Public Library Board July 20
The Board is now attempting to record the meetings; recordings will be accessible on the BCPL website. This is the first time and the only microphone was on Executive Director Carrie Herrmann’s (CH) laptop. They are working on improving sound.
Consent Agenda
The following items required consent of the Board. Board members were required to acknowledge receipt of provided documents.
- A list of equipment and materials no longer in service was approved by the Board.
- Documents were presented to the Board identified for destruction in accordance with the BCPL’s Records Retention Schedule; approved by the Board.
- Each Board member was required to receive copies of the Open Records and Open Meetings Act & Management of Records documents with receipt acknowledged.
- In accordance with the BCPL Conflict of Interest Policy and the Trustee Ethics Policy, both policies were distributed to the Board with receipt acknowledged.
- In accordance with the BCPL’s Code of Conduct of Board Members Policy, the policy was distributed to the Board with receipt acknowledged.
Public Comment
Ms. Barbara Jacobson again attended the meeting to clarify that she is requesting both paper and digital copies of the Epoch Times to provide a conservative viewpoint (although again her offer of donating a subscription was denied). According to the American Library Association (ALA), libraries must provide diverse opinion periodicals. Ms. Jacobson claims there are still paper copies of the New York Times and USA Today, to name a couple, on BCPL shelves, which are hardly considered to be conservative. She also noted there was a patron in the main branch reading one of the papers when she came in. Ms. Jacobson also contends that studies show that reading paper copies (whether books or periodicals) enhances reading and comprehension skills. Ms. Jacobson expressed her opinion that withholding conservative publications is discriminatory to the community, which has a high percentage of Republicans.
Ms. Jacobson also claims that left-leaning books dominate the non-fiction shelves. Consequently, conservative patrons are not being fairly represented by a taxpayer funded entity such as BCPL.
Board member Emily Meyers (EM) proposed providing Ms. Jacobson with her appeal rights to oppose certain reading materials. The only other comment offered was CH stating that likely the more conservative reading materials were checked out, which then made it seem as though there were more left-leaning books. CH claims the paper subscriptions to the New York Times, USA Today, etc. are not being renewed and that the BCPL is still going digital with periodicals.
Executive Director’s Report
With regard to the additional acreage at the Hebron Branch, CH has yet to hear from the Parks Department, although the Boone County Conservancy has responded with interest. CH plans to address this issue as part of her annual presentation to the fiscal court meeting in September. The Board set a deadline requesting a response by September’s Board meeting.
With regard to Chapin Memorial Library (CML) the BCPL staff will send out a community satisfaction survey regarding the new options available to the CML patrons beginning August 1. The plan is to send out the survey sometime in August. CH and staff confirmed there is enough data for a baseline. Board Member Dave Rich asked if a benchmark was set as far as community satisfaction. It was determined that a 5% increase in community satisfaction would be the goal. There was also electronic signage installed in the community which CML can use to advertise library programs. Board member EM clarified that if the benchmark is not met this wouldn’t require a shutdown of the entire program, but the Board would work on tweaking as needed. The issue was tabled to enable the staff to work on finalizing measurements and benchmarking.
Board member Rich also wanted to know when there will be a discussion on the actual budget process as far as how the actual process can be improved, etc. This discussion will be added as an agenda item for the August meeting, which may be rolled over to September if there’s not enough time in August.
Accountant’s Report
- Current assets of $12,762,000
- Total fixed assets of $60,512,000
- Total liabilities of $627,000
- Fund equity just under $73,000
- Revenue received in May was $283,000
- $964,000 in district expenses incurred in May
- Total year-to-date expenses were $9,318,000
Business
Election of officers: apparently Board member and VP Meyers was re-appointed to the Board for another four-year term.
Board Member Patty Reisz made a motion proposing that the Board utilize a slate of officers for consideration for the next fiscal year’s officer selections. Rich objected. The Board voted to accept a slate with only Rich opposed. Board member Deborah Dutton-Lambert (DDL) presented a slate that essentially re-elected the current Board members to continue as officers for the next term: Dr. Eric Jackson as chair; Dr. Emily Meyers as vice chair; Patty Reisz as treasurer; and Deborah Dutton-Lambert as secretary. The Board voted to accept the slate with only Rich opposing.
Review of the Collection Development Policy: The Board reviewed the policy, which was updated to include a revision indicating the BCPL will not accept materials generated by artificial intelligence (AI) into BCPL circulation materials. Further discussion led to a motion to table the policy for further re-write and review.
Performance Management System: The Board continued its discussions regarding the current framework used to evaluate and compensate staff. CH and her staff, particularly her HR director, continue to push back strongly against a merit-based system. The response from the BCPL staff was 14% for a merit-based system and 32.6% to continue with regular salary increases as in the past. BCPL HR director claims it’s almost impossible to define metrics to measure performance based on merit because of how the library system is structured. Additional discussion ensued including the possibility of utilizing a hybrid performance system. Discussions will continue as a revised performance management system will not become applicable until the BCPL fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027.
Risk Management Assessment: CH presented a risk management spreadsheet identifying potential risks, assessing their severity, and outlining mitigation strategies in the following areas:
- Operations
- Financial
- Reputation
- Legal/Regulatory
- Technology
- Health and Safety
- Facilities
Board member Rich commented it was a good first year effort. CH responded to Board member DDL’s concern, confirming there is an ongoing process for incident reporting and the staff is actually reviewing new incident reporting software.
Auditor Engagement Letter: The Board approved the engagement of the auditing firm Craft, Waninger, Noble & Company, PLLC, for the fiscal year 2026 audit.
Accountant Engagement Letter: Bramel & Ackley, PSC were again engaged to provide services to BCPL for fiscal year 2027.
Florence Branch Ad Hoc Committee: This ad hoc committee, consisting of two library staff, Board members Jackson and Rich, the City of Florence administrator, two community members and a representative of the fiscal court (Judge/Executive Moore asked to be on the committee), provided their charter and community application for the Board’s approval, which was given. The charter is approved for recommendations for either a new or improved facility with the committee’s recommendations to be provided no later than February of 2027.
Investment Officer: The Board’s Investment Policy requires the appointment of an Investment Officer. A motion by the Board resulted in the approval of the appointment of Board member Rich as Investment Officer for a one-year term.
The meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m.