[0:02] OK. All right. Welcome to the board of trustees regular business meeting on Wednesday,

[0:09] September 23, 2026. We are live in person in Hoodsport Timberland Library.

[0:18] And on Zoom, boo. No, OK. Welcome to all the Zoomers. I'm just kidding about that.

[0:23] So we are here. We have 3 of our trustees here in person. I believe we will have

[0:28] a 4th who will be arriving soon. So that is a quorum. So we will begin with a roll

[0:33] call. My name is Brian Mitke. I am our rotating president this year. I represent

[0:38] Lewis County. I will turn to my other Lewis County, Hal Blanton. I'm an at-large

[0:43] Lewis County. And Tony Gwynn, Pacific County. Excellent. And uh we have excused our

[0:50] trustee from Thurston County, Mary Beth, who's unable to be here with us, and we

[0:53] expect Dustin to be arriving shortly. So he asked for us to go ahead and get started.

[0:57] So we will do that, uh, beginning with a pledge of allegiance. OK.

[1:07] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

[1:14] one nation under God, indivisible with libertation, justice for all. Excellent. Great.

[1:22] And Uh, as we get started, uh, just wanna say I'm looking forward to hearing about

[1:28] our Hoodsport library in a few minutes. This is a great history here that we'll get

[1:33] to hear about. Uh, we have approval of agenda and consent agenda items. Are there

[1:38] any comments or changes to the agenda and consent agenda items? OK, is there, I,

[1:44] I move the agenda and consent agenda. A second. Excellent. All in favor. Aye. OK,

[1:51] opposed. That passes. Opening board comments, um. Do you want to start? Oh Tony,

[1:58] yeah, I wanna give a shout out to um the South Bend Friends Group who built a float

[2:05] for the Labor Day parade that was a miniature of the South Bend library, but it's

[2:10] levy, it's lid lifted. Um, it was, it was really well done and it got on the front

[2:17] page of our paper. And people are still talking about it, and it's kind of parked

[2:23] close to the library if you wanna see it. And it was built by um one of the friends

[2:29] of the library's former Librarian who had just passed away, he and she were building

[2:36] it in her last months, and it's just touching and lovely and well done and made my

[2:42] heart happy. Yeah, it's a really cool float. That's amazing. And did you do anything

[2:48] with library staff over the past couple of weeks? Any sort of, uh, yeah, I'm sure

[2:53] I did, but I was really impressed with the float. Oh yeah, yeah. It's a segue for

[3:01] you. Dustin and I went to the all staff, uh, uh,

[3:09] festival retreat, uh, conference, and it was really great to there's Dustin to see

[3:15] the frontline staff and everybody together, so I enjoyed it. Thank you for representing

[3:21] us today. It's great. Uh, Trusty Blanton, anything for us? Yeah, just, uh, it's just

[3:27] great to be here. I've been up here a couple, 3 different times and that, and it's

[3:30] just, this is such a wonderful place and everything. It's a little bit of a drive,

[3:34] but, but it's a shorter drive than before, so I, I kind of like that. Um, one thing

[3:39] I, I do wanna, I wanna commend our staff and front and back, um, on with all the

[3:46] distractions that are going on. With, with levy and, and etc. and all the things.

[3:51] You, you guys are still opening the doors, you're still taking care of people, you're

[3:54] still providing library services, and so we appreciate that. I know, I know that,

[3:59] I know that the patrons appreciate it, but uh there's a lot going on and there's

[4:02] a lot of, there's a lot of uh rabbit holes and everything people can be going down.

[4:06] You guys are doing a great job, so I appreciate that. Just, uh, just to, just kind

[4:11] of pass that on. Great. Uh, I should have, uh, invited our staff

[4:18] to introduce themselves. If they would be comfortable doing that, I'd love to hear

[4:22] from TRR staff. Just say your name and wave your hand and say hi to folks if you

[4:26] wouldn't mind. Um, junior high school and the interim executive set.

[4:32] Um, um, I'm Yuri Wheatley. I'm the interim deputy director and also the regional

[4:36] manager person.

[4:41] Emma I Holmes, I'm the finance administrator. And then any where there you go. Uh,

[4:48] I'm I know I'm the regional manager for Mason County. Awesome, great. And we're really

[4:53] excited to welcome Mariah for your first business meeting here and just really glad

[4:58] to have you on board. Thank you. You've already been doing great work. We've seen

[5:00] our agenda packet, so thank you for that. And then I wanted to recognize former TRL

[5:05] Trustee Doctor Ken Sebi is here. Uh, thank you for coming out. Nice to see you, Doctor

[5:09] Sebi. Uh, they call me Ishmael.

[5:15] And um uh we have uh some folks from our friends groups. Raise your hand if you're

[5:19] from a friend group. Oh my gosh, that's awesome. Thank you for being here. Appreciate

[5:24] your guys' service and we'll talk a little bit more about that later on. So, thank

[5:27] you for that, and that's the extent of my board comments. Um, Dustin, we're just

[5:30] getting started. Do you have anything you wanna share to kick us off? Number 4, opening

[5:35] board comments. Um, apologies for being a little bit late. My brake lines went out,

[5:41] uh, so I had to bring a different vehicle and thankfully they went out before I was

[5:45] turning off onto, uh, the McCleary turn off on the 108. So, uh, I was able to stop

[5:52] safely and, uh. Put on some calming music to bring the the nervous system down. A

[5:59] little bit, and, you know, speaking of calming music. There's an artist called Leifei

[6:06] who has a lovely library card. I don't wanna steal any thunder, but it is library

[6:10] card sign up month as well. So I thought it was a good opportunity to plug a new

[6:15] limited edition library card that we have, because if you're not gonna leverage,

[6:21] uh, uh, yeah, gap experiences for this, then, you know, it's my, my family and then

[6:28] my library that foster my eye stuff, but, uh, glad, glad to be here.

[6:35] Thank you. I'm glad, glad you're here. Glad you're safe. Uh, number 5 correspondents,

[6:40] Chris, anything for us? Yeah, we do have some correspondence. We had actually just

[6:44] 4 this month from, uh, late August to just this afternoon. The topics were that we

[6:51] did left, um, the most recent Friends of the library policy draft, and Rochelle sent

[6:57] an update on the, uh, Patriot Coalition, uh, listening sessions, and

[7:05] then there was, um, a recent one about the desired outcomes document. So those were

[7:09] the four. That's all we got. Great. Uh, public comments. I know we have at least

[7:15] one person signed up. So I'm gonna read our boilerplate on that, which has some extra

[7:19] exciting added boilerplate this time. So stay tuned for that. Public comment per

[7:24] RCW 42.30.240, whereas TR governing body shall provide an opportunity at or before

[7:29] every regular meeting at which final action is taken for public comment. Public comment

[7:33] requirement section may be taken orally, which we are going to do, or by providing

[7:37] written testimony. This is an opportunity to provide a statement to the board of

[7:40] trustees. We will not engage in back and forth dialogue. Courteous behavior, respect,

[7:44] and professional language expected of all participants. The disruptive patron policy

[7:48] applies to participant behavior and board of trustee meetings, both virtual and physical

[7:51] spaces. And this is, this is new. Pursuant to RCW 29B.45.010, no person appointed

[7:59] to or employed by any public office or agency. He may use or authorize the use of

[8:04] any of the facilities of a public office or agency directly or indirectly for the

[8:09] purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person in the office or for the

[8:14] promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition. Therefore, individuals providing

[8:19] public comment are asked to abstain from making any statement advocating for or against

[8:25] any candidate or ballot measure. So to translate, if I dare. Uh, to, to make

[8:32] sure that we are on the right side of the law, we're asking you to in your public

[8:36] comments not say to vote for or against any particular ballot measure or individual

[8:42] that might be on the ballot, but please tell us what you think about the ballot measure,

[8:45] just not whether we should vote for or against it. Did I get that right? More or

[8:49] less? I think that, I think that works based on my understanding. OK, so, uh, with

[8:56] that said, we are looking forward to public comments. All right, I have, um, just

[9:01] actually have, would you mind handing me the sign up sheet behind you? I wanna confirm.

[9:04] I believe I only have 3.

[9:08] See that? Yes, I do. Um, so first is Rochelle Martin. Rochelle is joining us via

[9:16] Zoom, so just give me one second. I was able to click all the buttons, so you might

[9:21] wanna check your security settings.

[9:25] Like I came in unmuted and I was like y'all are very accommodating today. This is

[9:29] great. Trying, trying to get ahead of the game here. I need to turn her up at all.

[9:34] Yeah, I can. I'm like hold on, we're gonna turn you up. We went, OK, go ahead. OK,

[9:42] then go ahead, right, OK. All right, so hi everybody. My name is Rochelle. Um, I

[9:49] am one of the members of the Patron Coalition for Local Libraries amidst other things.

[9:53] And like Chris talked about, um, I sent in a one sheet that talked about the listening

[9:58] sessions that we did over August. Um, there's been a concern that because the Patron

[10:04] Coalition was really outspoken about our concerns with Timberland that there was

[10:08] going to be, um, Overwhelming concern that would lead into maybe Timberland is not

[10:15] gonna be solvent in the future with this, you know, potential ballot measure. Like,

[10:18] are people gonna vote no? And what was really wonderful was going into those listening

[10:22] sessions and listening to people that were very upset, but hearing that people are

[10:28] supportive of Timberland, not just as a concept, but as like Their community center

[10:33] and like the heart of their communities. So, um, I really just wanted to share that

[10:39] the community loves Timberland and we want Timberland to be successful. And when

[10:43] people really overwhelmingly said is we need more from our leadership bodies. Tell

[10:49] us what's going on and we wanna know more and we want to build stronger together

[10:54] and we're looking to you to kind of set that pace. So, um. That this is my report.

[11:00] So, um, thank you for the work that you do. It's hard being a volunteer. Um, the

[11:05] 5 listening sessions in like 2 weeks was challenging. So, um, I appreciate Andrea

[11:10] that came out, um, and was so amazing and answering questions, and I really appreciate

[11:15] Trusty Luke and, um, Trusty Mickey coming out and meeting some people too. So thank

[11:20] you for everything that you do.

[11:24] Great. Thank you, Rochelle. And if I may be so bold, you did a lot of those, you're

[11:29] very well spoken. I appreciate all the information you presented. Uh, who do we have

[11:33] next? All right, next up we got Doctor Sebi. Board member emeritus, if you'd like

[11:39] to come up and speak up here, you're welcome to do that. Um

[11:47] I wasn't planning on this. 3 minutes, 3 minutes you got. Doctor Karen Sey, I am a

[11:53] 25 year resident and citizen of Mason County. I'm married to a darling wife who is

[12:01] a sixth-generation Mason County or I call Mason County home. Um

[12:11] I'd first like to compliment Andrea Heisel on shepherding.

[12:18] Day in and day out pass of Timberlain through the last year. It could not have been

[12:26] easy. Um, I'd like to compliment. The 5

[12:34] trustees, 4 of whom are in person, I was told the other person has a medical problem

[12:40] for Doing their job, which is a job in addition to their day job.

[12:49] Um, most of them to get here tonight, even drive 2 hours one way and 2 hours back

[12:55] and spend their time here, and they don't even get driving pay anymore. They did

[13:01] that as a voluntary measure, I was informed tonight. I think you should be aware

[13:07] that this is As nonprofit as you can get.

[13:13] As far as our 5 trustees go. Bearing that in mind.

[13:23] I

[13:29] I have done many deep dives. On TRL and there's connections from the beginning with

[13:35] Mason County and the, and the libraries. I'm not here on a political mission

[13:43] from any politician in Mason County. I, I I'll deal with politicians pretty much.

[13:51] Um I think that um the general feeling Amongst

[14:00] Most Mason Countiers are that um

[14:06] We have been given a raw deal by TRL for a number of years. Particularly tax

[14:14] revenues versus what has been returned to the communities. There are only 3 facilities

[14:20] in Mason County that compares to 6 or 7 in the other 4 counties.

[14:27] You can think about what that might or might not entail. Mhm.

[14:41] I think the top heaviness of administration has been addressed by all our trustees,

[14:49] and you're, they are responsive to the communities. More so than they were during

[14:55] my tenure. I think that um

[15:02] There's your 3 minutes regarding the levy lid lift.

[15:06] There's, there are 5 and 10 out there now. They're just, they're all over Mesa County.

[15:11] They're all over the state of Washington. They're, they're everywhere. Every, everybody

[15:14] wants to live, live, live. I propose that the bylaws of Mason of

[15:22] DRL be reviewed. I'm in favor of only 5 trustees, one from each county, versus the

[15:30] option of 1 from each county plus 2 at large, but those 2 at large can be from any

[15:34] county. That's 3 minutes. I'm done. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor Sebi. Yeah, yeah.

[15:43] All right, and last up we have Kylie McQuarry.

[15:51] We hope we're better. Yes.

[15:55] This will have to cut me off because this is like my most unpolished town. I'm gonna

[16:01] ramble and duly noted. Thank you. OK. Hello, dear trustees. First, I wanna say thank

[16:05] you to Dustin, Brian, and Andrea for attending most of the patron Coalition listening

[16:09] sessions. Second, I wanted to thank Hal and Dustin for scheduling a conversation

[16:13] with members of every library on Monday and making it part of a public meeting so

[16:17] we could all tune in. Um, I'm sure you're going to talk about this later in the meeting

[16:20] and I've likely talked about it already. Uh, but I was starting to hear in that meeting

[16:25] that every library guy is going, it's very helpful that he encourages library trustees

[16:29] to be front and center in any library levy campaign. Um, I like that you said he

[16:34] encouraged you to focus on places where there's been controversy, vulnerable places

[16:38] where you know that you need to do the work to rebuild. I like that he said he thinks

[16:42] most people are persuaded by official informational statements even more than yes

[16:47] campaigns, especially when you focus on things that happened the day after election

[16:50] day, depending on a yes or no vote. Um, I like that he emphasized that friends and

[16:55] spouses can help with the yes campaign and that he, his bottom line though is encouraging

[16:59] you to schedule as many meetings as possible. He said he had a list of like 600 entities

[17:04] with schools and parks and boards of county commissioners and cities that he very

[17:08] strongly encouraged you to speak to. Um, I wanted to, in this comment, express my

[17:13] hope that you follow up on that. The PAC has been very busy in the last month. Um,

[17:20] I know that we are all volunteers in this room, that there are many people with full-time

[17:24] jobs or some of us who are juggling 80 hours of freelance work a week. And raising

[17:29] families or traveling to visit relatives, and all of these things going on. And with

[17:35] that, we've managed to have more than, I think more than 24 discrete events so far

[17:40] raising awareness about the levee lift. And we've put together a mailing campaign.

[17:45] We're working on a variety of different informational things. We already have signs,

[17:48] we've got, we have so many things and I've presented and been really proactive about

[17:52] seeking endorsements. And that is what the yes side can do. I would love, love, love

[17:57] to see that energy matched by the trustees in this following month, which is going

[18:00] to be, I think, probably the most stressful month that most of us have had in a very

[18:05] long time. Everyone is so anxious, no one is sleeping. Everyone is working overtime,

[18:10] and I look forward to hearing from you how you plan to Match that effort and energy

[18:14] and even supersede it because you are the trustees that we rely on to represent us

[18:20] and who authorized the levee lift that we are grateful that you went out for and

[18:25] that we are hopeful that you will support in every possible way from now until November

[18:30] 3rd and then beyond. I think that's everything. Thank you. Great, 30 seconds. Thank

[18:37] you, Kylie. All right. Anyone else in the room? Public comments?

[18:45] Yeah. OK. All right. Uh, next we have updates from our interim executive director,

[18:53] Andrea. OK, so before I get started, I'm gonna invite Annie Bowers, our manager for

[18:58] the Hood Sport Library, to come up and give a brief update on the support for us.

[19:03] Great. Thank you, Annie. Hello, um, I'm Annie Bowers. I'm the regional manager for

[19:09] Mason County. Um, first, thank you everybody for showing up. Thank you board members

[19:14] for driving so far. Thank you to all the friends who made it out. Um, I There's a

[19:21] little handout on the table for you, and there's some over here if anybody else wants

[19:24] one. couple of fun tidbits about the Hoodsport Ranch. Uh, it used to be the

[19:32] North Mason branch in Belfair. This building used to be in Belfair, um, and in 1996

[19:38] they cut it into three pieces and put it on a barge and shipped it up the canal and

[19:42] put it back together in this spot. So 30 years ago this was. Yeah

[19:51] Um, there's, if you're interested, uh, there's a video that is a compilation of the

[19:58] news reports from 1996, and it is a wonderful time capsule of acid wash jeans.

[20:08] Highly recommend. Um, some features here at the Hoodscore Branch, uh, if you look

[20:13] out the window to the side there, you can see, uh, both our food forest, uh, which

[20:18] has been here since 2020, uh, in partnership with the, um, Mason County Climate Justice,

[20:26] they provide all the plants and labor for that so that there are fruit trees and

[20:32] vegetable gardens and things here on the Hoodsport library property, uh, and then

[20:37] our Salish Sounds music play garden, um, which is super fun, uh, musical instruments

[20:43] that you can play outside there. There are not a lot of outdoor play spaces in the

[20:48] area, so we're happy to be able to provide that. Um On the handout is also a list

[20:55] of the Hoodsport fall programming. Um, we've got storytime, Steam plays, we've also

[21:02] got storytime for grown-ups, um, tea talk and time out, which we have today and it

[21:07] was a great time. Um, there's gonna be a Death Cafe twice, uh, this fall. Uh, we've

[21:13] got a new crafting program Mason County makes, uh, and then there's gonna be an AI

[21:17] awareness class, um. In December as well, and then on the back, uh, is a whole bunch

[21:25] of statistics for our Mason County libraries, um, and it covers all four of our Mason

[21:31] County libraries, the Shelton, Hoods Fort North Mason, and our anywhere library.

[21:37] Mhm That's what I got for you. You got questions for me? Yes, I knew you would.

[21:45] Um, Annie, um, when I was driving in, I loved it because I was serenaded by a family,

[21:50] so it was really great when I drove in, but I wanted to compliment the, um, it is

[21:56] slippery and icy, you're gonna fall and die signs. Those are some of the best signs

[22:01] I've ever seen. But I'm curious why we have library guest signs. Do they have an

[22:07] issue? There are a couple. Well, there's not great parking in Hoodsport in general.

[22:13] I'm learning that most of it is just the street parking, um, and there's only so

[22:18] much street, uh, so there are a few times a year where we have big festivals, um,

[22:24] and we are very happy to share our parking lot, but we want at least a couple spaces

[22:29] left for the people who are here for the library. Oh, got it. OK, so I have more.

[22:34] Because I do, I don't know what a death cafe is. It sounds like something I need

[22:38] to go to. Um, it is very cool. It is, um, I wish Sean was here because he'll explain

[22:43] it better, uh, but, um, it's a safe space to talk about death, um, you know.

[22:51] He has done them for years. Do you done them at libraries all across the district.

[22:56] They know for sure, yeah, um, he's doing. 6 of them in Mason County, uh, this fall.

[23:02] There'll be 2 at each branch on varying days at varying times, um, and if he was

[23:08] here he could really talk it up. All I know is that they are very well received,

[23:12] um, and, and people look forward to them. Yeah, and I also really appreciated that

[23:17] you pulled out your anywhere library statistics. I, I did that. Thank you. That's

[23:22] all I got. Oh, do I take questions? I'm not sure everybody knows that this lady's

[23:27] in charge of all three, yeah, yes, yeah, libraries in Macy County now that did not

[23:34] used to be that way. I have a question for you. What kind of budget were you given

[23:38] for the Living Live Live campaign? What kind of what was I? Oh, I don't have a budget

[23:45] for that. That's not. Seriously happened, so he had no synthology. Are you talking

[23:51] about what, what would happen if, if it happens? No, I mean how, how much money are

[23:56] we is PRL spending on their campaign? Is it not or is it there's a, we, we

[24:04] said or not, we are only allowed to spend money on an information campaign, right?

[24:09] And so we will talk about a mailer that we'll be doing, and that's $150,000. And

[24:15] then the only other things we can do, hold on, I'm trying to think, we're paying

[24:18] for the ball for it to be on the ballot. So we have to pay that portion of the voters

[24:23] pamphlet that we cost share with other folks around the ballot that's estimated between

[24:27] $250,000 to $300,000 for this election, um, so those are the costs for the, the actual

[24:33] ballot. So it's, that's $400,000 figure and maybe more dependent on little things,

[24:41] give or take, but that's most of what we can make for my question. And then I, I

[24:47] had a question that Mason County makes. What are, what are some of the crafts that

[24:52] you guys do there? We last week we did, um, string art breeding cards. Um, next

[25:00] month we're gonna do this craft called Tino saida. Um, where you have foam and you

[25:06] cut a design and then you tuck fabric into the foam and it turns out looking like

[25:10] stained glass. It's pretty cool. I was trying it today at our Talking time out session

[25:16] and I think it's gonna work cool. And then one other question, so since you're covering

[25:20] the three libraries, how do you divide your time typically in a week, location wise?

[25:26] Live closest to Hoodsport, so this is technically my home branch. Um, I I am in Shelton

[25:34] and North Mason at least one day a week and then depending on what kind of meetings

[25:39] I have going on, um, I may be there more often. Yeah, OK, great. Love the report.

[25:46] That can be a real battle in the winter out here. Uh-huh, I bet. All right, great,

[25:52] so. All right, thank you, thanks, great report, Andy, appreciate it. OK.

[26:01] Indeed. So, um, just the highlights of the director informational report, um, we

[26:07] are in the middle of our levy information session time. It's really ramping up this

[26:13] week, um, and the next few weeks, very busy meeting with different, um, libraries.

[26:19] Drop in sessions scheduled in 17. Did we decide 1716, um, so

[26:27] 16 branches, um, so please come. There's one in Shelton this Friday, in fact, so

[26:31] I'd love to see you all there for that drop in session, um, 4 p.m. yeah. Um,

[26:39] we are also, as, uh, Trustee Luke mentioned, it's Library, National Library Card

[26:44] Sign Up Month, and we have that nice limited edition library card that we are allowed

[26:48] to make. Um, we got the privilege to make that card. We do budget for library cards

[26:53] every year and that's just part of our annual budget for library cards. There was

[26:57] nothing special outside of that, um, for that. Um, what else do I need to highlight?

[27:02] We're in a maintenance phase for all of our facilities, so we're trying to get in

[27:06] that last-minute maintenance before the weather really turns for the year. Um, and

[27:11] we are also in budget mode. So, um, my finance administrator has been here 3 weeks

[27:17] doing amazing work already. We are creating two separate budgets, one for if the

[27:22] levee initiative passes and one for if it does not. Um, and that information will

[27:26] be shared with the board, um. In late October, early November when we do our, our

[27:32] budget, um, public hearing as well. So lots of good things happening there and we

[27:39] also finally have wrapped up our summer library program for the summer and I'm happy

[27:44] to report and amazed to report that we had an increase of 3% of Signups, um, this

[27:51] summer, um, which I just really wanna commend the staff because that's on top of,

[27:57] you know, all the things that have happened this year, um, to our staff with reduced

[28:01] staffing across the branches and also with reduced hours, um, so kudos to all of

[28:05] our staff there and that is the end of my report. Are there questions? I have one

[28:12] under IT uh dis discontinue AV capture all software. What are we moving to? Do we

[28:20] know yet? Chris can yeah we can talk about that. So we're uh just gonna stop using

[28:24] AV capture for posting the recordings in the packets. Um, I'm gonna do something

[28:29] that's similar to what Snow Island does. So if you look at their, uh, administration

[28:34] board page, you can kind of see. But sort of what that's gonna look like basically

[28:38] on the board of trustees page that's where I will start uploading the agendas and

[28:43] the packets so just be the meeting date, uh, the location agenda packet, and then

[28:49] I can even put the minutes there all in one place. I'm gonna be using uh YouTube

[28:54] to stream the board meetings, so that has nothing to do really with the role but

[29:00] yeah so you can people can still join the Zoom. The Zoom will still be how we're

[29:05] doing the hybrid meeting. So if you're making public comment or if you're joining

[29:09] remotely any staff or board members, the Zoom will still be available to join just

[29:13] like it always has been, um, and it will also be simultaneously streamed on YouTube

[29:18] actually doing that right now. I've been kind of getting used to it. Um, in advance

[29:22] of next year, so the benefit of that is the recordings are available immediately.

[29:26] I don't have to separately upload a recording, so it's like as soon as the live stream

[29:30] stops, it's, it's there. The captions are reasonably, um, accurate compared to AV

[29:35] capsules auto generated captions, um, and then we'll still, of course, archive the

[29:40] recordings of the meetings are not relying on YouTube to do that for us, so we'll

[29:44] still be recording the Zoom. Um, and that's, that's kind of it. So AB capture is

[29:48] kind of clunky. The software itself on the back end is sort of software seems like

[29:53] they haven't really done a whole lot of updates since the early 2000s. So, um, had

[29:56] some struggles with that. Um, so it'll, it'll require some change to the process,

[30:00] but it should be relatively seamless from a board member perspective and from the

[30:05] perspective of the public, I think. It saves a little bit of money. It's not, uh,

[30:08] especially, um, Expensive AV capture all, but um it is a cost savings. I worked with

[30:15] our IT folks too, so that all of the recordings that are currently in AV capture

[30:19] all go back to what I think 2012 when we started using that software. We've already

[30:24] got those moved over to a separate page, so you'll still be able to access all of

[30:27] the past recordings and packets. They won't go anywhere. They'll just be uh one more

[30:32] click. I love it. I think that's a great innovation that we're bringing some things

[30:38] in-house using free or low cost. It'd be cool if we're buying next year, and people

[30:45] understand YouTube generally. It's, it's a straightforward thing. YouTube makes more

[30:49] sense probably than AV Castro, so that's great. And that is, can you say how much

[30:53] that's saving us? Do you remember how much she under $5000 it's like $4000 something.

[31:00] I can't remember the exact number, but that's just in subscription costs, not like

[31:04] Advil to deal with like the headache dealing with baby. This is the best news I've

[31:09] heard in a long time.

[31:12] Uh, I do not like AB capsule. Yeah, I'm open to further, um, suggestions for improving

[31:17] the packet process and stuff too. I know you mentioned the bookmarking and PDF yesterday

[31:22] in policy committee, so we'll be adding those, make it a little easier to navigate

[31:25] the packets too. All right, so we don't normally take questions from the public,

[31:30] but Doctor say one more. Go ahead. Thank you. What are you doing to promote literacy

[31:37] and pediatric ID? Preschool and early school years. Library

[31:44] ownership, uh, getting your kids involved, is that part of your job? That is not

[31:50] part of my job. But it's part of I would commend you for doing that, and I think

[31:55] if you wanna err on the side of budgetary concerns, I'd err on putting my money there.

[32:01] Mhm.

[32:03] Thank you. Yeah. Uh, may I make one more quick comment that I skipped there? I just

[32:09] want to really highlight that October 1st is the closure of the Aberdeen library

[32:13] for the remodel project, and I can't tell you how excited we all got this week when

[32:17] we realized it's actually happening. Um, it has been a seven year plus journey to

[32:23] get to this point, and I just really want to thank all the parties involved, the

[32:26] city of Aberdeen, the Friends of the Library, the Library Advisory Board, and our

[32:31] amazing, um, Regional manager Stephanie Reese and her stewardship through that whole

[32:36] process. It has just been a really great collaboration and so excited for that community

[32:41] to have there. Their refresh space with working plumbing and all and working elevator,

[32:47] a better working elevator.

[32:50] Be very funny, but great, better. Thank you very much. Uh, so next we have.

[32:59] Uh, anything else, Andrea? OK, great. No, that's good. Um, so number 8, financial

[33:04] statements and highlights. Uh, welcome, Mariah. Look forward to hearing from you.

[33:08] Thank you. And by the way, great job with the agenda, the reports and everything.

[33:13] It's fascinating to look through that, so. I'm glad that you think so. Um, hi everybody.

[33:20] I'm Mariah Holmes. Um, I started 3 weeks ago, but I'm really excited to be here.

[33:26] Um, I'm gonna just get this pulled up and we will both be on our way. Um, before

[33:32] I do get started, um. I, I just wanted to um Make a quick

[33:40] note since this is my first board meeting and since I am new, um, I just wanted to

[33:45] um to say that since joining TRL um I've spent a significant um amount of time going

[33:52] through our financial data. To understand um our processes and our systems um and

[33:58] working with our leadership team um and department leaders to understand both where

[34:02] we are today and where we are headed um and as we work together my goal is to um.

[34:11] Make these financial reports um more transparent and consistent with the view of

[34:18] Terrell's financial position. So what that means is I want to be able to see, for

[34:22] all of you to see not only where we are relative to the budget, but also what's driving

[34:29] those significant variances, what I'm watching, and where I believe that um something

[34:34] may be required of the board and, and action. So that's what I hope to bring to these

[34:39] um monthly updates is not just here's some numbers, but what do we need to do with

[34:44] them. Um, and I just want to make a note that since I only joined 3 weeks ago, This

[34:50] month's report, although you have seen that you appreciate the, the difference, it,

[34:55] it will look very similar to the historical reports that you've received, but I do

[35:01] plan to make a few additional changes, um, just to support that new directive. Um,

[35:08] there is considerably more work happening behind these numbers, um, but in, in particular

[35:15] 2027 budget and long-term planning, um, and financial outlook, um, and rather than

[35:21] trying to combine all of that today as Andrea had. Um, we will be having a separate

[35:27] session for that, so I hope that you all, um, are looking forward to that because

[35:31] I am, um, but for today we are going to just focus on the August numbers, um, and

[35:37] the, the monthly outlook. So for tonight. Um, I want us to focus on a simple question.

[35:44] Which is, where did we stand financially at the end of August? And is there anything

[35:49] in the current financial statements that should concern us today? That's the only

[35:52] thing we're focusing on. Um, and I will pop this in. Chris, could you? You really?

[36:00] Yeah, sorry. In a state.

[36:06] Mhm

[36:11] Me too. Mhm. Mhm.

[36:15] Sorry, everybody, I just have to get on Zoom so that everybody can see this presentation

[36:19] as well.

[36:35] Mhm.

[36:38] While she's doing that, I'll say that if you are interested in learning about our

[36:42] budget, you can go to TRL.org/budget. We have a lot of information there, uh, including

[36:47] some of these, uh, monthly reports, annual. We've done a lot of work over the last

[36:52] six months to create a more More up to-date and forward-looking financial report

[36:59] and, and I think we have made a lot of progress in that regard. So thanks to our

[37:04] previous staff and commendations to Mariah for stepping into this um enthusiastically

[37:10] when Clearly this was a big job, so you're, you're already a winner just for being

[37:15] willing to, to do this. So, well, thank you, um, I will count my success on how well

[37:22] we can navigate this, um, but I'm excited to be here. I am enthusiastic. So if I

[37:26] can direct your attention to the screen, um, just a real quick outline, um, like

[37:31] I had mentioned, we're going to focus on August. I've also included our year to date

[37:36] data. It's gonna be a slightly different perspective, but it's good to know where

[37:40] we're at currently as of today, um, and then that perspective of what are we really

[37:46] watching, what do we need to keep our eyes on, what does all of this mean? That'll

[37:49] be at the end. OK, so nuts, um, our current year to date revenue is at $16.21

[37:57] million expenditures at 17.9 million. Um, our August spend, so how much did we spend

[38:04] in August is 1.93 and our ending fund balance is 4.13. What does that mean relative

[38:11] to anything? Um, our revenue is 56% of our annual budget. Um, and we're gonna

[38:19] see a slide just next about how that broke out, right? You're thinking we're 3 quarters

[38:24] through the year, we should have more revenue, but because of our cycle, that actually,

[38:29] that number is spot on, that's where we should be, and I'll explain that in just

[38:32] a moment, um, but 56% is good. Um, 59% spend of our annual budget is fantastic. Um,

[38:40] we should probably be about 75% spend, so we're significantly under, um, and our

[38:46] 1.93 million of spend in August alone, that's a 23.1% reduction since June. That

[38:54] means we're decreasing spend over time, OK? Um, our fund balance doesn't have a lot

[39:00] of significance right now, but it will in the long term projections, um, and like

[39:05] I said, like our revenue really just, um, reflects timing. And all of these numbers

[39:11] are, are solid. It doesn't ring any alarm bells and it doesn't require any more action.

[39:18] So moving OK. if there's a delay. So this is the graph I wanted to, to point out.

[39:24] This shows the kind of pattern of how our revenue comes through, OK? We get, um,

[39:30] big increases of revenue in April and May, and then again in October and November.

[39:35] This orange line here shows our trend line, and what you'll notice is that almost

[39:40] every month. Of our revenue through this year, which is these little teal bars, is

[39:47] over our, our, our trend line. So that means this year is a pretty good year for

[39:52] revenue. And again, if you think about an entire year where you only have two big

[39:58] cycles of incoming revenue. We've only gone through one of those, so we're about

[40:04] a little over 50% of our revenue collected. That's why that 56% spot on, um. So that's

[40:12] our revenue right now. We're in a down cycle. So when you guys are seeing the numbers

[40:17] where it's saying that we have a significant um deficit that net, that makes sense

[40:23] because our August revenue is gonna be, it's low right now. When we pop back up into

[40:28] October and November, that deficit will be gone, right? We'll have a huge surplus.

[40:33] OK, so moving into, um, this is just our expenditures and what you'll see is a really

[40:40] nice. Downward trend and this is where we're getting that almost 25% um reduction

[40:46] in spend. That means we're being incredibly responsible with our spending and we're

[40:51] keeping it tight um to try to navigate the current situation. Another really nice

[40:56] number that I want us to focus on is that if we compared our spend of just August

[41:01] to our spend of last year in August, we also have a decrease of 14, almost 14%.

[41:09] If we look at how we're spending against what we projected for this year, Our year

[41:16] to date budget, so what we had anticipated to have um received in revenue at this

[41:23] point in time, and what we had expected to have expended at this point in time in

[41:28] August. Um, We're slightly below both. So, um, we've collected 84% of what we

[41:35] had expected. But we've only spent 88%, so we're underspending significantly, um.

[41:43] The revenue is also just a point of time, right? It has to do with that cycle.

[41:50] Um, again, because of our cycle where we're at in the cycle, because this is an August

[41:54] report, you'll see that our property tax is making up a smaller proportion of our

[41:59] total revenue, um, just again because of that cycle, and we're seeing more of a makeup

[42:04] from timber and other revenue. What I wanna highlight with this, right, it's not

[42:10] just another pretty graph, so I want you to know what I'm watching with these, um.

[42:17] We're watching collections, but compared to prior years, right? Are we trending down?

[42:22] Do we need to be making adjustments because of our revenue? Is it off cycle? Um,

[42:28] timing and volatility of timber revenue, particularly, um, and then any reoccurring

[42:34] revenue related to reoccurring costs, right? Um, so that's that net deficit. Is it

[42:39] alarming? If I had a net deficit in like April, that'd be a huge red flag I'd be

[42:44] bringing to the board. Will never happen, but, but all the numbers here, no,

[42:51] all the numbers here are fine and that's what I'm watching, so I wanna be aware.

[42:56] Um, this just shows us where our money is depending on the, the balance, uh, our

[43:03] fund. So this is our general fund. This is where most of the, the numbers that you

[43:07] see that are reported are coming out of. This is where our spending comes out of

[43:12] for our operations, um, and we're just slightly that's about 4.13 general fund balance

[43:17] we're slightly over $4 million. Our gift fund, um, is over $2 million. Um, near

[43:24] 2.5, um, our chat fund is just under a million dollars. These are our fund balances,

[43:30] how much we have in the bank for that fund. Our building fund, um, is right around

[43:35] I think $800,000 and then our unemployment fund is around 400 almost $500,000. Um,

[43:42] there's allocations to all of those, right? We have, um, specific costs to them,

[43:46] um, but that's what we have in the balance. And this is where I bring you to September.

[43:52] Now, these numbers are gonna look different because it's not the end of the month.

[43:57] Um, particularly could be alarming but isn't, is the revenue. We only have $3600

[44:05] of revenue to date. Our revenue comes in at the end of the month, OK? Um, which is

[44:10] why we have this really large deficit. It's not alarming. It's just that cycle. Um,

[44:16] we've only spent, however, in September, $938,000. Again, that's us being really

[44:23] um responsible and, and thoughtful about what we're spending right now. Um, and our

[44:28] fund balance again, not really meaningful, but so we can keep an eye on it, is $3.19

[44:35] million. Obviously if that was a negative number I'd be letting you know you know

[44:39] mom um but again why this looks different is because it's not the end um so when

[44:44] we have this report next month for September. You're gonna have slightly different

[44:49] numbers, but this is where we stand today, um. And this is kind of to monitor. Liquidity.

[44:57] How much is in our bank account today, right? If I had an in like an expense hit

[45:01] our desk and we had a signed check, can we pay it? And that's what these numbers

[45:06] should be helping you see. And probably the most important, at least to me, slide

[45:11] for today's presentation is, is that level set of where are we going and, and where

[45:16] are we tying this in. Um, so again, what I'm trying to watch for are those number

[45:22] collections, and I'm, I'm comparing that to historic numbers so I can make sure that

[45:26] we're trending in the right direction. Um Our spending quality and making sure that

[45:33] we are separating those sustainable reductions versus, you know,

[45:42] One time costs and and those bigger pieces, where is that coming? What is the impact

[45:47] of those those expenses? We're watching reserve compliance, um, so that's that big

[45:53] 30% number that we're all aware of. Um, I have a different number that I'm watching,

[45:59] watching 40%, a 35%, and a 30%, um, it. Pulls different triggers within the

[46:06] finance department, right? When you hit 40, you're doing something, when you hit

[46:10] 35, you're doing something different, and when you hit 30, we're doing something

[46:14] even more different. Um, and the biggest thing for today is that um hopefully as

[46:20] we continue this, I want to be bringing these numbers into a bigger forecasting presentation.

[46:27] What do our monthly numbers actually mean in our long term projection? How can you

[46:32] take the numbers that we're looking at today? The bank account numbers that we're

[46:35] sitting on right now and apply them to long-term decisions. That's what I will be

[46:41] building into representations moving forward, um, and we'll be coming to you. Um,

[46:46] but this big conclusion is spending is moving in the right direction. Low monthly

[46:52] revenue reflects collection timing, not an alarm bell. And the long-term questions

[46:57] will be addressed, the scheduled budget um discussion to come. And that is my presentation

[47:02] for you all today. Um, I really appreciate the time and um I just appreciate being

[47:09] able to be here with you all today. Can you, can you pull that up? We might be here

[47:12] for some slides. Any trustees have any questions or comments?

[47:21] A comment that I have, I mean, I had a couple of questions, but, but you answered

[47:24] a minute, and it really had to do with your philosophy, what you're looking at, and

[47:28] you went through that very well. So I appreciate that and

[47:34] Uh, well, let's, let's do the trustee questions first because we might address those

[47:39] and then, and then we'll, um, Tony or Dustin? I'm good. No, I think it's just a great

[47:45] direction. This isn't, you know, what, uh, um, I guess was kind of envisioned with

[47:52] the, the policy that we rolled out recently and we did put a short, um, review timeline

[47:58] on that so it's really helpful to kind of see the way that. You're framing this the

[48:02] way that you're looking at things and it's always, always a challenge, you know,

[48:06] um, when we get lump sum payments and understand how that all fits in and what it

[48:13] actually means because it might look really good, you know, um, one month, but if

[48:17] you don't actually manage the, the low months, then that's another problem, but,

[48:22] um. So this is all great, um, just, uh, putting on your radar since you've been here

[48:29] for 3 weeks that we did intend, uh, once this position was filled to have the new

[48:33] person, uh, take a look at that policy and, and provide us with input so that we

[48:40] can make sure that, um, we're building, uh, a policy that gives current and future

[48:46] boards the best possible information and the best format, but it's also achievable

[48:52] and That we can be in compliance with because we don't want to create policies that

[48:57] we're not compliance with. So, um, looking forward to talking about. She's been here

[49:02] 3 weeks. Give her another week. Yeah. Oh, I was just that's why I was just putting

[49:05] it on the radar because there's a lot to.

[49:10] No, yeah, that all sounds great. Yeah, and then just to piggyback on that, yeah,

[49:14] as you see things in that policy that you think Really, you know, let's talk about

[49:19] that cause I, I, what you're talking about is exactly what we wanted. So if the policy

[49:25] is Not that then let's, let's get that tweaked going forward. A question I had, um,

[49:31] on this page, um, 84% revenue versus year to date budget. I know that our income,

[49:38] our tax revenue collections are, are very lumpy, but as I read that we're at 84%.

[49:45] Relative to where we expected to be this time of year, taking the lumpiness into

[49:48] account, so 84% seems really low.

[49:53] Yes, and you're spot on with how you're interpreting that, right? So, um, revenue

[49:57] versus year to date budget, right, it means that we're comparing August. Versus our

[50:04] projected August, right, that August budget, and so yes, we are below trend, and

[50:09] if you read just below this, it says 3.12 million below that phased budget, and this

[50:15] is the budget, um, that was reduced, um, the, the new one that rolled out like mid

[50:21] 2026. So yes, um, it is below what we were hoping for, um.

[50:31] Property like Taxes are are coming in differently. Um, the timber revenue is decreasing,

[50:37] um, and so when we do a rough, um, projection you're gonna be off slightly.

[50:45] When you say that it seems Really low. Like I, I get the sense like scary low. Um,

[50:51] I, I, I was a little surprised, not, not scared, yeah, I, I just wanna say as this

[50:57] number doesn't alarm me. If we were hitting at like 75% or less, I'd say we need

[51:02] to, to focus on this and make sure that we're adjusting. I will say what we haven't

[51:07] gotten into this is a monthly quick recap. I have for us later long term projections

[51:14] 10+ years. These numbers are in them. I'm not, I'm not seeing anything that's overly

[51:22] concerning, you know. You think there are, I think we will when the year finishes

[51:26] our revenue will be about what we expected. Great. OK, that's, and, and I think the

[51:30] bigger picture of that, Brian, I'm sorry to like cut you off, but is, you know, the

[51:35] revenue needs to be at a certain number. Based on our expenditures as well, right,

[51:40] like they have to be looked at together. It's not just is our revenue where it needs

[51:44] to be and because our expenditures are trending down, it also puts us in a much better

[51:50] position to not be at the year end and over. Compromised because we didn't get exactly

[51:57] what we were hoping for with revenue. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. And

[52:00] I should have led with that because to me the bigger news is that we are doing a

[52:05] remarkable job cutting our spending, and I think that should be the headline if newspapers

[52:12] were covering this, uh, that we are. We started this year, the last several years

[52:18] with a substantial operating structural deficit, and we have, here's my question,

[52:24] is it fair and accurate to say that at least through, for the time being through

[52:30] very serious cuts, we have furloughs, we've we've reduced our collections expenditures,

[52:34] we've made cuts all over the place and smart tightening that we have eliminated that

[52:38] structural deficit. I want to be very cautious with this answer.

[52:44] Because There's a lot of Potential ifs out in the world right now.

[52:53] But based on several projections over the next few years, it does look like we've

[52:59] flipped that, even if momentarily, right? And there's a lot going of like, can we

[53:05] sustain that? And did that switch of where we now have a surplus rather than a deficit,

[53:12] is that something that is a thriving environment? Those are very important pieces

[53:18] to that. So I don't want us to get hung up on woohoo, positive balance, right? Like

[53:23] what cost did that come at? But yes, we've done the first hurdle, I think. Of getting

[53:30] to that place of having um a positive balance rather than a deficit and absolutely

[53:36] great call out of like yes it's from a lot of hard work. But is that sustainable

[53:41] and that's a bigger question for our budget meeting, um, and I'm really excited to,

[53:46] to have that which we could jump, jump into it today, but where we can really look

[53:50] at those numbers because it'll put it in perspective where we'll have that bigger

[53:54] picture because I think everyone's itching for that, um, and so I don't wanna go

[53:57] too deep down that rabbit hole, but yes, I think we are setting ourselves up. To

[54:02] be in a better place. And I, and another way of saying that as we're going to voters

[54:08] with a levy lift proposal, we've had a lot of people say to us, you need to get your

[54:12] financial house in order before we would consider voting yes. And to me, we have,

[54:18] our administration, our, our interim executive director, our staff have done a really

[54:22] good job of getting our financial house in order through. You talk about this is

[54:27] a thriving budget. To me this is a sur a survival budget that we're in right now.

[54:32] We, we needed to right the ship and we did. And my commendations, Andrea, to you

[54:37] and your team, uh, so many people in this room and, and the organization. But these

[54:42] cuts are not that thriving environment. Our we've cut our collections expenditures

[54:47] down a lot, and that's why a library is here among many other things. But the primary

[54:51] reason is to have resources, to have books, to have our collections, and we're not

[54:55] investing in that as we would like. We, we have furlough days for our non-represented

[54:59] staff. We've, we've done a lot of things we've. But we're balancing the books. We

[55:04] are being accountable and responsible to our voters. We are spending within our means

[55:07] now. Yes, and I almost want to say it another way, and you're exactly right. Um,

[55:12] with our constrained revenue at this moment, we are doing everything we can to live

[55:19] within our means, and that's what these numbers show us is that we have significantly

[55:23] cut to be there, but without any additional revenue. Wherever that may come from,

[55:29] um, we, we can't be back at a higher level, um, and, and continue to have our doors

[55:36] open. So exactly right, we are being financially responsible and disciplined. We've

[55:41] done what we need to checked that box, um, those numbers speak for themselves, um,

[55:46] and within the constrained revenue structure that we have, that's, we're doing everything

[55:51] we can. And then the, the levy lift is saying. To, to have a more thriving environment,

[55:57] to have a more robust, the library that you would want to have in your community

[56:02] from a financial standpoint. Um, we're being fiscally responsible and we could, voters

[56:07] could, could or could not choose to invest in that, but we're doing the, the basic

[56:11] finances right now, properly, correctly, yes, um, if someone were to vote yes on

[56:18] the levy lift, they would be providing the libraries with the revenue that they would

[56:23] need to increase those services that people desire. Um, if they choose to vote no,

[56:28] then they are opting for the reduced services that we have now and they even less

[56:33] to continue to support this, yeah, if collections go up, collections go up. It's

[56:39] like.

[56:41] Ladies and gentlemen, you're president-elect Timberland work.

[56:47] Um, I am shocked that, um, uh, that, that funny didn't have any.

[56:55] That's OK. Natalie does.

[56:58] Really good at reading these kinds of reports and totally I'm, you know, I did my

[57:04] praying that you would join us. That's where I, I'm happy to be here. Um, as you

[57:09] guys, sometimes numbers can be a lot. So as you digest this, if there's any additional,

[57:14] um, perspectives or views or data that you'd like to be seeing, please let me know

[57:19] and I can fold that into these presentations. I love it. So Natalie, do you have

[57:23] a Yes, I know this is, um, illegal, but Um, so the revenues are bulky.

[57:31] Expenditures. You know, because you were saying August is down 23% from June. Our

[57:37] expenditures fairly consistent across. Yeah, and that's exactly what you'll see here.

[57:43] And if I wanted to narrow in, I like this view because it's exactly what you were

[57:46] just saying. The teal here, it's bumpy and it rides this wave all year, right? Up

[57:51] and then down, right? It's very fun roller coaster. But the blue here is our expenditure

[57:57] and you could make a fairly linear straight line here. Super awesome they were going

[58:03] down, um, but, but yes, and that's because of what comprises those and there's the

[58:08] expenditures are stable, um, set in stone, right? You've got salary, those things.

[58:16] You know they're happening, right? You know you're gonna get billed for this. It's

[58:20] set in a budget. It's gonna stay the same, right? We're not going out and throwing

[58:25] money everywhere, right? But revenue is based on, on assessments and inventory tax,

[58:31] right? And those come in at different rates throughout the year, right? So that's

[58:35] why you see that there. Did that answer your question? Absolutely awesome. OK. Almost,

[58:41] um, so I, I, I appreciate your commentary with, I mean, Graphs and everything can

[58:48] be terrific, and they can also mean to me, um, you know, so I appreciate the commentary.

[58:54] When, when this is posted to our dashboard for the public, are you going to, you

[58:59] know, is there gonna be commentary? Maybe it above, I, I, I would maybe suggest that,

[59:05] you know, because sometimes we can look at things and, and not hear what's being

[59:10] said, and, and I'm just, I, I'm hoping that that's, you seem to communicate that,

[59:16] but I'm, I'm hoping that's true. Thank you for the question. And if I'm hearing you

[59:20] correctly, you're asking for when we build that public facing dashboard that'll represent

[59:25] the data. Um, when we have some comments built in there so people can understand

[59:29] and digest what they're looking at. Absolutely we will. Yeah, the goal is that whoever

[59:35] is looking at this can understand it. So that they can relate to it and ask questions

[59:42] and so providing that context and that information is imperative um so wherever we're

[59:46] posting this information we will do our very best to have that and if we're getting

[59:51] feedback that that's not happening we will adjust so absolutely appreciate it thank

[59:56] you. Anything else? So, any other, no, I, I just said I'm good. So, so

[1:00:04] scheduling question, uh, when is our budget meeting? So it's in about 3 weeks.

[1:00:13] I believe we're going to be doing um a bit of a budget deep dive on October 25th.

[1:00:17] October 24th is when we were planning on doing that budget deep dive. Oh, it's a

[1:00:20] little longer than three weeks. Why did I think it's three weeks? I mean, it's 4

[1:00:23] weeks. Yeah, so excited. I am, I really am now. So that's so close

[1:00:31] and so basically that that is a responsible reasonable budget cycle with you being

[1:00:36] new. But yet we're also operating in this electoral environment where the discussions

[1:00:42] that we're having are very relevant to voters. Is there a way to do that earlier?

[1:00:47] Could we, should we do that a week or two earlier? That's asking a lot of you, you're

[1:00:51] brand new and you're completely over, you know. I don't think I have any days in

[1:00:55] October that are free right now. I think everyone has me on a day in October. Yeah.

[1:01:03] Especially with all the informational sessions happening, I think there's not a lot

[1:01:08] of uh I felt like I should get a social calendar, uh, person to start filling in

[1:01:15] for me.

[1:01:18] If so at that meeting we're gonna be saying so here's to a barbecue what it looks

[1:01:22] like if the levee the lift passes and if it doesn't what I plan to provide at that

[1:01:27] meeting, at least from my standpoint. Um, it's a 10 year projection for both scenarios,

[1:01:33] a breakdown of what that looks like, what options we have in both scenarios, right,

[1:01:38] because numbers are numbers, but like we're gonna have a ton of options. So what

[1:01:42] are the options? What's the impact of those options, and not just the impact today,

[1:01:46] but the impact first for 10 years of each of those options for us to weigh. I'll

[1:01:51] also have a pretty preliminary budget for us to review both scenarios, um, and we'll

[1:01:57] have a Fingers crossed, um, uh, a dashboard for us to, to take a look at. I love

[1:02:04] that. You wanna ask one question? So, I'm just wondering if you're forecasting since

[1:02:10] we're based it on basing it on primarily on our property taxes, um, Mason County

[1:02:18] and my taxes go up and down every year, and I know this year Mason County did. Fairly

[1:02:23] significant reduction in most people's evaluations if that if those types of um

[1:02:31] Roller coasters are going into your forecasting. They absolutely are. And to call

[1:02:36] out and we can go into like all of the forecasting and how we did each one of these,

[1:02:40] but a high level, I'm going to be forecasting um. Pretty much each piece of the budget

[1:02:47] slightly different. Expenditures get forecasted differently than revenue, and our

[1:02:52] particular revenue structure, which includes those very volatile property taxes and

[1:02:57] timber taxes, have a very special forecasting formula that can Applied to them to

[1:03:02] try to be as accurate as possible you're still gonna have a variance, but we're trying

[1:03:06] to narrow in on that and we're using the most current and relevant data so I'm trying

[1:03:11] to wait and that's also why I'm like oh let's not push that because I need the time

[1:03:14] to wait for those rates so we have the best data. Yeah, thank you. In response, I

[1:03:22] know the longer you sit when you have a budget presentation, the more questions pop

[1:03:25] up, so.

[1:03:28] Um, I'm happy to continue to answer questions as you have them pop up for you. Um,

[1:03:34] this is what I can. So please let me know if you have questions or would like additional

[1:03:39] data. Um, I'm gonna pop out of here, but I do, again, I really appreciate your time.

[1:03:46] Um, so thank you. Great presentation. Excellent, yeah, love it.

[1:03:53] How cool that we can apply to financial report. It's here, Elvis here. That is awesome.

[1:03:59] Love it. It's OK. Well, speaking of applause,

[1:04:08] we have a policy committee report. Yeah, that's right. Uh, which I'm afraid comes

[1:04:15] from me. Uh, we had a policy committee meeting yesterday by Zoom, and it was great,

[1:04:21] uh, in part because we start with our friends of the library partnership policy,

[1:04:27] um, and we get to have a motion on that. And it was so cool to, um, so many of you

[1:04:33] guys in the room, our friends, and just Really, how can we appreciate our um long

[1:04:39] standing relationship we have with you guys. I'll say thank you, but also we are

[1:04:44] revising our friends' policy pretty substantially. We've had um some great work done

[1:04:49] on that by staff and maybe you guys can talk about that, but Uh, if you go on our

[1:04:53] website, uh, on our agenda, you can see the revised policy. Um, here's, you can't

[1:04:59] see very well. Here's the old one, it's all crossed out and there's new, new stuff

[1:05:03] there. Um, and I just had one or two little things to surface. So we do get to vote

[1:05:07] on that tonight and we had that emailed out to trustees earlier today. But basically,

[1:05:13] we took our old library policy, which is very prescriptive, very almost limiting,

[1:05:19] like this is. The box that you will go into, don't get your head out of the box,

[1:05:24] back in the box. And we really tried to expand that. And the thing I like the most

[1:05:29] about it is, uh, the first line says Ter Terminal Regional Library values long-standing

[1:05:34] partnership of friends of the library groups through fundraising, advocacy, volunteerism,

[1:05:38] and community engagement. Friends, groups, enhance library services, spaces, and

[1:05:42] community connections. And that just expands our policy to reflect what you folks

[1:05:47] do. So really excited about this policy, um, and it really is mostly about describing

[1:05:54] how TRL is gonna support and work with you as friends groups. Uh, there will be a

[1:05:59] lot of policies that are, I'm sorry, procedures that sort of and a memorandum of

[1:06:04] understanding that are built up around this, but, uh, basically I would commend this,

[1:06:08] this new policy to my fellow trustees. It helps. Helps us express the future relationship

[1:06:15] we, we want to have with our friends that maybe it's been a little bit rocky in recent

[1:06:19] years. Um, and I think that we are, from what I've seen on a much better glide path

[1:06:24] and um we have gotten some feedback from some of our friends groups that they've

[1:06:27] been involved with formulating this policy and they like it. Wait, did you say glide

[1:06:32] path? I did. OK.

[1:06:36] I should say the, the, the We're, we're taking off. We're getting back up to cruising

[1:06:41] altitude here, uh, after some turbulence. So that's kind of my thoughts. Um, Dustin,

[1:06:47] you wanna add anything in the mirror maybe you can talk about a little bit. Yeah,

[1:06:52] I mean, I think you covered a lot of what we discussed. Um, I think this is Or, you

[1:06:58] know, it's not just symbolic, but it is symbolic in addition to being substantive

[1:07:02] of Of a large shift. In TRL as an institution and how we

[1:07:10] work with and collaborate with our, our friends groups and, you know, unprompted

[1:07:18] have received positive feedback on, on this, uh, from various, uh,

[1:07:26] friends, not necessarily speaking on behalf of their friends groups, but in, you

[1:07:29] know, in their capacity, um. And, and I know there was a lot of hard work that Muriel

[1:07:36] and Lily put into making this happen and appreciate that effort and effort of the,

[1:07:42] the friends that spoke up and were a part of working through this, um, and you mentioned

[1:07:48] that MOU. I know there's also just in parallel, a process that will Uh, go on probably

[1:07:56] into the new year of revising the old MOU that has, um, in addition to the previous

[1:08:02] policy, some of those kind of harsh clauses and things that weren't necessarily,

[1:08:09] uh, appreciated and are being worked through. So, um, it's, it's great as a policy

[1:08:16] and it's just great also as a shift overall. In TRL So this hasn't

[1:08:24] been shared with all the friends groups. The uh the policy revision, uh, Lily has

[1:08:31] done amazing work in, in, uh, making sure that information is reaching the various

[1:08:37] friends groups and collecting that feedback and also just researching the ways that

[1:08:43] different library systems in our state interact with our friends take a lot of inspiration.

[1:08:48] I knew she was doing that. Yeah, I just wondered. You know, do you want to talk at

[1:08:52] all about the changes of the policy? Um, yeah, I guess so. I mean, briefly, I'll

[1:08:58] just say that, um, In redoing this policy and having discussions with Andrea and

[1:09:05] Lily, uh, we really wanted to move away from that, that initial model called the,

[1:09:11] the old policy and make it much more, uh, a recognition of the collaboration that

[1:09:17] TRL and friends groups can have, um, in, in doing that work, I realized that We really

[1:09:25] needed to shift the focus back to ourselves and TRL staff because that is what we

[1:09:30] can control. We, you are outside organizations and, and we can't set, um, how, how

[1:09:36] you operate within your structure, but we can definitely talk about how staff should,

[1:09:41] um, best practices for working with friends groups. So I wanted to put the focus

[1:09:46] there and then, um. Work collaboratively with friends groups on um recreating MOUs

[1:09:54] that serve all of us well. And so, I, I know Lily's been communicating out information

[1:10:01] on that. Basically, our vision is that um post November 3rd. We'd like to, uh, get

[1:10:08] together, uh, a work group of representatives from different friends groups to come

[1:10:13] to the table with us and start drafting an MOU and, and really an emphasis on doing

[1:10:18] that work collaboratively, not something that Timberland would be writing and, um.

[1:10:25] You know, telling you that this is what this MOU will be. We want that to be collaborative

[1:10:29] work. And additionally, uh, she's been doing a lot of work on creating a friend's,

[1:10:34] uh, handbook that will, um, have a lot of, uh, resources and, um, helpful

[1:10:42] information for friends, uh, on, uh, Ways that you can operate that can help support

[1:10:49] your friends and help them grow and help them succeed.

[1:10:54] Yeah, this felt like an open policy when I was reading it later earlier today. Yeah,

[1:11:02] you're taking questions. Are you taking questions? No, not really, but you've earned

[1:11:06] it. You came here and your friend. I'm, I'm just one is just of the related docs,

[1:11:13] this is the current. Is that what we're looking at? What are we looking at? Current

[1:11:18] red line or clean? be much easier to read. The redline version is, it's like

[1:11:26] 95% question on that is the comment reserves the name. I totally

[1:11:33] support the idea behind that. And this, since it's not a copyrighted thing and the

[1:11:39] report is in use all over the country with all different libraries, I think it's

[1:11:44] really viable to reserve the name if, if you can actually say you're reserving the

[1:11:49] name, um. So Lily could speak to this much more, um, but in, in what

[1:11:57] What she has seen in um Looking at how that works in different organizations. Basically,

[1:12:04] if An organization is using our name and fundraising on our behalf, um. We do

[1:12:12] have some say over that, uh, so, you know, by being the friends of, I'll, I'll use

[1:12:17] my library, you know, friends of the Centralia Timberland Library, like they are.

[1:12:23] Acting as fundraisers to support us and if um. There have been instances throughout

[1:12:29] the country of uh groups that have not, um, their main mission has not been to support

[1:12:35] the library and so it's, it's important to To have some sort of um baseline yeah.

[1:12:44] Thank you. Thank you. I have a question on it. I, I, I like the policy. I, I get

[1:12:50] my question is, how do we know it's gonna work? What, what are your measures for,

[1:12:55] what are our measures built in to say, yeah, it all sounds great and it should work,

[1:13:01] but how do we know it is? Working as far as um Like strengthening those partnerships

[1:13:09] well. You know, I think that's a good question, and I think that there's a number

[1:13:14] of things that, that we need to kind of build in to track that, you, you know, for

[1:13:18] example, and, and this existed in a slightly different form in the old policy, but,

[1:13:23] you know, there's a statement that a TRL representative will, will come to at least

[1:13:27] one, meeting for each friends group annually, and we haven't really been tracking

[1:13:33] that in the past. And so I think, you know, that's something that we need to be tracking,

[1:13:38] um.

[1:13:40] You have, we have friends groups that aren't meeting. That's gonna be fun when you

[1:13:43] show up.

[1:13:48] Yeah, can't wait for this. Well, I think, you know, if they don't have a board meeting

[1:13:53] to attend, then, then, yeah, yeah.

[1:13:59] That's a great point, Hal, and it's interesting to think, is there a way to have

[1:14:03] a metric of success, or it's not our business or our job to go and recruit and support

[1:14:09] and enhance, but it would be kind of nice to, to help. Some of these groups that

[1:14:15] are struggling a little bit. Would just either be just an encouraging breath of fresh

[1:14:20] air to them or have some of the best practices or or create that network effect of

[1:14:26] you're struggling. Why don't you call up Centria they're doing great as an example.

[1:14:30] And and again I just want to plug Lily because she's been doing some amazing work

[1:14:34] around this. I mean just compiling all those different resources because. All of

[1:14:40] our friends groups function so differently throughout the district and you know we

[1:14:44] have some friends groups that um. You know, just maybe don't have all the, all the

[1:14:50] resources or don't have the um technology comfort to figure out how to do uh cashless

[1:14:56] payment systems. And so, you know, giving examples of how other libraries have done

[1:15:01] that. So if they choose to pursue that, they, they have a resource list right there.

[1:15:06] Um, and I think You know, she's also had a focus on really bringing the friends groups

[1:15:14] together so that they can be talking to each other, and it's our hope that everyone

[1:15:18] can thrive, thrive in that.

[1:15:22] Bigger conversation through that bigger conversation, I, I would add to that. So

[1:15:27] like those are great hard metrics, right? Like seeing how many friends groups we

[1:15:32] have, how active they are, um, you know, getting feedback from them on. How, how

[1:15:38] useful they're finding the resources that are available to them and all of that stuff,

[1:15:42] um. Uh, but just given what we are working our way out of, in addition to everything

[1:15:50] that you said that I completely agree with, I want to just, uh, kind of caution against.

[1:15:57] Creating like too much of like a metric of success because those can be gained in

[1:16:01] the biggest way in which we failed our friends groups has been at like a relationship

[1:16:08] level. And, and the best way to, yeah, you can't quantify that so much, but you can

[1:16:16] feel it. And you can very much feel it. Um, and I think that's also like, uh, I would

[1:16:23] You know, encourage us as, as trustees to, to, you know, be available if, you know,

[1:16:30] if invited by friends groups go to those meetings, it's nice to sit alongside, um,

[1:16:37] you know, uh, the regional manager or the local branch staff or Andrea or the, you

[1:16:43] know. Regional manager or whoever it is that's there um yeah and I think one of the

[1:16:49] things I would be looking for next year with the policy in place is to see if we

[1:16:55] have new friends groups that are created.

[1:16:59] Mhm I see holes where we could actually have some so and you know as I'm thinking

[1:17:05] about this and ways to measure how we're successful I mean you know something that

[1:17:08] we could do that that that we do with with supervisors and you know we we can solicit.

[1:17:14] On an annual basis, that feedback from friends. We can even do it in an anonymous

[1:17:18] form if that feels more comfortable. But just, you know, how, how do relationships

[1:17:23] feel? Are you getting the support you need? What would, what would improve your working

[1:17:28] relationship with TRL as a district and TRL, uh, and your local branch, or you and

[1:17:34] your local branch? So, there, there's a variety of things. And I, again, I think

[1:17:40] These would be really good conversations to have when we're at the table creating

[1:17:44] that MOU with friends groups. Love it.

[1:17:51] Um, and I guess one of the thing I just wanna say, since I don't know that we've

[1:17:54] said it explicitly, things have been rocky, and I guess on behalf of TRL I just,

[1:18:00] I wanna say I'm sorry to the friends groups and to the volunteers and the people

[1:18:04] who love their local libraries, love the system, and have felt, um, held at arm's

[1:18:09] length or, or have, there's I don't know the best way to express it other than it

[1:18:14] hasn't been good for a couple of years and I think it's getting better. We feel that,

[1:18:19] um, I hope you feel that we, we definitely appreciate you guys and we wanna be expressing

[1:18:24] that. And so on behalf of TRL we're sorry and, and I think it's, I think it's getting

[1:18:30] better from our perspective and we, we hope you feel the same way. Um, so, uh, if

[1:18:36] there's another comment we can vote on this. It is up for renewal next review next

[1:18:40] year, so we'll have a chance to make some adjustments, but I think this is a great

[1:18:43] a short policy review, great movement forward. So, uh, is there any no further discussion?

[1:18:50] Is there a move to move forward with this? No, it comes a second. We need a second.

[1:18:54] Yeah, it comes with a second. Yeah, or anyone want to second it? It comes with a

[1:19:00] permanent second. It does great. OK. There's two of you. All right, so is that, is

[1:19:04] that right? Yeah. Oh, did you do anything that comes out of committee? Yeah, you

[1:19:08] still rubber rules. I think, yeah, I think we, it doesn't hurt to second it in the

[1:19:13] past it's seconded it, but, OK, uh, great. So moved and seconded. Uh, any further

[1:19:19] discussion? Nope. All in favor. I post. Great. So that passes. That is awesome.

[1:19:28] Uh, and the rest, that's the only one that sent applause and sent the tweets. I think

[1:19:33] you could do applauses.

[1:19:38] You're just an enthusiastic, yeah, that's a good one for me.

[1:19:46] Yeah, so, um, The rest are, are, are just sort of reviews. We went over the social

[1:19:52] media policy, not a lot of changes on that. We had a few, I think, minor uh updates

[1:19:56] to that. Um, great robust policy. I commend people's attention to that. Basically,

[1:20:03] don't be a jerk online and understand that what you see online, Terrell is not actively

[1:20:10] monitoring it, but I mean, things, things come to light, so you gotta be careful

[1:20:14] about that. Uh, partnership, should we flag that that one's, uh, going through legal

[1:20:19] review and will come to us at the next meeting? Yeah, yeah, we're being careful with

[1:20:23] that one. Um, partnerships policy and sponsorships policy, we're not really making

[1:20:28] any changes there. I think we're still kind of reviewing that as well. Uh, fund balance

[1:20:34] management, I think we're holding off on that as well since we have a new finance

[1:20:38] director to look at that public works and procurement policy, uh, that is, uh, attending

[1:20:42] to some, uh, requests or some comments made by the state auditor. Not, not a big

[1:20:47] deal, but something we needed to attend to and we're still working through that one

[1:20:50] as well. So. Uh, we also have a, um, legal review of the librarians and Library Workers'

[1:20:57] Bill of Rights. So that is being examined. And that is the report from the policy

[1:21:03] committee. Good times. Uh, next we go to Oh, the ad hoc

[1:21:11] levy Lidlif Committee, this is much more interesting. So trustees loop and went.

[1:21:16] I don't know. I think Kylie summarized our meeting in a way. Thank you. Um, the first,

[1:21:23] the first piece is, I, I guess, turn it over to you, Andrew, to talk about the, um,

[1:21:28] the levy info mailer update. So we were, uh, if you recall from the last meeting,

[1:21:33] there was a public comment asking us to consider an informational, um, mailer. To,

[1:21:40] um, our all five counties and so we did do the research. There's a state contract

[1:21:45] with consolidated mail services that we can use. We received a quote. Um, we checked

[1:21:50] with our finance administrator and we're given the green light to go ahead and proceed

[1:21:54] with that information mailer, um, that was sent to the printing, um, people today,

[1:21:59] so it should be arriving in time for, um. Early voting start. Bye. Wow. How

[1:22:07] many copies were sent out approximately? We are doing all 5 counties, all houses,

[1:22:13] all households, um, felt it was important to get the word out to folks who maybe

[1:22:18] don't come to our website or our actual physical branches, and this is the way to

[1:22:22] do that. Great. Uh, and one of the comments I think that we heard from Kylie was

[1:22:29] that Official information from official sources counts for a lot. So that that's

[1:22:35] a good thing for us to get feedback from Port Vancouver. That exact comment is that

[1:22:41] having that in your hand to all available households. So that went to the printer

[1:22:45] today and it should be out then in the next couple weeks. Yeah, the idea is to get

[1:22:48] um to those households before early voting October 16th. OK, wow.

[1:22:56] OK. Great. What else we got from this, um, committee? Yeah, I'd say go back and watch

[1:23:03] the recording of Kylie's Public Company. Um But no, we had a meeting with every library

[1:23:10] and you know, they. We often say you gotta say something like 7 times for it to resonate

[1:23:16] with folks, and they very much treated us that way. Um, we very much appreciate their

[1:23:23] time and their, their insight and, and advice was great, but you know, it all. We

[1:23:30] partially were setting up this meeting because it was overdue, but also because um

[1:23:35] some of the feedback we've been getting was requesting us as a board to explore the

[1:23:41] ways in which we engage and can engage both in official and personal capacity

[1:23:48] with not only the informational campaign campaign, but in particular the comments

[1:23:53] we were receiving uh The yes campaign. And so, you know, asked pretty directly um

[1:24:01] about their recommendations and uh um They

[1:24:08] repeated over and over that they felt very strongly that it is um While there's some

[1:24:15] legal ambiguity, there's some particular case law in Washington that does um

[1:24:24] Uh I guess not not make it as clean to flip the hat around as they would say, like

[1:24:30] bored and personal hat, um, or take one off and put another one on. Um, and that,

[1:24:38] um, They said in other states, it's much cleaner to do that, um, due to some of that

[1:24:45] case law. Um, they said not necessarily the case in Washington, but what they also

[1:24:51] emphasized is despite that, the informational campaign and our role as trustees.

[1:24:59] Is is enough and is as effective in our role as kind of shifting between that personal

[1:25:07] and official capacity, and I think the biggest Takeaway just kind of summarized

[1:25:14] that uh John said it was make the call cause we were kind of like John Doe, do you

[1:25:20] have any advice and like um You know, audiences to reach out to, and it's like, one,

[1:25:26] what, what he said was obviously like focus focus on the soft spots, we have a lot

[1:25:31] of hard support. There are places where I think um Soft spots or vulnerabilities

[1:25:37] or there's just um people that want to support us who may be Have some reservations

[1:25:44] focus on those areas on one hand, but just also don't overthink it and make the call

[1:25:49] or take the meeting, um, and, and so I guess that's just the outcome of that meeting

[1:25:56] is, you know, I guess the recommendation to continue to operate in our official capacity,

[1:26:03] take as many meetings and make as many calls as. We can between now and November

[1:26:09] 3rd, um, in an informational capacity. Um, so, um,

[1:26:17] would encourage fellow trustees, you know, where you can, um, you know, meet with.

[1:26:24] School districts meet with city councils, meet with commissioners, talk to your local

[1:26:29] civic groups, you know, um, talk to anybody that will, um, give you a spot on an

[1:26:35] agenda or at a meeting and, or, and if any, and if you do receive any invites, certainly

[1:26:39] take, take them up on those, um, and, uh, of course, of course our friends groups

[1:26:44] and things like that, um, but. Uh, yeah, that was the biggest takeaway. Anything

[1:26:51] I missed, Hal? No, I, you know, he, he was very positive, uh, he and, gosh, thank

[1:26:58] you, Ashley, uh, did a, did a great job of, of that. Uh, I was very, I was more as

[1:27:04] much concerned with how we act as a board. Um, making sure that we're out there and

[1:27:08] within the, the frameworks of where we need to be, um, he made, he said it, and I,

[1:27:13] I think that, that, that Dustin said it too. He says, you know, it, it's, it's, it's

[1:27:17] enough to just be official. We don't have to be volunteers on the other side and

[1:27:21] trying to pick some things out, stick with the information that's from the website.

[1:27:26] They were, matter of fact, they were, they were glowing about, uh, how, how great

[1:27:30] you guys did. I mean, it was, it was. It wasn't embarrassing but it was like wow,

[1:27:34] um, you know, no, you know they were very, very high on, on what we'd said and so

[1:27:40] you know if we do that, you know, we can't direct anything we can't direct yes or

[1:27:44] no groups, but we can be in official capacities we can make sure that we, that we

[1:27:50] stick with, you know, the info from the website. It is terrific. Um, and, and, and,

[1:27:55] and that's enough. He, he said that, um, he, he thought that, that about 77% of people

[1:28:01] are persuaded by the facts in those things. And so, if we just stick to those, um,

[1:28:07] you know, you know, he says, tell the truth, be honest, be clear, um, and, and we

[1:28:12] can do all that. And still stay within that framework of not being partisan on it.

[1:28:17] So, you know, that, that's, uh, I would just, I would just hate for us to step outside

[1:28:22] of that and, and create some problems that, uh, that don't need to be created. So,

[1:28:27] yeah, um, I, I will say 11 small caveat to that. He didn't necessarily say we can't.

[1:28:32] He advised against it and said that there's some Ambiguity, um, but that, uh, I don't

[1:28:39] wanna test the law. No, I, I just, I wanna be clear because we're reading out. I'm

[1:28:42] not, I'm not again like recommending that everybody go out and do that, but we can't

[1:28:47] afford a lawsuit. Yeah.

[1:28:55] Um, but did, did just wanna call out that, you know, there's uh a little bit of Ambiguity

[1:29:02] around that, but not the official recommendation of this committee coming out of

[1:29:06] that meeting or of every library. Um, and then I think just the last thing would

[1:29:10] be Regardless of the outcome, there will be a follow up meeting to plan out if, if

[1:29:17] the vote is overwhelmingly a yes, then the meetings will be to go out and, uh, let

[1:29:25] people know how we plan to keep the promises of what we said we would do. And then

[1:29:31] if, if not, he said there'd be even more meetings, like 600 meetings. I don't know

[1:29:37] how that works, but. I think it was, it was some very high number, um, of, uh, um,

[1:29:45] to, to, you know, just basically recalibrate understanding that eventually we will

[1:29:50] need to go back out again, so. I think that's about it. Yeah, and just to, just to

[1:29:55] talk off that too, I, I think it's, it's the same with going out to the friends groups.

[1:29:59] I think it's just a matter of keeping in communication. It's really easy once, once

[1:30:04] the job is done to, you kind of forget all these other things and, and, you know,

[1:30:09] from what I understand from, from them was that either way it goes, we, we still

[1:30:14] owe that. Responsibility to to groups and that to to make sure that we keep communication

[1:30:19] going so I mean yeah we can probably take maybe a half a day off but but then we

[1:30:24] have to to get back to the work of of making sure that we're we're connecting we're

[1:30:28] hearing what uh what people are saying, uh, not only from public but also from uh

[1:30:33] from staff too so.

[1:30:38] Great. Thank you guys, and I believe that that meeting with every library is on AV

[1:30:44] Capture all if folks wanna watch that soon to be YouTube, soon to be YouTube. What

[1:30:50] is our YouTube handle, by the way? Is it just Timberland Regional Library? You can

[1:30:54] search and find asking me that. Sorry, OK, never mind. It's good. I can look it up.

[1:30:59] It's at Timberland Library at 1.24K subscribers. OK, that's good.

[1:31:08] All right. Uh, OK. So, new business, sorry. Uh, National Friends and Library Week

[1:31:14] proclamation. Uh, this is something that Andrea brought forward to us and I'm glad

[1:31:18] she did. And I, do we have any comments on this?

[1:31:25] Motion. At some point I would like to invite the voice of the TRL podcast, Chris

[1:31:30] Curzan himself to read this, but we should make it a motion first before we do. I,

[1:31:38] I would move it. I would second it. OK. Uh, you should read the motion too. OK. Just

[1:31:44] no, that's what you're here for. All right. Oh, the, oh, the actual motion. OK. Um,

[1:31:50] so the motion is to proclaim October 18th through 24th, 2026 as Friends of the Library

[1:31:55] Week in Grace Harbor, Lewis. Mason, Pacific, and Thurston Counties in recognition

[1:31:59] of the Timberland Friends of the Library organizations. So we have a motion and a

[1:32:04] second. Uh, Chris, would you like to read this proclamation in your most dulcet tones?

[1:32:12] There really is no other way to do it, is there? So this is the proclamation of the

[1:32:16] Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees in recognition of the Timberland Friends

[1:32:20] of the Library organizations, whereas Friends of the Timberland Libraries raise funds

[1:32:26] through book sales and other activities to enhance library programs, services, spaces,

[1:32:31] and patron experiences, and whereas the Friends advocate for and raise awareness

[1:32:36] of library programs, services, needs, and goals within our communities, and where.

[1:32:42] As the friends understand the critical importance of well-funded libraries and work

[1:32:46] through advocacy and fundraising to ensure that libraries have the resources they

[1:32:50] need to provide a wide variety of services to all ages, including access to print

[1:32:55] and electronic resources, along with expert assistance in research, readers' advisory,

[1:33:00] and children's services, and whereas the friends' generous gift of their time, talent,

[1:33:05] and commitment to library, to the library. Sets an example for all and how volunteerism

[1:33:11] fosters civic engagement and strengthens our communities. Now therefore be it resolved

[1:33:17] that Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees proclaims October 18th through

[1:33:21] 24th, 2026 as Friends of the Libraries Week in Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific,

[1:33:27] and Thurston Counties and urges everyone to thank and support the Friends of the

[1:33:31] Library for all they do to strengthen libraries and communities. Oh, all right, that's

[1:33:37] right. Yeah, another applause and at least one. So, uh, great, uh, we don't do a

[1:33:45] whole lot of proclamations, but this one is definitely, uh, worth supporting. So,

[1:33:50] uh, any further discussion of that? OK, all in favor of this proclamation. All right,

[1:33:57] great motion carries. Awesome. OK, uh, another important thing, but probably not

[1:34:03] so celebratory is, uh, as we continue to work toward South Bend library, we have

[1:34:09] some progress, but well, we're not across the finish line and we're making progress,

[1:34:14] but it's still a lot. Yeah, we, we can't fully celebrate, but yes, please. Small

[1:34:19] celebration. Yes, small. Uh, Andrew, would you want to tell us about what's the latest

[1:34:25] on this? So I believe um from our last meeting there was discussion about um how

[1:34:30] we were feeling as a board, uh, as a group, um, continuing that support we pledged

[1:34:35] back in I would say 2022. Um, as part of the library Capital Improvement Program

[1:34:41] grant, um, we did pledge to, uh, support that with a $150,000 support from Timberland.

[1:34:49] And the latest discussion with the, um, City in the library Capital Improvement grant

[1:34:55] person last week, I expressed that as long as that building can be still used as

[1:35:00] a library, and that we can be open as a library in that building, we would be able

[1:35:05] to support that. I've confirmed also with our finance administrator. Um, so those,

[1:35:11] they know they have to reach those benchmarks for us to be able to support monetarily.

[1:35:15] Um, and we also have to have further discussions about at what point do we turn that

[1:35:18] money over once work has been done, so we have some invoices, you know, things like

[1:35:23] that. So there's a whole process there, but the main point of that is that we have

[1:35:27] to know that that building is gonna be open and used for a library, and it has to

[1:35:30] be a building that is safe to go in. That is correct. That has to be.

[1:35:35] One second. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, is there any action required from the board at

[1:35:42] this time? Um, I don't believe so because what we're waiting for is that ability

[1:35:48] to confirm it will be able to be open and operational as a library, and the city

[1:35:52] is working mightily towards that. Um, I have to really commend Mayor Bethany. She

[1:35:57] has really done a lot of. Work trying to find all kinds of funds. Um, we also will

[1:36:03] be pursuing in March if congressional funds become available, um, with Senator Patty

[1:36:08] Murray's office, uh, we'll be putting forth a proposal in March, um, to help support

[1:36:14] these buildings that need a lot of support that their cities are having a hard time,

[1:36:19] especially our Carnegie buildings. So there's gonna be some work done on that after,

[1:36:24] um, November. So getting some prep work done. On that in class as well. And I wanna

[1:36:30] address the public comments that I heard earlier today that said, you know, Mason

[1:36:34] County has the fewest libraries. We have Pacific County is in the same boat. We have

[1:36:40] very few libraries too. One is closed. One's basically an access only library. So

[1:36:48] we're with you, Mason County.

[1:36:52] OK, well, thanks for your work on that, and that is one of our 3 remaining Carnegie

[1:36:57] libraries, is that right? So no, yeah, Centralia, Centralia, uh, Hoquium, Hoquium,

[1:37:04] South Africa, yeah, I think that might be the only 3 I was. Want to call Raymond

[1:37:09] that, but it's not that I believe we have. I, I mean, I would have to look at the

[1:37:13] list, but I, uh, Aberdeen, I believe still Aberdeen's not the old one. You think

[1:37:18] it's built on the site of what, yeah, is that it is a little bit of it's, it's built

[1:37:22] close to the site.

[1:37:27] And that's what we got national grants from the Carnegie organization and and. Yeah,

[1:37:33] they, they recognize areas that used to have, so I think that's, yeah, OK, great,

[1:37:39] thank you for working on that. Uh, OK, uh, number 11 board housekeeping. Uh, GMP

[1:37:46] kickoff meeting. Uh, who is our I put that on there. You put that on there. So I

[1:37:52] was asked to train and help schedule a kickoff meeting with GMP, and GMP is the consultant

[1:37:58] that was recently selected to run the executive director of recruitment. Um, they

[1:38:04] only need an hour, so. 6 is great. I mean, it works for me too, but I

[1:38:12] speak for everybody else. Uh, obviously with Mary Beth here, you probably aren't

[1:38:16] gonna come to a specific consensus on exactly what date. Um, one option if you wanna

[1:38:21] consider it is, I think we could probably add this to the October 24th work session

[1:38:26] if they can do a Saturday so I could check with them on that. That's putting it a

[1:38:30] few weeks out, but we're still, uh, working on the contract too, and I know there's

[1:38:34] been a discussion about. Would that, is that OK? I mean, I'll check with them on

[1:38:38] that. Um, it may be worth starting that day at 9 o'clock instead of 10, um, just

[1:38:44] to make sure that there's enough time for everything else that's on the agenda, um,

[1:38:48] that's still in draft status, obviously, but, um, yeah, some of the information sessions

[1:38:54] I'm going to be going and supporting on. Places that do not have internet access,

[1:39:00] so I, my availability in the next 4 weeks is challenging. I'll check on that uh date

[1:39:07] first with them and if they can do that, then we'll just squeeze that hour in there.

[1:39:10] I believe it can be virtual as well, so if we need to get creative, we can do it,

[1:39:14] but I have a Starlink dish you can borrow.

[1:39:17] I was actually thinking of getting another little one so.

[1:39:22] I, I think starting that day earlier that might works for me. OK. OK, yeah, I think

[1:39:27] that's the best bet, and I, I, we've discussed this previously, I think we benefit

[1:39:32] from. The potential of having additional board members by that time, I mean, um,

[1:39:40] well, that's why I emphasize potential, but it does give us more time and also like,

[1:39:46] like we mentioned, we all have a lot going on between now and November 3rd, so I

[1:39:53] think holding off on kicking that off in earnest is fine by me, right. OK, uh,

[1:40:01] future agenda items. Anyone have anything they'd want to get on the next agenda?

[1:40:06] I don't. Just make sure that somebody can get a name tag.

[1:40:13] I got it again. Phase one that's amazing. Now I'm gonna walk through this. When you

[1:40:20] got it, stop it. I'm sorry. Great. Um, final

[1:40:27] board comments.

[1:40:33] One of the things I wanted to, to bring up, and it's not a comment so much as you

[1:40:36] just alluded, no, you just alluded to it, but it feels like we're making a little

[1:40:39] bit of progress on getting our two open seats filled. Nothing super, superficial

[1:40:44] that that's across the finish line, but that's exciting. And really appreciate, uh,

[1:40:50] particularly Mason and Thurston BOCC's working on that. Be nice to get, get us back

[1:40:55] up to, to full speed with 7 trustees. Um, but yeah, more, more to come on that, but,

[1:41:02] but there's been some forward progress for the first time in a long time, I think.

[1:41:06] Um, further comments from our board as we end our meeting. Anything?

[1:41:14] No, I, I, yeah, um, first of all, thanks for being here. Thanks, thanks for staying,

[1:41:19] staying through all this too, um, Mariah, I really appreciate the, the, the, uh,

[1:41:24] it's just a good presentation and everything, and, uh, you know, we, we have, we

[1:41:29] have moved quite a ways. I mean, we've, we've moved this from I don't know. The ship

[1:41:36] may be heading in the towards, towards the reef, and now we're, now we're not to

[1:41:40] use nautical stuff that I'm not good at. But, but we've moved that, that, and you

[1:41:46] know, we're, we're moving ahead. We've got a lot of things going on, but we still

[1:41:49] have an awful lot. Work to do. We, we have, we have an awful lot of financial stuff

[1:41:53] that we really need to be able to still dig into. I mean, I want us to take a win,

[1:41:59] but I also want us to know that, um, you know, we, we've still got some ocean to

[1:42:02] sail on some of this stuff. So, um, and Um, Doctor Seby mentioned, is he Doctor Seby

[1:42:10] still here? OK, well, he, he mentioned something too. He says, you know, you know,

[1:42:13] when, when, when he started on with this, you know, it was about a 10 to 15 hour

[1:42:18] a week, um, task, or month task I should say, not a week, uh, but it's turned into,

[1:42:24] into much more than that. And so, you know, I, I appreciate you guys. Being able

[1:42:28] to, to do this. It's a, it's a slog, and yet we're moving forward and we're getting

[1:42:32] a lot of good results, measurable results that we can see financially, and some unmeasurables

[1:42:38] that I think that we're seeing because of communications between uh friends, friends,

[1:42:43] and, and I think other patrons too. So, um, yeah, we're doing good and we still got

[1:42:51] work to do. So. That's, that's our, that's our good and our challenge. But all that

[1:42:56] work we're doing together in a much more positive environment with everybody. With

[1:43:02] the eyes set on the same thing, so I already said that, you know, in, in a crisis,

[1:43:07] this is the board I would take with me. I've served on a lot of boards, but this

[1:43:11] is the one that's gonna get us through, and I appreciate all the public support.

[1:43:17] I mean, you know, I have been held accountable in the carrot section, but I still

[1:43:24] don't mind because you still learn things and go forward and where we are, so, you

[1:43:30] know, we're just gonna keep going forward. Yeah, I guess one thing I would say is

[1:43:35] along those lines, I mean one of the things we love about libraries in addition to

[1:43:39] being a place to to find information and knowledge and maybe even wisdom. Is the

[1:43:45] community center that they are and to see so many friends groups represented here,

[1:43:49] to see how the Patron Coalition and the Yes for Libraries group has just done so

[1:43:55] much great work on a voluntary basis, as you mentioned, Kylie, it's really heartening

[1:43:59] and impressive and inspiring to see. So, Onward, you know, we're all, we're all doing

[1:44:07] our piece and who knows what the future holds, but when, when people really are positively

[1:44:11] working together, a little bit of positive intent, a little bit of holding people

[1:44:14] accountable when they're, when, when they need a change of direction, that's part

[1:44:18] of it too. So pretty neat to see and big, big 6 weeks ahead of us and um I guess

[1:44:25] the members of the public who are watching, if you would like. Members of the library

[1:44:29] or the trustees to talk to you about the levy the lift campaign in an informational

[1:44:33] capacity of what a yes and a no vote would mean. We, we're here to do that. So let

[1:44:38] us know. We will try to be there. Did you say 600 meetings? That seems like a lot.

[1:44:42] Well, no, that's if, if it fails, we need to recalibrate. Yeah, OK. So if there's

[1:44:47] any that doesn't seem like a lot. The 5 counties. No, that's true. We should be reaching.

[1:44:53] That's true because I just kind of did the tally from my county and I went. Times

[1:44:58] this a lot of people we have to talk to when you're talking about community groups

[1:45:03] and especially meeting with some of what do you say sort of the soft softer groups,

[1:45:07] the people who are inclined toward a yes or no but aren't hard and other can't, and

[1:45:11] I know that in Lewis County we have a lot of folks like that that um. That, that

[1:45:15] are everyone's worth talking to, but, but I, I'll try to be there. So let us know

[1:45:20] if, if you'd like to speak at groups and we'll, we'll be there. So, uh, if there's

[1:45:24] nothing more, we have an executive session on here. I don't think it's gonna be long,

[1:45:28] but just to sort of check in as, um, this would be pursuant to RCW 42.30.110 subsection

[1:45:35] G. The specific portion is to review the performance of a public employee. Uh, so

[1:45:41] this is a check-in with our interim executive director. Uh, I would say maybe, I

[1:45:46] don't know, 20 minutes. Can I ask one quick question before we do it? Um, would you

[1:45:51] guys like to get a picture with the friends, people who are still in the audience

[1:45:54] for the proclamation

[1:45:58] with a trustee, we have it. We bring our scroll. Don't, would you not have a scroll

[1:46:03] sign it? the thing itself. You can all sign it and then hold up the sign. Yeah, we

[1:46:07] should sign it first, yeah, OK, with a yellow highlighter pin. Well, it's a, it's

[1:46:12] a corn pen. You can do the ceremonial ceremonial signing with the corn pen out to

[1:46:16] the music garden. Are you nuts? There's the, the fruit yard too. We could all get

[1:46:24] an apple. Are you nuts? I have sticks. I believe you use that beat me with

[1:46:31] sticks. Is this your friend? It's, it's just. Oh sorry, sorry, it's just I've got

[1:46:38] a sign on this. Here you go, Hal. Where do you want us? I mean,

[1:46:46] maybe what's the most beautiful part of your,

[1:46:50] the view, we don't wanna, we don't wanna take a lot of that. Sorry, folks. Start

[1:46:56] back twilight so you don't have to walk far.

[1:47:06] Those are beautiful doors.

[1:47:10] This is the line where we're supposed to stand the top backs in the front in the

[1:47:16] front yeah not letting the chair but

[1:47:24] it

[1:47:26] took me down a few hours of slopes when I first stand up after being sitting for

[1:47:31] a few minutes so. All right, Charlie. Oh yeah,

[1:47:35] I'm I

[1:47:43] say that she has things that you hit me with too and hates us

[1:47:50] and then I've been arching yes. You have all our things so shy.

[1:47:57] Everybody in. Everybody wants to be in the gym. OK, I've heard you.

[1:48:04] Oh, is that.

[1:48:07] Alright, I was ready. OK, 321. We'll take about 5 pictures here we go real fast.

[1:48:14] Everybody keep smiling. Don't make any crazy faces.

[1:48:19] Thank you. Great, thank you. All right, yeah, so we're gonna go.

[1:48:26] We're gonna go to executive session. We're not gonna take any action afterwards.

[1:48:29] You're gonna stick around. We are gonna try to 20 minutes with the medical decision,

[1:48:34] right?

[1:48:38] 20 minutes. 20 minutes. Yeah, this time is 7:19. You got to bring us back at

[1:48:46] 7:39.

[1:48:58] This is exactly what I'm fishing. I've been OK, friends. All right, we are back.

[1:49:03] I'm out of the OB in. That's OK. Time 7:39. Thank you. OK, the time is 7:39.

[1:49:11] We're going to adjourn our meeting. Thank you all for being here. We'll see you later.

[1:49:15] OK. You wanna do a motion to adjourn, or you want motion to adjourn? I'll make that

[1:49:20] motion to adjourn. Stop it. OK, all in favor. Hi, we're adjourned. I miss 7:39 p.m.

[1:49:28] Thank you, gentlemen.

[1:49:33] Oh my goodness. This is not that lighting.

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript