Historical Records Commission Minutes May 8, 2025

Members present:
Michael Mueller
Margaret Purser

Members Calling in (non-voting):
Seana Gause (Vice-Chair)

Members Excused:
Robert Chase (Chair)
Steven Lovejoy

Associate Members present:
Amanda King, Secretary
Jaime Anderson, Collections Services Division Manager, Sonoma County Library
Eve Goldberg, County of Sonoma Library Commissioner and Liaison to the Historical Records Commission

Guests present:
Zayda Delgado, Supervising Librarian, History & Genealogy Library
Zaira Enriquez, Executive Assistant, Clerk-Recorder-Assessor

1. Call to order 4:14 pm
   1. This meeting was called to order but a quorum was not present.  Therefore, no official business may be conducted.
2. Introduction of Guests
3. Approval of Minutes
   1. April 10, 2025 minutes move to the June meeting due to lack of quorum.
4. Budget Discussion
   1. Balance is $3,598.64
5. Business
   
   1. HRC Commissioners Report
      1. Seana's report
         • No report
      2. Michael's report
         • No report
      3. Margaret's report
         • A student in the history department at Sonoma State University defended a master's thesis. The student sent over a thousand surveys to historical societies, museums, archives, and libraries in California to evaluate their readiness for wildfire and collect qualitative and quantitative data. During the defense, the student uncovered a raft of available resources, especially for smaller organizations, like all the people in the heritage network, to help them create an emergency plan for their institution. Robert and Margaret are interested in conversing with the other HRC members to plan a presentation about the available resources to whoever would like to attend. Michael Mueller suggested creating a five-minute YouTube video and sharing it on their social media. Margaret and Seana like this idea. Margaret offered to provide copies of the thesis if anyone is interested (she will give a copy to Zayda).
   2. Library Commission Liaison Report
      1. Update from Eve Goldberg:
         • Full commission after filling an open seat. The new commissioner, Kimberly Taylor, is from Sonoma Valley. Kimberly has a background in education.
         • The commission authorized 4 million to spend to help rebuild Roseland Library. The commission approved that it comes all from property taxes, none from sales tax.
         • The commission also authorized a new automatic materials handler for the Sebastopol branch. This automated machine makes sorting much faster. The Healdsburg library will also get one. This device costs about $158,000, plus $9,000 annually for maintenance.
         • Negotiations are ongoing with union for their next contract
         • Work is underway to revise the library’s gift and donation policy to align with the library foundation’s policy
   3. Library Report
      1. Library Director Report
         • Library Update by Jaime Anderson:
           • This month, the library is celebrating Asian American, Native, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage month, as well as Jewish American Heritage Month.
           • The library held its annual budget workshop on April 16^th, and the commission is scheduled to approve the fiscal year 25-26 budget at is June meeting
           • Attendance at library events and library circulation continues its downward trend due to the closures of Petaluma and Healdsburg; however, digital circulation continues to trend upward. The renovations of the Petaluma and Healdsburg libraries are continuing and on-track to reopen this summer. In the meanwhile, both communities have a “mini library” open and available for service.
           • Equipment has been ordered for the HVAC and ADA project at the H&G Library and is expected to be delivered in July. Closure for this project is planned tentatively for summer 2025.
         • Archives Operating Agreement Update
           • There is no update from the County on the Archives Operating Agreement.
      2. History and Genealogy Library Report
         
         • Update by Zayda Delgado:
           • The ETA for the building refresh ADA update is not exact. The tentative date is in the summer. Once the dates for Petaluma and Healdsburg are finalized, the project timeline will be set.
           • Still working and will continue to work for next two years with Russian River Historical Society on the partnership grant. There will be a kickoff event in August or September. There is more info about an oral history project that will be coming with that, and how people can contribute to the library and the Russian River’s effort to document AIDS and HIV in the county.
           • Upcoming Events:
             • Discovering the Petaluma River author visit with Alan Butler and Katherine Reinhardt on Saturday, 6/28, at the central library, 10:30-12. This event will feature their research for the book, along with collections, H&G’s collections, and some relevant collections they used in their book. The book is about the history of becoming a creek and being recognized as a river
   4. Archives Activity Report
      1. Update by Zayda Delgado:
         
         • Ten resources were requested, zero from county, and four unique users requested for the month of April.
   5. Collections & Archives Recognition Awards
      1. Margaret defers the conversation until the rest of the members are present
      2. Review of Sonoma County Historical Society (SCHS) proposal
         
         1. Secretary to move review to the June meeting.
   6. Outreach
      1. Review Social Media Plan proposal
         1. No update for now. The Secretary will place it on the June agenda.
   7. Strategic Planning
      1. No update
   8. County Recorder update on the status of the Restrictive Covenant Modification Program
      1. Documents January 1964 through July 2016 have been sent through the system for OCR
         • Staff is currently reviewing documents from early-September 2002 that include keyword clues
         • 5,776,074 documents have been reviewed
         • 19,652,863 pages have been reviewed (of an approximate 24+ million)
         • 51 Restrictive Covenant Modifications have been recorded for 1964-2001
   9. Legislative Updates pertaining to public records
      1. Assembly Bill 64 – Vital records: diacritical marks
      2. Assembly Bill 883 – California Public Records Act: personal information of elected and appointed officials
      3. Assembly Bill 1430 – County recorders: fee
      4. Senate Bill 255 – County recorders: notification
      5. Continuing to monitor legislation.
6. New Business
   
   1. None
7. Public Comment
   1. Library Commission meeting, June 4, 2025, 6PM, Rohnert Park Branch Library
   2. Sonoma County Heritage Network Meeting, July 12, 2025, 10AM-12PM, TBD
   3. Museum of Sonoma County Exhibitions:
      • Sonoma County Stories, September 9, 2023-ongoing
      • Light, Clay, and Copper: Mid-Century Arts and Crafts in Sonoma County, September 9, 2023-ongoing
      • MSC Collections Gallery: New Acquisitions, June 15, 2024-ongoing
      • UNRULY: North Bay Artists from the San Francisco Art Institute, February 15-June 8, 2025
      • It's in the Mail! Sonoma County's Postal History, April 12-September 7, 2025
        • The museum will function as a Post Office all day on May 10.  Free of cost to the public event (not including the stamp fee).
8. Meeting adjourned at 4:43PM

Next Meeting - June 12, 2025 - 4:00PM

• In Person: County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor, Sonoma Room, 585 Fiscal Dr Rm 103, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
• Virtual: Guests may also join virtually. Please see the meeting month’s agenda for login information.