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OK. All right. Welcome to the board of trustees regular business meeting on Wednesday,

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September 23, 2026. We are live in person in Hoodsport Timberland Library.

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And on Zoom, boo. No, OK. Welcome to all the Zoomers. I'm just kidding about that.

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So we are here. We have 3 of our trustees here in person. I believe we will have

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a 4th who will be arriving soon. So that is a quorum. So we will begin with a roll

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call. My name is Brian Mitke. I am our rotating president this year. I represent

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Lewis County. I will turn to my other Lewis County, Hal Blanton. I'm an at-large

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Lewis County. And Tony Gwynn, Pacific County. Excellent. And uh we have excused our

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trustee from Thurston County, Mary Beth, who's unable to be here with us, and we

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expect Dustin to be arriving shortly. So he asked for us to go ahead and get started.

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So we will do that, uh, beginning with a pledge of allegiance. OK.

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to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

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one nation under God, indivisible with libertation, justice for all. Excellent. Great.

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And Uh, as we get started, uh, just wanna say I'm looking forward to hearing about

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our Hoodsport library in a few minutes. This is a great history here that we'll get

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to hear about. Uh, we have approval of agenda and consent agenda items. Are there

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any comments or changes to the agenda and consent agenda items? OK, is there, I,

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I move the agenda and consent agenda. A second. Excellent. All in favor. Aye. OK,

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opposed. That passes. Opening board comments, um. Do you want to start? Oh Tony,

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yeah, I wanna give a shout out to um the South Bend Friends Group who built a float

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for the Labor Day parade that was a miniature of the South Bend library, but it's

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levy, it's lid lifted. Um, it was, it was really well done and it got on the front

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page of our paper. And people are still talking about it, and it's kind of parked

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close to the library if you wanna see it. And it was built by um one of the friends

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of the library's former Librarian who had just passed away, he and she were building

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it in her last months, and it's just touching and lovely and well done and made my

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heart happy. Yeah, it's a really cool float. That's amazing. And did you do anything

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with library staff over the past couple of weeks? Any sort of, uh, yeah, I'm sure

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I did, but I was really impressed with the float. Oh yeah, yeah. It's a segue for

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you. Dustin and I went to the all staff, uh, uh,

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festival retreat, uh, conference, and it was really great to there's Dustin to see

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the frontline staff and everybody together, so I enjoyed it. Thank you for representing

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us today. It's great. Uh, Trusty Blanton, anything for us? Yeah, just, uh, it's just

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great to be here. I've been up here a couple, 3 different times and that, and it's

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just, this is such a wonderful place and everything. It's a little bit of a drive,

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but, but it's a shorter drive than before, so I, I kind of like that. Um, one thing

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I, I do wanna, I wanna commend our staff and front and back, um, on with all the

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distractions that are going on. With, with levy and, and etc. and all the things.

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You, you guys are still opening the doors, you're still taking care of people, you're

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still providing library services, and so we appreciate that. I know, I know that,

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I know that the patrons appreciate it, but uh there's a lot going on and there's

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a lot of, there's a lot of uh rabbit holes and everything people can be going down.

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You guys are doing a great job, so I appreciate that. Just, uh, just to, just kind

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of pass that on. Great. Uh, I should have, uh, invited our staff

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to introduce themselves. If they would be comfortable doing that, I'd love to hear

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from TRR staff. Just say your name and wave your hand and say hi to folks if you

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wouldn't mind. Um, junior high school and the interim executive set.

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Um, um, I'm Yuri Wheatley. I'm the interim deputy director and also the regional

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manager person.

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Emma I Holmes, I'm the finance administrator. And then any where there you go. Uh,

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I'm I know I'm the regional manager for Mason County. Awesome, great. And we're really

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excited to welcome Mariah for your first business meeting here and just really glad

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to have you on board. Thank you. You've already been doing great work. We've seen

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our agenda packet, so thank you for that. And then I wanted to recognize former TRL

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Trustee Doctor Ken Sebi is here. Uh, thank you for coming out. Nice to see you, Doctor

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Sebi. Uh, they call me Ishmael.

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And um uh we have uh some folks from our friends groups. Raise your hand if you're

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from a friend group. Oh my gosh, that's awesome. Thank you for being here. Appreciate

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your guys' service and we'll talk a little bit more about that later on. So, thank

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you for that, and that's the extent of my board comments. Um, Dustin, we're just

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getting started. Do you have anything you wanna share to kick us off? Number 4, opening

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board comments. Um, apologies for being a little bit late. My brake lines went out,

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uh, so I had to bring a different vehicle and thankfully they went out before I was

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turning off onto, uh, the McCleary turn off on the 108. So, uh, I was able to stop

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safely and, uh. Put on some calming music to bring the the nervous system down. A

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little bit, and, you know, speaking of calming music. There's an artist called Leifei

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who has a lovely library card. I don't wanna steal any thunder, but it is library

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card sign up month as well. So I thought it was a good opportunity to plug a new

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limited edition library card that we have, because if you're not gonna leverage,

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uh, uh, yeah, gap experiences for this, then, you know, it's my, my family and then

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my library that foster my eye stuff, but, uh, glad, glad to be here.

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Thank you. I'm glad, glad you're here. Glad you're safe. Uh, number 5 correspondents,

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Chris, anything for us? Yeah, we do have some correspondence. We had actually just

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4 this month from, uh, late August to just this afternoon. The topics were that we

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did left, um, the most recent Friends of the library policy draft, and Rochelle sent

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an update on the, uh, Patriot Coalition, uh, listening sessions, and

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then there was, um, a recent one about the desired outcomes document. So those were

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the four. That's all we got. Great. Uh, public comments. I know we have at least

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one person signed up. So I'm gonna read our boilerplate on that, which has some extra

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exciting added boilerplate this time. So stay tuned for that. Public comment per

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RCW 42.30.240, whereas TR governing body shall provide an opportunity at or before

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every regular meeting at which final action is taken for public comment. Public comment

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requirement section may be taken orally, which we are going to do, or by providing

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written testimony. This is an opportunity to provide a statement to the board of

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trustees. We will not engage in back and forth dialogue. Courteous behavior, respect,

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and professional language expected of all participants. The disruptive patron policy

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applies to participant behavior and board of trustee meetings, both virtual and physical

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spaces. And this is, this is new. Pursuant to RCW 29B.45.010, no person appointed

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to or employed by any public office or agency. He may use or authorize the use of

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any of the facilities of a public office or agency directly or indirectly for the

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purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person in the office or for the

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promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition. Therefore, individuals providing

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public comment are asked to abstain from making any statement advocating for or against

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any candidate or ballot measure. So to translate, if I dare. Uh, to, to make

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sure that we are on the right side of the law, we're asking you to in your public

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comments not say to vote for or against any particular ballot measure or individual

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that might be on the ballot, but please tell us what you think about the ballot measure,

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just not whether we should vote for or against it. Did I get that right? More or

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less? I think that, I think that works based on my understanding. OK, so, uh, with

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that said, we are looking forward to public comments. All right, I have, um, just

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actually have, would you mind handing me the sign up sheet behind you? I wanna confirm.

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I believe I only have 3.

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See that? Yes, I do. Um, so first is Rochelle Martin. Rochelle is joining us via

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Zoom, so just give me one second. I was able to click all the buttons, so you might

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wanna check your security settings.

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Like I came in unmuted and I was like y'all are very accommodating today. This is

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great. Trying, trying to get ahead of the game here. I need to turn her up at all.

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Yeah, I can. I'm like hold on, we're gonna turn you up. We went, OK, go ahead. OK,

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then go ahead, right, OK. All right, so hi everybody. My name is Rochelle. Um, I

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am one of the members of the Patron Coalition for Local Libraries amidst other things.

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And like Chris talked about, um, I sent in a one sheet that talked about the listening

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sessions that we did over August. Um, there's been a concern that because the Patron

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Coalition was really outspoken about our concerns with Timberland that there was

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going to be, um, Overwhelming concern that would lead into maybe Timberland is not

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gonna be solvent in the future with this, you know, potential ballot measure. Like,

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are people gonna vote no? And what was really wonderful was going into those listening

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sessions and listening to people that were very upset, but hearing that people are

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supportive of Timberland, not just as a concept, but as like Their community center

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and like the heart of their communities. So, um, I really just wanted to share that

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the community loves Timberland and we want Timberland to be successful. And when

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people really overwhelmingly said is we need more from our leadership bodies. Tell

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us what's going on and we wanna know more and we want to build stronger together

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and we're looking to you to kind of set that pace. So, um. That this is my report.

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So, um, thank you for the work that you do. It's hard being a volunteer. Um, the

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5 listening sessions in like 2 weeks was challenging. So, um, I appreciate Andrea

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that came out, um, and was so amazing and answering questions, and I really appreciate

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Trusty Luke and, um, Trusty Mickey coming out and meeting some people too. So thank

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you for everything that you do.

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Great. Thank you, Rochelle. And if I may be so bold, you did a lot of those, you're

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very well spoken. I appreciate all the information you presented. Uh, who do we have

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next? All right, next up we got Doctor Sebi. Board member emeritus, if you'd like

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to come up and speak up here, you're welcome to do that. Um

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I wasn't planning on this. 3 minutes, 3 minutes you got. Doctor Karen Sey, I am a

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25 year resident and citizen of Mason County. I'm married to a darling wife who is

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a sixth-generation Mason County or I call Mason County home. Um

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I'd first like to compliment Andrea Heisel on shepherding.

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Day in and day out pass of Timberlain through the last year. It could not have been

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easy. Um, I'd like to compliment. The 5

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trustees, 4 of whom are in person, I was told the other person has a medical problem

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for Doing their job, which is a job in addition to their day job.

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Um, most of them to get here tonight, even drive 2 hours one way and 2 hours back

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and spend their time here, and they don't even get driving pay anymore. They did

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that as a voluntary measure, I was informed tonight. I think you should be aware

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that this is As nonprofit as you can get.

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As far as our 5 trustees go. Bearing that in mind.

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I

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I have done many deep dives. On TRL and there's connections from the beginning with

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Mason County and the, and the libraries. I'm not here on a political mission

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from any politician in Mason County. I, I I'll deal with politicians pretty much.

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Um I think that um the general feeling Amongst

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Most Mason Countiers are that um

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We have been given a raw deal by TRL for a number of years. Particularly tax

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revenues versus what has been returned to the communities. There are only 3 facilities

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in Mason County that compares to 6 or 7 in the other 4 counties.

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You can think about what that might or might not entail. Mhm.

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I think the top heaviness of administration has been addressed by all our trustees,

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and you're, they are responsive to the communities. More so than they were during

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my tenure. I think that um

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There's your 3 minutes regarding the levy lid lift.

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There's, there are 5 and 10 out there now. They're just, they're all over Mesa County.

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They're all over the state of Washington. They're, they're everywhere. Every, everybody

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wants to live, live, live. I propose that the bylaws of Mason of

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DRL be reviewed. I'm in favor of only 5 trustees, one from each county, versus the

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option of 1 from each county plus 2 at large, but those 2 at large can be from any

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county. That's 3 minutes. I'm done. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor Sebi. Yeah, yeah.

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All right, and last up we have Kylie McQuarry.

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We hope we're better. Yes.

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This will have to cut me off because this is like my most unpolished town. I'm gonna

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ramble and duly noted. Thank you. OK. Hello, dear trustees. First, I wanna say thank

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you to Dustin, Brian, and Andrea for attending most of the patron Coalition listening

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sessions. Second, I wanted to thank Hal and Dustin for scheduling a conversation

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with members of every library on Monday and making it part of a public meeting so

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we could all tune in. Um, I'm sure you're going to talk about this later in the meeting

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and I've likely talked about it already. Uh, but I was starting to hear in that meeting

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that every library guy is going, it's very helpful that he encourages library trustees

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to be front and center in any library levy campaign. Um, I like that you said he

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encouraged you to focus on places where there's been controversy, vulnerable places

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where you know that you need to do the work to rebuild. I like that he said he thinks

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most people are persuaded by official informational statements even more than yes

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campaigns, especially when you focus on things that happened the day after election

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day, depending on a yes or no vote. Um, I like that he emphasized that friends and

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spouses can help with the yes campaign and that he, his bottom line though is encouraging

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you to schedule as many meetings as possible. He said he had a list of like 600 entities

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with schools and parks and boards of county commissioners and cities that he very

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strongly encouraged you to speak to. Um, I wanted to, in this comment, express my

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hope that you follow up on that. The PAC has been very busy in the last month. Um,

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I know that we are all volunteers in this room, that there are many people with full-time

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jobs or some of us who are juggling 80 hours of freelance work a week. And raising

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families or traveling to visit relatives, and all of these things going on. And with

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that, we've managed to have more than, I think more than 24 discrete events so far

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raising awareness about the levee lift. And we've put together a mailing campaign.

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We're working on a variety of different informational things. We already have signs,

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we've got, we have so many things and I've presented and been really proactive about

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seeking endorsements. And that is what the yes side can do. I would love, love, love

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to see that energy matched by the trustees in this following month, which is going

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to be, I think, probably the most stressful month that most of us have had in a very

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long time. Everyone is so anxious, no one is sleeping. Everyone is working overtime,

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and I look forward to hearing from you how you plan to Match that effort and energy

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and even supersede it because you are the trustees that we rely on to represent us

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and who authorized the levee lift that we are grateful that you went out for and

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that we are hopeful that you will support in every possible way from now until November

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3rd and then beyond. I think that's everything. Thank you. Great, 30 seconds. Thank

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you, Kylie. All right. Anyone else in the room? Public comments?

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Yeah. OK. All right. Uh, next we have updates from our interim executive director,

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Andrea. OK, so before I get started, I'm gonna invite Annie Bowers, our manager for

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the Hood Sport Library, to come up and give a brief update on the support for us.

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Great. Thank you, Annie. Hello, um, I'm Annie Bowers. I'm the regional manager for

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Mason County. Um, first, thank you everybody for showing up. Thank you board members

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for driving so far. Thank you to all the friends who made it out. Um, I There's a

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little handout on the table for you, and there's some over here if anybody else wants

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one. couple of fun tidbits about the Hoodsport Ranch. Uh, it used to be the

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North Mason branch in Belfair. This building used to be in Belfair, um, and in 1996

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they cut it into three pieces and put it on a barge and shipped it up the canal and

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put it back together in this spot. So 30 years ago this was. Yeah

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Um, there's, if you're interested, uh, there's a video that is a compilation of the

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news reports from 1996, and it is a wonderful time capsule of acid wash jeans.

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Highly recommend. Um, some features here at the Hoodscore Branch, uh, if you look

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out the window to the side there, you can see, uh, both our food forest, uh, which

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has been here since 2020, uh, in partnership with the, um, Mason County Climate Justice,

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they provide all the plants and labor for that so that there are fruit trees and

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vegetable gardens and things here on the Hoodsport library property, uh, and then

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our Salish Sounds music play garden, um, which is super fun, uh, musical instruments

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that you can play outside there. There are not a lot of outdoor play spaces in the

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area, so we're happy to be able to provide that. Um On the handout is also a list

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of the Hoodsport fall programming. Um, we've got storytime, Steam plays, we've also

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got storytime for grown-ups, um, tea talk and time out, which we have today and it

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was a great time. Um, there's gonna be a Death Cafe twice, uh, this fall. Uh, we've

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got a new crafting program Mason County makes, uh, and then there's gonna be an AI

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awareness class, um. In December as well, and then on the back, uh, is a whole bunch

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of statistics for our Mason County libraries, um, and it covers all four of our Mason

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County libraries, the Shelton, Hoods Fort North Mason, and our anywhere library.

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Mhm That's what I got for you. You got questions for me? Yes, I knew you would.

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Um, Annie, um, when I was driving in, I loved it because I was serenaded by a family,

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so it was really great when I drove in, but I wanted to compliment the, um, it is

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slippery and icy, you're gonna fall and die signs. Those are some of the best signs

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I've ever seen. But I'm curious why we have library guest signs. Do they have an

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issue? There are a couple. Well, there's not great parking in Hoodsport in general.

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I'm learning that most of it is just the street parking, um, and there's only so

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much street, uh, so there are a few times a year where we have big festivals, um,

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and we are very happy to share our parking lot, but we want at least a couple spaces

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left for the people who are here for the library. Oh, got it. OK, so I have more.

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Because I do, I don't know what a death cafe is. It sounds like something I need

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to go to. Um, it is very cool. It is, um, I wish Sean was here because he'll explain

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it better, uh, but, um, it's a safe space to talk about death, um, you know.

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He has done them for years. Do you done them at libraries all across the district.

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They know for sure, yeah, um, he's doing. 6 of them in Mason County, uh, this fall.

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There'll be 2 at each branch on varying days at varying times, um, and if he was

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here he could really talk it up. All I know is that they are very well received,

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um, and, and people look forward to them. Yeah, and I also really appreciated that

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you pulled out your anywhere library statistics. I, I did that. Thank you. That's

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all I got. Oh, do I take questions? I'm not sure everybody knows that this lady's

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in charge of all three, yeah, yes, yeah, libraries in Macy County now that did not

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used to be that way. I have a question for you. What kind of budget were you given

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for the Living Live Live campaign? What kind of what was I? Oh, I don't have a budget

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for that. That's not. Seriously happened, so he had no synthology. Are you talking

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about what, what would happen if, if it happens? No, I mean how, how much money are

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we is PRL spending on their campaign? Is it not or is it there's a, we, we

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said or not, we are only allowed to spend money on an information campaign, right?

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And so we will talk about a mailer that we'll be doing, and that's $150,000. And

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then the only other things we can do, hold on, I'm trying to think, we're paying

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for the ball for it to be on the ballot. So we have to pay that portion of the voters

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pamphlet that we cost share with other folks around the ballot that's estimated between

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$250,000 to $300,000 for this election, um, so those are the costs for the, the actual

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ballot. So it's, that's $400,000 figure and maybe more dependent on little things,

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give or take, but that's most of what we can make for my question. And then I, I

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had a question that Mason County makes. What are, what are some of the crafts that

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you guys do there? We last week we did, um, string art breeding cards. Um, next

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month we're gonna do this craft called Tino saida. Um, where you have foam and you

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cut a design and then you tuck fabric into the foam and it turns out looking like

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stained glass. It's pretty cool. I was trying it today at our Talking time out session

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and I think it's gonna work cool. And then one other question, so since you're covering

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the three libraries, how do you divide your time typically in a week, location wise?

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Live closest to Hoodsport, so this is technically my home branch. Um, I I am in Shelton

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and North Mason at least one day a week and then depending on what kind of meetings

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I have going on, um, I may be there more often. Yeah, OK, great. Love the report.

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That can be a real battle in the winter out here. Uh-huh, I bet. All right, great,

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so. All right, thank you, thanks, great report, Andy, appreciate it. OK.

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Indeed. So, um, just the highlights of the director informational report, um, we

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are in the middle of our levy information session time. It's really ramping up this

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week, um, and the next few weeks, very busy meeting with different, um, libraries.

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Drop in sessions scheduled in 17. Did we decide 1716, um, so

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16 branches, um, so please come. There's one in Shelton this Friday, in fact, so

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I'd love to see you all there for that drop in session, um, 4 p.m. yeah. Um,

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we are also, as, uh, Trustee Luke mentioned, it's Library, National Library Card

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Sign Up Month, and we have that nice limited edition library card that we are allowed

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to make. Um, we got the privilege to make that card. We do budget for library cards

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every year and that's just part of our annual budget for library cards. There was

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nothing special outside of that, um, for that. Um, what else do I need to highlight?

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We're in a maintenance phase for all of our facilities, so we're trying to get in

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that last-minute maintenance before the weather really turns for the year. Um, and

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we are also in budget mode. So, um, my finance administrator has been here 3 weeks

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doing amazing work already. We are creating two separate budgets, one for if the

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levee initiative passes and one for if it does not. Um, and that information will

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be shared with the board, um. In late October, early November when we do our, our

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budget, um, public hearing as well. So lots of good things happening there and we

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also finally have wrapped up our summer library program for the summer and I'm happy

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to report and amazed to report that we had an increase of 3% of Signups, um, this

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summer, um, which I just really wanna commend the staff because that's on top of,

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you know, all the things that have happened this year, um, to our staff with reduced

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staffing across the branches and also with reduced hours, um, so kudos to all of

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our staff there and that is the end of my report. Are there questions? I have one

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under IT uh dis discontinue AV capture all software. What are we moving to? Do we

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know yet? Chris can yeah we can talk about that. So we're uh just gonna stop using

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AV capture for posting the recordings in the packets. Um, I'm gonna do something

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that's similar to what Snow Island does. So if you look at their, uh, administration

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board page, you can kind of see. But sort of what that's gonna look like basically

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on the board of trustees page that's where I will start uploading the agendas and

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the packets so just be the meeting date, uh, the location agenda packet, and then

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I can even put the minutes there all in one place. I'm gonna be using uh YouTube

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to stream the board meetings, so that has nothing to do really with the role but

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yeah so you can people can still join the Zoom. The Zoom will still be how we're

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doing the hybrid meeting. So if you're making public comment or if you're joining

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remotely any staff or board members, the Zoom will still be available to join just

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like it always has been, um, and it will also be simultaneously streamed on YouTube

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actually doing that right now. I've been kind of getting used to it. Um, in advance

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of next year, so the benefit of that is the recordings are available immediately.

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I don't have to separately upload a recording, so it's like as soon as the live stream

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stops, it's, it's there. The captions are reasonably, um, accurate compared to AV

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capsules auto generated captions, um, and then we'll still, of course, archive the

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recordings of the meetings are not relying on YouTube to do that for us, so we'll

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still be recording the Zoom. Um, and that's, that's kind of it. So AB capture is

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kind of clunky. The software itself on the back end is sort of software seems like

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they haven't really done a whole lot of updates since the early 2000s. So, um, had

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some struggles with that. Um, so it'll, it'll require some change to the process,

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but it should be relatively seamless from a board member perspective and from the

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perspective of the public, I think. It saves a little bit of money. It's not, uh,

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especially, um, Expensive AV capture all, but um it is a cost savings. I worked with

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our IT folks too, so that all of the recordings that are currently in AV capture

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all go back to what I think 2012 when we started using that software. We've already

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got those moved over to a separate page, so you'll still be able to access all of

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the past recordings and packets. They won't go anywhere. They'll just be uh one more

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click. I love it. I think that's a great innovation that we're bringing some things

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in-house using free or low cost. It'd be cool if we're buying next year, and people

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understand YouTube generally. It's, it's a straightforward thing. YouTube makes more

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sense probably than AV Castro, so that's great. And that is, can you say how much

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that's saving us? Do you remember how much she under $5000 it's like $4000 something.

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I can't remember the exact number, but that's just in subscription costs, not like

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Advil to deal with like the headache dealing with baby. This is the best news I've

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heard in a long time.

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Uh, I do not like AB capsule. Yeah, I'm open to further, um, suggestions for improving

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the packet process and stuff too. I know you mentioned the bookmarking and PDF yesterday

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in policy committee, so we'll be adding those, make it a little easier to navigate

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the packets too. All right, so we don't normally take questions from the public,

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but Doctor say one more. Go ahead. Thank you. What are you doing to promote literacy

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and pediatric ID? Preschool and early school years. Library

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ownership, uh, getting your kids involved, is that part of your job? That is not

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part of my job. But it's part of I would commend you for doing that, and I think

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if you wanna err on the side of budgetary concerns, I'd err on putting my money there.

349
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Mhm.

350
00:32:03,081 --> 00:32:09,015
Thank you. Yeah. Uh, may I make one more quick comment that I skipped there? I just

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want to really highlight that October 1st is the closure of the Aberdeen library

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for the remodel project, and I can't tell you how excited we all got this week when

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we realized it's actually happening. Um, it has been a seven year plus journey to

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get to this point, and I just really want to thank all the parties involved, the

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city of Aberdeen, the Friends of the Library, the Library Advisory Board, and our

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amazing, um, Regional manager Stephanie Reese and her stewardship through that whole

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process. It has just been a really great collaboration and so excited for that community

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to have there. Their refresh space with working plumbing and all and working elevator,

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a better working elevator.

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Be very funny, but great, better. Thank you very much. Uh, so next we have.

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Uh, anything else, Andrea? OK, great. No, that's good. Um, so number 8, financial

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statements and highlights. Uh, welcome, Mariah. Look forward to hearing from you.

363
00:33:08,044 --> 00:33:13,075
Thank you. And by the way, great job with the agenda, the reports and everything.

364
00:33:13,008 --> 00:33:20,046
It's fascinating to look through that, so. I'm glad that you think so. Um, hi everybody.

365
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I'm Mariah Holmes. Um, I started 3 weeks ago, but I'm really excited to be here.

366
00:33:26,019 --> 00:33:32,022
Um, I'm gonna just get this pulled up and we will both be on our way. Um, before

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I do get started, um. I, I just wanted to um Make a quick

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note since this is my first board meeting and since I am new, um, I just wanted to

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um to say that since joining TRL um I've spent a significant um amount of time going

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through our financial data. To understand um our processes and our systems um and

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working with our leadership team um and department leaders to understand both where

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we are today and where we are headed um and as we work together my goal is to um.

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Make these financial reports um more transparent and consistent with the view of

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Terrell's financial position. So what that means is I want to be able to see, for

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all of you to see not only where we are relative to the budget, but also what's driving

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those significant variances, what I'm watching, and where I believe that um something

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may be required of the board and, and action. So that's what I hope to bring to these

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um monthly updates is not just here's some numbers, but what do we need to do with

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them. Um, and I just want to make a note that since I only joined 3 weeks ago, This

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month's report, although you have seen that you appreciate the, the difference, it,

381
00:34:55,006 --> 00:35:01,052
it will look very similar to the historical reports that you've received, but I do

382
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plan to make a few additional changes, um, just to support that new directive. Um,

383
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there is considerably more work happening behind these numbers, um, but in, in particular

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2027 budget and long-term planning, um, and financial outlook, um, and rather than

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trying to combine all of that today as Andrea had. Um, we will be having a separate

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session for that, so I hope that you all, um, are looking forward to that because

387
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I am, um, but for today we are going to just focus on the August numbers, um, and

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the, the monthly outlook. So for tonight. Um, I want us to focus on a simple question.

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Which is, where did we stand financially at the end of August? And is there anything

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in the current financial statements that should concern us today? That's the only

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thing we're focusing on. Um, and I will pop this in. Chris, could you? You really?

392
00:36:00,069 --> 00:36:03,071
Yeah, sorry. In a state.

393
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Mhm

394
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Me too. Mhm. Mhm.

395
00:36:15,071 --> 00:36:19,054
Sorry, everybody, I just have to get on Zoom so that everybody can see this presentation

396
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as well.

397
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Mhm.

398
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While she's doing that, I'll say that if you are interested in learning about our

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budget, you can go to TRL.org/budget. We have a lot of information there, uh, including

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some of these, uh, monthly reports, annual. We've done a lot of work over the last

401
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six months to create a more More up to-date and forward-looking financial report

402
00:36:59,004 --> 00:37:04,000
and, and I think we have made a lot of progress in that regard. So thanks to our

403
00:37:04,008 --> 00:37:10,073
previous staff and commendations to Mariah for stepping into this um enthusiastically

404
00:37:10,073 --> 00:37:15,094
when Clearly this was a big job, so you're, you're already a winner just for being

405
00:37:15,096 --> 00:37:22,007
willing to, to do this. So, well, thank you, um, I will count my success on how well

406
00:37:22,007 --> 00:37:26,079
we can navigate this, um, but I'm excited to be here. I am enthusiastic. So if I

407
00:37:26,079 --> 00:37:31,059
can direct your attention to the screen, um, just a real quick outline, um, like

408
00:37:31,059 --> 00:37:36,024
I had mentioned, we're going to focus on August. I've also included our year to date

409
00:37:36,024 --> 00:37:40,022
data. It's gonna be a slightly different perspective, but it's good to know where

410
00:37:40,022 --> 00:37:46,026
we're at currently as of today, um, and then that perspective of what are we really

411
00:37:46,026 --> 00:37:49,086
watching, what do we need to keep our eyes on, what does all of this mean? That'll

412
00:37:49,086 --> 00:37:57,062
be at the end. OK, so nuts, um, our current year to date revenue is at $16.21

413
00:37:57,062 --> 00:38:04,081
million expenditures at 17.9 million. Um, our August spend, so how much did we spend

414
00:38:04,081 --> 00:38:11,009
in August is 1.93 and our ending fund balance is 4.13. What does that mean relative

415
00:38:11,009 --> 00:38:19,001
to anything? Um, our revenue is 56% of our annual budget. Um, and we're gonna

416
00:38:19,001 --> 00:38:24,066
see a slide just next about how that broke out, right? You're thinking we're 3 quarters

417
00:38:24,066 --> 00:38:29,001
through the year, we should have more revenue, but because of our cycle, that actually,

418
00:38:29,031 --> 00:38:32,066
that number is spot on, that's where we should be, and I'll explain that in just

419
00:38:32,066 --> 00:38:40,055
a moment, um, but 56% is good. Um, 59% spend of our annual budget is fantastic. Um,

420
00:38:40,074 --> 00:38:46,002
we should probably be about 75% spend, so we're significantly under, um, and our

421
00:38:46,026 --> 00:38:54,021
1.93 million of spend in August alone, that's a 23.1% reduction since June. That

422
00:38:54,021 --> 00:39:00,029
means we're decreasing spend over time, OK? Um, our fund balance doesn't have a lot

423
00:39:00,029 --> 00:39:05,033
of significance right now, but it will in the long term projections, um, and like

424
00:39:05,033 --> 00:39:11,012
I said, like our revenue really just, um, reflects timing. And all of these numbers

425
00:39:11,094 --> 00:39:17,013
are, are solid. It doesn't ring any alarm bells and it doesn't require any more action.

426
00:39:18,026 --> 00:39:24,082
So moving OK. if there's a delay. So this is the graph I wanted to, to point out.

427
00:39:24,099 --> 00:39:30,048
This shows the kind of pattern of how our revenue comes through, OK? We get, um,

428
00:39:30,069 --> 00:39:34,099
big increases of revenue in April and May, and then again in October and November.

429
00:39:35,063 --> 00:39:40,094
This orange line here shows our trend line, and what you'll notice is that almost

430
00:39:40,094 --> 00:39:47,015
every month. Of our revenue through this year, which is these little teal bars, is

431
00:39:47,015 --> 00:39:52,055
over our, our, our trend line. So that means this year is a pretty good year for

432
00:39:52,055 --> 00:39:58,003
revenue. And again, if you think about an entire year where you only have two big

433
00:39:58,098 --> 00:40:04,015
cycles of incoming revenue. We've only gone through one of those, so we're about

434
00:40:04,002 --> 00:40:12,000
a little over 50% of our revenue collected. That's why that 56% spot on, um. So that's

435
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:17,072
our revenue right now. We're in a down cycle. So when you guys are seeing the numbers

436
00:40:17,072 --> 00:40:23,028
where it's saying that we have a significant um deficit that net, that makes sense

437
00:40:23,028 --> 00:40:28,068
because our August revenue is gonna be, it's low right now. When we pop back up into

438
00:40:28,068 --> 00:40:32,099
October and November, that deficit will be gone, right? We'll have a huge surplus.

439
00:40:33,065 --> 00:40:40,073
OK, so moving into, um, this is just our expenditures and what you'll see is a really

440
00:40:40,073 --> 00:40:46,074
nice. Downward trend and this is where we're getting that almost 25% um reduction

441
00:40:46,074 --> 00:40:51,003
in spend. That means we're being incredibly responsible with our spending and we're

442
00:40:51,003 --> 00:40:56,033
keeping it tight um to try to navigate the current situation. Another really nice

443
00:40:56,035 --> 00:41:01,025
number that I want us to focus on is that if we compared our spend of just August

444
00:41:01,046 --> 00:41:06,066
to our spend of last year in August, we also have a decrease of 14, almost 14%.

445
00:41:09,046 --> 00:41:16,096
If we look at how we're spending against what we projected for this year, Our year

446
00:41:16,096 --> 00:41:23,032
to date budget, so what we had anticipated to have um received in revenue at this

447
00:41:23,032 --> 00:41:28,007
point in time, and what we had expected to have expended at this point in time in

448
00:41:28,009 --> 00:41:35,096
August. Um, We're slightly below both. So, um, we've collected 84% of what we

449
00:41:35,096 --> 00:41:42,015
had expected. But we've only spent 88%, so we're underspending significantly, um.

450
00:41:43,041 --> 00:41:48,016
The revenue is also just a point of time, right? It has to do with that cycle.

451
00:41:50,058 --> 00:41:54,085
Um, again, because of our cycle where we're at in the cycle, because this is an August

452
00:41:54,085 --> 00:41:59,017
report, you'll see that our property tax is making up a smaller proportion of our

453
00:41:59,017 --> 00:42:04,009
total revenue, um, just again because of that cycle, and we're seeing more of a makeup

454
00:42:04,009 --> 00:42:10,072
from timber and other revenue. What I wanna highlight with this, right, it's not

455
00:42:10,072 --> 00:42:16,065
just another pretty graph, so I want you to know what I'm watching with these, um.

456
00:42:17,053 --> 00:42:22,073
We're watching collections, but compared to prior years, right? Are we trending down?

457
00:42:22,093 --> 00:42:27,099
Do we need to be making adjustments because of our revenue? Is it off cycle? Um,

458
00:42:28,037 --> 00:42:33,083
timing and volatility of timber revenue, particularly, um, and then any reoccurring

459
00:42:34,011 --> 00:42:39,064
revenue related to reoccurring costs, right? Um, so that's that net deficit. Is it

460
00:42:39,064 --> 00:42:44,006
alarming? If I had a net deficit in like April, that'd be a huge red flag I'd be

461
00:42:44,006 --> 00:42:51,058
bringing to the board. Will never happen, but, but all the numbers here, no,

462
00:42:51,082 --> 00:42:55,017
all the numbers here are fine and that's what I'm watching, so I wanna be aware.

463
00:42:56,053 --> 00:43:03,015
Um, this just shows us where our money is depending on the, the balance, uh, our

464
00:43:03,033 --> 00:43:07,005
fund. So this is our general fund. This is where most of the, the numbers that you

465
00:43:07,005 --> 00:43:11,091
see that are reported are coming out of. This is where our spending comes out of

466
00:43:12,002 --> 00:43:17,032
for our operations, um, and we're just slightly that's about 4.13 general fund balance

467
00:43:17,032 --> 00:43:24,069
we're slightly over $4 million. Our gift fund, um, is over $2 million. Um, near

468
00:43:24,087 --> 00:43:30,001
2.5, um, our chat fund is just under a million dollars. These are our fund balances,

469
00:43:30,019 --> 00:43:35,006
how much we have in the bank for that fund. Our building fund, um, is right around

470
00:43:35,006 --> 00:43:41,083
I think $800,000 and then our unemployment fund is around 400 almost $500,000. Um,

471
00:43:42,004 --> 00:43:46,051
there's allocations to all of those, right? We have, um, specific costs to them,

472
00:43:46,072 --> 00:43:52,075
um, but that's what we have in the balance. And this is where I bring you to September.

473
00:43:52,091 --> 00:43:56,092
Now, these numbers are gonna look different because it's not the end of the month.

474
00:43:57,038 --> 00:44:05,027
Um, particularly could be alarming but isn't, is the revenue. We only have $3600

475
00:44:05,029 --> 00:44:10,025
of revenue to date. Our revenue comes in at the end of the month, OK? Um, which is

476
00:44:10,025 --> 00:44:16,012
why we have this really large deficit. It's not alarming. It's just that cycle. Um,

477
00:44:16,034 --> 00:44:23,064
we've only spent, however, in September, $938,000. Again, that's us being really

478
00:44:23,094 --> 00:44:28,085
um responsible and, and thoughtful about what we're spending right now. Um, and our

479
00:44:28,085 --> 00:44:35,009
fund balance again, not really meaningful, but so we can keep an eye on it, is $3.19

480
00:44:35,009 --> 00:44:38,086
million. Obviously if that was a negative number I'd be letting you know you know

481
00:44:39,013 --> 00:44:44,008
mom um but again why this looks different is because it's not the end um so when

482
00:44:44,008 --> 00:44:49,096
we have this report next month for September. You're gonna have slightly different

483
00:44:49,098 --> 00:44:57,013
numbers, but this is where we stand today, um. And this is kind of to monitor. Liquidity.

484
00:44:57,022 --> 00:45:01,069
How much is in our bank account today, right? If I had an in like an expense hit

485
00:45:01,069 --> 00:45:06,046
our desk and we had a signed check, can we pay it? And that's what these numbers

486
00:45:06,046 --> 00:45:11,047
should be helping you see. And probably the most important, at least to me, slide

487
00:45:11,047 --> 00:45:16,049
for today's presentation is, is that level set of where are we going and, and where

488
00:45:16,049 --> 00:45:21,093
are we tying this in. Um, so again, what I'm trying to watch for are those number

489
00:45:22,017 --> 00:45:26,063
collections, and I'm, I'm comparing that to historic numbers so I can make sure that

490
00:45:26,063 --> 00:45:33,075
we're trending in the right direction. Um Our spending quality and making sure that

491
00:45:33,075 --> 00:45:40,009
we are separating those sustainable reductions versus, you know,

492
00:45:42,001 --> 00:45:47,063
One time costs and and those bigger pieces, where is that coming? What is the impact

493
00:45:47,065 --> 00:45:53,082
of those those expenses? We're watching reserve compliance, um, so that's that big

494
00:45:53,082 --> 00:45:58,074
30% number that we're all aware of. Um, I have a different number that I'm watching,

495
00:45:59,003 --> 00:46:06,066
watching 40%, a 35%, and a 30%, um, it. Pulls different triggers within the

496
00:46:06,066 --> 00:46:10,039
finance department, right? When you hit 40, you're doing something, when you hit

497
00:46:10,039 --> 00:46:14,007
35, you're doing something different, and when you hit 30, we're doing something

498
00:46:14,007 --> 00:46:20,055
even more different. Um, and the biggest thing for today is that um hopefully as

499
00:46:20,055 --> 00:46:26,038
we continue this, I want to be bringing these numbers into a bigger forecasting presentation.

500
00:46:27,002 --> 00:46:32,008
What do our monthly numbers actually mean in our long term projection? How can you

501
00:46:32,008 --> 00:46:35,055
take the numbers that we're looking at today? The bank account numbers that we're

502
00:46:35,055 --> 00:46:41,027
sitting on right now and apply them to long-term decisions. That's what I will be

503
00:46:41,027 --> 00:46:46,011
building into representations moving forward, um, and we'll be coming to you. Um,

504
00:46:46,003 --> 00:46:52,011
but this big conclusion is spending is moving in the right direction. Low monthly

505
00:46:52,011 --> 00:46:57,011
revenue reflects collection timing, not an alarm bell. And the long-term questions

506
00:46:57,011 --> 00:47:02,082
will be addressed, the scheduled budget um discussion to come. And that is my presentation

507
00:47:02,082 --> 00:47:09,038
for you all today. Um, I really appreciate the time and um I just appreciate being

508
00:47:09,038 --> 00:47:12,083
able to be here with you all today. Can you, can you pull that up? We might be here

509
00:47:12,083 --> 00:47:17,014
for some slides. Any trustees have any questions or comments?

510
00:47:21,002 --> 00:47:24,055
A comment that I have, I mean, I had a couple of questions, but, but you answered

511
00:47:24,055 --> 00:47:28,022
a minute, and it really had to do with your philosophy, what you're looking at, and

512
00:47:28,032 --> 00:47:31,039
you went through that very well. So I appreciate that and

513
00:47:34,009 --> 00:47:39,003
Uh, well, let's, let's do the trustee questions first because we might address those

514
00:47:39,005 --> 00:47:45,004
and then, and then we'll, um, Tony or Dustin? I'm good. No, I think it's just a great

515
00:47:45,004 --> 00:47:52,003
direction. This isn't, you know, what, uh, um, I guess was kind of envisioned with

516
00:47:52,003 --> 00:47:58,041
the, the policy that we rolled out recently and we did put a short, um, review timeline

517
00:47:58,041 --> 00:48:02,029
on that so it's really helpful to kind of see the way that. You're framing this the

518
00:48:02,029 --> 00:48:06,005
way that you're looking at things and it's always, always a challenge, you know,

519
00:48:06,022 --> 00:48:13,005
um, when we get lump sum payments and understand how that all fits in and what it

520
00:48:13,005 --> 00:48:17,065
actually means because it might look really good, you know, um, one month, but if

521
00:48:17,065 --> 00:48:22,048
you don't actually manage the, the low months, then that's another problem, but,

522
00:48:22,062 --> 00:48:29,049
um. So this is all great, um, just, uh, putting on your radar since you've been here

523
00:48:29,049 --> 00:48:33,082
for 3 weeks that we did intend, uh, once this position was filled to have the new

524
00:48:33,082 --> 00:48:40,009
person, uh, take a look at that policy and, and provide us with input so that we

525
00:48:40,009 --> 00:48:46,022
can make sure that, um, we're building, uh, a policy that gives current and future

526
00:48:46,022 --> 00:48:52,032
boards the best possible information and the best format, but it's also achievable

527
00:48:52,042 --> 00:48:57,009
and That we can be in compliance with because we don't want to create policies that

528
00:48:57,009 --> 00:49:02,069
we're not compliance with. So, um, looking forward to talking about. She's been here

529
00:49:02,069 --> 00:49:05,061
3 weeks. Give her another week. Yeah. Oh, I was just that's why I was just putting

530
00:49:05,061 --> 00:49:07,077
it on the radar because there's a lot to.

531
00:49:10,003 --> 00:49:14,037
No, yeah, that all sounds great. Yeah, and then just to piggyback on that, yeah,

532
00:49:14,049 --> 00:49:19,065
as you see things in that policy that you think Really, you know, let's talk about

533
00:49:19,065 --> 00:49:25,021
that cause I, I, what you're talking about is exactly what we wanted. So if the policy

534
00:49:25,021 --> 00:49:31,013
is Not that then let's, let's get that tweaked going forward. A question I had, um,

535
00:49:31,015 --> 00:49:37,093
on this page, um, 84% revenue versus year to date budget. I know that our income,

536
00:49:38,015 --> 00:49:43,009
our tax revenue collections are, are very lumpy, but as I read that we're at 84%.

537
00:49:45,049 --> 00:49:48,083
Relative to where we expected to be this time of year, taking the lumpiness into

538
00:49:48,083 --> 00:49:51,004
account, so 84% seems really low.

539
00:49:53,021 --> 00:49:57,044
Yes, and you're spot on with how you're interpreting that, right? So, um, revenue

540
00:49:57,044 --> 00:50:04,026
versus year to date budget, right, it means that we're comparing August. Versus our

541
00:50:04,026 --> 00:50:09,038
projected August, right, that August budget, and so yes, we are below trend, and

542
00:50:09,038 --> 00:50:15,001
if you read just below this, it says 3.12 million below that phased budget, and this

543
00:50:15,003 --> 00:50:21,075
is the budget, um, that was reduced, um, the, the new one that rolled out like mid

544
00:50:21,095 --> 00:50:28,022
2026. So yes, um, it is below what we were hoping for, um.

545
00:50:31,031 --> 00:50:37,021
Property like Taxes are are coming in differently. Um, the timber revenue is decreasing,

546
00:50:37,051 --> 00:50:43,063
um, and so when we do a rough, um, projection you're gonna be off slightly.

547
00:50:45,054 --> 00:50:51,073
When you say that it seems Really low. Like I, I get the sense like scary low. Um,

548
00:50:51,098 --> 00:50:57,009
I, I, I was a little surprised, not, not scared, yeah, I, I just wanna say as this

549
00:50:57,009 --> 00:51:02,021
number doesn't alarm me. If we were hitting at like 75% or less, I'd say we need

550
00:51:02,021 --> 00:51:07,005
to, to focus on this and make sure that we're adjusting. I will say what we haven't

551
00:51:07,005 --> 00:51:14,081
gotten into this is a monthly quick recap. I have for us later long term projections

552
00:51:14,081 --> 00:51:22,001
10+ years. These numbers are in them. I'm not, I'm not seeing anything that's overly

553
00:51:22,001 --> 00:51:25,084
concerning, you know. You think there are, I think we will when the year finishes

554
00:51:26,004 --> 00:51:30,088
our revenue will be about what we expected. Great. OK, that's, and, and I think the

555
00:51:30,088 --> 00:51:35,023
bigger picture of that, Brian, I'm sorry to like cut you off, but is, you know, the

556
00:51:35,023 --> 00:51:40,078
revenue needs to be at a certain number. Based on our expenditures as well, right,

557
00:51:40,087 --> 00:51:44,009
like they have to be looked at together. It's not just is our revenue where it needs

558
00:51:44,009 --> 00:51:50,005
to be and because our expenditures are trending down, it also puts us in a much better

559
00:51:50,005 --> 00:51:57,018
position to not be at the year end and over. Compromised because we didn't get exactly

560
00:51:57,018 --> 00:52:00,019
what we were hoping for with revenue. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. And

561
00:52:00,031 --> 00:52:05,038
I should have led with that because to me the bigger news is that we are doing a

562
00:52:05,038 --> 00:52:12,004
remarkable job cutting our spending, and I think that should be the headline if newspapers

563
00:52:12,055 --> 00:52:18,026
were covering this, uh, that we are. We started this year, the last several years

564
00:52:18,026 --> 00:52:24,054
with a substantial operating structural deficit, and we have, here's my question,

565
00:52:24,067 --> 00:52:29,043
is it fair and accurate to say that at least through, for the time being through

566
00:52:30,034 --> 00:52:34,022
very serious cuts, we have furloughs, we've we've reduced our collections expenditures,

567
00:52:34,029 --> 00:52:38,086
we've made cuts all over the place and smart tightening that we have eliminated that

568
00:52:38,086 --> 00:52:42,038
structural deficit. I want to be very cautious with this answer.

569
00:52:44,044 --> 00:52:52,025
Because There's a lot of Potential ifs out in the world right now.

570
00:52:53,095 --> 00:52:59,042
But based on several projections over the next few years, it does look like we've

571
00:52:59,042 --> 00:53:05,082
flipped that, even if momentarily, right? And there's a lot going of like, can we

572
00:53:05,082 --> 00:53:11,098
sustain that? And did that switch of where we now have a surplus rather than a deficit,

573
00:53:12,022 --> 00:53:18,088
is that something that is a thriving environment? Those are very important pieces

574
00:53:18,088 --> 00:53:23,002
to that. So I don't want us to get hung up on woohoo, positive balance, right? Like

575
00:53:23,002 --> 00:53:30,021
what cost did that come at? But yes, we've done the first hurdle, I think. Of getting

576
00:53:30,021 --> 00:53:36,082
to that place of having um a positive balance rather than a deficit and absolutely

577
00:53:36,082 --> 00:53:41,046
great call out of like yes it's from a lot of hard work. But is that sustainable

578
00:53:41,046 --> 00:53:46,055
and that's a bigger question for our budget meeting, um, and I'm really excited to,

579
00:53:46,067 --> 00:53:50,046
to have that which we could jump, jump into it today, but where we can really look

580
00:53:50,046 --> 00:53:54,005
at those numbers because it'll put it in perspective where we'll have that bigger

581
00:53:54,005 --> 00:53:57,063
picture because I think everyone's itching for that, um, and so I don't wanna go

582
00:53:57,063 --> 00:54:02,063
too deep down that rabbit hole, but yes, I think we are setting ourselves up. To

583
00:54:02,063 --> 00:54:07,098
be in a better place. And I, and another way of saying that as we're going to voters

584
00:54:08,032 --> 00:54:12,045
with a levy lift proposal, we've had a lot of people say to us, you need to get your

585
00:54:12,045 --> 00:54:17,062
financial house in order before we would consider voting yes. And to me, we have,

586
00:54:18,032 --> 00:54:22,059
our administration, our, our interim executive director, our staff have done a really

587
00:54:22,059 --> 00:54:27,027
good job of getting our financial house in order through. You talk about this is

588
00:54:27,027 --> 00:54:31,098
a thriving budget. To me this is a sur a survival budget that we're in right now.

589
00:54:32,003 --> 00:54:37,039
We, we needed to right the ship and we did. And my commendations, Andrea, to you

590
00:54:37,039 --> 00:54:42,089
and your team, uh, so many people in this room and, and the organization. But these

591
00:54:42,089 --> 00:54:47,027
cuts are not that thriving environment. Our we've cut our collections expenditures

592
00:54:47,027 --> 00:54:51,081
down a lot, and that's why a library is here among many other things. But the primary

593
00:54:51,081 --> 00:54:55,001
reason is to have resources, to have books, to have our collections, and we're not

594
00:54:55,001 --> 00:54:59,065
investing in that as we would like. We, we have furlough days for our non-represented

595
00:54:59,065 --> 00:55:04,013
staff. We've, we've done a lot of things we've. But we're balancing the books. We

596
00:55:04,013 --> 00:55:07,041
are being accountable and responsible to our voters. We are spending within our means

597
00:55:07,041 --> 00:55:11,094
now. Yes, and I almost want to say it another way, and you're exactly right. Um,

598
00:55:12,026 --> 00:55:19,019
with our constrained revenue at this moment, we are doing everything we can to live

599
00:55:19,032 --> 00:55:23,061
within our means, and that's what these numbers show us is that we have significantly

600
00:55:23,061 --> 00:55:29,047
cut to be there, but without any additional revenue. Wherever that may come from,

601
00:55:29,072 --> 00:55:36,011
um, we, we can't be back at a higher level, um, and, and continue to have our doors

602
00:55:36,011 --> 00:55:41,003
open. So exactly right, we are being financially responsible and disciplined. We've

603
00:55:41,003 --> 00:55:46,043
done what we need to checked that box, um, those numbers speak for themselves, um,

604
00:55:46,056 --> 00:55:51,039
and within the constrained revenue structure that we have, that's, we're doing everything

605
00:55:51,039 --> 00:55:57,059
we can. And then the, the levy lift is saying. To, to have a more thriving environment,

606
00:55:57,072 --> 00:56:02,003
to have a more robust, the library that you would want to have in your community

607
00:56:02,032 --> 00:56:07,035
from a financial standpoint. Um, we're being fiscally responsible and we could, voters

608
00:56:07,035 --> 00:56:11,066
could, could or could not choose to invest in that, but we're doing the, the basic

609
00:56:11,068 --> 00:56:18,019
finances right now, properly, correctly, yes, um, if someone were to vote yes on

610
00:56:18,019 --> 00:56:23,019
the levy lift, they would be providing the libraries with the revenue that they would

611
00:56:23,019 --> 00:56:28,047
need to increase those services that people desire. Um, if they choose to vote no,

612
00:56:28,076 --> 00:56:33,063
then they are opting for the reduced services that we have now and they even less

613
00:56:33,081 --> 00:56:39,029
to continue to support this, yeah, if collections go up, collections go up. It's

614
00:56:39,037 --> 00:56:39,052
like.

615
00:56:41,071 --> 00:56:44,051
Ladies and gentlemen, you're president-elect Timberland work.

616
00:56:47,023 --> 00:56:53,001
Um, I am shocked that, um, uh, that, that funny didn't have any.

617
00:56:55,083 --> 00:56:56,009
That's OK. Natalie does.

618
00:56:58,016 --> 00:57:04,019
Really good at reading these kinds of reports and totally I'm, you know, I did my

619
00:57:04,019 --> 00:57:09,011
praying that you would join us. That's where I, I'm happy to be here. Um, as you

620
00:57:09,011 --> 00:57:14,019
guys, sometimes numbers can be a lot. So as you digest this, if there's any additional,

621
00:57:14,052 --> 00:57:19,023
um, perspectives or views or data that you'd like to be seeing, please let me know

622
00:57:19,023 --> 00:57:23,019
and I can fold that into these presentations. I love it. So Natalie, do you have

623
00:57:23,019 --> 00:57:30,086
a Yes, I know this is, um, illegal, but Um, so the revenues are bulky.

624
00:57:31,077 --> 00:57:37,007
Expenditures. You know, because you were saying August is down 23% from June. Our

625
00:57:37,007 --> 00:57:43,006
expenditures fairly consistent across. Yeah, and that's exactly what you'll see here.

626
00:57:43,019 --> 00:57:46,018
And if I wanted to narrow in, I like this view because it's exactly what you were

627
00:57:46,018 --> 00:57:51,059
just saying. The teal here, it's bumpy and it rides this wave all year, right? Up

628
00:57:51,087 --> 00:57:57,075
and then down, right? It's very fun roller coaster. But the blue here is our expenditure

629
00:57:57,075 --> 00:58:03,011
and you could make a fairly linear straight line here. Super awesome they were going

630
00:58:03,011 --> 00:58:08,099
down, um, but, but yes, and that's because of what comprises those and there's the

631
00:58:08,099 --> 00:58:15,007
expenditures are stable, um, set in stone, right? You've got salary, those things.

632
00:58:16,089 --> 00:58:20,006
You know they're happening, right? You know you're gonna get billed for this. It's

633
00:58:20,006 --> 00:58:25,004
set in a budget. It's gonna stay the same, right? We're not going out and throwing

634
00:58:25,004 --> 00:58:31,005
money everywhere, right? But revenue is based on, on assessments and inventory tax,

635
00:58:31,013 --> 00:58:35,036
right? And those come in at different rates throughout the year, right? So that's

636
00:58:35,036 --> 00:58:41,081
why you see that there. Did that answer your question? Absolutely awesome. OK. Almost,

637
00:58:41,088 --> 00:58:48,047
um, so I, I, I appreciate your commentary with, I mean, Graphs and everything can

638
00:58:48,047 --> 00:58:54,049
be terrific, and they can also mean to me, um, you know, so I appreciate the commentary.

639
00:58:54,074 --> 00:58:59,019
When, when this is posted to our dashboard for the public, are you going to, you

640
00:58:59,019 --> 00:59:05,033
know, is there gonna be commentary? Maybe it above, I, I, I would maybe suggest that,

641
00:59:05,044 --> 00:59:10,035
you know, because sometimes we can look at things and, and not hear what's being

642
00:59:10,035 --> 00:59:15,099
said, and, and I'm just, I, I'm hoping that that's, you seem to communicate that,

643
00:59:16,012 --> 00:59:20,047
but I'm, I'm hoping that's true. Thank you for the question. And if I'm hearing you

644
00:59:20,047 --> 00:59:25,023
correctly, you're asking for when we build that public facing dashboard that'll represent

645
00:59:25,023 --> 00:59:29,063
the data. Um, when we have some comments built in there so people can understand

646
00:59:29,065 --> 00:59:35,064
and digest what they're looking at. Absolutely we will. Yeah, the goal is that whoever

647
00:59:35,064 --> 00:59:41,084
is looking at this can understand it. So that they can relate to it and ask questions

648
00:59:42,003 --> 00:59:46,094
and so providing that context and that information is imperative um so wherever we're

649
00:59:46,094 --> 00:59:51,022
posting this information we will do our very best to have that and if we're getting

650
00:59:51,039 --> 00:59:56,058
feedback that that's not happening we will adjust so absolutely appreciate it thank

651
00:59:56,058 --> 01:00:04,022
you. Anything else? So, any other, no, I, I just said I'm good. So, so

652
01:00:04,022 --> 01:00:10,099
scheduling question, uh, when is our budget meeting? So it's in about 3 weeks.

653
01:00:13,047 --> 01:00:17,058
I believe we're going to be doing um a bit of a budget deep dive on October 25th.

654
01:00:17,067 --> 01:00:20,094
October 24th is when we were planning on doing that budget deep dive. Oh, it's a

655
01:00:20,094 --> 01:00:23,094
little longer than three weeks. Why did I think it's three weeks? I mean, it's 4

656
01:00:23,094 --> 01:00:31,086
weeks. Yeah, so excited. I am, I really am now. So that's so close

657
01:00:31,086 --> 01:00:36,073
and so basically that that is a responsible reasonable budget cycle with you being

658
01:00:36,073 --> 01:00:42,087
new. But yet we're also operating in this electoral environment where the discussions

659
01:00:42,087 --> 01:00:47,003
that we're having are very relevant to voters. Is there a way to do that earlier?

660
01:00:47,002 --> 01:00:51,063
Could we, should we do that a week or two earlier? That's asking a lot of you, you're

661
01:00:51,063 --> 01:00:55,039
brand new and you're completely over, you know. I don't think I have any days in

662
01:00:55,039 --> 01:01:02,055
October that are free right now. I think everyone has me on a day in October. Yeah.

663
01:01:03,042 --> 01:01:08,025
Especially with all the informational sessions happening, I think there's not a lot

664
01:01:08,025 --> 01:01:15,033
of uh I felt like I should get a social calendar, uh, person to start filling in

665
01:01:15,033 --> 01:01:15,085
for me.

666
01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:22,048
If so at that meeting we're gonna be saying so here's to a barbecue what it looks

667
01:01:22,048 --> 01:01:27,002
like if the levee the lift passes and if it doesn't what I plan to provide at that

668
01:01:27,002 --> 01:01:32,042
meeting, at least from my standpoint. Um, it's a 10 year projection for both scenarios,

669
01:01:33,004 --> 01:01:38,075
a breakdown of what that looks like, what options we have in both scenarios, right,

670
01:01:38,089 --> 01:01:42,091
because numbers are numbers, but like we're gonna have a ton of options. So what

671
01:01:42,091 --> 01:01:46,055
are the options? What's the impact of those options, and not just the impact today,

672
01:01:46,068 --> 01:01:51,047
but the impact first for 10 years of each of those options for us to weigh. I'll

673
01:01:51,047 --> 01:01:57,067
also have a pretty preliminary budget for us to review both scenarios, um, and we'll

674
01:01:57,067 --> 01:02:04,016
have a Fingers crossed, um, uh, a dashboard for us to, to take a look at. I love

675
01:02:04,016 --> 01:02:10,098
that. You wanna ask one question? So, I'm just wondering if you're forecasting since

676
01:02:10,098 --> 01:02:18,006
we're based it on basing it on primarily on our property taxes, um, Mason County

677
01:02:18,006 --> 01:02:23,095
and my taxes go up and down every year, and I know this year Mason County did. Fairly

678
01:02:23,095 --> 01:02:30,024
significant reduction in most people's evaluations if that if those types of um

679
01:02:31,086 --> 01:02:36,041
Roller coasters are going into your forecasting. They absolutely are. And to call

680
01:02:36,041 --> 01:02:40,073
out and we can go into like all of the forecasting and how we did each one of these,

681
01:02:40,098 --> 01:02:47,086
but a high level, I'm going to be forecasting um. Pretty much each piece of the budget

682
01:02:47,094 --> 01:02:52,083
slightly different. Expenditures get forecasted differently than revenue, and our

683
01:02:52,083 --> 01:02:57,065
particular revenue structure, which includes those very volatile property taxes and

684
01:02:57,065 --> 01:03:02,051
timber taxes, have a very special forecasting formula that can Applied to them to

685
01:03:02,051 --> 01:03:06,063
try to be as accurate as possible you're still gonna have a variance, but we're trying

686
01:03:06,063 --> 01:03:11,047
to narrow in on that and we're using the most current and relevant data so I'm trying

687
01:03:11,047 --> 01:03:14,075
to wait and that's also why I'm like oh let's not push that because I need the time

688
01:03:14,075 --> 01:03:22,004
to wait for those rates so we have the best data. Yeah, thank you. In response, I

689
01:03:22,004 --> 01:03:25,068
know the longer you sit when you have a budget presentation, the more questions pop

690
01:03:25,068 --> 01:03:26,008
up, so.

691
01:03:28,081 --> 01:03:34,003
Um, I'm happy to continue to answer questions as you have them pop up for you. Um,

692
01:03:34,076 --> 01:03:39,023
this is what I can. So please let me know if you have questions or would like additional

693
01:03:39,023 --> 01:03:46,002
data. Um, I'm gonna pop out of here, but I do, again, I really appreciate your time.

694
01:03:46,033 --> 01:03:50,093
Um, so thank you. Great presentation. Excellent, yeah, love it.

695
01:03:53,028 --> 01:03:59,042
How cool that we can apply to financial report. It's here, Elvis here. That is awesome.

696
01:03:59,072 --> 01:04:07,072
Love it. It's OK. Well, speaking of applause,

697
01:04:08,015 --> 01:04:15,061
we have a policy committee report. Yeah, that's right. Uh, which I'm afraid comes

698
01:04:15,061 --> 01:04:21,014
from me. Uh, we had a policy committee meeting yesterday by Zoom, and it was great,

699
01:04:21,048 --> 01:04:26,079
uh, in part because we start with our friends of the library partnership policy,

700
01:04:27,024 --> 01:04:33,003
um, and we get to have a motion on that. And it was so cool to, um, so many of you

701
01:04:33,003 --> 01:04:39,079
guys in the room, our friends, and just Really, how can we appreciate our um long

702
01:04:39,079 --> 01:04:44,007
standing relationship we have with you guys. I'll say thank you, but also we are

703
01:04:44,007 --> 01:04:49,071
revising our friends' policy pretty substantially. We've had um some great work done

704
01:04:49,071 --> 01:04:53,083
on that by staff and maybe you guys can talk about that, but Uh, if you go on our

705
01:04:53,083 --> 01:04:59,015
website, uh, on our agenda, you can see the revised policy. Um, here's, you can't

706
01:04:59,015 --> 01:05:03,044
see very well. Here's the old one, it's all crossed out and there's new, new stuff

707
01:05:03,044 --> 01:05:07,083
there. Um, and I just had one or two little things to surface. So we do get to vote

708
01:05:07,083 --> 01:05:13,004
on that tonight and we had that emailed out to trustees earlier today. But basically,

709
01:05:13,064 --> 01:05:19,058
we took our old library policy, which is very prescriptive, very almost limiting,

710
01:05:19,006 --> 01:05:24,003
like this is. The box that you will go into, don't get your head out of the box,

711
01:05:24,054 --> 01:05:29,005
back in the box. And we really tried to expand that. And the thing I like the most

712
01:05:29,005 --> 01:05:34,077
about it is, uh, the first line says Ter Terminal Regional Library values long-standing

713
01:05:34,077 --> 01:05:38,077
partnership of friends of the library groups through fundraising, advocacy, volunteerism,

714
01:05:38,082 --> 01:05:42,073
and community engagement. Friends, groups, enhance library services, spaces, and

715
01:05:42,073 --> 01:05:47,097
community connections. And that just expands our policy to reflect what you folks

716
01:05:47,097 --> 01:05:53,009
do. So really excited about this policy, um, and it really is mostly about describing

717
01:05:54,028 --> 01:05:59,035
how TRL is gonna support and work with you as friends groups. Uh, there will be a

718
01:05:59,035 --> 01:06:04,011
lot of policies that are, I'm sorry, procedures that sort of and a memorandum of

719
01:06:04,011 --> 01:06:08,015
understanding that are built up around this, but, uh, basically I would commend this,

720
01:06:08,028 --> 01:06:15,035
this new policy to my fellow trustees. It helps. Helps us express the future relationship

721
01:06:15,035 --> 01:06:19,026
we, we want to have with our friends that maybe it's been a little bit rocky in recent

722
01:06:19,028 --> 01:06:24,023
years. Um, and I think that we are, from what I've seen on a much better glide path

723
01:06:24,032 --> 01:06:27,083
and um we have gotten some feedback from some of our friends groups that they've

724
01:06:27,083 --> 01:06:32,039
been involved with formulating this policy and they like it. Wait, did you say glide

725
01:06:32,039 --> 01:06:34,022
path? I did. OK.

726
01:06:36,092 --> 01:06:41,039
I should say the, the, the We're, we're taking off. We're getting back up to cruising

727
01:06:41,039 --> 01:06:47,087
altitude here, uh, after some turbulence. So that's kind of my thoughts. Um, Dustin,

728
01:06:47,089 --> 01:06:52,009
you wanna add anything in the mirror maybe you can talk about a little bit. Yeah,

729
01:06:52,018 --> 01:06:58,002
I mean, I think you covered a lot of what we discussed. Um, I think this is Or, you

730
01:06:58,002 --> 01:07:02,045
know, it's not just symbolic, but it is symbolic in addition to being substantive

731
01:07:02,055 --> 01:07:10,036
of Of a large shift. In TRL as an institution and how we

732
01:07:10,075 --> 01:07:18,061
work with and collaborate with our, our friends groups and, you know, unprompted

733
01:07:18,061 --> 01:07:26,025
have received positive feedback on, on this, uh, from various, uh,

734
01:07:26,058 --> 01:07:29,085
friends, not necessarily speaking on behalf of their friends groups, but in, you

735
01:07:29,085 --> 01:07:36,063
know, in their capacity, um. And, and I know there was a lot of hard work that Muriel

736
01:07:36,063 --> 01:07:42,018
and Lily put into making this happen and appreciate that effort and effort of the,

737
01:07:42,008 --> 01:07:48,058
the friends that spoke up and were a part of working through this, um, and you mentioned

738
01:07:48,058 --> 01:07:56,012
that MOU. I know there's also just in parallel, a process that will Uh, go on probably

739
01:07:56,012 --> 01:08:02,088
into the new year of revising the old MOU that has, um, in addition to the previous

740
01:08:02,088 --> 01:08:09,015
policy, some of those kind of harsh clauses and things that weren't necessarily,

741
01:08:09,029 --> 01:08:16,064
uh, appreciated and are being worked through. So, um, it's, it's great as a policy

742
01:08:16,064 --> 01:08:24,062
and it's just great also as a shift overall. In TRL So this hasn't

743
01:08:24,062 --> 01:08:31,063
been shared with all the friends groups. The uh the policy revision, uh, Lily has

744
01:08:31,063 --> 01:08:37,023
done amazing work in, in, uh, making sure that information is reaching the various

745
01:08:37,023 --> 01:08:43,046
friends groups and collecting that feedback and also just researching the ways that

746
01:08:43,052 --> 01:08:48,011
different library systems in our state interact with our friends take a lot of inspiration.

747
01:08:48,002 --> 01:08:52,057
I knew she was doing that. Yeah, I just wondered. You know, do you want to talk at

748
01:08:52,057 --> 01:08:58,029
all about the changes of the policy? Um, yeah, I guess so. I mean, briefly, I'll

749
01:08:58,029 --> 01:09:05,039
just say that, um, In redoing this policy and having discussions with Andrea and

750
01:09:05,039 --> 01:09:10,098
Lily, uh, we really wanted to move away from that, that initial model called the,

751
01:09:11,001 --> 01:09:17,079
the old policy and make it much more, uh, a recognition of the collaboration that

752
01:09:17,079 --> 01:09:25,052
TRL and friends groups can have, um, in, in doing that work, I realized that We really

753
01:09:25,052 --> 01:09:30,024
needed to shift the focus back to ourselves and TRL staff because that is what we

754
01:09:30,024 --> 01:09:36,005
can control. We, you are outside organizations and, and we can't set, um, how, how

755
01:09:36,005 --> 01:09:41,027
you operate within your structure, but we can definitely talk about how staff should,

756
01:09:41,033 --> 01:09:46,064
um, best practices for working with friends groups. So I wanted to put the focus

757
01:09:46,064 --> 01:09:54,058
there and then, um. Work collaboratively with friends groups on um recreating MOUs

758
01:09:54,058 --> 01:10:01,078
that serve all of us well. And so, I, I know Lily's been communicating out information

759
01:10:01,078 --> 01:10:08,097
on that. Basically, our vision is that um post November 3rd. We'd like to, uh, get

760
01:10:08,097 --> 01:10:13,061
together, uh, a work group of representatives from different friends groups to come

761
01:10:13,061 --> 01:10:18,073
to the table with us and start drafting an MOU and, and really an emphasis on doing

762
01:10:18,073 --> 01:10:23,004
that work collaboratively, not something that Timberland would be writing and, um.

763
01:10:25,014 --> 01:10:29,085
You know, telling you that this is what this MOU will be. We want that to be collaborative

764
01:10:29,085 --> 01:10:34,069
work. And additionally, uh, she's been doing a lot of work on creating a friend's,

765
01:10:34,078 --> 01:10:42,061
uh, handbook that will, um, have a lot of, uh, resources and, um, helpful

766
01:10:42,061 --> 01:10:49,005
information for friends, uh, on, uh, Ways that you can operate that can help support

767
01:10:49,016 --> 01:10:51,072
your friends and help them grow and help them succeed.

768
01:10:54,041 --> 01:11:01,091
Yeah, this felt like an open policy when I was reading it later earlier today. Yeah,

769
01:11:02,057 --> 01:11:06,044
you're taking questions. Are you taking questions? No, not really, but you've earned

770
01:11:06,044 --> 01:11:13,071
it. You came here and your friend. I'm, I'm just one is just of the related docs,

771
01:11:13,075 --> 01:11:18,077
this is the current. Is that what we're looking at? What are we looking at? Current

772
01:11:18,077 --> 01:11:26,011
red line or clean? be much easier to read. The redline version is, it's like

773
01:11:26,026 --> 01:11:33,093
95% question on that is the comment reserves the name. I totally

774
01:11:33,093 --> 01:11:39,073
support the idea behind that. And this, since it's not a copyrighted thing and the

775
01:11:39,073 --> 01:11:44,029
report is in use all over the country with all different libraries, I think it's

776
01:11:44,029 --> 01:11:49,003
really viable to reserve the name if, if you can actually say you're reserving the

777
01:11:49,003 --> 01:11:56,003
name, um. So Lily could speak to this much more, um, but in, in what

778
01:11:57,045 --> 01:12:04,036
What she has seen in um Looking at how that works in different organizations. Basically,

779
01:12:04,058 --> 01:12:12,007
if An organization is using our name and fundraising on our behalf, um. We do

780
01:12:12,007 --> 01:12:17,078
have some say over that, uh, so, you know, by being the friends of, I'll, I'll use

781
01:12:17,078 --> 01:12:22,037
my library, you know, friends of the Centralia Timberland Library, like they are.

782
01:12:23,016 --> 01:12:29,091
Acting as fundraisers to support us and if um. There have been instances throughout

783
01:12:29,091 --> 01:12:35,051
the country of uh groups that have not, um, their main mission has not been to support

784
01:12:35,051 --> 01:12:43,009
the library and so it's, it's important to To have some sort of um baseline yeah.

785
01:12:44,081 --> 01:12:50,084
Thank you. Thank you. I have a question on it. I, I, I like the policy. I, I get

786
01:12:50,084 --> 01:12:55,066
my question is, how do we know it's gonna work? What, what are your measures for,

787
01:12:55,073 --> 01:13:01,007
what are our measures built in to say, yeah, it all sounds great and it should work,

788
01:13:01,033 --> 01:13:08,089
but how do we know it is? Working as far as um Like strengthening those partnerships

789
01:13:09,023 --> 01:13:14,000
well. You know, I think that's a good question, and I think that there's a number

790
01:13:14,000 --> 01:13:18,048
of things that, that we need to kind of build in to track that, you, you know, for

791
01:13:18,048 --> 01:13:22,087
example, and, and this existed in a slightly different form in the old policy, but,

792
01:13:23,013 --> 01:13:27,032
you know, there's a statement that a TRL representative will, will come to at least

793
01:13:27,032 --> 01:13:33,052
one, meeting for each friends group annually, and we haven't really been tracking

794
01:13:33,052 --> 01:13:37,091
that in the past. And so I think, you know, that's something that we need to be tracking,

795
01:13:38,021 --> 01:13:38,009
um.

796
01:13:40,031 --> 01:13:43,091
You have, we have friends groups that aren't meeting. That's gonna be fun when you

797
01:13:43,091 --> 01:13:44,043
show up.

798
01:13:48,005 --> 01:13:53,058
Yeah, can't wait for this. Well, I think, you know, if they don't have a board meeting

799
01:13:53,058 --> 01:13:57,005
to attend, then, then, yeah, yeah.

800
01:13:59,007 --> 01:14:03,081
That's a great point, Hal, and it's interesting to think, is there a way to have

801
01:14:03,081 --> 01:14:09,093
a metric of success, or it's not our business or our job to go and recruit and support

802
01:14:09,093 --> 01:14:15,027
and enhance, but it would be kind of nice to, to help. Some of these groups that

803
01:14:15,027 --> 01:14:20,024
are struggling a little bit. Would just either be just an encouraging breath of fresh

804
01:14:20,024 --> 01:14:25,071
air to them or have some of the best practices or or create that network effect of

805
01:14:26,025 --> 01:14:30,007
you're struggling. Why don't you call up Centria they're doing great as an example.

806
01:14:30,073 --> 01:14:34,056
And and again I just want to plug Lily because she's been doing some amazing work

807
01:14:34,056 --> 01:14:40,003
around this. I mean just compiling all those different resources because. All of

808
01:14:40,003 --> 01:14:44,001
our friends groups function so differently throughout the district and you know we

809
01:14:44,001 --> 01:14:50,081
have some friends groups that um. You know, just maybe don't have all the, all the

810
01:14:50,081 --> 01:14:56,086
resources or don't have the um technology comfort to figure out how to do uh cashless

811
01:14:56,086 --> 01:15:01,046
payment systems. And so, you know, giving examples of how other libraries have done

812
01:15:01,046 --> 01:15:06,062
that. So if they choose to pursue that, they, they have a resource list right there.

813
01:15:06,089 --> 01:15:14,014
Um, and I think You know, she's also had a focus on really bringing the friends groups

814
01:15:14,014 --> 01:15:18,065
together so that they can be talking to each other, and it's our hope that everyone

815
01:15:18,067 --> 01:15:20,009
can thrive, thrive in that.

816
01:15:22,031 --> 01:15:27,034
Bigger conversation through that bigger conversation, I, I would add to that. So

817
01:15:27,034 --> 01:15:32,018
like those are great hard metrics, right? Like seeing how many friends groups we

818
01:15:32,018 --> 01:15:38,086
have, how active they are, um, you know, getting feedback from them on. How, how

819
01:15:38,086 --> 01:15:42,052
useful they're finding the resources that are available to them and all of that stuff,

820
01:15:42,066 --> 01:15:50,002
um. Uh, but just given what we are working our way out of, in addition to everything

821
01:15:50,002 --> 01:15:56,066
that you said that I completely agree with, I want to just, uh, kind of caution against.

822
01:15:57,063 --> 01:16:01,042
Creating like too much of like a metric of success because those can be gained in

823
01:16:01,042 --> 01:16:07,086
the biggest way in which we failed our friends groups has been at like a relationship

824
01:16:08,027 --> 01:16:16,002
level. And, and the best way to, yeah, you can't quantify that so much, but you can

825
01:16:16,002 --> 01:16:22,093
feel it. And you can very much feel it. Um, and I think that's also like, uh, I would

826
01:16:23,092 --> 01:16:30,047
You know, encourage us as, as trustees to, to, you know, be available if, you know,

827
01:16:30,068 --> 01:16:37,042
if invited by friends groups go to those meetings, it's nice to sit alongside, um,

828
01:16:37,056 --> 01:16:43,095
you know, uh, the regional manager or the local branch staff or Andrea or the, you

829
01:16:43,095 --> 01:16:49,086
know. Regional manager or whoever it is that's there um yeah and I think one of the

830
01:16:49,086 --> 01:16:55,024
things I would be looking for next year with the policy in place is to see if we

831
01:16:55,024 --> 01:16:57,041
have new friends groups that are created.

832
01:16:59,052 --> 01:17:05,057
Mhm I see holes where we could actually have some so and you know as I'm thinking

833
01:17:05,057 --> 01:17:08,097
about this and ways to measure how we're successful I mean you know something that

834
01:17:08,097 --> 01:17:14,057
we could do that that that we do with with supervisors and you know we we can solicit.

835
01:17:14,089 --> 01:17:18,055
On an annual basis, that feedback from friends. We can even do it in an anonymous

836
01:17:18,055 --> 01:17:23,059
form if that feels more comfortable. But just, you know, how, how do relationships

837
01:17:23,059 --> 01:17:28,015
feel? Are you getting the support you need? What would, what would improve your working

838
01:17:28,015 --> 01:17:34,007
relationship with TRL as a district and TRL, uh, and your local branch, or you and

839
01:17:34,007 --> 01:17:38,086
your local branch? So, there, there's a variety of things. And I, again, I think

840
01:17:40,032 --> 01:17:44,063
These would be really good conversations to have when we're at the table creating

841
01:17:44,063 --> 01:17:49,012
that MOU with friends groups. Love it.

842
01:17:51,021 --> 01:17:54,076
Um, and I guess one of the thing I just wanna say, since I don't know that we've

843
01:17:54,076 --> 01:17:59,092
said it explicitly, things have been rocky, and I guess on behalf of TRL I just,

844
01:18:00,001 --> 01:18:04,006
I wanna say I'm sorry to the friends groups and to the volunteers and the people

845
01:18:04,006 --> 01:18:09,086
who love their local libraries, love the system, and have felt, um, held at arm's

846
01:18:09,086 --> 01:18:14,023
length or, or have, there's I don't know the best way to express it other than it

847
01:18:14,023 --> 01:18:19,035
hasn't been good for a couple of years and I think it's getting better. We feel that,

848
01:18:19,044 --> 01:18:23,098
um, I hope you feel that we, we definitely appreciate you guys and we wanna be expressing

849
01:18:24,000 --> 01:18:30,051
that. And so on behalf of TRL we're sorry and, and I think it's, I think it's getting

850
01:18:30,051 --> 01:18:36,005
better from our perspective and we, we hope you feel the same way. Um, so, uh, if

851
01:18:36,005 --> 01:18:40,049
there's another comment we can vote on this. It is up for renewal next review next

852
01:18:40,049 --> 01:18:43,077
year, so we'll have a chance to make some adjustments, but I think this is a great

853
01:18:43,077 --> 01:18:50,054
a short policy review, great movement forward. So, uh, is there any no further discussion?

854
01:18:50,058 --> 01:18:54,068
Is there a move to move forward with this? No, it comes a second. We need a second.

855
01:18:54,086 --> 01:19:00,052
Yeah, it comes with a second. Yeah, or anyone want to second it? It comes with a

856
01:19:00,052 --> 01:19:04,063
permanent second. It does great. OK. There's two of you. All right, so is that, is

857
01:19:04,063 --> 01:19:08,023
that right? Yeah. Oh, did you do anything that comes out of committee? Yeah, you

858
01:19:08,023 --> 01:19:13,051
still rubber rules. I think, yeah, I think we, it doesn't hurt to second it in the

859
01:19:13,051 --> 01:19:19,081
past it's seconded it, but, OK, uh, great. So moved and seconded. Uh, any further

860
01:19:19,081 --> 01:19:26,023
discussion? Nope. All in favor. I post. Great. So that passes. That is awesome.

861
01:19:28,065 --> 01:19:33,016
Uh, and the rest, that's the only one that sent applause and sent the tweets. I think

862
01:19:33,028 --> 01:19:34,084
you could do applauses.

863
01:19:38,072 --> 01:19:42,005
You're just an enthusiastic, yeah, that's a good one for me.

864
01:19:46,075 --> 01:19:52,003
Yeah, so, um, The rest are, are, are just sort of reviews. We went over the social

865
01:19:52,003 --> 01:19:56,057
media policy, not a lot of changes on that. We had a few, I think, minor uh updates

866
01:19:56,057 --> 01:20:03,052
to that. Um, great robust policy. I commend people's attention to that. Basically,

867
01:20:03,054 --> 01:20:10,001
don't be a jerk online and understand that what you see online, Terrell is not actively

868
01:20:10,001 --> 01:20:14,021
monitoring it, but I mean, things, things come to light, so you gotta be careful

869
01:20:14,021 --> 01:20:19,075
about that. Uh, partnership, should we flag that that one's, uh, going through legal

870
01:20:19,075 --> 01:20:23,057
review and will come to us at the next meeting? Yeah, yeah, we're being careful with

871
01:20:23,057 --> 01:20:28,096
that one. Um, partnerships policy and sponsorships policy, we're not really making

872
01:20:28,096 --> 01:20:34,048
any changes there. I think we're still kind of reviewing that as well. Uh, fund balance

873
01:20:34,048 --> 01:20:38,002
management, I think we're holding off on that as well since we have a new finance

874
01:20:38,026 --> 01:20:42,088
director to look at that public works and procurement policy, uh, that is, uh, attending

875
01:20:42,088 --> 01:20:47,092
to some, uh, requests or some comments made by the state auditor. Not, not a big

876
01:20:47,092 --> 01:20:50,044
deal, but something we needed to attend to and we're still working through that one

877
01:20:50,044 --> 01:20:57,081
as well. So. Uh, we also have a, um, legal review of the librarians and Library Workers'

878
01:20:57,081 --> 01:21:03,033
Bill of Rights. So that is being examined. And that is the report from the policy

879
01:21:03,033 --> 01:21:11,032
committee. Good times. Uh, next we go to Oh, the ad hoc

880
01:21:11,032 --> 01:21:15,086
levy Lidlif Committee, this is much more interesting. So trustees loop and went.

881
01:21:16,093 --> 01:21:23,004
I don't know. I think Kylie summarized our meeting in a way. Thank you. Um, the first,

882
01:21:23,021 --> 01:21:28,003
the first piece is, I, I guess, turn it over to you, Andrew, to talk about the, um,

883
01:21:28,045 --> 01:21:33,008
the levy info mailer update. So we were, uh, if you recall from the last meeting,

884
01:21:33,089 --> 01:21:39,096
there was a public comment asking us to consider an informational, um, mailer. To,

885
01:21:40,014 --> 01:21:45,062
um, our all five counties and so we did do the research. There's a state contract

886
01:21:45,066 --> 01:21:50,045
with consolidated mail services that we can use. We received a quote. Um, we checked

887
01:21:50,045 --> 01:21:54,005
with our finance administrator and we're given the green light to go ahead and proceed

888
01:21:54,005 --> 01:21:59,017
with that information mailer, um, that was sent to the printing, um, people today,

889
01:21:59,085 --> 01:22:07,006
so it should be arriving in time for, um. Early voting start. Bye. Wow. How

890
01:22:07,006 --> 01:22:13,002
many copies were sent out approximately? We are doing all 5 counties, all houses,

891
01:22:13,045 --> 01:22:18,064
all households, um, felt it was important to get the word out to folks who maybe

892
01:22:18,064 --> 01:22:22,002
don't come to our website or our actual physical branches, and this is the way to

893
01:22:22,002 --> 01:22:29,048
do that. Great. Uh, and one of the comments I think that we heard from Kylie was

894
01:22:29,048 --> 01:22:35,042
that Official information from official sources counts for a lot. So that that's

895
01:22:35,042 --> 01:22:40,056
a good thing for us to get feedback from Port Vancouver. That exact comment is that

896
01:22:41,007 --> 01:22:45,074
having that in your hand to all available households. So that went to the printer

897
01:22:45,074 --> 01:22:48,093
today and it should be out then in the next couple weeks. Yeah, the idea is to get

898
01:22:48,099 --> 01:22:54,049
um to those households before early voting October 16th. OK, wow.

899
01:22:56,046 --> 01:23:03,078
OK. Great. What else we got from this, um, committee? Yeah, I'd say go back and watch

900
01:23:03,078 --> 01:23:10,081
the recording of Kylie's Public Company. Um But no, we had a meeting with every library

901
01:23:10,081 --> 01:23:16,075
and you know, they. We often say you gotta say something like 7 times for it to resonate

902
01:23:16,075 --> 01:23:23,055
with folks, and they very much treated us that way. Um, we very much appreciate their

903
01:23:23,055 --> 01:23:29,085
time and their, their insight and, and advice was great, but you know, it all. We

904
01:23:30,039 --> 01:23:35,014
partially were setting up this meeting because it was overdue, but also because um

905
01:23:35,014 --> 01:23:41,022
some of the feedback we've been getting was requesting us as a board to explore the

906
01:23:41,022 --> 01:23:48,004
ways in which we engage and can engage both in official and personal capacity

907
01:23:48,075 --> 01:23:53,038
with not only the informational campaign campaign, but in particular the comments

908
01:23:53,038 --> 01:24:00,098
we were receiving uh The yes campaign. And so, you know, asked pretty directly um

909
01:24:01,004 --> 01:24:08,086
about their recommendations and uh um They

910
01:24:08,086 --> 01:24:15,093
repeated over and over that they felt very strongly that it is um While there's some

911
01:24:15,093 --> 01:24:23,002
legal ambiguity, there's some particular case law in Washington that does um

912
01:24:24,043 --> 01:24:30,086
Uh I guess not not make it as clean to flip the hat around as they would say, like

913
01:24:30,086 --> 01:24:38,007
bored and personal hat, um, or take one off and put another one on. Um, and that,

914
01:24:38,087 --> 01:24:45,001
um, They said in other states, it's much cleaner to do that, um, due to some of that

915
01:24:45,001 --> 01:24:51,011
case law. Um, they said not necessarily the case in Washington, but what they also

916
01:24:51,011 --> 01:24:58,029
emphasized is despite that, the informational campaign and our role as trustees.

917
01:24:59,026 --> 01:25:07,006
Is is enough and is as effective in our role as kind of shifting between that personal

918
01:25:07,006 --> 01:25:14,062
and official capacity, and I think the biggest Takeaway just kind of summarized

919
01:25:14,078 --> 01:25:20,023
that uh John said it was make the call cause we were kind of like John Doe, do you

920
01:25:20,023 --> 01:25:26,074
have any advice and like um You know, audiences to reach out to, and it's like, one,

921
01:25:26,085 --> 01:25:31,004
what, what he said was obviously like focus focus on the soft spots, we have a lot

922
01:25:31,004 --> 01:25:37,036
of hard support. There are places where I think um Soft spots or vulnerabilities

923
01:25:37,036 --> 01:25:43,068
or there's just um people that want to support us who may be Have some reservations

924
01:25:44,011 --> 01:25:49,037
focus on those areas on one hand, but just also don't overthink it and make the call

925
01:25:49,039 --> 01:25:56,005
or take the meeting, um, and, and so I guess that's just the outcome of that meeting

926
01:25:56,005 --> 01:26:03,003
is, you know, I guess the recommendation to continue to operate in our official capacity,

927
01:26:03,043 --> 01:26:09,003
take as many meetings and make as many calls as. We can between now and November

928
01:26:09,003 --> 01:26:16,079
3rd, um, in an informational capacity. Um, so, um,

929
01:26:17,016 --> 01:26:23,015
would encourage fellow trustees, you know, where you can, um, you know, meet with.

930
01:26:24,042 --> 01:26:29,002
School districts meet with city councils, meet with commissioners, talk to your local

931
01:26:29,022 --> 01:26:35,082
civic groups, you know, um, talk to anybody that will, um, give you a spot on an

932
01:26:35,082 --> 01:26:39,093
agenda or at a meeting and, or, and if any, and if you do receive any invites, certainly

933
01:26:39,093 --> 01:26:44,065
take, take them up on those, um, and, uh, of course, of course our friends groups

934
01:26:44,065 --> 01:26:50,072
and things like that, um, but. Uh, yeah, that was the biggest takeaway. Anything

935
01:26:51,001 --> 01:26:58,017
I missed, Hal? No, I, you know, he, he was very positive, uh, he and, gosh, thank

936
01:26:58,017 --> 01:27:04,004
you, Ashley, uh, did a, did a great job of, of that. Uh, I was very, I was more as

937
01:27:04,004 --> 01:27:08,071
much concerned with how we act as a board. Um, making sure that we're out there and

938
01:27:08,071 --> 01:27:13,031
within the, the frameworks of where we need to be, um, he made, he said it, and I,

939
01:27:13,004 --> 01:27:17,047
I think that, that, that Dustin said it too. He says, you know, it, it's, it's, it's

940
01:27:17,047 --> 01:27:21,078
enough to just be official. We don't have to be volunteers on the other side and

941
01:27:21,078 --> 01:27:26,011
trying to pick some things out, stick with the information that's from the website.

942
01:27:26,032 --> 01:27:30,027
They were, matter of fact, they were, they were glowing about, uh, how, how great

943
01:27:30,027 --> 01:27:34,051
you guys did. I mean, it was, it was. It wasn't embarrassing but it was like wow,

944
01:27:34,068 --> 01:27:40,042
um, you know, no, you know they were very, very high on, on what we'd said and so

945
01:27:40,052 --> 01:27:44,055
you know if we do that, you know, we can't direct anything we can't direct yes or

946
01:27:44,055 --> 01:27:50,055
no groups, but we can be in official capacities we can make sure that we, that we

947
01:27:50,055 --> 01:27:55,079
stick with, you know, the info from the website. It is terrific. Um, and, and, and,

948
01:27:55,088 --> 01:28:01,067
and that's enough. He, he said that, um, he, he thought that, that about 77% of people

949
01:28:01,067 --> 01:28:07,003
are persuaded by the facts in those things. And so, if we just stick to those, um,

950
01:28:07,028 --> 01:28:12,083
you know, you know, he says, tell the truth, be honest, be clear, um, and, and we

951
01:28:12,083 --> 01:28:17,059
can do all that. And still stay within that framework of not being partisan on it.

952
01:28:17,068 --> 01:28:22,059
So, you know, that, that's, uh, I would just, I would just hate for us to step outside

953
01:28:22,059 --> 01:28:27,042
of that and, and create some problems that, uh, that don't need to be created. So,

954
01:28:27,052 --> 01:28:32,019
yeah, um, I, I will say 11 small caveat to that. He didn't necessarily say we can't.

955
01:28:32,024 --> 01:28:39,025
He advised against it and said that there's some Ambiguity, um, but that, uh, I don't

956
01:28:39,031 --> 01:28:42,072
wanna test the law. No, I, I just, I wanna be clear because we're reading out. I'm

957
01:28:42,072 --> 01:28:47,048
not, I'm not again like recommending that everybody go out and do that, but we can't

958
01:28:47,048 --> 01:28:50,088
afford a lawsuit. Yeah.

959
01:28:55,048 --> 01:29:02,022
Um, but did, did just wanna call out that, you know, there's uh a little bit of Ambiguity

960
01:29:02,022 --> 01:29:06,038
around that, but not the official recommendation of this committee coming out of

961
01:29:06,038 --> 01:29:10,066
that meeting or of every library. Um, and then I think just the last thing would

962
01:29:10,066 --> 01:29:17,092
be Regardless of the outcome, there will be a follow up meeting to plan out if, if

963
01:29:17,092 --> 01:29:25,004
the vote is overwhelmingly a yes, then the meetings will be to go out and, uh, let

964
01:29:25,004 --> 01:29:31,083
people know how we plan to keep the promises of what we said we would do. And then

965
01:29:31,089 --> 01:29:37,004
if, if not, he said there'd be even more meetings, like 600 meetings. I don't know

966
01:29:37,004 --> 01:29:44,095
how that works, but. I think it was, it was some very high number, um, of, uh, um,

967
01:29:45,028 --> 01:29:50,075
to, to, you know, just basically recalibrate understanding that eventually we will

968
01:29:50,075 --> 01:29:55,076
need to go back out again, so. I think that's about it. Yeah, and just to, just to

969
01:29:55,076 --> 01:29:59,088
talk off that too, I, I think it's, it's the same with going out to the friends groups.

970
01:29:59,093 --> 01:30:04,052
I think it's just a matter of keeping in communication. It's really easy once, once

971
01:30:04,052 --> 01:30:09,004
the job is done to, you kind of forget all these other things and, and, you know,

972
01:30:09,029 --> 01:30:14,005
from what I understand from, from them was that either way it goes, we, we still

973
01:30:14,005 --> 01:30:19,038
owe that. Responsibility to to groups and that to to make sure that we keep communication

974
01:30:19,038 --> 01:30:24,057
going so I mean yeah we can probably take maybe a half a day off but but then we

975
01:30:24,057 --> 01:30:28,073
have to to get back to the work of of making sure that we're we're connecting we're

976
01:30:28,073 --> 01:30:33,053
hearing what uh what people are saying, uh, not only from public but also from uh

977
01:30:33,053 --> 01:30:35,008
from staff too so.

978
01:30:38,054 --> 01:30:44,001
Great. Thank you guys, and I believe that that meeting with every library is on AV

979
01:30:44,001 --> 01:30:50,022
Capture all if folks wanna watch that soon to be YouTube, soon to be YouTube. What

980
01:30:50,022 --> 01:30:54,086
is our YouTube handle, by the way? Is it just Timberland Regional Library? You can

981
01:30:54,086 --> 01:30:59,039
search and find asking me that. Sorry, OK, never mind. It's good. I can look it up.

982
01:30:59,043 --> 01:31:06,077
It's at Timberland Library at 1.24K subscribers. OK, that's good.

983
01:31:08,027 --> 01:31:14,042
All right. Uh, OK. So, new business, sorry. Uh, National Friends and Library Week

984
01:31:14,042 --> 01:31:18,026
proclamation. Uh, this is something that Andrea brought forward to us and I'm glad

985
01:31:18,026 --> 01:31:24,007
she did. And I, do we have any comments on this?

986
01:31:25,068 --> 01:31:30,086
Motion. At some point I would like to invite the voice of the TRL podcast, Chris

987
01:31:30,086 --> 01:31:38,005
Curzan himself to read this, but we should make it a motion first before we do. I,

988
01:31:38,014 --> 01:31:44,057
I would move it. I would second it. OK. Uh, you should read the motion too. OK. Just

989
01:31:44,082 --> 01:31:50,003
no, that's what you're here for. All right. Oh, the, oh, the actual motion. OK. Um,

990
01:31:50,026 --> 01:31:55,026
so the motion is to proclaim October 18th through 24th, 2026 as Friends of the Library

991
01:31:55,026 --> 01:31:59,094
Week in Grace Harbor, Lewis. Mason, Pacific, and Thurston Counties in recognition

992
01:31:59,094 --> 01:32:04,046
of the Timberland Friends of the Library organizations. So we have a motion and a

993
01:32:04,046 --> 01:32:12,018
second. Uh, Chris, would you like to read this proclamation in your most dulcet tones?

994
01:32:12,023 --> 01:32:16,084
There really is no other way to do it, is there? So this is the proclamation of the

995
01:32:16,084 --> 01:32:20,085
Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees in recognition of the Timberland Friends

996
01:32:20,085 --> 01:32:26,013
of the Library organizations, whereas Friends of the Timberland Libraries raise funds

997
01:32:26,013 --> 01:32:31,049
through book sales and other activities to enhance library programs, services, spaces,

998
01:32:31,069 --> 01:32:36,068
and patron experiences, and whereas the Friends advocate for and raise awareness

999
01:32:36,068 --> 01:32:42,021
of library programs, services, needs, and goals within our communities, and where.

1000
01:32:42,027 --> 01:32:46,093
As the friends understand the critical importance of well-funded libraries and work

1001
01:32:46,093 --> 01:32:50,057
through advocacy and fundraising to ensure that libraries have the resources they

1002
01:32:50,057 --> 01:32:55,053
need to provide a wide variety of services to all ages, including access to print

1003
01:32:55,053 --> 01:33:00,004
and electronic resources, along with expert assistance in research, readers' advisory,

1004
01:33:00,014 --> 01:33:05,007
and children's services, and whereas the friends' generous gift of their time, talent,

1005
01:33:05,074 --> 01:33:11,083
and commitment to library, to the library. Sets an example for all and how volunteerism

1006
01:33:11,083 --> 01:33:17,054
fosters civic engagement and strengthens our communities. Now therefore be it resolved

1007
01:33:17,008 --> 01:33:21,091
that Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees proclaims October 18th through

1008
01:33:21,091 --> 01:33:27,072
24th, 2026 as Friends of the Libraries Week in Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific,

1009
01:33:27,076 --> 01:33:31,035
and Thurston Counties and urges everyone to thank and support the Friends of the

1010
01:33:31,035 --> 01:33:37,089
Library for all they do to strengthen libraries and communities. Oh, all right, that's

1011
01:33:37,093 --> 01:33:45,082
right. Yeah, another applause and at least one. So, uh, great, uh, we don't do a

1012
01:33:45,082 --> 01:33:50,061
whole lot of proclamations, but this one is definitely, uh, worth supporting. So,

1013
01:33:50,087 --> 01:33:57,024
uh, any further discussion of that? OK, all in favor of this proclamation. All right,

1014
01:33:57,077 --> 01:34:03,037
great motion carries. Awesome. OK, uh, another important thing, but probably not

1015
01:34:03,037 --> 01:34:09,007
so celebratory is, uh, as we continue to work toward South Bend library, we have

1016
01:34:09,009 --> 01:34:14,031
some progress, but well, we're not across the finish line and we're making progress,

1017
01:34:14,041 --> 01:34:19,008
but it's still a lot. Yeah, we, we can't fully celebrate, but yes, please. Small

1018
01:34:19,008 --> 01:34:25,000
celebration. Yes, small. Uh, Andrew, would you want to tell us about what's the latest

1019
01:34:25,000 --> 01:34:30,056
on this? So I believe um from our last meeting there was discussion about um how

1020
01:34:30,056 --> 01:34:35,064
we were feeling as a board, uh, as a group, um, continuing that support we pledged

1021
01:34:35,064 --> 01:34:41,046
back in I would say 2022. Um, as part of the library Capital Improvement Program

1022
01:34:41,046 --> 01:34:49,005
grant, um, we did pledge to, uh, support that with a $150,000 support from Timberland.

1023
01:34:49,075 --> 01:34:55,056
And the latest discussion with the, um, City in the library Capital Improvement grant

1024
01:34:55,056 --> 01:35:00,079
person last week, I expressed that as long as that building can be still used as

1025
01:35:00,079 --> 01:35:05,078
a library, and that we can be open as a library in that building, we would be able

1026
01:35:05,008 --> 01:35:11,034
to support that. I've confirmed also with our finance administrator. Um, so those,

1027
01:35:11,048 --> 01:35:15,024
they know they have to reach those benchmarks for us to be able to support monetarily.

1028
01:35:15,062 --> 01:35:18,069
Um, and we also have to have further discussions about at what point do we turn that

1029
01:35:18,069 --> 01:35:23,028
money over once work has been done, so we have some invoices, you know, things like

1030
01:35:23,028 --> 01:35:27,049
that. So there's a whole process there, but the main point of that is that we have

1031
01:35:27,049 --> 01:35:30,037
to know that that building is gonna be open and used for a library, and it has to

1032
01:35:30,037 --> 01:35:33,032
be a building that is safe to go in. That is correct. That has to be.

1033
01:35:35,035 --> 01:35:42,049
One second. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, is there any action required from the board at

1034
01:35:42,049 --> 01:35:48,039
this time? Um, I don't believe so because what we're waiting for is that ability

1035
01:35:48,042 --> 01:35:52,081
to confirm it will be able to be open and operational as a library, and the city

1036
01:35:52,081 --> 01:35:57,093
is working mightily towards that. Um, I have to really commend Mayor Bethany. She

1037
01:35:57,093 --> 01:36:03,053
has really done a lot of. Work trying to find all kinds of funds. Um, we also will

1038
01:36:03,053 --> 01:36:08,066
be pursuing in March if congressional funds become available, um, with Senator Patty

1039
01:36:08,066 --> 01:36:14,042
Murray's office, uh, we'll be putting forth a proposal in March, um, to help support

1040
01:36:14,042 --> 01:36:19,026
these buildings that need a lot of support that their cities are having a hard time,

1041
01:36:19,043 --> 01:36:23,094
especially our Carnegie buildings. So there's gonna be some work done on that after,

1042
01:36:24,011 --> 01:36:30,046
um, November. So getting some prep work done. On that in class as well. And I wanna

1043
01:36:30,046 --> 01:36:34,098
address the public comments that I heard earlier today that said, you know, Mason

1044
01:36:34,098 --> 01:36:40,038
County has the fewest libraries. We have Pacific County is in the same boat. We have

1045
01:36:40,038 --> 01:36:48,015
very few libraries too. One is closed. One's basically an access only library. So

1046
01:36:48,039 --> 01:36:50,013
we're with you, Mason County.

1047
01:36:52,073 --> 01:36:57,064
OK, well, thanks for your work on that, and that is one of our 3 remaining Carnegie

1048
01:36:57,064 --> 01:37:04,061
libraries, is that right? So no, yeah, Centralia, Centralia, uh, Hoquium, Hoquium,

1049
01:37:04,093 --> 01:37:09,055
South Africa, yeah, I think that might be the only 3 I was. Want to call Raymond

1050
01:37:09,055 --> 01:37:13,084
that, but it's not that I believe we have. I, I mean, I would have to look at the

1051
01:37:13,084 --> 01:37:18,008
list, but I, uh, Aberdeen, I believe still Aberdeen's not the old one. You think

1052
01:37:18,008 --> 01:37:22,064
it's built on the site of what, yeah, is that it is a little bit of it's, it's built

1053
01:37:22,064 --> 01:37:23,042
close to the site.

1054
01:37:27,035 --> 01:37:33,025
And that's what we got national grants from the Carnegie organization and and. Yeah,

1055
01:37:33,042 --> 01:37:39,021
they, they recognize areas that used to have, so I think that's, yeah, OK, great,

1056
01:37:39,003 --> 01:37:46,022
thank you for working on that. Uh, OK, uh, number 11 board housekeeping. Uh, GMP

1057
01:37:46,022 --> 01:37:52,085
kickoff meeting. Uh, who is our I put that on there. You put that on there. So I

1058
01:37:52,085 --> 01:37:58,037
was asked to train and help schedule a kickoff meeting with GMP, and GMP is the consultant

1059
01:37:58,037 --> 01:38:04,021
that was recently selected to run the executive director of recruitment. Um, they

1060
01:38:04,021 --> 01:38:12,008
only need an hour, so. 6 is great. I mean, it works for me too, but I

1061
01:38:12,008 --> 01:38:16,008
speak for everybody else. Uh, obviously with Mary Beth here, you probably aren't

1062
01:38:16,008 --> 01:38:21,002
gonna come to a specific consensus on exactly what date. Um, one option if you wanna

1063
01:38:21,002 --> 01:38:26,092
consider it is, I think we could probably add this to the October 24th work session

1064
01:38:26,092 --> 01:38:30,008
if they can do a Saturday so I could check with them on that. That's putting it a

1065
01:38:30,008 --> 01:38:34,008
few weeks out, but we're still, uh, working on the contract too, and I know there's

1066
01:38:34,008 --> 01:38:38,011
been a discussion about. Would that, is that OK? I mean, I'll check with them on

1067
01:38:38,011 --> 01:38:44,075
that. Um, it may be worth starting that day at 9 o'clock instead of 10, um, just

1068
01:38:44,075 --> 01:38:48,051
to make sure that there's enough time for everything else that's on the agenda, um,

1069
01:38:48,064 --> 01:38:54,051
that's still in draft status, obviously, but, um, yeah, some of the information sessions

1070
01:38:54,051 --> 01:39:00,002
I'm going to be going and supporting on. Places that do not have internet access,

1071
01:39:00,015 --> 01:39:07,034
so I, my availability in the next 4 weeks is challenging. I'll check on that uh date

1072
01:39:07,034 --> 01:39:10,062
first with them and if they can do that, then we'll just squeeze that hour in there.

1073
01:39:10,083 --> 01:39:14,014
I believe it can be virtual as well, so if we need to get creative, we can do it,

1074
01:39:14,002 --> 01:39:15,093
but I have a Starlink dish you can borrow.

1075
01:39:17,095 --> 01:39:20,038
I was actually thinking of getting another little one so.

1076
01:39:22,043 --> 01:39:27,093
I, I think starting that day earlier that might works for me. OK. OK, yeah, I think

1077
01:39:27,093 --> 01:39:32,089
that's the best bet, and I, I, we've discussed this previously, I think we benefit

1078
01:39:32,089 --> 01:39:40,005
from. The potential of having additional board members by that time, I mean, um,

1079
01:39:40,067 --> 01:39:46,066
well, that's why I emphasize potential, but it does give us more time and also like,

1080
01:39:46,087 --> 01:39:53,026
like we mentioned, we all have a lot going on between now and November 3rd, so I

1081
01:39:53,026 --> 01:40:01,011
think holding off on kicking that off in earnest is fine by me, right. OK, uh,

1082
01:40:01,028 --> 01:40:05,011
future agenda items. Anyone have anything they'd want to get on the next agenda?

1083
01:40:06,046 --> 01:40:10,052
I don't. Just make sure that somebody can get a name tag.

1084
01:40:13,073 --> 01:40:20,032
I got it again. Phase one that's amazing. Now I'm gonna walk through this. When you

1085
01:40:20,032 --> 01:40:27,088
got it, stop it. I'm sorry. Great. Um, final

1086
01:40:27,088 --> 01:40:29,033
board comments.

1087
01:40:33,065 --> 01:40:36,076
One of the things I wanted to, to bring up, and it's not a comment so much as you

1088
01:40:36,076 --> 01:40:39,096
just alluded, no, you just alluded to it, but it feels like we're making a little

1089
01:40:39,096 --> 01:40:44,096
bit of progress on getting our two open seats filled. Nothing super, superficial

1090
01:40:44,096 --> 01:40:50,036
that that's across the finish line, but that's exciting. And really appreciate, uh,

1091
01:40:50,085 --> 01:40:55,092
particularly Mason and Thurston BOCC's working on that. Be nice to get, get us back

1092
01:40:55,092 --> 01:41:02,028
up to, to full speed with 7 trustees. Um, but yeah, more, more to come on that, but,

1093
01:41:02,041 --> 01:41:05,031
but there's been some forward progress for the first time in a long time, I think.

1094
01:41:06,042 --> 01:41:13,004
Um, further comments from our board as we end our meeting. Anything?

1095
01:41:14,037 --> 01:41:19,004
No, I, I, yeah, um, first of all, thanks for being here. Thanks, thanks for staying,

1096
01:41:19,027 --> 01:41:24,084
staying through all this too, um, Mariah, I really appreciate the, the, the, uh,

1097
01:41:24,097 --> 01:41:29,048
it's just a good presentation and everything, and, uh, you know, we, we have, we

1098
01:41:29,048 --> 01:41:35,091
have moved quite a ways. I mean, we've, we've moved this from I don't know. The ship

1099
01:41:36,023 --> 01:41:40,026
may be heading in the towards, towards the reef, and now we're, now we're not to

1100
01:41:40,026 --> 01:41:46,042
use nautical stuff that I'm not good at. But, but we've moved that, that, and you

1101
01:41:46,042 --> 01:41:49,022
know, we're, we're moving ahead. We've got a lot of things going on, but we still

1102
01:41:49,022 --> 01:41:53,094
have an awful lot. Work to do. We, we have, we have an awful lot of financial stuff

1103
01:41:53,094 --> 01:41:58,086
that we really need to be able to still dig into. I mean, I want us to take a win,

1104
01:41:59,003 --> 01:42:02,098
but I also want us to know that, um, you know, we, we've still got some ocean to

1105
01:42:02,098 --> 01:42:10,003
sail on some of this stuff. So, um, and Um, Doctor Seby mentioned, is he Doctor Seby

1106
01:42:10,003 --> 01:42:13,078
still here? OK, well, he, he mentioned something too. He says, you know, you know,

1107
01:42:13,083 --> 01:42:18,032
when, when, when he started on with this, you know, it was about a 10 to 15 hour

1108
01:42:18,032 --> 01:42:24,042
a week, um, task, or month task I should say, not a week, uh, but it's turned into,

1109
01:42:24,006 --> 01:42:28,048
into much more than that. And so, you know, I, I appreciate you guys. Being able

1110
01:42:28,005 --> 01:42:32,057
to, to do this. It's a, it's a slog, and yet we're moving forward and we're getting

1111
01:42:32,057 --> 01:42:38,013
a lot of good results, measurable results that we can see financially, and some unmeasurables

1112
01:42:38,013 --> 01:42:43,023
that I think that we're seeing because of communications between uh friends, friends,

1113
01:42:43,034 --> 01:42:51,014
and, and I think other patrons too. So, um, yeah, we're doing good and we still got

1114
01:42:51,014 --> 01:42:56,048
work to do. So. That's, that's our, that's our good and our challenge. But all that

1115
01:42:56,048 --> 01:43:02,064
work we're doing together in a much more positive environment with everybody. With

1116
01:43:02,064 --> 01:43:06,095
the eyes set on the same thing, so I already said that, you know, in, in a crisis,

1117
01:43:07,009 --> 01:43:11,004
this is the board I would take with me. I've served on a lot of boards, but this

1118
01:43:11,004 --> 01:43:17,031
is the one that's gonna get us through, and I appreciate all the public support.

1119
01:43:17,062 --> 01:43:24,054
I mean, you know, I have been held accountable in the carrot section, but I still

1120
01:43:24,054 --> 01:43:30,021
don't mind because you still learn things and go forward and where we are, so, you

1121
01:43:30,021 --> 01:43:35,047
know, we're just gonna keep going forward. Yeah, I guess one thing I would say is

1122
01:43:35,081 --> 01:43:39,016
along those lines, I mean one of the things we love about libraries in addition to

1123
01:43:39,016 --> 01:43:45,051
being a place to to find information and knowledge and maybe even wisdom. Is the

1124
01:43:45,051 --> 01:43:49,018
community center that they are and to see so many friends groups represented here,

1125
01:43:49,032 --> 01:43:55,079
to see how the Patron Coalition and the Yes for Libraries group has just done so

1126
01:43:55,079 --> 01:43:59,079
much great work on a voluntary basis, as you mentioned, Kylie, it's really heartening

1127
01:43:59,079 --> 01:44:07,033
and impressive and inspiring to see. So, Onward, you know, we're all, we're all doing

1128
01:44:07,033 --> 01:44:11,085
our piece and who knows what the future holds, but when, when people really are positively

1129
01:44:11,085 --> 01:44:14,077
working together, a little bit of positive intent, a little bit of holding people

1130
01:44:14,077 --> 01:44:18,037
accountable when they're, when, when they need a change of direction, that's part

1131
01:44:18,037 --> 01:44:25,073
of it too. So pretty neat to see and big, big 6 weeks ahead of us and um I guess

1132
01:44:25,073 --> 01:44:29,044
the members of the public who are watching, if you would like. Members of the library

1133
01:44:29,044 --> 01:44:33,068
or the trustees to talk to you about the levy the lift campaign in an informational

1134
01:44:33,068 --> 01:44:38,068
capacity of what a yes and a no vote would mean. We, we're here to do that. So let

1135
01:44:38,068 --> 01:44:42,024
us know. We will try to be there. Did you say 600 meetings? That seems like a lot.

1136
01:44:42,069 --> 01:44:47,072
Well, no, that's if, if it fails, we need to recalibrate. Yeah, OK. So if there's

1137
01:44:47,072 --> 01:44:53,052
any that doesn't seem like a lot. The 5 counties. No, that's true. We should be reaching.

1138
01:44:53,057 --> 01:44:58,087
That's true because I just kind of did the tally from my county and I went. Times

1139
01:44:58,087 --> 01:45:03,066
this a lot of people we have to talk to when you're talking about community groups

1140
01:45:03,068 --> 01:45:07,075
and especially meeting with some of what do you say sort of the soft softer groups,

1141
01:45:07,008 --> 01:45:11,031
the people who are inclined toward a yes or no but aren't hard and other can't, and

1142
01:45:11,031 --> 01:45:15,066
I know that in Lewis County we have a lot of folks like that that um. That, that

1143
01:45:15,066 --> 01:45:20,003
are everyone's worth talking to, but, but I, I'll try to be there. So let us know

1144
01:45:20,003 --> 01:45:24,007
if, if you'd like to speak at groups and we'll, we'll be there. So, uh, if there's

1145
01:45:24,007 --> 01:45:28,078
nothing more, we have an executive session on here. I don't think it's gonna be long,

1146
01:45:28,091 --> 01:45:35,058
but just to sort of check in as, um, this would be pursuant to RCW 42.30.110 subsection

1147
01:45:35,058 --> 01:45:41,062
G. The specific portion is to review the performance of a public employee. Uh, so

1148
01:45:41,062 --> 01:45:46,055
this is a check-in with our interim executive director. Uh, I would say maybe, I

1149
01:45:46,055 --> 01:45:51,078
don't know, 20 minutes. Can I ask one quick question before we do it? Um, would you

1150
01:45:51,078 --> 01:45:54,098
guys like to get a picture with the friends, people who are still in the audience

1151
01:45:54,098 --> 01:45:56,017
for the proclamation

1152
01:45:58,068 --> 01:46:03,059
with a trustee, we have it. We bring our scroll. Don't, would you not have a scroll

1153
01:46:03,073 --> 01:46:07,042
sign it? the thing itself. You can all sign it and then hold up the sign. Yeah, we

1154
01:46:07,042 --> 01:46:12,022
should sign it first, yeah, OK, with a yellow highlighter pin. Well, it's a, it's

1155
01:46:12,022 --> 01:46:16,078
a corn pen. You can do the ceremonial ceremonial signing with the corn pen out to

1156
01:46:16,078 --> 01:46:24,000
the music garden. Are you nuts? There's the, the fruit yard too. We could all get

1157
01:46:24,000 --> 01:46:31,071
an apple. Are you nuts? I have sticks. I believe you use that beat me with

1158
01:46:31,071 --> 01:46:38,003
sticks. Is this your friend? It's, it's just. Oh sorry, sorry, it's just I've got

1159
01:46:38,003 --> 01:46:45,098
a sign on this. Here you go, Hal. Where do you want us? I mean,

1160
01:46:46,017 --> 01:46:48,086
maybe what's the most beautiful part of your,

1161
01:46:50,096 --> 01:46:56,099
the view, we don't wanna, we don't wanna take a lot of that. Sorry, folks. Start

1162
01:46:56,099 --> 01:47:00,091
back twilight so you don't have to walk far.

1163
01:47:06,052 --> 01:47:07,056
Those are beautiful doors.

1164
01:47:10,005 --> 01:47:16,076
This is the line where we're supposed to stand the top backs in the front in the

1165
01:47:16,076 --> 01:47:20,058
front yeah not letting the chair but

1166
01:47:24,031 --> 01:47:24,032
it

1167
01:47:26,079 --> 01:47:31,041
took me down a few hours of slopes when I first stand up after being sitting for

1168
01:47:31,041 --> 01:47:35,008
a few minutes so. All right, Charlie. Oh yeah,

1169
01:47:35,035 --> 01:47:43,032
I'm I

1170
01:47:43,035 --> 01:47:47,015
say that she has things that you hit me with too and hates us

1171
01:47:50,011 --> 01:47:55,069
and then I've been arching yes. You have all our things so shy.

1172
01:47:57,009 --> 01:48:02,027
Everybody in. Everybody wants to be in the gym. OK, I've heard you.

1173
01:48:04,079 --> 01:48:05,028
Oh, is that.

1174
01:48:07,069 --> 01:48:14,011
Alright, I was ready. OK, 321. We'll take about 5 pictures here we go real fast.

1175
01:48:14,021 --> 01:48:17,049
Everybody keep smiling. Don't make any crazy faces.

1176
01:48:19,089 --> 01:48:23,002
Thank you. Great, thank you. All right, yeah, so we're gonna go.

1177
01:48:26,000 --> 01:48:29,008
We're gonna go to executive session. We're not gonna take any action afterwards.

1178
01:48:29,017 --> 01:48:34,005
You're gonna stick around. We are gonna try to 20 minutes with the medical decision,

1179
01:48:34,076 --> 01:48:35,002
right?

1180
01:48:38,079 --> 01:48:46,047
20 minutes. 20 minutes. Yeah, this time is 7:19. You got to bring us back at

1181
01:48:46,047 --> 01:48:48,014
7:39.

1182
01:48:58,073 --> 01:49:03,008
This is exactly what I'm fishing. I've been OK, friends. All right, we are back.

1183
01:49:03,089 --> 01:49:11,009
I'm out of the OB in. That's OK. Time 7:39. Thank you. OK, the time is 7:39.

1184
01:49:11,099 --> 01:49:15,075
We're going to adjourn our meeting. Thank you all for being here. We'll see you later.

1185
01:49:15,091 --> 01:49:20,046
OK. You wanna do a motion to adjourn, or you want motion to adjourn? I'll make that

1186
01:49:20,046 --> 01:49:28,007
motion to adjourn. Stop it. OK, all in favor. Hi, we're adjourned. I miss 7:39 p.m.

1187
01:49:28,099 --> 01:49:29,094
Thank you, gentlemen.

1188
01:49:33,000 --> 01:49:36,006
Oh my goodness. This is not that lighting.