HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-05-2020 Library Board Minutes
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY
3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, February 5th, 2020
Approved
3/4/2020
The meeting was called to order in the History Room by Chair, Catherine Vesley at 5:30pm. Members present: Catherine
Vesley; Patricia Sowada; Tricia Conway; Stephen Smith; Christopher Polley; and new City Council Liaison, Nick Novitsky.
Also in attendance: Renee Dougherty (Library Director), Nick Olberding (Recording Secretary).
The Minutes of the January 8th, 2019 Board Meeting were approved.
Bill Lists dated January 22nd and 29th, 2020 (2019 Budget), and January 29th, 2020 (2020 Budget) were reviewed. Each
was moved, seconded, and approved.
Questions and discussions based on Bills and Accounting:
• Mortice Replacement: $135 to replace a door’s center mortice.
• AMH Maintenance: $9,180 for 2020 on contract for service, maintenance, and support. Additionally, $5,700 from
the Library Foundation to upgrade the AMH computer to a Windows 10 Touchscreen interface.
• KonMari: Curate for Joy…well attended engaging event with a widely diverse crowd. Steve Smith will be hosting
a similar event for organizing your documents in March; for peace of mind, but also for your family…to ease the
stress and confusion of sorting this out after death.
• Part-Time (79%): Under-spent because when there is a staff illness we usually work short-handed because others
were not available to provide coverage on short notice.
• Electric/Gas: The Board is happy to see that the electrical expense has evened out and is actually under-budget
this year; Natural gas also came out right at budget, but it’s also been a mild winter.
• Printing/Photocopying Revenue: Adopted estimate for 2019 was $10,600, but preliminary totals put it is closer
to $11,898 for the year.
• Room Rental: Only came out to $300. We only charge for Community Room use outside of library hours ($25/hr
in 2019). Aside from a few groups, most only use the room while we’re open.
• Escrow: It was brought up that we should escrow funds to cover repair costs related to the reservable rooms.
Renee had already made sure to account for this in the 2020 budget and going forward to cover worn out
furniture/fixtures, minor repairs, and fresh paint, etc.
Old Business:
1. Staffing Update: Renee Dougherty (Director) and Cortni O’Brien (Adult Services Librarian) interviewed 5
candidates, and extended conditional offers to two of them (pending background check and check of references).
The anticipated start date of February 3rd did not work out, because background checks took a little longer than
expected. The two being hired are Yuliana (attends De La Salle High School, was a volunteen at the library and
really impressed staff with her work/professionalism, and is bilingual), and Katherine (attends St. Kate’s Library
Program, has a BA from Hamline, and knows American Sign Language).
2. Policy Revisions: The Board had received copies of the Art (2016), Behavior (2018), and Bulletin Boards (2007)
policies ahead of the meeting. Renee had made minor alterations to the policies based on experience, feedback,
and review of other library’s policies. Changes were mainly made to clarify or simplify the policies; no major
changes were made. Two of these policies were reviewed or written in the past 5 years, so there wasn’t much
needed. Steve Smith motioned to approve the Art, Behavior, and Bulletin Boards Policies with the new
revisions; Pat Sowada seconded, and all were in favor. After all our policies are reviewed and revised, they will
be compiled into a single document that can be indexed, searched, and made more easily available
New Business:
1. N/A
Items from the Floor:
• Parking Lot: The City Council has approved for the Library Overflow Parking Lot to be put out for bid. This does
not guarantee anything, but it is a step closer.
• City Services Expo: Happening this Saturday from 11am-1pm in the Library Community Room. Each department
will have a table, but it sounds like the main focus of the event will be the proposed City Hall project. Several
members of the Library Board said they would be willing to stop in and help with the library table.
• ACL Director: Maggie Snow has submitted her resignation, with an anticipated last day of February 14th; she has
accepted the position of Executive Director of Minitex. Anoka County has named Patti Hetrick (Anoka County
Budget Director) as the Interim Library Director; she is a strong library advocate and her wealth of knowledge and
experience is an asset to the library during this transition.
• PC Management: Along with ACL, we had sent out an RFP for a new public computer/print management solution,
and had decided on a vendor (Today’s Business Solutions). Unfortunately, Anoka County has determined that
they are not PCI compliant, and we will need to go with our second choice (Comprise).
• March Absence: Tricia will not be able to make it to the March meeting.
• ACL Fine Free Task Force: ACL has assembled a task force to weigh the options available to alleviate the effects of
library fines. With RCL/GRRL eliminating juvenile fines, HCL implementing auto-renewal, and SPPL/WCL
eliminating all late fees, Anoka County wants to explore options. The Task Force has come up with 5 options for
the County to think about. There are pros/cons to eliminating fines, but that is the direction neighboring systems
are going, so it will be considered.
• Teen Mural: Bri (Youth Librarian) is planning to have teens create a mural to be displayed in the Youth area this
summer.
There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made at 6:48pm by Catherine Vesley, and seconded.
Respectfully submitted,
Nicholas P. Olberding
Recording Secretary, Library Board of Trustee