was gonna do was ask Athena to open us up. >> All right. >> Thanks, Athena. Uh, and are we we are recording? Perfect. Okay. So, it is 6:31 on Tuesday, October 28th, and I am calling this meeting of go to order. I'm
going to check with each member of the committee to make sure that they can hear and be heard. We'll start with Lynn Griezmer, >> present. >> Councelor Lord, >> present. >> And I am also present. Uh, and I also just want to check in with our guest, Chief Ting. Can you hear us? And can we
hear you? >> Uh, loud and clear. >> Perfect. Thank you. All right. So, we are going to jump right in. We've got a packed couple of agendas here. So, let's jump right in with public comment. If there are any members of the public who would like to make public comment, go
ahead and raise your hand on Zoom so that we can allow you to speak. Public comment will be up to two minutes. going in four, three, two. All right. So, with that, we are going
to move on to the uh proposed urination defecation bylaw. And if we could bring in Andy Steinberg as chair of TSO um into the room, that would be great. >> Okay. >> Thank you so much. And I'm going to pull up the document
for discussion. All right, welcome Andy. Thank you for joining us. >> Thank you. So Andy, if you could uh so just as a reminder to committee members, we are here to discuss clarity, consistency, and actionability of this bylaw, not
whether or not we personally agree with it or any substantive substantive issues that we have with it. Um so I'm going to start if we could. I'm not sure if Andy or Chief Ding, one of you would prefer to go first, but I'd love to hear from from you an overview of what was
discussed at TSO and how this bylaw came to be. Um, so Andy, would you like to go first or would you like Chief Ting to go first? >> I can go briefly first and the chief can explain uh what was behind uh the
reasoning for asking for it. Uh, as you know, uh, councelor Mandy Johanni sponsored the bylaw and it was referred to TSO and her stated reason at the meeting for
the bylaw was that the chief had requested it is uh providing another option for his department. um when he uh uh when they ran into problems that had
to do with uh public urination was at the time um we went through um several steps in developing a bylaw uh looking at other Massachusetts communities that
had similar bylaws of which we found two and uh one was East Hampton and the other was lol uh the chief spoke with the uh current chief of police in East Hampton. Um and uh we initially
developed a bylaw that was a combination really of the two cities in Massachusetts that u had similar bylaws. Um and then when it was referred to um the city attorney Lauren Goldberg, she
suggested a much simpler version of the bylaw and uh um we were um we looked at it and realized that it would accomplish the same thing. So the uh TSO uh
committee then uh voted for the simpler version that was recommended by the city attorney. So that that's basically it and I think the chief really is a better one to fill in um anything beyond what I said.
>> Thank you Chief Tang. >> Thank you Andy. So, you know, I'll tell you, uh, our number one complaint overall in general in the town of Ammeris that we receive are quality of life issues and certainly we are in a unique situation being a college town and such a diverse community. We have
people from all over uh different walks of life from all over the place. um you know we have obviously our main community we also have visitors we have transient people uh that come in for various reasons you know whether it's a semester or for four years or whatnot um
so that makes our situation a little bit unique in terms of we get a little taste of everything um but again you know our community really struggles with quality of life issues and over the years there have been several bylaws that have been developed to kind of handle and keep in
check some of those quality of life issues. For example, we have an open container bylaw. We have a keg bylaw. We have a nuisance house bylaw. We have um a bylaw for no more than four unrelated people. And all of these bylaws are kind of created just to kind of maintain
order and some type of control and to have some tools to utilize uh so it doesn't get out of hand. Um, so with that being said, coming from experience, um, you know, being a patrolman myself and being on the streets for a number of years, this is something that I would
encounter quite consistently is public urination. And this is from a host of different not I'm not singling out any particular group, but you'll see it uptown uh near the bar scene. You'll see it all over the streets, especially when there's uh house parties all around
town. Um, so it's very prevalent and it's something that our officers deal with um on a weekly basis and we get tremendous amount of complaints from neighbors and citizens that people are urinating in their bushes, people are uh
indeently exposing themselves as well and it just kind of lessens um an unwritten standard that we have in this town that that it shouldn't be like that, you know, and certainly I understand that you know within our town, there aren't a lot of public
restrooms. However, with that being said, the situations we're encountering, I don't think it would matter if there are public restrooms available or not. It's a matter of um convenience for some folks, you know, that are out partying or whatnot. And this is no different than many other college communities.
This is something that's that's very similar. Um so, uh Mr. Steinberg had referenced that we had spoken to East Hampton. uh they don't use it very frequently to be honest with you. That's the answer that I got from their chief. They have a different clientele. They have a different type of population. So
that issue isn't really u prevalent over there. However, that law over there was enacted for their own reasons. I think our reasons are a little bit different. And so when I was approached by Mandy Joe Heni uh when she was revising uh the nuisance house bylaw, she had asked me,
you know, are there any issues or anything else that that you can think of that might be applicable to nuisance? And I said, yeah, you know, you know, public urination is an issue in in this town. Um and the problem with that is that us as police officers, we have
limited tools in dealing with that. A lot of times, for example, we are dealing with a college student, for example, and our only options are giving them a warning or arresting them or criminally charging them. And in many instances, that might not be necessarily
appropriate. However, with a lack of choices, it's one or the other. Um, and I figured a town bylaw or a a civil citation will probably fill that void. That way it gives our officers another option instead of going the criminal
route. And that's something that we strive to do as a police department is to try and minimize having to go the criminal route and to have a different option. So really that's the spirit of uh introducing this as a new town bylaw.
>> Thank you. Um I would love to ask the question. So, we had seen the initial bylaw that TSO voted which went to KP Law and then we got the KP law recommendation back and I speaking for
myself I was a bit surprised at the extent to which KP Law had revised it. Um they had shifted it to be one down to one sentence. Um and I am curious Andy if you could expand on the conversation at TSO
about the two. um and whether or not that was something you were seeking from KP Law to do. I think it's it's something where this is leading to part of our other conversation about seeking legal review is when we seek legal review, I think we also need to be very clear on what we're
seeking legal review for. Um, but I'm curious about the conversation at TSO between discussing the two options, basically discussing the version that was sent and whether or not you knew why KP Law felt the need to fully redo it
versus edit the version that you had sent. >> Well, we did not talk with uh town attorney directly. Uh what happened was is that we developed the bylaw by taking uh the enforcement section of the East
Hampton bylaw and u but not being satisfied that the uh definition of properties that um where it was applicable uh really fit um Ammerst. It was really
written for very different community. Um so we did some modifications and uh that's what uh after u we had adopted that it was sent to attorney Goldberg and then she came back and said well if
you just do it um this way and she with her single sentence she said then you can make it you don't need the second section in which you do the definition of the properties that is applicable
too. And uh that was uh about all she said was right in her email. And uh so we looked at it and um you know I think that couple of us who talked about it u
which was uh councelor Ryan and myself we thought that it uh uh really probably served the purpose. So I uh consult with the chief and uh again uh I can leave
the um his comments to it. I think that um we uh on TSO be supportive of both at one time. We've we literally have voted for both if you want to look at it that
way. Um and it's uh so if u go has a reason as it reviews it for its purposes of clarity consistency actionability finds that um the original version was u
serves the purpose and I guess the other thing that I will point out is that the um criminal enforcement and noncriminal disposition sections are um straight from the open container bylaw without
change. >> So uh >> if I may in terms of the criminal and the noncriminal disposition uh and with these town bylaw citations originally they are civil in nature. So that's why there's a noncriminal disposition with a
$300 fine. So if a party is issued that violation and they fail to pay the fine or fail to appeal it then therefore it becomes criminal and that's why there's the criminal application. >> So I just wanted to just for context put
the the versions up. I I believe that our practice would be to only review this version for clarity, consistency, and actionability since that is what came out of uh TS ultimately what came out of TSO. Um but I wanted to just I
kept talking about the two versions and I thought it would be helpful to have them up. Um councelor any councelor question committee member questions, excuse me. No committee. No questions from the committee on clarity, consistency,
actionability. Okay, >> Lynn. >> Yeah. Um, I'm all for simplification. Um and when you start defining this place or that place uh which is the major thing that this does not have um
you start having nuances and this is straightforward. There's places to go and there's places you don't go and if you don't use them then there's you know there's a fine. Um I while I have plenty of issues with
this measure uh they are not relating to clarity, consistency or actionability as defined by uh go. So I um will raise those at the council >> with vigorous debate that I look forward
to. But um I personally do not see anything in this that is not clear, consistent, or actionable. With that, is there a motion to find the public urination and defecation bylaw clear, consistent, and actionable?
>> I move I so move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right, I'm going to call the vote. Lynn >> I. >> Councelor Lord >> I. >> And I am an I as well. Thank you very much. Um, and Chief Tang, thank you so
much for for joining us for the discussion. I hope you'll join us when we get to council and we can talk about it further. >> Certainly, I appreciate everyone's time. Thank you. And have a good time. >> Thanks for joining us. >> Thank you very much. >> All right, we're going to move on to the public way.
One moment, please. Sorry. Um, Andy, thank you for staying with us. So, first up is hang on, where is it? There we go. Let's start with the town council policy for the public way. Came back clean from
TSO. Thank you very much. And I'm going to share that now. Okay. Uh Andy, would you like to speak to anything from TSO on this topic? >> Well, I think you you have had it on your agenda previously and had reviewed
it uh raised a number of questions uh that u as it went through uh legal review. I think that the one thing that had taken us by surprise initially, though we were uh what we
understood what she did um was that uh when attorney Goldberg got it, she did much more than than the uh t than TSO had originally done, which was to take
the um current uh public waste policy and do the amendments that seem appropriate uh to um incorporate it with the uh transportation and parking commission which is really what uh we
were assigned to do is to develop um that particular policy which had been introduced by uh the idea of creating a commission had been introduced by the town manager. Uh the uh um some of the
changes were things that could have been done with the original bylaw. Uh but and we thought that um they were uh significant and helpful improvements. There were a few issues that were left
over for us. Um one is um how the concept of public hearings fit in was u probably the most significant one and uh the other was the um incorporation of um
heavy uh heavier u provisions dealing with the board of license commissioners which is assigned one small piece from the original policy and it's appropriate to stay with um
that it continue and that is lunch carts. Um the uh board of license commissioner has a whole um policy of its own that it has adopted having to do with lunch carts
and public hearings and uh the whole process that it works with. and we didn't feel that um it was appropriate uh given that it's a separate body from the council created by the charter um to
try and do anything to regulate uh the processes of the of that particular board. So those were the topics then that we were concerned about. uh the town manager uh thought that it would be
helpful for us to have a direct conversation with attorney Goldberg to clarify some of those remaining issues because he's conscious of the uh number of weeks left in this council session.
And uh so he set up a meeting last uh last week with uh it was uh councelor Ryan who's vice chair of uh the committee. Um myself as chair um
uh he was there and attorney Goldberg was there. It was a uh zoom meeting. We went through the entire policy. U she answered the questions. um agreed that we about the point with the board of
license commissioners and explained uh what the public hearing was about. Uh there had been some concern that a public hearing might require substantial notice provisions. Uh but she pointed out that it's more akin to a public
hearing when we're required to have one in under the charter for the finance committee on the budget is an annual requirement. We don't notice anybody. It's just a part of the agenda that's uh
posted 48 hours in advance. And that is really all that is um technically required to do a public hearing. Uh where you're not um otherwise governed by statutory provisions such as zoning
where you really do have to have specific improvable um notification to affected to affected individuals as defined in the state statute. There's uh nothing like that. So um with that
explanation we felt uh comfortable and we went through with her section by section where the changes would be and u immediately after the meeting because she had uh she had a time limit. Um but
we did go through the entire uh policy with her. Uh then uh Paul and George and I uh with uh a ver with the document on the screen
went through and made all of the changes that uh were agreed to during the discussion with attorney Goldberg and uh then immediately u the three of us had it to look at
again and it was presented TSO and TSO um went through section by section and um agreed to adopt all of the changes that had been recommended in that uh
meeting that I just described and uh that's what's on the screen. >> Thank you. Has been adopted by TSO is its now recommended uh public ways policy. Thank you. I want to pause for a moment
to make sure councelor Ete can hear us and we can hear you. >> I can hear you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Andy. Um I and I appreciate that TSO met with um Lauren Goldberg and was able able to move
through or well you met anyway grateful for the things that you did is what I'm trying to say. Um so let's move to go committee members. Uh uh this has been in your packet and so ensuring that you had time to read it, I had one quick
question. Are there any areas that folks would like to raise for clarity, consistency or actionability purposes? Otherwise, I will scroll to mine. Um, so mine is a clarity concern and I know that this isn't something that you
wrote Andy, but I am when we look at this number short-term requests less than or equal to 14 days either cumulative or consecutive uh cumulative within what time period is my question. So is this within a year? Is this
over the lifetime of an organization? Um I I would like or is it per request? So is it 14 days that are coming in in that request and then I could send in a request for another 14 days and it
would be just confusing to me and that >> could you one thing I would point out is that this was part of the original policy that had been adopted in the uh first term of the council
And uh I don't think that it uh this was changed. It u is one that is delegated to the town manager and uh the um examples
uh are of course in that first sentence of the kinds of things that you might think about. Uh and I think that it's assumed that um if the request is for something that goes over a period of uh
days or weeks that it constitutes um a uh a short-term even though it's split amongst uh a number of days but in a single request was I think the way that it's been
interpreted by the town manager. Um though that's something that you'd have to ask him about. Um the uh obvious one for the one that you have uh currently highlighted uh would
be described as the uh uh farmers market because it is more than 14 days. Um but uh it's not permanent. Um so that would
be the clearest example of that. Um when we had originally talked with the uh uh town manager about it um as to whether we should change that over and assign it to the uh uh transportation
parking commission. He said no. he would prefer to just have it stay in his office that u they have a process now in place that is working very effectively.
Angela Mills monitors it and um people con uh contact her when they have a request and it's uh worked through filtered up from her to him and uh so
his his recommendation was to not make a change um and that's why it's really unchanged from the current policy. I understand that. I understand that you did not write this part and I understand the intention of each of these. I do not
believe this language is clear as to what this actually means in terms of whether or not this is per request, per calendar year, per organization, or a combination of all of three of those things. I think that in my mind there needs to be clarifying language here.
I'm not suggesting any changes to the the limits and the numbers, right? But I think we need to clarify whether someone could put in two different 13-day requests and still have them for the same organization and have that be considered a short-term closure or
whether that would bump it to long-term. So I think that there's in my mind when something comes before go and to be discussed we're looking at the whole policy that has been altered and this is an opportunity to improve the clarity.
Uh, personally I don't find these examples clear. Um, but I'm happy to if other folks are like this is perfectly obvious to me and can give me a definition without just an example. Um, because the examples are not a
definition. That would be helpful. I understand that the farmers market is a long-term closure. I Right. So that's where I'm seeking clarity. Lynn, >> it seems to me that I I don't know how the town manager interprets this, but if
we wanted to say in any 12 month period, it seems to me that we've provided some clarity. >> I would agree with that. I just don't want to accidentally assign meaning that folks knew to not be true. >> I I would put that in. I would check
with him and if it if we take it back out, we do it, we can do it by amendment at the meeting. And that means, you know, that by saying a 12-month period, it doesn't mean you go by a calendar year or just it leaves
it. I'm just making sure it wasn't anywhere else. Are there any other clarity, consistency, or actionability issues people would like to raise? >> I think that was a good one, by the way, Anna. >> Thank you. I sat with it for a long time trying to
figure out if I was an idiot or see because it does specify it here, >> right? >> Oh, wait. No, no, it doesn't. Never mind. Sorry. Okay. Um, I guess it doesn't really make sense in this one. Sorry. Short-term
reservations. It's the cumulative or consecutive piece. I think that threw me in those ones. Okay. Um, are there any other
areas of this bylaw? Otherwise, I would be happy to entertain a motion to find the town council policy regarding the Oh, sorry. Yeah. Okay. Um, because this was the other change, lest folks forget that G added in here. Um, the charter
doesn't actually ever use the words keeper of the public way and so we added that in as well. That was the other go change that we had made to this. Um, is there a Lynn? >> Yeah, I I move that we declare this clear, consistent, and actionable.
>> Is there a second? >> Thank you. Uh, moving to the vote. Councelor Et >> I. >> Councelor Lord >> I. >> Lynn >> I >> and I am an I as well. Thank you very much. Save it and I'll send that to
Athena. All right. And moving on, Andy, you're almost done with us, which must be thrilling for you. Um, all right. Hang on. [Music] I got distracted because I noticed some new charges in the folder that I'm
excited to dig into. All right. Um and with that change, we are now able to move on to the draft committee charge for the transportation and parking commission.
You can see the changes that go and TSO have pitched um thus far. And really as a reminder, go has discussed this one at length. Um but we
couldn't really do this until we had finalized the trans the um public way. Uh so if there's anything additional that folks would like to discuss. Um the question here Andy
I thought this was clear. I didn't have any issue with the word requests in there. I thought that that was made clear in the public ways request for changes to the public ways such as speed limits and and the like.
I wasn't sure if TSO had any other thoughts on that that they wanted to change. >> Is this the version that I sent to you earlier today? >> Earlier today. Uh yeah, that's um he sent us one earlier today with a few small edits.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Let me have let me pull that up and then I will replace the one in our pocket with >> just two changes. One was to address a way to address the request issue and actually for clarity purposes
define how requests arise. And u so that was uh should be um right there
um that section. Okay. So, you were you were suggesting deleting this paragraph? >> No. Um, that's a different issue. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Do you want to walk us through what you were talking about regarding the
requests? >> See if I can uh find the section that I was referring to it's always easier when I'm dealing with it myself. Um what we were trying to do
um is uh two things. One was to address that issue and and the uh other was to um take care of um inconsistencies having to do with
either uh time notific uh the time for reporting or um having to do with public hearing. And um we were trying to make sure uh this was the we being George
Ryan and myself that the two um documents that we've looked at tonight um are consistent with each other. And um the paragraph that you're looking at right now
um where it says uh to delete um we realized that if you delete that paragraph it takes care of the issues of inconsistency of uh reporting requirements.
Um, and it um addresses the uh the other issue that I was describing about public hearing. We didn't think that it um deleted anything from the charge itself as far as what was expected
of a um TPC. Um and so that we did not have time because this was something that came up after our meeting last week. We suddenly uh as chair and vice chair said, "Hey,
we better make sure that the two documents work together perfectly." And the removal of this paragraph was one was the one piece that seemed to address that. And uh
because the whole uh public hearing thing is covered elsewhere in both the charge and in the uh policy and by taking the 20 days out um it gets the reporting requirements in line so that
the two documents work together perfectly. So that was what that suggestion is about and I'll pause there before going to the other. So the public ways policy talks about
monthly reports um fi that are filed with the town council. I just want to make sure I'm understanding the and and so you're trying to say that >> this was inconsistent because it said 20 days versus in a monthly report. So you're saying just take this part out.
>> Yes. That was >> when we take are we losing anything by taking out this first sentence of the town council may reserve the right to make a final decision on a request but nevertheless delegate the responsibility for conducting a related public hearing.
Um we did not think so because um I think that it's uh sort first of all it's an inherent pol uh power of the council because it's creating it can always change what it creates
and it's also explicit in the uh public ways policy now with the language that uh Attorney Goldberg added, which I think might be se in section A now of
the public ways policy. So that um there's absolutely no question about it that the uh council at any time um has given authority to the U transportation
and parking commission and can take that authority back. And uh >> the the the difference to me in the two sorry because I was just looking at it what the I don't I don't disagree with you that the public ways policy
technically does allow for that but the way that the public ways policy states it is so much more broad versus talking specifically about a hearing. And so I'm wondering if it's worth keeping that just that first sentence in here because it says the town council reserves this
is again the public way policy. The town council reserves the right at any time to revise or rescend this policy or to recall to itself prior to the action by a deleg. Delegate is a weird word any of the matters here and delegated. The town council further reserves the right of
any delegate to decline action on a matter so delegated uh and thereby return to the town council authority to review or act on any matter so delegated. It's very very nice lawyer speak and this sentence is much clearer
and says the same thing. So even though it's slightly redundant, I think that it's when we're talking about the committee charge, I think that it's worth say stating it in both places that the council is holding the right to I think it's clearer to have this in both places saying the council can make the
final decision on a request versus assuming that everyone will know and continually revisit that particular part of the public way policy. That's my That's my take. Any other
thoughts from other counselors? >> I see your point. And uh I don't think retaining the first sentence uh in any way um changes what the purpose was um of proposing the
elimination of the paragraph. It really was more uh everything starting within 20 days. >> I agree and I appreciate you and George doing our work for us to find that inconsistency. >> So um if you kept that and even decided
to move it elsewhere in the policy uh like into the first paragraph, you could do that. Um >> sorry I the number of crossouts were throwing me. I have to just accept uh accept some changes so we can actually see what we're looking at. Um so thank
you. No problem. Um yeah, I I think that it doesn't need to be a standalone thing. It could absolutely be I think if we were to move it, the logical place would be to
here, but I don't know that it it I don't think it makes a huge difference. We can just put it at the end of this paragraph. I'm going to accept some things so people can actually read this and tell me what they think in terms of clarity, consistency, and actionability.
Maybe if it ever allows me to accept. All right. Well, we got closer. Um, all right. Any other issues here? And I guess the other sentence that we
that is added is the one which says the TPC will establish a process to receive suggestions and requests regarding transportation and parking matters from the council, the town manager, town staff, the public and users of
transportation and parking facilities. That was the additional sentence that we added um largely to um address attorney Goldberg's concern that she wasn't sure where requests came from and what was
meant by requesttor. So that sentence was uh added uh by the two of us as a suggestion uh that we would make on how to clarify that and answer attorney Goldberg's uh
concern without in any way um affecting what we envisioned for the TPC. some ways it would strengthen it u because it would make it uh clear that DPC was expected to establish
a process to get that kind of input broadly. >> I don't have I I think that that is a great solution to attorney Goldberg's question. I would move it to this list of bullet points because it's not this is much more this paragraph is much more
about kind of how the TPC will engage in the public hearings part. Um and so my only small suggestion would be to move it down here. Um but I I'm not it's not a hill that I feel like dying on, let alone being in pain on. Um
so I'm I'm fine either way. Um all right. So hearing no one else feeling strongly about it and deleting the comments because those councelor atte I agree with you that it should be moved
just also so that the sh would be reconciled with the will because it's the TPC will establish and then you have all the shs underneath. >> Yes. Thank you. Good catch.
Okay. And then this needs to be a that. Okay. Um All right. Are there any other um clarity, consistency, or actionability notes on this?
>> Andy, was there a second one? >> I mean, that's fine with moving it. It uh I think it serves the same purpose. >> Yeah, I don't think it changes anything. A second what, Lynn? >> I thought there were two issues. >> That was We've now covered them both.
>> Okay. Yep. All right. Okay. So, I'm going to clean up this um these changes, but hopefully this is clear uh at this point what we're voting on. It's just taking me a little while to get through them all. Um
okay. Is there a motion to find the the draft committee charge for the transportation and parking commission clear, consistent, and actionable as amended? >> So moved. >> Is there a sec? Excuse me. Is there a second? Second.
>> All right. Going to call the vote. Lynn >> I >> I'm an I. Councelor Lord >> I. >> And councelor Ete >> I. >> All right. That'll do it. Andy, thank you so much for all of your work on this. I know it's been a long journey
and I'm sure you're very excited to get this out of uh Goo's hands and back to the council. So, thank you. >> Yes. And I thank you because we're excited that we're finally going to get this done, have a chance to get it done in this council before the end of the
term. >> It will be on the agenda on the third >> for the first read and we will do second reads for both just because one is a policy and the other one is creation of committee. Just want to make sure it's done properly.
>> Excellent. Um all right, Andy, thanks so much for joining. We are going to Thank you and have a lovely rest of your evening. >> Thanks. >> All right, y'all. We are cranking through here. Um, our next topic is
going to be the 2026 town manager goals. Uh so at our last meeting we discussed the um the idea for how we're going to do the process this year and um what the ask of
what the ask that I have is that I'm going to be seeking um draft goals from counselors and I really would like to stick to what we talked about with not starting at the case of
taking last year's goals and just carrying them forward and removing. I'd like to start with what are the actual goals this year that folks would like to put on the table. Um so on the 3, uh we are supposed to be seeking some feedback
from the counselors on goals for 2026 and talking about the format and the guidelines. Um, we are supposed to give them a deadline of the 10th to get us their proposed goals for the the coming year.
Has anyone here considered what? Let me let me back up. Let me back up. I think that if we go in with an openended question, we are less likely to get feedback back. Um, and so I'm trying to
think about a better way to collect these goals from folks. Um because what I don't want to have happen is people not contribute, not contribute and then we get to the final decision and everyone decides that's their moment to contribute for the first time. Uh and then we are sitting in a meeting for 18 hours getting nothing done because we
haven't been able to actually engage in our process. So, I'm curious to hear from you all what you think the best avenue is for soliciting this feedback and getting the ideas for goals from folks as well as if you all have thought at all um from your end about what goals
you would like to see. >> I would like to I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. I would like to I I don't I don't understand why we wouldn't at least look at last time's goals. I mean, I understand your your process, but I understand your desire for the process,
but I think it at least jogs our memory about the issues and so forth. So, I I >> Oh, >> I just assume we look at last year's goals. >> Yeah. And I I uh I didn't mean to insinuate that we wouldn't look at them. What I didn't want to do was automatically pull them all over and
then remove what we thought we had done. Um I think folks are welcome to to look at those and I'm happy to pull them up now for us to to discuss. Um but I think that we often get in this trap of oh hey that was a good idea. Let's just keep putting it on the goals when uh it's
maybe not the best idea for this year because of whatever other reasons there are. Um, are you saying, Lyn, that you would like to just look at last year's goals at the council meeting or right now in this meeting? >> Right now. >> Okay, I will pull them up. Any other thoughts on how we can best solicit
feedback from the council on uh on the goals for the coming year? As I'm pulling this up, >> this is always a tough one because we're
at the time when our meetings just have so much on the calendar. >> All right, one second. Sorry, I think I pulled up the wrong Oh, yeah. No, this is right. Okay. Whoa. So, as a reminder, we came in with um
goal areas and action items. The goal areas are climate action, community health, community safety and social justice, housing and economic vitality, administration and leadership, town council, community and strategic relationships, infrastructure management, maintenance and land
stewardship and then let's start with the individual. action items that we set. I'd like to share a thought that I had um which is that something I' I'd like us to consider and and it might be too
late this year, but I'm I'm hesitating to even say it. I do think at some point it's worth us asking Paul what are the goals he would like to accomplish in the coming year as well as the goals we would like him to accomplish. Uh I think that that can help sometimes ground us in the conversation given our press time frame
that may not be doable this year. Uh and it might be something that we shift the evaluation to include in the future. But I I just did want to mention that I think that sometimes we just get all of our own grandiose ideas without asking him first what are the things he would like to prioritize as well as what we
would like to prioritize. Lynn, >> in the past there has been a practice of inviting him to a meeting to discuss that and um the other piece that I think is still out there for all of us and that is uh our own evaluation of him
based on these goals and in some ways when Paul does his self assessment he kind of gives you gives us he not kind of he does give us a status on each of the goals which which helps us determine whether or not we need to continue
something or just stop or um whether we want to enhance something with something further or whether we want a whole new goal. The whole new gold is not as evident in his self-evaluation but uh it might be evident as we go through the
next couple of weeks particularly around um the financial indicators. Okay, >> that's my opinion. >> Thank you. Are there any goals from this area that folks are I'm struggling with this because if we if we aren't coming into
this meeting with action items ready to discuss, we can look at these to kind of refresh ourselves, but there's not necessarily major progress that we're going to make on this tonight. Um, and so what I what I I want us to refresh ourselves with what we did last year with the caveat that this does not need
to look like what we do this year. Um, and that we can continue to improve this process as we go. So, um, just kind of taking a moment to to review this as we go. And then my prompt to you all is how
and what can we ask the council in order to receive helpful feedback for ourselves to discuss as a committee and create a final version to send to the council for approval. What question can
we what is the prompt we can give them? Glenn. >> So on Friday, uh the council will receive the uh compi compilation of all evaluations from
other people. They already have t Paul's self-evaluation on both the goals and excuse me what the charter says. It's been a very long day. Um but the other thing is we could say to people and as
you go through your own self assessment which they have to do um by the end of next week um so in other words by the 8th I guess um
they is then you know come back and say based on that what do you think should be the goals for the coming year And you could use these as a springboard, but remember that they don't have to be identical. So it kind of fits with, as much as it seems strange, it kind of
fits with the timing of everything else that the council is being asked to do right now. >> As much as it seems strange, I think it's the proper way to do things. >> I do too. >> I just wish >> maybe it was a little bit more planned than we thought.
>> Yes, it was all intentional. Uh not at all because we keep running out of time. Um, yeah, Lynn, I agree. And I think that the question, the last two questions that we ask in the town manager evaluation, which are what are the strengths and what are the areas of growth, the those do lend themselves very well to how can we continue to
highlight those strengths and and build on them in the coming year and where can we uh seek to kind of close some gaps. So, I'm seeing the uh the the prompts that I'm I'm going to and I'm thinking I'll actually send this
out to counselors as an email also possibly as some I don't know I I don't know if I'll do it as a forum or an email but basically asking the question of based on the evaluation and based on your own preferences for the coming
year, what are you know the top action items that you would like to see accomplished And what areas would you like the focus to fall in? So, we have all we've gone with these areas. We've combined them and cut them down, but um these areas have been in existence for a
while. And so, these these six areas, it used to be like 12, but anyway. Uh and so these do not have to stay, but if if this is I'd like to hear folks say what their priority areas are and what their priority action items are for our discussion.
Counselor Lord, you had your hand up and then it went down. I want to just honor that and make sure you had a chance. >> I had to take my hand down. I'm sorry. >> I think you sort of because we were talking about goals and then you said you'd also ask for action items from the other counselor. So, you answered my question. >> Perfect. So, if you all got an email
from me that said, "Hi there. Happy Monday." or whatever it is uh at the council meeting, please think about what the top goal areas for you and the the top action items are for the coming year. You need to email them to go by
the 10th. You've got a week and uh if it's not in, we're not going to discuss it and you're going to make this process messier if you bring it forward later. So, please please um give them to us by the 10th. Uh, and we
can encourage folks to review the the prior year's um action items and goal areas for inspiration while remembering that what we gave last year is is not reasonable to get done in a year. Um,
I got to think about the phrasing. I know I'm word salading it a little bit. Councelor Et, >> excuse me. I could see us asking maybe for the top two goals from any of the areas
as one part of a pair and then the second would be what changes would you like from those that you chose? So it would allow for
people choosing the same thing and then that could be um tabulated but then it gives an option for counselors to then make suggestions on what they want changed and that's where the
conversation would be in the council. >> What do you mean what they want changed from what? >> So if you go back to the goals >> Mhm. So um seek climate leader community
designation consist consistent with state law. You could have people who could have choose the same thing but they might want to update that action item in a different direction and that would be part of the
conversation we could have in the council. Do you think that that would be but couldn't they say so what I'm what I want to avoid is folks just saying carry everything over right so can we are we able to have them if we ask the question
what are the two areas for each goal or whatever that you'd like to focus on could they not just say seek climate leader community designation with the edits that they would like to see made to that as one of their action items. Okay, we could
>> genuinely like am I like could is that getting at what you're suggesting or is it different? >> It is getting at what I'm suggesting in the sense that that would end up being where the discussion would be on the council.
But if since we have for climate action for example we have 1 2 3 there are six things and it turns out that a majority of the council agree on one
item we have a ranking then at least we can know what to focus on in a meeting. >> Yeah. So I think when we come back so okay so if I'm understanding you you're talking about less about the collection
of initial ideas and more about the discussion of kind of prioritization of ideas is that yeah I think that there's absolutely what I'd like to see is that I think that we got started on a really
good process last time that we were were discussing these goals and I think it got a bit way laid uh and we never got into the messy the middle piece of um where folks were not completely united in one direction or another. Um and so what you're talking about in terms of
that prioritization, I really I think that is a really crucial part of the discussion that we have at council, but I think it has to come after Goo has collected and organized all of the different action items that we get into uh the different buckets and like
combined the ones that are similar and and all that kind of stuff. But I agree. I think we'll need to have that prioritization discussion uh or prioritization done and then discussion based on that uh at the council and that would happen on the
17th because we are meeting again as go on the 11th. Uh and we will that's so just let me let me pull up my thing again so folks can see the draft timeline here. One second.
So, we have a council meeting on the 3. We're going to seek the seek feedback from the council on goals. I'm going to remind them of the format and the guidelines. Lyn, I'll do that. Like you said, I think it's great to send them last year's to review for formatting guidelines and as inspiration, but make
it very clear that we're not saying keep or get rid of uh of the current goals. We are saying what do you want for the coming year? And that they have to get it to us by the 10th. I'm just going to say this now. It always happens that we say to the 10th and then we get to this
council meeting and someone throws in something from left field um that is, you know, comes out of nowhere. So, I'm I'm just saying that more for my own mental sanity of it's going to happen. I just need to be prepared. But >> it's going to happen. >> I'm I'm trying to use stronger language
to say no. But I can't say no because it's it's absolutely everyone's right. All right. The deadline for them to send us those goal areas if they have edits to to Holla's point, excuse me, to counselor Lord's point and to action items uh as well is the 10th. on our
meeting on the 11th. We will review these because the date is the 10th. I'm going to put it in the packet as soon as I can, but likely we will be seeing it uh we'll we'll really be digging into it at this meeting together. Um at that meeting, we will also try to organize
these goals. Um, for those of you who were with us last year with this process, basically this means grouping them by like I tried to do this a little bit beforehand as much as possible for you. So you're we're not literally sorting in the meeting, but uh we will organize them and try to consolidate and
come up with a list. Um, and then we will ideally vote our initial list to get back to the council meeting on the 17th. >> Right? >> We then meet again. Uh so at this council meeting, this is when we are saying everybody get this is when if you
got that last minute pitch and you didn't follow the directions and get it to us on time, this is your last chance to get it at our meeting again on the 25th. Uh we will be review finalizing the draft for council review. I want to note
I believe that Thursday the 27th is Thanksgiving. Um, >> so I I need to know if people I I will need to know if I have a quorum on the 25th or if we need to move this to another date. Um, we are running low on
other dates we can move things to. So I I'll need folks to think about if you are traveling or if you are home uh and are either way are able to attend on the 25th. At that meeting, we will be finalizing our draft for council review. I'll say that this year's process
because of the deadline um the way that I am viewing this is that there is more on me as chair to do to organize and present you with something whereas last year we drafted much of this in committee. Um we just don't have enough meetings to draft things in committee.
And so I'm I'm going to have to be trying to pull things together for us to discuss. Um unless people really want to add a lot of meetings in. Um at that point, this will go back to the
council and this is our this is our one tiny piece of buffer. Um ideally this would be where we are reviewing the goals and in a perfect world we would vote on them here. Uh we know that we don't always live in a perfect world. So there's one buffer of a meeting where if
we need to make any other edits, we can. Last year it took several rounds. We're giving ourselves one round here. Um so this is a little bit of a scenario where everyone's going to have to show up and do their job uh and and not dillydally
around on getting us stuff. And if they miss the boat, they're going to have to be okay with having missed the boat. Um, that's my very strong language and I know it doesn't work that way, but that's that's what I would like to >> applaud your efforts. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Always doing
my best. Um, that said, I expect this committee to be model council members and to do this uh in a way that I can point to the rest of everybody else who hasn't done it and say, look at the go committee members who have done everything they
are supposed to do. Uh, and I appreciate y'all doing that, uh, doing that with me. So, your job first is to take a look at last year's goals, and I'd like you to write out which areas you'd like to prioritize. If you have edits to the definitions of those areas, or if you
have new areas that you'd like to propose, as well as action items, if there are action items, I I'd rather you just create a new email to me and put in the action items that you'd like to see. um so that we can we can have a starting place for that discussion. Um
deadline's the 10th. So you've got a bit of a heads up on that, but the sooner you get them to me, the better. Questions on goals. Okay, thank you all very very much. Um and I'm happy if if anyone gets stuck on this, just please reach out. I'm I'm happy to
have conversations about this process and kind of how to it it can be a bit daunting I think sometimes to go in and look at all of those goals and think about what it is. Uh and so I'm happy to talk through ways to to get from big idea to action item if people would find
that helpful. All right, everybody is doing exactly that y'all are on it today and I'm so grateful for that. All right, let's talk about our proclamations if that's okay to move on. >> Yep. >> Excellent. All right, we're going to
start with the Small Business Saturday proclamation. >> And I want to just say I think there's a few more sponsors that we need to add. No, actually everybody that is on there has confirmed. Thank you.
>> Sorry. All right, perfect. Um, okay. I'm going to ask if folks coming in have h have any proposed um clarity, consistency, or
actionability changes. Excuse me. >> Let me just mention that we took last year's we sent it off to the bidden chamber. They came back with any revisions that are in this. Some of it's very similar. >> Council,
>> I think we had a similar edit that we tried to make last year. It's at the bottom of the page and that is the whereas the amorous bid and the place where you have information
on all events, we normally shy away from having sentences, several sentences in a paragraph. And so I was wondering if we could have um
with more information or more information on all events can be found something that it becomes a clause instead of a sentence. >> How does that work? >> Do you want to refer to the website? Is
that what you're trying to do? What? >> That's what that paragraph was trying to do, but it had it as a separate sentence. And this is now working to have it as a
dependent clause. So, more information. Frankly, all I'm trying to say is we can find more information about these events and orders on their website. So, does this make Did I Did I get it?
>> Okay, thank you. >> I think if we put www period before them, they'll actually underline. But I could >> I can link them like this if you want them hyperl. I we don't typically
>> do that but we >> whatever works. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Any other edits? Is there a motion to find the Town of Ammeris proclamation recognizing
Small Business Saturday and Shop Local Week 2025 clear, consistent, and actionable? >> So moved. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. I'm going to call the vote. Councelor Lord. >> Hi. >> Sorry. I'm sorry. I I keep going top to
bottom and bottom to top and everybody shuffled. Council atte. >> Thank you. Well done, everyone. >> All good. All good. >> How's that? >> Perfect. All right. Um Okay, we got one more proclamation to discuss
a resolution this time. Excuse me. Right. And let me just mention uh because I managed this one as well. Uh this one was originally sent back to the original sponsors. Uh it needed to be updated with the current um references
and um so forth. So we consulted with the group that originally submitted it and that's where the changes came from. >> Thank you. My thing that I'm realizing that I don't that we got to we're we're picking one
today. That's what we're doing. Uh do we want to do all caps or not all caps in the titles because we've got a couple. Hang on, I opened something else to confirm this. And now I lost my
Windows. Um okay, we seem to go in all directions here. We always do bold. Um but we sometimes do all caps, we sometimes do not. And I would love to hear if someone has strong feelings. I would love if someone had strong feelings one way or the other.
>> And then you get to write the style manual. >> Yep. >> Okay. If there are no no strong feelings, I'm going to take it out of all caps and put it in sentence uh in in uh every first word cap, whatever that's called. I was going
to see if uh our state does it one way or another, but I guess it it's more not all caps I think is more grammatically right. Yeah, correct. >> You know, I think I I started doing things in all caps and I've started to just feel like I'm getting yelled at
recently by the proclamations. So, um I will uh I know that there's a way to change the case. There we go. Perfect. This is it's tracking my changes, but that's that's it's there. Okay.
Um, and then we do typically start with town of Ammerst. Let me do these. Okay. All right. Um, counselor atteins [Music]
are off. So some of the words fall into new lines that don't need to. But for the very first whereas the T has is
bold and so we could remove that. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, let me double check. I Yeah, I don't know why it's doing it like that. it. But I'll I'll check it as we go. It is being funky.
Oh, the margin is way far over. All right. As we go through, I'll try to adjust that. Would that be an inch? Eight and a half. Seven and a half. Yeah. Okay. Good catch, Conor. All right. Um, moving through.
The number of times I have debated in my job whether well-being is two words hyphenated or one word is so high that I am just I never I we got to find a new word. I can't handle it anymore. >> Go for it. >> No, no, no, no. I I mean we as a
society, not we in this resolution. Um, we did not have Ammersttown meeting in 2023. >> No, I bet it's supposed to be 2013. >> No, I think it's 2013. >> You're right. It's and the town council. You're correct.
>> Yeah. I caught something. It always feels like a win when I catch something. All right. Uh, did so in 2023. Okay. Ger M
>> so we have whereas in November 2018 88% of Ammeris voters voted yes we have quotation mark which should capture the yes but I'm betting that if that were some if
it was on the ballot then it would have been a yes with a capital letter >> all caps you think >> it wouldn't have We could just say in support of
>> and solve this question. No, no, no. I I will I'll do that. I You just had to I had my one catch and you were like, I got to find a better one. All right. Um, thank you My one question here is u when we say
support bills currently in the in in some years we've included the specific bills um we're not doing that here are we Lynn when when you talk to >> yeah it's because it's in shift at this point >> okay all right I will keep it I'll keep it there
>> understandable reasons >> absolutely Okay. Why um why Jamie Eldridge and Lindsay Sabadosa? Are they also co-sponsors? Is that why? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you.
All right. Is there a motion to find the Town of Emer resolution supporting acts establishing Medicare for all Massachusetts for Massachusetts residents uh clear, consistent, and actionable as amended? >> So moved.
>> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Going to go the other direction to do the vote this time. Lynn >> I. >> Councelor Et >> I. Councelor Lord >> I >> and I am an I as well.
Okay. Oh my god. The way we are >> that means both of those can go on consent. >> Yes, that's correct. >> And if you look at the meeting on Monday, you'll be glad anything is on consent. >> Um okay,
we are moving on to Oh, I did jump a little. Sorry. Um, apologies. I'm just pulling something up. [Music] So, one of the things that we had
discussed in prior meetings was reviewing the um charges for the different committees. And I wanted to first thank Athena for um dropping these in our packet. And
because I believe that this is so quick, I would like us to just get it done now. Um I did not have a chance to put the language in these directly, but it's a matter of copy and paste and I would like to do that now. So, um, when we
look at the go charge, as a reminder, what we're talking about here is trying to get the portion, uh, that is currently only under the go charge into every committee charge. Hang on, where is it?
This part. Um, we need to add in a clause to each committee charge that says that the committee may So, let's start with let's pull up CRC and figure out the language.
So, here's the CRC charge. We do need my review on here. We basically need to add a bullet point that says for each committee that they are able to consult legal counsel for or legal
sorry >> why don't we say shall >> the consultation with the town attorney as needed is that is it as simple as that um to en enable each group.
>> See, I I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. >> I think that what we really want to do is make sure that all necessary consultations with legal counsel take place before it goes out of that committee.
What we're trying to do, as we all know, is to stop the back and forth. Mhm. God, the words aren't coming to me today. Um, >> I understand. >> To ensure what are we ensuring? It's it's it's
ensuring legality, but >> prior to >> not just ensuring legality, it's >> it's also consistent with state law, etc., etc. I'm not any help. I >> referral.
>> Yeah, but it's I guess it is getting referred back. It's is it a the committee isn't referring it because the council already has referred it. So it's basically I'm trying to find a fancier
way of saying prior to the measure moving on in the process. Um continued referral maybe maybe that covers it. >> Um put put in what you were going to put
in and then we'll see. I didn't have anything. >> Um I think we want to say shall seek consultation with the town attorney as needed to ensure consistency with local, state, and federal laws.
I don't think we have to say legality. I think consistency takes care of it, but I'm not a lawyer either. So the the legal review, this I think is a good baseline, but the legal review typically is doing more than that. And this is actually the part that
we have the least issue with honestly when it comes back from KP Law. It's it's often that we just often KP Law just has better language um or spots holes and things. Um,
so Athena, >> um, I think I think you could write recommendations to town council may include consultation with the town attorney. >> Is that all? And that covers it. You think
>> that's what's in the go charge? >> Yeah. But but how do we make sure that they do it before they send it to us? >> Um I think that we just change our practices. It's not written in now. So we don't need to
rewrite it in my mind. >> Okay. >> It's it's it's specific in G's charge. So I think if we specify that in the other committee's charges then I mean I mean there there's it's like this legislative process guide that's
been sitting in go for over a year. If if it were spelled out somewhere, it would be spelled out there. It's not spelled out here. So I think we can just add it add that phrasing to the other committee charges and that gives them the option of looking at it with uh the town attorney review before it comes to go.
So, did you say recommendations may include or did you just say committee may con may the the go charge says uh this may include consultation with the town attorney as it refers to the clarity,
consistency and actionability. >> Um I would say recommendations to the town council on measures may include consultation with the town attorney. That's a little different than what's in G's charge, but I think that
makes the most sense. I don't think you need by the by the committee. >> All right. >> Okay. Councelor, >> I just wanted to thank uh Athena because I was about to have some goosebumps with
the word shall and whether that meant that any measure would have to go to the legal team. So recommendations may if that is what is required. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Um, all right. The spiraly part of my brain wants to make sure. Yeah, this is in the committee charge. So, it's clear that we're talking about the committee here then. Um, and I don't need to overthink it. All right. I'm going to So, this would be the CRC charge. Uh, is there Athena, can we can
we do all the charges at once or do we have to do each one? >> No, I think you can make a recommendation to add that. The only one that I don't think it's necessary for you to add to is finance committee because they don't make recommendations on um measures really. I mean I don't I
don't think we would need that for financial orders. Just for safety sake though it seems to me like since we're making it that they may it doesn't hurt to put it in. That's my opinion.
up to you. But I think um whatever you decide, I think you can just make a motion to recommend the council amend the charges by adding that line. That's how we did it when we added the um there was a part in the beginning we add
uh the the statement of values in the per into the purpose. >> We just do it in one recommendation and then we'll have all those amended charges in the packet. Um, okay, perfect. So,
hang on one second. I'm just double checking with finance. If we're going to put it into finance, because finances charge is set up slightly differently, I would put this under budgets, finances, and appropriations. Hypothetically,
um there is no separate part of finances charge that addresses miscellaneous measures. Uh I but this is the closest
because it talks about proposed bylaws including revisions, policies or other measures. So I would add it. I this is where I would propose track changes. I just wanted to clarify that I'm not putting it under investigations and
audit. Okay. Is there a motion to add the words recommendations to the town council on measures may include consultation with the town attorney to the charges for the finance committee, the TSO committee,
and the CRC committee. CRC. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Calling the vote. Uh, councelor Lord >> I. >> I'm an I. Councelor atte.
Lynn >> I >> uh amazing measure motion passes. Hey, look. We did something that I think will make lives easier. >> Yes, Lynn. >> Um should we be adding this somewhere in our rules
um for consideration for the creation of any new committees? Because the fact that we have these committees is the council's creation and they can be changed at any time. It is. But what I would recommend is that if you could Can we put that on a
future agenda? >> I don't disagree, but I don't have that at it right available in front of me right now. >> That's good. I can live that up. >> Athena >> Lynn, was your suggestion that that language be included in future committee charges?
>> Yeah. Uh future committees of the council. Yeah. So, the go has a charge template. You might just look at updating the charge template. >> Ah, thank you. >> Oops. >> Okay, I will um make myself a note to
look into that. >> Hang on. Make myself a note. All right. Okay. So, um impressive time tonight everyone. We are going to move on to our two
vacancies here. Um and we are going to discuss the selection guidance and let's start with selection guidance and interview questions for finance. Uh I did send this to Kathy. Um, I have not sent the selection guidance from charter
to Julian recently, but I did send it to him a long time ago, uh, when we were first discussing this. If the committee would like me to send it to him again, I'm happy to. Um, so let me share my screen. So, this is the selection guidance that
we've used in the past for filling uh, what are they called? Resident member vacancies on the finance committee. As a reminder, we have found this pool to be sufficient. Um, and so we would now be moving forward in this process. The piece that I'm a little bit
unclear on is if we can how quickly we are able to move this process. Um, and for each committee uh, and and I have not drafted up a calendar until we've approved the selection guidance and interview questions. Um, but I'm
happy to do so. And if what I'd love to hear from the committee at that point is whether or not you'd like us to um whether or not you are able to meet and finalize this process before the end of the term or not. Um it's doable. I just
it depends on availability. So selection guidance as a reminder this is what we are utilizing when we are determining who's going to fill the seats on the committee um that we are that we are seeking to fill. And this is uh
adaptable based on the needs of our our committees. So we are able to edit it each time. This is what we've used in the past, but I'd love to have folks take a look. We'll start with this first first part. Standard selection guidance. Council.
>> So number three, members who reflect the diversity of the town residents and are broadly representative of the town. I'm wondering what that second clause means
and that broadly representative of the town. Is they someone who would not be in some sense representative or is broadly representative referring to the selection
broadly speaking? >> It's referring to the committee broadly speaking. So the challenge here is that we are not responsible for five of the members of the finance committee. Uh
that's those are counselors. And so I struggle with this piece in context a little bit because I think it's still important. Um and it's a little bit less under our ability, under our control, I guess. I don't know, maybe it's not. Sorry, I'm thinking out loud. Th to
answer your question, this is speaking about the multiple member body in terms of being healthy, not an individual, but I it I think it is phrased in a confusing way. Um, my issue with this for finance is
that I believe that non voting resident members are not able to take on leadership roles within that committee. Uh, but maybe I'm incorrect there. So, this doesn't make sense to me. It makes sense for other committees, but
not not this one. >> It actually came up at one point and I think we dodged it. H >> how >> we just didn't do it. I think we could get rid of that >> for this. Yeah, council ae is that what
you were going to say? >> Um, just like the previous one, I think it's referring to a strong base of seasoned members taking on leadership roles in addition to mentoring. >> But in this instance,
the people we are appointing don't have the opport option to. So because the non- voting resident member like the because it's a mix of counselors and non- voting members. So I think yeah that that's where I'm
struggling is is I don't how can it be in the selection guidance when this isn't an opportunity that they'll have and it's not something that like the committee can Sorry I'm I can get stuck on this one Lynn. Yeah, I actually we've
we've seen this uh Bernie Kubak from time to time has taken on a fair amount of leadership role in finance because of his experience and uh we just brought somebody else on the finance committee who has on a previous finance committee.
Um and in fact it does open up u things and I think the thing that Bernie got involved with was differentiated taxes and he and Kathy worked on it together. Um, so I'm not clear. We want to take it out.
>> So maybe if we expand Oh, I'm sorry. >> That's it. >> So if we're expanding our thinking of leadership roles to not be the formal chair or vice chair of the committee, but instead just thinking about able to lead projects, I'm comfortable with that. I just don't want to mislead folks
into thinking if if that's not true that >> Okay, I done. >> Um, let's get on to selection of resident members shall be based on. >> Okay. Yeah, I need to lower my hand. Sorry. >> Oh, no, you're fine.
And then the council policy on reappoints. It's driving me nuts that everything is a different size text, but um thank you. I will fix that. Okay, this is really that this is our policy. We'd have to vote to change that separately.
Uh, is there a motion to adopt the standard selection guidance for non- voting members of the finance committee? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh, all right. I'm going to call the
vote. Councelor Lord >> I. >> Councelor >> I. >> I'm an I. Lynn >> I. >> All right. Thank you. Um, let's now
let's do that sharing and let's go to the interview questions. All right, take a moment. Familiarize yourself. Are there any edits? Excuse me. >> Edits or changes folks would like to make to the interview questions.
Council, >> I think for number five, we could get rid of the comma. I was ready for like a a a massive you could like get rid of it. Okay. Um thank you. Uh any other
any other additional questions? Questions you'd like to remove changes you'd like to make to these questions? Okay. Is there a motion to adopt the GO interview questions for finance
committee applicant interviews? >> So moved. >> Lightly amended. Thank you. Uh is there a second? >> Councelor A, your hand is up. Just wanted to point out that for the bottom it says questions will be
asked by the GL chair and then says that all applicants will answer each questions asked determined by the GL committee chair. I assume it's the same person. So if that's the case then we could be consistent.
>> We could motion was made. Lena, do you accept that change to the motion? >> Yes. Is there all right? Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Burger gets mad at me. Okay. Um
All right. I'm gonna call the vote. Councelor atte. >> Councelor Lord >> I. >> Lynn >> I. >> And I am an I. All right. Well done. Um okay. We're we're pushing
through. Pushing through. We've got 15 minutes, y'all. Let's talk about the charter review guidance. I'm so impressed with you all. You're crushing it today. Thank you. Um, okay. We last discussed this in
April. I'm just going to do it now before Okay. any edits that folks would like to make. When we spoke to the charter review committee, we asked them about their needs and the like. um
they talked a this would be one of this would be the place to kind of include that uh those elements that we heard from them if you don't feel that it's captured. Excuse me. All right. Seeing no proposed edits,
um, is there a motion to adopt the charter review committee selection guidance? Readopt, I guess. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. Or do I need to say it? >> No, you don't need to say it.
All right. Thank you. We have a motion. We have a second. Uh, all right. Calling the vote. Lynn >> I >> I am an I. Councelor Ete. >> Councelor Lord. >> I. >> All right.
Well done. And the last one. 15 minutes. Here we go. All right. Let's talk about the interview questions for charter review. I don't know why my header is all off. I'll try to fix that later. Okay, for now I'm just going to delete it because
it's annoying. Oh, there we go. Okay, so we had um I don't know why that's left. Okay, these were the questions that we had discussed in the past. Are there any edits that folks would like to make?
council atteing that the charter review committee is in the process of writing a report is there a need for question two? I had a similar question
um and I would be inclined to erase that one and then I also think adding in a piece to work style based on the feedback that we got from the committee. So councelor atteing that we delete this section.
I am proposing that we add in um a section here. A question here, excuse me. That is the charter review committee is in the final phase of their work
which is drafting a report of recommendations for the town council. Could you please share how you would go about
joining a group uh so far along in their process to
then help move the work to completion? I'm happy for edits, but I'm trying to get along. This this was something that the committee members talked a lot about was having someone who comes in able to kind of hit the ground running and um move with them in the direction that
they've been going. Uh and so I'm trying to get at that piece of the of the work. Are there any edits to what I threw up there? Okay. Let us then see. Is there a motion to
adopt the charter review committee? Oh, councelor Ae. I was just thinking of uh grammatically how that works. Could you share I think would be its own
sentence. >> Wait what? Say that again. The charter review committee is in the final phase of their work which is or which involves drafting a report of recommendations for the town council. Could you share that
would be the start of a new sentence. So um yeah just a question. >> Okay. Um, with that edit, is there a motion to find to adopt the charter review committee interview questions as revised?
>> So moved. >> You're crushing it. Thank you. Um, is there a second? >> Okay, I will second it. Um, you 8:18. Everybody hold it together for me, please, for 12 more minutes. Uh, all right. Calling the vote. We will start
with councelor Lord >> I. >> Councelor atte. >> Lynn >> I >> and I am an I as well. All right. Thank you everybody. So next steps for me are to draft a calendar for moving forward
in both of these processes. Um, I would like to hear from the committee on how hard you want to push here in in terms of not in terms of how hard you want to push, but looking at availability, we've got a lot of
meetings in the next couple months. Um, as chair, would it be or as committee members, would it be helpful for me to give you a couple draft calendars? What would be the what would be your preferred um course of action here? I'm sorry I'm not articulating this well.
I'm trying to figure out how to move this forward uh and be respectful of the time that people are putting into this. Do you want me to come to our next meeting with a calendar? Maybe. >> Sure.
>> Okay. Um All right. I will uh I will do my best to to get through that and I'll see if it's an option to do it without adding extra meetings or not. Um given the small applicant pools for each, it's possible that we could do the
interviews at possibly at one of our remaining meetings um to get folks in in position here. Hey, guess what? We just covered the meatiest agenda that we've had all year. Uh, and we've pretty much reached the end with 10 minutes to discuss our final
items, unless I've missed something, and I don't think I did. Okay, so upcoming topics. Just so folks know, one of the other things that I have to do as chair is write our carryover memo. Um, this is where we are going to talk about all of the things that we have been told to do
that we didn't get to yet or um that and and of those which we think the next go should deal with and which we think should be as the as the state says sent to study. Um, meaning it's not going to come up again. We are we are getting rid
of that. Um, go is in an interesting spot with this because we some of the things haven't gotten to us yet. Uh, and so they are automatically carried over because they were referred to us and they haven't gotten out of their original committee. Um, so I've started a draft list of the
items that are remaining. That does not mean that these items will not get to us by the end of this term, but uh I'm just sharing kind of where what what things are are hanging out that we will either we will deal with or the will show up on
our carryover memo one way or another. Um and that includes the res the charge for the resident oversight board, which we do not have yet. The charge for or the bylaws for the human rights commission, which we do not have yet, the solar bylaw, which we do not have
yet. uh street lights which we do not have yet and waist hauler which we do not have yet. I believe that the one one of the things I this is my brainstorm so please know this is not a thoroughly thought out list. One of the things that we do have that we have not taken action
on is the legislative process guide. Um for folks who are unaware this was something that came up early early in the term. This is a guide that was put together by a former counselor Shaie Balmill and it was essentially intended as a process guide for counselors to use
in moving different items forward. Um and the question for G was do we adopt this in some sort of formal way or does it exist as an informal tool? How does what does the council want to do with it? Um so we need to decide whether we are going to try to act on that uh
before the end of December. um whether we would like the next go to deal with it or whether we are saying you know what it's going to live in in informal status uh and not we are not going to carry that forward. If there are other things that you come up with in your brainstorm uh Athena and I are digging
through and I know Athena is going to have a lot of other things that I didn't come up with in my 30 it was a 30 second brainstorm. Um but uh this is a a list that I'm currently currently working on drafting. So, please um please feel free
to send me items. Athena, what else? What else would you like me to put on here? >> Um I don't think you mentioned the um the zoning change that's in CRC now. They have a hearing scheduled and that's the reasonzoning of a couple properties, a couple parcels on Main Street. Um
there there isn't really language for G to declare clear, consistent, and actionable. So, I expect that to be a very brief conversation. >> It's just reszoning parcels. It's not actual text of the bylaw. >> So why does it have to come to us?
>> It was referred It's always, you know, those kinds of changes of the zoning bylaws are always referred to go for clarity, consistency, and actionability. It it was looked at um the town attorney did look at it before it came to the council and uh was referred to the CRC
and planning board. So, you know, I think this is a should be a a quick conversation. I look forward to seeing if the map is clear. Thank you. Um Lynn. >> Um yeah, it and it's timed actually so
that it should come to our meeting that's on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and and it needs to come to the council for its first reading on the 1st and its second reading on the 15th. >> Yeah, that it'll need to leave us the same meeting it gets to us. Um
>> Yes, sure. And I don't anticipate that'll be a problem, but >> I don't think so. It's pretty straightforward. >> Again, seems like it's a map. All right. Um, I'm going to be double-checking our other carryover reports and and our uh other items that were referred. I think
one of the things that councelor Rooney mentioned was needing a better system for tracking referrals. I know that this has been really hard for everybody, all counselors to track which is referred where and when and how. Um, and so I uh appreciate any help that folks have if I
do forget something. With that, I'm amazed and impressed and I'm not going to keep you longer singing your praises and accolades, but I do want to just thank you all for showing up and being so efficient and effective tonight. Um, I'm I'm very I'm so proud of you all. Uh, I'm so proud of our our committee
here. Thank you. Um, that was a beefy agenda and I was very nervous about getting through it. We've got a couple other media agendas in front of us uh with the goals. So, please um I appreciate everyone coming prepared. I will be seeking feedback on those action
items and goal areas as you know. Please get that into me. Um so, we've got something to discuss. And with that, is there a motion to adjourn at 8:25 early? Um >> thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All right. Call on the vote.
Councelor Lord, you're up. I >> council >> I >> Lynn >> I >> and I am an I as well. Thank you all so so much. Have a wonderful rest of your evening and I will >> thank you Anna. >> Thanks. Bye >> bye.