TRUSTEE BOARD MEETING

Minutes

September 19, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 5:05pm by Chairman Blaine Robertson. Board members present were Gordon Timothy, Pam Beard, Blaine Robertson, Roger Jackson, and Judy Dewey, clerk. Tricia Galer was excused.

The minutes of the last meeting were approved by acclamation. The bills were approved by acclamation, and the checks paying the bills were signed.

New Building Report

Pam brought the board up to date on the Foundation’s negotiations with donors for a new building. One possible donor has decided not to donate land, but they might be interested in helping with the museum part. They need a proposal, and they are making it a priority. Pam’s and Eileen’s feelings are that the gentleman who was bringing on board some large donations is just not functioning as everyone had anticipated; however, he did have a verbal commitment of $8 million from the group of foundations he had contacted. Whether that is still viable is unknown. The Rexburg Children’s Museum is not interested in handling the museum end of it. Blaine has recruited another individual willing to serve on the building committee. Other donors have expressed an interest in supporting the project. The next step appears to be hiring an architectural firm. The board was impressed with the one that did the presentation, one of the reasons being that they could help us through the bond issue. But if we wait until January, would we be able to get it done by May? Judy will look into when we can hold the election during the year and the necessity and procedure for an RFP. Pam will see if the library foundation and the gentleman representing the other foundations can come to our board meeting in October so we will have a feeling for where we are. Judy will contact the building committee to pull together all the items on the various wish lists.

Horizon Move

Judy reported the Horizon move is on schedule. She was asked to send a letter to Idaho Falls Public Library with our requirements for the move.

Automated Book Drop

Judy reported the cost for the automated outside book drop is $12,000 rather than the $25,000 approved by the board in August. She was assigned to ask whether a second one could run off the same computer.

EnvisionWare’s PCRefresh

Judy reported to the board that we are installing software called PCRefresh. This program will restore the public computers after each use to the status we have set for them. Any changes made to a public computer by a patron are written to virtual memory, which is then wiped clean upon the patron ending their session. The program was reasonably priced and, if it is as intuitive as the other two programs we have from EnvisionWare, it should be easy to install and maintain.

Computer Policy Revision

The board approved the addition to computer policy the wording, “...nor to disable any software...” Roger moved to forego the readings and update the policy, so it will now be designated 20070620.2.

Unattended Child Policy

The board was informed that the Rexburg City Police Department considers a child under the age of 10 to be unattended if his parents or guardians are not with him. Discussion included the following points: 1) patrons care about their children but they don’t know how to deal with them in the library; 2) this is a safety issue, but how do we make the parents aware of the situation; 3) the library is not a baby sitting establishment; 4) can we change the public’s perception that we are a baby sitting establishment; 5) perhaps talk to the newspaper about the problem, emphasizing the safety of the children, and that we would like to have input from the public at our board meeting; 6) create a report from Horizon of families with children under 10 and send them Gordon’s letter; 7) hand out Gordon’s letter at story time; 8) staff should not touch other people’s children. It was decided Judy would find the minutes where the board set the policy about disruptive children, add the draft of the unattended children policy, and bring it to the next meeting. Judy is also to make sure the sign is posted on the doors of the library; at some point these disappeared.

Professional Development Policy

A discussion was held regarding the draft of a professional development policy presented to the board by Judy, who will make the revisions and present the policy for the first reading at the October board meeting.

Library Trust Funds

The board instructed Judy to maximize the interest earned on our trust accounts. This will most likely involve moving the monies to the Local Government Investment Pool.

Bid for Janitorial Services / Related Party Transactions

The Library received a bid for janitorial services by a contractor other than B&L Contractors, our current custodians. In conjunction with a discussion of the bid, the board decided to address the issue of related party transactions. B&L Contractors is Blaine and Lori Robertson, and AJAX Enterprises is Laurene and Roger Jackson. Both Blaine and Roger are board members, which means they are both the employer (they hire the director) and the employee (they report to the director), even though their wives are the primary service providers. Discussion items included opening the bidding process for custodial services to the public by publishing an ad in the newspaper and the problems inherent in board members being contractors for the library. Judy will ask Lori Robertson to continue their contract for two months while the board decides. Roger moved to defer the issue to next month’s board meeting, Gordon seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously. It was noted that Blaine and Roger would have to excuse themselves from any discussion on the related party transactions.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm upon Roger’s motion.

Blaine Robertson, Chair of the Board                 Judith M. Dewey, Secretary