Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting 09/17/2015Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting September 17, 2015 The Ames Public Library (APL) Board of Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, September 17, 2015 in the Dale H. Ross Board Room, Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Avenue, with Acker, Bradley, Briese, Butler, Campbell, Linch, Rohret, and Stow present. Manus was excused. Library Director Carey and Ames Public Library Friends Foundation (APLFF) President Jon Sargent were also in attendance. Call to Order: Board President Acker called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Unfinished Business: Acker invited discussion on the motion made in August to approve the minutes of July 16, 2015. Bradley said she felt the revised minutes captured the rainbow banner discussion well. Vote on Motion: 7-0. Motion approved unanimously. Consent Agenda Moved by Stow, seconded by Rohret, to adopt a resolution approving the following items on the consent agenda: 1) Donations a) From Catherine Gilmore .................................................................................... $25.00 b) From Gerald Smith in memory of Wilson Goodwin ......................................... $20.00 c) From Tom & Susan Harrington in memory of Mary Jo Vivian ...................... $100.00 d) Lora & Russ Talbot .... new autographed copy of Seasons of Iowa State University 2) Minutes of the regular meeting of August 20, 2015 3) Payment of Claims 8/1/2015 – 8/31/2015 (additional FY15 accruals) 4) Payment of Claims 8/1/2015 – 8/31/2015 Vote on Motion: 7-0. Approved unanimously; resolution adopted. Public Forum: None. Financial Reports: Linch said the committee was comfortable with the library’s financial management. He noted that approximately 75% of the general fund was spent on personnel and benefits. Briese added that equipment in the new building was under first-year warranty last year, so maintenance costs are a big thing on the horizon this year and it should be expected that non-personnel costs will continue to rise. APLFF Report: Stow said the Board of Directors met on September 10. The Development Director advised the board that Greater Iowa Credit Union will be giving $6,000 over the next three years and is involved in conversations about a possible financial literacy partnership. The Teen Advisory Group (TAG) is well prepared for its Zombie 5K fundraiser on Saturday. The Sales Committee raised $4,000 through Literary Grounds, online, and beverage sales in August. Book sales are scheduled on the weekends of September 25-27 and October 9-12, the annual fundraiser will take place in November and December, and there is discussion about a possible fundraising event in January. Being invited to comment, Sargent spoke highly of the APLFF volunteer directors, the energy the group has, and the exciting ideas that are being proposed. Art Committee Report: No report. Acker said a proposed policy appears later on the agenda. 2 Strategic Planning Committee Report: Carey said she will meet with a representative of STATCOM at ISU this week to review survey questions, which she will then send to the Board. Work with focus groups is going on and Jamie LaRue is available throughout November to work with the staff and board. It was agreed that a weekend date should be established. Sargent remarked that the relationship between the APL and APLFF Boards primarily occurs between their representatives and Carey and said he wasn’t sure whether or not there should be a more robust interaction, possibly even joint strategy sessions. Acker said that that could be considered in conjunction with the strategic planning sessions. Administrative Staff Report: Carey provided the following updates: • The City Attorney indicated that she will have an opinion by next month on whether a closed session may be held to discuss the Director’s Master of Library Science requirement. It would also be possible for the Director Evaluation Committee or the Executive Committee to discuss the matter with Carey. • Staff celebrated completing the first year in the building with cake in the break room. • The 2015 Iowa Library Association Conference will be held in Des Moines October 14- 16 and trustees are encouraged to attend. Carey said the Library would pay for registration and could also make the arrangements, if anyone wishes to go. • An official Statement of Concern was received from a library user who objected to a book she found in the New Arrivals section. Although Carey said she is highly supportive of intellectual freedom, she agreed that the book should be withdrawn. She explained that the book had been purchased at the request of another library user and was cataloged with medical texts; however, it had not been reviewed by any of the Selectors’ regular sources; its citations had come from blogs; and it offered personal opinion and invective, rather than scholarly research. Carey said the complainant is pleased with the decision and the Selectors are working to establish a procedure for evaluating self- published materials. The book was passed around the table for the trustees to peruse. • An article about the driver’s license kiosk at APL that included a short interview with Mary Logsdon appeared in the most recent issue of American Libraries magazine. • An anonymous private foundation is sponsoring the Small Talk Project that Carey has been working on and will be offering APLFF a contract. She said APLFF will be the fiscal steward, but a detailed agreement with the Library is also required since APL will conduct the activities. Carey said she planned to work with attorney Jere Maddux and asked if the Board was comfortable with her moving forward. No objections were raised. Carey said the contract would be for $435,000 over the next three years and other grant applications are dependent upon receipt of this one. • Several staff changes took place recently—the new half-time clerk position was filled and two half-time employees moved to three-quarter time after another half-time employee left. • Maryann Mori, a consultant with the State Library, held a training session for the Story County Library Association which Carey and Rohret attended. Carey said that Mori had offered to review the trustee handbook with the APL Board, if there is interest. • A plan to make Project Smyles more sustainable is being put into place which will alter who is involved without altering the end product. Carey said the new model will cost $30,000 to $35,000 per year, as compared to previous years in which costs rose to as high as $70,000. Carey said staff members who are paid through the operational budget are being reassigned to serve within the library or do other outreach projects. She expects the transition to be complete by first of the next calendar year. 3 • Carey said she is pleased with the work TAG is doing with the Zombie Run. She said the idea was to focus the teens on service learning this year. The run was their proposal and she feels they are doing a good job. Building Project Update: Carey said that Kate Michaud from MSR did the final walk-through of the building with a representative from Samuels Group. Michaud is pleased with quality of work and there are just a few items left to be dealt with, all of which are listed on warranty reports that the Samuels Group is working on. Carey also reported that the Samuels Group contract was closed out by City Council, so retainage will be released and the subcontractors paid this month. Carey said she hopes to know more about the planting of trees in the plaza by the end of the week; she is still working with the Purchasing Division to determine what to do about outstanding custom furniture items; and the commissioning agent is working on the final parts of the application for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Digital Displays Carey stated that the bid for the Library’s digital displays was won by Mechdyne Corporation of Marshalltown and the contract was awarded by City Council. Staff worked with a consultant, Matt Darbyshire, of Iowa State University, who provided lists of recommended products. Potential vendors were allowed to bid on the items specified or to substitute alternates that offered greater functionality. Carey said that it has been agreed with Mechdyne that there may be some downward modification in installation costs as the firm assesses the actual situation in each room. When asked if it would be easy to swap out pieces in the future, Carey said the design was very flexible. Project Cost Summary Carey reminded the group that the Building Project Committee used the Project Cost Summary as a worksheet to help operate within budget. She noted that $42,491 remains in the construction change order allowance, even though the Samuels Group is done. She also stated that the $500,000 allocated for technology equipment will not be enough, but there is still over $680,000 in the project contingency line. Carey said that City Hall is anxious to close out the project. She is working to identify everything else the Library would like to include in the project by the end of this year. She asked whether or not the Board would like the Project Cost Summary to be updated as information is received. Stow said he was in favor of getting the technology and artwork wrapped up so the project could be done by the end of the year, and if some money goes back into the bond fund, it would show that the Board of Trustees had been good stewards of the taxpayers’ money. Linch said the difficulty is that there is still quite a bit of private donation money left in the APLFF fund that the Board may want to earmark for certain things. Carey said the City Manager’s preference is to draw a line in the sand when the project is done and pro-rate all expenses between the three funding sources—bequests, private donations, and bond money—that comprised the original $20 million dollars for the project. She said that could mean that the remaining bequest and APLFF funds would be reduced. She noted that the Finance Director had originally indicated the Library should spend the bonds first because they are more restrictive, and the private funds could then be left for other items related to the building, as consistent with donor intent. Conversations on the matter will continue. Art Collection Policy: Acker said that a number of institutions throughout the state had policies that the Art Committee used to guide them toward a general framework for acquiring and getting 4 rid of works of art, since APL currently has no policy. Moved by Campbell, seconded by Stow, to adopt a resolution approving the Art Collection Policy as presented/amended. Butler asked how a person would prove that he legally owned a piece of artwork. Carey said she would probably involve the City Attorney. She also noted that the Library has another Deed of Gift form associated with the Donations Policy and suggested that that policy be reviewed soon so the forms could be compared. Vote on Motion to approve the policy as presented: 7-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Display Spaces Policy: Moved by Briese, seconded by Bradley, to adopt a resolution approving revisions to the Display Spaces as presented/amended. Linch said it appears that display space can be made available for anything except political signs and asked what criteria is drawn on by the Library when determining if something is legitimate, scholastic, or even reasonable to display. Carey stated that space is the major limitation, and the guidelines are that all content should pertain to events or services offered to the community. She said the area below the stairway is used for advertising events, lectures, concerts, or other general interest activities, while space inside Literary Grounds is used for advertising things such as garage sales, free puppies, and services that are not date-dependent. Carey said people frequently request permission to put up free-standing displays and the Library routinely says no. She added that if something contained hate speech, which is against the law, she would consult with the City Attorney or the Police; otherwise, the topic of any announcement could be pretty wide open. Carey stated that the changes being proposed to the Display Spaces Policy pertain to artwork that does not belong to the library. Vote on Motion to approve the policy as presented: 7-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Internet Use Policy: Moved by Rohret, seconded by Butler, to adopt a resolution approving revisions to the Internet Use Policy as presented/amended. Vote on Motion to approve the policy as presented: 7-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Social Networking Policy: Moved by Stow, seconded by Campbell, to adopt a resolution approving revisions to the Social Networking Policy as presented/amended. Vote on Motion to approve the policy as presented: 7-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Agreement with APLFF: Sargent said the APLFF had appointed an ad hoc committee (Andrea Anselman and Steve Sullivan) to incorporate some of the feedback that was communicated. Acker and Stow offered to represent the Library Board and it was agreed that staff would help 5 set up a joint meeting. Trustee Comments: Butler said it was fun to see publicity about Literary Grounds and the APL Drivers’ License kiosk. Adjournment: Moved by Stow, seconded by Briese, to adjourn at 8:08 p.m. Vote on Motion: 7-0. Motion approved unanimously. The next regular meeting will be on Thursday, October 15, 2015, at 7:00 p.m., in the Dale H. Ross Board Room, Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Avenue.