##VIDEO ID:PlwuJt_uPvs## Pamela did you end up in on the wrong room or the wrong part of the room I am in uh for some reason I think it's because I tried to log in too early but um anyway so yeah if you would promote me that would be great sure okay that should work there you are greetings new we can hear you hi pamel hello hello Phillip I was about to say we're expecting Phillip too and there he appears every hello um happy um so from our end it sounds as if Lissette might be running late um everald may or may not make it so our plan was to just kind of maybe get the brief updates and table our planning agenda for September because our members aren't going to be here um and that way hopefully we can get out of here by 7:30 um the only thing is though um well I guess we can do it during member reports or whatever because we're already recording right yes yeah start and then we'll we'll do the member reports go from there all right um so this is the CSS JC meeting it is August 14th at 6:32 and we are opening I um need to find the agenda and okay here we are um so pursuant to chapter 20 of Acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting May do so via Zoom or by telephone no in-person attendance will be permitted but efforts will be made to ensure the public can adequately access proceedings in real time via technological means um so we can review the agenda um we will have call to order announcements member reports public comment um we are going to table number four and five and six um because I think those were the annual goals and committee updates um and then go to number seven which is Crest Dei updates um Rob and Youth Empowerment and then upcoming agenda items public comment any other topics we didn't reasonably anticipate and a joury um so sorry there's a small child making sounds um oh nope hold on one second sorry it's popsical time so does anybody have any announcements I see Pamela has her hand up oh you're muted I'm not sure that you can call the meeting to order without having Quorum so I think what we figured out previously was we can meet but we just wouldn't be able to vote on anything yeah that's what we've done previously because remember there was a time that we didn't have a quum because we didn't have enough committee members so um you know what Jennifer moyon had told us is that we can meet but we just can't take a vote we can't make any decisions we don't yep that's what we've done in the past um any announcements um I'm not seeing any as of right now any member report yeah I guess um I just want to talk about the fact that we don't have um I guess is zabella has uh resigned and um we already had two vacancies so now that means we have three vacancies um so right now we're actively um working with t with the town to recruit new members so anyone who's out there listening or anyone who's out there and wants to recruit other members please do um we're going to be doing we were trying to do interviews um during August but because August is a big vacation month um it didn't really come come about so it's going to be happening early September um so obviously we want to make sure to um Recruit new members so that we have Quorum so that we can vote and make decisions um as well we're looking one of the um uh members is appointed for for young person for and so we want to make sure to also recruit young people um so anyone who has those types of networks uh please also put it out to um young people people to to uh apply to be a a part of cssj um let me see what else um the other thing is just the kind of like other report it's just around the public comment I want to clarify I know that it was something stated on the agenda but I want to clarify again that it was the whole snapu last time but we've kind of clarified things with with with Camille that um basically you know um we suggest three minutes but it's not three minutes is at the discretion of the chairs and so we can go beyond three minutes and so I want to make that clear and that has been clarified to our staff lays on and so uh moving forward um the public comment will be based on um at the discretion of of myself and algra in terms of the time um and and how long people can speak so you know we've kind of talked that through and there won't be those types of things to to occur because I know that that was very uh the disturbing uh last time and we want to make sure that people feel comfortable speaking at our public comments because we have been silenced I know we csjc members have been silenced at other Town meetings and so we do not want people to be silenced at our meeting our meeting is the safe place place for people to come and talk about um safety social justice Equity inclusion diversity this is the place for it and for you to have that ability to do so without um being shut down for it so so want to make sure that people understand that um that that has been addressed uh and let me see what else I think that's it for now I don't have any anything to report um so I suppose we can move on to public comment so if you can use your raise the hand feature um during public comment we will recognize members of the public when called on identify Yourself by stating your name preferred pronouns and residential address if you're comfortable residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of chairs based upon number of people who wish to speak no speaker can seed time to others and we will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during public comment yeah and I want to clarify that in terms of the address if you don't feel comfortable do not share address because I do know that you know a lot of people like for instance for me when I speak in the town I do not share my address because I feel that I could be targeted because of it so do not feel like you have to do that that's obviously a message that we share but you don't have to do that I think I clicked on Briana instead of Pat who had her hand up I don't know if Brianna wants to share or um if I should move to Miss Pat hi alra I'll make a comment after I'm driving right now but I do have something to say I'll join in on the next public comment sorry all right thank you Brianna hi alra I think you should let um Brianna make a public comment if you don't mind oh I think she's driving so she said she would okay good evening everyone thank you all for your time um I just want to welcome Philip back I'm so excited thank you for taking on you know the new role I'm very excited and um let's see Deborah thank you for clarifying public comment protocol because I just want to remind folks that when we created CSS JC recommended it to Town Council we wanted to make it a safe place for marginalized resident of our community and that includes that people can speak and not be rushed or restricted or um uh dismissed with whatever they had to say so thank you for clarifying that um I do want to say that I'm excited about de now that we have Phillip I say this because Dei Department supposed to be addressing issue of equity in our town and across the state most cities and towns use their upper funds to uplift marginalized uh businesses and Resident that's not the case in amest I will hope you know you phip you know being on board I'm not trying to put you on the spot that uh you should know that um my group black Business Association of amest area um beside to members who were not who were start up before they joined my group they got some funding because of their you know connections with the landlords in town but the existing black business owners of my group none of them received a dime from Apper funds and with still have money left that Apper funds is supposed to be used to help people who were negatively impacted by Co and it did not happen here and we still have money I just want to put that out as you guys look at equity and also not not only bbaa is also bip Le organization women who are very vocal CR or critic of our town government also were denied funding Ms media and M Ms Community connections I also want to touch on what I hear from the community on a regular basis in fact I have some people listening in in my living room and people are hurting inflation is high there was some money set aside for Apple funds for housing people are not able to access that funds for what they consider their need we have people with high medical bills with vehicle to repair with um you know food insecurity there are other bills that people can pay with the Apper funds but our town decided to put so many restrictions on it and that's why the funds are not being depicted people are not you know are not able to access it unless if you get eviction for your landlord who wants that history follow them for eviction so thei I challenge you you know you can do better I'm excited uh Phillip thank you thank you Miss Pat yeah I'm not seeing any other hands up and um we will have an additional public comment period at the end so I think if we want to move into the updates we [Music] can go ahead and start with Dei so as um I stated in the email to you both this afternoon there is not very much to update about uh in the Dei Department um the primary uh update is that Philip has joined the Department as of August 8th so um many of you I think uh are probably most of people on the call um probably know him from his role on this committee but I wanted to um hopefully uh ask him to introduce him to members of the community who might not have you know him yeah so my name is Philip aula I've been a town resident um previously for five six years took kind of a Hiatus off to California and now I'm back after a year um looking forward to the work um I started uh August 5th so it is actually my eighth day um on the job so learning a lot moving forward um yeah just really excited well welcome back Phillip we're excited to have you um assisting the de depart and um and me too I want to I want to say welcome um philli for being back you know obviously you know having another Community organizer activist and someone that cares deeply about um Equity social justice um safety um you know since you were on CSS JC and also on um Human Rights Commission as as the chair um you know you're an asset to this community and so we're excited about it um but as one of the callers Miss Pat stated you know obviously we are going to um also challenge right because thei you know this department that you joined was created by the community safety uh working group um um and and one of the functions was to really push the town right push the town to be more Equitable to be more about um safety social justice issues diversity inclusion and so we want to make sure that that happens and so that's why you know we want to you know make sure and that's why I want to clarify and I want to hear from Pamela because for the past two months or maybe two or three months since Jennifer moyon left there's been a lot of changes and you know I I think pamel maybe you were busy or something but you know there's been some reports that have been sent in but really um you know someone from De hasn't been able to come to our meetings and I think it's crucial that someone from thei attend a meeting I mean you all you all don't have to stay the whole time but at least to come give us some updates give us an opportunity to you know ask some questions things like that dialogue so that we know what's going on because di is a central office that's why it was created central office to really push the town like push not just you know handhold and you know it's like to push right push the town to be around diversity Equity inclusion and also and and that was one of the things that I know pamelas you said there was an email that you sent was in the community safety working group we also wanted to make sure that Dei was really hand inand with CSS JC so you know I I know that the staff layers on is Camille but I'm kind of confused and perplexed as to why it's not someone from Dei and why Dei now is not going to be attending or maybe I'm misinterpreting or mis I'm I'm a little bit confused so I want to get clarity around that because it should be in tandem right Di and CSS should be in tandem in terms of focusing on these issues because we are charged to focus on these issues and to make sure that the town is focused on this issues that the Town Council is focused on this issues managers focused on these issues so di should be a partner right along with us so I guess welcome hit the ground running lots of work to do and I guess I want to get some clarity in terms of what's going on because like I said since Jennifer moyon left because Jennifer was awesome awesome awesome there's been a lot of kind of Confusion And I want to kind of get a little bit of clarity in terms of what's going on and what's happening moving forward so I um stated in the email and I'm happy to repeat for everyone here when I took the position two years ago the Dei Department was tasked with supporting four different boards um with a staff of two so the African Heritage reparation assembly um H uh Human Rights Commission this commission and the disability access and ad uh advisory committee I've been working for the last two years to get some um actually workload Equity because I was the only director with uh four and Department with four uh boards that they needed to support so there has been an agreement made with the town manager that this department Dei will support the Human Rights Commission and uh Philip will be the primary liaison to that commission I will be the primary liaison for the disability access and advisory commission that commission is undergoing some changes um through the Town Council and it's going to be required that it has an elected or an appointed a member as a voting member of that board um so that requires additional duties for this department and for me and uh so a decision has been made that the staff liaison for this uh committee will be through the crest Department um as I also stated in the email um either Philip or I will be able to attend the meetings um based on need and availability um but we have a lot on our plate which we're still trying to figure out um I think the other update would be you know there's been very little to report on for the last few months really since the end since mid June because we've been awaiting the arrival of the assistant director who could engage in planning with me for the responsibilities for the department so and as um I also stated in the email I anticipate that will be the case for you know a few months as Philip just stated this is day eight for him he will need to get acclimated have an understanding of the work we've already started to think about what our staff workshops would look like and we need to spend some time thinking about the other operations that we will engage in and I I think it was best to wait to have someone on board as a partner to have those conversation rather than to Simply dictate um from my perspective alone what the activities of the department would be um so thank you Pamela for that it it definitely provides more clarity and I do understand obviously I'm um appreciative and you know I do you know feel for you all that you only had two people then you were down to one um and you know lots of changes happening um and yet right the work continues there's still a lot of things I have community members coming to me and saying Deborah why isn't this this this this this getting done you know what I'm saying so so there's still the pressures right in terms of you know these issues around um you know safety social justice Equity diversity inclusion happening right because people have been waiting especially the bipar community had been waiting for these things for years so um so even though of course I appreciate the the the the situation it still is what it is so that's fine I mean obviously you all have to make your decisions in terms of who's going to be supporting what group you know obviously I think the thing is is that we want to just make sure though that and and Camille I mean I I try to you know meet with you and you know me and algo try to meet with you to kind of discuss certain things because we want to make sure though that it things are clear in terms of how what a step Leon does what that means to be be kind of the support for CSC so that it could be smooth you know and so I'm still going to be asking for a meeting um and I want to make sure to include Pamela include Phil I don't we can have the meeting with the town manager fine with me can all meet with Camille everyone because I just want to make sure that we're very clear in terms of how we're going to proceed along so that's fine so Cil you're going to be supporting us now the the the the the point that I want to kind of focus on though is what you said that you all going to be meeting as a NE on as needed basis again I want to reassert that I feel it's important that there be a DI representative attending our meetings on a regular basis on a monthly basis so let me interrupt you before a moment because I think that as I said in the email um that we intended to that Philip and I were likely alternate attendance at this meeting um based on needs and and availability so I did not say that we wouldn't attend the meeting I said that we're likely to alternate our attendance at the meeting okay perfect thank you thank you for that clarification like I said you know that's why I said maybe I was confused about it but thank you for clarifying that means you all are going to be alternating awesome that would be great um and like I said you don't have to be here the whole time because you know I understand that you all have a lot of work to do and so on so forth but I I think it's critical though that someone be at these meetings because we always have a lot of questions um algra I don't know if you have anything else to add around that that because I have some other questions though about some other updates around Dei um I don't I think that was helpful to hear um made it more clear so thank you great and so my two questions one is around um Youth Empowerment uh Center and Youth Empowerment programming um I know that you said obviously there hasn't been a lot going on but but but I guess in one of the reports that Camille read um I don't know if it was last month or the month before or something it had said that the Youth Empowerment Center is now under the wreck is that correct yes all right so I will let answer go yeah hi so um yes uh Youth Empowerment is under wck and also um if you're ready I can let you know that Philip and I both are on the Youth Empowerment um I don't know they haven't named it but right now just to let you know that the contract is ready and it's waiting for the town manager's signature and that there is a feasibility study in progress being done by the Donahue Institute and like I said Philip and I are both on that uh um as Liaisons okay and so so what does that mean though in terms of it's under the now because before like I said when when we were doing with our recommendations the swg recommendations it was supposed to be on the DI why was it changed to wreck that was some of the questions that I asked that I didn't get an answer last time as I stated last month that uh when I spoke to wreck um and Ry was on to speak about it before I think or maybe that's another meeting anyhow um it that is with the town manager and Philip do you remember who else who or yeah uh was uh Town manager as well as the finance department thank you was finance department that made a decision to to change it over to rec oh I'm not sure that is above my pay grade so so and Pamela you don't have any information as to why I thought the I thought Youth Empowerment was under di no I actually I've been reporting for um almost a year now that the town manager had made a decision that there would be a task force on Youth Empowerment and that would not be under the offices of the Dei department so the town manager made the decision the task force I met I believe I don't want to say for the first time but I think it was the first time that uh that um The Crest director and um the assistant EI director were included in a meeting but I don't there may have been meetings prior to that that they weren't a party to and I um I haven't been party to any meetings um other than like the first hour of the meeting that they had earlier this week okay so so let me get this straight so now there's a task force that's has been meeting I'm using the word task force to describe the group the group doesn't really have a name like we actually went back to look at the uh email today to see if there was a name for it but there isn't a name so it's a group of people that have been to my to the best of my knowledge organized by the town manager and wreck but I as I said I was in the meeting for an hour today and or earlier in the week and I I don't have any detail that I can provide but so you all so so Phil and Camille you all a part of this task force this group yes okay so you all a part of this task for and you all met how many times once so once all right so you all have at once and and so now and this task force is under the wreck is under the wreck right under Recreation um sound right no it's it is in the hands right now of Finance okay so Finance so Finance is the one that kind of oversees this task force they're overseeing the group and the money to the Donahue Institute for this report okay and now and they hire the Donahue to do a feasibility study yes yes okay all right um because my question for this is that it's it's just that again cssj is the one that's supposed to kind of oversee making sure that Youth Empowerment Center is being established it's being established in an equitable way in terms of social justice now it's been removed from De totally it's under this Finance group meeting happening we don't have any details about it and so how are we supposed to oversee and monitor when now it's on this in this side kind of Realm that we don't have a lot of information on so the only thing I can talk about is how when we met yesterday this was the first meeting for Philip and I to be part of there was um people from the town it was also the school um Educators and other people meeting to decide how were going to get the information for the the uh feasibility study so that was a big thing that was talked about is how to get the youth involved so one of the things that um as you know the original uh task force or the cswg the P the report came out in 2021 which was three years ago which meant that everything was done four years ago so those same students that were there now then are now probably you know four years older graduated and now so the difference is is they're looking at the students that are here now to figure out what the needs are because every couple of years the needs of students changed so they want to make sure that they accurately represent the needs of the students now so the things that they're talking about doing is one of the things was about getting people out and getting information and surveys Etc but also actually talking to the students and one of the ways of doing that and um I didn't realize this was the amount of young people that are at the block party that is next month um and also first day which is coming up next uh actually next week I think but to actually engage in people and one of the things that was talked about and we have talked about before that when I read the cswg report that there were very few people that were actually surveyed in that uh study so one of the things that's really important to do is to get out there and get more input and you've alluded to that and getting all the information from these people and to be able to get a more uh robust report in so that moving forward we're actually doing the work well I mean I think first I want to clarify that um there wasn't little survey if you go over the report you see that actually how uh people were how the study was conducted was actually by going in and talking to people and making sure that there was a diversity of people because once you just talked about the block party and you talked about the new school that is concerning to me because the block party the the majority of the folks that go there are going to be white students it's not going to be students of color and bipo students and then the new um uh student one also so so I think you all they want to do more than that and for me the other part too that concerns me about what you just talked about is the fact I I'm all for getting and and making sure that young people are sharing information and that we get that information but it's also a nice de delay tactic for the town right the fact that you what you just said right yes it was four years ago yes and now we're going to wait for another four years to get more information from from these students before the the the centers put put up so I mean in the same regard that I say yes it's wonderful because look at Rob and that's going to be my next question right look at the the resident oversight board it was a lot of oh we need to survey and we need to get information and so on so forth and where is the resident oversight board yet and still not put together and not not in place and so now we're back to let me finish my sentence now we're back to the same situation right which is very concerning to me which is now surveying again young people now going to places where a lot of um you know young people of color and bipac young people aren't at and then are we getting you know the information that we want to get and then more delay tactics well concern so what I'm gonna what I'm gonna say to you is so um as I said I read the survey from the cswg and some of the things that I was looking for in there was how robust the research was okay so my feeling is is that research is important and I've spoken on this before about how to effectively communicate and how to get there and to be out and one of the things about getting research done correctly is getting people that look like us out there talking to people okay so we are going to get more information from people if you're actually out there doing in the community so just going in and just saying okay here's a piece of paper or whatnot is not necessarily going to get you all the information that you want whereas when you're actually out there talking to people it's a lot better so the block party like I said that can be a start it doesn't have to be the end all be all there's a lot of people there's a lot of places the other things are some of the residences and also in the schools so if you're going in the schools to get the information from like what is it the teachers are seeing that the students need what is it some of the um the counsel are seeing so we want a robust fully fleshed out survey and to get the information from all of those involved and yes I do understand what you're saying that yes it's four years okay I I can't speak to the four years okay what I can speak to is what's being now done now so yeah and and and just to kind of add to that um when you keep on talking about this survey that we did which was led by a diverse um um you know organization which was the seventh generation Collective with you know bipac women LED and you know a lot of diversity we had people there that were a variety different ages and then Donna Hugh Institute which I don't think they have the same kind of diversity breakdown as that organization did then you know it it concerns me so again I want to see is whether this is going to happen quickly so that we can get to the to the to the point of actually establishing this Youth Empowerment that needs to obviously Focus even though it's going to be for all youth but have a focus on bipac Youth and also have a bipac youth in the leadership of the Youth Empowerment Center I want to see if that's going to happen and so for me thank you for more clarity in terms of what is happening with this because I am you know alleger and I going to discuss this because we are going to go to the town manager to get some some answers in terms of this because right now it's in another purview that means we we don't have the access to it in terms of CSS JC and so it's concerning to me in terms of how um things are proceeding um I see Phillip has his hand I wanted to do a time check it's about 706 so I do want to leave some time for Crest um and I did just want to kind of echo what Deborah said in terms of the hard work and participatory action research um component of Dr shabazz's organization um and the training that they had their you know their tears of Outreach that they did um I do think that there was a lot of getting out into the community and um so I just I want to make sure that we honor her Legacy um when we speak of the work that went into supporting the seven gen and the cswg um Phillip yeah for sure I just wanted to um add in and just say that the group's focus is for sure um very much in line with cwg's work um the blueprint is there for the group I mean I was just sent over stuff um in pertains to kind of what the overall mission is and cwg's Report was in there arpa's report was in there or not arpa I'm sorry um the rep ation report was in there as well as um something from RE so the group that is meeting has the focus and the Don Institute um said it very loud and clear during the meeting and it was very well received by all parties involved um as far as recck and finance that this um focus is on bipo individuals and bipo focus and seeing that the work is really meant to be what cswg kind of put forward it is just I mean it is what it is right it's four years later and so we're trying to move forward but not trying to drag it out I know that um on the like details of the plan it is very much that there are deadlines to be met and even with um this week you know Paul could have easily moved back a meeting because he wasn't available because he's out on vacation but we had that meeting and they met with us kind of with to sign contract for that one meeting while Paul's out in way so the effort is to for sure move this forward as feasible and quickly as possible okay well well I I wan to I want to hear more um next time in terms of who's the lead for this and two um timetables is what I I want to know because again you know there's been unfortunately a lot of delay tactics that have has happened over the years as as we know um and you know want to hear more about that and and speaking of that and I know we want to talk about Crest but just quickly a resident oversight board because that's one that you know so again as I said in the email to you um earlier this afternoon that I'm very limited in what I can say about the resident oversight board because the Contracting process is still ongoing with the finance department what I can say is that the town is working through a contract issues with a preferred provider and that they anticipate that a contract would be signed before the end of the month of August with a timetable um or timeline beyond that I'm not um able to to to state anything so you're saying so a contractor will probably you you'll end up having a provider hopefully by the end of the month and then there will be a timetable so for the next next um month's meeting we should get a timetable as to when Rob will be um established right I think that that the uh timeline or timetable will be included in the final contract okay all right thank you thank you Pamela um so Camille can we turn to Crest sure um I just want to let you know in comparison June um Crest took care of 76 calls uh with Department collaboration of 31 times businesses six times and social service agencies 11 times with 160 recorded interactions with neighbors July was 94 calls with 52 to town departments with 226 interactions with neighbors and six% were mental health calls this was up um from the60 interactions which is a 40% increase there have been a total of 1,20 interactions this year so far and responders distributed 207 resources during the month I also wanted to let you know that we are actively recruiting and going through the process of um looking over applications for the vacant responder positions and lastly that Saturday is community safety day from 10 to 2 at mil river which will have all the safety departments and the town departments representative so um Crest will be there to kind of like answer questions and interact with the community yes so we're really looking forward to it right that's sounds good is gonna be there too but I'm gonna be there be there awesome um question um how many um responders are there right now currently we we have four okay so so that was a change from how many did you all have before then before uh we had originally eight okay so then that means that four have left um Within These past you know few months so do you know what what what has happened there yes uh two of them went on two other um Endeavors one went to another um Town agency and one went to and I weall she was stolen to uh 80 acres okay so I guess for me though that kind of you know I guess I have some questions about that that so many have left and in these you know what past month or past two months isn't that like kind of problematic no not at all every time there is a new leadership change change takes time so this is what has happened there are changes all throughout okay so um with four left um how much is Crest actually being able to do as I stated we're still up there on the call volume and it has increased we're still working on getting our call volumes up and dealing with um the neighbors and you know nothing really has changed uh we're still out there active and participating and as I said everything has gone up whereas before before I came um actually during the interm team the call volume had started going up and is increased significantly since I've been there so we are actually out doing the work that was that we were originally charged with okay so I think Camille like we had talked about before and which you you did do I think once or maybe possibly twice I mean what would be helpful would be if you can continue to kind of send us those reports um because for you it would be important to get the reports because we want to see the numbers um if you could get it to us before and that could be included as part of the agenda um you know so that we can review you know beforehand and so that also the community can see these calls and and things like that um and so you know and I think you did it maybe once or twice I mean because again you know just kind saying them quickly like I was trying to take notes but I couldn't even get all those numbers and stuff of that so it's it it it wasn't very helpful to me so I can't really compare it to anything um so just to let you know some of the things that excuse me so one of the things is also is that we are working on our community page and our social media and now that we have a social media director for the town that is some of the things that we've been uh wanting to highlight are some of the calls and and the types of things that we are doing in the community so that people know where and when they can see us and like I said we are much more visible in the community so that is a really good thing and people have been coming to us um and working with other agencies I mean this is It's a process so um I'm Happy Everything doesn't happen overnight I wish it did um but as you well know it takes time to to change to make a change no definitely um but do you think that like you know what we had discussed before that we could get those reports like before the meeting so that we could review it and then we can discuss when we do have the meeting that's not a problem great great so I get a monthly report um it's usually sometimes like it only came in uh late early this week so um I'm going to try and see if we can get to you at least Monday before the Wednesday meeting would that be fine okay great yeah um and then um I guess like the the the question because like I said I think before you had included it so in terms of dispatch do we know if if anything has been dispatched to you so um yes we have had a couple of dispatches but as I stated and reported before um the same thing for like different boards is that everything has to go through clarification through the union and everything else so that is what we're waiting on now our end is set okay we're all set with our standard operating procedures and how we will proceed what we're waiting on is to get clarification from um the union and to have a sit down again as you know people are on vacation and the key people one or the other is out so um hopefully you know by the end of the month we'll be able to get together and really get this hashed out and get it done well if you need any support from us please count on us because obviously as you know that was something that we've all always been pushing for is to have that like you said you know you all being able to outreach on your own independently having your own number so that people can connect to you but also having that opportunity because a lot of people know 911 right so a lot of times when people are in crisis they're going to go automatically and contact 911 so when they contact 9111 right that you all have those standard operator procedures in place so that they know which calls need to go to Crest so that's something that we're very much you know wanting to happen here at CSS you see that's always been a goal so if you need us to also Advocate on your behalf to make sure that that happens because we do understand that it's the process we do understand that the unions sometimes you know you know are not you know they don't understand fully like because it's a new Department how it's supposed to happen so if you need us to be more supportive of that and make sure that to to assist we're more than happy to assist with that well thank you well one of the things having been a firefighter I know how uh the process works and one of the things is the other part of this is training so to get as there is a new uh supervisor there who is very much on board okay and we were getting the reports and trying to get them um one of the problems is is that because there's hippo Hippa information and everything else they're not able to share with us the full reports so we have to rely on the redacted reports to figure out what actually is a Crest call so part of this is a lot of training for not only the responders but also the training that's going to H to happen with the new dispatchers and the new supervisor is very um excited and he is ready to work with us on you know working with the training and also to have the responders go to dispatch so they can understand exactly what goes into it good um and then my last one and I know Alo you want to jump in on this but um my last question is just in terms of I know you said that there's been a variety of different calls you know like with neighbors and things like that again you know because I don't know like the types of calls and and things like that I just want to make sure and and kind of you know put in again my pitch to make sure that we are getting calls that are you know going that need to go to Crest which is calls that are focused on safety alternative to policing and things like that that's so so that you all are seen as that you know and not as a catchall you know what I'm saying because obviously you know you all have a lot of very important things to deal with and so I want to make sure that you're dealing with those critical matters and not dealing with other things that other uh departments and services in the town should be dealing with well I think that's the beauty of us is that um since I've come along and the relationship that I have with the other Town departments has really made things a lot easier so we actually had a call where a neighbor went to the police department to talk to someone about an issue they were having with their neighbor and the death Sergeant instead of sending one of his people called over to Crest so this is why I'm saying things take time but things are already changing and when the people that are out there in the community uh the patrol officers the sergeants lieutenants Etc are sitting there saying no send Crest you know calling us up directly or having us radio you know radio and dispatch to send us so it is happening okay good thank you you're welcome I just had one question um and it was just about kind of the diversity of the remaining team members because I know that was a big part of the vision for Crest was to make sure that there were kind of multi-racial teams that were able to be dispatched and just wondering if you can speak on that at all well we still have the diversity oh very much so um and the candidate pool that we're looking at is diverse so um I'm actually looking forward to some of the um the resumés I've looked at are really exciting and I'm ready and excited to to get the ball rolling so we just wanted to make sure that we had a good pool of candidates that were good fit who were willing to be active in the community and could see this uh program from an anti-racist social justice standpoint um using motivational interviewing and you know understanding the needs of the community thank you oh one one last kind of quick question so because you know cres is on to four responders are you what's the schedule is the schedule still the same that you all have had because you know obviously I know at this point because we've always been asking for you know additional hours at least Shifting the hours to when it would be more but like what's the hour still with Crest right now we're Monday through Friday 8 to 4: and uh Saturday um for this week and then we're going to cut back down to Monday through Friday until we get the new um responders onboarded and then at that point along with the change for dispatch you know um then we will change the hours all right so yeah if you can um keep us posted with that you know once those that that happens this just popped into my head because people have mentioned the block party but I know last year we tabled there is that something that we would want to do again is that something that Dei and Crest are doing and would be willing to have CSS JC members stop by I um missed part of the first part of your uh question but I uh if I'm interpreting it correctly I think we tabled at the uh block party right and so um and we had these special buttons that where the library was able to create buttons for the library so um I'm I'm assuming that that would still be an opportunity uh on the block party day for you all to share a table I'll have to to check with uh Angela around space but we'll make space um I think the plan or actually the plan for this Saturday coming up is that press and Di are sharing a table but we can I think request an individual table for the block party and you're more than welcome to join um Philip and I at that table yeah that's September 19th I'm I'm I'm having trouble hearing you for some reason sorry sometimes I cut is that September 19th the block party I believe so I don't have the date right in front of me um because I think our next meeting would be the 11th so we can yeah remind people then all right sorry that was a tangent but no that would be great good thing you remember that because last year we actually ended up interacting with a lot of people so to do that again um that would be excellent to to table along with you all at at the block party okay um anything else about Crest at this point um so I think we can move on to our second public comment period um grny you're muted oh can you all hear me yes yeah awesome okay I am not driving now so I am safe um I just wanted to tune in and say that I as an audience member and a Community member and picking up on this weird hostility between Town staff and the CSS JC and I just want to point out that members on the CSS JC not only created these departments but have gone to bat to advocate for the highest salaries for everyone's role for teams to be supported and well and I just feel like there's a lot of friction right now and these critical questions that Deborah is asking are questions that the community is also wondering and they're questions that are coming from a place of us wanting to better serve the community thank you thank you Brianna hello this is Martha Hanner H greetings to everyone hi Martha I I live in South ammer as in canel and I'm just speaking as an individual here I uh try as best I can to attend your meetings and I would just like to give my perspective on the flow of information for members of the community like me the monthly CSS JC meeting is my only opportunity to learn what's going on with with Crest with Dei uh and and related things in the community so this is uh just really kind of a a plea to our uh Dei and and Crest uh staff uh that uh it's not just cssj C members that are interested in hearing from you but it's it's people like me in the community that are interested in uh listening month monthly and learning what's going on uh and so also then Camille your there was the little discussion of your providing a a a summary re report to the members if that's something that can go in the packet so that then members of the public would also have a chance to uh view it uh at some point that would be appreciated too yes as you know I'm associated with the uh League of Women Voters racial Justice committee I'm speaking now just as an individual but I certainly do go back and Report whatever I've learned from this meeting to that group as well so that we do appreciate anything that we can learn of at your meetings about what's going on I mean I think uh throughout our town government um transparent y does seem to be a challenge I mean you know you were all busy you're doing a lot of good things and it's often very hard for the public to learn what's going on and I think the example tonight was the confusion about the uh Youth Empowerment uh Center or whatever you know it was a little hard to figure out you know if the right hand knew what the left hand was was doing because people were working on it but it wasn't really yet organized to the point of being able to uh to you know give out information so um I just encourage you all and say that there are a lot of us out here who are interested in all the good things that you're doing and uh all so please keep up the good work all of you thank you appreciate it thank you Mar I assume that I'm being uh able to speak to this group no one has called on me yes my name is my name is Kathleen Anderson I live in South amest I a former School Committee Member the past president of the amrest NAACP and I just wanted to announce to people that this Saturday August 17th the um um race Amity group of the bahai community is gathering at um excuse me I'm sorry is gathering at um Kendrick Park from 5: to 8:00 pm um so this is a good place for the various groups of people included in uh issue and uh interested in racial Justice to attend show up put your face where your mouth is thank you Kathleen um hi everyone my name is Alicia Walker um I am Town counselor at large but here speaking on behalf of myself as an individual um I first just wanted to take a minute again to thank you all for engaging in this critically important work for our town um I also wanted to welcome philli we are really excited to have you back in town um and excited to um see all the work that you're going to do um I just wanted to make a few comments um mostly echoing what bana said um and then just to emphasize again how critically important this work is and to just highlight that all of us in this work on this committee meeting in the audience in the community like we are a team and we need to be working together um and so I just hope that we can keep that in mind that while we might not always agree on the process or the steps we should take like we have the same goal and so we really should be working together um I also agree uh with Martha Hanner in terms of transparency like this is a very important meeting it is a very important opportunity for community members even myself as a town counselor to get updates as to what's going on um with the diversity initiatives in town there is no other platform where you can access all of this information easily at one time um and so I would also encourage you all to to think about that and to think about looking at processes to better stream like streamline that for the future um whether that be including information in the packet or putting things online um because it is really hard to keep up with some of the changes that are happening and again circling back to the Youth Empowerment Center I know that at one point it was with the rec center and I had met with Ry and then the town manager moved it out of the rec center and so I'm surprised to hear that it's now back with the rec center um and so you know those things are really hard to keep up with and these meetings again are some of the only times where we get updates as to what is happening in that process and it's really important um and then I also just really want wanted to quickly touch on the work of the cswg and talk about like the longevity and the progress that is possible within the social justice work happening in this town and I think it's a it's an a unique challenge because of the turnover and because of the the amount of time it takes to get projects off the ground um and I know that you all are mindful of that but just thinking about how important it is to be building off of previous work to avoid sort of this cyclical motion that we're we're going in right now um and again speaking to the work of the cswg which I was co-chair with Briana um the research that happened as a part of the cswg was very very intentional um and it went far beyond just making sure people who look like us are out in the community collecting the data um it went as far as to make sure that the people who were in the community collecting the data were trusted community members well known and well connected within the community who could get information from our most vulnerable and marginalized residents who lack trust with town government and I think that that's really incredibly important to highlight is that some of the information and the data that was collected in that research is not something that can be duplicated by just walking around downtown it was very much more strategic and intentional than that and so I really encourage you to add to that data rather than sort of redoing it I think that data needs to be maintained needs to continue to serve um as you know Initiative for what we're moving forward because we need that information I know it was four years ago but a lot of that is really still relevant and a lot of those youth are still in this town and still want to see those exact same services and so we don't necessarily need to redo all of that Outreach and again just really reflecting on the significance and the impact that Demetria shabaz had on this town um and wanting to make sure that we keep that energy alive and that we are using that data I I really again just please continue to use the cwg DAT data it is it was very intentional it was curated very specifically and I would love to see Town leaders talk about it in a just talk about it more highly it it feels like it's being doubted um so I just wanted to bring all of those to your attention and again thank you all so much for this work I look forward to hearing the updates on the resident oversight board um and to following your work thank you thank you Alicia hi algra and Deborah and Pamela and Phillip this is Liz by the way and for those of you who are out in the audience this is Liz hag and I'm in District 2 and um I am currently co-chair of the Human Rights Commission um I need to speak to you all about some changes and um for those of you who already know this is my second term as a member of the Human Rights Commission and my first term is co-chair and because of my second career that has takes me out of the town of Amis and across the country um I have decided to step down from the Human Rights Commission however I did say that I would stay on at least through October when we was to present our last year's um report to the Town Council and when I spoke to some folks um Pamela Phillip and Paul they asked me to think about staying on and because according to at least one of them 10% of me is better than 90% of somebody else because I am have a pulse on young people in the town and what goes on so I I weigh that heavily in my heart because I don't want to leave such a critical position but I also know that I'm not going to be at full capacity so I'm weighing that as and I'm struggling with that and I'm definitely struggling with that well like when I'm going to say the next phrase which is I am very concerned that um there's three openings for the CSS JC four openings in Crest and at least three openings in the Human Rights Commission and for the few of us to be doing this critical work it LS to burnout and I'm trying not to have that for myself because that's part of what I'm feeling especially when I'm can't be in full force like I would like to be but I'm going to hang in there for as much as and as long as I can um knowing that I'm not going to make every meeting and I'm not going to be able to join in on some of the csjc meetings and go to some of the um affordable housing uh meetings that I've been trying to go to um especially since we're I'm very aware concerned and and I hope enthused about us um creating our um Youth Empowerment Center so um for those of you that are out there that's what I Who I Am what I'm about right now and again I'm very concerned about the vacancies and I say that with one foot out the door but I also say that with um hope that those of you who are out there that are not involved in any part of our Town's um very important um uh fractions if you will that you consider being involved and help us out and make sure that each and every one of our community members especially those that look like me stay safe while they're navigating the town of amest thank you very much it's good to see you guys and um I'm glad that I was able to listen in today thank you Liz thank you Liz Miss Pat your hand is up I'm not sure if it's still up so I will bring you in um it's me again I'm so triggered in listening to tonight's meeting I say that because of the youth center controversy Dr shabaz I mean Dr shabaz May so rest in peace she had PhD there were three women that did the study the seven gen led by Dr dhabas we have Dr Katie and also Dr Sanji they did a thorough job under very difficult circumstance they produced excellent report and basically what we're seeing in our town government is to disrespect black women in our town Dr dhabas Sanji who spent time to put a report together what I see that is happening with the youth center is chaos is chaos from Rec Department shifting around now finance department and it's no longer with Dei I do want to remind CSS JC that when cswg recommended uh Youth Center it was is we were very very clear and it was accepted by the T Council that youth center will be under Dei and the youth have to be in leadership POS uh situation just to throw away money to donaho Institute to to do what give more money to to Whit Le entity that are we don't need that what is needed is to go back to seven gen report and do the implementation there's too much chaos in our town I also want to speak on uh to high turnover in Crest is I am an employer if people feel safe and if you people feel that they're not going to be retaliated against they will stay on I hope this sends a message to the decision makers why is it that Department that supposed to support marginalized resident and groups in our town is still after two years still struggling why is it why is that racism and in terms of committee HRC and you know Miss Lee spoke so eloquently that are openings there people are feeling burn out with CSS JC I was one of the inaugural member of Cs SS JC I had to remove myself because I just felt that it was just we're just you know going into circles circles nothing is happening disrespecting members nothing was happening and it continues it needs to stop this this needs to stop it's not okay at all I also want to um so in terms of um youth Center I do want to remind folks including people listening that youth center is not only just about Rec uh uh uh recreational that is a huge major major component that is missing that people are not discussing and that is promoting cultures of our youth so that's why we pushed it to Dei I just want to remind people again I want also to Echo what um councelor Walker had said what Brianna said what Liz said and I want to apologize to Deborah you know you may be feeling alone because I did not like you know what went down tonight all you're doing you're speaking for us you're speaking for our community you're representing us and I'm not seeing you being respected bunch of you know black women should not be working like this it's not the vision of CSS uh cswg we can do better you all are very very smart we need unity and we need transparency we should stop dismissing folks who work hard to put these two departments together it was actually Dr D when I had a private discussion with her that we came up with the two department and I said I'll just you know throw it out and see what my group will say cswg and that's why some of you were able to get this job and we want to continue to fight for the vision of why we created Dei and Crest and it's not happening we're losing staff we're losing good staff and our town pays well it's not about the payment when you treat when you make Staff feel welcome they will stay because I'm an employer I know that I know that we can't continue you know where do we go from here every month we have our staff like being defensive I I'm I'm just I'm I'm just very very frustrated I'm very frustrated that's all I can say than thank you Alicia I see your hand is still up I can bring you back in oh all right hand down oh greetings my name is Evelyn aino and I'm a town resident and not to go too deep into it I've second everything that everyone has called I depend on this call and this meeting to learn about what's happening within um our city government with the hard work that cswg has been working on um it is very triggering it is very frustrating it is very hard to understand what the animosity and the vibe that our town staff has toward this committee this is our community we live here we work here our children are in this community our families are in this community it's not a job we look to create a thriving community that serves all so it's very hard to understand what the chip is and what the vibe of NE negativity is when people have worked to heal relationships to build alliances to strengthen relationships it is very confusing very confusing and Phillip glad you're back good to see you look forward to the great work you'll do here um I had similar questions I don't want to continue on with the same questions but the Youth Empowerment um situation is very confusing um those that have been in politics for a long time understand this as a tactic of of um delay to not create um productivity around the efforts of a community um putting forth suggestions This Is Not Unusual this is a very old play in The Playbook um we will continue to push and raise our voices um to see if we can get what we need and what we've asked for and what we've researched with quality research um to know that this community deserves uh representation education I'm concerned about who is in this new task force without any transparency there are members in our community that do not serve our children in the margins in the shadows with the utmost respect so I would love to see who's on the committee that's really here for the young people and for what the young people need I second what Alicia said around the data that was found in that report we are talking about young people in our community they did not die after four years these are needs that have been here for a very long time and they continue to be here those stat those stats and that data is not old same story so for Donahue Institute to be hired is very confusing because it completely counters the equity um approach that we hired seven gener ations for um it's just very disappointing that all this effort with a a robust group of cswg um leadership that worked so hard and it was so exciting as a community member to see it all the work that was coming out of it has been little by little being unraveled I'm concerned about the staff we're losing it sounded like we started Crest strong and we're losing people I'm curious about the restorative justice that is being promoted at our in our town offices as part of the work that is not sustaining the staff how are we doing restorative justice if relationships are being broken if we're talking about staff going somewhere else as stolen like I don't understand what this language and this whole vibe is in our in our community really it's hurtful in our community this is where we live this is where we look to thrive again it's not a job many of us do this as part of our livelihood but we also do it because we want to live in a just and Equitable Community I have concerns of the block party being the only one of the places of getting young people's responses school is getting started and the block party is a party young people are not going to be in the mind space for what you're asking when we're talking about the needs and representation of what that Empowerment Center was looking to serve I'm really concerned about that approach and yeah that I just seconded all all the folks whove spoken that we need transparency we need to work as a community the negativity that has been invited in is very concerning and very very disheartening and Phillip we will back you up and hopefully that will not be that would not infect you or impact you you have been a strong member in this community you worked hard on that committee to bring forth all the findings that we have been working so hard for years still on block one for so many of those recommendations thank you for your hard work all of you for showing up today for staying a on for making this happen and I really do have faith and I look forward to continuing to learn more details and continue to work in Partnership wholeheartedly with respect for what our community is and what we can be and I look forward to it thank you thank you EVN seeing any more hands so looking at the time it's 7:53 um I believe our next meeting will be September 11th at 6:30 we will be addressing the leftover agenda items from today which was kind of I think more or less a strategic planning for the committee kind of look at the next year and what our goals might be and how we might achieve them and who we might partner with um so unless there's anything we didn't reasonably anticipate within 48 hours that you would like to discuss Deborah I think we can end the meeting well I I just have one announcement that I ended up seeing that I forgot to say this is um um Jennifer moyon actually that shared it with me there's going to be a black Roots festival um on um September 8th which is a Sunday um hosted by 80 acres they're going to be celebrating um you know just uh African-American culture with food music art um so you know more details to come but just wanted folks to kind of um save the date on that and it'll be obviously oh no it's going to be in the ammer toown common actually so that's on the eth um and then the thing that we do need to kind of maybe we'll have to do it offline as a committee um you know even though of course I know that we can't kind of respond all but just to kind of get some some thought is just around the Our Town forums because that we had put some holes on for like I think the 19th and and another date um so we'll just have to kind of give it a little bit more thought on that thank you for that reminder all right so I think we can end the meeting at 7:55 thank you all welcome again Phil bye thank you all all right