Minutes
Meeting of the
Columbus Library Board
May 13, 2004

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Library Board was called to order by the President, Charlie Bahr, at 4:30 PM on Thursday, May 13, 2004. Other members of the Library Board present were Jolaine Nielsen and Jerry Jirka. Members of the County Library Advisory Committee in attendance were Carol Rosendahl and Clayton Brunt. Also in attendance were Robert Trautwein, the Library Director, and Brad Hruska, the Children’s Librarian.

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 April board meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as presented with a motion from Jolaine Nielsen and a second from Jerry Jirka. The motion passed by voice vote
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The Library Director distributed the May financial reports for the City Library, the Platte County Library, and the Library Foundation. He noted that May is the 8th month of the budget year. Following a discussion of each report, a motion to accept the financial reports was made by Jerry Jirka and seconded by Jolaine Nielsen. This motion passed by a roll call vote: Bahr-aye, Nielsen-aye, and Jirka-aye.

Regarding the Director’s Report, Trautwein said that he had received a letter from the curator at the “Palace of the Governors” in Santa Fee, New Mexico regarding the Villasur Hides. In the letter, he learned that the “Palace of the Governors” agreed to let the Library make a copy of the Hide painting. To assist us, the “Palace” will be sending a 5x4 transparency. Trautwein said that if the transparency does not work in enlarging the images, he will visit with the State Historical Society in Lincoln about taking digital photographs of the Hides.

There were no committee reports.

Under correspondence, Brad Hruska, the Children’s Librarian, discussed the upcoming “Summer Reading Program”. He said that the theme for this year is: “Discovering New Trails at your Library.” He displayed the book bag which will be given to the children both at the Library and on the Bookmobile. Registration begins on June 1st and continues through the two months of the program. The kickoff for the program is on May 28th with a presentation by a magician. This magic show will be at the Library and at the auditorium in Platte Center.

Under Old Business, Trautwein said that the vestibule remodeling project was begun on April 12th. Trautwein said that he believes the ceramic tile will be installed next week and the remainder of the windows installed. The old book drop is being repainted and it will be installed inside the vestibule in such a way that only the “mouth” of the book drop will extend out past the window.

On the topic of the negotiations with the County Board of Supervisors for a new contract for county library services, Charlie Bahr said that he, Jolaine Nielsen, and the Library Director have met two times with representatives from the County Board of Supervisors. At the first meeting, the Supervisors were Tom Martens and Joe Tooley. At the second meeting, John Woerth, joined with the other Supervisors. Prior to the meeting, the Library Director had sent a letter to Ron Pfeiffer, the chairman, asking that the County consider a renewal of the contract but with a provision of an ‘evergreen’ clause. At the first meeting, Mr. Martens said that county wanted to continue providing library service—both walk-in and bookmobile—but the county did not want to pay any more for the service than it had paid in the 2003-04 year. Mr. Martens suggested that a reduction in stops could bring about a reduction in costs. It was pointed out that because the two employees are full-time staff, the reduction of the number of bookmobile stops would have no effect on the cost of the service. At the second meeting, held on Wednesday, May 12th, Mr. Martens said that the County Board was firm on not raising the cost of the service. The idea of purchasing a new, smaller, bookmobile which could be serviced by one employee was introduced. Trautwein said that there was a possibility that during the 2004-04 budget year, the Library could go through the process of developing specifications, advertising, selecting a vendor, and ordering a new vehicle. He said that this process would take approximately one-half of the budget year. Because of the time it would take, Trautwein said that he would need the same level of funding as last year.

Trautwein said that the current, 1991, vehicle is at the point that it should be retired and a new vehicle purchased. He said that a smaller, one-man vehicle would hold about 1/3 less material than the current vehicle. He said that there may be a possibility with the new vehicle of popping the roof up another foot so that more books could be stored on the vehicle. This “pop-up” feature may be looked into during the bid process.
Regarding the staff on the bookmobile, Trautwein said that the driver, Larry Nagorski, is passed retirement age and has been staying with the vehicle until either the county ends the contract and the Library looses bookmobile service or until the issue was settled and the likelihood of long-term employment is a possibility for a new driver.

Charlie Bahr said that for the coming year, the County is looking for a way to downsize the service; the bookmobile is about ready to be replaced; and the bookmobile driver might be thinking about retiring. If there were a time to change directions in the type of bookmobile service we offer county residents, this might be the time to do it. Trautwein said that the problems he sees with this is that Karen would be the only person on the vehicle so if she were sick or we needed to send her to a workshop, someone else would have to have to be able to work on the bookmobile. Trautwein said that Karen would need to use volunteers—particularly during the summer reading program—to help when there are crowds of children who need to be served. Trautwein said that he is not pleased with downsizing the collection as it means we are not offering the county residents as rich a collection.

Mr. Bahr said that the two committees will be meeting again on Monday, May 17th, at 11:00 AM. This meeting is just prior to the County Board Meeting on Tuesday. At the Monday meeting, both groups want to make certain that we are in agreement.

Lynne Rambour joins the meeting at this time.

Mr. Bahr asked for a motion regarding the County’s offer. Jerry Jirka made a motion, “To accept the County’s offer of $149,147 with the understanding that during the course of the coming year the bookmobile will be replaced with a smaller unit and that the staff will also be reduced to one person.” This motion was seconded by Jolaine Nielsen. The motion passed by roll call vote: Bahr-aye, Neilsen-aye, Jirka-aye, and Rambour-aye.

Under new business, the Director said that he had been doing quite a bit of budget work in anticipation of the “strategic planning session” to be held on May 20th with the City Council officials. Trautwein said that with the city library budget, he is above a 3% increase over last year because of increases in insurance and utility costs. If the City Fathers require a 3% budget (or lower) he may be faced with laying off another part-time employee.
Trautwein said that as he will be leaving for a 3-week vacation, he will have all of his budget work completed and passed on to City Hall prior to May 25th. When he gets back from vacation, he will be meeting with the finance committee on June 17th to review his budget proposal.

Regarding the “OneLibrary Consortium Interlocal Agreement”, Trautwein said that this agreement will be going to the City Council on Monday, May 17th, for their approval. This document is pretty much the same as the one approved by the City Council in 2001 between the original 3 libraries. Now that a fourth library group has been added (Central Community College), the Agreement has to be approved once again.

On the topic of changing the date of the next Library Board meeting, it was agreed that the meeting date will be on June 17th instead of June 10th. This later date will still allow for the bills to be approved and submitted to
the City Council at its June 21st meeting.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned with a motion from Jerry Jirka and a second by Jolaine Nielsen.