 ahead and call the meeting to order. All right, you're all set. Go ahead. Great. So, good morning, calling to order the March 2nd meeting of the governance organization and legislation committee. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public are able to access the meeting in real time via Zoom or by telephone. And we will just take a moment to make sure everybody can be heard. And I will start with you, Mandi. Present. Jennifer. Present. Anika. Present. Hi, Pat. Good timing. We're just making sure everyone can be heard. I can be heard. Excellent. Okay, so we have quite a big agenda today. And we also have something that has been added within 48 hours. So we have a swim proclamation that's been added. And our, is it, it's a proclamation. Did I get that right? So it's nice. Yeah. Okay. Great. So we have sponsors that are coming for both our student debt resolution and for the swim. So I'm going to suggest I told, and I didn't hear back one way or another, although I think the community sponsor for student debt did receive the email. So hopefully they'll be here. I said to come from 10 on. So we're going to do what we said we were going to do and start with our town council rules of procedure review. And so let me just check something. Okay, great. So first, just want to generally say, I think we have a lot to review with respect to the input that we've received. And I will acknowledge that I, I had quite a lot of input that I put in there. And maybe even, you know, so when we get to that, we can talk about that and whether or not how, how kind of deep, deeply into it, do we, do we want to get. But what I'd like to do is pull up. First, pull up the Mandy, do you have everything open there? I'm just working off of two. Could you do what do you want? Yeah, I think, you know, so we have this list of all of the counselor input and then of course, we have the rules themselves. So I think let's pull up the list first. Is there a way I can probably share both if you give me some time. Yeah, take a second. That would be excellent. Yeah, okay. Give me a second to fix this. So I've got the current rules on the, I don't know what side of your screen it is the right side, I think, and the list on the left side. The current rules are not what you sent me, Michelle, in terms of your proposed revisions, because that was an old version. So I can, I have that on my computer, but this is just a blank copy of the current rules. Okay, perfect. So do we want to go through, so this is all of the counselor input. And so we're going back now several weeks that we requested this input. So I think we'll want to go through each of these pieces of feedback and then talk about just whether we're going to include them or what we want to do with them. But before we go into that, are there just any general questions about the process or comments or suggestions? Okay, okay. So the first, and I think Mandy, these first couple were yours. Is that correct? Do you want to speak to those? You know, I can speak to them the second bullet point. I wonder if it would be easiest to go through the rules in the order they're listed here. Like, sure, the whole order. So there's four that I had, but one of them is 1.2. And then there's a couple of ones and twos before we get to 3.3. So I can talk about 1.2. The proposed language I have for 1.2 is actually in 10.5. It's that second bullet point. My concern with 1.2 was not any of the wording there other than do these apply to council committees and if so, which rules. And in looking at it from the last time we talked about this, I think just changing rule 10.5 I might be the way to go and might clarify that such that we don't have to memorize, we don't have to change 1.2. Yeah. Will you scroll down to 10.5 quickly? So 10.5 is powers and duties of standing and ad hoc council committees. And so instead of just saying minutes shall comply with rule 5, 3.5, I think we can just we could move it to a instead of I, but I think we can just indicate which rules we want the committees to comply with of these rules in that list, including the rule 3.5 a right, but and what was your thinking just without looking at each one of them? What was your thinking on why those particular rules? I will go up to the table of contents to say so 1.4 is parliamentary procedure, which means that's what we default to on committees. So that would just say the committee's default to Robert's rules if no other rules apply 3.4 remote participation, it brings in remote participation for the committees to 3.4 3.5 a is the minutes that's the one that's already in 10.5 I 4.3 is the ability to have multiple comment periods in a meeting 5.1 just talks about I think regular meetings in terms of public comment and what is required for public participation at regular meetings, we can go look at that one 5.2 is public hearings, so that would require the committees that are holding public hearings to comply with the public hearing sort of rules, which CRC has already been doing when I've run CRC meetings from a CRC point of view, but it would just sort of clarify that those are the public hearing rules since committees are doing public hearings 7.13 all of 6 is code of courtesy conduct and debate so the whole thing and then 7.1 is the order of motion seniority essentially 7.3 is that the chair can call a recess when necessary and 7.4 regard reply of relates to points of order so when I went through those are the ones that seemed most like most most related to running of meetings versus president duties and things like that right any well I I'll say I these all look really good to me and I'm curious what other members think and if there are other particular rules that should also be included pertaining to committees that anyone has identified okay Anika yeah oh okay so I I also agree I did have a question and this could be you know out of scope with so 8.1 introduction of bylaws and other measures is there anything around that that would be helpful this could just as could be a side a side topic but I do know that you know I've heard and I'm sure we all have heard about you know from residents just as in terms of of notice so when they find out about these things and so I'm just curious as to to be a viewpoint is there anything in that rule that has to do with timing timing of what timing of like when they the the bylaws are introduced to public or event you know counselors or is that just general statement about yeah so I pulled it up it's basically how they need introduced so you can't introduce the measure orally you need something in writing for people to look at it should say who's introducing it basically so you know I've pulled it up there's not timing about like when it needs acted on by the council or anything in this okay you know they there is timing in the charter about some of the stuff about like notice to the public particularly for bylaws and stuff like that but that's in the charter okay yeah okay thank you that's clear okay so if there aren't um any objections to adding um Mandy suggestions and there aren't any additions um then I would propose that we go ahead and and so Mandy just help me we don't have to vote on each we're going to do this and then vote on the slate of everything right okay we can do it either way but yeah I think for um efficiency sake if we could go through and then like we would with the consent agenda if something needs to be pulled out separately we'll do that all right so moving on then um if we could so it was your suggestion Mandy to sort of go through I think we can just go through so let's go to section 1.6 okay so this was my question so and it may have been naive at the time I asked it so proposed amendments need to be read at two separate meetings is that um would a seasoned counselor speak to that or yeah please Mandy I can't find my raise hand button easily with the screen share so sorry um there were a couple options when we were initially drafting the formal rules am I the only counselor on GL I think Pat you weren't on the initial rules committee were you Pat I think it was just from GL I think it's just me so when we were initially drafting these rules three years ago um there were a couple options for amending and repealing the rules of procedure one was two readings one was um sort of that we saw in other rules one was this two readings one was um a plain majority vote so nothing other than just majority vote but but one of the two populars were two readings or um like a two-thirds vote of the council um so a majority vote but not you know super majority but not two readings or two readings were tended to be the most popular options uh councils had chosen um we chose majority plus two readings instead of one reading plus super majority you can choose one reading and majority um it was just a decision um that the drafters made um I don't have a personally I don't have a big preference one way or the other or even whether just majority of the council would be fine like I just the two readings can get frustrating I will say that um and add time to council meaning so maybe moving away from that to another option would be good yeah and I think that's why I brought this is it just it felt a little clunky and cumbersome for this to have two readings and um we if we think about you know how far out we already are into this cycle and we haven't had the first reading um so I think I would be in favor of changing it and I see Jennifer's hand up please Jennifer yeah I think um I mean it's I acknowledge it's hard to maybe imagine changing a rule that would maybe be so controversial that we would need this extra level but I feel like it should probably be there if it ever comes up I think to either have the two readings in a majority or a supermajority I think I just feel better keeping that just to have I would just feel even though I can't really be an example of when that would be needed and would you compromise on doing the the supermajority and just so having one reading with a supermajority to pass to pass any amendments yes Pat what's your feeling on this and Anika please what are your feelings Pat you're muted I apologize I had to leave so I'm not what we're talking about now is one six right and Mandy gave us a little background and said there when these rules were being produced there were several options in terms of what this would look like for amendments and so one of the options was to do what's been done here to have the two meetings another option would be to only have one reading with a supermajority um and there sounded like there were even other options to that so we're talking about if we want to like we're going to do here now if we want to amend these would we can we settle on having one reading with a supermajority for example as opposed to having to have two readings and that seems fine to me actually as you know everyone would have the information in advance and so yes and in our case everyone gave input as well and that yeah so Anika how do you feel about that I agree I think that's a compromise that's a great compromise Mandy you're typing it up so I'm assuming are you okay with that I'm just listening to people and doing it to try and move things efficiently so I'm fine like as I said I didn't have a big preference one way or the other okay great all right so let's move on then to 2.1c um 2.1c is the language to vague the council may reorganize at any time at its discretion that is exactly from the charter okay I think that's the wording in the charter so I think we keep it then right second now okay and when that is that is the exact language in the charter yeah so it has to stay organized at any time at its discretion okay perfect and when it says it may reorganize at any time at its discretion can you just say what that means that means if we're unhappy with the president or vice president even though their terms are elected for a year we can by majority vote say I move to reorganize our our leadership that's what it means so I think that was what I meant when I asked is the language too vague I think I did click on the charter but I I if I didn't know what that meant um right off the bat because I thought it meant I I should know this but I thought it meant we could reorganize committees etc etc it didn't occur to me that it would be about reorganizing leadership yeah I mean it's under the section of council president two section 2.2 of the charter is council president and vice president election and term powers and duties state of the town address could that then be referenced in this which would help people like me and Michelle um and me yeah we could add that I think it would be I know it makes it a little more wordy but not go ahead Pat sorry well I was just gonna say we could just reference the section of the charter it's referenced there yeah it is referenced here but then it wait wait wait I'm sorry yeah go ahead I'm sorry so there is a link but it has to be clicked on and then you know you wouldn't just by reading this know what that meant um Jennifer yes I think for members of the public it would be helpful to have that so they don't have to then go research the charter I mean they could but like it's certainly well you know I was just very recently a member of the public I would have read that as the council can just decide they're gonna have you know so I just sort of put in the title of that charter section after the charter does that help that helps me yes that's excellent thank you yeah okay great all right um so moving on to section 3.2 e um and the rule is all regular council meetings shall provide for a period of public comment this is also per the charter um and my comment here was um um so I I'm talking about more topic specific public comment and it does seem that this has been sort of a I've heard this come up in different ways on multiple occasions on whether it makes sense to have more topic specific public comment and I'm curious what this group feels about that um I know we have hearings and we have forums and other ways but when there are specific topics but is this essentially a matter of the council president deciding when and vice president when the agenda is being created whether there will be topic specific public comment so this particular rule versus rule five which is the also c rule five this rule comes from the charter section 2.6 d2 this is why we referenced it which requires regular council meetings to have public comment so my guess is that exact language is the language in the charter 2.6 d um look and so if we wanted to have the rules include something more about topic specific it would be it wouldn't be here it would be in the public comment section so it's in the it yes so the rules regarding topic specific public comment are basically rule five I believe um so when we get to rule five um perfect that we could look at that let me make a note um but yeah so this one this language comes from the charter because they required multiple public comment periods are addressed in rule five okay great we'll get there then okay so then uh moving on to section 3.9 3.3 b oh yeah from up top so basically I wanted to delete b because the law is changing and and it's actually not accurate this b is not accurate right now right because of the law and we suspect the law will change anyway um on a more permanent basis but I feel like at this point we should delete it and wait to see what the law becomes and decide whether we need to add something back in because right now we can't really guess I think uh we should delete it I agree I think that's and that didn't I mean there's no charter reference to that at all that it was the CMR reference the code of you know Massachusetts regulations but it's been overwritten for a number of years when I was going through I was like oh it's not accurate even even pre-covid it wasn't accurate um yes it was it was accurate pre-covid it was pre-covid okay yes but once COVID hit so for the last two years it has not been accurate and and I suspect when the legislature gets around to finalizing changes to the law that goes into that CMR um it will no longer be accurate either but we don't know what would be accurate right right right and do we just in for purposes of tracking this Mandy so that we make sure that we don't you know it doesn't slip through the cracks if something changes um is that just a matter of it being noted in a report or how how would you suggest you know you might want to note it in the future agenda items as a note for future self type thing great I will do that all right stick it on the refrigerator a year from now right great um all right so now um 3.9 okay the good old work sessions um and so the comment here is um you so and I think we've sort of had some experience now seeing how we initially I think had set up the elementary school meeting to be a work session and then that moved to being a special meeting and I I recall Lynn explaining briefly why that was but the comment here is um use of work sessions and what triggers them and is there anything especially based on this experience that we've just recently had that would make this rule more clear or help to guide us um better with respect to work sessions I'm also noting that it's upon request of the president or a majority of the full council um and I'm not clear if for example when we thought about creating one for elementary if we voted on that and if it says a majority of the full council is that consensus or is that by motion yeah so it would have to be by motion in some sense right because other and it would have to be in a meeting versus there are ways to call a special meeting that don't happen within a council meeting um through the charter I think it's four but it might be three counselors um so we could potentially change that from a majority to like four counselors or something and but I don't know whether we want to right because work sessions are involved right and I mean not that special meetings are involved either um but yeah I in theory that would be a vote of the council any thoughts on that um public dialogues require a vote of the council if we go to five point three a majority vote is that Mandy it requires a majority vote of the council right I'm sorry just for clarification that we talk about majority as opposed to president or majority or altering what that altering majority of council I want and keeping president or from my message that I think the president always gets that ability I think um is that it says president or majority right yeah so so that's what the work session says right now and a president can always call a meeting per the charter they can always call special meeting and so in some sense a work session is meant to be a meeting of the council and so you know whereas the public dialogue has to be a majority vote to hold a public dialogue it doesn't talk about the president being able to call that right um I honestly don't have any issue with three point nine I think the question about what triggers it it would be an issue that was surfacing in the council that either the president saw or a majority of counselors wanted to look at so I just don't see that we need to change it at all Jennifer yeah I agree with Pat but I also I don't want to think I had a question have we ever had a public dialogue no no okay we've had an open meeting of the residents which is different than a public dialogue but very similar to a public dialogue um we've not had a work session is that true okay so what we had it was not a work session what we had Monday that was a special meeting yes yep and there was a particular reason that Lynn differentiated and made it a special meeting and I'm forgetting what that was at the moment but so I think everybody's fine with keeping it this way it sounds like there aren't any objections to that I guess so in in the future though if we're going by the rules we're going to do a motion vote to approve if it's not the president that's creating the work session okay so basically if the president disagrees the council can force a vote right that's the different yeah yeah got it and maybe it was a special meeting on Monday because after retreat we all agreed we wanted to learn more about the school elementary school building right and then we didn't have to go through this whole process and that's why it was a special meeting not a work session I do see Athena's hand up maybe she can leave us here if it's helpful to have information about why we did that as a special meeting rather than a work session I can I can speak about that for quickly um the language and the rules about work sessions it kind of laid out a process where the public would be involved and it would be a public conversation and so forth and we didn't want to present that meeting as though it were something that the council were working on because we wanted to clearly differentiate what the council was doing was having a conversation internally and not and not stepping into the school building committees arena and and also work sessions I think require public comment and so on so we wanted to kind of clarify that and make it a little bit um yep that makes a lot of sense clearer what was going on that night thank you yes yeah that's really helpful okay so we're going to leave this as is it sounds like is any any objection to that or changes okay um so section 5.1 f um this is your um special comment multiple comment section okay and this is my comment I don't recall this being a council practice so let me look at what I was talking about in addition to public comment particularly held near uh yeah okay so yeah I don't this is the last sentence is what I'm referring to when presentation discussions or major action items appear on the agenda for the first time the president shall include additional public comment sessions specific to the issue and my maybe I've just missed that being the case but I my memory did not serve that that was a practice it has not been for about two years when I was vice president the first year we attempted to right after this but then in some sense the public found it confusing um it wasn't all about just streamlining meetings it obviously adds time to meetings to do separate sessions but it became what's a major issue number one what major what's a major action item all presentations you know we were having a lot of COVID presentations do we need specific public comment for each one of these you know it it almost became Athena can probably talk a little bit more about it but it became in some sense unworkable from a get business done meeting perspective um and from the public's perspective we ended up with people commenting on specific items during the public comment period and then potentially again during the other one because they weren't sure when they were supposed to make their comment for whatever you know so it also became very confusing to always have them versus when then in a particular item um you know if we go back to the moratorium most of the public comments were on the moratorium at our first reading but it wasn't during a specific public comment period it still worked um so it hasn't been in as as a practice that second sentence specifically I you know I was thinking oh Pat please no uh Jennifer had her hand up first sorry Jennifer yes oh no I'm just wondering um if instead of shall or maybe I don't know you could say that president you know something to the effect of you know has the option too but I suppose that that goes without saying is that well you could change it to May which would make it yeah right well that that works too yeah I guess I I feel uh differently than Mandy Jo because I remember times where it was very specific uh that we had comment you know that an issue would be presented the council would counselors would discuss it and then we opened it to public comment and I think that's a very good idea um and and so I and I do hear about you know believe things bleeding they say it once and then they say it again and it's the same person but perhaps that should be um that the president shouldn't recall someone it you know if they've already spoken about forests and and solar sighting then they're you know are they do we need them at the specific period no you know I think um I don't know it it's just never bothered me and and I kind of like it but I'm thinking specifically like for reparations for example you know this is something where it's going to be brought to the council and there there's going to potentially be lots of questions and it's new um and so would that be a time where having a specific public comment after you know a discussion um would be helpful um and I I do agree Pat I I like it I think um it works and if there's more clarity upfront by the council president to say you know we're going to have specific public comment for these items um so please hold your comments if they're about x y or b um and and then really keeping to that um oh sorry go ahead Pat yep no no no I'm sorry I interrupted your hand is still up Pat okay so now it's down and I think it was Mandy please I figured out where to find the raise hand button um I I don't have a problem with leaving that sentence in if it's a May and and I'll give an example of the way it's written right now um the flood maps presentation would have required a specific public comment session the potential five-minute ECAC report presentation that Lynn's considering on just their annual report would require specific public comment and the minute you know and so with a shall there's no leeway for for decisions on and which is why it probably hasn't been being followed right um yeah so I would support a change to May I you know that that I would actually truly support Annika yes so um I had a my question is in regards to management of the comments or controllables um I think it's it's great we can always you know ask people and if it's announced maybe once or twice um ahead of time that there would be um you know additional space to comment on a specific issue um especially if it would be considered a major issue but would this also be or allow us the ability to look ahead and think you know that some of an issue that would require separate or additional comment would that point to the need for a work session for around that issue ahead of time yeah I think first to use the public dialogues more say again it could encourage us to use the public dialogue section more right Athena oh Mandy beat me to the punch about public dialogue that's exactly the point that I was going to raise I think that from from my perspective there have been times that members of the public have felt frustrated that they aren't allowed to engage with the council during public comment and we can't have a discussion and so I think that encouraging the use of public dialogue sessions around issues where there are a lot of public comments and there are questions but there isn't necessarily a hearing required could be a good idea to help manage that um that process and probably provide the public with a better um venue for having those conversations and feeling more heard and being able to answer questions that they have that's great that's really great yeah um Jennifer um yes I went to say why I wrote to hear what Athena just said yes I think public dialogues that would go a long way towards people feeling heard you know rather than just commenting in there yeah uh is not a response but um no I just also agree I think the may because the show doesn't really give the president any leeway right well I get you know if I'm just saying what so I I'm good with how it is now I think that and I have heard the president or chairs of committee say before general public comment we're going to be having another comment period on a specific topic so please leave your general public comments not include public comments for this specific topic absolutely yeah Vanika yeah I agree at all I just wanted to add and just clarify so even if there were to be you know we had two three four five um public uh comment uh periods they still would be comments that we would not be able to respond to right um like frustration after frustration after frustration for public like oh I got in a little bit more but now like I still can yeah that's a good yeah so what do we do we want to look at public hearings to make sure that looks the way that we uh would like it to look so five yeah there was a comment here from I think it's Andy yes that is Andy yep and and he was talking I think about um whether to indicate in here somewhere what committees are holding what public hearings I yeah to stop us real well here needs to be held by committee and I think GOL talked about this a couple months ago um Pat do you remember I think we talked about this of adding like which hearings which committees do and didn't we decide not to do that yeah but I'm blanking on the logic um so if I'm understanding what Andy's saying he's saying we should indicate particular subject matter that can go to a committee for a hearing and therefore or be referred to a particular committee like with TSO to save time for the council is that yeah I think that's what he's doing and GOL looked at language and then decided that the that votes of the council like that probably shouldn't be codified in the rules I think that was our reasoning because then you have to continually if you change that vote update the rules right um and so what we could recommend if we think poll hearings would be better at TSO instead of the whole council we could in addition to these rules changes recommend that the council vote to designate TSO as the entity to hold the poll required poll hearings and we could make that recommendation yeah and that seems so incredibly logical in terms of the poll discussion really does but I but I do feel like um I don't think that we should be listing and allow I think it's important that generally for this kind of public hearing that it be the full council that's there um you know with the poll thing is so specific to and directly affects or is covered under the charge of TSO I'm being redundant but no that makes a lot of sense though I think that you're right I think most things should be heard before but what we're doing now is instead I have identified we're identifying what Andy's identified and pulling it out and going to make a recommendation on that does everybody agree with that wave okay um and is there anything else okay um is there anything else just before we move on in public hearings are we good with public hearings now that we've talked about you trying to use them more when needed so the one thing I would say about the format um a couple of things the biggest one is sometimes there's people that aren't necessarily in favor or in opposition but given the format we have here um they don't know where to make their comment um because they just want to make a comment but don't want to say yes support it or no oppose it um should we add another section um should we consolidate into public asking question and then public comments on the matter versus questions you know questions and then comments so that it's not always those in favor and then those in opposition and then those with no opinion you know could it just be public asking questions and then public speaking on the matter you know those are two ways we could do it I personally prefer that and I think it sort of moves us away from this a b as Anika would call it or this sort of separation of who's in favor or who's opposed um and when the comments have come in it may have been the CRC hearing on the moratorium which is the last one that I've caught it just was it was like sort of like there was something about it that it just didn't that would have felt better if it was that way um so I I would support that change is anyone else have any feelings about that same yeah Jennifer yeah same I mean you know from someone's comments where they stand right and I think we can be pretty good at sorting out how yeah and there's more nuance I mean somebody might be in favor and you know there's like more to it than that CRC gets a lot of I don't like it but if you change to these things I would right and which one do you go in right yeah I here's the proposed amendment just public comment versus public asking a question I don't I don't know that's not great wording we could say public you know for could be public speaking in favor in opposition or neutral um or speaking about the measure or something yeah public how about just public questions and public comments like I would like because I liked how Mandy always for the CRC you did have questions for it's different from comments so I would definitely want to keep the because sometimes asking a question instead of not questions comments and concerns even yeah we actually started doing that when I chaired the local historic district commission doing questions and then comments based on how Mandy did the CRC I found that very helpful yeah and one of the other matters that's come up is when there are folks from outside of the community in terms of sort of having um you know an order of when people are speaking and I think Mandy you followed that at the at the last hearing that CRC had um does anyone have any strong feelings one way or another about that aspect all right I'm sorry Michelle were you referring to like if someone is outside of Amherst and the order of how and when they can speak yeah like I think right now it calls for the chair can ask people that are in Amherst to speak first and ask and then and then have folks who are from outside of town if time allows speak after that I don't feel comfortable with that and I'm thinking about times where someone from outside of Amherst said something that really clarified the issue in a different way I don't think they should be separated out I really don't so they're technically separated out in our regular meetings right but I don't think they should be there either so I guess I have a different opinion which is we do yeah I agree with Pat on sometimes there's non-residents that that can offer but um our role as counselors is to enact stuff and act for our residents not what is in the best interest of Pelham's residents say um you know and and I'll go with there there was a point in time where we got a lot of um public comments about hey we need to pave X road because it's a pain for Pelham residents to drive right right that guy that well that's not my problem you know and that's it that's a not a great example because well it's a pain from Amherst residents to drive over it too but it was really the Pelham residents pushing for that particular road to be paved not the right and yeah yeah and for example another example is like the board of health more recently has had a lot of folks coming from out of town all across the state actually um and maybe not even in the state I don't know but a lot of folks coming from outside of the community and so I think there's a certain sort of courtesy that we want that's not the best word but that we want to give to residents to be able to speak first on behalf of the issues and then um Anika yeah uh when you're saying the board of health people coming is that you know for vex vaccination yeah from that yeah I think yeah that's a huge issue it's and I can I can see it seeing as you know Amherst has made it so easy to receive and unavailable um and other communities have but my question I also had a question in regards to people outside of Amherst I feel like I have heard that asked of of comm through comments um and I'm just wondering even if that was us how how do you manage because I I feel like I've heard it asked if someone comes um you know from calling from Sheetsburg or something like this um so I was just wondering like even if that how how could you really enforce that aside from when someone I mean you can ask but what would you do someone speaking would you you'd have to cut them off right well they have to identify where they're from before they start speaking right but they have they I mean like they started talking they've come in so I feel like I've heard it be asked um that would be Amherst residents speak and then you know you would have someone come on and when they identify themselves they are calling from somewhere else so how how would you manage that you know that that's the question I can't speak I can I can try and do this we started seeing this with Lynn at council meetings you know in terms of her recognizing she's we don't have a written register right so she's saying everyone raised their hands she's marking a line and saying that's the end of the line and then when I get to that person I'll determine this d3 non-residents and residents not on the register if time allows and she says you know she did this on Monday there is no more time we're done no more time allowed she hasn't been doing it from residents to non-residents um but that is how you would do it um when we were in person with in person comment we didn't really do it well with a register that one you know but but online that is how you would do it that is how I did it I looked at for the one hearing I think on the moratorium I said residents raise your hand I made a I made a notation in my own mind where that line was figured out how much time to allow and then asked non-residents to to see how many there were and I would make a decision at that time is that too many or not right you know a lot of times only one or two additional people had raised their hand if it had been 10 residents wanting to speak and 50 non-residents I probably would have said no to the non-residents because then I could have allowed more time for the residents to speak right so it's it's basically up to the presiding officer to figure out a way to manage it but it is manageable um and we've seen some examples of how that can be done how two and three together work yeah Athena has her hand exactly yep Lynn and I have talked about changing the process for when we go back to in-person meetings so that people will sign in on a register one of the first in-person meetings we had after COVID there was a really big group of people I think it was about defunding the police and there were some people who were upset about being misgendered when they were being called on and so at that point after that meeting we had talked about um direct for in-person meetings asking folks to sign in and then I would call their names from the register rather than Lynn calling on people from the audience and having to describe them because that could be offensive but if if it's important to the council to have residents and non-residents designated separately on that register then we can definitely work that into our future process great thank you for that Athena uh I guess the um yeah I'm sorry I guess the only thing that bothers me about uh it's a good idea the register is a good idea resident and then calling for non-resident I think that's an excellent idea but at the same time um I'm really concerned that a lot of issues like homelessness which is a regional issue and and certainly solar deciding and stuff which which we're looking at relationships with Pelham and Belcher Town there are reasons for non-residents to be speaking on issues in Amherst so I just want to make sure that all of a sudden there isn't this removal of non-resident voices where it's appropriate um so that's just a concern I have any way that uh who gets to speak gets limited makes me uncomfortable yeah yeah I hear that Jennifer yeah I just went to echo Pat because I thought some of the comments I said person I think from Conway a resident spoke on Monday and that was very helpful you know I thought that was it was very relevant that person's experience you know with a solar facility yeah so it's balancing the idiot with um potholes and the real issues that we have to look at that do affect our neighbors so there are no idiots Pat though oh no there are idiots um Michelle I don't say I'm not saying be mean to them but there are idiots out in the world and they don't live in Amherst none of them no absolutely not and none of them are on the council I just want to declare further my questions were more about time management you know oh I know not like limiting inclusion over the voices and and especially where it makes sense but I do think I do recall that I've heard like okay Amherst let's you know get in the residence and someone's like hey shoot you know or you know something else like within that time when that's asked so I was um I guess to be more specific it was that is there a way when we're virtual like if you see people's names um like for instance Lynn looking can she see where they are or is she just seeing a name so if you're asking you know I mean you have people it's like you said what you said I heard you but I have something to say so that that was my question like how is that is this even manageable like and can she see how is that possible and who would it know until someone is actually speaking so it could be about you know we're talking we were talking to someone besides this is my time to talk about the the potholes and wherever or you know yeah and I think there are also cases where we've seen um you know it be asked that members like BIPOC people be brought in before you know in certain circumstances so I think that it's like a matter of sort of the presiding officer as Mandy said feeling out the room and what the situation is and what's called for for that particular um piece but I do I I do think what Athena said is helpful in terms of as we go back to having more in person although that's a whole nother whole nother topic all together that we won't but so are we are we comfortable with with moving on at this point good okay all right so um Andy had a second comment here and I think this is really important so section 5.5 for district meetings and I know after I saw his comment I actually reached out to the counselors at large to invite them to the district one meeting and Mandy would you speak as a just briefly from your perspective as an at-large counselor on this? I always like being invited to the meetings because I haven't found a way to keep track of them unless I have invited to them um I I make as many as I can just because they're useful right and and as Andy says in this one um we tend to as at-large counselors try to just at least the past practice for at-large counselors then the past council was that we're just there to listen we're not there to help you run your meeting um you know it's your meeting as a district counselor but you know it's a time where we get feedback too so you know just listening to the residents and seeing what their concerns are are good I don't know whether it needs written into the district meeting rule like you must invite at-large counselors um I just find it a very nice courtesy and and all to so that I know about them and can go um if possible certain districts have invited the at-large counselors to be part of the presentation when the at-large counselor has you know in a district where you're talking about the budget Andy has generally been invited to do that presentation if it's not Kathy's district you know right and and that's different situation but you know I don't know whether it needs written into the rule yeah I don't think it needs to be written in the rules we always as district two for any district meeting we always invite the at-large counselors whether they have a specific role as in finance or not um and sometimes they come and sometimes they don't but it's very valuable um so I don't think it needs to be written in okay well maybe what we can do is ask Lynn if just so that Andy feels heard we can ask Lynn to sort of make some sort of announcement about that being um practice that we want to right does that I don't know I I just don't think I can well I can I can just say I didn't know that as a new counselor yeah okay I think asking Lynn during her president's comments or president's report to say hey district meetings are starting up please let the entire council know about when you're holding the district meetings because other counselors including the at-larges may like to attend yeah that's a good idea you know I should put an ounce because I'm not sure it's just the at-larges that might like to attend too right yeah okay so I'll make I'll make a note of that uh and Anika I I see your hand and we'll take Anika and then we're going to pause because our sponsors are here I'll be right back for both the student debt and the swim so I I want to honor the time that I've given them and so we're going to pause but go ahead Anika uh I do believe that Lynn had such a message about the district meeting especially with us being new and how they start and that did include you know inviting at large counselors and then also you know I know for some of the meetings that there have been also department heads or whatever as you know relevant to discussion or just introduction that have been invited to the meetings you know so I'd imagine it could be a good number of people that could be invited to district meetings you know depending on what the agenda is and I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that I'm not sure that that email you know just came to specific districts I think that it came to all of us everyone yeah that's very possible and I certainly missed it Mandy just a quick comment which is instead of putting something in a rule because we have this other section here um of town staff clarification maybe um someone Lynn or Anna or our leadership could work on some sort of FAQ for new counselors on district meetings right you know like how to run a district meeting how to get town staff there who to let know about it for promotion purposes and all of that it doesn't need to be in the rules but it could be a document that is part of like becoming a counselor type thing yeah that's really good and actually that reminds me um we do have language that came from Angela when I was inquiring before my first district meeting um and I thought that I had included it in here I spoke with Lynn about it and she said that we should consider actually adding the language that Angela gave us into the rules um so let's come back to that thought hold that thought that's a great thought um okay so we're going to begin um because we have Ian here who's our community sponsor for the student debt we're going to begin with that and then we'll go to the swim um and so yeah Pat please I was just going to say can you bring Ian and Alicia in yes and Anna as well right is Anna yes yes okay great and so we will bring them in would you like me to share that on the screen please do yes and I am just going to turn my camera off very quickly to go to the bathroom um but before I do I'll welcome um Ian and welcome Ian nice to see you thanks for having me yeah thank you for bringing this forward um and welcome Anna and Alicia um and Pat since you're a sponsor of this do you want to kick things off while I now go to the bathroom real quick does that work for you no I have to go to the bathroom uh no I'll be right back um Ian um forwarded both a letter from the WMALF um and a resolution that they were they had written um which and it and I think we all got it I believe we all got it and it just seemed incredibly important to me um in terms of um really supporting people I across across economic lines because one of the things that really hit me when I read the initial material was that people in technical schools and beautician schools and things like that are affected by student debt and that hadn't registered to me in any way um so it had sort of broadened um my view of what the need was um and so it's something I can really support I'm not being very articulate but I think Ian and others can speak you know Ian why is it important to you um well for one I have student debt and my wife has student debt um and a lot of members of my union have student debt um I am recently um graduated from UMass uh uh GOUAW 2322 the graduate employee organization um but I as as you pointed out um the the framing around student debt in in political discourse most often has to do with you know student debt shouldn't be canceled because that'll um just benefit uh like Ivy League graduates or or what have you um and as Pat pointed out student debt affects anyone who who seeks um education beyond a senior senior high school diploma um and and as we point in that that second whereas uh vocational school technical school beautician schools um all all levels of education and it is both a as well as a economic justice issue it's a it's a racial justice issue and a gender equity issue um um you can see uh women hold two-thirds of student debt across the country um and black women hold I believe it's 20 percent more than their their white peers um and just for a number of these well for for all the reasons listed in the whereas um the whereas is we at the western mass area labor federation um unanimously decided to pass this um and and enthusiastically and and these are unions educator unions as well as trades unions and service sector unions um and and what we're trying to do is is draw the link between um we'll just make the link that student debt affects our our economies locally uh at the state level and nationally um and that it that it is a labor issue um and part of our our our final demand was our main demand is to have President Biden sign an executive order canceling all student debt um but we also had a subsequent um call for uh state congressional and municipal elected officials to um to sign on and and also call on on the White House to cancel student debt via executive order um so I hope that gives a little bit of of context and background that does thank you and um Mandy if you could add Councillor Walker as a sponsor um and I'd like to give both um Anna and Alicia a moment to speak about if they'd like to why they are sponsoring this resolution and then I will for Ian especially explain what our role is here um in GOL for this document um so Alicia or Anna would either of you like to speak you're muted Anna if you yep I was going to point to Alicia to see if she wanted to go first as an original um sponsor I signed on later I'm still happy to talk to him thank you Anna um so I wanted to just recognize all of the work that Ian did here on this first very quickly because um he really did do all of the leg work um and I just wanted to talk very quickly about why this resonates for me because I think Ian touched on all of the main points and if you all were able to go through all of the where as is like those are all of the reasons um why I support this resolution um and so just for me as well personally so I also have student loan debt I went to UMass um and I also so what happened for me after I went to college I went to school in New York City for a semester and found out it was like way too expensive for me and so I had to transfer to UMass um and there was like an idle time in between for my transfer credits and the paperwork to go through where I enrolled in beautician school and so I also have student loan debt from that license that I have and I just I also didn't realize when I was doing those things because I was so young that this was going to really affect me for the long run because I know that when you're in college you're seen as an adult but you're still really learning about a lot of things especially financial literacy which is something that is so completely under taught in our education system um and so completely not equitably distributed like the knowledge in regards to financial literacy and how to maintain finances and really how to even just climb out of poverty or low-income like brackets of where you exist in this world um so I really this really resonated for me and this affects a lot of my family members my friends my colleagues I think almost everyone I know has student loan debt and I think that this is a barrier to people moving up in the world and to progress um and I think of all of the great things and accomplishments people could make especially because we know that they have the extended education to do so if this weren't a barrier um and so again I just really want to appreciate Ian and Pat and Anna also for all of the work that they did on this and to just state my very strong support of this resolution as well. Thank you Alicia Anna. Yeah so I think a lot of the stories around student debt resonate because they're all very similar I think this is something that we've seen uh show up exponentially for folks who uh you know millennials and Gen Z really are navigating student debt in a way that prior generations have not had to um and so you know I my story uh or Alicia's story really resonated with me because of the sort of the lack of financial literacy I had coming up uh for me my loans are from graduate school I knew enough to um to get through I or I was I was very lucky to get enough scholarships for my undergrad to be able to to not graduate that with that and so I was like oh well it's no big deal for me to go to grad school and finance the entire thing um and it turns out that was a terrible idea so um for me I'm now you know I'm and I'm and I hold an incredible amount of privilege going through that right and so I'm also knowing that I am not as impacted as as other folks in this and it's still pretty debilitating and so thinking through you know what it always amazes me when I think about what our economy would look like if the the folks who have student debt had that uh those finances available you know to spend on other things we see people not by not able to buy homes not able to purchase new cars some people are choosing not to start families because of this right and so this is really impacting the ripple effect of the student loan student debt crisis is is massive and so for me this is a really important resolution because while this is not something that we as a as a municipality as a town can can control we need to be sending this message um especially and I think this is a really important part especially as a college town right I mean we have people in this town you you Ian and Alicia both talked or both UMass grads right we have folks every day who are deeply impacted by this who are residents in this town and so I think this is particularly important for Amherst um to to really clearly send this message up and then I also want to ditto and uh check off on everything that Ian and Alicia and Pat said as well as what's in the resolution which I think is beautifully written awesome okay that's great um yes Ian um and just one other thing um in addition to everything that's been said already um we do have one line a little bit further down that touches on how it it is an intergenerational issue as well um I mean there's there is a lot of focus um rightly so on the way it affects millennials and Gen Z uh student borrowers but um one out of five uh people responsible for student debt um are over sick or over 50 and um social security wages or social security benefits can be garnished for um falling behind on uh student debt payments so it's it's uh it affects all of us yeah wow well thank you this is this is great and um I really appreciate all of the comments that you've made um and for bringing this forward and so just to explain to you Ian what we'll be doing here is we'll be reviewing this document for clarity consistency and action ability um and then we will make a recommendation for this to be sent to the town council for a full vote um and at that time I think usually the sponsors will have another opportunity um to speak on on the the measure and uh so we'll I'm sure one of the sponsors will make sure that you know when that's happening so you can attend if you'd like to all right so um and so we'll start our work here and then if we have any particular questions um as we move along we'll call on um one of the sponsors to answer so um are there any other committee you know and I'm a little unclear and I think I asked maybe you Mandy or no it was you Pat I asked you about how these sponsorships work generally speaking and that's just a bigger philosophical discussion I think um but is it generally the practice of GOL to ask its members if there are any other members who would like to sponsor a measure that comes before them I've seen that happen but for certain things but is that because the full council hasn't been asked yes Pat you're muted Pat apologies um I don't and Mandy Joe may correct me so but that's fine um I don't remember that necessarily happening that people uh added themselves on in GOL or other times um and it seemed it I don't know I I I feel like it's it's the people who this group Coley really came together um to do this and it feels so then other people adding their names seems like why are we doing that and is it necessary so and I don't think it is um but I they're I don't know I I sent you something that was more articulate than that it was very helpful and I think I would love for that to be something that we could talk about as a council um because there is an equitable an equitable way for us to do this and I think one of the things that has occurred is maybe with proclamations we have asked counselors who would like to sponsor these um and even in that case I think you made some great points Pat so I really appreciated that um I see I think Jennifer's hand went up first and then Mandy I kind of I agree with Pat that I think the sponsors have done a lot of work and I you know and they I feel like maybe it shows more support but maybe it also dilutes it so I guess I I would feel wouldn't feel right putting my name as a sponsor since I haven't done any of the work but I wouldn't want it to be interpreted that I didn't support it by not so it kind of puts you in an awkward position yes I would I do support it I wouldn't want to just throw my name on to kind of kind of walk on to it where where we support I mean this literally could have come just from Ian and Alicia say um and and that would be fine where we show our support is in the council with our vote I agree so that's why I feel like it's uncomfortable to ask GLL if they want to because it doesn't feel right maybe to just add your name but you wouldn't want it one maybe wouldn't want to be interpreted as not supporting it by not yeah absolutely and the full council hasn't been asked you know there could be somebody else on the council um but I do agree there's a certain magic to the way these come together in the sense that like the people that sort of coalesce around them that happens and they do the work and then it and I do think the vote shows the real support at the council whether your names on it or not um so there was Mandy and then Anika yeah um same with Pat um this is different than the ones where GLL I don't know whether it was last meeting or the meeting before where we said who wants to add their names to the Black History Month one those come every year and they sort of just show up in GLL without even really a council sponsor per se because they come and so some name has to be on there and so there definitely needs to be a better way to figure out whose name should be on there even for those yearly ones but um I think that was a different situation than this completely. Thank you for clarifying that that's exactly the one I was thinking about um the Black History Month and also um the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King um so those were the two Anika. Yes and also to Mandy's point that we also came in and we did some work on those proclamations. Right. We didn't the clearly here work has been done we're not just piling names on what has been done I'm sure that we all support this in spirit both locally and on a national through a national lens and uh you know I mean there may be some of us who are not affected by this but I think probably the you know majority of folks are so yeah I mean you know just in general thank you to Ian and the sponsors for their work around it. Absolutely yeah and I'll make a note um to maybe speak with Lynn and Anna about how we can you know and Pat like I said what you what you sent back to me was just so helpful in terms of how we think about what we're going to add our name to and and why and and what that means. All right so let's start with the first whereas um well actually we got to start with the title right Mandy. I actually do want to change or recommend a change to the title. The first thing is we normally never say town of Amherst resolution we normally just say resolution um and and I think it would be more succinct if it was just resolution calling on President Joe Biden to immediately cancel all student loan debt um you know I I even in the resolution I wasn't even sure about the Western Mass Area Labor Federation's call but when we're doing a resolution it's now our call it's not someone else's per se that doesn't mean I know later on the the Federation is mentioned but that that's sort of my proposal for shortening the title. Ian do you want do you have any um any thoughts on that? Um I actually hadn't seen this title as it is I thought it had been already Town of Amherst resolution um I'm totally fine and support um cutting out the reference in the title. Okay great and and do any of the other sponsors object to that does that work? Okay great um and Mandy your hand is still up is it um in further reference to this? Okay great all right so let's look at the first whereas and please raise your hand if you have a comment to make about this. Yes Ian um I was just gonna say I also do have a copy of the document with um footnotes or end note citations if that's helpful uh just to have on the record but in our editing process we thought it'd be easier to read without having that in the resolution. Yeah and and you know that's interesting because some of us are working on another resolution where there have been annotations made by the community sponsor and they were extremely helpful I think we'll probably be fine because we have you here um but if for the record we want to be able to have that I'm sure we can find a way to have those um somehow referenced somewhere um but if anyone has any other thoughts on that let me know. All right so anything else on the first whereas? All right not seeing any so let's move to the second okay please raise your hand if you have any comments or changes on this not seeing any okay so uh the third. Pat you're muted. I don't really have any. I'm unmuted. I did I'm unmuted at least what I'm saying is when I'm looking at this version of it I'm seeing lots of spacing issues and I'm not sure um like to me it looks like there's double spaces between whereas and across things like that so I'm I'm a little confused about whether it's how I'm seeing it on uh and now I don't quite know what's going on. Manny's doing her work. It's good thank you. It was in justified format which means you get the spacing issues so I just yeah okay good thank you thank you very much um and this and women in particular is as comma space are I'm not sure why unless that should be hyphenated women but I don't think so or word wants you to get rid of the word in particulars so that it reads reads women and black women are I think if we just just that it'll be fine too sort of dude is there another in particular is there another way to say to say that that carries the same sort of strength um but maybe even in a better way well I kind of think taking it out makes it stronger they are disproportionately affected so I I guess I see it a little differently so it reads right now women and black women in particular are disproportionate so yeah that's yeah that's true Ian um how would uh women comma particularly black women comma uh are disproportionately affected by the two trillion dollar crisis that works yeah I like that too Anna were you gonna say something along that line okay that exact thing okay um all right so then we can move if there aren't anything else if there's nothing else here we'll move on to the fourth any comments or questions on this one or all right and then the fifth Amanda yeah um the period semicolon oh yes I would get rid of I think it's the period that disappears not the semicolon yes yes absolutely period and I see there were some so this is a quote from some somewhere and is that what was referenced at the bottom of the resolution the the bottom is to the next is the first one is to the next whereas there's a it's hard to take note but there's a footnote right there in the next so quotes we can just quote and we don't need to say anything about them we don't we don't need to cite them by any Ian do you have do you have an idea of where this particular quote came from um I can get that in a moment um hold on a second sure take your time and we can move on and then we'll come back to that all right so uh let's move on oh Anna please yeah I was just gonna say once Ian finds that source I'm wondering if just for kind of the way that this looks if it would be better to say according to dot dot dot and then the quote versus just having a quote as an entire paragraph I think I agree with that I was I was looking to the other sponsors I wasn't sure if that would work for y'all but yeah yeah no it works very well thank you all right perfect um okay the next one uh Mandy yeah um factually there's no support listed here for the 32 individual borrowers are only are only 32 in 25 years um I've seen numbers that are much higher than that so I I'm not sure that's factually correct and there's no site here for me to figure out where that number came from uh Ian or Alicia or Anna or Pat um yeah I've just pulled up my my document with the citations um is there a there's not a chat thing that I can put these into is there no unfortunately there's not but you could email them um to Mandy's council email um and then she can retrieve them that way does that work for you Mandy? That's fine it's hannicky h-a-n-n-e-k-e-m at amherstma.gov and and I wonder if this for this whereas more than 44 million that it should also say whereas according to uh because there is if you look at after debt I can't see it now Meredith uh you rolled it yeah this this one cites this good okay case for student debt cancellation from freedom to prosper.org good that's that's what this little eye here is which we could probably turn those eyes to actual numbers if it might be easier for people to interpret them then and to see yeah Anna uh sorry I just wanted to go up for some reason in my head I thought it was the 32 percent but that's not right either um so I just because my my research was also turning up a different number um so yeah so clarity on that might be might be good um because I came up oh sorry sorry sorry I'll I'll email this to to Ian and Pat and Alicia but um but what is the figure that you have and see so I'm looking at the yeah I mean I'm looking at educationvada.org and so that's the part is I want to make sure I'm doing my due diligence that that's a reputable site um and it does say that uh this is well don't write this yet so prior to 2021 463,444 had their loans forgiven either in part or in full so that's not quite the same thing um but it's that I think the the shocking number for me is among processed applications for PSLF which is the public service loan forgiveness 2.6 percent have been accepted um and and that prior to 2020 it was 0.7 percent of eligible borrowers benefited from student loan forgiveness eventually which is very very low yeah so it sounds like we want to maybe rework this with the the the data that you found um and Ian I see you shaking your head does that work okay on your end yeah yeah and I just emailed to um Mandy Jo the um the citations perfect um okay Anna your hand is still up do you okay so let's let's move on and we're going to come back to this although now we're asking Mandy to do quite a lot because she's reading the email and moving on and I don't think I have the ability to scroll this um but I think we're okay give me a second yeah yeah take your time that's fine I just want to save this document and get it somewhere that I can open it so um the 32 number um that's from a March 10th uh business insider article um and so that may have changed over the past um uh year um but I can I can forward that along as well that that is listed in the in the citations that I sent just now um so this is saying that only 32 people have had their student loan forgiven in 25 years via the um income driven repayment plans ah okay okay that's and so that's what your citation clarifies I see okay Jennifer I'm just thinking since um I would we maybe want to um say as of a particular date so let's say somebody was forgiven tomorrow it would still be accurate yeah I think that's a great suggestion and should we name the program in this like should we specify it to say as of I think so I think so too I think so because it's a really stunning number and to have it backed up as much as possible it's great yeah it's actually um I mean not that I don't believe it but it's unbelievable it's so stunning yeah um okay so we're gonna add as we're gonna add a date and we're gonna add the actual program that we're referring to yeah I think that's helpful and I found the 32 uh number two so thank you and actually that article is is itself citing a report from uh the national consumer law center student power protection center so you're are you saying that there's like an original source to the data yeah yeah that might be more helpful yeah maybe we want I would I would say we should include the original source yeah Andy also and that's you I I hold on but you got it so I don't know whether the insider is the one you want or you said that was citing something else I have the original report if that's a better citation it's a little bit of a stronger one I think yes I agree absolutely no Ian is that okay with you yeah yeah I was about to send that but if you have it ready so Anna are you gonna send do you want to send that oh perfect thank you I'm still waiting on that one so we can move on okay I think you have to scroll up again a little bit okay so now we are at the one in five people right do we want to again say according to in this to keep it consistent do we end which do we know what this one is where this came from Ian yep so from freedom to prosper okay great any other comments on this one okay um so the next are we on the eliminating yes I think I think it would be clearer if we got rid of this comment between providing better overall health outcomes and the word since because with that comma there I always read the start of the clause since as being a third item in the list and it's not it is part of the second item in the list can it um yeah um and also does there need to be a comment between in the second line support residents by beginning should there have to be a comment between residents and by say that one more okay resident okay a moral I think Jennifer is saying get rid of that comma yeah that's yes get rid of that comma yep by beginning to address racial and gender wage disparities providing better overall health outcomes is the since piece like a bracket like something that should be in brackets I guess I'm having a little bit of confusion around is it that sort of it it's a it's a clause clarifying or explaining the better overall health outcomes right could we just say as instead of sense it's still not reading like 100 clearly to me um let me see if there are other hands up is it what no I was just going to say if we put that clause last it might be easier that was exactly what I was going to say yeah I think that will help a lot yes exactly that's great any problems with doing that so everything stays we just move the order to right okay it reads as a list more clearly that would yeah great okay moving on any comments or questions on this one okay moving on this one yeah any questions other than that's powerful okay moving on then um in this whereas I would like to delete the acronym because it's the only place it's ever used and so I think we can just say the western massachusetts area labor federation comma afl cio which and then that okay is this um ian would you say this is which is according to their mission dedicated like is this did that quote come from their mission statement or yeah yeah so maybe just clarifying that um would be good jennifer did there be um a comma after afl cio I don't think so the title and I think that's how I'll double check the website but I think that's how we describe ourselves let me let me double check real quick usually if they you get a correction there should be a comma before which but not of that so should which be that whereas the massachusetts area labor federation comma afl cio no it has to be which well that according to their mission whose mission is to build power yeah I like it the way it is I don't I think it's fine it's missing later on it's missing an end quote and I don't know where end quote right yeah after communities is it after communities yeah jennifer your hand is still up with I think wait a minute okay um so we we don't want to add that it comes from their mission we're gonna we're fine with it the way that it is yeah I think it's clear which is it's dedicated to doing this um and it's a quote so yeah whose mission is dedicated to building power we need to say it's mission because it's clear I I agree with that okay ian um just in terms of the commas in the name uh there is a comma after federation and then also often a comma after cio yeah okay and um do we need to um capitalize no we don't need to capitalize town counselors do we because we're not speaking about a particular okay right yeah okay all right so we can move on to the uh ian your hand is up sorry about that that was just okay no worries okay next one and what was the reference here oh that's our resolution any comments or questions on this one well all right then moving on any questions on this comments all right and the final or the be it further resolved michelle yes oh yes please sorry mandy it's not gonna be it further resolved we normally have in these types of resolutions one more be it further resolved which is to task oh yeah to everyone mentioned in the priority it solves oh yeah that's great I forgot that sorry do we we don't need after mendy dom we don't do we not need a comma there there is a comma there is there you know there isn't in the in the one above there isn't yeah I think there is one in the I think you do need one there there we go no perfect all right looks good um any other final comments or questions on this okay I have a question is this coming before the council on the seventh that was yes the hope is that it will come yeah we were hoping that's I think why we moved it forward yeah so I just wanted to make sure Ian had that information yeah that's a great point um so yeah it's March 7th and um all of the information for accessing that is on the website it's hard to say when these things will actually happen in a given meeting but um this would these usually go on the consent agenda is that right right okay um so we need to make a motion though um if we're ready to do that Ian yes um sorry a quick question about the process so it's um presented at the March 7th meeting would it be voted on that same meeting or would it then be voted on at an at a subsequent meeting yes it will be voted on at that meeting so it will be included in a consent agenda which is sort of a slate of things that we vote on all at once um but Lynn will very likely give the sponsor's opportunity to speak about it um and then it will be voted on by the full council for approval yeah great thanks sure okay so I'm gonna move if there aren't any other questions or would you like to make the motion Pat no that's okay go ahead okay so I will move to declare the resolution calling on President Joe Biden to immediately cancel all student loan debt um clear consistent and actionable and I'll second it or Alicia do you want to second it she can't she's not a member oh right no I was like oh I just learned something new you can do that when sponsors are you can't you can't sorry great I'm really excited let's do a roll call vote Jennifer hi yes Mandy hi Anika yes and I'm a yes and Pat hi yes all right great congratulations we got through that that's awesome thank you Ian yeah thank you thanks very much for your time and consideration see you on the seventh um so Anna and Alicia will keep you here and we'll move right into the swim um measure okay and Mandy you maybe don't have that one is that true or I'm not sure if Athena had I don't think it's in the no I don't have an PDF I just have it in PDF so I can't make any changes um we can talk about the changes I have a few let me see if I can send it to you quickly okay do you want to talk about it though for a moment while we're waiting on that sure I I'm just going to share my screen with the changes they're very do that Mandy let's just have um maybe quickly Anna and Alicia talk about kind of the just a quick comment on the resolution or the confirmation excuse me sure so um I can I can start and I am excited that Alicia signed on so yeah her name should should be on this as well once we get the editable version so last weekend the Amherst High School girl swim team won the state championship for the first time ever and we wanted to celebrate that and celebrate that accomplishment they also not for nothing won the first sectional since 99 and were completely undefeated in the 200-yard Bentley which is also phenomenal so this is really this was really a way to formally recognize them I know that there are other recognitions in the works as well potentially on the state level for them but we wanted to do something as a town to to recognize their their accomplishment so the resolution is really comprised of mostly just kind of some some stats and then also just a couple little opinion pieces opinion pieces that's not the right phrase a couple little other statements about you know the the support that they got and what it takes to win a state a state championship and Alicia I don't know if you have anything to add so I also want to thank Anna for all of her work on this I signed on a bit later but I also support this and I think it's really important for us I see this as a form of youth empowerment because we need to recognize all of the great accomplishments from the youth especially from our town and I think that just encourages them to do more and people to go harder and so that's why I am so excited to sign on to this my best friend in high school was also on the swim team so I am like having nostalgia and just feeling very proud so thank you Anna and that is all I have to say excellent and Anna it was already outed that it was it's true I was on I was very slow I was always in the furthest lane which is where the flow people go all right Mandy I'm gonna turn it to you um you had some you can go ahead I did one of them's not necessary because there are two counselor sponsors now yeah I know there was a plural there I was like I think she's gonna sign on but I'm gonna say counselors and let it go yeah um the third whereas the end should just be not capitalized yeah thank you and then the only other thing is this period down here and then adding Lynn's signature sort of that signature box okay yeah like I said they were very minor yeah it's a pretty simple it is but it but it all hopefully except that you were on the swim team which I think yeah we were not gonna even say that well well before we vote and and I don't think it needs to be added in here um because it is technically the high school swimming and diving team there are middle schoolers on the team I think there are three middle schoolers at a minimum on the team but they are competing for the high school but I just thought while I while we do this that it is it is there's eighth graders on that team too that helped win that championship um I don't know that it necessarily needs to be added into that but I thought it would be nice to recognize that I if we're speaking about it yeah I didn't know that so I wouldn't mind uh including it we could add another whereas oh I'm sorry no uh what if we added another whereas that says whereas the Amherst regional high school girls swim team is comprised of members from our from Amherst Palam shoots very leverant and the middle school the Amherst regional middle school or simply from students from the Amherst regional students from both the high school and middle school or something like that yeah I think you can add it up there without adding another necessarily um okay well Mandy is typing that I have something I wanted to throw out there so the team from the school perspective is the swimming and diving team the championships is the swimming so uh I wanted to so there's a couple like I could see at the top saying the Amherst regional high school girls swimming and diving team because that is the name of the team but the diving championships are separate so I I was I was a little bit torn and would love some thoughts on the best way of phrasing this eight swimming championship I'm going to confirm that but I believe it was specifically yeah so we can just put that swimming right here in the first whereas they were state swimming championship yeah so the question was about the title so thank you that was the was changing it to swimming and diving team and are there some this is um members that swim and dive oh god not that I know okay I'm just curious they dive and drown they dive to start their race but not I mean they're the divers and the swimmers are separate they're separate as far as I know so I'm not a swimmer word is picking up the fact that there's no apostrophe somewhere in girls ever um girls team it's uh I struggled with that but there's it is what they are called no no I know that we don't the titles and all don't ever use the apostrophe yeah including the girls team title here okay I'm going to confirm that but yeah yeah that'd be good okay are there any other um any other comments or questions on this okay no apostrophe oh and then now therefore we should say swimming championship yeah that's good all right so I'm not seeing any other hands so um someone'd like to make the motion other than me I'm happy to do it but okay so I move to declare the proclamation of congratulations to the Amherst oops oh sorry oh sorry I was too quick I was too slow Anna um I want to just confirm something you've got me a little paranoid so I want to just before you make your motion uh and I know we're at time but um it is actually called I've seen it both called the swimming champions championships and the swim championship and so I just want to triple check if you can give me like 30 seconds and so sorry yeah no that's a good I think that's good to check give me a little bit of a panic and Athena I know you're probably like yeah um because we're supposed to be in another meeting okay this website is terrible I think I think we're good Athena do you have to leave right at 11 um if Anna and I have a meeting with Lynn immediately after the GOL meeting adjourned so do you anticipate that this meeting you're going to continue on this meeting much later than 11 o'clock I'm going to check with members as soon as we make this motion we don't have any anybody in the attendance so there's no public comment um so I let's make this motion and then we'll check with members okay so so if we could change swimming to swim great all right so I moved changed up there too yep is it this no oh no it's this oh no oh gotcha gotcha sorry all right sorry I'm done now okay I moved to declare the proclamation of congratulations to the Amherst Regional High School girls swimming and diving team clear consistent and actionable a second come in Jennifer has seconded it okay uh Mandy how do you vote hi I'm an I um Jennifer or yeah Jennifer hi Anika hi and she seemed to disappear yeah she went to the door I think well in the meantime thank you Alicia and Anna for joining us um Pat how do you vote hi I'm sorry I had to let somebody in all right thank you both for joining us and this is a great uh proclamation so thank you for bringing it forward and we'll see it um on Monday I think at the council thank you all so much thank you Alicia bye thank you everyone bye bye all right so yeah we still have a lot left on the agenda friends um Pat Pat I see you're talking but you're muted it does feel like we should end the meeting I feel like Athena needs to be elsewhere um unless there's a way we can shift her responsibilities but I don't know I can I can reschedule with Lynn and Anna if that's what we need to do so do do what you need to do so I had a suggestion actually um because we we we still have quite a bit and some of the stuff is timely um and so has it ever happened where an an additional meeting is added um so that we wouldn't wait two weeks to meet again yeah we could do that we could do that my question is the next council meeting we're not going to get anything in by the 7th so we're aiming for the 21st do we have anything other than what's remaining on this agenda scheduled for the 16th so we need to have um the let me just take a look here we need to have the child abuse awareness proclamation ready for the by the 21st so that means we can still do it on the 16th so we could um for if we were to meet next week at this time um then we would finish the rules of procedure uh and then and do the standing committee structure and do the child abuse awareness proclamation or we could just hold that actually yeah so I would just request if we move the meeting up well if we schedule one for the 9th and we get through everything that was going to be on the 16th as well as what we didn't get through today that we then cancel the 16th like yeah you know hopes of that we're even with meetings but we're ensuring that we will get through everything we need to by the 21st by doing that yeah yeah and I'm in Colorado visiting my brother that week so I was going to you know participate but it would be better not to and Jennifer you were gonna say I might have to miss that meeting also so I like to have that'd be great if we could do it next week okay Anika does that work for you I'm sorry could you tell me the date so it would be um March 9th and we would have to reschedule what we just scheduled on the plant medicine because we scheduled that for 9 a.m but I'm sure we can do that so we would be doing gl beginning at 9 a.m on Wednesday March 9th yes okay okay great and Jennifer your hand still up no you're good okay so let's do that and then um which means I'll need to turn this around fairly quickly um but question do you think I so do I need a report for Monday as well another report technically for the votes on the proclamations yes okay so just a brief report and very brief noting those votes and then saying I would just say you could either early report or write in that report that we're meeting on the 9th to continue rules and standing committee discussions perfect okay um and so we already did the item that wasn't anticipated uh we know what our next agenda looks like so I'm going to move to adjourn the meeting at 11 o'clock 6 a.m and thank you everyone it was a really great meeting yeah thank you thank you thanks bye bye thank you thanks Athena