Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 4:00pm Crisfield Library & Zoom

Present: Ann Smith, President; Tim Spillane, Treasurer; Board Members: Lynn Lang, Karen Riggin, Janet Smith, Jennifer Timmons; Ed Goyda, Library Director; Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director; Karen Earp, Children's Services Coordinator; Nora Hoffman, Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant

Absent: Beth Holmes-Mayson, Vice President

Call Meeting to Order

President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:00pm

Consent Agenda

Approve minutes from the regular meeting of February 8, 2023 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2022 to February 28, 2022 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023

President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Lynn Lang and was unanimously approved.

Branch Highlights

Ms. Bradshaw presented the Crisfield and Princess Anne Branch Reports for February and March 2023.

Crisfield:

Ms. Bradshaw reported that there had been a large increase in adult programming as the Monday craft sessions had been hosting 26 to 28 patrons regularly. She stated that staff members had finished the annual weeding process; had created in-house displays for Black History Month, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Women's History Month in the adult, teen and children's sections; and had participated in spring cleaning in March, reorganizing workspaces to maximize space for materials and staff.

She gave an update regarding the Lower Shore Health Alliance Program, stating that the Crisfield Library had been established as a Community Center. However, the employee that had been stationed at the Library had been unable to complete her stay. A new Outreach Worker was expected to arrive sometime mid-May or early June. The Insurance Navigator had still been on-site once per week. The Somerset County Health Department had continued to set up an information table a few times per month. Lastly, the Community Food Pantry outreach had been well received by the community regarding donations and participation. Starting in May, a morning and afternoon session would be held for the Monday craft programs to hopefully accommodate the waitlist.

Princess Anne:

Ms. Bradshaw reported that Black History Month and Women's History Month had been celebrated with large book displays. Gabe and Michele had finished up the annual weeding process for the Princess Anne branch. Ms. Bradshaw stated that meeting room bookings had continued to increase so much so that the Maryland Room had often been used for private meetings. She also stated that adult program numbers were beginning to increase with 12-14 patrons regularly attending.

Regarding community partnerships, she reported that the Somerset County Health Department had been keeping the branch stocked with COVID test kits and that the Community Food Pantry had been appreciated by patrons to such a great degree that it had continually had to be restocked.

Ms. Bradshaw communicated that starting in May, the adult craft programs and Senior Moments would be transitioning from Thursdays to Wednesdays. This would create a streamlined schedule and Library programs would not be conflicting with the MAC Center's offerings. She had also mentioned that the Library would be hosting a table at the Princess Anne Street Fest in May.

Youth Services

Ms. Earp reported that Homeschool STEM attendance had been good and that it would continue in the summer but would be rebranded as "Summer STEM." She also mentioned that the STEM schedule would be changing in May to every Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Crisfield and every Thursday at 2 p.m. in Princess Anne. She continued that Preschool Playdate still had little to no attendance and that it would be removed from the schedule in June. Similarly, the after school programs had low participation and would be removed during the summer but would be revisited in the fall.

She proceeded to discuss the following:

Summer Reading:

• All performers had been scheduled.
• Branded swag for the kickoff bags had been received.
• Beanstack (the app used to log and track all reading challenges) was about 50% set up and would be finished soon.

Outreach:

• Garland Hayward Youth Center: Visited almost weekly.
• Deal Island Elementary: Ms. Earp performed a monthly story time and a twice-monthly afterschool STEM.
• Girl Scouts: Ms. Earp still worked with Troop 1285 monthly at the Princess Anne branch and was currently teaching them how to crochet.

Partnerships:

• 4H was currently doing a rocketry program at both branches.  Maryland Public Television were conducting a monthly 5-part series for families.  Judy Center: Ms. Earp had started doing library story times at Play Pals monthly and was in the planning phase of a two-part series called In the Nest and Hatchlings that introduced prospective and new parents to early literacy concepts.
• Salisbury Zoo: Wild About Reading was scheduled for May 18. Ms. Earp would be in attendance to represent the Library.
• The media center specialist at Greenwood reached out to see if the Library would be interested in partnering for summer reading. Ms. Earp happily announced that the Library would be coordinating summer reading with all of the public schools.

Training, Conferences, & Committees:

Ms. Earp reported that she had received great feedback on her first-ever conference presentation, "Coding for Early Learners". She stated she had been asked to serve as the Children's Services Division of the MD Library Association secretary for another year, and she had accepted. She continued that she had written an article and submitted egg shaker songs to the most recent issue of the CSD newsletter.

Library Director7apos;s Report

Mr. Goyda presented his Director's Report for February and March 2023.

Core Services

Ewell Internet: Mr. Goyda reported that the Starlink dish was fully operational, mounted, and with conduit run to the building. He stated that ESRL had asked to not move the staff computer off of the existing network until they could take a trip to reconfigure.

Patron Computers: Mr. Goyda happily reported that there had been no issues with freezing since ESRL had implemented the proposed solution in Princess Anne on January 23 and Crisfield on February 27. Tezla had installed the patch panel on February 8. The Library for the Blind and Print Disabled's Jaws Fusion accessibility software had been installed on the Princess Anne Teen and Crisfield rear Adult computers. A press release from the State Library Agency was imminent. Mr. Goyda stated that there had been continual issues with the Library's email service, and that he had been exploring Gmail as an option, but there were fees associated with that transition.

Polaris Upgrade: The Polaris upgrade on February 13 had gone relatively smoothly, with most services up and running by late afternoon. Mr. Goyda stated that there had been an issue with the self-checkout stations, and that he had not found out that those issues had been resolved until it had been stated at the ESRL Board Meeting.

Programming & Booklets: Mr. Goyda stated that the May-June booklets would arrive from the printer shortly, and that summer programming had been finalized the morning of April 12.

Community Outreach

Laptop Grants: Mr. Goyda reported that the City of Crisfield and Town of Princess Anne had received the Connected Device grants. The first round of devices should have arrived in mid-April. The libraries would serve as distribution points. Crisfield was considering having a launch event, after a brief soft launch to get the process down.

Internal Development

Alarm Engineering: Alarm Engineering had been contacted to get quotes for adding cameras in Crisfield due to patron behavioral issues and Princess Anne due to a rather large blind spot in the parking lot.

County Landscaping: The County had cleaned up the side and rear of the property. The trees in front had been pending late-year funding.

Xerox Lease: Mr. Goyda announced that after receipt of three proposals, the Library had renewed with Xerox, who had been the lowest cost vendor.

Governance

Advisory - Attrition/Turnover : A document compiled by Jenny Bakos, director of Washington County Free Library, regarding turnover issues throughout Maryland State libraries was attached to Mr. Goyda's report.

Advisory - Budget: The State had published their preliminary budget figures. Per capita library funding would rise by $0.40 per year through FY 2027; this year's increase was from $17.50 to $17.90 (2.3%). With a small estimated population decrease for Somerset County (24,620 to 24,584), our State Funding would increase from $323,612 to $329,348 (1.8%) in FY 2024.

Advisory - Budget: Maryland HB 549 adopted Governor Moore's initiative to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour effective October 1, 2023, a 13% increase. The previous timeline for the State raised it to $14 per hour on January 1, 2024 and $15 per hour on January 1, 2025. We had two employees (the pages) under the $14 threshold and an additional six under $15 per hour.

Advisory - Budget: The Maryland Time to Care Act would begin to go into effect on October 1, 2023.

The Department of Labor had until June 1, 2023 to determine what percentage of payroll would be taxed to fund the program, and what percentage of that burden would be on the employer and on the employee (at least 25%, no more than 75%, from each).

Advisory - Legislation: The following bills were before the legislature this session.

• HB 65 (Public Libraries - Collective Bargaining): The enabling legislation for collective bargaining, that had been proposed for Harford County the previous year before suddenly being amended to include all libraries, had been resubmitted. MAPLA had been drafting a separate bill based on Howard County legislation but was now proposing amendments to the proposed legislation. An amended version of the bill had crossed over to the Senate but not passed.
• HB 243 (Young Readers Program Expansion Act of 2023): Originally a Charles County bill, this expanded the State share of funding for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (or similar programs) from only covering Baltimore City to covering the entire State. It had crossed over after being amended from $500,000 to $350,000 statewide.
• HB 1246 (Fine Free for Minors): The Maryland State Library's STAR (Statutes and Regulations) committee's proposed revisions to the Fine Free for Minors act did not make it out of committee in time for crossover.
• SB 118 (Prohibitions on Wearing, Carrying, or Transporting Firearms): Prohibiting firearms on federal, state, and local government property, this bill had been withdrawn by the sponsor after essentially being amended into SB 1.
• SB 831 (Regional Resource Center Bill): The revision to the Regional Resource Center statutes had been quickly sponsored and passed, and it had crossed over to the House.
• SB 846 (Confidentiality of Library Records): The STAR revision of the statute regarding confidentiality of patron records passed the Senate and had crossed over to the House.

Auditor Approval: President Smith asked for a motion to accept UHY as the Library's selection as the auditor. Jennifer Timmons made the motion, Tim Spillane seconded, and unanimously approved.

Strategic Plan : Mr. Goyda reported that proposed surveys and activity sampling, as well as statistical sampling of core library activities over yearly, monthly, and hourly timeframes, had been enclosed in the board packet. He was anticipating having a stronger focus group and interview component (as opposed to the larger sub-committees) in community input than that of the 2018 process. Ms. Earp suggested that surveys be emailed to the patrons that were signed up to receive the Library's monthly newsletter. President Smith asked what the timeline would be, and Mr. Goyda responded that data collection would be taken though July and that the focus groups would begin in September.

Executive Session:

A roll call was taken to enter executive session at 4:45 p.m.

President Smith asked for a motion to exit executive session at 5:20 p.m. Karen Riggin made the motion, Lynn Lange seconded, and a roll call was taken.

Termination of Troy Gale, Branch Manager: President Smith asked for a motion to accept the termination of Troy Gale. Janet Smith made the motion, Tim Spillane seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Resignation of Trina Hayward, Library Assistant: President Smith asked for a motion to accept the resignation of Trina Hayward. Karen Riggin made the motion, Jennifer Timmons seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Resignation of Shanlaia Jackson, Library Assistant: President Smith made the motion to accept the resignation of Shanlaia Jackson, Tim Spillane seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Promotion of Dani Craige, Princess Anne Library Services Manager: President Smith asked for a motion to accept the promotion of Dani Craig as Princess Anne Library Services Manager. Karen Riggin made the motion, Janet Smith seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Promotion of Caprice Harris, Crisfield Library Services Manager: President Smith asked for a motion to accept the promotion of Caprice Harris as Crisfield Library Services Manager. Tim Spillane made the motion, Jennifer Timmons seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Appointment of Jennifer Walker, Library Assistant: President Smith made the motion to accept the appointment of Jennifer Walker as a Library Assistant, Tim Spillane seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Appointment of Tabitha Roessler, Library Assistant: President Smith asked for a motion to accept the appointment of Tabitha Roessler as a Library Assistant. Tim Spillane made the motion, Lynn Lang seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Appointment of Zainab Jabeen, Library Assistant: President Smith asked for a motion to accept the appointment of Zainab Jabeen as a Library Assistant. Jennifer Timmons made the motion, Lynn Lang seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.

Adjournment

President Smith asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Karen Riggin, and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 5:21 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, Jaime Bradshaw Assistant Director