Library Board Meeting Minutes: February 19, 2026

Scappoose Public Library Board of Directors
Regular Business Meeting
February 19, 2026
Library Meeting Room also broadcast on Zoom
7 PM
Minutes

1. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance
   The meeting was called to order at 6:57 PM. Attending were Board President Lisa Lewis, Vice-President Johanna Myers, board members Jolene Jonas and Liza Gerardo, and Library Director Jeff Weiss. Elaine Nussbaum was absent. Lisa led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Public Input
   There was no public input
3. Approval of Minutes: January 23, 2026
   Lisa asked for a motion to approve January minutes. Jolene made the motion to approve, Johanna seconded. Lisa asked for discussion and corrections. There were no discussion or corrections. Approval passed. Lisa: yea, Jolene: yea, Johanna: yea, Liza: yea.
4. Consent Agenda
   1. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report
   2. Presentation of Bills
      Jeff discussed the consent agenda. There are physical payroll checks in with the bills because All About Numbers is converting from QuickBooks to Sage and direct deposit is not working yet. Jeff also does not have a financial report for January. Jeff said that even if they had a financial report today, he needs some time to review it and see if the figures line up with the December report from QuickBooks. Jeff said that the original desktop version of QuickBooks is being discontinued by the end of this year, so all who use it either must move to a cloud version or switch to a different system. Lisa asked if this was a conversion to QuickBooks cloud version. Jeff said it was a conversion to a completely new system that required manual entry of budgets and figures from QuickBooks. Lisa asked if the new software would solve the auditor’s questions about QuickBooks security. Jeff said he did not know and that would need to be a question for the auditors.
      
      Jeff said the bills include our biggest bill for the year which is for all peril insurance at just under $12,000. Jeff also said that the library is back on track getting books after the Baker and Taylor bankruptcy, but that involves a lot of purchasing from Amazon because Ingram is having a difficult time filling orders and their last competitor in the library market, Brodart, is not accepting new customers until at least Fall, 2026. He said that both vendors have slowed shipments to the library and turnaround time is 2-4 weeks after an order is placed. Jeff said the library is going to try to order in smaller batches to see if that reduces the turnaround time. Jeff also said that during the time the order is being held, Amazon places a nonvisible hold on funds on our credit card which American Express treats as a charge reducing our credit limit. Lisa asked if Jeff had contacted Amazon about this and Jeff said Amazon confirmed that is their policy. Jeff said the library is going to shift more orders to Ingram because Ingram sent emails to customers stating their fulfillment problems have been solved.
      
      Jeff said the bills contain the downpayment on the elevator safety test. The test was supposed to be scheduled for February 17 but had to be rescheduled to March 17 because of illness. Lisa asked for a motion to accept the consent agenda. Jolene made a motion, Johanna seconded. Motion passed. Lisa: yea, Jolene: yea, Johanna: yea, Liza: yea.
      
      Liza asked if the library had tried other vendors on the library book vendor’s list. Jeff said that those vendors are vendors who specialize in the educational market and are not full line vendors. They sell books from a limited number of publishers.
5. Old Business
   1. Submitted and Approved Grants Progress
      Jeff said that the library has received the Strong Libraries grant check from the state library and has started ordering books from that grant. Jeff said he had been in contact with the manager at US Bank about the unpaid grant from 2025. The manager asked Jeff to resend the $1,500 in invoices from 2025 and he would get them paid. Jeff said that he and JJ have been contacting the event sponsors from 2025 and most are committing to support the 2026 events. He said that at the January city council meeting he attended, the city had said they budgeted $12,000 as a grant for these events, but at the February 17 council meeting, the Watts House was asking for support for Whoville, so he is uncertain where the Watts House money would come from. Liza asked if they were asking for financial support. Jeff said that the city always budgets some financial support, about $27,000 in the current fiscal year, for the Watts House, but Whoville might be a separate ask. Jeff said there was no council discussion about money for the Watts House at that meeting.
      
      Lisa asked if the city has decreased support for summer events. Jeff said the money budgeted by the city was about the same as last year. Lisa said that Fred Meyer had some grant money available. Jeff said that he was aware of that and is making a proposal for Fred Meyer to supply food for Earth Day and Movies in the Park. Grocery Outlet of Scappoose has supported events in the past, but with the change in ownership, we cannot rely on their continued support. They have stopped supporting the Wednesday food distribution at the library. Liza asked if the Fred Meyer proposal was instead of them supporting the Wednesday food distribution. Jeff said it was.
   2. Discussion of Potential Ballot Measure
      1. Levy Committee presentation to Board
         Karen Kessi presented the report from the grant committee to the board. It is attached. We are still waiting on a ballot number. The committee recommends making two changes to the Explanatory Statement on the ballot measure. The changes come from new information. The first change is to state that the permanent rate was set in 1997, not 1988. Research in the local newspaper shows that the library’s tax rate was variable between 1988 and 1997 when Proposition 50 set a permanent rate. The tax rate during the period 1988 to 1997 appears to have been higher than the permanent rate. The second recommendation is to remove the statement about supporting the food giveaway. With changes affecting the Columbia Pacific Food Bank and the loss of Grocery Outlet as a sponsor, we may not be able to continue this program. The committee is also concerned that people may incorrectly think that tax dollars are being used to buy food.
         
         Karen and Virginia have been training staff and the Friends of Scappoose Public Library on how to respond factually to questions the public may have. There is a second training scheduled for 9 AM February 26 for those who wish to attend. Karen went over the efforts the committee has made to get information about the levy to the public through various channels. Lisa asked if there were questions or discussion about the revised Explanatory Statement. Hearing none, she asked for a motion to approve the amended Explanatory Statement. Jolene made a motion to approve the amended Explanatory Statement. Lisa seconded. Motion carried. Lisa: yea, Jolene: yea, Johanna: yea, Liza: yea.
         
         Liza led discussions about having a library support event. She asked about having a library support event in Heritage Park since it is owned by the city and not the library. Jolene said that the library cannot do advocacy on library property. Jeff said that many people think the park is library property, so holding an advocacy event in Heritage Park is risky. Karen said that because of the proximity of the park to the building, she thought it was hard for people to separate what city property is and what is library property. The library does have an information booth planned for the town meeting on March 7 and Earth Day on April 25. Jolene asked about information vs advocacy because the campaigns are very similar except the informational cannot encourage a voter on how to vote. Liza said that an advocacy table could offer something like “vote yes” stickers where the information table could not. There was discussion about having an advocacy table at the town meeting and at a Watts House/Historical Society event. Lisa said we could have an advocacy table at the farm market which opens May 2. Jeff said that the library is doing an informational session at 2 PM that day in the library. Linda said she had been approached by someone about having a support the library table at the Lodge food carts. Linda said she had concerns about advocating in a space where people are going to eat dinner. Liza said that the Lodge has fundraised for local businesses. There was discussion about advocacy efforts including canvassing door to door. Liza and Karen are going to meet next week to discuss strategy.
         
         Liza asked about Fred Meyer’s sponsorship of food giveaways. Jeff said that since the last board meeting, the problem emerged about Grocery Outlet ceasing sponsorship of the food served at library events, so we have switched focus with Fred Meyer to get them to supply food for library events. In exchange, they want a booth at the events.
   3. Strategic Plan Survey
      Jeff presented what surveys had been filled out and returned to the library. There was a comment about having more clothing drives. Jeff said they might have come to one of the free markets that happen once a month or seen the December clothing drive that was organized by a different agency. Jeff asked if the survey was ready to post online. Liza said that she would check the survey for typos and would change the survey color to true black before posting it. After that is done, the survey can be posted and promoted.
6. New Business
   1. Librarian’s report
      Jeff presented his report. Circulation was up slightly in January over the previous year. Jeff reviewed the sessions that he attended at the Special Districts of Oregon conference with the board. He asked the board to attend one of the online public meetings training sessions and he would set them up with a username at Vector Solutions so they could attend the on-demand training. Jeffrey also said after the conference session that he should be training someone to do his job functions as key personnel. He suggested Elisa because she is a long-term employee with the required degree for the director’s job. Liza asked if there was a selection process. Jeff said there was not one for back up training, but Elisa is the only employee other than our newest hire Viviana with a Masters of Library Science.
      
      The board discussed additional funding streams. The session Jeff attended recommended setting up a foundation in addition to the friends of the library. The difference is a foundation is a 501c3 that takes donations and invests them to generate operating capital for the library. The session pointed out that there will be a huge amount of wealth transfer in the next 10 to 15 years from the baby boomer generation and that a foundation can be a place for money to be bequeathed to the library. Lisa asked if the library could give money to the foundation. Jeff said that we cannot by law invest in the foundation. Jolene asked if we should meet with the Friends of Scappoose Public Library to discuss this. Jeff said we should, but we would probably want to create a group with a separate board from the Friends. There is a lawyer in Salem who specializes in foundations for nonprofit organizations. Jeff suggested this to be a strategic plan item.
      
      There was a question about the broken library sprinkler system. Jeff said he could not find a contractor with an irrigation license who followed through on the repair, so he gave up for the winter. Lisa said she had contacts with students she is going to school with and would try to find someone with proper license to bid on the repair.
   2. Director’s evaluation
      Lisa presented Jeff’s annual evaluation. It was positive.
7. Other Business
   Jeff said that he would have an acceptable use policy for Facebook for the board discussion at the March meeting.
8. Future Agenda Suggestions
9. Board Comments
10. Adjourn