Library Board MInutes 2/27/03
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Bozeman Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting
Library Director’s Office
Bozeman Public Library
February 27, 2003
4:00 P.M.

ATTENDANCE                      
Trustees: Brenda Davis, Chair; Jerry Bancroft; Holly Brown;Bob Gutzman; Al Kesselheim; Charlie Hamp, Foundation Board; Marcia Youngman, City Commissioner; Lois Dissly, Staff; and Alice Meister, Director.  Guests: James Goehrung, City Superintendent of Facilities and Public Lands; Mark Headley, Overland Partners; Mark Johnson, Resource Technologies Inc.(RTI); Dave Koltz, City Engineering, and Wendy Lewis, Foundation Development Director.

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 4:07 p.m. by Chair Davis.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the January 22 Board meeting were approved as submitted.

CORRESPONDENCE
Meister read comments from the public which included: requests for specific books; requests for one line when checking out at the circulation desk; a suggestion to have MacIntosh computers available for the adults and PCs for the children; a compliment on the easiest new library card process ever experienced; a dedicated compact disc drop box; a request for more candy; and a “I love the children’s library” comment. She read thank you letters from Christmas Wish expressing appreciation for the Library’s donations and from St. Paul Community A.M.E. Church thanking Cindy Christin for collaborating with them on the Martin Luther King Day program. A letter was received from a donor requesting that her name not be used on gift plates in materials she had donated. The Department of City Planning and Community Development has assigned our Library application to Senior Planner David Skelton and dates have been chosen for informal review by the Development Review Committee and the Design Review Board. However, those dates will need rescheduling due to site design changes. The State Library apporved our Collection Management Plan noting “excellent use of Planning for Results survey data.”

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT
Meister distributed that the Friends met February 26th and finalized the renewal letter, which will be mailed to approximately 250 people within the next several weeks. They continue to sponsor the “Farsighted” series of international programs with the Montana Center for International Visitors. The February 26th program on the “Archeology of Ancient Israel” attracted 45 people. The March 20th program will feature Marty Frick, Associate Professor of Agricultural Education at MSU, speaking on “Developing Agricultural Cooperatives in Emerging Democracies.” The Memorandum of Understanding with the American Association of University Women has been worked out to both party’s satisfaction and will be signed shortly. The Friends want to work on a legacy project for the new Library and would appreciate some direction from the Trustees and the Building Committee as the new Library’s needs are further delineated. The Friends are considering a “Books for Babies” project for newborns and discovered that approximately 850 - 900 are born each year at the hospital. They are investigating various approaches to this concept. The book discussion groups and Third Sunday at 3 programs continue to be very popular.

FOUNDATION REPORT
Hamp said there had been no recent Foundation Board meeting and deferred to Lewis, who reported that The Bozeman Daily Chronicle publisher Rick Weaver will co-chair the capital campaign with Tim Swanson (who will be gone for nine weeks). The Foundation Board has hired Mercury Advertising and plans a major public relations campaign from March 15 to May 15. She felt that $13,000,000 was the maximum amount the capital campaign could raise for the project. There was a suggestion to convene the bank officers to discuss possible loans for the project and also a suggestion to have a buy-sell agreement on the current building finalized by June. Davis will meet with City manager Clark Johnson about the new appraisal and possible sale of the present building. The next Foundation Board meeting is Wednesday, March 5th.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Meister reported that circulation had increased nearly 6% for January and reference questions had increased nearly 39%. Door traffic had also increased nearly 8%. With 62% of the fiscal year completed, the budget report shows 43.56% remaining in the budget. The Library has hired Mary Ann Childs, Maurene Hinds, and Renee Meyer for the circulation desk, and Jennifer Flinn as a new shelver and is currently in the process of hiring a Librarina I, a Library Aide II, and a Library Aide !. The City settled with the Montana Public Employees Association (MPEA) members earlier this month. Meister and the management team will fly to Salt Lake City March 1-3 to tour libraries in that area. Liz Babbitt and Pam Henley presented a program on virtual reference at the Off-Line Conference in Great Falls February 20th. Meister attended the American Library Association (ALA) Mid-Winter Conference in Philadelphia in January; she was elected to the ALA Council where resolutions were passed in support of the Florida State Library, which is threatened with closure, and against the USA Patriot Act and its infringement on patron privacy. Cindy Christin and Terri Dood will attend the Public Library Association Conference programs on staffing for results and emergent literacy in Chicago March 6 - 10. The Library will be offering beginning Spanish classes March 9 - April 27. The Library recently learned that it will receive $180,000 in federal appropriations for environmental remediation through the efforts of Senator Conrad Burns and his staff. Copies of the updated response to public comments will be available in March. Senator Max Baucus nominated our Library to receive a national Award for Library Service, and the application was recently submitted. Chrysti the Wordsmith continues her series of “Wordsmith Cafes” at the East Main Rocky Mountain Roasting Company on the second Tuesday of each month with drink proceeds benefitting the Library. Broad Valleys Federation will hold its semi-annual meeting March 22 - 23, which Gutzman and Meister will attend. The Gallatin County Libraries Long-Range Planning Committee met on February 11th at the Three Forks Community Library and will meet next at the Big Sky Community Library at Ophir School. Incident reports involved a man who printed out a ream of paper but refused to pay for all of it, a homeless person panhandling, an odor in the furnace room which necessitated the fire department, and the return of an individual who was in trouble previously at the Library when he approached a young girl about taking her picture.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION: CALA; LIBRARY CONSULTANT’S CONTRACT; FY 2004 LIBRARY BUDGET
A letter to initiate the Controlled Allocation of Liability Act (CALA) was given to City Manager Johnson, who agreed to sign it. It was uncertain whether the letter had been sent. Chair Davis reported that she and Brown had met with Johnson regarding the environmental remediation contract; it was agreed that the City would administer the contract but would consult with the Trustees about any problems or concerns. Action Bancroft moved to extend Library Consultant David Smith’s contract beyond the original deadline which means that the unexpended balance was carried over from the period of the original agreement but will not involve any extra money. Kesselheim seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. Action Bancroft moved to approve the FY2004 budget as submitted, Gutzman seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. The budget includes a thirteen percent increase in the operations budget including an additional $10,000 for building maintenance so that the building is in good shape when it comes to selling it.

BOARD MEMBERS’ AND CITY COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS
Building Chair Bancroft said there had been meetings of the Program and Design and Coordinating Subcommittees earlier this week. Presently the building is shown at 60,000 square feet with 5,600 square feet of that in the unfinished basement. Bancroft distributed a total project cost sheet, which included estimates from Martel Construction that showed a total of $17,258,378. The Design Team has already found $1,600,000 that can be taken out of the project but there is still a shortfall of several million dollars. Going back to the community for another bond referendum does not appear to be an option. Thus the consensus was to cut the square footage of the building, as it was originally programmed at 49,000 square feet, and keep costs at $13,000,000. Headley will work on that precept, keeping in mind that the Trustees would prefer to keep as much of the building as possible and cut other costs such as furnishings and site costs. The Trustees will meet next week to look at Headley’s ideas. The deposition of the depot was discussed, as there had been a meeting earlier in the day about it with Senior Planner Dave Skelton and Assistant Planner Susan Kozub. Action After discussion, Bancroft moved that the Board take the depot down, palletize the bricks, create a design for the depot, designate a place on the site where it could sit, and create an opportunity for someone to do something with the depot in partnership with the Library. Kesselheim seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. The cost for the design should be between $1,000 and $2,000, and the depot is approximately 2400 square feet in size. Commissioner Youngman suggested that this idea be discussed with the City Commission on Monday, March 24th. Koltz said that the environmental remediation contract documents are nearly complete after a meeting of the Environmental Remediation Subcommittee earlier in the week. He suggested that removal of the depot be incorporated into this document, but that decision will be deferred until next week’s meeting in order to check certain costs from Martel. Johnson said that a bill for approximately $8,000 had already been received from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for time spent on the project. MDEQ’s bill could eventually come to $25,000.


ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m.  There will be a special meeting from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 6th at the Overland Partners office. The next regular meeting will be Wednesday, March 19th,  at 4:00 p.m. in the Library Director’s Office.