 screen at the moment and then you guys can go ahead. My name is Alicia Walker and I am calling this meeting to order as co-chair. Governor Baker's extension of the March 12 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law allows us to hold this virtual meeting of the working group. Given that we have a quorum present, I am calling I am calling the October 28, 2021 meeting of the community safety working group to order at 504 p.m. I will call upon each member of the working group by name. At that time, they should unmute their mic and say present. This will indicate that they can hear me and we can hear them. Please remember to mute your mic after saying present. I want to take a couple of minutes to review the agenda. We will first hear any public comment that the members of the public want to provide to the working group. We will not respond to your comments but we will listen to your comments carefully. We will then hear comments from members who have something to report and then we will go into the agenda as follows. A, articles and final communications. B, an update on the community safety and social justice committee. C, a resident oversight board update. D, crest implementation update. E, input to the town manager's office performance review. F, book discussion and G, final thoughts. Our first order of business is the public comment section of the agenda. If any member of the public would like to make a statement, please raise your hand. I will recognize you and ask Ms. Moisten to turn on your microphone. I ask that comments be limited to no more than three minutes. The working group will not be responding to your comments but we will be listening carefully. So there are no hands raised and if by some means, you know, the amount of folks in the attendees, it becomes a little larger, I would suggest holding another public comment section in the event that people want to, you know, give their appreciation for things or say what they would like. In case people think the meeting is at 5.30. Okay. I think that is, that sounds good. So we will move into members reports. This is the time for our members to share any work, research or experiences that have happened recently related to this work. Does anyone have anything they would like to share? Brianna? So I met with somebody today who is doing police reform work in Shootsbury and I just wanted to share with a group that other communities are really watching us and using us as like a model to guide their work and they're very inspired by what we're doing right now in our final report. Thank you, Brianna. Mr. Vernon Jones. I just wanted to say I'm going to have to leave at 6.30. Thank you, Mr. Vernon Jones. Are there any other things that anyone would like to report at this time? Okay, so we can get right into the agenda. The first agenda item is articles and final communications. I wanted to first just say that you'll see the only item that we do have in the packet for tonight is an email from Lynn and it is inviting the CSWG members to the next council meeting at which they have added our recommendations as the discussion item. And so it is the November, I think it's the November 8th meeting. Yeah, the November 8th meeting. And so we will no longer be the community safety working group, so we wouldn't have to call a meeting to order, but we're all invited individually if we would like to be in the audience. And so Brianna and I did not respond to this email. We wanted to see if you all were interested and bring this to you all so that you were aware of this invitation. Okay, Ms. Meister. Yeah, I just have a conflict on that day. Because what time is it at? 6.30? It says 6.30 to 8 is the time range right now. It does say that she would reach out when she has a better idea of where it would fall on the agenda. We're talking about Monday? Yes, so Lynn sent us an email to let us know that the council has added a discussion on our recommendations as an item to their next meeting agenda. And so they are inviting us to attend to answer questions and comments. And we will no longer be a group, so we don't have to call a meeting to order, but we are invited to attend. So I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention. Yeah, I think I saw that letter. Yeah. Yeah, that time will work for me. Thank you, Ms. Pat. Mr. Vernon Jones and then Ms. Owen. I can't get there until 7, but I would plan to come at 7. Thank you, Mr. Vernon Jones, Ms. Owen and then Ms. Ferrera. Yeah, I can make it at that time. I also am wondering, I know it would be kind of out of their scope of work, but maybe if we could have leap to come to answer questions or if maybe, because I feel like their questions are really going to be on how, what are the next steps to implement the policy changes? And I don't necessarily know the answer to those questions. Thank you, Ms. Owen, Ms. Ferrera. Yeah, so I was looking at it more and no, I'm not going to be able to make it because of my conflicts, but it seems like others are going to be able to. So I feel comfortable and you all will do us proud. Thank you, Ms. Ferrera. Hi, Mr. Palkerman. Hello. Okay. So I'm not sure if there were any other articles that anyone would like to discuss their final communications. I do have the book discussion as a separate agenda item. Yes, Ms. Moyston and then Mr. Vernon Jones. Brianna, did you or Ms. Owen, did you want to reach out to Leap and or Amos and ask if they can attend that meeting or do you want to take that on? Okay. Yeah, so Alicia, myself and Russ are meeting with Leap on Friday, so I was hoping to bring it up to them then. Okay. I know it's out of their scope of work, so I don't know if they'd be able to, but maybe they could put together some sort of next steps for the policy pieces. And Ms. Pat, I just want to make sure that, you know, this is the meeting for the eighth, not for the first. I know that. Yes. Okay. What is happening on the first? Nothing. That's why. I know. I know that. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Moyston. Mr. Vernon Jones. I mean, I imagine the eighth is going to be a lot of counselors talking to each other about a lot of different proposals. I would rather we answered some questions with by saying, we think that's something you should consult with Leap about, but wait, wait to have Leap with the council when there are very pointed questions, when they figured out what their questions are. Thank you, Mr. Vernon Jones. Do you all want to have a conversation about where we're leaning on that? Would you prefer to have Leap or have Res Breonna or I reach out to Leap on Friday, or would you prefer to approach it as Res was saying, Ms. Ferreira? So I mean, I don't even see it on the agenda, but I'm assuming, you know, we need to kind of talk, right, the process about the meeting itself. We haven't even processed about it. Remember, we met with them on Monday. We haven't really even discussed it because for me, it's like, you know, and I would like to process it with you all first really think what our strategies should be moving forward. I know we got this invitation, but all of a sudden we're already jumping and trying to like figure out, okay, that's what we do. I thought we had given them a task, right, which was we gave you all a report. You all are supposed to go and look at all of those things. What can you put into place right away? Let me know that. What do you need? What's the things that are going to take a little bit more time? And why? And then what are the things that you can't do because of resources or whatever? Okay. And, you know, they need to be answering questions for us. You know what I'm saying? So I don't know why we're having to jump through hoops on the November 8th to go answer questions to them. We did that for, you know, two hours on Monday. So why we haven't asked answering more questions and get leap on and so on and so forth. You know, I gave them a directive, at least I did. I mean, I don't know, which was give me some answers, you know, in terms of what are you going to put in place and so on and so forth. I haven't heard anything from that, you know what I'm saying? So anyway, I mean, again, I think we need to process it before we start just kind of jumping and being like, yes, we're going to be there and we're going to respond to this and we're going to respond to that. I mean, obviously we want to, you know, we want to continue to be available and things like that, but we have to be available with a purpose not available just to be available and continue to answer questions ad nauseam with no purpose. You see what I'm saying? So let's, let's think, let's pause, let's think and let's be purposeful. Thank you, Ms. Ferreira, Ms. Ellen and then Ms. Pat. Yeah, I agree with Deborah. I think that we should decompress from the meeting, the presentation that we had, but also I think that I have like mixed feelings. I kind of feel like when we ask them to do something, we ask a question, when we ask them to do something, they respond with a question instead of responding with an action. And that's why this is always an issue. So if we don't like, if we're not super proactive, I feel like it might not get anywhere. I mean, I did feel like a little bit, so I, I'm not, I felt a little bit optimistic after our presentation. I felt like they, or maybe it was just for the, because it's live recorded, but it kind of felt like they wanted to know action steps, but I feel like I don't, if we leave it up to them to do the what's next, I don't know if they'll do it is what I'm trying to say. Thank you, Ms. Ellen, Ms. Pat. So I hear what both of you just said. For me, when the email was forwarded to CSWG from the coaches, I was kind of optimistic, actually, because it doesn't happen. I mean, if the group, you know, is disband going to be disbanded by November 1st, and they're inviting us to come in case they have questions, that actually gives me hope. And I will hope that it will be more interactive, you know, when we go to the meeting on the 8th. I do agree we need to debrief tonight, but at the same time, I think we should take them all, you know, for them inviting us. I see it as a good thing. Thank you, Ms. Pat, Ms. Ferrara. I mean, I hear that, you know, but on the other hand, though, they disbanded us, you know what I'm saying? So it's kind of like we're disbanded, and then they're inviting us to go and ask the questions. So why didn't you just have us continue on as a committee, as opposed to invite us as a disbanded group? I'm sorry, you know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm, you know, okay, thanks. You know what I'm saying? I hear you that obviously we have to keep the pressure, and we have to be the ones to make sure that it stays in the limelight and everything. But I don't see this as, oh, thank you very much. And, you know, thank you for inviting me and stuff like that. No, because again, the point of the reason why we're disbanded is because they allow that to happen. So I want to make sure that that's, you know, the town manager and them allow that to happen. And that's why we're disbanded. And then they're inviting us back, you know, as a disbanded group. And then, you know, so I just want to point that out, you know, at the same time that yes, of course, we got to take the opportunity, right? Because they've invited us to the table. So now we need to go, you know, and all of that. But I'm just saying, we can't continue to play to their tune, though. You know what I'm saying? We need to be, we need to make sure that if we are going, and you all are going to, you know, from the goodness of your heart, because we are a disbanded group, then what are we doing? And why are we going? And, you know, what, what are we doing here? You know, that's, that's, we need to strike that balance. I just don't like to, you know, I'm just like the powers that be because they have the power, they just like, you know, invite us and we have to go running. That's how I feel, like, you know, yes, okay, let's go and let's do this. So just this, let's be careful in terms of how we're doing it. I'm not showing up anyway on the on the eighth, but and I'm happy that you all are going to do whatever you need to do. Thank you, Ms. Ferrara. Mr. Vernon Jones and then Ms. Pat. Well, in my mind, we put a tremendous amount of work in developing these recommendations. And regardless of our status, I'm interested in us keeping the pressure on them for as long as necessary to get these things, recommendations implemented. And to me, this meeting is only the first, the next step in our keeping the pressure on them. Thank you. Yes, sorry. Thank you, Ms. Pat. So actually, when we come to the agenda item about our group in the future, and I can't speak for all of you, but my thinking, my vision is that even though we will officially no longer be in existence with the town, I would like this group to still stay as a team. I will, you know, like us to continue to put pressure on the decision makers, meaning the town council, the town manager will sit around. We will not be an official group, but I don't see us going away anytime soon. The reason why I say that, and I'm taking some time now, instead of the agenda item on our future status, is that in the past, there have been strong BIPOC-led groups that have done beautiful things in this town. But if you mentioned those groups, people have no idea what you're talking about. And that's why I am pushing for writing a book. You know, I would also be recommending other things that we need to do to, you know, to make history so that we don't, you know, we are not forgotten in this town about the work that we've done. And, you know, that's where I'm coming from. So we're not going away, but we may not be town committee period. That's the way I say it. I have a lot to share later because I know that have been by BIPOC groups in this town. And nobody, you know, heard about them. And I was part of those groups. And I would like to share them later. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat. Yeah, I'm having some mixed feelings about it also because on one hand I do really hear what Deborah is saying and it just goes back to the entire, what this entire process has been like for our group. It has been like this. And so it's uncomfortable that it continues, but also I feel a lot of pride in the work and the piece that we put together. And I think we did an amazing job. And I would worry to just sort of plop them in the hands of the town council and walk away. Because I don't think that they honestly have the ability to implement them to, as close to our vision as we would like them to be, unless we continue to be there to remind them. And so I will be there. I'm not sure if we would need LEAP there, but I also do agree with Brianna in thinking that most of their questions will probably be in regards to how these things will be implemented, which I also don't have many answers for. And so I'm not sure in terms of what Deborah was saying, preparing what we would prepare for besides what we already have. So Ms. Owen. Yeah, and I also just want to say from the presentation that we had on one day, I feel like you all did such a great job answering questions. And I feel like another thing that's probably going to happen that also happened at our presentation was we put forward recommendations centered toward racial equity. And while we're presenting these, they're asking about different marginalized populations. I don't know if you all noticed the councilor who had brought up something completely off topic, but I have a feeling that those types of questions might be present at the November 8th meeting. And I think for that reason, it's important that LEAP is there and that we're just all on our game in there. Thank you, Ms. Owen. Ms. Farera? Yeah. I mean, for me, if that's, this is what I'm talking about in terms of having a strategy and a purpose, right? So if you all who are going to go, because I have a thing, I'm not going to go. So if you all are going to go, if you're going to go there to put pressure, great. That's what I'm saying. Have a purpose, have a strategy. Go there to put pressure. I'm just saying don't go there and just submit to questions upon questions and everything. Put them to the question, put questions to them, right? So you've had, we gave you all a task, right? You've had a couple of weeks. Where's that matrix that you said, the grid that Lynn said that she had created? What are the things that can be done right now? I want time. So okay, if that's why you all are going to go, then put the pressure. That's all I'm saying. I'm saying don't go there just to go submit to 10 million questions from them again, because that will be a circular thing. The questions will go on forever. So if it's to go to put pressure, yes, then that's the strategy. That's the purpose, right? And that's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing that that's the strategy because we're not going to go away. We want to make sure that they go through with the recommendations. Great. So just make sure that that's the case and put them, put some questions to them. So what have you done? What are the things I want answers? You see what I'm saying? Make sure that that's also part of the meeting and not the circular questions and answers from us over and over again. Thank you, Ms. Farera. Ms. Pat? I'm wondering if part of the strategy by the time council maybe has to do with the beginning of budget season. Maybe they want to hear from us. I mean, we've already told them we need to build things and the question is to be fully funded and other stuff. But I doubt that we will complete everything on the 8th. If they still want us in the future, I will attend because for me, this is it's just beyond joining CISWG. I want to see a result. People who know me, when I am involved in any group, I want to see the results. I don't just do and then go away. It doesn't work for me that way. So I'm going to say I'll be watching some council meeting as much as I can fit into my schedule. I will hold them accountable, you know. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat, Ms. Farera, and then Mr. Bachman. Well, yeah, that's what I have a question for Mr. Bachman. Maybe you're anticipating my questions, Paul, which is, yeah, I mean, Ms. Pat just brought up some questions, right? So what is the town council? What's the next steps? What are they going to do? What are they going to do with our recommendations? What are the next steps in terms of them doing? What's the thought in terms of why they want us back on the November 8th meeting, right? So that we can be, again, more purposeful and strategic around it. And also, and I know that's on the thing, I mean, you know, when is the next group going to be on? You know, it would be my question. But go ahead. So thank you. Yeah, so I think the next task is to build out Lynn's matrix of all the things that were recommended. What does it take to move them forward? Who is responsible? What would be a timeframe? It's that type of thing. And I think that's what she wants to present on the 8th. And that's the first conversation for the council to say which ones are which things are we prioritizing? Where are the accountability methods and all that stuff? So that's, you know, she has already taken the first cut at the matrix. I think that's the mission is to get that in front of them. The CSWG was invited as much, you know, because this is your your baby. And if you can attend grade, if you don't, I don't think they won't they would take offense at that. I think it's more, you know, what is your capacity to participate in the conversation? But I think it will I think whoever said earlier that it's really going to be the counselors talking to each other about what's what are they valuing and stuff. There might be clarifying questions. I don't know. Because we have not got talked and talked about that. Everybody's kind of focused on Tuesday. So there haven't been a real a lot of conversations about that yet. That'll happen next week, most likely. So and in terms of the successor group is fair. So we have gen like five people who've submitted CAF so far, I think. So we need to do more recruiting for that group. Is that how many do we have? I think we're up to about seven now. Seven. Okay. Yeah, we might be able to go ahead and, you know, my guess is we want to be able to have options of people to pick not just take the five that apply. So I would suggest tomorrow that you go ahead and take a look at the forms. And so I think what encourage everybody to keep recruiting and getting people who might want to serve on it to put their names in and we'll follow pretty much the same process. And again, move that forward as, you know, since we get our candidate pool that's adequate, then we move forward on that. So yeah, and the reason I'm here tonight, and I'm not going to stay here the whole time, because I know you have a lot of work to do. I just want to thank you for the work that you did. And, you know, this, I never anticipate that we would move this, you would, you would move this community as far as you did. It wasn't easy. You have done more in a year than anybody should would rightfully expected. And it wasn't an easy task. You were, you paid a price in your own personal lives for it, I know. And it's, but like the sort of distance this town has moved that I have moved is just remarkable. I know it's not enough. It's not far enough. But I do want to congratulate you and thank you for the work that you put in. Thank you, Mr. Backelman. Ms. Pat, Ms. Pat, you're muted. So, Mr. Backelman, thank you for your kind words. And I know it has not been easy, you know, there has been ups and downs. As a resident who I've lived here for a long time, there was a group actually many years ago and my group approached the then town manager and sought help. We did not get that at all. And I know that our process we treat here may not be perfect, but it could have been worse with somebody else. So thank you also. That's all I want to say. Thank you, Ms. Pat, Ms. Ferrara. I'm Ms. Backelman. I have some other questions. So you talked about like the process and the matrix and everything. So if there are things or are they going to be, I'm assuming like things that will be like voted on, resources, things like that. So I guess will they talk about some of that? And if they do talk about that in the next meeting, when is it that those votes will need to happen? Resources would need to happen, you know, more information in regards to those things. Yeah, really good question. So one of the things is to say is, you know, with all on the matrix is their budgetary impact, you know, in what kind of funding would we need for any of these items? And where would that fit in as a capital item is operating budget item and sort of categorize where are the next steps? The council has not agreed. You know, they've received your report that they haven't said, yes, we're saying yes to everything. So I think we should be clear about that. And that's what they need to decide as a council is what are the things you want to move forward on? Which ones are negotiable items? We just want to identify all the issues so they can start to have a frank discussion amongst themselves about that. So I think it's really going to be about a process that maybe they'll talk about. I mean, I don't know what they'll who knows what they're going to bring up. But but I'm looking at it is they're going to have a matrix in front of them. And they're going to start to look at these things and discuss what does it take to do. And they're going to say, we want to do this when we want to do that one. And the budget is it's timely, they will be talking about their financial guidelines during the months of November. And that's an important document. November 15, we do a budget, a financial indicators presentation from that they take that information. And then during the rest of November and early December, they will set up financial guidelines for us in terms of what we can afford to do and sort of goals for the manager. So and so all this will be flowing together all around the same time. And and then they also have to handle what they can do as a council this term, plus a new council coming in on January 2nd, what they're going to hand off to the new council. Thank you, Mr. Bachman, Ms. Freira. Yeah, I have another question, Mr. Bachman. So since the group, you know, the majority of the group, and obviously for me too, you know, I want to stay engaged. So since the group wants to stay engaged, wants to continue following everything and keeping a close eye on everything. Well, how will we, since we're disbanding, will the town councils still contact us, you know, emails? I mean, when they need us to talk about different things like they did, you know, for this November 8th. Or, you know, what's I guess, what are some of the things that I know were disbanding? So what does that mean in terms of stuff? So, you know, can we still get some communications? Can we not, you know, again, I'm kind of dealing with town committees in groups. So how does that all work? Yeah, I think the council recognized where they failed previously with the working group and they're attuned to that. And, you know, they know that you come November 8th, you won't exist as a committee. That's why the email went out to the group to invite you if you wanted to participate. And I don't know. I mean, one of the counselors in the meetings said they'd want this on the agenda every week, every council meeting. They want to update every council meeting. That might, what that looks like. And, you know, if it's just an update, you know, where, if they're going to talk about it every council meeting or not, I just don't know. I think they will make those kinds of decisions on the 8th about how they're going to allocate their time to this, to this topic. Thank you, Mr. Bachlemann. Ms. Ellen? I guess I just had a question about us disbanding in regard to the implementation of CREAS. I know that we've used these meetings to report to the group what's going on, what's next, and other group members have been critical in providing feedback and perspectives that has moved the implementation team forward. Are we going to keep the CSWG email? Are we allowed to report to other group members what's going on, even though we're disbanded? So, yeah, I mean, if you, if the people who are part of the implementation team are willing to continue to participate, I think that's crucial. That's really important. You're not subject to the open meeting law. You can talk to whoever you want, whenever you want, and consult with whoever you want to. And there's no restrictions on that. Thank you, Mr. Bachlemann. Ms. Pat? So thank you for answering questions. So the way my brain works, actually, when one door closes, another one opens. The beauty of us disbanding is the fact that we don't have to worry about open meeting law. And the fact that we're disbanding doesn't mean that we won't be effective. It will just be we won't be officially CSWG. So I can't wait to get to the agenda where we can discuss about our future regarding CSWG. I have all these ideas in my head. Thank you, Ms. Pat. Okay. I think that was, we kind of crossed over a bunch of agenda items there. But I think we moved on from articles and final communications, and we kind of started talking about the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee there for a minute. And so I'm wondering if there's anything else anyone would like to know about that about the successor group, or if we can move past that item as well. Ms. Ferreira? So for Mr. Bachlemann, too. So I know it is a good idea to recruit more people, especially since we want a healthy group of hopefully BIPOC people to apply. But I guess until when, you know, is this going to stay open in terms of applications to the group so that then the group can be established? So I guess my thing is, you know, is there a timeline, is there a goal so that obviously it doesn't stretch out? Because I know that there's going to be, there has to be a interview process and a selection. And then obviously, because we went through it, right? Kind of going through all the rigmarole with the paperwork and so on and so forth. So I wanted to ask about those things. Yeah. So I would love to use the same group that did it last time. Ms. Love, Mr. Ferreira, and Ms. Dennis. I have not asked them that question yet, because we don't have our pool set up. But I'm hoping that they would say yes, because they've been really generous with their time previously. And to do that, we want to have our pool and we try to keep it coordinated. So we have the interviews all stacked up. So it's not too much of an imposition on their time. So, again, we'll sort of, once we feel we have a decent pool. And it's really only five seats because two of the seats are reserved for CSWG members. And so we can look at getting those interviews done and getting the recommendation from that group. So when that happens, I don't know the time, the actual timing until we see, you know, I've been talking more and more people like we need applicants because it's going to be this plus other groups as well, right? We just went through recruiting for the reparation group. And I think, you know, who knows what happens with the election. There might be some energy after the election in terms of people who are like ready to step up. So I'm hoping there'll be some residual interest that pops off after that. Thank you, Mr. Backelman. Ms. Pat. My question is around the ROD. Do you know when you think it was that process, how people said it applying for that committee? So that's what that's a recommendation to the council. And so they have not discussed that yet. Oh, but it but again, I'm thinking about the same thing in terms of recruiting. That's another big recruitment activity. So okay, so if press program is supposed to be up and running in February. So what is your timeframe of setting the resident oversight board? Like going through the town council and then, you know, advertising and things like that. I will know more after the eighth what they what they're looking at. Ms. Ferrara. Yeah, I think that's what again, I was alluding to when I said about strategy and purpose. Because from what I can tell, and Mr. Backelman, you can correct me if I'm wrong. The ROD has not been voted in. I mean, they have created ROD. ROD has to be voted into creation. You see what I'm saying? So that's what I'm talking about. We have to have a strategy. So, you know, maybe that's one of the things that we need to kind of make sure, hey, you all need to vote on ROD on the eighth, right? And ROD needs to be put in place. Because that hasn't happened. And there's no ROD on the list of committees or anything like that, even though I know that like, even Ms. Moyson sent us a link and said, oh, this is a link for the CSSJC and for ROD, yet in the future, if that gets rooted in, but that's not a for certain thing, you know, and it can also be changed. ROD could be changed. Like so what we put together as a proposal doesn't mean that they're going to they're going to vote it in looking that way. So that's the other thing. They could change it all up. You know, so that's another thing. Well, it's to say, put the pressure like ROD needs to be voted in and is be voted in as we state it. You see what I'm saying? So that's why I'm just kind of like, we need to strategize and really know what's going to be our focus when you all show up on the eighth. And I just don't think the eighth is the final word. You know, I think that's that my guess is that they're going to say, here's the menu of things. What are we, here's what we hear the, you know, people who would, how would we implement each one of those? And they'll just talk about this, this strategy, not the strategy, but like what are the game plan for going forward? Thank you, Mr. Backelman, Ms. Ferrara and then Ms. Owen. Yeah, I mean, no, I get what you're saying, Paul. I mean, in terms of like, for them, it'll be kind of like getting things in order. Matrix like you said, looking at, you know, what can be done, what can be done and what needs more work. And, you know, I even remember at the meeting that we're talking about obviously the things that need to be bargained and so on and so forth. So there's that, but I'm just saying what's our purpose and what's our strategy, right? So for us, if Rob is a very important thing to get into place, that would be the thing that we would really hone in on, right, to make sure that they do. Obviously, they might not do it on the eighth and we'd have to come back other meetings. But I'm just saying we as a group would need to have a strategy and a purpose to kind of say hone in on that and make sure to put that focus on them and make them understand that that is a priority because you said one of the things they're going to do too is do priorities, right, prioritize things. So if we don't come in there, we have to come in with these are priorities, right? Obviously, everything's a priority, but this needs to be on right away, then we need to highlight that. So that's what I'm talking about. We need to kind of really think through and be very strategic about it. Thank you, Ms. Ferrerra. Ms. Owen? Yeah, I hear what Ms. Ferrerra is saying and I'm thinking maybe one of our strategies can be to try to encourage people to show up to our public comment at that meeting to support us. I remember when we did the first part of our recommendations, so many community members showed up to talk about Crest to the point where counselors couldn't ignore it. So I think we need to try to reach out to the community and get that type of support going again so that counselors know that this is what the community wants and this isn't just something you can throw away side. This is what the community wants to see and this is what's going to get us closer to equity. Thank you, Ms. Owen. Mr. Vernon Jones and then Mr. Bochleman. Paul, do you expect, two questions, do you expect to have information back from the town attorney about the open meeting law issues for hearing complaints and the subpoena power before the eighth? And then the other question is, did you just ask whether those were a problem in the view of KP law or did you ask KP law? How can we do this legally? So I don't know if we will have it back by the eighth. That means we have to have it back by the third, actually, to be in the packet. They are looking at all the legal implications of the, and Ms. Owen just sent me the final, or I think I just want to make sure I had the final final sort of recommended description. So once they see that final final, because I sent them an earlier version, I just want to make sure that we're looking at the right thing. And so they've already done some work on it. I think, I doubt they will have a full, it's a pretty detailed kind of work that they have to do on this in terms of what's permitted, what's not permitted. There is a, as Ms. Farrah said, there is a pretty large collective bargaining thing that I'm learning more about, actually, on some of these issues. So, I think that on the eighth, I expect to get from the council, yes, we want to pursue these things. Get me the legal opinion so we can make an informed decision. I don't, I really don't anticipate, maybe there's some sort of, they typically take two meetings to do almost anything, because they talk about it, then they move it, and they've already had one meeting about this, so maybe they'll be able to act on their own. They feel strong enough about some of the things, but it will take a majority vote of the council to do whatever it is they want to do. And just the other thing that occurred to me is that one of the things that you can do as individuals is to let the president know, if this comes up on your agenda, please let us know. Can you, so that, you know, don't get caught off guard, don't put on the agenda without telling, otherwise, it's on you to sort of pay attention to everything. And you could ask them to proactively notify us when there's, we have a vested interest in this because we put our heart and soul into it. If you're going to put this on your agenda for discussion other than just a written update or something, please let us know because we may not, we may attend, we may not, but we just want to know. Thank you, Mr. Bachlemann. Ms. Ferrara. Yeah, I think that that would be a good idea just to have them, you know, that's a good advice, Paul, to put that on the president's kind of purview so that they know that we're interested in that. The other thing is in terms of, actually, I forgot what my other thing was, so I'll be back to you. Thank you, Ms. Ferrara. I actually also have a couple of questions in regards to the resident oversight board, Mr. Bachlemann. Just because I need clarity, I'm a little bit confused as to where exactly that lies right now. I know that we were told that the police union is taking a look at it because they want, or we have to go through the collective bargaining process, and so the attorneys are also looking at it right now, and I think just to go back to Russ's question, are they looking at it with a specific intent, like to figure out a specific question or they're just generally looking over the entire thing? Is there like a question at hand right now? Is there anything specific or is it just a very general beginning steps right now? So there's two different paths here. One is the duty to bargain under the state's collective bargaining law. So we have a duty to bargain impact bargain when we make a change in work environment for our employees, and this we know with the Crest Program we are doing it for the SEIU, which is our clerical and non-workers that might be impacted, and also with the two different police unions. We have notified them of the implementation of this program. We have not given them details because we don't have details to give them, but they are alerted to it and we've done our due diligence. We may need to be notifying the fire department as well, the fire union as well, because our attorneys looking at that because it may impact their work environment as well. So and for all of these changes, there's going to be some bargaining that goes on with different units. And again, it's our responsibility to notify the units and give them the opportunity to discuss it with us how it impacts their employees. So that's the labor side. The legal side is to say, well, how do you do it? Here's what's being recommended. What's your interpretation of it? So for instance, subpoena powers is that legal, how do you do it? Can you do that through a bylaw? Do you have to do it through a bylaw? Can you just do it by vote? How does that happen? And so it's like, if they say, the only way you can accomplish this is through this mechanism. Is it special act or is it a bylaw? They'll tell us the guidance on how to do that. It's really there and they'll say, you know, in terms of the open meeting law and executive session and those types of things, they'll have some advice on that as well. And I think that's something that we'll sort of grapple with. We sort of do it with the Human Rights Commission already in terms of handling things and what people's rights are in those situations. So so it's two different paths on the legal front. Thank you. And I just have a follow up question. So in terms of the collective bargaining, does that mean that their input, like we, the implementation team would be subject to their input at any step of the process in any decision we're making? Or would we be setting up specific meetings like when we have already made decisions in regards to the implementation and then we bargain with them like sort of at a table meeting? Or is it at any time that we make a decision that they're aware of that they may or may not agree with they have the ability to provide us with input? So once we say what we want to do, we say we want to create the Crest program, it's going to look like this. We will go, we'll give them the information they and offer them the opportunity to sit down with our negotiating team, which is usually our attorney and me or our HR director, and they can talk it through. And we go back and forth and we have a duty to talk to them about it, listen to what their concerns are and that type of thing. Thank you. And sorry, I think maybe this is a better way to state what I was trying to add. So would that happen throughout the process of the implementation? Or is that a one time thing like at the end right before we launch? Hopefully we will give them as early enough in the system so that we have time before launch so that they have input into it. So once we get the framework of what we're talking about, the way it's going to set up, how we think it's going to operate, I think earlier in the process, not waiting until it's all sort of digested and put together. I think the earlier, it's a better way to do it. Okay, thank you, Mr. Backelman. Did any other, did any members have any other questions in regards to the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee? Okay. So we have passed that into the next agenda item, which was the Resident Oversight Board update. So I'm just wondering if there are any members who have any other questions in regards to the Resident Oversight Board. Okay, great. So the next agenda item is the Crest Implementation Meeting follow-up. And we did have, oh, yep, Mr. Backelman. So I'm going to exit now. I know you have a lot on your agenda. So again, just thank you and please reach out. Anybody can reach out individually or at any time to talk about any of this. Oh, sorry, Mr. Backelman. I think you muted yourself halfway there. And thank you again. So feel free to reach out anytime. Thank you, Mr. Backelman. Take care. Bye-bye. Okay. So we were going into the next agenda item, which is the Crest Implementation Meeting follow-up. And so I'm not sure if you all have seen that we were granted the equitable approaches to public safety grant, which is the one in which we're partnering with the ADMHA. So we did have a discussion about that today, a small discussion about what that will look like and how we have to revisit the timeline. But we did get that funding. So that is great news in regards to the Crest Implementation, Ms. Ferrera. So yeah, so that's excellent news to get the grant. I just wanted to kind of get a little bit more detail in terms of what that actually means in terms of concrete kind of outcomes. And also with the ADMHA, I mean, obviously there was a whole thing with the rapport and all that. I mean, so how did things end up working out with given that now we have a grant with them? Thank you, Ms. Ferrera. Ms. Pat? So what I wanted to say very quickly, and then you can speak more about what you guys discussed at the Crest Implementation Meeting today. So I've had some people contact me via text and email congratulating CSWG for getting the grant. And while I acknowledge that, I have to set the record straight that it's good to acknowledge. And I wanted to make that comment publicly that many best, the former director, Ms. Moystein, and the rest of the Crest Implementation team, and the group that I actually recommended. I want that to be like on record. I was the one who recommended the group from Springfield so that history be told that's what happened. Yes, we have with the Crest Implementation team, there were some CSWG reps. So it's a different group that got this grant. And I had to set a record straight with the people that contacted me congratulating CSWG. I mean, I accepted the congratulations, but privately, I had to say the people that really made it happen. So that's what I want to say, because so many, many times in this town, we tend to forget key players. While I'm still on it, very quickly, because I'm going to forget, the block party initially was suggested by two black business women in our midst, M&M Link, Jamaican-American women. They were the people who were suggested to ammest Chamber of Commerce. They were not listened to, it was ignored. A couple years later, they did, okay. Business improvement district took the credit that they started a block party. I just want to put that out. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat. Ms. Moisten. I just have to be excused for a few moments, but I will come back to talk about the grant in more detail. So I'll just be right back. Thank you, Ms. Moisten. And I also just wanted to thank you for bringing that up, Ms. Pat, because I was also, while I'm very excited about this opportunity and the fact that we got the grant, I did feel a little bit uncomfortable because nobody gave credit to Mary Beth, who actually wrote the grant and did an incredible amount of work. She actually found the grant too. So she sought it. She worked on the application. She put everything together. She listened to the feedback because when we did have issues, and we didn't want to partner with who she suggested Ms. Pat did offer another suggestion, she followed up very quickly the same day and turned it around so quickly and has gotten no credit for it. So I am very glad that you brought that up because that was something that was sort of bothering me also. And so I also just want to publicly thank Mary Beth for all of the work that she did do while she was facilitating the implementation team. If I may add, I also want to thank both of you, these co-chairs. I happen to attend just one meeting and I could appreciate the importance of having folks from our group being there. And I was so glad I was there that day to have an African-American company to be part of the grant. So I want to thank you, Brianna and Alicia, and also Mr. Ross that later on joined. And I'm very excited to hear that you guys will be willing and continue to attend those meetings because we need you guys there. I can't thank you guys enough. I am not going anywhere in this town. I am going to hold everybody accountable. The journey just began, okay? We have a long road to go and I'm up for it. Thank you, Ms. Farera. Well, yeah, I just wanted to ask again the question about the report and all of that. How did that end up ending? And then, yeah, Ms. Pat, I mean, obviously for me, this is the first town committee I've been on. So I do, I am interested in seeing how things progress from this point on and everything because obviously you've been down that road. So I do want to hear that. A lot. I only give one example tonight. And yeah, I'm writing my memoir. So don't forget about that. I have seen it all in this town. I have seen it. Yeah, it could be worse. Trust me. Thank you, Ms. Pat and Ms. Farera. Ms. Owen. Yeah, I just want to say basically what you all have said. I'm so grateful that we're talking about Cress and because you know, like the paper and people around town are like, oh my gosh, this great program that Emerson is putting forward and they're giving credit to different people. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, like it was a really, really long, strenuous grant. Like when I looked at it, I was like, oh my gosh, and she really did, Mary Beth really did turn it around so quick and she listened to the feedback that we gave her, which feels like something rare for people to actually do, I will say. And I'm so grateful to work with you all and that we all put our minds together and came up with Cress. I'm excited about it. Thank you, Brianna, for letting me attend that meeting. It was meant to be. Only one meeting. Thank you all. And then I just wanted to double back, Ms. Farera. You said you wanted to hear more about the report. The grant report, sorry, which report? The report that we had asked ADMHA to do. Oh, okay. Yep. So I, Ms. Moison, if you're ready, I know you just came back. I apologize. But I would like to defer that question to you, because I just have no idea as to if there has been an update on that. So what I would say about the report is that if, so the report is obviously too late for the CSWG to use in their report, but we could in theory extend, I don't know how Paul would feel about that, but you could ask the town manager to extend the deadline on the report so that the information could be used for either Rob and or CSSJC or we just leave it be. So no payment has been received and no report has been received. So, you know, and yes. Have we had communication from them? I guess that would be the thing. Yeah. So I, as you know, he, you know, was, was ill. And so he's better now. And I've spoken with him in regards to the grant. And we're actually going to, myself, Paul and Sean will meet, we'll schedule a meeting late next week with him to kind of find out, you know, there is concern. What I'll say is typically if I'm going to be out and there's something due, then I call someone and say, Hey, can you do this? And we just need to make sure that there's measure place, you know, measurements or things set so that if, if something happens that the work will still continue, it will be a lot. They'll have to come and set up shop here. You know, so it's not just as simple as them working in Springfield. And then you have to wonder, do they need to hire more staff to support that? So there's a lot that, you know, will need to be discussed at that meeting. And then we'll be able to kind of reevaluate from there. Thank you, Ms. Moisten. Ms. Pat. So what I would say is that it's a miracle that Leek was able to produce for us because of the timeframe. I know based on the Pat A report, we did have a group that actually wrote us saying that they couldn't even, you know, bid on it because of timeframe. So I'm okay if the town extend our deadline for them and perhaps the new standing committees could take a look at it, perhaps it might be beneficial to use. But I wouldn't like not continue to contract with them. Well, I don't think it was an issue not to contract with them. But, you know, I think it's more about making sure that the measurement that the systems are set in place so that when this is on a much larger scale, that the work will be followed through and continue. That's as long as we know that that's going to happen. I don't think anybody has an issue working with ADA HMA. It's just that we have to be certain because it's a lot of money. It's not a little bit of money. It's a lot of money. Right. And so then if it doesn't come through and then we're liable to DPH for that amount of money, if it doesn't work out on their end, right? And so that's, you know, simple business right there. So that's all. Yeah. And stuff happens and life happens, but we just need to know that while that happens, stuff will still get done. So communication issue. It sounds like, okay. Well, I mean, and so and we understood that we asked for a lot. A lot. Yes. We did. And he said that he went back and worked with an asked department and they went over the contract to make sure they could do it. And then he fell ill. So, you know, I don't, you know, and then that was just kind of that. So, yeah. I remember, I believe it's in one of our meetings clearly that they may not direct, they were asking for extension, even before we heard that it was sick. Well, that was the same conversation. It was the same. Okay. I heard that, you know, they will not be able to meet our deadline. Yeah, that was the same conversation. So which is also another reason why we're kind of like, well, let's see if the information that we would be getting is valuable to the next standing committees, then we can extend it out. If not, we can just leave it be and then continue our relationship in another manner. Brianna. I think that we should, well, I think that, well, it's great that we're going to work with the ADMHA for Crest, but I think that we really shave down like our needs for them to like work on. And I think that if it's going to be passed down to the resident oversight board or to the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee, that because time is in an obstacle that maybe those committees relook at the scope of work, because there might be more and they might need more funding to do all of that. I just know that that scope of work was really shaved down and the timeline was super, super tight. But if we do, we should do it right. Right. I agree with that statement. And I just, I don't know how that relationship would change if it's just an additional contract to a larger contract that we have. But I agree. I agree with that. Yeah. Thank you, Ms. Farrera. I mean, that's all I was going to say. I think, I like what Brianna said at this point, you know, we already submitted our report. So maybe it would be more so to kind of look at, you know, once the CSSJC is put in place or Rob or whatever, maybe, you know, both to kind of then go back to them and say, okay, and this is, this will be the new scope of work. And then obviously I, so that would be that for the report, like not to say now, turn it in. I don't think it makes sense at this point. But then in terms of the grant, you know, obviously excited about it, but, you know, agree with what you said, Jennifer, in terms of just kind of putting some parameters because it is a lot of money and we want to make sure everything gets done, you know, within the time limits. Right. So the first report, it has to be due in three months for the grant and, you know, in three months, hopefully we'll be close to somewhat rolling out so that, and that's when we will need them to be fully mobilized here in Amherst for us. And, you know, and honestly, when you think about it from a business perspective outside of just the town of Amherst, it would be the only BIPOC health services available on this side of the bridge all the way out through Greenfield, right? So you're going to take on Hampshire and Franklin counties fall within that area. And so there's a lot of possibilities for growth there. So it's, you know, I think it's a great beginning of a relationship if everything can work out the way that it needs to. Thank you, Ms. Moyston. And then sorry to ask you to speak more, Ms. Moyston. But if there's anything else, because we were just going over the grant that you can explain to the group, that would be helpful because we were on the agenda item of Crest Implementation Meeting follow-up. So you want to know more stuff about the meeting outside of the grant? Or within the grant? No, within the grant. That's what I was asking. Just more information on the grant itself. So I think we'd probably need to have some more community engagement. Community engagement is a big piece of the grant, right? And you know, the struggle with community engagement right now is that half of the people don't want to be in a large crowd right now because of, you know, COVID. So that does put a little bit of restrictions on how we can do that outreach as far as it is going to the community versus having the community come to us. And then also, so this grant requires for us to have a program manager or project manager in addition. So the director the town is paying for, but the program, the project manager, and then the transitional assistance counselor will be covered under the grant. So the transitional assistant coordinator will work in the same manner a little bit as ADMHA will, whereas, you know, someone is coming from having it from the hospital from having a mental health crisis that that person can help get them the resources that they need to move forward and be successful. The program manager, the project manager will work solely within the parameters of the grant, more or less, the grant is very detailed. And there's a lot of communication between the Department of Public Health and a lot of meetings with the Department of Public Health that we just wouldn't want to put on top of the director because it would just be too much. And so to actually to have the project manager doing that is very helpful. But it will be a temporary position. Thank you, Ms. Meisten. Ms. Ferrara. So just wanted to point it out that we're at 612. And I know Russ has said he needs to leave by 630. So I don't know if there's anything that we need to kind of talk about before Russ leaves. Just wanted to put you put that on the scope since this is our final official meeting. Thank you, Ms. Ferrara. So right now we're on the Quest Implementation Meeting follow-up. The other agenda items left are input to the town manager's office performance review, the book discussion, and final thoughts. So I don't know, Mr. Vernon Jones, if there were any of those discussions that you'd hoped to be a part of, I would be comfortable with skipping to them on the agenda at this time. No, I don't think I need to be involved in the other things, but I would like to say a few final thoughts myself. This has been an amazing experience for me. It's gone much longer and been way more work than I ever expected, but I have learned so much from getting to work with each of you. Each of you has personally impacted my understanding of the world, my understanding of racism, and also touched my heart as we've built relationships with each other. And I just feel so grateful and appreciative that you, as the one white member of the group, you've included me fully and taken me in and engaged with me and let me express my opinions and go back and forth. This has been a really just a very important experience in my life for me personally, as well as the bond I feel with all of you, because I think we produced two really magnificent reports with the potential for tremendous impact in the town of Amherst. And I just feel so honored to be a part of our work together and to be now linked to each of you. And totally aside from our need to keep pressure on the town council or whatever, in my mind, I don't know how much we'll get together, but we're a group forever in my mind in terms of the relationships and what we've been through together and I just so appreciate each one of you. Thank you, Mr. Vernon Jones, Ms. Ferrara, then Ms. Pat and Ms. Owen. Yeah, I mean, obviously, I just wanted to say that it's been a pleasure working with you. I mean, obviously, I don't know what we would have done without your, you know, just being willing to do the most of the writing for the two reports, and being willing to be open to feedback. And as a, you know, white male, you know, obviously, you know, being really able to kind of know how to navigate, you know, the fact that this was obviously different in terms of impact for us who are of color, you know, a BIPOC and being willing to hold that space, too. I definitely appreciate it. One of the things that I hope before you leave is for us to just set the date because I run other meetings and if we don't set a date about when we're going to get together to do that celebration and margaritas and stuff, it won't happen. So before Mr. Vernon Jones leave, we need to set a date. But anyway, just wanted to say thank you and I do. I think we're a forever group, right? Thank you, Ms. Fer, Ms. Pat. Okay. So you have 15 minutes to leave, so I'll be really, really quick. First, I want to appreciate all of you and also appreciate our members who are not here tonight. You know, I really admire Sashina's, you know, courage when she, you know, she speaks and various, you know, had worked behind the scene. I always, you know, checking with him. He knows what is going on. It's just his schedule and sports. And, you know, for Jennifer, you know, being a common employee and then being a woman of color, I know it's been not has not been very easy. Deborah, I get to know you. I know a few before, but I felt that this group has brought us together. And what can I say about Alicia? Alicia, I've known you since you were a baby. Your mom is like one of my close friends and your younger brother, like the best friend of my daughter, they play sports together. Your brother came to my house, many, many, literally grew up in my house. And Brianna, like a daughter, too, just excited. What can I say about Mr. Ross? Like, I've known him with two people, partner in crime from Port River School. He is being humble to say that he's learned a lot here, and that would be true, but he has been steadfast in pushing for social justice. So when I, the first night when we met, when I read the people who are going to make up this committee, I saw his name. I'm like, this is a black brother. Let's put it that way. That's how I felt. So thank you for being in the part of this process. And if I forgot anyone, sorry, apologize. You know, the time manager again, because of my experiences with different groups. In terms of this group, this is what I'm thinking, that we retain CSWG, maybe add something like team, we get a nonprofit organization status that we write a book, that we have a yearly reunion that will include our families, our friends, that, you know, what we've done is historic. I won't be surprised if other communities will be reaching out, that we have our own website, and that when we do our book, we won't do it up ourselves, that we fundraise, you know, to help pay for the publishing of the book, and whoever donates to us, like have a minimum amount, people can donate. So when we publish the book, we have a book signing party, and we give people, you know, who donated, you know, books. In addition to that, we will donate to libraries. Okay. Our nonprofit status, we can monetize. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm a business woman. Okay. So we're done with the town. So we need to continue to be together. I'm a business woman, and I'm good at it. And so you all, you know, have such an incredible amount of skills that the country wants. So get ready. I also envision this nonprofit group to be a work dog, to our elected officials, to hold them accountable, but also to stay active. So I can go on and on. That's my, my brain is like running. Absolutely. We need to get together sometime next month and celebrate ourselves, but we're not going anywhere. We're a CSWD team to differentiate it from who we are today. We're going to have our own dedicated website as well, in addition, you know, so that, yeah, nonprofit, yeah, we come. Interviews, lectures, whatever. I have that cut out for us. Okay. So what do you think? I know that Breanna wants to speak to, so I'll be very short. I just want to say that the reparations group is trying to do a book. And so they are actually merging, going to work with Amherst media so that they can, you know, videotape the process of, of making the book and have it digital, as well as we can also apply for a grant through the Amherst cultural council for funds for documenting this. So, Breanna, thank you, Ms. Mohsen, Ms. Owen. Oh, I don't even know how to follow up from that. Oh my gosh, yes to everything. This group has been so impactful. Russ, thank you so much for all of your work. You're an amazing writer, your nimbleness to centralize all of our ideas and be able to just push us forward. I'm so grateful for this work. I think that besides my degree, this is the second most thing that I'm the most proud about that I've done. When I started doing CSWG, I was in a really bad work situation and I wasn't working for people whose values align with my own and working with you all inspired me as a woman of color to be in a work situation where I'm treated like a human and to keep pushing for equity because I deserve it. And being working with you all and just working with people whose values aligned with my own felt amazing. And yeah, I could go on forever, but I'm really excited to meet up in person since we've all been seeing each other virtually with the exception of one meeting. So we should get to scheduling that. So, one second, very quickly. I want to really thank the Seven Gen for the work they did. Dilip, I also want to thank the Fund for and all the community members who have come out and supported us. They will be in our book. We list all the supporters. Okay, we're going to do that. So I thank them. I thank all your families for putting up with you every Thursday to do this. It's a huge sacrifice. Who else am I missing? I miss Indy for amplifying our work a lot. I'm very grateful. Okay, that's it. I'm sure I will remember more people. If I forgot you, I'm sorry, so many friends who reach out to me privately. I drew a lot of strength from your writings, your emails and text messages. Very, very grateful. Too long a list for me to start calling out because I will mess up. I will not remember everybody. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Freer. The only other person I want to add, I mean, obviously later, I want to thank all of y'all individually too, but for now would be Paul Wiley too, I want to thank him. Oh, that's right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I grew in the beginning and getting us started, getting us going. And when we were all like, at least for me, I can speak for myself, kind of like, okay, so what is this really going to be about? And he got us started and got us on the right track until then the dynamic duo came in, which was Brianna and Alicia took over. Spice it up. Yeah, the next level, so, but want to give my thanks to Paul for getting us started. I agree. Thank you. I knew I was going to forget people. Yes. Thank you Ms. Freer, Ms. Meister. Yeah, I'm going to leave you time, Alicia, too, but Russ, I'm just going to say this because you're going to leave. It was so nice to work with you. What I'll say is Russ has always been a supporter of any little event that I've created that was in regards to any cultural, any culture. And Russ was always there. And so I really, really have always appreciated that, but it was really nice to work with you like on a more one-to-one basis. And I look forward to the work with the implementation team that we're going to be doing on. And I think that you, you do help move us along, right? Like, because I think sometimes the group will get kind of stuck in conversation. And you're just kind of like, yeah, okay guys, no, we, in a very nice polite way, say let's move on. And that's not the issue. So you were an excellent writer and I appreciate all the hard work that you've put into this group. And it was an honor to work with you. Really it was. Do you still have two more minutes or you have to go? At least when we're going to meet in person? I can send a doodle poll. Let's do that. Yeah. Okay. So what I wanted to share and Mr. Russ, you're free to leave if you have to go is that I have been involved in so many groups. I will give one quick example. How many of you have heard about multicultural families of armist? Be honest now. You have? Okay. So this group was made up of black women. We went to a conference in Springfield and a state agency put on a conference. So we went up, you know, we spoke up at that conference and then after the meeting, after the conference, they approached us and said, you go back to armist, you know, gather, organize, we will fund you. The state funded us. That's the short story. And we hired staff. I went and approached the town manager at the time for us to rent. I want everybody to listen up please. So to the town manager at the time and said, this is a group of families. Multicultural white, Hispanic, Asian, black, but it was led by black women. If we could rent a space at the bank. And I was told, you know, your group is not town group. And I said there is another white led, non-profit organization at the bank's community center, big brother and big sister. Okay. So what is the difference? I did not get good explanation. I was told, town meeting, going through North Duncan. So what do they have at the time? That's another boarding. We didn't go through that. But we didn't get any reception from the town manager at the time. Okay. That's one example. We tried to do some PR in the newspaper. The families are families who have kids with special needs. Okay. The person at the time, I'm not going to mention name, is the founder of the current digital something refuse to say anything about my group. And that's why people don't know unless if you have child with special needs in the school system, that's the only way you knew. And that program was not only impactful, I mean, I made lasting friendship. Not to say back. It was through multicultural families of Amist. I'm sorry. I don't need to go. I don't need to go. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Bye. I look forward to our being together. Sure. Yeah. Bye. Bye. So that's just one example. How many of you here knows about Black Business Association in Amist? Nobody knows. And I can go, there used to be a youth program called YACC, again led by Black women. What is it? The schools told the group not stealing, but, you know, and I can go on and on. So, I want this momentum. I know the town manager has not been perfect. But if we had the time manager we had then, we will not be sitting here today. It's my point. Because I'm speaking from past experiences. Thank you. Got it. Ms. Owen? I think, I just want to say, I think our group was so impactful to the town just because I think Amherst has this history. And I've only been here for 10 years. But I think there's this history of people ignoring lived experiences and hearing town counselors hear, oh, well, we emailed a survey. You can't email surveys to working people. If I was working my retail job, I wouldn't have stopped to do a 40-minute survey when I'm tired and in school and working and doing the most. I think that the CSWG was a wake-up call for the town council and other committees and boards to diversify. Because community outreach is putting people from who have the lived experiences and people in marginalized communities, leadership positions, paid leadership positions, where the barriers are not only just noticed but addressed, pay them stipends. So I'm really proud of the work that we've done for that reason. Because it irritates me so much to be talking about lived experiences because I feel like where I am right now, I'm in a position of privilege. So for people to debate my lived experiences, who are people who are sharing lived experiences that they're living right now? And how are those people being treated? Thank you, Ms. Owen. Ms. Pat? So if also, I mean, I'm so glad you raised something. Just for the record, it was Dr. D. Shabazz who suggested that people, you know, be paid stipends, the CSWG. So I've read where some town councilors felt that that's one of their accomplishment, that they gave us, you know, $13,000. So it's a huge accomplishment. In fact, the suggestion came from Dr. D. Shabazz. So she needs to, you know, take that credit. If you're waiting for her, we wouldn't have gotten it. So thank you to her. And it's not about the amount of the money, it's the symbolism to appreciate our lived experiences to self on this committee, but already, you know, some white councilors are taking the credit. That's one of the accomplishments. We paid BIPOC folks, my name, to be in a committee. You see how history is twisted in this town? Should I go on? Thank you. So I'm wondering, do we want to reflect on our last meeting or are we, you know, a town council? Yeah, I would be happy to do that now. I think we haven't completely been following the agenda here, but loosely, if we were following the agenda, the next discussion would be the input to the town manager's office performance review. But if you all would rather reflect, I'm okay with that as well, Ms. Ferreira. Well, I think we should probably do that, like the town council performs, let's get that out of the way and then reflect, because then that will kind of be going to kind of our final thoughts and stuff like that, you know? Okay, awesome. And so I don't really know, and Ms. Moyson, I don't know if you can be helpful with this, because I've never done a town manager evaluation before, how we can submit this. Can we submit one as a group? That's what I would recommend. Yeah. We're no longer bound by... No, we can do it online. Sorry. Yeah. So it's one of those things where things have always been done one way for a very long time, and that's one of the things I'm most proud of this group is that you've shown the gaps in the areas where things have been being done for so long, one way only, and that maybe that way is just not valid anymore, because times have changed, the people at the wheelhouse have changed. So typically, I would say, you know, even committees and boards individually members do them separately, but I don't know why you couldn't do it as a group either. So that's, I mean, I can't give any more really advice to that outside of that. Thank you, Ms. Moyson, Ms. Patton, and Ms. Ferrer. So when I first saw that email from Ms. Lane, I, you know, my immediate reaction is it would be cool to do it as a group, because we know exactly what we're going to say, you know? So not, I wouldn't say exactly, but I have a rough idea what, you know, some of the struggles and, you know, some of positives too, yeah. Thank you, Ms. Patton, Ms. Ferrer. Yeah, I mean, definitely, I think, I think we should do it as a group. And so, like, just to kind of keep things moving along, because I'm hoping that we, we're not going to be here for too much longer, since I want to eat dinner with my kids tonight, is if we could just kind of share kind of ideas of what we want to share in terms of this evaluation, and then if maybe you, Breonna, and at least if you all can just submit it, you know, just kind of put together some, doesn't have to be lengthy, just one, you know, bullet points, this is what we think and send it in. So that's being by tomorrow, right? Yeah. That's what I was going to say too, is that we should do like something bullet point, it just gets due tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So do we say something to you? What if we just have a, well, what it worked for everyone now, if we just have a discussion, I can take notes, and then Alicia and I can put something together between today and tomorrow. Sure. Yeah. Let's do it. Just thinking about the top of my head, I think like the biggest thing, and it's like a theme with town council too, that I had an issue with is every time we ask somebody in power a question, they respond with a question, if that makes sense. And then to layer it on top of that, this whole, the whole submission for the, for the feedback for the town manager, the first email that was sent out was wrong. The second email didn't have the webpage to his goals, didn't work up until last week. There's been a lot of problems with that on my end. So I think if the group's comfortable, I would like to include that. Okay. So to me, it's communication. I think when we, when we first, you know, started, like, sometimes when the town manager comes to the meeting, when we're asking questions, and we're expecting to get like definite response, we don't always get it. And then sometimes, you know, at the town council meeting, it's a different answer. So sometimes that is like, you know, communication issues between in our group and the town manager. And also we, I wish, you know, we'll learn more about the budget process when we were doing the Cres Program, another stuff. Yeah. So by the time we came up with that stuff, the budget process already done. Yep. And, you know, that's one of the things about this group too, and I hate that it kind of came played out the way that it did. But so what I'll say a little bit is you guys kind of kicked down the door. And then because this was the first time that we had a group that was, and when I say aggressive, I don't mean in a negative way, but I mean, like moving so fast and so quick, and with, you know, like, this is what we need to do that basically down to business, that we, we typically don't necessarily involve not other committees in the, in the budget structure so much. And so all of that was foreign. And so I apologize that you guys didn't receive as much budget information as you needed. I think I might have even said this before, but I will have you know that every other committee that is working such as you gets a, like when reparations came aboard. So they had a full breakdown from Sean about how the way that the budget works. And then they had the town clerk come to talk about the open meeting law, right, because we violated all kinds of meeting laws. But I, and so again, I apologize that we were not ready for that for this group, but it did pave the way to make sure that the next following group gets what's needed. So thank you, Ms. Munston, Ms. Pereira. Yeah, so just kind of continue on with the, with the evaluation for Paul. I mean, for me, the, some of the things were, you know, like what Jennifer was just talking about, I think, you know, especially someone like me that was new to town affairs, there was no kind of overview in terms of how town business gets conducted, how things go through the budget process, things like that. So I felt that we weren't prepared as well as we should have been. And then, and that led to a lot of the issues for our first town presentation. And, you know, and then the town council's asking us all these questions about budget and so on. So I didn't feel we were prepared as well as we should have been. And so that, you know, really put us at a deficit. The other part in terms of Paul to specifically is that it seemed like Paul was very engaged with us in the beginning and wanted, was really being supportive and helpful when, when we were making our first part of the recommendations, because obviously, I think he and others already had that thought about that we would be creating something different in terms of a Crest program. And then as we, and then as we went into our second part of the process, and we wanted to deal with the reforms and stuff like that, there was only the emphasis on Rob, but not really on looking at anything else in terms of the charge. So I thought that that was really the troubling and a problem and should be included as part of his evaluation, because basically we were given a charge and he should have supported us throughout the whole thing. So I just felt like, you know, his support waned as, you know, a work went on. And I know that, you know, some will say that his schedule changed so on and so forth, but he could have made more of a try, you know, to really be supportive throughout the whole process and not just at certain points and especially at points where it got challenging, you know. And then obviously for me, the other thing was the fact that we wanted this to continue, you know, and the importance of our group continuing beyond this, this day. And since there was going to be a standing committee and he could have, you know, made us continue forward. And he didn't, you know, that I thought was was a negative on his end, because obviously this is going to this could even though we're going to continue to push, but this could create that gap or create the problems that we need, depending on who the next group is going to be in terms of having that fire to continue forward. So I felt that that, you know, was an issue. And, you know, I just think that for a town manager, even though, of course, you know, he was supportive in terms of wanting, you know, this work to be done. But but more so, and I hope he learned through going through this process, that as a town manager, you have to you have to make sure that everyone in the in the town is included. Everyone's voice is included. And I think obviously we pushed him a little bit further. But I think there's more to be done in that area, in terms of making sure that all voices are included at the table, and for him to create more pathways for that to happen, and not to allow budget or priorities to to kind of set those those. That's the priority. Priority is inclusion, diversity and equity in this town. And that should be top priority, and not some of those other issues, like budget and so on and so forth. So I want to go into I agree everything that you just said, not to, you know, repeat what people have already said. I want to go what I was observing because I have been in some meetings where people of more power are in. What I noticed with the town manager was, even when he raises his hand and he sees somebody else raising hand, and he will want to allow another person. So that was, you know, I think that was a positive thing. I think he was patient to, even when we are highly charged, you know, he never like raises voice. I'm not saying, you know, it's a good thing for people to raise their best thing, but he he remained like, I'm very professional. And also, I think I've liked some of the comments that he's made to the media about the work that we're doing. Even when we had rocket relationship with him on the pad B. And I don't know, you know, what is, you know, in his mind, but I will suspect that and I want to speculate here that I think the issue of the APD wasn't very comfortable for him. I could be wrong of the reforms and everything that we were talking about. But I think overall, it was a mixed bag. Communication is the theme for me that I observed that was very problematic with everybody have touched up on. But at the same time, I see a man who is willing to learn who is growing a little bit in issues of equity, social justice, but he has a long way to go. You know, he has a long way to go and a lot to learn. But we don't know who else we will get. So I believe in continue to work with people that we already know and see how it goes. So that's the way it's there. Yeah. I think too, for me, I was just think just thinking out loud. I think the role of town council and the role of the town manager were kind of, it's something that I didn't really understand until after we presented for the first part of our charge. And then I guess for me, just business practices, I was really disappointed with how the town manager treated seven gen. I don't know if there's history or what that was about. But I felt, I kind of felt like the town councilors were debating their research. And he should have been more professional to step in there, especially since they were collecting lived experiences of people who felt who are fearful in town, he should have been more attentive to those lived experiences and more grateful for the work that seven gen did on such a tight timeline. I do agree that, you know, sometimes, you know, the two times that we've been with the town council that the town manager should be should have been more supportive of selling the first one with our contractor seven gen. I absolutely agree. I agree with that. Yeah. Maybe like the role of the finance committee, too. What would that be budget? I mean, I knew some of them. Yeah. Yeah. And just the fact that, you know, it seemed especially with the part A, there was, you know, just kind of like, we really had to, to, you know, keep asking them and re asking them questions in terms of the budget and positions and how to do certain things. And because, you know, as you, as you all said, it's like, we would communicate something and then he would go back to meetings with the town council and then it would, it was said in different ways. I think he got better with that as things went on, but also then he wasn't in our meetings anymore. So maybe that was because before he was in our meetings and he was telling his one thing and then going back and saying, but, but then he wasn't showing up at the meetings anymore. So maybe that's the reason. I don't know. But obviously, that's something, too, that, you know, you want to make sure. And then for me, and that will be something, you know, as we do reflections on them on the town council meeting, but it was what you brought up, Rhianne, in terms of seventh gen, you know, which we were very excited about, excited about the work that they presented, the fact that they were able to go into communities, be sensitive and get that information, even though the communities that they were talking to, you know, intimidated and afraid to share it. But, but yet they did, they were very brave to do so and how their, their research and their information was basically kind of disregarded by the town council. But then it was interesting for me, I always think about it. I mean, with Leap, there wasn't as many questions, you know, and Leap was a white facing organization. There wasn't any kind of questions about their presentation and their research and what they brought up. You know what I'm saying? It was just accepted as fact. I'm assuming there'll be others, but I'm like, when we presented that there was loads of questions right there and then loads of doubt, loads of why didn't you get more information and so on and so forth. But then with Leap, that didn't happen. So for me, it just makes me go, hmm. Yeah. And Ms. Pat, sorry, I will go to, but I just wanted to add a little bit on to what Debra just said at the end there. Something that really bothered me is that they asked specifically for like, what coding mechanisms we use for our data, like they were that skeptical. They didn't ask anything about how Leap came to these conclusions, not one single question about what data, about, if they did outreach, about who they talked to nothing. So that is actually very alarming. And I know that's not directly connected to Mr. Bochleman, but I did just actually remember that when you said that, Ms. Farera. So sorry, Ms. Pat. So I was going to reflect on what, you know, Debra said at the end, when we start doing reflection at the time council meeting that we presented, what was the fact that nobody asked about the amount that has not been any press, no media, nothing that was paid to Leap. So going to switch, I don't even know how much it was that was paid to them, but seven gen was all over the place. There were been questions like they were being paid millions of dollars. So there was no question like tight lip. So I'm not talking about time manager right now. I'm, you know, let me wait until we're done with the time manager. Yeah. So I don't want people to get confused. I'm not talking about the time manager, but the time council. Are we done with the time manager though? I can, if it's okay, I just want to add a couple of things and then I would be ready unless anyone else. So I think that what all of you said is exactly along the lines of what I was thinking, but I would go as far to even say as the information that we did get often was misleading. Because I just have the instance in my head very clearly as to when we were trying to figure out if our first presentation would be to the town council or who we would even be presenting to. And he was in the meeting and never once did we get a clear answer to something that he had the answer to sort of just let us sit there and grapple about it for hours. And so that's something that actually really bothered me because even when the information was present, it was not given to us. So that's one thing. And then also I'm just going over here and looking at the town manager goals, which Lynn also sent to us. And there are a couple that I think we can point to directly. And so the second goal was community health and safety. And so it does say specifically in there for there to be for there to explore the alternative options for providing services and responding to issues of homelessness, mental health and other non criminal calls to emergency dispatch and present the results to the council. So it's really so where I'm struggling with this is I'm reading that. And then there's also the racial equity and social justice objective on the town manager's goals, which says things like he would ensure all community members feel that they are a part of Amherst and feel that they are protected, listened to and served by their public servants, foster a community free of fear, intimidation and violence and incorporate a significant involvement of BIPOC residents in shaping the policies and procedures. And so while I want to say that he did a good job at those things because we did them, I think this is exactly where the checkbox solution comes in. Like we did it. We looked at it. It's great checkbox. He accomplished all the goals and it was not sufficient in my opinion because we really struggled to get the council and the town manager to actually listen to the community members and their experiences and to actually value that to foster the environment's free of fear and intimidation and violence. I still don't think we're there. I still think we're we're pleading for the community and trying to convince them like for example you all had to continue to voice why active PD wouldn't be on the resident oversight board and some of those things which they're not there yet. They still do not understand those things and those are not things that would be carried out without people underneath their foot like with a fire underneath their foot. And so I don't think we should actually give credit for those things because those things were not done on his own and I don't think he would uphold those things on his own. And so I think it would be really important to talk about the sort of checkbox solutions and not actually investing in and listening to and what does it actually mean to provide an environment where all residents are listened to and served by their public servants because is that what this was? I don't personally think so but Ms. Pat. So I agree completely what you just said. What I would like us to do in our own evaluation is to cite some examples. So like the one you just brought up right now, the way I felt I think the time manager had the power to increase number of responders. Okay. I think if he had presented more money, more budget for the Cres program and make the case on our behalf for the town council, I think they would go along with it. Rather he started with the four responders. So I felt that you know we were not listening to by him because he had a primary budget that he presented to the town council. So we need to give examples like that. You know in addition to explaining the positives that you know the communication for example like you know you all have said you know how the budget process work I knew because I am very tuned into local government and politics. I knew the role of this finance committee. I might be one of the few outliers in our group. I knew how they you know works but not everybody you know had that knowledge. So that would be an example of communication breakdown right there. So we need to give some examples in our evaluation. It's the point I'm trying to make. Yes. Thank you Ms. Patton. I think that also for because one of the other objectives is community engagement and it states specifically encouraging and supporting new ideas and methods for expanding resident involvement in town government and awareness and then that would be a perfect place to use the examples of the pushback that we got for stipends. That's right. Because that is a new creative way to engage and increase public input and all of these things that are objectives on his goals we provided solutions to and we were met with resistance. So I think that those are important things to point out. Ms. Moyston. My assumption about the goals is doesn't really change anything and I'm not trying to go against anything that anybody said but my hope and assumption in the goals is that these are not a one like you can never achieve all of those goals like in in a small time frame like that like but he could have maybe worked towards them in a different way but I'm assuming that these are at the same time like an ongoing set of goals that will reappear on his goals year after year um just because the you know when you think about inclusionary work it always changes because there's you know and so I'm just assuming that those goals and it doesn't change anything again but I'm just saying that I believe that those goals go on I would hope continuously. However however yeah I agree however I think I will say and I'm thinking another group that I belong to a reparation group I think he did work with some folks the founders of so there are some areas it's all mixed by okay so yeah. Thank you Ms. Pat, Ms. Ferreira. Yeah but I mean we can only go by this and as a group since we're evaluating but based on interactions that we have with him here you know what I'm saying through the process with CSWG and even though those are goals that that you know he needed to meet all we can go at as Jennifer even though I know that it's going to be that he's going to continue to work on those goals but for us I mean we don't have the luxury in terms of safety right in safety from from members and when and we said time and time again we show proof through 7th Gen report and everything that this is something that is something that needed to happen not today but yesterday and and and you know you know 60 years ago not not not today you know what I'm saying so it's not anything that we can bargain with people's safety and inclusivity and social justice stuff that so I'm sorry you know this is good we need to include these these these examples these specifics in terms of of what it is because we don't have the luxury of time and to have them catch up later on in years to come and so on so forth no no it's about now and we provided you with a lot of information without blood sweat and tears in order to be able to to to move this forward you did move it forward somewhat and obviously as you've even said Jennifer and others have been saying we've had to like you know push down you know without without kicking the door down type of thing you know at our expense at our emotional expense our everything expense in order to move this this along but if it hadn't been for us at our expense doing this it wouldn't the needle wouldn't have been moved it would have stayed where it was when we started back in November thank you and I'm not I'm not saying that you shouldn't use the examples or that any of you guys are wrong or right I'm just saying that the goals in general are not like are some of them you know of course the health and safety of people should come first but some of them are just still would have to happen year after year because it's even harder just to engage in the community right like to get the community to come in and trust like that's hard it's not as simple as just saying hey let's have a zoom meeting or hey let's go out to this complex and see who we can talk to it's much more it's much harder than that because of the trust issue for many many reasons that there's this trust issue so I you know yeah I have to do it too so I you know thank you miss moisten and miss pat I have couple more examples and that that is the fact that we specifically stated that we don't want the top manager to hire new police officers and he did there was money you know set aside for that so I felt that he did not listen to our concerns so that's a good example of again communication issue I'll flip it the other way around also is the fact that while it wasn't from him but when CSW just stated that we would like to have rep with the press implementation program uh committee you know he allowed it so that's a positive one too okay so we need yeah because that's where I operate you know I was raised that in the way that in any negative try to see something positive that's the way I am even with my most you know open it or whatever I like to see something positive about anyone or any place or anything that's how I operate so it was mixed back mostly negative but there are some good points positive points too and I would like that highlighted thank you miss pat I agree that we should also include some of the positive experiences on the evaluation because I think that's important when going back and like self-evaluating in the town council is also going to look at these things so I think it's important I also wanted to touch briefly on miss moisten's comment and I understand these are long-term goals because a lot of these things are not something you can just accomplish at one time um but I do want to say for example the community health and safety objective which was pretty much to create the cswg right like he achieved that goal in the fact that he created the cswg we're here we did our charge and we made the reports but how much credit do we want to give to him for that when the process was so complicated and we really had to fight for it this was not something that we came in and it was a collaborative vision where the town staff were like what can we need and how can we help you we had to figure out what it was we needed when we didn't even know the process and then we had to fight for that every single time and so I think that being clear about the fact that yes he accomplished this goal and the fact that he created the cswg he found out how to get the resources for crests and it's up and running but we also need to acknowledge the fact that there were a lot of obstacles along the way and this could have been a lot more successful if those things didn't happen it would have night and day like I just I think we did incredible work and I'm extremely proud and and I think that our reports are magnificent but can you even imagine what we could have accomplished if there weren't any hurdles pushbacks if we had all the information we needed from the beginning I think that that would have been amazing and so we we want to put things in place so that that can happen for the successor group and that can happen for the groups to come the groups to come after us and so I think we need to be really specific and I don't and and I don't know if you all have already touched upon this glad to you know step away for briefly and then I came back and yeah when when you were talking Alicia made me think about you know just in terms of getting consultants for the part B I mean oh my god that was so much pushback that was so much back and forth so much kind of you know on on his part in terms of resistance to give us those and he kept on asking us the same questions over and over again and then by the time we got the consultants here we go we have two weeks left for them to do work so they're in a in an incredibly difficult bind and so there's no wiggle you know so that's another specific example that we need to really include because it made our jobs so much more difficult and so so much more anxiety and angst on our part in terms of doing you know being able to complete our charge which like I said that with with my other comment which to him I don't think was as important because he just wanted us to do was the oversight board and that was that you know when we were like no we have a charge to meet and then what you were saying is I don't know why maybe it's because again like you said maybe he was having issues that we were reviewing apd but that was the charge as we were supposed to be doing was looking at reforms for the apd you know didn't make sense thank you miss for miss pat so um and I'm trying to find the right word another thing that I noticed with the time manager was um sometimes the response time so what I consider and I can speak for all of you very critical for example when he did the preliminary budget that he presented to the time council there was no mention at all about youth center and the BIPOC cultural center because these are some of the issues I was pushing very hard with it was much much later that I found out that project like that had to come on that capital project is something that has to be planned so I did not know that ahead of time so I got integrated very frustrated like he didn't even mention anything about that so when I found that later through him in one of our meetings then it made sense but it took so long to get that information out like how can we do better when we need information to help us so that we don't get too frustrated okay and um so that's one thing and then another thing I found out after the fact was the fact that the time manager's thinking was when he hires the DI director might be the person that will collaborate with whatever group you know to plan the you know cultural center or something like that but not mentioning at all in the budget really troubled me a lot because to me those two projects are safety issues because we need a space that belongs to us where we feel safe together because there is none for us in this town that is practically none thank you miss Pat miss Owen I guess for me one thing that I kind of noticed and I didn't notice it until the second part of our charge is that he created our group with with an agenda of his own and that's why I think he was being so limiting with the time that we had when Alicia and I went to go make the power point for the second part of our presentation and we googled CSWG and we're reading articles from before our group was even formed the town manager and town counselors are saying wow this is going to be such a huge task this is going to take so much time like great so when we're formed why wouldn't you give us the time and I felt like in the second part of our charge he was like no like you only have time for resident oversight board and for the record we only paid LEAP $6,000 which is insane for the amount of work that they've done um and they would have been able to complete $6,000 and they would have been able to complete all of the work if they had the time that was one of the things the conversations that Alicia myself and others were having with LEAP they said if they had more time they could have done it all they had the skill set to give to give us the information the biggest thing was the time so that was something frustrating for me if you're going to commit to diversity equity and inclusion inclusion initiatives like you can't tell like you can't tell the community what they need we're telling you what is needed you need to give us the time and the resources to look into it and to provide I don't like I don't I don't know I just felt like he put our group together with the intention to pump out certain things and that's why he wasn't supportive and that's why he wasn't transparent about the consultant process and whatnot and why he wasn't on board with extending our group I do think it's great that Alicia myself and Russ can be on the implementation team but it's crazy to think that Crest was going to be implemented without us with the PD that's crazy that's crazy that we had to advocate for that like the conversations that we're having it's crazy I couldn't imagine like yeah so um one thing as you were talking I agree with everything you just said is that we're kind of like a lab test nothing like this before for the town and so for both parties it's all learning process for us you did not imagine that our group will be will really ignite you know public interests that we're going to push back that you know we're really going to go for what we're asking for I think what also disturbs me is the relationship between the town council and the town manager it looks like you know I mean as this you know pay the staff employee who runs day-to-day affairs of the town he should not always be catering towards the town council and I get that they are his boss that um I would like him to stand more firm in starting ways because he has the inner workings okay of the town government many day-to-day you know uh running the town for us and to me for the town councilor they are wonderful people nothing personal about them but some of them come with political agenda you know they want to run again and so some of what we're discussing may not be of interest to them so how does he create that balance it's what I'm trying to get at like somebody who who made a comment about supermajority of of a committee for example or somebody who think who stated that their their consent that APD will no longer insist what is that coming from so I think he should have been more supportive of CSWG you know explaining to the town council more but I don't see him saying much at town council meeting when we presented so that was a a source of frustration for me to you know to me it seems to me like the deals already made behind the same and then we just come in and it's rubber stump it's how I'm feeling because it's very little I've learned over the years the little that people talk the more that you know that the deal has already already been done behind the same that I know thank you miss Scott so unless there are other things that you all would like to add in regards to the town manager evaluation I think Brianna and I will be working on this tonight so if you did forget anything also feel free to just shoot an email but just I want to open the floor one more time before we move on if there's anything else that you all would like to add I would suggest that you guys do charge to Ross and Darius and Toshina for their input thank you miss Pat I will reach out to the other members who are not here tonight um so we did have the next agenda item which is the book discussion um Alicia sorry just to end off a discussion just to say just make sure you give them a deadline because it's due tomorrow so just yeah that you say hey we need this by then because obviously you all I know you all have lives too so you want to get this in and stuff like that so thank you miss Freira okay and so our last two agenda items are the book discussion and our final thoughts so um if we wanted to have a quick discussion about the book I'm not sure um miss Pat I'll be very quick um what I've been thinking about the book thing one is to preserve history because our town is known for not crediting BIPOC accomplishments so that would be like a living document for generations to come so the book will be donated to the town so the through the three libraries and I'm proposing that we have we have all the materials it's like putting it together and I'm envisioning the book to include all the minutes all the presentation you know all the documents that we have profile of each of us what led us to join the group all we've done in terms of social justice what what we're about so that you know with our photos so when you know many generations to come we'll see that so at least people who have publicly supported us you know their role their impact um working with us we will talk about town council our experiences with them um I'm almost think also um the consultant reports as well and articles from the media we need to include them from MSND and so on and so forth um I think we definitely need to fundraise you know um do the the nonprofit statues and you know we could ask people if they because we will no longer be just CSWG it will be CSWG team TEAM we can come up with another additional word but I would like us to keep the CSWG we have a website we want to keep our story alive we do not want all this hard work every week to get forgotten trust me being there it will be forgotten if we don't do this um it's my thinking we don't know what's going to happen after election you know we're approaching holidays I feel that since we still have the momentum um for us to after November 1st when we're no longer at bang bang by people meeting law for us to get this book going we will need help you know we can give it up tasks you know people who can look into publishers people who can get stuff together maybe we can get somebody to interview people people can submit their profile if we work together I'm pretty sure we can get this done by the end of the year so you know we started last year I'd like us to complete this project this year not launching the book but get it all together maybe launch it spring of next year that's just my I still have more in my brain but I'll shut up thank you miss Pat I think those are great ideas and I think um we're all on board for creating the book I think we did talk about that at an earlier meeting and so I'm really looking forward to that and I'm wondering because I know we talked about the the non or you talked about the nonprofit which I also think is a really great idea and all of those things and so if we had a time where we all could meet I know we're going to send out the doodle hole for celebration yeah but I don't know if this is something we want to talk about while we're celebrating maybe yeah yes okay and so I'm hoping that we can talk about it a little bit more in depth then and hopefully all of the CSWG members will be able to be there and in person which would be great so I'm really looking forward to that um I don't know if we had the idea that we would go more in depth to the book conversation tonight or just that we agree that we are gonna make this happen miss Ferreira yeah I don't think we need to go more in depth to it but like you said I think when we meet next in terms of celebrating is the kind of put together maybe like hey we meet once a month or something like that because I think we're gonna need to still have like some type of meeting or something or just an email check-in or whatever you're saying so that we can just keep the work moving but the other question though because when you were talking miss Pat and you were saying about us obviously including all the kind of information relevant to this year of what we did in the work so I want I have a question to you Jennifer in terms of that so all that information so how long is the website CSWG website gonna stay up because I know we had said we wanted it up so that the next committee could also have that information but also we want to know that because we want to obviously be able to get a lot of like the minutes to this that the other to make sure we have all that information before it goes somewhere yep so full transparency the minutes are a little bit behind but the co-chairs we voted last meeting for them to vote to approve those so that they will get done and most of them are in draft form the problem is so much is said at one time and I can only type so fast and then I end up speaking and being engaged and then I and I have to just go back to reflect to make sure that I've gotten everything because some of the minutes are like eight to ten pages long it's always hard to figure out what not to include and what to include in the meeting minutes here because some really powerful and needed stuff is being said that needs to be actually documented somewhere so that can happen now regardless so I think that the CSWG page should stay the way that it is typically when a group is disbanded it goes to the archives you still have access to it it's just listed under the archives and so I can show you better than I can probably tell you so so let me pull it up and I can show you so can you see it now no no oh right because I gotta hit share can you see it now yes so now this is an active page right off of amherstma.gov community safety working group what ends up happening typically and we can you can also be found if we go we want to just going to go back so if you go to third time's a charm if you go to your government like you would typically you could go through here from a through m but typically boards and committees go to the archived boards and committees when they disband so I um and this is all of the like select board is here the audit all the other boards and committees um within a certain amount of time frame are still there so the information will be accessible to any board I'm hoping that we can just leave it I mean I don't know if there's like a legal reason why we switch it to archivers that's just a preference but I would think we would want the community to be able to have the fastest access possible to the web page which would be to leave it up live but I will have to talk to paul about that okay maybe at the next when we meet you could let us know so that we can yeah I mean I but I want to talk to him about it probably tomorrow because you guys are over on November 1 and then I don't all of a sudden want the page just to be gone yeah because that was the way that it was instructed so I will check with them and then I can just send an email you're still at cswg tomorrow remember though when at our other meeting we had said that we wanted it um to stay up because again with for there to be continuity for the for the stand right and so again it the information there is still accessible and people can still access it through the website it's just an issue of placement but that's what I'm saying what we have said was for the website to you know for the web page to stay because since this is still an active you know right but I can't make that decision right I wish I could like I have to bring that to paul and paul is the one that makes that final decision right and I I believe that it should stay because it makes it I just think that too many people around the country could possibly be looking for and to have it stuck on archives is too difficult right so the easiest way to do it is to leave it there but none of the other disbanded bores are there so I don't know I don't know the process behind that and so I have to talk to paul about it thank you miss moisten and I'm sorry brianna to put you on the spot but um brianna and I did meet with mr. bachleman last week and I think we asked him about the website I just don't recall what his answer was brianna if you remember I keep it I don't know if he gave us a straight answer like that I'm actually not sure yeah see I thought he said that he was that it was going to stay in for the CS the community safety and social justice committee um that that's what I thought that's what I thought too that's what I was saying that but I guess we need to we need to because obviously we know that you know things change I think we need to get that in writing yeah I was going to say that if the coach had if you guys don't mind like send an email you know so that he can respond to us that we're requesting to have that up on the end of this year that's not too much to ask the end of december well I don't know if we want to put a time limit though miss pat I think we want to just want it up until while these recommendations are being implemented I like that I mean I like that better and if it if if he's going to go with the way of archiving it I would suggest that the css jc have a direct link to it because that's where people will be looking for it moving forward after a certain timeframe so you can access it from the css jc page either way where it stays so people have I mean my whole thing is about people having the fastest access to it I hate when I go on a website and can't find what I'm looking for right so to have the quickest access to it is what counts because this is something that other towns and communities are going to be looking for to see what our process was and what we did and so I think that the page needs to be accessible in multiple ways and hopefully not right away archived and if it is once css jc is formed then we need to put it on the cs have a link from the css jc page that brings you right to the archived page of the cswg does that make sense right so just kind of I would rather have I'd rather have people when they go to do our town website be able to locate it not going through another group like what we have right now I agree with that I'm just trying to come up with alternatives in case we're told otherwise I don't know what he's going to say he I is our second report on the website yet oh yes I put it on there thank you thank you so yeah if you can Breanna if you and Lisa can send him an email and so so he can let us know because obviously that's something want to put on to keep that up website up while these recommendations are being implemented okay thank you miss farah we will reach out to mr ball woman um I had a question yes very unrelated so um our rep mended down wanted to reach out to two of you do you guys mind sharing why they want to contact you she didn't reach back out when I responded so I don't know okay I'm just curious um I did not respond to the email yet so I do not know there was an email that was forwarded to cswg I believe from Jennifer no she sent it directly to the cswg and she asked me for the addresses of the co-chairs and I said well the co-chairs are included on the email so we'll wait for them to respond and okay okay okay so that came directly from her not from you miss moisten I was also thought it came from you did it I thought it I thought she sent it directly to you guys I mean to the cswg yeah I thought she sent it to cswg too okay well it's 730 oh yeah she did that's how I got it I'm she might have been under the impression that usually it's just the emails directly just to the staff liaison typically so she might have been under the impression of that and yes it's 730 can I just can I just say my final piece so it um so this has been an incredible experience right um and I've learned so much even my own self as an employee here about the budget I mean I've learned the same time you guys learned right we're all learning together and it was also so beautiful because I'm somehow interconnected to every single one of you in a different way right so when I think about miss pat miss pat and I used to work like over 25 years ago for bhn in a residential home and who would have guessed that 25 years later we would be working together here at cswg um Alicia I've known her and my son have the same birthday so I've known her forever and her family Brianna went to school with our kids and you know I know one of her very close friends we're we are connected miss Freyja of course I you know I'm connect your brother you know when I was an upward bound and I was a teenager acting a hot mess was was there and um you know like I said Russ was always supported any of the cultural events that I spawned you know that I was involved in and Tashina like many children and one of my kids is her godson right so we're just and and Mr Paul Wiley I'm pretty sure was principal at one of the schools that I attend either middle school or high school at some point and so we've all just been and Darius I've known and it's been great to watch him grow and I have to honestly say Brianna when you first the very first meeting that you came on as the co-chair and you were just so nervous and you were like I just I can't even and you and you were co-chair with Mr Wiley and just to see you to your confidence build and your comfort level and Alicia you're you're running like I'm just so proud of every single one of you and I again I know that you guys have been frustrated and that things didn't go 100% the way that you wanted them to but I stand tall when I say when it comes to a board and committee you guys have made more movement than any board or committee and you really need to to be proud of that and I know that it's frustrating but you guys have also I think kicked down the doors a little bit for people to come in to be more involved because they're seeing that the voices are being heard to some degree right so all of that is is just so important and I'm so honored to have been a part of that and to spend every Thursday night with you guys and sometimes Wednesday nights for like the last year um you know I'll just fill my Thursday nights with the reparation committee now so I'll still feel loved and I just hope that we stay you know connected in some manner and so it's just been a true pleasure and I so appreciate everyone. Thank you Mr Winston, Ms Ferreira. Yeah I wanted to do my final final thoughts officially even though I'm sure we're going to still continue this um you know continue working together and continue shaking things up um you know the same thing it was an honor and privilege to work with you all um you know I got to know a lot of you you know through this process I've heard about a lot of you obviously Ms Pat you know I've always heard about you my brother and my sister-in-law a lot of people would always talk about you and what a powerhouse you are in the community and so it was a pleasure to get to to work with you together and to you know to to be pushed you know by you to think differently to learn to you know it's it's been you know great and then Tashina and I we were pregnant together we have kids the same age and so on and so forth I've known her for a long time but it was great to work with her um and then you know Alicia oh my goodness you know I just remember just you know you again yeah at first kind of you know being just observing and things like that and then all of a sudden you know you start just just going in and just sharing and and being you know your strong self I'm in awe that you're running and you know obviously that is just you know phenomenal and you're going to just continue to bring the needed change to this town and you know and your voice is is is just so much needed and I've gotten so many people that have heard you and of course you too Brianna and I'll get to you too but both of you um talk throughout these you know the council meetings and on the meetings and they were just blown away and you all have served as role models to the younger generation you know to give them that energy to give them the the the wherewithal to also do this you know what I'm saying and to be themselves and to be strong and and to move forward so it's just I've gotten you know a ton of people saying that about you know the two of you so just take that under your hat keep being you and keep being strong um and then and and and that your mom too Alicia I mean you know you you're you're doing it but just remember for self care though remember self care and taking care of yourself because you got to put that oxygen mask on yourself first and then you can help everybody else you know so make sure you do that and then Brianna the same thing you know obviously I've heard a lot about you and you know and I've learned so much from you too again your strength I remember at the first town council meeting you just you know telling the town council members you know how dare you put a sitting you know on the outside of the meeting while you're talking about our recommendations you know and just being strong and always being a leader and you and Alicia just working so well together um it was just you know phenomenal and thank you so much and continue doing your thing um and then you know Paul Wiley obviously I knew Paul outside of of CSWG and I appreciated just his his kind of starting us off like I said and his patience and kind of taking us through things um and obviously it was you you know Brianna and and Paul which I thought was you know great mix and it set it up really nicely for Alicia to then take over when Paul had to leave and and I do I call you all the dynamic duo the ones that you know I'm making it happen in this town of course Darius I think that it was great to have him when he could be on and I know that this is going to serve him you know moving forward and that's what we're doing right we're building leaders not even for tomorrow but for today so I I know Darius is is going to continue to do big things and and this is going to be a great platform from him to jump from and then Ms. Moisten obviously oh my goodness we wouldn't have been able to do anything you know without you if you hadn't you know been there and and I know it's it's it's that you know a lot of risk you know to you uh to to to have been able to be so upfront and to share um and it's just been great to get to know you um and Ms. Pat I'll say more about you um obviously you know uh it you know your your you know in my culture as you know your culture too being from Africa and being from you know my country you know you are one of the elders that we give respect to because there's some elders yeah because there's some elders though out there so you know that I don't know if they deserve our respect but you deserve because you are a warrior you know you choose the power you know you are out there and and you've taught me so much you know because of the fact that obviously as you know I've I've worked you know a lot within an institution and everything and that's a different way of being so for me it was very liberatory very freeing to be amongst this group um to be able to be myself be courageous be brave um and I think that that those are some of the things especially in this day and age that we want to be able to share right because as a black person as a person of color that's not always a safe thing to to do a safe thing to be um so for me you know it's been a growth opportunity for myself too and I've benefited even though it's been a sacrifice in terms of obviously being with my kids when I'm here but for me I thought it was all worth it um for what we accomplished but for my own personal growth so thank you all so go ahead Miss Pat okay so in addition to what you know you guys have said I agree I think to me a couple things that jump up to me on the very first night when we met I made a decision you know carrying my culture as one of the oldest in the group um that I'm going to you know step back and let the younger people um lead and I remember that night somebody nominated me to be the coach here I didn't want and I believe it was you Deborah and I said no and then Brianna was gracious to say I'm interested in being the coach here I said to myself yes that's what I want and to me it's an honor to be with this group where I serve the role of advisor behind the scene because this work can be very hard and um we might come to meetings and it feels very easy sometimes it's not so I you know very grateful that I was able to play that role and I remember when we went through the transition I called Mr. Ross I said we need to have two coaches it was my suggestion and he goes yeah so it happened and you know Brianna and Alicia you did not disappoint it's what I wanted in my culture when younger people accomplish stuff I'm sure it's the same thing you know Deborah and Kevin it's like when younger people accomplish stuff it's a glory to the older people and that's that's the statement I'm trying to make in this how elder doesn't mean that you wouldn't allow younger people you know to be in leadership role because when younger people are leadership and they're doing well the glory also not only that it goes to the younger people it's the same thing with parents your children are doing well and children doesn't mean like biological child okay they're doing well it reflects good on the on the elders I've had some of my friends says are you comfortable being called elder I said absolutely because you know I've always aspired to become an elder I know America is a youth society and I want to redefine that because being older is beautiful being older comes with wisdom being older comes with respect that is if you do you if you do it well so I've really enjoyed that status in this group and you know um and I don't take it for granted at all I've already said what I wanted to say I'm just grateful you know to have been come closer to you all you're all like my extended family like children when I say children in African towns it's not about age at all we don't go by age there are people who are like three or four years older than me who are Nigerian women and I I call them by title it's a it's a sign of respect we don't do you know miss missus or auntie because of age it's the statues they play in the society and I've been trying to model that for a long long time like when people come in by first name it's not that I don't want to be called by first name but if America is a melting point you need to learn about other people's culture you ask people what you want them to be called because when I see my elders fellow Nigerians I will never call them by name even if they're one or two years older than I am because that's the way we are we go sir mr missus yes ma auntie and I don't want you know I don't want that um I want to celebrate that it's a pride thing it's a good thing it's not something to be you know they're ashamed of or something like that I don't I think I've liked in this in our meeting is we're very informal I like how we laugh I like how sometimes we are off meeting why should we follow white standard of meetings you know to follow meetings Robert Robert rules or something like that you know that's what I look forward to every Thursday because I'm going to be joined by you know relaxed people that you know our meetings will be very informal you know touching I can go forever I can go forever and so on and so forth I think it's the beauty of this group that makes me people say wow you guys spend so much time but I look forward to come to this meeting because it feels like I'm talking to extended family members that's how you that's how I see you guys all of you and um the last thing um that I really appreciate about this group is our honesty risk you know risk huge risks you know we put ourselves out there okay and um and I felt that we are a team I didn't see anybody sabotaging anybody and trust me I've been in so many groups including special education CPAC group where you have some people you know going back to the administration saying I did not see that in this group and that's what made us very strong and I will never forget the role of social media Facebook um the groups that have supported us you know um who have come to the risk you know to support us it didn't used to be like that before you do that in the past and I missed your giving names it did not you know so we've come a long way that we still have you know much longer way to go so thank you all thank you all so much the struggle continues we will hold our elected officials accountable I am looking for results I'm not going to give up and go blood alicia next week and so all progressive candidates okay thank you miss at miss moisten I just needed to go back because it's going to be kind of hard because I'm going to like people say things and then you're like oh I forgot to mention that and I was going to write it down but then I was like that you know sometimes when you write it down it doesn't come out the way that it needs to but I also just have to say is being for a long time the only african-american person in this building and then for like the last two years the second maybe sometimes at one point a little bit of a third the validation of the way that the process works and the validation of the way that people treat each other was so I don't want to say rejuvenating but it was just it was just helpful to me because you know I have a response every once in a while we'll all just be like well I'm just an AA I must not know what I'm talking about because I'm kind of sarcastic at the same time when I'm trying to say like maybe this just doesn't work but it was just really needed because it's people don't understand that when you are a person of color and you're in what I call what we all call or know to be white space and the reason why it's so complicated for them is because it's white space and they don't ever have to think about how they might feel in a white space when they're white but it's different when you're a person of color so whether or not you tell you know Becky Cary and Sherry and their man like oh you're being lazy and that's fine if you say that to a person of color we might take it a complete it might we just might be like you're just racist right like bottom line because the world sees us in that manner and it's just so hard to explain that to people so the validation is was so that came out of this group was so helpful and so needed and I so appreciate it it's been a struggle microgressions are real we thank you for staying on we appreciate you because I know it's not easy we thank you so much it's not but I wasn't going to let anybody else sit in this chair because I was like I don't know how anybody let this play out like that just don't make no sense to me you know I should say that I can relate with that as being the the only black restaurant owner in our mess and people will come to me like admiring that you know I made it and everything but it's never good to be the only person it is never never good it's very isolating you're not navigating white spaces all the time when I is meeting so whatever the decision makers I've been there it I missed you know unlike where I am now in handling when I walk into the building that's my building that's what you call bifurc place because the people making decisions there are bifurc administrators it was done strategically on purpose it feels different for me or like when I run my business here so I hear you Jennifer um I felt that way it was not easy and I think yeah to be the only person is never good I want to see more of us whether it's in business where I is and you know decision making employee jobs more of us is better than very few because it's very very challenging you can't speak for everyone you can't and it's isolated high expectation yeah there's high you know expectation you worry so much like people who are looking up to you you know you have to negotiate all the time it's hard yeah and Deborah I'm sure you were identified with that too at your job it's not it's never easy to be the only one right there up there it's not but I I think all of us because I know like Alicia and Brianna we all went to Amherst it's I'm right and I was forever one of the only people of color in a classroom or on a sports team or involved in this and my son says it now who's 15 and my 27 year old said it and my 20 year old said it so it's very often that we are in a space where we are the only ones and I I think that is part of the reason why this work means so much to me though because it's you know when you go into a building and don't see a reflection of you it's not a good feeling right and I'm not saying that like if I walk into a building that I need to see another black person I just need to see a BIPOC person or somebody who is out of the norm of what is norm because it makes me at least feel like there's a temp there's a try or or or to make people feel comfortable like that's a real feeling and you guys have definitely made that feeling known and so I appreciate that thank you miss moisten miss elin yeah I mean I just want to say what everyone's been saying like thank you all for providing that safe haven every thursday um this last year has been insane and you guys have all mentored me in so many ways but I'm so grateful miss pad we've developed a personal relationship outside of cswg she helped not she helped me navigate grad school applications last winter like the leadership that you all have taught me and given me through allowing me to be the co-chair I was a nervous mess as vice chair I did it because I had the extra time and I was really passionate about this work and because I kind of felt like how you all felt I constantly in white spaces and the further I caught I climbed when I graduated college and started working as a director I just realized that when you're BIPOC you don't have the luxury of being anything but great and in the workspace and coming to these meetings every thursday was always my safe space it was somewhere where my lived experiences were always heard where they were always valued and affirmed and I am so grateful for it I'm so grateful and I'm so grateful to share leadership with Alicia because I did know her from high school and to see her grow into this great leader and to see her run for town council I'm so excited to have somebody who has similar shared experiences as myself to be representing the town government and to be there for the community and I'm so excited and I feel like this last year was a sprint but the marathon continues so you know as part of our book you know I would like you know us to include the impact of our group we have one of our members you know wanting to run um I know Vira is like a pro you know uh also that I think you know all the movement what was going on you know also helped and just to have a very um exciting campaign this year it's refreshing even though I would have loved all the seats challenged so we're going to have some incumbents that you know will get back the voters you know they didn't have the choice to vote them in so it is what it is but a couple more years is coming and so we will continue to hope people are accountable and not just during the election time to make promises that not fulfill so we hope that more people of color will run so that it will not only be Alicia it will not only be Vera it will not only be uh Ben Harrington it will not only be Hala it will not only be a nigga we would like to see more you know moving forward thank you miss Pat and I also just wanted to add I know you all have touched on a lot of the things that I would have wanted to touch on but just to share that this has been such an incredible year and just thinking back at the progression of this entire group and coming into this honestly nervous and afraid because I didn't know what to expect and we're talking about like a very charged topic at a very at a time where it was very heightened in society and so I went into this really passionate but really skeptical and really afraid as to what what was really going to be ahead of me and so to see how things unfold and to just go back to what Deborah said is I sort of like sit back and watch so I'm an observer in every space that I'm in and part of that has to do with like that's how I learn um but but another part of that has to do with the fact that I did grow up as a BIPOC person in Amherst and so every space that I enter I need to observe before I can interact and so I had to sit back and see what was happening and see what was going on and there came to a point where I realized like this is a space for me this is a space where I can say what I need to say and you all aren't going to judge me you guys are going to understand and not only are you going to understand but we're going to work together to come up with solutions and I have never existed in a space like that in my life um and so this has been like a monumental part of my life and I'm sorry because I'm gonna cry I already hear it coming out in my voice okay we give you permission that's okay it's all african sin go ahead I couldn't have imagined the relationships that I built um with you all and also what Ms. Moisten said and Brianna this has been the most validating experience of my life because I have lived my entire life thinking that like I was the only one or that my group my friends and my family we were the only ones and so to not only have the connection with you all but with the entire community has been so validating that I am not alone and I actually stand in this with an entire huge community and there's so much passion and so much power and like look at what we created right like look at what we can create when we come together and when we're not afraid and when we're leaning on each other and when we have support and I think this just like alludes to a bigger thing that needs to happen here in Amherst and this this is the potential that I see this group this has made me so hopeful and and I don't want to make this about politics but that's why I'm running like this has made me so hopeful like change can happen we can work together we can make people listen to us when they don't want to listen to us and I never knew that I had that power in me and that there were other people in this community that also felt the same way I never knew that and I don't think I would have been able to know that without this group existing and so I think that I am like extremely grateful I can't even express my gratitude to you all that I was able to work on this project with you all and I feel so connected and so supported and and Debra you are so strong like when you talk and the ideas that you present I think those are some of some of the words you say replay in my head all the time especially when I'm in the implementation meetings I want you to know that that a lot of the time what you say is replaying in my head and it keeps me going and it keeps me focused on you know this is our goal here and and Ms. Pat I really do look at you as an elder and and I admire the work that you have done for the community so far and so the honor that I felt when you and Mr. Russ actually nominated me to become the co-chair was something that I also cannot describe to you and I felt like it was my duty to make you proud like I had to this is something that I wanted to give back to you because you have put in so much work and and and I want you to see that this is going to carry on and so pass the baton right and I'm taking it and I'm proud and and to work with Brianna was amazing because we grew up together we went to school together but we actually weren't friends in high school like we didn't talk we didn't hang out we just knew each other I talked to Brianna almost every day now Brianna is going to be my lifelong friend um and I and I can say that confidently and I am just Ms. Moyson like you reached out to me I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you and you actually had to like find me because your messages were going to my spam folder on Facebook and I wouldn't have even known that this opportunity existed and so I think that I don't think this happened by accident like we all came here and and there was a purpose and I think that we really saw our greater purpose play out and I'm excited to see it continue to play out because I know it does not stop here and I'm really excited that Ms. Pat you've put so much thought into what's next and so I'm just I am elated I am so happy I am so proud of you all I am proud of myself and I don't often feel proud of myself because like Brianna said I always feel like I need to work extra hard and maybe I'm not doing enough and maybe I need to do more and this is like one time that I am extremely proud of the fact that I was a part of the CSWG and and the products what we produced here and so I really thank you all and I don't know what I'm going to do with my Thursday nights now it's going to feel empty for a little while while you you you'll be doing your homework on Town Council agenda meetings um just to share very quickly some of my memorable times was when I reached out to Brianna and also Alicia I said you guys should think about running and Brianna was like uh thinking about I'm not sure but school isn't that so when I knew that definitely you know this is not the year for her I supported her decision and then Alicia was like um I'm thinking about it seriously and then I remember um everything is you know uh it's meant to be and then I remember going to the Crest Implementation meeting where Brianna asked me to sit in for her and then after the meeting as we were in the hallway Alicia goes I'm going to run I'm like she made it I was beside myself I was like can we announce it I think you know um uh CSWG are you okay just political whatever yeah okay and then we had that a meeting the only in-person meeting that we had I said can we announce it here it was like no I'm like okay so it was just you know very memorable for me to um know that one of our youngest member was inspired from the work of CSWG to step up and run for the highest office in this town how cool is that you know so I you know it was just incredible and then my good friend Vida was like Miss Pat with all this is going on I'm just going to run I'm like of course you know you'll have me your cheerleader right there there was just a lot happening so it's it's been an incredible year for me in particular thank you Miss Pat Miss Ferreira I'm just going to shut off my video because I think I'm having issues again with internet but um but just wanted to say just one last quick thing about Tashina I mean she was just awesome too throughout the whole process I know I didn't talk about her as much just in terms of how I knew her before this but it was a pleasure to work with her on it and all her points you know were just just so brave so courageous I remember the first time that she brought up the whole thing when the town council had kind of tried to come in on one of our meetings and talk about you know how we hadn't started our meeting on time or it was one of the the when we were talking to the public actually when we had our first public zoom meeting and everything and how we had started it a little bit later and you know and was questioning the public meeting law whatever and then Tashina was like that was really disrespectful and and and her kind of trying to bring us a task on that and so for me that was like a light bulb too and it really made me think yes we need to be honest we need to be ourselves we can be ourselves and this is just too important not to be so um I think you know for myself and I think you know for you know so so many of us here right now it was just a moment of just growth and and really being courageous so thank you all thank you miss Ferrera okay and so are there any um oh miss moisten you know what I I'm trying to make my hand brown I was trying to do that the other day just sometimes you have to go to settings right like on the on your computer before you like oh okay yeah okay all right I wasn't really had anything I'm sorry and I was fully listening to everything everybody said but I'm someone of people who have the brown hand and I'm like I want a brown hand and I and I'm sitting in different meetings trying to figure out how to do it and like and I'm like oh they did it but thank you I also just sent everybody an email so if you guys remember and Alicia was talking about this earlier that we had applied for a grant through the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Performance Lab and so we didn't receive the grant but we were eligible to be a part of their open form communications and boards with other communities and so I just forwarded an email for an event that they're having in regards to the ARPA funds and behavioral health crisis so if you're available or if anyone can please um you know register to do so thank you miss moisten I'm so sad I don't even I know I was gonna say well the next week I'm not sad because we're going to continue not on town committee capacity because I feel that we're still going to continue to be connected through our book our activism holding our officials accountable I am not you know letting it go and some of us hopefully will join this sexual group as well so we'll be find ways yeah that would be nice to be able to be free in a like a setting with us exactly that's not being recorded where I'm like that's right that's right yeah nice okay yep and so are there any other topics not anticipated within 24 hours of this meeting no 48 hours oh sorry 48 I had 24 on this I'm sorry um and we don't have a next meeting date but we'll have a doodle poll for when we can get together to celebrate and so with all of our business complete I am calling this meeting adjourned at 8 o 3 p.m. for final final time so for the the get together is this like open to the community or is this just us I wonder the community if they want to join us I just because I can you know we can spread the word so what do people think just us and part of me wants it to be just such as so I could like you know talk to you all and not have to be you know open meeting law and get to you know talk some other stuff okay okay and then we can have another one you know we can have another one where we invite everybody but I think it would be nice to just talk to each other I'm so sad we're done huh I said I'm so sad we're done I'm gonna miss you guys so much oh stay positive kids I hope you don't mind me telling you kids that's African way don't feel sad don't make me cry we'll be we'll be alright we'll be alright we'll be alright stay tough stay tough what a thought would be looking for those meetings that are four and a half hours long Thursday night like right like I'm be like there's a lot of room going on in my day it's been fun it's been fun again but we just all grew together we all grew together right yeah that's amazing yeah I'm thinking about it I think we should just meet ourselves and celebrate so that we can talk about the book and how how we want it yeah you guys are right yeah I'm just saying like I don't even want to hit end so you guys will have to like clock out on your own because I just can't I just can't do it I can't you know typically I schedule the next meeting after this and I'm like I'm gonna schedule another meeting by summer meeting well see some of you at the town council meeting on the 8th I am going oh I will reach out to some people to mobilize for public comment too I think that's something we can do yeah I can reach out to the fund for the fund yeah I can return to be a rep one of the rep to save yeah and and hopefully miss pat has applied for the the new group because I have so I I told you I did yeah I did didn't you get my email back I did okay okay okay good so we can text you or email you back I think it was I might have missed it I might have missed it though so I responded back yeah okay yeah all right so we have to get more people though more BIPOC to apply to that too so Jen like how many you don't have to mention names like how many people apply seven I think we have between seven and ten I'm not a hundred percent sure but what I'll say is you know we need more it would be nice to have a better I don't want to say better choice but it's always nice to have a good pool of applicants and candidates for anything that you're doing right and so you know okay everybody brings a different perspective and so that's important okay okay oh kid okay yeah you gotta hit that bye button you gotta hit that leave button one have a good night you all