001Welcome to the uh Sixtown Regional Planning Board meeting being held this Tuesday, April 29th. Um this is a remote meeting. It's an all remote meeting. Uh we have a quorum of the uh planning board. Uh roll call vote. We have Deb Loomer present. Yeah, thank you. I'm present. Alan Genevies. Greg Sneder here. Derinda Bellup here. Uh Pat Shira here. Bill Tum yes. Michelle Geruso yes. And David here. Warwick. Thank you David. All right. So um we're fortunate that the government has extended things so we could continue to meet remotely. Uh given the diversity of our geographic location, this is very helpful to us. Um I am we had uh on the agenda the October 29th minutes and the uh March 26th. We're thinking that the October 29th May uh they were sent out. We're trying
002to remember if we actually had a a vote on those. So they're on here as a placeholder and Greg's going to um send them out again. Yeah, those are October 29th. Alan 29th, not Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, 29th. And then the March one will be coming out. Did you read Did you read the disclaimer for We We have to kind of start with that. Yeah. Go ahead. So, this meeting is being recorded and ahead. No, you go ahead because I don't have it in front of me. No. All right. This meeting is being uh recorded and is fully remote. Therefore, if uh all votes will be taken by roll call vote in the event that there are technical difficulties that prohibit the public from attending or from um participating or attending the meeting will uh
003pause and these difficulties will be resolved and the meeting will continue. If these difficulties are not resolved, the meeting will end and uh be postponed to another date. And uh so with that said um there's a number of quick little updates uh going to communication. Uh the first two sort of go together. I'm going to start with B based on information I I had today. Uh so that's Russell. Russell has been playing tag with the uh ethics commission. finally got in touch with them and and then his own attorney board and after um a lot of discussion, it was their advice to Russell that for him to move forward, he need to get uh a special town status from each of the six towns in order to go forward. So Russell and I talked some
004more and he pointed out that um he's worked with uh Steve and Jay a number of times on these and he felt although you know it's good to have an attorney if we choose to go forward it's not necessary at particularly at this point and he was very comfortable with Jay and and Steve bringing it forward to Desi with their legal counsel have them review it see what they had to say and making sure that it met all the state regulations, state laws and and regulations for DESIE and then get that document back and then we could decide if we wanted to have an attorney uh do a further review at that point. So, um so that sort of made sense to me and if it makes sense to you um then I think we
005I I would like you to vote to uh to move this forward to Desi to have them do their review. Uh going along with that, wait a minute. Going along with that, I had a conversation with Jay and and uh Jay said that uh he's very comfortable doing that as well. Um he knows the you know the people there. They've done a number of them with him and so he um uh you know he's fine with moving that forward and I let him know that I was going to ask the board to take a vote on that this evening. Greg. Yeah. And I actually like that idea. I mean, it seems like kind of redundant if we were asking uh Russell to do something that Desi is going to do anyway uh and run it
006by their um their attorneys. So, it seems to me that when we get it back, uh we can, you know, if it needs more or further review, then uh we can do it then. But, um it does seem kind of redundant to do it before and then have it go to Desessie and then come back and possibly do it again. though. All right. So, um and I also see that uh Raina Destroyce has joined us. Thank Hi. Hi, Raina. Thank you for coming on board. Um so, does someone want to do you want to have a discussion on that or someone want to make a motion so we move that forward? I'll make a motion to move forward with sending it to Desi for their uh legal review. Second it. Okay, Michelle. Motion and seconded.
007Any other discussion? All right, I'll start with Darinda. Roll call vote. Darinda, yes. And Greg, yes. And Alan Genevies is yes. Deb Bloomer, yes. Pat Sheer, yes. Bill Tomb, yes. Michelle Jeruso, yes. Uh, Raina Bestress, yes. And David, yes. And so, okay. So, that's um those two went together. Uh I'll let him know tomorrow to move that forward and and let's see. Um we'll wait for that response back. The um town meeting response for the annual town meeting. Um I did meet with Northfield Board of Selectmen. They had some good questions. Um they were going to review it with their town moderator. Um, I was under the impression that probably it would uh be uh permissible for the um this two and a half minute uh script that we have. Just giving people a heads
008up. Uh it it's not an issue at Warwick. So, we'll be doing that. I uh Greg will be doing that at uh Gil. Uh Durender is handling that at Monagu. Um Michelle, help me here. Um we have you and I had talked and was it Leiden has put it in their newsletter. Is that correct? Yes. And do you know if Leiden is is um so that's that's the handout that giving them giving them information? Correct. Correct. Yeah. But it's it's not the the update. Is that correct? that that is being read by members. Um, hold on. If you want to talk to someone else. Yeah, I do have the new newsletter. It just came out yesterday. Okay. Let me look in my email. Yeah. And I was also ask going to ask you about um
009about uh uh Bernston. I don't know anything about Bernardston. All right. I I believe I sent before vacation, I sent something out to Katherine and I don't know if I've I don't think I've received response to Catherine. Yeah. Um hold on. I'm looking at light and live. Yeah. And while you're doing that, I want to note that uh Deborah Potay has joined us and um and Deb, we're I I met with Northfield and we're waiting to um see and we took a vote to move the uh regional agreement on to Desi and see with uh Steve and Jay and Then when it comes back, we'll make a decision about further review, legal review if we Yeah, I watched some of the school committee meeting where where you were. Okay. Okay. What was put in was
010the six town regionalization planning board update final steps before town meeting vote. Okay. And what about the handout that we sent to moderator and select board? No, I don't see that in here in the in the newsletter is what I'm saying. All right. So, maybe you could have sent it and they didn't publish it. I don't know. Yeah. So, maybe um we can talk later. I have no problem running some off and dropping them off so that at least they're available when people come in for the uh for the handout. All right. Yeah, we have to have handouts. I'll just tell you we have to have planning board handouts for three articles. One is the big one, the ADUs. We have to have the furcog charter handout. There's going to be a lot of handouts
011plus the warrant articles plus the budget. Can it just be left on the back table for people to look at? That's what we do. Yeah. Okay. Handouts. All right. So, I'll follow up with you um later. Okay. All right. And then um so we're looking for So Alan Alan, can I just ask? So if you if they don't get back to you, if Northfield doesn't get back to you, are you just going to have the handouts available for people to look at? My plan is to the hand. So we're talking two different things. The handout will go to Northfield no matter what. Okay, good. For their people. I think they they they said like 150 would be good. And um and then the only thing we're waiting on is you have the script and uh
012you'll you might even ask the town moderator when you're there to say um will will you give me an opportunity to read this, you know, uh but hopefully I'll have that answer for you before. Right. Because um hopefully they'll have been asked already by by the chair. Right. Right. the select board chair was going to talk to the moderator um before I went on vacation, so over a week ago. So, they should have they should have some answer. I'll try to follow that with the town administrator tomorrow. Yeah, I think um I I I really hope it happens because I think people are starting to be confused by different proposals happening and as if we're in competition and all it is is news, right? It was unfortunate that um and people that didn't watch it
013don't know what I'm talking about. It was fortunate that a member seemed to be making it a political issue when it's not. So I'll leave it at that. Um who So we're missing So who have we not assigned something to Michelle? Would you be able to if they give you tell you you could read the script or are you saying that? Yes. Katherine or and or I had decided that okay um if the moderator I think they're meeting with moderator on May 12th. Okay. All right. So it really is up to him right also right to decide and allow it. Yeah. So you've had the most time because your meeting isn't until June right. So um so the only one that's up that I I guess I'll have to figure out is Bernins then. Yeah.
014Theirs is May 17th. Okay, that gives me a little time to figure that out. All right. Uh, so I think that covers that and people have the final script. Uh and then I don't know if that covered this the last meeting but uh Joanne Bler and uh being who we run the grant through in the Gil Monu Regional School District and I had reached out to uh Sean Cronin from the Department of Revenue and uh they have or he has uh determined that we have quite a bit of leeway in terms of how we use the grant. uh we could use it for reaching out to people. We've already used it, you know, for for legal, for consultants. Um so, uh he has given us permission to extend that grant to uh December through December.
015So, uh that was really good news. Uh and we'll I think we have around at the moment we have around $46,000 left in there. And I'm thinking that should be able to cover the uh additional tasks that we have in front of us. Um I think we've covered the volunteer the name sharing. We're there already. So um Deb, you can be a tag team and decide how you want to uh review the process and names and final recommendations. Before we go there, um just uh wanted to comment on the the Northfield uh meeting that did you get back to them because there there was a question uh that was about you know the purchase of assets and and I don't think they understood that when you know a school district is dissolved and the the
016two go into one larger district that it's just a transfer of assets. There's no you know millions of dollars that have to be come up with. It's uh you know it's I mean we we're required by the state of Massachusetts to provide an education. So you know it would be a transfer of assets. Yes. And I get back to them on that. Uh no I didn't have to get back to him that because I had answered the question. I said well you did but you kind of were like you were a little bit sort of you know on the fence about it. You're like well I don't really want to you know it's a transfer of assets but you know I just want to make sure that they're they understand that. Well, I can follow
017it up. You know, what I said at the meeting was I thought was fairly clear and that school committees don't have the authority to dissolve and to uh they don't have the authority to transfer property and assets. That that has to be done through an act of legislation and that there is not it's a transfer uh of these assets. It's not uh there's no big uh millions of dollars that need to be saved up in order to buy things. It's not a sale. Um, so I can I can follow up with Andrea to see if they're clear on that. Thanks. All right. Um, so Deb and Deb. Hey, Deb. Well, you want to go first? I was going to say, well, since I bailed on Deb the last meeting because I was camping with no
018internet, I figure I should take the lead. Um, in any case, uh, I think Deb spoke to you the last time I I reconted, uh, all the people, uh, to make sure that all their suggestions were in. Deb wrote a really nice article for the Greenfield Recorder, uh, asking people, uh, to contact us if they had any suggestions. Um, and I I'm thinking I had around 10. I don't have the exact number. So, uh, we had some suggestions. Uh we asked people to put forward their favorites. Uh and as we met um we had I believe it was 51 uh options and I think you got a list of those. Um and they were decided by a variety of people. Um, I think Bill, you had a question as to whether or not the students
019at Turner Falls were involved and Beth uh Foron who was the uh adviser for the student council uh met with them uh a couple of times and they came up with their suggestions. Um so they were definitely uh consulted in that. Um in any case uh you saw the names that were uh the variety of them. Um there seemed to be a common thread and the common thread through a lot of them was the word river. Um and so uh even the people who said I don't know what I want it called but it ought to have the name river in it because and and so and there were more than a couple people who said that. Um and so we took that to heart. Um the one suggestion is the great river. Uh someone
020talked about uh that was what the indigenous people uh called it. It was called the great river. Um which is how that was uh put forth and we thought that was interesting uh paying uh honor, homage or whatever uh to the indigenous people of the area. And of course obviously the next one was uh Connecticut River. Um, and then it had all sorts of variations, you know, Connecticut River Valley, uh, Connecticut just plain Connecticut River. Um, how many words did you want the name of the school district to be? Um, and so that's where we're at. So these last the ones that you that we saw, Riverbend Regional School District, Connecticut River, Regional School District, Connecticut River Valley, Great River, and Great River Valley. Those are all those like recommendations or you're informing us. These
021are the ones that bubbled to the top. What? These are the ones that Deb and I uh and we talked about, you know, in in people's suggestions. Those were the ones that bubbled to the top. You know, there were the negatives. Please don't go with just union number whatever. So, some people didn't have a suggestion, but they were sure what they didn't want it called. Um, and uh and we uh as people talked wanted to try to stay away from the word pioneer uh because it would be associated with one school um even though we're in the upper pioneer valley. Um and uh you know there was discussion of uh Great Falls um but once again that is just a little bit too close to Gil and Monagu um and not necessarily um to Northfield
022and Bernardston um and could we come up with something? There was uh actually two different people suggested we take the first two letters of each of the districts and to be honest with you it just looked like a garble that we didn't think anybody could associate with. Um it was it was a good try. It was a you know it was a good thought but it didn't make sense to us and it was two different people. It was very funny. Yep. So, that's that's kind of where we're at. Um, any thoughts on anything else you saw on the lists? All right, Darrena, you're on. You have your hand up. Yeah, maybe we have a great name here. Maybe you guys can come up with something better. Yeah, I mean, in addition to river, it seemed
023like valley was was common. I just did a quick search. River is 19 times. Valley is 23 times. So, um, yeah, like River Valley or or I think Franklin is non-controversial. I think River and Valley and Franklin are all non-controversial. North is uncontroversial. And just as long as we avoid anything that says Pioneer and Monu or, you know, the current names, I think it's it's more welcoming. So same with India needs to be excluded too, right? We assumed that. I mean that was kind of off the table even. But so let's let's keep in mind this is obviously not the name of the school. It's the name of the regional school district. Um, and our Connecticut River is a very long river. Um, are people, uh, what do you think about the, you know, having
024that in the title, the Connecticut River Valley Regional School District? Um, it sounds nice, but Deb and I talked tossed out, did you want it to be the upper I'm sorry, I didn't raise my hand. Did you want it to be the upper Connecticut River Valley? which obviously would then designate we are as upper as it can get in Massachusetts. My my preference was not that it maybe really matters but I really just liked uh Great River. I just thought it's you know there's no other school named that. Yeah. and then and then Pat and then somebody else. And the the thing with river itself is I was thinking about it noticing all the river stuff and it's true that there is a river in each one of the towns. So you don't have to
025be explicit about which river it is, but there's the Falls River, um the Deerfield, uh not the Deerfield, the Green. Yeah. Uh, and of course the Connecticut and then I think uh, Northfield has a couple of Brooks. So, as well as the Connecticut. I like that part of it rather than an illusion to Connecticut. Pat, you're on mute. Pat, there we go. Thank you. That That's what I was going to say. Um, Connecticut River is great for for the Turers Falls area and for the Northfield area, but we've got other towns that are not on the Connecticut River. So, yeah, I'm with you, but Bill, same concern. All right, Michelle, was it your voice? I heard another voice. Okay, I was looking for ra how to raise my hand. Um, yeah, I agree. I I
026would like to keep Connecticut out of it. I think that's going to be confusing. You're gonna have a the name Connecticut in Massachusetts. So, right, that was just something I was thinking of. All right. And then I think Raina, I think you had uh a comment. Yes. Yeah. I I with you, Deb. I I like Great River. Um, I feel like it's a it's a nod to the indigenous um roots, but not in an offensive way. Um, and I and I feel like yeah, it's there's no no one particular river. I mean, it's is the indigenous name for the Connecticut River, but it's or reference to the Connecticut River, but not specifically about the Connecticut River. It's a a little more inclusive. Good discussion. So, it sounds like we've eliminated Connecticut. We've settled on River
027sounds really good. Uh we all know it's going to be the regional school district. So, that was easy. So, um I think we're honing on either uh Great River or Well, we wouldn't say Upper Great. That was for Connecticut. So, it looks like we're we're down to uh Raina, what you had said, the the Great River Valley. What about Great Rivers plural? We got plenty of rivers. Great rivers valley. You'd have to Great Rivers Regional School District. I'm just looking at there. There is a Great River Rivers school out there. I just looked it up. But there doesn't seem to be Great Rivers. That's a school, not a district. Correct. Yeah. Just trying to be different here. And where is that? Um, looks like it's out in Minnesota. [Laughter] Really, they've got a great river
028out there. Thank you for sharing. I think rivers I don't I don't like great rivers. I just think great river. I just think it, you know, it can be any river that you want, whatever one you're feeling connected to, but I think great rivers. It just reminds me too much of four rivers, which Good point. Good point, Deb. Yeah, I agree. Do people want to uh nail this part down before this goes out to Desi? Because we do need a name and that put us on track. Um I I'll I'll defer to both Debs for a minute. If you want to if there's no more discussion, if you want to make a recommendation or make a motion, then um we could do a vote. I I feel very good about Great River. Great river valley.
029No, no, the valley. I I Great river. I just think Great River if people will be like, "Oh, that's like Pioneer Valley." I think you got to get rid of the valley. I just think Great River Regional School District. All right. Is that you want to make that a motion? I make a motion. And I will say Deb and I spent a lot of time a lot of agonizing, very uncomfortable conversations with people and um writing letters to people who said, "No, I don't want to play. I don't want to participate." That that didn't feel really good without getting too specific. So, um, I don't think we need to put this off. I think we are a well-informed committee who's done this for a long time, and I think we can make a decision. So,
030your motion is to My motion is that we choose Great River Regional School District. All right. Is there a second? Second. Okay. I think it was a tie between Pat and Michelle. Yeah. Michelle and I are racing. Okay. That's good. Um, all right. So, I'll call if there's no more discussion, call for a vote. Deb Bloomer. Oh, wait a minute. Bill, do you have a question? I just want to, you know, add in terms of rivers and Connecticut and all that. Leiden and Warwick are not in the valley. The no valley. No valley. Great river. Good point. Thank you. Thank you. Um, yes. Deb Bloomer, yes. Alan Genevies, yes. Greg, yes. Dinda, yes. Pat, yes. Bill, yes. Michelle, yes. Raina, yes. Deb Put. Yep. And Okay. Um, well, thank you that Thank you for all
031the work you've done. I know you've worked on this for a long time. I think you started again like six months ago and um so thank you for all that re outreach. So this uh so we have a name and I can let uh Jay know to put that on that blank line for the uh Great River Regional School District. Um we did that. I love the discussion we had. Thank you. The um the website. So, Dire, I'm hoping that you'll be one of our players in in the outreach efforts because much of the pieces that we'll be trying to do will be like getting uh QR codes to put in different locations and we can have people do that. a link to the agreement and and things like that so we could brainstorm and
032there'll be other venues but all the brainstorming that involve technology we'd love to have you you know take the lead on that and share your ideas of the best way to do it. So um if you agree uh please u say yes you'll serve on our outreach committee. Yeah, and I think it's since the website's easy since it's just, you know, the number sixtowns.org that we could just put up pieces of paper that say that and then as soon as we get the regional agreement through Desi, then we can put that up there. I don't know if we'd want to put it up before then. Probably not. So, yeah. So, and we could sort of put it front and center, but I think since the website's so easy, we don't really need to we don't
033need to mess with QR codes necessarily, unless we wanted to add like the regional agreement specifically as a QR code later, but we can just have it front and center on the website. All right. And I'd like to share with you that um that you received some kudos at the Northville Select Board meeting that uh it was um brought to the attention by one member that they really liked the update version of the website. they thought it was really well done, easy to, you know, find things and so um your all the hard work that you've done in working with a consultant yourself has has really um it's being recognized. So that's really good as we go into this next stage. So thank you for that. Good to hear. Yeah. Um so this is probably
034why some people are missing. So, I'm looking for folks to be involved in think tank conversations about how to proceed. Um, I'm looking at, you know, the money that may be available to maybe hire a professional to take care of some of these things with some uh forums. Uh and so a lot of things are you know the ideas of uh that we want to put out there to give people a heads up at town meeting of what to be looking for. So as long as they know that things are coming then we can do newspaper articles and things to bring things to their attention. So obviously um I am going to be on that and uh Direa thank you. I'm nodding your head is is helpful. Um, are there other folks please that could
035help out in that? Pat, would you have any interest in Northville to just talk about ideas? And I would say yes, but in two weeks my husband's having hip surgery. Oh. And then right after that, we have a family wedding. And then two months after that, we have another family wedding. All at our house. So, all right. Uh, this is going to be busy time. So, understood. No, understood. Understood. Um, Deb Potay, I was going to say only if Greg sends me a a a reminder the day of because it's it's in one ear and out the other and written down. Can't find the piece of paper. Okay. Camping was easier. I think he was talking to me, Deb. Yeah. No. Well, I was I had raised my hand and then I couldn't find my
036mute and right when I hit mute, he said Deb Poti and I was like, "No, thank you. Thank you." So, I've written your name down. But Deb, you go right ahead cuz I know you were so just one and I just feel like everyone in Northville just hates me. It's just like gh sick of seeing me. But um about this topic, um what do I what do I have to do? Do I have to speak? Um, no. Well, part of that's going to be organizational, uh, you know, things in terms of brainstorming, uh, how we go about, you know, in our outreach efforts. It may be some boots on the grounds, you know, bringing flyers or bringing some things around or um I don't know because we haven't brainstormed yet in terms of of uh
037uh conversations with if we are able to get a consultant to be involved in some things. Um, I mean, for example, we know that we want to do a really clear uh and accurate uh PowerPoint and that's clear and concise and hits all the main points. So, um, what what needs to be in that, you know, reviewing the Birkshire Hills one and maybe some others and looking at some of the things that we had in our own that we thought were really good and picking from there and so forth. So, a lot of that's going to be I'm happy to be um helpful and do some things. I do not want to be in charge of creating a PowerPoint, right? I feel like I've done a ton of writing and stuff on this and I
038just don't want to do that anymore. But I am happy to front face stuff. Okay. And Bill, you could certain time. Yeah, Bill, you could certainly volunteer to proofread different documents and get some input there. I'm happy to read anything you want to produce. All right. All right. So, I'll I'll leave it at that for now. And if you think So, here's a here's sort of a an ask that I have for you. I'd like you to think of some folks that you may know in the community that um that you could talk to and see if they have an interest or you know or excited about u being involved in you know sharing the work that we've done to date and then sending that on to Greg. Yes, Deb. I I didn't mean to
039interrupt. I think that's where Deb and I are probably looking at each other and saying we we went through the community people. I went to some key people who I thought knew the community and they were like no no y no. Um and so uh that doesn't mean it's a no vote. For instance, if you were to say some of those people were, oh, this is a great idea, but no, I I I you know, will I ask a couple people, can you just ask like, you know, like, do you think you could get to six people? Yeah, I'll try. And so, your expectation of having local people uh be a part of that? Um, I I I don't know. I I know I I went through a variety of people that I knew in
040both towns and it didn't go anywhere. I didn't know the right people. No. And I I think I can understand some of the reason behind that. Um, so if you put that out to everybody, if if you have an idea of who has an expertise in this area and might be helpful, um, then please uh let let uh Greg know. All right. Um, I I do I do think if it's um heard at a town meeting, I think people might be kind of like excited about it. You know, I just think people either think it's a it's a done deal, it's going to happen or it's already not going to happen. I think people are just very not clear or there's another plan that's happening. So, I maybe at the town meeting if I see
041if people come up to me, if I get a chance to read that, I I think then those are people I could ask if they want to learn more about it and maybe get excited about it. Um I I just I don't think of any other way of getting people like jazzed about this unless they really see this as a wonderful opportunity for students. Yeah. All right. Thank you. And and that was a really good comment because town meeting does create an avenue of a person that they could go to and um and then that's that's an opportunity for you to see if there's a door open to uh invite them uh into this part of the process. So, I put that out to everybody that's at town meeting that um you know, if people
042have questions, you know, make it known that you you um might be able to fill them in. I think a lot of a lot of this is lack of information or some misinformation or even some confusion uh as to, you know, what what's what's going on. And it gets really even more confusing when we start not knowing what's happening at the federal level and the state level and the town level and what's what grants are going away and what funding the towns may or may not have. This is a I'm sure every generation has said this is a very difficult time in politics or in you know in the in the finances but um it is. So, uh, I think that's all going to be part of this picture as we go forward and wait
043to see how things settle out even with the state budget. Um, you know, it's up in the air. Um, so all right, thank you for those that said yes. And that's a great suggestion, Deb, in terms of um having that door open and everyone can do that at the town meeting. Okay, Alan, I've had my hand up. Oh, I am. Why haven't I seen Where are you? Oh, there you are. Okay. Um, what about we talked about the consultant? I think we need to get an outside person who's been through this or something similar um and get their ideas because with everything you that is going on, small groups of people can do a lot more than Yeah, you can uh start the conversation at town meeting, but It's going to take grassroots efforts and
044I'd just like to hear from the consultant, you know, if they did that. Um, if we're going to hire the guy from Birkshshire, let's just put it out because I'm very concerned about what Deb the two Debs are saying. You know why? What is it? We need to sit in small groups and let people we uh be honest and have these honest conversations. Are they getting misinformation? Are they afraid of something? We need to really start listening to what's going on out there. Agreed. So that's why I'd like to hear from before we go out and do our own thing. I'd like to hear from an expert on this. I know I know what's happening in my world. Everyone is talking about having powerful conversations and laying things out, you know, like what is really
045going on because then rumors start. We could have um I don't want to interrupt you. Did you Did you have another point, Michelle? No. No. So, we could have Jake perhaps attend our next meeting and talk about the successes and failures or what they might do differently, what what what could work. Um, that might be really helpful. Greg, what are your thoughts? You're on mute. I do have a number. I just was uh a number of thoughts, but um it it was brought to my awareness that uh the great river might have been actually what the English colonists used to call uh the Connecticut River. So, it didn't seem to be the indigenous uh but I don't know. We might want to do some digging into that before we uh you know commit wholly to
046that. And on this last point we were talking about um you were talking about get refresh my memory because I was looking at that at the at the moment. We were talking about potentially having Jake attend our meeting and talk about what what uh would work and what didn't work and what he learned. Well, he's very Yeah. And he's very personable. I mean, he um and he would be a neutral sort of neutral party uh to deliver, you know, whatever messaging that we're trying to uh convey. um and he's got a very good understanding of regionalization. So, um you know, I think it would it would be a good idea. [Music] Um okay, Pat, I think the Oops, I think I'm still No, you're good. We can hear you. Um I think the the crux
047of the thing is people don't want to volunteer for anything. And how we get around that, I'm not sure. But um I but I I think that's I mean no matter we're down you said a couple people for on this committee people can't find people to run for school committee for select boards for finance committees for anything within town. People just aren't volunteering and I don't know why that is and whether somebody else can come in from the outside and say okay this is what we have to do to fix it. I don't know. Yeah. So that's that's my 10 cents worth. Yeah. Uh so the benefit would be hey tell us what works, what didn't work, what what we what they didn't do, what they wish they had done. Um what is not a
048good idea? What might you want to avoid? Things of that nature. So we could have a conversation with him about um what how would he go about leading us if he were to be you know doing this again. He also was a he also was a teacher and I believe a um you know super definitely a superintendent. So you know it's not like he uh is and has a PhD in in education. So all right I'll reach out to him. I think that's kind of the consensus of the group is to see if we can get him to talk to us for a little bit on that one of the agendas. Deb, sorry, I don't know how to raise my hand. Brenda has her hand. Um, Greg is right. I just unfortunately, you know, did
049the AI on the phone and the Great River was the name that the English settlers used um in the 1630s. The Dutch explorer used the great river and the indigenous people called it the Quinnet. So that that that could be I just wanted to fact check Greg that he was right. You know I and not that the you know Google is right but but you want to sleep on it. We'll leave it stand. I won't let I wasn't I wasn't right Deb. Someone brought it to my attention. I Oh. So I Yeah. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say and when people suggested that name to us, they said it was the name that the indigenous people. So, we didn't fact check. We jumped on it and went great and uh lesson learned.
050So, we can either we can sleep on it and come back and um talk about it again. Uh and potentially other we know we want river in it. That's pretty clear. We know the end of it. We need something in front of it. So, um, Darren, you have your hand up. Yep. It looks like it translated to Long River is so great river was like a mistransation, but so maybe Long River um would honor it better. Um, I was wondering for Birkshshire, did that pass in some of the towns or not pass in any of the towns? Yeah, it it definitely passed in in a majority of the towns. It's just there was I think there was one or two towns out of the eight that did not um that did not pass. And they
051had another issue um dur um that they had to deal with. They were um trying to get in the pipeline for a building project and so there was this uh rushed timeline to um get this uh agreement together and get it out there. I think that's one of the things he'll probably tell us not to do. Um and uh and then the the towns would all be responsible for this uh this new high school. It wasn't they were trying, they were in the pipeline. Okay. They were in it. They were in it and they had to decide whether how big the how big the building was going to be, whether it was going to be for uh eight towns or for the um existing district. So, I know that factored in to uh a couple
052of towns are saying, "No, we don't want to we don't want to take that on." So, [Music] um maybe if that didn't if that wasn't in the mix, uh who knows. So, all right. I think we're getting ready to adjourn. I just want to go back to the great river. Yes, I did read this. It wasn't that I didn't do any research. The word uh Connecticut is a corruption of the Moheaggan word quintucket and nipmuck word quinnquo which means beside the long tidal river. The word came into English usage during the early 1600s to name the river which is also called simply the great river. I I don't have any kind of issues and I I feel I feel like I'm a pretty woke person. I just think it's an inspiring word as opposed to
053long river which I think could be considered I just think there's a little problematic stuff with that the word long. No one likes long meetings that's for sure. So I I still am totally comfortable with this believe it or not. Yeah. And I don't know if I mean why this couldn't be stand on its own. I mean because some people can try to attach it to many different things of what what it might mean. So um Alan I I I toss that out because obviously Turner Falls and Gil Monagu went through a very long tedious divisive naming of their mascot. And so I wouldn't want that to uh I don't know get off the rails of what the real mission is. But after hearing Deb say that I go you know what that it's good
054and we have a justification and truthfully I don't think people care about the name of the school district. They're going to care about the name of the high school. They're it's not going to be about the name. And I think it's a good name, Dick. I do, too. I was just pointing something out. All right. So, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this. In order to resend, someone in the affirmative that voted would have to make a motion to resend and then we would go through a vote on that. So if anyone has that feeling, I guess I would say do it now or forever hold your peace. Well, or it could be, you know, our next meeting whenever that is. It could be voted to resend. I mean, it's
055not the end of the world, but we can we can we can think on it, but I I take Deb's uh point. I think I think she's you know she's just because the the colon colonials used it doesn't necessarily mean it was used in in a in a bad way either. So all right. So let me go back to what I started to say a while ago which is we can we can just uh sleep on it. Let it let it marinate until the next meeting and then uh I'll put it on the agenda and we can affirm it or um have another discussion if people comfortable with that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, we've got to start moving things along. There's uh I just threw out some dates uh in May to get
056the get the ball moving. Um and it'd be nice if we had a couple so that we could give Jake an opportunity to see which one he could make. So, I threw out May, which I spell small M. Um, May 13th, May May 20th, the 21st, 27th, my birthday. Does uh someone have one there that uh they want to throw out there that we can Can can people make the 13th or is that too soon? The 13th at all. Yeah, that's probably too soon. How about the We have a conflict. Okay. How about the 20th? That's open. Okay. 20th. That's right. [Music] Um, anyone else not make it? All right. I can fill you in too. The 20th. Who else? Me. Pat. Pat. Sure. Yeah. Pat. Alan, can you hear? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's
057two that can't. We have a couple that aren't here. Um, I mean, I would say go with that and then, uh, we can reach out to the rest of the the board and see if we can to those that aren't here, see if we can get a quorum. All right. So, why don't we do that? I do want to I do want to um sort of bring something to your attention. Uh we have a a member that has been very active and very helpful uh on um on this committee who has also served in the Pioneer District and on the Pioneer School Committee. I was just informed today that uh Karen O'Neal's husband Paul has passed away this past um this past Thursday. And so, um, I asked, uh, I I I talked to Michelle
058about this and said, "Do people know that?" And Michelle, you indicated that, you know, people are being informed it was okay to tell other people. So, I wanted to get her read on that before I shared it. But I know many of you have been working with her closely, particularly you, Pat. Um, and so I did want to bring that to your attention if you, you know, would like to reach out. Raina, you probably knew that, but if if you hadn't had a chance to share that with folks, uh she's a a remarkable person and and very involved in her community and politics and um and uh her husband and her did lots of things together. Um and I learned today that her um her daughter and her husband Paul were really looking forward to
059the uh a a child uh coming up soon. and um you know it just there's so many facets to this that it's it's sad. So um I just want to pass that on. Okay. All right. Uh is there any other business that would come before us? All right. Um would someone like to make a motion to adjurnn? So moved. All right. That's Michelle and seconded by who? Pat. Yes. By Pat. Okay. Motion tojourn and that would be by roll call vote. Uh Deb Loomer, yes. And Alan Genevies is yes. Greg, yes. And Darrena, yes. And Raina, yes. And I think Oh, I see. So Mike is here. Chris is here. I see Tupper's here as well. Don't know when. I agree. Thank you, Mike. Hey, Alan, you might want to ask if if Chris and
060Mike have any questions. Yeah. Um, did I finish the roll call vote? No. Okay. Okay. Let me let me pause. Um, Chris or Mike, do you have any questions? Hey. Uh, I'm good right now, but I might give you a call tomorrow. I figure it might be good just, you know, get general updates here. I know we kind of falling asleep at the wheel maybe or dropped the ball, whatever you want to call it. Um, just want to get some sort of update in where things stand, all that sort of stuff. So, okay, I can do that. It's been a work in progress. And I I also heard um I think Mike said that uh he would he's having trouble with his mic, so he'll reach offline when he has an opportunity to as well.
061Yeah. All right. Tomorrow. But thank you. Yeah. Well, thank you. Uh, Greg, thanks for that. Did you Did you actually say yes, Greg? Is that where I left off? I did. No, I said yes a while ago. Okay. And Derinda, did you you said yes. And Bill, I don't remember you. Yes. And Michelle, yes. And Deborah Pay. Yes. And thank you, Pat. Yes. And Raina. and we got everybody. So, enjoy the rest of your evening. I think the Celtics are on tonight for those of you that watch and let's see how that goes. All right. Thanks for participating. Much appreciated. Take care. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Oh, Cliff Spatcher just entered the room.