CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The regular meeting of the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting was called to order by Dave Nelson.
Members present: Jerry Balm, Chris Colby, Dick Hall, Ed Haskell, Tyler Hoecker, Tonya Holt, Betty Hutchins, Naomi Lipsky, Steve McMaster and Dave Nelson.
Staff present: Audrey Betcher, Library Director; Tom Dyer, Head of Communications; Kim Edson, Head of Reader's Services; Jean Jahn, Head of Automation Services; Louise Moe, Head of Reference Services Purna Gurung, Office Services Coordinator.
BOARD RECOGNITION
The Board recognized Dick Hall and Noami Lipsky for their service on the Board of Directors. Their terms expire at the end of this year. Dick will remain on the SELCO Board for six more months.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chris Colby moved, Jerry Balm second to approve the meeting minutes from November 17, 2004. Motion approved.
APPROVAL OF BILLS
Chris Colby moved, Jerry Balm second to approve the bills as submitted. Motion approved.
MONTHLY REPORT
The Library Board reviewed the November monthly report.
FOUNDATION REPORT
The Foundation Board signed off on the final design for the donor recognition wall. We are on target to unveil the wall during Wit, Wisdom, and Wine. Invitations have been mailed for Wit, Wisdom, and Wine.
Mike McNeil from Home Federal Bank has expressed his desire to serve on the Foundation Board. Chris Colby, President of the Foundation Board, recommends the approval of Mike McNeil's appointment to the Foundation Board.
Ed Haskell moved, Steve McMaster second to approve the appointment of Mike McNeil to the Library Foundation Board. Motion approved.
Chris Colby reported that Trevor Westrom, Sue Reinke, Joanne Swenson and Phil Henoch have been elected to the positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer respectively.
FRIENDS REPORT
The Friends had a very successful holiday book/bake sale. They raised about $1,700. The Barnes and Noble gift wrapping fundraiser was not as successful. The Friends will present the bookstore proceeds in January 2005.
SELCO REPORT
Wabasha County is in contract negotiations and it is not going well. If the funding does not come through, the libraries may implement limited check out privileges throughout the SELCO region. They will ask us to honor the 2 checkout limit as well. It would take some modification on our side to make this happen. Naomi suggested having bookmarks telling affected patrons whom they should complain to. When asked by the Board about our county funding situation, Audrey replied that Olmsted County has been forthcoming with funding. The Finance Committee is meeting on 1/11/2005. The Board asked Audrey to figure the per capita contribution for County vs. City. It varies significantly around the state.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Finance Committee: The Finance Committee met on December 1st. The committee reviewed the 2005 budget, the budget process, and the documents from the July budget discussion. We discussed some additional measurements to get a better feel for how we are doing. The document was emailed out to the Board earlier. Dick expressed his concerns about the long-term viability of the budget. We continue to look for process improvements e.g. Express Reserves. We expect to investigate RFID in the future after it becomes more affordable. The Board discussed revenue generation, efficiencies, staffing levels, the economic landscape and priorities of the City Council. Ed inquired if the MLA/ALA have positions papers on charging for specific library services. Kim replied that these papers were more philosophical rather not recommendations. MLA/ALA does not recommend charging for basic library services.
Planning Committee: None.
Policy Committee: None.
Personnel Committee: The Personnel Committee met with Audrey and sent in her evaluation to City Human Resources.
Nominating Committee: The Nominating Committee (Dave Nelson, Chris Colby & Tonya Holt) recommends the following members to the positions of President, Vice-President and Secretary respectively for 2005: Steve McMaster, Jerry Balm and Tonya Holt. The officers will be officially voted on at the January meeting.
Youth Advisory Board: None
BOARD RECRUITMENT
Dave Nelson met with the Mayor and reviewed various applications. The Mayor is working to meet and interview two of the applicants. The County administration is also conducting some publicity for the open position.
BOARD/AT GET TOGETHER
Ed and Naomi have graciously agreed to host the Board/AT dinner at their residence after the January 19th board meeting.
BUDGET
The City Council agreed to raise our budget allocation by $7,000, putting us at $4,932,000. We will be applying the additional funding towards materials, programming and early literacy. Jeff Thompon advocated on behalf of RPL for this increase. The Board asked Audrey to send a thank you note to Jeff for his efforts on procuring the additional funding.
At the end of each year, we take a look at unspent money and reallocate. This year, there was not a great deal to reallocate. We purchased a digital security camera system for personal safety and for securing materials. We also plan to purchase a security camera system for the bookmobile, more carts to improve materials handling in the Children's area and a digital postage machine (mandated by the USPS by 2006). We also intend to encumber funds for the needs assesment.
NEW YORK TIMES AWARD
Greg Sauve, Reference Division, has been announced as a winner of the New York Times Librarian Award. Twenty-seven librarians were selected out of 1500 nominations.
PERSONNEL UPDATES
The Communications Manager position was posted and will close on December 16th. We have received about 50 applications to date. Interviews will begin in January. We have readvertised for the Technical Services Head position. We have an interim plan in place for Technical Services division.
ROCHESTER READS
The Giver by Lois Lowry is the Rochester Reads selection for 2005. The author will be here in Rochester on May 6th. Audrey thanked the Friends of RPL for donating additional copies of all of the chosen titles and Yaggy Colby Associates for sponsoring the author visit.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Tonya Holt
Secretary
The next regular meeting of the Library Board will be Wednesday, January 19th, at 4:30 pm in Meeting Room B on the second floor of the library.