Columbia County Rural Library District

COLUMBIA COUNTY RURAL LIBRARY DISTRICT

Regular meeting of the Board of Trustees

Monday,April 20, 20157:00 p.m.

Meeting Time and Location:

7:08 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Dayton Memorial Library

111 S. 3rd Street

Dayton, WA 99328

1.Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 7:08 p.m. by Tanya Patton, Chair

2.Roll Call – Trustees present:

Tanya Patton, Chair

June Riley, Vice-Chair

Dawn McGhan, Secratary

Bonnie Williams, Treasurer

Cindi Abbot, member – arrived at 7:51 p.m.

Others present:

Dusty Waltner, CCRLD Director

Carolyn Laib, Children’s and Young Adult Specialist

Introduction of Carolyn Laib, Children’s and Young Adult Specialist

3.Public Comments –

None were made

4.Approval of Meeting Minutes

Pattonmoved to approve March 16, 2015 Regular Meeting Minutes; Riley 2nd. Motion approved unanimously.

5.Treasurer’s Report

Patton moved to approvevouchers#2497-2524 posted as of April 20, 2015 totaling $22,603.05; McGhan 2nd. Motion approved unanimously.
Patton moved to approve vouchers #2476-2480 posted onFebruary 12, 2015 totaling $2686.42; Riley 2nd. Motion approved unanimously.

Waltner provided account analysis statement, monthly report, and quarterly report.
Waltner provided a transaction list for expenditures from April 1-April 20 2015.

6.1 DirectorReport

March started out shaky, but in the end we began to see some progress and stability. The transition of directors was not as smooth as we had hoped, but we got through it and are now fully staffed and catching up on many things that had been set aside. We are making order out of the chaos and have taken some great steps in cleaning up the library and presenting a refreshing outlook.

Technology Issues -- Howard

Regarding the WSL Grant, Howard is now working on methods to incorporate the public. He is putting together a topical list of the documents that have been digitized, in order to advertise to the public and incorporate complimentary documents. We are also looking at the WSL 2015 grants to continue funding for targeted local history projects-the deadline is coming up quick and therefore we need to prioritize this.
We have had major network connectivity problems, including hours of complete Internet failure, making many tasks extremely difficult to accomplish. Howard and Dusty have met with Ag-Data (our hardware and Internet support contractor) as well as Columbia Energy (our Internet service provider), and were able to narrow down the problem to an issue with Noanet. They say it has been corrected and the connection seems better, but we will keep watching it.
After various complaints from patrons about slow connections (not related to the problem mentioned above) we decided to upgrade our connection speed from 10Mbps to 25Mbps. We found that when more than three computers were in use, patrons on Wi-Fi had extremely slow connections. This was a necessary upgrade as typical Internet use calls for speeds which allow streaming videos and other intensive bandwidth tasks. Columbia energy is actually giving us 100Mbps, but only charging us for the 25Mbps price, which I thought was a great deal that we just couldn’t pass up. The price is $799/month. Noanet (the fiber provider that Columbia Energy leases from) only allows 10Mbps and 100Mbps. Columbia Energy has stated that they can’t throttle down to 25Mbps, and will therefore give us 100Mbps.
Howard and Dusty have been working hard on getting the basement cleaned out and organized. Until we can implement a more permanent solution for the basement (i.e. transforming it to a children’s and teens’ space) we decided to make a temporary adult only computer area, as the computers on the main floor tend to become occupied by kids in the afternoons. Howard has gathered four computers that had been swapped for newer models and will use those to set up an adult area in the basement.

Front Desk Issues – Minnie

The jail book program has stalled as Minnie has had trouble getting in touch with the sheriff, Rocky Miller. She has sent him multiple emails and is waiting to hear back. Regarding concerns over security, Minnie says thatshe had previously spoken with Rocky and had already discussed security issues. If the board would like she would be happy to relay the information once she hears back from him on whether the project is moving forward.
Minnie has been working on developing our adult summer reading program. Minnie has gathered prizes for this project and is developing a bingo card with various genres included, in order to encourage readers to expand into genres they may not have tried before.
Minnie is also planning a “paint a brick” event to take place in May.

Children’s/ YA Issues –Carolyn

We have hired Carolyn Laib as our new Children’s / Young Adult Specialist. Carolyn comes to us with a great deal of experience working with children and has taken well to learning about library policies and procedures. Because of her history and knowledge of the community Carolyn will be great asset to the library and the public.
Carolyn has already begun planning our Summer Reading Program.
Carolyn has picked up toddler story time as of April 21st.

Maintenance and Building issues – Eric

Eric continues to tackle the various small repairs around the property. He has worked on the lawn and landscaping, and has made great progress with trimming and refreshing the outside of the building.
Eric and Dusty have reviewed some project plans and set work priorities for the next few months. We would like to pick some paint colors for the basement, now that it has been cleaned and organized. We would also like to paint the main floor as well, but that will take a little more planning.
Eric would also like us to purchase a small shed to store the outdoor equipment such as lawn mower, trimmers, etc.

Library Administration – Dusty

Bonnie and Tanya have helped with sorting and filing old financials, which has been a huge help. There was a great deal of disorder, but I believe we are finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
E-Rate has been filed, and I will be starting this next week on the data entry of last year’s financials, as well as the annual report/audit that is due at the end of May. It may be wise to bring in someone for the data entry. This would allow us to get a clean, fresh start and make sure we are up to speed moving forward.
I have started the Wordpress migration, but haven’t been able to dedicate as much time as necessary to get it completed. This is largely due to having to copy/recreate information manually from each section of our existing website, which takes a bit of time. We will keep you informed of the progress.

6.2Waltner provided a statistical report

7.Unfinished Business-Trust Disposition Progress

None

8.New Business–

Board discussed plans for budget amendment.
Waltner presented an administrative leave policy for staff. The board reviewed and discussed. Patton made a motion to approve the new policy; Abbott 2nd; Motion approved unanimously.
Waltner presented a discussion for the purchase of a tool shed. The board reviewed and discussed the item. Purchase was delayed in order to review zoning regulations.
Board discussed children’s programming.
Waltner presented a revision to the circulation policy for magazines and visual media. Patton made a motion to approve revised policy; McGhan 2nd; Motion approved unanimously.
Waltner presented statistics gathering procedures. Board discussed quarterly gathering instead of monthly. McGhan made a motion to approve changes in procedures; Patton 2nd; Motion approved unanimously.
Waltner presented a discussion for collection organization changes.

9.Final Public Comment

None was made

10.Adjourn

Patton adjourned meeting at 9:00 p.m.

Next regular meeting date is Monday, May 18, 2015, 111 S. 3rd Street, Dayton.

Meeting begins at 7 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dusty Waltner, Director, Columbia County Rural Library District

Approved: ______

Dawn McGhan, Secretary