Minutes
                                                                      Meeting of the
                                                            Columbus Library Board
                                                                         August 12, 2004

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Library Board was called to order by Board President, Charlie Bahr, at 4:30 PM on Thursday, August 12, 2004. Other members of the Library Board present were Jolaine Nielsen, Bill Merrill, Jerry Jirka and Lynne Rambour. Also in attendance was Robert Trautwein, the 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 first item of business was the viewing of a 25-minute library board training video entitled: “Media Relations, what to do when the news is you”

Following the viewing, the minutes of the July board meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as presented. with a motion from Jerry Jirka and a second from Jolaine Nielsen. This motion passed.

The Library Director distributed the August financial reports for the City Library, the Platte County Library, and the Library Foundation. Trautwein noted that this is the eleventh month of the fiscal year. He also pointed out several line items within the “operational” section of the budget that are overspent. One of the major over expenditures is for “Natural Gas”. Trautwein said that there is a combination of factors for this. One was this past year’s rise in the cost of natural gas. The second reason is that the 2003-04 budget was the first complete year for the new heating and air conditioning system. With the old system, just the east wing was heated with natural gas. With the new system, both sides of the building used natural gas for heat. Trautwein said that he had under estimated the expense in this category. A motion was made by Bill Merrill and seconded by Jolaine Nielsen to accept the financial reports. This motion passed by roll call vote: Bahr-aye, Nielsen-aye, Merrill-aye, Rambour-aye and Jirka-aye.

Regarding the Director’s Report, Trautwein noted that he continues to work on the Library’s website.

There were no committee reports.

Regarding a report from the Children’s Librarian, Trautwein said that he thought that the 600 chartreuse book bags purchased by the Library Foundation and distributed to the “Summer Reading” participants had been a real bonus for the program. The children are still bringing their books back to the library in the green bags.

Under new business, Trautwein said that the City Council reviewed the department budgets during the evenings of August 2nd and 3rd. The overall increase in the city budget will be 3.9%. Following some discussion, the Council agreed to accept the overall budget as presented.

Regarding bookmobile specifications, Trautwein said that he has not pursued this any further. He said that both Anne Kinnison and Joe Frei, the City Administrator, have cautioned him about going any further on ordering a new vehicle. They are concerned that the city might purchase a new bookmobile and then lose the contract with the county. They are saying that we shouldn’t purchase a new bookmobile unless we have a long-term contract with the county. Trautwein said that he doesn’t want to delay the purchase until the next year’s budget negotiations as the current vehicle is too large for the bookmobile librarian to manage by herself. Trautwein said that he can’t keep the bookmobile driver on the payroll more than three-quarters of the year or he will overspend the budget for the coming year.

Charlie Bahr suggested that we visit with the three County Board members who negotiated with the Library Board committee. He said that he thought we should explain the situation and ask them for their appraisal of how secure a year-by-year contract is with the county supervisors. Bill Merrill said that we should approach the conversation by saying that “We think that the purchase of a new but smaller vehicle is what you expect from the Library Board.” Mr. Merrill said that rather than anticipate what the County Board might do, we should ask them.

Under New Business, Trautwein noted that this meeting is the last meeting for Bill Merrill. Trautwein said that he had made up 30 bookplates to acknowledge the eight years of dedication on the part of Mr. Merrill to library service for city and county residents. Charlie Bahr, the Library Board Chairman, thanked Mr. Merrill for his guidance over the past 8 years.

Trautwein said that he would entertain suggestions for a new board member. Mayor Giebelhaus actually appoints the new board members, but he would be willing to take suggestions from the remaining board members. Trautwein reviewed the names of persons he thought he might recommend. It was decided that he would visit with each of those persons to make certain that each would be willing to become a member should the mayor select him/her.

On the topic of “Library Board Certification”, the Board all agreed that it the Board should work toward the 20 hours of certification. Trautwein said that he could order for viewing a training video for every other library board meeting.



There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.