Minutes of the Quarterly
                                                           Meeting of the
                                                  Columbus Library Board
                                                               And the
                                      Platte County Library Advisory Board
                                                       June 9, 2005

 he 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, June 9th by the Chairman, Jerry Jirka. Other Library Board members present include Jolaine Nielsen, Craig Neid, Lynne Rambour, and Jim Schaefer. Members of the Platte County Library Advisory Board present included Carol Rosendahl, Clayton Brunt, and Carolyn Rohde. Also in attendance was 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 to the May 12th meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as submitted with a motion from Lynne Rambour and a second from Jolaine Nielsen. The motion passed by voice vote.

Regarding the financial reports, Trautwein said that June is the ninth month of the budget year. The Library Foundation report included bills related to “summer reading” activities and a bill to pay for an order of books. For the city library, Trautwein noted that there will be over expenditures in “Building Maintenance” and “Office Supplies” line items. A motion was made by Jim Schaefer and seconded by Craig Neid to approve the expenditures of the Library Foundation and the city library. This motion passed by roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Nielsen-aye, Schaefer-aye, Rambour-aye and Neid-aye.

The Platte County Library services budget was reviewed. A motion was made by Jim Schaefer and seconded by Jolaine Nielsen to accept the list of expenditures. This motion passed by roll call vote: Jirka-aye, Rosendahal-aye, Rhode-aye, Nielsen-aye, Schaefer-aye, Brunt-aye, Rambour-aye and Neid-aye.

Trautwein reviewed his monthly report. He reported on the Library’s activities to recover long overdue materials through the aid of the ARL Credit Services. He said that since the first letters from ARL were sent out, the Library has received in payment from patrons $452.00. He said that in visiting with a clerk at ARL he learned that the Library will be billed nearly $200.00 for the letters—first and second notices—submitted by ARL. Three weeks after the 2nd letter has been mailed, if the Library does not receive payment for the materials directly from the patron, ARL assumes the debt and takes the patron to court for full payment. Currently, ARL is in the process of assuming over $5,000 in long overdue materials debt from the Library. Should ARL be successful in recovering a debt from an individual, it will keep 40% of the funds and forward the remaining 60% to the Library.

There were no committee reports.

There were no items of correspondence.

Under Old Business, Trautwein first reviewed the proposed budget for “county library service”. He said that the 2005-06 budget will not decrease any over the previous year as it will take the better part of a year to write the specifications, advertise, review the bids, order the vehicle, have it built, and get it delivered. Because of this long process, he has developed a budget that includes two full-time persons on the vehicle. To meet the cost of those two employees he has added a 2.4 % increase (later changed to 3.5%) to the current budget, bringing the county’s share from $149,147 to $152,756 (later changed to $154,367). This is the budget he plans to review with the committee from the County Board of Supervisors on Monday, June 13th.

Jerry Jirka and Jim Schaefer asked to be excused from the meeting. Craig Neid assumed the duty of chairman.

Trautwein reviewed the proposed budget for the city library. He noted that he has included a “summer temp.” position to work in the Children’s Room in the evenings and on the weekends during the summer reading program. He said that the Children’s Librarian has not been able recruit volunteers for those times. He noted an increase in “Computer Maintenance” because of the annual maintenance cost of the new Internet filter. Also, he has increased the budget line items for “Building Maintenance” and “Office Supplies”. Regarding “Building Maintenance” he said that there is no maintenance contract for the library’s new heating and air conditioning system. As that new system is no longer under warranty, there needs to be additional money in the budget to pay for minor repairs. The “Office Supplies” category needs to be increased to cover the expenses associated with the processing of additional “library materials” that the library is receiving.

Overall, the city library budget shows a 7.2 % increase. Trautwein also reviewed the “Long-Range Capital Improvements” budget for which sales tax money is used.

Under “New Business”, the Director said that he had asked Donna Thiem poll the SIRSI circulation computer program to compare the number of check outs on the Sunday prior to the Memorial Day weekend with other Sundays in May. On the Memorial Day Sunday, there were 177 checkouts. This compared to an average of around 200 checkouts for the other Sundays. He concluded that the Library was fairly well used even though many people used the holiday as a three-day weekend.

The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Neid.