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Minutes - 2010 - Eagle Public Library - 12/13/2010 - Regular EAGLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES MINUTES December 13, 2010 Community Room Board President Mary Berent called the EPL Board of Trustees meeting to order at 7:07 PM. Present were Board Members Margo Walter and Nancy Marshall. Also present were Council Liaison Norm Semanko, Ron Baker, Library Director, Jeanie Comerford, Operations Manager, and Terri Lenigan, Administrative Assistant. Nancy Marshall made a motion that the agenda, with the additional item for the Director's Report regarding an essential shelving order, be approved; Margo Walter seconded the motion and the agenda was unanimously approved. Nancy Marshall made a motion that the minutes for the 8 November 2010 meeting, as amended with the proper date, be approved; Margo Walter seconded the motion and the minutes were unanimously approved. Margo Walter made a motion that the bills be approved for payment; Nancy Marshall seconded the motion and the bills were unanimously approved for payment. Friends of the Library Report (Friends' President) Director Baker reported in the absence of the Friends' President. As donations continue to pour in the door, the Friends are planning an indoor sale for February. Director's Report Statistical reports (handout): Children's programming is ahead of last year by 129%. However, attendance is only showing a 4% increase over last year. Total circulation for the month of November is up over 2,000 items compared to November 2009. There was a slight increase to 17% of BPL patrons using EPL facilities in November. Compact shelving installation: The Sheriff's Department has been in contact with the owner of its Eagle building to see if they can re-negotiate a more favorable lease. They have also expressed concerns about the safety issue of suspects needing to use the public restrooms in the City Hall. Should the Sheriffs Department stay in their current building, the remodel of City Hall will be unnecessary and the Library may not get the promised compact shelving. Problem with patron: An older Eagle resident uses our library quite extensively. However, his demeanor while in the Library can be quite confrontational and he sometimes belittles the Circulation staff. He is often confused about dates items are due and argues that he returns materials on time and that the Library is at fault for the fines accrued on his account. This patron Shared/EPL ADMINBoard Minutes 12 Dec 2010 can be quite belligerent when Staff cannot fill a requested ILL item. He is severely deaf and speaks in a rather loud voice, which is disruptive to other patrons. In fact. several patrons complained to Staff that they have been made to feel uncomfortable by his actions. Mr. Baker has written a letter to this patron expressing all these concerns and requesting him to speak with the Director about any problems he is experiencing at the Library. Margo Walter suggested that we contact the Public Service Officer at the Sherriff's Department to advise them of the problem and to ask if they have any advice on how to handle disruptive patrons. Shelving order: The shelving order will be discussed under "New Business" as part of the carry forward designation. Library Liaison/City Hall Reports (Councilman Semanko) Much of the City Council meeting will be spent in executive session completing confidential city business. Topics of discussion for the regular meeting included the re-location of the Sheriff's Department in City Hall and the annexation of 3 parcels contiguous to the proposed Fred Meyers shopping center. Unfinished Business Board member vacancy and replacement: At this time, there is no viable candidate for the open position on the Board. Several possible candidates were discussed, but were found to be, for one reason or another, unavailable or unacceptable. President Berent will contact Terri Bath, past President of the Eagle Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. Bath knows the community, especially the business community, and has excellent contacts. Board members believe she would be a good addition to the Board. If Mrs. Bath declines, the next step will be to approach the Chamber and ask if it would post an e-mail to their membership regarding this opening. The Downtown Development Group would be another good possibility to contact for candidates. Strategic Plan: Progress toward completion is being made; the Youth Services chapter is being re-written and the new IT staffer will review the technical section. A joint meeting between EPL management staff and the planning committee should be scheduled to discuss the plan and its goals. Director Baker expects to have a completed draft by the end of.January. New Business Surplussing of old security equipment (Action Item): Currently, the Library is storing obsolete and non-functional equipment, see attached list. Staff recommends advising City Council to surplus this equipment. Nancy Marshall made the motion to recommend that City Council surplus these items; Margo Walter seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Cash flow, carry-forward, and reserve issues (Action Item): The City Clerk/Treasurer acknowledged a $47,646 carry-forward for the Library fund comprised of: $30,000 Back Taxes collected (approximately) $ 5,000 Interest on Money Market account $12,000 Savings Shared/EPL ADM IN/Board Minutes 12 Ike 20 10 2 However, she also notified the Library about a cash flow problem as there is only $60,000 available in our bank account, refer to attached memo. This will cause a shortfall for January and affect our ability to meet payroll and other expenses. In addition, due to a re-negotiated LYNX! contract, our re-imbursement from BPI, and ACL this year is only $36,000. In the past, we had received over $100,000 in reimbursement, which gave us the necessary funds to meet our obligations until the January tax collection. In order to prevent this situation from happening next year, the City Clerk/Treasurer has recommended that the carry-forward be assigned to the Library's reserve account. The Board concurs with this recommendation. Margo Walter made a motion to designate the carry-forward to the reserve account; Nancy Marshall seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Nancy Marshall also requested that the bank account balance be added to the Bill List each month. Mayor Reynolds has announced a budget workshop to be held in January. Director Baker and President Berent plan on attending. Due to the PERSI announcement that there will not be any increase in employer contributions for 2011, monies budgeted for these anticipated increases can be re-designated toward other accounts. Staff recommends that the $10,987 originally budgeted be designated to the Relief account. Increasing open hours to 55 hours has meant that we rely on our relief staff to fill in more than expected and this is rapidly depleting the relief account. Margo Walter made a motion to re-designate the funds from the PERSI account to the Salaries/Relief account; Nancy Marshall seconded the notion, which passed unanimously. Essential equipment: When the carry-forward was first announced, we thought we might purchase some essential equipment that we have forgone for several years. However, with the carry-forward designated to bulk up the reserve, we will once again forgo purchasing this equipment. However, acquiring shelving for the Large Print collection is a definite must that can no longer be delayed. Therefore, donated money will be used to build custom shelving for this area at the cost of under $400. ILL policy regarding AV items (Action Item): EPL is one of the few Idaho libraries and the only Consortium library that allows out-of-state borrowing for AV items. Results of a three-month study show that AV costs for ILL are mounting in terms of staff time and postage. As fewer and fewer libraries allow these ILL requests, staff time and the requests will only increase for this type of ILL borrowing. Staff recommends that to curtail costs EPL limit AV ILL borrowing to in-state libraries only, bringing EPL policy in line with current public library practice. Margo Walter made a motion to amend EPL policy to allow in-state only for all AV ILL borrowing and lending; Nancy Marshall seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Additional Items or Public Comment Jordan's Hallmark stores and the Veterans Resource Network partnered together to send recordable Christmas books to our Idaho soldiers of the 116t1i Brigade, who are serving overseas this holiday season. The soldiers will record the story in their own voice and Hallmark and VRN will arrange to have the books delivered to their children in time for Christmas. Through the generosity of our staff, there will be three special Christmas presents for three deserving Shared/EPL ADMINBoard Minutes 12 Dec 2010 3 youngsters to find under their tree on Christmas morning. What a wonderful way to show our support for the troops. Selection of Next Meeting Date The next meeting of the EPL Board of Trustees is scheduled for Monday, 10 January 2011 at 7:00 PM in the Library Community Room. Adjournment President Berent adjourned the meeting at 8:57 PM. Respectfully submitted, Terri T. Lenigan Administrative Assistant Motions: Surplus out-dated equipment Cash flow, carry-forward, and reserve AV ILL policy Topics: Compact shelving installation update Problem with patron, Mr. Norman Vietz letter Board member vacancy and replacement update Strategic Plan update Christmas gift to the Troops Shared/EPL ADMIN/Board Minutes 12 Dec 2010 4