 This is the meeting of the disability access advisory committee beginning at 1138 a.m. We have three members present. Elise link. Say you're here. Here. Marty Smith. Here. And Myra Ross. And we are awaiting. Sarah Darren. And I know that. Tori Dixon will not be able to be joining us today. Okay. So do we have. Do we have any announcements? No. Okay. Marty, you do you want to, I don't think it's on the agenda. Yeah. I just wanted to ask you to tell us about your plant. Meeting on Thursday. Yes. So I'm meeting at nine o'clock with Guilford and Christine. To. Talk about the North. Common project. And the issues of. Putting another accessible. Project. That is the side of the North common. And I'll also be speaking to them. About accessibility at town hall. I spent. Part of set Sunday afternoon with my. Electronic level. So I'm going to be speaking to them. I'm going to be speaking to them. No way to enter town hall. In a wheelchair. The grades run anywhere from. Zero to. The worst was 11.9%. Maximum ramp with handrails. 8%. And. It's. But that town hall entrance has got to be done. And I noticed that the town put out a request for. Construction prices for replacing. The. Re-setting. The. Front stairs to town hall. And if they go ahead and do that, they're going to have to. Request a variance. From the architectural access board. Which will come through us. But we should deny. I wouldn't go that far. But I want, I. What I found is that the town never files variances. When they built town hall, there should be a whole pile of variances. When they did the renovation. And there were no, according to. Maureen. There are no variances on file for town hall. And that should have been done. And I don't know. I'll find out if that, if they actually. Know that they need to file a variance. Because the number one. If you do any construction. You have to have an accessible entrance. And an accessible restroom. And right now we don't have an accessible entrance. I think they did have one. I think they think they do, but that's right. The problem is the slopes sidewalk. Not the. Yeah. Well, it is actually it's the whole. Because an entrance is more than just a door. It's the path from the public way. So it includes. Either from a drop off. Or from a parking space. And we don't have any of that. Can you envision what they would have to do? Like when you said. It. It's too high even to have a ramp with handrails. Yeah. It's just a small portion that is that high. But still most of it's well over 5%. And there's not a flat landing at the door, which there should be. Right. It's 3.9% at the, at the door itself. So I think what they're going to have to do is tear that whole area up. And they're going to have to put in more drainage. I know why they, why they have a slope of 3.9%. At the door. It's because if you didn't, we'd have water coming into the building. Right. But that has to be solved with. Better drainage. They need more underground drainage. They need more underground drainage. They need more underground drainage. They need more underground drainage. They need more underground drainage. They need more underground drainage. I think the, the greats are too small. They don't. Take enough water. So do you have any sense of the cost that this might be? It could be half a million dollars or more. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty. Massive. But they're looking at spending 200,000 to reset those stairs. Yeah. So, but I think this needs to be addressed. This is the most important building in town. Yep. But it's interesting. They didn't even think to. Request funds for that, but they did to set the front steps. Well, you know. I've run into. To this throughout my career. As people. See something that looks like it's accessible. And they think it is. It's. People don't understand and nobody. Very few people understand slopes. And how that works. Right. So, what if you put them in a chair and told them to do it? Yes. Well, I'll tell you, you're taking your life in hand in your hands. If you go from boltwood down to that entrance. Yeah. That is truly. Yeah. It's not. It's not worse than a roller coaster. So. So. Can you also show them. The entrance that we discussed at the last meeting. Not the entrance, but the. The north, the, the south pleasant street end. And why it needs to have. An accessible parking space there. As well. Oh yeah, that's the east side of the. Right. That's on the east side. Yes. Definitely. That's because that's in our minutes, but that doesn't mean that anyone's going to pay attention to it. No, that's actually what this meeting is about. No, I'm talking about the west side. Of the. Common. Yes. That's what you're talking about the east side. No, I'm, I meant the west side. The west side. Across from a bank. Yeah, across from the bank. Yeah. And I went and looked at that. And I think it'll work. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Cause while you have them as a captive audience, there are two issues. There's one on the east side by town hall. And there's one on the west side. Yes. By the bank. Yes. So that thank you so much for doing that. And I'm glad that they're willing to go out there with you. This is great. Yeah. No, I'm glad too. And then our other meeting is. Yeah. We have another announcement. Can I interrupt for just one second? I'm going to go off camera. Cause. Oh, I missed it. My phone was ringing. I was going to check to see if that was. Sarah and trying to reach me. But if I disappear, that's the reason why. Okay. Okay. Thank you. So we have. We have a scheduled meeting between. Marty. Pat Pamela and me with the town manager. On Friday. To discuss the situation with the accessible. The accessible traffic signals. And Elise, I don't know. What you know. About what we just left the meeting. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Whoops. No, she's gone. But anyway, okay. I'll just say it's because it's in the, it'll be in the recording. There is a. 30,000 dollar. Oh, come on. Why can't I, appropriation. That is there for FY 23, which is right now. That can be used for. Consultation. And for installation, if it's needed. Or has joined the meeting. Oh, there's Saren. Hello. Nope. She can, maybe she can hear me. She's muted right now. Okay. Okay. Well, Elise is still gone. Okay. Can you hear me? Yes. I have been here from the beginning, but I wasn't. Admitted. So here I am. I don't know. But I didn't miss anything. I heard everything you're talking. Okay. Good. Okay. So we're meeting on Friday. With Paul to talk about the $30,000 appropriation. For accessible. Signals in the traffic lights. And there is $30,000 there. And we want to make sure. That there's no money. We want to make sure that the expenditure. Is made that the installation is made. That the town. The town council has been in full support of this. But at the last meeting, if you recall, we were told that there was. First, no money. Then we were told that there was $4,000. We were told that without money. Guilford doesn't do anything because he can't afford to do anything. So we were told that there was no money. And we were told that there was no money since July. And we know that it hasn't yet been expended. So I spoke with a man from ocean state signal, which is the company. That is the New England. Representative for this company called Polara. That makes one of the companies that makes accessible signals. It's the, it's the company that was in a video. I couldn't watch it, but I read it. It's really remarkable, you know, and if you're going to come and look into that, that's wonderful. So that's the company that I spoke to the guy about. It's called ocean state signal in Rhode Island. And we just, we want to make sure that Paul. Is going to. Make sure that Guilford takes this seriously because thus far that has not happened. So that's the reason for the meeting. And that's Friday at noon. And I'm really glad that Pat and Pamela will be able to go to it. And then we can get to the rest of the agenda, which I unfortunately don't have my headphones. Can somebody read what's next on the agenda? I don't know. Anybody have it. Joint capital planning committee requests. Oh yeah. So is this. Does anybody have any idea? Well, we had talked about. Perhaps the. Mill River Park. Working on. Making sure that at least the pavilion. And the trail to it, the pathway to it. Is accessible. And I have no idea what kind of an expense would be involved in that. And I don't know if that's a reasonable thing to ask for for joint capital planning. Pamela, do you know anything about what other departments are planning. To propose that has to do with, there's a $50,000 reserve every year. To work on accessibility issues. I have not heard. From other departments, what their requests are, but I can inquire. Okay. So I don't think the $50,000 is going to come close to taking care of the pavilion. Although Marty, what do you think? I don't know. I think that'll get a designer. And I think we need an analysis of what needs to be done up there in a phase plan for how to accomplish it. Which pavilion is this. I'm talking about the one at Mill River, the one that you brought to us. Yeah. Yeah. Because all these things are so expensive. I'm just trying to think of what we had in the back of our minds for $50,000. In the past. They've done a lot of small projects with it. They, they did. I think they purchased. A loop. Or what do they call those? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. My brain is shorting out. Hearing assistance. Yeah. They purchased that kind of a system for. The bank center. They have one in town hall. I don't know what the status of. We had discussed this when we talked to the North Amherst library people. They were not planning to put one in because. They had said the capacity would be 49 people and for 50 people, they were not planning to put one in. So we thought that that really wasn't. Going to fly. But I don't know where the money for that would come to, from at the North Amherst library. And does anyone know about a status report? Has joined the meeting. About the work at the North Amherst library. They've got it closed in. I drive by it all the time. So the, the frames up, they've got it closed in. And they're just working on. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the structure right now. Okay. So. I don't think there was any money appropriated for the loop. For the hearing assistance for that. I think that was not in their plan. Your back at least. I got disconnected for some reason. And I had to figure out how to get back in. So I apologize. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll just do my best. We just talked about. Essentially what's going to happen Friday. There's a meeting with Paul. With. Marty and. Me and Pat and. Pamela. Too many names to start with P. Pat and Pamela. And we're going to talk to Paul about the $30,000 appropriation. For the accessible. And so that's going to happen. And I guess. You heard the part that Marty talked about, right? No, I just got back in. I had to. She's meeting with. Chris. And Guilford on. Thursday morning. That's right. The town wall and. That. Entrance. Okay. We got, and we're up to capital planning. Trying to think of what projects. We might. Be interested in. Getting forth. Remember, there's a $50,000 appropriation. Yes. We have in the reserve. That capital planning each year has $50,000. To put toward accessibility. Topics. And hopefully we will be able to. Hopefully. I mean, hope in the past. We have a lot of money. To spend that on. And then. We just make a comment on it, but. Pamela hasn't heard about that yet. So maybe they didn't do it yet. But maybe. Next meeting, Pamela can come to us with ideas, but we just talked about briefly the Mill River. Marty thought perhaps that would get us. A consultant to. Figure out what can be done about it. Good. Myra, I have a question. Yeah. These $50,000 that are appropriated in the capital budget. For accessibility issues. Could it be rolled over from one year to the other? And if so, were there ever unspent funds from prior years. That could be. Recouped. With this 50,000. Well, money that doesn't get spun goes into reserve fund. Right, Pamela. I mean, that, isn't that what happens to it? So I believe that's correct. Yeah. I don't know. Is there any way you could find out how much. Of this money in reserve funds were from unspent funds of the capital. Accessibility issues. Not properly spent. Or. Spent totally. I can find that out because Sean. Wrote to me about the $30,000. So he's pretty, he's pretty accessible. I don't know if there's any money left. In the reserve fund that had been appropriated. From joint capital planning. There isn't. But it would, it's good to know if there is. Yeah. And also if we cannot spend the 50,000 this year, could it be rolled over to next year? So that will make 100,000. So that might make an impact. I don't know. I don't know. If they close it, there is no alternative site. And that serves a big function. I think. Okay. All right, I can find out. Yeah. I'd like to recommend that we put together a list of priorities. On priority projects. And use the $50,000 to start. Yeah. Because everything we do is going to be more than that. It's, it's really tough. To do it in $50,000 chunks. Yeah. I mean, it really is. What we need to do. I believe is. Take our ideas. Use the $50,000 to. Create an implementation plan. We need to have a master plan for. Mill River. Because that is such a massive project. And once you start working on it, you're going to find that the pool, the pool building. I mean, all the pavements shot up there. I go up there all the time. And we need to. To push the town. And the way to do that is to have a plan that you present. And then get the town to fund it. The other thing I'd like to hold some of it. I'd like to hold that money to. If the $30,000 doesn't solve the. Traffic lights. That would be my first. That would be my first place to put that 50,000. If we need more than the 30, which I suspect we probably will. Yeah. I'm sure we will. Yeah. So. I think, you know, that's probably with you. That's probably a bad. We need to be the advocates for the town. We need to be the advocates for the disability community in the town to the town. And so that's what we need to. I think that's what we need to spend our money on. Also, they, the federal government is putting massive amounts of money for infrastructure. Wouldn't these pedestrian signals fit under that? Why do they have to limit it to an accessibility budget that town. Has for us. Oh, that we don't have to, we just have to apply for grants. I mean, the town would have to apply for grants. We don't have to do that. We don't have to do that. We don't have to do that. We don't have to do that for any projects that they want to do. For any of that federal government money, they don't just give it to you and. And, you know, I think you have to apply for it. So who, who then how could we bring it to the attention of those grant writers because we don't do this. Ourselves. So maybe we have to talk about what it, what needs fixing. And then we need to prioritize. And then we need to make sure that we don't have to do that. We don't have to do that. There's an ongoing issue with sidewalks all over the place. There's an ongoing issue with the accessible signals that we will not be able to do for $30,000. There is the mill river project. And there are the hearing. There is making sure that when they open. The North Amherst library. That it had, that it is. Set up. And it was that we were going to do. The hearing. Enhancement. Whatever that. Whatever system they choose. But they didn't plan to do that. Cause. They didn't in that. No. Remember, it was, there was a private funder that we never, nobody ever told about. In that person gave a certain amount of money. Or, you know, to do the building. complete and somehow that got dropped but we need to make sure that it is still going to be part of the project. So I don't know who you need to talk to about that Pamela. The assistive listening devices as part of the North Amherst Library renovation. I don't know who's in charge of that even. So I think I'll probably try to connect with Pam and individuals on the second floor planning and see if I can find out more information about that project. Okay, I know it wasn't in the original scope, but I agree with Marty that we ought to ask them to put the $50,000 in the joint capital planning toward fixing more or almost all of the accessible warning, a pedestrian, oh my God, I can't think accessible pedestrian signals. Anyway, so one last sort of thought is right now is the time Pamela to get the wiring in for that loop or whatever the assisted listening system is. And that needs to happen right, you know, as soon as possible, because once they start closing in the walls, it's much more expensive and it doesn't look very pretty. So if we're, I know why they didn't put it in because it's not required by code. It's not required because there's only 49 people. If there were 50, then it would be required. So, and it wasn't, they're not being mean about this, because 50 is a magic number in the building code. And it's a magic number for a lot of things. And it changes the types of systems and greatly increases the cost when you have more than 50 people with 50 or more. You have to have double doors on all the rooms. There's a whole bunch of things that are beyond. So they designed it to 49 for that reason, not because of the cost of the list of the assisted listening system. It's simply, there's a whole myriad of additional costs once you get to 50 people. I don't know whether people really understand that or not. I didn't. Yeah, I'm sure you because we don't think about it. But actually, when you go from when you go from 49 to 50 people, you go from a library occupancy to an assembly occupancy and assembly is has a far more restrictive construction requirements. It's a whole different whole different animal. Oh, so Marty, you're not really proposing to change the capacity from 49 to 50. No, no, just stay there but add the assistant. Add the assistant hearing listening. Yes. We need to get that in. So, Pamela, if you can find out who is running that project and we can get with them to talk about what kind of a system should be put in and get it in their plan. It'll be a change order the contract. But we need to at least have the infrastructure in there for the system. So I will make that ask. Later today at least try to find out and I'll and are you suggesting that you would like to have a special meeting or what are do you want to hear from them at the next meeting. It doesn't really matter. I don't have to be the one who meets with them, but we just need to make sure that it's in the that the infrastructures there. Well, I was asking, would you like an up, would you like the person who's leading the project to come to a meeting. That'd be nice. That would be nice. Okay. Sure. Yes, we just really want to we did discuss it. We did tell them that they, you know, that we wanted them to put it in. They said they didn't have to put it in. And we sort of didn't, you know, I mean, we don't have any authority beyond that. But this. Thank you, Marty, this is the time to put it in. It is and we didn't have a budget at that point either. When we talked to them, there was no specific budget for accessibility. No, there wasn't any budget for anything because it was being privately funded. Yeah, but I mean just overall in the town. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. So just so that I, I'm clear, I'm going to, to, to determine who's leading that project and arrange for them to attend your next meeting to have a conversation about adding the assistant living hearing into right into the project. But that might be too late. Well, that's what I was asked. But it will be. They've got, they've got, they're not going to be shoot rocking next week. Okay. They've got a lot of work to do still. Okay. We got a couple of months. All right. Okay, fine. Okay. Because you said they were enclosing everything and I was. Well, they're enclosing on the outside. But that's got a lot of work. Okay. So just another point is that you do have two individuals in as attendees for this meeting. And we did not. We sort of skipped over public comment. So I don't know if you want to hold that to the end or whether. Who are the, I can't see who's on there. I mean, I can't do it because I don't have my earphone. Okay. So the attendees or, and excuse me, attendees, if I'm mispronouncing these names, Ray Patel. And Tracy. Zaffan. Okay. Tracy. Very kindly comes to many of our meetings. And we, I mean. We finished. So we finished that agenda item because we talked about. Let's just. I don't know. The, the $50,000. For the joint capital planning. Actually, we, we didn't finish it. Are we going to prioritize that? Are we going to agree to prioritize that to go toward the accessible pedestrian signals. Marty suggested it. If needed, right? If you want to make a motion to the effect that you think that this. 50,000 for FY24 should go toward additional funding for that? That and for the listening system in the library. Okay. I would include that too. So make a motion to request the joint capital planning committee to appropriate the $50,000 for the assisted listening in North district. And that would be in the Amherst library. And also any remaining funds to go. Towards the pedestrian signals. Is that correct? So you're, you're prioritizing the assisted listening. Wiring. I would prioritize that because that's the first thing out of the gate. And if we don't get it in now, then it'll be too late. Okay. All right. Does we, do we have a second on the motion? I second it. Okay. Do we have any more discussion on it? I would like to add. To move. Part of this money to accessible pedestrian signals. If needed. Oh, it's needed. The $30,000 is not going to get us half of what we need. Oh, really? Yeah. Because it has to be. It's because it's involving the, the guy who has to come and study it from ocean state signal cost $2,000. For a day to tell us what can be done. Then the components have to be purchased. Then they have to be installed, which could be an in-house job, but that might not be able to be an in-house job. And there are 13 signals that need some attention. I see. Okay. Then you can just drop in that. But I wanted to discuss. It'll definitely be, I mean, there won't be enough. If we're going to prioritize the North Amherst library, but in fact, I think she's right. So I will vote for her motion. Are we ready to vote on it? Yes. Please. Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. So we have. We have decided where we'd like the $50,000 appropriation. Now can we go back to public comment? Do either of the visitors wish to make a comment? Yeah. Anybody have a hand up? Yes. And I'm going to. Promote Tracy to panelist association. So she can comment. Oh, good. Hi. Okay. So I'm Tracy and I'm the chair of the transportation advisory committee. And. Myra had mentioned sometimes that when I email her, it ends up in a junk folder. So. I was trying to reach out. Okay. Actually, what's so interesting about that, Myra, is it said that you read it from Ray Javik. From what? Yeah. No, like, because I put, because I was afraid it would be in your junk folder. So I set this little flag, like for it to send you back a message. And I said, wow, you know, I don't think. But I was, I was like, maybe she's traveling. And she's chairing the meeting even on her trip. You know, but anyway. Well, that's cool. And I was like, you know, I've never been there actually. I've never been there either. It's pretty far. So, I mean, I just had some general updates, you know, that I could share, but if you've gotten my emails by right, I don't need to. I mean, one was that the GOL. Is looking more at the snow and ice bylaw. And that. They have a meeting tomorrow and at their last meeting, they talked about expanding the bylaw to also include other obstructions of sidewalks, such as. Like bushes and branches and things. Which I think is a great idea and manager, Henneke had offered to revise the language to incorporate that. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that's a great idea. And I think that rather than a bylaw, I think that's a great way to engage to incorporate those. Excellent. So what's interesting to me, right? Is that because. Wilfred has always said, well, it's town policy. That people have to cut back the vegetation, but I couldn't actually, it's not in the bylaws currently. So there may be a policy out there, perhaps it's like a carryover from the council or something, but I've. I couldn't find it. to major Henneke while she was revising making a new draft is that he's also said that the property owners are also responsible if there's like sand and salt and just debris in general on the sidewalks next to their property. Because I've mentioned that, for example, when I was working on safe routes to school and looking at kids biking on the sidewalks, say along Delta Town Road, and he said, well, the property owners responsible, just like they're responsible for the, you know, the branches and everything. So again, I would like to see them maybe mention that in the bylaw as well. And I also did mention to her that I think it's really important not just to talk about sidewalks all the time, but also just to clarify that sidewalks also include the curb cuts like down at the intersections and at crosswalks and things. And maybe they just have a little definition in that section that sidewalks also include curb cuts and definitions or I mean, or the crosswalks. But I just to I mean, because otherwise, right, even if property owners are doing the are shoveling, like people ignore the curb cuts all the time. And that's where the it's often the worst. If we actually had a real winter and we had snow. Put all that language in her proposal. I put she didn't put some of that in. And so I my room when I emailed you today, I had CCG on what I had sent her. Okay. Okay. And I also asked just because Pat DeAngelis is now the chair of GOL. So I asked that Mandy or Pat send you like the latest version. Okay, okay. So I mean, and then you're going to want anything that we wouldn't approve of. And then the other thing of course is like street lights is we're not allowed to discuss that at this meeting. No, no, no, of course, right, of course, I just wanted to say that right as a public comment, just to say that TSO finally, and you know, this proposal has been floating around for like six months, but I'm glad that they are finally asking for TAC and DAC input. So so we're going to discuss the streetlight proposal at the next meeting because they the information that I got came in right after Pamela had posted the agenda. And was the next morning and it was too late to amend what she posted. So we couldn't discuss it. So I wrote to Mandy, I guess I wrote to Mandy and I asked her if it would be too late for us to put it on our March 14 agenda and she said that it in fact would not be too late because she couldn't imagine that things would be getting done until later in March. So yeah, so she's probably going to come to the TAC meeting, I think on March 9th because so so we'll be talking to her more than and just one just one note is that one big there's two main parts of their proposal. One has to do with lighting fixtures and having more screened lighting and things to reduce light pollution. But then there's also the second part about where streetlights are located and where they are removed. And that second piece, which is one that I was most concerned about for safety and accessibility is on hold for now. So they're not really pursuing that at this time. Oh, they're not. But there is still some language related to that in the main part in the part that they are doing. So I flagged that language and and tab will send them comments and I'm happy to CC my role when I do that. So you see what we say. I didn't realize that they had taken that off the table. The thing I read seemed to think that they were still going to be considering it. Well, yeah, the language is a little bit ambiguous. It says this is for future discussion, but what I was told is it's on hold for now. So I mean, the part that really impacts this committee has to do with the location. Oh, absolutely. And whether they're on or off. And we had a meeting, but I don't know. I don't remember whether we took a vote that would have been in December. We don't have any records of it. And I don't remember whether we took a vote on not turning off street lights. So at the next meeting, when we discuss it, we'll take a vote. And whether, you know, I whether they're going to do it or not, I mean, you know, they're doing things on their own track. So and it's really good that Pat's on GOL and that she and she's now to the chair. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, those are my comments. But thanks. All right. And does the other visitor care make comment? Yes. The other visitor does not have a hand raised. Okay. All right. So we can go back to our agenda. Where were we? Because I don't have my headphone working. I need to talk. So, so the next thing that I have listed is the March meeting with Jeff Dugan from mass office of disability. He when I wrote to him about being a commission, he had offered to come out and tell us what kind of services the mass office on disability could provide to us. And to talk to us in general about, you know, the whole, I just thought it would be nice to have some kind of connection with the mass office on disability. He seemed to think we were doing all the things that made us a commission that made us a commission. And he sent information about no, I guess I had the information already from the website about what we would need to do to become one. So I thought it would be useful for him to come and just make a presentation and answer a couple of questions. Do people think that's a good idea? Yeah. Yeah, good idea. He's willing to do it, you know. Okay. So I think he, I tentatively asked him to reserve a time at the next meeting. So that's good. And we can do that and stop late. Okay. And then also in the next meeting, is there any way you can add an agenda item, new members for the AAC? What's that? My plan before we launch into the $30,000 is to ask him in the presence of Pat and Pamela to please provide us with opportunities for new membership because it's been now 18 months since we were down one and six months since we were down two. And that's not good. Yeah. So I plan that to be the beginning of my speech. And it was also in comments that I wrote and also there is one applicant you all know, the retired Executive Director of StarVros. He just said, you know, I haven't heard anything. Have you? So he's very knowledgeable, but I have no idea. All right. So I'm going to interrupt just to say I will check into the current application from the StarVros gentleman. And I'll also take this time to say that three of you have terms that are scheduled to expire on June 30th of this year. So membership is definitely needed. And I think there has been a history in the past of seeking an extension of your terms. So that might also be a possibility. But Sarin, Tori, and Marty, I was informed that your terms are scheduled to expire on June 30th. So we'll keep that in mind as you're thinking about renewing your terms and seeking additional membership. So that's in addition to the two that are vacant. Yeah. Holy moly. Pamela, I definitely want to continue on. Okay. Okay. Thank you. How about you, Sarin? Do you want to or do you not? Have you had enough? No, I can continue. But if there is somebody a star waiting to be admitted, I can give my place to them too. Okay. And I don't know what Tori's plan is. So we have to find out. Okay. All right. What? Oh, are we up to the Northampton? Senior Center Accessible. Does anybody know what's happening with that accessible van? They have it now. And I believe they hired somebody to drive it. Is that right? So I'll have to say that I meant to ask Hailey yesterday when I was over there for another event and it totally slipped my mind. But I can follow up with her and provide the commission with an update. And maybe is there any way you can also follow up and ask her, how do people put their names if they would like to have a ride? And what is their schedule? What is their priorities? Like medical first or and what is their area of service? Like if somebody has an appointment in a nearby town, say in Springfield, will they limit it to a radius of certain miles? You know, it would be nice if we can be made aware of this. Mm-hmm. Well, I confess to not having looked it up. Yeah, all of those are the right questions. Like for are their priorities, the ADA van services that work for the regional paratransits are not allowed to prioritize trips, but this isn't that. And so I think they can make whatever regulations they want to make. And it, you know, we just need to, it would be good if we all knew. And is it for only people who are over 60? Or is it for people in the town who have disabilities, even if they're under 60? So we don't know any of that. And I guess, I mean, we could, yeah. So it would be good if we could find all that out. And I will find it out. And Pamela will find, I'll look through the materials that is, that are written. And if you can talk to Hailey or even ask her if she can come and talk to us for 10 minutes. Who makes these decisions who sets up the criteria? Probably the council on aging, right? I don't, I have no idea. I don't know either. So maybe it might be helpful if Hailey comes in. Mm-hmm. Yes. Sure. I will work with my artist develop a schedule so that I can get the right time for the other day. Right, exactly. Yeah. Okay. All right. And then we got this, the Pamela got a notification from or an invitation from Northampton commission that they would like to show the film Crip Camp, which I guess was nominated for some Academy Awards, didn't get them. But, and it's a story of this camp, summer camp for kids, kids and young adults with disabilities. And how people developed into activists from that camp. I think it's based on this woman, Judy Human. And if you have a few hours to read a pretty amazing book, she wrote a book, it's not a long book called Being Human, H-E-U-M-A-N, which is how you spell her name. And she was, she grew up in Brooklyn and she had polio at 18 months and needed to use a wheelchair, could not walk. And it's her story about how she was treated as a non-person in New York City, which had some of the best public schools in the United States of America at the time. She wasn't even allowed to attend one of the schools until she was nine. Then she was told she had to go in a special class. They put her in fourth grade, but there were 17 year olds in the fourth grade as well. So it was really, this was the storage in the basement for people with disabilities and the disabilities were anything. But her disability was that she couldn't walk. And she knew from a young age that she was a fire hazard. That's what she was told, which was why she couldn't go to school. And the story that she tells is pretty amazing. She did finally go to a, what I guess they would have called, it's prior to the word mainstreaming public high school, not the one near her house, but one that she was allowed to go to in Brooklyn. And she went to Long Island University, lived in a dorm, had people helping her out, blah, blah, blah. Applied for a teaching license in New York City because she had an education degree and was denied the license because they didn't want her, anybody in a wheelchair to be able to teach school because that was, how would they handle her in a fire hazard and how would she do this and how would she do that? So she had a friend who had a friend who wrote for the New York Times and they put a letter in the Times. And then all hell broke loose against the New York City public schools based on the letter in the New York Times. And so she ultimately got her teaching license, but did not get a teaching job. Anyway, so she became an incredible advocate. She is responsible for the fact that we have 504. She, there were regulations that had been promulgated, had not been promulgated. And Jimmy Carter's secretary, no, it wasn't Jimmy Carter's. It would have been, I don't know, must have been Nixon's. Anyway, whoever the secretary of education wasn't, wasn't going to promulgate them. And basically, they, there was a huge demonstration. There were huge demonstrations in various cities that to get the attention of Congress and of the world, I think they ended up crawling up the steps of the Capitol because they couldn't get in any other way. And they got a lot of coverage. Does anybody remember this? Yeah. This was all her. She set this all in motion. And it's really pretty amazing. So that's what the movie, the movie is about a camp that she went to that inspired her to defy everybody else and say, you know what? I really am a person and I really should be treated like one. Which is just, this is 1960s. She was denied school in the 50s. I mean, she didn't even get a separate school. She got nothing. She got two hours, two hours of tutoring at home every week, something ridiculous like that, until she was nine. Anyway, so we were invited to go watch this movie in North Hampton and then to talk to them about how we can work together for issues we have in common. And I think it's a great idea, but then there's the thing at the end. Did anybody read it about the open meeting law and how we'd need to talk to people? Because how do we have a meeting there with them? Did you think about this, Pamela? I didn't. I don't know what to do. So I think the point of the last paragraph is that if a quorum of this group is going to be present there, then we need to post the meeting to comply with the open meeting law. But I think that's just the gist of it. But I can check with our resident expert, Athena, but I think it's just that in order to comply with the open meeting law, we have to post the meeting and an agenda. And I think that that's all possible. Okay. So it's the day that we would normally meet in July anyway, but it's not at the same time. And it's in North Hampton, we'd have to arrange transportation. And I don't know if anyone is interested in going. So I put it on the agenda. Is there any way there could be a Zoom link or is it only in person? Well, it's about the movie, so I don't think there's a Zoom link. Although I suppose you can put it in advance. Because if you put the movie and the meeting time, we're talking of about three hours. So I was also going to suggest that is there any way we can watch the movie and then participate on the open discussion part? I think you can watch it on your own because it's definitely you can get on Netflix and stuff. I've seen it on Netflix. Yes. Yeah. And then join the discussion part. So I can ask the, or we can certainly ask the organizers in North Hampton if they might be willing to do that. But I don't know. I don't have an answer. I'd like to I'd like to see if they can provide that. And also on Zoom, so there could be a bigger audience. So I can certainly ask and report back what their response is, but that's great. They wanted RSVP by April 7th or something. So we have a little bit of time. But even if some people go on Zoom and some people go in person, we would still have the same open meeting law constraint. Yeah. And is anybody interested actually in going over there? Or would we all want to do it on Zoom? I might be able to go over there. I might be able to go over there too. Yeah. Depending on transportation, same year too. Right. Where is this being shown? North Hampton Senior Center. Oh, see, I can get there, but a lot of other people might not be able to. So you would get there by bus? I would get there by bus and walk. I used to take tap dancing classes over there so I could get there. Yeah. Provided it's not pouring rain. Well, I would need to take a van or if Marty would be willing to drive some of us over there. Of course, I'd be willing to drive. All right. Well, thank you. And also then, and you can get a van, Sarah, and if we don't have to have a million vans going over there, there would actually be a chance that you'd get there. Well, maybe the senior van. Right. Just thinking that perhaps that would be a good use for the senior van. Actually, I just looked up on the website and I can't find anything about that van. I never heard of it. I've actually seen it. I parked next to it the other day, but yeah, I can't find anything on the website. That's just a segue. Sorry. Why did I just read there was some expenditure, you know, I get all those announcements from the town, and there was something about $46,000 for a new employee for the council on aging. I think it had to do with driving the van. That I didn't see, but I know that they got a relatively in good shape van donated from PVTA. Yeah, that's it. It's beautiful. It's really a nice van. Good. So you see nothing about how to reserve it. Nope. I can't find anything. And maybe that the driver's not on board yet. It might be. Okay. Well, that's not even in the newsletters. Perfect for us to have Haley come and talk to us about how the van is going to be deployed. But actually that would be a perfect use of it to take people to that meeting and film. I think it would be a really good idea for us to have some kinds of, you know, we really ought to be talking to them because we're separated by seven miles, but we're really one community. And we have the same needs. Now, I know that they have a pilot PVTA project in North Hampton, not here, but in North Hampton for same day service. So if you find yourself in North Hampton, and you want to take a van from some place in North Hampton to another place in North Hampton, you can give them two hours notice and get a same day van pickup. Wow. Supposedly. Wow. And it will serve people who don't live in North Hampton as long as you are in North Hampton. Good to know. Yeah. So if you go over there and you want to go somewhere else there, the theory is that you should be able to call with two hours notice and get a van pickup. That could be very useful. Well, it could be if we were in North Hampton. They have it in Westfield, too. They did not offer it in Amherst. It's a pilot. And hopefully it will get here as not a pilot. So it might be a good idea for us to work together with them. So maybe when they work on pilot projects, we can just expand the horizon. That would be maybe we can expand the horizon to five college serving unit area. Yeah. Yeah. I assume they invited Hadley people, too. Did you see who they invited? I did not see an invitation list, but I would assume that they invited South Hadley as well. Okay. What a great thing to have. It's a nice thing that they're going to do it. I think it would be really good if we could participate. That would be so good. Yeah. You mean the pilot? Yeah. Well, I know that is existing. That is not planned. You could do that now if you want. We need to get more members into our group. We do. To get more actively involved. Otherwise, you know, some of us, you know, when we can participate there, not even the whole seven of us. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I hope we can get some people. I just can't understand the reasons for the lack of action on this. It's been 18 months since Xander resigned. So it's, I'll just share with you my experience with the Human Rights Commission, which was also a commission that needed additional memberships. And we were able, well, I think two people self-identified that they were interested, and one person I had a conversation with. So they just recently swore in three new members for the Human Rights Commission. If there are individuals that you're aware of that, you know, you could talk to, I know that there are the possibility of some students who might be interested. The HR, the Human Rights Commission has one college student that's a member. And then perhaps other individuals that you can think of that I could reach out to or that you have reached out to that might be encouraged to join. Well, first, if you find out if there are any applications, because Saren says there are. Yeah, I will definitely find that out. And also maybe if we're reaching out to the students, we can, I'm sure each university have a disability committee or something so we can contact through them. So that might be interesting. Right. So yeah, each of the colleges does have a disability director to work with students. And so certainly at Hampshire and Amherst and UMass, we could see students from those areas. Would they stick around? I mean, well, you know, so it actually, I think it depends on the students. So you might find an undergraduate who's very passionate about this area and who will work during the time that they were here two to three years. When I worked for Smith College, the disability director, and I worked a lot with the student population and the students were fantastic. Like I've just I've kept in touch with a few students and they've gone on to do just wonderful things. So you might get someone who's really passionate. And then you might also find a graduate student. So it doesn't, you know, we think the student and we sort of think traditional age, but there are students of all ages at the at the institutions. And so, you know, you might find someone who's from the area who's a nontraditional student who might be passionate and want to contribute. One of the challenges we have is our meeting time. Right. So, yeah, flexible, that is with people. But it is it is a tough time for people who work. Right. Originally, we can maybe reschedule our meeting times to to accommodate. Right. You know, there were lots of Stavros people when I joined the committee. It was you and, you know, like there were a number of people who worked at Stavros, Joe, and, you know, three of the seven worked at Stavros and other people were tired. So, you know, it was easy to have the meeting at Stavros during their lunch hour. And, you know, it worked out. But right now, there isn't anyone except Tori who works at Stavros. So it's just different. And maybe we can move the time. Sure. How do people feel about that? Let's leave it like this until there's somebody new. They can only do it at this time. And then we'll look into that. How does that sound? Sounds good. And we are also allowed to keep this meeting on Zoom horizon for a while. So that's actually very helpful. Those of us that need special transportation. Yep. Yes. Okay. Is that? That's your agenda with old business or other business approval of the minutes are the remaining things. Does anybody have any other things that we should talk about that weren't discussed? I think we're covered. Okay. So from here, we're going to have Haley and Jeff Dugan at the next meeting. We're also going to discuss the street lights, but it's going to be less of a big deal than it would have been because I guess from what Tracy said, the lights, whether to turn them off is not an active consideration right now. Also, are we going to have somebody from the library project to join the meeting? Or are you going to meet with that person individually about the accessible listening to the next month? Because we do have that library and we do have what do you think? So if I could offer, and I so I doubt if you're going to need more than 15 minutes for Haley, she's probably 15, 20 minutes. I can't imagine that you're going to have a large long discussion about the van. So you might be able to have the three presenters that would give them each a half an hour more or less for. Okay. If Haley just I mean she could just write something up too. She could just send us something in writing that says we have the van, we don't have a driver, we do have a driver. These are the rules that are being considered. And I guess what we want to know is it is it in for Amherst within the town only? Is it for senior citizens to get to go to Greenfield or Springfield for medical appointments? Is it just for people over 60? Or is it people with disabilities as well? Who are younger? Or is it I guess the other question somebody asked services they provide. Prioritizing services. And you know how much in advance do people need to reserve? And you know so I guess I mean if she doesn't want to come, those are the questions. And if she needs, if the rules are not finalized yet and if she wants some input from us, you know, we can also serve as part of that group. Right. Then we should definitely be involved if she wants input. That would be great. So I can definitely reach out to Haley and get that information. I'm sure she probably will be able to answer some of those questions very quickly. So I might be able to respond to the group this week. If not, I'll ask her to provide me with a write up and I can get that out to you early next week. Okay, cool. All right. And so we will have more, oh yeah, we'll have to put on the results of our conversation with Paul to, so maybe I should move Jeff Duggan to the next month. We have some follow-ups to discuss. So I'll see if he can come April 14, April 11, it would be right. Yeah, March 14. Yeah, April 11. Yeah. Okay, maybe I can move him to that one. All right. So if we don't have anything else, I think we need a motion to adjourn. Well, wait, here is one thing. Tomorrow, the GOL meeting, the one that Tracy talked about, which I don't even know what GOL stands for, government something or other in legislation, they are having their meeting and that's when they're talking about the snow and ice removal bylaw. And if anyone has a few minutes, that's what Tracy just told us. If anybody has a few minutes to go to that meeting, we don't have that on our agenda. I think we took a vote about that at some point. I don't even know. But if anybody would like to go to that meeting and just make sure, I mean, sort of, I wish I knew if we had taken a vote on it. What time is that meeting? 9.30. In the morning. Yeah, and I can send you, I think Tracy just sent me the link this morning for the meeting. But if you want to go to it, I unfortunately cannot go to most of it because I have a medical appointment. Yeah, I might because that's an important, that's important. Right. I mean, I think Tracy has really covered it very well. But I think it would be important. That's why I wish I knew if we had taken a vote on this. I know we talked about it. I remember talking about it for years. Yeah. Everything that Tracy said, we have talked about. So I don't know whether there's a formal vote. I might just send a note to Pat and tell her that we've been discussing this for years. She might even have been present for some of it. And I'll read what Tracy said. But I can't say that we've taken a formal vote on it, but I'm sure we would if we had had the opportunity to today, which we don't because it wasn't on origin. Okay. All right. All right. And I need a motion to adjourn. So one, before you adjourn, we don't have to do it at this meeting, but we do need to approval of the minutes. And yeah, please provide me with feedback on the, I tried to very hard to follow Maureen's format. Thank you very much. It was very nicely done. I read it. And I said, wow, this is long. How many three pages? And I couldn't find anything to change. Even my name was spelled perfectly correct. So I moved that we approve it. Everybody has a chance to look at it. A second. Okay, Marty. Approve. Yes. Okay. Please. Yes. Yes. And I will prove them too. So now we have minutes. Also, the way you presented them is really nice. You know, all this packet, you know, and I looked their agenda was there how to zoom in there. And everything was there. So it was super nice. Thank you. I'm getting it better. Yes. Oh, yeah, it's perfect. You have to teach us too. It's really hard. I always admire people who can do that. I cannot do that. Okay. All right. Motion to adjourn. Finally, I finally asked for something at the right time. Anybody want to make a second? I'm motion to adjourn. I'm okay. I'll second. I can't make a motion to adjourn. What happens if you say no? Are they gone? We want the coffee. Oh, what a cute dog. Thank you. That's my guide dog Tuesday. Oh, how sweet. It's just like my grand dog. A yellow lab. I happen to be sitting on the floor. So she's coming around. That's nice. That's weird. You disappeared, but now I put my earphone in and you came back. It's so weird. I don't know what's wrong with this thing. Okay. Did anybody make a motion to adjourn? I never heard. I did. Oh, sorry. I thought I did. No, yes, you did. You probably did. You just, everybody disappeared. Okay. All right. So we need a second and a vote. Who's the second? Okay. And Marty. And Elise. Okay. Elise. Yes. Okay. Sarah. Yes. And me too. Take care. Oh, all right. Thank you. And also, Pamela, are you still there? Yes, I am. Can we just decide to move Dugan to April? Yes, you did. Yes, I will write to him right now. Okay. All right. All right. All right. All right. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye.