TRUSTEE BOARD MEETING

Minutes

October 18, 2005

The meeting was called to order at 5:05 pm by Chairman Blaine Robertson. Board members present were Gordon Timothy, Blaine Robertson, Tricia Galer, Lee Ann Kinghorn, Roger Jackson, and Judy Dewey, secretary. The minutes of the last meeting were approved upon motion by Gordon and a second by Lee Anne. The bills were approved by acclamation, and the checks paying the bills were signed.

B&L Contractors submitted a bid for janitorial work for the coming year. The cost will be $800 per month. Judy commented they do a great job of cleaning the library. She said she will contact them about two things she would like done each night: vacuuming around the computers and cleaning the glass on the display case. Upon Roger’s motion and Lee Anne’s second, the board voted to approve the bid.

AJAX’s Enterprises submitted a bid for bookkeeping work (payroll) for the coming year for $275 per month. Judy again commented the bookkeeper does a great job and she is glad she doesn’t have to do the payroll. Upon Lee Anne’s motion and Gordon’s second, the board voted to approve the bid.

Judy reported the status of the consortium is tenuous at best. Idaho Falls Public Library has offered to do all computer administration for a flat fee per Horizon seat (license). A meeting of the committee to revise the contract and address IFPL’s concerns is scheduled for Monday, October 24^th. After first being denied membership on the committee, Judy was ultimately allowed to be on it. She will report any progress at the next board meeting.

At 5:30 the board held a telephone conference with Unique Management Systems, a library collection agency based in Indiana. We were told they have approximately 700 library clients. They recommend sending only those accounts owing $25 or more. Interface with their system can be either automated or manual. A major advantage for libraries is that their system will interface with Horizon by using software called “Debt Collect,” available for purchase from Dynix, which runs with the day end processing. The software keeps track of whether or not the patron has paid, how much, how many days the patron has owed the money or has had overdue items, and so forth. Otherwise, the library must manually send the information to Unique and manually keep track of progress. Day 45 is the trigger for accounts going to them; they will then work on the account for 60 days through letters and phone calls; after six months with no response from the patron, the account is reported to the three major credit reporting agencies. They said the typical response is the patron returns the missing items and pays the fines. The patron works just with the library, not Unique. One piece of information we have not collected from adult patrons that would be helpful to them is the patron’s date of birth. We could add that to our application. They have either a flat fee of $8.95 per patron, or a sliding scale of $4.95 plus 40% for any account going over 60 days. Typically libraries pass these fees onto the patrons. The sales representative said that with an annual circulation of 100,000, a library will typically have 12 new patron accounts to turn over each month. Our circulation being just over 250,000 we would have about 30 accounts each month. They invoice the library once per month for account activity during the month, with a minimum invoice of $50.00. There is a 90-day free trial period during which only current accounts can be sent in. A one page contract would need to be signed by the board. After the trial period, they will do a “clean up” of older accounts the library wishes to send in.

The telephone conference was followed immediately by a presentation by Schwendiman & Sutton. Melanie reported to the board their firm is no longer doing audits. They would do a review of our finances, but not an audit. The cost would be no more than $1,500, rather than $3,500 for a full audit. A review is similar to an audit, but there are no opinions given by the accounting firm. After her presentation, Roger moved and Tricia seconded the motion to have Schwendiman & Sutton do a review of the library’s financial books. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative.

Judy reported on a conversation she had with the new director of the Twin Falls Public Library which has an excellent, supportive foundation that gives the library $100,000 every year. Patrons can endow the library for as little as $300; the income from the funds is used to purchase books. Since our library already has filed with the Secretary of State the papers necessary to create a foundation, it was decided that would be the direction we should take rather than creating a Friends group. Judy will check with the Secretary of State to determine the foundation’s status and report at the next board meeting. Nick Allison, a patron, is anxious to help us in this endeavor. The foundation will have a separate board; Tricia agreed to be the liaison with that board. Judy has a list that the staff created of patrons who frequent the library; she will draft a letter to be sent to them about being a part of the foundation.

Blaine asked that, due to conflicts in his schedule, the regular meeting day be changed from the 3^rd Tuesday of the month. It was decided to change the day to the 3^rd Wednesday of the month. The next meeting will be on November 16, 2005.

A patron filed a formal complaint about some of the content of a library book (see attached). After a good deal of discussion, upon Roger’s motion and Tricia’s second, it was decided to place a small label on the front of the book stating: “A patron has objected to some of the material in this book.” Lee Anne brought in young adult book which has major amounts of what the board considered to be objectionable material. The board decided the book should be re-cataloged to an adult fiction book and a label placed on the cover. Judy was asked to write a letter to the patron.

Blaine brought to the meeting some drafts of policies. After some discussion, it was decided Judy would revise the drafts, showing the library’s current policies, and get those out to the board members for review before the next meeting. Judy expressed her appreciation for Blaine’s having taken the initiative on this. She is feeling somewhat overwhelmed lately with job duties.

The agenda item, SirsiDynix/3M bid for RFID system, was postponed until the November meeting.

Upon Tricia’s motion to dismiss, the meeting was adjourned at 6:54 pm.