Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

Then there was an attendee.

Maybe. Kelly.

Yeah. They put there

a little bit. Got up. Yes. There she is.

Right then. Like to go ahead and call the meeting to order, and we'll begin with a pledge of allegiance when we have a flag.

We have a

flag. It's a

hidden flag. A hidden flag. There we go. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic, which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. That'll be two more else.

Okay. We can now go for adoption of the agenda and approval of the consent calendar. The consent calendar 26 dash o four three seven. That's the minutes. And the consent calendar format to vote a session via session the following item. One WPA error bulletin board. That's the end of the consent calendar. Is there any discussion from the commissioners? Any discussion from the public? Any discussion online?

Being no discussion, I'll call for the vote. I need to have somebody first move that we accept the calendar. I move. Is there a second? Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Okay. We're ready for the report from the staff. Director of library services.

Perfect. Thank you, Presleyville, library director. Just one update this time, and it's related to cataloging. So we are we are live. We did a a soft rollout, and we'll have some some marketing or promotional materials come out next week.

And Crystal's bringing the database up on the screen. And we have a handful of published collections. Of course, these will be continuously added to. We have four right now, and we have a collection related to logging, the railroad, and then Georgetown, and then also South Lake Tahoe. Now this was the link that was included in the agenda. Because at the time, we didn't we weren't live with the with the database yet. Do you do you have the other the other

I can get answer it.

Because when you go to the the official link versus searching within catalog it, it automatically brings up those categories that have been curated. Disregard my. And so if you scroll down a bit, can, of course, see those categories. Why don't we click on Georgetown? Of course, we have photos.

And if you were to click on a photo, you'll you're with some additional details and click on the photo again, then, of course, you're able to to zoom, go full screen, do all sorts of different things. So we've we've moved ahead with the with the soft launch, and I wanted to thank commissioner Owens for, you know, early in the process when we were looking at at different options, you know, software platforms. She had mentioned cataloging. Of course, it's termed that that was the best tool for the for the job, and we've implemented it. So that's fabulous.

Also, commissioner Mann wearing for there was a a piece related to usage, and we had mentioned the the state library and and how they have things, you know, mentioned on their site. And so we have something similar on the on the main database site as far as copyright and and usage. Of course, Kelly and Bonnie for working on the database. Andrew and Matt from IT department. I know this is gonna sound like an Emmy speech or something, but I wanna make sure that I thank all these folks.

And then Kimberly will be helping with the website next next week, and so we'll have we'll have links to the database from the library website. And then right now, Abby, who's part of our social media team, she is working on a flyer and social media. So we'll have our QR code and and everything else that's that's needed, and then we'll have a more official marketing piece. And with the branding, of course, we have our official colors here. With the logo piece, there's a few other processes that I'm exploring, so I should have updates around that.

In the next few weeks, I shared the database during a department head meeting a few days ago, about 40 apartment heads from El Dorado County. It was very well received. There's a lot of excitement around this. And the museum having now this digital presence where people can access content wherever they might be and through their phone, tablet, computers. I think this really, you know, is a is a strong step in the right connection for for the museum and what we offer to the community.

So exciting times. I don't know if we have any thoughts, questions, comments. But that concludes my report.

So what other things besides pictures will be available?

So the the platform itself, their catalog is is working on a the the video piece. So we'll be able to embed videos, hopefully, by the end of the year. But Kelly reached out to their support team to get a little more information, and so that is planned. Then catalog it. We do have, of course, these fabulous videos of the railroad in the 1950s and other film snippets.

So those will be included. And we actually have them on the on the back end. They've been imported, but they don't they don't show up as a preview, and they don't play currently within within catalog it. But hopefully later this sounds like potentially later this year, we'll have that catalog it, have that in place. And we can also do audio.

And then as far as the different because right now, we've been focusing on on photographs, but we'll also have photos of artifacts and cultural items, and then that'll bring a whole other dimension to everything. And with taking pictures of of those items, the, you know, the technology that that we have available to us and then considerations with the with the lighting. And we haven't gotten to the point where the where the quality is at the level where we wanna publish it, but we've made a lot of progress there. So I assume in the next few months, we'll we'll get there. And then we can, of course, take pictures of even though a larger item, you know, furniture and that it's a whole other layer of database offering to the public.

Will the maps go up too?

Yes. Okay. Yes. And then we we're also of course, the surveyor's office has digitized hundreds of maps, and I believe that they are they're all in a PDF format. So we've been in in discussion with them of, you know, mirroring essentially that database that they've developed and having it in in catalog. And we we do have you're you're likely more familiar with the with the number of maps that we've already imported on the back end.

Put those in, but that's they're not all I mean, I got many, many more.

Sure. Yeah. Well, I think we have it I I wanna say at least 30 in there. And so with with the with the rollout, of course, we're being intentional with our categories. It's it's inevitable that we're gonna have a lot of different categories, and and they'll also be which is a plus, there'll be overlaps in those collections.

So if you click on whatever category it might be and then you then click on railroad, you could see some some duplicates, but still works for those containers, those curated collections. But to start, you know, logging and railroad, you know, I am, in particular, wanting to include railroad in the in the beginning offerings because even even though one of the one of the meetings was it'll be delayed until, I believe, in May. But the SPTC will be able to to show off this this product during that that meeting. And then we have the ballot measures coming up for the Georgetown area and the South Lake Tahoe area. So that's measure b and then measure c.

And so we wanted to offer some Georgetown and South Lake Tahoe categories.

Will it be written in formal documents as well? With you're talking about the Available to the public through the documentation. So if somebody wanted to find a a letter written during the gold rush from Placerville, is that kind of thing possible to put on there?

So I think your question relates to just documents and the artifacts and then how we we digitize those and put them on there and then and then search. Absolute. So this is just the first step. I think we've got a 150 or so images live. Of course, we've got almost nearly 30,000 in the wings and then all the ones that have not been digitized.

So it'll very much be be a balance of with how we import, you know, photos and then artifacts and and and documents. So there's a few things that are kinda at the at the top of the queue. But the technology piece, we wanna make sure that everything that we that we produce and publish is of archival quality. And so we're spending a little more time on how things are set up, the lighting, the technology that we're using.

What about things that people could find at the museum?

So, yeah, Kelly Kelly and I have chatted about all the different possibilities with catalog it and and, you know, with these first steps and then some of the the identified next steps. This is something that it's going to, it'll be continuous, and it'll be populated over time, and it'll take, years and years and years, and it'll never fully be it will never be complete, which is which is wonderful. So these first steps with some of the things that we've identified, and as as we move along a bit more with the with the technology and, you know, importing artifacts and other items, we'll also take into consideration the thoughts of the input from the commission of, okay. What should we add, you know, next? Should we focus maybe more on set of collection of documents or maybe these these artifacts?

But, again, we wanna have the initial steps and then some variety, and then we'll become even more fine tuned with what we what we import.

Edit from the commissioners, public.

That's really neat. Thank you for putting Yes. All the effort that you guys thank you, Kelly and Bonnie and Dee It's exciting. For all the effort, yeah, that you're putting into this and catalog, is kinda considered the standard. We use it at our museum. We know that Placer County uses it for their archives, so it's a good system.

And and there's lot of potential integration with our our online catalog and then also our website. I say the offer also get use it, but very much I mean, you see you you probably probably be more difficult to find an entity that doesn't use it in this this immediate region. And and all this feedback and, you know, through data gathering is that very easy tool to to use, and and all different entities enjoy it, and that's been our experience as well. It's very nice.

And my fourth grader invented it.

Yes. Maybe

forty eight years ago. He was my fourth grader.

K. Anybody online have anything to add? If not, we will move on. And it's discussion and action items. Number two is the plan for April 2026 annual presentation That's to the board of supervisors. So it includes reviewing the presentation we made last year, and we're looking for potential items to focus on for this coming year.

I think we skipped the receiving an update regarding the bare board.

Well, that's because I would do them.

You don't care what

that was.

Because I missed it.

You never heard it. Thanks for pointing

that out.

Yeah. I missed it. So, excuse me, we'll go back and do things in the proper order. Number twenty six dash o four four o is an update from the director of library services. Again, this time regarding the county fair board's rescheduled January meeting.

I actually didn't I didn't realize that that one was on here. See, we're both surprised. So, you know, that that that's fine. Previously, it was it was thought that the topic of the organ would would be on the agenda, the fair board meeting in March, but it is it is not. From my understanding, the fair is continuing to explore quotes and and possibilities with modifying that room, but that is that's all the information that I that I have.

So I don't know when it'll be put on the agenda, but as soon as since I know, I'll communicate that out via to the commission.

Commissioners have anything to add? Anybody online have anything to add? Oh, we're moving right along. And now we'll return to 26Dash0441. Did we want to review that the presentation?

Yeah.

So my suggestion is as we as we look at the presentation that we made about six months ago, I guess, now, prepare for our next presentation.

It was about November, I think. Pardon?

I think it was about November.

October 21. There you go. Mhmm. Okay.

Five months ago. That's about six.

So when you want me to move it?

Yeah. Boy, Jacob ran through this thing. So I guess that the purpose of the commission has not changed. The the only difference is we are now what's the new term? That thing you just went through. A resolution. Yeah. Or a resolution. Other than that, nothing really has changed, as far as our purpose, what we're doing. So let's look at our core responsibilities.

Let's see if there's anything there anybody thinks we should look at. How much do we really have any advocacy over financial and external things? I mean, that's responsibility, but I I haven't really heard us discuss finances since I've been here.

Since I think it's a zero budget item, and there is no budget for the county museum. And that's not funny. I'm just saying.

That will be to be going to have a museum administrator classification, but that became vacant due to needed budget compression. The mission was was deleted. And so we so we're in the steps right now where where departments and proposed budget, and so that's that's where we are in the, you know, in the process. So as far as the museum, we we do have certain funds that are allocated when you look at, you know, janitorial and some of the other pieces. So it isn't very large amount, but I can I can share some of those details, of course, as we as we move forward?

But the museum is is not it's under the department, so it's not its own, completely separate department in that in that aspect, so it's within the budget of the department.

This is financial and external advocacy, so I I was thinking of that as more advocating on behalf of raising funds for the museum perhaps, maybe through Museums Foundation. That's how I interpret this, but I Yeah. May

Absolutely. And from this distance, some things are blurred, but that's but I mentioned I mentioned that because I know that commissioners in in particular, commissioner Raghuoli has had mentioned this topic on few occasions and advocating for the the museum and resources and and funding and, you know, what the community might be most interested in if it was the expansion of power or projects. And so the commission has an advisory committee and then for advocating financial and other external elements, of course, are included.

I think internal and external finances would be a good thing for us to be aware of as we're trying

to

become more involved in the museum maybe than in the past. That would be a nice thing to know. It might also help us make some decisions about external financing. We know what's happening. We can look at what we can add on. We don't know what's happening. We don't really have a place to start. So I think that would be an excellent thing.

Okay.

This one? Let's go on.

Do you

have any changes here?

It doesn't look like it. Nobody's up for reelection for a while. Right?

I think we have two who just redid. Yeah. Who just redid. Yeah. Right.

Sorry.

Admission statement is pretty recent, so I I know we're not changing that. Facility hasn't moved. Our Western Railroad is moving right along. Would we wanna add in here work the library's doing with the Internet under additional archival storage and making that available to the public? Would that be a good thing to add in here or later?

So I didn't see the first part of the of the slide there. If so I think a lot of these things can can just be carried over. I think with the, you know, some of the new new elements and how they are received by the community. I mean, the the database would be something to to mention I know. On that.

But, like, with the archival storage piece, I mean, nothing is nothing has changed with that. We have some storage that's essentially underneath the the library. And I'd then continue to think about the the budget piece as well. So this is the first year. So with so with Kelly and then with Bonnie, who historically have just been on the library side of operations and with the library department and the museum.

So they are at the museum for a certain amount of time. So that is allocated just to to the museum even though it's not it's not a a lot of hours that it it's it's carved out that way. So I wanted to mention mention that piece because that is that's something that's that's new. So

So that becomes a a budgetary item for the museum?

Yes. Right. Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. And in previous years, that was that wasn't that wasn't the case. Of course, we had a museum administrator, and by then, it was it was more, you know, library team and and operations and museum more, I guess, independent. But with our classifications, with select library staff, their job description, align the duties that they're performing in the museum environment, and then there's overlap. For example, Bonnie is librarian. She's trained in cataloging. She's been helping with cataloging and cataloging the metadata of the photos. So that's an example. Right. Mhmm. Okay.

K.

Next slide.

You gotta pass. This is on a treat ticket.

Would it help, Bryce, if I read these? Can you see that okay?

Oh, Brandon. Oh, I didn't mean that in a negative way. I'm sorry.

I don't have you visually. I don't have my glasses on. I can't find my glasses. There there's a little

You there, Bryce. And and so before the meeting, thinking of a peek at this, I mean, this was all extracted and, you know, carried over from from last year. And I think I I don't know if there's anything that's that stands out for the for the department as far as, you know, for larger there's no larger kind of structural changes with any of this. There's there's additional things to highlight. But, Crystal, would you would you scroll up just a little bit there? Sure. Never mind. Maybe I'll move a little bit closer because that layer is

One thing I would recommend is you might at least say which slide it is because people online I'm not screen sharing, so they can't see which slide we're on. Ah. So if they're following along

Okay. But we're on the slide. What we do, are they numbered, or is it that good enough?

Slide four.

Slide four. Thank you. Alright. The one thing I think on here that we just already talked about to make a budget and funding

Slide five. Sorry.

Slide five.

Slide five. But to make a budget and funding, we do need to know what money is being spent. So I think that would be an important thing for us to be able to talk about. Everything else is what we're doing right along. Anybody wanna add anything to that? Okay. We'll go to slide six. Yes. Which is evidently right after four.

That is correct.

Governing documents? I guess we we have a different document now with the resolution, so

that'll have to be put in there. Yeah. So so this is this is a good example, and we'll have that first first reading for the for the resolution same day same item with the with the commission presentation. So when we And and then the department will will take care of that piece, and then the commission just presents, of course, this or whatever they put together as far as the presentation. But the department, of course, can help with the details of this.

I know that Commissioner Ragoli and I are gonna go over this again, but do we change that for this meeting, or is it not yet a resolution so we don't?

That's true. Is that happening at

the same meeting, Bryce? We'll make sure that we capture it in a way that's that's reflective of that of that process. Ending status? And you're right. It's yeah. So it's something that is still in in process even even at that time. So so we would put in the

resolution number pending there, replace that with that language. Would that be the kind of thing they would wanna see?

I think I think that that is transparent and and makes sense. Okay. Something of of that nature. Yeah. K.

I don't think there are any other changes here. Can you move that up a little bit? Yeah, thank you.

We're

now on oh, sorry. We're still on slide six.

Right. It was covered up by our dialogue bar. Alright then. We'll go to slide if there's no

other

conversation, on slide seven, a challenge overcome through collaboration and foresight. Temporary closure has been worked on. We'll have to reword that and the solution. And looking forward, it's gonna be hoping we get even more time at the museum.

This can be a highlight of what has been built since then and then include new photos. So I think last time, a kind of a working group was created with maybe two of them.

Commissioner It was you and commissioner Ringuoli. Correct? Mhmm.

And I believe that is on the agenda in this item as well.

There's a lot of opportunity there with with whatever the commission would like to highlight both what resonates.

In terms of it, you know, this particular challenge, I don't think needs to necessarily be I mean, we can speak about what's been built upon and improved, but it's not the the focus

this year. Do you think the main thing about that would be because a lot, like, especially on Facebook and everything, they're like, is the museum open? And I'm like, oh my it's been like a year, guys. Y'all won't pay attention. So it's like, I feel like mentioning that and focusing on getting it out to the public because a lot of people still think you can't go into the museum a lot of the time. So I think that would be the importance of it, Yeah, mentioning I'd hear that. Yeah, and being like, We are open, we are Get the public in, get more people interacting.

The main reason for that, of course, is the very limited hours of operation, as well as signage that really is nonexistent still. It looks better than it did. And I know you're working The library system is working on the new graphic and new collateral, I believe, for informing the public. But that's what people are thinking every time they go up Placerville Drive is, that looks closed. That looks closed. It's perpetually closed. They just don't see it open and operating. And so even updated signage might help, and that's maybe something that could be spoken about here. I'm sure it's already in

the works, Bryce. And and we do have some funds allocated for the new fiscal year related to updating signage and and those related, pieces. And we've we've encountered some of the same interactions. There were people asking if if we're open and perform outreach and then posting, of course, through through media channels and then just just word-of-mouth. It's we're finding it taking a little longer for those that communication to spread, for instance, when we were unexpectedly closed.

Mhmm. It's and and it seems to spread a bit quicker. So with the upgrading the signage, and I I I hope that with the new database as well, that creating a buzz, then that it'll be bring more awareness to, yes, we're we're open. We're in the capacity, but we are open. And then the fair, huge opportunity there. There's a lot of things planned. It was successful last year, and, you know, this year, we we expect it to be even more so successful.

Can we play the organ at the fair?

Oh boy. That would be great. I think the Gem and Mineral Society or Mineral and Gem, excuse me. It's Mineral and Gem Society of El Dorado County. Don't they typically do their setup in the organ room? I'm pretty sure they do. Yes.

That's what I remember the previous.

Yeah. Now, Bryce, can I ask you a question or a couple or maybe some supporting things that can be discussed later? But if there's any way that perhaps the commission and or the different organizations that we represent could even help with fundraising for signage. It sounds like there may be some in the budget. If there's anything we can do to help just because that gets more public awareness. You know, the sooner the sign's up, the better. And then the other idea is, of course, the Mountain Democrat reported on the museum being closed. It'll be very nice for them to report on all of the progress since it's reopened. Yes. Catalog, it's very exciting.

I understand that Kelly has been working with DOCENT on a new exhibit or display on the floor of the museum to gin up interest ahead of fair. So I think there's opportunities here right now at this time that we can use to our advantage to help get the public more involved and better educated as to the current hours of the museum and what the museum's been working on and working towards. The research. And the research room, and I think all that could be very good for this slide as we discussed But this as a those are a couple of ideas I had, you know, would be great to get the Mountain Democrat in there to report on all these positive updates and changes.

Absolutely. And with reaching out to the the Mount Democrat, that is that is planned in particular with with catalog it and just an update, the museum in in general. I'd like it to correlate if we do move forward with with new branding. And, of course, that affects signage that it is it's also potentially part of that museum story that local news outlets would would pick up. So, yeah, excellent excellent topics, and there's there's a things here that are in the works.

They're just moving forward a bit less rapidly than we than we had hoped, but they are moving forward.

Is is there anything we as a commission can do to help move along? I'm with you a 100% on the street signage. It looks closed. It's closed. That's the way people are gonna see it Yeah. As they drive by. Yeah. And if it had a sign out that said open these days instead of just what they see closed, but a sign that says open when it's open, that changes the whole dynamic that people see the museum. Yeah. So whatever we can do to help, I I would like

to be on board. I

know this might sound a little odd, but why isn't the museum open five days a week for people to come in? I mean, they don't have to go back in the the feedback room or whatever, but what is out there already is what they're coming to see. I think it's staffing a question. It's a staffing question. It's a budget question.

Well, you know, I actually, I'm glad you brought

that up because I was

gonna ask the same question.

It should be directed.

What are the obstacles to Yeah. Staffing more more? Is it a is it a paid position? Do you does there have to be? Is it is there a volunteer position? What's the

So with

let's see. There's a few things here. With operational pieces and staffing levels, I mean, we have six library locations. We have a museum, and then, of course, the railroad. And we're very thankful for all of our volunteers that will do a a fabulous job with the operational piece and and the building, and then with professional standards with curation and and related activities, having staff there and then building volunteers around that with certain activities, we, of course, found that to be successful.

It's just at a level right now where there's we really fine tuned our operations based on the resources available to us. And we've even moved to more of a regional staffing model in some areas of last year, Paulette Pines. It used to be that we had dedicated well, senior library assistant at, say, Paul Pines Library, and we moved to a regional model because that position is not something that we can't physically fill that position at this point. So even carving out time and and and resources to have the museum open with you know, on Saturdays and and then with the with the research room was something that we had to use more of. It was more of a detailed and delicate process, because with both staff that are assisting at the museum, that of course is taking away from other things, and then it kind of cascades as far as responsibilities.

So with certain elements to to processing, cataloging, we've had changes with our with our delivery between sites. So we had another individual that 20% of their time is dedicated to that. So we were very biased and and compressed. Now even with that said, we continue to explore opportunities to offer the the community more as far as as ours and in particular with the with the museum. So it has been discussed with exploring the idea of opening on Fridays, but it's still something that we're we're working on.

We don't wanna build something with volatility to a certain degree with with staffing to where we say there's no backup. We wanna build solutions that are that are stable. And we have we have less FTE. We have fewer employees than we did I mean, we had more employees a a decade ago, so we've had to compress due to budget constraints. And with with that, we just become more intentional and focused on what can we offer to the community and the resources that we have.

So the museum being open a couple days a week currently, that's a reflection of of that and the community's desire for that facility to be open.

Does that help a little They don't want your job. I I I hear what you're saying, and I I see the puzzle pieces that you have to deal with. But I would like to say then as we're looking forward that we're building and that our goal is to be open more and more and more. And I think that's a safe and honest thing to say.

Because 90% of the people I mean, all this background work that you guys are absolutely doing wonderful work, But most of the people just wanna come in, see the museums, what's you know, what is there, and that's just in the front going around the back and and having a story. And you have to have some volunteers that are explaining all this to them. But what you're doing in the background, they don't care. A bunch of them don't care even though you're doing stuff that has to be done anyway.

Yeah. I think

what what I was thinking is that when we talk about maybe the getting some publicity through the Mountain Democrat, I I can't see them really wanting to do that unless there's something dramatically I don't wanna say dramatically, but very new for the public. Hey, they're open two more days a week or something like that. And I realize the budget constraints are always gonna be a constraint. And in order to operate with volunteers, you're gonna have to even for just one extra day, you'd have to have a body of volunteers because not there's no single person in there that can say, I'm up for every Saturday or every Thursday or whatever. You would have to have a body of volunteers to call on in order to do that.

It's almost kinda like a little between a rock and a hard place here. Some need to figure out what can give can we get some volunteers? Can we in order for it to be successful, I think we would need to have something available for the public, some news. We're open more days a week now or something of that sort. And to your point, I think we're not talking about the backroom stuff. We're just talking about letting people look at the artifacts that we have. And you can only go in this section maybe. I don't know. Some sort of limited operation type of

Well, they need to know it's open in the first place, Joe, so I would start there. There is the news. We're open. And we do need more volunteers. And here's how one can go about joining. You you reach out to the library through the website, through the portal there, and here's where the greatest needs are. The research room is open on Thursdays, so there's plenty to report on. The word's gotta get out. If you wait till the perfect moment, you know, you've lost a real opportunity. Because hopefully there's always opportunities to report on the museum and the local press, right?

Absolutely. I think that's that's why the the the database is is such an an achievement. Limited resources, and it's the first time ever that we've we've offered something of a of a of a digital platform to the community where they can access and and explore and and and build interest and and perform research from wherever they might be. And then you could be surveyed a 100 people in El Dorado County and see if they've ever gone to the museum, to see if they know about, you know, the photo collection and some of our other offerings. And then and then, know, any of the have or they haven't with the with the with the product and being able to explore the database, is that, you know, of interest?

Is that exciting? And when I shared it with people in the community, there's a lot of excitement and and interest around that. People within the county and also peep or people that work within the county, so department heads as I mentioned the other day, but then people that aren't familiar with those processes, so we're offering it as a library, you know, and and railroad. So I think that that'll definitely help with getting the word out. With staffing, it's even with, you know, onboarding volunteers and and training and activities related to that, we have, for example, staff that that assist with that.

It's still there's time and care, of course, that goes into that to support the volunteers as they help support us. So it's very much a layered layered effort. So

we need to build community involvement. The problem now is history is rarely taught in elementary schools anymore because it isn't tested. They've gotta teach the stuff that's gonna be tested. So they don't get it till middle school quite often any to any degree. So we've lost that base, and kids today wanna do cosplay where when we were growing up, we played cowboys. We did World War two for a while. They don't have that history to to look back on and go, this is what I wanna do. What they do is cosplay. They're doing the comic book stuff and modern stuff. So we have to figure a way to interest the youth in in history.

And that, I think, becomes something this commission needs to look at as a way to get more volunteers. You gotta get you gotta build the interest. So, hopefully, someway through the museum and other things available to us, we can start to build that up. That's where I believe one of the things we need to do is is outreach beyond, which this is wonderful, but we need to do something that makes them wanna go look online to see this. So I I really support us looking at at ways to go to elementary schools,

go to middle

schools, and try and build up some kind of an interest in our history.

Good news because from the department side, so we just rolled out our student success cards, and so we're continuing to build our relationships with schools. The student success cards are they're intended to boost card or access, but also get library cards to kids all the way from kindergarten to third grade is the focus with with with having most kids have library cards by third grade, but it's for all students k through 12 in Colorado County. So just actually, next week, I'm stopping by the school to chat with their librarian about student success cards, having materials included in the orientation packets for kids and the families, and also, you know, it's possible to promote the the museum through this as well. And part of those conversations are seeing, you know, what other support materials do you need that are, you know, related to history, local history, and those pieces. So that's that's

in the works. I just just had a thought. What if we started a did you know campaign and put out something at least once a week? Did you know something that happened in El Dorado County that maybe people had no idea about? You know, when the last robberies happened in stagecoach robberies happened here in El Dorado County. That would grab the attention of young people. Maybe we could start some kind of a campaign. Did you know? And get that out to the schools putting their bulletins or something and then, you know, supplied by the El Dorado County History Museum. One of the things

that Amador County has done is they've got and I think you know, I know Knight County is using cataloging, but I think Amador may also. But they have a series of videos that they've done on very specific regions in Amador County, a certain house, for example. And they put a little film together and tell the story, and this video will pop up on YouTube and Facebook on just randomly sometime. And that's why I was wondering if you mentioned you were gonna put eventually be putting perhaps some videos on there. It would it would be nice if we had some narratives that go along with the the the videos.

And then I think that would be a great introduction. You know, I I thought it's pretty pretty neat myself to be able to see, hey. You know that house on the corner? Here's the history of it. Built in this year, blah blah blah blah.

Yeah. The Hague Ministry, you know, did everybody liked to see that one.

There probably have been.

Testing the past thing with the library and the museum, and the library staff did some narration of different things.

I've enjoyed those library things. There's always opportunities, right, to to yeah. There's all the shorts that the library system puts out. Yeah. Could we need to do that for the museum side with more frequency as well? When I linked on a historical society Facebook post about the current exhibit of the Fountain Tomlin Museum, we linked to the collections from the Eldorado County Historical Museum, and I saw that that page is very, very, very rarely updated, if ever. It's been quite a while. So that's there's a real opportunity lacking there. I mean, there's a real opportunity to improve there, to get the word out, because so many of the complaints we hear in the community is, It's still closed. Where?

On social media. So just by upping the social media presence, and if you wanna do a on the historical society's website, we have a picture of the of the month, where we tell a historical picture of the month, you click on it to learn more. If there were a picture of the week or a historical anecdote of the week and you hyperlink to the file associated with that, feature and catalog it, now you're driving more people to catalog it. I the sense I've gotten is that maybe the muse museum staff and the library doesn't quite feel ready. Maybe you guys want things a little more polished first or you haven't been ready to put it out there, but there's a lot of opportunity to start promoting the museum more online and with signage physically. These people don't know.

Absolutely. And your first part there, sorry, I was distracted for just a second. You were talking about were you talking about the museum Facebook Yes.

And

so that is on the radar, the social media team. We're developing a plan. So our social media team, we're a small team. It's two people, and they have, of course, a lot of other responsibilities. So we just recently carved out some time for them weekly.

It's only three hours a week, and, I mean, they're doing flyering for most of the system, and so it's it's a lot. They also generate the reels for for Placerville. So we're continuing to look at that that load balance. And there has been a few technical hiccups with the museum page just as far as as as access and and the way that it was set up initially. So that's that's been a little more time involved than we expected.

And we have what do we have? Seven Facebook pages. We have six Instagram pages. As a system, we've talked about potentially consolidating in ways. There's also some new requirements coming up related to ADA where there's some additional work involved depending on how and what we post to ensure that we should be a bit more labor intensive.

So again, it's the resources piece. But I wanted to mention those so you can see a little bit more on the department side of what's on the radar, and things are moving, and we'll continue to move them along and then expedite where we can.

How can how can we get something out there that'll say, you don't want the muse you want the museum open. We need volunteers. Come on. Get out there and and be a volunteer. We really need your help. If you really want it open, do something about it. You know, just

We don't need volunteers until we have it open.

Right. And we have this we need staff to

have it open.

Thank you. Yes.

You have

to have a staffing diagram to train and do volunteers. Right. And it sounds like the administration is working on that. Thank you. I know Kelly's mentioned that she's helpful too, that you guys are working towards potential, like Friday you mentioned, that you guys, if you can make that happen, you will. So we thank you for that. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's where it's at. And we can get positive press out there, so it's, hey, it's a great opportunity to come volunteer. Guys, I don't want us to get stuck just here. We've got the rest of the slides to get through.

Right.

With all due respect. They said

a little nicer, if you're putting it here.

Okay.

We're on slide eight.

And I think this one is service and performance indicators collections. I don't know if there's a whole lot we can do to change this. It's pretty much what it is unless somebody has a different comment to make. You guys online, speak up if you have anything to say. Just join in.

These were just examples of things that had come in. So, you know, we've had a lot less come in so far in 2025, obviously, to be accessioned, or deaccessioned, but there are items since the last Board of Supervisors meeting that could be spoken to that have been added.

Yeah, much of this information is now in the past.

Yeah, so that can be updated when you and Commissioner will only need to put this together.

Next slide. Upcoming goals and work plan. Boy, this is what we're talking about. Budgets and time allow. We can grow. That's our goal. We might even be a little more specific there. We're hoping to open at least one more day, something along that lines. And we can't get to tourism if we can't get the museum open. That's a kind of a circuitous thing. We need the tourism, but we need to have it open so we get the tourists in.

It is open and it's open one day on a weekend so I'd like to say that's a positive. That can help get tourists here. Let's build off of what we have. Yes. I think it's important, and Commissioner Rigoli has spoken a lot to this, to understanding what the supervisor's goals are, you know, and aligning the offerings of the museum with those goals to help support economic goals and tourism goals for the county. So maybe better understanding that and being able to have an audience with the I know that's been a concern

for We've talked about get that. We'll talk about it again. At least one of the commissioners is strongly on board. Okay. We just need to get all of them on board to do that.

Absolutely. Or one of the supervisors, excuse me. Yes. One of the super the commissioners are all

on me.

So call to action, let's collaborate to build. I know that that was his message representing the commission at the last board of supervisors meeting and that stance.

Yes. Yes. Sure. We're gonna

be the same there. We wanted to get more have some specific examples. We talked in an earlier meeting about potentially having the blacksmith shop opened and which requires several steps, cleanup, perhaps repair, certain things like the bellows, and and that might be something we could say this is one of the one of the steps we're gonna take toward trying to gain more exposure.

There's been a lot of interest in that. I know. I've been hearing a lot of it. And I believe that Kelly has mentioned to me that or I think it was at the last leadership team meeting that we ever had that there has been a lot of She's met with a lot of blacksmiths and learned a lot about that, that they've looked at space and there's some definite

positive ideas flowing there. We're mentioning a lot of things. We're not in the day to day. Kelly has got a lot of projects she's working on. I would say most of this is on Kelly's radar. So, I mean, a lot of these items that have come up, so she's working on things. Thank you, Kelly.

Yeah. Yeah. Kelly and I meet frequently, and there's there's been another surge from the from the community community and and people involved in, you know, historical blacksmith blacksmithing activities. And so I'm waiting to get a bit more information from a few folks that are involved with that, and then we can continue to explore and go to the next step. But just last week, Kelly and I toured the the space, and I identified some other opportunities to to to, you know, improvement to to for for improvements.

And facilities and our grounds crew have been amazing as well because we had some I don't even know what they are, but they're larger containers used for various historical activities, but over time, they filled with water. So they went ahead and drained those for us, and so it continues to get nicer and nicer and more welcoming. So things are still looking promising with that blacksmithing direction. And I haven't sent anything formally for for review from council, but it feels like we might be ready for that in the next few months as I continue to gather some more. It could be that that's one of the projects that rises to the top because at a handful of folks that have experience with that, that warrants that want to assist.

And if I may say real quick, Director LaVelle, thank you to you and Kelly, but especially to you on the railroad side and all that you've been doing because I know that that is quite complex, and we appreciate all your support for the railroad and working with them and keeping things going, really do.

Thank you. And along the

lines of blacksmith, the more we can do visual. That's what people are like I rode the train. I saw the blacksmith. Those are the things that generate more energy. Museum itself is great, but if there's activity

Mhmm.

Associated with the history, that's that's gonna get more information out there, make us more visible. So thank you. Okay. Next, though, we've already bored somebody. They're gone. Was there a title on this slide?

There was no title.

So Okay. The commissioner Reagoli spoke about that, mentioned that previously about updating, and I think this is something that I was hoping you guys would work on, updating with all of the positive overlap between the county museum and different community groups. So that's what these slides all are. They're examples of where research conducted through the museum led to these programs to the public benefit.

Does the museum have anything to do with the Highway 50 wagon train? If they do not, we should.

Historically, I don't know what museums' involvement and collaboration

They would send collateral with the Historical Society to Booth. Because Mary needed to keep the museum open, she would send collateral and some storyboards and say, Hey, can you let people know the museum's open and these are the resources we have available? We're happy to help with that again this year or to help you guys get a table if you'd like.

Absolutely. The museum is interested in being involved. Correlates with

our outreach I'll see what I can do with some of those people. Pony Express would be the other one that we could do something with. Both of those are, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, smaller and smaller every year and more difficulty finding people are still driving teams. People are still wanting to ride a horse at 02:00 in the morning. But those are the kinds of things that if we collaborate with, they become part of what we're doing. It expand with us not having to do anything other than join in. It expands our footprint.

Are there opportunities for Bryce to wear a costume

in any of these? Yes, at wagon train days. In fact, Greg and Loretta, who are helping put together the wagon train, they only want historical rena. They would want the theme to be historical. So across the board, surprise. We're a

lot more than older than 10.

So I I was happy to help enroll at Dave DeGraves. Fabulous experience. I'm happy to dress up and participate on select days that I can help. You will not get me near a horse, however. I just wanna mention that. Not for me.

They're not

for horses. We promise not to have the horses combined with the tables. That's our job. The marshals

a better design this year too is the tables are just on one side of the street so that those poor horses aren't being

Yeah. That was a nightmare. But this is being run this year. Think first time we're really trying to do it with somebody with a little experience behind it. And it should be good. We'll see. It's still building.

So I believe the next slides really are

Yeah. That's what made me think of it because we kick off at Lake Tahoe, have in the past few years, for the wagon train. So maybe, you know, the marshals. So maybe we can some way build that in.

And director Lovell, we have the historic home tour on April 18. It's a Saturday. All a big portion of that research is being conducted through the research room. Photos being, sourced from there. It's a great opportunity to table as well. We're only inviting, like, two to three people to table or groups. One of them would be the Library System Academy Museum, so let me know.

Quite the quite the opportunity. Yeah. I see that Kelly is is online. So, Kelly, let's let's discuss possibilities for that particular date. I'd have to check a few different hours, so thank you for the invite.

Yeah. Awesome. So we'll just look at what community events have happened and try where it goes into the slides or ones that we're looking to the future to do. Yeah.

And we have a lot this year. The the museum supported a lot of programming. Save the crate, which is another example, you know, that we can

see. Oh,

where's that handsome stuff?

You had business to take care of. Yeah, and these are ones we'll just update.

Yeah. I think that's the last one.

So there's lots of And it's these really positive stories that continue to drive us forward, right? This is why we do what we do, this why the museum's so important. So those are really good stories to focus on and share with the Board of Supervisors.

I think in the next while I will try to do outreach as much as I can with those two items. Anybody else can think of something just like Commissioner Ragoli and I know, We can hopefully say this is we're now teaming up with these others to do more stuff. To do research. Any questions or comments on the preview of the presentation?

The Lucy started The DAR is getting their plaque acceptance or

At the dedication. Thank

you. They're doing it in the next month. So I'm wondering if they use the research room or any part of the

That's a great

question for that. The JRP. Like especially yeah. We're gonna be I know we're going there because mommy has to show up as past region. But we can always just ask Bonnie because, you know, she's always involved.

It it was a while ago, but the the library department was involved. I can't remember all the specifics on

the fly. I remember you guys standing. You got clapping for that one.

My my contribution was was minimal, but it's a very it's very exciting to have that that that plaque downtown. Mhmm. And so I'll I'll be in attendance for that.

Well, I'm wondering if we should ask them I mean, probably just Bonnie would know. But just ask them if they did They obviously were going into the library and getting your cooperation, but having that on the thing for the Board of Supervisors would look really good because it's going to be brand new because it's happening next week.

Marilyn Ferguson had quite a bit of information to share with you. Okay. Yeah.

That's a great another great addition.

I was just gonna say it'd be great then to have the research room give us any information we can put in there who who who did we help through the museum.

Yeah. There's a nice write up that you did.

I think maybe the library was asked library and museum was asked for a letter of support. Maybe that was the piece, which we were, of course, happy to Involvement. Goodbye. Yeah. So We were involved. Yeah. I think is it is it next week?

It's the

Or it's coming?

It's next week. Yeah. I swear to goodness. It's the eleventh, think.

That that sounds about that.

Yeah. We'll be there. Okay. And she was a pie lady of Plattserville. Yeah.

Alright. If there's no further discussion

So we do need to go to establish a subcommittee. Oh. Oh, here, but there's formal action

on this. Yeah. Sorry.

No. It's me, your honor.

Okay. Then I guess we need to to move to form a subcommittee. And at this point, commissioner Ragoli and I have both agreed to be part of that. Is there anybody else that wishes to be

a part of that? I think only two of you can meet together outside of

Is that it too? Yeah. So

I believe that's correct. Yeah.

Even as a subcommittee. I couldn't remember what that number was.

Any any of us.

Well, ignore my secondary statement then. Commissioner Goldie and I have formed a subcommittee with the permission of the The so if someone would move to accept that.

All in favor of forming a subcommittee comprised of Commissioners Mitchell and Righoli to put together and put the details and finishing touches for our discussion today on this slide for the presentation of the Board of Supervisors, I motion that we move to accept that subcommittee.

Sure. First, who's there? Sorry.

I motioned.

You motioned.

So motion's been made. Is there any

I second.

Okay. It's been seconded. Any conversation, discussion? Anybody on the Internet? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you. Now we're ready for the collections committee.

I don't think we had any updates necessarily unless

haven't heard anything.

I it's been I've had some work commitments, and I haven't been able to be at the museum the last several weekends. Has anything new come I I guess Kelly would have sent a report. Yeah. But I don't think there's been a lot of new donations.

K.

Any museum program updates?

Well, this is not really George Blacksmith wanted to know if there was any clean act cleanup going in the blacksmith. So he just said, so just see if there has been any action on that. I said, okay. I'll ask.

There has been, but it's been minimal. I mean, one of the first steps was to just gain access for that for that area because they've not been open in in decades. Yeah. But as I mentioned earlier, some of the nearby, you know, troughs and other items have been have been drained, so it's a bit more welcoming. And then Kelly and I are in the early stages of continuing to identify some of those those microbeeds in that area of

You put a label on the ones that wanted to make sure it didn't go. So there's a tag on those.

Oh, okay. Yeah. And and Kelly had had had mentioned that we have had a few volunteers that assist in identifying, and we had that preliminary those preliminary activities.

That would have been my recommendation. That's I'm glad they're doing that.

Yes.

They're gonna use it. You know, the people are gonna

use it, be there Yeah. To make sure it's right.

Very good. Well, that that is an update then. So it's moving it's just moving at the same speed everything else is.

And I understand that they they found an anvil. It's at the museum, so that would be okay. I mean, they don't have to buy one. I

don't know all the specifics around that, but I remember mentioning

I believe

and don't quote me on this, but I think Kelly, one of the groups, when somebody she met with that was interested in the blacksmithing, it was a part of some blacksmithing Truly, I'm not the right person to talk about this. But they mentioned that if if we were doing demonstrations, that the blacksmiths should bring their own animals and their own equipment kind of a thing, and that any stuff that we had at the blacksmith shop should just be for display purposes and not for

a tooth.

That would if I recall correctly.

I think she said that there was one there. I didn't No. And that there could be. I just Yeah. I

So maybe we can wait for a report next time Kelly's here. Yeah.

Yeah. Anvils are heavy. Yeah. Takes

They bring it in and leave it there. Yeah. That's what I would imagine.

Want to toak those around too often. Yes.

Especially if they sing, it's really heavy.

Yes. The ears I They sing,

you you hit them like they make a noise. That's a good animal. Over years. Stunk.

I guess over the years, about at least three of them had been stolen.

Oh, yeah. They're valuable. I just I brought my gorilla. Gonna I'll get that amble out of here.

Eight

eight eight fair workers, I'm sure did one. So Oh

my gosh.

This gamble went over the chain link fence and weighed 350 pounds, and it happened at night. So, you know, again, there are parties out there who who make things disappear. Yeah.

Okay. Eldorado Western Newsy Railroad. Well, thank

you for being in the off season. The railroad is giving people rides and making people smile. It has been a real pleasing situation where we have had such interest in having runs. The WiseGal Coffee Shop ladies have sponsored at least two charter runs. One was a mother daughter run and so forth, and there was overwhelming response and a very busy, busy day.

And, of course, last month, we talked about the historical societies charter run. But we have been using the available weeks to prepare for the startup of our season, and that includes certification training and renewal for all program volunteers. So because we're under federal railroad, we have to be certified just like you would be on another railroad and for engineer, fireman, conductor, brakeman, and crossing control. So Peter Shulze is our trainer. He's working with Bryce.

They're they're working out the logistics for that training. We are taking advantage this year of cross training spouses, a ready made source of volunteers hidden away for years and suddenly has sprung forth. My wife's gonna train as a little crossing control and brakeman. And we have some other spouses that are also interested. So we need to don't overlook possibility of volunteers in strange ways.

So that training is pending and it has to be done and time is getting short. We also are getting ready. We will have a schedule that does offer opportunities for people to ride both at Shingle Springs, two Saturdays a month, and El Dorado, two Saturdays a month, using the yellow maintenance way cars at a shingle and the full size train at El Dorado. We also have been producing the concept to have seasonal special events. And so we have locked in on a proposed schedule.

The first special event will be the spring extravaganza for March 28 and April 4, both Saturdays. Four runs per day out of Eldorado. Go from Eldorado up the hill to Diamond Or Mother Lode I mean, Missouri Flat, and where we will have an established egg patch. And we will have eggs so that the kids of several cohort groups in age can have the fun of hunting and finding some safe plastic eggs with some commercial wrapped candy in. And so, again, that would be a rather busy day for our crew to handle forward runs like that with so on.

One of the things we're trying to implement, and we appreciate Bryce's help and and others, is to have preticketing electronically. We've not had that before. And so the WiseGal ladies have helped us with that. They've been doing our preticketing for us, but we're ready, I believe, to launch into our own pre ticketing electronically. And so we we were working on that last night. And Ed Kunia and Steve Carolee are the principals working that. And Well, and

I shared some information from the historical society and how they go about ticket sales, and that was well received from by Ed and and Steve. And so that'll be fantastic to have the electronic ticketing piece. I wanted to mention too before I forget. I had a call from somebody in it was February, and she was asking about the holiday train. She wanted to buy tickets for her and her grandkids.

Remember, this is February, so it's definitely creating a buzz. And so she's very excited about the idea of electronic ticketing system and just had positive things to say about the of the railroad. And I don't wanna I don't wanna take cut into your your time, but before I forget, just wanted to mention that with the training pieces, with working with Peter and and each year has been the the museum and and railroad There's a formal presentation of the volunteers. And so we've had a few schedule conflicts, but we have two dates identified for later this month. And so it could be that things things align, and and and Peter is is available during those times, but that is still in being being explored.

And then just real quick with the the railroad pieces and or the I know that at the last last railroad meeting, there were different ideas about programs. I haven't received anything official just yet from the railroad volunteers about the proposed programs. But once I have that, then I can officially review it and check off on it. And then we can also have our social media team start working on some of those pieces.

And last night, we had a two hour meeting at Mills, and things seem to go better when you have your meetings at Mills. But anyway, my wife Gloria is gonna be in touch with you Perfect. So that we can intake and work with social media team, and we've gotta roll out some information pretty pretty quick here. So we appreciate your help. But, again, March 28, Saturday, April 4, Saturday, this would be the egg extravaganza.

We then would have another event, happy birthday, America, July 4. Train would be decorated with running flags and red, white, and blue lights so that we can do an evening run-in twilight, and the kids would be given sound makers. And then we would have the next event would be in October for a Halloween, kids dressed up in Halloween costumes and ride the train, and they can yell and try to scare the people in their cars at the crossings. And then, of course, that takes us up to November pumpkin festival, pumpkin patch, and then the Christmas holiday with Santa. So, anyway, we've layered in having opportunities for people to ride four Saturdays a month, two out of Shingle, two out of Eldorado.

The Eldorado is a large full size train, yellow cars at shingle. We've also entertained and have actually participated in in the charter runs for organizations. And we also are ready to start offering birthday parties. So I we hope this will will help, and it'll actually help fine tune it and perpetuate the training for the crews. Because when they give one of these rides, they're actually running the train, and they're rocketing under the g core rules and FRA and so forth.

So it's been a busy time. We're very fortunate and happy to have the volunteers we do. And some of them are very busy many multiple days of the week, and they come down from Georgetown and cool and all over the place, Grizzly Flats. And so far, it looks like we're gonna head into this year. And working with Bryce and the crew at the museum, I think we'll have a good year, but we want a safe year.

And we wanna see kids smiling in those windows of the caboose, and we wanna see people having a good time when they they board the train and when they come off the train. So, anyway, thank you for your support. And things are about ready to kick off, and I'm I am sorry, Bryce. We really got up against the the clock in this case the last six, eight weeks. It's we need to do better next year.

Can I ask, do you have a proposed so I know other than the we're not calling it Easter thing? Spring Spring Extravaganza. Yeah. Do you have a opening proposed opening date for just your season?

Regular season?

It's it's gonna be in the next couple weeks. But, again, rolling in the two two Saturdays at Shingle and then the two Saturdays at at El Dorado. Mhmm. But the the special event's gonna layer in on top of the Okay. Circumstance of the regular run. But but there will be two Saturdays at Eldorado with the big train and two Saturdays with the yellow cars. And we need to get that to you. So

Yeah. If the or I I assume well, will send me some things, and then I assume maybe Ed might send me some items as well. Because with the with the schedule piece and the post programs from the brainstorming session, so I'd like those. And, also, any any charter runs, you know, upcoming, and then also include the the birthdays idea so the complete snapshot of everything. Then I'll be able to review and make sure that we're fully aligned with all the county pieces and also, you know, departments.

And two, as we promote and then as staff receive questions, you'll have a service desk. And then what we'll do is we'll we'll we'll weave other pieces into some of this where we'll have summer reading and who doesn't have any training. So there's there's different there's different elements where we can we can promote and add even another dimension to to all of this. And and so with with those pieces and the and see what probably next week, I'll receive receive those? Okay. Yes. We've got

We've gotta come together and really take care of this business forthwith.

Right. Yeah. You bet. Great.

I just wanna know why you've left out any of the fifth Saturdays there's obviously more Saturdays. You could do more stuff. Nice thing. Amazing. Who's friend could

hit me?

I'm amazed at how you guys have really put that thing together. It's anyway, it's

I was promoting your railroad at the the hairdressers a couple of weeks ago. Oh! One person didn't know about it, and other person was like, Oh yeah, I've been on that. It's nice.

I walked a section recently. I mean, was several miles, but also seen where just over the years where track was paved over, overgrown, not utilized, and just, you know, imagining if all that was still in place and and the possibility there. So I guess I was probably walking on the wrong section there, but it was a beautiful day.

Yeah.

But I have the train. Well,

county Zach factory, he coordinated with CAL FIRE, they've had improved working on the railroad. We've been providing transportation and rail equipment, chipper and so forth, and they've been working west starting in El Dorado, but it's a a eternal project. So Mhmm. It's it's a huge amount of brush cutting, but the railroad right away is truly a wonderful firebreak for the community. Yeah. It always has been, especially down in Chino. Yeah.

Yeah. Because I need to chipper out there.

Yeah. And so we were in fact, today, we had a crew this morning first thing out, and they were applying weed control chemicals working west from El Dorado to Schimble. And so we take care of that working with the joint powers authority. They buy the chemicals. We we apply them.

We go through applicator classes with county ag. And so it's I think I think it's working. And everybody seems to have a a real feeling of well, not importance, but feeling of need, and we want the community to be able to enjoy that right away and that trail and so forth. Anyway, so thank you, and we'll be about our work, the information will be coming out from all sources. And if you can, please come out those those days. Go for a ride. You know, grab an Easter egg or food or sign up early.

Sign up early to get filled. Do you wanna say anything for the research room?

Oh, well, tomorrow, I'm giving a talk at eighteen forty eight about, well, mine mining maps and pictures I've gotten from the museum. And it's gonna be a I mean, pretty much I'm gonna be advertising the museum and what we have there map wise and photographs. And the mining the collection at the museum, the mining collection, we're working on it. It needs to be all in one area. The map the map right now is you can't go in and and there's not one place to look for material online.

So that's the goal that we have there, and we'll be looking on that.

Okay. Thank you.

What question? Rice, talk about volunteers. Is there a cost or other limitation associated with bringing on volunteer?

Well, yes. There's there's staff time involved and then also the the are are

you saying live scan? Yes.

There's there's a live scan feed to the.

Oh, okay. Because I just did my live scan this morning. That caused me to question. If we got 20 people and all of a

sudden came in today and needed help, They would

all have to be live scan and all of that.

My understanding, the live scan system doesn't really

You have to be live scan through El Dorado County because if you get live scan for your other organization, they don't talk to each other, and some of the different departments in Eldorado County don't talk to each other. So if you volunteer at the sheriff's department, that doesn't matter. If you wanna volunteer at

the museum, we have to

do it again. So but, yes, everybody gets life scanned.

Is that consistent across the board? That seems like something the supervisors could fix.

I can't speak to that. I

you know, off or on the spot with the with the policy, and I don't know if you're familiar with the with the policy and number. And

I'm familiar with CRISPR. It's, like, e six, I think.

And I think it's been in in place for?

Since 2019. Yes. I'm very proud

of that. Okay. So Yeah. Yeah. So it's been in 400 place for for a few years now. So it's not something that, you know, hasn't been put in place and wasn't revisited for, you know, a a wider span of time. But, yeah, so you're pretty confident 2019, 2000.

2019 is when they first implemented the what would consider the new policy where it did require the background check. It has been updated, I think, in 2023, possibly 2024. I can't remember which date,

but it did get updated recently. It it it's a it's a positive structure with with a live scam and and something that you see, say, just about everywhere. And and there is like, double department's cost, but that's the that's the process. Okay.

Community, is did we already do that that or no? No. Any comments from the community? Community engagement updates? Is that

what we're Yeah. That's the museum commission reviewers through their community engagement.

It's not on my

private public form.

Yeah. No. I was looking at my form instead of that one. I should have been looking up there.

Maybe I sent you the wrong form.

That's why I ran it off of the speaker.

So community engagement updates. I would just mention for the record again, we've had CAL FIRE working with county trails, working with the Eldorado Western Railroad volunteers and equipment. And so that's a mutual aid, mutual benefit by different agencies there. So that's quite a piece of organizational work to tie the state and the joint powers together, getting the chemicals and having the stuff applied and and working with trails and and having the railroad use historic equipment to apply the the mediums. So Do you

know that Damian is Cal Fire? He may not have been on that, but he does that. All the years ago that he helped do brush

All the all the investment we made in

the Yeah.

This is friction in him so he could do this work now.

That's

Exactly. He's El Dorado. He's station Yeah. He's at the he's at the CAL FIRE at the Wye Station.

Well, we would love to see him if he'd, like, had any spare time. Yeah.

So he could be engaged with the community.

Dee, what's the name of the program that you're speaking on behalf of? So tomorrow, you're doing a keynote presentation. I'll provide you. It's the Post Discovery Center at 515 Main Street. They're having a speaker series late winter and early spring featuring the geology of El Dorado County and all of its components. And tomorrow, Dee, your presentation again is

On the hill. It's on historical maps and photographs.

There will be activities there for children as well? Yes. That

If we go to their website real fast, it looks like that will be so there's the program so far have been on February 7, the twenty first, now March 7, Mapping the Minds.

Well, changed it on the last one I

Okay, so you're doing it a little bit different, but you're talking about historic photography and maps. Yeah. And then March 21, there will be another program, and April 4 is the final one, and that's talking about 1850s currency with local historian and geologist, archaeologist Steve Rich Dvorchak. It'll run through April 4. It's every other weekend.

It's at 515 Main Street, and it's a celebration of the geology of the motherland. And what's really neat is that the county museum has loaned the Bishop Collection of gems and minerals that are on display there to celebrate county geology. So it's a really neat opportunity to see part of the county museum's collection. In addition to that, I mentioned this previously at the last meeting, the Historical Society through early May has East Of The Golden Gate, which features the stories, photographs, artifacts related to Chinese pioneers in the nineteenth century in El Dorado County, also on loan from the County Museum's collection. So when we talk I wanna be clear about something too.

When we talk about the County Museum's limited, capacity right now in terms of, public accessibility, they are finding we are finding other ways to get the collection out to the public, other ways to share artifacts that otherwise have been in storage for decades. So it's really neat. It's a neat opportunity.

I think that would be a great thing to share in the presentations, but Yeah. Mhmm.

These are great opportunities that to for the subcommittee to consider sharing with the the Board of Supervisors. On that note, that was really special. We did our Lost Chinatowns of Eldorado County program through the Historical Society last weekend, that was a big undertaking. A lot of that research came from the research room at the County Museum, and most of the historical photos. One family saw that photo online, some of the photos, that the program would be held on February 28.

They descended from the Jiang family. Luke Jiang came from China to Eldorado County in 1865, opened a mercantile store for selling and supplies to Chinese miners. After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, they closed around 1890 and the family relocated to the Bay Area. Fast forward to today, the family living in Idaho sees the ad for this program, flies all the way out here to attend the program. They went to the county museum first thing in the morning to be able to see what the county museum had on display, and then come over to the walking tour.

And they went back to the county museum afterwards, because when I

got there, they were there.

See, that's the power of what's why we're all sitting at this table. How special, how neat is we're connecting people to their pasts, tying these programs to current interests in not just history, but community building. It's appreciating what we have here in this county. And there's so much to celebrate. So that was a positive.

Is there any signage at eighteen forty eight saying

material supplied from? There is. Mhmm. And same at the at the Fountain and Tallman Museum, artifacts courtesy and on loan from the County Historic That's crazy. That's Same with all of our anytime any image comes from the collection, it is properly cited. April 18 oh, March 14, March 28, walking history tours on the fourteenth, Placer Girls Main Street Merchant. Sold out. You can join the waiting list, so please do. Historical study president Jill Kearney and Fountain and Tallman Museum Manager Heather Burnett, who is a walking encyclopedia of county history, also a docent at the county museum. They will be leading a walking history tour of early Main Street merchants.

And so they'll each take a different side of Main Street and then swap and take the crowds up. And then the following, two weekends later on March 28, local historian Guy Nixon will be leading a walking history tour of Georgetown's Main Georgetown Pride in the Mountains. So that'll be really interesting as well. That's sold out, but, again, join the waiting list. People drop, and there's always opportunities to join.

And then the last two things I'll plug, 04/18/2026 historic home tour featuring, Placerville Spring Street, Coloma Street Historic District. Nine to 10 properties will be featured, and we have, on three properties already, identified pioneer families who originally built those homes. Their living descendants will be there to help interpret the home. And again, a lot of the photos and material is coming from the special collections of the county museum to help build that program. And then the Mayday Ball in the Odd Fellows Lodge, Morning Star Lodge on Placer Hill's Main Street on May 2.

That is one of, we believe, less than five springboard dance floors surviving in The United States. And so there will be a full May Day ball evening ball. Please do spread the word. All net proceeds go to the building preservation fund. They need a new roof. So let's help them out. So those are my announcements from the historical society. And thank you again to the County Museum for the partnership. We really partner. I mean, we have a history of partnership.

We have a new page on our website, on edchs.org, that talks about the history of the society. And the reason the society was formed was to help drive more tourism to El Dorado County during the Depression by celebrating, you know, we were where the gold rush was born. And the goal was to have a museum, which eventually culminated in the county museum. And since the county museum is open, we've just had this strong partnership of volunteerism and helping celebrate local history. We couldn't do what we do without the county museum. We appreciate the partnership. So just wanted to say that publicly.

Great updates. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Any commissioners have anything to say?

Anybody from the public have anything to say? If not, I believe I can.

Are we opening public forum?

You can open a public forum.

I thought that's what I was doing. Okay. The public forum is officially open. Does anybody from the public have anything to say? I wanna be compliant. If not, then I would like to thank all of you. Miss those people are not here, and thank you all. Meeting is closed.

Thank you, Randy. Thank you, Randy.

I see what I I was looking at last week's last meeting's

agenda.