 I'll do a couple of the sort of easier technical ones first all the commas after the word and at the end of each Whereas is gone a couple of the semicolons in the middle of the whereas is Changed to commas the whereas is unbolded the last proclamation. We did they were unbolded. I'm not sure we've got a standard Thing for that yet But I'll deal with the bigger changes the 123 for the the fourth whereas had two sentences in it So I split it up into a fourth and a fifth whereas whereas the fourth whereas would be just the first sentence Dr. King believed that service was the soul's highest purpose and was the path to happiness and greatness. I Guess that means a comma and or semicolon and will need to be added whereas and then Dr. King once said The end of the quotation. I changed to a question mark single quote comma double quote with the leading adding to that sentence To make it one sentence instead of two in that whereas and then it's the last whereas That has a lot of changes and then they'll now their for clause that does and the last whereas is I moved a lot of what was originally there into the now there for I think Because it seemed more like a now there for than a whereas to me and and I created a more Amherst local whereas that reads whereas the residents of the town I might have missed some stuff of the town of Amherst and Through the Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Committee of Amherst, Inc. Have been observing this holiday as a come at a commemorative breakfast for over 35 years in order to reflect on Dr. King's legacy and Recognize area high school students and adult community members who continue to work towards the dreams ideals and service for which he stood I took most of that language directly from the invitation to the community breakfast that we received and the name of the Committee from that invitation 35 years is yesterday is last year today's 36th So I we could count back and maybe put since a certain year if we'd rather do that which would allow it to be less changeable year over year and Then the now therefore I attempted to make it one now therefore with one sentence and so it's Got a lot of changes to it now therefore we the town Counts the Amherst town council proclaimed January 15 2020 as reverend dr. Martin Luther King jr. Day comma Invite the residents of Amherst to join us in a bell ringing ceremony and reading of the proclamation on the steps of town hall at 4 30 p.m. and Encourage residents of Amherst to attend the 36th annual Martin Luther King jr. Commemorative breakfast at the Amherst regional middle school cafeteria at 8 30 a.m. On Saturday January 18th 2020 I realize now that Adding the January 18th the 4 30 p.m. For town hall reading should probably also say on January 15th Just to be clear and I tried to put them in the correct time order So I would guess I would add at 4 30 p.m. On January 15th 2020 comma And encourage residents Thoughts suggestions things we've missed Problems anyone take a moment Yes, I was just gonna say I think it's possible for me to project this if we get that set right if you know If that would be helpful to everyone. I'm okay with what I have in front of me. Does anyone else need to project it? Yeah, okay, I guess If we had public present I think it's been some time I don't want to talk over people's reading but Since the council actually or the select board I guess in previous Time has actually done this. So it's nice that it's being done So Mandy do you have the small changes that you caught I do If no one has any other changes or Observations I'm ready to entertain a motion so I'll move to declare the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King jr. Proclamation as There's one more change the word proclamation in the title needs an A Clear the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King jr. Proclamation as amended clear at the GL meeting on Jeff December 18th 2019 clear consistent and actionable Sir second Evan seconds I See no reason for more discussion. So I'm gonna call immediate vote all those in favor of the motion as stated Please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. I See anyone opposed. No, so I see four in favor not opposed and one Counselor absent, okay It occurs to me this is work for the chair that it would be useful for this body to have actually a list of Regular recurring proclamations of which I assume this would be one Puerto Rican day I think there are a host of them Human rights and so on so I'm going to make a note to the chair To begin assembling those and also the dates I think that would be useful to this committee in the future, right? So we would have a List we would know ahead of time. What's supposed to be I mean things that are recurring every year And hence maybe we could also be helpful In reminding people of that so that we don't get things thrown at us at the last minute So I'm going to suggest making a list of recurring. Okay Second item on our agenda is Again out of order it's The issue of I'm not sure we really want to take it up now, but the issue of president and vice president this came up at the council meeting and It seemed to delay the vote for The offices of president vice president at least for a longer term Like the council or at least some members of the council seem to want to have a discussion It wasn't clear to me completely But hopefully some of you can enlighten me as to what the nature of that discussion would be It also seemed that it might be something that we should talk about a little bit For a few minutes But that was also something that came under items unanticipated since it came up at the recent council meeting So what I have here in the packet I believe is and should be in the packet is the ROP that relates to the powers and duties of the president and vice president and I Guess and this is up to the committee Is there anything we can add to this discussion? I would like someone to help me understand what the nature of this discussion And maybe no one knows Any thoughts on this so this is in your packet It's also in the ROP Complete document 2.2 Powers and duties of the president and vice president Is this what we would have as the focus of a discussion? Or is the Is this another issue entirely that I'm missing and if we don't want to talk about this we can simply say we Didn't have anything so I want to move on It's all right. No one has this I mean I just it seemed that at the council meeting There seemed to be some sense that this is something that g.o.l. Could take up But I have to confess that it wasn't clear to me what it was that I was supposed to take up and so Maybe I misunderstood Maybe there's nothing we really have to say Nothing we can contribute as a committee to this discussion Other than point I think it's probably premature Because they were clearly at least two members of the council who have some opinion on How the president and or vice president have been operating? But then we were told but we don't want to have this discussion tonight so without knowing what their Concerns are. I don't know that we could weigh in Because otherwise we're just looking at the rules and going is there anything we need to add or subtract but without knowing The reason or the concerns there's nothing that we can really I don't know the only thing we can do is talk about our personal opinions of how the vice president has Has the end I don't know Is there any other One mention briefly in the charter the charter, right, but it doesn't have much more to say Those are the two documents that Define these two offices. Okay All right, then I'm willing to just let that go. All right I'm sorry. Oh, yeah, we're gonna whip through it. No, don't you worry I Am number Four is in fact a rule 10.5 H This came to us again as a result of the recent council Meeting so it really falls under item number eight items not anticipated But I was put it on the agenda And so actually it is on the agenda so Right number two my apologies. So anyway rule 10.5 H, which is coming to us courtesy of Oka and so You should have in your packet a The proposal which is basically changing one word Under 10.5 H, but we also had some committee discussion of that. So Does the chair of Oka want to take the lead on this and we can talk a little bit about what we think can or cannot be done in terms of 10.5 H so I think so obviously I don't think I need to go back through the rationale about why I think we need a revision to this rule So our focus instead on What this should look like so what Oka is proposing Is just having the word regular in front of committee To specify that our normal regularly scheduled Council committee meetings need to have public comment, but if you schedule something as a special meeting Then you are not obligated to have public comment There seem to be some concern from the council that perhaps that was a little too broad that That could allow a committee to say this is a special meeting and so no public comment I Don't I don't personally share that concern but there was some Idea put forth about exempting specifically interviews And that was something that was discussed in Oka Very briefly and that was something that Was also the topic of a conversation in between myself and the vice chair of Oka And what we opted to do in the end so we did consider that I want to put it out there That that wasn't an idea that was novel on Monday night That was something that we had discussed and the reason we decided not to do that Was one just for simplicity's sake To because this is Parallels the language of the charter and we felt like that that type of parallelism would be useful but three because in theory there might be Not yet thought of other types of meetings where we wouldn't want public comment and So exempting just interviews well if CRC decides that they're going to have like a work session where they're just going to Hammer out something and they're not going to vote and they don't feel like they need public comment You know, maybe they should be allowed to have a special meeting as long as in their regular meetings when they actually take that item up They're They're accepting public comment And so I guess the thought was instead of keeping it incredibly narrow Just parallel the charter and allow allow committees some flexibility here So that we're not overly prescriptive and so that we don't have to continuously revise this rule every time Something new pops up Steve Yeah, so I'm I assume that the difference between a special meeting a regular meeting So we've determined our our meeting schedule for 2020 already So those are the regular meetings. So any meeting in my opinion In my opinion a special meeting is any meeting that's not one of those meetings So that's off schedule for any reason of snowstorm Something added to the agenda, you know emergency whatever so I think that I mean, I think that they're So according to the charter regular meetings of the town council shall be held at a time and place fixed by measure But it's a once per month. So we fix those by measure because we all voted. No, yeah So I'm good with the proposal because I do think it has You know allows for this discretion Little just a little story. I just saw a friend of mine who was just a point Just appointed to the province town planning board. So I asked him about the process that he He just moved to province town. I was on the planning board So in province town Select board is basically a select board vote So I asked him how he got how that worked He said he saw in the newspaper that someone was being interviewed He thought he could do a better job. So he put his name in the hat He was interviewed and they they chose him. So I looked at the province town Select I was just really curious. So this probably province town They have special meeting which is where they do these interviews and then immediately followed by regular meetings So so what you're describing? I think is a process that is Sort of adopted by other communities that you can have a special meeting Concurrently or or on the same day as a regular meeting but for the specific purpose of something like like an interview So the only thing I I agree with all of that. I think we're gonna parallel the Council charter that makes sense for committees of the council I would just point to for the purposes of if you're writing a memo on this and our recommendation 10 5 C and D Where C says committees shall meet regularly at such times and places as they may prescribe I think that goes exactly to what Steve was saying is every committee has set a regular meeting schedule those are the regular meetings and D special meetings may be held if called by committee's chair or at the request of one third of committee members But not fewer than two That kind of defines what a special meeting is As opposed to a regular meeting, which is the times we've prescribed You know that that goes to the schedule to me And so I'm not as concerned with this concern about well Then every meeting the chair calls will be a special meeting and won't have public comment I think leaving the special meetings open to not having it but allowing them to have it This doesn't prohibit them from having it Is it's just what we've been doing on the council and Make sense to have our committees follow the same rule essentially Yeah, and what I think is important to note is that We've had a number of special town council meetings And with the exception of one which had a fairly tight time constraint There's been public comment allowed at those and so there seemed to be some some Fear that this would prohibit or discourage public comment at special meetings, but I think that Largely speaking most special meetings would likely still have public comment Unless the chair or the committee has some real rationale to disallow it which I so so I I think that We don't have to be overly concerned with This isn't going to lead to some type of Crush down on crack down on public comment. Just a question that I have If a chair say I decide at a special I mean What power does the chair have to decide whether there can or cannot be public comment? This is clearly that regular if we have this change a regular committee meeting must have or shall have a period of public comment So at some other kind of meeting the chair can simply say I don't want public comment What is that is that written somewhere? Is that something that I should know about? What gives the chair the authority to Say there cannot be public comment at this meeting By by setting the agenda without public comment The chair has the right to set the agenda and as long as it complies with the rules So if the chair deems at a special meeting if we would change this rule if the chair deems at a special meeting and decides Not to put public comment on that agenda. It's the setting of the agenda. Yeah, all right Well, what I'm hearing is that we are As a group by consensus happy with the way this change this simply inserting the word regular under in H and Saying that we are essentially paralleling the charter in this I'll get some clarity on that, but that's all right and that of site 5c and 5d 10 5c and 10 5d To make the point that it's already clearly stated what a special meeting is in the rules and This is not going to in any way Hinder or prevent regular public comment even at those meetings But it does allow Oka The power or ability to prevent it at a meeting where it is not a regular meeting and their interviews taking place Do we want does the chair of Oka want to vote from GL on this would that be helpful for the next meeting a vote to recommend This change from GL My preference. Yes. I think that would be appropriate. I agree. So I'll I'll move to Recommend the council add the word Regular to the beginning of rule 10.5 H Sir second So councilor Ross seconds Any further discussion? And I'm going to proceed to vote on this motion all those in favor of this motion Please signify by raising your hand and saying aye I See any nays no So I see for Affirmative no Negative and one councilor absent Yes, Evan So Oka is is requesting two rule changes, which you'll notice in the report This was the more pressing one, which is why it sort of being The process was expedited a little bit in front of this body, but just to put on GOL's radar because I don't remember If I said it yet rule 8.6, which is consideration of non-emergency measures prior to vote Which are about The council's ability to act prior to consideration by a body Under appointments it says the council shall not vote to confirm any Appointment made by the town manager until it has been considered by the outreach communications and appointments committee so just putting on the radar that there's also an interest in Oka of Striking the words made by the town manager to just say the council shall not vote to confirm any Appointment until it has been considered I'm not quite sure what wide rules The town manager appointments were carved out, but town council appointments weren't that one obviously isn't as pressing Because it doesn't need to be done before interviews But just sort of putting on GOL's radar that that is another rule change that Oka will be seeking You put that as a future agenda item Consider rule 8.6 and that's a judgment. Okay that request from Oka. All right So now I want to move to what is actually item number three on the agenda Which is to continue our discussion of town council committee Reorganization and this I think will take up a good portion of our time this morning We have in our packet two documents that you should be referring to and Since this has been very hard and able work of council Ross, I'm going to ask him to Let me first let's just get a sense from all of you how you'd like to proceed we have a Rationale for this which I Spelled out very briefly in my memo to the town council essentially just a set of kind of goals or what sort of driving Reasons behind reorganization are and I didn't if anyone has any concerns or would like to add to that list So there's a rationale that We have that would be in the report Why we're doing this why we think it's it's worth doing It's also part of our charge to review this Anyway on an annual basis And then the second is an actual proposal and since the proposal at least at the moment involves In a sense changes to all the standing council committees and the elimination of two of them Seems to that we should go to that unless there's any thoughts or concerns about the rationale which is in my memo and Then the question becomes what How do we want to start? I what I had was starting with finance. I was going to go from committee by committee and this open to Debate or change, but I was going to move committee by committee and I was going to suggest at least in my order was finance and then Governance organization legislation g.o. L 9 oca Or g.ol the new g.ol and then committee resources and To be named right now is named town services and outreach Evan since I'm asking you to sort of shepherd is through this document. Is that an order you're except you like or do you want to change that? That's fine. Okay, everyone else is okay with that. So we start with finance Which I'm hoping is that the easiest of these but You should have in front of you a sample chart sheet A draft chart sheet for finance Evan yeah, I think finance is going to be the easy one That are the attempt of taking these committee might committee might fall apart when we get to the other since there's so much Shifting between them, but finance is pretty simple. Just just to point out to you. There are two documents One is a clean copy, which you could open like in the packet The other one has comments and because it's comments in a word document That's probably the better one to be working with but that one you would need to actually download to the computer to see the comments So finance committee. This is pretty simple This is the existing finance charge merged with the existing audit charge And so basically everything that was in the audit charge has been worked into the appropriate Parts of the finance committee charge. I did split up in all of these underneath charge because a lot of these now have fairly lengthy Bullet sections trying to group them thematically and so I grouped budgets and appropriations together and then Investigations and annual audit together just to highlight those sections the only thing that's my Idea in here. That's like my thought is in purpose I used to it said the finance committee shall advise the town council on all financial matters, and I just specified town financial matters Which is a very small charge, but I think again sort of speaks to this my desire to see finance focus a little more narrowly on The town's finances as opposed to some broader questions that we've seen them take on about say the financial stability of other institutions Okay Thoughts on this George Mandy so Easy, but not The first bullet point is a combination of a number of different charter sections, and so I actually I think attempted to split it into four bullet points With adding review and make recommendations to the town council on or on measures regarding Our measures authorizing all sorts of things Various ones and so that it's clearer that it's not all buried into the same thing And then reference the charter section and Evan I can send you my full document at at the end So you can see what's going on But yeah, I attempted to split it into four But then my I had a big question about the second part of that big first one the capital inventory capital improvement program and infrastructure Because our JCPC Charge is to make recommendations to the town manager on the capital inventory capital improvement plan all of that I didn't actually fully look up JCPC's charge, but I know JCPC is charged in the charter with making recommendations to the town manager on at a minimum the five-year capital improvement program so I Don't know what to do with that group of three for finance because this one is sort of Recommendations to the council on that not recommendations to the town manager JCPC is charged with towards the town manager per the charter But it might be good for there to be included somewhere Someone to talk to the council about that You know, and so I don't know what to do with that section, but I thought I I'm struggling with that, but The overlap concerns me that we might be in theory charging two different committees with almost the same thing and The when you split those up Then the third and fourth bullet points the hold a public hearing on the budget proposed and then the review any request for new Appropriations or supplemental budgets are almost overlapped with Annual budgets supplemental budgets and other appropriations and financial transfers that first one in a way So, you know, and and I think it's a legacy of this was one of the first charges ever written by this council And so I think there can be some cleaning up that doesn't actually change the duties but Makes it clearer and doesn't have a lot of overlap I Like my adding review and make recommendations to the town council in front of all of these instead of just I think one of them I don't know whether it had it in there At all because I can only see my changes. So I'm not sure what I deleted initially from it On investigations and audit my only recommendation is on the second bullet point Oh, I had one recommendation on the last bullet point in Finance budgets and appropriation the one that says upon referral from the town council review and hold hearings on Water sewer and other municipal utility rates I wanted to add the phrase if required by law after hearings because I'm not sure we're required to hold a hearing I just don't know and so I don't want the charge to Put a requirement for a hearing in that might not actually be required And then in the investigations and audit the second bullet point Adopt procedures for selections of an accountant the actual charter language is that the town council adopts procedures So I would delete the word adopt and write in make recommendations to the town council on Procedures for selection of an accountant or a firm since the charter says the council is the adopting group Yes, I do I can I'll just forward you my whole document as I go through it so you can do the compare Just a question of information in that first bullet point under budgets and appropriate appropriations the the cap limit What was it the phrase again that you know what we're concerned about is that currently in the charge of the finance committee that was those words Back to budgets and appropriate appropriations first bullet point. Yeah, everything's just copied correct So this is language that is in the existing Charge and so it's a question in general of cleaning up organization, etc I just thought it would be easier if we split it out into each charter section and Identified whether it came from a charter or whether it came from our own Thing and then when we split it out. I actually had it become three three bullet points So budgets supplemental budgets other appropriations of financial transfers as one capital inventory capital improvement and infrastructure as a second one And then purchase sale lease of land Oh, I made it for I guess purchase sale leasing of land or buildings as a third one and borrowing and debt as a fourth one Just I thought it read easier that's all and then for the first two there was charter sections that could be Actually cited and the second two there were not that I could tell and that's a document that you would share with I will send it off to Evan It sounds though Steve, I'm including you in this question obviously, but it sounds like philosophically There's no objection to what we're proposing. There's some changes in terms of clarity and Maybe bring it more into make bring this charge more into conformity with what actually the committee is doing Which always is a service we could provide at any time So that's a plus And Mandy has changes that she has suggested and Evan will get Anything else that anyone wants to add to this charge or has concerns about I just sent the document off to Evan That has all four charges in it staff support the charter has the clerk of the council as Coordinating the audit the annual audit as part of the charter language So under staff support, I would add and a clerk of the council in parentheses for audit coordination It's in it Something I need advice from all of you on is my thought was that as we work through this and we come to some Consensus as to what we'd like these sample charges to look like I Would share them in advance with the relevant chair of the committee for their input or thoughts Rather than just have it sprung upon them on January 6th I mean there will be a report in the packet a memo from the council or from the committee that will Describe the rationale and will include These documents, but I thought that with each of the committees that's being impacted and particularly the finance I'd like to see I'm fine with that I keep paging down and seeing more They're in the document, but one needs discussion the finance council members service on other town budget related committees I Know there has been some first frustration on the council particularly to JCPC and what this charge How it limits who can serve on JCPC? Because it requires no more than two finance committee members to be able to be on JCPC It does the same with budget coordinating, but then we called a committee of the whole for budget coordinating and all and then it's got participatory budgeting and so I I'm thinking it might not be nested it would be a change for who can serve on JCPC and budget coordinating But I wonder if we should delete it completely and as a recommendation of maybe we don't need these strict strictures on Which counselors can serve on a different committee in a Yet another committee's charge So where would these strictures then exist if they don't if we wanted them We should put them in those specific charges instead of in this charge I would say so it would be in the participatory budgeting commission charge. It would be in the JCPC charge And the BCG charge. That's what you're saying. These would be moved if we want them They should if we want them. Yeah, and why do you think they're here? Why they were put? Why were they put here in the first place? I? Don't remember. Okay, but it seems odd to have it here versus I guess the idea would be that it alerts the members of this committee as to What they're possible. I mean that they have Put possible duties on other committees, right? So it's informative in that sense, right? If you're a member of the finance council, right? You want to know this right I? Mean maybe but it says no more than two so in theory finance can have zero and all of them can come from somewhere else Or I don't know whether we even want to keep that restriction of no more than two number one But it seems a weird thing to put here Then in the other charges themselves Yeah, I actually agree with so I personally personal opinion Would like to keep that to restriction Because I think it's We want to make sure that the expertise of finance committee is represented on JCPC But I like the idea that you bring in more of the council on something like capital, which is very important So you have the expertise of finance committee, but then you also broaden participation otherwise JCPC is just a subcommittee of finance Literally because three members of finance would be on JCPC be a quorum of finance on JCPC but I think but I agree with you that that it makes more sense as a restriction in JCPCs and BCG's charge Then it does here and it's currently not In that we we revise that charge at some point. I don't remember what happened So but but I don't want I personally don't want to lose that So if we are recommending deletion from that I would like it to be paired with the recommended revision to JCPC I'm okay, and we can have that discussion then I just think it's weird here Deleted and added into JCPC and pair it with a revised JCPC charge That would be my prey. It's a section that exists on no other charge anywhere else in the town So if we were to delete it it would require and I assume I would do this Checking the charges of the other three committees and making sure that that language is in their charges And if not then we'd need a revision to those charges to insert it So what you're saying that's what you'd like No, I know but at this point we're done I don't get the time or energy to check it, but I can do that I'm getting the sense that at least two of the members like to take it out I could check it and deal with it if you'd like me to since I'm the one that requested deleting it But I'm getting a sense at least from two and I'm sort of can go either way I know Steve. Okay, so there's a sense of consensus to remove this so Evan you would remove it I take it from your final product and Mandy or I or both of us will see that this language is transferred To the relevant committees and if not then we're gonna need revision of those charges Unless there's further discussion. I'd like to move on to I'm sorry Evan I don't remember if we ever actually did this, but I am looking at the revised JCPC charge that I think that we did I Think we voted to adopt as a committee, but it's never been adopted by the council But it does have a revised composition section that says three current town councillors two of whom shall be on the finance committee Which I'm recognizing actually contradicts the finance committee language which says no more than two and this so There is a revision in play, but it also needs to be Fixed, so we have something to work with but so I would like to stand I'm sorry So finance committee is meeting today, right? And this is a what? Yesterday so so finance won't be able to see this then before the January 6th meeting well any committee Well, right. Well, I was again my thought was that I would send any revisions we've made To the relevant chairs of the committees So in this case it would my suggestion was that I would send whatever Gets crafted by consensus today to the chair of finance to look at if that's all right But not to all the committee members The whole council would get a Memo from GL with these charges attached, but they would not get that I think as soon as the chair So we're being joined by the council president and We are just beginning really our discussion of the town council committee Restructuring and we've just worked our way through the sample charge proposed charge for finance and a number of changes have been suggested by Mandy Joe and those are going to be sent on to Evan and Then a consensus or composite document will be crafted With those changes included The next charge that we're looking at is GOL Correct and having Evan Take us through it So Evan GOL Yeah, so this one's a little more complicated Because if you look at the questions, I have several questions or if you like my comments There are several questions in there and so this is where it's a little difficult to talk about just one in isolation That's all right, and that's because This also relates to Suggestion that I'm making about what happens to Oka right and so The idea being and so let me let me let me talk about just briefly what I'm suggesting for Oka because I think that'll inform The idea is what would happen to Oka is essentially Oka would retain its outreach and communications aspect But appointments would move over and then what happens is Oka becomes much more about Sort of the day-to-day provision of services by the town And so that's everything from you know public ways to any measure that might affect how The town clerk might operate such as a campaign finance measure or any measure that it might affect how one of the departments deliver services Can I have a question for you Evan? Yeah My initial understanding was that Oka was going to go out of existence and that we would create to CRC would be split into two So maybe what I'm hearing now is that you're calling what you're calling Oka or the new Oka would be the result of Taking some of the CR is that I Did you have a TSO yeah, we're either yeah, no, you're right It's a recommend. This is this is my attachment to Oka showing through right It's a just it's a dissolution. It's a dissolution of Oka and a new committee as opposed to a dramatic revision of Oka And so the reason I think it's important to preface that is looking at the new GOL charge or as perhaps Steve suggested GOAL an actual goal, which I like is the appointments that the Appointments move from what is now Oka to GOL and of course the rationale behind that being that if we're looking at sort of the Organization of town government. We've already talked to some extent about committee charges about reviewing committees It seems like appointments to town committees logically fall within GOL if we're looking at town Town council how the town council structures its organizations what it actually does its governance of the town Appointment to multiple member bodies like Planning board and ZBA it seems like it logically fits in this committee the premise for putting appointments with Oka had always been that outreach and communications has Influence on a recruitment which relates to appointments But a year in we have never seen Oka do anything with recruitment any type of outreach that has to do with recruitment And in fact, that's been done completely by the CPOs and the Oka subcommittee on outreach in their last meeting Made a decision that they did not see recruitment as part of the outreach charge because that is sufficiently covered by the CPOs And so if you if you take that then it doesn't make sense to put appointments in Oka anymore Because it doesn't actually relate to the outreach and it makes more sense in GOL. I also move Moved a few other things over but now I have some questions about whether that makes sense because if if the New committee TSO or wherever it becomes has to do sort of with the day-to-day operations of government then perhaps coordinate the annual review process of the town manager and Because it has to do with provision of services by the departments appointments by the town manager For department heads those might actually logically fall within TSO And so I think this is much more complicated because essentially what I did is I took everything out of Oka Except the outreach stuff and put it in this revised GOL. I think appointments to town committees make sense in GOL I think appointments by the town council make sense in GOL But the two I'm uncertain on are the review process of the town manager and appointments to department heads because maybe those actually more logically belong in The new committee since they really have to do with sort of the operation of the the town government as a whole And so this is where these things get tricky and there's no there's no you know clean way to delineate these So those are where my questions come from Mandy so I I would advocate for even the document I just sent Evan doesn't have this added in appointments as part of the name and that clears up a lot of your questions Does it fall under governance or organization part? You just add an appointment section into the charge Format and throw them in and Then GOAL works, too My I've got a number of suggestions and concerns Some of which is not just of moving appointments over most of it's not necessarily concerns you tracked the language It's just I have concerns about the language and and The governance section dropped the first bullet point dropped at our current GOL charge has advised the town council on matters of internal counsel rules governance and organization And you dropped the governance and organization section from what I could tell I don't know whether you intended to or intended to and then put it into both then Organization and as you reorganize this you intended to just essentially repeat that Item three times under one in under each section with the correct one and so I Would just add governance and organization into the first bullet point again Well, that's town governments not town council rules governance and organization So I would put I think it might have just been a cut and paste Well, that one's in my document. Yeah, I think it was just a cut and paste didn't quite get the whole copy So on appointments I Have a lot of recommendations or requests The it is right now It's worded as make recommendations to the town council regarding all appointments by the town council and then references section 2.9 I would like to split that up to be really clear So I would change that sentence to make recommendations to the town council regarding Appointments by the town council to the planning board and zoning board of appeals and reference specifically 2.9 C I would add a bullet point that says Make recommendations to the town council regarding the appointment of non-voting finance committee members and reference section 2.9 I would Change the I guess I would change it in both, but it's only listed in one instead of review and advise It could be review and make recommendations to the town council on all appointments filed by the town manager for employment as department heads And then same with multiple member bodies I'm okay with move I I think Evan made a very good point on Should department heads go to the other one and my only concern is we would be splitting that up And is it wise to split that just split that one out? You might get pushed back from finance that says well then you should point push You know you should move the finance recommendations on finance committee members to finance instead of to appointments It makes some sense though that the person that deals with town the committee that deals with town services reviews the town department head filings and In terms of other ones I would add a bullet point Maybe under organization is where I put it make recommendations to the town council regarding non voting liaisons, which is 2.9 D They will have potentially appointments that the town council makes but it's also on Which committees so that's why I left it general and not just on appointments and threw it under organization Make recommendations to the town council regarding non voting liaisons These are all in my documents so far Then under governance, and I don't know whether this is the right spot for it there This is where I'm clearing stuff up from the recommendations to town council regarding all appointments by the town council section 2.9 C is what the original language was I Would like to see clearing up of There's other town council appointments that I'm not sure should just Automatically be in a committee and so I drafted the language as only upon specific referral by the council Make recommendations regarding appointments by the town council of the clerk of the council additional staff the town manager Or the interim town manager, and then I cited the charter sections 2.9 a 2.9 be which is the clerk additional staff 3.1 which is the town manager and 3.6 the interim town manager they happen potentially so infrequently and some of them are so major that it might not Logically sit within a standing committee if we actually as a council have to appoint a new town manager so I I Want to clear and and maybe our recommendation as a committee will be yes It does sit in this committee, but I think an actual clarity of Where do those recommendations fall do they fall on this committee automatically? The whoever's dealing with appointments. Do they not fall within the appointments committee? Do they? Fall only if the council decides to or could the council create an ad hoc committee if we're dealing with it Where do they fall and to be clear about that? I'm not wedded to the language I have but I would love to see some clarity about those specific appointments and where they Stand and then I had two other recommendations. I don't know whether they fall under legislation or not The generic GL may offer policy and other recommendations within its purview for town council discussion and consideration that was added into CRC as a generic It might be worth putting into all the charges Generically and then the other one is and this is again wording I'm not sure works, but review and make recommendations to the town council on matters referred to the GL Regarding town council policies what I'm thinking of at this time, and I'm not sure the wording works for it Is we drafted the public ways policy? Like the actual policy not just clarity consistency and actually we drafted the policy. How do we? Get language into the GL charge that actually Gives us that authority, and I'm not sure this language works because it might be too broad Review and make recommendations to the town council on matters referred to the GL Regarding town council policies. It's the regarding town council policies because Well once you've got the policy it should go somewhere else. It shouldn't go to GL, but the policy itself some of them might Be appropriately drafted here It might not and but I want to make sure things like when we drafted the public ways policy if we're drafting policies or language on I don't know Alcohol on the common if they feel like that belongs in GL that that we've got language in this charge that covers things like that I Just don't know how to word that so that was a lot And so some of it clearly is in that your own document, but some of it is really questions for us to Ponder and without I think something in writing in front of us. It's going to be difficult So I might be able to post my screen Up there so that you can see it If that would be helpful thoughts of other members of the committee I'm worried about getting into the weeds but Maybe it's unavoidable. I think I think so I think I agree that it would be this is why I have a question I agree that it's weird to put all appointments except department heads in This committee and then department heads in the other which is which is why I put that as a question as opposed to a suggestion So I'd love to hear what the two other members think about that and then as far as I I understand what you're saying about recommendations regarding appointments to the town council I guess I In we had talked about that before I think you and I talked about that not a committee but like Person-to-person at some point and I thought about that and the reason I kept it vague for right now It's just because I wasn't sure if there are other appointments by the town Council that we hadn't anticipated like Oka never really thought about liaisons When we designed Oka and then it was like oh these are town council appointments They should go to Oka and I and so I always prefer to draft a little bit broader than than super prescriptive So for example Let's say that you know Meg gauge steps down from participatory budgeting that was a town council appointment So we would be in charge the town council is in charge for filling that but that doesn't fit into one of the categories in This so I guess it's about how how how a specific do you want to get versus broad Which I think is sort of an in the weeds question, but I think is it's probably important to to talk about The one other thing I do want some feedback on is whether or not Review of the town manager falls in this committee. Well that I do have thoughts on but Steve Any any particular thoughts you have so far on any of this and that's it's okay. I'm sorry good, it's fine My personal preference has always been to get the annual review process of the town manager out of this committee And into the hands of an ad hoc committee or into the hands of the president calling some kind of ad hoc committee For a number of reasons One I think it's a bit an appointment that really intersects so many different Every member the council is involved I don't think we bring any particular expertise here And I think we have more than enough to do not that the president and it doesn't have more than enough to do but I would my personal feeling would to have to have this out and We look to some ad hoc process Every year that the president would convene and appoint X number of members and it would be their job to Coordinate and and pretty much do what happened this year I just shudder at the thought of this committee Trying to organize and manage that process But that's just me so that's the one contribution I have I'd love to see that out To that point I think the president has to be involved in the evaluation of the town manager So if yeah, so I'd prefer to leave this with the president and but maybe that's too vague But I'd like to have it out of our charge But that's just me and maybe sounds like maybe Steve Anyone any thoughts on that you can ponder This currently sits in Oka. I think in George you can I'd like it out of you Yeah, you can speak to this about Oka in this past review the town manager wasn't exactly sure what we should be doing and I believe most of it was done by the president in some coordination with one other counselor who had some experience and so I Have no issue taking out any committee charge. I think there will be some pushback on the council But I think that that's we're going to get pushed back on a lot of this And if we take it Okay, I think that there's a broader conversation beyond that about We know we have to do this annual review process if we take it out of any committee charge And it appears like nowhere in the rules There's a lot of ambiguity and so that might be something and if we do take it out of every committee charge It needs to be paired with a rule that says annually the town Council president shall appoint an ad hoc committee to something like that. I Would personally favor something like that as opposed to having it reside in a particular council committee Okay other thoughts about how to proceed here what we did with the first charge is that Evan would incorporate Mandy suggestions, but we have here Some that are more really not concrete suggestions or changes, but more almost philosophical or More pondering reflective type questions and I have to confess that for many of them I'm not sure I have the particularly I don't have a particularly thought-out view So I'm not much help So I Agreed I think with Most of what manager said I like I said my my I have some concern about being overly specific with appointments and Think I have some slight preference of just keeping it vague and saying any appointment by the town Council resides in this committee although I would be in favor of maybe carving out the town clerk and the town manager Because I do think that that's especially especially carving out the town manager I Like the idea of a pond referral we come up with policies I think under this proposed structure a lot of the policies that go well has already drafted would probably likely sit elsewhere probably in the proposed TSO But I think that there's always the opportunity that there might be a town council policy that comes to us though the one thing I would maybe push back a little bit on is you said something about how in the CRC charge it says that they can Craft policy and make recommendations within the purview of their charge Which if you'll notice actually in my suggested revision I took out of the CRC. Oh, wait, I didn't you just didn't put it in the TSO charge I just didn't put it in the TSO charge. Yeah, I actually I to me the statement that a committee may offer policy and other recommendations within its purview is like Obvious like I don't I don't know that that needs to be in a charge So I actually would take it out of I thought I actually I took out a lot of stuff in the CRC charge And I actually thought I took it out of the CRC charge But now I'm seeing that I didn't because it's sort of like well Yeah, obviously they can offer policy within the purview of their charge So I think it either goes in all of them where it goes in none of them My preference would be the latter and I propose putting it at all, but I'm I'm not I'm not wedded I'm not wedded to it. I just it just seemed weird that one would have it and others would not So, yeah, I think it should be an all or nothing. I am just my computer is not finding Amherst town room So I don't know it found the Samsung TV. I think upstairs The quick question for Lynn you you do have access to these you can see these these charge You you do because I have hard copies. I can give you hard copies. I can give you hard copies All right, they have a few notes on them. So don't throw it away, but You see find those are they're in order believe finances in there as well, and I hope Just briefly the rationale for putting Oka to rest Perhaps the answer is it's rooted in the restructuring. There's no I mean one rationale is that that it's nice to Streamline our committee structure. It would allow it's gonna have some positive benefits And the various duties of Oka are being redistributed in various places No, I think I'm trouble. I'm trying to find it. I didn't mean to keep it from you But I've got more pieces of cards right here Yes, and that is on this right And before I think it came Lynn what I had agreed and the committee had agreed that When we do produce a kind of consensus Draft for each of these charges we would send it I would send it to the relevant chairs not to the entire committee But to the relevant chairs as soon as I can Understanding it's the holidays and people may not get a chance to look at them, but I try to get it to the relevant chairs Three of whom are sitting right here, so that that's pretty easy But Andy is I guess basically speaking of Andy. He would get a copy of this But it would be revised so what you see there would have some slight changes to it and you would get a copy So again, I assume that's acceptable to everyone So I just want to say I sent it to Lynn. I do not have the solstice app and I can't download it without IT permission So That's what I'm gonna ask. Are we done with GOL and are we agreed with the name? I mean, this is not the most important thing, but I think GOL is fine as it stands But I would add the a and just to be clear So we'd be go a governance organization legislation and appointments committee organization appointments and legislation so it's a word Because it's just switch the o and the a and you have the Celtic word for jail Which it does I one of the concern actually one of the concerns I do have I probably should mention before we move on is that This is going to create an enormous workload for this committee. I mean, I'm just thinking about right now as it stands We have bylaws we're looking at And We're looking at public ways And now we're going to be also dealing with appointments and if the appointments Process goes through as planned That's kind of could become conceivably quite time-consuming at least for someone on that committee So just in the back of your minds Little concerned about the workload for this committee, but maybe that's just me Evan yeah, and that was that was my concerns. I feel like geo GOL has had its it's a pretty heavy workload. And do we want to add to this? I think that in theory if the OCA process that was just adopted for town council appointed committees Works and and the new GOL says well, we'll just continue with that That's really almost an annual thing except for vacancies and We certainly OCA had just a flood of town town committee appointments, but we act OCA hasn't dealt with a town committee appointment since like early October that there are a couple coming but I think that The the addition of appointments actually Was dramatic in the first year and almost made sense for OCA to just be the appointments committed to hash that all out But I don't think that it's going to be a huge more amount work the other side of the coin is that You know we as Mandy Joe said we did draft the public waste policy We did draft the policy for candidate statements on the website Honestly, I think under this proposed revision both of those would go to the TSO and So I think that there are other things that now just get sent to GOL because there's no where else that in theory Ideally would go somewhere else now So there might be a balancing, but but I do also think that is an argument to remove annual review of the town manager Sorry, you should As much as I agree that this year has been particularly tough with appointments. You will always have reappointments and appointments for Terms every year because of the expiration of terms It is the one question That and you're raising it Evan and that is the extent to which this could be More Than It could break the balance that you're trying to achieve in Shuffling things around committees because the appointments process regardless of What this year's looked like is going to continue and I just Am concerned that It could end up being more Burden some to whatever committee it's on and the question is whether or not added to GOL It tips the balance so the GOL now becomes kind of a workhorse that Is not what you're trying to achieve Mandy So I'm a little less concerned And GOL spent this year fairly busy, but we handled some of that stuff. We're getting better at handling Reviews of resolutions. They'll get easier as things go on rules are slowing down because we're entering a period where we'll Sit with them for a while and we've noticed a number of ones that were you know That'll be an annual process that can be done in November, you know I don't think we'll see as much of it Taking up five six months that we've been dealing with it ourselves since they were adopted back in June We've been dealing with that. I think that'll slow down a little bit And be a little bit more discreet during the year appointments while there will be a lot of you know reviewing for Approval that a lot of that will happen over the summer So I think there will be different times of year if we do this that one thing is more heard at GOL than other things but Given the limited scope of bylaw reviews at GOL, you know, it's still clarity consistency and actionability given that limited scope I Do think it's Handlable Even with appointments and I mean there's all throughout the year. There's always an appointment here or there But the bulk large workload on Appointments will happen as they expire in June on June 30 and come to the council Shortly thereafter there will always be potentially planning board or ZBA or department head or the vacancy appointments They're gonna be one-offs throughout the year In what I've been seeing I I'm hoping that the that's not the case I'm hoping that most of your appointments will come to you in the spring So that when a per term expires at the end of June, it's already known who will be taking the person's place What you may be Setting up and I think it's a good idea. Man to Joe is a calendar a kind of a rhythm To when you do various things like appointments tend to be more spring Considerations of rules of procedure tend to be more, you know, once in the fall or something like that And maybe that's the key to Having this work the other thing is that I do Actually hope that This is the first time I'm looking at these and with specificity That you get back to that issue about what is really go else charge with regard to quote clear consistent and actionable and whether or not it's ready to you're ready to raise again the issue of Going beyond that so one just thing I want to say, you know having Done almost a year on Oka is that and I think George I think he would agree with me on this is that a lot of the time that has been consumed on Appointments including town manager appointments has been figuring out what we're even looking for and I think that Oka is at a point now where we sort of Can look at an appointment Raise whatever questions and then deal with them pretty quickly. So the last time we dealt with appointments We had an hour discussion and we got through six sets of appointments They'd only took that long because there was one committee where there was sort of a mess around And some confusion on appointments, but I think that having done all of that work Even though we'll always be getting appointments It's it doesn't take as long and it the reality is assuming the Oka process that was adopted gets Carried over it works in this time You know the last eight Oka meetings were pretty much exclusively devoted to Coming up with that process With some town manager things started in there if we didn't have that in front of us You know we would have had a lot more time So I think that you know I'm not as worried about appointments because Oka has done the work and figuring out what does it mean to review the town manager's appointments And assuming that carries over all right, then I'd like us to move to the final two charges Which in the document we have in front of us one is called TSO town services and outreach at the moment and The other is the old good old community resources committee CRC and Evan if you'd speak for a moment to the rationale Because what you're proposing here is to take a good portion of CRC and or some of it at least and Turn it into a separate body Yeah, so you know it's again I think we started a lot of this discussion from the point of CRC's charge is really expansive And this is perhaps too big for one committee how can we divide this up and my proposal is to Essentially create a new standing committee But dissolve an existing one so that we're not adding another standing committee on top of our responsibilities my thought was again Oka has essentially two components outreach and then appointments and if appointments moves to GL Outreach can stay and then the question became well So what do you pair with outreach? What logically pairs with outreach and I looked through CRC's charge and what I came up with was the idea that Some of what CRC does has to do with how the community interacts with its government. How do we provide certain services? What are our relationships to the communities what our relationships to the institutions and then other are sort of these long-term Planning things zoning housing stuff like that And that's sort of the line I drew was if it has to do with the interface between the community and town government So whether that means the transfer flow of information whether that means the provision of services Then that sits in one committee and everything that exists outside necessarily of government Even if it might touch it something like broader questions about housing zoning planning Those sit in CRC and so I Pretty dramatically cut down CRC's charge in part because I removed some components in part because I removed stuff that I thought was sort of unnecessary And and moved a lot of stuff into town services and outreach So if I just go through a couple things with regard to this With regard to town services, and I'm not wedded to the name. I just had to come up with something But it Mandy Joe at the last meeting sort of said that she came down along similar lines Although for different reasons and hers was sort of day-to-day versus long-term And so I try to sort of marry those two and say the day-to-day provision of services I don't know if that really accomplishes what she was hoping for but it was an attempt um, and so the idea being what moves over from CRC is basically public ways and Anything that has to do with our public facilities and what moves over from CRC is The relationship between the town Count the town of Amherst and our institutions of higher education what stays from Oka is outreach Some stuff was added so for instance advising make recommendations to the town council regarding town council participation in community events is One of the outreach things that Oka has done even if it was never stated and I thought it was useful to just to recognize that And then the other thing the first the first bullet Advise the town council on measures that may affect the provision of services to the community by a town department is actually adapted from One of the very first charge proposals that the president put before the council At our meeting on December 10th that was never included in any charge But I think captures a lot of the areas where we've been curious about where does this measure lie And then advise the town council on matters related to the operation of town government I added that in there and it's it's it's broad and I'm not wedded to it. It's just an idea but that sort of That was sort of anticipation of in-case evaluation of the town manager or the department heads falls into TSO Sort of justifying that up general operations day-to-day operations Anything that might affect that and I want to make clear because I can already sense some of the pushback that we might get in the council would be The town manager deals with departments the town manager. We don't have a say over that and and my My response to that is yeah, that's true But we might be considering measures that would affect that and so The whole thing with none of this is meant to exceed our authority, but if the town council has a measure before it like potentially a Wage theft resolution that might impact procurement or something like that That doesn't logically go to any committee right now But that would go to this one because it would affect sort of the operations in the end of government Okay, Manny has no I mean you can see him up here Although I now that I was doing this late at night last night now I look at it my added review and make recommendations on matters referred is pretty much covered with the advice It's just I don't know whether we want is Revive advise comprehensive enough in some sense or is review and make recommendations a little bit better of wording But essentially that bullet point was I wasn't sure whether advice was comprehensive enough. So I added in the review I Would in staff support put town manager or designee with an end in there CRC right now has its charge has town manager or designee the designee is the assistant town manager Dave Zomek And he is quite helpful In terms of being able to talk with staff that we might want to have a peer before CRC Because there's a lot of questions that need answered to get those answers to do all of that if this town if this new committee is dealing with Similar items or half of what CRC is it would be very helpful for the town manager to be able to designate someone to sort of Be in that role so I wouldn't want us to restrict ourselves to not having that designation liaison I you'll see on the second page. Oh, I the third bullet point. I added including transportation You know, it's up there now that in blue the after public ways to To public ways in transportation can be considered a slightly different thing public ways is sort of Park, you know, I see public ways as the actual Use potentially of the public way. Are you going to park there? Are you going to have a fee there? Are you going to have it wide or not? There's transportations may be a little broader to deal with things like if a proposal that came to town meeting and Was at our very beginning of this tenure brought to us many times the addition of money for adding and keeping multiple routes for the PVTA and Where would it go and this would make clear that that's part of this town services Thing because it's transportation. It's not really the use of a public way, but it is transportation dealing with And so and then the other was the policy recommendations, but if we're getting rid of that then you know Those were my recommendations on this TSO. I thought you did a pretty good job at splitting it the way I had in my mind the split Well, um Just so I understand better That way back And I was having various conversations with people about CRC There was this question about town Services being things like safe public safety and health and Whether that was really a CRC thing or should that be elsewhere? So I'm being at this It's raising the question for me When we say the provision of town services Does that include things like public safety health? Whatever else and and giving some examples The question of does this include the possibility at some point of evaluating one or more of those services which the Charter I believe does speak to and also I Do feel like somewhere in here the town manager needs to be included like manager mentioned because He oversees all these services So I think Because this This jumps up for me as really new for the council. I think it's going to need some examples To help people understand what's meant by your points And Then my other question is so does this mean that all public way Requests that are long term would go to this group Yes, okay, and therefore does this mean parking and things like Lincoln Ave would go to this group I think that the general if I understand this is the general driving principle is that this is a committee that would deal with Where the rubber meets the road? so You know when you've got a parking issue in your neighborhood when you've got You know something concrete specific anything like that Whereas the the suggested second committee, which would be still CRC by title would be more long-range Master plan zoning sort of big bigger picture more outward-looking There's obviously going to be some overlap But I think the the basic attempt to separate out where the rubber meets the road sort of con I think of constituent services Is the term that keeps coming to my mind basically where you know the services the town provides for our constituents So when a constituent comes to me with a specific issue This would be where I would think naturally it would go But larger issues zoning planning housing affordable housing Homelessness those kinds of broader big big issues would be kept in CRC is my understanding of this distinction Steve and I assume that Those that I've been working on this know that this if approved puts us very close to what Northampton has so the Northampton City Council has four committees finance city services legislative matters and community resources So to me the only outlier is really the Appointments so they don't I don't know if they how they do appointments there But I agree with what you were just saying that to me city services is Yeah, it's like the committee on oversight of the executive branch basically And then the community resources is to me is much more sort of a long term Like what what are the policies that we can set in place to create a more? You know to help us achieve the goals of the master plan and I think economic development would fall into that as well Evan yeah, I mean I think and I think you know to me this is a little bit cleaner than Other proposals, but there are still there's some ambiguity So when I'm thinking about parking and I'm thinking about specifically the parking report and I gave this example last meeting is So a parking coordinator, which was one of their proposals that doesn't make sense to go to CRC Right because that's really about how does our town? How do our town departments manage parking? So that would go here to me the parking benefit district actually is a finance committee thing That doesn't belong in CRC either because that's how do we fund our parking services? The provision of public parking is a city service, right? And so the Lincoln Avenue thing would come here. However if someone let's say private in theory Let's say a private developer wants to rezone a parcel to build a parking garage To me that's a long-term thing that ties with economic development It if the city's not building the parking garage the city's not managing it That would actually be a parking thing that would be in CRC because it's about are we going to rezone something to allow? Private development to provide parking so the city's not providing So it does get a little weird because parking falls in here, but there are occasions when maybe it wouldn't But I think that's the thing is if the city is providing it in some way then it falls within here If it's something in the community that's tied to economic development something like that Expand on that rezoning it would be in CRC and not this Town services committee because that rezoning wouldn't just allow a parking garage. It would allow More than a parking garage, so you're rezoning a plot of land and that has you know Even if it's at a request for a specific project that Doesn't mean that's the only thing that can go on it when you rezoned it a lot of stuff can go on it So it doesn't you know while the specific request is to maybe build a specific project that look needs to be much wider than That project it needs to be what does that rezoning allow to go on that land and is that wise because it might not be That project it could be anything else that the zoning changed us, so Okay, one of the things that I think will be helpful with all of this is almost a chart that then says Here's where zoning will go. Here's where police will go. Here's where whatever will go Before let me go to your outreach and community relations It is my understanding that next year there is a plan to redo the town website And so here is an example of how the council may have Through a committee some interaction around a website, you know suppose at some point We decide we're gonna do a By monthly newsletter. I'm not proposing it. Okay. I'm just saying suppose that would be a part of this kind of conversation Anything that will help people make it concrete. Yes, I agree I agree and that would be included in the packet and I could work with my colleagues on that To produce specific examples A chart whatever format, but you're I agree with you that that would be very helpful Do we want to Well, yeah, we also have a time factor here, but yeah, let's take a look at CRC Again Mandy, I'm assuming you probably have a set of comments, which is no this is really valuable that you would share With Evan, but obviously you went off to share them with us, which is So let's look at CRC I actually My comment was keep town manager designee in the staff support. That's already there because it's been very yeah It got lost to clerk of the council. I think that's my only comment for CRC I went back and I compared the charges and well, you hadn't deleted the offer policy recommendations So I was good with it And and you did delete I do want to mention that one of the things that got deleted was the Collaborate and or coordinate with town departments through the town manager where town committees is appropriate and I was Totally okay with deleting that because that seems obvious to me that I don't think committees need to be told they can do that one thing that that I wonder about is the the relationship between the council and the colleges and the university and That seems to be an extremely important Area Over which perhaps in the end we have very little influence, but Right now that would fall in the other bodies purview right town services which I mean, I guess I think of that committee as town and constituent services essentially You know responding to and so you could argue that outreach in a sense is part of what you would expect to be a constituent service that you You know right We could still keep it. I mean obviously it's an important part of the charge the outreach component I don't know if it needs to be in the title though. We could leave it if you just had Town and constituent services the emphasis on services both of those of the town provides and those that involve our constituents, but With the People are happy with that in that body. So anything involving our relationship. So you tack You know if the town manager eventually does tell us something about his conversation with the universities and with the university and the colleges if we needed to refer to refer to that committee if that's where it goes Not to CRC You So I think so if you think of the relationship between the two in some sense is a town service or or Constituent service the UMass is Kind, you know all the residents there are constituents of us and so and and that To me that relationship is much more of a can I mean it kind of can fall on both because it could be a long-term thing but it can be a short term but you tack and You know think about what are some of our relationships right now one of them is the coordination between umpd and APD and all about You know parties and stuff and party registration and all that's really a town service part more than a long-term Land use zoning housing things. So to me it actually falls more logically in this new town services committee than in CRC And and just as you pointed out with something else If there was a zone rezoning issue, which there could be if you think about for example all of the land that Hampshire College owns and At some point they there might be a rezoning issue Then that would come to CRC because it's a very different Kind of peace, but I do agree that the rest of the relationship really belongs under the The to be named newly committed new committee. I think that I'm sorry Steve Yeah, yeah, I mean really depends it's to I mean I think everything is nuanced And I think this what we're trying to do our goal one of our goals is to give as much clarity as we could possibly give and that's why I think Lynn suggested examples and and Mandy has some in mind from her committee Evan has some in mind. I can Linda suggested some You know, it's you're right Steve that they're going to be the council will decide finally where it goes And then there are going to be cases where it could go and may go to more than one place But it's going to be a little bit debate, but hopefully it'll be clear people have a clear sense of okay This is where it should normally go. Okay, this is where it should go And in those cases where it could go in multiple places We'll have a conversation and there may be a few cases where we just have to hash it out But it's the streamline a little bit. So there would be a fairly clear for most situations Where these things would go that's our goal and the discussion hopefully if it's a positive one and we don't get bogged down The minutiae which could happen People begin to get a sense of okay. This this makes things a little bit clear not perfect. That's impossible but clear Evan Yeah, so I mean I agree with with everything that was said and I think that it there's going to still be times The council has to discuss to me That bullet has to do with anything that has to do with the town government and sort of UMass administration But if there was a conversation about what's the impact of undergraduate students on neighborhoods or something that would fall in CRC, right? There are three things that I did to this that I want to make sure I get specific feedback on So one is I added a bullet which was community sustainability initiatives And the reason for that has to do with another thing I did which was I deleted B and C from the original charge B is what Mandy Joe said about collaborating with town departments To me that every committee can do that through the town manager and Then it see was upon request by the town council the CRC may study and consider other issues affecting community resources Sustainability and economic development. I deleted that because it seems also just obvious like yeah Any committee can study an issue on Within the purview of its charge The reason I added that bullet was from a quick read that was the only place sustainability was mentioned in charge And so by deleting that bullet sustainability gets pulled And so I added that bullet to keep sustainability within the purview even as removing that Part C that to me is to me BC and D are just obvious statements that don't necessarily need to be In a charge, but I specified community sustainability initiatives because the idea being that if it's something, you know the town adopting a new revised fuel-efficient Vehicle purchasing policy that might fit more in town services. That's it. That's a town one. Um, so I guess I That's something I changed and deleting those bullets or something I changed the other thing I put in a question here is the master plan in accordance with charter charter section 9.8 Section 7 and 8 of the master plan one is specifically I don't remember which number it is, but one is specifically titled town services and it's all about facilities and stuff like that Um, I don't remember what the other one is off the top of my head I didn't know if we actually wanted to carve those out because they belong elsewhere Or if it's just sort of like we don't need to get into that level of detail Mandy I would not The master plan is meant to be a 20 to 40 year document not a two-year document So even though it might address town services, it's addressing it over Potentially 20 years our charter requires a review a rewrite every 20 of full rewrite. I think every 20 years I think MGL says 20 to 40 or something but the Charter specifically mentions 20 in section 9.8 and So I think it's easier to keep the whole thing Together as the long-range vision of the town and so what is the long-range vision of town services? Not how is it going to be implemented tomorrow? And just to add to the conversation so section 8 is town services and facilities section 7 is open space and recreation So that's all of our trails and stuff like that all of which is a service. It's not a TSO Okay, I want to move us along if that's all right And bring this discussion to a close But some clear sense of what our next steps are but before I do that just a very small point Are we happy with TSO? I think the titles otherwise geo al crc Finance obviously TSO I suggest the constituent services is in town and constituent services taking the outreach out Do we we don't need to I don't want to spend a lot of time on that you want to leave it a TSO do you any thoughts one way or the other I mean, it's either CSO or TSO constituent services and outreach or Town services and outreach you'd like to keep out. I think the T over the C is just A little more clear the watershed scientist in me CSO is also an acronym for combined sewer overflow So that seems a very appropriate title much of what we do I mean, it's awkward, but I think TSO is so was Oka at one point and we got used to it So I am heartbroken that okay is dying, but I'm overcoming that grief Any thoughts Steve just leave it TSO town services and outreach Okay Next steps Next steps obviously we are I'm asking Evan and Mandy to coordinate and produce a kind of penultimate draft of these five These charges that we would put in a packet for the meeting on January 6th I would produce a memo or report which would address the rationale And I think a third item would be Some examples which could either go I think it'd be a separate document and we still I still have to ponder this But I agree with with Lynn and with the rest of you that that some specific examples would help at least focus the discussion And maybe maybe not Stave off some some sort of knee-jerk reactions when people say oh, okay, or they could throw out something and we'd have to say Okay, where does that go so those are three things I have in mind with the goal of January 6th With the president's approval it would be on the agenda for a discussion It's coming up whether we want it or not Since the Group the since the council has asked that we discuss the president the vice president and the committees so this is Part of what has been asked for that discussion so that okay Can I suggest there's actually two screens that I would put each of these committees through One is if you go to the town web page it allows you to pick any number of things like zoning Okay, and you push in a button. I'd find I'd find a home for each of those places The other thing and this may not be doable between now and the 6th and that is we've often wondered Does every committee in town know where it's kind of link is to the council and So at some point going through the list of all of the committees and saying which committees belong Which committees would find their home with which? Standing committee of the council that's a big assignment and Sometimes they would be financed and sometimes they would be something else so it's not clean so the town web page and the the town committee list Standing committees Connecting them to this proposed change would be very helpful That goes to something that I believe Mandy Joey you brought up almost a year ago now And that was at some point. Do we review committees? Just let me say Make sure you understand what you're taking on when you decide to do that. Yeah Evan So the committee wants so my next week is very open So I I know other people have like families. They're trying to probably maybe spend a holiday with But I've told mine not to expect that No, um, so if if the 27th is I We're in an awkward position of needing everything by January 6th And but there's no meetings of any other committee during that time. We're not meeting again So I'm trying to figure out process. I could I could get all of these materials Mandy Joe's thing I think I can do what Lynn's suggesting Although I don't want to 100% commit to it till I start doing it because it might be something That's much harder to do once you start um all of that by the 27th And I could send it to George, but then the question is does it go out to? other committees First does it go out with the report? I'm Timeline is right, right I Don't imagine that all of the other committees are meeting before the 6th. I guess Oka would be meeting Huh, okay And finance is not meeting until the 7th. That is correct, right CRC is not meeting till the 8th So I wouldn't send it out to the other committees Now, but if something's drafted, I think if we assign one person to do it they can seek Comments from others as long as they're the ones that have final sort of say In what it's produced So if Evan takes on some drafting if he wants advice from one of us or all he can seek that Before it heads out to the council in a packet And just like you as chair can seek advice on your report Before it heads out one to one On this body, I think yeah So I also don't think we're going to get consensus on these on the 6th. No, no, I think the only And I'm Let me just let me leave it at that I can seek help with the report and or the memo Evan and Mandy do you want to work together to I will so I will Let's do this. I will take on the revision task and compiling some of the requested documents I with the goal of getting it out by the 27th, and if I feel as though I need assistance, I will Reach out to whoever appropriate keeping it under quorum of anybody Mandy one technical if we're putting this in front of discussion for The council on the 6th. I always go back to do we want some sort of motion today Or sense so that you and your report can say not that we've approved all of these but that this committee is In unanimity or in support of this rewrite at this time I don't know what it would look like, but do you want to be able to say something that says There's a sense of this committee about this Because there was a formal vote Usually when we vote formally, we're voting on something concrete in front of us. This is still a work in progress I'm I can certainly state in public, but They're with confidence that there's a this is a consensus document, but it's still not ready for I don't know, you know, I Mean if we vote what are we voting on we're just saying you know we We support the general process that we're still trying to create. I mean, it's I think we're just not at that stage I mean, I think we could frame it in the same way that Oka did with their process of We're looking for here's a preview. We haven't decided on anything Things could still change. We're going to edit Here's a preview of where we are at this moment and we're looking for your feedback to incorporate in the next meeting So this clearly is not going to be something as Lynn said, we're not gonna vote on it and on January 6 We are presenting it and for discussion and feedback and then it comes back to us one more time And then at that point hopefully we could we would have something we'd actually vote on and say this is what we recommend. I Think that's where we're at All right One last quick item and then we need to get out of here Lynn has asked me to do this we have touched on it in your packet and we're not gonna really look at it now but in your packet is my Latest attempt to describe a public ways process Obviously, I have one particular Request in mind, but it clearly I think it's something we'd like to And if you get a chance to look at it, what you'll see is that we have four different Sources of Rules and regulations that intersect here We have the charter we have the rules or procedure. We have actual town Official policies we've created for public ways and we have MGL and I'm gonna continue in the document. You'll see that I have reached out to Town manager Backelman I reached out to Angela Mills and I reached out to Lynn and I'm gonna continue to keep them in the loop because this I think all intersects But at the moment my plan is to To take this I want to go back to to Angela Mills and get clarity on MGL to the degree that we can my personal feeling is MGL does not include parking And I just need an answer to that so they're in that document when you get a chance to look at it And I'll send a copy of course to the president I just have some questions that I hope will get answered this week and then I would Craft something for us to consider hopefully at our next meeting But what I have at the moment is the latest version of it and it's a work in progress and It's been looked at and I've gotten great suggestions from all those three individuals, but obviously it's so Okay So I guess what I'm telling you is I'm gonna continue to to refine this and get more input and hopefully on January 6th It'll be a finished. You'll have something a little bit more polished And again, if you have individual thoughts on this you can send to me just by email just to me I know any thoughts concerns reactions suggestions Maybe you understand MGL better than I do, but I Read that I only read the brief lines and I didn't see parking there So the reason is that I don't see why we have to have the full, you know requirements that a public hearing has in terms of MGL requirements, but the answer may be We do or it may be that we don't but we were gonna do it anyway Having said all that I have any Dispatch future agenda items. I've mentioned rule 8.6 that will be on the agenda Obviously the revised version of this will be on the agenda This meaning what we've just spent the last hour and a half talking about and I will have also probably something on Public ways requests anything else people would like added to the agenda. I am looking forward to a referral of the future considerations from the by-law review committee and just to put that out there and To reach out to our president that and when that comes that's going to be an interesting addition to our our plate Okay There is no public presence. So we do not have public comment today and I'm going to declare this meeting adjourned at 1238