Park and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

Everybody please stand for the flag salute. Before we begin, I wanted to announce that public comment is open. Please follow the prompt on the screen. Jorge do we have any public comment?

No public comment. One

second before we move forward we're gonna need to play the public comment announcement online. Thank you so much chair.

Thank you.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call (951) 826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press 9. When called to speak, press 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Okay. Jorge, do we have any public comment?

No public comment.

Okay. We are beginning with a consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine by library board of trustees and may be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless before the board of library trustees votes on the motion to adopt. Members of the library board of trustees or staff request specific items to be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. Do I have a motion to move and second to approve the consent calendar? So moved. Okay. Trustee Yeltsin, it moves. Do I have a second?

I'll second the motion. Yeager Corrales.

Okay. Do we need to take a vote?

Trustee Razu?

Yes.

Trustee Alstrom? Yes. Trustee Smith? Yes. Trustee Corrales? Yes. Trustee Ivy?

Yes.

Trustee Steenbrick?

Yes.

Trustee Samuels? Yes. Motion carries.

Okay moving on to discussion and action calendar. We are on item 11, review and file bylaws. Again, public comment is open. Please follow the prompt on the screen.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call (951) 826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press 9. When called to speak, press 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Jorge, do we have any requests for comment?

Hold on one second. Let me get the presentation going first. Is that okay, trustee?

Sorry.

No problem.

I know we have a packed calendar.

We do but let me give you guys an update real quick. So, are look, I'm Erin Christmas, your library director. We're looking to either you have two options tonight. Per your request, we have brought back the bylaws for this board. I know we had some concerns about the days of the meetings listed and the location of the meetings.

And so we can either move forward and make changes this evening and then we can accept and approve those as discussed. Or this body has the opportunity to select an ad hoc committee to decide those things offline and then bring them back to the board at a later date and we can vote at that time. But it is completely up to the requests of the board. Leave it up to you.

Do we have any comment from the board? I'm gonna suggest perhaps we go to ad hoc committee on this item.

We would then need to decide who would serve on that ad hoc committee. I would recommend that our president, it requires that our president and two other board members participate.

Who would like to join the fund?

I would be happy to. Wonderful. Okay.

What is the process at that point?

So I think what we would want to do is take a motion that our President Steinbrick and members Ivy and Samuels will participate on an ad hoc committee and bring back bylaws at a later time for this board to vote on. And then after we accept that motion offline, the three of you can work together to identify a time to meet, make those updates, and then bring them back to us for discussion and changes.

Okay, is anyone wanting to so move to bring that motion? So moved. Trustee Elkstrand, I have a motion. Do I have a second?

I'll second Rizuk.

Okay trustee Rizuk seconds. Can we do a roll call please?

Trustee Rizuk?

Yes.

Trustee Alstrand? Trustee Smith? Yes. Trustee Corrales? Yes. Trustee Ivy? Yes. Trustee Stambrick? Yes. And Trustee Samuels? Yes. Motion carries.

Okay moving on to discussion and action calendar. We are on item 12. To receive and file board of library trustees work plan 2026. Public comment is open. Please follow the prompt on the screen.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call (951) 826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak press 9. When called to speak press 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Do we have any public comment requests? Sure.

Good afternoon, trustees. I'm Erin Christmas, your library director. Today we're gonna review the 2026 work plan.

Okay, there we go.

So first, we will go over what we accomplished in 2025 to set our stage for 2026. And as you can see here, we made a lot of headway on the specialist Tezuz S. Duran Eastside Library. Specifically, the contract for construction was awarded to Horizon's Construction Company. We held a groundbreaking on September 6 and October 13.

The notice to proceed was issued. Additionally, to ensure funding was available for the entirety of the project, an extension to the targeted state grant was submitted and approved by the state library. Also the trustees also reviewed the twenty twenty four-twenty twenty six budget in both April 24 and then again in April 2025. The material selection policy and the code of ethics were reviewed and the library saw an approximately 10% increase in incidents from year 2024. Additionally, the board accepted donations totaling over $359,000 from the Friends of the Library and the Riverside Public Library Foundation and improved over $82,000 in trust fund expenditures.

The purpose of the work plan is to align goals within the purview of the Board of Library trustees, to keep it aligned with its purview, and to ensure we're all working towards specific tasks that are approved by council. The mission of the Riverside Public Library is to be the cultural learning center for the community, encouraging the joy and wonder of reading, the wisdom of diverse ideas, and the power of lifelong learning. Our vision is to be the foremost promoter of self directed lifelong learning. We spark curiosity and provide tools discovery. So to get us started with the twenty twenty six work plan, we've outlined six possible goals to consider.

These are the six that we've worked on the last two years, including the new specialist Jesus Esteran Eastside Library, reviewing the annual budget and making recommendations, developing and enforcing essential library policies, prioritizing consistent application of the material selection guidelines and the code of conduct, Analyzing incident reports regularly to assess the effectiveness of security guard services and ensure a safe, welcoming environment for all library customers. To facilitate the acceptance of monetary real estate and personal property. Donations to enhance library services, ensuring all acquisitions secured the required city council approvals, and the strategic acquisition of books, journals, publications, and other resources to accurately reflect and meet the evolving needs of the library. We are able to make any changes or updates to any of these and we will have time to discuss after we take callers if there is any callers on this item. Staff recommendation is that we review and discuss the library trustees work plan and provide recommendations for the 2026 work plan.

Do we have any callers?

No callers.

Happy to take comments and feedback from the board.

Okay. Sorry, I'm not seeing where I'm at here.

No problem. It's just time for the board to comment and ask any questions on the work plan that they would like to.

I just wanted to comment that I think this looks great. I definitely have some questions and things that I would like to talk about regards to the code of conduct. So it's great that I'd like to see that on the work plan. Yeah, I think this looks great.

Sounds good.

Any other comments? Good work putting this together. Thank you.

All thanks goes to Jorge. Thank you all.

Moving on to discussion and action item calendar. We are on item 13. Receive and file a report on the Riverside Reads 2026 program. Public comment is now open. Please follow the prompt on the screen.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call (951) 826-8688, and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press 9. When called to speak, press 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Okay. I will get us started. Again, Erin Christmas, your library director. So I'm excited to share that Slow Noodles is our 2026 Riverside Reads title. As we shared with you several months ago, we took this out for a community wide vote. This was the selected title. We have kicked off our programming. It started this Saturday. It was wonderful. We had a virtual author screening.

The author still lives in Cambodia, so we were able to do a great interview with her by library staff. And then her daughter who narrates the audiobook of it, we were able to also interview her. So we had both individuals interviewed and the Riverside TV team just did a great job putting together a video of the interview process and just some great questions and answers. The team did such a phenomenal job on it. We also had food trucks out on Saturday so we could enjoy food.

They were not Cambodian food. But it did certainly evoke that same idea that recipes and food and breaking bread together brings up specific memories for all of us. We have a full panel of opportunities for people to come out for a variety of programs, including a number of book discussions. We have an ethnic studies lecture. We have a film screening of Killing Fields.

We're gonna have a resource fair. We're also having two off-site events for this, as we saw from the feedback we received in our winter reading program for adults. We saw that they really liked the off-site opportunities. So for book discussion four on March 22, a Sunday, we will be meeting at Packing House Brewing Company for our book discussion. And then on April 8, Becoming Neighbors, a community conversation on resettlement and belonging will be taking place at Cellar Door Bookstore.

So they should all be very fun. But the two that we're doing off-site, we're really looking forward to as well. Encourage everybody to come out to any of this programming. And as board members, you each should have a copy of the book on your spot. I encourage you to read it. It is very good. I am now listening to the audio book because I wanted to hear the daughter's voice read her mother's book but it is fantastic. Thank you. Happy to answer any questions.

Jorge, do we have any public comments?

No public comments.

Any discussion or comment from the board on this topic?

You're welcome. Thank the Library Foundation sponsors this

asking about it. It's okay. Yeah.

And there are RSVP opportunities and there is information on our library website where you could RSVP but if you don't RSVP, nothing will happen to you.

Okay. Okay.

You can still show up.

You're sure?

I'm positive.

Okay.

Okay. I have a question about the event happening at Cellar Door. I was just curious, will library staff be leading that? Will the staff at Cellar Door be leading that? I'm just curious.

Sure. If I recall correctly, this is going to be a conversation led by some UCR faculty. I will get I'll back to have the librarian that's running this series of programs get back to you with specific details. Great, thank you.

Any other comments from the board? Okay. Moving on to discussion and action item calendar. We are in item 14. Receive and file a report modification to library hours. Public comment is now open. Please follow the prompt on the screen.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call (951) 826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting.

Good afternoon, trustees. So this PowerPoint is really designed to help guide us through our conversation related to the upcoming library hours modification that will be effective on Sunday, April 12. First, by way of some background, on 08/03/2023, the Riverside Public Library added Sunday hours of 10AM to 6PM at all eight library locations. Prior to this, all library locations were open Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sunday and Mondays. As we started to evaluate the twenty six-twenty eight budget with a focus on where cost savings could be achieved, library staff took a deep dive into library hours and usage.

We identified that Sundays were used significantly less system wide than any other day out of the week with only 11% of total usage. The next slowest day was Saturday at fifteen point six percent usage. When you get into the specific locations, 63% of Sunday usage occurs at Maine, Arlington and Orange Terrace libraries. Based on the low usage numbers on Sundays, the library intends to close our Lanza, Casablanca, Eastside, La Sierra and Marcy locations and keep busiest three locations, Arlington, Maine, and Orange Terrace, open ten a. M.

To six p. M. Additionally, these three locations that will remain open are strategically located throughout the city of Riverside, which ensures that the locations closing are no more than four miles from any of the facilities remaining open. This slide shows the new continuing hours, excuse me, at Maine, Arlington, and Orange Terrace libraries. And it shows that the other five well, the five other locations will be closed.

Again, this hours change will be effective April 12. Library management is hopeful this will slide positively impact staff morale as it will allow staff to receive two consecutive days off for two out of every three weeks. Additionally, this change will ensure there is additional staff on-site Tuesday to Sunday at all locations which positively impacts safety and allows the library to provide additional programs and enhance customer service. Library staff is working with the human resources and SEIU on staff changes that will take place in the future. And we're also working with city marketing to distribute materials beginning this week to notify the community of the hours change.

Following any public comment, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Jorge, do we have any requests for public comment?

There's no public comment.

Okay, thank you. Do we have any comments or questions from the board?

I'm curious how you expect the community to respond to this or if you have a sense

I think we are at the start of the budget discussions in our city and I think there will be a host of modifications coming out of the city. So I anticipate some people will be upset. But looking at it in a dollars and cents way, unfortunately, which is what we have to do, staying open for seven people an hour on average is a very low number. We're required to have a minimum of three staff on-site the entire day to ensure people can go to lunch and take breaks. And we maintain two people on-site because it's not safe to just have one staff member.

When you start to look at that and you start to think about how those employees that are working there may not have any customers for multiple hours at a time. And looking that we really want to have more staff available on other days out of the week, which could enhance programs, will enhance safety for sure. I think though there will be some upset, I think overall it will be an okay transition for the community. But I am welcome to hear something different if the board feels differently.

Based on the three locations that are remaining open, can you tell me about what the maximum distance is that someone at a closed location would have to travel?

Sure. The maximum distance would be 3.7 miles and that would be from Casablanca to the Arlington Library. We really made sure that no one would have to commute more than four miles to any location. Additionally, we'll have the bus routes ready to print out for people if they're looking for that information for Sundays. So we really are trying to be cognizant of keeping libraries within a close proximity to individuals. In addition to the services we provide in our facilities, remember we also will be keeping our book lockers open so you could pick up books on the weekends and all of our online resources will also be available.

And will this just be in place until there's no plan to change for summer or any season or anything. It'll just be in place.

Sure. So one thing we will do during summer months, because I think that is an excellent point, that it does get really hot in Riverside and cooling centers are in need. We have been working with the Office of Emergency Management, and we will open the Casablanca libraries in the afternoons on Sunday afternoons if we reach that 97 degree threshold or we know we're going to. We'll also open the La Sierra library. Those are the two that they recommended we open and so we wanted to make sure we were providing that service in the community. That would be from 01:30 to 6PM.

And you'll have flexibility in staffing to accommodate that?

Yes, because it's not as often and it's only half a day, lunches won't be impacted.

So,

we'll be able to provide the staffing for that.

Did I hear you correct that there's zero impact to staffing?

At this time, there's zero impact to staffing. We may find we are in a position where we're working through our budget. So this may provide an opportunity for us to leave some positions vacant. But more discussions will come next month on the budget. But everybody who's currently employed will stay employed as long as they want to stay working with us and so we're in good shape there.

Great, any other questions from the board? Well, I think you did a great job of looking to see which ones to stay open so that the public is least inconvenienced by the closures. And I, at this point, commend staff for a great report. See where it goes from here

thank you we appreciate that

okay moving on to the board of directors communication item 15, brief reports and conference seminars and meetings attended by the board members.

So, I I just want to share that I recently attended the San Diego Bird Festival. I'm a birder. And I attended a really interesting keynote speaker from a man from Wisconsin who is very interested in diversifying bird watching and birders. And so one thing that they did in their public library was they worked with the local Audubon chapter to provide backpacks that had binoculars and field guides that the patrons of their public library could check out. And I just thought that was an interesting idea.

I don't we don't necessarily have a really close by Audubon chapter, but to go along with our nice parks pass because we do have amazing birding in Riverside. If you're not familiar, we have amazing birding. So it was just an idea I thought I would share. So thank you.

Wonderful. Anybody else? Okay moving on to item 16 for brief reports on conferences seminars and meetings attended by the library director. Director Christmas, do you have a brief report to provide?

Sure. So first, I wanna make sure everybody got your March 2026 events calendar. All of the fun, awesome things we have offered are listed in here. A couple of items to note. First, on March 11 at 9AM, that's this Wednesday at nine, we'll be at the La Sierra Library for ribbon cutting for the Blue Zone certified worksites.

Our library staff team has been working diligently with the Riverside Blue Zone team and we have created all of our library locations minus Eastside are Blue Zone certified and we all day on Wednesday. So we'll start at La Sierra with a somewhat public ceremony, but it's really to support the staff and to give them the kudos they deserve for this wonderful space. Then we'll have a Blue Zone themed story time at 10AM and then we'll be traveling to all library locations to do ribbon cuttings there. And staff will have the opportunity to see me working the service desk at all of their library locations so they too can participate in the ribbon cuttings. So if you are trying to get out of fines or anything, I guess we don't charge fines anymore, but if you're trying to get out of something at the library, Wednesday during the day might be a good time to stop by.

You'll run into me trying to offer as amazing service as the team does every day. Then on March 21 at 10AM at the main library, we're going to be unveiling the winners of our new library card contest that we held last year. And we'll be starting to circulate those library cards and you'll be receiving a report on that coming up. It should be exciting. I'm already plotting to change my library card.

So I'm very excited about that. On April 2, 11AM at the Casablanca Library, we'll be our ribbon cutting for the Ojos Del Tiempo Corner, which is the Chicano Literature and Art Corner that we've created there. And we will be celebrating with the community on again April 2 at 11AM. The library will be closed on April 5 for Easter Sunday. We have traditionally closed on Easter Sunday for at least ten years now.

And I'm positive we did it before that, so it will be closed again. And then April 10, all library locations, that's a Friday, all library locations are going to be closed for staff training. We're having a staff training with the company Safe at Your Library. In the morning session, we'll be looking at how to stay safe, how to de escalate situations, how to work with difficult customers. And in the afternoon, we'll be looking at more of the mindfulness and how we can ensure our staff is staying resilient through these tough interactions they sometimes have with customers.

So it's really a thoughtful day separated. It was being done, led by this company Safe at Your Library who does phenomenal work. They're in the library industry. They plan, they both work still in public libraries so they really understand the needs that our staff will be working through and the challenges they experience on a day to day basis and we're looking forward to that training as well. That is all I have, thank you.

Okay, that sounds like an exciting program. Where are they from?

One is from the Seattle Public Library that runs security for Seattle Public and the other is a library director in the state of California and forgive me I can't remember which city she is in right off the top of my head.

Aside from Riverside, Seattle's one of my favorites.

Oh, okay.

Moving on to item 17. Are there any future board of library trustee consideration as requested by the board members? Only items that fall within the powers and duties of the Board of Library Trustees as set forth in the city charter and or the Riverside Municipal Code will be agendized for future discussion. Anything you'd like to add to the next agenda?

I would like to discuss, I guess I'm trying to think about how to, so I've been doing some readings about, libraries, and how they serve unhoused populations. And so I guess I was thinking about our code of conduct and things like not allowing sleeping. I guess I just wanted to have a discussion about that. So maybe just if we could talk about how the library sort of serves those patrons and then see how just revisit that. Okay? Thank you.

That will likely come back in May or June, just based on timing. Just want to give you a heads up. It probably won't be in April because that'll require some research on our side before we bring it back.

Any other items? We've got some new board members. Is there anything else you'd like to hear? Oh, no thank you. Okay. And with that, the next board of library trustees meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 13 at 5PM. Are there any further items to discuss? As there are no further items to adjust discuss on the agenda, this meeting is now adjourned.