Good afternoon and welcome

to Garfield County Public Library trustee meeting

October 3rd here in rifle.

We're happy to have people joining us via Zoom

and people have registered in advance.

So we're just gonna have,

is Nancy you're gonna be doing the Zoom thing

for For questions for the Yes.

Okay. Thank you so much. Call to order please.

Adrian.

Here.

Michelle? Here. Here.

Excused.

Here. Susan? Here. Done. Here.

Crystal here.

Okay. Thank you.

This, this next part on our agenda is a public

participation, which is three minutes per person.

One person for three minutes.

Again, if you're on Zoom, if you could just raise your hand

to be acknowledged and then you'll be allowed to do that.

But we are going to take public participation from those

that are physically present here at the meeting

and then we'll go to those that have questions on Zoom.

Okay. Do you have a list of anyone?

Trish O'Grady. Okay.

Alright.

Good afternoon. Trish O'Grady, rifle citizen.

I was here last month

and when Myrna brought up the pledge of Allegiance

and then I spoke about it

and did the pledge, I was really, really disappointed to see

no one here stood up.

Crystal wasn't here.

But that was very concerning to me and very disappointing.

I did notice two employees, I think it was James Larson

and Melissa that stood up

and I find that unacceptable.

It's a tradition, it's patriotic.

And I don't give a darn about the statistics

that you brought James in regards to

how many libraries said the pledge.

You're not. To me it was important

'cause it shows the dismal respect we have

for our country when we have less

libraries in the state doing the pledge than

not doing the pledge.

So in that way it was very important that you brought it up

'cause it shows the state of the condition of our

divided nation

that we can't even come together to do the pledge.

And I think that's a sad commentary on this library board

that you chose not to do it

and not even talk about it other than,

oh it's always been policy.

So we'll just keep the policy the same.

That's not good enough Adrian. Not in my opinion it's not.

And I'd like to see that as maybe a question

that they ask new board members when two of you are up for

reelection in December, I'm gonna ask that they add

that along with, once again asking

to put the meetings in the evening.

I understand it's a burden for some staff.

I'm a retired school teacher.

I had those days where I worked all day long school

teaching, then was expected to go

and take tickets at a ball game at six o'clock at

night for no extra pay.

I get it. But that's the commitment.

It's only once a month and they should be in the evening.

'cause other meetings are, once again, it's partially

for the public and not just for your staff.

You should be able to flex your hours to be able

to come here to give reports.

And now that you're doing Zoom, you don't even have

to be here in person to give a report.

So I'm asking that to be put as an agenda item

that you put the meetings back to the evening,

got 41 seconds left.

And James promoting this event last month at the

youth theater about homosexuality, using library time

to promote an event, talking about

how homosexuality is misconstrued in the Bible it says here,

many times they don't even use the word homosexuality is men

shall not lie with men.

That is biblical. I don't care about the word

homosexuality particular.

And it's not any worse than any other kind

of sexual sin in my opinion.

'cause God does not discriminate whether it's fornication

or whether adultery or orgy.

It's still sexual perversion

and you should not be using the library to promote that.

Thank you.

Do you have anyone else? Hannah Aza.

Okay.

Hi everyone. Hi Hannah. Welcome to Rifle.

I'm happy you're here today. Let's see.

I came to congratulate libraries overall,

but specifically lift up the awards

that were given at the Colorado Association

or by the Colorado Association Libraries.

There were three of them. And I'm not surprised

'cause you all have such an outstanding team.

There was the community

or the, I'm sorry, the library partnership

of the year award, which I think related

to the community interviews that you all did.

That was such an interesting and important project.

As a community member. I don't think I've seen a library

participate in something of that nature before.

And I think it was very valuable in informing what type

of programming is offered here.

Of course there is also the outstanding trustee

of the year award and well deserved

and we're so lucky to have you Adrian.

Thank you. And I'm here to

shine the most light on the DEI award.

So this was basically in recognition

of our amazing Spanish services team.

And I wanted to take the bulk of my time

to talk on a personal note about

how their work has impacted at least one household in this

community, which is mine.

And they've done a phenomenal job in terms

of not just expanding Spanish language materials,

but also cultural activities

that benefit the whole community.

And in our case, my husband

and I are both children of bilingual parents.

My husband's mother speaks Spanish

and my father is an immigrant from Germany

and German is his first language.

My husband and I are the generation

who lost our parents' languages.

They intentionally didn't teach us very intentional,

especially my husband's part

'cause his mother was ostracized

and persecuted in school for speaking Spanish,

which was the language we spoke at home.

So hoping to prevent her son

that same fate she didn't teach him.

And my dad's similar situation, they regret

that decision now, but I think in the eighties there

was no blame to place on them.

And this was a common story.

I think that if maybe their local library had been providing

the cultural and language resources and support

and celebration that we have now

and that we're growing, maybe they would've made different

choices and that would've had a huge impact on us.

And to that end, we're trying

to rectify the chain of events by now.

Bringing home a lot of Spanish materials in an attempt

to teach our own children Spanish

and hope that we're the only generation

that loses a language

and that our children can be multilingual.

So thank you so much for everything you do.

Thank you Emma. John Nki.

My name is John Lukowski

and I'm a homeowner in Silk, Colorado.

Speaking of heritage, I'm a third generation immigrant.

All my four grandparents came from Poland, 1905,

Switch to English.

Little bit of Spanish as I spoke is number three.

Next subject. This is an article that you wrote.

It got published the 23rd and I think you forgot something.

We presented about a year ago, 1200 signatures

that people were against having books in at low levels

so children could reach them.

Children. I believe the description up to minor, up

to 17 years old, there's 12 year olds

that can reach every top shelf in the library.

I suggest put 'em behind glass.

Every library has a capability.

Put a put you 30 to a hundred books

or whatever there behind glass.

And just to sign adults, we're not trying to ban any book,

we're not trying to burn any book.

Even though we might have thought about it.

And as Commissioner Mike Sampson said,

these books are trash.

He was reprimanded for that.

And I'll agree with him being a teacher, a father,

former principal, some of these books are trash

and I don't know what kind of a mind would like 'em.

The people that want these books everywhere,

I don't think they've seen them.

And you just try to show it to 'em.

They don't want to see 'em. Like the

Finder Prison School.

Faithless the boys slash and kill tent count.

And with Trish at one of the events at the fairgrounds,

11 or 12 year olds know about these books.

Now you said no one's ever taken out.

No child has ever taken out a book.

Well, they're not stupid. They're not gonna take 'em home

and get caught by the parents having these obscene,

pornographic, disgusting books.

They're gonna look at 'em and put 'em back on the shelf.

One thing I like to mention is

what let's all the pilots in the world,

international pilots speak English.

I was a pilot flying into Lima, Peru

and the Russian talking English.

So why don't we all speak English? Do we need translators?

I'm more of a minority than a minority so called Hispanics.

I've nothing against it.

I have have Spanish friends and I speak some Spanish.

I have no prejudice against 'em whatsoever.

But let's all speak one language. Thank you.

Do we have any, any other Ed Grisel? Okay.

Okay.

Hello everybody. I'm so happy to be here in

what I consider my library.

Welcome everybody.

Being a regular library patron, it is time to say thank you.

My friends and others

around town appreciate the home bound services program

that the library has.

Cindy Maria and other librarians.

Any librarian seems to know what the other one is doing.

I, it's, I always find help when I come, no matter

what kind of help I want.

But especially Cindy and Maria are keeping books

and other media accessible to those

who are less mobile than than I am.

I live at senior housing

and they can,

A patron can order a book or call them

and tell them what they want

or tell them to bring a selection and,

and the, the librarians will help them pick a book.

Once they get to know one another, then I'm sure

that there's all kinds of

recommendations going back and forth.

Not only is it a source for reading materials and media,

but it's making a new friend, making a contact

and being part of the community even if you don't

drive or fly.

So we really appreciate that. Let's see.

Another feature I'm using a lot is

the remote printer.

So that I can, I'm mastering my cell phone

and when something comes in my email that I need printed,

I can jump on the phone.

Next thing I know I can walk down to the library

and pick up my document.

And I'm really proud of myself for mastering the technology,

but I wouldn't have been able

to do it without the librarians.

So thank you. The library is my happy place.

I meet friends, discuss books, cooking,

which I do very little of.

But I actually mastered some new recipes

thanks to a librarian.

We talk computers, we talk community events.

The Hispanic Heritage Day was big fun for me.

I stayed all day and I took part in,

or I heard a lot of the music, visited with friends,

visited with all the nonprofits that are doing

so much in our community and enjoyed the food trucks.

I wanna thank everyone who put that on

because I know that it was a lot of work.

So thank you. That's it.

Thank you Deb. Okay, that that's all.

Okay, thank you all.

The next thing on our under call

to order is approval of the agenda.

Adrian, did we have anybody comments on Zoom? Oh sorry.

Do we have any comments on Zoom? Thank you for reminding.

Oh, okay. We do not.

So we just try to keep getting better on

how we're doing this and And thanks for reminding me.

Approval for the agenda. Move to approve the agenda. Okay.

I second. It's been moved in. Seconded. Any discussion?

All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Okay, we have an agenda

and the next thing on the agenda is the consent agenda,

which is consistent of A

and B minutes of last month's meeting

and claims for board approval for the general fund

and Alpine credit card statement.

And that is also an A vote.

I move to approve the consent agenda.

Okay, I second it. Susan. Seconds.

Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Okay.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Okay, so we're going to be moving right along

to our action items

and who's gonna be doing this?

This'll be John. John

Back again.

And we're glad to see you again

and it's good to see James here again.

You are welcome.

Thank you.

Yeah. So I have the privilege today to bring

to you a vendor selection recommendation

and Garfield County Public Libraries continue its efforts to

beautify our buildings as it focuses on our long range plan.

And the purpose statement under this initiative is

as follows, enhancing library facilities

by remodeling libraries to implement new technologies,

improve accessibility, increase usage,

and create collaborative spaces

to promote community engagement.

So that's like our mission statement as we focus on all

of our library buildings for the next couple years.

And as you also know,

we are currently working on Parachute and New Castle.

We are doing a lot of planning.

Things are starting to move forward into

construction near the end of this year.

And so we're getting ready for the next two libraries

and those will be rifle and SILT branches.

As with any large project, the first step is

to create a detailed plan that will meet the needs of staff

workflow, improved patron experience, technology upgrades,

and effective energy savings solution.

So today we'd like to propose to the board

the company Hopkins Architecture, LLC.

They are an architectural

and design firm based out of Vail, Colorado.

And the cost for their services

as it states in their proposal is total fee

for schematic scoping phase inclusive of sub consultants

is 18,000 to 25,000, not

to exceed $25,000.

And the proposal includes the following,

complete a schematic scoping phase

with a qualified team consisting of firms

that oversee structural lighting, acoustics,

professional organization solutions, civil engineering

and landscape design.

They'll also assess and prioritize needs, propose realistic

and cost-effective solutions

and create clear delineated scopes of work.

They'll also create concept schematic design, drawings

and narratives for each of the individual design tasks

and engage local contractors

or cost estimators for construction estimating.

And a special note about this proposal is that it serves

as a contract for the schematic phase only.

Okay. So once it's complete and scopes are clarified

and prioritized, Hopkins will work with the district

to agree on fixed fees for future phases.

So what we're talking about is the design and the plan

and based off of these past couple projects,

that's usually the most, the one that takes the the longest.

What color are the walls? What color are the carpet?

What kind of furniture talking the needs of the building.

So it takes a long time to decide on the plan once this

phase is complete, the other plans, you know, are according

to our what we want our design.

So they're not as long.

So this one takes quite a bit of time

and we really wanted to work with a company that has a lot

of experience and who is qualified.

And we believe that company is is Hopkins architecture.

So that'll flow into our reasons for choosing Hopkins.

Number one is previous in-depth study experience.

So Hopkins was awarded the contract in 2021

to provide Garfield County public Libraries a detailed

facilities master plan.

I don't know if you guys took a look at

that when it was released in 2021,

but it goes across all six buildings.

Looking at the infrastructure, it looks at

wow like everything.

And it was to serve the library in the next 10 years

as far as like what we want to upgrade,

what we want to change.

So it was a great master plan

and that was the, the company that

that organized this for the library.

So that's why we feel like they would be a great fit

for the next two libraries

'cause they've already been in our buildings.

The second reason is a skillful team.

As I previously mentioned, the firms

involved carry an immense amount

of experience in construction and building development.

And also the Hopkins architecture.

LLC also carries specific library

projects experience.

They also did the bail public library

and the Pickin county library as far as working with them

to update their buildings.

And then last reason is the price.

This particularly large phase of of,

of the project is within a very fair price range

that fits our budget.

So that's what I'd like to present to the board.

If you guys have any questions at this time,

Do you have a proposed time timeframe?

Like if it's approved today, how long does it take them?

We will start communicating with them

after we get your okay on this and start that conversation.

So we would like to start, do you have an idea on?

Well right now we're just gonna talk with them

and seeing how they can start this specific phasing project.

Okay. We're not talking about construction begin beginning,

But this has to come first.

Right, right. Okay. Yeah.

This is where we begin a round of meetings with them

to kind of follow on the design.

Yeah, that's what, I guess

that was my question. It's just the time. That

Would be time.

As soon as their ability availability

Is and they have, they indicated that they can start like

Our, so they were kind of carving the fallout for us.

So I think the timing is good for them. Okay. Okay.

They don't have much else on their plate right now.

Well that's good. I'm sure it's seasonal

too and that sort of thing. Okay.

So I say it's a relatively local

Colorado firm, which is good.

Were there other bids to compare this two?

We did not compare it to other bids.

And I think the reason why it's time,

like it takes a long time to find a company like this

and we kind of compared it to our, the Parachute

and Newcastle.

It took a a while for us to, to find the right people

and we kind of wanted to, to save time

and to know that this per this company is already

experienced with the library.

So it felt like a good fit.

But to answer your question directly, we did not take time

to look at other companies as well.

I did talk about that Kevin A. Little bit.

My, my sense of this one is that when we first started

with this, we were looking for some we thought could go

quickly and been working with Beth Odale

and a different architect and I thought to make sure

that we can keep both of these

projects kind of moving forward.

They had the depth of experience,

they had done the analysis of the building.

Originally we did a walkthrough

and they were very, could get up to speed pretty quickly.

So I feel like we're okay on this one, that we're still kind

of looking at the market and trying to spread the money

around across various architects. Yep.

And there's, yeah, there's a real benefit

to having worked with a firm before.

Yeah. And if you know prices from doing it

with a different recent project that can make sense.

Certainly do wanna make sure that we're verifying that.

Good question.

So was there a schematic phase for the

Parachute and Newcastle?

Yeah. And who

Did, who

Did that?

That was Beth O'Neill. Okay.

She is a consultant in library organization

and she was the one that was helping us with all

of those questions and designs.

And so that did take a while, but it was very similar.

We had a timeframe of just answering all those questions,

verifying what we wanted and what we needed.

Yeah. That, that took place

for parachute in Newcastle as well.

But you prefer Hopkins?

Well it, well I think going, kind of going

what Jamie says they're, they're currently doing those two

libraries kind of wanted to bring it.

Okay. Yeah. Sorry.

Project new architect. Yeah,

Yeah, yeah.

Got okay. Thank you. Okay.

This is an action item. Yeah,

It's, yep.

I make a motion. We approve

the proposal John just presented to us

and I'm looking for the company.

Oh, to go ahead with Hopkins Architecture. LLC

Second.

Okay. It's been moved and seconded

to approve Whitney Hopkins, architect

for the rifle and SILT projects.

Okay. Any, any further discussion? Okay.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay.

Congratulations. You tell call

'em up and tell 'em to get going.

Thank you. Thank you all very much.

All right. Architect time is like on a different time zone

than us all together, so it's good to have multiples. Yeah.

Okay. Jamie?

Yes. So on pages 14 through 16 in your packet, it occurred

to me that you have seen as we have met at,

at various meetings where I presented mind maps

and some of the discussion about

what we learned from our community interviews.

But I don't think we ever got around to adopting it.

So I thought what I would do is I put in my management

report kind of beginning with this BUILD community

and most of the things that you're seeing in this

come from our community interviews,

particularly under the build community

and the Spanish services.

But just for those kind of listening in unique to us, things

that weren't clearly identified in those interviews.

Early literacy. And I feel like this is a primary focus

for libraries, our facilities,

because of course not everybody was

concerned about our facilities.

That's our job. And then the last one

was kind of building our workforce.

So again, the board has seen previous

versions of this as a mind map.

And I wanna call out the fact

that this long range plan is a framework that is

to say we're gonna keep tweaking with the words.

We met with our kind of young adult group to talk about one

of our goals here was every child ready to read by age five.

And people pointed out we're probably not gonna achieve

that, that some children are not going

to be ready by age five.

But it's an aspirational goal.

So as time moves on, we're gonna be playing with these kind

of tweaking some of the language.

And Nancy and I have been working on a monthly update.

So once you adopt this framework going forward every month,

we'll give you kind of a two, three page overview.

Here's what's changed since the last one.

So the help, the hope here is

that we get accountable about these big goals

that the library is trying to accomplish.

So with that, happy to take any questions

'cause I think we should sign off on this as kind

of the key focus for three, the next three to five years.

Jamie, my question is thought the early literacy number

one, and you said most people will not reach by five.

No, I didn't say most people. I said I some people

will not reach well

Some people And that's, that is

as an early educator,

that's number five H five's an arbitrary number

that was made by somebody

that decided their child should read by age five.

I'd like that eliminated. It's not anything we can measure.

And instead what will help

and what we can do for reading red readiness is

to provide read aloud books

and books on their reading level.

And that will give them tools

and the the, it'll give 'em the tools

and the literacy

and the language they'll need to be competent readers.

And with that comes number four, the community awareness.

I think if we just have an awareness of, for parents,

if you read to these, the studies do support the statement,

if you read to your children 30 minutes a day, that will

make 'em very likely to be readers.

When they get into first grade in Denmark,

they don't even start reading formal reading education

until seven years old.

Oh really? Yeah.

And at age 10 is one of the book is one

of the cornerstones that up

to age 10 they're learning to read.

And at age 10, if they can't read, then they

probably can't read or will have a big problem.

So I would, I do want to eliminate this age five

and put in a statement that we, that's not measurable,

but that we can do, you know, we can provide books

and read alouds, et cetera.

And we can com educate 30 minutes a day is all it takes.

So I would, I propose that that is changed.

Would you be happy with just changing that word every

No, I wouldn't be happy with any word that says age five.

Okay. Well one thing

I was thinking when I was reviewing this long range plan,

how, how, and I wanted to bring up some of these things

that we're, we have to plan,

which is the next thing on the agenda.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

That's the whole purpose of that

that we're gonna be discussing today.

Did you get a chance to read that? Yes. Okay.

So that that was putting Yeah, that's great. Yeah.

Putting a a for $1 for Linda on 5 cents

or something for each child.

I mean that these again are are,

are not set in stone though.

I don't think. They're just, they're, some

of these are aspirational, you know, we want to do this.

It's not like we're gonna achieve

each and every one of them.

But I mean, is that right? These are not like we're gonna,

I I think I've already lost my battle for that one

with the, the youth services people.

And so I, I and Nancy, I can't remember what that,

what we've replaced that with,

but it's something along the lines of preparing children for

to for reading readiness before school.

So they've eliminated that five Yeah. Age five. So

So number one has been already been eliminated or

Yeah.

rather than being concerned about the specific wording on

everything here, because you're gonna see changes, right?

I'm looking at the approval of the structure.

So even if we maybe not say it's, it's not by age five,

but it's like zero through five is our primary concentration

because it's before school.

Beyond that, we already have our collections,

we have story times, we have other stuff.

But this is just trying to concentrate on

that early literacy age.

Yeah. And these are, this is a, a living document.

It's gonna be changing, it's organic in that week to week.

Yeah. You know, I understand it's gonna be changed,

but I would not be able to sign off on anything that,

number one, I cannot give an I vote for that and number and,

and number four, the is 30 minutes a day.

That's all you have. That's the big message to parents read

to your child 30 minutes a day and that's short.

You know, 30 minutes a day that fits on a poster.

I think that's something that would fit within that goal.

But I think that there are other things that we're doing

as well about that.

Such as grow up community.

Yeah, I see. It's the rhyming it's songs,

it's the puppet shows. It's the

Story times.

I puppet number four and and you're right.

That's all language. You're right. That's all. And and yes.

30 minutes a day you can, anything

where you're watching a puppet show,

you're singing, you're rhyming.

I I did reading. But yes. You can read a poem Yeah.

And sing a song. And that's all clustered at

The same Well I'm, I'm more than happy just to draw

through that every Garfield child

be ready to read by age five.

You'll see a version of

however we've amended this in our next meeting.

Yeah. So that's not gonna be included.

Correct. Already been changed.

It's already been changed. And what about number four?

Again, I would just say

that I think this is the broader goal

and as we get into things like specific activities, one

of the things we're talking about is the,

I'm gonna forget the name of the program.

What's the a thousand books by age five?

It might be something like that. But there's a national

program that says like, you come in as early as we can

and we get you signed up and we try to get you to read five

or read a thousand books.

Yeah. And so it's like, that's one

of these sub goals under that as an activity.

But I feel like what you're suggesting is specific

and it falls under this goal,

but I don't think it replaces it.

Okay. I have a comment.

So this is a really ambitious plan. Yeah.

And I have a question for number four. Okay.

Increased community awareness.

And when we talk about increasing community awareness,

talking about different languages

and talking about Spanish, how are we gonna,

how are you gonna make sure that we increase that when

I've been probably for two years talking about

communications in Spanish?

'cause I wanna make sure that when we say that it's,

it's not only in a, in a paper doesn't only looks good,

but we are really working on it

and not putting more work for the stuff they,

they already have a lot of work to do

and adding more things just because it looks good in paper.

So I just wanna make sure that

we are really strategic about this.

And I feel like one, one of the ways I think we're trying

to get at this is like, you know, take

for instance our partnership with raising a reader

and the whole do parton thing.

In addition, one of the things

that it seems like we're learning, whether it's

for English speakers

or for Spanish speakers, it's really helpful us for us

to make a value statement about why

we provide the service at all.

So to say, you know, just to say to, you know, you

as a mother, if you come home with 25 books

and you read all those, those books to your child,

that's a huge investment in the brain of your child.

And so that's the kind of awareness that I'm talking about

where it's just not just the skills, not just the books,

but calling out why it's such a powerful and useful thing.

Give people a value statement.

Jamie, would you give me an example

of increased community awareness?

Sure. Let's say all the advertisement that goes in

around summer reading program.

You know, so you might say you've got a child

that's in school and is struggling with reading

and they're all caught up in the skills,

but we want you to come and read as many books in the summer

for fun because that's gonna help you learn to, instead

of learning to read, it's reading

to learn learning and reading for fun.

And so that's like just the general awareness

of why literacy matters

Going back and it couldn't be songs, puppet shows,

et cetera, 30 minutes a day.

I think if you give the message 30 minutes a day,

that's easy for a parent to digest.

It's easy for a young parent who

doesn't even know to read to their child,

they don't even know.

Yeah. And if, if, if,

and we can give an easy message

30 minutes a day, they're like, oh, okay.

Really? And you'd be, you'd be very surprised

at the parents that do not understand the power

of reading to your child.

And it doesn't stop when they can decode words. Right.

You read until they tell you to quit. You know?

And that might be a long time.

I wanna see number four a little more specific.

It's just kind of vague to me.

Well, and and that's the purpose of it, is

to be a little vague because it's a long range plan.

And so we're gonna have all the specifics as we do.

We're not looking to approve every single word, you know,

that's in this document.

He just wants to, we, we spent a whole day going

through all these and so forth.

And I think what Jamie's asking,

and correct me if I'm mistaken,

but I think he's asking us to, to formally approved,

but we've already committed verbally at our meeting

that we agreed to these specific

bullet points based upon that community interview.

And I think what you're gonna find is like the very broad

goals like foster early literacy

and one is, that's the big broad one.

And then the four you're seeing here is kind

of our next level down to say here's our kind

of strategies for this.

But what you're gonna be seeing in the next meetings coming

up, you know, Susan would be something like calling out a

specific activity, right.

Then we'll say, this is what we did for that

and that's gonna change and

we're gonna try a lot of different things.

So I'm asking for a little bit of grace

to say we'll be filling in the details as we go along,

but I'm looking for you to bless the infrastructure of it.

Kel,

I,

Sorry, I have another question, Claudia.

How many people are connected

to the interpretations right now?

That's another proof of community awareness

because we have a service right now that is not being used.

Right? Because the community has not been informed.

So that's, that's another, well some

Of the community has been informed,

but it's gonna take a while.

How, how was it informed?

Well, it was in one

of my newspaper articles.

It was, it's on the website. It's

On the website,

It's on the agenda listed

In our minutes that we're

Discussing.

Once again, that's community awareness.

When we're talking about Spanish interpretation,

that's a cultural piece

that we are missing When we're talking

about community awareness.

What do you suggest? We should

What?

Yeah, what do you suggest?

I've been saying this for two years.

It is a different, pardon me?

I didn't say anything. Oh,

I heard something.

I've been saying this. We need different

ways of communications.

It has to be not in a newspaper, an English newspaper

has to be, and in the way the Latino community consumes

information, when they pay taxes,

when they pay those taxpayers, doesn't, doesn't matter

what language they speak, we they, they still pay taxes

that comes to the library.

They need to be served. That's, that's my only comment.

Yeah, that's, that's, that's again, one

of our very specific things

that we call out here is reaching out to

the Hispanic community here and you know,

and that's again, I'm not gonna have in one of these all

of the ways that we're gonna try to communicate.

And frankly, I think that in the long run,

the most powerful way we do,

it's gonna be one-to-one communication.

We do the radio shows in

Spanish where we're talking about this.

There are story times we're letting people know about we're

wanting them to come, but it's gonna take some time.

Well, and also what was this, it was in your report,

I believe your management report about

having every li and in every library there's,

or you know, increasing more Spanish, I mean upfront people,

you know, in the, in the branches, branch managers.

I'm asking you to,

I can't remember exactly what you're referring

to in this particular report,

but it's certainly the case that we're trying

to increase the general story times, right.

Which happens both in English and

Spanish and, and to Crystal's point about, you know, like,

I can't think of what the word is right now,

but you know, if somebody has the Spanish skills

and is speaking Spanish, then they could,

they they get a a stipend.

A stipend for that. And that was that's good.

I I think could you give a report on that,

how that's working or

Yeah, we actually talked about that.

They have it off the top of your head faster than I do.

Yeah. Excuse me.

So when we look at the number of our frontline staff

and how many of those are currently

getting the Spanish stipend

because they've gone through the assessment, it's about 17%

of our frontline staff.

Our goal is that we work closely represent the county.

So building towards 30%.

So we have a staff of about 95 people at any given time.

So we like closer to that 30% mark

And, and now it's, what what's that? What is it currently

When I just look at our frontline staff,

which is I I'll put that about 65 people.

Okay. That's not including like your administration team or,

or substitute librarians.

So we're about like 17% right now of, and

and I also say that we have a couple

of Spanish speaking staff who haven't gone

through the assessment for various reasons.

So I feel like that number could go up a little bit.

I wanna say within, within two years.

Not bad that's half of the staff but work to be done. Yeah.

Thank you. Okay.

This is an action item.

Okay. I'll

move to approve the infrastructure

of the long range draft.

Specifically to include the five bullet points in bold

with direction to provide an updated draft

with revisions to include removing

ready to read by H five.

Add some specifics in community awareness

about reading 30 minutes a day

and about providing awareness to the Hispanic community

to the Spanish speaking community

of the services that are provided.

I second the motion. Okay. It's been moved and seconded.

Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

Opposed? Okay,

Very

Much.

Would you then just kind of segue into the dolly?

I had to look at that when I went Dolly part in imagination.

I thought it was an interesting name

and I didn't exactly know what to expect,

but why don't you take it over.

This is a, a initiative that was kicked up by Dal Parton

and then she kind of built a big awareness around this

and they went around to a number of states

around the United States

and had begun to offer this program.

The Colorado State Library once had it

and now I think it's moved over to the Department

of Early Education.

But the idea is that the foundation provides

and with some matching money from the state,

a dollar 10 per child per book that's sent out.

And what they were looking for is

to find a local coordinator, not-for-profit raising.

A reader reached out to us

and they said, we love this program,

happy to sign up for it.

We would love to be the coordinator for Garfield County

and we'll do the recruitment.

We're already signing kids up for this,

but we are looking for some guarantee

that other half of the money.

And so for us, I figured out that for a year,

assuming we can really aggressively kind

of grow this program, the cost

to us might be something like $15,000 a year.

And so this is just, I went to Jan

and I said, I want to give you $15,000

in your collection budget.

Some of which is now there now including

Spanish titles as well.

And say, so every child who signs up

for this will then receive from ages zero through five,

sorry Susan, that they will get one book a

month until they turn 50.

So that's 60 books, that's the beginning of a library.

And again, one of the things that we've learned

through research is that you get books in the mail

and it's like you start to look forward to it.

Like this

Is very exciting kind of stuff.

So I feel like this is an opportunity for us

to really promote early literacy,

not just in all the traditional ways we've done it,

but you're giving every child that signs up a book

Every month and it comes in the mail,

It comes in the mail,

The parents will be happy too.

'cause it's a book and not a bill. Yeah.

So I I, you know, raising a reader has been,

they've been great partners for us all.

They really do a lot to help us make these

communications across the community.

And so it feels like this is

the right thing for us to be doing. Yeah.

Jamie and I agree with you.

I have a question about this one little

part of the sentence.

It's about Susan Wheeler.

She already signs up many Spanish

speaking children to the program.

Is she signing up English speaking children

Or,

That's a good question.

I don't know. That's pretty much what,

the way she phrased it to me when she does the Spanish

speaking story times, that's

where she has been signing people up.

I don't think she's been doing it.

I don't think she does English story times.

Does she? Not that I know of. Are

English speaking kids being signed up for this program?

Well, they will be now. Now.

Okay.

Okay. And action item.

Yeah, that's, that's

Good.

I move that we approve the Dolly Parton Imagination Library

agreement with raising a reader.

Second. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Okay.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay,

I'll get that off to Susan.

Suzanne.

Okay, thank you. We have a presentation by Alicia

with the Colorado River Valley Economic

Development Partnership.

You might remember her from last year

and she's here to give us an update.

And All this is so relative to me as an individual,

but also from the Economic Development Partnership.

Thank you for coming to rifle. First of all, welcome back.

I am a rifle resident and privileged

and lucky enough

to serve on the Rifle City Council just across the way here.

So very invested in the community here.

I was here about a year ago, almost a year ago.

And it was at the very, very early stages of the partnership

as we like to call it now.

Or the EDP is catching on a lot too, I feel like.

And I have the ability to sit here today

because of the generosity

and faith that groups such as the library had in us

as a, in our infancy we like to call it.

We've now reached our toddlerhood, I think

tripping over ourselves a bit more and,

and starting to speak up a bit more by contributing

to the organization the EDP in 2024.

So firstly, thank you for that.

I, I do feel like there's a been a good return on investment

and I'm here today to give you a, a overview of

what we've achieved and,

and some of the outcomes we have in the last year.

I will say that, you know, this is,

economic development is an interesting concept.

I'm don't have a degree in economics.

I know how to balance my house budget,

but there there's a lot of factors that contribute to it.

And even just back to what you're just talking about,

I can personally give you feedback on the

Dolly Parton Imagination Station.

It is amazing.

I they actually brought it to Garfield County,

I'm gonna say three years ago because I have a 4-year-old

and 18 month old and it wasn't available

to all zip codes at first.

And, and when I saw that it was available to our zip code,

I immediately signed my eldest daughter up.

And then as soon as, literally I was in the hospital

after my second was born and I signed her up

because it is literally a book a month.

They're wonderful books. They do come, most of them do

in both English and Spanish, so you can read both.

And they, my both my kids are

so excited every time they get something addressed

to them in the mail and we read those books all the time.

So it is a fantastic program.

I appreciate you getting involved with that.

So, and there, so there is English speaking kids signing

up for it too in our area.

I tell everybody about it.

So, and then also on your long range plan, I noticed one

of the sections was economic development.

And I bring this back to, to what we're doing is

it's not about always just about revenue

and income and expenses.

I know the library is, a lot

of the funding does come from sales tax.

So that is kind of one of our goals.

But something I've learned over the past year is,

is everybody is interconnected in our region.

And for those who don't know, our,

our organization is focusing on Western Garfield County.

So Newcastle, silt, rifle Parachute and Battlement Mesa.

And there's, there's various reasons for that,

but it, it's all intertwined and we all play a role

and part of what we were trying

to do this year is really define

who we are and what our lane is.

So we all are good at at least one thing.

So find that one thing and stick to your lane

because there is a lot going on in our communities.

There is a lot of wonderful,

good intentioned efforts going on,

but we don't wanna duplicate or, or try

and step into a lane that we're not a professional at

or that we're not an expert at.

I guess our role here is to purely be,

I've used this analogy a lot lately,

but it's kind of like a switchboard operator.

We get all the calls coming in

and we're connecting them to the right person

or organization and I think that's

what our lane is meant to be.

We were able to attend

and participate in a Building Better Places Workshop

by Community Builders.

I'm not sure if you've heard of them,

but they're an organization based outta Glenwood

and we, we applied to be part of their program

and got accepted and they work on helping new

or any organizations

or municipalities communities to understand

what their role is and how to build a plan.

So we did that in March.

Jamie actually was able to attend that.

We had a large group attend that in Glenwood.

From that we would then realize we do need

to create a strategic plan for our group specifically.

And we were able to do that in June.

We had a strategic planning session

that we actually were able to fund through a grant from

the Rural Opportunity Office.

So we had a facilitator come in and that was great.

That helped us to get to what was in your packet

and on, on your desk today.

I tried to keep it simple, but it's a vision board.

So I, I came up with this

because a strategic plan is well intentioned

and it took a lot of work to get there,

but it's not something you really wanna be spending your

time too much of your time reading.

It's quite valuable. So we were invited

to attend the Energy an Energy Summit put on by Clear

and Aspen in August

and they said you can put any documentation up

or any collateral.

So I came up with this vision board for that event

because you wanna capture people's attention

and really give an idea of what we're trying to do.

So we have a strategic plan for 24 through 26

and it's really focused on our tagline

of better jobs close to home.

So to your point of 30 minutes a day is, I try

and aspire to that.

I do appreciate your comment, Susan, of I have a 4-year-old

who I think is very, very smart.

I'm kind of biased, but I don't think

she'll be reading by five either.

So it takes a little bit of the pressure

off by mentioning that.

Thank you. 30 minutes a day

for some many families in our region is really unattainable

actually because right now,

and we see it every day, whether it's on complaints

or just, we had a presentation from Youth Zone last night at

council of some, many of the issues

that arise in our community is because of presence and time.

So a lot of people are commuting on a good day,

three hours a day to what they feel is a better job

or benefits

or the only opportunity to make an income for their family.

So that's, that's where I think the,

the overall vision is better jobs closer to home.

Because if we can do that, people will have more time

to spend doing what they want to do or what they need to do.

Also, more revenue within their communities, which is

tax revenue, which helps fund a lot of our services

and also helps our small businesses.

Our businesses are, are not able to continue

because they don't have anyone here to even go

to the restaurants or spend in the retail stores.

So help small business entrepreneurship.

And then also from the environmentals perspective,

when you have less cars on the road for one,

it's a good one, it's a simple one.

There's less greenhouse gas emissions.

But when you have people have more resources

or time to look at

how they can make an impact in their homes

by being more energy efficient

or just having the capacity

to focus on the needs within their community,

the environment has a benefit from that too.

So that's really what our lane is,

what we're trying to focus on.

But being a conduit and a facilitator to open discussion

and civil discussion about these issues

that are ever present, these aren't new.

Everything that we're experiencing right now is not new,

but we are, we have the luxury right now of if we,

if we choose to being proactive rather than reactive from

an economic standpoint.

So the energy conference that, and, and Jamie

and John were actually there too.

I had some allies there.

We were invited because often

Western Garfield County is not,

or even the Western Slope, many

of our rural areas are not represented.

They do get invited or they, so they tell me,

but they never have anybody turn up.

And, and I, I said at point blank to them,

when you ha continue to have events like this in Aspen,

one people don't in from our region,

don't necessarily feel welcome in those environments.

And two, they don't have the time or the capacity.

They're just trying to get through everyday life

and survive everyday life.

So this is all great, they had great ideas and,

and it was great conversation, but the reality is we gotta

get into our region

and understand what the needs are of our communities

and our residents and our workforce

and see what other options we might have.

So I was able to speak there

and I was a little intimidating, I'm not gonna lie,

I do this a lot now, but it's still very nerve wracking.

But it did, it did receive some good feedback from that.

And I think that's what the EDP is here to do is

to make sure that we are elevating the voices of our region

from an economic standpoint

or if other stakeholders need someone to speak up,

that's what I think we're here to do.

So our values that tie into our strategic plan

on this vision board as well, innovation, community,

vitality, empowerment, collaboration, resilience.

So you can read more about those in the strategic plan.

I sent it to Jamie, so,

and he has copies so you're welcome to,

it's on our website as well.

You welcome to print that out and use that.

But one that is very, it's a reality is funding.

So I understand that the library's capacity

to fund different organizations is very limited,

especially now where it's revenues have gone down.

We just had this budget conversation at council last night.

You have to pick

and choose your needs to have and nice to have.

So I, I'm not here to ask for money,

but what I do wanna let you know is we are part

of our long range goals is

to move more towards a privately funded

or revenue based programming,

which is becoming more and more common.

So less on public funding and by public I mean grants

and government

and more on engaging all stakeholders to invest

and to contribute and to participate

because that is how we're going

to keep this sustainable throughout time.

The good news is because I, that this,

my role was funded through the generosity

of the contributors in 2024.

That was our biggest expense in the budget.

I have been working a lot with A GNC,

which is the associated governments

of Northwest Colorado and they're fantastic.

But they sent me a grant to apply for

with the Colorado Energy Office

and they're actually the grant navigator

for Gutfield County.

So I think you have worked with Mr. Lynn too.

So it's a resource that I've connected

with our other municipalities to help source

and, and apply for grants.

It's one of the hardest things is actually doing that.

And I put myself out there

and we, we did a thought, a great application

that was extensive

and we found out end of August that we were awarded a total

of $240,000 over three years.

So 80,000. Wow. No match.

And it's for staff capacity.

So that's like the golden goose of grants.

So we are here, first of all to say thank you

to the Colorado Energy office in any chance

that I get if they're listening.

But that wouldn't have been possible without being able

to just get ourselves off this starting block.

So thank you. But that is the goal.

And and I'll stop talking now

'cause I promise myself I keep these things short,

but there's always so much to say

and I would love to answer any questions

or Crystal actually would love to later at another day.

Pick your brain over what is the best way to work

with the Hispanic community.

'cause I'm trying to do the same thing.

'cause I understand it's not,

you can't just put stuff out there the traditional way

or the way we, we've always done things.

It's trying to engage more Hispanic business owners

as well for us.

So I'd love to chat with you at another time on that.

Okay. Thank you so much. That was very, very interesting.

I love that tagline. Better jobs closer to home.

It's simple, easy to remember and and so accurate. Really.

Yes. More and more every day.

Yep. So thank you so much. Feel

Free, my contact details are on there.

You can connect to me

through Jamie if you ever have any questions

or want to chat or anything. I'm always

Great thank

Except on Fridays.

I don't work on Fridays. Okay.

Thank you. Okay.

It looks like it's time for the

Kevin and John.

No, Jamie right over.

I already was there anything you wanted to add, Jamie?

I don't have much more to add to, one of the things that

made my report a little bit longer this time was I included

the introductory information about standards.

Oh yes. I know that many of you had a chance

to get the standards presentation when you were at Cal Con,

but I thought it's useful to kind of work into our own kind

of things because there's a lot of good useful background

information about the Colorado Library environment.

My intention, if this is okay with you, is to come back.

So we would take one standard per month.

There are 10 standards, right?

So that would give us 10

months to kind of go through all of them.

And it's a good, I feel like counterweight

to the long range plan to say, here's our aspiration

and here's what we should be striving for across the state.

So unless if anybody has any

questions about that, happy to answer them.

I just had a question. Did you guys all get a copy of

that at, at cal Con?

Yes. Yes. Yeah. We'll get you one. Yeah. Yeah.

But that, there was a lot of work that went into that

and it's, it's a good document

and I, I, I really support that idea of taking one,

you know, one a month and less having that as, as part

of the agenda, just as a discussion item.

Shout out to our staff. Nancy was active in putting this

together and Kevin helped out

with I think the administrative one

or the budgeting one, something like that.

Well thank, thank you. Whoever did anything.

And then just a couple more things.

One of them is a shout out to the staff,

our Hispanic Heritage Festival.

We, I think the latest numbers were 450, so that's Yay.

Very good. And I am now a big fan of mariachi music

and, and Nancy, what was the branch con for the day?

It was like 400, 1400 visits.

14 and out. So that's not bad. Yeah.

Great.

I wanted to point out that I,

Eileen has prepared for you all this kind

of a new trustee packet.

And we talked about this. We went through

and said, this isn't all of the policies we have.

They're kind of the core policies

and they're good orientation ones.

And this kind of goes back to you where you had talked about

what should be in this packet.

And then you'll see on that first page we're asking people

to sign that they've received.

So every time we do significant updates, we'll come back

and make sure that you've got them.

But wanted to make this available both for Mirna

as a new board member

and any new board members that come on.

And so if you could just sign off on that

and get this to Eileen

by the end of the meeting, that'd be great.

Okay. Just to say that you've received it.

And then the last thing I wanted to talk about is that

I am going to be Doc Holiday at the Ghost Walk, which is a

Glenwood Springs museum thing.

So I'm standing at the Linwood Cemetery right there,

and I'm doing five presentations two nights in a row.

And as of yesterday, I hadn't memorized all my lines,

but I've got, oh

My God.

And so you asked me to read them aloud?

No, that's everything I had to memorize.

There are 1500 words on this piece.

Oh my

Goodness. I think I'm good to go.

So if you're interested in signing up for

that, I encourage you to do it.

It's, I attended this as a guide, I think it was last year.

It's amazing how much you learn up about local history just

by getting some of the key people

who are buried in the cemetery. So

Well, and on that same, I, I just cut this out

of the newspaper about the dates and so forth,

but I thought it fits in so well with protecting history.

And I see Judi's here with historical societies

and you know, it's just like all these different

collaborations that we have.

And we, we have an archivist that's working there

for two years at the Glenwood Springs Historical Society.

And now we have Jamie being Doc Holiday. And just,

I should also say that Ari, who's Yeah, in our internship,

has kind of wound up being the producer

for the vaudeville version of this.

So Vaudeville has stepped up a sponsor.

We're gonna having a bunch of speakers there,

so if you don't want to go up

and down the cemetery, you can go

sit in the vaudeville and catch the

Presentation.

So it looks like it's October 5th, fourth and fifth.

11th and 12th. Tomorrow, 18th and 19th.

Yeah, that's tomorrow. 7, 7 38 and eight 30. Yeah. Wow.

Anyway, I just thought that was, yeah, I was excited to,

I did have to buy a bolo tie,

so I'm heavily invested. You

Certainly could have asked

to borrow one really in this area.

And that what's my report?

Okay. Now

budget, are you gonna go up there?

John,

Can I stay right here?

Sure.

Okay.

It's a tag team budget committee report

as we have done in the past where I will try

to give an overview of what we've discussed

and then point at Kevin for all

of the specifics with the numbers.

Okay. And we did have a

robust budget committee hearing a few weeks ago

where we mostly talked about potential new positions,

which will add to the employee cost in the budget,

which is the biggest cost

and the cost that continues year over year.

And so I, that would probably be the largest point.

And I am looking at the draft budget, which we didn't go

through in detail where that,

that Kevin can talk about

and even point out in pile on your desk

if you don't know where it's

Right here.

What sort of the, the highlights are,

despite decreasing sales tax revenues

Too.

We still have increasing revenues this year,

and Kevin has prepared a conservative budget

that I think even with the additional

positions that we're gonna talk about,

puts roughly $700,000 in reserves. Yes.

It's on page two at the bottom there, on the bottom

of the green column is our draft project on page 2, 7 6 2

would still go to reserve with what John's talking about

7 62.

Yes. On bottom of 762,000. Correct.

Yeah. And so, so that's kind of a baseline for any

of the discussion about things that are, will be added

and the percentage increases and all of that.

John, I'm just confused.

I thought Marina was on the budget committee.

She is. There are two trustees, Michelle as treasurer,

kindly delegated her responsibilities to me.

Oh, okay. And Mirna is also, has also been, oh,

Okay.

Okay. I didn't realize that. Okay. Okay.

And so yeah, taking, taking that as the baseline,

which is, it's a conservative budget, which puts 762,000

into reserves.

There are increases in, for example, Marmite

and insurance that are greater than inflation

that we can't really do anything about.

But those are increases that we need to be aware of.

Most of the budget has your regular inflationary

increases, factored in, which is getting under control,

but still adds a lot to the budget.

And given the amount of revenues that we have this year,

we looked at needs for additional employment positions

and then also housing solutions.

And sort of, I think I, we'll get to that one last,

and then also we should talk,

I, I don't have the numbers on this.

We should talk about the, the education budget portion,

I think, which has been an issue last year where

we do have money for education, not all

of it's getting used for education.

And we need to figure out what the appropriate amount is for

that, where the part that's not going

to education is used for loan repayment.

John, that's this one right here.

So we'll talk about that after we're done with the

Name line.

Okay. Okay. And so the main budget,

the biggest changes are sort of nine proposed

additions, seven of which are employment positions.

First one's a new collection development manager,

that's a, a big position

that will help out collection development.

It will sort of centralize decision making

for collection development so that branches know

what other branches are doing.

So we don't end up with duplicate copies

where we don't need duplicate duplicate copies where we sort

of have some overview

of what's going on in all of the different branches.

It should create some efficiencies

where the savings aren't really quantified,

but there should be savings by creating that new position.

One thing it does do is centralized

what has previously been a decentralized decision

making format.

And we do need to be aware that, you know, the,

the branches are unique in their geographic locations.

And so any new collection development manager needs

to be aware of that.

But certainly with this position, it should help as long

as all of the branches are in communication.

The request for a new events

and social media specialist, I understand that that is,

that area is,

has added a lot just looking at the numbers over the past

three years, there's a a lot more work to be done there.

And so that's a place where a new position would be

exceedingly helpful for the

people who are currently involved.

Sure. Than a new adult services coordinator

for Glenwood Springs.

Again, there, there's need there.

And so that's another position that we can two three, add

within the budget, converting for library specialists

to adult services coordinators in the other districts.

And so rifle parachute in New Castle

and then adding two library specialists,

part-time specialists in Carbondale.

Again, that's done based on sort of need

and lack of staffing there.

And again, with that one though,

an increase in a position

that can increase circulation makes it look like there's

more circulation and needs additional positions.

And so we wanna be aware that in other branches,

we need to look for need in other

ways than just circulation.

Right. By adding a position, you can increase it

and then you say, oh, we need more there.

But again, that's something we discussed

and it is being looked at so that we're not

overstaffing in a place based on increases

because of the new staffing.

That makes sense. That seventh one is a

a, an internship, it looks like it's a good collab

collaboration with CMC.

It's a social services intern.

Again, there, there's need there

and it's a good opportunity to collaborate with CMC.

It's a $6,000 intern in intern position

and the jump over eight and go to nine,

that's a $10,000 budget item for a new program

for an employee referral bonus.

And that's where, if we're looking to fill a position

and a current employee refers someone

who stays at least six months,

the employee will get a bonus.

And if the referred person stays for an entire year,

there's a second portion to the bonus.

And so that just provides an incentive

for employees to refer people.

And people who are referred

by current employees tend to stay longer. Okay.

John, did you talk about community stipend supporting

Commuting stipend?

No. I said let's jump over eight and go to nine,

because eight's gonna be the longer discussion.

Okay. Thank you. And so, yeah, that, that was nine

and going back to eight.

Okay. That's sort of the, a creative

solution or a creative experiment

to help solve the housing issue.

Yeah, certainly in Glenwood

and in Carbondale, there is a, a real issue with

hiring and retaining

because of the cost of housing we're,

we've explored in the past, you know, the potential

of buying housing.

We've even joked about, you know,

putting an apartment on top of one of the buildings,

which isn't gonna work because we can't do that.

But we've, we've, we've, you know, tried to explore ways

to sort relieve that pressure of a high cost

of housing in Carbondale, the current idea, the proposal

to add into the budget is $17,290

as a commuting stipend.

And so it would have specific requirements about the length

of a commute, and so people could live farther away,

but get compensated for that commute in order to attempt to

retain and it's, or hire

and retain people who live farther away from

Carbondale and Glenwood Springs.

There are specifics to this one.

We, we altered the initial proposal, the IRS rate almost,

it seemed like it was too much in order

to compensate people who lived.

And so this new proposal is

gas rate for only people who live

greater than 25 to 30 miles and capped at 55 miles.

Correct. But so it's,

it's not being paid at the entire IRS rate,

but it is compensating people who are commuting

to Glenwood Springs or Carbondale.

John, would you please repeat those numbers?

Greater than 25 miles?

It's Yeah, 25 to 55 miles.

25 to 55

Miles.

Yes. Yeah.

And this has been in flux since we, we talked about it, sort

of, we, yeah.

We discussed it at the committee meeting

and revised it a a a little bit down from the initial

proposal to get something that's fair,

but not almost overcompensated, if that makes any sense.

So yeah, this is the experimental

attempt to alleviate some of the housing issues for,

for hiring people for Glenwood Springs and Carbondale.

And yeah, those are the, the asks to add to the budget.

Those are the significant new things

that aren't ly inflationary adjustments.

And then we also have, I think Kevin, I, I haven't seen it,

but there's another pie chart with Yeah,

you should have it there too.

But yes, we will.

Kim

Did a great job putting this together.

This is a snapshot for you of

how we spent the education assistance money so far in 2024

and how we spent it, the big pie charts for 2024,

how we've spent the money so far.

And then the tables at the bottom tell you how

that money was divvied up by count

of employee in two years.

So the highlight for me here is to, to see in 2023,

we had zero MLS students requesting

reimbursement for tuition.

And this year we have three, Kim has,

has reached out to the three staff who have

been the beneficiaries of this app,

of this, of this funding.

And would you like to share a little bit about,

Yeah.

And I'll just do it from here. Okay.

So I reached out to our MLS students

and I, I just asked,

would you be pursuing your degree if you didn't have

employer support?

And rather than try to paraphrase too much,

I'm just gonna share a little bit about

what they shared back with me.

So one of our students, thank you.

One of our students let me know that

the education assistance that she's been getting,

she said it's been a miracle and a godsend for my life.

After she got her undergraduate degree, she knew

that she wanted to pursue an MLIS.

She was able to do a couple of semesters on her own,

but it was taking up most of her paycheck.

Then we introduced the education assistance program

and that's been a huge help for her

because while she's completing her school, she's also able

to set aside some money to save up for a house or for a car.

And so it's taken a lot of those life pressures off of her.

She said, to answer my question,

I would probably still pursue my MLIS without employer

support because I'm very passionate about libraries.

But it would be a lot more difficult and take a lot longer.

I'm grateful for the program.

Our two other students said that without the support

of the library, they wouldn't be pursuing their MLIS

simply for financial reasons.

They wouldn't be able to afford it.

They don't wanna take out additional student loans.

Another one, one of our students also mentioned

that in addition to the financial support,

her coworkers have been extremely supportive as well.

She works with some experienced librarians

and so they're helping her in her pursuit in,

and both of them concluded with the,

they're already seeing the benefits

of the classes they've taken so far in their work

at the libraries.

And then the last one I wanted to share with you is one

of our students said that working

for the library is my dream job.

And I'm thankful for every day I get to come to work.

I never, I've never before worked at a job that I miss.

When I go on vacation, I enjoy vacation,

but when it's done, I'm anxious to go back

to work. Oh wow. Oh

Wow.

That's good.

Yeah. And so seeing the growth, you know, from last year

to this year with three of our employees deciding

to pursue their MLIS degrees, you know, that's, I think

that was our hope when we started this program is

it would incentivize people.

I think with a lot of programs it takes a little time for it

to take off, but I'm really pleased that three people

are pursuing it.

You know, we definitely let them know that this is,

this is a budget item that we bring back every year.

So just as you're planning for your education,

please think about that.

'cause I, I, I want them to be aware that, that if you,

you know, you might get halfway through your degree program.

I can't guarantee you every single year

the funding will be available.

We prioritize the MLIS. Absolutely.

But I wanna be really transparent with them about

where this funding is coming from.

I thank you for the gift of giving this to our employees,

both for tuition and the student loans.

I know it was controversial. I think it's really innovative.

I know that our staff appreciate it.

So yeah, I just wanted to provide you with this pie chart

to let you know where we are at as

of this year to date so far.

And yeah, I'm happy to help answer any questions. You know,

When we authorized the first

that we were told that this would be a one year deal,

we were said that, you know, we have this extra oil money

and then this is how we're going to use it.

And now you said it's like every year

It's up for, it's, it's, we propose it in the budget

that it's something that the board could ask us to take out.

They, what?

It's, we, we propose it in the board,

sorry, in our budget, we've continued to bring that back

as a proposal, but it's certainly within the board's

wherewithal to, to ask us to remove

It.

Okay. Yes.

John and Kevin, I have a couple questions for you.

And sorry I'm a little bit dizzy

and I don't have all the information and I, you're good.

And I regret not having all the information right

now for making these comments.

But this questions, so the three per, the 3%,

the, the, the is gonna be the increase.

I know that this is because of law and everything,

but there is, there is any probes

or I wanna make sure, so here's my point.

I wanna make sure there stuff is compensated right.

And especially right now

and this time where it is, it is, it,

it's just crazy the cost of living.

So if there's any way that we can add to this 3%,

I know we try, I'm trying

to be really conservative of, of the budget.

And I don't, it's not just wasting money to,

because I don't think that's a waste

of money investing in our stuff.

If there is any way that we can increase this cost

of leaving and set up for a lot 3%, adding one

or 2% more, there's something realistic with that,

or that's gonna put the budget in a really bad risk.

And also one of the questions is how was

or staff compensated?

I know in the past, correct me if I'm wrong,

but I think two

or three years ago, there was a study about

how much your staff was making compared

to another libraries.

That was the last time that, that I remember

that I saw that report.

And I wanna make sure that we bring

that report at least every well, one

or two years just to make sure that we are paying,

they compensating our staff in the right way.

So this is why I'm making this comment.

We just,

So I don't have the details on it.

See, this, this, no, but I watched the video from

last time, right?

Yeah. And last month, from last month from September 11th

and the, the market study was done.

And there's also a 4% increase based on the market study

as well as the 3% cola increase.

There's a 4% overall to wages.

Doesn't mean that every individual position would see a 4%

increase, but it does say

that the overall budgetary impact is 4%

for the market adjustment.

And then 3% of this cost

of living adjustment would go to every position.

Yes.

The

7% increase overall

And, and the market.

But not everybody's gonna receive the 7%, the 7% increase.

Just that everybody's gonna receive the 3%.

And I know that wasn't the last meeting.

And like I say, I apologize, I wasn't here

and I don't have all the information

and the information that I had, it's just

in way. So, okay.

No, it's a good question. Right?

I mean this is, it's the biggest portion of the budget.

We just did the market survey

and there's some positions

that are at market rate right now.

And then there are other positions that were

more than 4% below.

Right? And so the ones

that are at market rate stayed the same.

And the ones that were more than 4% below increased

by more than 4%. Is that accurate?

That's accurate. Even the ones that are at market

or above market, based on this market study,

they will still receive the 3% cost of living adjustment.

But, but just because they're above market doesn't mean

that they're gonna be lower to the market.

That's not happening. Right.

So they'll maintain where they are,

but with a 3% cost of living adjustment.

And you ask the question, you know, this is your budget.

To answer your question about adding another percent,

the monetary impact would be about $40,000 per 1%.

So that's the answer to that question.

The reason why the, the market study came back

with the 3% is that's the current

Yeah.

CPI index for our region.

So that's where the 3% came about.

So if, so, if

every employee, every staff member had a additional 1%

increase, does that, how is that perpetuity?

I mean, how does that work on the budget this year?

You said it's $40,000.

It adds 40,000 to this year's budget.

Their, their pay would be elevated by 1%,

which would then roll into 25 or into

25.

25. So then does it cost us 80,000 the next year or,

Well, their, their wage then would roll into 2026

and whatever the adjustment is from 2026,

it would go up from where they currently are.

So it, it is, it does add on

to the base every time there's a market adjustment and

or a cost of living adjustment, it does add

to our wage base.

And so yeah, those wages will, will not go down.

The, the times that we see

wages decreasing is when there's attrition

and when we're rehiring, you know, positions,

someone coming in, entry level, new hires, things like that,

that's where we then reset those

wages back to the market rate.

'cause this market rate study, we'll be the new base rate

for the new people coming in.

So once again, if we add one

or 2%, even though the, those salaries are gonna be adjust.

I'm asking John probably they, if you can help me with this,

if we on top of the 3%

for everyone, can we add 1% extra?

You think that's realistic?

You're, you're the and I I'm asking you

because you're the one who's been

more in touch with the budget.

Yeah, I mean we, we have the funds to do it.

The risk is we, we know

that our funds are going to decrease

over the next several years.

Yeah. Right. We, we, we hear that the valuation

of properties based on oil revenues is gonna

go off a, a cliff.

Yes. And so we have to be careful with increases like that

because they do last every year.

I mean, it's not a, a single year budget item

And not promising that every year is gonna be

a 4% increase.

That it's just gonna be one year that is just Oh, like

A bonus.

Yeah. Kind of like a bonus thing. Oh.

I mean, that might be a safer way to do it,

but it doesn't put people in the position where they know

the following year, like where

that their paycheck's gonna be same the following year.

Right. If people are getting an increase in order

to pay higher rent, you know,

we have that increase every year.

If it's not a bonus, if it's a bonus, yep.

We, we could do that for this year.

And that might be sort of short term responsible relief

knowing that we don't know

where we're gonna be two or three years from now.

Yeah.

And along Crystals lines, just eyeball math

you just said it's about $40,000 for the entire staff

to have a 1% increase.

Yes. And that has risks involved in it.

Just eyeballing, you know, this community,

the commuting stipends gonna cost 17,000.

The referral program's gonna be 10, that's 27,000.

And this, I don't even know how much proposed

of the education assistance,

but I think that's more than $40,000.

Those three items are more than 40. What?

Those are more than 40. Those three are more than 40. Yes.

It is just a thought. It seems a more equitable way to

distribute the money.

It's just a thought.

Do you like this? So you like this way better than

I do?

Not like, well, I think if, if

Kevin says that it costs $40,000 to give

the money spread out for the whole library staff at 1%,

that it could, that these two items in itself for $27,000,

you know, if we pay for a referral program

and a stipend for committing, that's $27,000.

So we're short 13

and they said that this is more than 13.

How much, that's an another silly question.

Me and my silly questions, right? No, no, not

This is a dialogue.

This is the point. You're, this is

To understand, thank you. Helping make the

Decision

How much money it will be for each staff.

Me. Well, it's probably, it's not gonna be,

I don't know if there is gonna be the same or not,

but how many staff members that we have

and how much money is gonna be, you know,

that's another question

because I understand your point Susan,

and I think it's a really good point.

However, not everybody's applying to this program

and not everybody's is gonna be applying

for the, the commuting.

That's my whole point is that not everyone

benefits from this or these two programs,

but everyone benefits for extra money.

So

This is, this isn't really extra money

'cause we are gonna be in hurt.

Yeah. We're, we're gonna, you know, so,

So how much

This is up for discussion.

So to answer Crystal's second question about what,

what will a staff member get

with an additional 1%?

Right? Is that your question? Yes. Kind of just

Even though there is a question,

Everyone gets paid a different amount.

Lets, let's just take a a, a person earning $30,000.

Okay,

That's $300 extra in their pay.

That's an annual extra 300. Okay.

If it's $60,000 salary,

they get $600 more in their salary that year.

So that's what it would be per, you know, whatever,

based upon their annual salary.

And I also wanna remind the board,

and you guys, we talk about this a lot is that, you know,

we, we do know that we have some financial hurdles

to get over the next several years with the, the adjustments

to oil and gas with the adjustments

to this property tax bill

that they just passed the state house and legislature.

And we also have the mill levy that needs to be considered

between now and 2027.

So we do have those financial considerations to, to weigh

some of those yet are still yet

to be determined on the impact as far as the,

the financial impact to this new, new property tax bill

that we're still wrestling with.

But again, when we had spikes in revenues for 2023

and 2024 from the oil and gas industry,

and we reserved it for the purpose of this very discussion

of that, when we do have declining revenues for a period

of time, the these reserves were designed to

carry us in years, five, six years.

When we know that we,

we may then we wouldn't have to be cutting services.

So right now, so

By that you mean cutting jobs

Pretty much,

Let's say what it is

About 60% of our revenue or 60% of our spending isn't,

Is yeah.

So, you know, we can shave here

and there on various things that would get us, you know,

But that's the big

But the biggest,

the biggest traction is, is,

is in this is in the staffing area.

You know, as we are analyzing our revenues with sales

and property taxes, we, we generally have some notice

of what this is looking like.

We know oil and gas, we have a two year window with oil

and gas, with this new property tax bill.

That one, once that one's in place,

and I can get my arms wrapped around the,

the changes in assessment rates, the,

the reduction in assessed valuations,

then I can give you a number on what I think

that might look like for 2026 that kicks in,

in 2026 budget year.

So my thought was, and I think I've mentioned this

before, is that I don't envision serious

reductions in property valuations in our county.

The demand for real estate in our county is still going up

and the supply is still very low.

So therefore the valuation

of our properties are gonna likely continue to appreciate.

So the effects of the senate bill that just passed in this

for re for residential property

with them reducing the assessment rates and, and

and adding some exclusion to the valuation is mitigated

with our growth and valuation.

So what I'm, what I'm saying with that is, is that

I'm hoping it's a wash at this moment in time.

We've seen this before when they reduced Gallagher the

Gallagher rate, it's the same idea when they reduced the

assessment rate with Gallagher.

We thought that was gonna be tough, but No,

but we had appreciation of the value to cover it.

Yeah. So we, we were in the same spot.

So we didn't have a decline. It was, it was a net zero.

I envision that this one might be in that same boat

without having all the details yet understanding of it.

We might be in that similar position.

So again, just to give you a higher perspective of

the decisions we make in 2025 will impact our spending

for 2026 and beyond.

But again, keep in mind of what we've been,

what our goals have been the last two years

with the reserves, and again, in this budget

proposing a a 700

and some thousand dollars addition to those reserves

for 2026.

And there's years thereafter, all of the items

that John has mentioned in here

are all reflected in this budget.

So everything that he's discussed

with you is all here and there and there.

And that's still reflective

of the seven $62,000 heading to reserve.

So again, that's where we are.

I'll hand it back to you to continue

to dialogue, discuss, this is great.

This is what we're supposed to be doing.

And Adrian, I wonder if I could just make

a, a couple of additions to this.

One of 'em is that, first, just a reminder, everybody,

this is our public document of the budget.

So this is now available for general public perusal.

Second thing is that we talked about falling off the cliff.

We've already fallen off the cliff a little bit.

This budget is $2 million down from the current year. Yeah.

Okay. So even with that, we,

and even with our staffing increases, we're continuing

to add $700,000 to reserves.

So we've got a little bit of give there.

And I feel like one of the things I want the staff to know

and the public to know, we will always try

to do the best we can for our staff.

Yep. And so the way we try to do this for compensation is

to say, because

of the study you remember doing the last time we made

with like a 33% adjustment to our staff.

Yeah. It was desperately needed. Thank you for doing it.

And because of that, since that time we've added, you know,

regular merit increases.

We've added bonuses last year

and then on these kind of alternate years when we come in

and do the compensation study is

to make sure we're not losing any ground.

So I feel like we have a good system

for making sure we're doing that.

Yeah. The big staffing changes that John kind of went

through is I really think this brings us very close

to right staffing.

Hmm. You know, to finally getting to the right number

of people so that we have growth paths for our staff

to come in and have positions to grow.

That's not just, you have to have MLIS

and four people who don't know what that is.

That's a master of library and information science.

That's kind of the terminal degree

for most public librarians.

And so what we do is we come back

and then we propose some of these one-off kinds of things.

So education assistance or tuition reimbursement,

because it's an experiment.

We wanna see if it works. And as we just heard,

the number of people that are taking advantage

of the student education, it's successful.

It's working. So we're gonna ask for it again

because we know that it was doing the thing

that we were trying to do incentivizes.

So as I, you know, balance all these things,

it's like these are targeted exper experiments.

We're holding the line on our staff, we're giving this,

you know, overall several percent adjustment.

And I'm always looking for other ways to do that with staff.

But I'm reluctant to change these smaller targeted programs

to see if we, we can't solve the problem

for recruitment in Carbondale.

It's really tough. 1% isn't gonna do it. Right.

But if I do something that's, you know,

this experiment one off, maybe we'll get some traction.

That's a good point. Kevin.

What the education assistance,

how much money do you have earmarked for that in total?

51,500. And

How much was that originally?

That amount

When we had all that extra money? Yes.

It was 51,000. Correct.

And now we're 2 million in the, we're down 2 million

Of revenue For

Of revenue.

Yes. Which makes me think we need to tighten everything.

And I'm glad about the people

that are benefiting from MLIS as I'm really happy.

We also ha it it's,

is this a discussion time or is this just a presentation?

This is a discussion. This is, and I mean it's both.

It's meant to Okay. To guide the budget.

This is your budget. We want this

to be what you want it to be.

And so I don't, I I we,

the budget committee needs feedback from you to know

how you want this to look moving forward.

But we're not gonna vote on it today. No.

Right. I think you said 26 20

seven's gonna be a tough year.

I think we need to show the public

that we are batting down the hatches.

We're tightening up. I think 51,000 is a huge

chunk for a few people.

And maybe we can tighten up what is non MOIS.

Is that for like BAS or something?

Yes, yes.

Okay. I question why we're paying for that.

And again, I question the student loan payback.

I don't think it's our discussion before.

I don't think it's our place to be doing that.

Well, I would totally disagree with that.

I mean, I think, you know, as with libraries,

the most important thing is the education and the pro

and the professional development.

And if we don't have staff that are energized

and excited about coming to work as, as Kim has given

that report, I don't know why we're here.

I agree with professional development

and I think it does energize the staff

and I don't think that professional developments coming out

of this education budget.

Well

What else?

It isn't way because No,

but isn't this where you're paying the schools?

So we pay tuition.

Some of our tuition goes directly to the school.

Some of it is reimbursement kind

of depending upon how they're set up.

For our students that are pursuing their bachelor's degree,

they have to get a bachelor's degree

before they can go for an MLIS.

Correct. And there's other programs that help people

that work at the library that aren't necessary necessarily

library and degrees.

I think our administrative team is a good example of that.

If they're pursuing finance degrees

or human resources, types of degrees, marketing,

those are all applicable to the jobs that they hold.

So I I, I really am a strong proponent

of providing tuition assistance for

really any secondary degree.

Some people are working hard just

to get their associates degree

because that's their station in life right now.

That's what they're capable of getting.

I think libraries are a knowledge based industry and,

and being able to support students in their path towards a

higher education degree, I think is a,

is is really a big deal for libraries.

And whether that's the master's degree in library science

or a bachelor's degree in in finance

or or information sciences, whatever that may be,

we find a lot of correlation between that education

and the work that they're bringing to our libraries.

Are they committed to work

for the library once they get this degree

for x amount of years?

Right now we don't have that stipulation.

And you know, we talked with our legal counsel about that

because I think, like certainly in my former experience

that was no require a stipulation.

And the trick is it's it's really difficult to enforce.

It's true. Yeah. Track 'em down.

So my position hasn't changed.

I think it's a, the chunk is

I just don't think we're in the business to be doing this

to pay for tuition, especially when we have to go back

to the tax payers in a couple years, 2027

For what it's worth.

I, I think that this graph is helpful to see the trend.

I was concerned when this budget item was largely going

to paying back loans to paying back something

that someone had already committed to.

And it was a majority portion of this graph in the past.

Here, it's such a small percentage of it

that I don't think it's controversial in the way that I did

when we started this program.

And it does take a while to ramp up to get people to

get into pursuing a degree using these type of funds.

And so to me it looks like it's working where the,

the funds are being used

to pursue education rather than paying pay off all loans.

And so the trend to me, the trend is,

is in the right direction for sure.

Something that I wanna advocate is for staff retention.

So staff retention, we need

to have staff retention and we have a good staff.

I wanna make sure that our staff is compensated,

their staff is really good paid that they're happy

not only in a, in a work that is surrendered by books and,

but they're also, they're taking care.

So I, I understand Susan,

that it's a really complicated topic,

but I, I really wanna make sure

that our staff is compensated

and it feels comfortable staying here and working here

and stop retention.

I just, I cannot say that enough.

Well, I think also your point, Kim, about

other degrees in other fields also

enhances the library.

I think it's really important.

And I have worked in a place where there were too many mlis,

there were just too many.

And it, it's, it's, it's good. Good balance. Yeah.

So I I I really appreciate that comment.

Thanks. You know, one thing that's been kind

of at the forefront for me the last couple

of years is wanting to help the library be

and stay an employer of choice in our community

among libraries in the state or at the national level.

I think programs like this help us show that

not everyone is fortunate to be able

to offer these types of programs.

Right now, this is about 0.5% of our 2025 proposed budget.

I think it's, it's something I'm really proud to talk

to potential recruits about.

You know, if somebody to speak

to the student loan portion a little bit,

when we do have the opportunity to recruit in an MLIS

staff member, that's sometimes a question that we get.

And I think that can be a deciding factor

for an individual about where do I wanna go work?

Nobody gets into libraries to get rich,

but if we can help chip away at their student loans a little

bit, I think it really shows that we invest in our staff

in, in multiple ways.

And, and in 2027

or 2028 when the funding looks a lot different, this is one

of the costs that you could easily take out of the,

but I don't wanna say easily.

Yeah. But that could be removed from the budget.

That wouldn't necessarily be, we have to choose

to remove a part-time staff member's job.

Kim, you mentioned the percentage.

Can you, can you mention the percent percentage again?

0.5% of the overall $11 million budget.

How many other libraries our size

offer educational assistance?

Susan, I should know that. I can find out.

Can you get that for me? I'm happy to find out.

Thank you. Yes, yes.

Better works. What I forgot,

And

This girl, she just mentioned

something and I forgot her name.

I'm sorry, having a mental fog,

but a brain fog of whatever it is in English.

But she said better works closer to home. Better jobs.

Better jobs better. Oh yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

Thank you everyone. Yeah.

Well, and I and also feel like one

of the things I've learned is that in other places when you

advertise for positions, you get lots

of MI ss on the fund range.

You don't get 'em here. You know,

and the cost of housing is one

of the things that remains said.

Sure. So one of the things I think that's meant,

and we've talked about this a lot,

is it means you have to invest in your community.

You take the people who already live here

and you say, how can we help you?

How can we help you get to Yeah,

Exactly. Crystal that

And it's not only a recruitment strategy

and it means you're hiring people at a lower rate than the

MLS but you're helping them increase their value

which holds onto them.

And so I feel like there's a commitment to community,

there's a commitment to the profession

and it helps you grow the, the expertise around you.

So I'm strongly committed to

this idea about investment and staff

And the you mean the,

you're strong in the investment of staff education? Yes.

Okay. Including education and formal education.

Formal education, yes.

And this is not per professional development

that's coming from a different part of the budget.

Yes. We did just have a presentation that she basically said

work in work in your community,

but yet we're going against that.

We're going to this c commuting stipend.

$17,000. That's a lot of money.

We've had a vacant position in,

in Carbondale for two years.

What?

We haven't been able

to fill a position in Carbondale for two

Years.

And you think it's 'cause of the commute? I think it's cost.

'cause of housing cost. The housing

Commutes

The alternative.

But, but can they work in lower cost housing

and commute to Carbondale?

They haven't, if they are doing that, they're not applying

for the job in Carbondale

And they're applying for another library job.

I don't think they're working in libraries.

Living in Carbondale is expensive

and there's no doubt about my, that'd be a tough one for me

to live in Carbondale.

You know, I don't know what to say about that.

But I, so as you're, okay, so let me understand, Jamie,

you're saying that people aren't commuting,

but yet it's a commuting stipend

To carbon.

They live, live in Parachute and they work in Carbondale.

Yeah, that's 'cause they can't afford to live in Carbondale.

So they're gonna But

You just said that.

I didn't You say they're not, what did you just say?

Well, it's, let's reframe all this to, okay,

Let's try again to

Get add here.

It's like when we try to recruit somebody,

we say we wanna hire you for a job.

And they look, take a look at the cost

of living and they say, I can't do it.

I'm not gonna

Do it. That's it.

And so right now, if you say, okay, then I have to kind

of go to the people who already live here, who are here

and they are living in cheaper places

and that's a cost for them, right?

Sure. To have to go that distance.

And so what that means in places like Carbondale,

I have a key position that youth services coordinator

that has been vacant for two years.

I can't find somebody to fill it.

So if I offer something like this, am I more likely

to get somebody willing to take that commute?

Because we're making it a little more affordable to them.

If I were to just to add that 1%

of the wages, it doesn't cover it.

But if I were to say, well our problem is targeted,

we're trying to get people to the areas

where I can't hire people, we can pay you

to drive a little bit farther and it might recruit you

and it might help you to stay on. That's all.

If I could just interject, this is just a, a draft budget.

We've had some really good dialogue.

I would recommend that we all take this

because we just got this, you know, this thing right now,

let's take this, digest it, look at that

so we have some more, you know,

and come up with some like, written questions that we can,

you know, share with, with each other.

But for the sake of time, I think we need to, I think

that's a good idea to, to be moving on is,

so is everyone okay with that or Yes.

Did you have anything else with your report?

I just wanted to say that the,

the budget will be posted tomorrow

for public comment. Okay.

Three days

That the notice will say they will be

allowed to present

or you'll be looking at the budget again next month,

November 7th I think it is.

And that's in the notice saying that's when the board

of trustees will take up the public comments.

Okay. Meetings,

The draft will be,

or the budget needs

to be approved at the December meeting per statute.

Right.

So anyway, so we'll have next month

to continue to have a discussion.

So you can help us give you the final draft

you want to see in December.

Yeah. And that's why we need to,

because this is so important, we need to take time to,

to review it and, and ask questions and, and,

and be intentional about what we're asking us.

And it's like what does that mean?

And and so forth as far as these chart.

So if you have questions between now

and November, reach out either to John or Jamie

and he'll reach, go through to me.

So he'll reach out to either one of those two

and then they'll rope me in if I need to help clarify,

give you answers, give you

some numbers or whatever you might

Need.

Okay. Yeah. If, if I could suggest I would,

I would like the trustees to go through John as trustee

to Trustee and then John you can be,

because since you're on the committee, great.

Again, that chain of command.

That's great. That's two in the morning.

If you can mostly hold John.

Okay. Thank you so much for your report. And

Kim, you'll get that information with other

Yeah, yeah.

I have a network of other HR people in libraries,

so I'll put it out to them and,

and hopefully I'll get a good response.

Thank you too. Thanks

Amy. You

Too. Thank you Kevin.

Thank you Kevin. Welcome. Thank you John. Thank you Myrna.

Did you? Oh, see you both.

Hi.

It's January was the last time I

was so much has happened.

Yes. Between then

and now that this is gonna take me about another hour.

No, it's not. Okay.

I had this

Thought. Well thank you for asking.

I had this thought today, like would there be any value in

putting the manager's statement

for the rest of the business?

Like after the public comments?

I don't know, it's just a thought.

'cause I was hoping most of my staff that was here today

Would stick around and thankfully they have.

Yeah, because

I think today I'm approaching

my report on how proud I am of my rifle branch team.

I'd say that every day they exemplify our core values

of community, inclusivity, trustworthiness, accountability

and service every day.

And as a branch we've worked really hard to ensure

that these values guide everything we do from our daily

interactions to the larger initiatives that we undertake.

And I can also confidently say that

I'm not speaking just for rifle.

I'm gonna say this is the whole library across the district,

all of our branches, we're all doing this.

And so in that context,

I wanna give some examples of what this means.

Okay. For me, how we are living these core values.

And before I start on that, I kind of wanted

my staff member Maria Guyton,

who can wave or you can stand up.

Hi. Because first I wanna talk about a recent,

something that happened at our rifle branch that was

Maria's from the beginning to the end.

And that was getting the Mexican

consulate to come to our library.

And you know, it's more impressive than just that alone.

That itself is impressive.

This is something she's been working on for a while.

And the plan was to have it in 2025 I I believe maybe in

the summer of 2025.

And Maria got a call one day

from the consulate and said, guess what?

We had an opening, can we be there next week?

And so, you know, in just the period of a week, you know,

got together, figured it out.

Maria made the plan, she pulled this thing off seamlessly.

It was wonderful. So I would say that September 21st

and 22nd, the event brought about 780

members of our community together.

Wow. Here in the library to get some of these services

that the consulate offers, such

as passport requests and renewals.

And I'll quote something that Maria said in one

of her emails to staff here.

She said, you know, in, in regards to the passports

and the renewals and what have you, this document helps

by affirming nationality

and identity for requesting protection

and assistance from foreign authorities.

By offering these services, we have enabled people to apply

for driver's licenses, open bank accounts, transfer money,

enroll children in school, obtain library cards,

access public services, secure business licenses,

file taxes, travel by airplane among other things.

So by having the consulate here to provide these services

for people, what a big deal.

Yeah. And it wasn't just the rifle

library, it wasn't just Maria.

Many branches came together,

people from the Pan Spanish services team came

and it really was a fantastic event.

Like it was great.

And I think it provided a huge service for our community.

So huge kudos to Maria

and everybody else that participated in this.

Yeah. So some other examples of our programming

that reflects our commitment to community and inclusivity.

Corina Baker, she had to leave,

but recently she started The Curious Mines Club,

which is a club for our homeschooling families.

And this has been really, really successful.

It's a weekly event. Families participate in educational

activities like STEM projects, art, health and nutrition.

And it's clear that our homeschooling community has embraced

this program because I think our first session might have

had 30 people, 50, 70, 75.

We're getting a huge crowd up here in this room. Right.

So I mean that's fantastic. That's fantastic.

Another thing that Korea has been a part of is

creating inclusive spaces for children with special needs,

such as sensory challenges and autism.

Because we've, you know,

we've been doing sensory play groups biweekly.

About 15 to 20 people attend to that.

A bilingual sensory story time, same thing.

And this is on top of the regular story times.

We also offer all the time. So that's a fantastic thing.

At the end of summer, we partner with Discovery Cafe

and hosted a back to school backpack

and school supply giveaway event.

And about over 500 people came, we distributed 267 backpacks

that were filled with school supplies for children in need.

And then after receiving their supplies, we had ice cream.

There's a bouncy house out in the

plaza and they had a good time.

And it was a huge success,

which we wanna continue next year.

Having learned that 267 backpacks were not enough. Wow.

We could have given out so many more.

So we're gonna expand that next year

and do it once again, reaching out to our teens.

We have a new program called Madness Mondays.

It's a weekly afterschool program on Mondays, about 12

to 15 teens join us every week for that.

We provide a safe space for them to hang out,

to engage in activities

and sometimes have a pizza party more come on that day.

Of course, of course. And I think this program highlights

our commitment to serving youth

by offering a supportive environment

where they can socialize and relax.

We hosted a five week series of cooking classes.

They had topics such as shop on a budget plan,

a weekly menu limit, food waste.

It was a very positive response.

And participants left with valuable skills

to help manage their daily lives.

Maria also has been running a basic computer

class for beginners.

And I'd say there's been a core group

of about five senior citizens

that have been attending these biweekly lessons,

building their confidence and their digital literacy skills.

So that's been really fun to see

them come back time and time again.

I'm not sure, Deb, I think you've been a part of that.

You talked about that. I have. She has.

She talked about how her skills are increasing.

Well I think that's a big part of it, isn't it?

We've just begun our third, I'll call it a semester

of a four month session of English classes.

They take place every Tuesday and Wednesdays.

And these classes have certainly been a great thing

for our Spanish speaking patrons.

And I think a reflection of our commitment

to bridging language barriers in our community.

Highly successful. What else?

Oh, and of course the Hispanic Heritage Festival.

You can't go without mentioning that.

I know Jamie mentioned 450,

but I heard more like 500, 550 whenever the case was.

It was phenomenal. It was a lot. It was a lot. It was a lot.

And it felt like at the beginning it kind of started slow

and throughout the day it built into the end

of the day the folk loca dancers.

I think that those are the, the highlight

people really love to see that.

And it's wonderful.

One thing that I, we kind of talked about

and I noticed this year, which I thought was really

fantastic, and I thought about this in years past, was that

this year I saw more non-Hispanic families

there enjoying this.

Which I thought was great because the past year,

just like, oh you gotta come to this.

It's beautiful, it's wonderful.

And so we saw that this year and that was fantastic.

And then I also want to,

Deb also mentioned Cindy who happens to be here.

Cindy? Yeah. Hi.

So I wanna highlight the incredible impact

that our home bound services have had.

And I think a big part of this is

through Cindy's dedication, who's been leading this service

for the past several months.

And I recently this week had the opportunity to shadow her

during her delivery day.

'cause she'll soon be leading for new

adventures moving away.

And I'm gonna be taken over a route for the time being.

So what struck me most during

that day was the genuine connection that she's built

with our elderly patrons that she delivers to.

I have to breathe, I'm talking to I, several

of them while I was there,

express deep sadness upon learning