Minutes of the Quarterly
                                                           Meeting of the
                                                  Columbus Library Board
                                                               And the
                                        Platte County Library Advisory Board
                                                            March 9, 2006

The regularly scheduled quarterly meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board and the Platte County Library Advisory Board was called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, March 9th by the Chairman, Craig Neid. Other Library Board members present include Jerry Jirka, Lynne Rambour, Carol Keller, and Jim Schaefer. Members of the Platte County Library Advisory Board present included Carol Rosendahl, and Clayton Brunt. Also in attendance were Joe Mangiamelli, City Administrator, 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.

Trautwein informed the Boards that Carol Rohde, member of the Advisory Board, had called earlier to ask to be excused.

The minutes to the February 9th meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as submitted with a motion from Jim Schaefer and a second by Lynne Rambour. The motion passed by voice vote.

Regarding the March financial reports that were distributed, Trautwein said that it is the sixth month of the budget year. A motion was made by Jim Schaefer and seconded by Lynne Rambour to approve the expenditures of the city library. This motion passed by roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Carol Keller-aye, Schaefer-aye, Rambour-aye and Neid-aye. A motion was made by Jim Schaefer and seconded by Lynne Rambour to accept the financial report for the Platte County Library Services. This motion passed by roll call vote: Rosendahl-aye, Brunt-aye, Jirka-aye, Carol Keller-aye, Schaefer-aye, Rambour-aye and Neid-aye.

The Director reviewed his report. Jim Schaefer asked if there had been any more comments from the public regarding the bookmobile not stopping in the neighborhoods near the city limits. Trautwein said that he had not heard any complaints. Mrs. Rosendahl and Mr. Brunt responded that no one had contacted them on the subject.

There were no committee meetings.

Under Correspondence, Trautwein said that he had planned to have Karen Hake, the bookmobile librarian, at this meeting, but he had forgotten that he had scheduled both Brad Hruska, the Children’s Librarian, and Mrs. Hake to attend a two-day workshop on this year’s “Summer Reading” program.

Under Old Business, Trautwein said that he is getting weekly e-mails from Matthew’s Specialty Vehicles regarding the new bookmobile. It is scheduled to go “on line” in early May and it will be completed around the middle of June.

On the topic of “Prime Time”, Trautwein said that all is getting organized for the first session to be held on Tuesday, April 25th. He has been working with the principal of the Emerson Elementary School to recruit students and their parents. Next year, Trautwein said that he hopes to expand out to include the children at Sunrise School. If that should occur, a bus will be provided to transport parents and their children to and from the library.

Regarding the “Friends of the Library” group, Trautwein said that the steering committee has met three times. At the next meeting, the committee will adopt a set of by-laws. After that, it will apply for a 501 c (3) charitable foundation designation from the IRS. Currently there are 42 members and $980 is the treasury. Trautwein said that he had contacted Ted Kooser’s booking agency to learn if he could come to Columbus for the “Friends” first membership meeting. He learned that Mr. Kooser has been in the Columbus area twice in the past year, so he won’t be coming back for a while.

Under New Business, Trautwein said that he will begin working with the City on the budget.

The next item of business was a discussion of the “Gates Rural Library Sustainability Workshop” which is co-sponsored by the Nebraska Library Commission. No board member indicated a willingness to attend this workshop. It was learned that the workshop will be held in Columbus on Thursday, April 13th---the day of the Library Board meeting.

The next item of business was a motion to enter Executive Session to consider the performance review of the Library Director. This motion was made by Jerry Jirka and seconded by Jim Schaefer. The motion passed by voice vote.

A motion to move from the Executive Session to a public meeting was made by Jerry Jirka and seconded by Lynne Rambour. This motion passed by voice vote.

Carol Keller asked about the discussion at the Library Foundation regarding a replacement of Foundation member, Linda McPhail, who resigned at that meeting. Trautwein said that he was not aware that any replacement has been sought. Craig Neid said that he had visited with the president of the Foundation, John McClure, and had made several recommendations. Jim Schaefer asked if there were a job description for members of the Foundation. Trautwein said that there is no description, however, former Library Board members have generally been asked to be on the Foundation, so there is some continuity.

Mrs. Keller asked about the management of the Foundation’s endowment fund. She said that as this fund has grown substantially in the past six month, she thought that there needs to be more communication between the Foundation treasurer and the members of the Foundation. She said that as a Foundation board member she feels a greater burden of accountability—especially since there is a great deal more money.

Mrs. Keller also asked about receiving the minutes to the annual Foundation meeting. Trautwein said that it had been the practice of sending out the minutes of the previous year’s meeting just prior to the next annual meeting. He said that he could mail the minutes soon after the annual meeting if the Library Board would like. It was agreed that these minutes would be mailed to Board members soon after the meeting.

The Board also decided to ask John McClure, the president of the Foundation, to attend the April meeting and include in the meeting an agenda item related to the selection of a new Foundation board member as well as on the topic of an expanded role of the “Endowment Oversight Committee”.

Trautwein said that at the annual Library Foundation meeting, he had told the Board that the Foundation treasurer currently provides quarterly financial statements to the city finance officer. He said that he had recently learned that Mrs. Kinnison only receives a statement through September and, later, an annual statement through December.

The meeting was adjourned by a motion from Jerry Jirka and a seconded by Jim Schaefer. This motion passed by voice vote.