Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting - May 22, 2025
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Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting
Date: May 22, 2025 | Time: 3:50 PM – 5:36 PM | Location: Monterey Public Library (Zoom hybrid)
The Library Board of Trustees met to welcome new Assistant Library Director Melissa, discuss the fiscal year budget outlook, review the NCIP facility proposal, and approve the consent agenda. The meeting also addressed rescheduling the June meeting and reviewed advocacy efforts for capital improvements.
Consent Calendar
- Approved (5-0): The consent agenda as amended, including:
- Minutes from prior meeting (with a correction to remove an unclear trustee comment).
- Policy revision for item #6: corrected the billing timeline from 35 to 49 days after due date to align with current practice.
- Routine financial and administrative reports.
- Item #3 was pulled from the consent agenda for discussion and accepted as a report without a formal vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
No members of the public were present.
Discussion Items
Introduction of Assistant Library Director
The board welcomed Melissa, who joined the library on May 16, 2025. She previously served as branch manager at the Marina Library for six years and is a Monterey resident. Trustees introduced themselves and shared their backgrounds. Melissa noted she sees a need to bridge library and museum projects and support the facility improvements already underway.
Library Advocacy & NCIP Facility Proposal
Director Brian presented potential projects for the upcoming Neighborhood Community Improvement Program (NCIP) cycle, with a July deadline. Proposed focus areas included:
- ADA compliance upgrades (elevator audible signals, guide wire replacement, entryway improvements).
- Restroom renovations (cost estimates between $65,500 and $100,000).
- Dumbwaiter installation to improve accessibility for staff moving materials between floors.
- Window upgrades (single-pane to dual-pane) for energy efficiency and UV protection.
- Battery backup or generator for community resilience (use as a cooling/charging center during emergencies).
- After-hours community room access through door and alarm panel updates.
Trustee Moreau reported that NCIP committee representatives were supportive of the library as a "community resiliency center" and liked the combination of ADA, resilience, and archival preservation. The board discussed aligning these ideas with the city's broader capital improvement plans. Director Brian also updated the board on the May 20 city council meeting where the library was mentioned in the context of a potential bond measure and the need to prioritize facilities.
City Council Updates and Budget Outlook
Brian noted council discussion included a rough estimate of $48 million for a new library building, a possible sales tax or TOT increase, and questions about reducing library operating days to lower costs. Trustees expressed concern about any reduction in service days and emphasized the need to advocate for adequate funding.
Rescheduling of June Meeting
Due to multiple trustee conflicts, the board voted to cancel the regular June 26 meeting and reschedule it to July 7, 2025, at 4:00 PM at the Monterey Public Library. This ensures all trustees can attend. The July 7 agenda will include the election of new chair and vice chair.
Key Outcomes
- Consent agenda approved with technical correction to policy item #6.
- NCIP proposal development: Director Brian and trustees de Lormier and Moreau will draft a proposal emphasizing ADA improvements, restroom upgrades, and community resilience features; a draft is expected by the July meeting.
- Meeting rescheduled: June 26 meeting moved to July 7, 2025, 4:00 PM at the library.
- New assistant director introduced and will begin orientation.
- Cafe vendor approved by city council (May 20); health permit timeline is pending, with hopes to open by summer.
Meeting Transcript
Hi, it is uh Thursday, May 22nd at call the meeting of the library order trustees to order. Um Julia, could you please do a roll call and explain to the public how they might participate? So do we have we have a trustee um Petty here present? Yes, awesome trustee Joshi. Perfect. We have trustee Lord, maybe words today. All right, we have trustee Silveria Trustee Morall. Awesome. That is everybody we have our wonderful director here as well. And I think our assistant director for the first time. Yes, yes, she's joining us. Um if anybody in the public would like to participate, let me just find the link here. All right, so you can um let's see if it gets me a phone number. Looks like you can just join in on our website. Uh if you do join in, please raise your hand for any comments. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. All right. I think that is everything for our first item is to receive an update on the assistant library directory. We're very pleased to see the assistant library directory. Recording in progress. No, it was so delayed. I clicked that at the beginning. Okay. All right. All right, welcome. All trustees are present. I'll just start off and hand it over. Um, but just a background and uh it's been a believe 13 plus years, since we've got an assistant library director here on our public library. Um at that point, there was a library director that became the community services director for a period of time, and the board at that time petitioned to have the library director back is the as a full-time library director. I believe that position is going away for a period of time. So in the beginning of the fiscal year 2025. Beginning of the fiscal year 2020 budget. Uh that's what happens. We added the position to the position control list uh for the city in the budget, and that also meant that we had to create the challenge position job spec because the position of the baked so long was no longer on the books and the salary schedule. So that took quite a bit of time. Um and then we opened the recruitment and once we welcome we asked to join the library here and Melissa joined just last week as of May 16th. Yes. So you have yeah, of course, thank you so much. I'm very excited to be here. This is a this was one of my little big dates I had on my calendar was to meet you all. Um yeah, so I um I came here from the Monterey County Free Library, so I was the branch manager of the Marino Library for the last six years and I love that library was a very vibrant library, but it was definitely it was a really good opportunity. I wanted to make sure that I um you know pursue something. I live in Monterey, so I'm also a resident here, and I've been using this library. Um I use it a lot when I first moved out of your current county. So yeah, thank you so much for having me, and I'm excited to meet you all and work with you all as well. With that, any uh we could have um the uh trustees if you can introduce yourselves for for Melissa as well. Any kid if there's anything reserved serving on the board, what got you to your interest here and joining on the library board of library trustees? Anything regarding career or path is something that got you interested in here.
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