Centennial Library

February 9, 2018 Special Board Minutes

Grangeville Centennial Library
Special Board Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2018
6:00 pm

The meeting was called to order by Brett Rogers at 6:10 PM. Those present were:  Brennan Wright, Meleah McCulley, Angie Norman, and Amy Farris. Special guest:  Emily Sitz.  Susan Anderson and Dani Reynolds were absent.  Due to Susan’s absence, Meleah volunteered to be secretary.

This is an additional board meeting that was called to gather information about the library budget, so approval of the minutes from the last meeting will wait for the next regular meeting.

Staffing Update

Angie provided a quick update concerning the staffing change.  Gina Sobrero agreed to move up to fill Dani’s position as the Assistant Librarian.  Gina is currently working 9 hours a week in the new position as she trains with Dani.  The rest of her hours are still being used as a library aide.  The transition seems to be working for both Dani and Gina.  Dani’s last day will be April 1st.

Budget Training and Planning

Emily Sitz, Library Consultant from the Northern Field Office for the Idaho Commission for Libraries, gave a presentation concerning 2018/2019 budget planning.  There were many handouts with her presentation.  The highlights are outlined below.

Legal Framework.  Emily explained the Idaho statutes for the public libraries, which include Section 33-2601: Policy & Purpose of Public Libraries, Section 33-2603: Establishing a tax-supported library, and Section 33-2609:  annual appropriations and control of expenditures.  Items of note:

  • Cities may levy a tax “up to but not exceeding one-tenth percent (.10%) of market value for assessment purposes or fund a library out of allocations from the city’s general fund.”
  • “All moneys shall be kept by the city treasurer separate and apart from other moneys of the city and be used exclusively for library purposes.”
  • Grangeville’s current tax levy rate for GCL is .000308728
  • There’s approx. $96,000 in the city’s library savings fund

Board Service from BoardSource.org.  Emily provided several handouts that explained the legal duties of a nonprofit board member:  Establishing organizational identity, ensuring resources, and providing oversight with care, loyalty, and obedience/compliance to the laws and by-laws that govern the organization.

Comparison Chart.  We analyzed and discussed a chart that Emily provided.  It compared sixteen different Idaho libraries which fell within the same population category.  Highlights of note:

  • Amy pointed out the difference between city-funded libraries and libraries that fall under a broader taxing district which include patrons from surrounding areas. There is a large difference for those operating as “Library Districts” vs. those operating as “Public Libraries.” GCL is currently a city-funded library, with county patrons paying extra for a library card.  (We might want to come back to this in the future and discuss moving to a library district??)
  • Compared to city-funded libraries with similar annual operating budgets, GCL provided more annual programs, was open more hours and had larger annual attendance, yet spent much less on library employees’ salaries and benefits.
  • Emily provided information about possible library budgets and layouts. Her suggested budget layout divided expenditures into 3 areas:
    • Salaries and Benefits: 65% of total operating expenditures from all income sources
    • Materials and Resources: 12% of total operating expenditures
    • Library Operations & Programs: the balance of the budget
    • (Technology costs were integrated into the last two areas, as needed.)

Budget Planning Discussion

We spent the rest of our time looking at a budget spreadsheet for GCL which had been separated into the 3 areas: Personnel, Operations, and Resources.  The spreadsheet included the 2016/2017 numbers, along with the current budget for 2017/2018.  Angie gave suggestions for rebalancing the budget for 2018/2019 so that it represented the percentages recommended during Emily’s presentation. Highlights:

  • Recommend that 2018/2019 remain at the same level as 2017/2018: $110,200.00
  • Provide raises for all library employees to represent 65% of the total budget
  • Make all changes “budget neutral,” meaning that the increase in salaries and benefits would be taken from the operations and resources part of the budget
  • Angie went through each line item and explained how we could possibly rebalance the budget without cutting programs or resources.
  • FoCL has been an active part of the library this year and plans to continue. Their financial support does not show in the GCL budget, as this money is part of FoCL’s non-profit status and their budget.   As an example, the Summer Reading Program, a large part of GCL’s existing resource budget, will continue to be funded by FoCL.  So, this amount could possibly be reduced in the GCL budget for 2017/2018.
  • Due to the large technology grant received this year, we should be able to reduce the amount budgeted for technology enhancements.
  • Amy cautioned us: Just because items are not needed for the 2018/2019 budget, they might be needed in future years.   Once line items are cut, they are hard to add back into the budget and receive approval by the city.

(Meleah’s thoughts:  The GCL board needs to discuss future goals for the library as we look at shifting the budget line items.  Emily had added GCL’s current mission statement and goals to her presentation, which she had pulled from our website.  Possibly a good topic for spring board meetings??)

No voting actions were taken by the GCL board during this meeting.  Angie will rework the proposed 2018/2019 budget to be discussed further at our next meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30.

Library Board Terms:

Brett Rogers (President): 1/14 – 1/19

Meleah McCulley:  1/14 – 5/18  (Replaced Edie Lustig’s term, 5/13 – 5/18)

Susan Anderson (Secretary): 8/15 – 1/19 (Replaced Diana Higgin’s term, 1/14 – 1/19)

Brennan Wright: 5/17 – 1/20  (Replaced David Rauzi’s term, 1/15 – 1/20)

Serena Jackson 4/15 – 1/21  (She has moved and needs to be replaced.)

Amy Farris:  City Council Representative

If a member replaced someone else’s term, they can still do two terms of 5 years after they have completed term they were finishing for someone else.

Next Meeting:

Regular Board Meeting:  Thursday, March 22nd, at 6:00 pm.  (This is one week later than usual due to schedule conflicts.)

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