[0:00] is recording we have our Quorum and we've done roll call um we will um open

[0:06] for public comment so I don't know if anyone who is not an official Committee

[0:11] Member has anything that they want to share at the start um but we'll open for

[0:15] public comment

[0:24] now Moren I can see you trying to get through that just saying hello that's it

[0:28] I'm here hi Moren and um how are you good to meet you good to see you hi Kate

[0:36] um and hi to everyone else who's who's listening in um last call for public

[0:43] comment all right so we'll dive in as you know I like to start all of

[0:50] our meetings off with a check-in this is official Town business but how's

[0:54] everyone doing we've had a little bit of a whirlwind since our last meeting which

[0:58] we're going to get grounded and go over everything that happened um in the last

[1:03] month but just want to see how everyone's doing this

[1:09] morning I'm just still turning my brain on slowly after being on a long break so

[1:15] bear with me that's great I think I think most of us are all in the the

[1:21] mindset of reorienting towards work and responsibilities and to-do

[1:27] lists yeah how's everyone else doing

[1:34] I'm sort of in the same just super busy with work and uh and and a kidu is now

[1:41] homesick and uh everything else yeah well Chris I can't imagine with

[1:46] work and a kid homesick you've also managed to build several websites for us

[1:51] in the past few days so extra Kudos extra thank you to you for for some

[1:56] Herculean tasks that would have been um without everything else you've got going

[2:02] on so thank you thank you great okay so um I just want to

[2:09] reorient us to what has happened since our last meeting um the last time this

[2:14] group got together to talk about the project we were a working group we had

[2:18] been recording all of our meetings we had made those meetings public um or

[2:23] were trying to make those meetings public um and since then we have shifted

[2:27] to an official Town committee so I'm not exactly sure how it happened but but

[2:33] here we are we are an official Town committee we have um four official

[2:38] appointments we have a a a committee charge which I think everyone has has

[2:43] seen at this point um and if you haven't it's it's online on our beautiful

[2:47] website that Chris built for us um and it's also in our Google Drive filing

[2:53] system and um what that means is that we have to discuss um govern govern so the

[3:01] roles and and duties that folks who are official members of the committee will

[3:05] play and we also have to discuss membership so um the town charge uh the

[3:11] committee charge dictates the types of folks that need to be um thanks mod on

[3:16] this committee I have some recommendations for who else we can

[3:19] include and we'll discuss that um at at later in the meeting but I just want to

[3:25] name that that's where we are we are now a committee we have to figure out the

[3:29] Govern of that committee and um I also want to welcome folks that have not yet

[3:35] been part of the conversations so Nate has been appointed to the committee is a

[3:39] Committee Member um but hasn't really been a part of the work up to this point

[3:44] so I W to Anchor Nate in Nicole is joining us from the select board and we

[3:49] had a really great conversation to um kind of share information of what's

[3:54] happened thus far I just kind of shared the work that had happened and and our

[3:59] timeline so I think she's a little bit more caught up than Nate uh Moren um has

[4:04] been appointed but not officially sworn in on the committee I believe so is here

[4:10] uh listening in um and will join us in two weeks at our next official committee

[4:14] meeting so and Kate was hired and brought on as our Communications manager

[4:18] for the town and I've also had some conversations to try to get her on board

[4:22] um and then we've got some I I think just folks from the public who are

[4:25] listening in so um I think just to round us out out I'm going to share that um

[4:32] this branding project is coming um as a result of feedback that the creative

[4:39] economy um committee received from community members from small business

[4:44] owners from uh families from uh Town officials that it would be the feedback

[4:52] was that it would be really helpful um if the town had a brand and an identity

[4:57] that would attract new visitors would stimulate economic growth and um it

[5:02] would also be a way to help streamline processes across the municipality um as

[5:07] you'll know by looking at our our new website there have been many different

[5:11] iterations of the Town seal that is something that's used for official

[5:15] purposes only but there's so many different versions of it that lots of

[5:19] folks within the government are sort of Reinventing the wheel every time they

[5:22] have to do something that requires the official Town seal and there isn't a

[5:26] town logo that can be used to you know represent what the town is today so The

[5:33] Branding belter Town project is about updating the town seal so that there is

[5:37] one consistent seal that can be used for official purposes that um you know

[5:42] reflects the history of the town and some of the symbols and places that are

[5:46] really uh true to what belter town is and has been and and will be moving

[5:52] forward um updating that seal also makes it digitally accessible it becomes a an

[5:58] image that can be used used online and and and an official paperwork that's

[6:02] legible for folks because there are so many versions that aren't super legible

[6:07] and then having a logo is is a new initiative and a new movement to try to

[6:11] really um support Economic Development so that's why we're here um part of the

[6:19] intention behind this process is to really bring all different members of

[6:23] the community to the table those who know the town love the town have been

[6:27] here for a long time and really know what's special and unique about belter

[6:31] town to bring their voices in so that we can amplify that so that everyone who

[6:35] comes through knows and can celebrate and and understand what makes belter

[6:39] Town great and it's also about doing some visioning for the future like what

[6:44] what of those elements do we want to make sure come through extremely clearly

[6:48] and that that everyone can continue to know and love um and attract new new

[6:52] visitors in to support our economy to support um growth of the Town Etc so

[6:59] that's that's why we're here and as I said our method is really one that's

[7:04] rooted in consensus so this committee is meant to be representative of the

[7:07] community so welcome neate and Moren um we have some room for some more folks to

[7:13] join in which again we'll discuss um and we're going to be responsible for hiring

[7:18] a graphic designer to take on this work um which the RFP is is live on the town

[7:25] website um there will be a press release that's going out later today um

[7:30] broadening that call for graphic designers so this group is going to be

[7:33] looking at those proposals and choosing someone to do that work and then we're

[7:39] also going to be designing ways for Community input so we've already

[7:43] launched a staff survey for folks within the municipality to give their feedback

[7:48] and their input on how um and what is important about this project and our job

[7:53] is to help think how do we activate the rest of the community be part of the

[7:57] process so committee me existing committee members anything else you want

[8:02] to add about why we're here or what's exciting to you about this

[8:09] project or any questions about what I might have

[8:12] missed I think in general it's just going to be good to have Community

[8:17] conversations um you know to try to overcome any any factions that could

[8:23] eventually evolve or that might even exist especially if you're you're doing

[8:28] something with a a the town's identity that could be quite

[8:33] divisive yeah definitely an opportunity to bring people

[8:37] together and and do so around like I don't Nicole and I had a little

[8:42] conversation and we're not sure if shared values is the right term but it's

[8:44] like the things that make belter Town special and unique that we all know and

[8:49] love everyone can agree on some of those things and when we're coming together

[8:53] around those key elements there's there's opportunity for community

[8:57] building for sure and pride in Community Pride in

[9:04] place I just have one small clarification if if I if I can speak up

[9:09] that that this didn't emerge uh from the creative economy U but it actually

[9:14] predates the creative economies formation this um was a recommendation

[9:19] from the local rapid recovery plan and was echoed in the economic development

[9:23] section of the community plan uh both of which formed this ative economy um

[9:31] strategy initially and of which this is kind of then a growth from thank you for

[9:38] that clarification mod and and yes I should know because it is written in the

[9:41] history of our project thank you yes um and Welcome to our new person who

[9:49] just joined um okay great so that's where we are um as a quick orientation I

[9:57] just want to share um we before we were committee when we were working group we

[10:01] had made a decision that because there are so many players who are part of this

[10:07] conversation um I actually made the decision and asked and we all agreed to

[10:11] stick to one planning thread by email so I think everyone is on that official

[10:17] planning thread um except Moren who I will add but again I'm just going to

[10:23] Echo the request for everyone who was a part of this work to reply all or or

[10:29] reply to me if it's something that doesn't concern simple question on the

[10:33] official branding belter Town project planning thread the reason I asked that

[10:37] is because there are about 40 email threads going around right now with

[10:41] different people and different questions and the same questions are being asked

[10:45] in different places and for transparency sake and

[10:49] for um you know Clarity and simplicity I'm just going to ask that we we remain

[10:55] on that one email planning thread I will send an email after this meeting on that

[11:00] thread just to remind everyone this is where the the questions and

[11:03] conversations live it will make it a lot simpler for archiving our processes all

[11:08] those emails are going to be you know saved in our our working folder so that

[11:11] is my reminder and my invitation to folks who are involved to please respond

[11:16] on the planning thread rather than starting new email threads with

[11:19] different members on it uh Jen so that actually violates open

[11:27] meeting law so all of it should not be reply all it should just go to you if

[11:33] there are questions that folks have no all information on email chains need to

[11:38] be one way so if there are commentaries it should be diverted only to one person

[11:45] IE you okay right can't be seen as a discussion yeah okay but I can send

[11:51] announcements to everyone yes okay so then Chris yeah I do believe the one

[11:58] clarification on that is is discussing uh next meeting dates and uh I think

[12:04] corrections to meeting notes but I I might be wrong about that

[12:08] one but but planning things outside like setting up the next meeting we can

[12:13] discuss that as an open group so that could be like if we have a snow day well

[12:17] we're all you know remote so we just discussed that snow day do no matter um

[12:20] that can be done in the open um and and I believe like Corrections and meeting

[12:24] notes once those are sent around to everybody but I believe Jenna is

[12:27] absolutely correct that that like having full discussions within the emails is uh

[12:31] is is in violation are folks allowed to ask questions in reply

[12:38] all no that's it's consider deliberation okay thank you Jen and Chris and Doug

[12:45] for the clarification so I will send this official planning thread please

[12:48] reply to me and then if there is an announcement that comes from that

[12:54] conversation I will reply all to the group and say this for clarity

[12:59] this is what's happening okay that Mak

[13:03] sense above board okay great um okay so in addition to our email

[13:12] thread um we we do respond to open meeting law so any discussions or things

[13:19] that need to be decided happen here in this meeting so this is a bi-weekly

[13:22] meeting it happens on Wednesdays from 12: to 1 or 1200 to 1:30 depending on

[13:28] you know how packed our agendas are um those are on the calendar so if you are

[13:33] not already on the calendar invite I will add you I believe Nate is I'll add

[13:37] Moren and I'll add any other members but there's a calendar invite um for those

[13:43] meetings those dates are set if we need to change them we can um but it it's

[13:48] really useful to have those blocked off into the future because mod has really

[13:52] generously been supporting us with sending um um agendas to the town clerk

[13:58] more in advance so that they can be publicized online so we have a schedule

[14:02] for for that to happen um okay we also have been working in Google Docs so I

[14:09] think at this point we have finished a lot of the public facing communication

[14:14] that needs to happen um if there are any additional um uh documents or bits of

[14:22] writing that everyone needs to weigh in on I will try to make it so that we can

[14:26] do so in these meetings and if there's commentary after those meetings will'll

[14:32] do a process of sharing the doc one at a time I've turned off editing functions

[14:37] on Google Docs so that folks can comment but it but as as Chris mentioned last

[14:41] time I believe um I don't know if you want to share more on that we can't all

[14:45] be commenting or responding to comments um in a Google doc yeah it's the same

[14:51] it's the same as as external Communications with with emails and

[14:54] stuff like that or even meeting in person um because there isn't a whole

[14:58] lot of rules or or or like there isn't a whole lot of information specifically

[15:03] around Google Docs because the state hasn't caught up with that um but they

[15:07] do say that because you can add comments you can delete comments you can do

[15:12] things like that it is considered a form of deliberation by the group so um my

[15:18] community the way we get around that is that we lock all the documents to a view

[15:22] only view um and then uh only allow um less than quorum to access access the

[15:29] document um at you know historically or whatever so that way you know only one

[15:34] or two people is ever working on a document or one you know three people if

[15:38] if that's less thing forum is working on a document um other people can look at

[15:42] it they can send updates via email to somebody who's working on the document

[15:47] they can send questions stuff like that but they can't edit it they can't

[15:50] comment on it directly within that that because it is a discussion

[15:54] place thanks Chris and and in the interest of of simplicity I'll say that

[15:59] if there are comments or questions just direct them to me and I can feel them

[16:04] and then pass back to um the entire group um as

[16:10] needed okay so I ask you a question yes um I'm feel like I'm walking in the door

[16:18] uh and I don't know I know a couple people here but I have no idea who you

[16:23] are or who anyone else is um you all have been speaking for a while now and I

[16:30] have no idea what this is and it was hard to follow that email thread to be

[16:36] honest with you um so I will ask if I can have some help learning who you all

[16:43] are and and where we're at maybe that's a step

[16:47] back I don't know but no that's a perfect

[16:50] step obviously uh you know I'm the rookie here walking in off the street so

[16:57] um Nate you're absolutely right thank you and um I'll I'll I'll do an intro

[17:03] for myself again and then I'll pass it to others to introduce themselves and

[17:07] maybe we can share you know that way I mean at least I know who's who and

[17:11] what's what and how this is all supposed to work together absolutely

[17:18] thank you we'll do names our role on the committee and maybe like one thing that

[17:23] you're excited about or why you decided to be a part of this work does that

[17:28] sound okay for intros or anything else you want to share um so my name is

[17:33] Danielle I um am a consultant I have a consulting firm called Arts Equity Group

[17:39] um I went to school and lived in the valley for about 10 years well actually

[17:45] a little bit longer than that 15 years but I'm not born and raised in Bel town

[17:49] like some of you so I rely on your expertise um but I I lived and worked in

[17:55] Amerson Northampton for about 15 years and I was hired by the town to do

[18:01] project management for this project so the town put out an RFP which is a

[18:05] request for proposals for folks to come in and and do project management support

[18:10] So part of what I do in my Consulting work is when there are projects help

[18:14] keep them on track and move them along the timeline so my role here is to be a

[18:19] facilitator um which is convening this group helping guide you towards making

[18:24] decisions and once you make decisions help execute them or bug people who are

[18:29] supposed to execute those decisions into executing them so that's my role um the

[18:35] thing I'm most excited about with this project

[18:39] is that it's really about um a systems change process so this is a this is a

[18:46] small change we're changing a a JPEG we're changing a graphic design logo or

[18:51] a seal and we're creating a logo it's not changing the name of the town it's

[18:55] not like completely overriding anything that's happened before

[18:59] but it's a visual change that could spark lots of conversation around

[19:03] culture identity and I'm really interested in and excited about the

[19:08] conversations that come from those changes and those um those brainstorms

[19:14] so I've talked with lots of people on this on this call about what makes Bel

[19:19] Town unique and special to them and everyone has something different to say

[19:22] and I like hearing what everyone has to say about what makes their community so

[19:26] special and important to them and trying to blend them all together so that we

[19:30] find the commonalities so that's what I'm most excited about and that's the

[19:34] role that that I'm playing here um so I'll pass it I'll pass it to Chris you

[19:39] go next and you just keep passing it along to the other folks on the

[19:42] committee sure uh my name is Chris Martin uh I'm over on grany road I've

[19:48] been in town for four years now um I am one of the uh founding members of the

[19:56] newest variation of the communication committee

[19:59] um and the longest lasting uh round of the communication committee um I am the

[20:04] chair of that committee now uh and have been since it it opened up um and and

[20:09] this is one of the projects that we uh you know sort of helped uh uh push along

[20:14] um you know one of the things that we found early on was that uh there were so

[20:19] many variations of the the logo out there um that there weren't any clean

[20:24] digital versions of the logo out there that we could use on the new town

[20:27] website um you'll notice we use the the welcome to Bel Town sign instead of the

[20:31] Town Lo the town seal because we didn't have one that looked good enough um you

[20:37] know we noticed throughout other documents and PDFs and things like that

[20:39] throughout the town there were you know multiple variations that just didn't

[20:44] didn't work right um and and in a lot of our customer surveys and reach out and

[20:50] stuff like that we we heard that people weren't too satisfied with the current

[20:53] uh state of the the town seals so um it was something that we sort of of

[20:58] elevated up and and helped the uh creative economy uh group sort of uh uh

[21:05] uh push along and and get moving and here we

[21:09] are so I will uh I'll kick it over to Doug I am the town planner and

[21:18] um I I guess they've already said you know the most exciting thing about it is

[21:23] just U trying to establish communication and it's kind of part of the process we

[21:29] we've been doing all along is we've made plans and and other things is hear what

[21:34] the people have to say

[21:40] ma sure hi I'm Ma I'm the creative economy coordinator for the town um and

[21:47] uh like I said the creative economy uh is really a strategy that the town kind

[21:54] of chose to start with for economic development work and that emerged from

[22:00] the local rapid recovery plan and the economic development section of the

[22:04] community plan which were both in of those were in

[22:07] 2021 and um so I was brought on in Spring of

[22:13] 2023 and um when and that was one of the key recommendations was branding beler

[22:20] town and in those documents it made it seem like it was a huge project with a

[22:29] huge budget that far surpassed what was going to be possible within um the time

[22:34] frame or budget that we had available and so we were like H okay I guess that

[22:40] isn't something we can move forward with and so we had ideas around more

[22:44] incremental moves and things that we could do and maybe more focus on some of

[22:48] these other areas like small business engagement and um other things like that

[22:53] that were other recommendations and then uh uh Jen Turner Chris Martin and I were

[23:00] in a municipal branding webinar together and we went what when this other

[23:07] community of a similar size uh was telling us their budget and their

[23:12] timeline and it was radically different from what we had otherwise understood

[23:18] and we're like this is feasible and so we just you know we like

[23:24] okay what can we do is this possible and so we went to the drawing board

[23:29] and just started talking with folks and talked with the select board talked with

[23:33] the communication committee talked with all these different bodies um with the

[23:37] town manager and had Buy in like oh if this is possible this has a lot of value

[23:44] we should move this forward um so uh there thank you Danielle for sharing so

[23:50] this is that webinar if you want to view it Danielle just shared it in the

[23:55] comments um but we we've really modeled a lot of this on on that um community

[24:03] and um but I think importantly as has been underscored this is about

[24:08] identifying local identity what is what is really beler town and this is an

[24:15] opportunity in a lot of ways to uh bring that forward and to do so again this is

[24:22] kind of uh framed by Economic Development so that's what I'm really

[24:26] excited about is um again echoing a lot of what other people have said uh around

[24:32] finding commonality and expressing that in a way that can build lasting Economic

[24:38] Development uh because it needs to be situated in what's really here and what

[24:42] local assets and uh places businesses are are actually

[24:52] here oh and I will pass it to uh Molly

[25:01] hello I'm Molly Robinson I just joined this group you know late

[25:06] nov I'm a a holdover from the cultural Council which is one of our committees

[25:12] in town as well as a member of the creative economy committee that mod

[25:17] leads um so I've joined because I work in marketing and branding and so I feel

[25:22] like I can add some insights and value in that regard and I'm just excited to

[25:28] to see how this can impact the town um and hopefully stimulate some economic

[25:34] development and enthusiasm with the residents for you know what what our

[25:38] town represents so that's why I'm here um who else needs to go around and do an

[25:45] intro is it so we have Nate who can share also and then we have Jen and

[25:52] Nicole from the select board those are our two select board reps that are going

[25:56] to be here you know weighing in so so Jenna Nicole if you

[26:01] want to share or Nate whoever wants to go next but those are our three on

[26:07] Deck like at my hair hi I'm Jen I'm on the select board

[26:12] I think most of you know me Nate I've met you before shopping

[26:17] probably so that's

[26:22] me and I am Nicole Miner also on the select board um one of the reasons I

[26:29] wanted to be a part of this was I wanted to so first of all I've lived in belter

[26:35] toown most of my life um since I was a kid um and I was kind of looking at the

[26:41] committee roster and noticed that we didn't have a lot of folks on the

[26:45] committee who um have those deep roots in bter town have been here a very long

[26:51] time and I kind of wanted to make sure that that was representative um so I

[26:55] actually reached out to um Nate and mor um who both showed interest um they've

[27:01] both been in belter town for a long time I know them both um and kind of um got

[27:07] them to to come on board and join but I will be honest with you all I don't have

[27:11] a creative bone in my body um I'm just interested in making sure that um we

[27:18] just have a good mixture of people on the board old and new um that can bring

[27:23] their ideas in

[27:29] thanks Nicole Welcome we're happy to have

[27:32] you and Nate you want to tell us a little about yourself and why you

[27:38] thought to to reach out to Nicole and say I want to get into this What's um

[27:45] for those of you that don't know me I'm Nate shadik um I run Devon Lane Farm

[27:50] Supply and Power Equipment in town and we have a farm um we also run a a

[27:56] 50-year-old shadic Sugar House uh making maple syrup you've probably

[28:01] seen us around town at the markets and everything um lived in town most of my

[28:07] life uh

[28:12] the I should say that what what piqu my interest is that um and and forgive me

[28:19] because I hadn't studied any of of what you all do but um at the end of the day

[28:28] having a a a logo and a look and and being in business it's it's so

[28:33] important um but also being able to have pride

[28:39] in what it is and you're not passing on the same old same old information same

[28:44] old stuff uh year after year after year but um my family's been in town almost

[28:50] 100 years um so you know we've got pictures

[28:55] you talk about Roots we've got pictures of building Daniel Sha's Highway way

[28:59] that my great-grandfather took so um you know that's that's a little bit about me

[29:04] um and and you know I have a business background and a marketing background

[29:09] and and um I I don't claim to have any any specialty other than

[29:16] that quite a few specializations Nate business when I was I was on the

[29:22] fire department for 15 years so awesome we're so lucky to have you

[29:28] um and I want to give shout outs also to Kate who is the new Communications

[29:33] manager for the town we're going to discuss more what Kate's role is and

[29:37] Moren who is in the process of being appointed so can we get an intro from

[29:43] Moren I don't know if you if you're able to unmute and

[29:46] share yes I can unmute I can't throw on the camera just yet but I will let you

[29:51] know um N I do know Nate very well and Nicole

[29:56] yes so uh born and raised in the town um lived here my entire life I've worked at

[30:03] the Town Newspaper for 24 years I have a 30-year career in Communications and

[30:09] marketing um in regards to logos looks design uh I really want to

[30:16] showcase the the backdrop of belter town you know I know we have a you know we're

[30:22] growing there's no doubt in the town that it's growing but I believe holding

[30:26] on to its Core Essence is just as important as attracting in

[30:31] new so I just want to make sure that that is represented so that's kind of

[30:36] the reason that I I got on board I mean I'm a big fan of all the small local

[30:42] businesses in this town so I feel like it I I lean with Nate kind of in that um

[30:49] you know the history runs so deep and we are growing with respectfully so I think

[30:55] that there needs to be a balance in between

[30:58] but coming from a lifetime here um I just know that it's important to hold on

[31:04] to the actual history of the town thank you so much Moren we're also

[31:11] very lucky to have you and look forward to hearing more from you next time as

[31:15] you said that Core Essence I think what's so interesting is that that's

[31:21] actually what attracts people that's what makes people want to come and start

[31:24] businesses or keep their businesses or stay in town right it's that Core

[31:28] Essence 100% and everyone has a different visual

[31:34] for what that Core Essence is 100% our challenge it's like okay is it the wagon

[31:40] is it the egg is it the fair it's true is it the Boston Stone Market what is it

[31:45] exactly so that is our Challenge and it's not our challenge alone because

[31:49] none of us are going to be the ones who are designing but that is for us to

[31:53] think about when we're bringing on a designer is someone who's going to be

[31:56] able to marry all of those Core Essence ideas that that we all have and I

[32:02] actually do know several designers so that is something that they might be

[32:07] interested in participating in as well fantastic so Kate do you want to say

[32:15] hi to everyone and share your role I little I did absolutely um and and I was

[32:22] sworn in I received a message from the town hall to go and get sworn in and I

[32:25] did that early this morning so if that is changing when we when we do our

[32:31] voting next time I will certainly go over there but I received a message from

[32:36] the Town Clerk and I did go and get sworn in okay well then I'm gonna add

[32:40] you to roll

[32:44] call so go ahead so anyhow um my name is Kate NATO I am the communications

[32:50] manager for belter town as of December 16th so this is all pretty new for me I

[32:56] have been a resident of beler toown for about 18 years now um all of my kids

[33:04] have gone through the beler toown school system so far um I was a member of the

[33:08] communications committee prior to um becoming the communications manager I

[33:13] did have a Hiatus there for a while so I was in the communications committee back

[33:18] when um when this conversation of coming up with branding belr toown first came

[33:22] about um so I kind of remember the the early days of the project and I did miss

[33:27] a little bit in the middle there uh my background is in marketing um and design

[33:33] as well as communication so I'm really excited to be here and and to see what

[33:37] this this work group has to uh has to offer great thank you Kate thank you

[33:44] everyone um I think that's a good segue to to chat a little bit about governance

[33:50] so um my so I had a conversation with Kate and Steve um to go over some of the

[33:57] PR release comments and and and whatnot um prior to the official founding of the

[34:04] committee I believe and um one of the things that that Steve had recommended

[34:09] was ex aicio positions within the committee and um the recommendation that

[34:15] I was going to make today and open for discussion among committee members is to

[34:19] have um three ex oficio positions on the committee one for the town planner where

[34:24] we have Doug um one for someone from Communications where we have Kate and

[34:30] one for someone from creative economy where we would have mod um as a way to

[34:35] you know provide a little bit more of a a backbone um for folks that are working

[34:39] within the town and have that sort of Insider knowledge to how this brand

[34:43] would be applied um and are bringing different areas of expertise from the

[34:48] municipality into this conversation so would love to hear committee members

[34:54] thoughts I I I I just in real time we found out that Kate is already on the

[34:58] committee so that's great um but the the suggestion from Steve was to make those

[35:05] well to make the communications role ex aicio and then my suggestion on top of

[35:09] that is to bring in the creative economy and then make the town planner line item

[35:13] also um be exio so that those roles are always a part of this work moving

[35:21] forward and that the ex oficio I think if if anyone is unclear and please weigh

[35:27] in if I'm misrepresenting is that um folks who work either in Communications

[35:32] creative economy or the planning department regardless of which

[35:36] individual is in those uh positions someone from those teams and departments

[35:41] will be representing the committee or if someone's having a particularly busy uh

[35:46] moment and wants to delegate to other members of their team um they can they

[35:51] can do so as long as there's like some representation from those departments I

[35:56] am a oneperson department and I'm a part-time one person

[36:00] department on top of that so there's no one no one for me to

[36:05] be deleting too right and in in the event that you

[36:11] know your team grows or you were to transition out of that role at some

[36:15] point having an ex officio membership would mean that no matter what someone

[36:20] from Communications from the town gets to be a part of this work by appointing

[36:25] Kate you Kate as a as a member not an as not as an ex official member

[36:30] it's it's kind of like you as a member of the town and you're wearing the Hat

[36:33] of also being in Communications but making it as aicio means that you Kate

[36:37] could could join the committee even if you're not in that role at some point

[36:41] right I don't think that's how you just started I don't think we're worried

[36:44] about that anytime soon but um that's I think the logic behind calling it an ex

[36:51] oficial position likewise like if if Doug wanted to you know gets really

[36:55] really busy and needs to do something else someone else from planning could

[36:58] step in um but it just makes sure that those departments are always have

[37:05] representation what is the original backbone or or structure of the

[37:09] committee how many people total I believe we're at a we can have a

[37:14] Max of

[37:17] seven that includes X ficio and community members or no it's five to

[37:23] seven voting members so those are the appointed folks from the ferity house

[37:27] house from Steve so you are one of those five to seven people and so the reason

[37:32] why we need reason what number one why it's

[37:36] good to have an odd number is so that we can have Quorum and that we have you

[37:41] know not even number um so if we are five members Quorum is three if we're

[37:47] seven then Quorum is four typically ex officio don't vote

[37:52] though right I mean and I don't think that this group is going to be doing a

[37:56] lot of quote unquote voting any so yeah I think can vote it just depends

[38:00] on what the committee charges like if the committee comes up with or the

[38:04] governance if the committee says that the governance is that Rao is voting or

[38:09] isn't voting

[38:14] yeah so one of the things that we had discussed is consensus based decision-

[38:20] making which is we discuss and as a group we make recommendations and

[38:24] ultimately the decision maker on what we recommend is going to be Steve right so

[38:30] the things that we are recommending here are going to be who to hire as the

[38:34] graphic designer so it's building cons so we could vote and have consensus on

[38:39] who to hire I hope that that will be um a clear decision right but we'll have

[38:44] we'll have that we will um decide on how and when and where to engage community

[38:52] members so will we have a survey or a poll or um some way of soliciting

[38:58] Community feedback and then ultimately we'll decide on the final design or we

[39:02] will make a recommendation to Steve to decide on the official designs for logo

[39:08] and um and uh the seal just to give you a sense of what

[39:14] the big decisions we'll have on our plate will be

[39:28] but any thoughts on on making those ex aicio memberships or positions

[39:36] available I think the only thing that would change is that mod would like

[39:41] officially be on the committee or be appointed instead of just doing all the

[39:46] work for the committee um behind the scenes or doing a lot of the work for

[39:50] this committee behind the scenes can ex official member serve as

[39:54] the clerk because if is the one that's been um updating the agendas and the

[40:00] minutes that would be the position of the

[40:02] clerk and if ex officio can't have positions within the committee like that

[40:08] then someone else would have to be willing to take on that

[40:13] role Jen do you happen to to know or is that something no that is true so I

[40:18] would say so they all right so the number one the

[40:22] question is should Doug and Kate be ex officio as because they are staff

[40:27] members right that's number one that's one question on the table for the other

[40:32] folks which are Chris Molly Nate and potentially Moren at this point right if

[40:39] she's not been appointed or has been appointed right so those would be the

[40:42] quote unquote voting members and you would just need to have a chair a vice

[40:46] chair and a clerk and the clerk would be responsible for taking minutes and all

[40:50] of those things doesn't mean that mod couldn't take minutes give them to the

[40:55] clerk and then have them sent over to the town clerk's office and I believe

[41:00] there's a that town staff can can do that even if we have an appointed

[41:07] clerk yeah I mean I think it's just I don't know how nitty-gritty the the law

[41:13] I mean I I have not picked up a not a book

[41:16] on committee structure or whatnot but I mean this is sort of like you know we

[41:21] went from a really informal working group to pushing for the community to um

[41:27] the committee I mean to say uh because we know this is a really um big

[41:33] affecting the community project and we want to be as transparent as possible

[41:37] which is basically the real reason that we created this committee and the charge

[41:41] for the committee so you know to me quite frankly a lot of it seems

[41:45] irrelevant we have the members we have the people committed to the project

[41:50] whether they're named to the committee or their ex officio or whatever they're

[41:54] called um ultimately the goal goals are still the same we want to hire a

[41:59] designer we have an RFP Danielle is the project manager she's leading us through

[42:03] this process um we're we're relying on her expertise to get us through this

[42:09] project um get the designer up on board and then a lot of this stuff will then

[42:13] end up in the Communications Department to kind of implement um along with some

[42:18] of the other grants that we're applying for so all that being said I don't know

[42:23] that it matters is Danielle a

[42:27] has Danielle been sworn in as a Danielle is not a member because she is a

[42:31] contractor and that's also why ma is not official member because she's also a

[42:36] contractor so in that vein because the two of them are contractors it's this

[42:41] question of whether or not yourself or Doug since you're also a paid staff

[42:45] should be a member of the committee gotcha okay that makes a lot

[42:50] of sense thank you I I just want to offer one point of clarification and

[42:55] then one other like uh update should this move for forward

[43:01] and so in the committee handbook it says that committees are not required to

[43:07] elect a clerk if that committee has a paid staff secretary so staff can take

[43:13] on a role like that um and then it can free up a volunteer from doing it um so

[43:18] I'd be happy to do that and then in reviewing um the existing um Charter for

[43:26] this uh committee if there were to be ex official roles no matter who or how many

[43:32] uh we would need to do an update of the um the charter to reflect that and what

[43:38] that um decision making looked

[43:53] like I mean we could do that you guys would just submit it we'd vote we we'd

[43:58] amend it we'd vote on it Nicole and I would bring it to the table if she's

[44:06] um either she or I could bring it to the select board and talk to it well I I

[44:12] basically would be in favor of Staff um being ex officio just because we're kind

[44:20] of been doing all kinds of different things and it's good to be sort of the

[44:24] interlocutors of of other parts of town government whereas yeah I think I I I

[44:30] totally agree yeah and other committee

[44:35] members thoughts Molly Chris Nate so I think it's worth getting some

[44:40] clarification from the town clerk's office because I'm looking into the

[44:44] Roberts rules over here and it says that ex official members are allowed to

[44:50] vote for certain situations

[44:55] um and if they're what is it uh if the ex official member is not under the

[45:00] authority of the society they have all the Privileges including the right to

[45:04] vote but none of the obligations of membership so I think they might be

[45:11] voting members at least but they wouldn't hold any of like the chair Vice

[45:14] chair and um clerk roles so right and they wouldn't count they wouldn't count

[45:20] towards Quorum also and they don't count towards Quorum yeah so I'm I'm fine with

[45:23] it happening um yeah and what I think before we we

[45:28] discussed that like the clerk obligations of like sending in meeting

[45:31] notes that like I could do that because we were pulling in the the AI meeting

[45:35] notes anyway so I could just review them and send them to everybody and then

[45:38] submit them so okay so what I'm hearing is that our

[45:43] recommendation will be that Communications and planning will have ex

[45:47] officio members Ma and I as contracted staff are going to be here not counting

[45:51] towards Quorum but offering support and then our um official voting members are

[45:58] Molly Chris Nate and soon to be

[46:04] Moren yep um so I believe that would leave us

[46:08] room for potentially one more appointee or one to three more appointees if we

[46:14] want to go up to seven it it is a larger group so I I'll leave it to everyone to

[46:20] you know put your think caps on and think about we've already fulfilled the

[46:24] mandates of the charge in terms of like represent ation um of the group but I'll

[46:30] open for discussion um is there anyone else that you would like to invite or is

[46:35] there a process that you would like to set up to invite additional folks to be

[46:40] a part of this decision-making are there any folks in the community that are not

[46:44] here that you think should be here um and be part of these

[46:48] conversations um so I do have a question about whether or not we've reached our

[46:53] charge in regards to appointing people to the committee or having people join

[46:57] the committee because I know that during the select board meeting um it was

[47:00] mentioned that we needed to make sure that the committee also represented

[47:05] um the minority groups in town and at this point it doesn't seem like we have

[47:11] any representation from any minority groups in town on this

[47:16] committee yeah so we can decide if we want to uh

[47:21] recruit amongst the folks that are sitting in this room or if we want to

[47:25] advertise and that you know I think either way if folks know somebody who's

[47:30] interested in this work who fulfills that requirement or if we want to

[47:35] advertise for folks to join I mean we have no real control over who submits a

[47:40] letter of interest the other thought I had was

[47:44] maybe uh someone under 30 so you know get get people who might be more

[47:49] invested in you know long future yeah so we do

[47:57] fill everything that is listed in the charge so we have a Communications

[48:01] committee rep we have an econ creative economy rep we have a small business

[48:05] owner we have residents with deep ties in the community we have folks with

[48:09] branding creative Direction Community expertise and we have a voting we have

[48:12] two voting members of the Town staff um so we're fulfilling our charge and I

[48:18] hear you Kate that um the group looks a little white um and

[48:25] yes I think I'm over 30 I think most folks are over 30 Doug um so I'm

[48:33] 29 all right Nate we got you I knew you were the exception but

[48:40] got me on

[48:43] that um Nicole and Jen I wonder if you have

[48:48] any constituents that are kind of filling different niches that that you

[48:54] think might have capacity to be involved it's nice that we're virtual but we also

[48:59] meet on Wednesdays at noon so it's it's a lunchtime some folks might be able to

[49:04] join this is also unpaid right so it's something to keep in mind that we're

[49:07] asking people's time and labor and volunteering and that can be complicated

[49:11] when you're asking folks who might work multiple jobs or I mean I know many of

[49:14] you on this call also work multiple jobs and are volunteering your time but um

[49:19] it's just it's just something to be mindful of and be considerate of but I I

[49:24] mean I think I think how many do we have I just said one two three four so we

[49:30] have room for what you said one to three um I personally don't have any other

[49:37] people that I know that would be interested um so Nicole I don't know if

[49:41] you know anybody else um so I would say if we want to tell fery to just

[49:45] advertise put it on as part of their bulk volunteer

[49:49] commitments um so I um I reached out to a ton of people before Christmas

[49:57] and did it again after the holidays just in case people were just too busy to get

[50:02] back to me um I did that like a day ago so I kind of wanted to give it a little

[50:07] bit of time but I think I might be tapped out okay so we have Quorum we

[50:14] have a great group here um I think maybe Chris an action item could be um on our

[50:21] about the project website name that there are some committee seats open and

[50:26] if folks are interested they should submit a letter

[50:29] of interest right just like naming that this is open and folks can come um I and

[50:36] I'll think about other ways that we can in in any existing messaging that's

[50:39] going out like I I might make a quick Amendment to the press release that's

[50:43] going to drop later today and to say there's if if you would like to be

[50:46] involved visit our website and if you'd like to join the committee like please

[50:50] be in touch so that folks know that they can join and we can also just you all

[50:55] are ambassadors to this project project as you're out in the world if there's

[50:59] anyone that gets excited and you know wants to invite them on so just a point

[51:06] of clarity uh Are there specific age groups or you know folks that we're

[51:14] targeting or looking for or just or is there a guideline as far as what you'd

[51:20] like to have as far as that's concerned I put that question right back

[51:27] to you Nate like what do you think like who do you think should be here and and

[51:31] Chris and Molly and um I I feel like it you know having a younger person you

[51:36] know obviously brings a a different uh Dynamic and and you know set of ideas to

[51:41] the table um yeah I I'm only asking because this is my first committee so uh

[51:47] you know having said that it's it's it's uh it's new but it's also important to

[51:54] to include as many people as we can um as far as you know and having a a

[52:01] a broad brush approach you know just so that so that

[52:06] it it it's uh not quite so

[52:13] um so if I can

[52:18] go uh so I just also want to reiterate that this group is working directly with

[52:25] the project manager but part of the timeline of this project Nate and others

[52:30] who are maybe are new and haven't been part of this process is that there's

[52:34] going to be lots of opportunities for public input to gather as much input

[52:38] from the community as possible so this is not we are not going to be deciding

[52:44] right we're going to be soliciting lots more public Outreach um and

[52:50] opportunities for folks to get engaged in different ways Beyond this bi-weekly

[52:54] meeting right so um this is not the be all end all we're not the only people

[53:00] that we're trying to represent with the community so my suggestion to uh the the

[53:06] committee members is that um we open this up we send it to fery house we have

[53:12] them look for volunteers post it in the newspaper um we'll be required to put

[53:17] together just a brief paragraph of like what we're looking for what we're about

[53:21] whatever whatever we really want to say to entice people to volunteer with us um

[53:26] like I said they'll advertise it they'll put it on the website I will link to

[53:30] that from our Pages I'll put like a banner at the top that links to that

[53:34] that volunteer section so they can sign up from the website um and I think we

[53:39] just be open to whoever comes in and but at the same time try to be clear that

[53:44] we're looking for a diverse range of individuals from um you know both

[53:50] techsavvy and not people of of older ages and younger ages of you know

[53:55] diverse background rounds of of uh you know wealth poverty whatever we want the

[53:59] entire range of of belg toown individuals and and honestly there's no

[54:04] skill involved it's just an opinion on on your hometown uh so that's I think we

[54:10] just put together a quick statement like that and uh and and see what see what it

[54:13] brings in what's the timeline for that so if we put it out we have to wait at

[54:19] least I think 30 days um for any votes to come in so if they if like we send it

[54:25] out and and day two they're like hey we've got somebody we can't vote on them

[54:28] we can't bring them in until that 30 days has lapsed um but at the end of 30

[54:33] days we'll either have some people that we could vote on and bring into the

[54:35] group or we won't and we'll just keep the advertisement

[54:39] going does that change the timeline of the committee you know as far as the the

[54:45] no and and the committee I mean we're five to seven but but honestly we can

[54:49] continue operating um with with four like we can start making decisions

[54:54] getting things done it's just that kind of at a position where as soon as the

[54:58] first person volunteers to come in we kind of have to say yes because we need

[55:02] that fifth seat

[55:05] filled so not that I don't think we would necessarily turn anybody down

[55:09] right away or for for anything but um yeah that's and so so my suggestion is

[55:14] is that we just keep things moving and we start making some some choices and

[55:18] and get this project rolling and in the meantime just throw a couple lines out

[55:22] and see who wants to to get involved

[55:27] okay so an action item for me will be to um make a recommendation to change the

[55:34] charge that names Communications and planning exfo

[55:39] membership um and to write a little blurb that can be shared encouraging

[55:45] folks to join and participate okay sounds great great um

[55:52] now roles chair Vice chair and secretary so it sounds like we can have a paid act

[55:59] uh staff member as secretary and mod has already been very generously submitting

[56:05] our um agendas I we have our minutes that are kind of documented um and

[56:12] stored in a drive so I'm not sure if if all all the secretary would do beyond

[56:16] that is bring those minutes to the committee

[56:19] meeting someone would motion to to vote to approve the minutes or make

[56:22] amendments to the m minutes um approve them and then submit them to the town

[56:27] clerk and then we have a chair and a vice chair

[56:31] position um so we don't have to make those the decision on what those

[56:36] positions are today but I would just encourage you if if you're particularly

[56:40] interested in a chair or vice chair position if you've done it before if you

[56:43] haven't done it before and you want to give it a try if you've done it before

[56:45] it' be easy for you to do in your sleep um you know happy to open for

[56:50] conversation and and vote on this and decide on it next week unless folks are

[56:54] completely clear and certain their roles Chris I see

[56:58] you just just hoping not to be another chair member but or not chair but yeah

[57:04] the communication committee is is already a lot and so his work and stuff

[57:08] but um if it comes down to nobody else then I can I can step in because a lot

[57:12] of the work is being shared between the group and this one

[57:15] so yeah I was try yeah no I I was just curious like how functionally like

[57:25] establishing the chair amongst one of the voting members would change things

[57:29] because Danielle I feel like you are acting as chair and you're leading these

[57:32] meetings and that's sort of your role here so like what would the difference

[57:35] be when we have an official chair or vice chair in place so I think what

[57:40] would happen is the chair would call the meeting to order do roll call announce

[57:47] that the meeting is being recorded and you depending on Comfort the chair

[57:53] can facilitate the meeting with the agendas that like the more detailed

[57:56] agendas that I am maintaining or you can pass it to me and I can facilitate the

[58:01] meeting um but it's it's kind of to the discretion of the chair Chris is there

[58:07] anything else that you could imagine a chair

[58:10] doing yeah I mean at the end of the day the chair is sort of a a a facilitator

[58:16] of conversation right as you said they they kick off the meeting they do the

[58:20] roll call stuff like that they're the ones that are uh you know just keeping

[58:25] track of time and keeping track of conversation making sure that things are

[58:27] being moved forward um they're the ones that are making sure that uh you know

[58:33] public comment is allowed or not allowed they they they make sort of those rules

[58:37] on on how things are going to be moving in the uh within the realm of of any of

[58:41] the committee meetings um it typically comes down to the chair to submit the

[58:46] agendas but it doesn't necessarily have to be the chair that does that

[58:51] um and in this case I think we've decided that mod is gonna the yeah yeah

[58:56] and and that's that's totally fine I'm just sort of like listing some of the

[58:59] things um and and then in the end they're just kind of like the deciding

[59:02] vote on a lot of stuff right they should be that fifth member that makes the

[59:05] final like okay I'll you know I I want to go this way or split the tie or

[59:09] whatever um other than that there's there's not a whole lot that they are on

[59:14] the hook for it's really just the facilitating of

[59:20] conversation oh boy I'll volunteer for that great okay

[59:26] um and then the vice chair I think fills in if the chair can't be there is that

[59:30] right Chris correct I I dropped the committee handbook into the chat and

[59:37] that has a description of each of these roles on page nine oh boy I don't even

[59:42] know what I signed up for so I do have a quick question though the um the agendas

[59:47] that were submitted and on the town website right now says that we're

[59:51] electing officers at our next meeting and I don't know if we can actually go

[59:56] ahead and do that today with it being on the agenda for the next meeting that's

[1:00:00] yeah we're we're not elect I think the idea we're just discussing roles today

[1:00:04] then I just want to make sure that we're sticking to the agendas and what was

[1:00:07] posted Kate you're acting like a chair uh but I can't be so that's perfect and

[1:00:13] Nate wants to do it too so yes so I think we're we're gauging interest

[1:00:18] answering questions and then we will vote on it and decide on it next time

[1:00:23] perfect um but yes thank you mod for sharing ing um the committee handbook uh

[1:00:28] if if folks want to take a look at that a little bit more closely it's great

[1:00:32] that we have someone who is interested if there's anyone else who's interested

[1:00:36] we can have a really heated debate next time and and have you duke it out for

[1:00:40] the the chairship and the vice chairship and the secretary

[1:00:45] position um I think that might be a way to really get the youth involved

[1:00:50] actually so um let them know that there's a a hot Contender contendership

[1:00:55] a foot for the the chair position of this

[1:00:57] committee um we can technically at any point

[1:01:03] reassess those roles and and swap people around if necessary thank you Chris um

[1:01:10] heavy is the head that wears the crown

[1:01:14] so um okay so we have interest in a in a chair role

[1:01:19] um if anyone is interested in Vice chair or secretary I think Chris you're also

[1:01:25] you sort of were acting secretary in terms of converting our AI notes into

[1:01:30] meeting minutes so if you are still interested in continuing that sure might

[1:01:35] fit nicely into secretary and and teaming up with Mod on on anything

[1:01:39] that's else anything else that's required

[1:01:43] there and then Molly and Moren I don't know if there's any interest in a vice

[1:01:48] chair but I'll I'll leave it to you all to Mo over and I I can send this

[1:01:52] committee handbook via email as well in case folks want to you know just take a

[1:01:57] closer look and we can vote on it next time I'm happy to do it if unless Morin

[1:02:04] would like to but um feel like I'm getting an easy way out

[1:02:09] here I mean we we all are right because Daniel's work yes other people are doing

[1:02:15] all the work it's wonderful H happy to facilitate um Okay

[1:02:22] so we've had our discussion of roles we've had our discussion of membership

[1:02:26] um next steps our RFP is live so I will ask everyone and encourage everyone to

[1:02:33] spread it around um I'll I'll send it out to you all by email it is on the

[1:02:37] town website but I will follow up by email and ask you to spread it around

[1:02:40] Moren especially you shared that you have some graphic designers that that

[1:02:43] are local who be of interest I would really encourage you to share this RFP

[1:02:47] with them or if you have any email addresses of folks I can email them and

[1:02:52] do Outreach specifically to encourage them to apply um mod and Doug have put

[1:02:57] together a list of folks for me to do Outreach to from the previous rfps that

[1:03:01] they had administered so I'll be doing that this week our press release will go

[1:03:06] live um today the announcement will will run in the Sentinels Next Issue um and

[1:03:14] our next steps are to begin the content audit which will be making an inventory

[1:03:19] and list of all the places where the uh logo and seal might show up so that's on

[1:03:25] me to and I'll report back on that when we meet again in two weeks and we will

[1:03:30] also um need to decide some potential interview dates and times so my final

[1:03:36] question which if if you have another five minutes we can discuss now if not

[1:03:39] we can discuss at the next meeting is um who would like to be involved in the

[1:03:44] interviews for the graphic designer once we narrow down that pool and I will ask

[1:03:50] everyone to um you know take a closer look at their calendar and and see what

[1:03:55] days we might hold for those interviews um we had established some and then our

[1:04:00] timeline changed so we're GNA have to reestablish those potential interview

[1:04:04] dates um we won't need to make that decision until the end of the month rfps

[1:04:09] are due at the end of the month so the interviews will be some point in early

[1:04:13] Feb um but just something for for us to Noodle on and come back to so what's the

[1:04:20] press release I haven't seen that and what are we announcing we're announcing

[1:04:25] that project thank you Nate good job bring us back to reality um the press

[1:04:31] release is announcing that The Branding belter Town project is happening it's

[1:04:36] that we're allocating time there's a committee this is what it's about so

[1:04:39] we're announcing that and we're announcing that there's an RFP which is

[1:04:42] request for proposals from graphic designers so basically different graphic

[1:04:47] designers from around the town around the state what's what's the budget it's

[1:04:53] it's $10,000 with a little wiggle room so they'll be paid $10,000 to um do an

[1:05:00] updated Town seal um a logo and a branding

[1:05:07] guideline book toolbook that tells us how to use these these brand assets um

[1:05:15] and they in order to get the gig they submit proposals to us which are coming

[1:05:19] to me and I'm kind of going to be calling and filtering and sharing out

[1:05:22] with with you um that seems like a lot ofy

[1:05:29] um I was going to say it seems like not a lot of money

[1:05:33] forign we paid like half a million dollars for something like this for like

[1:05:38] a firm you know it's yeah big

[1:05:43] range okay I think we'll we'll get one I don't know that we'll get submissions

[1:05:48] from graphic design firms I think we'll get submissions from Individual

[1:05:53] designers um and then it's a lot of work because they're not only creating a new

[1:06:00] logo or a new logo that's never been ex existed before so they're creating

[1:06:03] original logo they're updating a seal they're going to be getting and in

[1:06:09] incorporating lots of feedback from us and from the community and then they're

[1:06:14] also making this brand guidelines book so they're creating the rules for how we

[1:06:20] use this and in that rule book kind of like teaching people how to use the

[1:06:25] stuff that they're making so it's it's a lot of content that they're delivering

[1:06:29] but for one individual graphic designer I think it's a a fair

[1:06:33] contract um are we aiming for someone in town local or is this

[1:06:39] something that's you

[1:06:43] know that you know I guess I guess my perspective is is are we looking small

[1:06:49] are we aiming large you know

[1:06:53] what I think it's always helpful to find somebody who is is somewhat local and

[1:06:58] knows the town and and gets the the real like core sense of town I agree with

[1:07:04] that I don't think we can be really picky about it and I think that we can

[1:07:06] be open uh especially because we want to do so much uh uh research and and

[1:07:10] surveys into town opinions and stuff like that that that I don't think we

[1:07:14] should limit ourselves just to this region and we should look around um to

[1:07:18] to whoever uh is is is open to the role

[1:07:23] okay I just don't want you know you don't want to put yourself in a box that

[1:07:28] says you you know I'm I I'm only looking for this but yet I expect

[1:07:33] this so the selection criteria the criteria that we decided would help make

[1:07:40] the decision are experience and qualifications so someone who has done a

[1:07:45] similar branding project with a municipality or a community that is

[1:07:50] similar to belr town in some way so knows what they're getting into so that

[1:07:54] can mean that they're from here that can mean that they've worked on similar

[1:07:56] things creativity and vision so really aligning with the um historical and uh

[1:08:04] that that that Essence that Moren was talking about demonstrating that they

[1:08:08] understand what that is or or can understand what that is community

[1:08:11] engagement so being thoughtful and and inclusive inclusive about how community

[1:08:16] members are being involved and budget and timeline so we might get proposals

[1:08:20] from someone saying I can do this for $50,000 and that would probably be a no

[1:08:25] or could do this but it'll take me three years that would be you know so those

[1:08:29] are the criteria that we had established we didn't say that they needed to be

[1:08:32] local I think there's committee members some committee members will have a

[1:08:35] strong preference for local there's going to be that creativity vision and

[1:08:40] Community engagement is going to be uh maybe easier for folks who are local

[1:08:45] okay and forgive me I you know I guess you guys mentioned another municipality

[1:08:51] that that did this and it was that aha moment that said that this could happen

[1:08:55] well how do we know that that that Community

[1:08:59] didn't have an in with that other person that was just willing to volunteer their

[1:09:03] time to do what they did does that make sense yeah Nate there there's a whole

[1:09:10] webinar that's in the chat now okay in the chat so that was the town of Asbury

[1:09:15] and it was uh put on through the mass municipality Association and they walk

[1:09:21] through uh their thing the difference between their project and our project is

[1:09:25] that they had a full-time Communications person on staff who took care of some of

[1:09:31] the things but the process that we're following and the RFP that we're using

[1:09:36] is closely aligned with the work that they did in asbery okay okay can you

[1:09:42] also clarify for um Nate am morine where the funds are coming from to pay for all

[1:09:47] of this y these are all arpa

[1:09:52] funds so it's not coming this isn't coming out of our budget this was money

[1:09:56] that was given to us as a result of covid that we had to spend by the end of

[1:10:02] the year yep and I think had a specific go ahead Chris I was gonna say um mod

[1:10:09] dropped off but she could answer this better than anybody else in here but

[1:10:11] really the um part of the the co Relief Fund was uh was improving Communications

[1:10:19] and improving branding to be able to once everything was over bring business

[1:10:24] back you know and and help these communities earn back the money that

[1:10:27] they've lost through covid one of the suggestions through the through the the

[1:10:31] the grants and everything was uh rebranding so that was one of the things

[1:10:35] that we actually held on to and said you know we we we should actually do this um

[1:10:39] it would be helpful so that money is is not not only from arpa funding and and

[1:10:44] not being taken out of the Town budget but it's earmarked for something that is

[1:10:48] specifically said in the documents that we should be doing so okay yeah and

[1:10:53] because it's marked those ways it can't be used for anything else sure sure it

[1:10:58] makes sense and Par pardon my questions I I've like I said the rookie here so

[1:11:04] these are questions that come up from from the public over and over and over

[1:11:07] again so we should be you know well versed and and and knowledgeable about

[1:11:12] all of them so you know now was the time to ask and I will share um we I'm gonna

[1:11:19] put this in the chat as well we in in advance of launching this project with

[1:11:24] our press release and and getting the getting the word out this week so that's

[1:11:27] when all this is starting to come out this week um we do have a Q&A page that

[1:11:32] that Chris built for US based on what we think are going to be some commonly

[1:11:35] asked questions so I will send this all out by email as well but if there are

[1:11:39] any questions that you are hearing or that you think of that aren't mentioned

[1:11:44] on this page we can absolutely come up with answers to them and include them um

[1:11:50] because if you're having those questions other people are going to have those

[1:11:53] questions y and I'm sorry I know we're

[1:11:58] overtime um can you just put up maybe the timeline for the work so we're doing

[1:12:06] the RFP it's due at the end of the month and in the meantime are we going to do

[1:12:11] the public Outreach stuff so I think that's going to be Con

[1:12:16] on the on the deck for conver on deck for conversation next week okay that's

[1:12:20] cool here is our timeline document I'm just going to put in the chat and I'm

[1:12:23] also happy to send this by EMA email is the chat available after the meeting is

[1:12:29] closed um no no no oh so okay I I don't I don't read that fast I'll send it I'll

[1:12:36] send it out by email Nate just so that you have all of this and so Mar has this

[1:12:40] and Kate has all this but okay um our our timeline right now we are in the

[1:12:46] process of um proposal evaluation and designer selection so from now through

[1:12:51] the end of the month we are really going to be trying to get the word out about

[1:12:55] this RFP getting people to apply for the

[1:12:58] position and on the back end I'm prepping for them to get started so

[1:13:04] creating all of the the list of all the places where they're going to have to

[1:13:07] create content for us so that's what we're doing between now and the end of

[1:13:11] January February is the selection process where we you know choose who's

[1:13:16] going to get the contract and award it and do a kickoff meeting with the

[1:13:20] designer so that we can really get on the same page with them and they can

[1:13:24] start some some initial design work I imagine that the community input section

[1:13:31] will begin what I've allocated here is from March through April so that gives

[1:13:36] us from now until early March to really Define what community involvement will

[1:13:41] look like um what are the opportunities for us to pop up in person invite people

[1:13:46] in on Zoom uh put out surveys you know and let folks weigh in in our initial

[1:13:52] conversations we thought I believe what we came down to was um that we would

[1:13:57] have like a few options that we presented to the public to weigh in on

[1:14:03] um and maybe and and what we also were going to do is have a brainstorm with

[1:14:08] this group to bring in um General ideas on what those like Core Essence values

[1:14:13] were that or The Core Essence that maren was talking about help us as a group

[1:14:17] Define that a little bit using Town input from the communities and and

[1:14:20] families and and groups that we're all a part of um Define that and then pass

[1:14:25] that to the designer and then what the public would see would be like three or

[1:14:28] four versions or two or three versions so that so that when we give people

[1:14:32] decision- making power they actually have decision-making power right um I

[1:14:36] had a great chat with Nicole say if we had if we had the conversation saying

[1:14:39] what does belter town mean and look like to you to everyone we would get a

[1:14:42] thousand different images and that might be harder to distill whereas if we're

[1:14:46] doing some of that pre-work and Distilling what Bel Town looks and feels

[1:14:50] like um among this committee we're already capturing a good cross-section

[1:14:55] of the community with with that and what we will actually do is show the

[1:14:59] community material things that they can vote on and decide on um but this is

[1:15:04] continued conversation so I'll plant those seeds and say when we come back

[1:15:09] next week we'll vote on uh positions we will uh look at minutes and approve

[1:15:15] minutes from this meeting vote on positions um decide on an interview

[1:15:21] schedule and who is going to be part of interviewing I don't think that has to

[1:15:24] be everyone for the designer and begin discussions of how and what community

[1:15:30] involvement looks like um question on the interviewing and

[1:15:35] whatnot like is this committee the ones voting to agree to hire one or are we

[1:15:41] making a recommendation to Steve I'm just you know like who does need to be

[1:15:47] there and have input um and I recognize there's only like two meetings scheduled

[1:15:52] before we're supposed to be awarding a contract

[1:15:59] that's a question I think that um this group

[1:16:04] and this body are going to be the deciders because Danielle is actually

[1:16:09] going to sub subcontract the

[1:16:15] contractor I think we will I think we are not there we have in in my contract

[1:16:20] is that we are not to make a hiring decision without Express approval from

[1:16:23] the town so I believe we make the recommendation of maybe like the final

[1:16:27] one like this committee decides we want to hire designer a to Steve we get

[1:16:31] Steve's Express approval and then we do the hiring okay so we will need to vote

[1:16:35] on that then so we need enough people who are familiar with the candidates to

[1:16:39] be able to vote I think what we'll probably do is

[1:16:45] have like the the top two or the top three maybe there'll be one very clear

[1:16:49] standout but if not we'll have the top two or three like the folks who are in

[1:16:54] the interview process can present their recommendation to this group for

[1:16:57] discussion and then vote on who to

[1:17:03] hire that's sort of what we did with the mural station right the transfer St were

[1:17:08] you part of that yeah there was like a subcommittee yeah doing that yeah and

[1:17:13] brought it to the creative economy that makes sense and we could probably record

[1:17:16] the interviews too if anybody really wanted to look okay I was just looking

[1:17:20] at the timeline and it feels what it feels quick it

[1:17:26] um and what happens if nobody

[1:17:30] applies we all draw asking the hard questions I think we'll get application

[1:17:36] I I mean you you've got a firm timeline it's like all right so you know in two

[1:17:40] weeks you we we have to vote and hire somebody to have a contract well is that

[1:17:46] feasibly possible the hiring won't happen until mid-February no I okay but

[1:17:52] but yes um realistically we have two weeks

[1:17:55] so that's yeah we have two meetings um we will have to schedule interviews

[1:18:02] outside of those meetings and I am doing a lot of the backend work to facilitate

[1:18:09] um the CH the challenging thing is getting

[1:18:13] submissions um rfps are pretty competitive like I think people are

[1:18:17] watching and looking out for rfps a lot of designers will have a Google alert

[1:18:21] set on their email to send them anytime an RFP drop

[1:18:25] I guess I wasn't aware of that so yeah so so they're looking for business like

[1:18:29] people are looking for work and part of our process requires us to do that

[1:18:33] one-on-one Outreach so not only is the notice going in the Sentinel but I am

[1:18:38] also in charge of emailing folks that have already expressed interest in the

[1:18:42] role so there are do you have a number of people that have already expressed

[1:18:46] interest um I believe we have a list of five or six people that applied to the

[1:18:50] project management position who actually designers that we're going to send it to

[1:18:54] and I am also pushing it out to a network of graphic designers so I'm

[1:18:59] doing that by email I'm doing that on LinkedIn I'm doing that on social media

[1:19:02] and I'm also encouraging everyone in this group to do the same with their

[1:19:06] networks of graphic designers especially those who might be local that you know

[1:19:12] and already have relationship

[1:19:15] with um

[1:19:19] okay so I'm going to be I'm I'm optimistic

[1:19:24] like I I think we're going to get some great submissions I think we're doing a

[1:19:27] good job in terms of press the press release that's going out and announcing

[1:19:30] this project will also announce the RFP so I'm hoping that it gets picked up by

[1:19:34] local news um that release is going out today and if we don't get a lot of

[1:19:39] pickups then I'm gonna chat with Kate about doing some pitching to specific

[1:19:44] reporters because I think as part of her role in Communications she could pitch

[1:19:49] to local reporters and ask them to cover the story that will get more attention

[1:19:53] to it I know and mod are also working on a social media strategy to share news

[1:19:59] about this this effort and get the word out even further um that's what I was

[1:20:04] gonna ask whether it's going on the town Facebook page and stuff like that Pate

[1:20:09] do you want to speak to that a little bit Yeah once once um once the press

[1:20:13] release is live it'll get added you know to the front of the website and it'll be

[1:20:17] on our Facebook page to get shared and everything else um and that's why I was

[1:20:21] looking to get the clarification about whether or not the committee was

[1:20:24] accepting new members because I'm sure that that question will come up like

[1:20:28] who's on this committee and you know if I want to join how do I do that so I'm

[1:20:33] glad that that was clarified already today and I'm GNA make that edit I

[1:20:39] wanted to make sure this group met before I sent out the press release so

[1:20:42] I'm gonna add that line about joining um and I'm just going to say to express

[1:20:47] interest to email email me and I can move people through the process um and

[1:20:54] I'm going to add that line item to the press release before it goes out

[1:20:57] today and it will go out today and I'm going to copy Kate on it so she can see

[1:21:02] and then it's it's already finalized so it could go it could go on the website

[1:21:06] Kate Chris whenever you want whenever you're ready um I actually need you to

[1:21:10] send me a text once it goes um goes live because I won't be being part-time I'm

[1:21:15] not always tuned into my email so if you could send me a text once you have the

[1:21:20] press release out there I would appreciate it um sure would you mind

[1:21:24] emailing me your phone number so I can do that yeah I think you have it but I

[1:21:29] will definitely send it over to make sure you have it okay great

[1:21:33] thanks all right so in the absence of of our chair which we'll decide next week

[1:21:39] or Nate I don't know if you want to give it a test run uh I think unless there's

[1:21:42] anything else up for discussion we can adjourn this

[1:21:45] meeting do you have to make a motion oh please feel free motion to

[1:21:51] close the meeting second

[1:21:57] yeah okay thank you everyone so with that our meeting is closed and we will

[1:22:02] see you in two weeks and I will send an email reminding folks of the next

[1:22:05] meeting and sharing all the things that were in the

[1:22:08] chat thanks you you thank you bye bye

Belchertown Branding Committee Meeting - January 8, 2025

Transcript