 I. I do not know. So I'm not sure who. So. I, well, we see a space. I don't know. It looks like you might have your slider over your camera. Well, continue the meeting. Why is it gonna figure it out? Allegra, if you could just check in to go around and make sure everybody could be here, can hear. I can hear you. I can hear you. Can be heard. That would be great. All right. Jen, I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Phillip, can you say something? Yep. I can hear. I can hear you. Can you hear me? Earl. Hello. Pamela. Hello. Hello. Dr. Frick. Can you unmute and just make sure we can hear you. Okay. Hi, Deborah. Hi. Hello, everyone. Can you hear us? Yep. Wonderful. Hello. Hello. And you can hear us. Yeah. Okay. Miss Pat. Yes, I'm here. Perfect. I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes. Wonderful. So welcome everybody to this meeting of the community safety and social justice. Does anybody have any announcements? Is that what I'm supposed to do first? Just making sure. Yes, that's, that's fine. Okay. And we're going to follow the, um, the posted. Agenda. Correct. So the meeting, um, should start now. You just call the meeting to order and we know the time. Okay. So it is six, oh, six. And I'm calling the meeting officially to order. Thank you. Do I need to put the agenda up on the screen? Sometimes. Yeah. Or Jennifer might you put the, um, Agenda on the screen or we can, it doesn't matter. Would you like for me to do that? Or. Are you have it ready? I do not have it ready. I have it ready. Okay. Thank you. This is historic. Can you see it? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Can you make it a little bit bigger, Jennifer? Thanks. Start the meeting, approving the minutes from last meeting. We'll have a public comment period. Any member reports. And then we will welcome miss Pamela. Dr. Pamela young, our new diversity equity inclusion director. We'll review the APD video that is from July 5th of this year. And then we'll review the CSWG seven gen and leap reports that were in our packets. Talk about the web page, the implementation team report, the org chart, and then get updates. Cress. Um, DEI. And I'm assuming the resident oversight board translation services, and then the youth empowerment center and BIPOC, my multicultural center. Then we will think about upcoming agenda items and meeting schedules and any other topics that we did not foresee. Does anybody have any questions about the agenda? So we should approve the minutes. Allegra. Does anyone have any comments or changes. To the minutes from the last meeting. Where folks able to read them. I did see Jennifer had posted. If we weren't able to read it to table it, but I was able to read the minutes was everyone else who attended that meeting able to read the minutes. I read it. Okay. Yeah, we can just, yeah. Folks are good. We can just stop it or whatever. Yeah. My motion to approve the last meeting minutes. Thank you. So anyone second. I second that. Deborah seconds. And do we take a formal vote then? Yes. All right. By voice vote. And I will call on you D. Yes. Yes. Approved. Deborah. Approved. Miss Pat. Yes. Yes. And. And I am a yes. So that. Had the minutes pass. Six. Voting yes. And zero loading. Yeah. So moved. All in favor. Okay. Now we move to public comment. Okay. There's something else I get to read from this agenda. Sorry, bear with me. This is my first time with all these official things. You're doing, you're doing great. Yeah, you're doing great. During. We go with the flow. We go with the flow. I'm much less formal than these things are. So I'm trying my hardest. Okay. During the public comment period, the chair will recognize members of the public when called on, please identify yourself by stating your full name, preferred pronouns and residential address or area where you live. Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair based on the number of people who wish to speak. No speaker can cede their time to another speaker. You can make a comment. I do like to share with you a comment and dialogue or comment on a matter raised during the public comment period. Oleg or if you would like, I can let Dr. Paula in. Who has her hand raised. Yes. Good evening, everyone. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you. I have to say I'm here with great consternation. at Academy in Springfield, Massachusetts. And we were called, invited, and consulted with to help Amherst get through some very serious issues as it pertains to the youth, BIPOC people, and the relationship between those two and the police. We came on board to make sure that we were able to help secure a grant for Amherst, which paved the way for Crest to be birthed. Now, with the sadness of what's been going on with the youth being accosted by the police, we witnessed or watched Channel 40 responding to what's going on in Amherst. We saw Paul Bockelman, the manager for Amherst, get on the video to say that the situation with Crest is that it is purposed to respond to such matters, which is great. But he also said that Crest is still in training. And when we got on board with Amherst, working directly with the town of Amherst, we did trainings. We attended mandatory meetings. We witnessed two directors resign from Crest, or from the town, I beg your pardon, because they were hired to be a part of Crest. One, the first one, Wilson Darman, he resigned within weeks. And another one, Abdallah, he too resigned. And the reason why I'm drawing reference to those two is because there have been some frustrations in moving this BIPOC youth community initiative forward. Now, as a Black woman heading this organization, YSET, which I referred to earlier, I have to say again, I'm even having a hard time speak before you because the treatment that we received from the town, I can say to you that it is very concerning. The town is even in breach of the contract that it signed with us. They haven't even paid us the monies that are due to us. So that showed us that how much value does Amherst put into this work? How much do they really want to move the agenda forward? And what I mean by agenda is how much do they want those youth that are out there doing nothing to get engaged into fruitful after-school programming, even to get into vocational training? How much does the town of Amherst really want to invest and keep their word with regards to the disenfranchised families, the homeless? How much? And the reason I have to say how much a few times is because if the town of Amherst is genuine in wanting to move this agenda forward, and the agenda is to help those who can't help themselves, to put forth initiatives that's going to really impact the lives of those who can't do it for themselves. If the town of Amherst, Paul Bultemann, if he really wanted to move this forward, then I have to say I question. And I want to know how he intended to do that when our services were used and contract breached. And that's what's bringing me here now. I really want to understand if what he intends to do is to help move things forward, then why is it that I stand before you as I am standing, telling you that he has breached a contract with a BIPOC organization that was called in to do that very same thing, which was to help prevent what happened with the police. We were summoned to help prevent that from happening. So I'm going to yield, but I hope you can hear the anger and the disappointment. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Dr. Paula, just so that everyone watching knows there are nine attendees in the audience. I don't see anybody else with hands up at this time. Oh, I see Russ Vernon Jones has his hand up. Here he is. Hi, everybody. Can you hear me? Yes. OK. I wasn't able to be at a previous meeting, and I just wanted to welcome Dr. Young and express my enthusiasm and deep appreciation to each of you for agreeing to serve on this committee. I think it's a tremendously important committee and as a member of the community safety working group that helped recommend its creation, I'm so pleased that each of you has agreed to serve and just want to mostly to thank you. And I understand you have a structure of meeting to stick to. But when you get to resident oversight board, if you want to invite more comment or I can just offer myself as someone who's did quite a bit of work on that proposal and I could talk with you individually or at another time. So thank you. Thank you, Russ. Anyone else would like to speak? Know their hands up. All right. Do any members have reports on any matters that they would like to share? That won't be discussed within the agenda. That won't be discussed within the agenda. So the first item is to welcome Dr. Pamela Young, who is the new director of diversity, equity and inclusion. Should we go around and introduce ourselves with that be helpful to you? Thank you. I would welcome that. And would you like to start? Sure. So as you know, I'm Pamela Nolan Young and I appreciate the PhD, but I have a JD and I generally don't use the term doctor. So Pamela Nolan Young is fine. Or Pamela, I am really pleased to be joining you all this evening and really to be joining the town of Amherst and the work that you've created this path for really making Amherst a very inclusive and welcoming community. And I'm excited about the challenges that lie ahead. I think everyone's had an opportunity to have a peek at my background. So unless you have a specific question, I won't take up a lot of time with that. But I am excited to join you and engage with you in the work that we have ahead. Thank you. I would like to pass it first to the two members who are on the community safety working group to introduce themselves. So Deborah. Hello, Pamela. How are you? I know our paths have crossed in the past because at my role in previously as the chief diversity officer for UMass and head of equal opportunity diversity, I know we have done some work years ago, right? So I was very glad to see that you are back and obviously in this position. So as Allegra stated, I was on what I'm still, I mean, even though we've been disbanded, but we're still a group, community safety working group, and we were the ones that did the work for over a year to really kind of bring together a lot of recommendations creating Cress and also creating the DEI department. So we're very excited that obviously your department has been created and that you and Jennifer are there. Yes, yes, yes. And obviously Cress has also been created with Earl and the other responders. For me, I'm resident of Amherst for at this point, 24 years plus at this point, if I put together my bachelor's at UMass. And so I have two kids, black boys and black men. One is 18, another one's 12. So this is very dear to me in terms of making sure that Amherst is a safe place for everyone. And when I say everyone, it means the BIPOC community, our BIPOC youth, and I want to make sure that we are pushing Amherst to be all that it can be in terms of a potential of being anti-racist and to be inclusive for all, regardless of background, regardless of whether they do not speak English, if it's English or second language, immigration status, it doesn't matter. We're here to be inclusive. So for me, what I want to say to you is that of course, this work is very dear to me and that's why even though it costs a lot to me in terms of everything that I have going on in my life, but I said I'm still going to take part in this group because it means a lot. And so for me, for you and as well as for Cras, we want to make sure that we give you all the support, right? So that means really good communication. And I want you and Earl and folks in these two departments to really know that you all need to push the town. You're here to really push that town. It's not going to be status quo. It's not going to be business as usual. It's really to change things up and make sure that because as we see, right, and I know we're going to be talking about the video and other things, things are happening on a daily basis. Still, you know, BIPOC lives are being taken and being threatened, are being hurt. And again, it can be that every time we have an interaction with the police or other agencies within the town that we are afraid that can't be the case, okay? So welcome, welcome, utilize us. That's why we're here. And obviously very excited about you and Chris being, you know, up and running. I guess I'm next to speak. My name is Pat Anani Baku. Welcome, Dr. Hamala. I'm originally from Nigeria and I'm very formal. So sometimes I will call you doctor. It's a sign of respect in my culture. I've lived in Amnesty for 38 years, almost 40. I'm a grandmother, a mom, first-apparent. And this is an exciting time with the two departments. And we're here to support But You and Mr. All. And I don't want to repeat everything that Deborah had mentioned, but I echo everything she said. I am part of the, I was part of CSWG and I actually came up with the two departments, like crazy one day in a meeting, people can go back. I just came up with that and we floated with it and, you know, it sank in. So I'm so glad. It's an exciting time, I'm repeating myself. But we have a lot of work to do. Not much has changed. I'll tell you what have changed here. It's showbiz, basically attending June 10th celebration, photo op, you know, it has changed, acting like, you know, we're making some progress. But we have a lot of work to do. And we're here to support But You. So welcome. Our mess can be better. It's not too bad, but it can be better. And we all have sticking in to make it. It will not be just for both of you alone, but we're here collectively to make it work for everyone, especially people of color, BIPOC, and marginalized folks. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. D. Shabazz. Would you like to introduce yourself? Sure. Thank you. Welcome Pamela to our group here. Welcome to Amherst. As Deborah and Ms. Pat have shared, we are doing this to make Amherst better because we care for our community. I've been here 15 years. I have two sons, two children who grew up here, one who is 28 now and one that is 17. They identify as African-American. So that makes them vulnerable. And first and foremost, I want a safe place for them. And I want a safe place for my friends and family who are here. And that is why I'm committed to this work. I was brought on contractually to assist the SWG early on in their research around alternatives to policing and what a DEI position might look like. And we looked at other towns and municipalities and studied them. And so certainly you, I had in mind someone like you and with your background. And so I am thankful that they have found you. And of course, we are here to support you and your work and support Earl and his work to make this town better. So I'll leave it at that. And thank you again for being here and working with us. Dr. Freke-Ete. Hello, Dr. Young. My name's Freke-Ete, originally from Nigeria. And for the past few years was teaching at Amherst College. During that time, I considered myself a resident as well of Amherst College. And I'm interested in what diversity can bring to this town. Thank you. And Phillip Avila. Hello, Pamela. You met me last week at my day job for the Amherst Survival Center. And so that's what I do in the community around here. I'm also a part of this committee and as well as the Human Rights Commission for the town. And this work is very dear to me as well. I have a son who identifies as Latinx and he is going into sixth grade at Fort River. And so definitely welcome to our town. Earl, would you like to introduce yourself briefly? Me and Pamela have gotten to hang out a little bit. I'm glad you're here. I didn't quite realize how lonely I was for three months. I was kind of the only person working in between our two, me and Jennifer. But Jennifer had another job then. So along with the responders you being here has really made life easier. And I appreciate your presence here. And I know we got a long way to go but I'm glad to go with you. And Jennifer, I imagine you have already introduced yourself to Pamela, but if you'd like to say anything. Hello, Pamela. I'm extremely honored to be able to work underneath your leadership and I can't wait for us to get to work to make Amherst a better place. And I guess me. I'm Allegra Clark. I am a resident of Amherst and I did graduate from the high school a few years ago, more than I'll say. But I did return back to the area a few years ago. And I just, I'm a social worker by trade and I just wanted to get re-involved with the community that I kind of grew up in. And I'm also a member of the Affordable Housing Trust in Amherst and my background in social work has been in both homelessness and substance use issues primarily. So I figured those are both communities that are negatively impacted by policing. And that's one of the reasons that I got involved in this particular work. So again, thank you all for the warm welcome. And as we get into the discussions around our action items, you'll see that Jennifer and I have already started to think about some of the work that we're gonna do together. So I'm really pleased and honored to have the position and look forward to working with you on these issues. Again, welcome. We're excited to have you here. So the next item on our agenda is the APD Facebook video. Has everybody had a chance to view the video that we're referencing? Yes. And it was just on Mass Live, a story featuring the video at six o'clock. Oh, okay. I did not see that. I haven't seen it. So you have not seen it, Dr. Freke? No. Okay, so is it in the packet? A link is in the packet, isn't it, Jennifer? Oh, you're muted. I sent it out to you all separately, but if you give me a moment, I can pull it up. Okay, thank you. I think it's, yeah, it's important. Good. Is it possible to play the video? Yes, I believe Jenna is looking for it right now to pull it up. Yeah, I mean, just the kind of like, while we're looking for the video, one of the things that I just want us to ponder, right? While we're watching the video, because I've already watched it, and of course I've given a lot of deep thought to this, but one of the things that I just wanted us to think about is just like, you know, the response from the town. Or for me, the lack thereof of response from the town. So that's one of the issues that's concerning me and hopefully after we watch the video that we can discuss. You know, one of the things that I want this town to always keep in mind besides the phrase of looking through the lens of BIPOC people when policies and procedures are created and carried out, is that these are our children. It's not just, you know, my child, these are our youth. And what effect and impact these types of interactions will have on the future and how it will shape these youth and their understanding of not only police, but of the world. And that's what we're giving them. That's what we're giving them. Besides the repeated message from our police that we pay as taxpayers, that you have no rights, you lost your rights, you don't lose your rights or gain them at adulthood at 21, they have rights. Shocking, absolutely shocking. Okay, so I have found the video and I'm going to share screen, let me share sound. All right, thank you, Jen. Can you see the video? Yes. Can you make it larger? There you go. I think. All right. You've lost it, you're not an adult. You have an ID? How do I? Do you have an ID? You're going to rewind it again? Jennifer from the beginning. You've lost it, you're not an adult. Dude, I don't even hear it. You have your rights, because right now, you don't have rights at this point. You've lost it. Why do I not have rights? All right? You've lost it, you're not an adult. You have an ID? How do I? You have an ID? No, I don't have any. You have a school ID, school ID works. You don't have rights. I don't have rights. I do have a right. Okay, so that's the point. You don't have to make a call right now because we said so, because you're stained. You repeat that again, you say we don't have anything to do. No, we're phrasing. No, no, no, no, but why am I being the king? We're talking to you about the noise, and you wouldn't like to eat yourself. Actually, you're 16 years old. OK, listen, we have, guys, hey, listen to me. Do you want to know, do you want the answer? You're going to keep talking over me. He asked me what I'm doing, and I'm telling him I'm sorry. In Amherst, there are bylaws for noise, OK? So I just want to add to what Dee, what you were saying just a second ago. I mean, this is only like not even a minute and how shocking, right? You use that word, how shocking it was. So I can only imagine what else was said and how else they interacted with our young people. And these things are young people, you know? In Amherst, we have to see all the young people as our young people. And this is how they act, saying, you know, you have no rights. I mean, what is that about, you know, in terms of the power and just exerting the power and just saying that, you know, that they can do whatever they want to them? Is that what they're saying? No, no conversation about calling the parents, no, nothing. Because he said that they were minors. So what about calling the parents and getting the parents involved and that sort of thing? I mean, just, you know, out of control. And like I said, I mean, I've seen what Paul Barkham and the message he sent out, but that's not, that's nothing. I'm sorry, that's nothing. Just to say that while Cress is in training and therefore, you know what, then we're gonna, for the next eight weeks, we're gonna then just be dealing with this on a daily basis and that's okay. What about, you know, talking about the police and what they did and reprimanding them publicly? Wouldn't that be something to say right off the bat? The minimum, the minimum. Just based on that 54 second video. So reprimand the police for their behavior and then say, yes, and we're gonna do an investigation, a thorough investigation and continue forward with that. But instead it's the, oh, yeah, we've been doing a lot. There's still work to be done and Cress is in training, what? No, what happened to our all part B and CSWG that we talked about dealing with the police because we knew that the police were still gonna be there, right? So nothing has been done, no training, no, no nothing. It's just business as usual until Cress gets trained and, you know, Pamela gets up and running and things like that. And then we're just gonna, and our kids are just supposed to continue suffering until then. And we're talking about, I know you're about to say something, Pamela. These children, these children were doing the right thing. They may, you know, they're kids. They may have been making noise, but they had called AAA waiting and everyone knows how long AAA on a good day takes to come and help. So I, you know, I just, I find it, yeah, I find it important. I just really enraged as a parent and just lucky I feel for this community that it didn't further get out of hand. So if I may, I think the link that was sent to me is for audience because I can't even click anything to show, to raise my hand. I looked, I searched in my email. So I can't even raise my hand to speak and it's frustrating to me. It has nothing to do with my laptop. But anyway, can I speak the coaches? I did. Is that okay, Pamela, and then we'll get to you. Yes, Ms. Pat. No, go ahead. Dr. Formala, go ahead. You want me to go ahead? Yes, Ms. Pat, please. Okay, okay. So actually I'm not shocked about the video. This is common occurrence in our community. The only difference once in a while, it will get videotaped. In fact, on June 29th, four MS police cruisers, let me repeat, four MS police cruisers surrounded a BIPOC kid, teenager, in an apartment complex close to downtown. So this is regular terrorizing our BIPOC marginalized and marginalized community. So I'm not shocked. It is triggering for me when I first saw the video. So I had to organize this WG that we need to make a public statement. We put that out to the media, to the town council, to the town management. And last night the town council met, there was radio silence. Only two brave counselors were able to make some comment in that effect. I will acknowledge that there are some counselors who reach out to some BIPOC folks privately. And I want to thank them for doing that. So, the way I read the whole thing is that BIPOC lives don't matter in this town. This will never happen to white teenage kids. Even if police will not do that. I don't care if it's noise to complain. You don't tell anybody in this country that they don't have any rights. I don't care how old they are. And the most frustrating thing is taking more than two weeks, there has not been any accountability. And this is why this continued to go on in this town because the police, MS police knows that they can do anything that they are above the law and nothing will happen to them. They will still keep their job. They have the union, the police union to defend them at probably a tax-based expense. I mean why we have victims and victims and nothing happens. I think one of the things I would like our group to think about, to recommend is to have victim compensation fund. These kids needs to be compensated for the trauma they went to as an adult myself, a black woman. If I ever interact with police or see police, I'm shaking. And I'm not a young kid. And I can imagine what our children went through that night. It's very triggering. Okay, so we need to think about that because it's not okay for what MS police is doing to our community. They're terrorizing our community. They're harassing us. They're over-policing us. So let me go to Crest Program. The excuse that the training, they're on training, I get all that. But we recommended Crest Program last year. I believe that was funding for last fiscal year. But we didn't get it up and running until this month. Why is that? Why are we saving the money for what? But it was okay for us to agree to pay for a huge Jones Library project, to pay for a town common project. So the excuse that they're training, I thought when you swear people in, it's after they're ready to take on the job. I'm excited about just swearing in, but it's confusing. When you swear people in, they then disturb the job. They are doing just one photo up. Is that what we wanted for? And I can go on and on, but I will shut my mouth up. Ms. Moisten, if you can, we send me the link because this is my first time seeing this is more of an audience that I was sent to me. Thank you. I see Pamela has her hand up and then Arl. So I'm sure Arl will probably repeat some of the things or expand on some of the things that I'm gonna say. But as you guys know, we were sworn in on July 5th. And I can't really speak to the town decisions before July 5th as far as starting these programs and what funding decisions were made. But I can say that when we became aware, we meaning the DEI department, so Jen and I, Arl and the town manager became aware about this incident. Then we did make some inquiry. There was no formal complaint file, but in my capacity as the DEI director, I have asked for an inquiry about the incident. And we are having to utilize the collective bargaining agreement or the procedures that are currently in place because while in the future, there might be the residents oversight committee that's not in existence now. So I'm having to utilize the avenues that are currently available to me. So I have asked that the police department make an inquiry about the incident. There will be looking into it and reviewing what have occurred and then I will be notified about those results. And then I don't know what next steps will be, but there has been some action taken. I just wanna speak to the swearing in. Part of the mandate we have is to be different than public safety that's existed before. And part of what felt important for us was to have the responders kind of have this symbolic, it is a symbolic moment, right? There is no like magic moment, but to have this symbolic moment of committing to the town, committing to furthering the principles of folks before they ever started the work. The idea being that was central to us, that commitment. The other piece I just wanna say is that, we're only doing two months of training, that is significantly expedited. If you look at other communities that are along this journey, a lot of them are looking at year-long training processes. We've used this incident to talk about how do we speak to youth in town? Kind of we've done scenarios on how we would respond, who we would bring in. And I think they've only done two weeks of training, so it is an unfinished product obviously, but really our mantra and this has been, thinking about dignity and respect kind of at the forefront, making sure that folks, no matter what their age is, feel respected by us and feel like the things that kind of bind us together as citizens are respected. And we're gonna continue to work on those things. I'll tell you, we showed the video and folks were eager to provide an alternative response and scenarios like that. And that's kind of the pieces I can speak to. I know that you all have waited a long time. I started at the end of March, we moved as fast as we could. And I wish every day we had been able to start earlier. Debin and Dee. So, Uro and Pamela, obviously I know you all just came on board and, but I know that this job is also kind of like hit the ground running because obviously, we wanted these things in place like yesterday as Ms. Pat was talking about. And in terms of Cress, obviously we understand that, there's a swearing in, there's gonna be training because we were part of the ones that also recommended the training, right? That we knew that you all had to be trained really well because we want Cress to be successful and we know that there's a lot of eyes and a lot of people that are resistant to Cress and a lot of people that want to see Cress fail. So obviously you all do need to be trained very well. So I don't think this has anything to do with that. I think what Ms. Pat was talking about which I also had the same questions was why did it still take as long as it did, right? Even to hire you or even, you know what I'm saying? Not like once you got here and hit the ground running as we know you did, you know? We just have questions for the town, right? We have questions for Paul, we have questions for the town in terms of why is it that these departments that are so critical to a BIPOC community and to, you know, the community at large? Because again, if you're helping BIPOC, you're helping everybody else, right? Why is it that these departments are not being taken as seriously and it's not being expedited in a way that makes sense? Now, my second question which I had already pointed out was, okay, we knew that Cress was going to take some time to be up and running because it needed a training. Why was it that, and I want to see Paul Bachman at the next meeting, you see what I'm saying? I want him at the next meeting to answer these questions in terms of what has been done between when we recommended the part B for the police, right? Until now, what has been done? What has the police done? You know, have they done any training? Have they done anything? Because obviously they haven't because by that 54 seconds, which I can only imagine, like I said, what else they said to them? Those were the only 54 seconds that were captured. Why hasn't anything else been done to make sure that the police know what to do when they encounter our youth? Because as Ms. Paz said, if there had been other constituents, if there had been white students or what have you, they would have been given probably a second chance, they would have been talked to differently and probably it wouldn't have gotten out of control because this was, and we know that there was some white youth, but it was predominantly BIPOC youth and in areas that is over police and over surveilled. So I wanna know what has been going on at that point. And again, why hasn't there been a reprimand by Paul Barkman, by the town council, by somebody, somebody needs to address this? You know, I mean, there was 54 seconds of, this is what we saw. You know, why wasn't there a reprimand based on that? That is my question. I don't care that I know that there is, you know, obviously, you know, working equal opportunity in diversity for many years where we did investigations. I understand there needs to be a thorough investigation. However, there was 54 seconds of a video that showed what transpired. Why wasn't action taken off of that? That is what I want to know. And so Paul and whoever else needs to come in next time for us to have a nice conversation, or probably not so nice, about that. Because, you know, we need some answers. So I have no way of raising my hand. Ms. Pat, can I have a moment and then we'll take you. I have my hand up. I'm sorry. So I have to go back to what Deborah is saying. The, you know, the buck stops at Paul Barkman and the accountability stops at Paul Barkman. I sent a letter prior to the CSWG letter to the town council, the crest director and Paul Barkman with a very short two sentence answer from Lynn Grismur, saying that they look into it. That's not accountability. If it had been their grandchild, their child, I can imagine the uproar. These are our children. Yep. And because something wasn't filed as a complaint, does not make it less valid. We file the complaint. These are our children. There are parents of color that I know personally that have their children have been accosted by the police. And because of various circumstances, they will not file a complaint with the police because they are afraid of repercussions for their families and for the children. That is why CSWG took up these issues. That is why my company, Seven Generation, we've researched what are other towns doing because we are filing the complaint as the citizens, the residents of this town. And for years it has been ignored. And this is our fear that it will continue to be ignored and training be damned. Hey, crest director, I understand you're just now in place. No one expects Pamela to start July 5th but there was an implementation team that was already in place trying to supposedly make things happen. What happened with that training? So I know that that is action and discussion item 4E, but I'm proposing, because I'm afraid we won't get to it and find out some of these answers that we move it up co-chair and we can put that to a vote. And I know Ms. Pat wants to speak, but that is my proposal. We can come back to it, perhaps after Ms. Pat speaks. Thank you. So a couple of things in addition to accountability, I'm also would like to see the police officers publicly apologize to these kids and their families and to the BIPOC community. Because I feel is the right thing to do. And I want to specifically comment on the Town Council Chair yesterday. She had the opportunity to show leadership yesterday and to heal our community. But she did not mention anything, nothing like Dr. Shabast stated. This will not happen to a white middle class teenager in this town. It will be the first opening statement in this town. And the only thing I can think about is our lives don't need anything. And people run for office for the next election. They want to get reelected. They want the powerful people to vote for them. That's the only thing I can see. That the Town Council, I say, boy, they did not make statement. They missed the opportunity yesterday. The only African-American Town Councilor that spoke yesterday, Alicia. And then one white female, the rest, except for one from Middle Eastern, they were all white people. It doesn't bother them because MS Police protect them. MS Police does not protect me and my family. I'm sorry to say this. I don't feel that way. And I don't want them in my neighborhood. And God forbid that I would ever need their assistance. Thank you. D, before we vote on your motion to move E up, I just wanted to check in with Freke or Philip to see if they had anything that they wanted to say regarding the video. And then I did have a few thoughts. I just will echo that. I think it speaks volumes of the lack of comment from our town leadership and other stakeholders involved. And I was also on the call, Ms. Pat, for the meeting that was happening yesterday. And I thought it was very interesting that it was not mentioned at all during the town council meeting. Thank you, Philip. I won't have much to say at the moment until I study this a bit more. I think there's room to reflect on what I've seen. And so I'll wait till I've studied more. Thank you. So I guess for me, I think my social work hat came on after seeing this video and what are the appropriate responses? How can we help these youth who have been through this event? What can we do to make sure this doesn't happen again? And then kind of drawing on some of the wisdom from CSWG, like what needs to change in the community? And so I just, I was re-reviewing the CSWG's reports and some of the other materials that were in the packet this morning. And so I watched the video and then the next thing that popped up on my social media feed was a posting from the town of vacancy in the police department. And so on page three of part B of the community safety working group, it says, we recommended reducing the size of APD. A reduction of two positions was made. We believe more substantial reductions are necessary and will become easier as Cress and other of our recommendations are implemented. And so my question slash perhaps action item would be, how do we get there to be a hiring freeze so that we can have at least six months of data from Cress to see what they have been able to do. And what responsibilities they have taken away from the police and how they are doing with a team of eight to handle all of the responsibilities that have been given to them and the ones that they have created based on being out in the community and seeing what needs to happen. So that was one thing. Why are there vacancies in the police department when we're seeing this video of police accosting youth? Second was, is with the resident oversight board, which I hope it, I've heard is the next top priority for the DEI department. I was rereading the information here about the resident oversight board. And I did see that one of the recommendations was that they could arrange things related to on page 13, engage in outreach to the community for the purpose of assisting community members to know their rights. And I think the kids in this video did an excellent job of questioning why they were being detained in a respectful manner. And I can only imagine how terrifying that must, terrifying that situation must have been. And I do think that having education for our community members around their legal rights is really an important thing to do. And if it's an outside agency that comes in to do that, if it's supported by DEI or Cress or the resident oversight board or us as this body, I think that would be something that would be great to see. Third, my question is, how do we reach out to whoever it was that called the police? Maybe not in this particular instance, but how are we calling people in to say, hey, if you hear loud noises coming from kids out in the parking lot, you wanna check what's up with them? They're having car troubles. Did you say, hey, wanna call your parents and get picked up? Like, are there different ways that we can engage the community in taking care of each other? And I think that's kind of envisioning, again, a reduction in the size and scope of the police department. If we can take care of each other by helping each other in situations like this, rather than calling the police, then again, that reduces our need for police because we're building community with each other. And I guess my last kind of question was, if there are ongoing incidents with the police and our BIPOC youth, is it foreseen as a possible role of Crest to do some check-ins with the people who have been impacted by these interactions afterwards? Like, would it be appropriate or within their scope of work to reach out and say, hey, I heard that there was an incident last night. What can we do to support you? That must have been a really tough time for you. So those are the thoughts that I had with the video. And I think there was one more. Sorry, I promise this is the last thing I'm gonna say. I think that it goes back to, again, the community visioning that Dr. Love had talked about that was included in Part B. Like, there needs to be some healing, not just for the kids who were involved in this instance, but all of the kids who have been impacted by their police contacts and the community as a whole. So I think to kind of echo what Ms. Deborah and Ms. Dee and Ms. Pat have said, like, why, it's July. This report is dated October, 2021. It's almost August, 2022. What has gone on? Have any of these plans been implemented? And I see Dee and Earl have their hands up and Deborah. Yeah, I think Earl had his hands up before mine and then I'll wait. Sorry, I'm still getting the hang of these meetings. I just wanted to say to both of the questions there that absolutely I see it as our role to help folks be aware of their rights. It's something that I had some experience in Springfield with. And I think it's just an incredibly important piece. And the second piece around checking in with folks after challenging interactions with any kind of first responder group, that's something that we have already done once or twice and that we're really building a capacity to. For me, the most important part is the person experiencing the trauma. And so making sure that folks are okay and that they're able to process it and use any processes they feel that are available to them is something that I believe in deeply. So absolutely. So thank you, Earl. So first off, thank you, Allegra. And that's why this group, this committee is so integral to this community because we come with so many different backgrounds and experiences. And so thank you for lending your social work hat and experience to this and thinking about the children and the community first and what should happen and going back to the CSWG report. Because this is being recorded, I guess we don't have to note that I too would like to see what you suggested going back to that CSWG report. We need to look at, once again, that request, that demand coming out of research that do we really need to fill more policing positions? To what good is that? To what end? Particularly if it only gets us police harassment and a costing and traumatizing of our youth. To what end? I would like to see the group that was appointed July 5th. How are they worked into checking on the youth and the families? Because first they need to check in with the families to see if that's even okay. Because there is an issue of trust. And not without healing, will that trust happen? So where is Cress and DEI in terms of that? Or is that something that we as a group see SSJC, maybe we need to put together separate and apart from Cress and DEI because, again, it's an issue of healing and trust. And how would we be compensated or someone like Dr. Barbara Love who has a lot of trust in the community, how would she be compensated to do that? So these are things I'd like for us to discuss. Again, the CSWG report, I would like to at some point make a motion to get to the implementation team report because I don't necessarily think we're gonna get to everything tonight. But we do need to prioritize, but I don't wanna dictate that. I would like for it to come up as a vote and to see where everyone else, where they are within this agenda and what should be prioritized in terms of discussion tonight because the APD Facebook video, that is of the utmost importance that we figure out what are the next steps so that this does not happen again. Summer's not over. What are the next steps? What is Cress and DEI and the town manager and our town council and policing, what are they gonna do to make sure this does not happen? Again, how can we help and support and making sure this does not happen again? Thank you, DIC Deb. And then it did look like Ms. Pat raised her hand and then perhaps took it down. So it's back up. So Deborah and then Pat. So just quickly and then we can go to you to think about your motion D because obviously it's important for us to kind of take a vote because I also think we're gonna run out of time so we need to kind of prioritize but really just two quick thoughts and I hope we can just add this to the agenda for next time because like I said, I think we need to talk to Paul Bachman about his response or like the rough and in terms of the town but also I wanna know along with what we're saying and how pressing this is around part A and part B because part A the youth empowerment center and the multicultural BIPOC center as well as everything in part B where are things that with that? Because we know that there's this whole budget process and so on and so forth. And then before we know it, he'll say, oh, that'll have to wait until the next fiscal year because we know how the game is played. We learned it last year. So I really need us to have Paul Bachman next time because I have some pressing questions for him in regards to the response and also the budget in terms of part A and part B making sure that we know what needs to be done so that those things in part A and part B can come to fruition. So those are the two things. And then really quickly, Allegra, thank you so much for bringing up all those points. And then Earl, you kind of confirmed around the training but the only thing that I wanna be just kind of, we always wanna be very intentional about the training we provide to our youth, especially our BIPOC youth because I'm an attorney and I've provided legal rights training to young people around what their rights are and everything, but I also have two black males as kids and I'll be truthful for you as a black mother, even though I'm an attorney, I tell them not to say anything. I tell them for them to know their rights but for them not to go in and say a lot to the police because I'm afraid for their lives, right? Because they might get beat down or they might, you know, or whatever, I tell them to say as much as they can and sense what's going on. So that needs to be done very, very cautiously and very, very well because really I say, just call me, you know, so that I can go in and I could be the one because what I want is for you to be alive for me to be able to go in and do what I need to do, you know, as an attorney. So that's the only thing that I wanna say, we need to make sure that whoever is presenting that information to our BIPOC kids know how they're presenting that information so that we can make sure that they're safe. It's Pat. So I do agree that we should prioritize our agenda tonight in support of what Dr. D has suggested. Just very quickly, I don't want this to get lost but that was a reference made in the media that the AI department is fully funded. I just want to remind everyone that CSWG recommended through the DI director, the assistant director and an administrative assistant for that department. In addition to that, we also recommended the youth center, the youth empowerment center to be part of the AI department as well as BIPOC cultural center, translation services. And I can go on and on and on. And with the upcoming budget season, my understanding is in October is when different department will start talking about capital projects. So I'm just announcing tonight that we should really think about or let the town council and town manager know that we need the youth center this time. That is money in this town. We are well resourced, our tax base is very high. So we have the money, it's just what is our priority. So we need youth center, bicultural center that we call our own space. Okay, so I just want to touch on those and I will just shut up. So with the Cress program is not fully funded. We all know that we recommended 15 Cress responder, including their supervisors plus the director. And what did we get? 50% of the staffing. So we're hoping this will work out, but let's see. I have my doubts that eight responders is not in bed setting up for failure. All of a sudden, the predominantly white town council don't have money to fund Cress program, but there's money. Again, I keep going back to Jones oversized Jones library. We have money to fund dog, dog pack. That's where our priorities in this town. We have money to fund to redo town, common, I'll keep repeating that. We have money to have an economic director, developmental director. Why do we need that when we have bed? The home, the commercial building owners and land owners in this town, they need to hire their own development director to do that. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat. So I would like to make a motion, but I do wanna hear discussion about prioritizing these. It is now 715. We have under action and discussion items, CSWG seven gen leap report. We also have CSSJC webpage, which I'm just guessing we're gonna get an update on that. And then the implementation team report, which was a one page report in the packet, and then the organizational chart. Then we have updates, Cress department, DI department, resident oversight board, translation services, youth empowerment center and BIPOC multi-cultural center. I think just, and I'd like to make this motion to get into my thinking here, that we should move up the implementation team report which is for E and under updates, the resident oversight, translation services and youth empowerment center. And what I'm thinking is that that will segue since those are part of Cress and DEI departments anyway. And that might make up your update. So that's a law, I could rephrase that to make it smoother, I suppose. So my motion is to reprioritize the agenda by moving the item for E implementation team report to next point of business and include under updates, C, D and E, resident oversight board, translation services and youth empowerment center and BIPOC multi-cultural center. That's my motion. Second. Well, no, it has to go to discussion. Discussion. Does anybody have anything to say? Well, for me, the only other thing that that would be important though is in terms of the, you know, like the CWG7GN report, not that we need to kind of like go into specifics about that, but just that those need to be part of, you know, our next month discussion with Paul Walkman. You see what I'm saying? Because those don't include all of the other ones. I mean, obviously the resident oversight board translation services, youth empowerment, but it doesn't include all the part B. You see what I'm saying? Which is obviously critical in what just happened in terms of the young people, because the police department is still out there doing whatever they want to do. And as Ms. Pat said, thinking they're above the law. Absolutely. And what I remember from, well, from the minutes from last time was that we wanted to go over the CSWG7GN report for the participants who were not part of that process. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, and if I'm mistaken on that, please someone correct me. So I do think it's important to go over it once we have Paul Walkman in the room. But if I recall, and in reading the minutes, it had to do with updating Dr. Ecke and then Phillip about those reports because they weren't part of the process. Okay. Yeah, I'm fine with that. As long as we can put that on for, okay, we're really going to kind of focus on that for the next meeting with Paul Walkman because we need to make sure that those other recommendations along with, of course, the resident hope site and everything else is on the scope. Agreed. And so what you're saying, Debra, and I'm just gonna just try to rephrase so it gets down in the minutes correctly, is that we are gonna go over those reports to make sure everything is on track to being fulfilled. Exactly, exactly. And if it's not, why it's not, and we need to ask questions. Where is it? Absolutely. Any other discussion? Can I just ask, I guess, for a point of clarification around the CSSJC webpage item? Is that just an update that we have a webpage or is there discussion that somebody thought was needed around what goes on it or? Yeah, so I've put the charge and the standard information that is typically on a webpage, but also you guys can kind of, it's your page. So there's, if you want a resources section, what information do you want on the page and stuff like that. So that can be tabled easily. And I would just think how that everybody takes a look at the page so they can that kind of have an idea for the next meeting of what they might want to see on the page. And we send those suggestions to you? Yes. Okay. I'm not replying all. Do not reply all, please. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for putting that up. Any other discussion? Okay. So I'm going to restate my motion. I move that action and discussion items for E implementation team report be prioritized for discussion now and items five C D and E under updates. I'll fucking it. So, well, I made them, I made the motion so someone needs to move first. Oh, did you, you moved Allegra? I'm sorry. Did I move? I moved earlier. Yes. So now you have Phillip second it. Thank you. All in favor. Hi. Hi. Let me just say hi. And here are thumbs up. Dr. Ecke. A question. So five D. C D and E. C D and E. Yes. Does that immediately go after implementation? Yes. I'm guessing. Yes. That's an order. Yes. Would you like to change it? No, I think I'm fine. I just wanted to know what the. Process was okay. Thank you. Yes. So yes. Okay. So all in favor. The motion moves. Thank you. So you want to go ahead Allegra or I can or what do you want to do? So we are now moving along to the implementation team report. Yes. Which is the last item in your packet. It's a one page item. And so Earl, I guess if you can discuss it, I have a few questions after you present. Sure. So just for context sake, I put this in there. I just want to say it again. My experience with this group wasn't comprehensive. They existed before I started. So I don't know if my arriving shifted their makeup. I don't have notes for those meetings. I can only kind of speak to what I experienced. The implementation group was largely advisory. The way it would work is we would, I would kind of list the things that had come up during that week. They often would help reorient me to what the CSWG recommendations were or the leap report recommendations. This included things like vehicles. The vehicles were ordering, hiring. They helped us to think through questions, what candidates we would look for, our engagement strategy, what apartment complexes would we prioritize? What community events would we prioritize being at? The Chief Living Stone, Chief Nelson, Mike Curtin, Gabe Ting. Yeah, you can see there the residents, the members of the group. It was really, by the time I got here, we met regularly through the month of April. In May, we started to meet bi-weekly because we started to hire for the employment, for the assistant, the program assistant, which took a lot of time. And then by June, we met once really just to kind of finalize where we were to establish that this group was starting to meet, that kind of their time had sunset. There was no, in my time here, any funding used for the group. The group didn't organize any events. Part of the reason why I say directly is there were some things like the apartment complexes we were gonna go to that did use some funding and they recommended where we should go. So I wouldn't say that there was no conversation about budget, but that's really where it was. And we met with folks as they could come, recognizing that some of the group members are parents and have other responsibilities. I did my best to keep everyone as involved as possible, but it was tricky. There was a lot of work happening. So I appreciated their flexibility and their willingness to work with me. And in large part, it was an educational experience for me catching me up on the town. Russ, who's in the audience today, his contributions to this group were huge. He gave me a list of people to go see and a lot of those relationships really bore fruit. So that was my experience with it. I recognized that it met before I started on March 21st. I just can't speak to that because I wasn't here. Okay, thank you. Can you give us some sense of the role of Wilson Damar or Daman and Abdullah Galayemi on the implementation team? I never met Wilson. I don't know anything about him, so I can't speak to that. Abdullah was the implementation manager before I came in, for about a week before I came in and for about a month after I started. And during this, my experience was he was using this often to kind of discuss the same things I mentioned, what trainings we were gonna bring into, although I do believe he only had the one meeting without me. Jennifer can maybe speak to that historical piece longer than I can. Yes, one moment. And then can you talk to us about the role of Wyset and Dr. Paula and Adma, who were also part of the implementation team? Who are they and what was their role? They did not attend implementation meetings while I was here, so they had no role. I don't think it's appropriate for me to speak to their role in the larger sense of crests, publicly given where our conversations are with folks. Okay, well, folks aren't understanding that. So Wyset is, can you identify who Wyset is and who Adma is, please? Wyset is an agency based out of Springfield that Dr. Starnes leads that does youth work. Adma is a clinical agency out of Springfield as well, led by Gary Porter and David Lewis that does a lot of therapeutic work. And so that's really my understanding of them. And what was their role in the implementation services and team? None while I was here. Okay, so this isn't a complete report then? They, this is a complete report. They never attended any of these meetings while I was here. They were not a part of them. But this is the, there's one part of this that's a committee and then the implementation team is a team that was working on things prior to crests. Is that correct? I don't know. Okay, so again, then this isn't a complete report. Okay, so Jennifer, you want to fill us in as best you can? Yeah, so the implementation team was the people who were listed on here from public safety and then including myself and prior to Earl coming. And so we worked on job descriptions during that time for the crest director job descriptions for the responders job descriptions for the DEI department, the negotiations of them. We also worked on and we didn't want to work on the policy and procedure part of crest till the director got there. But we tried to have an outline setup of the different places. We wanted them to do community outreach to the vehicles. We tried to work on the shifts to kind of design what the shifts could look like. We tried to work with or work on everything that involved crests except for policy and procedure. And so during that implementation team, WISET and ADMA were not part of that team. We met separately. It was myself, Sean Mongano, ADMA and WISET were meeting on Thursdays in a separate manner. Okay, and what was their role? I'm asking. Yeah, so ADMA's role was to come in and to provide mental health services. To who? To residents of Amherst. Okay, and we're doing that in that function or was it just? They weren't to start that until crests was more formulated and there was a director. So we were just getting them set up and ready to move forward. And then WISET was supposed to do case management. Okay, and did they do case management? No, because we didn't get that far for them to do the case management. We didn't have people to send to them for referrals. Okay, and so are they still involved with crests? That would be Earl. Yeah, right now, no. Okay, so ADMA and WISET are not involved? No. Okay. So can we inquire why they are not involved? What occurred from my understanding, these are a BIPOC run and owned businesses that provide psychological and social services. I can't speak about that publicly without having a better sense from fiscal and folks where we are along in processes. I don't want to make any declaratory statements while there's still conversations happening. Oh, okay, so. What I can say with ADMA is the door isn't closed on ADMA. We're looking at our DPH funding. We kind of ended the fiscal year on good terms. We're RFPing for Mental Health Services. We encourage ADMA to work with us. We are still, we still have a good relationship with them and we did not leave on any bad terms. Okay, so are you signaling that you left on bad terms with WISET? No, no, I don't have any bad terms. What I know is that Dr. Starnes asked me not to speak publicly about this situation and so I'm gonna honor that. Okay, so again, that wasn't in the report. So it's leaving a lot out. The other thing that I'd like to know and you're saying that you weren't there during that time but from my understanding, there was a grant used to pay for the implementation. And so, I'd like to know funding-wise was all that's spent on WISET and ADMA and also on the two managers, Wilson, Derman and Abdallah and what happened with that? Yep, so that's something I can speak to. DPH recognized that we, they started the funding very late in the year. There was, it was always gonna be a struggle. It was a struggle for every municipality that participated in that. So that money has been capped and rolled over into this fiscal year. It is a rare situation in which the state made a decision to allow fiscal money to be spent into the next fiscal year. So the money is still there and still being budgeted for implementation. I wanna add though, that I disagree with the statement that I left something out of this report. ADMA and WISET were not a part of the implementation as far as I was involved in it. They were not. Okay, well, so what I'm saying is that, you know, the report was the report. So whether you had to go to other folks, you know, in my opinion to get a fuller report to bring to us, I would have appreciated that. So I understand you're saying as far as you know, and within your knowledge base, this is the report, but it's not a full report of the implementation team and actions. That's my statement. Yeah, I just, again, I disagree. They weren't a part of the implementation. They were an addendum service and there were challenges on every side in delivering those services. I can speak to ADMA side of things. We were able to generate three referrals for them. There was always gonna be a struggle to generate referrals when I was the only employee of the team, even when we had an implementation manager, the amount of volume that we were able to create for a service provider didn't necessarily reflect a large agency setting aside two clinicians full-time for the work. So we worked through that with ADMA, but again, I just disagree with the assertion that they were a part of the implementation of this, even in my understanding from before I was here. Okay, well, not knowing fully what their role is and the context, then I don't know either. From my understanding, it was part of the implementation, but that's okay. No, can I just? Uh-huh, yes. So YSET, there were YSET and ADMA were not part of the implementation team at all. The implementation team was the team that the town manager created that was internal and included the folks from the CSWG, three members from CSWG. So they weren't part of that implementation team. Wilson Darbin, as you asked before, was a implementation project manager who left the town and then Abdallah was an implementation manager too. But YSET and ADMA were never part of the implementation team itself. I think they may have, and I can't remember 100% come and introduce themselves, but they were never part of building Cress in that way of being part of the implementation team. One of the other things the implementation team did do was we did have community outreach events. We had, I believe, three of them where we kind of first collected information that the community wanted. The second one was kind of like, this is where we are. And then the third one was, this is where we are even farther, similar to that. And so we looked for folks' input from there. Okay, I appreciate that, but I'm still uncertain as to what their role was or is, and that seems to be problematic. If I may. Yes. And then Debra also had her hand up. Yes, I may. So I am very familiar with YSET and ADMA, and the former director to senior center services, almost, was the one actually who worked on the grant and the press implementation team, which I was not part of, but I was asked to attend one of the meetings. And there was a mention of, in order for DPH to award the grant, there has to be a social services agency or mental health, whatever. And there was a talk about a white led agency, to partner with the town. I want everybody to hear this, okay? I happened to be at that meeting, I pushed back. I said, have we even explore BIPOC led mental health or social agencies? That's how it happened. So I did my research and I introduced the former director for senior services with Dr. Paula. The reason why grant was being explored is because the town council refused to fully fund press program. So those two organizations in Springfield were supposed to supplement, help enhance, okay? Enhance press program. They were not part of the implementation team, that's correct. However, the grant was supposed to help with the press program. So we're missing that. And that is very critical that BIPOC led organization were treated so badly in this town. I am embarrassed about it. And we don't have too many BIPOC contractors or consultants that work for our town. In fact, in our next meeting, I would like to request that the finance department produce a list of contractors and consultant that we do business well. To see how much of our taxpayers' money is flowing into our community. This is what this CSSJC is all about. When we're talking about DEI, it means more than just, but anyway, it should also include financial resources, how much of it is flowing into our community. So it breaks my heart that a highly reputable organization in Springfield led by a black woman was treated this way. I just wanna, sorry. I think Jen also had to like at some point to release their funds. Why are we doing this for people of color? I am exhausted. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pat, for the clarification. Is it okay if I respond to pieces of that? I'm still getting the hang of this. So I would disagree with the assertion that people were treated poorly. Folks can feel differently about that. I'll tell you one of the challenges we face is Cress is a startup and being responsible to and for other startups who were, their agency in Springfield is just a different community than Amherst. It just is. And the DPH grant continues. It was always a town grant and they have continued, they're happy with us. When we RFP, there will be a priority for BIPOC led agencies and for agencies that are not BIPOC led that the pieces of contract they do with us be led by BIPOC folks and that they show a commitment to actually empowering folks in their own agency. So that commitment stands, DPH holds to it, we hold to it. And we had a conversation as early as last week about how we could hold to that. If people actually read CSWG recommendations, we were very, very clear that with the Cress program in particular to make sure that BIPOC led groups be involved. This is part of reparation, okay? And it's not what we're getting. I think it's important that Amherst resident exactly know what was going on because the complaint was brought to CSWG. We tried, but it didn't work out. Meanwhile, they haven't been paid yet. That is our understanding. And that is something that I'm hoping Dr. Pamela will look into. We talk about DEI is top to bottom from the janitors to top administrators at town hall level. We need equity. This town is changing in terms of its demographic. Our children reflect that in the school district. And so this town needs to become 21st century town where people, the diversity is reflected in the roles and responsibilities in this community. So I know you'll have something to say, Dr. Pamela, but Deborah, please. Yeah, yeah. So for me, I've been hearing obviously, different pieces here and there. So from what I'm getting from this conversation is that one, we did ask for an implementation team report. So even though, yeah, you gave us a slice from when you were there, I would wanna get a complete report from the group that was there before as well as your reports or something more comprehensive that really kind of reflects what the implementation team did and so that we can have like, where to kind of compare and to include obviously, Adma and Wyset, even if they were an addendum, what was their role? Even if there was something that was discussed as they were going to be providing services afterwards, we would need that description, especially because we have new members, right? We have new members, people who have never been part of it. I have a lot of the issue, but even with me, I only have pieces of what is being discussed in here. So being discussed here. So it seems like certain, you know, like folks have impartial of the knowledge and we don't have all of it and stuff. And for me to be able to make decisions and to say things constructive is for me to be able to have that information. So I also would like to find out about what transpired, right? Now it's here. We have the public comment, we're discussing it here. I wanna know what transpired in terms of Adma and Wyset for the next meeting. I wanna get information prior to that in terms of, you know, where things at, that will be something else to add to Mr. Bachman's list of questions in terms of their contract and where that is at in terms of whether they're working with us or they're not working with us and whether they got paid or they didn't get paid. I don't know, I need to know. So because again, we want these things to go well. We want things to go as smooth as possible. We know it's gonna be bumping the roads but we need transparency and we need to be able to figure this out as a community and as a group, right? So for me, that would be very helpful. And like I said, I have certain information. So I never mind some of these new members. I can only, you know, know what they're thinking because they don't have any information. So we need a comprehensive report, right? With this information and Mr. Bachman to respond to some of these things. Absolutely, thank you, Deborah. So can we get a more fully wrought report pertaining to where you begin, Earl, Jennifer, what your part is and can we get some narratives some narratives prior to that. That would include Captain Ting and it would include Abdallah. And if you can reach Wilson, I understand Abdallah is still here in the community. So if that's possible, we would appreciate it. You know, I visited Mali years ago and the ancient people of Mali because Mali is a very modern place, of course, but the ancient people of Mali, they made totem poles. And the totem pole was one part for each family in the village. And so you had to have all the families of the village gather around that totem pole to be able to tell the whole story of the community. We need that. We need that because stories are getting lost. Narratives are already getting hidden, erased, and I don't think it's intentional. I think it's just folks trying to really control the narrative. That's not healing. That's not gonna bring healing and it's not gonna bring trust. So I'm asking all the families, so to speak, to write up implementation. And for us to continue in that path so that we can be transparent and have the whole story when it comes to social justice in this community. If I may add, one group that we missed, the CSWG members of implementation team, Mr. Ross Vernon Jones, Elisha Walker, and Breanna Owen, I would like to get their perspective, their experiences with implementation team as well. If they can get us a report, that would be great. So that's the other request. Thank you, Ms. Pat, for adding that. Any other part of the discussion pertaining to the implementation team report? Thank you so much, we'll move on. Allegra? Yes, if we could get an update regarding the resident oversight board. So I think it might be easier for me to give you an update on the DEI department and combine that with resident oversight board as well as the Youth Empowerment Center because it all sort of ties in together. So since I was sworn in, I've met with about 50% of the department heads and directors, including the superintendent of the school department in Amherst. So I'm starting to make the rounds to meet the rest of the leadership team here. Jen and I have started working on a strategic plan for the department as a whole and are putting together a first draft of that. I've also put together a first draft of a timeline for implementation of the resident oversight board. And I have reviewed both the A and B reports from the working group as well as the LEAP report and did some additional research. So I'm really starting to immerse myself in understanding exactly what the prior working group thought was really important as well as diving deep and really learning this area myself because it is a new area for me. I would suspect that at the next meeting, we would be able to present that draft of the timeline to this group and to have discussion about when we think that we might be able to get the resident oversight board up and running. I do have a lot of questions about the operations of the board. I'm reading the, I guess now two years old new law that put in together the, is it post the police oversight training legislation? So I'm really just trying to get a handle on all of the legal aspects of that as far as how it might implement the timeline. I know that the town manager has planned on putting together a small working group to work on the Youth Empowerment Center that would include myself, the director of the REC from REC as well as Sean Mingo from the finance department. So we are sort of aware that there is a timeline for having a plan in place that would meet the current budgetary timeline for the city. So that's all ongoing. And I think that that probably, the one thing that I can, that's included that I have not touched on is starting to look at the BIPOC Multicultural Center. So I haven't done any work on or in that area yet but the other areas we have began to make some progress on. So thank you, Dr. Yang as, and for reading the CSWG, the LEAP report and I'm sure you've read the seven generation movement collected report as well and looked at our research. One of the things I'm always concerned about is when the town has talked about the Youth Empowerment Center, the narrative, the discourse around it is that it is something that the rec center or the Jones library is a part of. And my concern going back to the CSWG requests is that this is a BIPOC Youth-led Empowerment Center. That doesn't mean that young white allies cannot participate. That's not what that means but it does mean that it is the empowerment is that it's BIPOC Youth-led. And so I don't want that narrative to get and request to get away from DEI and the town in terms of the formation of this center. So as I said, we're just in the beginning. I've met with the director, that was last week. Sean and I have met, but we actually had discussions around another issue, not this issue. So I will certainly make sure that we're aware of that concern and I know the importance of having a BIPOC-led organization in my previous role as a volunteer. I actually was on the board of directors for a BIPOC organization, which I think would actually have some really good information and narratives that would be helpful for this Youth Empowerment Center. It was unfortunately they're disbanding, but it was a group that was started by two Notre Dame students. And the purpose of the group was to use stories and narratives to empower youth and they function mostly in the South Bend region in Chicago, but I think there's some lessons there that I've learned from them that I could certainly share with this community. So as we go forward, I will make sure that that stays front and center. I mean, you all read and prepared those reports so you know they're very comprehensive. There's a lot of stuff to go through just to gather all of the information, but it is my intention to really adhere to the wishes of the group as closely as possible as we move forward. Absolutely, and Dr. Young, I do appreciate that you're meeting with these folks, but it sounds like, you know, the, and I understand the circle is small right now, but you know, pulling from Ms. Pat, Adebra, you know, Philip, you know, you now have Dr. Ake. I mean, there are other people of color who immediately within this committee, but then there are others from the CSWG, particularly younger folks, I'll speak for myself, than me, Young Darius, who was on the CSWG committee. So, you know, there are groups and volunteers that have been a part of this community and trying to shape it for the better, particularly for our youth, that you could certainly have access to if contacted. So I just want you to keep in mind that, yes, I understand the circle is small now as you begin, but to enlarge, as you say, those stories and those narratives in order to shape it, to become an institution because we want it here, not just, you know, in the next year, we want it here for the youth who will come here next generation, you know, we wanna make sure that it remains and that it's sustainable. So please make sure that circle is broadened as you go through your planning stages and process. I will. Thank you. Ms. Patman-Deb. Okay. So, Dr. Pamela, thank you so much for a presentation on what you've explained. I don't know if you're aware and I wanna raise this. I heard that there was $100,000 for feasibility study for youth center. CSWG already did that and several gen, they did the research for us. My understanding is that the town is exploring in contracting out youth program. So either to a local agency, this is not what CSWG won. This is not what BIPOC youth won. We want the Youth Empowerment Center to be run by DEI department by youth. It's what we want, just to be clear. We are not opposed if just library want to have their own youth center. That's different from youth empowerment center. That is the reason why we call it empowerment. There's a reason for that. It does not belong to leisure services department. Now, it belongs to DEI. This is a very crucial information you need to be in mind as you meet with the finance director and the leisure department as well. I just wanna put that out. I know that fund is from APA funds that we don't wanna contracted out. I'm sorry, they tell me to run it. Thank you. I have not heard any conversation about the youth empowerment center being contracted out. So that comes as news to me. It was mentioned in one of the finance committee meeting. It was mentioned there. Right, I was in attendance at that finance committee meeting as well. And so I questioned also that 100,000 that was going to be utilized. And it came from the mouth of Sean Magano for exploratory services for the youth empowerment center. So if you could perhaps bring back word on that and some clarification, we would appreciate it. I think I can go. Yeah, and I guess just to kind of, since they just brought it up in terms of that $100,000. I mean, when I've talked to other members of the community, that's one of the things, right? The town is always saying that they don't have money, they don't have money, and then all of this. So then it's like $100,000 from feasibility study. And we're kind of like, what? Why are you putting that money into the youth empowerment center and some of these other, the multicultural centers and so on and so forth, as opposed to going and using $100,000 feasibility when we already had the study done by 7th Gen. We already did all the work in terms of CSWG. What you need to do right now, and again, respectfully, right? But is what like Ms. Pat and Dr. D is talking to you all about right now, which is as the people that are on the ground, right? So Darius was part of CSWG, he's a young person. I mean, it's going to be critical to talk to the young people, right? And the young, BIPOC young people. They're really the first people that you need to talk to is that, right? In terms of what do they want, what do they see as important and where should it be housed? So they're the ones, right? So there's the people of color united, Poku at Amherst High, you know, that is a whole bunch of young people who are leaders in that group, right? So you can just go there and you have a ready-made focus group. You know, Mary Custod is the one that oversees them and things like that. Get in touch with Mary Custod and you can have direct access. They are the ones you need to discuss with. First and foremost, as opposed to all these other bureaucratic people and adults that seem to think they know it all, they don't, you know, it's the young people. And then second, you know, as Dr. Dee was saying, it's just like, you know, tap us, right? You know, tap us folks from the CSWG. I know you're reading our reports, but even though our reports are comprehensive, it still doesn't have our energy, our passion, our thought in terms of why we were thinking certain things. So tap us because we have very specific information because again, a report, we couldn't make it a thousand pages, right? You have to condense it. We have a lot of specific information as to why the oversight board, everything we wrote in that report was very specific and it has a story behind it. So, you know, I'm just letting you know all this because I know you're gonna get pulled in a lot of different directions, but I want you to get the information from the folks that really it's going to, you know, have the best interests of everyone in mind, but especially by talk and especially in terms of young people, they're the ones that we're going to serve. So they need to be front and center in terms of the information. Ms. Pat, do you just still have your hand up or you want it to start? I'm sorry. It's okay. I just wanna emphasize with, you know, and I know you know that and you're gonna get tired of hearing it, but there's an issue of healing and trust that we just don't have in this community. Crest director, DEI director, we are not interested in window dressing. We are absolutely not interested in window dressing. We have been here too long and in this struggle too long to settle for window dressing. And we know how our elected officials often roll. So we're not interested in that. We want accountability. We want input and we demand to be at the table. So it's smart to include us in the network because we're not going to be silent. We know it doesn't work. I've been here 15 years. Deborah's been here 24. Ms. Pat, she's from not, I'm about to say Ms. Pat's from Nigeria, but she's been here forever. So, you know, our voices are needed. And if not our voices, people in the community like us because we are about accountability and making sure things improve in this town. So I just, you know, with all due respect, it's not personal. It is absolutely not personal, but we are not interested in window dressing. And so these are the networks and we have access to networks, you know? Poku, as Deborah is saying, you know, young Darius Cage, you know, who worked with MSAN, exactly MSAN. I mean, we have young people that if you work with the networks, we can give you access too because that's not, that's a privilege, right? You have to, I mean, we know their families, we know their teachers. So it's not just, oh, you roll up into a school and say, hey, you know, this is about working together and hearing people's voices, as you say, those stories and those narratives and working together to shape something important, something long lasting and sustainable. Anyone else about the, you've given us the DEI, did we hear about translation? Are you working on the translation also, Dr. Young? So I have not worked on translation, but I know Jen has an update about the translation. Okay, Jennifer. So we have two updates for translation services. So through the disability's advisory, commission, they received a grant to put in hearing, assisted hearing devices over at the bank center for the meetings that happen over at the bank center and the activities that happen at the banks. They're already in the town room here at town hall. And also, Bree is working on a program, on purchasing a program through the funds that were earmarked. And it's a minimal amount, it's less than I think $2,000. A program that will translate all of our forms and all of our documents that are online into multiple languages. That's great, Jennifer. And I'm so glad to hear that. However, part of the request for translations was to, for civic engagement, meaning town council meetings. There is a Zoom package that is available for translation. And I don't understand if I can get it through a university, if I can get it through different workshops I've attended, why is there such a lag in terms of town meetings that the very basic, I mean, I know we have multiple languages within this town. Thank goodness for the diversity. But the very, when we look at the population and the numbers, Spanish language, why is that not available for town council meetings? And I understand you are working for the town, but this is just it. What's the accountability in terms of the town manager and the town council in getting translation services for town council meetings? Can someone please tell me and explain it to me? Well, I don't know that I can tell and explain what there is, but I will bring the, I will bring what you've just said. And I know you seem like that might not need to be sit done, but I will bring what you've just said over to the town manager tomorrow or as soon as I can when he's available that the Zoom meetings can be translated and that that's something that nice to be seen. That absolutely, absolutely can be translated. And one thing having like all these town forms translated, that's awesome. I've seen that on other town website, municipal websites where you simply, would you like this in Spanish and would you like this in Camay, you know? So that can happen. And we did do that with the, so the senior center had a survey that went out to different communities. And so we sent that survey out in English and Spanish. And then it came with a slip of paper that said if you needed it translated in other languages. And I know that they did do a couple of forms that last I knew that they were also available in Spanish as well. Like they offered an English one and then one in Spanish. I have no idea how well it was attended or any of the background information about the different members who responded to the survey. But I know that that did go out because I did work on making sure that it was out in multiple languages. Great, I appreciate that. But we're talking about ongoing civic engagement so folks know what's going on and to see how relevant what is being said in town council is to their daily life. So, you know, we need, this is CSSJC. This is what we are about. It's an equity issue. It's a social justice issue. That needs to happen like yesterday. So please bring me an answer. I will be writing another letter, several letters, whatever needs to happen. But we really need to see that. Any discussion regarding translation from the members? I see Ms. Pat, then Deborah, then Phillip. Ms. Pat? Oh, okay. So, not specifically on translation, but my understanding is that it's money-budgeted for this current fiscal year to address equity. May I know what, you know, how we're going to spend that money? The reason why I asked this is that the town sponsor some events like Juntingt. And it worries me that we will ask BIPOC restaurants to offer them like almost insulting amounts, sometimes to cater something or ask them to come and sell food. Now, the original two families who started Juntingt in Amnesty, for example, were the Shabazz and the Caged family. And they got food donated by UMass and the people went there, it was a lot of fun. The one the town was also doing is a lot of fun. But people didn't have to worry about buying food because we are on hard times. Not everybody is upper middle class or middle class in this town. And when they started Juntingt, it was free barbecue. You know, people, just a couple of people donated something that it was fun. And it saddens me that those two families have been caught out in the planning of Juntingt celebration. If we're talking about unity, we have to look ourselves very well. We may not always agree with one another, but we need to pay respect. I come from a culture where we value history. We have such a short memory in our town that pioneers of certain project get ignored. And that brings me to why on earth are we doing Juntingt and we have to stop by Drake? What is the significance of that as well? So what I'm trying to say is the money that is set aside for equity, I'll like it, you know, be spent part of it for Juntingts coming next year. I would like it, you know, if we decide to do like plans or celebration and things like that, I don't like the idea that people will go to the event and spend money. I'm sorry. It's not for commercialization. Thank you. Yeah, can I just respond to that first? So one is that we are working on a different way to run Juntingt, right? So that people don't have to pay for their meals. I'm gonna say anything else about Juntingts when it comes to conflict of people and people that you should just have a conversation with me when we're not online. And then three, I just wanna make sure that the Juntingts and the Walker were two separate things. So while Juntingts, we had the, and you know, part of the reason why selling the food is so that the places can make money too, but I do understand that it would be better for us to be able to purchase the food ahead of time and pay the businesses and then give them the food out for free. And we're working on that because I remember you saying that a couple of years ago or last year and we haven't been able to get quite there yet. So we hear you, Ms. Pat, and I'm working on it. And anything else if you would like to talk to me about it, we can talk about it. Thank you. Yeah. You're doing a great job. I know it's very hard that, we have a lot of work to do in this town and we appreciate you. I mean, you're one of the rocks in town. And I was the one who suggested that you'd be appointed assistant VAI director. And CSW, we have great faith in you. And we thank you for everything you do and you're all over the place. This is not personal, but this is one of the ways of supporting the work that you do, the work that Dr. Pamela is doing, the work that Mr. All is doing, our committee is here to support the work you guys are doing. Yep, and we appreciate that. Thank you. Deborah. I know that. Deborah. Can you call me? Now we can. Yeah, I think my kids are on the internet. That's what happens. I know. But I also told them the meeting was gonna be done at eight. So. Okay. We're trying. We're trying. I think that's why they're like, I'm on the. Okay, we can hear you if you wanna go ahead. Okay. Now we can't. No, I just told them to not to stream. Okay, there we go. Okay. Thank you. A few more minutes. All right. So really, really quickly, in terms of the translation services, just to add to it, and talking with Paul Bachman would be to. All right. Deborah, we missed the meat of that. I can guarantee it. Yeah, just go on to the next person. It's fine. Okay. Well, we'd love to hear what you have to say because I know you also belong to a particular language group. And again, it's wanting to get folks civically engaged. So Phillip. Just speaking on language and access in general or the Latinx community in particular since you brought up statistics of our town and the majority of it. I think it goes beyond just simply translating something, right? And especially just using a Google form or a different type of organization. There's many different dialects within the Latino community and many different translations of that. And so community members reading it need to kind of know that someone there has their back. And I think that that's something in particular and why I step up a lot in a lot of town events for the Latinx community is that the Latinx community is kind of the unseen community in this town. And I think myself and probably another individual that I'm thinking of are Latino, Latinx people that step up in these positions as part of these committees, as part of these topics and just having like meeting times, right? Like a lot of our Latino and Latinx folks work kind of not regular business hours. We work service industry jobs which at a dime of a hat, you know, our day off is taken like that. We're working 12 hour shifts, everything's like that. So having meetings more accessible to individuals I think is also important to highlight that. And just having people that speak Spanish or any other language on like town, hall, town, council would be great. Absolutely, thank you. Oh, what just happened? Deborah, if you want to email me what you wanted to say. Let me try it one more time. Can you all hear me now? Yes. All right, let me try it one more time really quickly. Yeah, as you were saying, let me try. I am Cape Verde and I'm also not from this country. I'm originally from Cape Verde Islands, West Africa. So obviously translation services is very dear to my heart. So I was just saying in terms of making sure that the town offices also have, besides documents also having like ways to make sure that they're translating that they have other languages for when people go to the offices because that's very important. Because when people go to the offices and they have questions and things like that at town hall if they don't have it in different languages it's going to be very difficult for them to really be able to engage. So I know that like the medical, the hospitals they have ways to always have translation services ready and able to do it whether it's through the internet like calling different people that are on call to be able to translate into those different languages in all different languages, not just Spanish. So those are some of the things that we need to start really looking into and making sure that there's, because we're in 2022, those things are available. So those are some of the things too that I wanna ask Paul Bachman about but obviously, Jennifer you can already start sharing these things with Paul Bachman because we need to make sure that every facet of the town hall services, meetings, offices the work that spaces that the town has has different translation services ability to be able to translate into different languages. And in 2022, that is not difficult. I know it's gonna cost some money but it's not difficult to do. So what we need to do is make sure that that is part of the conversation and really brainstorming in terms of how to bring it together. And then lastly, one of the community members already brought this up which was something we discussed in CSWG which is around CRETS. So Earl, this one is for you is in terms of making sure that when, I know you all are in training but yet and still like, I hope you all are already formulating a major marketing campaign, major outreach campaign to let people know about CRETS and this needs to be in different languages. This cannot be in just English and that's it. And you need to outreach, go into different communities, elders within those communities where English is not the first language where it's groups that are marginalized to let them know about CRETS. If these folks don't know about CRETS then we know who's gonna use CRETS. It's gonna be the status quo, the same groups that are gonna use it and the ones that actually need it won't know about it and won't be able to use it. So some of the community members that talked to me they were like, are they gonna really kind of, market this, do a very intense campaign and I know CSWG had talked about that. Thank you, Deborah. The other thing I want to mention pertaining to CRETS and the other services at Town Hall is that recently there was the 988 hotline I believe for suicide that was released and that there's also Spanish language within that. So if you look through the BIPOC lens the moment things are created policy-wise and institutionally, you automatically begin to think of multiple languages and also how does this affect multiple ethnicities and races of people? Because if we're not looking through that lens we're gonna make mistakes and create a CRETS where there's no Spanish speakers, there's no Cape Verde Portuguese speakers. So we need to build that end from jump or at least have a plan in place to make sure those things are implemented because we don't wanna make the same mistakes and not be inclusive and diverse like our world is from get-go because I know in terms of translations or when things hit with COVID, I have to give props. My neighbor who's Peruvian was the one that stepped up and called on the town manager and the Department of Health to do something about people who are immigrant communities, Latinx communities and issues around COVID and getting them to doctors and translation. That's not her job. She did it for free. So we need to also be in mind that this isn't a volunteer position. We have to hire someone, have that as their role and compensate them. Can I just ask, Earl, about the linguistic capacity of the current responders that have been hired? Yeah, we have a Spanish speaker, Swahili speaker, personally speaks Kenyan, great folks, a quarter of our folks speak fluently or culturally speak other languages. And we have a couple of other folks on our team who have learned languages through college and are able to speak some conversational Spanish. We're working on language access, interpreter programs. That 988 system, I was a part of developing the front door for behavioral health in the Commonwealth. So two pieces, I would not be so certain that those language resources are available today. And we're doing our best. And really, we wanted a diverse team language as a part of that. We're obviously not gonna cover every language, but we're doing our best to outreach to every community. And ideally, hopefully hire folks from some of the communities that have not been a part of public safety historically, particularly some of the folks from who speak Asian dialects. We've heard from folks that it's challenging when they don't hear anybody who can speak their language. So we're looking. And if you know folks who you think might wanna join the team, we're always interested in having that conversation with them before there's an opening so they can think about it. So from Kenya, you're saying Kiyu or what are they speaking? I know what he told me. I know what he told me. He's not a Kenyan. He was native born in Kenya, so yeah. All right. Okay, so great. That is good to know that there are so many languages that are available. All right, so we went through translation, youth empowerment, resident oversight. Did folks have questions about that? Although Dr. Young did talk a little bit about it. We have a timeline that we're satisfied with. Yeah, I just want to make sure that because that was something along the rust, that was something that I was very interested in making sure that it was just that it gets brought up very well done, that it's useful to the community, to the BIPOC community, and that obviously the BIPOC population is very much part of it. We were very clear in terms of that, CSWG. I know there's laws. I know there's gonna be the union aspect, but we definitely want all those things to kind of be paid attention to. So anything that you need in terms of like talking to us from CSWG and regards to oversight resident board, because that's something that we do want up and running as soon as possible, but also done well. So that then is actually a place where people can go, right? Because right now people are very afraid of retaliation, very afraid that nothing is gonna happen if they file complaints at the APD. So they wanna make sure that this place is an avenue that it can actually really use. So I actually had a conversation with the HR director today because both of the police department union contracts are up for collective bargaining this year to see what efforts have been made for them to comply with initially the post, the new statewide legislation, which would mirror in many ways some of the things that are suggested through the report. And in my conversation with the HR director, I've been told that the police department would be fully in compliance. So my understanding of the legislation is that basically police departments over a three year rotation cycle are complying with the new training and accreditation for police officers. And it's my understanding that the police department is fully or would be fully in compliance when it's their turn to submit their paperwork. But certainly I think from my perspective, one of the largest challenges will be the collective bargaining aspect of it. And if we miss our opportunity to collectively bargain for some of the aspects of the recommendation this year, then it's gonna be two years before there's an opportunity. And I mean, when I read over the, looked over the collective bargaining agreement, looked at the recommendations that were made, I would say my opinion would be, and this is an opinion that's still being formed, probably the most important thing I would argue for would be for the town to bargain away the one year, I guess termination of disciplinary records, right? So after one year, they're wiped away. So if there was anything that would probably be critical to what some of the efforts that you wanted to really see happen, that would be the number one on my list. But as I said, I have just beginning to try to figure out that as I said, I have just beginning to really read through all those documents, look at the collective bargaining agreement, read the state legislature on this issue and try to put together what I think would be a realistic timeline for implementation. But a critical piece is gonna be collective bargaining because without that, there's no authority to do some of the things that you've outlined that you wanna achieve. Absolutely. And we included studies and of course, Leap also had some of that information. There's lots of models. And again, as a network, we have access to that. Ms. Pat. So what I wanted to say is Dr. Pamela, as you are working on creating the resident oversight board to please keep in mind compensations for the members. It's very critical that they get compensated well. As a business woman myself, I feel that people's time is valuable, people's skills is valuable and therefore they need to be compensated. In fact, Dr. Shabazz is the one that made comment couple of years ago during COVID. And first for having committees, members being compensated. That way that's the way you're able to recruit diverse people because let's face it, not everybody's wealth in this town. We have people who have young children who have good ideas. And if they don't get compensated, they can't pay for childcare. People sometimes long meetings they need to, maybe it would be at night that they don't, they don't have to cook and so on and so forth. So look into that because it will really influence in the people that will apply. I would not want the usual suspect to apply for that. I would like to say robust majority BIPOC panelists on the resident public site board. That's all I wanna say. Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Pat. I mean, we look at larger municipalities, I understand they're larger but more diverse municipalities. That is a given that there is a stipend because when you want diverse voices, not just the retired, not just the wealthy who can afford to allot their time to participate and engage civically, a stipend can sometimes help and motivate people to participate in their communities. The model of government in this town, let's face it, is based on a 200 year old system where people who were wealthy, people who were retired and had the leisure time to shape town government. That is no longer who lives here. Though we know there are many who are still in place trying to push for that agenda, we're not gonna let them. So to have more diverse voices, to have more people participate, some encouragement through a stipend, childcare, I think would bring a much more diverse, as Ms. Pat says, robust pool of people. It is 8.29, I know you have something to say Earl, but I just wanna remind ourselves that we were gone 30 minutes over in good conversation, but at some point we do have to close it out. No, I was just gonna say, I actually have to go. I started at seven this morning and if I'm losing my sense of time, so I appreciate being here with you all and I look forward to continued conversation with you all. Thank you, Earl. You're welcome. Can I just ask, oh, Jen, and then if nobody else has. I just wanted to say since we're talking about stipends and that I will be sending out new higher packets for everyone to complete for their stipends as this one is a group that is to be stipend. It's in the charge. Thanks for remembering. Any other comments or questions? I did wanna circle back to the video for one second if that's okay and I just wanted to ask this group if we wanted to take some sort of action together as the new CSSJC, although the CSWG has already put out a statement if that is something that we think we should do as a group together and then what the process would be if that was the case since we wouldn't be meeting again for another month or so. Thank you, Allegra. I think it's important. Obviously, I've already spoke about it. I'd like to hear Phillip and Dr. Eke what your feelings are about it since all of us have voiced our ideas. I think that it's totally important to address and to have this group and possibly even other groups, BIPOC groups to speak out on it, especially if it's going to get swept under the rug by town officials or higher up. People, I will say that being a part of the Human Rights Commission, I know that that's on our agenda as well. So if we wanted to team up in that way, I can almost guarantee that we can. Good to know. Dr. Eke. And my feelings remain the same. I had mentioned that I just saw it this evening and so I wouldn't be in a position to have a statement which however doesn't mean that the committee can't have something to say. It would only mean that I would abstain from whatever position the committee has. So you have no problem that if we wrote a statement as a committee, just not to include your name? Yes, that would be fine. Or to include it, but not that I abstained. And so perhaps if there's a question asked about that that I could explain again that I was coming to this video late compared to everyone else and I would want to speak to a few other people to have a better sense of perhaps from the town council, some members and others to know exactly the silence and other reasons why things have not been said but I wouldn't want to see anything at the moment without further information. Okay, so that's fair except that we wouldn't necessarily, we wouldn't have to make a statement about the silence of the town council. We would possibly, and it's up to the committee to make a statement regarding the video and the police treatment, which you did see. Yeah, I did see, but so part of my work as a political scientist, and this is what I tell my students is to look at as much information as is needed before coming to conclusion on your position. And I think I would want to do the same in this situation. I have seen the video, but I would need to get my information before taking a position. Okay, I'm not pressuring you to take a position, but I'm saying that we could possibly do a statement and just not include your name. Oh, that's fine. If I may. Yes, Ms. Pat. Okay, I get what Dr. Fick is saying, Fick is new in town. He hasn't seen the video. I respect all that. I am wondering, and I know we are all busy, can we possibly meet in two weeks or even next week? Because of open meeting law, I don't know how we're going to do the statement and not communicate through emails. I think it's something we need to consider. Maybe have a special meeting for an hour, have somebody draft something. But I'm wondering how logistically, how we can all agree on the statement without us having open meeting, that we were not accused of violating open meeting law. I feel very strongly that our group should come up with very strong public statement. And hopefully the town, will come up with a response and the outcome of the review, that this is the top priority for me right now. I can speak for everyone. I will push my schedule around if people are available for us to meet, even on weekend, but we have to post it, for the eight hours prior. And I know this might be a time-boding for our staff, but I will support for us to do public statement. And my understanding with committees is majority rules. So I don't expect in some of our deliberation and decision for everybody to agree on everything. So even if one person drops, doesn't want to be part of it, that's okay. Majority will still go along with it. That's all I want to say. So I'd be interested in that, Ms. Pat. It sounds like Jennifer would have to post the meeting. And would we be able to begin some outline or draft, maybe have a volunteer, or it would probably have to be about two of us to volunteer to do that, or would it be just be one? We can do what CSWG did. We had subcommittees. We can have two people come up with drafts that we can take a look at when we have our special meeting an hour. And so if there are two people that do it, that is not a quorum, so that doesn't violate the open meeting law. Yes, but let's not call them subcommittees because subcommittees are held to quorum, are held. So I would not mind volunteering to put something together. Yeah, so can I just suggest that if two of you are going to put something together and work on it, that you guys do that and then present that is that what I'm understanding at the meeting, and then you guys vote whether or not that you want to send that out? Yes. At the meeting, we would then vote to if we wanted to send it out, the meeting, yes. So any volunteer with Allegra? No volunteers to do the draft? I mean, I don't mind helping Allegra. I was just hoping to get some more involvement. I know folks are busy, but we can certainly, the two co-chairs work on the draft. And then if you, so if the meeting is, for instance, is going to be next Thursday, right? And then if you are able to have the draft done by Tuesday, we can send that out to the group. They just can't respond. And that way they can have already read it and have their ideas to share, which might help it move a little bit smoother when you're working with a larger group. Absolutely. So are we in agreement? Yes. Yes. We're in agreement as long as we keep the time to an hour and send the draft beforehand, because yeah, unfortunately, I am super, super busy right now. I thought summer was going to be nice and easy and it has turned out to be otherwise. So. Sorry, Deb. Okay, so we're in agreement. Anything else? Well, can we decide a day next week? Oh, I thought we did. Did you? I didn't, yeah, I didn't hear that. Does, is Thursday good for people? Any day is good for me. Thursday next week is the 28th? Yes, it is the 28th. Is that going to work for folks? Yeah, that'll work for me. Are we at six o'clock again? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Great. Wow. Can't believe we came to agreement something. It's super easy. And let's, like you say, Deb, let's keep it to, to an hour. So it's important that folks read over the draft and that we meet together, talk about things that need to be changed at it, whatever, and vote on it. Please do not respond to... I know, don't respond. No, I'm saying... Not you particular, just the group because sometimes people hit reply all. Right. And then, and that's what we can't have happen. We will respond during the meeting. But you will send a draft, let's say, just so I can look out for it on the 26th by, like, I don't know, what, eight o'clock or something just so I can look out for it in my email. Sounds good to me. Yeah, you're talking to Allegra and I, yes. Yeah, okay. Just so we can all kind of pay attention so we look at our email. So we can come prepare to the meeting on Thursday. Yeah. Well, trust me, Deborah was our unofficial editor. Yeah. So you'll send stuff to her in advance. Otherwise, we are going to table it. Okay, got you. All right. In advance. All right, so any other comments, upcoming agenda items, other topics? It sounds like for upcoming agenda items real quick, we're going to have, hopefully, a fuller implementation report. We will discuss CSWG, LEAP report, et cetera, particularly with the town manager to see what has happened, what has been left out, what still needs to happen. I guess we will have a Crest Department report, which we didn't have necessarily. Anything else for the agenda? No, it's not for next week. That's for the large meeting. I do. I had requested, I had the requested for list of contractors and consultants to the town identified by race. Absolutely. And also, I would like to have a comprehensive allocation of upper funds because the federal stimulus money was supposed to go to people had this hit by pandemic. And we have chunks of money that was given to bed so distributes to local businesses. I think it's the wrong thing to do. I think the town should have admitted directly and bid is hiring a staff person. I think development director or something like that. So I need to see how we're spending the share of upper fund for Amest in our next meeting. Or if the finance director can come, that would be great. One of the things I hope I will be doing in this committee is to continue for us to be aware, follow the money. I'm a business woman, follow the money in this town. Money talks. Money is power, who are benefiting from the money. That would be my role here, more than anything else. Well, Ms. Pat, with that, if we could get a sense of there is new state funding that has been allocated for small businesses as of, I think last week that passed. So there's another infusion of state money due to COVID challenges for small businesses. Who's going to administer that? And where's that going? Okay. Comments, questions? I just wanna say that the items that are listed as updates are standard items on the agenda. So I just assume that you guys will want an update every time we meet with them. Great. And if I can have the co-chair stay on for just two minutes afterwards. And just to make sure in the implementation report that we have a report around ADMA and WISAT. Yeah, yes. Okay. But just to be clear, so that they don't think it's just implementation, we want the ADMA and WISAT. And obviously very critical for Paul Barkham and to be at the next meeting. Absolutely. And the two implementation people that were hired, Wilson Darman and Abdullah Ghalayemi. You want them to attend? No, but I'd like them to be included in the report. Oh, yeah. So the last thing I have, I'm sorry. Sorry, just real quick. And if Paul needs to have the budget person there because we're gonna be asked some questions around the budget too, it's fine. You want to have Shawn there, right, Shawn? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So the question I have, I know our town have social services program, like if somebody needs help with rent or something like that. So my understanding is that we contracted it out to a white-led organization in Franklin County. I'm not going to mention it. So I wanna know what the status of that, but it needs to come back. It is back. It's at the family center. It needs to be administered by our town. The reason why I said that there were couple, BIPOC, non-speaking English, okay, who tried to access that fund during pandemic, they lost their job, everything. They couldn't get it because that agency could not help them with language barrier. So I don't want any residents to have to go to any contracted, white-led contracted agency for help, for childcare voucher or housing voucher. I want it in-house. And that's why we pushed CSW push for DEI department. Thank you. In fact, that's what the Bicultural Center was supposed to do, where BIPOC families can go to get help that they need. That's part of the function of that center, among other things. Right. Okay, so more to talk about. That's a good thing, but we do need to close out the meeting. So if we could have a motion to adjourn. I have a question. When do we meet in August? That's a good question. When's our next meeting in August? We want to keep it consistent every Tuesday of each month. Would that work for people for a full schedule? Yeah, that would be good. That would be the- It's only if you would be the August week, I'm out of town, but. The 16th, yep. Oh, okay. So Allegra, you're out of town. Is there anyone else out of town on the 16th? No. Can we do it a week before then, Allegra? Well, the week before then, I'm out of town. Okay. It would have to be the week after the 23rd. Okay, how does that sound for everybody? Good for me. 23rd? Okay. Okay, nice. 26th, right? Okay. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Eke, for that question. Very important. All right. So can we make a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Good night, everyone. Thank you, everyone. Oh, and we're supposed to stay on. Okay, so stay on, Allegra. Yes. Stay on.