LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD                                                                                                  UNAPPROVED           

REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

JULY 1, 2008                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Session 08-06 a Regular Meeting of the Library Advisory Board was called to order on July 1, 2008 at 6:03 pm by Chair Michael Hawfield at the Homer City Hall Cowles Council Chambers located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.

 

PRESENT:          BOARDMEMBERS WAGNER, MARTIN, SEAMAN, FAULKNER, HAWFIELD

 

ABSENT:           BOARDMEMBER LARSON (EXCUSED)

                        LIBRARY DIRECTOR HILL (EXCUSED)

 

STAFF:             DEPUTY CITY CLERK KRAUSE

                       

 

Approval of the Agenda

 

LORD/WAGNER – MOVED TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS WRITTEN.

 

There was no discussion.

 

VOTE. YES. NON-OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.

 

Motion carried.

 

Public Comments Regarding Items on the Agenda

 

There were no public comments.

 

Reconsideration

 

There were no items for reconsideration.

 

Approval of the Minutes

 

A.                  Regular Meeting Minutes from June 3, 2008         

 

WAGNER/FAULKNER – MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES.

 

There was no discussion.

 

VOTE. YES. NON-OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.

 

Motion carried.

 

Visitors and Communications

 

A.         Friends Report – Nancy Lord

 

Boardmember Lord reported that she spoke with Jonnie Roos at the Friends and there was nothing new to report. The summer reading program is in full swing, and she should be in attendance at the next meeting.


 

Library Director’s Report

 

A.         Director’s Report for July 2008     

 

There was no report this month.

                         

B.                   Monthly Statistics – June 2008                

 

There was no report this month.

 

Committee Reports

 

A.         Art Selection Committee Report – Eileen Faulkner

 

Boardmember Faulkner reported that the Pratt Museum has concerns about degradation for the Machetanz. The hanging of the painting was not accomplished at the unveiling due to these concerns. There was a brief discussion on the causes for degradation, and best possible place to be hung within the Library. Chair Hawfield urged Boardmember Faulkner to stay on top of this to make sure it does not get overlooked.

Boardmember Faulkner stated that she requested a visitor counter for the web page to keep track of inquiries for submitting artwork to be displayed. She reminded the Board of the timeline for submitting artwork.

 

B.         Landscape Committee Report – Linda Martin

 

Boardmember Martin reported that the Committee is meeting weekly at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday at the Library. The Committee has been very dedicated and has made progress in the battle of the weeds. The majority of the burdock and dandelions are gone.

They purchased $200.00 of fishy peat to be used on the gardens in front of the Library; Brenda Adams a Horticulturist from Anchorage was hired to give advice on the swale drainage areas; removal of the Shasta daisies from select areas; removal of plants that spread from seed on the windward side; they received instructions on how to propagate the lupine, shooting stars, etc. Spreading lupine seeds within the swale areas would create a river of color in the future.

Use of ¾ minus rock in the gardens near the entrance to combat the foot traffic; adding an additional lilac plant in the garden at the front will be done. There are numerous plants that can be divided and transplanted.

A hops plant located near the children’s library requires a trellis in order to reach its height of 20 feet. They have a trellis design proposed by Moose Run. It was pointed out that there is a compacted areas/trail where the rocks and boulders were dragged up to the Margaret Pate garden and what was needed to repair the earth and encourage grass growth. Along Heath Street it was recommended to plant Alder which goes against policy. The plants were removed at the decision of City personnel for purported aphid infestation. Chair Hawfield asked if there was an alternative to fight the aphids. Several persons present responded in unison that ladybugs were the aphids’ natural predator.

The discussion continued to include chalking lilies, planting additional spruce and ferns to hide the propane tank, planting more geraniums, goats beard, lilac, roses, and columbine. Boardmember Martin noted that donations of plants should be native species only. They are looking into installing a cable fence to keep people out of the garden areas.

There was discussion on contacting the Public Works Director and getting a response. The directive for taking care of rock----, (the clerk was unable to clearly hear the area) was remove everything.

Further discussion centered on the Pate Garden, funding for this garden and clearing/cleaning it out. Boardmember Lord will check on the status of funding with Joy.

Boardmember Martin asked for opinions on the expense of the trellis and the decisions made so far by the Committee. Everyone thought the Committee was doing great and to save time it was agreed that the Committee did not need the approval of the Board.

There was discussion on the budget and if it was required to be spent this year or if it could be appropriated to establish a maintenance fund. Chair Hawfield will check with City Manager Wrede.

More discussion occurred on improving the existing footpath into a trail and benches. Due to the slope it would not be beneficial to add gravel or mulch due to washouts. It can stay a natural path it just needs to be widen and installing some benches along the path to encourage users. The benches cost $200-$300.00. Installing a trellis must be carefully thought out since they may be able to establish a maintenance fund for the landscaping. The Boardmembers did not want to spend too much of the $30,000.00 budget if they did not have to, but if needed, those remaining funds could be leveraged for additional donations to establish a maintenance fund.

The Board agreed that the committee was to proceed with their outlined plans; consulting the City Manager to determine their vision of maintenance; pin down pricing on post and cable fencing from the Public Works Director; and locate funding amounts for the Pate Garden.

 

C.         Library Sign Task Force

 

Boardmember Wagner reported that the meeting was focused on drafting a proposal and Ms. Corbin was very knowledgeable. Ms. Corbin was to have the draft proposal completed and submitted for advertisement by July 4, 2008. Proposals will be due August 15, 2008. It will be presented to the Boardmembers the first week of September and then the third week of September it will go before the Planning Commission. The sign is to be low cost, LEED focused, using local native materials, fit the building, and electricity can be brought to the sign if required and landscaping the area.

 

Public Hearing

 

None.

 

Pending Business

 

A.         Planning for the Future – July 2008

 

There was no discussion.

                                               

B.         Library – Comments, Responses, Issues, and Challenges

 

There was no discussion.

 

C.                  Library Improvement Plan (LIP)

 

Chair Hawfield confirmed they are addressing the top two items under the LIP, the sign and landscaping. He then stated he would like to talk about how to address the additional operating hours for the Library. He would like to have the information on costs for additional staffing time; what the survey results showed would be a big indicator of when the additional hours should be; and what was the number of additional hours could be calculated using existing staff. He remarked that there have been a significant number of comments made by various members of the community regarding extending the hours the library is open.

Boardmember Lord acknowledged that there were two things, the survey results and a recommendation from Library Director Hill regarding what would be required being open additional hours before any decisions could be made at this time. There is some urgency, she believes, since the budget process will be starting soon.

Chair Hawfield will meet with Library Director Hill to develop a few recommendations on alternative scenarios for increasing operating hours. In order to bring this forward he will try to have this ready in time for the August meeting. He will gladly accept suggestions from the other Boardmembers. A brief discussion on making decisions without the Survey results was held by the Boardmembers. Comments by Kathy George, Library Technician were unable to be discerned by the Clerk to be transcribed.

 

There was no further discussion.

 

D.                  Survey - Results

(1)    Decisions made at worksession.

(2)    Article to newspapers.

 

Chair Hawfield opened discussion by reporting that he was unable to follow-up with Ms. Coble since he has been out of state for the past several weeks. He did try to contact her as soon as he was back but missed her and she will be out of state for the next two weeks.

Discussion followed that all efforts have and will be made to obtain the surveys from Ms. Coble as soon as possible. The results will be turned over to Deputy City Clerk Krause who will catalogs and create a spreadsheet and will have results available for the August meeting.

 

There was no further discussion.

 

NEW BusinesS

 

A.         Memorandum from Special Projects Coordinator Holen dated June 25, 2008 Re: Capital Improvements Plan/Legislative Request

            1.         Memorandum for recommendations made to Council in 2007

 

The Boardmembers agreed to have Deputy City Clerk Krause post the Capital Improvement Plan on the City website and email a link to the boardmembers so they may review the projects. This was preferred instead of including in the packet. Each Boardmember will have a list of projects, up to five, they would like to recommend for discussion at the August meeting. The final five or six projects will be chosen at this meeting to submit to Council.

 

There was no further discussion.

 

Informational Materials

 

A.                  June 3, 2008 Worksession Synopsis, Library Improvement Plan

 

Chair Hawfield touched on a few highlights of the worksession and how the topic was changed to the LIP. He stated that they discussed creating a prioritized list that would likely challenge the Board to make recommendations to accomplish some of the items over a period of time.

Chair Hawfield gave a few examples of determining the priority order of each of the current items or tasks on the Library Improvement Plan. This can be used to assist in budget talks and in recommendations to Friends, etc. He related that the worksession was very informative and that it was agreed to prioritize projects by what could be accomplished in 5 years time.

Boardmember Faulkner commented that there were many projects on the list that were determined could be handled in-house and then some items would need a budget or outside funding and then other items were, “we need to see the survey results.”

Boardmember Lord asked for clarification from Ms. George regarding her comments on evening attendance and if it really was needed. Ms. George’s comments were unable to be heard by the Clerk.

Boardmember Faulkner reiterated her opinion that longer hours for the Library would be needed more during the school year than the summertime.


                                               

Comments from the PUBLIC

 

Ms. George commented that she is aware that other small libraries do alternate the hours by opening later a couple of times during the week.

 

There was a brief discussion on the number of visitors to the website.

 

COMMENTS OF THE CITY STAFF

 

Deputy Clerk Krause recommended having Kyra Wagner and Linda Martin chair all committees because they made it seem so much fun.

 

Comments from the Board

 

Boardmember Martin commented that it was very enjoyable being involved in a Civic project.

 

Boardmember Wagner commented that she enjoyed having lunch with Linda and she has learned quite a bit about corn gluten and its uses.

 

Boardmember Lord was not sure if she would be attending the August meeting and she thought it was great having the three active committees. She also brought up that if a quorum was not available on August 5th then it would be easier to schedule a alternative meeting date at this time.

 

Vice Chair Faulkner asked who was going to be in attendance for the August meeting. It was noted that it may be a close call.

 

There was a discussion regarding setting a special meeting date in advance just in case there was no quorum on August 5, 2008. It was agreed by consensus to schedule a special meeting August 19, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room. This meeting will be cancelled if there is a quorum on the regular meeting day.

 

COMMENTS OF THE CHAIR

 

Chair Hawfield thanked Kathy George for visiting and the three committee chairs for their efforts; that is was nice to have money to accomplish tasks. He was hopeful that the Survey data would be on hand for next month’s meeting. He thanked Deputy City Clerk Krause for helping them keep everything straight.

 

adjournment

 

There being no further business to come before the Board, Chair Hawfield adjourned the meeting at 7:40 p.m.  The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for August 5, 2008 at 6:00 pm in the City Hall Cowles Council Chambers located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.

 

 

                                                                       

 Renee Krause, Deputy City Clerk I

 

Approved: