[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