Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

January 14, 2008

The St. Charles City-County Library District Board of Trustees met at 7:00 pm on Monday, January 14, 2008 at the Administrative Offices in St. Peters, MIssouri. 

Board Members present:

Board member absent:

 

Library Staff present:

 

President Gary Heggs called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Seven members responded to roll call.  Mr. Heggs opened the floor for public comments.  No requests for time were received. 
 

MINUTES

MOTION:  Mr. Thoelke moved to approve the minutes of the December 10, 2007 meeting.  Ms Crook seconded.  Motion passed seven affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent. 

REPORTS

Financial Report

Mr. Schultz reported the December financial reports had been mailed with the Board Packets.  Interest rates on investments have not improved, and the highest rate continues to be on Certificates of Deposit.  A list of CDs purchased was included in the printed Financial Report.   Mr. Schultz expects to receive $12 million from December, 2007 tax collections in January.  The amount received in December, 2007 from November collections was 40% below December 2006 receipts.  District currently has $8.15 million in cash & investments including $1 million for Spencer Road project seed money.  Three separate line items (Public Employees Deferred Compensation, Periodicals and Electric Utilities) may exceed line item budgets.

Mr. Heggs inquired why expenditures on operations are so far under budget.  Mr. Schultz reported that the operations budget includes reserve funds for maintenance and repairs to vehicles, buildings & grounds so the use of the budget was often related to weather and repair or replacement of costly equipment.

The Board inquired if the District needed to have a plan if the current levels of County assessment decrease due to the slowdown in the housing market & situation with the mortgage crisis.  Ms. Crook reported that the Assessor’s Office was expecting to roll back assessments in 2009.  Rolling back assessments could affect Library District income.  Mr. Sandstedt reported that theoretically the Library District could roll its tax back up to the 26¢ ceiling to meet operational needs; however, the State Legislature is currently dealing with some assessment and taxing issues due to problems in St. Louis County so this is something to track with local legislators.

Mr. Thoelke asked for information regarding the $24,057.62 paid for the sick leave recognition program.  Staff explained that the sick leave recognition program was in place to reward employees for not using sick leave each quarter of the year and reaching the sick leave maximum.  Employees are not paid for unused sick leave when they leave the District.  The District encourages staff to save sick leave for catastrophic illnesses. 

Director’s Report

Mr. Sandstedt introduced Sara Nielsen, the new Manager of Community Branches and Adult Programs.  Sara was the Director of the Washington Public Library.  He announced that Sara had already met with citizens in Augusta and was working on new types of adult programs to bring recognition to the District.

Mr. Sandstedt invited the Board to attend the Consumer Health Information dedication on March 14 at 7:30 am. 

Mr. Sandstedt reported that he was trying to set up a meeting with McEagle to determine their plans to handle the loss of the grocery/convenience store in the Boardwalk Marketplace.  Although the circulation of the Library Express at WingHaven is what he expected, he is concerned with the viability of the area.  McEagle has not developed the area as they originally planned.  He is concerned that with fewer tenants, maintenance costs will skyrocket. 

Special Report - Downloadable Audio Books from OverDrive

Betty Murr, Deputy Director

Tim DeGhelder, Kisker Road Branch Manager

Mr. DeGhelder described how the downloadable audio books from the library website would work.  Ms Murr explained the policies associated with using the downloadable audio books.  Mr. Sandstedt stated he felt that downloadable audio was a very important service to offer and the future would bring additional downloadable formats. Offering downloadable materials is a savings in staff time and shelf space and provides better service for library customers.  The service will be available to library customers beginning February 1.

Mr. Thoelke asked about the cost of the new service.  Ms Murr reported $70,000 had been budgeted in fy08.  For the first four years, the annual fee for the service would be $21,000.  Costs for the downloadable titles are averaging about $30 each.  The District plans to begin the service with approximately 1000 titles.

Mr. Heggs asked how long it takes to download books.  Mr. DeGhelder reported that with high-speed Internet access, it could take as little as 3 minutes depending on the length of the book.  Ms Murr reported the circulation statistics for downloadable audio books would be added to the LISTEN statistics.  Mr. DeGhelder stated that the District would still be purchasing books on CD for the collection. 

Special Report - Reciprocity and Interlibrary Loan Usage Statistics

Audrey Bangert, IT Coordinator

Betty Murr, Deputy Director

Ms Bangert reported on the use and cost of Reciprocity with St. Louis area libraries. Invoices for net users are issued once a year.  In 2006, St. Charles County residents checked out 78,013 items from St. Louis County Library.  St. Louis County residents checked out 46,006 items from St. Charles City-County Library.  In 2006, St. Louis County Library raised the reciprocity fee from 25¢ to 50¢ so the total cost for St. Charles City-County Library District as the net borrower was $16,003.50.   Total payment to St. Louis Public Library was $1240.25.  Total payment to Municipal Libraries was $102.75.

The contract for payment on long overdue materials was dropped with St. Louis County Library in 2004.  The total amount paid to St. Louis Public and the Municipal Libraries was $654.20.

The contract with St. Louis County Library was negotiated for 2006 and 2007.  Ms Murr reported that the rates would be the same in 2008.  Changes cannot be made without 60 days notice.  Mr. Sandstedt commented that with the change in Directors at some of the participating libraries and the complexities of tracking the information, the new Directors are interested in eliminating the cost per circulation for reciprocity.  A meeting will be set up in the near future.

Ms. Murr presented the Interlibrary Loan Statistics.  The St. Charles City-County Library district loans more materials to other libraries than it borrows.  In fy07 the District received 7710 requests and filled 2334 of those requests for materials.  The Library District requested 1902 items from other libraries and 1634 of those requests were filled.  All requests for ILL from library customers are mediated by staff so the number requested is somewhat controlled.

Mr. Heggs asked about digitizing some of the local history and unique collections.  Ms King reported that the department has an ongoing project to digitize everything that is not restricted by copyright.  The District would also like to work with local Historical Societies to digitize their materials.  The Library District has purchased microfilm from the State Archives which microfilms materials of interest to local historians.  The Library District does not have an archival collection which requires special preservation procedures.  The Library District has a good relation with local Historical Societies and the Genealogical Society.  Judy Brown is working on her Certified Genealogist Certificate. 

Mr. Thoelke asked about the cost of Interlibrary loans.  Ms Murr reported there is occasionally a fee for materials that is passed on to library customers.  She explained that with the delivery system in Missouri, there is not a charge to send materials between most libraries. 

Special Report - Update on Kathryn Linnemann Construction.

Ann King, Branch Manager

Ms King shared photos of the progress on the building.  As weather permits, builders are installing masonry on the expansion; the new brick seems to match the old brick fairly well.  The interior of the old building has been totally emptied.  Builders hoped to start on drywall.  The wall between the old building and expansion is being removed.  Before the project is completed, the parking lot will be re-graded to deal with drainage issues.

Ms.  Stump reported she had visited the temporary site at Blackhurst Elementary.   She thought the signage at the branch & temporary site was explicit, and she stated the customers seemed very happy with the service.  Mr. Heggs asked if the project was on schedule, and Ms King reported that the contractor was a little behind but planned to catch up. 

Statistical Report

Ms. Murr pointed out that the addition of branches as well as the closing of branches for expansion have an impact on year-to-year circulation comparisons.  McClay and Spencer Road Branches have seen an increase in use by Kathryn Linnemann customers especially for public access computers.  Fy08 circulation is up 19.83% over fy07.  Approximately 25% of circulation is from online renewals. 

Activities Report

Ms Preiss announced

 

 

 

CONSENT AGENDA

08-34 Policy #G009-Code of Ethics Disclosure.

State-mandated policy that is re-adopted at least every two years. 

MOTION:  Mr. Dohrmann moved to approve the consent agenda.  Ms. Reed seconded.  Motion passed seven affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent. 

FORMAL AGENDA

08-28 Policy #A048-Bylaws of the Board of Trustees

A copy of the Bylaws with revisions from the December meeting was included in the packet.  Mr. Dohrman asked that section 3.9 be revised to reflect the suggestion of the Board that members notify the Administrative Office if they could not attend a regularly scheduled meeting. 

MOTION:  Ms. Stump moved the Bylaws be tabled for another month to allow adequate time thoroughly review the changes.  Mr. Dohrman seconded.  Motion passed seven affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.  
 

08-29 Policy #A112-Order of Business

08-30 Policy #A128-Time and Place of Regular Meetings 

MOTION:  Mr. Thoelke moved that formal agenda items Policy #A112 Order of Business, and Policy #A128 Time and Place of Regular Meetings be tabled for another month to allow review of the policies.  Mr. Dohrmann seconded.   Motion passed seven affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent. 

08-35 St. Charles City-County Library District Technology Plan

Ms Bangert reviewed the Technology Plan which must be approved by the State Library before the District can file the forms to receive eRate funds.  The eRate is paid from the Universal Service fees collected on bills to consumers.  In the past the District has collected about $60,000 a year through eRate reimbursement for technology and telecommunications costs.

The Technology Plan must be submitted to the State Library before March 1.  The State Library reviews the plans and either approves or asks for revisions.  The process must be completed by July 1.

Ms. Bangert pointed out a few features in the new Technology Plan.  The Plan includes three broad goals: maintain & improve existing technology, investigate, evaluate & pilot emerging technologies, and promote staff and customer awareness of existing and new technologies.  Strategies for reaching each goal were outlined in the report.  The plan also includes an inventory of hardware, a needs assessment, plans for training, 3 year estimated budget to reflect the District’s commitment to allocating funds to technology, and an evaluation plan. 

MOTION:  Ms Stump moved to adopt the St. Charles City-County Library District Technology Plan for July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2011 as presented.  Mr. Thoelke seconded.   Motion passed seven affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent. 

Other Business

Board members reported that the Board packets which had been mailed through the Post Office arrived on time and in good condition. 

Mr. Heggs asked if library staff continued to monitor the Counting Opinions comments from library customers.  Ms. Murr reported that each branch manager regularly reviews the comments for their branch.  Mr. Sandstedt reported that the District plans to respond to customer comments as well. 

MOTION:  Ms Crook moved to adjourn.  Ms. Reed seconded.   Motion passed seven affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent. 

The meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Margaret A. Preiss

Acting Recording Secretary

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