I am going to call this meeting to order and we'll just do a quick attendance. So I am the chair of this committee and my name is Sydney Zolik. I represent the downtown district, which is district six. Matt, Larry and I are represented on the council. Go ahead. That's okay. I'm Jennifer from the clerk's office. And I'm Dave Ferrello, council district four. I just forgot. Hello, and then we have Triana and Joseph with us. Can you hear us okay, Joseph? Oh, yeah. Hi, everyone. Hello. So I'll just, the way that we're going to do this interview is each of us are going to ask a question or two, and we're going to start with a different person each time so that No one is put on the spot too much. Um, and I guess I'll start with my colleagues. Oh, sure. Yeah. Time to start. Uh, maybe, so we have your applications with a little bit of information about you and you're interested in serving in the city's commission on status of children and youth. Could you tell us a bit more about, uh, your interest and why you decided to apply? And we could start with Trayana here in the room for the first round and then alternate thereafter. Yeah. So I'm interested in. serving on this commission because of my passion for helping others and for my passion of, I guess, the children in Bloomington. I work As a I'm a mentor of the first year experiences. So I work with people who aren't exactly at the youth level anymore. But however, they are at the level of transitioning into adulthood. So I do know like things about being a youth specifically. For me, I do look for volunteer positions around Bloomington. I do have a lot of volunteer hours and I thought this would be a really good place for me to volunteer at. a little bit about my background. I'm also from Indianapolis, Indiana, and I went to Pike High School. Thank you. Joseph? Same question, go ahead. I'm sorry, could you please repeat the question? Yeah, no problem. Just a bit more about your interest and what made you want to serve on the commission. Yeah, so I'm interested in the commission because of its mission and it also aligns with my lived experience and the work that I kind of do in Bloomington. So when I first arrived here in Bloomington as a refugee, I kind of struggled with orientation, lack of resources in the MCCSC school system. And I kind of saw how if a young person, if they're not given a voice, then they can kind of be discouraged and fall through the cracks and stuff. And the commission's purpose is to empower empower and nurture every youth in Bloomington. So I kind of want to bring my perspective to make sure that when policies and things like that are being made, I want to make sure that immigrant and refugee students are also being, you know, thought into consideration when decisions like that are being made. So. Excellent. Thank you. the turnover today. Oh, sure. Thank you for those answers. Joseph, this is a segue from what you were referring to, and that is, are there particular problems, issues, or challenges for children in Bloomington that you would focus on? I mean, it might not just be limited to one, but does anything come to mind? Should we start with Joseph this time? Yeah. So I guess this would be more of what MCCSE can do, but especially from my personal experience, when I first came to the States as a sophomore and enrolled at Bloomington High School South, there wasn't like any resources or like didn't sit down with me to kind of go over like how the US school system works, like what social events like prom or homecoming. and such things like that, or what GPAs are, or what honors AP classes are, or even how to apply to colleges, and the scholarships out there that are giving full right to very talented young individuals who are undocumented and also immigrant and refugee students. So I guess that would be one of the things that I can think of right now, either MCCIC or also the commission can also, you know, can work towards building these resources for that community, yeah. Great, thank you. I would focus on equity, leveling the playing grounds for students within Bloomington specifically. I feel like sometimes I, well, I volunteer with this, community of individuals who have disabilities as well. So I feel like leveling the playground for them specifically. I know when I talk to a lot of them, they talk about how they have such dreams and passions, but however, sometimes they're missed because just because of the simple fact that they have these disabilities as well. So I would focus on equity for that community and for all the students. Thank you. I have a question that's in a similar vein. a little bit different. So it's a two-part question and that is what do you think is the most important thing to keep in mind when making recommendations to organizations to support healthy child development and what skills do you think that you have that would help you in accomplishing that goal? Okay so repeat the first one. Yes absolutely. What do you think Someone should take into consideration when making a recommendation to organizations that support healthy childhood development. A lot of times, So from what I heard from your answer as well, so a lot of times we're learning about in social work right now, the way that a lot of these recommendations are Western centric and they focus on the Western population more than they focused on the people who are minorities as well. Like there are a lot of different backgrounds that are taken into consideration when these choices are made. So I would say they need to keep in mind that everybody isn't raised the same, everybody doesn't have the same beliefs as well. So it's bringing a more holistic recommendation based when recommend, when recommend, sorry. To these communities as well, like rather like you can recommend something that is good for I guess the whole but however you need to take into account those minorities and those people who aren't playing on the same level grounds as well. Is that a question please? Yes, absolutely. What skills do you have that would help you in that? The skills that I have in this is I study social work. So I have a very wholesome idea of, I guess, what the disadvantage is, like, compensate. So I feel like those are skills that I have within that. And I also continue learning, like, outside of my curriculum. Like, I like to expose myself to different populations and different things as well. So outside of what experience I have and outside of what the schools are teaching me, I'll also seek to have different understandings of different people's lives. Thank you. Joseph, go ahead. I'm sorry, could you please repeat that? Yes, absolutely. It was a long question. What do you think is important to keep in mind when making recommendations to organizations that support childhood development? And what skills do you have that would help you accomplished that? I think for the first question to also kind of go over what has already been said but I think it's also very important is representation of every voice that you know let's say they're making a specific decision about something in that line then we could we should like look at that line and see what youth are being affected and then gain their first-hand personal perspective. And another thing is also getting an expert's perspective on how decisions should be handled. So maybe a professor who is an expert in that field. And what was the second question? I'm sorry. What skills do you have that would help you do that? Oh, so I would say very involved in my own community. I serve as the MCCSE Superintendents Youth Advisory Board. So I kind of have the skills to get everyone's perspective and also get quote unquote data. It's not data, but talking to students and see what their problems are or what issues they're facing. I also am a part of Monroe County Youth Council, so that has also given me experiences and skills that will, I think, help me with working with the youth. Yeah. Thank you. OK. Does anyone else have any content questions before we go to the logistical? I was going to move into logistical. Oh, I know. Sorry. Which is just a bit more about the commissions and your ability to participate and attend. This commission meets once a month, I believe it's the third Tuesday of the month at 5.30 p.m. There's sometimes a little bit of work outside of the commission meetings themselves as well, maybe a few hours a month. And while occasionally a remote attendance option is permitted, in general, we need people to be in person and be able to regularly attend so we can have a quorum and the commissions can conduct their business, all of that, which is sometimes a challenge. And so I wanted to confirm with both of you if you Are there, well, regularly at Tuesdays at 5.30, if you anticipate any challenges or problems in your own schedule in terms of being able to consistently attend meetings and participate? So actually, Joseph, to you first, any anticipated challenges in being able to actively attend and participate? I have a question. So when does the work actually start? So we will be I believe that we have a couple regular sessions left in which we can actually make the appointment before the end of the year. I believe we should be voting on this on December 3rd as a full council. And so Jennifer, our lovely deputy clerk, will be sending everyone an email in the few days after. At that point in time, the work would begin. Given that it will be December, I'm going to guess there will be a little bit of a lull period, just because a lot of the boards and commissions meet less during the holiday season. So I would expect to really start the bulk of the work in January. Oh, yeah, I asked that question because right now I'm a senior at the Academy. Right now I'm applying to colleges and stuff and everything is due by December 31st. So before January. So that would give me a lot more flexibility. And also I am in the MCCSE online curriculum. So my scheduling is a bit more flexible and yeah, much more flexible. By the bill. Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you. Yeah. I'll just wrap it up with next steps. I know that I said a little bit earlier, but once the two of you leave, we'll have a small deliberation session and make a recommendation to the council to be approved by the full body at which point the appointment will go through. The whole process takes about two to three weeks, like I said, and regardless of what the answer is you will hear from Deputy Claire Crossley. So I would expect first week, first two weeks of December, you should have an answer. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you both so much. Thank you. Could I ask one more question? Jennifer, is this appointment for two years? Yes. This doesn't necessarily disqualify you, but to what extent could you serve that term? of two years. I mean, are you looking to, you know, Joseph, you're looking to apply to colleges, so you may be leaving. What's your schedule looking like in terms of the horizon of two years? So I turn the book first? Yeah. I will be only 10th for the next two years. So you'll be in Bloomington. Okay. I'll be available again. All right. And Joseph, are you, is it sort of uncertain right now about your Um, I am talking with my parents, but it seems like the decision is not made, but 90%. It's sure that I'll be going, going to IU. So, and this seat is for, um, up through. January 31st of 2026. So it is not technically a full two-year term. It's actually almost over. It's a vacant two-year term. What we would probably do almost immediately re-appoint. Yes. It would be like a two-year and one-month term. Okay. Thank you both so much for your interest. We really appreciate meeting you. Thank you, Joseph. Thank you. Bye. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you all. And do you know how to get out of here? I actually don't think I do, but I don't think I always do. Thank you. I'm not doing that. No, there's no question. Great to meet you. Thank you. I'm going to see you later. Bye. Nice to meet you. Well, next up we have Zachary and this bird because I think Zachary might be in the hallway. Um, I haven't heard from Chris. So he's going to show up in person. Okay. Next interview begins at 6 10. Okay. Do we want to discuss real quick? Sounds like both will generally be here. So, and are generally able to, um, display actively. They're both pretty great. To toss up for me. Okay. In that case, let's think about. maybe the perspectives that are already on the commission. You can say I know much about the mayoral appointments. Our appointments are Fred Schick, Aaron Reynolds, and Tatiana Peters. Okay. I thought they were both great. I know Joseph from work that we've done together talking about how to better support refugees and immigrants in the global solar systems. So that trail was great. And I think that, well, the good thing is we can't make a bad decision. That's the good thing. There aren't any mayoral vacancies? The only thing that I was going to say is there are one, two, I count them that way. One, two, three. Three seats that are up at the end of January. Maybe. Right. If somebody doesn't read the line. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Twenty twenty six is literally. That's right. Yeah. I was thinking I know I had to like double check myself. You know, that's because, you know, if the rate things turn over, We could just. We could just. We could make a decision and then write the other person and say, you're really tough notch. Yeah. And if another position opens. I mean, I don't think we need to even deliberate again or call it. Yeah, we need to make a recommendation or an individual person could do it, not on behalf of the committee officially. We've kind of done that type of thing before. Yeah. Hey, we all discussed this previously. We did not vote on this person, but we all agreed they were great. I'm individually making a recommendation if it becomes a barrier in terms of timeline. But yeah, we'll be meeting a bunch in a year anyway. So actually, I might not be on this commission to this committee anymore. I shouldn't have. I didn't plucked for another one. OK. I slightly lean Joseph. for the reason of... It's a different perspective. Well, and in particular, the youth council piece, the currently in high school piece, and he's not going to be in high school for super long, but he has another semester. And then if he's still here, that might help establish additional connections and maintain continuity with the Menorah County Youth Council, for instance, which is high school students. So if he's part of it now, and then like knows the people there. So even in the transition, like that kind of like helps create a bridge of sorts. That's just my theorizing, but maybe that could be helpful. That seems like an attractive element, I guess to me. I would agree. And when we were walking out, Triana asked if I knew of any social work internships. And so I do think that like there are other paths forward. I think we can also say like, you two are both people that we want to see on this commission. When January 31st hits, please reapply. Or I think I would consider applications in this. Yeah. To be active enough. Fabulous. Yeah. Fabulous. But I'm, okay. Should I make a motion then? We're feeling that way? Is that all right with you? I can go with no. Okay. I would like to move that we recommend, joseph shane for appointment to see c2 of the commission on the status of children and youth second and brahlo yes yes clarity yes okay um okay is that something that we can touch on it in the email to her that we would We have students that are up very soon. We are very excited about her. And for an example, if the one council appointment does not reapply, that's a seat that will be vacant starting at the beginning of February. So you can always do that. And then also, usually what happens is, and this actually just happened with friend um he applied for there's another person that applied for something else there wasn't an opening um at all the mayor's office had an appointment or an opening and i expressed yeah i talked to them and um they seemed really interested and they appointed them so they you know she also came from and another student came from I think it was in September, I did a talk on campus about getting involved with boards and commissions. And immediately after that, we got emails about, hey, you talked to us about this. How can I apply with Next Steps? So she's applied for several of them. So it's interesting to see where else. And talking with her over the phone, her first passion she mentioned was students and youth. The other one was, uh, folks with disabilities and some of our senior residents as well, which she had mentioned too. So she actually, she applied for the commission of an agent too. Uh-huh. Okay. Okay. Let's keep that in mind and maybe communicate to her that we've interested in potential appointment if the scene opens up in the near future. Which committee appoints to commission an agent? I believe that is A or team A. Okay. That would be, I think, Esau Cain and Isabelle. She communicates about it. She's an exemplary candidate. All right. Hey, I'm going to go get our guest. OK. And I'm still not seeing Chris at all. So not so great. Well, what happened in there? Yeah. Hi there. Where would you like me? Anywhere you'd like. Anywhere is good, yeah. And you're Zachary, is that right? Yes, that's right. And it seems like maybe we don't have. Nope, not. We don't have any queue folks. Not yet. Well, while we're waiting, I think we can do introductions. I'm seeing the representatives of district six, and I'm the chair of this committee. Okay. Welcome. Thank you. I'm at 30, I'm an at-large representative, also member of the committee. John Fagrassoli from the clerk's office. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you. Thank you for all of city council, district four. Nice to see you. Great to meet you. Great. Okay, so I guess we don't have our own person, so it looks like it's just you and me. So we're going to get started, and we're each going to ask a couple of questions, and then we're going to talk about, like, a logistical aspect of being audited. Does anyone want to start? I can't, sure. So this is the Commission on Sustainability, which has been around since about 2005. We also have an economic and sustainable development department. Sustainability can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Can you tell us a little bit more about what sustainability means to you, how you think about sustainability, and what drove your interest in applying to this commission? Well, I'm extremely interested in sustainability. Most of my passions are related to sustainability or environmentalism in some way. I'm very passionate, as I think you know about transportation issues, I emailed you about transportation issues, which I know this doesn't directly intersect with, but that's one thing I'm interested in. Sustainable transportation, composting, lots of wildlife protection, things of that nature, are all things I'm very interested in. My job is I'm an independent map maker, and a lot of my maps and graphic designs and things that I do are nature, science, and environmental related. So it's like a huge fashion of mine, anything having to do with the environment or nature or sustainability, so yeah. Okay, great. Yeah, well, we'd like to ask the next question. Yeah, well, just following up on, you mentioned wildlife protection. What does that mean? Well, I think, I fundamentally think that cities and wildlife are 100% compatible and there's nothing, there's no reason why they can't, you can't invite wildlife into the city and increase biodiversity. there are different ways you can do that. And I'm not sure, one of my questions actually, I don't know if there's going to be a chance for questions or not, is the overlap between this commission and other commissions? Because I know there's an environmental commission, and I know obviously there's transportation commission and transportation and land use policy are in sustainability policy maybe, but there's also those commissions. So I know there's going to be some overlap. What, how much does this deal with different issues compared to others? That's one question I have. I don't know if it's, yeah. You know, environmental commission, sustainability commission often have similar goals and relate and sometimes join forces and things. Clearly they're both concerned about climate change and so forth. But I guess where I'm going with that is, so there's a, here, I'll just give you an example. There's a policy right now for a deer haunted griffey. Is that compatible with you know, wildlife protection, because it's an ecosystem, it's done for ecosystem purposes. Is it? Yes, I think it is, personally. I think, I mean, the ideal scenario would be to have predators around, but obviously that's not going to be happening anytime in the near future, and that's absolutely in Bloomington, can do with the city. But because there's a lack of that, you have to, I think, hunch to control the deer population, so. Okay. Yeah, I'm totally in on it. Right in there, yeah. Dave says the right answer. No, I mean, it wouldn't disqualify you if you said, you know, I'm towards protecting deer, but, you know, there is a difference, right? I mean, you know, do you say deer are more important than birds because that affects birds and for certain things. Yeah. So that's, that's all I. And you have that as an ecosystem in an entirety and not just one system. Yeah. I have a question based on your application. It's been a while. One of the things that you dealt with in DC was environmental racism. Obviously, Wilmington is a lot more white than DC. But I guess what, I'm curious, what do you think are the differences between the obstacles that DC versus here faces? And that's a very high level question. So if you can't answer, don't worry. And then how would you use those skills to tackle it here? Yeah. So the case I was talking about was in my neighborhood, my old neighborhood, I used to, I was a former low level elected official in D.C. The neighborhood that I lived in has a residential park and other people use all the time that the local transit agency in the 90s took soil from a site that they later found out had World War I era chemical weapons and buried it in the park there for, and it's been there for 20 years and people have known about it that it was there. And they keep finding chemical weapons materials in the park. And so when I was, it was in my district. And so one of the reasons why I ran was to drive up awareness about that because that's a crazy, it's nuts that there's chemical weapons buried in a residential park and people have just been ignoring it for decades. And there has been reason to know that it was there from the very beginning, from the 1990s. So I actually, I met with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton several times, who was our D.C.'s delegate to Congress, and got her to actually write several letters to the Biden administration and now the Trump administration requesting additional funding to basically turn it into a superfine site to try to get it fixed. So that's why I brought up, that's something that I've worked on is environmental racism. I don't think there's anything of that And hopefully nothing at that level in Bloomington that I would have to work on. But we are always surprised. Yeah, I know. We have our share of Superfund sites, PCPs, and... In poor neighborhoods. Yeah, that tends to be where they are, yeah. So the reason that's why I brought that up is that I have some experience working on, especially within an advisory role, the local form of government that I was an elected official and doesn't really exist anywhere else. It's an advisory role, kind of similar to this commission. An advisory that provides advice. Nobody actually has to listen to your advice. So it was a similar role. So what I tried to do instead of being able, because I couldn't actually get anything done through voting or passing things, although we did vote and pass some things, was to drive up public awareness and get it in the news, which I did several times. It's been in several local news stories and I got a local congresswoman to act too. So I'm very proud. I mean, it's still there, it's still unresolved, but I drove a lot of awareness about that and I'm proud of that work. How that connects to Bloomington, obviously, so DC is not a state, it's a federal government, it's under federal occupation right now as we speak. And so that obviously has its own challenges. And I think it's not out. out of the question that Bloomington might have some National Guard troops sent in or something. I don't know, but I don't think that would affect sustainability issues very much, hopefully. But because of DC not being a state, there are so many issues that go back to that. And that is one of them, because that was a national park plot of land. And since we don't have any representation of Congress that can vote at least, we don't have anybody that could do anything about it directly. So anyway, sorry, I'm rambling a little bit. I was actually just in DC last week. Yeah. For Crooked Con. Okay, cool. Pots of America. Cool, cool. Yeah, that's fun. That's really interesting. Thank you for sharing, baby. So does anyone have any substance questions? I have a logistic question and I was going to answer Zachary's question as well about intersections. Dave and I have both served on the Commission on Sustainability. I think both as residents and as council members, maybe only as a council member in your case. Yes. I served on it as a resident previously and I served as a council member. The city's climate action plan and then the UN sustainable development goals are kind of the frameworks that the commission uses to think about sustainability, which extends much more broadly to like social equity and economic issues. Though I think there does tend to be a strong intersectional component with environment type of things, but you'll see the environmental commission doing more like air quality stuff or habitat corridors or things like that, right? Like pollinator friendly habitat. So a little different, even though there's intersections. Um, I think the other thing I would just say, by the way, the commissions work, um, is that with all commissions, actually, it's useful for folks to know this is that it's pretty open-ended in terms of they can shape for themselves what the priority areas are, how they want to engage this particular commission. Actually, the environmental commission has weighed in on development, you know, and land use proposals. There's no reason that commission on sustainability couldn't do that. Also, I think they even have on a few occasions, similar transportation issues. Yes, we have a transportation commission that is charged with sustainability as one of its. Pillars for how they make decisions, but I think the synergies and cross commission interaction and engagement is like really positive. So like, don't feel like you have to stay in your, I guess, like those lanes aren't closed. Like, it's just finding the right fit for like commission collaboration or how to engage on those topics. My logistical question is just that I think this commission meets once a month. Uh, on Tuesdays at like six to seven 30. And then I think they've been in that haven't recently in the last year or so of also having what work sessions. So maybe twice a month, actually, you know, if you're in one of the working groups. Um, and so just generally important that folks are able to attend in person most of the time, uh, for, you know, the group step or I'm able to conduct their business and not get bogged down. So just confirming, I guess your availability and commitment to be able to. serve in that capacity. Yeah. And it's the first Tuesday of the month, is that right? The second Tuesday of the month, 6 PM. Yeah. I mean, theoretically, that shouldn't be an issue at all. Like I said, I'm my own boss, so I can move my... I have a lot of work, but I can move it around. So it shouldn't be an issue. Thank you. Right. Yeah. So in that case, this interview has concluded. Just real quick, it's a two-year appointment, but how long is the seat? before we reappoint. Also, like the other one, this one is up at 26. Okay. Just wondering about your availability for the horizon of two years. Do you think you can serve the term? Yeah. Should be. That's the only reason why I wouldn't be able to. Okay. Terrific. Yeah. I mean, obviously, things come up in life. Sure, of course. But as of right now, yes. It's not a hard and fast commitment, but just we tend to meet a lot to appoint people. Yeah. So after this, we will deliberate and make a recommendation to the council as a full body. That will probably be voted on on December 3rd. And so you should hear from Deputy Clerk Cross in the first two weeks of December. And it's likely that your work would start in January. Yes. Well, thank you so much. It's so fun to learn from you. We're going to meet you. Yeah, you too. Yeah. Thank you. How many more you guys have today? We'll see. That's it. We're heading to a meeting. Oh, OK. Yeah. It's a deliberation session on the housing. Oh, OK. It's from 630 to 830. Oh, yeah. I think I saw about that. OK. You know all the chairs we set up for? Yeah, we've got rooms, so. Yeah, that might stick around. OK, what time is it? 630? 630 to 830. OK, cool. That might stick around. Cool. All right, thank you. Yeah, sure. He's great to meet you. So Christopher just sent an email two minutes ago and said he did not get the calendar notification. His calendar notification did not alert him. And he just realized the meeting is right now. Is it too late to swing up there? Yes. I'm assuming so, but I'm willing to run if it's a possibility. Well, we do have two vanities. Um, the other thing is there's a C and Sean actually interview both of them. So, um, technically staff has already interviewed. I see MCC appointment, but that's, that's the, um, usually been an ex officio seat from them in our County environmental council, essentially. And that's vacant. And then there's. Council vacancy at CCC 5, but I don't see any others. And I've been asking about the county's appointment and surprise, surprise, I've not heard. Oh, it's not MCC, it's the commissioners. Right, but normally they've made that appointment as somebody from the Monroe County Environmental Council is how they've typically built that CEO. Yeah, it was no one had it for a long time. It also works for utilities. Okay, so should we make a recommendation on Zachary? I think that's closer. I'm happy to do that. Yeah, I feel good about it. Without interviewing Christopher. I'm a little bit like, I don't know, we scheduled the meeting. I feel bad. Other things might come up. I'd be happy to reconsider him. People make mistakes. There are two up in 26. There are two others up in 26, and that's not Austin and Zeno Rose. So there is the opportunity for us to either re-interview the two people that may re-apply and Chris, but I do think given Jennifer's email, that they are looking for us to make the appointment on December 3rd. Does that count? Yes, I'm okay with Zachary. I just wanted to know. I mean, mistakes happen. We didn't get to meet Christopher. Yeah, there are quite a few things open in 26 on our side and the mayor's side, so six seats total open. And actually, I do believe, I think Zero might be resigning. Okay. So I got an email. I think it was mentioned to staff that he might be resigning, but I've not seen anything. So. Well, only two months left. I mean, that would be a pretty simple transition. Yeah, I've heard that there might be another resolution to it, but I'm not sure. So, um, I'll make the, um, motion to appoint, uh, Zachary. To see five. Okay. Uh, clarity. Yes. And then that's it. Okay. Fabulous. In that case, this meeting is adjourned.