 Good morning. Good morning. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing okay. So much for the snowstorm. Oh, I know. I thought I was going to be working from home today because they had predicted like 10 inches in northern Connecticut. And of course I woke up this morning and there was nothing. Well, I listened to the local news at night late at night and they said, well, they have never aired for 18 years. She said, you know, and I have been a weather forecaster for 18 years and I have just made the biggest mistake and she wasn't the only one and it just went south. Right. Exactly. Yeah. But it's still some areas are affected like Cape. They're still expecting three, four more inches. Right. Right. Yeah. I think central mass actually probably got quite a bit too, like between Worcester and the Cape that looks like that southern part of. Yeah. And New York, I think is getting quite a bit too. So, well, I'm glad at least we didn't get much. Right. Right. Exactly. And all the kids are at home enjoying the snow day with no snow. I know. Yeah. But I think it's difficult. Yeah. Yeah. Before they didn't use to announce closings until the day early in the morning. So I understand they want to make it convenient for people. So at least they can sleep in late. But yeah. Myra, you're here, but you're muted. Am I unmuted now? You are. We can hear you, but we don't see you. Yeah, your camera is off. My jaws is gone too. This has happened to me before. You can't see me, but I did turn the video on. And the jaws is gone. Let's see. Don't worry about me. I might disappear and come back. Okay. Or I'll just stay invisible because I can hear you. And if I leave, I don't know what's going to happen to me. Maybe I'm just going to stay invisible. Is that all right? That's perfectly all right. No, I'm having. The jaws is supposed to go through my earphone. I have called about this a bunch of times and they told me what to do. And every time I do it. Jaws disappears. And I, I'm. They're smarter than I am. I don't get it. They changed the way it works. It used to work differently. And since they changed it. I can't figure it out. But anyway. So today is a dad of a snow storm. I suppose that's good for you because you're, oh no, you're not. Pamela, you're not. I'm actually in Amherst because it was such a dad of a snow storm. I was like, I don't really have an excuse to work from home today. Oh no. I'm sorry. Where do you live Pamela? In infield Connecticut. So yeah. Oh, so you got more snow there. Yeah, they have more snow. But I mean, they had predicted like. 10 inches. When I woke this morning. It was just wet roads. And by the time I left ahead for Amherst, maybe just an inch of light snow. So I'm. Expecting maybe, you know, some. You know, the ground will be covered and the roads will be wet on the, but I actually. I guess it was snowing lightly, but by the time I got out to Holyoke, there was absolutely nothing but dry pavement. And the oddest thing. So snow plows on 91 North. Putting down salt, which is good, but absolutely like dry pavement. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. I was just going to say my daughter just texted it's a snow day. And her sixth grader said, Oh no, no snow. Do we have to go to school late? I missed the joke. Elise is here. Oh, good. Oh, I just said my sixth grader grandchild. Said this morning about an hour ago. Oh no, there's no snow. Do we have to go to school late? They have a snow day and there's no snow. We had a number of those the last two years I was working. But if you went up the hill into Pelham, what we had as rain, they had a snow. So they could have six to eight inches of snow. We could have nothing. Right. That's happening now. My daughter lives in shoots, Barry. And she said, how are you doing? She said, we have no snow. It's. Right. Yeah. Well, they said the further north, the less you know, but yeah, it's, I think the sad thing is in New York where they have that really important replaced George Santos election today. They have so much snow. I think they have a lot of snow and I don't know if people are going to be able to get out and vote unless they went really early. They were saying this morning that many people have already devoted. I hope I mail. You know, maybe, yeah, let's, I hope so. Who knows. Yeah. So there's three of us currently. I know Marty cannot be here. So there's four. Oh, you're here. So we have four. I'm invisible in because I can't make my speech work and I can't turn on my camera because I can't make the speech work and I can't find the right place to do it. I'm here, but I'm invisible. It's sort of fun. Yeah. So we could start because we have a quorum. Yeah. I did not hear from Cody. Or from a James, although he asked if we were going to be. Open today. And I said that typically the town does not close. So I suspect that he might join us, but I did not hear that he would not be joining. And Marty was the only person who said that she would be unavailable. But I can start by reading the intro and perhaps I'll join us later on. Thank you. Okay. So the disability access advisory committee is meeting virtually today on Tuesday, February 13th, 2024. For starting to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via Zoom or by telephone. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. And the time is now by my watch, 1132. Excellent dramatic reading. Thank you. Okay. So because I have no speech on my computer, I don't remember the order. Does anyone have any announcements? We have to do a roll call. Oh, right. We have to do the roll call. Okay. So Myra Ross, I'm here. I believe we have Sarah and Darren. Yes. We have Ian. Yes, president. And we have a leaf link. Here. And do we have James. No. Do we have Cody Rooney? No. And I know that Marty Smith cannot be present. So currently we have four, which is a quorum of the DA AC. Yes. Does anyone have any, have any announcements? Okay. Oh, go ahead, Ian, and then I'll follow you. I do have an announcement. I have one too. Okay. I don't have an announcement, but I have an item that I was hoping to add on to the agenda. Okay. If there's time for it. There is before next. I think before next Amherstown council, I think we have to do a roll call. Before next, I think before next Amherstown council. A ceasefire resolution. And I was wondering if the DA AC would be. Interested in, in. Lending support to that from a disability. Perspective. That's a really good course. And I can say more to that. If we do add on it on to the agenda. We can put it on to the agenda. Yes. Okay. For under, I guess new. Well, things without 24 hours. 48 hours. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. I have an announcement, which is sad. The reason Marty isn't here is that her husband passed away last week. And he was ill for a long time, but. Nevertheless. They were married 45 years and. She's not here because she's dealing with some things that have to do with. You know, with. With the fact that he passed on. The saddest part for us. Is that Marty is going to move from Amherst. In the summer. And so she decided to move. To live near her daughter and her grandchildren. And so she has requested that we find a replacement for her. On the committee. And it's very sad because quite frankly, there isn't any replacement for her. And so I guess. I think she has to write a letter. Okay. So she'll have to give notice, but as of July 1st, we're going to need another member again. And I told Pat, the Angeles about this and that. That she should keep in mind too. Once we have some applications to. Try to get Paul to fill the vacancy before he filled the last. Which was eight months. Or, or more. And so I'm hopeful that we can find someone. Does anyone know a retired architect? Because quite frankly. Her presence as an architect was incredibly valuable to us. Or is still incredibly valuable to us. But if you know any retired architects. It would be really great if we could get one. I think anyway, or if you know anybody else. Who would be able to, you know, lend a lot to the committee that would be really good. Anyway, it's very sad. Yeah. So. Um, number. With the, the next, oh, Kamala. Yes. So my announcement is that. Asa is no longer working for the. Um, D. E. I. Department and the crest department. So his. Oh no. Internship with us has come to an end. Um, so. Oh no. Yeah. Wait, did he go somewhere else? So, um, yeah. He's no longer with us here. So I think that the situation. You know, I just have to leave it at that. Okay. Yeah. All right. So I'm sorry. Cause you. Right now could use a little assistance. Um, Uh, okay. So the agenda. Um, there's nothing that I recall under old business. I mean new business. So I actually did. Oh, I'm sorry. I put some things there. Okay. I put, um, three items under new business. The posting of the DAC minutes era. Um, I don't know what happened with that. Okay. Um, so. I received an email from Maureen. Um, no, I'm, yeah. No, I'm sorry from Jennifer. Mullins. Um, Uh, inquiring about the approved minutes for the DAC. And my response to her was that they should be up to date, except for the last meeting. Um, and she went to look for them and found that there had been no minutes posted from 2021. Until present. So. So I'm not sure I, um, what happened to the minutes that Maureen posted. I suspect that she and I were doing things. Um, similarly, and they were not, the town has two systems for the postings of, uh, public meetings and archiving. And they don't speak well to each other. Um, which is a real tragedy. So if you went to one section of the town website, you know, all the recordings are there are at the agenda packs are there. But they're, um, but the minutes were there. So it has worked with me. And all of the minutes that I, um, Have from my tenure are now posted, uh, and in the correct, uh, space, I'll have to reach out to Maureen to see if we can track down the, the minutes between 2021 and the time, which I took over tenure of the, um, You know, of the board, but as the board liaison there, they're, they're not posted. So this could be where we might be able to be helpful. Did, did anyone, uh, I have some of them, I suspect. Does anyone have any of the old minutes? Does anyone keep all of that? I might. Yeah. I might. So what we, when is the first date that you. So the first date would be January of, of 2021, um, which probably would be June of, uh, July 1st of 2021, but I will go back into the system. And I will send out the specific dates and I'll just do it, um, as an email to the entire board and you can send them to me. And then it can help me to, um, To prove, you know, to upload the minutes, but yeah. Some of what we have might be draft. Um, instead of approved. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, but. I think if we all. Can see what we have. In this case, I think we should write. We should all send. To everyone. Because there's no reason for Elise. To come up with all of hers. If somebody else has already sent them in. Right. So in this case, we can do a reply also. We can all see what Pamela has received. Okay. I mean, they're to me, right? I didn't pick on you, Elise, but I'm just saying, you know, why would you go to the trouble if you found something that somebody already sent in? Because it's just very hard for me to like, you know, Skim, like dates and stuff that people have. That's very hard for me. That's a lot of extra work. Um, I'd rather just send in what I, what I find. But I can send it to everybody if you want. Okay. All right. Pamela, how would you want us to do it? So I send it to you. Yeah. So I think I'll just make it. General ask of everyone. And, um, and I'll reach out to, uh, to, uh, Tori as well, because she might have some, um, because she was on the board during that time. And then it, everyone can send them to me and I can sort through them because what I'll do is I'll create a file. Oh, so here's James, uh, joining us. I'll create a file and then and store those, those minutes there. All right. Okay. Perfect. And I found that a, in my folder, I have everything saved there, but I remember Maureen didn't, uh, was not really prompt on submitting monthly minutes. Sometimes she would just hold on to them and then, I mean, or behind, behind doing that. And then, uh, she would send them all at once. So I'll see what I have, but I might have some information here. Into this after we're done with our meeting. Oh, thank you. No, this is great. I think we'll be able to get, get you to what you need, even if it's not in perfect fashion. I think it'll be good. James, if you're looking at the picture or Jim, if you're looking at the picture, I'm invisible, but I'm here because I can't get my speech to work. So I can't turn my video on. Just telling you, because you're talking to a ghost, but I'm actually here. Um, okay. So that one we can clear up for you, Pamela. Oh, that's great. So, okay. So I have two other items under non, um, um, um, under new business. Um, so the second one, and I think you might want to address this as the non voting counselor liaison. I have some notes, but if you want to address it, that's, um, that's fine. Okay. So the town council, um, sent out, Lynn Grisimer sent out something. Three weeks ago. Uh, asking for. Chairs of board. If the board would like to continue to have a town council liaison, or if the board would like to have one for the first time. So she sent it to all town boards and committees. And, uh, they can, they are supposed to write back by Friday and tell her. Whether they would like to have continued. Or whether they would like to have liaison. So I didn't even think about it. I wrote yes. And I sent it back and then I thought Pamela thought maybe we needed to get a vote of the committee for that. So, um, Pat, D'Angelo has been our liaison. Um, She doesn't come to all the meetings. She's not required to. Um, she is supposed to be somebody that we can communicate with when we need to get information to the town council, which we have. Um, and she's been very supportive of that. Um, it's not up to us to decide who our liaison would be anyway. So all we have to do is tell them whether we want to continue to have one or not. So I guess I want to know what people think. This is Ian. Uh, I would be in support of continuing to have one. Okay. So it at least. Okay. Yeah. I'm thinking. I know there's, I know there's, you know, you know, you know, you know, I'm thinking, I know they're so busy, but I wonder if rather than have them attend every meeting. Should they be our contact person? Well, that's what they are. They don't have to attend every meeting. It says that in the thing from Lynn. Um, it says that they're not required to attend every meeting, but it is pretty much a contact person. And I'll explain why that's actually relevant to us when we get to another item. Um, but, um, so she, it's like, we can do it exactly. However, whoever the liaison is, cause we don't have any input into that. Um, you know, they'll, they'll be our contact person. That's exactly what it is. And they'll come to as many meetings or if they can. So how do you feel about it? Yes. Okay. Jim, do you have an opinion? I think you're muted. I don't hear. Um, so, I mean, you're saying she's been supportive and not obstructive in any particular way or anything like that. So it's useful for us. Oh, not remotely obstructive. Um, I would say supportive in every way that she could be. And she's very available. So if we want to talk to her. Um, I've, I've had lunch with her a year ago. And I, Marty and I met with her recently about an item that'll come up. Um, tonight, today, but she's, I think it's, there's no downside to having a liaison. I don't, I don't see one anyway. Okay. Then I'm fine with it. And Cody just joined us a minute ago. Oh, okay. Hi, Cody. I'm just, I'm going to tell you this. I'm invisible because I can't make my speech go on because I can't hear my computer right now. Um, but so I don't know how to turn on my picture, but I'm here. I'm sorry. Um, all right. So Cody, we're asking whether you want to have a continued liaison, continue to have a liaison from the town council. Um, I would be in support of that. Okay. Great. Thank you. Okay. So we can, we can move to the next meeting. Okay. Unless you have more information than I do Pamela, we can move to the next. So the last item that I have under, um, new business is just approval of the minutes that I sent out. So. Okay. There were missed. I got minutes for January nine. The regular meeting. What you don't have yet is the, uh, minutes for the special meeting with Amherst college. Right. So we can move to the next meeting. So we can move to the next meeting. We need a motion about approving minutes for January nine. Okay. I'll at least we'll move for approval. Of the minutes. Okay. We need a second. I'll second. Okay. Any corrections or additions to the minute? No. Okay. Uh, all in favor of approving minutes from January nine. I guess we need a roll call. No, we'll say, uh, all say I. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, if we do it that way, we don't need to roll call for everything. Okay. Um, All right. So we have to go to old business. And the old business, um, which is the first one that you listed. Pamela. So the first thing that I listed is town hall accessibility. Okay. So just to keep everybody on the same page here. Last month we had. A discussion which had no end because. We figured out that. The, uh, there was no variance ever reported. To a variance request at various application requests ever reported to us. For the lack of accessibility of the town hall steps. And so we, Marty wrote a letter. To Chris. That aggressive. And she said that Rob. Um, The. I think the head planner or the inspector. I'm not sure. Yeah. The inspector had, um, Had, um, Written a variance. And. So we told that to Pamela. There's much more to the story, but this part of it is. That we told that Pamela and she wrote to Rob a couple of weeks ago. And the last I heard less than a week ago, Rob had not responded. Has he by now? He has not. So I've actually made two requests on the last one included a, um, A copy to Dave Zomac asking, and I have not received a response. Okay. So the issue here. Is sort of complicated. Because. According to the. Uh, M. A. B. M. A. A. B. Is anyone who applies for a variance in any municipality is required. To send a copy of the variance request to. The, the, um. Disability. Uh, Committee or whatever it's called in any town. And to, I forget what they call Stavros officially. But any kind of a place like that. That, um, That has anything to do with any town. They are both supposed to respond to that. If they're not in any town, they are both supposed to receive a copy of any variance request application. We did not. Apparently there was an application filed. In March. And it was approved. In March by the M. A. A. B. Without our knowledge. I don't know what else you know about the application, but. The fact that we have received no response in when we requested this application. Uh, And response makes me a little bit wary of what's really. Going on because we should have received the application in the first place. And after two requests, we haven't received the application in this. Um, I don't know about Pamela, but I know Marty and Pat and I met. Um, About this. And that's how we, um, Pat was supposed to. Well, I guess we're waiting to hear from Rob. And. This is not good. Because the town hall steps. Are not accessible. We were not given an opportunity to object. Right. So what, what do you know, Pamela, that we don't know? The only thing that I know, um, was that, uh, Patty Angelis was scheduled to have a meeting with a town manager. I think it was to address this issue in, um, one other. And, um, for circumstances, I'm. Not fully aware of the meeting had to be postponed, but other than that, I have no other knowledge. And, um, you know, I, uh, will continue to request, uh, the information from, um, from Dave and, um, Dave's, I'll make and Rob more, but they haven't responded to my, to my request thus far. Uh, Anybody have any procedural ideas about what we might do. From this point, because it really doesn't take very long for somebody to send an application that they already filed and the response to it over to Pamela, I would think perhaps it's a 10 minute chore. If you're disorganized, if you're real organized, it's a two minute chore. And for some reason it hasn't been done. And I, if Marty were here, she would be pushing this very hard, I think for us to take additional steps. And I don't know what those actually could be, but I have some ideas. Does anyone else. Well, I mean, I am pretty upset about the whole thing. They're ignoring their, their duties in a way. The, what is set with the regulations. So what I kind of think. I would prefer to do is write a letter to the town manager. And include Ximac there and this guy who didn't respond. And also write a letter to the. State office that makes the regulations that they should not accept any variance unless they hear from the board of the disability community in that town. Because if the, if the application, the copy is sent to the independent living center. First of all, not all towns have independent living centers. We're lucky to have one in Amherst, but sometimes, you know, it just gets, they just file it and they don't think that the town needs to be made aware of that. I mean the town council. So in a way, there is some kind of a link that is lost in the middle. So I think, you know, to address this and I would, that's what I would like to do. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I guess my concern is access to town hall. And I would hate to see us get involved in a fairly lengthy. Discussion with people where they probably end up saying, geez, we're really sorry it was an oversight, but we still won't have an accessible town hall. I think this can provide us with some ammunition that the town continues to neglect access and really push that. But I would prefer to see us develop a strategy in terms of what are we going to do to make town hall more accessible because otherwise I just don't see this as really being fruitful. So I'm not saying it isn't important. I'm not saying they shouldn't have included us in the deliberations. Of course they should have, but the reality is that's done. They're working on their damn steps. And so what are we going to do to make town hall accessible? I guess some people think that the steps that they had a lift on them could have been made accessible. I don't know anything about that. I mean, I don't know. I mean, it's just nothing. Nothing I have any expertise on. And we can't change the topography of the sidewalk on the side. The only thing we could do is work on the back entrance. That's the only thing that could be done. Right. That's not exactly what the law says we're supposed to do. Especially 30 years after the ADA, when they've done two projects to make, you know, that have to do with entrances and neither one of them is accessible. And so you've got, you know, you have the service entrance again, right? Which is exactly what the ADA was trying to prevent. So I, Jim, I hear what you're saying. What do other, what are Ian, Elise, what do you think, Cody? I don't know. I see all sides of it. No pun intended. Um, yeah, I don't know at this point. I don't think we have any argument to make because they, they will say, well, we already got a variance for that. Yeah. So there's really nothing much we can do. And also we have, we provide accessible enters through the main street. So they will wash their hands off. I think. I don't know. Pamela, do you have any advice for us? So, this is a civil rights law. Yeah. Ignoring it really runs me the wrong way. Right. So I do. I do have some advice. It, uh, it places me in a difficult position, but I think that, um, one of your, um, the strongest positions might be to reach out to the mass office of disability and to ask them to review the current options for accessibility to town hall. So, um, I'm forgetting our contact that's there. But yeah, Jeff, right. So he, I mean, one of the things is one of the services that they do provide, because he came out for another issue is to come and look at specific locations and provide, um, advice about whether, uh, a location meets the regulations. And, um, so that I think that would provide you with, uh, very good strong argument for, um, for moving the town forward. I agree with you that I do believe it's a civil rights, uh, violation. Um, and I think that it's, uh, as you, as you pointed out, it is noticeable that we've made to request and the information has not been provided that, um, that doesn't seem appropriate and, um, to me, but I think contacting Jeff Dugan would give you, um, the ability to have someone who is, you know, uh, in theory and neutral party and, um, who has expertise in, in this area and giving, uh, an opinion about the current status of accessibility of town hall. And, um, so that might be a course of action. Good idea. Good point. Yeah. Yeah. Good idea. I can write to Jeff Dugan. Yeah. Um, and I can ask him if he would be willing to come and do a site visit that would give us some suggestions. And I, do you think I should, in that letter, tell him that there have been two construction projects, neither of which has resulted in an accessible entrance. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think providing him with all the information. He's also a member of the MA AP. He, uh, so he would have access to sit, um, to review those filings. Um, or I'm assuming that as a member, he would have access to the information that was filed. So I think providing him all the information, um, is, I think that's my best advice for how I would proceed. Um, and if you think he's on, do you think everyone on that board hears all the cases, or is it sort of like the district, you know, like the appeals court, and they're only sent three of them. And, you know what I mean? I think that, that the board, um, hears, um, most of the cases, the only time that I, uh, the last incident that I was involved with Jeff Dugan, he came out and did a site visit. He knew that there was going to be, um, a hearing its application coming up on the issue that he saw and, and he was going to notify the board when it came up that he had done the site visit. So I don't, I think he probably recused himself from voting, but, um, you know, was there and able to provide information about what he had, had, you know, seen on the site visit. So I think that he attends, you know, all of them, but I'm of course not a hundred percent sure, but I think he's the best course of action. Okay. Course. Another thing we could do is ask them if they could send us a copy of the variance application and their decision since we haven't been able to get it. I mean, that's playing a little bit. It's playing hardball a little bit, but that's not on us. That's on the people who aren't sending us the application. That's right. And I'm very curious to see what kind of, what kind of wording they use to ask for the variance. Was it like too expensive or there was no solution or what? Well, that's what we don't know. Yeah. We don't know that. Okay. Well. Okay. We can leave this one and I will write to Jeff Dugan. That's a great suggestion. Thank you, Pamela. Great suggestion. Okay. Yeah. And, um, Uh, next item. So the next item on the agenda. Uh, is information about the Hickory Ridge grant and that is the grant application that start that alerted us that there have been a problem with, um, The minutes from the DAAC. So all that I know is that the application was submitted on February 1st, but I haven't followed up with Jennifer or anyone else. Um, and I think it's probably too soon, but they're, they're deadline deadline for submitting the application was February 1st and it was submitted. I do believe that, um, Ian's information was included in that application. Oh, perfect. Okay. Thank you, Ian, for sending us, uh, the letter that you wrote. That was good. I was just double checking my inbox and I sent that on January 31st. So hopefully it did get in there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Because, um, we got zero notice about this grant. Um, I think the first we were contacted might have been January 31st. Um, so thank you for, you know, for stepping up so quickly. Um, and that was great. So we'll see what happens with the grant that they applied for, but it was sort of messy because. Well, it was messy. They weren't happy that they couldn't get the minutes. And, uh, and, uh, Pamela, very nicely let them know that it had nothing to do with her. I mean, I take responsibility for, you know, my own errors, but since the errors were back to 2021, there was something else that was larger going on. Um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, all right. The next one is becoming a commission. Oh, yeah. Um, I sent that memo. You received it. Correct. Pamela. Yes. They did receive it. Okay. I sent it to Lynn, Paul and Pamela and Pat. And I have received no response. Oh, you, you know something about that. Okay. I do know something about it. So it seems that the, uh, one of the key, uh, people that we omitted from that, um, Uh, email or from the memo, and I was not aware until recently was, uh, Athena O'Keefe who is the clerk for the town council. And so she, um, asked that I forward the memo onto her, which I did. And then she responded with some additional information. And I can, um, I can take some time and sort of give you a summary. She sent me the, uh, process for, for the town council to undergo that the town council would undergo to make the, um, commission, um, or to make the committee a commission. And then she has set up a date for some of the municipal staff who would be involved to meet. And so we're scheduled to meet on February 26th to start this process. And, um, And so I'm going to skim over her email. Um, But basically she said that the council's governance ordinance and legislative committee will need to send, um, a recommendation of lists to the town council for action. So they would, They would review, review, make a list that says we're recommending that the town council take action on changing the compass, the nature of the board. And the council will first need to approve what you knew, new, um, chapter 40, um, section eight J. Um, and she thinks that, you know, um, That pat de angeles would be willing to sponsor that, um, provision. Um, And then let me follow up with that. Um, she thinks that the town manager would likely dissolve the DAC before establishing the committee and appointing members. And then she just noted that, um, The maternal law chapter 40 section eight G has very specific requirements for who should be, um, Members of the, what would be the commission. And, um, and so I'll have, I'll obtain more information for her when we meet on February 26, but that's just a basic overview. So, um, Pat de angeles, we hope would make this recommendation. Um, the governance committee would then move it forward for a vote by the, um, for the full town council, the town council would have to vote to approve or, um, Or accept mass general law chapter 40 section eight G. The town manager would then dissolve the DAC. And then would appoint, um, uh, The members of the commission pursuant to, um, The requirements of the statute and, uh, you know, I've, it's been a little bit of time since I've looked at the statute, but I think the current composition of the board, um, Is pretty close, pretty much mirrors what the statute would want. So I don't know that there would be any significant changes in the Composition of the board, but that's the process. The board can go up to nine people. Um, so if we, if we, if the seven of us, Or it will be six without Marty, if the six of us. Don't satisfy all of the categories, they have three more people. They can appoint without taking any of us off. Um, so, um, So, okay. So the 20, that's an internal town staff meeting on the 26th. Yeah, I will ask, uh, Athena, if she's, uh, You know, would want the co-chairs to join us, But right now she's just set up a meeting for, um, for me, um, For the town manager and one other member of the staff. Um, to go over the process. Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you for the work on that. That's good. So we're moving forward. Yay. And in the letter, just as I forget who suggested, I did say that it would be appropriate to do this in Joe Trangalli's honor. Mm hmm. And I did. Yeah. He had wanted it for so long and because he was a member of the DAAC for a long time. And, um, So I did mention him in the letter. Good. Um, because he was the one who was brought it to my attention anyway, but he was, he was pushing it when Jerry Weiss was the chair when Joe was on the committee. Yeah. Um, and probably before that, which I didn't know about. Okay. Um, all right. Thank you very much, Pamela, for getting us that information and for getting the ball rolling. That's right. This is great. I hope they don't object because almost every other town in the state seems to have a commission. So I mean, it wouldn't be the first time that Amherst has to be different, but I hope Amherst will just do it. Anyway, okay. Um, next item. So the next item, um, um, which really I think could have been combined with an earlier one, but it's the handicap parking near town hall. And I don't have an update on that as well. All right. The one thing that Sarah and I apologize, because the one thing I didn't put on the agenda or ask Pamela to put on the agenda has to do with your issues with the snow removal that you brought to us last month. And was there supposed to be some kind of a conversation with the fire department? Uh, about helping people or about having a way for people who need help to not to notify somebody in the event of a snow emergency. Especially after work hours or on weekends. But were we, I mean, there's always a fire department, you know, a 9-1-1, there's always a fire department. But the question is, should we as a disability committee commission, whatever, should we try to develop some kind of a number, you know, like, you know, to call 9-1-1, you know, to call 9-8-8 for suicide prevention. Now that you know, to call 2-1-1 to get a vaccine phone call. I mean, there are certain numbers that people are supposed to know now, but I'm sure we can't get a three digit one. But would it be reasonable for there to be some kind of a telephone number for people who are disabled? Or for people who are disabled by age, even if not by disability, to call if they can't get out because their streets haven't been taken care of or their PCA can't get in. Or I mean, that was a very, very important observation. And I don't know how we should take care of it. Anybody have any suggestions about where we can go with this? I didn't put it on the agenda and I apologize. I wonder if there should be a number dedicated to that to be used on weekends or after work hours and maybe put on the website, the town website, very easily accessible for people who are looking for it. I think that's a really good idea. And it's not just weekends and work hours. I mean, it's like what if all the town offices are closed on a Monday afternoon and, you know, you need to get a PCA in on Monday night and your street isn't clear. So I mean, it's the same thing. And there is no number. Who would be in charge of that, Pamela, to see if we could get that. Right. So I don't know, but I'm also going to suggest that we not have this conversation because I think we might be in open violation of the open meeting law. Unless you're going to bring it up under other business, not anticipate it within 48 hours, which wouldn't quite be true. No. Right. Right. So we should. Okay. We should really table the discussion. Yeah. Okay. I apologize, Sarah. Okay. So we're, we were taking no action, but it's worth. It's worth thinking about. Yeah. They've come up next month and last month. Okay. So. Yeah. So there's, there are a few other things that I have received updated information on. So I'll just continue through the list if that's okay. So the next thing that I had under old business was there. You asked for an update under for information about the accessible pedestrian signals. So I, I, yeah. So I did. Email. Guilford mooring. I had, I only did it. I think maybe a week ago when I received the information about the agenda, I have not received a response for him, but it's only been, you know, a week. So I will reach out to him again. To see if that, if he has any updates on that. The next agenda. Sorry, Pamela, Elise. Were you going to say something? No, I was kind of just mumbling because I've noticed that again, there are certain ones that are not working. It's just, it's just to. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I have to say last week we went for a walk on university drive and we walked from route nine up to amity street and back down. There are a couple of sets of lights there. And some of them work like at each location, one of the lights was talking and acting properly. And you can tell that they did some work on them. So at each location, one of them was working, but the one on the other side of the street. And it wasn't working. So you couldn't tell where to cross to, and you couldn't find the locator tones on the ones that weren't working and it may be that they just ran out of money and they decided that they would do one at each place rather than none. Not understanding that doing one isn't terribly helpful. So it may be that they ran out of money, but I can see that they did something. And I can see that some of the other ones are working. The one in the ones in town kind of work, but there's still, I have to say, there's still too quiet. There are times I have not heard the walk signal. And it goes that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that very quietly. Correct. Here on the university traffic, traffic noise is really loud. And as the weather gets warmer car stereos ramp up. And you just can't hear anything. Okay. So that's what you need to report to, to Gilbert. Some of them are working. They're too quiet. And some of them are the opposite side of the street. One isn't there. And it could easily be because he ran out of money. Yeah. So I don't know that, but I think he should know that we know, you know, that, that we've, I appreciated the one that was working, but I couldn't figure out where to go on the other side of the street. So it wasn't exactly helpful. Okay. All right. Pamela, the next one. Okay. So the next is an update on the months and library grant application. So you guys will recall that a Rob watchella. And Chris submitted an application for more. I think it was an assisted technology for the months and library. So the town was not successful in receiving that grant. Rob states that the process was very competitive and he is looking for some additional feedback on why we were not successful, but he has not received any additional feedback yet. Okay. I recall, I think it had to do with making the entrance accessible on the side. It wasn't only technology. It had to do with making, making the side entrance accessible so you could go out of the place where people wrote without going back through the skinny door into the very small entrance. So that's too bad we didn't get that. Yeah. So the next thing on the list is the accessible trail bill. So I received an email from Meg Bandara who had come to the committee and requested support. And she reports that she has some great news. That the bill received a favorable report from the joint committee on environment and national, natural resources. I'm just giving through her email. It looks like the bill is now on its way to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for Evaluation. She asked for continued support. And she has a, an online petition that she would like folks to support. And I can email that to you if, for your review. Thank you. Yeah. So I will. If anyone's involved with any other organizations with, for people with disabilities, any other advocacy organizations or anything else that you would like to hear from, if you have any questions, if you have any questions, if you have any questions, if you have any questions, if you have any questions with disabilities, any other advocacy organizations or anything else, this would be, if you forward the whole letter, it would be great. So people can know who to contact on Ways and Means and also sign the petition because it's, you know, it's for all, you know, people with all kinds of disabilities. So the more the merrier who signed it. Okay. I'll forward the entire her entire email to the, the meeting. I'll forward the entire email to the community. Thank you. Okay. I'll just update the next things, the remaining items on your agenda are a general public comment period, but you don't have any members of the public and then other business, not anticipated within 48 hours before you adjourn. Okay. So is it time to go to Ian's request? It is. Okay. You have the floor, Ian. resolution that will be discussed at, I believe, the February 26 town council meeting, a town council resolution for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, and I wanted to bring it to the DAAC because of the particular nature in which what's happening there is is affecting people with disabilities and I'm just I have a quote here from a WHO spokesperson that about the Israel's targeted bombing of hospitals and health care facilities and that these attacks have affected 98 health care facilities including 27 hospitals damaged out of 36 and affected 90 ambulances including 50 which sustained damages and in addition to this given that the siege that Israel has Gaza under no medical aid is getting into Gaza and so doctors and surgeons are having to conduct surgery without anesthesia and I can't imagine having undergone any of my surgeries without any anesthesia and so I just wanted to raise it as an item for discussion here and my personal goal would be that we if the committee agrees on it send a letter of support for the town council resolution anybody have any comment I think it's a great idea to do that yeah I would support that yeah I'd also point out that the Israeli occupation of Gaza is also creating a lot of people with disabilities not just health care facilities that are under stress but but a lot of especially kids it's just terrible yeah he's right yeah and the mental health issues are probably universal oh yeah the mental health mental you know emotional disabilities and those the kind you can't recover from at all pieces all over the globe it's a fact in families that have friends and relatives in those areas so it's absolutely also a mental health matter I would definitely support Ian yes you know I would support it too on the on the ground that that there are certainly people that this is creating a lot of people with disabilities that this is creating incredible mental health trauma for everyone so I think we just have to be careful that we frame it in in that we frame it regarding disability because we don't have any charge other than disability so everything that we deal with has to have to do with that so Ian are you would you like to draft something Pamela can it come from a member of a committee kind of doesn't have to come from me had it what's the protocol here no so no so Ian could draft a letter on behalf of the committee you've all expressed support of the letter you could take a formal vote if you wanted to but you've all expressed support and so it would be perfectly appropriate for him for him to draft the letter on behalf of the committee and submit it to town council how do you feel about it Ian I'm more than happy to write that I'll send it to you who should I send it to first before submitting it I guess I'd like to see it okay I mean yeah so I yeah the 26th is a week and a week yeah almost two weeks from yesterday two weeks from yesterday okay so yeah if you can get it to me as long as you frame it all in terms of people with disabilities and if you can do some research I don't you know you have a little bit I guess but if you can do a little more that gets you some more data and it doesn't have I mean it's gonna be easy to find I would think that would be I think helpful and I think for this committee to weigh in we should take a vote so somebody want to make a motion I can make a motion that we are going to support the ceasefire and then our support for people with disabilities and newly becoming disabled and Ian is going to write the letter the draft of the letter and sent to Myra a second hey Pamela do you I'll give you a minute do you have something you can read to us as a motion still writing yep it would be helpful if I unmuted I thought all that time you are thinking and writing now okay so I have a motion from Sarah and to have the DAC write a letter of support in favor of the resolution for ceasefire fire which indicates support for people with disabilities and provides some additional data that letter is to be written by Ian and the second was from Elise okay I guess support for people with disabilities yeah I mean the ceasefire would would yeah I can we find a word that's stronger than support okay you know that it that it's you know that so it's a motion to support the resolution because it's so the letter is in support of the resolution got it okay okay all right so we have a second so let's take about all in favor of Ian's motion of Sarah's motion please say yes yes yes yes all opposed and all not voting so I guess it's all of us six of us and nobody said no and nobody didn't vote correct thank you very much Ian for bringing it actually yeah thanks great I mean it's like Amherst having a foreign policy again it's like the good old days we always used to have a foreign policy when there was a town meeting and now it's getting back to the good old days of having a foreign policy okay I guess that might be it yes that concludes your business for today good okay yeah so with record time we went through all of that I will contact Jeff Dugan Ian will write a letter Pamela will try once more to hear from Rob or you're not waiting you're not going to try again no I will I will reach out to Rob and to Dave Zomek I will also reach out to Guilford and so you might ask Jeff Dugan when you in the letter if he is able to provide you with copies or I can reach out to the MAAB and seek copies of the variance request what would be the best way to do it to ask Jeff to get them or I think it would be good if the MAAB actually knew that we had never been provided with the application and that we had that we need it so that would be really good if you would be willing to write to them on behalf of us just to let them know because if you just Dugan doesn't need to know that we don't that we never got any any we were never consulted about this as we should have been by their own regulations but they need to know it right so yeah so I'm I can write a letter to the MAAB and seek a copy of the application and their approval of the of the variance request do you need a motion from us to tell you to do that if you don't hear from them in a certain amount of time as a cover do you need us to tell you to do that by a motion it would probably be helpful yeah what I was thinking okay do I can I get a motion that speaks to the topic of contacting the MAAB for copy of the variance and the decision about town hall steps if we don't get one by if we don't receive it from the town by I don't know February 20th give them another week what do you think what's a reasonable date people so you're thinking of sending that request to the town first no I I need I don't want Hamela to contact the MAAB without being told to do it by us because I think it puts her in a bad situation right right so what you were suggesting is we communicate this request with the town once again and if we don't hear from them we are going to request from MAAB yeah I guess what I was suggesting is that if we had a motion that said that we will that if we don't receive the application and the decision from the town by February 20th we ask Pamela to contact the MAAB to get that information yeah that's reasonable that's very good yeah yeah we want to make that motion yeah I can make that motion okay we request the town to send us a copy of the the decision MAAB to regarding the steps of the town hall if we don't get this any get this by the 20th of February then we are going to request that to come from the AAAB directly okay second from Cody any discussion of this Jim what do you you are you're an administrator type what do you think you might be frozen no he's not muted but he might be frozen oh yeah Jim can you hear us he's frozen yeah Jim can you go out and come back in we'll wait oh hello who's about to say something he's saying something but we don't hear right and he doesn't know that we don't hear oh well he should be able to hear us Jim can you can you hear us thank you ahead okay there you are he can hear us okay oh you're back okay okay we think you were frozen okay so do you have an opinion about this motion no I'm in favor I'm sorry I couldn't hear you he's in favor he's in favor okay I didn't hear what he said okay a quick question this is Ian do we need to specifically say in the motion that we're asking Pamela to send it yes I sort of I thought that that's what sarin said okay yeah yeah yeah we need to we need to empower Pamela to do it um because the third that her third request needs to be um you know three strikes and you're out okay so I need a vote I have a second from Cody have a um okay so we need a vote all in favor of the motion to ask Pamela to contact the AAB MAAB for that information if we can't get it from the town by February 20th please say yes yes yes yes all opposed all not voting okay so it's six to nothing in favor all right now we can adjourn so I needed an oh the next meeting would be wait it would be March 10 March 12 March 12 at same time same place okay can we add that thing in the agenda the snow removal oh yeah yes please I'm so sorry yeah I I didn't mean not to include that when I got the minutes I said oh my god I should have put that in okay all right the motion I need a motion for adjourn sorry my quick announcement that I should have made during announcement period but I forgot until now sure um so I do a lot of organizing around student debt cancellation um and there's an event coming up at the end of the month uh about debt and disability it's a community assessment call just a quick description of it join the debt collectives disabled debtors cohort to discuss the ways debt and disability shape our lives we'll share recent experiences with total and permanent disability student loan discharge talk about the challenges of navigating healthcare and housing while disabled and discuss how we can fight back together so I will send that link to Pamela to share and that's on February February 27th from 7 to 8 p.m on zoom okay thank you very much thanks for your activism right motion to adjourn okay thank you well we need one I need I move okay a second okay Elise move over to Ian's second all in favor of adjourning hi okay all opposed to adjourning wait Cody are you opposed to adjourning oh no you're in favor okay yeah we're just a little late okay okay all right so next meeting February 12th uh March 12th okay when it will be almost spring okay all right thank you everybody that was a good meeting thank you thank you thank you Pamela oh you're welcome Pamela thank you bye