All right. So, um I'm going to call to order this meeting of the community relations committee of the Greenfield City Council. It is um 603. This meeting is being recorded by the
community relations committee. If any other persons present are doing the same, you must notify the chairperson at this time. >> I'd like to record if that's okay. >> That is fine. Great. And in accordance with open meeting law, when a counselor or counselors attend
remotely, the chair will need to acknowledge the members of the council who are appearing via remote access and inform the full council that all votes will be taken by roll call. So we will start with just a roll call of members. Um and we'll have to have
everybody say I. So, um, councelor Brown is not here. Councelor Minhos, >> Councelor Perry, >> present, >> councelor Williams
>> here. >> And councelor Wendelowski, I am here. So, we have a quorum. Thank you all. And I'm gonna I'm I don't have two screens, so I'm having to go back and
forth. So, I apologize that it that I'm a little bit less smooth today. So, the the next thing on our agenda since we don't have uh Oh, next we've got approval of the minutes. So, um, all in favor of approving the
minutes, um, Councelor Perry, >> uh, I, uh, yes. >> Great. Uh, Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> All right. And I approve. So, the minutes are approved. >> All right. So, um, next we'll open it up
for public comment period. Is there anybody signed up for public comment? >> No. >> Okay. All right. So, we opened public comment at 605 and closed it at 6:05.
So, our next item is um welcoming our new communications director. Um, and we wanted to talk to Jonathan about um, having the school calendar available on the city website.
And we we may loop back to Jonathan on a few other things. Um, I know we were talking about the precinct meetings and uh, so it'll be great to have uh, his presence for that discussion as well. So
Jonathan, welcome. Thank you. Happy to be here. Can you hear me? Okay. From here or should I come to the table? Okay. Super. Yeah. Very excited to be here. Very excited to be here working with the city. Everyone's been super welcoming. Been really enjoying the job so far.
>> So far. >> So far. We'll see. We'll see. Uh and uh happy to answer any questions and chat a little bit about your thoughts on the school calendar and the city calendar. I did make some changes to that page
that we can check out to see if that addresses what you're hoping to achieve there. >> So, yeah. >> Great. Thank you. Um, do you want to share a little bit about yourself, where you're coming to us from? >> Sure. Yeah. I I grew up in uh
Northampton in Florence and uh been living in Vermont for most of the past 10 years in Burlington. Uh I was working for a nonprofit there called Local Motion that does um advocacy for walking and biking. So I worked a lot on uh safe
walk bike infrastructure, did some state level policy work. Um managed some grants, did a lot of communications oriented work. Um, my, uh, educational background is, uh, studied English at University of Vermont
and, uh, yeah, just felt like it was time to move back to the valley. So, my family is still here, so I moved back in April and was very happy to to find this role with the city. So, that's me. >> Thank you. We're so glad to have you here. Um, and stepping into Matt's
shoes. >> Yeah. Yeah. and Matt's been very helpful getting me on board. He left things in a good place. So, um, so that's been great. >> Fantastic. Um, part of what we've been discussing on community relations is just, uh,
how we can continue to have better um, transparency, you know, and the city does a great job of of making sure that things are on the website. Um, and you know, yet it it often feels like where
is that information? Um, so how do we keep, you know, thinking about ways that we can ensure that the public knows what's going on? >> Yeah, I'm I'm always open to input and ideas um and trying new things. I
definitely think uh making things intuitive for the public on the website and on all of our communication channels is is a real priority for me. So you have thoughts, you have feedback, feel free to send it along or follow me
up and and I'm happy to attend these meetings in the future and chat about things. >> That that sounds great. And I think the comment about the school committee calendar getting onto the city calendar. Um, you know, people had to like find it on
the schools calendar and you know, schools are part of the city. So I think the idea was like it might be duplicative, but if people can find it in both places, I think that helps. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, would you uh like me to
share my screen and sort of show you what I did so that we can we can talk through it and see if it meets your expectations? >> That sounds great. I appreciate that. >> Join here. And just to be clear, I'm not the mayor
of Greenfield, but I'm logged in with >> um my my names comes up as my work, not organization. So, I get it. >> Yeah. And I'll need um whoever has the hosting if they can make me a co-host or
give me screen sharing abilities, host tools, share screen. You know, I'm new at this. Jonathan, did I do it right? Guess I didn't do it right. So before I sort of talk through what I did, uh one of the challenges here is
that uh the city website and the school website are two different things. Uh they're different platforms, different uh code that supports each one. And so they don't they don't really integrate natural unfortunately. It would be a
pretty significant undertaking um to actually have the whole school calendar show up uh on the city calendar the way that the city events show up on the city calendar. Um, it would require either, you know, a lot of work on it end to try
to integrate the two, if that's even possible, or a lot of manual work for someone to just constantly be copying events over from one calendar to the other. Um, in the meantime, what I did was just added uh these links to the top of the
page. So, people will these will sort of be the first thing that people see. Um, so I added links to the public schools calendar, the library, uh, the recreation department, and then the visit green field page. Um, so hopefully that helps folks find what they're
looking for. Um, I know it's maybe not the perfect solution, uh, but that took, you know, 15 minutes as opposed to being a big project to try to actually get them integrated. So >> that's very helpful. I had a
conversation just last week with someone about the calendar and I explained where to go and I think that'll be very helpful for people to see that. >> Right. >> It looks very clear. >> Yeah. >> And I I appreciate that within the city
calendar you have at least the school committee meetings. >> Yes, those are posted. I don't I don't know who posts those. That might be the clerk, but I'm not sure. >> Can we post them? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Well, that's that's at least a
really great to have those links as a starting place. >> Yeah. Going forward, I'll definitely keep my eyes out for opportunities to better integrate the websites. Um but but right now, that's definitely a challenge.
>> Okay. Councilors, anything else with the since we've got Jonathan here. All right. Fantastic. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, happy happy to stick around. Did you want me to stick around for some other agenda items? Happy happy you
said. >> Uh let's I'm just looking here. Um, yeah, if if that's possible, that would be great. >> Totally. Happy. So, >> all right. So, the next on our agenda,
um, our resolution. Um, so we've got a, um, motion on the resolution to support an act establishing a climate change super fund. Um, so can I I don't know if we need anybody
to read this. What do you I I can't remember how official we need to be. >> If you're not going to if it's going to be on council, then you can read it then, but you don't have to read it tonight otherwise. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Sorry for chiming in. Just
>> Oh, good. That's very helpful. I >> learned a lot about all those rules lately. We all have it in front of us. It's in the It's in the agenda. It's in the package. So, we've all read it. >> Yeah. >> And it was publicly posted. So, >> yeah. So,
>> yeah. >> And And this was brought forward by you, Councelor Williams. Correct. >> Yes, >> that's correct. >> Uh, so I would take a motion to um support this
resolution. Second. >> Yeah. Was that a motion you made or >> um that was Patty >> motion? I was that a a second? >> I'll second
>> would Great. Um so any discussion? So I would love to if if Patty if you just wanted to give us a like quick rundown on this. >> Okay. So, let me say um this was brought forward to me by folks in my precinct uh
particularly Emily Coaster. Um and uh it seems like a win-win kind of situation in terms of it calls for accountability. uh you know they're looking at it's first of all let me say this is
something in the state legislature and and folks who have proposed this at the state legislative level have asked for municipalities to support it because that will give it greater power to pass at the state level and what this is is they're looking at
uh greenhouse gas emissions from the major oil and gas companies and going to give a financial rating to those and create a super fund from that money. And the super fund would be used to uh clean
up environmental uh problems and also to um deal with uh folks who have suffered illnesses because of environmental issues would uh re receive uh some relief, financial relief uh in terms of
their medical care. this would um rep repair damage that has been done. Um, and I think one of the things to think about when we look at this and what struck me is that we are all very clear that federal money is drying up right
now in this period and that municipal budgets are getting tighter and tighter and tighter and state budgets are getting tighter and tighter and tighter. And when we suffer environmental disasters or ongoing
problems created by admissions um that we cannot really we can't afford to fix them but they must be fixed and I really like the justice involved in the those
that cause the problems taking responsibility for fixing those problems. So, I felt strong enough to bring this forward uh to the council and look for support on this. >> Do you know um if our local delegation
are co-sponsoring? Um >> yes, they all are. >> Okay. >> I don't know if about co-sponsoring. I know supporting strongly supporting. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Great. And so this is just a resolution from
the council to let our legislators know that we're urging them to support it basically. >> Exactly. And that information would also go to um folks besides our delegation, other
people at the legislative level to let them know. >> Sure. >> Yes. Any other questions or feedback? Um then then I'll go ahead and and take a vote on whether or not um we
positively recommend this for the council. So um like doing the alphabet in my head. Uh, councelor Perry, do >> Yes. I support it as a committee member. Yep. >> Councelor Williams.
>> Yes. >> And I am a yes. So, we're sending a positive recommendation from the committee. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Forward. Now, I know they've been trying
to pass polluter pay for a long time. >> All right. So, um, all right. So, our next um resolution um is that the Greenfield City Council authorizes the city council president to
sign a letter calling for the state representatives and governor to support singlepayer healthcare in Massachusetts and federal representatives to support singlepayer health care for the country as in the attached resolution titled a resolution from the Greenfield Human
Rights Commission. Uh so that is brought to us by Paul. Um and so I'll take a motion um for for a positive recommendation for this um resolution. >> Sure.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. We we'll flip it. So this one will be um Councelor Perry seconded by Williams. Fantastic. Um, so we have um some guests
here uh who can answer some questions about those resolutions. So Paul, I'll turn it over to you all. >> Okay. Uh I'm here as a member of the the co-chair of the human rights commission and uh I
don't know if everybody knows the other two people who are much more knowledgeable about singlepayer healthcare and help me understand a great deal about it. Why don't you introduce yourself? >> I'm Dave Cohen. on co-chared mass care which is a statewide coalition of 100
organizations that promotes the legislation we've submitted uh around singlepayer healthcare and I live in Greenfield >> and Judy Atkins I'm also a Greenfield resident and I'm on the board of um Mass
Care Massachusetts campaign for singlepayer healthc care and uh yeah glad to be here and I crashed the party a little bit but I the city liaison to the human rights commission. Um, and I came out to support that tonight. Um,
cuz yay. I don't know. I I'm probably not supposed to say that. So, that was my personal I apologize. But, um, I do come out to support the
leazison to the human rights mission. And and so I I I'll give the the briefest introduction because it's probably the legislation that's supported by the most people in the state. Um it's supported by staunch
conservative areas and it's supported by very progressive areas. Um, it would help our city's finances more than most any other legislation at the moment
that would come in. Uh, it would add somewhere between 4.8 and $6 million. I say between because we used the 2024 numbers to figure out the 4.8 8 million
and it's already gone up 20% since then, >> right? >> So, um, and in addition, it would save small business owners and large business owners, but especially small business owners a tremendous amount of money.
It's so difficult for them to stay open if they have a small number of employees over a certain number to pay for health care. In addition, it would help every other citizen in Greenfield
because even if you're on Medicare, even if you're on Medicaid, this is total health care. This is medical care, vision care, hearing care, dental care,
health care, which is and the last thing I will say about it is that it would um of course I just lost my train of
thought. The the last thing that I would say oh is that unlike all the other insurance if a if your practitioner says you need this
nobody can argue against right now it's about for many health care insurance agencies they turn down one in three requests from physicians So I the human rights commission,
one of the international human rights is health and it as well of course it hits our homeless population tremendously. It hits our population of people of
color even worse than the average white population. So there's it it was unanimous from the human rights commission and our legislators
who we've spoken to who already support this say we need every city, every town to to come in with an endorsement for this because there's such a big lobbying effort against this by the
insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies. that they need to be able to shame the legislators who would not support this. And that happens when everybody comes
in. And so we're asking both the city council and the mayor to write a joint letter supporting this. It's been done by other big cities. It's been done by
Northampton. It's been done by Pittsfield. We're We're the show in Franklin County. And if we do it, we're going to go out and try to get all the other towns around us to do it as well.
>> The mayor's office does support singlepayer healthcare, um, which I think you said on the record. Um, I would like to speak as a civilian for a moment if that would be allowed. I public comment, but
>> I'm I might have to say no because of the public comment was at the beginning of the meeting. >> Okay. >> Um David, Judy, did you want to say anything in addition?
>> Well, you know, we've heard a lot. I mean, we know there's a a massive crisis going on for every city and town in Massachusetts right now. looking at, you know, the Hampshire consortium that provides insurance for small towns, they
had what, an 18% increase in May and now they're talking about having to increase the rates 20%. Um, but so and every city and town is going through that in the state. Um, but you know, the one thing we see a lot in the newspaper, they
blame all the increase on OMIC and the weight loss drugs. But what doesn't get talked about is in Canada where they have singlepayer health insurance and therefore the the provinces can bargain with pharmaceutical companies. Ozic in
Canada costs about $200 a monthly dose. Imag in the United States it's $1,000 a monthly dose. So, you know, yes, high prices on pharmaceuticals are a problem, but if you had a system where you had
one single payer, the Massachusetts Healthcare Trust Fund, the pharmaceutical companies would have to bargain with that because they're not going to want to not sell any drugs in Massachusetts. And just like the VA bargains with pharmaceuticals, and the drugs the VA gets are onethird the cost
of what it is to the public, right? So, you know, we're really saying we got to think, we know everyone is worried in the short term. How are they going to solve the budget? But we got to start thinking a little longer term. But, you know, we can't go through every year,
you know, it seems like, and I used to be on the town council many years ago, the insurance companies one year the rates would be increases would be low, then the next year they're big, then the next year they're low. And so, sort of everyone sort of breathes a sigh of
relief when it's a low year and then has to scramble when it's a high year. And the other thing I'd add is mass care. We're working with lots of cities and towns around the state now. And one thing we're talking about doing is having a meeting at some point where
we're going to ask cities and towns that have passed resolutions to send a representative so that cities and towns can talk about how they can more efficiently push the legislature because what Paul said is absolutely true. We're faced with
a lot of money coming in against us. You know, the pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies that give donations to the the funds of elected representatives. Makes it a a hard cell even though we've done last year we did
20 non-binding ballot questions. We've done them here in Greenfield a bunch and it's passed everywhere. uh even in places like Agawam that voted for Trump also in the same election voted to support singlepayer u you know because people are really
looking at that pocketbook issue and the need for healthcare. So if you have any other questions feel free to ask >> just that we need we need >> I just want to note sorry just a procedural that councelor Brown just joined us and >> I logged
>> her in wordy so we have quum >> super >> I logged her in >> thank you >> okay go as David says we have legislative support with quite a few co-sponsors in both the house and the
senate but it's it um every session it goes to the healthc care the joint senate house healthc care finance committee and they never report it out they never report it out favorably um so
right right now they have not yet sent it to study and you know we we still putting pressure on them to to hopefully have them report it out favorably to the legislature but you know probably they're going to do the same thing again
it's not the bill is not going to reported out. So even though we have the support of lots of senators and representatives, it ne it never makes it to the floor uh of the legislature. Um so that's why you know we're trying to
show support in all different areas to try and put pressure um so that bill would be reported out. So this is, you know, this is one of the ways we try and do it is to have cities and towns report favorably to our our representatives
that we would like to see this bill reported out and we want and everybody wants to see um Massachusetts be the first state to do Medicare for all in the Commonwealth. So, you know, really appreciate the support of um Greenfield
City Council. Thank you. Thanks for the info. Um, councilors, any questions? Uh, councelor Perry. >> Well, as a former member of the human rights commission, let me thank you for driving this and bring it forward. It's nice to see the human rights uh
commission taking action and doing something like this is very important and thank you very much for the information. To me, it's a no-brainer. You know, it's just, you know, why not, >> right? So, thank you father and thank you father for all the lobby and you're doing all the good work you're doing on
this. We appreciate it. >> Thank you, >> Councelor Williams. >> Yes. I just want to acknowledge the fact that I know that Judy and David have been working on this issue for many, many, many years and I just want to publicly thank them for the work that
they've done because without their work, we wouldn't be at this point right now. and I'm very pleased that we are at this point right now and we have to move this forward. Thank you. >> Thank you counselors and thank you for your work. I think the the main push
back we usually get from other counselors is just we do these resolutions and you know does it make a difference? So that's what we want to make sure >> make it make a difference. >> Yeah. And we realize there's frustration
there and I think it comes from the legislature not moving right. I mean we'd well we'd like them to vote out of committee so they could have a debate. Well, you know I just say amongst us I was at a meeting with the the chair of the healthc care finance committee and
we were talking about the legislation. He said well it's no good. So I said well what's wrong with it? I ain't going to tell you. That's not my job. I said, "Well, you know, you say it's no good. You're opposed to it, but why?" >> Right? And he wouldn't tell. He wouldn't
say there I'll let you know there'll probably be two or three counselors who abstain on Wednesday night. Not because they don't agree with the cause and they don't agree with but because they have an issue with city council getting involved in higher level uh things. So
when people abstain of you for that reason and nothing to do with what the cause is about just remember that much. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> But you know we we'd say even some of those councils this is a city issue >> right? I mean you look at the turmoil a
council went through at budget time right and you know talking about oh maybe we should cut this department so we can fund the schools and all based on the huge increase that health insurance came in on. Uh, and if the town had four
or five million dollars extra each year, that would make a big difference in what what we could do. >> No question. >> Yeah. The education cost for insurance is $7 million >> just on the education. >> That's
>> That's a lot of money. >> That's a lot of money. If we got back six, you could probably get three out of that to go to education. and we could actually spend it on education instead of on insurance.
>> Our insurance went up 20% in this past budget and 17% in budget previous. We are approaching our 2 and a half% limit and there's really not a lot of room left. So advocating for policies on a state level that would help us better
fund uh our city's resources and use our city's resources I think is incredibly important >> and >> okay >> and we would all be happy to come
and answer questions if the city council wants us to do that but certainly to make statements before addressing why going to the state makes sense even though this is a city council. I I would encourage you all to come to
Wednesday's meeting and during the public comment period um >> yes >> add your voice that's when we would speak the public >> yeah it's too late to put on the agenda so but you could speak at public comment >> okay >> and I want to let you know I was going
to abstain because I uh because um I just had this issue with setting presidents because then it went to vote for any resolution then it becomes >> people expected that's That's why some people abstain. But I'm gonna vote yes on this one because you're right and I I
need to support this. And even if I break my own president's, I'm I'm willing to pay that price. >> And and in actuality, this isn't a resolution. This is asking for the president of the city council to join
together with the mayor >> to do this. So you wouldn't even be quite grateful. Well, thank you for that in the car about >> and and by the way, I I called our senator and said, "Does that make a
difference?" And she said, "God, no. I just so badly need the city council, >> right, >> to show the support, the mayors to show the support." She was >> ecstatic.
And the second thing she said which shows how our legislators are working, she said, "And make sure the same time you get it to me, you get it to mass care >> because they're putting all the
>> right >> all of this together, not just one city." >> Yeah. Good job, >> Paul. Paul, I I I have to look at the motion again, but sometimes we'll add at
the end that it who it gets CCD on. So, um if it doesn't say that mass care is CCed, I'll make sure that we make an amendment. >> It doesn't say that. >> Okay. Is there anybody else I'm I'm asking that should also be CCd? You
know, we've got what? Governor, legislators. Um, do we have the speaker of the house on there and the senate president? >> No. Uh, I I don't have anybody. >> Okay. >> On there. I said so that is going to be up to you. It can be in consult
consultation with us. >> Perfect. which legislators both and we're also asking you to send it to the uh Senate to our representative at the federal level and our two state
senators. >> I would also ask that we see to the Indian health services as the closely and closest Indian health clinic which is guaranteed in all of our tribal um treaties is in North Carolina.
So I can't get treated at Indian health clinics even though I'm entitled to that unless I go to North Carolina first team care. >> So I I think that is a good place to CC it as well. I think that is an important >> thing to recognize.
>> It sounds like um I'm happy to work with the mayor's office on who it goes to once this passes. >> Thank you. and would be available, you know, for any help or questions. Right.
>> Fantastic. So, um I I will uh do a roll call um on a vote to recommend this res passage of this um resolution, motion, whatever we're calling it. >> So, Councelor Brown,
>> yes. >> Right. Councelor Perry. >> Yes. >> Brick and President Councelor Williams. >> Yes. >> And councelor Wendelowski. Yes. Okay. So, this will go to the full council
with a positive recommendation. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you all for being here >> and for all your work. >> Yeah. Great job. We appreciate it. >> Good meeting. Beautiful. Thank you. All right. The next uh um motion uh is
that the Greenfield City Council approves the attached resolution titled an emergency resolution in support of public safety and equal justice. And that is the um
resolution uh written by um Isaac Mass and submitted by councelor Bullock. Um do I have a motion to recommend this for the full council? >> So moved. >> Right. >> Second.
>> Right. Um All right. And any discussion on this one? And so to just give the background, um I know that the basically public attend um defendants um
have been in a work slowdown, um asking for higher pay. Uh in the recent budget from the governor, there was a $20 increase. And I know they're looking um to go to 35, I believe.
And this puts a lot of folks at risk um being kept in detention um because their cases aren't being heard. >> So, any other discussion? All right. So, all those in favor of
recommending um Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Okay. Councelor Perry, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. >> And I am a yes. All right.
All right. Moving along. Okay, let me just see uh where we are in the agenda because I think I'm to the end of the resolution parts. Okay.
All right. So, now we're um on continued discussion items um which we don't have to discuss any of these but um we wanted to make sure that things came back so that we don't forget about it. Um so we talked about inviting other committees,
commissions and boards to provide summaries of issues um they are currently or in the future would be addressing. Um, and I know I asked uh the clerk's office just for a list of all the committees and
commissions as a starting place. Um, and having been on vacation and uh out of any cell phone range in Montana for the last week, uh I haven't been able to see if we've had uh any list come to us yet. >> Yes, there is a list out. It was in the
agenda. >> Oh, thank you. page 25 >> and 26. >> Are there any committees or commissions we want to prioritize? Um, or do we want to look at it and then come back next
month with some some thoughts on which ones might be higher priority or liazing with. >> Well, some of these might get bumped around depending what's going on in the city at the time. You know, I I think
something with licensing might be coming up in the next month or two. Human Rights Commission just made a great presentation. So that was great to hear from them, you know, that sort of stuff, you know. So, so what's going on? The city might drive some of this, but we
can also prioritize the stuff that we think we should be hearing from. For example, elections coming up, so maybe we should get the rest of our voters in here to talk about that. I don't know. That would be an example of something, you know, that is relevant to the timing.
But we got to think about this as a group and bring it back once. >> We're also working on disseminating minutes from boards and commissions more efficiently and we can make sure that you all are included on that. Uh
so you make sure you're getting all of the minutes in a more efficient manner rather than the hodge podge method that has been developed. Sorry, I chimed in again. Sorry. >> That's okay. That's a good that's a good input. >> No, that's okay. That's part of this discussion. So, we appreciate it.
>> Councelor Williams. >> Yes. I think it would be helpful to give us some time to go through this list and try and have a discussion on priorities at our next meeting. >> All right, let's do it.
>> Also, can this list be on the website? Like, I know it's the committees and like I I also don't even know the difference between a board and a commission and a committee. Sorry. But like even if that like basic level of like primer information could if this
could make it to the website that seems like it's help. >> Yeah, they're not but they're not >> but they're not organized in this fashion like they're on they're tabs on the left of like you can click around but I feel like this um the way this is organized and has like oh these are the ones that have elected members these are
appointed like this is a really helpful um overview. >> Does that make sense to you Jonathan? Just trying to find packet. What do you >> What I see in the package is >> that they're organized under headers by
their boards, commissions or committees. Correct. Um, so I guess on the website I mean it includes that word in name of the group, >> right? >> I think you have to click on it, go down
there and look for them, >> right? So are you looking for you're looking for information about each committee all the committees on one page? >> Yeah, I think that would be helpful. And also even justice, I don't know what
defines a board versus a commission versus a committee. So maybe just some info about what that even means. And it's also helpful to see the appointed versus elected. >> Sure.
So, I think um adding something about those definitions is very doable on um on the boards and commissions page, the sort of first landing page. >> They're already there. They're just buried. So, you have to go look for them
>> the the different the definition. >> Yeah. If you go into the thing themselves, you can find them, but it takes four or five clicks. So, it'd be easier if it just went, you know, >> my my understanding is that councelor Brown is asking for a statement that sort of describes what the difference is
between a a board committee as opposed to what each one does, what each board does. >> Well, I Yeah, thank you. I was asking for a statement about what it does as well as um when I go on boards and
commissions then I see the related pages tab on the left >> but if that could be or does anyone know maybe that's a good starting point. Is it useful to categorize them that way? Can someone even define what those mean? >> Like is that a useful type of
categorization or it's just doesn't matter. It's just semantics. >> I don't know that there's >> I'm googling it right now. I don't know >> cuz if it doesn't matter then it doesn't matter then why bother putting them in buckets >> may have a more direct management or
supervisory powers while commissions often have advisory roles that's what AI says so take that grain of AI >> planning board zoning board appeals >> makes sense the boards have yeah >> more authority >> yeah and like human rights commission
came to advise that this would be useful right so that makes sense Okay. >> Gotcha. >> Um, >> yeah. I mean, I think anything that helps the public understand it because we're sitting here not understanding it and we do this, right?
>> Interesting. I will just share um managing all of these pages is is a lot of work already and they are as it is not as upto-date and descriptive as I think many of us would
like them to be. Um so my personal take I would be very hesitant to add more content under this category of the website that we would have to manage um given that I don't think we're really there yet with what we have. when you get there, would you think
about that? You know, just, you know, on the bottom of even at the bottom of the page with the aster boards do this and then >> Oh, that that information I think we can we can definitely >> so it's just there for people to see, right? You know, >> the stuff that that I'm more as elements that require maintenance.
>> Gotcha. Static stuff is more a lot easier. >> Y So, I didn't mean to cut you off. No, I was going to say I think I think what we're asking for is helping with those definitions and kind of having more preamles and desri descriptions and and
that's not stuff that's going to change. >> Yeah, definitely. It's a generational thing. When I talk to people, I sense that the older people would just blame website what you know whereas the younger people say, "Oh, sure. I know where to go." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the
older people seem to have a hard time even fathoming what's a website and where do I go, where do I look, that sort of stuff. So how easy we can make it as we continue to become more and more electronically geared then we can help those people along. >> Yeah. you know.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Sorry, I know you have a million priorities >> and there are, you know, >> if you go on some of the pages and you as you look through them, you'll see some do have like a link to the city ordinance where they were created. >> Some have a description, some have
resources. >> Um, >> I I definitely think that there's there's a checklist that they should all have. And I think like linking to the ordinance if they were created in ordinance or charter >> um and and a short description that can be read by a human
>> I think those are both things that all the pages should have um and so that I'm slowly working through that. >> Well, good. As long as you're working on it, that's what we're going to ask. >> Yeah, it's it's definitely something I'm working on. U I found out I can find anything by
searching for it, but it that takes extra clicks and then you have to, you know, and it just take it's a long a longer process and you have to assume that Google's going to know what you're saying, that sort of stuff. >> Yeah. And it's that balance, right, of like how much do you put on one page versus putting it on a separate page and
there's there's not necessarily a right answer. >> Yeah. and seeing what you're talking about how they have like different distribution of information like the um human rights commission it doesn't have the meeting minutes linked but then some of the other ones do so
>> yeah yeah and really they all they all >> standardize exactly >> yeah so lot to do there for sure >> um and then in terms of in sorry to jump around but to priorities for inviting I liked your idea about with the elections
coming prioritizing that. >> Um, and then also just as like a special interest, I feel like the cemetery commission, I'm just curious like what I don't know what's going on over there. >> I don't think they meet that much. >> Not not all of these meet either. While they might technically exist, they
don't. >> Gotcha. So, um I'm I'm just going to go back to councelor Williams's suggestion that like let's let this percolate a little bit um so that we can come like look at
them and come back next month >> and maybe maybe there's a way for us to because I like that ANO split up their kind of ordinances among the members. Maybe maybe we take the commission list,
board list and each of us take if you know however many it is. Um because if there's like the cemetery committee that never meets then take that off the list. >> Great
sound good. >> All right. Fantastic. Um, next up was, uh, we talked about encouraging residents to submit submit letters of interest for appointments to committees. Um, I think this is a continued
conversation. I know the vacancies are posted on the website. Um, and we've been just wondering as a committee, how do we do a better job of getting the word out that there are opportunities for people to get involved?
And maybe as we're getting to like, you know, it's back to school season, I think it's when people start thinking about like getting involved again. Maybe there's a press release from the mayor's office that says like, "Hey, we've got all these committees >> getting
>> we've done quite a bit of outreach. We've tabled at various events. Um, our economic development department has tabled. we reach out to people. Um, it's frustrating because a lot of these boards and
commissions are very large and it's hard to like human rights commission is statutoily supposed to be nine people. That's a lot of people in a town that is the size of Green View. So I I think that that is is really difficult just to
find bodies of people who have the time and energy and desire to participate too. So it's it's a complicated problem. But yeah, we are happy to put a press release out and to increase communications and and do what we can to cooperate with this because we've been
trying to fill them on our end too. Like >> maybe the fire department sign would be Yeah, I mean, yeah, I can reach out to them as well or Jonathan can reach out because
that's Jonathan's job. I need to remember we have a communications person doing like five jobs. My kids are right next door. If you're lucky, Henry will give you a piano counselor in a few minutes. So, >> awesome.
>> Word of mouth helps people and the council can do it. you know, over time someone from a committee is in front of us thanking the people and telling the people behind them what a great job they're doing will get people a bit more involved and encouraged to maybe oh I want to be part of that. I want to you
know have my name mentioned publicly and that sort of stuff. Yeah, I think also it's people are maybe motivated when they feel like they have real power and decision making and a lot of these um maybe it doesn't feel that way sometimes. So I
think um if there's ways that we can have more of the linkage between community relations and >> yes >> these committees that would help people feel like oh I'm actually advising on policy or I'm >> doing something
>> that makes sense. I I just want to come back to something that Aaron said. Um, you know, some of the committees might be uh larger than they need to be in the statute and since we're going through
with um ANO all of the resolutions that I think that would be something to um mention to councelor Golib. >> Yeah, nine is huge for human rights commission. And there's never been nine on the HRC since I've been paying
attention to have that many. And the when the mayor was on city council, she worked to reduce the number on disability access, I think from seven to five because even seven was a a heavy lift um for that particular
uh I don't know if it's a board or commission. Now, I'm hesitant to say it's a disability access board or disability access commission, but it's a commission. Great. Thank you. Um, so I I I know that it was a little easier once it's down to five. And I'm not saying
five is prescriptive. I'm certainly not trying to prescribe that. I just pointed out a struggle that we've encountered here. >> Yeah. And this is the the challenge I know in working with like nonprofit
bylaws like not locking yourself into something but then how are you specific because I know in government we always want it to be like you have to have this many but maybe it's just setting a minimum number
to make it a little easier. >> Yeah. And then sometimes I feel like on the flip side like the board of health is three people. So then that can really limp along if someone's out. >> So yeah, >> I think five is a a number to shoot for,
five or seven just because for that reason you want to have a quorum maybe meeting 10 and tired if you don't have a quorum and that sort of stuff. So >> and nine is a big conversation. So just five to seven is a good range often
depends. >> All right. Any anything else with that that um item? All right. Um so next uh that we've talked about before is amendment to the ordinance on precinct
ma meetings to allow other avenues of notification of the public on precinct meetings. Um and I know we wanted to this is a work in progress
and I'm also looking at the hour. So I want to make sure that in a timely >> minutes using the minutes of the previous uh precinct type meeting the last couple years. >> Okay, cool.
I'd be fine to um try and come back with the language amended. I feel like then because we already discussed it and then maybe it seems more helpful next time to have the try to integr. >> Thank you, Councelor Brown. That would
be really helpful. Um >> no, I mean because it is hard to do it. I I know It's getting a little bit late and like doing this by committee is not always the easiest way to >> rewrite things but I think we had some
really good ideas last month >> that in the notes. So >> okay, >> and then the other items were just basically from last month that came back. So, I think we're all set on the
busking conversation for now, unless anybody wants to continue that conversation. Um, the rewriting of the definition of what community relations committee oversees. I will take a crack at that one and come back to it next month if that's okay
with the committee. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, think about public conduct. Remember we talked about that last month about having opportunities for public comment, general public comment. So that might take the burden out some of the other boards commissions if people come
here to talk about what they had to talk about. Then we could report it back to you know those commissions and boards. People some of the chairs don't always recognize public comment. People don't feel like they're being heard because there's there's a time limit. So having
an open forum here once in a while where people can come and speak for as long as they want within reason might encourage people to come to speak. >> Perfect. Um and then the last item on the agenda
was a joint meeting between us and um the equivalent school committee. Um they were not able to make this meeting because of vacations. So we're looking at September. order, but shouldn't that um have bought
buy in from the governing authorities for the committees? Uh I'm not sure what your >> say I'm sorry I didn't understand what she said. >> Yeah. So I think that in order to because the school committee is a
different committee and there are separate bodies within our local government. I think that the governing body of school committee and city council should have to vote on if they should allow the committees to have joint
meetings. I think that's the legal precedent that needs to be followed there. Uh, the clerk's office thought it was okay. That's all I can report on
because they're both subcommittees and not the full bodies, >> right? which is why that the governing body is supposed to have the legal is supposed to authorize those because it's it's a different bodies of
the government. Uh I mean we have joint meetings with with planning and zoning that aren't approved by the full council. when >> uh regularly. >> Uh can I check with the clerk's office?
>> Yeah, for sure. >> And just remember what I said last time, Laura, about me. If if that becomes an issue, remember I said I can file out. >> Yeah. No, absolutely. don't want to do anything illegal.
>> I know. I know. >> I become very paranoid about it, too. I'm just always like, >> well, we should check. It makes sense to check. It makes sense to check if it's good or not. If it's okay to do this before we uh,
>> you know, proceed. So, >> yeah, I'll check again. But I did talk to Kathy about it and she had said it was okay. >> Okay. >> Could we say we're >> we would like to do this the fourth
Monday of the month like joining with them and then just like the asterric like pending that it's legally all right. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> I appreciate nice checking on that because >> Yes.
Yeah, because otherwise we'd have to invite them as part of the public comments or Yeah. >> figure this out. So, all right. Any old business? All right. So, I'm looking at um 605.
No, 705. Um, and I'll take a motion to adjurnn. >> Make the motion. >> Thank you, Councelor Williams. Did I hear a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Well, are you going to be here Wednesday?
>> I will, God willing. Um, >> safe safe travels. >> Yeah, the flight that I was supposed to take tomorrow morning, they cancelled. So I'm on a later flight tomorrow. So >> Oh dear.
>> Well, I'll be there remotely on Wednesday because I'm in Wleet. I'm on vacation. Hello. >> Thanks for coming in. >> Thanks for joining from vacation. >> Sure. >> All right. All in. >> So all in favor?
>> Yes. Councelor Williams? Yes. Councelor Perry Wel? >> Yes. >> Thank you everyone. >> Good night. See you Wednesday. >> Bye everybody.