##VIDEO ID:NDrXuMwWJLI## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e yeah well I'll tell tell her I'm sure she'll yeah remember all right everybody looks like we're on board here as uh the uh president last year I'll call this um meeting to order welcome to the uh Library board meeting new all Minnesota it's Thursday January 9th 2025 we're in the city hall council chambers um and uh the first thing we always have to do is approve the agenda and so I will take a motion to approve the agenda I'll move second second I have a motion in a second any comments about the agenda I have just so that you know I've um asked with with with here without objection uh we're going to um introduce the library board members and then we'll have our guest speaker Leroy speak no objection all right all right all in favor of the agenda with those um little things shuffled around say I I post same sign okay we have an agenda and now April can you introduce our our two new library members sure we have Caitlyn hulahan and Nancy burn on our library board they're joining us um for their first term each this year so welcome Nancy and welcome Caitlyn thank you very much for being on our library board good thank you welcome and we'll find out all about you as we go along right right good good good wonderful wonderful and now uh with that we'll move on to um Talk of the Town programming and Technology Services uh librarian Leroy Harris well thanks for letting me join you this evening uh so uh earlier this fall I was approached by a new cat in State Street Theater uh they had an idea for a new show to do that was inspired by a uh Public Access uh television show that uh was coming out of uh the east coast and was aired on their public television there and they said this looks like a really neat idea new has lots of great stories we could do something like this and so uh they approached me and asked if I would be the narrator uh for the show and uh we sat down and and started planning uh what kind of Corky historical episodes that we could highlight and reenact using State Street actors uh uh with historical consultation from the Brown County Historical Society to make sure that we weren't doing anything that was too far outside artistic license you know um but uh so uh the the result of that uh is the new show uh tales of the Town um and the first episode uh premiered on YouTube last month yes yeah early last month uh and we're working on a production of the second episode uh and getting ready to we've got the script pretty much down we're getting ready for uh filming scheduling and whatnot uh but okay does this have it should be ready to go if you hit play I think Andre's got it all ready to okay so it's tales of the town I said Talk of the Town like the New Yorker magazine but it's tales of the town sorry this does not have the screen up um maybe use the one over your shoulder yeah it's up there oh up there well that's exciting okay welcome to tales of the town on this episode we're going to regil you with the story of art lost and then found [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] it was in the warm summer of 1999 and Carol Elijah was having a drink in Minnesota's oldest bar he was talking with some friends who told him an interesting story you see more than a century earlier back in 1873 a touring theater troop had taken up Residence at the Turner Hall theater including the well-known German born actress Marie metha sheller as it happened Marie's husband Guido was a painter and he'd look for odd jobs around the towns where his wife was performing he'd offer to paint murals of the Bavarian Countryside and Bavarian castles well the turn verine took him up on his offer and during the 3 months that the troop stayed at Turner Hall he painted a beautiful mural across the RAS skill's walls Carol looked around at the dark and dingy walls and thought could it be possible is there really a beautiful mural hidden beneath this plain paint being an amateur restorer he wondered why was it covered in the first place you see after they were completed the murals quickly became a source of comfort and pride for the town's many German residents at least until July 25th 1917 a large anti-draft rally was held including a parade music and a gathering at Turner Hall compelling speakers spoke out against the Justice of the war and government authority to send draes overseas into combat speakers included Dr Lu frie the city's mayor as well as the city's attorney Albert Fender Adolf aeran the president of Martin Luther College also spoke as did Albert steinhauser an army veteran and lawyer all of them had opposed the United States involvement in the Great War the war had aroused intense anti-german feelings and residents of newom understandably were very hesitant about the idea of being forced to fight their own kin well not many weeks after the rally the leaders of the Town were removed from office for promoting and participating in seditious public meetings with the stroke of a pen Governor ja AA Burnquist removed the mayor and other officials from Office the murals were eventually covered over although the exact date of when and why Still Remains somewhat mysterious perhaps it was water damage or perhaps it was for political reasons or perhaps even just simply part of a remodel design regardless un important historical artifact now lay hidden underneath these seemingly drab walls Carol saddened by what he saw as an unnecessary loss of community identity thought that something had to be done so he asked for permission to use his experience restoring his old home to see if he might uncover the murals Carol and his son got to work painstakingly removing the paint from the MS but they didn't use chemicals or solvents instead they used thousands and thousands of rolls of duct [Laughter] tape Carol's story like so many others is part of what makes new home a unique Place make sure you join us next time on tales of the town oh bravo bravo excellent excellent thank you Leroy thank you that was wonderful gosh yeah we're excited for it oh yeah no that was great and then uh April said you're also going to tell us about the adult programming as long as you're there yep adult winter reader reading program a do reading program so just as a a final thought with the tales of the town so it was released last month and we already have over 250 views and so that's wonderful and uh one of the other things that uh n has been doing has been creating YouTube shorts with a lot of the videos that we partner on and that generates even more viewership and brings more people in and um we see that uh reflected in our monthly statistics as well so that's good L do you have a a goal number of episodes for Tales of the town goal number uh we have uh ideas storyboarded for at least six that I know of um and so we're hoping to maybe do at least double that so but yeah but so uh it is January and uh each year we uh put together a winter reading program for adults kids get the summer uh we get the winter uh and it lasts through the end of February uh and as part of our winter reading program each year we try to do a theme uh either uh a wintry uh artistic theme or something uh more mechanics related to how we're uh helping people to track their reading through the program in past years we've done things like Bingo uh or a monopoly style board things like that as as people read and getting to fill in spaces last year we tried a bit of an experiment and did kind of painting by numbers based on the genre of books that you read this year is a bit more straightforward uh we're just trying to stay warm uh and so you just have a thermometer on your tracking sheet uh and as you read books you get to fill in the thermometer and raise the temperature um one of the things that we do each year is after reading uh usually four or five books depending on how we've got it structured um participants get to choose a free book from our prize shelf that I have separated out and keep down in storage most of the year um those come from generous donations from the public uh that bring in we try to keep you know new titles or popular authors in that section separate from our regular book sale items uh and then uh as they uh input uh as they uh continue reading and fill out their tracking sheet they get to put in uh name slips into our prize drawing for the end of the program um we're very grateful to the Friends of the library for sponsoring those prizes uh and so this year we're going to be having 10 different prizes in previous years we've usually averaged about uh three to five and so we're expanding it because we we like motivating people and in fact uh I did see um after we posted about uh the program on Facebook we actually got a comment on the post that said this is just the kind of motivation I need to start WR reading I love prize incentives so uh so it's working um but uh we're excited so that started on Monday um and uh people can you know register at any time uh between now and the end of February and uh just read come in the circulation desk and and show your progress of the the books that you've read and um then after the program finishes in February you have a couple weeks to turn in your tracking Sheets still and then we do the drawing about mid-march so great yeah great wonderful wonderful any questions of Leroy I just want to commend Leroy on the great job that he does with our programing absolutely he offers a wide variety of programs and to a lot of different patrons so thank you for your hard work thank you thank you thanks for having me no thank you thank you so much Y and now we'll turn it over to April because we've got to uh elect officers we need a president a vice president and a secretary treasurer um I spoke with um Ruth Anne and Dustin who um Ruth an's our current president and Dustin's our current Secretary and treasure and both are willing to continue on in those positions if they are nominated um and I spoke with a couple like board members about possibly taking the vice president position um our vice president Vince has um fulfilled his terms on the board so he wouldn't be able to continue on um so if anyone is interested please speak up um those that I spoke with were reluctant but willing if they needed to well this is you know presiding over these meetings is uh fun and easy and you get a Gabel so I don't know why anyone would possibly say no I don't know how anybody would say no and the the main duty is to fill in when Ruth is gone if I'm gone other than that other than that everybody come on speak up don't look at me oh come on out sure oh yay bravo bravo she said reluctantly all right I think that you I don't know if you need to go through the nomination process or if someone can just make a motion for those I think someone individual make a motion to have the secretary cast a unanimous ballot for the Slate uh of candidates presented Ruth and Webster for president uh uh ly Hanley for vice president and Dustin for secretary treasurer and since I'm since I'm not the president yet I'm going to I I I move that I'll move that second do we have a second all right uh well all in favor say I I I POS same sign all right we're on the boards we're on the boards yay and I promise not to be gone very often you know yeah right right and then moving on uh we've got other uh little positions to fill um we've got the Brown County Library board uh representative uh and Ivon is the current representative and Manan is the alternate and uh those are one-year terms and U are you twoo willing to continue on with that yes okay well I I think that that's as the newly elected president I'll just appoint you all right never and uh now the uh Travers duu uh Regional Library board representative April would you talk about this cuz Carl was the only one who ever did that yes okay so Carl was our previous representative and um the representative from Brown County um should serve on a library board or be a county commissioner that's how that's structured for TDS um I have spoken with the other Library directors to ask them to recruit a representative from their libraries and they have not had any takers um so I'm just asking this board if anyone here would be interested in serving the Traverse duu Regional Library of which we are a member um meets once a month usually at their offices in Mano um and so they are talking about things that pertain to the whole nine count region that they serve so that's budget policies for Travers duu or TDS as they're commonly called um Staffing concerns those kind of things um is is what that board is looking at it's it's a fun group I currently serve as the alternate and would be willing to you know attend with you some sometimes if you'd like to carpool or have questions about getting up to speed with it so it's a one-year term though um I believe it's three years it's a three-year term so anyone interested in going to mano once a month is there a uh a possibility of uh Zoom meeting zooming in or not um they are they do have to follow the open meeting laws so there a process for being right able to attend by Zoom it is possible but I I'm not sure if it's something that can happen every month right right right right anybody willing to do that and it's not necessarily something that this board has to commit to today it's just I'm bringing it to your attention because there's not been someone else from Brown County who has well and I uh any of the Commissioners interested um we haven't had luck with that in the past but I can certainly go track if we aren't finding anyone I'm just thinking of the three the three count the Five County Commissioners well well we'll we'll pick this up again next and and I appreciate the fact that you're the alternate and I'm the alternate for public libraries um so each type of library that TDS serves has a representative okay so I'm the alternate for public Li liaries and then there are also representatives for academic libraries which is um higher education um and school libraries which is K through2 and then also special libraries which would be like your historical I see I see so you're you're you're filling another slot you're not uh you're not filling the slot uh for the uh for uh Brown County no I'm representing member libraries okay I would be willing to hear more about it but before I fully commit I gotta I have to tell myself I have to think about something sure before I accidentally commit I think I think you should take April out for coffee oh there we okay okay thank you Caitlyn all right we'll we'll pick that up next next next month all right now approval of the minutes from the December meeting we have that in our packet anyone uh have any uh Corrections or comments about that hearing I'll take a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting I'll move second I'll second motion second any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I post same sign okay we have minutes and now let's go on the financial report um the financial report is a little lengthy this month just doing some end of end ofe wrapup um so we are 100% through 20124 and our budget is approximately 10.95% expended some of the bills that we paid during dur in December included $496 to Full Service Electric to replace a light motion sensor in our fiction area and we also relocated a thermostat that we were noticing um being adjusted quite frequently and so we put it more in staff um eyesight um then we also paid $460 to Hillyard for general cleaning supplies $5,060 to Ingram for books and audio books those are CD um audio books and then 56 $67 to class and mechanical for air filters and $753 to the star per Tribune for an annual subscription that increases about $50 per year for the last several years then we also um paid $6,6 to Traverse to Su for replacements for our 12 um Chrome box public computer stations and the four um Chromebook public catalog stations a chrome box is like a would be comparable to a PC and the Chromebooks are like laptop form and then we also paid CTS $3,940 for the remaining balance of the security camera project and that project came in um matching their quote um and then I just I won't read through all of the the notes I put at the lower part of the page but I just wanted to note that a number of the projects um that are causing the buz budget to currently appear overspent were ones that the board had approved to use from fund balance um so those projects are listed there and in the packet and they total $67,400 212 including a grant that we um received in 2023 from the public library Association that we finished spending this year so when you include those grants our budget is approximately 99% expended and when you include the grants and exclude the fund balance expenditures were approximately 93% expended good work I could always count on Vince to have some question about the budget but he's not here so basically this is the end of the year we're starting all over and um and some of those line item things have been sort of uh uh I I'll just say fixed you know that EUR is making the explanation that it looks like this but it's not that because yeah so like for instance we spent money from the melon Foundation grant that we received which is um a $250,000 Grant and those expenditures are reflected in the library technology Grant and Library technology equipment Grant lines um but there's we didn't budget anything for those lines so it's it's hard to see how they're offset there um and then there was just I just wanted to note that the audio visual supplies line is UND spent by about $2,500 and that's because we are increasingly finding it harder to find audiob books on CD and DVDs to purchase um more things are on streaming more things are in digital formats only so that's something that we continue to struggle with um so that was line that we had decreased um from 9,000 to 7500 for 2025 just expecting that that's going to continue to be a challenge okay all right okay any questions comments otherwise we'll move on to the library Department activities report and the statistics for December um so Library Aid Nita Gilbert submitted her resignation her last day with the library will be January 15th so we we wish her well she's worked at the library I think maybe 7 and a half years now um we do have one new library Aid starting January 22nd and we're waiting to hear back from a second candidate on an offer um so we were able to the way the timing lined up we were able to offer two candidates we had already interviewed in this last round so that was a timesaver for us so that's good and just for the new members um those those things uh you're assisted by the uh HR of this from the city yes right you know so um the two trees that were damaged in September in the library bookdrop area were removed in December um one of our activities in the Strategic plan is to look at our outdoor spaces and determine how we can improve those and so we'll include that bookdrop area as part of that assessment it does look very bare compared to what was there before mhm um the vendor has ordered the replacement doors for the bookd drop entrance so installation will be scheduled once all those materials have arrived um the door installation materials and work will be coming from the city's 290 fund so that won't have an effect on the library budget which is their fund for Capital Improvements um but we the we are asking that um they include as part of the work the ability for us to elect ify those does so we can use key fob access similar to other City Hall buildings and so that would come from the library's budget um the city IT director is working with um the vendors that have helped with those kind of projects in the past to get quotes so I'm hoping that I can bring those to the February meeting if the timing lines up with those and then um I did add the libraries policies to the library website there's been some questions the last few times you have approved updates and so um I just wanted to make those more widely available so if you um choose if you visit our website at www.ne library.org and choose about us then you can choose Library policies okay and there's a uh links to all of our policies as PDF forms there and then just a note that we are closed on Monday January 20th for Martin Luther King Jr day good then I can talk about some of the stats if that's all right okay um the new had a newon Year's Eve celebration on December 31st and that went really well um that we New Alm Park and New Alm Park and Recreation hosted that at the Civic Center on the ice rink there um so they had open skate and um photo booths and refreshments and then a ball drop at noon um and the Optimus Club of New Alm sponsored the the activities and food there so that was thank you to both of them for partnering and sponsoring they had 220 attendees oh wow they had people on the ice before they even officially started at 11: so people were excited for that um and then I did something a little bit different in the um with the um graphs that I normally put in the packet I put um a comparison of year over-year and I just wanted to talk about a couple of those we had an increase of 5% in our door count an increase of 3.3% in our physical circulation and an increase of of 17.4% in our Libby circulation which um continues to be the statistic that is growing the most quickly um and we also had an increase of 7.9% in public computer sessions I still see think that we're building back after um a loss of visits during the pandemic these numbers still are not up to where we were pre pandemic and I think people's habits have changed and I think part of what you're seeing in Libby is some of that and also um TDS our Regional Library um who we share the Consortium with for our Libby collection um at member libraries and the TDS as an entity have done a push to make more available in Libby so I think our super users have more to check out too so that's driving those increases as well um the 2023 Wireless stats were messy um we had an outage in those that we couldn't recover that data so I didn't compare those two because it's just not useful at this point um but our 2022 total Wireless clients were 54,2 180 so um total 2024 was 60806 so that would be an increase of 12% over those two years roughly and then our website page views are down um that could be a change due to a change in reporting um they've started using a Google reporter for that and that's I get that information from City staff M and um I think that the old reporter it wasn't clear which calendar Pages were the libraries and which weren't the libraries and so I was including all calendar Clicks in my stats before and now I can see which ones are actually ours versus which ones are parks and recks park and reck so that's I would assume that accounts for quite a bit of the change there okay okay there's a lot to take in you're busy you're busy there's a lot going on at the library job yes any other comments besides uh a big thank you April for pulling this all together yes um you'll see more of a comprehensive view um when I present the annual report to you okay um we're required to submit a report of our statistics and finances to the state each year um that's usually March and April that you'll be seeing that information right right good okay all right should we move on to uh the January programming calendar yes um we are excited we have uh two comedians visiting visiting us on Saturday January 18th at 1:30 p.m. they'll be performing a live set at the State Street Theater and I just want to thank the friends of the library for sponsoring the show I think that's um something we've tried before and we're excited to try it again and continue some of those um bigger programs like that and then we have have Minnesota author Jason Lee Willis presenting about French fur Trader and Explorer Pierre Charles lur and his Jour Journeys in North America and Minnesota and that's on Thursday January 23rd at 6:30 p.m. at the library and then we are offering a no school movie afternoon on Friday January 17th at 2 p.m. we're going to watch the 1951 Disney classic Allison Wonderland um the movie is rated G and has a 75 minute running time for any who are concerned um and those movie screenings at the library are free and open to the public thanks to um support from the Optimus Club of oh yes they support our movie license each year any questions a lot of fun uh have you had this author before yes yes yes I think it's been maybe a couple of years since he's come right and did he do nicolay as well that sounds right yes right he's working he's working his way through the French Traders right good good that was a fun um presentation so and I I'll just say the variety of the activities that the library puts on every month both um for the Youth and the adult is is it just is amazing every month so thank Youk you due to the hard work of Leroy who you saw today and then um Katherine tatel Our Youth Services librarian big things to them there isn't a blank day no almost almost unless they're closed unless they're closed unless they're closed all right all right well uh we're going to move on to our resolution um and the this again for the new members one of the it has always um amazed me how much support our community gives to the library so so uh we have uh resolution number 20251 very good um we we will read this out uh and then we'll adopt it um and the list below describes the donations received by the library from in the last quarter of 2024 and this includes General donations and memorials so uh the uh first is the new uh Public Library staff in memory of Sue hunstead uh donated $60 uh and that it's undesignated then then uh Paul and Pam pankert uh in memory of Cindy Hillin donated uh $10 for children's books uh Wallis and Jean Wellman in memory of Viola schaer donated $25 of undesignated uh Gabrielle Savi uh donated uh $60 for adult programs uh the RO what is that the r 120 it's um a program that our Pathfinder group uses and that's um a role playing game kind of akin to Dungeons and Dragons um but this is a tool that allows them to save information about their game and um some of them meet virtually so they um can use it to roll the dice that they use for the game and things like that so he donated to facilitate uh an expanded subscription which allows them more data storage and better features good thank you and NOA Communications uh in memory of Jim uh chrism Marik donated $50 uh undesignated uh there was an anonymous donation if from the money in the donation box $40 thank you Anonymous uh Do's German store donated uh $300 and $300 once and $150 for CH designated children's programs for the cookie bags and they don't they don't actually put together the cookie bags oh my good oh good for them uh Sue Auto uh donated $100 for adult books specifically nonfiction books uh Sylvia off Heidi donated $1,000 for adult books and another uh Anonymous donation $18.50 good work good work so that's um total cash donations are uh 101, 66350 and then the physical donation is that roll thing right the 1 15 um the it's the cookie bags oh it's the cookie bags oh God I'm okay for a total of $1,633 50 uh and um the library board accepts these donations with gratitude uh to the donors so I need I need uh uh someone to offer the resolution to uh with gratitude accept these donations now so moved all right do I have a second second all right any comments or uh questions otherwise secretary Dustin can you call the RO Sarah yes Dustin yes Caitlyn yes ruthanne yes yvon yes Manan yes Lynn yes Nancy yes all right all right next resolution I'm trying to open it up please am I am I goofing this up completely all right this will be shorter thank youon all right uh this is a resolution 20252 O2 uh authorizing disposal of surplus items and we have if it's easier Ruth and I can read oh would you read it for me I I I apparently pressed see this is the worst part about being the president screwing things up you know all right yes please read it for me the library director recommends that the following items be designated Surplus and be disposed of or sold through the city's Surplus process number one a two-tiered bookshelving cart the cart has been repaired on seever several occasion occasions and is no longer reliable or safe number two the frigid air Compact 30 oven the oven functions but has not been used in at least 7 years the library director anticipates no future use for the oven and the libraryies meeting room policy prohibits cooking in the meeting room and then there are pictures of both of the items goodbye good riddens the script on the frigider oven looks like it could be maybe from the 70s when the library was built okay okay okay all right I will uh accept a a a motion uh I'll move all right and a second second all right we got a motion in a second any any discussion anybody want the Frid a no okay I guess not looking at these pictures there is nothing extravagant about having these disposed of Dustin why don't you call the RO Sarah yes Dustin yes Caitlyn yes ruthanne yes yvon yes Manan yes Lynn yes Nancy yes I just would note that um our plans for that space in the meeting room are storage with our new um meeting room policy that no longer charges rental fees that was approved by the library board at the end of last year um we are kind of updating the process for how we check people in and um what supplies are available to them downstairs so I'd like to just put a cabinet in that corner for supplies right good good good idea well that when that was other business any other any other other business any other other business uh hearing none I'll take them motion to to adjourn so moved second second no this is uh not a debatable motion so all of favor signify by saying I post same sign done done the first one's in the bag