AGENDA
ITEM
18 AGENDA
CALEXICO California ITEM
WHERE CALIFORNIA AND MEXICO MEET
18 CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA STAFF REPORT
DATE: October 1, 2025
TO: Mayor and City Council
APPROVED BY: Benjamin A. Martinez, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Lizeth Legaspi, Library Manager d
SUBJECT: Receive and File Library Board of Trustees Minutes for Meeting on August 4, 2025
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Recommendation:
Accept minutes for Library Board of Trustees meeting held on August 4, 2025 Background:
Library Manager shall prepare minutes of the Library Board of Trustees meetings and present to the board for approval. Once approved, a copy of the signed minutes is submitted for Council ratification.
Discussion & Analysis:
The attached minutes of the Library Board of Trustees for meeting of August 4, 2025, have been approved by the Library Board and signed by Chair Ayala for ratification by Council.
Fiscal Impact:
None
Coordinated With:
None
Attachment:
Minutes for Library Board of Trustees meeting of August 4, 2025.
ATTACHMENT NO. 1
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES
MEETING OF: Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting
DATE OF MEETING: Monday, August 4, 2025
PLACE OF MEETING: Fernando "Nene" Torres Council Chambers 608 Heber Ave. Calexico, CA 92231
5:00 pm
CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 5:02 p.m. by Chair, Abril Avala.
ROLL CALL:
TRUSTEE ATTENDANCE
Abril Ayala, Chairperson Present
Karen Yepez, Vice-Chair Present
Stacy Olguin, Trustee Present
Roxsanna Pacheco, Trustee Present
Erika Castro, Trustee Present
STAFF PRESENT: Lizeth Legaspi, Library Manager & Lizbeth Carbajal, Executive Assistant.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The pledge of allegiance was led by Vice Chair Yepez.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: On motion by Trustee Olguin and seconded by Trustee Yepez, the agenda was approved as delivered.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: None.
LIBRARY MANAGER'S REPORT:
Ms. Legaspi reported the California Park Pass program received additional funding and will continue until December 2026. The pass can be checked out for three weeks. Ms. Legaspi announced the Family Summer Reading program is in its last week. Lunch at the Library will continue. Regular programming will resume at the end of August. In the past two weeks, library staff has been conducting interviews to hire seven students from the Imperial Valley College - Work Study program. Ms. Legaspi commented that during the first week of school, the library will decorate and invite students to take a "Back to school" picture.
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES COMMENTS:
Trustee Olguin commented that she keeps promoting on social media and group chats with parents the library's Family Summer Reading program. Vice- Chair Yepez had no comment. Trustee Castro said she attended Cooking with Aracely Kidz Edition. Trustee Castro commented she would like to see some literature connected to the activity. Trustee Pacheco shared with the board that since the last meeting she has attended several activities at the library. Special Presentations by Dippy Duck and the Calexico Police Department where she was happy to see the officers being involved with the kids. She also attended the workshop "The Art of Stress Management" where she was happy to see patrons from different age
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES
groups participate in the activity. Chair Ayala commented that she follows the library on social media and sees the pictures of all the activities offered at the library. Chair Ayala commented that since the last board meeting, she has attended a few sessions of Toddler Times with her granddaughter.
CONSENT ITEMS:
1. Approval of Minutes for Regular Meeting on July 7, 2025 - Trustee Olguin motioned to approve.
Vice-Chair Yepez seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS:
2. Awards Programs for Family Summer Reading Program - Ms. Legaspi shared with the board that today is the last day to report reading logs. The Awards parties will be held next week. Prizes will be given out to those who read. The flutophone class will be performing at the "Read to Me" and "Reading Club" awards party.
3. Local Author & Illustrator Book Presentation - Cuauhtemoc "Chucky" Cortez (author) and J Humbert Felix (illustrator) presented their book "Joaquiner Stinker". Both Mr. Cortez and Mr.
Felix are former Calexico residents who met while attending Jefferson elementary school a few years back. Ms. Legaspi mentioned that there is a plan for doing a book presentation at the library in the near future.
4. SERRA Cooperative Library System Meetings - Ms. Legaspi explained to the board that Camarena Memorial is part of SERRA cooperative which consists of San Diego and Imperial County Libraries. The purpose of the cooperative is to share resources amongst its members. SERRA Cooperative holds quarterly meetings primarily held in the San Diego area with the February meeting being held in Imperial County. One of the benefits of being part of SERRA cooperative is being able to get consortium prices for digital databases. This is how we were able to offer BookFLIX, Libby and Flipster to mention a few. Link+ is a system added to the ILS (integrated library system) which allows users to request any materials available in other libraries in California. The cost is expensive. The ICFL offered to pay the start-up costs for all valley libraries.
For some reason we have not been able to make use of the resource. We are able to fulfill this need with the ZIP books grant. Ms. Legaspi shared that she had expressed her concern of not being able to afford it to the SERRA group.
5. September is Library Card Sign-Up Month - Ms. Legaspi shared with the board that she submitted and agenda item to City Council to proclaim September as Library Card Sign-Up month. Last year, the library invited the Calexico Police Department to participate in the "Get Your License to Read" event, with officers issuing library cards. Ms. Legaspi encouraged board members to help promote library card attainment and usage.
6. Discussion About Adopting a Mascot for the Library - Ms. Legaspi shared with Board members that there is no money in the budget for additional spending, in addition, even if the money became available through fundraising, the library has no staff. Trustee Pacheco stated other libraries in the valley have mascots. Trustee Pacheco stated she would like to have a "Call for Artists" for a mascot for the library. Trustee Yepez suggested it would be best to figure out the funding part before anything else. Chair Ayala tabled the item until a funding source is found and then it can be brought up for a future meeting.
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES
7. Family Night Dates - Ms. Legaspi informed the board that the library holds 6 Family Nights throughout the year. For this upcoming year, a seventh Family Night has been added for the month of July to celebrate Independence Day. Ms. Legaspi invited the board to help at Family Nights.
8. Friends of the Library Report - Ms. Jeanette Chew, Friends of the Library President reported that FOTL purchased 25 flutophones for the Flutophone Class being taught this summer. In addition, FOTL purchased two Lego sets that were used as STEAM Lab prizes and continues to purchase all the materials for the program Cooking with Lizbeth and they will also be sponsoring prizes for the summer reading program.
INFORMATION:
Mrs. Legaspi reviewed the items under information including attendance report, monthly statistics report, Fiscal Year 24-25 Library Programming Report, New Booklist (available online), and August calendar of activities for Camarena Library and Carnegie Technology Center.
ADJOURNMENT
On motion by Trustee Yepez and seconded by Trustee Pacheco the meeting adjourned at 5:52 p.m.
Minutes typed by Lizbeth Carbajal
Next meeting: September 2, 2025
Abril Ayala, Chair
ATTEST:
Lisboth Carbajal
izbeth Carbajal, Executive Assistan