TRUSTEE BOARD MEETING

Minutes

September 20, 2005

The meeting was called to order at 5:14 pm by Chairman Blaine Robertson. Board members present were Gordon Timothy, Blaine Robertson, Lee Anne Kinghorn, Roger Jackson, and Judy Dewey. Tricia Galer asked to be excused because of illness. The minutes of the last meeting were approved by acclamation. The bills were approved, and the checks paying the bills were signed.

In old business, the board had been sent a summary of the Library Consortium of Eastern Idaho’s meeting of trustees August 10 at the Portneuf Library District. The summary follows these minutes. Judy reported on the September 15^th meeting of the consortium wherein a vote was taken on a formula for determining contributions to the consortium’s capital improvement fund (CIF) and for determining consortium dues. All the libraries present, except Idaho Falls and Madison, voted to accept the formula. Idaho Falls voted against it, and Madison abstained. Judy feels the formula penalizes the libraries who successfully attract patrons and effectively circulate their materials. Blaine was of the opinion that the vote was inefficacious since it was not unanimous. Judy was instructed to send an email to Heidi Riddoch, current chair, and Marilyn Kamoe, chair elect, telling them of the problem with the vote. Judy also reported that the general tenor of the meeting was not any more friendly towards Idaho Falls than it has been in the past. Idaho Falls sent one of their board members, Ken Taylor, to report on IT costs. He has spent nearly 40 hours working on the costs. The actual cost to Idaho Falls is closer to $27,000 rather than the $25,000 they offered. Their offer for providing tech support to the consortium for $25,000 still stands. Ken also offered to answer any questions at any time. He has made himself totally available to the consortium members for any questions or concerns.

Because of a discussion with Ned Zollinger of the Credit Bureau of Eastern Idaho located in Rexburg, any consideration of the records retention policy was deferred until October’s meeting.

Judy presented the final statistics for the summer reading program. They are listed at the end of the statistics which follow. We think we’re doing a great job getting children signed up for the program. We’re going to modify some aspects of the program, hopefully so we have more “finishers.”

Ned Zollinger spoke to the board about using a collection agency and why it would be a good idea. Of course, he would like us to use his local agency, the Credit Bureau of Eastern Idaho. Some of the things he mentioned were: getting the debts paid so that people would come back and use the library; when a person has unpaid debts one place they usually have them another, so he could combine some of the collection actions; they will use whatever approach we would want – soft, hard-nosed, etc. He didn’t have a formal proposal at the meeting, but said perhaps the board would, after it makes its decision, delegate someone to work out the details with him.

The phone conference with Unique Management System was re-scheduled for October 18^th at 5:30 pm.

Discussion of the foundation was also deferred until the October meeting.

Judy related an unhappy experience she had at Wells Fargo Bank while trying to add Lee Anne to the checking account. She suggested it would be fiscally prudent to open a business account at another bank where the minimum balance is less than $25,000. According to the Bank of Commerce representative with whom Judy spoke, they require only a $100 balance in order to not incur charges. The extra funds could be earning interest in our Local Government Investment Pool account.

After a report on numbers of missing books, the board requested Judy determine the current cost of an RFID (radio frequency identification) system. There will be demonstrations at the upcoming Idaho Library Association meeting in Pocatello which Judy and Amber are attending.

The library’s 85^th anniversary is coming up the end of December 2006. The staff and board will be brainstorming ways to celebrate throughout the year.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:44 pm.