Session 05-10, a Regular Meeting of the Library Advisory Board was called to order on October 4, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. by Chair Mauger at the Homer City Hall Conference Room located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.

PRESENT: BOARDMEMBERS: MAUGER, WAGNER, BURSCH, KEFFER, SEAMAN

ABSENT: LORD, HAWFIELD (both excused)

STUDENT: (Student Member seat vacant at present)

STAFF: LIBRARY DIRECTOR HILL

OWNER’S ONSITE REPRESENTATIVE GIBSON

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

A. Minutes of the September 6, 2005 meeting

The Regular Meeting minutes of September 6, 2005 were amended and approved by consensus of the Board.

The two amendments consisted of correcting a typographical error under Unfinished Business, Item B, Planning for the Future: the non-profit org referred to was the Friends, not the Fri, and softening the sentence under New Business, Item A, Proposed 2006 Budget, add the phrase “they thought” to the first sentence: Boardmembers Lord, Bursch, Hawfield, and Chair Mauger devoted considerable time explaining to Library Director Hill why they thought she needed to add more staff to the budget.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

WAGNER/SEAMAN – MOVED TO HEAR UNFINISHED BUSINESS ITEM A. NEW LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION UPDATE, AND NEW BUSINESS ITEM A. PREPARE FOR MEETING WITH ARCHITECTS ON OCTOBER 6, AFTER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA AND BEFORE THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT.

VOTE: YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.

Motion carried.

WAGNER/KEFFER – MOVED TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS CORRECTED.

VOTE: YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.

Motion carried.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

A. New Library Construction Update

Ben Gibson has been hired by the City of Homer as the Owners’ Onsite Representative. Mr. Gibson passed around photos from the job site from earlier in the day and told the Board the construction was going well. The steel is going up, the frame is expected to be erected by the end of next week, and the deck pan in the mezzanine for the fan loft is going in so the contractors can pour the slab while the weather is still warm enough. The air handling unit will be installed in the upstairs fan loft, so most of the steel we’ll see is in preparation for that.

The last photograph was of the glue-lam tresses which are going to be exposed and visible. They’re impressive structural and beautiful pieces. The cedar logs which will be installed over the entry canopy are on site and they’ll become cedar driftwood posts at the entrance.

The big crane should be showing up soon, which was exciting news to the Board because they thought the crane currently onsite was plenty big. The bigger crane will be large enough to handle the weight and reach of the roof tresses.

Most of the civil work, the earthwork, is done for this fall and will be resumed in the spring.

NEW BUSINESS

A. Preparing for LAB Architects Mtg

The big looming question for the architects/LAB meeting this Thursday is: what should happen on the north wall in the reading lounge – Fireplace, fountain, or something else? Options are:

• A fireplace
• A water feature
• A rock-wood-fiber optic combo (idea submitted by Ken Castner)
• A hearth, also a rock-wood combo that would look like a fireplace without a fire, possibly constructed by Leo Vait.

The decision about any of these options needs to be made soon so the contractors can do the structural work to support it. The foundation is sufficient to support a fireplace, or any of the above options.

A second question concerns an offer from a local resident to sell a cedar mast from an historic sailing ship for $1,000 which could serve as a flagpole at the new library. It is being used as a flagpole at the current owner’s home. Gibson sent photographs of the flagpole to the architect. If the LAB decided to purchase the flagpole, it could either be installed by the contractor or installed after the fact using volunteers. The installation shouldn’t be a big deal and maybe it wouldn’t be worth letting the installation wait until after the construction was finished. The Board and architects liked the flagpole but there was still the question of where the funding would come from. The LAB supported the idea but couldn’t commit to the purchase before knowing where the funding would come from. Ms. Mauger asked what the process would be for other donations or low-cost purchases offered by members of the public and Mr. Gibson replied that these offers should be brought to him and he would make sure the information got to the appropriate person.

The Board resumed their discussion about the four options for the north wall in the reading lounge. They discussed the cost breakdown of each option, including the initial cost of adding extra support to the wall, implementation, and maintenance costs. In addition, they discussed the energy and environmental impacts to the building and how each option would affect LEED points.

The Board considered the public design meetings in the fall of 2003 and recalled that a fireplace was one of the seven design elements identified by the public for the new library. Boardmember Wagner said the feedback she had received for a water feature was that it would be a cool feeling, not warm and cozy. People are going for the warmth of a fire, and a hearth of stone would still be a cool feeling, but if wood could be incorporated it would be fine. As far as feedback from the public, Ms. Wagner would vote for anything that would give warmth to the room.

Mr. Gibson informed the LAB that $200,000 was cut from the construction budget through value engineering. Some of those things that were cut might be more important than adding a new feature such as a fireplace. When asked what kinds of things were cut, Gibson replied they were things that the public probably wouldn’t notice such as different light fixtures, and other things that would be noticed such as the landscaping. The Board continued to weigh the pros and cons of each option, keeping in mind the budget, energy and maintenance costs, the wishes of the public, and the priorities of items that were cut through the value engineering process that should be added back to the project. One possibility that was brought up was that a future donor might want to fund the maintenance costs of a fireplace. It would probably cost twice as much to retrofit a hearth with no fireplace to make it a working fireplace than it would cost to go ahead and put in a fireplace now, even if it was only to operate during special occasions due to maintenance costs.

The Board felt they had the information necessary to meet with the architects on Thursday and thanked Mr. Gibson for his time and. Before Mr. Gibson left the meeting, Boardmember Bursch told a library construction related joke: Q: Why did the librarian slip and fall on the library floor? A: She was in the non-friction section…

Ms. Wagner said she would attend the Thursday meeting with the architects and would send an email report to those LAB members who wouldn’t be able to attend. Library Director Hill had been taking notes and said she would be sure that the questions, concerns, and comments of each Board member would be included at the Thursday meeting.

As a whole, the LAB decided to definitely rule out the water feature, so now the decision was down to a hearth with fire or no fire. Mr. Vondersaar, a member of the public, stated that based on the public meetings with the architects, he thought there would be a lot of unhappy people if there wasn’t a fireplace. A fireplace had been the wish of the public. Ms. Mauger said she was going to talk to as many people as she could in the next 48 hours to see if she heard any new ideas that hadn’t been brought forward yet.

LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT

The Library Director’s report was included in the packet. Ms. Hill told the LAB to please let her know if the written report was helpful or not; she wanted to be sure they received information they needed about the library. Ms. Mauger liked having the library information all in one packet so she didn’t have to search through emails before each meeting. Mr. Bursch focused on the budget section, and wanted to clarify that the point he was trying to emphasize from the last meeting was that everyone involved in the budget conversation understood that more staff will be necessary before the needs of the new library operations were identified. He was concerned about the gap that would exist from when the need was identified until it was filled. He didn’t think it would be easy to just fill the gap once the need was known. Ms. Mauger added that they just didn’t know if this was a window of opportunity that would remain open or not, and the answer is just unknown. They added that in Ms. Hill’s defense, they had expressed their opinion quite pointedly and they knew she heard them and moved forward in her professional expertise and made a decision.

B. Statistical Report for September 2005

Ms. Hill compared statistics from September 2004 and 2005. She reported that for September 2005, a few less items had been checked out. Fewer ILLs had been borrowed, but the more had been lent. There had been higher attendance by almost 90 and there had been over 100 more Internet users. In the program category, there were over 182 more attendees which was a combination of programs offered by the Friends of the Library and the senior outreach program. Hill explained that the senior outreach program was a service provided by the library to seniors who were homebound and couldn’t get to the library. Sue Gibson, Library Technician II, paid weekly visits to Friendship Terrace and wherever else she was needed to get books to seniors who weren’t able to get to the library. Ms. Gibson worked with the seniors to select books that suited their individual tastes. It’s not a service that’s well advertised right now because it needs to be supplemented by volunteers and once again, there is not space in the current library for a volunteer program of this scale. The new library will have room for coordinating the volunteers, program files, and storage for bags of books going to and from the senior center. One of the dreams of the library staff is to do more outreach for seniors and homebound people. Ms. Mauger asked about the BIZ IDEA contest and Ms. Hill replied that the contest coordinators had received 35 applications. The Friends were overjoyed by the interest, and with the partnering opportunity with the Wells Fargo and KPEDD. She reminded the Board that the contest judges were anonymous. Continuing with the statistical report, there were more volunteers, but less volunteer hours, probably attributable to end of capital campaign. There was $400 more in revenue for September 2005.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Currently there are no committees.

COMMUNICATION/VISITORS

Frank Vondersaar stated that he had handouts if anyone was interested about the success of wireless communication over other means such as telephones, cell phones, and wired Internet connections during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. He explained to the Board that the Internet is very resilient because it was originally invented so the military could communicate after a nuclear attack. Ms. Mauger thought this was timely because the City Manager was working on a disaster plan, and she wondered how the library could participate in that conversation. Ms. Hill replied that she planned to be involved along with the other City departments. Ms. Mauger thanked Mr. Vondersaar for his advocacy about wireless communication, and the Board agreed that the information was very helpful. Ms. Hill added that she recently heard a news report about broadband in Korea. The Koreans have unlimited broadband available to all residents, and their students are able to plug into it whenever they need it. Unlimited broadband access was cited as a contributing factor to Korea’s high world standing in the areas of education and literacy, and these are contributing to the country’s high economic growth. Mr. Vondersaar added that the US was #16 in the world as far as broadband coverage.

Ms. Keffer asked about tech support and wireless networks. Mr Vondersaar replied that with a fairly new computer and Windows XP, you should be able to hook up to almost anything. Ms. Hill added that libraries that offer Wi-Fi give a handout to users that explain settings for a variety of laptops, as well as a standard disclaimer that the library is not responsible for damage or viruses to personal laptops. Mr. Vondersaar reported that whole cities are using it, for example, the large city of Philadelphia. Sometimes the power goes out but as a general rule, it works well. Mr Vondersaar offered to show LAB members how Wi-Fi works if they were interested.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

A. New Library Construction Update

This item was moved to follow APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA.

B. Planning for the Future: Roles of the LAB and Friends

of the Homer Library

Ms. Mauger stated that the Board had copies of the City Manager’s memo in which he made seven specific comments, suggestions, and amendments to the MOU. She appreciated that he had spent a fair amount of time looking at the MOU and writing down his comments. Ms. Mauger observed that the two architects of the MOU were not present and suggested that the Board go through each item in the City Manager’s memo and pass the resulting comments along to Boardmembers Lord and Hawfield.

The Board systematically went through each item, made comments, and suggested language for the proposed changes. They directed a few questions to Library Director Hill, who will bring them to the City Manager and get back to them with answers.

In reviewing the purpose of the MOU, The Board understood the purpose of the document was to be a clarification of roles – the Friends role in the new building, the LAB’s understanding of their boundaries, and the City’s operating and maintenance roles. The second purpose of the MOU was for fundraising. There needs to be a true agreement of these three entities working together for future funders and foundations.

C. Budget Planning Process

The Board reviewed Ms. Lord’s report, Info re: library space use, charges and policies. The Board was thankful to have the report for discussion. Ms. Hill thought Ms. Lord’s report contained many good points and ideas. She commented that she has had several groups ask if there was going to be meeting space in the new library, groups such as the writers groups, and even quilting groups. Ms. Mauger thought the conference room was the library space that needed to be sorted out the most. The library’s conference room will be slightly smaller than that of the the Homer Foundation. The Board agreed with standard library policy that the room would be free during library hours to public groups who would hold open meetings free of charge. Ms. Hill thought it was important that the determination between public and private group was carefully spelled out for the public and the library staff so they would know how to reserve the room. Book clubs would be a great example of a public group who would use the space.

Ms. Mauger wondered if there should be a time limit. Ms. Hill said she would check with other public libraries. She also thought they could build time limits into the library software. Ms. Hill will also follow up with other libraries about standing reservations.

Boardmember Seaman thought it was a great community service because new people in town could attend meetings and become part of the community, whether they were sewing or writing groups.

The Board discussed after hours fees for use of the library. It was helpful to have information from other public libraries such as the Haines Public Library who charged after hours. Ms. Hill said one question that falls through the cracks is the non-commercial group who wanted to use the facility for a meeting after hours that would be open to the public free of charge. The Board agreed that the more questions they could get answers to before it came time to write the meeting room policy, the better.

Boardmember Keffer handed out a draft memo re: Encouraging Gifts to the Library’s Operating Budget in which she had recommendations of options for the Board to pursue immediately.

Library Director Hill handed out a memo she had prepared re: Borough Contributions. She had also included the City Manager’s report from August 8 in which Mr. Wrede had gone into detail about strategy to build borough support. When the issue of library powers came up, Ms. Hill didn’t think that the Mat-Su borough had had to declare library powers but she would check with the Palmer library director. She would also check if the Mat-Su borough was a 2^nd class borough.

A service area was one thing the Board hadn’t talked to Mr. Wrede about. While reading election information in the newspaper, Ms. Mauger reported that a question was raised to each candidate about the borough expanding its powers, and many of the candidates said no, that could be taken care of through service areas. Ms. Hill thought that it would be important to hold several public meetings such as the ones that Palmer had held so the public knew about the issue. One of the main points that the Palmer library director had stressed during their conversation was that the public, the City, and the borough thought that borough contributions were fair – Ms. Kilmain had used the word “fair” a number of times. Ms. Mauger also recalled hearing that same sentiment from a lot from people during the capital campaign – the borough residents were willing to pay their fair share.

Ms. Mauger summarized the Board’s lengthy budget planning process by saying they had done what they set out to do, they had reports for each possible means of raising additional revenue: gifts, leasing space, coffee kiosk, and borough contributions. Now they had to develop a timeline. Could they pull something together in the next month or two to make a recommendation to the City Council? They needed to be sensitive to the City’s budget process and workload. Ms. Mauger proposed that the LAB work on recommendations by the next meeting as a goal.

Ms. Hill will make sure Boardmembers Lord and Hawfield receive these reports. At the next meeting, the Board will discuss ideas and a timeline, and develop a recommendation.

NEW BUSINESS

A. Recruitment of Honorary Student Member

Ms. Hill had received two recommendations of students from library staff. Both had been contacted, one couldn’t fit it into her schedule, and they were waiting to hear from the other one. The LAB agreed it would be good to get someone on board, and it would be great to have a student who wasn’t a senior so the student could have more time to learn about the process before it was time to graduate and move away. The Board asked if announcements could be made at the high school and the public library. The students may pick up the form from the Clerk’s Office, the Clerk’s Office website, or the library. The Board thought they should make an announcement through the homeschool network as well.

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC

No comments from the public.

COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD

Ms. Hill had one comment, although she is not a voting member of the board. She just wanted to remind the Board that one year ago today they were wondering what was going on with the library vote and it was very exciting to find out that it had passed by 63%. So much has happened since then and it seemed much longer than a year ago. She wished Boardmembers Wagner and Hawfield were there in addition to Mr. Bursch because they all worked so hard on the campaign, as did Alan Parks.

ADJOURNMENT

BURSCH/SEAMAN – MOVED TO ADJOURN.

VOTE: YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.

Motion carried.

There being no further business to come before the Board the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for November 1, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Cowles Council Chambers located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.

INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL

A. Memorandum from the Clerk’s Office re: Minutes Approval

____________________________________

HELEN HILL, LIBRARY DIRECTOR

Approved: _________________________