 Go ahead. Second. One second. There we go. Okay. It's recording now. Pursuant to governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. GL third C 30. A section 18. This meeting of the council on aging is being conducted via remote participation. It's all the meetings also being recorded. We're going to do a roll call here to make sure that everyone's video and audio is working properly. And, and I'll do that right now. Tim Neil. Present. Okay. Susan Dirks. Yes. Jack Wollensack. I'm here. Rosemary Koffler. Yes. I'm here. I'm here. With that palace in. Jack. Well, and Smith, cooks. And here I will have to leave early, but I am here. All right. And Greg basket. Here. Okay. Thank you, everyone. Just be, just be sure to get. Get used to the unmuting muting and unmuting. Be sure when you wish to speak that you are unmuted. Holding my ear, that means I can't hear you. So that's a little bit of a backup, a backup. So I call this meeting to order. And anyone, first of all, I wanna say welcome to any guests that we have here. Are there any guests? Pat, according to the participant panel and the attendees, there are no attendees at this time. All right, okay. I'll monitor that. All right, okay, thank you. Okay, okay. So therefore anyone in the public, if we get members of the public who do wish to speak, I will let them know that they're free to express their views. Also, presumably, is there anyone dialing in by phone today? I don't think so. And I always encourage everyone to mute because it cuts down on any background noise that you have in your, you know, in your space. And you can always unmoot when you've been identified by the chair. When you want to speak, you can also, you can raise your hand either electronically by hitting the raise hand icon on your screen or you can physically raise your hand, your real hand. Okay. Are there any guests? Okay. All right, so everyone should have the agenda and its attachments. And so let's see, let me just, we want to get started by going next to the, so remembering Eta Walsh. So item, so who is that? Eta, as you, as many of you know, was died on July 28th and she was a former president of the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center. And many of you have know her very well. We'll also be honoring and recalling Fred Filios who died on August 7th at the age of 102. And I wondered if anyone would like to say a few words about either Eta or Fred? I just would like to add for the record and posterity that Fred Filios was honored with the Boston Post King Award. And I know several members on the Council on Aging were present at his presentation. Nancy Bogano, feeded him gloriously. There was a wonderful birthday party, I understand. I think Sue was there. Rosemary was quite familiar with him and he was a treasure in the community. His obituary spoke so eloquently to a life that was so well lived. So I just want to explain for people who might be watching this at a later time why we're honoring Fred Filios because he was a recipient of the Boston Post King which is an award which honors our oldest member of our community. And so with his passing, we'll be working with the town clerk's office to identify the next recipient of that award. But it is a time honored tradition and Nancy had done a beautiful job of honoring him and feeding him. So I just wanted to add that for the record. And then with regard to Eda, I think that words really defy the epic loss that she is to our senior center and to the community. She was also a member of the Council on Aging and she worked so tirelessly though I knew her such a small period of time. The two things that stood out to me was we were doing the, I think we called the White Elephant Sale last October on the Common. It was pouring rain and she was out there trudging items across the Common from cars back and forth. It was a cold, rainy, raw day. We were drinking hot chocolate and just so exceptionally devoted. I just stood in awe of everybody who showed up but particularly her because at that time she was ill and going through treatment and still so very present and determined. Even if it was $10 to $20 or whatever she could manage to support the senior center, she did. So I just, I honor her and the love that she had with her husband was just remarkable to watch them at events together. I think they had just a beautiful relationship of connection. So. Yes, and I did want to also say a few words. I certainly agree totally with Merida Fapp that it was just a wonderful presence and I'm totally uncomplaining at every all along the way throughout her illness. She was happy to do things and help others and be a part of the friends. So we will miss her a lot. She was a very wonderful presence. Whoops, I'm sorry about this. Thank you. The other thing I wanted to say about Fred, he was the sweetest little guy. He would come to the senior center and he would sit on the sofa there day after day. And the first time I saw him, I said, Fred, I didn't know his name. I said, is there something I can help you with while he was sitting there? And he said, oh no, I just like to be here. And so he would come every day and he was always kind of humorous and jovial and he would talk with people and that was his place. But he was also remarkable. He was so talented. He had numerous careers throughout his life from social, soil scientists to creating his own business and doing perk tests and wetland mapping. And he had a huge family. I was at his birthday party and so was Sue and his children with their extended families. It was a wonderful gathering, very nice people. And I think that was one of the happiest days of his life. He was so proud with that Boston Post came award. It was just a joy to be there. So many, many memories, wonderful people that we will always think about. Thank you so much, both Mary Beth and Rose Mary. Anyone else care to share? Let's take, go ahead, Sue. Fred was my neighbor for a number of years. He lived in the same building and he was just a delight as a neighbor as well. But I do remember him many times coming into the senior center and he just sort of lit up the room and people love to visit with him. And certainly that birthday party was amazing. And Edda, she just astounded me with her energy, her passion, her sense of humor was so wonderful. And during the early spring and summer, I had the privilege of having a visit with her and Dennis twice, social distancing with our masks. And even in her pain, she exuded a joy of life. And I sure miss her. Okay. Thank you so much for that, anyone else? Okay, let's just take a few moments of silence in honor of these glorious human beings and the lives they live. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Okay, moving on and our agenda to presentations and discussions, the statement from the chair. So I'd like to begin by expressing a big debt of gratitude for the work of my predecessor as council chair, Rosemary Koffler. Her intelligence and compassion and integrity and organizing skills has really set a standard, a very high standard. And she has been so generous with her time and our transition has been delightful and filled with humor and we had collaborated wonderfully. And so thank goodness, she's agreed to contribute to the continuity and continue as a council member and bring her deep knowledge of our town and ACOAs history to our future work together. So I know that you share with me the excitement about that. And I also wanted to thank this morning, new council member, Greg Baskham, who offers for suggesting that we meet in August. I understand that in the past ACOA meetings have rarely taken place in this month. And because these times are unusual, he suggested it and I think it was a very wise decision. And so I think thanks to Greg for urging us to make the right decision on that. I'd like to share my impressions of where the Amherst Council on Aging is at this moment in our 53 year old history and offer some thoughts about where we might go as well as some core values that would animate our work. This strange and unprecedented time in our history which requires us to be physically separate from each other also opens up some extraordinary opportunities to examine all we do and how we do it. In my view, everything is on the table. And I think we would be fools if we simply carried on business as usual. This is a time for questions. Who is at the table and who is missing? What habits of culture and language exclude rather than invite? Where do barriers exist for folks and how do we overcome them? Do the rules, laws and structures we use serve our needs and fit our purposes? And for me, the most important one and I'll be bold and vulnerable when I state this. How can we create and sustain among elders in our town a practice of beloved community that is authentic and dynamic? In my view, we do not have to be imprisoned by the limitations imposed on us by the small virus because there is ennobling work to be done. And there are people who call to us to do this work. First of all, who calls us seniors, seniors themselves. And especially those who are particularly vulnerable. And they call to us especially if we create occasions for listening and then we become world-class listeners. But others call to us as well. Their families and their caregivers and our youth and our planet calls to us. Black Lives Matter calls to us. And even our dusty holy books or our rusty moral compasses. They beseech us to act, to witness, to create and then sustain beloved community. I have been so fortunate to have had conversations with every one of you, nearly every one of you. And Tim, we're meeting soon. And I have glimpsed your experience and your dreams and your wisdom and your heart. And that is what we bring to this moment in our little town. This moment that is both bold and humbling and even a bit scary. Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma has said, everyone is a little bit scary when they're going somewhere they haven't been before. But if you trust the process, we can sometimes turn that fear into joy. We do have to pay attention to the process. And we must make the process serve our needs. I'm gonna ask you in the year ahead that we accompany each other to some places we've never been, but we can do this. We have a chance to face and dismantle not only structures of institutional racism that have perpetuated unspeakable misery in our town and in our nation, but in doing so awaken ourselves to all the structures in our culture that diminish our humanity, inequality, greed and materialism. Those very structures conspire to harm or even kill elders or discard them as a drag upon our economy or the unproductive ones to label them as the unproductive ones. In the last years of our lives, we cannot allow that to happen. So we must strengthen our advocacy muscles. The Emmer Senior Center we know is but one gathering of elders in our town. And it has already achieved some amazing victories in providing much needed services to vulnerable people regardless of social class or education. Seniors can meet together to exercise or play cribbage or discuss public policy, learn about Shakespeare or get their blood pressures taken. That is a good beginning, but it is not nearly enough. A clear-eyed look at the senior center at Bangs will reveal that the vast majority of those who participate in programs at the center are disproportionately white folks. Until now this council has rarely represented seniors of color or senior gay people or seniors for whom English is the second language and that is about to change. Permit me if you would for a word to white folks on the council. I'm white. And I say we have some major homework to do. For me, a good starting place was Robin D'Angelo's book which I've mentioned before called White Fragility. I'm also reading this book by Ibram Kendi called How to be an Anti-Racist. Although I have been involved in civil rights work my entire life, this book has opened up whole new vistas and depths of better understanding. I use this book as kind of a thoughtful and soulful tool for performing my own fearless and searching moral inventory. He's also delightfully and powerfully produced this children's book. It's a board book and it's called Anti-Racist Baby and it is filled with light and hope. If you can get your hands on it, it keeps selling out. Both of these books have been best sellers recognized by the New York Times. I'm challenging us to begin to imagine what beloved community would look like among the seniors in this town. In fact, what beloved community is in the entire town. And then, but specifically our task is to, in a little part of the universe regarding seniors and advocating for them. And as we do that, we get our shovels out and start digging the foundation for building right relationships that characterize that aspiration. Between now and the next meeting, I want everyone, I would like everyone to think about what values and practices need to be embedded in our process that will support our work ahead. One more thing, while I have agreed to accept the role of chair, this is definitely not the Pat Rector show. Our strength is our collective power. I'm asking you to take leadership and scoop up others and bring them along with you, democratize your activities and make thoughtful use of your talents, which I know are tremendous, and your network of friends and neighbors and expand beyond it. I can't wait for us to begin our work together and I know it's gonna be a very exhilarating year. Okay, so I wanna now recognize that and I'm happy to say that Yvette has joined us. Hello Yvette, and you may want to, I'm not hearing you, but you may wanna turn on. I'm hoping you're hearing us and you may need to unmute yourself. Okay, we're gonna move on to the director's update with Mary Beth. I know, I always have to remember to unmute. So thank you Pat, and thank you for that inspiring statement. I look forward to working with the Council on Aging and making all of that real and present. So you've set an agenda and an aspiration and I hope that together we can all partner to really widen the circle here. So I'm very excited. So my report is really three points that I just would like to share with you all in terms of updates from the last time that we met. Operationally, we have successfully garnered three part-time employees pursuant to a grant for unemployed restaurant workers. So they are actually underway. So we have, it was a program through Mass Hire and then the accompanying partner for the grant is Snapshift. So it was intended to recruit unemployed or underemployed restaurant workers who have lost their positions. And we have one person who's helping us with meal preparation in terms of packing the food every day. And we have two new delivery drivers for our Meals on Wheels program. So it's fantastic. The program pays their salaries and wages and we are the site recipient for the benefit of their work. And we are, it's just, it's tremendously helpful for our staff and particularly this time since food and the number of meals we provide has expanded quite a bit. Secondly, with regard to operations, I wanted to give you an update on our technology loan program. So I think the last time that I spoke with you, I indicated that I was pursuing grants and opportunities to purchase technology that we could loan to seniors because of the fact that it looks like this pandemic will certainly go on for a longer period of time. And that digital divide for seniors is real. I've gotten calls for people who can't access telehealth appointments and trying to help them through that process of either contacting medical providers or trying to find someone in the community who could help them. So there, you know, it is a healthcare issue as well as one that will help to reduce isolation and depression. So we did get a grant and so we are purchasing nine tablets. So also known as Chromebooks, but I like to call it a tablet because I think it's a friendlier word. And then I have started a fundraiser. So I will share with the community, it's in the newsletter and it is on our Facebook page. I have a GoFundMe campaign. I am running 200 miles from here to Provincetown and asking people to pledge and support us. So, and the title of it is Move and Groove to close the senior digital divide. And the intention is twofold. Is one to have a fundraiser to purchase an additional pieces of equipment for our community. And so the goal is $10,000. And I have about close to $600 so far. Thank you Pat Rector and Rosemary who became aware of the campaign. And the other piece to it, and I think more importantly is to invite the entire senior community to also move along with us. So what we know from this period of sheltering in place is that a lot of people had a loss of mobility, also a loss of muscle mass. We also know that movement improves mood and improves cognitive functioning. So people who could follow us on our Facebook page, we're gonna be posting different ways that people move. So if any of you have photos or videos of any way in which you move. So I've begun to create a little library. I have myself using soup cans doing bicep curls, how to unload the dishwasher, right? And then in a way like we're reaching, we're bending carefully, we're stretching, rolling our shoulders in between that. So finding the kind of movement does not have to be something extreme. I am doing the run just because that way I can garner friends support and financial support. But again, I want to engage the community to move because as we're looking at winter, we really need to begin to buffet ourselves and to find ways to support movement, mobility and also to help us with improving mood, depression and anxiety. So the way that we're gonna also be doing this is through communication. So we've been looking at closely communication plans and obviously, so that's my third point is how are we communicating and what are the ways that we can update them? And here's a small example. So the newsletter has been with the printer for over four weeks. They have had a problem with their copiers and so it is sitting there waiting, waiting, waiting. As of two days ago when I communicated with them, they again apologized. They're having some problems with their machines and they're in the middle of a move. And so that form of copying that manual paper newsletter while it is essential for a certain slice of our population, I think we need to begin to sort of shepherd people and encourage them to subscribe to an E newsletter. So I have been working with the communications manager for our town and we are gonna be adding on our website a subscribe button for an E newsletter. We've also been testing MailChimp for we have some people's emails through my senior center, but honestly, the number of people who also provide an email is actually quite small. So that's why we're requesting, we're gonna be doing a subscribe button. So you will see a slow process of migration, of trying to communicate with people in a way that is more timely because what we do know certainly, even with the advisories for the pandemic, things shifted so quickly as we learned more information. Likewise, as we are accommodating these new ways of communicating, things that we're able to produce are cropping up not in a period of every two months of getting people to schedule a class. So each week I might come up with another person who says, geez, I'd like to try to teach, but I wanna do it with a small group. And so we need to be able to spontaneously communicate with our seniors. And certainly again, we acknowledge that not everybody is gonna have that capacity, but really spreading the word and messaging to follow us on Facebook, to go on to the website. And we are updating the website. As part of that, your only task I'm gonna ask of you is I will have someone be getting in touch with you to take a photo for your display for the council on aging. So individual shots, we won't get you all together. But as part of the update of the website, I really wanna make it more visually friendly and having photos of you and us and what we do, I think it's more inviting. And so that will be your assignment with that regard. So hopefully, again, in the next several months, you'll see a shift, but it really is necessary so that people know what we're doing and how we're doing it because every two months is just, it's a challenge in this time. So, and I think that that's it. Does anyone have any questions or comments for Mary Beth? Well, I do. I wanna say thank you at this running, jumping, moving. Director is really exciting to me. And I guess my hope is that we figure out, and maybe we need to brainstorm about this, but we figure out a way this needs to be, this is a lovely thing and needs to be promoted more with a press release, perhaps. And I don't know what our history of press work has happened, but I'm sure that there are others who do. So, Sue, do you wanna weigh in a little bit about this or Rosemary? Yes, usually Scott Merzbach is at our meetings, but I guess since Zoom, maybe he reads the transcript after, I don't know. But he doesn't need to be nudged. So, I think to nudge him about this, Mary Beth, would be very helpful. It might wake some seniors up to realize that they already know how to do quite a bit of telecommunication and to get on board a bit more. So, I think it's a wonderful idea. I agree with you, two months is too much of a space, especially given these times. I mean, things are changing every day. And we don't have to sit back in a rocking chair and be left out. Go ahead. Jack Willis? Yeah. I did hope what has been said. I think there's a lot of energy exuding. And I think that energy opens, well, it pays the way for opening this council to people who never thought they could or would be a part. That's great. I think, oh, okay, Sue, do you want to add something? Anybody else? Okay, it's a little hard and slightly self-promotional for Mary Beth to promote her own activity in some ways. So, I am not above nudging Scott on this because I think it's newsworthy and I think more people need to know about it. And so, yeah, I think we could do a bit some brainstorming about, let me put it this way. We could identify a list of people, particularly at the university and elsewhere who need to be notified of this activity in some way, just be on the newspaper, a little more active nudge, because I think we can raise $10,000. And imagine how that would help the digital divide here in our own community. I think it would make a difference. And, you know, so, to be continued. And I will say, yes, so I am, we're creating flyers and some posters to put up around town and put them in some of the businesses. Oh, great. And it's, you know, it's again, moving and grooving because I also want, you know, not everybody can necessarily contribute or maybe moved in that direction given what's happening with the pandemic and how people are affected, but everybody can participate and move a little bit. And I have to say that even if I go around, if I go over to the Clark House like on a Thursday afternoon and the ladies are sitting outside, I bring my phone, we play a little music and we even just do like a little bit of dancing, how that shifts mood. I have to say that the science behind movement and mood is profound and that's a piece that I really want to begin to shore people up as we head into fall leading into winter where people are not going to be able to go out as much. And so we need to build in a regular schedule and routine and movement and participation with one another with what we're able to offer. So that's a really important piece of this as well. So I'm happy to have an offline conversation about how we can more widely promote it. I've spoken with the town, they're very supportive, but I just, I wanted to kind of have a soft entry with it because I wasn't quite sure like how all the technology would go with the GoFundMe or whatnot, but if you just Google GoFundMe, moving and grooving groove to close the digital divide and it's on the Facebook page and we go. I just wanted to say that part of why I am incognito at these meetings is because I'm moving and grooving. You know, it's an hour where I could just move, even sway. And second, I wanted to say about Scott and the Amherst Bulletin and all the great stuff you're doing. I wondered whether you could do a press release like UMass does when something as big as happening, they do a press release and you could send that maybe to the local papers, Valley Advocate, Bulletin, Daily Hampshire, Gazette. And then it would invite maybe their, it would stir their curiosity and their responsibility to communicate, you know, what you're doing, what we're doing because that's what they do. And that's all. Thank you. Yeah, thanks Eva. And I will tell you, I have reached out to Scott but I never received a response that they're also in some transition over there and some reduced staffing but it is not say that we can't keep pushing and nudging in that way. Yeah, yeah. Okay, thank you. We'll think of the angles, we'll keep finding angles. I really appreciate this nudge and support around that. Thanks. Rosemary. I think Tim had his hand up for Sophie. Okay, Tim, okay. Fine, okay. No, I was just gonna, and you'll be hearing, I'm sure more about this but many of the comments that Mary Beth just made, I think are pertinent to our future fundraising for the organization as well. Data, knowing who supports the senior center, we can either consistently, et cetera, et cetera. I think it's very important. So I think we just need to all be cognizant of that, how we capture who supports and participates in the organization and the themes and the major themes, the targeted fundraising is very, very important particularly for larger dollars. And when I get back, we're gonna be talking more about that, about how we can proceed in those veins but just all of us need to keep that in mind as to how we might capture our friends and those who should be our friends and go from there. I definitely want to, I'm gonna task my husband with making a picture of photographing, me moving, I have a kind of a ballet move that I do when I empty the dishwasher and it's really a sight for sore eyes, I'm quite sure. So, but yeah, I think so. Think about how you move and groove and figure out something if you like that you might want to add to this effort. And so, thanks for all of that. And I think, I guess I would like to do is I would like to draft a press release around this. So Mary Beth and I can get together about the facts and the details about it and we'll put something together and send it off. If there, are there any objections to that at all? Okay, hearing none, we go forward. Okay, so item C is a, we have a vacancy, ACOA vacancy on the council. And I have, so, and I have listed on your Jacqueline and Yvette's names because we have had some intense conversations about this and some brainstorming actually. So do either of you want to take, just to share a little bit about what sort of outreach you've been doing and then, yeah. So Jacqueline, did you want to say a few words about that? Well, I've been talking with some individuals and what occurred to me as well. One of the individuals that I spoke to indicated that her place was full, but she is all, one of the items on her plate is that of communications person for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. And that, the announcement or whatever some of the activities are can be shared with that audience, that people. That's excellent. Yeah. So, and I can, I continue to engage, even informally, I sort of slide it in a little bit. So is that a church bulletin? A kind of like a? Electronic, yes. Okay. Yes. And she is really very good about getting the word out and back and forth between the congregants or people on the email list. The pastor and some people in the community. How can we support you in that, Jacqueline? Right now, I'm just working it out with her, the particulars. Okay. Because she has a number of things on her plate. Sure. And we'll see where things go. Okay. Thanks for asking. Sure. And Yvette, I know you've been doing a little poking around and can you say some of what you've been doing? It's very exciting also. Okay. So in speaking with you, we agreed that I would reach out to perhaps the Human Rights Commission as a way to determine if they have a contact list of how they reach out to the community. What groups do they work with? I looked at their website and I didn't see any Latino. For example, you know, I'm Latina. So I did not see any Latino, Latina representation, which is good, I guess. Maybe it suggests that things are going well with that community. And so a few individuals term just ended in June 2020. And of course we are in the middle of the pandemic and that changed everything. So Jennifer at the Human Rights Commission was so kind to return my call, my email. We spoke and she thought that contact might be Marta Glewada, who was a principal in the Amherst Regional High School. And she has a center where they work with families of color so that, you know, their voice is heard, that there's a safe place. And so all I asked about that only to determine how do we reach out to these individuals, these communities? And is there a system in place already? So I also spoke with Juana Trujillo and she emphasized that she thought the list already existed at the senior center. She noted that that same newsletter contact address would help us reach out, identify Latino, Hispanic, names and reach out to those communities. We might even have, you know, nationality or however, you know, I don't know if that's a question that's asked or we care, maybe we care more now, you know? So we were talking about how to reach out to communities so that they could get involved and determine what types of programming are of interest to them, that they would like to lead or see, attend. You had great ideas as well, Pat, I really appreciate that. You even suggested things like talks that people might want to attend or facilitate. And as I said, when I mentioned that to Juana, I thought it kind of opened up, you know, her imagination that it could be very interesting and healthy food for people, all of us together as a community to share culture and, you know, so it could be food, it could be a party, but it could be something cultural, historical that we all share together. So thank you, Pat. So where I am with that, I left it at the, I did not reach out to Marta Guevara. So I'm just waiting to see where your council on aging wants to go with that. Thank you. Thanks, Yvette. That's terrific. And I would also sort of want to, I also want to underscore what Mary Beth and I have been discussing a bit is that that we are, we have reason to be humble about this notion about effective outreach and also risk. And there's much need for respecting the integrity of gatherings of seniors in other parts of the community who never encounter, might not ever come to the senior center, but are very much concerned about the welfare, their own welfare and their own well-being. So I want to, and I just, I want to just add that the absence of a Latino presence on the human rights council doesn't necessarily mean that everything is just fine for Latinos in this town. I can assure you that it is not just because of friend friendships that I have. And so, but sometimes I think in developing a critical mass, numerically does make a difference. And so I think we, we need to just be alert to opportunities for bridge building and connection. And we will learn from those and we will get better. And so, you know, I'm also interested too, by the way, in, so, so bottom line is this, that we have a vacancy. And if you have some suggestions of people that you know, who would be excellent, you know, I think what we're looking for is thoughtful activists who are willing to roll up their sleeves and help us think and act together in the year ahead. And so do let Mary Beth know or myself know, or Tim know, and, and Tim raises his hand. I just had a technical question. There are eight of us zoomed in right now. And then with Mary Beth, how many members should be or are part of the committee are legally is that the wrong term, but how many members of one bank? Does that mean we need nine? We do need nine. We should have nine. Yeah. I didn't look at our bylaws or whatnot. We don't have an opportunity to have more than nine, right? Just it's nine is the total. So, not at present. Not at present. And you, you mentioned the bylaws. It's another sort of can of worms. One of the things that forced myself to do is currently the number we're looking at. We have one vacancy. Is that what you're saying? One vacancy. That's correct. That's right. So I want to share this problem with everyone. All right. Let's call it a share at this challenge with Mary Beth. We're looking for, we are looking for thoughtful leadership. And you may, in your own networks of people, you may have some thoughts about who, who might be involved. I do want to say that when I move, when, when we were pre COVID. That, you know, I would like to see a little more involvement of men in the center. I think it's, it's a pretty, in programming and in various activity, I think that there is some lopsidedness there. But that's something that, you know, we can. You know, we, we just need to be alert to. Gathering facts about that. So. Yeah. And sorry, one, one other comment. And that is as we speak with people, some people may not feel they want to commit to being a formal member of the committee. We may think about forming an advisory group. And so we might have, I don't know, five or six or a bunch of people who are advisors to the advisory to the committee to make them a little bit more formal and, you know, I think that's a great point to think about. Yes. Yes. I think that that's a tremendous thought. And I guess one principle of organizing that I've learned over the years is, and I don't always follow it, but I, I try my darkness too. And then it's, it's never do anything alone. We don't do anything alone anyway, really, but bringing people with you when we have meetings and, you know, we have, we have, we have, we have a lot of, you know, you know, I think we have, you know, I think we have two or more people and that is that as Tim has mentioned, it's a way of engaging others. So we're doing the people's work here. And then when we can bring others along. Formally or informally, I think that's a great idea. So we'll think about, we'll think about systematically about how to put me down those bones. Okay. Okay. There's another vacancy we need to discuss right now. And I'm, I'm, I'm wondering, I guess first, I'm wondering if, if Norma is on the phone or connected with us in any way. I'm not seeing her on our list. Can you tell. She is not on the list. Yeah. I did forward her the email and, you know, Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, I think we still need to proceed with this, this item. One of the things I need to share with you is that we, Mary Beth received a letter, which she shared with me is that art. And I'll ask Mary Beth to chime in. I will say that our funding. Is a major source of our, of our funding for staff. Is, is that correct? Goes through the. Highland Valley elder services. Am I right about that? Okay. So what I'm saying is we have a, we have a, we have a, we have a, let's say a governmental responsibility. To partner with Highland Valley elder services, which is the overarching. Agency for. And in the past, Norma Hallock has served as our representative. And she has served well and on the nutrition committee. But the Amherst, but she does not live in Amherst. And we've been told that we need to identify someone. To serve on that as our representative. On the hives. On the hives board. Which meets. I believe monthly. And I'm going to ask you, Mary Beth, to elaborate a little bit about that, that their funding relationship to us. So that we, we intersect with them in, in a number of ways. In terms of the funding source, the position that they actually fund is our dining site manager. So Highland Valley, if you think of it, they are what's called an ASAP. Every geographic location. Primarily by county has an ASAP and it's like an area, senior provider. And so what we do, what we do, what we do in our county and area is Highland Valley elder services. So if you were to go over to Franklin County, that would be life path. If you go over to Springfield, it's greater Springfield services. Highland Valley elder services covers 23 communities in Hampshire County. And what they do is, you know, a variety of things from elder services to protective services and so we intersect with them. If we get calls around neglect or self-neglect or abuse, financial mismanagement or someone who's being exploited, they have an investigative unit that investigates and is charged by statute to provide those services. They also provide primarily where our, our residents are impacted. They do the meals on wheels and also the congregate dining. So through my contract with them, and I, and I've just begun some negotiations for next year for that contract. They fund our dining site manager. So the position that Donna Hancock holds in terms of overseeing all of our meals, whether it be the congregate or the home delivered meals is funded through them. They also provide all of those meals. And they also determine who gets those meals, which is a very important strategic decision by them. And they have their own objective criteria, which they apply, which we have, we frequently have a disagreement about whether someone is truly homebound or not. And then the other, the piece that they also provide is if an elder needs support in their home, they are the designated agency that comes in and does a holistic review of all services. So are you eligible? Do you need home delivered meals? Do you need someone to come in and assist you in clean once a week? Do you need some home health aid assistance? So maybe someone maybe once or twice a week to come and change a bandage or something around that nature. So they are the provider of services, which facilitate our residents to be able to age in place, which is for me a very critical support system, particularly in light of the pandemic, where aging in place takes on greater importance. We want to keep people in home. What we learned right with the pandemic, the more we can keep people home and safe and supported with services that are robust and rich and accessible, the safer their health is as opposed to having to go to a hospital or another type of more congregate setting. So we have not, they contacted me vis-a-vis that letter. I spoke with the director, Ellen, and I also spoke with the chairperson Ellen Estelle Staz, who she works for an attorney in Northampton. And she urged me that we should have a representative from our community, both in terms of listening to the information and also overseeing what those programs are. The other last point of contact that I neglected to mention is they also provide us with grants. So things like our caregiver support group is supported by a grant through them. Our grief and loss support group is supported by them. We've received money to do a Latinx support group through them. So they serve as a pass-through agency for a number of federal programs and also some state funds with regard to support services for seniors. And so I think my own position is that it is helpful for us to have someone who enjoys critically thinking and listening to their services and providing and advocating for our community. For people who are new to the board right now, we had a conversation in the fall, Rosemary and I, it came to our attention that our seniors actually are anomalous and our community was anomalous and we were not receiving services in a timely manner with regard to home health aid or home care. So other communities, if you lived in Northampton or perhaps Chikabee, if you came home from the hospital and you needed assistance, they would be there within 24 hours and you would get somebody assigned within several days. Here in Amherst, you can wait up to six months. So zip code was determining access to services. And so, you know, we did a significant amount of advocacy. Rosemary invited the person from Hyman Valley to come and we did a presentation, et cetera, and that's being addressed. But that's the sort of representation that we're looking for with Hyman Valley is they are a critical support for our community of seniors. And it can be challenging to make sure that we get our due regard because we are one of 23 communities. So if that piques anybody's interest and they say, I really like to be an advocate and listen critically and ask questions and serve in that capacity. The meetings are once a month. They are virtual at this point in time. It's my understanding through Estelle. And if people are interested, I can also arrange a conversation with Estelle as the chair if you just kind of want to suss it out and determine whether it would be an opportunity you would like. But I think it's an important relationship that I also seek to cultivate in my position. I'd like to add something that comes to my mind. I think about John Lewis and the notion of good trouble making good trouble. I think we need to have representation on that board, which is both diplomatic fact focused, but also willing to ask some, you know, questions and actually maybe nurture an imagination for getting at some core issues. For example, we don't have a lot of questions that we don't have. For example, we don't want seniors to have to choose in our community or any community to have to choose between health care and getting meals. That's not an acceptable choice. And so we want and expect Highland Valley to be attentive to advocacy regionally. If we're, we don't want to, you know, we need to make the pie bigger. If that's, you know, we're starting to see that. And so specifically what I would welcome is a member, one of you to consider taking this on and carving out this being Amherst representative. Do we have anyone who's prepared to volunteer? Can I just interrupt for one moment? Yeah. Norma just dialed in. Oh, wonderful. So Norma, I am going to click, allow to talk. Hi Norma. And she is, she has muted herself. So I've sent her a message to unmute. Okay. Okay. Can you hear me now? Here we go. Yes. Okay. Just in time Norma. Yeah. Oh gosh. Well, it keeps fading out. But anyway. Yeah, I've worked with Highland Valley for three years now. But it's been mainly on the nutrition committee. And you know, I've been working with the board meetings, which are the first Monday of the month from two to four. And, you know, there, they do cover a wide area, but, you know, they have never mentioned. And it was mentioned in when we had, I forgot who came to the council meeting. And talked about the services and that people had a problem parking. And so they didn't want to do home care. In Amherst. That was part of it. But I guess I didn't realize that Highland Valley. You know, was. You know, sort of responsible for this too. And I never heard that mentioned that. That was a problem in the board meetings. Yeah, go ahead. Well, I was going to say Norma. The good news is that, um, Norma has just over, over the three years that she's participated with hives, which is the acronym for Highland Valley elder services. Um, has, has developed connections and she's, she's welcome to participate as leverage representative. If she chooses to do that. Um, uh, so she is a kind of a, a person. Um, I think, um, that, um, Who knows the territory, so to speak. So she could certainly brief, brief a newcomer. So I would say, um, Um, Think about it. And, uh, we have until, um, the end of September, I believe, uh, hives has a training session. Um, and I think, uh, um, and thanks Norma for mentioning the, uh, schedule, the meeting schedule. Meetings to hives, uh, location is in Florence. Isn't that right? Yes. Yeah. Where the board meetings are held. Okay. They do reimburse, um, representatives for travel. So if anybody travels to North Hampton, you know, should they ever resume in person meetings? Um, you know, that, that would be a piece of it. And I just, I just wanted to, I also want to clarify. So first of all, that, that I am, I really don't want to see Norma disappear from this process and reporting and sharing with us because she has that sort of institutional wisdom about, um, Highland Valley, how they proceed. She has the relationships and certainly can be a resource. I think that what happened is it came to light is their bylaws, Highland Valley's bylaws require, um, A representative from every community and that who resides in the community. So they contacted me to say, um, though, cause I said, we already have our representative and they said, well, you, you have to have somebody from Amherst. So it doesn't, it doesn't prohibit Norma from being our emissary and participating and also working with somebody in terms of advocating, but the, the seat that she has to sort of like occupy to get there is through, through, you know, a representation of our, of that community, but it doesn't mean Norma, that I just want to be really clear for the record that, that you're not replacing in addition. And, and we hope, we hope so much that you will continue because you know that the whole healthcare system here, you know, what we provide and do. So I just want to say thank you and, and that it's at one of those again, bylaw pieces that they've just brought to attention. So. No, I appreciate that Mary Beth. Um, and the thing is Leverett is not one of the towns that Highland Valley serves. So I have not done much with Leverett cause they don't do a lot with, you know, with seniors. You know, I tried to volunteer when we first moved here. And, um, you know, they said, Oh, they inspected septic systems. And, you know, there was not much to do with public health. Otherwise, so. Well, let's have a conversation offline and figure out our way in with us now. Let's do it. No, I understand. They've made me a director at large, which is what you have instead of a representative. Great. Thanks. Sue. Does it have to be the representative? Does it have to be a person on the council or can it just be. Okay. Okay. All right. We'll give it some thought folks and, um, we'll, uh, We'll, we'll make it happen. By hook or crook. Um, so, um, let's see. Moving on, um, Uh, I'll be brief on this. Um, we, uh, Um, Um, Um, Three of us have maybe more. Who knows. Oh, Rosemary go ahead. I mean, uh, yeah, Rosemary. I just wanted to thank Norma for coming on. She had not held the right code and I gave her a call. So she was able to get on. Excellent. Thank you, Norma. Yeah. Yeah. She persisted. I was right by the computer, but. Um, so, um, Rosemary, um, and Mary Beth and myself on different occasions, individually have for a variety of reasons visited, but, uh, the town of Hadley senior center. And, uh, the new one that, uh, it's not even really open. Um, and gosh, um, Um, and I'm sorry that Greg couldn't join us, but wow, Greg, You have to get yourself there. It's pretty amazing. Um, but, um, um, At any rate, um, It was an extraordinary experience and I'll be send. I've written up a report, uh, about what I observed and conversations that I had. Um, and, um, I'll send that sometime in the, in the weeks ahead. Do take a close look at it. Um, and, um, Because it is a vision. Um, that, um, We need to discuss and look at and, um, So, um, Rosemary, uh, your, your, your, Your visit there was a little different than mine. Um, you want to do, Do you want to just give us a little teasing, uh, description? Well, I, when I first walked in, Dick actually went there for foot care and I thought, Oh, I'm going to tag along and see if they'll let me come in with him, which they did. There was no one else in the building. There was a volunteer at the desk, but when you first walk in, the desk is very large at a low level, which is very accessible for everyone. The receptionist was there, the volunteer receptionist, and Jane, I've, uh, forgotten her last name was behind in, in the office. And the first impression is this huge ceiling with total amount of light and large windows. It's a very warm kind of a feeling because there's a big fireplace and it's a large room, but it still feels like a comfortable room. And that was on the left and to the right was the dining area. And behind that with the counter is their wonderful kitchen, which is of course a kitchen built to code. And it just, it's not huge, but it's perfect. And then in the back is a, um, a nice big classroom with tables around and there's an exercise room with mirrors, the entire wall of the exercise room. There is a nurses room or a healthcare room, a very good space for where Dick was getting his foot care. And, uh, it just was, I didn't get looking closets or anything like that because I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to be snooping or asking for a tour. But it was a sheer delight to be there. There was an exercise room with equipment as well. With exercise. Yes. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Mayor Beth, I would, can I, maybe you have this information, but it would be curious for me to compare our senior population versus the surrounding towns being a new member of the, of the committee. I'm, and I'm always interested in data. Like, uh, does Hadley have a significantly larger percentage population of seniors than us. And thus they can advocate for a much larger senior center. I know, no down here on the Cape, the next town over from where I'm sitting now in a Harwich, talk about a senior center. It's huge. And it's on a campus right across from here. High school and it's just like spacious, spacious, spacious. And of course those full-time residents, great proportion to our seniors, but I'd just be curious in terms of how many seniors we have an Amherst versus the general population, then taking out the students, how many we have, et cetera. I don't know those facts. And I think for us as a committee, that would be very interesting. Do we have X number of seniors into, and by the way, how do you define senior? What's the age category for a senior? Well, it's usually in terms of demographics, it's usually age 60 on up just in terms. Okay. Yes. And I can definitely get to that because I, I have all of that in from that population. Yeah. Maybe some of the others on the committee know that type of thing, but just to give it a, put things in perspective, I think us knowing those kinds of things would be very helpful. Yeah. I will forward that for Pat. Yeah. Yes. I want to just add that I included some of that data, just that was interesting to me, Tim, comparing Amherst, some demographic information comparing Hadley. And an Amherst population wise, property taxes and just a variety of information that I thought was important to compare. And I want to also say, as I'm learning that the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, about the legendary Jac, Wollin sack who has done some absolutely. And I'm, I don't, I haven't even seen your slide show yet. Jack, but Jack has shown amazing leadership in several years ago in leading, various senior centers around the area. I will also say that our group has been invited, our Council on Aging has been invited by their Executive Director and their Council on the Aging, which is Jane Nevin Smith to come and have a meeting there in their big room. And of course, I'm sure that would involve a tour so that we would all be on the same page. But I wanna say that I was blown away by what I saw, the accessibility, the thought that went in by the designers, the imagination, and also at the root of what that made all that happen and what Jane Nevin Smith and others are responsible for is the political power and the community-based organizing that the seniors did in order to, in Hadley to make that happen. That just doesn't fall in your lap because you want it and you think it would be nice to have a senior center that meets your needs of now and in the future. But it was quite the campaign. And yet I was convinced that it's the kind of thing that's possible if wanted. And I wanted to ask Jack just to say a few words, to just comment about what inspired you to do this tour and gather information because it sounds to me like a whole lot of legwork has been done. Yes, we've, the committee and I, subcommittee and I, have visited somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 newer senior centers in Massachusetts mostly around this area. We have spoken to the directors of most of those senior centers to get an idea of where the funding came from, how long the process of planning and building the senior center took, the population, senior population so we have a lot of data and it's been presented to the senior center and the Amherst town hall several times and I plan to run over to Hadley to see the new senior center for myself and if possible spend a few minutes talking to the director because there's a lot of information that we can gather by talking to the people who were involved with the development of all these new senior centers. So anyway, that's my plan and when I'm over in that direction I'll stop at the new building and take a look at it. That's wonderful. And Greg, when you and I talked a little bit and you mentioned that one of your reasons for joining the council, joining us on the council was that you were curious about why things got stalled with respect to Amherst senior center. Am I correct in that recollection? Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, at least so. We talked also earlier about the population data. We have gone all through that and correlated the square footage of the senior centers with the senior population and the cost of the building and so on. So a lot of that, the information is now a year or two old but I think it's still valid. Sure. Greg? Yes. Yeah. Did you want to say a little bit more? No, I'm still getting more information but I'm glad to see over here how much work John has done, Jack. And I look forward to talking with him and everybody else in more detail. Yeah, sure. That's good. That's good. We want each other to talk to each other because the two of you, maybe you could engineer. Figure, you could, let's see. You can, you can still, if you drive in separate cars, you could, you could meet, you know, it helps Jane, Jane loves to show, show off that center. She's got reason to be proud, I'll tell you. So I guess one of the things though, as a practical matter that I want, I want to ask you about is whether it would be, it would be possible for us to hold a socially distance but and masked meeting in that big dining room that which they would offer to us as a board room. So that we, we could, if we want to schedule that, I was reluctant to, I wanted to consult with everyone and Mary Beth as well to make sure that, that people would feel comfortable. Not everybody would, but I mean, we could still manage probably the zoom, zooming in. Some could participate electronically, but I just wanted to kind of informally pull you and see, and Rosemary, what are your thoughts? I would like to know a bit about their ventilation system before I agreed to do that. Okay, sure. And by the way, I meant to mention that the, the senior center is only about 10,000 square feet or maybe a little bit bigger. But of course it's a smaller population and, and hardly, but the cost was only a little over $7 million, which is pretty minimal when you start thinking about what the library wants. Yeah. Well, it's also, I wanted to just add that it's extraordinary that it, that it includes all kinds of amazing state of the art equipment for recording for like the huge movie screen for Thanks. In the, in the room for, the creative's room. There's wide doorways. There's, you know, everything is ADA compliant for people with disabilities. There's audio systems for people with difficulty hearing. There in other words, a lot of barriers, it's intelligent design. design of architecturally. So I'm sure that Jack and others may have seen other examples of it. But it does take your breath away. And it started with a large community meeting and some flexing of seniors' political power. And I'm not afraid to use that word, political power, and grassroots organizing. So that's kind of what it takes, actually. And so at any rate, we'll to be continued. But anybody else have any questions or concerns or reservations about meeting there if we were to do that? Yeah, Sue. Yeah, I would rather wait till we're over this COVID business. OK. All right. OK. OK. All right, so if that were the case, would you personally, would you be OK? You could still participate electronically. Would you be fine with that? OK. All right. So we'll figure this out because we don't want to put any pressure on anyone to do something that they feel might impair their health. We all have different situations and different exposures. So that's perfectly reasonable and understandable. OK, so I put item polling place consolidation on. That's kind of become moot because decisions have already been made. I will note that merely that that's a good example of the impact of people speaking up and speaking out because those town counselors heard the voice of the people on this one and decided to preserve as best they could the option of polling places maintaining most of the polling places. So Rosemary, did you want to add? I didn't know if everybody was familiar with the history of what went on behind that or if you know what is going on with the polling places. But I just wanted to state a few facts. Historically, there are 10 precincts in Amherst with eight neighborhood polling places. There are 17,092 registered voters in Amherst. And in the 2016 election, 4,668 people voted in the primary election. And 15,096 people voted in the November election. This year, the town clerk has received so far about 5,000 applications for mail in voting to get a ballot. That means that approximately 10,000 voters could turn up at the polls in November, minus those who choose to vote early. And we don't know how many will do that. So in July, when Shavina Martin, the town clerk, proposed a plan to have only one polling in place in Amherst for the following elections to be at the high school using two gyms. It was approved by the Secretary of State Office. And it was approved by the Amherst public health nurse. So on August 3, the town council met to discuss that plan and take a vote. They actually deliberated for three hours. And several of the counselors had serious concerns about consolidating all the polling sites. Plus, there were about 15 calls from the public who were very strongly opposed to one polling site, including a League of Women Voters representative and John Boniface, who's a constitutional voting rights lawyer. They were strongly opposed. Also, the CDC recommends more sites rather than fewer during this COVID pandemic. And Governor Baker has reduced the size of outdoor gatherings to be between 50 and 100. So having one polling site was going to be a big problem. And the greatest concern were fear of long lines. And that would be difficult for elders and people with disability waiting in a long line. Difficulty for people with small children. Difficulty for hourly workers who had limited time to be waiting at the polls. It would also mean voter suppression because many people do not trust mail-in voting. And especially members of the minority groups, minority groups historically have not wanted to vote by mail. And a lot of people were concerned about voters not certain where to go, and they just may not bother. And then, of course, there's the need to travel. Some people who don't have cars would have to get to the polls. Some people would have to drive as far as four miles to get to the polls, and that's a problem. And COVID, of course, having only one polling site meant that there would be a large number of people exposed to one another, and contact tracing would be a problem. So the council voted that night on August 3rd because they felt they were under pressure. They were told they had only 20 days before the primary election on September 1st to make a decision. So they were forced, and no one seemed to know if that was 20 business days or 12-length calendar days, but they believed it was 20 business days. So they voted, and seven counselors voted in favor of one polling site, and six were strongly opposed. The alternative plan would have been to keep the polling sites that can still be used and use the high school, only for those that had to be closed for COVID. And that was the north fire station and two precincts at Bangs. But the day after the vote was taken, they learned that it was 20 calendar days, so they would have until August 12th to make their decision. So the council met again on August 10th, and they met to reconsider the vote taken on August 3rd. And as Pat suggested, President Lynn Griesmere opened the topic of Election Day polling places by saying, we heard you. And they really heard the public and really heard the objections. And after a two-hour discussion, they voted again and unanimously approved the historical polling places for precinct one, three, five, six, seven, and eight, and nine. They would remain the same as they always have been, and only precincts two, four, and 10 would be moved to the high school. The north fire station could not be used for precinct two because of the risk of COVID to the essential responders. And precinct four and 10 could not, banks couldn't accommodate three precincts. So they would be moved to the high school also. So Paul Chavina and Jeremiah from the Facilities Maintenance carefully toured each of the sites and created a very well laid out plan for each site. There would be six feet of social distancing space and there would be a separate entrance and exit at each site. So as it stands, and the council voted unanimously to approve that plan. So precinct one will be at the church in North Amherst, the Korean church in North Amherst. Precinct two will be at the high school. Precinct three will be at Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Precinct four will be at the high school. Precinct five will be at Bangs. Precinct six will be at Fort River. Precinct seven will be at Crocker Farm. Precinct eight will be at Munson Library. Precinct five will be at Wildwood. Precinct 10 will be at the high school. Each one of those, all but one of those sites will allow for six foot distance at the site and separate entrance and exit door. The only site that could not have separate entrances was the Munson Library, but they will have traffic monitors so that people do not have to enter and exit at the same time. They will wait until they have passed one another before they can go in. So it's all set. And I think the really thing that we have to be concerned about now is we have to encourage early voting at Bangs. So people do not have to go to the polls at the last day. We have to encourage voting by mail. There will be a ballot box at Town Hall for people who are afraid of putting their ballot in the mail that it may not get there. And we're hoping there will also be a ballot box in North and South Amherst, but it has to be under camera surveillance. For now it's going to definitely be at the Town Hall. We have to be sure there's very good publicity about the sites and the changes that are necessary. And we have to remind people of safety guidelines for the COVID when they do vote. But early voting is pretty important and that's gonna be held about a week in advance of the final voting date. Thank you so much. I want to just remind everybody to mute themselves if they're not speaking so that you don't get additional sounds. And thank you, Rosemary, for that thorough explanation and fact-focused conversation. Tim. Just a little update to your report, Rosemary, which was great and I hadn't followed it as carefully down here on Cape Coyne. But I was just called this morning by the town clerk because I am an election warden. I'm a warden in precinct nine, which is Wildwood School. And they asked me to do a full shift rather than a half a shift because they're having problems with staffing, no surprise. But I asked about the safety precaution. It's gonna be like you go into the supermarket. There's gonna be plexiglass, all the proper protective equipment. People will be wiping down the pens, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, it's gonna be very different, but I feel very comfortable with the planning that's being taken place with the whole process. Yeah, good. And the polls will, I guess, staffing the polls will be a problem, but there are going to be also traffic people involved. And the town manager has said that he is going to repurpose some of the town staff to help manage these polling places. Oh, great, because there are gonna be limits on terms of the numbers of people that can enter to minimize lines, et cetera, et cetera. So, be good. That's right. Yeah. So I'm really encouraged and I find it very encouraging to know that the people's voices were heard, that the constituents were heard. We had a district five meeting about this prior to the town council meeting. And people spoke very strongly about not having a consolidated voting place with everybody at the high school. And our two town counselors really spoke for us. And I think it's good that grassroots efforts work. All right, that's great. And I wanna just, I do have some concerns about the publication, like how to, again, get the word out, specifically to seniors. I have concerns about the delays in the newsletter, but I don't know what else can be done except to encourage people to connect to the website and the other vehicles of information. And I'm sure that we have to read our daily newspaper, too, because there's a lot of detail in it and in a situation that was changing very rapidly. So I appreciate Rosemary's distilled summary of a lot of things that happened over the course of a few days. I also wonder if maybe lawn signs about early voting would be something that we could look into or the town could look into. I don't know if there's any legal issues around there, but I always put up a sign from the League of Women Voters saying vote at count. So I can't imagine why that would be a problem. So something to think about. Yes. I can serve as a conduit with the town clerk and find out how we might play a robust role, even from home or socially distanced. I know that I have been posting, I already received my early ballot and so I posted it on Facebook and said to all my friends, vote, make sure you vote, you can request it. And I just want to clarify that the in-person early voting, if people want to come in person, will be at Bang Center. It's on the website and it's August 22nd through the 28th. And so I'm sure that the town will be coming out with a lot of media around that, which it includes a weekend. So the August 22nd is a Saturday, so people will be staffing the Bang Center on the Saturday and Sunday. It will be available. So it'll be a full seven days. And I will definitely liaise with them and I'll get back to Pat, who can distribute information about how we could help out more to engage voter activity. Okay. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Now, I'd like, we need to move on to our action items and you should all have received a copy of the mission statement. We'll take a look at that. And I have one friendly amendment. Actually, thank you to Sue's great editing skills to the mission statement on, or it's a small edit to the mission statement. And it's just merely in the third paragraph, the first sentence, I would replace the words in ways that, and simply insert the word too. So the sentence would read, we explore ways to co-create new programming or adapt existing programming to better serve seniors evolving needs, et cetera. That's how it will read. So clean, neat, tidy. Does anyone object to that little bitty edit? Okay. Would you send that out to everybody? I could certainly do that again, sure. Yeah. If you send it as a Microsoft Word document, I can make changes. Well, no, I don't need to, that's fine. Okay. Okay, it'll be captured, I think we could capture it in the, it'll be captured in the minutes, the proposed change. Okay, so. Also, I have not heard back from Paul Backelman as to whether or not we need to do anything further regarding this statement. So I don't think we can, I don't know if we can vote on it. In any event, I mean, we are an independent body, I believe we're appointed by the town manager, but we are an independent body, which is advisory only. So I'm kind of thinking, could you say, is there a reason that we would have to even ask permission to vote, to formulate our, basically to articulate more clearly. I don't, what our mission is. I don't think that I'm just, I'm speaking as Pat Rector, I'm a council member, not so much as chair, but I don't, what we constructed, I think brings our intentions up to the, to, you know, 2020. And I don't think it fundamentally conflicts with the spirit of our earlier mission statements. That would be my position if I was talking with Paul. Oh, well, we never had an earlier mission statement. So, oh, okay. Oh, all right. And I just thought it would be appropriate to run it by him, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we don't need it. It's fine. I'd say we can share it with the world. That's fine. So, would you do, shall we, it's, I don't have any skin on the game on this. So we, we, we don't have to vote on it today. If we're not already a Tim. I would propose and all move for the committee that we adopt the mission statement subject to review by the town manager and go from there. That's maybe the easiest way to do it. I don't know if there's something that we have to do either legally or in terms of consistency within the town. I think Rosemary, that's a good point to run it by Paul, but I think if we could approve it today and subject to his review, and if he spots something that's inconsistent with the way these things are done throughout the rest of the groups in town, I think that would be helpful. That is a possible solution. I see a lot of heads nodding is our, is our books, are we agreed to Tim's suggestion? Do you want to make that, so is that a motion? All right, we'll all formally move that we approve the amended mission statement as amended today with the wording change subject to review by the town manager. Second. All in favor. Okay, and if that, what's your vote on this? Yoo-hoo. Okay, so I see one, two, three, four, five, six, six votes. I agree, of course. Oh, okay, seven. Thank you. Alrighty, okay. All right, good. Thank you for that. And then the motion statement to college students in the town of Amherst. Um, you have that in front of you. And I did have, so, and I'm, so we would need a motion in support of that. I mean, yes, we need to bring it to the group. Rosemary. I did not get a copy of the corrected letter, which Tim made a very good suggestion for the final sentence in that letter. And I did not get a corrected copy of that. So do you want to read the final, the final statement? I can't, the final paragraph before we vote on it so that we're sure we're on the same page. Yes, hold on, because I'm looking at multiple copies of this. You had a written, we believe that the vast majority of students will rise to high expectations regarding their social conduct, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right, yeah. And Tim made a very good recommendation. Yes, and I completely embraced that. And in fact, let me, let me pull up on my own screen here. I made those revisions. I thought those who weighed in on those revisions were absolutely right on target. Let me pull this up. Okay, here we go. So here's what I would have. We believe that the vast majority of students will conscientiously respect public health concerns related to this coronavirus. Please partner with the vast majority of Amherst residents in exercising strong social discipline that supports everyone's well-being. So that integrated Tim's statement. And I think, yeah, I think that's... That's not what you sent out to us. No, it's not. It sounds different to me. Tim, do you have a copy of what you wrote? Okay, we can't hear you. We can't hear you, Tim. Unmute yourself. Sorry, sorry. Unfortunately, I don't have a computer down here. I mean, a printer, so I wasn't able to print out things. And secondly, now I'm in Zoom and the last time I tried to switch to a way I could read it electronically, I totally screwed things up and I don't know how to do that. So... Okay, all right. Well, I can't read it. So I, and by the way, I've not seen any final, Pat, I didn't see any final revision of the letter. I just sent my comments and you felt they were good comments and that's all I've heard. So I haven't... Oh, I'm sorry. That's my bad. I'll have a final copy of the letter. Okay, so why don't... I don't know. I'm not sure what we should do with it. I'm looking for that. I'm searching for his email. Let me see if I can find it. While you're searching, does anybody know? I've got a, I have a PC, I don't have an Apple. And down the bottom, I've got this little toolbar with different icons. I can go back between my word and my internet and then there's a little guest symbol for Zoom. If I switch to another one, can I come back and not lose everybody? Or how does that work? Anybody know? Cause I could look at it if I knew how. I just don't know how. Yeah. And let me just acknowledge that I did with all the edits that I got, I didn't actually word for word incorporate the edits. I revised, I got rid of, I took the spirit of the edit and just tried to make it fit and flow with the other sentences. So... If I can just add for Tim's inquiry. Yes, Tim, if you go to your icons at the bottom, so say you click Microsoft Word. I do that just right now and I haven't lost you. It just one screen comes in front of the other. Oh, I see. Don't X out of Zoom. Don't press in the left corner, the red button or the yellow or green. You can simply bring up another application by clicking it on and then you can X out of that one. So if you didn't access it, that's clear. Okay, it is. So all I have is the just my email to you, Pat, with my suggestions and I have not seen the final revised letter. I don't think that's ever been circulated. Okay. So... What was your suggestion though? That was my question. Yeah, my suggestion basically in the last paragraph, I recall the original draft had, which I thought was a little bit too parental, if you will. So I made a suggestion to delete one sentence and then just merge it into a separate sentence which had the same spirit, but didn't come across quite as a lecturing or parental as the first draft, so do you know part of me? You were right. How the actual words came out, I'm not sure. Yeah, it was perfect. Okay. So, well, I mean, I could... It's a short letter. One option is to maybe you could just read it. Yeah. Does that make sense? Okay, I just... You want me to read what I have? Oh, I mean... Well, sure, yeah. If we need to... Yeah. As a committee give you quote permission to send it out for the committee. Sure, right, sure. So, but I'll send it out right after the meeting also, you know, just... So, we believe that the vast majority of students will conscientiously respect public health concerns related to this coronavirus. Please partner with the vast majority of Amherst residents in exercising a strong social discipline that supports everyone's wellbeing. And that last sentence acknowledges the fact that not all the grownups are completely 100% compliant. Not all, you know... So, it's not just a community-wide problem. It's... I walk the bike path a lot and I see people without masks, you know. So... Does that work for... I guess I have a little bit... We say we believe the vast majority of students, I might say it is our sincere hope that students, without saying vast majority, we just expect all students. It's our sincere hope that students will and then the rest of the... Okay. All right, so... Because I don't know, do we believe that? We don't. Well, it certainly is our sincere hope. I like that. Okay, let me just... It is our sincere hope that... That students... That students will exercise strong social discipline. Yeah. And that incorporates Tim's words. Yes. Okay. Students will exercise strong social discipline. Okay. That supports everyone's well-being. Yeah, that's good. All right, that sounds good. Do I have a motion? Oh, go ahead. You want me to read again? The partnering with the folks? I just deleted that. Oh, I think the partnering is very good. Oh, absolutely. A message if we're asking them to help us. Oh, okay, so it is our sincere hope that students will partner with us. That's right. That's a very strong sentence, yeah. Okay. That students will... That's good. Okay, I like that. We'll partner with us in exercising. Okay, strong social discipline that supports everyone's well-being. Yeah. Okay. All right. That's the ending, right? Are you going to keep the beginning of the letter, which helps give them a little facts in terms of senior... Yeah. Let me just read the first. On behalf of the town of Amherst Council on Aging, I am writing to warmly welcome you back to Amherst for the school year ahead. The arrival of students is part of the splendid historic identity of this town, its vibrancy, energy, and idealism. Yeah. That's good. And read the final paragraph just once more before we vote on it. Yes. We believe that the vast majority of students... No, we strongly desire. Okay. It is our... It is our sincere hope that students will partner with us in exercising strong social discipline that supports everyone's well-being. Oh, and then the partnering path. It is our sincere hope that students will partner with us in exercising strong social discipline. That supports everyone's well-being. It's a social distancing, social discipline sounds like something else. It could be something else. Well, higher in the letter, we talk about, we say this summer with remarkable discipline, with remarkable discipline through social distancing, mask wearing, and frequent hand washing, Amherstown residents have kept COVID-19 infections relatively low. So we do itemize those things, and they're going to hear that many, many times in their college environment. But we do mention it in our letter too. Do we thank them in advance? Like, we know they're going to help us. Oh, yeah, that's a good point. Like, we sincerely hope, actually we're counting that we're working together and we thank you. Something like that. I'm okay with that. I've been told by some younger folks that thanking them in advance sounds patronizing. We could just say thank you. Not in advance, but thank you. We appreciate. Yeah, yeah. We appreciate your partnering with us. Okay. How about we appreciate your help? Because we've already said partnering. In the. Final sentence. All right. I'm wondering if that sentence is awkward. And if we should. Read it once more. The final sentence. Yes. It is kind of. You know, I'm bumpy, but it is our sincere hope that students will partner with us in exercising strong social discipline. That supports everyone's well-being. Sounds good. Maybe we could get rid of that. And just say strong social. Just discipline supporting everyone's well-being. Yeah. Yeah. Can we say thank you for. Partnering with us to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. As the end. And then get rid of it as our sincere hope. Yeah, because what we're saying is we aren't hoping we are thanking them. And assuming that they will have made that. Personal decision. All right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for. Partnering with us to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on. Thank you for partnering with us. With us in exercising strong social discipline. That supports everyone's well-being. Great. Okay. And then. Okay. And I'm not used to this. So just. I don't do want me to sign it by my name alone. Do shall we, we, I could, if we sign it on behalf of the entire council, I could itemize your names. Then it would be, you know, from a lot of us. I think that would be the way to go. To list all the members of the council. Yeah. So. Are we in agreement about that? All right. Okay. That sounds good. So. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. Okay. All right. And I have one as a challenge and perhaps Mary Beth can help with us with this, but maybe others as well. And that is. It's still a mystery to me as to what kind of mechanism. Needs to be sent. There's no student publication at Hampshire. I'm told currently because of the COVID thing. So. I did hear Rosemary suggests maybe just send, send it to the. Office of student affairs, I believe. That's the next best, best thing. So my, my personal preference would be to send it directly to student publications. And the same is true with Amherst college news. On paper, but I don't with Hampshire is a bit of a riddle to me. So if you have, I'll keep sort of trying to figure that out. But if you have any. Yeah. If you have any questions or comments on that, you can help me figure that out. I will inquire of the town manager who was very close to. Sure. And I will get back to you on how. Maybe there's even multiple places and spaces. You know, within these communities. Exactly. Exactly. And I see two hands and I don't know who was first. So I haven't heard Sue speak. I don't know. I don't know. I haven't heard either. I haven't heard much yet. Would, would we send a copy to the newspaper? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Because there's 2,500 off campus students and likely to come into town. So not that they read necessarily, but it'll, it'll, we'll pick up some. And, and Tim, go ahead. My comment was going to be, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what each of the campuses asking, maybe that would be Paul's decision that we could get from Paul too. Because they probably are going to be preparing packets for all the incoming students and they, they might be willing to include the letter in the packet. For example, that'd be perfect. You know, I don't know. And by the way, the update does, I don't know if everybody knows the update in Amherst college. I don't know if everybody knows the update in Amherst college is voted. Now what they're going to do, not voted, but they've made a decision to maintain their earlier policies. And that is roughly half of the students are going to come back to campus. They are not going to. Social distance. Freshman and sophomores are going to be on campus. They are going to be spread out throughout the campus. All the various aspects. And so that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, the requirements they need to sign now. Amherst is a very like 98, 99% of the students stay on campus. So the off-campus issue isn't as much of a problem as at UMass, but Amherst made the decision as opposed to Smith and others. Who elected to change their policies. Amherst is not going to change the policy. So they're starting to come back next week, by the way. So, I think that's a good point. I'm going to try to get cracking on this for sure. And what will you, what will this group give me the authority to exercise some judgments about. Like taking into all these things into consideration. I'm going to try to figure out what. I guess the point is the principle is to get the message to the students. And so through the, through the dean of students, through a student newspaper, through whatever we can, we can do. So are we in agreement? In other words, I don't know if they call this Amherst, is it sufficient for the, this statement to go. If it does, if the dean of students says no, our packets are full. They're already bulging. I can still send it. I'd like to have the authority to still send it to the college newspaper. If there is one. Oh, I would, I would suggest we do that anyway, but I just said, we're consistent. If, if Mary Beth, that's going to be talking to Paul. I think we need one person. And if Pat, you do something and Mary Beth does something. I don't, we need to have one person. I don't know who would properly do the legwork in terms of that. That's fine. I would provide the contacts to give to Pat, just so you know. Oh, great. I can retrieve that information and I give it to Pat. And then how. In the past. In the past, uh, you, the dean of students office has often emailed the whole campus students and, you know, staff about say, uh, recent death of a student. So that's a very quick way, you know, versus stuffing information or a letter in a packet. I'm thinking a lot of things are done via email too. That's brilliant. Is it, is it overkill to strive for both? No, it's our lives. Is their lives too. Yeah. Yeah. I like the rapidity of that. Well, I think we need to get guidance from the proper, uh, offices at the various colleges. Okay. Then we can proceed from there and in terms of how best to communicate that. Um, I don't know if the town manager is going to, it was planned was, but the Paul was planning to said something. I don't know. But, uh, How that. Coordination would be helpful. I had, I spoke with him directly. That was, that was, you know, I don't know if it's going to, it was planned was, but the Paul was planning to said something. I don't know, but, uh, how that coordination would be helpful. I had, I spoke with him directly that we were going to do something like this and he's fine. He's fine. Certainly fine with the concept of it. Um, and he even suggested. Some possible avenues when I met with him, maybe a week and a half ago. So, um, I didn't, you know, to get into the level of detail that we are. Uh, having now. So. All right. Okay. Just take, just for the record, did you take a vote on everybody approving the letter and sending it? I just wanted to. We. Um, I think you should take a vote. I need, yes, I do too. Thank you. Uh, yes. I don't know if I can remember who made the motion. I think it was Tim was. I'll move that we approve, uh, the letter as a verbally summarized by Pat. Um, and I would say, um, subject to receiving a final copy. And if you don't hear from any of us in the next day, we're done. Okay. Second at motion. All in favor signify by raising your hand or speaking up of that. I, I. All right. Okay. All right. That's great. Okay. Thanks everyone for hanging in there with that. You just verbally state what the, what the vote was. Okay. The vote was in favor. Okay. I'm a record person as you can tell. Seven. Yes. Okay. Seven. I don't, I, I don't think, um, Jacqueline is in the room at the moment. Okay. Um, I think she's left the meeting is what I mean to say. Um, okay. So secretary's report, um, the, um, you should have a copy of the minutes. Uh, we'll need a motion to approve those minutes. So move. Thank you. Okay. Uh, we have a motion to approve. Has been moved and seconded. All in favor. Signify by saying I. Or I. Hi. Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. All righty. Uh, thank you for that. Um, is there anyone from the friends of senior, the Amherst senior center. The president in the room. We're an update. Well, we'll table that. Let me see. Wait a minute. There are attendees. Oh, no, it's just, it's Norma. Okay. Not, not anybody from. All right. Okay. Okay. Um, none have come to me. Um, announcements. Does anyone have an announced any announcements for future meetings? I do. Um, Uh, on November 9th. Uh, Mary Beth and I are going to be, we have been invited to speak at the women's club. Uh, the average age of them. So it's, it's a group of senior women by and large. Um, and, uh, we have this in invitation to the. Hadley senior center. Oh, um, But it's not, um, We need to get more information about that before we make any, and I'll stay in communication with you about that. Um, And, uh, Um, I will be meeting with, um, Uh, the former director of the Hadley council on aging. Uh, is Suzanne. Travisano. And she was one of those who was instrumental. And, um, I'm sorry. Um, She was instrumental in, uh, creating the Hadley senior center. She's agreed to speak with us. Um, she's retired now herself, but is willing to tell her story. Um, and, um, I could meet with her, um, But another way to handle it is to invite her to meet with us electronically so that you could all hear about their process. Um, at our next meeting. It may or may not be premature for that, but, um, I just wanted to get some feedback from everyone about that. Yeah. My opinion is, uh, maybe not the next meeting, but, uh, Perhaps a little later than that. Uh, cause I know I, for one, I'm still in Cape Cod mode and coming. And coming back early September. I think that's a tad too early. And, uh, Discussion if that's okay. Yeah. That would be one suggestion. I mean, it's a good idea to do that. And for us to visit center, et cetera, et cetera. But, you know, I'm not sure the immediacy is, is there. Right. Um, that sounds good. So October, uh, September, or I'm sorry, not September, October or November. Uh, we'll just sort of play that and I'll play with that those dates and I'll, I'll keep everyone posted about that. And, um, Do let me know individually if you wish. Um, If you think you might want to, if, uh, Well, no, we'll, I think it's best if we all here at the same time. I think that I like that notion of that. She's willing to do that. Um, also, um, I have wanted to meet with personally meet with, um, Um, Um, Um, I know that many of you, some of you know her, um, of, uh, who is, uh, the director of Amherst neighbors. So that we're, uh, both our work compliments each other. Um, and if anyone wants to, we'll probably meet face, face to face at a social distance. But anyway, if you wish to do that or you're interested in meeting with her, um, with me, um, together, uh, I'm, I'm up for that. I, you know, uh, so I'm letting you know that. And, uh, A welcoming, uh, your participation and that I don't have a date for that yet. So, um, Um, So that, that's what's on, uh, Uh, say, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, That's what's on the, um, Uh, say, uh, that what, what was your question? Could it be on Zoom? It could be on Zoom. Absolutely. It could be on Zoom. Would, would that make a difference? Would you prefer that? To meeting in person, you're saying. Yeah. Would you, what? it's held on Zoom. Yes. Okay, then that does it. I'll see what I can arrange with her and anyone else and Rosemary. I'd be interested in attending and we could do it in my yard if there's only four of us. Okay, yeah. She knows this area well because her mother-in-law lives here. Well, that sounds good. Would that be agreeable with you at social distance in Rosemary's backyard, Yvette? Yes. Okay, all right. Details on that would be forthcoming. Then I'll see what. I also have an announcement. Okay. I wanna be sure that everything knows how to access the programs, the wonderful programs that Marybeth has organized and arranged for seniors. If you go to the senior center, the town website and scroll all the way down on the senior center entry, there are the list of all the programs that you can get by Zoom or attend. And Dick and I attended one yesterday which was excellent with a palliative care doctor. And I was, I just, for people had. Thank you so much for that. And tell your friends about it. Please tell your friends about it. It's wonderful. There are so many good programs. So I encourage you to do that. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. All right, next COI meeting. I'm proposing that we meet on Thursday, September 10th, since if that's agreeable. Typically our meetings are on the first Thursday of the month unless we choose otherwise. And so since we're having a mid-August meeting, I think another meeting in two weeks is probably too soon. Is there, are there any objections to us meeting on that day Thursday, September 10th by a Zoom? Okay, hearing no objections, then that will be what we'll shoot for. Thank you everyone for your presence and your patience and Tim. Yes, something for us not to discuss today, but I just for everybody to think about it would be my opinion. I really love the enthusiasm we have developed now. And we wanna do this and we wanna do that. We wanna send letters here, we wanna do this. We wanna visit centers, et cetera. I'm a bit concerned that CART is getting out of the barn too soon. And that is, I think we need to have a discussion about what are the priorities for the center? We can't do everything. We shouldn't advocate for everything that comes up like in a piecemeal fashion and in a shotgun fashion in my opinion. We need to be more deliberate and we need to all be on the same page. And if we're gonna put advocacy and senior pressure or political pressure pat your phrase, I think we need to do it in a deliberate concentrated effort that we all buy into and not sort of jump at the first opportunity because as everyone knows, that's not necessarily the most effective opportunity to go about it. So I think what we need to do is think about how we proceed in that vein and so on. So that would be just a suggestion and an observation based on our discussion today. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. I see Rosemary nodding her head up and down and yes, harkening back to John Lewis. He had the same kinds of concerns when he said, some of his concerns were, it's not just about marching on the streets or marching in electronically. It's having discipline, keeping your eye on the prize and defining what the prize is and moving forward with it so that we're solidifying institutional change and prioritizing and identifying what matters. And we haven't done that as a group yet. So part of what I want to think about and have us all think together is how to develop the process that does that. So we, so stay tuned. And thanks to everyone for being here at the meeting and we'll need a motion for adjournment. Let's all move. Thank you, Jack. Second. And a second from Rosemary. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you, Pat. I know. Thank you. Bye-bye, everybody. Bye-bye, everyone. Bye. Bye.