Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, October 20th, 2021 at 4:00pm Princess Anne Library
Present: Ann Smith, President; Tim Spillane, Treasurer; Board Members: Lois Outten and Jennifer Timmons; Ed Goyda, Library Director; Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director; Troy Gale, Princess Anne Branch Manager; Nora Hoffman, Administrative Assistant.
Absent: Beth Holmes-Mayson, Vice President; Board Members: Jayna Grant and Karen Riggin.
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of August 11, 2021 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2021 to August 31, 2021 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021
Mr. Spillane asked about budget deviations, and Mr. Goyda stated that there was a sizable deviation because of the ARPA Grants, to be discussed under Governance, but no significant variances outside of that.
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Lois Outten and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Princess Anne: Troy Gale, Branch Manager
Mr. Gale reported that the Princess Anne branch successfully concluded the Summer Reading Program and immediately jumped into fall planning. He stated that he is happy with the library's in-house program participation for adults, averaging about ten patrons per adult program. He stated that the branch had goals of increasing children, teen, and e-resource program participation in the winter season.
In August, Mr. Gale and Karen Earp, Children's Services Coordinator, joined the community for National Night Out, where they brought coding bots, fall booklets, and flyers for upcoming events. They also visited Washington High School and Somerset Intermediate School for their open house events.
Mr. Gale reported that the Princess Anne Library was excited for their annual Halloween Block Party. They are planning to have games, crafts, inflatables, face painting, a photo booth, and more. The Princess Anne Library had started working along with CROPA, as they have just begun a free financial literacy workshop for the community in the meeting room. Mr. Gale was also looking forward to having many more third party organizations offering free workshops for the community in the future.
Crisfield: Jaime Bradshaw, Branch Manager
Ms. Bradshaw reported the Crisfield Library had a productive August and September. In August, the adult craft night was a success with a total of 17 participants. The End of Summer Reading Celebration had 47 in attendance for the Reptile Wonders Show. She reported that the Crisfield staff participated in the National Hard Crab Derby Parade in September. There had been a consistency in attendance for the September adult and teen crafts which have been small, but faithful groups. Ms. Bradshaw also stated that she had conversations with the Crisfield and Washington High School art teachers who were seemingly enthusiastic about having students submit to the Fall Zine.
President Smith questioned if there may have been a privacy issue with the school submitting pictures and/or names of the students without parental consent. Ms. Outten made a suggestion that the students could submit to the zine freely outside of school rather than the teacher submitting for them. President Smith also suggested that Lorna Crockett, Marketing Associate, should add how to submit for the next zine in each issue. Mr. Spillane commented that he found the process a bit confusing. Ms. Bradshaw noted these suggestions and would be discussing them with Ms. Crockett
Ms. Bradshaw had started regularly attending the statewide program meetings. Ashley Gilson, Teen Services Coordinator, participated in the Young Adult Library Services Association Educational Equity eCourses in August.
The Crisfield Library staff would be participating Crisfield Chamber's Halloween Parade and Party on October 23rd, taking a few carnival games, setting up a table and giving away goodie bags. Ms. Bradshaw reported that planning for the winter season was complete, and that she was excited to include new programs focusing on financial wellness and including health based workshops.
Mr. Spillane asked about the traffic reported on the branch reports. He stated that the year to date traffic was obviously higher this year due to the pandemic last year, but asked if there is a comparison for years prior. Mr. Goyda stated that the libraries are at about 80% compared to pre-pandemic numbers, with the significant gap in pre-school age children and parents.
Library Director7apos;s Report
Mr. Goyda presented his Director's Report for August and September 2021.
Core Services
Ewell hours: Mr. Goyda stated that Christine Marshall, Ewell Branch Manager, had requested to move their Tuesday and Wednesday evening shifts from 6-9 p.m. to 5-8 p.m., and the changes had been made.
Community Outreach
Princess Anne Chamber of Commerce: Mr. Goyda reported that the Princess Anne Library hosted the first Chamber After Hours since before the pandemic on September 23.
Tribute to Heroes: The Libraries were assisting with the County Times' Tribute to Heroes - scanning and submitting photos of veterans for the November 10 edition of the newspaper.
Community Partnership
Eastern Shore Regional Library: Mr. Goyda reported that the regional directors have continued to meet weekly.
Gold Star Marker Dedication: The Gold Star Marker would be dedicated at 11 am on Veterans Day, November 11. Mr. Goyda stated that he would be installing the marker on November 10.
Living and Dying with COVID-19: The Maryland Stories: Global Z had received the recording equipment for this oral history project, sponsored by Maryland Humanities, and would have processes and training ready in the next few weeks.
State Library Resource Center: Mr. Goyda participated in the SLRC Strategic Plan Conference on September 23 and 24.
Internal Development
ARPA Grants: Mr. Goyda stated that the equipment for the ARPA grants had been ordered. Ms. Earp had her coding and STEM equipment. The initial response on both the laptops and the Wi-Fi hardware was that there would be a two month wait, but both orders arrived quickly and were in the hands of the local "vendor" (ESRL and Tezla Group, respectively). Reimbursement requests had been filed.
Email: Mr. Goyda stated that there had been three rounds of social engineering attempts (gift card scams) in the past three months. The first targeted senior staff who had their email addresses on our website; the latter two targeted all staff, most of whom only had their email addresses listed on the State Library's directory. Email addresses had been removed from both sites.
FY 2022 Certification for Cooperative Local-State Library Aid Programs: The joint County- Library certification had been submitted.
Princess Anne Facility Studies: The draft facility studies had not arrived yet.
Regional Master Facilities Plan: ESRL's contractor, HBM Architects, had completed site visits and staff surveys and was underway on the Facilities Plan.
Salary Survey: The State Library had provided grant funds for a Salary Study, with one aspect to cover compression effects from the minimum wage increases, that was being managed by Carroll County.
Youth Services
Community Foundation Grant: Mr. Goyda reported that the Library had applied for a mini-grant from the Community Foundation to purchase a Vox Books (picture books with built-in audio) starter collection.
Galaxy Tabs: As part of the ARPA grant, Karen had replaced the children's iPads with Galaxy Tabs. They were set up to be used as part of the coding programs, with educational games for general use when programs weren't in session.
Unruly Splats: Also part of the ARPA grant, Karen's coding manipulatives had been very popular.
Winter Programming: The winter programming schedule had been set. Mr. Goyda stated that given that the Judy Center and YMCA were running daily story time events, the Library would be shifting emphasis to STEM and coding.
Summer Reading 2022: Supply orders for next year's summer reading program, Oceans of Possibilities, had begun.
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the director's report. Motion was made by Jennifer Timmons, seconded by Lois Outten and unanimously approved.
Governance
Audit: Mr. Spillane had a few questions concerning the audit survey. Ms. Outten explained her thoughts on this subject as she was the former treasurer. The members also discussed having Herb Geary at the December board meeting, in which they all agreed. Tim Spillane made a motion to accept the audit. The motion was seconded by Lois Outten and was unanimously approved.
Board Meeting Schedule: President Smith made a motion to accept the 2022 board meeting schedule. The motion was seconded by Jennifer Timmons and was unanimously approved.
Board Terms: President Smith made a motion to recommend a renewal of Jennifer Timmons' term to the Somerset County Commissioners. The motion was seconded by Tim Spillane and was unanimously approved.
Budget & ARPA Grants: Mr. Goyda noted that the ARPA grants were 7% of the normal operating budget and would distort fiscal reports all year if they were not amended into the budget. President Smith made a motion to amend budget lines 472 (LSTA Grant Income) and 572 (LSTA Grant Expense) from $9,000 to $85,200 to account for the $73,800 in ARPA Grants and the $2,400 increase in the Staff Development Grant. The motion was seconded by Jennifer Timmons and was unanimously approved.
Mr. Goyda noted that the FY21 LSTA Feasibility Grant had been spent and reimbursed in FY22 and that journal entries had been recorded to move the funds out of this year's reports.
Holiday Schedule: Lois Outten made a motion to accept the 2022 holiday schedule. The motion was seconded by President Smith and was unanimously approved.
Regional Library Board: Mr. Goyda noted that the changes had been made to the ESRL By-Laws to mirror existing State Code, with "two individuals selected by the Board of Trustees of each participating library system" serving on the ESRL Board. President Smith made a motion to appoint herself and Mr. Goyda as the two members for the Regional Library Board. The motion was seconded by Jennifer Timmons and was unanimously approved.
Regional Library Meeting: Tim Spillane made a motion to appoint President Smith as the Board's representative at the December 1 Regional Governance meeting. The motion was seconded by Lois Outten and was unanimously approved.
Adjournment
President Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 4:50 p.m. The motion was seconded by Tim Spillane, and was unanimously approved.
Respectfully Submitted, Jaime K. Bradshaw Assistant Director