George, we're recording. Please go ahead. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Um, good morning. It's Thursday, April 16, 2026, and this is the regular meeting of the town services and outreach committee. Uh, chapter 2 of the acts of
2025, extended through June 30, 2027, gives public bodies such as this one the ability to hold meetings remotely. This meeting is accessible in real time via Zoom and by phone and is being recorded. I first want to make sure that um
everyone who is here. I'm going to start with my colleagues on the commission and then I'm going to go to our guests. I want to make sure everyone can be heard and I'm going to go by my screen and up in the upper left is Pam Rooney >> here. >> Andy Churchill >> here.
>> Uh Jennifer Tob >> here. Um I do not see Hala Lord at the moment. Uh anyone see if she's in the meeting. Okay. At the moment Holla is not with us. So we have four members of the committee present and one at the moment
absent. If Hala appears, would you just let me know? Hopefully I'll see that. But if I don't, I won't bring her into the meeting. Uh Tom Manager Bachmann >> present. and Samantha Gifin, our uh communications manager.
>> Present. >> Thank you. And Angela Mills, >> present. >> All right. So, we, as you can see on the screen, we have three uh guests this morning. Um, and we're going to go to them in just a moment. Um, but we usually begin the meeting with public
comment. Um, and so I'm going to take a look at my screen. And at the moment, we have no attendees. So, um, I will keep an eye on that. And if that number changes, I may go back to public comment. But at the moment, there
is no one present at 10:06. And so I'm going to move on to the next item on the agenda. And that item is a discussion of issues related to outreach and communications with residents. And
we have invited uh Samantha Gifin who is the uh town's u uh communications manager uh to be present this morning and she has graciously agreed and also Angela Mills uh the administrator u for
Paul's she's Paul's assistant. So, um, Sam, we're going to start with you. And what I'd like you to do, if you would for a moment, is just describe to the committee and to the audience, uh, your job, what you do. Um, uh, what your work
is like, what the challenges are. Um, if you could just give us a sense of what it means to be communications manager. >> Yeah, sure. Thank you all. So, um, yeah, I've been in this role for almost two years now. Um and I came in as communications manager and so I'm the
one person kind of focused on communications for the town um house in the town manager's office. Um really my work focuses on all media relations so anything to do with like press releases, communications with journalists, get setting up interviews with different
town staff and news outlets. Um also all of our website management. So I work with it um closely in that capacity, but really kind of any of the content and access and all of that those pieces of the website really fall under me. Um with a lot of town staff also
having the ability to post and um publish and edit different pages of the website. Um and then also social media. Um so that's something that we've been doing a lot more with um as I came into the role. um and have really increased our reach in the in both uh all our
social media platforms. Um and then also uh kind of under my role, I also support the town manager's office with a lot of community engagement. So this includes different events that Paul does like the cup of Joe's um the civic academy program that
I know we will likely talk more about um and also supporting other departments and promoting their events and community engagement opportunities. Um that's kind of a big role is working with other departments in that way. So kind of overall with my role it is really
working a lot uh with all the departments in town to promote the work that they are doing, highlight upcoming events and opportunities for input um and really just kind of understanding the work that they do and helping to
share that out with the community. so that way they have a better understanding of what the town does, the services we provide, um, and opportunities to be engaged with the work that we do and decisions that we make. So, that's a little bit kind of, yeah, I
guess about my role. Um, and definitely as I've come into it, continue to hear feedback from residents, counselors, staff on kind of ways to improve the work that we do within our yeah capacity um that we can. And I'm excited to kind
of continue to talk more about this and have a lot of yeah, exciting updates that I can share as we get into questions. So, >> so yeah, first just questions about that. Um Sam, I'm wondering what you do in your free time uh at town hall. It
sounds like you have a lot of We'll get to that later. Um so Jennifer, if you you have a so questions about just what Sam has said initially before we turn to or do you >> No, this was um a comment. So Sam, the monthly you send out a monthly listing
hyperlink to everything that is so invaluable. Pam and I forward it to like our 500 person mailing list and last week we were actually like listing everything we wanted to say and then your listing came that night. So that was our
you saved us. Thank you. But I that is so I was I that is just so helpful because it it and we get a feedback from it. People write back and say thank you so much. So I I think that there is from you and then the counselors, the
district counselors getting it out to their mailing list. You really reach we reach a lot of all of us, you know, the counselors reach a lot of people and your social media that's been huge since you came on and I think I've said it like we've had people come to a district meeting because they've seen it on Instagram. I don't do Instagram so you
know. So anyway, that I just think that that's invaluable. um you know and there's no substituting for the you know the town can't send out to all to individual residents but the district counselors have so having that compilation is invaluable.
>> Yeah I appreciate that. I know Andy has a question, but I'll just add yeah I think as I came into the role I saw that Ammerst does a lot and always has a lot going on and so kind of yeah trying to put it all in one place so residents and even other staff kind of understand the extent of everything that the town is
doing. Um and yeah have gotten other positive feedback about that and have kind of gotten in a flow of how we're doing that and ensuring that all departments are kind of bought in to share the work that they're doing and upcoming events again to make it easy accessible for everyone to find. um that
information like all the events we do. >> Andy, >> you're muted. >> Andy. Yeah. >> Ditto. It's It's great having all this information and and and have you you working to connect the government to the community. So, it's it's wonderful. Um I
was curious about social media. Which platforms are you on so I can make sure I'm following you in the in the right ones? I may not be on all of them, but um are you is it Facebook, Instagram? >> Yeah, I can. >> So, our kind of most active ones are
Yeah, Facebook and Instagram. Um that's where a lot of people kind of reach us. We do have uh still like an ex or Twitter account and we opened a Blue Sky. Um though we're not as active on those just because there wasn't the same engagement. So kind of prioritizing
where we're actually reaching the most people. Um and that seems to be a trend with other municipalities as well that they're not reaching as many people on those two platforms. They're really kind of focusing on Facebook and Instagram. We also have yeah our YouTube account where all these meetings are posted as well as LinkedIn that we've been using
or trying to use a little bit more to promote job opportunities within the town. >> So LinkedIn would be uh Am Town of Ammerst LinkedIn. >> Yeah. All of them are town of Ammerst >> and then >> or town of Ammerst I may >> right. Um, George obliquely I think or
or Jennifer mentioned that you know the town doesn't have like a an email list for I mean I know I' I've opted into certain you know types of um I don't know >> notifications
>> notifications and stuff but >> is is there a a reason that that we can't have you know everybody who who votes opt into a mailing list that we could all use or is it basically is it I assume there's a reason that we're not doing that.
>> Yeah. Well, no. So, that is Yeah, this meeting is honestly perfect timing for things that we've kind of been working on for a while. Um, so right now currently what we have is the website Civic Plus is our vendor. They have a pla a way for any resident or community member, anyone really to sign up to
receive notifications via email or text message for a variety of things including certain department um updates or newsletters or um reports as well as like reminders about things and a lot of like kind of subscribing to any notifications about calendar events such
as all town council meetings, board and committee meetings, community events. Um, I found that to be a little limiting and kind of difficult for residents to always find and pick the things that they want to receive notifications about. So, I think yeah, there's been an
ongoing conversation about doing a town newsletter. So, we actually just like finished conversations and are moving forward with a constant contact as a vendor for the town to have newsletters. Um, we're kind of developing what that
will look like both internally for staff to submit things that they want included, how we'll kind of prioritize what will be included, how what it should be formatted on so that it's not overwhelming for residents, but still directs them to more information. Really kind of all the nitty-gritty of what
that will look like, but hoping to launch that within the next few months over the summer into the fall. Um, and I would love to do a big push once we have it kind of set up of how we want it to work. um that we do kind of send out like a mailer or include something
promoting it in a something that gets mailed to all residents encouraging them to subscribe for this newsletter for the town. So in the works >> Paul >> yeah just to add so so there is I mean if you go on the website right now
there's a whole there's a checkbox list if you want to get notifications uh Andy and that's pretty straightforward to do I think it it is cumbersome you have to give your email address and all that kind of stuff everything we do is opt in we do not automatically send send something um and then also we're hyper
sensitive about politicians utilizing the website. So, you have your own maintain your own your own list serves. That's great. We appreciate that you expand that. We've had counselors saying, "Oh, we'd like to use the town facilities to um have you send out our newsletter,
something like that." And that's really, you know, that can become political and we really want to have a pretty bright line between what the town does versus what individual counselors do. Um I think if there's things that you need promoted out, I think sending them to Sam, say, "Hey, consider send including this." I think that's a really good
thing. Um, you know, and I the other thing we're talking about is we're seeing more and more departments developing newsletters and so making it easy for people to know what those newsletters are and how to subscribe to them. So, you know, uh, the senior center does the biggest one, but CSSJC,
DEI, a lot of departments are starting to do them just because they feel like that's a good way for them to communicate what they're doing in their departments. >> Yeah. and hoping that some of the other departments also integrate to constant contact because it is more accessible in
many ways um as well >> Pam. >> Yeah, this I appreciate this conversation. It's I think one of our hardest tasks is to is to get information out to people and it and and
obviously we don't I mean we have a very extensive email list. Um, and we're probably pretty unusual as far as district counselors go, but it's it's still really um it's tough to
you realize you don't reach, you know, a fraction of the people in your district even if you have a big email list. It is the only tool that we have actually for for reaching out. Um, so to be able to direct people to other sources, I guess
I would say if if I could ask if you felt there was one place that um we could direct people to, where would that be, you know, within the town array of of offerings?
Yeah, I mean it really depends on what they're looking for. But I think yeah, the idea is like yeah, with all the month events in one month, that's a great place that it seems like you guys are already utilizing. And I think the idea is to then have a place where like one place where everyone can go to
access or subscribe to all the newsletters that the town and department are doing and that's being developed. Um and then otherwise yeah again really look depends on what they're looking for but certain parts of the website we've been slowly working or I've been slowly
working with each department to kind of improve the way that their website is. Um but that is a process. So really like yeah website and then um social media is always kind of a fun way to follow the things happening in town too. But yeah,
continuing to kind of figure out the best ways of having all information centrally located. That's like the best place. I know um we actually did develop a web page just about like getting involved. It's uh I think it's just amorism.gov/getinvolved
and that has the link to the notifications that people can sign up for and links to how to get involved in boards and committees, link to like voter information. And like that's kind of a what I've been promoting as a central place to find out um all the main ways to stay connected or get
involved. >> Great. Yeah. I you mentioned somebody mentioned the the senior center news. Um you know they're all dependent on on email lists again to to promote their
their activities. Uh the other tool that uh we have found really helpful is the town manager report that >> Paul that you or that Angela somebody puts together um to make that available because they're they're always really
good nuggets of of what's coming up. So appreciate that >> Jennifer. Um yeah, well picking up on the town manager report because for a while actually Pam and I were saying in um we were linking to it in our monthly
update of events because guess yeah that will tell you everything that's a lot of that what's going on in town. So maybe um Samantha I wonder if that could be hyperl in your monthly >> listings. Um, I mean, we could do that, but yeah,
I mean, if people really want to get into the weeds of what's happening in town, the town manager report is great. Um, and what was Oh, the other thing there's no substituting for, I don't know if I ever told you this, George, but I think it was last year you and Holla had a a district meeting at
Hickory Ridge. >> Yep. >> And you went door todo in your district and >> in Orchard Valley. In Orchard Valley. >> Oh, that's where Okay. Because people there told me they were like they really appreciated that. I mean, so I know that's the that is the opposite of high
tech, but there's no substituting for just >> yeah, leaving a not to some people's, you know, going door to door. Um but the other thing so a lot is working well but and I know um Samantha this is there's
that our um website I guess it's the the platform has limitations that are have nothing you know that you can't yours you know kind of hemmed in by those limitations but I weekly will go and go
to the search bar on the town website to find like a meeting I know the meeting's happening and I just want to get the details and I can't get to it and I can't figure out why if you put like such and such a meeting or a a big report that was done
recently and I'll get to a report on that subject from like 10 years ago. So I that the search engine on the town website is very frustrating. >> Yeah. So this leads me to another exciting update. So, we we literally uh yeah, just signed
a contract this week with Civic Plus, our current vendor, to do a redesign of the website. Um, and so, yes, this includes just like kind of aesthetic features. Um, but it also comes with time uh for training for staff as well as consulting to help with kind of
whatever needs we identify. And kind of what we're looking to focus on is um helping to declutter the document center because that's really where um what you're referencing lives things coming up from 2015 and it's because we've had the website for so long. Um and so in
the fall we actually sent out a survey to all staff and town council to provide feedback on the website that was really kind of aimed to inform our process as we were assessing the website. Um so happy to kind of resend that with the current council um that started in
January. Um just again to inform this will be probably uh like multiple month up to six months process they kind of said as we're doing this. Um but really the combination of kind of challenges with yeah the limits of civic plus our current vendor and also the ways that
staff have been using the website. I think there's a tricky balance that we're we need to find of having all the information that residents want on the website while not having there be so much that it's impossible to find what you're looking for. And I think that's yeah tricky because kind of like we were
saying of there's people who want to go in the weeds and then there's people who are just looking kind of for surface level information to get a little bit in the know of what's happening. Um, but yeah, so that's kind of one of the things that we're looking to do is having the consultant as part of that process help us clean up the document
center or some of the backend pieces so things from like a decade ago don't pop up when you're searching for something that just happened last month. Um, while I'm on it, I'll just mention a couple kind of other updates that we're looking to do as part of this kind of process with the website. um that will hopefully
clean some things up is through our website. We have access to um like an agenda center that hasn't been utilized, but we've seen it be really effective in other communities. And so basically what it will look like and as we do the redesign, we'll kind of
add it so that it's a button right on the homepage of agenda and minutes. And then people will go there um and be able to see all the boards and committees, a list of all of their agendas for each meeting. And then like in the I have a column with all the minutes linked right
there and even to the YouTube channel. >> Um great. >> Yeah. And so this has been kind of a we're developing the process for this with the town clerk's office. Um and then looking to again roll that out this summer with most boards and committees
to be able to do it this way. Um and again it will really kind of make it so that all boards and committees are posting agendas and minutes in a uniform way. And it also allows it again residents can sign up for notification for just the boards and committees that they're interested in receiving um
notifications for rather than needing to get every single board and committees meeting posting. Um and so that I think will be really yeah helpful for residents navigating um anything that boards and committees are working on. Um, also Civic Plus as like a vendor is
has recently improved their like news section. Um, and they're in the process of improving their calendar um module is kind of what they call it, but their calendar too really both for aesthetics but also for better kind of um ADA compliance and accessibility.
Um and then yeah have been meeting with staff kind of slowly uh like department heads on improving their websites um to have yeah information for residents um yeah in an easy to understand way um
without it being overwhelming or cluttered um and not needing to worry about updating it every month or anything. Um yeah, the last piece I'll mention about the website um is uh around ADA compliance. So I think this
is still like not kind of farreaching known right now, but there was a Department of Justice ruling in 2024 um that mandates all state and local governments website or web content will need to be compliant with specific requirements to ensure accessibility for
people with disabilities. And this is some communities um are actually required to follow these new requirements starting the end of this month this April. We have um until April 2027 to abide by these requirements. And so that's also as we're doing things of
redesigning the website, working with uh staff leaison for boards and committees um working with other department heads really kind of pushing how to ensure that anything we're putting out is ADA compliant including agendas and minutes. So yeah, a lot of kind of work on doing
those pieces. But >> Paul, >> thank you. So that that's like 10% of Sam's job. So So in the ADA compliance that came up at the TPC meeting last night at George, um someone, you know, the commissions on disabilities person said, "We want to
make sure what you put on is is compliant." And so that was an important piece of it. Um, you know, I think one of the things that's important to understand is that uh Sam is one person. It really is she's leading a coalition of the willing. Every department had every department has somebody who they're supposed but it's really not
their core function. So, we're trying to integrate some make sure departments um are adapting and doing the things that we want them to do. Um the agenda setting feature which Sam talked about, we're rolling that out with new committees i.e. with
the um cable TV advisory committee and are we putting transportation parking commission so that we're sort of >> piloting it with the new committees to see how it works and see how and then that'll be migrated out to all the boards and committees which is a really smart way to to do it. So that's all
>> Sam. >> Okay. Um Andy, >> um the agenda center sounds great. Um will one of the issues that I've run into on being on previous committees or trying to search for stuff on committees is when there's a you know presentation
or report or something that's in a meeting packet and you sort of have to know which meeting it happened in so that you can find the presentation or report. Is there any way that there could be, you know, in addition to agendas and minutes, it's like all of
the all of the materials materials in a similarly, you know, meeting materials, meeting packets, something that would be searchable so you can find those reports. >> Yeah, that's what I'm still trying to figure out kind of the best way to do. Um, so like the cable television advisory committee for example, we kind
of just did one folder of meeting materials. So that way there's just one folder people can go to and see all the files within it. Obviously there's other committees that have way more files than that committee. Um, so figure out kind of the best way to organize it. And it
is, yeah, currently kind of a limit of the website. I know in the fall when we were exploring other vendors or other programs, there were some that kind of allowed um searching by topic rather than like needing to know the meeting. Um but that just kind of wasn't isn't an
option with the current vendor and the other places we were looking at didn't meet some of our other needs. Um so yeah it's kind of something that we'll continue to figure out the best way to do with meeting packets and that'll be a conversation with the Athena and the clerk's office and even yeah you all or
staff leaison who have a better handle on what that looks like as me who does not kind of manage any committee um I'm not as familiar with what that process is. Jennifer. >> Yeah, I was just going to say I just
find it surprising that the vendor who manages that like particularly planning board, you know, I'm often trying to find, you know, because it even relates to CRC, which anyway, it that you can't do it by topic that the vendor doesn't
allow that. Um, >> so anyway, that's just a comment cuz that seems like the easiest way people are going to put in like, you know, an address where a special permit was was. >> Yeah. And I'll say maybe us uh
decluttering the like document center where a lot of meeting materials are being posted. Maybe that will help so that people can just use a search function >> based on the topic or address and then it will be improved. Um but yeah >> and then the other thing is just I don't
know I remember is that that topics in the website are labeled I remember once somebody um a resident was trying to find something and it was related to the ECAC committee environmental um and the way to find it
this was a couple years ago before you were here so it may have changed since um and you had to put in sustainable ammerst to get to environmental So, and who would know that? >> Yeah. So, again, if the search engine Yeah. you could put in something that
people, you know, there's a variety of words you could put in and they could you could get to where you need to go. >> Yeah. And that's probably also uh there's Yeah. certain things that as you're developing web pages that you need to add in like these certain search terms. So that also improves and that
doesn't seem like that's done again because not everyone who is using the staff who are using the website know these best practices um or kind of know these details of it. So again as we've been working with departments to improve their uh web pages or redesign them also
am adding those search terms that will make it improved. So yeah, definitely feel free to play with searching the names of certain committees and seeing what comes up um and if it's working better now. >> Okay, thank you. >> Yeah, >> Athena,
>> thank you. I just wanted to add uh really quickly that the the ability of tracking legislation is something that we're still looking for a way of doing. Um Sam spoke to this briefly when we were looking at
different website vendors and and products um last fall and we didn't find one that was really great that we that we thought was worthwhile. But it's an ongoing conversation I've had um not just with Sam but with our IT director about how we can make it easier for
folks to you know I know there's a zoning change coming and it the council saw it and now where is it and which committee is it in and where are the hearings and I don't know if you've looked at the the state website trying to find a piece of legislation on the state website but it's not great either. Um so um but that doesn't stop us from
trying to figure out how we can work within the system that we have to um to make that a little bit easier. And um I think the the challenge that we are left with with the product that we have
now is that a lot doing a lot of that is manual. So manually, you know, a staff person manually updating where things are and and links to things and and so we're trying to both make it more accessible, but also make it, you know, a reasonable lift for our staff to keep
those things up to date so that folks can follow along. >> Paul, yes. So, Council Lord is here. Um Oh, >> thank you. And yeah, if you could just let us know that you can hear us and be
heard. Yes, present. And thank you. >> Oh, good. Thank you. Welcome. >> And just to add to what Athena just said, it's um you know what expectations have um exponentially increased the Amazon approach where you know you get
instant messages. You know exactly you get it on your phone. All these things are expectations as a society are websites should work at this high high level. When we look at doing something like that, the investment by the town is gigantic. It's just well beyond anything
and most towns never can afford that level of uh investment both software and staff-wise to do that at the level. And so I think there's a disconnect from what the people expect cuz I can get you know if I'm ordering a bottle of shampoo I can know exactly where it is but you
know but I can't I can't even find a zoning amendment it's going to affect my house. So, it's like and and I but I think what you're hearing is that our staff are are have been working on this and struggling with it and there aren't great solutions. The market for local government is just not that big. It's not bringing strong vendors into the
market. So, you they don't invest their best software people into fixing these things. Civic Plus has a large section of the market and they sort of good enough is good enough, you know. Um and I think we have looked out looked at what other options are without an a
gigantic effort to move and to invest in a whole new system. We just have to make some qualitative decisions on that. >> Thank you. Um that was exactly the topic I was going to bring up is the ability for someone to track a topic as it jumps
from committee to committee. And we've talked about, you know, streamlining the planning board and um and CRC public hearings, for instance. People people have expressed real frustration with not knowing, you know,
who's on first and where where a particular uh discussion is happening at any one time. if if there might be a way to um as we post um packet material for
instance. So it has it has version nine of the solar bylaw. Um, is there is there perhaps a um a parallel depository repository
that could take that same information and just so it's like a double posting and it dumps it into a big bucket of ongoing, you know, essentially agenda agenda packet material. I don't know. Anyway,
thank you for Thank you for even trying to deal with that. It's a huge It's a huge topic. >> Yeah. And so I've uh I think as uh Jeff, the new planning and economic director came in, he also wants to make improvements to the planning website
specifically and as have been meeting with other staff in the department. Um and again, I'm still learning kind of the process that things go through. Um, so that's a piece of it, but figuring out a better way to kind of have just one project page instead of each like planning board having their own project
page for the same project as ZBA and all of that. And so, yeah, even as we're talking, I'm trying to figure out like a vision of like once we know that there's a project that's going to be going through this pipeline, having a web page similar to the honestly the budget page that has like a tenative calendar or at
least like the steps of what it needs to go through and then as those meetings happen, we can just link to the relevant things. And so, I think that will be a bigger project, especially uh what to do with all of the materials from past projects that are on this site. Um but
yeah, I think it's definitely valuable putting the time in and I think as the planning department has the capacity to invest some time in uh working with me on that uh I think it will be like yeah a helpful endeavor. Well, >> yeah. So, I think I think the way we
organize ourselves and the way the website is organized is by department and not everybody thinks the public doesn't think of us in departments and they don't know what department to go to for sign up for swimming is that the town clerk is or something whatever it is. Where do you get your dog license?
You know, animal control isn't police. So, like we and I think >> as we think about things in terms of subject matters, how does a customer come to the town? What are they looking for? How do we help them get to where they want to need? We we have we struggle everybody struggles with naming
conventions. How do we name things like council every every counselor names their their their files something different. Um so you never know what it's going what it's going to look like when it shows up on a website. So you don't know what and the search is only as good as the name the the data you put
into it. Um so and I I think that there's just a lot of a lot of things we could do. doing better and we're working at it and Sam's really taking this on and you know having fresh eyes like Jeff Bag is is really valuable too. Um and
and again it's just it's not it's not anybody's core mission. We're trying to do this as we do all of our normal jobs too. One thing I'll add that's um as as mainly with like website things as I've been working with each department is like me and that like staff member doing
some research to find if there's another community like another municipality that has a website that they really like that seems to work well and then we just use that as a model um and other communicators from other municipalities like that like agree that that's the best way to do it. um if someone's
working doing something well then let's copy it and make it work for our community. So as you all are looking uh at other communities web pages and how they organize planning projects or how they organize different things if you find something that you think would work well here definitely feel free to send
that as an idea because that's really helpful um for us to have >> Andy. I think Jennifer might have been ahead of me. >> Jennifer, >> no. Go ahead. >> Okay. Um, I was I was just thinking in
in terms of functions. It feels like you talked about having a budget page or budget, you know, a budget is a major function. You know, planning and zoning is a major function and then maybe town services, but you know, you could probably break those down into different
ways, too. But, um, accessing services. So, I I don't know if that's sort of how you're approaching it or or if you're it's still department by department, but just a thought. >> Jennifer, >> no, I was just going to comment what Paul said. That's very interesting. I
mean, that's helpful to know that these websites are just just not sophisticated enough that that they just don't exist because I have to say you think why can't you put in, you know, fearing in sunset special permit and it come up
that it just Yeah. Yes, you're right. We do think it should be like Amazon. It's just >> so um I want to just summarize Angela has her hand up. Angela, >> I will say this. Um, when I'm helping people over the phone find things
exactly like what you're describing, counselor, sometimes it's better to use a search engine and not go to the website. So, if you go to your favorite search engine and enter as much specificity as you can, oftentimes I find it takes me right to the thing we're looking for. >> Thank you. Yeah, that's a good suggestion.
>> Good advice. So, um, we've had an excellent discussion. It's we're in the 40m minute mark. Um, I was going to just offer a brief summary of what I'm hearing and I have uh one question for Sam once I'm
done summarizing. But if there are other questions um that are pressing um please raise your hand or otherwise speak up. But what I'm hearing is that there is a very real awareness of many of the
issues that we have been asking about. Um, also thinking of the charter review questions. Um, many of those have also been addressed here today, but clearly from the town side, um, they're very conscious of this. And I'm hearing there are a number of initiatives that are,
um, in the works. Um, I've heard the names of Civic Plus repeatedly and also I think it's constant >> contact >> contact. I want to say constant comment, but it's that's a T. constant contact are two vendors. I don't know if there
are any others, but what I'm hearing is those are two primary uh vendors or groups you're working with um to address some of these issues. >> Um and uh it sounds like you've got a lot on your plate to say the least. Um
it sounds like you are very enthusiastic about this and enjoying it as far as I can tell. Um I want my question for you is what do you what is the biggest challenge or maybe challenges but really what's the biggest challenge you face um
daytoday in trying to do your job? >> Yeah I mean time is one capacity but I think uh we've been able to grow partnerships with some of the colleges and we'll actually have two interns in our department this summer that will help with some of these projects I've
mentioned. Um um also I think it's really just uh shifting mindsets of people who've been in the town for a really long time about um trying to improve our processes with really the goal of making the information
accessible and available to residents and both in terms of like yeah being able to find something on the website but even like once we're when we are explaining something happening making it in a way that any anyone can understand whether they've been in the know about how town works or not. Um, and so that
includes, yeah, kind of just having a lot of conversations with staff about the best ways to get information out to residents about the work that they're doing and why this communications is important. Um, but yeah, those are kind of the main things. um and just helping develop
processes and getting that buy in from uh counselors, staff and community um to continue to yeah find information and follow the processes to um best get the information out to the community.
>> Good. Thank you, Sam. Uh Andy. >> Yeah. Uh we um I was on the charter review committee and and there was a fair amount of interest on that committee and in the civic academy and the the materials and the um you know
the the work that went into explaining how the how the town government works. And there was some question about whether that could be leveraged. I know it's pretty labor intensive to take, you know, a small group of people through multiple sessions, but if you were
videotaping them or if there are, you know, if there could be, you know, a PowerPoint or YouTube snippets or something, you know, there's a lot of effort that went into that and it seemed to be very wellreceived and so it might just be mining that for, you know,
somebody who doesn't have a lot of time, but you know, or organizations could have a presentation that they could use to explain to people how they can you know what how the town works and how they can be involved. So just that that was an area that I think people were very
um you know excited about and seeing it as an opportunity to leverage it for more material and and and maybe in smaller bite-sized pieces or in different media or whatever. Um, and then the other thing was just,
you know, we have a lot of people who complain that public comment is unsatisfying. You know, they come, they they say their piece, they're trying to have an impact. You know, we sit up in front of them and don't say anything back because that's the way open meeting works or, you know,
open meeting law works. But there are a variety of ways for people to be heard and to and to have a voice. And so is there a way to, you know, make it clear all the options that people have? You know, contact your your representative. Um, you know, you
can get some people together and require, you know, a forum on something or, you know, you can, you know, you can send you can lobby people with an email or a phone call or you just the whole range of ways that people can can be
heard or can can engage. So, you know, just sort of that that was just something that again came up in the charter review committee and and and it's sort of not I think a lot of people just think that public comment is the way that you get heard and it's a very unsatisfying way of being heard. So, if
there are other ways that people could know about maybe they wouldn't be as frustrated. >> Yeah, I guess just to comment on the civic academy. Um yeah, I think we definitely saw a lot of people have interest in um something like this where they can learn more about how the
government works and how they can kind of be involved in the processes of decision-m um I think there's a lot of value in the program of that inerson engagement with our staff and ability to ask questions. But I think it is definitely something that we could look to see if there's a
way to do like shorter videos, like 10-minute videos of just like what a department is, how it operates, and try to kind of My goal with everything like that that we put out is that it be really kind of big picture info so nothing so it doesn't get outdated in a
year. Um, so I think kind of yeah, figuring out how to do that. Um, and again, maybe that's something that, um, working with staff for an intern this summer, we could develop those to have on our YouTube channel or something. Um, in terms of the public comment piece, yeah, I mean, I think in in my role
before this, I worked in higher education and my job was really focused on providing college students with all the tools to make change um through the government process. So, definitely something that I was attracted to in this role of how to promote kind of government participation in a community.
And so I think it's really just again as I'm still learning all the m functions of local uh government, what tools and routes like you all think need to be promoted aside from public comment at meetings, contacting your town council, like do we give guidance on developing
petitions? Are there other routes that we encourage kind of um yeah, we obviously promote all like public hearings and public meetings in different ways um through the website or press release or social media, but really kind of I look to you all as
residents who've also been um who are now counselors but have been residents of the town. What routes you find are the ways we want to share with residents to have their voice heard besides from public comment. That could be an agenda for TSO to try to propose or support you
on that. >> Yeah. >> I wanted to ask about the future of the civic academy. >> Yeah. >> So what the plans are or are there any plans? It seemed to be a great success. Um it seemed at least in part to um that
you played an important role in that. I'm not saying you're the only one, but um it seemed you were a key player there. Um Angela certainly played a very important role in that. Um is there a future for that? Did you feel it was I mean just tell us what what's going to
happen with the civic academy? Yeah. So, I mean, we had received over 40 applications last fall when we had the application open um for only 20 spots. And so, we have those 20 who didn't get into the program last year as well as um
just from again so post on social media articles or just tableabling at community events have developed kind of a list of other residents who are interested and so I'll be notifying them right when the application opens in August as well. So definitely, yeah, a lot of interest in something that we're
planning to offer every fall. Um, again, just with the timing of having the application open long enough for residents as well as some of the students at the local colleges to be able to participate. Um and then also just having staff capacity. Um having
them do uh one extra session in the fall. Um yeah, so it's something that we plan to offer annually every fall. Um to share this information with residents and then knowing that the spring is kind of heavy with a lot of community events, which is another great way that we
engage with residents and promote everything going on in town um in that inperson interaction. Um, so that's kind of the plan is for it to be offered every fall along the same timeline. Kind of we found some things that we want to improve this time, but honestly it went
really well based on feedback in a survey that we did for current or for participants. >> What about uh from the perspective of town staff? So I've always believed that when we showcase what the town does, no matter what department it is, um it's a
good thing. Um and it's it's something that we need to to promote and celebrate. But is that the feeling that staff had because obviously it's time taken away um from their daily work um to sort of explain what they do. Um did they feel did you get a sense that they
also enjoyed that and like to do that more or is it more of an imposition? Um how was what was the reaction from the town side staff side? Yeah. So, I mean, I think staff really enjoyed it because again, they're usually kind of just heads down doing the work that they do every day and don't always get the chance to engage with residents who are
just curious about the work that they do. Um, so I think they really enjoyed that opportunity to meet with residents and just answer questions and hear what questions they even have and what they want to hear more about. Um I think also um staff really kind of echoed of uh I
off because there were only eight classes we kind of had to group different departments together to present at the same session. And so pretty much every time we did that department heads were like wow I like learned so much about like the work that your department does that I didn't even realize. Um so it was also helpful just
internally for people to kind of build awareness about what other folks are doing. Um, so I think yeah, kind of twofold. It was really staff seemed really interested. I didn't hear as much kind of about the like timing and capacity of it. Um, I think it was a heavier lift last year because it was
their first time preparing for the program. Whereas I think this year they'll uh likely be able to just pull from what they did last year, make a few tweaks, but it shouldn't be as heavy of a lift in terms of preparation for the um session they're presenting at. >> And no major changes planned. It sounds
like pretty much the format you followed last year, you're going to follow this year. Um, and uh, why if it's not broke, why fix it? So, good. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Um Pam, >> we sit in a community that is absolutely
chalk full of um academics and given COVID uh um techniques and preparation um it seems that we could borrow from the community to do a good job of lecture capture. So every every faculty
member had to create some kind of a hybrid um process for their lecture course and if we could lecture capture the lecture um this round I think that
would be marvelous because it you know there is time there is preparation and let's capitalize on it. It could be something that you could go to then on the YouTube um the town YouTube, but I would I would love I would love to
have it captured. Um and and I'm just saying there's lots of expertise in the community on how to do that. >> Yeah. Yeah. I honestly see it more being of maybe like Yeah. the staff member making like just a 10-minute video about their department. um just because in the in-person one it's usually like four
backtoback that maybe aren't completely connected and we stop and pause for questions. So I think kind of we'll end up maybe yeah an intern this summer working with the different department heads to do like max 10-minute uh presentation that can yeah live on our homepage one for each department or
however we kind of identify the sections. Um so I definitely think that's something feasible that we can work to do. Very good. Um, we also have Angela Mills here and uh I wondered if there were any other questions that the uh committee
had for her um in general about outreach and the interface between the town and residents. Um we've already had um at least one very lengthy and helpful discussion with her, but are there any questions for her um or any issues
largely larger issues related to outreach that you want to bring up? Um, I was get putting at about an hour to this and we're nearing the hour mark, but I wanted to give the opportunity for uh people to ask Angela any questions since she's here and she's taking the time to come here. And of course, she
may have some thoughts as well she might like to share. Let's start with Jennifer. No, I'm more wanted also just to um extended appreciation to um Angela because she spends so much time if residents just interact with you, they
will never feel like the town is not responsive. So, um yeah. So, I just I didn't realize really how much time you spend interacting with individual residents during the application process to town boards and committees.
So, um I think anyone that that has the opportunity to interact with Angela or has a question will never feel like the town is not responsive, but I know you can't do that with all 13 40,000 of us, but I just appreciate how responsive you
are when someone's applying to a boarding committee and they have concerns or questions. >> Thank you. Thanks. Yeah. So, I mean, when I took a look at the charter review uh beyond the charter comments and questions,
there was a section that suggested um that the charter review committee heard at least some I don't know how many um concerns, complaints, whatever, um about the
ability of residents to uh learn things about the town, to communicate with the town to find information um to participate. We touched on a lot of those topics. Um Andy, you were um
involved in this uh we've been thinking about as a committee overall. Do you feel that what we're hearing this morning suggests that the town not only is aware of this, but it actually is taking very real steps to
try and address some of these issues? Are there any issues we're missing? Anything that because when I look at the report, it sounds like there's a lot of unhappiness. When we have this discussion, it's clear that there's a fair amount of work being
done to improve and develop our capacity to provide information and also communicate. Um, any thoughts, final thoughts from anyone on this? Mandy.
>> Well, I think we've um touched on, you know, a number of them. I think you know we kept hearing the word transparency and um that means different things to different people and um but um you know being it it ranges from being able to
find information which we talked about to knowing how things work and uh knowing how they how people can be heard and then understanding when a decision is made how you know when is the time for h for having input where it might be
considered. um and you know if I apply for something how do I make sure that I know what happened you know so I think we sort of covered those in various ways um in the last couple of meetings um I think we're
going to have some of those issues uh forwarded our way you know officially from the council to you know when in the beyond the charter sections that are going to be sent to us. So, I think some of the information we've gotten so far
is helping to answer some of that. Um, uh, you know, there's also, you know, questions about, well, if I want to look at the budget, is there a level of detail where I can really figure out what's going on or is it, you know, does Northampton have a different budget style than we do? And I think the finance committee is going to think
about that. Um, so you know, I I think we should we should look at what's in that report and in in in terms of communication and transparency and tease out what the different issues are, but I think we've
covered a lot of them and I think it sounds like a lot of the work is being done in areas that are, you know, working to to improve that. But um you know we may we may come up with certain areas that are more pain points than others and uh we can continue talking
about that. But I think the the the general waterfront is been at least broached >> and we we will probably be inviting Sam back at a future meeting is is what I'm
hearing at some day. Okay. Uh Paul >> uh sure just a few things. Um the o in terms of feedback on what's going on. We've had really great success with open gov which is where we put our building permits and things like that. That's the
contractors have really appreciated that because you can go online and check every status and I think rental registration went on that and we were talked to last night I think Sam you're talking with uh Kathy about uh road requests and things like that. And so that's a highly interactive um process.
It's 247. you can always, you know, once you get a a number for your case, you can go in and say, "What where is it now?" And it's like, "Who's who's who's court got it?" So, it's we've had a lot of success with that. Um, so we're rolling that out for public records requests, too. Um, and it just helps us
track everything. So, that's been the issue for the all these things is they cost money and so when you get a good product, you have to buy more and more uh modules. So, um, but these things are worth investing in. Um, one of the things I want to mention is that we try to put as many things as we can on our
website because that just makes we get so many public records requests. If it's on the website, we just direct them to the website. You know, any questions about the budget, it's on the website. You know, every check how much was spent to sent to this vendor. It's on the website. You know, every check that the
town issues, it's on the website. So, it's always there and people um either don't look or can't find it or stuff. So, we can always guide people to that. In terms of the budget, I mean, Sean, we we couldn't with Sean's newness, we just couldn't take on the
capacity of changing our whole budget format this year. So, we're sort of following following the same format as previous years. But his hope is for next year that we will look at the whole budget and how that gets presented. He he has some, you know, we've been doing it the same way for a very long time.
And we put it our budgets are way more extensive than you know half of our budget at is in the schools and then the level of detail we put into our budget and information we put up is just dramatically more detailed and I would say it actually I you know we have as
much or more information on on our website than Northampton does. Um so I think you have to really look at what's available. Um so um but all these things are works in progress and I think what I think the sort of takeaway for me is for today is that you've got really good
people who are dedicated to improving local government Athena Sam Angela Sean you know we have folks who are like thinking about this and moving it forward and and whenever you hear someone say why don't they just know that they would if it were easy because
all these things are hyper complicated and as Sam said there's not enough hours in the Uh, I'd like to wrap this up, but I have two hands and then I think we should let uh Sam and Angela get back to their their day jobs. Um, Jennifer.
>> Yeah, just quickly. I mean, I think that is the primary role of district counselors is to provide to help make government accessible to their constituents. So, you know, counselors can always I mean, residents can always write us and I think we need to be
committed to responding. Like I know a resident wrote about an issue with parking on sunset to George last year and I appreciate it. You sent it to Pam and I and it resulted in a series of meetings with residents on the street. But again, you know, I think that we're
the kind of the first and last I don't know if it's the last stop, but if we are if residents always feel they can contact their district counselors and that they will respond, we may not be able to solve the problem, >> but that's and then the other thing I don't want to spend too much time, but Paul wrote in I think it was in your
town manager report that all these um records requests were burdening the police department and I didn't understand the connection. I see with the city town clerk but not with the police department. How are they involved in those requests? >> Uh if I can respond to that and uh so
they get dozens and dozens of of of public records requests and they have pretty much one person, Ron Young, who that's pretty much what he does. It can be someone who was in a car accident. They want any information. They want all the reports. Um anybody who has any incident at all. They want past history.
They want all the logs from the dispatch center. Um And they have enormous they keep track of everything. So they always have tons of effort but but it police department is probably the biggest uh um requester. >> Okay. I didn't know that. Thank you.
>> And Paul are able to manage it. I mean they have a system in place or it's just I mean they have to manage it I guess but >> yeah there's no they have 10 days to respond. >> Okay. Thank you. I see no other hands up. Um, so I would like to bring this part of the agenda to
a close. Um, again, our thanks to Samantha, our thanks to Angela. Um, we will almost certainly be hearing from you again or reaching out to you again at some point. Hopefully not too soon. Um, but, uh, just want to repeat what I
think you've heard already many times this morning. Um, we are deeply appreciative of the work you do. Um, and we uh share that with our constituents as much as we possibly can. And u I'm going to be reaching out to you Sam very
soon because you may not know this, but um the transportation and parking commission met last night and a subcommittee was formed and you've been invited to attend its subcommittee meeting and you may want to look at your schedule and tell us whether that's even
possible. Um, >> you might you might want to run that past the town manager first. >> Oh, he's he's he was there. He was there and he actually put his stamp on it. He he had a big smile on his face. He thought it was a great idea. >> Sounds good. Yeah. Thank you all so much
for giving me the opportunity to kind of share some of the work that I've been doing and exciting updates regarding improving a lot of the concerns that have been addressed throughout the charter review process and just at least since I've been on board. So, thank you all for the work that you do every day as well.
>> Very good. >> Thank you, Sam. >> So, Sam, you you're free to go. Um, and we are going to turn to item number four on the agenda, which is we have two town manager appointments and we would like to address those now if we could.
>> Yeah. Board of Health first, I guess. >> Board of Health. Okay. Uh so we have um a very strong person who uh I've appointed to the board of health subject to your approval. Um so Iliana Carryion grew up in Ammerst. Uh she has um she
knows our department of public our department of public health well. She went to UMass and got a her degree and then went on to Johns Hopkins to get her master's degree. She is now I don't think I put this in the memo. She is now in a PhD program at UMass um for a on on
public health as well uh especially public health in underserved communities. >> So um she she has worked for the state department of public health working with 13 communities in western Mass overseeing some of their the grant programs that they had done. Uh she's um
bilingual and um has a real affection for the town. So this is a very strong candidate for the board of public health >> board of health. >> Any questions from the committee for Paul on this this appointment? >> Seeing none, I'm going to make a motion
um that TSO recommend that the town >> George Pam hand up. >> I'm sorry. Who does? >> Pam. >> Oh, Pam, please. >> You're muted, Pam. You're muted, Pam. >> This is just a comment and a question
for Paul. I don't know if you want that after we take a vote. >> Is it related to this particular appointment >> or related to something else? >> In general, it's general. We can do it after the vote. We can do that. >> I'll do the vote and then I'll recognize you and you can you can ask your
question. Um, so anyway, the motion is that DSO recommend to the town council that it approve the appointment of Ilana Kerrion um for a two-year term to expire June 30, 2028 to the public health board
of public health. >> Second, >> Rooney. >> Pam seconds. Um, I'm going to go immediately to a vote and Pam, I'm going to start with you. >> Yes. >> Uh, I'm an I. Andy Churchill. Yes. >> Jennifer Tob.
>> Yes. >> Councelor Lord. >> Hi. >> So, it's unanimous. Um the we vote the recommendation to the council for this appointment. Pam, >> question for Paul. Where do you find
applicants for these committees? Where where are you reaching out? >> Um well, we we we do the required things online. Uh Sam does a really good job at putting things through Facebook and uh Instagram. >> The best candidates come through
references honestly you know people on the committees uh we reach out to department head as we reach out to counselors I mean as I think Jennifer asked me last few some time ago to say which ones are you really looking at and I tried to highlight that in the town managers report what ones are coming up next. I mean it's most most of the best
candidates don't just put their names forward. They someone asks them to and I think that's the best way to get good candidates. Someone you think might be interested in getting engaged. This is the first step on the ladder of engagement. It's a it's you know and so I think um and uh the biggest person is
um is Angela. She's all you know people a lot of people come say I want to do something. I don't know what committee is right for me. She talks them through what their time availability is, what they want, what they're interested in. She spent an enormous amount of time literally talking to people. Uh she's very comfortable on the phone talking to
folks. Um >> well, it's it's successful. I'll just say that. >> Yeah. We need more. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Or fewer or fewer seats as George might. >> Right. A number of ways to approach this, but I agree. Um Paul I think has a
very robust process. Um we have I think a very engaged community but making the two come together at times is a challenge. Um but word of mouth and personal uh contact is essential. Um second appointment Paul if you want to
introduce that community safety social justice committee. Yes, for the CSSJC, this is a person who we weren't a you had an appointment to this committee last time and this person was in a car accident and couldn't be interviewed and so we did interview her subsequently and so uh she's very she's a very again
another very strong candidate Bridget Awino uh from 170 East Hadley Road um she's uh uh has two two young daughters and who go to the schools she is a for this person she someone on the committee
had recommended her other member she had met with other members of the committee independently um and so and she she's um she has a BA in psychology from UMass and is a d full spectrum doula um and
has is very involved in she used to work at the Ammeris women's club as the events manager I think as a part-time job uh so some of you may know her from that uh and so uh again really really good person wanting to get involved Um,
and this is, you know, in the timing of this monthly once once a month meeting seemed to fit with what her her goals were in terms of time, but also the social commitment that she wants that where she wants to put her time. Um, so
>> questions for the manager on this appointment? Seeing none, I'm again going to make a motion that TSO recommend the town council approve the appointment of Bridget Aino for a two-year term to expire June 30, 2028 to the community
safety and social justice committee. >> Second. >> Jennifer seconds. Thank you, Jennifer. And I'm going to go immediately to a vote. Um, again, start with Pam. >> Yes. >> I am an I. Andy Churchill.
>> Yes. Jennifer Tob. >> Yes. >> Councelor Lord >> I >> and unanimous uh 5-0. Um Paul, thank you very much. And um next item on our
agenda is a brief uh just a the memo is in the packet. Uh councelor Rooney Pam. >> Yes. Just a real quick comment. um given that the town manager puts a very ex basically sends the same report to the
town council for um for the vote, if you will. Um I was just thinking perhaps um Council Ryan, you could save yourself some time and energy. I know your your report to town council often
excerpts much of what's in Paul's report already about the candidates and maybe you don't need to do that since it's already in his report. >> Pam, I appreciate that and I I will certainly consider it. I in the past I haven't done that. I started doing it um
in part um because uh Andy Steinberg used to do it on the previous chair and I kind of saw the logic of it in the sense that um it's all in one place and it just it gives people a sense of who
um is being appointed a little bit about them and also a sense of Paul's process. I usually try to put in who is involved in the the review process in the interview process. Um, it is pretty much a cut and paste. I try to edit it. I try to keep it short. Um, I agree it's in
Paul's report and who knows if anyone reads our committee reports. I have no idea. Um, but that was my logic. I thought, well, Andy's been doing it and if anyone does read it other than the members of this committee, um, it gives them a brief sense of the kinds of
people that are applying and their backgrounds and also the process that Paul goes through. So, I appreciate your thought. I may very well take you up on it, but um >> maybe I was just being maybe I was being selfish that I didn't feel like I had to read it twice.
>> No, no, no. You certainly don't. I mean, you can skip right over it. Uh you already know, but um I was I'm really doing it for our colleagues. Um and in the hope that at least some of them glance at it. Um that was my logic, but thank you for the thought and I'll
certainly think about it. As you know, this report has to be gotten in either today or tomorrow for the next council meeting. So, um obviously it's the shorter I can make it the better, but I also want it to be informative. So, I appreciate it. Um
uh next item has to do with my meeting that uh held the other actually two weeks ago or whenever it was um with the RAAC. There's a memo in the packet. It describes briefly what I learned and
also lists the questions at least the the draft possible draft possible questions that RA is thinking of sending to board and committee chairs. My notes unfortunately weren't as good as I thought they were. Um I don't remember
if in fact it was decided it was going to be sent to everybody um on the committee or just to boards and committee chairs, but right now that's still being discussed anyway. So anyway, the questions are there. I don't know if you had any questions about my MMO or if
you had any thoughts about the questions at the next meeting that RACK is holding. It's not been set yet, but I believe it's going to be um when did I say in the memo um is June uh is the next time they plan to meet. they are
going to uh go through uh the uh draft document including the questions and then they would send it out probably sometime in July or a little bit later. The thinking is that of course right now many of these committees um and Paul's going to be bringing a lot of this to us
soon are getting um you know people renewed and so on. So there are fair number there's once this the committees are set for the membership they thought then a uh survey would be appropriate. So there's a timeline here. There's some questions here. Any thoughts, comments,
questions? I will I've been invited to come back to their meeting in uh July or June rather. Um and I'll I plan to go. Any thoughts? Or if you want to, you can send it to me later. Andy,
uh it's it's a very minor thing, but if somebody's going to cut and paste from this list in number seven, there's a typo. It's it should be is there as instead of is that or something. >> Okay. >> Not looking at it right now, but >> Right. No, exactly. Thank you. Are people happy? I mean, these
questions are broad, but meant to kind of just cover the waterfront. Um, I raised with uh the uh RAAC some of the questions that that Pam had asked about the size of the body and whether they
felt they were representative. and they um had no immediate thoughts one way or the other, but they certainly were going to think about it. Um other than that, that's pretty much what happened. >> I think the question about merging is a good one. That might be a way to
decrease the number that there there's so many committees there there may well be some that could be merged, >> right? Um so none of this is written in stone for the public if they happen to be watching this. This is literally an attempt to try and understand what is
happening, get a sense of where things are at um and also in response to the uh council's request that we look into uh this that's what's driving this and ROC RAC was quite receptive um and positive and so it I think it's the beginnings of
a of a beautiful friendship. Um Pam, >> when I think about the staffing as we as we look at tighter and tighter budgets, uh it occurs to me that the staffing of committees
must be at least I don't know at least two or three full-time equivalents across the course of year. I I really don't know how to quantify it. Um, we we all want and love our committees,
but it is it's just not, you know, thinking about Sam's time in trying to in trying to, you know, make information available and and she could she could spend she could spend two people people's worth of time
just trying to do that kind of task. So it's again it's partly on on us to help um manage expectations I guess but I would I would strongly encourage some
consideration of of winnowing out committees and and therefore the staff time needed to to support them. Well, you're not going to hear any uh disscent on that from me and I don't think from the committee, but it's
something that we're starting the process. It's going to take some time. This is going to be many months. Um but I will make sure that it it keeps moving forward and I'll keep you ab breast. Um and as I said, the next meeting is scheduled for when I will meet with RAC uh in June. Um but I'm it depends on
their schedule. Andy, >> do we have any thoughts on whether it should be just the the chairs of the committees or or all the members? I mean, I assume you'd get maybe a little bit more I don't know. It might be more
manageable with the chairs and you might get more of an experienced viewpoint. I I don't know, but maybe others would have other thoughts. I don't know. I think that that's exactly what um RAIA will discuss at its next meeting. >> Okay. >> Um and that's certainly I think a
concern that I would raise. Um but I'm going to in the end it's going to be their call. Um but if we have any strong feelings one way or the other as a committee I can share that with them. Um and you can also send these you know I will we will meet again before the June
meeting. So um if you have other questions or concerns you want me to share with them I can. Pam >> certainly reaching out to the chairs is a really good way to start and if it's a if if any good chair would also then reach out to their committee so it'll
the information will come back maybe it's it's good to just have the point of contact be the chair and they can report back appropriately. I think one of the big concerns and and certainly my concern is is will we get adequate response. Um and you can't force
committee chairs to respond. Um hopefully we will because that's be crucial to us making an informed decision. But um they have good relationships. Um they know all these folks very well because they've you know been responsible for putting them in that place. So hopefully they'll get a
good response. All right. Um, we have a set of minutes uh that I'd like to uh have us approve. Um, so the motion is to approve the minutes of July, excuse me, April 2nd, 2026 as
submitted. Um, do I have a second? >> Second. >> And any u concerns or comments or changes you wish to make to the minutes as presented? because if not, I'm gonna go immediately
to a vote. Um I'm gonna start with Pam. >> Yes. >> And I Andy Churchill. >> Yes. >> Jennifer Tob. >> Yes. >> Um and Councelor Lord. >> Hi. >> Thank you. Um so that's unanimous.
Again, our thanks to Athena for doing this. Um but the minutes have been approved. Future agenda items. The next meeting is May 7th. Um, we are, unless I'm mistaken, we are expecting a report from
on street lights. I think that's what uh Paul and I had agreed. Um, and uh, so that will be the May 7th on the May 7th agenda. Paul, um, you'd mentioned this to me the other day. I don't know if this is something you want on agenda or
whether you're going to deal with it um through email, but we did get an inquiry about the paving management plan and the budget numbers. And I felt that that either through email or through a agend brief agenda item um that would be
something the committee might benefit from hearing the the both the question and the response. Is that something that you want to deal with just with the committee through email or can we put it on agenda or >> Yeah, I I don't I don't think it's an agenda item. I think it's I mean uh it's
just a question about the the differences between what was budgeted and what was actually spent and there's an explanation for the three instances that we can share out to you. I don't have the response yet from but I will. Um, and in terms of the uh and the street lights folks are confirmed that the students who are going to make that
presentation, they're they're they're appreciative of that. And uh this this uh waist hauler um Mimi's is confirmed for the date we had for her. So they both are are good to go. >> It's May 21. Yes. The second show right now. It's street lights May 7th. Yeah.
>> And Mimi on May 21 with the uh waste hauler. >> Just an update on where they where she is in the process. >> Exactly. An update. Um, do we >> Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me. Question on the street lights. Would there be somebody from DPW to talk about street
light management and what it takes to be >> Yeah. This is not about that. This is the request by the counselors for a new street light policy. >> Got it. That one. >> Yeah. >> So, this is came from years ago and it's been on carryover memo for quite some time. Yeah,
>> that one. And the two counselors, the two sponsoring councils have been uh have met with the students so they know what their interests were. >> And we assume they should be invited to this meeting. >> Yes, I think that'd be a good idea, George. >> Yeah, that is both uh that is Anna
Develinier and uh yeah. Okay. All right. I will make sure they get invited >> and they're at least notified. Um that's all I have. Um, no items unanticipated.
Um, any f I'm just anyone have any future agenda items they wanted to throw out here for me to think about? Um, at least in Okay. So, you can also email me if you wish, but um, so I'm ready to entertain a motion to adjurnn.
>> So, Jennifer Tob has made a motion to adjurnn. Is there a second to that motion? Second >> and Andy Churchill seconded it. Unless there's discussion, I'm going to move immediately to a vote. Pam Rooney, >> yes. >> The chair is an I. Andy Churchill,
>> yes. >> Jennifer Todd, >> yes. >> Lord, >> I >> unanimous. Thank you all very much. Thank you, Paul. Thanks to Sam again. So, >> absolutely. Go well.
>> Thanks,