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2023-01-19 LIBRARY BOARD MEETING MINUTESMINUTES — REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND LIBRARY BOARD, HELD ON THURSDAY JANUARY 19, 2023, AT 7:00 PM, AT WEST PEARLAND LIBRARY. I. CALL TO ORDER John Grimmett called the meeting to order at 6:59 pm. BOARD ROLL CALL Lisa Loranc John Grimmett Amit Joshi Tammy McLain Camille Sullivan Jennifer Trusty Jessica Williams Somarajan Nair STAFF Amy Coykendall Kevin Carter CITIZEN Ken Grafton Director of the Library System Board Member Friends of the Library, Board Member Vice Chairman (virtual) Board Member Librarian Librarian Board Member Executive Assistant, Parks & Recreation Assistant Director, Parks & Recreation II. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ken Grafton attended the meeting. General comments: Wanted to come and see how the board operated. He lives by the Tom Reid library- his family is there often. He states that the Tom Reid library is a great place for children, especially under the age of 5. He thanked the board for the hard work that they do. III. CONSENT AGENDA Corrections needed: John Grimmett was not in attendance. His name is also misspelt. Jessica Trusty should be Jennifer Trusty. Camille Motioned to approve minutes as amended. Somarajan Nair seconded it. All in favor. None apposed. Approved as amended. IV. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION- Officer Position Voting John asked if they will be taking nominations or if there is interest in any position than just the officer position. Tammy is interested in the role of Chair and asks for consideration from the bboard members. Amit asked if there is a term for the Secretary position and wanted to get clarification on the terms for the positions. John asked Tammy to clarify the roles and duties of each position Tammy clarified. John asked if there was any interest from the sitting board members after hearing the explanation of the positions. Kevin explained that he is here to assist with any areas. John stated he was interested int eh Vice Chair or Secretary, whichever he was needed Camille stated she would like to be the secretary. Expressed interest: John asked if anyone wanted to make a motion to accept by acclamation: Amit Joshi motioned- Somarajan Nair seconded. All approved. V. DISCUSSION- BUDGET Kevin stated that the information provided included FY22 that was to be shared at the last meeting that was cancelled and the first quarter of FY23. He also stated that if there are any questions that they can reach out to him or the Librarians Amit had questions regarding the year-to-date transactions spent in FY22. Kevin explained the breakdown of the percentages. Amit asked what the budget is for FY23. Kevin stated that the adopted budget is the FY23 budget, which is listed on the 4th quarter FY22 budget. Kevin stated that if there is ever a need for recommendations to the budget to get them in as soon as possible. Amit asked about spending almost 30 percent- Kevin explained that the 30 percent was in the first quarter. Lisa explained the budget and that the budget is usually spent in the fist three quarters and not to be alarmed at the spending Jennifer asked if the furniture expense was reflected in the budget report. Kevin stated that it will most likely be in the second quarter budget since it was paid during the second quarter. Jennifer states that there are some hardware missing. VI. DISCUSSION- 2023 Meeting Dates/Times Dates and times were sent via meeting invites to all board members. Kevin stated to please make sure to accept the invite as communication will come through the invite, and quorum WILL BE TRACKED Lisa reminded that April 20th will be the Texas Library Association Convention so she will not be in attendance. Camille asked if it would be possible to do virtual attendance, ND Kevin explained they can attended but there will not be voting ability or considered in quorum. VII. DISCUSSION- Strategic Retreat Planning Kevin explained what the strategic retreat would entail for the Library board. Having a retreat piggybacking off a regular bord meeting or having an additional meeting spending time to come up with a strategy to plan a retreat. Kevin asked if there was any thoughts or input from the board, that there is a skeleton agenda already. John asked if there is a possibility to have the discussion via email during the time between meetings- setting deadlines and having the discussion to maximize time when they are together. VIII. REPORTS FROM FRIENDS GROUP West Pearland Library- Amit stated he is very grateful for the new library and is busy fundraising. They are looking for more fundraising ideas. Recently lost Kelsey Seybold donation. They are helping as much as they can when the library needs the support. They meet each month. They are signed up with Kroger to have the library as a dedicated donation. They are talking with local businesses about fundraising. Kevin asked if everyone received the email from Carol Krenzke. All stated they have received it. Tammy asked how many naming rights have been sold. Amit said that they are all sold, along with 8 bookshelves and one bench outside. Tammy said that there are some groups expressing interest in buying bookshelves. Tom Reid Library- Had meeting yesterday. Jennifer was in attendance. They almost doubled their membership from last year They are actively working on getting more members. One member was excited about the QR book sale at the West Pearland, so Jennifer is also excited to have that brought to Tom Reid. IX. REPORTS FROM BRAZORIA VCOUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM Lisa brought a copy of the director's report with her to pass around. All branches are open and functioning. Most of them have been refurbished or upgraded All projects at this moment are completed, except for West Pearland. Sweeney is renovated the inside due to burst pipes, and in turn realized the outside needed to be updated. They are in the process of upgrading. (See provided reports) At beginning of FY23 the commission instituted a hiring freeze. West Pearland is down 5 FTE. Staff is being redirected to help cover the short staffs. Lisa was able to get the commission to agree to let the libraries to post the part time positions. There are not 12 positions open across the county. --- Amit asked about having volunteers like last year's helping out. Lisa stated that there is the option, especially for students to get their community service hours, but there is a limited number of duties they cannot do (monetary transactions, get on ladders use power tools, etc.). John asked about the nature of the hiring freeze- was it due to budget concerns? Lisa did not want to speak too much for the commission but part of it is due to the cost -of -living increase and step increase within the budget. Amit asked if the budget is about the same or increased with the hiring freeze Lisa stated that the budget has decreased by about 8% over the last 3 years. As the population expands, the budget will change. Along the 288 corridor there is a need for a branch, and for other cities to step up and provide. To maintain accreditation, the collection will need to increase. BrazCon lost their partner, and due to not having the space to accommodate (aside from the high schools) 2023 BrazCon has been cancelled. In order to bring back, they will need to find a high school to host. Pearland was not open to it; only other high school able to accommodate would be Angleton. John's perspective as a teacher, he said that the situation in Uvalde has changed how the districts view safety and security. He states that he understands that the schools are struggling to maintain the safety and security so it is understandable and is sorry that it happened. Amit asked if there was a way to charge a fee to come in but Lisa stated that there are rules that they have to follow and the libraries are not allowed to make money from events they provide. John asked if there was a way to do registration so there is documentation of who should be there and/or limited the amount of people who attend. Amit stated that adding this to the agenda on the strategic retreat would be a good idea. Camille said that with the new regulations the state has imposed and pushed down to the schools/districts, finding a location would be the biggest hurdle. John stated that maybe bringing it to the school boards that maybe having the conversations with other educators could give it a push. Jessica to discuss West Pearland. The community really enjoys the new building- almost 3 times as many new visitors this year. Numbers that were not able to be tracked previously, are now able to be tracked. Audio Visual is still in progress. Televisions are up. Still waiting on some additional furniture. Maker Space will be in operation soon- largely thanks to the Friends of the Library on fundraising. They are still working on getting the 3-D printer working. Tammy asked how the parking is with the increased traffic Lisa said that the parking lot is a planned factor to help control the traffic into the building. John asked about the kinds of people and programs that are utilizing the teaching theater. Jessica stated that what is approved for use is education, workshops free to public, informational or civic enrichment to the community. Camille asked how she will be letting the community know about the opening of the maker space. Jessica stated that the community engagement department will be setting up press releases and that they are every active on social media. One of the plans for all the maker spaces Lisa stated that they will be doing a commercial contest to design a commercial for the maker spaces. One of the prizes would possibly be a one-on-one mentor with a director- Ryan T Smith (IMDB) Camille stated that teenagers are not going to be on Facebook, but Instagram or TikTok would be a great place. Libraries do have an Instagram Lisa stated that they have Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. John shared that reaching out to the school libraries and communications/audio visual departments. Kevin asked what they anticipated the end product would be for the maker space. Jessica said she would not be surprised if people came in to edit podcasts, music, or videos. Jennifer to discuss Tom Reid. The door count increase is due to elections in October/November and West Pearland closing so the community travelled to Tom Reid. Tom Reid was able to do the Trick or Treat this past year. One of the patrons checked out the cookie press and made cookies for the library. EduKatie came in December and discussed skunks. Maker Space is mostly functioning there- had to send in sewing machine for repairs. Trying to find a sewing machine repair location to enter in as a vendor has been hard- had to go to Lake Jackson to repair the on from the library. Tandem bikes are being checked out often. Library of Things has added 6 more power washers. Currently they have in the collection to check out: a trailer (located in Angleton), instruments, cake pans, and moving kits (appliance dollies, lifting straps, shrink wrapper tool). Next big campaign is to spread more awareness about the Library of Things. X. BOARD ISSUES FOR FUTURE LIRBARY BOARD AGENDAS Strategic Retreat/Planning BrazCon Tammy asked if they could dedicate the next meeting to discussing the strategic planning. XI. ADJOURNMENT John adjourned the meeting at 8:23 pm. These minutes respectfully submitted by: Kevin Carter, Assistant Director Minutes approved as submitted and/or corrected this 19th day of January 2023. l T,y McLain, Vice Chairman