##VIDEO ID:w60rvoSnjNY## that's hello good evening how are you I am phenomenal how are you I can't complain phenomenal is maybe something to strive for for me at this point but that's a wonderful word so ah it's my birthday month so I'm celebrating all month yes that makes sense's and I see hello how are you I am de Hur are you fabulous if I if I can ask before we go live this is a two-hour meeting right the agenda says 63 to 8:30 has that been the schedule that is just the time that is set up for it so it doesn't end until it ends okay um today have a heart stop at 8:30 because I have my little one by myself again okay all right and I am available until 8:00 pm so um well I wanted to say so if we go over um can um can you pass it to algra are you willing to take it yep as like the co-host or whatever yeah to be a co-host because obviously when you can't then I will okay that's not a problem um I'm trying to remember where it was on here to add you in now I see Miss Young has her hand raised yes so I I just want to remind everybody that um you are recording now um and you're live now so the to make um to ease the process of scheduling the meeting they were set up um pretty far in advance um as a recurring event and so the meetings are automatically recorded once you start to enter the space ah sounds fancy above my grade but that's also probably good for us to you know happen so P so can you can you um repeat that because it didn't that didn't used to be the case so what what is going on now so um to make the process of scheduling the meetings easier they are set up as a recurring Zoom invite so you and um I don't know what it looks like on from the recipient side but from the scheduler side we can schedule many months out because these events happen on the same you know third Wednesday of the or second Wednesday of the month at the same time so it eases the process of of scheduling and posting the meetings and um so that's what has happened and there are um other boards like with the um Human Rights Commission and with the disability access advisory uh commission I they're set up to automatically record so that there's no missed uh meeting uh you know you someone doesn't forget to hit the record buding and then you know you don't have any you don't have the meeting so they the moment you enter um and it it should appear on your as you're iner a notice that says this meeting is being recorded yeah no it does it's just that before when it when when that message came up it didn't automatically mean that the recording would begin because I remember always Jennifer saying hey everyone now that now I'm going to begin recording so this is a difference this is a change so well I I think if the if the notice came up it was recording but I think she um um did not automatically record all of her meetings okay well neither here nor there I just wanted to make sure I understood what was what was going on okay and also just to let you know algra I'm pretty sure that um you should be you are a host so I guess I'll go ahead and read the thing uh it is 6:35 this is a meeting of the community safety and social justice committee on September 11th 2024 pursuant to the chapter 20 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 by 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 was can you hear us yes can you hear me yes um and Deborah and everald have already spoken and I have heard them and have they heard everybody else yeah okay um so I'm just going to go over the agenda very quickly so we will have announcements and agenda review um member reports public comment um Deborah and I had talked about moving item number seven which is the standing items of cres and Dei Rob and Youth Empowerment updates up prior to the annual goal discussion and speaker series and membership discussion um because that was the part that everald was gonna help us with um and then upcoming agenda items and meeting schedule which I think will kind of touch base on with 4 through 6 public comments any other topics not reasonably anticipated and morning um so that is the agenda does anybody have any announcements um yes I do have some let me look here this is from a Community member basically saying that there's um some educational opportunities um and so one of them is the bridge ammer Family Resource Center which is the Family Resource Center on 101 University Drive um and there's some like calendar group uh some groups and events that are happening also with project a m and there's a website for them and then in September there's uh September 21st there's a wellness weekend yoga uh with them too so what I'll do is well I guess how can how how can we kind of put more information about this so people know about it is there a way to kind of do that so it's basically so family Bridge has homework help and the project am which is a family program out of Springfield has Wellness opportunities this is what this Community member wanted us to to share with with with the public did you have response to how to share that information yes the it can be uh posted publicly on the town website on the community calendar and um I believe anyone has can have access to that just go to the town of ammer um main web web page if you scroll down there'll be a calendar for uh um for open meetings or for board meetings and then there's a uh adjacent to that is a calendar for community events and there's a mechanism to type in and submit an event into that community calendar okay thank you that that's it for me did you have any announcements I do um there's there's another affordable housing project that has started with the zba um we had our first meeting last Thursday this is with wayfinders and um this is not home ownership um this one is um geared towards um rental and this property is um going to be at I'm trying to get that addressed correctly um Southeast Street and um rout n and part of it is the old school building um so it's it's before the committee um for approval um yes it will actually be some time before it's actually constructed but there's information available um on the website that will give people more information about the project um it actually the units look the building the design all looks very good and so I'm hoping that um we can spread the word that there's more affordable housing been built in Amhurst and again um this one is going to be um based on income as well to go off of that did receive an email from Valley Community Development today um and on o Wednesday October 2nd at 6:30 there will be a um webinar type thing about the ammer community homes um so they'll be talking about the timeline qualification guidelines and um the information about the housing development that will be going in for the home ownership in North hmer so that's through the commun Valley Community Development um and again that's Wednesday October second um did you have any announcements and then to member reports um yeah I just want to report that uh we do have two um applicants or candidates for um the CSS JC um and so we'll be meeting with them and we'll see how everything shakes out which is you know very good news since we need more members um but want to put it out to the community to still you know make sure to let people know that um we are still recruiting uh so if anyone is interested um for them to apply and that we still have one um position available for a young person um that we have slotted for a young person to be part of CSS JC so if anyone is out there within the school system um uh please you know Outreach to young people so that they can apply for this um great opportunity to serve and to um help the town um and especially those most vulnerable and marginalized in our communities thank you debah not seeing any other member reports we can turn to public comment um there are currently six attendees um so if you want to make a public comment please use the raise hand feature um we will not respond directly to your comment but we will listen and we will have another public comment period at the end if you would like to speak then instead I see cently six people in the audience I say that part yeah okay yeah all right good evening can people hear me yes um so basically um today marks the um onee anniversary of the uh Dr D shabaz passing and I'm wondering if the co-chair would do a moment of silence in her remembrance I'm not sure if I you know if it's appropriate for me to do that so I just wanted to mention that Dr sh was the co-chair for CSS JC and today was exactly one year that she transitioned thank you thank you Miss P I think that that's a nice way to honor her memory especially in a meeting that she was always such a big part of and a big part of the community solution putting forward um that brought this group to fruition um so if everyone would join me in a moment thinking about D e another public comment period at the end of the meeting um but not any just just want to chime in to and say my kind of words of um just awe and Remembrance for Dr D um I know that wherever she's at she's given us the energy and the power to continue to fight this fight that we fight for for those who are voiceless in this um Town um and I believe she is one of the people that gives me and others energy to continue to go on day after day given all the uh challenges that we face when we're dealing with social justice Equity inclusion diversity um and non-mar marginalization um and you know all her contributions will continue especially as we continue to fight for our recommendations right from cswg and then cssc for these recommendations to come into fruition I think that will be one of the best way and the most honored way to honor her memory is to make sure that all of those recommendations that csw G put into that that made that we would actually put them into effect as opposed to what's been happening which is delay delay delay so that being said you know Dr D wherever you are continue to give us that that that Warrior energy we appreciate it shall we to hearing some updates um and then get into the rest of the agenda updates from cres and de okay I guess I'll go first um in the packet I included the August 2024 um data this month Crest had 219 calls the most external call was from a previous engagement with 37 calls 43% other sources were Town departments at 29 which is 33% office Walkins at 11 133% and phone calls at 8 9% the calls were the following CAD types community outreach 21 which is 24% assist 7 assist citizen at 17 which is 20% Community engagement at 17 20% followup at 15 177% Administration administratives pardon at 6 7% assist business agency at 5 6% and assist APD at 1 1% the majority of our calls were on behalf of other at 53 which is 61% themselves 23 which is 26% and someone else at 11 and 13% 22 calls or 25% were either followup or will require future follow-ups of all calls zero were transport calls six which is 7% were mental health calls and there were no potentially unsafe calls responders had 185 recorded interactions with neighbors this month there have been 1, 239 total interactions this year responders distributed 219 resources during interactions this month and Crest collaborated with Town departments 29 times businesses seven times and social service agencies 15 times the demographics for Crest interactive most with multigender 14 multi-racial 38 and multi-aged 37 thank you um C for that report definitely appreciate it and I think it it makes a difference for us to get the report uh prior to the meeting and including it in the packet I think that's very helpful so thank you for taking the time um for putting it together um I wanted to ask in terms of this and then I have another question a after this um so with with the breakdown can you tell me which ones were like dispatch calls or were there any calls that were dispatch to um crest um off of this I cannot I don't have that other sheet um the dispatch calls as you will know we are working with dispatch on getting finalizing standard operating procedures that once they are set have to go through um the process to make sure that we have taking care of all information and also to make sure that dispatch um there's protocols so we are working with the dispatch to get all those done the other part of this is is that for each of the calls there needs to be a separate standard operating procedures and a lot of the calls have been based at 8 to 10 pages of information and we are trying to condense that to be as short and to the point as possible so that they easy easily accessed and easily to digest for people especially the new dispatchers so we are working closely for dispatch so do you know then when um these calls are going to be dispatched because again I mean that was one of the things that we've been wanting to have happen and um it's already two years that that Crest has been over two years that Crest has been in existence um and that was one of the main um recommendations that we had had so do you see any timeline um in terms of when this will be resolved these Sops and working with dis patch and so on so forth so that we can get this this ball rolling well I I understand your frustration because um this week makes five months that I've been here and while we have set up a lot of standard operating procedures for a baseline for Workforce just in our department within ourselves to work with other department takes time and it is very frustrating and I understand that the other part of this also is there is a new head of dispatch who has been eager to work with us and along with everything else that is what we're working on so what I'd like to say this will happen you know in a certain timeline I can't honestly but it is in the process um we have one of the 11 almost completed and it it it is a whole it is a lot more comprehensive excuse me comprehensive than even I had um understood in the beginning um I had believed we would be able to just write these up bang them out and they be done but there's a lot of nuance language that needs to go in there and a lot of clarity when it comes to legalities that I didn't know about um yeah so for me and I think you know uh you know I'll let everal kind of dig in more into the numbers or what have you because for me with some of this and my focus right still is to make sure that that Crest is an alternative to policing um and not um you know simply a Social Service Agency because that was never done 10 of Crest so from some of these numbers I'm not really sure you know you know if that is indeed happening and and because dis patch is not dispatching because obviously if if dis patch is dispatching that means calls are coming in that I supposed to go to to to policing and they're being dispatched right to Crest as an alternative to policing so since those things are not in place um then I'm not sure right I'm not sure whether Crest if some of these numbers really mean that you know Crest responders are back in the lunch Halls monitoring lunch you know which again was not my intent no supressed when I was on cswg that was never the intent right it's an alternative to policing so for me I guess I want to have more this report is good but I want to have more of the kind of like understanding right that some of these numbers actually mean that that they're responding to uh you know everything that is non-criminal um and nonviolent right um and one of the things that we wanted to make sure that it included noise complaints and all of those different things so I I I guess I want a little bit more kind of specificity in terms of what are they actually responding to so that it it it it it falls into those buckets or it doesn't have to be specifics but at least that is falling into those buckets so that I know that okay are they responding to noise complaints what are some of the issu actually responding to um yeah because for me that that's what that's that's where I see press going right so one of the things that is very clear is that noise complaints come under Mass General law okay so those are the things that um because we are in a uh the town gown and because of all the colleges when the police respond to noise complaints it is where it could be a party with five people or it could be a party with a 100 people so they always dispatch two Cruisers or two officers two noise complaints so that is one of the things that has been tried to work out and as far as when it comes to what is being dispatched because we cannot see dispatch because of HIPPA and Corey while the dispatch calls that are able to be seen you can see like a call type but it may start out as one thing and be something actually different so the Nuance part of the calls is the part that we need to be able to get access to to be able to sit down with dispatch and figure out exactly what calls we can go to so as it is now if a call comes in and an officer or dispatch realize it's a Crest call they will call us excuse me down um but until we get everything you know ironed out and that was one of the problems is that while things were set up there were everything wasn't clarified and that's one of the issues is that it's not um clear you know what calls that we can go to there are some that are easy and we can go to but some of the other ones like mental health there are people that are known in the the town that have different histories and the officers if they get a call and they know who the person is will call and have Crest go so um we have been working closely with APD and afd to finalize you know the Sops to make sure that we are going to calls yeah well I mean yeah I I think you know I know that we have other you know bigger agenda and I I want to get into it but um I mean these are some of the things that you know the next month we we I'm going to really get more into specifics on um because unfortunately I you know some of this information that you shared right now you shared already you know last month and the month beforehand um and I'm really looking for some of these answers um especially and and you know and throwing out Mass general laws and Hippa and and and some of these other laws don't really tell me much I I really want more specifics as to why here's the thing is this I can't the the problem is is okay again since coming in I would like to sit there and say these can be done in a week a month two months or whatnot but we are working with other departments so I cannot push another department to get something done I can only work collaboratively with that department to get things done and that's one of the things that I've been very um very good at is making sure that I have a good relationship with these departments so that we can get this work done um it is I'm not getting pushed back you know people are trying to get these things done but again you know it's other uh agencies are short staffed and have other things that are on their plates too so trying to work around and get together um is not always you know these are not the things that are top on other people's list as they are on Tops on my list so trying to get across to people that these are important and they do understand that and they've been really great in trying to help us get these things written properly and I think that's the big thing is to do this right these are the things that I don't think that were done necessarily correct to begin with with and now um working together they are getting done unfortunately they're just not getting done in a timeline that you or I would like to be seen done okay so so like I said I mean I'm definitely going to get more into it and then sorry a one last last question which is um how many uh responders do we have now last month you you reported that um Crest had lost four responders um yes so right now he still down to four yes so we are in the process now of developing the um training for the new responders and getting that out because as situations arise and things have changed to make sure that they're getting adequate training so unlike when you onboard someone in your department a regular department where you hire them get them on board and train them on the job these these are the type of things that need to be set up in advance so things like motivational interviewing working with the fire department working on trauma informed anti-racist there are a lot of moving parts that we're working on and that was something that I spent all day today on and we're trying to work on a calendar to get people um to get all these things in place so that when we do hire and we're in the final stages now of looking at resumés and setting up interviews for next month you know in a couple of weeks and that way when we have things in place it's not something where they have to wait where we can hit the ground running get them trained properly um and be the standout that we are yeah so I I don't know how many um um Crest responders you have right now in terms of diversity obviously that would be you know one of the main things making sure that they're diverse that they speak other languages they have lived experience and obviously all the other experiences in terms of deescalation anti-racism and and all those other things so you know obviously those will be some of the things that you know I know I'll be interested in knowing in terms of that the new hires that come in yes we are very much looking into that and to make sure that we have a diverse Workforce and to make sure that the lived experience the other thing is is that you know the way this was originally set up when I read the report was to have a clinician with lived experience so right now we just have the lived experience responders so those are the type of things that eventually would like that I would like to work on is to get a more a to get a rounded out with a clinician on board also besides myself as a clinician but to have clinicians with the responders thank you thank you hi Camille so yes um de asked most of the questions I actually wanted to ask myself um I didn't quite understand the categories and what rolled up into them but um I'll just ask one question about the category and then segue what is what is the assist APD at one okay um so I'm not sure which one that is but what I think that might have been is that that um APD was called for an individual and once they arrived realized that it was actually a Crest call so and they called us and we went okay so it would be the same as same as like an assist business or something so again if if they are called for an individual um and it it comes ACR this is part of the problem is is it all depends on how calls are received by Dispatch or how calls are received into Crest that how we respond so some of the things that we could be called about are not necessarily A Crest call we've had other departments call us um for help with someone who was uh physically injured it was a domestic violence incident and we were able to connect them with APD you know and be there as support for them so oh I love it um so that's the type of thing that we're working on is making sure that we have a really good relationship with the other departments so that they know that if they go to a call and realize you know what no this is not uh an APD call this is a Crest call call Crest and we'll go so that's part of the the handling of the standard oper operating procedures and getting everything really clear in writing for all of the Departments okay I I want to preface this question by saying I'm not asking you for people's personal information um but you you essentially lost half your Workforce can you tell us what happened um they moved on to different positions okay and um those positions um you're hiring for to to backfill those are fully funded positions as of the last budget yes so there's no budget issues okay and um so you know I I hear what you're saying coming in five months and from it seems if um you're in a situation where things are essentially starting from scratch and I think you can appreciate frustration um from this committee and I get that um there's a lot of lot being asked of you um do you have what you need to make this work um you know given the Mandate of Crest do you have I know that you have to work with other departments but do you have the support um I know when we met with Chief Ting even during his interview he he voiced publicly support for Crest and quite frankly the the biggest department that you're dealing with I I imagine working to make Crest what it should be is the police department um so you know do you have that collaboration and do you have what you need um to make this work I believe we do um I think and thank you for saying that because I really believe that with this change in the people and being able to hire new people that we can work collaboratively and that the vision that I have in aligns with the CSS JC so that will enable me to get people on board and get them trained and some of the other things is also coming from my firefighter background and as a clinician um there are other added trainings that I believe that need to be done along with working with Dei and the anti-racist lens that we've already started setting up some of these things as for chief Ting Chief Ting has been instrumental in getting the dispatch set up and the dispatch um Jason who is the temporary superintendent or something like that of dispatch has been phenomenal helping us with understanding how they out Sops work and how we can take the Sops for the police department and how they are dispatched and cify them so to make sure that everything is clear and everything is concise in a way that we can do our job and be protected so everything is and I it is a long process um but now what's happening is we're making a really firm base to go forward so when when when the public thinks about alternative to police and I'm going back to Deborah's earlier point you know one of the biggest indicators is going to be people are going to see that when these dispatch calls come in Cris is responding and now the police and that is the visual alternative to policing so you know when the transition committee was in fact before you came um we were led to believe that you guys were closer to this happening than what you're saying now because and I and I appreciate understand that you lost people but you didn't lose everyone so you know there there has to be some you know again and and you mentioned the noise complaint earlier under Mass J laws but noise complaint yes yes mgl but it's a local ordinance the the law allows local townships to respond to those so yes Chris can respond to noise complaints and again I'm I'm just trying to understand you know there's and and I hear you new coming in but there seems to be more delays and delays and delays and from everyone that's listening and reading or transcrip after meetings that is the frustration from the public and we're just really trying to understand like and and and we're not saying that everything should be up and running right away but it seems like we're going backwards rather than forwards so the only thing I can say is that the way things originally came about was that things were put into place before the base was was solid so in this case um standard operating procedures and directives and all the Nuance things that need to be very firm in place to work with other departments in this case dispatch and APD were not put into place there were I mean the the book that I was given had some of the like ideas of how things were but nothing was written and set in stone basically is the way I want to put it so that is the biggest problem is is that unless you have things set up and they've been checked through the union Etc then that makes a big difference the other part of it is is that again the way things come through to dispatch and the way they're written up is not necessarily the same so um and that's what I'm trying to work on is trying to get it so that we can make a very clear case and have everything set so that when a mental well-being check comes through that we know the circumstances of it and we know that this is something we're going to and that it is not something where um APD has dealt with before and it is not simply a mental health challenge do I I know that Lizette has a question and I'll ask this um one question um so I'm not asking you to commit to a timeline but you've been meeting with these other departments and we're now in September 20124 past two years in the Mak what is a reasonable um and we're I'm not adding your new hires and training but is there a reasonable expectation of when the dispatch piece of this will be you know complet operational yeah honestly I couldn't tell you this month but I would hope to be able to tell you and give you more information next month um depending on how many of the Sops that we get finished so as we because once we get them finished they have to be approved and then they have to go through um the rest of the processes so these are all things that when I came in that I did not know about you know so this is why like I said I understand your frustration and yes it's been two years but I haven't been here for two years I've been here for five months so in five months I have really made sure that things were moving along and I know that during the interm um they were trying to get can you give me one of that too can you byy stop w i so you um last question sorry ex that so you mentioned unions but one of the things we understood was that all those parts that were complicated things were ironed out you know the legalities were ironed out everything was settled it was now simple a matter of implementation so just want to make sure that you're not saying that you know with this PS that those things still have to be ironed out as well I I I we they do have to be ironed out that's I I don't know what you were led to believe before but those those do need to be ironed out it is not just a simple process of writing up um a document of how things are going to go and what's going to go and happen when it really is um something that has to be fully flushed out about who's going where what the circumstances are how it's going to be dealt with of say like a warm handoff who's responsible for what and and the outcome and who else is involved so um there's a lot more to it that I didn't know about I when we worked with the GPL um the government performance lab to start creating a lot of these documents um we went about them as that they were going to be something simple and they'd be easy to just write out but upon further reflection finding out that there's a lot more information that needs to go into these documents than was previously believed okay thank you I think Liz has her hand up for a while also we go to P by he um can you hear me yes okay so I'm sorry but I'm going to keep my camera off because I have a really bad signus infection um but I'm happy to see Miss Pamela young here today um and I will I have four questions um Camille and hello um what is an administrative call okay so an administrative call would be something like having to go over to pick up mail for the department or um having to do ins Services uh some of the like uh trainings that we do so those are put down as administrative okay um and then you also said that they distributed resource say what type of resources so some of the resources that we will hand out are we have our um the cards we have a resource guide the other thing is some of the things we have are called our Crest cares so when we get calls about an unhoused person or family that we have some items that are available for them uh other things we do is during events and tabling um we were given some T-shirts from another department we have T-shirts um and uh I'm trying to think some of the other things it's just it is more along the lines of like making sure that folks know about other um Avenues they have like the Bridge Department like the ammer survival center um making sure that people know that there are other options out there um we also deal with like domestic violence um information uh substance abuse um misuse housing you know things that that are in the gray area that we're able to provide and give people a sense of hope okay thank you um and a question in regards to the four responders that you lost were these new responders or were they seasoned responders uh new responders mostly okay and uh they left within how far apart I'm not sure um been over the last five months so within the last five months they scattered okay so it's not like two left in the same three weeks um we had a person that went on to one that moved into another department in the town um one went to ad iers um and two others went on to other jobs thank you Pamela do you want go ahead um thank you I just thought a little bit of context might be helpful um if you think in terms of the leadership of the crest Department um during the inaugural director's uh term at the helm there was no Union agreement reached between the town and the police department um and there were um uh uh there were very few or just the beginnings of the SOP so the structure that uh Camille um started are um are mentioned during the interterm leadership um T time the town manager and the HR Director um cleared the union aspect of like uh the police department's Union contract was finalized and um and that was done separate and apart like like it the that was done through the HR process right press wasn't necessarily involved in that collective bargaining piece and the interim leadership team started some of the uh sop process but um as we had stated during the during that time period We felt like many of these decisions needed to be decisions that were going to be made and handled by the permanent director so they were I mean we were um basically trying to hold the step the ship steady until somebody knew was at at the hel and I just think that that context is really import important um as you uh discuss these issues thank you Pamela um so for me Camille I just wanted to go back to what LTE asked in terms of the um Crest responders who left from what I know um at least two of the responders well at least one out of the two that I know of was was one of the originals you know and two of the responders were people of color one of them you know spoke a different language I mean seasoned responders so the you know you I mean I I won't even say you I I'll say Crest lost at least two that I know I don't know about the other two but lost really good people so that that that's my other fear right when you say that was kind of like well you know that kind of like you know just gets me a little bit anxious because I'm like I know those two people that left and that was not good you know what I'm saying in terms of foress because these were people who had been there from you know the beginning or almost the beginning and like I said you know two people who are byac one that at least that that spoke a different language and key key to Crest key so so you know it's not going to be easy to find you know other people with that type of experience and that type of lived experience and and everything else so so you know like I said I was going to wait until next month but when kind of you respond and that way it it gets me a little bit you know just you know concerned there so one of the things is is that over the last two years of Crest from what I've looked at um they went through many people that have left okay um there have been uh four implementation managers um there have been uh of the original people the three people left before that so change is in inevitable and I rather than look looking on the darker side of things choose to see the brighter side and see that you know the people that left left for their own reasons and I wish them well um actually one of the responders comes back and talks to us um they are they are going where they believe they needed to go and um I can't fault them so with that you know I believe that in this case change can be wonderful and that is how I'm going to treat it I'm not going to look back and think that this is a bad thing I'm looking at it as Forward Thinking collaborative getting new people on board and having people that understand what how we want to move forward um and working with new information and thank you Pamela because I some of the stuff I didn't know that a lot of the things that weren't in place uh actually got in place within the last year so that meant that there was a whole year that a lot of things were not in place so I believe that while things are slow um that we are moving in a positive direction and as I've said before I've asked people for the space and the grace to allow this to evolve and change takes time and though it is slow it is moving forward yeah I mean I I get that but I want to make sure that how it's moving though it's moving to towards the way in terms of how cswg envisioned it and how and and what Crest is supposed to be about I get concerned if it's moving forward in a different direction um and that concerns me because like I said you know those the at least the two that that that I I'm thinking about was seasoned they they were very good at their job they were you know excellent so for them moving on I mean I'm all about you know positivity and thinking about you know everything is going to be wonderful wonderful but we also have to deal with reality and you keep telling me that you know like the way that that I'm hearing it is basically Things Are Back The Ground Zero you know so it continues to be a start and stop with Crest right um start and stop start and stop and us as a community we we don't know what's going on because still to this day we don't know why the first director left because no one ever told us what happened what didn't happen so there you go you know so there's that delay again then then term a group came in and it was again a whole new thing and now we have to study the ship and so on so forth delay now you come in and you're new I get it give you Grace so on so forth but and and and you know we're thinking okay it's going to grow from here but now we're back to four responders so th for me as a community member as someone you know at and I'm sorry that you are the one that's going to get this frustration it is frustration right that this patch is not in place that now we're back to four uh Community responders we don't really understand what any of these kind of like you know what does community outreach mean what does this a citizen mean we don't know these things right we need more information you're telling me that noise complaint is is nowhere to be found yet in terms of it being um uh something that Crest is going to respond to so so you know so these are the things that really like when you see it moving forward I'm just like okay where are you moving towards because I don't know if you're moving towards the same place that you know cswg intended Crest to go and also cssc wants Crest to go and I think that's a a wonderful um idea and that's what's happening it just and and I understand when you said it is going back to base and honestly that's how I feel like it is it is a Baseline and you cannot build off of something unless you have a good base and that is one of the things that I am very um excited about is to have a firm base and to make sure that things are moving forward from this base so that it doesn't have to happen that you know if a responder decides to leave that we have to start all over again so having the these systems in place makes it easier so having a very good solid training schedule and yearly training for the responders and having that all in place makes it easier so that people know okay that yearly people have to have CPR yearly people have to have a refresher on motivational ear um interviewing yearly people have to go through um trauma informed training so those are the type of things that I want to get set so that we don't have to worry about things being scattered and all over the place the interm team put some of those things ready to be in place and had the ideas with the intention that they were waiting for the permanent director in this case me to come in and really take off with that and I appreciate the work that the interm um team did in getting the um Union all set so that it made it easier that when I came in okay here's the union when I wrote the uniform policy once that was written up it was um I did it in collaboration with the responders to make sure I had buyin which is always important and then after that it went to HR it went to the town manager and I also sent it to the union rep rep so that everyone would understand that everything is in place and there is a good base so yes and and I do understand like I said I understand the frustration of the town and our bipac community but in order to make things go smoothly sometimes we have to step back and get our base set and does anyone else have questions if not we'll move on to Dei thank you thank you Camu so um as I stated last month there's not going to be much to report on the Dei side um philli is in week five of his position um on September 2nd or 3rd we welcomed our Amir Corp member member Molina to the department and she's spending uh two days with Dei and two days with Crest um so things are still pretty much in the planning stages for Dei um the department is participating in the UMass off-campus resource fairs that are occurring um tonight next Wednesday and the following Tuesday um the department will be participating in the block party um in town and there will be space for members from this committee and the um Human Rights Commission and disability access advisory commission to join us at that as we're tabling at that event uh there will be a staff Workshop um on the 20th of the month and the on the 26th the uh department will be working with our Beloved Community um group um and the noticed about that event should be posted on the town's website um tomorrow uh the topic for the Beloved Community event will be uh addressing some issues around America's racial history uh I know that you're um interested to learn what if anything has um occurred with the resident oversight board there's been no movement since last month um the town manager has been on vacation for three weeks and he is still scheduled to meet with the preferred consultant um I know that there have been some emails um I think actually on Monday of this week between the town manager's office and the consultant trying to finalize a date for them to meet but um nothing there hasn't been any additional movement on that issue um and so I believe that is it for the Dei so um thank you Pamela appreciate it and appreciate you and off uh um philli attending our meetings because like I said last month I think it would be critical for Di to continue to be uh a part of our meetings and letting us know what is happening um especially since again that was uh why cswg um recommended thei um creation and really foresaw di working closely with C cssc to make sure that these recommendations will come to fruition so I have a few questions one I'll just start with the block party um like we did last year I think some of us are very interested in tabling with you all so I think the thing would be because I know I would need to get it on my schedule sooner rather than later to kind of send some time slots um like was done last year so that then we can know who would be you know tabling at what time um but like I said you know the sooner you can send that out to us um the better um and then in terms of the resident oversight board I do have cuz you know we included in the packet the questions that algra and I sent to uh Paul baman and in terms of the resident oversight he said after the first request for proposals failed that the town revised and reissued the RFP this proed to be successful we are nearing completion on negotiating a contract a develop resident oversight board policies and procedures and provide training to town staff and Resident oversight board members I anticipate this contract will be signed in the very near future um again that's all well and good but it doesn't really give us a timeline it doesn't give us a deadline it doesn't tell us when this is happening um you know like you said he's on vacation now you know nearing possibly meeting uh but you know for me and and we will be responding to the town manager it's going to be okay what's the timetable on this because this was already supposed to have happened um and you know and it was the whole process of hiring that other consultant blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and yet we're still in the same place um you know 3 years plus after making the recommendation for the resident oversite board so but I guess you you don't have anything else to to add to that so I'm just going to continue to say that sorry but I didn't understand was there that sounded like a St no but yeah it's more so a statement because like I said it doesn't seem like there's anything else that you can add to that and then my question though because a lot of our questions to Town manager which was in the packet um was around the Youth Empowerment um Center which we're very concerned about uh because we we I'm I'm flabbergasted right now befuddled um confused in terms of who handles what what has been you know because again Pamela I think you you I think you want to kind of appreciate why I'm confused because didn't your office at for a long period of time even with the uh what was the name of the the the the person there that you all kind of work with that comes in and helps you all for like I don't know 20 hours or something what where where's where's that person from remember there was one that had come to help you all out you and Jennifer they're the only person who has worked in our office has been um an americore member yeah the Amer from the very beginning um of that member's so this is our second year hosting an americore member and sharing that position with uh the crest Department yeah so um the americore program has a focus of working on Youth Empowerment and so it has always been that that the person who held that position would be involved in those issues but from um over a year now the Dei department has not been tasked with uh the oversight of the Youth Empowerment Center we offered um to conduct some Youth Empowerment programming but we're not in charge of um of working to on the Youth Empowerment Center and then I've stated that repeatedly for many many many months at this point well but but again you you keep on saying many many many months but the the point of the matter is is that it's been very confusing information because like you said right you well it was Jennifer and the Mary Corp member were doing surveys which I don't even know what happened with that for youth programming which never nothing materialized because remember then you were switched into into doing Crest Crest and then everything kind of stopped so kind of saying that you've been telling us for the past year that that you have your Di has nothing to do with youth and empowerment and youth programming really it doesn't really make any sense to me because your office was finish let me finish let me finish can I finish can I finish please so that so so basically um you know the programming was coming out of your office or at least there was an attempt for youth programming to happen and then we even discussed with you at different points like I remember talking about hey what about this place or that place for Youth Empowerment centers possible locations for Youth Empowerment and so at that point you never said and maybe the town manager hadn't made a a so even the town manager saying oh no it was the finance department the rec department that always entrusted with the Youth Empowerment Center that was not made clear to us I just want to say that publicly right now so that doesn't look like we've been in like some fictional Planet not knowing what was happening because the thing is is that that information was not shared with us okay so when you keep saying that you've been telling this us that for the past year I I I say no that is not correct so I actually I'm GNA have to um to disagree with you but on on what I've been saying but let me be very very clear or at least as clear as I can be at this point um and as you just alluded to the change in assignment from being the sole director of the Dei Department to having both responsibilities for Dei and Crest did result in a number of things um falling off the plate um we only had our americore member last year for half a year we didn't have the person for the full year and so while that person did work with Jennifer on trying to do a survey um of uh of the youth in town to sort of uh identify youth needs um self-identified youth needs that request actually came as a request from this committee who felt like it was important for the used to be involved in directing the programming and this committee was involved in looking at the survey um was aware that the survey had gone out asked for the survey to be modified so that it included questions that the committee um felt were important to include and so work did begin on and that but um unfortunately it did not lead to any additional programming or or come to fruition but I so I think the the the points of clarity I'd like to to make are that um from from the very beginning the Dei department has stated or I should State now just to be clear so the Dei department is not tasked with um uh establishing the Youth Empowerment Center the DD Dei Department with Crest is sharing an americore member the americore program requires that the Amir cor member work on Youth Empowerment and once again this year it is our hope that the americor member will work with Dei and Crest to establish and conduct Youth Empowerment programming um that's what we are committing to um having some programming workshops opportunities uh around youth uh Youth Empowerment and in addition to that both um Camille as the crest director and Philip as the assistant Dei director are involved in the planning that's occurring outside of the department so you know um language gets uh misquoted or misunderstood or um or are utilized uh differently so I made the mistake of saying that there was a town task force it's not a taskforce working group I don't know what term you want to use or the the town manager wants to use but there are a group of town staff members who are working on the establishment of the process for the Youth Empowerment Center but it is not it is not the sole responsibility of the Dei department and um both Crest and the Dei Department have staff who are part of that group that has no name or you know I it has a formally that I know of H have a um yeah so that's clear well okay so now just to make sure I got it right so so Di has nothing to do with the Youth Empowerment Center but yet di is still going to do Youth Empowerment programming because of americore is that it because without americore you wouldn't do Youth Empowerment no so I I think that's um that's not quite how I would characterize it because in year in in year one of my appointment to this position um and discussions with this committee um the report of the community uh um safety working group were discussed where there were specific types of Youth Empowerment programming were discussed in the report that this committee hoped would come to fruition I think ideally in a in a Youth Empowerment Center but the commitment was made by this department that you know I can't stand up a Youth Empowerment Center I don't have the funds but some of that programming could could be offered from the Dei department and that was stated in year one it was re reiterated last year but that did not occur for a number of reasons one the assignment as you alluded to to the crest interm leadership team to the fact that we only had an amacore member for part of the year um and we were just simply um unsuccessful in getting things done I I don't see there being any inconsistency in the establishment of a Youth Empowerment Center by the town and with Dei making a commitment to offer some of the of to to offer some programs or to to lean into that into that space I think that's an natural um place for this department to be involved in and so we're have restated our commitment to do so well yeah I I get it now that you're saying all of that but like I said I I it was me it was just kind of frustrating me when you would just say I've been saying this for over a year but now at least you you're hearing yourself right and you're clarifying that it was very confusing right the fact that you know one we didn't know where the Youth Empowerment Center actually sat and finally we understand I guess from the the qu the answers that the to manager said that it's with the W and and the finance department but yet you still do and with your Clarity you still have do have a piece of the Youth Empowerment programming right so again it's not totally out of your baileywick so I just want to make sure that we fully understand and are clear in terms of what you are going to be dealing with because obviously the Amore member is going to be helping so that we can assist with that and make sure that it it gets done in a way that's obviously very helpful to to to all communities but especially bipar communities their marginalized communities so I just wanted to kind of make that clear so and then moving on from that right is the the answers that that the town manager stated because like you said I mean yeah you know there was words thrown about possible task force possible committee that there's a DI representative and Crest representative on this possible group right I'll just say group at this point because the town manager is really not being transparent that's a word that we usually say right when we talk about town business and town information non-transparency right because even in this question and answer that that he sent back to us there's a lot of non-transparency right it's Youth Empowerment Center including Rec Finance di Crest Etc is working on this so this a morphous situation so it really doesn't tell us nothing as as maner exactly I'm not I'm not saying to you I'm talking about the town manager right now because I'm talking about his his response I know you don't have because you've told us this ad that you don't have any information regards to that fine so let me kind of make the statement in regards to it so basically you know we will be getting back to the town manager you know aler and I and and asking more questions because again lack of transparency because it still doesn't give us any information and and him not saying who this group is what this group is doing donu Institute what they're doing where's the funding going because I'm sure Don Institute is getting paid so if it's not from the 500 ,000 where is the money coming from I want to know that you know so again he did not provide any of that information I don't think you have that information so I won't even pose it to you so anyway so those are some of the things that are worrying me because it seems as if things are happening behind the scenes and SS csjc have not been shared any of that information one of the nice things that could have happened could have been the town manager could have actually let the Cs SJC know that one there was you know Don and Hugh Institute was hired to do God knows what I guess a feasibility study um that you know there was the a group a group I won't use task force I won't use committee I'll say a group that was put together to discuss the the Youth Empowerment committee possibly it would have been nice if actually he had asked if one of us csjc members had wanted to be part of that group right but no that wasn't that didn't happen so anyway so I'm just saying these things so that the public understands the status of the situation right because we will be going back and asking more questions um I am thankful that he answered some a little bit of it but there's still a lot more questions to be asked because this Youth Empowerment Center is something that would be key to our community our youth need a center I get Communications from the community like almost every day saying why isn't the Youth Empowerment Center yet in place after three years plus of the recommendation from cswg why don't our youth right and it's and we're this Youth Empowerment Center is for all youth but obviously youth bipar Le it should be youth bipar Le which was what was in our cswg um recommendations and it should focus on culture it should focus on providing a space for all our youth and our youth need it because our youth are continually being targeted out there and not having the resources to be successful right and they're stereotyped they're all of that and so we need this space so we're not going to stop in terms of monitoring and asking more and more questions and demanding transparency we want transparency what is going on if I didn't use the right word and I'm not talking to you Pam I'm I'm just saying again I like I said I'm making a comment General we want transparency and if I didn't use the right word in terms of group I don't care I just want to know what these meetings are about why is there a mystery why can't we know why can't the community know really makes zero sense to me so anyway I'll leave it at that more to come because obviously um there'll be more another round of of questions going um his way so i' I'd like to um have an opportunity to respond to that uh comment because uh I think it's important for the community to know that those questions which you're asking are important to to be asked um but posing them um during The Question session for me seems um misdirected because I don't have a response to them and um so the posing them to the town manager as you did um I think is the more appropriate place for the comments okay all right thank you so if I if I may ask one question on the Youth Empowerment Center um because I I read um one of Paul's responses to the questions and it was actually very tent because it said ultimately it will be up to the Town Council to determine if the town moves forward on a Youth Empowerment Center is there no commitment to build the Youth Empowerment Center so I don't again know that I can respond to to the town manager's uh answers because they I mean he did not discuss them with me he received the questions from this committee and then crafted his own um um answers to it I think that's a question that has to be directed to to him thank you any other questions before we move on I just want to do a time check that is 7:50 so I know that gives Camille about 10 minutes and everald about 40 minutes so I just wanted to throw that out the so I there there is just one last thing um that I wanted to say in in um in response to lett's uh comment about my appearance at the this meeting which is to just reiterate that the intention for the Dei department is that the director myself and the assistant director Philip will alternate our attendance so one of us will be here but I will not be here at every at every meeting and with that I will bid you all Ado thank you Pamela eil did you want to lead us through some of the more strategic planning stuff so thank you um so I know we have a standing agenda um that we deal with and I I I was wondering if given where we are with our standing agenda where things seem to just be essentially getting kicked down the road for the most part um are there any goals that as a committee we can take on that have measurable results that we can deliver um set annual goals that we can manage the end of the year to say you know this was a goal that we set that we did this maybe things that um we as committee can control and um I I just don't want when the public you know those in attendance and those who watch when they can just see us just having things and like no measurable results because again um I I am very concerned as you know with Crest um Youth Empowerment Center um resent oversight board and and those are not things that is under Direct Control and so were there it was meant to be a conversation is are there things that we as a committee can do or things that we can take on that we can do measurable results on and one of the things I um I was thinking about was um Miss Pat has consistently brought up arer funds um and I don't think we ever took that on to say um let's look into this and so um maybe things like that that members bring to the committee to say you know here are things that we have concern about and is this something that the community can look into and maybe even though wom may not get um say satisfaction for everyone but at Le we can present to the community that says you presented you Brothers to the board we did due diligence spoke to um Town different people and this is what we found and you know maybe that kind of measurable results or recommendations that we can do and and in terms of the speaker series to I think it I think it goes um into that that part of it as W all right you can you can check in with her it's fine you can check in with her she's loud we have all been there so we and and as and as part of that too it's um segue into you know thinking about a speaker series and um I know we've tried to have Paul come to this committee um it's you know things like that is try to get different people that impacts Our community's Lives to come and talk about decisions that they make and what considered you know how the bipot community as a whole was factored into making those decisions um I I know sitting of the zba I actually want to invite um people from um valy CDC and um now with um wayfinders to come talk about how can the community qualify um for these low income housing so things like that we had chief tting um a month and a half ago um I I thought his presence here was good um hopefully that was not his last presence um and maybe um we can you know people like that that impacts your community we can invite and have them come and talk about decision they make and how they impact our community and how they factor in the bipac community before they make those kind of decisions so those are thoughts I had um about those two categories so um um eal can you also because I think what would be helpful and then I do have some thoughts about some of these things that you you um brought up but also could you finish like the last one in terms of membership what you were thinking about in terms of us discussing so ye yes um I think we lost um and forgive me if I forgot her name um it's Isabella Isabella and so I've been asking around um people join so um I I I don't know how we do recruitment for these committees um so is there something formal is there a process um because um our and I know you mentioned um earlier that there is um potentially two people um that is available um is that that oh we just lost him went away dropped away yeah I know so um hopefully he'll be back but I guess he he spoke about the speaker series and the goals um that we can talk to him about uh let's give him a minute see if he comes back since he's the one kind of steering this ship right now this portion of the meeting I guess I don't this is a question for Camille I don't know if you would have the answer to this but in term I know that like the town will post things on their website saying these are all the open things that we have all the open boards and committees and then this is this the form you fill out but I'm wondering if for something more Target oh hi everyone's back okay apologies someone called and kick me out yeah um so I was just saying in terms of recruitment I know that the town has their little website with their little list of things with the community activity form attached but thinking about at least for our committee with one seat specifically aside for a youth member is that something where the town would consider like reaching out to the superintendent and saying hey can you put this in the superintendent's newsletter or something like that which is at least would conceivably go to every family in the district who signs up with their email to receive Communications from the school district so that it's targeting you know the P you know parents or maybe students that could then say oh this looks like a good activity for somebody to do and I know when I was at the high school in the guidance office we had like a list of volunteer activities and and like Community jobs so I don't know if that's a place that even still exists because it was like binders I don't know if they have like binders of paper anymore in high school but um or if everything is like electronic at this point but that was another you know I got my first job in high school by going through that binder so I don't know if if that's something that still exists if if the town would be willing to consider doing something like Outreach to the schools for the for this specific one member spot on our particular committee because I do think that getting the word to the youth is hard if you're not actually talking to any youth about it I algra I think that's a wonderful idea is actually to you know um talk to the schools um and one of the things is that when we have tabled we have spoken to youth about um who've been interested about joining the CSS JC so I I think that's a Wonder ful idea and that um I could be one to to reach out if that's something that you'd like I think that would be great okay but everal I know that um you know you were you got kicked out from the remote world so I I don't know what else you wanted to add in terms of that membership kind of portion so yeah I I I do know um I I have a high school senior in mind um that I just haven't run into him recently that I wanted to ask about um he is very socially active um I I I don't know if he has the bandwidth given all that he does um but I do want I I had so before I reached out to him I wanted to know that if I could actually find somebody if I found somebody would he be acceptable um so but I still think um Camille that you should still reach out and have something to go to the schools but I will still um ask this person as well just in case he's interested yeah yeah I think I think you know whoever we have that would be interested but like you said I think you know we all know a lot of young people that would be exceptional and great but they are also over involved or involved in a gazillion things so the thing is is that we need someone that obviously has that kind of Interest passion for the for for the work right but also has the time and can commit to it right because we want someone that's going to have a voice because we need to hear from young people we want young people's ideas we want them fully a part of this group right um and so that's you know that would be the thing right when we're doing that recruitment is to kind of talk to young people to be like okay this is this is what this would look like this is you know what the expectations would be too it's not just to like for me it's not just about just filling a you know just have a youth on there that's really not going to participate you know or be engaged or anything like that just to say we have a youth on a committee that's not the point the point is to have someone that's going to be engaged fully part of it committed is going to speak you know and obviously I understand that it could be a little bit too daunting right to be the the the the youngest in the room and be able to speak but that's where we would be helpful we could Mentor we would be willing to help and things like that and coach and assist and all of those things you know but it would still need to be someone that has that time commitment and be able to kind of be engaged um with us yeah and and that's a very good point and Camille um when when you reach out to town manager um if it's a matter of you know if the school said you know can someone come in and talk to potential students who may be interested um I'm happy to do it um if if that's necessary to do so if that's so you can put that out there as well that somebody is want to come in and talk students about this as well yeah okay well I know that there's also the uh process of interviews Etc so for it um for the members okay thank you um and have a good month folks I'll see you again next month bye thank you bye-bye uh so I think that talk to people we know also like a really good way to get people hopefully that would be invested and involved so I think that's great that you have somebody in mind um W out some more details about our next coming months in terms of like what we might want to have it as people come like invite people I can't well well let me let me I guess I wanted to if we're just going to go into I guess I wanted to talk about you know some of the things that you post right so you know you so we talked about goals we talked about the speaker series and then obviously talking about a membership but also I think you had put there you know structure of the meeting length of time you know different things that we'd also need to kind of get into but and that's more kind of internal to us which I think would be important and I think how we might be able to do this because we do have a standing agenda which I think the community is interested in and we are interested in right Crest Di Youth Empowerment things like that that we need to continue to to to to to talk about I mean I don't I don't know if that's kind of avoidable you know what I'm saying for us because those are things that you know the community is following and they're asking us questions because I know I get questions about those things all the time and so if we're not discussing them then you know but the thing is in terms of like goals and measurable results I mean obviously um everal the easy one is yeah we have we have Crest we have Di we have Youth Empowerment we have uh resident oversight board right those four that are key ones right but but there's a ton of other recommendations that we haven't even touched upon like the Multicultural Center would be another key one and then some of the other ones that that was stated in you know part one some of part one and then part two right um so so in terms of goals and like you said some of it is not within our our kind of purview because it's tied into town managers tied into town councils tied into other Town departments but we still have to have them on even if it is like okay did we meet some of these recommendations you know this year you know probably not but how far did we get in each of them you know what I'm saying maybe that's how we we kind of you know and maybe we need to create some type of graph or whatever that kind of lists all these recommendations right from the cswg and then kind of maps out you know you know year one year two year three what have we done you know hopefully to say we attained because at the end of cswg we were able to say wow we got the funding for Crest boom Crest is created wow we got Dei created boom and the funding is there wow we got um you know CSS JC the standing committee created boom you know what I'm saying wow we got money for the Youth Empowerment because that $500,000 was put in place right after our recommendation so we had a lot of like okay measurable boom boom boom but since then right making sure that these departments you know stay the course and are are following their mission and have the funding and have the Staffing and have now that's been you know obviously more complicated and then resident oversight board and Multicultural Center Youth Empowerment Center none of that has has has gone into creation right so okay so then there's that and then you talk about okay there's arpa funds but there's a gazillion other goals right we talked about this year the school committee and the budget situation which was a mess that was a mess I mean people don't even know that after all of those meetings that that we went through they were still budget cuts they still let go of positions the the the restorative justice position at the high school that was gotten rid of and the one at the middle school you know after all of the work that was done showing up at the school committee all of those things so there's a huge need there because at the end of the day it's the bipo um you know young people marginalized young people that are suffering with through these budget cuts because I'm telling you the more affluent families they able to get family I mean they were able to get tutors they able to get language tutors they able to get this and that and the third right to supplement whatever is being lost to their kids right but or you know therapists or this or that the other now it's the other uh our our community that is is getting lost right because of these budget cuts in the schools that now they don't have these services in the schools that they would have had right so it's just like it that that's not acceptable so we have the school committee we have like you know other goals that we I'm sure we can so my thing is how do we structure it right how are we going to you know and then the speaker series too um you know so I I think we need to do a little bit more of that strategic kind of because how long do we want to meet for right if we're going to do a speak speaker because right now how we've done the speaker series is like organic right we have an issue we invite someone come in like we've had Barbara love come in we've had you know different people come in when we had an issue right to to discuss about things but it's not as if you know we we we're like okay every month we're going to have someone come in and talk for 10 minutes to talk for 15 minutes you know I mean we can but then we got to bump this and we got to do you know what I'm saying so those are some of the things that yeah so the speaker series was not meant to it wasn't meant to bump anything to your point it's if we have an issue if we can identify someone who's at the helm of this issue that's who we want to hear from um but yeah I mean we we'll just keep talking algra and Le it's just I mean I think those are some of the things that we need to think about right is and and I and I like what eval is saying right we can have a little bit more structure to our meeting so that then we can see okay can we get to this can we get to that can we get to the third um so as so that then we can kind of like um track it right throughout the year to then say okay we were able to accomplish this or we weren't able to accomplish this and why because that could give us some clarity too right as to why we weren't able to accomplish it because then it'll show that okay there's certain gaps and things like that so um I'm off of that you know what I'm saying um but my thing is is that we need to we we need to create that type of organization knowing that though we we still have you know all these pressing issues that for us um you know again it I want to kind of be clear that with cswg when when you know as the orig original member of cswg the only one now on on cssj is to kind of bring that back to when we made our recommendations um the town thought that what was going to happen as usual as what recommend what usually happens to recommendation which is those recommendations were going to be put on a shelf somewhere collecting dust and they were going to be forgotten right that was really Dent of these recommendations what for them to be forgotten but for us with cswg we had hindsight and we were like no that was not going to happen and me when I even interviewed for cswg that's what I said I was like I'm not going to waste my time on a committee that's de or group right it was a working group on a group that is going to make recommendations that's going to then collect dust right and so that's why we created csjc right as a standing committee to one one of the main charges CSS JC is to is to make sure that all of the recommendations within on cswg would come to fruition and then two monitor those recommendations and then three obviously deal with any other live issue uh pressing matter that comes up right that deals with safety social justice equity inclus so those are the kind of like the three kind of buckets you know that that us as CSS GC you know deal with you know need to deal with and so how we go about doing it is obviously something that everal is bringing up which is great you know we do it more structured and find more time and things like that or or or be more effective with our time or whatever I I don't know but I'm just saying those are the three buckets and and we shouldn't one thing I'm wondering about in terms because I obviously think like the Cresent updates are really important but they also almost always take up at least like an hour and a half of our time and then we're left with seven other agenda items that we never fully complete um I do like the format of what Camille sent out today but I think there are a few things that we might like to see as like ongoing additions to that so I'm wondering if maybe sending if people had like things that they would like to see added to her little template and maybe we can send that to her and say this is great and it you know we can put it up on the screen but we don't also like we can hope if we get it beforehand we can all read through it beforehand obviously putting it in the public packet is important and having it up there for people but I think if we're not going over item by item something but we come informed enough with questions about what we're seeing maybe we can try and Whittle that time that we SP spend on those issues down a little bit though it is also really important and especially when there has been so much transition to see that because I do feel like a lot of the times we're just having the same conversation over and over and over again and not much has changed um and I think that puts people in maybe a defensive Place sometimes so yeah and and I'm not suggesting that we get rid of any of those um but maybe alternate um the issues for different meetings and that that summary that was given to us for Crest I think like us the public are going to have more questions than answers um because it didn't tell us anything quite frankly because I didn't understand what they meant so um maybe for our agenda we accept those but we ask her for like a full more detailed so we can read as what rolls up into this and quite frankly um maybe the whole thing doesn't make it way to the agenda but at least the public can see it um somewhere on our site but again that didn't really tell us much of anything as to what happened with that I think it would be important though for it to make it into the agenda CU I think it's important for the public to know what's going on you know what I'm saying like how it's breaking down but like you said like what you provided though needs so much more clarity and also telling us that there's 219 calls well what does that compare to for you know July and June and everything you know what I'm saying so just saying August 2024 so I think you know what what Al were saying um and you're saying also kind of all combines which is we need to give her some kind of um direction right this is what we're look for right this is what we want on a monthly basis give it to us you know a few days beforehand so that we can understand it as a a a committee and also can be uh you know put into the packet because this was something that we talked about last month and that's why she included it in the packet and that's why it was just kind of like hey we need to see it because it was actually you know a few community members in the last meeting who said yeah we want to see that information you know we want to be informed and for a lot of community members and they talked about it this is their only opportunity and there's a lot of them even some Town counselors who said that they don't really get a lot of this information even in the Town Council they learn a bunch of stuff from our our um meetings you know on a monthly on a monthly basis so that if we're not sharing this information they're clueless you you know so that's why for me and I think for all of us right we've been kind of like transparency transparency transparency and also sharing it with the community because this is their opportunity right and that's what I always get from people Deborah we are this is you know we didn't know this was happening if it wasn't for CSS JC opening up the doors and letting us like look in you know and I imagine um so we get um monthly data um it may help for our conversations that we get it in a format where okay here here's July here's August is it doesn't just random every month like we can make actual inner conversations have something to compare with at the same time to say okay you know things are not moving we this is the same numbers as last month or this is the same subet of last month so you know what's changing um I I think that may be actually very helpful um rather than just the static each month yeah yep exactly I totally agree with you so I think like can we um maybe just like if each of us could commit and I think we need to say like a byy when so that then we can get this to Camille like maybe within let's say if we do it within the next two weeks so then then she has two weeks before our next meeting to kind of put it together to kind of get to um you know algra and I maybe you know if each of you could just send it to us because three is not well what what's the Quorum I guess I'm trying to figure out what's the Quorum so that then you can get H I think technically the Quorum is the four of us because as a full committee we're seven although that yeah that's true we're not commited so then if we so if so if like let's say let's say you send whatever it is that you want on this reports the monthly reports to legai and then ever will you send it to algra and I then we can kind of put something together then send it back to you all and then we can you know kind of edit it and stuff so that then we can get it to Camille you know like in in in maybe like this week let's see let me look at the calendar here so we are on the 11th so let's say if we buy by you know by the 18th if you all can get kind of initial comments to algra and I about what it is that you would want so looking at her current report and I think she's given some other reports in the past too which will probably be on our website what are some of the information that would be helpful right so that we can provide that to her so that then she can attempt to hopefully put something together the next time that could come closer to what we're looking for because I don't think she'll you know of course you know it's a process so come closer and then the next time hopefully can be what it is we're looking for you know so by if we do it by the ne by the 18th if you all get us initial thoughts and of course alra and I will also be doing the same thing right and kind of put it pull it all together and then by the 25th we get her something okay so that then by the 25th we get her something then she would have two weeks um because our next meeting will be the ninth she would have two weeks but hopefully she could share it with us at least by the 7th you know cuz that's when agenda has to go out right algra you were saying that's the last date like it's the Monday before the the meeting if our next meeting is the n9th correct yes um so if our next meeting is the 9th I us I I liked getting things done by the Friday before that was how Jennifer o did it just and it for some reason it made me feel like that was really gonna happen in time like I think the last it could be would be the seventh has to be the 48 hours but but let's say the fourth let's say the fourth then you know we would just ask her to um you know once we give her that feedback uh by the 25th that would give her like a week and two days right to kind of put something together because she has the data it's just like how she's going to be crunching the numbers and then you know getting us the information she would have that that time period to then get us something by the fourth so that then we could um you know have some time to look at it and then include it in our packet okay good I like that and I feel like if we're gonna do this with Crest we might as well do it with Dei as well didn't have something written for us but I think I think in a sense there's maybe less and more you know I think we know us usually she updates about what events Dei is doing what trainings with what departments um and then Rob and Youth Empowerment yeah well now it would wouldn't be wouldn't be youth empow it would be Youth Empowerment programming right be clear Youth Empowerment programming we got to call it as such because it's been so confusing but but the fact what they're doing with Youth Empowerment and then we would put like a miscellaneous too because it it kind of changes you know but yeah I think we should we should should ask both of them for for a report and then so let's let's so when I say that in terms of the dates the 18th the initial comments and then by the 25th we kind of have our finalized um um comments to to them we should have one for Di and one for for for Camille yeah that would be good so that then we we could review it beforehand and be prepared for the meeting and also we can include in the packet for the community all right so that would be a a big help um but but everil what do you think though in terms of like goals I guess if we if we were to at least look at goals for this meeting because then you know maybe we can talk about speaker serious and membership more the next well maybe next time let's let's tackle speaker series and then the following Time Tackle membership but for goals what what what what's kind of your vision given given like what I've said I don't know what else you want to add to it algra l set no you did mention you did mention a lot of things that we actually don't talk about um in our meetings and maybe we can bring some of those here um the the my only big concern again is um measurable and if it's something that we can deliver to the community to say um you know here's something that we took on and here is an an end result or near end result so um that that's my only um concern about that but um if if there are things that um and again given that this may be one of the only forms that the public has to raise certain issues maybe take some things that the public say and see what we can do with them yeah okay so do we want to start coming up with like a list of things I mean I don't know if if if we have the bandwidth to do that plus di busy people and that's the thing we we may not and you know we may have to um not ignore them but not take on all of them all at the same time it may have to be prioritized what um what we focus on and we just ask the public to understand that we can't take everything on yeah all right go ahead oh I was just gonna say I think in terms of like a goal something that we could that would be measurable would be you know over the next year have at least three outside speakers come in and address various topics at our meetings whether that's housing Youth Empowerment business Community Chief Ting coming back or you know I mean no one of the thing I I really thought about with the speaker series was um and I know we're the only Crest in Massachusetts but I don't know how difficult it would be to get somebody who's done this before to actually come talk about all their challenges and how they navigated through those challenges and then I know that would may need T money for that yeah um but it's one of those things where it seems that there's so much um opposition and and I hate to say that there there is um but you know it'll be good to hear from somebody who has it up and running to say yes there were these things and here's how we overcome them and then we can look at what we're doing and says okay are you guys following or copying what has worked for these people and is this is this something that maybe that you haven't thought about that now that you know you can now think about and get around these impediments that you're having because that was that was the big one because again I I really feel like coming from where we were where the transition team that five months into Cam's tenure if feel if it's day one yeah and and that's and that's very concerning so and and that's why I ask her does she have everything that she needs and you know I don't think she can say no if she didn't um but if we can as a committee offer something um that to say hey we get that you have challenges and we're here to support you and one of the things that we did to support you was bring a success story and how they about their program and how they try to work it and the things that they had to overcome and things that they implemented because I I get it with what she's saying about standard operating procedures but I refuse to believe that there wasn't like a baseline there before you know it seems as if I mean two years there's no way two years in you're just doing a standard operating procedure yeah and that's the thing Abal I mean it's it's really been kind of like it wasn't just from the the interim team it was like so there was the Earl kind of yeah you know phase where it was bringing it up and he got it up to eight then it was the intern people then remember they lost like I don't know how many people it was down to like two or three then they hired more people during the intern time and now they now she lost you know four people and now it's back to you know almost like square one again and we're back to well dispatch you know we're still figuring in things out and so on so forth when during the interim um you know phase um well during Earl phase it seemed as if dispatch was right on the cusp and then Earl got dismissed then inter term it seemed like again like okay we're about to do dispatch nothing and now and now um with Camille no dispatch period I guess during the interm I guess it was one or two calls or something that had gone through dispatch so it it it's just like a start and stop it's a continual St and stop of press um which you know again for me it's it's very disheartening and frustrating and and a lot of times it it makes me think you know you know is this you know is this sabotaging the the the the department because there was a lot of resistance when we were recommending um Crest there was a lot of resistance from the town people there was a lot of people that did not want Crest to happen so um so for me I have to kind of you know put that that question out there but because it is it's this continual um type of situation so I don't know um and in terms of your question so as you know you know there's another Crest in um there's one in Northampton Northampton started a a a a a Crest well I don't know what they call it but a community responder so Northampton has one I don't know where they're at with it right now but obviously they kind of they got a lot of their Direction actually from Earl they met with Earl a lot lot before they they started that one so I don't know if they're in place if they're not but that might be interesting to kind of talk to them and then I know that for us when we were doing a lot of the the research one of the ones that we really kind of focused on was the Cahoots one from Denver and then there was another one from California but I forget what's the name of it um because again you know all of them were were different than ours right because we ended up creating something that was really kind of more um tailored to um our town right and our town needs um because I I know that with with um some of those other um kind of responders uh units they were very much part of like either their mental health um or Clin clinician kind of a program they were or they were part of the police or you know so a lot of them W were not these independent kind um departments so we really wanted to kind of craft it in that way that yeah you work with clinicians and things like that but it was still these kind of responder um folks that really focused on anti-racism as one of the you know main things deescalation and and and so on and so forth right um in terms of kind of interacting and really H kind of having this lived experience and all of that but I think it would still like you said we'd need some money because a lot of the ones that I know about are in the West Coast Area you know so if we were going to bring someone from there we would need you know the money to bring someone out there it's it's a great idea um because we could kind of you know really um ask them lots of questions pick their brains on on some of these things even though knowing that obviously they're much different and some of them are much bigger right because they're big cities and stuff like that and they dealt with like really a lot of like more even more impactful things but it would be good to see though too because a lot of them a lot more years in place and you know there's always that fear of okay um responders you know can't get into this or that because of their safety and they're in big cities they have responders you know and from what obviously it's been a few years I haven't looked at it you know as closely but there wasn't any kind of you know injuries towards the responders or anything like that that I that we know about believe and I can double check but I think like the research Nationwide has been like less than 1% of calls have even ever been involved the police and to say like we we actually need a police response on this that initiated as a responder call I think that's the number that I saw but but I do I think that that's a great idea um I'm looking at the time I see it's 81 um would it be helpful for us to just maybe continue this conversation next time but come with a list now that you kind of have given us some starting points to to say like these are some goals we could work on and maybe it would be helpful to look at our charge again too to make sure that they're aligned and I can find that and send it around okay sounds good okay but let's not forget um you know one of the main ones besides kind of thinking about our goals will be these dates by the 18th please send to algo and I just your ideas for what um both um Crest and Di can can include in their reports and then we will fine tune um by the 25th to get it to Camille and to Pamela and Phillip and then um ask them to send us something by the 4th so that then we could have it to digest and then include in our packet do we know if the original their original data is that an EXL format do we know what format that is in or is it in word if if you can find out um because if it's in Excel um I may have an idea but I don't want to give her more work yeah from what remember remember Pamela was always saying that for months when when she was in an interm team that from what I remember because again you know sometimes things get switched on us in terms of what they actually tell us is that it it was Excel but remember they were supposed to get this new fangle software or whatever to be able to Crunch the data blah blah blah but I don't know if they ever got it or not but yeah it would be Excel so if if if it is an Excel and if she doesn't mind sharing me just like the last where she got this last information from I'll play with it and see but I may have an idea but again I don't want to say can you do this in Excel and then she's gonna say that's more work I don't want I do not want to do that but why don't you just pose it you know in terms of your feedback just pose it let's just let's just ask her that's the only thing that we could do you know what I'm saying see what she says okay all right thank you everyone all right um so wait just before we forget October 9th our next me meeting um 6:30 and then um block party is September 19th and just look out because remember I asked Pamela to send us like some time blocks um because I know I want to do some tabling because I thought that was good last last year to just kind of engage with with the community so I'll be there on the 19th so I am way that weekend I'm sorry excuse me I I am away that weekend the weekend of the 19th I'm actually leaving on Thursday yeah oh okay oh that's too bad yeah but um but hopefully so algra you'll be around and yeah I'll be here LTE will you be around yes okay great so but but we'll be sorry to to miss you Abol but we'll represent [Laughter] you all right everyone are we gonna do public comment oh yeah but but uh eil you don't have to stay on obviously I know you have to go she's Qui so let me see until she calls me yeah thank you for reminding about like okay I'm out of here um right now we have seven attendees if you would like to make a public comment please use the raise hand function and I will bring you into the room one by one hi it's it's Martha Hanner can can you hear me yes good evening hi Martha hi hi there yes I just wanted to respond to a couple of things there one when you talk about having uh a speaker series you know what about having it on a different night like the Wednesday that's halfway in between your monthly meetings so that you didn't take time from your monthly meetings when you want to focus on you know cres and Dei you could you could do it on a different Wednesday night and as far as uh equivalence of Crest and other places if you did it on Zoom then you wouldn't have to pay people much to get it in you could make a whole Forum on uh how you know alternative policing has worked in in in two or three other places and uh as I recall uh during the interim period Pamela was metion in that there was going to be money uh for a couple people to go and see how a program was working somewhere it was somewhere in the East um south of here and I don't remember where um but you could ask her I know Albuquerque New Mexico has a program and uh others so that be want and then an another topic that is something that has been concerning me for some time is the whole process of soliciting candidates interviewing and adding them to our committees and Boards seems to me really lacks transparency and uh you know what's the recruitment process to try to get more diversity and then it seems that the forms that you have to fill out are kind of daunting and then there's the interview process and then there's no transparency about how many people ever replied or what their diversity was or you know know should the candidates be named or is that invading privacy uh and so on before there's ever uh people selected and then the whole delay of of months and months too but uh you know that that whole process is something that really I think needs to be tackled and investigated somehow so those my thoughts thank you thank you yes I'll be very quick um good meeting um so couple things I know you know some folks have already laughed it really pains me that after three years uh you you know we still don't have you Youth Center uh the resident of ouro is not yet ready and we're not even talking about bipor Cultural Center very very sad our town is like a business it's a corporation and it seems to me that that is the attitude of no accountability this can never happen in any other organization except for government whether it's local state or federal so much waste people just don't care is what is happening I am very pleased to hear from emiral um about goals for CSS JC I like the robust discussion I think one of the successes of cswg and and Deborah you alluded to that too I think one of the things that we did well was to put the Town Council on on notice like we will schedule not you know the group will agree for the co-chairs to work with than Council leadership to come and present while we're doing while we're doing that we do Outreach individually make sure that people show up when cswg is presenting so we um CS s your group need to be in front of the Town Council arrange with the Town Council president and and the vice to put you guys on an agenda and the agenda could be Equity issue upper funds the goal because we have only three more months left and there is still money left the town manager is talking about putting the extra money from upper funds into Cash reserve and that's insulting the money that is meant to help marginalize population in our town is not happening so I mean both of you coochers try to reach out to Lyn and said you want to talk about equity in our town uh Deb you alluded also to with all the advocates in the school system you know social um uh the restorative justice we still lost it so the Town Council the community need to know what the role of CSS JC is beyond making sure the recommendation made by cswg needs to happen your and your committee is one of the most important Committee in town in the sense that your charge is to ensure equity in our town in business World in our school system in our town government in housing in Contracting when we talk about Capital budgets in our town this committee want to needs to make sure that people of color are benefiting from the contract jobs that our town put out so in looking at goals perhaps one of your goals should be how you know the rest of the upper funds will some of them be going to bbaa and you know other groups go in front of you know the T Council bring it up we have only three more months left and I will stop I know it's been a long night but thank you all for your time to say that I'm embarrassed and ashamed of the two departments that cswg recommended will be understatement I don't get it I'm a business owner I run a company and it cannot take three and a half years to put programs running it's just ridiculous good night everyone thank you Miss p not seeing any other hands still not ping any other hands so I am any topics we did not reasonably think about within 48 hours before this meeting started right then I think we can adjourn at 8:43 I will send out a reminder of all the deadlines we talked about and we will see each other in October October and hopefully on the 19th we'll see some of you all too SE 19 BL party all right have a good night everybody bye good night bye night bye