hi everyone uh I'm Samantha Giffin the communications manager for the town of ammer this meeting is being recorded to the cloud and will be uploaded to the town of ammer YouTube channel in a few days this group can meet via Zoom due to Governor Healey's suspension of a few open meeting laws at this time I'd like
to recognize the chair Tom and thank everyone in this group for their volunteer hours and effort in support of the Arts Tom please do a sound and video check before starting and thanks everyone okay thank you Samantha okay um darra we can hear you
you can hear us okay I can okay Mikey yes I can Okay Lori yes I can okay sounds like we're good all right um let's
see I want to thank you Tom and Lori for all the good things you guys are doing right now it's very exciting to see it well thank you it's it's been fun I agree with Dara 100% And and is one of the things we're
doing tonight about the treasurer yes okay I I saw that we got a list of things but I didn't get to it yeah it's I've I've amended the agenda um
so that um we can um I've added those um sort of housekeeping like issues am I seeding and sharing my screen here not yet no not yet so Lori do you have two screens and
that's why you can read something over to the side I do I I don't know how people oh I really need the two screen yeah that's become very standard the
last few colleges I worked at um all the clerical staff and uh most of the faculty had two monitors I could never get used to it though so um I was got over my tell me it's time time to
retire okay am I sharing now yes oh okay great okay so um just call to your attention that um just a half hour ago I added these bubbled items here because we've got
some we got a we got a string of little matters that we need to uh um take up before we get to our main agenda for today um let me see if I can also
[Music] I get the um the minutes get those done okay I believe we were all present last time I think uh Lynn came in a few minutes late um but was there so I should add
her I need to add note I need to add Lynn into the list here of people attending um okay you approve the January minutes uh my updates were that uh Elena storm
be exhibiting and by the way um we had really um very successful reception for her um most mostly because she had her
posy of about 20 people show up and they were party people uh it was it was very Lively and I had a wonderful time talking with uh with with one of her friends there excuse me one of their friends uh at the at the reception and
Elena was very grateful uh for it um okay so I included here an update that um we had discussed that partial award Award
of a partial amount from ammer cultural Council and so I just wanted to put in here for the record uh what our concern was there and especially about the two um the two
um uh Grant remainders that we were looking for we can talk more in the course of tonight's meeting about Treasurer and um and you know proceeding to get a had a better grip on the on the finances um we talked about the percent
for art at the new Elementary School Lori and I had sent um an email summary and then both participated in a discussion with everyone here
um and I'm not as I've been doing um I've not tried to detail every every little bit of the discussion um at the close of that at the close of the meeting at that time we were on
notice to attend a town council meeting which uh happened last Monday night um and uh Lynn and I attended that and sent you uh sent you a summary uh from it and
again we would that would be topic of discussion for this meeting tonight um also noted here that um the commission discussed the need to be better informed more
visible and I wanted to plant that here in the minutes because again um tonight we have an action item we can take um in that direction and as I've been doing I put the note that if anyone
cares to hear all the details um here's the link available to the public uh to um um listen to the meeting and to read the transcript transcripts been getting a
little cheeky recently I suspect some AI at work but um it's it's still it's still moderately helpful it takes almost as long to go through the transcript as it does to it takes almost an
hour and um but it's all there are there any any things that I'm missing or anything here that you think uh needs to be modified I move we accept the minutes
okay a second to that I second okay hello Terry hi there how's everyone doing we're all doing fine glad to see you um sorry I'm late no no problem glad
to have you here okay um so can we vote on the minutes all in favor of accepting them I I right okay that passes thank you all okay let me see if I can go back and
find the I used to be an IT guy You' think I know how to do this H this looks better okay so here's our agenda by the way um quickly notes from
the um meeting of March uh 10th are here among the things that I sent you and then lurking over here is this is a copy of the memo that Paul bucklan sent to the Town
Council I think I forward this to everyone so this is his memo followed by uh copy of the bylaws bylaw and then after that
uh on document that I had prepared giving some of the background on where we found the information we were looking that okay so you've got a freshh copy of
that also okay so for today's meeting uh just in a sentence I had a meeting with John Page the new director of the business improvement district he is um his top agenda
item is uh with regard to our interest is to get the um uh art Knight art night plus started um he didn't say when he thought that would happen but it sounded like he
was hoping you know within a month or two um his his uh intention is is to try to get it try to get it running even if it isn't the full agenda that was discussed at the meeting back in the fall and the try to catch up with
that um as uh as interest grows in in the art in the Arts night itself did did John mention anything about um how this is going to be funded is this gonna be like the cultural Council grants or how are they gonna how are we gonna afford
this art night he he did not he did not um did not bring up that topic and neither did I okay um he didn't didn't seem to be be concerned about whether it's doable he just saw it as a matter
of you know getting the uh participants um has he talked to participants like the museums like um yeah he's making the rounds of of them because he knows who was involved
previously and has those those okay great and I told them we it's hard it's high on our agenda too we'd love to see it U reinstated be really good for downtown
ammer right yes um I think for us to be involved it would be every two months would be the best thing because with our um yes right every month it would be tough yeah because it's hard enough for us to get
anybody in that space let alone two months MH yes good point right okay okay moving on to the uh Treasurer um since just right after the
last meeting Lori volunteered um that she would do that job and as I recall Mikey responded right away that that she liked that idea and uh Terry wrote as well also let me
ask whether anybody else is jump jumping up and down anxious eager to be Treasurer I sent you I sent you a note saying I thought it was a great thing to do okay thank you thank you for reminding me of that well can I have a
can I have a a motion to uh to appoint Lori as Treasurer I is an appointment it's appointment okay I didn't know if it was a vote or an appointment well I asked uh
Angela about it and she said she she preferred that we took a vote okay just for just for um transparency Harry why don't you make the motion and I'll second I'll put forth them I'd like to make a motion to
um to have a vote to possibly elect Lori Freeman as the treasurer of APAC okay and I second it second there you go we have do we have discussion of the motion Laura do you want to talk about your candidacy and how you think you're
up for the job well also thank you so much by the way I can tell you that I got frustrated wondering where the money was so so I decided that uh I would wanted to reach out to the town and it would be
easier to do it and ask these questions if if I were the treasur so I decided yes to nomin you know to volunteer to be the treasure awesome okay fantastic good agre okay hearing no further discussion
I'll call for the vote all in favor of uh electing Lori to be our Treasurer I I okay I the eyes have it l thank you I do want to um go over what I did
get from the town and I don't know if this is right time or later yes do it now okay so um I did receive uh detailed accounting from the
um from the town and I could share my screen to show it to you if you want to see it um and I think I sent some information as well but
um let's see there was uh let's see if I can find the original email about that um okay try sharing I just clicked the setting that said allow
multiple participants there all right I'll try to share my screen okay I'm going to be looking over my shoulder a little bit onto my other screen and let me share
okay did that work for you are you seeing my screen yes okay so we uh I was told that we have $4,530 in our
account um and this came from Holly Drake and so that's the total we have now this is um these are different payments that we've made um so the last one that went out
was to repair poetic dialogue um and then these were previous payments that have gone out of this account over the last you know going back to 2020 so there hasn't been a lot of activity um and then if we go here we
received this looks funny it's minus but it's not really that's what we went into the account so we received um 850 I'm ass assuming that's this is it says it's public art yep that was from that was
from me that was the grant that I got from the um cultural Council okay and then I P and then it and then I paid it back however that works out financially is weird Okay well in our minutes we had that it was SE 690 so the actual amount
is$ 850 that no that's different uh 850 was last year's award 690 is this year's award it's a separate transaction it's not yet hit our account I'm trying to
get deposit that one directly okay so 690 should be coming in then yes okay so um then and I wasn't sure the signage for the the boltwood project there was
1500 at some point I don't exactly see that here I don't know when that came in so I was trying to kind of make sense of that um that was paid back because we didn't use it oh it so we didn't get get
to keep it yeah that's my that's my understanding but we didn't have any money flow through our hands in either direction it was just a it felt like a theoretical you have $1,500 for this you know what I mean and since we didn't really have a treasure or or an accounting of our money so I really
don't know how that all works oh so it can't all right does that make sense laori I'm sorry it's it was always I don't understand how how that I guess I'll have to follow up so yeah that's a
question to ask yet it's like an ear marking of money that the town of armis amoris does they don't put it into an account for us so there's like as far as I know how this works and which is weird from any other commissioner any other commission I've associated with because usually there's like you know this is
your account this is your your your documents but this always seemed kind of weird to me so I'm not sure how it works but I think that they were we were granted $1,500 from the C cultural Council for that project and because it we didn't go through with it that money
somehow made it back to the cultural Council well it did but that doesn't quite add up to because this 850 came in that was from money I got a grant for and that was for the electric boxes but
that wasn't from the cultural Council that was also from the cultural Council but it was put in my name when I so I applied for it and so they mistakenly put the check in my name and so I just turned the check over to the town of ammer for public
art I see but since that also that project also fell through I probably we probably have to pay that back to the cultural Council however that happens I haven't got I don't have any I don't know if that's for Tom we we were talking about figuring that out and I
haven't I haven't reached out to the cultural Council yet I don't know if you did but maybe we could use some that for this year with them with the Electrify because we only got 690 we just have to ask because it was lot from the previous year and so it's a year-to-year right
grant maybe we would have to get special permission because if you don't use the money in that year you have to you you know release it back to them so just not giving it back I don't know if that's a possibility I don't know how this works right but maybe possibly okay so um and
do Terry do you have any documentation on that 1500 so that I can follow up with it like dat I do not because I did not get that it was just money that I we were all here at the same time uh I don't like I said there was no
money that changed hands I I didn't turn in any kind of a check it was just money that was supposed to be awarded to us for this so I I really don't know this was for the boltwood boltwood yeah yeah
update okay that was that was before I joined yeah just before I think just before yeah yeah Mikey I wonder if whether there's anything in the paperwork whe would that have been something that Amy would have had no no
it was after Amy sh but um shash was was no sh wasn't involved either who was Robert was right no yeah Robert was a Treasurer yeah right so where did all his paperwork out
I don't know if there was a whole lot I don't think he had much I think all he had done was follow what was in the account he would get an accounting update and tell us so he might know that though um here's another another angle um I
think I'm not 100% sure but I believe that at the cultural council's web page uh there is access to past Year's records of awards from the cultural
Council um I know they have two years worth I don't know if they have three or four years worth up there but that would be Lori that would be worth looking for okay so I'll check there um so I guess all I what
I will expect 690 to come in so it it sounds like we um I I think at a different part than of this meeting or another meeting we need to go through what we really are going to do because we have had money come in
for projects we haven't used it the money's disappeared um on my list we have this electric box makeover we put a call out nothing H I don't know we we dropped the ball so I think we need to discuss that and how we're going to work with that we
do have money in our account um I the boltwood project I think we need to really move forward use some of the money that we have to make a sign to to do something so that that just isn't a total failure um it or at
least to if we're not going to do anything there to take the old signage down and make it look like there's nothing there would be fine if that makes sense so those are on my on my radar in terms of money and using money or money that should come in or maybe
money that has to go back Terry that came to you I that 850 so I'll I can follow up the cultural Council yeah then there's the Nea um that that in an account so that is being held in a
making it public account it's not in our account but it is in making it public account so it didn't disappear and there is $5,000 in that account so I think that we should be able to use it we'll have to talk to the town about that and
how we gain access to those funds but they are there um Lori I'm going to forward you an email that shashona and I had when I asked asked kind of this question about how money moves just so that you can see
what she said okay it's uh she says I think the funds went through Town Hall's office into our account it's like this whole think thing no one really knows so I'm sending you this so that we're on the same page okay the same page of
befuddlement how about that yeah and I can look in and see if there's any more in here that I if I can scrape up any more information I'll send it on to you okay well I I think we we definitely you know hoping we can set up another
meeting um to clear up some of these things and really get a timeline together for what we're going to do with dropped projects whether we're dropping them and moving on or and and you know closing them up and saying they're done they didn't happen or whether there're
still ones we want to happen let's promise that as an agenda item for April promise ourselves okay okay I okay thank you laori would you drop your screen sharing see let's
see if mine comes back I did it's not is it still showing no I'm seeing yours Tom yeah yours is yours is on Tom oh okay it's on everywhere but my screen for some
reason okay now I have it back too okay thank you thank you very much Lori um let's see uh APAC representative uh for the percent for art committee I don't think
we necessarily need to uh decide that right tonight I mention this also because um Lynn Thompson who's not here this this evening had written to me to volunteer for that and I think that too
is one where we we'll want to discuss and choose among ourselves so I propose that we uh postpone that until April um Angela advises me that we can create a small this goes to uh dar's
question at the end of last meeting can we create a small working group to draft the mission policies document and the answer from her is yes oh good as long as it as long as it's uh two or three people and not four four would be Quorum
and we'd get back into uh open meeting requirements uh so uh I would like to see whether this evening we can we can volunteer get some volunteers to do that before before moving on though I want to say I picked up at the Town council
meeting that uh the open meeting law is set to expire at the end of this month and the councilors did not know whether the state legislature was going to legislate an
extension to it or not so uh I have no idea either you know what's about to happen or not happen in any event uh we'll get our guidance obviously from the town as to whether we need to
continue uh the open meeting rules but uh getting back to this agenda item uh um I will volunteer to be one of the the writers on this um do we have another one or two people who can spend
a few hours between meetings and maybe even have a separate meeting of the two or three of us to um work on draft yeah I can do it okay darra that we got
two and I I I think that it could in general be done in a onetime meeting of about two hours yeah yeah I think we can do that by the way Lyn also I'm sorry go ahead
there that's okay go ahead uh Lynn Lynn also volunteered to to to to um work on drafting so I can write to her tell her that two of us have volunteered and if she'd like to make it three we'll make
that the the working group and we'll um we'll try to knock this out I think it would be great to get it done by miday when we go back to the council yep and I think that's that's probably
doable if we can't do it by then who knows when we would get to it so uh let's make it make it so okay okay so let's turn now to um our
main uh main agenda item here which is the percent for art um I'll just say a few words to start on on uh summary here Lord attended the meeting uh online so i' I'll ask her
then to add some comments and observations basically the way this went was that uh Paul uh presented his memo which uh calls for f full funding
well what it calls for is no action by the council which amounts to approving the 250,000 uh quickly after he did that um Kathy
shern who was the chair counselor and who's the chair of the elementary school building committee she made a motion to reduce the amount to $100,000 um four or five counselors spoke that was then seconded four or
five counselors spoke up um and uh I put in um uh Lynn and I put in our in the comments uh you know about a sentence from each of those
counselors um the summary would be that they wanted to hear more information um they were interested in you know what kinds of flexibility is
possible so for example could the fund be used to support creation of artwork by teachers and students over maybe several years uh in the
building uh either as a replacement for big art project or as an independent activity um one counselor said that he he thought uh the council
should just approve the full amount and stay true to the percent for art bylaw that was passed by the council So eventually um another
counselor made a motion to table the motion uh and postpone the discussion until the May was it May 19th meeting uh that
motion passed and so that's where we stand in um I do need to go back and see in the minutes from that meeting what was recorded as the full text of the motion there was some
discussion I think there was a question from one of the council actually um as to whether the public art committee would be invited to make a presentation um to the council at that
time and uh the answer was affirmative to that so I think we have an A an assignment to work between now and then to be ready to come before the
council and and uh give them more information and I think by implication this is just me speculating that they will want to
hear our take on how much money does the town need to spend to get what to get a good acceptable outstanding uh artwork
um I'll say candidly that I'm concerned that that session not become a negotiation between us and the council it may be unavoidable but um and we can talk we
can see what what your thoughts on that are so um that's that's this my summary Lori do you have anything to add do that just that there was one question that was not answered and that was if
the um money for could be used the percent for art could be used across the street there was a counselor that asked because there's I guess a sort of island or town common kind of area across where
a big sculpture could go and that would be very visible and if that was connected to the school could what could that space be used some a counselor asked that I don't know that that wasn't answered um I think because they felt that if that was a place where we could
put sculpture then it could be um you know something more significant in terms of the building itself whatever is put whatever we do it has to be put in after the fact it's too late now for us to have anything incorporated into the
building building so for instance a recessed wall where work would go there's not there are some spaces for outdoor sculpture but not specifically um designated by The Architects or the um contractor for that
so we would need to really look at the spaces and there was an agreement I think that one of the counselors would would give you Tom the different you know sort of places where art could go so that we be more specific about where
we're recommending uh which which spaces we're recommending for for the public art and the Outreach the you know RFP that we would do so did did you get a sense of how
much time is involved in terms of our having time to both talk about and look into what kind of sculpture we could engage for a significant
commission um you know I think it the way that that I was thinking about this the other night actually I was um because some towns some some public art projects um you know the the count the public art
commission or they hire um a consultant who then finds an artist finds several artist artist brings those art brings the work and then a vote is made on which one to fund um the way it looks
like we're talking about setting it up or the council thinks we are and I don't know if this is in the bylaw that we would actually put out a call for artists they would sub you know with specifications those would we would then
receive submissions those submissions would be go through the advisory committee that would then come back to us and we'd have the final vote on it so that's my understanding in terms of so I don't know if the other option could
work you know would be acceptable where just said I mean if if the deal is honored as it's written a $250,000 amount is significant enough to
get a very amazing piece of work right and certainly not a bike rack or a mosaic Hopscotch right and I think that this is so what they I what I heard is that they want to hear from us there are some
counselors who really are interested in in having something more significant and feel that that's what the bylaw was written for and that was the expectation so reducing it was not something that
you know they they they were interested in hearing from us what our recommendation is and they wanted us to come to that meeting present to them and then they would take a vote so I think we have from now until that meeting to
to get together whatever we want to present and then show up and present what our recommendation is and that's why I wrote out something that I sent to you all that I think that are recommendation should be for the full
amount I think in the meeting that Tom and I first had with Kathy and the town manager and ly grimer there was talk about you know what could you do for 100,000 that was coming from her I think
um and Tom had some some information from some public art projects where you know you could do something for a h 100,000 or less that those numbers were a few years old so I think really what prices for everything have gone up so I
think that was under you know yeah under what it should have been and you know we discussed that yeah we probably could come up with something but I think I think that's the wrong way to go that's my opinion is that it's the wrong way to
go I think we should go and say we want the full amount this is the first time this is going to set a precedent for going forward I think think it's really important to honor what percent for art is usually percent for art is 1% and
this was 0.5% which is what the town felt at the time would it would make sense for a town of this size and so my I would say you know to get something meaningful and significant and an artist
who has a lot of experience yeah yeah and if you have something that's a really visible valuable piece of art you can use it for the publicity that the town so needs to
show what its real spirit is and its true feelings about art in general yeah do we have any thoughts on what kind of art we want I don't think we should have any like a theme no I don't think that we can do that for that amount of money
I think the artist is going to have to show us what's possible and you know I I have a very strong feeling about some public art that is totally applicable to a theme and necessary in terms of like
an idea that a town wants to express but for for this amount of money to identify and maybe the consultant that you're talking about Lori is a important part of this I'm not sure is to identify
serious young sculptors who a commission Miss like this would change their careers and give us a real story to tell about how we use this a fairly
conventional percent for art that is in many other places in the country so I think it'd be really amazing to have something that you know Arts always controversial and one of the values of
it is that it's controversial and you can interpret it any way you want to and that's valuable for people in terms of civil discourse like to understand that you know you can all have a lot of different ideas and sometimes more
abstract art gives people a chance to do more of that than art that comes with a rock hard message so that's that's background so you'll know how I'm tend to think about about it and um I think it's very
exciting that this I had been wanting this this commission to actively work on this for a few years and for finally it to be up in public to be talked about by the Town Council and by you all who went to the meeting it's
so refreshing to see it happening it's really exciting so I'm going to be supportive of whatever we as a collective commission decide to do and I'm happy that we're even talking about
it um um I'm going to go back uh to an issue that Lori raised um or asked about openly here I've been scrolling back and forth through the bylaw which is up on the
screen here the section on public art commission's responsibilities and I don't see anything here that pins us down to the method of selecting the
artwork we are required to be consultative about it um and you transparent about it but uh I
we have seen I agree in the research that uh that I did out looking around the web that uh quite a few places choose an artist or consultant and then that
person formulates what's going to be recommended rather than taking uh the the traditional RFP process where which is what a lot of other schools have done to say here's x
amount of money here are a few guidelines uh um tell us what you think you want to do so I think those are two very different approaches I'll make the observation that I think if we were to
do the the uh the 250,000 that I'd be more inclined to go with that first approach rather than a kind of lottery or you know RFP
uh approach to it I think we get more serious engagement um by one or more artists if we took that approach and I'd also I'll also say that I have this hunch that the smaller the
amount that we would spend the closer we would get to the idea of oh make it something cute for the kitties as opposed to uh dar's formulation where the community is
really taking a stand in favor of significant art um and then uh going back to another point that uh Lori rais which is the possibility of using
the the ammer uh the East emmer Commons as as the site the bylaw says that the artwork has to be in the building or on its grounds um when that question came up in
the council uh they they really left it open there are several there was I would say uh a good vibe in response to that suggestion so I wouldn't rule it out on the narrow on the wording that's in the
bylaw there may be a way to to get permission for that there may also be a clever way of having I'm just speculating here just off the cuff um a nice
substantial sculpture out on the common and something in the building that ties to it so you could make the argument that that common is kind of an extension of uh you know out of the
school I don't know whether that flies or not I always get these hairbrained ideas but I think the upshot is I wouldn't give up on the idea of of the green um I wanted to respond to a few
things I heard um I I think I a quest couple of questions would be um you know there's been talk at uh previous conversations um you know of wanting some an artist who's connected to the
town or an artist who's connected to the area I think for this amount of money that that shouldn't be a criteria for this um so I don't think that this is something that we should think about local you know I think that this is if
we can get to the $250,000 commission then I think that we need to look at artists who you know are beyond the New England area that would be one thing um and in terms of a theme you know there seems to
be some interest I heard of it having something to do with this being a zero net building something to do with climate um there were other things about you know having a Sund dial there were you know that's like something simple you could do have a
Sund dial or you could do um bike racks and a Sund you know there's these kinds of ideas that yes if they give us a $100,000 I think that's the direction we're going to go in that's probably what would happen and so I think if if
that is what they're looking for then you know maybe they'll get a bike rack and a Sund dial from an artist who's connected to this area um someone who doesn't hasn't done many commit Mission um is not an artist uh who is wellknown
but if my recommendation I think we need to tell them this you know and that then if we but if we can go for the full amount which I think is in keeping with public art in a public building connected to
the cost of the building then um you know we can go ahead and and I think it would be good to get a consultant they actually obviously they make a commission on it as well but who is very a well well well aware of what artists
you know certain artists and they'll do the research and they'll they'll come up with several different artists present to us a presentation something like that but then you look at it and I had sent this I just want to say this one more thing is that I did send you know a
budget for if you had $100,000 that I found online and it was more sort of for artists but you can see in it that fabrication you know that may be 30% so I don't want that I want to make be clear when we do present that $100,000
does not mean you got a work of art that is valued at $100,000 it means that you you're spending say 30,000 you know 30% on fabrication and there's a lot of other money involved to
make this happen because it's a total of $100,000 so if we choose four artists and they each make presentations and we give them an honorarium the um s the the travel and accommodation the insurance itself the
installation cost so I want to really break it down so that they understand um that 100,000 doesn't mean you get a work of art that costart yeah that's a really good point Lori excellent that's so thorough and
appropriate it really is yeah so so that's that's sort of I I think I think we should I hope that we can I hope that we can meet again before the Sham council meeting so that we can really create an outline for the and
decide who wants to present at the Town Council and and for others to be able to I think we'll be able to speak and then in public comments you can each person can do five minutes so if we show up and public comments we can each say
more right I think we should do it for both the 100 and then the 250 and break it down which would be a good test for or to show them what that means we they would immediately die for the hundred I don't know I got the
Feeling don't think so I got the feeling that there were some counselors who are really interested in in the full amount so I think probably what's realistic is that we could get somewhere in between oh I want one other point I
wanted to make um is that one of the other points and I said this I just Sayang it out loud because I sent it written to you all was that um Kathy was also outlining because for the 100,000
one of the you know reasons for that is that we're you know not spending tax that would save taxpayer money but I think that 150,000 Savings of taxpayer money is not much for individuals in terms of how much it's going to save
them on their taxes and I don't know what amount but over over time it's over time also it's not like it all comes one year yeah so I think the savings is going to be negligible to individual taxpayers I don't think they'll feel it
one way or another the building itself yes that's huge but this piece this piece of it I don't I don't think it's not like this money is going to go back into the building and they can use it for something else yeah yeah um you know I
one thing I like about Mikey's suggestion about thinking on along the lines on two different levels of spending is that would give us the chance for counselors to say that you know look for another dollar a year
on the tax bill you know we can do the whole thing I think any of it on the tax bill what's that is any of this money on a tax bill in any we all go on the tax it all goes into
the um the the funding the funding didn't didn't we get an override yeah we got an override right and so um the cost of the whole school
the whole project will be borne by uh am taxpayers over what 30 years or something and I I remember seeing somewhere in the minutes of the um
uh the building committee that you know talk talking about what does that really mean in terms of of uh what the average tax bill how much it's going to go up I think we can drill one
level more and say how much impact to spending 250 versus 100 half and I'm I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be
that over 30e spread across all the tax faers that it does not come to much now having said that and having uh seeing how how um frankly bitter some of the
politics is getting in the town over the town budget uh my concern going into the meeting last week was that the town councilors would be very skittish about spend ending any money
okay on the art but but with the possible exception of of Kathy I didn't hear that I didn't either from from counselors that's good to know thank you um let's we're we're at the end of
our of our meeting planned meeting time here um what are people's ideas about what homework and pre and preparation we should be doing over the next weeks
to uh address the aspirations that we set for ourselves at this meeting I think it would not be surprising if they if we were asked about our past projects that were unsuccessful and I think we may need to
come up with some justification or or or maybe uh explanation for how those things felt through um so that it looks like we have a good accounting I actually think they won't ask about it because I don't think they
have any clue what we do oh really okay okay yeah yeah I think that's right I don't think they know anything I think that we the for the making it public the town dropped the ball on that that was not us yes they did and the other projects are minor I don't think they're
aware yeah honestly we just had unfortunate stuff happening with us with our artist appearing I mean that was just how do you they don't know about it they know that that they know they would say that they know they I think that they know about the one um that was
connected to the parking garage and I think they all think that's a failure and they're probably fearful of a future failure like that and I think we have to that's the one I would be concerned about that's the one I would be concerned about but we W part of that
and I think that we have uh people who on on the committee now who are professional I think that's an even more reason to hire someone and what I will volunteer I have a close friend in California hopefully I can make contact
with her who is a um her business is public art and and she's worked with many towns in California to do public art projects so I can speak with her and I can do that before our next meeting to get some information from her and see
what she can help with um and also maybe what her fees are and what she thinks of this amount of money and get her opinion on this and um so I will I will do that are there any our Consultants at UMass or anybody that's um done any big
projects there that we should could talk to there or any does anybody know any of the professors in the art Department we probably need to do a search of Consultants so it looks like it is fair and not biased I mean that's just how how you'd have to do it but I think
Lor's talking about like getting information about how this process works with the idea the cost is yeah informational things because I know she's done some big projects with way more money than we're talking about so smaller amount I think you know we'll
see what she has to say because she's her projects have been much bigger one thing that I will I will commit to doing is I'll get back and touch with Kathy who was the counselor who offered at the meeting that Lori and
I attended she was the one who offered to show us on the plans the places that had been discussed with the with the architect so I'll get in touch with her and I'll I'll ask for a meeting and then anybody who who wants to come every
anybody from the commission here you know let's try to get several people several eyes and sets of eyes uh to do that if you um if you want to look ahead on that and you if you look
through the flurry of stuff that I sent a couple of weeks ago um which I copied from the the the building committee's website
there are plans and um illustrations rendering and even a very nice video two of them in fact one inside the building and one outside um and I chopped those up and labeled them so take a look back in that
set that I sent and you can you can start to get a little bit of an idea I'll tell you when I looked at those I was bowled over by how beautiful everything looks and how how intelligent smart and um
top top shelf top drawer whatever how how how good the quality was it was it really kind of lifted by it and um I so so do take a look and then we'll also try to have that sit down meeting where we can go through in more detail
great okay okay okay if um so if anybody else has has uh connections to pursue people to talk with um
again in the spirit of exploring how best to do this and not necessarily to come up with a nominee that would be that would be good if you have the time to poke through some of the links that I
provided um in various Communications and you can start with the the bottom of this um multi-page Nemo here from from Paul baclan take a look at some of those um I don't I wish there was
something closer it would be and impressive we could go or somebody could go and take a look at I am going to go up actually to Keen State College where they had uh they had a very impressive uh
public artwork in the in the science building there to be ni nice day trip go and take some ask the Commissioners in in Arlington that I work with if there is anybody there because we recently put in a new High
School in Arlington and I'm I'm not sure if there was any kind of a public art project but I'll go ahead and I'll talk to the Commissioners and see if there's any information I can glean from their experiences right yeah okay all right Lori I sent you a couple of emails I hope I sent it to the right
email address I'm sorry um but just to give you a little bit more background on on the uh how finances worked when I when Shona um handed things over to me so we if you have any more questions I'm happy to research and look into more of
how that all went down okay thank you all right thank you all Lori I had a nice uh hallway conversation on another Financial matter um with somebody from the finance
office and she was so friend so helpful so open so glad to have somebody to talk that business with that uh if you have the time and inclination you might be able to get a you know a sit down at some point
okay okay that's not an assignment that's just a hch I have that there may be a nice opening to to you know make a nice connection okay okay um
I think we're about ready to adjourn the meeting anybody dying to keep on talking tonight nope okay make a motion to adjourn comment quick comment is to put the the date for that meeting on your
calendar if the more of us that could be there the better um I think Dar you spoke beautifully to what we're hoping to accomplish I hope you can be at the town meeting I'm going I sent a note I sent a note this this afternoon to Paul
baman asking uh if I could have a conversation with him to hear his thoughts on our preparations for that meeting and so one of the things I want to ask him is whether we can set it up so that we can have a panel to talk with
the um with the council sit down as a panel in front of them rather than have one person present and then everybody else just get the usual five minute actually it's three minutes that's what they were doing at the Town Council but I think
it'd be more effective we could still have a primary presenter but if we had I if if we had two or three or four people sitting there interacting with the 10 or 12 of 13 13 of them I think that would be very
effective yeah we just have to have time to plan how we want to oh definitely have our timing down and have the order down and have it all ready you know do we want to pick then a date to meet rather than
like pick a date right now I think it'd be a really good idea yeah um something like 10 days in advance do you think Dara um so I think we should meet a few times no okay okay yeah so who's going
to that meeting because it's probably going to be during the day which means I can't because I I thought they're always in the evening it's 5:30 Town Council meetings yeah okay yeah yeah I think it Mikey I think that
is probably an evening an evening time my guess is that the counselors also have day jobs but um we can we can confirm that um okay all right so should I send out a a doodle Poll for to look
for a couple of days it's a great idea okay okay I'll do that um so I like yeah that's good thank you so the the meeting that's the next meeting is with the
um with the art Consultants or not with the art Consultants but for the um the percent for art what day is that day May 19th it's a regularly regularly scheduled uh Town council meeting okay
and now is sat at night I believe they're all at uh 6:30 okay and I think the website their their website should should answer that okay I'll look at I think if we could meet
the week of like April 7th come back together to really focus on this that that would be April 7 yeah I mean that gives us each a couple of weeks to do some research to think about it but then come back again and not wait too close I think because
we went probably want to meet again and then have a final meeting before to really make sure we're prepared right I'm I'm traveling for work from April 8th to 21st
so that's a big chunk of time when I won't be able to do it but that doesn't mean that you can't have a meeting and so may I can get on a zoom meeting when I'm traveling I don't know yet or we can meet before the 7th yeah
yeah let's try for that if you I'll like April 7th what day of the week is that I don't know I don't have a calendar Monday okay works for me are you available on the
7th I am am available on the seventh I'm available on the sth H I'm available on the seventh I'm a maybe I've got elections going on at Hampshire okay I will try to make the seventh should we call it six so you
want to do 600 pm on the 7th yes yes I should be able to make it yes I can make it and we just need to let Lyn know yeah yeah good that'd be great that saves you doing a doodle pole Tom how
about that yeah that's good just a heads up um because I'm on two other boards um they set theirs up to be a certain Monday or Tuesday every month and then because they used to do doodle polls too and
then there were so many people that would go one way or the other so then they just said okay we're doing it this day every month so that might be something you decide to do I would love I would love to see us do
that all right so giving up one Monday a month okay right but I it sounds like I will have to do a doodle for the second meeting uh the meeting after the 7th the next one some that'll be probably you
know a couple of weeks later I'm going by Lor's suggestion that we Pace ourselves yeah and so probably after the 21st how about Monday the 5th and then we could be like the first Monday of every
month so that would be May 5th yeah would that work I think so y I think so too I think that works for me yep
tely that gives you two weeks until the meeting if we have to do any more planning or thinking yeah right yeah Y and then maybe if that works out we can just do the first Monday of every month right that' be be time in July and
August that I I'll be on an island in the middle of nowhere great I like that spoiled well buildings were built by the Native Americans in the 1800s so you can
see through the wood and we use ouses we have bathrooms sometimes but ouses too yes it is spoiled but there's not a lot of WiFi okay sounds good you don't need
Wi-Fi we'll all come we'll all come andamp camp out it's a good 24hour drive oh wow y okay up of Michigan yeah been up there
yeah it's far you don't drive you fly to Mao and then drive okay all right so we have a motion and a second to adjourn a second show a hands to approve adjournment
okay looks good thank you very much Tom thank you Tom meeting okay bye bye bye bye bye