St. Charles City-County Library

St. Charles City-County Library District

Board of Trustees

Minutes

November 14, 2011

The St. Charles City-County Library District Board of Trustees met at 7:30 pm on Monday, November 14, 2011, at the Administrative Offices, 77 Boone Hills Dr., Saint Peters, Missouri.

Board Members present:

• Mr. Greg Dohrman
• Ms Myra Crook
• Dr. Jerry Cook
• Ms. Kathleen Todd
• Mr. John Thoelke
• Ms. Mary Reese

Board Members absent:

• Ms. Debbie Haupt
• Ms. Lisa Pelikan
• Mr. Gary Heggs

Library Staff present:

• Mr. Jim Brown, Director
• Ms. Betty Murr, Deputy Director
• Mr. Richard Schultz, Coordinator of Finance and Support Services
• Mr. Frank Noto, IT Coordinator
• Ms. Maggie Preiss, Children’s Services and Marketing
• Ms. Denise Mandle, Human Resources Coordinator
• Ms. Kristin Williams, Planning and Development Coordinator
• Ms. Sara Nielsen, Adult Programming and Community Branches
• Ms. Ann King, Branch Manager, Kathryn Linnemann
• Ms. Martha Radginski, Branch Manager, Middendorf-Kredell
• Ms. Laurie Laurent, Branch Manager, Spencer Road
• Ms. Asia Gross, Branch Manager, McClay Road
• Ms. Diana Tucker, Branch Manager, Corporate Parkway
• Mr. Tim Deghelder, Branch Manager, Deer Run Branch
• Ms. Karen Golab, Purchasing and Building Project Manager
• Amanda Boch, Intern

Rebecca Thiele, stcharlespatch.org

Brian Faust, City of St. Charles

Matt Martin, Citizen

President Myra Crook called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Six members responded to roll call.  Ms. Crook opened the floor for public comments. No requests for time were received.

REPORTS

• Financial Report—Rick Schultz, Coordinator of Finance
• Director’s Report—Jim Brown, Director

Mr. Brown took this opportunity to thank staff for all of their hard work for the Gordon Korman author event.  It was a huge success!

• Development Report—Kristin Williams, Planning and Development Coordinator

Ms. Williams reminded Board members and staff about the Library Legends event at Kathryn Linnemann on November 18.  Ms. Williams introduced Amanda Box, an intern from Lindenwood University. 

• Monthly Statistics Report—Circulation Statistics and Gate Count
• Activities Report-- Maggie Preiss, Children’s Resources and Marketing
• Correspondence

Ms. Crook entertained any additional comments or questions from the Reports section.  There were no additional questions or comments.

CONSENT AGENDA

Minutes—Board of Trustees meeting minutes from the October 10^th meeting.

Agenda Item 12-17 Board of Trustees Meeting—Revised

There have been three changes to dates of upcoming Board meetings. 

• December 12 meeting will be at Deer Run
• January 9 meeting will be at the Administrative Office
• March 12 meeting will be at Spencer Road

All meetings commence at 7:30 pm.

MOTION:Mr. Thoelke moved to approve the Consent Agenda.  Mr. Dohrman seconded.  Motion approved six affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, and three absent.

FORMAL AGENDA

Old Business

12-02 Spencer RoadBranch Replacement

Nothing new to report at this time.

12-03 Strategic Planning

Ms. Williams distributed a draft copy of the Executive Summary of the Strategic Plan.  The Strategic Plan “will guide policy and operational decision making”; it is “meant to be a flexible living document that is available and easy to read”.  The summary, which Ms. Williams provided, gives a history of the Library District and the strategic planning process.  The end result of this process will be the actual 2012-2017 Strategic Plan.  As stated in the draft, the Library District’s mission is “to serve as the information utility that provides excellent and economical public library services to the residents and taxpayers of St. Charles County”.  On the other hand, the District’s vision is “to provide high quality, customer-centered services that enhance the quality of life in our communities”.  Based on both of these, the committee developed a list of core values and initiatives.  The Strategic Plan was presented to staff on our Staff Development Day, November 11. 

12-11 West Clay Extension Tax Increment Financing Commission

On November 10, the TIF Commission met and recommended, by an 8-3 vote, to NOT utilize tax increment financing on the West Clay project.

12-12 McClay Road Widening Project

This agenda item has been ongoing since March, 2011.  In summary, the City of St. Charles requested a temporary road easement and a warranty deed along McClay Road for a project.  Based on Library policy, the St. Charles City County Library District asked for payment of $591, the original cost of the land.  The City countered the request for payment with an offer of a permanent easement “on a voluntary donation” by the District.  Based on direction from the Board members, Mr. Brown reiterated the District and its Board members’ position on the permanent easement; that is that the District expects payment of the original cost of the land.  Upon receipt of a letter from the City of St. Charles, Mr. Brown and Mr. Dohrman met with Mayor Sally Faith to discuss, and hopefully resolve, this issue.  A representative from the City of St. Charles, Brian Faust, attended tonight’s meeting in order to further explain the situation and answer any questions.  A few of Mr. Faust’s points:

• The permanent easement is for construction of a sidewalk.   Mr. Faust confirmed that care and maintenance of the sidewalk would be the City’s responsibility.  Mr. Faust’s estimated “$6000 worth of sidewalk”.
• If the District did not move forward with granting the easement, the City would continue to move forward with its project, and the District would have an unfinished stormwater pipe open to where the sidewalk should be.
• Mr. Thoelke inquired about why the City won’t pay; Mr. Faust replied with two reasons:
• The Library District will benefit from this improvement.
• All of the money involved in this project is taxpayer money; therefore, if the City did repay the $591 to the District, that $591 would be taxpayer money as well. 

Mr. Dohrman offered additional comments in support of granting the easement based on his meeting with Mayor Faith about the project.  The meeting clarified some confusion regarding the request from the City.

MOTION:  Mr. Dohrman moved to grant the permanent easement to the City of St. Charles for the McClay Road Widening Project.  Ms. Reese seconded.  Motion passed six affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, and three absent.

12-14 Audience Participation, Board Meetings—Policy A032

Mr. Brown included the revised Policy A032 which reflects the recommended changes from the October Board meeting.  Based on the recommended changes to the policy, citizen Matt Martin compiled a PowerPoint presentation for the Board members.  Mr. Martin spoke about that presentation; in his opinion, the revised policy limits citizens’ democratic and constitutional rights.  He also informed Board members that 23 out of 29 residents signed a redress of grievance to keep the former policy.  Mr. Martin presented the Board members with the signed 23 copies of the grievances. Dr. Cook indicated that 29 residents is not statistically significant in a county of more than 360,000 residents.  The language included in the revised policy is fairly standard language with other public and tax-paying entities. 

MOTION:  Dr. Cook moved to accept Policy A032 as revised and presented.  Ms. Reese seconded.  Motion passed six affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, and three absent.

12-16 Trustee Meeting Date and Time Review

In a recent open session, the possibility of adjusting the trustee meeting day to a day of the week other than Monday.  At the second request of one of the appointing bodies, Mr. Brown would like to revisit the possibility of changing the meeting from Mondays to another day.  After some discussion about the Board members’ availability, Mr. Brown indicated that he would send an email with a spreadsheet for each Board member to complete when they are available during the second and third weeks of the month.  For staff reporting purposes, it has been decided prior to tonight’s meeting, that the Board meeting needs to be sometime during the second or third week of the month.  Once a day is determined, Mr. Brown will report back to the Board next month.

MOTION: Mr. Thoelke moved to adjourn the open session.  Ms. Todd seconded.  Motion passed six affirmative, zero negative, zero abstentions, and three absent.

The meeting adjourned at 8:28 pm.

Respectfully submitted

April C. Wootten

Recording Secretary

Approved: 

Secretary Board of Trustees             Date