[Music] excuse me are you ready to start [Music] on the meeting no he's not going to be able to attend his daughter is Si good evening I'd like to call the January 3rd 2024 meeting of the Edison Public Library board to order let the minutes reflect that it is 7:02 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to flag States stand Nation indivisible jice all as required by the open public meetings Act of 1975 live adequate notice of this scheduled meeting has been provided to the public by notices given to the home News Tribune Star Ledger and Sentinel posted on the library bulletin boards and website and given to the township clerk's office roll call please good evening Miss Krauss here miss O'Neal present miss me here Miss Pam you Mr de pasal here Mr Patel uh that's excused absence uh miss liry here Mr Romano here and Miss Massie here all right I I'll turn this over Dominic to you for the election of officers good evening good evening members of the board Happy New Year to everybody um I'd like to call for nominations for the office of president uh for the Board of Trustees of the Edison Township free public library I'd like to nominate Patricia Massie okay recognize um is there a second I'll second okay any other Nom nominate Mr D Pasquel okay is there a second second there's two nominations and seconded um now then we'll go to a roll call vote for the uh office of president okay Miss Krauss oh we say what there's since there are two candidates I guess everyone will just say that their preference okay Pat Massie Miss O'Neal yeah um Pat Massie this how you usually do this we've never we we generally don't have two two two options but is this the right I've never seen it done like this before that's why I was confused there's write down the votes and then it's called on this is a strange way of doing it well I know well last night at the at the Board of Education they did write down but then they announced who voted for whom so it just seems like it we don't have ballots or whatever ask if you accept I do accept you accept yes okay then continue um miss me Pat Massie Miss Pam Pat Massie Mr Deb Pasqual Mr de Pasqual Mr Patel is Excuse miss lirry Mr G Pasqual Mr Romano Pat Massie and Miss Massie Pat Massie the vote 622 for Pat Massie the two nominations for president so Pat Massie is hereby uh the president of the board uh for the beginning this session 2024 and I will now turn the meeting back over to president Massie congratulations well thank you and I I I want to thank you for your confidence in and me and I think I'm going to borrow something that I heard last night at the um Board of Education reorganization meeting um I am going to do whatever I can do to gain the trust of those who did not vote for me um so uh at this moment I would like to call for nominations for vice president I'd like to nominate Sue O'Neal thank you I accept all right do we have any other nominations for vice president think we need a second yes sorry we need a second is there a second I'd like to second that thank you any other nominations for vice president hearing none could we have a roll call vote please I did yes she did she did she did uh Miss Krauss yes Miss Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr de Pasqual yes Mr Patel is excused Miss liry yes Mr Romano yes and Miss Massie yes congratulations all right now we have do we have a nominations for secretary I'd like to nominate Lisa Krauss all right Lisa do you accept yes all right do we have any other nominations for secretary I think we need a second Miss Mass we need a second second thank you Fiona seconds any other nominations for secretary hearing none could we have a roll call vote please miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr D Pasqual yes Miss ly yes Mr Romano yes and Miss Massie yes congratulations thank you uh now we have nominations for treasurer I'd like to nominate Fiona for treasurer second thank you Fiona do you accept that I don't think so didn't I say that quickly yes you did you did you did thank you very much Wonder thank you wonder why do you accept your arm back yes yes excellent roll call vote please oh sorry are there any other nominations all right hearing done roll call vote please miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes yes Miss me oh sorry yes uh Miss Pam yes Mr de Pasqual yes Mr Patel is excused Miss ly yes Mr Romano yes and Miss Massie yes motion carries all right congratulations um all right now we move to a resolution to approve the meeting dates for 2425 and we have them right here uh can I just ask why the October meeting was moved because if I me as I mentioned last uh month when I gave these out the director will be out of town oh okay sorry like in a different continent are you going to Antarctica too excuse me are you going to Antartica too J's going to no just across the pond right and all at this moment all of the meetings will be held in council chambers except for May 14th which will be determined where that's going to be um probably one of the libraries all right so do I hear a motion to approve these meeting dates for 2024 25 so moved second all right um roller call vote please Miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr de Pasqual yes Mr Patel is excused Miss ly yes Mr Romano yes and Miss Massie yes motion carries all right our next resolution is to approve the library auditor for 20 24 and that is suple Clooney and Company and hopefully everybody had an opportunity to review um their letter do we have a motion to approve them as the library auditor so moved do we second second second thank you just one question sure how much higher is it from last year I didn't have a chance to look it up I honestly I think it's negligible um I don't think I think it was it was 118 for this year um for the 2022 and we haven't paid the bill because they the will'll get the audit next week probably um and so this one's 12,000 it's kind of like negligible okay thank you any other questions or comments all right hearing none could we have a roll call vote please miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr D pasal no Mr Patel's excused Miss liry yes Mr Romano yes and Miss Massie yes motion carries all right our next resolution is oh sorry um in light of Tony voting no can we have a discussion on why he feels no I did I miss said no yes it was no oh okay yeah I don't think he has to say I don't need you you're fine with that yeah all right I'm good well there'll be an open discussion part of the meeting correct that can be discussed in open session of course unless you want to do it in closed session right no of course I don't need to I can just say no I don't need to justify okay you don't all right well unless you'd like to but you didn't have any questions don't want to okay all right now we move on to the resolution to approve the library attorney for 2024 and that is um Brady greenan and do I hear a motion to approve that resolution motion to accept thank you do we have a second I'll second and how much is the fee going up not at all same fee okay no can we that in writing please oh it's right here it's writing it's in writing it's in writing it's in the letter but I'm looking for a yeah it's been the same for the last several years it has not changed right are you propose no increase in the current billing rate for 2024 thank you thank you very much thank you have a chance to read everything I got any other questions or comments hearing nonone could we have a roll call vote please miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr D pasal no Miss ly no Mr Romano yes and Miss Massie yes motion carries all right do we have a we have a resolution to approve the newspapers on record uh of record for 2024 and those remain uh the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the Sentinel didn't we used to do the Indian times too we used to do Desi times was something like that um we took it off last year because if we needed to do legal notices we really couldn't get them in in a timely manner um because of their their cut off dates that's why we we dropped last year year um the Desi times right because it has not been it has not been this year that's true can I ask a follow-up question sure of course um have we explored other you know I don't know what language or you know what crowd or audience that newspaper reaches but have we tried to reach that same audience with other you know newspapers that may be local well these are for legal notices and they they need to be able to take and I I can certainly check if if you want to uh put this on hold but they need be to be able to take those legal notices if we do um for example for from this meeting we would have legal notices that go out for our meet uh board meetings for the year uh legal notice that goes in that the attorney that we hired Etc and you're I know you're aware of that and these were the three we kind of follow were following what the township was doing um and I think um we dropped last year I thought the Desi times when the township dropped it but I had checked and I had tried to put something in for legal and I couldn't get anything in there for legal but if you would one this is not I'm going to say this is not uh a life and death if you if you want I can check to see what else is around and we could uh the boards uh would like to table this for the next meeting I can come back with more research if you like I don't think we should we don't have to table it we can always add another one to going to be my question we can add in the future I think it would be worth considering and if it's worth the price and the Outreach and we're able to accomplish it in a timely manner you know if not if it's not reasonable I understand okay thank you oh you're welcome yeah that makes sense any other questions or comments all right hearing none could we have a roll call vote please oh sure um we're asking was there um Motion in a second on this we all right well okay um do we have a motion to approve the newspapers of records for 2024 so moved do we have a second all right if there are no other questions or comments roll call vote please miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr de Pasqual yes Miss ly yes Mr Romano yes and Miss Massie yes I will say I'll also check to see with John to what the school does um because that would also be a good barometer of what papers they're using for their legal notices that's true uh that's true that's a good idea I have a quick question on the agenda this might just be a typo um but where's number seven oh or is or is we go from six to8 is is this just a typ you know what I um we there is no seven ah you get two points um because we actually had a duplicate in here and I think when I renumbered it I missed it Miss Massie pointed out that we had two of the same things on the list so I didn't think it was important to vote on the same thing twice no no and I guess the numbers didn't auto correct um all right so our next resolution is to approve the the official bank for 2024 do we have a motion to approve TD Bank as our official bank for all right do we have a second second I just have a quick question sure um is my understanding we've had like a good positive working relationship with TD right okay good that's my only question I just want to make sure and this is the bank we've been using in past years correct okay great they work with Municipal governments a lot great um so they're very familiar with it and they have a dedicated person you know that Alan can reach out to or that I could reach out to or Bion will be able to reach out to uh to take care of all the issues and all the interest rates are determined by the government great thank you right thank you all right any other questions or comments about that do we have a vot hearing none could we have a roll call vote Miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr D pasal yes Miss ly yes Mr Romano yes Miss Massie yes motion carries thank you the next resolution is to approve administrative salaries for 2024 and I don't think we have any paperwork on that is there paperwork it's a single sheet yes oh thank you I got it I got it here um that's the this is the extended summary to what was discussed by the Personnel committee yeah s first no this was Personnel is this something that we vote on now or do we vote um you if you want to do that as a report personel I mean we could we could certainly vote on it now we discussed it and we agreed on it so we could because we always decide to you know keep the amounts the same as the union contracts that's exactly what it is yeah right so that we can absolutely all right excellent well how about this is there anyone who feels that they'd like to discuss this in closed session or is everyone comfortable I'm comfortable all good comfortable yeah well you know what let's do we have a motion for uh to approve the administrative salaries for 2024 like to make a motion yes two people okay okay thank you there you go of course January 1 exactly do we have any questions or comments about technically the increase it is a 3% increase our increase start n it's good I think it's good um well hearing none could we have a roll call vote please absolutely uh Miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr de Pasqual yes Miss liry yes Mr Romano yes Miss Massie yes motion carries can I ask a question just really quick and it's nothing major um do we really need to have your employee ID on this the sheet um I would prefer yeah I I prefer that it not be on there um going forward okay that's really just a system kind of thing that's generated but that's what we use when we put in the the paycheck kind of thing we can take that out okay so that motion carried the next resolution is to approve the closed days holidays for 24 uh 20242 do we have a motion to approve those dates motion thank you do we have a second second but we can just for for the board's information all of these are contractual except for Good Friday Easter Sunday and um the staff de Development Day everything else is in the contract but we have traditionally just gone through this every year right but I if I if I recall um uh the uh employee is Good Friday definitely for Good Friday that's the reason that they were given floating holidays no I thought that was Columbus Day I thought that was also Good Friday I don't think so no um our understanding is is collection election day and Columbus Day because those are the two days we open all right right okay I seems to be a bit un touching any other questions or comments okay so we have a motion and a second roll call vote please sure miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr D Pasqual yes Miss ly yes Mr Romano yes Miss Massie yes motion carries all right thank you the next item on the agenda are board members comments and goals for 2024 and let's start here Mr Rano do you wanna do you want to have any I got yelled that pretty good last night but no comments goal I just wish everybody Happy New Year and uh I know that uh going forward we're going to go forward uh with a lot of Happiness how's that thank you very much for your time biona my wish for the board is a peaceful board this year um and to respectfully disagree and let's get our our construction moving this year let's get it going I I second what P just said I would also like to add i' like very much for us to have a productive year I'd like to see a lot of good things happening I know we're working on that second bookmobile so you know we're working on the construction um just hope that we get everything moving along well and quickly thank you um I'd just like to say thank you to everyone for welcoming me this year I really appreciate it and I've really had a wonderful time getting to know every one of you and learning about more about the library and what it does and I really hope to continue to learn more and continue to grow I love that we have the library coming out to our events I love seeing the book mobile at our events um I'm just really thrilled to see you know how much the library has grown this past year and I hope we can continue that growth you know especially I second the the building projects and things like that I think that'll be really great and I think we'll see a lot of progress this year Tony um yeah I'd like to give this to the president first I'd like to see if it'd be okay to hand this out to the rest of the board um it's something that I um discovered recently um and if it's not okay to hand it out I'm just going to address it myself um so I had a question about the uh signers of the expenditures and the checks for the library board and I emailed the director and I asked who are the ones that sign the checks and the expenditures and he emailed me back and um said that there's rarely any Co signers required and I have a question about that and then the three signatures are the board president the library Treasurer and the director so um the first question that I have is um do we have rules in place as far as co-signers who actually signs the checks and is there a certain amount where we require two signatures because from first of all it is not an or I mean it's not an and it is not um the president and someone or the treasure and someone the way the banking system is set up and the way that it works it is an or so I get I get that I get that well I I'll get to that that's not my my my question there my question is is there a certain limit where you need more than one signature is my first question when do you need two signatures on a check is there requirement for that is isn't there usually a limit like I know some organizations have a few and then it has to be signed or who I'm sorry this particular organization oh sorry in this the way this has been set up is as you all know you approve the bill list so once the checks aren't cut until the bill list is approved and then there's no need for a double signature because the the entire board has approved the bill list and so it could be a single signature that's what occurs here okay that's fine um um so the other the other question I have is I did look up the our bylaws and I looked up the state laws and rules and nowhere did I find that the president is able to sign any of the checks or expenditures in the actual laws it's basically says the treasurer and then it says in the absence um the unability of the treasurer it would be the vice president so according to our bylaws and according to the state laws the president is not nowhere does it say that the president can sign checks so I'm wondering where that has come from that any that the president and I don't know it could be for years we've been doing that but I I don't see where it gives the um president the um opportunity to sign the checks um and the response that I did get from the director was that I think it would be a good idea for the bylaws to catch up with the past practices now that's not the way it works it works where we follow the bylaws that are created we don't change the bylaws on past practices of what's been done that's not the way it works so I'm a little concerned on our structure and I'm not questioning this is happening that's happening I'm just concerned on our structure as to why we haven't been following are bylaws that the treasurer and the Vice President are actually the ones that do that I don't see where the President should even be aign or unchecks so if that can be explained to us um where has that come from why has that been happening and where's the approval of us being able to do that well the simple explanation is that's that's how it that's how it is happening in accordance with the past practice and as the Director said if there was issue with respect to this um it should have been put on the agenda as to change to change the bylaws or to conform the bylaws to the practice um the director answered the question as to what the practice was and said that there should be an issue raised regarding the bylaws if you feel that that's not the appropriate this is the first I'm hearing of this that there's a concern of it but this is not my this is not my role exactly to be the person that makes sure that everybody follows the rules that would be on the burden of the president she's the one who is in charge of all the rules making sure that we follow all of these and I I just was wondering why this why has this been okay why have I mean we have a we have a committee that does the bylaws that's supposed to check them make sure that everything's work right every in all the bylaws so that's one committee that I see has failed here because we don't have what have we've been doing with past practices in the bylaws the president is the person who makes sure that everything is being followed and it's not being followed so my question would be is um how many how many times would we say the president director Treasurer has each signed any of the checks of expenditures because if the president has signed the expenditures and the checks it goes against our bylaws that's not allowed to happen we can't just make our own rules up we all follow bylaws it's why you have them so you can't just say well based on the past practices that you can't do that because we have rules and laws we are not following our bylaws and and we again no offense to you Pat but we just voted in a president who's been president for how many years and the same officers and we have something as important as the signatures of checks and expenditures and it's just been glossed over as we're just going to make our own rules I have a problem with that because we are all accountable for finances and making sure everything is going well well and that's that's my issue here and and I'd like to know uh what the answer to this is madam president thank you for your from a legal point of view that is incorrect the president is not responsible for making sure that the rules are followed there's this is a board the board is responsible if there was an issue it could be raised to the board and addressed that's how it should be if you've now raised the issue if you have if you want to propose a resolution to resolve the issue but I will tell you that in the past the reason why the president has done it is because no one else has been around to do it and the checks needed to be to be signed I'm going back into the past from before Miss Massie was the president and even from before uh this board um with the three or four previous Library directors ago um so so I do know about the past practice it's not inconsistent as I said before this this is not a situation where you're talking about signing authority to issue checks without the board's knowledge this is a situation where the board approves each and every expenditure by a vote in very particular as a matter of fact every every month there's a bill list and every month someone has a question about it um and it's resolved prior to giving the authority to to for the person to for the checks to go out then it's a formality for the checks to be signed if you want to change that that's fine um I don't think this is the proper way to do it I think it should have been on the agenda uh as I see this this is the uh place for for board comments uh regarding board members comments regarding goals for 2024 if you want to count that as a goal for 2024 we put it on the agenda for next for the next meeting and if you want to change it the board wants to change it it'll be changed um this is the first I'm hearing about it it's the first that was Ever Raised as an issue to me so quite frankly I think we need to address it at the next board meeting okay if I can respond because you're still glossing over that we have not followed our bylaws that's we have laws we follow that's what this whole country is based on laws we follow you're saying that well it was never brought up it should have been caught earlier we why well now you caught it how come nobody else caught it as the lawyer don't you look at all this stuff and you have to make sure legally we're okay illegally you are okay we're not okay we're not filing our own bylaws well Tony I think you've made your point I think I believe but nobody's giving me an answer I think the answer is the there's no you're not letting anybody else not letting anybody else talk goad the bylaws need to be reviewed and they will yes Mr Verano uh not on this board I'm on another board uh we have a policy we have policies and we have a company it's called Strauss that does our policy work and Strauss keeps us informed on all policies that have changed or policiy that have an issue uh I would like to take and hold this off into a close session or to the next meeting so we can take and fully address this we see that something has happened uh I I believe I don't believe that there's any problem with this I believe there's a problem with policy but if we want to go into policy which is fine I I have no problem with that I got a big basket okay and I'd really like to put the big basket here and ask somebody to fill the basket up for the money that they owe us so if you want to play I'm ready to play so now go for it all right I think we have finished thank you for your comments I I appreciate them JY did you have any comments uh or goals for 2024 I like to see that we are here to represent the community and we like to hear from the community and really see what they would like to see us to do and we give that as an atmost important in this board would like to see that it's happen and also like to see um the construction of all the libraries Renovations and editions we like to speed up the process as fast as we can get it so that's our major goal to accomplish this year and we like to see the comments from the community and like to listen to that's all thank you sue um yeah first I'd like to say how very appreciative I am I am of all the the changes and the forward that we have made regarding um the library taking over their own finances from the township I know that's been a goal for a while I know Allan and debor have worked very hard on that and we're very close to having it be 100% we're not there yet but with continued improvement in our relationships with the township I know we're going to get there like others I'm also looking forward to the construction getting started and finished and having that new library you know and other than that um I love seeing the library at different events and having all the community involvement especially with the bookmobile and now the Sprinter we've never had a second bookmobile we've had the larger one previously but we haven't had the Sprinter and I think that's going to make um a lot of the residents quite happy at least I would hope so because I like I love the idea of it so that's all here's to a good 2024 yes definitely um and I I agree with everything that everyone has said certainly I hope 200 uh 24 is an outstanding year for the public library um I hope our friends group really expands our next meeting is going to be what is it uh Wednesday November 18th no why do I say November for January January yes um that's a long way away um yeah why have I been doing that I've call I'm calling January November um but I do hope the friends group EXP fans I am waiting patiently and I think it's going to happen soon where we go out to bid for the main library renovation and that we really get moving on the North Edison uh expansion uh which is very very exciting I hope this board um works together very very well this year and one thing that we will definitely be doing we'll be reviewing our bylaws completely uh reviewing our Poli policies and strategic plan and I do hope that we are able to schedule a board retreat um because I think that would be very helpful but yes let's hope that 2024 is an excellent year um now let's move on to our regular uh items hopefully everyone had an opportunity to review the minutes from December 12th 2023 of the regular session um do we have a do we have any questions or comments about those minutes December 12th 2023 hearing none uh they are approved by unanimous consent oh I'm sorry I do have to abstain from those votes as I wasn't present okay fine thank you yes I also have to abstain I couldn't get into my zoom meeting of course yeah thank you all right and I would that would be the same for the December 12th 2023 close session minutes um we would have cat and joty abstaining um are there any questions or comments about those minutes all right hearing none then those minutes are approved um by unanimous consent and uh the next item item on the agenda is the president's report I I don't really have anything prepared I just want to thank uh my fellow board members for your confidence once again and hope that we have an outstanding um year uh now we'll move on to financial reports and hopefully you had a chance to review the financial reports I did and um I know it's been a tough year getting everything going you know with all the figures and switching over to Edmonds and all um but you think it would be possible for the next meeting if we were actually be able to have a sheet that showed what was budgeted what was spent or what percentage of it was because you know 983 per I know it's not accurate you know um I was going to say that you actually beat me to it because I I just really got what I wanted to do for today was basically pay the bills so all the bills got put in I'm sorry so that we could generate that um the next two weeks is um going to be my time to pretty much post all the stuff that needs to be posted so at the next board meeting um you will get two spreadsheets one a final December 31st 2023 and then a new 2024 beginning for the first month so salaries to be posted have a budget you know established on paper that we can see each month um you know because it's you know I with the change over to Edmunds I know it's been very you know difficult you know in getting everything in well um I hope that between now and the next board meeting um we can meet with the finance committee once um Miss Massie determines who the finance committee uh members are going to be um so that we could um come up with a new budget for 2024 which is why I was proposing just to do the temporary budget of for 60 days which gives us two months to work on it um so it's automatically what it does Edmond rolls over uh 26.5% as a temporary budget um and then once the board approves all the actual numbers we go back in and we can do that for 2024 so next two weeks pretty much to the 15th is to um uh get everything posted um general ledger all that stuff for 2023 so we can close it and then I need to roll over Edmond so we can start the 2024 yeah as long as for 2023 I can have some figures on a spreadsheet that show you know what was budgeted for 2023 you know what line item say line item 12 was you know our meeting room or maintenance or whatever how much we budgeted how much we actually spent and what the percentage of the differen is which will definitely you know would help you know and going forward with doing a new budget oh absolutely what I want to try to do is we really did last year we didn't do the budget through Edmonds we really did it on a on an Excel spreadsheet and then we tried to fit those categories into admins I know and it didn't really work and it's just it's been a process I know that's why I'm so appreciative of all the work that you two have put into no I mean I I'm enjoying it I didn't know I wanted to be an accountant after all these years um but uh hopefully we will be bringing someone on in the next couple of months um which is way overdue but I wanted not to bring someone while we were still can transition I wanted to bring someone in so that um whoever comes in at least has some fresh stuff there so it looks like it's almost done um so we will that's one of the the uh new positions we've been putting on the back burner putting on the back burner for this whole year just didn't get around to do it so whoever you hire one of the things that would be important is to follow the kiss method and keep it simple uh edin isn't that simple but we no it isn't but you know Excel can make it a little bit more simple and I'm sure Edmunds can import to excel but if you did notice I try to consolidate the bill list as clean as possible for all of you today so you didn't have 26 lines that said one book two book three books yeah so um if this isn't exactly the way you want it just tell us and we we'll I I really didn't have a lot of time today because we had to do everything today but if it if it's if you want more detail back just let me know we can add that I took out columns so that it was everyone said it was too much stuff um so if everyone just tells me how they want it we just it's a work in progress well just that what we didn't you know like all that much not that we didn't like it but it just listed every single book that was purchased you know so like we're not at the bill list yet so I'll wait till we get to there my other questions okay all right do we have any other questions about the financial reports um hearing none let's move on to the bill list do we have a motion to approve the bill list dated December 31st 2023 so moved do we have a second okay any questions or comments about the bill list sure all right Sue I don't want to disappoint on the first meeting of the no of course not what is she International um how do we describe she she is a reseller of technology equipment computers um servers um we buy a lot of our toner from them because they seem to be the one always in stock uh rather than getting things through St uh and or um WB M which is why you see um Shi almost every month they're local the one of their big offices is here in Somerset and everyone buys from shei they are just I mean a cat is shaking her heads as well so maybe one other line could be what it is you know like you know computer Etc and radar company what is that that's books book so we could do you know another little larm would say what books is janway I guess is um janway janway sells promotional products so the things we use to buy giveaways at uh events and summer uh reading we usually um buy from Jan W because they'll do um they'll put the libraryies name on it so they're the go-to place for libraries when they're looking for like CH yeah if we could just put another um line to explain some of those things so we don't keep asking you the same questions oh sure you know and um the township veton I assume is all the the payroll and pension and everything like that the pension the pension yeah okay thank you any other questions yeah of course uh line 41 oh yeah that was my one I just and 42 local delivery Corp what does that do um they are the ones who deliver our newspapers let me just make sure I'm looking at yes that's a newspaper is that all year our newspapers here every day we get seven newspapers um is that the year price or that's for the whole year okay we pay UPF front for the whole year we don't have to deal with 12 different vouchers and and 12 times that um The Bill Gets In laid and they want to stop payment so it's easier to pay them for the whole year all right and the shimaru media and entertainment um let me tell you I give me one second I think it's program oh oh shimaru oh shimaru we will be announcing next week that we are the second library in Middle sex County to have shimaru me which is streaming um um B Bollywood um movies uh DVDs and music um so we're really excited about that and the $7,500 for how what time period um it's a payer use so it will probably last us about 6 months um and then we see if it really takes off then we have to put in more money if that's enough then that might last us the whole year but we anticipate probably about $10,000 a year for the streaming um you know the two things we've noticed of course are our DVD um uh circulation has gone down our music music we have no music anymore we rely on hoopla for music um the music CDs uh disappear here before I even got here um and our audio books are also really on the way out um and as as you know it's all about streaming it's all about downloading it's all about what's available so in the downloading what we've really seen is people want the Leisure stuff so we're looking at uh a few more things that we can add um that have a programming component to it um that people will be able to watch um concerts and ballet and things like that and we can put them up on our website as if it's a program um you know 10 years ago people were looking at databases and that's all really nice but people aren't using the datab bases they they're you know we've we've gone through the through that and we get them pretty much most of them free from the State Library um so we don't do that we we're concentrating on is Leisure um supplementing the the collection and it's funny because shimaru is a very big distributor of bwood and we've we've had we have been buying their DVDs um so we are very familiar with shimo I do you have another question any other just one more um Hughes environmental engineer what's that for um they do our hvacs so um you'll see quarterly um quarterly bills each one separate for the three branches and then anything else if you don't see three together one right after the other it's more likely we called them in for um events or problems that we've had um and they're up in Mawa um but we've been using them now I think it's almost three years any other questions or coms one other question did we get an ND year present from uh psng and Elizabeth Town Gas that they're not charging us I don't see um anything on here well the bills came in after we ran the bill list they all came in today's mail after after the bills so they'll be on the next bill list everyone we have the dates for it then on that too I think I'd asked that before the dates of service so we know what the dates are cuz by the time we have our next meeting since this meeting is very early there'll probably be double listing of PSC andj yeah because um our next meeting is the 13th or 14th I can't remember yeah yeah um and oh yeah that's right before I go away um and um it it will end up being a six almost a six week Bill list yeah so we can have if we could have them separated out by what the dates are otherwise I'm just going to ask you what they're for because it's so high I I'd love to have you ask me because otherwise we don't have this great conversation there you go and I mean I even brought my my bigger sheet which gives me the details just in case I forgot what everything is I came prepared all right thank you Alan any other questions or comments I do very quickly lines 44 45 46 and 47 are all to the same person for the same amount of money why is that well be this is what we do for a performer we no longer um put their checks together because if on that first day Dan supposed to do a program it snows and we had to cancel it then what happened was we had this check with all four dates on it for example using him um and then we had to reschedule a date or we had to hold the check till he did the fourth so for performers now we've learned we had the issues over the summer they're all separate so he's doing four different programs in the three branches um over the time period that's why they're four for the same person and they're four for the exact same amount he's doing things on shipwrecks and some other things about um the Jersey Shore if memory servs me correct and I hope all of you will come and hear him yes any other questions or comments about the bill list I just have a quick question as well uh the libraries of middle sex there's uh three items that are pretty large on page two at the top 29 30 and 31 the library of middle sex is our our automation Consortium um and um that is how we circulate our materials how we share resources between libraries we are the largest uh member of the lmxac Consortium um and so um we are assessed um one because of the size of population one because of our circulation um one because we have more branches than anyone else and bookmobile than anyone else in the whatever so it is quite a lot um and so yeah we are we um but if we were to do this on our own it would cost us double plus we would need to hire our own staff person or the three Lin a lot of the things we get one there's an assessment um a regular like we'll call it dues that's that big 28,000 okay um then we pay an assessment for our e- materials um every time those circulate we share an ebook collection um we also use them uh for other resources such as our internet for our U bookmobile goes through them um and also we pay uh hoopla through them because it's a combined opla uh for all the libraries work together so um they're probably besides the book vendors would be the one that you would probably see at the end of of the year that we have spent if you want to call it spent have utilized the best of our Monies to to that it's it's our membership organization that joins we're now three new libraries are joining so we have libraries we're joined together with libraries Union Middle sex um and uh sumon mou great that's nice to hear thank you all right if there are no if there are no other uh questions or com trying to get Woodbridge could we have a roll call vote please on the bill list okay I'm sorry one second Miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr D Pasqual yes Miss lry yes Mr Romano yes Miss Massie yes motion carries thank you all right and then we have a motion to approve the 2024 temporary budget for 60 days and as as um uh just for me to refresh what I said before um the uh temporary budget is 26.5% of our uh budget and that's what the system automatically rolls over um when we do the 2024 um change over so um um basically it it's out of out of I don't do anything we just roll over and it automatically does temporary budget numbers all right so do we have a motion to approve the 2024 temporary budget for 60 days so moved second thank you any questions or comments hearing none could we have a roll call vote vote please miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss Pam yes Mr de Pasqual yes Miss ly yes Mr Romano yes Miss Massie yes motion carries all right thank you and now we are to the directors and assistant director's reports oh goodness well let me start by saying an official um happy New Year um to all of you and um I look forward in working um and Deborah and I and Amanda um with the board this year um and congratulations to the officers for for uh 2024 um there's uh a lot of paperwork that we're going to have to do to um do some things with the with the bank accounts um we've been giving notice that our bookmobile should be ready somewhere uh between the 20th and the 25th um so I'll be working with um Farber to see um how we're going to pick that up we're all excited um and we are anticipating that we will uh begin to use it um once the current um schedule is done for the big Mook mobile and we will be both using the big um bookmobile for the larger stops uh the small bookmobile for um smaller stops and Lobby stops um so we're looking at really expanding and also um the smaller one is a lot easier um because it doesn't require a cdnl uh to bring it to more events so cat just tell us where you want us to be and it's much easier with the small one than it will be with the big one CU there's only one person who could drive the big one and so the small ones you know any one of us can drive it so that that should be fun the library uh Foundation update um I want to thank the foundation um it supported uh funding for uh the winter challenge prizes um so those of you who um are interested in in uh another uh book challenge we have that up and running um I think um Miss Massie already mentioned the Friends of the library and um I would encourage all board members um to um belong to the to the friends I left all of you a a paper uh application and um to have you attend uh our next um um meeting um the friends are really uh looking at uh a variety of ways in which they can um uh help promote the library advocate for the library uh and raise extra funds to do something special um the foundation um is looking at um beginning the uh Capital campaign for raising additional dollars uh for uh furniture and some other things for the um uh North Edison Clara Barton and uh main libraries and they'll probably have something uh next month um when when they meet so that's exciting um I think some of you already mentioned the North Edison Branch um um there will be a meeting with um the architect um and on all the um Engineers next week to jumpstart the new process with the with the um um revised plans so we're looking forward to that um we we are anticipating either at the end of this month or early part of next month um the uh bids for the main library will be going out um and so there's pretty much I've been told by Anthony iino there's very little left um before before before that happens and um last if not least we finally have we had to do by hand since with software did not work at all we now have Museum passes available and on the first day that we announced it people came in and they called all the branches so um it's cool a lot of people came in and they wanted to um you know put reservations in for different dates and and plan and whatever so I think um we got to a good start um we anticipate that we'll have the new software up by the end of the month uh the company that we're dealing W now um is one that um their software has been used for years um and so um that should be exciting for us so that we could we could uh get that up and running and I think I want to thank um Kevin Michael and Deborah pretty much for getting that all and R uh for getting that all up and running each one of them had a uh important part to play in that so um that's good and and um I think the fact that on the first day we had so much interest really was was cool anything else you want to sure um so last month Alan and I had got to go to a what is it uh a meeting with that showcased the new ILS that LMX will be switching to it's really beautiful um the functionality on the user end or the patron end will be the same it just might be more streamlined looking it's mostly behind uh the background stuff that we'll be changing for us and staff will be training on that'll be in the spring so keep your eyes out for that um and we also had a really productive meeting with two of the juvenile uh police departments um members so we're going to have hopefully more programs with them maybe quarterly and we talked about some of the needs we're going to with you know um TJ right next to us so I'm hoping that that will go somewhere I I guess between the last meeting and this meeting what I um forgot to talk about was um that I attended a uh reception for um um one of the Chinese provinces uh uh in uh Manhattan for their annual um media event and so um was probably about a thousand people at this event uh at the Marriott Hotel um and um I was probably one of the few people who um whose language was solely speaking English so it was interesting um and the purpose was to donate books to the library and so um we'll be selecting uh over I think we have a choice of 350 books and um we also got to meet um the uh Counselor General from from China who was there and shook his hand and um it was really quite a a big event and we did make some really good contacts for us for the future um in uh programming and um working perhaps with some of the organizations that um work in regards to China uh American relations so I kind of see this as a parallel um to when we worked with gopio um and had the big event here so I think it was really a a coup d' there was the only other Public Library was there was Scarsdale Public Library so only two libraries there so I thought that was pretty cool so so I'm waiting to get all these shipment of books poor r that's very good thank you I have two Qui two quick questions yes first just because it came most recently Deborah can you please explain to everyone what an ILS is because most people not in libraries do not know what the acronym stands for oh yes I'm sorry an integrated library system so it it's um essentially the catalog for the patrons so that's what the the interface will change a little bit um on when you guys are looking up items in the catalog and then the back end is the way that we find materials link materials um check materials out check them back in so it's basically the circulation and Technical Services which is the cataloging Departments will be mostly affected thanks just it just helps what when people hear something new is coming it helps if they know what you're talking about yes I'm sorry thank you I'm very I'm very bad at acronyms um next question just very quickly I was looking over the um this winter schedule for the bookmobile and I noticed there's only one school John Adams on it is there any reason that that's the only school that that the bookmobile visits I know in the past it visited woodro Wilson Middle School actually it's not even the school itself it's a special program for children with special needs within the school um we at this point did not have enough um bookmobile power to hit the schools and so um that's why with the um new um uh extra bookmobile and our ability to be in two places at once we'll be starting to rethink um where we go um we haven't hit uh very many of the uh senior residences and nursing homes and those kind of things and we haven't hit any of the nursery schools yet so it's really um this is a a re not a I wouldn't call it a restart a re I don't know something um pretty much with April with the kickoff um with National Library week um when we're we really rethinking how we better serve um the the population of of Edison and what is it they're really want from us um it probably is time uh it's almost two years years since we did any kind of survey and it probably is time for us to take the old survey update it and send it out uh much has changed since we first started that strategic plan and I think we need some some new input uh from the community so um I I think the book mobile is a good way for us to get it because it's really going out to neighborhoods where um we think people are don't even know the library exist so um you know any any kind of feedback we can get from or anything that the board members here is helpful for us when they they're in their own neighborhoods or talk to their friends well I just will put in a little plug for for the schools I happen to know that at least when the bookmobile was running it was regularly used by the ESL program at wdro Wilson I think one of them I think one of them is an ESL program and one of them um John Adams and the other one was was a special education program and WRA Wilson was uh ESL yeah they were special programs of some sort any other question and the reason we we because we we need to do the cart before the horse um which is I think uh now that we've also met um the communications person from the school um we talked to her last night um Pat has talked to her before um we what what we need if we're going to do the schools that don't have media Specialists is we need to get library cards in the hands of the kids so that's kind of like to me that's what we need to work on before we can because if the kids doesn't have a library card and they go to the book won't be able won't be able to take anything out so we need to make sure um and we were um starting school by school but I think with with Heather's help um we can get a little bit more of a push we did a little bit of a push and a little bit of a test last year um but we need to get hands uh uh a library card in the hands of the 177,000 kids that go to school in Edison um to really make a big impact um on on what we do as well and I think then they could appreciate it more when they go out to the bookmobile that'll be able to take stuff out right and what weren't there plans to have uh an online application for parents to fill out on the parent portal uh at the Board of Education right at the school website well I just to I talked to Kevin yesterday about well this morning or yesterday about it um so it should probably take us a day because it's basically just a link to the portal so we just need to have it somewhere on our uh in in Internet um so I just need to show him how we want to do it and I think we also uh need to have that available to the other schools in town like St Michaels and um the private schools and offer them the same uh opportunity um to get library cards um even though they're not in the public school we should give them the same opportunity I sometimes I think we forget about the other schools in town and we have several um private schools that we need to work on or well so it probably just take a day of him coming up with a Google form um based on our library card application it will go behind in the parents portal um and then it'll just come to us and we will um uh take the applications make the library card uh and send it out to the students yeah that'll be excellent any other questions all right uh then we go on to committee reports and we really didn't have any committee meetings um we have facilities and bookmobile finance [Music] um Personnel I don't think we have any any updates to give at this particular time um and in terms of unfinished business I don't believe do we have any unfinished business I don't think so and then new business we don't have anything listed so we are now at public comment um so I welcome whoever would like to make public comment yes please I'm sum Malone 85 Pleasant Avenue is this on Can You Hear Me should be you can hear hear me I can hear you but yeah I'm not sure um happy New Year everybody um I think you all are doing a great job I I am a member of the friends and we're anxious to get going um you touched on a few things that I was actually going to touch on like the bookmobile going to schools you know I think that we're increasing the programming um and I I should preface this with you know there's still a pretty big concern about claraa Barton um it came up at a board meeting a few weeks ago um I've heard from a Township official that you know what's going on there the membership's not really up and I I'm nervous about claraa Barton still um because I don't I don't know if it's true is the membership up I don't know it feels like it's more generate you know that more activi has been going on there certainly the programming um is great and I think um you know we're there's lots of focus on sending out email blasts and all these programs but the email blasts go to people who are already members of the library so what are we doing to increase the Outreach um and yes I'm very clar Bart and focused um but everywhere really that the libraryies there you know I I had a thought that when a kid registers for kindergarten why aren't they just mailed library cards to the families there's no fee to join the library like what's in the way of that you know like get the get the rosters and send these kids library cards I don't know that's just an idea I had um I know it would require Board of approval etc etc um but that's one way to do it and then I think we need to be showing up like have Library fairs at schools and sign up the kids in the and we've talked about this for two years and I know you're doing a bunch of other stuff but um I want to just take the opportunity to put that back on the radar that I think um the the programming is fantastic everything's great I I know that not not everything can be done all at once but we're very focused on things that um are available to people who are Library members and i' I'd also like to see us focus on you know recruiting new library members and then there's the issue of signage for Clara Barton and we asked uh council president um pointer about that every now and then for a year and a half and that's not happen so I don't know if you guys can do anything about that but there's really not adequate signage for Clara Barton compared to the other libraries so um that's my two cents and sorry I haven't been here last year was a crazy year for us but no I think you're doing a good a great job and congratulations on um your appointments thank you very much can I can I just say something about what she talked about with Clara Bart sure okay um because I'm just saying Alan if you remember the last meeting because I think you were talking about I was the one who brought it up um I'm still looking for the comparison of Prior years to how claraa Barton was in 20123 and the reason I did ask that was because I had the same questions are we increasing are programs increasing and I did see at the last meeting that if we need more funds to increase the programs maybe for the signage if we need but as a board we need to see the picture of what's happening at clar Barton I if I were you why would be nervous I personally don't think clar Bon's going anywhere but again not if I have anything to say that I I'm I'm just saying hundreds of Neighbors in my opinion it's not going anywhere but but we I think we really need to see a picture of what's happening there because I for one would say if we need $100,000 to help Clara Barton let's do it so Alan if that's something I know you're busy but I'm just tell if you you know I'm just saying whatever we have but I know you're but if you can at some point if you I don't think it'll cost anywhere near that to do Outreach um one of the things we we hope we um can get some of the grassroot things uh done uh with the friends um uh we waited till we had to get through last year um we hope to have some generic Flyers um that we will have when we meet with the friends on that date that we all the friends need to do is ask us we'll give them hundreds and hundreds they can pass it out um about the library generic things about the three branches where they are and come and all that stuff um we realize that we are up to capacity in what we're able to do in the marketing and so um we're working on uh getting uh a part-time person that work with Michael um we want to start to do I for example we're looking at uh sending uh a letter with a library card brochure um to new residents as they move into town um because we're able to do that mailing list we don't have to pay for it we can get that through um one of the Library resources so these are a couple of things but we need more bodies to do that so um uh that's one of the things we are we have um starting to do for quarter 1 um but I think we need to have that publicity all over town um posters in every single store everywhere you know flyers in every single store everywhere uh that will take them um with the libraries here you know we're in every neighborhood um the if you look at us now we're in every neighborhood right because the bookmobile goes in every neighborhood so we're as close as your corner these days Chang a library card like I think I think for community outreach you can't drop a flyer and expect people to pick it up you have to be proactive like you have to remove barriers that's why I am in favor of some um Mass um registration for kids um when they become of age to go to the library um I think I think that could be really really great um I realize that's a lot and it's you know once you scratch the surface well what if a kid's family already has a library card blah and I know all that but I do think that um you know like let's contact PTA me you know PTA presidents and say can we have a library fair and the friends can do a lot there to help facilitate that but there's no um substitute for really topnotch Librarians which we have to go and talk to kids and talk about programming and we can certainly help with that but um I think I think that could be a way to kind of sign people up and if we did it every year um we'd increase membership throughout the town not just Clara but thank you can I make a comment as well thank you yes um just in relation to the sign I do want to mention that um probably you know a little while back I want to say six month months ago or so I reached out to our Department of Public Works about exploring getting a larger sign over there the concern was the intersection of Hoover and amb boy the right of way is really tricky and there's the other sign on the other side of the street I really like that sign personally so I didn't want to replace it with something new so I am more than happy I don't know who would be the most appropriate person whether it's the director or the president or whatever it may be um I'm happy to have that conversation again it just it just does warrant a larger conversation CU we're going to have to figure out where we want to put it what size and things like that and if we want the other sign to stay up so I do want to say that there has been discussions about it it just does need a larger discussion with the library as well with whomever that be there is there is one sign right but it faces Only One Direction on Amboy correct there's there's one sign I don't know if it only faces one way I'm not certain but it's right it's it's right in front of Jade Palace yeah yeah it's that's to see when you drive by because it Blends in the in the background but there there's some of the other libraries like like when you're on um when you're approaching Oak Tree Road from Grove right on the corner of oak tree and Grove across across uh oak tree is just a a sign on a tall pole you know with the open book and a the graphic of a child the library graphic right and and those are just standard library signs you know and so that you're approaching an area with a library so maybe something like that and I understand it's it's a little challenging because it's up the hill but it can be done yeah just buy a lot of signs okay thanks Patty yes uh weren't those signs donated were those the one was donated yes yeah yeah me I'm quite sure that you know we could look into that maybe the planning board could help us or the zoning board yeah yeah that would be a great idea maybe may maybe can they hear us wait a minute I mean I mean look they want to do buildings and stuff maybe they can put a sign up that can be seen on both sides there you go well thank you yes Joyce I want to say Happy New Year to all of you guys and I like to congratulate you on your offices and I also like to thank uh Romano because I like him CU he's not political when he's dealing with the library so that's that's a plus for you all right because I don't like political games played with the library because everybody oh we in a new sports field oh we have this we have you know all these outside activities that only seasonal now when your kid goes out to tennis basketball whatever and they hurt their s they still got to use this this is very important now we got rid of a lot of schools then we open over built I think we got a blade of grass left but we're talking about all this building up on Amboy Avenue but we're talking about closing the library and this is a part that really disturbs me a lot how you going to compare the main library uh TJ empties out into that one uh the other one by uh JP Stevens empty out into that one and a lot of time there babysitting service so that's don't fake it's not Babysitting Service because your parents got to wait at somewhere for the kids to be because you know in middle school you're still not grown enough for me to let you come home by yourself so you wait there until I pick you up at five o'clock so if we really want to be honest and I was Disturbed and a lot of people are like she stated they're they're very nervous because they know that some of the people whose time they be on the library board time may be coming to an end before this Administration leaves all right and so why not just be honest with people honest with people this is what we want to do this is how we want to move this way and I'll tell you like I told the people in the council meeting you should be if you're an athletic coach or if you do those different things you know you monitor with students and stuff you should be fighting along with the library people why would you want at the old time they used to say like a dumb jock why would you want somebody that doesn't have it up here at the same time with sports because college does don't do that anymore if you don't have the ability to think and you don't have your library hours that you need to have they cut the scholarships now so you have to be educationally sound as long as which you being physically sound all right so and that's what disturbs me the most in this town that we don't think the whole thing out we just do kneejerk we play politics we pet people against each other and we want this group and that group and we have no sound reason but well Administration says we should fight with each other we can't sit down as a group of people and when I told them that children are watching you that you can't sit down with a good group of people and you can't just disagree so what I disagree with you we disagree that doesn't mean anything that I disagree with you I disagree with you maybe I disagree with you on a and b but see we got it together and that's what we have to start working toward back and forth and another thing with um Miss Pam sitting there I feel sorry for her because I think I me Mr D Pasquel needs to move over because he had her hand his hand in her face the whole time he's talking and I'm seeing her like moving over to this side I'm Italian what do you want me to do I know but that's not that's not fair that's not fair that you should have her squinching when she should be you know pay P full attention to the people there and as far as the clar Barton Library I've told them different things because I seen with Highland Park I was there and they had 69 new programs for their Library see there are Library libraries are not just about circulation anymore all right because I got about five Kindles myself so it's not just about circulation if you come to my house downstairs in the basement the family room I probably got more books than some people have in their you know in the library on the first floor have those books and another thing I find kind of odd here is um juneth is a Federal holiday and a state holiday but yet I don't see it on here I yeah that is also a learning experience you know and you need to learn about different holidays about different things and that's secular you know you know I'm not talking about your religious holidays and stuff I'm just saying different things I said it just struck me as strange that maybe you need a diverse Council or something to let you know that there are other people in this town that you know that celebrate you know different things whereas it being a state and federal holiday that means that all over the place we're we're celebrating it but my last thing for everybody is that I'm very disturbed that the people in the clar Barton section with all this zoning and variance and all this stuff being given out being sitting there sit there terrified that this year may go by and they may lose something in their neighborhood like a library but if you go to the rest of the neighborhoods they had Gathering if if gathering places you can meet there the girl SC can meet there whatever because I remember for about 25 years or more Within the mini bville Center my mother and I we ran a tutoring program and when we ran that tutoring program it was packed every single day it was packed and we worked along with the school and the school would bring the kids there and leave the and the bus driver would put them over at the um mini bville Center and I'm I'm looking for more of that this year I'm looking for more of that you know our kids have been hurt because of Co you know everybody's not way way ahead some people will lag behind but they catch up later but I I just want us to encourage kids and have little programs and stuff that would make kid a kid want to come out to the library on a Saturday morning and you know that's all I can say I'm worried about the juneth and about what celebrations and decoration that we have for the library because I think everything is a learning experience and me being from the school system I think that you should have easel like this month here it should be like four easos in each Library saying Dr Martin Luther King the different things he did stuff moving forward next month it should be Luna New Year's and also African-American history month that's there should be easel set up in places that people can come and read and learn knowledge we're already at a a terrible point in our country that we don't have Civics and we don't have geography so please please educate our kids and show them that we're trying to move them forward as well as working culturally together thank you thank you any other public comment all right then we'll move we have one more oh sorry yes of course good evening 79 uh 63 this in New Jersey um I'm glad this evening to to see that part said the president and um some something seems like um normal and um it feel right and it's good to have the lawyer too and uh to have Joseph here too and everybody and it's a sign to us that is a little bit of Sanity for us until whatever we can have it because is always a concern when we start hearing Clara we hear circulations those are two things that we've seen the pattern and wherever we hear them it throws us into Feast because we've seen those two U the two w being used and like used to threaten us all the time and uh claba happens to be a very tiny um library in a smaller community so whenever people people are considering us thinking about us they should think that when we hear the word circulation and we hear the word um we're considering it doesn't come to favor us because it has a pattern for us so it makes us to be um agitated we don't want to L that library and uh it's very very important to us and we are doing everything possible to have it as long as we can can um like have it um I will be glad if all the suggestions that um Su talked about we've been doing that for like two years now the school year will come to an end in June we will be glad to see whatever that is suggested like happening like tomorrow we don't want to wait another two years because if it is done rightly and quickly with the body of Education it means that when we he the word circulation and numbers we will know that we actually did something like the C uh collaboration with the PTA we'll be talking about it like forever so many suggestions were given but we want it now in collaboration with Board of Education and I'm quite sure Joseph will help us with that and uh reliably I believe it will happen so that that it will be like we we it is done now not that next meeting we now talk about it again then we wear the whole then we like promises and Promises is is no more working so if that is done it will help the circulation then when we hear about circulation and claring from anyone we'll be sure that we are not going into the pattern of losing the library because things will just come as rumors before you know it there's a confirmation we don't want to leave with that over our head we have a not a lot of issues going on in that Community like everybody is trying to build over us build on the road the place is flooded nobody cares so we don't want the library to be part of those problems for us so we'll be glad if that will be done and we keep on hoping for the best for the community as well I'm so glad to see everybody I pray that God will help you to take the right decision and support you in whatever you do thank you so much thank you very much and will'll just remind everybody again that the friends of the library the friends of the Edison Public Library will be meeting on Wednesday January 17th at Clara Barton Branch at 7 pm so I really hope that we have a good turnout and um can really get things moving um all right now the next item is a closed session and I believe we do need to go into closed session uh so I will read that resolution whereas the open public meeting act uh provides for the exclusion of the public at Board of Trustees meetings during the discussion of certain matters and whereas prior to the exclusion of the public from a Board of Trustees meeting it is required that the board adopt a resolution stating the general nature of the subject to be discussed and stating as precisely as possible the time when the minutes of the discussion conducted in closed session can be disclosed to the public and whereas this body is about to consider a matter which Falls within the purview of njsa 10-4-2 uh and can properly exclud exclude the public from such discussions now therefore be it resolved that the Edison Public Library Board of Trustees shall enter into a closed session to consider the following matter uh contracts and legal issues um so do we have a motion to go into closed session motion thank you do we have a second second thank you roll call vote please Miss Krauss yes Miss O'Neal yes Miss me yes Miss P Pam yes Mr D Pasqual yes Miss liry yes Mr Romano yes Massie yes all right so the motion has passed it we are now in closed session um I don't think we we won't there won't be any action when we return and hopefully we won't be too long no that color looks nice thank you I got my all right do we have a motion to return to uh Open Session thank you do we have a second all right do we have any announcements the only thing I want to mention is that please let me know if there are any particular committees that you would like to serve on um so that we can have that finalized and then remember the Friends Meeting January 7th 17th 7 o' Clara Barton any other announcements do we have a motion to adjourn Mo do we have a second yes we do this meeting is adjourned at 9:06 first second and third motion I don't even know who did the I looked up and I saw the Clock Was Missing yeah no I know I know what time is happy New Year everybody yes happy new