Minutes Meeting of the
Columbus Public Library Board
August 13, 2009

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Columbus Public Library Board was called to order at 4:30 PM on Thursday, August 13, 2009 by Acting-President Carol Keller. She read aloud and signed the “Certification of Compliance,” regarding the “Open Meeting” law. Other Library Board members in attendance included Sharon Raimondo, Craig Neid, and Joie Taylor. Jim Schaefer was excused. Notice of this meeting was published in advance. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the meeting was open to the public.

The minutes were reviewed. Joie noted that the word “was” should be inserted in one sentence. Craig moved to accept the minutes with that correction. Sharon seconded. The minutes were accepted with no further discussion.

The financial reports were presented. Joie moved to accept the financial reports. Craig seconded. The roll call vote passed as follows: Keller, aye; Raimondo, aye; Neid, aye; and Taylor, aye.

The Director’s Report was discussed. Jill highlighted the 11% increase in circulation over the previous July. Board members noted the staff’s hard work in handling so many extra materials.
During “Committee Reports” Craig Neid, who is on the committee to provide adequate facilities, initiated a discussion of how the floor plan study of the interior of the library may or may not fit in with the larger picture Quality of Life (Q of L) plan and the use of HDR. He plans to talk with the City Administrator about this and report back to the board. Sharon Raimondo asked whether her committee (on improving the visual appearance of the library facility) should restart its work which was put on hold to see how things went with the Q of L initiative. Her committee will wait until Craig reports back. Carol Keller reported that she and Jim Schaefer had completed the Library Director’s annual performance review, and thanked Jill for her work this past year.
There was no Correspondence.
Continuing Education: Craig shared information about a diversity workshop he had participated in, and Carol might have something that qualifies as well. Jill will distribute the information for turning in continuing education activities. The Library Commission will decide what qualifies as continuing education for Board Members.

Sharon Raimondo made a motion to accept the draft of the multi-day event agreement which contained the addition from the City Attorney. Craig seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
The By-Laws of the Columbus Public Library Board were discussed. Joie offered that typos may be corrected without them being brought to and voted on by the Board. The discussion centered around the vagueness in the By-Laws about whether the Library Director referred to as “executive officer” (Article IX, Section 2) should have a vote. Jill said that before a decision is made she will look in the Nebraska statutes and let the Board know whether that is addressed.
After a brief discussion the Board Members voted unanimously to accept the recommendation for changes to the Posters, Displays, and Brochures policy. Craig provided the motion and Joie seconded. There will be no new policy review as usual next meeting because the agenda will be very full.
The final item of business was the Platte County Library Service. The Board issued the following statement:
“After careful deliberation and discussion, The Columbus Public Library Board of Trustees has decided with regret that the Bookmobile will no longer be able to serve the Platte County residents without a Platte County Library Service agreement in place.
The Bookmobile has been operating in good faith since the previous agreement expired at the end of June so as not to interrupt the Summer Reading Program, but can’t resume its schedule for a 3rd consecutive month without an agreement.
The Columbus Public Library will continue during this interim discussion period to allow walk-in service for card-holders who live outside of city limits.”
After the announcement of the Foundation meeting being postponed until at least October, Acting-President Carol Keller declared the meeting adjourned.