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Liberty Lake library reports strong Halloween turnout, new children’s librarian; city budget timeline outlined
Summary
Library Director Jandy reported a Halloween event attendance of 268, introduced new children’s librarian Jordan Larkin, and proposed purchasing Chromebook kits and joining a $2,500 speakers consortium. City Administrator Mark Chen told trustees the council began budget review and aims to adopt the 2026 budget by Dec. 31, with the goal of adoption (
Library Director Jandy told the Liberty Lake Municipal Library Board of Trustees that the library’s Halloween celebration drew 268 attendees and that the library has hired Jordan Larkin as its new children’s librarian.
“This year, our attendance was 268,” Jandy said, describing the holiday program as one of the library’s largest annual events. Jandy said Larkin will train for two weeks and then begin observing and shaping children’s programming; the director said the library had been searching for the role since May.
Staff also reported operational updates: the library added laptop power‑bank chargers for public use in the teen area; both self‑check units are temporarily out of service and replacement parts have been ordered; and staff proposed purchasing additional Chromebooks and a charging cabinet to expand public computing capacity.
Under the board’s priority‑based budgeting discussion, Jandy described an option to subscribe to a library speakers consortium that would deliver virtual author talks: the proposed contract costs $2,500 per year and would provide 24 speaker events (one fiction and one nonfiction author each month) with live and on‑demand access for patrons.
On municipal budgeting, City Administrator Mark Chen told trustees that the City Council held a preliminary budget reading and workshop and has begun detailed review of departmental budgets. “By statute, the budget must be adopted by December 31,” Chen said; he said the council is aiming to make the budget ready for adoption at the Dec. 2 meeting and, if necessary, use the second December meeting as a fallback. Chen also summarized prior planning expenses for a proposed new library project, saying that when earlier project costs from 2007 and subsequent planning phases are adjusted to today’s dollars and staff time is included, the total approaches $1 million. He offered to send an itemized list of those costs to the trustees.
Procedural notes: the board approved the meeting agenda and October minutes and directed staff to prepare a quarterly report for presentation to City Council on Dec. 2.
