Monthly Meeting
of the
Columbus Public Library Board
August 10, 2006
The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board was
called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, August 10, 2006 by the President of
the Board, Craig Neid. He read and signed the “Certification of Compliance”
regarding the “Open Meeting” law. Other Library Board members present included
Carol Keller and Lynne Rambour. Also in attendance were Brad Hruska, the
Children’s Librarian, Robert Trautwein, Library Director, and Joe Mangiamelli,
City Administrator. Library Board members Jim Schaefer and Jerry Jirka had
notified the Library Director earlier that they could not attend this meeting.
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 July Board meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as
presented with a motion from Lynne Rambour and a second from Carol Keller. The
motion passed by voice vote.
The Library Director distributed the August Financial Reports for the City
Library, the County Library Service, and the Library Foundation. He noted that
August is the 11th month of the 2005-06 budget year. A motion was made by
Carol Keller and seconded by Lynne Rambour to accept the expenditures. The
motion passed by roll call vote: Rambour-aye, Keller-aye and Neid-aye.
The Director’s Report was briefly reviewed.
Under Committee Reports, Trautwein and Keller commented on the first meeting
of a Library Foundation subcommittee. This group of Foundation members, along
with Anne Kinnison, the City’s Finance Officer, and Joe Mangiamelli, the City
Administrator, were charged with drafting an RFP for financial services for
the Library Foundation. Trautwein said that he had been fortunate enough to
have found a recently published RFP for similar services and he used the
majority of that for the first draft. He and Anne Kinnison will be making the
suggested changes to the draft and a bid advertisement. Mrs. Kinnison
suggested that we not only advertise but that we also send out the
solicitation for bids to the local companies which may be interested.
Carol Keller, on a related topic said that she had contacted three people to
learn of their interest in serving of the Library Foundation. Connie Hellbush
expressed an interest.
.
There were no items of Correspondence.
Under Old Business, Trautwein said that the Library’s budget review went well.
He was encouraged with the prospect of adding a part time, 20-hour-a-week
person to work on the second floor two evenings a week and on weekends. An
additional $2,000 was added to the “Library Materials” line item of the
capital improvements part of the budget and the $ 60,000 in CIP monies (from
sales tax) to match the Library Foundation’s $60,000 to renovate the ceiling
in the Children’s Room. There was some discussion about the firmness of the
city’s $60,000 commitment.. Craig Neid, as the President of the Library Board,
was encouraged to write a letter to urge the City Council adopt the budget
with the Children’s Room ceiling renovation improvement. The adoption of the
budget is tentatively set for September 5th.
The next item of discussion was the “Holiday Closing” policy. The policy
statement that Trautwein handed out had been amended to read that the Library
would be open on the Sunday before the Labor Day and Memorial Day Monday
holidays. After some discussion, it was decided to leave the policy as it had
been revised on 1/10/02. The Library will continue with the policy of being
closed on the Sundays of those two holidays. On this policy statement,
Trautwein will indicate that the policy had been “review” on 8/10/06.
Under New Business, Trautwein said that he was advancing too quickly with this
item—the hiring of an architect to write the specifications for the remodeling
project. He did want the Board to understand that what RVW had given us (Space
Enhancement Study) were various alternatives for renovation with cost
estimates for each. As the city budget will be approved prior to the September
Library Board meeting, the Board, at that time, will be able to decide whether
or not to continue the project. If the city commits the match, the Board can
form a committee to draft a proposal for architectural assistance. Neid
reminded the Board that an “enhancement” decision had not yet been made. Once
the Board learns of the City’s commitment, the Board can decide on the
renovation. Neid advised the board to review the RVW study and come to
September’s meeting ready to vote. Mr. Mangiamelli suggested that Craig Neid
might want to narrow the choices to three or so for the Board to decide upon.
A motion to adjourn was made by Lynne Rambour and seconded by Carol Keller.
This motion passed by voice vote.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Trautwein
Library Director
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