Escondido trustees approve minutes, elect Maribel president and Giselle Levanos secretary; mall storefront sees rising use

The City of Escondido Library Board of Trustees approved routine minutes and elected new board leadership at a regularly scheduled meeting, and staff reported that services at the library’s mall storefront are rebounding after the downtown closure.

Trustees approved the minutes for the prior meeting (vote recorded as 5-0). The board then elected Maribel as board president and later approved Giselle Levanos as secretary. The president election vote was recorded as 5-0; the secretary vote was recorded as 4-0 with one abstention.

The board’s statistics presenter, Reno, said the mobile storefront locations showed a strong rebound in June. “In June, we had nearly 20,000 physical items checked out and we had nearly 20,000 visits at the mall locations,” Reno told trustees, and added that those figures roughly matched the average monthly attendance at the downtown library in past years. Reno cautioned that computer use remains lower at the mall because the storefront has four public computers compared with more than 30 at the old downtown site, and that Wi‑Fi counts may underreport actual device use because mall and store networks also serve patrons.

Reno said program attendance and teen/tween participation have increased, and mall management has provided storefronts and community spaces for library events such as meditation and book clubs. Volunteer counts for the reporting months were around 34, reflecting support from the Friends of the Library and the bookshop’s volunteer base; Reno said teen volunteer numbers and summer staffing will increase volunteer totals in July.

On budget matters, trustees discussed a request from trustee John to increase the collections budget that has been unchanged for the duration of the local LSS contract. Board members noted the contract-established collections allocation has remained flat for eight years; a trustee clarified the collection trust account is $250,000. City staff Robert said he has no update yet from the city manager and will discuss the matter at an upcoming meeting.

Trustees also heard that the chess club is expected to resume at a quieter Second Floor community room at the mall, and staff said the law-library partnership with the San Diego Law Library will continue with twice-monthly on-site visits and remote database access via library laptops.

The board set a schedule for follow-up on unfunded items: a final workshop in late September, a board vote on first-floor unfunded items at the Sept. 11 meeting, and a vote on any second-floor unfunded items at the October meeting.

Votes at a glance

- Approval of minutes — outcome: approved, tally: 5 yes, 0 no. (Transcript evidence: “Review of the minutes. I move to approve.”; “Approved, 5 0.”)

- Election of board president (Maribel) — outcome: approved, tally: 5 yes, 0 no. (Transcript evidence: nomination and recorded vote.)

- Election of secretary (Giselle Levanos) — outcome: approved, tally: 4 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain. (Transcript evidence: nomination, second and recorded vote; speaker later said “now it's secretary Levanos.”)

The meeting concluded with trustee compliments to outgoing President Virginia for her two years of service and routine adjournment.