Monthly Meeting
                                                                                       of the
                                                               Columbus Public Library Board

                                                                           October 12, 2005

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board was called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, October 12th by the President of the Board, Jerry Jirka. Other Library Board members present included Carol Keller, Craig Neid, and Jim Schaefer. Also in attendance was Joe Mangiamelli, the City Administrator, Brad Hruska, the Children’s Librarian, Sally Hansen, the Reader’s Advisor, and Robert Trautwein, Library Director.

Notice of this meeting was given in advance with a copy of the agenda posted at City Hall, the County Court House and in the Public Library. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the convened meeting was open to the public.

The Minutes of the September Board meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as presented with a motion from Jim Schaefer and a second from Craig Neid. The motion passed by voice vote.

The Library Director distributed the October Financial Reports for the City Library, the County Library Service, and the Library Foundation. He noted that October is the first month of the 2005-06 budget years. There was a discussion regarding the work that ARL Credit Services is doing for the Library to recover library materials or to receive compensation for items not returned. Mr. Schaefer suggested that a sign be placed at the circulation desk to inform people that the Library uses a credit service to recover long overdue materials. A motion was made by Jim Schaefer to accept the financial reports. This motion was seconded by Carol Keller. The motion passed by roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Keller-aye, Schaefer-aye and Neid-aye.

Regarding the Director’s Report, Trautwein said that the Library hosted a retirement reception for Veronica Kiuntke at the end of September. There were around 50 people who attended this event.

There were not Committee Reports.

Under Correspondence, Brad Hruska discussed his plans for the next year’s “Summer Reading Program” entitled “Paws, Claws, Scales, and Tails”--a pet animal theme. He listed the various organizations which will be involved in presenting programs to the children. He also discussed the success of the Library Foundation-sponsored book bags. For the coming year, a patch representing pets would be purchased. Children will be encouraged to bring their last year’s bag back for a patch.

Sally Hansen, the Reader’s Advisor, discussed the efforts that the Library is making for a “One Book, One Community” program for the city’s Sesquicentennial. The Library’s program will be patterned after similar programs held by both the Omaha and the Lincoln Public Libraries. The book chosen is Goodnight, Nebraska by Tom McNeal. This book is about a high school student who moves to a small town in western Nebraska and how he relates to the community and how the people related to him. The local book clubs will be sponsoring book discussions at the Library from January to July. Also, the Library will be sponsoring workshops related to the book. These workshops include one on the judicial system and youth, another on high school sports and youth, and a final one on marriages and infidelities. The Library will be purchasing 40 copies for check out. In addition, the Library and several stores in town will be selling copies for those who wish to purchase copies. Trautwein said that, depending upon the popularity of the program, some of the workshops might be televised from the City Council Chambers.

Mrs. Hansen and Mr. Hruska excused themselves from the meeting.

The final item under correspondence was the announcement by Trautwein that he had learned that the Library will be receiving a Nebraska Humanities Council grant to provide the “Prime Time” literacy program for Hispanic children and their families. He said that he and others will be attending several workshops prior to January when the six-week program begins.

Under Old Business, Trautwein distributed the “draft” of the final 2004-05 budget statement. He noted that the Library had received $1,939.90 more in revenue than budgeted and had overspent by $3,323.85. The Platte County Library Budget was under funded by $11.03 and overspent by $704.61. The year ended with $108,414.07 in the Bookmobile Sinking Fund.

Under New Business, Trautwein said that the bids for the new bookmobile were opened in the City Clerk’s Office at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, October 11th. RFP’s were sent to 5 bookmobile manufacturers. Four companies responded, however, one company did not get its bid to the City Clerk’s Office by the deadline so that company’s bid remains unopened. Trautwein distributed a printed breakdown of the bids from the three companies. He noted that each of the proposed vehicles is about 27 feet long. This compares to the present bookmobile which is 32 feet long. Trautwein said that he had visited with Merlin Lindahl, the City Engineer, about the bids. Mr. Lindahl said that the Library Board is obligated to accept the lowest bid unless that bid has an irregularity or does not met the specifications in the RFP.

The Board reviewed the printed breakdown provided by Trautwein. It was noted that Farber Specialty Vehicles bid of $108,670 was the lowest bid followed by Matthews Specialty Vehicles of $108,784. OBS Specialty Vehicles bid was for $112,745.

Trautwein recommended that the Board accept the Matthews Specialty Vehicles bid of $108,784 even though it was not quite the lowest bid. He said that the RFP specified that the driver’s seat be able to rotate 180 degrees to serve as the librarian’s desk chair when parked. The Farber Specialty Vehicles bid does not allow for this feature. Instead, the librarian’s desk area is located elsewhere in the vehicle which reduces the amount of shelving available on the vehicle.

A motion was made by Jim Schaefer that a recommendation be forwarded to the Columbus City Council to accept the Series 2000 vehicle from Matthews Specialty Vehicles for the bid price of $108,784. This motion was seconded by Craig Neid and the motion passed by a roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Keller-aye, Schaefer-aye and Neid-aye.

Regarding the disposition of the old vehicle, Trautwein said that he may have to advertise and sell the vehicle if the city—particularly the Police Department—does not want it. He said that he had visited with Chief Gumm about the converting it into a “command center”. If that were to happen, there may be some monetary exchange for the title.

The last item of business was a review of the “Library Trustee Educational Needs Assessment” sponsored by the Nebraska Library Commission. In November of 2004, a questionnaire was sent to over 1200 library trustees in Nebraska. Over 500 trustees responded. In evaluating the responses, the Commission learned that the trustees believed they needed educational opportunities related to planning, grant writing, governance, friends of libraries, board management. Regarding choices in delivering these educational programs, the trustees’ first choice was video. On-site workshops were the second preferred method with on-line training being the third choice.

As an alternative to other methods of delivery, the Library Commission has developed three “fact sheets”: one on “Fund-Raising”, one on “Friends of the Library” and the third on “Grant Writing”. The Commission proposes that, should a Library Board set aside time at a regularly scheduled board m eeting to review one of these fact sheets and discuss the questions found within the fact sheet, each member attending that meeting would earn an hour of continuing education credit. Trautwein reminded the board that to become a certified “Library Board”, the board needs to have a total of 20 hours of continuing education credit. With these three fact sheets, the Library Board would have the opportunity to earn 15 hours of credit. Trautwein said that before the next meeting, he would include a fact sheet in with the board packet and would include the discussion as an agenda item.

Trautwein referred to the announcements listed on the agenda. The Library will be closed Friday, November 11th in observance of Veterans Day.

A motion to adjourn was made by Jim Schaefer and seconded by Craig Neid. This motion passed by voice vote.