everyone welcome welcome thanks for coming today all right good evening everyone uh this is a meeting of the rep of city of Boston's reparations task force welcome you to this meeting thank you for joining us um at today's meeting we have four means of interpretation Spanish Cape birdie Creo Asian Creo um uh and of course we have it in English before we get started we like to make sure everyone can access the appropriate language channels and to do this please click on the globe icon at the bottom of your Zoom window and select the language of your choice if you experience problems with interpretation during the meeting please send a message to uh on to chat via the chat I don't believe that Maya getter is on but via the chat to one of our co-hosts and we will do our best to assist you if you do not need interpretation services please select the English Channel I now like to ask our interpreters to uh please provide the announcements in their respective languages I'm going to ask Esther can you give yours in Haitian Creo please [Music] [Music] ESP I'm done and uh yes um can I have Lis and Kate Verdian please okay for [Music] for thank you thank you very much thank you very much okay thank you Mr chairman graas next slide please before we begin uh we wanted to inform everyone that today's meeting will be recorded we will be posting the recording on boston.gov we also upload meeting minutes from our uh note takers to the website we appreciate your participation this evening just a reminder that the reparation task force was formed via ordinance and is a public body all meetings of the task force are subject to the open meeting laws we will make the chat available once we open the floor for public comment which will be towards the end of the meeting I'm looking and are if there are any elected officials that are present uh at the meeting could they please make themselves known because I can't tell on screen but if there are please announce yourselves and I we welcome you to this meeting all right this is the agenda for this evening's meeting um we just had the notice of the accommodations and interpreters introductions I'm about to call the the meeting to order and take the role call of the members of the task force we will have a presentation of the minutes of Prior meetings to uh this evening we will be discussing and have a motion regarding standard operating procedures of the task force so to large extent this is a meeting of the administrative aspects of what how the task force will operate and that is consistent with the uh with the ordinance so with that being said I take a roll call of the members of the task force L merie frasia will you acknowledge yourselves if you are uh and let me know that you were here thank you very much George Greenwich is George grenis present believe he is I think he was having problems with his phone so he may not be able to speak all right uh well I see his name on the screen I will take it hopefully he will get that corrected and be able to respond um dorothia Jones here carrye Mays here and Joseph fer here those are the members of the task force that I see I will just read the other me names of the members of the task force Denson fanfan naticia Mills deanii Williams all right um the the minut of the meeting Maggie is that something that you could walk the task force members through in terms I know they have received those minutes or is it going to be you RJ they're going to walk the task force or you Mari and jel I don't know which one of you are going to be the ones who going to walk through the uh the minutes um I know that the task force members have uh received it and we're to provide comments back to you and in as far as the city staff so um I'm gonna pass it to Maggie for this one ch okay so therefore why don't we in ter to do that uh what was the process that you were going to do uh in order to present this the approval of the minutes mag yes so um as you said Sher fer we sent out the minutes from all the previous meetings that the task force has had thus far about two and a half weeks ago to uh the task force members as part of some new standard procedures we're going to be doing moving forward and a special shout out to George for really keeping us on track with this um we have all the notes from the prior meetings that were posted online we got some feedback from the members and we're going to go through some general feedback that we got that applies to all the minutes generally and then some more specific um notes that we received from members on the specific dates so if we can go to the next slide so these are just some more General edits um that we got back um starting with just kind of we're going to be doing a higher level of detail moving forward just for um efficiency from the notetaker side making sure that we're not leaving room for for too much error while still allowing for a good level of notes um from each meeting and we'll also be posting the recording so people can refer back to that there were some spelling and formality errors just from people typing quickly um and we've proposed a new format um which I think we'll show after I go through all of these but just a little header with the equity and inclusion logo um it'll say draft as a watermark in the background until things are approved um and then it was also proposed by George to not put the the minutes um on the with the official header until the task force votes to approve it so that's something um we can discuss um other General notes were just putting TFM for Task Force member um before writing down any remarks from a member for clarity um George also proposed putting the name of the note notaker on the document um and dorothia proposed having the names of any community members um that provide public comment on the minutes um so going into more specific notes we have for may3 for the May 3rd meeting which was quite a while ago now um we are just missing the name of one youth Task Force member who is an attendance so we're just going to add that on um I don't see there being an issue with that um moving to the next one um so the June 7th and just a quick note we're aware that there are notes from the May 17th meeting they're going to need um a lot more revision before we're able to send them out for task force um feedback so we'll be sending that out before the next meeting um from the June 7th meeting George requested that more context be added on some remarks he made regarding the promotion of the June 7th meeting and the names um of some influential figures in the reparation space um yeah so sorry um yeah he just requested that there be some more context on that added um and then for July 13th um we didn't receive any specific edits to that it was just the general format September 20th was the same no specific content related edits and then for the most recent meeting February 6th um George requested again that some more context be added on um some remarks he made regarding um motions that he's put forth in the past and the need for Community engagement strategies um that we will be adding in that is all for that and then I believe it's back to you chair all right uh well I guess the the process um that we have um I I want to get a sense of the task force members the customarily with a task force if the me if the minutes have been taken reviewed and submitted the question is whether we need to have a a formal vote in order to accept the minutes if that's the desire of the task force members we can we can do that so if there is I ask for a task force member if that's the wish of the task force members to put forward a motion with regards to these minutes that have just been uh received by you um comments were made edits were made and these will be the minutes that will be reflected and posted on the website so I'll if there's need for motion I'll take a motion and if I get a second then we can have a discussion uh if that's necessary so is there a motion all right um then I'm just going to um put to play that the minutes have been reviewed by the task force members they have been edited mer I think you were trying to unmute sorry I just yes I I I tried to un mute in time but um I was going to say that uh I'm I move that we have a vote for acceptance of the minutes as a is is this for a procedure oh yeah well George that's what I said I mean if that's the the wish of the task force members to have that we have to vote the minutes in as opposed to having the minutes reviewed uh by you and and and the staff being told of what the concern what any issues you have but fine I'll take a vote so let's have it in terms of need of of of um a motion in a second and we can go from there this is darthy Jones I'll second the motion well did ly make a motion she asked the question was a motion question okay okay so you're moving at the acceptance of the uh of the minutes of the prior meetings that were me that were read by uh um by Maggie Corman yes okay and Dorothy are you second that yes okay any question on the motion hearing none all those in favor I I all right any opposed any extensions all right thank you very much the motion the minutes are have been approved and will be posted as indicated all right um the we want to I I believe that um can we bring up thank you very much Maggie for your work thank you fellow task force members uh um there's been some discussion that was discussed okay uh about these uh our processes and so what was proposed in conversations with the staff and I believe that each of the the task force members reive a dist stand operating procedures which we're putting forward for a ma a way in which we can conduct our business and so um I prepared to have a you know discussion uh if you have any questions regarding that particular document I believe all of you did receive it so let's have a discussion what are your thoughts what are your thinking was there any revisions is it fine what uh what do the task force members uh feel regarding one second I think George was trying to unmute second I'm sorry I'm having major technical difficulties and I wasn't able to be on the last vote I'm sorry George I'm having yeah I do you want to come in on your why don't you come you want to comment on your phone hello just come in just come in on your phone we can hear you George okay yeah okay can somebody it said hello can you hear me we can hear you now I'm sorry I wasn't able to get on the last did we have a can you roll call what the vote was at the last minute I didn't even get a chance to vote okay well because I wasn't on I wasn't on I couldn't unmute myself said the chair was muting it um the the vote the motion that was put forward was to uh accept and to the the minutes of the prior meetings that were read by uh Maggie Corman the motion was made by L merie member L merie Frasier and seconded by member darthia Jones I called for the vote I asked for all those in favor uh um there those who said I I as for those who are were opposed um there were none and I asked for any exstension so do you want your vote recorded for that uh George yeah I I yeah I wasn't able to comment at all because um it wouldn't let me it said um it said that the the um the host would unmute me and it didn't let me be un sorry George I think you had like three profiles and I just didn't see the the one that maybe you were operating off of can we go back for we can go back yes yes we can go back in charge so yes why don't we uh uh what is your uh yes why don't we uh you have the floor okay um I find that um the the minutes I think that we should just have um I think all the minutes should be forwarded to the uh task force members and uh for a final say um and brought to the next meeting for a a final vote so all the minutes should be in some kind of PDF document um shared so we're all looking at it um you know I you know I know Maggie has done a lot of work but I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page and that the minutes are a true reflection and a true test of what we've seen because I don't know what I don't know if she added things I don't know if she put everything in there that I wanted to add right now it's just I don't have that information in front of me all right um so that that is in terms of your comments and what I'm going to do is uh L merie here's how this process works at least from Robert rules you were the maker of the motion so therefore what uh what George is asking is that basically that the vote be reopened to address his concern so if you make if you accept that and the second darier agrees with that then we can open it up we can have that the discussion and then once uh which will include what George has just stated and then we can take a vote on that so just precisely will you because his is is a is in effect a friendly Amendment so if you accept it then it comes back to DAR theier to do it to do that so you have to say you accept that darier you as the second and would have to accept it as well and then we can go forward I accept it okay I accept also okay so now for the discussion I see both your hands are up I want to it may be up to on the other question I want to deal with the issue here um I just want to get clarity so uh it was my understanding that the minutes did go out what you were saying George is that the minutes with the corrections were not received by the task force members correct okay then I think is appropriate so I think that what we should do is suspend uh my recommendation uh here is based upon that representation is that we defer the vote until that is received since you accept that friendly Amendment L merie and that we have to vote at of at a future meeting all of these minutes so um just asking Maggie that that happen in prior to the next meeting uh we can go forward so if if if that's amendable of the vot is therefore that we will receive the minutes for approval um after the task force members received the revised uh minutes um and that's the vote that's before us so all those in favor I by saying I uh any opposed any exensions pass pass United stre thank you very much um share point point of order just quick can we just say five are in affirmative and zero extensions that we just have a quorum in process well we have a quorum so we have a vote so I mean just want to make sure that five people on the record that there's no you know zero extensions or zero heard of just just just for the record that's fine in terms of the um uh we we can do that that's not a we can do that that's that's fine all right moving to the the uh standard operating procedures um I see that uh darthia you have your hand up Carrie you have your hand up so uh I I'll go alphabetically since I don't know who put the hand up first so ARA okay actually my hand was up because we had made some recommendations as far as the minutes going forward that the um name of the person that is transcribing the minutes the um dates should be on every page as well as any Community responses um that the community gives their the names of the person that um makes the comment I feel their name also should be in the minutes so um we had said that those were recommendations but we didn't agree going forward that would be the process for um all of the minutes I think that the I think that the the the persons who were taking the minutes here what the task force desires there so uh let's see if that's accomplished in the next set of minutes that we do in fact receive now again this is very very um u i I would just simply say for organizations that I sit with we don't usually have it to that level of detail you take it in the composite as to what the issue was but if that's the desire we hopefully will be able to capture the names and the and all the names are given so when people are speaking at meetings uh whoever is cheering that particular meeting should make sure that we get the name of the persons who are speaking so that that can be accomplished I think it's very and this is what I had mentioned to a a I think it's RJ I'm sorry I think because this is a historical moment in the history of Boston as well as for the rep reparations task force and we want to be as historically correct and accurate so that should somebody want to go back in 20 years and see where um how far we have come in terms of um um ensuring that there is some form of redress for um the city of Boston um in terms of people of color or African people I think that it's very very important that we have the historical record accurate and correct um naming names and making sure everybody um is listed for what their contributions are I think we hear you loud and clear uh D so my sense is that that will be what occurs going forward on the minutes thank you very much much Harry um I know that you had presented um to propose motions um just recently but I was wondering if we can propose the Motions after the procedural um the this procedural instruction so that we know like how you know before I put a motion on the floor I want to know how we're going to vote to that motion first we're not even there yet yeah so yeah so we're we're going to right now uh on if we we've included we because we went back to address the question uh with regards to the minutes we're now the standing operating procedures which you received which address some of that so uh are there questions to the standard operating proced I understand have been received by you if we can just close out on the minutes I just want to thank Maggie for taking all those suggestions and putting them down on paper and um you know just just to let everybody know that I've know no that we were backed up on this for seven months and I made sure and I every month over the last seven months I was pushing for us to make sure that we have these minutes on record as a official on piece um and so forth so I just want to put that down for the record thank you on the standard operating procedures are there any questions uh from the task force members yes I have a question so wait U Carrie sorry I I'm more than happy to give a presentation first before we have re unless your questions go ahead I in far as I my thing is if presentation is fine I I know that each one received it but again why don't you do it more broadly because there's others on here in far as the community who have not received it so that would be the correct thing to do go ahead RJ thanks chair um so yes we we sent a version of this to or the not a version of this we sent this to the task force members about a week ago for a review and so where are coming in but just so just as a ref fresher wanted to go through the different parts of it so U basically it's just a document kind of outlining the basics of what the task force does and uh basic procedures for making decisions so a lot of this is actually lifted straight from the ordinance the duties and responsibilities for example is in that second page of the ordinance that um sort of governs the responsibilities of the task force um and then the roles um as enumerated by the ordinance the mayor shall designate a chair from amongst the task force members uh and the chair will preside at all meetings of the task force and then um also because of the sort of subgroups which we'll get to in a second the chair may also designate other officers for special responsibilities or projects within the task Force's purview and or preside over subgroups and in the case where the chair is not present for a meeting a temporary chair May preside over the meeting um instead um for the definition of Quorum which is kind of just the number of people who are on the task force who need to be present for a meeting to be a public meeting we deferred that definition from the open meeting law um which says that a majority of members then in office need to be at a meeting by the mayor commensurate with their duties um and expenses um any Consultants that are engaged to support the task force should also be compensated through the mayor's office that inclusion cabinet requisite with city of Boston policies um in terms of public meetings so notice of each meeting she be provided as required under open meeting law but um you know given engagement with the task force um early in the process we um are expecting ourselves and are being held to the standard by the task force to submit public notice of meetings at least 10 days prior to a meeting to give adequate notice for Community to for the community ahead of meetings um as um some community members noticed I think after a long time coming I know we've been working on trying to get meetings noticed as much as possible we've posted meetings stretching all the way I think up until September for upcoming meetings um so hoping to to maintain that sort of long notice for meetings agenda for public meetings so meeting agendas will be proposed by the chair of the task force and subgroup Leadership prior to to notice um and then meeting structure all public meetings shall begin with the language accommodations which you heard earlier today um at the beginning the task force will vote vote to approve minutes from the previous public meeting something we are wanting to do um starting next meeting um staff will send those minutes to task force members at least two weeks prior to the coming meeting for review by the task force for feedback and then meeting time will be used to report out any feedback provided by the task force prior to the meeting for transparency uh to ensure that everyone is aware of those edits that are being made all public meeting shall include the opportunity for public comment either in direct reaction to specific items in the agenda or as determined by the chair under old or new business and public meeting shall follow the agenda as noticed prior to the meeting um the chair or whoever is designated to preside over the meeting as chair can use their discretion to advance or conclude discussion on pieces of the agenda and then finally and this is getting into the sort of decision-making pieces um in order to plan around and accomplish the specific tasks related to the core responsibilities in the ordinance of the task force and you might remember that's those duties and responsibilities that is here up here ABCD um the chair and the task force may choose to create and designate work to a subgroup of the task force so this is a subset of the task force not exceeding Forum um given specific responsibility so um the two subgroups that folks might be aware of are the phase one RFP subgroup which was the group of task force members that really worked on releasing that request for proposals that we put out to get researchers to work on the history and Legacy of slavery report that is part of the initial responsibilities for the task force or and and the other one that we currently have is the community engagement subgroup uh is a subset of the task force working on developing resourcing and and mobilizing around a community engagement strategy um for the task force so these are the two that have curently meeting but that's just to demonstrate you know uh that responsibility or that ability of the task force to to create um sub groups um terms of motions um the purpose of motions and votes during public meetings are to um in these sort of primary categories one deliberate on tasks directly related to The Phases delineating the ordinance two create subgroups as a channel to handle specific work three approve products from sub group discussions or deliberate over items on a case-by Case basis as determined by the chair I think um One S piece of feedback that we've heard and this has been a long time coming from the task force was that subgroups really allow for space to develop new ideas as they come in a collaborative way and so when there's sort of a new proposal or idea for discussion unless there are exceptions exceptions the the sort of natural motion will be to have that proposal sent to the re relevant subgroup at which point proposal can be discussed and that'll ensure cohesion amongst task force members and full intention and we can be specific too about mandates so for example let's say a idea sent over to the subgroup we can make sure that the motion attached to it is the expectation of presentation out after the discussion at the next public meeting so that ensures that um there's there's accountability for um discussion around those items so that's that's the sort of proposed standard operating procedure that was sent out last week and um hopefully can can provide a little bit structure in terms of decision making but um yeah I'm curious how this is landing for folks and I'm open to to feedback in discussion chair I'll pass it back to you thank you very much uh Carrie I know that you wanted to address that so I'll go to you first thank you um one well two quick questions my first one is um when you mean exceeding Quorum do you mean exceeding the number of votes that is of of task force members present or do you mean like the whole entire task force um good question so quum so for example we have eight task force members if a meeting there are more than four task force members then that automatically becomes a public hearing on the record um and so if a meeting exceeds quum of that that's the sort of definition um it's so present I guess your former option so for example in terms of the subgroup uh carried at worked for instance your subgroup is deal with the task force there should not be more than four members at or if five would be a you know would would because you have to have a majority for a quorum so I would say we would have no more than four members on there I don't I think there were three members that worked on the RFP so we're we're now we're concretizing that now to make sure that that happens that so we don't become open meeting uh uh uh come under the open meeting LW with regards to having to have a public meeting if you do if you exceed that it's it's public meeting it's a public meeting you cannot you you cannot do it uh put it this way in in private you have to have a public meeting otherwise you violate the open meetings thank you and then for my second question um you know I don't want to expedite going to the Motions right now before anybody else has questions but um can I present my motions after this portion now that I know how the voting processes work yeah abely yes oh sorry Cher yes you we have there is going to be a process which uh I believe RJ you're going to be walking us through the motions that have been brought on the table by uh member Greenwich is that correct yeah but I think first we have to vote to approve I know we have to vote this we gotta vote the standard operating procedure yes but I I just want I just want to be able to respond to uh car 's question as to whether so we're going to do that after we do the standard operating procedure Carrie that's what I wanted to be able to make clear is that fine with you Carrie awesome yep okay so I will entertain a motion to uh to uh to accept this the standard operating procedures which were provided to each member but also reviewed uh here at this meeting by presented here at this meeting by RJ so I entertain a motion I have a couple questions before that but you make you decide how you want to go forward well we put it let's see if we have a motion first and a second and then I'll open it up for discussion uh so is there a motion to accept the standard operating procedures I make a motion that dtha Jones I make a motion that we accept the standard operating procedures as we have receiv um in our email right is there a specific terminology or word we want to use to say yes and no because I'm simple I'll I'll just say yes or I or whatever you guys want want to but what we haven't got we haven't gotten to that you can say it in either way you can raise your hand you can say I you can say it yes in charge of whichever way it's just a matter of you indicating what your vote is it because we're not we're taking a Voice vote we're not taking a roll call vote okay so in terms of yeah so it's a Voice vote but before I can have take a vote I there's a motion that's on the table has been motioned uh or moved uh there is no second yet for what the the motion put forward by darthia Jones so it's it's one of a second at the moment okay well I agree with the standard okay so you are are you seconding the motion I am sec I'm gonna use the language seconding the motion second okay now now has it been properly moved and seconded now is there any discussion on the motion and George I think you said you had a question so yeah I had a couple questions on the wording of the document I just want to know who wrote the document it was a collaboration between staff for the initial and then we sort of passed over to the chair to look over and then we sent it over to the task force so is this the city's document or the chair's document it is no it's the task Force's document because this is what the motion is uh presented this is the task Force's document that's why is presented to the task force well is said there were persons who were involved with the drafting of it but this is if adopted by the task force is the task forces document well um there are some there are several pieces of language that I'm not comfortable with um first thing is that this was supposed to go to a subcommittee that we decided in July in the July minutes that myself and chair were supposed to be a part of so therefore I was not able to um add my comments to this document at all and so therefore IID like to put a pause on it because I shared that there are other ways of actually U moving this document as well there's um the standard Roberts Roberts Rules of Order and also there's a Martha's Rules of Order that can also be incorporated in this document that opens the process a little bit more open for the community to actually see this another piece of this document is that I'm I'm um kind of taken back by the city to recommend such a document because um the document is pretty much uh in my view totalitarian in approach and also it's uh kind of draconian in the way that's it's it's uh looking at ways of how to address and commute community and also hearing voice another piece as well is that um this is not a task force of 20 people this is a task force of five or more people so a lot of these ordinance and I have specific pieces around the Motions is that some motions necessarily do not need to go through a whole kind of subcommittee process there are only five people on this committee so therefore I think um those motions actually need to be brought up to the the to the task force and should be voted on as such there are many revisions that I have on this and I think this should go back to a committee or to several members to review and also that um I also believe that they we should also review um the Martha's rules of uh of of order as well as the Roberts rules of order because necessarily um a lot of this stuff that's written in here does not actually fall under Roberts R order my opinion thank you for your comments George are there any uh any other questions uh uh or comments that Task Force member would like to make with regards to what's on the motion on the on the table are we going to continue the vote oh yes we are that this is we are I haven't called a question yet right now it's open for discussion Carrie so if there anyone has I'll call the vote when when there's no longer any questions or comments by task force members so I think I what I did I'm not sure was put this as a friendly Amendment um to actually review this document with some more eyes on it and um making sure that um that um that the that task force members are able voices are actually being able to be push forward um without um you know it it just feels a very chaired Centric process and I don't know who wrote it like that but um I'm I'm not comfortable with the document at all that is a very cheer Centric process and George George Let's George all listen let me get you straight let me just get you straight on okay uh you can have your viewpoints Etc I'm older than you and I also been around longer than you and I've been involved in more organizations than than you so let's not get into in into that if you don't like the document that's your opinion now I'm trying to follow the procedures as they're outlined I know Roberts rules probably better than most so my only sense is I've allowed you to give your comment if you want to put what you said in the form of a of of of a friendly Amendment if the maker of the motion wants to accept that then that's how we proceed if they do not I'll call the question on the motion that's before us so so the maker of the motion so first and foremost I would like you to characterize what you have said as a that you're offering that as a friendly Amendment to the maker of the motion so as like do theer said we can make sure we memorialize all the things that are stated at our meeting so so if you want to make that in the form of a friendly uh Amendment please state it in that form and I will ask the maker of the motion whether uh whether she accepts it and then I'll also for the person with the second so if you would do that please that would be appreciated um I'm offering a friendly Amendment for this to go back to a committee and um to just revise some of the language I don't want to get into the nits and P pieces in this this meeting right here don't want you to do that we've heard you and just that's so you want to offer that as a friendly Amendment do the what say you you're muted do can I make a comment absolutely I think that um there has to be a way that we can go forward in our work as task force members I feel that um the information if we received it two weeks ago I think the information should have been um any um amend should have been proposed so that we all had an opportunity to look at them I will at this time agree to the friendly Amendment but I think going forward anytime information has been received within uh 10day um prior notice I think we need to approve approve our work and continue to go forward uh you were so I accept I all of that to say that I can accept the friendly a Amendment this time the uh L Mery you would have won I believe that second no Carri I'm sorry you seconded uh that so are you seconding the inclusion of the friendly Amendment yes all right um then let me call a question the question is that's standing operating procedures uh will go back to the task force members um and uh for review um and revision and will be entertained I suspect at a future meeting uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed I the chair is opposed to uh the chair is opposed to the uh to the motion okay can I just make a comment it's it's just about it's just about the it's a point of information no no no we did not received this document two weeks ago we received it on March 5th so I just want to make sure that's not she said two weeks ago it wasn't two weeks ago we received it on March 5th so that is that is incorrect okay well the uh well more importantly uh you you've gotten your friendly Amendment so you have an opportunity now to look at it to you uh until you are are and could present something which the uh task force in total will be in favor of so um now uh there are yes Carrie are we only because I feel like some of the operating procedures document does give some structure that that is help it helps me to know how to navigate this process can we still use certain aspects of the operating procedures that we see best fit to vote moving forward no yeah no the vote that you just taken says we have no there's no operating procedures that we have apparently we we differ as with regards to how we will handle that process so until that issue resolved we will be uh having some nice conversations but uh without a procedure so how do we vote is it just yes or no is that it uh that I don't understand what you mean how how do you how would you vote there point of clarification in terms of I don't understand what you mean how would you vote uh Carrie like for instance if there is uh matters about the subcommittee I mean it it's about making amendments it's not about not using the standard operating procedures at all at least that's what I understood I that we can make a friendly amendment to adding on to or re-evaluating the standard procedures that doesn't mean that we totally throw it away and not use any structure well well it Char unfortunate well unfortunately what is not what we're we're going to proceed go forward carriers in terms of what we're going to and we'll just uh struggle along until such time because as far as we put forward to standing operating procedure and I would just simply say for the record as well uh I would I would encourage folks to go back and read 268a um which has the uh which has the procedures for open meeting laws there is a that that document gives significant Authority for this process to the chair but I'm not interested in getting into a battle I'm not interested in being as was being suggested that this say cheer driven or cheer kingship so what I'm saying I'm trying to get a process for us to do the work that the ordinance say stated for us to do yeah so the question is we can't get there I say you're if you're asking the question can you proceed with what you were doing with your subgroup for the community process the answer is yes that's what you're asking so and that I I mean I don't want to make another friendly Amendment but I don't let let's get off the procedures so what are you asking Carrie so we can see for I'm asking to return my vote to agree with the standard of operating procedures with the friendly Amendment with the opportunity to bring in the friendly Amendment oh yeah what well well in terms of the friend that's already been voted on so right but people were able to change their votes just now that's why no no uh oh are okay are you saying that you wanted to you were asking well what happened in the process was this just let me explain there was a motion that was put on the table by darus seconded by you which was on for the standard operating procedure right the um member Greenwich uh put a offerer friendly Amendment which was accepted by the maker of the motion and you accepted it as the person who seconded that motion because that's what need to happen if you didn't seconded it wouldn't go forward uh with def friendly Amendment the original motion would have been on the table so therefore we then voted on that we would uh for uh defer the standard operating procedure until such time as the process that was proposed by member Greenwich was considered by the task force and that was voted on and um it was four votes I would suspect voice votes anyway in favor I voted in opposition position so that's where we are so it passed so that's where we are there are no the standard operating procedures were not uh were not adopt please also note that we haven't been operating under standard oper procedures for 13 months Terri okay I understand that what I'm saying is I I I originally want to Second my motion that dorthia had first put on the floor that's it yeah I understand but unfortunately uh we're we're we're past that for now so why don't we just move on and with that being said uh with with no standing operating procedures I'm not going to have the entertain the issue with regards to the Motions uh that we were talking about I'm not going to entertain that at this meeting um for until such time as we have the standard operating procedures so with that I'm going to open it up for if there for public comment I I I say to the to the public the items on the agenda was what we were just discussing um which were some of the administrative processes for the for the task force that's what is the public comment is directed towards so I ask you to keep your comments or questions if you have any any to that I see Amanda Kay has had uh her hand up uh for some time so Amanda K uh unmute yourself or if the host can unmute her I recuse myself thank you do you guys do you guys hear me clearly yes yes so I just had um one question and then another one was a comment okayand can you first could you give your full name please because we're trying to have that uh make sure we have our records very clear okay my name is Amanda kufo okay could you spell that just in case so we have it correctly um your last name KU kuu Fu R thank you all right go ahead so I had one question and one question and one comment the first question was just around as I'm listening to all this um about the procedural um operations and how you all want to navigate this given that uh there seems to have been a vote on moving forward with what was proposed today to create more time for folks to discuss more what are your future meetings going to look like in terms of how you vote how you discuss and how you have conversations until that decision has come to a conclusion does that make sense yes yes um I would I would say to you that amand and thank you very much for that question uh the procedural questions that were talked about today are from my perspective are not going to impede what the ordinance requires uh or dictated that uh the task force do so such as the community process that was being that was discussed in the audience ordinance at the appropriate time uh what we have already undertaken with the selection of our researchers for it those processes are going to continue on these matters here as to uh uh who says what and who does what we'll work all of that through but we're going to continue to go forward if you look on the um the city website for the reparations task force uh there are dates and meetings that have been already that are on there so we will proceed and we'll just see how it works out I can't predict the future but my hope is that we will be able to get through this process very very quickly all right thank you Joseph and then just my last comment was um just for the the C um members just I think you know based on how this conversation has went I for me I've had a lot of experience and just being a lot of um committees organizations and and just um working in operations and I just want to like really urge members of the cabinet to just think about making sure that we don't get into analysis paralysis um just because I know that sometimes that happens a lot in committees and you know we really want things to work out really well and we want it to be effective so people are really concerned and making sure that they're you know voicing their opinions and making sure that things come out smoothly especially how important this work is but also I want to make sure that you know folks moving forward keep in mind um we can also fall into a pitfall where we just overthink a lot and over overdo it sometimes and next you know we haven't moved forward because we're trying to make it so perfect um so to make room in your voting decisions moving forward to make room to make decisions where you know you can you can leave room for risks um and just have a risk management assessment type of perspective in terms of decisions and allow things to go even if there's a little you know room for error um that way we can at least move forward um because I know the work y'all are doing is really important and just wanted to put that out there as a community member um for folks who are you know in part are part of this cabinet to really think about those things moving forward and thank you for your work thank you very much Amanda I believe that Antonia and then Jan Antonia Edwards yeah you're on mute Antonia Antonia you're on mute can someone uh do you need to host need to sorry I was clicking okay all right I'm sorry I was trying to unmute myself I want to say good evening to everybody and thank you guys for all the hard work you're doing I know it's extremely difficult um you know to get this stuff put together I just want to say thank you for your um your um interview with regards to the um $5 billion cash um payments to people I think that you handled it very eloquently and also extremely articulate I wanted to also ask just so there's no confusion because it seems as though there's a lot of confusion what this task force is really um here for to gear people back to the ordinance um and remind them that I'm saying the basic reason for the whole ordinance is to explore the um harms that were done for um purposes of reparations for lineage um based for those who descend from slavery in the us and I think that if we keep reminding people of that then that may um deter some of this um outlandish behavior and and demands on the outside but I just want to commend you first for giving a excuse me hellified interview and I really think it was very articulated and very um eloquent in the way in which you handle it and I think it means a lot for you to have stepped forward and and just gave the answers that you gave and I want to commend you for that thank you uh Miss Edwards uh thank you very much CH I have no clue what she's talking about uh the uh fine uh the uh Jan schemes do you want to uh Miss edwi could you unmute her once again uh R.J if you have her muted uh yes I'm talking about the grassroot organizations that put a demand on the mayor and the reparations task force for 15 billion cash payments direct payments to all black people in Boston um right reparation all black people yeah in Boston and I think that it puts a lot of pressure on the task force and I think that um the way in which Mr Feer handled it with his interview um was very eloquent in the way in which she handled it I think that the grassroot organizations are putting the car before the horse and not allowing the task force to do what they need to do but also not reminding themselves that this is all about descendants of those who are enslaved in the US and not necessarily anybody who's melanated and I really want to commend you again for your answers and how you handled it thank you uh can you just say can you just quickly just say what what interview it was and where it is W it was a one on WB okay uh which you received the copy of um Joan skes yes um good evening everyone um thank you Boston uh reparations task force for hosting this meeting today um I definitely wanted to Echo uh you know the comments before me um letting you know that this I understand this is a difficult process um as you guys are trying to put all these pieces together um definitely uh you know I definitely want to make sure that you know this is as Democratic right um process as possible uh you know where we're putting democra democracy first in all steps so making sure that everybody has a chance to um review any pieces of information before they come to the meeting um and you know uh offering their amendments or whatever um just to make the I'm all about transparency um and Effectiveness you know when it comes to this process um the next comment that I have is um is it possible that we can start to create a flyer uh for outreach uh to these events um I know we just you know sent an email and there was just a zoom invite attachment um I I would like to see a little bit more flyers um to get people more engaged in this process um and um yeah from there uh you know just if we can just uh I I want to know why exactly you know I think I seen a comment that 2026 is when all the research would be ready to go um can you clarify that why can't we uh finish the research within the next three months uh what is exactly uh the hold on that thank you on uh there's two things I I'm I'm I'm just going to answer just in terms of kind because this is really beyond the scope of what this meeting is about but I will give to the courtesy since we have a little bit of time in order to do so uh we have been very very clear on the first matter um again we're going to follow the the open meeting lore and as was discussed we go beyond that in terms of deal with the emails any other process beyond that uh is not something right now that the task force has prepared to under undertake so while it may be desirous individuals you're free to take the information that's on the website and uh and and disseminate that as broadly as you may wish to in order to do that on the other one we've been clear that in terms of uh and uh that we are we are required under the ordinance to do the appropriate research in Phase One the research will take the time it takes in which to do it and and so as soon as the our our that we've engaged our uh researchers they're going to begin their work and if and it is anticipated that is going to take them um maybe to the end of the year in order to do that the second phase of that once we have received their input and the research is for this task force to take that information in concert with uh discussions and and deliberations with the Comm Community getting the community's feedback is to then in phase two to make the recommendations to the mayor as to what uh the uh form of reparations that the city of abortion should take and then lastly uh and it may not be this task force that uh does this is the action plan of what is proposed for reparations how that would be implemented and operationalized by the city of Boston however it takes everyone says that they want to throwing out numbers everyone talks about a time frame but I just say to you we've been at this for four 400 years I think we can take the time to be able to do it correctly by getting the appropriate research so that's the process we're going to follow and we're going to follow what the ordinance says uh that we are mandated in order to do so it'll take the time that it has to to get it done so uh I don't see any other hands I don't see anything is there anything in the chat uh at all that I need to consider uh um you know Jan Jan I've answered your question I'm that's I'm sorry that's it word yeah I have a separate question Joseph I know you might but in terms of I've answered your question and so um I if you want to you can do the comment on the on the website you can do it at that uh do it there you can put it in the chat and we may be able to respond back to you uh in that regard but but I'm not going to take another uh I'm not going to take another question at this particular point in time I just wanted to know how long this group is going to be together uh Jose uh it'll right now in uh the again I would just ask for you to take a look at the ordinance the ordinance has us until such time as you make the request to be extended we are uh we are technically would be out of business in uh December 31st uh 20 of this year but I am certain that we will make a request to the mayor in order to be able to extend that time because we will not have completed our work and I'm sure that the mayor and the city council would support that U okay Ramona Brown RJ can you unmute Ramona Brown please okay M hi can you hear me yes okay good um well let me just start off to saying to say um I'm glad that I was invited to this meeting um someone called me in connection with the task force and let me know that there's virtual community meetings and I'm like okay so you know I I appreciate that and I also want to say to the whole team and the task force that you know I I commend you and I want to thank you for working on behalf of the reparations um remedy for uh The Descendants specifically The Descendant descendants of slaves uh in the Boston Massachusetts or Mass state of Massachusetts I just want to um put that out there first um so yeah the the question I had because I do know how to do research myself um because of my educational training and because I just do it on my own also um when it comes to research and when I heard of the task force I just kind of looked over at my library that's pretty much how I you know what I thought about or or what I could use in research and also the other tools that we have available to us which is the internet um but I had a question because not only am I glad to be at this meeting for the first time but I also wanted to know as a community person um coming coming in as a person to this meeting I wanted to know how could I or other community people or people within the state of Massachusetts how could we uh help the task force without being a part of the task force and what is the extent of that help so that's more or less the question I had um because I wouldn't mind bringing something in I mean if it would possibly help on the research side so that's one of the only questions I have and thank you for allowing me to speak thank you very much m brown uh the process uh that I was me referring to earlier about the selection of our researchers we went through in the process of developing a request for proposal uh and we have two research teams who are looking at the research stemming from 1620 to the present time as it relates to Boston's connection to the the slave trade and the benefits there from so that's what the analysis or the research that be undertaking the way that the community can be most helpful in this process is one you can you can uh you know participate in the meetings uh member Carrie Mays will be is the person who would be cheering Community meetings as we talk about as as we go forward um in terge of the uh Community process on personally on my side the community is going to be most helpful to the task force is when we're getting into the deliberations as to what form reparation should take if you're getting into a lot of the reading that's going on across the country uh and in fact within the state of Massachusetts right now uh many communities are talking about what form reparation should take we have we're now we're near that stage because we have yet to get the research back so quite frankly that will be the time in which we will uh will I say the the most intricate time in which the community can be helpful but I certainly say to participate in the meetings that are certainly that member Carrie May would will be chairing uh in terms of a process and uh will be able to see in the members that will be participating in that would be able to uh to um keep the community informed and the other way is a matter if you have comments there's a way in which to go on the website boston.gov in terms of for reparations put your comments there um there are going to be oral history research that the research is going to be doing if you have information that you can share with that then certainly uh that would be ways in which you can participate but one would be by attending these meetings in this spr all right all right thank you okay um and it's just been put in track uh in the chat you would go online to reparations uh uh Boston boston.gov so all right uh I don't see any other raised hands I don't see that there's any other business that's before the body so I want to bid everyone uh a good night I want to thank you for participating I want to thank the members and I want to thank the community members who are uh who were present here this evening and certainly I want to thank the members of the staff that have been helpful I have a question so we're not voting on anything tonight no we are not okay just want all right have a good night thank you thank you