There we go. Head start the recording. Um, it is 6:31 and I am calling to order the May 14th meeting of the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee. Um, I'm going to go ahead and read the thing and go
through the agenda. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via Zoom or by telephone. No inperson 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, so we will have the agenda review and announcements, uh, review minutes, any member reports,
public comment, Crescent DEI updates, resident oversight board, youth empowerment center, retreat planning, meeting with count council, any other public comment, and then items not anticipated. So that is the agenda.
Um, so does anyone have any announcements? Yeah. No announcements. I mean, can you all hear me? Um, I was going to say no announcements. Um, the So, I'm assuming DI because they send
their report, so they're not going to be able to make it, right? Correct. Because I believe it's their present youth. Um, yeah, the youth workshop at five o'clock. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Okay. I have their update. Yeah. Okay. All right. Sounds
good. Um, so the minutes in our packet, we have March minutes. Um, and we have Does anyone have
any additions or subtractions they'd make to the minutes or do we think we can approve them as submitted? Yes, Erica. It's minor, but it's Emmanuel Lutheran Church, not manual. Um, so I think that needs to be changed. Uh, and
I'm trying to think if it's the March or the April minutes. Uh I think it's the April minutes for the commission on disabilities. It says not versus now. It just changes the meaning of the sentence. Um so there you know there's
some minor things. Nothing nothing major. Um so if sorry my dog is barking. Um if anyone has any other changes um otherwise I think we could approve those
with the um assumption that those would be made. Um and I don't know if maybe you want to email me the specifics about them and I can get that to Angel. Um so let's see vote. Does do we
have a motion to approve April March and April minutes? I got ahead of myself for a second. March and April minutes. Um, is there a motion to do so? Approve uh the March and April minutes. So, I will take a quick roll call vote.
Uh, Deborah, yes. Lucette, yes. Erica, yes. Emerald. Yes. And I'm a Yes. Okay. So, we have March and April
[Music] approved member reports. Do we have any member reports? Well, yeah. I I'll I'll just report on the fact that you know throughout this month it's been you know besides our
letters that went out um you know in support of making sure that Crest and DEI uh did not get um you know their budgets um decreased uh and we actually said that we wanted more of a budget. Um besides that it was you know contacting
the town council. So, I'm going to be talking about this now and I'm going to be talking about it later just to make sure that that people understand how serious this is that basically contacting town council, not hearing from them. Um, you know, basically, you know, being ignored, you know, uh, CSRJC
is being ignored, um, and we're not being listened to and the community is is finding out about it. So, basically, we've had to take I've had to take the time emailing the town council, trying to attend meetings, all of these things. So to to send a message, right, that
that CrestDI and other um um you know departments and centers like the youth empowerment center, things like that that we've that CSWG has recommended, CSSG has stood behind um you know is just being ignored by the top. Um, and
so, you know, we're taking up all this time, all this energy, and um, Lynn, and I'll speak spec specifically to Lynn, who I've contacted again um, during this time in between and just being ignored.
So, but we'll we'll talk more about it when when the agenda items come up. Thank you, Deborah, and thank you for doing that. Thank you for reaching out. Um, and There is I know the finance committee is
meeting tomorrow specifically about the public safety departments. Um I unfortunately was not able to attend the budget hearing on Monday. I did just send them an email um as myself
just again advocating for Crest um because I guess in case people weren't aware there are two responder positions that are going to be frozen in this budget cycle for the crest responders.
Um, those are currently vacant positions, but it's difficult to guess whether or not those would be reinstated if if nothing is going to be improving with the revenue stream in
town. Um, one police officer position is also being frozen as well as a fire department position and I believe two positions in Department of Public Works. Um, no. One.
Okay. And then is there a reduction somewhere else? Uh, there I I believe the town in total there's six vacant positions that will not be filled. Uh, and then somewhere there's a part-time position in the town. I believe town staff.
Um so again, tomorrow is the specific finance committee hearing meeting on um the crest fire and police budgets. Um, I am willing to just write a quick
email either on my own behalf or as part of the group to say, you know, we are against these two positions being frozen. I mean, I think it could be quick and and simple, but I think it would be helpful to send at least a
message to the finance committee that we're paying attention and we are not in support of that choice. Yes, Deborah. Yeah. And I totally agree um that we should send something of this time, you know, um to get it out there because I won't be able because what time is the
budget meeting tomorrow? I think it's 4 to 6. Is that right, Camille? Yes, 4 to 6. 4 to 6. So, we want to put it out there for people to attend it, right? So, whoever can attend it, please do. And then I'll be sending out an email to my networks to make sure that people
know about it um so they can attend. um because I don't think I'll be able to attend because of already meetings that I have. Um so we should definitely send it out. But from what I'm hearing, and correct me if I'm wrong, then that means Crest, which is the newest uh department
that's been dealing with these critical issues, is suffering two frozen um um uh positions, whereas all these other departments that have a lot more people are having one one position frozen. So
again sending clear message clear message right that the most vulnerable amongst us that crest serves which is the most vulnerable amongst us is the department that's getting the frozen positions and the fact that you know I've heard that the other the what is it
the manager the one that Cat Newman the position that Cat Newman was in that she's no long that she's leaving because I guess the funding would end in July and that's another so that's another position so we need to talk about everything very clearly before this public comment so that the public understands what's happening here which
is basically you know trying to demolish crest program which was which is the program the pivotal the the the the the pivotal program that CSWG was tasked and charged to create and then obviously the other programs to be created too the
other departments the critical department that CSG was was tasked to create which CSWG recommended and and the town created which the town now is basically sending the message that they are demolishing it and that's how we have to talk about it. They are trying
to demolish it and that is clear. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And during this time when everything is happening, right, that ICE is in town and everything else is in town. So, so the town is clearly sending the message
that they don't care about all of the residents. Only the residents that have the money, only the residents that have the status, only the residents who um have the wherewithal to to to to get their their needs met are the ones that they care about, right? And the rest
that don't have that, they could care less. And I'm just going to say this right out front, right out loud, because that's who Crest assists. and it the clear message has been sent. Like I said, we'll continue to talk about this
throughout this meeting because this is ridiculous. Thank you, Deborah. Um, and I guess just to kind of piggy back off that, I don't know um specifically what has been going on
in Ammerst. I've seen more stuff happening in Holio, but again, seeing videos out of Worcester, seeing videos out of Chelsea, New Bedford, like the way that ICE is operating in the communities just kind of with impunity and and violence
towards families um out in broad daylight in public. I I know that our town manager and departments have made again a reaffirming statement about not cooperating, but I just I would like to
to know that that's actually the case that when push comes to shove, Ammerst police aren't going to be assisting with immigration arrests. Um, and I don't know I don't know what the status of that is right now, but I I
think that is something that I'd like to keep our group aware of and and keep thinking about how to support the community if somebody has been disappeared by ice because, you know, they're they're leaving
12-year-old children alone um taking parents in front of them. It's um it's just despicable. So well and to kind of to kind of add to that is just like but people even if and I don't know and maybe Errol might know more of it
because I know you know he kind of works more in that arena. Um I'm not sure what ICE has been in Ammerst or not but just the potential of it right just the fear of it. parents are are not allowing their kids to go to field trips and different things for fear that they
might get, you know, what have you. Because remember, it's not just, you know, families that that are undocumented. It's families that are undocumented, families that have any type of different visa status, green card, you know, and even if you you're a
citizen, if you look like me, you might get stopped and you might get harassed and you might I mean, people are walking around with their passports in hand. I mean, it's just an atmosphere of fear. That's what is happening. If you look like me and others that look like us, we are in fear. Period. Point blank. I am
in fear. You see what I'm saying? It doesn't matter what's your status. If you look like I look, you are walking in fear in this town. Period. And so, Crest is the is the place that you'd want to call. You don't want to
call the police. Even if the town manager has said that yes, we're going to not cooperate, I wouldn't trust it. I'm not going to trust it. I'm sorry. And so, I wouldn't be calling the police. I wouldn't want to call the police. I'd be calling crap. I'd be calling other other places for
assistance. That's the type of atmosphere we're living in right now. People that look like us. I thought people people of color, people who are marginalized, immigrants. That's that's what we're we're living in right
now. Period. Um I don't know if he has anything to add in terms of what is being seen around town from immigration perspective. Sorry, I froze a bit.
That's okay. No. Um, so I I I know that I I haven't heard mass information that they're in Amherst or here in Western Mass. I I know that
um I know I have a client who is still in ICE custody um that was picked up in in Amherst. I don't know if they've been back on a larger scale raid since that time, but one of the key things um I
think to Deborra's earlier point and to yours um Algra is what is our policy meaning policy on law enforcement um aiding ICE. So, one of the things
that we deal with um in the courthouse is that um I I know under the first administration, the state had guidelines about, you know, how ICE can operate in state properties and state places. And
one of the things that I know for a fact that um court officers do not and cannot do is they cannot hold a person in custody um because ICE has issued a detainer um beyond what the detainer
requires or allows. So it's, you know, if somebody gets arrested under due process, the officer, including Ammeris PD, cannot and should not hold a person just because um someone from ICE says, "Hey, we're
coming to get that person." No, it is um contrary to um due process. But earlier on, and I I haven't seen any statements changed or anything made differently, the town manager and the town council
did commit to saying that our law enforcement will not um aid in um ICE raids or ICE detentions or things like that. It doesn't mean to say, and I think the governor actually shockingly said this a week ago, that we're not
assigned to every state. Um however um you know there is no policy that says we're going to actively aid with um immigration custom enforcement when it
comes to our residents, our citizens. So it it is a matter of um whether or not there's a commitment um locally because that's where it matters the most. It is locally. Um
because one of the things I am learning with my clients being in custody is that there is no there the playbook has not been followed. You cannot get any information on anyone. Um despite how many petitions you file, how many forms
you filed and follow the ICE protocol, it's you still do not get information on people in custody. And it it is very unfortunate because yes um they don't care about the families
that get left behind, kids that are American citizens and you know that is the real impact. It's like you're not taking a person, you're separating, you're breaking up a family. And we need to have that commitment from the town to
say we understand if you know ICE has a detainer. Um and and people should understand that those detainers should be something issued by an immigration judge to say, "Hey, this person, there's a warrant for this person or there's a
an arrest warrant for this person or signed by magistrate to say, please detain this person." It should also specify a period of time and ICE should reasonably give you a period of time when that person is going to be picked up. Again, as we've talked about in these meetings,
unfortunately, they don't have to say where the person is going. And again, because it's federal, they don't have to keep the person local. Um I I think people saw the news recently where um in New York the mayor was arrested pro protesting the opening
of the ICE detainer in New York where again they're trying everything to you know just mass house people wherever they can. Um my person is in Rhode Island. It's not ridiculously far and
fortunately they have not moved him um yet um and key word there being yet. So there there is that but it's it's terrifying and unfortunately I wish I had a better
answer to say do this or do that. It's just that the things that people usually should do that we think is helpful to them is not being followed is not being respected um by this
administration. And so it's it's one of those things where again one of the the the things I deal with the most these days is literally just answering questions even for even from naturalized citizens as to can I travel, can I go
here, can I do this? And at best on you know two years ago I would say absolutely. Um you know live your life, go do this, go do that. But it's I I fear that, you know, just
navigating the system myself, being frustrated, I I I'm troubled to just give people definitive advice because quite frankly, they can rely on that to their detriment because just me navigating the system, following the normal protocol, I'm not getting the
responses that I should be getting. And so it's hard for me to tell people do this or do that. So it it is um one of those things where I I would just tell people just to be come up with a plan, you know, um have a plan for you and
your family. It's very scary to say, but that is literally right now the smartest thing you can do is have a plan for you and your family just in case. And while you have that plan, you know, your kids are going to
be, as hard as it may sound, it's have your kids go to school. It's their it's their everyday norm. It's what they know. It's what they're used to. is what um they should do is I it's mean kids
can sense fear and danger and things that you know change in their parents but to my understanding ICE is not and should not be allowed in schools and that is not just town policy I think
it's a matter of state policy yeah but that as you know they're not following protocol. Um, and they have said that they will show up in all of these places that before they they wouldn't normally do, right? Um, those are the some of the executive orders
that that um the Trump administration has put out there. Um, and like you said, I mean, obviously we we still do we still need to live live our lives and things like that, but as you stated, we need to have a plan. And for me though, you know, I wouldn't rely I'm sorry. I'm
not going to rely on the town. I'm not going to rely on the police and for police force to say that just because the town manager said XYZ because listen, we're CSSJC members. We're professionals. We're on this group and we've been asking them questions, we've been asking for meetings, we've and
we've been ignored. So now I'm supposed to believe that the town and the police and so on so forth is going to be actually their word and actually protect people when they're at their most vulnerable, which is possibly being
separated from their family. No, I'm I'm not going to I'm not going to rely on that. And that's why for me it's more so about relying on you know the places that I know will be helpful which would be crest and DI and other departments
which are the departments that CSWG um recommended that be be put in place. Those are the places that I'm going to to rely on. I'm not going to I'm not going to rely on the town manager or the town council or or any of the or the
police department to be holding true to whatever it is that they've said they're going to do. I'm sorry. I'm not going to do that. I also want to emphasize to um one of the things one of one of
the the the larger questions that um too that I've been answering is the the question of deportability versus admissibility inadmissibility. So, um if you're here
in in in in the country, um any immigration um to remove you is considered deportability. If you're out of the country, and this is this came up with a consultation I had with a naturalized citizen. Um
so in when it comes to travel and and I think that's um that's important because we've seen where um green card holders are targeted um for minor things. So it it should be important for people to understand that as a green card holder you're not
automatically deportable. Um there are certain things that you can do and and and that is based on um when your green card was issued meaning how long have you had your green card. There are certain things that makes it deportable
um and some things that do not make you deportable. However, even if the charge that you may or may not have may had does not make you deportable, if you travel and you try to come back, it may make you
inadmissible and therefore prevent you from coming back in the country. So, it is important for people to understand the difference and to look into that. Um, I I know um I've had people reach out to say, I'm planning a cruise. I'm going to these ports and at some point
I'm going to have to come back. Um so again very very important um for travel people are traveling. It's be mindful of you know you may call an attorney and you may give them information to say hey I had this charge um um can it make me
deportable? They may say no and that information is accurate but it doesn't just the analysis doesn't just end there. You have to ask about what happens when I try to come back. Okay. So, be very very mindful of that as well.
And and to add to that, like even you know, in terms of and and this is all public information like right at at the university and at other universities, they were um revoking um statuses right visas and things like that students and
you know and for not even giving a reason right and it's really figuring out even as to why. So what Emerald is saying that that's that's the thing that that you have to kind of think through and think about especially if you end up traveling out is whether you'd be um
admitted back in or you know that that kind of difference right between admissibility or even deportability because deportability they're also deporting based on first amendment right expressions right so if you said something or or took part in right
protests you know um things like that your first amendment so First Amendment has no strength anymore, right? Depending on your your your status here in in the United States or if you travel and come back in, they could end up not admitting you, right? Like if you travel
because we've heard of people being detained or question, right, when they come into, let's say, Boston, Logan, and things like that. So um those are are are questions and you know things that everyone needs to think about like even
for instance you know here at UMass so we always do with the um Kvering student alliance we always take students to do a community service trip to Kver right um but this year we've canled that trip right because again based on what Epil said this is an example because if we
take the students we don't know if we're going to be able to you know some of them would be able to to to to come back in, right? Not because they did anything wrong. None of them have, but just because they did everything right. But we don't know. They they're changing the the the ground is always changing,
right? The reasons as to why they're they're either deporting or not admitting people is is fast-paced and changing. We don't know. So, that's where um you have to really make those decisions. And so for for myself and other staff members who would accompany
these students, we had to make that decision that no, we're not going to do that. Even though of course it's it's very it's a it's a sad decision to have to make because not only are you impacting the country there that we always, you know, do the community service, but also the students, right, who are going to learn and going to, you
know, um take part in that and some of them who are seniors will not be able to to have that opportunity again, right? So um but yeah those are the types of decisions that right now given everything that's happening that every person needs to to engage in that
thought process and make those decisions a lot to think about. Hi. Sorry. Um, I have a question. I don't know if anyone here knows, but um, do they, you know, how like police have mark cruisers? Do they have any
sort of marked vehicles or like federal license plates anywhere that they can be identified? So, I think there are certain and vehicles that are marked with either ICE or um what's the one that the Border
Patrol ones. Um but I've seen vehicles in Holio that were unmarked, no license plate. They were usually like Ford Explorer type, you know, kind of like in the typical vein of what a police cruiser looks like. But they I mean
there used to be when I worked in Boston um there was a vehicle that was regularly outside one of the courts there that was just like a minivan and it was unmarked and we saw them take down people on their way into the courthouse numerous times. Um, so I
think that's so that I think last time I'd um given the number for the hotline and that's one thing that they try and verify is if people think that there's a vehicle that looks suspicious or looks like there might be some sort of ICE
activity, they can try and describe it. And so when alerts are going out um when something has been verified, it will say like silver unmarked Ford Explorer on this block in Waltham or you know I'm just thinking of an example but
just think of it as any law enforcement vehicle. I mean some are marked some are not marked so we shouldn't rely on that they'll be identified or marked. I mean, think about the girl who got kidnapped at Tus. And I say kidnapped because you know, like people rolled up on her, no
identification, no markings. Um, so masks on or they had like like half of their faces showing. Yeah. On any other day, we would think, oh, she's been kidnapped. Yeah. Unfortunately, even just what the officers are wearing isn't necessarily
identifying them. And I think there was a video in Waltham. Um, and the guy has the mask up like this and it was it was a city counselor who happened to be like on the street and was videoing what was going on and asking, you know, please
identify yourself. What agency are you with? And he wouldn't. And so, you know, I think that level of just, you know, we're not following the rules. We're not following the playbook. You asked for a warrant. I'm not going to give you one and we can do what we want is what's
really um you know even though it's still important to have the know your rights training and get that information out to people, right? They're they're clearly not necessarily abiding by um those rights which is really scary. So I I know that
um and I know we're getting sidetracked but I think this is important. Mhm. Um, not everyone who watches the news, but one of the key things that people should, um, and I know a lot of them happens pay attention to is all these lawsuits that get filed, um, in
different courts about somebody got was detained and is going before a federal judge because um, and I don't want to use the word fighting back, but a lot of the lawsuits that have been um, filed on behalf of people being unlawfully
detained have been found in favor of the person unaw detained. So the courts are doing their job properly to say no this is not okay and you know release these people or this person cannot be moved from Massachusetts, Louisiana or
whatever. So there's always bits and pieces of information out there and so it's one um unfortunately because they're been filed in so many different jurisdictions in different courts there isn't really one you can say well this
is not policy. No it's not one of the oneizefits-all. It may just be applicable to this person or that unfortunately. However, um it does add, you know, to a person's argument to make to say, "Hey, this court have found this or ruled this and therefore what you're
doing, um, you know, is in direct violation of that." But, um, there's a lot of cases that are coming up. Um, it's now at the Supreme Court. I mean, we're in May. We usually
get decisions like around June on key issues. I think birthright citizenship is about to be heard. Um I think it's either this week or next week. Um that is that is a very important one to pay attention to and you know I I'm sure
it's going to be whatever the decision is is going to be plastered in every news media once it comes down. But again, people should be very, you know, just part of know your rights is look at these big cases to say this is what the courts have ruled and that way you have
an argument when people just stop you and try to question you and without even identifying themselves and again you know there is no obligation if a person stops you won't identify themselves you are not obligated to stop and talk to this person or answer any questions.
Yeah. So it and that's that's very important for people to remember and understand. It's if I mean if somebody walks up to you doesn't identify themselves and start asking you questions, walk away. Yeah. You're you
know you have no obligation um to you you didn't break any laws, you didn't do anything um you know it's just like you would deal with um a police officer. It's again we're fortunate where most of our police officers are in uniform so you know it's a police officer but again
you broken the law you this person won't identify themselves or start asking any questions you are not obligated to stand there and answer any questions thank you all for providing your insight and coming with good questions and and good things to
kind of keep on the horizon. for us. Um, so I think if nobody else has any reports, I think we can move on to public comment. Okay. Oh, hello. You're way ahead of me and I
accidentally raised my own hand. Hi, I'm Martha Hannannah in district five. Speaking as an individual, I would like to go back to tomorrow's finance committee meeting and uh the status the
risks of to crest. Uh first of all, Emerald, I don't know whether you it's all possible for you, but you know, if you could say just two or three sentences from what you've said in these past 10 minutes about the risk to people
just as that much more emphasis of why crest is needed so that people can call somebody other than the police. You know, we've said that, but it needs to be emphasized again and again. And then to go on, the biggest concern is that
Paul did not fund the implementation manager. The excuse was it was on a grant and so it wasn't even mentioned in the budget review. You know, oh Crest lost two responders. They never mentioned that Crest lost their, you
know, number one assistant for Camille here. You know, it's really it was like telling Paul Bachelman, "Oh, yes, we love your management of the town, but we're going to take away Angela Mills." You know, and uh I I think this is
really wrong. Um I you know, my little three minutes worth or something. I again will emphasize the importance of that. But um uh as many people that could possibly speak up in some way tomorrow I think is very important. They
uh I've I've tried to talk to some of the individual finance committee members and uh two or three of them and they feel that you know crest is being under underutilized and really want to have a
review of the crest program. They say they support it still and it's not that they want to, you know, do away with it, but they say they need it needs a review and there's going to be this the Donahghue Institute that that um does that. I think that's for the future for
us to discuss. But um the crucial thing right now is to make sure Crest has enough funding to continue this very year and to for us to all stress how important their work is at the present time and the impact that Crest has. So I
just uh urge everybody to speak up and Emerald particularly if you were at all possibly available at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon to log in and say something. I think you command a lot of respect because uh of your uh background uh for
that. So um thank you all and um maybe I'll hear from some of you tomorrow. Thank you. Yeah. Someday, not today, I will learn Zoom.
Um, did did any of that happen? Did you hear any of what I said or did I mute myself the whole time? I muted myself the whole time. Um, nobody else raised their hand so we can move on is what I said. Um, so I know Philillip had sent along a report
about what DEI has been up to. I don't know if we want to bring that up or if Camille you want to quickly go over it. I actually have it brought up. Oh, look at you. I am getting better with Zoom. So, DEI update to
CSSJ. Uh the DEI department is nearing completion of the departmental trainings across all DEP town departments in collaboration with consultants. Finalized draft bylaws for the resident oversight boards have been completed. The documents have been
submitted to the town manager and is currently awaiting next steps. Outreach for the liberatory visioning process with Dr. Love has concluded. The DEI department is now working with Dr. Love on developing a final report. We are seeking
authorization to apply for a community heart and soul grant to continue this work once the final report is completed. In partnership with Citizens for Juvenile Justice and Crest, the DEI department is hosting a youth empowerment program on May 14th. It's
going on now from 5 to 7 focusing on the school to prison pipeline. Um the department part uh participated in the sustainability fair on May 10th, last Saturday. The department is actively involved in the town's hazardous
implementation planning group contributing to emergency preparedness and safety planning. The department is collaborating with consultants to develop an annual report and strategic plan to guide future initiatives and operations and upcoming events. In June,
we will be having our quarterly 413 DEI Connect meeting. June 2nd is the Pride Flag Raising Ceremony outside town hall at 5:30 p.m. On June 8th, Human Rights Commission Youth Hero Awards will be held in part partnership with the Race
Amnity Day at Mil River at 12:00 p.m. Nominations are now open through May 23rd and can be submitted via the HRC website. On June 22nd, Ammerst Pride Parade. The parade begins at Ammeris High School at 12 PM, ending at the Town Common. A
rally and resource fair will follow on the Common until 300 p.m. And that's it for DEI. Camille, do you have any idea if people RSVPd or were attending the um event today? I know the first one they ended up cancelling.
Yes. When I left today, there were uh half a dozen young people that were coming in. That's great. Yeah. So, um yeah, I I had been in touch with with Philip cuz, you know, Philip had outreached um to get like different people that he could kind of, you know,
talk to. So, I had sent him members of the community that work with with young people. And so, he was like contacting them. Then I had outreached to my son um and his friends, but unfortunately they ended up having like a track meeting at senior night tonight at high school. So
then they had to go to that, so they weren't able to go. But me and him were in communication all the way up to the start of the workshop. So at that point, he said there were already about seven people, seven young people there. Um but I think he was expecting about like
without the the ones like without my son and his friends about 12. Oh, good. So, I just I was at a conference today and one of the speakers is a person who had put together a film about racial injustice in the department of corrections, but he also does a lot of
youth outreach. So, I was like that was in my mind today. Um, and perhaps something down the road. Yeah. I mean, I think like the the names that I gave to um Philillip and Pamela in terms of outreaching and everything, there's there's some people there that really do
a lot of extensive youth development work. I think it would be a good idea um for them to outreach to some of those folks and really kind of create a relationship with them because those folks could really provide some coaching some things like that because you know
like even me I I've worked with youth for many many years but I would not say I'm a youth development expert. I wouldn't you know so you need people that actually do youth development work, youth leadership work, right? um um and
and they really have that kind of wherewithal in terms of how to work with young people, how to attract young people to events, how to really focus on things that young people want to actually deal with, you know. Um and I know that we did a survey so on so
forth, but it there's other aspects that are very much connected with working with young people which are very specific and very tailored um you know to to that population, right? And especially if we're trying to also attract really right the most
marginalized, bipac youth, all of those um young people that really need um you know these um types of you know information and access and things like that. You do you have to. So, I'm just kind of saying it out there because I
did send them some some things, but um there's several people that I have in mind that really the town should be working with um to kind of, you know, do more to to really connect because what we want to do is connect and build a relationship with with these young
people. Especially since, you know, the the the town and I'll continue to say is ignoring us around the youth youth empowerment center. They don't want to create a center for for the young people. Then during this time it's about really how can we connect uh with young
people through this programming which is difficult if you don't have a space for them to really gather space that they feel is their own right space where they feel comfortable to go to and things like that it creates it's it's a huge barrier. Does anybody else have any comments
around uh DEI update belong to Chris? Okay, let's see if I can make this work. Okay. Um, so this is the crest report for today. So the first slide I have is
showing January 2025. These are our total number of interactions which was 199. Um, and as you can see, this also was put into the newsletter last month. Um,
and this month we have some of them. Um, and as you can see, like February it was up 114% the amount of interactions. Um, we have the collaborations with social service agencies, with local businesses, our
resources that we've distributed, and the number of walk-ins that we've had. March, the total recorded interactions with neighbors went up um 896, which was 110% increase. and the
large increase of interactions and resources distributed can be attributed to the um drinking event on March 8th uh which we're involved in. We also had the social service agencies, local
businesses and of course there were a lot of resources that we distributed. there were 17 calls from walk-ins and then April it went down of course because of um it's still around the maintaining the same 296 interactions
with neighbors uh collaboration with social service agencies local businesses went up um dramatically and resources distributed and walk-ins to crest. So here we have what has crest
been up to. This is for the month of March. There were 72 calls for service. Assist neighbor was 22% 22 which is 30% of our calls. Nine calls for assist business
outreach was four. Transport we had 14 transportation calls. Um, this is mainly due to the fact that the senior center has not had a driver and Crest has been attempting to fill in for our seniors who are unable to get to their
appointments, etc. Um, that the van driver was trying to do. um well-being checks 10 follow-up six and then there were three uh assist to AFD or APD and four
engagements for the month of April. It was 57 calls for service. Move this over. Um 40% of the calls made up of cy neighbor, four calls for assist business, 13
transports, three well-being checks, four followups, and there were 10 engagements. So this is 2025 so far and this is talking about the total recorded interactions with neighbors. And the
main thing about this is these are um recorded interactions. So if folks just stop by to say hello, don't have a particular need or just want to come speak to us, we don't have um those interactions recorded here. This is just
strictly um people that we've actually had um CADs made for and again u large increase was because of the drinking event on March 8th. So if you look at this now this is
September through December 2024 and if you look at the number of interactions with neighbors so we had a 61.5% increase. um also because of the drinking event but also because people we've been
getting out more and um doing more in the community. So the collaboration with social service agencies 35 local businesses 18 resources distributed 711 um and that's also due to the Crest
connections um and our newsletter and 88 neighbors walked into the Crest office. So this is the comparison again for the two four um the two four month periods and this is just a bar graph that shows where we
are and this is showing let me see I don't know if you see my thing here the population served um because there has been question about who we are serving and as you can see a majority of the people that we are now
serving is uh uh represents a lot of Ammerst which is um a lot of seniors 60 plus and adults. So this is our call data um for FY24 and then also it's talking about
our Microsoft form. So this is um the new this is up until now 513 uh 2025. Um so this actually the it's FY25
um which was 11624 um until 6:30 25. Oh no, excuse me. I might a little messed up here. So um there's this distinction between the calls for service and CADs made as CADs only began in
121823 and FY24 runs from 7123 to 6:3024 and Crest has been receiving initiating calls for service since September 2022. Also, the term mental health can refer to either a C CAD call type or a distinction responders mark on
the Microsoft form. From 11623 until 6:3024, responders mark 54 calls as perceived mental health with 10 dedicated crest mental health CAD calls. Currently we are working on the EE survey which is the equitable
approaches to public safety. So this is the program that's funded within the division of violence and injury prevention. Its goal is to work with municipalities to develop and implement comprehensive public safety reform using public safety reform partnerships and broad stakeholder involvements. I've
also included the link. So responders have been distributing paper surveys and a QR code through that will go through the end of this month. It's available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. And if people would like to participate, they can contact me at
my email theaccammersmass.gov. Also, I want to mention now that in April, we announced we launched Crest Connections and this initiative is to inspire students through reading and hands-on activities. It creates a fun engaging environment
where students can de develop a love for books while building meaningful connections with community responders and is a part of our public safety community engagement and this is all from the EES grant. So for the first
book it was my pet slime and the activity was slime making and 18 youth were engaged in this. Here you see the book, The Wild Robot. And what the the youth did is they made robots. And for this one,
there were 27 students that were involved in this. And actually, um, we had to tell the teachers to stop sending people because there were so many kids that wanted to come and do these activities. So, some of the feedback
was, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The town came through for me and my family for the first time ever. Um, this was a neighbor that we had held. And from the school, this is the first time I've ever seen the kids sit this still actively listening to a
book. Also, our newsletter, it's published monthly and we um distribute it in person to 30 locations. the Ammer Survival Center, Hitchcock Center, the Bridge Center and CSO, Craig Stores,
etc. Uh we have a direct link to the newsletter and if you go on the town website, um when you click on Crest, our tab at the top, it will take you to our page and if you click on the newsletter, it will um take you right to the updated
newsletter of the month. There are also links for the past ones. We also have a sign up which is here and if anyone else wants one they can just email me and I can add you to the list. For trainings, we've had
Monica Belaluchcci, who's a licensed mental health counselor who's been working with us on situational awareness, and Sarah Shefflin, who is a licensed independent clinical social worker, which who is teaching us and going over one of our main modalities,
which is motivational interviewing, MMP, which is the morning mentoring movement program. Um, we have one responder who has been engaging with the youth at the high school 3 days a week. And tomorrow is the town budget
review meeting, public safety. It's going to be presented from 4 to 6. It's on Zoom. Um, see the town website for the Zoom link. Questions? So, I guess I I have a question. So right now how many responders are there
actually? We have five. So five responders. Um yes Newman is is stepping down. Um no her position as is grant funded and the grant for EES will end as of
July 1st and that her position is part of that grant. So her her position is basically going away and yes and it won't be refunded. No, not unless we get the grant again.
And at this point right now with the current uh political situation um it doesn't look like we are going to get the grant again. So basically it would be you without you know well with cat obviously kind of almost serving as an assistant direct
role type of thing and then it will be you and then five responders and and our administrative assistant. Okay. And you have an administrative assistant. Mhm. Exactly. So we will have one position open for a responder. Did you apply for the
grant? Um the grant the grant was a rolling grant and the issue is that it is not being funded. So we we already are put in for the grant but at current time uh we were told by
our uh partner at the DMH Department of Mental Health um that right now that the governor has not put it into the budget. So, um there our local representatives are
fighting to get uh the funding restored and I think at this point now they had put $100,000 into a a line item for the grant. So, um a lot of what I do ties to the state budget. So I do pay um attention
and and so I I think I don't know if you get updates but from your contact but um I with each committee that the budget moves through I think sometimes things change. Um is it still the position as
of today that um it may still not get funded or do you know if you know it maybe has it been added back and still up for debate? Um, as far as I know, it's still not added. The additional funds, uh, what
was put into the bud budget was $100,000, which is not near enough. Um, at present time, there are six communities that are funded through this grant with the same $100,000 or
that's what I'm assuming. And and do we know of any other grants um maybe from you know not tied to a state budget or a government budget rather that we've been actively we've been actively
looking for grants but again that is part of the grant um I mean the implementation manager's role is to look for additional grants. Does this person have grant writing experience? Um, she does write some of
the grants. Okay. So, we also, you know, look for grants and does some of the grants and then there are also some other people that have helped us. And I will say this that um the EES our EES partners have been
helping us try to um like seek other grants. Um also uh Trury Research has been working with us and right now they are in they are the ones that are in the process of
doing the um the surveys etc. to find out um where how how effective the grant has been for the communities. So, if I can just turn um in in in the
um just leave in the ground for a second in the report that you presented just now, there were a couple calls in there that says um APD and AFD. Can you can you
articulate what those were about? Um, a couple of times there were calls. So, one of the calls was for uh folks that had gone through a fire and needed some assistance um for APD. Uh there was a call where a
family member had um I think at this point the the family member had passed and they needed the family another family member needed um transportation to get to the hospital and so Crest
provided the transportation for this person and also was there to um like deescalate and be able to be there to listen to them um and provide comfort. Last month um in in last month's
meeting, it could have been the one before as well, I think. Um if I remember correctly, the town manager was going to present to the town council um the crest's progress. And I think I'd asked
if you were going to be part of that presentation or provide any um talking points to the town manager. Um can you talk about that if that happened and how did that go? Um I provide on for the monthly report
for the town manager. Um I give them information and updates of what Crest has been up to. So for example um for this past month I spoke of uh Crest Connections and the positive impact that
it has had on the youth. Um I also spoke on the newsletter um MMP um same things that I have put in this presentation. Uh also spoke about the uptick in the mental health calls
that we've gone to. Um and um trying to think of some of the other stuff. Uh but everything that I had spoken to him of was in there. Oops. Sorry. I'm trying to pull up my
emails. The That's um That's okay. So, one of the things that um you know, I I I understand um budget constraints and everyone trying to balance a budget. So, I'm I'm
not completely not um mindful of that. I mean, as I said a few moments ago, a lot of what I do is tied to the state budget and we're advocating for more funding for certain things. Um but my concern is that
um from the data that you just presented, you know, Chris is anyone outside looking in not understanding what the mandate was or is which is um
an alternative to policing. looking at this information would suggest that Crest is a social services group. And within that realm, within that context, I can see how it is easy for
the town council to just look at this based on that information and data and to say, "Oh, we don't need these two additional people or we don't, you know, or or this is, oh, the police is fine. Um, you know, the police is doing all
the work. Um, Crest is not taking any calls from the police. So, I I'm I'm just worried and and and while I'm worried um as a director of Crest, I'm just going to ask you and it's okay if you need time to think about it. I
mean, is is Crest really focused on the right thing that puts it on the town to say, "Hey, the original charge of Crest was to be alternative policing and they're
doing that and as a result here's, you know, it's there's a compelling evidence, compelling reasons for us to keep funding this department or, you know, I'm just a little bit concerned that in the status quo Oh, as is. They
may look and be like, "Oh, they're helping doing these things." And quite frankly, from a budget perspective, that's not really a priority for the town. I'm I'm a little bit concerned and worried about the optics um based on the
data that um that's, you know, that we've seen and that we're looking at and that we've talked about month after month. So, I don't know if there's any opportunities for us. Um, and I know our retreat is coming up and that's one of the things I wanted to discuss at the
retreat is how can we as a committee help bolster Crest um to be viewed by the town um differently because I'm genuinely concerned that part of the reason why the committee um not the
committee rather the town council um it's it's easy for people to say no things when they think it is a certain thing when actually we're trying for it to be, you know. So, I'm just a little bit concerned if we're giving them ami
if ammunition for them to just treat it as a social services um group where where it shouldn't be. Okay. So, let me I'm going to answer that question. So, here's the thing. You have
to understand that police and fire also if you put it in that vein are also social services because we provide a service. So the difference is the key points are is that um the task of crest
was to fill in the gaps. Okay. And what we're doing is we are intercepting the frequency of calls to the police. So instead of um we have a neighbor who would call the police multiple times a
day um with this or that um some and also has some mental health concerns and instead of calling or going to the police they call or come to us. So those are the type of calls that we get. Also,
we have an elder who, as I spoke before, who was being evicted and Crest was able to go with um the inspections department to this person's apartment and was able
to bridge between them, inspections, and their landlord, the management company. also were able to help them to um we were help them to give them the autonomy to be able to speak to the court um to
be part of their to support them for mediation so that they no longer had to deal with the police. Now this person also has had some very negative um interactions with the police and would not open their door etc. And now because
of the relationship that they have with the crest responders is able to uh go to mediation and was able to accept the help of others so that they their apartment is no
longer condemned. They are living back in their home. They were also able to get help from the court system. and there's somebody that you have to go to court first before they um allow this program
to help them to clean up their apartment. So, they were able to get that. So, the the the thing is to differentiate between a police call and a crest call. So what's happening is is that people are not calling the police,
they are calling Crest instead if they're having difficulty, if they're having mental health. We're also very much um working with other departments. So there has been uh talk about how um
the police work with morning MMP uh wreck works with MMP. Um we also will um collaborate with inspections. We collaborate with other businesses. So businesses will call us directly and to
move people along. um Craig Stores rather than call the police to have someone that is there that they want they no longer want there will call Crest and Crest will go out mediate help the person to find out what it is that
they have their needs for and help them to to actually be there to listen to what their concerns are so that they can move to their next place peacefully. And this is the same thing that is happening with businesses. It's the same thing that's happening with library. Um there
is no longer the need to call the police to move these people that um along for them. So these are all the types of calls that would normally go to the police that are no longer going to the police. Also the same thing with um we
have people like I said that would call the police multiple times a day. We have a neighbor who we've helped out um who would call the police because they did not want maintenance to come to their apartment um and instead Crest was there
to be a liaison between their maintenance people um so that they didn't have a fear of having the police called on them. So there's a lot of work that we're doing. We're addressing other needs and it's not that we're a social service agency. It's that as public
safety, we are all part of the social service process. It's just that we have more connections to help people and in building these connections with businesses, the town, and our neighbors.
So, I I'll make this final point and ask one final question before I and stop hugging the mic. So I I think everything that you've said just now is actually very brilliant and actually is the point. Um but the the the question is
though I mean I think there's an up here that you know you're you're assisting all these other departments within the town. Um, have you capitalized on that or can you capitalize on that to say, you know, I
mean, draft the petition and have all these other departments sign it to say, hey, here is our support for Crest because Crest has been doing all these things that has been benefiting us. Is is there an opportunity for that? And
and I think that could bolster an argument as to why CR should be fully funded. I think what's happening now is um one of the times that I went offcreen was I received a call from um an agency that's
going to be at the meeting uh tomorrow to in support of Crest because we have done a lot of work with them. So, I think that definitely with the newsletter um and all that's been going on and the amount of uh emails and
people speaking up in the meetings that people are really coming out now in support of Crest and understanding more of what it is we do. And when you and and I think that's also part of um the surveys because the surveys will show
here's what we're doing. Um and again this is all through uh a research a researcher that's doing this. And the other part I know that that's going to come up is the difference in
the original mission and also one of the things is what is it that the EES grant the equitable approaches to public safety. Um part of that grant was is that we had to work within the community
to bolster uh the BIPO and that's part of our youth initiatives. Those are all part of the grant and the main thing with the grant was is that the grant is not to take care of everything. The idea
behind the grant is to bolster what we're doing and then for the cities and towns um to help make it sustainable. So what we're trying to do is take everything that we've done so far thus far and to make it sustainable for the
future. Are you all set? I am. I I know you guys haven't had it for a while, so I'll I'll stop right here. Oh, that's fun. Obviously, you can circle back again if we don't ask some of the questions that you need um answered because this is important, especially since you know the
town is is taking these actions. Um, and I think Camille, I think, you know, that's the thing that with us right here in CSSJC and especially me being an original member of CSWG, um, what we're saying is like we just want to position Crest in the the best
way possible for their because the the and you've seen it. I mean, council and other members of the Ammerst community, they've always been resistant to Crest. They didn't want crest to be uh created. They only did it really, let's be real,
because of what was happening on the national scene and the George Floyd and a lot of the guiltiness of people at the time as to why um you know the town of Ammer said, "Okay, we are actually going to deal with um you know with our racist
structures and our institutional racism that we have in in town government." And that was then, right? That was in 2020. Now we're fast track 2025 and people have all rolled back and we we're seeing that right we're seeing that with these major corporations everyone who said
that they were going to be doing all these things for diversity equity inclusion push comes to shove right which is the bottom line and everyone is rolling things back and so town of Ammerst is following suit the same same thing that that others have done they're
positioning themselves and have been positioning themselves to do the same thing right which is roll back, roll back, roll back. And that's what's happening here. And so for us, what we want is to fortify Crest as much as possible to withstand the attacks that
have been coming and are more so at our doorstep, right? When they're freezing positions and then another position is ending because it was part of a grant and obviously because of the the the the budget crisis right now because of the
Trump administration. most likely that position is not going to be refunded then that means literally that you are down three positions right when at the end of the day. So so with with that being said I mean I understand and
that's why we're we're asking it not to put anything down on Christ. I think you all have done magnificently given what the cards that you've been dealt with right and the things that you all have had to deal with. But that's why we bring it up, right? The resistance and really on the police um department's
side and on the town side in terms of dispatch, not dispatching calls to you all on you all not being able to take on all of the other matters that are nonviolent that Crest could actually be taking on, but they're that that they're not. So, they've actually been
sabotaging you all all along as as to why. I do get it that of course you have taken on other calls that the police would have gone but you could have taken on a lot more calls if that sabotage from the police and the town hadn't been care and I can say this I know you might
not be able to say it but guess what I can say it and I'm going to say it right which is what's what's occurring so that then it becomes a fatal complete right that then the town council like what Martha one of the folks that that spoke to there earlier public comment who's
talking to town council. Oh, well, they haven't been really, you know, working up to par and things like that. Yeah. Why? Why? Because the police and department and others in in town and in in the town are not utilizing you all to
the full capacity. And I know that you all wouldize more and everything. So, it's kind of like sabotage so that then there's a reason for them to freeze the the positions. I mean, again, we're not idiots. We see it. We see the playbook. we see what's happening. And so that's
why I'm calling it out because the the point of the matter is is that you all could be utilized a lot more and that's not happening. And the other part that we've said too, right, if you all were being fully utilized to the full potential, the other part too is that and we've talked about it. If you all
had some hours even in the evening, right, to be able to take on some of that those calls that we know a lot of times happens later at night when they're when people are more in crisis. A lot of things happened in the evening and that opportunity hasn't even been
given to you all. So all I'm saying is that I'm I'm calling it out and I'm naming it. You know what I'm saying? I'm naming some of the things because you all are well equipped and well have the wherewithal, right? The training, the the everything else and we're seeing it based on everything that you're saying
that people are utilizing you. But I think what's happening is that the town and the police are not allowing you all to be utilized because again the police department they're afraid right they're afraid that if you are utilized more than as what we predicted what which is
what we wanted then there would be less use for for the police which is why you all are an alternative to police. I'm sorry, but that's why we created you all to be an alternative to police cuz the police are intimidating and and to our our our town's people, especially those
that are bipok or those that are most marginalized. So, I'm just putting it out there and I'm saying I don't even, you know, you don't have to respond to it. But the question that I do have though is around so we've been hearing this this this question around the
Donahghue um institute doing a review of Crest. I'm just like what is that about? I it's so um part of the uh town manager's um I think I don't know if it's a mandate was
that um to do uh an evaluation of crest an independent evaluation um and um I'm not sure where that is. I do know that um uh there are
uh people in town hall that are working to figure that out. Um but I do know Yeah. But my question is when we CSW when we were creating Crest we had um hired LEAP um as
consultants work initially to really kind of like look at what was the need in terms of like crest and things like that. So why wouldn't they hire LEAP which is an organization that's tried and true that actually has this this type of experience. Why would they hire
the Donna Hugh Institute which again is a white in institute and going to say is that as far as I know they have not hired anyone at this point. Yeah, but we've been hearing we've been hearing the the conversations that is Donna Hugh that they're going to be hiring. So that
is not what I was going to say that is not what I've heard. So um well I'm just letting you know that those are the those are the rumors out there that the Donna Hugh Institute is going to be hired to do this review. So again, I'm putting it out there, right, that the
Donghue Institute should not be hired to do a review of Crest that LEAP, which is a triedand-true uh um consulting uh uh uh organization that has the expertise in law enforcement that did the first um
you know, that consulted with CSWG that that is why we came up with these recommendations that we think are very much in in line with our charge, which was to create a program, a department that is an alternative to policing. They should be the ones to be hired if
there's any type of review because they've already they already have a history with the town. They've already done a lot of the work previously. So, why wouldn't you hire Lee? It makes it's zero sense. And again, it but it goes in line, right? So if they hire Don or any
other uh outfit to come in to do this review, it goes again in line with what they they are doing which again like I said I can say it which is sabotaging crass and sabotaging uh the CSWG's recommendations. I was going to say I know I read the
lead report but I didn't know that they were hired as a consultant for to do this. So that's news to me. I'll have to look into that. Okay. They would be the ones they already have the history. They they're very succinct. They have the expertise. They would be the ones to if
there's going to be anyone that would do a review, it would be them. I don't even know why it would make sense to bring in Donna Hugh Institute or any other outfit when we already have uh already uh you know work that was done by them. They
were consultants with CSWG. Okay. I I'll look into that. Thank you. I'm done. Um, Algra, uh, so I kind of wanted to piggy back off of what Emerald had said, um, because I I I understand
the concerns that he brings about the the mindset of people in town who are already like looking for reasons to dig into Crest a little bit. Um, and I just I think that you reframed or you framed things really well. And I think
sometimes thinking about the reframe of okay well you're just providing transportation but if you're providing transportation to an elderly resident who otherwise might have turned into a medical call because if they didn't get to their appointment or didn't get their
get to their prescription if they were diabetic for example and didn't have their insulin that could have turned into an emergency right and and by providing that preventative care Although it might not seem like a
public safety scenario, it it is something that a public safety department might have been called in for otherwise. Um, and if people would bear with me for a for like a minute, I'd like to just read um from Miriam Cava um
talking about police and abolition. Um, and so it says, "Abolition challenges us to ask, why do we have no other well-resourced options? pushes us to creatively consider how we can grow, build, and try other avenues to reduce
harm. Repeated attempts to improve the sole option offered by the state, despite how consistently corrupt and injurious it has proven itself, will neither reduce nor address the harm that actually required the call. We need more
and effective options for the greatest number of people. Let's begin our abolutionist journey not with the question, what do we have now and how can we make it better? Instead, let's ask, what can we imagine for ourselves and the world? If we do that, then the
boundless possibilities of a more just world await us. Um, so I think that that just kind of kept the idea of we call the police in these situations because we don't have anyone else to call, but really like an armed person with a gun
isn't the right person to give a ride to your elderly grandmother to the hospital. Um, and I think the the situation of getting a loved one to the hospital following the death of a family member is really important because that
I mean having gone through death of loved ones myself and and you know having not great reactions afterwards like that is a a point when having somebody that can be supportive and just listen and and to get you to the place
that you feel like you need to be in that moment um without having to worry about driving and being unsafe and like going through motions to get yourself there to just have somebody that you can rely on to get you there in that moment is really important and very powerful.
Um, so I do think that even if it doesn't seem and and maybe this doesn't need to be explained to you, but to to be stated to town council like these are the kinds of situations that people can take a really wrong turn in and and it can
become a disturbance or if you're given the correct support, it it will avoid escalating to a situation where police might be involved because a being cared for in the moment in a way that's going to
prevent some of the the things that could potentially go wrong. Um, so, so I do think that that's an important um, like the examples and I know I know we've talked about this a lot whereas like the
numbers don't say exactly what you've done necessarily even though the numbers are looking like they're getting bigger and bigger. And I'm thinking about that in terms of like you are just one shift of threequarters of the team that you're supposed to be right now, right? Because
you only have five responders. So if there were eight responders, would those numbers be higher? And if you were 24 hours like originally envisioned, how high would those numbers be? Or if you were in the mo if you were operating during the hours that leap had
identified as like the most impactful or like the most calls to police that should be diverted to crest. What would those numbers actually look like? But we haven't been given the opportunity to answer that question because again like Deborah said, I feel like there's been,
you know, oh no, we're at the bang center so we can only operate until 4. Oh no, you know, we're we're only operating with eight responders now six. Um, so we haven't been nurtured in in a way that can really let the program show
its full capacity, its full capability. Um and that's that's an important thing to note that you know it is even though um I think people expect that a new program or I think that one of the things that is difficult is that as a
totally new program and if you look at alternatives to policing around the country they all look different so it all depends on what is your community's needs. So in Ammerst there are a lot you know we have um the amount of
universities and colleges that we have in one small area. Then there's the amount of young people that are living in these homes. Then we also have on the opposite side a very aging community. So the question is is like what does
diversion look like and it looks different in different communities and that's one of the things that Ammerst has you know it's very high and very low. We have very wealthy people and at the same time we have a good percentage
of people who are living below the poverty line. But if you look at just the pure numbers that um go out, people wouldn't think that, you know, if you look at them, you think that Ammerst is a very wealthy
community. Well, yes, it is. But it also at parts is a poor community and people don't want to talk about that. You know, the people that have the need or the people or like the schools. Um, and one of the things that we have
dealt with, I know there was something in the paper about why wasn't Crest at an incident at the middle school. Well, one of the things that we talk about is that the um, like I'm trying to think of the word
we use, but uh, one of the things that CRE does not go to is calls of violence and medical. So, and that call was both. There were people who were fighting and then there was part that was a medical
emergency too. So those are both not crests. Now we have been called to the school or had parents or part of the school call us to deal with students who they thought were going to fight or who talked about they were going to fight and we went there and mediated and also
met up with the bus to talk to the kids as they got off the school bus and talk to the parents. So those are the type of things we can do as restorative justice. We can mediate and we can also be a voice. And I think that's the important part of Crest Connections is getting in
touch with these kids and being a voice for them and being there to say um like morning mentoring, morning movement to be there to sit there and notice that um like bipac youth are not targeted. So
they know their rights. I mean all these things that we've been working with DEI know your rights with the recck department to get to know these youth. These are all types of things that in the long run are diversion. They are
diversion because if you reach kids early then they're not going to have to deal with the police. Erica, thank you. I just wanted to be clear. Um, so you have right now five
responders and two vacant positions. Yes. Okay. One vacant position. One one. Well, one because the other two they're not they're freezing, right? Is that why? Right. They're freezing the two freezing the two responders and we're
losing the implementation manager. Yeah. So they have one because they had eight Erica before. So So now they have one vacant because the other two are being frozen and they're losing the implementation manager because of the grant. Right. So they have one vacant uh
which you're going to be allowed to replace. Yes, we'll be able to fill that position. Okay. So you'll have six, but you have two uh positions that you will not be able to hire for. Yes. And then you have your implementation coordinator
who is grant funded and the grant's going to end in July. And that Okay. All right. I just wanted to be clear on that. All right. Second question is tomorrow. I think you said you're going to present at the finance committee. Yes. I present at the budget review. So,
um I will be the last one that'll be presenting. So, I So, sorry. And and that's that's a good question, Erica. So, do you know what the itinerary is? because obviously with me I'm going to try to but of course it's it's really busy for me and stuff like that. Do you
know what their agenda is like from um having gone through this only once last year and again I'd only been on I'd only come in uh less than five weeks before um it's to talk about your budget and
also for the town council to ask questions of things that they feel are relevant. Um so like um I mean I have a list of questions that were sent to me. So um that is one
of the things that I was working on was having answers um so that I can answer succinctly and not you know but I mean things but I'm saying same things that we've talked about today like diversion and what is Crest's role and you know
the amount of calls that have come to Crest instead of going to the police that type. No but I was going to ask so do do we get to do a public comment in the beginning or no? Yes, there's public comp. Yes. Okay, there is. Okay, thank you. Okay, so another question um which
I ask all the time. Where is where are the protocols that allows dispatch to send you your calls? Um because if that's still not in place, you can't be evaluated on something you have no control over.
So the implementation manager was working um on our uh operating procedures and at the macro level those are done but again now that there will be no implementation manager um I don't
have the time between everything else to be working on this however I will say this the current um sup superintendent supervisor of um the uh emergency communication center
has been working with us um twice a month on Fridays to go over these and um Jason has been 100% in uh you know support of Crest and has been sending the calls and will call us if something
comes through. So that's why the calls have gone up from um the ECC aka dispatch. So when this is fully in place, you're going to need more responders to make sure you can respond to them.
So don't forget to I So in looking at the presentation you provide today, you showed what you were doing. I think it should be really clear what the town's going to lose by you not getting those two positions filled and you losing the implementation coordinator. They need to
understand what the town is going to lose by not having that in place. And once that dispatcher protocol is in place, the APD is going to be expecting that you respond. And if you don't have the capacity to respond, that's what
you're going to be evaluated on. So you definitely need those positions in place. Um and then I just wanted to clarify one thing. I think what I understood in terms of the town manager, the town council had asked the town manager to provide a um a review by the
end of June regarding Chris. I don't think he's using somebody from the outside. I think we maybe maybe I have this wrong, but I know because I was going to ask this under the youth um center, youth empowerment center, that was where the Don Hugh Institute was
going to do another review of what youth needed in order for them to then figure out the youth empowerment center and that was like $50,000 and we've never heard anything about what was happening with that $50,000 and what Donna Hugh Institute was supposed to be doing. So,
I just want to we might be confusing it a little bit. So, I'm going to say but Erica, I'm not confusing it. I've heard from the comm community from community members, there's been rumors out there that they're going to use Donna Hugh to to review Crest. That's what I'm telling
you. So, I'm not confusing things. This is I'm I'm just putting out there the rumors that are out there. Whether it comes out to be true or not, I don't know. But I I don't trust it, right? I have to put it out there because I don't trust the town. We need somebody to come to our meeting
so we can ask those questions and have those answered so we're not you know if it's true then we need to answer you know have answers why and if it's not true then you know it could be dispelled by somebody coming here and and meeting with us. Yeah. But but also but also how
is the town equipped or has the expertise to review crests? The town doesn't have the expertise to review crest. The town manager doesn't have the expertise to review crest. I do think it's a good idea to bring in some some pe someone with expertise like leap that
we work with before who we actually trust that have the knowledge base and the expertise because they they were actually a path law enforcement that has worked with alternative programs around the country. So they're a outfit that we
trust. So there we go. You know, I just wanted to say when you asked about Oh, I was going to say Erica, when you asked about the Dunning Hugh Institute and the youth empowerment, they did come back with the report on
the um what was available in the town and around the surrounding towns. Remember the map? So that did come out. Thank you for the reminder. Are there any other questions for Camille at this time?
Um, Camille, I don't know if I've asked you this before, but do you have any Spanish speaking responders? Uh, I met my present. The implementation manager does speak some Spanish, but she's going to
be gone. Um, no. No, not fully. Not fully. Um, there are some that speak some Spanish, but not fully. Okay. Um, and God forbid, you know, you lose one of your employees or one of these responders. Are you going to be
able to fill that position with the freeze? Right now, we're going to be budgeted for six responders. So, and as far as the um we also have the pocket talks which we have used, we just recently used with someone who spoke Mandarin. Um
that was Tuesday, yesterday, Monday. Sorry, today's Wednesday. I don't know what day it is. Um so that was Monday. Um we had an elder come in who speaks primarily Mandarin. So we were using the pocket
talk. And then we also have um the town has a translation service. Okay. Um can can someone just send the the link for tomorrow's budget meeting um to
our group so that then send it out to you? Yeah. so that then I can share with my networks to make sure to see if folks can attend tomorrow's budget meeting. Thank you. So I think we can move on to the Rob.
Um so first off I just again wanted to express my deep deep gratitude to Deborah and to Camille. [Music] Um, I obviously joined in Deborah's place after Deborah recused herself and
I will say that my experience on the Rob committee was far different than Deborah's. Um, and I would say that there was one variable that had changed besides me. Um, and that was that the police representatives were no longer participating.
And I think that there was some movement in the consensus of the group around what they would actually like to see in the resident oversight board. Um so we had our last meeting last
Wednesday at which point there are three separate versions of the document. Um and so what it is is the bylaws. There's one version that is integrated. So it has like kind of choose your own
adventure. So the you know one is going to be the you know most of the language is the same in both options but then there are specific spots where it will have you know if review board then this would be the language. If investigatory
board then this would be the language. And then they did do that again but separated out so it was just the language for a review board and just the language for an investigatory board. Um and we did that in part because some people found it easier to read all in
one document and some people liked having them separate. Um but what because there was objection from the police and some of the community members about the idea of an investigatory
board there. The the idea was to present the two options to town council. Um, so my understanding is that they would have
to take the documents as they're created now to the town attorney for review. And then once those have been reviewed, there would be a town council meeting in which my understanding is that Paul would present
the information. So, not the committee that came up with the bylaws, but Paul presenting to the town council. Um, and again, this is conjecture at this point, but likely how it would go. Um, and it would be helpful
to get some clarification separately. The police department is doing its collective bargaining starting this summer to renegotiate their contract. So, it's likely that this would have to be
bargained. Um, so that does give a hopefully a little bit of impetus for Paul to get this on an agenda sooner as opposed to later so that it can be well, one would think that it would be helpful to have that on the agenda
sooner as opposed to later so it could be included in the collective bargaining, but again, it could always go the other way where it's stalled. Um, so, so there's the bylaws that were
drafted and then the charge and kind of an idea about rules and procedures, um, which would probably be ironed out more by the committee itself once it's seated. Um and the
consultants do have as part of their contract some of the like you know helping implement the actual board itself is my understanding and like coming up with some of the you know putting together the training package
and that kind of stuff. So their contract is supposed to be up by the end of this year I believe um because the work was slated to be completed within a year. So again, that would be another reason for hopefully this to get on the agenda.
I'm assuming it wouldn't get on before July because of all the budget stuff that goes on between now and July, but hopefully it will be on the agenda at some point over the summer. Um again
there the other decision point that was contested was whether or not there would be subpoena power and the um the bylaws will present that again as another choice point. Um, and there was
some discussion around the subpoena power and whether that would be damaging to some of the potential witnesses. Um, in in cases, if you were subpoenaing a person in the community
versus subpoenaing the police, what kinds of implications would that have for, you know, a community member? um and whether that would be retraumatizing. Um so that was part of the discussion that we had as well as um
whether or not a police who is subpoenaed would just assert their fifth amendment right um against self-inccrimination which again is afforded to everybody. Um so those were some of the points that were brought up
in the defense of no subpoena power. Um, but again, it was a majority of the participants in the live meeting that were in favor of
the subpoena power being restored or being allowed in the bylaw. Um, again, the opposition is largely from the police and there were also community members who expressed
concern around that. Um so in terms so the the information is in the packet the three separate options. Um, and it does it sounds as if there
would not be a separate public meeting to weigh in, but that it would be a specific public comment period within the meeting dedicated specifically to the resident oversight board
question. Um so again it's something that we would need to know about when it's going on there and try and mobilize people to come um to that. But the the documents are as they will be presented
to the town manager. And so those at this point are in the public domain because they're in our packet. So again, please feel free to share them with people. Um again they are not
asking us specifically to provide feedback that they will accept and change any of those documents. But I think if we have ideas of what might
be missing or you know ways to advocate um for the the thing that would be the truest to the vision of community safety working group. I think that would be helpful to hear about. Um, Deborah.
Well, first I want to thank you, Allegro, obviously for taking this on, coming in midway. Um, I know my hats off to you because I know it's it's not an easy task, especially given all of the, you know, resistance um um, you know,
from the police and I again, like I said, I don't have any problem saying it. um and and really, you know, trying to really at every point uh put a barriers to having the resident oversight board put in place. Um but I
guess I do have some questions in terms of clarity. So you said, you know, and I understand that the police weren't weren't at the meetings, but I thought that the chief was still kind of like providing feedback um right on So he did provide written feedback. Um
and that was again I he it came the first meeting that I joined was you know he had provided his written feedback already and it was again the big issues of whether it was a review or investigatory
body and then whether there would be subpoena power those were really the only big like content discrepancies that there were that he commented on and did not have a shift. Well, I just want to put it publicly though that at least, you know,
the police did have input in it afterwards and things like that. So, we just want to make that clear, you know, that they even though they weren't at the table because they they recused themselves because they chose to do so that very be very clear that they chose to recuse themselves, but still there
was some written input that were provi was provided by the chief. We just want to make that clear. So we we we know that. Um the other part is so it's going to the attorney, the town attorney. So what does that mean? So does the town
attorney get to change it? Get to um say before Paul or whomever is going to present it to the town council. Does he get to say, "Okay, well I I changed this that the third. This is where I changed it from what the the the committee the
the resident oversight committee had proposed." because I think that's going to be very important, right, to kind of see whether anything gets modified and where it gets modified and things like that. So, do you know what that means in terms of it going to the town attorney
and and what's going to happen before it goes to the town council? I mean, I imagine that it would be a review to make sure that, you know, we're not wildly out of compliance with the law in terms of
what can be done in a resident oversight board. Well, I get that. But I mean, but I think what we want though because I'm an attorney and I both attorney, you can always um you know, justify things all sorts of way unless it's definitely legal and and you know, obviously I
don't think anything that you all including here is definitely legal illegal, but you can always argue both sides of of the fence all the time. So, what I'm saying though is that we want to be clear that whatever this town attorney comes up with that we have an
opportunity to look at that, right? So that it's not just fluff stuff that comes up as to why certain things cannot especially well for me I want is the investigatory one to be put in place and things like that especially to counter whatever the
investigatory um you know uh power is. So all I'm saying is that we want to make sure that we review whatever this town attorney says is legal or not or what what have you. And so I will reach out to Rabbi
Deb and just kind of verify what you know if if it comes up with a lot of red pen what what next like because then that kind of violates the work of the group. Um
um and then and then two other points in terms of what you said. So um no public meeting. I remember when I was there that was one of the things that we really had talked about is so again the town is trying to curtail the voice of the community is trying to make
sure that um we don't have an opportunity to really provide feedback on this because why isn't there going to be a public meeting right and that was one of the reasons why I ended up recusing myself from the group because I felt like they the the group itself and
and the town wanted to make sure that that the community did not have as much feedback and as much a knowledge base around what was happening around the resident oversight board. So it is really not acceptable that there won't
be an opportunity to have you know the pres the the the consultants present to the um to the community okay this is what we did this is what transpired so that the community could have an opportunity to give feedback before it goes to the town council. That is an
utter disrespect to the community. I'm sorry to then say, "Oh, well, it's going to go to the town council and then within the town council, you're going to have a few minutes to public comment on it." What what what is that? Again, you know, I'm just pointing it out the
disrespect and the the the the real kind of um dismissiveness that the town has towards community voices because again, the resident oversight board is to make sure that these public safety um services, the police and crest are
serving the the community and that community can go if they feel that there's something that's not working well that they can go and actually have a a place to vet their concerns. So why is it that you wouldn't allow the community to provide proper
feedback to these drafts? And why is it that now you're getting these little whatever time period in a meeting which we know that those meetings who knows when and when and where and and so on so forth you're going to be able to even
speak and things like that when they give you that little three minute uh uh you know clock can only talk for three minutes and things like that. That's ridiculous. You know what I'm saying? is it's again very dismissive and very um
silencing to the community for something that's so important given what is going on in this country given the the move to oppression that this country is going down the path even more so that the resident oversight is going to be important so I I don't know if you have
anything to say in regards to that but that is just not acceptable that they're not giving they're not presenting this to the community and allowing the community to provide feedback, proper feedback. Just that I agree with you.
And then and then the other one I mean you know um these these uh consultants you know I I won't kind of put my viewpoints in regards to the consultants that worked with with the resident oversight board but I'm I'm
kind of like not in in line with them being the ones that are going to do the implementation and and do all of those things. Um, I thought that they were just going to be the ones to kind of create the the, you know, help to to draft this, but why is it that they're
now going to be providing the training, going to be doing the implementation, you know, why is it that they're doing everything as opposed to finding other consultants that could be more appropo and have more of the expertise to actually do that work? Um
especially in line with you know having a resident oversight board that actually has some power because again you know if the town council go down goes down the path of having a review resident oversight board is going to be a a weak resident oversight board that really is
not going to have a power to do anything. So I mean I'm just because obviously I got to work with these consultants and everything and I think that it there should be a separation. they should only be there to help put those in place, but then there should be
other other consultants, another group to actually help implement. I mean, I guess I didn't know that until this last meeting that was um discussed during kind of the timeline of when this would hopefully go in front of
the council. Um, but I guess that was part of the original contract, which I didn't even think about or know. No. Yeah. And I mean, they told us that too during when I was there that that was going to be happening. And I was just like,
what? Why is that the case? Why is it that we're going to still continue to have the same consultants to to assist, you know, down the path? And I don't think that that's a a good idea. I guess my only answer to that would be if that was
how the RFP was written, which I I don't know if that's what it specified, but I guess the other flip side would be then it would be a whole another RFP process that the town would probably have to go through to to get a third set
of consultants for this the implementation phase. Um well I mean for me it's just that I I just think because obviously I was a part of it and everything that a lot of
a lot of a lot could have been avoided if certain things have been dealt differently by the consultants. That's why I don't have I don't have faith that they're going to be able to actually um you know do a good job in terms of
implementing what it is that we want implemented by the resident over site board. So because a lot of the implosion of of what transpired that really ended up being on me to kind of like push things along um was because you know there was
this whole thing of just like oh let's all just kumbaya together not not understanding that this is a very this is a very um difficult topic that a lot of people have you know a lot of ideas around,
right? Very specific ideas around and and beliefs around because of different experiences that someone that looks like me is going to have than someone that looks like someone else, right? And so um and so I think that these consultants really just kind of didn't take that
into consideration um which led to some of the things that led you know in terms of me recusing the police recusing this and that because not really understanding the culture of Ammerst thinking that Ammerst just because people call it the happy valley it's indeed the happy valley. Yeah, it might
be happy for some, but not for for others, you know. Um, and so that's why I'm just kind of like, you know, I don't know if that's the best um use of of our taxpayer money. Mine's just a quick question. Um, I
looked on the RO website and in light of, you know, what Deborah's talked about in terms of transparency and Alger you mentioned too, I don't see anything on there in terms of these options nor any timelines. So, uh, I think that's very sad. um you know, not having one,
you know, just talking about having the community have input and two, not even having it on their website so people can at least look on the website and see what's happening, what the timelines are, and what the next steps are so they can be prepared. Thank you for that comment, Erica. I
hadn't looked at the website, but it's important feedback and I can again reach out to a consultant [Music] and ask those two questions. One, if it
could get on the website and two, what is the process if there's a lot of redlinining of the documents by the town attorney? And and lastly, like if if they don't if the town manager doesn't move quickly so
that um you know the bylaws could be put in place um and and this could be bargained you know within the union because that was one of the the the kind of sticky points then you know right there it's going to be a problem. So it
does have to right any changes to the police do have to be bargained um through the union through you know the the the union bargaining you know time period. So this does need to be so there there should be a timeline and the timeline should be very clear in terms
of what's going to happen and if there's no timeline so that this can be bargained with the police then again we already know the the sabotage is in play any comments about the resident oversight board before we move on.
It's empowerment center. We don't have any there's no update. I mean, Paul hasn't, you know, gotten back. No, no, no one has been um you know, no representative has been sent from Youth Empowerment Center. As we all
know, last time supposedly $50,000 was used by the Don Hugh to do a review. We never got any outcome of that. So $50,000, right? A big chunk of money, nothing. The rest of the money, which would be $450,000, went back to whatever precash
um you know, hasn't been allotted anywhere. I've asked to um you know for us to to meet with the town council, ask Glenn various times. Nothing. No response at this point. First she said that she wasn't even going to meet with us and then this last time that I asked
again, no response at all. Um and so again, the only thing that I can think is that they're going to just use the money for other things. Um and not establish this youth empowerment center. Again, a slap in the face. And again saying that our most vulnerable uh
population which again is our young people right our young people who need a space especially our bipok young people that they don't matter I guess move on to retreat planning since there's all update other than same
old. All right. So, retreat planning, we have a date. Uh it is Saturday, June 14th. We were going to be at the bank center. We have that reserved. Uh and we agreed from 9 to 1:00 p.m. If we need
less time, we'll end earlier. Um and um we I think I need to check with Camille again if we h actually have any funding uh for food, but Emerald also said that uh he would be willing to also support this. Um so you know planning on getting
some refreshments. Um, unfortunately Pat Rooney who would have loved to facilitate this is not available in June and she did give me uh a name of someone else to contact and I have contacted her and she has gotten back to me that she
is interested in having a conversation but I followed up with trying to schedule a time and I have not gotten word back. So we may have a really great facilitator or it may just be me facilitating us and having the conversation. Um, and I think it would
be important, um, Emerald was very clear about one of the areas he's interested in having conversation about. If anybody else has something that you want me to make sure is going to be covered, uh, then let me know because, um, Pat and I
did go over, um, what we wanted to do, what we thought would be important to do. Uh, and there's plenty of opportunity to have conversations. Um but if there's something very specific um you know definitely let me know um to make sure that we cover those before the
end of the day. Um we we may think that 9 to1 is a lot of time but it's going to go fast. Um part of what we want to do is uh just get to know each other a little bit better. Um and then really get into, you know, uh taking a look at
what we want to see as action plans um that we can focus on and move forward with and possibly even think about subcommittees. We're a small group so um subcommittees may be two people um and we're also hoping I don't know if
there's any movement on um more members. It would be really great if we had more members before the retreat because part of this is sort of um level setting of all of us. Uh there those of you who have been on this committee for a very long time and have been really the
backbone and and really have made a lot of movement even if it's just letting the town know that we are watching, we're hearing, we're acting, we are we're not going to let these things go. Um, so for those who are new, which me
is one of them, um, it's really great to have an opportunity to sit down and think about what we've done and where we want to go with this. Thank you, Erica, for um, you know, taking the lead on this and obviously putting this together. I was wondering if, you know, since we were going to
have it a little while ago, but then obviously, you know, um it didn't end up working out the date, but if you could kind of send the agenda, the the draft agenda out again, especially since there's so much going on, especially on the national scene and state and local,
um given the the current atmosphere out there, maybe we might want to tweak the agenda, you know. Um so, if you can if you can send that out to us again, I'd appreciate it. Um, and then for Camille, yeah, I mean,
I don't even know why there's this issue about like not having money for food. I I just don't get it. You know what I'm saying? Cuz also, I was on the the resident oversight board. It was always like money for food for that one. You know what I'm saying? So, why is there money for food for that board? For that,
not board, but group. And then we're a committee and there's like no money for us to for food. Why do we have to rely on on our own group for that? No, actually as as I said before um yes we I can use
um as it's part of uh EPS I can use ES funding. Okay. And do a food and beverage funding for food. Okay. Great. All right. Excellent. So then that's Erica if you can follow up with Camille and let's just get that done. Um, and
then in terms of the town manager and the new members, Algra, when was the last time we've heard from him about the new members? Because we haven't heard from him. It's been a while. I feel like there was a general
like call for members for groups of all sorts. And I believe there the other day, what the other day uh was posted about the positions open on committees. Yeah. Okay. And so I think they'd originally put like, "Oh, please respond
by like May 17th or May 24th or something like that." So my guess is that soon we would hear about scheduling interviews. Um I think the cycle generally is that people come off
committees at the end of June. Um and I know that there are at least the housing trust has like four members vacant right now. So, I think that will, you know, what they tend to do is like fill, you know, prioritize committees where there
wouldn't be a quorum, which as of right now, we're like just sneaking by. Um, but I will follow up. Let me write down all my tasks. Follow up with Paul. Yeah, because you know, like you said, at least we have quum right now.
So, like you said, we might they might give a more priority to those that don't, which makes sense, right? Um those that don't have quorum should should be the ones that have more priority. Um but since we are planning a retreat, um if we were able to get some new members prior to the retreat, that
would be perfect so that we could also um fold in the new members, the newest members, because we know Erica is still a new member, but the newest members into the into the retreat. And then Erica, whatever you could do too to um
talk to the other person that you're trying to talk about facilitating um be would be great because you know it would be better for you know you to be part of the conversation as opposed to having to facilitate. Um and then I think that maybe what we could do to kind of like put some pressure off of
you so you don't have to facilitate the whole time is just maybe each us of us members can facilitate a section. you know, I don't think it should all be like on you and things like that. We could each take on an agenda item, whichever agenda item we think is, you know, we're more passionate about and
then we facilitate it, you know, um so that then it doesn't have to be all on you. Thanks, Deborah. I think that's a great idea. Um but I am hoping because this person really um comes uh well recommended. So, I'm hoping that this
person will do it. Thanks, related to the retreat. Yes, Erica. Sorry. I wanted to see if the part if any participants had a question. Instead, I put my hand up. have meeting with town council and then
public comment. It is 8:46. Well, meetings with the town council. Like I said, we don't we we no updates. Lynn has at this point just ignored my last communication with her when I when I um contacted her about. I do know that
our liaison was going to outreach to um you know town council members and Lynn and so on, but I haven't heard back from from our liaison, our town council leaison. So hopefully we'll hear from her in regards to that too. Um but I mean at this point I don't know if we
just want to send something to them especially around the youth empowerment center. um because we need to ask them to earmark that money um you know for the youth empowerment center because I think the longer we wait cuz I thought
we were at least going to get on the agenda you know get on an agenda. I didn't think it was going to be an issue of them ignoring us. Um, which is the other disrespect for them to ignore a town committee, especially a town committee dealing with um, you know,
social uh, justice and equity and and inclusion in in in in the town. But again, that's just me. Um, but yeah, I think we should just send something just you need to ear mark it. You know, you
need to earmark that money because I'm really afraid that they're going to take that money. That's really what's going to happen, especially during the times that we're living in. And obviously with the town ignoring us, I just feel that they're following suit in terms of the um um national atmosphere and and the
ways that the nation has been going. I think the town of Ammeris is following suit or trying to follow suit down the same path. That's a good idea. Um Erica, well I think a big question is do people
understand what equity means? Uh and if one they do and they're not willing to support it, take it out. take it out of the mission statement or any of the definitions because um this is the time where you step up to the plate around
equity and um we're not talking about equality, we're talking about equity um and when you think about you know the reparations committee when you think about you know all the things that you've said Deborah and Eveald in terms of very vulnerable populations and you too Algra uh in terms of the very very
vulnerable populations that exist in this town. Um, you know, we can be an example to other towns. And actually, I'm looking at Hadley and they're doing some pretty interesting things as well. And equity means that sometimes people who have a lot or have more step back
and those who don't, that's when you put those resources to those who need the most, the marginalized, the most vulnerable, um, and the people who have been historically and currently uh, disenfranchised. So if that's not what that means or that's not what we stand
for, then take it out. Please just take it out. Um because it's just frustrating um and it's disheartening um and it's hurtful um to feel that you know there's a statement that talks about equity but people don't stand behind it. It does
it's really meaningless. Thank you Erica. Shall we move on to public comment? All right. Um, if you are Oh, no. I keep on raising my own hand. That's not what I'm trying to do. If you are in the public and you want to make
public comment, please raise your hand and we will bring you into the room. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madasi Obriad Pasanti Sana for all that you all do. Um, I just wanted to chime in uh
relative to the connection with the reparations work. Um, our uh the group that I was a part of for the for the town of Ammeris, the African Heritage Reparations Assembly, uh, one of the aspects of our report is being um has been discussed and is being acted
upon. Um we're just going back and forth in some of the language of the charge and uh one aspect of the language concerned um the membership how we had we had originally suggested just a a
small nimble five member group. Uh, one counselor when they saw that thought it should be expanded, thought it should have certain designated roles such as someone from CSSJC, someone from uh the the recreation department, someone from I
don't know, she she raised a a couple of uh uh you know a few different things. We sort of pushed back on that idea saying that, you know, reparations and the report we made recommended some
things that that may dovetail with things that the WCK department or dovetales with CSSJC or or human rights commission or whatever, but we didn't see burdening um like the the in order for the that
that is part of the membership of the committee, we'd have to have these individuals or someone uh that's extra work. That's extra work on that on on that member of the of these related
units of the town or or related committees uh or commissions and we just didn't see that when the actual item that might be relevant for that group, we can just meet with them when it comes around to that. Okay. And the other
thing I just would add is um CSSJC uh the the recommendations these are things that for the benefit of all the town. Okay. Whereas reparations is really focused on
the specific uh descendants uh community and and the larger black community. Um whereas the the work of Crest or the work of uh DEI office or the work of uh uh a resident oversight board, those are
things that will benefit and bring about harm reduction. Yes. For members of the black community, descendants of the enslaved community, yes, but it is also benefits everybody in the town and is designed to benefit all people of the
town. anybody with in a mental health crisis. Doesn't matter the color, okay? It might matter the color, but it it the the programs are set up to benefit all members. And the same with the resident
oversight board. that's a com a place for anybody that's uh uh has a complaint to be heard and to and to so anyway I just want to say that while we feel many of the recommendations you have made are things that are good and supportive for
the entire community it is not to be lumped in as oh we're doing reparations when we do crest or we're doing reparations when we if we when we create a resident oversight board that's not that doesn't fit our definition that doesn't fit our criterion and what we
wor the report we worked on over two years to produce. So, I just wanted to make you all know that we are out there trying to clarify, trying to to make sure community members and especially counselors are aware of the differences
and and and understand that in the in the future implementation body that we hope will be created soon. that um we we we hope there are areas where we can work in a in a mutually beneficial way
with uh with various town commissions and committees and and units. But uh but the work of our group is really laser focused on the particular community that was harmed by slavery and and creating a
system of redress and restitution for that specific community. It's not a it's not about a race. It's not about anything like that. It's about a specific community of harm that we're trying to address as a as a town related to the wider
anti-racism systemic efforts, but but it's different. So, thank you. Just wanted to to add that uh into the mix. Thank you. Good evening. Can people hear me? Yes, we can.
Anyo. So, first of all, I want to thank all of you for your time on the committee. I um want to start by stating that I'm very concerned about the
morale of uh the crest staff and um the fact that our town government can't see the value the benefit of Chris is really disturbing.
So, I hear a lot about numbers being thrown tonight, you know, 68, whatever. But the original recommendation by CSWG, which I was a member, was actually double that amount. And so, unfortunately, I won't be
available tomorrow. Um but I think the finance committee the the community need to be reminded again that the original recommendation was I believe uh
15 staff for crest to include evening shift overnight shift. So I also want to comment on what is happening on national level. I feel that it mirrored what is
happening locally with our town government. The only difference is that our town government is just pretending because um with our local government they're pretending like they support equity, they support social
justice. But history has shown us when it comes to certain projects like Crest we're talking about right now the youth center the bicultural center that we you know CSWG
recommended how the APA funds was funded reparation that Dr. Shabbaz just um you know talked about is stalled is stalled and there are certain code words
that is being used are being um re-evaluated. When I hear that, you know, as a business woman, it's a way to just, you know, push it, you know, on the corner,
um, as a way to give excuse that, you know, we are all for equity. We want to do it, but we want to re-evaluate. So, those are good words. For me also, I like to watch where the money goes. I think we should,
you know, remind ourselves that we are all tax payers and who are benefiting most from the tax dollars? Who gets to keep their job in
this town? What type of projects are benefiting uh our residents? And you know, I don't want to prolong my brief uh public comment, but um money is everything. is king and the
people in power make that decision. This is a local election year. Unfortunately, sometimes the folks most impacted by discrimination don't go to
vote and that frustrate me. We do have a local uh political action uh PCA um progressive coalition of arrest you know uh that resident can you
know support rally people we have a lot of issues that people can raise this year you know the budget thing to get people to go and run for officers I feel it's possible if a black if a black woman
from Africa can run a very successful company. I think it's possible for us to change the makeup of our town council. That's where we can get any solution or get any in progress forward
without having elected officials that represent marginalized group in this town will be talking the same thing year after year after year. Unfortunately, I also want to talk very briefly about Donahoo Institute. Beside
that, it is um white le organization. I don't want to mention name but that organization is also in cahus with some of elected officials. So they put out report
that council leadership wants to hear tells them to do. So to me it's all waste of tax dollars money when it should go to you know proper use um in terms of so I also want to thank
um Algra Deborah Camille and everyone who served on Rob um you know and Aligga thank you for the update to have multiple reports just tell me it says a lot about this town
Um, I don't see the reason why we can't have like one one report, the real thing. But that's a mess we're dealing with, you know, is the power people, you know, that run this show in this town. Unfortunately, I will say right now, I do not have faith on the
reports. Um, I just want to put that out. And um finally I just want to announce that my organization uh uh my group Black Business Association of Amest Area will be sponsoring um our
signature event uh Junth on June 19th at St. Bridges Church from 6:00 p.m. is free to the public. That would be, you know, it'll be fun.
This is the first time we're moving it to in uh inside. It used to be outdoor, but this year we're doing it inside. And I just want to really shout out and acknowledge, you know, a few families
that started the Junth celebration here, the Shabbaz family, the Cage family. people will kill me but you know a couple more um about you know more than 10 years ago and so you know for BBA we
you know um is our signature event um what else did I want to say so that you know that just it um I hope people will show up tomorrow and advocate for crest and
um good All right. Thank you all. Thank you, Mr. Pratt. Martha Hanner again. Uh, thank you all for for all your thoughtful things for this for this meeting and for the two speakers who just spoke too for your
thoughtful comments. I mean, you have a a lot of issues on your on your plate. Uh, at the moment, I'll just I've got my onetrack mind. I'll stick with crest for the moment. But, uh, I would like to urge you then, Deborah, you made up a a
very good suggestion of using LEAP for the for the study. I would like to suggest that you folks write a official memo or do something official right soon and send it to uh relevant people to uh
suggest that using LEAP and and why this this should be done because it sure makes sense. I hadn't thought of it but it but it it really would be very logical to do and I think we need to publicize it real soon in order to to
affect that. Yeah. And for Crest, I do agree with uh Errol's concerns. I'll be a little more charitable. I would say that for a lot of people, you know, some of the council members or others in the community, it's just they don't really
understand Crest's mission and what they've done. You know, it's really a matter of how do we define safety? you know, if you're taking a person that is that is confused and distressed and uh helping to transport them to a safe
place, doesn't that count as safety? Um and uh so I think that that's a discussion that's going to have to go on, you know, over the next months and so on is is really to, you know, support press in the bigger sense. But tomorrow
the biggest concern is really trying to u the funding and what I had suggested um and unfortunately it's too late for for our friend cat but I had suggested and a couple of the uh finance committee members had thought that sounded
interesting was just couldn't they come up with bridge funding for the implementation manager from some source uh you know extra cash or whatever with the anticip anticipation that uh that it would be possible to get some other kind
of a future grant and so it would be something quote temporary. It wouldn't have to be a permanent position but there should be creative ways to to get funding for what's basically uh needed here. Um anyhow the best we can do is
just to try now to give specific examples of of how crest is helping people I think uh and make make our council members think of the individual situations uh of where crest is really making a
difference. So that's the first step and then we'll um move on to see if we can make sure we get some public input from everyone both about uh the crest evaluation and then about the RO. So
good luck and thank you all for all your work. Thank you Martha. [Music] hands up this [Music] time. Um, so let me just look at the calendar.
Um, our next meeting would be Wednesday, June 11th at 6:30. Um, so that would be a few days before our retreat. Um,
and normal time. And I will do the same thing, ask for agenda items um, the week before. so that things can get posted on time. Um, and other than that, I suppose we
can say good night. It is 9:07 and this meeting is adjourned unless anyone has anything else to say. No. Okay. Bye. Good night everyone. Good night. Good night. Thank you very
much. Night. Good night.