Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The Boulder City Library District Board of Trustees normally meets on the third Wednesday of every month, at 7:00 PM, in the Board room of the Boulder City Library. Any change will be noted in the agenda for that meeting.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Amy Carvalho, Doug Haag, William Littler, Valerie McNay, and Gary Berger. Also present Library Director Lynn Schofield-Dahl, Reference and Electronic Services Librarian Deanna Duffy, Martha Ford from Piercy, Bowler, Taylor, and Kern, Mary Ann Venghaus, and Mary Hughes.

The regular meeting of the Library Board of Trustees was called to order at 7:01 p.m.

CONSENT AGENDA: Doug Haag moved and Gary Berger seconded approval of the Consent Agenda, the minutes of the regular meeting on November 18, $16,594.98 in vouchers for the previous month, submitted prior to and at the meeting, $388.21 in checkbook expenses for the previous month, submitted prior to and at the meeting. Motion carried.

1. ADOPTION OF AGENDA.
2. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF NOVEMBER 18, 2009.
3. EXPENSES FROM PREVIOUS MONTHS.

STAFF REPORTS: Director's monthly library status report.

1. Lynn handed out a change page for the bills including invoices received over the last week.
2. The RFID Project is done. We finished in early December and we're back to our normal hours
3. We have received the first part of our Collection Development grant money from the state.
4. Lynn finally heard back from EnvisionWare. They are not willing to lower the price of the RFID supplies to make up for the extremely late shipment. They did finally reimburse us for the Customs fees.
5. There was a typo in the circulation stats in the Director's Report. November of this year was a increase from last November, not a decrease. Doug pointed out that every month since July of 09 there has been a 1-7% increase over the same month last year.
6. Valerie commented on the increase in story time attendance. Lynn also mentioned that in addition to regular story-times, Kim has done at least one special program after school each month. This is new, so attendance is lower than story-time, but they're expecting it to gradually grow.
7. Valerie asked about times for the Duffy Hudson programs in January. Lynn announced times and gave a brief run down of publicity.
8. Lynn talked about Joseph A. Williams, the author who will be doing a book signing and presentation in January. The information for this program was also sent to the same places as the Hudson program.
9. Gary asked about the cancellation of the Dec. Ranger Talk program. It was canceled due to illness.
10. Valerie asked about the weeding program. Lynn talked about that and the numbers of books that have been discarded. Gary wanted to know the percent of books discarded. Lynn didn't have those numbers with her.
11. Amy said she thinks it's great that the local library directors have now met.
12. Lynn reported that HDPL is installing RedBox DVD rental kiosks at their locations to keep up with the demand for DVDs.
13. In discussion about the basement space, Valerie mentioned that she thinks it's great that we're providing assistance to the various groups in town.

REPORTS/DISCUSSION/ACTION:

1. PRESENTATION OF FY 08-09 AUDIT BY MARTHA FORD OF PIERCY, BOWLER, TAYLOR & KERN:

   Martha apologized for getting the draft out late. She's had trouble getting information out of the county. The goal for next year is to get it done earlier. She then reported on the audit. The primary item she needed to tell the board about was result of changing standards for auditing. She emphasized that the change in no way reflects a change in how things are done, simply a change in auditing standards. Because of this change she's now required to report a "material deficiency" because we don't have someone here who is able to prepare the required financial reports. This material deficiency is now being reported at small organization all over the country. To clear that up we'd need to have a CPA on staff and that is cost prohibitive.

   Martha talked about the required communication letter. The big thing in there was the material deficiency because we don't have a CPA on staff. She reported that we have a lot of controls over the inflow and outflow. There are appropriate controls over the disbursals, and then they are sent to the county which has it's own controls. On a day to day basis, there's probably not a lot of reason to change much of anything.

   Gary asked about a statement from Library "Management," that the library will consider additional training, that is in the required communication letter. Martha explained that one of the requirements for the letter is that it include a management type response. Martha further explained that for efficiency, generally, they take first pass at drafting the response, and that in responding you never want to be specific. Martha then worked with Lynn to make sure Lynn was fine with that statement. In the interest of having accountability Lynn took ownership of the statement and said that in this case library management was her. Lynn assured Gary that this accountability would be included in the minutes.

   Martha would like for Lynn, to learn a little more about how the audit reports are put together. Not that Lynn would ever do them, but so that she has a general idea of where thing should be recorded. She'll send some things over for Lynn to share with the board. Lynn said that she has learned some things from Cheryl, who was out here doing to audit, that make the numbers from the county make a little more sense. The county doesn't have user friendly software, and that's part of the problem.

   Martha pointed out that the staff here has been helpful and prompt with responses. And she has offered to take a look at a few things once in a while, and if Lynn or the board have questions they can ask her.

2. DISCUSSION OF DIRECTOR EVALUATION, 2009:

   Amy had Lynn distribute copies of Lynn's performance evaluation when she was distributing the board meeting packets. Doug agrees with the evaluation, although he would have marked some things higher. He believes that running a business and a library is not a democracy, someone has to be in charge and from he can see Lynn's doing a good job. Amy said that she believes that Lynn's doing a good job. William Littler seconded that thought. Valerie again expressed concerns about Lynn following the rules and not being as willing to make exceptions as Valerie would prefer.

   Gary asked if the library or the board have a Mission Statement, does it include a Vision. The answer is yes, but no one can lay their hands on it right now. Gary would like to take a look at that and consider it. Does it need to be amended, does it do a good job of setting the standards that they as a board work with numbers and facts, and deplore gossip and innuendo, so that they as a group of professionals are working on a professional basis. Gary would like to make sure that the board as a whole is following the Mission Statement and amend it if necessary.

   Valerie stated that she resents Gary's comments about gossip and innuendo, and that she thinks Lynn is doing a fine job except for the one area. Lynn responded that part of her job is to follow the policies of the library, and if the employees are following the policies she'll back them.

   Gary thought that the discussion drifted a little bit and requested that it be pulled back on topic.

   Valerie said she thought the recommendations in the evaluation were good. Amy commended Lynn on changing the floor plan in her office to make it more accessible to patrons and staff. And that it seems the staff feels that the staff meetings are useful and productive.

   Doug Haag moved to accept the Director's evaluation. William Littler seconded. Motion carried.

3. DISCUSSION OF APPRECIATION CELEBRATION FOR VOLUNTEERS AND STAFF FOR RFID PROJECT:

   Lynn talked to Frank Carroll and he won't consider doing it without a commercial quality kitchen. Lynn called to a couple of places and they both said call back after Christmas. Several staff have said they were disappointed with the refreshments at Duncan's retirement party, so Lynn has not talked to that restaurant. Amy's happy with waiting until after New Year's, and commented on the team mentality that she saw when she was volunteering. Lynn said that the team mentality is something that she sees everyday. While it might not be obvious to people who just come in the library, but anyone that spends time in the backroom will see it.

   Gary moved to have Lynn look into arrangements for an appreciation celebration for the volunteers and staff who helped with the RFID project. Valerie seconded. Motion carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:Mary Ann Venghaus was on vacation and didn't get a letter mailed to the board earlier. She says that she's at the meeting in full support of Lynn, and that anytime she's had a problem she's been able to go to Lynn and they've worked it out together.

Mary Hughes stated that Lynn hired her a year ago and she's seen nothing but good things from Lynn. She thinks someone is trying to make the impression that the entire staff is disgruntled, and that's not true.

ADJOURNMENT:The meeting was adjourned at 8:41

Minutes prepared by Deanna Duffy, Reference and Electronic Services Librarian.