Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 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; Danielle Craige, Princess Anne Library Services Manager; Ashley Gilson, Crisfield Library Services Manager; Adrianna Wa rfield, 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 3:59pm.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of February 12, 2025 Approve financial report for the period from July 1, 2024 - January 31, 2025 Approve financial report for the period from July 1, 2024 - February 28, 2025 Approve financial report for the period from July 1, 2024 - March 31, 2025
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Presented by Ashley Gilson, Library Services Manager
Branch Highlights: Since we always had so much fun participating in spirit days, we decided to do them in February and March as well. In February, we had football day, sweater day, accessories day, Library Lovers Day, pajama day, and Valentine's Day. In March, we had Read Across America, World Sleep Day, St. Patrick's Day, Rock Your Socks (World Down Syndrome Day) and Purple Day (Epilepsy Awareness). For National Read Across America Day, staff shared their favorite Dr. Seuss books & we took photos and posted them on the Library's Facebook and Instagram. Andrea had started designing earrings that we sell at both branches. Gabe had been working on inventory and had already completed the DVDs and children's section. Throughout the library , we had various decorations and displays for Romance, Black History, Library Lovers month, Women's History, St. Patrick's Day, National Craft Month, and Spiritual Wellness.
Staff Development: In February & March, staff participated in various training courses on topics such as building great teams, PR strategies, growing your summer library program, community collaboration and how you can use makerspaces in your library. JoAnn attended the virtual day of the SLRC Circulation Conference, while Andrea and Meagen traveled to Pratt to attend the conference in person.
Community Partnerships: In February & March, various staff visited the Developmental Center and Tawes Nursing Home where they made a craft. Andrea and Jaime attended the Health Department's "Go Red by Walking the Red Carpet" event at UMES. Gabe & Andrea hosted a table at the School Readiness Fair which was held at the Technical High School. We continued to host two Insurance Navigators and Social Services to provide the public with assistance. The Health Department had also re-stocked our food pantry.
Future Happenings: We were excitedly preparing for our Spring Fair on May 3rd. Staff would also be attending the annual MLA conference in Ocean city.
Princess Anne: Presented by Danielle Craige, Library Services Manager
Branch Highlights: Black History Month and Women's History Month were celebrated with book displays in each area of the library. The annual weeding process for the Princess Anne branch was finished up in early March. Michele, Dani, and Noah had been working on inventorying the Princess Anne collections. We had several spirit days in February and March featuring pajama days, Rock Your Socks, and Purple Day for epilepsy awareness. Staff continued to do well with their daily responsibilities. The meeting room was still seeing frequent enough use that our Maryland Room was often used as a secondary meeting space.
Community Partnerships: The Somerset County Health Department had been keeping the branch stocked with COVID test kits. The Community Food Pantry continued to be frequently refilled by members of the community. We continued to host a health insurance navigator most Fridays in our Maryland Room. The Somerset County Arts Council had recently brought in new artwork for the gallery in our meeting room. This past month had featured Dr. Seuss themed art from students at Holly Grove.
Future Happenings: In April and May, several staff members would be attending a variety of webinars to further develop their skills. In May, most of the Princess Anne staff would be attending the annual Maryland Library Association Conference. We were also excitedly planning and preparing for Summer Reading!
Administrative Report
Presented by: Ed Goyda, Director; Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director; Adrianna Warfield, Children's Services Coordinator
Collections
Ewell Collections: Dani, Ed, Lorna, and Michele made the first trip of the year on March 13 and swapped in 400 relatively new materials, deaccessioned from Crisfield and Princess Anne, for 400 older items from Ewell's collection.
Newspapers Database: The newspaper database was fully operational. It was still marked as a Beta on the website. The link to the Archival Web site had been removed because that site had crashed (again), but that was providing an opportunity to direct the regular users to the new site.
Jennings Evans: The Jennings Evans Smith Island Collection (minus one item that we still need to process) was also online. A press release on both would go out shortly.
Statewide Databases: The State Library Resource Center was renewing the main database contract with Gale, as well as the additional contracts with HeritageQuest and Mango Languages, so we would see minimal disruption.
Programs
Lower Eastern Shore Beekeepers Association: The Lower Eastern Shore Beekeepers Association would be presenting on the fascinating world of honeybees at the Crisfield and Princess Anne libraries in May and June.
Master Gardeners: We would be facilitating the Master Gardeners with the University of Maryland Extension office throughout the spring and summer, along with two sessions in the fall. They would be hosting plant clinics covering a variety of topics starting in April.
Physical Activity Grant: The agreement had been signed by the library and the Somerset County Health Department. We would receive $22,000 in funding to promote health and wellness. We could use the funds from April to September on classes, certifications, equipment, and supplies, using a reimbursement process. We were excited to be in communication with a Zumba instructor and with Guerrero Productions Boxing Club to lead classes this summer.
Spring Resource Fair: We would be hosting a Spring Resource Fair with the Lower Shore Health Insurance Assistance Program (LSHIAP) and other local partners on Saturday, May 3 at the Crisfield Library. We currently had 11 organizations attending, including a Wellness Van and an organization which would also be providing free blood pressure checks. The library would be hosting an info table and would be providing free coffee & snow cones for the event.
Community Outreach
Delmarva Shorebirds: A Fan Advantage Page designed by Lorna with Somerset, Worcester, and Wicomico County Libraries would be issued in the Shorebirds Fan Advantage coupon booklet. In addition to 25,000 printed books being handed out free each Friday and Saturday night home game, the Fan Advantage would be hosted on their website 24/7. We had also been invited by LSHIAP to host a table at the Hit the Books game for Somerset County in May.
Somerset Commons: Jaime had been communicating with the Regional Resident Service Manager at the Somerset Commons complex in Princess Anne. Gabe and Jaime would be doing a site visit at the end of April, providing senior residents with basic computer skills assistance such as basic keyboard & mouse, basic internet searching, and basic usage of Microsoft Word.
Stars of Somerset: Nominations were open for the 2025 Stars of Somerset. For the sake of consistency, we were encouraging everyone to nominate:
- Somerset County Library for Community Outreach, Favorite Place to Take the Kids, and Best Company Under 20 Employees
- Crisfield Library for Event Venue, and
- Lorna Crockett for Graphic Design.
UMES, Smithsonian Exhibit 2026: UMES was set to host the exhibit, "Spark" from January 17, 2026 – March 1, 2026. We're partnering with UMES to bring this exhibit to our region, making UMES the only location on the Eastern Shore to host it, offering a unique opportunity for our community to engage with its themes of innovation and technology. We would also be attending a community partners meeting in June.
Children Services
Current Programs: Attendance in Mother Goose had started picking up. We expect the same to happen with STEAM and Lego Club as the weather continued to get nicer. Family Paint Night and Crafternoons had been consistent with attendance. In partnership with the Judy Center, Toddler Art Class continued each month and the families loved it.
Stuffed Animal Sleepover: Although we had low attendance, those who came to our sleepovers had a blast. The families loved receiving the booklets that showcased what their stuffed animals had gotten up to. Adrianna was plannings to have another one in late August while the kids were out of school, and we hoped for a larger group.
Outreach: We had two outreach events in March, the School Readiness Fair at the Technical High School in Westover and the Deal Island School STEM Night. Andrea and Gabe shared our programs and swag at the School Fair to 74 families. Meagen and Adrianna showcased a Temporary Lava Lamp experiment to 32 families and gave out some swag at STEM Night. Adrianna continued to visit 3 local daycares each month for Storytimes.
Upcoming Events: In April, staff would begin visiting the Garland Hayward Youth Center twice a month to build a relationship with the local youth in Princess Anne through Storytime and STEM activities. This would continued until the end of the school year and begin again in the Fall. In May, staff would be attending large events at the elementary schools where we would begin promoting Summer Reading.
Facilities
HVAC: The County was replacing the units in the Princess Anne Children's Room and Office, and they were giving us access to the online controls for Crisfield.
Princess Anne Trees: Delmarva Power removed the trees on March 24 to 27, with much less disruption to front door access than we'd anticipated. The County had contracted with Graves Services to remove the stumps in the near future. The flagpole had a flag on it for the first time in 30 years or so, plus a solar- powered light.
Financial
ESRL: Hoopla had been not so slowly eating away at the ESRL budget, with costs increasing by 10%+ per year. In fairness, this was because of increased usage, not price hikes, but ESRL was even more budget constrained than we were, since 100% of their funding came from the State, and their annual budget increases were about 2%. The $250,000 that ESRL budgeted for this year had been spent, and we had made a $2,219 contribution to subsidize about 60% of Somerset patrons' usage through the end of the year. (The ESRL Board requested some assistance from the libraries before dipping into reserves.) The odds that Hoopla was going to continued into FY 2026 were increasingly null.
IMLS Funding: The entirety of Institute of Museum and Library Services staff had been placed on administrative leave. The State Library had not been notified of grant cancellation (yet), but those funds covered $11,400 of our professional development funds as well as one- third of the State Library's budget.
LGIT: At the LGIT (Local Government Insurance Trust) renewal workshop, they noted that they also brokered worker's compensation policies and public official bonds. While those particular options may or may not have been appropriate, it had been a while since we've bid out either one. Nora was following up on that and other options.
Paradigm Health & Wellness: The County was exploring a Wellness Plan offering that would, if the numbers worked, essentially be budget neutral, with the employer share covered by a reduction in the cost of health insurance and the employee share covered by having health-related expenses (co-pays, etc.) paid from pre-tax rather than post-tax income. It appeared optional on the employee side, and minimum participation was only five, which shouldn't have been an issue with the County managing the plan rather than the Library.
Staffing
MLA Conference: The Maryland Library Association Conference was May 7-9 in Ocean City. Our registrations had been submitted.
Maryland Classified Employees Association: The MCEA sent a public information request for all employee names, job titles, departments, work phones, and work emails on March 17 and booked the meeting rooms for March 28. The Regional Q&A was sent out on April 1.
Professional Development: A list of professional development was provided.
Technology
Ewell Peplink: ESRL had fixed a glitch in the Peplink network hardware on the island that was preventing them from reaching our own website.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the Administrative Report. Motion was made by Tim
Spillane, seconded by Janet Smith, and unanimously approved.
Governance
Advisory - Legislative:
- HB 597 / SB 515 - Public Libraries - State Library Resource Center – Funding: Both bills failed to make it through committee, and the State Library Resource Center would remain level-funded.
- HB 254 - Individuals Experiencing Homelessness - Address Requirements - Prohibition: HB
- SB 355 - Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program - Delay of Implementation: While this Senate bill did not make it out of committee, HB 102, intended to make revisions to the program, was revised to include a delay of the payroll tax to January 2027 and the benefits to January 2028. It had passed the House and was in the Senate.
- SB 369 - Public Libraries - Automated External Defibrillator Program: SB 369 had passed. We did not have one in Ewell, but we would get one in hand for the next staff trip.
254 would had prohibited address requirements for library cards (among other things) for individuals experiencing homelessness, which was close but not perfectly aligned with our existing Easy Access Card Policy. However, the bill was withdrawn by the sponsor.
Auditor Approval: We needed approval, for the State Library, to select UHY for the FY2025 audit.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept UHY as the FY2025 auditor firm. Motion was made by Lynn Lang, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and unanimously approved.
Non-profit Status: The first step in getting a non-profit affiliate launched would be to submit the application for a separate Employer Identification Number. We would need a vote to proceed there and through the 501(c)3 registration, which may had fees associated. Nora was preparing additional details.
President Smith asked for a motion to proceed with the non-profit affiliate 501(c)(3) registration process. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Janet Smith, and unanimously approved.
Physical Activity Grant: While it was late in the fiscal year and funds were going to roll over, we requested a budget amendment to include the $22,000 in income and expense on the Physical Activity Grant.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the Physical Activity Grant budget amendment. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Lynn Lang, and unanimously approved.
Executive Session
President Smith made a motion to enter executive session at 4:42pm. Motion was seconded by Karen Riggin, and roll call was taken.
Resignation of Tabitha Roessler, Library Assistant: Tabi had officially submitted her resignation, effective May 19.
President Smith asked for a motion to exit executive session at 4:44pm. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Tim Spillane, and roll call was taken.
Adjournment
President Smith asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion was made by Jennifer Timmons, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 4:46pm.
Respectfully submitted, Nora Hoffman Somerset County Library Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant