Lyons Regional Library District Board of Trustees January 19, 2016 Meeting Minutes

7:00 p.m.; 405 Main St., Lyons Colorado

Attendance: Trustees Andrew Biel, Kathleen Crane, Mark Browning, Sandy Banta, Director Katherine Weadley, on phone: Trustees Julie Cimmett, Lisa Sobieniak

1. Public Input: no public input

2. December Meeting Minutes: Trustee Crane moved to approve, Trustee Biel second, 3-0 in favor, + 2 in favor on phone. Trustee Browning abstained as he was not present

3. Trustee Nominations: Trustees Biel and Crane interviewed 3 applicants, one did not feel she had enough time. Darcie Sanders and Sarah Catchpole are recommended as Trustee candidates. Darcie is also interested in serving as secretary. Trustee Biel moved to approve the nomination of Darcie Sanders and Sarah Catchpole as new trustees to the board, one to fulfill Trustee Browning’s remaining term Sept 2, 2018 and one to fulfill Jenny Voss’ remaining term Sept 2, 2017 as determined at a future date. Trustee Crane seconded. Vote 3- 0 in favor + 2 in favor on phone, Trustee Browning abstaining.

4. Library Director’s Report see attached. Also: There are many DVDs to catalog specific to AspenCat requirements. CLiC will give a presentation to staff on how to do this.

5.. Employee Handbook has been sent to MSEC for clarifications and revisions and then will go to MSEC legal for their approval before coming back to the library board for final approval.

6. December Financial Report: See attached. There is $261,642 Revenue over Expenses for 2015 at this time. More expenses from December will adjust this number slightly. 2 months’ operating expenses will be held in reserve. After that, the balance can be moved to the capital fund. It’s recommended that we approve the amount of this transfer at our next meeting, yet not make the transfer till April or May as 2016 property tax revenues do not start coming in until March and April.

7. General Committee Membership: Trustee Crane has recommended a procedure to appoint new committee members. This item will be delayed for further discussion at our next meeting in February.

8. Trustee Handbook: Trustee Crane suggests putting this together at the Feb. 10 board retreat based on nomination documents. Our state library rep, Jacqueline, also gave the board materials we can reference. Please review these materials for the Feb. 10 retreat. 9. Newspaper Articles: Trustee Crane will draft an article about change in board members and the library’s support organizations for February’s Redstone Review. Deadline is 2nd Thursday of the month

10. Retreat: Feb. 10, Longmont Public Library, 12:30-5pm, tour of technical services at 12:30. Topics: Survey Results, F&D slide show of highlights of libraries they’ve visited, committees and assignments, mission statement, Trustee Crane and Trustee Biel will make a list of critical topics, send out for input, and revise.

11. PLA Conference Attendance: Trustee Crane and Trustee Banta are interested in Friday. April 8. April 9 also has sessions pertinent to board members. Trustee Biel plans to attend one day. Trustees who wish to attend need to join PLA, become a member, make a donation to the library in the amount of the registration and Catherine will book it for us.

12. Officer Elections: Trustee Biel nominates Trustee Crane as president for one year. Trustee Banta 2nds, 3-0 in favor + 2 in favor on phone, Trustee Browning abstaining. Trustee Crane nominates Trustee Cimmett as vice president for one year, Trustee Biel 2nds, 3-0 in favor + 2 in favor on phone. Trustee Browning abstaining Trustee Crane moves to nominate Trustee Biel as treasurer for one year, Trustee Banta 2nds, 3-0 in favor + 2 in favor on phone. Trustee Browning abstaining Trustee Crane nominates Darcie Sander for secretary pending her acceptance and final appointment by the Town and Counties, Trustee Biel 2nds, 3-0 in favor + 2 in favor on phone. Trustee Browning abstaining

13. Construction Update on the Depot Library: The BOT is being asked to approve a change order for $15k to replace the sill around the freight building and to put in a sewage lift station. End date for interior construction is late Feb early March. Exterior construction, pavers and paint, is weather dependent, needing warmer temps, possible completion April or May. The building could get a temporary occupancy permit once the interior is finished.

14. Discussion regarding whether or not the library should temporarily return to the depot building as previously planned between completion of its interior restoration and beginning construction of a new building. The alternative is to remain in the current Main St. location until the new building is complete.

Trustee Biel: Moving the depot is complicated because we will have to move out during construction and there is not a place identified. Providing continuous library services builds on what we have accomplished to date rather than moving twice. Trustee Crane: Consistency of services and accessibility is important to our constituents and for the board to not be distracted from the important job of getting the new building done by moving twice. Cons are finances. Trustee Biel: He has talked to the current landlord about possibly not moving and renting the back room. The landlord wants a long term renter and is normally asking $1000/month for that room. Trustee Biel will pay the $750 additional cost himself and the landlord will donate $250/month adding additional space while keeping the library rent at $2500/month. Adding up the cost of rent for 24 months, 2 library moves at $5k each, 2 IT moves, and the savings of not renting a 2nd temporary space during new building construction, the additional cost is $8k/year or 2% of operating revenue. Trustee Cimmett: It’s responsible to plan now for the 2nd move. She does not want to disrupt services. Trustee Cimmett thinks it make more sense to stay put. Trustee Sobieniak: Agrees with what has been said. Moving is intensive and we lose programming time and the momentum of the program even if it is more money. Trustee Biel: The depot library flood restoration was paid for by grants from the State Historical Society and Dept. of Local Affairs (DOLA). Biel contacted Anne McClive at the State Historical Society about the decision. She thinks not moving is okay, but would like to have the building utilized. Victoria Simonsen, Town Administrator, would like to use the building for office and meeting space, but it would ultimately be a Town BoT decision. DOLA would like to meet with library board representatives and Victoria on Feb. 5. The IGA with the town would have to be amended. Christina Wells, project manager for the depot library reconstruction: Wells would prefer that her grant contacts were not contacted without her knowledge. She wants to ensure there is a consistent message to The State Historical Fund and DOLA who have funded the rebuild project. All the effort to rebuild the depot was done to provide a library to the public, not for town office space. Trustee Browning’s comments: The library district was not formed to just run a small library with better services. The priority was to build a new building. We may not be able to borrow enough money to build the kind of library we need, so building capital is important, and giving up free rent space is not helping to meet the goal. Since the time of the steering committee, the move was planned to happen. Because of the flood, we have to move twice. The depot was designed for library operations while the current space is not. Many people put a lot of time and money (DOLA) into library design and construction.at the depot. Taxpayers, town board, and counties were told we would move back to the depot. The IGA was built around that assumption even though we had the current temporary space when the IGA was formed. The district will have a credibility problem by changing this at the last minute and turning down free space. The city will now reap this savings by giving up their lease on Main St which makes the library district look bad. The library can be moved by volunteer labor. The IGA change will incur legal expenses. Water rights may no longer be conveyed to the library district. Taxpayers may be unwilling to vote for the mill levy split to debt service or put money in the capital campaign if the library district decides to put money into rent when they could have free rent at the depot. Trustee Browning made public that the library intended to move and feels personally responsible for continuing as he said we would. If the library board chooses not to move, Trustee Browning will make public his reasoning why this is a poor decision. Trustee Sobieniak: After hearing both sides, she can see that moving may be the right thing to do to honor previous commitments. Christina Wells, as a citizen and member of the building committee: She would like to have a unanimous front with state historic society and DOLA and be consulted by board members before communicating with them. She would also like to know how the library district will address the long term planning for finances, specifically amounts for new building debt service vs. operations. She also needs a decision on data and phone wiring in 1 week as the library and the town use different services or the depot schedule may be delayed. Trustee Browning: This decision was made long ago and no trustee has ever asked to address it. A special meeting may need to be called to make a legal decision. Trustee Biel: My wife and I will donate any extra rent money required in the event new building construction is delayed if that is what stands in the way of making the right decision.

14. Surveys: Closed on Friday, complete results will be presented by the owner’s rep. in the Feb. 1 building committee meeting.

15. Next regular board meeting date: Feb. 16. Upcoming building committee meetings: Feb. 1 - complete survey results, Feb. 10 – slide show at the retreat, Feb. 22 - charette for floor plans, 3 hours, time and place TBD.

16. Trustee Browning was given a gift and thanked for his tremendous contribution to the library district.

17. Adjourned