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Home My WebLink About08-05-2020 Library Board Minutes COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY 3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, August 5th, 2020 Approved 9/2/2020 The meeting was called to order in the Columbia Heights City Council Chambers by Chair, Catherine Vesley at 5:30pm. Members physically present: Catherine Vesley; Patricia Sowada; Tricia Conway; Teresa Eisenbise; and Nick Novitsky, City Council Liaison. Member remotely present: Christopher Polley. Also present: Renee Dougherty (Library Director ), and Nick Olberding (Recording Secretary). Due to the current Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and remote meeting capabilities, Catherine Vesley started the meeting by reading aloud the “Notice of Conducting Meeting by a Combination of In-Person and Electronic Means”, pursuant to MN Statute §13D.021. The Minutes of the June 3rd, 2020 Board Meeting were approved. Also, Meeting Notes from the quorum-less July 1st, 2020 meeting were reviewed, but no approval required. The Bill Lists dated June 10th, June 24th, July 8th , and July 22nd, 2020 were reviewed; They were moved, seconded, and approved. Questions and discussions based on Bills and Accounting:  IT Budget: Is the Library being fairly assessed their yearly charges for City IT Services? Nick Novitsky looked into it, and re-stated that we are charged based on device count; this is how the City calculates IT charges, although it doesn’t feel fair since the majority of devices at the library are for public use, not employees. We were advised to implement thin-clients because they are cheaper and easier to maintain; in reality, they seem to come with more frustrations and unresolvable problems than PCs; only cheaper in up-front costs.  What percentage of our Collection is non-English material?: Probably about 1% currently, but we are ordering more, and non-English will be more heavily considered in the upcoming Collection Development Policy revision. ACL is also increasing their Arabic/Somali collection (housed mainly at the Mississippi Branch), and they are subscribing to more Spanish language items in the CloudLibrary.  Facemask Refund: We had ordered masks, and we were delivered hand sanitizer instead, so we were issued a refund credit. Now we receive masks from the CHFD, who purchased a supply for all city departments.  Story Strolls: We are not sure what the attendance was for these, but both Teresa and Chris’ families attended most of them. Three out of four of the days started off rainy, which could have affected turnout, but some were left up for an extra day because of this. There will be some poetry focused events like this for adults in the fall. Old Business: 1. Staffing Update: In July two supervisors retired from the Library. Elaine Dietz -Mamaril’s last day was July 10th, and Barb Kondrick’s last day was July 31st. The position was posted; 17 applications received, 5 interviewed, and 2 conditional offers were issued. Pending drug/background checks, starting times should be in late August. 2. 2021 Budget: A budget with a proposed increase of 2.7% was submitted to Finance, and no changes were suggested by the city manager. Over the next few years, the 11k infusion from the City’s cable franchise fee will likely be phased out. New Business: 1. Open Hours at Limited Capacity: The Library opened back up to the Public on July 6 th with reduced hours (M-W: 1pm-7pm, T-F: 11am-4pm, S: 11am-3pm), and we are the only metro library with weekend hours. Daily use is down, but there is a surge of people every day when we open. WiFi range was increased in April. Quarantining materials was implemented, but then cancelled. Meeting/Study Rooms will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. So far people have been cooperative with wearing masks, and are grateful that we’re back open again. 2. CARES Funding: Columbia Heights is eligible for up to 1.57M of CARES funding for COVID-19 based expenses. For the Library it covered plexi-glass shields, cleaning solutions, safety decals, and a few various small items. In addition, Public Safety designated the Community Room as a back -up Emergency Operations Center, which means the technology in that room will be upgraded, and additional screens will be added. 3. Comprise PC Management: Last December put out a “Request for Proposal” for a new public printing and computer management system; 4 proposals were received; after one company was nixed for compliancy concerns, Comprise was chosen as the solution. Anoka County is currently dealing with signing of the contract, and roll-out will happen over a couple month span (building, installing, training, and go live). Our current system will stay in place until the final go-live of the new system, which has three components: SAM (management), SmartALEC (mobile printing), and SmartTERMINAL (payments). ACL is covering the up -front costs with MELSA funding, so we will only need to pay for ongoing maintenance (1-2k/year). 4. Staff Day: ACL holds a staff day every May for system-wide training of staff, but it was postponed until September and has become an online event due to COVID. Renee is asking the Board for approval to not participate in Staff Day this year. It would require us to c lose to the public, and we are able to more efficiently provide training to our own staff during times when we are already closed (e.g. before we open for a given day). For Columbia Heights staff, the most beneficial part of attending Staff Day was network ing with the rest of the Anoka County Library staff, and with it being online that will not be possible. The Board agreed with Renee. Items from the Floor:  Youth Read Down: Permission to extend Youth Read Down to August 15th to coincide with the Summer Reading Program. Tricia Conway moved to approve the extension of Youth Read Down to August 15 th. Pat Sowada seconded, all approved.  Memorial Gift: A donation was given to the Library in Memorial of Michael Magnuson; it’s been earmarked for the purchase of Mysteries/Thrillers, because that was his favorite genre. Memorial Book Plates will be placed in the items purchased in his honor. The Board would also like to honor him on the Library’s webpage for a time, and wants others to know they can make these kinds of gifts to the Library in honor of their loved ones.  Broken Window: A window in the Young Adult area was broken from the outside a few weeks ago. A police report was filed, and video foo tage from the Heights Theater/United Methodist were being checked to see if it was intentional. Only the outside pane was affected, so there was no breach. Bids have been received to fix it, but glass companies are still very busy after the damage from civil unrest.  Spaghetti Dinner: Likely cancelled, but that is a decisi on for the Foundation (hosts of the event). It was brought up that there are other options if the Foundation is interested (maybe allowing pre-purchase and curbside pick- up directly fr om Tasty Pizza, or how other community groups partner with Chipotle for a day and receive a percentage of that day’s sales).  Be well, and stay safe . There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made at 6:13pm by Catherine Vesley, and seconded. Respectfully submitted, Nicholas P. Olberding Recording Secretary, Library Board of Trustee