Minutes of the Quarterly
                                                           Meeting of the
                                                  Columbus Library Board
                                                               And the
                                      Platte County Library Advisory Board
                                                       September 9, 2004

The 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, September 9th by the Chairman of the Board, Charlie Bahr. Other Library Board members present include Jolaine Nielsen, Jerry Jirka, and Jim Schaefer. Members of the Platte County Library Advisory Board present included Carol Rosendahl and Carolyn Rohde. Also in attendance were Anne Kinnison, the City’s Finance Officer, Karen Hake, Bookmobile Librarian, and 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.

Jim Schaefer, the newly appointed Board Member, was welcomed to the Board by Mr. Bahr.

A motion was made by Jolaine Nielsen and seconded by Jerry Jirka to excuse the absence of Lynne Rambour. The motion passed by voice vote.

The minutes to the August 12th meeting were reviewed and allowed to stand as submitted with a motion from Jerry Jirka and a second from Jolaine Nielsen. The motion passed by voice vote.

Regarding the financial reports, Trautwein said that September is the last month of the budget year. For the City Library budget, the personnel costs will be within the budget but the “operational” costs will be around 9% over budget. This overage is due mostly to utility costs and insurance costs. Trautwein said that he regrets the overage but this was the first full year for expenses for the new heating and air conditioning system for the building. For the Platte County Library Services budget, Trautwein said that this budget will probably be a bit over on personnel expenses but under in the “operational” portion of the budget.

Trautwein said that by the next Library Board meeting, he should have the ‘actual” budget amounts for the 2003-04 budget year. At that meeting, he will review those sheets with the Library Board.

A motion was made by Julianne Nielsen and seconded by Jerry Jerk to accept the financial reports. This motion passed by roll call vote: Bahr-aye, Nielsen-aye, Jerk-aye, and Schaefer-aye.

Trautwein reviewed his monthly report.

There were no committee reports.

Under Correspondence, Karen Hake, the Bookmobile Librarian, discussed the positive aspects of the new book bags that were handed out to the summer reading participants. Parents as well as children really like them. Mrs. Hake said that she had 570 children enrolled in her summer reading program. For the benefit of Jim Schaefer, the new Library Board member, Mrs. Hake reviewed the bookmobile’s schedule and described a typical day on the road.

Mrs. Hake excused herself.

Under Old Business, the first topic was the budget. Trautwein said that on Tuesday night, the City Council approved the city budget which includes a 6.8 % overall increase in the city library’s budget. For the county part of the budget, the figures will remain the same. He said that he intends on reducing the staff on the bookmobile to just Karen Hake, the Bookmobile Librarian. He plans on doing this between the middle and the latter three-quarters of the new budget year. Larry Nagorski, the bookmobile driver would retire at that time.

Regarding the certification of the Library Board, Trautwein said that he had learned that if any Board Member attends a workshop or other training session related to his/her profession but dealing with topics in common with library management (strategic planning, public relations, board relations, etc.) that training would be applied to the 30 hours needed by the Library Board for certification. Otherwise, Trautwein said that he will continue to show short library-related videos prior to Library Board meetings. These 15 and 20 minute videos will help toward the amount of training time needed for certification.

On the topic of the Bookmobile, Trautwein said that in the last negotiations session with the County Board of Supervisors, he proposed to meet the County’s budget containment by reducing staff and moving to a smaller vehicle which could be staffed by one person. Later, in a meeting with the City Administrator and Anne Kinnison, the City’s Finance Officer, they encourage the Library Director to seek a long term contract with the county. Mrs. Kinnison (in attendance at the Library Board meeting) said she questions the wisdom of the city purchasing a new vehicle for $100,000 toward the end of this fiscal year with no promise that the vehicle will be in service for the coming year. or years. She said that she realizes how difficult it was to negotiate with the County, but believes that before the city would be willing to purchase a new vehicle, it must have some assurance that the vehicle will be used for more than the current fiscal year. Mrs. Kinnison said that the city really needs a five year contract or a renewable contract with some sort of escalating contract. Charlie Bahr asked Mrs. Kinnison her opinion about writing the specifications and seeking the City Council’s approval for going out for bid without any long-term contract with the county. Mrs. Kinnison said that she couldn’t speculate about how the City Council would react. She did say that if the Library Board had a longer term contract, it would improve the likelihood of the City Council approving the specifications. Charlie Bahr said that as the county budget is set for the coming year, he wouldn’t except the county to do anything other than make a “good faith” statement that it plans to continue funding bookmobile service.

Charlie Bahr said that he would work with the Library Director in visiting with the County Board of Supervisors to seek a “good faith” statement for the continuation of a contract for county library service.

Anne Kinnison Excused herself.

There were no items of new business.

A motion to adjourn was made by Jerry Jirka and seconded by Jolaine Nielsen. This motion passed by voice vote.