 Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our community chat for Thursday, June 4th. I want to welcome Angela Mills and Jennifer Moyestan to the conversation today. Two of our community participation officers as well as many other roles that they fulfill. And Town Manager Paul Balkam, it is also joining us. My name is Brianna. To ask questions during this live Q&A, please use the Q&A function within Zoom or raise your hand in Zoom. If you're joining us from a telephone, I see some people in the room from a telephone, please press star nine to raise your hand and we will welcome you into the room to ask your question. This webinar is being recorded so please refrain from asking any personally identifying health questions or anything like that. Again, for the people who just joined us, we have our community participation officers for Amherst, Jennifer Moyestan and Angela Mills joining Paul Balkam and I. So before we get to Q&A, Paul, do you have any general updates for our viewers? So two things. One is I want to identify the, recognize the statement and the council resolution that the council issued on Monday and the, to recognize the death of Mr. Floyd and to just identify that this to me seems like a real change moment for a lot of people. And I think that it's people being in the streets and everything that has created a new reflection on how we do our business and how we conduct our lives and how we interact with people. So that's been really sort of dominating everything in my mind in my family's life. In fact, in the town and the business of the town, you know, we are moving into budget season Monday will have their first public hearings for the one month budget which will take us through July and for the regional district budget, which, which will for the full fiscal year. So those will be two public hearings on Monday and then we will continue to progress through presenting a capital improvement program for FY 21. And then the entire FY 21 count budget, and that gets presented to the council on June 29. So there's a lot of upcoming things happening in the budget world. We'll talk about other things as we move forward. And for those interested in following along with budget. We've been active actively updating that page on our website, and our new finance director has been keeping that information up to date and that's amherstandmay.gov slash budget. So, Jen and Angela anything you want to say before we launch into questions. No. Well, I'd like to just invite everyone will be having a virtual Juneteenth. And so it will be being aired on a CT or Amherst media. So we welcome everyone for the upcoming times and on our socials as well as we'll do a reading of the speed from Frederick Douglass on July 4, July 5 for what is the fourth of July to sleep. Thank you. And when we slave is the fourth of July. And we'll have all that information and links and how to join up on our community calendar. Is that right, Jen? Yes, absolutely. Great. When is the Juneteenth event. June 19th at it'll, we'll have a bell ringing ceremony to kick it off so that we'll start here at town hall at four o'clock. Great. Thank you for sharing that. I think one of the one of the things that we keep advertising to folks and we're having these meetings is that Jen and Angela are always one of them is always staffing the town manager's office to take your calls to answer your emails and what kind of what kind of calls have you guys been getting lately like what kind of concerns are people expressing over the last couple of weeks. So people definitely want to be outdoors. And several calls about whether they can pop into Puffers pond to swim. We've had lots of questions about when playgrounds are going to open up. And obviously people would like to use the community pools. So this have been some of the most frequent phone calls. And do we have any updates on, on, on those. The openings of any of those things, Paul, as far as you know, Puffers pond, for example, I think I must have gotten at least 12 emails in the last 24 hours about being able to use it for swimming. So Puffers pond is we're working on staffing Puffers pond, we will be implementing social distancing requirements at Puffers pond. And that requires us to have staffing. And we think that we will have the staffing in place probably by June 15. And that's our mission at least to try to get the proper staffing in place by then. In the meantime, we will continue to have police patrols there on a regular basis. If the weather is really good just to help encourage people to observe social distancing. The pond is available for fishing for walking around. People sometimes will go there for exercise, you know, in the, in the water, those are all things that people do. It's really the sort of congregating on the beach that we're trying to manage through. And we know the weather's getting warm, it's going to, it's warm today or be warm in the future. So we know that it's a, it's an attractive feature and we want to maintain it of making sure it's available to residents and a lot of non residents use it as well. So, but we are going to have to dedicate some actual staff there to help make sure people understand what the rules are when they go, when they go in. So, so for the other things, swimming pools, we're shooting to have those open as well. We're, you know, the DPW is doing the work that needs to go into preparing the pools every year in terms of painting and cleaning and the amount and things like that. LSSE is moving forward with securing lifeguards. Swimming pools will be on a modified basis. We still will always observe the guidance provided by the governor's office. And so at this point, we're really not clear on what that is, but all indications are that we will have our swimming pools, at least one swimming pool open on a modified schedule for the summer. You know, the other things we're working on sort of putting a comprehensive list together for all of our summer activities for people that we will release probably Monday. And that will provide additional guidance for folks. So Sarah wants to know if staffing at Puffer's Ponds includes lifeguards. No, that's a really good question. No, it does not include lifeguards. It's just about admission to the beach and managing behavior on the beach. We really, I mean, I love Puffer's the way it is honestly, and I love that it's sort of rural and sort of free to people. And if we were to implement lifeguards and we probably have to implement ropes and have all kinds of rules and I don't think that's really where the town is. And we have two other facilities that provide that in the two swimming pools. So we're just talking about managing the beach space, not about regulating the swimming areas. And I imagine the release we put out on Monday will include this, but there have been a lot of questions about fireworks and any kind of Independence Day celebration and if everything is off for that. Yes, that's independent fireworks. The LSSC sponsored fireworks and Independence Day events are going to be canceled for a number of reasons. One is it's about having large groups get together. But also a lot of those work, all that work depends on significant fundraising that LSSC does every year. And businesses aren't in a position to be donating money to fireworks. It's something we'd love to be able to do, but it's wholly inappropriate. LSSC almost every other community canceling their fireworks as well. So I wondered if Jen could tell us a little bit about how the community mask initiative came together because that was something that you kind of spearheaded initially and could you tell everybody about how that came together. Sure. I just, I had a friend in Ecolopes who was making masks for the senior center and we were just talking one day and decided that this would be a great initiative to try and ensure that all residents of Amherst have access to two masks. It was just as simple as that. And how's it going? It's been really successful so far. So if you know folks who need a mask, please give us a call or go to our website and sign up. What's the demand like now? Are we, do we have a good supply or are we still in need of donations and sewers? Where are we at right now? So we, it started off a little bit slow and then it peaked really high and now we're starting to come down a little bit. So now we're trying to get enough children's masks to help support the children who get masks of the school lunch program, lunch through the school lunch program. I think that's important because I know a lot of people have been making masks but they are not really one size fits all for children who are smaller. So it's a good point. Another big event that happened recently and I think, Angela, is it tomorrow graduation? Was the official graduation day? Tomorrow was the official graduation day. We had a great diploma ceremony last week. Last Wednesday, the kids were socially distanced and the professional photographer did a fabulous job and we had terrific weather. So my kids have their diplomas and tomorrow is the car parade. Everyone's starting at their elementary school and then driving towards the high school for the graduation car parade and the video of graduation will be shown on Amherst media tomorrow at 6pm. So this includes, I'm sorry, this includes towns of the outlying towns because it's a regional school. So Leverett and Pellum and Shoesbury kids will be coming from there. Oh, that's really cool. Correct. Are people encouraged to cheer them on along the way or is it more about the caravan? Cars will be decorated, balloons will be out. That's awesome. All right. We just got another question that came in through the Q&A in the room and it was stated at a previous chat that the senior center is closed for the rest of the year. Could the space be made available to the school system? They need to spread out. Obviously the school superintendent and his team have looked at every available option available to them and we've offered up whatever we need. The challenge for them is that when they expand their footprint to different locations, there's an incredible amount of costs that goes with it. For instance, every location needs to have a registered nurse at the location and every location needs to have some kind of building supervisor. So when they started looking at having these smaller buildings and we looked at a number of them that the town owned, the actual costs became pretty substantial for them. And whether the actual educational value was there was another question. And then there was also the meals piece of it that came with it. So the existing buildings that we have have everything there and the proper restrooms and the right sized restrooms and things like that. So while that space seems logical and we all thought about the same thing everybody thinks the same way I think. But when you look into it you say that really wouldn't help that many kids to make it worth the kind of investment that would be needed. Great, thank you. There's been a lot of talk lately and we've put out some information this week about offering up outdoor dining as an option for some of our restaurants. So could you talk a little bit about what that's going to look like and what that means. Sure, so so two things on that one is that the town was ahead of the curve and we were developing our we had developed our own zoning bylaw the council was really in favor of it. It had gone through the council was going through the public hearing process that's required for a zoning change, which was still move forward. It's the public hearing is June 10. It will then get referred to the council who is likely to pass it on June 15 and that encompasses a pretty broad range of retail activities, not just restaurants. Monday the governor issued some guidelines for just restaurants and how they could expand in an override local zoning. And so we were out since we were so far ahead of the game on this other thing we were out of the box the next morning. The next day with welcoming applications from our establishments who are interested in this. On top of that, we're looking at specific areas in downtown that we might want to proactively designate as dining areas and have the town invest in creating a wider sidewalks by taking over parts of the street and things like that. So there's a lot of work through the inspection services department and through our DPW and working with the bid in the chamber and seeing how this this can work. And I think there's some interest. I don't know, five to 10 restaurants have already expressed an interest in this so I think you'll see some of that downtown. It's kind of a time limited period so that's why we have to act really fast on it. Because it's really just for the warmer wet is warmer weather. The other thing that happened is that the town council dedicated has adjusted their policy to designate the town manager to be able to utilize public ways, which is what that's what a public sidewalk is or a street to accommodate this kind of activity. So that means everything will get done in a matter of days as opposed to going through a meeting process with multiple boards. So it's kind of exciting. You know, I think, you know, it's a business decision for the restaurants because they will have to invest and decide if they can make their operations run with the reduced seating. It's a, I think it's a pretty big challenge, but we have some very entrepreneurial restaurants who are ready to jump on it. So we're going to move as fast as we can. In reopening downtown people right now know that parking fees aren't being enforced. So what would that look like going forward or people as restaurants reopen and businesses reopen and more people are in downtown. How long will that continue. So right now we, we are not. We're, we didn't say you don't have to pay to park, but we're not enforcing that. So there's, there's a natural conclusion and we're not our parking enforcement officers are not writing tickets other than for a few parking a handicap. Parking place or is loading zone someplace you're not supposed to park. Instead, they have been working with the senior center to help deliver meals and do other activities for the town. So. And we will maintain that posture. We will review it. Around the 4th of July and then we haven't gone decided anything about parking downtown. So just. It's a significant impact on the town. So far this fiscal year we've lost well over $300,000 from lack of revenue from our transportation fund. And so all the parking revenue, the tickets and the fees that people pay go into a separate account called the transportation fund and it can only be spent on the activities related to it. And so the things that we pay out of it is we pay our PVTA assessment because we feel like it makes sense for parking fees to support public transportation. We pay our fees for our shared electric bike system because we think that's a transportation thing that comes out of it. And so there are a number of things that that that come out of that that fund, in addition to the people who support the parking lots and the parking kiosks and all the physical along with it. So having that fund down significantly is a real major challenge for the town for next fiscal year actually. Yeah, it's important to note that. Yeah. So I just want to do a quick reminder to our attendees, if you're on the phone with us press star nine to raise your hand and ask your question, raise your hand in the zoom app or type your question in the Q&A. So a question for Jen and Angela here. As a community participation officer team, what have been some of the challenges connecting with people in our community during this, this pandemic. So for a while, many of our boards and committees were unable to meet only decision making boards and committees were meeting like planning board and ZBA. And we missed kind of seeing people coming out of the building because town hall is still close to the public. So those connections, and then also helping people connect to all of that is available in the community. I'm really impressed with all of our volunteers who have been, you know, sewing those masks for us, it is a labor of love, I had no idea how long it took to make a mask until I watched one of my son's friends make one via FaceTime and it is really a long process, even for talented seamstresses. So, I'm impressed with the volunteers who have helped with food initiatives and all of our volunteers who help with the senior center. And it's nice to see people out doing things like that. It's just keep calling us I mean we're here to try and connect you to what the community has available and we thank you all so much for all of your tireless efforts it's been great to see the community pull together in a very kind of organic way. Can you have anything to add I know you and your family do a lot of work with the Survival Center and you've been there throughout all this lending extra hands you want to talk a little bit about what that experience has been like for you. So volunteering at the Amherst Survival Center is always heartwarming, but it is even more now there's a lot of volunteers and they're just expanding to outreach more and more because what we are seeing is that each day there's more and more need. So, security becomes more of an issue to folks so they will now be having a mobile food pantry delivery at the boulders, and they're going out to other, they're able to reach out to other communities in the Hampshire County as well which is fantastic. I suggest everybody whether it's during this pandemic or not take a couple of hours to go and volunteer and have lunch they serve an excellent lunch as well. So taking all the right precautions to be to social distance, which is really great. A lot of folks again have been donating masks to the Survival Center so that the staff and the volunteers have them and then the shoppers have them as well. I want to say, you know, just about Angela mentioned with the boards and committees not being. Not all of them meeting initially and some of those coming back online now but the town manager also recently put a call out for volunteers to fill seats on multiple boards and committees. Could you tell people could either of you tell people how folks can express their interest in joining one of those boards or committees. What the process is like. Paul, do you want to take this one or should I know you should one of you guys should. We encourage you to visit the website Amherst MA gov and head to the boards and committees page and at the very top, you can fill out a community activity form which we refer to here in town hall as a CAF. And on that form, you can pick the things that interest you. There's also at the very top of the page a list of current vacancies, which has been recently updated. It is a great way to build this community that you live in, and we can't do the work without you. And so I encourage you to kind of see what's available and give me a call or give us a call. We can all answer your questions about the time commitment and how often boards and committees meet. And the wonderful thing right now is that a lot of these meetings are recorded and then put up on the website so you can get a sense for the level of engagement and the topics that are covered just by watching one of one of the old I think that's a really important point because sometimes people say I want to give time, but I don't know what where you need me and how can I best give you my time. So I think if you call the manager's office, you know, you'll always get Jennifer and Angela and talk through about what your time availability is what your interests are. I think you go through what the options are and sometimes it's a board and committee sometimes it's something else. It, you know, beyond, you know, providing masks for people which is incredible initiative, which I want to come back to in a second but there's also other ways that you can help with, you know, delivering meals for the senior center and so a lot of that stuff, you know, it sort of flows through the town manager's office and so people in the manager's office if you have a minute to say I do have time I don't know what I can offer. This is a good way to do it. On the mass thing I want to ask Jennifer about like you've, we talked about getting them made how are you doing with distribution and how what's a bit what's the response been when people with the distribution network network you've used. So the distribution has been contactless so we have a table out back behind town hall, where we've been putting the masks with washing instructions and a Ziploc bag and taping that to the inside of the bin. So we haven't really had any problems there everybody's gotten their masks and get a lot of positive feedback from the sewers, you know, some of the sewers kind of feel like they didn't know where to donate the masks to so it's kind of nice because this way they can donate to us and you're getting them out to everyone like to say that you know another goal is to have them in all of town hall or town buildings. Once the buildings open back up so that if you're at the Jones library and you need a mask you can get one there or at the police station this bank center wherever it may be. So did you get those washing instructions from Angela I saw the first batch of masks that she washed and put through the dryer. We need to put a photo of that. So we use the CDC guidelines on their washing instructions and that's what we based our the masks on the Washington. Yeah, gorgeous masks. Elastic or fun to wash but if you have one that has bias tape ties or old t shirt ties. It's great to kind of pull them together and not them before you put them in the washer otherwise. Just think 25 pairs of headphones all wrap together. So I just wanted to say something back to the boards and committees so if you're looking at the boards and committees and don't have a clear idea of what that border committee is, there are mission statements under each board and committee so if you went to the commission the mission statement is listed there on what it is that they actually do or what they're what the mission of the board is so that's pretty good to know too. And just quickly the ones that were specifically seeking right now agricultural Commission affordable housing CDBG Council on aging disability access, the new elementary school building committee. LSE Commission public art public shade tree, but you don't have to wait for a specific vacancy you can express interest at any time and Jennifer and Angela maintain a system to kind of get in touch with folks as vacancies become available to so they do a lot of a lot of work managing that. All right, wow it's already we're already coming up to our, almost our 1230 mark I just want to give out one last call to the attendees in the room if you want to pop a question into the q amp a via zoom please do so now or raise your hand star nine from the phone we'd love to hear from one of you live if you'd like. Let's see. I think. I think we kind of hit a lot of the questions that have been coming in the last few days. So while we give a chance for another question are there any things that you guys want to share that you didn't get asked today or that you want the community to be aware of. Now I just want to say thanks again to everyone who's really stepped up and volunteered around town. It's great to see people out. Doing wonderful things for their neighbors. The mask initiative is really warm my heart it's, it's so nice to see people go out of their way for others. It's, it's a great place to live and I'm really thankful so thank you all. Thanks and Jennifer. So I agree with Angela, of course, and I would like to also as well give my appreciation to all of those who have volunteered in the many different ways to volunteer throughout the town. It's much appreciated and that is again yes the basis of community and we will Angela Brie and I will be back out. You know, trying to connect with you guys all as soon as possible. Thank you and I reiterate both of what you guys just said and I think everyone of us on this call are lucky because we live and work in this community so I think we're seeing both sides of, of, you know what's happening in the town and what's happening in the community. So we're going to be looking for new ways to interact with folks as we move forward so we are always welcome to ideas on our web page Amherst MA dot gov slash get involved is all of our information there's a feedback button you can send us a quick note or an email or a call whichever way you feel comfortable. If you have ideas about how we can meet you where you're at and help you be better connected with us. It's nice to be invited. So just my last thing is what a great team. I mean it's obvious to everybody but this is a tremendous team and they work so well together and they're so community oriented just thank you go all three of you for everything that you do. Thank you. That's a pleasure to be a part of this team. The last thing I'll say is for anybody who's following along with budget or is interested in general for finance we have a couple virtual cup of Joe tomorrow morning at 8am. All of the information is on our homepage as well as our Facebook and Twitter. We'll be having the new finance director Sean Mangano join us as well as our comptroller and previous finance interim finance director Sonia Aldrich. So we'd love to invite you all to come in ask your questions about budget or otherwise. And we will be back with another community chat next Thursday at noon same same link same phone number. Great. Thank you all. All right. Thank you so much. Have a nice day.