jan 2012 board minutes

7/31/2019 Jan 2012 Board Minutes

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Mancos Library DistrictBoard of Trustees

Regular Board Meeting211 W. First St.

January 26, 2012

AGENDA: 6:00p.m.I. Call to order 6:04PMIl. Roll call

Darrel Ellis, Danielle , Kathy Merrill, Lee Hallberg and Sadie RosePaceIII. Amendments to the agendaIV. Minutes of the previous meetings for action

A. *December 12, 2011 Regular meetingKathy moves we approve the minutes for the December 12, 2011 meet-

ing, Danielle seconds. The floor is opened to discussion. All approved, none opposed,the motion passes.V. Recognition of visitors

Brian HansonMartin Stecher arrival at 6:45PM

VI. CorrespondenceA. Note from patron

a. Thanking the library for the use of the meeting roomVII. Financial reports

A. *Approval of January billsSadie moves we approve the January Bills, Darrel seconds. The floor is

opened to discussion. All approved, none opposed, the motion passes.B. Financial Report

The end of year financials for 2012 show an increase of about $6000 in income (due mostly toRobin Strothers generous donation) and a decrease of about $11,000 in expenses. (The actualfigures in the end of year profit and loss show a greater decrease than that, but non-hourlywages of $16828 (Lees salary and department head bonuses) were strangely omitted from theprofit and loss report, and we had about $6500 of 2011 expenses not paid until 2012 (staff train-ing, some computer expenses, quarterly state tax payments, insurance bond).) The bottom lineof this is that we had about $17,000 more at years end than we expected as of our December meeting. Thus, we had about $86,000 in unreserved funds at the end of the year, rather thanthe $69,000 we were expecting at our December meeting. This is good news! We have$15,000 of this in a Mancos Valley Bank CD, and after January expenses, we still have about$52,000 in our checking account. With about $20,000 per month operating expenses, andlarge county tax payments starting in March, I believe we should put $20,000 of our checking

account funds into an interest bearing account.

Without fundraising, we are still facing expenses for 2012 that are about $45,000 more than rev-enues, so we need to keep on with the fundraising efforts.Vlll. Report of librarian

A. Monthly ReportC. Directs the development and implementation of long range and strategic plan-

ning


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a. Per suggestion from meeting with Brian Hanson, Charlene, Kate and I will bepresenting Social Media Literacy program in Feb.

b. Have met with Kate and Charlene re: science programming, will be next projectafter completion of Social Media Literacy program in Feb.

c. Looking to reach out to seniors, taking ereaders, Wii, and other interesting & funitems library has to occasional senior lunches.

d. Will be working with KSJD Community Conversations program to help discover needs of community and where library might fill those needs.

Develops and implements library policies in conjunction with Board of Trustees

Presented Unattended Children policy to staff and addressed concerns. Staff feels that if the attorney feels that the policy covers the librarys liability and isbacked up by clear procedures then they are comfortable with it. Policy was sentto attorney for review, then I will work on the procedures.

Helped with final details of Grievance Policy and forwarded to attorney for review.

Leads and motivates staff members

Continuing to share information from CAL conference with entire staff. Recording of Pam Sandlian Smith presentation from Bayfield being passed

around among staff, Board will have the opportunity to hear it as well. Attended both days of Communications Training with staff, gained very valuable

information and tools for more effective communications (in all aspects of life).Will be creating a Communications Charter document to post as a guideline for organization culture.

Victoria has resigned to dedicate more time to their business, which is growingrapidly. I have been working with the staff to redefine her job description and re-assign responsibilities, any staff members that have a desire to do so are takingon new responsibilities and giving up others. Still unsure as to whether or not Iwill need to hire additional help (Im giving current staff first opportunity to take onadditional hours). A staff goodbye party was held yesterday morning.

Have been taking the lead for troubleshooting computer problems and assistingpatrons with tech while training Charlene for Tech Manager position.

Encouraged and assisted in rearranging Childrens Room due to concerns aboutbeing able to monitor the computers with younger unattended children. We cannow see the computer station easily from the staff room and easier from the Cir-culation Desk.

Met with Follies committee and Social Literacy Training committee, Social Litera-

cy Training should be ready to present to school in Feb. Meeting weekly with Department Heads as a group, & twice a month with all staff (Operations meeting).

Purchased and presented staff holiday gifts from MPL during annual staff cookieexchange.

Met with Margaret Simon re: HRA, compiled information and details of programto present to staff.

Redefined holiday procedure to ensure all staff were getting equal opportunities.


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Will be meeting with Department Heads quarterly one-on-one to check in - infor-mal, outside of library.

Follies planning in full swing! All staff committed to finding 3 door prize or auctionitems each. Theme will be Mission ImPossible. A sheet is tacked to bulletinboard in staff workroom with donation requests - please check the sheet first be-fore requesting a donation to make sure we dont make double requests. The listis not limited to these items, feel free to write in additional requests. Also, Folliesdonation letters are on shelf in Lees office.

Worked with Julia on updated Circ. Desk schedule, will be filling in on one Satur-day per month.

Retains primary responsibility and oversight for the operating and capital bud-get

Submitted final budget and required paperwork to Montezuma County Assesor,took copies to Town of Mancos and School District. Also filed required paperworkand budget with State of Colorado.

Will be working with Charlene, Kathy Graf, and Easton LaChapelle to update theLibrarys Tech Plan and submit it to the State Library so we can pursue E-Rate.

Met with Chuck Forth re: Onward! Foundation, similar structure to The Communi-ty Foundation - information available for review. Checking with Shelley Walchakto see if any legal issues with investing library money.

Met with Robin & Nancy Strother, they had expressed interest in helping the li-brary financially. Discussed views for future of the library, they donated $5,000 tobe used at the librarys discretion. Robin is also interested in partnering with TomBuffalo to help support the librarys core collection, they will be buying books rec-ommended on Ivy League schools reading list.

Fundraising plan attached. Will be instating a $10 collection fee for patrons with extremely delinquent ma-

terials.

Maintains inter-governmental and community relations

Attended (happily) Chambers cookie contest as a judge. Will be working with Jeanne at Mancos Times to do a feature article about the

Follies and the Capital Campaign in late February. Also contacting Julia and Ivisited Valley Inn Nursing Home and met the new Activities Director and re-freshed 1/2 of their book selection with new titles donated by the Friends. We willbe making a second trip soon to refresh the other half, and then every 2-3months. Those that can get out and want to will be making regular trips to the li-

brary. Met community members and delivered letters but have had no response from

the community regarding the Renaissance Faire.

Serves as the Mancos Public Librarys advocate and spokesperson

Met with Jeff Pope from KSJD re: partnership for Community Conversations pro-gram - we will be hosting Mancos Conversations in the future.


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Visited Hardison at the Beehive and gave him documentation on MPL to assistwith his decision re: Library Board & encouraged him to apply (I think his input asa business owner would be very valuable to the Board).

Attended Friends of the Library meeting, discussed fundraising plans. Friendswill have annual Valentines Day Bake Sale.

Will be attending Southwest Librarians meeting with some of the staff on Feb. 17in Ignacio.

READ poster project has been put on hold, will revisit after staff reshuffling andtraining settles down - possibly use to help promote capital campaign.

Plans, implements, and evaluates library services

Kates Community Cinema, Jan. 19 was Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock . Attendance was low, but discussion was good.

Verbal History Program tapes have finally been digitized and we have online ac-cess. Available on librarys website, under Links in the left column.

IRS forms are available next to the kids room. We will be purchasing movie license to show Inside Job on February 9, I will be

hosting Movie Mondays for teens / tweens after school on Mondays startingFeb. 6.

Great Decisions resumes Monday, Jan. 30. MPL will be hosting the Colorado Water 2012 display April 15 - 28, we will also be

organizing programs to accompany. Midge will be hosting a book discussion centered around Untie the Strong

Woman: Blessed Mothers Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul by Clarissa PinkolaEstes on January 28th from 10 am - noon.

Charlene has had visits from various middle and high school classes to highlightsome good titles for reading for pleasure, schools are instituting a Stop, Dropand Read program where kids drop everything for 15 minutes a couple times aday to just read for fun.

Charlene and Kate have started planning Summer Reading Program. Fahrenheit to put on coffee workshop February 25th. Kates February Community Cinema will be Feb. 16 - More Than a Month about

controversy surrounding Black History Month. Charlene working on bringing a classical music event to the library, will be pre-

senting some ideas to Fundraising Committee. Victoria hosted an introductory Facebook class on Dec. 21. Gaming Daze continues to have steady attendance. Charlene has resumed visits to Headstart and from various school classes,

storytime, and homeschool groups. Kate & Charlene will be hosting Valentines Card Making class on Feb. 11, open

to adults and kids. Considering adding option for patrons to request ILLs directly online (free),

getting setup details from SWIFT. Midge is poring through a donation of books by women writers to add to the

collection. Charlene has been busy ordering new books for the collection, which has kept

Kathy busy with cataloging and Enid with book processing.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/daisy-bates/http://www.amazon.com/Untie-Strong-Woman-Blessed-Immaculate/dp/1604076356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326838148&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Untie-Strong-Woman-Blessed-Immaculate/dp/1604076356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326838148&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Untie-Strong-Woman-Blessed-Immaculate/dp/1604076356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326838148&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Untie-Strong-Woman-Blessed-Immaculate/dp/1604076356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326838148&sr=1-1http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/daisy-bates/


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Oversees utilization and maintenance of the physical plant, grounds andequipment

Joe McKinley has been plowing as needed. BTOP laptops being used regularly in the Childrens room until issues with library

network are resolved so Userful can provide us with an update. ADA / Workforce computers are up and running, staff will begin training on use. Sunpower site (monitors solar system) has been down for almost 2 months, Ben

from Living Solar has restored service. Assisting with snow shoveling while part of janitorial staff has been on vacation. Peter building additional step stools for the library and a shelf in the tech closet Julia, Kathy, and Dee Graf will be making a trip to Boulder Thurs. / Fri. to pick up

(free) shelving courtesy of Boulder Public Library - thanks to Dee for volunteer-ing time, truck and trailer.

Quoted $500 from Nice Electric to replace broken outlet cover in teen area, pro-vide & install outlet in Childrens area, hook up electric and run data lines in Chil-

drens room (to relocate computers). Planned to be a 2011 expense but unableto get a quote quickly enough, hoping to use surplus money from Computer bud-get.

Julia has been cleaning interior windows. Julia has been attempting to contact Automated Control Systems who installed

and set up the software that controls the HVAC unit to inquire about frequency of back- ups.

My computer crashed due to a mechanical failure of the hard drive, luckily Geekson Grand were able to recover the data ($350)- I learned a hard lesson about theimportance of regular back-ups. The computer was still covered under warrantyand the hard-drive replaced at no cost.

Provides staff support to the Board of Trustees

MPL featured in WebJunction Webinar sponsored by ALA about Small Rural Li-braries using Social Media.

Met with fundraising committee, working on preparing documents for capital cam-paign.

Have been relaying pertinent information from Board meetings to Dept. Headsduring weekly meetings.

Ordered and arranged for bookplate in Bobs gift from the Board.

lX. Reports of officers and committeesB. Board Development Committee

a. Danielle and Sadie both interviewed Brian Hanson for member-ship on the board. They reported back to the Board of Trustees that they feel hewould be a strong member of the Board and bring experience, interest and knowl-edge to the position. The Board Development Committee recommend Brian Han-son to be voted as a member of the Mancos Public Library Board of Trustees.

C. Fundraising Committee


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In order to supplement the librarys budget for 2012/2013, the Fundraising Committeehas decided to commit to a capital campaign for the library. This campaign will be fo-cused around Keeping the Mancos Library Relevant during financially challengingtimes. Im currently working on developing a letter and promotional materials to supportthe campaign, the Millwood Follies will be the kickoff event. The theme for the Follies isMission ImPossible, which may be carried through the entire campaign.We are still looking into developing a managed fund for the library. The fundraisingcommittee has looked at the information regarding both local foundations, Id like the re-mainder of the Board to look at the information as well before we move forward andmake a decision. Ive contacted Shelley Walchak for consulting to ensure there are nolegal ramifications from investing library moneys into these type of funds.

A plan for grant researching and writing has started to take shape, Midge Kirk will be re-searching relevant grants that the library may want to pursue and will work with me towrite those grant applications. Clara had expressed interest in assisting with grants pri-

or to leaving the board, we hope to still be able to call on her expertise for any largegrants that we may want to pursue.Fundraising to date has been encouraging. Empire Electrics annual donation camethrough for $1,000, and the donation from the Strothers and the anonymous donationthat came in late December have given us a good jump on the $30,000 needed for 2012.Im attempting to get out into the community more to promote the library and library ser-vices, as well as spread the word about our financial situation and the fact that we needcommunity assistance. Unfortunately, due to unexpected setbacks (such as Victorialeaving) I havent been able to network as much as Id like.

Current plan for events for 2012 is as follows: January Grant letter to Masons

- Donation request letter to Montezuma County- Needs list for newspaper

February - Follies planning & preparationMarch Follies (1 st weekend)AprilMay - Pancake Breakfast w/ Masons

June - Possible Read In or Read-a-thon in conjunction with SummerReading Program (similar to a Walk-A-Thon, but reading rather than walking).

July Mancos Days - Library will have a booth promoting services andinformation re: capital campaignAugust -September Balloon Festival - Library will have a booth promoting servicesand information re: capital campaignOctober Taste of Mancos harvest event with local food prepared by

renowned local chefs - possibly coupled with a music event.November Carlos Nakai evening (w dinner and auction)December -


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D. Policy CommitteeHere's where we are so far with the Policy Committee. Midge and I have completed both the UnattendedChildren's Policy (with input from the Stechers) and the Grievance Policy. Lee has approved both policiesand we have sent them for approval to Mike Green. We have not heard back from him at this time. Wecan either put these on the agenda to vote on pending Mike's approval or we can wait to put them on theagenda until we hear from him. I'm open to either. I do feel that we need Mike's final approval on both of these before we sign them.You will notice a slight difference between the 2 policies. Typically we are simply doing

and leaving to the staff to determine what works best. Howeverin the Staff Grievance Policy we included the Procedure. This was because as you can see, the Policy it-self is extremely minimal and we determined that the Procedure was important to have be part of thePolicy. We didn't want there to be any questions about how to get satisfaction, and we want to be clearthat the Director is the person the staff deals with except in extreme circumstances. Staff approachingthe Board with issues is far from kosher, as we all know. Hopefully you all agree that this is broad brushthat allows the director to handle situations that arise, but doesn't stifle the staff from getting their needsmet.

X. Old Business

A. Follies & fundraisingXI. New Business

A. Employee Resignation & HRAKathy moves that we give Victoria Petersen $50.00 bonus in lieu of her HRA

contribution for the month of January. Danielle seconds. The floor is opened to discus-sion. All approved, none opposed the motion passes.

B. *Board member applicant discussion & decisionKathy moves we approve Brian Hanson as a member of the Mancos Public Li-

brary Board of Trustees, Sadie seconds. The floor is opened to discussion. All approve,none opposed, the motion passes.

D. March meeting updateMarch meeting will change to Thursday March 22, 2011.

XII. Public Commenta. Martin Stecher brought questions and concerns about First Amendment

Rights within the library.b. Board of Trustees director Darrel Ellis had to remind Mr. Stecher numer-

ous times that we had limited time to hear his concerns. Mr. Stechercontinued to speak for over 20 minutes despite being asked by Darrel torespect the boundaries of our meeting. * Amended 2-5-12

AdjournmentKathy moves to adjourn the meeting, Sadie seconds. The floor is opened to dis-

cussion. All approve, none opposed, the motion passes. Meeting adjourned at 7:40PM.NEXT MEETING: February 23, 2012 at 6:00 pm

jan 2012 board minutes

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