MINUTES
MALIBU LIBRARY SUBCOMMITTEE
SPECIAL MEETING
JANUARY 31, 2024
MALIBU CITY HALL — MULTIPURPOSE ROOM
3:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
Councilmember Riggins called the maeting to order at 3:09 p.m.
ROLL CALL
The following persons were recorded in attendance:
PRESENT: Councilmember Bruce Silverstein and Councilmember Marianne Riggins ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Steve McClary; Deputy City Manager Alexis Brown; Assistant City Manager Joseph Toney, Community Services Director Kristin Riesgo; Deputy City Clerk Kathleen Stecko and Executive Assistant Cynthia Alba.
REPORT ON POSTING OF AGENDA
Executive Assistant Alba reported that the agenda for the meeting was properly posted on January 25, 2024.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION Councilmember Riggins moved, and Councilmember Silverstein seconded a motion to approve the agenda. The question was called, and the motion carried unanimously.
Councilmember Riggins opened general public comment; there were no speakers, and public comment was closed.
Recommended Action: Approve the minutes for the Library Subcommittee Special meeting of May 2, 2022, and September 13, 2022.
Councilmember Riggins asked for a motion to approve the minutes from May 2, 2022 and September 13, 2022.
ITEM 1 PRESENTATIONS
None.
ITEM 2 OLD BUSINESS
A. Approval of Minutes (Continued) - May 2, 2022 and September 13, 2022 Malibu Library Subcommittee
Special Meeting
Minutes of January 3 1, 2024
Councilmember Silverstein requested that the meeting minutes be retumed at a later date to give him time to watch the recorded video. He requested the meeting links be sent to him.
CONSENSUS
By consensus, the Subcommittee directed staff to bring this item back at a future date.
John Mazza raised a concern regarding the delay in minute approval for the Library Subcommittee and its transparency regarding funds in a timely manner.
Councilmember Silverstein stated that the subcommittee does not approve funding and therefore all recommendations are publicly available at City Council meetings.
He stated that meetings are publicly available to give people a chance to participate. He noted that commission meetings are no longer livestreamed as AB 361 has sunset.
ITEM 3 NEW BUSINESS
A. Malibu Library Set Aside Funds for Fiscal Year 202-2025 4 Recommended Action: Provide a recommendation to the City Council conceming the use of the Malibu Library Set Aside Funds for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
Deputy City Manager Brown provided a report regarding the use of the Malibu Library Set Aside Funds. She stated that city staff met with library staff to discuss current funds along with city proposed projects. She stated that library staff has reviewed potential proposed projects to determine a nexus, where two of those projects were determined to have a nexus, the education program at legacy park and the Film Society Grant. She added that the Malibu Education Foundation request was found not to have a sufficient nexus. She reviewed the recommended list of library expenditures, including a potential special programs librarian to oversee new programs proposed.
Councilmember Riggins opened public comment.
Mr. Mazza inquired about the total reconciliation, what was requested and what was actually spent. He stated that during the pandemic a librarian served as an emergency worker and guards were guarding the building when closed. He inquired about unspent funds being spent on other programs. He added that the two added programs may not be enough work for one librarian. He spoke about the locations for the Malibu Film Society being on any publicly accessible space. He stated that the patio fumiture is expensive. He also questioned the need for additional guards if the City of Malibu will be opening a Sheriff station next door. He inquired about the Westside outreach librarian and having an updated study to assess westside needs.
Malibu Library Subcommittee
Special Meeting
Minutes of January 31, 2024
Councilmember Riggins closed public comment.
Valerie Bailey, Assistant Regional Administrator for North Region, stated that she will gather questions from the meeting and communicate them with the executives.
She introduced herself and stated that she was there on behalf of Jesse, who was unable to attend.
Councilmember Silverstein stated that this budget lines up with what has been done in the past. He inquired if the Subcommittee was recommending expenditures to the City Council to recommend to the County Library. He reiterated that there are restrictions on what can be done with the funds, which includes limited to being spent in Malibu. Added that the library is the ultimate arbiter of what gets spent in Malibu. He inquired if everything spent was in Malibu and added that it was previously agreed upon that the money will stay in Malibu. He inquired if the security guards could also monitor Legacy Park.
Melissa Stallings, Community Library Manager, stated that they are open for 60 hours during the week and added that guards are part-time throughout the 60 hours.
She stated that previously when they had two guards, one was inside and another outside.
Councilmember Silverstein stated that he liked the idea of a guard being outside and another inside.
Councilmember Riggins stated that she agreed but was worried about the nexus since Legacy Park is city owned.
Silverstein responded by stating that the nexus to the library can be the potential educational programs being held at Legacy Park, including the new proposed program and Agents of Discovery. He included that if they will not patrol the park, he does not see a need to have some stationed outside 6O hours a week.
Councilmember Riggins stated that she would like to defer to the librarian as this is something they had before the COVID pandemic, added that if foot traffic numbers are coming back and this is something that has worked in the past it may be beneficial. She shared that she would like to pose the question to the library if there were to have educational events at park if the security could monitor concurrently.
Deputy City Manager Brown stated that she would follow up with the library for clarification.
Councilmember Silverstein inquired about the outreach librarians activities, he stated that he had previously asked about this and was previously satisfied with the response, as it was Malibu related and appropriate. He added that he believes that the Malibu Film Society partnership may not happen due to space requirements.
Malibu Library Subcommittee
Special Meeting
Minutes of January 31, 2024
City Manager McClary added that the nexus would need to be that the events would need to be held at the library.
Councilmember Silverstein reported that the Malibu Film Society believed the Malibu Library was not a sufficient space due to the quality that they would like to provide. He added that they could try to find a publicly accessible space and qualified under the requirements in the agenda report, however, the library could still be a potential location. He stated that events would be free to Malibu residents and have a limited number of tickets for community members. He shared that he is willing to second the Legacy Park educational programing.
Councilmember Riggins inquired about the water bottle filling stations and whether the water station will be inside. She asked if the patio furniture stays secured outside.
Melissa Stallings, Community Library Manager, shared that the water filling station will be inside next to the restrooms and that the patio furniture is heavy duty and stays outside.
Councilmember Riggins added that the Malibu School PTA may come back with another request as they must replace some equipment. She also added that adding a second librarian will depend on the type of programing that gets implemented.
Deputy City Manager Brown explained that per library staff, the caveat on an added librarian would be dependent on the depth of proposed programing. For example, if Legacy Park Programming or Malibu Film Society programming were to be expansive, they would need an additional librarian to administer those programs.
Councilmember Riggins raised a concern about having an additional librarian but not having added programing right away, and having that person assigned elsewhere. She asked how much notice would be needed for this position.
Deputy City Manager Brown stated that she would follow up with the library for clarification.
Councilmember Riggins stated that the group that approached her with Legacy Park educational programming ideas is not interested in pursuing at this time and stated that potentially this could be something that the Community Services Department expands their services to fill in this gap. She also asked for further clarification on the rolling out of the PC model, and added that she wanted to ensure that there was still access to equipment.
Melissa Stallings, Community Library Manager, added that they are no longer pursuing the laptop vending machine model, h0wever, they do have laptops that can be checked out from a charging cart in addition to the current desktop PCs.
Malibu Library Subcommittee
Special Meeting
Minutes of January 31, 2024
Councilmember Silverstein asked Ms. Stallings how the library was handling COVID issues surrounding high-touch surfaces.
Melissa Stallings, Community Library Manager, stated that they are a county building, and they follow county guidelines. She stated that surfaces get wiped in the morning and evening and they also have wipes available for the public.
Councilmember Riggins brought up a concern regarding the library building and its compliance with the Malibu Dark Sky Ordinance. She stated that the new Santa Monica College facility is in compliance with the ordinance, but the county building is not. She also spoke about the possibility of allocating funds for an updated needs assessment, including assessing the needs for the westside.
Deputy City Manager Brown stated that staff would need to have another conversation with library staff to address these concerns, and to check if the needs assessment can be included within this request.
Councilmember Riggins added that the city will be releasing a survey for the use of vacant land and inquired if the city will be doing an evaluation of the use of vacant land to build a library on the west side.
Councilmember Riggins opened public comment.
Mr. Mazza stated that previously the county stated that any studies need to be under one of their own consultants.
Councilmember Riggins closed public comment.
Deputy City Manager Brown added that if there was interest in updating the 201 8 needs assessment study, funds would need to be allocated and the county would need to procure their own consultant to conduct a feasibility study.
Councilmember Silverstein inquired if there was a property in Malibu that could be developed for a new library facility.
Deputy City Manager Brown agreed that she will inquire about this with library staff.
Councilmember Silverstein added that if there was a location that the county deemed appropriate, they could have an updated modem library that serves as a gathering place that may include multimedia and performing arts center.
Councilmember Riggins pointed out that in the report there was direction of modifying the current library and exploring the possibility of utilizing the empty Malibu Library Subcommittee
Special Meeting
Minutes of January 3 1, 2024
courthouse building next door and would like additional information from library staff.
Deputy City Manager Brown added that this was part of the initial discussion with library staff and efforts could be allocated for a feasibility study. She stated that she would further discuss with the library staff and bring back the item to the Library Subcommittee.
Councilmember Riggins inquired about the budget from 2022-2023 and the actual expenditures, she noticed that some exceeded and would like more information about how this is handled and would like more accurate numbers.
Deputy City Manager Brown will discuss the expenditures with library staff.
Councilmember Silverstein inquired about the total hands and the 2. 1 -million-dollar surplus.
Deputy City Manager Brown added that funds get rolled over from previous fiscal years.
City Manager McClary asked for more information about the desires to pursue a needs assessment or feasibility study in the west side.
Deputy City Manager Brown recommended getting more information from the county about what has been outlined in the report.
Councilmember Riggins inquired about the tool lending library.
Melissa Stallings, Community Library Manager, explained that this program is being phased out and they have already begun to order equipment and set up cabinets with last year’s funding.
Councilmember Riggins thanked everyone for their work and cooperation.
Deputy City Manager Brown asked for clarification on the next steps, she asked if they would like to reconvene after city staff has met with library staff, and then go to the City'Council.
Councilmember Riggins 'inquired about the timeline procedure and asked if this would be lined up with the budget timeline.
Assistant City Manager Toney added that typically the goal is for the City Council to make the recommendation to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors so that they can include it as part of their budget. He added that the goal was to adopt it in the budget in April/May and the city is currently attempting to realign with the timeline.
Malibu Library Subcommittee
Special Meeting
Minutes of January 31, 2024
Deputy City Manager Brown stated that they need information from the county regarding a feasibility study. She stated that they can meet again with the Library Subcommittee before going to the City Council again. She clarified the timeline for FY 2024-2025.
City Manager McClary stated that city staff will start creating a schedule for FY 2024-2025 to ensure that the timelines are met per the MOU. He added that the library subcommittee will reconvene in March to discuss additional information.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION At 4:01 p.m., Councilmember Riggins adjourned the meeting.
Approved and adopted by the Library Subcommittee of the City of Malibu on March 27, 2024.
Mgr/MW MARIANNE RIGGINS, CoWmember
ATTEST:
y%k./% CYN IA ALBA, Executive Assistant