Monterey Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting - June 25, 2026
Monterey Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting - June 25, 2026
The Board of Library Trustees met on June 25, 2026, to receive updates on a public art policy, discuss fundraising project ideas for the MC Gives campaign, approve revisions to the library card policy, and set the timeline for the annual director evaluation. The meeting included a public comment from a remote attendee and concluded with trustee comments and a director's report on grants and upcoming events.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda (items 3–6: minutes from May 28, activity report, statistical report, and financial report) was approved with a minor typographical correction ("team longs" changed to "team lounge") on a motion by Trustee Silvera and second by Trustee Huddy.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Nelson (remote attendee) suggested that the MC Gives project proposal for a teen space should invite proposals from teens in local schools beyond the existing Teen Advisory Board, to broaden youth engagement.
Discussion Items
- Public Art Policy Update – Library Director Brian and intern Ariana presented an update on the draft public art policy. The policy aims to clarify the process for private art in public spaces (e.g., murals, sculptures) and distinguish between art and signage. The project is a collaboration with the Museums and Cultural Arts Commission and involves researching best practices from other California cities. Board members discussed definitions, free speech considerations, and the library’s role as a community hub. The draft will be submitted to legal review and then to the Commission.
- MC Gives Project Ideas – The board discussed potential single-project proposals for the annual MC Gives fundraising campaign (which raised $98,301 last year). The leading idea was upgrading the teen area with new furniture and shelving to create a dedicated space. Board members supported this as a way to engage youth donors and provide a visible impact. The proposal would be presented to the Friends and Foundation of the Monterey Public Library, which administers the MC Gives application. A secondary idea (updating shelving in the non-fiction area) was considered less compelling.
- Second Reading and Adoption of Board Policy 120 (Library Cards) – The board reviewed proposed revisions from the first reading. Key changes include increasing the out-of-state fee from $10 to $25 per month and removing the address verification requirement for library card issuance. Identification (photo ID, government or school issued) remains required. Staff clarified that the fee aligns with the city’s master fee schedule and that out-of-state cardholders are rare. The policy was adopted unanimously.
- Timeline and Process for Annual Director Evaluation – The board approved a timeline: the evaluation period covers the year ending August 16, 2026. Two closed sessions were scheduled: October 22 (regular meeting time) and October 30 at 10:00 AM (special meeting). Feedback from HR was incorporated, and the board requested that raw survey data (including comments) be provided without separation.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimously adopted revisions to Board Policy 120 (library card fees and identification requirements).
- Unanimously approved the timeline and process for the annual director evaluation, with closed sessions on October 22 and 30, 2026.
- Formed consensus to recommend the teen area upgrade as the MC Gives project for the upcoming campaign, to be coordinated with the Friends and Foundation.
- Acknowledged a $100,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Monterey County to restore the Granito mural at the Monterey Conference Center, announced by the library director.
- Thanked outgoing Trustee Janie for her service.
- Library director noted upcoming Pride events on June 28 and 29, and a historic flag display at Colton Hall on July 4.
Meeting Transcript
How do we give us a hug We have a cigar. Right. Yeah, and this I'm trying to think of play the tabas or something like that drums. See the countdown. So uh four, three, two, one. Well, the Board of Library Trustees. Welcome to anybody who might be with us. Um public remotely. If that's happening. Let's see who. Do we have our wonderful chair Diane? Present. Awesome. Can we have our vice chair Bob Huddy? Right here. All right. Let's see. We have our gossip. Okay. Okay. And I think that's a very good question. And a little reminder to anybody that does join in the Zoom, if you would like to have any questions or comments, please raise your little hand. Okay. We will get going with um presentations. Uh, first we have we will receive an update on uh the library intern's work on public art policy. Yeah, and actually Ariana should be joining us shortly. I'll go ahead and jump in. So she doesn't want to rearrange it for her or not. I can I can only start with it. We should jump in on everything. And she can sit right there when she got there. Yeah. So Ariana is Ariana is our uh middlebury intern, was brought in as a federal work study program through a middlebury college, who work on this in their project space. And so we started off with a um the project looking at was work on a public art policy. This is primarily something through the museum's cultural arts commission. We do have a policy right now for accepting the accessioning museums and cultural arts collections. So the art that we have that is city owned, that's all part of our museum's collection. So that is something that we've had for some time. So we do have the museum's cultural arts um commission and that policy that but we're looking at a public art policy for how do people apply for um generally art that's in owned by the private in public view. So it's private art and public spaces, as well as public art would essentially be nonprofits or other organizations that are on there. You're saying if I painted something, what would I do to get it displayed? Exactly. So right now you would do it through primarily through a sign permit. Oh, so there's would be like seems a little so like so. Most uh businesses, if they're doing things, if they're doing an update to a historic property, there is a historic property, historic preservation commission, HPC, and they would go through um a short structure like change. So any change with that. So we're looking at continuing with that, is is through HBC is continuing through like historic preservation commission, and anything for sure. And the other ones would be um, so if there's a sculpture or something like that, they still have to go through all of their business license requirements and everything like that. Now, this rigor doesn't apply to if we or the library wanted to display any images that we own in the California history, for example. That's inside that right.
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