LA CROSSE COUNTY LIBRARY BOARD MEETING MINUTES

January 2, 2008

Meeting Room, Onalaska Public Library

741 Oak Street, South

4:47 PM

CALL TO ORDER:

President Loren Caulum called the meeting to order at 4:47 pm.

ROLL CALL:

Board members, Loren Caulum, Glenn Seager, Fred Marini, Andrea Richmond, and George Varnum were present. Mary Bach Filla was excused and Barbara Manthei was absent. Secretary Judy Jamesson was absent.

APPROVAL OF THE MEETING AGENDA:

Motion by Glenn Seager/Andrea Richmond to approve the agenda as written.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla and one absent, Barbara Manthei.

Judy Jamesson arrived at 4:49 pm.

Barbara Manthei arrived at 4:50 pm.

ELECTION OF 2008 LIBRARY BOARD OFFICERS:

Glenn Seager nominated Loren Caulum as President, Andrea Richmond as Vice President and Fred Marini as Secretary.  All served in the same offices in 2007.

Motion by Glenn Seager/Andrea Richmond to retain the same slate of officers.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.

PUBLIC INPUT:

Loren called for input from the public, but there was no response.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:

Andrea Richmond said her absence at the previous meeting had been listed as un-excused but she had called Judy before the meeting so should be listed as excused.  Motion by Andrea Richmond/Barbara Manthei to approve the December 5, 2007 minutes as amended.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.

APPROVAL OF 2007 13^th MONTH EXPENDITURES:

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Glenn Seager to approve 2007 13^th month expenditures.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.

APPROVAL OF JANUARY 2008 EXPENDITURES:

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Fred Marini to approve January 2008 expenditures. MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.

ACCOUNT ADJUSTMENTS:

Chris asked the board to approve increasing the Revenue Account #53025 Grant Revenue, and Expense Account #84050 Grant Expense by $100 to allow her to spend a donation given by Fred Funk.

Chris asked the board to approve increasing the Expense Account #65080 Printing and decreasing the Expense Account #75060 Facility Rent by $716.96 to allow unused money budgeted for storage to be used to pay for printing sent to the Print Department as a result of Balanced Deployment.

Chris asked the board to approve increasing the Expense Account #64131 Collections and decreasing the Expense Account #64076 Professional Services by $309 to allow money budgeted for outside computer maintenance but not used to pay for collection fees that were underestimated in the 2007 budget.

Motion by Glenn Seager/Barbara Manthei to approve all three account adjustments.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.

TRAVEL AUTHORIZATIONS:

The Public Library Association will hold its biennial national conference in Minneapolis in March 2008.  PLA conferences focus on public libraries only, unlike other conferences.  Chris would like to send the 5 branch managers, the Youth Services Librarian, a Reference Librarian and herself to the conference.  Specific travel plans have not been finalized.  The costs will be covered by amounts budgeted for 2008 travel and training and money carried forward from the 2007 budget.  Library Board Trustees wishing to attend the conference have a choice of seminars designed for them.

Motion by Fred Marini/Andrea Richmond to approve sending 8 people to the PLA conference in Minneapolis in March 2008 with attendees to send written reports to the board when they return.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.

2007 BUDGET CARRY FORWARD:

Expense Account #74082 Computer Software Maintenance has $2,500 budgeted for software licenses but we renew them every two years so this money will be combined with the money budgeted for 2008 to pay the full 2-year licenses.

Expense Account #71050 Promotions has $1,628.44 budgeted to pay for Yellow Pages advertising.  CenturyTel mistakenly billed the Village of Holmen.  They expect to send a new bill in February of 2008.  Since account #71050 Promotions was combined with Account #68050 Telephone in the 2008 budget, this amount will carry forward into Account #68050.

As a result of one additional employee and careful planning by staff Expense Account #69060 Mileage Reimbursement (Employee) has unspent funds at year end.  $1,629 will be carried forward to be used to cover costs of the PLA Conference.

 

Expense Account #84047 WRLS Resource Grant Expense was not completely spent during 2007.  $1,000 will be carried forward to Expense Account #69045 Meals and Lodging to cover costs of the PLA Conference.

Expense Account# 84050 has $779.42 from memorials to Alta Johnson, a Holmen elementary teacher who passed away in 2007.  The money is intended for a table and chair for the Storytime area of the Holmen Library.  The custom order will not be completed until the spring of 2008.

Motion by Andrea Richmond/Loren Caulum to approve the five carry forward amounts.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.

CLOSED SESSION:

5:45 pm: motion by Andrea Richmond/Barbara Manthei to go into closed session pursuant to Wisconsin State Statues Section 19.85(1)(c) considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility.  TO WIT:  Library Director’s Evaluation.  MOTION carried unanimously with one excused, Mary Bach Filla.   

Andrea Richmond left at 6:18

OPEN SESSION:

6:26 pm: motion by Loren Caulum/Glenn Seager to reconvene.  MOTION carried unanimously.   

No action taken.  Loren will discuss the evaluation with the Director after the meeting.

FACILITY AND COMMUNITY UPDATES:

Onalaska and West Salem have their wireless routers in place and working.  There will be a meeting on January 14 with the Holmen High School Tech team to discuss implementing the wireless installation in Holmen.

On January 9, 2008 the City of Onalaska will hold a pre-bid meeting with potential contractors for the planned remodeling and addition of the Onalaska library. The pre-bid meeting is a bit behind the original schedule, but the City of Onalaska is hoping to award the bid by March. 

The painting project in Bangor is completed.  A misunderstanding in the amount of paint needed to finish the job extended the completion date by two weeks.

The Village of West Salem approved the purchase of a number of items for the West Salem facility.  The library purchased the items and was reimbursed by the Village before the end of the fiscal year.

An article on genre labeling written by Reference Librarian Carol Petrowski at the Onalaska facility has been picked up by an online library publication.  Carol has been getting emails from people all over the country.  The survey will be available to the public throughout the month of January.

MINDORO/FARMINGTON UPDATE:

Mindoro is planning a community history asking people to bring in photos and documents to be scanned for a brochure and possibly a CD.

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:  

Genre survey summary to date

PLA attendance by trustees

State report

ADJOURNMENT: Meeting was adjourned at 6:44 pm.

RECORDED BY:  Judy Jamesson.  Minutes may be amended or changed at the next meeting.