This is the Franklin Township Public Library Board of Trustees meeting. It's Wednesday, May 27th, 2026. I will call the meeting to order and we will start with a pledge of
allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> The role Deborah Kelly >> present. >> Clara Wilson >> here. >> Tiana Gisham, no. Nicholas Champa, I'm here. Mayor Kramer >> here.
>> Aisha Ali not here at the moment. Agnes, we're gonna wait. I'll I'll resume the roll call later. And Kevin McNeel, you're here. We know you're here. >> Okay.
January Adams, our director, is here. >> Okay. This is New Jerseyy's Open Public Meeting Act statement. This meeting is being held in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act of New Jersey, also
known as the Sunshine Law. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided. In addition, copies have been posted in the library's vestibule and are also available at the reference desk. We have three members of the public. Uh,
I'm going to open the public portion of the meeting. If anyone, any member of the public would like to speak, now is the time. Nobody. Okay. I will I'd like to close this first public comment portion.
Is there a motion to accept the minutes of April the April 22nd meeting? I'll motion that we accept the Oh, and I forgot to turn my phone off. Sorry. I
did too. I better do that. Uh there is a motion on the floor to accept the minutes of the uh April 22nd meeting. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Claire has seconded the motion.
Is there any discussion minutes? Seeing no seeing no uh immediate discussion, I would like to uh call the question. Those in favor of the motion to accept,
please indicate by raising your hand. This motion has passed unanimously. And now to the good part. director's reports. January, would you like to start with any comments on the financial? >> I don't have any comments.
>> Nor do I. On the revenue, there was something I think might have been the last column interest was,000%. What are we looking at >> of the 834%
>> 834 right >> that well if I had if last year I estimated it it being much lower and it turned out to be so much higher thanks to Nick I could be right I mean I'll double check it >> okay
And this is because we got a better interest rate on the deposit. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Just a minute. >> I'm sorry. I didn't I don't have 83. >> I Yeah. Yeah, I I see that. >> I have to look at what I thought it was
going to be, but I >> Well, >> well, no, I thought it was >> You thought it was going to be 2020 and it turned out to be 107. >> Wait. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> 170 from 20. >> That would be 834% I think.
>> 800%. >> No. >> 100% would be to This is almost 10 times as >> okay. So, so the >> that is almost 10 times though. 200,000 >> if you look at the
>> is almost 20%. That's is that is almost 20 times. No, 10 times 100% would be double, >> right? >> Yeah. 100 would only make it 40. >> Would only make it 40. >> That's 100%.
>> 200% would make it 60 and on. So, >> what interest rate are we getting? >> And how much cash is there? It's a bit >> That's great. >> So, for you, we thought it was a 20,000 to 107. >> That's amazing.
>> And is it a combination of higher cash and a higher interest rate? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And that's going to go down next year because we're going to start to start the cash. Yeah. Yeah. >> On at the same time though we recovering some interest on Well, that's
another account. Okay. Banks tend to uh change interest rates. It's important to to uh keep keep watch on the accounts. Well, >> it's so >> it's prudent to shop around. >> Shop around and
>> Yeah. and maybe even yell at your own bank. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Where are there any other comments on the financial report for the uh April 2026?
Okay. January, would you like to comment on your uh Sure. program report. >> I'm going to start with um the last of the report highlights because I just
think this is so cool. This is what the children's department made for dinosaurs. It's all the museums and exhibits of dinosaurs you can go to in the state. And I just think it's if you're interested in dinosaurs, this is really a great little aid to have. And it also promotes the library summer
reading which is of course about dinosaurs. That is nice. >> I didn't know there were so many places. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And moving on, the adult services department had 59 programs that 794
people came to. Youth services had 1,414 people that came to 50 programs. And our outreach events included library staffing offormational tables at the
college study night at Samson G. Smith, the high school's annual green fair and two literacy evenings at Pine Grove Manor and Franklin Park. So when they're not doing the dinosaur and out, they're busy going to schools
promoting the library. And that's why I have the back. Okay. There is no president's report. So, uh would anyone like to
comment on uh what they got out of the correspondence communication? See, where I put that This is >> they want to eliminate fun institute of
museum and library. So the pro the uh fight goes on to maintain >> funding for libraries and it goes on on many fronts. So you know what they're doing. I just
saw a study that said that the uh in some study in Germany, I think they took a bunch of uh >> Okay. Yeah, I guess they took a bunch of um
like 9 year olds um and studied them for like like tracked them for like 30 years. And they and they took the ones that were um
labeled as gifted and you know grouped them and just then just tracked them and and found out that overwhelmingly um percentage of the children that were
labeled as as gifted grew up to have much more liberal and um you ideals and and you know wasn't you know so conservative
uh especially in the way that conservatives are today which is almost obvious you know when you see you know the you know how when you know college
educated or or educated people um or you know vote or seem to uh have a certain set of ideals um as opposed uh to the to other people. So, it's no wonder why a certain group is
trying to seem like dumb down the uh the the population, you know, by taking away museums and libraries and and and things like that. So like you said, the fight goes on. So thank you again for the
correspondence. >> Okay. Any other comments that? Okay. Is there any old business? Okay. Is there uh any new business other than
the budget? We'll get to the budget. Is there any uh new business other than budget at this point? Seeing none, let's consider our budget for the fiscal
year 2026 2027. I looked this over in uh January. I I think this is a good budget. >> Yes. What I found is that uh
our statutory allocation from the township went up 13.9% from the 2025 2026 and our budget reflects a higher amount.
So >> translation for everyone that means taxes >> taxes property taxes >> not the good partedness of the township >> right >> it's what >> I'm sorry what was that >> that's taxes I mean statutory allocation
for the township sounds a little bit like we said ah let's give them so much it's just like I just want to be clear that that's taxes that are statutoily required by the state. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> So it's not point usually it's.3%. This time it's 33%. >> It's always been the third. >> No, last last year it was.3%. >> Okay. Well, I I think what I'd like to point out is that uh
some people have called this money, a library tax. The distinction here is that the library is not a taxing organization. taxing organizations are such as uh the township of uh Franklin, the Franklin
school system, the uh county, Somerset County, and occasionally and in our case in Franklin, the uh uh volunteer the fire departments and uh so
we do not form a budget and then tax at that rate. We we accept what is statutoily uh given to us. You're right. It's tax money, but it's a municipal purposes. It's under municipal
purposes, not library tax. Okay. Um I just want to point out it's kind of Statuto allocation for township is sounds like code or
euphemism. It's the state requirement for taxation this year that we're required to give to the library. Not trying to make a political point just okay. Um, it's a good thing in New Jersey that
every municipality >> supports a library somewhere and that's not true in all states. So, >> I think u >> we're in a good position that
>> Okay. Would anyone else like to comment on the uh proposed budget for 26 2026 2027? That the amount of that proposed budget
is uh well wait four uh 4,334,924 300 or 500 >> 500. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I read. Um, so the
the surplus is 1.3 million and moving that into the capital the capital reserve. Is that what we call it? >> Yeah, that's what I'm recommending.
>> Right. Because if you don't, the township will take it, but it's protected. It's protected in the capital reserve. Township can't take it. Um, how much do we already have in that fund
>> for the re renovations and everything? About 5 million. >> So, now we'll have 6 million. Okay. Is there a motion to approve this budget? >> We have a motion.
>> Motion. I'll second. Okay, Clara. >> Clara motion. >> That's motioned. And Deborah has seconded the motion. And uh Clara, would you like to voice the
motion? >> Oh, I make a motion to approve this budget of to say the whole number, the $4,534,924. and it has been seconded. Um, as we usually do things a little bit in
reverse, we've already discussed it, but u is there further discussion of the budget? Seeing none, I'd like to call the question. Those in favor of accepting the of approving the motion to accept
the budget signify by raising their hand. This budget and this has uh five votes. It's unanimous. And I'd also like to uh welcome Agnes. So that's where we got
our fifth. >> Okay. >> I think you also need a resolution. >> Yes. Yes. Also under new business, um
our director has suggested or asked that we uh uh allocate uh 1.3521,352,953 uh to the capital fund as a um as uh over
it's money we don't need for the current budget. We want to put it into the capital fund as and we have just had an explanation from the mayor that the township could possibly
seize this money if it was not properly used. Yeah, I don't know the exact formula, but what if if there's a surplus of some size, the township can take certain part of it, but it's
protected if it's in the capital fund. Is that how you understand it? >> Yeah, we fill out when we have our audit done, we fill out a form every year. There's a formula that they go through to see how much money is is not allocated. So we know from that that
we've always we're okay that there's not enough that the town would have an interest in it would want it. >> So the the limitation of that I'm projecting from what I know of the town. So I'm guessing it applies at the library is you can't use that money for
salaries. Let's say raises or correct. It's it's limited to capital just projects. Yes. Yeah. Does the library get an audited financial statement every year? >> Yes. >> Every year. >> Absolutely. I have copies you can have. >> Okay.
>> And are we Oh, no. You're doing it >> your junior year end June 30th. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Who who does the >> who's your firm? >> Kaufman and Diamond. I can get a brief for tonight if you
want to take it with you tonight. >> No, it's just >> Is there any questions? Any um is there a motion to >> So I motion that we um uh allocate
the surplus of 1,352,953 to our capital um funds for upcoming and future projects. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Clara has seconded. >> Any discussion? Any further discussion on this motion? One last thing. So, do we have anything in reserve that is not in the capital fund in case there's an operational fee
expense that comes We're allowed to have I think 20% of our budget as a research for that kind of thing. Yes. >> Okay, we have that. Yeah. >> Good. Okay. Good. >> What kind of future projects are in store? >> Well, >> I'm sorry.
>> What kind of future projects are in store >> beyond? Yeah. >> Beyond the HBAC and the roof and the interior stuff beyond that. >> Well, if you've looked at the roof, >> you can see that the um I don't know what you call it, but a lot of it where it's painted. It's all looking it's
peeling off. So, that could be done. Um, there's maybe some other stuff that around the building that needs to be done that's in the back of my mind. But, I need to see first of all how much the renovation the interior renovations go
forward. >> I would like starting soon. >> Yes, the architects are working on it now. assume it will be going up to bid. >> I would like to note that uh the township, thank you, mayor, uh has put
new concrete uh >> walkways um replaced some marginally >> u some damaged >> and it looks very nice. >> We have to figure out they were some of
the more dangerous. Yes, especially during the ice and uh >> and uh it's good that we have a very good re working relationship with the township people across the parking lot and uh
this is a good example of it. No further discussion. Uh motion has been made, seconded, discussed. Those in favor of approving this motion signify by raising their hand. Again, we
have five votes in the unanimous acceptance of the motion. And this is what happens when you overwrite agendas. The executive session shouldn't be on there. Mhm. >> Just ignore it. >> Yeah.
We used to say executive session if needed, >> right? >> And this one. Okay. >> Is there any other new business? I would like to open the second portion of the public comment uh time of this meeting. Is there anyone who now wants
to make any comments? Come on public just once I'd like to. Okay. >> Next time public portion is closed for lack of interest. >> Our next meeting date will be June 24th
of this year. Is there a motion to adjourn? >> Oh, before we adjourn, >> I have a pleasant comment from one of the seniors that uses this library very frequently. She said this is the best library so far she has been coming to and anything she
requested she has been getting. >> Wow. >> So I I brought it myself. >> Well, thank you for letting us know >> starts at the top. >> Agnes, thank you >> for recording that fact that we all know
that this is the best library. >> She said this is the best library she has been coming into. >> Yeah. Everything she requests, she gets. >> Thank you. >> That's the goal. I told her to pat me on my shoulder. >> Did you tell her that was because of you?
>> Agnes, how long have you been a member of this board? >> No. How long have I been? >> 11 years. Since >> 11 years. >> That's when I became mayor and was appointed. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Yes. So you've seen a lot of them.
>> Yeah. Apart from January, I'm the oldest. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> The longest serving. >> Not the oldest. >> Yeah. >> Let's watch our language.
>> Don't know about that old word. >> Okay. >> Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> I motion. We adjourn. Kevin wants to adjurnn. >> Agnes wants to second that. >> Those in favor
>> we are adjourned.