Yazmin Mehdi: Amy, there we go. I see it.
Tom Fay: She did.
Tali Hairston: Mhm.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, it is on my clock, 11:00 in the morning and we have a quorum.
Yazmin Mehdi: So I'd like to call this regular meeting of the Seattle Public Library Board of
Yazmin Mehdi: Trustees to order.
Yazmin Mehdi: T
Yazmin Mehdi: First of all, we just need to see if there are any
Yazmin Mehdi: changes for the agenda. So does anyone have any changes?
Yazmin Mehdi: Seeing none, can I hear a motion to approve the agenda
Tom Fay: Mm.
Yazmin Mehdi: as published?
Tali Hairston: Motion to approve.
Tali Hairston: 2nd.
Yazmin Mehdi: All in favor, please say aye.
Tali Hairston: Hi.
Faith Pettis: I.
Yazmin Mehdi: Aye, that passes. As noted at the top of the agenda,
Yazmin Mehdi: the Library Board is accepting public comment that is directed to matters on
Yazmin Mehdi: the agenda only by e-mail in person at the Central Library.
Yazmin Mehdi: And in this remote meeting, Amy, do we have any public comment?
There is no public comment by any of the three.
2.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. So in that case, we can move on to the consent agenda.
Yazmin Mehdi: We have a consent agenda with minutes from our December meeting and the
Yazmin Mehdi: November Finance report. If no one has changes to these,
Yazmin Mehdi: may I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda as published?
Faith Pettis: I'll make that motion.
Faith Pettis: 2nd.
Yazmin Mehdi: It's been moved and seconded. All in favor,
Yazmin Mehdi: please say aye or raise your hand. Great, that passes.
Hi.
Tali Hairston: I.
Yazmin Mehdi: So moving on to the Chief Librarian's report. So over to you, Tom.
Tom Fay: Right. Thank you all and good morning. A few things going on here as some might
Tom Fay: expect as we move into the first of the year with the new mayor,
Tom Fay: Mayor Wilson coming in.
Tom Fay: We've been spending time trying to understand some of their new processes.
Tom Fay: Had our first full cabinet meeting the other day to meet all the folks that are
Tom Fay: on board so far out of the mayor's office. We've also been busy,
Tom Fay: Kirsten Nelson and I.
Tom Fay: Committee that we often present to. So quite a few meetings already and to
Tom Fay: have another one today with new Councilmember Eddie Lynn.
Tom Fay: I'm looking forward to that discussion as well.
Tom Fay: We continue to keep our council members up to date, especially in this.
Tom Fay: Important year of moving to a potential levy renewal.
Tom Fay: On the 14th.
Tom Fay: Kirsten Nelson and I did present to the City Council's Libraries,
Tom Fay: Education Neighborhoods Committee, again chaired by Councilmember Rivera.
Tom Fay: We provided at that time an overview of library operations and service priorities,
Tom Fay: and we discussed the potential 2026 library levy renewal at that time.
Tom Fay: On the 15th, Rob Gannon, who is our Director of Administrative
Tom Fay: Services, Kay Tang, Director of Library Experience and
Tom Fay: Engagement and our Head of Communications, Laura Gentry and I provided A pipeline
Tom Fay: briefing to the Mayor's office regarding.
Tom Fay: Potential 2026 library levy. We were the first, so they they had a few.
Tom Fay: They have at least a good trial basis with us.
Tom Fay: They helped develop the pipeline process further.
Tom Fay: We shared details of the library's operations, our priorities.
Tom Fay: And projected levy renewal resources necessary to maintain our service levels
Tom Fay: across the city in upcoming years. We had quite a few people in the room and
Tom Fay: again, it was a great opportunity to meet
Tom Fay: Mayor's new team who will be doing all the work in the city.
Tom Fay: On January 20th, 16 representatives from the Foundation,
Tom Fay: the Friends, and the Library Board of Trustees
Tom Fay: attended the Washington Library Association's Legislative Day down in
Tom Fay: Olympia. We met a number of the members of our
Tom Fay: state legislature.
Tom Fay: We held face to face meetings with State Representatives Thomas Reid, Macri.
Tom Fay: We also met with Senator Alvarado, Kirsten Nelson.
Tom Fay: We'll share some more details in our next portion here of the meeting.
Tom Fay: On the 24th, very exciting and fun event. Broadview Branch celebrated its 50th
Tom Fay: anniversary. Thanks to Ron and Faith for coming out to
Tom Fay: celebrate with us. We had a ton of folks out there.
Tom Fay: Friends of the friends were out there as well on hosting a table.
Tom Fay: It was quite a bustling event. Councilmember Rivera came out,
Tom Fay: spoke about the importance of libraries and that there would be a potential
Tom Fay: library renewal in 2026 and appreciated her stepping in.
Tom Fay: To do that, Councilmember Juarez was unable 10 attend,
Tom Fay: so I really appreciate it. Councilmember Rivera joining in the
Tom Fay: celebration.
Tom Fay: I'm also pleased to share that SPL is participating in the first ever One Book
Tom Fay: One Coast project this spring in 2026. The program's modeled after the popular
Tom Fay: One Book One City programs that.
Tom Fay: All originated here and at SPL in 1998. Obviously this is where people are
Tom Fay: encouraged to read and discuss the same book and to deepen the Engagement in
Tom Fay: literature and the topic. One Book, One Coast is a collaborative effort.
Tom Fay: Including the Big 10 coastal libraries, Seattle, King County, Los Angeles,
Tom Fay: Los Angeles County, Multnomah County, Sacramento, San Diego, San Diego County,
Tom Fay: San Francisco and San Jose, to name a few at this point.
Tom Fay: We are with the graph. Excuse me, the book is George Takei's graphic novel
Tom Fay: novel. They call this Enemy and and this graphic
Tom Fay: novel obviously is going to work well for all age groups. It is a very consumable.
Tom Fay: Format for all ages. The book does talk about his experience
Tom Fay: as the youth in Japanese American internment camps.
Tom Fay: All library jurisdictions across the West Coast are encouraged to participate,
Tom Fay: and at present there are over 100 library systems who had who intend to participate,
Tom Fay: representing nearly 900 locations or towns or cities on the West Coast.
Tom Fay: So we'll be sharing more information as the final elements of this line up here
Tom Fay: over the next few weeks. But we're very excited and I want to give
Tom Fay: my thanks to Doctor Sky Patrick and her team at LA County for their efforts in.
Tom Fay: Bringing us all together and seeing this pretty massive effort underway.
Tom Fay: And with that, I'll leave it open to any questions you
Tom Fay: might have.
Yazmin Mehdi: That is fantastic. I love the idea of one book, one coast.
Yazmin Mehdi: I see Carmen clapping just because anything that brings people together
Yazmin Mehdi: around art is is a positive step forward, I think.
Yazmin Mehdi: So that's wonderful. It's really exciting to go from one city,
Yazmin Mehdi: one book to one coast, one book. That's impressive. And as you said,
Yazmin Mehdi: SPL gets the credit for starting this whole genre of events,
Yazmin Mehdi: and it goes back almost 30 years. It's incredible.
Yazmin Mehdi: Before we move on, Tom, and I want to make sure my colleagues
Yazmin Mehdi: have a chance to raise any issues, I wanted to call out the system report.
Yazmin Mehdi: I feel like the system reports we we don't give them full.
Yazmin Mehdi: Airing because we we move on to what what's actually on the agenda.
Yazmin Mehdi: But sorry I said system report, but I what I mean is the the report from
Yazmin Mehdi: facility maintenance and custodial that's in our packet. So I just want to note.
Yazmin Mehdi: Obviously the work of facilities, maintenance and custodial is paramount in
Yazmin Mehdi: ensuring that all of our patrons have a safe and clean space to come into as well
Yazmin Mehdi: as our staff. So shout out to them.
Yazmin Mehdi: I note 230 graffiti removals, 944 toilet plumbing, restroom repairs.
Yazmin Mehdi: That stuff sounds like not much fun and yet so, so, so important.
Yazmin Mehdi: So I I appreciate getting these reports and knowing about all the good work
Yazmin Mehdi: that's happening.
Tom Fay: I have and I have a little bit of a story about that.
Yazmin Mehdi: Throughout the library system.
Tom Fay: Last last night or after at late afternoon,
Yazmin Mehdi: Oh, there.
Tom Fay: Kirsten and I were hosting some folks from the mayor's office on an important
Tom Fay: meeting and one of the topics we were of course discussing was.
Tom Fay: Capital maintenance and improvement. And as we were just finishing the tour
Tom Fay: portion of our meeting, every alarm went off.
Tom Fay: The elevators would not run. Fire basically sounded like a fire alarm.
Tali Hairston: This.
Tom Fay: It ended up being a a broken pipe.
Tom Fay: That shut everything down and forced an evacuation.
Tom Fay: So I guess in in some ways they did get a a sense of what can happen when there are
Tom Fay: maintenance issues, but our team was right on it.
Tom Fay: Within an hour we were able to reopen, verify that plumbing would work, etcetera.
Tom Fay: So kudos to.
Tom Fay: The facilities teams, building engineers who manage a very,
Tom Fay: very, very complex building here. And a big thanks to Fire,
Tom Fay: who always is just down the street and is here in minutes, is much appreciated.
Tom Fay: And of course, the staff who evacuate a building that
Tom Fay: has, you know, 3000 or more people in it in a very
Tom Fay: timely way. I always appreciate those efforts.
Tom Fay: As you might imagine, some folks don't really want to go out in
Tom Fay: the cold and rain, but we need to get everyone out to make
Tali Hairston: Yeah.
Tom Fay: sure that we can assure the safety of everyone in the building.
Tom Fay: But an interesting story happened to be time with our discussions on capital
Tom Fay: maintenance.
Yazmin Mehdi: Yeah. Do we need to actually thank facilities
Yazmin Mehdi: for orchestrating that? Just kidding. That was a joke. That was a joke.
Tom Fay: I think they could have done without the water floaties by the time they were done.
Tom Fay: So yes, I I I we should thank them always for
Yazmin Mehdi: Yeah.
Tom Fay: their work.
Yazmin Mehdi: Yeah. And just a reminder to anyone who might
Yazmin Mehdi: be listening that we are talking about a building that's over 20 years old and
Yazmin Mehdi: systems start to break down. So This is why we need to put some energy
Yazmin Mehdi: into figuring out how to.
Yazmin Mehdi: Um, you know, put some money back into our buildings.
Yazmin Mehdi: With that, anything from my colleagues.
Bendixen, Carmen: I Tom, I just had a follow up on the One Coast,
Bendixen, Carmen: One Book program. So I don't want to assume,
Bendixen, Carmen: but I mean one of the highlights of when we do Seattle Reads is the programming
Bendixen, Carmen: that goes along with it. Will there be programming? Um.
Bendixen, Carmen: Kind of how we usually do or.
Tom Fay: We do have.
Tom Fay: We do hope to have some programming, yes, and hope to have Stesha be able to talk
Tom Fay: about some of that as well. We are looking at this as one of the
Tom Fay: types of programs that we'll be running. As I think I mentioned to some of you,
Tom Fay: we'll also be doing our normal Seattle reads.
Tom Fay: And at this point, we still intend to be partnering with
Bendixen, Carmen: OK.
Tom Fay: King County Library System. So we hope to be able to do see Seattle
Tom Fay: King County Reads this year. And Stesha will of course be bringing
Tom Fay: back to you all who that author is going to be as we get closer. I'm.
Tom Fay: At least with what I know preliminarily, I'm excited with the author that will
Tom Fay: have. It will be kind of a first. So I'm looking forward to that if all
Tom Fay: those pieces come together. But yes, the one coast, one book,
Tom Fay: one coast is really meant to be.
Tom Fay: The type of program that people can participate in in a light way,
Tom Fay: we were trying to make it a a a look kind of a low bar to participate in this.
Tom Fay: And really what we've been looking for is LA has put this together and had folks
Tom Fay: kind of just sign up and you know kind of sign up an agreement is just sharing how
Tom Fay: many people.
Tom Fay: People you had attend, how many people might have read the book,
Tom Fay: not making it something that's an onerous process.
Tom Fay: I can assure you it's been starting to spread out there and our East Coast
Tom Fay: friends are all saying, well, why can't we? And we're.
Tom Fay: I think Sky and I are saying it's hard enough to wrangle, you know,
Tom Fay: 100 to 150 library systems. So maybe 2028 we'll go for a big one in
Tom Fay: 2028 and do one across the entire country and see if we can make that happen.
Tom Fay: But very exciting and appreciate Sky's efforts.
Tom Fay: And and getting this move forward and all of her teams work.
Tom Fay: They're a great team at LA County.
Yazmin Mehdi: That's great. Good question from Carmen, especially because like,
Bendixen, Carmen: No.
Yazmin Mehdi: if we're going to read both the One Book, One Coast book and the Seattle Reads book,
Yazmin Mehdi: we got to get a jump on it because I already have a stack of other books to
Yazmin Mehdi: read.
Tom Fay: I have seen and heard how fast some of you read,
Tom Fay: so I'm not really worried about you all getting through it.
Tom Fay: You beat me on every night, just about.
Yazmin Mehdi: Carmen.
Yazmin Mehdi: Carmen, anything else from you?
Bendixen, Carmen: Nope, that's it. Thanks.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. And Tally, Faith or Ron?
Tali Hairston: I do, Tom. I think I may know the answer for this.
Tali Hairston: I don't know if the rest of the board does. I'll just say it like this.
Tali Hairston: In the previous administration, Deputy Mayor Wong was a direct connect
Tali Hairston: and someone that we would meet with and.
Tali Hairston: Talk what you would talk with new administration, different structure.
Tali Hairston: Do you know who will be that connect now?
Tom Fay: Yes, let me let me just pull something up here
Tom Fay: so I don't misspeak. Bear with me one moment.
Tali Hairston: And I'm sorry, this is in response to your meeting,
Tali Hairston: your number one point where you met with the council members and I'm just kind of
Tali Hairston: following up on that one. Sorry.
Tom Fay: Yeah. So I I just wanted to pull it up so I had
Tom Fay: it in front of me. So the the the structure as it works or
Tom Fay: it has been established here initially is that there is a single deputy mayor
Tom Fay: that's Brian Surratt.
Tom Fay: Below, Brian, I guess if you're looking at some kind of
Tom Fay: hierarchy would be the chief of what I'm I'm calling the chief of operations.
Tom Fay: I think I'm I've seen two different titles so I'm going to go with that right
Tom Fay: now and not hopefully offend.
Tom Fay: Jen Chan, who I've worked with in the city over the
Tom Fay: years, and then she'll under her are a deputy.
Tom Fay: There's also going to be what they're calling kind of the liaisons or
Tom Fay: operations managers.
Tom Fay: Those operations managers are liaison see oversee a kind of a portfolio of
Tom Fay: departments. Our operations manager is already on
Tom Fay: board. Her name is Rachel Shulkin. She was over in comms and might have been
Tom Fay: the head of comms. I I'm trying to remember I I've met.
Tom Fay: I met Rachel before over at Parks, so we have met already a couple of times.
Tom Fay: Rachel's a big library user and supporter, so again, a positive on that front.
Tom Fay: And so that's kind of the chain of how it will operate.
Tom Fay: As we see things that we need to get up to the mayor's office or to a deputy
Tom Fay: mayor or to Jen Chan in her role, then it would go up through that
Tom Fay: operations manager and liaison and then up into.
Tom Fay: The further ranks are all the way up to the mayor if need be.
Tom Fay: Generally the pipeline process is what really gets something like a levy renewal
Tom Fay: proposal to in front of the mayor. So that's a different process that then
Tom Fay: involves other players.
Tom Fay: In the mayor's office that need to attend depending on what topics.
Tom Fay: Hopefully that helps. It's, you know, they're still crafting,
Tom Fay: you know some of this, but it's all starting to come into
Tom Fay: fruition. They don't have a lot of time generally
Tom Fay: to do this. So always appreciate when they are
Tom Fay: already, you know, a couple months, a couple weeks in and have most of this.
Tom Fay: Eablished.
Yazmin Mehdi: Yeah, that's as you say, it's a it's a big,
Tali Hairston: Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: I think they're under a big learning curve or on a big learning curve.
Yazmin Mehdi: That's a great question, Tally.
Yazmin Mehdi: Anybody else? No. OK, we're ready to move on, Tom,
Yazmin Mehdi: to system reports.
Tom Fay: All right, let's see here. Let me pull everything up. I apologize.
Tom Fay: Move things around. I'm gonna bring it all back. Here we go.
Tom Fay: All right. We do have our Washington Library
Tom Fay: Association Legislative Day update and Kirsten Nelson,
Tom Fay: who is our community partnership and government relations.
Tom Fay: A manager will come to the table, give us a bit of an update.
Kiersten Nelson: Hello all. Not only do I have the lovely distinction
Kiersten Nelson: of serving as government relations support here for the library,
Kiersten Nelson: I get the in enviable task of being the WLA Legislative Committee Chair Co Chair.
Tom Fay: Oh.
Kiersten Nelson: So this year's through a lot of conversations at WLA and through some of
Kiersten Nelson: the other library leaders in the Puget Sound region,
Kiersten Nelson: we pushed for something that has not happened in the past, which was to make.
Kiersten Nelson: Lobby date early. For those that don't know,
Kiersten Nelson: this is Washington State has a long session and a short session.
Kiersten Nelson: We are not a full-time legislature, so members serve usually 60 to 120 days
Kiersten Nelson: and those can be extended should.
Kiersten Nelson: The governor asked for special sessions or various things aren't passed.
Kiersten Nelson: The long session is the biennium where they focus on the the bulk of the budget.
Kiersten Nelson: That was last year. This year is a short session.
Kiersten Nelson: So oftentimes what they come in is they go back and they fix some of the
Kiersten Nelson: budgetary issues.
Kiersten Nelson: This year tends to not be a heavy year on legislation because they're in for only
Kiersten Nelson: 60 days. It is a power through session and it gets
Kiersten Nelson: a little crazy. And so that was kind of one of the things
Kiersten Nelson: that.
Kiersten Nelson: Pushed us to make sure that we could get in early so that we could actually get to
Kiersten Nelson: legislators before any of the particular legislative cut-off dates had happened.
Kiersten Nelson: So all of the conversations that we had were very much impactful to what
Kiersten Nelson: legislators were hearing because it was still stuff that had an opportunity to
Kiersten Nelson: move forward.
Kiersten Nelson: The first major legislative cutoff date is next Wednesday.
Kiersten Nelson: So up until next Wednesday, next Wednesday is the policy cutoff for
Kiersten Nelson: House of Origin. Fiscal policy cutoff is the following
Kiersten Nelson: week and those get into super wonky things, but.
Kiersten Nelson: Basically, anybody who's dealing with Olympia
Kiersten Nelson: lobbying or just legislative ideas in general is so pumped for next week
Kiersten Nelson: because all of a sudden be like 11, 000 bills that are floating around
Kiersten Nelson: because no bills from last year that hadn't passed are technically dead.
Kiersten Nelson: They're all still floating around.
Kiersten Nelson: It is just relief. So next week is a huge, a huge milestone where all of a sudden
Kiersten Nelson: you're like, great, we're now only down to like hundreds WLA
Kiersten Nelson: this year. We also put forward a slate of priorities,
Kiersten Nelson: which was really informed by public libraries across the state.
Kiersten Nelson: With a lot of input from sort of systems like ours, from KCLS, from Sno-Isle,
Kiersten Nelson: from Pierce County, really to push what the public library
Kiersten Nelson: systems are seeing and the legislation that they want to see move forward.
Kiersten Nelson: The biggest of which I think is pretty unanimously decided that support for the
Kiersten Nelson: Washington State Library is a must. Last year in the budget, they were.
Kiersten Nelson: They lost a lot of funding and one of the biggest casualties is the.
Kiersten Nelson: Washington Talking Book and Braille Library.
Kiersten Nelson: So that was definitely the number one thing that we went in with all of the
Kiersten Nelson: legislators that we met with. We met with about 75% of legislators or
Kiersten Nelson: their Staffs that represent the Seattle Public Library system.
Kiersten Nelson: There is a there is a lovely special district up where Broadview is that gets
Kiersten Nelson: the joy and the distinction of overseeing or having the Seattle Public Library,
Kiersten Nelson: KCLS and Sno-isle all technically within their district.
Kiersten Nelson: So usually the connection with those two.
Kiersten Nelson: Systems and be like, OK, who is going to? They don't need to hear from all three of
Kiersten Nelson: us in succession because we will be saying fairly similar things.
Kiersten Nelson: And it's also more powerful when they can come in and be like we've spoken with our
Kiersten Nelson: colleagues and we all say this. So that was one of them.
Kiersten Nelson: So usually there's about a every probably like 4th year we get to add on all the
Kiersten Nelson: way up to 18 members.
Kiersten Nelson: So we met with five members themselves. The rest were staff. It was great.
Kiersten Nelson: We had a lot of fantastic conversations. Tom started his morning off with meeting
Kiersten Nelson: Representative Thomas, and she was extremely enthused about the
Kiersten Nelson: idea of making sure.
Kiersten Nelson: That funding for the Washington State Library is restored,
Kiersten Nelson: and I really want to Dr. home the point that these meetings make a
Kiersten Nelson: difference. It was announced last week that
Kiersten Nelson: Representative Thomas submitted A proviso.
Kiersten Nelson: For three million to restore funding for the Talking Book and Braille Library.
Kiersten Nelson: So that is fantastic. Obviously there is a lot that still needs
Kiersten Nelson: to happen. It's a proviso in the House. It has to go into the Senate.
Kiersten Nelson: The Senate needs to be able to pass the funding for it as well.
Kiersten Nelson: The Senate is right now a much.
Kiersten Nelson: Harder sell. Senator June Robinson actually has very
Kiersten Nelson: deep connections with the library and worked at Sno-Isle,
Kiersten Nelson: so she understands what libraries face. She is also a member who has been in the
Kiersten Nelson: Washington State Legislature for a long time and is.
Kiersten Nelson: Very sincere about the fact that funding should not be added unless funding
Kiersten Nelson: somewhere else is removed. So the Senate will be a much harder sell
Yazmin Mehdi: Hmm.
Kiersten Nelson: and we are working with the foundation and their their advocacy group.
Kiersten Nelson: To start sending out some letters to our state legislators. One,
Kiersten Nelson: I'm thanking Thomas for fantastic work to actually get this proviso over the line.
Kiersten Nelson: We had asked for just under 5 million to restore a couple more areas of funding
Kiersten Nelson: for the State Library, but the three million gets.
Kiersten Nelson: The Talking Book and Braille Library up, which I think for most people is
Kiersten Nelson: absolutely crucial. The other parts are also crucial,
Kiersten Nelson: but I think this is just it means a lot to be able to see the state return that
Kiersten Nelson: funding if we can get it over the line.
Kiersten Nelson: So sending out letters to to thank Representative Thomas,
Kiersten Nelson: you guys are all welcome to do so. Additionally,
Kiersten Nelson: asking the rest of our delegation to continue to support it both in the House
Kiersten Nelson: and the Senate to get it over the line. We also brought up some topics about.
Kiersten Nelson: The increasing costs of e-books, the next steps that are happening both
Kiersten Nelson: here within the state to address that particular issue and nationally.
Kiersten Nelson: Tom is working on the national level to try and get a broader,
Kiersten Nelson: more consensus based push from.
Kiersten Nelson: The urban libraries, which definitely carry a lot more weight
Kiersten Nelson: in the fact that they have.
Kiersten Nelson: They they acquire a a giant or a larger proportion than the public or than the
Kiersten Nelson: rural systems of digital materials. So there's a little more weight behind
Kiersten Nelson: them. Here in the state we are trying to
Kiersten Nelson: collect the e-book and audio book data for the past probably 7 to 10 years so we
Kiersten Nelson: can get some of that.
Kiersten Nelson: Pre-pandemic information in to the state legislature at the end of this fiscal
Kiersten Nelson: year, which ends in June, so that they can use that as they're
Kiersten Nelson: crafting the biennium next year with the hope of getting the study in place.
Kiersten Nelson: For those that don't know, Connecticut passed a law last year
Kiersten Nelson: focused specifically on e-books.
Kiersten Nelson: There are some other states that have tried to replicate it. Washington,
Kiersten Nelson: DC had basically the same legislation, but their their trigger was a whole
Kiersten Nelson: handful more of states. I think they were up to like 10 States
Kiersten Nelson: and various population restrictions.
Kiersten Nelson: Nobody had seen any sort of push back or anything from publishers or Overdrive or
Kiersten Nelson: the literary distributors or anything. Overdrive submitted 54 pages of testimony
Kiersten Nelson: against the legislation in December and read them.
Yazmin Mehdi: Hmm.
Kiersten Nelson: So that was a very long meeting and that definitely factored into the idea that
Kiersten Nelson: the study is going to be the right call that we need to get the monetary data
Kiersten Nelson: into the state as well as.
Kiersten Nelson: A very concerted effort to be like literary distributors,
Kiersten Nelson: we are bringing you to the table and if you're not answering us,
Kiersten Nelson: these are our next steps. So that's sort of the route that's taking
Kiersten Nelson: on that digital materials effort, which has really been driven at the state
Kiersten Nelson: level so far.
Kiersten Nelson: And then we just discussed a couple of other issues, talking about tips,
Kiersten Nelson: which isn't directly applicable to the Seattle Public Library,
Kiersten Nelson: but is to our fellow libraries across the state,
Kiersten Nelson: as well as protecting the personal and private information for our staff through
Kiersten Nelson: various public disclosure requests and what can and can't be.
Kiersten Nelson: Disclosed. So that was that was Lobby Day in a
Kiersten Nelson: nutshell. We have a lot going on right now.
Kiersten Nelson: The state again, we've got that big date. Next week's session is supposed to end
Kiersten Nelson: the second week of March. So do know that it is a quick year.
Kiersten Nelson: So it's all hands on deck from anybody within the legislative framework.
Kiersten Nelson: It's like, please, dear God, let us get to February 4th.
Kiersten Nelson: And then every single milestone after that,
Kiersten Nelson: there's a mini celebration every night because you get a lot more bills widowed
Tali Hairston: I'm on camera to the world. Love you. Bye. Exactly.
Kiersten Nelson: down and you're like, oh.
Kiersten Nelson: Exactly. So yeah.
Yazmin Mehdi: I see that Ron has his hand up before I before you go on, Ron,
Yazmin Mehdi: I want to thank Kirsten for her work. She does a remarkable job of keeping
Yazmin Mehdi: tremendous amounts of information and detail in her head and how processes work
Yazmin Mehdi: and where we are in each process.
Yazmin Mehdi: And she does. She and foundation staff like Will do a
Yazmin Mehdi: tremendous job of making sure that Lobby Day is not only like an important,
Yazmin Mehdi: impactful experience for those of us who go, but also fun.
Yazmin Mehdi: Which isn't always easy when it comes to legislation.
Yazmin Mehdi: So and I also want to call out that the work that Kirsten and Tom are doing to
Yazmin Mehdi: basically build this case around why e-book licensing costs are unfair to
Kiersten Nelson: Yeah.
Yazmin Mehdi: libraries.
Yazmin Mehdi: Is like it's a long term vision because it it's going to take a while to actually,
Yazmin Mehdi: you know, get some results and you have to be
Yazmin Mehdi: willing to play this long game. And so I just want to like give kudos to
Yazmin Mehdi: the two of them because.
Yazmin Mehdi: They're lining up these ducks little by little, one by one,
Yazmin Mehdi: and at some point it will yield super helpful things for all public libraries,
Yazmin Mehdi: but particularly SPL. And then the other thing I wanted to note
Yazmin Mehdi: is that.
Yazmin Mehdi: The way I see the role of the State Library and kind of what I tried to
Yazmin Mehdi: advocate for is that, you know, the State Library doesn't directly impact
Tali Hairston: It.
Yazmin Mehdi: us that much. And yet the little that it does for us is
Yazmin Mehdi: is important and it's.
Yazmin Mehdi: Huge for our rural colleagues. So when the State Library is doing well,
Yazmin Mehdi: the whole library ecosystem is doing well. And the fact that it's not right now is
Yazmin Mehdi: why we need to be part of the advocacy effort.
Yazmin Mehdi: And a quick question for you, Kirsten. You said the board could write letters.
Yazmin Mehdi: Is that something we would want to do as a board or as individuals?
Kiersten Nelson: I think from both perspectives is totally fine.
Kiersten Nelson: Legislators very rarely hear thank yous, so thanking them individually it it could
Kiersten Nelson: just be more a matter of each one they get, you know,
Kiersten Nelson: 5 individual thank yous and it makes them feel like, wow, my number is up to five.
Kiersten Nelson: But again, from the board as well, I think after session we will definitely,
Kiersten Nelson: as the Seattle Public Library, thank the representative specifically for
Kiersten Nelson: her efforts once we know where that's at the end.
Kiersten Nelson: But I think right now sending just an individual thinking would probably mean a
Kiersten Nelson: lot to her.
Kiersten Nelson: Because it is so often you're hearing don't do this, we don't like this.
Kiersten Nelson: And the fact that they can get a thank you is just it energizes a lot of them
Kiersten Nelson: and makes them feel very much like, yes, the work that I'm doing is impactful,
Kiersten Nelson: as I'm sure you know we have been from years of seeing those comments come
Kiersten Nelson: across your desk, you're like.
Kiersten Nelson: Well, OK. Well, this is a nice one. We'll put this one on board. So yes,
Kiersten Nelson: I would say we can do one as a whole a little bit later as we hit towards the
Kiersten Nelson: end of session and we'll send a nice official one as the Board of Trustees.
Kiersten Nelson: I think right now it would probably be.
Kiersten Nelson: Appreciated as an individual from each of you should you want to do it.
Yazmin Mehdi: Could I ask you to just draft up the the core of what the message should read?
Kiersten Nelson: Yes.
Kiersten Nelson: Yeah.
Kiersten Nelson: Absolutely.
Yazmin Mehdi: And then could you could Amy, could you send that to each of us along
Yazmin Mehdi: with Rep Thomas's e-mail?
Yazmin Mehdi: Or whatever the way is, we should send that.
Yazmin Mehdi: That would be very helpful. And then I ask my colleagues to do what
Kiersten Nelson: Yeah.
Yazmin Mehdi: you can to send that. Thank you out. Awesome. OK, sorry, Ron, over to you.
Ron Chew: Yeah, just I wanted to add, you know, that the issue of the Washington State
Ron Chew: Talking Book and Braille Library. I know I've talked about it before.
Ron Chew: I have occasion to go there frequently. I have.
Ron Chew: Visual impairment myself that I deal with and so it's a great resource asset.
Ron Chew: But in visiting the library it it is pretty demoralizing for the staff because
Ron Chew: they're they're sort of they're the ones that are still left and you know the
Ron Chew: doors are closed. I mean I'm I was used to going in and.
Ron Chew: It just it's not open and it's a real waste tragedy.
Ron Chew: I did bring up this issue at my last executive committee, I'm sorry,
Ron Chew: Executive Council meeting of AARP and they were very, very interested in.
Ron Chew: Signing a board on that issue and so it's become, you know,
Ron Chew: in this fast moving as you know, session, you got to get those letters out and so
Ron Chew: forth. But I'm wondering and maybe the, you know,
Ron Chew: the talking points could be helpful.
Ron Chew: Points could be helpful, Kirsten, but any other legislators who are key in
Ron Chew: this sort of push to restore funding?
Kiersten Nelson: On the House side or the Senate side? On the House side,
Kiersten Nelson: it's already been submitted and the House seems fairly eager to pass it.
Ron Chew: OK.
Kiersten Nelson: It's the Senate side.
Ron Chew: What about on the Senate?
Kiersten Nelson: Representative Frame is a good target as somebody who who is in our Seattle area.
Ron Chew: OK.
Kiersten Nelson: One second.
Ron Chew: And I was going to say, by the way, I just had a meeting with Representative
Ron Chew: Santos. I don't know if she's a player in any of
Ron Chew: this. Senator Hasegau is up on Beacon Hill and
Ron Chew: I see him frequently. Are they potential?
Ron Chew: Players in this.
Kiersten Nelson: Um. I mean, every member has to vote on it,
Kiersten Nelson: so every member is definitely a winner. Um.
Kiersten Nelson: And no harm in asking them.
Ron Chew: OK.
Kiersten Nelson: On the Senate side, Senator Frame, Senator Saldana is actually a good target
Ron Chew: 2.
Kiersten Nelson: as well. She yeah, she she definitely carries a lot of
Ron Chew: OK, yeah, I know her well.
Kiersten Nelson: weight. She's also got some other particular
Kiersten Nelson: measures that are coming up that would impact the budget as well.
Kiersten Nelson: So hers are more on the taxing side, but this is a good one that she is.
Ron Chew: OK.
Ron Chew: Right.
Kiersten Nelson: She is strongly in the conversation when it comes to budgetary issues,
Kiersten Nelson: so she's a good one as well.
Ron Chew: Got it. Okay. Thank you.
Tom Fay: And if I.
Kiersten Nelson: And then the last person that you could pressure is to make sure that it came up
Kiersten Nelson: would be Majority Leader Peterson, who is also from our district,
Ron Chew: Right, OK.
Kiersten Nelson: broad district.
Tom Fay: Also, I just want to kind of make note for the
Tom Fay: record, when we talk about TIFF, it's tax increment financing,
Tom Fay: just so the folks know what that is. The reason it's not as impactful for us
Tom Fay: as a library system, it really impacts those county library
Tom Fay: districts, those special districts are established
Tom Fay: in the.
Tom Fay: State. It's not something that's going to
Tom Fay: generally have a direct impact to us like it does to them.
Tom Fay: That's why you will hear pretty much all of our colleagues.
Tom Fay: Unless they're a city or town library system,
Tom Fay: they would have an issue with it for a variety of reasons.
Tom Fay: Anything that takes money away from libraries,
Tom Fay: we generally have an interest in supporting a counter effort, so.
Yazmin Mehdi: Yeah, absolutely. Anything else, Faith, Carmen or Tally for for Kirsten?
Tali Hairston: Kirsten Yeah, Kirsten, I I don't make it to Olympia often,
Tali Hairston: but I do work with our legislators on housing,
Tali Hairston: education and workforce development. I've just never considered my role on the
Tali Hairston: board to be one that.
Tali Hairston: I could add that the library to these conversations.
Kiersten Nelson: I think you can. When we talk about workforce development
Kiersten Nelson: and housing, those are all systems that you know
Kiersten Nelson: through our programming that we easily we integrate with those systems and our
Kiersten Nelson: various staff have strong connections, but I.
Tali Hairston: I will need you to coach me. That's my request.
Tali Hairston: Maybe you can coach me on how to how to do that. Yeah, and I'd love to to do that.
Kiersten Nelson: Absolutely.
Kiersten Nelson: Yeah, I have no problems. I can visa the librarian to about 95% of
Kiersten Nelson: the conversations that I have, so I'm happy to help you.
Tom Fay: Mhm.
Tali Hairston: Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: That's got to be a superpower, Kirsten.
Kiersten Nelson: It's something.
Faith Pettis: Actually I do have one thing and that that would be if you do need us in the
Faith Pettis: future and for the long session next year to attend lobby day,
Faith Pettis: I'd be happy to see if we can get that on our calendar.
Kiersten Nelson: We'd love to. I think for from WLAS perspective,
Kiersten Nelson: we're going to try again as soon as we sort of get a a guidance on what we're
Faith Pettis: Mhm.
Kiersten Nelson: roughly looking at for when session will start.
Faith Pettis: Right.
Kiersten Nelson: We want to get it in before first cut off. It will be a little later.
Faith Pettis: Right.
Kiersten Nelson: It will not be January next year, so.
Faith Pettis: Yeah, yeah, that would be nice.
Kiersten Nelson: So thankfully for that, but yes, we will absolutely make sure you guys
Faith Pettis: Right.
Kiersten Nelson: know when it is. So if you want to come, you are welcome too.
Yazmin Mehdi: Great. OK. Thank you, Kiersten. I think that's all on this topic.
Kiersten Nelson: Thanks all.
Tom Fay: It is. Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: All right. And we do not have any old business,
Yazmin Mehdi: so we are on to new business and the first item is the union report.
Yazmin Mehdi: So I think I saw Jesse sign in.
Tom Fay: Yep, Jesse is here.
Jessica Lucas: Hello there, I come to you from our Dungeon Union
Tom Fay: Hey, Jesse.
Jessica Lucas: office. Hopefully there's nothing too exciting
Jessica Lucas: behind me. Um
Jessica Lucas: I am just here to answer any questions that you might have about the union
Jessica Lucas: report this month.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. So let me just check and see if any of my
Yazmin Mehdi: colleagues have questions about the union's report.
Yazmin Mehdi: Oh.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. And seeing none, you know, Jesse, what I'd like to do is just acknowledge
Yazmin Mehdi: that we've all read the report. And I guess the way that I'm thinking
Yazmin Mehdi: about it is that I understand that bargaining is coming up.
Yazmin Mehdi: And so I'm hopeful that that is the right place for the issues that you have raised
Yazmin Mehdi: to be addressed. So I hope that that that's where you will
Yazmin Mehdi: raise these issues again.
Jessica Lucas: I really hope that that is the case as well. Um.
Jessica Lucas: Yeah, sorry, I'm just.
Jessica Lucas: Can't really say much more right now, so I I appreciate that.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. Thank you so much as always for giving us
Yazmin Mehdi: your perspective.
Jessica Lucas: I'm not the only one that writes these reports.
Jessica Lucas: I get help from my leadership team because it's really hard to write similar
Jessica Lucas: things through the months and wish that we had change and it has not come so.
Jessica Lucas: Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: Okay. Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. And the next item are updates from the
Yazmin Mehdi: Foundation and the Friends. And I want to thank Faith and Ron for
Yazmin Mehdi: stepping into these roles. So Ron, would you like to go first?
Ron Chew: Sure. By the way, I'm happy to fill this role as somebody
Ron Chew: who has spent most of his career in the development field.
Ron Chew: I love seeing what the foundation is doing on the fundraising front.
Ron Chew: It's kind of my natural arena. So just some highlights from the meeting,
Ron Chew: which was on January 14th, was the annual meeting,
Ron Chew: which is really where the majority of business takes place.
Ron Chew: Election of officers and board member renewals,
Ron Chew: signing forms like the annual compliance forms and so forth.
Ron Chew: The board approved a new five-year strategic plan 20.
Ron Chew: 26 to 2030, which obviously will guide their work in
Ron Chew: this coming period. There was some reporting on what happened
Ron Chew: in 2025, which was a really strong year of giving.
Ron Chew: exceeding the targeted goal. Uh Preliminary numbers show that the
Ron Chew: foundation raised over $6 million, which is pretty incredible.
Ron Chew: I forget the exact number from the year before, but it was almost double,
Ron Chew: if I recall.
Ron Chew: It was like a year before it was 3 million, something or other. But anyway,
Ron Chew: the final figures will be shared in March. Um Estate giving,
Ron Chew: estate planning has been especially beneficial in terms of padding those
Ron Chew: numbers.
Ron Chew: The board acknowledged all the donors, obviously some some of them in the room
Ron Chew: for their generosity and commitment to the library.
Ron Chew: In terms of Board of Board Officers, changing of the guard.
Ron Chew: Sarah Stanley stepping down as president. Matt Hillman is now the president.
Ron Chew: Julie Zunker, the VP Nick Mohmeyer is the treasurer.
Ron Chew: And Karen Conover as the secretary. And so those are the basic highlights.
Ron Chew: I don't know, Tom, if anything you wanted to add,
Ron Chew: you answered obviously a lot of questions related to sort of the levy coming up and
Ron Chew: then changing.
Ron Chew: Political administration, so forth.
Tom Fay: Yeah, I think you hit all all the points, Ron. They, you know,
Tom Fay: it's always an exciting time with with the leadership change and appreciate all
Tom Fay: of Sara's work over the past two years and her board. I'm looking forward to.
Tom Fay: Working with Matt and Julie as they move into actualizing the strategic plan.
Tom Fay: So I think they're at a very exciting point.
Tom Fay: Sara and the great foundation team got the plan through the hurdles of getting
Tom Fay: it approved and now it's on to actualizing it. So some good exciting.
Tom Fay: Times ahead, I think.
Ron Chew: Yeah. And if I could just add a word about
Ron Chew: Sarah, I had occasion to meet with her several
Ron Chew: times. She came down in the community, we had tea and you know,
Ron Chew: she continues to be a strong advocate and I'm sure will be in the mix as foundation
Ron Chew: continues work in the.
Ron Chew: The coming years, so shout out to Sara for all her advocacy.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Ron. Yeah. And I just also want to say both Matt and
Yazmin Mehdi: Sara were at Lobby Day. They Sara has been incredibly devoted to
Yazmin Mehdi: the work that the that the foundation does not just in raising money,
Yazmin Mehdi: but in these like spending your time.
Yazmin Mehdi: And I can see Matt is following in those footsteps.
Yazmin Mehdi: It was great to have a little bit of time with him.
Yazmin Mehdi: The foundation are important key partners and this year a potential levy renewal
Yazmin Mehdi: year is.
Yazmin Mehdi: When I think we're going to really see how their partnership is key to our work.
Yazmin Mehdi: Faith over to you for the friends.
Faith Pettis: Yes, thank you for that. And I attended my first meeting of the
Faith Pettis: Friends Board on Tuesday of this week. It was their first board meeting of the
Faith Pettis: year for their board, as well as the first of the meetings for
Faith Pettis: Jennifer Lowe, their new president, and that switch had happened already.
Faith Pettis: So there was no voting on that. But Jennifer stepped into that role and
Faith Pettis: ran her first meeting. She started out by doing an overview of
Faith Pettis: the volunteer activities that had happened and ones that were coming up.
Faith Pettis: And I have to say, I was so impressed with the list of
Faith Pettis: things that that organization does. They are.
Faith Pettis: Enthusiastic. They're all in. They spend their time on friends
Faith Pettis: activities. One of the things that I wanted to call
Faith Pettis: out was they're in the midst of developing a good relationship with the
Faith Pettis: Stinson Green Mansion to host.
Faith Pettis: Silent reading nights at the mansion and the first one coming up is on January
Faith Pettis: 29th, but they have three additional ones after
Faith Pettis: that and they have volunteers signing up to attend those to to help out at those
Faith Pettis: at those events, which is great.
Faith Pettis: They spent some time talking about Lobby Day in Olympia,
Faith Pettis: and four of the Friends board members attended Lobby Day.
Faith Pettis: I I really enjoyed hearing from the board members in particular who had never done
Faith Pettis: a Lobby Day before because they were excited to actually be in a room with
Faith Pettis: their representatives.
Faith Pettis: And I think the idea that the $3,000, 000 proviso that was introduced came out
Faith Pettis: of the lobby D activities was a real boost for the trans board members.
Faith Pettis: So that was that was terrific to hear.
Faith Pettis: Let's see. They approved their 2026 budget at that
Faith Pettis: board meeting and I just wanted to say that included in the budget is the new
Faith Pettis: expense for an additional location in Georgetown.
Faith Pettis: And they are planning to move in on February 10th, which is exciting for them.
Faith Pettis: So it's going to be called the Workshop, which is in addition to the Friendshop in
Faith Pettis: the Central Library and the Bookshop in Georgetown.
Faith Pettis: And it's actually located just one building South of the current bookshop
Faith Pettis: location in Georgetown.
Faith Pettis: So they will host community events like books for teachers and member only events
Faith Pettis: at that location. So they are very excited about moving to
Faith Pettis: that to occupy that new location. And then Tom gave a report as well and
Faith Pettis: there were a lot of.
Faith Pettis: Questions and discussion sounds like similar to the foundation about the
Faith Pettis: coming levy. So it was a great meeting and I'm really
Faith Pettis: going to enjoy this assignment. So Yasmin, thank you for letting me step into that
Faith Pettis: goal.
Yazmin Mehdi: That was hard to give that up, Faith. And actually Faith, question for you,
Faith Pettis: I'm sure. I'm sure.
Yazmin Mehdi: I are they moving the Georgetown Bookshop to the workshop or it's it's an
Faith Pettis: Yeah.
Faith Pettis: No.
Yazmin Mehdi: additional?
Faith Pettis: It's an additional location for them.
Yazmin Mehdi: Wow. Yeah, this is a a pretty amazing organization.
Faith Pettis: Yeah.
Yazmin Mehdi: Three locations and other Lisa's the ones. Well, that's not true.
Yazmin Mehdi: They do have a second staff person who does comms,
Yazmin Mehdi: but like otherwise this is volunteer driven.
Faith Pettis: Volunteer. Yes. Yep.
Yazmin Mehdi: Relocations. It's impressive. And again, a key partner for the potential levy
Yazmin Mehdi: renewal, you know, has like, I want to say tentacles,
Yazmin Mehdi: but that sounds negative.
Yazmin Mehdi: They are our grassroots supporters.
Faith Pettis: They're our friends makers. They're aptly named.
Faith Pettis: And I I have to say I did see them at the Broadview Library celebration as well.
Faith Pettis: And Jenna, I think Julia was their staffer that was
Faith Pettis: there and she was great. I got to meet her and enthusiastic, happy.
Faith Pettis: Yeah, they're great ambassadors for us.
Yazmin Mehdi: So and thank you, Faith and Ron for attending the Broadview
Yazmin Mehdi: 50th. I actually forgot about it. So I'm so glad you guys were there.
Yazmin Mehdi: That's great. So now is a great opportunity for the
Yazmin Mehdi: board to share any updates.
Faith Pettis: OK.
Yazmin Mehdi: Anyone?
Ron Chew: Can I just add a word to the Broadview 50th anniversary?
Ron Chew: It was it was actually my first time, believe it or not, to that branch.
Ron Chew: I feel a little chagrined, but I came in there and it's kind of
Ron Chew: funny. The staff recognized me because my book
Ron Chew: memoir.
Ron Chew: It's on display there. It's one of the books that has garnered a
Ron Chew: lot of interest and attention. So they took some pictures.
Ron Chew: They had me pose with my book, want to do some program readings possibly.
Ron Chew: It was, it was actually kind of cool. I was a little minor celebrity and.
Ron Chew: Again, I felt a little chagrin that I hadn't
Ron Chew: visited the branch, but it was a wonderful vibe.
Ron Chew: There are a lot of great staff and I met the head of the library there and we we
Ron Chew: chatted. I think I had met her through Sno-isle or
Ron Chew: some somewhere else back in the past, so.
Ron Chew: Uh, it was terrific. Uh, occasion.
Tom Fay: Just so you know, Ron, Steph gave me a hard time that I missed
Yazmin Mehdi: Yeah.
Tom Fay: you and I said I I can't handle the red carpet piece. So I'm like,
Ron Chew: OK.
Tom Fay: I I got to come in a little low key, you know,
Tom Fay: and they were all happy to see you.
Ron Chew: Uh, thank you.
Faith Pettis: Can I just, can I just add about the Broadview
Faith Pettis: celebration as well? Broadview was actually one of my home
Faith Pettis: libraries as a child growing up and when I walked in there,
Faith Pettis: I haven't been back in decades and I did not recognize it because of the the big
Faith Pettis: addition that had been put on. I remembered the old low ceiling area.
Faith Pettis: But it was fantastic to see how beautiful it is and how well it's held up through
Faith Pettis: the years. But the one other thing that I don't
Faith Pettis: think anyone has said is that the staff had these special baseball jerseys made
Faith Pettis: for the event. That was a throwback nod to the history
Faith Pettis: of that library where I.
Faith Pettis: I think some of the funding for the library had been diverted to the Seattle
Ron Chew: Yeah, Seattle Pilots.
Faith Pettis: pilots. Is that correct? Is that what happened?
Faith Pettis: And and so they were, it was a very.
Faith Pettis: Funny way to acknowledge that history and honor it, but also, you know,
Faith Pettis: create something wonderful. So they all had these baseball jerseys
Faith Pettis: that have the Broadview Library on the back of it. Terrific. Well done.
Tom Fay: Yeah, it that funding disrupted the library
Tom Fay: about 8 years. The library held the land in 1967 and
Tom Fay: obviously couldn't get the building built until 75. So yeah,
Tom Fay: it was a it was a big hit when that money was diverted.
Yazmin Mehdi: Wow.
Yazmin Mehdi: Um.
Tom Fay: But great, great kudos to the team. I mean, they had everything planned.
Tom Fay: They had a story in there. They had partners there. They had music.
Tom Fay: It was, yeah, if you haven't had a chance to attend any
Tom Fay: of our anniversary celebrations.
Tom Fay: Please do if you can when they when we send them over to you,
Tom Fay: we'll try to make sure we highlight them a little better for you too so you don't
Tom Fay: miss it in the packet. But they are, they are truly fun. And Carmen,
Tom Fay: I have one update before someone else goes. Helen Tapping,
Tom Fay: our head of marketing, say we have four programs right now
Tom Fay: planned for.
Tom Fay: One book, one coast, so should be seeing more on that as we
Tom Fay: move into the actual true marketing of that work.
Yazmin Mehdi: Great. That's wonderful. I believe that we have no further
Yazmin Mehdi: business. We do not have an executive session today
Yazmin Mehdi: and I think this might be a record for us. It's 1152.
Yazmin Mehdi: And we are now adjourned.
Tom Fay: All right, good first meeting.
Bendixen, Carmen: Yeah.
Yazmin Mehdi: By all.
Bendixen, Carmen: Thanks everyone.
Tom Fay: Thanks all.