##VIDEO ID:IdxvAV-4ys8## welcome everyone to the October affordable housing trust meeting this evening we have a H series of important updates and then we'll be uh joined by Shelly to uh continue with our strategic plan and uh we'll we'll see what other items come up I do have uh an email from John Hornick that I'd like to share with with folks I just received it today and get to that at the at the end of the meeting unless it comes up earlier so uh with that Greg you want to uh kick us off on on the updates um sure yeah and then I I'll know we did um get some minutes out late um so should we go ahead and just postpone those till November well I I uh I let's see if uh if we have any objection to approving them now does anyone have uh a request to have more time to look at them or any comments if you had a chance to take a look uh so no I I'm not hearing a request to take more time or uh any comments and so if that's the case I think we should go ahead and approve them yeah okay so I think it looks like we're all in favor so uh thank you uh minutes are approved thanks for putting those together Greg uh it's really very excellent that we're keeping up with them session by session for my own sanity only yes we really should vote on them I think okay uh so uh me go uh uh and ask uh Alex how do you vote hi Erica hi Grover I algra hi okay uh Rob I'm staying I wasn't there very good Carol I okay I vote I uh so we have uh uh sorry Paul Paul uh forget to treat you as uh exactly one of us in this session than um uh uh so minutes are uh approved thank you everyone great so um go ahead and switch into some updates here um and pardon me is I share my screen here and hopefully you see something that says Forum highlights um yes can you all see that screen y um okay um so uh yeah starting with um sort of town updates um you know a few things going on sort of update on a lot of stuff that you've been hearing about for a while so the housing production plan uh continues to be underway um there was uh I wrote 101 forum here um in fact it was um two separate forums that kind of mirrored each other um uh and we had about 40 folks thereabouts total um participated in those um and then uh coming up um we're GNA have a um really Barrett's going to lead a meeting with some low-income renters that they've done some targeted Outreach uh with um some folks in managing a couple wayfinders properties as well as Village Park so they're doing Outreach to renters um at those properties to you know just get some insights uh on their experiences and I'm I'm grateful that they're doing that targeted Outreach um and also uh probably next week or the following we'll publish a community survey um which will um mirror some of the input we've already been gathering with the advantage of being you know digital and portable and uh you know easy for anybody to participate in um so once that's live please look out for that and uh you know and forward that email on uh to um to you know everybody in Amor that you know um especially uh you know folks affected by affordable housing issues um I wanted to just sort of plug pull out real quick and not to go too deep in but just a few highlight slides from um from those forums just get a give a sense of what uh of what they're doing as they they develop the needs assessment um you know and I'm not going to delve into any of these too deeply but just some examples of some of the slices and I think I have like four slides here these are barretts by the way to be clear um and these are a little bit Bigg I wonder can you yes perfect so now we can see the years sorry about that um um you know and so you know in this case they're looking at um you know sort of the the distribution of um of Ages in households um you know telling some some interesting data you know of sort of older households becoming a larger uh percentage of you know of the the households in ammer um you know household sizes um you know children disappearing Al together in um yeah that's that that's a recurring but yeah I couldn't show their whole slideshow but they have you know great data on School enrollment and you know other stuff related to um you know to children and young people and how that population's getting smaller um household sizes interesting Trends here um as well um again more context uh you know will be around all this in the final product of the needs assessment but just a taste here um you know some interesting data on unit types in ammer um and how we relate to some other communities in the region as far as the splits of what uh housing typologies we have as far as um you know single family duplexes large multifamilies or what um and you know this this can can tell us some some interesting things and and potentially you know guide some some next steps you know in forming the whole picture and then the last example here is you know the if I could just ask a question on that one do you know if the percentages are by buildings or by population we by units um by units okay um so um uh and and we should we could double check this with Barett but I'm pretty sure uh this was saying 42% or 42 perc of the units in ammer are single family detached um and so forth you know town home um you know you know larger multi um oh sorry this one would be the the uh smaller but um or the duplexes and then you know and this is an interesting number you know in probably decade over decade my guess is this number has uh has grown a lot I'm I I would venture guess um from the 2010 to the 2020 um although I suppose some of this stuff has come online since 2020 so um but yeah another sort of example of of what they're talking about what they're looking at and then this one is interesting too it's a you know just your basic um you know housing um you know price trends and you know looking at both the the number of sales over here and the dotted line um and then um the you know the price here and you can see sort of how you know as a number sales go goes up in a lot of cases the there's a a rough inverse correspondence where the sale prices go down and when the number of sales go down especially here we see the you know pretty remarkable um you know increase in uh in median sales so um and there's a whole lot more and they had about you know probably you know 15 or so more interesting slides in uh their presentation which is posted by the way um uh you can get there via the Housing Trust website now and we've created a dedicated page for the uh housing production plan as well but that's linked out from the the Housing Trust website for your convenience um also in the planning department web page um so yeah that's kind of just a quick update on you know just a little taste of of what we were up to on the first um what you know what what Barrett was sharing and then following that um you know some uh and I don't have pictures from that one do I nope um but uh but yeah that was great so then we also um some of you joined us uh at the block party in amest um and thanks to those of you who were able to join us in table I had a lot of fun I hope you all did too um we we were sort of informally welcoming feedback both you know input into the housing production plan you can see some of that here um as well as uh you know some some thoughts on the um the trust's action plan um got a few responses from that but I for me it was far more valuable just to have informal conversations with people uh who just you know entered into the conversation out of whim and not very intentionally as we often get folks you know offering formal feedback or you know proposing a project or something like that but I had conversations with everybody from from homeowners who didn't want more housing to uh renters who were really burdened you know had a great conversation with somebody who had just received a voucher and was very excited and very nervous about that um you know so it was cool just to kind of be out uh in a more human way in a in a you know more immediate way talking about housing stuff in ammer um I don't know if anybody else who was at the block party wants to offer any highlights or [Music] thoughts okay we hold off I don't see anybody just grateful that you put in the work to make it happen Greg and everyone who supported that awesome likewise Greg that was awesome yeah I think I think the trust had a really good presence really prominent location so and always staffed so all the people volunteered their time was really good for sure for sure I'm I'm grateful that for everyone's helping turning around the the products for that really quickly um so that's uh that's really um promising to me as far as what we can do uh collaboratively um and then I was going to keep trucking here um uh on the 25th of September uh there was a presentation uh from The narrowgate Architects with whom we contracted to do the conceptual work on the VFW site for a future Housing Resource Center which is the shelter and Supportive Housing uh proposal you know a concept that we're working with um so they came up with some uh really excellent product I thought um the full presentation and uh you know as well as their you know their conceptual renderings um are also on the Trust website um you can go uh check those out and there's there's also kind of parallel to the to the the presentation on YouTube there's also a really nice uh you know written narrative which also includes the images and some of those Core Concepts and that's you know probably a little bit easier to consume with speed um so um we're excited to sort of move into the next steps with that um so um I didn't actually maybe I cut that part off but basically the next steps in the DFW is we'll um you know we'll do some work on uh on due diligence sort of figuring out you know the landscape of potential Partners in this and you know how they're all going to relate to an RFP and then from that we'll go into the RFP development process um and precisely when that happens kind of depends that that upfront due diligence and you know what we and and various parties you know kind of need to to do to to make that a a useful process um the other bits and pieces here uh the wayfinders project at uh that that we funded uh at belter toown Road and and East Street um the uh fundamentally it's still on track um the last time I spoke to you all we reported that the uh the initial zba meeting uh got uh covered a lot more ground than than they might have in a in a in a previous approach to a 40b project um informal reports are that it's perhaps slowing down a bit nothing is fundamentally off track there's no major changes the zba is proposing it's just going a little bit slower right now is the update um and we can um maybe uh you know we might incorporate that in a conversation later on about sort of you know partner board engagement or or I'm forging the name of our strategy there and our plan um am community homes uh you know we heard from uh Jessica today um marketing is um is is well underway at this point um which is exciting um they're doing lot Public Outreach a lot of one toone Outreach um to sort of you know key influencers and Gatekeepers so it's exciting that that's happening um I can share that uh parallel projects using the same Commonwealth Builder program um that uh did not do this upfront outreach are feeling the outcome of that right now um so it seems like their strategy to do this well before construction begins is going to Bear a lot of fruit um in another case uh a community I'm aware of um developer did not do that upfront Outreach and is now scrambling for qualified applicants so um it's exciting they they took that step um and they're going to get started in the spring there will not be site work this fall that will begin in the spring and that's based on uh state perverting issues not not local or anything like that um and then the CPA application uh which we talked about some last month uh um was submitted and thanks to Gaston and Erica for uh for helping uh develop that and um we await uh the CPA's um uh response to that and and stand prepared to answer anything questions I think yeah we can go back to this a little bit later but that is kind of the the town update piece of things Yeah question I was just gonna say um gastone if you want um anybody to come with you to the CPA presentation or when they ask questions I'd be willing with you sure thank you for for for that yeah it would be I given Carol's comments it would be great to have support and um my hand in the wrong way but um yeah even if I mean I might I might come depend on what it is but if you could let us know when it is so we can come if we can come that would be great I mean we can be attendees and whatever so thanks yeah yeah as we hear back from the CPA um you know I maybe Carol I guess that was around last year I mean I I guess I'll I'll keep the the trust members updated as to kind of the you know the 30,000 foot uh view of that process but if there's specifics um you know or if there's weeds to delve into you know maybe I'll send an imitation for those who who want to delve into weeds so yeah and if if if questions come up that Gaston and Greg who seem to be mainly putting it together you'd like the rest of us to just like send you here some things that I'm thinking might be useful comments I don't think that if we send them all to you and don't all talk about them I think that's okay so and then you can pick and choose what you want to do so yeah okay all right so maybe since we have a a few minutes this might be good chance for me to uh read John's email which is requesting the trust consider uh joining in in supporting an initiative that he's undertaking that yeah okay let me pull that up okay [Music] um if I find the email just one [Music] sec okay um hi uh Gaston and Greg I've been asked by Rebecca Frick to work with her and other members of the Amherst League of women's voters in planning an educational event focused on a affordable housing the audience would be League members and any other interested persons the primary goal would be to answer questions like what is affordable housing how is it developed and by whom how is it financed and how can League members become engaged in advocating for it Rebecca and I have some ideas about how to proceed with this but we did want to go ahead we did not want to go ahead without first Consulting you joint sponsorship between the league the Housing Trust in the town is something we hope you will consider and so I wanted to uh put this uh to the trust uh to channel John uh to the trust and see if this was an initiative that that we wanted to support this educational event algra please I was just gonna say going back to our strategic plan it seems to fit in perfectly with the area that I had said I might be interested in helping out with so I think it would be a great idea Grover thank thank you I think it would be a great opportunity to share our strategic plan with them and invite them to join any of our working groups all right great so it seems like a real natural uh uh activity and if anything something that kind of unlocks the initiatives of the Strategic plan so uh if if you all agree I'll I'll respond accordingly and um uh Erica please just a point of clarification a this is uh a community Forum or this is for the League members I well I think it's U hosted by the league my um I've ended up being on the League's mailing list and my sense is that their events are open um and and that they promote them beyond their membership but that's something I'll I'll ask to clarify uh from John okay email does say any interested people yes and any other interested persons exactly yep y thank you um yes Carol so I guess maybe when you talk to John and you could just get an idea of what it is that if we're co-sponsoring it what exactly they would like from us so we know quite what we're saying we'll do I mean I think it's a great idea but I'd like to know a little bit more about what is in it involves and so whatever you can find out would be appreciate it okay by all means and um algra uh given your kind of issue spotting this is as the area that you U indicated interest in in in pushing on U may I copy you on that uh reply yeah good excellent does anyone have anything else that you've seen in the news or any other ideas that that you want to put forward for consideration um I guess Greg one one item that we've been trying to slot in is the opportunity to go and check out the um uh Adu that's being constructed at UMass Campus before it makes its way down to hoolio oh is there like a prefab one or something that's being constructed and it's going to move after construction correct yeah so professor at UMass uh is building this with students and it's in a partnership with the the city of Holio as I understand it and uh we would maybe uh Greg you can you can uh identify the professor and the other thought was that he could come to us and talk to us about his study which is actually analyzing um the the town of Amhurst to see what is the Poss what is the potential density increase that could be achieved through adus cool um yeah so his his name is Rob Williams um and he's a architect an architecture Professor but uh what I think is cool is the studio that um is building is a collaboration between the School of Architecture and the school building Sciences or building science I guess and they are um uh so it's kind of a Hands-On uh you know sort of Workshop SCA where they're actually building um these small accessory dwellings that have been um there's a few already down in Hoke uh they're working with the CDC down there um uh and but they're building them uh at a location on campus and um yeah and I think he's open to visits um so we have to schedule that with him but um I think he'd be more than happy to show us around and then as geston said he'd also you know we've also invited him to join us to share some of his data work which is as you know looking at capacity for adus uh in uh in ammer um and the question you know there's probably in the mathematical sense that may have changed to some degree based on recent legislation and so it's a question of whether his uh I think he said his you know he thought his data could be adjusted relatively easily to reflect that but um but in any case so it's you know it's a uh I've seen some very basic snapshots of it but um it's it's interesting stuff and I know as well there have been I've kind of I think since Gaston and I met with him I heard maybe from him or Dave I forget but very informally you know him and Dave I think had a informal conversation as well about you know potentially doing finding a way to do something in ammer uh in the future um that's probably a few years away because they have a queue uh um as I understand but um but you know maybe a neat thing to do a demonstration project or uh a way to um sort of you know both you know highlight that typology and also find ways to collaborate uh at the at the sort of ground level with stakeholders at UMass which I think is a healthy thing too so Carol um I just wanted another thing to think about I signed up to go to a um what's it called Community Covenant homes community homes a workshop and then I couldn't end up going to it but I got this incredible bunch of materials that I would be happy to share which includes a model bylaw for a that a town could adapt in order to allow this which is like kind of a cluster of adus is what it looks like to me just as a quick as a quick take from looking at what they're what they're talking about and it just seems like an another interesting Innovative kind of thing that I I missed the presentation but I I got all the material so I'd be happy to share them if people are interested great and that can join the um resources that that Greg's been compiling and can can send back out to us um Erica I was just curious um because this is an assumption uh in terms of H probably having all sewer lines whereas in amher we also have septic systems so it' be good to have information that would include what it means uh Adu with septic nice Alex um yeah if you're reaching out to the design build program at UMass um in addition to the professor that you mentioned you should also reach out to Professor Carl fochi and Benjamin leinfelder who's a grad student who's been coordinating a lot the design build program but specifically to your question Erica with stic and some of the more utilities heavy side they're probably going to be a better source of that information uh since we have another minute or two uh I guess I'm curious if we can take an informal poll of interest to actually go in person to the UMass campus to see this this unit so yeah Erica you're interested this semester for me um Tuesdays are the easiest day is that a day that can potentially work for folks like a t like what would be the window of time that that could work if any time works for me it's later in the afternoon my team staff meeting goes till about two on Tuesday okay so like after let's say after 2:30 or 3 and before before when is is The Sweet Spot depends on what my kids activities are so before 5 okay um uh would it may be aiming for like a 4:30 p.m on a Tuesday potentially work for people okay Greg sorry yeah gotta ask you Greg um um if we did it um before Thanksgiving um yes that would work um uh after lesso okay well let let I I think it's going to disappear uh at some point maybe this calendar year so um why don't we reach out and see if if John can accommodate us um in one of the next uh you know two or three Tuesdays okay great awesome yeah Paul and Greg you'll notify everybody whenever it gets scheduled so people can plug in if they want yep s I'm making sure I yeah so yeah once that get gets on the calendar I'll I'll send an invite out to folks and um make everybody aware um and expecting to see shell soon but sure yeah is there other as far as the ad piece is there other stuff we should talk about I think we've got a Target time that's good ER just a a quick question maybe for a future presentation I know ARA is starting to eventually uh wrap up but I'm wondering if the town could tell us um I know that there was um the uh possibility of individuals who uh had major negative impacts in terms of housing that they could apply for oper funds um and I try to look on the website in terms of Eligibility I couldn't find it I just saw a report about it um I wonder if we can have an update in the future for that okay I'm sure yeah I think we can we can try and track down some data on that um okay and I have Shelly here I'm gonna go ahead and promote her if I could so here comes Shelly got her there she is hey Shell hi hi so we kind of burn through our other items but uh but I think we're we're ready to to jump into um action plan stuff I will say that I do have I did send out a little bit of feedback um which I also have in some slides uh because when I a little bit late um so that's kind of one extra piece I can share relatively briefly um at some point here okay so should I just go ahead and do that now does that make sense do you want to share you want to share the um implementation proposal sure yeah I guess the the one uh sort of in in advance of that that we we did a little bit of we did like a a basic survey of of folks of the Public's feedback on the plan oh got it yeah um and I just wanted to you know in a timely way just kind of go through that real quick if I could is that okay yeah um yes all right um so we did get um uh aimit number of uh of feedback and I'll I'll go through quickly here um so these are all strategies you're all familiar with but we asked uh we invited folks to weigh in on the strategies that excited them most um and these are the the answers we ended up with um based on you know we listed our strategies and and these are the ones that that folks highlighted with the you know the land donation from an ed institution and the the development ecosystem um strengthening that uh coming up a couple times um a couple other things here but these are all um you know town on Parcels home ownership um sort of creative funding ideas you know all all stuff you're familiar with from the existing plan um and then what's missing um some thoughts you know some encouragement to uh push colleges more more actively universities um a couple different thoughts there um and then also looking at existing housing and how to reduce costs in in what we have now whether it's through rent subsidies or uh you know or Energy Efficiency ideas that sort of thing I think the most useful thing uh that we got back um among the responses we did get was really about grammar and we can um maybe come back to this a little bit later but um these aren't basically you know cool I think this was good feedback in that somebody read it as you know as what we he added here um you know at least you know where we just had developed 200 affordable homes so you know not putting caps on things um into that with a few different things and I think that's um ultimately Communications thing um uh I think 200 we all agreed is a robust goal but I think how we communicate and how we frame some of these numbers um probably matters as well so I thought this was helpful feedback um but I just wanted to make sure I got that in there before we jumped right in so um I can so is the group prepared to formally vote to accept those tonight or are you wanting to do more feedback I'm trying to remember my sense is that we're we're ready uh but let's let's have any comment on that um you know in favor or uh against doing so if there is any or like do you want to consider that language of at least versus how we have it now written where it's um more finite or do you want to just stick with what you have okay could you put that language back up uh Greg and and let get some reactions to the the at least and um I guess I I feel I I have maybe some mixed feelings about it but let's let's see how how we feel about that so that we can um you know strike the hammer while the iron is hot uh tonight so what you have right now is support the creation of 200 homes and this person is saying it' be like support the creation of at least 200 homes if I can jump in if we want to make such a an adjustment to address the concern that was raised by this uh resident I would suggest that we have switched from at least to or more um a as a different way of saying the same thing that is p piie enhancing rather than using the word least in there that's my own reaction I I uh don't feel strongly about it but if we want to make a qualification that would be my um suggestion so do folks feel uh that this is a feedback that that makes sense to take it out yeah I would support adjusting the language to either the the at least or 200 or more with the exception of The Proposal here to change the land donation to say Seek at least one land donation I would rather see that left General as seek a land donation um partially because I think that a donation doesn't at imply a a limit on that and a donation could have multiple Parts but also I don't want that to be seen as us viewing this as kind of an eternal seeking of land from the educational Partners which I would worry about thank you Alex Paul please yeah I I don't I I mean if we're going to change it I agree with your language um castone and agreed with what Alex said I I sort of feel like when you're setting goals you sort of set a Target and it's what this is is a Target and it's there's nobody that would say oh we've got 200 affordable hels we can't build any more I don't think anybody would see it read it that way I just think it's sort of a you know but if we feel like we want to accept a change from someone took the time to read it I don't really feel it I think I don't think it's a big difference actually yeah thank you uh Grover yeah similarly to Paul I appreciate the vibe this person is bringing and um and I support gust on your language proposal change I'm all for as you know being quite ambitious about our numbers and I think these are ambitious numbers and they're goals for a reason like shelle was pretty clear about setting clear goals and so we were doing that so we're not going to turn anyone away because their proposal puts us up to 220 aordable homes right like so um so I I personally I like if that person is listening I love the vibe and also I think voting on it and then moving on to next steps at the next meeting is in better service of this goal than amending the language coming back putting it on the agenda again and voting on it yeah thank you Grover so yeah I'm not hearing anyone uh I mean I'm glad that we're we're processing some feedback and and that it we're kind of rebuilding our resolve for the outcome that we've arrived at after many months of work with Shelly so uh unless anyone wants to make the case to U make a change to the draft as it is I uh I suggest we we continue with the the the the plan that that was before us this evening so anyone want to make jump in and and advocate for uh a language change here okay he hearing hearing no up okay yeah sorry yeah you got the yellow wall which makes it tricky go ahead sorry uh yeah I'm have to change my wall color or my hand color anyway I'm not I so you're saying do not make any changes in our document based on this that's what you're just suggesting correct I I thought that I heard people saying go ahead and change it only I like your words better develop 200 or more I like or more some or more feels less something or other I just like it better and um I don't know I don't I don't know so so are you sugges I'm just trying to I'm just trying to understand I thought the way the conversation go was going seemed to be saying change it and then Gaston said we're agreeing to not change it I want let me revie thank you Carol let me let me review what I what I heard and and then folks can can can correct me um I I heard uh I didn't hear anyone advocating for making this change I heard Alex saying if we're gonna make a change let's not make a change to the land donation I heard Paul saying uh doesn't seem you know the kind of syntax that you need with goals but if we are going to make a change then the or more and I heard Grover saying uh these are ambitious goals and the reasonable reading of them is that of course we want to keep going and So based on that uh what I how I interpreted folks comments that's why I summarized um the the this the space that we were at Carol Grover please well Carol what I I think the most um relevant piece of what I was saying was that I didn't I would rather we voted on it now and move forward with our next steps at the next meeting than putting it off another meeting to vote on it because we have to go edit the language so that's why I was supporting voting on it as is versus the edit which I like the sound of but doesn't seem NE needed as much as moving on to the next action it does Alex mute sorry just as a point of order would we be able to propose vote on an amendment and vote on the revised language in this meeting would would that not be within our procedure I I don't I don't see why not does anyone see a reason why we couldn't uh vote to approve the uh the strategy with a tweak that we uh make this evening okay so does anyone want to make the case for a tweak to the language this evening and so yes I mean Grover now I'm hearing you being uh actually that in in a perfect world you would want to make a a modification and so may may maybe you could offer the The Tweak that you would like to see if we if we could make one and approve tonight I will I'm GNA propose an amendment to this as written which is to change develop 200 a for 200 or more affordable homes develop two Parcels or more for affordable housing development seek not changing that one supporting the creation of 20 or more homes for homeownership so that would be increasing our production items with that language for those three items so the only thing I want to point out is that this person actually is really changing they're not just changing those words they're actually changing the structure of the sentence too so um it this is what makes it a little bit confusing to do this actually on the spot because they're they're really modifying the the phraseology so um the way you have it currently is support the creation of 200 homes for rent or ownership affordable to people earning below 100% Ami over the next five years so um I don't know if it's we can just do the the the or more right after the 200 right so I think if you propose to just add in or more on that one makes it less complicated tonight and then which one can you repeat the other ones and I'll just say if if the language is too mod is modified which did you say develop at least two Parcels or did you say keep it as just two Parcels two it would be two or more Parcels okay so the way that you have it now is Identify two Parcels in collaboration with the town to use for affordable housing development so are you proposing identify at least two Parcels well we trying to get away from the lease so identified two or more Parcels two or more Parcels M okay in collaboration with the town yep to use for affordable housing development and then support the creation of 20 or more homes and then we would have to change it to say for home ownership more homes for ownership for yeah you could still say ownership homes for ownership yeah okay okay thank you so much Grover so I think we have an amended version on the table can we have any kind of comments in in support or or uh against that Amendment to the the draft that we started the evening with as a as a point of order I think we would need a second for an amendment which I'm happy to provide but okay and the uh yes so the the um to get the amendment on the table we need a second and so Alex you provide the second and so now we can go to comment on this amendment I'm in support of the amendment I don't think it changes very much and it incorporates the feedback we've gotten um it was great that someone um stepped up and gave feedback so I think it still supports our goals I don't think it Chang es them okay and anyone else want to uh chime in and support or or against the amendment okay so um then you know I I'm uh Rusty with my Roberts here but our uh The Next Step would be to um have a vote on the amendment okay um so let's have a vote on the amendment um uh Grover I okay uh for for you uh algra yes okay um Erica yes Carol yes Alex yes Rob yes Paul yes and I uh vote in support as well so the amendment has passed and we've got a a new draft on the table and so um shall we proceed right away to uh vote on the uh amended version of the the strategy Shel is that or do you want to cover anything else first no I'm I'm okay so let's let's go aad uh can we have a motion to uh do we need a motion to uh uh uh approve the strategy as Amendment don't move okay second I second okay uh thank you and so uh let's go ahead and and and have a vote here uh Paul yes Rob yes Alex yes Carol yes Erica yes algra yes Grover yes and I vote Yes so the uh strategy after uh so much effort and support from Shell has passed so a big big accomplishment thank you so much chel for guiding us through this team yay so there's one more thing we wna talk about tonight um Greg do you want to share the document on your screen or yeah uh okay great so we wanted to talk about how you're going to now move forward with trying to accomplish your working on accomplishing your goals and strategies so um kind of an implementation plan and wanted to talk this through a little bit with you and get some feedback so this is something that the small group has reviewed um so one is is the key thing is to develop three working groups that trustees and staff will lead one for each goal and at a a couple meetings ago some of you had identified some of the strategies that you're really interested in and you can see that development is a popular one um but the hope is that you'd be willing to divide up a little bit to have a couple of you on a development sub um working group a couple on funding and a on education and public engagement hopefully it'll work out that way and then Greg as staff would support the work of all three working groups so that's kind of some very general structure and then uh looking at the working groups that the idea is that the working group would review the goals and strategies developed for the topic and develop a plan for moving forward so in this smaller group um consider a Fe feasable path to implement the strategies consider uh the sequence of addressing strategies developing tasks and kind of delegating who you think the best person to accomplish tasks would be identifying any necessary resources um um and then some thought about how it ties into the housing production plan just to help with that conversation as you're starting that planning process and the idea is that each working group would come back ideally as soon as December your December meeting to present this um your idea of a path to move forward considering these different issues of the sequence of addressing strategies developing tasks so that each of the working groups would come in December and present to the full board because the working groups are helping to do the work but it's really the full board's responsibility to vote on and to agree to kind of the path forward at the December meeting the full board all trustees would be able to ask questions offer some suggestions the board may decide to accept the proposed plan in December or um ask the working group to make some changes and come back in January with then the idea that implementation would start in 2025 so take a couple months to Think Through how to move forward and the the order and the sequence and then in 2025 to really kick off the work so the working groups will help do the work but um allowing the full board to make the decisions on implementation Direction and then once the board has agreed on a plan the working groups will begin to implement the strategies and working groups will come back periodically to the full board when further discussion is necessary um to progress with the plans so we had thought that no working group will represent a quorum for the full trust board and this was the idea was um around open meeting law but I was reading through some some um comments um from a session that we had with the AG's office Attorney General's office in the spring on open meeting and what she did say is that like even if we call it a working group if the idea is that it's a subgroup of the full group and the idea is to do work to advise the full board that it probably is a subcommittee where it would need to post publicly so um it it maybe technically wouldn't matter if there we'll have to think through that a little bit but it it might need to be formally posted like a subcommittee even if we call it a working group um but the idea was to kind of have you spread out over the Paul do you want to you want to give some insight into that yeah so whatever it doesn't matter if you call a working group task force what it's it's a subcommittee and if it's two or more members who are assigned by this committee to do something it as if it were our committee doing it even if it's recommendation back so they do they would have to be posted if you had one member of our group with members of the public that's different but um if you have two or more of our members they should be posted it's a simple thing to post but it's also means taking some minutes and stuff like that and the agenda and so forth Okay so I think the 3C is we don't necessarily need to have that but the idea is hopefully that you'll be spread out over the the subcommittee so that the work is is spread out and then one thing that the small group would like to propose or present and get your feedback on is um allowing for non-trust members to sit on the working group that interested candidates can be approved by the full board but to allow that it's not like people are going to be necessarily knocking down your doors to do that but if they're in your conversations in um some feedback that you did receive if you have any names tied to that that there you might have some people in the community that would that don't necessarily want to sit on the full board and the commitment of the full board but being on a subcommittee working more targeted on different strategies that that might be appealing to some people so we would like to propose that that be allowed so just a basic kind of structure to help you move forward and wanting to have some discussion tonight about this any thoughts or feedback or anything to add Carol please um two things I wonder if if December's too quick and that's one thing I wonder but it's not it's okay to shoot for it if we it's okay if we don't quite maybe make it and the other thing is I like the idea of inviting non-rust members but I think maybe it needs a little bit of formulation more because I it maybe if you have a a committee of us that has two people you probably don't want six non board members or and I don't know exactly how we decide who who is going to participate and who isn't and so that part just feels like need a needs a little more fleshing out leaving it there as an idea is okay but it doesn't seem well enough defined to me would you want to propose um like that that non trust members don't S I don't know the language like don't surpass the the number of trust members on a subcommittee on a working group that's a possibility I don't listen to what some other people want to say first I don't know okay thank you uh for getting the conversation going Carol Alex yeah I largely agree with Carol that I like the idea of having input from people who aren't necessarily an appointed member of the trust um I agree that that requires a little more flushing out maybe more so than just thinking about numbers as well thinking about what our goal is and who like whose voices we're trying to hear in that process cuz if the thought is that we're looking for people who are in trusted but might not have the time commitment to apply and be appointed to the trust but then we're asking them to essentially apply to us and be appointed to the working group through a a kind of parallel process I wonder if that's actually going to be appealing to people or if we need to look at making that a more flexible process so I I agree that I really like the goal and I would love to hear voices from people not on the trust but I think it probably needs some more development and what that looks like Rob thank you Alex oh you're muted still um I I also agree with Alex that that it should be an informal uh process to get them on onto sub committee and I also I I don't think that there needs to be a limit I I I'm fine with having two trust members and 10 members of the public more marer did you say that it should be a more informal process yep that yeah okay thank you uh Grover I have some Curiosities about what is meant by somebody being a formal member of a working group when we're talking about these processes while the meeting is already an open meeting the public is available to come and usually there's a time for in any agenda of Robert's rules for things not already discussed in the agenda so I say that because because and I think we brought it up I brought it up last time we talked like when we join the trust we take an oath to like be part of the Town sort of decision making and it comes with the all these ethical things so it just makes me wonder like what the responsibilities and benefits of being like a like formal member of the working group versus if we're just having open meetings on that is a working group and anyone can come and they can provide input to me that's enough um and I just say that because I I yeah because we haven't outlined what a member of the working group like what does that mean like are they then dep like deputized to go say talk to UMass on behalf of the trust and if they are what you know there's a screening process for being on the board so I could imagine that if you were a strategic developer landlord somebody with an ax to grind in a certain way that might not be a parent like you might find this process useful to be in so not to be like paranoid but also I I would want us if we're creating some kind of an extra formal role besides appointed trust member and public who can participate in the meetings what that in between role does and serves and how they're accountable thank you uh Grover um uh Carol go ahead and then I I have some some thoughts here too all this discussion has making me realize that one of the things I would like to achieve with being able to have people who aren't members be part of the working groups is to have us all in the room if we could have a meeting that was a working group and not have attendees and web people or have everybody in the room so it's not like this weird the people who are there don't even know who else is there hate the way that these things work like that if we could do something so we in if you're if you're here we're inviting everybody into the room even though we still know who the people are that are the that would help a lot to me to be able to make have the trust members would still be the subcommittee or working group members but anybody else who was interested in being there could just be in the room thank you uh Paul please yeah so I think I understand that Carol so I think it's think about a meeting as being in a in the town room right or any room so if people are at the table and then some people are in the audience that's that's the way we're doing it now but if you say hey people come up and join us at the table and everybody comes up and you let everybody come up and join you at the table that's perfectly fine so you can open up this meeting and bring everybody into the room but you can't say I'm picking this these three people to come into the room who aren't on the committee if you open it up you open it up to everybody because you can't say I'm excluding you because I don't like your opinion so if we're if we're in the town room and we have a big enough table you say hey everybody just come up to the table it's more human to talk to each other that way versus we're having a diff so it's just one or the other you can it does it's you can do both it's just one or the other can you do different ones in different meetings sure okay so I I'll I'll I'll jump in now I mean i' I've shared my view before that I think we'll be lucky to have any one want to make any kind of consistent commitment and so I'm I I'm very sympathetic to Rob's comment we should you know let's just be open here um I guess the the the kind of hybrid approach that that occurs to me is that if there's someone who wants to make a repeated commitment to one of these subgroups and it's important for them to have a formal involvement that they could put on a CV or something like that then the group could say soand so is really devoted to what we're doing and they would like to be a formal member of this working group and then the trust can vote to make them such it seems to me that we can uh on an ad hoc basis formalize anyone's commitment who who so desires and is is is devoted in that way but otherwise the O kind of open Forum um uh seems to to to be you know workable um Alex yeah just as a point of clarity in the situation that you mentioned where somebody's consistently making contributions to a working group and looking for more formal involvement at this moment we still have a vacancy on the trust for a full trust member do we not yeah okay I I thought so so is that in that scenario for thinking that this isn't going to have a bunch of people breaking down the door to get in then would it maybe be more appropriate at that moment to just encourage them to actually fill out a community activity form and go through the formal process and become a member of the trust no no no no doubt I mean if we're trying to kind of spell out all the possibilities maybe someone has a very narrow interest they they they are really interested in the public education piece that's what they want to do they don't want to show up to the these monthly meetings they want to just uh join algra's efforts on the public um education and engagement and so again I don't have any problem with someone saying this is my thing can you make it formal so I can tell people I do this instead of just being someone who shows up every now and then again we'll be lucky to have this person um that's that's I guess my take here um that we can kind of do all of this without any ISS um so I I wonder if if that appears Coptic to you all Carol um it does still leaves me with some of the worries that kinds of worries that Grover brought up before I don't know what this in between I don't know what we would be telling them if we told them they were somehow officially or unofficially official something but I don't think there's any reason why somebody on a is working with us can't do some work and do what it is that the that the subcommittee agrees somebody can say if somebody's really into the public education piece they can do that I don't know if they want to if they want nothing stops them from saying I worked with the blahy blahy blah to do blahy blahy blah they don't I don't think they need us to put a give them a gold stamp on their forehead because they did it or something I just think if somebody comes up and wants to do it they'll do it and we don't have to do anything about it except be very great F if I may then the kind of hybrid hybrid approach is let's just kick the can and if a person comes up that would be a that individual whom it would make sense to uh in some sense formalize as a member of a working group this full trust can talk about it and decide what we want to do when we're so lucky that's fine yeah okay does that seem like a reasonable Way Forward the only thing I'm just going to say is that I've been in groups where it's like a neighborhood association and someone comes and they drop a bunch of bombs of like the stuff that are important to them and the stuff they want to talk about and then they don't and it's disruptive and then we put on the agenda for the next month and they don't they don't show up for three months so that's all that I would CAU us about is that these working groups really need to be helping to move things forward and if you have a really open loose where someone can come and then not come and you just don't want it to detract the group distract the group and to slow things down and so that was kind of the thinking behind inviting them to be a member of the working group where there's accountability and where they have some sense that they have made a commitment and that they won't be in and out where it could be it could be disruptive for the group okay Grover that's helpful context and I hear that but I think because they have to be open meeting anyway it just seems like if somebody's going to come and drop distracting things they will do it anyway is you don't have to you don't have to allow that kind of comment at public meetings you do have to let people be there and to hear but you don't have to provide space necessarily right I see so again like to to other people's comments like it's unlikely that you'll have you it's probably unlikely that you'll have that problem but it's just I think something to keep in mind and we're learning here so you know every single month we can course correct if if anyone's having issues Greg please yeah I just sort of echoing Grover a little bit I I think um we came into this maybe at least our last discussion as a small group we were kind of still thinking in this framework of working groups but I think where we are now is talking about subcommunities and open meeting and and so yeah I think um the art really is going to be in the trust members who are actually the the chairing these meetings so to speak in you know in in doing that you know if somebody says oh I want to spread the word about this you know event like you know then the trust person has to make sure they provide the materials to that to that that person for example um but I think yeah if it's open meeting then I I think like you know there's sort of an element of good faith you know and it's got to be um a little a little more organic and a little less a little less formal in a way on the participatory side um you know so I I I don't know that there's a there's a channel for formalization so I think the probably the thing to to do is to Kick the Can like Caston said and if that really is it you know is something we have to address in a concrete scenario we address it as a group Carol I like the idea of worrying about it if it comes up but I have a question I'd like to ask Paul because there are I believe like the finance committee or there are committees that have people on the committee who aren't members of the council or something like that I just wonder if you could say anything about how that works that might be relevant or not anyway I'm curious so the charter allows for non-resident resident non-members of the council to serve on the finance committee it's in it's written into the town Charter there are some committees that have um like adjunct members um I think like the public art commission cultural Council something like that has that written into their charge as well you can have um members who may not vote but are sort of members in waiting and as if it were as it were thank you so would you like the small group to do a little bit more flushing out of some language with with that particular piece um but are there thoughts about the other elements of the implementation plan any other I suggestions to modify implementation Alex yeah I I like the um implementation plan that we saw with the outside of what we've been saying about this group it does occur to me that one of the group's focuses is proposed to include public engagement and what we're discussing does seem to really be a public engagement strategy so I wonder if we're interested in starting to set up these small groups and have them meeting as subcommittees and get used to that if maybe that's something that we could refer out to the education and public engagement subcommittee to come back to us at their first proposal with thoughts on how to structure this to involve public engagement and input so shell are you you looking should we be planning to vote on approving something about this this evening I'm not sure that you're ready to do that okay all right so I was trying to get some more feedback about what the small group should consider when we meet next okay Grover I was gonna say that I I I like this plan I think it's it has a lot of good stuff in it and I appreciate how you know it's it's laying it all out about about where to go next and I also see that four of us excited about development but only one on each of the other subcommittees does pose to be a challenge so I think it would be in our best interest to resolve some of that tonight good yes um indeed and and I'm I'm I'm flexible here uh but uh Erica please go ahead um I have no problems being um you know alone on the funding uh subcommittee what I think probably the smaller group uh might want to consider is what's the role of the trust member because what we have to do is be sort of like Gusto manyi chairs of our groups um and I think we also have to really understand the limitation of the group for example I think we agreed that if the group uh was going to make a decision about something has to be brought back to the trust uh especially if it implicates the trust for example there was an example made that um you know one of the members are going to talk to you Mass well I think that is something has to be brought back to the whole trust before something like that could happen so I think we need to flesh out a little bit about what the leader of the subgroup uh a trust member uh will be responsible for and think through um and I think we could do that in the subgroup but I have no problems being the only one on the on the funding one Alex um yeah I was going to offer as much as I am interested in in love development I'd be happy to change my TR to the um education and public engagement is needed thank you uh Grover I just had a clarifying question maybe it's to Shelly um which is what are these tiny letters next to our names mean those are the strategies that you specifically identified as an interest in so it's under um funding Erica specifically said B and D the B strategies were interesting to her so that's just what it means we just made a note of it in the minutes yeah um I wasn't present so I I didn't choose a self committee I'm happy to join Erica Erica fantastic because I wasn't okay with Erica being the only one doing funding not that my not that my opinion matters but okay so um then that evens you out a little bit better actually quite good and we were thinking with Paul because of Paul's not wanting to speak for him but because of your role in the community that it probably makes sense for you to be more of support of the different subgroups but the working groups but not to actually be on one that right okay yeah so that's why um we weren't pushing you to pick one okay so we'll even out these groups so it looks like for development Grover and Caroline gastone will drive the those funding Erica and um Rob and then education and and public engagement algra and Alex and then the small group will do a little bit more work on flushing out kind of non-trust members and what that might look like someone else also brought up it might have been Greg of chairing the working groups and I think we should put in here just that uh the expectation is that a trust member will chair the the working group that not clarified here and maybe add a little bit more detail to come back to your next meeting and so that does mean that we won't expect a December turnaround so we'll push that back a little bit too okay I think that's helpful does anyone else have not to take your job guest on but does anyone else have any other input to to add to this or does the subgroup the subcommittee need any more feedback Greg it's just wondering if if folks if there is interests between now in in November say in in folks Gathering I'm trying to think process wise what would would be needed in order to enable that um like what we need to empower them now to do that um I don't know Paul if you have a thought on that or you know like like do we have to vote on these committees on these subcommittees [Music] or yeah I I I think if the committee's delegating L work it this body should say yes this is the things that we are delegating out okay uh Carol yeah let's let's I I thought we just decided that we needed to have a little more structure for the groups before they met like that they should have uh a chair and there should be more about so it feels weird to have to meet before we know quite what we're supposed to be to me I know it takes another month but well I I guess I I don't think there's much more structure that's needed if we agree that each of these should have a chair then if there's going to be a me meeting called uh the uh group would need to tell Greg please post so that we can have a public meeting and by the time that meeting starts someone better be the chair I is is there any structure that I'm missing here uh Grover I was imagining that we would vote for the chair at the first subcommittee meeting just because I don't know I just feel like we're in a concentric circle of democracy that just keeps going and you just repeat the format as you go that's how I imagined it is that correct yes indeed that that that makes sense to me um I I mean voting and agreeing when we're talking about two people is basically the same thing Erica um so uh if we're going to meet how are we going to recruit people um uh so I would just propose that our next minutes um that we maybe contact either Greg or contact Rob and I both I don't know uh because you know people are gonna want to ask us well when we going to meet and you know what is what what is we're going to do so um I assume that we want to start recruiting if we're meeting pretty quickly if we're waiting a little while we can think a little further about how we're going to recruit people but if we're expected to start those meetings really quickly um I would like to think about a recruitment strategy uh good and I guess my reaction is that each of these groups can decide if they want to actually try to recruit other people or just post it and if someone shows up they show up and if they don't they just get to work um so yeah mean I'm kind of the anti-structure structuralist here um does that does this work are we are we missing anything or can we vote to approve these working groups not to say that they have to meet but that they could and I think Greg's suggestion was a very good one U let's do what we need in case the the will exists uh to to go ahead and and crack into things um so um are you know any yeah Grover please just a technical question which is okay but yes I I agree with moving forward as you're proposing and Greg I know there's like 48h hour noticing how what is your time that you need for us to send you information so that you have enough time to post it in time um I I need about um I mean so these days I'm largely working Monday through Thursday um so you know so like and we need 48 Hours you know so if you give me you know uh 24 hours it would be generous I think you know so 72 hours before you um seek to meet I guess you know would be the before the 48 hours right hours 24 before the 48 okay basically by Thursday for the following week or by Monday for Thursday or Friday that same week yeah yeah uh Alex yeah this is much more of a technical question that maybe goes to our town manager but if we're posting about a meeting to comply with open meeting LA but that posting has to include an agenda for the meeting correct and if we don't have a chair for the subcommittee who's allowed to author that agenda that then gets posted I think I think the first agenda uh Greg and gestone could could work together to put it together and you know and then work from there so so gastone could call a meeting of a subcommittee would he have to be there personally no okay maybe we should just decide the chairs tonight and and basically approve the working groups with chairs and that's uh if it's it's not unrealistic but uh let's uh hear from algra please well I was gonna say would it make sense since we have these goals and strategies that we've put together in a plan to have that be the agenda for the first meeting so that we at least have something on the agenda um and perhaps like structure of working group subgroup as another agenda item just so that things are somewhat consistent in our disorderly world that feel like we're entering into um and perhaps recruitment strategies could be on that as well um just something generic but also like based in why we're breaking into these meetings in the first place Alex thank you yeah I would agree with algra I'd much prefer that as opposed to voting for chairs of all the subcommittees tonight okay so um uh is there a motion to uh form the working groups as Shelly outlined their memberships I'm taking uh Grover moved okay yes also my child just told me they can see the Northern Light so I was sorry I was having very yeah they're outside I heard they're right now all right so uh Erica how do you H vote on this motion yes okay uh Rob yes Alex yes your your mic is doing that thing again algra yes okay Paul yes Carol yes and I vote Yes so we have working groups yay and uh so to recap when uh I guess the members of the working groups I suggest uh is there an open meeting issue with these uh members communicating with each other by email not as and not if it's just for Logistics you can do that okay all right so when are we going to meet where are we going to meet how we going to meet okay so I I I guess I I propose that um uh these are not chairs but may I suggest that uh Erica you email Rob with copy to Greg to uh organize the logistics of the first meeting algra you uh email Alex with copy to Greg and I I can do the same for uh the the development just to get the logistics moving and and we'll we'll go from there okay uh Shelly what else do you see so the only thing I want to point out is that I think it's too premature to do a Outreach strategy or recruitment strategy because we haven't finished flushing out the non-trust member piece so I think you need to hold off on that until what what what do you what do you not see flushed out the small group is going to flush out the non-trust members what that looks like in this implementation strategy right oh okay okay I thought we I thought I thought we'd ironed out all the Kinks here um but maybe the small group can find some new kinks in the system well more I think so there it's just so there's clarity about how that's structured so just I think hold off on your recruitment um doing any recruitment at this point okay so the you know the only recruitment would be the notice of the meeting yeah and the the the the May the heavens have someone show up but I I mean I think you can talk to people about it perhaps but um just just be cautious that the implementation plan hasn't been formally like accepted very good awesome thank you great job nice to see every right we're we're keep keeping keeping good time um if if there's nothing else uh anything else that wasn't uh on the agenda and has come up in the last 48 hours okay we have a motion to adjourn it's so moved second second alra is seconding that okay um all in favor I okay thank you everybody we're meeting our time frames which is excellent thank you so much Greg for for Leading The Way of course every the sky thank you thank you so much sh good night thanks Joy