[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: So a motion to, or I'm sorry, do we wanna go over, do we wanna accept the minutes first, right?
[Brenda Pike]: Yes, for the October and November meetings, because we weren't able to approve them the last time.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so motion to accept the meetings of the October and November, the minutes of the October and November meetings.
[SPEAKER_06]: Aye.
[Brenda Pike]: Aye.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Aye, yes.
[Brenda Pike]: OK, approved. Thank you, guys.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: And motion to start the meeting?
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, yeah, we're starting.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: We're already starting anyway.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, we, we usually go down.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I never, I never will be good at that.
[Brenda Pike]: No, it's okay. We usually just go down through the members to make sure who's here. And so that we have a. We know that we have a quorum, but that's not an official motion or anything.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep. Yep. Do we want to talk about when we want to have our next meeting?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think we're going to have to, like. Like. figure out a time like maybe we can do or I can pass like an email for everyone and see like what you know. put on the doc when you guys are available. So that way we can figure out like a time we can just, you know, I know Stacey is going to be not on here for a couple just because of, you know, what she was going through. And then, yeah. So it would be just Natasha, Charbel and I with Samia.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep. And I know Samia can't make, uh, can only do Thursdays and Fridays right now.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: In all honesty, I feel like for me, Thursdays and Fridays are pretty open. So I'm open to that. I don't know. Like I said, I can do the email.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Thursday nights are not good because I do the ESOL class at the library from six. But Friday is okay for me.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I can do Friday. I would just have to call in from work. So I can't guarantee that I will be like 100% attentive during the meetings, but if need be, I can do that.
[Brenda Pike]: Does everybody have commitments during the day? Would it make sense for people to hold the meeting During like, you know, night sometime during 9 to 5.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: No, not for me.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Um, Brenda, I have a question. How late can. Okay, this is just a idea, guys. You can let me know if you disagree or not. But I was thinking, we're usually almost always there on Wednesdays, right? So is there a way to stay a little bit later, just for the meeting, Brenda? Or, you know what I mean? Just to like, have it so we're all there physically?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, absolutely. When do you get when are you done with your other meeting on Wednesdays?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: We're usually done around I'll tell you right now because sometimes I like 630 I think.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Let me see.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, 630. So I was thinking maybe we can do like, I don't know if you guys want guys. I mean, like, I'm just saying taking advantage that we're all there and stuff, you know?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: We can do it at 7 can do 630 to 7. Yeah, yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we can just walk across the hall from the meeting to the other side to the other meeting room. If there is, if that's available, or if not the 1 that we went last time, remember Brenda.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, I think some something that we might run into is the lack of space at city hall on Wednesday evenings or. Yeah, if we're doing it in person, that might become an issue, but let's try to schedule it first and see what we can find.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: How long will it be? Because it depends on how late. Our meetings are usually, what, two hours or something?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, usually an hour and a half.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Okay. Cause I might not be able to stay that long. That's one of my longest days. I work from, I work two jobs back to back. So I'll probably see me veggie veggie. I'm like, huh? What's my name? But, um, I, I could do Wednesday nights, but probably the latest I could stay. It's probably eight pushing to eight 30.
[Brenda Pike]: Okay. But if we start at six 30 and six 30 to eight, Good work, it sounds like.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah. Works for me.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that way, like, if we can't find a space, I probably, I mean, I know that they wouldn't mind that we use our office anyway, so we can just wait there for Brenda to come.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, that would be wonderful. Okay, do we want to still send an email out to everyone so that folks who aren't here can can get a chance to weigh in on this? But does Wednesday the 19th sound like a good time to start this?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: March 19th, right?
[Brenda Pike]: Yep, March 19th.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, is that like a set March 19th, you said, is that like a set in stone time? Because I want to check real quick to see like, I don't know if you have a chart bill at hand or not. You know, the calendar that we have, like our events and stuff that like they've been pre doing with like the dates and everything. Oh, yeah. Like we were supposed to send it, but I never got it. If you can like forward it to me. But yeah, she sent a thing of us, Brenda, with like all of our events and things like that. So I just want to make sure that there's nothing on that date, so then we're good to go.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, there's nothing. Okay. It's just March 30th. There's a health and wellness fair.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Okay, awesome. So yeah, we're good that day, March 19th.
[Brenda Pike]: That's great. And we'll set it up as a hybrid meeting so that it's open to, I mean, it sounds like you'll all be there in person and so will I, but we can set it up as a hybrid meeting so that members of the public, if they want to join, they can.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I think that Samia sent, she sent a link to this folder. It was Samia, which has the schedule in it, but I will, I'll go ahead and forward that email to you.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Yeah. Cause when I get emails, they get all meshed and then I can't find anything. And then like right when you send it to me, I'm going to pin it. So that way I can have it there. Okay. So I'll definitely send an email, Brenda or everyone for the council members. Perfect.
[Brenda Pike]: Thank you. And then once you've confirmed that this works for people and I'll send out a calendar invitation for people.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Great. I mean, if you, I mean, like, maybe this Wednesday, I can comment it to, like, Catherine and stuff. To see if, like, even we can use a space just in case if all else fail, we don't have a meeting. Space. Yep.
[Brenda Pike]: I don't have anything else for the administrative topics to you. So what's up next, the Medford Connects events?
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: So we have the, there's the cultural connections to behavioral healthcare summit tomorrow from 12 to 2.30. That's going to be in the, in the chambers in the city. And then there's the 17th, which is, That's next Monday, I believe, right? Black History Month event for President's Day, which is also in the chambers.
[Brenda Pike]: What is the event? What is the Black History Month event?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I think it's just commemorating Black History Month, so I'm not sure exactly what's going on.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think it's a general thing.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: But I know that Frances is, she's the one who's like in charge of that.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: If you're able to come, please come, because me, Darlene, and the Meditation Task Force, we're going to be singing there.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, good. I will try to, but I don't know if I'll be able to stay too long.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Sure.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. And then there's the International Mother Tongue Day celebration, February 21, from 2 to 4.30 p.m. in the Medford Public Library.
[Brenda Pike]: What does that consist of?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Do you know? Oh, Barakatulo actually gave us, I think he's in charge of that event, obviously, as the ESOL connector. Didn't he give us a paper, Charbel, letting us know what was going on? But what were they doing there? They wanted tables to represent like each of the language and the tongues of everyone. I think that was like the main gist of it.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yes, I think so.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: find that paper oh my gosh so many but yeah i think it was just that um brenda like you know having a like each one a table like you know talk like about the language and stuff and like what it represents and everything so that's about it for that one yeah That's the next one Sharbo. That's the only one for this month.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: And then there's a multicultural night at Misutak school on the February 27th from 5 to 7. And that's at the Misutak. I think the Medford Family Network is going to be hosting that. But yeah, I think that's it for February.
[Brenda Pike]: What about March? Do you have that planned already?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: March, I only have the health and wellness fair for March 30th. But there's nothing there's like it's saying there's two other events. But I don't know when they will be or what they will be.
[Brenda Pike]: March 30th. That's a Sunday. Is that is that correct?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I think so. Let me see.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Sorry.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: No, it is. It is. Nope. March 30th. Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Okay. Um, I'm not sure that I'm going to be, um, tabling any of these. So, um, If I send you the Electrify Medford flyers, can you just have them there as a resource for people?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yes, of course. Yes, definitely. I found what will be the objectives of the Mother Tongue Day, if you want to know.
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so it's promoting awareness of the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity. highlight the importance of linguistic freedoms and foster a sense of pride in native languages and multilingualism. So yeah, that will be at the Medford Public Library.
[Unidentified]: Nice.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: So in terms of events that I am at right now that's planned, so we had an Electrify Medford event at the library on January 16th, where we had a presentation by Steve Bright from Heat Smart Alliance. all about heat pumps. And it was just a short half-hour presentation where he was talking about heat pumps. And then people could split up and have a one-on-one conversation with one of our coaches. So we had six people do coaching sessions right there at the event rather than just sign up to do it another time. So I think that was pretty effective to actually get people through that. We've been having an issue where people have been signing up, but then not following up with scheduling an appointment or actually doing the coaching session. I think we've only had about 30% of the people who've signed up actually go through with a coaching session. So I think events like that, where we can do the coaching session right there is really helpful. And we're going to do more of those and do less just tabling sessions in general. So, our next 1 of those that we had scheduled is, um, will be at the senior center on March 4th for an info session. Same thing. We'll do just a short presentation. Um. Not not necessarily with a guest speaker, but I will just do a short presentation about electrify Medford. Um, and then we'll have coaches there that people can talk to 1 on 1 to do a coaching session right there.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Okay.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: And that's March 4th, right? March 4th at 1 PM. 1 PM. Okay. So. I can probably add that to the calendar just so people can be aware if they want to or not to jump drop in. Great.
[Brenda Pike]: I'm also trying to schedule 1 at the West Medford community center, but I haven't had it. Haven't been able to get that. Scheduled yet. Do any of you work closely with the folks from the West Medford Community Center?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, we all do. We can definitely ask them. Can we do ask?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, because I've reached out by email and phone, and I haven't gotten a response.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: We can bring that up at the meeting, yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, and yeah, let me know if it would be helpful for me to drop by on Wednesday or anything, if that would be a better way to do it.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I mean, yeah. If you like, yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: I don't want to crash your meeting.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Our meetings are informative.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: It's open to everybody. But we can, I was just saying, we can bring it up with Sophie because she, she's like in contact with Who's the director? I think her name is Lisa.
[Brenda Pike]: Lisa Crossman.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, Lisa Crossman. Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, that would be wonderful. Thank you. And we're going to want to schedule more of these, but these are the ones that I'm focusing on right now. And then the next big event from my office is we're going to do a rain barrel pickup. And that's all the way out in May, but it's May 14th. And the way that works is people will do lots of outreach about this. And then people who are interested can purchase a rain barrel beforehand. And then when the company drops all of the rain barrels off, then folks from my office and volunteers from the energy committee, or you guys if you're interested, would be there to hand out the rain barrels to the people who've purchased them. Awesome. And it doesn't seem like necessarily like a climate related thing, but stormwater is a big issue. And so capturing stormwater off people's roofs and them using it for their gardens is definitely much better than it just kind of washing away all at once. It's flooding, right Brenda? Yep, exactly. Which is climate change. Yep, definitely. And with climate change, we've talked about this a lot before, but with climate change, because it's hotter, the air can hold more moisture. And so that means that you go a lot longer without rain, because it's just holding on to that moisture. And then when it finally gives it up, it's a huge storm, much bigger than it would be otherwise. And so that's why you get the stormwater flooding. And then we've set the date for the next Harvest Your Energy Festival. That's going to be October 18th.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: October 18th, Harvest.
[Brenda Pike]: And I know that you, I know that Medford Connects has your own table there, but we're also looking for volunteers to help run the event too. Dozens of volunteers who help with like, set up with tear down with, with the actual running of the event in the middle of it. So, um, if that's something that you're interested in, we'd really appreciate it.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Do you have like a signup sheet or do we let you know?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah. Um, let, let me know. Um, and then when we get closer to it, we'll have a signup sheet with like specific tasks that you can volunteer to do.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Awesome. Do you know what time Brenda on October 18th? I think it's usually one to three, something like that. OK. It's just to put in our calendar, too, and let them know.
[Brenda Pike]: I can double check, actually, while we're on the call. 12 to 3 is what it was last year. But then for volunteers, setup usually starts around 10, and then breakdown lasts until 4. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I would, I'll definitely volunteer for that. That's great. Yeah, absolutely.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah. That's all that I have for events right now. Should I jump into updates on city actions?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[Brenda Pike]: Okay, so for Electrify Medford, we've had 115 signups and 44 people coached. And With January energy bills being so much higher than what they were before, we're getting a lot of people thinking about how to reduce their energy costs. And a lot of times it'll just be talking to them about making sure they're on the aggregation and talking to them about national grids discount rates and fuel assistance and things like that. But it's also just a really good time to say and energy efficiency is another great way that you can lower your energy bills. So it's just a good opportunity while people are thinking about it to talk with them about longer term things that they can do to their homes. But yeah, a lot of people were hit with really high energy bills just because there were rate increases and And that happened right around the same time as the, there was that huge cold snap. So we're hit with bills that were a lot larger than they've ever had before. Is that something that you have been hearing people talking about?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: My father.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I was gonna say that's our balance, like my mom.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: My father, yeah. But he was saying that, I'm pretty sure he's on the aggregate. But he was saying that, like, I know that direct energy is the supplier.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yep. Yes. He wants to like, see if there's like something else because they're way too expensive.
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, that's, it's cheaper than it was before. Like we actually dropped a cent. I think, I think it's about a cent per kilowatt hour.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I don't know. I think he was just saying that it's just like really expensive.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, because there was an increase on the delivery side of things, so our aggregations on the supply side.
[Unidentified]: Right.
[Brenda Pike]: So no matter who you go with for the supply, the delivery cost is going to be the same. It's all through national grid. Yeah. But yeah, your parents should definitely sign up for Electrify Medford if they're interested. We could do a coaching session with them.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Yeah, I'll talk with them. I have them enrolled in the fuel assistance as well. And as well as like the national grid discount.
[Brenda Pike]: So that means that if they do want to get a home energy assessment and see what they can do for energy efficiency, it'll be 100% paid for. They did before the new year. Oh, they did. They already had somebody come in?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: They got the home energy assessment, yes. So now they're just waiting for them to contact them again to see how they can help with the insulation for the house and reducing energy costs and stuff. So yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: That's great. They're already doing the right thing.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I think I was going to ask you, Brenda, I think my parents would be interested in doing that home energy assessment.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, absolutely. I would encourage them to do a coaching session through Electrify Medford first, just to get some good advice before going into it. But, yeah, there's I dropped the link into the chat where people can sign up for for electrify Medford.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: No way I can get to.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Is this is this also included in your flyer? Yes, it is. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
[Brenda Pike]: Um, let's see here. Um, we're planning on doing, um, a big door hanger push in March. Um, I've been developing the message around that with a Northeastern professor who lives here in Medford, who, who does, who's a marketing professor. Um, so he's helping us put that together and then also getting some students to, um, to volunteer, to, uh, go door to door. Um, not knocking on people's doors, but just leaving the door hangers there. Um, so that's something that we're planning for probably the second half of March. Um, so I'm hoping we get a big influx of it, people finding out through that. Um, but do you have any suggestions for other places where we could do the types of info sessions that I was talking about? Like I did as a library, like we're doing at the senior center and West Med for community center.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Is school possibility like the schools?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, absolutely. That's a good idea. Cause people are already used to, you know, parents are already used to going there.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: You're going to say something Charbel?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Um, no, I'm just thinking.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I thought you were going to say something. Um, I mean, local police department.
[Brenda Pike]: Do you think people would come to that?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Hey, I mean, we would do go there for doing what trainings and stuff. Do you remember that Charbel? We went to trainings there.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, but that's, that's us, you know, so we're talking about the general public.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. I mean, I'm just saying to tie in with like, you know, organization, so they're not like scared. Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Um, I, I, for some reason, I would expect people to be afraid of going to something at the police station. I don't know.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: No, I mean, you know, I just think of it more as like, it gives exposure to like, you know, them. I was thinking, um, I don't know.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Let me think.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I mean, those are the main ones from Medford. I don't know where, maybe we can use, we can do that as like a thinking.
[Brenda Pike]: Are there like community groups with that, that you think would be that, you know, that hold events like a, I don't know, you don't have some places we'll have like some sort of like hall or something where there's like a cultural group that gets together.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Let me see. You know that, uh, what's it called? Where was that? The, wow.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Uh, Medford create recreation. What was that? The recreation, Medford. The rec center. Uh huh. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Um, there's also that's underneath the Chevalier, right? Yes.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Yep. There's also, um, that first family network.
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, yes. I've been talking with Marie about different things. We just haven't finally, we haven't actually settled on anything yet.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Perfect. Look, so there's a, um, So I'm just looking at recreational groups. There's one that's called SHIP. It's called Social and Recreational Resources. It's a community recreation group in Medford. Maybe them. It's on 215 Salem Street.
[Brenda Pike]: Have you had any experience with them in the past?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I've heard of them from other people talking about it, but I've never personally, like, you know. was involved, but it could be a possibility.
[Brenda Pike]: Also, I'm looking for- Oh, it's the head injury program.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Interesting. There's also here, it says like Medford Police Patrolmen's Association, a nonprofit located at 4 Piedmont Road. So I'm not sure if that is another thing we can do. And then the Medford community Please I'm probably in a bunch of this choral It's a nonprofit located in 73 Damon Road I Think that's just somebody's house really yeah interesting
[Brenda Pike]: Okay, I won't I won't take up more of your time right now, but if you think of any other good suggestions for places that would be good to to go out to connect with people, because I feel like if we. We hold events at like, I don't know, at City Hall or something like that. We're having people come to us where if we're going to places that they're already going, then we might be able to reach different people.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. I just can't think of anywhere where people normally, like, gather, you know?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: You know what is so funny? And I wish there was something connected to it. You know the post office, how the post office, they always have people, especially residents, going in and out. I wish there was some, like, you know, do you see where I'm going with my brain, you know?
[Brenda Pike]: Isn't there an Islamic cultural center in the middle of Medford Square?
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, the one I got married in. Oh.
[Brenda Pike]: Do you think that would be a good location?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Uh, yeah, to get it. Yeah. Yeah. I have the imam's, uh, phone number if you would like it. Yes, please. That would be wonderful.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Okay, I will give it to you right now because I have it. Imam Boris.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so his name, well, his name is Boris W-A-R-I-S. Can you, can you just email it to me? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Okay.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. I just wanted to tell you if I write imam, it's because it's like a... How do I explain that Charbel? I was trying to see if... Trying to explain that to Brenda. His name's not imam, but it's a... Oh, it's like someone who reads prayers or something, right?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's like the equivalent of the priest, pretty much.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yep. It makes sense. So I'm gonna write that. That's what I was clarifying. Okay.
[Brenda Pike]: Sounds good. Okay, yeah, but if you guys come up with any more ideas, shoot me an email.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Wait, I have one quick one, Brenda. What's that new restaurant slash book place that is on that street? Right in front of that.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, the one that just opened, right?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yes, Charbel. Which one is that one?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, I forgot. I saw it in the email. I was gonna say we can partner up with that, you know, actually, the mayor was literally talking about it in her address.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yes, he did. Oh, my God, I forgot. It's on it's on High Street. It's like literally probably in front of that the bank. Like between the bank and the in the Islamic cultural One of those on the other side on the other side Brenda's of the street. Okay. Okay.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yes Mrs. Murphy's a new part. Is it a pump?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: No, it's basically like a lot. Uh, it's like a, I don't even know if it was like half cafe, half library, but it was, it's really nice. And they just open it. And I was thinking that's a good place if we like, you know, obviously collabed with them.
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, I'm just looking it up. It says moon and back bookstore.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Let me see.
[Brenda Pike]: Is that a children's bookstore?
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Let me see if it's looks like the one outside.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: No, Brenda, I think you were. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. Oh, this is this is no, I'm talking about High Street in Medford, not Boston Ave. If that's the one that says 458 High Street. Oh, it did. Why did I come out to high street? Let me see. Oh, they probably have two locations then. Maybe.
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, and their grand opening was. Okay, so it's dead now.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yes, it's probably that one. Okay.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Wait, what is it called?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Moon and back.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Moon and back.
[Brenda Pike]: Like, I love you to the moon and back.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Oh. And okay. I'm going to look it up.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I think it's that one, Charbel, if I'm not going crazy. moon and back book wonder oh so it's not like a cat it's not a cafe so i think um my mind's going crazy so i think when they bought it it was half the the one before that was half cafe half bookstore and then they i think they just did the bookstore because it was like that before that's why i remember not okay okay Yeah, it's right in front of CB Scoop. It was really cute.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. I don't know. I feel like it was. I don't know. I'll confirm it to you, Brenda. But either way, that one's a good one.
[Brenda Pike]: So yeah, other Electrify Medford news. We were supposed to have our training for like Last week, but they're holding off until the map. The new mass safe plan is approved by the at the end of this month. So they're rescheduling it for. April 4th is the 1st time they could reschedule it for. So, that's the 1st time they could reschedule it for. I'm looking forward to that because then I'll get updates directly from MassSave about their program so we can kick off that partnership. So that'll be doing more outreach for Electrify Medford and increasing what we're doing so it's not just residents but also for small businesses too. Sorry, what was that? Okay, the, the plan that's they're waiting for the DPU to approve has some updates. So they're not going to be any incentives for fossil fuel systems, except for income eligible residents. So they're only doing electric equipment, like heat pumps. The heat pump incentives will be dropping a little bit. So instead of just a flat $10,000, it's going to be $3,000 per ton up to $10,000 for this year. And then next year, it'll drop a little bit to like $2,700 per ton. Up to 8 and then up to 9000 dollars, and then 2027, it'll be 25 that 100 per ton up to 8000 dollars. So. Highlight their headline there, the heat pump incentives are sort of being reduced over time. So, the sooner people can take advantage of them, the better. And then the heat loan, the 0% interest heat loan will change based on income. It's still going to be 0% interest for everybody, but the term is going to change. So if you. are lower income, then you'll still have the seven-year loan available to you. But if you focus on higher incomes, we'll have only a five-year loan available to them or a three-year loan depending on what their income is. I think they're just trying to reserve more of their money for folks who need it more. Um, they're added, they've added a 120 volt heat pump, water heater rebate, um, and a split system heat pump, water heater. So that's the 120 volt heat pump, water heater, I think is good news because it means that people won't have to upgrade their wiring in order to install a heat pump. Um, so 120 volts is just a regular plugin and, uh, 240 volts, which is what they are right now. Um, that's more of a. Um, like, what you would plug in an electric dryer. Into it's like a higher level. Thing and so if you have to upgrade your wiring to that in order to install the water heater, then it's just another thing kind of standing in your way. So I think this would be good up to this point. I didn't think that they were great for cold climate environments, but if mass save is incentivizing it, then that's a. Sort of a stamp of approval that that. I like.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: It's reliable.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep. Um, and then the split system water heater. So right now the heat pump water heaters are all one system. So it's just like a tall storage tank water heater basically. Um, but you could also have water heaters that, um, where there's an indoor unit and an outdoor unit in the same way that like a mini split heat pump is you have like the outdoor condenser and then the, the, the. Indoor unit as well. So now they're adding that water heater as an option, which is good. And then they have 21 designated equity communities that will be getting higher incentives. Unfortunately, Medford isn't one of them, which is too bad. Yep, I think that's it for Electrify Medford. A few more quick updates. The Andrews and McGlynn HVAC project, we're selecting a construction manager for that this week actually, and then we'll be trying to onboard them as quickly as possible so that we can get to pre-ordering the equipment with long lead times so that we'll have the equipment in time to install this summer.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: That's exciting.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, we were just interviewing some of them today and talking about different ways, different suggestions they have for things that we can do to try to shorten the lead time for some of the equipment.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Right. It'll be great. Because this has been in the works for a long time, right?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, it's a really long process. It's a surprisingly long process.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: So it means that we won't have new air conditioning going into the summer. But hopefully, by the time where students are coming back to school, if it's hot, then we'll have air conditioning in place for that, at least in the classrooms. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: That's very good.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: At least the next generation has AC.
[Brenda Pike]: They need it. It's getting, it's getting hotter.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I remember when we would be in the, in the school and it'd be so hot and we'd have to find any way, shape or form to be like cool. We'd make like the paper fans, like anything just to like open the windows, doors, everything. It was crazy. So I'm really happy that at least, you know. That's a big, big leap and a big step forward.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah. That's going to be a really big deal with a high school project too, whether they renovate the high school or completely replace it. Um, air conditioning is a big deal there because some classrooms don't have windows that they can open there.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. I remember that was, that's the worst. You'd have to move to another space because it was too much. Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Let's see what else here. Oh, we're planning to do a plug load audit at the library because since It's been since it's been built, it's it's been using more electricity than we expected it to. And we've done some things like make changes to the building automation schedule. So, like, the lighting and the heating schedule and things like that, but we're still seeing higher energy usage. So we think it might be staff things that staff are plugging into outlets that that's higher than expected. So that's the point of the plug load audit is just to see what's actually being plugged in. Let's see what else here. Oh, we are applying for a mass clean energy center on street charging grant. So the idea of this is that it's for curbside EV charging so that people In neighborhoods where there aren't a lot of driveways, there are more people parking there than there are driveways can charge in their neighborhood overnight. Anytime, but really, like, overnight charging is a is a really useful thing. And so this grant will pay for. I think they said. maybe three to five locations per municipality. So we're looking at neighborhoods where there's a lot of smaller multifamily buildings. So might have renters or people without driveways try to locate these. So I think if we get this grant, which pays for 100% of the cost, it wouldn't cost us anything. Yeah, it's, it's actually a really great grant. So, if we do get it. Part of the 1st, things that we'll do will be identifying exactly what locations we want to install these charging stations at. And so that'll be a lot of community outreach just to make sure that, you know, we're putting them in areas where people actually want them and that we don't have people upset because we've put chargers in their neighborhood. Basically.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Are you guys going to be in charge of figuring out where the people want it?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, so we will be working with a consultant. So that's basically what we're getting for this. We're not getting the money. We're getting the consultant and the charging stations installed too. So the consultant will help us to figure that out. But we'll be doing a lot of outreach around that. And so once we start doing that, I'll definitely be Looking to you guys to help with with some of that outreach to awesome.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it would be good to, like, when we get to that point to be able to go to, like, if we have, like, an event near there or something, like, Hey, like, this is what we have and we talk about it and see whoever wants to like, but they're like idea, like, oh. This may be like, where I live, it might be a good place and then you can sort of get it from there.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, I can envision, like, putting out surveys for people to answer and having, like, focus groups where people can come and, you know, put things on a map or, yeah, like you said, at events, we can have, like, a map there where people can place things. Oh, yeah. That'd be good. And then, let's see, the Energy Committee, their last meeting, we have two new members. And we have one of them is really focused on zero waste and wants to start a zero waste Medford initiative. And they're talking about doing a. Um, kind of like a June Christmas event where when students are, um, leaving, um, doing some sort of event where they can, like. put things out on the street for free and put things, you know, sign up on a map to say where they are and what, what they're putting out. Um, and then, and also have like an actual, like event at some centralized location where people can bring things that they want to, to swap with people basically. So that's something that they are working on.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: It's so cool.
[Brenda Pike]: And off-campus student services at Tufts is really interested in working on this with them. So we're meeting with them, I think, next. Yeah, we're meeting with them next week to talk about it. They're also looking to do. a social media campaign during Earth Month where they have, we put out daily tips for, for things that people can do to, um, to help to save the earth. Um, and so, yeah, um, I, they haven't put out a shared spreadsheet yet, but they're going to have a shared document where people can submit their ideas and then they're going to, to sort of narrow those down to, um, to 30 of those basically. And yeah, so that we can then work with the comms team and get the messages out daily.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: When you get to that point, Brenda, maybe we can send an email to Catherine and I can post that on our Facebook.
[Brenda Pike]: That's great. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: More exposure.
[Brenda Pike]: And if you want to contribute to the tips, then I can share that link with you guys, too. Yeah, please. And then they're also looking to work with restaurants to get them to use more recyclable and compostable containers. They're especially interested in getting restaurants to move away from black plastic, which tends not to be recycled, just because the sorting machines can't identify what type of plastic it is. And I think there are more health issues around the black plastic as well. Um, so yeah, so they're looking to, um, create some materials that they can give out to businesses and they're looking to put together a list of businesses for them to do outreach to. So it's not the whole group that's working on all of this. They've sort of, um, broken up into small groups and are, uh, Each one is taking on a different task that they want to do. But I'll share any materials that they come up with. I'll definitely share that with you. And if there's anything like that that you'd be interested in working on, let me know. And then we also, last meeting, we had a presentation by Matt Barlow. He's a meteorologist and he's an expert on precipitation and drought and water cycles. He teaches at UMass Lowell, but he lives here in Medford. But he was a lead author on water changes for the IPCC sixth assessment report. So he's a definitely an expert in all of this as it, you know, water changes as it relates to climate change. And he gave us a presentation on this new Climate Change Center at UMass Lowell and some of the work that he's been doing and will be doing in the next few months. So I can share that presentation with you. Awesome. I think that's it for updates on city actions. I see that the next thing on the agenda is a hazard mitigation plan update. Have you been very involved in that and would you like to give an update on that or would you like me to?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Other than the meeting that we attended the other day, been involved other than that.
[Brenda Pike]: Okay. Yeah. So, um, yeah. So our first public, what was that? Was that last week?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Last Monday or the Monday before?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah. Yeah. It was last, last Monday, I think. Um, or yeah, two Mondays ago. Wow.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[Brenda Pike]: Um, but yeah, so that was the 1st public meeting, um, and then they're going to do focus groups and surveys. And then the 2nd public meeting will be in June and then they'll have some findings and maps and things like that for people to respond to. Um, and then they'll get feedback on that. And then the final public meeting will be in September. Um. But I think they're trying to do the bulk of the focus groups and surveys before that 2nd, public meeting in June. But, yeah, so the, the, the hazard mitigation plan, it's supposed to be updated every 5 years. But our last update was 2019. so we're a little bit behind on that, which is why we're. We're working on that now and it's a long process.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I can imagine.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah. Um, and there are three internal city committees that are working on this. Um, so I'm on one of them. Um, and I think you guys are on one of them too, right? Or is that just the, is that the office of prevention and outreach that is more. involved in that?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I think it's more like Andrean and her consulting company. But we're not really involved.
[Brenda Pike]: OK. The internal committee that I'm on, we've only met once so far. So I think it's similar to the public. It's a similar cadence as the public meetings. So it's only we're probably going to meet three or four times between now and September.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Um, yeah, and those, um. This hazard mitigation plan is this, like, going to be kind of combining those. I guess, integrating those, like, resilience hubs.
[Brenda Pike]: Supposed to be that might be 1 of the sort of, like, recommendations coming out of it. Um, like, if the. Resilience hubs existed that would be one of the critical infrastructure pieces that would be identified in the hazard mitigation plan. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I would imagine.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah. And then we also have a climate vulnerability assessment, which is similar, but a little bit different than the hazard mitigation plan. The hazard mitigation is looking at You know, all types of hazards, not just, um. You know, not just heat and storm water and things like that, but also, um. Sorry, I'm thinking, like, cobit like diseases like cobit was is 1 of those things that would be considered a hazard that might be included in there. Um. But so we're also updating the climate vulnerability assessment this year. There's a lot of overlap between the two, especially when it comes to heat and storm water and things like that. And so I'm working with the team that's putting that together, just updating the data behind it, not redoing any of the public outreach around that. But just since there are new storm water maps and things like that that need to be considered as part of it. But I put that team in contact with Andre on and Marianne so that we can make sure we're not duplicating anything.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: That's awesome. So, September, will we be all joining that meeting?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, I mean, ideally, you would be joining the meeting in June and the meeting in September. Awesome.
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
[Brenda Pike]: Um, and then also, once they're, you know, they have the. The survey put together and they are scheduling focus groups. I'm sure they'll be looking to to you to help with outreach. Around that as well. Anything on the hazard. Any other questions or anything on the hazard mitigation plan? No, I mean, like.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: You're Brenda, you working alongside. Marianne and Andrea or is it like they're doing it and you're part of it because I was remember the idea I told you uh you guys to like have like maybe like for you know the next five year one like plan to have like a box like at the library or it's at Medford you know City Hall just like have people like put in like you know, their inquiries and stuff like that. So that way, you're better prepared for like, the next five years, like, you know what I mean? So that way, you're like, like a jump head on it. And that way, you're not like, you know, caught off guard and have to do all this type of stuff and be more easier.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep, that makes sense. Especially when it comes to something like the survey, for instance, you know, having a physical places where people can fill that out and drop it into a box is a great idea. And doing them in times of year when people are actually thinking about these types of hazards, right? So in the middle of summer when it's hot or the middle of winter when they're getting snow and things like that, yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Seeing even when it's like that, like, you know, how we have like our table, we can have like the box and like, just something there next to like, your flyer or something for like, electrify method and say, hey, like, if you guys want to, you know, inquiry or do whatever, you know, let us know and you can put it there. And that way, you know, you'd have like, the data enough from people themselves to like, say, okay, this can help you out. You know? Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Definitely. So, um, yeah, definitely. Andrea is, is taking point on this. Um, and Marianne in her office, um, I'm. Involved in, like I said, that internal committee where they're getting feedback from different departments in the city. That's how where my involvement has been so far.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Yeah. Okay.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I was going to say, we can probably, um. I mean, hopefully she, she got no, I think she did get no, but just in case July, you know, we can, like, bring it up. Yep. Just so we can have, you know.
[Brenda Pike]: Repetition in case it wasn't recorded at the time. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Uh, because I mean. We can also like help with that in the sense because like, you know, since we have a lot of events before that meeting, I think it'd be good to just maybe jump started.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep. Definitely. Maybe something to talk about with them on Wednesday.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. So yeah, I agree. Definitely.
[Brenda Pike]: Um, it looks like the next update I have on is on the zoning updates and the, the green score. So we talked before about the fact that the city's doing a zoning re, codification, um, and it started with the mystic of and the Salem street corridors. You might have heard lots of comments, you know, in social media and stuff about the, the Salem street zoning in particular. There's been a lot of, um, interest in that. Most of the zoning is focused on things like the height of buildings, setbacks, parking, what parking is required, and what types of uses the buildings can have. But a part of this too is the green score. And this is, let me actually drop a link to this in the chat. Let me know if you have any problems. But the green score is basically. It's a basically a storm water. Thing, so you have. Different sort of natural ways that you can reduce the amount of storm water runoff on a property. Actually, let me share my screen here. So you can look at. Can you see my screen now? Okay, so, yeah, so the green score, basically. You have a minimum score that you would have to. For for new developments or major renovations, you would have to have a minimum score that you'd have to hit. And then different elements, landscaping elements, would have different number of points so that they would all add up to that minimum number. So for instance, you know, planted areas or bioretention facilities, places where it can hold water and let it absorb into the ground slower. Like mulch or shrubs or trees, different sizes of trees have different Preservation of existing trees, green roofs, or vegetated walls. Or if you do have to have paving, have it be permeable paving so that the water can be absorbed down through it. And then there are different bonuses here. Landscaping that consists entirely of native or non-invasive plant species. If you have more than half of your irrigation needs are met through harvested rainwater or collected gray water, including landscaping, including food cultivation and the right for people to harvest that food. And then, so the idea is it's a So, they can choose between different aspects of things that they can put together. It's not saying you have to do one thing, but it's just everything that you do has to add together to have the same sort of impact.
[Unidentified]: Okay, thank you.
[Brenda Pike]: And this is for this isn't for the whole city. It's it's for FEMA flood zones and for parcels requiring site plan review. So those are the really big ones over ten thousand square feet or residential buildings over six units. So, yeah, the idea is that for large properties like that, just trying to increase the amount of water that the. The land is able to absorb there, and so that was discussed by the community development board on February 5th and then. Or it might have been continued. Actually, I need to double check that because there was so much discussion about the Salem street zoning that the green score might have gotten bumped. I will double check that. Um, and then so after the community development board. If they approve it, then it would go to city council to be discussed by them and it would have to get approved by them too. But the idea is, because it is a little bit complicated for people to figure out how to. Meet those requirements that it's not, you know, it's not just going to be a single family home. That's having to do this unless they're in a FEMA flood zone, in which case. They have more incentive to to address rainwater. Any questions about the green score. Yeah, let me know if you're interested in. Finding out more about it, or, um. I can let, you know, when the next, um. Community development board meeting is for it or or city council meeting when that gets scheduled if you're interested.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I think it'd be good to have the option of going.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_06]: Maybe an email with all of us.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep, we'll do. Okay, and then the only other thing it looks like we have on the agenda is federal funding. I just wanted to just give people an update here because it's been so in the news. But we've been talking with other municipalities and with our congresspeople, and it sounds like, legally, any sort of funding freeze, or review, or whatever you want to call it, shouldn't apply to previously approved, congressionally directed spending, also known as earmarks, or formula grants, which are grants that are based on population, like it's, you're not applying for it, you just automatically get it, and the amount that you get is based on your population. It shouldn't apply to work-study and it shouldn't apply to tax credits because those are all things that are approved by Congress and so Congress would have to have some sort of action in order to make any change to those. So things in my office like our community development block grants or our earmark that we have for Carr Park or the energy related tax credits that we talk to people about for Electrify Medford. Those it shouldn't apply to those now. It doesn't mean that this administration won't try to make it apply to those and there won't be all kinds of, like, legal back and forth about it. Um, but it sounds. Pretty people seem relatively comfortable that there's a good legal argument that. That they shouldn't be able to unilaterally, um. Make changes to those. And tax credits in particular, if they are changed by Congress this year, any changes would then have to take effect the following tax year. So if people are installing things this year, they should be fine. Who knows what will happen after that? So again, that's a headline there. Doing these things sooner rather than later is a good idea.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Lord help us.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep. We were anticipating that the Massachusetts Solar for All program would be starting soon because their plan was approved by the federal government. But I don't think they've received any money from the federal government yet. And I've heard that that's a program that's being targeted. So I don't know if Massachusetts will get the funding for that program yet. So we'll see what happens.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Hopefully.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, yeah. And I know that these aren't necessarily the most important things to people. I know there are a lot of people who are really worried about immigration and people being targeted for that. Is that something that's making your jobs harder, do you think, that people are talking to city staff less because of that?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I think so, yeah. I think there's definitely a fear there. Yeah. in the community where they think that like maybe they might be at risk of getting caught by speaking to government officials, even if we have no correlation with, you know, like ICE or whatever other agencies that are participating in that, you know.
[Brenda Pike]: Yep. Is there any messaging that you're putting out for people to try to share information with them about this sort of thing?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Are we going to get trainings, Charbon?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I think so. But there's always like, they're always circulating like the, the Office for Refugees and Immigrants, community conversations, like there's always meetings and seminars about those, and a bunch of resources for people to know their rights and stuff. So that's been like pretty much flooded my emails in the past few weeks.
[Brenda Pike]: From your office in particular or just from a lot of different sources?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Just being circulated from either from our office or from the Office for Refugees and Immigrants.
[Brenda Pike]: Could you share that? I'd be really interested to see.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I can forward it to you. There's one that's really good, has a bunch of links.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I was going to say, Brenda, like, I feel like from what I've heard, everyone's like freaking out. With immigration as well as like, yeah, I have a lot of people who are interested in climate change, even friends of mine from Target as well. And like, they're just like, scared and they're like, what's going to go? What's going to happen? What's going on? And like, you know, they always ask us to like, how is it? How are like the city like, you know, dealing with it? And in all honesty, it's hard because our information changes like so fast. So there's not a, you know, or like a answer that we can do like, yeah, this is what's happening. And then it just stays like that. No, it's like every day. So I think like Charbel was saying, maybe we're going to get trainings of that or how to like approach or, you know, talk about it. But I mean, I think in these both like huge topics, not to mention DEI is included in it. Yeah. We need more, I think, more awareness and more training for answering questions like that. It's very hard to. But I know that here in Medford, for example, at least for climate change and DEI, we're doing our best. But other than that, for immigration and things like that, it's very hard. Very, very hard.
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, yeah. People definitely have bigger things that they're thinking about right now. Oh, yeah. Yep. And I'm climate wise, you know, what's happening at the federal level is really frustrating. I'm trying to focus as much as possible on our local things we can we can do locally. You know, that's what we can do while while we're waiting for change. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, I personally think that this is going to really affect us in the long run. It's going to be hard.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yep.
[Brenda Pike]: Now, the. Funding that funds the. You know, the connectors and the liaisons and and all of that, that's a state grant. That's not a federal 1. So that shouldn't be directly affected right now.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Nope.
[Brenda Pike]: Thankfully. But it might be that the state has less funding moving forward because they're not getting as much funding from the federal government. So it might impact things moving forward. And actually, I think some of the funding is from a private foundation, actually. So that's less affected, I think. Um, it looks like we've come to the end of our agenda. Are there any topics that you want to. Put forward for future meetings.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I think the green was a green source. It was a good screen score was a good 1. To put the future meeting.
[Brenda Pike]: What more do you want to find out about the green score?
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Um, where's the page? I opened it. I had a question on it. Oh my God. I'm sorry. My internet is like super slow.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, we lost our bell. That's not my internet. Oh my gosh, it didn't open for me. I don't know what happened. Did it open or not? Hold on. It was a Word document, right, that you sent?
[Brenda Pike]: Yeah, I sent a link to a Word document and then also an Excel spreadsheet for the worksheet.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Hold on. Sorry, Brenda. It was like it opened and then it closed.
[Brenda Pike]: Charbel, I was so worried about making you co-host in case I got bumped and then you got bumped. Oh, I can't hear you.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Sorry, my laptop started freezing for some reason, so I just switched to my phone. Okay.
[Brenda Pike]: Yes. Did you have any suggestions for topics for future meetings?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Um, I don't know off the top of my head, but.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, now I know what I was going to ask. Okay, Brenda, the word, the document that you gave us for like, uh, memorandum and stuff. And it says all like the purpose and overview. Is this something that can be shared to people?
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, yes. This is a, this is a public document.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Okay. Okay. Awesome. That's what I wanted to know. I don't know if there's another thing. What was this? Oh. Oh, I'm well, I know that like I spoke about it with Catherine, but I don't know if you guys well, you know, you guys weren't in the email. So I got certified for some trainings for environmental and like climate change and stuff. So Catherine has asked me to do like a 10 to 15 page PowerPoint. to talk about what I've learned and stuff like that. And to be honest with you, apart from obviously the stuff that we know, I mean, I feel like this is good for us to know, to be able to share and demonstrate how important it is, climate change. Like I was very, Kind of like, I don't know, I guess you can say dumbfounded of how crazy like it's really in depth to the point of like, like. like everything, like I don't even know how to explain it to you. But like, it's something that like, obviously is gonna be with us till forever. And it's something that changes a lot. And I feel like people need to be more, I don't think people understand the severity of it because they just think that it's just all like, things that they just see on the news that's happening, but not really like in depth of how the world works and how climate works and how it affects all of us. Like, no matter what demographic we come from so.
[Brenda Pike]: Yes, is this a presentation you're going to be doing it like 1 of your Wednesday meetings or do you want to do it during the climate equity council meeting?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: I'm doing I think she asked me to do it for one of our meetings, which that's why I was like, I'll just let you know what? Okay, obviously, I need to work on the two presentations I have to work on. So that's gonna take me a little bit of time. Okay, as I'm hearing what I'm going through. Yeah. Yeah. Let you guys know, just pre empty before tomorrow. I mean, no, wasn't Yeah.
[Brenda Pike]: Oh, is it going to be at this? It's not, is it going to be this Wednesday?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: Not this Wednesday. I'm saying like, I'm going to know about it, that I'm going to be working on it. Cause that's going to take me some time. Sounds good. Okay. Cause it was like seven modules. It was crazy. Yeah. And I followed it because it was so interesting. So yeah.
[MCM00001801_SPEAKER_07]: Other than that. Any other future topics, guys, before we leave?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: I can't really think of anything right now, to be honest.
[Brenda Pike]: OK. Well, we can follow up over email before the next meeting.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Sure. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_02]: So motion to end the meeting, guys?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: Motion. I second this motion.
[Brenda Pike]: All in favor? Oh, that's a thumbs up from Natasha.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_04]: All in favor, aye. Aye.
[Brenda Pike]: Yes. Great. Thanks, everyone.