Session 05-02 a Regular Meeting of the Library Advisory Board was called to order at 6:00 p.m. on February 1, 2005 by Chair Mauger at the Homer City Hall Council Chambers located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.
PRESENT: BOARDMEMBERS MAUGER, KEFFER, WAGNER, BURSCH, LORD, SEAMAN
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE HARRISON
ABSENT: BOARDMEMBER HAWFIELD
STAFF: LIBRARY DIRECTOR HILL
DEPUTY CITY CLERK JACOBSEN
A. Minutes of January 4, 2005 Meeting
LORD/SEAMAN MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS AMENDED.
VOTE: YES: UNANIMOUS CONSENT
Motion carried.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.
LIBRARY DIRECTORS
REPORT
A. Statistical Report for January 2005
Library Director Hill reported that the new fines and fees are in effect. Library Director Hill paid tribute to Pam Handrich, the librarian at the college who passed away. Library Technician I Coots has been filling in at the college library. George Smith, the acting State Librarian, has taken a job with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington DC and will be overseeing the Library Services and Technology Program, which provides the funding for the library systems grant. Mr. Smith’s report stated the state library budget that was just passed is the best it has been since the early 90’s, which will help the state keep the “Talking Book” project. The project helps circulate books on tape and large print books for visually impaired people; it is a free service out of the State Library. Ms. Hill read an announcement from Mr. Smith regarding the Haines Library. It said the Haines Borough Public Library won the honor of the First Annual Best Small Public Library in America, which is co-sponsored by the Library Journal and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Library Director Hill said she would have a copy of the Library Journal available for anyone who wants to read more about it. Chair Mauger suggest the article in the Library Journal be shared with the Friends of the Homer Public Library and the City Council to show all of the programs and the neat thing that can be done through the library.
Ms. Hill reported on the statistics, pointing out that the story hour has more than doubled since last year, showing what a difference it has made having a paid coordinator for the program.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Capital Campaign Committee
Boardmember Lord reported that the Capital Campaign Committee met and as they and the other two Committees are going into close down mode, and have working to redirect people to help with the Friends of the Homer Public Library. Claudia Haines was in Seattle and brought back some photos of what was done to recognize the donors for their library, to help with ideas for Homer’s donors. Ms. Lord said that they have had such a great response to the fish sales, they decided not to stop it and as long as the people doing the metal work are agreeable to continue, they will keep selling them. She reported that Mayor Hornaday had been at the last meeting. He spoke about the sales tax and that he had been to Juneau where he talked to people about the capital budget and found there may be some opportunity there.
Boardmember Lord advised the Board that Safeway has plans up for its remodel and will be putting in a road off Hazel Street. She said the Board might want to give input to the Planning Commission to make sure it all fits well with the Library’s plan.
Lastly she reported the Committee has decided that one thing they are going to, as part of the recognition opportunities is an art book for recognition of donors, to document the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) aspects of the building and show some of the construction process. The next meeting will be February 24, 2005.
Chair Mauger said that when the Committees start to dissolve, the loose ends get re-absorbed by the Board so they spearhead making sure things keep moving.
The Board discussed the appropriate way to communicate with the Planning Commission regarding their concerns with Safeway’s project. Chair Mauger said she would contact Chair Chesley of the Planning Commission.
B. Publicity Committee
Boardmember Keffer reported that the Publicity Committee has three major events before they disband. The events are the Bowl-A-Rama on February 19th, the Spelling Bee on April 2nd, and the Homestead Dinner on April 9th.
C. Building Committee
Boardmember Wagner reported that the architect presented the 95% plan a few weeks ago, and there were no big changes or new drawings. They are now focusing on the infrastructure, things like flooring, furnishings and such. Ms. Wagner said they discussed items that were going to be black boxed, meaning items that are not expected to be put to low bid, like the fire place and the circulation desk. These are items they would prefer to have local artists make. Ms. Wagner reported that at the last City Council meeting approval was given to go to 100% and gave the City Manger the right to go to bid when all the money is in place. As the Building Committee is winding down they are focusing on the bid process and building in the summer. She said the Committee had been discussing the idea of a water fountain with a solar powered pump to replace the fireplace. The idea for the water fountain came up because the fireplace would require propane to run and it doesn’t follow the idea of the LEED program.
Boardmember Lord left the meeting at 6:30 p.m.
A. Councilmember Doug Stark
Councilmember Stark said he was there to offer ideas as a result of their discussion at the 10th of January Committee of the Whole meeting. His suggestions were:
ü Eliminate library card fees established 13 December 2004.
ü Make computer use fees voluntary from 1 June to 30 September - posting signs during that time that $5 donations per half hour of computer use will be appreciated.
ü Charge $2.00 for movie video checkout.
Councilmember Stark said he thought this plan would pull in as much money as was budgeted for these items.
Chair Mauger questioned why Councilmember Stark felt that there should be a charge for videos. Mr. Stark replied it is because the library is competing with a business and that it does not fall into the restrictions of what the library may or may not charge for.
Library Director Hill said that videos do fall under the same restrictions. The video collection is considered reference for the most part and are covered by the same State laws as books and audio books and so on. Councilmember Stark said he thought that was a bit of a stretch. Library Director Hill said that most of the library’s collection is science, PBS, A&E, how-to videos and so on. Students come in to check out Gone with the Wind and Jayne Eyre as student projects rather than entertainment and the library certainly is not getting new video shipments every week. Videos are purchased about once a year and what they have is an educational collection. The library does not have a current collection and most of the movies are based on books. Ms. Hill pointed out that charging for movies brings them back to the issue of staff time. She could imagine that there would be people challenging whether or not they are renting a video for reference or entertainment. Ms. Hill emphasized what she had said previously that every time a new requirement is added, it takes more staff time to manage. Councilmember Stark said he thought Library Director Hill was making more out of it than needed. Like the voluntary payment, he didn’t think the staff would be policing it and doesn’t see where it would cost the library more than three minutes per month in staff time. If a person says it is reference, don’t charge them and if it is obviously a movie that is not reference then charge them. The fees are based on honesty and good will.
Boardmember Wagner agreed with the idea of the voluntary computer fees but questioned how the voluntary fees will show on the books for the City Council. Councilmember Stark said it would be shown as voluntary. He believes that 80% of the users will pay.
Boardmember Bursch asked if there is currently a message on the computer for donations. Library Director Hill said that there is and sometimes people will put in $20 or $100 donations, so she is hesitant to add a specific amount to the message. She also commented to a local user who said he puts in $5 every time he uses the computer as and example of people making donations.
Boardmember Seaman asked Councilmember Stark how he felt about having a voluntary donation for videos. Councilmember Stark liked the idea and agrees that people who take out reference videos would donate also.
Boardmember Keffer agreed with the donation idea. She commented that it doesn’t put Library Director Hill in a position of having to certify that the library services are free when there is some question.
Boardmember Bursch also agreed with the idea of donations for the videos. He said that there are a lot of videos at the library that you can’t get at a video store and suggested putting a sticker inside the case that says donations are appreciated.
Chair Mauger affirmed that the Board was in agreement with the voluntary donations in lieu of the required fees and that staff could discuss ways to implement
Councilmember Stark said this will come up at the February 14th Council Meeting and he will change the video fees to reflect what they had just discussed, repeal the library card fees, make computer fees voluntary, et cetera. Mr. Stark thanked the Board for their work on the new library and said he recognizes the work they have done. He commented on the tremendous amount of money that has come in from outside the City, and while people may say bids are too high, waiting to get those bids could cause them to lose millions of dollars that is here now. It will cost far more to put off building until later.
Ken Castner, a City resident, made comment to the Board about Andrew Carnegie who built libraries around the United States with two conditions when he made the grant. First, that the library is always free, because he felt that the way to his success is that he had free access to private libraries and felt fortunate that he had access to books. Second, that the city or town that had the library had to put up 10% of the grant amount every year to staff and maintain the library. That was something that was derived at the beginning of the 20th century and was the model. Mr. Castner pointed out that the volunteer time for the library is matched by only one other City Department, which is the Volunteer Fire Department and they stand out because of the time volunteers put into making it work for the community. He appreciates that agreeable terms have been made but doesn’t want to hustle people too much. He wants to see access to the library is maintained.
Mr. Castner also said for the record, that the funding for the new library is a tightly stitched cloth. Every stitch is connected to another piece of fabric and if this thing unravels, you’re just going to have a pile of junk in front of you. He continued that it took a lot of work to get this money together, and we really need to get the political mechanizations together and get it going. It will be hard to put back together if things start to go awry.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
A. Discussion of Proposed City Sales Tax Ordinance
Chair Mauger opened up discussion by pointing out that the Capital Campaign part of the library needs to move forward to its completion in terms of getting the building out to bid. The other piece that needs to be dealt with is the operating piece. She said the reason that an MOU was drawn up between the City and the Friends of the Homer Library was to show a clear commitment that the Friends would raise the capital money and the City would provide funds for the operations of the building, and now the City is unsure how they will tackle their end of the bill. The Board needs to discuss what they feel is appropriate with respect to their involvement with the sales tax issue. In some people’s minds the sales tax issue has become tied to the success of the new library opening.
Library Director Hill passed out information showing revenue and expense projections in the form of pie charts that show how the library’s budget fits in over all, and an outline of the library’s FY 2005 budget. It shows that the library makes up about 5% of the City’s general fund. Ms. Hill didn’t have the proposed budget. Chair Mauger had a copy and said that in five years the proposed budget is $609,138, but that number doesn’t include good estimates for energy usage because engineering for LEED hadn’t been done. Councilmember Wythe had asked what the expected increments are over the next five years. Chair Mauger is working with Library Director Hill on that information.
Boardmember Wagner said someone who was against the increase in store size commented to her they are upset that they are voting on the sales tax again, why not vote on the retail cap again also.
The Board discussed the amount of money the sales tax increase would generate compared to the amount of money that is needed for the library and other possibilities where the City could see revenue increases like the Borough’s bed tax, a fish landing tax and EVOS.
Ken Castner offered that the Board has three options. One, do nothing, the City signed an MOU; two, ask for a ¼% sales tax increase to run the library; three, be a part of the whole deal. Mr. Castner commented that he doesn’t think there is a lot of sentiment for the voters to pass the sales tax; he doesn’t like the fact that the library is being put in with the non-profits; and he doesn’t like the fact that two years from now people will say it was murky as to how much support the library had in the election, it wasn’t about the library, so there will never be a clean ending to the deal. Mr. Castner said his observation after hearing the Mayor at the last Capital Campaign meeting is that it’s the Board who needs to figure out what to do next and make this happen. Mr. Castner said it is up to the City Council to ask the people to join them and encourage this vote.
Mr. Castner pointed out that there have been a series of revenue enhancements. The whole deal about annexation was to help fund the library, the point being that there are a lot of people using the library that don’t live in town, so make the town bigger. The taxes have increased but the money to the library has decreased, and people wonder where have the new revenues gone. There needs to be some debate and the City needs to have an accounting on things.
Chair Mauger asked the Board for their input on information she could address when she talks to the City Manager on their level of involvement.
Boardmember Bursch expressed his concern about where the money will go from the sales tax and agrees with what Mr. Castner said earlier about having ¼ % dedicated to the library. He questioned why the library is always last in the funding sequence. He commented that the Board, Committees and Friends of the Homer Library worked hard to raise the money for their campaign but doesn’t see the same effort being put in by the City. Boardmember Bursch also questioned the revenue to the City from property taxes. Chair Mauger answered that Finance Director Baugh hasn’t given an amount of money that property tax increases will bring in.
Student Representative Harrison commented that it seems as though the City gives the Board a hoop to jump through and when they do, the City gives them a bigger one. She feels that they can’t support everyone’s cause and it isn’t the LAB’s job to raise the money for the City. Chair Mauger added that they had a certain understanding and it is becoming clear that understanding wasn’t shared by the entity they were partnering with. It is becoming frustrating this late in the game. The risk they run is that the results of the sales tax vote may be tied to their ability to go to bid.
Boardmember Bursch told the Board about a 2% tax that is charged to fisherman in Bristol Bay, and suggested working with the people inside the City to see where other sources of revenue are. He doesn’t see anyone getting behind the sales tax to encourage the voters.
Chair Mauger said she would talk to the City Manager and let him know they LAB is hesitant about getting involved with out more information.
Frank Vondersaar commented that if the Board does decide to do something, there is not a lot of time before the election. Chair Mauger replied that it would not be done by the LAB but as concerned citizens sending an email to library supporters, for example.
COMMENTS FROM THE
PUBLIC
Frank Vondersaar clarified that based on the comments he heard, he understands that everything proposed for the fee increases are now voluntary. Boardmember Bursch replied that it was going to be proposed at the next City Council meeting. Mr. Bursch asked where the donations from the computer use go now. Ken Castner said it is a line item on the Friends of the Homer Library budget.
COMMENTS FROM THE
BOARD
Chair Mauger thanked everyone for their patience through the fines and fees process.
Library Director Hill thanked everyone for attending the LAB meetings and all the Committee meetings every month.
Boardmember Bursch thanked Mr. Castner and Mr. Vondersaar for their input.
Boardmember Wagner expressed her appreciation for everyone’s patience while discussing the library fees tonight. Councilmember Stark was the main advocate for the library fees and working with him has helped in getting those turned around.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for March 1, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. n the City Hall Council Chambers located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, and Alaska.
MELISSA JACOBSEN, DEPUTY CITY CLERK
Approved: