 start the meeting. Yes, so I am going to kind of start by saying pursuant to the governor's order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law general law chapter 30a section 18. This meeting of the disability access advisory committee is being conducted via remote means. I'm going to start by doing a roll call to make sure that everyone can hear and be heard. And I just want to remind everyone that this meeting will be recorded and will be available on Amherst media or on the town's YouTube. So I'll begin with our current chair. Myra Ross. I'm here. All right. And Marty. Marty Smith. All right. And Elise. I'm here. Okay. And Saren. Here. All right. And Jim, are you here in an official capacity? Were you sworn in? I was sworn in. Yes. All right. Okay. Great. So those are the members of the disability access committee. We also have as panelists today, a community member, Mr. Silverstein. All right. All right. And then two members of the town's staff, Chris. Good morning. Chris Bristrup. All right. And Rob. Morning, Rob Lachille. All right. Thank you. So before we get started, I just want to ask if, well, I guess I want to begin with there's a need for there to be an election of a chair and vice chair for the committee. So I don't know if anyone would like to nominate someone or themselves for those positions. I'd be happy to do it. All right. But don't all answer at once. Myra would be excellent. She's doing an excellent job. All right. All right. So, and so Myra, I'm not sure in the past of you, do you have an election, a motion to have you serve in that capacity or have you done it by consensus? I haven't done it in a couple years and it just hit me. This is not really kosher. So we had to do it. Okay. And we'd never had a vice chair, but we need to. That's right. So if you can, I mean, I don't know how we do it. I mean, I'm nominating myself. So if there, we need a second for that. I don't know. A second. All right. All right. So you have a nomination and a second, maybe just all in favor by stating aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All right. All right. Okay. All right. So Myra, that means you're in charge and I can put myself on mute. True. Okay. We need a vice chair. Would anybody like to be vice chair? We might have to appoint a vice chair. Should we? How about if I recommend Marty to be a vice chair since she knows all the architectures in the house? Thank you, Sharon. Marty's laughing, but she didn't say yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. You twisted her arm. This is good. Arm twisting is good. Okay. So we have a nomination. All second, Marty. So now we need a vote. All in favor of Marty being vice chair. Aye. Aye. Aye. I'll vote for myself. Thank you for voting for yourself. You would be proud of us, Marty. We had that last meeting with the UMass people. It went on forever thanks to me and Sharon. And I think they learned a lot about accessibility and they changed their proposal. Yeah. And Sharon's brilliant idea about how to change the staircase and the railings. I mean, I guess it was mostly Sharon's idea, but I said to make it wider. And, you know, they didn't need to apply for one of the variances. We talked them out of it. Yeah. Yeah, I heard it went very well. And also the plan they later submitted just addressed it nice and they made the second staircase narrower perfect. Yeah. Simple. It was a real success. I felt like people were actually really hearing us. And I was very, I was, I mean, it went on forever, but I was very gratified. Anyway. Okay. So the next thing on the agenda is it, is it Mr. Silverstein or is it Chris and Rob? Mr. Silverstein. Okay. Mr. Silverstein, welcome to our meeting. I heard that you want to talk about sidewalks and you have the floor. You can introduce yourself, tell us where you live, and then tell us what you told Pamela, because we have not heard it. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you. My name is Jay Silverstein. I live at 32 North Prospect Street. Unit four is a condominium. It's directly across from CVS parking lot. It's a terrible sidewalk in that street. I'm disabled. Well, to put it in a way of veteran affairs, I'm a wartime disabled Vietnam veteran. I work either with a cane and a steel hinge brace or a walker. The road, the sidewalks are getting so bad. I no longer is it's more like an obstacle course than the sidewalk. It's very, very difficult to walk. So I tried walking in the street, but there's so many cracks and potholes in the street. You can't walk there either. So basically what I did was I called up the superintendent, Guilford Mooring, and asked him what can be done. And he told me it's not even in the plans to have the sidewalk or the road fixed. He said, however, if I could go to you people and or poor Backelman, and you recommend that he do it, he would put it on his agenda. So now it lies. You know what the problem is, and you could fix it for me or not. Well, I happen to know that Halleck Street and Prospects North Prospect are dreadfully frightening to walk on because I tried it and I won't do it again. So I do it every day because like I said, I'm disabled veteran and the best thing for me is to walk. Yep. So unless you're having me walk around my living room, I have no place. Okay. So Mr. Backelman also, but I believe he's avoiding me. I spoke to his secretary, Angela, who said he would get back to me that day. And then I left the message on the eighth and so far he has not gotten back to me. Okay, luck with him. Yeah. And I also I use a wheelchair and just imagine how difficult it is for us. And I just had an experience last week when I went to town hall to sign, which was a success actually. And but going up the town on that across the parking lot, which probably is no longer there, you know, it was treacherous. So I think we really if we can make a difference, I think we should pursue it pushing the town to appropriate funds, whatever it might be, it's endangering the lives of people, you know, who use the sidewalks all the time. And this town is bragging about wanting to like people to age gracefully. Yeah, right. Well, the sidewalks have not aged gracefully. No, and the people can't either, if they, you know, have one quality of life. So I have I think we should take a I mean, I would be happy to accept a motion about emergency repair for sidewalks, yes, on, you know, North Prospect, you might want to name the other streets you're talking about, but I know those two. And then after we do that, there is one more committee that you could go to. And I think it's called the Transportation Access Committee, TAC, and it meets on Thursdays in the evening. It's the one that Tracy Zafian chairs. And they are very interested in sidewalks as well. They we should work together with them about about this. But I would be happy to accept a motion from somebody. Mr. Silverstein, do you want to tell us about if there are other streets involved in the walk that you cannot use? Well, my walks are basically two different areas. Coming out of my driveway, I make a left and I walk down to Halleck Street. And again, that's more like obstacle course than sidewalk. I go down. I go down Halleck Street to North Pleasant, up to Cowles, where the sidewalks are abominable. Halleck is they're bad, but not horrendous. They're accessible, accessible. But when you come up Cowles Lane, maybe that one was on. That's really bad. I know one of the ones that you cross over there, it was treacherous. Yeah, it is. And sometimes you can't walk on the sidewalk. You have to walk in the street. But the other way, again, when I go the other way on North Prospect Street, I go down to Amity. And once I'm on Amity, it's not too bad. And the sidewalk on by the Perry, that's been taken care of. But on the other side of the street, it hasn't. But if I go to Amity and then down to Lane, cross over and come up Amity and walk over to the movie theater and cross over and return. I'm walking about two miles a day. And they want me to walk six miles a day. But I just don't have that that the strength to navigate those streets. Okay. So just so it's really Coles, the Coles Lane and North Prospect that are the worst. I was wrong about Halleck. I know it was one of the cross streets over there. You know, I come back on Cowles. Yeah. But if you said Halleck is passable, we should start with the ones that aren't. Yeah. Myra, in my opinion, I don't think we should limit this our request to certain streets, because there could be some other streets. Maybe we might not have people using those streets regularly in this meeting. So we should just see that they should just address within, maybe we should just say within a mile radius of the center of town, limited like that, you know, and then in different stages that they should make high priority to repair the sidewalks. Okay. I mean, just want to make a mission. You want to make a motion? Sure. I propose that the town would consider repairing the sidewalks within one mile radius of the center of town from where the town hall is located, kind of like the center. And then approach this repair work in different stages. Next will be the additional one mile radius around until all the sidewalks are repaired when they need new work, of course. Okay. I would like to make a friendly amendment. Just take away, consider. Okay. So do you have something that's like that, Pamela? Yes, I do. I have a motion that the town repair sidewalks within a one mile radius of the town hall and that the repair can continue in different stages until all are repaired. Okay. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Marty seconded it. Okay. Is there any further discussion of it? I would point out that a mile is a long ways in Amherst. Oh, God. Elise's dog is not happy. Yeah. But I mean, like I have, there's a man on high street who uses a wheelchair and he has to go in the street, which is completely impassable these days. It's such a dangerous obstacle course. He cannot go on the sidewalk because it is so completely covered, you know, ripped up by tree roots that he cannot use the sidewalk. So he's always in the street. And the street isn't terribly safe right now. It's full of potholes. So it's the same thing and we're a mile from town. So I don't think that's, I mean, we're less than a mile from town. So I don't think that's a bad, I don't think that's a bad motion. All right. Marty has left. I don't know if that was voluntary or involuntary, but we can still vote. Can I also, I'm sorry, it's Elise. I just also want to point out that there are sidewalks that abruptly stop. Yes. They don't continue. And there's like only one side on Amity Street that one can continue walking. So because it stops on one side and there's no way to cross over just one other thing. But yeah, I'm all for it. I'm in. Okay. All right. Any other comments? I wonder if it would be inappropriate for the committee to at least, you know, include a couple of specific recommendations, such as North Prospect Hallock and High Street or something. Okay. Simply because, you know, if it goes to the town manager and the public works, they're probably, you know, how are they going to prioritize? This will just drag out and drag out and drag out. That would be right. True. So can we add, will you accept that amendment, Sarah? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's a good suggestion. You could even say begin with North North Prospect. Yeah. Street Coles Lane or whichever one is worse, Hallock or Coles and High Street. Excellent. He needs to get out of his house and have a quality of life. That's good. Yep. First of all, thank you, Mr. Silverstein for bringing this. Second of all, I think, well, we need to vote. But second of all, I think you should go to the Transportation Access Committee. Chris, can you give information? Who's the liaison to that committee? Hilford Mooring is the liaison. Okay. He knows the situation. He's the one who told me to see you. Yeah. And he didn't tell you to go to the Transportation Access Committee, but that's where I would go. They do that. I mean, Chris, you go to a lot of their meetings. They do this, right? Does they talk about sidewalks? They do talk about it. Yes. Probably the way to approach this is to go to Tracy Zaffian, who is the chair, and maybe Pamela could send Mr. Silverstein, Tracy Zaffian's email address, because I think she has it, because Tracy's been to DAAC meetings before. Yes. I'm happy to do that. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. We need to vote on Seren's motion for the town to begin some emergency repair to sidewalks, particularly North Prospect, Coles and High Street. Okay. So we need to vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. Was that everybody? And me? Aye. Okay. Anybody opposed? I didn't hear everybody. Nobody's opposed. Okay. Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Silverstein, for bringing it. Don't give up on the town manager. And Tracy Zaffian is a very active person, and she will definitely be interested in hearing what you have to say. And she knows a little bit more about perhaps the town plan for sidewalks. So she's a good person for you to talk to about this. I will. Okay. Thank you for coming. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. You can stick around if you like. Next on the agenda, we have Chris and Rob are here to talk about the town's proposal for the MOD grant, which is due on September 30th. So I think it's actually due on September 15th. So that's on Friday. I thought it was the 30th. We thought so too. Yeah. Yeah. They moved it up to earlier this year. I believe it's this Friday at 5 p.m. according to the state's website. Okay. This is an emergency. Okay. So I would like to say that I'm just here to answer questions. And Rob Wachilla will make the presentation. And he's our new senior planner. So we're very, or excuse me, our new planner. So we're very happy to have him here. Thank you, Rob. Welcome, Rob. Thank you all. We've seen a lot of you. Yeah. I'm sure. So I'll be brief and just go over the reason why I'm here today. So as Chris mentioned, we have the FY24 MOD grant due Friday at 5 p.m. I'm kind of taking the lead on applying on behalf of the town. So far, I've gotten letters of support from the library, the board of trustees, and a few other people who use the Munson Memorial Library, which is the project we're trying to focus on for this year's cycle. So there are four projects that are discussed in terms of what fit with this year's application. And the first is the Munson Library. So this would be doing improvements to the front and side entry doors. I believe the main entrance already has a lot of ADA compliance, but obviously we're going to do some, we're proposing minor modifications. And the brunt of the work is going to be on that side entrance, which will have a ramp installed. And then a walkway that'll be connected to the main pathway that goes to the front of the library. And then both doors would have push button openers for accessibility. Can we have the side entrance to the auditorium? Yes. Okay. Yep. The side entrance. And then the pathways are going to lead to two accessible parking spaces out front on, I believe it's East Pleasant Street. And then the other project was ADA improvements to the Mill River Recreation Area, which I believe has several ADA related issues. Then there was also the traffic signals in town in terms of making them audible. And then we have the hearing assistive devices at the bank center. So for those last two, I believe DPW is already working on the traffic signal project, according to what Chris told me yesterday. And then for the hearing assistive devices at the bank center, there's actually capital funding available to do that whole project. And I believe that includes providing a cart with equipment that can be moved from room to room for meetings at the bank center. And I believe there's plans in the future for wiring the whole building, but it's a very expensive project, which still has to be planned out for a future grant cycle. So the reason why we chose or decided to pursue the Munson Library project is because this one is shuffle ready. So we have a price estimate around 110,000 for the whole project. So that includes the equipment, the grading, installing the concrete pavements, doing the ramp, and then railings for both entryways. And we also have sketches of the proposed ramp and the profile as well as like a bird's eye view that shows the pathway and where the improvements are going to take place. So those are two things that are going to be really useful in doing this grant application because it's going to show that as soon as we get the funding, we can go ahead and start this project and put out to bid. And that's why myself, Chris Brestrop, Rob Mora, the building commissioner in our facilities manager, Jeremiah LePlants, felt that that project was was the wiser choice to pursue for this year's grant cycle. And then the main reason why I'm here is to ask the Disability Access Advisor Committee if they would be willing to consider writing a letter of support for this year's grant application. And the reason why I'm asking is because if you are on board with this project and you decide to submit a letter with the grant application, that's going to make the town a strong applicant for this year's cycle. And I believe last year for FY23, it was really competitive. They only accepted about a little over half of all grant applications they received. They received about 110 merely awarded around 45. So sorry, my numbers are off a little less than half. So it's very competitive. And the only way you can really be successful is if we have a strong application. And I believe getting a letter from the Disability Access Advisor Committee will make us a strong applicant. So that was pretty much the gist of my presentation. Chris, I don't know if you want to add anything that might have missed. I don't really have anything to add. But I think you do have some plans if the DAAC is interested in seeing plans. Is that correct, Rob? That's correct. And Madam Chair, if you want me to screen share and show these plans real quick, I can. And I can also show the process. I guess I'd like to frame the way you're going to talk about it. Sure. Okay. So that site is a polling place or is it not anymore? So it still is. I believe it serves a precinct 5B, which according to the town clerk's office has around 2,500 registered voters who go there to use that location. Okay. So it's a polling place. It has always been a polling place, but it has always been a problem. Sarah, and you can attest to this, correct? Indeed. Yeah. That's right. Also, do you have a lot of information about how that room is used? Because I know it's always used for English country dancing, for things like that. But how else is the room used so that people can get access to it? Because if you come in at night, that's where you're supposed to come into, right? You can't come in through the beginning? Through the front? I'm not entirely sure, but when we assume that if there's an entrance for an event in the auditorium, they would probably only have the entrance open. But I want to assume that, Chris, I don't know if you know more about that, if they close the front entrance at nighttime or if they're having an event in that auditorium? I think they close the front entrance to the library. I imagine I'm thinking back, I haven't been there in a long time, but when I used to bring my children there, they did leave that front entrance open to the big room as well as the side entrance, so both of those entrances were open. Okay. And then to answer your earlier question, sorry. What's it going to achieve that, what can, what will be able to be done there that cannot be done now? That's really why we need, that's where we need to focus a letter. The doors are very heavy, the main doors into the space, to the big space. And so by adding from the outside, from the outside, and then I think the secondary doors are also very heavy. So by adding some mechanism to allow those doors to be opened more easily, that's going to make it easier for people to come in from that direction. And also the, there's also the architectural barrier of the stairs on that side entrance. So if you put in the ramp, you're going to eliminate that barrier for people to easily access that side entrance to the outside. Okay. I don't think I ever went out that way. I always go out the front. Yeah. I haven't been there since I had little kids either. Well, the, the idea is that, well, if for, if you're voting, it's actually, it'd be a lot easier. So if you had two accessible entryways that people could just go in one way, come out the other way instead of coming in the same entrance and going out the same entrance to kind of reduce congestion and stuff like that. Okay. And so there's going to be a, okay, show the picture and if you could describe it, that'd be great. Elise doesn't see well and I can't see it all. So you need to be pretty descriptive. Yeah, sure. So I'll show you the first, so these are like CAD sketches that were done of the building and the proposed sidewalk. So right here, top right portion of the plan, you have the Munson Library. It's like a rectangle and then in front of that, you have the courtyard area depicted. There is a rectangle going to the front of the library that is the existing ADA compliant sidewalk and this leads to the front door. We're proposing electric operators for the exterior and interior doors of this front entrance to make it easier for folks to enter. And then you have right off of the existing sidewalk going down. Excuse me. Can you please move your mouse a little more slowly when you show things? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry about that. Thank you very much. I'll just make it. Rob, you probably also want to enlarge that. Yeah, of course. Let me enlarge that. Is this better? Thank you so much. Yeah, no problem. So right here, this is the existing sidewalk and then this is the courtyard that leads to the front entrance way, which is right here. Oh, where's your mouse? There it is. So right here. You see it? Now I do. Yep. And then, so for where I am, if you go all the way down right where my mouse is circling, this is the new concrete sidewalk that we're proposing installing. And then this, if you follow it to the left where my mouse is going, and then this continues to go up and connects to the existing sidewalk. And so right here to the left in this blank area, there's gonna be two, there already is two accessible parking spaces there. So folks who park in this area can easily go into the front entrance if they kept going to the right. And they could also go down and then to the right over here. So I'm at the bottom of the screen now. And then if you keep going, this box right here that's outside of the sidewalk, that's the proposed ramp. So the ramp's gonna basically be all this at a 90 degree angle going to the side entrance. And then the side entrance will also include the electric pushstop buttons to open it for folks who may have trouble opening the doors because they're so heavy. And then this will lead directly into the auditorium area right here. So those are pretty much the brunt of the improvements that we're proposing. And then I do have another picture as well that shows the profile of the ramp. So basically the side view and the elevation. So I don't know if anybody had any questions about this specific plan right here. Well, I know exactly. You are building a sidewalk connecting the existing sidewalk that goes up the front. It's gonna go across the front of the building to connect the sidewalk that goes up the side of the building. So all of these sidewalks are going to be constructed. The only sidewalk that does exist is the one that goes into the front door. So right now, the side entrance doesn't have any sidewalk. It's just it leads to go down into the grass. Exactly. So it's basically just stairs that go into the grass and nobody can easily access it. Okay. The parking spaces you're gonna put them where? So they already exist right here at the beginning of the existing sidewalk. So if you look at the top left where my mouse is circling, there's two right here on either side of this sidewalk on East Pleasant Street. Okay. So how are you changing those? So those are going to remain the same, but it's going to be easier for those, for folks who park in those spots to access the sidewalk that goes to the front entrance. And then once we build the side sidewalk that can access the side entrance as well. So the parking spots, Chris, I'm correct in saying they already exist, right? Like these are spots we're not proposing. I believe they already exist and that they're marked. They're parallel spaces. So I'm not ideal, but it's the best we can do in this location. I have a question about those parking places because I always come with a van and there is not enough room for the van to be lowered to the sidewalk level and then get off because of the bushes. It's not wide enough. So maybe the remedy might be easier that if something could be done with the shrubs that make the sidewalk narrower once you put the lift down. Okay. And I always end up parking behind the church or on the side of the church, which they don't, I mean, they have plenty of handicap parking places there. Well, Chris, can we ask one of the departments in town to do that? Can we just cut back on the bushes outside of that? Yes, we can ask the DPW to cut those shrubs back. Yeah. So we would make a note to send to probably Guilford Mooring and Alan Snow about that. Yeah. Are the shrubs on the street side of the sidewalk or on the, so they're in that little grass strip between the sidewalk and the street? Yes. They are at the edge of the lawn or the garden of the library. Oh, so they're on the library side of the sidewalk. But they just cover so much of the sidewalk that you can't put your lift down. That's right. And then when you put your lift down on the sidewalk because it's parallel parking, then it doesn't give you enough, it's not wide enough for you to get out of your wheelchair and then take the curve around. It's not wide enough. Okay. And then you want to make sure they fix it. Right. I want to make sure they know what to do. Do you think they'll be happy to go there if they have any questions and I can show them and demonstrate to them what I'm talking about? If you would, would you be willing to do that with her, Rob? Because that should be in the, I mean, it might need to, I don't know if the sidewalk would be wide enough if the if the shrubbery were gone. That's the question I have. You may need to put a landing pad there. Right. At the existing sidewalk that goes into the street? Yeah, you may need to do that so that it's in the right location. It may need to be almost the length of the parking space. Okay. I can talk to our special projects manager who helped me with the price estimate and the scope of work and just see if we can also include that in this grant application cycle. And you had mentioned that it was a landing for the existing sidewalk that goes towards the handicap parking spots and increasing the width slightly of that area. Is that, is that correct? I don't know. You'd have to, you'd have to design it first. Okay. But the again, I'm willing, if you give me enough time, I'm willing to meet you there so you can understand more of what I'm talking about. This is no point in putting a sidewalk in if you don't have handicap parking spaces that lead to them. Okay. They have to be able to park their car at the sidewalk because there is ways to park. Although if you park at the church, Saren, this, the additional ramp sidewalk that is being proposed, does that, would that help you get from the church into the side? Not really. Actually it is pretty smooth when I park on the side of the church, you know, nobody said anything. You cannot park here, but I park in their HP places. And then when I get out, it's smooth, you know, for me to get on the sidewalk and then go all the way to the front of the church, right? From all the way to the front of the library. Okay. Yes. You see, I mean, there is really. You can see here how narrow it is between the two bushes. So your suggestion is to maybe fan this out a little bit more. So it's easier for somebody who's on a wheelchair coming off a van in the spot in front of the sidewalk to be able to get to the sidewalk. Is that, is that what you're suggesting? That's what examples. You've got a bigger problem. The, the width of that landing pad that you've got there is, is not, it's not deep enough. Yeah. Yeah. Because what, you know, your ramp sticks out a good five feet. So you really need about 10 feet of landing pad. 10 feet. Yeah. And you're talking about this portion right here, correct? 10 feet. No, I'm not talking about there. I'm talking about the asphalt pavement. See the section of asphalt? Yeah, there. If you're in parallel parking, your ramp is going there. And when Sarah in parallel parks there, the bottom of a ramp is at that curb. Yes. And then I, I am not parking people with vans are not parking, especially on that curb, on that mark space. So, you know, if it's, it's an issue, you know, we park usually say, look at the upper, upper parking place. You know, it's just the width is not wide. You just find yourself. Yes, you can lower the lift, the lift, but you will find yourself in the bushes when you get on down the lift. Oh, yeah. That's what it looks like. Yeah. Yeah. If we're doing a big rest, big remodeling on this site, that is an important issue. I have always faced that. Okay. But again, I find a solution to park in the church. Right. Parking places. And the church is to the right. The fact that you can park at the church negates the whole purpose for this project. That's right. And so, I mean, excuse me, may I say something? I don't think that's really true because there's no, there's no sidewalk from the church parking lot into this building from the south side. It's all grass. So, there is a need for a solid surface to get around to that south door. And so, this is one solution. Right now, there's no sidewalk from the church to that side door. That's what I was saying, Sarin, if you park at the church and you take this new sidewalk, is the proposed sidewalk going to go all the way to the road to the church? No, it doesn't go to the church. It goes to the main road out in front of the building. So, one could ask, Sarin, how does she get into the library? Does she go across the grass or does she use the sidewalk? No. Maybe I get on the street. I forgot now. I have to go and check it out with how I do it. Is this the parking lot right here? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I usually park on the other side because this side of the church close to the library is only exit. You know, it's not wide enough. So, I park on the other side of the church. Down here? Yes, down there. Yeah, down there. So, I get on the sidewalk in front of the church and I just go and it seems like there was not a big issue. So, you get on the sidewalk in front of the church and then you go to the sidewalk in front of the library. Yes. And that's how you get in. Yes. So, now you would also have a choice once you get on the sidewalk in front of the library that you could take another sidewalk that would go around to the southern door. So, it would provide two means of access into the Munson Library from the church. Yes. But of course, while we're doing all this work on this library, I thought maybe the parking in front of the church, I mean in front of the library could be addressed. You know, I don't think it is really an impossible thing. It must be easier and then you will remove all the problems that people, you know, finding difficulty parking in front of the library. So, we can ask Bob, who is our capital projects manager, if he can include something like that into this application. Marty, are there specific regulations that they would have to follow to create this parking pad? The problem is it's not even a recognized accessible parking. Yeah. It doesn't meet 521 CMR. Yeah. And that's the problem. Parallel parking is not accessible according to the code. Yeah. Theoretically, you have to even get a variance to put parallel parking in. Yeah. And it's a narrow two-way street. Yeah. So, you cannot make it make the street any narrower unless you make it one way, which will create lots of other problems. To be absolutely honest, what I would do is take out, I know everybody's going to hate this, is take out those bushes for a good section and make a nice indent in and a broader entrance at that point so that you give the landing pad and you also give people room to get around it because sometimes people put their vans and just leave the ramp out. Yes. So, you need to have a place for that ramp to be. Yes. So, in other words, take the shrubs out and make the sidewalk wider in that location and make it wider in the direction of the building rather than wider in the direction of the road. Yeah. Absolutely. And make it actually a grander and more, it'll make it a more inviting entrance by just putting a larger pad out there. It could be curved. I mean, there's, and you wouldn't have to take all of the shrubbery out. You'd only have to take it out the length of those two spaces. Yep. That makes sense. But you could make it a much more inviting entrance. Right now it's kind of tight. The reason that this is extremely significant and quite frankly, I think you will lose the project, Bid, if you don't do it that way because they know the regulations. They will look at the picture and they will say this is not legal handicap parking and they will say they're not, you know, they're not creating that. So, unless you're going to use the handicap parking in front of the church to be your access point, if you use the ones that you had designed, they are going to see in two seconds that it's not an accessible project. But I think Marty is saying we can make it better. Yes, yes. So, I think we should make it better. But I'm saying if you do it this way, it will be denied because they're the ones who enforce, you know, they're not the AAB, but they're MOD. They're the ones who teach the accessibility, you know, the access people. And they know, I mean, they look at a picture and they can tell you exactly what's wrong with it in two seconds. So, I think we have to do it Marty's way. Okay. And just in your application, I hope you've really pounded on the fact that this is a polling place. Yeah. There are 2,500 people that use it. So, yes. So, I think probably if you could get something from the town clerk, unless she's going to tell you she's going to discontinue it as a polling place, but that would be good to know. I mean, you don't use her if you, you know what I mean, if she's not going to suit your purposes, you don't want water for her from her, but she has struggled with this. And it will help, it will help, you know, because it's a polling place, it will help. It's also used for a lot of children's activities. I don't know what they're doing there now, tell you the truth, other than the dances, there are lots of dances there. But I don't know, have you spoken with the director of the Monson Library who actually knows what that large room is used for? So, I spoke to Sharon Sherry, Library Executive Director, and I also spoke to Jen Moisten, Pamela's D.I. Assistant Director. And basically, they gave me a list of different groups that used that space already. And one of them is the, I believe it's like the arts summer camp instructor who also does like a week in the spring and the winter time. And basically, they do like a bunch of performing arts, like they'll do like acting, they'll do music, creative writing, and they use that space a lot for those performances and those activities. There's also Taekwondo. Are they writing a letter for you? So, they, I did get that person to write me a letter of support. Okay. I was unsuccessful with some of the other groups, which was a Taekwondo instructor. I believe there was also, sorry, the list is escaping my mind right now. But I did get a letter from one of those groups, as well as the library people supporting this project. Because of the access issues. Yes. Yep. Especially since that side entrance, the south entrance that we discuss leads directly into the oratorian space, which those groups use. And then also the Amherst Orchid Society meets there too, I believe. That was another group that came to mine just now. And then did you, Samira, did you suggest including a letter from the town clerk in this application as well? Stay in that. Well, she's the one in charge of the polling places. Okay. I mean, she's the person for whom the polling places is an issue. If she hasn't in mind to discontinue the use of the Munson Library, then it wouldn't be useful. But if I don't know what the plan is for that polling place, I don't know what the plan is. It's, you know, it's, it's not on a bus route. It's been a controversial place because it's hard to access for public transportation. So I don't know if they were planning to continue to use it. But if they are, for sure, I mean, for her, yeah, for people to get into that room, to be able to get from a parking place to that room in order to vote, or in order to participate in the many activities that happen. Because right now, it's also secondary egress. That's another big issue. And I don't know if, I don't know if the fire people need to be involved in that. But if you need to escape from that room, you need to be able to get out. The doors need to be openable, and you need to be able to not end up in the grass or in the snow bank, if you're trying to get out, right? So for me, it's, to me, like it's a, it's an egress issue as well as, you know, a secondary egress issue because there isn't another accessible way to get out. I mean, if you're able-bodied, and there's a foot of snow out there, you just walk out the door and you trudge through the snow. But if you're in a wheelchair, you cannot get out except through the other door, which might be a problem. So it would seem to me that it's a fire issue or an egress issue. I don't know. I don't know the EMS people, or I don't know who's in charge of that. Do you, Pamela? Oh, it'd be the building inspector. Ah, okay. Well, maybe, yeah, maybe. So for him to talk about it from the perspective of secondary egress, you know, I mean- So that would be, so you're suggesting, okay, so two factors to consider. So the first is providing access to that side from the street by doing all the improvements that we just discussed. And then also the second egress and making that egress viable for people who, who aren't going to be able to walk in a foot of snow easily, especially since they're in a wheelchair, right? That's kind of the other angle you're suggesting to- Yeah, I mean, if they're in a wheelchair or if it was like Mr. Silverstein, who was here earlier, he, if he had to run out that door, he wouldn't be able to do it. Or he didn't mean it. Yeah, he's not in a wheelchair, but he wouldn't be able to do it. You know, and it's, you know, go down, you know what I mean? It's, I'm surprised that they got away with it this long. Not up to code. No, no, but because it has to do with, it is a very heavily used community space, especially for arts and, you know, for large meetings. It's a heavily used community space and it needs to have access from the street and it needs to, you know, and it doesn't have any now. It's really the big thing is that door and the two doors are so heavy. So are we who want us to write a letter? I mean, we could certainly do that. But for me, it's all the issues. Marty, do you see additional things that we should include in a letter? No, I think, I think those are the real two issues. When we were looking at this picture, yeah, just, okay, hold on there. What about if we put the then accessible parking places on the side that is next to the church, like to go there, you know, you know, yeah, right there when you go inside, yeah, just about there. So what would happen? Well, I don't think the town owns that. I don't think we do know. That's the church's property. Oh, I know, I know. But what if that parking is going next to that big tree all the way that way? You mean on the on the street right here or over here? Yeah, over there. Over there. Yeah. I think that's owned by the church. So we would have to approach the church and ask them and then get their written support and permission to do that. I think it'd actually be much nicer overall if you do it in the front and have that and make that entrance a bit more gracious. It just gives you the opportunity to actually make something much better for everybody. I agree. Do you have a historical registration on that building? I'm sorry, what did you say? No, if there's a historical registration, like a historical registration on that building. I'm sure there is Myra, but it's not going to be the landscaping usually. No, usually not a problem with that. Okay. If they have to go to Mass Historic, they'll have to. It's just a presentation. I don't see Mass Historic saying, oh, you can't take those bushes down. Yeah, they probably weren't here 150 years ago. Well, do you think Mass Historic would want to review the ramp that's going on that side entrance? I don't think so. I don't know. You're going to have to see what your application looks like. I don't think the building is actually that old. It's meant to look old, but I think it was built in the 20th century. Oh, okay. All right. So our letter needs to talk about the fact that you're going to build, you're going to create egress, you know, entrance and egress on the side of the building, make it accessible and improve. Yeah. Okay. I can do that and you need it this week. So that's what I'm doing tomorrow. Okay. So I can send it to Pamela when it's done. We need a vote. We need a motion from the committee to approve the request for, what is it? For the grant proposal. And we don't need to say with any modification, to include, what do you call it if it's not parallel parking? Front in? Front in parking? What do you call it? Well, you are going to support, you're supporting the parallel parking with a modification to the walkway that goes up to the front door by making it wider, so that vans can have an egress point there. That's not what Marty said. No, that's what I said. Wait, we're supporting parallel parking? Well, yeah, that's how you do it, though, as you're going to create this landing pattern a little more generous to give a place to put the ramp. Right now, there's no place to put the ramp. So I thought you were going to have perpendicular parking. No, you can't do that. Oh, there's not enough room. Okay. So it's just going to be, so all we have to do is support the proposed change or the proposed improvements, access improvements, and you'll understand how to do that. I don't need to write about how to do it. That's fine. Okay, cool. That's good. And also the grant was also going to be used for Mill River, right? Not enough money. No, that was one of the ideas that we had. I think you asked us to tell you what our ideas were and why we chose this particular project. And so that's what Rob did. He told you about, yes, there are problems at Mill River, but the problems are large enough that they need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner. And we don't have a shovel ready project ready for that. So that's why one of the reasons we chose Munson Library was because it's a discrete project. We have the plan, we have the cost estimate, and we can move ahead with this application by September 15th, whereas Mill River is going to take a lot of study in order to propose that. And the other two things, the audible traffic signals is something DPW is working on and the assisted listening devices for bank center, those are going to be partially covered by a capital fund that we have already. And perhaps in the future, we would want to wire the whole building to have all of the rooms be able to accommodate assisted living devices. But for now, we're going to have a mobile assisted living device that can be moved from room to room for the bank center. So that's why we told you about those other three projects because two of them are being worked on. One needs a lot more work and this one was ready to be submitted. I see. Okay, so we need a motion to support the project as proposed in a second. I'll move. I'll second. Okay, all in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, so that was all of us. I didn't hear you, Jim. Are you still there? I didn't hear Jim. Yeah, I'm here. Oh, you are there. Okay. I didn't hear you. Okay. All right. It came out as a whisper. I apologize. I'm sorry. It came out as a whisper. I apologize. Okay, I just wanted to make sure you voted and I didn't hear you vote. Okay. All right, so I guess, thank you. Thank you for the proposal. So you have a lot of this written up and drawn. You just need to change the drawing for the front now. Yeah. And then we see a lot of support for the committee. Yeah. You can talk to the town clerk and find out if she's intending to use it, to continue to use it as a polling place. Okay. Thank you for all the suggestions. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for your speed. Thanks for noticing the different deadline that we No worries. I plan on trying to submit on Thursday, so we'll see. Okay, cool. Thank you very much. Bye. Bye. Bye. Oh, now go to the agenda. What else is traffic signal repair? Oh, yeah. Oh, well, Chris left. What do you know about that Pam left? I don't know a lot. I actually thought that Chris was going to fill us in on that issue. So I'm surprised that she that she left, but yeah, I haven't had a chance to check with Guilford to see what is going on. And there was some communication around that, but I don't know. What I can tell you, which is next, so I don't know about the accessible traffic signal repair. I'll see what I can find out and email the committee and update on that. I can tell you that for the North Common that they're beginning the construction work, they've actually blocked off entrance to the parking current parking lot. And I have not found out any information about handicap parking on that. So I thought that Chris was going to be providing us an update on these issues. This is a big issue. Because it's going to be a year, almost a year, that it's not good, that the parking lot's not going to be there. And there won't be any handicap parking there. And it's a problem. And I don't know if they even consider dealing with it. We brought this up at the beginning, Myra, when they were even considering this. I remember, I must have brought this up. Oh, you brought it up. Martin went on a walk with them. Yeah. Marty went out, right? You went out. And they know that they need to have handicap parking spaces. And I don't know if they internalize that they need to have them while the construction is going on, as well as after it's over. I mean, you know, a week or so. I don't know what to... That's why I put it on there. Because I'm like, I drove by there the other day. And they still have the construction fence up. But it appears that they're putting perpendicular parking directly at that new entrance. And I think that's what they're going to do. And then... What do you mean new entrance? What is the new entrance? You were talking North Amherst Library, right? No. We're talking in the North Common in front of Town Hall. A different North. Different North. Okay. A different North. I spaced. We have a couple North. Yeah. There is really very little parking, handicap parking place. The day I went to sign Swarian and I was lucky to find a space to park behind the Town Hall parking place. But that place, I don't know how lucky I was that day, but there's hardly any space to find. And it wasn't an HP place. We just parked in one of those places. And my PCA, in case, you know, we need to pull the van backwards to lower the lift that I could do. But it is very challenging to find a space. So I think that if I recall, many months ago when they presented the project, that the ultimate plan does include handicap parking on the street in front of Town Hall. Yeah. And on the other side of the... Right. Look by the intersection as well. However, I think perhaps rather than that, since I don't know a lot of detail about those last three items, that it's probably best that I reach out to Guilford and maybe invite him to the next meeting for an update on those three specific items. Is that going to work for people who need to park? Is he able to do any construction after October? Well, I can certainly raise the issue with him now and see what sort of response that he or what the plan is. But then I think inviting him to address the committee on those three items for the next meeting will at least you'll have, you know, you'll hear the information directly from the person who's most about it. Yeah. My concern about the handicap parking places in front of the Town Hall, that would be great. Although we still have to go down the slope to the side door. That's another issue. But if that street is going to be turned into one lane street and it is going from Main Street toward the Amherst College, what is that, Route 9, then the traffic, the handicap parking places by the front door is going to be in the opposite direction of the street. How are people going? There's one on both sides. There's one on both sides of the street. So there's one designed for parallel parking going south. And that's across the street. And that has ample space for the ramp from the vehicle. And then there's one, there's a car space directly outside of the Town Hall. But the road doesn't go north. No, it's going south. Oh, I see. There's parallel parking on both sides going south. Got it. So there, yeah, okay. You have to come from Pleasant Street, make a right turn on Main Street, and then make another right to the bolt-loop walk. Right? Well, no, it depends on where you're coming from. I was becoming north. Yeah, I got you. Yes. And because they can go the same direction, Sarin, one is a car space that the driver can get out, but you can't go a lift into the street. So there's one van space and one car space. Yes. So the question is, how quickly can they put those in? How quickly can they put those in so that people who need to park can do it? That's the question. I mean, we understand that at the end, they had a plan because Marty helped them develop it. But that's like for next July. So what about the 10 months between now and then? And maybe they need to put up some signs on those spaces behind Town Hall temporarily so that people know they can park there? I don't know. But it seems to me that it could potentially be a problem. So there's one quote-unquote handicap space behind Town Hall. There is, okay. There is. And I'm going to say quote-unquote because it forces you to take your wheelchair on a vehicular path. There is no safe path from those parking spaces. I have a question about the use of the space behind the Town Hall. Why did they have to put that electric vehicle charging station there in such a tight space? Yeah, I have asked Town Hall. Yeah, I have no idea. I understand there was a lot of contention about it. You know, like I see some, they built those charging stations. I'm very strongly in favor of electric vehicles. Don't misunderstand me. But if the parking space is very limited, why do they have that? They just put some in front of the stop and shop in Hadley. And there's ample space there. Why do they have to put it in such a tight space? I don't know. I can't answer. We weren't part of it. You know, like I would have preferred HP space in place of that, which used to be. Well, there still is one there. I know one. Marty, you know, when you're- Oh, I know. It's very difficult to make sure that it is there open where you can- Oh, I know. And well, in the other issues, you just can't get there from here. Right. I mean, those aren't legal parking spaces. Okay. Well, I mean, I still want to make Town Hall accessible. And there's only one way to do it. Remodel the entire building. No, no. No, it can be done. It's just going to take some mindset. Yeah. And money. We know what it was before they did these renovations. I remember crawling through the back door and you had to- The lower floor was the police station. And you had to go up in an old elevator, up a smelling mold, smelling and everything. You know, it was just horrible. It was not very nice. Yeah. So it came- We came a long, long way. So, you know, this parking is just a little bit extra touches. So it can be accomplished if we put our minds to that. And cash. A lot of cash. Okay. What else is on the agenda? Let's see. Yeah, I'll mention some projects. Oh, yeah. Okay. So I contacted Kathy Shane, who is the chair of the elementary school building committee a couple of times, and she said they've had accessibility consultants and they're all set. And I said, you know, we've sort of met with a lot of accessibility consultants who aren't disabled and they really miss a lot. So we want our opinion known on this. So when can we meet with you? And hopefully we can do that in October. But I just wanted you to know that I've been in contact with her because every time we have people who've already had accessibility consultants for no matter what it is, they ended up changing it and making it better after we're done with them. Like today, if he had submitted the way it was going to be, we would have been turned down because those spots are not accessible and he would have looked at the picture and he would have seen it in about two seconds. That would have been the end of that. So thank you very much for bringing that up. Yeah. Okay. All right. So that is that the end? Final thing on the agenda for old business was a follow-up on trip camp and we did not do a public comment period. We don't have any attendees, but we should have mentioned that. We have no attendees and Ian was supposed to be the connection between us and the Northampton group and he is ill so he's not here. So if anybody has any or doesn't have any additional items, I can take a motion to adjourn. I do have a question. I apologize because I know we've all been sitting here for a while, but in any event. You don't need to apologize. Okay. No, no, that's fine. These are important issues and there have been good discussions and it's great. You know, the new, you guys have probably wrestled with this in the past and they're probably already as a path or decided that there isn't a path, but the FDA approved the new COVID booster yesterday and so that'll be available probably by the end of this week, I guess, blah, blah, blah, but of course the disability population can be extremely vulnerable to COVID and I just wondered whether the town had some plan, you know, at least to residents of Clark House and nutting apartments from those places to sort of notify them that, you know, the booster is available. I don't know if there's any plans to make it available through the bank center. These are just questions that I have, but it is an important help issue for people with disabilities and only 20% of the population got boosters the last time it came out. Okay, so I can respond just a little bit, which is that our new health director will begin in October. So we don't have a health director in place. The interim health director is our assistant town manager. It is my understanding that there will be boosters available in the bank center for the most vulnerable population, so I don't think that the town has a plan in place to do broad vaccinations that they did in the past, but I think that those who are considered vulnerable populations will have access to the vaccine. And that's a question I can also pose to the health department and staff to make sure I'm giving you accurate information. And how does one classify that they're vulnerable? I mean, do you have a pre-existing, you know. So I think that they're using the state guidelines or federal guidelines for vulnerable populations. So and again, it's my understanding. So it would be over the age of 60 or pre-existing health conditions. So yeah. I think they work them out with a recommendation today. I think they're coming up with a recommendation today about who they recommend to get the boosters. And then we can talk to, it's Dave Zomek. Yes, it is. I'm sorry. I just muted myself because my phone is ringing. Oh, sorry. That's all right. Great. But then we can hopefully Pamela can contact Dave Zomek to let him know of this committee's concern for getting those boosters out. Because if the new person doesn't start till October, that's three weeks from now and when it gets set up, it'll be like two or three weeks after that. So it would be nice to put something in place before the new, before the new health director comes on board, correct? Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you for bringing it up, Jim. CVS has started scheduling COVID vaccines. Oh, they have? Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I just looked at the portal and they have the issue with CVS portal is they don't provide Pfizer. And because Pfizer vaccinations really need cooler temperatures before they can be used, so they don't have that. I know the stop and shop previously provided that in the town. So I got it either at the town sites or at stop and shop. Is that true that CVS didn't provide? I got it at CVS. They would only provide Moderna. I got Moderna at CVS for sure. But I thought they had both. I don't know unless they changed it. Well, I don't know who's doing these vaccines now. The current vaccine is a different manufacturer. No, there's still Pfizer and Moderna. So it's important really for the town to offer the vaccinations like they did the last booster. That's where I got it from. Okay. Maybe it should also be on our website, on the town's website. Clearly. Well, it probably will be. Identifying. It probably will be. Is either Jen, is Jen Moisten at this meeting? She's not. Pamela's back. Okay. I thought you were on the phone. So that's why I was speaking for her. No, I muted myself because my phone was ringing and I didn't want the background noise, but I'm back. So can you make some kind of a can you talk to Dave Zomek about getting it underway before the new health director? The shots might not need to be available before the new health director comes, but they ought to have a plan in place for it to be right after the new health because it's still three weeks away. Yeah, I will inquire and circle back. So I'll let you know what I learned. Okay. So if you start with Pfizer, you'll have to continue with Pfizer? No. No, they said no. No? Okay. They're interchangeable now. Yeah. Okay. So if I tried to go to CVS, if I went to CVS, unless they do it at the bangs again, but if I went to CVS, I could get them into. You can go to CVS downtown. They do it. Yeah. Yeah. I had one of my shots there. They did a good job. Yeah. And UMass used to do both kinds too. Yeah. But the one downtown that you can walk to, you can get a shot. Yeah. If they do the bangs again, I would be there. That's true. A whole lot closer. Yeah. Okay. Any other topics? These are good topics. By the way, I need your input whenever you come up with an idea about what we need to talk about because I can't think of everything. And oh yeah, we wrote that letter to UMass. And I wrote a letter to you. You know, I'm not UMass to the state about UMass that we did submit. So I just want you to know that they did get our input before they made their decision. And I think this is good. And hopefully that, you know, this is the first MOD application that Maureen didn't write. So she was on a roll getting them. I hope this guy is as good. You know, so, you know, it's a planner's job to do that. But hopefully, hopefully Chris or somebody will supervise what he submits because it's the first time. So okay. Okay. I need a motion to adjourn. I move that we adjourn. Elise. I need a second. Hi, second. Marty. Okay. All in favor of adjournment, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Okay. I guess we're adjourned. Oh, oh my God, we're adjourned. However, I am not going to be able to be present for October 10th. I'm not going to be in town. Um, so either Marty has to run the meeting now that we have a vice chair or we could change the date. I don't know what you want to do. Hey, we've got a vice chair. That's what they're for. Yeah. I think you're on stage, Marty. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. Excellent. Okay. Okay. All right. Take care, everybody. All right. Bye. Bye.