I will call the meeting to order at 7:04 on October 28th of the Open Space Committee. And can we please say that we are present? Jim Dueling.
>> I'm present. in here. >> Mike Calone >> present. >> And Bill Hoffman >> present. Okay. Oh, you are there. Okay. And >> I'm here too.
>> Sean Mack. >> Okay. And Sean. All right. Great. Thank you. >> I'm here too. This is Christina Hoffman. >> Okay. Right. I I was coming to you. who I really was.
Yes. Obviously, my screen isn't big enough, Christina, or something. Anyway, uh, okay. So, we don't Do we have any citizen inquiries that aren't from present, which would mean a question to
Sadi? Do we have any questions we need to answer? >> Um, not at the moment. There was though. I'm not sure if this is the right time to bring it up, but there was the um this was more of an inquiry towards uh
Kristen. Um but there was the um the resident who was um concerned about or they just couldn't find the trail um at the um Seate property. Okay, >> I would suggest we take that up later
because that will lead us into another topic on the discussion. Okay, >> so let's move to the minutes and um Okay, does anybody have any
necessary corrections to the minutes? Okay. Hearing none, would someone please propose we accept the minutes as submitted? >> I'll move to um accept the minutes. >> Okay. Somebody second that. >> I'll second.
>> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Okay. So our minutes are accepted and um All right. So now um I sent out
in concerning the next item which is um the suggested um and I would suggest we we call it an email. It really isn't a letter. Um anyway, uh I sent out about an hour ago
a suggested text uh change to that. I don't know whether you folks got it. You might want to check your email if you have a moment there to see what I sent. Um, and what I
sent was what I had picked up was what Mike suggested and I thought that was um a a good suggestion. Um, and so I came up
with uh what I think can be inserted into um the text and um Okay. So there we go. Okay.
So does everybody have that? >> Yes. >> Okay. Great. So let me just read it. Your response to this request for comment will only be shared with the committee with a capital C and will not
become part of the text of the published final plan capital P. Um I suggested either we put it in before our names which would mean essentially at the end
of the text as it now exists or after our names. Um I don't know whether um it makes a great deal of difference where it comes. Um I just think it
should I thought it should be associated with our names so that it's clear that we're all saying that. Um >> yeah. So, anybody have any comments or
suggestions to change or accept it? I like it. I think it should go after and um the only change that I would make is because on the first bullet you abbreviated the open space committee
OSC. So, I propose that where you say committee with a capital C, you take that out and replace it with OSC. So, we're just consistently using the same abbreviation for the open space committee. >> Okay. Okay. Yeah, that makes good sense.
Um, do you think we should it should be in full or just just abbreviated OSC? >> I think OSC works because we've defined what OC is. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Great.
So, I will do that. uh which would change it very minimally. Um okay, any other suggestions? Okay, then um can we I think since we need to
accept this thing as is now so that we can get it underway. Um >> um just a second. Um, Mike, does that I know you had a comment as well. Does that what we just changed or like what David added kind of encapsulate what you were trying to
>> say? >> Yes. Yeah, absolutely. No. Uh, I just threw it in the email kind of off the cuff so I wouldn't forget uh when I read the um letter last night and yeah, I think David kind of made it more formal. >> Okay, gotcha. Cool.
>> Thank you. Yeah. >> Thought maybe we'd get brutally honest answers one way, you know, good or bad, you know, if they know that it's just us and it just gives us a way to engage, you know, back like why do you feel that way? What, you know, give us more information about
your comment, whatever, you know. So, um, >> no, I think that's a a good point, Mike, which is why I, you know, suggested this change because to encourage people to to respond to us.
I think they don't need to be threatened that we're going to run around saying, "Oh, you know, Peter John said that we shouldn't or you know what he thinks about open space." Yeah. Okay. Um, so
could I have a motion to accept the letter as now amended? >> I'll make a motion to accept the email as amended. >> Okay, you're right. I'm using letter to email.
Okay. Could I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor say I, please. >> I. Five. Okay. Very good. Okay. So, um
moving on to the next item. All right. Um uh Okay. So Sadi did us a very comprehensive um
checklist here um which um uh is more than I had um originally sort of put together but it's it's very useful. Uh my only sort of comment at this point would be
it doesn't it's a bit small on the page but that's okay. Um so what I'm looking at and I'm going to hold it up is I'm looking at this. Okay. >> Yes. Um, yes, I sent that out to you all
as a as a PDF screenshot, but I have I I wanted to suggest um at this meeting because um I feel like well, I know David, you express the concern that people don't know the status of where we are. Um, and
I think that's true. And so I I thought I know Kristen advised us against this before, but I I personally think that it would really help us um is to have a Google Drive of materials.
So, um this this um checklist that I sent out to you all is actually a spreadsheet that's in this um Google folder that I made with um just some other materials that I thought everyone should have and it's a lot easier than
you know emailing stuff to people. So, I wanted to see how what you all thought about that going forward. We could use a Google folder to share things. >> I like that idea. I'm used to working as a group in a folder where we'll have
access to it. So, >> yeah. And we can see other people's uh stuff that they've submitted and, you know, offer, you know, feedback and stuff more easily. Um, what do people think? >> That'd be great. I agree with what Bill said. So,
>> yeah, >> just say like if you just keep it organized, so if someone just drops something in, maybe put it in the correct folder and >> Yeah. Yeah. There's >> Yeah, >> I I have it organized as um there's a maps folder, there's a section drafts
folder, and there's a survey and results folder. Um, and then there's, um, some general things that are just kind of loose in the folder, um, including the spreadsheet that I made. Um, and
yeah, I thought people could maybe like if they have another if they have a new version of their draft, they could replace the one that's in in here and just each person could keep it updated. Um, and I could like generally keep it organized. But um yeah.
>> Yeah, it's almost I I do wonder like with the drafts if there is a previous version there, but like I know with my section I'm still doing more edits and I think there'll be enough of a difference
that it would be better for someone to get the edited version when it's ready as opposed to going back to the, >> you know, the first draft. So just making sure someone doesn't grab an outdated, you know, or
>> yeah really doesn't reflect the most current status. How we organize that, I don't know what, you know, ready for review or something that indicates, you know, people should look at it. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Um >> but we don't I don't know if we have to
answer that right now. But um >> is there is there a way of doing that? uh Sadi in what you're proposing and in other words is there a way of indicating that X meaning me or Christina has read
it or seen it or you know or or does that make it too complicated? What I'm wondering is that >> we don't always necessarily know that we're all aware, which is why I tried to get into this what I thought was a bit
of a problem that we had all these moving parts and some of us were aware of some of them and some of us were aware of others and we needed a a place to go and I think you've you know you're
beginning to generate that. Um, >> yeah. I'm thinking, well, maybe I think Kristen's concern was that we'd all be editing things at the same time and versions would get messed up, but also like there would be um open meeting law
violations, risk of that. So, I'm thinking that >> maybe we could like submit things through me and then I could update the folder and that could be like the process. Um but then still everyone
could see everything. >> Yeah. Um okay, just to address this open meeting issue. Okay. The open meeting issue has to do with where we make we commit ourselves to decisions as a committee.
>> I know. I just I think people could like make decisions and make changes without realizing that they >> Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean that's you know but if we have what has to happen in terms of the open meeting law if we're
moving towards making a final decision about accepting something or doing something then that has to be part of a public meeting process. But the ex well for example what I did tonight adding
that sentence sending it out to everybody. Um that was because if you do meetings on Zoom that's really the only way to handle that kind of situation. In other words to put to put the text in front of everybody. You have to get it
to them. So I think we should relax a little about that in terms of Christian's concern. I just think it was sort of a warning not to have us go off and make decisions and and not one not
share them with one another clearly and two not to have it clear when a decision was made. >> Okay. >> Um >> so SI um can I ask a question? >> Yeah. So, are you thinking that um
everybody's So, you're going to populate this folder and everybody we're not just going to have the draft open, you know, the draft plan in a word version and you're pasting everything in so everybody has the whole document. You're like, "Okay, I'm just going to paste in section 4, which is just a word document
that has section four and just section one. So, if anybody wants to read individual sections, they can." Or were you saying you were going to collapse it into a document? Um, I can do either at the moment the the folder that I've organized has just the sections as
individual documents, but I do kind of like I I would kind of like to form it into one big document just so we can kind of start getting used to reading it as one like as like the sections flow into each other. So maybe that's how I can
organize it going forward. What do you think? I I think whatever is honestly easiest for you to manage from a formatting standpoint. That way you're not reformatting multiple times or something like that. So, you know, if you feel like you don't want to collapse
it all together until, you know, we're at, you know, through the um like all through like the first draft and edits checkboxes or something or just something that you don't have to end up like redoing it multiple times. I mean, I haven't I haven't changed any
formatting from the template, but you know, I know things can get wonky copying and pasting from either the 2010 plan or something else. So, you know, I just want to make it harder on you. So, whatever >> Okay. >> most comfortable with. >> Okay. Yeah, that sounds good. >> Agreed. And I think that if we have like
two subfolders, one is, you know, early drafts, then anybody who's reading that knows that maybe it's not ready. And then you have another folder that says, I like someone suggested ready for review. Then everybody knows that like they they can review early drops if they want, but really the ready for review
section is where it's actually ready for other eyes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah, that's also a good idea. >> Are we So when not to project too far ahead, but when we are say grabbing a
ready for review section, are we saying that we're putting comments? How how are we providing feedback? I guess do we need to talk about that now or is it are we am I
putting the cart or the horse >> it's a good thing to consider >> or are we gonna are we going to wait till we get to a meeting and then kind of >> say oh we're going to go through section four now you know any thoughts and you
know what what how granular are we getting I guess like I don't want to I'm not trying to again I don't want to start talking about something that we're not even ready to do and do it in a hypothetical. But >> like yeah, I guess I'm just curious.
>> That's a good point because I there like I mean I've been looking them over over the drafts and stuff and um but I want you know the rest of us to like have some sort of mechanism to provide feedback on other people's sections. Um,
but I had not >> thought about that yet. >> On your on your checklist, I just tried to share it, but I don't have that ability. But we've got it's been started, there's a first draft, it's been edited, then final draft
complete, and then approved. So, are people going to review after final draft complete or are people should people go in and review other people's sections after edits have been made? >> I almost think it should be after like
final draft complete. Like, I'm just going to use my section for example. I'm like almost there, but I've got, you know, I've got Martha Taylor looking over the town inventory stuff to give me feedback on if if any grants were ever used, things like that. So, I still need
to update that one section. So, why review it twice? You know what I mean? Like, when I feel like I've got all the information there, you know, then it's like, all right, let's let's go through it and, you know, fine tooth comb it. Well, I think my suggestion would be I
think to answer some of these and that is that if um we get to the point of the final draft then I think okay first of all I would suggest to Sadi that that you have two
things and that is you have the separate f well if you want to call them folders here uh for each section. Okay. >> And then you have the total thing because frankly finding stuff in the
total thing, particularly when it's sort of not a whole thing is is a real pain, you know, because you got pages and pages before you actually get perhaps to the the new item or the what you're
looking for. So, I think it will be helpful unless it creates, as Mike suggests, more work for you because eventually what you're going to be doing basically anyways is cut and pasting into a final
draft, right? Um, >> so you're you're saying to have folder a folder for each section and then have the different drafts like dated in that in each folder. >> Yeah. Right. Because because then what I'm suggesting is that when we get to
the point of having um uh what you got down here okay um so the f of okay first draft edits first draft rewrite final draft anyone
any at any stage of this um there could be simply um a little file which shows all of the people who have signed off on it. In other words, I think what you
need to be able to know is who's read it and is happy with it or or needs to make a comment. And then I think in regard to Jim's comment, my response would be yeah, how
how do we handle people's comments? Well, I suppose there are two ways. One is to um to basically, you know, use a a standard sort of word
text editing kind of tool. So you put an in, you know, you put in what you want to take out and substitute or whatever. Um, and that Yeah. I mean, okay. So, how how do other
people feel about coping with with changes? >> I mean, there there is a there is a comment feature um in Google Docs. >> Yeah. Is that that's not that's not a meeting law violation to to make
comments on? >> No, >> I don't think I mean I don't think it is. I just get kind of I get I'm still learning about it myself, so I'm I'm cautious, but >> No, no, no, no. Um if Okay. Um,
no. I mean, the only circumstance where I could see we could stray into into that territory, which by the way is used as a weapon far too often to to limit how you get things done. Um but um is if
for example let's say we had a major disagreement within the committee about something and we essentially hid that that it wasn't open. Okay, that would be an issue if um but
no I mean uh partly because you can't get any work done if everything you discuss you know has to well otherwise we'll be here to midnight every night. Um but let's come back to okay so how do
we handle our comments so that so that frankly we don't have a long session of you know going through lots of comments
for the first time. That's my concern is to come to a meeting and suddenly find out that there's a >> there's a major problem. Um, >> I can I can >> Yeah,
>> like I think I think something I'm picturing is everyone can com make make comments in the Google doc. Um, and then they and then like two days before the
meeting or maybe longer before the meeting if there's a lot of comments I can like incorporate them all into the dock. Um and then or maybe
people can make their comments and then we can talk about them in the meeting or we can you know skip over any you know small formatting or misspells or whatever but like conceptual ones we can kind of go through one by one
>> or I can mark some I can go through them and mark some bigger ones I think we need to talk about as a committee. or people can come to me and say, "I had this issue. Can we please talk about this in the meeting or something like that?" >> So, what do the rest of you folks think
to to Sadi's idea there? >> So, uh I'm sorry. Uh but I was going to say Sadie, you're so you're going to be the uh central auditor. So, basically, we'll be looking at the document, making changes, and
then sending them to you. you will then incorporate them into the document and get that document out to us for us to review as a group. That kind of thing. Is that what we're talking about? >> Um well, you I I think you'd make the comments like within the dock like you
know um >> yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean what I'm I guess the point is each of us individually will be doing that and then sending you a copy of the entire document. >> Well, you it's like a live if you just
leave it in the doc it'll save if if you just leave it in the folder you it'll just save automatically and I can look at it whenever. >> Um >> Oh, I see. >> So, it's it's like a live like feed of like people editing. So I I can see what
where that would get kind of chaotic, but um I I don't know. I it's that's like the best. >> We have to do it by section, don't we, Satie? To keep this under control. In other words, we have have to have you say, "Would you eat all please review
the status of the edits in community if if there are ones?" Okay. And then we all do that. We can't all be doing different things at once because that'll drive you right out of your mind. >> Well, no. Actually, I think that it's
it's actually like if different people are reviewing different sections at the same time, that's good. So, then we're not all in the same document at the same time. So, it seems like we're going to be using suggestion mode in Google Docs, which sounds like Microsoft Word track changes, which is like the universal
standard for >> multiple people looking at a document. They just use track changes and it shows what people suggest and what people to add and what they suggest to delete. And then you can also just add a comment off to the side. I haven't used Google Docs, but I'm assuming that I just looked it up quickly and it says that Google Docs
uses suggesting mode. Um, which is about the same thing. So, I'm assuming we're just going to use that. So, type in stuff you think should be there, delete stuff you think should be out, and leave a note if you think there's some description needed. But I feel like Satie, you're gonna tell us which sections are ready. Once we get
to that, what is it called? Final draft, ready for review. >> That's the gonna say, "Okay, they're ready." And people just sort of have at it. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't want to like if someone else wants to be the the divine
judge, then you can. But I I just I'm I'm fine to do it. Um because, you know, you guys are volunteers and I'm not. So, um, but >> if anyone >> wants a role there, that's also cool. But yeah.
>> Yeah, that that'd be great. Actually, we need I think we need somebody uh to sort of shepherd this thing. >> Yeah. >> But but more a technical issue. Uh I mean, maybe it's not likely to happen, but can two people actually edit the
same document at the same time or >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Oh. Oh, okay. >> Yeah. It shows you where they are. Like if you're on like the first line and they're on the fourth paragraph, it will like show you Sean's editing right here. And it like will follow the cursor. >> You'll see the cursor of each. >> I used to I used to sit like right next
to someone in school and we'd be in the same document like typing messages to each other and like we'd be like able to read the other person's what they're writing. >> Okay. >> It's pretty cool. >> What one thing um Christina you were saying suggestion mode. I mean in Google Docs there's suggestion mode which
actually lets you totally like edit in line what has what you're reading. So you are like overwriting from your perspective as the reviewer. You're overwriting or making changes you know as if you're
doing your own um actual inline editing there. There's comment mode which is not going to change the actual text and is often the margin. >> Yeah. >> And is is much more like you know well I was reading this paragraph and you know
not sure I'm getting you know it's missing some stuff and you can then you know put put what you might add into it and stuff like that. So, it's, you know, there are two different modes there that I think. >> So, which one does the suggesting mode?
Um, I thought that the suggesting mode was like word track changes where it highlights in blue like what you're suggesting and then it highlight or what you've added and then it crosses out in red what you it does, right? So, then we can review those things later to decide
what we want to accept or not. Yeah, it's that and then you know whoever somebody can accept it right after we've and then you just it automatically then you know removes all the the colored highlighted stuff to you know go with
what ultimately was decided on that's kind of a tedious process right if we're all doing it >> yeah I was do we want to stick to just commenting only or >> it might be cleaner that way like just simpler because I could see if there's seven of
going line by line or or going through everything. Gosh, that's that could get Yeah, could get in the weeds. >> Yeah, maybe maybe we should just stick to comments then. >> And then if someone's already commented something that another person sees, then they'll be like, "Okay, I don't have to
put anything here because that comment's already been made." So, >> exactly. Exactly. It's more like additive that way. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think I I think Jim's got a good point that that we need to leave the text
as submitted and not start overwriting it in anything we share. If you want to overwrite it in your own copy, so to speak, I you know, in other words, if you want to come up
with language that perhaps then you bring to the committee, I think that's fine. But to start doing it on the edited version I think would really confuse well it would be difficult for say to cope with for one thing and you
know because let's say you have perhaps a paragraph which has three people who want to rewrite a bit of it or or think there's a comment to be made and if we all do that into the text that
really becomes as I would see it the nightmare Does that make any sense, Jim? >> I I think that probably maybe maybe it's worth just saying we start off that way >> where we comment. >> Yeah. >> See how see how it goes, you know? Maybe
we just >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Rather than we all say one of the sections like we're going to use that as the first pass. I don't know. I'm not sure exactly what the starting point is, but >> yeah, let's start with the comments mode
then, you know. >> Yeah. And see how it goes. >> Having lots of people comment on the same thing, but I I feel like let's for this group, maybe we just start with the comments and we go from there. We'll see how that one looks. >> Yeah. >> You know, unless there's somebody who really wants to be like the editor and
the words smithther and the, you know, like getting really into like all the stuff. >> Eventually, we'll need that because we're going to need something to do. start at the beginning and make sure it flows and we all use the right abbreviations and we all use the right, you know, short hand and whatnot. So, it is going to take that, but maybe that's
so far down the path that we have. >> Exactly. That's almost like before approval where we're >> Yeah. Yep. >> So, all right. So, I'm kind of mixed on this, but we can go down the comment road and I think we'll probably end up on the track changes once you guys realize or we realize formatting and
stuff, but any it's fine. But um so if there's a comment made um say by maybe a couple members say this section here I'm thinking about like you know my fish and wildlife section or something like that. You're like well we should really expand on this section because Newberry is
special whatever then it does it go back to the original writer the original author to make that incorporate a new revision and then bring that back out. So if I went to Mike's section I'm like Mike you could bang this out here you know then let him go back and rework it a little bit. I don't, you know, I don't
think it's up to us to rewrite their section for them. Here's a section. Here's some suggestions. You know, here's a resource you might want to read first and then come back. I mean, is that kind of where we're going to head with this for editing? >> That seems like a great way to have it.
Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. But I would say if you have a particular comment where you think this paragraph I think needs this, I would write right into the comments what you think it should say. So Mike doesn't have to figure out or Bill doesn't have to figure out like what do you mean by this comment? What do you think I should
add? Like just put in text and I guess we're not going to put it in line in the narrative, but put it in your comment. Just write out what you think it should say. >> So then everybody can say, "Oh yeah, yeah, let's add that or not add." >> Yeah. And like if if you have like an in-depth comment or you want to like chat with someone, I feel like you could
also just like reach out to the person and be like, "Can we talk about this?" or like email >> like not the whole committee but just like back and forth between two people that would be fine. >> Yeah, I think so. Um because we need to
sort of facilitate this because um I don't know group edit can be a nightmare. Um and we we need to sort of if we can >> understand that people have taken on
sections. Okay. And ultimately, it seems to me that it's unreasonable to suggest that they finally present a a final edit that is the result of the
inputs that's come from the committee and and from Sadi obviously. Um and at that point that's the point at which we say okay that's the text for the final
draft of the plan. Um, what I think we need is a controlling factor here. Maybe um for Satie to look at this and um maybe this is something I can work with
her on and and to decide to get a decision as to where it might be useful to have everybody work on a particular section. In other words, to send out a request and say, "Please review this
section as it currently exists." Right? And then then and then you know when we've done that then we move through this steadily as sections either are ready or in sequence depending what
makes some sense because you know I I do have one for example maybe this is not the time to mention it but I can't think of any other time looking at the agenda
Uh right. Um I have a particular difficulty right now with the fact that if you look at um the uh whatever you want to call
it spreadsheet that that um that uh Sadi did um in the section which is number four which is environmental etc. under F which is climate.
It appears that it's in the edit stage and I am not at all sure what is what is is being offered for editing because we have two
we have Sean and Ella who's who who did some stuff and for me they they kind of just don't hang together. Um, and I think also
I also feel that they're off pretty well not in the right direction. And I don't mean that as a uh, you know, a sort of nasty criticism of their thinking. But, um,
we, it is a case, I think, where we need to be a little careful as to what the wretched handbook pushes us into. Um, and if you look at what the handbook talks about in this
section, they talk about stuff that is understandably uh things that people who live in urban areas or dense suburbs will need to consider things like, you know, planting
shade trees in parks and, you know, this kind of thing. Um I think that it and they as a result direct people to some sources of information which I think
don't do us any favors in the sense that I don't think we need to show necessarily that we've looked at those. Um and so um this is a circumstance where I I think we we need we will need
in that section to really have a meet try to have a meeting of minds about what we think about what it's not so much what they want us to do but what we want to do in that will fit within the
broad terms of what they're talking about. Um because >> David, then you're going to review that section once it's ready for your review and it sounds like you're going to put a big comment in there and you might want to get with Sean and Ella and have a a side conversation about it. >> Yeah. Right. >> That's my suggestion
>> because you're right. I mean, my comment would be but I don't say this uh facitiously I say this. My comment might be as large as one of the things they've done which is crazy. I I just need to
look at it more closely and try and marry what I believe our obligation is and what the realities on the ground are. Um and so yeah that's that's a that comes back to what
suggested just a moment ago and that's a good example where if I reach out to them and we come to some um understanding and then that gets presented as as an because at this point
you've got two pieces which in no way join they really don't. So I you know and I don't know what the intention is or was at that point. Um and >> well I think that we're not going deep on that tonight. So you you and Sean's
right here. He you can just talk directly to him. Sean I think David wants to talk with you about your sections and um you know why don't you guys like just take a take a crack at that. >> But it it I just brought it up because I thought it was a good example of what could happen. Uh and your suggestion
says, "Okay, do it on the side and come back with either things we need all to talk about or or whatever." Okay, good. >> Right. And just one other thing rewrite the whole section. I mean, you can also
next meeting we'll we can go over these comments because if they're that big where we want to rework or you feel strongly like we need to go against the book and rework a section then as a committee we can also agree and and kind of work through that as a team on that one section. So I think there's that's
the beauty of this comment is like you can put in your two cents, talk to the author or whatever, but then if it gets if it's a big change then as a group we can we can talk about it and come up with a plan. >> Right. Right. Right.
Okay. So, um do we feel that we sort of know now? Um this item is talking about the checklist. Um, so I think the next item on the agenda,
if we're ready to move to it, is a report about the um, recreation committee situ the visit that was made and where we are on that. Okay.
>> Yeah. Um, I wanted to, um, invite Sean and Christina to talk about it because Sean, you sent me a really, uh,formational email a while ago. Um, and I wanted to give you the chance to
share that information with um, the rest of us um, just about like the meeting and like what they will be doing. >> Okay. Uh,
I'm trying to look up the email now. So, >> I can I can I can also look for it. I think I think that was the last one I got from you. >> So, anyways, uh, we were trying to uh,
>> I have it if if um, I can >> you have the email? >> Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. And you said, >> "Well, could we we first establish why they went?" >> I mean, I think that's important to
know. Why did you go? Basically, um I think the main reason is that we were we are as a group I think expecting input from the recreation committee as as a somewhat relatively major
uh contributor to this plan as it is both open space and recreation oriented. One might even argue it's it's more oriented towards recreation but uh so it was just init uh we were just initiating
that process um so we attended their meeting and I just proposed to them the idea or actually uh just or was asking them how they would uh imagine
uh what they imagine is going to appear in the document from a recreation standpoint. Uh specifically around planning uh because you know that's the the big
open issue in the document. There's there's most of the document actually is kind of a prelude to the section on establishing you know an open space and recreation plan. recreation being a large component
of that. As it turns out, uh they are doing planning uh because they're uh unlike our committee, their committee has to uh submit requests to the board for funding. uh if they want to fix the
playing fields or if they want to add a parking lot somewhere or something like that, all this stuff has to be presented to the board and possibly at town meeting to get approval. So, uh there was you know they
so the point is uh we can't just say I mean uh we can't decide what the their goals are. I guess that's the point. Um, so we're what I was hoping is that uh
I I went and presented you know the that as a thought concept something for them to consider. Uh this would all have to be done. There's a timing issue involved too because uh they have to have their plans put together before the end of the
year because it has to be uh it has to go in front of the the board of selectmen before the year's up in order to end up on the town meeting uh warrant if if they are going to seek anything uh
on the warrant. Um so uh okay so the point is uh that's to initiate that process of of getting their input on the recreation side of the
the plan here uh and get that move that mo movement going. The other thing is uh okay uh the actual writing of the section that would
incorporate the recreation plan is probably going to fall to us. That's I'm assuming uh since it would probably be too complicated uh you to to get their direct involvement in that. Uh having said that, they could certainly supply us
with text that describes their plans and then it would be up to us to incorporate them in their document at which point we would need to get their approval. Uh so uh re recognizing all that has to
happen all before the end of the year, I recommended or suggested that perhaps we set up a joint meeting where we can get together, look at those and adopt them as part of the plan all in time for
the end of year planning for the town. uh actually the the it's it's kind of uh more important for them to do their planning than it is to get that information in the open space plan because that doesn't have a deadline
actually. Um the in the sense that you know you know the funding situation hangs in the balance. Uh I don't know if that explains it all, but uh it just was essentially opening
the door to get information from them on how to proceed in terms of recreation planning for the document. Uh and everything is still up in the air. I was uh I wrote the email to Satie
because I was uh basically just um I I I kind of uh appointed her as the leazison between the two committees until we can actually sit down together and face to face go over this stuff. Um I they
having said all that there this sounds like a formalism but uh you know and there there really isn't one. I mean they're they're not hiding anything. It's just that I think they haven't actually uh you know a plan hasn't condensed in their minds yet. So
uh it's something we have to just uh be aware that we can get this information because it has to be done before the end of the year. We can incorporate it into our document and you know we can uh
coordinate with them somehow I think. Uh but it's all got to happen, you know, within the next month sort of thing. So in addition to what we're doing now would have to all sort of fall into place before the end of the year. Does
that make sense? Uh am I >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I and I reached out to them. I haven't um heard back yet, but I will keep asking. >> Okay. Okay. Excellent.
>> Okay. I have a question and that is um did do you get any sense of whether they talked about plan did they talk about a plan or plans
as one might kind of generically >> sorry to interrupt um I think uh you said something about they're going to compile just like their goals for recreation and that was going to be kind of put into the analysis of need section of our
plan. I think that was >> what >> like Yeah. Yeah. I mean really just I can try and summarize it Sean. >> So we we went there because we know that they're going to want to provide some goals that go into the plan because it's
the open space and recreation plan. So, we need some of their goals. So, we went in to say, "Hey, we're going to need some of your goals. Um, here's some of the results." Satie, thanks for giving us the results of the survey. Here's some of the results of the survey that relate to recreation questions. I think ended up that you just mentioned one of
them, Sean, to them. And so, hey, just gave them the heads up that we're going to need a goal from you guys to include in the plan. >> Oh, yeah. >> And that's really that's what that's why we went and that's what we asked for. So, we just got the wheels turning. like there's more to do there, but we got the wheels turning and they're coming up
with their own priorities for their end of year goals as well. So, those will feed into what they give us. >> Did you sense that um there was any relationship between what they're doing
and the the plan which they submitted and currently funding in bits and pieces. the the the one that got submitted to this and and accepted by the select board which was a
plan specifically for man to fields. >> Oh, okay. I think this is beyond all that. Uh this is in anticipation of ne they're talking about next year and beyond. So, uh these would be
I think goals is probably a better uh a better word, but basically um you know what are their future goals in terms of you know recreation especially in light of what people have
said uh in the survey and in our meetings etc. and what they're what they've gathered also by uh interactions with people in the town as well. So yeah, so I like the word goals better,
but but basically it's their goals are going to end up in our plan. That's the point. >> And David, yes, I would say that isn't the recreation committee really just focuses on Manter Fields if and their plan probably had like a long vision of like Manter Fields here. Here here's
what this is going to I know it doesn't what is it? central steep fields. Um like they probably had a long-term vision written into that plan. So I would imagine that yeah that any long-term visions that haven't been realized yet might get repeated in the open space and recreation plan if I had to guess.
>> Yeah. So okay. So I guess what I'm hearing is none of neither Sean and uh Christina anyway have actually seen the plan which the select board approved. Nope, I have not.
I saw the Yeah, I saw the cover somewhere and maybe somebody has circulated it, but I have definitely not read it. So, if there's long-term vision in there, I feel like that's probably a good source for them to come up with their plan, what their, you know, goals.
>> Well, okay. Um, uh, I I think, what do I think? What do I think? Um, okay. I think we need some more exploration here. Um I I'm very personally I'm grateful that you went
and alerted them to this. Um uh there are some movements of foot to expand the responsibilities of the recreation committee. Okay. to to a
degree and I at this point they're not public discussion so I can't really share them but there are I don't want to sound sort of weird and secretive but I just don't want to sort of um get the cop before the horse but suffice it to
say that two things are true and one is that the town has committed itself to doing two things one is spending some monies annually to um uh from the annual
budget to recreation uh at Mantfields based on how it now works. They've also accepted this plan which is basically sort of a development plan for the mount
fields. Okay, which pieces of which have been already done with the tot is an example. Um, and there's a lot more in that plan.
And why I'm bringing this up is because that's that the town has committed itself to and we've got to, in my estimation, we we've got to embrace that some way in this plan.
because it's in in what will be submitted to the state because it's part of what is the ongoing activities of recreation in the town. Am I making sense? >> Yeah. No, it seems like it's going to
make it really easy to be honest. So, I think that they'll probably come up with that solution themselves. You know, we sort of planted the seed. We need something to go in the open space and recreation plan and go, "Oh, well good. We already have a whole list. we already have a document that shows our vision and we'll just pull something from there. So I think that's pretty
straightforward. >> Yeah. But I I'm not into Okay. I I think we may encourage them we may need to encourage them to see the importance of understanding the
relationship between what's actually underway, okay, with committed funds and they will go out to seek more monies to do that because they can. All right. um and what they may want to do and that
has going to have to get sorted out as to where their priorities are. And I do not have the impression from what Sean's just said and what what you're saying, Christina, that they're there yet in in the sense
of, you know, and and so maybe we do need to have a joint meeting is my feeling because I think we need to we need to to discover as a group what it is
that actually is happening in their world and how that is going to plug into the plan. Okay. So, I'm just >> Yeah, that was part of our goal was to also invite them to a joint meeting. And Sean, I think you they they said that
they were open to that, right? >> Yes. Uh I think Yeah, I don't know what the exact uh method for uh establishing this meeting would be. I was kind of hoping Sadi would dig into that. Um but
yeah, they're definitely open to that. Um the uh I think uh when they the other thing is I think they'd like to see the responses from the survey. Um
I as I said I didn't go through the whole thing. Uh I only had a few minutes to talk to him actually. Um, I did go over the answer to the last one, which was, uh,
yeah, 13 here, which is, uh, would you support a small tax increase to make your highly ranked items in the previous question happen? Uh, and so they were pretty happy to see that almost twothirds of the town would be
would be would agree with that. Um, so they're aware that uh that some of the questions that were in the survey do apply to what people in the town envision
uh as recreation, you know, uh as what you know vision recreation being down the road here. Uh maybe even in the next couple of years or five years or 10 years. So that there is some they are
doing some planning in that sense. Um there are a couple of items that they were talking about at the meeting. For example, uh hiring a full-time or part-time uh recreation person. Okay. So I mean that's
I don't think that actually, you know, that's something that they could focus on and do. I mean, it doesn't really fit into our plan here, but I could see where uh I could see where that would be something we put in the plan, though. I
mean, it's it's a it's a reasonable thing to plan for like uh more people to more employees to work on, you know, recreation issues, etc. So, uh anyways,
>> Mike, did you have a a comment? Yes. And but I have to step away for a few minutes. And if I could ask somebody uh to maybe pick up the notes for me. Um and hopefully I'll be back shortly, but I need to I need to step away for a few minutes. I'm sorry.
>> No worries. I'll take notes. >> Thanks, Christina. Um okay, so uh should we Yeah. Uh basically um should we essentially
uh issue an invitation to for them to come to our next meeting regular meeting? >> I had um sent them an email kind of just asking like preliminarily like would you be interested in a joint meeting since >> our one of our members joined your last
meeting and was talking like you had talked about it at at your last meeting. So, I I thought maybe I'd just ask them again maybe about a specific date like um I think Sean you suggested um like the like December 2nd or something.
>> Yeah. >> Um >> right. >> Timing is an issue there. Yeah, >> that's true. >> I guess um do we know let's see when the next meeting is? I'm just looking to
see. I'm on the website here. I hate this website, but anyway. Uh um did you Okay. >> In the meantime, Satie, by chance, did you send them the results of the survey?
>> I don't believe I did, but I can. And I think that um Christine, you created some talking points and I don't know if they were all touched on, but maybe in the invite or something if we tell them specifically what we're looking for when we meet, I think that
will help guide our talks. So just couple bullets. Um I think that um I don't see the urgency so much if they have to have a plan by the end of the year. Well, that's not our plan or even what goes into the plan. We're looking more at like goals and we have a lot of
information from the town survey that we can fall back on or show them and they we they can be like yeah we agree with these goals. So I don't but I mean it's going to be great to incorporate them and get them in this this section of the plan and so a meeting is probably warranted. I just think it would be like
let's kind of like focus down on exactly what's expected um from them. >> Yes. >> Yeah. uh in particular I think we need to do is is ask them if there are any goals that they themselves have
uh in mind that weren't reflected in the survey or which we may not know about to be incorporated in the plan that kind of thing. So you know >> well their next meeting is the 3
according to this which is uh next Monday. So um that's a bit short notice for people I think right that that's their meeting and our meeting is going to be on the
18th. Yes. >> Yeah. Um, well, so do we want to set up a separate joint meeting like specifically to talk about the goals and the plan and stuff? Because I feel like if we just sit in on their meeting, it's going to kind of just be the same as
what Sean and Christina did last time. >> Yeah. Um, >> uh, >> yeah. >> Maybe we want to or maybe we have them come to our meeting. That might be >> just as a an observation. Uh they had a
pretty busy agenda. So we have we were one item on their list. So they had like a 12 item or 13 item agenda. So >> yeah, I think that we should offer up that they come to our meeting. >> Um but agree with Bill that let's be
really targeted. I think we already had the talking points. I don't know Sean if you still have those talking points. Um I'm looking for them. I can't remember. But we were very explicit as what we were looking for from them in the talking points when we were there. So they knew that we were just sort of like establishing a relationship so that we
could get their input into the plan. >> And remember it's not what they specifically wanted. This is for the whole town. So what does the town want? So they have goals, but it has to as it pertains to the entire town. What is the town's goals? >> True. >> Recreation. >> Yeah.
Christina, were they specific about like I mean were you like specific around here is the PL, you know, here's the actual document and we have this section and then we have the action plan and you know stuff like that like are they I I guess when they show up at the meeting
if we can just be very concrete about you know we want to fill in these sections relate to what Bill said about the survey and so on and you know just confirm exactly what the ask is, right? And the
ask could be to validate what we think they want and add in some additional stuff, right? Or it could be for them to hand take from their docs, you know, a summary that needs to be essentially copied and pasted into, you know,
section this, section that, and so on in our plan. I don't know. I guess I'm just trying to reiterate being concrete and very directed about what we're asking them knowing how busy they are. I'll stop there. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. No, um I'm happy to share the document that was the talking points and Sean um really ended up being the one who conveyed the talking points. >> Okay. >> But >> um just to run through it, we had like we gave them an update. The goal was to
give them an update on the open space and recreation plan. Thank you for participating so far. Um to thank them and to share the results of the recreation specific questions from the public survey. I just found the notes. Um we want to have continued collaboration. Here's the approximate schedule. The results of your committee
specific questions from the survey. We're actively preparing the various sections of the plan. One section will address the town's goals. Would you like to take some time to review the results of the public survey to determine whether there is a specific goal that you would like to include? Um,
>> yeah. >> And we would be interested in having a joint meeting between our groups in late November or early December. I mean, those were the asks. >> Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, we could certainly include the information that we've got from the survey. That's fine. and anything that
we got in the open meeting that that's all within our Bailey Wick. Uh >> does the survey does the survey really speak to um to their world? I really don't think it
does. I mean in in in a broad sense, yes, it's that they share the same >> Well, that's why we're asking if there's something we're missing. That's fine. They also I mean the the questions in the survey
that address recreation come from them. So I I don't want to make this an us versus them thing too much either, but it's just that I think we got our hands full doing what we've already got, you know, in front of us.
So we I think we're wise to to uh to accept whatever help we can get from them. I'm sure there's a lot of things that go on in the recreation committee that none of us are all aware of. So, it'd be nice to have them in the plan where essentially that's half of what the
plan's all about. >> So, Bill actually brought up a really good point uh a week or two ago that >> I know it's called the open space and recreation plan, but there's no definition of what recreation is. And so we're trying to be inclusive by in
talking to the recreation department, >> but that it could be that in some towns, you know, if you're like in Bedford, the open space might only be the tennis courts and the basketball courts and the soccer fields that the kids are playing on. We just don't have that dynamic here. We have actual open spaces that
people use to recreate >> as opposed to organized fields. So, I'm not feeling super um inclined to like really force the recreation committee to give us a priority that we include in here. And even if they gave us one little thing
that we put in there, that's great. But I guess my sense is that open space has like a different meaning in the town of Newberry as opposed to Manter Fields and the vision beyond that for organized sports. Are you I mean are you saying act active versus passive recreation,
you know, like that sort of was the one of the differences >> like organized versus not organized? I mean, I'm actively Yeah. recreating. I'm hiking. I'm walking. I'm, you know, doing those things, but it's not like an organized sport where we're all like in town. >> Um Yeah, exactly. So, I just feel like
our town is a little different. >> I agree. >> Yeah. And that's why I also think that half the plan isn't about recreation. um and sports fields and stuff. It's it's a part of open space and the town's use of these spaces, but I think it's a lot
bigger. Um open space and the natural places and and you know you know some of our parks, playgrounds, those are also really really important too. So I think that it's the like proportion is a little bit different in
this town. Yeah, I think that's a great point and it's I mean just not to get too much into more on this because we've talked a lot, but like the previous plan from the older our older open space plan, you know, had a pages of things
about the youth teams and the sports and the enrollment numbers and this and that, but it seems like it really is a great time to sort of I don't want to say split, but include what we need to from them, But stick to the spirit of
this open space part and passive recreation. Um >> well I >> and we can say that in the intro, right? We are not trying to address the vision for >> No, but I think uh I I'm sorry, Jim, but
I think we have Okay. uh you go we'll we'll get the handbook thrown at our heads if we if we go too far in that direction. Um I I think that
it's interesting. I think what Bill and Christina were both saying is is is sort of uh the the whole issue that open space is this is frankly a bad phrase. I mean it it it
it means everything and nothing in a kind of way and we started if you remember a year ago by most of us I think didn't have a commonly held idea of what open space was to the point that
I felt the need to sort of say that's the problem part of it. So not to go down that lane again. But okay, I think what has to happen here is there has to be a
clear presentation in the plan that recreation is a is a part of the town's structure and operation and plans.
Because all of this is an exercise to get money in part if not in whole. Okay. And if you don't hit the right kind of uh what
points in in in in doing that then what will happen is we will end up getting the plan tossed back at us with a with a rewrite requirement. And I'm not saying it'll necessarily be in this area, but
what I'm trying to say is that I I don't think that we expect to the the stuff that happened before was in response, frankly, to the original handbook because if you
remember to the other thing that happened in the 2010 thing uh version was a whole ADA section. pages and pages of things about um uh
ADA stuff uh that now has all gone. Okay. And um so I I my suggestion would be I think in view of where we are is maybe what we need to do is to have a a
meeting between some of the members of each committee and not the whole committee. Okay, from both committees. In other words, not to take all dozen of us or
whatever it would be, but to ask the their committee and I would frankly suggest the two people who came the last time would probably be in many ways the the the suitable people, but that would be up to them to meet with two or three
of us. And that would establish I think more clearly and less threateningly if there is a threat involved as to what they have an opportunity here and I hope they see it that way. They have an
opportunity here to to to to establish themselves in a wider role than they currently have. um and also to establish themselves on a planning arc that runs for a decade
and I think that's that's something that should be important to them. >> Yeah. No, I think that that is what was you know the plan that was to convey that at the last meeting with them. So we we've planted the seed that they have a a moment here where they can
contribute to this plan. >> So now we'll follow up and see if they've been thinking about it. And I I think their uh their notion of recreation is in some ways fairly limited. Uh you know I think they are focused very much on the central state
fields there although they are also a fair amount of the meeting was discussed uh was discussing uh the Pearson field but there are other uh recreational fields in town as well. And just uh from
an open space perspective, I mean the wildlife preserve, the beach, all the rivers, lakes, those are all recreation opportunities. Uh and those are not things that the recreation committee itself is really going to be involved in that much, I
don't think. Uh so we do have a kind of a some of it does fall into our our bucket here. I mean that sort of thing. Um I mean for example recreational hunting uh you know that's
an open space issue. That's really not a rec committee issue. They they have nothing to do with it for the most part. Um so uh so uh but uh they they they're the ones
that know the most about uh in terms of uh you know people in the town do do seem to focus on that uh very structured recreational uh approach. I mean, when they think recreation, that's really what they're
thinking about. Uh, to some degree, uh, swimming, you know, off, you know, off Plum Island, you see that. Uh, >> but, you know, I think that's what they think of when you say, "Okay, what do you want to do for recreation in town?" They're going to say, "Oh, let's hire a
couple of people to uh make sure that uh all the uh soccer teams are, you know, scheduled appropriately." It's amazing how much of a conversation they can have about scheduling stuff, but yeah, that's the kind of thing they do. So, yeah. Sorry,
>> Stephen. I'd like the idea of just having a couple people like see if they want to send some ambassadors, but I would like for them to come to our meeting. I would like all of us to be able to be there and hear what they say and, you know, just just have them be an agenda item. they can be the first agenda item on our meeting and then they can go on their merry way and we can just see if they've thought about what
we introduced to them at the last meeting and um you know map out a path forward. Could we invite them Satie? Could you know you could invite them to the next regularly scheduled meeting that we
have? What do you think about that? >> I like that plan. I I actually uh kind of yeah I I guess I kind of would like to have a joint meeting where all we talk
about are the issues that intersect our two committees. I think we'll first of all get we can you know we can focus more on on information that will go towards this plan and then uh secondly I think we'll get a
clear idea of what they're you know of you know what where the intersections of the two committees are and I mean one of the things that has come up in the past is uh maintenance issues for like trails and uh parking areas and
so on. um they actually have a budget to have this stuff taken care of, you know, say for the Central Street Fields and what have you, whereas we don't uh we don't have any money at all. So, uh it
wouldn't hurt us to uh have a you know be able to I I guess get an idea of you know what's the appropriate way to approach issues like that. Um, so >> well, okay, let me make a suggestion to
sort of see if we get the log jam gone. Um, let's take Christina's suggestion and give it as an open invitation to
all and any of members of their committee who can come to our next meeting because we'd like to discuss um their role um you know and as
introduced by the two of you um in in in this plan and and just see what happens because um in some ways I think it's up to them to decide how much of a response
they want to make to this. Um >> I agree. I like that. >> That sounds reasonable. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Okay. All right. So now um can you uh Sadie um make that into an invitation
from Bill and myself? >> Yes. >> Or Yeah. I think you know or the whole committee you know whatever sort of we don't want it to sound too pompous but uh you know that we and and draft
something essentially and and let us see it before you send it. So, you know, something that would send essentially that to say that um uh we we'd like to to talk some more along
the the whole area that was opened up by Sha and Christina because I think I think what from what I'm hearing Sean and Christina found out that this was perhaps news to some of the people on that committee, which isn't their fault.
necessarily, but um I think is is is understandable. Um I just looked at, you know, one of their agendas and their agendas are all very nuts and bolts about, you know, very sort of specific issues that they're a management entity
in many ways, which is not frankly the only thing they should be, but it's the only kind of role that they've known to play, I think. Okay. All right. So, can we move on? >> I'm gonna have to um I see Mike's back.
I'm gonna have to leave. I have a relative visiting. So, um >> Okay, >> I will uh catch up on the recording. See you all later. Thank you. >> Okay, Jim, could you send us any observations you have about um uh action
plan goals after reading? >> Yeah. Okay. to send an email out to all of us so we can share that >> because we'll send something >> talk about next. >> Sounds good. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Great.
Okay. So, um action plan goals after reading the survey data. Um, what do we what do we think about reading the survey data and what does it seem to
prompt? Can I just do this by going around the group and ask Mike what came to, you know, what what you sort of found in in the um act and not so much as an action plan specific, but
what you took away from um the survey. >> Yeah, for sure. Um, so two things that kind of jumped out to me from the survey, uh, were, you know, protecting and further protecting and improving on
existing town- owned lands. Uh questions 11 and 12 uh dealt with different aspects of stewarding townland like marking of hiking trails uh support for a guide style list of places or or a map
uh ranked as the highest priority in those questions. Um, question 12 showed growing support for protecting town owned places and having public access to them. And attendees of the public meeting showed a desire to
improve or continue improving places that the town already owns. So, I thought that stood out. Um, kind of protecting and improving existing town owned lands and, you know, everything that that that encompasses under that. Uh, that was one
thing. And then information on existing resources was another thing that that stood out to me in reviewing the survey. >> Um question eight identified a strong need across the board to provide better information on existing places in town. Uh areas with
the highest concerns were understanding location or access points, maps, information on hunting dogs, improved parking. Um those were those were the two goals that I pulled from reviewing both the survey and like notes from the
uh public meeting that we held. >> Yeah. Great. Great. Christina, >> sorry I'm coming off mute here. Um, I would say that the question that folks um
are willing to spend some money on their highest ranked items uh for what they believe courses of action that the town could take regarding open space. Um, and so we know that reflects a
commitment from people. Um there's in the highest ranked ones I would say was put undeveloped town owned lands into permanent conservation and preservation that would prohibit future development
but would allow public access. That was kind of the highest priority of all of the different categories or options that were there. So I mean my big takeaway from there was we should have a goal to put undeveloped
town owned lands into permanent conservation preservation and we should investigate the option of how would the town fund such a thing. >> Yeah. Right. Mhm. Yep. Okay. Anything else?
>> Nope. That's my big takeaway. >> Okay, Bill. >> Yeah. So, um, I kind of took a step back and I looked at a couple things and try to just not question by question, but just like what are the biggest areas that popped out to me? Um, I thought
education outreach was really important. Um, whether it's finding out where there's public access. Um but also like you know I mean like um concerned about hunting and stuff like a lot of that is
more education rather than um you know um action I guess or it falls under the education I think um I thought the the point that you know I think there's a common theme here between all of us of course but I think that the they are
willing to spend money um to put towards open space That's huge. Um I feel like that's maybe the newer generation starting to come out and being like, "Yeah, or maybe the the demographics in this town may have changed over the last several years." But what else I did um
is cuz I was like actually trying to craft goals. And what I did is I looked at the Hudson's open space plan and um that was really informative to me. I don't know if you've looked at section 8 and their plan, but they have a lot of
goals. I think more than you need. Um, and I swear to God, we could take every single one of these and just make them ours. It it there's a common theme in open space. Um, it goes from facilitate and implementing this plan to make sure you maintain, you know, the open space
um committee. Um, there's preserve important unprotected natural areas and open space resources and um, Newberry. Um, I mean you can go right down and it's like this is our goals and then um but what was also really impressive is
if you look at that it the the plan the um the workbook tells us that we need a table. So you have your plan your objectives but then underneath that you have um or sorry you have your goals but underneath that you had your objectives
and their objectives were like you know they really hammered it out funding and how they're going to get it done and stuff. So I thought that is >> challenging to us. So um that will be our next step I think. Um so yeah I mean I guess that's that's that was my
biggest takeaway looking at the data and trying to apply it to our town. >> Right. No that's great. >> Uh okay. >> Um I just had I guess two observations. Um, one has already been raised which is
uh that people do seem to want information about open spaces in particular, you know, marking the hiking trails and all that. That's that seemed to come out a lot. Uh for some reason I also from the uh open
meeting recall people uh talking a bit about uh parking situations and how that kind of is an impediment to taking advantage of
some of the space in town. Um it's interesting that uh by and large people get their information from about what's available in town from conservation organizations but you know
by a long shot seems a little strange to me but uh it seems like the town could probably do better about uh making this information more more prominent somehow.
So something something for us to think about in the future. Like I think a lot of people don't realize how much open space we have. Maybe this report will be something towards clarifying that. >> Okay. So that that's that's it.
I'm not suggesting there should be more, but uh anything else Sean? >> Oh, okay. All right. >> On the topic of the survey. >> Sorry,
>> did you mean on the topic of the of our plans or I'm sorry. You were asking me a question. >> Well, I was just wondering whether there was anything else because a number of the things that you referenced had been
referenced before, but um Okay, so that's it. >> I think that we've got um a good selection. Um hopefully we'll get something from Jim. Um okay. Uh all right. So,
>> and David, what were your what jumped out at you? What were your key points? >> What were your um observations from the survey results again? >> Did you did we start with you? >> Okay. My my obser my observations are uh
frankly coincident with I think everybody's pretty well. um the whole issue of information, the whole issue of um clear access which comes up to the point that uh Sadi raised right at the
beginning was this inquiry from somebody who actually lives on a condo development on High Road. Okay. where there is in fact um a conservation area that was part of the permission to
actually build that development and he was wanting to take his two little kids I think there and didn't know whether there were trails whether there was any information and that's and apparently there are no there's no I think signage
didn't he say sadi >> just want to clarify that Brad actually lives down the street from that development. He doesn't live in the development. >> Oh, he doesn't live. Okay. Well, but he lives sort of on top of >> close by. He could walk to it, you know, and >> Yeah. >> He's Yeah.
>> Okay. So, you someone you know? >> He's on our board of directors at Green Belt. >> Oh, okay. Uhhuh. Well, that's kind of interesting, too. Um, okay. So that I thought was a sort of pretty good
example of where we're in process but um we don't have a formal um program or plan in town to to do that kind of thing. Which leads me to the next takeaway I would
have which is a generalization and that is the whole area of what I think Mike called earlier stewardship what and I would think of that in in a broad sense and this is how it would relate to
recreation is management there there's no there's no sort of buck stops here kind of structure in our town the DPW W are the people who occasionally fix things. Um but um that there's no way of
of sort of well who do you go to and obviously you you you end up probably at the planning board. Um and personally I think um where areas where all of those
things come together namely access trails management and I'll make I'll I'll make the connection here and that is that where this comes all together with the one area which I think does
involve us being um cognizant of climate change issues which will provide challenges and that is Plum Island and access to the beach because a single single violent storm here can wipe out
all of our current access to the beach in a very significant way and um that always comes down to oh gee what do we do now and squables between >> David did we address that in the survey we're talking about the survey surve
results, right? And if the survey did the survey results point to that as one of the big issues, >> the the number of Okay, if you go into, you know, the 360 or whatever it is, all the little things, okay, there are a
number of people who are talking about dogs on the beach, about access to the beach. there are enough and it's a good example of you know as I see it it's a focused example of where most of the
those kinds of things come together and because we don't have any money supposedly of course we actually do but because we don't have any money somehow we don't get around to you know finding a way to do it unless we can go to the
state and ask them for money and you know it gets very naughty So, okay. Um, and the other thing is, and we've talked about this before, is the one major piece of um, open space to to go to the thrust of
Bill's comments, the one major piece of open space that the town owns is Great Meadow, which is, you know, just really marginally developed at all, as an open space, which, you know, sort of
encourages inform formed, walking, strolling, hiking around it, taking kids, nature observation, all of that sort of stuff. And again, that's because um except at a minimal level,
there ain't no money always. Um so I you know that would those are my takeaways and they do lead to frankly specific recommendations um eventually and I and I thought they all rather neatly led to a number of
things which are obviously yes my bugaboos. Okay, time is marching on and all right uh do we have any updates from anybody else? I guess not.
I have well I did uh I have one thing I could mention actually kind of ties in with what you were alluding to there David I think uh first of all I just want to point out that uh question six here uh the survey has Palm Island Beach as the most visited
uh location of open space in in the town for from the you know for the respondents uh and so uh I can see anyways Uh point is I attended a uh a conference last night on uh climate stories run by the
state uh was held in Ipsswitch yesterday. Um and uh basically it was a a bunch of uh area people who uh have various uh uh
climate related uh uh issues. U one guy was uh from Ipsswitch. Uh he was a shellfish farmer. Uh there was a a lady from Ipsswitch also who was a uh a farmer uh three sisters farm she ran. Uh
there was a guy from Plum Island uh talking about the storms that have been hitting Plum Island. Uh point is uh to summarize u there turns out there's a lot of resources available through the
state a lot of different grant uh organizations that we can start to look at if we uh if we want to consider especially around areas like resilience planning uh and uh planning for climate
change especially erosion uh and uh they're they're particularly uh uh drought situations and uh coastal storms etc. So those three things the state is uh working on and uh I got a whole list of uh
resources if we ever decide we want to get out and pursue that stuff. That's the summary. It was a good >> that's a good update. Sorry. Somebody talking to me or to Sean? >> Sean.
>> No, I'm done talking. We're waiting for anyone else have any updates. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um just along those lines I don't know whether you any of you are aware of um a
group in based largely in uh Newbury port which is um storm surge. Yes. You you probably Sean are Yeah. >> Uh no write it down.
>> Well add it to my list. Yeah, they're dealing with all kinds of things which relate to um >> the whole issue of um the threat which storms uh uh pose to communities on the
coast here. And they have um uh a program which runs all year. And one interesting program they had just recently was um can actually they did have a program on on shell fishing and stuff and the ways of um they it can
stabilize um marshes and so on. But what I was thinking of is they also had a very interesting program which I couldn't get to on the whole issue that's posed by the fact that
essentially property insurance is going to probably collapse on uh in coastal communities and Plum Island is very much exposed to that. And so what will happen is that um uh a major cash cow for the
two towns of Newport and Newbury will uh eventually probably just go away. Um uh and so that does raise the issue of how sensible is it to commit significant funds and efforts into
um you know super recreation kinds of opportunities on Plum Island. uh which is a discussion that's going to have to be had at some point. Okay. Anything else? Or are we at a point where we should
uh discover whether the next beating date of the 18th? I think. Yes. Sadi. >> Yeah. I have that in my calendar. I think we discussed it last meeting. >> Yeah. I think it's it's
>> it's it's down >> in person. Does that work for people? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Is that okay for everybody? The 18th. >> That's fine. Yep. >> Yes. >> Right.
Okay. So, um let's make it the 18th then. All right. All right. 187 in person in the usual place, >> right? Yes. Okay. So, we'll have it at
the um Council on Aging meeting room um in person. Okay. Anything else or were you ready to adjourn? I have a feeling we are. >> Uh David, don't forget to send me uh your your comments on the climate
effects section. curious to look at. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. Yep. All right. Yep. I will do that. >> Okay. >> And so, we landed. Satie, you're going to send out you're going to send a little note to the recreation department with the survey results
>> and then an invitation for, you know, an ambassador or somebody some folks to come to our meeting on the 18th and we'll have like our first agenda item will be to chat with them about I mean they can all come if they want
to, but that's where we're going to sort out >> what uh how involved they're going to be and Okay. That's that's my plan. >> Okay. I will send out the talk the talking points that we had for the last meeting with the rec committee just so
everybody can see it and see if we want to kind of change that agenda at all. >> Um >> yeah, >> but anyway, probably I know we can't discuss it necessarily in detail, but I'll at least send out some a starting point. >> Yeah,
>> that would be helpful. Thank you. >> Okay. Yeah, that would be useful that we could all have it before that meeting. Um, so we know what what what you hope they heard as it were, right? Because that's not always
what people do here. Okay. So, were we ready to adjourn? I think so. Yes. >> I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> I'll second. >> Second. >> Okay. So all those in favor say I to adjourn.
>> I I >> Okay, >> thank you everybody. >> Have a great night everyone. Thank you.