I'm going to call our library board meeting to order at 5.04 p.m. on today, Monday, November 24th. Starting, I guess, just, I don't know if you have everyone, but Steph Peters, Chris Abel, and Basil Luchko, all absent. And Michelle. And then Megan is present virtually. Any requests to amend our agenda for tonight? Okay, seeing none, then we'll move on to public comment. Members of the public are invited to speak at the Manitowoc Public Library Board of Trustees meeting each month on any matter related to the oversight of Manitowoc Public Library. The comments from each speaker shall be limited to five minutes in length unless extended by the action of Manitowoc Public Library Board of Trustees. We have anyone present for public input tonight? Second call, public comment. And last call, anybody? All right, closing public comment then, and we'll move on to approval of minutes. We have our... Regular board meeting minutes from October 27th and our personnel committee meeting minutes from November 10th. Looking for a motion to approve. So, second. Motion by Trustee Pauls and second by Trustee Frick. Any discussion? Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Those are approved. Thank you, everyone. Then moving on to financial reports. Am I doing that right? I got it. All right. So we have our budget status for fund 2010 and also 2013 for the months of October. the MPL check register for November, 2025 and the financial summary for October, 2025. Hope everyone got a chance to look those over. Do we have any questions, concerns? Otherwise be looking for a motion to approve. The financial reports? Correct. We'll make a motion to approve. Here we have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Trustee Burke. Any discussion? Do you have anything, Margaret? A financial report? No. I just didn't know if you wanted a motion altogether or like... Either way. Sometimes it's separate. It can be. Yeah, okay. Go ahead. I don't know if that's fair. Go ahead. Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That passes as well. Moving on to our next item, number six, correspondence. We do not have any for this meeting, so we'll move right on to our administrative reports. Did anyone have, I hope everyone got a chance to look that over as well, our director's report, manager highlights, our monthly stats, and then October articles. discussion on any of these? I wanted to thank Sharon and Laura for getting the Moroni College staff to have the teacher collection pick up. I think that's a great idea to get more of the schools involved in the library. I think it's wonderful to have that. And also the Truck or Treat. That's a huge project. And to have over 1,000 people involved with the library. I mean, 1,300 people on one day. I think that really, thank you. especially the youth staff. I know you guys work really hard on that. It is appreciated. It's a wonderful community event. There was one other one that I wanted to say. Oh, all this wonderful maintenance work. I sat by the library and I'm like, something's wrong. But it wasn't. It was like there was a light on at night. It was at night. And I thought, what's going on? And then I remember that you guys always work so hard. The maintenance people are sometimes doing stuff at all hours. And it was really, really neat that you guys do work hard. even though it was like in the evening. It's nice and it's appreciated that you guys are doing that when it's helpful to the patron and when it's at a good time for the community. And I just think that's really great and all the things going on there. That was all I had. Absolutely, I agree, thank you. I'll add too, I was in the chamber leadership committee meeting last month, and they had positive things to say about the junior leadership class that came, as well as the adult leadership class. So I know this year they said it was a little different than in past years when they'd come, and they really enjoyed it, even though the kids, the youth junior leadership are... they don't offer a lot of feedback. They didn't ever send either. And it sounded like they were that way at every stop that they had. So I just wanted to share that in that meeting, there was a lot of praise. I've been on that committee for a while and I have been the day coordinator for both the adult and the junior leadership groups. And I can confidently say that is the case every year with the junior leadership groups. They were very nice and respectful, though. And as soon as we took the picture, as you can see, they all smiled very nicely. Anything further? Any of that? Any questions for any of our managers or Karen? Is there anything you wanted to say? There's no further discussion or anything on that. We will then move on to our new business, starting with the 2026 library calendar. So we do have a memo and a calendar. Got it. So just so you know, I did really stick with just the holidays and our staff development days on this calendar. Those are things that we know and can plan ahead for. Margaret did remind me of our employee picnic, which is typically in the summer. Without knowing the date of that, Just as last year, it was a little awkward to put it on our calendar without having a date. So I guess I understand that there is support there for it to be able to close at 5 o'clock, but without knowing the date and or if the city will actually have it, that's also still up in the air. It's kind of hard to put it on our calendar. I can always report it. when we hand out for sure, which would be a month ahead of time. That's good. Does anyone have any questions? I need you to set the calendar. Motion, do we have a second? No, that's different than the disclosure request. Correct. Correct. That's a different question. Okay, yeah. So we need a second. Second. Okay. Thank you. All right. So then we have a motion by Trustee Frick, second by Trustee Norrell. And any discussion on this then? So what do I do in the middle? If you are looking to make an amendment, then you should do it now. I was thinking, given what Karen said, I think we could just say if there is a picnic, we're going to close it so that people know when they get that notice that They can put it on their family's column that the library employees are all going to be off. This is kind of a yearly thing that we're going to do. They're going to do a picnic. They're going to have all the employees in the city do it. Okay, so what is your motion? So my motion will be if there is a city appreciation picnic, the library will close the public at 5 p.m. on that date for the city picnic. Okay, we have a motion to amend. Do we have a second? Do we need a discussion first, though? I mean, how are we, how are you going to do that? Are you going to have an asterisk or something on the side of your calendar? The amendment would be to accept as proposed with this sentence. Yeah, just like it was last year. Last year, there was something at the bottom that said, we're going to close in August. We find out the date of the exam. That was not the one. I just don't even know if it's going to be, like, this is all typical, but I don't know for sure. Right. But I want to let the city pick if it will be or if there will be. Right. But I would like library employees to be able to plan on going, plan on having a family go there. Does that need to be on the calendar? No, it can't. You just come with a closure amendment or a closure request like you're going to do for this one? That's what I was planning on doing. Yeah. Yeah. I would say we just leave the calendar as is and she just comes forward with one of these and we just approve it as a board. Whatever day it is. As soon as she finds out that the picnic is scheduled, then she'll come in. Yeah, okay. All right, if that's enough time for people to plan and get off and all the logistics behind it. I would say my staff have never had an issue. The only issue there was was people weren't allowed to attend because we were open until 8 p.m. Okay, okay. I think we would all be supportive of giving them the time to go to a meeting. Well, then I'll, like, get rid of my bullshit. Well, there was no second. Yeah, there was no second. So then the motion failed. So now we are back to our original motion to accept the calendar as is. Any further discussion for that? Because we do have a motion and a second for that. Okay. Then all in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes. Thank you. Then... Moving on to our next memo that we have here, the closure request. This is for this year, not for calendar. Did everyone have a chance to look this over? I make a motion to accept your closure request. Second. Okay, so we have a motion by Trustee Norrell and a second by Trustee Brigg. Any discussion? Yes, Margaret. Okay. So I did some research. Brown County Library is open the 26th. Meade Library is open the 26th. Milwaukee Public Library is open the 26th. Lester is open the 26th. That is the first day after the holiday that kids are off school in the mornings. And in the mornings before nap time is a perfect time to go to the library. As someone who's had small children, it is extremely frustrating to get small children out of the house, ready to go to the library. and find out whether it's in the morning or the afternoon for the development days, which is my own fault, because I should have looked for the development days. But this is something that I think we do with the employee picnic. We thank them with giving them that time off. And I also think that this is something that needs to be brought up when we do our regular camp effort, not less than a month before. Like, it needed to be brought up, like, in the calendar, not as a separate thing a month before it's going to happen. So those were my concern with it. I think it's too much of a hardship for our patrons to go to the library, not have it open on a day that we already have off Christmas day. And I just think that closing it now is a bit last minute. And while I appreciate the work of the library staff, I don't think it's worth Not that the work isn't worth it, but I think that the disruption to the community, especially on that day when kids are off school for the first time or trying really hard to literacy is not the best idea. I would like to just respond to a couple of things that I couldn't bring this forward last year because this is meant to be a reward for the work that we did all year. how was I supposed to know that we were going to accomplish and the staff were going to accomplish so much that I would plan it a year ahead of time. So that's the reason behind it coming now. And as you know, we just went through performance evaluations. So this was an idea generated out of that. So the timing is correct in how I thought about it and what I wanted to do to show appreciation to the staff in the way that I know that they would appreciate. So I just wanted to make sure that you understood I can't plan this ahead of time. That's logical. I just also want to comment, most school districts have off each year. So most school districts, I mean, I know Mantua, but Valor is the surrounding. We have off already like on the 21st. It's a ridiculous amount of time off, but it's not like the 26th is our first It's not like they only have a Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and then that's their first day. Like, they have off Monday. They have off the week before Christmas. I mean, that coming up. So I'm just telling you that way, too. Plenty of time to go to the library before Christmas as well. Because there's no school Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Right. But the thing is... Or when your turn is to get ready for Christmas. But that's an assumption. Yeah. I mean, you know, just giving you a different glimpse, it's not like they do have off. Is it back open on Saturday? It's open on the 26th. It's open on Friday. It is on the 26th. Yeah. Yes, that opened up. And then we open regular hours on Saturday. And Sunday. And Sunday. Yeah. Any further discussion? Thank you, everyone, for your input. I also... I'll just say before we vote, just want to say thank you to Karen and all of the staff at the library, because a lot was done this year. You guys have worked very hard, so very appreciated. Anything further? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. And opposed? Nay. So we have one nay. I'm able to hear you. Yes, I am. So, yes, it is. Okay. Then, okay. For our next one, I have information to share. For the facility. December 14th. Oh, I skipped it. December 14th. Coming from the city, I didn't have all the information. posted agenda. But it does look like there was an approval of the city budget. No, it was a recommendation on a finance committee, but not fully approved by the city council. So what Sean Alferi gave me permission to share, though, are the two pieces that come with that recommendation is that employee compensation raises would be 3%. and the health insurance increase is 13%. Those are the two pieces that we're missing from the fire, but I can't give you the budget until it is fully approved by the city. So- That vote won't happen until the 15th of December. Right. So that would be our only new business. Those final numbers would be the only new business after December board meeting. Otherwise, you can opt not to have a December meeting. And I can share that budget again. That was approved by the city council at the January meeting. You need us to approve it again? No, no. It would just be . Yes. And if we are going to have a December meeting, then you need to decide on a date, because the 4th is the week of Christmas, which is fine for me, but we need to have a quorum if we're going to have a December board meeting. I would say if the only item is budget update, I'm fine with not having a December meeting. I agree. Of course, you can always call the emergency meeting. Yeah, if something comes up, you can always call the emergency meeting. So we would need some action to officially not have a December meeting. So we have a motion by Trustee Earle. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Trustee Paulos. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Pretty good budget. I can't imagine anything's going to change in the library budget. Well, we can see it at the CWSA, isn't it? Yeah, you can. The only thing that drastically would happen is if the council decides not to improve the city's budget overall. Right. You would know that. All right. Then next up on our agenda, we have our facilities update with Stacy. Are you here again? We're into round two of the interviews to fill. Round one didn't come to fruition. No. Oh, I thought that was... So we went through a group and nothing panned out. So now we've posted again. It is online again. I thought that was like a second interview. We went through a couple of those. So Cher, if you know anybody, join the library. It's full-time with BumpFest. Yes. We're directly with Stacey. And the other wonderful people. Lots of jokes and puns. So we've already got a lot of people coming and already signing up on the city website. So we're taking them fast and quick and letting them know that they're either going to go towards the interviewers or not. So we're not kind of hanging around waiting. So as you come in, we're taking care of them. So this is the center. We've got the carpeting in, and I know that's one of Karen's shining things. I wanted to offer a job to Karen because she's been doing some renovating in her room over there. She took some of the signs off the column, which with Meredith's help, they figured out how to get the toggle bolts out. So we're kind of focusing some of that lighting down there as well. So once the carpeting is finished and they get the equipment in, We have a check come in already, and they already set up the lines that come through to the ceiling. Everything will drop through the ceiling. That's already set up as junctions, and we're just finishing up the lighting, and then one, two, three, everything will be ready. So at the lighting, we've got our first line in for the rotunda and underneath the ring this week. I'll be coming in Thanksgiving, so we'll finish that up. But it's nice having those days off when you see the lights up. When you scare me, I'm like, what was I doing here? We'll be getting that done so the big strobes that are in the dome and then those ring lights will be all set and ready to go. Then we'll start doing all the stacks that are in the collections and getting those done too. Business center first and then back at the children's. Any questions? I have nothing about seagulls. They're back again. Come and go. We've gone for a month and an eighth. They're not. The babies are not important. Aggressive. No, they're not. The Everglades are coming. It looks beautiful. I was at Swains Yoga, and they are doing a bingo card for the month, and one of the spots on the bingo card is to come and see the Everglades at the library. So I thought that was really cool. Great. All right. Next up, we will convene in closed session. Notice is hereby given that the above governmental body may adjourn into a closed session during the meeting as authorized by section. 19.85 of the Wisconsin Statutes for the purpose of considering employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. The specific subject matter that may be considered in the closed session is the following, executive director annual performance evaluation. So we have to do a roll call vote. to go into closed session? You need a motion to go into closed session. Oh, I need a motion first, sorry. So I will make the motion to go into closed session. Thank you. Okay, we have a motion. I second. And a second. Now roll call. You have a sheet ready. Pam, Rick? Aye. Megan? Aye. Dana? Aye. And me, aye. All right, then we are in closed session. All right, we have reconvened in open session. I would make a motion to approve the recommendation of the Personnel Committee regarding the Executive Director's Annuity. We have a motion, we have a second. Second. Any discussion on that? All right, perfect. All those in favor? Aye. And opposed? All right. That concludes our agenda, unless anyone has anything else. Motion to adjourn. We have a motion. Second. And a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? We are adjourned. Thank