Yeah, it was very general last year.

And so those funds as such um aren't limited necessarily to a specific area.

And then our chocolate and wine uh annual fundraiser run in uh just over 20,000.

Um and while that was a little bit lower than some of our cost years, we did just go through kind of an analysis of the fundraiser as a whole and kind of identified some areas in which we can improve for this next year, and so we're really excited about that um going forward and thank you to Diane for helping us with that as well.

We already have a committee working on that.

So we did um we had kind of an ad hoc committee do kind of a retrospective on the last like three or four years.

Uh-huh.

Almost like since the Y basically, yeah.

And um then we have our committee reconvene in the next the committee that will put on the event will reconvene in the next month to six weeks um to start going on that.

So the screen chair to ask you what changes you have in mind.

Um not entirely.

I mean, we did I think we're gonna keep the event is still gonna be at the end of February.

We thought about changing it, but given kind of all that goes on in the county in the spring, um, and we confirmed that we're not gonna have a conflict with uh I think it was um ranchest yellow had a similar kind of culinary event that weekend, and we know there's no conflict um for next year.

And um we're really going to focus on the chocolate and wine aspect to really make sure that that comes through in the event.

Um and then we also talked about um you know focusing on sponsorships in our acquisitions and and how to better streamline that going forward.

So I think we'll have some um yeah, some an exciting year.

But those are kind of the preliminary things that we identified.

So stay in February.

It is, yes.

Yeah, yes.

The tie-in is nice with February, so I think that Valentine's Day.

So I mean historically that's why it began in February.

Yeah.

But I haven't felt a Valentine's Day.

I I think maybe because it's gotten pushed back further away is within the month.

I mean so you don't see the red and white all over the place.

Uh you know, for that.

So I'm wondering if that's even necessary.

February is the best month for conflict avoidance.

I always say that's that's one thing that you need to take in account no matter what month.

But I wonder if moving it away from Valentine's Day to something else that might be meaningful.

Is there a I don't know.

That's the six month anniversary of one of my surgeries.

Oh yeah.

But I was just thinking is there a library month or international library week or something like that nearby.

It's in April or something.

We we thought about April was kind of the next logical place to think to look to, but given just everything that starts to happen in April, it events really uh start to ramp up between the I wasn't suggesting the month.

I was just thinking if there was a good time.

There was a theme that we could relate to other than Valentine's Day, because it's past Valentine's Day.

A lot of people are going Valentine's Day is over.

Um so I don't know.

Yeah, is the weekend that it's held a long holiday weekend?

No, the twenty it's the 27th, so I think we're we're good on that.

Yeah, yeah.

So that's gonna be February 27th, which is probably triple check, but I I think it was in the calendar from last morning, perhaps they might be so other highlights from this past year.

We did we had both a fall solicitation and spring appeal letters that went out.

Um, and I think we're still getting the numbers on the spring or most recent appeal.

So um we'll follow up with the success of that.

Um and then lastly, we've been sorry.

Lastly, um Ali has really our funder, Ali uh Ladia, who's been helping us as our fundraising consultant has been working on our um uh kind of I guess reconciling our data um for our donors and donor of perfect, which is going to be a huge help for us going forward as we um have other future campaigns as well.

So that was that's um brief summary of our fundraising last year, and then um for this upcoming year um our goal it we these were goals that the uh board kind of put together and based on last year's numbers, and so um I think primarily we want to focus on two author talks that have been very popular.

Our board really enjoys putting this together, and so um we're hoping to have two of those, but to make them more bigger events that will um bring in more of the fundraising component to them.

That's ambitious.

It's good to have goals.

Good, yeah, it is that Joshi does have her book coming out, and Caroline Chambers has another cookbook coming out, and both of those um authors have been very generous with their time, and they've also we've had success with both of them as being very popular for our me, not saying that they not doing the work for the committee saying that those are necessarily the the author talks, but just knowing that the those two in particular have upcoming book releases.

Um I think might have contributed to that um goal setting a little bit.

Um and then fundraising goal, ambitious hitting a hundred thousand this year.

Um and that we're gonna be working on that application is due at the end of the month.

Um, I know Brian has suggested that teen area be a focus this year, and I think that I just did thinking about it.

I know the teen group has done a lot with the summer reading program, and they've been more active on social media, and I think it's an engaged group, so I um I don't know if Brian's gonna share more about what that might look like, but we uh yeah, we we talked to their meeting just kind of like about the goals, and that was the one that the board also was um interested in moving forward with this port that's idea.

Yeah, that was great.

Um so sorry, is something 3D person?

Yes, okay.

I've got spent, I'm sorry.

Um and then our chocolate and wine annual fundraising goal um does appear quite ambitious given last year's numbers, however, it is more in line with kind of it is um it's an increase over the prior years, but not as big of an increase over prior year.

So it's a return to maybe 30 somewhere around there 36, yeah, relatively close to that 40,000 bowl.

And so we're kind of hoping to return to that level.

Um possible.

Um book sales, increased book sales by 10 percent, which I think is reasonable given all of the uh given how often the sales are in the popularity of book sales.

Um we're also going to reconvene our um fund development committee, and um that we'll also look into consider developing a donor recognition program for the foundation.

Um and then the last two things on our goal.

We'll continue work doing our bigster marathon volunteer program.

Um that is a fundraiser for us, so that's why it is there on our fundraising tools because as we staff the booth for both the half marathon and the marathon, the information booth for both.

Um we do get uh a donation in return for that.

Um, and then lastly, we will um work with Ali and like I said, the fund development committee on a spring appeal letter in 2027, as well as our ongoing donor stewardship and and so forth going forward.

So that was a lot of information.

I'm sorry to stop in the middle for questions, but if you have any, please let me know.

Well, I'm I'm curious about your new board.

We do have a new one.

No, we um are well we have welcomed seven new board members, which is a big um big increase, but they are very enthusiastic and excited to get going, and our committees look at the board level, um, very robust.

So I think that will allow us again to um re-engage in the fund development space and have a have a good participation going into chocolate and wine, and I think that also contributes to maybe our little bit more ambitious goals is that we have we have the volunteer um power in in conjunction with Ali, who's super helpful.

We are going to continue.

Last year was a kind of a pilot year for a fundraising consultant, but given kind of the numbers that we saw um last year, felt that that was a worthy investment to continue that, and then with the board support that we have.

Um, I think we are well positioned going into this next year.

Yes, I had a question.

I I noticed in the packet you had a thing about the 1849 recognizing and setting up some sort of new yeah um recognition for people who give regularly rather than just once 1840.

Yes, so I that'll be something the fund development committee explores and kind of what how we want to both market that promote it.

Thanks.

Sure.

You refill my short-term memory.

What did you say?

The um profit was from this year's uh oh here it's uh oh it's right in front of me.

Never mind.

Just just over almost 22,000.

Yeah, I was gonna make a note down here under the goals, and I didn't look above it.

Thank you.

It was about 36, 35 or 36.

Yeah, so and then I think before again, the the two years prior to this last year, we're kind of in we're north of 30, and kind of into that mid-30s.

So that's where the school kind of is falling.

Um kind of yeah, so that's that's the history.

Well, good order.

Any other questions?

All right, is there any public comment on the item related to the um presentation from the Monterey Public Library Friends and Foundation?

Oh about the Monterey Public Library Friends and Foundation, their presentation.

Any comments regarding their presentation?

That what we're sorry, I came in late.

Is that questioning is that what that is?

What she just presented.

She was presenting about fundraising for you.

So that was regarding that.

So there's no well, thank you.

There's no comment.

Yeah.

All right, thank you.

Okay, then our next would be uh receiving an update on the strategic plan.

Are we are we I'm promoting Ariana to panelists?

Let's see.

So she should be coming on shortly.

Let's see.

And Ariana, if you can hear us, if you can unmute.

I don't know if we've got some if that TV gets loud in there, we'll have to turn that down.

Yes, hi.

Can you hear me?

Very loud.

Hold on.

Hold on.

Hold on.

Well, we tested it earlier with very low.

Say hi.

Just say hi.

Hi.

Okay.

Hold on, hold on.

Hold on.

She doesn't have learning diamond.

There's also a speaker volume thing.

Yeah.

But it's the TV.

David and I were testing it.

Okay, go for it.

Say something, Ariana.

Hello.

Whoa.

We're gonna go down again.

Yeah.

Okay.

Try it again.

Hi.

Hi.

Welcome.

Thank you for joining us.

That's a lot better.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Ariana.

Wonderful.

I'm just gonna turn my camera on because I want to make sure I'm looking at everybody.

Hi, how are you doing today?

Can you guys hear me okay?

Yes, you're good.

Okay, great.

Well, thank you so much.

I'm really excited to be presenting an update for our strategic planning process and just everything that we've been doing so far.

Um let me know if I cut out at all because you guys look frozen on my end.

But if you can hear me, then that's perfect.

Yeah, we're good.

Great.

Perfect.

So I just have my notes open here.

Um I just want to give a brief verbal update in terms of what we've completed, uh, what direction we're going in and kind of what our thought process has been so far with the strategic planning.

Um so I'll start with the good news first, which is everything that we've already completed.

Um, so we've done an internal organizational assessment and we've kind of picked and choose certain things that we wanted to analyze and look at so that we can really go into the strategic planning process well informed, um, and also provide that information to anybody who might be on the strategic planning committee.

And so um we did an organizational assessment on the mission, the vision and value statements and provided recommendations with that.

Um and we've also conducted an assessment on the organizational culture.

Um I also completed a SWOT analysis and uh something similar to a SWOT analysis, which is called the PET SEP analysis, and it's just a similar to the SWOT analysis, but goes a little bit into more of the community aspect and looking into the external systems that might contribute and affect the library.

Um we've also conducted a qualitative data analysis based on the community assessment that was done, I believe in 2024, um, and that survey that was sent out as well.

And so we wanted to do this because we wanted to look at what gaps in the data were existing, and we just wanted to use that report and the results um and share that with the strategic planning committee for the first meeting that they'll have.

Um so I'll kind of stop there, um, kind of gauge for questions, and then I'll continue on as to where we are in the strategic planning process.

Sorry, can you repeat the name of the second analysis, not the SWAT, but uh yes, it's called uh pet SEP PET SP.

And so it's similar to the SWOT analysis in which we look at the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, etc.

But it uses a systems thinking approach to kind of analyze internal and external opportunities and factors that might affect the the organization.

Great, thank you.

Yeah, of course.

Um one other question.

Um the library had a set of strategic priorities that we developed a long time ago.

Did you start with them or did you just start over?

Yeah, so that's what we looked at with the organizational assessment.

So we kind of looked at what was already existing for the mission vision values, the strategic priorities, um, organizational culture, um, so aspects that would affect our process as we continue strategic planning.

And we you know used a systems thinking lens, used a design thinking lens to really take apart what is already existing and what we might want to focus on when we meet with the committee.

Thank you.

Do you have a sense of how many people you would want to have on the committee?

But would we staff is there community also yeah, absolutely?

And um, that was the next portion of the presentation that I wanted to dive into.

So you're way ahead of me.

Um but yes, so we've um so what we're working on and what we're working towards is we initiated the application process and the development of the strategic planning committee.

And so uh we sat down recently and started to think about who we wanted to have involved within that process and how we're gonna go about forming the committee.

And so right now we are looking at it as circles of influence, and so or in other words, who's involved in the library and who should have a seat at the table and be part of the discussion.

And so for right now, we're looking at um the board of trustees.

We're looking at library staff, so that includes all the different departments and work unit teams.

We're also looking at uh community or or partners.

Um that could be uh the Friends Foundation, that could be uh different uh schools or partners that we work with.

Um then sorry, let me just reference my notes.

I'm I know I'm missing one, the city department.

We're looking at looking at possibly so like a one or two trustees, one person possibly from like our recreation department, because that's the department that we partner with quite a lot with both of our um our bookmobile, our outreach, like our end of our summer program is actually done with this with in partnership or end of event.

So that would be that.

So then one staff from circulation, one staff member from technology, um, and tech technical services, one staff from uh librarian reference, and so then we would have myself, Melissa and Cameron as well.

So about 10 each about 10 people total.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, and we we were also able to define timeline as well.

So we're looking at about six months for the strategic planning process.

Um, and throughout those six months, that'll be the process of our us engaging with the committee members, um, having the discussions and going through the motions of um establishing our new mission vision, um, establishing our new strategic priorities, and then looking at um the OKRs or the um objectives and key results that we want to have for the internal staff as well.

Um, and so we're leaving two months on the tail end of that timeline just to prepare the document to get approval, make edits, um, and yeah, and so that's kind of where we're at.

Um, and we also have a project plan uh drafted, and so the project plan is also includes timelines, different phases of the strategic planning process just to kind of keep us on track as well, and um to help monitor the different sessions that we'll have with the strategic planning committee.

Who's calling on the little yellow hand that gets raised in Zoom?

There's no other oh, there's no other attendees on Zoom.

Did you have a question?

Yeah, I've got a lot of people.

Oh, you have a question.

Okay, I do.

Yeah, I didn't I didn't know how to, you know.

Uh hi, Ariana.

This is uh this is Bob.

Um let's see, I have a couple questions.

So the first one is in your um discussion here, you referred to we did this, we talked about that, we chose such and such.

Who exactly are the we or is the weah?

So uh I've spoken a lot with uh Melissa and Brian.

Um I've really wanted to have it be a collaborative experience, and um I've engaged with them as leadership.

Um, I've also had one-on-one discussions um with staff just to kind of talk about the upcoming process, um, gauge kind of experiences that they've had with strategic planning before.

We've sent out our strategic planning um invitations and applications, and so um just to encouraging staff to apply and uh uh really hoping to get people involved.

And so I've yeah, I've I've been touching base with as many groups as possible, and so that's kind of our process thus far.

Well, the other thing that's been going through my mind is uh, you know, the uh strategic planning certainly falls under the Board of Trustees' umbrella of duties and responsibilities.

And so I'm wondering, since it's a time-limited uh project, it's not going on forever and ever, but you have a timeline.

Uh I'm wondering if it wouldn't be appropriate to have it be an ad hoc committee of the board of trustees.

Yeah, I'm I'm not familiar with um how that might look like.

I'm I I might defer to Brian or Melissa on that.

I think um this has been a great learning experience for me so far.

So I'm by no means a strategic planning expert, but I hope to be.

Um and I think that I've learned a lot through this process and we've been able to accomplish a lot, which I'm really proud of.

But yeah, I would I guess I would ask uh Brian and Melissa and their experience within the library system what they might think about that.

Yeah, by an ad hoc, would you mean like in parallel to this process or as a separate parallel to be it?

By an ad hoc, would you mean like in parallel to this process or as a separate parallel to be it?

Oh, fully.

Yeah, I mean, I mean, that's what ad hoc committees of the board are for are temporary studies or projects or research or surveying and whatever.

That's why it's called an ad hoc committee.

Because it's not going to be a standing committee that would go on, you know, forever.

Yeah.

And you know, an ad hoc committee from the board certainly can seek and uh utilize the input from community members, staff members, fellow trustees, and whoever, you know, so it's not that it's only trustees who are on the ad hoc committee, they can seek input from whatever's going to be helpful.

And by whatever means, whether it's a survey or a phone call or you know, but I just was wondering, wouldn't it be very appropriate for it to be an ad hoc committee of the board?

Since I'm new to the board, so I'm I'm asking questions out of ignorance.

Um, but but I but I wonder if there's a difference between a committee comprised of all of these different groups versus a subcommittee of the board asking for feedback from different groups.

It seems to me that those might be very different kinds of processes.

Um they might have different consequences.

Well, that's a difference.

I mean, we if we if we were to ask for clarification from the experts within the city administration, they would say an ad hoc committee is time limited, and therefore um whereas it's part it comes from the board, the board can seek input from wherever.

Whereas a standing committee uh is something that just you know goes on and on and meets regularly, has its own calendar and all of that.

Oh, that wasn't the question I was asking.

I'm sorry.

I I the question I was asking was what are the consequences for the strategic plan of those two different processes?

Um, one process where there's an ad hoc committee at the board, and one process where the committee doing the strategic planning is itself made up of different groups.

Quite broad, right.

And I'll I'll say in my my opinion, it's typically not the board that is creating a strategic plan.

They're a member of they're a member of the committee, but they're not doing it and setting the entire agenda that is not the best equipped the day to day.

No, and you don't have the you don't have the access to uh different staff members, you don't have access to the you know, just sending out those surveys, the community surveys, all of the kind of the work that happens, that's where essentially when there are ad hoc committees, ad hoc committees work with the staff on things.

So if we're that's where this is appointed trustee or two trustees possibly as part of their strategic plan committee.

Most strategic plans are done honestly with a consultant that is hired to do this, and this is what I brought this up multiple times over talking this over with this board or board of trustees, and one of the past directions was for the staff to come up with the process.

That's what Ariana is working on.

Ariana is working on what is the process that we're going to follow with this.

So she's working off of guidelines.

Actually, we got the book on book and kind of um guides to strategic planning from American Library Association.

So she's using she's using the guidelines from the ALA for how do we do this process?

So that's coming up with all of the data in the front end and then coming back because you know we have a lot of the day-to-day operations or and awareness are in there, or you know, the library staff and the team, but we want the board of library trustees involved in the process in that, and that's why coming back to this coming up with her process of doing research, inviting community partners like the Friends and Foundation to be a member on their inviting recreation, which is probably one of our strongest partners, and then one or two trustees would be ideal for us.

Does the board have a role in approving the project plan?

We will we do bring that back for adoption.

Okay, you know, we would bring that back for adoption.

Yeah.

And I would say on that, I don't think on the policy, and I'll read on the policy.

Um Brian, I just wanted to jump in for a moment if I could.

Um the one thing that we didn't mention is that we're hoping to get that first strategic planning meeting um at the beginning of August.

So as we mentioned, we would really love one of the board members, um, the board of trustee members um and also Friends Foundation um to have a representative on that committee as we begin those processes and start those discussions.

And how long will you be here with us?

You're doing some pretty great work.

She's looking at us too.

Yeah.

Oh, you're you muted yourself, Ariana.

There are no accidents.

Sorry, um for as long as you would uh as long as um I'm able to, and as long as uh you guys would like me to.

Um I've really been enjoying this process, as I said, I've been learning a lot.

Um by all means not a strategic planning professional, but it's been amazing to learn from Melissa and Brian and the experience that they have with strategic planning specifically within libraries.

Um so I've been diving into a lot of that research, and that's been super fun and interesting.

So I'm excited to see how the strategic plan positively benefits the library and all the work that you guys do, because it's truly amazing.

And I will mention that um Ariana is gonna have to be working with us remotely on this.

So that's where we would um in the coming months, and so that's where the the work on this would be really tied.

Her work with us continuing would be tied to strategic plan process.

So you wouldn't be seeing her in there, but we would be having her on um like Zoom and Teams meetings for whoever is part of whoever's part of the committee.

Yeah, and sorry, go ahead, Melissa.

Yeah, I just wanted to add that it's been really helpful having Ariana do this as like kind of a neutral kind of you know person and also somebody who is who just graduated from a program where they explore these kind of discussions, and so um, especially when we talk about getting the feedback from staff, like often sometimes they may not feel I mean, obviously we want them as managers who feel comfortable to share with us, but sometimes it's nice to be able to have somebody who's not as you know, so Ariana definitely plays that role.

So it's been nice having her with us.

Thank you.

Yeah, I would just echo what Melissa said.

I think um, and as Brian mentioned before, traditionally the strategic planning is done by a consultant who either is very content specific or project management oriented, and so they really help to play that objective party and to really facilitate some difficult discussions, and so I'm really excited to see how you know how we're able to get through this and hopefully get some really good information that will help us make some good progress.

But I'm super confident so far we've had a lot of interest so far.

Um, so many amazing professionals um at the library and within the the world of the library.

So I think it's gonna be a really um a really substantial substantive uh conversation and strict strategic plan.

Excellent.

Thank you.

So at uh at this point, we would want to try and um appoint somebody from this board.

Yeah, I would be interested.

I'm not sure that I'm the best person because I'm not that familiar with the library, but I think it'd be a great opportunity for me to learn that's all ideal, right?

And to not come in too much background, everything's new and yeah, yeah, and you're excited.

So that's all right.

Well, do we sorry?

I think that's uh to you guys.

That's up to the the board to decide there whether we think and I would say seek a motion if we could, so there's a point.

Right, but we just could decide first whether we want to have two people representing the board or just one meeting.

Well, they could opinion on that 10 people.

That's that's a pretty sizable group.

Yeah, and so what I was gonna suggest is if uh Nelson wants to be the representative from the board.

Um I would be happy to volunteer to be the alternate, and then if there's something that you know in your schedule that makes it difficult, uh yeah, I'd put you in.

But we'd have an alternate, and you know, you'd be first up to go to their meetings and all that, but we could confer and talk and uh all that kind of stuff.

So the motion would be to have one representative of the board and an alternate.

Yes, and I would be the representative, you would be the alternate.

That's my proposal.

Okay, is that your motion?

Yeah, we're at that point in time, sure.

I think we are okay, yeah.

Okay, so I'll second it.

All in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed?

So move.

Oh, thanks.

All right.

Okay.

And thank you, Ariana.

Do we need thank you guys so much?

I really appreciate it.

Wish I could be there with you guys in person.

All the trustees um email addresses so that you can I can give it, I'll give it to her.

Okay.

I'll pass it on to her.

Yeah.

Don't want to miss something because I'll pass on the contact info.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

And if you guys have any questions moving forward, feel free to email me.

Um, I'm usually at the library from Thursday to Saturdays as well, so always open to a conversation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

All right.

So now we can do public.

We go to the consent format for this open.

Yeah, did you have any doing public for this public?

Okay.

I just read the agenda the package a little bit better.

And on the previous item, I forgot to say that respectfully the Monterey Public Library Friends and Foundation in 2027 that they no longer co-host the uh the drag queen presentation.

I want to make sure I forgot that to add that to what I would like them not to co-host that.

They're an independent nonprofit, and that would have to be taken up for the yeah.

They just gave a presentation.

Right, but she left.

Oh yeah, this is that can be passed on to her.

I'm sorry, I didn't catch the whole thread.

Okay, yeah, and they um they meet four times and yeah, that would have to be done with them.

We don't have any purview over that.

I'm sorry, but I I was told that Brian Edwards was actually the site, he actually emailed me and said he was the decision maker to have that presentation here at the library, so that's why we're here.

We want to speak on that.

We'll have a public comment section for things that are not on the agenda, which could include this that okay.

Okay, great.

So let's just yeah, so we'll get to that kind of stuff.

Just make sure it's not co-hosted again.

So yeah, that will be a public comment that you can make, but for right now, any public comments in relation to the strategic plan process, which is item number two for presentations.

None okay, all right.

Then we would move on to the consent agenda, yes.

And that is items three, four, five, and six.

And I can kind of start because I don't Brian's on.

So I can take over.

Um yeah, so we can yeah, so the for now for item number three, it'll be the quarterly report on just on the consent.

Okay, so I don't know if we want to.

I think we just kind of move it unless they want to pull anything.

Right.

Yeah, is there anything in items three, four, five, or six that uh anyone wants to pull for discussion?

Is there anything from the public that was to poll regarding items three, four, five or six?

Okay, we'll be waiting for general.

Okay, so okay, so now we would move to general public comment.

So now it's general.

And we have how many one?

How many people want to speak?

Nine so everybody's okay.

So how much time I could you can appoint the time, right?

So um, so if each of you does want to speak, then we would have to limit to two minutes permission.

I can do a here.

Okay.

I can adjust the screen.

Yeah, is there a vote?

No.

You're gonna get us for speaking.

I think we need to do that.

We need to approve the consent agenda first.

Okay, yes, because the camera's right over here.

All right, no, yeah, that's okay.

So we yeah, before we start, we do have to have a vote on the agenda and move to approve.

Thank you.

Is that second?

All in favor.

I need opposed.

Okay, okay.

So thanks.

All right, all right.

So we're gonna start.

So we are first great.

Go for it.

Yeah, I know she's gonna hear that way.

And everybody can see it.

Thank you.

Okay.

120 seconds.

Wow.

Okay, gotta start it over.

This board recently allowed our taxpayer funded library to promote and post drag queen story hour, an event for small children featuring gender bending, gender bending performers.

Many people, including me, find it unacceptable to present gender confused entertainment at a public library.

Prepubescent children.

They're simply too immature to be exposed to false gender roles.

At its best, this is indoctrination.

At its worst, it is grooming.

Members of this board apparently have no problem with such inappropriate indoctrination.

But our objection isn't about your personal values.

My objection right now is about stewardship of our tax dollars.

The setting and promotion are the problems.

Everyone should oppose public resources, including promotional resources, being used for sexualized events.

Were this held at a private business with no taxpayer funded promotion, we wouldn't be here, I wouldn't.

Bottom line, sexualized entertainment at a public library isn't progressive.

It's coercive.

Taxpayer, and it's towards taxpayers who object to our resources used for developmentally inappropriate events.

This board must return to responsible stewardship of our public resources.

A good start would be to reject all future events of this nature.

Drag queens, adults for adults.

There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to bring children into this mix.

And then you put a drag queen in front of them.

Why is that?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next.

Okay.

I'm a long-term patron of this library, and Joe helped me out a lot on reference questions over the years, Joe Johnson.

And I also have given some books and magazines downstairs for the friends of the library, but I'm very concerned about the drag queen story time.

And I think we need to look a little bit into the background on this.

Professor Irwin from Oxford in the 1940s studied most major cultures in the world who had switched to from traditional marriage to LGBT marriage.

And each of those cultures that switch collapse within two or three generations.

So this is a very serious issue.

It's not casual that this is being supported.

And those who want to destroy the American culture, including Karl Marx from 1848 in his books, Das Alpha Tal and so forth.

And then you have to remember what Lenin said.

If you just give him your children, the state, the Russian state, for three or four years, he will probably have permanent communists for the rest of their lives.

So the young children are very receptive to this.

And Herbert Marcuse said in the 1920s that the Americans will probably never vote in communism or socialism in a regular legitimate ballot.

So what he did was he proposed several different groups, including LGBT, that we promoted in the institutions like universities, the seminaries, and uh other institutions of public schools to derail them, get them away from the Christian Bible background, Christian families, and destroy the Christian families and take over and since 90 years ago he's had he's done that.

So we don't need this co-hosted by the friends of the library.

Thank you.

Oh I will go after them.

Good afternoon.

Thank you very much for allowing us some time to express our opinions as I think we we all know about men who just left here.

Uh at that age were very susceptible to a lot of different ideas.

And Monday they want to be a fire five or Tuesday, they're not a police officer on Wednesday they want to be a doctor.

And God forbid on Friday they want to be like you or me.

That'd be really scary, right?

So anyway, that the thought is that at that age, I I don't think we should expose them to thoughts like that, and because it is confusing as has been said earlier.

And if later on in life, once they have become an adult, they choose to go this way or that way when a free country, and that's their decision to make.

But I don't think it's it's our uh our jobs uh as a library or as a tax grade funded organization to uh mold that or aggressive, and I would ask you to not do that in the future.

Uh my name is uh uh because the time is short.

I first uh just say what we want.

Uh considering the uh LGBTQ story time, actually uh what we want the constitutionally is that we want uh a equality equal uh uh first is adopt a clear policy of field point and neutrality for children's program.

Uh if the library promotes one will feel on gender to young children in uh uh prominent space, you guys use the big room, right?

It must offer the same free promotion and space to every other field points or stop promoting any of them as official uh library events, not very fair.

Uh second, uh stop featuring about the drag of performances as the facial library programming for young children.

Um move those events to private pay the room rentals and keep them off the library's public page, like the Facebook page.

I follow it every day.

Um I really love our library actually.

I leave a uh always leave good review, but this is something we need to fix.

Um every morning I wake up, I check each library's uh Facebook um uh page uh for that.

So keep off the the public page and the main children's uh area, and then uh here are the reasons.

Um because what we're doing now uh is not a neutral.

Um even the uh drag queen organizers themselves uh say they want to give children glamorous queer role models.

Now these events use taxpayer money, but the most taxpayers uh don't agree because the national poll found that uh 60 percent of Americans say these events are inappropriate.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you.

And uh 71% say no, it's per person.

Yeah, I don't know now.

I think it's a lot of multiple two minutes uh pointed two minutes per speaker.

Yeah, really uh last sentence, last sentence now.

It really speaks to my heart because um many Chinese speakers.

This is your time here for equality.

Time would be we have to appoint if we allow one speaker additional time, we have to allow every one if they have one speaker.

No, I'll talk to you later.

If we allow one speaker more time, we have to allow the same amount of time every speaker.

This is the way that our council meetings work.

This is where our other commission is.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

I make my point.

Thank you.

Very good point.

Very good point.

I mean to support somebody else here as well.

Uh this is kind of impunted.

My name is Shorey Savage, and I I live in modern and I've always taught the public libraries at the same place for our children.

But I don't believe that anymore because our children don't understand too young to understand what they're being taught and how adversity would be for their future and how it affects them as the future.

So I just wanted to say I totally disapprove and request to please remove this from your agenda and make it a safe place again for our children.

Thank you.

I won't say very much comments that were made here.

We have to realize these are little kids, little kids' minds are like sponges, so they're gonna take on whatever you're gonna call them, and you gotta think about that because that's gonna have long-term effect on them.

They want to play, they want to be little kids, they've got their own things that are going on in their own little lives.

Why confuse them?

It's not right, it's wrong, and I don't agree with it.

I think you should find another place, put it in the adult section, do whatever you want with, but leave it away from these little kids.

Thank you.

All right, anyone else?

Yeah, my name is Richard O'Mara.

I'm from Civic Grove.

When I came here a couple of weeks ago, I saw that I really shocked.

I was in the military all over the orange, and I saw this type of stuff going on.

So they took little kids, they dress them as boys or girls or whatever.

You had men playing around with them.

This is grooming.

There's no doubt about it.

This is grooming, and you're allowing it.

What's the purpose of this?

What are you taking little kids here?

And just molding in line.

What is your point?

Trying to make a point.

All right.

But be advice.

You are grooming these children, and it's unfair.

Okay.

It's unfair.

He's responsible.

That's why you're here to take care of the great majority, not just a few people.

Next, I'm not prepared, but my name's Carol Marcoard, and I'm from Pacific Grove.

And I attended the Drag Queen show.

I had to lie to get in because I write letters to the editor, they're conservative.

And someone said, Well, aren't you Carol?

And I'm like, Oh, no, I'm Carol Martin.

That's it.

And my name is Carol Markport.

But that's okay.

I knew I'd be kicked out.

And I came with two other people, and one person stood up to speak to object to what you were doing, and she was immediately shouted down and kicked out.

And then another person I was with was videoing on his phone.

And he was taking videos, and I don't recall any kind of sign saying that you couldn't video, of course, almost all live performances.

Don't allow it.

But he was kicked out, so I was sitting all by myself.

And you were you had the colorful ribbons and you had the scarves, and you were singing pokey pokey, and the kids were all preschool kids.

They had no idea what's going on.

And then Sister Glitter comes in, and she's got these hot pants on, and she's got these fake boobs, and she's got big long eyelashes and a giant wig, and she's got butterflies all over her hair, and she is a guy being a girl, and this is not what the library should be doing.

I walked out, I was not kicked out.

But I want you to know that I was out there, and the policemen, there were three policemen, two women and men, and they were laughing at you.

They thought it was funny, and they told us you go ahead, do what you want, but if you act up, you can't come back for 48 hours.

And I thought, okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

Um, I love the library, I love this library.

I love the library system, but I just wanted to voice my fear to you.

Is this event, this sexualized event for small children?

Kind of puts the library system in the muddy waters.

I have a fear that it will put you in the library liability situation at some point, uh, especially when it affects small children, and to do that event to satisfy the heavy agenda or the needs of one person in particular, is exceptionally uh setting for all of us.

So um, I want to make sure that we protect the library and not get us in the situation, availability situation.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else?

Looks like everybody's had a turn.

Thank you.

All right, all right.

And is there anybody online?

There are no Zay.

Um, if you wanted to.

Yeah.

Thank you.

All right, yes.

No, they didn't raise their so we'll move on to the next next item.

Is there anybody online?

There was, but they didn't find out.

They didn't, and they didn't raise their hand, but there's personally assigned out.

But this is a time not for conversation or discussion or questions and answers or anything.

I just want to thank you all for coming and sharing part of your day with us because uh frankly, we don't get a crowd of uh members of the public to our meetings all the time, and um it's really helpful.

So I just wanted to on behalf of myself, anyhow.

Thank you for coming.

And uh, like I say, this is just the time for you to share your thoughts and feelings, not for any interaction because it's not an agenda item.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, so then we will move on to item seven.

All right.

Yeah, all I can kick that off if you'd like.

Chair Dormier.

Thank you.

So, as we know, every year we appoint our new officers for uh July, and because this is an action item, I put it at the end of the meeting because that's where the action items appear on our agenda.

And I know that our chair discussed with our city clerk Clementine about kind of practices of whether we do there's been instances where we've done special meetings, but it's actually to get everybody together, it's it's just that's it's acceptable to do it during our July meeting.

So we will run the July meeting and then moving forward, so in our August um session and moving forward, we would have the new chair and vice chair.

Um in the past, and the on the packet you will see the rotation.

Um and you know, as of number one, the position of chair shall rotate annually to the member as the longest current current period of continuous service on the border commission without having served as chair.

Um, and then the position of vice chair shall rotate annually to the member as the second longest current period of continuous service without having served as chair.

If the member selected as vice chair is on the border commission at the time, the next chair selected, he should shall become chair.

So this goes through the different uh sections up to seven on there.

And I know when we appointed the chair and vice chair the last um year when it was uh chair de Lormier um was appointed chair, um trustee petty was appointed vice chair, and I know there was discussion on trustee petty that you were interested in serving as vice chair, but not chair this year, and that would make um trustee Moreau are a um trustee moreau would be the next person in line because her last term served as chair is uh 20 to 21.

And then with that, the person that has served as a uh you can't serve two consecutive years unless they've got gone through the route.

So you can't serve consecutive years as chair or consecutive years as vice chair unless other people have gone through the cycle.

Um that would mean you mean have declined the offer.

Well, if you decline from vice chair to chair, you would move up to chair.

No, no, what I mean is uh can't repeat until everybody else has had a chance to say yes or no.

Yes, that's what I meant.

Yes, exactly.

And so exactly.

And so everybody who's eligible, everybody's eligible.

Thank you.

Everyone who's eligible would have to go through.

So I would say the primary, you know, you are our newest trustee, uh trustee graph would be our um eligible as our vice chair if we were you know to go through this process.

I will say um in this side, so that is what the staff recommendation is we go with that.

And with I know trustee graph, this is your first meeting, and welcome.

Um if it makes it feel any better, I that was how it went when I came on the board.

I was there for five minutes and became vice chair.

But just to say that this is this is a process of you know, having the chair, you know, chairs the meeting and works on the agenda, and then often invites you to the vice chair or other trustees to the meetings to discuss and would operate the meeting in lieu if the chair cannot attend a meeting, the vice chair then um runs the meeting as you see with trustee de Larmier.

With that, I mean that's where I see this based on the policy.

If this is still consistent with um trust vice chair Petty, and um want to move forward to the trustee any comments or questions that we have from I just have one question and I want to confirm yes, ma'am.

What we are up for being chair, are you still declining?

Yes, uh Brian was correct.

I in the same sentence as saying I will not accept being chair again.

Um if nominated, I will not run an if the well, sort of, but I mean, I mean, there are several reasons.

Uh one of which I've been chair already three times, and uh nobody else has been chair more than once.

So and um so that means 18 years you're gonna do it again, right?

Yeah, really.

And and and but I will be very happy to serve as vice chair in the sense that I can support the new chair, I can uh pinch it if the new chair is unavailable, um, and so forth.

Um, and I will also add that while item five says all members who have served on the board for at least six months shall be qualified to be chair.

I think the intent, and I know this from talking to pre to mayors and members of the city council in the past that just like in the American government, you can't be vice president unless you would be qualified to be president should something happen, and this has nothing to do with Nelson.

I think that uh whoever is vice chair should have six months under their belt, too, uh, for that using that logic, even though it's not explicit here.

Um, because what if something happened two months from now?

Then the vice chair who's only been on the board for less than six months wouldn't be qualified to be chair based on what we do see here.

So I think it's counterintuitive, but it's the council's policy.

Well, so no, it's not the council.

Oh, well, the council, yeah.

Uh so we yeah, we but I'm so I'm just throwing that out as opinion here.

Um and that this what we're looking at dates back to 1999, so um, but I you know, and I'm not trying to recommend to Nelson what he should or shouldn't do.

It's just that I know how many years ago when I was brand new, how I felt like geez, I have no clue yet what's going on, and I wanted some time to figure that out.

So, anyhow, quick answer is yes, I will uh decline any offer to be chair, but I will be happy to serve as vice chair if uh it comes to that.

I have a problem, the switch should have occurred last month, not this one, because the last month everybody's term ends in July.

That means if you're the chair and your term is ending next year, that means you're gonna have one less meeting, and there's nobody next July, since you're not qualified anymore.

We used to have the switch, you'd announce it in June, and then somehow it changed, and we need to go back to that.

Well, this was this was run by the clerk.

So I'll I'll run this past is because we had two vacancies.

We in June we had we had Janie Silvera, and Janie was still a trustee, and trustee Moreau had not been reappointed.

So we could not reappoint somebody if if she was the next person eligible, if trustee Moreau was the next person eligible to be chair, we would not have voted her in as chair in a June meeting if they had not appointed her as a trustee for another term for another term, her term was up.

The council didn't meet until July.

Right, right.

So this is why we have they have we only knew at that period of time.

Does that mean that if if we're doing we're and in this year, then she would serve one less month.

Well, it does say the terms go from July 1 to June 30, right?

And it's doing more too correct in 2027, yeah, shoot out one less month, and then study in that one.

Possibly this is why I'm saying I need to go back to we decide in June.

And if it's we can make it subject to well, we can like next year there won't be any.

Yeah, for the next 20 years, that doesn't matter.

Well, we have to make it so that it doesn't happen again, but the council didn't appoint the two of them until July 11th.

But the decision should have been made in June.

We could not have made the decision.

I'm just saying this year it could not have happened.

It was all people that well there were three people left.

One of those three people could have been chair, exactly.

We had five people, and well, that's a function just to make sure that we always do what we're doing today in June.

That's what it used to be.

Yeah, and that's all we have to do is make sure we schedule it.

Well, it says the term goes from July June 30.

They didn't meet the July.

That's right.

So we we have to, and and these rules aren't just for the board of libraries, these are for all city boards commissions.

So we would need to ask the city council to do their reappointments or appointments in June at the latest, and then we could do what we're doing now in June, and the new officers could start July 1.

Well, and Harisha's point that that we used to do in a different way, there um aren't always expiring terms.

And so there are a lot lots of years when there we have a full board and there are going to there aren't going to be any changes.

That's fine with me that there's not a problem then it doesn't matter but when that is a problem it matters.

And this time it's gonna matter but city council is the only body do it with the board that we had in June.

So that in July the next person is the one who changed it.

I don't know why she wanted to say next up perhaps but it changed then.

Yeah I think I reach his point is that if we do it in June well regardless of what the city council says we can pick whom we want to start July 1.

Exactly and um out of only three people well we we we would in the certain circumstances we'd have to keep that in mind that you know so and so couldn't be considered because they have to be reappointed like we were and you have a question for trustee yeah yeah I'm sorry I don't see in the policy where the term goes to goes from July 1 to June 30th.

Where does it say that in policy it might not be in front of you.

Well yeah so there's appointment date no appointment dates are not always from July appointment dates are not always from July one trustee moreau was appointed March 6th um trustee Joshua you were appointed February 24th 2020 um trustee Delarmier was appointed June 18th trustee petty was was appointed June 21st but the term still ends in June.

Right the term ends in talking about appointment as an officer not appointed as right but I'm saying right but I'm saying like these these things we did this based on getting the if the formation of the board so we could do this and as as to the chair Delor's point next year if we don't have anybody that rescinds off of the board we will have the full board and this would be available to yes we would have this in the with the June and it would be appointed at the end of the June at the end of the June meeting as an action item right it would be an action item at the end of the June meeting and putting it in there early earlier.

And that's how it used to be right and the last year what it was done it was done as a special meeting in the early part of July.

It wasn't done I wouldn't put it on anything saying anything that trustee salver wanted extra time or an extra term I wouldn't make any of that com kind of comment I don't think that's correct.

I think we looked at what was available for the appointing on the agenda and what was on there.

So that's where and for example you we do never we don't always know what our what our commission is going to be because we had I believe I I'll give you I I also operate the museums and cultural arts commission and I think there was seven for seven trustees on there or seven commissioners I should say for reappointments I can't make an action item with I don't at least I don't want because if those three people are on there I guess it's the same people that are on there so we have a new vice chair because we have three three commissioners there who were all um and one that's a reappointment so we did it when we you know we went back to we did go to the to the and then we did not have a June meeting so we did it in July right so it's just a point say like something we do it based on what the agenda there's nothing in my opinion on on the staff side of putting together this agenda topic as we discussed and looked at it and trustee and Delorme the chair discussed it with the city clerk about the right process and we discussed this about it you know getting the board appointed so that everyone was going to get appointed we cannot tell council and the mayor which is the ad hoc sub the subcommittee for that is the mayor and the vice mayor that does the appointments the interviews and their public interviews we don't have the authority to tell the mayor and the vice mayor to move their interviews earlier and put it on the council agenda because it has they have to be approved by council as well you know parks and rec commission just appointed their one of their um commissioners after moving it so it's it's happened you know it's happened for multiple meetings.

So I'm saying for us it's here on the July meeting because we're looking at having it getting the full scope of who is as a one of our trustees going to be reappointed by council and we never know and then moving forward.

And so that's why in my opinion we moved it to July so we would have five people to to vote on that and to look at it and next year um and we would see where that was going to be and then on the term date of the 2028 you're gonna have three trustees out unless they get reappointed right and in 2028 unless we know when council is doing their their vote there would only be two people eligible and that would be Moreau and graft unless we got reappoint so that's what I'm saying we have to work with the system that's there.

Right.

And in 2028, unless we know when council is doing their their vote, there would only be two people eligible, and that would be Moreau and Graf.

Unless we got reappointed.

So that's what I'm saying.

We have to work with the system that's there.

The point of like um serving as chair, there's nothing that says that you know, I um you know we can't serve as as vice chair with the new role, but that we leave it up to the to the to the board to make their discussion and um recommendations and motion.

Okay, okay.

Well, point taken.

Thank you.

And uh, and every year will be different, just we won't have this come up next year.

So um, so where are we?

We have you have declined chair, so then it goes to Marcia.

Do you accept?

Yes, okay.

All right, so we have a new chair for um for 11 months.

I give you the gal now.

I yield I yield my.

We have to have a motion on that.

That's the motion on it.

All right, so can I have a motion to appoint Marcia Moreau?

Steve Moreau.

Okay, we have we have a all all in favor of Krusty Moreau.

Aye as the chair.

We have a second.

Do who is the second?

Oh, I I can be the second if you were good.

Okay, and all in favor, aye.

All in favor say aye.

Okay.

Any against?

There's no order.

Any abstain.

I abstain.

Okay.

All right.

So moved.

Congratulations.

All right, then we move on to um vice chair, which um, which in the rotation order comes up as Nelson.

Is that correct?

That's my my interpretation of that.

Okay.

And so, do you accept the position of vice chair?

Yes, with the condition that I can't promise that next year I will be willing to be chair.

Well, that's exactly what Bob said last year, and that's yeah, yeah.

So you would, yeah, you'd have an opportunity to decline that when I type.

I take Bob's point.

I think it's an interesting point about that I'm not actually qualified to be chair.

Um, but I don't think anything's gonna happen.

And if that's if that happened, if if something were to happen, then the board would have to have a discussion about it because it would not you're right.

I would not be able to step up as chair.

Right.

Okay, so do we have a do we have a motion?

So moved to okay, second, all second, all in favor.

Discussion.

Oh, okay.

I'd like to know what Marsha's gonna do to make sure she's healthy for six months.

Two bikes everywhere.

Yeah, yeah, no sharks.

Well, is okay.

So is there any other discussion?

Then all in favor, aye, nine opposed, any opposed, any abstain.

Okay, so move.

Congratulations.

You'll learn a lot.

Yes, that's I mean it need to.

Yeah, well, Marcia was my mentor when I came on, even though I was hanging around here a lot of years.

Not not in this room.

So um okay, well, great.

Then that closes that item, and we would move on to trustee comments.

Any trustees want to kick us off with any comments?

I would like to read a letter that I wrote to the Monterey Herald as a private citizen, but I did sign it as a member of the board.

The Monterey Public Library provides a quote, a welcoming environment for customers of all ages and backgrounds and for a wide variety of services and activities from board policy 515.

Visitors are free to select the books, resources, and programs that interest them and to guide their children as they see fit.

Next paragraph.

We are a community that has always been proud of our diversity, and that extends to matters of the intellect as well.

If a program or a book does not interest or offend someone, fortunately, they don't have to engage with it, but neither should they attempt to force their beliefs and taste on others or make visitors feel unwelcome for their beliefs or viewpoint.

I strongly support the library's mission to provide resources for all and believe that the library will continue to flourish if it continues its mission of service to all.

Thank you for doing that.

Thank you.

Well, and hopefully this is the end of that per year.

Anyone else have the comments?

I guess I would just uh say that um since this was uh an event uh that uh sparked uh a lot of public comment both at our meeting and in rotum newspaper and all that.

Just we should learn from that that if we're going to do something that not that it would uh exclude us from doing it, but that if we do something wanna do something, um in the sense of being here for all different groups and all different people and all with all different beliefs and uh as you know, logically from that, but it means we're not imposing one way of thinking or acting on anybody, we're trying to make um as a sort of a community hub be available for people with all different kinds of interests.

Um we should take into account maybe ahead of time more uh what any particular events might uh prompt just to be better prepared.

Um and if some people to use this year's event as an example, if some people thought that it had been designed and intended only for small children, uh I mean, I know that's wrong.

I mean, incorrect.

Um, but it's something that could guide us in terms of how we publicize and uh make our events aware to the public, uh make the public aware of them so that uh any misunderstandings won't lead people to have the kinds of reactions that some of the speakers did today.

And I I'm just not speaking in terms of limiting anything at all.

I'm just speaking in terms of maybe preparing for what we now know.

Uh might stimulate the public, and that can't hurt, I don't think.

You may give it a PG of AG.

I'm sorry.

Well, no, I I think we need to be careful about moving from comment into discussion because it's not an agendized item.

Yeah, and I guess that might be the last chair.

Okay, anything else?

Trusted Joshi, did you have that?

Did you have uh oh, I did want to say one other thing if I might, and that is that as we move forward with the uh evaluation of the there, I'm drafting Diane as a as the ad hoc second person to help move that process forward, and she does do so.

Well, congratulations and welcome, and um Diane outright.

Uh my comments, uh, first I want to thank Chair Delarmier for your time as chair, and I think it's you here for the library, you know, you're here volunteering and helping to raise funds and really take this wholeheartedly.

So I appreciate everything you do and really active.

And you know, our vice chair uh Patty, really thank you for all of you know all of your discussions and all of the things that you bring here to the library and all of your you know, everything you you do here for us to really you know a lot of passion here for the library too.

And I appreciate your time here.

And welcome um trustee Moreau as our incoming chair.

Thank you.

And also welcome to Trustee Graft.

Just welcome to the um welcome to the Board of Library Trustees.

We're we're excited to have you here.

We're excited to meet and um discuss more with you everything going forward.

I will say other than that, I got word that the um we don't know when it will be voted on, but the one million dollar appropriation through the house has gone as that set um uh Congressman Panetta that I worked with doing a proposal for one million dollars for the library, that that has gone to the house um of the city manager's office told me that.

So cross your fingers that those kind of things go through.

I don't know where they will add that on to specific appropriation bills, but if we get that be added to the NCIP right there, yeah, so that'd be additional for the NCIP.

So that was just it was basically just like we've got this, you know, 775 for NCIP and the construction costs are coming up.

So I said, hey, I talked with uh Panetta and I talked with his aides and I said, you know, we'll seek one million dollars for additional funding for the library.

And so when he was doing his um like he was doing a talk several months back over at Wharf about like the work they're working at Wharf two, and so I talked with him there, and he was you know, he's big supporter here of the library, you know, he used to go and CIP neighborhood community improvement program.

We'll walk you through it too.

We'll we'll talk you to you more about all that and the proposal.

We'll talk, we can give you an overview of that proposal.

For a coming Sunday, yeah.

And then I will say um for the not to engage on the speakers, but just to say that most of them did not attend the actual event.

And so it's other we've we saw a lot of um what I would call uh fairy tales told to the library.

People like their own fairy tales about what they think happened inside the room.

Um, you know, what people think was was in there when we were telling stories and story times.

So people it's hard to uh battle with emotional talk rather than factual intellectual talk, have a discussion.

So this was something that a lot of the people coming in are having a repeating talking points that they hear through certain types of media and not actually understanding what our events are, and that we serve everyone in the community.

So the library does serve everyone in the community, and we have a number of events, and you know, having you know, we need to have traditional story time.

Yeah, we have every Friday.

Come in every Friday to the library.

We have story time here in the library.

We just had the aquarium come in for the library as well to do story time.

You know, we have different people come in here, different speakers, different costumes, different things, characters.

The library serves all.

Very proud of that.

I'm very proud of my team and everything that they do, and we're here to support them.

But that's all I have.

And then yeah, um, thank you.

I learned a lot.

This was my first full year as well.

So it was nice learning and from all of you, and um, and you also helped guide one of the times that you were gone and Brian was gone, and it was just me and you.

I was like, ah, well, thank you for that as well.

And I'm super excited to have you on board.

Um, so yeah, I'm looking forward to the next year.

There's just a and I guess that's just my comment.

It's just since my time here, it's just been there's just been a lot of motion, and at times it can be like, oh my gosh, where are we going?

But it's I feel like the pieces are falling together a lot more now.

And it's it's very exciting.

And so, and I just want to say that we do have we have had a lot of comments from families that were super appreciative of all the pride events that we had.

Um, and that always means a lot to us, to the staff to hear those comments as well.

And so sometimes those comments can get kind of drowned out.

Um, and so I just want to make sure I use this time to highlight that we have received a lot of really beautiful loving comments from families that feel seen and welcomed at the library.

So that's it.

I think mine is less of a comment and more of an ask.

Uh we do need an updated picture if you guys are.

Oh, yeah, member for the webinar.

Maybe the next meeting we can get there.

The next meeting.

Yeah.

Next meeting.

Yeah, we'll put the protocol outside.

We need to go outside.

That's it.

Yeah.

You want it in or outside, and we'll meet there before sitting.

Yeah, I don't know.

We'll we'll send out we'll send out an appointment.

I think probably outside if it's good weather.

Yeah.

We'll send it, we'll send information.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, we'll communicate.

We know enough to come in out of the room.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I'm thinking like lined up um going down the path to the back parking lot.

Yeah.

You know, leaning against speaking of myself, leaning against the railway.

Yeah.

Yeah, that'll be good.

Well, yeah, yeah.

So we'll move.

Yeah, and a nice background.

It's a really good photo, so we need another.

Yeah.

Thank you for reminding us.

All right.

With that, do you want to your last call to end the meeting?

We will adjourn this meeting, and that hopefully you're going to be a hard call.

Thank you.