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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-18-17 BPL Minutes FinalBozeman Public Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Bozeman Public Library—Board Room Wednesday, October 18th, 2017 Minutes Attendance Board Chair Judy Mathre; Trustees Ron Price, Ken Spencer, John Gallagher; Bozeman Public Library (BPL) Director Susan Gregory; BPL Department Heads Mary Jo Stanislao, Kit Stephenson, Jason Greenwald; Administrative Assistant Lauranna Cossins; Interim City Manager Dennis Taylor; Friends of the Library Vice President Stewart Mohr. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Board Chair Judy Mathre at 4:00pm. Approval of the Minutes Trustee Spencer moved to approve the minutes from the September 20th, 2017 meeting. Trustee Price seconded. The Board voted unanimously to approve the August minutes. Parking Lot Update BPL Director Susan Gregory said that there is no new information on the parking lot project from the City Facilities department since the presentation made to the Library Board at the August 16th, 2017, Board meeting. Board Chair Mathre asked if the other Trustees understood the project that they would be voting on, as the City proposal is very different from the original Western Traffic Institute proposal in 2015. The City Engineering Department recommended elimination of the western sidewalk plan, recommended installing a splitter island at the north circle to route traffic, and would replace the raised crosswalks idea with painted crosswalks. Metal bridges would be constructed over the gravel “dog bones” that run the length of the parking lot for pedestrians to reach the parking lot’s east sidewalk. Construction will begin in spring of 2018. The Library’s Depreciation Fund for capital projects will be used to pay for the project. Chair Mathre noted that the additional ADA parking spaces on the southwest side of the Library are completed. Action Chair Mathre called for a motion. Trustee Price moved to accept the plan as outlined in the August presentation to the Library Board by the City Engineer and Facilities Supervisor. Trustee Gallagher seconded, and the Board voted unanimously to approve. FY2019 CIP Depreciation Fund requests Director Gregory presented the FY19 capital requests for the Library that will be paid for from the Library Depreciation Fund. She said that they are requesting $22,000 to replace the automated window shades on the first floor of the Library; the current ones are malfunctioning and are ten years old. A public color copier is in the request ($10,000) for FY19, as well. New flooring for the Library’s public area is in the CIP for FY20 and an automated conveyor system for the Circulation Department is listed for FY21. The current balance in the fund is $352,503. Gregory will take the request, when approved by the Board, to the City Finance Director and Assistant City Managers to be placed on the City Commission agenda for approval. Trustee Price asked if there were any approved projects in FY18 that are unspent. Gregory said that $40,000 is encumbered for 2 more self-checks for downstairs, $20,000 for task chairs for public and staff, and $90,000 for reconfiguration of existing building space. Action Trustee Gallagher moved to approve the FY19 CIP request. Trustee Spencer seconded, and the Board voted unanimously to approve. Correspondence Gregory shared correspondence from the community. The Library Director received a thank you note from members of the local Namdroling Tibetan Buddhist Center for hosting the sand mandala program in the Library, September 23 – 25th. The event drew a huge crowd of people daily, who watched the creation of the artwork created by visiting monks with fascination. A patron asked where the typewriter was and said he had been told the Library “threw it away”. The staff keeps they typewriter in the back of the second floor and will bring it out for patrons when asked. A patron asked for yoga classes in the evenings. A patron suggested that we turn the panels that hang on the front of the building a different direction. A gentleman asked that the Computer Services staff keep a jar of spare change on the counter for the public to use. The Library received a letter from Montana Governor Steve Bullock congratulating us for meeting all requirements for Public Libraries 2017 Certification. He stated that meeting the standards this year does not come with any state aid due to Senate Bill 261, which omitted state aid to libraries until FY20 due to budget shortfalls. The governor stated his concern over the cuts and his efforts to balance the state budget. Director and Staff Reports Gregory reported that she is on a subcommittee of six people asked by Interim City Manager Dennis Taylor to edit the draft City of Bozeman Strategic Plan. Gregory, Assistant City Manager Chuck Winn, Bozeman Fire Chief Josh Waldo, Finance Director Kristin Donald, Executive Assistant Alicia Kennedy and David Fine from the Economic Development department are working to get the more concise draft ready for presentation to the City Commission on November 6th. Staff Day 2017 was produced by the Bozeman Police Department’s “Run, Lock, Fight” training team. Library staff worked with police officers on how to react to armed intruders or shooters in an active way; this is the same training offered to Bozeman School System staff. It was useful and intense. Most staff reported feeling more empowered to deal effectively with intruders. Gregory reported that Bozeman School Superintendent Rob Watson asked her if there was interest in Bozeman Public Library sharing space with the new west-side high school library. Gregory and Assistant City Manager Chuck Winn met with Watson to get more information. Gregory said that a Library presence on the west side of town would be valuable and is needed but that the Library Board would need to approve the idea and the City would need to be involved. There are pros and cons to consider. More information is needed. The Board agreed that they would be open to talking with the School Superintendent about the concept. The School System plans to break ground on the new high school in the spring. The group talked about other partnerships between public libraries and community non-profits. Interim CM Taylor noted that Billings Community College has partnership with Billings Public Library. School safety and collection development policies would need to be considered. Staff Reports Stephenson reported that she and her staff are in the midst of producing One Book One Bozeman events. The book chosen for this year is Speak, by Louisa Hall. They showed the film Marjorie Prime last night at the Ellen Theater on Main with a panel discussion led by BPL Librarian Beth Boyson. Next week is the project culmination with the author visit. On Wednesday, Ms. Hall will do a creative poetry workshop at the Library, and then that evening serve on a panel at Country Bookshelf with faculty members from Montana State University and Bozeman High School, then return home to New York later in the week. Greenwald reported on the new Library website project. He is leading a group of staff in migrating content from the old website. They are hopeful for a mid-November launch of the new BPL site, which was created by the same group who did the new City of Bozeman website. Dissly stated that she is training the new Volunteer Coordinator, Andrea Davis. Andrea has set a date of December 13th for the Volunteer Holiday party. Dissly is interviewing for a new Information Desk employee. Dissly, the other Dept. Heads and Gregory have all attended training on the new Executime automated timekeeping system in the last week. Dissly is on a committee to plan the Spring Montana Library Association Conference in Bozeman and is working on producing programs. City Reports Interim City Manager Dennis Taylor announced that the new City Manager, Andrea Suratt, will start November 1st. Assistant City Manager Andrea Rosenberry will be at the Library’s Strategic Planning Retreat on October 26th. Friends of the Library Report Friends of the Library Vice-President Stewart Mohr said that, so far this year, Friends have awarded $54,000 to the Library, most of which went to materials for the new Bookmobile. There is approximately $43,000 remaining in their budget. The next FOL Book Sale will be on Nov 10th-12th. The Book Sales typically earn $10,000 - $12,000. The Friends have run out of storage space downstairs, so they are doing pop-up sales in the Library lobby at random times with 3-4 carts of donations. The one last Friday afternoon brought in an amazing amount: they made $830 in two hours. Foundation Director Johnson reported that the Friends, Foundation and Library will have a joint editorial in The Bozeman Chronicle in the first part of November, thanks to FOL Treasurer Kelly Pohl’s idea. Gregory, Johnson and FOL President Pam Henley will write about the successes of the last year, challenges with growth, and how we’re working together to address the Library’s continued success in a rapidly growing community. Johnson said that the Annual Library Foundation Gala on October 7th went extremely well. Held at Riverside Country Club, it drew155 people for an evening of food, wine and fun and grossed $82,000 in donations and ticket sales. After expenses, it’s looking like the net is going to be about $68,000. The red chair raffle, featuring a ski chair donated from Bridger Bowl, sold about $5500 worth of tickets at the Library Foundation office and $2300 worth at the Gala. The Foundation’s emcee for the evening did a cash call at the end of the dinner; the goal was to raise $26,000 to pay for two years of licensing for Lynda.com. This would allow Library patrons to access the online training site and its thousands of classes through the Library website for free, even from home. Gregory talked briefly to the crowd about the powerful impact that such an online service would have for Library patrons and explained that the loss of state aid for two years meant going to the Foundation for the necessary funds. The crowd responded by donating $25, 900 that evening; a Library Foundation Board member donated the remaining $100. Jason Greenwald has ordered it and it will be available to the community soon. Johnson said that we will have a rollout plan for Lynda to promote it to people. She credited the Gala’s success to having a talented emcee, Terry Cunningham, and to having it in the country club, which made the event ambiance more intimate. The Foundation office is doing another end-of-year mailing to 5500 names, and it’s successfully bringing in new donors. Other business Trustee Price asked a question about the monthly budget report. He asked if the operating and maintenance number was in line with the year’s use projections and Gregory replied in the affirmative. Adjournment There being no further business, Board Chair Mathre adjourned the meeting at 5:20pm.