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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes of the Regular Meeting 04/19/2012Ames Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April 19, 2012 The Ames Public Library (APL) Board of Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, April 19, 2012, in the City Council Chambers, 515 Clark Avenue, with Bradley, Budd, Campbell, Luckett, Manus, Meier, Rawlins, Schill, and Stow in attendance. Library Director Art Weeks and Assistant Director Lynne Carey were also present. Call to Order: Board President Luckett called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Adoption of Agenda: Moved by Budd, seconded by Bradley, to approve the agenda. Vote on Motion: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Approval of Minutes: Moved by Stow, seconded by Meier, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 20, 2012. Vote on Motion: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Public Forum: None Consent Agenda: Bradley moved and Schill seconded adoption of a resolution approving the consent agenda: 1) Claims Report 3/1/2012 – 3/31/2012 2) Donations a) From Edna Ackerman ................................................................................ $100.00 b) From Agnes Mansbach ............................................................................... $10.00 c) From Dennis Maulsby ................................................................................. $31.75 Vote on Motion: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Financial Reports: Library Director Weeks reviewed the reports, noting that the overall budget was approximately 72 percent spent. Administrative Staff Report: Weeks summarized his written report, noting that the Iowa Senate approved spending an additional $500,000 on libraries and $150,000 to acquire a state- wide license for LearningExpress Library, but the House has not taken action. He also reported on the planned reconstruction of Douglas Avenue between Main Street and 7th Street, which is scheduled to begin next fall. The library’s block will be done prior to the construction of the building, giving the library an opportunity to make improvements to its water and sewer lines. The recent Battle of the Books, sponsored by Youth Services, was hugely successful. Weeks also stated that a memorial service was to be held on Sunday afternoon, April 22, at Inis Grove Park for Marianne Malinowski, a dedicated, long-term employee who served as the Collection Development Supervisor. Trustee Manus asked for an update on the fundraising campaign. Weeks said appointments and follow-up calls are still being made. He said that the time lag between an initial ask and a large donation can often be up to a year. In March, $17,000 was received in cash and pledges. Ideas for going after certain sectors of the community, as well as selling bricks or nameplates for chairs as part of a general campaign, have been discussed. Some groups, such as Rotary, P.E.O., and the women who were the subjects of the book The Girls from Ames are considering aggregated gifts. He also stated that work was being done on an application for a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is due on May 2. Weeks also mentioned that an ISU student, Ireng Maulana, had visited the APL Friends Foundation a few months ago and prepared a report on the status of that organization. Ames Public Library Friends Foundation (APLFF) Report: Trustee Stow said the APLFF met on April 12, just as the library was getting ready for the spring book sale. He reported that the effort raised $11,757. The Teen Advisory Group has plans to dress as their favorite characters and walk with Smyles in the VEISHEA parade. The APLFF has also begun working on its strategic plan and hopes to be able to bring it together next month. Library Building Project Update: Weeks said the Building Project Committee had met earlier in the day. He distributed to the trustees a Gantt chart illustrating the project schedule and a project budget. Weeks said some of the budget amounts were still estimates, some are estimates on work being bid. He called attention some add-ons to the project that need to be estimated. These included: reroofing of the 1904/1940 portion of the building; installation of a fire sprinkling system in that section; repair or replacement of the wood windows in that section; repair of the steel windows in the north entryway in the 1940 addition; installation of energy- efficient glass in the windows in the 1984 addition; a Section 106 review by the State Historic Preservation Office; and a storm water management system to carry away rain water that will fall on the section of the building being constructed over the rain garden. Trustee Campbell pointed out that compliance with historic requirements could conflict with attaining maximum energy efficiency. Manus asked if a price range could be provided to give the board an idea about the expenses. She stated that this information shows why the fundraising needs to be on-going and effective. Weeks said that the sprinkling and storm water management systems are both mandatory; the necessity of the other items needs to be investigated. The engineering studies did not call for replacing the roof over the older sections of the building, which is why the architects had not included that work before. Luckett said that a new roof has to be done at some point in the near future, so he feels it makes sense to do the entire building at once. Carey said all these items will be included in the next cost estimate. Manus asked if the cost of the owner’s representative would be included in the next version of the contract. Weeks replied that CPMI will have a new cost estimate, based on the design, at the board meeting in May. A design presentation by MS&R is also planned. Weeks noted that some of the cost savings items had turned out to be advantageous. He distributed information on how much the architects had been paid to date. Manus asked if the remaining budget would be sufficient, and Weeks said he saw no red flags. Stow asked if there were any cash flow issues in the next few months, prior to the bond sales, and Weeks said he believed everything would be covered; however, most of the bequest money will be spent by then. Policy Review: Bylaws Moved by Meier, seconded by Rawlins, to adopt a resolution approving changes to the Bylaws as presented/amended. Luckett said that most of the changes were updates, but a phrase indicating that the Executive Committee will serve as a liaison to staff is being reintroduced. In the past, the President held that responsibility, but Luckett felt it should be a function of more than one person. Meier noted that the official meeting place was also being changed to the City Council Chambers. Trustee Rawlins asked if trustees were limited to two full terms. Luckett said they were limited to two consecutive terms. Rawlins questioned whether a person who had been re-appointed could serve as an officer again in his or her second term. The bylaws appeared to be silent on the matter, but the trustees agreed to address it later, after the trustees’ date of appointment is officially changed by the City Council. Vote on Resolution as presented: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Meeting Rooms Policy Moved by Bradley, seconded by Rawlins, to adopt a resolution approving changes to the Meeting Room Policy as presented/amended. Mary Logsdon, Information Services Coordinator, explained that she, Jerri Heid (Youth Services Supervisor), and Jill Anderson (principal clerk) had reviewed the policy. The meeting rooms were used by staff and the community over 2000 times last year. The policy has served very well and the committee felt only minimal revisions were needed. In the “Guidelines for Use” section, they updated the name of the APLFF and revised the statement about exceptions so that the director would have the authority to address unusual circumstances. For the purpose of clarification, it was agreed that the new sentence should read “Exceptions to the above guidelines may be made at the discretion of the Library Director.” Vote on Resolution as presented, along with the addition of the word “guidelines” in the last sentence of the “Guidelines for Use” section: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Records Retention Policy Moved by Stow, seconded by Meier, to adopt a resolution approving the update to the Records Retention Policy as presented/amended. Weeks said that when one policy is changed that affects another, he has traditionally waited to make changes until the next time the second policy comes up; however, this instance is a good example of why complimentary policies should be updated simultaneously. The security camera policy was recently changed to reflect the fact that the hard drive is overwritten sooner, now that the new cameras record higher resolution images, so the records retention schedule needs to reflect that situation as well. Manus asked if the hard drive capacity could be expanded. Weeks said he was not sure. Campbell wondered if the police hadn’t been consulted about the length of time images were retained when the policy was originally established. Weeks said that the original camera set-up allowed for images to be retained longer, but the time period was a function of the capacity of the equipment, the police had not demanded a certain amount of time. Campbell suggested that this change should be communicated to the City Attorney and the Police Department. He also asked if there were city policies that dictated the library’s policies. Administrative Assistant Karen Thompson stated that each city department submits its retention requirements to the city. They are then reviewed by legal staff and approved by the City Council. At present, the city does not determine a schedule related to e-mails, although staff is encouraged to delete anything not necessary. The categories listed in the official policy show which records must be kept and destroyed on schedule. Rawlins noticed an anomaly in Section B pertaining to contracts for library service to other communities. Since the retention period is permanent, based on the Record Retention Manual for Iowa Cities, the phrase “Administrative Value Ends” needs to be removed. Vote on Resolution as presented, along with deletion of the phrase “Administrative Value Ends” in the line pertaining to contracts for library service to other communities: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Fees and Fines (Addendum to Circulation Policy) Moved by Manus, seconded by Rawlins, to adopt a resolution approving updates to the Library Fees and Fines schedule as presented/amended. Weeks said that the Legal Department asks each department for an annual review of fees and said that staff was recommending only minor updates. Rawlins asked for the rationale behind having different fines for items in the general collection and for youth materials. Weeks said that some of the children’s materials cost less than the fine. Carey said it was also because people check out so many children’s materials. Vote on Resolution as presented: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. New Business: Recommending Approval of a contract for Construction Advisor with Integrity Construction of Ames, Iowa, with funding from library bequest funds in an amount not to exceed $85,000 Moved by Budd, seconded by Campbell, to adopt a resolution recommending approval of a contract for Construction Advisor with Integrity Construction Services, LLC, of Ames, Iowa, with funding from library bequest funds in an amount not to exceed $85,000. Weeks said that thirteen Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) were sent out for this work and seven proposals were returned. They ranged in price from $50,750 to $170,000. The team reviewed them, based on the criteria specified in the RFQ, and all the evaluators awarded scores to each respondent. Each criterion was assigned a weighting factor and the results were calculated. Weeks said the lowest bidder did not appear to fully understand what was being sought. Both firms that offered to do the work for $85,000 were interviewed. The other firm had a good presentation, but Integrity Construction Services seemed to have a better overall understanding of the situation. Weeks spoke about the members of the team, who were Bill Whitman, former Director of Facilities and Planning for ISU; Lynne Carey; Shazia Manus, MS&R project manager Aaron Taylor; and Karen Server and Mike Adair of the City’s Purchasing Department, who helped guide the process. Manus said that Adair did a wonderful job of explaining each evaluator’s role and they followed a very thorough procedure. She felt any of the responders could have done the job, but the committee was particularly interested in hiring someone with a good reputation in the community and who would work well with staff. Brad Heemstra, Integrity Construction Services, LLC, thanked the board for the opportunity make the proposal. He explained that he had had a 24-year career with Story Construction before starting Integrity Construction, which is in its sixth year. He spoke about some other projects for which he has provided construction management services, and said he was looking forward to engaging in this project. Luckett noted that the most pressing problem at the moment is finding a space or spaces into which the library can move. Heemstra said he needed to do some research in order to understand what aspects are non-negotiable and which can be flexible. Manus said a lot of questions about this were raised during the evaluation process. The team felt he had many contacts and would be able to prioritize well. Trustee Budd expressed concern about the statement in the resolution that said “invoices will be paid monthly or as services are performed.” Heemstra said his firm planned to invoice once a month. Trustee Stow said he would like to add to the scope of service on reporting protocol described in Exhibit A, item 8(b). He would like the construction advisor’s reports on bi-weekly Contractor Coordination Meetings to be sent to the Building Project Committee, in addition to the Director of the Library. Weeks said he had reservations about changing the terms of an official RFQ after it had been completed. Following some discussion, Stow requested that the reports be sent to the Building Project Committee bi-weekly. Roll Call Vote on Resolution as presented: 9-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Approval of final budget amendments for fiscal year 2011/12 Moved by Schill, seconded by Meier, to approve final budget amendments for Fiscal Year 2011/12 as presented/amended. Weeks reminded the board that adjustments to the current year’s budget were considered in the fall; at this point in the year, staff is looking at actual expenditures and making best estimates of where spending should take place. After looking at anticipated spending in the General Fund, $9757 dollars were found, so that amount was added to the collections budget with the intent of purchasing downloadable audio and e-books. That will bring the budget for the collection up to 12% of the total and put APL in the Second Tier. Weeks said that the City Council had approved allocations that covered the loss of some funds from the State and the City of Gilbert. Cuts were made to certain areas, such as conference spending and building repairs, which will be minimal at this point. Weeks said he felt this budget will be sustainable and can also serve as a basis for the future year. Vote on Resolution as presented: 8-0. Motion approved unanimously. Resolution adopted. Appointment of the Nominating Committee: Luckett said that the nominating committee would consist of himself and Sherry Meier. They will report the slate of candidates in May, and nominations will also be accepted from the floor at that time. Luckett called for a special meeting to be held sometime in the next two weeks to discuss a personnel matter. Trustee Comments: Campbell encouraged people to download the new Ames Pocket Library app so they could check on their accounts or browse the catalog on their smart devices. Luckett said he was pleased to have Sherry Bradley back. Stow said he was pleased that the full board was present. Adjournment: Moved by Stow, seconded by Rawlins, to adjourn at 8:45 p.m. Vote on Motion: 8-0. Motion carried unanimously. The next regular meeting will be on Thursday, May 17, 2012, at 7:00 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, 515 Clark Avenue.