##VIDEO ID:trmG05gnS74## okay now how's it going for you algra pretty good just uh trying to make sure I have everything I'm trying hold on because I trying to find the gallery uh if you go to where participants are and then like click on it there we go thank you no problem okay there thank you I had to do that the other day with sharing screen I was like how do you share a screen like someone explained this to me I know I should know how I just got a new laptop at home but I'm on my work laptop because I was like I don't want to figure out how to Zoom live running a meeting like that seems like it would be a bad agreed like because it's a Mac which is not what I yeah yeah so I just even though it's like pretty similar it just seems confusing to me I was like I don't think I'm gonna try this yet I will practice before I make my public appearance on I'll be back in one sec I got to turn off some music that's good see we have for some reason Deborah always shows up as Phillip again double Phillip I I shared the link I shared my my I guess personal link instead of the overall one I don't know sometime again Zoom complications there's someone with the initials St as an attendee I'm just that's not somebody that is no not to my knowledge so let's see one two three we're waiting for everald Pamela is not coming because you're here do we know if um Pat and Angelique are coming I know Pat is not coming she sent an email um later in the afternoon oh she did okay I didn't I haven't checked my U I hadn't heard anything from everald or LTE that they were not coming I had not heard from Angelique either way yeah I did contact Angelique I think you saw the the CC that I sent you um but I haven't heard anything so I'm hoping she's okay I know you Mass had its last day of classes yesterday correct I think so yeah all right well LTE just will not attend she say she's not attending I just saw something oh so she just sent it to me okay okay I don't see anything all right that's why yep yep and like I said I've been just too busy running from one thing to the next so I'm just looking at my um emails right now okay so everal um you said he he's going to attend I hadn't heard that he wasn't usually he's been pretty good I mean he's only missed I think one meeting but he let us know that he was not going to make it when he did so and Dr Pat um emailed that she was unable to make it tonight yeah I just saw that I I just saw the email from uh Pat Romney so I mean our agenda doesn't look like it has anything that we have to vote on other than I mean would we have to excuse me would we have to vote to retreat happen we have to vote on the minutes that's right yeah we would have to vote on the minutes and then um you're say you're saying any decisions around the retreat right would we have to vote on that or is that something that we would but then I'm also thinking the three of us are the ones that have already seen the proposal and approved of it so um that might not be the most productive conversation not it wouldn't be productive but be including anybody who yeah I suggest we let's just get started and then we can kind of talk about the agenda and I think like when we go through especially the beginning portions of the agenda um you know we're good and then we can discuss anything that's more kind of CSS JC specific you know okay um so let's see it is 6:36 and I will call to order the meeting of the community safety and social justice committee are we recording yes okay um pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting May do so via Zoom or by telephone no in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means um I will go through the agenda review so we will have announcements um we're going to table the minutes for tonight member reports public comment Crest Dei updates Rob updates Youth Empowerment updates um the finance director will not be joining us but we do have a email from her that came in um yesterday I believe yeah we can and we can talk about that during the the youth Empower yeah um we have Retreat proposal public comment and then items not anticipated so that is the agenda does anybody have any announcements oh everald is here that wasn't really an announcement it was just an observation hi evone all are do you have any announcements um I do not um have any announcements wonderful um Deborah do you have any announcements no um I feel like we should have an announce about Quanza activities and I feel like there isn't I saw something the other day and I didn't bookmark it in my brain and now I don't remember I think there's something happening on the 28th in town but I don't remember where or when so on the 26 there is um the reading of the proclamations on Town steps and that is being sponsored by Dr shabaz and um I am forgetting the name of the gumbo place um buta gumbo yes uhhuh and then as well as um I believe it's the 29th give me one second to look at a calendar here yes 29th um at the new Africa house um there is a celebration happening at 4m. um I don't think that I have any oh Erica I just wanted to say um I wanted to thank Phillip for the monthly Dei newsletter because it's all in there and it's really um I think it's a good a very good newsletter thank you wonderful yes thank you for putting that out yeah but I mean I think it's still important like for us to share like important dates and things like that because again a lot of people don't have access to um computers to webites to the internet and so on so forth so I still want us to make sure that we're sharing information during our meetings and kind of sharing important dates and things like that okay but yeah obviously awesome to to have a newsletter and Phillip is there a way on the Dei website for people to sign up for the newslet letter or to sign up to be on the Dei mailing list I am working on that as far as um sign up if anybody sends me an email it can I will put you on there but yes I'm working on with our communication manager to have it kind of on our website that sign up for the newsletter and then it will just autop populate you into receiving it thank you so since everald is here that does give us a quorum correct okay so we can look at the minutes then um I'm just gonna share my screen because helps my brain a little bit I'm sorry please bear with me I am it's been a long it's been a long time past couple of weeks um okay let's see so we have the October 9th meeting minutes and those were what we had tabled last meeting for [Music] some yeah I sent in my edits so um yeah so those were were in there I believe does anybody have any issues with the no the October minutes or can we vote to approve them yeah the only one that I had there that that I I was thinking um Angel would have like responded to but I'm fine to just keep it as is at this point was just and then I had asked that question not sure what this means was on October 9th was concerns from committee members have been expressed in relation to adhering to previous cwg's agenda um but I'm fine to just leave as is and move on so that we can just adopt it okay um so is there a motion do we have to do the motion to approve we got to do the whole thing that's what Philip said last time so all right is there a motion to approve the minutes motion to approve the minutes thank you Deborah is there a second a second thank you everald all right uh roll call vote everald I Deborah yay Erica obain I was not there I was not a member yet and I am a yes so can we do they approve with three and an exstension yes because yes they do okay thank you I'm bad at rules so I don't know anything about Robert all right so we have November next um so no does anybody have any issue with November or would anybody like to make a motion um let me see the only thing I sent in my edits the only thing I had a question with but again I'm Angel didn't um kind of look at that was during the announcements it said youth um Angel put Deborah Youth Empowerment Center mon Multicultural Center resident oversight board will be discussed regarding funding again just leave as is I'm fine with that um and you know so that we can move forward and then I sent in all my other edits so all right so would anyone like to move to approve these minutes yeah I'm oh there you go we have we have we have I will count you as a second second all right everald hi Deborah yay Erica yep and I am a yes all right so we have approved October and November's minutes that's fabulous um moving right along we have any member reports so I went to um on Sunday I think it was Sunday um yes I I went to um a forum organized by the town um talking about immigration in the time of trump um well in the upcoming Trump Administration I thought was it was very good um I'm glad the town did this um you had the ACLU there you had other local organizations s and quite frankly people that were just genuinely concerned about their neighbors um in in Amherst and you know documented undocumented um because things are changing and things are about to change um my only well not my only but one of the observations that I took away was that um what I would argue is that the people that this would severely impact no one was there like in the like from the bipo community or from the Immigrant Community um you know these are people that and and I can appreciate if there was some kind of a concern about making themselves known and so I understand that part but um I think it would have been absolutely beneficial um if you know people who thisinformation was relevant to where were there and so I would only ask and suggest I mean how do we get these kinds of um town halls or panels so to speak to be advertised more to people that are quite frankly at the heart of all of it and I and and I only saw it Philip when I read a newsletter so thank you for that also um I didn't know about it onto the newsletter um so I I I don't know if you have any input as to how it was marketed or or how was advertised to people yeah um so it went out um as far as social media um news letter we marketed it um to the mobile market as well as some other um Community organizations nonprofits um I know that there was an effort to try and get it into the housing complexes um that seemed to be more of a issue than it needed to be to be IED um in that way um but what we really heard back and um I think you're correct in that there people that may have needed to hear kind of the resources and the information is that what we heard back was that people were afraid to even attend that and so with that U Pamela and I have reached out to um an immigration lawyer that she knows from the past and we are trying to work with ammer media to have something more just kind of a video to watch um that you can do at your house you can do um in the comfort of where you feel safe for those resources so that is um kind of our initiative that we are working on I think that's a great idea thank you for that and you know the other thing too that people should also understand is that we're not in the time of trump yet we have until January 20 so this is a good time for people to actually come out and get the information and hear the information and despite what he's say that he's going to do he's not going to be able to do it on day one he can do an executive order but it's going to get challenged as it always does there's going to be a stay and this heard in the courts so you know it's I mean one of the things that we've seen um even under this Administration is ice into courts and heard from people um but it's it's not something that's just going to and I and I get the fear and I understand the fear and it's a very valid concern but I think as best as we can we should you know have people hear this information because again if you don't know everything then you're just living in fear without knowing that you do have rights and that should be communicated to people as best as possible so I think the video on am is a great idea and I hope it can be spread more than just to amher Media when it's recorded so people can have access to it no of course and then the Human Rights Commission will definitely want me to interject that uh they on their Resource page for resources for um The Immigrant community so please refer anybody to um that research page they have done a wonderful job in getting just uh in-depth analysis of kind of what happens before during it and after yeah if I may just say one more thing I know that has up um one of the key things that was said and even though it was very simple um it was also very relevant is that you know ice can show up at your house but they need to have an immigration detainer signed by a judge they can knock on your door and if they don't have that you have no obligation to open your door and let them in and they cannot just barge themselves in I I know that people will still be apprehensive they're they're at my door they my I do you don't have to open your door they you can say slide me your warrant under my door and if it's not a valid warrant and that's also the thing too if a person doesn't know what a valid warrant looks like you know it's going to be so again I thought it'd been helpful if the affected Community were there to actually fully hear and understand those small things that are very very relevant thank you ever it's great to have your expertise on this panel as well um I see Eric and Deborah have their hand up and then I had a comment as well yeah it's probably goes without saying but um I assume this the video is going to be in multiple languages uh or the languages that we know they we probably have a higher population around here um the other thing is is um I think would be really important and I'm sure you probably have done this too is a community health center because I know that there are lots of families who utilize the community health center and the community health center would never ask people's status um so I think that's really really important as well but I also think there's a value in people who are bystanders who have legal rights to be able to know how to help somebody who doesn't um because I do believe like Philip said people are really really scared and I know that this new Administration is betting on be people being scared um but I think it's important for those of us who um have the legal ability to help people because we have legal rights for us to know the information know where to get it and to be able to help people who who are afraid thank you Erica Deborah do you mind like stop sharing just because we have something else going on um so yeah for me I mean all of what you know everal everything that you've said is is on point and philli you know the idea um because yeah I have had some Community people come to me and start talking about just how afraid um a lot of people are uh right now um and you know you know the the Panic is real there's some that thankfully had um somewhere to go back to and so they were able to to kind of leave but there's a lot of people that can't because if they were to go home it would be a dangerous situation for them right um um them or their family members could be injured or killed um and so you know a lot of people have contacted me in regards to those things um it's not my area of law so um what i' like to say is that along with making kind of a recording or or what have you we need to see how is it that you know if it's the ACLU or who are the attorneys so everal if you're one of the attorneys or whatever to kind of get those names out right and so that people can actually meet with the attorneys that are going to be able to assist them you know in a private way uh but you'd have to get that information out right like the list of attorneys contact information you know website email so on so forth so that either myself so when they come to me I can B you know send out the information others can do the same thing and if we're going to record or have sessions right it has to be multiple it has to be sending it out it it should start now and it has to continue it has to be continual right it can be a one time one pop type of situation because we know that this is at least four years but you know according to the person who's coming in he might stay forever so um we don't know how long we're going to be doing this for uh but that's you know so that's going to be critical but one of the main things contact information that's what I've been ask who's going to be handling these types of things so that people can go to them like ASAP yeah you you have a fair point and I think the Human Rights Commission is um really going on do you mind if I share my screen really quick just to show you the resource page definitely definitely right here let's see so if you look here um that's kind of in Bolden out there and so they have kind of urgent preparation and uh a little bit of um you know preparing for the time being what happens or once you are detained um kind of resources in that way town of ammer is really their um focus there but then kind of a little bit what you're going into right now in terms of you know where to call places that have people um on here if you look here that you know there is they've done all the calling themselves kind of to all these organizations and a lot lot of organizations are saying oh right now we're at full capacity but that doesn't mean that you know that may change so if you call one and they say that you know call another and so in that way we do have that and in um Mandarin we do have some resources as well as there or they have resources as well as there and then for um more legal um resources documents that you may need here um that you know are important that you just when you're in a time of um hecticness it's hard to find so they've you know kind of streamlined documents that you may need on yourself and then from there we have done some translation for some resources in Spanish um that we are able to I think the hesitation to really fully go into Spanish is that once you click the link it will be fully in English unless our website of whoever it is that um the link that you're go clicking into has translated into Spanish so we have it translated on our website but that doesn't mean that if you click the link that someone else has it translated in their website so this isn't on the Dei um this this is on the Human Rights Commission resource oh Human Rights Commission okay gotcha Human Rights Commission because I just need to know you know where do I grab the information and or share the information for those that have access to a computer and that obviously can understand you know English and things like but I want to give it out to Advocates because there's a lot of activist Advocates out there so that then we can get the word out as to where this information is at and then everald if there's anything else obviously once you get a chance to look at that Resource page there's anything else that you could add to you know um if there's gaps or anything missing that would be great and so I also want to add something um so I think one of the things that um he said that he was going to do was um he was going to try and Deport kids that were born here even though their parents may not be documented people should understand that he cannot do that so and I know that's terrifying for people to think my kids you know he cannot do that it is very clear in the 14th amendment that people that are born here are considered citizens and unless and until the Law changes he cannot on his own say I am going to deport American citizens so people should fully understand and appreciate that you know hey he can say that but it doesn't mean that he can do that and so if you have kids that are born here or in the middle school or the elementary school they should still go to school and I know that is like a big concern for people like what's going to happen to my kid they are citizens and they have rights yeah thank you everal great information everal thanks very concerning thing that I've heard him say and talk about as well so I think it's important to know that like that's a constitutional amendment that you have Birthright citizenship um yeah but it's scary it's a scary thing and it's unhinged so um one thing I wasn't sure about and I think I um this was kind of in terms of Outreach I know that when the public health department was like in the process of shutting down what was it Oriental taste or the one of the restaurants in town they did a lot of Outreach with some of the workers there um and I don't know if reaching out to certain industries where workers or or maybe going through the Pioneer Valley Worker Center who has established some of those relationships um might be another way of getting the information to the people who need it most um so they were at The Forum on Sunday okay so and and yes um just from what I heard I think it'd be a great resource um they seem like they were very organized and very prepared yeah yeah so we definitely are in talks with the pyer valley um Workers Union as well as um I'll get more into it as the update comes from Tei but we also have done a kind of di connect event where the ammer bid and ammer chamber was involved with us and so through that we kind of talked about immigration and kind of their um aspects and roles into it and they are really eager and like want to spread as much news as possible to their people that are involved with then will Encompass you know restaurants and other downtown businesses as well as um in talking with them and highlighting that we were planning to do a training you know kind of know your rights they would also like to see a know your responsibility um training in terms of you know being a business owner and what that means and what kind of Rights you have as a business owner if an authoritative figure comes in that you know you can have an employees only section that will need a warrant or some type of something um I think my other thought was about what Erica said with making sure things are translated into the most common languages um all right is there anything else any other member reports and it sounds like we might touch a little bit more on this well actually algra did you didn't you attend some things for like the school budget committee or whatever can you report on that cuz I wasn't able to attend any of that so what what was the status of of so my understanding is that the next is that the the finance what's it called the the finance committee is still working on putting out the budget good guidelines um and I believe that the next meeting is the 16th for the full Town Council and I believe that is when they will likely be reviewed um so there was the Forum on November I want to say 14th the date it was mid November there was the budget forum for the Town Council and there were about 30 people who made public comment all but one were related to the school budget um and hopefully finding more funding for that since they've already outlined some pretty significant cuts um there was one one um the youth member of the Human Rights Commission was talking about getting some more funding for some of the activities that they want to do um since they have all these great ideas but not much of a budget to do anything and then um I also spoke to Crest and Dei departments being funded properly and the need for more funding for Youth Empowerment so um and I did submit the letter through the public public comment portal um the they still haven't the the most recent public comment publish group is ends at the beginning of November so they are not yet available to the public but that letter was both sent to the Town Council and then submitted into the public comment area of the Town Council website so that it would come up in a packet if so the other people can see you know that there was a letter scent um so that I mean it's still unclear so my understanding is that there were a $5 million surplus from last year's budget all but one million of those have been allocated into the capital into various capital projects I believe and then there was 1 million That was supposed that um Paul Bachman had allocated towards roads and that was that voting on that was put on hold to see if the school did come forward with a plan for anything that they might need again it has to be spent on Capital rather than operating budget um which is I think perhaps something that could be addressed and possibly changed down the road but for this round of budgeting it sounds like only capital projects are eligible for free cash so um as far as I'm aware I don't know that there has been a budget request made by the school yet um so that is that is all the information that I have right now um and I do believe that there was some talk during one of the finance committee meetings about not rehiring staff for Crest and that that was um taken off the table and that the full eight positions would be still staffed because some of the money doesn't like there's less money coming from the town budget versus Grant and Camille you can definitely correct me if I'm wrong about that um and I do know that there were well I will leave it at that and can talk more about that during Camille's like yes presentation because I am interested I have heard some things um and so I want to know what what the status is right now in terms of Crest budget um are there any other member reports or should we move to public comment not seeing any hands there are four attendees um if you would like to make a public comment please use the raiseed hand function we will bring you into the room um we will not engage in dialogue or comment or on the matter raise during public comment you can identify yourself with your name and pronoun and address if you feel comfortable and we will call on you all right I see one hand up yes hello hello yes hi can you hear me yes hi this is alarm Mills um I believe uh that I've made public comment before so um you may remember um me from um past meetings um I live in South Amherst I uh wanted to speak um about a few things um I've been um away um because of family um issues but I you know am a active Community member and have continued to follow you know what's going on in the town even though um I am originally from Boston I I don't I I I feel um concerned about what's going on because I do have children in the school uh system and as I said I'm a community person who likes to be engaged um and so uh I kind of wrote down some notes I'm not the best um you know organized person because there are so many things that are going on but I just wanted to touch on maybe um four different things um uh there was uh a second recent fire at a butn up Farm um apartment um complex and um I wanted to speak on that because it was concerning that um that it was an electrical fire and it happened about I think a month ago um and the management um came and um to all the units and on this on the day of the fire and took out um the the lighting the I guess it was just the bulbs um from like the closets and the storage storage closets and in all the units so I I that was a little concerning to me because when talking about um access to people's homes and you know them feeling safe in their own homes uh you know sometimes management can get access and find ways to um you know involve themselves into people's um safe spaces in into their homes you know whether it's for a a a reason a legitimate reason that they feel is is legitimate you know it still can can feel like a an invasion of privacy so I just wanted to make the um your committee aware of that that there's there's been a lot of um things like like that that feel kind of invasive that have been going on um in the complex um the second thing that I wanted to share is um the despite despite the community um Expressions that I've heard about um the the town using the Opera fund for uh I guess um finding um information about what the needs are around uh Youth and and uh youth activities and programming um despite the Expressions that I've heard about them them going to the Donna Hugh Institute for doing that research it was shared um that that has happened and the $500,000 that was put aside um which is still not allocated to programming has been used a part part of that has been used I believe it's $45,500 has been used to do some kind of mapping um with the the Don Hugh Institute and so I I I I am not in a leadership role but there is a lot of information coming coming through the the town meetings and um the human right commission meetings and and your meetings so I'm just saying as a as a resident that this is a concern for me and I hope that it's a con concern for other um you know Community residents that want to see um a Youth Empowerment uh program go forward um the third thing is um that I hear that there's a lot of surveys that are still continuing to ask for um youth input um but I still do not see like a a I I don't see the actual and maybe it is because people are you know not feeling that they can actually be in a safe space together I'm not sure but it just feels like um there is not there is not a body of community members that can actually come together and actually you know talk over you know these issues in depth so that we can move forward together and so I'm just uh just stating that there is some concern about the surveys that that are still trying to gather information but I I'm not quite sure where the community members are who are supposed to be you know in being being being the the reason why why we're doing these surveys and how they are actually working together to um move forward with a specific plan for Youth Empowerment and you can't have a specific plan if you can't sit down and talk and meet and and and talk things through um so I was kind of reluctant to say a a public comment because I I did want to state that there is actually a equity meeting at the library um to this evening but I couldn't you know attend that and I really did want to listen um but because I'm home I wanted to at least give my voice and share what my concerns were and and hopefully um it it can be helpful and and and and knowing that there are residents who still have concerns about how money is being used and how um information and and resources are being used that are supposed to be for Youth Empowerment and programming so thank you thank you appreciate it um hat good evening can people hear me yes evening my name is Pat anaku from amest so I have a couple comments I would like to make in the last um t councel meeting part of the meeting was the state of our town address the town manager you know spoke uh the Town Council president also spoke what is striking to me as I was listening as a longtime resident I did not feel that these two people um have any clue about the struggles of bip resident in this town there was no mention of how Apper funds was distributed Equity issues were gloss over I believe one of them just mention CSS JC very uh briefly no substance to it why are we allowing especially the town manager to disrespect bipar Community if Paul is a black administrator in our town they would have been gone long time ago so I was just so frustrated you know watching you know watching what they were doing and there was so much Praises on him thank you for you know what you've done this and that done for who so I just wanted to put that out I ironically I want to thank uh councelor Elisha Walker even though she wasn't there she had a prepared statement that her colleague Heather uh Lord councelor Heather Lloyd uh read regarding the remaining upper funds we still have some money left and we have few more weeks the deadline December 31st and Paul bman has refused to allocate any funding to my group black Business Association of IMS area so I want to also thank you know heer Lloyd you know for reading that statement basically you know Alicia appealing to to her colleagues and also you know to Paul to do the right thing beside bbaa there are other marginalized individual and groups in our town who were denied upper funds this is federal resources that residents and businesses are eligible for including black owned businesses yet we have extra left that that the town manager plans to put in the Town cash Reserve how is that fair in this town why are we doing all all the talk having Equity meeting this and that we're only good at talk talk talk no action I also want to touch on the Youth Empowerment Center that CS WG recommended three years ago and up to this year Our Town manager is just taking his time because it impacts mostly bip youth why the heck I we s spending 5,500 to donaho Institute to create digital map why do we have it Department in our town what are they doing what are we what are they doing why can't they do that why are we still not don't have Youth Empowerment Center even though the you know the town manager like to focus on infrastructure but nothing yet for the Youth Center why can't the town manager put some budget for the upcoming fiscal year plus the upper funds and develop the Youth Empowerment Center it's not hard to do cswg we already did the work three years ago 3 years ago but no our town is all about status quo and when somebody speaks up you get retaliation but I'll keep speaking uh the truth to power I'll will keep speaking up um about the corruption about injustices in our town I also am appalled that Crest department is on a Shaky Ground for our T manager not even fully fund the department speaks volume that black lives don't matter in this town that the plight of people that struggle with mental health and other marginalized group don't matter in this town because the APD is controlling the type of nonviolence cause that goes to Crest responders so that there will be that feeling in the community that responders are not doing their work since Crest has been created we cswg recommended 24/7 that's that's not happening here if this program were to benefit white people in this town mostly it could have been done long time ago hello people and I'll stop I'll stop there because I have more to say in the next uh public comment the town manager needs to go he needs to go he he has damaged our our town so much enough is enough you Miss Pat thank you Miss Pat not seeing any other hands we can move along and there will be another public comment period at the end of the meeting um next on the agenda is crest and Dei updates shall we go to Crest first first yes hi [Music] um let's see where do I want to start um couple of things that um I wanted to bring to light is that uh the responders along with um the help of ammer college were able to translate our pamphlets to Spanish um also our resource guide the Salvation Army paperwork and our transportation agreement we are working to get uh more of our paperwork translated to make it easier on folks um we also have been using our pocket talks to make things easier um there's been a few blips with them that were working out with it they've been wonderful um um I also wanted [Music] to bring up that we onboarded last Wednesday two new responders um Eric and Taylor they are currently they started their training uh they went first and met all of the Departments uh Angela Mills did uh government 101 that we attended as a department and Dei and other people who had never been through it um gave a lot of information about the town Town gown and uh who are the town councelors uh the roles of the Town counselors and what committees they're on and information as such um currently the there are three people that are going to um critical incident training and we are looking forward to doing more trainings with the department and also specifically for the new members on Monday uh we did um motivational interviewing uh small block with dial self um got a lot of positive feedback from that I was out sick that day um and since that is one of our main modalities is motivational interviewing um so that is something that they are already getting involved in we also have set up to do a trying to think how many hours I think it's a 20-hour block for motivational interviewing and I invite anybody from the town or anyone else that wants to take it to contact me we have some available seats and many of the classes and trainings that we've T that we are taking um we have open spots for community members in town if they'd like to come um to learn more um let's see want to let folks know that our call volume right now during the cold has gone down um due to the fact that it is cold but we have had an increase of mental health calls um we have particular uh known folks in town that have many dealings with APD that are no longer uh having they're not in involved with APD any longer because um we Crest has been taking care of these calls and one of the things that's been happening is that this is freeing up the time um these folks are well known some of the other things that we've been doing that have also enabled people to not have to um call APD or businesses is that they have been calling us on our number to speak about um getting some services and we've been able to refer them out to get Services um we also have one of the things that's major happening that excuse me I just look at my notes um some of the things that are happening is that I'm working on a culture change so culture change is slow and one of the things is that it's for me it's a double culture that I'm repairing the harm that was done uh from the inaugural director in that a lot of the relationships with the town and some of our resources um were were hared so I'm doing a lot of reparative work uh due to the fact that some of the things were over promised to the community and as I've said before I mean what I say and I say what I mean I stand by it it's me uh also some of the other things that are happening is that we were finally uh notified that we were awarded the uh dph uh Equitable approaches to safety grant that was held up uh we had hoped to have been notified if we were going to be giving this back in June and did not find out until into October and this grant is only through June of 20125 so working feverously to um get some get uh trainings and other things um done for the community and something else that you know was spoken about was the dispatch and how dispatch has that there are new dispatchers and that we are working on that relationship and they are we are being called APD has asked for us specifically for um different calls uh Cris also I was at the fire department today because they had two people that were sworn in and one of the um the chief mentioned the new chief that they were very pleased with how Crest responded to the fire calls um one of which was at Butternut Farm or actually both of them were in the last couple of months um and something else that I don't think people understand and this is uh about dispatch that it usually takes between one and a half to three years to get on dispatch fully on dispatch so we are right on target the Sops are being um still worked on and um getting to the finalization stage and I guess my main thing is that I really want to folks to understand that in establishing we're Standalone Department which is different than a lot of the other um responders and when establishing Independence you know we're still in the system of Public Safety so there's a lot of work to be done with our partners uh the fire and the police and those are important relationships and those are coming along the other thing is that one of the things that I spoke about last month is is that um we're building sustainability into this department and I've been really pleased to hear from various folks about that because if we don't have a firm base um then this is not going to be sustainable and I truly believe in the mission I truly believe in this work thank you right thank you uh um so I have a a few questions um that's good to hear that you all are doing some Translate translation of um some of the information Spanish um and using the pocket talk so hopefully that will continue to be helpful um I do have a qu some questions around the new responders can you give more about the background like you know their experience and you know and especially working uh with bipo and marginalized communities um and whether they have any other um languages that they speak things like that so that we have a little bit more um base so expertise what I can say is that um they have a wealth of uh experiences um that through personal life and also from uh various employment um they both have worked with people with mental health difficulties um also with substance use um the one has worked in a college Arena and the other one has worked with um places such as the bo Club worked in public school systems and also worked for a behavioral he uh program as a supervisor in a home for teenagers so and both are bipac um and we're very excited I think they they bring just what is needed into Crest okay good um so that means what we're up to like six so are you all going to be able to hire um the two more well at this point right now we're working on just getting every settled into their roles and then we will start again with looking into hiring more people and and right now um due to the budget um it doesn't seem like an assistant director nothing has been um added to be able nothing has been done at this time but I mean I would appreciate all the help I can get to get an assistant director I think it is needed definitely that was one of the you you know asks that we had put forward um throughout this you know entire year last year um because we know that obviously Crest would benefit from having that type of assistance um but okay I appreciate that so so um you know again and I know that you know we ask this this this on a monthly basis um and I think you know I think and I I'm sure Camille you've been hearing this because been hearing it if I've been hearing it you've been hearing it which is basically kind of like you know the budget right and and this budget season and you know Town counselors making um you know proposals for Crest to you know for their for crest's Budget to freeze um you know basically making uh you know kind of communications that Crest isn't being productive and all of those things kind of really putting Crest on the on the on the chopping block um because because of and we understand right money is always a short whereas we're saying we want Crest to increase right we want it to be 247 we want it to work into the evening hours which a lot of times that's when a lot of the crisis happens and things like that and so I think sometimes our questioning cssg is taken out of sorts but the reason why we ask for the data the reason why we're asking for you know kind of you know dispatch to be on board you know and I know you're saying 1 to three years but for me it it needed to be yesterday it it for me it's not on on Mark it's not on point it needs to be yesterday because without the data without showcasing you know okay these are the things that that are occurring and I understand that you kind of you know talked about you know um the past past director kind of saying XYZ PDQ I don't know you know obviously I wasn't there on the dayto day but I do know that one thing that the past director used to do was share data with us which we appreciated a lot you know and so and I think that that goes towards right when you share the data when you share the fact that you you know press is doing the things that that we said then it helps us to be able to advocate for Crest out and about because we are getting this information we are out there saying no no no Prest needs to be fully funded Prest needs to be the budget needs to be increased and so on and so for so um I I understand so one of the things I can say is that due also due to the fact of the um the Eeps funding uh not coming in we were not able to continue our work with qual Trex to get our data set okay and also because of um the way that the Eeps funding the EXE the Equitable approaches to Public Safety we have a um a main person that we speak to on a monthly basis which will be two weeks yeah the last week of the month um we'll be talking to him about um how we go about getting our data up and one of the things that's coming out of this is is that they are also looking at data and asking for different things and what I'm really excited about is that I really hope that um during the retreat that by time we have the retreat that I can be able to get all of this information together to share all right and so that we can work forward from there so what we have now um for data is I I think like we it just says like the numbers it says what the numbers are the percentage and everything else like for last week you know um I'm just looking at this here it it was talking about the 22 interactions with neighbors um that was up 37% from last week where it was 16 interactions um and talking about the resources that we gave also there was one transport but a lot of the work the the problem with the numbers is is it doesn't really talk about the qualitative part of it and that's the reason why we really want to get qual treks in so that we have one steady system of having all of our information in that explains you know the numbers to what we're doing which I found out um I've also been doing a lot of research on other departments that are doing alternative response and ammer is totally different than any of the other ones for one of the things that is really big like our sister city if you want to go like Northampton or even Cambridge are primarily done from a um Department into public health or from a clinical uh background whereas Northampton has clinicians they don't go out they have what's called like a living room where people come in for only X number of hours and what's interesting about that is is that people are calling us from Northampton for services while they're actually in the Northampton site it's kind of interesting um some of the other things is the same as like Cambridge Cambridge their teams are um clinician and uh medic so I was looking I read through the C the CW cswg report again with fresh eyes I printed it off and looked at it again and the way it was originally um dreamed up to be was very clinical um and what has turned out is that we have very much a bipac team you know bipac majority now um of people in Crest that are dealing with things from more of a lived experience and with a wealth of um Community knowledge uh and that's something else uh one of the new responders actually grew up up and went through um the ammer school system so I think that the the numbers and everything else those are coming those are coming yeah but I mean I guess I want to correct you a little bit in terms of you know your inter interpretation of cswg report because yeah I mean I I we never conceptualize it as a clinical program well no no not as clinical I was going to say the teams were the original Way It Was Written there I saw was a social worker a clinician or something and a medic is what I read no we always wanted we always wanted Crest to partner up and to be able to uh um you know provide right and and at first it was I forget which which department it was but it was like a bipac um AF afro African centc Centric like Mental Health Department to provide some of those services but it wasn't kind of just clinical Focus but there should be that oh no no it's not no so that is one of the questions that I had wanted to ask about was that um I was looking at the PowerPoint and it was talking about um providing services to the community members and to connect community members to appropriate local social services so um in that way that is something that we definitely are right on top of with um our guide and everything else so um I will say this also that people know that Crest is there and that we do have a network for them um with also the QR code and everything on the back of it um one of the calls that came through was somebody in that was just getting out of a mental health facility um in another Town calling us and it was kind of interesting to hear that you know they know that the services that we're providing here are very much above what is being provided elsewhere so um that part I'm I'm thrilled with oh and I I'll just say I'll just ask one more thing and then I'll kind of turn it over to alra because Al I think you could talk more giving your background towards kind of like the clinic clinician point of view you especially in terms of Wildflower and things like that I don't know if you'd be willing to kind of you know ask some of those questions but my last comment would just be in terms of um what you were saying that yeah you know we always Envision cswg Envision Crest to be independent uh an independent department now we didn't Envision you all not having you know of course you have to have communication with the APD with the EMTs with the with with the fire with the other Public Safety Services yes however we never wanted it to be a corresponder model or anything like that and so that's the thing because that's the other part that I've been hearing out there um and and information that's been coming to me is that there's a lot of push for Crest to become a co-responder you know you know model where Crest is going out with the police that would be a huge no no you know what I'm saying because that was never the case now we we envisioned obviously there would be part a time where the police might be called because right the the situation was communicated as as violent but then when they get there they see that actually Crest would better be served to come in and then they call in Crest or VI verse right that could end where you come in and then you see that wait a minute we need the police's assistance yes that's going to happen but it should never be a co-responder no situation where then Crest is also underneath the the um APD or anything like that so those are things that we've always been very clear about and we want to make sure stays very separate and that is one of the things that really um attracted me to this position was the fact that I am on par with the chief of police and the chief of the fire department as a director and the autonomy that I have as such and the fact that um there is you know Gabe is the new newer Chief you know the new Chief and that um Lindsay is the new chief of the fire department that we have a good working relationship and I will say this that as you know we are developing more and more of the relationship also with dispatch Etc that there are the police on the shifts that are calling us directly for issues that they know that are not for them um so I think that things are moving along and you know um I'm the type of person that I kind of want to I don't I jump in but at the same time when I'm moving forward I'm also very aware and I want to make sure that things are moving in the D right direction as they should be um instead of just pushing things before they're ready so I think that now after eight months of being here I am better understanding the culture and also better understanding the culture of um um the our neighbors and also the town and how things work and I believe that you know um working with Chief Ting and everything else that he is very much on board with Crest um and it's moving in the right direction others that may have questions um Erica go ahead algra you go first uh so I guess my recollection of things in this could be incorrect but I I believe that part of the original Eeps Grant did have some money that was supposed to be set aside for like some sort of mental health component which was where I believe originally it had been the what is it the African diaspora Mental Health Association out of Springfield um and then it ended up with Wildflower coming in with some of the groups that they were doing and it's my understanding that the funding through Eeps had lapsed like in June or something and they had been able to piece together some of their own funding but they the wild flowers is no longer providing services in ammer um which is I think a disservice to the community personally I think they were doing some great things at the um they were doing some work at the survival center some groups library and and whatnot so I you know I hope that perhaps there's a opportunity to revisit that whether that's through Crest or you know through somebody else but I I do think having peer-led mental health support services more visible and more available is a great resource for the community um as well as having some sort of clinical component I mean overall the mental health picture has somewhat changed in the past year and a half or so there's been this push for like d you know less emergency intervention the hospital and more so out in community behavioral health centers um of which the ammer area is covered by Northampton which is CSO um but the so the the idea is that there are these centers around that are you know kind of urgent care they do triage if you're in an emergent crisis they will see you immediately they you know the the lag time for somebody who just might need new new Mental Health Services but isn't you know in crisis is kind of they're saying like for days I'm not sure that that's entirely accurate um so I just to to interrupt you if you don't mind for a moment um I do wanted to get it on the books that um massachusett does have the behavioral health line okay it's 833 733 2445 and folks can call or text and um they came in to talk to us about some of the things that they offer which is they can offer um help with getting a a clinician um emergency um behavioral help line I mean emergency behavioral help um and their people are trained and will stay on the phone so the people that on the line is 247 are um I think they're bachelor's level and some Master's level clinicians but not licensed who are then overseen by licensed clinicians so that is one of the things um and also when you talked about like Wildflower I am in the process of doing the requests for proposals for um different entities of things we are looking for and and I can just say this by looking at the old proposals that came through I don't know how those were done because the the way that they have to be done now um is we have to go out and get three um proposals from three different agencies and the it's a bidding so um and I have spoken to Wildflower and other partners and let them know that um I'm working on this so those should be going out in the next couple of weeks so there might be again a behavioral health component um I want there to be I think it's very important that we have a behavioral health component Absol and I I think I would just say that from my experience and understanding of ammer as a place that has a lot of services available and a lot of social workers and a lot of therapists and a lot of psychologists not all of them necessarily accept all sorts of insurances so I think that that can be certainly marginalizing for folks who might have like Mass health or other public Insurance um is just things heard through through agreed looking yes I know through my previous job which was um a nonprofit so I do understand that that is very true um so that was I mean I think just it's good to hear that there will be some other components that Crest will be working with um and I do I do believe in peer Le groups I think that for a lot of people it's a lot easier to work with someone that understands what they're going through and what they've been through so those are the type of things that I'm looking into but again um these proposals and I've been told that they cannot be um I cannot put them out to one agency it has to go to multiple agencies meaning you have to you can't only invite one agency to apply or you can't only accept the application of one agency I I can um I cannot write only to one agency it has to be a minimum of three okay that I mean so that that was that was what I was trying to figure out that's been this week's conundrum yeah um and I I just I to go back back to the like clinical versus peer support I do think that when and at least my conversations with some of the cswg members in the conceptual conceptualization stage there was I think a group that I was organizing with that was very much like well you know it's really great to have lived experience and that should be you know that shouldn't preclude somebody from being able to be a responser and I think I think that again all the all the places do things differently and some of the models that were available at the time that cswg was doing all their research were you know there was a lot of clinician-based but I think I think that having having a component such as like a relationship with whether it's adma or Wildflower or whoever else might be coming in to do Services complements the work of the response teams and I I hope Deborah that that no P I truly I truly um agree with that and I think that the relationship that the responders have with the community um is Bar None it it is what makes Crest Crest is that um people go out and know us and know that we are Trum informed anti-racist that we provide deescalation um motivational interviewing we meet people where they're at you know we're not out there to um therapize them we're there to listen you know and um to bring them the information and help them with resources and if we can't find something usually what happens is we know somebody who can you Erica thank you um I have two um well one is a comment with regards to data um you actually said uh that um the work that you're doing is helping uh the APD to reduce focusing on on issues that's really not in their realm that's data and if you can capture that it actually decreases um their involvement with individuals or with situations that really shouldn't be in their sphere because they're not trained to do it or it's just you know it escalates versus de escalates um that is really excellent data because that is time saved in terms of times money saved on their end that you are stepping in for so please make sure you get that data um that that's really important impact data um so I just wanted to state that um the other and and can I do mind if um and to answer that and that is one of the things that we're working with the Sops on and also the big thing about it is because um the reports through APD are Corey and I don't know what Corey stands for um but criminal background checks just right so in order to look at that data we have to have a higher level and along with doing um the standard operating procedures and our policies that is something that is going along with that so that we can sit down and have and i' I've spoken to the town manager about this also after um coming back from uh Cambridge that they have a weekly meeting of all the invested stakeholders so that they can talk about the calls to debrief okay well we went to this call and it should have been this one's call or we met up at this call and you know here's how it went and and here's the data of how many calls that um their their care team went to this week and you know um what other calls should they be going to or what calls should they not been going to so I think that's a very um important component that it should be added to what we're doing absolutely absolutely um because it will actually show them that they reduce their res res ources can better focus on what it is that they do around criminal issues or violent issues and you are actually picking up um some of the areas that they shouldn't be focusing on so that's that's a win-win for the town um okay the second one um is around the budget so um I first I think I heard Allegra saying that there was some discussion from town from the finance committee not to fund your positions I think part of it is I'm not clear on actually how your funded to I see there's a dph grant but I think it was for $400,000 and it's very specific um then there $459 459 459 and then there's Town funding that's sub that also provid okay huge so the town funding provides for um my position okay the responders and as of January 1 we'll provide for our admin um the um oh my goodness uh implementation manager uh for the grant is funded through the grant okay yeah okay um so generally my experience uh and so this is more inquisitive my experien is that if I'm part of an uh agency or a town municipality um have you been asked to submit MIT a budget and to rationalize why you need it to the town manager or to your supervisor um because I I mean part of it is is that I'm hoping that the town manager is advocating for you and for the service um because I mean it it feels a little uncomfortable hearing that you know the finance committee thinks that it should defend Crest I mean I think hopefully that there is you know that you've been involved you've been asked to submit your budget what you think is important including an assistant director and why that's important and hopefully that's being pushed forward well that's what um we are in talks about and the budget is our our budget is a very slim budget in that it pretty much covers personnel and a small amount for training and office supplies it it's not that big of a but most of it is just the Personnel so that is why to me it's really important to get everything that we can done now um so that moving forward that we have the Personnel that we need and the support but it's good questions that you're bringing up Erica maybe one of the things that we want to look at is the breakdown on the budget of of Crest so we have a better understanding of it because again the thing is is that we're out there we're advocates for Crest so if we don't have the understanding of what budget breakdown is and what's needed because the thing is is like we want them to to obviously add more positions then you know we need to have that understanding of the budget in order to ask for those things and counter these negative um you know feedback that's out there a lot from town counselors and others who are trying to um you know one you know freeze and or decrease uh the budget of Crest or change it into different model like a corresponder under the APD and things like that which that would not that would be a to Total violation of what it is that you know Crest was um you know created envisioned everything to be um here in the town of amers so um you know very critical but yeah I mean is that something that you could maybe for the the next uh month uh provide us with a breakdown of the budget um yes okay yes great I appreciate that thank you okay so I I I don't think I got um unless I missed it and I'm sorry Eric if not quite finish I'll be very quick I don't think I got a definitive answer do you actually submit a budget for Crest yes um well so during the last we we have a budget okay I don't know about submitting a budget we have an already stated budget um that was set up and that is what we're going off of you need to resubmit it every every budget season um and that's a good question that I haven't gotten into so far as that is just you know because when I came in we had just submitted the budget um and I had to defend a budget that you know I knew very little about um this next time next um spring I'll be much better informed yeah you will have an opportunity to submit a budget and I know that the previous budget that was submitted was by the implementation team before your hire um and my knowledge of that is that it was submitted and what was presented to finance to be different but that is a conversation that is above me okay thanks for that information um Erica were you finished yes I was thank you everal okay so I I only have one question um so over the many months um that we've been here it was my understanding that um and correct me if I heard this in incorrect um I I thought we had a contract signed with this company for reporting and it was paid for and everything did I hear you say that we lost funding for that it's not that we lost funding for that what happened was is that so here's what happened was is that there was a certain amount of time for uh the funding and again I've been here for eight months so a lot of this was set up before I came and what was done during the interm team was a lot of uh stabilization so there was not a lot of work moving forward on you know what was to be done with the data how they wanted the data presented and Etc so what's happened now is that as we have learned um from previous reports and also from what um the Eeps the grantees the the grantors want from us for data has changed how we're doing things and while we had a basic um working model we had to purchase additional time to add um components to it to fit um what I was looking at for data and also what Eeps was looking for data so those are we had to we purchased an additional 20 hours of time and that is what we're working on now so does that mean now that um you know we've been asking for reported information for quite some time so given that we've exhausted the number of hours that were allotted does that mean that we have to go back to the drawing board and try to get more funds to get the information no not at all what we're doing now is we're finding the the information that we already have and creating um new data sets Okay so what you what they were able to provide you can work from that yes okay thank you so this is just additional help so that we get everything that um we get all the information that we wanted uh demographics um we wanted the ability to go in and say after we received a call because right now we're we're using Microsoft um office or word or something I don't even mess with that and the way the form was set up once it was put in nothing could be changed whereas now um because we work in teams of two you know there's two different voices so one person looks at the form or creates the form the other person provs it before it's put through uh something else that was happening was people were coding things um inaccurately so that's some of the other things that we're working through is really drilling down on what constitutes what type of call what is say an assist um a town Department versus what is a mental health call so say um in one of our trainings while we were at there was someone they was having a mental health difficulty on the back steps of town hall they quoted that as a mental health call when actually because it came through town hall the first one should have come that it was a town department and then the second part of it was a mental health call and we're doing all that for accurate reporting okay thank you thank you right shall we move on to Dei all right uh let's see I kind of talked a little bit out of tournament with some information early on so I we'll try not repeat so much and um one thing that I just wanted to say for the resident oversight board is that we've had two meetings and I see that it's on your agenda and so I will let um dubra go more into detail on it so I will bypass that to save some time in that regard uh Youth Empowerment so we do have a survey going out um to gather kind of direction from youth um I know when I was on this committee and just as I have left that that was a key component you know really hearing from Youth and what it is they want not what adults can make and and create um in terms of programming and Direction um that has been shared with the schools with um the newspapers with just about everybody and anybody who would hear me out to uh share our survey so the hope is to gather as much data as we can last month we did kind of a soft roll out with 15 um kids um from various um both middle school high school and bip individuals just to kind of get a tester and filler out um of the survey you know does it make sense for a seventh grader does it make sense for an eighth grader and uh that those results were very interesting just kind of wording you know um I think as we grow older and get older we use words that may seem relevant to us but not relevant to children that we definitely heard that on our um survey just kind of like oh I didn't answer that because I didn't understand what that meant or I didn't get what that was and so we definitely um catered it into a format that was hopefully um more accessible to uh youth um conducting and filling out the survey if I may pause you for two seconds so I I understand the survey going out to the youth to say okay what would you like to see in the Youth Empowerment Center um are the results or or let me rephrase it is is actually is having an actual physical Center conditioned on feedback from the youth because I think we've been having this conversation in two parts like we haven't heard much about okay the Town has committed to an actual physical location we've had we we have a budget for this location we're talking to these PE you know to these developers about where this can go or potentially can go because we've also had the conversation about where can we actually put a center that is accessible by people with no Transportation so I get that we're doing the survey about what the youth would like to do but where are we in terms of an actual physical location and an actual Center no that's correct and I think that you hit um the nail on the head there is that it's kind out of a two-part conversation in terms of a center I cannot give you any information because I don't know it not because I'm hiding information as to um anything developing from Center I know that on the um email chain that was forwarded to you all from Finance with the arpa money that was there that that is as much knowledge as I know to it in terms of a commitment to a center um what Dei is doing and what I have been tasked with um from um the town manager is to come up with youth programming Youth Empowerment programming so that is what my focus is and I completely understand and know that a center is the end goal yet I am not a part of that can I say that the survey will help in terms of um creating a center I would I would imagine so I mean if we show that you know there's programming that um once we get it started that you know 20 kids come 25 kids come whatever the numbers are is that it's a very clear indication that the programming can exist and be successful and therefore Center is very much needed so um um do you have any more to talk about in terms of the survey or can can we ask you some questions in regards to it you can ask me questions in regard to do you want me to finish up my report or just I'm okay either way it doesn't matter to me no all right finish up your report and then I'll I'll go I'll Circle back to the questions that I have around the survey okay sounds good um so everal mentioned that uh um about our event that we had on Sunday in terms of immigration and ice and just our immigrant population the HRC is doing a lot in terms of the resource page that I shared with you all and as well as just Gathering um information in terms of you know where people can turn to what organizations people can turn to so I would say that if you have a Community member that is really concerned I think directing them to the HRC they have created kind of a subcommittee within their group to kind of handle um that I think their information is pretty spoton with um resources in terms of amers area uh Dei we had a connect event um which was really Gathering Dei um colleagues around I sent it out to colleges as well as to the bid um nonprofits organizations and our goal for this group is to kind of meet um quarterly to update each other in terms of you know what's coming up what we can use help with but really A brainstorm type of group and so our first one that we focused on was immigration and so I had mentioned the HRC um in terms of what they were doing and one of the resources that um actually the desanti health center provided um myself CR other people in the B Center was these red cards that are developed by I forget what organization right now but they have ordered um a ton of them at the desant Health Center in multiple languages I know that they're sharing them in terms with Crest and other um departments in town the town manager I have sent him an email he's looking into what it would take to order some and languages and all that and and the bid was very much as I stated earlier was very interested in it as well as um the chamber and they were very much just like yeah we should order these they should be given to everybody that we can basically so information is just going to be shared with this group quarterly um you'll see it in the newsletter actually so highlighting um the newsletter the goal is to really be as forthcoming with as much information as we can and just have it located in one place so I'm really pleased to hear that the newsletter was helpful this month in terms of knowledge and events coming up um the events that I stated earlier um K Quanza and then I have um on January 21st there is the national day of racial healing that the Dei department will be doing and that is kind of a kickoff event in terms of our um becoming Beloved Community member series as well as we do monthly staff trainings um every third Friday of the month we um have topics that we're going through with staff and then we are doing Department trainings coming up in February so that is one thing that um in Pamela's role of kind of Dei director and in um and on the internship leadership team for Crest kind of fell off last year so we are um really spearing that ahead and making sure that um departmental trainings as a whole are being done in terms of Dei and I think that is it for me so when you're saying departmental training uh when you're saying departmental training are you talk talking about uh with the APD fire so on so forth what what will those trainings kind of deal with uh really we're looking at um Equity issues um in terms of that and um Lindsay and both Gabe have we're figuring out a schedule because on their operating schedule you know they have blocks to where people are on 247 so making sure that we get everybody um in terms of their Departments of the fire they go a through b so on days that we can get everybody okay good all right thank you for um the report um again you know as I said with Crest I would really you know the newsletter obviously was helpful and things like that but you know it would still be a good thing to just kind of have a written kind of report to us um as opposed to you know just a verbal one because then you could kind of build from that on a monthly basis so I'm still going to put in a plug for that um but in terms of the youth survey um you know one is I I get that you know I I saw it shared with the schools and things like that but my concern is making sure that who are the youth that are responding to the survey um and making sure that there is a large number of bipo Youth you know youth from different you know um you know cultures and countries and everything so I don't know if the surveys in other languages or anything like that that I are going to be able to get those type of of numbers and so for me um you know have you shared the survey with like the ABC program uh poou like Mary custard um you know so it needs to be targeted specifically uh to these groups right you know Cambodian groups so on so forth right has to be targeted to the the the specific you know bipot groups because that's my concern right my concern is who you know which youth are are sharing this information of course the Youth Empowerment Center is going to be for all youth but we did say it would be bipo youth Le and it would be bipac youth focused in terms of obviously bringing in all of those um aspects that you know bipo Youth and marginalized youth um would be able to to um you know um kind of grow in and enhance and challenge themselves with um so so I guess for me um you know are you able to respond to that first um in terms of like who is this going out to has it been targeted to specific populations um how long is it being targeted um once you all have the responses back you know will there be a report made to us and to community members in terms of the outcome um and then yes and then when it's you know once we have the outcome you know will we as CS be able to also um engage in the process of what type of programming you know is necessary as opposed to a lot of times you know our group is set out to the side and then you know and then and then it's more so kind of like after the fact oh this is what we're doing things like that as opposed to engaging us throughout the process but uh starting again with um targeted um you know survey populations were you all able to to do that yeah so uh one group that I haven't done and I just wrote it down right now was ABC um I think that would be a great group to reach out to so definitely get that done but um in terms of targeted groups yes I sent a email out to the individual groups that kind of are bipoc Focus myself to send it out to um them and reach out to the staff Lees on Person of those groups as well as sending it to um Georgina Georgia at the yep at the school um that she deals with all clubs and community members so that as well as going to morning movement which has a large bipoc Le group um and then as well as going to other various organizations that I thought would come about in terms of um you know bipo lead Focus um I think you said it well the survey is out there it's meant for everyone of course I I would love the results to come in um in terms of focus on bip youth um I I cannot make people take surveys so please if you could uh encourage individuals that you know to help and um take the survey that that would be wonderful in terms of um kind of just a quick look at it it is majority bipac right now um responses um as things come in I will definitely keep you all updated and that is definitely my goal um coming in the survey is meant to end January 31st so my hope is February I can come in and have some type of data for you all and I think in October or I forget what meeting it was that I came in I definitely have would love for you all to be participatory in terms of you know coming up with programming that makes sense and um that we can really gear towards um you know making it successful and I think the one that we are rolling out kind of just as a tester and that we are doing that I've mentioned is the entrepreneurship um one that's happening in March um and that is going to have um BB AA have speakers um come in and talk to youth individuals so you know I'm I'm really trying to be thoughtful and um make the programming as successful as possible but of course I I welcome um any collaboration okay great yeah if you can I think yeah you did mention entrepreneurship if there's any other information in regards to it um obviously that would be great um but yeah I think I think the only other thing you know obviously you shared it with us is that to also share it with any of the community members too um with the survey that you know that have that connection because that was one of the great things that Seventh Generation did as you know was really kind of go out and and sometimes I mean you know that Philip is just like it's email but then a follow up with a phone call a follow up with you know a meeting or or what have you to really kind of make that extra um connection to say that this is really important we're trying to get this information so that then we can figure out the programming because yeah I mean right now and you know obviously that's going to be something else we need to talk about is the the the Youth Empowerment Center but the programming is is important to Showcase that this is very much needed which we had already showcased through the cswg report and that's why one of the recommendations was you know to create the youth Youth Empowerment Center and because of the kind of heha this and that that the town has been having for these past three years we don't have a center and we haven't had really you know any programming and then and then in terms of programming creation you know of course you know yes morning movement you know I'm I'm I'm I'm glad that it's happening and I guess there's the rise one two uh but you know there's still a lot of you know with both programs and and and I do want to know more around it but it's like this is very heavy um you know kind of police uh presence I think you know Court presence so on so forth I mean I could see the police showing up and and kind of you know going here and there but I don't know about the continual uh presence of the police at these at this at this program so I'm I'm I'm hopeful that whatever programming di is going to be working on won't be heavy police presence you know because again I don't know what kind of messages we're also sending to our bipo youth when it's kind of like you know know that that kind of you know presence in in activities and meetings and and and and so on and so forth so that that makes me pause and it makes me concerned you know um so that's why I want us to be engaged in in in in the programming because you know I don't want to see more kind of programming where you know the presence is is one where young people you know can't you know not can't but hopefully can be the full self that's the way I'll put it yeah totally I think that is that is our goal as well as um your alls for the DI Department in terms of Youth programming other questions for uh Phillip I had a few um one was just in terms of the survey you said there were some responses is there do you have a like number of how many people have responded so far yep it's um last time I checked it it was either 49 or 50 so why don't we just say 50 okay all right that's great um and so I know we asked Camille So I will ask you as well what is the Dei budget looking like are there asks that you guys made this year is there concern celebration yeah I mean I think like most Department um you know we we would love to have more and I think that and the successfulness of some of these things um it it is really needed um we are a department of two and minus both mine and Pamela's salaries our operating budget is only $133,000 for the entire year and so as you can imagine um we are not successful in terms of getting things done with that amount of money we do have opportunities to you know WR for Grants and do grants and I know that um we do have some grants that were secured yet um as I just stated we are two people and this youth programming is one initiative that we are doing though resident oversight board is another initiative we are doing and everything else kind of that comes into our lap we are still doing and so I think that we are stretched thin in terms of some ass was there any additional funding that you put forward as needed to the town manager or I know that Pamela did um write up a memo and sent it over I um that I I don't know anything other than that that would be a question for Pamela and then I would imagine PA in finance I think that's it for me Erica you didn't have any questions everald if you're there and you have any questions no thank you I I asked my questions and thank you thank you Phillip um so shall we move over to the resident oversight board um update from Deborah don't she's off camera right now um for there she is Deborah do do you want to give an update about the resident oversight board well um yeah I had to step away can you all hear me I had to step away to go to the bathroom sorry necessities of life yeah um but um did we talk at all about the Youth Empowerment um Center itself though not yeah because yeah I mean I do want us to least address it I understand that Philip or Camille won't be able to to talk um towards it but I think it's important for the community to know um because I know that go ahead do you want me to pull up the email that we received yeah if you could that would be great sorry I said that and now I am looking for it do you want me to read it I can read it too while you're looking for it um I think I found it found it okay well thank you thank you for um sharing it um and you know we did receive this from um the finance director the town finance director Melissa zisi I might be you know messing up her last name and I apologize for that um uh in regards to our question one we had asked her to attend our actually our November meeting and and then our December meeting and and I've let her know that because of especially because of this statement we we want to invite it to our January meeting you know um because it will be important for us to have someone that can speak to it um I know we had Ry um you know previously and Ry was able to speak to some of it uh but I think you know given that she's a finance director she'll have more information regards to the actual budget and what is actually occurring and we need to have an opportunity for the kind of the questions the back and forth so that the community can be knowledgeable in terms of what's what's happening and when Ray came in a few months ago he did say that he did say that you know it had to be committed by the 31st and then spent by um I believe it was 2026 yeah it was like 2026 to be to to be spent by and as of right now as as we can see you know on the email as of now we have approximately well first it was it started out with the $500,000 and then um you know what was it about you know 5,000 something was used for the Don Hue Institute which of course thank you Melissa for you know sharing that because we've been we've been knowing that the nonu Institute was involved in doing some type of you know you know well comprehensive to develop down Institute to develop a comprehensive inventory of existing youth programs uh the inventory included interactive map um and so on so forth um but it's you know one it's it's a whit Le uh you know organization and we were asking this of of of the Town manager when we had asked him questions you know a few months ago and he was very reluctant to to tell us that the da and hu Institute had actually been um you know um contracted to provide those services so one we want to know what is the out come of this mapping right that occurred we haven't received any outcome in regards to it so there was some money and now um as of now we have approximately 44,500 remaining from the original allocation and the arpa fund contract is ending December 31st 2024 while no F final decisions have been made on how best to utilize These funds I want to assure you that the both the town manager the town fully committed to advancing the goals of the Youth Empowerment program so if they need to be if it needs to be allocated by the 31st what is what is happening here right and I know one of the callers Miss Pat had talked about possibly he's going back to reserve we have we had for three years been talking about establishing a Youth Empowerment Center when Ray came he very eloquently was saying well we need to know this and this and this no you have the money if you have the money you you you put it in the place that it needs be which is into this Youth Empowerment Center can't say that you're committed to to the Youth Empowerment Center and you have $454,500 and you're you're willing to just not commit that let that go and then say that you're committed to the center no those two things don't go hand in hand that doesn't make sense to me you know and so um you know and I posed that question as soon as we got the the the the this information for Melissa I've posed that question to the town manager so what does this mean right I is this going to be committed by the 31st or what are you going to do with this money which for me basically is saying that it's not it's not going to be committed to the Youth Empowerment centor I'll be very pleasantly surprised if it is so for us on this committee you know I really feel like you know I've been bamboozled you know out of $454,500 to the Youth of this of our town right if this if this money is not going to be a marked for this Center so so you know for us on the CSS this is alarming and very concerning and I I need resp a response from the town manager to let me know what is happening here and we need to meet with Melissa you know next month to tell us what is happening here because this is not this is not good so I guess I have a and I know this is not a question not a question directed at the person who can actually provide an answer answer but a question I guess rhetorically if the money if the $454,000 and they're proposing putting anything that hasn't been spent in cash reserves which I believe again like we had heard about earlier can only be used for capital projects then is there a way to earmark that for a center once that comes up down the road or is that something that Erica um my my feeling is is that it shouldn't be allowed to do that if this was earmarked for Youth Empowerment Center and what we're talking about is that arpa requires that we obligate the funds by the end of this month and then we spend it within the next two years meaning that we annually have $227,200 which be would be enough what I would think is to rent a space and to get more staff to actually do the work so I don't understand why we would let it go um because once we let it go it's so hard to get it back um and maybe even getting a um a a um grant writer to make sure that then because I I you know definitely Ray said this is not sustainable blah blah blah and so I'm sure that's the concern of the town which is that if they were to build one or if they were to acquire a building um that they couldn't sustain it well you know we've got enough funding to to at least rent a space and enough funding to at least get some more staff to support Youth Empowerment courses that are going to come out of the survey provide some support to Phil um and then get a grant writer to get some more money starting this year for the year after it's finished um so I I don't think we should let it go I and and I think the person we need to be talking to is Paul not Melissa Melissa's going to take her orders from Paul or maybe Lynn uh the Town Council president but this is the thing Erica I mean we've tried to you know I don't know how long now the CSS has been in existence we've invited Paul to meet with us since our existence and he has never come to meet with us so you know so so that is the problem um is that he he justes you know uh um flat out rejects our invitations to meet and discuss uh these issues and I want to correct it's actually uh Donna Hugh well I mean I don't know she didn't put it out that way but basically they used $45,500 I'm assuming $45,500 was towards the Donna Hue for this mapping um which what what what is that about I I don't know you know we haven't gotten any results we we don't have anything and now we have that this this money basically dangerously at a point of of losing it to the um you know for for the Youth Empowerment Center um and and as you were stating Erica I mean the point of the matter is we've been discussing this so basically you've been wasting our time for for these past two years or or three how long have we been in existence at this point we started in 20122 so yeah it's been over like two and a half years two and a half years that we've been in existence that we've been talking about the same thing over and over again we've discussed spaces with Pamela because there was a time where Dei was more involved with the center but then I guess it was removed even though you know I'm still not clear when it was removed from from their kind of portfolio um however it's just like now we're at this point where $454,000 um plus it what is going to be lost because supposedly oh well you know we don't know if we can sustain it and so therefore we're not just going to do anything wait what but yet you spent for $45,500 to pay I'm assuming to Donna Hugh or maybe Donna Hugh and others I I don't know uh Donna Hugh to do some mapping that we haven't even seen the results from so what is going on here but everal so I I agree with everyone is saying and I think what we do um as a committee is we go with what Eric is said we know the money is there we know that if the money is not air marked it will be lost so I would suggest we send a letter from the committee to say yes we're at the juncture where the town is still doing surveys and yes we have no commitment on a physical structure however here are some ways we we've identified that this money can be spent for Youth Empowerment so it is not lost and then we list the things um grant writer or you know space with more staff in here are things that we work as a committee um who's trying to get the Youth Empowerment Center developed recommend this money be spent and not allocated and or earmarked for anything else other than Youth Empowerment and then have and then have them respond to say no yeah and then we and then that tells us about their commitment yeah so send it to like the town manager Town Council Members yes well well before the deadline for it to be exped fired yeah so I would suggest and I can do this this will be a task for me um but I if I draft a letter and send it out to everybody like quick turnaround so that it can be there for Monday since that is their meeting yeah um their meeting is on what what day you're saying I believe it's Monday the what's Monday the 16th okay so that is this Monday yes so tomorrow or tonight I can draft a letter um and and then not replied all responses to me by Friday noon well send it send it to you and me okay responses to and I by what you said what did you say Friday at noon Friday at noon um and then for to send out for Monday but I do know though I guess that don't they need to get I mean so we're sending out on Monday it's just for them to have it but will they even see it because I thought they they get all of their um documentation like I don't know a few days before and blah blah blah um I don't know but I can also try and either go or go on Zoom and read it yeah maybe that might be the the better thing the so during the public comment to read the letter um because and I I don't know I I don't know if I'm going to be able to be at the Town Council buter if you're able to you know read the letter I think that would be more more important because even if we send it to them um it probably won't get on the docket so I can write the letter send it to you make any edits and I will still send it and put it in the public comment folder so the public knows that we've done that and Y send it and then both and then both yeah send it and then read it and read okay all right so I think that's a good idea it's an actionable step um and I think that it makes a lot of sense to propose that because I mean I know ammer rents are expensive but $227,000 a year hopefully would cover a little bit of a building thing the thing is this shows like the lack of commitment and the lack of seriousness in terms of wanting to establish the Youth Empowerment Center because when you're willing to let go of this amount of money because out of fear of lack of sustainability then that does not send the message to the the the groups right that we would be servicing in terms of our young people which is our greatest treasure in any town is our young people um and especially you know focusing on bipo and marginalized young people I mean what message are we sending to them so are we okay to move on to resident oversight board sure so um with the the resident oversight board as you all know um you know I've been attending the meetings um there's been two meetings that have occurred um one was on November 19th which was the introductory meeting and then one on December 10th um the the two people who are um kind of the facilitators for the these meetings is Rabbi Deb which we I know a lot of you met before um cuz she had done the initial report around you know again quote unquote the need for the resident oversight board which again we thought was a a delay tactic because the cswg through the Seventh Generation Um um information and the other information that we had right the town you know meetings and and surveys and so on so forth had already established the need for the resident oversight board but yet you know still um they they hired Deb and Deb came in and her report and her survey still again reemphasized and reaffirmed that there was a need for Resident over skyboard um and so so Deb is one of the facilitators and then there's another facilitator uh Brian uh core and he is someone that is let me see here his um because I want to just see yeah so he um has more of the background around and he calls it you know the civilian um oversight board boards and that's what a lot Nationwide it's called but I want to let you all know the reason why we at cswg did not call it a civilian oversight board is because civilian obviously has connotations in terms of military and law enforcement kind of lingo as well as you know a lot of time kind of you know talking about civilian citizenship things like that as opposed to resident which is anyone doesn't regardless of of your status is included as a resident right um and so connected to his experience with the um the National Association for civilian oversight of law enforcement um and he was like I guess a president board member and so on so forth for many years so he has a lot of that background in terms of establishing I guess he goes all over the country and works with a variety of municipalities around establishing civilian oversight boards so he kind of brings um you know that expertise into it um and Deb you know kind of is more kind of you know helping to have the discussions um and I did share the the the list of people who are you know part of it so philli and Pamela are part of it um two ex um Town councilors shin and Anika are on there um we have Ronnie from The Human Rights um commission um and then we also have um four members of the police we have the um you know uh Chief ting um this other police officer Lindsay Carol who's the president of the police patrol Officers Association Nicholas Chandler president of the police supervisors Union and then Molly Farber again from the police patrol Officers Association um so uh you know started out the meeting just kind of you know T table setting and kind of going over the history and so on so forth and we met for you know about 3 hours and then um we met yesterday again for about about 2 and a half hours um and really a lot of the information has been and I I shared some of what we we discussed in some of the slides and then I'll I'll share the other information that um they sent to us for yesterday's meeting um because of course it was after already we had sent the agenda the materials um and and just so you all know I'm going to be sharing and I I talked to Paul and we had that discussion yester yesterday with the facilitators I said I'm about transparency so whatever you all we're talking about here I want to share with the community and I guess I said there's going to be a website where they're going to be sharing this information too um but yesterday we talked a lot about the different models um there's like a a review model which is basically like that kind of model that kind of reviews um you know like internal investigations that the police does any type of um you know um communication that's made from the community that Tye so it's more review and a lot of Civilian oversight boards kind of have that model because that was kind of like how civilian oversight boards started and then there's also the investigative model right where the investigative model has more of that kind of investigative aspect of it if there's a complaint where you can make recommendations request information um subpoena power you know those types of things when a complaint you know comes in and with that model it could be uh outside complaints and there's some over oversight boards that um also deal with even like internal complaints right from the police and things like that so kind of discussing you know some of that and then the other model that they had was the auditor monitor Focus models that I guess is developing now it's more kind of a more current oversight model which kind of deals more with kind of looking at the systemic structure of the police right and kind of systemic issues and things like that and then there's also a hybrid right so there's there's some oversight um boards that are hybrid and kind of have a little bit of the three or have maybe the two or what have you right depending on on um the the the the culture and what the municipality or the town or the city is looking for right um so I think you know part of this is um that the facilitators have been doing rightfully so is you know of course trying to get us to that point of hey we need to and so oh yeah and the important thing is the charge right so we were charged by the town manager to create a proposal that would have a a bylaws language to uh for bylaws for creation of a resident oversight board that then the town manager would share with the Town Council and then the Town Council would be the one to say yes we approve or no we don't approve or we approve of some we don't approve the others and so on so forth all right so the charges again is proposal for bylaws of the creation of this resident oversight board to the Town Council okay um and so you know we've been having a lot of these conversations for me my part and I do thank the facilitators for giving me an opportunity so in the first meeting I was able to kind of go over to cswg recommendations and specifically our recommendation around the um what we recommended for the resident oversight board and then I said it out loud to all um the advis folks that they need to read the cswg reports in its totality um the seventh generation information what leap had shared and everything else right I'm not sure if they did or not but I I made a point of of of talking about that um and so the the the thing is going to be because I guess to to create this proposal proposal there's going to be you know a need to have some type of consensus in regards to it so there's going to be four more meetings there's going to be one on the 7th which I can't attend because I will be away out of the country then there will be one on the the 28th February 11th and then February 25th at least that's as many um meetings that we have as of right now we might have others um but and even yesterday we started getting into it a little bit more I mean the thing is going to be in terms of obviously having some type of consensus which is going to be interesting especially given that you know of course um there's four police Representatives um who you know of course are are are very kind of you know I'm saying they they're open but um not sure if if you know where they'll be at in terms of of this whole thing I'm as you all know very vocal and I'm going to continue to be vocal and bringing in the community's voice in terms of of you know one having an oversight board that is empowered having an oversight board that is autonomous that is independent and is able to do the work that they need to do um you know and I've already voiced that already a variety of times and when I look at these models one thing that I you know for me as I'm formulating things I'm like an investigative model along with that kind of auditor you know model where you're kind of looking at that systemic structures because that would deal with not only the resident oversight board but it would deal with the the part B of of our of the cswg recommendations which I know the APD hasn't done much with right in terms of a lot of the re reforms that need to happen within the APD itself for it to become an anti-racist department and I said that yesterday at the meeting I was just like you know an investigative plus this auditor model might be helpful because and I said it with Chief Ting there because I don't see any of what we in Part B haven't taken place right there hasn't been any movement from what I can tell you know um so um you know there's going to be some um heated discussions to say the least um Within These next a few meetings I did um you know question the facilitators because I had said even before the other four meetings were were um put in place I had stated that I was going to be away because of the holidays and stuff like that but yet you know and I understand obviously there's going to be situations where um not everyone can attend but I did ask whether on the 7th there was going to be any decisions made things like that they they assured me no um and that obviously that will come later in terms of kind of like actual creation of the proposal and the model and things like that the other important thing that I think we need to think about because obviously I want the community and I want us on CSS JC to help me you know bring our voices into this Advisory Group the other thing that we want to think about is where is this um uh the resident oversight board going to sit um is going to be important so for me I posed it to uh Brian well could it sit you know under the Town Council as opposed to the town manager right um and then you was kind of like well I'm not sure why couldn't you sit under Town manager you know not understanding that the the the politics right and and and in amers and everything that a lot of times when you know a board is with under like the town manager there might be a lack of Independence and autonomy in that way as opposed to the Town Council which is our highest kind of um you know decision makers I guess within our our our our town um structure why wouldn't it be more independent in terms of that way still part of town government cuz I do understand that it would still need to be part of town government because they need to get the resources right they need to be fully budgeted fully resourced so if it's going to have an investigative model they need to be able to hire investigators um have you know at least a an admin to be able to you know administrate things and a stipend as cswg had recommended for um the the the folks that are going to be part of the actual board you know um so anyway so we're we're we're dialoguing um you know yesterday you know got into more conversations and I told the facilitators is just like listen we are going to have to talk about this we can't be you know dancing around you know my my time is is very precious I don't have time to dance around the issue too you know what I'm saying I don't want to be spending you know three hours of pop in an evening after I've had a full day of work to dance around the issue you know we need to get to it and we need to stop you know talking through some of these things and and get to where we need to get to so um so we'll see I and I do understand it's a delicate balance but for me this is something that should have been in place already three years ago so my patience is is kind of thin but yet yeah um I'm I'm willing to to continue to um work through the process any questions thoughts comments I think my only um comment would be I I am in agreement with you that it it should be given the importance and the value of what it's going to be I would suggest that um it would be under the Town Council as opposed to the town manager because you are right Town Council is a elected officials and um I think if there's any disputes or arguments or about anything it shouldn't be so to speak I mean everyone else the police department rules up to the town manager yeah there needs to be some separation yeah so that is that is my comment yeah thank you other thoughts comments questions yeah one of the things one of the things say Deborah I just want to thank you for stepping in and being our representative um everything that you're saying resonates with me um the only question I have I mean I agree too Town Council is our highest body and one would think that if we had a mayor that that's where it would go to which again would be political but um yeah I I think there to some extent it's tough for Department staff to be on there knowing that they're big boss is the town manager um but I think there might be some administrative issues that might be the reason why it's done that way and then the Town Council would have the last say so that the town manager could review whatever the review board recommended and if the review board's recommendation didn't go through then the review board could go to the Town Council yeah and I get that Erica because obviously that could be with some of the kind of complaints investigated but remember this would also have a a variety of other um functions and things that they would be doing in terms of especially around recommending kind of systemic change and looking at some of the policies procedures things like that and if that's you know solely under the town manager I I don't know how much of of that work would actually get done in the way we need it to get done you know so um so it it's more things again my thing is though is to propose and to say okay well why can it you know what I'm saying as opposed to just take it for granted and say Well it oh no it can't and this and this no I need you to show me why you know because we need to obviously have this board be something that actually has some power to do some things right and one of the things that actually one of the U facilitators did bring up because of how he's you know Brian has been around the country is that there's a lot of cities and towns that benefit you know that actually the police department benefit from having a board in place because right once the board investigates and looks at things maybe they're going to come back and say actually the police did a great job you know they did everything they were supposed to do and things like that because they're independent right they're impartial they're independent they're looking at it so a lot of police departments actually enjoy the fact that they're there because it kind of gives Credence and it gives you know um you know it kind of reaffirms the work that they're doing as opposed to right now with things are behind closed doors and we don't know anything that's going on and then there's that mistrust right from the community and the community not knowing right and therefore not trusting and so to build that trust having an independent body could actually be a very good thing for the you know APD um you know in the long term right but I understand that obviously it could be scary and and on all of that but we need to take the step just like we had to take the step with Crest right it was scary there was a lot of resistance and you know of course it still is but I'm just like but in the beginning there was just so much resistance but guess what we made that we made it through that and it's working and it's you know and it's continuing forward the oversight board would be the same thing right so it's just about kind of you know putting it in place and and and figuring this out um any other comments or questions think so so I will keep you all posted like I said I won't be able to be at the next one but what ever other information that is shared I think they are going to um give us that can't attend an opportunity to give feedback through email and all of that so I I'll be doing that um and then I will you know keep you all posted you know in in between meetings if there's anything urgent and or um and on on our monthly meetings good thank you Deborah again for stepping up and taking on this role oh you're welcome so I know we have the proposal left on our agenda I am going to share the screen I am aware that it's 902 um so I just does anybody have time constraints or can we move to this last agenda item I do have time restrains but let's see how long it goes yeah and I don't know to be fair to Philip and Camille I don't know if they need to go and I know they've passed it passed the thing over to you algra when they need to go yes that would be I think I am let me just double check I think I am oh I don't know how to do it while I'm screen sharing um let's see if I am not co-host and Camille or Philip need to leave and they would like to make me co-host that would be great and thank you for coming if you need to go I you are a co-host okay perfect thank you all right so Erica put together this lovely proposal for us thank you Erica yes thank you Erica you're welcome um so Erica do you want to can you go over it sure I mean I I think it's pretty brief and and pretty to the point um and I didn't I I'm purpose didn't put too much in there because I thought it' be important for our um members to have input into it um as well as give you an opportunity to also have a conversation if we moved forward with Dr Love um because I I know Dr love has done a lot of facilitation of bringing groups together and working through the group dynamics and really getting to point of consensus so um I think the most important is that um there are those of you right here who've been working a lot uh and have have really spent a lot of time on this committee and there are those of us who are brand new to this um committee and so I think it's just an opportunity one is to just be on the same page with a shared understanding of one um how we got here um we know you know the Seventh Generation did a lot of work in putting a report together with recommendations you guys have been working towards moving those recommendations forward um so it's it's just really important for those of us who are here to know what's already been done to celebrate what's been done and then to think about you know the goals that we still have and come to a consensus about where we want to you know put our energy where we want to move forward and maybe even you know you talk about um uh committee I mean uh member reports but maybe even doing subcommittees having some of us work on particular goals and strategies around particular goals so we can move uh faster um around some of the areas that that we really feel are very important so it's one to you know be on the same page and have a shared understanding of where where we came from where we want to go to um how we got here uh and I think another big piece is really thinking about what our different roles are and the expectation of each other and ourselves uh and then also just getting to know each other a little bit um just in terms of you know who we are and what we bring to the table as as well as how we communicate with each other collaborate with each other um and I think sometimes developing that relationship so I'm really pushing for an in-person meeting an inperson Retreat because I think you know sometimes it's hard over Zoom to get to know each other um Beyond a face on Zoom um in terms of our communication style um you know what what really is really really important to us and what we're not going to let go um which doesn't mean that you know we're not listening to each other it doesn't mean that we're not respecting each other's viewpoint but there's some things that you know are really important to each other and I think having an opportunity through a retreat to work through that and then come out with very specific goals very spec specific strategies understanding each other's roles and understanding how we work with each other will really help us um move forward quicker so the next steps really are is um you know I saw the fact that um Dr love has been already contracted with with the town is to talk to uh the town manager to see if we can move forward with getting Dr love to work with us um I recommended that you know that uh that Deborah and Allegra talk to uh Dr Love first um just out of respect in terms of where we want to go with this and then um possibly having Dr Love come to one of the meetings to flesh out how we actually want to do the retreat and then get everybody's input and that also means um you know resident participants especially those who are really so engaged and committed to making sure that um the cssj and Crest uh and Dei um are sustainable and support in this town so that's pretty much it thank you Erica I mean I think again I think you've done a great job and coming together with an outline and I think the steps that you have underneath are actionable um do people have thoughts questions concerns praise do you want me to keep sharing or do you want me to put it away yeah you you can take it off at this um but yeah I think it this is really good um you know proposal and outline um you know just want to I guess get from I guess everil just to kind of see if everil will be on board too um and then we could take take the next steps in terms of contacting um you know the town manager to kind of figure out you know what would be the budget or I don't know if Camille as alazon could help with that I'm not sure um but um and then we need to figure out you know of course Bar's um availability and then when it is that we would want to to do this Retreat I also agree that it it should be in person and it should be a full day um because to have a half a day is not going to be enough for us to be able to you know do what we need to do and then at the end of that Retreat we could kind of figure out what you know if there's anything else we need to do um you know in terms of maybe having another retreat in six months or something like that and also I know we had had also that conversation of possibly having two meetings a month right one meeting where it's kind of this one where we're kind of dealing with you know all the the standing issues and then another meeting where were you know inviting maybe speakers or dealing with some of the other things like goals and and things like that but I think we could probably have some of those outcomes um you know be some of the things that come out of the retreat in terms of things that we might do on a on a more regular basis because we know right now given that you know as like for me as as you know a member of CSS GC I still feel you know one of our major kind of um you know mandates almost and responsibilities is to kind of deal with one that he has WG recommendations you know making sure that they're put into place monitoring them and then three making sure we're hearing the community's voice right because we hear over and over again that our our space is one of the spaces that you know really shares knowledge and brings in what the the community questions and concerns right even if they're not on right now they're listening to our recordings they're doing those things they're coming to us they're asking us about you know what we're discussing so so these standing kind of items is something that it's not as if we can just be like oh no we can't talk about them this month you know what I'm saying um because it wouldn't be kind of traditionally who we are you know and and and kind of like ingrained in in who cssj is so so I think kind of like having this Retreat and um you know talking about some of this would be would be very important so it would so we would have you know folks from Crest um de and then like you were saying I can invite any other Community member right that would want to take part right yes ail do you have any comments or I'm sorry I'm in agreement yeah cool all right so I guess um you want me to to to reach out to um the town manager and ask about us being able to um retain Bara love I'll just send him a copy of of your proposal Erica and then um you know ask him you know what would be the next steps because we want to um you know have this so what what's the time time span because I think it would be important for me to say to him well we want to have this around I don't know like February or you know or whatever because I think if we leave it open-ended then it might not happen too so I I think it's better for us to kind of give a frame a time frame that we want to work with you know I would absolutely feel that it's important to either do end January beginning of February um especially you know once we start seeing what the town budget is we may actually have even a goal around advocacy you know um so yeah um depending on people's schedules um obviously but um I don't think any later than the beginning of February okay I agree you all agree that's so yeah good all right um all right so then I'll I'll I'll reach out I'll copy you on it and then um we'll go from there and then we'll we'll report back great thank you again America yes thank you well thank all of you for all the work you guys have been doing it was easy to put it together I do have to drop all right okay I think go put the little one to sleep oh wait wait wait before you go though I do have a question um uh because I know we meet on the second Wednesdays of um the month however I'm going to be out of the country um January 1st and 8th so I wanted to ask whether would be doable first to meet on the 15th so the third just for January to meet on the 15th instead of the 8th um but obviously if you all you know are not available then we we'll just stick with the eth I would just miss it I can do it okay what about you abro I'm checking um I I think I can also do it on the 15th okay I am available on the 15th you're available yep okay I know we don't have Pat um leet or or Angelie um so what you all propose would just send them an email and ask them yeah I can I can follow up yeah can you follow up and just say that you know the four of us are available and it would just be for January and then we' go back to our our regular thing but was just wanted to ask so I will do that um everal thank you for joining us thank you have a good night you as well um we do have one additional public comment period ahead of us um if anyone would like to make public comment please raise your hand not seeing any hands oh I saw a hands hi it's uh Lauren Mills again can you hear me yes yes hi um yes I just had a few more uh comments that I want to share I wanted to um uh thank um philli from the Dei department for the newsletter it was very um good to see that and have the information um upcoming events and in one place so I appreciate that um I do want to say that it is kind of difficult to sometimes make public comment but I just feel like it's important at this time to share you know my thoughts and feelings so um I wanted to know if the crest budget um has it self-care um for its employees I wanted to know if that was a priority or something that I don't know if it's under trainings or but if if if there's actual um budget for self-care because there are so many um responders that you mentioned who have um lived experience and who might um need extra um care around doing the work that they're doing um I also because the Youth Empowerment has been such of a um mysterious um topic that I would really like to not see money be used for um rental space like for renting a space because there is you know a lot of space that PR programming can be done um such as the Jones such as um amher college and the banks and it might not be the ideal space but um for bipo um uh issues or um like a space for for particular B bipac issues but I think that the money should be used more toward programming than for for um a cost of the space so I just want to make sure that that was stated by a Community member and um also to just reiterate that I really would like to hear be be able to hear from other community members um who may have ideas or and hear their concerns so I really would hope that there would be some more opportunities to hear from other members of the community about these issues thank you thank you L and should I go there you are oh okay hi it's p back again I just want to thank all of you tonight lots of information I like the suggestion of retreat I guess what I wanted to suggest is that for your group to consider making an appointment with the T council president for your committee to present at one of the Town Council meetings you have AMS residents you know attend your meetings expressing their concerns I think you should take those concerns and the concerns that you guys have as well to the Town Council and demand what you think you need to move Equity forward in this town I think that's the strategy that cswg did um our coachers at the time make sure that they make time to present to the Town Council you guys will need to be on their face and let them know that a segment of our population in this town are really hurting I mean it's great that this forum allows some people to feel safe to speak out ultimately the decision makers meaning the elected officials you know need to make time for your committee is very very important that's why you know your committee is all about to monitor address and address equity in our town and the time council president need to make time for you guys that's all I want to say happy holidays thank you all for your time for all that you do good night thank you Miss Pat I this are there any things that we did not think of before 48 hours before the meeting all right it is 9:20 and I think we can adjourn or can we vote with thumbs yes okay um thank you everybody for all your time and attention tonight [Music] and we are adjourned at 9:21 happy holiday [Music]