Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 4:00pm Crisfield Library & Zoom
Present: Ann Smith, President; Beth Holmes-Mayson, Vice President; Tim Spillane, Treasurer; Board Members: Lynn Lang, Lois Outten, Karen Riggin, Jennifer Timmons; Associate Board Member: Janet Smith; Ed Goyda, Library Director; Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director; Troy Gale, Princess Anne Branch Manager; Karen Earp, Children's Services Coordinator; Nora Hoffman, Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:00pm.
Staff & Board Member Introductions
Audit PRESENTATION: Herb Geary
Mr. Geary joined the meeting via Zoom to discuss the audit results.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of October 20, 2021 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2020 to October 31, 2021 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2020 to November 30, 2021
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Lois Outten, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Jaime Bradshaw, Branch Manager
There has been a slight increase in adult craft program participants over the past two months, with the most popular being the Scarecrow Door Hanger with 11 participants and the Turkey Wood Block with 9 in attendance. The 2021 Fall Zine was complete and was our largest to date with 15 participants. We had participated in the Crisfield Chamber's Halloween Parade this year, and we had given away 288 goodie bags. The Library was partnering with the Somerset County Health Department as distribution locations for at home COVID-19 tests.
Staff Development: All of the Crisfield staff participated in the AED/CPR training in October. Adrianna Warfield, Ashley Gilson, Caprice Harris, Lorna Crockett, and Ms. Bradshaw participated in the two-day SLRC Conference in October.
Future Happenings: We were looking forward to continuing our annual Noon Year's Eve Party. We would have snacks, craft activities, a photo booth and balloon drop during the celebration. In January, we would begin our health and financial wellness series with the MAC Center and the University of Maryland Extension.
Princess Anne: Troy Gale, Branch Manager
The Halloween Block Party was a success. We had carnival games, food, live music, and 12 Trunks. Mr. Gale estimated that there were 500 people who attended. We also hosted a Thanksgiving Luncheon for seniors. Our program participation for adults had remained consistent with an average of 12 people. Children and teen program numbers saw a decrease due to the holiday season in November.
Community Outreach: The Halloween Block Party could not have been the success it ultimately was without the Princess Anne Police Department, Women on the Move of Trinity Church and CROPA.
Future Happenings: Going into December, we had much to be excited about. On December 4, we would be joining the town of Princess Anne with our float for the annual Christmas Parade. We also would have a book club Christmas Party, a staff Christmas Party, a cookie bake-off, and a chili cook-off over the next 2 months. We had reached out to the Lower Shore Shelter to adopt a few families this holiday season. On December 30, we would have the Salisbury Kwanzaa Club holding their 5th day of Kwanzaa ceremony at the Princess Anne
Library as part of their annual Kwanzaa Tour. In January, the Mac Center would begin a 7-week Diabetes Workshop.
Youth Services Presentation
Children's Services Coordinator: Karen Earp
Story time at the library had been suspended due to there being daily literacy programs in the County, run by the Judy Center. Once Headstart re-opened, story time would resume. For now, the library was putting an emphasis on homeschool, after-school and Saturday coding programs.
The Girl Scouts had begun to meet once a month and STEM programs continued to be popular including cyber security, coding splats, and robotics.
The library received a grant through the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore for youth collection audio books. VOX books had already been purchased for early readers and those learning English as a second language.
Library Director7apos;s Report
Mr. Goyda presented his Director's Report for October and November 2021.
Core Services
Ancestry: Ancestry would cease to allow the pandemic-related at-home usage on December 31 and return to in- library use only.
Ewell flooding: Anita Kitching reported water damage to library materials on November 2, following flooding over the previous weekend. Ms. Bradshaw, Ms. Earp, Ms. Crockett, and Mr. Goyda had traveled to the island on November 3 to survey the damage.
The chief loss was 516 books that were bagged and trashed to get them out of the building before mold could spore. We had also "emergency preserved" (photocopied and replaced) the covers for 141 DVDs and 4 local history booklets. There was no damage to furnishings (chiefly steel) or electronics (aside from the power strips).
Each individual damaged item was documented, as were general conditions in the facility.
We had an insurance claim outstanding. Facility Manager John Hill from the school district had reached out about filing the library property under the school district's flood policy instead. Mr. Goyda would discuss with him early in the week of December 5 - there was likely a significant difference between the items' retail cost, their replacement cost, and their actual value.
Interlibrary Loan: The (re-) implementation of the Relias statewide loan system would be in January. We were not anticipating any significant changes.
Student Cards: The first batch of student card data had been received from the school district and imported into our system. Because of the slow receipt of permission forms related to the school's switch to electronic forms, we were going to need to run this in multiple batches over the course of the year.
Community Outreach
Library Zine: The Fall Zine had been published, with participation from Washington High School. Notice of the due date for the Winter Zine was included.
Tribute to Heroes: The Libraries assisted with the County Times' Tribute to Heroes - scanning and submitting photos of veterans - for the November 10 edition of the newspaper.
Halloween: We had sizable crowds at both Crisfield's and Princess Anne's Trunk or Treats.
Christmas Parades: We participated in the Crisfield and Princess Anne Christmas Parades on December 3 and December 4, respectively.
New Year's Eve: We would be hosting the Noon Year's Balloon Drops at both mainland branches and the New Year's Oyster Drop in Crisfield.
Community Partnership
COVID Rapid Tests: The Health Department reached out to Ms. Bradshaw regarding distribution of rapid COVID tests. The first batch was received November 19 and exhausted by November 22.
Gold Star Marker Dedication: The Gold Star Marker was dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, with participation of the Somerset County Garden Club and Crisfield American Legion.
Jana Rehak: Jana Rehak from the University of Maryland, with whom we've previously worked on the Smith Island Family Frames project, had reached out regarding continued work on the island. Nothing has been established at this point, although the Maryland Sea Grant had provided direct technical assistance in revising the Family Frames video. The revised version was at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHif613_wEM.
Living and Dying with COVID-19: The Maryland Stories: Global Z had delivered the recording equipment for this oral history project, sponsored by Maryland Humanities. It would run for all of calendar year 2022. We were holding a public announcement until after the holidays to avoid getting lost amidst more immediate material.
Shore Gives More: We had participated in the Community Foundation's Shore Gives More campaign on
Giving Tuesday.
Internal Development
ARPA Grants - Laptops: The new laptops had been received and configured for patron use.
ARPA Grants - WiFi expansion: The equipment to expand the range of the WiFi networks at all three libraries was slowly working its way to Tezla Group.
Princess Anne Facility Studies: The draft facility study was complete. Craig Williams of Becker Morgan Group was in Princess Anne conducting staff interviews and would be joining the Board later in the meeting.
Regional Master Facilities Plan: ESRL's contractor, HBM Architects, was underway on a Master Facilities Plan.
Salary Survey: The State Library had provided grant funds for a Salary Study, and Ed was participating on the committee to produce the Request for Proposals. Our chief interest here was that one aspect of the study is to cover compression effects from the minimum wage increases.
Staff Development Day: Staff Development Day was held on October 11 as two sessions on CPR, AED, and general First Aid training.
State Report: The annual report to the Maryland State Library had been completed.
Youth Services
Community Foundation Grant: We had received a mini-grant from the Community Foundation to purchase a Vox Books (picture books with built-in audio) starter collection.
Unruly Splats: As part of another ARPA grant, Karen's coding manipulatives had been very popular.
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 Karen Riggin, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved.
Facility Study
Craig Williams from Becker Morgan Group joined the meeting. Mr. Williams presented the work that BMG had done on the Princess Anne facility study so far, including a presentation of a spatial matrix for future facility needs.
Mr. Williams discussed the staff focus group at the Princess Anne Library earlier that afternoon. He noted that people tend to have a general impulse to think in terms of improvements to current functions rather than designing to the ideal from scratch.
Mr. Williams and the Board discussed spaces and functionality that they would like to see in a new/expanded facility.
Governance
Board Term - Jennifer Timmons: Jennifer Timmons' full term through November 15, 2026 had been confirmed by the Commissioners.
Confirmation of Email Vote - Recommendation of Lynn Lang to Somerset County Commissioners: We needed a confirmation of the email vote on November 18 recommending Lynn Lang's appointment to the Library Board.
President Smith made a motion to confirm the email vote to recommend Lynn Lang's appointment to the board, seconded by Lois Outten, and unanimously approved.
Confirmation of Email Vote - Appointment of Janet Smith, Associate Board Member: We also needed a confirmation of the email vote on November 18 appointing Janet Smith as an Associate Board Member.
President Smith made a motion to confirm the email vote to appoint Janet Smith as associate board member, seconded by Lois Outten, and unanimously approved.
Regional Governance: The State Library's meeting regarding regional governance was held December 1. The proposed changes to State Code would be reviewed by the Attorney General's Office.
Regional Library Board: The first ESRL Board meeting under the revised By-Laws had been scheduled as a hybrid meeting on December 20.
Executive Session
President Smith made a motion to enter executive session at 6:00pm, seconded by Lois Outten, and roll call was taken.
President Smith made a motion to exit executive session at 6:01pm, seconded by Lois Outten, and roll call was taken.
Appointment of Lizzy Bethard, Library Page: President Smith made a motion to appoint Lizzy Bethard as Library Page, seconded by Lois Outten, and unanimously approved.
Library Director Evaluation: The Director's Evaluation had been completed.
Adjournment
President Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Lois Outten, and the motion was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 6:01pm.
Respectfully submitted, Nora Hoffman Somerset County Library Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant