Library Board Minutes

Teton County Library Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, October 19, 2007

Board members attending: Amy Robinson, Anne Ladd, Bill Wotkyns, Patricia Moeller and Holly Hunter.
Also present: Andy Schwartz, Teton County Commissioner standing in for Leland Christensen, County Commission liaison to the library board.
Staff present: Deb Adams, Director, Sally McCullough, Kirsten Corbett (joined at 4:30 PM)

President Bill Wotkyns called the meeting to order.

Correspondence from the public: None

Approval of Minutes: Amy moved to approve with the correction of the spelling of Patricia Moeller's name, Patricia seconded, all voted in favor. Bill noted that this motion includes both sets of minutes.

Section 215 Report: There were no requests.

Librarian's report:
Challenged Movie Event- Deb had sent correspondence to the board regarding a letter she had received from the YA Board President, challenging an upcoming movie event. The scheduled movie is 'Disturbia' and has a rating of PG13. Deb had responded with a letter to him explaining the library's guidelines for developing programs, information about the MPAA rating system and the library's decision to keep the movie as part of its programming. In his response, the patron thanked Deb for her letter and indicated that he still stands on his belief that it is not a suitable movie to be shown at the library, but that he will not pursue the issue any further. Bill asked if the board wished to pursue it any further. Some discussion followed on the movie. Deb explained the library's policy. She also gave a brief overview of the MPAA's movie rating system and explained that it is a voluntary standard adopted by the movie industry and is widely known by the public. The library does not have the same role as public schools. Bill recommends that a sign be placed on the door when the movie is shown, indicating its rating and that all information regarding the event informs patrons of the rating. Deb clarified that the library does include information about a movie's rating when we send out press releases, calendars, etc. to the public.

Staff- Deb's intent with this new item in her report is to ask teams if they would like to attend the meetings to share any news or concerns. No one was quite ready to attend but look forward to the opportunity in the future.

Organization Structure update- Deb reported on a second round of meetings with all of the teams regarding job descriptions etc. Deb and Isabel are scheduled to meet with to review the job descriptions, especially with respect to appropriate pay grades for the supervisory positions. Deb and Isabel have some questions, especially with one position in Public Services that may be at a lower grade. Some discussion followed on the grading system and the matrix, which is based on percentages and the different supervisory roles. Patricia asked if this person knew of the possible pay decrease. Deb replied that the position is not filled at this time but that staff members are aware of the grading system and pay scale and if duties change their pay may change. Deb passed out handouts from the last organizational structure meetings which had been presented to all staff/teams in three day. She explained that one of the more noticeable changes to the public will be to recombine the information and computer center desks, which used to be served out of one point from 1997-2000. There is more commonality between these two departments and this will provide better service. Right now the computer center is hard to find. Bringing the computers forward will allow us to recapture a quiet space, which patrons and staff identified as a need in the Facilities Planning process. We are aiming toward mid January for completion - the changeover will be done hopefully over the Martin Luther King holiday when we are closed. Statistics show that reference transactions are down significantly compared to computer center demands. Our role to the public will be - How can we show you how to do that better? The important role for libraries now is teaching internet techniques to help patrons know which information is from accurate and from credible sources. It was asked if the reference librarians are trained to answer computer questions. Deb says that we will be looking for all working the combined desk to be at the same level. Libraries are moving toward fewer service points and using other ways to assist patrons. Deb asked if there were any questions. It was noted that there may be after reading the material. Deb said that she would send a recording of one of the meetings to the board.

Bill asked if Andy had anything for board. No. Leland had requested the draft contracts for working with Carol Taylor and Bob McLaurin. Leland would like to review the scope of work. Holly said that she would like to review the contracts too. Deb will email them to the board.

Holly asked what was decided on Veteran's Day closure. Deb reviewed our Personnel Manual. The Policy states Nov 11th, which falls on a Sunday this year. The library will be closed that day.

Facilities planning:
Alta- Jan Livingston & Keith Gingery met again with representatives from the church last week and they made two offers. One was on the 1 acre parcel and one on the 2.5 acre parcel. Deb says that we weren't anticipating a decision yet, maybe in November. Andy said that he doesn't foresee any problems.

Main Library-Deb noted that the board motion in June was to approve expansion and/or remodeling on site. She needs to know whether we will expand or remodel and whether it will be done incrementally as defining priorities for space will help the library to better make our case to the public. Bill says that working with the report that we have, a lot can be done with the current space. That will determine what's needed, his best guess is that we need 10,000 additional sq. ft. Even with rearranging in the short term, we will still need additional money to do so. It was pointed out that we don't want to reconfigure and then have to do it all over again when remodeling or building. Discussion followed on the SPET tax and when the library should try to get on the ballot for it. Andy provided preliminary information about the County's discussions on the anticipated 2008 SPET ballot process. He also shared that the joint Town-County meeting on this topic is slated for Monday, November 5.
Andy left meeting at 5:15.

It was then agreed that without more help the board felt that they are not qualified to reconfigure the building. It was also agreed that some conceptual plans are needed to move forward. Bill proposes that the board call Steven Dynia or another architect, to review the preliminary report and come up with some conceptual drawings (on a volunteer basis). Amy suggests using three different firms to get some different ideas. Bill suggests forming a group for the basic visualization and then a small ad hoc advisory committee with Deb and the staff to line out what the biggest priorities are. It was questioned whether there are any rules that need to be followed. Deb says we've already identified top five priorities for the library's space needs and the consultants gave us some building standards to use. Holly made a motion to create an ad hoc committee to further investigate this issue, Amy seconded, Bill called for any more discussion on who can be on the committee. All agreed to find out what parameters should be in place for a subcommittee first. Amy and Anne would like to serve on the sub-committee and the board will talk to several more architects. Holly amended the motion to investigate the possibility of forming an ad hoc committee. Amy seconded, all in voted in favor.

Financials: Amy moved to approve the vouchers, Patricia seconded, all voted in favor.

Deb went over the financial report and explained that property tax revenue for September was low due to an accounting software changeover in the Teton County Treasurers office. Some discussion followed on interest rates Bill noted that Raymond James is offering 6% interest on a weekly basis, which is liquid, the only restriction is that the money be withdrawn on the same day of the week as it was deposited.

New Business:
Deb explained that due to TCL computer classes on Thursday nights, an earlier board meeting time would allow the computer classes to continue to be consistently scheduled at 6:00 pm with enough time for lab set up beforehand. Anne made a motion that the Board meeting time be changed from 4:00-6:00 PM to 3:00-5:00 PM; Holly seconded, all voted in favor. This change will go into effect starting with the November 15th meeting.

Anne moved to adjourn, Holly seconded. The meeting adjourned at 5:45 PM.