Pahrump Community Library
Minutes of the July 8, 2024 Meeting
1. Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 10:09 am.
2. Members Roll Call
In Attendance: Secretary Kelly Green, Trustee Dee Mounts, Vice Chair Michael Runion, Chair Shewalter, Assistant Director Shanna Gibbons, Children’s Head Alysha Wogee, Reference Department Head Kimberly Thomas, Commissioner Frank Carbone
Not Present: Trustee Matthew Morris, Senior Deputy District Attorney Michelle Nelson
3. Pledge of Allegiance
Commissioner Carbone led the Pledge of Allegiance prior to the Call to Order.
4. Trustee/Director/Liaison Comments – This item is limited to announcements or topics/issues proposed for future workshops, committees, and agendas.
Commissioner Frank Carbone says he is glad he could make it today, he has already had three meetings this morning, and thank you for having a great selection of individuals here to do the work and he is glad to see you all here.
Chair Shewalter thanks him for his comments.
Secretary Green thanks everyone for braving the heat and coming out this morning.
With no further comment, item 4 is closed.
5. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT: (*Action will NOT be taken no matters considered during this period until specifically included on an agenda as an action item.)
Lora Stewart says she has a question about item 13.
Chair Shewalter asks her to hold her comments until the item it pertains to.
With no further public comment, item 5 is closed.
6. Approval of July 8, 2024 Agenda (Non-action item)
Chair Shewalter moves to strike item number 7 as there are no emergency items.
Without objection, the July 8, 2024 agenda is approved.
Chair Shewalter addresses item 12 prior to item 8.
7. For Possible Action: Emergency Items
Item 7 is struck as there are no emergency items.
12. For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to appoint Assistant Director Shanna Gibbons as Acting Director.
Trustee Mounts makes a motion to appoint Assistant Director Shanna Gibbons as Acting Director. Vice Chair Runion seconds the motion.
Secretary Green has no comments.
Trustee Mounts says she likes the fact that we have worked with Shanna before and she does an excellent job.
Vice Chair Runion has no comments.
Chair Shewalter says he is in support of this motion, Shanna will do a great job while we are looking for a new director, and she did a phenomenal job last time we were on the hunt.
Commissioner Frank Carbone says he thinks this motion is a great motion.
With no further comment, public comment is closed.
There is no further board comment.
Chair Shewalter calls the question. The measure passes 4-0 with one absent.
8. For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or amend and approve the meeting minutes for June 10, 2024.
Vice Chair Runion makes a motion to approve the meeting minutes for June 10, 2024. Secretary Green seconds the motion.
Chair Shewalter says Kim’s efforts are valuable, he can tell what exactly happened when reading through the minutes and is impressed.
There is no public comment.
Chair Shewalter calls the question. The measure passes 4-0 with one absent.
9. Presentation: Treasurer’s Report by Shanna Gibbons for discussion of monthly expenditures and revenue for June 2024.
Acting Director Shanna Gibbons reads from her report beginning on page 16 of the backup.
Chair Shewalter asks if the grants number is a credit or a debit. Acting Director Gibbons says it is definitely a credit, but she does not know where the number came from because she did not put the report together. Chair Shewalter asks if Children’s Head Alysha Wogee knows, and she states that she is not sure.
Acting Director Gibbons continues reading the report.
Chair Shewalter asks about the circulation and reference credit card collections. If we are keeping track of notary but some of the transactions are credit card transactions, how is the notary number accurate? Acting Director Gibbons says it is not. Chair Shewalter says we talked about paying more for notary public. Acting Director Gibbons says we have older registers, but if we had a different point-of-sale system, we could probably keep track of that. Chair Shewalter thanks Acting Director Gibbons.
Vice Chair Runion asks on page 17 and page 16 travel and training appear to be swapped on one of the two reports. Page 16 indicates 100% of the training budget is left, but page 17 says we had $523 of expenditures for training. That $523 appears under the travel line on page 16. He also asks why we have not used any of the training budget. He says staff retention is critical and training is part of retention. The money is there and we should spend it.
Chair Shewalter says he will look into the training expenditures offline with the acting director.
With no further comment, item 9 is closed.
10. For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or amend and approve payment vouchers for June 2024 through July 2024.
Acting Director Gibbons reads from the payment vouchers as found on page 20 of the backup.
Chair Shewalter asks about EBSCO on page 20 it shows we paid $713.10 but on page 23 it shows that same amount for May and June. There is also an amount of $56.41 for EBSCO in July and $6,841.00 in September. He asks for clarification on these charges. Acting Director Gibbons says one is for magazines and the other is for databases. She confirms $713.10 for both May and June is also correct.
Chair Shewalter asks about Nevada State Bank - on page 20 for this month it is $1426.05 but on page 23, for the entire year, the Nevada State Bank credit card has no entries except for June. Acting Director Gibbons says it is because the credit card used to be paid out of petty cash, but since there was no petty cash reimbursement or the past few months, former Director Anderson has been making a voucher and putting it on the voucher.
Chair Shewalter asks about other items on the page 23 annual breakdown that says they are monthly but do not reflect charges on a monthly basis, and why that is. Acting Director Gibbons says we have to send the bills to the county for approval and sometimes will get a late bill and end up with a double payment. It depends on when the bill is sent.
Chair Shewalter asks about Office1 for copies, and what we are paying for. The amount is $106 but cumulative for the year was $3383.45. Acting Director Gibbons says we have a plan with them but if it goes over a certain amount of copies we get charged. Otherwise we pay a service fee and the $3383.45 amount includes toner.
Acting Director Gibbons continues reading from the report. Chair Shewalter makes a makes a motion to accept additional backup for the petty cash vouchers. Vice Chair Runion seconds. Chair Shewalter calls the question. The measure passes 4-0 with one absence. Chair Shewalter calls a 15 minute recess to make and distribute copies for the board and audience of the backup.
Chair Shewalter calls the meeting back to order at 11:07 am.
Secretary Green asks about the charges for CVS. Acting Director Gibbons says the receipts are currently with the rest of the receipts for an entire year are in an envelope.
Chair Shewalter says there was a check made out to the former director for $540.50 but the petty cash voucher lists it as SUU, which raises a flag.
Chair Shewalter makes a motion to amend and approve the petty cash vouchers for May and June omitting the SUU education item for $540.50. Vice Chair Runion seconds.
Karen Waldman asks about how petty cash amounts show up in general expense reports. She has additional comments about the budget and Chair Shewalter asks her to restrict her comments to the petty cash vouchers.
There is no additional public comment.
Secretary Green says SUU may be Southern Utah University. Chair Shewalter says his point was that the check was not written out to SUU.
Trustee Mounts says she doesn’t have questions because it is not fair to the Acting Director Gibbons, who did not put the reports together. Chair Shewalter says it is no reflection on Acting Director Gibbons as the reports were submitted last month. The backup that was passed out today was given to him by the former director but she did not provide the credit card receipts. The board is in a position to not approve certain things instead of blanket approving and that is why the motion was to amend and approve.
Vice Chair Runion says his concerns have already been addressed.
Chair Shewalter calls the question.
The measure to amend and approve passes 4-0 with one absent.
11. Presentation: Librarian’s Report by Shanna Gibbons and Alysha Wogee for discussion on library activity for June 2024. Report activities include, but are not limited to, patron traffic, books checked out, books returned, fees collected, online story time, STEAM, internet use, website usage and materials added.
Acting Director Gibbons reads the report beginning on page 24 of the backup.
Item 12 was addressed prior to item 8.
13. For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve or reject 1) a radio training program to be coordinated by Vice-Chairman Runion and 2) direct staff on implementation of program.
Chair Shewalter gives Vice Chair Runion and Frank Maurizio time to present their idea.
Frank Maurizio says he is the owner of a low power FM radio station that has been broadcasting since 2014 and is a nonprofit. One of the mandates from the FCC is education and giving back to the community so they came up with this program to get high school students interested in broadcasting and to try to work with disabled veterans.
Michael Runion, speaking as a member of the public, says that he owns 106.9 and partners with Mr. Maurizio and this will be 0 cost to the library. They will provide all the equipment including the transmitter, antenna, soundboard, and computer systems. Podcasting and radio is a business and a direction to go and gives young people something to do.
Secretary Green asks where the equipment will be housed. Mr. Runion says in the library or if not he is more than willing to transport it back and forth. Secretary Green asks how much involvement the regular staff will have to have and whether it will be taking time away from their regular duties. Mr. Runion says as much involvement as they would like to have. The program could be self-encapsulated but if STEAM wants to get involved that would be awesome. However, the radio program doesn’t require anything other than space. Secretary Green says she would like to ask the staff what they think. Acting Director Gibbons says the Story Room is more available than the Meeting Rooms, but library staff are stretched pretty thin. She says it could be a library sponsored program in that there wouldn’t be a fee to use the room but would require they have their own insurance.
Trustee Mounts says she has experience with Mr. Maurizio and was a guest on Mr. Runion’s show a couple years ago when she was running for office, and she says he blocked out her interview. She says she is a constitutionalist and questions whether he will to this to the kids and take out their opinions or first amendment rights. She says he told Mr. Runion it was an equipment failure. Mr. Maurizio says he does not know what she is talking about and needs a date or time. Mr. Runion says it was a short in the mic line and several guests had similar problems. Trustee Mounts asks whether the kids’ constitutional rights will be protected if they work together and they agree. Acting Director Shanna Gibbons says there cannot be anything political on the show whatsoever while it is happening in the library for it and we should also check with legal.
Chair Shewalter asks about the footprint of the equipment. Mr. Runion says a laptop, transmitter the size of an cell phone, and a soundboard the size of a lunchbox. Acting Director Gibbons says she does not want to house the equipment and have the library be responsible for it. Chair Shewalter says that is a good point and also wants to confirm they will comply with any rules about what programming can be transmitted from the library. Mr. Runion and Mr. Maurizio agree.
Chair Shewalter makes a motion to approve ) a radio training program to be coordinated by Vice-Chairman Runion and 2) direct staff on implementation of program, coordinating with legal and the acting director.
Chair Shewalter calls a 5 minute recess.
Chair Shewalter calls the meeting back to order at 11:40 am.
Chair Shewalter withdraws his motion and makes a motion to continue the item until August 12, 2024 so that he can speak with legal before moving the program forward. Trustee Mounts seconds.
Lora Stewart says she loves libraries but doesn’t think a radio station coming into the library is necessary. She doesn’t think you need to supplement your business by coming into the library and using their facilities. We get money for the library and she doesn’t want to be supporting someone’s personal business.
Chair Shewalter thanks her for her comments.
Karen Waldman says she always believed libraries should be quiet and peaceful and she is not sure how this program would not create noise in the library.
Chair Shewalter thanks her for her comments.
With no further comment, public comment is closed.
There is no further board comment.
Chair Shewalter calls the question to continue.
The measure passes 4-0 with one absent.
14. For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve or reject 1) the Tales with Pebbles program 2) approve funding for program and 3) direct staff on the implementation of program.
Dee Mounts, speaking as a private citizen, says this program was named from Former Director Vanja Anderson and Acting Director Shanna Gibbons to keep Pebbles’ memory alive. The logo is being modified from one she used for her campaign with a cartoonish image of Pebbles with a bow, the graphic design fee is $60.00 and we will be using a local graphic designer to feed the local economy. She goes over the invoices on page 28 and 29 of the backup. The dogs have to be measured for the harnesses and we don’t know yet which dogs passed the therapy program. She passed with Diesel and Sandy passed with Buddy. There are two more teams that are interested. The therapy dog is $20.00 for the background check and you start being observed by the tester. The insurance comes with the therapy dog certification. There is a $45.00 annual fee as a therapy dog. John Clausen from the newspaper said he would do the photography of the dogs for free.
Chair Shewalter asks for clarification of the prices on the harnesses. Reference Head Kim Thomas says she priced them on Amazon and went with the highest priced ones, which are largest, because she wasn’t sure what size dog everyone would have. They are about $28.00 each and with free shipping the total would be $111.96.
Chair Shewalter asks to clarify the total number of teams and harness prices and if $50.00 each would cover it and Ms. Mounts says it would. He asks about the t-shirt prices and Ms. Mounts says if we ordered 10 t-shirts they are $17.00 instead of $25.00 each. Chair Shewalter asks whether the teams will all have background checks and child abuse training and Ms. Mounts confirms this. He asks if it is $45.00 per team and she says yes.
Ms. Mounts says Kim has been a godsend of picking this up and helping and working with her because it was dropped. She says Kim did a great job. Shanna helped too and they both agreed that they should have Alysha back involved because it is a children’s program. Chair Shewalter asks if everyone is good with that. Acting Director Shanna Gibbons says she agrees.
Secretary Green has no comments.
Vice Chair Runion has no comments.
Chair Shewalter makes a motion to approve 1) the Tales with Pebbles program 2) approve funding for program not to exceed $600 with the additional $45 per team annually and 3) direct staff on the implementation of program. Trustee Mounts recuses herself. Vice Chair Runion seconds the motion.
Ginny Okowa says she likes the idea, supports it, and thinks it is a great idea.
Chair Shewalter thanks her for her comments.
With no further public comment, public comment is closed.
Chair Shewalter calls the question.
The measure passes 3-0 with one abstaining and one absent.
15. For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve or reject estimate #277750 from Gunny’s Air Conditioning to repair refrigerant leaks at a cost of $5354.00.
Chair Shewalter says this Trustee Morris asked for this item after meeting with our AC contractor to repair refrigerant leaks in units 1 and 4. Those units have been isolated so the compressors don’t burn out while we get this deliberated and approved.
Chair Shewalter makes a motion to approve estimate #277750 from Gunny’s Air Conditioning to repair refrigerant leaks at a cost of $5354.00. Secretary Green seconds the motion. Karen Waldman says she hopes this becomes a vendor listing because there is petty cash paid to Gunny’s and they aren’t listed on the vendor listing.
With no further comment, public comment is closed.
The measure passes 4-0 with one absent.
16. For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve or reject estimate #927 from Cutting Edge Landscape to remove the weeds from the rear of the property at a cost of $800.00.
Secretary Green says this seems expensive and asks if we got other bids.
Acting Director Gibbons says we only got the one estimate because they already do our landscaping and they are familiar with the property. It is a very large overgrown area. Secretary Green asks if she thinks it is a reasonable estimate and she says she does.
Trustee Mounts says it does seem expensive and asks if we could still get more quotes. Assistant Director Gibbons says they already do our landscaping and it’s becoming a fire safety hazard and getting it taken care of sooner is better.
Vice Chair Runion asks what the $800 covers. Acting Director Gibbons refers to page 30, for grading and weed removal.
Chair Shewalter says he does not think $800 is unreasonable.
Chair Shewalter makes a motion to approve estimate #927 from Cutting Edge Landscape to remove the weeds from the rear of the property at a cost of $800.00. Secretary Green seconds.
Lora Stewart says she thinks it is a very reasonable estimate.
With no further comment, public comment is closed.
Chair Shewalter calls the question.
The measure passes 4-0 with one absent.
17. Trustee/Director/Liaison Comments: This item is limited to announcements or topics/issues proposed for future workshops, committees and agendas.
Commissioner Carbone says the meeting was a little long but we got a lot accomplished. He says congratulations to Acting Director Shanna Gibbons.
Acting Director Shanna Gibbons says she’ll do her best to try to carry us on until we get a new director and asks for a little patience with her reports while she gets things sorted out.
Secretary Green says she wants to thank everyone for coming and thank Ms. Anderson for her service to the community and wish her well in her future endeavors.
Trustee Mounts says she wants to thank everyone for being here and is thankful everyone is very supportive of this reading program and she thinks it will grow fast.
Vice Chair Runion has no comments.
Chair Shewalter says Acting Director Gibbons did a phenomenal job last time we went through this and he is most confident to have her at the helm.
18. Adjournment
Chair Shewalter adjourns the meeting at 12:09 pm.