that we have a quorum. --------- I now call this meeting of the Cable Television Advisory Committee to order at 11:33 a.m. on Friday, June 12th. We are located in the Amherst Town Hall Town Room, as well as virtually via
Zoom. This meeting is being recorded, both audio and video. Since we have members joining in a hybrid fashion, I will now do a roll call. Breanna Sunnucks, chair, present.
>> Fred Civian, present. >> Peter Barrick, member, virtually present. >> Sean Hannan, non-voting member, present. >> Great, thank you, Sean. I know we expect Rachel. So, we'll we'll welcome her in once she arrives.
Okay, so let's get over to the agenda. If possible and helpful, I will share that on the screen with folks who are in the room and or joining from home. Just give me one moment to get that up.
There it is. Okay. Let me share my screen. Okay. So, we've called the meeting to order. We usually reserve public comment first, so I will ask both the the room here, the physical space, and the virtual
space if there's any comments from the public. If you are in Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom menu to indicate your wish to speak. If you are in person and would like to speak, the microphone is at the center of the room.
Okay, seeing no uh members of the public who choose to comment, we'll move on to discussing Oh, just briefly I want to say that Rachel has joined us at 11:35 a.m. virtually. Welcome, Rachel.
>> Hi, everybody. I'm sorry. >> It's okay. You haven't missed uh we just did public comment, so we're we're about to just start with the ascertainment process steps, so good timing. First, I want to remind folks watching or the the committee here we we
had our public hearing on June 10th. I'll pause in case there's any comments from the board from the committee regarding the public hearing on Wednesday. I will share that we we had three members of the public who joined us, two in person and one virtually, and we
did get some public comment. Any other notes or comments from the committee? Peter? >> Uh I'm wondering in in I I found the comment about uh access to Comcast facilities for
disabled people quite interesting. And it suggests to me that we might want to put an additional question on the questionnaire uh asking something like first, do you have a disability? And then the second would be uh does Comcast provide uh
reasonable accommodations for your disability? >> We can certainly um consider that. We can talk about that as a group. We are going to be looking at the survey in just a moment, so we can we We talk about that in just just a minute. Um I
think it's I think it's a good idea. I think we would maybe in my opinion hazard to ask people to identify whether or not they had a disability as part of the survey, but perhaps we can either reframe one of the questions we do ask
to include a question about accessibility. Rachel, do you have thoughts on that? >> Um just the is the survey already out? >> No, the survey the survey is not out. In a moment, um the next agenda item is to review the
survey. It has been put into the town's preferred survey format, which is Microsoft Forms. So now we have what the committee has worked on you know driven by Fred into that format for us to review. I did
send the link around to the group maybe it was earlier this week or late last week. So you should have that in your inbox. I can resend it and I'll put it up on the screen in just a moment as well. All right, so knowing that we have some
things to talk about on the survey anything else regarding the the public hearing before we move on. Okay. So now I'm going to bring up the draft survey
in Microsoft Forms for us to review. Again, this is a a draft. The physical kind of document copy of this is in our meeting materials in terms of the the questions that we had been discussing at previous
meetings. So I'll I'll just go through this quickly and then we can pause for questions and discussions. I know it's probably rather small for folks to see. So let me know if you need me to zoom in at any point. So,
here we have um our draft survey with an introduction to the Amherst community members that we wish for them to take uh the survey. There's um information at the top about what we're asking, um and that's really what's under our purview as a as a
committee. Including some additional questions we did ask. There's some background. Uh this is pretty much boilerplate that we've been using that's on our website. And also links to our website as well as our email address for folks who had questions.
Any discussion on thoughts, changes, edits to to kind of the preamble to the survey? Okay. Rachel. Um my I didn't have enough specifics to really even say this out loud. I just was When I read it, I was thinking about whether there was a way
to make it any shorter cuz that's always my go-to. Um but I think it is fine. That's all. I don't know that I needed to add that. Um other folks in here, just FYI, my
very loud 3-year-old is home sick with me uh and it's not seeming very sick to my chagrin. Um but will be in the background making more noise than I would like. Well, you can give them our survey and they'll probably fall [laughter] asleep. Okay. So, um yeah, in general, Rachel, I
do agree with you. The the shorter, the better with this. So, there's probably maybe a way that we can um condense this and push people to the website that we do have linked for them to learn more. Uh I think that's a great comment. In general, um go ahead, Peter. >> Now, I I agree with what Rachel said and
what you just said. Anything to make it shorter, uh perhaps as you suggested by referring people to the website if they want more history or more detail uh would be good if you have if the preamble is too long, people will never read down to the end
and get to the survey. >> Exactly, good feedback. Okay. Before I uh move down to the questions, which you've all seen in a different format before, um I do want to share that I I did have a um and you'll get a couple of updates
about this conversation as we move through the next agenda items, but as far as it relates to the survey, um we were kind of recommended if we could um you know, get this up decided and approved and and have the town send it out through their channels rather on the
on the sooner rather than later side. So, just a general reminder that we're working backwards from a October 15th expiration date of our contract. Um it doesn't mean that services cease on that date. They would be operating under the existing
agreement if we go past that date, but I think it's everyone's goal to um you know, not not be in that past that deadline. So, that being said, um it's in our interest to get this out sooner rather than later. Um just something to consider as we go through the next
questions. So, you'll see here that we did ask some um demographic information up front. Um we can make that optional if we feel that that's a barrier. Um I'll pause there if anybody has thoughts on that. Right now, it's a required
question. No thoughts? Okay. >> Yeah, I got it I've got some miscellaneous edits that aren't worth really talking about here right now. >> Okay. Okay. Any other feedback from folks who did have a chance to go through this before we came here today? Again,
it's not the questions aren't new. It's just in a reorganized into a new format. Um So, I'll kind of go through just so you can see it as it would look to a a community member who's going to be answering it. Uh there are branching and logic included as part of this survey.
Um so just to be clear as you go through this, depending on the answer at question three, a respondent would see a different kind of table here, whether they're current, former,
um or have never subscribed. So, not all the questions will display to to all respondents. I'll just scroll through this, and feel free to stop me. Again, this is directly copied from the last
document that we worked on as a group. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> And here's our open-ended questions. And one thing I do want to highlight just because Peter, I know this was of particular interest to you. Um Fred did take the question
um that you had brought up across multiple meetings, and that is here as an optional question at the end of the survey um to gauge interest about the priority of the town needing to explore their own town-owned internet service in the future.
>> I I'm very pleased with the the the way the question is set up now. >> Okay. Okay. So, Fred, any Did you want to bring up any of your edits now, or is that something that we can tweak offline, or any thoughts you want to share? >> Uh uh there are things we can tweak
offline. Uh for example, there's a a duplicate time frame in question two. If I'm been in Amherst for 5 years, I could check one of any two places. So, clearing that sort of thing up. Other than that, um I think finding a place where uh to put Peter's suggestion uh to
explicitly ask for people's comments about um accessibility um would be really good. We can find a place to do that. Um if if if it's the sense of the group we want to try to make the preamble shorter, um I could go ahead and take a a shot at that. Uh what
I'm hoping we could do was to um agree as a committee that it's okay for the survey to go out with these uh minor changes and go live and go into the community. In other words, I'm asking if the committee wants to have at its next
meeting another review of the survey or not. >> I think we could um you know, with the members present, with the way you just framed that, Fred, that was really helpful. We could certainly take a vote um and just see if the the members are comfortable with the tweaks that we
mentioned taking place and then this going into the hands um of the town. So, we can do that and we will do a roll call vote again since we have members in the hybrid. Um >> I'd like to so move. >> Okay.
>> to so move that if >> Great. Thank you. So, we'll take a roll call vote on um moving forward, getting this survey slightly adjusted as we discussed and into the hands of town staff for for dissemination. Um so, I'll call each
member's name. Please state um I, nay, or abstain. Fred Sevian. >> I. >> Rachel Figueroa Smith. >> Yes. I. >> [snorts] >> Peter Barrick. >> I. >> Briana Sunryd. I.
The eyes have it. Um so, we will move that forward. Sorry, Sean, you didn't get to vote. Okay. So, the next item on our agenda is to discuss the draft license
agreement. This is something that is in our meeting materials folder for anybody who's watching this live or later and wants to see this draft license agreement. So, I will have it up on the screen in just a moment for for us to follow
along. It's a rather long agreement. I I don't anticipate that we would go through every piece of it at this time. Um I want to bring forward another part of the discussion that I had with town's legal counsel,
um KP Law, regarding this. I did ask, I believe it was maybe Peter who said it would be helpful to see what's changed from the last contract in 2016 to today. We We don't have um
that necessarily spelled out from each place, but I can go over some of the highlights that have changed. We've also been asked to look at specific areas um of the the document, which we can do today. And just a general um sense that I get
from speaking with legal counsel is the the main things that are within our negotiating power revolve around kind of the finances. Um there are several things that have been added that I will call to your
attention in just a moment and some things that have been removed that maybe Shawn would be better able to uh speak to if people need additional context like the iNet. Okay. So, I'm going to open up this document. Members should have received this. I know you got a lot of
information this week, so there was no expectation that anyone would be able to um go through everything. So, um let me just zoom to some certain sections. Um
And I don't know which section each one of these items is in. So, we're we're looking at a 76-page document. I don't even know if it's helpful at the moment to have this up, but just um I'll I'll highlight some key differences that I um discussed with the town
attorney. Um and one thing that she would like us to look closely at and perhaps that's something Sean we can do offline is the I-Net. Um And so you know, some of that being removed, the languages have been
removed. Any any concern about the those components? Any concern that we would need to re-put that in for any reason? We've moved on. >> No, so quick history, I-Net was an institutional network. Um
it started out in the 2006 contract. Um actually it existed prior to that. It was the way that Amherst Media ACTV at the time would broad would get their
signal from town buildings that were broadcasting. So, primarily this for the select board meeting and middle school for town um town meeting. They would use the I-Net to get the
signal, the video signal, audio signal back to when they were at College Street, get the signal there so that they could produce it and get it out to Comcast. Since then a lot has changed. Um now obviously we're most of our meetings
are on Zoom and the signal just goes over the internet magically to Amherst Media down at 101 um University Drive. They get their signal there and they goes out to fiber there out to Comcast head end. Um
The town for that 2006 to uh roughly 2020 period was also in agreement with Comcast using the fiber for some town um
data communications. Our town telephones will go over our internal telephone system will go over it. The internal town networking would go over it. In the 2016 contract agreement, um we basically
the town and Comcast disagreed on the purpose of the I-Net and the end result was what was in the 2016 contract that we would that within three it was three or four years we would abandon that I-Net. We would no longer use it. Um in exchange for that
the town got some capital money to build out its own fiber network. Um 2020 uh in 2021, the town built out its fiber network. Um so in the end the town now owns two
fiber rings that go run through town. Um we recently got some state grant funding to expand that and make it more resilient. We're They're Today they are actually stringing fiber through UMass campus underground to make
our ring more resilient. Uh so long story short, the the town has taken over that role. So we connect up most our town buildings with our own fiber that the town owns. We connect the school buildings um with fiber that's town
owned. And so we no longer use the I-Net. So very long story um short, but it it's not an issue with It was in the contract. It was probably um along with the capital amount it was
those were probably the two biggest um points of contention in the previous contract negotiation, it's no longer an issue. It's It's And it's it absolutely can come out of there. I think that it's probably worth
um at least Rachel and I Rachel and I Rachel and I and maybe you just kind of discussing what language is in there for how the signal gets to Amherst Media and then how the signal gets from Amherst Media to Comcast. I think that I think
the way it's currently in the contract is fine, but with them you know, in the previous contract they were down at College Street. Um they're at 101 U Drive that connection's been moved. We through your university, we have fiber
out to them. We're cutting them over to that fiber for that. So I think think we're in good shape there, but we we should probably just discuss it um and make sure there's nothing we want to request differently in the contract. >> Thanks, Sean. And I think that's a good point that you mentioned is, you know,
obviously we we just got this document. We've had maybe some time to review it. I'm going to talk about some highlights today. Um we will need to look at this in more depth and some of us at certain sections. Um so for example, I have a few more that might be a good
conversation to have with Sean. Um some things might be um we want Rachel to focus in on. Um but all in all what I talked to the um the attorney uh Nicole about who you met at one of the previous meetings uh who joined us virtually. Um she was very
helpful and she's very willing to um attend our next meeting. So I do think one of the things that we're not going to be able to decide um on today about we think this is agreement is ready to go. Um we will want that to be an action item for people to work on between now
and the next meeting to go through um the various sections. We'll continue to go through some high-level points right now, but we we have an opportunity to come back with the uh town attorney at the next meeting which I believe we're going to schedule today. And and I can invite her so that we can
ask our questions material differences and have her go over any specifics that we want um or had questions on upon our deeper review. Yes, Peter. >> Uh the document I've looked at the document not all the way through. It's 76 pages long
and it would be a huge help in preparing for the next meeting if the town council or you but I would prefer the town council could direct us to particular pages in the document that she wants us to to look at
because I think it's unrealistic to expect those of us who are not lawyers to be able to read through the whole document and identify with our glazed minds which passages are the important [clears throat] ones to worry about.
>> Yeah, I I 100% agree with you, Peter. So I did try to get some of that from her today which sections to focus on. I think after today if there are any questions we'll get those back over to her but I think that what we can do is again put on page some of the things
that I'm talking about right now that I just got the information on and put the section for each relevant item for us to focus in on that review because it is it's a rather daunting large document. So yes, I think that will be absolutely
necessary and I will work with the town attorney to kind of come up with the the greatest hits the you know the top 10 where we need to look at and put the section and or exhibit number there for us to be able to focus on. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Um All right, so there's just a couple other things that I wanted to mention on this, again, noting that we are going to be carrying this forward into another meeting and we'll have the opportunity to speak with the town attorney um and ask our questions from her
directly. Um another thing that just um that came up was the FCC third order that is new that is part of this uh contract. Uh Rachel or Shawn are welcome to give context to that if they if they want. Um but as far as I understand that
means that that uh Comcast can't charge for the in-kind contributions like the cable drops and the basic um the basic cable. So, that might be something we need to follow up with if we have questions on. Uh Rachel and
Shawn, any any need to talk about that at this point? >> No, the lawyer can speak to it better, but I I just would say if she can speak to it in the next meeting, that would be great. >> Okay. >> Well, that's not that helpful. >> And also from this group, too,
if even after your initial review or if you over the the course of the next uh days have specific questions on sections or just in general, if you could get those to me, that would be really helpful to have the attorney's visit uh be productive and answer the questions
that you have. >> Yeah, the only thing I would say with that FCC part is if um we we do currently receive free basic television service to all town and school buildings um
and if that's going to be free, but then charged for, then we would we would certainly look at the list and um evaluate which buildings use it and which don't. Some Some buildings do use it cable TV service. Um most of them do not. >> Yeah. And I do I do think that's
negotiable as far as I heard >> Okay. >> from from uh Nicole. So, I think if we take a a deeper look at that, we can be sure that >> Um there was another thing that I want to bring to the attention, we don't have to get into a deep discussion of it now. Again, understanding that people haven't
had a chance to consume this. There was a section that was removed entirely that spoke to subscriber rights and privacy practices. Um I'll highlight that cuz I actually know what section that is now. So, it was section 12.1 in the old uh
contract or the 2016 contract. Um and that's been removed entirely and replaced um kind of with some boilerplate apparently that um the industry has been using. Um that is something we can work with uh the in
through the negotiations if we find that is something that we do not accept or we want reworded. So, on that list, I will include that um for folks to hone in on. The other thing, and I think um this is the message that was driven home
from the conversation with the attorney is that what's I I let her know about our plans uh for the the survey and the rest of the engagement that we're doing, which obviously was encouraged to consider the timeline there. Um what would be really helpful for them
to considering the remaining time that we have left and how these negotiations generally go, um really putting some of our attention on the the financial uh component of it and and the town's needs um and Amherst Media's needs. So, that's
definitely the big message that I got. Um we will talk about that in just a second, and I know Rachel's been working on her her pieces of that. Um and I might have a question or two for Sean about how that was handled last time um in just a second. Okay, so with that general
plan in line, it sounds like we'll have time between now and the next meeting. I'll work with the attorney to give you kind of a guided uh a guide for which you to go through the document to kind of hit some of the more important pieces. Um
at the same time, the committee members will let me know of any questions that they already have or that they find upon deeper review. Does anybody want to add, amend, or change that plan? Peter. >> No, I don't want to change the plan. I just want to make sure about where to
send comments. Should we send If we have comments, should we send them directly to you and only to you and not to the whole committee? >> Yeah, I would send them directly to me just so we don't run a foul of any potential deliberation. >> That that that's exactly what I was
concerned about. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah, good question, good clarifying question. So yes, please send those directly to me and I will work them through the appropriate channels. Any other thoughts from other members on this on this draft? Again, I know we
just got it this week. No? >> Definition number 46 needs to be changed. >> Oh, is it? What is it? >> Well, for town council, it's spelled as in legal council rather than that the I assume it means that Well, it does say that town council, so.
>> That's a common one. We'll have to flag that. >> Yeah. >> Um and and one thing other thing that I'll say and and then we can talk about this um separately, but one thing that the attorney attorney wanted us to review and this might be
something Shawn that you just were talking about is reviewing some of the exhibits. Um and if the locations are still correct for the drops and the monthly service. And I think that's what you were just talking about if I was Okay. >> Yeah, we should update that because I I
I think we want stuff on that list. So, my understanding is that when when a new town building comes online, we request service to it and Comcast will provide it. Um We obviously are
in a a building boom right now relatively as far as town buildings go. >> Watch out. And that is one of the exhibits, too. So, I don't know if you want to just pre-flag that yourself. Okay. >> Yeah, before >> All right. If there's no more to say at this time,
Fred, go ahead. >> I just wanted to say thank you, Brianna, for giving us a short guide for what to look for. So, important for us to meet with you. We appreciate you. >> You're welcome. I also need that guide, so it'll be it'll be good for all of us to to be able to have that.
Um Beyond some of the things that I mentioned, the attorney did say there's not it's largely similar to the 2016 contract for all intents and purposes. So, I don't know that, you know, we're looking at very vast changes, but I will get
that list to the members after today. All right. So, I'm going to move on to This is These are all standing agenda items. And Rachel, I don't know that this is something you want to talk about today, but I just I left this on here. >> Yeah, I can talk.
Um I'm I'm giving a process update by next meeting. Well, Brianna, when did we schedule with Paul? For the week of the 22nd, right? Depending on when our next meeting is, we might have I might I hoped to have a
real update. I am in process on a 10-year budget. I am [snorts] quite close to a 10-year supply list that that was a lot more straightforward to work on.
One thing that I think is relevant for everyone to know, Briana, Paul, and I are meeting soon. Um, I don't know the date of anything in my head right now, but soon, um, to talk through uh, a piece that is going to come up in this space and that will will share back
on what we discuss, but but as I have been working through the budget and and looking at the old contract and soon I'll look at this this new draft of a contract. Um, one thing that's coming up is that there's going to be a point in time assuming cable subscribers continue at
the rates we're seeing, the decline continues, there's going to be a point in time in which Amherst Media's expenses outpace the income that is coming in from cable. Um, to to provide
the services that we're contracted to provide. I have ideas on a solution to that, but that is a conversation I wanted to have with Paul, um, and included Briana to join us for that. Um, that's not a that's not an issue that
we've yet faced in this committee setting or in these contracts, um, but I think is going to be an ongoing one. Our peers who have done this work in other places, um,
are not seeing that issue as live as I do. Um, but I think it is significant and I think what what I am what I am anticipating is 10 to 20% decline in subscribers annually and so over 10 years,
uh, that's a significant loss of income. Um, obviously. So, that that's yeah, do do folks have questions for me on that? I can't hear you, Briana. Sorry. Briana, I can't hear you. >> Briana, you seem to be muted.
>> You're going to help? >> Try again. Um Peter, Rachel, can you hear us now? >> Yep. You can hear us now? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. Sorry about that. >> That's okay. Hi. >> Hi. >> [laughter] >> So, okay. Yeah, so we will have more to
react to and I think one of the things that someone who who's the the only person in this room who um was here during the last time that this happened. Um and this is what I alluded to just a second ago, Sean. Um I think there is going to be some urgency for perhaps
um town staff, Rachel, and and me as chair to kind of come up with what the next steps are for the financial package, which is really what's critical to the the town attorneys to framing the rest of the negotiations.
Um knowing that you it's been 10 years, but you did that process last time with which was collaborative with Amherst Media. If you if you could give us just a quick um like minute of what that looks like and then if we could kind of discuss how
we're going to to handle that considering the timeline that's kind of hovering. >> Yeah. Yeah, so so last time that the process was um I think very different. The um Amherst Media did was not on the cable it was cable
advisory committee last time. Uh Amherst Media was not on it last time and the um I think everybody's aware we're we're advising the town manager on negotiating the franchise agreement between Comcast
and the town and then there's also the separate agreement between the town and Amherst Media. Um it seems like this time we're we're doing them a little more in parallel. Um so it that that part is different um as
far as how Amherst Media's role in it last time in the in the process last time. Amherst Media um last time I could look at the timing but around this time of the cycle um I would say
part of the ascertainment Amherst Media did produce a list of their anticipated equipment needs um for the 10 years. So um I think that's that's what Rachel is is talking about producing is is a
you know what do they expect between now and the next 10 years um in terms of equipment to to continue to operate this um and I guess I I don't know if we really talked about
this um I don't want drone on about things but the there's really three financial pieces in the contract um the first is a 50 cent per subscriber per year fee that just goes to the town and that basically
kind of pays for legal counsel for this kind of stuff um the second part which is typ- typically the largest dollar amount and that is the 5% franch- franchise fee which is what
all of that money comes into the town and then all of that money is given to Amherst Media and that's their operating budget um and that's obviously the one that's dramatically declined over the past 10 years. That's what Rachel Rachel was talking about. And then the last is the
capital support. So in the last contract there was over the course of 10 years 1.125 million in capital support. That money um also charged to the to the subscribers. That money came into the
town and then in the the last page of the agreement between Amherst Media and town that money was divvied up. I think roughly 400,000 of that went to the town and that was to build out the fiber inet. Um and the remaining money went
um the remaining money was held by the town to buy equipment um capital equipment for Amherst Media. Their cameras, their broadcast equipment, their new um cablecast system. Um and so that
was the the last of the kind of three chunks of money. Um >> That's super. I don't know what the rest That's super helpful to hear that broken down like that. Um And and I think that's the crux of what the town attorney was, you know, looking to have us
discuss. Uh maybe not today, but discuss and get back to her. But Rachel, you have your hand. Yeah, yeah. Um Harper has his hand up, too. Um I I maybe uh lost it just as John was talking. Um one of the things also just
relevant historical context for folks, Amherst Media way back was planning on building a new building um which was a significant part of the negotiations. That is no longer part of our business or strategic plan. Um
and equipment is more expensive now than it was 10 years ago Um and will be more expensive you know so so some of that will will come up in the conversation um >> Hello. >> I think um
mhm um Maybe that's all. I just wanted to also provide that context. There's you know like for Shawn and I were in we're in this breathing it all the time so I forget what folks do and don't know so I wanted to just say that for everybody. Yeah. >> I think that's really helpful even for
for for me who was around the last time it's you know on the periphery so that's really helpful. And we don't have to commit to this today but Shawn you know you mentioned that money went to building out the I-Net last time. Are there do you anticipate needs for the for the town
specifically in this next round or is that something that we should discuss um >> I I mean there's some maintenance to the fiber we can uh look to the state and ask for state grants for that. We've been successful
twice in getting those and anticipate we'll get more so I guess the the other piece I would mention is um some of the AV some of the broadcast AV needs of um of the town were paid for with that so
when the um town council was seated in 2018 early 2019 or early 2018 when they redid this town room um the broadcast portion of it of the AV system was paid for with that money so the cameras you see in here that
we do use the back one um and the um the microphones we're talking on the sound system the PA system in here that's used to broadcast meetings that are held in here was paid for with that so I would say it you know we're 8 years
into this system it will I would expect it to need a refresh in the next, you know, >> And the black >> next 10-year cycle, obviously. >> Okay, so it might be worthwhile then, I think, um and Peter, I'll just 1 second, I'll I'll um I'll get to you, but may maybe Shawn,
um Rachel, myself, in some configuration could could start putting those to page um to get that to the the table um for negotiations. But Peter, you have your hand? >> Yeah, I'm I want to raise a a very
general issue uh and this this may not be timely yet, but I I thought it was better to get it on the table sooner rather than later. Uh it's historically it Comcast cable has been the only game in
town uh it was the only way you could get television and it made sense to to link uh public public access TV services to the Comcast subscriber base, because that was the only way they could get that
information. Uh as the Comcast subscriber base shrinks, it seems to be it raises the question of whether that subscriber base should be seen as the the key factor in the town supporting its technology needs and the
technology needs of Amherst Media. Uh and Rachel, I'm guessing that you're heading in some direction like that. But but I think that uh that that should be an issue that's on your mind when you have the smaller group discussion uh and I'd be interested in hearing what you
recommend. >> Really good point, Peter. Any any response to Peter on that for now, or is something we want to we could also put on the list to um discuss when the attorney's here, as well. >> No, I mean, I think that's right. I think
um my board asked similar questions to you, Peter, when I shared a drafts, um, of both a one-year and a 10-year budget. Um, but the Yeah, I I don't I don't
the somewhat if it just feels like, um, the finish line is is shifting as we're walking. Um, so it is important conversation. I don't have conclusions yet. That's all I got, I think. >> I'm not expecting any
conclusions, but if many people in town are getting their televisions from, you know, from YouTube or from Google TV or from any of the other TV providers, I think this committee would be interested in knowing whether that gives
them access to Amherst Media. If it doesn't, how do they get access to Amherst Media? And in an in an age of Zoom, what impact does that have on the technology needs for for Amherst Media?
I'm sure these things, Rachel, are things that you think about a great deal more than I do. >> I think about them. It's interesting though, this is some of you have heard me say this, nonprofit is my expertise PEG and media is not.
And I think many of the PEG station directors like Amherst like whatever all the other little towns or not little, Northampton, Holyoke, Greenfield, etc. Um, are not there yet, which is interesting. So, I have been trying to approach a
conversation with like Apple TV and a couple of others about is there a world in which community media stations can be available on them? Um, and it's a new conversation for them. So,
that's interesting. Yeah. That's exciting though. It's an important conversation to have. Um before we kind of you know, obviously we're going to have to come back to this um with with more details and information at a at an a future meeting, but one thing I just wanted to maybe ask
Rachel and Shawn is I in my mind I'm kind of centering the the financial needs around both you as representatives of the town of Amherst with? I know um does the school have any direct involvement in this process last time,
Shawn? Or do they have financial needs that relate to this uh that we should pull them into a conversation for? >> I think it would be worth including that. I might thought I want clear to me at my understanding is
many of most of the AV equipment at the school has been purchased by the school rather than with Amherst Media. The the capital but um I don't know Rachel. I guess some of that some of that >> understanding also. I'm only here for
the last 10th of this contract, but first 10th you know, ninth I guess. Um but Um the relationship between the schools and Amherst Media historically was not functional. It is now, um but I think
the school Um the schools have become accustomed to building technology into their budget. There isn't a lot though, I would say there isn't a lot in the schools that is
connected to streaming of meetings. So, in the last year as I saw opportunities there's a little room right by the Amherst High School library where the streaming happens. Anything that needed to be updated there in the last year, we
have we have paid for out of the capital funds. Um which is something that I believe should consistently be happening. Um I think it's not been a ton of money, so they've just been accustomed to using their own system.
Um but I think Sean, including Jerry, would make sense. >> Yeah, I I agree. The other um the other point to note in there is that the the Amherst School Committee, I believe, meets in here now. I
and there's the Amherst School Committee or the Regional School Committee. And I know the Pelham School Committee said >> That's correct. That's correct. Yeah. >> Okay. So, Amherst School Committee meets in this room, the town room, now. So, whatever upgrades we would make in here would would benefit the Amherst
School Committee. Um and and just to be clear that what we're talking about with this capital money and for technology is specifically for for PEG services. So, specifically public education and government. So, it's it's really
for broadcasting public meetings. And so, if you looked at the bill we got for the AV system power fit this room, it was split in basically that the town paid for you know, it worked out to roughly 50/50
that some of the I you know, I believe the projectors were paid for out of town IT um capital money versus the microphones and the cameras for broadcasting the meeting meetings were paid for out of the PEG capital. Um but but yeah.
>> That's helpful to hear that distinction. It's not just a open-ended >> Yeah. >> technology needs. >> No, it No, it it's specifically for for PEG services. So, um it's it's it's pretty pretty well pretty
tightly defined and pretty uh It's really just used for broadcasting. >> Okay. And and do you think then that we should re- be reaching out to to Jerry as you mentioned who Jerry is the I I your president for the school?
>> Yes. Yeah. Yeah, but I think it'd probably be worth Rachel, Jerry, and I meeting and just going over what they what they would need because I think whatever but it that part would really just be what Jerry and Rachel think the schools need for the next 10 years to continue to
broadcast any meetings there. >> Right. Great. And is that something you you you you all feel comfortable leading on? Do you need any support from me on that? I don't know that it's >> No, Brianna, we can Sean I can Sean I'll pick up coordinating that and I'll bring Dave
over cuz he knows the tech better. >> Yeah. >> So, Dave, Jerry, Sean, and I will meet sometime in the next couple weeks and just report back on where we're at. >> That's awesome. >> That'd be perfect then. And I I say for broadcasting meetings, it is it is actually for
education as well. So, I think historically I think some sports sporting events were broadcast and that kind of stuff. So, it's not it's not just meetings, it's sporting events, it's band concerts, it's it's whatever ends up getting broadcast on Amherst Media.
>> Great. Okay, that was really helpful. Any any other questions from either Fred or Peter on the on the topic? We will revisit this at a a future meeting with some updates probably that occur between this meeting and the next. Okay.
So, if we're looking back at our um agenda, the last thing under the ascertainment process steps were just any other updates that we haven't talked about um to date related to ascertainment steps. Um the only the only piece that I have
relates to something that we've already talked about. We completed our two public hearings successfully and we have the the survey that is going to be pushed forward after today. And we discussed the rest of the items
just now. So, does anyone else have anything that I didn't have noted? Okay. So, the next I think will be really important for us to kind of carry this forward. We have to discuss and confirm the upcoming meeting occurrences. can
can see if we already had agreed on on one of those dates. Um if we follow our schedule that should be June 26th. I had it blocked on my calendar, but I don't know if the rest of the group was on the same page as me. So,
just want to pause and hear from the group if if two weeks from today, same time, same venue was your understanding. >> That would be good for me. >> I didn't have it on my calendar, but that works for me. But, this is my fault
that it wasn't there. >> Yeah, that works. I'll be virtual that day. >> Okay, we'll make sure there's a virtual option. I know folks are doing summer stuff and Sean, I think you might be out of >> I I'm still here. We're potentially moving the fire department and
recreation department that same day. So, I I can I can commit to always coming in here and and getting the meetings started >> Okay. >> um on Zoom. So, >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> That would be great and if you had anything that day, but you had but
>> Yeah. >> tasks take you um elsewhere. I can I'll be happy to give any updates on your behalf. >> Or we just get Rec moved before then. >> Yeah, there you go. You've got a deadline now. >> Exactly. >> All right, so that is the next meeting and I know then we're kind of really getting into the summer territory,
um but we do have the the virtual option. Um, I think what I'll do is I'll lock down the 26th with the town just to ensure that they can create the Zoom link and get everything posted and secure the space. Um, if if it is helpful for the group to
look into July and, um, at least have one meeting in July, we could keep following the same cycle and look at July 10th or another date in July. >> July 10th does not work for me.
>> Okay. >> It does not work for me, either. >> Okay. I figured that we'd we'd lose some people. Why don't we do this? I'll I'll get everything confirmed for the 26th and then, since we are allowed to deliberate outside regarding scheduling of meetings, I'll send, uh, a poll for
us to find, uh, an opportunity to at least meet once in July considering everybody's, uh, schedules. Does that Have anybody disagree? Okay. >> That doesn't disagree with the 24th?
>> Uh, not good for anybody? >> I'd have to check. >> That preserves our every two week. >> July 24th, you mean? >> Yeah, we'd be skipping the 10th and instead have a meeting on the 24th. >> Let's see. >> That may be too far ahead for people to
look. I apologize. >> The the I could make the 24th work for me. >> I can do that date. >> Yeah, I can make that work probably as well virtually if if needed. >> me. >> You, too, Sean? You're back? And that works for you? Okay. Why don't
Why don't I put that down as as the July occurrence and I'll get both of those over to the town to to get worked out so that we at least know our next two occurrences. Thank you, Fred. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, moving right along, um,
the next item we have, um, and this is something that you didn't get in your inbox not because of Fred not sending it, but because I did not want to bombard you all with another meeting and that's the approval, uh, or another document to review. That's the approval
of the minutes from the 5:15 26 meeting. Um, I can pull those up now for us to give a quick review and Fred had just two specific points that he was seeking clarification from folks. Is that right? >> Actually, I didn't follow through with that. So, I don't >> Okay. >> I didn't have any signatures right now.
>> We can put this on the next meeting, um, and I'll be able to send it to you all in advance so that you >> I I'd prefer that. Thank you. >> Okay. You bet. So, we'll we'll push that to the the, um, what's the date I just said? June 26th meeting.
Okay. Any new business, um, or topics not anticipated by by by the chair here 48 hours advance of the meeting that we don't have on our agenda. No? Great. Okay. So, that brings us to the the end of our
agenda and I will, um, entertain a vote for meeting adjournment. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Great. Okay. Our meeting is adjourned at
12:28 p.m. on June 12th, 2026. >> Thank you very much for the update. Thank you. >> Bye. >> Thanks, everybody. >> Bye, everybody. >> Bye, Harper. >> Hello. Part: 2
Good afternoon everyone. Today is the June 12th meeting of the elementary school building committee. And seeing that we have a quorum, I'm going to call the meeting to order. But first, um, my first step is to make sure the members
of the committee can hear and we can hear them. So, I will just call on your names as always as I see you on my screen. Jonathan >> here. >> Paul >> present. >> Holly >> here.
>> Mike >> present. >> Bruce >> here >> and Sean >> here. >> Uh two people have told me they'll be joining a bit late and one has told me that she will not be joining at all. She
is I think in South America. But um I we have a simple agenda. We're well simple except that S send you told us on the construction update we have a lot of updates as part of that then we have invoices and we'll turn to public
comments at the very end so I am turning it over to um whoever is uh host tools share settings >> honor will put up the presentation and
we'll go through it together. >> Okay. I believe I've allowed you to share. Yes. There we go. Okay. Um, so as you can see, the front of the building is starting to come
together and is looking getting close to final product. Next slide, please. >> Sorry, I was muted. Uh, going into Corken. Um, Corkin is finally installed as you see in the top
left. Um, this is the photo we showed at last month's construction update. So, we have a little bit of a progress uh some progress photos down the left side and then on the right side we have some close-up photos of the finished cork. So you can see in the middle photo
on the left side um that darker color is the base layer uh which is the thicker portion at the bottom. It's made up of larger particles, larger uh bits of material that allows for more squish. And then in the top right of that same
photo, you can see the uh top layer going down. It's a little more dense, a little more durable, and it's a thinner layer. So you still have that squish underneath and the top layer is squishy as well. It's still corken but a little more dense, a little more durable. And then the bottom photo, you can see the
full length of the playground fully completed here. >> Thank you, Connor. As a reminder, this uh uh material cork is a um an accessible corkbased material bound
together with a material that is not cork, right? It's some sort of a glue. Um, it is uh a it it it is bouncy but a little less bouncy than the originally proposed rubberized surfacing. So, some
of the playground equipment heights have been lowered um to an appropriate height I believe as part of the original um design well modification. The material from what from what we heard from the installers as they were doing the work.
Uh this is now possibly the largest installation in the country if not in the world of this material that exceeds the last or largest playground that they did
uh by some amount. Um it's in great shape right now. Um they there's been a tremendous amount of care taken to uh keep it free of things like dust and pollen during the installation.
Um it's going to continue to be fenced off for as long as possible uh to keep protecting that surface. Um it remains to be seen how it performs in terms of durability, but as a starting point, it's looking great.
And Cassandra, just um is is is there sort of a I see a protective fence. Is there a protective fence while letting it settle, letting it cure or anything like that? >> It is a temporary fence. It's it it was
in place while the installation was happening. It's the decisions been made to keep it in place for the rest of construction just to keep it clear of debris and keep people from walking on it. Um the fence will come down as the
building is turned over. >> Thank you. >> So it's not a permanent feature. >> Yeah. No, thank you. But I thought it's a good idea to protect it, you know, while um this is still an active site. the the installers were sufficiently
concerned to keep the uh surface from being walked on during installation that they had even hired a night guard to watch it overnights. So um it was important at that time and we're trying to honor that by keeping the fence in
place. Okay, next slide. I can pass it off to uh Tim now if you want to take us through. There's only a couple more slides on the construction update >> and I think there's a little bit of
conversation about the intro connect. Go ahead Tim. >> Construction up to date. You're looking at uh photos of the roof and all of the PV is now installed on the roof. Uh which is exciting. Um all their rooftop
uh work is basically complete. Uh here you're looking at uh the paving for part of the playground and the half court and fullcourt basketball courts. That is the finished uh paving layer. Um and then after this they're going to continue to do the finished grazing
between the court and the building um and the rest of the finished paving. Uh here's a photo inside the gym. Uh the floor as of now is sanded and ready to be finished. The acoustic wall treatment is up and painted uh and all of the work at the ceiling level is uh basically
complete and you can see that the curtain wall at the end is complete. Um and behind the protective poly there is the climbing wall which is installed. Uh the photo on the right shows the wood flooring at the platform in the cafeteria which is nearly complete and
markerboard installation is continuing throughout the building. They're down to the first floor from starting on the third. And that's it for the uh construction update. So the tour next tour is uh June 30th, 3:30. So please email me if you
would like to attend. Then we're going to jump down to a uh schedule update. >> So we're entering the last stretch um of building construction. As a reminder, uh the end of building the building is not
the end of a project because that will put us into phase two once the building is occupied to demolish the existing building and build finish building the parking lot, you know, on that side and uh begin and end building the fields,
complete all the site work um associated with that. um in the runup to the end of a project um in the next couple of months. Um there we have a few important milestones, some that to do with the
building construction, some to do with the work that the school district is doing to pack and move. Uh a professional mover has been retained. Um the the the teachers have been given a few days um beyond the end of the school
year to do their packing. Um they into crates. Uh the a professional mover has been hired to um execute kind of a multidirectional move. uh sometime in mid to late July, they're
going to be moving the sixth grade from all three from each of the three elementary schools into the middle school where space is being provided for them, prepared for them by the district. Um and then the move from the elementary
schools to um the new building is uh going to happen in the I think second week of August. By then furniture will have been delivered, right? So as belongings and
classroom um items arrive, they'll be able to go into or onto the furniture that's already delivered. Furniture delivery is going to be happening between the middle of July and the first week of August. There is a
um a lot that has to be done uh that is all underway and with commitments to be done on time in order to make that possible. The one of the key critical moments for the project is to get the
elevator finished and signed off by mid July so that the furniture movers can use it and then ultimately so that the building can achieve certain substantial completion. Um the elevator has become
somewhat of a schedule risk although we think we've got it mitigated um in prior every meeting for many many months. Um this group always asks is there any schedule risk? Is there anything that could happen um that could
cause concern and we've been saying no one thing in particular just the the volume of things that need to get finished together. We we now have uh the elevator as a special concern. So, they're getting
everybody's attention. Um they should have the contractor should have arrived on site as originally planned about a month ago. Uh they arrived this week. They have committed to completing their
work in about half the time they had originally given themselves and have committed in writing in in in front of their bonding company uh to be done by July 3rd which is actually a better
outcome than even the original schedule for that. So as long as they meet that commitment, there is no problem or risk associated with that to
the schedule. We are monitoring it very closely because there is a substantial amount of work to be done. Um as it stands right now, there's no reason why um furniture delivery couldn't proceed as scheduled. And even if there was not
an elevator signed off uh officially at that point, there are several layers of contingency plans that have been identified. Um so July 31st remains as originally scheduled the substantial completion date that is what Sconor is
showing in yellow. Um substantial completion means there's a certificate of occupancy possible. It means that um staff, teachers and ultimately students can start being in the building and that all
the important operational points are completed. The substantial completion certificate does normally commonly have a punch list attached to it. Um, of course, any punch list work that has to be done after that date,
uh, it becomes necessary to coordinate it around, um, the convenience and necessity of a building operations, right? So, a lot of it has to start going to second and third shift. Um, I it's and weekends. So, there's a major
push to keep that list non-existent to minimal. Um and Tim, can I ask uh you to talk about the PV interconnect? That will surely be an item that goes beyond that yellow date. >> Yeah. So the other um
schedule issue is the PV interconnection and turning the PV system on. So there is no reason to believe that that will affect the operation of the building. Uh it can open um and be usable as a school. um
if the photoic system isn't turned on uh but with our back and forth with Eversource they have not yet approved the interconnection and just a very brief history on that uh the initial
application was submitted back in January there was a technical review they asked questions we went back and forth on the second technical review um we were asked to comply with a standard um that was issued by Eversource uh this
May. So a well after the building was designed after we even applied for the interconnection um which essentially required remote access by Eversource to be able to turn the system off. Uh technical details
aside uh I just got off a call that Eversource was on and we believe most of the technical and physical aspects are resolved. There are some additional questions because there's separate arrays on the roof and on the canopy structures which require
two revenue meters and the system that tracks meters can only have one meter per project. So there has to be two separate applications and I just say that as an illustration of the kind of things that we're dealing with. So um
as it stands right now, it is somewhere between possible and likely that the interconnection application will not be approved and the PV will not be operational on July 31st, but
um the school will open, teachers can move in and uh school will begin on schedule in the fall. Um, there is no reason this would affect that other than it wouldn't be operating at net zero until that initial connection was approved.
>> So, uh, when I have more information, we will share, but that's where we are right now. >> I see Sean's hand is up. Um, and he's probably going to ask the question I would ask. So, go ahead, Sean. >> Yeah. Well, I think there I mean, I think there's something in the B in the bylaw about opening, but I'm not going
to go there. I think um Tim is it it sounds like it's likely then there will be an electrical cost that the schools need well the town needs to be prepared to pay. I think we were hoping it would be almost zero but it sounds like if they have to operate for a month or two
or however long it goes that could be you know large cost >> uh when the school is operating completely on grid power without generating anything. Yes. >> Okay. Is there I don't know is there any way to
project that? Do we know um roughly what the all the systems, geothermal systems, all those things uh use during the summer months and early fall. And we could talk about this later, but I think it would be helpful at some point to
us and work with you and the schools to figure out what that cost might be. And then we have to figure out how we're going to pay for it. >> Yeah. I mean, we can certainly help with any information we can provide, but uh there are a lot of unknowns there. >> Yeah. Okay, >> I see Paul and Deb, I want to welcome
you. Let's just make sure we can hear you. Um so Paul, then Deb, then Mike. >> Uh thank you. So, um Tim, is there anything the town can be doing or state legislators? We are often in tune with Eversource advocating for them to
prioritize projects. This is a high-profile very important project and I think if there's anything we can do on the other side which sometimes helps um >> yes um any without knowing the specifics of who is going to talk to who but
anyone that has influence with people at Eversource that can compel people to do things slightly faster than they otherwise would. Um the project would certainly uh welcome and encourage that. But you know who that name is and who they're talking to.
I I don't know any of that. I'm sure you do better than I do. >> Yes, we do. Okay. Thank you, >> Deb. I um sorry I'm late. Uh there's a fire alarm. Um so obviously
those the the likely well possible to likely means um there will be electricity bill to the school district, right? Yes. I mean >> the cost of the electricity will be yes
and Ammer school district cost. Okay. Thank you >> Mike. >> Um thank you and you have no idea like the uh length of a delay right at this
point. >> I I I wouldn't hazard a guess. I I wish I could give you any sort of hint, but I I I just don't know. >> So, this will obviously potentially um endanger our like meeting the net zero
guidelines. Um I know we have uh some money at stake for for meeting uh for the first year guidelines. the the money at stake if you're talking about Eversource incentives and verified
um performance of the building. Um not to be dismissive of it, but it is a very small portion of the total ever source incentive, but I think it's totals less than $10,000. Um not not that that's not real money, but um
luckily it's a small portion of the ascent. Jonathan, >> I guess I just would would want to add that it would be awfully strange of the utility to penalize us for a delay that's effectively theirs. And that's
where Paul's advocacy with um Paul's and others advocacy with the utility may come into play. Um, you know, they delays with utilities are not uncommon to projects of all sizes and shapes and
and types. I'm sure Bruce will agree. Um, and in in this particular case, uh, this sounds like this is something over which the utility actually has a fair amount of discretion and control. And I think that would be very awkward for
them even at a relatively comparatively small sum of $10,000 to withhold something from this project um given that they have moved the goalpost well past the point where things were constructed. So
thank you >> Bruce. Um would any additional expense electrical uh billings related to that period that u uh Tim identified in response to Sean's question? Would that
expense be considered a legitimate uh um contender for the contingency some of which you know was pretty respectable. Um, I mean it's it's real money, of course, and it's unfortunate and so forth, but it would seem to be a project
expense and uh and then and and if Sean's worried about how he's going to find it in the town budget, I'm wondering whether it wouldn't just come from the contingency. That's a question and it doesn't have to be answered now. >> Yeah.
So, as I always say, I I've been late to this process. Um, is there any chance that subsequent months once the PV is online that the the the extra electricity that our PV generates makes
up for the first two months of operating loss? Well, you know, the uh the best time for the solar arrays is the summer, you know, so you know, in terms of November and December won't make up for
a loss of July and August may be a way to think about it. Um >> but so I think I I at least what I thought is heard is a couple different ways of approaching eversource you know that it's um that first year the Mike I
can people who joined the committee um after all this was discussed I can send you from old charts ever had a big incentive at the very beginning which was because of the geothermal design and then there is the what happens after a
year so so Deb I think The discussion here is are there ways we can stop this hitting the operating budget and we've got a couple ideas. Yeah. >> To to >> just to to complete the the last point
on the presentation. Um the we will be going for a temporary certificate of occupancy for rebuilding and the school will open under a temporary certificate of
occupancy. I wanted to address and clarify what that means and what it doesn't mean. it the the only reason it is going to be such temporary TCO as opposed to full uh certificate of occupancy is because the project is not
complete without completing phase two. Right? So that is the the the balance of the parking lot, the balance of the site work, the fields and the demolition of the existing school. um it should not
have any impact on the town's ability to occupy the building um and to go ahead and start school. So that's the last thing I wanted to say. >> And um Bob parent who couldn't be with
us today, he's he he sent me a note, Tim, that you're going before someone at Danesco is going before the planning board with the um school signed >> on the 17th. Uh we haven't had confirmation from the planning board yet, but we've sent a packet and asked
to be on and assuming that they will want us there. >> And so people may remember I didn't put it on this agenda, but we had a very quick discussion about uh commemorative
plaque. Uh there's a space for it and the quick discussion was keep it simple. So, I think we could put that on the July agenda because the production of that could be pretty quick if we keep it simple. So, it's not on today's agenda. I just wanted to remind people that we
haven't done that yet. And the other thing is an Angela who is working with the school and with our press person to orchestrate an event, you know, a ribbon coveting event and and with Danesco. I
mean, so we'll get we'll get a plan on what that looks like. It hasn't been um established yet, and I assume we'll hear a bit, but since this has always been incredibly well done, just that's the
capable team that'll be doing it. So, if there aren't any other questions, um, as always, this will be put in today's packet. U, I think we can move on. Deb. >> Yeah. Uh, one more question. So, in terms of the update about the elevator,
will will we be um will we wait until our next July meeting to find out? Is there a way of finding out that the that we could be um emailed ahead of time? >> We can if if if Cassia gets if it's all done, I'll just we can just send a note
to everyone on the building committee and the school will be notified, too. So you don't have to wait till what if it's July 17th. >> Thank you. >> Uh so I think we're moving on to invoices.
>> Yep. So just to fast forward a bit. I won't take down the screen. I'll just >> One one second. Did we decide to skip over art? >> Do you want to do invoices first? >> Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. No. So that can you can take stop screen
sharing. So the other item for us to do today is you we all many of us I'm not sure everyone was here for the presentation on the from the percent from the art council um that an advisory committee is going to be set up with one
slot for the elementary school building committee. And so today was if is there anyone on the committee who would like to be that person? If there's more than one, I'd ask people to make a short statement and we could vote. Otherwise,
if there's only one, we'd be recommending to Paul that Paul put that that would be the representative. So, uh, I gave everyone a heads up reminder. So, of the people who are here today, I haven't heard from anyone who's
not here today, okay? So, that they wanted to be on it. Is there anyone who would like to do this? Bruce. >> Um, I would like to do this. I, um, it would be interesting to me. I have for 50 years as an architect been on,
uh, one leg of a three-legged stool uh, as as a designer. Here we're talking about a three-legged stool. um where the three legs are the artist, the the patron which is essentially this committee uh the public art uh jury and
then the constructor which in this case is possibly also the artist. But trying to have a successful design project like a school there is very much uh a role for each of those three uh entities. We
are essentially the patron the the client uh in this process. uh Deniscoco and their team are the designers and we have a very competent contractor and and and the project has worked because of a
uh um pretty seamless collaboration between those three entities and also and this I think is the important part and where I hope I could bring something to the table an understanding uh each understanding its roles and responsibilities an owner a patron a
client has roles and responsibilities and they're not the same as the artist or in the case of where there's a craftsman involved, there's a separate role there as well. So, I I would like to be on the other side of the table for a change. Uh and I think I understand
these processes fairly well and I think I could uh help us collectively understand how we can be a good client. >> So, seeing um hi Allison, welcome. Um, I'm not sure what the time
commitment is for something like this, but I do have strong opinions about how this children should be involved and how the community needs to be involved with any art that is uh going to be a part of the school. Um, so what type of time commitment are we talking about?
>> Um, you know, Paul may be the best person to do that, Ellison. So the um there is a art teacher that will be on the advisory committee and there'll be a high school student and these will be public meetings when they're soliciting
the art and I believe Paul it was like a 2-year they they they're going to have to issue an RFP um and then it would be reviewing the applications and the other thing that was left to be determined when we heard the presentation was that
They might uh the they there's a large amount of money up to a certain amount that can be spent and they might uh solicit in different categories like you could submit something that's in a lower price range or a higher price range. So
it might not be betting on one project costing everything. So so that I imagine will be an initial discussion um going forward. So, I don't have a really good sense of, you know, will this be meeting
once a month once it gets started because the the the advisory committee hasn't been set up yet. Paul, maybe you have a sense of it would would it be a monthly meeting and then the >> Yeah, sorry. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think Allison, I think it would be a monthly meeting and um you
know, I think your perspective is also really important obviously. Um, so, um, yeah. So, so I don't know the it's it's a it's it's it's a long process, but you're selecting the artist, you're deciding where you want to put it, and then you're selecting the art. And so
that it is a pretty uh involved process, but it's it'll take a couple years. >> Yeah. I'd like to uh volunteer if we're if that's what you're asking. >> Yes, that is. And and just one other thing on it that there there's a provision that once the solicitation
goes out or the framia of it that there will be public meetings on it. So it won't just be the committee deciding this is what we want or where we want it. Um so it won't and it will be quite public. Deb um thank you. I I appreciate
that. I again am new to the entire process, but why is it a high school student that's on it? Because it's a different district. I mean, I they're older, but they will also be graduating and the younger people will be occupying
the building. So I think this a recommendation from the public art commission um Deb and it's I think the idea was to involve a student possibly who's gone through one of the schools who understand who's closer in age to the students who are going to be appreciating the art. Um and
also it's just a great opportunity for a high school student to be part of a a public art process which is a really phenomenal opportunity I think for a young person. Bruce. >> Um, Allison, I' I'd uh well, if the I'm
thinking that I would uh withdraw my candidacy in favor of you, Allison, although um I'm not sure. Maybe I should let everybody else decide. But but the other option is that I could maintain my
candacy but commit to um having as much uh giving you as much access to my uh position and and in collaboration between the two of us so that I am better informed and if that would make the job easier for you and you would prefer it that way then I could make
that commitment. But otherwise I would uh I would um withdraw my candidacy in favor of you. Oh, Bruce, I'm not trying to push anybody out. If I if I misunderstood what the number of volunteer I I I I just want to be clear.
I'm very very passionate about the art for the building. Bruce, if you want to if you want to work with me so that I can um just make sure that I'm staying up on it because that's what I'm afraid of, right? I don't want to lose track of things and uh not have the areas of our
community that need that artistic support and input to be able to be a part of that. That's my that's my worry. So, if there's only one position or one space available, Bruce, I'm more than happy to work with you on that. I'm not trying to push you out at all. I
apologize if it seemed that way. >> Oh, no. There's no apologies here. We're trying to find the best person to do the job. And often times in a situation like this, no one puts their name forward. I've been chair of a number of boards in my time and it's not uncommon for u
everybody when volunteers are asked everybody takes one step backwards not forward. So I was at least putting my name out. Uh but then then you I think you would be um you would be terrific and the only reason that I would be there and and remember I was part of
this committee as an attendee for two years before I joined and I was you know reasonably effective. So I don't have to be on the committee to be effective. So the question before us might be, would you prefer to be on? I think your standing as a elementary school principal might be better than my
standing as an old codger, an old white guy. Um, so I'm kind of thinking that maybe the best solution would be for you to take the position and me to make the same commitment to you that I made to this committee um, five years ago.
>> Uh, I am happy to serve. Um, and like I was trying to figure out from what Kathy was saying, it sounds it sounds like the responsibilities are a little squishy. I certainly don't think I want to share anything, but if that's what you're asking, but I do want to make sure that I'm staying up on things on a monthly
basis and being a part of things because of the >> if it gets too disconnected, it makes me worried, right? So, if I if this is about who should share it, I would say ask Bruce to do it and just Bruce, let's make sure we're talking. if it's just somebody who's on it to make sure like I
just want to make sure that we have good representation. Bruce, I I really admire your commitment to the process and I think that you have a capacity for being very involved where I know that I can like get pulled in many directions. So, I'm more than happy to be supportive,
but just that's my opinion. >> Well, uh Kathy, Madame Chair, I'm I'm going to withdraw my uh candidacy. >> So, I'm no longer a candidate. And uh Allison, I will make uh help you make sure that whatever the time commitment
is, it's not overwhelming to you. So that's a private commitment that I make to you, but it's not private because I'm doing it kind of publicly, I guess. But I want to make I want to make sure that that you can uh fulfill, you know, your role satisfactory without it getting
complicated with all the other things you're trying to do. So I'm no longer a candidate. Um, and I will take my hand down. >> And I I see Shan's hand is up and so with just one person we can I can make a recommendation. >> I was just going to nominate Allison so
we can get to the >> Okay. And I and I will second that and we will put it to a vote. Sean, >> yes. >> Kathy is a yes. Jonathan, >> yes. >> Paul, >> yes. >> Mike, >> yes. >> Bruce,
>> yes. Allison, >> yes. >> Deb, >> yes. >> And Holly, >> yes. >> And I see that Alicia has joined us. Alicia, >> yes. >> It is unanimous. And I will we will so
we will send that recommendation on to Paul Bachaman who has heard it. Thank you. Thank you both very much. And um yes, thank you both very much. And Ellison, if you haven't seen the chart pack, there is one that details who else
is on the committee. You do not have to chair it. There will be people who would like to share it. So, I think if everyone is okay with it, we'll now move to invoices. >> You guys can see my screen again. >> Yes.
Perfect. Starting at the top as we always do, our road map ahead which keeps getting shorter and shorter. So we have green our previously invoiced, black is our current invoice package. Yellow our unbuilt portion of uh
contracts and our uncommitted sitting over here on the right. Scrolling down to the cash flow, you can see this month's invoice over here behind uh in front of this yellow
bar which shows where we are today. Current invoice package. Blue is projection remaining and as always our contingency sitting over here on the right. >> I can pause there for a second Connor.
So the volume of work ahead in blue um is largely well so obviously there's a couple of months of continuing to work on the building but the balance of it is largely abatement and demolition of the existing building
the finishing the parking lot in the fields. It is also some uh guesstimated projection of what portion of a contingency may or may not be spread. You know, we try to be conservative with um in conservative means early in March.
So, there's work left to do. Uh in in that volume of work will also be probably releases of retainage to some of the building trades that are not involved with the fields. um retainage is about 5% of the con of the completed
work that is held in payment until all work was done to incentivize a strong finish you know and a reduction in how much punch list work lingers the end. Thanks, Connor. Go on.
>> Going down to the invoice package summary. We have seven invoices this month. Trying to find the right level of zoom. Uh, one from Answer, three from Disco, one from CTA, one from Allied Testing,
and one from ProAV, who's installing uh projectors, um, monitors, things of that nature. Uh so first invoice from answer advisory $59,457.50 50s 2% of our contract overall and that
is 69% complete in our contract 31% remaining from Disco we have three invoices one their standard uh 65,000 that we see every month for construction administration services uh the next one is for reimbursement
expense 25 which I believe this one is uh ACM uh asbesus containing material consultant for 500 $194. Then the last one here, I forgot to write it in, but reimburseable expense 21, I believe it is, it's in the backup,
so we can fact check me later. Uh, but this is for uh their traffic consultant, $770. U combined, it's $66,364 overall this month. 1% of their contract overall, bring them up to 88% complete, 12% remaining.
Moving down to CTA's requisition uh for May 2,978,8324% of their contract overall bring them up to 83% build 17% remaining. And as always, our retainage 5% retainage over
here held on the right. One invoice from Alli Testing this month for $8,271.88. It's 2% of their contract overall. Moving down to our first invoice from ProAV,
$85,475.85. This is mostly stored materials. >> Conor, a question. >> Yep. >> Or maybe it's an observation about this one. The the uh uh Allied testing uh there's I'm I'm looking they've they've only consumed a little over a third of
the budget. Uh so uh do I correctly interpret that to indicate that there's probably going to be a a fair slice of funds that are unexpended at the end of the project or is there a steep curve at the end? It'll >> No, that's exactly right. We're expecting a lot left over
um with the building uh being completed, you know, they'll have some soil uh samples to take, maybe some compaction, right? Because they still have to finish the parking lot. um soil test for the fields, but pretty much they're they're coming down to the
end of the bulk uh of their testing. So, yeah, we're expecting quite a substantial amount of their contract to be left over. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Yep. So, moving on to ProAV, uh for the
$85,45785, it's 58% of their contract overall. And as I said and we'll see below, it's mostly store materials. Um, leaving 42% remaining. Scrolling down to the first invoice
for us over at answer formally answer for the $59,457.50 50 cents and scrolling through the backup. Oh, and on to Tisco's invoice for the 65,000.
construction administration services and their second invoice for the ACM contain or asbestous containing materials consulting $5940. the backup from Disco's consultant
and their third invoice this month for traffic engineering services RA21 $770 and the backup here. >> Moving on to CTA's requisition. >> Connor, I see that Deb's hand is up, so
I'm just really catch question as it's going through. >> Hi, Connor. There's just been a lot of conversation about the uh traffic flow around the school in the fall. Is that related to the traffic engineering services or is it a different issue?
>> I believe um and Tim correct me if it's I'm wrong, but I believe this is more for phase two um and looking at the turnaround area and then and phase two traffic, but >> it's a yeah, it's not off-site traffic. It's stuff and construction administration likes reviewing sign
packages. It's it's specific to the site and the job. >> That makes sense. Thank you. Thank you. So CDA's requisition for 2,978,8324. Scrolling down to the summary page.
Work in places period. Column E, column F is store materials. And then retainage calculates way over here on the right. the invoice from Alli testing. First page and second page,
the $8,000 $8,271.88 88 and then the cover page here from ProAB their requisition this month for $89,95563. So with that, that concludes our uh presentation this month. As always, we pre-reviewed these invoices and
recommend them for your approval. I make a motion to approve the invoices as presented. Is there a second? >> Second. >> And I will, if you take it down, Connor, then I'll be able to see the screen better um and put it to a vote. Uh Kathy
is a yes. Jonathan, >> yes. >> Paul, >> yes. >> Mike, >> yes. >> Bruce, >> yes. >> Deb, >> yes. >> Allison, >> yes. Holly, >> yes. >> Sean,
>> yes. >> And Alicia, >> yes. >> It is unanimous. And again, thank you for uh consistently presenting this way. This will be in the packet if anyone wants to see it again.
And I think if we're through with invoices, um are there any other comments um before I uh open this for public comments? Okay. I I had just a question. Will this
June 30th site visit be the last of the site visits you offer or are you likely to offer one in July? And I don't need to have you answer that right now because I know things are going to get really busy and I can imagine this may be the last.
>> So we have been um conducting site visits tours with um school staff every other week. >> Okay. >> Um and are happy to keep doing that more
or less as needed. Um we will be I am confident welcoming the facilities team more and more as they continue to work to learn the building and prepare to take operations of it. Um we being quite
used to hosting tours at this point and quite adapted it are happy to respond to the needs and preferences uh that are expressed to us. So we will
um but I will say that beyond July 31st this is no longer our building. >> Okay. >> Right. And the question of additional visits to the building I think will appropriately need to go through Allison.
>> Okay. Thank you. You answered my question. So I just people are here today will know that if they want to see it one more time it's this may be it. Um, so with that said, I we are open for public comments and we do have three
attendees in the public. Lori, I have allowed you to talk. Hi, my name is Lori Freriedman and I am of the Amoris Public Arts Commission. So, um that's why I'm attending today. I'm very pleased to hear um on your
agenda that you were um discussing the percent for art project and that it is um there on your agenda and set to move forward. I'm not sure if there's a timeline and our committee has been um
waiting to hear back um from the town. Um I believe we have submitted everything needed on our end. If there's anything left for us to do, please do uh know so that we can address that at our
next meeting. We also had recommend forward in hiring a project man is um >> you're breaking. Maybe that will wait until the >> Can you hear me? >> Yeah, you just at least
>> Okay, go ahead. >> Um anyway, I'm I'm hoping that that will also be on the agenda. Um assuming that that will come through when the committee is appointed. So, if there's
anything that you do need from the Ammerst Public Arts Commission, please please let us know. Um, or anything you you need to ask. Now, >> thank you very much for joining us.
>> Hey, um, Maria Great. Thank you so much, Maria Kapiki, South Ammerst. Um, just once again, Cassenia, Tim, you guys are great. So happy that that you're on this project.
Um, just wanting to let you know that as always I'm covering these meetings for the Amorest Indie and I'll be reporting on this and um kind of disappointed in Eversource throwing a a a spanner in the
works here. So um uh please feel free anybody here uh to comment if there is something that the public can do to help move things along. if uh if if that's helpful, I'll be reporting on it. Uh but, you know, throw a comment up or uh
let me know and we can, you know, get the word out if if we can move things along because it would be a shame for Eversource to prevent this being net zero from day one. That's kind of annoying. Um anyway, I I I fully
understand that it is not any of your uh responsibility that that that happened. Um that's it. Thank you very much. Good luck. >> Thank you, Maria. Thank you for joining us. So, with that said, I think I will make
a motion to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay, then we're putting it to vote. Kathy is a yes. Jonathan, >> yes. >> Paul, yes. Mike,
>> yes. >> Bruce, >> yes. >> Deb, >> yes. Holly, >> yes. >> Sean, >> yes. >> And Alicia, >> yes. >> It is anonymous. We are adjourned at 1:25. Thank you everyone. See you in a
month. >> Bye.