Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

September 14, 2009

The St. Charles City-County Library District Board of Trustees met at 7:00 pm on Monday, September 14, 2009 at the Deer Run Branch, 1300 North Main St., O’Fallon, Missouri, 63366.

Board Members present:

• Mr. Gary Heggs
• Mr. Greg Dohrman
• Ms Myra Crook
• Mr. John Thoelke
• Ms. Debbie Haupt
• Ms. Heidi Lowery

Board Members absent:

• Ms. Lisa Pelikan
• Dr. Jerry Cook
• Ms. Mary Reese

Library Staff present:

• Mr. Carl Sandstedt, Director
• Ms. Betty Murr, Deputy Director
• Ms. Denise Mandle, Human Resources Coordinator
• Mr. Richard Schultz, Coordinator of Finance and Support Services
• Mr. Frank Noto, IT Coordinator
• Ms. Kristin Williams, Planning and Development Coordinator
• Ms. Maggie Preiss, Children’s Resources and Marketing Coordinator
• Mr. Jim Brown, Branch Manager, Spencer Road
• Ms. Ann King, Branch Manager, Kathryn Linnemann
• Ms. Pat Kern, Branch Manager, Middendorf-Kredell
• Ms. Diana Tucker, Branch Manager, Corporate Parkway
• Ms. Keri Cascio, Branch Manager, Kisker Road
• Mr. Tim Deghelder, Branch Manager, Deer Run
• Ms. Martha Radginski, Branch Manager, McClay Road
• Mr. Jim Rhodes, Information Resource Manager—Local History and Genealogy

President Greg Dohrman called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Five members responded to roll call.  Mr. Dohrman opened the floor for public comments.  No requests for time were received.

MINUTES

MOTION: Mr. Heggs moved to approve the minutes of the August 10th meeting.  Ms. Crook seconded.  Motion passed five affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, four absent.

Mr. John Thoelke arrived at 7:09 p.m.

REPORTS

Financial Report

Mr. Schultz indicated that two months into the new fiscal year, there is not a lot to report.  Here are a few of the highlights:

• Cash and investments on hand at the end of the month is $14.5 million.
• The official tax rate has been set at $0.2064 instead of the Board approved rate of $0.2100.  This official rate is the same as in 2005.
• Budgeted expenditures are still budgeted well below revenues, even with the lower tax rate.
• July is traditionally one of the most expensive months for the district; however this year, expenditures will be greater in the last six months of the year because of the Spencer Road project.

Director’s Report

In the interest of time, Mr. Sandstedt did not expound on the information in the Director’s Hotline.  He did, however, take this opportunity to acknowledge Ms. Lowery’s resignation, and thanked her for her service on the Board of Trustees.  Ms. Lowery is relocating to the Alexandria, Virginia area due to a new job opportunity for her husband.  She, too, took this opportunity to express her thanks to the staff and Board Members as well as communicating how much she enjoyed serving on the Board of Trustees of the St. Charles City-County Library District.

 

Branch Manager’s Report
Tim Deghelder, Branch Manager, Deer Run

Mr. Deghelder welcomed everyone to the Deer Run branch, and invited staff and Board Members to take a look around.  Deer Run has a new Young Adult area and some additional Wi-Fi seating.  It is challenging to make changes because once you move one thing, you have to move something else to make room due to the fact that the building is not getting any larger!  Mr. Deghelder’s strategic plan for the branch includes downsizing the reference area and relocating it closer to the front door in order to encourage personal interaction with the staff and customers.  Once that task is complete, he would like to move around some shelving in order to free up space for additional seating.
 

Special Report —Patron Statistics
Betty Murr, Deputy Director

Ms. Murr reviewed the Patron Usage Statistics packet sent to each trustee’s home.  It is important to note that for reporting purposes, libraries utilize a 3-year roll, that is an average of the three most recent fiscal years.

• Report A is “Total Active Cardholders”, by Patron Type.  The district currently has 102,537 active cardholders.
• Report B is “Total Active Cardholders”, by Branch Used.  For FY09, of the 102,537 active cardholders, 54.64% used only one branch.
• Report C is “Total Active Cardholders”, versus New Cardholders and Population.  The important takeaway from this chart is that 157,281 cardholders used the library at least once in the past 3 fiscal years (3 year roll), and at least 197,673 cardholders used the library at least once in the past 5 fiscal years (5 year roll).
• Report D is the “Collection Agency Fiscal Year Summary”.  The district has a return rate of 72.24% on total dollars received and materials returned.  

Mr. Thoelke asked for clarification regarding the rolling, or combined, average on the figures used for statistical reporting.  If a person visits a library only one time in one of the fiscal years included in the statistic, then they are only counted once?  Ms. Murr confirmed.  There were no additional questions at this time.

 

Special Report—Development
Kristin Williams, Planning and Development Coordinator

Ms. Williams referenced the handout in the Handout Folder passed out at tonight’s meeting.  She updated the Board members on Foundation activities:

• Capital Campaign:  working with Kevin Harms from Cornerstone to create opportunities for a brick campaign at Spencer.  Also, Ms. Williams is working with Denise Liebel from the Community Council on coordinating an approach for naming rights in the common areas.
• Imagine Campaign: $16,696 confirmed donations and $4950 pending.  These totals leave a gap of $3354 which the Foundation will continue to solicit district vendors and research additional grant opportunities.
• Grant Funding:  We received $3369 for Excellence in Library Service for Merchandising Workshop.  The workshop is at the Kathryn Linnemann branch on Friday, October 23.  Unfortunately, we were denied a grant from USBancorp for $3500 for the Imagine Campaign.  Ms. Williams is in the process of researching additional grant possibilities.

Mark your Calendars with the following dates:

• Art Uncorked…An Evening of Grape Expectations.  This event is on October 17, 2009, 7-10 pm, at Kathryn LInnemann.
• The Second Annual Library Legends Recognition Event is on November 6, 7-9 pm, at Kathryn Linnemann.  This event will honor Dale Rollings of Rollings & Shaw, the District’s Attorney.
• Holiday Blues ELA Social is on Saturday, December 5, 2009, 6-9 pm, at Java G’s.  The event will feature Bag Lunch Blues Band.

Ms. Williams also included a flyer for the Art Uncorked event as well as a registration flyer for that event.

Special Report—Local History and Genealogy,
Jim Rhodes, Information Resource Manager

Unfortunately last month, Mr. Rhodes was unable to attend the Board meeting due to illness.  Therefore, his report was distributed during the meeting in August.   

 

Statistics - Betty Murr, Deputy Director

Once again, our monthly circulation and gate count statistics are astounding!  The figures included in these statistics include some of the Summer Reading Program circulations.  Here are a few of the highlights:

• Circulation year-to-date has increased 13.45%.
• Gate count year-to-date is at a 17.25% increase.
• Middendorf-Kredell ended August at 96,025 in circulation!
• Prior to the expansion, Kathryn Linnemann was at about 50,000/month in circulation.  This month, circulation ended at 71,201.

 

Activities Report
Maggie Preiss, Children ’s Resources and Marketing

In the Board packet handouts distributed this evening, Ms. Preiss included a report with Community Events, Workshops & Training, and Upcoming Author & Special Book Events.  The activities take place within the community as well as our own branches of the library.  Also included with the report are the Fall Children’s, Adult, and Teen programs and the Partners in Health program series.

OLD BUSINESS
Formal Agenda

 

10-01 South County Branch Replacement

There is nothing new to report at this time.  Mr. Dohrman commented that he is planning a visit to Augusta on Thursday afternoon.

10-02 Spencer Road Branch Replacement

Jim Brown, Branch Manager at Spencer Road, brought a large version of the drawings included in the Board packet of the artist’s rendering of the new Spencer Road branch.  The construction estimate at this time is approximately $100 per square foot, or a little bit over $100.  It is important to note that this is strictly an estimate.  Also important to note, the average new library construction throughout the country is $300 per square foot!

Preliminary Agenda

10-03 Director Search Committee

There is nothing new to report at this time.  Ms. Crook did announce a Search Committee Meeting on Tuesday, September 22.  The meeting will be an information session with Dan Bradbury.

NEW BUSINESS
Consent Agenda

10-04 Off Site Storage

Mr. Schultz (Coordinator of Finance) and Ms. Murr (Deputy Director) have a meeting on Wednesday, September 16.  Mr. Schultz is considering a new angle with the current tenant at the Administrative Office building, Dance Connection.  Currently, Dance Connection pays $9 per square foot for rent.  According to a teacher who is leaving Dance Connection to teach her own classes, there are spaces available for rent at $4.50 per square foot.  The possibility remains that we could renegotiate a lower rent in exchange for some additional space, which may eliminate our need for outside storage, or at least as much outside storage.  Mr. Heggs proposed that this might be the perfect opportunity to do something like Mr. Schultz mentioned. 

10-04 Policy #G060.5 Professional Services-Architectural, Engineering, and Land Surveying

This policy is strictly a quote of the law as it exists today.

10-05 Policy #C256 Meeting Room Policy

The changes sought to this policy are that the meeting rooms can be reserved up to 30 days in advance and are limited to only one reservation per 30 days.  This change is needed in order for the new Events software to work correctly.

MOTION:  Mr. Thoelke moved to approve the Consent Agenda.  Ms. Crook seconded.  Motion passed six affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, and three absent.

MOTION:  Ms. Crook moved to adjourn.  Mr. Heggs seconded.  Motion passed six affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, and three absent.

The meeting adjourned at 8:14 pm.

Respectfully submitted
April C. Wootten
Recording Secretary