Park and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

Let's begin.

Pursuant to the City Council rules of procedure and order of business resolution, the members of all boards and commissions and the public are reminded that they must preserve order and decorum throughout the meeting. In that regard, members of the boards and commissions and the public are advised that any delay or disruption in the proceedings or a refusal to obey the orders of the Board or Commission or the presiding officer constitutes a violation of these rules. The City of Riverside is committed to fostering a workplace that provides dignity, respect, and civility to our employees, customers, and the public they serve.

Okay. The time is now five p. M. I'd like to welcome our public, fellow library trustees, and library staff to the board of library trustees meeting on Monday, 05/11/2026. I'm Jay Steinbrick, Board Chair, and I'm calling this evening's meeting to order. Let's stand for the flag salute. Trustee Acuna will lead us. Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. Miss Rocha, could you please take roll?

Trustee Ruzuk?

Here.

Trustee Elstrand? Here. Trustee Acuna?

Here.

Trustee Smith?

Here.

Trustee Corales? Here. Trustee Steinbrick?

Here. Okay. We will now begin our meeting with public comment. This is an opportunity to comment on closed sessions, consent calendar, and any matters within the jurisdiction of the Board of Trustees. Public comment is now open. Please follow the prompt on your screen.

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

Mr. Roach, are there any requests to speak at this time?

No callers.

Okay. Thank you. We will now close public comment and move to the consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine by this Board of Library Trustees and may be enacted in one motion. Members of the Board and or library staff may request specific items be pulled from the consent calendar for discussion or specific action. However, there will be no separate discussion on these items unless it takes place before the vote or a motion to adopt. Is there any item within the consent calendar trustee or staff member wishes to pull for separate discussion or action? Okay, borrowing none. Since there is no such request, do I have a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar? I'll

second.

Trustee Rasuk?

Yes.

Trustee Elstrand? Here. Trustee Acuna?

Yes.

Trustee Smith? Yes. Trustee Kuralic? Yes. And Trustee Steinberg? Here. Motion carries.

Great. Okay. We are, now opening public discussion. Please follow the prompt on your 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.

Moving

Good evening. So last Monday, May 4, several members of our library administration team were lucky enough to visit the construction site for the new specialist Jesus S Duran Eastside Library. They were able to see the concrete that has been poured for the footings as well as the groundwork for the electrical data and plumbing. In the staff report that you have with you, we have some photos of the work that's been completed so far and construction remains on track with the concrete slab pour anticipated in the next few weeks. We're also currently finalizing a few of the furniture selections and we're working with general services and library staff to begin the procurement process for the fixtures, furnishings and equipment soon.

Happy to answer any questions.

Mr. Rocha, do we have any public comment?

No public comment.

Any questions or comments from the trustees? Well, I'm excited. This is great. So once you see the footing starting to come in, know you're ready to go. So very exciting times.

Also, you for the pictures. They're fantastic.

You're welcome. Yes, it's not a whole lot to look at yet, but hopefully we will have more soon.

Okay. Moving on to discussion item nine, I'm going to open public comment. Please follow the prompt on your 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.

Item nine is to receive and file the Lunch at the Library Grant Award. Again, we're welcoming back Deputy Director Jessica Herdina.

Sure. So on 01/08/2026, the library received notification from the California State Library that we were awarded grant funds for the Lunch at the Library program for fiscal year twenty five-twenty six. The total amount awarded is $56,309 and that will go toward funding paid performers, activities and book giveaways for our three libraries that will host lunch at the library this year. Those are the main library, the La Sierra library and our specialist Jesus S Durant Eastside Library at Lincoln Park. Our Arlington library staff will also be providing once a week an activity over at the Arlington Park which is just across the street.

They currently serve lunches over there and so we'll just be providing some additional resources and activities. Funds will also cover ASL translators for the weekly paid performers at the library lunch sites. And then Riverside Unified School District will be providing the lunches as they do every year. Also the grant funds will also support our pop up park visits at four parks in the city, where lunches will also be served. Those include Boardwalk Park, Viegas Park, Bryant Park, and Hunt Park.

Library staff will be visiting Tuesdays through Fridays over the nine week period coinciding with our summer reading program. And they'll offer story time, stream related programs, book checkouts from our mobile library van, and both English and Spanish book giveaways. And then on June 9, the staff report for the grant will be presented to the city council to authorize receipt of the grant award and the city manager or his designee to execute the grant documents with the California State

Library. Phenomenal. Do we have any requests for public comment? Any comments from the Board of Trustees?

I do have a question. If a Board member wanted to help out or volunteer, would they need to volunteer specifically with their branch or is it just something that we sign up with Maine? Like, yeah, if trustees wanted to assist and help out. Sure. You could volunteer at any of

our library locations in the city. We can always you can let me know or Jorge and we can set you up with the location that you would like to volunteer at.

That's a great idea. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Moving on to discussion item 10. I'm going to go ahead and open public comment. Please follow the prompt on your 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.

Providing a proposed budget report for fiscal year twenty six through twenty eight is our Deputy Director Jessica Herdina.

Right. So good Again, I'm Jessica Herdini, your Assistant Library Director. Today we're going to present on the fiscal year twenty six-twenty eight biennial preliminary budget. One of the rules for the Board of Library Trustees spelled out in the charter is for this body to provide input into proposed budgets. Can we go to the next slide?

Sorry my remote is not working. Okay. Alright, well I will continue on. So the next slide just shows our Library Administration and our Neighborhood Services staff. So the library department is divided into two divisions: administration and neighborhood services.

Administration supports the work of all the neighborhood staff that work directly with the community members at each of our eight library locations. The Library Department receives both Measure Z and general fund dollars from the city's budget. Measure Z, which was approved by voters, increased the city's sales tax rate from 7.75% to 8.75%. The Measure Z spending plan was developed and approved by the Budget Engagement Commission. As part of the plan, the new downtown main library and archives was funded and we continue to use Measure Z annually to cover the debt payment on the building.

Currently the Library receives no other funds from Measure Z. So as you can see in these charts, the majority of funding for the Library for the next two fiscal years comes from the General Fund. The slight increase in funding for fiscal year twenty seventwenty eight reflects MOU agreements with staff that allow for cost of living adjustments. Otherwise, funding stays relatively flat between the two years. These charts show the breakdown on the funding between divisions.

Funds and administration cover the costs of security and janitorial for all library locations as well as a number of other categories that support operations of all library locations. The minimal debt service listed is for libraries built during the Riverside Renaissance. There are two significant highlights as part of this budget. First, the proposed budget includes targeted savings associated with the Sunday hours adjustment, including personnel, security and janitorial reductions. Personnel savings are achieved from holding vacant one full time library associate, one full time library assistant and four part time library assistant positions.

As we have closed five locations on Sundays, these vacancies should have minimal impact. Please note that all city departments have proposed and will implementing targeted savings measures. The proposed budget also provides a continued investment for new library materials and books. Specifically a $500,000 ongoing augmentation for library materials is recommended. This is the same funding we received in the twenty four-twenty six biennial budget with one time funds.

The recommendation for this budget is to make that increase ongoing. The Budget Engagement Commission and City Council Finance Committee have heard the proposed budget and provided generally positive feedback on the overall budget. None of the feedback provided from either bodies specifically related to the library department. This week on Thursday, the Budget Engagement Commission will again discuss the proposed budget at their 5PM meeting and then on Tuesday, May 19, City Council will discuss the proposed budget during the 3PM session. There is no fiscal impact as a result of this report.

The Board of Library Trustees' discussion and recommendations will be considered by staff during the development of the proposed fiscal year twenty six-twenty twenty eight biennial budget. Staff recommends that the Board Library Trustees pursuant to the City Charter Section 808c provide input on the proposed fiscal year twenty twenty six-twenty twenty eight biennial budget and make recommendations as necessary for the Budget Engagement Commission and City Council consideration. Happy to answer any questions.

I know there's a a ballot initiative to increase the sales tax. I don't know if that has anything to do with this specifically, but I know the budget shortfall is planned for the city of Riverside. Is this looking like the worst case scenario or do you see us presenting this budget and then coming back with requested cuts at that time?

So far we have not at the meetings that have already occurred with the proposed budget. There have not been additional asks for cuts. Measure Z doesn't the voting on Measure Z doesn't directly impact our library budget for the next two years because the only Measure Z funds we receive, which are already built into it, are for the main library debt obligation. But right now, we don't anticipate it changing or decreasing. And we have two more meetings coming up Then the final budget will be presented to Council in June. Any

other questions?

So for physical books, we right now already have kind of a I wouldn't say inflated but we do have a price point that we average on which includes processing and cataloging and shipping. So we don't anticipate that increasing a huge amount. And then for digital content, we have not heard of any additional increases in that.

Okay. Well, thank you very much. Okay. Moving on to communications. The Board of Directors Communication Item 11, brief reports and conferences and seminars and meetings attended by board meetings I'm sorry, board members. Is there anyone here that would like to discuss a related meeting or conference you've attended?

Sure. I'd love to share this. Recently, May I'm sorry, on Friday, May 8, I was honored to be a part of the TEDxLos University event that took place at the Los Sierra campus. In the spirit of the ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. So some of you might be familiar with TED Talks. So we hosted TEDx La Sierra University. This was our sixth event. Even though the event already passed, we're getting ready to do postproduction and getting those videos or recordings online. And I'd love for each of you to have a chance to take a look at that. We actually highlighted a local voice, Bob Marshall of Typewriter Muse. So he was featured at this event. So it was a lot of fun. I do have some booklets from the event that I'd love to share with the Board today.

Wonderful. Thank you. Moving on to discussion item 12, brief reports and conferences, seminars and meetings attended by the library director, which I assume will be reported on by the deputy director

or director. Correct, yes. So this month we're participating in the One Book, One Coast Community Reading Program for California, Washington and Oregon. You should all have included in your packets one of our flyers with all of our programming. The book this year is They Called Us Enemy by George Takei which is a graphic novel about his experiences during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

This is the first time that we're participating in this particular program, so really excited to be a part of it this year. We are handing out free copies of the book at all library locations while supplies last. On May 16 we have an adult and teen book discussion at our Orange Terrace Library. On May 27, we are having a history lecture on family resilience and childhood perspectives of Japanese American incarceration at Carbon Nation Brewing. That's part of our goal to go out into community more to provide programming and not just have it at the libraries.

And then also on May 30, we're having an adult book discussion at our main library. And then this Thursday, May 14, library staff and two of our friends of the library board members will be attending the annual Serving with a Purpose Conference at the Ontario Convention Center. The conference is dedicated to friends, foundations and trustees and the library staff that support them. The theme this year is Excellence Begins with the Essentials Helping Your Board Soar. And we do still have one space left at our table if any of you are available to attend.

You can see me after if you'd like to join us. And then May 30 is the start of our summer reading program. Really excited for that. The theme this year is plant a seed, read, and it's open to all ages. So keep an eye out for our summer reading guide, which will have all the things, summer reading, pop up park visits, and lunch at the library.

We're doing something a little bit newer this year rather than our regular monthly calendar. We have a two month guidebook which includes everything about summer reading, how to sign up for all of our programming for children and teens and adults. And we'll also be issuing a survey this year to get some more feedback about our summer reading program which we have not done before. So we're really excited. We're forward to a lot of gardening outdoors themes as part of our plant a seed read program. Happy to answer any questions.

I have no questions. I just have a comment. I forgot that I went to the sustainability conference put together by the sustainability department here at City of Riverside in February and they highlighted and or one of the speakers was a Japanese American as well and she grew up on a farm, a peach farm and so she had her own book and she was telling us about her book, Every Peach Is A Story which I think goes well with the theme this summer. It's a fantastic book. I bought it as well for my kids. But this is a good it goes hand in hand with this book that you have here too, which I thought was cool. I'm sure unintended, but very cool.

Thank you.

If you haven't had the time, I highly recommend attending the Serving with a Purpose. It's a great program they put on every year. I've been two years and they also have breakout sessions. One is very specific to library trustees, so you learn a lot in that as well. So if you are interested, leave one seat available. Please see Jessica afterward. Moving on to item 13. Are there any future Board of Trustee consideration as requested by 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 Riverside Municipal Court will be agendized for future discussion. Does anyone like to put something on the next agenda?

Okay, that was easy enough. Since there are no further items of discussion, I want to thank each of the trustees for their time and the library staff who helped put together this meeting agenda and board packet. I know that takes time. The next regular Board of Library Trustees meeting is scheduled for Monday, 06/08/2026 at five p. M. This meeting is now adjourned. Thank you.