 Good evening and welcome to CSSJC meeting. Can people hear me? I'll be facilitating the meeting this evening until Allegra joins us. So, let's, I'll call the meeting to water and I will call each member and please respond that you're here. Philip. Here. Deborah. Here. Breaking. Yeah. Okay. So let's review the agenda item. Miss Pamela, can you put it up? I have a hard copy with me. If not, that's fine. So, yeah. So our agenda tonight are announcements. And then public comment. We'll have a member reports. And then action and discussion items. Crest and D I updates. Update on our OB RSP console consultant. Progress youth empowerment center. And of the follow up to May 10 meeting. We'll have a draft to town manager console CSSJC letter regarding police chief upper funds to repair harm. Ram violation drape review of CSSJC charge update on new membership and goodbyes to departing members public comment. Item items and meeting schedules other topics. The chair did not reasonably anticipate 48 hours in advance of the meeting and adjournment. So, the members have announcements to make tonight. And we just members, our staff liaisons, you know, does anybody have announcements to make. Yeah, I would just mentioned the, the essential bridges walk on Saturday the Juneteenth history walk from 10am at the West Cemetery that Emily Dickinson Museum and then up for some things on the common. Everyone sends good, good energy for weather. And then Monday, obviously, I'll let Pamela talk a little bit more about the town Juneteenth celebration, which I believe is 10am the 2pm. And then the 24th is community safety day at the Mill River from 10am to 2pm. It's a good opportunity for folks come meet responders, get a sense of kind of what we're doing well, most of us will have our families there so it's a nice way for us to kind of ingratiate ourselves in the community so I look forward to seeing as many folks can make it. So what is that what is what is what is safety day. So I just wanted to say is a, sorry is an event by the senior center where they invent all the public safety departments to come down to Mill River. But yeah, I just wanted like the clarification on that. Absolutely. Yes, people want to speak raise your hand. So freaky. Yeah, this isn't so much a an announcement, but it's a request that all those who have events planned for Juneteenth, if that could be disseminated within the group. Thank you. Anyone else. Oh, Miss Pamela. I actually want to advise everybody to take a look at the town website in regards to both of those Juneteenth events because there's discussion because of the weather that there may either be cancellation or changes. I know that Jennifer's going to make a decision to tomorrow, whether to move the town's Juneteenth events into the high school, although it's not scheduled to rain on Monday. So if there's rain on Saturday and Sunday the town common is not usable really for tent and stage and so it may have to to go in and door so she'll make those decisions to tomorrow and we'll certainly share that information with everybody. Thank you. Anyone else. I have one on Tuesday evening. 630 at the Bing Center. There is discussions held about the affordable housing with the affordable housing trust Board of Health, the Human Rights Commission. So that's more about listening session to gather information from homeowners, renters, people that want to live in town, people that work in town, and it's the idea of it is to then read a report and send it off to town council so if you could let people know to come through the week there's also on the flyer qr code that has a couple of questions so if you can't make it to that event if you're interested in giving kind of what you want to say that flyer can also be sent out. Thank you for sharing. I saw that flyer I believe they have CSS JC as well. Oh right yes sorry as part of the listening session I think it's a great idea to to have such. Okay, I have you have your hands up still. Can you hear me breaking. I can. Okay, I'm going to bring it down. Okay, so I have couple. So, June 19 from 4pm to 6 ish black business association of Amos area and some some cofa will be celebrating Juneteenth jamboree at male river. Rain or shine will be there. Although I had begun this weekend for few days that we're still planning to have that there's free food, free drinks, entertainment. Nobody have to spend any money attending the event. We're still accepting sponsorship to from organizations that actively addressing racism. We just done in accept sponsorship if you have concerns around individuals or organizations that have not studied addressing discrimination. So, I have one more announcement to make. Dr. Demetria Shabazz has resigned from CSS JC effective today. Oh wow. So, public comments. Moving on. Do we have any audience. Let's see. Oh, what am I doing for them. It seems like there's one hand up. Oh, okay. I, I can't say it. Can you help me. Miss Pamela. Right. I'll, I will move Vera over into the panelists. Okay. Go ahead Vera. It's going to take her a minute to probably get there. Should be coming in now. They are with me can everyone hear me. Yes. Okay. Good evening, everyone. I just wanted to. For my public comments. State that. I want to thank Ms. Pamela young for putting together their response to my human rights complaint. It was 10 pages. There were multiple exhibits a through a encourage each and every one of you to review it. Based on. What Ms. Young put together, I am proceeding. And I did submit a complaint with the state ethics commission against the building commissioner, Bob Mora. For his handling of the accessible ramp to stages in this town. Thank you. I talked about the state ofail. The state ofail. Blue Lagoon was made to comply with the law. Around accessibility. Architectural accessibility. And the drake was allowed. To not have a permanent ramp. To their stage. And the state. Disability folks came and. And saw that they needed to. the way they were that the Drake is operating without a permanent ramp to their stage. So, which brings me to the way that building commissioners should have addressed this. I learned that Commissioner Mora should have told the Drake that they needed to apply for the variance. Before he could issue them an occupancy license, what he did was issue them a occupancy license without instructing them to apply for a variance with the state. So the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board never received an application from them until a year after they were fully operating. And it only happened because of my complaint because I felt aggrieved on behalf of Hazel's Blue Lagoon, the owners who has suffered so much monetarily, trying to conform with the hurdles that this town has put them through. And to see that the Drake was allowed to establish without any with with pretty much all green lights. They weren't zoned to operate as the entity that they currently operate as, which is a nightclub. That wasn't zoned for them to do that, but the town of Amherst allowed them to do it in a very quick way without having to go through hearings and all of those things. And to hear that this the stage was allowed to be constructed without a ram was just so blatant and so egregious that today I just had I felt the need to take it a step further because our local officials can't provide confidence in the way they handle people in this community and businesses, then we have to rely on the state and so I just wanted to share that with you as part of my public comment thank you. Thank you for your comment. Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to make public comment. I can see so. No. Yeah, Kamala you're muted. No one else is in the audience, other than the Amherst Indy so no other hands are raised. Okay. Thank you. So our next agenda is member reports. Does anyone have stuff they want to share with us. Oh, Deborah. Okay. Yeah, so it's not necessarily a member report but I guess I'm just having and I don't know where to talk about this was having an issue with how like our meetings are getting posted or not. I guess that's the, that's the thing. You know, like when I getting agendas beforehand. You know, like we have to switch this around, you know, you know, and for me, my time is very valuable. I don't just work on this committee I have other committees that I'm on and obviously have family responsibilities and things like that. So I guess I'm trying to get a sense of, you know, what, well, I guess what I'm asking for is that, you know, when we set a schedule date and time because we've had even time changes and things like that, you know where I'm like okay the meetings at 630, but actually you know, I mean, I don't, I don't work like that. I need things, you know, and when we want to see as WG things are done on time, posted on time, and then also it shows badly on this committee, if we're not taking things seriously for changing schedules and things like that. You know what I'm saying so I guess you know I want to say that publicly that we need to stick to when we say we're going to meet at this day. When we have agenda items, we have the agenda items is posted if it has to be posted for $8 beforehand and needs to be posted, and that we need to get the agenda beforehand so that we have a chance to review to kind of think through things like today I don't even have a copy of the agenda and stuff. So, you know, things need to, you know, get it together, because, you know, I don't work like that. And I don't want this committee to fail. Basically, I want this committee to be very successful. This was recommended by the CSWG is a very serious committee very important committee. And so for, if we're messing around with schedules, people are not going to know like I can't tell people to join, you know what I'm saying if we're switching things last minute. So, that's what I need to say. Thank you. Phillip. I think I just want to piggyback off of what Deb was saying and just say that if this committee is open to it and being that it's going to be shrinking I was just probably coming up with a set date and time. I think that has really helped out in two committees that I'm in because then I just know every month like my third Tuesday is booked and my third Wednesday is booked and so I can just plan around that. That's just a more of a suggestion than anything. Thank you for your suggestion. So I just want, if I could just respond so I apologize I'm not quite sure what happened this week or this month but I do know that Jennifer has been incredibly incredibly busy and burdened she had her graduation. She had to plan that, you know, HRC Youth Hero Awards. She's been planning for Juneteenth, as well as supporting the African Heritage Reparation Assembly, and the DAC because I was out for two weeks. So when there's a small, you know, when there's only two people in the office and a million things to do. Sometimes things, you know, fall off of the plate but it certainly has been, I think, the overall history that most of the time, the meetings have been posted in the made available in advance. So, like, you know, I can apologize and obviously we'll strive to do better to make that to increase the times that we're 100% accurate but it's been the last six weeks have been very, very tough, and I've been out of the office quite a bit. Thank you. So I just have a quick one. I watched a rerun of, I believe it's the Finance Committee or Town Council meeting or joint where departments, you know, attended, department heads attended. And when it came to, you know, DEI department, I was just surprised that no mention of CSSJC or HRC, especially HRC that does a lot of celebrations, like funding, you know, for these two groups. I mean, Jennifer is doing a lot with almost little resources. And Juneteenth, for example, is such a popular event that the town should be able to provide funding so that people can attend and eat free food, just like, you know, that was done with the Hero Award. People should not be going to Juneteenth in our town to pay for food. And this is why, part reason why my group, BBAA, you know, decided to have our own. It's open to the community. So I just wanted to say that, you know, DEI department is only two people they can just do so much. They figured out, you know, that's reason why we didn't have our meeting yesterday. I have a lot of sympathy to both Ms. Pamela and also to Ms. Moistain, they're doing a lot. It can be, you know, really overwhelming and stressful. And that's why this body is pushing for, you know, staffing that was recommended by CSWG. We recommended additional staffing that that didn't happen. So I, personally, I understand about the switch of date and time. And Deborah and Phillip, I agree, it's good to have consistency. If people want to take our committee seriously, people, you know, look forward to if they want to like listen in so they know that every Wednesday, you know, second Wednesday of each month. So I get that too. Yes. Well, I actually have my hand up. Oh, you did fast. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, you know, just, just to go back to what Pamela said, so thank you, you know, obviously I do see, you know, Jennifer, you know, I've seen some of the community events and I understand that you all are small office and you have a lot going on. So, you know, and as Ms. Pat said, that's why at all these different meetings that we've been going on, we've been saying you also get a higher budget and have more staff. Because the thing is, is that, you know, because you all are so overwhelmed, then something has to go and then an important committee such as this one, then it gets impacted. So that's not okay too, you know what I'm saying so definitely I understand. I'm not saying, you know, obviously understand the amount of work, but hopefully moving forward. And that's why I wanted to say publicly so that the town can hear and the town manager and so on and so forth can understand that, you know, we're not going anywhere this this committee is going to continue to stay strong continues to do its work. But in order for it to do its work has to be able to, you know, function in a way that is dependable and the schedules are set in the gender support beforehand so that people know so that they can, you know, participate and be able to know what it is that we're going to be discussing. Thank you. Miss Tim. Yeah, so I just wanted to respond a little bit about the, the finance committee read meeting that you saw. As you know this is my first time going through the budgetary process and in advance of that meeting. The finance director gave me some idea of the questions that I should expect to hear from the committee, and what type of information I needed to provide to them in advance. So the, the information that you refer to as far as like the need for additional finances to support cultural events and other activities of the office were certainly expressed and included in our written information that went to the finance committee. They control the meeting, and they didn't ask any of the questions that I anticipated, or that it was suggested to me that they to prepare for none of those. The other thing that I think is really important and I've had conversations with the finance director and the town manager about that is that our office budget does not fully reflect the support that we're getting from the town because it doesn't include, like support from press and offer funds it doesn't, it doesn't include support that we're getting from Amherst College or our other donations, not to say that we are should be relying on those other donations, but it doesn't present the full picture. And so I've had some conversations with the finance director and the town manager about ways in which we can show the full picture for the budget. Lastly, and Philip will may speak to this as well as part of the HRC annual report, the suggestion was that that report include a reference to the number of activities, the number of people who participated and the financial cost for conducting those activities so you know where we're certainly aware of that and working towards Thank you for the explanation so where can we get the written report. Is that on the website or I don't really know. I mean, if I had a series of questions that I was asked to answer and submit to Sean, I think it becomes a part of the public document like the big binder of the town's report. Once everything is finalized but I don't think it's been finalized yet has his hand up. So he might know more about that. Okay, if you go to the finance committee the meetings we all had in the minutes of those meetings. Usually the report is there, in addition to being in the budget book. And I can try to pull that up for folks and maybe get it to Pamela we can include it next time you all meet. Okay. Anything else on member report. Moving on. Okay, let's see. So updates, Chris, and I will, I can go wherever I want to go first. Should I go first Pamela. Awesome. I'm really happy to say today we got our second vehicle. So for the first time in our existence we are not reliant on any other department to get around which it's only been true for about three hours but it feels pretty nice. Operations are stabilizing to what we can do with our capacity currently we're in a place right now where we're having to slow down some of the kind of regular engagement pieces in preparation to start 911. We have a lot of folks who are really using our services really robustly and we want to give them an off ramp so that it isn't just that we start 911 and we're not able to meet those needs. We're trying to condense calls example, sometimes we'll have someone who calls for a doctor's appointment and a grocery trip and a pharmacy trip in the same week, trying to get those on to one engagement. Trying to get folks access to other supports that can meet those needs and trying to do as warm up a handoff as we can so not just saying, call these folks they'll take care of it, but really kind of supporting that relationship to make sense. Matt Newman and I went to Washington DC, the first two days of June for the first national convening of alternative dispatch programs. It was hosted by Georgetown and NYU. We had presentations from the Department of Justice. Some really interesting thoughtful folks who have been in this work for a very long time. I'm really proud to say that that we stand in that mix that the way we've done things is consistent with the larger successful programs, as well as, I think, continuing to meet the needs of our community and not letting kind of what other folks are doing blind us from the perspective of Amherst. That was a really successful trip. Now we're having some conversations with private funders, places who may be able to help us expand, which, once we start 911 that'll be the next thing on my plate. The hill we're climbing right now is starting 911 services. The hill after that is obviously expansion. Let me give you all some of the parameters we are, if not the smallest one of the smallest there may be one department on North Hampton will be slightly smaller than us when they start. The largest department in the country is Albuquerque they have 130 staff. Denver is going 24 seven this year we will be watching closely, including having having regular monthly meetings with the folks there to get a sense of what are the challenges. We're navigating them, and they they're being very generous with their time. We're setting up regular contact points with Durham, North Carolina, who had some similar components to us to really get the problem solved some of those things. We have, we have been awarded. We have an old standard grant right now that the larger places have and we have been awarded that we not able to really announce it yet, but there will be a press release in between this meeting and your next meeting. And I'd be glad to come back and talk about that. I mean, I just I say that to say, this was a hill the town has tried to climb twice. And both times run successful the first time was before I got here. The second time it was one of the first things I did was write this grant losing it didn't feel very good. So this third time I think feels like redemption it feels like validation of the idea and it obviously feels like validation of the process. And I think that the web and some of the other CSWG folks will be on a panel with me and a couple responders at the Smith School of Social Work conference. I forget the exact name Deborah do you remember it. I don't remember the names at Smith College. I forget the name of the conference, but it's on the 23rd. And what time we presented. I will, if you go on the Smith website, you can find all the details you can find us in there. One of the pieces that I just want to point out to folks that we learned going to DC, and some of the conversations we've had is that folks are very much watching our process. If you look at the way Cambridge Cambridge is starting a community responder department. Their initial budget is going to be $3.1 million entirely funded by the municipal government. They largely followed the path that was set in Amherst. They just were able to expedite it because they were able to learn from, from our mistakes but also our successes they didn't have to replicate all of them. I'm really proud of the fact that there are departments across the country that are looking at things that happened here before I got here. The CSWG, the folks who were involved in that process the way it happened and finding real value in that. I think that's also part of my job is to spread the kind of how of crests, not just the what we do. I think responders, I think remain enthusiastic about their jobs. I'm glad to participate and help where they can. I'm trying to think we had a really, we were able to help a person who's been struggling with a hoarding challenge for a significant period of time for several years. Finally, move to find a space that is more that they're able to live in. One of the things I'm really proud of someone who we, we've really tried to get housed actually has been accepted to the safe havens program in Greenfield. The person who had been homeless on the streets in Amherst for years has been in treatment for about 60 days now, which is a huge win and for that person, and we're proud that we got to be a small part of that. We are as of the middle of next week we will have done everything we can do to start the 901 process. Now it sits in the hands of police chief and the dispatch director. My expectation my hope, I think a shared hope is that we will start doing them this summer, but I think I finally passed the time where I can say, after this summer, we will have been prepared it'll be incumbent on other folks to allow us to do the work now we are ready to do it. And so, I know I've been tempered on that point in the past that I also was committed to telling you when that point had passed that point is passed my folks are as good as anybody taking 911 calls in the country. They're talented, they're enthusiastic they're capable. We are deserving of the opportunity to begin taking 911 calls we've done what we have to do, which I'm proud of and absolutely was a group effort. And so our workers are incredible folks and and I just, I love I got the short straw and who gets to stay up late with you but I wish you got to see all of them because they're there's just some of my favorite human beings. Again, just another thing to reiterate, we are continuing to show up anywhere we're invited. That has looked like now doing some de-escalation trainings for some peer substance communities in the area. And then support those folks to have a bigger presence in Amherst as we, you know, summer happens and we start to see some of the folks who are harder to see when there's so many students around and realizing that the substance use problem we're encountering is more substantial than we've seen in a long time and just, you know, any public space I get to be in I would warn folks who are using substances these days, the fentanyl can be just about anything to please be cautious to please engage with folks like tapestry. And I think that's just something there's never a bad place to say that these days. It's become such a big place. So, so I don't think I have any huge exciting updates this this month, just kind of that we are, you know, this phase of our upscaling is just about I think we will once we say start taking down one cause there will certainly be a one to three month period where we're really focused on making sure that is going as well as it can be. But we are aggressively looking at grants. Another part of the budget that I control is the ability to go out and get funding from other places and so I want folks to know that we are doing our absolute best we're working tirelessly to try to get as many resources we can do every means that we have. So, I think that's it for today. Thank you very much. Does anybody have questions for Mr Miller. Yes, that. So, thank you for the presentation. You know, I'm glad that, you know, obviously you all have been doing a lot and but I'm glad that you all seeming to be going to the next step. So I just want a little bit more clarity in terms of the 911 calls so when is it that it's actually starting so that obviously put the word out there. What does that actually mean in practice right so what are you all hours and so with the 911 does that impact anything in terms of hours because, as you all know, like, in terms of CSWG. We want appropriate funding, first and foremost, and we also want it to be 24 seven and we want you all to be responsive to everything that is non criminal, you know, all violations that's non criminal, you know, I know that that's obviously reach towards and to get to, but I guess I want to get more of a sense right really kind of practical in the box type of, you know, what does it mean that you all are going to 911 and when you say you're ready to kind of continue moving forward like you have kind of like a timeline in terms of what that means. So I guess I'll probably work back there. I don't have a timeline. A lot of these decisions are out of my hands. So it would be, you know, I can say that we could be ready as fast as we can but they will take work from other folks. Our hours will not change with the budget that we currently have with the staffing that we currently have. We could not stretch any further. The grant writing that we'll be doing will in large part hopefully be to bring positions to the department to allow us to expand. But we would we need probably double our staff to get to 24 seven. We also would need some leadership roles. So, again, the part of that that I'm in control of is looking for outside revenue for applying for grants. Obviously, I hope that the town budget, you know, will will increase to support us as we move but what I'm in control of is seeking those opportunities where they're available. As far as our operations. I don't exactly know how it will impact it's kind of like one of those things I don't know exactly what it will look like until we turn the switch on. I'm anticipating if I think of how it's gone in other communities that it starts off like a little bit of a drip. I think that people aren't quite comfortable not having the traditional response for a few weeks until they see it work somewhere, and then kind of highlighting those things. But we will, you know, we will be on social media sharing when we start 901 we will share it as much as we can with the folks in our network. We will be as vocal as we can about it. As far as the when of 901. That is the decision that I'm, I'm not, I haven't been presented to make. If it was up to me we would start July 1. I believe that is when we will be prepared I think that represents the time to start that decision is currently in the hands of the dispatch director and the police chief and we are having conversations they continue to be collaborative. But I do want to stand pat by we are ready this summer to go. Does anybody else have questions for him. I see no hands. And I can I just take one quick moment before I go. Philip, I'm going to miss you dearly. I know that this role requires lots of things and you bring your full self to it and for all the folks in this group who aren't going to be here I hope you never feel like you can't just knock on my door if you have a criticism or a thought or feedback or anything and fill by that might have to be a phone call for you. But I hope that you'll always be a presence in my world at least I benefited greatly from both the positive reinforcement and there are days where you guys were the only positive voice I had and the hard feedback which I needed. And I kind of think of this as a, you guys helping to keep me balance and I greatly appreciate it and I appreciate the labor of folks in this process, just like the folks on the CSWG you'll always have. You'll always have Crestacum say whatever you need to say to us will always be here to listen. I just want to thank you for your time and energy it's been incredibly important. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. All right, so I'll just echo what Earl said Phillip and I'll get to see you again next week and then later again so you'll get to hear from me. A couple different times. The office has continued with our staff training with a workshop on allyship that was presented by Yana McClure. And we had held DEI workshops today for the health department and the senior center. Crest was supposed to join us but they had two days of mental health department mental health mandatory training and so we will work with them at another time. The fire department was supposed to be scheduled for their training but due to my illness that had to be postponed so we will return to do to the training for the fire department. So we did a training for the community on allyship that was held at the bank center on a Saturday morning. And the title of it was being an ally. I don't know if the white was in the title but I think being a white ally, not a savior. And it was fairly well attended considering it was a Saturday morning with about 13 folks there. So that work is continuing and we, you know, we'll continue to do our planning for additional workshops throughout the summer and really gear more up in the fall when we know that folks are back around and not on vacation. I'm going to just go into some of the other things that are also on on the list so the resident oversight board request for proposal period ended. This is in the midst of the procurement process for a consultant, the town received one proposal from a firm Jensen Hughes, and I am very limited in what I can say about that because of the national law chapter 30 B but I can say that there will be dates coming in the coming weeks as they complete the review of the proposal and, you know, the discussions around it. So that's unfortunately there's not a lot. I can, I can say there, I will say that I had expected more responses. There's a consultant who is in the in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who does this area, who is an expert in this area. But I can report that that consultant is actually part of the Jensen Hughes team so we're in some ways getting a two for if we're able to complete the process. I think the Youth Empowerment Center, I think at the conclusion of the of the town meeting and as I said like, I've been out for a few weeks so my memory is not 100%. But I believe that what was the next step was supposed to be for the town manager to convene a working group that consists of the CREC, myself and others that has not occurred yet, but Cress and I are moving ahead with our plans to hire an AmeriCorps or to host an AmeriCorps member. I attended the AmeriCorps supervisors training in Greenfield last week. I'm hopeful that we'll have a placement we we haven't gotten a placement yet but you know they're hopeful that we will have someone in place for August. And in addition to that I have started a anti it's the ADL Anti-Defamation League training for educators for working with youth on around bias. And I just started it's a five week program so I just started that program today it'll end towards the end of July but all of that training is geared to help prepare for us to do program youth programming in the fall so whether we have an AmeriCorps volunteer or not, it is the intention of the office to start to provide some youth programming. Jen and I met yesterday, you know, with the director of the library at Amherst College who has, and I think it's okay for me to say this publicly, who has offered space and support around hosting events at the college for you so we're, we're looking for ways to really build that programming, both in terms of substance and as far as different spaces are around town are concerned. And, you know, or I'll mention earlier the, the Juneteenth event that is scheduled for Monday, the youth hero awards. I think I can say we're a huge success this is, I'm sort of Juneteenth will be my first year of going through all of the events for the, you know, for the office and for the HRC and I really people had talked about the youth hero awards but I had really no concept of what had a, you know what that really meant until this past week and I think we had well over 300 people there it was a joint event with the Human Rights Commission, the race amity group, and the Julius Ford Harriet Tubman healthy living community who volunteered and help serve food and set up and so we are hopeful that that will be also be a joint event next year, because it really brought a lot of different segments of the community together and Philip might want to add more to that. I, I unfortunately spent most of my time serving food. So I can't tell you a lot about what occurred with it with the awards or with the basketball game. I think that's it for our updates. Thank you so much. Questions. Yeah, thanks Pamela for the update and, you know, I was at the event, the youth hero awards and you know I'm part of the, I'm also part of the Joyce Ford Harriet Tubman healthy living community and so I know a lot of our volunteers were there to assist and, you know, we were one of the, you know, main partners last year in terms of putting, you know, the festival and bringing all these groups together and everything so I'm happy that, you know, it's continuing and like you said hopefully it'll continue on an annual basis because it was a beautiful event. You know, as you state a lot of people is beautiful day and, you know, just a lot of positivity which is great. So I have a couple questions is around like the resident oversight board. So one of the things that we had brought up, or I had brought up last time was that you know I know there was an RFP, and I think it was somewhere on the website but I just wanted to get a copy of that so what that RSP actually, you know said in terms of what the, what you all will be consulting to do because, you know as CSSJC and HRC with a joint statement that we sent out we felt like there is a lot there that was very repetitive from what CSWG had already included in its report. And, you know, this resident oversight board needs to happen very quickly. And so we don't want, you know, time to be, I don't want time to be wasted on going over things that CSWG already recommended and did because we did a lot of research to put together the structure that was in the report that was very detailed and very specific in terms of some of the aspects. I know there are other aspects of resident oversight board that obviously needs a little bit more work because there was only so much time that we had to do that. So I just don't want there to be more, you know, time just spent going over things that were already done before. So, if you can share that information and also, you know, is there a timeline in terms of the resident oversight board and you know, you know, it's going to be hiring a consultant, but what does that mean? And what do you foresee in terms of when will the resident oversight board actually be in place is, you know, the ultimate question. Copy the RFP, you know, whether the, you know, this consultant is going to be doing things that CSWG already did and then a timeline. So those are three of my questions. And then my last question is from the youth empowerment, which again, we had, you know, I had kind of made my comments around it, which is we CSWG included a lot of information around that. I know the next step you were saying was talking to some of these other offices, which, you know, as I stated, if you all are not talking to young people, I think that, you know, what are we doing there? And what I'm saying is just about putting this together with young people being the leaders. They're the ones that know what they need for their youth empowerment and the center and really is finding a space, putting the budget together and making this happen. I think we're wasting a lot of time, again, doing the same things that were already done. And so, you know, we're going to keep pushing and we're going to keep putting pressure to make sure that this gets done. You know, more quickly. So I want to get, you know, more detail from you in terms of why are we there with the youth empowerment, which is basically nowhere. That's how I feel. I mean, I get it that you're going to have someone you're going to be doing some programming, but we're talking about a center. We want to center up and running. So let me try to answer the first three questions first. So the, I'll be happy to send you the RFP it was on the, you know, finance or accounting department website but I didn't really find it that easy to navigate so but I, you know, that is an easy one to do to do is to send it out. The, the RFP does state that the expectation for the consultant is that they will build on the work of the community safety working group that there's not an expectation that there will be a repetition of the work but an expectation that they will, you know, thoroughly review those reports have an understanding and build on build on that work. The timeline is not set in stone and that is simply because until there is a signed contract. We won't know what the timeline is and I can't. As I said, speak to in details about the procurement process but you know, I am hopeful that I'm actually hopeful that be by the time that this group meets in July that that question might be answered, but I don't have any answer for a timeline at this point. And so, as far as the youth empowerment center is concerned, you know, I am really limited in what I am able to do with the resources that I have. I think it's a very important goal. I think that, you know, I can understand the, the desire and demand to have a center but I don't have, I don't have the ability to create that with the office that I currently have but what I can do is offer programming and look for places to start the work and that's what I'm trying to do. Thank you. Philip I see your hand raised. My questions are comments are around the youth empowerment center and I think Deborah, but it very much what I was going to say about just incorporating youth in particular by the voices as to what it is. I would like to do, but I would also give an offer that in my time as a youth grown up in California that there was a teen center that I went to after school to kind of stay out of trouble and you know they had field trips that that was my first time that I was able to go to a beach in California that is something to think about field trip wise as well as classes with just living that I think some of our youth may not even know is an option like I remember I did some cooking classes I know there was some classes on like like how do you apply for a job how do you do a resume like that like those are important skills and things that need to happen that maybe a team will suggest maybe they won't but just to look into and to consider offering those types of things because yes I 100% back and think that if tomorrow we could double build the youth empowerment center for the time being that would be great on the town and then build start building one but if there's not going to be one tomorrow I do appreciate your efforts on trying to make something happen for the teams in town and having a 12 year old that is currently going into 13 I would much appreciate that if I was still living in town past June or July So I think the goal for the for the AmeriCorps volunteer is to do that engagement with the youth and to really help them think about and support them as they develop their own their own desires for program and and I also know that the community group had a very detailed sort of outline of what types of the variety of different types of programming so around entrepreneurship around college admissions so all of that I think it will be taken into place and having a person in place who can can be that connection point and you know conduct the or assistant conducting some of the presentations I think will be very helpful that rather than having a woman with you know as much gray hair as I as I have tried to engage in those conversations and and I will say that I modeled this approach after sort of a similar story to you Philip, when I was in high school in California, I, our county government had a commission where each high school got to ascend a representative. And that commission would meet on a monthly basis and help plan activities for the entire county. And we were assisted by, you know, staff people who were young adults and that's sort of the model that that I have for how we can get something, you know, started in the fall that's that's certainly the intent. You know, and I think we'll be able to do it. Okay, so I have a couple comments is actually not question. And this is more what I've observed with some committees in our town. I attended as an audience of another committee, disability access committee, whatever. So just like CSS JC just like HLC they're just advisory. So that's what the issue is that's the elephant in the room. If I were to continue with CSS JC. Something I would have pushed in the future, and this is for Deborah, Frank, Frank, a leg run is that by the nature of CSS JC, the town government, the town council doesn't appreciate the resources that CSS JC brings. We are just advisory group. I would like to see CSS JC HLC that I made up of mostly people of color to have the same power as say planning board, for example, like if we say we need youth center. It's not up to the town to tell us they don't have the money, find the money. It's not up to the town to plan their own youth youth activities. No, that's not enough. That's not good enough. That's not what the kids CSS CSWG kids themselves we have a youth who sat on CSWG he reached out to his friend. Seven gen, they did their own research. Kids want a space they call their own, not some college space, not some school space, not, you know, moving them all around. No. I will hope whatever the next group is going to be additional new people hear me out. The, the way the what your colleague the way the committee is right now it needs to move from an adversary advisory board to whatever I want to call it, but we cannot just continue to be an advisory board because nothing will happen. I lost. Can people still hear me. Can people still hear me. Okay. Why did I lose picture. Yeah, so that's the comment I want to make because I'm very frustrated that for three years we still don't have your center. And we have wanted to approve Jones library. The message that we send in to you, you, our youth in this town. We're not even talking about Bicultural Center so I'm just, you know, it's very frustrating I just want to put that out. I thank you for all your efforts that, you know, I think CSW division of this group is to work with you collaboratively, so that we know, I mean we appreciate you giving us update this is not what I envisioned for the DEI and cracks that we know we collaborate we work with the heads about what is happening. You know, push for funding. And it's just, yeah, it's, yeah. And it's not just unique to CSS JC, you know that other committees, adversary, and yeah, it's, it's not, it's wasting people's time I'm sorry. That's all I want to say. Why did I lose. Okay. I wanted to say one more thing. Yes, please. So yeah, and I think I was thinking about that and then miss Pat when you started talking and made me think more about it. Like you said, it's just like, you know right now in terms of CSS JC and HRC. You know, but obviously I'll speak of CSS JC because this is our group, which like you said is majority by pop people. And it's, it's one of those things that it's kind of like. Why aren't we more embedded within the town structure. Right. So that then we're not an afterthought so that then it's not kind of like, you know, people come to us after things have happened. They haven't been made. So we need to have these conversations, more so with the town council with Lynn or whomever and the town manager, because like you stated town manager hasn't even been to one of our meetings. And it's, it's how is it that our, you know, our thoughts are feedback, you know, we're the ones that have the connections with the community. So why is it that we're not being consulted, you know, throughout the process as opposed to after the process. So, these are some of the things that you know moving forward I know I understand that obviously we're losing a lot of valuable members. But we're still going to have to continue to, to, you know, to find and battle this and think this through, because, you know, that needs to be the next step. Right. How can we be embedded so that we are a part of the decision making process. Thank you. Well said, anybody else. Thank you miss Pamela for your updates. Okay. So, um, the next item is for us to approve the draft letter that Allegra put together regarding the main thing joint meeting. Do you have that letter to be put up. I do not have the letter, I can see if it was in a recent email item from Allegra to chief email it recently to the group or to Jennifer. So I, yeah, so what we can do it's okay what we can do we can skip that when Allegra joins us, maybe, you know, she'll be able to share it. Is that okay with people. Okay, I think the same thing is going to also be the case with the letter regarding the police chief. Do you have that document miss Pamela. That's okay. Okay, so we're, yeah. So if it's okay for people we're going to skip C and D. Is that okay. Okay. So this brings me just briefly since one audience that spoke today, I don't want to repeat what she said, but as soon as you, you probably know by now that we live in two different words in our town. We have two night night night clubs that were treated differently. And Hazel lost revenue for eight months because of licensing, permitting process, why they drag owned by white entity use influence and access to town officials to get whatever they need. And talk about fate they also got $300,000 upper funds. So, we have a long way to go in our town. Yes, we're liberal town. I think we do it would we do a lot better by talking so much and doing less. So I have concerns about our town. So, marginalized group I've been treated, especially the business community. So I just want to throw that out. And I hope the town will do the right thing. When the upper distribution of funds will come up again because I still money left from upper funds to do the right thing. Does anybody have anything to say on this. Yeah, so I mean obviously for me this is a, you know, a new issue I just learned about it. Obviously very concerning. You know, because, you know, all you can do is rely right you're relying on the town to make these decisions. And then when you're seeing that these decisions are being made inequitable. So, you know, more specifically, then it's very concerning. This is exactly what we're talking about right it can't be, you know, one way for for some people and then a different way for BIPOC people, people who are marginalized for a variety of different identities right. So, you know, you know, again, reparations need to happen for this this needs to be taken seriously. You know, seems like what Vera stated was that there's this, you know, that Pamela that you wrote something that kind of details, you know, more than information. Obviously, you know that needs to be acted upon so that then, you know, some type of reparation or what have you, and can take place. Because if not then that's where, when we're talking about healing, right we've talked about that bringing the town together for healing. That's where it's just like how can you heal when there's no trust, you know, because when you see these types of things happening over and over again and we see that it's BIPOC people and people who are, you know, these identities are the ones that always get the short end of the stick. Right. And so, so my, my thing is that I want to continue to get updates on this so that the town knows that we're watching this, and that we expect that there's going to be a new type of reparation for hazels, and that moving forward, things are going to be done differently, and why how are things going to be done differently that that's that's some of the things that I'd be interested in finding out more about. Thank you. Okay. Um, I mean, I want just to add that I encourage the public for people to go and watch the disability access committee, the ASC. The meeting on today is Thursday I believe they're meeting on Tuesday. John. Today is 14, today is 14 right. And June, Tuesday, June 13. June 12 right. Okay, 1313. Okay, whatever. Today's 15. Okay. So I encourage the public to please watch that meeting. It just is an example of how scared. I am in this town. Six wonderful, good human beings, good people. Delibrated on this on this issue that the, that the audience had to, you know, make comment about. And a vote came, I was in the audience, I spoke about racism about Hazel and Drake, and some of them really were uncomfortable voting for Drake. The people wanted to get variants from the state for, for, for temporary ramp that they had, and they flip their votes because they were scared. Only one member was brave enough to have same. I want people to watch with that, that young man for doing the right thing, but it tells you how scared people are in this town. I want people to go watch it. At least maybe 10 minutes from the meeting, you know, it didn't start immediately back when it came to Drake presenting to the committee, I want people to, to take their time and watch it. Play out. And that's why people don't want to serve in this town. They're scared. That's good. Here comes a leg. All right. All right. Welcome to the ground. Thank you. Yeah. So, basically, we did most of the I agenda items that where we have we haven't done the, the draft meeting. The agenda and the letter to the police. We haven't done that yet. Take your time. Yeah, I don't remember ever getting the agenda. So I'm just going to pull it up. Okay, sure. Yeah. So we're on the action. Okay, items. So we've had the crest and the I updates, including a resident oversight board update on youth and youth activities. And then we skipped the follow up. And then we had the 10 meeting draft, because you weren't here. We also skip letter regarding the police chief. I briefly shared my concerns around, you know, how he's all and Drake were treated. So that's where we are. I also want to let you know that Dr. Demetria Shabazz has resigned effectively today. Okay. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. So I know the police chief letter has already been sent. I think that was supposed to just be in the packet to show us what it said. And we all did get an email of that too. I got it. Yeah, I found it. And Pamela, I just sent it to you like five minutes ago. I didn't see it. I didn't see that. The one like a couple months ago, several weeks ago though. Okay, I must have missed. Right. I think so. Yeah, so I think it was sent. It had been sent before our joint meeting with town council, because it had been sent out asking for comments, following the April meeting, or because there was only one comment made on the draft that was sent out. So that was incorporated and then it was sent. Can you just resend it to like send me a copy? Absolutely. And then. So the, the last thing that we have on action items would be the letter to follow up on town council meeting. Is that correct? Yeah. Do you have the document? I, let me see if I can pull it up on my email. I'm sorry. I'm not. That's okay. That's what I wrote it on. Yeah, I think I see it here. It was, you sent it to us June 6. Okay. I think I can, if I can screen share, I might be able to pull it up. Let me open. I'm just trying to get this. Okay, so we're waiting for that. Is that it? Let's see. So tiny. Let me see if I can enable some editing. I'll have to hold on a second. It's not that one. No, I think it's a letter that was sent to the town manager. That was your, that's the letter for to be sent to town manager town council after like to follow up on the. Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. So is this it? Yeah, yeah, that was it. Can you send it back again? All right, let me try to screen share again. I tried to increase the size. So, so why, why you're doing that I just want to comment, you know, thank you Allegra for the draft. Honestly, nothing will, you know, come out of it. Yeah, I mean, this has been the town council leadership priority to listen to us. So, I mean, this is good. They will just read it and move on. Yeah, because of the structure of our group that needs to change. You need to change. Would you like me to read it aloud or are you going to read it aloud? Oh, okay. Yeah, I read it. I read it already. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you Allegra. So Allegra, Allegra, you're going to be sending that then that's it. Does anybody have any feedback? Does anyone think it's not strongly worded enough or too strongly worded or. I think what you wrote, the question is, will, you know, we there be action, and that leads us to our topic review of CSSJC charge, because we are adversary group. And as such, we can make, you know, we don't have any power. Why do we exist in the first place? In this situation, you know, if we can make, if we don't have power to make changes, which we're just at the mercy of the town council went out like a planning board. They make, they make decision and carry out implement stuff. We cannot implement stuff here at this level, unless we change. We have to continue with this group. And that's the reason I'm, I'm removing myself. It's like CSSJC has to be. Okay, has to be a group that is beyond adversary. Same thing with HLC. When we go back to the disability access committee that I watched, they kept saying, when we're not in, we're adversary, we don't have any power, and that broke my heart. Like, people are volunteering their precious time, and they're feeling like less. That's really, really sad. The core of what CSSJC new, new, new members and the returning ones need to focus on. It has to change CSSJC should be calling the shot. You know, the, the, but the council president and, and, and vice, we need you so so so you need to come this is you know, we need to, you know, meet with you this is what we want. If we're adversary, they don't care, they won't listen to us. They just ignore. We don't have time. We have a packed schedule. They will come up with all kinds of excuses. So we really, really need to think about CSSJC. What we're here for. This is not sustainable. I'm sorry. You're running the meeting. I'm okay. I can do that now. I see Deborah has her hand up. Yeah, I think that that's where, like, one of the things that I would recommend is just saying, you know, we want to get a response by when, you know what I'm saying, like, put in a time, you know, date certain, so that when they do not respond. You know, that's their, their MO that we can have like we asked you to respond by this day and happen so that then we can, you know, say something about it but I think that that what Miss Pat talked about. That could also be a, you know, an actual line to add there is that, you know, we, you know, we demand that we be embedded with a decision making process of the town. And something like that so that it's clear that we're making these demands, you know what I'm saying. So that then we can get, you know, the community support. And so that some of this can change and we can get updated in terms of what our charges. Because right now, I mean that's the benefit of having gone through this for a year is to see okay how did everything actually work out and we're seeing that we're being put to the side and and not listen to. And those would be the two kind of additions that I would make to the letter, because we need to start documenting. Do you have a date in mind, I mean today is what June 16. Is that right 15 something like that. And when do they meet next, the 26. Yeah. So if, if this gets to them with like tomorrow. And they meet the 26 would saying that by the 30th. I mean, because then they can talk about it at, you know, say we got this letter from CSS JC. And they want a response by this Friday so that they would actually have time on that agenda to address it. Yeah. Yeah, and two weeks is fair. So date. And make sure you indicate that you want that to be added to the town council package. Otherwise, just sending them later. Not going through the packet wouldn't do anything. And again, the new CSS JC to think about really changing the status of advisory. You know, we've seen what happened with July 5. We see what happened with upper funds. A year later. It's when, you know, it's going to be on the agenda at town council on the 26 so encourage people to come out that night for public comment about our funds. We need community members to weigh in that, that night at town council meeting on public comment. Yeah. I see Frick has his hand up. Let me put my hand down. First of all, I would be fine with a discussion about a change regarding the charge. But I personally don't think the charge needs to change. And so my question would be, if we move away from being an advisory entity. And as opposed to have real power, what would that entail? What does, what is the practical exhibition of that real power are the examples that we already have of successful entities that exercise that power that we seek. Yeah, we have. So I need to raise my hand. I'm sorry. Ms. Patrick, you can. I'm in planning board. They don't go to the town council, you know, after they make decisions, approve people. You know, there are different committees in our town that, you know, zoning board, this and that, but you know, whatever, that they don't have to get clearance approval, you know, through town council. And then this is something that, you know, that should really be looked at, in order for us to see real progress change in our town. Otherwise, you will end up just. I mean, I will think the vision of CSWG when we put this together, we didn't want our recommendation to get forgotten. They're trying to shut us down. We wanted to continue. And then we came up with the idea of CSSJC, right? Yeah. And the whole idea, we were very, you know, all people need to know is just go read the charge to collaborate with all the town. And the town council had no appetite to collaborate with us. We reach out to them. They read our demands. They just set it aside. No, it's not okay. It is not okay because we're a unique group for so purpose of equity, inclusion, and what is the other one, diversity. More than anything else. So it is possible to add language like Deborah said. Maybe she can do some research and come up with language so that when we say we want, for example, youth center, we're not talking about youth activities to different locations. That's not what the youth center they want. We're not talking about adults just coming up with random ideas. No. When we talk about upper funds, and we're saying that it wasn't transparent. Why wasn't it transparent? You need to come to our meeting and give us presentation of how our funds was distributed to the business community because we don't have that power. We can't make them to come and do the presentation and I'm talking about the finance department, for example, is what I'm talking about. We need to be real here. Do the top is the town really ready to make the real change. People are so scared. So do the right thing. Thank you. So I saw where Pamela, Deborah, Freckay. So I, I just have a comment, and I don't really know the answer to this, but I think it would be wise to take a look at the town charter. That dictates how how the creation of, you know, boards and committees are are created prior to adding additional language about a change in the charter. I think that that might require a change to the actual charter itself, and it is my understanding that next year, the charter will be reviewed there's like, and there's an opportunity to change the charter but I'm saying this without having any in depth knowledge about about those things but I think it would important to do that and then the other thing that I was going to point out is that as Ms. Pat has already pointed out that June 26 meeting is going to be. I don't know if anything other than ARPA is on their agenda there. It's my understanding that they are, there will be a presentation about the distribution that has occurred for ARPA funds and what are the possibilities for the remaining funds. And again I don't know the details but I had asked the finance director after the federal government voted to claw back ARPA funds what the impact would be for the town of Amherst. And I know that they are thinking about a process by which they might be able to retain funds and with those big agenda items, adding this at that time may mean that you may not get that the time that you want to address the issue that's just comments. Thank you, Pamela. And then Freke then I saw Phillips hand go up and then come back to miss Pat. Yeah, I mean just responding to Freke. I think this is something that us as a committee, we need to discuss further my thought my viewpoint in regards to it is just in terms of looking and that's one of the things you got to do right we have to look at, you know what were our successes what were our challenges this year, you know. So for me as I'm looking at this past year. You know that is one of the challenges, one of the challenges is the fact that we went to countless town council meetings we went to countless, you know, shared a variety of different times you know, letters with them and so on so forth we were very clear in terms of steps that needed to be taken. And then, you know, basically it was just kind of like yes we're going to, you know, try to do try to do this and this and this and this and then nothing came about, you know, in regards to anything that we stated. So that's where we're saying that we need to kind of look at where we're at our charge right, we have to do that we have to get that analysis as a group, and see if we're being effective, and we're being efficient. Because if that's not happening, then a change needs to occur, because that's how the community is going to is going to trust us is is if they feel that we are going to actually have action take place, and we and we're a new committee. We need to learn how to engage with the town council and with the town managers. Yeah, we created a charge right CSWG created a charge with a town manager but you, but with us and it was just really massage tweaking a little bit by him, but it was this this was our language, but it this is a new committee. And we have to evaluate you know I'm saying you always have to look at efficiencies of a committee and its charge, whether it's being effective. You know, and so it's just something that we need to talk so for me my opinion is that we do need to make some changes. Now it might not be your opinion freckled might not be others but we need to have that discussion, because if we're not being effective, the way that the charges written, then what, what is, what else can we do in regards to it so that we can be more effective. Freckles and Phillips and miss Pat and I'll put my hand up to. Thank you on this patterned Deborah, I think. What, like I mentioned previously, I'm fine with having that discussion. There's always a space that exists for renewal. I worry that beyond the discussion, even if there is a change to the charge that changes going to be more less textual textual in the sense that you can put new words in the charge and that's not going to result in action being taken. And so my question was, how do you not use specifically but how does the town government actually produce action. Now, taking a step back, I actually seem to believe that we've done okay. We've done okay, not because we have been victorious in a lot of the things that we've wanted but because we've raised some issues that have been listened to by the town council, even if they haven't acted on what we've wanted and so in that sense, we have been successful in a lot of order interests and a lot of order expectations within this town that have not been heard. It simply doesn't exist for the town council. And so to get the town council to listen that in itself is some kind of victory. It doesn't mean that that's where we stop. It doesn't mean that that's where we can start from. And then, as was mentioned, we can find as a new council, better ways to liaise and act with the town council as a committee and as we get more mature and as we become more known and as interests begin to align, then we can become more effective. What we're going through now perhaps may just be growing pains and we shouldn't outrun the process by making changes that might not prove effective if we do so. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, Pamela, I sent you an email while I'm talking if you could look at that and then pull up what it is I sent, but it's essentially the charter and its conception of when it was made back in 2017. I sent it a while ago and it gives a flow chart kind of of who is on top from down. And if you look at that, it puts committees and commissions at the very bottom of that flow chart. I mean, it's realistic in the way that it's being currently running, I think to your point, Ms. Pat, of what we are feeling is that I think on HRC, it becomes very difficult to have bylaws to have actual things put in a charter in that way. I know at some point I was looking at the difference between a commission and a committee and a trust and planning board and all these other things and the way that it looks like and it's flown into is that it is then if you could scroll down to five page five. Thank you, Pamela. So, it's basically that to your point Ms. Pat the planning board, the zoning board and the town clerk's office are essentially on the same level as a town manager right that is overseeing then by the town council and so I think that is why they are able to basically vote on things and put things through a lot quicker than any of the commissions are boards because if you look squirrel down, that is kind of where we are on boards and committees and now it doesn't say either the CSSJC name or HRC's name but I think that's our real limitation here. So to that, and then I would just say that it probably becomes more of a general bylaw rule with town council and if they're going to then look at the charter and rewrite the charter next year then this year's election is going to be pretty important to get out that want to hold this flow chart because I think that's going to be the biggest obstacle is that everybody's just going to say, oh wow you need to go through the town manager and town manager will approve your charge or will give you your charge or will, whatever, because that's how it's currently put in. Thank you family to stop sharing. Thank you for Ms. Pat. Philip, I'm glad you brought this up because I occasionally have reviewed the charter and thanks Ms. Pamela for bringing that up, I'm aware that the charter will be reviewed next year. I know that the late women's border sent us some questionnaire. And I think this boarding CSSJC should be on alert and vigilant and get involved with that process when it comes up next year. It's just a document. It can be changed. And we all pay taxes in this town. So we should be able to give, you know, input to it. But again, people are just afraid to speak up. That's the thing. So we CSSJC if a couple people didn't go like out of the way to push stuff really, really harder. And we would have been shut down with July 5th, would have been shut down with upper funds. But, you know, some folks here, you know, decided to, even if it means canceling us, you know, by the powerful people, history will show the people are really trying, you know, to do the right thing in our town. So, you know, charter is just a document. You know, the role of CSSJC really, really needs to change if we want to change what we're talking about. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat. And thank you to Phillip, Freke, and Deb as well because I think everyone has some really good points. And I think that I kind of agree with the fact that like, some of the things, some of the action steps outlined in our charge don't necessarily need to change, but it's the power vested in this group that needs to change. So it's, it's that full chart thing that we just saw that needs to change. Because I think this group is still going to be about carrying on CSWG's legacy and, you know, helping their recommendations come to fruition but how do we do that in a way that has teeth? And I, I, you know, looking at that flow chart, it's like the zoning board and the planning board are council appointed committees rather than town manager appointed committees so I don't know if that's like the sticking if that's the part of our charge language wise that would need to change to say like we are a council appointed committee so that gives us more power I don't know if that's like the truth of the matter or not but if that's a simple tweak to language that would put us in a different category that would be very nice and easy but if that's not the case then I think figuring out how to write the charge in a way that this committee does have more power is something that I'd be interested in learning more about. And I think that in terms of what Debra was saying, I do think it would be important for us to do some sort of self assessment because I think we have these things that CSWG has outlined as things that we are going to be carrying on and I think, I think in a way the July 5 incident obviously took up a lot of time because it was really important and it highlighted a lot of the needs that are still here in town. And I think that the focus was on getting, you know, I can't think of the word like getting justice for the kids, and, and not really focusing on the nitty gritty of like, how are we going to build a youth center that kind of stuff, even though that was part of the conversation because that would have been helpful for those kids before during and after the event. So I think if we maybe as members, not, not tonight but if we have some time to look at the charge between now and the next meeting and think about kind of on each item like where are we have we made has the needle moved at all in any of these things and like what, what do we, where does the power lie to get the needle to move I guess. That would be a recommendation for kind of a task in between. And I guess I just have a logistical question I don't know who this is, who this is to but I'm going to just put it out there. If we have. So if D has resigned and Miss Pat is leaving us and Philip is leaving us that leaves us with three active members is that enough for a committee to even function. Is there a rule about how many people have to be on a committee, or just a rule that a quorum has to be present for a meeting to exist. It's a rule that a quorum has to be present. Paul can change it to like, I think it's number wise is that since we are a committee of seven, is that like the official number to seven, five to seven. Right, so we went down to five then you can do like a committee or quorum of three is what it would be. I think that's correct. I believe you guys can still meet, but perhaps you can make decision is that correct. Well if he if he if he changes the number from five to seven, three would be a quorum and you could still make him make you could still meet and make decisions. Because she would have a quorum while he, while he moved to fill those positions and I don't, I did not touch base with Angela I don't know if she's been in touch with you. Allegra about whether there are any applicants for the vacant positions. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I, I haven't heard. So the only thing that I've heard. I heard from Paul that it would be now that the committee has been formed it will be like the regular committee interview process where chair or the co chair would be involved in the interview process with the committee as an advisory committee and then our staff liaison as well as Paul. He said that they're working on scheduling. And I mean, I spoke with some people at the human rights hero award this, you know, all of the, all of the celebration that was had on Sunday I spoke with some, some people who expressed interest to me so I said, you know, the process. So, perhaps there will be some candidates soon hopefully if there aren't some already. But I have not been contacted about actually scheduling any sort of interviews. I know I encourage to candidates to apply. So that's all I can say. Deborah. So I guess for me. Yeah, one is, is for us to get candidates supply so you're saying that the committee is set is active so now we can send right we can recruit people and send people to apply and to go through the process. Right. That's what you said. Yes. Okay. Okay, so that's good to know because I didn't know that you know the interview committee was in place and all of that stuff so so that I can, you know, recommend folks. But to, we need to be able to make decisions I mean we need to be able to meet and make decisions, even if it's just the three of us. So whatever it needs to happen Allegra if you can reach out to the time manager to make sure if he needs to change the number so that then we have a quorum with the three of us, then let's do that because I don't want to be on a committee because that's a waste of time for us to just meet and talk and talk and talk, you know what I'm saying. It's the talk and make decisions so that we can keep moving this this forward. So I will reach out to him and just say look you know we have another change in membership. We have this many vacancies what just make sure I understand and then come on our members now. I think that is five to seven. Can we put up the CSS JC charge again. I believe it's between five and seven. Yeah, that's what it was. Phillip were you going to say something sorry. Yeah, I already mentioned to you I think I forget when I probably mentioned it to you but if you need me to stay on until July I can stay on until July to get you through July. And then this obviously becomes an issue for you in August but at least it helps this committee. And thank you for that. Thank you Phillip. All right. Yeah. So I just lost the agenda again so in terms of public comment. Okay. Not yet. No, not yet. Goodbyes to the party members. Well, Miss Pat. We're going to miss you. I think that has been so important to this committee and you know I think you've brought so many things to the forefront and made sure that they stayed pertinent in our conversation so I really appreciate you for not not being afraid to make sure that what usually doesn't get talked about gets talked about. I really, I appreciate that about you and I hope that you will make many public comments and future meetings. I don't know if you wanted to say a few words or if other committee members wanted to say things first or so I definitely maybe we can go and then this path you don't mind going last but yeah I mean miss this is Pat as a mentor of mine and obviously an inspiration and the leader in the community. As we know for many years and you know and just make sure that you know as you say miss pan I've heard you say many times you speak truth to power. I'm not afraid of someone that's not afraid to do it even at the, at the, at the point to, to, you know, to yourself right risk to yourself and things like that, which is admirable and we, we know, you know I don't have to recite the times but the times when you've said things and people try to shut you down, you know, and things like that. Obviously, you know, you're going to be very much missed will continue though in your spirit in your with your legacy because obviously I serve with with you and CSWG and then have the pleasure of serving with you and the honor of serving you with you again and and so we're going to continue, you know, with your legacy on this committee, and obviously hope that you continue to support us and, you know, take part in, you know, and just make sure that people are out there knowing that that we're doing this and that we're not going to give up, you know. And for me, I don't know how, how many years but you know I'm planning to stay until my term I don't know how run, you know, if I'll do it again, but at least until the end of my term. So, I definitely plan to keep it going and keep moving it in a very strong way and continue the pressure. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Pat. I have appreciated this past year, getting to know you and just working with you and I think the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of you as resilience. I have heard you say many times that you are a member of this community for 40 plus years, and you've been dealing with this for 40 plus years I've only been dealing with it for a very short time and I sometimes pull out my hair with some of that. So I think your resilience is amazing in your willingness to always give back in this community and I know that you deeply, deeply care about this community is very evident in everything that you do everything that you say and appreciate everything that you say, especially when no one else wants to say it you are the first person to raise up your hand right there and say it and I think it's very funny one of the first times that I met you. And you told me, don't believe everything that you've heard about me or everything that people say about me. I think that has hold up pretty true. I am over the past year of getting to know you I really appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much, but I actually dislike a lot of these kind of farewells because it seems like it's a full stop when it's not really a full stop this a lot more that can still keep going as we go forward. I think I second what Philip has said the word that comes to mind is tenacious. When I think of you, I'm hoping that I'll get to see you with the events you have planned for Juneteenth. What I'll have to say, I'll have to say it's two year one and one, but I appreciate your work, which is ongoing. It doesn't stop. Thank you all. So, before I make my remarks, I would like to really appreciate Philip. For me, for me when I, the very first day, when we first met the CSSJC. So, I was like checking everybody out. I'm like, you know, I find you feel a very intriguing like so bold, like as working, say it is and you've been very consistent like speaking through to power. So I really appreciate your courage and bravery in this town. And, you know, I can tell that you really, really want to see progress in our town. I'm really, really physically going to like miss you. I was hoping that you will run for, you know, town council that, you know, you're leaving us not fair. Life is not fair. Thank you for everything. You have an amazing family. I've had the privilege of interacting with your family. So I really, you're a blessing at your young age that your same age with some of my kids like you just, the sky is your limit. Keep up the good work. Keep up, you know, people find out the truth. And when people find out the truth, guess what the respect you people will gravitate towards you for solutions. Keep up the good work. I also want to put a plug on Dr. Dimitri Shabazz. You know, for everything that we've discussed tonight, just what is CSSJC is all about. Like, we are not being utilized as a resource. I just want to appreciate her. She's a treblazer. She's done so much in our community from, you know, our history, keeping our history, you know, with, you know, local people push and advocating for justice. You know, she was instrumental in doing some very good work for CSWG through her company. She's a urban gen. She's just a problem solver. And whatever you need her. She's there. She truly truly cares. She's not about, you know, lying in her pocket. She just saved the way it is. And, you know, I think this is like, I hope our, our time council will really, you know, rethink the way they treat some committees, because if we continue to lose, you know, resources and committees, we are not helping our town move forward. So I just want to appreciate her very, very much. She's a very personal dear friend to me and the family. So I really thank her for everything she's done for our town, for CSSJC, her consulting work with CSWG. I just wanted to put that plug. So I'll let you guys, you know, say something about Phillip and Dr. Dibetria Shabazz before I do my own remarks. If that's okay. So Phillip, I was very, very sad to hear that you were leaving. I feel like you've been a champion for justice and especially for youth this short year that we've been working together. I really appreciate your perspective and your bravery and speaking your personal truths during town council meetings, but that's not easy to do. It's not always receivable. So I really want to commend you for that. And like Miss Pat, I'm going to miss you a lot. It's been really fabulous to get to know you and to have walked alongside you in this. But we wish you nothing but the best for your next endeavor. Thank you. Deborah, I have something to say for Phillip and Dibetria Shabazz. Definitely. Phil, definitely, you know, it's great to work with you this past year. I think we met and did a little bit of work. Last year at the festival, you know, the community day that we had when I was working with Julie Floyd, Harry Tubman Health Living and you jump right in and help with the cooking and serving and everything else. And I was like, all right, this guy's cool dude, you know, he just jumped right in and started doing some things. And then obviously, I really enjoyed like your thoughtful comments throughout the year. And, you know, the bravery that it takes to save what you said. And, you know, bringing an example, sharing things that, you know, happen in your life and things like that, which obviously make a connection with people. It's going to be a loss for us in the group and for the community, because of your leadership not only, you know, here in CSSJC but also with HRC. It's going to be sorely missed, of course, you know, we wish you only the best, but selfishly we wish you weren't leaving. So, but that that is how life goes. And, you know, and I know you're going to do great things wherever you're at and obviously people are blessed to get you out in California. And I think about D2. Obviously, as Miss Pat already talked about, you know, with the I've known her for many years, she's been obviously, you know, a part of this community and integral part of this community a leader in this community. And then she got to work with her colleagues at UMass too. And then, you know, got to work with her more closely at NCSWG through her company and they just brought invaluable information and data and research and really were able to talk to the community. You know, and it was, it was, you know, credible information hearing the voices of the community, which is what I really appreciated. And just kind of like going and just talking to the usual people that everyone talks to, but really going and talking to the voices that aren't heard within our community. And it made a world of difference in CSWG and obviously that information is a lot of the information that we're still relying upon. And then in CSSGC, you know, being a co chair with Allegra and providing a lot of her leadership. So definitely sorry to see her not be part of CSSGC, but I know she'll continue to do great things in the community. And obviously expect also her to continue to follow us and help us and support us. Because if we don't have the support from, you know, from you all from this path from D from others, then, you know, we won't be able to do the work that we need to do. Because it's an uphill battle, as we all know. So, but yeah, those are my words. So, Freke, you have something to say about Philly. Oh, you did already, right? No, but it's going to be very brief, but fulfill the ground for the, I think I'll miss your grounding influence in some of the discussions. And some of the space that we have to bring our full selves and experiences, desires and expectations. And so it can get really contentious, but you, you're grounded. And I appreciate that. And anything else that I'll have to say I'll have to say to you. And one, but I really appreciate your work here. And likewise for the, I haven't gotten to know him as well, besides work on the committee and it's very clear. And I would like to thank you for your hand up for the committee. Frankly, no one would be in this gathering if they didn't have some affection for the town and a consideration for ways that they were looking to improve this town. And so I appreciate the past year and all that is brought over the different things that we've had to discuss. So it will be a loss to miss everyone that is leaving. Anyway, you're going to be here for one moment. I think Phil, so again, I'll talk with you later, but thanks so much. Okay. Allegra, anything for Shabazz? Well, of course. And I feel weird saying something without her being here. So I'll obviously reach out to her as well, but I don't know that I would have gotten so involved in this work in Amherst and in this committee itself if I hadn't learned from Dee. And she's a very strong leader in this community and I hope that she will again remain involved in other ways and I will hear her voice and feel her presence. And then I don't know if Phillip has anything to say and I also wanted to offer Pamela an opportunity to speak, although she's not a committee member she is. She already did before you came in. She would do it again, yeah. That's my fault. I have a quick thing for Deb just real quick and then Pamela you can go, I promise it'll be quick. I just want to say that Deb's energy is just great. I really appreciated that coming into this committee that was my first experience on meeting Deb and I was like, this is going to be one of our co-chairs. This will be really great like I really felt like I was like oh we're all going to be heard it's going to be a collaborative type of thing rather than more just taking it on and so I really appreciated her leadership style and everything that she has done. I'm actually going to follow up on two things that Freke said and that is that. I don't think anybody would be here unless they're passionate about the group and people are only hurt by the things that they care about things that they don't care about don't hurt them. People are not invested in them and so I think it's evident that everyone here is invested in making the town better because they care about it. And then the second thing is that, you know, it's not a full stop, you know, the wonderful thing about public work is that there is always a public comment right there is always an opportunity to continue to be a part of the conversation regardless of whether you're on the voting part of the committee or not there's always that opening for people to continue to express their views and opinions. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I'll be really brief. First of all, I will say, you all have added value to my life getting to know you all. I think it takes a lot of courage for folks to volunteer that time and speak their throat. I know it's not easy sometimes. So I appreciate each and every one of you what you've contributed to CSS JC. Yes, we may not feel that it's a lot. Okay, with, you know, you all have planted some sort of seed that hopefully is, you know, is growing. So you should be proud of yourselves, you know, for what, you know, have been accomplished. So I want to, you know, save you was with individually. So I start with freaky freaky we're from the same country. And I was hoping to get to know you more that unfortunately that didn't happen. I hope that you'll continue to be yourself. I appreciate your calmness, even when you you disagree with majority, you're still able to carry yourself well. So whatever truth meant for you continue to do so that's all I can say. Deborah, where can I start. So I've known you in, you know, in this community for a long time. And so when you know we serve together as CSWG. It's like, hmm, okay, let's say you just surprised me. You know, you're this, you know, just surprised me like very vocal, you know, to the point, people know how you're thinking, no nonsense woman, I just love that. You know, so I really appreciate, you know, getting much closer to you. You're very attentive, you know, you're really call it out. Continue the great work. So I appreciate that. And so Allegra, Allegra actually believe it or not, is a schoolmate to my first son. So she has sent me a seminar or something by an organization, and I responded back, you know, through your defund group or something. And then in the email exchange, she goes, you know, I went to school with your son, Michael, I'm like, okay. So from that day on, you know, I looked at you in Nigerian way, like more like in respectful way like a daughter, and you just amazed me the amount of, you know, strength in the sense that you juggle so much, and you make it look so easy, you know, mother of two young children, involving so many, you know, things in our town being vocal, you know, your leadership with CSSJC, listening to everybody, really being attentive, doing behind the scene of your work. You've done great, you know, co-chairing with, you know, Dr. Shabazz, Dimitri Shabazz. So I appreciate your leadership. Continue the good work. I hope you will consider continue as chair. It doesn't even have to be co-chair whatever the new group decide to do. And I've talked about Philip. So I'll go to Ms. Pamela, you know, in a black woman was hired as a DI director, I was super excited. And I'm getting to know you, but I don't feel like, you know, I really got to know you as I leave CSSJC. But I know your job is very stressful. You know, you're juggling a lot. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your wisdom. What I would say to you is for you to not be too hard on yourself. I don't want you to feel that you're not be appreciated. It's just that you worked into a town that has so many communities. I mean, I miss is not unique. You know, we have a lot of challenging issues. And, you know, don't feel that you alone can solve the problem. Sometimes when people make comments, please do not take it personal. It's all I can say, but I'm around. And I hope to get to know you more in the future. But thank you, you know, for everything that you're doing, you've done a lot in a very short time. I have noticed it, and I appreciate you. I know Jen is not here tonight. Jen and I actually go back many, many years. We actually work together for an organization. So I've known Jen for a long time. You know, what else can I say, she juggles so much. She does so much. Her role can feel like unappreciated, but I think people notice. She's not easy. I appreciate her. And for me, finally, I think the way I look at my exit with CSS JC is that my excitement is I don't have to worry about committing law anymore. But I just feel that I'll continue to raise my voice and push. I don't have to join any town government to be effective. I think, you know, my focus right now, I'm very excited about BBAA. People are really getting curious, wanting to know more. There's a lot of interest beyond black business community. So that's really exciting for me. And there's something about starting a program and organization that excite me. And so as much as BBAA is not new, we established in 2016 COVID, you know, kind of, you know, we're inactive for a couple years, but now that is so much interest. And so I'm putting my energy there. PCA, Progressive Coalition of MS area. This is an election year. So my plate is full. I have four businesses that I run, but I will continue to support CSS JC. It's sort of like a baby for me. And I'm not going to promise that I will tune in every time. I try to follow their, you know, whatever is happening. And I know how to reach each and every one of you. I may not do public comments, but I know how to, to get to you all. At least I have your emails. Thank you all. Yeah, for free to text me too. I text you all the time. Yeah. So one thing I want to mention is I really would like us to get together and maybe have, you know, get a bite or something like just, but somebody had mentioned what about couple meeting long. I will no longer be in a member as of after tonight's meeting. So do people still want to get a, you know, go to a restaurant or something or would that put some of you into trouble for open meeting long. I love food. I think as long as we keep it social we're not making any decisions. Yeah, I don't know what you want to do with chair because coach, the other coach here resigns. So it's up to you to reach out and see what you want to do. We can even do it as somebody's home if they want, you know, just, you know, an hour just to just chill. And if people don't feel that they want to do it, that's fine too. And I had good time when we did with CSWG. It was really nice. Philip when do you leave leave. My official get in the car leave date is July 24 and my weekend of that is booked so but the weekdays if people are open up to the weekdays of the week of the 18th, or even before that I'm okay. And staff are also invited miss Pamela and Jen Jen came to the CSWG one. So please, if you can make it please. Thank you. Yeah, she, we use actually that picture in our presentation, a picture from that group. There's a picture that was taken at that gathering that's used to our present. I saw that. Yeah. Yeah, we can send like a doodle poll or something. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't have to benefit in science even if it's lunchtime or something, you know, just to chill. That's all. Yeah. I think that would be a comment. Yes. Okay. Moving right along to public comment. The things that I'm supposed to say I don't have in front of me but we allow public comment. If you want to raise your hand. I see one attendee in the audience. I'm not seeing a raised hand. I see freke has his hand raised. No. No, no, no, I had a question. I answered myself immediately. Thank you. Well, if nobody would like to make public comment, I suppose we can adjourn. Correct. Should we figure out our next meeting for July. I dropped my phone on the floor. So I'm going to pick that up. Let's look at my counter. So the second Vera has raised her hand. I'll bring her in just a second. Thank you. Hi, sorry, I was multitasking a League of Women voters zoom as well, but I wanted to thank Phillip and thank Mrs. Pat for their service to this committee. Lots of energy effort time. And you led with your hearts. You made some really crucial comments. To the public. And that's so powerful when people are scared. There's so many people that come up to us and say, you know, you're so brave, keep going. I can't speak any, you know, I can't speak up, but I'm really appreciating what you are able to do. So, you know, I think I want to leave. With this comment for both of them, that they are courageous and that they have inspired a lot of people to, to do the same and your efforts. Have been felt and, and it will have ripple ripple fill up your, you'll be in California, but that, that earthquake wave. We'll be feeling it over here. And Mrs. Pat, you know, thank you so much for not giving up on Amherst. And I look forward to continue organizing for power with you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you there. So looking at July. The 12th would be the second Wednesday. If that works for people. We just lose that somehow Deborah ended up in the audience. No, no. Maybe I have her computer. Internet. Should I call her. She's in the audience. I think she's back. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what happened. I didn't do anything. The only thing I can think of is that when I tried to click Vera back to a panelist, I moved you instead. Okay. Yeah. There's no problem because I can hear, I could see you all, but you can hear. So, so the 12th, the 12th would work, would work for me. Okay. It should be an appropriate time as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And Phillip, can you make that. Yeah, 630 on the 12th I can make. All right. So 630 on the 12th, it will be. And I don't know if this was discussed before I got on the call, but I know there was the. Difficulty with posting and I just wonder if. When we send out the, when I send out, I guess the request for agenda items, if, if the meeting can get posted, then kind of as a reminder, even if the agenda isn't complete, just so at least when we, we have. The place saver, if that would. Yeah. So I did apologize. I'm not quite sure what happened this last week, but I know that a lot has been on Jennifer's plate. She graduated from UMass. I was out of work for a couple of weeks. And there were a ton of events. So I'm, I'm not certain, but. And she and I post meetings differently. I think we use a different process because the records for this group are go to a different place than the records that I, for the group that I do, when she normally posts the meeting, do you automatically get a calendar invite and then an invite a week before and a day before. I think so. Yeah, so. Yeah, so I'm not, I'm not certain what, I think, you know, I apologize. I just think that there was a lot on her plate over the last couple of weeks. I'm not certain what happened. I absolutely understand you are a department of two and we want that to change. So, is that it? Are we done? Okay. It is. 851. This, I think might be the record for the shortest of our meetings. So well done. Again, Philip D. Miss Pat, we will miss. Well, I can say bye. He'll be here next month, but. Miss. Did I say her. No, no, I said, no, I didn't say, I said, he'll be moving out of town. That's right. Yeah. Yes. Miss Pat, we will miss you next month. We will miss D, but we hopefully will still hear from you and we will see everybody on the 12th. And hopefully we will see people on the 19th socially at many of the Juneteenth events around. I'll be out of town. So there's something that was planned a year ago. Sorry. Yeah. But I'm sure it'll be fine. Yeah. All right. Bye everyone. Everybody. Thank you.