all right good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting to order uh this meeting has been advertised in accordance with the New Jersey open public meetings act and is publicly accessible in accordance with law roll call please sure Kevin here Roo here David cadino Dr George here mayor Henry Sarah here Maria Rosemary is not here esie here Z and Frank Weber okay thank you salute to the flank I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay I don't believe we have anything for executive session so I will go to the minutes of last month just we just have the regular uh meeting minutes of October 11 um can I have a motion I'll make it a motion or a second a second thank you any discussion no call please Sho yes Dr George yes Sarah yep yes here and Kevin yes thank you we don't have anything on the Personnel we will move to Finance um the bill listing in the amount of 22643 34 I know Maria who usually reviews that is not here she did however reach out to me and tell me that she um has reviewed the bill listing all her questions were answered she has no concerns with that uh will someone make a motion I'll make it thank you second second thank you um any discussion on the bill listing thank you all right roll call please Z George yes Sarah yesie yes Rocco yes Kevin yes thank you okay now the 2022 audit report um that was sent to All board members uh prior to sending it to the full board I did send it to the finance committee and had requested that the finance committee request it and let me know if there was any need for any uh committee meeting discussions or anything I didn't see anything um know outstanding in the in the audit report I did not receive a response from the finance committee it seems that all members of finance committee were okay with it so I did ask the director to send it with the pack for all members to review I hope everybody's had a Maria so that's why I didn't respond just so you know oh okay Sor but it was fine I read it through it and it was fine all right so would you make a motion yes I will make the motion second to accept the order second it thank you any discussion roll call please Sarah yes EST yes Mara yes Z George Dan and Kevin yes thank you okay Kevin can we just go back to Personnel for a second sure U just to update the whole board and the Personnel committee specifically I have heard back from the supervisory units representative uh on negotiations we have provided them with responses to their proposals and proposals of our own there are only two issues outstanding I just got that information today so I'll be emailing it to all of the Personnel committee members and we will dispose of that negotiation pretty shortly probably with one meeting which we will do in whatever format the negotiations committee uh is most comfortable with so I'll be in touch tomorrow on that okay thank you there is just one other point on that uh I got the response back from Irene and Linda there contracts that they had last year a fine uh the only thing that is outstanding is to come up with a salary increase okay so we I would assume we would go into close session for that or um Dr George maybe when we have the negotiations meeting okay when during downtime of that the committee can reach consensus and then we can bring it back for Action at the December meeting by okay thank you all right um old business the amended notary policy um I think everyone has a copy of that yeah yeah and um this is just uh Chris and I took a look at this back and forth with just making things clearer um just a note we're still having um some issues with people being frustrated with notary service someone came in and wanted a signature on a document that was power of attorney M and that's not something that we do so we will continue to work to make things clearer and this language was an attempt just to make sure that at least the policy is clear enough and then we'll continue working to make it all clearer should we do we have any anything on our website that states um you know our I'm sure the policy is out there but um you know more than just having have somebody search for the policy you know maybe under Library services do we have something that says notary service and can we maybe just throw in a few of the types of things that we would notorized versus what we wouldn't so maybe there's some clarity out there to the public we're working on that with the whole website update okay um where we're going to work with uh all together as a team with staff just to get the content sorted so it's clearer and then we can look at a full website redesign later but it it's coming okay yeah even if it just says notary services and it's clickable yeah just to because demands for notary services are getting more and more elaborate yes and we need to contain that which is what this new language does but it's only fair that people know that that we can't we're not going to you know sign off on an adoption of a child I mean they want to come get they want to come get something for free rather than go to a lawyer is what they should be doing and the town also has a notary correct yeah and every bank and every bank and there there there are other options yeah and to put staff members in the position of vouching for a mortgage seems to be a lot and that's my other issue for outside the meeting is my I questioned I had a staff member say that they were paying for their own Eno Insurance executive and officer Insurance because notary being a notary carries a liability with it um so I wanted to look into that I just remembered um about if staff are required to have that is that something the library should be addressing yeah if they're providing it and I'm not sure if it's Executives and officers or errors and omissions they're two Enos sorry it's errors and missions my apologies no problem but uh if they are being required to perform those Services as part of their employment with the library then yes Insurance should be provided for them for that because they are the library for purposes of that that little stamp routine they're going for somebody and it's if it comes back at them it should not be on us I mean it should it should not be on them as an individual yeah okay so with that uh I'm looking for a motion Roco I'll look your way being that you're the the chair if you don't mind I will I will make the motion thank you I'll I'll second great thanks any other discussion on the notary policy okay thank you roll call please uh did we have motions yeah Roco and then second sorry sorry all right yeah esie yes Raa yes Dr George Yesa yes yes thank you okay uh new business the uh 2024 board meeting schedule um that was also sent along in the pack I reviewed it I didn't see any um concerns any holidays or anything conflicting dates of meetings yeah I did the same thing with the Jewish holidays and there wasn't any conflicting dates yeah we did also yeah just so you know we're on it okay I don't I don't know what's looked at when they that so uh will somebody make a motion for the board meeting schedule I will yeah I will Sarah second it there you go there we go question on the meeting schedule okay roll call please Roo yes Dr George yes sah yep yes and Kevin yes thank you the 2024 Library holiday closure schedule uh also sent along in the pack um do I have a motion for that I'll make it thanks a second I'll second it Sarah all right any discussion okay roll call please Dr George yes Sarah yes yes Rocka yes Kevin yes thank you okay director's report uh first were there any questions about the report as it was written okay there's a lot a lot of money about to be spent and and this is um this is uh I have even more detail for you I'm going to try and go through it as quickly as possible I just want wanted to start hopefully a a precedent where since we have the opportunity people are watching and just to give you all talking points when you're out in the community um couple of things I didn't realize how great our teen book review program is teens are given uh volunteer credit letters that are sent to the school when they're writing those so we're giving them Writing Practice all of those things um and then seeing them up on the wall the kids really getting in and evaluating literature Lord of the Flies didn't Fair so well um but I I think I think it's a great program uh that service that we're giving to our teams um I have ESL invitations for all of you the ESL program um one of their assignments at the end of a series of classes this one is for Mr Christopher Parton um is an invitation to the senior center on uh December 12th at 6: PM um here so that uh to attend the graduation ceremony for people in that program and you all have invitations um and even the mayor everyone's welcome um our ESL program is reaching capacity um we I I'd like to keep it to about 10 classes a week because it does take up a lot of space so what we're doing is I've reached out to the YMCA and to Recreation to see if anybody has additional space available to host more classes because they really do a great job of organizing it but there's a limit to how much we can host here um programs this Saturday 1 pm the uh Lappy lifeways indigenous people program I know i' I'm hoping to go November 27th is a Monday Irish dance at 6:30 December 9th um is the second Saturday concert bachua history of 50s and 60s and song I think that would be popular here December 14th in the evening I am doing a program that I've done before for the um Association of University women American libraries and intellectual Freedom um talking about the development history why American libraries are different why we have Boards of trusties and all of those things um I'm also continually impressed with our clubs crafting cartooning Club chess story times book clubs um staff are doing an excellent job of uh meeting a high demand for activities um moving on I met with um representatives from the ruers extension and the Master Gardeners uh to discuss what we're doing with the atrium we've had volunteers asked to help clean it up or to plant things but I'd really like a comprehensive overview of what we're doing um before we start that first and foremost we have a lot of trees and that Spruce is about 20 ft atriums are not typically built for housing large trees unless we employ a gardener so we're gonna um I'm going to work with DPW to start looking at having some of those trees taken out and then looking at what we're doing we actually don't get a lot of light in there so that's a concern we talked about doing a native shade garden but we we need to see what we really want from that space because quite honestly it could be paved with some seats outside and people could do programs out there so we're going to continue um developing that um I'm going to be preparing a report on the early voting experience here we had uh a number of challenges from the management of their staff to our equipment to their complaints about our facility the number of bathrooms the temperature of the bathrooms there was a lot so I'm not going to get into all of those details but I will send that to the board president and to the attorney to to take a look at the utility of of having that really yeah um power washing is almost done windows are proving to be far more challenging that's one of those rabbit holes that we fell down I saw that all of these blinds and I didn't even know that we have a skylight in the community room because the shades that are um motorized that no that don't either don't work or no one has a functional key to them um each each one of these it's good that we're getting so much cleaned up but it's extremely time consuming um and it's getting the windows done that has started that so when I said um all of those renovation and facility projects will be coming up and and because they take careful planning um I'm seeing what we can do in the meantime as an example we need chairs our chairs are like staff wide the building needs chairs so we ordered two we had staff try them out so they've got some input um so one of the things that I want to do is start with 20 chairs I don't think everyone needs but these are things that we can get done at about $170 a piece so that's 3,400 for the 20 chairs and it gives us a nice you know we start to clean up some of the things that we can address before having a full-on um tactical approach those are like rolling office chairs yeah that's so what what I I looked at was taking all of the upholstered chairs which wear much more quickly there's a movement towards mesh an elasticized mesh that's just more sanitary and more durable so we're looking at moving to those throughout and wherever we can pick up small things some of the children's furniture as you know the vinyls ripped or we you know things like that what little things can we do that aren't going to impact a full um up upgrade or or renovation um I know what the the the bathrooms just so you know I reached out to Public Works and with um approaching a look at the bathrooms that actually goes through the town engineer so that introduction has been made so that we can start talking about that because that's gonna renovation you mean in the bathroom yeah yeah um they're they're just we've got pipes that are so corroded and I know things like trap primers I don't want to know what a trap primer is but I do um and we're spending um a lot of money on those repairs so obviously we'd want to take One Bank at a time um just from a a plumbing and cost standpoint so that we can have half of the building open while one's getting done and then transition that but I'm pretty sure that's going to be bid but I'll have proposals for the board in the next month or two okay with getting started on that um okay the energy provider auction you may all be aware of this that we have a provider constellation emex this was done done last year and um it's on December 14th I'm going to be looking much more carefully into that it's where we go out to another provider for the energy um other little projects with the renovation like uh our 3D printer is preco so it's very outdated so we're going to be getting to um new ones those to go in with maker space so with that because that's quite expense and so on but I agree with that especially because I want this maker space to really kind of start to evolve again and and kind of get utilized so is with doing that is there a plan in place to really start to utilize this maker space so maker space is starting with the sewing program um sewing program is what I discussed last time Y where instead of we don't have a volunteer but we do have an instructor all of the equipment is being brought in I met with full staff to go through um I really want this to be a collaborative space for staff with craft and Technology um so they're all going to be using it so they need to communicate um The Sewing program is going to be starting in here we're looking at some furniture changes some things I'm moving out all of that welding equipment I don't know anyone who welds um but I do know that that's I I couldn't understand why you had a safety class before anybody using it it was like for crafting and using the 3D printer who needs a a class now I understand yeah when I saw the tools and the welding so what we're moving ahead with is um looking at moving more of our crafts in here the sewing in here and um the technology stuff I'd like to see the robotics we have staff who are good with robotics and connect that with the school um and the the 3D printers obviously and actually the prices have come down um so when we're looking at the Cadillac of 3D printers we could have two of them for less than $2,500 okay and that's really really good ones so um yeah um and then we're also looking at um you know we've got some of our new DSS staff that can are really into those Technologies where they can start to get more involved and then we have a a larger group of people to draw from for programs um before I forget one more thing with facility I discussed with Kevin um the Wednesday before Thanksgiving which is next week Lawrence Harbor wouldn't open until 4 and the library closes at 5: so we're just not going to open Lawrence Harbor that day it didn't seem to make sense to to change the hours and and we've had that posted right because that was my one concern as long as we post well ahead of time the public is aware staff and Lawrence Harbor have put it up and then we'll put something on the main website starting tomorrow right um our evaluations have started just so you know that that's all underway this time of year with our goal to be done with all of our evaluations by December 31st um computers um we're still um Adam's making amazing progress with getting that Tower done he's got some conference calls this week we've priced out the equipment now we're pricing out the labor to get that done and then looking to start um I told him as we've all discussed before you don't need to go out and Order 30 new computers we can trial them so he's working with HP to get circulation updated with their computers and then also to create one staff computer that's capable of handling all of the technologies that we want to use for making our training videos and making our promotions um so we're going to have one station where everyone can come in and do that so that's going to be his first phase getting those things done and then moving forward um but I do I appreciate that staff are really committed to making sure that they do the right thing in the right way so encouraging them to to trial Solutions Works um hotspots um we've gone through I believe that we've found a solution for the problem we had with hotspots running out of data Adam again has done that research um and I'm not going to get into the solution but it make sure that we don't have the problem um and we also did have I know that Frank had asked um one of them one of our hotspots had not been replaced because of warranty one was not working so it had actually been cancelled so we're renewing and moving ahead with that um there was a problem with purchasing before because during covid you could only buy a certain number at a time hotspots that doesn't um that doesn't really matter anymore um okay um the databases um I went through as I explained here newsbank creative bug New York Times I'm going to be very careful with teachers have asked us for that repeatedly because it goes back historically to 1851 what New York Times is trying to sell is access to its um website and I don't want us driven to their website I you know I don't I don't want our patrons to have to give out their personal information and addresses that's not what this is for so I'm going to be working careful carefully with them but that's 3,640 for all of Oldbridge to have access to the full New York Times um newsbank is 4,652 for the year um but there are 55 New Jersey newspapers Star Ledger USA Today and that's with it sounds morbid but the orbituary package is very popular with genealogists so that will be in there um creative bug is 2250 per year and that is basically like a private YouTube of every craft you can imagine gardening cooking and we know that that's really popular here in Oldbridge um and then uh newspapers.com has the Asbury Park Press back to 1887 and I'm quite certain that that's all also going to be under 5,000 and all of this we still won't even approach our online services limit for budget this year so getting these going and this each of these it does it's it's not only promotion but it's also training for staff it's also differentiating training in answering questions about them is for a reference staff circulation staff can be promoting them as people are checking out books all of these um you know it's not like we just buy it so there are plans for getting everything done um let's see uh I took a professional development day also since we've been talking about branches I went to um Jersey City in Hoboken extremely interesting um Jersey City alone has 10 branches and they only own eight of them so this is what I wanted to see where are they putting them because they're actually they need more branches they're building their their libraries um but they also aren't in a Consortium like we are Hoboken put um a a library um a little satellite Library into a Housing Development because that's what people needed so they've got some things they're exploring storefronts they're it was really nice to be able to go and see 12 branches and all the iterations of what service means in those communities rather than going to one where they have a branch so um we'll be incorporating all of those uh things my lmxac meeting we should have a new catalog coming within the year I'll be they're they're triing three different systems right now um I'm not happy with our current one so I think there can only be Improvement okay um so unless unless there are any questions about the places where we're going to be um spending anything specific about databases or anything else any um anything to know about the staff training that's happening next month well um I sent out uh the draft of the um sorry agenda last month so I may make a change because we do have an initial proposal about renovation just to start a discussion with creative Library Concepts and it would be a good time to get staff feedback as a for instance they really think that taking the Youth Services office and making that a team space is a great idea I am extremely cautious about that because teen spaces need monitoring don't we already had isn't that the purpose of the diner looking area they wanted so in when I was in Rhode Island the same company made a teen room that can be closed off and had a little more privacy that didn't end well yeah that's that's not a good idea Y no that's not a good idea and this is where it's important because you know using a company like creative Library Concepts gives us us the the best of national Trends but those still have to be looked at critically and that's why I thought just getting some feedback from staff quickly might be a part of that day um The Breakfast Lunch whatever we're doing with that um the friends are moving forward uh the president of the friends was away for a few weeks which I think we all forgot was that him is that Gary hi Gary yes so um he was I think people for forgot that he was away on business um so we're getting back on track now um and we're setting up a meeting to go over um all of the the monies and the accounts and um what correspondence has come in for them but then I will also be asking the friends to undertake the first um project which would be funding for those um Refreshments during the staff training day and let's see yeah unless anybody has any questions anyone great thank you okay so then we will move on to committee reports um buildings and grounds nothing nothing what's currently going up so um Finance know Maria's not here um obviously we we we passed the uh the budget last month I think it was or was it last month um the audit report has been accepted now so nothing new I know we got to get moving on the the 2023 budget now um or 2024 24 rather sorry uh budget now so that that will be the next steps for finance committee um Outreach marketing Frank I don't think that there's anything going on with that Personnel negotiations um Dr George spoke a little bit about it anything else Dr George it's frozen frozen Oh no just very still okay all right I wanted to add something with marketing and Outreach just to let you know what's I I know it's uh trustees coming in but I've got projects for us to work on I wanted to bring in um I know that the comment cards um have been a bit dismissed um but I just want you to know that they're actually really um valuable for a number of reasons this is a person who reads fantasy books who wants a fantasy book club so the there are requests not just compliments people wanting a hydroboost water canteen filler um instead of just oh just the water fountain that's a good idea it's a great idea and it's not expensive um compliments about staff which are always welcome and about um some of our programs but on each one of these there's an email and a phone number and an address we have access to Constant Contact we pay for that and I didn't realize we have about 15,000 contacts already in there that are outdated yeah so when we get ready and we're we're trying to all of these all this these are people who are asking us to contact them they're actually telling me what time of day is best to reach out so when we need to have focus groups when we can finally get our newsletter and all those things going again we we've got a good start um I Al yeah Dr George sorry I I didn't hear you Kevin oh were you saying something I'm sorry no I I not coughed oh oh okay um only thought I had was can is there any way we can put comment cards on our website so you don't have to come to the library to fill out a comic C absolutely that's that wor feedback is going to be a part of that um intermediate upgrade please excuse me so oh okay and then my questions are um website is a great idea um do we have them available in Lawrence Harbor and do we try to seek comments from that community so that could help us decide what programs and and aspects of of the library are are valuable there versus maybe not so value absolutely that's that's another very valid part of um collecting information there I would be very surprised if the staff there did not have them but I will certainly double check okay and then the last thing I would say is and I don't know if we'd get too much feedback on that but it'd be interesting to know what section of town the people that are responding are from um as we look to do Outreach Services so um obviously Lawrence Harvard I just mentioned and if somebody was in central branch and said I come here for this program or something and I would love to see it in Lawrence Harbor or South Oldbridge if we ever get to the point where we start talking about that it'd be nice to know if if we have any feedback from the community over there and we do have addresses on here're so we're ready for that and and just one of the other things we did with that um we I found a big stack of comment cards about our programs from 2018 and uh so this is where I want to start to have like DSS staff our Digital Services people um when there's downtime they could do data entry and we've actually gotten some really good Insight from that and I'll share that with the committee when it meets great okay um so then uh policy I think we've covered I don't think there's anything else for policy right nope and Technology I don't believe anything that's been going on with technology committee um I forgot to bring a question earlier and I don't know how like where this would fall but um you know I was looking at like the balances of the um the South Oldbridge money and like that it's in a CD and you know Frank thought that there should have been so much more in it and I'm wondering if it's like the placement of the CD that it's at Amboy Bank like is that something that we could potentially move to like a more more fruitful interest rated place and is that our business like can we even deal with that or um I I I don't think there's anything wrong with moving the money but I I think uh certainly we'd have to have an idea where we want to move it to why we want to move it there um amb boy bank I guess because it's our bank Amboy Bank has done a lot for us so we we keep it there um them yeah I mean I use Amboy Bank personally but for my I I mean I don't do any like real investing but I do c I use CDs and I'll put it in one that has like 5% and Amboy Bank is like 1% yeah like do we care about that I it was just something that I was thinking about I don't know if we care to raise that money or you know I mean it's been sitting there since the 80s like whatever now but it was just something I was thinking of and I don't know if that's something that would be able to be moved or we would want to move or I mean we have three $3 million $4 million whatever sitting in Amboy Bank it's not like moving 200,000 is like taking so much of their money but um I don't know if that's something that we would even want to look into or anything I I guess it could always be discussed and I would probably say discuss it the finance committee yeah and then bring a a recommendation to the board okay right yeah I wasn't sure if there was some like government's like rule of like where had to be or I have um call pending so Bob Keith from the the State Library who is the one who makes sure that we get our money and advises us he had asked me to check in after we got our audit done um so I'm going to be doing that so if you'd like I can ask him that question as well yeah there's someone in the waiting room they just came in this second no no they literally I just saw it pop up so I don't know if they have a question or something okay so uh with that I think that covers it all uh I'll ask if anyone on the board has anything else that they'd like to discuss before I move to public comments no okay I will then go to public comments if there's anyone from the public that would like to speak raise your hand or take yourself off mute and give a shout out no one okay all right well then I thank everyone uh this was a quick and easy meeting all right sorry we couldn't get off oh okay to get to you wait all right you're off mute but your picture's not there okay can't that's okay you guys can hear me yes okay it's Roberta shipper so um we had talked I don't know like in the summer you know when when the library was moving from the re you're breaking up and we had talked about in about when the library moved from the rec center over to the bank to the Amboy Bank yes right and there was supposed to be some kind of a grand opening or something here to kind of let the people know in town that they're here that is a good point yeah yeah we we should do some thing we we we intended on doing something in September and we were talking about expanding the hours yes um so I know we are still looking at we are still looking at some uh Staffing concerns there and how we want to properly staff it and I you know that's kind of been on the focus uh okay and then we will do something and you know what we we probably should look to do within the next month while the mayor is still the mayor because he had a lot to do with bringing it there um so I would probably encourage maybe okay something you know at least for now and then uh expand it we could always do something in the springtime or something yeah I'd like to maybe do something in the spring yeah I mean I I think the hours over here to have to have only one afternoon is is not working because I I when I'm over here in the afternoon there's a couple girls who come over to do their homework stuff but they can't come on Tuesday and Thursday hours because it's during school and I was just at a a CAG meeting last night and the people there were like who's the library open for because we're all working you know we can't get there so it just is something to think about like like I would like to bring I have a service dog and I would love for her to do the read you know reading with the kids but over here I live around the corner and just are creating framework for that so that that facility is not going to accommodate a large group of people so um we have been working with Parks Station that when we're ready for those programs we're going to collaborate with Parks and Recreation to use that space um to make sure that we can accommodate a larger group um than we could in in the bank branch so I do apologize for um not being able to see the progress that we're making but there's a lot of behind the scenes conversation that's happening to make sure that we're moving forward in an efficient way okay all right even if it's not group even if it's not a larger group this is really convenient for a lot of people that live real nearby and they definitely would take advantage of it yeah absolutely it's just that programs we need to be concerned about capacity yeah right okay thank you very much for your feedback it's appreciated and uh we hope to continue to get a lot more feedback in Lawrence Harbor particularly so we can start to really grow that out there thank you anyone else from the public okay with that I thank everyone I'm looking for a motion to adjourn I'll make the motion thank you second second thank you all in favor I anyone oppose thank you thank you evening bye good night everyone