 Right. Welcome. So I am calling to order at 1003 the governance organization and legislation committee meeting for April 13th sorry, April 13 at 1003. And let's see pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021. This meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public are able to access the meeting in real time via zoom or by telephone. And now we'll just take a moment to make sure everybody can be heard. And so we'll start with you Pat. Present. Jennifer present. And Mandy. Excellent. All right, so I want to apologize for the confusion on this morning's meeting starting a little bit later than what we've been. We've been used to starting at nine. And so that will mean that we need to make some changes to our agenda. But I just quickly review what we will be doing today. The item that we will not be covering today is the town council standing committee structure. And again, that's one that we've been working on for quite a while so hopefully at our next meeting we'll be able to really devote a bunch of time to get that voted on discussion and discussion for the town council. And we'll also be talking hopefully about our equity lens review process which has also been on hold for quite a while now. So today we are going to work with sponsors on the Jewish American Heritage Month proclamation and the Arbor Day proclamation and we will also do the finance committee appointment recommendation. We have provided sponsors for the Jewish American Heritage Month proclamation to come at 10. So I'm just checking here. I think we might yeah we have Dorothy. So I think we're okay in terms of quorum of the council to invite Dorothy in. And Rabbi Ben Weiner did say that he would try to join, if possible. I was really happy to hear back from him and, but he's not here yet. And Hilda was not able Hilda green bomb was not able to join us this morning. So, hi Dorothy. Hello. Welcome. Thank you for joining us. So, Dorothy I don't see Rabbi Weiner here yet, but we'll start working on this and then we'll keep our eye out in case. So, Mandy's pulling that up and I wanted to start Dorothy just by giving you the floor to talk a little bit about your reasoning for bringing this forward and initiating this and anything that you would like to share with us about this proclamation before we move into the review. Well, the idea came to me. I guess it was Hilda had spoken to you and had said, we're doing a lot of proclamations and what about Jewish Americans. And I thought about it and I said yes because we really do a lot of proclamations and we wanted to be inclusive and I think we're a little bit inspired by a Nikas work on the proclamation for Juneteenth, which had some local references in it. And so the thought was to do to to refer to some of the Jewish life and Amherst, but that led me into a rabbit hole which was very fun. And I consulted some of the experts here and there and it was decided. You can't mention a few names I mean we have some wonderful great people in the who contributed Jewish Americans to the life and Amherst. But if you mentioned this one why not that one so that's why there are no names, but it was fun and interesting history, and it was that somehow Amherst did not have many Jewish people except for some people who opened stores, and they were very small small group. But it was when the UMass when it would be big expansion phase that a lot of Jewish faculty came in, and all of a sudden looked around and said boy I love Amherst. But what about Jewish education for my kids, which is the thing that something that resonates with with truthfully with Jewish Americans all over the country, because that is what you look for. And so we just have there's just been so many riches and we really couldn't put all of them in here but we tried we made some reference to it. So it was kind of it was fun doing and there's a lot that goes on into it's proclamations as Mandy Joe knows who I think is probably the proclamation queen. So I welcome any corrections additions changes that you may have. And that's really what I have to say. Thank you Dorothy and thank you for working on this and and I'm bringing it together and forward and we will go through and do a sort of a paragraph by paragraph but I want to get to the end is raised. Yes, I just, I have a question. Did you notice or let me just back up a little bit. I remember seeing a local film this fan than last year I think where Amherst media did produce it and it was about. I don't quote myself but I think it was about communities, Jewish communities that were in Connecticut, and about the businesses they started communities that they develop but there was also a note in just the history in terms of how long they had been around and that a lot of the community members were not claiming their Jewish heritage. So I was wondering if you, if there was any link to that here like in terms I noticed you said that, you know, back when it were tracing the Jewish population and there were just few numbers I'm wondering if you know there could have been populations that were maybe here, you know before we might think about because they weren't claiming heritage. Just in question, I did not find any that here in Amherst, there were a Jewish community in North Hampton. The earliest Jews in Amherst were Yiddish speakers. So they also spoke English so they could do their businesses but they kind of kept to themselves to a certain amount. Although their kids went to the high school and that process of course leads to Americanization. So that when at some point, when some non Yiddish speaking Jews came it turned out they didn't really socialize with the others because of the language difficulty. So somehow Amherst was not a very Jewish place. And, but North Hampton did have a community I know Connecticut had had an older much older Jewish community right, but just and you can just one reference one of the people I wanted to mention was Julius Lester, a black man who had started out really in the 1960s person and made a change in his life converted to Judaism and switched from the African American department to the Jewish heritage to the Jewish department. I can't remember the name of it right now because I had those things in here originally and I think I took them out. So the Amherst history is a lot of very interesting people. I don't think that there were that many in terms of people who are Jewish and not claiming it. We had a lot of people here who are Jewish who are not what you would call religious. So that was the challenge of the JCA. How do you have one Jewish community of Amherst which includes people who are very religious and those who are really Judaism as a tribe as a ethical system, or even just as a memory, you know, of ancestors. And that's really the accomplishment of the JCA that it has created a place where Jews and Amherst can come together with very very different, you know, points of view on on religion and various things. So I guess that's that's really my answer on that one. And just to add, if you are interested in the history of Amherst, I don't know if you can see this but this is called essays on Amherst's history. And it's really a great book, a compilation of essays and some visuals in there. So I've had a library for way too long. I have to return it but there are other copies. I see Jennifer's hand is raised. Yeah, I just wanted to add. Well, first of all, I did want to say with Julius Lester. His, his grandfather was Jewish, he didn't, it wasn't just. Yeah, that he studied Judaism and maybe he discovered that link and that's how he got on on the road but the Jewish community is very proud that you know, of that connection. Yeah, and, you know, and, you know, he's, you know, such a huge figure, you know, in the US and the world and I, but whatever it's worth I just want to add this I think this is interesting that because the national you at Yiddish Book Center is here. You know, that really puts, I mean, it's another something else that puts Amherst kind of on the map. And when COVID happened, you know, the Yiddish Book Center has, you know, weekly lectures and you know, depending on who was here they may have 25 people, and as soon as the center had to close down because of COVID, the lectures immediately went online and people have stream in from all over the world they have thousands of people, you know, zooming into the lectures so it really also put Amherst on the map globally, which I think is kind of neat. That's really interesting. Yeah, it's such a great, great place to that we have so many gems in this community. We're really blessed. Yeah, Dorothy, did you want to respond to that. I will tell you that there is a strong thread. Okay, one of the experts that I spoke to, I will not name. When I was asking for information more information. He said to me something which I have to say is so reminiscent of the older Jews that I have known before, which was, Oh, you know, we kind of keep our head down we don't really want to. There was this feeling of not wanting to stand up and say hey look at us where the Jewish community of Amherst, wanting to play it down, always keeping kind of a low profile. And because I think somebody said why haven't there been more Jewish proclamations and I think that's why I think that's why is that people haven't sought them. But I thought this was and I'd never even heard of the Jewish American Heritage Month before. It's a relatively recent thing. So, I think it's very nice that we'll be doing this, but just understand that it's actually a, it's a modest community in its way, not wanting to say, look at us and give us all this and that. So that's why it was kind of it was kind of hard to do this, kind of hard to do it. Yeah. Yeah, you took it from scratch and really, you know, I appreciate the work that you did to talk with folks about doing about putting this forward and. Yeah, Anika. I wanted to say I'm glad you did bring it forward. You know just personally I've spent the majority of my life really intertwined and right next to Jewish communities and have with my connections with milliner have been fortunate to be invited into some communities in Williamsburg and Crown Heights Brooklyn where, you know, I, it was, I just felt, you know, just privileged to be brought in to these communities which are usually exclusive and not for, you know, not to shun anyone but just, you know, this has just been tradition. So, yes, thank you for bringing this forward and calling attention to the roots and Amherst. I do want to comment that Anika is so right there has been long long relations between black and Jewish communities, often living in neighborhoods next to each other. And of course, Orthodox women wear hats, I mean they are your absolutely best customers, but you know, in the family that I married into, you know, just a common thing of Jews and civil rights and working with blacks is just an it's an old connection. It's an old connection. Of course, not everybody but it's, it's a lot of common values. A lot of cultural exchange between the two groups. So, I appreciate that. Excellent. Alright, so let's go ahead and begin reviewing the proclamation. And we'll start like we always do with the council sponsors and the community sponsors. I just want to say while I appreciate I don't know my name is on on here. And I fully, fully support this. And I was, you know, in conversation with Hilda and Dorothy, when we got this started, but I would like to take my name off of it because I want to honor the people that really worked on this. And so that's my reasoning is just really trying to think thoughtfully about what I put my name on and what I have personally invested in something but I of course fully support this and really value it. And I see Mandy Joe's hand is up. I just wanted to talk about the changes, including having moved before you removed your name Michelle you to the front which was not to, you know, be anything other than the typical way we list these as counselors first and then community, and we list it the same only and we've always done alphabetical now if that's the history now maybe we should think differently about how we list the counselors is what I wanted to point because it sounds like Dorothy was the one that did a lot of the work she alphabetically now she ends up first but maybe as a GOL committee instead of just defaulting to alphabetical we should think potentially about doing it some other way in the future or now but that's why those changes were there. Yeah, I appreciate that and you know I'm starting to work on sort of a format for a later discussion that will have, having followed a meeting with some staff about proclamations and how we can have a system that is fair and equitable and also engages the community so I'll add that as something that we can have as part of that discussion. I think alphabetical is great. Because often more than one counselor will be working on something and I you know I don't think we need to be thinking about who's the first and whatever I think alphabetical. If anyone questions it their mind will tell them in a few minutes. Oh yeah it's alphabetical. I think it's fairer. All right, Michelle back in there. Miller back in there. So we have counselors Pam Shane Steinberg and top who are sponsoring this and who have my understanding been in communication. I'm just getting worked on and we have community sponsors held a green bomb and rabbi Benjamin whiner. So thanks to and I'm just checking my the audience I do not see rabbi whiner here so. Yes, Dorothy please. I have not I have emailed Kathy, I have not gotten an answer back. So the communication is not full at this point. I'm assuming I sent her an email, and she didn't say no, but she didn't say oh yes. So I think I have to try once again to communicate with her. Okay, that's okay. Okay. Sure, we can figure out a way to make that and I could also even try to send her a text in the minute. That might be the most the quickest way to get to her. All right, so. Are there any other I think if anyone else would like to be added to this I think this went out in an email to all of the counselors. These were the responses that we received. Excuse me, Sergio. We can move on to our review, starting with the first paragraph here. And as usual, either just chime in or raise your hand if you have something to say about this. Okay. Moving on to the second paragraph. And just note that that's in quotes from the presidential proclamation, that paragraph. Okay, so we'll want to. Yeah, sorry. Which is why I didn't attempt to split it up because it's multiple sentences, because you're quoting. Good. Yeah. So do we but do we want to. So we don't need to say that like the. There's a clear that the proclamation which proclamation we're talking about here. I see. I thought it was when I read it. Okay. Yeah, I did too. Wait, so what proclamation are we for. So these are resolutions. Maybe it was proclaimed. There it is. President Bush's proclamation on proclaiming may Jewish American Heritage Month. We need to link how we did for your team. Link to that. Like a specter site. Yeah. Okay. Now it's clear to me. Sorry, I had to read that one more time. Yep. If I get a, if, if, if they, if you want a hyperlink Dorothy. If you just send me the link, I can add that hyperlink in before I send it on to Michelle and Athena. Hey. Yeah, that was great. We did that with the June. Is that what you, that's what you said, and he can get with the Juneteenth. That's a good. Okay. I'm still not, I can do the, I can send links, but sometimes I have to. It takes me a long time thinking through what I'm doing when I do it. It doesn't come naturally yet, send links. I will do that. Okay, we can probably find it too. Yeah. But I just thought this was important because most people I know had never ever heard of this, and this is like news. So it's important to kind of establish that yes, this is kind of new. It's a new way of doing things. And it's interesting. And I, what I like about it is that this is something about Jewish Americans, but it's also linking to all kinds of other Americans who come and keep a kind of dual heritage. You're American, you're very American, but you're also something else at the same time. So that it's connecting the Jewish American experience with that of other peoples. Yeah, definitely. Okay. And does the word that the proclamation reads that is that that word is fine there. Yep. Okay. All right, you guys know. Yeah. So then let's move on. So the formatting was just that it was in gray for some reason. Okay. I have no idea why it was the only thing in a weird color. And I couldn't make it change. And I, I, yeah. This is all a mystery sometimes. I agree. Any comments about the throughout their history paragraph. I'm wondering if it says throughout their history. But. You're right. We could drop the there. Well, I was thinking our history. Yeah, or yeah. Okay. Better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think we need to normalize what is American. Right. Othering. So the other thing is some of those words were in something that I read and then I added two or three other categories bringing more up to date. I added technology. And I added literature in the arts, which somehow had wasn't there. So I'm saying take a look at this now, all of you. And is there some other thing that I could be added in that list. I thought it was a pretty good list. I did too. So, yeah. All right, good. So I would say society and culture. In science to the word in is. Just say science. Yeah. I read it as contributions to society and culture, sort of with including. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Culture maybe disappears. Right. You can use a colon there. That's what I would use as a colon because it's a list. If that's what you're saying, if it's a list. Yeah, then use the colon. Yeah. Right. Cause that is society and culture. Right. And so this society and culture. I think what you were asking Dorothy is this is, does that cover everything and it sounds like. People think that it does. I think the in has to come back. Oh, you know. Yeah, even though there's a semi colon colon. Yeah. That's right. I think that has done a lot of proclamations. Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. Sometimes I think it's just your feel for things, you know, when you're familiar with something that. It just, I do think science in has to be there. It reads a little funny. Yeah, without. With it or without. But should the in be before the colon, then I'm confused at why the in is. I'd get rid of the colon. And wait, just leave it as it was. I think just no comma and just a sentence. Yes, no comma. Okay. Great. All right, that's settled. Let's move on. We celebrate the rich heritage. I only added the comma after Holocaust for the Oxford thing, the list of three. Mm hmm. Okay. Or four. I think it's technically three. And that's what we've been doing, I think so. Yeah. Any other comments on this? All right, I would put the comma there right. Good. Good. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Whereas the institutions of higher education. Yeah. Oh, thank you. It's amazing. Right in the first time I read it. Yeah. We were just the shalt people. We fill in what's not there. And don't notice this missing. Okay. That look good. All right. Whereas the influx of Jewish families. So I read this as two clauses, which is why I threw the and in there. Okay. The expansion. And then the concern for Jewish education. Of their children and for community led. And for children and community. Can we say, and the concern. Right. Well, I would say led to a concern. The expansion led to a concern. Yeah. But the concern led to the establishment of the JCA. It did. It did. And that's what it was. It was a traveling Hebrew school. Oh, wonderful fact. I couldn't include in here. The, the early Jews, the earliest Jews, like the shopkeepers, they want, they had what they did for their kids, Jewish education. They got tutors from, from mass Aggie. And I just thought that was so fabulous. And I said, Jewish people at mass Aggie. And I asked at someone said, yeah, they were sent over from Boston, the whole Boston area, because, you know, you have kosher chickens and kosher food. And I don't know. So that actually they got Hebrew tutoring from mass Aggie students. All right. So led to the concern. Okay. Yeah. Mm hmm. Which resulted in nice. I like that. Does that seem good for everyone? The finally finding. Who is the wrong thing, but found. Okay, let me. I don't know. I think found. Finally found a permanent home. Should there be like who finally found or I don't want to use which again. Finally found. Finally found. I'm with you, Pat. Should there be a comma back to the which between community and which. Okay. Sure. I think which is get commas. And that's stone. Exactly. That's what they get them when they're non restrictive. Which I don't teach because it's so complicated. Restrictive and non restrictive causes. So let me think about that. I think we're missing a, another which or who, or. Yes, I agree. Because this is not. Yeah. Resulted in the establishment of the JCA. Which finally found. Finally found a permanent home. Too many witches, but. Yeah. Oh, we could change this one to that that resulted led to the concern that resulted in the establishment. Get rid of this comma. Yeah, just put that. That has a better flow. I still, I prefer, I like led better than resulted. Resulted is a little too firm and led is a little more wishy-wash because it was a little bit more. Back and forth. There were other things going on. I mean, there are also people who wanted a minion and they also are part of the JCA. Although the more orthodox people still tend to go over to North Hampton. How do you, how do you feel about the word ultimately in, in a paragraph like this? Like, it's because we're using a lead twice, right? So, but what we're saying is. The concern. Right. But see, I think we can get rid of this lead because it's the influx of Jewish families. Who's concerned for the church. Very nice. Excellent. Great. Great. Then you would get rid of that. Who's concerned for the Jewish education of the children in the community led to. Right. So we've gotten rid of. Two things. Great. Which finally. In the second congressional church. I did find the, the discussions of the, that. Really very meaningful. And then Hilda and Louis Greenbaum had played a very big role in that. The congregational church. Had offers for more money to become a business or something converted. They did not want that they wanted to stay as a house of worship. And so they went out of their way to make it possible for the Jewish community of Amherst to buy them. And Louis Greenbaum. There was the, the package was too big because it included the parish house. He said I'll buy the parish house. I'll buy the house. I want to make a smaller mortgage. And so it was it. It was a really strong work on both sides, the congregational and the Jewish side. To, to bring that about. And I think it's a, a wonderful thing. And as you all know, CPA money was used in the last couple of years to support that steeple with a symbolic acorn on the top. Great. Because it, it matters a lot. I think when you're driving in the town of Amherst to see Absolutely. Yeah. And so the word finally is is to sort of share that there was some process that led to that. That was. Yeah. Okay. All right. So Moses in the desert. Okay. It was a long complicated process. And finally, finally, really. Yeah. Okay. Okay, where is the Yiddish Book Center. I just got another comma. I believe the formal name is National Yiddish Book Center. Let me just check. I think it is. That's good. Thank you. And I wonder it regenerate Yiddish. It should be the Yiddish language. Well, it depends upon whether they're regenerating Yiddish language, literature and modern Jewish literature, or they're regenerating the Yiddish language and the regenerating modest Jewish literature. I don't know which the answer is. Believe it. Jennifer, do you know? Yeah, because I don't know. I was, I was puzzled by some of that wording, but I took it from Yiddish Book Center. I thought, but I think you're right. I should have included the national. That's fine. And I just want to say to Sarah who's in the attendees and is here for the Arbor Day proclamation will be finishing this up very shortly and we'll be able to bring you in for that very shortly. Thanks for your patience. Great. So where are we? I was looking upstairs. Okay, just gets the period and I thought it was missing the law before Pioneer Valley. Right, right. Okay. That that is one of the interesting things that there are so many Jewish farmers in this area, not necessarily affiliated as religious Jews but as you know the Bible is a kind of an agricultural document all the Jewish holidays are so, well, most of them are agricultural holidays. So it's, it's a it's a very interesting thing. And our food bank of Western Mass all those things are just part of this and I guess this, I think simple gifts farms with. There's just a lot of idealism in the farming movement in our area. And in the now, therefore, do we really need to say the city known as isn't it just we, it is the town of Amherst that that's, I don't know. That's fine. I think Mandy Joe and Pat you, you've done a lot of these, whatever supposed to be should be. I think we've been pretty consistent with just the town of Amherst. Good. Yeah, that reminds me though up here. We have city of Amherst here. Oh, good. Oh, good catch notice. Didn't even see it. Yep. And Dorothy, while we don't have a process fully in place in terms of these one of the things that we discussed at a recent meeting, or that I did with Lynn and some staff is if a counselor brings a new proclamation forward and would like to have an event tied to it so whether it be a reading or whatever that that counselor should reach out to Lynn and work with Lynn in planning that so if you have anything in mind with respect to that that's what that's the way to go right now. Okay, I will consult with rabbi been on that. And I'll get back to you. Okay, that's great. All right, are we ready to make a motion. And Jennifer I'm going to ask you if you would be so willing to make the motion I will I hope I have the correct language. Move to adopt the Jewish American heritage month proclamation, as we have just written. Do we normally include clarity consistent. We don't adopt anything we don't we clear consistent and actionable. That's right. Be referred to the council. Okay, I move that this be declared the Jewish American heritage month proclamation be declared. Clear clear consistent actionable. Write that down. Yeah. Is there a second second the Angeles. Excellent. All right, and let's vote. Anika. Yes. Jennifer. Yes. Thank you, Darcy. Hi. Pat. Hi. And I'm an eye as well. So that. Thank you, Darcy. Thank you so much. And we will get it over to Athena and to lens that it can go to the council. Good. Thank you. Of course, I don't know what actionable is, but you know, it means it can be enacted. It can happen. But there's nothing in it that's against the law. Good. Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you. Dorothy. And I'm going to leave right here. Very good. Thank you. All right. And so we are moving on to the Arbor Day proclamation. And we have a sorry, excuse me, just one second. We have Sarah Rose Lawler in the audience who we are going to move in to. Work with us on this and Sarah is the chair of the AP STC. And we're very happy that she's able to join us today. Sorry. Good morning. Good morning, Sarah. Sorry to make you wait. No problem. And I want to just apologize in advance. I'm home with my four month old daughter. So there might be some noise and, you know, sudden unavailability on my end, but just wanted to give you all a heads up with a baby. So no worries. Thanks. And thank you for being willing to come as the lead on this. And I know that the whole committee is the sponsor for this. We have that here. So just to give you a little bit of a background, I think you caught a little bit of what we were doing with the last proclamation, but our job is to review this for clarity, consistency and action ability. So we usually go through paragraph by paragraph. And that's what we're looking for when we review. And if there's a question that we have that you might be able to answer, or if you have any comments to add, please do. And also I would love to just hear a quick background on this proclamation. If you would be willing to share that with the committee. Sure. I don't know a lot about the background of the proclamation itself, but it's a great way for us to celebrate trees and Amherst. The Amherst public shade tree committee. Has really been focusing on planting new trees and maintaining canopy cover. We have a couple of new initiatives about getting some funding for tree planting in the town budget. We have a budget item that was voted in to affect by town council. I believe it was about 10 years ago at this point. And so that was supposed to last for two years and we've been stretching it out all the way up until last year. Now we're funded entirely by donations and anything that goes into the tree replacement fund when people cut down. Public shade trees for typically development projects. So we've, we're working on getting some more funding. We do second Saturday plantings every, every second Saturday of the month from April until November. And that's a great way to try to reach out to the community. We're really just trying to. To. Spread outreach in Amherst about how important trees are to our community. And there's a couple of different initiatives that we're also working on, on the state level to make sure that trees are included in things like the complete streets. Program at the state level, which right now doesn't really include any green infrastructure options. So we're really trying to just look out for trees and Arbor Day is the biggest outreach that we have for our committee. We're pretty small and not very well known. So we're trying to make sure that trees are included. And that's the biggest time we have in the year to do outreach. We have a tabling event that's going to be on Saturday, the 30th at the. Farmers market. Town common where we will be handing out seedlings. Promoting Arbor Day. And the work that the shade tree committee does. And we've also recently got the news that the Amherst History Museum has a number of historic trees that were planted in front of the Amherst History Museum, London plain trees. So where you're collaborating with them about the history of that tree and. Hoping to have them kind of collaborate with us on our tabling event on the 30th. And we also are looking to get a speaker to come to that event, which is right now being kind of worked out. We just got news that we got the grant for that as well. So we need to get paperwork in hand before we can move forward to bring our speaker in. But that's pretty much where the shade tree committee is at for Arbor Day. And the proclamation just helps us. Kind of sponsors the committee and further outreach in the town. So that we have more of an event and try to get as many people invested and involved as possible. Excellent. Thank you so much. Really appreciate that. And is Julian Hine. Is Julian still with you all on that? Yes. Oh, great. Yes, yes. He's on the committee and he's actually our, our treasurer right now. Jennifer. I just wanted to add, I think that event on the 30th follows the cleanup day action. So if you're working with your constituents, I think everyone's invited and encouraged to go to the common after, and I think that's part of the celebration. Bestivities with the cleanup day. That's good. Excellent. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you. I can also add that it's from 730 to 130. And we are going to be advertising while we are there, our tree tour. So a couple of our committee members have put together a tree tour of noticeable. Trees, public trees and Amherst. And we're going to be doing that. We're going to be doing that at 2pm on Sunday, May 8th. Eventually it's going to be a self-guided tour, but to kind of kick it off and increase awareness about this. We are having a guided. Tree tour on, on that day. So the meeting place is in front of the historical society next to the Jones library. We're going to be doing a tour of a noticeable, significant trees downtown. And then that will be available as a self-guided tour that anyone can can take at any time. Did you say May 8th? Yes. Yes. Sunday, May 8th at 2pm. I need to jump right in. I actually have a question about two trees to know if I feel like you probably have identified them. I do. I do. I do. There are two trees that. That align the, the entrance going to the Zion church. And they. They really, they do not look like any other trees in Amherst. They almost look like a redwood tree. I was wondering if you knew about those trees, Sarah. So I don't. I don't know those trees personally, without going and seeing them in person to be able to give you a positive ID, but we do have. A town tree map. Which doesn't have. Every tree in town, but a lot of the trees in the core downtown area. So if you look at the map, you can see it's available on the town website. You can find it. I believe the best place is to go to the public Shaitri committee page first, and then you can get there through links. One of the grants that we applied for. Was to get an update to that tree inventory. So if the, those two particular trees are not on the current tree inventory, I'll just make a note. I'll just make a note about the tree inventory. The update of the tree inventory. And I would also recommend Alan snow is our tree warden, and he is excellent at tree IDs. So if you happen to see Alan. You can certainly ask him if he knows those trees. He's really familiar with all of the, you know, Significant noticeable trees downtown. And I'll just make a note that we can ask about that, and I'll just make a note about that. Thank you. Thank you. Who knew there was a whole tree inventory and everything. I didn't. So I'm really interesting. These trees. They stand out. Was it just to not look like the others, you know. Okay. All right. Well, let's go ahead and begin to review this. So. Mandy and Pat was this, this is an annual proclamation, right? So do we want to add date or. Do we want to add date or date or date or date or date or date? Okay. So. Shalini is the counselor sponsor on this. And so what we'll do here, Sarah's just go through paragraph by paragraph. And we're going to start with the whereas in 1872. And just jump right in. If you have comments on this. Okay. So maybe I'm reading this, but wrong. Okay. So I think it's supposed to be set aside for the planting of trees and this holiday. Called Arbor Day. Something is. I think it's supposed to be a special day called Arbor Day. But I agree. It's kind of clunky wording. So. Then this day. Yeah. Which was first observed. Which was first observed. But the planting of more. Can we just say which was. First observed. Yeah, I don't think you need to then there. Right. Anything else on this one? No. Okay. There's a very minor thing just up where it says council sponsors. It should be council sponsor because it's just telling. Sorry. No, you're, that's good. I caught it one place, not two. So my question on the next one, the Arbor Day. Is that a specific day in April? Is it always like April 15? I don't even know what day it is, but it is always, is it always a specific day? No, it's always the last Friday in April. Okay. So our day. Self is the 29th. And we are doing our event on the following Saturdays to coincide with the farmer's market for tabling. So the, the, um, the national. The national and global holiday is celebrated on the last Friday in April. Yeah. Oh, got that. Okay. Perfect. Let's move on to the next. Good. Good. Next. In this section where, um, We talk about trees capture carbon and greenhouse gases. I think another, uh, Another important benefit of trees is they reduce runoff. Um, and improve, uh, infiltration and moderate the water table. Just, um, Trees do a lot for managing water, flooding, um, erosion, and, and that's, uh, Considering our, the changes we've been experiencing in the Northeast with a lot of flooding events, um, and a lot of rain. So, um, So, um, Another important, uh, Benefit of trees that could stand to be mentioned in that paragraph. Um, they, they improve, um, Water quality and slow runoff is maybe an easy way to say that. They modulate the water table. We don't have to get that technical. My training is as an ecological designer. So, uh, So, um, Okay, good. All right. Um, so I think we're at whereas trees can increase property values. Uh, Nothing, nothing. We could also, I mean, there's a, there's a lot to add if we're really trying to kind of bolster the case for trees. Um, they reduce heating and cooling costs. So, um, So, um, So, um, I think we can improve into enhance, um, Mood lower crime. Um, and, uh, help with healing. Uh, And depression. Wow. Makes sense to me. Yeah. There's a really interesting study. Makes sense. About, uh, Patients and hospitals. If they have a view of a tree out their window, Um, So something just as simple as being able to see a tree can have a, A great impact on mental, physical and emotional health. Um, Cut heating, cooling costs, um, and reduce crime. That's one of the points that we use a lot when we're talking about, um, It's alluding me. Because perpetrators run into the trunks. I mean, It shows that a neighborhood, um, is more cared for. And so, um, the same thing is like the graffiti case, right? Like if you have graffiti on the walls, it leads people, It increases crime because people believe it's a place. It's not watched or cared for. Um, Whereas if you don't have graffiti and if you do have trees, Um, it's, it's a social cue that this is a place that is, uh, Um, As cared for and monitored. Thank you, Sarah. Our environmental justice neighborhoods. That's what I was thinking. I don't know why the reduced crime piece is something is not settling for me. And I don't, I don't have words for it right now. So, um, We don't have to include any, any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any, Any. We don't have to include it here. If you don't want to. That is a point that's often best. If you have sources, which I, we're not going to do for this, this document so we can easily reduce, um, take that out. It's just something that we talk about. Um, When we espouse the wonders of trees. Um, But for the purposes of this, we can remove it. I would love to. Yeah, thank you. So I have a question in the what was originally the last whereas. So I got the word document our packet had last year's proclamation and PDF. I pulled the word document from 2020. I'm going to ask you. So I'm going to ask you about the last year's. GOL packet. Which had 32 years as did 2021's proclamation. And so my, which means we've been forgetting to update it, which makes me wonder how long we've actually been. A tree. You know, a tree city. And so Sarah, do you know what year we were first declared a tree city? We weren't able to do that. We were able to do that pretty easily. Cause it might be wiser for us to put the year in. So we don't forget to always update it. Right. Yeah. So that it says just since. Since whatever year. I'm trying to see if I could find it. Okay. We'll try to find that. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. We'll try to find it. That we corresponded on and just send it to me. If you can find it. Okay. All right. So. We are at the final whereas. That's already been worked up. It's great. And. So we normally don't. Make a motion. Keep it on one page. We can't now. And I don't think it should be. Yeah. So are there any other comments or questions on this before we. Ask Pat to make a motion. I'm not making it. Come on. I never get to. Because she's, she's, she's practicing. Want to make a pat. Nope. Okay. You can second. I move that the. Arbor day that the Arbor month proclamation. For 2022 is clear, consistent and actionable. Second. Great. Anika. Yes. I may ask. Who's second it. Mandy did. Oh, okay. I didn't hear. I'm sorry. Pat. Jennifer. I. All right. Thank you so much, Sarah. Let's see. You're a great multi-tasker. This was. And we got a baby. She's adorable. What's her name? Rain. No. Oh, nice. Wow. Beautiful name. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time and your attention on this. So thank you. And I'll. I'll try to follow up both with some of those studies about the benefits of trees. And the tree city information. Great. Thank you. Thank you. And if you have any promotional materials for the event or anything like that, also. Send that along and we'll put it out so we can put it out. Okay. We are going to be doing like a social media blast on our Facebook, Instagram. And next door. So we can definitely send. Whatever we post along as well. Should we use the same email for that as well? Yeah. That's perfect. And I can send it. We'll announce it at the district three meeting, which is right before that. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Bye. Bye-bye. Okay. All right. So we can move on to the finance committee appointment, which is just a bulletin board notice as I understand it. So Mandy's got something for us. So what is here is. The sample that the prior chair put into SharePoint. Before the council transition. So that's, that's exactly what I've downloaded. Oops. Let me track changes to it. I haven't actually fully read it. But it's, it's going to be what. GOL use last year. There is one in pending vacancy. I just looked one member's term is expiring in 2022. Right. Okay. And does that person have the ability to. Do they have to apply again? Or there's not an automatic renewal type of thing. It has to, they have to go through this process of applying. Yes. So I can walk you through how that happens, but according to our new. Town council policy. Once the vacancy notice is published. Then. Anyone who has submitted a CAF in the last two years is contacted by whoever is the designee for GOL to contact the people. It's generally the chair. To see if they would like to reapply. Because the only people we continue to keep in the applicant pool is anyone who submits a seat nowadays under this new policy is anyone who submits a CAF after the, after the bulletin board notice is published. So you contact everyone who submitted a CAF in the last two years. Ask them if they're interested and essentially tell them if you are still interested, submit a new CAF and you give them a new link and all of that sample email communications should be somewhere. You also then contact. It is potentially likely sometimes that the person who is currently in the seat that is. Whose term is up that CAF is older than two years because some terms are three years. And so you also affirmatively contact that person and say, if you're interested in renewing, you need to submit a new CAF. So, so that's the process that happens sort of after the bulletin board notice is published. The next step for the. For the committee is to, after the bulletin board notice is published is to declare an applicant pool sufficient, which cannot be done for at least 14 days from the time that bulletin board notice is published according to the, that's actually, I think a charter requirement. And so we have to wait 14 days. And then we gather the chair generally gathers information about how many CAFs have been submitted since the bulletin board notice was there, how many applicants are there, how many vacancies are there. Is the pool sufficient to move on towards essentially interviewing people. So that's sort of the next step after this one. And then we interview them. Yes. And then we provide a recommendation to who. To the whole council. The whole council. Okay. And where would I get the CAFs the two years of CAFs? Where would I. There is in SharePoint, an entire folder about the current applicant pools, the, as of when George, when the transition happened. I don't believe any CAFs have been submitted for the finance committee since. That transition. We've all gotten those emails. I've been paying attention because I have to send the emails. Acknowledging receipt of them for other committees. So I don't think any of them submitted for finance. So that list is in there. I can meet with you later, Michelle, to help walk you through. That'd be great. Process. And where documents are and where to find them. We can set up a meeting to help you. Walk you through that. Thank you. Thank you. Sadly. And scarily, I think I'm the only counselor on the current council that has. Run. Managed a process before I'm not the only one obviously that has been through the process, but I think. Evan did it before. Darcy did it before Sarah did it before George did it before. And I did it before. I think she's also up to date. So, and, and involved in it so that that doesn't happen again. Hopefully. If you want to meet with both of us. If that would make it easier to meet with both of us. You know, I've already met with Pam and walked her through that system. Cause she's worked. We're actively managing two appointment processes right now. And what did you say, Annika? Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know where else you can pass this. Welcome to me. To join. Yeah. That would be perfect. We can. We can put. We can meet with both. I can meet with both of you since, you know, Annika, you're the vice chair. I think it's wise to keep. Multiple people informed. I'll put. Michelle's name down here for now since she's the chair, but yeah, let's set up a meeting. Okay. So right now, um, once we approve this and this goes on the bulletin, can we start. And I know we're going to meet to do this, but just one quick question. Like, would I reach out immediately to the person who is expiring on the finance committee or do we have to wait the full fort, the full amount of days? Once this is posted. Yes. So that if they submit a new CAF, it's, it's not submitted before this posting. So, so you don't know the, the 14 days before GOL can declare the pool sufficient and move on in the process. Perfect. So you actually would like, you want to do it within before the next time GOL is seeking to make that declaration basically. Great. All right. So do we have to do something? Like, do we have to vote? We have to vote this. We have to recommend this. Is that right? We don't have to vote this. We just as a committee, the, the rules, the council policy requires the committee to see it before it's posted. To review it before it's posted. Okay. So at this point, it can just go to Athena and if we are on, we have consensus on this and then, um, and then Athena can post it. All right. Are there any other questions or comments about this? All right. Mandy, thanks so much for having this readily available. Appreciate that. Okay. So let's do a quick. Well, let's adopt quickly the meeting minutes from March 30th. Is everyone okay for another couple of minutes until about 1115. Okay. Jennifer. Yeah. So I was just, I assume that the meeting because it started an hour late would go an hour late. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Well, um, I think we briefly talked about that, Pat, when, when we met the other day. Um, and I, There's just been a lot going on getting to this point. So, um, I did not send out an email asking, I can't stay personally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's fine. I just wanted to, yeah. Yeah. Also has a, yeah. Right. And I must admit, I forgot that. So. Oh, that's okay. Yeah. So, um, If everyone is fine, we'll finish up at 1115 and then we'll meet for our next meeting. We'll be, um, Let's see here, the 27th. Let's just talk about that then for a second. Um, we have to do the, the discussion and make a recommendation on the town council standing committee structure. Um, we have had the equity lens review process on there for quite a while. Um, we also, I would also like us to work on a process for proclamations at some point, but let me just look at, Oh, I know what it was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the resolution, the plant medicine resolution. I'm really hoping that that will be ready for the next meeting. It was supposed to be part of this meeting, but the sponsors are still working on it. So, um, I'm hoping that will be ready. And I will disclose that that has a lot of words. It's sort of like a. Heady resolution. Yeah. And I know that our community sponsors are very invested in this and very passionate. And so they will likely be here with us doing that. And it may be more than one. Should we extend the time? Should we extend our meeting time a bit? We may, I mean, depending, depending on what we, you know, how much we want to get done next, next meeting, um, because I'm just quickly looking here to make sure there aren't any. Um, I don't know. Sometimes like with the Arbor Day proclamation, I didn't learn about it until I think it was Friday or Thursday. So, um, I might get a proclamation sent to me, Mandy. And Pat, there's probably a list in the SharePoint, right? Of all of them. I mean, I'm going to take a look at that. And if there's anything that I see. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I'm not sure that I get it from whoever has it. Cause I know they come from different committees. Um, May is, we should have an AAPI Islander Heritage Month proclamation, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Art week. Memorial Day. And children's mental health awareness week. I don't think we should be done in May or in advance of May. They, they are all. They should be done at the 27th meeting. Oh my God. I don't think we did art week last year. Memorial Day does not need to be because that's Memorial Day. So that, that could wait till a May meeting, but Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Asian American Pacific and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is all in May and children's mental health awareness week is listed as the first week in May on this calendar. Okay. So maybe we do want to have a little bit of a longer meeting next week to make up if people are able to do not next week, but the 27th if people are able to do that so that we can get through. All of that. Or. I wonder if we couldn't, I'm sorry. I wonder if we couldn't have a couple of people work together and assign different resolutions so that they've already been looked at at least once. And then it might make going through them a little faster. I mean, Mandy Joe already does that. But I, you know, here we were talking about what six of them, four or five, six of them. And I'm wondering if that would speed up the process a little bit this one time particularly. Yeah. And I see people because it's good to have more than one. We can't assign to a formally without violating law. Okay. But what I would say about the longer one is. If we keep in mind that we're not reviewing for substance at all. We're only looking for clarity, consistency and action ability. We can probably move the review through quicker, even if it is a long one. It is. Yeah. And it may bring up some stuff for people. Like I just want to be really transparent. Right. And that's why for some of these longer ones, you have to remember no matter what you think about the content, you're not, you're not commenting on. I'm not sure about whether, you know, it really is just a non substantive clarity is this clear, you know, it's just a non substantive clarity. It's just a non substantive clarity. So if you don't understand something that says, you know, something like that, but that might help us get through it quicker. If we keep in mind. That we're not here to discuss the merits of. Right. That proclamation or resolution. And the sponsors are really working hard to get it into a form that is digestible to the, to the council. So I think the drugs are. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to be having it. No, I'm not, I'm not saying more. It's really, it's really fascinating stuff. I have to say. So, I mean, the other thing is we could, we could. No, we can we, I was going to say we could meet next week. If we want to as an extra meeting. And then just keep them both to the regular amount of time. Yeah. Yeah. How do people feel about that? That would be hard to take next week off. I'm not traveling, but it would be nice since it's April break, not to break. That's right. Yeah. That's fair. Okay. So. And I say one thing because. And that's fine, man. I don't have any problem with that. It's not about that. But we often don't remember to check with Athena. I think that's a great idea. I think that's a great idea. I think scheduling might be, and whether that's something that she can do or she signed elsewhere. So we kind of forget her as a, she's actually a member of this committee and needs to be consulted. So if we're going to change our time or anything like that. I think that we need to check in with her as well. That's all. I think that's a great idea. Pat. I did. I think there's a lot of, a lot of differences in the information in terms of. Whether you know, how often if we needed to go over and I think. Athena, maybe you want to speak or can you hear us? Maybe. I'm here. I'm taking minutes. Will you say something about that? Cause we, I know you had sent me an email about that. And I just. I'd be good for the committee to hear just in terms of like. I'm scheduling meetings is it is nice to give me a heads up if you're planning on scheduling an additional meeting just because right now I'm covering the committee meetings for minutes. But I'm scheduling interviews for minute takers. Next week in the following week. So I'm hoping to have somebody set for you so you'll be less reliant on me. There is that issue of the zoom meetings overlap. There's GOL going on at the same time that I have something else scheduled and that can be a conflict but as long as I know about it ahead of time then I can make sure that either my zoom room is open so that there's no conflict or somebody else can schedule the meeting it just takes a little bit of extra logistical like work but I'm happy to make that happen if you need to schedule an additional meeting. Thank you. Okay, so we're going to do the 27th and do we want to do, we're going to say nine to 1130 that day. If that works for everyone including Athena. Sounds good. Would you say Nica. Sounds good. Sounds good. Okay. Everyone good with that. All right. And Athena you're good with that. Yes, thank you. Okay. And I don't think we need to do public comment because there aren't any attendees. Are we trying to get minutes adopted. Yes, we will move to adopt the minutes. March 30, March 30 22 minutes. I was working on that day. Second the Angeles. Okay. Great. And Nica. Yes. Mandy. Hi. Pat. Hi, Jennifer. Hi. I'm an eye. Okay. Sorry. I didn't ask for a discussion. Someone would have said something. All right. So, and I don't have any items that were not anticipated. I think we did the agenda review. Does anyone have any announcements? Nope. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you during the meeting at 1121 a.m. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Thank you. Thanks. Bye.