Minutes - 2008 - Eagle Public Library - 12/08/2008 - Regular 13n :
EAGLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES
December 08, 2008
Community Room
Board President Margo Walter called the EPL Board of Trustees meeting to order at 7:35
PM. Present were Board Members Danae Curtis,Nancy Marshall, Mary Berent, Council
Liaison Norm Semanko, Library Director Ron Baker, and EPL Administrative Assistant
Terri Lenigan. Member Aaron Ricks was absent.
Director Baker requested a change in wording for one agenda item in New Business. The
agenda item should read:
Restricting enrollment of Boise residents for summer reading (Action Item)
Danae Curtis made a motion that the agenda be approved as changed; Mary Berent
seconded the motion and the agenda was unanimously approved.
President Walter noted a correction to the minutes for the November 10, 2008 meeting.
The sentence "Aaron Ricks Curtis seconded the motion and the agenda was unanimously
approved" should be corrected to "Aaron Ricks seconded the motion....." Nancy
Marshall made a motion that the minutes for the November 10, 2008 meeting be
approved as corrected; Danae Curtis seconded the motion and the minutes were
unanimously approved.
Nancy Marshall made a motion that the bills be approved for payment; Danae Curtis
seconded the motion and the bills were unanimously approved for payment.
Friends of the Library Report (Friends' President absent)
Director Baker reported in the absence of the Friends' President. Look for new signage
for the Friends' store. To distinguish the store, these signs will be different from the
other signs in the building. The signs are multi-sided to be seen from many angles within
the library.
Director's Report
Statistical reports (handout): Refer to statistical reports handout.
EPL Board and staff lists (handouts): Refer to handouts.
New Web Page: progress report: During a meeting with Management staff, assignments
were made to keep the project ongoing, considering Janice Campbell's medical leave.
One of the assignments was to create a list of staff and trustees. Discussion ensued
whether to include personal e-mail addresses for the Trustees. It was decided to create a
separate hotmail account that all Trustees could access by use of a common password,
eplboard @hotmail.com with password "books4u." If these are not available at hotmail,
Administrative Assistant Lenigan will advise new address and password,trying to keep
them as similar as possible.
Library Liaison/City Hall Reports (Councilman Semanko)
The City Council has been kept busy with many land-use issues, such as the Fred Meyer
Project,the regional park at the M3 project, and the Ada County Detox Center. Of
concern to the Council is the issue of fiscal transparency and finding the right balance
about how much public information to release versus going too far.
Director Baker noted that the Library has little presence at pre-Council sessions and
Council meetings and thought it might be advisable to attend at least one meeting a
month. Councilman Semanko agreed and suggested attending the second Tuesday
Council meeting.
Unfinished Business
Unavailability of funds for new wing RFQ/RFP: Per Mayor Bandy's letter dated
December 5, 2008, due to the current state of the economy and the effect on revenue
collections,the city has placed a hold on all unnecessary expenditures. This includes the
$14,000 budgeted for an RFQ/RFP for the Engineer or Architect Services for the Library
Expansion project. The financial situation of the city will be evaluated in January and
again in July 2009. Therefore, we can not proceed unless we decide to do some fund
raising or request funds from the Friends. However, this amount of money represents
most of the Friends' bank account. It is unthinkable to ask them for the money. We will
have to wait until last quarter to review city funds to see if we can proceed.
On a positive note, the city is considering an environmentally controlled storage facility
to be shared by various city departments. This would help alleviate our space problem by
providing an alternative for collection storage.
New Business
Carry forward and Library Reserve Fund issues: The Library Reserve Fund, which
contains $160,000, is inadequate to cover payroll and other expenses until the next tax
collections during late December and January become available. Payroll costs are
$62,000 per month. However, BPL is scheduled to pay its reimbursement of$89,000 due
from the Open Access contract. We do have a signed contract and purchase order from
the City of Boise. This infusion of money will be enough to pay our expenses.
Currently, the carry forward to the Library Fund from cumulative, unbudgeted taxes and
miscellaneous revenue is $95,000. Per the recommendation of the City Clerk, the reserve
fund should be at$230,000 so it can meet higher payrolls and other expenses between
ingathering of taxes. She recommends that $70,000 of the $95,000 carry forward be
transferred to the reserve fund. This decision can be reviewed and the monies re-
designated at a later date. Nancy Marshall made a motion to transfer from fiscal year
2008/09 carry forward $70,000 making the reserve fund $230,000. Mary Berent
seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Baseline budget planning: Considering the state of the economy,the effect on revenue
collections, and how this may affect our budget, Director Baker has asked Circulation
Manager Carol Berry to form a committee to determine where cuts could be made in the
circulation department. Using a worst case scenario, what would the consequences be if
we were to leave the LYNX! Consortium, suffer a decline in circulation volume, and cut
open hours from 58 to 48 per week. Once this committee submits its findings, Director
Baker and other management staff will review other library departments to see if similar
cuts are necessary. The goal is to prepare a report for the February Board meeting and
have a head start for budget planning for FY 2009/10.
EPL/BPL project to redirect Boise patrons: BPL is committed to the project to redirect
their patrons who currently use EPL to using their new branch at Cole and Ustick,
scheduled to open May 2009. Using a street map, Director Baker pinpointed the exact
area to be targeted, a five-mile radius to the west of the new building location. Our
Horizon Integrated Library System has the capability to produce a report indicating
patrons from any library jurisdiction who have an EPL item checked out. This report will
provide the basis from which a list of patrons can be compiled who are candidates for
redirection.
Restricting enrollment of Boise residents for summer reading (Action Item): For many
years, BPL has restricted enrollment in their summer reading program to Boise residents
only. BPL has suggested that we close our summer reading program to their patrons.
This would encourage Boise residents living within 5 miles of the Collister branch and
the new Cole and Ustick branch to use these libraries for the summer reading program.
This would affect approximately 175 children and 100 families who normally attend
summer reading at EPL. A cut of this size would mean that some temporary Youth
Services staff might be eliminated and some programs by professional presenters may not
have to be booked multiple times because of limited capacity in the Community Room.
It is almost time to start planning for this year's program. In order to design the program,
it is essential to know the number of anticipated registrants and approximate dollar
amount needed to fund the program. Nancy Marshall made a motion to restrict
enrollment of Boise residents in the EPL Summer Reading program. Danae Curtis
seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
EPL Board e-mail on new EPL Web page (Action Item): See above Director's Report:
New Web Page: progress report.
There were no additional items or public comment.
Selection of Next Meeting Date
The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be January 12, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. in the
Director's Office.
Adjournment
There being no further business,Nancy Marshall made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Danae Curtis seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The meeting was
adjourned at 9:03 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Terri T. Lenigan
EPL Administrative Assistant
encl: Master Employee List as of 12/8/2008
Board of Trustees List
Web Page Staff and Trustee List
Letter from Mayor Bandy dated December 5, 2008
Re: FT80/09 Budget and Library Expansion: Engineer& Architect Services
Memo from Director Baker
Re: Close Enrollment of EPL Summer Reading Program to Boise Residents
Topics:
New Web Page: progress report
EPL Board e-mail on new Web page
Unavailability of funds for new wing RFQ/RFP
Carry forward and Library Reserve Fund issues
Baseline budget planning—Committee formed
Joint EPL/BPL project to redirect Boise patrons to new BPL Branch libraries
Restrict summer reading program to Boise residents