##VIDEO ID:sbIEjRgfwp8## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers weage cons particip in me the order extended on March Salem Derby Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak here Brad Riley here Tam Smith here JT Terell here so the place of Allegiance in the moment flaged States America indivisible Li andice thank you uh I will take a motion to approve the minute of August 7 so moved second I have a mo a second to approve the minute of August 7 any further discussion see n Barbara con hi Salem Derby Omar Gomez hi JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley I Tamara Smith i Owen Zer abstain uh motion passes uh public speak time this is the opportunity to address the counil regarding any topic no listed on the public hearing if you're here to um talk in favor or against any of the resolution now is the time to do it uh because it's not a public hearing or anything else uh we are not allowed to answer by open meeting law um so I will give you three minutes can you please state your name and address for the rer and just please talk to the conso you get you can go to the podium you have to go to the podium see you hi uh my name is Steve Donley I live in six Pinebrook Drive East Hampton I'm a member of the manhand rail trail committee and also a member of the U nortic Network which is a uh group that is dedicated to seeing the expansion and the completion of the mass Central rail trail which uh goes from Northampton uh to Boston will eventually um right now it's in a situation where roughly uh it's a little over 100 miles and close to half that have been paved already and now we are working to try to prod the state to get more active to help the local groups and stuff make the connections uh to complete the trail and the reason I'm coming here uh is because we connect to that uh Rail Trail so these um proclamations that we're trying to get from all the cities are along all the cities along the trail plus any that uh connect to the trail which would be us uh showing uh support we plan to get all of those petitions together um online present them to the state as one more inducement to get them to uh spend more time and and energy and money to get this project done um that's pretty oh and the other thing is the manhand rail trail committee uh supports this move thank you sure good evening council members uh my name is Nancy Stenberg at 17 Main Avenue in East Hampton I am here to speak in favor of the yes onto resolution um we have a number of reasons why we are doing this but um I'm going to talk about uh the harm in having mcast testing tied to graduation requirement we are one of only eight states left of the nation that do this after uh any student goes through you know at least 12 years of education they should be judged on those 12 years of education and not on a test so of particular notice in um harm for our students are our students of color and our students with special um needs so denying diplomas it hurts the quality of our education because um I can speak from experience being a public school educator around February or so we like stop everything and start teaching to this test so we want to stop that bring the joy back to education thank you thank you my name is Barbara walber I'm here to represent the Le community in favor of our proposal for $33,000 to remove invasives on that that's going to be part of the public hearing okay so I should wait till later you can wait for yeah thank you you can wait for that yeah hi good evening my name is Sarah Woodard 24 Sheldon Avenue East Hampton um so I'm also here to support the question number two and I'm speaking to you as a special education teacher um I'm a reading specialist and I have experienced many students who have not been able to pass this test um because one test should not be the judge of whether you get a diploma or not many students are very bright in other ways and a test should not determine and as Nancy also stated we are one of the tougher states in the United States around this requirement and I feel very passionately that this requirement for graduation should be taken off you know the opposition talks about what will we do instead and there are many ways we can assess students we can do portfolios we can do other things but one test to determine many of my students they have testing anxiety they're not good test takers and these are really smart kids I work with a lot of learning disabled kids I myself was not a good test taker I grew up in New York City I was able to pass the regions not sure I could pass the mcast and I think I'm a pretty smart person so um respectfully I'm hoping that you will support this I think it's a resident of East Hampton someone who door knocks for public schools and I have care very passionately about education um really appreciate your support on this issue thank you thank you good evening um my name is Marcy Blumenthal I'm at 25 Sheldon Aven East Hampton I'm speaking as a parent and also as a um mental health provider I work with a lot of kids with clinical anxiety and see the Damage Done by the mcass um it can be very SI very significant um and I personally am a parent of a pretty um intellectual kiddo sometimes who's too intense about school um she has a pretty significantly high GPA and I only raised that because in spite of that she crumbles around these exams and it just tanks her so I've seen it personally in my home I've seen it in the kids that I serve and I'm I'm here to ask for support um for question too I think it's um really damaging for the kids that we have in in the state thanks for hearing it thank you hi council members my name is Nora delor 31 McKinley Avenue East Hampton um and I write about education issues but I used to be a teacher here in Massachusetts um and just a little bit of background about this as as Nancy said you know as of 2014 um about half of all US states had policies on the books like we do now that made graduation contingent upon uh standardized test scores but as the research piled up showing that um punishing young people for their standardized test course is not helping them Thrive and in fact is doing really serious harm uh state after state after State got rid of these policies so now we're in a minority um and I just want to paint a little picture of like what the harm can look like um so I taught at one point in Springfield at a alternative Public High School for students with exceptional learning needs um so we had students dealing with a lot of adversity challenges outside of school things that made it really hard for them to focus in school um and you know so it was a really challenging learning environment and yet I had this one student in my senior English class who just was this shining star like somehow he was able to Marshall the focus to like thoughtfully engage with each and every aspect of every assignment um so he was a straight A student in spite of like constant disruptions um and so when we we heard in the spring of 2018 that this kid was going to be our valedictorian the whole staff was just Overjoyed for him um because you really could not imagine a young person who deserved the honor more um and he had earned it like by the books by the by his transcript his his grades were Far and Away the best in the school um so then you know he was like beaming Overjoyed can't wait to tell his mom a couple days pass I think and and and then we get word from the district that oh no actually this young person can't be our valid dictorian because he was one of the students whose disability just made it impossible for him to pass the 10th grade mcast right like he met all of the requirements put before him in high school other than that but he just wasn't going to be able to do well on this test um and so then the school was put in a position of having to strip him of this honor that he had earned and give it to someone else who was you know more like a c student um but who was able to pass the test you know and so because this was a small school the entire student body watched this happen like they witnessed this and I think it sent a message to them all that like you should just give up because what is the point if you can work incredibly hard for your entire High School career and have it all undermined by a single test um so I'm sorry I'm going on and on but just one more thing I want to say that like lest anyone think that this graduation requirement is only harming like a handful of students who are in that students situation right I I don't think that's the case um as you know Nancy and Sarah both talked about like we do have about 700 students in Massachusetts every year who are like that kid that I talked about you know they meet all of the requirements but solely on the basis of mcast they're locked out of graduation and you know they're unable to pursue higher education but then we also have all kinds of other students who fail the mcast in 10th Grade and simply drop out because they're they're getting the message that school is not going to be a place where they're able to succeed they're not going to be allowed to succeed um and then there's all of the other students the majority of our students in Massachusetts who can pass the mcast but they're suffering from you know going to school day in and day out in a learning environment that is way overly focused on this one test right because even whatever you think about the mcast it's just one test and so when we attach these dangerous punishments to it we really um it ceases to be like a valuable measure of learning and it becomes the entire goal of the learning process right and um that's just not allowing our students to feel inspired and engaged thank you very much thank you anyone else anyone else participating remote I guess not I will take a motion to open the public hearing so second I have a motion and a second to open the public hearing any further discussion see Barbara S Derby hi Omar Gomez hi JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi Owen Zer hi con Den hi motion passes thank you Mr President um okay uh so what we have we have one uh CPA appropriation tonight um it's a supplemental appropriation of $33,500 invasive uh plant removal I know there's somebody from Le who uh would like to speak about this but just very broadly um lrip controls a large parcel of land uh on uh the border between East Hampton and Northampton as well as another large parel of land in Northampton uh they've they've been doing uh a good deal of work uh trying to remove invasive plants uh from their land which does have a conservation restriction on it um and they're asking from for support from the CPA uh to uh to fund uh that work uh what they're uh proposing is a three-year process um with a uh a budget of uh $100,000 the CPA committee uh opted to fund the first year of this and uh then we would discuss going forward uh the future years what uh that what that'll look like uh so uh the finance committee met last week uh to discuss this and uh voted uh two to zero with one um absence uh to approve this appropriation thank you P now I'm going to let you before taking question from the consors so that way can you give us like a a summary similar to what you give us at the finance committee yes to the rest of the coun yes I can can you please uh stay your name and I'm Barbara Ward from the Las Community I'm joined here by Patrick Arwin who is our CEO and he is here to answer any questions about LR our project um con our project is a collaborative project between the town of eastampton town of Northampton the castral land trust and LR it has a long history as was mentioned because we have been working to preserve uh pollinators birds and other Wildlife on our land for more than 10 years we have a total of 103 Acres of conservation restricted land that LR owns 78 of those acres are in the town of East Hampton and they abot protected land in North Hampton which is under a Northampton CR and and also they AB but the Park Hill area which as you know is a high priority for both towns for conservation when we started this work 10 years ago our land was starting to be invaded by alien plants which can take over a landscape and so uh smother and kill native plants that support our Wildlife that in fact land that is dominated by alien invasive plants may lose up to 75% of its Wildlife because its mothers the native plants that our wild creat creatures have evolved to be able to use so lrip which is a nonprofit governed by Quaker values set out to follow our Chief value of sustainability of living lightly on the land and to make our land a refuge for wildlife and a place that in that uh supports a healthy environment so 10 years ago we started removing some invasives and we have been working ever since we have received several grants from the city of Northampton none so far from the city of East Hampton because East Hampton was waiting for us to make good on uh a um condition of our having been built years ago we were supposed to put 75 acres into CR and it never happened as far as I can tell the city dropped the ball and LEP dropped the ball so a couple years ago we started to correct that we put our 78 acres into CR now that is done and here we are to say we've already been doing a substantial amount of work here on this land and we want to continue that work so that's the proposal we know what we have because last year we had land stewardship Inc do an inventory and recommendations of our total CR land plus a few Acres of additional land and tell us what invasives were present and they list them how dense they are where they are and what we should work on first so we have an incredible inventory which is attached to our proposal and on the basis of that inventory and recommendations we made a three-year plan and we have come to the city of Northampton which has funded us for the full three years for their share and now we have asked eastampton to fund us for three years and they have given us the first year with an eye towards the following years so um this project the main purpose of this project is to protect Wildlife but we also lie over the Barnes Acer and we also depend upon um the contribution of Basset Brook which flows into the manhan which flows into the Connecticut so this land is very valuable we have a committee at Le called the land committee which has more than 30 resident members these are seniors but we get out there and we have worked ourselves to remove invasives we have we have raised in those 10 years thousands of dollars to pay contractors and we have made considerable progress but what our inventory showed us is that the progress that we have made is uneven and so the purpose of this grant proposal is to bring all of these CR Acres up to a high level of control of invasive plants so that you don't have some nicely controlled and then some over here where we didn't have the money to start or we started but we didn't have the money to follow up we want to bring everything up so that in the future it will be much easier to control and to monitor any questions any con have any questions thank you Mr President um first thing I want to say is I had the pleasure of having dinner with the resident of L lrip uh the other evening and their Windows faced out into the conservation area and it was quite beautiful um the birds that were right there at the window uh I I was moved actually by the Tranquility of the space and it was just after we had had the um the the finance meeting and so uh I I I remembered you talking and um you know I want to acknowledge the the love and dedication that you are putting towards this land to make sure that it is taken care of right and so I want to I want to acknowledge that for for you and everyone who is working on this as well as the CEO is who's here who clearly sees this as um as important right which is why why you're here um so I I also want to acknowledge that I appreciate the um the collaboration right the that you're working with um not only the CPA but kestral laup Etc so you have all of these Partners who are dedicated to this um and so I want to acknowledge that I think that that's really tremendous work that it's not just one small group but you've actually pulled a community together to be able to say this is an issue this is a problem this is and this is not just about the property of Lether but this is going to have impact for East Hampton right because that's also Wildlife that comes into East Hampton and so that's that's equally um important the the question that I have and I asked this the other evening um is the funds that that East Hampton is providing are those funds that are going to cover all of the project or are those the funds that are going to cover what is happening within kind of the boundaries of that's a good question the funds that you are being asked to provide here in East Hampton will be used only for eastampton CR land the CR r that is 78 Acres on our eastampton portion of our property with the CR held by the Cal UST thank you very much any other councelor councelor Smith um I'd like to make a couple comments as well not so much a question um I really appreciated you talking about the number of residents who are involved in this pro project um Le Community is a Hidden Gem within East Hampton and it's one of the the few few properties that really address aging issues in a commun you know what I'm saying in in one oh not in a neighborhood setting but rather in an assisted living setting and apartments within within that unit so I really appreciate that on the first level the second level I just want to say is that I think this is really important that speaks to the discussion that has been going on in East Hampton about development and CPA funds and what they're used for and I think this is a really good example of CPA funds that are making sure that the historical Integrity of this base Remains the Same also um CPA funds are supposed to be used for our nature spaces and for recreation and I think that when you're looking at any population that may have mobility issues one of the things that councelor denim touched upon is that looking out the window and being able to see that particularly for residents who don't have Mobility creates that much more importance to these funds being used for those resources and I just wanted to mention that uh particularly as a gerontologist I'm really excited to see that your private company is partnering with our neighboring city as well as East Hampton to protect the land it's one another example of these many layered projects that really um are important thank you any other conselor celor s uh just more of a quick comment uh well I'd like to offer uh glowing support um I unfortunately have to recuse myself from this vote uh as I'm a board member and an a butter a neighbor who does enjoy all the trails and the conservation land on a regular basis but would love to say more but I can't thank you any other consor um consor Kinski thank you great presentation I think you covered a lot of the bases that helps us to understand and the public to understand the uses uh for the project I just wanted to elaborate on a few pieces because in addition to saving the area from being invaded maybe losing up to 75% of the native plants uh it is over the aquifer and that has great value for all the city uh I know you said that the funds would only be you used in E ston and my understanding is that these aren't the only funds and efforts that are being used to do this project that Cel contributes funds in energy and that uh there may be other LR itself is contributing oh yes and in fact we have contributed our resident committee raises its money from Resident donations we have contributed $25,000 to this project that's a lot for us and um we are very happy to do it in addition to that the two residence councils one from from each campus each contributed $1,000 from their budget which are also um acquired through resident donations so yes there is tremendous support here and uh as you may know the grant proposal includes as well um uh volunteer time and staff time from Kestrel and from lrip to make this project go I think those are very important points for any expenditure funds from the CPA and we love to see those types of resources go into a project we can become part of the that effort as opposed to funding the whole burden uh even though it may have very worthy goals and be something we would approve uh it's always good to know that this is really a gathering and a community effort where people get together and make it happen uh just one other quick while I have your the attention of La uh I know that some folks volunteer in a larger capacity in the city I just wanted to put another uh uh mention this that I'd love to see something a little more formal if just if they give it any thought that you have such expertise at so many levels in so many different areas that really could be of great benefit to the city of eamp to the citizen uh and I know you're doing some but if there's any more you have to think of I'd be happy to consult thank you for that uh I'm listening and I know Patrick is listening thank you uh any other conselor celor denam yeah just um one last question um and it I was reminded by counselor Zar comments of the trails so taxpayers are providing this funds through the CPA Etc um do they have do residents who are not residents of eastampton who are not residents of L do they have the ability to be able to enjoy yes that land yes there is a there are Trails um we have a sign at the trail head which says visitors welcome dawn to dusk no hunting no vehicles Beyond this point Thank You con peek thank you Mr President um yeah to I was about to bring up a similar thing there there was I just wanted to you know as we're talking about this [Music] um when this was initially in CPA uh one of the things that was discussed is whether you know we should uh mandate a uh a sign saying oh that you know there's a Trails here funded by the CPA something like that uh there's ultimately decision to not do that and after thinking about it for a while I I think I do agree with that decision um because and I just wanted to say this to get it on the record because it might come up in a future appropriation about a different property I think that the conservation of land and helping to fight invasives on conservation restricted land would be a good thing that I would be inclined to vote for even if the land was closed you know even if there were no Trails on it even if it was just completely a Wildlife Reserve that was not open to the public I think that that's how I feel about that and I'm saying that now because it's entirely possible that I I in the time I've been on the council I don't think a project like this has come up most of the open space projects that we talk about are specifically creating sort of amenities for places where the P usually publicly owned places where the public can go and hike and enjoy nature and whatnot and this is a little bit different than that and I just want want to say that to get it on the record that kind of that's that's my general thinking on that is that there this sort of conservation activity is good on its own regardless of whether or not the space itself could is really considered to be sort of a public amend and if somebody else comes forward with land that maybe is hard to accessed but it's in conservation restriction and wanted to do a similar thing even if people couldn't largely get to it to to hike or enjoy it I'd be inclined to vote for it if it was good for the local ecosystem but I just want to say that because I'm s of repeating myself I'm a little uh sick and foggy but I just you like that that might come up again and since this is kind of a little bit of a precedent setting that we're doing here and among East Hampton I know Northampton and other communities have done things like this before but I don't believe that we at least in the six years that we''ve been I've been here I don't think we've done this so I just want to say I I I'm I'm for it but I'd also be for it if it were somewhere else thank you thank you and let me say that there is no City money going toward Trails the trails at LEP are primitive they are maintained by residents we actually get out there and hack away the intruding underbrush and they are not maintained at a standard that can take heavy public use but what we are doing as part of the grant project is to propose once a year a program which will be advertised to the general public that brings people onto our land to see what we're doing about invasives and to learn how they might be able to take some of our lessons to their own land or just be interested in looking at a place that as one member of the public that I met on the trail one day said this is the woods of my childhood mhm so we are reaching out to the public but in a way that is consonant with the state of our trails and how are they are paid for and maintained any other councelors before we go to the public councelor Smith um I just want to speak to counselor peak's comment about the historical whether or not this is the first I'm not sure um previous term when I was on city council we used CPA funds to protect the aquafer by creating a land trust between eastampton and Southampton and Westfield so I do believe that we have approved these sorts of funds for exact exactly the reason that you were talking about but I wanted to bring it up to see if uh either our Clerk or counselors who were on at that time recall that through derby um well I think you know kind of riffing off that just a little bit I think um one of the things about this that is unique with rcpa is the you know public private partnership we haven't done that before because that that conservation land was public land okay um so this is a little bit different and and you know and I looked at it a little bit I was like oh wow this is but it's I think it's great I think this is uh you know you know one question I do have and I imagine that this has probably been discussed and I'm sure that you guys are on top of this this is you know a lot of times invasives the way you get rid of them is spraying yes um and so I just want to you know just put it out there to make sure that the things that are sprayed sometimes those things can be pretty toxic um so just the the idea of being mindful around that if we are in a spot above the aquafer that what goes on the ground goes down the ground yes so you know finding that balance which I'm sure that you've already done so I just felt like it was worth mentioning though um yes we will be using or our contractors will be using a variety of methods including cutting and pulling and and but also including spray and when we use when they use spray they're all licensed to do this in Wetland we are using link fish's outfit which you surely know he's the he's a premier person in has been in the valley for a long time doing this kind of work that is is who our contractor will be for the eastampton land we feel very comfortable in his hands he's very careful and it's not like they go around and go no what happens is that a certain size of plant is sprayed with a backpack sprayer and a nozzle which has a funnel on it which just goes plant and they go plant by plant plant plant plant we've been using this method with our contractors for 10 years on our land and you can walk into our woods and see a Trillium next to an invasive plant that was sprayed the Trillium is fine they really are very precise that said I wish we didn't have to do it I wish we didn't have to do it but it is the it's the best alternative that we can find to keep the wildlife safe in our Woods but thank you for bringing it up thank you any other coun before the public Cel Peak yeah just to to clarify my point we certainly have put land into conservation trust like before uh this is a case of um privately held conservation land that we are funding work on invasives on I don't think we've done anything quite like this that's all my point is is just that I support this but I do think it sets a bit of a precedent we might have privately held land from another uh from somewhere else at some point that wants to do a similar thing and I I just think it's with with things like this it's important to Just note that okay we are sort of setting a little bit of a precedent on how we want to handle these things not that we couldn't change our mind but uh it is I think just in the interest of fairness important to to note that this is the direction that I think we're choosing to go and I'm fine with that I just want to note it thank you cons pinski thank you uh councelor P brings up a good point about what he shared with us however I would just also like to say I think it's our responsibility as counselors to take each individual request and not necessarily look at consider this a precedent per se but one at the time with given the funds that we had available and the projects we have before us this is our choice today uh and that we may very well choose that same uh program over and over and over again but I think it's important for everyone who applies for CPA funding it's not a guarantee it is something that it's our responsibility to evaluate each time and each for for every year for every dollar thank you counc Smith uh I just uh councelor Peak I appreciate the clarification my focus was more on the use of the word recreation and that there wouldn't be even if it wasn't Recreation so I was just bringing up an example of a similar one not not regarding who owns a land but just that it was never for the intention of being used by the public that's all thank you goor Smith anyone from the public have any questions concerns comments about this appropriation Sarah wood 24 Sheldon Avenue H um how did the general public like we've never heard of this how would we be more aware of how would be be aware of things that are happening like this just as a taxpayer cons PE do you want to answer that oh sure uh I I I assume you're meaning like how You' be aware that the the land that's being conserved is something that that you're you have access to hike on or I I I'm I'm just not entirely sure I understand the question I'm sorry can you please repeat the question again how does the public know about this like where would we find information about it I never knew we had access to this or that it existed about the money about the land about the land or about this I mean the proposal I'm sure is on the agenda but even the land how would we know that this was even a thing that's available to the public yeah well I think that that's sort of uh the the area where this was discussed a little bit in CPA was because of that about you know the idea that you know while lre does allow individuals to hike on their land you know from dawn to dusk uh it's not necessarily something that's heavily advertised I I was not aware of it for instance um and uh I think some of the people who live in the neighborhood were um aware of it but I don't so I wasn't um and so there was sort of this question about um public good and what was the public good and I I guess my point of my sort of long winded thing that I said earlier uh was just that I think that the conservation of you know vulnerable land and Wildlife is a public good in and of itself regardless of what uh policy L thrip takes towards Public Access of their lands um and that I ultimately would probably support something like this even if it was on land that was not open to the public provided that it had a credible you know uh chance of of preserving a large amount of wildlife but that's my opinion and somebody else could feel differently about it that be an answer the question y I would I will speak to that though if I may this once a year public program that we are proposing as part of the grant will be advertised to the general public so in all the Avenues that we can think of if you're on the mailing list for pamic for Kestrel for the city for the city for every place we will put it there and so PE so actually what should happen is that this is private land it is not our mission to maintain a a public Trail um but we want people to know about this project and we want them to know that the cities and Castel have supported this project and so we're trying to to focus our attention on the people who will find out about what is special about this land which is the work that we have done on in basis it's not the trail the public Trail where you take your kids on a Sunday afternoon but it is the trail where you will come to learn about our work thank you anyone else from the public anyone participating remote they want to say something nobody else cons Peak all right um I'll make this request in the form of a motion uh request is hereby made for the approval of the following appropriation amount requested $33,500 from CPA reserve for open space $335 to be transferred to lre invasive plant removal $335 the amount requested will be used for the following purpose the funding uh would be used to control invasive plants and remove existing invasive shrubs on lther Community Land also included is an expectation that lri will provide education to the public about Native invasive plants and how land owners can support native Wildlife lri is expected to provide quarterly reports and inperson updates twice a year second have Mo second for the um CPA suppl appropriation of $ 33,5 any further discussion see none Barbara Omar Gomez hi JP gazinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Hammer Smith hi Owen zaret abstain uh Connie denam hi and Salem Derby hi motion passes thank you I will take a motion to close public hearing I have a motion and a second to close the public hearings any further discussion see none Barbara JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi Owen zeret hi Conny denim Salem Derby Omar Gomez hi motion passes for the hearing is officially closed cons s uh thank you Mr President um just in the interest of the public members that are still here to hear the resolutions I'd like to make a motion to suspend uh the city council rules as it pertains to order of business to allow the resolutions to be discussed at this time second I have a motion on a second to suspend the rule of the agenda um any further discussion see n Bara Tom Peak I Brad Riley I Tamar Smith I Zar hi Connie denam hi Salem Derby Omar Gomez JP kazin um cons denim the resolution about the mcast thank you Mr President are there any concerns about no but we going to we're going to vote now for the public so no I just want to make everyone was okay with so thank you Mr President um so president and I presented um um the resolution uh for in support of ballot measure 2 um as was prev previously mentioned um Massachusetts is only one of eight states in the country that still continues to have ties towards standardized test um in relation to graduation there was a lot spoken to this um I don't I don't want to be repetitive um but I do want to talk to my own personal experience in regards to the impact on individuals um while I was not a resident I did not live I did not go to High School in Massachusetts um I grew up in Oregon we did not have at that time an mcast um test um I was the first uh person in my family to go to school uh I was not a test taker um and I spent a lot of time at a community college because of my fear around sit SATs um and uh that had a tremendous impact on my confidence um as well as my ability to advance I did not believe that I could be successful because I could not score enough a high enough test high enough number on this particular um test so I spent four years at a community college um not believing in myself not knowing how to um transfer to a four-year school not believing that I was smart enough to be able to do that all because of a number that I had um got and I also as a first generation um student uh did not have family members who could provide me with guidance to say hey you should study for this test um at the same time I chose a graduate schools graduate experiences that did not require the GRE because I did not want to be able I I did not want to be defined by a particular number that would determine uh My Success um I have two master's degrees I have a bachelor's degree uh I have a doctorate and I have done all and had all of that success uh because I actually chose not to engage Eng in standardized tests um because I knew that I would not be successful I knew that that would have a lasting impact on how I saw myself in the world um and so you know I worked with President Gomez on this uh specifically because I know that this has a negative impact on students um standardized test and specifically as a white woman I understand the impact that this has on people of color um um I recognize that this the impact that this has on special needs and certainly as someone who grew up in poverty I recognize the impact that this has on disadvantaged um young people um and so that's why um I'm presenting with well I'm presenting uh uh this resolution and I'm sure president Gomez can can speak to his own um uh initiative to to to put this forward thank you thank you uh C Riley um thank you Mr President um yes so I just wanted to take a a couple of moments um just to share some thoughts about the uh the mcast in my own Journey um so you know in the past um you know during resolutions or um you know talking about issues before the city I've talked a great deal about my journey with public education language barriers and extreme poverty um but I rarely talk about the totality of my accomplishments in higher education or my career and um so I wanted to take a moment just to kind of cover some of the highlights um so I have a bachelor's degree in workplace diversity and inclusion with greatest distinctions from the Commonwealth Honors College at UMass ammer I have a master in education from the University of Illinois and a M's in public policy and administration from UMass ammer um in that uh graduate program I also served as a graduate student Senator and as a member of the task force that created flexible learning at UMass allowing students to learn online my degrees make me qualified to work as an intergovernmental relations researcher for federal agencies in state and local governments it makes me qualified to run a city where I vet and approve hundreds of people to run many of our community's boards committees and commissions as well as being a local government adviser to the governor of Massachusetts I also serve on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and for tapestry Health two things that I'm incredibly proud of but more importantly my degrees make me qualified to be a high school teacher and I bring this up not to gloat about my experiences or my accolades but to say that in no College course did I ever take a rote memorization exam to get these degrees every single course required demonstrating aptitude in other ways such as public speaking writing or creative projects and if I did have to take exams I would have never graduated with a bachelor's degree and nothing in my professional life would have ever been possible as a child raised in a neighboring state I never had to take the mcast yet my credentials give me access to the most powerful positions in Massachusetts so in the question of the mcast comes up I pause and I ask myself this simple question why is a 15-year-old in Massachusetts held to a higher standard than me is it fair that someone from another state can move to Massachusetts and gain access to its higher education institutions and not be required to take one of these exams to succeed why would the state of Massachusetts do that to its own children but not require the children of other states to do the same ever since I learned of the mcast back in 2005 it always gave me the heie jebi because it reminded me of my poverty and my disenfranchisement in society if I were born just 100 miles to the South I would probably still be locked out of society today and it also puts a pit in my stomach to realize that there are kids just like me in the city that I run who can never become someone like me simply because a test stands in their way so I'm not going to tell the public how to vote in November but when it comes to this resolution I'm a very firm yes thank you thank you councelor Riley any other the councelors celor S well although I would defer to you it's okay okay thank you I just wanted to respect your Your sponsorship um I didn't grow up in Massachusetts either and so when I moved here and I met parents whose kids were taking the mcast I had no idea what this was um but certainly uh I could tell from their feelings around the test and certainly their students feeling around the test that mcast is just another four-letter word um and uh having a child now in high school and certainly having friends and and Associates whose children have gone through High School in the Commonwealth it seems like just one extra stressor and what's become a more and more stressful experience um not just academically but socially and I don't understand especially when we have uh four years of Academia uh within high school that should be both a measure of and a support network to Foster our children's education why we have to uh basically Place something on them that um whether they're having a bad day or a bad week or a bad year or to other people's examples aren't don't do well at standardized tests or fall into a group that for a variety of biases these tests certainly are already pit against them it just doesn't make sense um and if we want to look for metrics to determine how well our schools and our school districts are doing I'm sure there's lots of other ways that we can figure that out um and so I appreciate both the fact that this is on the ballot and obviously my colleagues bringing it forward and um and obviously we'll be supporting this thank you con uh con thereby so um you know Massachusetts was recently given some credit for being the best public school system in the country and that Accolade I think is uh in spite of masts not because of it um as a teacher High School teacher um you know I have a unique perspective on this because I see it every day our students are feeling more anxious than I've ever seen them in my 20 years years of being at Northampton High School um and when it comes for mcast time it's the the air in the building changes and you can feel it and you know I like all the things that have been said are amazing and you know I appreciate that I I'll I'll make this quick and I think that you know it's simple can you imagine what we could do with $30 million a year in ter in terms of like putting teachers in buildings like this cost million a year and we're paying a company from like Texas I think it's like the connections with like George Bush like when we started doing this it was like gross then it's even more gross now that we're still doing this we know all that so I can't wait for this to be lifted obviously I will be yes thank you cons der any other conselor consor Kinski I wasn't sure thank you Mr President wow what a breath of knowledge from the counselors sitting here whove spoken from the folks who came here to speak to us the vignettes I heard tonight about the person who uh dropped out the people who drop out after 10th grade not because they can't succeed under the rest of the program that occurs in school not that they couldn't benefit by someone teachers focused on that those areas that have help them to learn but by uh a focus that that helps them to succeed it sounds to me I heard counselor zarett say teaching to a higher standard is it really teaching to a higher standard seems to me almost the opposite this is teaching to lesser standard if the normal teaching process is a good evaluation tool with grades with graduation requirements and this program keeps folks from graduating from participating from succeeding and it takes some really extraordinary effort to stay in school and make the achievements that counselor denim has spoken about and coun Riley has spoken about despite their inability they say to succeed on standardized testing and the fear and the anxiety that it causes I think there may be a role for mcast it may be in helping teachers to understand what seems to be working at any given time what techniques they have but certainly not as in a valuative tool with his graduation requirements involved uh I'll be voted thank you councelor Kinski any other councelors I'm going to say a few words before we we take the I take the motion to for the resolution [Music] it's really hard to understand right really hard can you imagine the people who speak myself the same language that I speak just a few seconds ago how to pass the test how we going to measure their intelligence comprehensive it's not fair it's not fair for my community it's not fair for this Advantage kids it's not fair that money the cons there be your stock the 30 millions should go to the students not to the pocket of the millionaires I think it's that simple we have to start thinking more about the kids and the teachers and stop spending money in places that we're not going anywhere and he start Spanish because sept September 15 we're going to start the Hispanic Heritage Month and if you just want to remind everybody in November 5th that this question is going to be there help our community we need we need you we can be better but will you vote of course I'm going to say yes in this resolution right but of course I'm going to encourage everybody to November 5th to say yes in question two any other councelors before we take the motion cons denam I don't know if this is the appropriate time i' I've heard what members in the community said and I just want to acknowledge my um my own lens um and I'm wondering if I can make an amendment to this um where in the line I say uh have or we say have become the most effective racist classist and I would like to add the word ablest weapon because we discussed special needs um and following that uh objectively degrade black brown economically disadvantaged and special needs cons if you have that on writing would be the best for the yeah yeah yeah for our Clerk and what we're going to do is we're going to uh read the resolution as a motion and um for for the discussion you have to make the uh amendments for the docum wondering if this is the appropriate time read it so this is in the form of a motion resolution calling for passage of question two place the mcast graduation requirement the East Hampton City Council is deeply committed to the success and well-being of all our students as well as respecting the depth of experience and knowledge of our teachers additionally we recognize the limitations and negative impact that high stakes standardized tests have on both students and teachers furthermore we are fully aware that standardized tests like the mcast have become the most effective racist and classes weapon ever Des ever ever divised to objectively degrade black brown and economically disadvantage disadvantaged students and legally exclude their bright Minds from institutions of higher education whereas access to a high quality publicly funded education is a guaranteed right written into the Massachusetts Constitution and whereas the goal of public education is to teach students essential foundational skills such as Reading Writing and arithmetic and to develop critical thinkers engage citizens and lifelong Learners and whereas the Bedrock of the Commonwealth worldclass publiced ation system is strong Statewide standards that are uniform throughout our public schools and whereas the mcast is significantly Limited in its ability to accurately and effectively measure whether students are meeting the Commonwealth standards and developing the skills they need to thrive After High School whereas the most effective measures of whether students are meeting our strong Statewide standards and developing the skills they need to succeed in college the Workforce and beyond our educator Le assessments such as projects papers tests and group activities that are conducted throughout the school year and whereas the punitive use of mcass is a high school graduation requirement has restricted curriculum and shifted the focus of Education in our Public Schools towards meeting a test score instead of fostering an environment of creativity critical thinking and real teaching and learning to help students realize that full potential and whereas pediatricians researchers and school counselors have warned of the severe impact of high stakes testing like the mcast graduation requirements on students mental health and well-being and whereas standardized test requirements notoriously stack the deck against students of color ESL students and those with learning disabilities and whereas using mcast testing as a high school graduation requirement has prevented or delayed thousand of students from earning a diploma thereby interrupting or derailing education or career plans with the especially harmful impacts on lowincome students students with disabilities students of color and students for whom English is their second language and therefore let it be resolved that the East Hampton City Council supports passage of question2 to replace the mcast graduation requirements requirement and require instead that districts certified that students have satisfactorily completed coursework demonstrating Mastery of the skills and knowledge required by the Commonwealth's strong Statewide standards in order to graduate I have a motion second to approve the resolution calling of passage of questions two to replace the mcast graduation requirement any further discussion consam yes so I just if if people want to add this uh I am just suggesting that uh further in the sentence furthermore we are fully aware the standardized tests like the mcast have become the most effective racist classist and ablest weapon ever devised to objectively degrade black brown economically disadvantaged and special needs students ever devised to obje O uh and legally exclude their bright lines from institutions of higher education second do you need a writing now I can write it yeah I got it I just the ablest I don't know uh so racist classes and ableist weapon ever devised don't worry we she will pass it to you yeah you're going to write it down I have MH to amend this document any further discussion Barbara this for the amendment um Brad Riley I Tamara Smith i Owen zarett I Connie Denham hi Salem Derby Omar Gomez JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi uh the amendment passed now we have a motion and a second for the original document with the amendment any further discussion see none Barbara Tamara Smith hi Owen Zer hi Cony jenim hi Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez JP gazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Mo passes thank you so much cons can we do the other resolution at the end or no we have let's do it now cons Kinski um The Proposal proposed resolution is uh was well uh discussed by uh Mr Donnelly who had uh spoken to us earlier I think he covered much I think the resolution itself covers much of the issues that helped us to understand the reasons why this is important not only for the trail itself but for East stampton and how it will benefit us and the Commonwealth as a whole uh so I would like to be able to read the resolution if I may [Music] uh in the city council September 4 upon the recommendation of James JP kinsky a resolution in support of finishing the mass Central rail trail whereas this body has deliberated and adopted legislation to increase safety on our public Ways by making them more accessible walkable and cyclable whereas the city of East stampton has expanded its shared use path the manhan rail trail to connect to the Mass Central rail trail to further facilitate access to this path and Safe Transportation for non-motor vehicle travel and whereas the completion of the mass Central rail trail is consistent with these efforts and that completing this 104 mile shared use path will enhance non-motor vehicle access to our city and will solidify East stamp's position as one of the Region's growing destinations for business Arts entertainment and general enjoyment and whereas East stampton recognizes the importance of community initiatives that contribute to the well-being and prosperity of our residents and whereas the mass Central rail trail Coalition under the guidance of the noric network has embarked on a vital project to push for the completion of the entire Mass Central rail trail from Boston all all the way through North to Northampton Massachusetts 60 miles are currently open with 94.5 miles protected and many miles under construction northampton's portion is complete but gaps start in belat town to the East and whereas the mass Central rail trail coalition's mission aligns with our City's strategic priorities particularly in promoting the health health and safety of our citizens fostering econom ecomic development and addressing Key Community objectives for the overall well-being of our citizens and whereas the completion of the mass Central rail trail project mitigates traffic facilitates bike to school programs community health and safety Economic Development increased tourism climate resiliency and historic education opportunities all of which resonate with our City's values and goals and whereas the mcrt Coalition has demonstrated a commitment to fostering Partnerships collaborating with the entities such as the mass do the Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation Mass trails and the Massachusetts office of outdoor recreation and whereas we acknowledge the desirability of living in proximity to completed rail trails and recognize the Project's potential to provide safe and enticing outdoor opportunities for our residents of all ages and abilities and whereas completion of the mass Central rail trail project contributes to the economic development in isolated rural communities and positions of our city located at the West End of the trail as an attractive destination for National and international Bic bicycling and walking tourists now therefore be it resolved that the city of East stamp city council recognizes and stands by the more than 20 years of Planning by our elected and appointed officials that completion of the mcrt is consistent with a safer Greener and more welcoming community and be it further resolved that this completion of the mass Central rail trail project align seamlessly with our City's vision for a thriving and interconnected Community creating a lasting Legacy for future generations and be it further resolved that the administrative assistant to the city council shall send a copy of this resolution to Mayor lle La shapel Mass do Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation Massachusetts outdoor office of office of outdoor recreation the massachutes Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano Mass president of the Senate Karen spilka state representative Dan Cary state Senator John vus the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and the daily Hampshire Gazette and other local media out outlets second I have a mo second for the resolution in support of the finishing the m center Trail rail trail any further discussion cons Derby yeah um I love this uh you know as someone who commutes to work every day on the rail trail someone who commuted here on the rail trail um I you know me as soon as this goes to Boston you know where I'm going to be riding my bike so and and you know I think that this is great the only thing I'm upset about is that I didn't bring It Forward I had a note in my thing and I was and I you beat me too a JP so good for you um but I think this is absolutely critical for so many reasons from you know health and and well-being uh of of our citizens uh to the environment um and to you know just making our community more uh accessible to bikers Walkers and people that are spending time outside I think this is critical I I would just um you know add one thing which is there are still some other bike path Spurs that we can't forget you know we need to get to to Westfield and and those are critical too but this one is amazingly important and so I wholeheartedly support this thank you go go Kinski Mr President I just wanted to also say that uh from eastampton to Boston we think of from eastampton to Boston from eastampton but this is not just from eastampton to Boston this is from Boston to East ampton and all the places along the way have the opportunity to come to our section of the community and to our community and once uh the uh Trail is completed uh between Northampton and New Haven that whole region will be wide open and that will happen we need to do our part today to help this along thank you any other consor consor s yeah I mean this is a very well- written uh resolution so I think you summed it all up I mean I would Echo what counselor Derby said that one of the things I love certainly in the micro uh is being able to get on the main Ary of the manhatt rail trail and East Tamp in and get to pretty much any business I want although I wish we had better bike Lanes on our new streets but that's a digression um but uh but then for the macro to know that if I wanted to I could ride basically from East Hampton all the way to ammer and hopefully with completion of this trail system Beyond and I think about how much these Trails have clearly uh fostered Economic Development you see it here in East Hampton that I think that the success along certainly the bike path the back of the Mills all of those all of those businesses in the back of the Mills facing the bike path absolutely benefit from having that um that throughway that artery for both pedestrians bikes and other vehicles that are allowed there per our ordinance uh to to travel there the other thing I'll say too I propo of the the um the uh public hearing earlier is that as we start discussing the importance of conservation and um Native Plant uh preservation and pollinator preservation is that these offer a perfect symbiosis for uh a linear park I think we already referred to the manhand rail trail that way but um these these throughways and other places are basically seen as a perfect opportunity to take the the green swaths on the side and plant native plants there and then what do you do what what happens there is in an era where where um where invertebrate migration is threatened constantly because they don't have anywhere uh to land and the the availability of native plant space is threatened you're basically have the opportunity to build a pollinator pathway all the way across the state and then beyond hopefully to um to Connecticut as well so it's something to think about when we talk about dollars and how we're spending it to include in these projects as well um I know that's something the be committee is doing here so thanks for bringing that forward and uh looking forward to biking to Boston someday thank you con anyone else Barbara oh I thought you were looking for a comment from me no I mean you want to make a comment ow yes Connie denim hi Salem Derby yes J gazin Tom p i Brad Riley I tamber Smith hi motion passes thank you thank you Kinski communication from elected official support committee any cons have any communication sorry just really quickly Mr President the River Roads Festival is happening this weekend it is a a it is a ticket a ticketed event at millside Park um just to let the the public know um there will not be mil Pon live this year and that has to do with uh loss of sponsors but uh the River Roads Festival um is available I think they're probably still looking for volunteers so that may be an opportunity to be able to participate in the festival without buying a ticket um and then for I think the fifth year we're partnering with the Connecticut River Conservancy to do a cleanup the next day from 9:00 a.m. till to 12 I know some of the artists um will be um getting up right and early to participate with that um I just also wanted to acknowledge next I heard now next Thursday the parks and recck committee is meeting I think in these Chambers at 6 PM um as all of you know uh there's been a very long and arduous discussion about both um requests to build a dog park uh which was once a city council agenda item as well as a skate park which was brought forward by um an independent group of volunteers those have the dog park discussion has been going on for six years the skate park discussion for about five um it's they've both had a lot of twists and terms but there's been a lot of perseverance and there's been um I think that's been moved forward both by the uh Good Will and enthusiasm of independent groups like the dog park committee and the skate park committee but we've had a lot of stakeholders here um in within the city government um and certainly within the city council as well who have supported this I particularly want to thank councelor Denham because I know she's been involved with these projects and I think her participation has certainly helped move these along and thank you as well Mr President I know that you've had a few things to say as well about in favor of these um there was a very uh I think prom in conversation about a dog park in nck park and I feel that the um Parks Commission acted in very good faith and ask very good questions and I think we're moving a good direction there um and the skate park uh will be presenting designs for mside Park uh next Thursday and I encourage members of the public and the council um to to come and attend and speak uh to give your opinion obviously I'd like you to support it but I'd also just like you to give your opinion there's been vast um buyin from stakeholders uh as who own businesses and buildings in the Mills uh and there is I know that councilor Derby could probably speak to there's uh historical precedence for a skat park there and I think as we talk about using space that's available to us and activating space that we already have um again in the same breath as we're talking about the River Roads Festival mside Park is an exceptional opportunity for us to really activate that space not just with a skate park but really looking at how we can really open up that park for more use as well especially as it is a gateway to the city along the bike path thank you Council ginski um that's all thank you cons s any other communication from consors cons Smith um as you know I represent uh Precinct 5 and this is the precinct where goet speed um fiber has been being laid down in the neighborhood I have received several re complaints from residents within my precinct everything from having their streets not being recorded as official streets within our um within our city as well as having tar from Paving being left on lawns to having crab grass as the the replanted grass from the company um on July 15th uh councelor Denim and I had um contacted Greg nutman to ask about any progress with the um with the roads that were not considered official roads um on our city census and at the time I was told um by Greg nutman that the um because goet speed was a private company we would eventually be getting to making sure that the roads were listed as part of the public um infrastructure however that would not have any impact on goldet speed and so I wanted to bring this up as an issue because my precinct continually is having this as an issue and I just want more clarification about who they can contact if they're having these problems what evidence they should be collecting of um from things happening on their property and whether or not the city will have an official dialogue with the company because this has been a massive um a lot of problems happening um and this is within one Precinct and it will be moving to the other precincts in the city and so this will be replicated um in multiple neighborhoods thank you coun Smith any other councelor coun Kinski may I ask coun Smith a question for clarification yes just be careful because it's not on the agenda uh deliberation with this will be up middle of violation could you elaborate on the the importance of the streets not being official streets and what impact if any that means uh for clarification um sake goet speed had contacted residents on uh one of the roads within the pl's neighborhood and said that that street was not included on our official City census um this was an error that happened 50 years ago and was just never included on the census the residents were told that they would not have the option for fiber um uh Optics coming through their yard and would not have an access to the internet unless the city of eastampton created the streets to be officially included and so that's that's why an error that was on the book from you know half a century ago that is now um dictating this company's policy as to whether or not they will go through that land does that answer your question that clarifies the impact that not being a city street means to people right U I also wanted to toss in that do the same topic or same subject okay if I may the the crab grass when there isn't crab grass in the in in the adjacent area I I would think that that the company would would would want to be would need to be more and our laws ought to be more consistent with replacing to light kind the disruptions that companies do from time to time so I wanted to say that in our neighborhood I've noticed that it hasn't been done and I'd like to Lodge that as a form compl thank you any other counselors thank you um mayor's communication Madame mayor wait she just signed off yeah just wait a second she's back she's back my apologies I I keep hitting the wrong uh red button uh no Communications thank you thank you mother mayor I don't have any Communications uh cons Derby I have a couple um I just wanted to let people know that um East Hampton is now recruiting senior tax workof candidates um and so that uh process is happening um and you can contact uh Cynthia um the director of council and aging um and I believe it closes September 30th so that's something that if people are interested in that they should know um uh there's two other things I just want to let people know that there's a um uh a mini MBA series for business owners um where they can get mentored uh and so that's another thing that's happening in the city um and uh you can contact uh Lindsay in the mayor's office to find out more about that it's executive leadership training um so this is part of a I believe it's a a grant that we are part of and then finally the eastampton fire department um is partnering with Bay State Health for a blood drive um and so let me just give you the date on that se I believe it is September 24th um at the East Hampton fire station at 32 Pac and hav um and that is to get more blood in a time of blood shortage thank you Mr Vice President report report of standing committees Finance cons Peak thank you Mr President uh we met uh last week um to discuss the uh appropriation uh that we discuss in public hearing today uh and we also started discussing um the uh review of salaries and uh stiens uh for elected and appointed officials um and so uh I think we're going to meet at our regularly scheduled time uh which would be uh Wednesday the 11th at uh 5:30 um and at that time uh we will discuss we'll continue to discuss that as well as discussing um the uh matter that uh the mayor uh brought to us last council meeting meeting about um uh the she the mayor wanted to discuss the audit so I think we'll do that as well um when it comes to the salaries and stiens I wanted to just put a um kind of a broad request out to uh the council um which is to kind of ask uh if you have any thoughts to to sort of share them but also to kind of asked like sort of what what what we if we're going to do anything to change our salaries or stiens um kind of what uh what are we hoping to achieve through that because I think that's sort of the place where we've run into I feel maybe uh sometimes not really knowing what what to go is you know in the past we had said oh well we want to raise them because we want to make uh this position more attractive to a broader group people for instance so that that's like a goal and then we can talk about okay what what do you what do we need for that so um you know is the issue do we want to examine Equity with other communities or is that kind of pointless because they all have different tax bases and economic situations or do we want to um you know just just uh look at uh do we want to put any particular time on any certain group I guess that that's the thing we're going to going to be discussing it so if any um if people want to come and speak or if they want to write anything to me uh that's fine borrowing anything I think there's a pretty good chance that we might just talk about building something into account for inflation and maybe go over some of the stiens and call it a day so if that's fine with you then great but um I just I I don't think I've gotten a lot of feedback uh from the council or or other than uh one person from one committee uh from a lot of the appointed positions either so if you have any thoughts on this i' I'd like to hear them um and that concludes that conclude y yes thank you uh Poli safety cons thank you Mr President um we have not met since our last meeting we will be meeting next Tuesday the 10th at 6 PM in uh room one um at that time we will be uh reviewing the uh the traffic rules and Order language we'll start to get into that um and there is a roadway infrastructure and pedestrian safety issue that uh was brought to my attention uh from some residents on West Street so we'll be discussing that as well I've notified them we be meeting uh so they can come for public speak and certainly that's an open-ended item so any issues along those lines around the city people should feel free to both contact your counselors but also to come to meetings to speak about that um thus concludes celor appointments C Riley thank you Mr President um the appointments committee has not met since our last meeting um we do have a meeting scheduled for September 9th which is uh believe that's mon yes Monday September 9th um and that will be in conference room is it I number two can you just tell me what it says on the wall there it's at the meeting room behind city council chambers small conference confence confence room number two thank R number two and thus concludes thank you consel no nothing um ordinance cons thank you Mr President um we last met on August 20th and we addressed the items on um the agenda um first to address the sign ordinance um as was presented uh in the last um agenda packet um we discussed the um striking language from uh section 10.09 6B um the part that includes election sign shall be displayed for a period of not more than 90 days days prior to an election and shall be removed within seven days after the completion of the election um so we 3 to zero we voted to strike that language because um this is a violation of First Amendment rights so it is considered political speech for people to be able to have political signs up um and so what would remain is the political signs are allowed at any time of the year no perit permit is required um and so it's pretty straightforward U there wasn't a lot of discussion on the matter but um this is um this is what the committee um decided on I don't know if there's other comments what ordinance and planning planning right both to ordinance and um so we uh would I guess like to amend uh the sign ordin section 10.0 96b regarding temporary signs uh to include that Amendment um and to send that to the planning committee as a as a motion second second can you please repeat the motion please sure um so we as amended uh sign ordinance section 10.96 um to strike the section that I included and leave political signs are allowed at any time of the year no permit is required and send it to the planning committee second to ordinance and the planning board yes so ordinance and the planning to the planning committee and then back yes we have a m second for this item any further disc discussion seeing none Barbara Cony denam hi Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez hi JP kazinski hi Tom Peak hi briad Riley hi Tamar Smith hi ow Zer hi Mo poses y thank you Mr President um so the other item on the uh agenda in this week's uh packet after deliberation with um our associate planner Dylan Maxfield uh who had discussions with the city city engineer and our interim Building Commissioner um we had um um suggested amending section 8.52 B regarding language of verification bya surveyor to include additional language around that but surveyor appears in different places throughout the um zoning ordinances and so what they recommended was that um adding the following definition in zoning ordinance section 2.1 um definitions which would include survey a surveyor registered in Massachusetts by the board of registration of Professional Engineers and land surveyors with an uptate license um and so what the committee voted three to zero to bring that back to council um to um amend section 2.1 um as well as sending it to the planning committee and then back to that's the second have a motion on second uh these item any further discussion see none Barbara Salem Derby hi Omar Gomez J gazinski Tom Peak Tom Peak hi sorry Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi Owen Zer Connie denim buzzes yeah and also just to acknowledge both of those um for the for the sake of the uh Community um we are now on the clock to um have this back and voted on within 60 days I believe yeah so just to acknowledge that the last item was a request for temporary moratorium on use of sewage sludge fertilizer in East Hampton um we had a brief discussion about that um the um agricultural commission um has put together some research regarding sewage sludge as well as pasas um and we are giving them time to be able to have that discussion amongst them El and so we want to be able to PRI allow give them the opportunity to prioritize that for themselves uh in terms of um the impact that this would have on local farms and so we want to be able to give them the the space to be able to have that conversation and then bring it back and have that conversation with all of us to to discuss impact but we want to give them the opportunity to have that conversation first and so um I will be reaching out to their commit to um engage them in a conversation of kind of where they are with that particular research and that's everything that the ordinance committee has to offer Council this evening thank you C property coun s we have incredibly full agenda here no no report uh Mr President thank you councelor rules and government relations coun Kinski thank you Mr President the rules and government Relations Committee would like to meet on Wednesday the 11th uh would 15 be a good time rather than since you have finance that will be coming up that's particularly important is it and maybe the clerk would assign a room and so that would would be announced who else is meeting on the 11th uh Finance oh 5:30 so 6:15 yep 6:15 at a at a place to be determined uh I know that with all the items on the agenda would be available for discussion but I think there will be particular discussion on uh rule C uh the introduction of council business with uh some ideas on perhaps even a format to uh introduce business so uh stay tuned thank you cons Thank you new business uh conselor Derby thank you Mr President we have uh three mayoral appointments and I would uh move these three to uh appointment committee uh Yoshi bird affordable and fair housing committee 1231 2024 Charles Cambra veterans Council 12 1231 2026 and Timothy Gro zba 1231 2026 in form of a motion second I have a motion on a second to send those three appointments to the appointments committee any further discussion see n Barbara Omar Gomez JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tamara Smith hi Owen Zer hi Connie Denham s andby hi motion passes we'll take a motion to aour Second motion second to aour Barbara JP kazinski Tom Peak hi Brad Riley hi Tam Smith hi owener hi Cony denim hi Salem Derby Omar hi have a wonderful evening thank you 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