July 2010 - Board Minutes

Owatonna Public Library Board Minutes of July 22, 2010

The regular monthly meeting of the Owatonna Public Library Board of Trustees was called to order at 4:30 PM by President Don Overlie. Also present were Angela Sager, Russ Dunn-Foster, Ross Leuning, Renée Lowery, Mary Kay Feltes, and Gail Plathe. Jill Holmes was absent. City Councilman Ray Truelson was a guest.

The June minutes were approved on a motion by Ross, seconded by Russ. All aye.

The June financial report was reviewed. Mary Kay explained the five programs areas of the library budget. On the financial report both original budget and revisions which were approved by the City Council at their June 18th meeting were included. The revisions included cuts of 8.6%. The bookmobile has been cut and will be sold with other city property at auction this fall. Letters notifying bookmobile customers of the cuts were sent to all bookmobile customers, the City Council, County Board, and the Library Board of Trustees.

Renée presented Darla’s report on Children’s Services for June. Please see attached report. Highlights include the Friday, June 11th kick-off of the summer reading program Make a Splash …Read!  Federated Insurance has sponsored the summer reading program since 1992. Approximately 2264 people participated in library festivities on kick-off day. Reading logs, tattoos, passes to River Springs Water Park and ice cream were distributed. Mary Kay noted Children’s Services staff visit all Owatonna public elementary schools and St. Mary’s School. They drop off brochures at Owatonna Christian School publicizing the program. Several weekly programs including two weekly storytimes continue through the summer.

Library use report. Comparing June, 2009, and June of 2010, number of check-outs at Owatonna Public Library was down slightly but still a total of 33,290 items were checked out. Blooming Prairie Branch Library circulation was up about 6% and the bookmobile was up a whopping 54%. The bookmobile saw a lot of business on summer reading kick-off day, as Brandon parked it at the library for people to tour. Two hundred forty six new borrowers registered for library cards in June, which is a huge increase over 2009. Dave has also noticed an increase in requests for items. Library customers are exposed to a wide range of materials through the media and often request them through the library. Reserves are now placed on self-serve shelves where customers can find their reserves and either check them out themselves or bring them to the check-out desk. Patron privacy concerns dictated the manner in which the materials are labeled as they await pick up.

Mary Kay briefly addressed budget cuts. The book budget will be used to balance overages in other line items. In response to a question about reactions to cutting the bookmobile Mary Kay replied that one county commissioner called to say “I Know you’re doing the best you can. Let’s keep the library open”.

Garden. Dawn Sorensen is coordinating all groups involved in the library’s community garden this year. University of Minnesota Extension service, Steele County Public Health, Owatonna Public Schools, Community Education Summer SAC (School Age Childcare) are all partnering with the library. When there is work to be done in the garden, children are gathered together and encouraged to weed, water, plant, harvest. It’s a good thing. Teenaged boys who needed something to do planted a pear tree.

Ray pointed out that he and Matt Durand are pursuing a Green City designation for Owatonna.  A committee has been formed and they will draw up the requirements. Mary Kay added that Matt is applying for two GreenCorps workers for next year. It is hoped they will oversee the library’s community garden. The plan is for each elementary school to have a garden and the library’s plot will be the garden for Washington School. Ray noted the Senior Center has fielded requests for garden plots at the West Hills Campus as well.

City manager Kris Busse distributed memos asking department heads to list their CIP expenditures, personnel and retirement options for 2011. Department heads have ongoing discussions with finance director Brad Svenby. In the library’s CIP budget are 4 self-check machines and the fixtures which will cost $73,780. This will be the third year they have been in the budget. The plan is to place two self-check machines in adult services and two in children’s services. In spite of the addition of self-check machines, staff numbers will not be reduced. The building’s size informs the necessary numbers of employees working at any one time. On at least one occasion, a staff member was harassed when working alone. Also, a staff member found someone rummaging through items in the staff room. These incidents have prompted security measures be taken, one of which is ensuring staff does not work alone at night.

A preliminary list of possible local option sales tax projects follows: demolition of the house at 240 E Broadway, replacement windows, elevator repair, roof repair, parking lot repair. These projects are all included in the CIP budget for 2011. Elevator repair is a safety issue, there is also a danger of losing accessibility should it go down. Fines could result. 

Near the end of the meeting, Ray briefly outlined some of the organizations and boards with which he is involved. Volunteerism is important to him and he demonstrates it by serving on city boards. He left his resumé with Mary Kay.

Mr. Truelson expressed his appreciation for the time and effort of library board members. In turn Mary Kay and the board thanked Mr. Truelson for his interest in the library and his service to the community over these many years. Ray was a member of the City Council when a major library building project was completed in 1992.

As the meeting came to a close, Ross announced he will be going to Iraq for one year and he suggested an interim board member be appointed to sit in his place until he comes back. Russ made a motion thanking Ross for his service to the country, our community and the library as a member of the Owatonna Public Library Board of Trustees and as a member of the Navy’s Judge Advocate Generals Corps. The board wishes him a safe return from his assignment in Iraq. Angie seconded the motion. All aye.

With no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 5:25pm.

The library board will meet Tuesday, August at 4:30.

Respectfully submitted,    
Gail Plathe