Board Meeting Minutes 2/28/2023 (html)
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICTSilver Falls Library Program Room or via ZOOM
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Michael Milhausen Christy Davis, Director
Kathy Beutler Stacy Higby
Ralph Sorensen
Ingrid Green Public Present:
Dmitry White None
Board Members Absent:
None
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Milhausen called the meeting to order at 5:32 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
No changes
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion: To approve the January 24, 2023 Board Meeting minutes as printed/circulated
(Motion by: Michael Milhausen. Second by: Kathy Beutler).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
None.
FINANCIAL REPORT, JANUARY 2023
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
Statement of Cash Receipts:
Board Question: CCRLS Reimbursement is behind for the percentage of the fiscal year that has passed. Is that usual? There’s always a little lag time, but it may be a little worse than usual.
Board Question: Interest rates going up seems good. We’ve already received 244% of the budgeted income. Have we projected what it will be by the end of fiscal year, or do we have a sense of what’s coming? We will be making that calculation during the budget process. We anticipate it being the same percentage through the end of this fiscal year.
Statement of Cash Disbursements
Board Question: Why have we only used 19% of Reference Books budget? Partly due to increased internet and database use but we’ll have some standing orders still to come.
Board Question: We are over budget on Insurance. Do we need to budget more for next year? Yes, the cost for SDAO liability insurance increased more than was anticipated.
Board Question: Will $1000 for Election Expense be enough? That amount is a placeholder because the bill for the special election will come due in next FY. The amount is unknown until we get the bill. The expense is based on the number of voters and the number of races. Christy may contact them to ask for a ballpark of expenses.
Check Register
Board Question: What is the deposit for $4733 on January 11? It’s split between Ready-To-Read Grant funds, our regular weekly Fines and Fees deposit, and a Friends quarterly donation.
Board Question: Why did we write two checks to SDAO? Our new representative at Hartley accidentally sent the invoice from our 2018 policy and we paid from that, which wasn’t accurate for 2023.
Motion: To approve the JANUARY 2023 Financial Report as presented, including checks #17222 through and including #17256, and all EFTs for a total of $123,138.82.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Kathy Beutler).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Strategic Plan progress report (+ STEAM kit demo from Youth Services staff)
2. AV for program room update
Christy asked Doug Yancey about our needs, and he passed it along to the media center at Chemeketa. She also asked Brett Milliken, who is part of the IT department at the school district. Based on his recommendations, we made appointments with two vendors. One will come on Thursday. Christy was clear to these two vendors that our maximum budget will be $14,000.
3. Upcoming Board elections
Three candidates have filed, all people we had heard were thinking of running. We haven’t seen any others, but Marion County is behind on updating that list. The filing deadline is Thursday March 16th.
4. Anything to report from SDAO conference? (Dmitry, Ingrid, Christy)
Christy, Ingrid, and Dmitry are behind on watching the videos, but have gotten good information so far, including the news that SDAO will partner with SAIF for workers compensation coverage in the upcoming year.
5. Parking lot updates
Not much to report. We are still waiting for Ron Chandler, the City Manager, to call and set up an appointment. Don Kelley said he would gladly represent us if there’s a problem and will look over any proposal the City sends our way.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) options for upcoming FY 2023-24
Michael emailed Christy and Stacy today about the percentage increase between steps not being even between the employee groups. Michael’s graph and information were screen shared with the Board. All employee groups have a decrease in the percentage increase between steps over time, and the increases go down at the same rate. Michael was able to look at wages on the Oregon.gov website and found that they all had the same percentage increase across the steps. Changing to a flat line increase is one way to help keep good employees. Dmitry offered to help look at the step increases to see if we can implement an adjustment or two over the next couple of years to bring the ranges back to the same percentage of increase. Stacy will send a list of how many staff members are at each step for each employee group.
Dmitry asked about the amount estimated for two full-time staff to add dependents to their health coverage. We currently have two full-time staff members who could add dependents to their coverage, and that amount is recommended to be included in our budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Michael noted that the amount budgeted for health care this year is $119,000, but only $93,000 is projected for the upcoming fiscal year. The amount budgeted for this year is just a budget line, not the actual cost, but the projected cost for next year is also lower because we have fewer employees on our health plan currently.
We have learned that State Timberlands income should be treated as a windfall and project funds. The Interest rate and the amount being collected for Fines and Fees is higher than projected for the current fiscal year. We are also planning to receive $40,000 more in CCRLS Reimbursement for the upcoming fiscal year than we received this year. We have asked Marion County for our projected tax collection.
A higher COLA increase may mean we change our hours to close at 7pm instead of 8pm on Tuesdays through Thursdays. We are not super busy during those evening hours in the winter. Since COVID, many businesses are closing earlier. We may not need to do that, but if we do our circulation and busyness won’t change much. We can still hold evening programs by locking the second set of doors and the door leading from the bathroom hallway into the main part of the building. We may consider adding back those evening hours during the summer as a replacement for Mondays. Dmitry says closing earlier is an appropriate step to take. Michael encouraged us to give the maximum COLA increase that we can.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
· Our muralist Tonya Jo Smithburg has purchased the paints and our contractor for the frame and surface has purchased the materials. There is a renewed discussion about the placement of the mural, and I will be meeting with Jason Gottgetreu from the City on Thursday morning to discuss the options. There is concern that placing the mural under the awning might make it harder to see and it will make it very difficult to photograph. The new type of mounting surface is non-wood and much more weather and fade proof than the earlier murals.
· We have been approved for a couple of internship programs for teens. One is with Pacific Workforce and is for 3 teens who have not yet graduated high school. It pays 50% of the hourly wage. This runs in the summer. The other is from the School Districts program for at risk youth from Sequoia Academy, is for one teen, and pays 100% of the intern’s wage. They will work March through June of this year. We may also apply for another grant for teen interns from the State Library as it will allow youth up through age 19 to work.
· The library is hosting a second repair fair on Saturday, March 11th. We will have fixperts here for small electrical appliances, textile sewing-mending, computer tech issues, diagnostics of sick houseplants, tool sharpening, and bicycle repair. This is a partnership between us, Marion County Environmental Services, and the local nonprofit, Sustainable Silverton.
· We got a nice note from a patron. I attended the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. observance at the Grange Hall in January and there was a public announcements time at the end. I shared about the library’s part in the Silverton Poetry Association’s festival, and about the Repair Fair. The note left for me read: “Thanks for being at our 2023 MLK observance at the Grange and thanks for making your announcements. It enhanced the feeling of the evening as being a real community event.” signed – Robert Sisk
· Marion and Polk counties’ public libraries are getting 180 hot spots from the Electronic Connectivity Fund for another year, and they will be administered through CCRLS. We will probably get between 10 and 12 to check out to patrons. After talking to Silver Falls School District to find out whether we should get more from AT&T or T-Mobile, I learned that there was a greater need for AT&T. I also learned that hot spot funding for youth who lived in poverty disappeared and that there are only hot spot grants for school children who are classified as homeless/unhoused. The School District was really pleased to hear we would be getting them and wants to know when they’re available.
· We had no (zero!) deficiencies that we had to report to the Secretary of State this year for our annual audit filing. Hurray!
Challenges:
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 7:18 p.m.
(Motion by: Michael Milhausen. Second by: Ralph Sorensen).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
__________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.
Save the date: Budget Committee Meeting and Board Meeting April 25th, 2023
Important election dates: Last day to file or withdraw for candidacy, March 16th. Last day to file statements for pamphlet, March 17th. Marion County elections, May 16th.
Approved: _________________________(date)
_______________________________________
Michael Milhausen
Chair, Library Board of Directors
Silver Falls Library District
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICTSilver Falls Library Program Room or via ZOOM
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Michael Milhausen Christy Davis, Director
Kathy Beutler Stacy Higby
Ralph Sorensen
Ingrid Green Public Present:
Dmitry White None
Board Members Absent:
None
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Milhausen called the meeting to order at 5:32 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
No changes
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion: To approve the January 24, 2023 Board Meeting minutes as printed/circulated
(Motion by: Michael Milhausen. Second by: Kathy Beutler).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
None.
FINANCIAL REPORT, JANUARY 2023
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
- Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances (as of January 31, 2023)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Receipts (as of January 31, 2023)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Disbursements (as of January 31, 2023)
- Check Register – Citizen’s Bank (January 1-31, 2023)
- LGIP Account Statement (as of January 31, 2023)
- Purchase Order – Visa (closing date January 25, 2023)
- Journal Entries (as of January 31, 2023)
Statement of Cash Receipts:
Board Question: CCRLS Reimbursement is behind for the percentage of the fiscal year that has passed. Is that usual? There’s always a little lag time, but it may be a little worse than usual.
Board Question: Interest rates going up seems good. We’ve already received 244% of the budgeted income. Have we projected what it will be by the end of fiscal year, or do we have a sense of what’s coming? We will be making that calculation during the budget process. We anticipate it being the same percentage through the end of this fiscal year.
Statement of Cash Disbursements
Board Question: Why have we only used 19% of Reference Books budget? Partly due to increased internet and database use but we’ll have some standing orders still to come.
Board Question: We are over budget on Insurance. Do we need to budget more for next year? Yes, the cost for SDAO liability insurance increased more than was anticipated.
Board Question: Will $1000 for Election Expense be enough? That amount is a placeholder because the bill for the special election will come due in next FY. The amount is unknown until we get the bill. The expense is based on the number of voters and the number of races. Christy may contact them to ask for a ballpark of expenses.
Check Register
Board Question: What is the deposit for $4733 on January 11? It’s split between Ready-To-Read Grant funds, our regular weekly Fines and Fees deposit, and a Friends quarterly donation.
Board Question: Why did we write two checks to SDAO? Our new representative at Hartley accidentally sent the invoice from our 2018 policy and we paid from that, which wasn’t accurate for 2023.
Motion: To approve the JANUARY 2023 Financial Report as presented, including checks #17222 through and including #17256, and all EFTs for a total of $123,138.82.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Kathy Beutler).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Strategic Plan progress report (+ STEAM kit demo from Youth Services staff)
- Dena from Youth Services did a STEAM kit demo, showing the Board some of the STEAM kits available for check out, including Snap Circuits and Ozo bots, which are tiny robots that can be coded by participants.
- Upcoming programs include Spice of the Month Club, an international cooking program for families, and a Constitution program led by a librarian focusing on democracy, the constitution, and its interpretation.
- Working with Oregon Corrections Enterprises is going well. There is more information and a quote for the reference desk in the Director’s Report.
- Gaming programs for teens on Mondays and Thursdays are going well and growing in attendance.
- Library of Things – Will those items go out to other libraries in the courier? No, they will stay here at SFLD. We won’t have a large number of items unless we receive a grant from Marion County Environmental Services. Are there other programs we can investigate to see which items are in demand, useful, and won’t overtax our storage limitations? Yes, Oregon librarians survey each other often, and this would be a great question to ask before we start spending money. Tool libraries are different and have some liability concerns. These are usually operated independently or as part of a sustainability group.
- Website – Have we had an ADA audit? We have done a self-guided audit a couple of times. If we use a vendor, they might have a plug-in that can do a high-contrast mode. One of our public computers has 4-5 programs that magnify the screen, read text aloud, and more. Christy will investigate having a vendor do an ADA audit on next year’s budget. Spring told her that at least one vendor who used to be expensive has lowered their prices.
- Funding for library improvements – The new board members coming on in July may want to weigh in on these ideas. We will table the conversation until summer.
- Reviewing progress every 6 months instead of annually may be easier for the Board. Christy recommended to staff that they pat themselves on the back for the progress they’ve made, but pace themselves moving forward to avoid burnout from trying to accomplish too much too quickly. The Board wanted to compliment staff on their progress so far.
- We should consider what will happen when this plan is completed. Penny Hummel suggested that we start thinking about a new plan 6 months to one year before this one ends and do another community survey at that time to see what has changed.
- We have been increasing the number of foreign language books and materials purchased. Are they being used? Many adult Spanish titles are being checked out by patrons from other libraries. We may create a flyer to be posted or distributed at St Paul’s and Immanuel Lutheran to let Spanish-speaking patrons know more materials are available. Sharing that information with Oregon Child Development Coalition was also suggested.
- The newsletter has been well received. Ingrid appreciates learning about the great selection of materials and programs for adults and wishes she’d known more when her kids were younger.
- The Mahjong display has led to an introductory program and maybe a club that will meet regularly.
- How was the turnout for the French/Spanish conversation program? The lead person forgot and was out of town on that night, but one of our regular patrons who attends many programs and luckily, speaks both French and Spanish filled in. Spring is reaching out to find a new teacher, but the interest was high, so we’re going forward.
2. AV for program room update
Christy asked Doug Yancey about our needs, and he passed it along to the media center at Chemeketa. She also asked Brett Milliken, who is part of the IT department at the school district. Based on his recommendations, we made appointments with two vendors. One will come on Thursday. Christy was clear to these two vendors that our maximum budget will be $14,000.
3. Upcoming Board elections
Three candidates have filed, all people we had heard were thinking of running. We haven’t seen any others, but Marion County is behind on updating that list. The filing deadline is Thursday March 16th.
4. Anything to report from SDAO conference? (Dmitry, Ingrid, Christy)
Christy, Ingrid, and Dmitry are behind on watching the videos, but have gotten good information so far, including the news that SDAO will partner with SAIF for workers compensation coverage in the upcoming year.
5. Parking lot updates
Not much to report. We are still waiting for Ron Chandler, the City Manager, to call and set up an appointment. Don Kelley said he would gladly represent us if there’s a problem and will look over any proposal the City sends our way.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) options for upcoming FY 2023-24
Michael emailed Christy and Stacy today about the percentage increase between steps not being even between the employee groups. Michael’s graph and information were screen shared with the Board. All employee groups have a decrease in the percentage increase between steps over time, and the increases go down at the same rate. Michael was able to look at wages on the Oregon.gov website and found that they all had the same percentage increase across the steps. Changing to a flat line increase is one way to help keep good employees. Dmitry offered to help look at the step increases to see if we can implement an adjustment or two over the next couple of years to bring the ranges back to the same percentage of increase. Stacy will send a list of how many staff members are at each step for each employee group.
Dmitry asked about the amount estimated for two full-time staff to add dependents to their health coverage. We currently have two full-time staff members who could add dependents to their coverage, and that amount is recommended to be included in our budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Michael noted that the amount budgeted for health care this year is $119,000, but only $93,000 is projected for the upcoming fiscal year. The amount budgeted for this year is just a budget line, not the actual cost, but the projected cost for next year is also lower because we have fewer employees on our health plan currently.
We have learned that State Timberlands income should be treated as a windfall and project funds. The Interest rate and the amount being collected for Fines and Fees is higher than projected for the current fiscal year. We are also planning to receive $40,000 more in CCRLS Reimbursement for the upcoming fiscal year than we received this year. We have asked Marion County for our projected tax collection.
A higher COLA increase may mean we change our hours to close at 7pm instead of 8pm on Tuesdays through Thursdays. We are not super busy during those evening hours in the winter. Since COVID, many businesses are closing earlier. We may not need to do that, but if we do our circulation and busyness won’t change much. We can still hold evening programs by locking the second set of doors and the door leading from the bathroom hallway into the main part of the building. We may consider adding back those evening hours during the summer as a replacement for Mondays. Dmitry says closing earlier is an appropriate step to take. Michael encouraged us to give the maximum COLA increase that we can.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
· Our muralist Tonya Jo Smithburg has purchased the paints and our contractor for the frame and surface has purchased the materials. There is a renewed discussion about the placement of the mural, and I will be meeting with Jason Gottgetreu from the City on Thursday morning to discuss the options. There is concern that placing the mural under the awning might make it harder to see and it will make it very difficult to photograph. The new type of mounting surface is non-wood and much more weather and fade proof than the earlier murals.
· We have been approved for a couple of internship programs for teens. One is with Pacific Workforce and is for 3 teens who have not yet graduated high school. It pays 50% of the hourly wage. This runs in the summer. The other is from the School Districts program for at risk youth from Sequoia Academy, is for one teen, and pays 100% of the intern’s wage. They will work March through June of this year. We may also apply for another grant for teen interns from the State Library as it will allow youth up through age 19 to work.
· The library is hosting a second repair fair on Saturday, March 11th. We will have fixperts here for small electrical appliances, textile sewing-mending, computer tech issues, diagnostics of sick houseplants, tool sharpening, and bicycle repair. This is a partnership between us, Marion County Environmental Services, and the local nonprofit, Sustainable Silverton.
· We got a nice note from a patron. I attended the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. observance at the Grange Hall in January and there was a public announcements time at the end. I shared about the library’s part in the Silverton Poetry Association’s festival, and about the Repair Fair. The note left for me read: “Thanks for being at our 2023 MLK observance at the Grange and thanks for making your announcements. It enhanced the feeling of the evening as being a real community event.” signed – Robert Sisk
· Marion and Polk counties’ public libraries are getting 180 hot spots from the Electronic Connectivity Fund for another year, and they will be administered through CCRLS. We will probably get between 10 and 12 to check out to patrons. After talking to Silver Falls School District to find out whether we should get more from AT&T or T-Mobile, I learned that there was a greater need for AT&T. I also learned that hot spot funding for youth who lived in poverty disappeared and that there are only hot spot grants for school children who are classified as homeless/unhoused. The School District was really pleased to hear we would be getting them and wants to know when they’re available.
· We had no (zero!) deficiencies that we had to report to the Secretary of State this year for our annual audit filing. Hurray!
Challenges:
- SDAO is looking into upping their matching grant for a keyless employee entrance lock because the original quote was for a door that does not have a crash bar (and our door has a crash bar) and was probably given by an inexperienced tech. Most crash bar doors costs between $2K-$3K to switch to keypads or RFID fobs. I should know in a week or so if there is match money for this. We currently have enough in our building maintenance fund for the increased cost, but only if we have the matching funds.
- Our 1996 security system that was installed when the building was completed is malfunctioning. We thought the alarm was connected through Security Alarm, but it turns out it is not. It turns out they only do our fire alarm system. Today I called a recommended company SecureTronics in Keizer to come out and tell us if our current system can be upgraded or if we will have to start from scratch. Hopefully the former is true and that it will be affordable.
- The gutters that blew off the roof in December blew off the roof again in February. This time there were cars in the parking lot and the gutters hit and took the paint off a vehicle in several spots, resulting in an insurance claim. The company, Task Genie, came back to re-secure the gutters.
- The roof is leaking again, at the line where the old and new buildings meet. If it is the fault of Pfeifer, our roof is still under the five-year warranty. We did get a budget number from one roofer for redoing the original flat-roofed section of the library. It was for around $40K. We are waiting for another contractor for a second quote.
- The interest rate on the LGIP account has increased again. It was 3.35% in early January and is now at 3.85%
- There is yet another GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board)– this one numbered 96 – that is going to create some auditing challenges the same way that GASB 87 for leases gave us a headache. GASB 96 calculates the value of all software that aids the operation of the library, mainly Microsoft products. We were advised that this was likely to cost us money for the calculations and reporting, but it is required.
- We are submitting a form to Chemeketa Community College to see if they will direct deposit funds for the Library District into our LGIP account. Currently they are submitting them to our Citizen’s Bank account, but it barely earns any interest. It seems that having the funds sent to LGIP would be a better financial decision as the interest earned could amount to several hundred dollars a year. They are part of the LGIP fund but it is up to them whether or not they will submit our intended funds to the pool.
- The last three full staff meetings have been Ryan Dowd trainings and the next one will be as well. We are doing role playing scenarios to gain muscle memory of how to react in potentially difficult interactions.
- I emailed Doug Yancey at CCRLS our wish list for audio visual needs. He is going to share it with the appropriate folks at the media center at Chemeketa Community College and he warned me it may take a while for anyone to get back to me. In the meantime, I contacted Brett Milliken, head of IT for Silver Falls School District. He gave me the name of two contractors that the school uses. One of them, Dynamic Tech Corporation out of Salem did get back to me. We were supposed to meet this morning but had to push it later in the week due to weather.
- Quote for or corrections enterprises for new reference desk; Christy will bring photos to next meeting, cost is $3900, more aligned with circulation desk, standing or high seated position, and more in view for patrons coming in the door.
- Director’s time off since last report: 29 hours of vacation time and 12 hours of sick leave.
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 7:18 p.m.
(Motion by: Michael Milhausen. Second by: Ralph Sorensen).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
__________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.
Save the date: Budget Committee Meeting and Board Meeting April 25th, 2023
Important election dates: Last day to file or withdraw for candidacy, March 16th. Last day to file statements for pamphlet, March 17th. Marion County elections, May 16th.
Approved: _________________________(date)
_______________________________________
Michael Milhausen
Chair, Library Board of Directors
Silver Falls Library District
