Minutes
Coralville Public Library Board of Trustees
January 2nd, 2008

Present: X. Cretzmeyer, Donna Epley, Deborah Hatz, Keith Jones, Lisa Martin, Julie Pulkrabek, Jim Smith, Alison Ames Galstad (Library Director), Ellen Hampe (Assistant Library Director), John Lundell (Coralville City Council Representative)..
Absent:

President Hatz called the meeting to order at 6:05.

The Board considered approval of the agenda. Jones moved the agenda be approved. Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board considered the minutes of the December 5th meeting. Martin moved that they be approved as presented, Cretzmeyer seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board considered the bills for December. Galstad explained that there is not yet an account number for the moving expenses. Cretzmeyer asked about the movie license. Galstad explained that it is a license to publicly show any of the movies to which this company owns rights. Galstad pointed out that again there are additional building expenses that were approved, but not as part of the contract with MLC, on the list. Jones moved the bills be approved, Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board considered the Election of Officers. Smith moved that the following slate be approved: Deborah Hatz for President, Donna Epley for Vice President, and X. Cretzmeyer for secretary. Epley seconded this slate. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board considered the FY09 proposed budget. Galstad passed the budget proposal out to the Board, and explained that the figures are a bit different than those the budget committee saw, as Mike Funke has refigured some personnel costs. Galstad highlighted a areas of the proposal. The service maintenance line has a large increase, mostly due to implementation of the RFID system. Galstad also had to estimate maintenance costs for Dynix, as she does not have those numbers yet. Jones asked if Galstad thought the increase in the materials line would be vulnerable to being cut, and she agreed that it might. She pointed out that last year, the Board agreed to cut back this line knowing that there was $30,000 in the building project budget for the Opening Day Collection. She would especially hate to see this line be cut this year. The proposed increase would allow us to keep the collection at the same size it currently is. The personnel line has a large increase, and Galstad will remind City Council that in 2004 she was asked for projections for staff increases in with the building expansion. She projected adding 3 ½ time positions, plus a ¼ increase in FT staff. She intended that the PT staff be under 20 hours a week, and not benefits-eligible positions. Lundell thinks this should be fairly safe as long as the budget follows the same projections Galstad presented to the Council in 2004. Jones asked about the Trust & Agency line. Galstad explained that when the Foundation turned funds over to the city, the funds were put into the Trust & Agency account. It has been taken out, along with the interest it accrued. Martin move that the budget proposal be approved as presented. Pulkrabek seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Epley gave a report from the Friends. The Friends have representatives downstairs sorting books right now. They are hoping to have a book sale mid-February (the 15th and 16th).

The Foundation has not met since the last Board meeting. Galstad has been receiving lot of end-of-year checks, and have received approximately $15,000 since Christmas. This includes the balance of Pat Dee’s pledge, which her family sent in.

Galstad gave the monthly Director’s Report:

• Statistics:
  The people counters are not running yet, there are not statistics on the number of people in the library yet.
• Budget:
  There was a $1000 donation from North Corridor Rotary for speaker’s books.
  There was a $400 donation from the Pilot Club, which we put toward Large Print books.
• Construction:
  Although there are a few meetings scheduled for February and March in the meeting room downstairs, meetings are not yet being scheduled regularly. We are still dealing with parking problems, and trying to keep the lot clear at night so that it can be plowed.
  The proxy readers are now functioning at the doors, and the automatic lock & unlock of the main doors is working. They have been working on the door hardware a lot.
  Galstad reminded the Board that they had agreed to use the carpet reserve funds to fund the coffee shop fit out. She is hopeful that the change order for this will be on the City Council agenda the week after next. The furniture for this space is in transit, and will be stored in the smaller portion of the downstairs meeting room for now.
  In order to get the footings for the sculpture installed, the library will probably need to close for at least a half of a week in March. It will be loud and dirty, and will involve jack hammering.
• Meetings:
  Building project meetings continue bi-weekly, and there was one today.
  The Johnson County Legislative reception was nice. The Epleys and Martin attended. Galstad reported that there were not as many legislators as there often are.

Other business:
Galstad told the Board that Pulkrabek has a conflict on Wednesday nights for the next few months, and asked if Board meetings can be changed. It was decided that the next three meetings be held on the first Tuesday of the month: February 5th, March 4th, April 1st.

Hatz reported that she did meet with Galstad about her evaluation. She had a prompt response from Mike Funke about Galstad’s salary, and passed around the letter he sent in response. Galstad noted that one of the issues is that Coralville is competitive in base and midrange pay, but has fallen behind on the maximum pay. Lundell was not aware of this issue, and said he would talk with Hayworth about it, and would ask how it is being handled with other department heads in the same situation.

Galstad asked the Board to update their contact information on the Board Information sheet she passed around.

Hatz adjourned the meeting at approximately 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Ellen Hampe
Assistant Library Director
(Subject to approval at the Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 meeting.)