AMHERST — Town councilors in Amherst are apologizing for disrupting the work of a group studying alternative ways that public safety services can be provided in town.
The Town Council approved a letter Monday that was drafted by Council President Lynn Griesemer, offering an apology to the Community Safety Working Group and acknowledging that actions by councilors have undermined the group’s work.
“As a Town Council of majority white people benefiting from white privilege, we need to continually push ourselves to be actively anti-racist and to be cognizant of the power dynamics that exist between us as elected officials and the members of the global majority including the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in our community” the letter states.
The letter is a response to a letter from the working group about the need to hold town leaders accountable for words and actions that cause harm to people traditionally marginalized by governance structures and a “commitment from the Town Council to monitor and continually educate its members on how difficult it often is for community members to speak in public.” The incident referenced occurred at a forum on public safety in January when a councilor spoke in advance of other participants.
The letter was approved by an 8-1 vote, with At-Large Councilor Andy Steinberg voting no and District 3 Councilor Dorothy Pam, District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, At-Large Councilor Alisa Brewer and District 5 Councilor Darcy DuMont abstaining.
DuMont said she was concerned that District 4 Councilor Evan Ross made a motion to approve the letter without any discussion. Ross said he did that to speed up the evening’s agenda.
The working group is bringing to Town Manager Paul Bockelman short-term recommendations on alternative options to the public safety services currently provided by Amherst police, and then recommendations for resident oversight and policy reforms for the department.
The working group’s efforts are to be supplemented with work by a consultant, using some of $80,000 set aside in the town budget.
The letter goes on to describe the working group as being of critical importance to the town, but noting it will only succeed if there is trust.
“We know that trust can be broken in an instant and can only be built over time. We hope that we can work together to build trust so the goals of the CSWG are successful. That will require continued honest communication, such as the letter you wrote, and the willingness of people in the dominant culture to learn new ways of thinking and acting,” the letter from councilors states.
Councilors also recommitted themselves to anti-racism training as part of “white people learning to listen and to check our privilege.”
