Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

June 8, 2009

The St. Charles City-County Library District Board of Trustees met at 7:00 pm on Monday, June 8, 2009 at the Library District Administrative Offices in St. Peters, Missouri.

Board Members present:

Board members absent:

Library Staff present:

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

MINUTES

MOTION:  John Thoelke moved to approve the minutes of the May 11 meeting.  Mary Reese seconded.  Motion passed eight affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.

REPORTS

 

Financial Report

Rick Schultz reported the May 2009 financial reports were mailed with the Board Packets.    The District currently has $18.2 million in cash & investments.  Rick Schultz estimated that despite low rates on investments, the overall revenue for the District could exceed budget by about 3%.  A few line items including microform & electronic data and programs/promotional  may exceed budget.   Grants & donations for program/promotional expenses are received as revenue and do not offset expenditures in that line item.  June is traditionally the month when most expenditures are made, but FY09 operations should be under budget.
                John Thoelke noted that rental receipts were down 40%.  Rick Schultz reported that Dance Connection is 3 months behind in rent which usually happens this time of year before they receive recital income.  They have two more years on the current lease.  Carl Sandstedt stated that at some point in the future the space currently occupied by Dance Connection could be used for meeting rooms and offices but the income from the lease is valuable to the District.

Director’s Report

Carl Sandstedt thanked the staff for their efforts to increase District income from various streams outside of tax receipts.  The Board will see more funding from LSTA grants, increased revenues from the Friends Book Fair, and development funds.
                The new HR coordinator is Denise Mandle.  Many excellent applications were received.

Development Report

Kristin Williams provided a written report on Foundation activities.

 

Special Report - Reference Survey Summary
Betty Murr-Deputy Director

Tabled

Qualitative Indicators - Carl Sandstedt-Director

Carl Sandstedt provided an overview of quality of library service measured by the Counting Opinions Survey.  Counting Opinions has been used for 3 years to evaluate customer satisfaction.  The survey is used by a number of libraries in the United States and Canada.  Results for St. Charles City-County Library District show customer satisfaction 8-10% higher than other libraries in areas of library website, phone/fax, restrooms, and security.  The personal safety and access/transportation satisfaction levels were a little lower.

The survey can also be used to compare branches within the District.  Customers are very happy with most branches, especially the South County Branch and McClay Branches.  Corporate Parkway Branch shows improvement.  Express branches also do well.  Overall quality levels are up and the District is headed in the right direction.

Statistical Report

Betty Murr reported the Middendorf-Kredell branch had checked out over a million items by June 6 which is earlier than they hit the million mark last year.  The staff at the branch is working very hard.  District has an 8% increase in circulation.  The June statistics report will include circulation of downloadable media.

Denise Ulett, the Information Resource Manager for Consumer Health and Government Documents reported on the progress of the Consumer Health services in the past year.  Denise is a member of the Healthy Communities, Library Foundation, and Achieve O’Fallon boards.  Denise reported that IRMs may report to the Board each month.  John Thoelke suggested a written report.

Activities Report

Maggie Preiss announced

OLD BUSINESS

09-04 South County Branch Replacement

(Formal Agenda)
Sara Nielsen reported the Town of Augusta submitted a request for bids for the bonds that was due June 12.  The Town will have a special meeting on June 15 to select the bidder.  May have the new building complete as early as end of October.

09-30 Spencer Road Branch Replacement

(Formal Agenda)
Jim Brown presented a report on the status of the Spencer Road Branch replacement project.  Staff met with Kevin Harms of Cornerstone Architecture, Inc.  The branch will most likely be two stories, with most of the library collection and services located on the 1st floor.  The 2nd floor would house the Houck Center, public access computers, staff areas and offices, and community meeting rooms.  The preliminary step in the design process is creation of a bubble diagram that shows adjacencies and large areas of collection and services.  The staff is comfortable with the projected size of the building which may be closer to 55,000 sq ft.  At this point the timeline is to bid out the project in mid-November, review submissions, sign contract and begin the project in late 2009 or early 2010.  The first step will be demolition of the NPDC in January.  Jim Brown reported the project is moving along as planned at this point.

Carl Sandstedt reported the $158,871.50 contract with Cornerstone Architecture for architectural services was being reviewed by Library District attorneys.  Carl Sandstedt stated that the bulk of the architectural services contract would be for production of plan sets.  He asked the Board to approve the contract contingent on the legal review and e-verification.

The Board had additional questions regarding the plans for the library, size of the building, configuration of the exterior, and building site.  Carl Sandstedt stated regular reports would be made to the Board as conceptual designs and details for the floor plan, library amenities, site, and overall design of the building were developed.  While multiple options for the building are not part of the proposed contract, the Board controls release of Capital Funds for each phase of the project and will need to be informed before making decisions.  Jim Brown stated the architect had shared one vision that would be a building was similar to some of the Prairie Style Frank Lloyd Wright designs with large overhanging eaves and the building would transition nicely into the surrounding residential area.  There would be a central corridor of approximately 3000 sq ft with a portion being an atrium open to the 2nd floor.  Two wings of about 24,000 sq ft would be angled on either side of the central corridor.  In order for the building to be located on the current site, accommodate sufficient parking, minimize grading, provide two level grade entrances and allow the Spencer Road Branch to remain open during construction, the building would need to be angled and partially located where the current NPDC sits and angle towards the lake.  There would be green space planned to soften the building and parking areas.  The selected architect has a good working relationship with the City of St. Peters as they also have planning and zoning criteria that will need to be met.                  

MOTION:  Greg Dohrman moved to approve transferring up to $159,000 from capital project funds to the general operating budget to cover the contract for architectural services of Cornerstone Architectural Inc for the Spencer Road replacement project, pending legal opinion and any changes recommended by Library Disrict attorneys.  Jerry Cook seconded.  Motion passed eight affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.

The initial payment to the architect will be 10% of the total contract or $15,887.15.

09-65 Director Search Committee

(Preliminary Agenda)
The committee met in May and decided to secure the services of a professional search firm to fill the position of Library Director after the current Director’s retirement.  The committee will meet again in November to develop a request for qualifications for a firm.  The committee asked that $10,000 be added to the fy10 budget for initial expenses if needed.
                Carl Sandstedt expressed concern that investing in a professional search firm would negatively impact the option of selecting a qualified internal candidate or qualified candidate that might not have been recommended by the professional search firm.  Greg Dohrman responded that the Board would insure the investment would be well spent.  Jerry Cook reported that the pros and cons of using a professional firm had been thoroughly discussed and all committee members were in agreement that securing the services of a professional search firm would be the best investment in finding the right person for the community.

NEW BUSINESS

09-70 FY10 Budget Markup- Operations, Final Adjustments & Passage

 (Formal Agenda)
Rick Schultz presented the Operations portion of the fy10 budget that was not previously presented to the Board and the final figures for general operations, fy09 carryover, and buildings and capital projects.  

The proposed fy10 Budget includes:
Personnel $9,239,694
Materials $3,147,848
Operations $2,455,807
T&T $542,111
Fy09 Carryover $35,000
Buildings & Capital Projects $3,975,000
Total $19,395,460

The carry over funds are for emergency replacement of a delivery van if needed.  Funds for the South County Branch, Library Express at WingHaven, and Spencer Road Branch are included in Buildings and Capital Projects and require Board approval for release of funds.  Major areas of change in the Operations budget not previously presented to the Board are the increase in the Programs & Promotionals Budget.  Many of those costs are covered by grants which are reported in revenues and do not offset expenses.  Increases were also made in Contracted services, and buildings and grounds.   With the construction of the Spencer Road Branch, the reserves will be reduced to approximately $13.4 million at the end of fy10.

The tax rate to support the fy10 budget will not be adopted by the Board until the August 2009 meeting.

MOTION:  John Thoelke moved to table adoption of the fy10 budget until policy issues that could impact the budget were resolved.  Mary Reese seconded.    Motion passed eight affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.

09-71 Policy #C257 Non-Reservable Materials

(Formal Agenda)
Betty Murr discussed the features of a new collection the District would like to add in branches.  The non-reservable collection would be a limited browsing collection that includes popular, high-demand items.  The purpose of the collection is to attract customers to branches.  The collections usually have shorter loan periods, higher fine rates and are not reservable or renewable.  She reported that the District hoped to launch the collection in mid to late July.  A policy outlining fines, loan periods and other limitations for the non-reservable collection was presented to the Board. 

MOTION:  Mary Reese moved to adopt Policy C#257 for Non-Reservable Collections.  Myra Crook seconded.  Motion passed eight affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.

09-72 Policy #E512 Salary Schedule

(Formal Agenda)
The proposed policy reflects a 2.5% increase effective July 1, 2009.

MOTION:  John Thoelke moved that Policy #E512 Salary Schedule be adopted as presented effective July 1, 2009.  Greg Dohrman seconded.  Motion passed eight affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.

09-73 Policy #F032 Travel

(Formal Agenda)
Carl Sandstedt recommended that Policy #F032 Travel be revised to reflect decrease in reimbursement from $.48 per mile to $.445 per mile for library employees using personal vehicles for library business.  No motion was made by the Board to change the current policy and rate of reimbursement for mileage.  Carl Sandstedt stated by retaining the rate of mileage reimbursement, the Travel, Training & Dues budget as proposed could possibly exceed budget a bit in fy10.

 

09-70 FY10 Budget Markup- Operations, Final Adjustments & Passage

 (Formal Agenda)
This agenda item was tabled earlier in the meeting.  After discussion and formal action on agenda items related to the budget, the Board took up the tabled FY10 Budget Markup agenda item.

MOTION:  John Thoelke moved the FY10 Budget be approved as presented.  Debbie Haupt seconded.  Motion passed eight affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.

MOTION:  Mary Reese moved to adjourn.  Myra Crook seconded.  Motion passed eight affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, one absent.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted
Margaret A. Preiss, Acting Recording Secretary

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