 Okay, and I just have to ask you, we've gotten into a bad habit of the chair not announcing, and I'll just say that we're recording. But the chair has to announce that we're recording audio and video so if you could do that before you, or when you call the meeting to order that would be great. Thank you. Okay, good evening and welcome to the town services and outreach meeting for December 5 Thursday we are recording. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 extended by chapter 22 of the acts of 2022. This meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via zoom or by telephone. There will be an attendance or members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public and adequately access the meeting in real time via technological means. Let's see so I will go ahead and see if all can be heard. And hear me. I'll start with Dorothy, Dorothy Pam. Yes, I can. Andy Steinberg. Yes. And I know that Anna will not be with us today. But I think shall me is trying her best she's in India but I know she will be trying her best to to join us so we'll see how that happens and we can call the meeting to order as we do have a quorum. No, I'm sorry I didn't ask so we have a couple here I know Kelly can hear us and how welcome and can you hear us. Yes, we can. All right, hello. And honorary TSO member. Assistant superintendent Amy Rasekhi can you hear us as well. I can. Hi. So I'm actually with that I want to thank you again for spending more of your time with us and hand the floor over to you. Real quickly Kelly I think you have a question it's DPW superintendent Amy Rasekhi if that's your question. I'm sorry Kelly I didn't notice your hand I apologize. Oh, that's all right I was just hoping. Could you spell the last names of the members who are absent. I'll get those two I'll get those two afterwards they're on the site. Oh, great. Okay, thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you. And I think Athena just promoted me, by the way, I'm the assistant superintendent. Did I not say that you deserve a promotion you know everybody's a superintendent you're all superintendent. Anyway, I don't know. I'm sorry Kelly has her hand up again. No, okay. Nope. Awesome. Athena do you have those bylaws to put up that's what we're going over. Correct. Yes, bylaws. So I think you have that I don't know if you want to share. Sure, which like to begin with sewer water. I guess sewer because that's, that's what we were talking about most recently. You got it. Okay, I be be be be be be right here. You're unmuted Dorothy. Okay, all right. Although she put her hand up. A question before we begin starting. Yes, I was listening to finance and they were talking about these regulations and there was a question as to whether we had the TSO had explored the insurance or either on individuals or on town. And the answer is yes we had in detail and Paul had given us the numbers. And it did not seem the amount that people could get from the private insurance was not very adequate. Compared to say that I had a 30,000 more or less cost on on mine and my insurance did cover it, but the ones that available now have gone down and I think they only go up to like 6000 or 9000 and the town when didn't do it so I just want Andy to check with Paul because we did go over that in detail. And decided that would not be an option. So that's that. Thank you. And I will. And the floor back over to Amy. I'm sorry Amy I have to interrupt you one more time shall any just joined so we just need to note that she arrived at 705 and confirmed that she can hear and be heard I'm sorry. Thank you for joining us from India. Thank you. All right. So, the bylaws for the sewer use regulations. And I think this will be way less lively than our sewer and water rig discussions. Yeah, I don't know if folks have questions I mean the reality is this just kind of lays out the framework for us to be able to have the regulations. And one of the things that you'll notice we actually went back and forth with the lawyers a couple of times to figure out whether fines should be written in the bylaws or whether we could keep them as we were showing them in the regulations just so that as you know as fees and as you know, water rates and all that go up every year we don't have to change a bylaw instead everything can be in the regulations. And so the lawyer signed off that that's legal. And so that's why you'll see on the front or on the upper part that all the violations and basically everything associated with cost is going to be in the rags and not the bylaw. But I feel like that's kind of the important part of it. I think there's, there's some text and see. I think that basically what is it town manager following consultation with the superintendent may propose to town council adoption or amendments to the regulations. And then the town council will ultimately approve it so it kind of just shows the pathway for if you know if we want to propose changes. I don't know if folks have any questions on this but I think it's pretty straightforward. I agree I have also had the pleasure to go through this with in jail as well. But were there any other questions or comments from anyone else. Yeah, I did. So let me move this I can see Andy. Yeah, I'm specifically looking at F. It's in both regulations, and it says once adopted such regulation and any amendments there too shall be published once in a newspaper published in the town. I don't read the whole thing, but that if we're going to put the entire regulations that we just recommended from TSO into a newspaper publication. That's a pretty long publication and a pretty expensive proposition. So the question is, is that required. And it's that they be published in their entirety. And wouldn't just publishing notice that there are new regulations and the link that they can find them on the town website with that suffice in order to make it a less costly enterprise. Do you want me to respond to this. Yes. Okay. And so this, this is somewhat like lawyer ease. But ultimately what it's saying is that we have to post a notice that say that these rules and regulations are available for inspection at a town website and the public office so it does have to be a short notification we don't have to publish all of them. They're, you know where you're coming from because of the language they use, but that second sentence tries to kind of clarify that. And this, this comes from a mass general law specific to sewer regulations although ultimately we put this both in water and sewer, you know to make them parallel but there is a regulation that says that we have to post, for some reason a notification that says that these. These are available or that these are changing and that you can view them at X location. And then why does it say once that such regulations and amendments shall be published once in this paper as opposed to notice of the regulations and amendments should be published to these months. I don't know, Paul, if you have any amp that that's somewhat the lawyers. I, I, I'm, I'm okay with adjusting it, you know, I think. Yeah, I think the second half of the sentence is a little clearer. I exactly see what you're saying and I'm open to that. I think you're spot on Andy because if we had to publish these it would be thousands and thousands of dollars to publish them in a newspaper I think what it is is that there's a notice that the regulations have changed. But the language doesn't say that, and I think we want this bylaw to be. And so we can review that language with the, with the attorney. And it could be that notice of such regulations. I'm talking with the attorney tomorrow morning so I can check with them about that tomorrow. Okay, I will not repeat that for the water regulation since we covered it once. Okay. Yeah, it's my understanding that it's just a notification. That's required and and I see I see where the murkiness is in the, the first, I think this does go on to a second page so I don't know if there's anything on the second page that that we want to scan to or if there's any other questions on the first page here. I think this is number H is the only other thing that if you guys wanted to talk about it so what we're proposing is the Department of Public Works superintendent or their designate that basically that's like the enforcement authority of these regulations and remembering the regulations there is the whole appeal process that goes through Paul. But that's that's at least how we set it up but certainly that's that's open for discussion. Are we all set with this. Sorry, talking while talking while muted all day. Do you see what would you would you see either Amy or or Paul that may be a complicated with with this or do you see any any issues around it. I think what this gives the authority to the superintendent to take action, and then there's an appeal process that's outlined in the regulation so I think we need to be explicit about who can act, and that's what the bylaw does. Okay. All right. Thank you I can't see everyone at once I'm just checking whether any other questions or comments. No. Okay. Then we can throw up the water bylaws if there's anything that pops out on those pretty much. There, they're pretty much the same the only differences, you know, some of the references to the M, the mass general laws there. It's a different chapter for all the water ones versus the, it's chapter 40 and 41 mostly for water and it's chapter 83 for sewer. So a couple of different references but again the same, you know, penalties are all over here. So the major and public works can propose and it changes to town council and then you guys go through your process if need be. And then each again has the authority with the superintendent or there does it need. So again same comment on after some prior. Yep. Any other questions or comments after all the time we spent I'm so glad to see something go through quickly like this because I know the ranks were a much bigger. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for all of your time and hard work and Athena here. I see your hand at the end. So I think we're in a kind of a funny situation because we have this outstanding question, but we're hoping to get this over to GL for their review on the fourth, so that it can move along. I suggest that the committee might recommend them pending a review by GLL especially concerning section F in the water and sewer regulations if that would be okay to just recommend with that caveat then I think we can move forward with them and they don't have to come back for another recommendation after the town attorney looks at them again. So would the, would the motion be to wrap but the TSO committee recommends that the town council adopt the water and sewer bylaws pending. Legal review. Depending on the legal review of section F. Legal review section. It's often both. It's often both the posting requirement. And I'm, I'm, I feel fairly confident that GLL would look at that also so I think it would be appropriate for them to, to take that up and answer that question in their committee. Okay. Do we have a second. A second. Oh, did you make the motion. I did. Okay. Do I need to repeat it? Please. I hear your lead. Okay, so the TSO committee recommends that the town council adopt the proposed water and sewer bylaws pending legal review of section F. For both the water and sewer bylaws. Is that okay Kelly. I'm going to read it back and make sure I got it word for word. Correct. So I have. Committee member or committee chair Lopez moved a second by Steinberg. Is that correct. Correct. Yes. Yes. To recommend that the town council adopt the water and sewer bylaws pending legal review of section F. Yes. Excellent. Thank you very much for your. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being patient with us. Okay, so we'll call it Dorothy. You're muted. Yes. Shawnee. Yes. Andy. Yes. I am a yes. So that. Passes with four and one absent. And with that, thank you so much. Amy for all of you. Before Amy goes. Dorothy asked a question at the beginning. And I was wondering if. You wanted a response to it. I think between Paul and I, we can talk a little bit about this. If you guys want. Paul, did you hear that? She was talking about the, the different insurance and I know. Fincom is going to be looking at this again next week. And we actually prepared a little bit of a summary as we're getting into it, but we're getting. We're getting answers from the insurance company on what it, like we're getting answers basically on what they would cover. And what it would cost if we went the, you know, insurance route to try and cover some of these. That's as much as I remember of the question that you asked, but if I didn't answer all of them. That's fine. It's just that it's, I think it's fine for finance to make those final decisions, but they had asked if we had discussed it in TSO. And the answer kind of came out that we hadn't, but we did. We had really gone into it. It relates to the rate. That we would have to add to the. Sewer bills that. Because when we move the responsibility for. That portion of the sewer line. That runs in the right of way. That's what we're going to do. From the homeowner customer to the town. That there's an expense, which Amy. Estimated. For the committee and. She and Sean had. Termined an amount that. Would increase the bill. The, the sewer bills. And what was being discussed was. Insurance that as I understand it. That the town would obtain. Those sort of was. Protect the amount of loss that. Protect the amount of the expense. That we would incur and it might. Enable us to decrease the estimate on the. Increase in the bills. So that's what it was about. I think that was a topic for finance committee, but TSO had approved the regulations as it is. So the finance committee is looking at the implementation. And the cost. So that's their purview. TSO and already acted on its purview. So that was all us. If I can add though, I think Dorothy to your point, if I recall the. You know, I think that was an important component of the conversation. So. Okay. Any other questions, comments. Okay. So now thank you so much, Amy, as always. For being with us. And of course, you're welcome to stay. And if not, we wish you. A great night. Thank you. I think I heard that. Okay. With your next topic, I'm probably going to at least listen in and see if there's anything that I, you don't want me to weigh in on. Oh, okay. Great. Thank you. Okay. So with that, we will move on to the. Proposed by law to significantly reduce waste by providing universal waste. And we will head, I'll pan the floor over to town manager Paul Backelman. For his update. And then we'll follow with questions and comments. I do see that we have a sponsor, Jennifer. I'm not sure if Jennifer would like to join us in the room. That would be nice. If you could invite her. Thank you. Just because I'm a little jet lag. I don't know if she would like to. If. If need be, she can provide. And of course, Andy's here as well. Yeah. And you have, and then I do see that we have. We see it with us. Hello. And thank you for being with us this evening. Hi, Jennifer. Okay. So I'm. Oh, of course. Thank you for being here. So I'm handing this over to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So just a couple updates. So we have. As you know, we, we received, we applied for and received the grant that allows us to hire. A DEP. Consultant for about 80 hours, which is a limited amount of time, but she will help us do an RFQ request for qualifications that we will send out. See the interest in providing a universal. So that's where we are. Yeah. We have met with the consultant. And we're moving forward on that. I also want to note that the council is. And part of their discussions about goals is. And talking about whether this should be part of their goals or not. So you'll be making that decision and shortly. So that's where we are. Yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to provide. I just wanted to give an update on where we, where we are with Alicia and I had. Presented a work plan for us. And now that we have Susan working with us and going through some, the questions there, I just wanted to give an update or where we. I think I don't know what. Where we are with the work plan. Since most of the questions on the work plan are really for the work plan. So we have a lot of questions. We have a lot of questions. We have a big one being around the RFQ and what information we get. From them. So. I think that it would be great. You know, we did meet with Susan. Also, some of us had an opportunity to meet with Susan and. And so she's, we've sent her all our questions from the work plan. And so we're going to go ahead and move forward and provide a work plan. And so at some point Paul, I'm wondering if. You know, maybe we can, once she is done with her planning, the TSO could get a sense of the timeline for the development of the RFQ, because everything a whole conversation in TSO and the finance committee is going to be dependent upon. Receiving that information in the RFQ. Yeah. So I'm going to. I'm going to go ahead and take a look at what we're going to do. We're going to do a review. You know, we're giving limited in what we, we will utilize Susan's time. But taking this on as a major task is going to be pretty significant for town staff. So it's really important for the council to say, yes, we want to dedicate town staff. To moving this forward. So in terms of what, what we, what my staff can do with that DPW. I'm going to go ahead and then moving it forward to Susan. And that's sort of where we are. Beyond that, I'm not prepared to make commitments of staff time. Paul, could I ask a follow up question? So. What I'm hearing you say though, is that. We will be going regardless of town council vote. We're still going forward with the grant to issue the RFQ, right? That's true. Okay. Yeah. And that's very, yeah. And the rest of course. Yeah. Okay. And then I'm just in terms of for the committee. How important that RFQ is. I just wanted to draw upon some of the. Information that we're hoping to get. Because that's what will then allow the TSO to focus on the bylaw aspect of it. So. For example, what would be, you know, what would be considered compostable, whether it's going to include yard waste or not. And so whether there'll be options around that to get a sender, what the costs might be. We're hoping that the collective bargaining is going to bring down. The cost, but we don't know that till we hear from the haulers. So what would the rollout look like then? Like, because we've been hearing at our district meeting, we heard from residents in condos. And apartments also asking for this. So what would be the right. Rollout for that. So those are all the kinds of questions we can delve into. Once we have more information and Paul, you have a hand up. Yeah. And I just wanted to clarify. So I'm not trying to be obstinate on time. But I think this committee has already experienced how much work it takes to put together. New. Water and sewer bylaws and new water and sewer regulations. And it's extensive. You see how many nights. Amy has been here. To go through this. And so if we're going to identify this as a priority for the town. There are going to be other things that our staff won't be able to do. They're already straight out on things. So that's why I'm saying, you know, we need to identify what is our priorities of town in terms of how we allocate staff time. So I just, I. I'm not saying I approve or disapprove with this. This is what the count says we want to identify. But I just want to, you know, and we're going to have this conversation. I think additionally throughout the year as council comes up with new initiatives about. You know, we need this. We need that. It's going to be like, okay, we're going to need more funding too. Some of this stuff, and that's if it's identified as a goal, then it gets built into the budget or given as an option for the budget for the council to consider. So that's why, and I felt like I was being too negative on this, but it's not my intent. It's more about trying to be realistic about, you know, Amy has 37 and a half hours to work for the town. And she's got to run work, snowstorms and all kinds of stuff. And that's the same with the city. And that's the same with the city. And we feel like there's sometimes their time is elastic, but it's not. And so we have to be, I have to be realistic about what demands we put on our existing staff. I think, I think we all understand that there's a lot of priorities and goals. And, you know, we have those of us that have our agendas and our, and our passion and you, the staff have to balance them all. And make them work. So I think. That's understood and we're grateful for that. So Jennifer. Thank you. So I really had a question to set for Paul, you know, as we. You know, we're looking at the town manager goals. So since. I think there's some concern that, you know, we're just studying this, you know, it hasn't. It has to go back to the council. It hasn't been adopted yet. But it's. I think more than other motions, maybe. Or proposed by-laws. It's going to take a lot of staff time to get to the point where we go back to the council. With a final. Or by-law or program for them to pass. So what. So the studying. I don't know. The work that has to be done. Would then have to be a part of the town manager's goals. So that you can allocate time. So when. So what you're saying now is what we're committed to is through the consultant. And she has 80 hours. So that might end maybe the end of February or March. I don't know if you have a. I don't know what her timeframe is, but it would be enough to get us the RFQ and get that out on the streets and get information back. So that'll get us through the first stage. I think. Right. So we get that back. And then. If. We wanted to, you know, go forward. If that's not in your goal, we'd almost have to wait till the next year. Yeah. I mean, I think you should say that you want to do it in the goals. I think if you want to do it. I would agree. Chow may your hand is still up. Yeah. So just a bit, and that was one of my questions to clarify from you, Paul, like knowing what the steps are, like the first step is we've already taken getting the grant and then. Getting the RFQ across getting that information. And the town council has already passed the. The motion for us to investigate. So the based on the information we get from. Susan and the staff. We have enough to then look at, you know, what it's going to cost and all of those discussions, what might be different models for paid. As you throw within. And then, and then the finance committee. Has to look at what we then send to them. And then part of that also needs to include public. Forums like to share the information because we do. We want them to be part of this conversation. Like what are you willing to pay? And it might, one of the things. One of the alternatives, maybe your water and sewer bill goes up, but that's because this is happening. Or do you prefer the time that we need? We don't know. None of us. Are coming and knowing what this is going to look like. But we're just thinking through what are the different steps. And so I just wanted to put it out that. The public forums or discussions and getting their feedback. Is going to be an important piece of it. So then all of that will then go to the council. To the town council. As a recommend. As a recommendation. And separately, I think the finance committee has to look at the financial implications of what that might look. And they will send their own. Then recommendation to town council. And then we, you know, and, and, and that will obviously include, you know, your feedback and resources and town staff and all of that. So does that look like what we're doing here? Yeah. That makes sense. Okay. And just to end on a very positive note. I think just the fact that we are having these conversations and. We're working with zero. I mean, zero waste is obviously been very active. And I think they're volunteering their time. To work with the staff, to work with the district councilors to start the education process. And I'm super excited about that because we're not talking in, you know, just about getting this by law passed. We're looking at this as a whole campaign of reducing waste in our town and making us all conscious. Like already this is impacting the. My choices, just having these conversations. I'm becoming more aware. And so. We're going to share with you all soon. Basically to, to present to the town staff some sort of a roll out for the five hours, you know, like the rethink, whether you want to buy, reuse, repurpose, recycle, and then refuse being composting part. So we're hoping to create like educational components, which maybe the district councilors can offer. Like we would be happy in district five to be able to take some part of a meeting, even if it's 10, 15 minutes to roll out this education campaign and get people on board and excited and, and to start, you know, doing those things. So I'm really positive, you know, however long it takes to finally change and do what we're doing, but we're starting to take the steps already. So I just wanted to share that part and anything else that you wanted to add, Jennifer. Well, hang on. Andy has his hand. That's okay. If you want to keep going. Okay. No, I've been, I'm pleased that we were able to get the grant from DP to move to the next stage. And the development of an RFQ. How it gets developed is going to actually, I think provide some answers to some of the questions that we had because there are a lot of things that we know. But I think that Susan and trying to form an RFQ is also going to be able to provide information as she does. So about feasibility of some of the things that have been advocated for by various parties. And what, what really is, is feasible. We know the lot of good things are going in a lot of communities along these lines, but we really don't know how it would roll out. Under the unique circumstances that are Amherst, because every town is unique. My other comment is that. Conversation has been had about zero waste damage. I think that they're great partners, but we really have to define that partnership very clearly because they are an advocacy group. And offer the potential of being a great support group. But an advocacy group is not a decision making group. With the responsibility that the council is a decision making group. And so we need to be very cautious about. Making sure that we have separated our roles. And I think that we are working on that process, but it's good for the committee to. Be aware of that distinction. And I think that's basically as much as I can say now, I've learned a lot and I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about what's involved with this kind of an enterprise and whether this is feasible and how, how we can make it most feasible and most effective. And that's why I would hold off on actual drafting the bylaw until we learn a little bit more. I think that I was uncomfortable with our beginning, but I thought it was necessary to at least throw something out as a bylaw. But there's always the danger of starting with the bylaw as opposed to starting with the bylaw. And so ultimately the bylaw that we propose out of this committee is going to come from our process as we move down the line. So that was basically what I wanted to say. Thank you for those important thoughts and points. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for those important thoughts and points. Jennifer. I don't want to take too much time. I actually have a question. So what to Andy and Paul. So at what point would the finance committee start to look at this after. The consultant has been working longer or. Wasn't clear on. You know what that timeframe is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the billing system. If we get to, you know, that point that happens with staff, not with finance. Like who bills. That's the first question. Is it the vendor who's going to do this awardee. That will be part of what the consultant will do preparing the RFQ. Okay. Yeah. We'll find out how other communities do it. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. And also at some point we want to also ask the board of health. What is the role they want to play in. I know they've made it clear. They don't have the staff to write up the regulations, which is what I think the town staff at Susan and then TSO working along will do. But I think the board of health may still have a role to play in terms of. I don't know. And that's what to ask them what is the role they want to play. So I think that. Would be an appropriate question at some point. Yeah. So the board of health licenses haulers in town, that's their responsibility. And they established the regulations for it. That's the board. That's not the council's responsibility. It's the board of health responsibility. The way I understand it. Okay. We'll get to that. I suppose when we get to that. Okay. One of the question I had. I don't know. I don't know. The whole committee, if you have other questions, just keep sending them to one of us, maybe, and we can just make sure that we pass it on to Susan and the town staff. Is this that not to Susan directly, but to the town staff. For Susan. Right. And also Paul, I know, I think you had mentioned to us this thing. And this is, I think just for us. To make sure that we have our own contracts. We'll also have to follow the fair wage by law and the laws that. So we just have to, is that true? That's true. Right. There's no way out. If we do, you know, if we do a procurement, we will put in, you know, you have to follow all the town's laws, all the state's laws. We always put that in. If the pay their taxes on us, there's a number of things that they have to comply with. Right. So that's another component that. Even though we have the collective bargaining, that's, I mean, it's just to put it out there. That's something we have. But we'll. Cross that bridge when we get there. I don't know if that's a saying or not, or I'm just sleep deprived. I haven't slept for 28 hours. So. Maybe a little. What's that? I said, maybe a little of both. Okay. Yeah. So I'm going to move on to while we still have Amy with us and, and sponsors. And thank you, Jennifer for being with us. Move on to public comment in the event that anyone has a comment about this subject. And if you do, please raise your hand. Okay. Seeing none. Sean is your hand up again. Also, as we're thinking of rolling out the. Educate education plan. Is that something we can send to, you know, we just want to be sensitive to everyone that. The education is really in the spirit of education and it's not advocacy. And so. Is that something we can send to the staff just to even keep them updated of this is what's happening? Or would that be cumbersome for the staff? I think receiving it is fine. If you're going to ask the CPS or any staff to say, we need to send this out or take action. That's a different, but I think they would appreciate. Or I would appreciate seeing the education material. That's a useful thing. So we're kept up to speed. Yeah. And I think one other thing that came from Susan actually was to get a survey out to get a sense of what. Residents are paying as part of market research. So I think that's another thing that the zero waste. Might be able to organize and then all the district counselors can send out a link if they want. To gather that data. So we'll just keep you informed. That's all right. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you. Staying with us. I'll go back to the audience. Thank you. Yes. Feel free to join us or have a chance to go see. Visit the, the sipping shop that's going on as we speak. Yeah. And give me all this things. Sorry. Just saying Darcy for also being here and for all her support all through. And there was a list of resources that's shared in our share folder. Like if anyone wants to see all the steps that we've taken so far, some of the resources. That's also been provided by Darcy. And I looked through it. I think it's a very useful record of all the different resources. Thank you. As well as a presentation. So thank you for that. And you're right. Because the sip and stroll is jammed. Downtown is crazy tonight. Oh my goodness. Drake is popping with all these makers in there. So. Yeah. I've that. Thank you for the Gabrielle and the bid for that. Thank you. And let's see. So all right. So I, we, well, we did have comment just for this subject and we can have. Another one after I suspect we do have a comment or two. Or someone here with us, but with that. We will move on to the town manager appointments. I'm not sure if everyone had a chance to look them over. You have any questions. And Paul, if you would like to. Sure. Here's some words. Thoughts. I'll go through them one by one. So the first one is the board of health. And this is, I am appointed criminal in there up to your appointment. Your approval. She is a, has lived in Amherst for 30 years. She's a nurse practitioner. She has always wanted to get involved now that her kids are grown. This is a familiar story we hear now that my kids are grown. I'm ready to give back. She has worked at Smith college in Springfield at the Southwest Community Health Center for 20 years. She's worked at other community health centers. She's working, helping to resettle refugees. She has speaks English, Spanish and Malay. And I made a mistake on her bio. It says that she serves on the board of directors of the UU. University Unitarian Universal Society. She corrected me and she formerly served on the board of directors. She asked me to correct that. So she's not. Now. She says she's been in the health field as a nurse practitioner. She's been, you know, she has very strong familiarity with COVID-19 and also brought up some other things that were. Very interesting that she noted for our health director. She talked about triple E and other vector diseases that. Well, that the board of health deals with on a regular basis. So. So, and she also identified racism. Systemic racism is something that she was very pleased that the board of health had recognized. And that that was something that was near and dear to her heart as well. And that was something that she was very pleased about. And that was a very strong candidate. We had a really strong applicant pool by frankly. And so, but again, I think this, this person brings the sort of characteristics that we'd like to see in the board of health. And we will have more vacancies coming up on the board of health. Come June. Interesting. Andy. If a question about the process in general. What kind of effort is made in the selection process and in their. The advertisement process. To give a variety of backgrounds on the board of health. People who have. For example. Environmental health and safety background or. Medical background or scientific background in. Relevant areas. Is there any effort made to make sure that there. Is a mix. Yeah. So when we have a vacancy, I talked to the director. And sometimes a chair about what kinds who's on now right now. Right now we definitely have a doctor. We have. Environmental scientists on. We lost John to buy it to Biason who'd served for many years, but he's a water expert. So the, and we, we have a community member who's the most recent appointee. Or the general list. And so. So I do, we do look at, especially on the board of health, because they're breadth of responsibility is so broad. We try to. Expand it out with people. And I think what. I think that's what we do. I think that's what we do. And this narrow brains is her community health background, which we really didn't have previously. We had physicians and things like that, but we didn't have the community health orientation. Any other questions. Okay. And this is for both Athena and Kelly. Would it be helpful if we go through this and do the motions one. By one, as opposed to a giant. One by one would be. You got it. You got it. And then once you meet Anna, who will join us, give you a minute because she likes to do those monsters all at once. Okay. With someone, shall I. Is it okay if I bow out. I'm really excited about the appointments and fully support them. But I think if it's okay, I will leave. You seem like you need some rest. Okay. So glad you arrived safely and enjoy. Thank you. See you all soon. See you soon. Okay. So I will move to recommend the town council approved the town manager appointment of Pamela now to the board of health. As filed with the town clerk on December 12th, 2022. Is there a second? I see you, but I don't hear you. I second it. Okay. Thank you. All right. So let's do the call. Andy. Yes. Dorothy. Yes. And I am a yes. So that's three. Yes. And I am a yes. So that's three. Yes. And two absent. The next appointment is for the registrar of voters. This is a committee that oversees elections. And the person I have appointed is Stephen George, Stephen, Mr. Professor George, whatever. He had previously served on the board of health for six years. And so he was. He has been an election worker, warden multiple roles in. Working out elections. He's very. Strong in terms of his knowledge about elections and also his commitment to the town and wanting to maintain fair elections. And also very detail oriented. Board of Registrar of Voters. It's a committee of four. And the committee is divided between Democrats and Republicans. And the town clerk is automatically a member of the Board of the Registrar of Voters. So Stephen George is the resident of 23 Dana Street. It was recommended by one of the parties. We had appointed a member from the Democratic Party and that person was appointed and then declined to serve. So that opened it up to anybody. And so Mr. George is a Democrat. So we now will have two Democrats, one independent and one Republican on the committee. Anika, I would love to make the motion. I read through all of them, read their bios, but I don't have it in front of me. So I could make a motion that we accept Stephen George for the Registrar of Voters with a term to last until what? June 30th, 2025. June 30th, 2025. Okay, right, 2025. I think we normally word it as moving to recommend to the town council. Right, thank you. I can read it over just so Kelly can get it. Unless you want to go ahead, Andy. No, why don't you do it and then let Dorothy make as to how it should be worded and then if Dorothy wants to make the motion, she should have the honor of doing so if she wants, I would think. So it's to recommend the town council approve the town manager appointment of Stephen George as a Registrar of Voters as filed with the town clerk on December 12th, 2022, effective immediately for a term to expire on June 30, 2025. Well, I can do most of it. I move to recommend to the town council the appointment to the appointment of the town manager appointment of Stephen George as Registrar of Voters, filed by the town manager on December 15th. Feel free to just say so moved Dorothy and we've got those words. Okay, we'll say thank you. Thank you. In a second. Okay. And then we'll call it Andy. Yes. Dorothy. Yes. And I am a yes. So that is three yes and two absent. So the next one is the Transportation Advisory Committee. This is one that we're sort of cleaning up a lot of the reappointments and appointing two new members. So the reappointments are Tracy's Athian and Marcus Smith and Kimberly Tremblay for different Tracy and Marcus for terms ending June 30, 2025 and Kim June 30, 2024. And they will continue to serve under this if you approve this. And then we have two new members, Tate Coleman, who is a graduate student at UMass, but actually had worked in transportation previously and he chaired the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee in South Back Berkshire County and he worked for the town of Great Barrington and has done micro transit planning and all kinds of good stuff with the Berkshire Planning Commission, Regional Planning Commission, a very strong candidate and we're anxious to have him. He's been coming to their meetings regularly just because of his interest. So this would formally appoint him to the committee. The other person is Joseph Fadaruso. He is a researcher and has worked with Amherst College and has working with a couple of professors on doing research for their books that they're working on. He has worked in the legislative side for the city of New York and New York state. You know, he's moved here recently, lives on McClellan Street. He's a young family, just sort of came forward, said, I want to serve on something. I'm interested and have really strong research skills. We interviewed him for a few different things and felt like this was a really good fit for him because of the work that TAC does. It does a lot of research and sort of consultation and things like that. And so in terms of the interview, Tracy Zafian sat in on those with along with a member of the residents advisory committee. So we think those two young people will really help the TAC as well. Thank you. Dorothy? I just want to say that I'm really glad that we're going to have a really strong TAC. I know that we had some vacancies for a while. It sounds like wonderful reappointments and new appointments. So I so move that we recommend that the TSO recommend these appointments to the town council. Can we second that, Athena? I second. Can we use the words? Thanks. All right. Dorothy, do you mind if I use the words for you? Yes, please do. All right. To recommend the town council, approve the following manager appointments to the Transportation Advisory Committee as filed with the town clerk on December 12, 2022, effective immediately. For a term to expire on June 30, 2025, Tracy Zafian, reappointment, Z-A-F-I-A-N, and Marcus Smith, reappointment. For a term to expire June 30, 2024, Kimberly Tremblay, T-R-E-M-B-L-A-Y, reappointment, Haight Coleman, and Joseph Petroso. Excuse me, I'm sure I'm butchering this name. This is F-A-T-T-O-R-U-S-S-O. Thanks, Anika. I sent the motions to Kelly ahead of time, so there's no need to spell. Yeah, but I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, thank you. So that's been seconded, if I heard correctly. Yes. We'll call it Andy. Yes. Dorothy. Yes. And I'm a yes, three, yes, two, absent, and I see Tracy is here. So thank you. Congratulations, Tracy, and thank you for your continued service. The next one is the Human Rights Commission. There are three appointees, Ronnie Parker from Point 4 North Press, Big Street, Tyler Mazzullo, who's a student at Amherst College, and Laverne Kelly at 48 Granite Road. So Ms. Parker has, it brings a lot of experience working in women's rights. As a graduate student, it was one of her specialties. She also brings language diversity that we're always trying to achieve because she speaks English, French, and Tamil. And I think many of you know her, and she's a passionate person who cares about human rights issues. And so it has been very interested in serving on this. The second one, person is Tyler Mazzullo, who is a student at Amherst College. Again, speaks English, French, and Japanese. And you know, he is, we're always trying to engage students in terms of being involved, especially on the Human Rights Commission. He will, you know, I'm pointing them to a two-year term because that's at the end of his two-year term is when he will graduate from Amherst College. So we'd like to take advantage of his experience and his interest in this. He's a very critical thinker interested in law and jurisprudence. And so that's our second person. And then Laverne Kelly, who is a, grew up in Amherst and has worked as a legislative aide. She serves on the Executive Board of Women of Color Health Equity Collective, which is in Springfield. And she is very much aligned with the mission of the Human Rights Commission. So those are the three appointees. That's an excellent addition. Dorothy. I'll just say excellent additions, too, and let you make them read the words. Okay. One quick question before the words. Paul, is this the first time that either an Amherst UMass or Hampshire College student has served on one of the committees? No. We've had Amherst College students before. I don't think we've had Hampshire College students. We have high school students who serve on the Human Rights Commission. Okay, that's great. It is good. That's great. Okay. We have high school students on the cultural council. I think the cultural council or public art commission. I forget which one. Great to add the youth, their voices and vision. All right. For the words, to recommend the town council approve the following town manager appointments to the Human Rights Commission as filed with the town clerk on December 12, 2022, effective immediately, for a term to expire June 30, 2025, Rainey Parker, for a term to expire June 30, 2024, Tyler Mutsu, for a term to expire June 30, 2023, Laverne Kelly. Is there a second? I'll second. Can I do that? I'll second. All right. We'll call it Dorothy. Yes. Andy. Yes. And I am a guest. So that is three yes and two absent. Thank you. Thank you. A follow up on that is the student who served on the cultural council, actually from Amherst College wrote an article and the Amherst student and that generated a lot of a few other students to apply based on what he wrote about his experience serving on a committee and they said, oh, I didn't know this was open to me. So let me try. So that was kind of exciting. That's great. Yeah. And the last one is the Recreation Commission. Sarah Ewell of 15 Blue Hills Road grew up here and has been participating in sports both as a growing up as a college athlete and then also as a parent. And she was again ready to start giving back to the community and expressed interest. And so I think she's going to be a very strong addition to the Recreation Commission. Right. Thank you. Okay. Well, I could, I could, I could strongly support and say I so move. Okay. All right. Thank you. We're partners here. I will, I'll come with the words. Okay. So we are, let's see, to recommend the town council approve the town manager appointment of Sarah Ewell to the Recreation Commission as filed with the town clerk on December 12, 2022 effective immediately for a term to expire on June 30, 2025. Great. Dorothy's made the motion that I second that. Thank you. And I'll call it again. Andy. Yes. Dorothy. Yes. And I am a yes. Okay. So that is again three yes and two absent. Thank you very much. Thank you. Really great candidates Paul. Really good job everybody. Yeah. Yeah. It's really exciting when we have strong people. Yeah. And I love the fact that you have two, two members going to the Human Rights Commission that each speak three languages. That's fantastic. Yeah. That's really important. Okay. Making progress. And so next, I'm not sure has everyone had a chance. I know that we have two of us who are not here to look at the, thank you. Wow. Who are ahead of your, whoever is far ahead of us appreciate it to look at the upcoming the schedule our meeting schedule for this coming year. And I thank you Athena for matching the holiday dates and getting us again. So we are hopefully opposite of CRC. Okay. So my question was the explaining the ones where it's this or it's that and it's this or it's that. I just wanted to know what that was about. I think some of the, some of those dates, there were some back to back meeting dates like CRC had back to back meeting dates for one reason or another. And so in order to avoid CRC cross, you know, double booking, there were some different options about how you wanted to break these up. So, and that's what I've done. And then there was, I looked at last year's schedule. I think you had either one meeting in July or August. So if you wanted to, you know, I, so that's why I guess I left some options to see if the committee had a preference. But I also wanted to note that the town council president's going to make new committee appointments at the beginning of this coming year in January. So this schedule just as a reminder is subject to change pending the new committee members. It's just good to have a jumping off point for TSO once the new committee is formed if there are new members. And it might be amended depending on their schedule and availability, but it's just nice to have some dates on the books. Right, which I didn't think about when I entered them all into my date books. But I noticed that it says all the meetings at 6.30 and we've been meeting at 7. Well, we meet at 7. If we like, for instance, if we fit in this meeting, we have Athena or someone else shall in the oftentimes coming from CRC. But usually our regular time has been 6.30. Okay. Should note that the problem is 6.30 is that I'm really assigned to transportation advisory committee and we try to have one member of TSO serve in that role. And there's a conflict because TAC normally meets on the same Thursday ends up meeting a lot of the same Thursdays at 5.30. And when we have a 6.30 meeting, it's guaranteed that I have to leave the meeting, the TAC meeting early. So what would the seven start time? I mean, assuming that, I mean, it might not be us here, but assuming that that would 7 p.m. Be a better start time for you. Yeah. I think yes. And once we can coordinate something different with TAC, if Tracy's still in the audience, she might be able to tell us on that. She's not here. She's left. Or I mean, this would it be more appropriate I believe that we have one more meeting if we take a look at this and then put this just to take a look at this for the next meeting again, assuming that it is here, but it seems that that would that would that would make sense anyway for whomever. I had my hand up, but sorry, Dorothy. Whoever is on what committee, whoever is a liaison, TAC has so many items that relate to TSO. I think it's really important that we try not to conflict with the TAC hours. This is really useful. Andy's been a useful liaison. Yeah. So I mean, so this it simply would be safe to just switch the timing from seven, seven to nine as opposed to 6.30 to 8.30. Good. So would you like me to make that change now or do you want to come back, bring this calendar back to the next meeting and I think it makes sense. I think it is to, you know, with Andy's point to change it now for whomever. And, you know, if there is, you know, some issue that needs to be changed at a later date, it can be. The other thing is I can inquire with TAC is to whether it's frozen into those dates. You can't move the dates or the time. It would be hard for them to advance moving the time because I think the five o'clock inferences would work hours of members of that committee. Today they didn't meet until six. It was a little easier because they had important but prefer agenda comment on later. Okay. So I think we've gone about as far as we can with this for this evening. And thank you Kelly and Athena Kelly and Athena for pulling this up and for your work and helping us out with this. It's been very helpful. You're welcome. And so you'd like to leave this as is now and trying to prove it the next meeting. Is that what you? Yes, I think so when we have the evidence with us. Okay, great. All right. So I see that we have one, someone who has joined us. I just see a phone number and I'll ask again at this time if there is any public comment. If we have any public comment, please raise your hand. Okay. Okay. Moving along next item on the agenda is approval of the minutes as everyone had a chance to take a look at the measures from November 10th for our regular meeting schedule. Were there any questions, concerns? Okay. I will move that we approve the minutes from November 10th, 2022. Is there a second? Thank you. Okay. So I'll call it Dorothy. Yes. Andy? Yes. And I'm a yes. So that's three yes and two absent. And let's see, are there any announcements, any goings on that anyone has? What about that they would like to share? I mean, I said a moment ago about today's TAC meeting and let's see if I can share screen and find that document there or not. I'm not going to bother to try. I'm just going to tell you what's on it instead because I don't want to mess around too long. They had a really good discussion about TAC priorities and items in progress. And I thought it was a very good discussion because they not only presented what they were talking about, but they adjacent skills present from DPW and Jason was very good at answering a lot of questions that are there. So I just wanted to share with you what the items were without getting into discussion unless you ask, but the priorities and items in progress that they talked about were completion of the priority bicycle and pedestrian networks map. Number of members of that committee are very focused on bicycle and pedestrian safety and they have been working on that issue. Then they pointed out that there were two items that had been forwarded to them for consideration and they've made a tremendous amount of progress that they reported about on crossword design guidelines. And I think that that's one that may be coming back to our committee at some point because I think that they are looking eventually to get the council to adopt the guidelines so that they have more formal imprimatur than they presently have. So we may be hearing about that one again. They talked about restriction of on-street parking on arterial roadways, which is something we've had some familiarity with. They've talked about having, let's see if I can get, that there was one carryover item for TAC from the previous council and that was one that I recall there was a lot of discussion about which is a redesign of the walkways and pedestrian access along North Pleasant Street between East Minlain which is sort of the north end of the main part of campus where that roundabout is up to Pine Street and the prior TSO, it's been some time at the urging of TPW to work on that issue and their proposed design. But because of budget reasons, the work, the funds were going to be available to work on to actually do the work. So it kind of got backed away but it was something that was looking from the last council and then they asked about a number of streets that are priority road projects and corridors for infrastructure improvements and that's where Jason was really good at jumping in and giving reports on those items. So that was the discussion today and I thought that they had a really good discussion on all items. Thank you. Very interesting. Northy? I got a letter from a constituent, Dear Pam, which some people call me, or confused me with Pam Rooney, not sure, from District 4 which we are straddling two districts. So I sent a copy to Pam Rooney and to Jennifer Taub and to Tracy Zafrian. It was about who's in charge of plowing and she listed a lot of streets, strong street and a number of other streets. And I think CRC had been actually having a discussion of that. So it was very timely and a lot of people are looking into that as to what the, you know, working on that. And I think this is something that just ties in with all of the things we've been talking about, pedestrian safety and just clarifying who's to do what and when and how, that kind of thing. That was actually a topic and this week's GOL meeting going over that and we actually pour District 4 that will share more in a couple of days that we have a walk that we're going to start walking some of the sidewalks that Paul will be joining us. It's fantastic. So we're going to start this to see how we can be helpful to the town and initiatives that are already taking place. I have a couple of lighthearted shares. One, I just, I saw this today and I thought this was so sweet that on December 21st there will be a winter solstice celebration at Kendrick Park with lots to do for, you know, kids and stories about darkness and light. And I just thought that was so great. The, you know, the solstice are often celebrated in a major way in Indigenous culture. And I think that's so great how that's going on here. And I also had last week, I went to Amherst College for their astronomy night, which was really great. I mean, the way that the students were out in full force and it was just it was really nice to see the Amherst College students interacting with, you know, local youth. And they had so much going on. They had different exhibits and portable planetariums and some great telescopes on the roof that I was so excited about. I ended up catching the attention from counselor Hanneke's husband, who I had never met before, but he just heard our, you know, squeals about what we were looking at through the telescopes. It was kind enough to move some so we could see some more planets and constellations. So that was that was really great. And I know that they will, you know, hopefully they, I talked with some of the students and they're really excited about it. And, you know, to continue on with these events. So that was that was a lot of fun. So that was pretty much, oh, and I also attended the, and I'm not sure who else stopped by the, the holiday party for the Chamber of Commerce that was at the Eric Karla Museum. And that was my first time going there. And they have two really great exhibits over there. So that was, it was great as well. And I'm sure you all have been, but I'd recommend it for anyone who hasn't. And that's about it for mine. And we will, you know, for our next agenda we'll continue on with the schedule, probably more street lights and speed limits, perhaps. And then we will also talk about upcoming agendas. And Athena, I see your hand. Yeah, I just wanted to note that we have the surveillance use policy on the Council agenda for Monday. And I think we anticipate that that will come to TSO for review prior to Council action. So that is on consent for TSO referral on Monday. Great. That's great. And I have a question about that astronomy night sounds fabulous. It was what young people were invited because I never saw anything about this in the paper or anything. You know, that was something because I actually saw it on social media and I shared and shared away. But it was, I know that the school system that I think was the high school, middle school, they had shared it. And that's where I initially saw it. But it was, I definitely, I saw it on social media. I'd imagine it was on their websites. But yeah, I did ask and gave my input because I think there were a lot of people who didn't know and found out, you know, later minute and probably would have gone ahead of time. It was nice because it was, you know, I mean, you had a lot of kids there, but just the space that they had it in, it's nice and spread out partially outdoors as well. So it was nice that it was in such a big space, you could accommodate people. And there were a lot of people there, but it wasn't too packed. It just sounds wonderful. Yeah, they were motivated. The students were saying how, you know, apparently they had planned this and then COVID happened. So they're really excited to get going with it and in other ways that they can invite the community into that space. Yeah, new leaf, new leaf. Yeah, yeah. I'll definitely forge it because I have a mailing list. So I'll forward it to everyone. I guess, you know, then you would have those alerts. Thank you so much. All right. And with that, we have, yeah, so we do not have any items that were not anticipated within 48 hours. So I won't wish you all happy holidays yet because I do not think any start before our next meeting. And I'll see you then. And if there's nothing else, I think I want to know, I had written down two dates for the next meeting and it's not on the new list. So maybe it is the 22nd. Yeah, the 22nd, 630. Okay. Yeah, I did not have it. Thank you. I know that's popular day. 630. So will there be items for the council, for the committee to consider on the 22nd? I wonder if you need to have that meeting since you just meet met tonight. I mean, I don't know that there are any that we'd have to meet beforehand unless, if I can ask Athena, was there anything that was coming back to us for the water and sewer by law to pass on or will this go, we've already settled it. I know we voted it through. So we have nothing else to do and it will go on just to GOL. Yep, it's also, I've already actually forwarded it over to Michelle for GOL with that. Thank you. The attorney look at that section F on both of them. So yep, those are all set. Would you agree that we could postpone? Me, I would love if we didn't have meeting on the 26th. That's good with me. What do you think, Andy? I agree. All right, we're done here. So happiest holidays. If I see a Monday, one of my grandchildren's coming home. So yeah, I don't I'd love not having a meeting. Oh yes. Okay. So I'm not wishing you anything. I'll see you all Monday the 19th. Okay. Thank you all. I hope you're patient with me and have a wonderful night meeting adjourned. Thank you. Good night. Good night. Thanks Kelly.