Estacada Public Library Board of Trustees
Minutes; Draft Copy
May 19th, 2011
Small Conference Room, 1:00 PM
Attending: Malana Ganz, Karen Hardman, Gloria Polzin and Anna Stavinoha. Also attending: Bill Elliott, Library Foundation member Dolly Cooper and Library staff members Michele Kinnamon, Sarah Hibbert, Thea Kuziemski and Barbara Barte.
Absent: Suzanne Mahan, Janet Bowen
Public: None
The meeting was called to order at 1:07 PM
Reading of the Minutes: The Board minutes were read, amendments were offered, and the minutes approved as amended at 1: 10 PM. The vote was unanimous.
Additions to the Agenda: none
Public Input: none
Library Director’s Report: Anna presented the Library statistics to the Board, and the Expense and Revenue Ledger. The numbers are generally up across the board – new patron numbers, holds filled and circulation.
Michele and Jenny presented information on adult and YS programming and outreach, and upcoming events.
Old Business: Revised bylaws and policies were presented. The Board has been working on creating and updating the policies, and Anna gave everyone a copy of these, and there will be copies in the Library.
Lawsuit in Lane County: This was on the agenda just to make sure everyone was familiar with the issue, and to reiterate the rules of open meetings.
Update on staff compensation: Anna included in the packet the part-time staff salaries, and hours worked. This is an area that everyone feels still needs more work.
Update on job descriptions from the Board: Malana said that the Board had not pursued this issue, as there is no room in the current budget. Anna told the Board that she felt that this should be part of her job, and she is willing to work on the job descriptions, as library staff are confused and frustrated by the lack of clear information. The Board agreed, and Anna will bring her findings to the Board.
New Business
Dahlia sale: The dahlia sale has been successful this year, with over $800.00 raised so far. Michele will also take dahlia tubers to the Farmer’s Market library table when she goes in June. There was discussion of ways that the Library can thank Bob Patterson, who generously donates the tubers every spring.
National Labyrinth Day: This is actually World Labyrinth Day. Estacada’s was a celebration of the library labyrinth, with no formal program. People were encouraged to walk and enjoy the labyrinth.
Reliance Connects and the Broadband project: Anna told the Board that Reliance Connects had also obtained a grant, which will prevent Clackamas County from providing access to the fiber by the Library and other City entities. This will not affect the Library, as the LINCC network had already agreed to provide the access from the fiber to the building. The fiber installation will be happening this next fall, rather than the year after.
Foundation meeting news and new process for making requests: There is a new form, which was included in the Board’s packet, for making requests from the Foundation. Dolly Cooper provided information about the form, and the finances of the Foundation. There was discussion on how the Board, and Foundation can have a productive relationship.
Additions of Tualatin and Damascus to the District: Kraig Bartel, the Library’s liaison to the Library District Advisory Committee, reported on the last LDAC meeting. The Tualatin Annexation Agreement changes the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) so it requires a 100% yes vote from the IGA member cities. Currently five of the member city councils have approved the changes for Tualatin, with Estacada not being one of them, due to a lack of quorum at the last Council meeting. The Damascus Annexation Agreement does not amend the IGA so it only requires a 2/3 majority for approval which is also still pending. New business contained two items. The first issue concerned “internal transfers” of library funds distributed by the county: Specifically, Canby, where they are proposing to take approximately 30% of the total distribution to cover the costs the city incurs related to the library. This amounts to more than $200,000.While it was recognized that the city has the right to recoup these expenses; it was felt that the amount was excessive and could lead to the Canby Library not meeting the State Standards and thereby losing all funding. In addition, the LDAC consensus was that the citizens of Clackamas County voted to fund our libraries and if one or more libraries are affected by the internal transfers it harms all of the libraries. To compare, Estacada Library is charged $20,000 by the City for administrative support. This is based on a percentage of the various staff member’s salaries in City Hall.
Secondly, “Blue Bins” have been placed around cities, and counties in Oregon and other states, by the for-profit, Thrift Recycling Management (TRM) under the auspices of the non-profit The Reading Tree. The bins are hurting the donations of used books to libraries and their friends groups across the state. On the side of the bins it states “Books for Charity” which is misleading as TRM actually gets the books initially and sells for profit the top 25% of the books, while 50% are pulped for recycling and the remaining 25% are donated to charity, for the most part through The Reading Tree subsidiary. TRM did $26,000,000.00 in business last year. There was general discussion about educating local businesses in Estacada so that this will not be repeated here. Gloria will work with the Chamber of Commerce on this issue. An editorial in the Estacada News might be helpful also.
Lost and Paid Policy – passed by Director’s Group: Anna told the Board about the Lost and Paid policy that had been passed by the Director’s Group in 2010, and asked if the Board felt they needed to vote on it as well. The Board declined. This policy will be added to the current policies as passed by the Director’s Group.
Kill a Watt Meters are now available to check out: There are now three Kill a Watt meters, which will measure the amount of energy being used by an appliance in one’s home. These are available for patron to check out for two weeks at a time.
Lynne Kamerman request: Lynne Kamerman had sent everyone on the Board a letter suggesting that the Library acquire a DVD from the organization called Enough is Enough, regarding Internet safety. Anna has ordered the item.
Building Updates: Anna told the Board that the building had been having a few issues lately. The Flora Room and interior lobby doors have needed repairs, and there has been an ant invasion. The library has a maintenance plan for the HVAC system, but relies on other companies for various servicing and repair. Gary Gutteridge has been doing minor maintenance also. She will look into finding a building maintenance plan that sets out the plan for maintenance of a public building.
Fifth year library building anniversary celebration: Michele told the Board that since this is the Library building’s fifth anniversary, staff would like to celebrate by having a celebration, possibly an ice cream social and open house. Suggestions were made for music and other ways to plan the celebration.
Display case update: The case is nearly ready, and a new home for it has been located in the Library. It will be prominently placed where two of the online public access terminals for searching the catalog are located. A policy will be needed for use of the new case.
Budget process: Anna asked the Board for information on how this process had been handled in the past. Malana said that the Board and Beth had met to discuss the big picture plans for the forthcoming budget year. This process has been limited the last two years now that the District is in place, and the Library doesn’t get funding for the first half of the Fiscal Year. This has created a need to grow the cash-carry-over budget line to provide as much funding as possible for the first six months of the next FY. Otherwise, the Library has to borrow money from the City, for which it pays interest. Thus, currently there is very little room to work on big budget items.
Fire alarm testing: There will be testing of the fire alarm system on June 3rd, while the library is closed. This is an annual event, and an expensive one, costing over $600.00.
On-call hiring: Sarah, Anna and Michele will be conducting interviews Friday for two on-call positions. One staff member is leaving, and the other on-call person will be moving into her position.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 PM