 And we're good. So, I don't have my agenda open. I'm really, really sorry. And here we go. So, are there any announcements to begin with? And the document that you sent out with the allocations and the organizations that were funding. Does everybody, everybody. The participants that are in the chat room or wherever. Are they able to see them? Or do you want to put up on the screen or how should we share that information? Just in case there are folks on the call, who weren't on the call last week. Yeah, I can, I'll share the screen in a minute. I did put it online. It's been online for a little bit. And I'm going to share the agenda first, I guess. I think. Seven oh four, we can wait one minute, I guess. Yeah. Introduction and then we'd start taking public comment. Sure. Okay. I think we're ready to get going. So this is a public hearing and we're going to begin with. Reviewing the final recommended activities that we recommended. And then we're going to start with the public hearing. And then we're going to start with the public hearing. And then we're going to start with the public hearing. So last week. For the 2021 season of CDBG funding. But before we do that, maybe we'll just go around and introduce ourselves because this is a public hearing. My name is Gail Lansky. I live in Amherst and I've been on this committee. I think this is my. If there's fifth year plus. Anybody want to go next. All right. Well, I'm Becky Michaels. This is my first year on the committee. I've been on the committee. I've been on the committee. I've been on the committee. I've been on the committee. I've been on the committee. I've been on the committee. Proposals and recommendations. And. It's been quite a learning experience. Thanks. My name is Lucas Hanscom. Same. First, first year. And it has been quite a learning experience. Thank you. And I'm not. I'm not Larson and I've been on the committee for a couple of rounds now. And I'm a father of three Amherst resident for about 14 years. I've been on the committee. I've been on the committee for a couple of years. Thanks. Rika. Rika Clement. I'm also new. You know, learning, challenging. Good experience to be on the committee. Thank you. Really. Thank you. So, um, Nat, do you want to put up on the screen quickly? The other document. Sure. Just so for people in audience. Yeah. I'm Nate Maloy. I'm a planner with the town. I help staff the committee and. You know, this hearing is a requirement of. You know, receiving block grants that we allow the public to. Make comments on the activities. You know, that will be in the town's application. The applications do September. By September 10th. So there's not a lot of time. It's just kind of an abbreviated round. We had three months. You know, the state gave it. Just everyone three months to put together an application. And we can't. So we can only see the first one of the social service activities. Yeah. Maybe start with non-social service or it's kind of, I, I feel like, I can make it smaller. I will see. I'd hate to. I feel like it might get lost in the. I think it might be a little too small, but. Okay. So. Is it necessary for us to read each other? I want to loud and review it and talk about the, the dollar amount that we recommended. Okay. So. No, no, really it's just, we can ask for public comment. And then after that, you know, there's a public meeting to discuss. The recommendations and see if there's any. Any ideas to change it or adjust things that other than that, that's really. That's the evening. Okay. So can you see who's. In the webinar waiting to speak so we can kind of, if necessary. Yeah. Yeah. So. Okay. Okay. So we're going to ask the people representing specific organizations together. I mean, there's only 11 attendees. So I think we could just have them. Raise hands and then we could just call on people in order. I don't. Okay. Okay. That's great. So we are going to ask that people speak, you know, try to keep it to 11 attendees. So maybe three to five minutes. Does that sound fair? Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. So as an attendee, you can raise your hand. And then we'll call on you in the order. You know, that you. That you've raised your hand. And so if there's any comments now, the committees can hear them. We have one hand raised. All right. So big brother, big sister, you can unmute yourself. Thank you so much. This is Jesse. I'm the director of big brothers, big sisters in Hampshire County. And I will keep it very brief. I really just wanted to thank you for your support of our program. And I understand this is a really tough process of really challenging to make these decisions. I appreciate your review of our proposal and your support of it. So we will be working hard this year to reach our goals. Thank you again so much. Thanks, Jesse. All right. Lydia, you can. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's the unmute yourself. Great. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. So thank you for this virtual opportunity to make a public comment about your, your process here. It's frustrating for those of us who don't know who else is making comments, but I guess maybe nobody else. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not having searched the website more thoroughly for the detailed information on the proposals. I would like to speak on the non-social service proposals. I'm assuming that you will all read my email. Try not to repeat myself. From that. I'm an Amherst resident. A retired social worker. I worked mostly with low income families in my social work group to help to write Amherst climate action, adaptation, and resilience plan. That's now, I think known as CARP. So the first point and the major point I would like to make is that our town's master plan, which was written with wide community input in 2010 is sorely out of date. We have to look at the circumstances of our town, our country, and the world have changed. The needs of low income people have expanded. The priorities for our dollars are not the same. We have to look at whether doing things like meeting accessibility guidelines for improving the months in building is more of a priority than taking responsibility for the damage that our town is doing to the environment and to the health of the world's people. So we have to look at that. Are these improvements greater than providing, for example, warming and cooling centers, lowering energy bills for low income people, providing air conditioning to cool and filter air. We've all been breathing in this polluted air from other parts of the country. And I'm assuming that that will continue and that everyone will have access to air conditioning. I was a town meeting member for the final three years of its existence. On even sidewalks and potholes were always big concerns there, loudly voiced. But I think they can be done out of smaller pots of money and that this HUD money should be used for projects that take a chunk of money in order to consider doing them. Being able to walk to businesses instead of drive and have access to green spaces is a climate emergency goal. But only if it's combined with an ongoing motivational public campaign about the importance of walking to the health of the community. An introduction to what's fun about being in the wildlife for people. Facilitating community connection to the land. According to the Georgetown climate centers adaptation clearing house, the community can be used for a wide array of climate change adaptation related activities. Such as enhancing the resilience of public and affordable housing. Enhancing streetscapes with green canopy. To provide cooling. Enhancing public infrastructure to make it more resilient to climate change. And also relocating structures out of flood prone areas. Which is probably not much of our concern here in Amherst. Our climate action plan. Includes in the roadmap to. 2025. So we've got three plus years. To have already done these things. Prioritize multifamily building energy retrofits. To institute a building energy. Benchmarking. For apartment complexes. As it says in the slide show about car. Implementation will require action and collaboration from community members and all levels of government. I think we need to more creatively. Use our CDBG. Funds. I know I'm coming in here at the very last bit of the process. I know it's an enormous amount of work to put these. Brants together. We need to work together. To get together. To get together. And to justify how it's low income. It's good for the low income. But I think given the IPCC report that just came out about how bad things are. We really need to get together across. Across departments. To get the community climate action. An energy. Group working with, with you all. We need to work together. To get together. To get together. To get together. To get together. I think it's a lot of federal money that comes through the state. And that's. Probably my 5 minutes. Thank you very much. That is your five minutes. So Lydia. I know. I will speak for myself. And I am the chair of the committee that we did. I read your, your email. And I'm the chair of the committee. I'm the chair of the committee. I'm the chair of the committee about the climate. It's. But we're just one committee that is tasked with. To disseminate these funds and that. Those who we can think about changing our priorities perhaps for next year. And maybe that's something that we can begin a discussion about. Once we finish the cycle and we talk about. What the priorities would be for the 2022 funding cycle. But as, you know, our hands are sort of tied at this point. And I think that's something that we've expected that to be the, I mean, I was hoping that some of you would be on the committee next year and that I could nudge things, but I also think that you're in a position. To say to the town manager, to say to the planning department, to say to the energy committee, the climate change committee. Hey, where were you? Why didn't you think of these things? You know what? You know what? You know what? You know what? You know what? How can we put solar panels on the Watts and farms. Roofs and pay for that as well as a new roof. Yes, it needs a roof. Of course we should pay for that. But you know, how do we tie this into a climate action plan that has only, you know, we've set really high goals. And, and you know, COVID has made it hard for us to move ahead. On them. And, but unfortunately we don't, we don't have the time. We don't have the time. We don't have the time. We don't have the time. We don't have the time. I know. I know things are pretty set, but. I appreciate you listening to me. Thank you. Thank you. All right. You can. I'm sorry. I just pressed the wrong button. It's Becky. I had one comment. I just wanted to make with. To Lydia or with Lydia's comments. If that's okay. Sorry, love. I'll be quick. I, I, I guess I, I wanted just to also just clarify, since it is my first time through that. And just to explain, understand Gail, when you said that our hands are tied. Our hands are tied primarily because we can only look at the grants that were given to us. Correct. I mean, we can't. Create. What we imagine the town needs and say, well, we'll fund this idea that we've had. So, I mean, I think that one thought that I had is, you know, we had decided to put racial justice as one of the categories for example, that we wanted everybody to address in their proposal. So not just have it be one of the, um, one of our priorities, but actually have it be written within all of the proposals. And I think, you know, one thing we might think about is doing the same with climate. Um, and, and asking people to address that in their proposals. Because I do think, um, it is something where, yes, we'd be interested obviously in. What climate organizations are doing and funds that would need, but I think also sort of to what Lydia is saying is that every single thing that is happening should also have that as a priority, um, and be considering its, its impact. Um, so I would just say through saying it out loud. So we all remember to think about that as, as we're thinking about the priorities. Sure. I mean, the state does require that the capital projects. Me in the, you know, the state sustainable development principles, right? So they have to, you know, have to, you know, have to, you know, have to, you know, have to achieve some of them. So they, they kind of integrated in, into the way the state can recognize it, right? So they're the ones reviewing it. So, um, those are the thresholds that they use to determine that it's meeting. You know, certain benchmarks, but. Yeah, I like Becky's idea of us just pulling it out. For our next round so that people, you know, think to make a more obvious, uh, I think that's a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Sorry. I think you're, you're up. Yes. Can you hear me? Yeah. So first off, I just want to really thank the committee for your volunteering efforts throughout this whole process. Certainly it is no small task. And I want to also thank all the other organizations in this community for providing such critical and high impact services and programs for our local residents. Um, I'm really grateful for the committee's recommendation of funding for the immerse survival center. CDBG support is really critical to our ability to ensure the food security of 2000 immerse residents. So I really appreciate your recommendation to, to fund the center's food pantry for immerse residents. I wanted to share just a couple of recent quotes and snippets about what that actually means to some of those 2000 people. One shopper recently shared that I cannot imagine not having ASC in my life. I get free food daily and food pantry once a month where a poor student couple with a little kid needs nutritious food with ASC's help. I do not worry about feeding my family. Another pantry shopper told us that the pantry means she doesn't worry about food and can save some money. Another shared that home deliveries are awesome. And she told us that she takes care of her son with a severe illness at home. And this is the one thing I don't have to worry about. This, this notion of not worrying less stress, knowing that you can feed yourself and your family. And what I really, really appreciate that. The commission is on the front line. Every single animal resident deserves this. Every single resident everywhere. Deserves this. This should be a baseline expectation of what we're providing in our communities. So as the committee considers its final recommendations, as I understand that you're doing today. I just want to urge you to at a minimum maintain the level of funding that is currently proposed for the immerse survival center. that arose last week about the proposed budget of the project. There seemed to be some apprehension from a couple of members of the committee about the fact that we had requested more in our budget for this project from CDBG than some other applicants had, or than other applicants had, or concern that we were operating in less of a lean fashion because the budget was bigger. And I just wanted to clarify two things related to this. First off the budget, as outlined in the application, the total budget for the Amherst only portion of the food pantry is just under $340,000. And that doesn't include half a million dollars of in-kind resources, primarily donated food and food from the food bank that's leveraged through our infrastructure of receiving and distributing those, those goods. So we requested just under our full request of $70,000 was just under 21% of our cash budget from CDBG. And it's less than 8% if you include being kind. So I want to just really clarify that it really is that support from CDBG that enables us to then leverage and take full advantage of those other funds. CDBG is absolutely not supporting the full scope of the pantry for Amherst residents. The second piece, and then I'll wrap up is the scope and scale of what we're seeking CDBG for. And that is that we're proposing to provide two weeks of groceries every month to 2000 low and moderate income Amherst residents. From my quick glance seems like other project applicants are potentially serving anywhere between 20 and 320 low and moderate income Amherst residents. Programs and projects are different costs. They cost different amounts to run and they provide different depths of intervention. I'm not in any way comparing the importance of these critical programs, but I'm simply identifying that there are differences in scope or scale or reach of the various projects that were proposed. And so that yes, while the MR survival center did originally request more funds than other applicants did. I hope that it makes sense that it in fact does cost more money to provide a program on that scale. And we do try to be very mindful and respectful of requesting a relatively small portion of our overall budget from CDBG, knowing that it's absolutely the town's intent to spread those resources among multiple organizations. Our original request of 70,000 was asking for a mere $35 and CDBG funds per year per low and low and moderate income Amherst residents served $35. That's less. If we had been fully funded, that would have been less than $3 per month per person to provide up to two weeks of groceries, many of which are delivered to their homes. So when I actually do that math, I immediately run to calculating what I know my weekly grocery budget is and multiplying that times two. And we are offering and proposing to do that for $3 per person per month. So I just wanted to share those clarifying points and I hope that addresses the concern that the committee had regarding our budget and just the scope in relation to other proposals. I certainly, I sincerely appreciate the committee support of this critical resource for, for our neighbors. So thank you very much and thanks for your time throughout this process. Thanks. Right in under that five minute time limit. Thank you so much and thanks for breaking the costs down. I think it's pretty eye opening for all of us. All right. See. Hold on a minute. Francine, you can unmute yourself. Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Francine Rodriguez. I am the program manager for family outreach of Amherst. And I initially clearly want to start with thanking you for prioritizing our agency. I directly run this program, the housing community housing support program. And I am also the person who is doing the direct service along with the case workers I supervise to the families that we serve. It has been proven to be highly effective. And I personally have been able to see the impact the program, the program has had over the last couple of years. We've helped hundreds of families apply for emergency funds or unemployment benefits or look for employment. And right now is the thing we're really focusing on is getting people back to work, you know, in order to have the income they need to pay their bills, feed their children and of course pay their rent to be able to stay housed. So, um, just last week we had a woman come in who slept under a covered shelter bus stop in Amherst with her two children. Uh, because she was staying with a friend who kicked her out in the middle of the night. She had nowhere to go. Um, she called us first thing in the morning. We were able to go pick her up. We found some temporary, um, housing for her at a motel. And we were able to get her into the permanent shelter, which she has now through DHC day. Um, I have been attending court zooms with families, um, to ensure they're given legal, um, representation if they feel they need it. And also to make sure they know their rights that, you know, at this point with the pandemic, everyone has the right to extend this, but we were able to at least extend that court hearing, apply for wrap that same day, um, and make an agreement with the landlord. If we can get the arrears paid, she will allow her to stay. She was looking for possession of the unit. So, um, you know, and that's just two in the most recent, um, weeks that, that, that I personally had experience with. So I want to thank you because I think it is definitely an important program for Amherst residents. And I think, especially now with the moratorium ending, we will be seeing an uptake of people calling in requesting help. Um, cause raft is a difficult process to go through. It's not just the, simple application. Um, so a lot of people just need someone to help and guide them. And that's what we're doing. Um, right now. So I just want to thank you for, for prioritizing our agency. And, and again, I, I, I can definitely attest to it being highly effective and, and it having an impact on Amherst residents. Thank you again. Thank you, Francine. Thank you. Paulina, you can. Amute yourself. Hi. Um, good evening. So my name is Paulina Adams. I use she, her pronouns and I'm a case manager at Craig stores. And I wanted to just hop on and thank everyone for their dedication to our community. And, um, for hosting meetings like these are those of the difficult decisions that need to be made. And creating opportunities for all of our organizations to come together and discuss funding. And also for community members to hop on and discuss how the funding is being spent. And I really appreciate the consideration that was taken for the Craig stores. Proposal that was put in. We know that there was, um, unfortunately the. Choices that had to be made about what different organizations could be funded. But I just wanted to speak a little bit on the, um, the prospect for future funding and just to mention that with the eviction moratorium ending that they're here at Craig stores. We are recognizing that. In the future, the amount of support that the clients that we're working with will need will definitely increase greatly. Um, In the pandemic Craig stores actually for case management, management, we provided 645 formal case management meetings. Between November, 2020 and July, 2021. And by these, we mean formal case management meetings. So these are meetings that often run for over an hour. I know I've personally been in meetings that sometimes have gone to like almost four hours with people. Trying to just get basic needs met. Um, things like getting a cell phone, getting them in touch with like getting out of. Debt or helping with legal issues. Basic things that set them up in order for them to start looking for housing, because if they don't have those things put together, then they can't even access housing. So I just wanted to kind of highlight the. Amounts amount of work that Craig stores is already putting in at this moment and acknowledging the fact that with the moratorium ending worry, are anticipating, um, working with other community organizations even more than we already are to be helping our guests get the services that they need, especially because a lot of our guests are, um, Folks who need that really intensive support for all of the different areas that they need support around, not just kind of like one section or another. So I really appreciate all of the time and consideration given to the different proposals and I wanted to thank everyone for considering ours because I know that as a low barrier shelter, we are, um, We are really grateful for the fact that we were able to at least showcase kind of the differences that we have, especially with how, um, our shelter and our case management services have been happening the entire pandemic and has actually increased and stayed in person safely the entire time the pandemic has been open. So thank you everyone for your, um, Patience and your dedication and I'm grateful to continue putting in future proposals proposals. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you for your work. Thank you. Hi, Michelle. I think you can unmute yourself. Thank you. Um, I'm Michelle Cedar and I work with the Center for New Americans. I'm one of the coordinators there. And I know that, uh, at the last meeting, Lori Millman and our executive director spoke. She couldn't be here tonight. So she asked me to come in. And we know, like other people have said, there's such a tremendous need right now in so many areas and, um, Oh, wonderful agencies that, um, are providing services for some of the same constituents that we work with. And we appreciate the difficult decisions. Um, but that said, I still want to highlight some of the, um, the position that CNA holds in our community. And we are the pipeline for newly arrived immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. And while I think many people know that we offer English classes, um, which are geared towards helping our students become more engaged citizens and workers. We also offer support to people in terms of getting people connected with food, shelter, health insurance. Jobs. Um, we have advisors that work with our students. We have a citizenship and immigration program with lawyers. Um, we help our students to become better partners with their children's schools and learn confidence in being able to speak to their teachers. I just want to tell a story about one of our, uh, an Amherst resident who we offer certified nursing assistant training. And recently we have two students who've been enrolled in English classes. Um, they're a married couple. And they both were, um, registered nurses or the equivalent of in their home country. But like many professional degrees, they don't translate when you come to the United States, or it's very difficult to get them to translate. So the, um, one of the, the. One of the couple, uh, took our certified nursing assistant program past the Red Cross exam and is now employed as a CNA. And still involved in our English classes. And meanwhile her husband also still involved in our English classes is working, um, at a local factory and so he can provide, um, they can both provide rent money for their family. Um, and his goal also is to ultimately become a nurse and stay in the area as well. So I just want to say we work with an extremely, vulnerable population, one that's often invisible. Um, if you go into a lot of the local restaurants, uh, our immigrant students are probably behind a lot of those doors. Um, we help the, our clients and students to become visible and to become more active community members and workers. So I just wanted to say thank you for continuing for considering us this year. Um, we hope in the future that, um, we also will return. Um, because refugees and immigrants are not going to go away at all in this community. It's one of the fastest growing populations. And we also thank you for your, um, support in years before. Thanks. Thank you, Michelle. And, um, thank you for the work you and the center for new Americans is doing in our community. So, um, if there are any attendees who still like to speak, you can raise your hand. You can wait a minute and see if there's anyone. All right. Lydia, you can speak again. Um, I just wanted to ask a question about. Whether there's a way to bank any of the money into, into the next year or, um, whether that's, uh, spend it now or lose it kind of situation. I, um, wasn't able to really figure that out on, on, on the federal website and. Yeah. So the town receives the federal money. It's had money. It's administered by the state, by the state's department. So we're eligible as a mini entitlement community to apply up to 825,000, but it has to be for project specific funding. I can't. We can't bank it. We have to spend it 80% of it in a calendar year or 12 month cycle. Um, you know, and the main goal of the HUD money is to benefit low and moderate income. Um, uh, you know, the beneficiaries. So the, uh, you know, what Gail was saying in terms of our Becky too is that, you know, the committee response to proposals that are submitted. And so proposals may not come in and have. Um, you know, Um, be specifically for climate resiliency or things like that, because it really has to benefit low and moderate income. Um, beneficiary. So I think. You mentioned solar panels on the, um, at Watson farms, I think the housing authority is struggling just to maintain. Building envelopes. And so I, you know, although panels would be great, I think that, you know, sometimes it's the cost benefit of some of the projects of just being able to. Maintain structures and infrastructure. And not, um, You know, then go beyond that and spend more money for certain energy efficiency steps. I do think. Um, What was suggested in terms of future projects, we get it, you know, we can make that a priority and see what kind of things can be, um, implemented. You know, we're built into a project. And so. Yeah. I did a lot of reading about. You know, you have to search for people for places, cities and, and states where they, they figured out how to do climate change and meet all the, all the guidelines. And then there's a lot written about how the federal government really has to catch up under this new administration and change, you know, change the rules so that there is more flexibility because this, you know, because climate change affects low income and, and, you know, poor and low income people. So, um, I do think there are ways. To get under the guidelines. I'm sure it takes a lot more work. And, and research to figure, you know, figure out how to do it until the feds really say, okay, this is okay. And this is okay. And whatever. Right. I think that, um, yeah, we can't bank money. Um, Yeah, I didn't. Yeah. It's too bad projects have done this. So, you know, we, for instance, we funded valley CDC's product on North Hampton road, which, you know, they're striving for, you know, passive house. Or, you know, really energy efficient. Construction for 28 affordable units. And so, you know, block grant money helped with their, um, you know, their architectural design and their finding of that property. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. You know, we've helped with energy efficient upgrades to, um, you know, childcare center, uh, the childcare center in town. Two different ones. And so kind of, you know, implicit in projects can be these. Um, you know, these steps. And so I think to me, that's where the block grant projects can kind of meet this goal. I don't think it would be hard for a block grant project to come in and say, well, let's. You know, put solar panels on something, but I think if it's, you know, Doing like, you know, uh, upgrades to affordable housing, it could be, you know, making it more energy efficient as part of it. And so. You know, that's where I think we, you know, we can encourage proposals in future rounds. Um, it really still has to benefit law and moderate income individuals, which I think it. Sure. Yeah. No, the, the electricity would have to go to the renters. I mean, it would have to be part of resiliency to actually be able to maintain your housing because you could afford to live there. I mean, you'd have to write it that way. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Is there any other hands want to be raised? I think we're. Yeah, looks like we're pretty good. Okay. So, um, we're ready to go on and discuss the target areas. Um, that's next on the agenda. If there's any comments, I, you know, I think the, um, the non-social service products are within the target areas. So we have three target areas. Um, the town center East Amherst and then Pomeroy village. Uh, East Halley road. And so I don't think we still got comments on those if there are any, but you know, we don't necessarily have to amend them or make changes. Um, which sometimes, you know, may be part of the process. If, if, for instance, there's a capital project that the committee really recommended that is outside of target area. We could discuss changing a target area. Um, but that's, that's not necessarily the case this year. And there's no one here to speak to, um, the non-social service projects. As far as you know. I don't see anyone. I know that, um, Dave Zomac assistant town manager. You might attend. I don't see him in the housing authority. I think they emailed and said they couldn't attend this evening, but. Okay. Okay. Um, I want to thank everybody for their comments as we move on to, um, Anything else we need to discuss. Are we really okay to move on to other items? Not anticipated. Well, I think we can have a motion to close the hearing and then a vote on that just so we can be official. And have that hearing closed. Forget about that stuff because we're being reported. So it's something to make a motion. To, um, Bring to an end the public hearing part of our gathering tonight. Bring to a close of public hearing portion of our meeting tonight. Thank you. And who's seconding it. Second. That's Becky. Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you. And I would vote in favor too. Oh, all in favor. We'll have to do a roll call vote as. Oh, here we go. Okay. To close the meeting. Um, Lucas, how do you vote? Yes. Thank you. Rika. In favor. Thank you. Becky. And not. Who made them. And I vote. Yes. I apologize. Cause I, I. This is a new to the zoom part of this. When we don't meet in person, we have to go through the roll call. Um, and we're all spoken for. Okay. Great. Thank you. And thank you to everyone who. Offered comments tonight during our public hearing. They are welcome. To stay on the call. Um, and, but we're going to move to the public meeting portion of tonight's gathering. Sure. So, um, I did see. Sorry. Yeah, I just saw that Lydia posted a question. Oh, why are those who have brought. The proposals not at the meeting. Sure. Yeah. They're not, they're not required. Uh, you know, To attend. So, you know, we're not asking for a meeting. Um, You know, to attend. So, you know, we're not asking for presentations from the applicants. We're, this is just a chance for public comment on the recommended activity. So. You know, we don't build in the process of presentation by applicants. Although we sort of did in the last two meetings we had. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I think most everyone attended last meeting and then. Where it was able to speak. Yeah. It's not, it's not mandatory. It's optional. Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't see the question in the chat. I missed it. Yeah. I didn't see it right away either. Okay. I can share the agenda. So we were kind of the public meeting piece. Yep. Any, um, announcements on your part, Nathaniel. No, I, you know, I spoke with a town man or his office about the recommendations and they. You know, they, they know the committee went through a good process. So there wasn't any. You know, any changes, you know, um, You know, at the time they're, you know, if anything, they were thinking, you know, as their way, you know, maybe they would move some funding around between activities. There wasn't really any consideration for changing them. You know, at this time, I think they were kind of waiting also to hear what happened at the public hearing. If there was a, you know, a committee had reconsiderations or anything, but there wasn't really any. At the town manager who was office at this point. I don't know. I don't know. If the town manager were to. Make any changes from the recommendation. When would you expect those? I would hope very soon. Because you have a lot of work to do. We have two weeks. Two weeks to get the application ready. So. Um, I would think, you know, next week, you know, I did week next week, hopefully. Ben's helping this year with the application. So I think we have a lot of work. And just to clarify, this does not have to go before the town council. It just still goes to the town manager. Right. The town manager has the, you know, as the app, you know, in the, um, It has the authority to apply for grants and programs on behalf of the town. So it's usually previewed with the council. I think it goes as a update, but not as a. A vote, right. So that up. Great. Great. Thank you. And, uh, Now we'll begin our discussion of what we've, um, Just heard and, uh, anybody want to jump in. To discuss comments that were just offered. Well, I'm happy to, um, you know, thank Lydia for her perspective. And I think it's a really, really important one. And I think throughout all of, um, town, you know, governance that this is something that we should all be aware of and focused on. Um, and. In terms of our committee, I think this is something that. Maybe it would have been best brought to us. Kind of earlier in the process because. As you know, Gail said at the beginning, our hands are kind of tied. When the proposals come in. But early on we talk about our priorities and what things we're going to focus on. And, and. We may identify things that. You know, people don't really respond to there aren't any proposals based on something that we, um, focus on. So for example, um, if we focus on kind of racial justice or something, there may not be a proposal just focused on that. Um, but. You know, maybe for next year, it's something that we can consider early in the process. Um, and then secondly, I would say also that. Um, you know, you know, you know, at least in my experience in recent years, um, the primary source of the kind of infrastructure, the non-social service, uh, proposals is really the town. And so. We as a committee don't really have much input. Um, You know, to the town as to what they propose to us. Um, but I think that, you know, residents. You know, to get together and voice their opinion and. You know, talk to the town manager and to staff. And to try to make their views known. I think that seems like a very, very, you know, useful way to influence the process over time. Thanks. Now I agree. I agree. I, you know, I just wish Lydia had been part of this, you know, to put to the table. And I just, I just want to say that we had visited our meetings a year ago, as we were starting to discuss priorities, but it's nice to have her input. Now to think about it going forward. Uh, anybody else want to comment on our speakers. I'm looking at the list. Michelle Paulina Francine, love. Certainly appreciate the graciousness of those who were not funded this year and their. So I really appreciated that. I agree. I agree. It is, it is very trying, you know, you get off the call. Last week, you know, like we did all that work, but ultimately folks are disappointed. And again, we are limited and we did the best we could with what we have. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's this once before is the limit to, but I, I can't remember. Is it limit that we can only give to five organizations, part of the rules of the CDBG or is that our own. Determination that we made it or that this committee made it. Yeah, that's, that's a state regulation. That's what I thought. Yeah. So, you know, some communities will say North Hampton, which is an entitlement community. They received funding directly from HUD or. You know, the cities in the, in the state, you know, the city's, you know, the city's, the city's city's whatever that are entitlement, they can fund more than five social services. But, you know, we can't any, you know, the 300 and so communities that get money from the state are limited to five. And the percentage of the total that can go to social service versus non-social services also dictated by. Right. The regulations. Yes. Yeah. 20%. And that's of the total amount that's applied. So, you know, you know, 700,000 it's 20% of 700,000. Not 20% of what the maximum application amount could be. So. And also, I just want to reiterate too, my experience in the last few years, seeing at least just the tip of the iceberg, what Nate and staff have to do when, you know, the recipients are actually carrying out these programs. So, you know, the, you know, invoices and payments and document everything. You know, even if you're only giving out $5 or $10,000 to an organization, that's still, you know, in many ways I would think the same amount of effort as if you're giving $50,000 or $70,000. So I just want to, you know, say thanks to Nate and Ben and everyone else on staff who's doing this because. You know, we go to the maximum five. You know, that's a fair amount of work, I think. Yeah, luckily the agencies do good work. So thanks for my life easier. It'll make Ben's easier too. Yeah, I think this year, depending on right on how COVID works out, we had been doing site visits, you know, physical site visits during the year with committee members and agencies. And so we could try that again. Maybe in the spring. And it was nice just to be able to get to get, you know, to see the programs that were funded. I mean, you know, this year I did them, staff held them virtually through zoom and they were. You know, pretty, you know, we just went over contract obligations and requirements, but wasn't the same as going, you know, having a site visit, but it's something that we can schedule. I think it's really impactful to show up and be on site and see the work that the organizations are doing. Often you get to meet clients and it just gives us, it gives one a clearer understanding. I mean, everything, what they do more than when you get. What's on paper. I mean, to see the magnitude of the food pantry and what goes on to survival center and how many people are volunteering. So if you folks can make it, it's, it's, it's very insightful and helpful. Okay. So. We are. Good to move to target areas yet again. I don't think there's any comment here. I think we'll keep three. Actually, we probably, I think we need to. The, I think Watson farms is considered East Amherst. And so. Yeah, we'll keep three. You know, I think even if we didn't have a project in there, I would still submit three. I think it's a maximum of the state likes in a community. And so I wouldn't want to submit for two. And then next year bump it back up to three again. So I think you will always try to have like three target areas. Just so. I think they prefer to have one, to be honest. Would prefer to have one. The state. Okay. And. Any other comment from folks that are. Not on the meeting. Are we good to go? Everybody's spoken and raised their hand. I guess we could have another vote or some agreement by the committee that the recommendations are still good. I think that could be helpful. Yeah. I mean, does anybody want to discuss the allocated amounts or. I can share the screen again. Addressing folks on the committee. Do we want to talk at all about. The activities we funded. And or speak about. The, the allotment of funds. I think we should start with the non-social services. If we want to just to go through those. Yeah. So Nate, you don't get any sense that. There will be any difficulty spending an extra $20,000 per. Project. I hope not. No, I think the. Some of it can be just built in, you know, I know with town projects, we usually. End of doing work ourselves with staff. That, you know, we could then either. You know, we could, you know, we could, you know, I know the housing authority had a pretty lean budget. So I think they could easily allow, you know, You know, just, just, just by different materials, you know, or just a few things. So I think they could, they can factor that in. I know it's kind of strange. We didn't have a big, a really big project. And then with a limit on three activities. And can I just ask a question as an aside. What are some of these other two unfunded projects will be, will they go forth without the CDBG money? No, maybe, you know, maybe in the bank center, one probably won't. You know, there's some money through capital, right through the capital and the budgeting process for the town to do some work at the bank center, but you know, months in library, there's probably some small improvements, but you know, these, these products, you know, specifically may not move forward this year, but it's something that, you know, the town is aware of. And we, you know, I think for the, for instance, the courtyard, we've looked at other funding, you know, other grants to apply for for this. So it's something that, you know, maybe, if it's not block grant, you know, there may be other sources. Okay. Thank you. Anybody have anything else you want to discuss about the non-social activities. Let's see, Lydia has a question. Oh, I would like to hear the committee comment on the non-social service activities. Or did you, did you do this already at a public meeting? Well, I have to say that we, you know, deliberated for quite a while last week at our meeting to decide based on our scores, which non-social service activities we would fund. So I don't feel that it necessitates a discussion tonight. But I guess, Lydia, if you have a question, we'd be happy to entertain it. About non-social. And last week's meeting was recorded, correct? It is. Yeah. It may not be posted yet. You know, it's, you know, it's internally on zoom, but the town has to take in and put it on its YouTube channel for anyone who's really looking for fun. I mean, they are good. Well, I mean, they are useful to have them out there. It's not, you know, it makes me think like, wow, if we go back to in-person meetings, the, you know, not having recordings actually is a, I think it would be, you know, it would be difficult for some, you know, it's easy to listen. And we have an audio, you know, we have a transcript too that gets saved. So it's like every meeting, there's a video and an audio recording, which is really nice. And do you still have to take minutes? Yeah. We still take minutes. Yes, but. Okay. Lydia has her hand raised. Sure. Yeah. I was at the last meeting. I didn't realize, but I didn't stay till the end. I didn't realize you weren't just doing the social service. Ones. So I missed the non-social service ones. So I'm sorry. I asked about it again. Do you have a specific question? No, I would just like to hear the justifications that you have for saying yes to these, to these, you know, you know, how you were thinking about this in terms of low income people and not just responding. To what the planning department thinks is best or whatever, you know, the kind of an independent looking for an independent voice. On these proposals. I'm not, I'm not objecting to the three that you picked. Right. Cause I'm objecting to all of them. So, um, but I just would have been good to. And I can go back and listen to it. Well, we have each, we each receive a score sheet. Um, that I think is posted on the town website. So you could see how we helped shape our decisions. And then each of us has our individual. Scores for each project. We submit those to Nate and he compiles them. So when we gather at the public, um, with the meeting we had to decide to make our decision, we have those numbers in front of us and we begin our work from there. So each of us has our own individual score sheet. They're compiled and aggregate. And then we begin our discussion again with the, with the, with the, with the, and then we begin our discussion again with who's the highest ranking or who's the lowest ranking and we go from the middle out, or it just depends how the rankings play out. But you can see on the score sheets, the criteria that we score. Okay. And we're the, uh, was David there and was the head of the housing authority there. Did they do a presentation so that you were able to ask them questions so that you could prioritize? We just do it from the written on the written proposals that we have. The committee does have a chance, you know, the committee asked questions of applicants prior to the meeting. And the applicants have, you know, respond in writing. So, uh, we don't base, you know, it's doing an RFP process, the town. You know, we don't build in a presentation for every applicant. We just base it on what's written and received. At the time of the deadline and then answer to the questions. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very detailed proposal that answers very specific questions that each of us have reviewed. To make our decisions and rankings. Yeah. I've read the proposals. I'm just trying to figure out for. For next time around how to. You know, I had suggested to the climate action committee that they actually apply for, but they weren't, you know, they didn't get their plan passed. Through town council that was such a long process and difficult process. So they couldn't jump, you know, jump ahead. So I'm just trying to figure out next year, you know, kind of what the process is. So I appreciate you educating me about how, how it will happen probably next year. Yeah. And I think the most instructive part for you is to get in the schedule change this year. We're usually doing this work in December and in January and making a reservation. Recommendations after the first of the year. And so the whole schedule has been flip-flop because of COVID. So I would highly advise for you to make sure you're. On Nate's distribution list for when the information goes out for the schedule next round of funding. So you can, you know, figure out who needs to apply and where they could slot themselves in under the priorities. But that, that feels key to me as the timing, I'm sorry to say your timing is just off right now. To the process really late in the game. And like I said, no, I know, I know. But knowing that for the next round could be exceedingly helpful to you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. So are we ready to move on to social service activities? Have we had enough? A thorough discussion of the non-social. Okay. And here we are with social service activities. And I think also I'll echo what Rika said that it was, people were generous with their time tonight, thinking us, even for those who didn't receive a recommendation for funding. And it's always a really, it's a very difficult trying process. But I felt really good when I got off the meeting last week, because I thought we did something that felt fair and it felt equitable and thorough and transparent. And I think that's a good point. Anybody want to chime in about. Activities that were funded or perhaps those that were not. Yeah, I'll echo what you said. I thought afterwards that it felt like a really fair process. I might have come up with different numbers on my own, but I was. You know, convinced that the process was sound and we came up with good recommendations. You know, but having said that. For every single one of these. It feels bad for the ones that we did fund for each one. I think we didn't fund enough for the ones that we didn't fund. I think we should have funded it or, you know, they, they deserve funding. So it's hard to come away feeling like everything went. You know, really great for everyone because it really, it really didn't. And I think, you know, it's, it's hard to acknowledge that, but. It's, it's hard to acknowledge that. But at the same time, it's kind of what the rules are that were. You know, supposed to apply. Yeah, I had that same feeling. I left the meeting not feeling good at all. You know, I think it was fair and transparent. I will say that I just. I wish that I had it wouldn't have made a difference. So I can say it now voted for Craig's doors over the literacy project because the more I thought about what I said, the more I thought that is really what I believe. And I think they should have voted that way. But it doesn't change anything. I still think the literacy project is a fantastic organization. I just, as I thought more about sort of. You know, the fact that I think they do actually save lives. Sort of in that moment. I was really stuck with that. And, and I would. Change my vote to that to Craig stores over the literacy project because of that. But again, all that said, there's a lot of data on that. I mean, I think there's a lot of data for new Americans in their entirety along with all the others. Right. Great. Yeah, I would add I felt like the process was good. It's the outcome that's hard to. Hard to quite. Feel great about because that we're underfunding or not funding. Very deserving worthy. Well done proposals. But I felt like we put the best process. In the, with the constraints we have in place. process is good, but the outcome is hard. I think that really sums it up. It truly does. All right. Anybody else Lucas? Anybody want to add anything? Okay. It's difficult. It's difficult. And we wish there was, I sometimes as a former fundraiser, I see the folks that aren't funded have an opportunity to put out a fundraising letter that says, you know, we've gotten CDBG funding for so many years and now we don't have it and please help us. So there is, there is can be a tiny bit of a bright side to this. Big Brothers, Big Sisters just said, we do understand this decision is incredibly difficult to make. Thank you all for your time and thoughtful attention to the process. You're welcome. So anything else that we want to chat about? And Nick, can you just give us a refresher of what the schedule looks like going forward? Yeah, I mean, you know, based on the, if the recommendations are solidified tonight, I just, you know, go, you know, discuss it with the town manager again, or try to confirm that they're what it is. And then I reach out to the applicants, we need some information in a different format than what was submitted, just to make our lives easier for applying to the grant. And I think we'd have to have the social services, you know, change their budget format a little bit in response to some conditions that state put on our recent contract. And yeah, just be, you know, Ben and I working quite a bit in the next two weeks to get the application done. And then our, and any work that's not completed from the last round, when do we address that? And is there... No, I think we're good. You know, our 19, our 19 grants closed out pretty much. So that's, we're good with that. The 20 grant has, you know, Watson Farms, you know, the siding project, because costs increase so much, the housing authority is still trying to figure out how to fund that. And then the town is going through design and permitting of Mill Lane. So both of those should be, you know, should be ready and moving forward next spring and done by June 30th. So that should be, those should be fine. And then we will be getting this 20, 21 grant in the winter spring. So I think we're actually in pretty good shape. You know, the town's project, if the Mill Lane, because we put a lot of money in Mill Lane, right? So we, so if that one gets delayed or something now, you know, that becomes, could be an issue next year. But I think we're okay for now. So our work is done for the time being, correct? Yeah. I mean, I think we'll, you know, we'll have to have a meeting, you know, in this, you know, I think we'll have like, once you apply, usually don't meet for a few months, just unless there needs to be like a reallocation of funding or something. But to me, it seems like all the projects are moving forward. And so, you know, we'll have a break for a few months, maybe me in January or February. Okay. We have two open positions on the board, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, the town manager's office knows, I think they periodically advertise for volunteers, you know, for different committees in town. And so I, you know, I did tell them that they were looking earlier and I said, well, it doesn't really make sense to get someone mid-cycle. I think it just, you know, they would have, I mean, I'd almost, if they were appointed, you know, after the RFPs had been submitted or something, it might actually, you know, they don't know how much they would add, you know, if they had a missing meeting that after accused themselves. So I know that they're aware that we have vacancies. I'm hoping for next year we can have them filled. And Lev, just ask, can you clarify what you just said about the timing for the next cycle? No, yeah, what I said was that this money we're applying for now, DHCD is hoping that it can be available in January. So contracts would start, I thought it would start like March 1st. They're always really optimistic. So they used to say July 1st and we would get our contracts until October. So I don't want to make any promises about, you know, having funding earlier on in 2022, calendar year 22. So, you know, maybe March 1st, April 1st, the money would become available. And then for the next 22 application round, I'm not sure what the state's going to do. They, at one point they mentioned they thought maybe they'd keep it with this timeline, right? So applications would be due in September. And the application process would be over the summer. And I know people didn't like that. You know, they used to be due in January or February. So during the holiday. So I'm not actually sure what, when the 22 application process will start. To be honest, I'm not. But you'll share as soon as you have information. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think they have to, yeah, they'll probably make, make some determinations in early, you know, in January or February. Any other comments for discussion? Any items not anticipated within 48 hours? All right. Do we need to, I mean, are we ready to make a motion to conclude anything else, Nate? I don't have anything. Okay. Well, I just want to thank everybody again. This is not easy. And it makes you really think about what's going on in town and the work that we do is challenging. But we did it and we're moving on to the next round. Do we have a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn. I'll second. Thank you. And roll call. I'll start with Lucas. All in favor. Rika. Yes. Becky. Yes. Yes. And yes. We're all set. Great. Well, thanks, everyone.