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Minutes of the Meeting
Of the
Columbus Public Library Board
May 8, 2008
The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board was
called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, May 8, 2008 by the Vice President,
Carol Keller. She read aloud and signed the “Certification of Compliance,”
regarding the “Open Meeting” law.
Other Library Board members present included Joie Taylor and Sharon
Farritor. Also present were Joe Mangimelli, the City Administrator, Robert
Trautwein, the Library Director, Brad Hruska, Children’s Librarian and Jill
Owens, Reference Librarian
Notice of this meeting was given in advance with a copy of the agenda posted
at City Hall 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 Sharon Farritor and a second from Joie Taylor.
The motion passed by voice vote.
The Library Director distributed the May Financial Reports for the Library
Foundation, the City Library and the County Library Services. Trautwein
noted that May is the eighth month of the 2007-08 budget year and that
around 74% of the budgeted expenses have been spent. A motion was made by
Joie Taylor and seconded by Sharon Farritor to accept the financial reports
as presented. This motion passed by roll call vote: Keller-Aye,
Farritor-Aye, and Taylor-Aye.
The Director’s Report was reviewed. He noted that checkout in all categories
was less than the same month a year ago. The “Overdrive”, a downloadable
talking book program, may be having a small influence on the number of audio
books checked out from the Library. It was suggested that the “Overdrive”
service be promoted through the local radio. It was also suggested that with
every audio checked out, the bookmark advertizing the service be handed to
the patron.
Regarding National Library week, the Director said that the two days of
surveying patons was very successful. There were 16 volunteers who handed
out and collected these forms. Patrons could request a free cup of
cappuccino after completing the survey.
An overview of the survey was passed out. There were 617 survey forms handed
out and 464 completed surveys returned. The survey was conduction on a
Sunday and a Wednesday. Overall, there were 229 men who completed the survey
and 335 women. Regarding the age categories, those persons in the 36-55 age
bracket used the library the most (176 users). On Sundays, the men’s
percentage increased by 14%. Trautwein said that other statistics indicate
that there were more young children (3-11 years old) in the Library on
Sunday than on Wednesday. Another interesting tally is that 94 persons (or
16.7 % of the visitors) came in solely to use the Internet.
Committee Reports. The Finance Committee met to review the Director’s
proposed budget. A review of that budget is later in the agenda. Carol
Keller said that she met with the “Endowment Oversight Committee” on April
24th. Rod Cerny, a representative from Smith Hayes (Omaha) was present as
well as Larry Brenner and Dennis Duffy. The Director has a copy of that
report on file.
There were no items of Correspondence.
Under Old Business there was a brief discussion of the process and outcome
of the “Focus Group” meetings.
Under New Business, Mike Oglevie, who had just arrived, discussed with the
Board the candidate interview sequence on Monday. He also discussed the
benchmarking statistics compiled by Carol Speicher, the “Focus Group”
coordinator. He exited from the meeting.
Jim Schaefer arrived and assumed the leadership of the Board.
Trautwein reviewed the proposed 2008-09 budgets, beginning with the “Platte
County Library Service.”. He noted that he has no firm figures for the
county budget as the April “Consumer Price Index” figure that is used in
computing the budget has not yet been announced. He said that he guessed it
would be around 4%. Regarding the personnel costs, he said that when those
figures become available, the City Finance Department will insert them. For
the sake of preparing the budget, he used a 4% increase in personnel costs.
The estimated costs for “Equipment Maintenance” was raised from $1,800 to
$2,000 and next year’s cost for diesel fuel was raised from $4,800 to
$5,000.
For the city library budget, the revenue section was discussed. A decrease
in revenue from the “Copier and Computer Fees” because of “free” Internet
was noted. Trautwein recommended the estimated cost for the current year for
“Office Supplies” be raised from $10,000 to $11,000. Under “Capital-Land and
Building”, Trautwein will prepare a budget request of $75,000 for the
2008-09 year and $675,000 for the 2009-10 year for the remodeling of both
wings of the 1st floor.
In discussing the topic of personnel, Joie Taylor said that over 30 comments
from the public at the “Focus Group” meetings involved increased programming
and staffing. There was a discussion regarding service to the Hispanic
community and expanded hours on Saturdays. It was decided to ask for two
additional full time “Library Aide II” positions.
On the topic of “Capital-Equipment” Trautwein said he included $8,000 for
new computers and $4,000 to replace two of the 20-year-old public
photocopiers.
Regarding “Capital –Library Materials, the Library Board asked that the
proposed $100,000 figure be raised to $107,000 (9.1% over current year or 5%
over the regular $2,000 customary increases.)
Trautwein will re-work the “Capital Improvement Worksheets” and forward them
as attachments to members of the Library Board for review. He will be
reviewing the budget proposal with Joe Mangiamelli and Anne Kinnison on
Wednesday, May 14th at 10:30 AM.
Under Announcements, Carol Keller said that she attended a continuing
education meeting in St. Louis on April 14th. She will forward the
certificate to Trautwein.
Regarding the “Friends of the Library” meeting on May 20th, Joie Taylor
volunteered to attend this meeting.
Trautwein invited the board to stay for a Library program. Glen Hanket, a
bicyclist from Denver, will be stopping by Columbus and will give a program
on “following your dreams.”
There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made by Joie Taylor
and second by Sharon Farritor. The meeting was adjourned,
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Trautwein
Library Director
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