few, few things. So if, if, and there's one more score that will come in that main error, the more, but I think it, it highlighted that we have. There's not a. One preferred solution across everything doesn't jump off the page, but there's clearly preferences. So, Rupert, I see your hand is up and Sean's hand. Rupert. walk through the process of filling in the last rows of the matrix, how that worked out with everyone sort of submitting their scores separately. Thank you. Kathy, do you want me to respond to that now. Sure, I think, I think what you did is you took everyone scoring you average them is that correct. Yeah, I'll just show you what the backup looks like. This is what I did in the spreadsheet if I did not send you all the live spreadsheet but you know here's, here's the page that I send you behind that there's a page where each option is listed all of you are listed, and then the numbers are listed and then in this column, it's doing the averages of them. Does that make sense. And then that pulls over to the cover sheet. And that she's just showing you the ones we flagged as priority but she did that for every line in the matrix is that correct. Exactly. Well, I did that. I did that for the, the site and community. Yeah. So I kept the criteria the ratings above based on our last meeting. This is only for those six items, seven items. Okay, so I'll take that down. Sean and Phoebe. Thanks Kathy so one difference between my personal grid and and the compilation is the cost. I know $2 million doesn't seem like a big spread between options of Fort River and Wildwood but I think when we're talking about that exclusion. You know, much higher than it was the last time around. I think the $2 million is a big deciding factor and should be something that differentiates between the two options. So I had a one point difference between sort of the lower band of cost the $95, $96 million costs, and then that second band, which was 97 98 million. So that would be one thing I would suggest if there's still time to discuss Phoebe. So let me go to, to the cost thing first because it's fresher in my mind. I, and I think I said this I can't remember when I said it, but I would love to figure out as opposed to talking to about them about the cost, or maybe not instead of but in addition to talking about the cost as a lump sum. I'd love to know what it translates to and I think that we should talk about it when we talk to our general community about what that looks like in realistic terms across the span of the building across the span of the amount of time we're paying for that across the span of taxpayers in town, because I think that, you know, $1 million sounds like a lot and then when we compare that to, you know, what we get and time here over a period of time I think it I think that's where I found in when I ranked that category. You know, it didn't feel as big of a difference to me. In terms of the comments that were, I think it was Rupert on on duration and disruption and that kind of stuff. I'm actually pretty comfortable with what we have. I think that the reality is because of the sizes of the spaces I think that there is a very big difference in disruption level. And as well as I know we have talked, we've sort of in different ways talked differently about how long people are on site and we've talked more about how long the actual building itself is under construction. But I think there's also something to be said for how long they're on, you know, construction is happening on site in general. So I don't know, I'm wondering if we can add. I know that we have up at the top allows students to fully occupy building in fall 2026, but we don't have anything there that indicates when they're going to be when all contractors are going to be off site. So if we could put that in there so that we can see what we're talking about because I think when we get to disruption, those sorts of things, there is a big difference there that we need to take into account. Thanks. Angelica just one thing I want to point out, we do have duration there just as a measure, Phoebe so that was what that was there for but we can come back to that Angelica. Can you hear me okay. Yes. Okay. No, I just wanted to agree with Phoebe's comments and also say in terms of the aggregate totals just to note that mine are not included as you all know I'm traveling right now with an Ecuador no longer have laptop access. So my totals will probably just change some things slightly there but I know that the voting is more important, but I just wanted to note that that my totals are not included because I don't have laptop access at the moment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being able to join us. Yeah, so two things. One is, I believe the tool. I mean we could spend multiple meetings on refining the tool. And I think I think you said earlier, Kathy that this is a tool. We all reframe we looked at it in our own way that ultimately what the tool is supposed to do is to help us make a decision individually. So I don't, I think it's not productive for us to spend a ton of time on the tool because I have valued certain things higher than other people have I'm sure. And, and vice versa, and there are things in there they think are duplicative that give extra points to things that I wouldn't give extra points to but they seem to be the same thing asking it twice. So, you know, I don't want to get into that level of detail because I think this is informative to me it was actually helpful to go through the exercise of filling out these the the matrix I think it was a valuable valuable but again I see it as something that informed my opinion and not. We're not going to our goal isn't to reach consensus on the tool, because I think we'll be here for days to do that. And I think what you know I think what I would love to do is move to the first decision point we have to make which is whether we're going to stories or three stories I think that's an important conversation and that we can probably dispense with that pretty quickly. Okay. And with that suggested if people are comfortable, I agree with that and Margaret has one more set of scores that came in so she can at the after this meeting she can send us a final if Angelica manages to get to a computer that we would get everyone's and, and if anyone wants to revisit anything they score and I as I think this is a tool this is we can make a decision without having this final tool, and then we'll have it to put in the document that the design team. Any protests for that. So then I think we'll move to the first decision. And that is, are we having eliminated ad reno, we're into a new building is the new building a two or three floor building and Margaret if you would just put up. I drafted some motion so basically, this would be a motion. We've already done the ad reno. So two versus three this would be a motion to select three stories slash or two story building as the building option on either site that's the way the wording of the motion would be. So, and then the next would be to move to the site and then finally we would just be looking at a combination of this story building on this site as the preferred solution which preferred solution is the MSBA wording. So I thought we might as well use it in our motion. I think we can take that down but that would be the motion and so what I'd like to do is hear any initial comments or discussion about three versus two and I, particularly from our educators, any thoughts about it on, and I could see what the scoring there was in the scoring there was a preference for three but just wanting to document what we're thinking about this Mike. So that's a process question I'll jump in with my thoughts depending on your would you prefer us to start with emotion and then discuss the merits of that motion, or do you prefer to have a broad conversation before emotion is made I'm comfortable either way I just want to get a sense from Robert's rules what would you prefer. I think, I think we can do it either way if someone wants to make a motion if they're ready to make a motion on this one. We could make a motion and then we could discuss it that would be fine. If you someone puts that screen back up I'm happy to make the motion as drafted. And then, if it's okay to comment on that motion or the perhaps others need to comment on it needs to be fresh with Robert's rules but I will move that we select a three story building as the preferred new building option on either site. And that can I just for the record who seconded it. Maybe, maybe, okay. Okay, so we can take that down my Margaret from the screen. So now we are open for a discussion. You know, I think people speaking to the motion or anyone has a different opinion but the rationale on. I know Tammy you spoke actually quite eloquently about it a week ago, but but I, I would love to hear your thoughts again and I know Allison both of you have been in the meetings with teachers as has Mike, Mike. Thank you so yeah I'm in favor of that. The motion I made in the rationale is kind of three fold one is footprint, you know we want to maximize the green space, three stories as a smaller footprint and two stories. So, you know from that perspective it just makes sense in terms of, you know, maximizing after a play space and natural space. The second one is just the adjacencies piece, having visited the school with you and some others Kathy but also just talking to my colleagues and other districts the idea of having to kindergarten and first grade on one floor second and third grade on another fourth and fifth grade on another. Just because it is a larger school creates that sense of community and grade level banding that I think makes a lot of sense and people want that small school field that was something that from the beginning and and having visited a school with that was three stories. And that because each grade level only had two grade levels, each floor only had two grade levels on it and you could see the connections that were occurring and the third one is just kind of getting around the building. And the noise that comes from it having more vertical alignment versus a horizontal line. And I want quiet hallways right and I want quiet hallways in a way that doesn't feel like we're, you know, putting undue pressure on kids to do that I want spaces outside the classrooms they're usable and one way to do that is to make sure that kids can navigate the building, not going down long hallways, like we currently have where it just that's the only option to get to where you need to go. I saw that in a school that was overpopulated from the today one and the hallways are much quieter than any of our schools because of that that factor so those are three factors for me that would make three store building makes sense for us on either side. Thank you. Any other comments that people want to offer. I'm looking for a hand. Yeah, I, Angelica. I just want to add also that for our students with special needs the great banding, it's to help maximize inclusion opportunities which is a really important thing that I value. Thank you. I mean, I think any of these comments it helps the Dinesco team when they're writing up how we made our decision. I'll offer just one observation I have from a school our children were in where there were two age groups in each classroom and I think this putting forth and fifth together, you get some cross age modeling and opportunities for teachers we had those outside in this design which is very exciting for that outside the classroom space for activities, the small. You could have two two different groups, if you wanted to get a lot it seems a lot of flexibility in this design. And one person whose child had been in the Chinese Emergent School said the older kids couldn't wait to get on that top floor because that gave them status it was it was like this is our space so it was like a hooray so I strongly support this too. Any other comments. And if not, Tammy and Allison both have their hands up Tammy and then Allison. Getting better so excuse my voice better than what it was. You know I think an unintended outcome of having a three story building is that we can see teachers also getting to know their students for two years, thinking about this idea of looping, which is something both I've done and see the benefits of it, but also research is important as well. And while we may not necessarily move to that it would also help both teachers and students develop relationships with one another in a way that does not happen, or wouldn't happen to the degree that a two story would. I also think that using the space that out of the classroom adjacency spaces would also prove extremely beneficial in a way that wouldn't happen to the degree that it would in a two story building. So those are two points that are really important to me as an educator and as an educational leader of and being part of this committee. Thank you. Thank you, Allison. I agree wholeheartedly with the statements that have been made. I don't see a benefit to two stories versus three stories in terms of the pedagogical reason. And I believe if we are going to lean towards a site that is already predicted to be more expensive. I think you're going to have to focus on construction. I think it's going to be more efficient. And from what I understand the three story will be more efficient than the two story. And I think that will be an example of the committee taking into account costs. If we are going with a site that will lead to maybe more costs. Thank you. I don't see any other hands. So I think we are ready to vote. If, if seeing no objection, I'm going to, I actually did a sheet this time to make sure I didn't miss anybody. And it's, it's organized alphabetically by last name so but I'm just going to call out the first names and if you're in favor you vote yes. Not a favor. No, and you do have the right to abstain. If you don't want to vote. Angelica. Yes. Paul. Yes. Simone. Yes. Allison. Yes. Ben. Yes. Sean. Yes. Phoebe. Yes. Mike. Yes. Rupert. Jonathan. Yes. Kathy is a yes. Tammy. Yes. Alicia. Yes. I think I got everyone and it is unanimous. And I want to know that Allison, as everyone knows, Allison has joined us. We are all, we managed to all be here on this Monday morning. Thank you very much. So now we turn to the sites discussion. Mike had asked what the process would be. I think for this, it would be good to go around the room first before we make a motion. So what I would like to do, as long as I don't put people too much on the spot is start with the educators so both Allison, the Tammy and Mike to have you speak to what you're thinking is on the sites. And after that, I will just go alphabetically. I just wanted the people who are two people who are living in these, the two buildings we have now so they really know the sites well and people are working to make any comments on your thinking. So I'll start actually with Tammy and then Allison and then Mike. So Mike's comments don't influence either Tammy or Allison. Tammy. Sure. Okay. There's something about being here at Fort River for many years as I have that I do love the grounds. If you think that a building on the Fort River site has some advantages over the potential of Wildwood, including more green space for outdoor learning opportunities. Great notes. I also think it would allow more community members to also access the grounds in a way that might feel somewhat more familiar to them. Furthermore, when I when I consider the construction and the impact that it's going to have on this either site I feel like in some based on what I've heard and viewed it seems as if Fort River and construction will have a wider buffer than it would at Wildwood. And I think that, you know, construction can be extremely distracting for a lot of different reasons, both for our teachers as well as for community members as well as our most vulnerable population or students right while we're all here. And so trying to mitigate that to the greatest extent possible, I think is is really important as well. So, in that way, I think that Fort River has sort of taken a bit of a lead for me as it refers to foot traffic I do think Wildwood would have has a better over Fort River, although I'm not really clear on some of the new construction that will be happening in the Fort River area. And finally, as it comes to just traffic patterns I think neither of them are great I do think maybe Wildwood has a little bit more of an advantage over Fort River in that regard, just in terms of the vehicle traffic. Thank you, Tammy. Alison. Yeah. So, I feel like I need to share a little bit of my history on this on this kind of work. I live for 15 years in a very small town in New Hampshire. Something that would happen sometimes with construction projects where there were multiple options. If, if a group was looking at a more expensive option, and went with that expensive option because of some type of benefit. And the same people who advocated for that more expensive option as the cost increase became angry and said no we need to shut down the entire project is too expensive. So, I fully understand that Fort River has a benefit over Wildwood, in terms of the space and grounds that they have. I also understand that it's predicted to be more money than the Wildwood site. If our community is willing to spend the money to make that site work, I think it's great. But I hate for the idea, given my experience, in which people who advocate for one thing then turn around and say it's too expensive, we're going to shut the project down. I am wholeheartedly voting in favor of Fort River, with the hope that the same people who are advocating it for now will still stand by it, as we see cost go up because 2 million is to me the base. That's the most that we're saying right now and it's possible it could be more than that. And I, we need a new building. It's just it's more important to get this building done so if we go with the more expensive option. I so hope that everybody here can support the cost that are going to be needed to make that new building work regardless of what's happening. So I speak with passion on this because I've seen it happen in small town politics before. And I really don't want us to hear people start saying well my taxes my taxes my taxes. I'm telling you, we have to get a new building. So, I'm very impassioned about that part, because money is cheaper today then it's going to be 10 years from now. And the building I'm working in is not going to be safer for me 10 years from now. So, I just that I had my peace. I'm going to stop talking now. But that's how I feel. Thank you very much. Mike. Tammy and Allison said I'll put my own just quick two cents on it so in terms of Wildwood advantages. I do think the adjacent school I know other people in this committee have disagreed. I think that is real. It's real in terms of shared staffing I think it's real in terms of safety reunification site right things that that Tammy Allison and I worry about that perhaps are less visible to other people in the public that you know that that's an advantage. And I think walking possibilities. I've had residents meet with me multiple residents in the last three weeks to either currently walk their kids to Wildwood or plan to walk their kids to Wildwood when the kids are become school age, who are heartbroken about the possibility of not being able to do that some are saying I'm going to sell my house and move right that was that's a direct quote from a resident in our community and however many as we walk now the reality is Wildwood is a more walkable site there's more ways that are safe walking, safe to walk to the Wildwood in the art of Fort River. Fort River is bordered on three sides by major roads there there's a real neighborhood behind Wildwood that allows for easy access from walking biking things like that that are safer. It's a middle school, you know, we've underutilized it perhaps in the past this would be an opportunity to re-envision that we have had some kindergarten classes where partner classes the middle school so there are some positive examples of things that have happened that happens to have a really nice auditorium that you know would be great for some performances of Wildwood and you can imagine walking down the hill for that and so so and having an accessible path built would be good for the community, you know from Wildwood to the middle school as well as the fields down there yes that's a cost. So we should be talking about regardless of whether wherever this school is built that you know it's a path that some people can access and some people can't. And, you know, I think when we think about access those things are real. On the flip side, everything that Tammy and Allison said is true about Fort River in terms of playing fields, you know my belief the construction impact, you know it's going to be large both places but to look at a map of Wildwood and see that there's this usable green space for a couple years when you think about the population and who attends Wildwood. That's a huge deal for me, you know, and so I'm not saying the points that are positive or Wildwood to disagree with Tammy and Allison because the end of the day and in the same place. It's, I'm saying them because I think it was a hard decision, you know, I know some people feel like it was a slam dunk for me it's not a slam dunk either way. I mean, I can experience it that way and, you know, I'll have two caveats so plus 100 to what Allison said in terms of caveats of cost right. I think, you know, I've said this publicly before there's no surprise that if it ends up being. Oh well we can do the Fort River site but you need to start cutting things. You know, that's not the equation right now we're trying to choose the best site $2 million yes it's as small as a percentage of the project $2 million a lot of money. Right, and $2 million compounded by interest is is even more money. So I am fearful that the further we get into this project we are making compromises that would have, we would want to reevaluate this matrix. It's Fort River. Oh but without these things and Wildwood with $2 million more things right that would might tip the scale so I think if we are going to vote Fort River I guess I want to make sure that everyone on the committee is willing to fight to maintain the educational programming we need and not make compromises later. So just maybe piggybacking on Allison's point. It can't be. Well, you know this one's too more $1 more expensive so therefore, we don't have x, y and z that we need. Right, I think it's we just have to go. Yeah we're going, it's going to be more expensive. And we're not cutting costs because of that, that would compromise some of the educational programming. The second caveat I guess I'm going to get three is about the fields, right so there's been some suggestions some emails I've received from elected officials in the community that say, Oh, you know why don't we do one field at a time and the CPA committee in the future could, you know, we could do that over time outside the building project and and I, my point, I'll only vote for Fort River I'm just going to put it up bluntly is if it's the whole project, and that includes the fields. If the CPA wants to contribute to defer to defray cost along the way of this product like that's awesome. Really appreciate it and it would be I think a wonderful idea but I don't want to bank on a CPA committee four years from now making a certain decision to give us the field that we need for school 575 so like I think it's the whole enchilada or we should have a different conversation. I think the last thing is the traffic I agree with what Tammy said traffic's gonna be a little tough both places I was at Fort River one is about the size of as a teacher that we're talking about here. And I suspect that out of evidence I want to say that I suspect that more traffic improvements may be needed to make this site work better. So I think that's the idea that aren't necessarily accounted for and I think, you know, the other thing I want to commit to if I vote for Fort River is again, we're not cutting based on the $2 million delta between Fort River Wildwood. We're committing to the fields being done part and parcel the project, and that we're committing to working to resolve the traffic, even if there is a cost that will be incurred. So those are like sort of my three caveats or things I need to hear from the committee before I take my personal vote. I'm not a language Kathy because I think that would be silly but but I just, I'm glad we didn't make a motion on the first one so thank you for sharing it that way, because I need to a little more about the committee about their commitments before I kind of finalize my vote. And I'm done. Thank you. Thank you. Now the rest, I'm just going to call in alphabetical order. So, by last name so Angelica, you're, you're up next. Well, I just wanted to thank the whole committee for this process because it certainly is not an easy decision. And I certainly felt was leaning a certain way at the beginning, and the last few meetings have been really decisive for me in terms of leaning towards another way but I appreciated that that part of that transformation in my own thinking came from really all the reports all the information received and all of the rich discussion that this committee was having. I would say that for me one of the big concerns initially was the traffic issue. That is still a really big concern, since the traffic situation is still a problem for our schools but I think last meeting was really decisive for me because in hearing more about the disruptions of construction. I feel like the Fort Rivers site is going to be a more optimal choice for our children. Our children have gone through a lot through Kobe. The idea that they would have the equipment closer to them and have that level of disruption was to me, really a decisive factor, along with the fields and the playing fields again, just having that opportunity to still have access to them during the construction was really, really important. And now in hearing the discussion, and the concerns that Allison Tammy and Mike have raised I'm also really concerned to know that this is a commitment about the whole package. Why? Because I know initially before I even joined the committee there was a lot of discussion about the square footage and trying to cut costs according to square footage and then there's a change in that to making sure that we have this Fort Rivers site. So it's if we're going to commit, we're going to commit and it's not about going back to any sort of compromises because of the prices because the reality is that these prices will raise because costs of material and things are racing as we've heard. This is not a set number and I appreciate that the reality of the cost that Dinesco presented to us so I am leaning definitely for Fort River but I expect the commitment to the price and that our committee, our community will also be committed to this as well. Thank you. Paul. Thank you. This is the first room I've never had someone from the Amazonian rainforest participating with birds in the background. So I really do appreciate the members of this committee. It's been really, I think we all have brought diverse different perspectives to it. And I've really found that to be helpful to me informing my opinion. I do appreciate from the public as well the the comments that especially the comments that have been thoughtful and helped us to look at some technical data. And I thought that those were valuable to me. You know, so, and I also appreciate the comments that we got we've received many comments where people said we trust you as a committee. I think that that was, I appreciate those comments especially because I think this committee has really put in a lot of hours and in a tribute to our chair who has led us through this process and a very difficult thing that that got energized in a sometimes negative way. And I think that both sites can work well, and I will support both sites, whichever site the committee chooses, because I think we are blessed with two sites if any community had either one of these sites available to them. Or if we had one of these sites available to us I think we'd all be rallying around saying let's make this site work. Neither site is disqualified. I think that's really important for us to believe because we're however I'm not sure where this boat is going to go, but whichever site we land on. I will support the site as a town manager. My two things that I said earlier were traffic and finances, and then I sort of have a third thing. So in terms of traffic. I think it's a, I think it's very clear that Wildwood is a much better location for traffic. It's located by three major roads that where traffic is just snarled every morning when schools not in session. And I go through there I live, you know, a half a mile from Fort River I live about a mile from Wild, Wildwood I know the area. And I've, you know, been I go to both sites frequently so I know the sites. There is no easy fix for the traffic around Fort River. If, you know, to reference Mike if he's talking about the whole enchilada that includes traffic we have not factored in the cost involved with the with the significant traffic change that would have to be made on at East Street. Wildwood, there'd be some traffic improvements made at the entrance of the driveway onto strong street much different situation, I think in my in my estimation and talking with town engineers as well. So, I think that. And also the other thing, I forget who said someone talked, maybe Rupert about the safe routes to schools. When we talk about walking buses and things like that I think Wildwood is much more amenable to having people access it, because you get there are multiple access points through the regional schools. And off of East Pleasant Street there's multiple ways to get there there, there is, you know, you always have to cross something to get to Fort River. So, that so traffic to me was number one was one major priority and I think that lands on Wildwood from in a pretty unclear way for me. The other one is is finances we talked about finances and I agree with everyone that $2 million is is is not insignificant. I don't say it's only $2 million, but boy, you know, we're arguing we're arguing over much smaller amounts today, actually. I look at this with four major capital projects that we have to build every one of them has a budget. We are mission is to build all four they all have needs. Our school is our number one need for it by everyone's metrics. We have to put budget constraints on all the other budget projects. We're going to be looking at this project with as a fiscal hawk hawk, I think we owe that to our taxpayers. So, you know, we'll disagree with my esteemed colleagues on the school side that there are going to, you know, we have to look at the numbers and we have to pay attention to that it's unfair to the rest of the community not to the community. And then I choose Wildwood on finances and not just the numbers but that the Wildwood site has been has been voted on we also need a debt exclusion to pass this otherwise this building doesn't get built. Wildwood has been passed by majority vote at the ballot box twice. We have some proven track record that this site has been approved by the voters two times. So, I look at that as a fact that I like to have things have changed over the past, you know, five years. It's been millions of dollars more now, I get that people change I get that, but we do at least have that piece of information. And I'll try to be brief now. My, and then I'm not an engineer. I just have an intuitive concern about the high water table at Fort River that we have to build up the entire site by two feet or whatever it is and I feel like just intuitively I would say being on the top of the hill is better. It's a beautiful location. To get this, I totally get the educator saying wow two years of disruption I think there are ways to manage the construction at Wildwood in a better way than has been presented. But I, you know, but I do trust our engineer saying that if it is built at Fort River, the engineering can work so I trust on that but in my gut I sort of like wow I don't know if I'd want to. I worry about the water table there. And I think this is a building that we're looking at for 50 plus years down the road. And so some disruption early on is worth it. So and then just to add what Allison said that I believe anybody who's written us signed a petition or anything like that we expect and we'll be hoping and expecting that you will be supporting this project throughout the duration because we need everybody support, because this is going to be a big ask to the taxpayers to say we want to build this building. So my, if I'm, I'm landing on the Wildwood site but I am, I will support either site. Simone. I agree with what Paul said, cost and safety are my main concerns as well. Wildwood is 2 million cheaper and that is a lot of money. And the safety with the traffic, not only the traffic actually the high water table. It can be medicated in the short term and probably the long term, but at what cost. So those are my main concerns. That's what I'm thinking about. I most certainly would support either site as well. But that's my thoughts. Thank you. Ben. So I have my pros and cons and the pro I'll just I'll just be blunt about it from from day one. My pro has been new school building that that trumps everything for me so either site will work for me. But so I kind of like delved into the cons right that's that's where the differences were for me and like the idea of pedestrian safety in the surrounding area I mean that's, that's huge like the worst case scenario in that is like non quantifiable right like it's bad right like. So this the safety aspect is a really huge one for me but also there's the cost factor so like a few months ago we were talking about cutting every square foot that we cut it off of the special ed section of the building to save 10s of thousands up to maybe 100,000 I just want to tell you what we're talking about the $2 million difference. It's two and a quarter million dollar difference. 2,254,000 dollar difference. Very significant right and that's that's today's money. At the point that you know shovel touches dirt, it could be a $3 million difference or even more and then also the pause point about the mitigating traffic safety concerns around the area. That's not factored in right so it's 2.25 right now plus whatever it costs to make the surrounding area safer, and I don't. I haven't seen anything that convinces me that it makes it as safe as the Wildwood site. And so, speaking of the Wildwood site my negatives there are the construction disruption. Which I mean you know close proximity to the building, the existing building right right that kind of takes away. You have that you know the sound factor the noise factor and it kind of cuts the green space for that, that amount of time. I've had the privilege of seeing this it's Pleasant Valley elementary school is right down the street from where my brother lives, and it's basically the same model that we're looking at right like the. We have to cut and move, you know playground spaces and all that and looking at how that project has worked. You know you kind of think like is the juice worth the squeeze and we're talking about a 50 year project that's going to take two or three years of construction I think the disruption is potentially worth it. I want to like make light of the fact that I forget who said it but the fact that our kids have been disrupted for the last couple of years and that kind of adds to it that means that we will have like a generation that has gone all the way through elementary school disrupted. Right. So to me it's it's shades of gray. The safety and cost like other folks have said I mean it's, it's really hard to write off easily. But like I said, what I want is a new school building I think I've been pretty clear about that for a while now and whichever site gets gets chosen we have a new school building that would make me happy. So long as people are willing to support that all the way through. Sean. So I agree with what everybody said, especially what Ben just said I thought I made a lot of good points. There's kind of, there's so many comparable criteria that I go to the long term and what can't be changed by either these sites. I think while was location being close to middle school in the high school, that's something that can't be changed. The, the lower risk from climate change and the proximity to the Fort River those are things that if we build a school there can't be changed so something happens in the future there. We're sort of stuck with it and we have to deal with it. And I think, you know, the issues that we have with the wildwood site in terms of the green space and the disruption. The green space I think is something we through agreements with the middle school or with work on a Hawthorne property we can address that I think we can provide more green space. And then the traffic at at Fort River I just I haven't seen what we can do to really mitigate that. I know there's been some proposals put out by par but I haven't seen what that will do long term to really impact the ratings of those intersections have had so I think long term to me Wildwood is the site that makes most sense. And then when you throw in the lower cost, being the finance director I sort of lean that way so I think both sites are really are viable sites I'll support both sites, but right now leaning towards Wildwood. Phoebe. Thanks. So I, I get the traffic at Fort River I mean I think that I think that something needs to be done down there regardless right. I also however though think that in terms of the green space aspect and you know using the middle school using Hawthorne. I think those are things that if we're also comparing that to cost we haven't looked at really as this committee. One of the things that we did look out was how you know was getting a path down to the middle school fields. And that was sort of, that was sort of pushed out at the beginning because of the cost factor so I'm that to me is a little bit confusing to be to be looking at that now if it was, you know, if I think that it needed more I think that we could have done a better job about discussing those things earlier on and including those in this because if we're looking at this as, you know, on the committee, I am wholly in favor of supporting this entire project from to finish you know including cost that come up all of those kinds of things and I think that as we talk about the things that need to be done that would need to be done at Wildwood that are not included in looking at it cost. Right now I think that there's a few things I think Hawthorne I think path down to the middle school to get some green space for our, you know, 575 elementary kids, I think, around about I'm not as sure about the numbers that we saw last week for a round about whatever we need to do to make that site more accessible from, you know, not from the middle school side but from strong street side. Those are not included in here, I think disruption duration. I'm sorry, construction duration, the disruption of that I think that is kind of a big thing, given you know I'm glad somebody else said it because I was thinking it as well, especially coming off of such a crazy last few years, I think to ask, you know, many of our kids and kids coming in to deal with that for a longer period of time seems really hard for me when we have the option of having less disruption in another site. I think that I think in terms of expansion possibilities, we're not looking at that now but we are looking at 50 plus years of having this, this building in this site be our, you know, one of two elementary schools in town. I can't imagine how we would then come back to the table later and figure out what to do on the wildwood site to, you know, I mean the idea is that we make Amherst desirable for people and families to come and I can't see how we would do that. Without the space that Fort River sort of provides us. I hear also what everybody is what people are saying about the water table and I don't know that I'm as concerned one I'm not, you know, maybe I just don't know as much as other people but I think that if we can do everything that has been recommended to us. To raise the site and make it more usable and to deal with those water issues I think that, you know, we need to trust the experts on that. And, and kind of move forward with knowing that we have the best intentions and that we're doing everything possible to do. Yeah, I think that's good for now. Oh, actually sorry one more thing. The last thing I want to say is for all of the people that have written to us in the community, I want to also bring up that the large majority of those people have, have asked us to, to vote for Fort River in this. So I want to take that into account and it is by all means not all of them but it is a large, it is a significant portion of the ones that that have spoken out to us. And so I think we need to, we also need to be thinking about that and assuming and asking them to support us through this whole process as well. Thank you. Thank you Phoebe Rupert. I'm, I'm very concerned if we choose the Fort River site that we will spend decades and decades asking ourselves, why did we put an elementary school right next to arguably one of the worst intersections in town. And why did we choose to put an elementary school where it's so problematic to get the school buses in and out of the site. For, I'm sure many people have seen, there are quite a number of drivers who wish to get ahead of the school buses to make their drive quicker. It's not particularly a safe exercise. The more things get jammed up with the buses I think we can expect more unsafe bad decisions. The proposal to improve southeast street by lengthening the third lane doesn't help us get in out of the school at all, because there's only room for one bus between the exit driveway and the intersection. Lengthening the lane doesn't get us any more buses out on the southeast street. I think it's a horrible horrible problem. And I think it's a big mistake to go that way on top of that. I think that if we are concerned about safety, every now and then it happens that a child gets dysregulated and becomes a runner. And I think that having the school at Fort River puts that kid at much higher risk than at Wildwood, where it's much easier to catch up with the kid and to do so safely. Lastly, I think we need to take the long view. When I imagine the elementary school at the Wildwood site. It's it's in a sort of a residential area. It's feels like you're in the community with the school. I don't get that feeling at Fort River, and I don't expect to get a feeling in the future at Fort River. I think there'll be more and more traffic. And it'll be more and more isolated. So I urge folks to reconsider and think hard and long before selecting. Jonathan. It wasn't paying attention to where we were alphabetically. It's his last name alphabetical it's it's yeah. Good morning. Good morning. My tendency is to support the Fort River site from the perspective of the disruption as a parent. A parent of a kid who often gets distracted. I just think that the long, the long term effects and coming out of coven. I think that's a better choice I do think that the Fort River site is is manageable when it comes to water issues. We have modern engineering approaches that can address them. And there's been a lot of back and forth in today's conversation. I don't want to repeat too many things. But I think long term it's it's a flexible site. And but in the end, we have two good sites. And I care passionately about us getting a new school and getting to the end in a couple years time and having that new school so I'm going to passionately support whichever choice moves forward. And I want to thank everybody for their time. This has been a, you know, this is a long term process that we're going through and we may feel like we're at, you know, kind of a big point here today which we are. We're going to have to work to do between now and the end. And regardless of whichever site is chosen, we're going to have to work on the cost piece from now until the very end costs in the construction industry are going up. While it looks like a clear cost today. You know, cost numbers are variable cost numbers are going to be variable on either sites. I would ask the community, regardless of the choice made today. To not try to do the comparison, a little bit that I've heard here in the committee, which is to think about, oh, what would it be at the other site once we commit to this site. The MSB process requires us to stay committed to that site. So, you know, I want people to understand that we are not going to have that ability. Unless I hear something from Kathy or Margaret or Donna, to the contrary, our decision today is consequential and we don't get to go back and say, what would it be at the other site. So, thank you all. Thank you, Jonathan. Alicia. I'm reserving the right to go last. So, Alicia. Thank you, Kathy. I also just want to say that this is a very difficult decision. But I think that one thing that most of us can very firmly agree on is that we need a new school building. And so I'd say that there are a couple of things, because this was not like a super very clear cut decision for me that sort of stuck out more than others. And so I wanted to talk about those things. And so one of those things to me were our finances as well, because I know a lot of you know that I did raise the initial bell in terms of the cost of the completed project. And so I think that to me ultimately what all of this information and research has shown is that our finances only indicate that we need a new school and we need it now. I think the finances clearly point to which site over the other, just that if this project fails, that that will be significant for our finances. And I think that that's one thing to really pay attention to. I think that I'm glad that the school committee was able to go back and edit the square footage of the building because I think that helped us get the cost down when they're already very significant. And I just wanted to be clear because I also asked that to happen, that I did not ask that to happen from the special education places because I do have children who have special education needs that just so happened to be the places where the school committee went back and edited. And I am thankful for that and I think it turned out. I think I'm happy with the turnout of those decisions. And one of the other things I think we talked about was the intersections and the traffic and I think that I while that is also a very big factor to me. I didn't find wildwood may slight be slightly favorable but I didn't find it to be a big enough difference in terms of it is good to go as it is I think there will be a significant amount of mitigation needing to happen at both sites in order to address the traffic conditions. And so I don't think that was like a huge deciding factor for me either. I would actually call that pretty. There's going to be a significant investment in traffic, no matter which site we choose. And I think that's something to think about also to keep in mind that those costs were not included in our numbers here. And no matter where we choose that will be an investment. The other thing I wanted to talk about a little bit is the walkability of the sites. And I think it's questionable whether or not wildwood is actually more walkable and just that it's nestled into a neighborhood, and that inevitably makes it seem more walkable because the people in that neighborhood can walk to the school basically as opposed to a school that's not in a neighborhood where people live right around the corner. And also just thinking about the demographics of that neighborhood, and how honestly privileged one much to be to say that they will just sell their house and move to be near another elementary school because there are a number of people who do not have that opportunity and will not have that choice. And so I wouldn't take the intersection the walkability, or those things that were previously, like very important to me, I, they, they aren't swaying me either way. In this decision, because of the information that we have got in terms of those things. But then the last two things that I think sort of did change my mind and sway my decision were the outdoor space. And besides just regular kids being able to play during recess and having the space for that. I think thinking about COVID because we are coming out of the pandemic, and the possibility again because this school will be serving us for 50 years of other projects, which has been, I think a big talk that this is something that we're going to continue to see in the future and not that I know that there will be another one within the next 50 years but I think that it's inevitable that there will be another pandemic. And so planning to be able to have children utilize outdoor space for learning. I don't know about you all but it was very hard for me to have my kids home for that period of time and so wanting to make sure that the children can stay in school and acts have access to outdoor spaces for not only play but for learning. And that also just leads into the next thing which was like the biggest deciding factor for me and that was the disruption during construction. And I had like a very hard time with this one because I do know that if you're looking at a timeline of things like a 50 year school and only two years of disruption that seems very minimal. I will have two of my three children be in this school during construction. And so this is very important to me because when I look at sort of the growth that my children have or I would say the lack there of that my children have experienced because of two years out of school due to coven. I think it's actually very significant and also as an educator in a different school system to see how the other kids have been affected by the dysregulation for two years is very significant. And so I don't I just don't. I honestly don't appreciate the conversation saying well it's just this we shouldn't think about the effect on the kids because it would be absolutely detrimental to my kids and their entire future to have two additional years of disruption. And my kids are not just numbers they matter very much to me as as I'm sure other parents whose children will be in the school at that time. And then so I also just really quickly want to talk about the cost of the project and Fort River being a higher cost. I think we also know that the higher costs for Fort River is in the site work. And that's where most of it resides in treating the high water levels in raising the fields. And I think that one that that is a very, I think that's a wise investment for our town and for our children. I don't think it's just like putting money into a retaining wall I think a less wise investment for money that's going to be spent and also thinking about the different ways that we can supplement the high costs of this project because again I think that no matter which site we choose we will see increase in costs and things that we didn't expect to come up. Like for Wildwood the Hawthorne site is not taken into consideration I think it is known that we will need to do something to that site if we want the kids to have play space that could be a significant investment as well. And just knowing that we know where that money will go and we know that there are funds that can offset those costs. I just want to state personally that like my commitment as a town counselor. If we were to choose the wild site and I'm not saying that I won't have a commitment. I mean, if we choose the Fort River site and I have an equal commitment to passing this project no matter where we choose. But if we choose Fort River. I think that's very important to think about when we're talking about the debt override and what that difference will be for the voters and for the taxpayers, which I think that if we can offset the cost won't be a significant difference in terms of what each taxpayer will be raised every year in this over the span of 30 years at Wildwood, as opposed to if we chose Fort River. And so for all of those reasons, and I think that's very important to think about when we're talking about the debt override and what that difference will be for the voters and for the taxpayers, which I think that if we can offset the cost won't be a significant difference in terms of what each taxpayer will be raised every year in this over the span of 30 years at Wildwood, as opposed to if we chose Fort River. And so for all of those reasons, and in addition that I just have heard more from community members and people who were reaching out to me my constituents in favor of Fort River. And not all but a large majority were in favor of Fort River I think that I am leaning more heavily towards the Fort River site. Thank you Alicia. I get the privilege, I guess, of speaking last. And I'm going to try not to repeat anything this has been an extremely difficult decision to me. And I've gone back and actually reread the site conditions, more than once, and that's not a novel. It's not fiction I find it really difficult to read the technical. I have my, you know, when I see it look at Wildwood it's a beautiful quiet setting nestled into the hillside, the campus feeling of it, but the really. And I think the traffic is much less a concern there I think it's, we could solve it there I'm not sure how I see it solving we would have to live with it at Fort River. The thing that swung the needle for me. And each morning when I wake up I'm not sure where the needle ended up was the disruption and the small site at Wildwood. And I think if we spent money we might be able to overcome some of it, but no matter what we only have the one entrance coming in it has to be shared with contractors. And as a couple people pointed out, there's plenty of green space and there will be a lot of green space once the school is built, but we haven't in the cost estimates put money and to get the additional access to it. So it in trying to figure out whether I could get to a comfort level on Fort River water was my big issue. We have a long history in Amherst. It's not just the floodplain, it is the water table. I'm being assured by experts but I would like to know that the experts are right. I, so I called the East Hampton High School that has been built was cited to us was open more than 10 years ago it has indeed the fields have been okay the building has been fine. One thing that people cautioned is that we get more rainfall in spurts than we used to get. So it's not just a flood. It's the sheer amount of rain that's coming down and the drainage off the roof, and the pipes that was going into was inadequate and they're going to have to reengineer it because too much water was flowing down so it's, it's fixable, but they have to go up and fix it and they're big building a second school in East Hampton, having recognized the rainfall is increasing in Massachusetts and the way the FEMA doesn't look forward they just look backwards to floodplains. But the next school they're building they're doing a different drainage system to address this. I also called a facility director in Needham, where there were two different schools that were on wetlands or near wetlands or near Brooks and basically they both had no ports the engineering solutions had worked on those sites. So I have decided I have to put my trust in the design team, I think we have an excellent design team. And Jonathan and others who are builders in the community keep patting me on the back saying these solutions will work. There's a hundred million more than a hundred million dollar bet that they will work. So I don't have any expertise that I can go in a different direction. So I will end this with, I think we have two different excellent choices. Sean asked me before we started whether I'd ever had to wrestle with this type of decision before and it was only once and it was different. I think I knew for sure, where I was on that I just didn't know whether I could persuade everyone to come with me and it was on national health care wasn't anything to do with the building here. I think I've been swung and it was by those staging diagrams that the Ninesco team did on how do you build a new school while the other school is still sitting there and I think it's just too high a cost for our children. So I'm coming down on the side of Fort River. And I will say the additional cost to me, I think is a benefit also we are getting it will appeal we have gotten people saying they're looking forward to the fields. So it's, it's a school and its fields. And I think if our teachers are creative and I believe they are. There's an environmental with the school being a net zero school that we can be teaching off of, but wetlands are potential teachable bio systems are teachable. So there are opportunities to use that green space in a way that young kid can benefit from. And I will end my remarks, I did have more written remarks but because we have this fantastic group of people, almost everyone mentioned every other sentence that I was planning on saying. So I think that closes it. And if people are ready. I think we entertain emotion. And, you know, as, as Margaret showed you on the motion sheet, it's a motion where you insert the site. Sean, Sean's hand is up. I'm not making a motion I just wanted to clarify one thing because I heard it a couple of times. I don't think this will sway anybody's vote but I just wanted to make it clear that we can't count on being able to use CPA funds for this project. One, it may be considered supplanting if the project's already approved to then change a funding source to CPA at that point. And the other reason is that has everything has to go through the CPA committee so I just want to make sure that if anyone thinks that's something that council can do on its own. That's not the case. So I will make the motion. Margaret, can I get that wording though that you want us to use. Sure. Or I can just, you know, wing it. We make sure I'm getting you the right screen. Let me get real screen. Okay, let's see the screen. 15 documents open here here we go. Okay, there we go. So we, we are right here. I see it right here. So I make a motion to select Fort River as the preferred site. Do I hear a second. I second that motion second. And who said second. Alicia Alicia. Okay, Alicia second. Okay, then we proceed to a vote and let me just make sure I've got my sheet with everybody's name. Angelica. Yes. Paul. No. Simone. No. Allison. Yes. Ben. No. Sean. No. Phoebe. Yes. Mike. Yes. Rupert. No. Jonathan. Yes. Kathy is a yes. Tammy. Yes. Alicia. Yes. So I think my tally says I called on everyone. Is that correct? I think so. I didn't miss anyone. So I'm just going to do a count. One, two, three, four, five, six. Margaret, did you, did you get a count as you went through? Yeah. Okay. I have eight in favor and nine opposed. Sorry. One, two, three, four, five. So the motion passes. So we have one more motion on this just consolidates the two of them. So we can give language to. Donis go and I will make this motion. It's a motion to select a new three-story building on the Fort River site as the preferred solution in the report to MSBA. We'll hear a second. Second. So just to clarify, this is the vote that will be transmitted to the MSBA. Yes. And just, Donna, can you tell me will we transmit all three votes that we went through in this staged way? Yeah. Margaret can echo this, but I think it's fine how, how you're voting for it. There's a document that actually needs to be signed that is, is what they're going to need. But so, so your vote, the way it's being handled is fine. And then there's a document that three of you will need to sign. I think it's Mike. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the minutes last time they wanted us to, Margaret will write up the minutes and the record of the vote. And the minutes will need to be certified is what they asked us for. Correct. And actually. Where two weeks in advance, we might actually have it in before, before we submit this time. So it's fine. So are there any, so I need to take a vote just on that final wording to make sure that we. Once before they made us convene a meeting to take a vote because I didn't do it quite correctly. So I just would like to. So I've got a second on the combined. And again, this is a motion. To select a new three-story building on the Fort River site as the preferred solution in the report to MSBA. Sean. I'm just going to say, and others can choose to do this if they want that I'm going to change my vote to yes for this vote. Just because I think we all kind of. Convey that we're supportive of the project at either site. So I will be changing my vote to yes for this final vote that we sent to MSBA. Okay. And did I, was there a second for the motion? I seconded it. Okay. So the second. Okay. So we will move to a vote. And. Kathy. Kathy. The motion was just make sure that it's clear that it's for 575 students because it's for the combined. Okay. So I will change it. Motion to select a new. Three-story building. For 575. For the consolidation. Yeah. Safe for the consolidation of the Fort River and Wildwood schools for a total of 575 students. That just. Covers everyone. Okay. So I have rewritten it. Motion to select a new three-story building for 575. For the consolidation. Yeah. Safe for the consolidation of the Fort River and Wildwood schools for a total of 575 students. On the Fort River site as the preferred solution. That, that wording gets it. Yes. Okay. So that is the wording we're voting on. Angelica. Yes. Paul. Yes. Simone. Yes. Allison. Yes. Ben. Yes. Sean. Yes. Phoebe. Yes. Mike. Yes. Rupert. Yes. Jonathan. Yes. Kathy is a yes. Tammy. Yeah. Yeah. And Alicia. Yes. Well, thank you everyone. We, we actually made. The decision. Donna is. Margaret. Donna is clapping. I just, I want to personally thank everyone. I'm just going to make a couple. We do have a public comment periods. And I'm setting. So I am conscious of that, but I just want to thank everyone. Including the design team and our OPM for. Bending over backwards to give us information and support. As we wrestled with this decision. We've, I also want to just pat all of ourselves on the back. I think we've conducted. A very open and deliberative process. And to me, this is a big step forward. And we can move from these odd little diagrams. We're looking at two architectural engineering. They'll give us a 3D look at the building. And we can, it's an exciting phase where we're going to be able to talk to the town and the residents. And we're going to be able to talk to the town. We're going to be able to talk to the town and the residents. About what the school can look like. What it can mean for the town and build. And build support. So I'm, this is the beginning of a process. And I know. Angelica at one point talked about having a table at the farmer's market, but we're going to need help with. Some fact sheets as we go along. You know, talking about, you know, what this means for our kids and our, for community. We have a meeting on the 24th and I do see Mike's. And at that meeting, that's Friday, the 24th. That is when we will be reviewing the report. And we've seen big sections of it already. It's got the site conditions in it. The traffic report. And now there will be a section written on the preferred solution and how we reach that conclusion with the updated costs. So we will be voting on that. And I would like to add that. I would like to add that. I would like to add that. I would like to add that. I would like to add that. I would like to add that to the updated costs. So we will be voting on that. And I would be between now and. The 24th. I will work with the Dinesco and Margaret. To figure out a meeting schedule. Cause right now that's the last meeting we have posted, but to. Will. Will we meet in July? How often in July and August. And just at critical points. And the one other thing I want to mention is way back when. We talked about potentially visiting a few schools to see. Something in action. What does the school look like? What does the cafeteria look like? Our team went to the Springfield school. But if some of that can be arranged over the summer to a few schools. Donna said at one point she takes large groups with her. So it's not just a select few. So. We'll come back just with an agenda setting with some, we won't set dates, but we'll talk about dates. And then we'll do a poll on when people can meet. So I, that's all I have to say right now, but Mike, I want to get here. Anyone. With any comments before I. Open it for public comments, Mike. Yeah, I'll be brief. I just want to. I think I acknowledge the statements you just made, Kathy. I want to thank you as chair, because this was shepherding this process is not an easy thing. And I think you've done it. Exceptionally well and connected with, you know, the people need to be connected and answered questions, both members of the public and members of this committee. So I want to thank you. And I also want to just acknowledge and appreciate that we get a split vote and that's a good thing. Right. So for people who. You know, we can, we can, we can say it's a good thing. For folks like, well, which would be a better site. Those concerns people had about Fort river. I've just encouraged people to keep on raising. Right. You know, while the decisions made, it's not that those considerations were inaccurate or. We're shouldn't be considered as we move forward. And so I know it sounds strange. those are highly folks who voted that way highlighted very real concerns that will be need to address need to be need to be addressed and I just I'm really pleased with the dialogue and people's contributions and I think that's a good model for us and actually for our community that we can have disagreements and at the end we do move forward but it's the considerations and the concerns come with that right so not that we're going to go back and say oh we should change the site but oh this traffic thing is real what are we going to do and how are buses going to queue and all those pieces are really really valuable so I just wanted to thank you Kathy and thank the committee for such informed dialogue and that'll continue into the future and it's exciting a superintendent schools I'm just saying I'm excited I would have been excited no matter which way it went because it's a step forward to resolving a problem that it's we're about on nine years of getting into MSPA process in the first place and so I know we're not at the end right bricks aren't being shipped to us yet it's we're not there but at the same point it's something that sorely overdue we experience it and Tammy Allison thank you you deal with it every day and try to make the best of a situation and the staff at Fort River and Wildwood absolutely phenomenal how you try to make the best of it and our facilities team to try to support them in that and you know suboptimal is not the right word it's it's less than suboptimal right we need to do this we need to get going we need to have a new building and I'm just pleased that the next step on this path is is kind of you know we can see it in the future now a little clearer and just thanks to consultants and everybody for getting us there thank you Jonathan Jonathan briefly just to echo Mike's thanks to all for all the we've done so far but also to put on the list of things to look at for agendas I think the the net zero subcommittee needs to start to meet at some regular point here with the design team to talk out the the particulars and any other input they may need may need from us now thank you Jonathan I neglected to say that because we also we the design as everyone knows the design has been estimated at with ground source but we haven't formally said that is our choice and so I think we both need to do net zero but then we're the full committee will have to weigh in on that once we get additional information so in scheduling that's a top priority and Tim has said more than once sooner is better than later or Tim and our design and architectural team so so any other comments before I open it for to the public I'm not seeing any so of public and Sean there are three hands up and Sean can you help me bring them in to allow them to speak thank you Anna Devlin got the airs coming in hi Anna you have joined us good morning everyone I just wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for the immense amount of work and and care that you've put into this process especially Kathy absolutely all of the rounds of applause is for for your job as chair here the care that you all gave was evident in every meeting but also outside of those meetings in how you engage with our community and I agree with Mike that a split vote means we're going to come out with a stronger project I actually really don't like unanimous votes because I feel like we don't challenge ourselves necessarily when we have them so I'm excited about a non-unanimous vote because I think that those those points raised are really important and we'll we'll strengthen this overall so ultimately I just wanted to comment and thank you each and every one of you for holding the many many needs of our community at the forefront we've got some good work to do in communicating and moving through these next decisions with our community but this is such an exciting first step and thank you all thank you all so so much truly thank you Anna try to promote Lynn but she wasn't moving over so I brought over Jennifer okay Jennifer you have joined us and there are still three more people so we will get every we will hopefully get to everyone if the technology works Jennifer hi everyone I am super excited about this project and I want to thank each of you for your hard work and I know your work isn't done yet for your hours of meetings and pouring over documents and for your thoughtful deliberations on these decisions you have my commitment on supporting this project 100 as a school committee member and as a community member as well as drumming up community support I think this is going to be really fantastic for our school community and for the community at large so thank you so much thank you Jennifer Lynn you have joined us yes I I really just want to echo what Anna and Jennifer have just said and to say that this is a moment to step forward for our community this committee has done so much hard work you've looked at more data and more information than any other committee that I am aware of in Amherst and you've taken that assignment seriously and so just on behalf of the town council and myself and the community of Amherst we want to thank you we want to thank you for this hard work and this great next step and now let's go out and make sure it happens thanks thank you Lynn Chris if you want mute you or you have joined us very impressed with this process this is a terrific committee it's very been very open and people can participate and thank you for all your work I'm very eager to move ahead with the discussion of the and that's zero aspects of this project and I think there's some big decisions we have to make pretty soon on that and I'm looking forward to that process but again thank you all very much you're terrific thank you Chris Maria you can unmute you have joined the room but you have to unmute we can't hear you I'm a little emotional so I just want to I have just a couple things to say thank you so very much to this committee I know for some of you this was a bit of a leap of faith but I want to reassure you I believe the science I am fully confident in your geotechnical engineers and the design team I also am fully confident in the power of public advocacy and don't discount the ability of people to get things done on traffic as well as other issues this committee was put in a very difficult position you were put at a crossroads in this town and I think that the path we're on is going to lead to healing of this community um and I'm looking forward to giving my support and to giving you all my energy to bring all of this project home all of the fields all of the traffic everything um so you have my commitment and my gratitude thank you so very much thank you Maria Peter you are here with us and you have unmuted welcome Peter Peter thank you um so I mean plus 1000 to all the the thanks and gratitude that have been expressed to your committee so far um I'm super unbelievably elated excited uh that we're at this moment um I feel so personally connected to this effort um I began on the school committee the day that this the last project um the last vote failed and so this this is very um like connected for me um I'm also 100 committed to supporting this project um and I also want to take a moment to thank my colleague on the school committee Jennifer for just now declaring that uh that she's also committed to supporting this project it's it's no secret that in town uh we have some differences some often loud differences of opinion when it comes to either this decision or other decisions on on the project and and there's obviously been political tension in the past with regards to project support but I'm very excited for this town to be able to move forward uh together in support of a project that is still going to need a whole lot of work um not just to complete the final proposal but to support we're asking our residents our taxpayers to to pay a lot of money over a long number of years and so we need to do a lot to justify that to explain it and and to get this across the finish line but I could not be uh happier than than what you've done today so thank you very much thank you Peter Rudy you have joined us if you unmute Rudy Perkins and you're not unmuted yet about that um I I just want to echo thanks to the committee also and to say I'm going to be joining sounds like the very large ranks of people enthusiastically advocating for this project um I think it's going to bring together the town and I'm very excited and if you see the last three the last two speakers plus me all saying the same thing at the same time you you've already seen some of that so thank you so much for your wise decision today and your heart thank you Rudy um and I am not seeing any other hands up on the public um so I already said my last sentences so I won't repeat them I just I want to remind everyone that on June 24th at 8 30 in the morning we are meeting again and Donna and Tim and everyone else on the Denisco team will be working to get us a final version of a report that we can read and submit um that is just a beginning because MSBA rarely just says congratulations we we may get comments back from them um there is we will be on time to meet their August meeting um thanks to these tight deadlines there's some other work we need to do um they actually asked for uh Donna what did they they asked for kind of a presentation a set of charts um they um this it's interesting they don't have enough money to make to pay for a net zero school but they certainly are willing to put up various hoops for us to have to write a lot for them so so but again June 24th is when we'll be together again and Donna I see your hand is up so yeah I just yeah thank you I just um prior to getting to the MSBA board meeting and actually I know Kathy, Paul, Mike um they would love for you to participate and be available and maybe speak on behalf of the community or and or maybe some of your representatives so maybe just put um August 31st on your calendar but um yes Kathy they're prior to going to the board and to supplement what we're submitting in this um preferred schematic report is we will be going before the facility assessment subcommittee group with the presentation and um kind of outlining the process pretty quickly but then putting together why this site and how this site and building work etc a meeting MSBA's criteria so they actually wanted it the day that we submitted our report which is crazy but um they've given us a whole nother week to work on that but so you won't be seeing that on the 27th or the 24th but we will be submitting it but that's for the bill for MSBA to ask the questions that they want to ask in an informal way without bogging down those conversations at the board meeting so that to Kathy, Mike and maybe Paul once we have that date I think we have tentative dates that we should also get that on the calendar thank you Donna and uh and Margaret after this meeting we'll get us I think at least one or two other scores came in but we'll get that we will have a matrix to look at as well as a potential set of meetings at the next meeting um so I think um I'm not seeing any other hands I just want to give a huge personal thanks to everyone I'm including our traveler in the wilds who wasn't sure she'd have enough power on her phone to stay connected but Angelica has managed to stay with us thank you so much and um I'm thrilled to be able to go to bed tonight without having changed my mind in the morning to tell you the truth is the way I've been struggling with the site decision um and I think we've made a good decision and I'm glad we all came together so I think we are adjourned at 1022 and we will make sure we have a record and enjoy graduation week those of you who are saying goodbye to the students um thank you very much for all the extra time that you've put into this we are adjourned thank you