Library Board Minutes

Teton County Library Board Meeting
18 May 2006

In attendance: Board members: Amy Robinson, Bill Resor, Holly Hunter, Anne Ladd, Joe Albright; Commissioner Liaison Andy Schwartz; Foundation members Johnny Becker, Missy Falcey; Library Staff: Deb Adams and Julie Klomparens

The meeting was called to order at 4:06

Approve vouchers
Bill motioned to approve the vouchers, Joe seconded. The motion was approved.

Approve minutes
Minutes from last meeting Joe moved to approve, Bill seconded. The motion was approved.

Foundation Report - Missy presented their FY 06-07 budget. Deb explained briefly why this was being brought to this meeting - the library board has final review after the TCLF Board approves to ensure that library's and foundation's budget work in concert with one another. New this year: $20K line item for the solar panel project and new twist for Four Seasons event (Dec 1st). The Foundation has contracted national acclaimed author, Frank McCourt to present a community event. The Foundation will add a reception with the author before the Four Seasons event, as an additional fund raiser. Missy noted an increase in Information Systems budget; tax assistance program will be moved to the TCL operating budget FY 07; continuation of the college prep program through Latino Services; increase in the Outreach budget for marketing; Deb announced that the library has a commitment from the Wyoming Business Council for $10K in support of the solar panel project.
Joe moved to approve, Holly seconded. Discussion on "McNaughton" and "Author Presentation" lines. The motion was approved.
Missy and Johnny left the meeting 4:20.

Friends Report: No official report, but Holly mentioned there will be a volunteer recruitment party in June at the Virginian.

Financial Report: Library materials - Deb noted that we really spend during this time of the year to close out budget. Next month, the board will move to allocate funds from the 5000s to the cash reserve. Discussion on the excess of the budget, it is high now due to projecting where we would be, there are 2 months left, and no allocations have occurred.
Certificate of Deposit is up for renewal. After researching the interest rates at several local banks, Deb recommends renewing this CD for 12 months at First Interstate Bank at 5.13%. Joe called for the vote: Holly motioned to approve, Bill seconded. The motion was approved, with Amy abstaining from the vote.
Anne asked about the computer turnaways reported in the statistical report and purchasing new computers. Deb responded that our current Computer Center location is at its limit because of ADA requirements.
Bill asked about the status of the wireless system. Deb indicated the IS team is looking at a June 15 timeline for installation of the equipment. Then they will test the system, with a probable public availability date in early July. There will be a soft rollout of about one month where we test for any additional improvements before publicly announcing the library as a WiFi spot. The library will need to update its Internet policy to include the open wireless system. Additionally, Administration will be communicating with the police department regarding after hours use of the library property. Andy suggested the idea of changing our signs for no overnight parking to read "no parking during x-x hours". There was some discussion about the impact to local businesses. In general, the board felt it was a non-issue, especially since the library has had public wireless Internet capability in place for two years. There was discussion about the security with the wireless system. Deb indicated that the library's internal computers are all behind a firewall, as they have been for many years, and that the wireless system has been operating within this configuration for two years. She also stated that she trusted the judgment of the IS supervisor and staff with respect to their recommendations about set up of the open wireless system because they are extremely security conscious.

Librarian's Report:
No requests under section 215 or 505.

Decision Items:
Set board meetings:
July 20th
August - no meeting
September 21st
October 19th
November 16th
December 19th - TUESDAY

New Business:
Board Position Vacancy - Bill's term ends in June. The ad has been posted in the paper, applications due in June. The board discussed potential candidates to solicit

Librarian's Report (cont'd):
Adult Program Coordinator Oona Doherty joined the meeting at 5:00 PM to present information on the First annual Literary Festival at the end of June. The theme of the event is "Where readers and writers rendezvous." This is an effort to create a library signature event. The Friends will be providing hospitality and the Foundation will be hosting an event, the visiting author. The Board is invited to be involved. Authors involved: Philip Gourevitch, Bo Fuller, Nancy Perl, Theresa Jordan and Craig Johnson. There will also be 2 art exhibits in conjunction with the Festival, an "On the Wall" exhibit of local writers and an "Altered Books" display. An Edible Book Festival is planned as a fundraiser: volunteer chefs will create edible books based on the cover or theme of a book.

New Business (cont'd)
WLA Legislative Committee Questions. The WLA Legislative Committee has asked libraries to ask their boards if they would support the following items:
" State legislation for permanent state funding for collection development
" State legislation for matching funds for public library endowments
There was discussion of how the State Legislature works and the likelihood of anything becoming permanent. There was also discussion about how these funds would affect County support of the library's annual operating budget. The board decided to wait on writing a letter of support until they had more information from the committee after its June meeting.

Decision Items (cont'd)
Approval of Facilities Planning Timeline. With results of SPET tax, the next likely date for a SPET ballot would be three years out. Andy offered that the joint town-county committee for the SPET ballot is potentially looking at changing the SPET tax election to coincide with the Fall 2008 presidential election as a means to get more voters. This would also change the timeline for project proposals to be brought to the committee at a meeting in the Spring 2008. Therefore, the library's proposed facilities timeline needs to be moved up by 6 months, starting with the planning consultant's recommendations for a long-term facilities plan in early 2007. Joe motioned to approve the amended timeline; Bill seconded. Motion approved.

A suggestion was made to communicate with the Valley of the Tetons Library Board in Victor, Idaho about setting up a general board-to-board meeting in Teton County, Idaho.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:35pm

Submitted by
Julie Klomparens