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Minutes of the Quarterly
Meeting of the
Columbus Library Board
and the
Platte County Library Advisory Board
December 8, 2005
The regularly scheduled quarterly meeting of the Columbus Library Board and
the Platte County Library Advisory Board was called to order by the President,
Jerry Jirka, at 4:30 PM on Thursday, December 8, 2005. Other members of the
Library Board present were Jim Schaefer, Craig Neid, and Carol Keller. The
only member of the Platte County Library Advisory Board present was Carolyn
Rohde. Joe Mangiamellie, the City Administrator, and Robert Trautwein, Library
Director, were also present. Both Carol Rosendahl and Clayton Brunt of the
Advisory Board and Lynne Rambour of the Library Board had called earlier to
ask to be excused.
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 November Board meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand
as presented with a motion from Craig Neid and a second from Jim Schaefer. The
motion passed by voice vote.
The Library Director distributed the December financial reports for the City
Library, and the Columbus Library Foundation. Trautwein noted that it is third
month of the city’s 2005-06 fiscal year. A motion to accept the financial
reports was made by Jim Schaefer and seconded by Carol Keller. This motion
passed by roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Neid-aye, Schaefer-aye, and Keller-Aye.
The financial statement for Platte County Library Services was distributed.
Trautwein noted that among the vouchers to be paid this month is an
“acceptance fee” payment to Matthews Specialty Vehicles for $21,756.80 which
is about one-fifth of the cost of the new bookmobile. A motion was made by
Carolyn Rohde and seconded by Carol Keller to accept the County Library
Services financial report. This motion passed by roll call vote: Jirka-aye,
Neid-aye, Rhode-Aye, Schaefer-aye, and Keller-Aye. This motion passed by roll
call vote:
The Director reviewed his report for November.
There were no Committee Reports.
Under Correspondence, Trautwein said that Karen Hake was not able to attend
the meeting because of a problem with the brakes on the bookmobile.
Under Old Business, Trautwein outlined the timetable for the replacement of
the bookmobile. He said that the City Council has approved the bid from
Matthews Specialty Vehicles for the new vehicle. The “Acceptance Fee” payment
will be sent to Matthews after the December 19th City Council Meeting.
Trautwein has been working with a “scheduler” from Matthews. She has sent a
set of interior drawings to the Library to help with designing how we want the
interior to be. Those should be returned to her soon. The bookmobile is
scheduled to be delivered in mid-June, 2006. Related to its delivery, the
bookmobile driver will be retiring on June 19th after 20 years of service to
the Library and the citizens of the county. The Director said that he is
hoping that the retirement and the delivery of the vehicle will coincide.
Karen Hake may be going down to North Carolina sometime in late May to inspect
the interior of the vehicle.
Carol Keller asked about plans to introduce the vehicle to the community. She
mentioned the Sesquicentennial parade over the 4th of July. Trautwein said
that he would look into entering the new vehicle in the parade. He said that
he would also like to have it parked in front of the library for a few days
and have an open house so that city residents could take a look at the
vehicle.
On the topic of the “Prime Time” Humanities Grant, Trautwein said that in
November, this library applied for a grant from the Nebraska Humanities
Council to secure a 2-year reading enrichment program for Hispanic children
ages 6 to 10. On Tuesday, December 6th, he met with Erica Hamilton from the
NHC to discuss the library’s involvement. Jeff Bartels, the principal of
Emerson Elementary and Dee Condon, the Public School System’s, “Minority
Coordinator” were also in attendance. There are 8 public libraries in the
state that will be providing a “Prime Time” program. The 2006 year “Prime
Time” program is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 25th and run for 6
consecutive weeks from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM.
Twenty-five to 30 Hispanic families will be involved---mostly from the Emerson
Elementary School area. The program will include a meal, stories told by a
storyteller and a “humanists” person who will discuss the stories.
Interpreters will be available to translate for both the story teller and the
humanist as well as for the parents. The program is intended to encourage
parents to read to their children and to encourage children to value their
bi-lingual skills.
Under New Business, the President, Jerry Jirka, opened the floor for the
election of officers for the 2006 year. Trautwein reminded the Board that the
by-laws stipulate that officers can only serve two consecutive terms.
Following a discussion, a slate of officers, to include Craig Neid as
President, Jim Schaefer as Vice-President and Carol Keller as
Secretary/Treasurer, was nominated by Jerry Jirka. This motion was seconded by
Carol Keller and the motion passed by a roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Neid-aye,
Schaefer-aye, and Keller-aye.
The next topic was a discussion of the current schedule of stops for the
bookmobile. Trautwein said that he added this as an agenda item as this is a
joint meeting of the Library Board with the Platte County Advisory Board.
Should members of the Advisory Board wish to make recommendations regarding
the expanding or curtailing any of the current stops, he would like to give
the board members that opportunity. Carol Rhode said that she had recently
visited with a lady about possibility adding a stop in the County Club area.
Trautwein said that at the next joint meeting, the Advisory Board might want
to consider adding neighborhood stops for the summer schedule.
The next item was a discussion related to the “Trustee Fact Sheet”. Trautwein
re-introduced Melodee Pederson, a library patron who had volunteered to assist
in forming a library “friends” group. Mrs. Pederson and her husband, who is a
dentist in Schuyler, moved from Hastings to Columbus about 2 years ago. While
working at the Hastings Public Library, Mrs. Pederson completed her master’s
degree in Library Science. Recently, she visited with Trautwein about being
involved in the library. Trautwein suggested that she help form a “Friends of
the Library” group. She agreed, especially since the Hastings Public Library
has such an active “friends” group.
Melodee said that she is approaching the task of forming a “friends” group
through the use of a book entitled, “Friends of Library Sourcebook”. She said
that the first question we need to answer is, “Why form a friends group?” She
said that in visiting with Trautwein and Sally Hansen, she learned that one of
the primary reasons for forming a “friends” group would be for
library-sponsored social events. Secondly, she learned that the Library needed
an advocacy group to help with issues related to funding and staffing.
Organizationally, a “steering committee” needs to be formed. This committee
would work on a constitution and by-laws, develop a membership structure and
dues categories, publish a newsletter, and begin recruiting members. That
steering committee is currently composed of Lori Neid, Jean Wilson and Mary
Peterson.
Once the steering committee’s work is done, a board will be elected at the
first annual meeting. This board will then see that the constitution and
by-laws are acted upon and that the “Friends” group applies for a federal
501c.3 tax exempt status. She said that she hopes to have the board formed in
July.
Trautwein said that during the next six months the Library will be sponsoring
the “One Book, One Columbus” project which will include a lot of book
discussion meetings and workshops. These events will draw people to the
Library who will be interested in the “Friends”.
The first event will occur on January 19th when the Library has its first “One
Book, One Columbus” meeting.
Jim Schaefer asked about the promotion of the “Friends” group. He suggested
visits with the various service clubs in Columbus.
Carol Keller asked Mrs. Pederson about the types of “social” events that the
“Friends” would sponsor. Mrs. Pederson said that she could see the “friends”
involved in book signings, fashion shows, poetry readings, and book sales, to
list a few events. Trautwein said that it is important that the “Friends”
group be a designated 501c3 organization so that it could receive grants from
the Nebraska Humanities Council. Joe Mangiamelli, the City Administrator, said
that in Omaha he saw the “friends” group work in various fund raisers as well
as social events. He said that he could foresee the “friends” group as a pool
from which potential library board members would come.
Jerry Jirka asked about the critical mass of a “friends” group. He wanted to
know how many people it would take for the “friends” group to become viable.
Mrs. Pederson said that in Hastings, where the “friends” has been around for a
long while, there are about 450 families which belong to the “friends”.
Trautwein said that at the February annual Library Foundation meeting, he will
ask the Foundation for some “seed money” to help the friends with the some of
its initial projects.
Regarding Announcements, Trautwein reminded the Board that the Library will be
closed on Saturday, December 24th, Sunday December 25th, and Monday December
26th. Then, on Sunday, January 1st, and Monday, January 2nd, the Library will
be closed.
There being no further business, the president called the meeting adjourned..
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Trautwein
Library Director
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