okay Uh calling this uh meeting of the sustainable green field implementation committee to order at about 4:04 I think 4 Yeah something like that Um and uh I know that um a couple of uh folks on the
committee have indicated they couldn't make it Yes Um Brenis and Carol that is who we heard from But we do have a quorum So we'll start with introduction of committee members I'll start I'm George Tulumsus I'm the planning board
representative to the committee I'm the vice chair of the committee and I facilitate at the behest of the chair And Hannah Rexen and the chair and member at large Mike Woodro facilities director for the schools
Sarah Brown city council designate Nessie house member Jonah Jonah Keane member at large Uh Amy Kaine community and economic development director and planning and development designate Thank you
everybody Next on the agenda is the approval of the February minutes We have a motion and a second and we can discuss So move Second Is there any
discussion please had one small type of number seven The last sentence in that section says things The first word should be thinks instead of things Change the G to a K
Do that Do that one more time Nancy Okay Number seven I'm there Y Now go to the very last sentence Y Okay The very first word Very last Okay Thank you Thank you Any other uh discussion on the minutes
um there I wanted to get back to the designation of people who were on the uh committee Uh again uh Hannah was um only mentioned as a Greenfield business association not being a public member I think it say public member then GBA in
parenthesis because that's a significant part of her uh her role but it's not relevant to her It it would look like she's the DBA rep or something And similarly from Mike I I it has his role but I think it should indicate he is it's kind of a mouthful in the charter
but kind of youthschool representative I think could capture accurately because we do have someone Yep So that would be great to just people getting oriented to who's who So with those uh adjustments uh hearing no more all
committee members in favor of approving the minutes Looks like it's unanimous Great Next um we have um it's not the agenda Uh resilient greens um continue conversation regarding Brazilian
Greenfield uh and ways the SGIC might partner or support conversation around how SGIC and our work could be represented at Brazilian green field and other public meetings more generally and I'll just uh share that I had uh uh
expressed a willingness to represent SGIC this Saturday at the Brazilian green field kickoff Thank you for doing that George I appreciate it just help me do a good job by offering input So um floor is open
Yeah So I can definitely start and I'm excited that Bram is here Um and was disappointed that France was not here Um so I really just felt like we uh kind of wrapped up quickly last time and so wanted to reopen a little bit for um
conversation because I do think that there are ways that the SGIC can um amplify and encourage not only sort of other city entities but just kind of community in general to um learn about Brazilian
green field utilize it for volunteerism especially and then also where there are um crossover interests as I imagine there would be around sustainability and resiliency um kind of encourage people
to um attend resilient green field events as they come up and kind of be involved in um the practice of it as well Um so I'm trying to remember exactly
sort of how France put it to us Um I think her her idea initially was that the SGIC would sort of be the host on um the volunteerism side of the Brazilian greenfield project which is the give
pulse site and Bram can jump in uh whenever I start to say it incorrectly Um and I in our last meeting kind of disagreed and said that I didn't think SJSC was exactly the right entity to represent all of the city in terms of
um sort of being the portal through which people are volunteering But but I do think our committee can be helpful in kind of amplifying the project and encouraging um use of the give pulse platform in
departments and organizations where volunteering could be very helpful So I'll call myself Um my sense of this uh um event on Saturday is um uh Bram had sent a draft kind of um you know kind of
summarizing what u I would be presenting and and and uh put it as how the city directors and citizens are moving climate adaptation forward together So I I see it as just kind of getting the word out about the work SGI the
existence of it the master plan um and uh the things we're doing And so I was assuming to start off with simply um referencing uh the charter in the city code as far as what's the purpose and what is the uh representatives as you
talked about and what what kind of representation we're trying to have on this committee toward that end And then I wanted to um uh have some I think examples and was hoping to tap into the the whole committee to get a broad range of examples rather than you know just
things that happen to pop into my there's so many and there's so much you know and just in the short time frame to get ready for this I just wanted to but I think it's a helpful exercise for us too to how to it's it's more than an elevator pitch but it's it's you know kind of you know helping people understand what is the the function of
this committee in furthering the master plan Uh sure Okay Um these hand cards show that there are two events uh which are only slightly related um the one that Hannah spoke about and
the one that George spoke about are different ones This is source of a lot of difficulty Thank you Um so I think that uh George is absolutely right that terms of the purpose of urgency for Saturday The first question about you
know whether and how the committee might represent volunteering for city departments could be postponed until Mars comes back Um but I think the question is how do we inform Georgia's
representation uh of the committee uh in the second half of the event the one that has the purple that's what we're talking about Um and I've had a lot of great conversations with Nancy about this Um so I really appreciate her going back and forth with me in very long
emails But yeah George what you're asking for is precisely I think what's needed Thank you Always appreciate affirmation Um uh and so so I guess we're looking for are there are there uh kind of an
overview kind of summary of the types of uh areas uh that we've been seeing progress on and uh and things that are in in the pipeline perhaps So looking for reflections uh on that And I'm sorry
that uh I don't know if we know if Marlo is coming uh and hear from him I can text him and um would think that uh in Carol and Frantois's absence might want to um email them and ask do they have any input um you know not being able to
be here today I'd like to add one other thing if I could with Mr Emerg to get in my conversations Um the role of the afternoon event is really to invite public participation uh in improving Greenfield's uh resil
social resilience to climate impacts Um so uh the role of the you know as as Hannah brought up the role of this committee as being a public private partnership uh where citizens and department people together take responsibility Uh it's like thing you
want to feature um how did this committee get started um what has been the dynamics of public of citizens and department folks um you know working together um how are we how
how is the committee resourced and positioned uh to continue with this role going forward what additional input and uh thinking do we want you know the citizens of Greenfield to be doing uh those are the categories but I love the
idea of Georgia finding a story or two that tell that um rather than just saying a whole lot of stuff Um I also want to say that I would like to be a citizen on a committee come April if you still need somebody and I guess I would ask Jimmy to appoint her networks Thank
you Thanks So does anyone want to start on reflections on kind of how we would want this committee and its history and its work to be represented top
level or you know examples pause for reflection Um I'll just start by very sort of high level brand saying um that I think one of the things that I really value about
the master plan and its um tie into sustainability is that for me that really is what Greenfield is about and the way that questions of sustainability infrastructure resiliency are shot through everything that we do
as a city is very unique and I don't think that people always um recognize or value its uniqueness Um you know everything from our schools our DPW the way we come at things Um I think we are a city that is
uniquely positioned for these kinds of resiliency conversations especially um as we see more and more people moving here and citing that as a specific reason that they chose to move here So it's even how we see our growth and
development happening is also tied into this So um as you are telling the story I I just think that is a an interesting and beneficial kind of lens to tell it through I know that's not a specific example No no but I mean it's no
accident that I mean this committee is called Sustainable Greenfield implementation committee and sustainable green field is italicized because that's the name Yes of our master plan and so it has sustainability at its core Yeah Um thank you Um and I'm trying to think
of some uh specific examples of things that were in uh the recommendations that have come to fruition Uh low impact development I think is one thing Um the exist the creation of the CPC Yeah Uh is another The development of a complete
streets um uh policy uh for the city is another The recent open space task force too I think that's our most recent kind of offshoot Mhm Please ask Well as you talked Hannah
um I thank you for what you said I it and this isn't quite maybe what you are looking for but as an idea of stories but is that um how the master how a master plan is
created how it was created So obviously the the board the playing board takes the lead on creating it I mean it wasn't a lot of years ago How many people actually remember that this vision as Hannah you're describing it was actually
created by the entire town and then we went through this deep process as you know a million meetings on various topics And so that's sort of the background And then I was thinking about that and I was thinking well okay there are these two
new chapters that have just been uh are in the process of being okayed Um that that and then hopefully we'll get more public and be more visible But I suppose back to the sort of the vision
thing is um and I love your examples George I'm glad you can remember things like that if you think back that far I guess I'd have to look at the master plan to think about because with the way we wrote it is that it in each chapter
it talks about in 10 years it's going to look like X you know and it might be interesting to look at those things and say well okay does it look like that now or not you know have did we actually um achieve that and and then as far as
people participation it's like yeah if there's something in the master plan or even in in your head but it's particularly the master plan you care deeply about You could always bring that to SGIC and bring that to the four and say "Gee this was in the master plan but
it hasn't moved forward or whatever they want to say." And um is this something you know bringing it back to to the committee and and as something that we aspired to do and maybe forgot
i don't know if that's helpful Yes Um and I know one um uh concept we've had over the years is that some of the um goals identified in the master plan
fit nicely into um the purview of this or that committee or entity And some don't have I I remember you years ago Nancy uh coined the term they don't have a home And so that was things we were trying to um you know trying to work on
uh in a different way of trying to take more of an activist role uh about um I'm trying to think of examples of ones that Yeah I'm trying to think of examples Yeah Yeah Master accomplishment Yeah The list of
accomplishments I I know we have that we Can I show the downtown yeah I have that that table I could send that to you That would be great just to see that again I know I have it somewhere in the ether but uh thank you Can I put my finger on it i hope so And you're looking forward
to see a compliment accomplishments I have a 2022 update Great Did we do one past that it was the when we held the um the downtown meeting right before COVID in March and then Oh okay whatever year
that was This might have been even This is the one I have in the drive I don't know who made that That might be That looks familiar So good That would be great Thank you Was going to stand up Oh I'm sorry Thank you
Yeah I think as as some of you know this has been a question that I've been grappling with for for a couple of years is figuring out our place And this is what I where I see us now Um like if you look at that list of accomplishments a lot of them are not ones that this group specifically made happen right but but
they're accomplishments of the master plan Some of which this group did help to move forward and some just happened because of motivated staff members elsewhere But to me it seems like you know one of the downsides of a master plan anywhere is that you go through all the effort and then it sits on the shelf
and everybody just goes about their business and forgets about it It seems like one of the main roles of this group is keeping it on everyone's mind that we have a master plan and trying and trying to help people remember that this is what we're working towards To me that
seems like sort of the big picture role of this group That's at least how I've come to think of it I'll call myself I totally agree I think part of compiling these accomplishments it's to have one central place where this can be noted because they're you
know siloed accomplishments to some degree and through different departments and stuff like that But our part of keeping it alive is to recognize and and track these accomplishments and disseminate them to the public So um yeah absolutely People are aware of that
how uh progress has been made Um I was also aware that uh after a few years of this be being in place I remember we kept hearing that every department uh took into account when they were considering their their plans and their
budget for the year took into account the master plan and um that took a little while to get that's huge I mean it was the mayor that made that happen I mean they heard they heard the people speak about what we wanted and
then got this the department heads to say okay your budget needs to reflect the vision of where we want to go And it's also used very extensively in um grant writing by many folks in town both
within the city and also um in organizations outside of it because it gathered a huge amount of data Yeah definitely any part with the city getting um the vehicles and the requirements what they have to get that that are inside
um the conservation and stuff like miles per gallon electric vehicles all that stuff Absolutely I would say yes So so we're that anytime we do a capital purchase in the schools for vehicles transportation Marlo's group all that we have to review that before we can go
forward with any any vehicle purchases So it pretty much makes the the entire city um stay inside the guidelines So those details were developed by Carol no question Okay But the fact that she was hired and that the
goal was to get off of fossil fuels bigger goal uh is absolutely driven by the master plan and then she worked out the details of kind of what each department needed to do Did that depart Oh I'm sorry Did that department precede
the master plan or come afterwards um it kind of I'm going to say it I was looking that up recently that the the um the city got a grant in 2014 which is when
this master plan is being written to do the energy smart homes program and so that happened for three years Um so it was after the master plan was written that the that Carol's position was
created Okay Okay that's helpful So that's that's an accomplishment for sure Yeah I mean huge And and then it became her the position was created and then it was elevated to be a department unto itself Right
Position then then department Right Right That was huge It's helpful to reflect on that stuff Yeah So thank you for asking that Yeah And also just to um kind of underscore Jonah's point about sort of where the
work ultimately sits after a master plan is created with so much community participation in the creation of the master plan I think um undoubtedly there are stakeholders who show up to the creation of the plan with the intention
of then carrying out some of that work through their organization And so people who are involved all along the way we hold I think the reminder of it and the dissemination of it And there are other people who don't sit on this committee who have been a part of this
process throughout even if they're not necessarily here So it's I think sometimes when we think of community members it's easy to think that there's sort of this separation between just residents and people who are in some sort of organization that is able to
drive and represent stuff but often that's a ven diagram I don't know if that makes total sense but just in in saying that it's not just you know people who show up to share an opinion but aren't doing the work and people who are over here doing the work I think there's a lot of back and forth people
who show up to these planning sessions these feedback sessions they make sure that what they're passionate about makes it into the master plan and then they are the one also carrying the work forward So there's a lot of continuity there that I think doesn't always get highlighted when we're when we're here
You're talking about public events Yes That Okay Yes And Greenfield has a high number of activated residents We can call them don't you think And we all rely on you George for your memory when we're talking about a
particular topic You always oh yeah that's in this we go in such and such a chapter and it's like oh George thank you for remembering that Okay Um and yeah and I think um there's so many there's so much um you know as Bram
was talking about this committee being uh public private having official representatives of departments or or whatever and um or the council but also having system members I mean there's so much uh public private partnership in the community You think of the tree
committee Yes the you know as we we've talked about sometimes trees tree canopy is mentioned in all seven chapters of of the master plan and that's and we have a I know when I first came to town over 20 years ago it was the town committee that was that was the first committee I was
on here but since that stopped and then it became a totally autonomous you know but a lot of collaboration with the DPW um in in forwarding the goals of of the master plan and other groups I What was
um the one that put the metal benches downtown oh right Um yeah rejuvenation or whatever it was called Rejuvenators Rejuvenators Yeah Yeah Um very exciting And and some of it is just um us acknowledging and and you know promoting
those kind of uh you know private efforts and stuff It's it's it's all this uh uh synergy of these different uh approaches Um you know it's when you this is a very tangential
but when you have a when you are a when you're a large enough entity to be able to have paid staff as opposed to their solely little towns around you know the county that don't have that kind of thing And the volunteerism in that in
those little towns is amazing I mean what they do and I think there's a ten there's a possible tendency when you do have paid staff to say oh paid staff is going to do it but no that isn't and you know it doesn't work that way and I
think what you're doing Bram is like yeah the you need to vol people everyone needs to be engaged you can't rely on it you shouldn't rely not only can't you rely on it because we don't have enough money enough staff but it doesn't work
Well for their for the for the paid staff people to do everything because it takes away the ownership and it takes away the the pride and the it just takes away so much But there has to be that partnership because obviously there's a
lot of things paid staff could do that other people can't do like write grant proposals [Laughter] among other things Yeah Is there a collective sense of Isaac Asimov's foundation or just some of us
geeks notes or how many people here have read the foundation or seen the movies out there foundation Isaac Isaac Asimov's foundation series All right I'll let that go then because that would have been a great way to understand the implementation committee All right thank you Jonah uh because the idea is that
you can make this plan 10 years ago whatever and the world changes So an implementation committee is like the second foundation maximus model where you occasionally have to go in and do an intervention to send
something in another direction And what I remember Carol saying last month which you know I was hoping would come up here again is that she didn't feel that the master plan sufficiently elevated the climate crisis Like that climate crisis was one of the seven points which isn't
you know majority at all um and that it was this committee's job to update it with those that category of concern in its implementation of the master plan that she actually thought that sort of writing a draft of a new draft with the
climate uh elevated more was a good idea I don't know if that's the sense of the room or just Carol's sense Well I think one thing that um came up in that conversation as well is how much
more quickly the crisis has advanced in the last decade than people thought it would and that it would have been great I think it would have been great to see it more elevated but I think the tenor in 2014 I wasn't here for the writing of this plan Um and I was in Philadelphia
at the time probably not thinking about climate very much but um I think the tenor in 2014 was incredibly different around the climate crisis than it is now to our detriment and full circle But I'll agree with that and and it as
George knows I sat in every single committee so that the climate could be in every single chapter Yeah And it's as far as we could go was as far as as we went I mean because as you're saying people weren't ready for
that kind of thing But so you know it got integrated into the transportation uh chapter for example it got translated into the housing and in and economic development you know getting off the fossil fuels
stop We had that the um the energy uh audit which was done in ' 07 which basically showed it's costing us a fortune to be on on fossil fuels you know and so yeah it it certainly was a
big piece of the disc it was a piece of the discussion but there a lot of people on the committee weren't on board on that particular topic I'll offer a somewhat contrary viewpoint because I think this plan was preent in anticipating impacts of climate change
It's built around that very concept essentially And so there's a lot of um things in there that were tuned into dealing with the implications of that and they might have had to come to bear sooner than expected extreme weather
events reduction of of uh you know uh climate change you know uh emissions and and I think I think that's there's a lot of it in there May not be raising a a red flag on every page about that but I think it's I think it's I think it's
integrated in there Well certainly the fact that it was called a sustainable master plan was driven by the climate Exactly It was it was meant about it wasn't sustainable like let's let's have a you know economic sustainability or you know it was it was very much about
um so you look at all the many of the initiatives were around really key around that uh around ways uh to you know transportation impact uh on that and so so I think I think it's it was
ahead of it time in a way so which is good and and to bring it full circle I mean I know I use it in my work as well because it's helpful to show up to any conversation when we're trying to get things done you know deacto book in hand saying "This is the opinion of 400
people that think that this is what we should be working on and this is what we should be centering." So that has continued to be a great tool in in moving the work forward I do remember the consultants that we worked with were
continuously talking about the amount of public engagement how impressed they were by that And uh and uh Eric from his perspective as Tom Planner has talked about how um he's been heartened by this committee and the activism and uh this
committee keeping this alive rather than as Jonah was saying I mean it's this it's the stereotype you know it's gathering dust on a shelf but it really has been This was I mean this was having this committee was in the master plan So uh so so accident Yeah So we're about
time I want to make sure everybody has a chance to contribute I know some of you are more new members So um but uh we have a pretty flexible schedule at this point So I did want to give please do you feel that we've sort of adequately given you what
you would like to kind of have in mind for Saturday yeah I think this gives a a a nice overview of things uh uh themes some examples Uh it'll be helpful to have what you're sending me to that I'd
like to uh uh email Carol and see if she has anything she would want to uh make notable I think it's great to remember that about her position and her department And that I think that speaks to you know um putting this so far you know to have someone in that role as a
department head you know I think is is real indicator of the commitment to this uh sustainability and resiliency So so I think I'm all set Please can I add one more thing um from my figurehead position i think another thing uh that
this committee does that seems very small but is actually incredibly important is write support letters Support letters are not always easy to come by for organizations that are trying to do things And so um I think just having a committee that folks can
put proposals in front of and ask for an official support letter on that is sort of speaking for the mayor's office speaking for Greenfield just a very helpful thing in the community endorsing our efforts Yeah Just looking
through my Google Drive of all things we do Yeah Great Okay Hey if anyone has any last thoughts and want to email them to me before Saturday that'd be welcome Okay so the next item is Thank you George for
going to that event for representing us I appreciate uh next is master plan potential update of economic development chapter um Amy on conversation with UMass regarding a potential partnership to update the chat
with the master plan and an update on potential funding sources for this Great We'll start with the funding source because that is the um reapfer update which is to say that we have none yet Um Carol Um so I had a potential
funding source which um does not seem to be panning out a funding source that would have been faster than a going through a grant application Carol also thought she had a funding source She and I connected yesterday and the the dollars that she has access to are for
much more um concrete implementation type things and not planning activities Um so we are uh now in a position I think of having to grant write for it Um there is a uh Massachusetts does these
one-stop grants which are a host of different grants Um most of which are exactly planning in a variety of areas that are open now with applications due in early June Um there is a community planning grant that would be a great grant for this Um so I am planning on
applying for that That would however put um this update work that that grant cycle um we probably wouldn't be able to get up and running until late this year So So you'd hear maybe in November December You you're supposed to hear in
August Okay It's this state So I'd say it's a loose August late August sometimes by which they mean September Um and then I believe they are supposed to contract with you in October again a loose October Um but that is how
it should run So um I think if we were awarded the grant um we could be up and running by this fall Um but more like the middle of the winter Yeah late fall And also it leaves us sort of in a limbo until we know whether or not
we get the grant Um so that is where I'm at on the funding I'm still looking I'm turning over all the stones but I do not have a good update for you on that front On the other front of working with UMass um they totally understand and are not
in the least bit surprised um by the position that we are in and would love to work with us um and are coming to town with their two out of town folks next Friday April 3rd um and would still or next excuse me
Thursday April 3rd and would still love to meet and talk and see some of fields um could take advantage of the fact that they are in the area They're they're traveling from Washington DC up to New Hampshire um making a stop I presume
they're doing they're doing something in the morning in um I don't know where a virtual presentation but I'm going to get guess at UMass um and then they'll be coming So they expect to be here early afternoonish somewhere So after lunch
sometime two maybe uh there the virtual presentation is 10:15 to 11:15 Originally we had said 12 They said it would probably be a little bit later than that So I'm going to guess around 1:00 You need to travel and eat Yep I can get
a a lock on that time Um what would be helpful for me is to get a sense They've asked they've said "We're coming We would love to meet you." And sort of asked for nothing as formal as an agenda but an idea of what we might like to do with them And my thought had been it
would be great if a group of us um could be there It would give you a chance to meet them and see if you want to work with them um share your perspective on what that work would look like get a sense of their feel and how they do community engagement and what their overall process is So I think that type
of conversation would be helpful Um share with them what um sick is because well Wayne I think am I the only one that does that i think so SG feels like such a I love it Sorry And I I will say to
you that I won't do it but I thousand% will Um I think Wayne is familiar with our committee but the folks coming up from Washington won't be So I think give them a chance to just understand the makeup of our committee and how we function and what we're looking for um
would be helpful And then if there are if there is a little show and tell a walk and talk something that we would like to show them Um I would love for them to see part of Deerfield Street Um because we our department also would like to do a Deerfield Street corridor
plan which they have said that they could sort of incorporate as one in the same project So I'm thinking maybe a a Main Street down Bank Row walk of some sort could be a good one if that feels good This is next Thursday now This is
next Thursday And what was the time sorry I am imagining 1:00 I will get a confirmation from that Thank you So I can send out an email with a formal time and get you to formally respond and tell me I won't be alone But just in
case all of you say that sounds like a terrible idea I'd love to know and I'd love ideas and input Nancy great idea I'm really curious about the people coming up from DC What I can tell you or what are their roles in life so glad you
asked Let me tell you Um there are two folks Um one is Erin Simmons I can't tell you a ton about them but I can tell you this bit Um she is the senior director of design assistance and she is joined by Joel Mills who is the senior
director of communities by design Both of them at the AIA architects foundation which is based in Washington DC architects Okay They've worked in a variety of communities in Massachusetts Vermont US and around the world and what their role is or would be if we were to
work with them Um they assemble teams of volunteer subject matter experts planners architects economic development engineers etc to create multidisciplinary teams that help communities identify opportunities and create strategic plans with the cost for
travel expenses and a very small overhead but no staff costs Is this theat group why is that acronym floating into my head just like sick What's that so so what does that stand
for anyway a number of years ago I remember hearing about this group of that architects that they the AIA does this kind of thing So anyway that would be a great question to ask them next Thursday But anyway so I I think it's been going on for a long time and okay this is not their first project by any
stretch of imagination Okay Um I think it's something their plan felt like a very good fit for our our type of community and our type of the way that we tend to engage Um but I've never met them So thank you That that's really helpful Okay great I'll
call on myself Um I don't know if I missed a connection here but I thought we were talking UMass and now you're talking Washington DC These Yep So the way that um Wayne explained the work um is that he worked
Wayne Fiden is the head Wayne Fen is the director of UMass's Center for Resilient Communities which is part of their landscape landscape architecture and design department And he used to be the director of planning for Northampton
Okay Um the way that their department engages in these projects is they work with students as much as possible um and let students much like the Conway school does its graduate students So they like to involve students in this work Um that
can fluctuate a little bit depending on our schedule and theirs and whether it overlaps in a way that makes sense with the academic calendar Um they also find that it can be helpful to bring in people who have expertise in particular areas if there are particular things that we are interested in talking about
Um these people if they were engaged would be working with students as well Is that Yes I Okay Yes Thank you very much These people um I think we should ask more if we meet with them next week but my understanding is students do the overall project These people come in for
like two days to do an intensive public engagement cheret community conversation It's the students who are doing the writing and the the guts of the project Um but these folks are helping gather information and all and they're advisors to the students and that sort of thing
So that's my understanding Yeah And since we're talking about expense you said no staff costs That sounds so these um there is a co the cost for the cost that the rough cost that I was quoted was 20 to 35,000 for both plans So I
would assume it would be on the 20 or under end for one 20 to 35 for both including including the Deerfield Street Um bonus bonus bonus and that includes um that includes everything I think that no
staff cost time is the way that this AIA architecture piece works is you you hey it's built into this quote Um they don't charge for any of the experts that they bring you're not going to get a bill because they're bringing in four community planners from Detroit or
whatever Okay that's on them Um the cost for them is just for those architectures that would be built into this plan But I think those are all also questions to clarify Other questions or
comments on this idea so then can I just ask a clarify i am going to suggest to them that we meet with them at 1 or whenever to share with them who we are and what our hopes are and then have them share with us what their um method and model would look
like and then take them on a walk sort of part of Main Street down Bank Would you be sharing with them the current economic development chapter have they done that already i have not done that already because I we hadn't gotten that far Um but I think that would be a great idea if the rest of the
committee thinks So have you uh secured this room or or your office i can be my office Yes I have not secured I will email you with a location Okay 99% here or my office or Hannah's office I say without asking her or even making
eye contact You have access to a lot of spaces Not as many as you would think Um I will send them the current economic development chapter There's no objection to that No objection Speaking of that it wasn't on the agenda
but I understand that the planning board is going to be discussing and hopefully approving the two new chapters on April 3rd Well discuss starting the discussion Start the discussion Right I just thought the committee would like to know
that I know personally I would love to go to the planning board that meeting and be there and in case I I don't know I just want to hear what you guys announcements is on the agenda and that was one I was going to make So there you go Great Will you can you tell me for
the minutes what that date was again or are you going to say it again in announcements i'll wait till we get to the announcement Thank you Um so it'll be in order with our agenda Um so nothing else about this master plan update no Okay So we have 10 minutes set
aside for public comment I see we have a public here Stephanie I'll mute Oh she looks like she did I did Hi Dlo Uh Chapman Street
uh precinct 8 Um I'm really happy to hear about the resiliency um being addressed Um I'm always concerned about water and flooding and would hope that um at some point we can get the old
water maps um you know potentially digitized or at least made available to the public because sinkholes have been happening and I have a theory as to why they're happening Um so my concern obviously I I
constantly live with flooding and I believe imperous surfaces are are consistently part of the reason why we have some of the issues we do So I'm hoping that you know when we address um the various chapters and we're we're really
looking at the sustainability we do do address you know that we have climate change and that um we need to have ways to clean our water and um and wetlands and and these protected
areas um aren't always uh addressed when development comes in So I'm hoping that we can strengthen the fact that you know maybe they need to come to the conservation commission and and and make sure that they're aligned with you know
our hopes to protect our our open space and our waterways and you know clean air And that's pretty much what I wanted to say Thank you for letting me speak Of course Um and uh you said something was happening and I didn't catch that
and I guess you did Amy because you kept that sink holes Thank you very much I didn't catch that Sinkholes Yeah I also didn't get that And I'm uh um Yes thank you very much for that input And I'm I'm thinking that something Marlo would be wanted to you
know maybe respond to or think about Yes I just I'll just I don't know maybe Jonah has something to say too because he's a water guy but but I was I recently learned um I was I recently was talking with um Carolyn uh Shores Nest
who is in Deerfield who has taken Deerfield has lots of flooding issues and I I guess I haven't been following this in the paper closely enough but they've been doing a lot with permeable paving So the um the the Liry lot and one other
lot and and also learning from uh Cambridge and what they've been doing but uh in burying huge um tanks underneath uh parking lots and other areas and using imper excuse me pvious
paving So paving that water will go through And so and they're hoping to redo the whole center of the town with um pvious paving which I was really thrilled to hear about because it's certainly been something that's been around for a while but there's always
been the obstacle of maintenance And so I asked her about that I said "What are you going to do about maintenance?" and she said 'Well they're going to start out by hiring you know bringing in a person who has the vacuum or whatever machine
you need to to keep the pavement to be pvious And um and that her long-term vision is that they will get to a point where they have enough of the that kind of pavement that they can purchase one of those uh pieces of equipment And can
I ask what what services are you talking about parking services or what so in her case it was Yep Well it started with the Liry lot which is which is a parking lot that they've been renovating recently That's that's downtown And then she mentioned the city hall or something And
then the in terms of the long-term dream cuz they've been working on uh redesigning redeveloping the whole downtown of South Deerfield that sort of that triangle and that sort of space Her dream is that all of that paving would
get taken up and when the thing is redesigned and it's repaved it would all get repaved with pvious paving Are you talking about the streets as well as the parking yes Yes That's what I was wondering Yeah Yeah Wow And when you say
giant tanks underneath is the water conserved for something i'm sorry Yeah that's a good question I got to say giant tanks So so so it's a large tank which uh during when there's a heavy rainfall uh then the storm water and
stuff would go into the tank and then over time that the tank releases the water in back down into the um aquifer I know that there's a big tank underneath the
um the senior center parking lot because there is Yeah Because in art here here you know because because of the zoning rules that that you cannot increase imperous you cannot increase the amount
of storm water that comes off of the surface when you're developing or redeveloping something And so they had to keep all of that water on site and that they don't they were used they didn't use pvious paving but it was
impervious paving but all of the water also that comes off of the roof of the senior center goes underground and directly to that tank It doesn't land on the in the soil or whatever There is a
so-called rain garden out back but it's never the the water is not direct to the rain garden Ironic much to my frustration Well um Jonah doesn't stand up Oh please Jonah Yes the water guy Yes please Yeah I
didn't even know I was the water guy Um so our last open space task force we had Marlo was our invited guest Uh and we did talk about this to some degree One of on in the open space and recreation plan there is a action step for us to uh
do a um I don't know what the exact wording is but some a a detailed survey of imperous services in the city Um and so we were talking to him about that Apparently there is a active grant request uh in conjunction with Furcog to
do such an analysis for the city So that that would be an important step There's there's many steps in in reducing our our flooding situation as as Stephanie was describing Uh but that would be an important first step is understanding
where where the biggest issues are Um and then working to create solutions like like Nancy was describing Marlo did he's he was not thrilled about some of the permeable pavements that exist They are out there but they're new and
there's some concerns about how they hold up in our climate Um so he had some reservations understandably about about those since he's the one who would have to deal with them if they fall if they fall apart quickly Um so I think it is it's relatively I I you know it's it's
happening out there I know Bradboro there's a parking lot in Bradboro that's like it looks like pavement but it's it's permeable You just pour a bucket of water on it and it goes right through it So it exists uh but it's still it's still um you know in process of in
development of of becoming reliable Interesting I want to thank Stephanie for bringing up this topic and um I know that uh um UNH in Durham New Hampshire has done research on permeable paving
for a very long time and as I understand it there's quite a lot of permeable paving in New Hampshire because of that Uh or maybe vice versa I don't know But yeah a lot of people have have questions about it and it's
excited about what's happening in South Deerfield is to have sort of a larger example and s and and demonstration of um of the permeable paving Yeah per paving permeable paving And as you said
I've forgotten about the uh the uh brattle It was it's at the food co-op up there at that parking lot Thank you And and I'm just wanted to say this is kind of an example of what you were referring to Hannah during the early discussion of someone having something
they're passionate or concerned about bringing it to this committee and that it resonating further thoughts and perhaps you know follow and I'll just say as a member of the planning board speaking of private you know property that we have often um when uh a project
comes before us for a site plan review we've often broached the issue about having some of the parking service uh be uh privous and um and we get the same push back about uh mostly about
maintenance Um and we have not as much about um it holding up you know uh breaking down or something like that But you know it it is worth keeping in mind that as the technology changes or something or you know with the you know
increased concern about um you know weather events and um extreme storms and the impact of flooding on on uh on uh you know people property um that uh it
might be worth uh adjusting what some of our standards are inuture future years about that So um it's good to flag that something to keep in mind Jonah do do you have any sense of when
uh there might be a study the study might get done i think um what is what did they say i think it's we're still waiting a couple of months until just to hear if we even get the the grant that was applied for
So yeah So then there it would be even more time for the implementation Great Thank you very much Stephanie and thanks for the discussion We had great we had some extra time Um next is the
membership uh discussion about the open seat SGSI SGIC pull you all over to the dark side I have keep striking out I've not made any progress Haven't found something And based on the you know reviewing the
it's called the charter I don't think that's technically what it's called but I think of it that way in the city code Um I know that we had for the last couple of meetings it seemed like um there was some uh uh gap in representation on here regarding around
food or food security And so that's what we were trying to kind of um see if we could find something You had a few people you were checking uh into about that Um and you were going to check in if position is indeed so open that there's not there's no one in the
pipeline Okay Okay Um I know we heard earlier Bram um saying that he might initiate contact in the mayor Um and uh so that would it's the mayor's discretion obviously Um but we can you know in our role and you know reflection
upon the you know what what we're what our makeup is and how what good representation would be Um so I don't know if there's any more you wanted to say about or any any other thoughts about someone in the food area that we might uh Well I' I'd know
if anyone has any more ideas of people either in the food area or I think the other one was sort of quality of life was a sort of a broad brush kind of skill I don't know how you'd even define that but but um and we're always looking
for people who are younger So I was you know anybody if we could pay people that might be interested in this committee who could bring interesting skills to it Um please please I'm happy
to talk with you about it and do brainstorming and and yeah I mean just it's such a great committee Could we put what please um I there was just a meeting of the Franklin County Food Council a week or so ago a couple weeks
ago maybe I put it out to them Did you okay I did because there was a super interesting assortment of like people in anybody in particular you said you put out to them Right So two things happened Um so one
of the people who goes to the meeting I asked them to carry the message forward and another person who is connected I think I sent a description of what we're looking for to the chair because I couldn't be there and asked them to ask
So as you're saying this I'm remembering we did talk about it briefly at the Was it Peg peg came Oh you were at the meeting Okay Um Peg talked about it Okay But I do wonder if it might require I think the trick for me is I don't know which of those folks are Greenfield residents because it's all in Franklin
County right that's because I have a feeling it's going to require a one-on-one That's what I wonder And that's one of the things that I had run into in searching for people is someone who lives in Greenfield I wonder if it might and I can
definitely send something but be worth putting out through the library through their staff through their channels I feel like they're and I had a really good meeting um the other day with aunt with the director
there and she was sharing that a lot of I I shared that the GBA is trying to connect more with remote workers and you know plug them in a little bit more and she was saying oh yeah a ton of remote worker residents come and work at the library so you could come set up the
table and catch them and I was it just I hadn't thought about that connection and so it just makes me wonder who's using the library that we may not really think of as plugged into this kind of work but especially a lot of new residents who
are moving here go to the library She was saying you know while they're waiting for their internet to get set up and they just sit and work and they meet people and so I'm happy to put it out there through them I don't know exactly who would respond through them but it
just seems like the place that active citizens go for some reason Give it give it a try You know I could also um just thinking with my involvement with the co-op um I could
try to see if there's anyone who has a you know there should be people through that network That's a great idea George Any other thoughts on that
okay next uh item is announcements Um so the uh this be a big shock to all of you but um at the planning board meeting next uh Thursday April 3rd the plan going to planning board was going to start
discussion of um looking at the um draft chapters uh revised two draft chapters for the master plan and um get reactions and uh for a process for moving forward So um it it's an initial I have no idea
what the how that will play out Um everyone might say "Boy looks great Let's just approve this and you know see how we can get the word out or um or might say they want to have more discussion about it." So um but that will be on the agenda for next uh it's
um 6:00 next Thursday uh in this room So No one seems surprised You're like you're okay Um so I want to share this because you're all going to get an email from me on Monday because Greenfield has made it
into the final four of the Strongest Towns 2025 competition which is farther than any of us thought they would make it And we are very they we would make it and we're very excited And voting reopens on Monday the 31st So when you
get this email from me please vote with every email address that you have That's it's one vote per email address So Oh my goodness That's what I said That's the introduction We're the most shady top
So we're resourceful is what we are Competitive I'm so competitive So please vote and also if you would please just forward it on and I just want to make the case for two things that I think are
really wonderful about this competition Um one is that as I imagine all of us do in our own way um at the GVA especially a huge part of my job is rebuilding a sense of Greenfield's pride in itself Um
which is a job Um but it's also wonderful and rewarding And I think this strong town's opportunity which was largely unexpected for us um we were nominated by a resident and then when we got into the competition Amy and myself
and Christian and Matt Conway in the mayor's office um just kind of like pulled together and we have been like getting social media and telling the story and the positive reverberation of it has been honestly beyond my wildest
dreams I mean you can literally see people get excited either just because they're competitive which I will take it you know or or because they hear something on our social media or in the story we're telling that they hadn't considered or they didn't remember they hadn't thought about So um it has been
an unbelievably galvanizing thing and it and it just sort of happened which has been really wonderful And then the other piece of it that I think is very critical is this is the competition is hosted by an organization called Strong Towns
which I always forget where they're based I want to say it's Pennsylvania or somewhere in the Midwest Um but they do a lot of you know this kind of work with towns So they have a lot of toolkits and they do consulting where they come and they talk about livability
and walkability and city budgets and open space and and really help towns kind of build themselves back up which is where the competition came from Um and so a lot of the attention that Greenfield is getting and a lot of the votes that Greenfield is getting are
from people all over the country watching this competition happen So yes our local votes are what are pushing us forward and we are being voted for by folks out there looking at Greenfield and saying that's a cool place that's a
cool town Strong Towns has over 10,000 followers on their social media So we have no idea where people are watching us from And I think that too can be really helpful to people who are used to being in our our own sort of blinders on
thing about our town And when you start to see it from the outside you start to realize that maybe it is actually cool and maybe there are actually people out there who think Greenfield is doing it right And the last thing I'll say is this is not a perfect talent competition It is a strong captain's competition and
that is a very critical difference and it's very much about all the people that come together to keep working at this thing That is what the competition is about So when you get this from me on Monday please vote Please forward it on
to everyone you know and just we're just we're gonna make it into the finals That's it And I'll just say we're up against Harrisonburg Virginia So if you have a personal against them just know that's who we're up against in this bracket And then the other two in the
other side of the bracket are Bend Oregon which I just want to say has the last existing Blockbuster and that is a game piece So we will never have that But Bend Oregon and Marian Ohio is the other one So we will be So Sacramento is
not on the list anymore Sacramento's out Calgary out Bellingham Washington out Dang guys I reached out to a friend of mine who lives in Sacramento and said "Have you heard about this?" Right you're like "Sorry about your loss." No I'm just kidding So really though this
is a cool thing and it's sort of just a flash It's going to be over by what April 7th or so but it's bragging rights It It's a professional marketing video which those things cost a good bit Um and then it's two spots at the Strong Towns Conference this year which I
believe is in Providence So thank you Yes Uh I'll just channel I'll I'll go sorry I'll channel Carol that she's a big fan of Strong Town She brought that up in this Awesome
organization Really i've read the book Yeah the book They have a great blog Podcast Yep Yep It's awesome I'll be on the podcast in about a week I'll send it to everybody It was really fun Yeah it's
so good It's fun Any other announcements i have one that's way less exciting I wish I had gone before Is it about competing with other places or I um tomorrow at 4 o'clock our department is hosting a community development block grant public hearing
for the next grant round that we are applying for So if you want to hear um what we are um requesting funds for it is five social service projects infrastructure improvements and housing rehab Um and we would love um folks to
join It'll be in this room and hybrid at what was the date and time tomorrow at 4 At 4 Ah And that used to be this that used to be incorporated into this meeting Yes Did you know about that no I didn't Yeah MJ
used to set aside a part of this or ask request a part of this meeting to do that to get input from this group as well So that she had a you know where was this information yeah I I don't know coming back after this committee active
audience Well now that you've planted that seed stay tuned but in the meantime tomorrow at four in this room No I just want to mention because it was kind of an interesting project It took up some part of this meeting but uh um it was like 20 minutes or a half hour something
like that I think So had no idea That's a great idea Mhm Yeah For for a number of years that way Mhm Um any other announcements yes I got one please Which is there's an Earth Day event April 21st at Energy Park It's
hosted by the Interfaith Castle and the City of Greenfield So maybe folks here are involved I don't know Something I'm involved in a different not through this group but yes definitely I'm aware of it Definitely maybe see folks there They're looking
for more organizations to be tableabling Oh interesting Okay If SIC wants to there it's catching on I'm new so I'm malleable and impression Don't be drawn
Well that's interesting And that's uh the 21st Yes That's before our next meeting Yes Okay Yeah No I'm just thinking is is um is Earth Day I mean it's 22nd Yeah
but I mean it just it's an Earth Day event Yes No no I'm I'm saying the that event resonates with sustainability and resiliency and and uh so um we could go and try and find a new member That's true
Able for members Yeah So I didn't know it's wasn't on our agenda but I didn't know if um hearing this announcement we might want to have any representation there That's what that's what I was thinking What time you said you're looking for there's a fire for it downstairs in the bulletin board and I
don't know what time it is It's 1 to 3:00 p.m at the energy Yeah With a rain Jay-Z will be the rain location John's on Did you just say I I think that's right Jay-Z will be there Let's
start will be a Jay-Z You will get a turnout Once they're there they're there They got it wrong That'll help with the strong ts See no people are lying That'd be bad There's another event too that uh on the
Excuse me Could you repeat the date of that event again sure April 21st 1 to 3 p.m Energy Park Thank you At Dream Greenfield Community College there's a um a similar thing of
tableabling and trying to get the community to talk to each other nonprofit tables and stuff like that on I believe it's the third second The second thank you Because we had to move our GG meeting to be able to do it 2nd of of April So any next week in the next
couple days Yeah Next week Yeah So you might want to go to it even if you don't have a table I don't know if they have any more table space but that's an indoor event And um one of the reasons I'm there is
because the Miller's Meadow Project of Planting Trees is going to be in the beginning of May So I guess I could hold that announcement to the next meeting But uh anyway planting trees So so um are you going to be there Earth
Day thing as part of the GBA i did not know about it Um but I will definitely put it out there to our member organizations see if any of them want to Who should they reach out to i know someone from the Interfaith Council is the one who told me about it I can pass along her contact Awesome
Yeah that'd be great Yeah I'm just wondering if we'd want to have a representative It would be great if someone has the time and energy What day of the week is it it's a Monday It's a Monday It's it's Patriots Day so it's a holiday for everybody There's some
some people except for people I work on most Monday holidays There you go Um so is there anybody should we ask if anyone who might Do you want as our figurehead i will I
can try I can try Yes Um one to three I believe those you want to get the word out if you can There's going to be a parade from the center of town down to to the energy
park and um there's a couple of speakers They've got uh the mayor will be welcoming people Joe Cmerford is speaking Um and yeah then tables I see your hand
Yes I was just wondering if that was the same as um last night when I attended the public safety commission meeting Um the 19th was mentioned about um downtown cleanup where they were gathering a bunch of people um from the public
safety commission and they were going to go and talk to some of the homeless community to help clean up downtown and they were looking for bags and gloves I know that was a conversation but I didn't know if they were in conjunction with one another or if they were
independent And if they are independent well maybe you guys can also um help with the street cleanup or maybe get it out there on on various commissions on the 19th You said something of April Yes that's that's what they said at the
public safety commission last night Thank you Is that the Green River is that a Sunday saturday the 9th or is it 9th which is Saturday sounds like it's downtown folk It's not Oh okay Okay Thank you
Um Okay Uh no other any other announcements great Good things to hear about Um so the next meeting is April 24th here 4:00
Uh okay Uh is are we ready to return someone want to make so move second All committee members in favor unanimous [Music]