##VIDEO ID:-sOor5dvKsE## I'm going to call this meeting to order uh this meeting has been advertised in accordance with New Jersey open public meetings act and is publicly accessible in accordance with law roll call please Kevin here Roco Rocco he's on mute yeah might be on mute Rocco no it's not on you all right next okay David sadino absent Dr George absent Sarah absent Maria absent Rosemary I am here Zab absent Maddie absent mayor Walker here Frank Weber here thank you I'm here too I'm sorry all I pledge alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you okay so um we have a quarum currently I'm going to ask that we quickly go through our action items at that point we will then uh go into an executive session um so I will roll right into it with the approval of the regular meeting minutes of July 10th do I have a motion I'll make the motion thank you second have a second thanks any discussion roll call please sure Uh Kevin yes Rocco abstain okay mayor yes Frank yes and I am a yes okay um for the Personnel do we want to take all of these items together with the exception of G because most of them are related there are some resignations and then we we're hiring yeah you can certainly do that unless any of the trustees have an objection to it Kev no no no it's fine so I'll ask for a motion for a through F I will make a motion for a through F thanks and then Rosemary can second it any discussion roll call please sure um sorry mayor yes Frank yes uh Roco yes and I am a yes and I'm a yes oh I'm sorry Kevin it's okay I know alterate I missed you sorry okay item G uh FMLA U for an employee um do I have a motion I'll make the motion thanks a second I'll second it thanks any discussion all right roll call please Okay Kevin yes Rocco yes mayor yes I am a yes Frank yes thank you okay we'll move on to finance the bill listing uh in the amount of $210,200 23 uh I did uh have communication with Maria who chairs the finance and she did a review of it um no questions to raise on the bill listing so with that I'll ask for a motion move it thank you second I'll second thanks roll call please uh any discussion sorry call please sure Roco yes mayor yes Frank yes and Kevin yes and I im a yes thank you okay Item B the 2024 draft budget um Maria who is is uh chairing our finance committee is not here tonight there is some items uh I would like to discuss regarding the budget Frank I understand you've had some concerns as well I don't want to speak for you but is yeah I wouldn't you know I wouldn't act on it tonight it's c again it I don't think we can resolve it here I rather table it I agree so Frank you're making a motion to table it yes and I'll second that any discussion roll call please sure um mayor yes Frank yes Kevin yes Rocco yes and I am yes thank you okay old Business website duplication proposal in the amount of 7,995 uh do I have a motion I will make that motion okay second thank you any discussion Frank I know you had some concerns all all were answered I believe correct yeah okay thank you so uh roll call please mayor yes Frank yes Kevin yes Rocco yes I'm yes thank you okay moving on to new business children's furniture request in the amount of 10,1 19635 move it okay do we have a second I'll second thanks and uh any discussion yeah I just uh what exactly happened that's all I know I'm a little bit behind because I wasn't here last month can I just get caught up um this is where I was talking so we um have started that process of looking at the furniture renovation for the whole building which we're going to do the six phases so I'll ask for um buildings and grounds to have a meeting about that before next board meeting in the meantime we have some things that require immediate repair that are not going to wait until the renovation um the computers we got for the older students um those need a table and then that um Diner Booth seating is not stable anymore and repairs have been attempted and they're not working and then one of our most loved areas is the preschoolers reading table and the stools are shredded I looked at having them reol postered and that would cost $100 a piece so for that price we can get something that's never going to need a postery um and just looks much more updated so I put them all together great great thank you yep anything else okay roll call please sure Frank yes Kevin yes Rocco yes I am a yes mayor yes thank you thank you so with that do we have any further action items Don do you want to move on policy oh oh yes policy yes Rocco did you want to go over that no you can go ahead Dawn I looked it over um I know I didn't get back to we didn't have a policy meeting I felt like something of this nature there really wasn't a necessity for a policy meeting it's just seeming to add to some language and I think it adds a lot of clarification but go ahead Don explain it sure so we have notary service here but what the rest of the world when they see that we have notary service they assume that we do everything and if you look at our notary policy and you look at the list of things that we don't do because we're a public library it becomes extremely confusing for our Municipal partners and for the community and then our staff are spending up to 20 minutes trying to go through and decide is this something that we can do we as an example we had someone want a document notorized for uh an vitro fertilization that had financial implications and we don't do that so um explaining all these creates frustration on behalf of the public on behalf of our Municipal partners and on behalf of our staff so all I've done is put the word limited limited notary policy and then in the policy it lists examples it's not exhausted but it lists examples of what we don't do and what I wanted to do was list the three things that we do that I think are a great service to the community and especially the school district um and those are the things we do most frequently and that's our school forms which include kindergarten and people moving in so we basically take care of the school's notary needs then we do the sports forms physical and travel um which I think is a great help to our parents and then we also sign off on um retirement forms um but we're we only do them in English we frequently have people come and they're in Chinese we can't notorized that because nobody hears fluent so what it says is limited notary policy and then I just inserted one line that says um items that we notorized include these three things so it just gives them three very concrete examples of exactly what we do and Chris I appre appreciate that you had thought that that might confuse people still um I think it's going to bring some clarity um and I'd at least like to give it a try and we'll certainly revisit it in six months yeah I mean as as we discussed you you do not have an obligation to have notary services so if you re rephrase the policy like that any surprise would be good news uh rather than people coming in thinking it's unlimited guarantees and you're going to sign off on adoptions of children so it is good to be upfront with the people and make as much clarification as you can you left thanking oh sorry okay so so is there a motion for accepting this um sorry where did I guess we need a motion you need a motion right I will make the motion uh to update to make the update on the policy of the notary services I will second it thank you so any other discussion yes I how many how many people are currently certified to do notarization in library um we either have or are in process of getting every one of our full-timers um as a notary so that means sorry I'm seeing one just finished their test uh we've got Pam we've got Jackie I've got Cassidy um Felicia I would say we have about six right now and uh is that a reduction from previous years I believe so um but once we finish with our hires and have all of our full-timers um get their certifications we should be back up to something relatively comparable I can give you exact numbers at the next meeting right U now you're still saying within the policy that people can walk in but obviously they might have to wait yes all right um do we send anything uh out with you get when you get an appointment request we send any documentation out to them to prepare them to make sure they bring the right stuff in the first place so it's not a problem so currently um the the notary appointments are made by hand we're not doing anything electronically and you can't analyze documents prior to the person bringing them in so it's a little more difficult it's not like we can advise people with passports very easily about um rules and regulations we can't do that with notaries until they get things in but we certainly are offering the appointments if someone wants to ask about something we'll answer those questions at that time and the only thing that we're we're telling people is that without an appointment we can't guarantee that a notary is available in the moment that they need them you know how any notarizations we did last year I have those figures but not in front of me all right I'm okay thank you're welcome any other discussion so I'll ask for roll call sure um we we we we have a motion out there right I made the motion yeah sorry okay go ahead so Roco yes not rain is that no the air conditioning it no it was air conditioning iide I thought oh boy so Rocco I am a yes mayor yes Frank no Kevin yes thank you thank you so now uh before I I ask the mayor if she would like to leave um do we have any other action items I think that that covers it right yeah okay so Chris my question is do we need to take make a motion to come out of like regular session because then it's just going to be discussion yes you you will by by abs of the mayor by lack of a quorum you will have to close your meeting but you can continue discussions in an informal committee setting and the public is welcome to stay unless we want to discuss anything that's confidential right but I I I don't need a like a a motion to adjourn or anything at this point you do oh okay so then a motion to come out of this regular session motion thank you a second I'll second it thank you uh I'll just ask for all in favor I I no thank you so the public we will continue some discussions uh thank you very much mayor for stopping in to help us complete this appreciate it I'm glad I was right next door yeah it worked out okay thank you you bye have a nice night see you outside okay so let's go to um we've covered the minutes the Personnel let's go I guess to the director's report yeah um so I just wanted to share a couple of things um I'll I'll give more detail um next month um our library of things is pretty much ready to go everything from being able to borrow a pickle ball paddle set from the library so that you can experiment um with that to a micrite microscope kit just things that you can borrow um lots of libraries have them now we had it in the past we're just restoring it um and it's really been nice to have the entire Library get involved with this we've made sure all staff but this is our um manager of Branch Services is is getting this done um but we're also going to have health kits uh brain health blood pressure diabetes there'll be a bird watching kit um and then the idea Farm we're going to be getting um a video to digital converter so that people can bring in their VHS tapes and cam quarters and things like that and get them made digital when you say like diabetes kits you're talking check your blood sugar so glucose levels we're those kind of things we'll be making sure that we go through with the attorney we're looking more at like cookbooks books on raising awareness raising awareness is more what we're but like blood pressure we will have uh a blood pressure monitor yeah we're making sure nothing's invasive or anything like that and then anything with the health kits and we're also reaching out to hospitals and doctors in the area for the creation of those kits we're not just making it up on our own okay um yeah but do you have a contact at hackin if I can put you in touch with hackin um I think that Lauren's already in contact with them I think so um but it's this has been a long time coming and it's really exciting for staff um to be able to get out and get them done and the other thing in the idea Farm is a digital film scanner um because you can actually take it sounds like it is just yeah oh it is raining oh my goodness craziest okay sorry we've got a delu here and we're worried about the people it's horrible there's a huge event outside there's like hundreds of people oh my goodness okay um well um getting these kinds of things and then the other thing that we're going to be getting is uh DVD players that people can borrow they're not expensive anymore they're very easy to plug in and I think we all know that streaming services have essentially failed us um at being expensive not being encyclopedic or comprehensive there's no way to make sure that you have access to the original Rocky unless you buy a DVD does this tie in at all with like the uh the makers station that we us to have right so there'll be things like I know a couple years ago we talked about the what the heck is that thing called The Cricket or whatever that people use to make t-shirts and stuff so have stuff like that and we still have some of the things left from the idea Farm what we're doing is we're reenvisioning how the idea Farm was used here okay um because it was kind of like you could book an appointment and come in I want to make sure that we're maximizing traffic coming through there um and you know that these things are also taken care of so we've got the 3D printer right we've got the vinyl cutter we've got that kind of stuff so this is adding to it you can borrow the DVD player and then then the tools people asked for were funny um an electricity usage monitor a studfinder um so you know we're not g lending hammers or anything like that um but like an emergency crank amfm radio somebody's going camping for the weekend they can borrow something like that for the library rather than having to purchase it to Bab we don't have umbrellas because they're all coming in now we could we could we could get umbrellas but but absolutely I mean I know other libraries that have got involved in food stuff like they'll have a rice cooker I'm not washing dishes I'm just letting everyone know yep that's not gonna happen soide uh an automatone musical instrument these are all things that you'll get to see I'll have more details next month but staff are doing a great job with that um we are the only library in the lmxac Stella Consortium that has to replace its selfcheck machine so the selfcheck machine is where patrons can walk up and check themselves out now our machine is old it needs to be replaced anyway but this is where like I said I'll be working with um the buildings and grounds committee to take a look at RFID RFID is an investment but it's an easier way to scan books out and then rather than having full branches around town you'll be able to have book lockers or 24-hour libraries utilizing the technology so I'll be putting together a proposal for a new self check machine um to replace what we have and it is very much because of the transition to the new catalog that ours doesn't work the way we want it to anymore so I'm getting proposals for next month for that um let's see um I also met with staff so we are we went through the Personnel manual just to see where updates need to be made information is incorrect and obviously those are just recommendations for the Personnel committee um so we're doing the leg work on that so that the committee will have an easier time of going through it um one thing that I do want to point out since we are going to have a staff member who's going to be on leave for an extended period of time that um on page five of that Personnel manual is provision for temporary appointment where the director can make a temporary appointment for um a position without going through the normal process of hiring because it's not permanent so that's something we'll be working closely with the board president and with Chris on to make sure that everything is worded effectively for those who want to look it's on page five of the Personnel manual um okay September just so everybody knows is library card sign up month um so we do have uh special promotions going on and we want to encourage everyone to come in in September to get a library card if they don't have one so we're doing those promotions um I'm getting the another policy issue which we'll want to take a look at I know the meeting room policy has been looked at here and debated quite a bit um we had staff who were not entirely following the policy so I've made sure that we've gone back to following the policy and that part of the policy said that everyone who uses one of our study rooms must have a library card not a driver's license showing that they live in Oldbridge but they must have a library card so that's the next policy I'm going to be looking at and just asking the board questions does anybody remember anything about that meeting room policy with requiring cards we updated that in May of 2023 for the last time so it's it's been on your agendas repeatedly over the years yeah okay it's coming up again um weekly emails have started going out to staff again I'm extremely pleased about that um meaning that there's internal communication that's getting done that hasn't been done in a long time so staff now get a weekly email telling them everything that's going on so we're strengthening that formal internal communication instead of relying on um other networks our newsletter um has been well received and the next one our schedule is working out well the next newsletter is ready to go to the printer tomorrow great so all of that's getting done and we have people signing up and it's really nice people are coming in and saying oh I didn't know that I could get this at Lawrence Harbor so I saw it in the newsletter great um the other thing that we spent a lot of time on last week was filming for Oldbridge television um they spent a full morning here at the main branch and a full morning at the Lawrence Harbor branch and so we are going to be featured there and we're going to be going through that I'll be continuing to work with them um to do some voice over and put all of our coverage together but they've got some really nice promotional stuff so many thanks to Amy Alonzo and to the rest of the team who came in and worked on that um and the other thing I wanted to make sure of but maybe this is more of a question for um the treasurer last year for the the lunch it was paid for the friends of the library approved it but it was paid for from the library's gifts and grants account that the funding for the staff lunch was taken from there so not from any public monies um so we're going to do that again um and I think that's all I have for now any discussion on director's report the me the membership do we do anything to police when people move out of town or they meet their maker whatever the case may be how do we how do we weed out the cards that the memberships that are not being used because people have left the system so inactive cards are cleaned up I believe every three years or if there's with three years of inactivity they're taken out and when was the last time that was done that's something that I would need to ask our um head of circulation that's not a figure I keep with me at all times okay um oh and sorry there is one other thing um I know that Dr George has been asking about the interest rates in the bank accounts I do have updates on that but I think that should probably wait for her to be present yeah yeah and and and we can discuss it as a part of finance committee I think as well so I think we'll get a finance committee meeting together within next week or so okay from my understanding um hopefully but before the next board meeting next SE in September yeah okay all right I just had one question about the um the in the director's report reading about the incident with the passports yes can you let us again I may have missed this because I wasn't here last month so can you get me up to speed on that yes so we had an incident uh in the passport office where uh we had a patron who um was not satisfied with their service and it's very rare that that happens it's extremely rare we've got outstanding policies in our passport office to make sure that information is given in advance and that people are made well aware of what they need there was a conflict with one particular Patron um and that person called 911 on our employees so whenever we have a customer service issue it's something that I take very seriously and I review everything we do and what we've done and what we could have done so I've done that with staff when the patron called me however I made it very clear that I and this is for the board to consider but I believe calling an armed first responder to a customer service dispute that has not led to any you know really aggressive behavior is kind of an abuse of Emergency Services um so the person is not a resident of Oldbridge um I had considered anything from a recommendation to trespass the person from the library for 6 months um simply because I I think that it puts our community our staff and our First Responders in danger to frivolously call someone like that um the other option we have is to Simply Let It Go the person did write a review and that was posted on our website um we could also write a letter just letting the person know that that's not appropriate but it's really up to the board so I think we'll we'll discuss this a little bit uh you know further later on okay right Chris I I'll just leave it with you at this point yeah yeah yeah okay we can definitely discuss it privately okay so um yeah I just think it's something we should have a discussion about down the road because you know again if it's a policy situation I I really don't know this is like this kind of uncharted waters it doesn't seem like this would something that happens that would be a matter of policy but maybe having some kind of contingency plan in place if it ever happens again in the future might be a good idea yeah yeah it it falls generally within your acceptable use policy but we can tell her yeah difference of opinion between our staff person and this person um the difference of opinion was that the the patron the customer says stated that they weren't given information in advance and uh I think I feel very comfortable saying that passports is the one area of the library where the most Uniform service so people are called then there's a script that is read to them there is an email of confirmation that tells them what information they need to bring there are multiple points at which the information is communicated um and the person when they arrived for their appointment they had not uh followed the instructions or completed their information they were given an extension of time and then there were um additional areas where the person was given instruction and didn't follow it and give an instruction and didn't follow it and they became increasingly frustrated um and we do need to make sure that our staff are aware that if they're doing everything that they can um and a person is still frustrated they need to call in a supervisor and not try to handle it themselves yeah does that answer your question Frank yes okay and danan just uh bring up another Point you're planning another staff full day training session and I'm sure that you'll use this as an example and and try to do an additional training on how to handle the these types of situations correct 100% And I've told that employee that I'm actually going to ask them to go over this incident in depth at our training session so that we learn from it yep okay uh any anything else from director's report anyone would like to discuss okay um so where are we uh committee reports um we'll quickly go through these buildings and grounds Rocco uh nothing for now but uh apparently we have a lot to discuss next month for next before next month's meeting okay Finance uh as I mentioned Maria is not here and we we need to discuss the budget a little bit further we'll take care of that Outreach of marketing Frank um you know we we're still looking to do something out in South Oldbridge and that's why that has to interface with what our Capital BS are and we have to sit down with the township whether it can be a modification of the building on malbo Road which uh has enough size to be comparable to Lawrence Harbor and have more parking than Lawrence Harbor does and uh that would relieve a lot of the burden of transportation for people King having to come to the Central Library at the school hours you know between four o'clock and six o'clock so you know that we that needs to go forward and I'll be happy to talk to the uh Township and see what they're willing to do and then we have to see what portion of it is going to fall back on us right financially okay um Personnel negotiations Sarah's not here but I know we haven't had a Personnel meeting and uh I know Chris has mentioned that we'll be coming up with negotiation soon so nothing at this point to discuss policy Rocco I know we discussed some items there and more to come all right we're good we're good with the policy for right now with um and if we decide to have a discussion about the whole passport thing that will that will come up but we're good right now okay and then technology Frank um what are we stand with technology committee maybe coming up um we uh now we're gonna have the website done we have our servers done we have all of our big projects with it are up to date so once we get the server migration done then we're going to be preparing a fiveyear plan so that this way there aren't going to be any more surprises we know that every year we'll be purchasing 10 new computers and and that kind of thing um one other thing is that uh I am going to be purchasing some laptops but they're all within the director's discretion um we want to start doing some really great projects um and they're te technology dependent like roving reference having a a standing desk on Wheels so that people can walk around and approach patrons who are here to see if they need help rather than waiting for people to come to the desk at a point of service theyve got some really great ideas um and but like I said all that stuff is within director's discretion okay thank you okay so I will go to public comments anyone from the public would like to speak going once going twice okay so with that uh the remaining board members that are on here uh we are going to go into somewhat of an executive session to discuss a few items uh obviously without quir no action will be taken um so at this point we will dismiss the members of the public and we'll uh just so so trustees just hold on a few moments okay um thank you everyone have a good night