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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board - Minutes - 03/08/2001LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES Regular Meeting — March 8, 2001 6:00 p.m. Council Liaison: Michael Byrne Acting Staff Liaison: Francine Purdom (Phone 224-6164) Chairperson: Mary Robertson (Phone:407-7066) A regular meeting of the Library Board was held on March 8, 2001 in the Ben Delatour Room of the Main Library. The following Library Board members were present: Carolyn Haase, Rudy Maes, Mary Robertson, Charles Robles, Joan Scheuerman, and Madeleine Wawro Library Board Member Absent: City Staff Members Present: Friends of the Library Liaison: Lisa Helme Francine Purdom, Michael W. Powers, and Marjorie Teklits Joanna Lambert The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by the Chairperson, Mary Robertson. A motion was made by Rudy Maes to approve the minutes of the January 11, 2001 meeting; Madeleine Wawro seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved. Correspondence Copies of Ed Jakubauskas' resignation from the Library Board and new appointee Joan Scheuerman's application were included with Board packets. Carolyn Haase suggested a letter be sent to Ed from the Board thanking him for his years of dedication and service. Reports/Presentations a. Acting Director — Francine Purdom Francine encouraged Board members to read the Director's Report included in their packets for the most up-to-date information about what is happening at the library. In the interest of responding to requests from the public, staff have decided to reduce the late fees for videos from $1/day to $.25/day and to allow renewals. She explained that 1 the original fine amount and no renewal policy were due to the fact that the library had few videos and often had to borrow them from other facilities. Also, the cost of video: has decreased significantly, allowing the Library to increase its collection. b. Friends of the Library -- Joanna Lambert Joanna reported that the Friends currently have $115,000 in assets and have earmarked $100,000 to purchase something for a new main library. In addition, they have presented the Library with funds for the 2001 children's and young adult Summer Reading Programs ($21,700), Spanish collection ($2,550), footstools ($600), as well as funds for Rocky Mountain Wilderness programs ($4,500) and a digital camera ($845). Francine said thanks to the Friends' funding of the children's summer reading program, this year's theme, "Take Flight... Read," is opening all kinds of exciting possibilities from model airplanes and helicopters, to raptors. Staff are very appreciative of the Friends' efforts in making these programs possible. The Friends will have their mid -winter book sale at Harmony Library from March 9-11 and Board members were invited to participate. Another task the Friends have taken on is the servicing of the area's yellow shelves. Heman Admans will coordinate their efforts. A Friends sponsored program, Victorian Beauty, Ladies' Follies and Gentlemen's Foibles, with Cheryl Miller, self -published author and collector on the Victorian era, is scheduled for next Wednesday at the Main Library. Francine thanked Rudy Maes and Joanna Lambert for representing the Library Board and Friends at Legislative Day, Thursday, February 22nd. Their participation in this year's workshop was very much appreciated by staff. The Friends have once again sponsored the Library's St. Patrick's Day Parade entry on Saturday, March 17. Board members were asked to let Marge know if they would like to participate in this fun event. C. Committee Reports: County/State/National — Carolyn Haase Carolyn's report dated February 81h was included with the Board packets. She also shared copies of a note dated March 71h from Kurt Kastein inviting residents to a March 14' District 4 Meeting to share and discuss important issues for Council over the next two years. Carolyn also shared a flier from The Reclaimers, a non -partisan group of people interested in growth, City government, transportation and the budget. She mentioned various candidates they are endorsing for the upcoming election and that a newspaper article about it is expected. The group welcomes residents to sign up for their mailing list; their web address is www.reclaimfc.org. Carolyn is planning to contact them to find out their position on libraries. Carolyn suggested a thank you letter be sent from the Board to outgoing Council member Mike Byrne for his efforts on behalf of the library and that Library Board members will need to speak with Council candidates about library services. In her memo to Mary Robertson dated February 8, Carolyn recommended the consideration of the Library Board that a new committee be formed to focus attention on the children's, young adults, and parent services offered by the library. She stated that, with her professional background and the need for youth services to be accelerated, she would be a natural match to strengthen Board outreach to this group. Rudy Maes motioned that the committee be formed and that Carolyn act as liaison to children and young adult services; Charles Robles seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved. Mary Robertson asked Carolyn to report on what she would like to accomplish and how she plans to proceed. Carolyn said that she will speak with Brenda Cams and the Children's Lead Librarian and report back to the Board with proposed plans. City Council Relations -- Charles Robles Charles reported that Mayor Martinez would like to speak to the Board at a future meeting, perhaps as early as April. He also said that after the April election, when a new Council is in office, the Board will need to review their Council assignments. Community Public Relations — Mary Robertson Mary found the library changes lives campaign described in an earlier handout from Larry Webber of interest and said it would be fun to interview people to find out what they remember about how libraries changed their lives and write about it in the "Library Focus." She asked the Board if they had any other ideas. Maddy will contact The Coloradoan's Mark Hansen for possible interest in his column. As mentioned at the January meeting, the Board would like someone from the City Attorney's office to speak to them about freedom of speech issues and implications of the Bill requiring filtering. Mary said the Board would like to know what librarians are doing about it and if there is any movement to amend the Bill. Francine said that as of March 15, the "default" will be filtered access, however, customers over 18 years of age may choose to set their desired level of Internet access. Parents or legal guardians may choose the level of access for children under age 18. Rudy volunteered to write a letter for The Coloradoan's "Soapbox" about National Library Week. Mary said that Lisa Helme will be reporting for this committee in the future. d. Report on County Funding -- Mike Powers As the County is unable to reinstate money in this year's budget for library services, a group was formed to explore alternate funding options. The group is attempting to offer different models to see what would work best. In the meantime, the County has been asked to fund a token amount of money so that its population can be counted when defining the library's service area when applying for various grant opportunities. e. New Main Library Funding Options -- Mike Powers Three citizen committees have been formed to head the components of a ballot initiative for anew Performing Arts Complex, Museum expansion and a New Main Library. They are presently considering a combined issue to go before voters in the November 2001 election. The cost for a 100,000 s.f. New Main Library in the downtown area would be $32 million; a new Performing Arts Complex consisting of two theaters, which would provide seating for 2,200 and 400 people, is estimated to cost $40 million; $6 million has been raised by a private group, lowering the amount needed to $34 million. A site has been designated for this project. $8 million is the estimated cost for Museum expansion into the current Main Library, for a total of $74 million. In addition, some money to purchase land for a future library branch in the southeastern part of Fort Collins may be included. In addition, funds to cover Operations and Maintenance for the three projects would amount to approximately $4 million annually. If the package receives voter approval, a 1 /4 cent sales tax increase would run for twenty years. Advantages and disadvantages of bonding are being discussed. Although interest would be an additional expense, construction and other costs would be considerably lower now than in twenty years. The total cost of these projects, including bonding, would be approximately $240 million. The citizens committees have until April 26 to present their initiatives to the City Clerk's office. The April 3 City election will determine the number of signatures (20% of the number of voters) which will have to be collected and submitted by June 26. Mary Robertson, chairperson for the committee for a new main library, said that it will be decided whether or not to combine the three issues by the beginning of April. The committees are planning to have talking points for each project and are organizing volunteers who will solicit signatures at the appropriate time. Mary also said that she will speak to Joanna Lambert to discuss Friends' involvement in the committee's work. The only role City staff can offer in this process is to provide information. There are restrictions which Library Board members must adhere to when acting on behalf of the Board, however, they may participate as individual citizens. • • NEW BUSINESS a. 2002/2003 Budget -- Mike Powers, Francine Purdom Copies of the City Manager's February 14"' memo requesting input from Boards and Commissions for the 2002/03 City Budget Preparation were distributed with Board packets. Francine Purdom described the top three items which will be requested by Library staff: a Library Assistant -Special Services Coordinator, funds to cover hourly staff pay increases, and a Youth Services Librarian. Francine explained that the Library Assistant -Special Services Coordinator is the position that was previously funded by the County; it provides the outreach/homebound services to elderly and disabled City and County residents and handles the coordination of Library volunteers. The Commission on Disabilities has written a letter expressing the importance of this position to the community. In order to attract and retain good hourly employees, hourly circulation and shelving staff were awarded a pay increase in February 2001. At present, there are 67 hourly employees, most of whom are frontline staff who have steady interaction with Library customers. Employing these hourly staff, which represent 19 FTE (Full -Time - Equivalent) positions, instead of classified staff saves the City $353,600. Money that would otherwise be spent on books was reallocated to make this possible. This on -going request would replace those funds for books. Serving youth is a vital part of the Library's mission. With the large increase in the population of young families in the south part of Fort Collins, more library services are needed, especially for the children and young adult library users. A Youth Services Librarian is needed to bridge the two age groups of middle grades and early adolescents and would allow staff to focus on homework help needs. Carolyn Haase felt that the climate is excellent to make this request; the need is great for a Youth Services Librarian. The Board requested to see the complete list of items needed by the Library. Carolyn Haase said that she would like to discuss the need for a Security Officer at the Library at some point. She asked whether or not the Library had staff trained in first aid and if there were any male members who had a military background. Francine said that there are liability issues involved with staff aiding customers with medical problems and that current policy is to dial 911 for assistance. Also, there are few male employees at the Library and none with a military background. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Marjorie Teklits Administrative Secretary