Public Library Board June 15

 Meeting held at the Boone County Public Library’s (BCPL) main branch.

Presentation

Omni Architects gave a presentation on the Florence Branch Facilities Master Plan Validation project.  The biggest issue Omni recognized was space, which was also the top issue with those who participated in the survey Omni conducted in the community. The limitations on space limit growth and expansion of programs that could be offered at the Florence branch. Omni conducted two community engagement sessions on April 27, one in the morning and one in the evening. The community indicated they best liked the accessibility and location of the Florence branch. They also expressed very positive regard for the branch’s staff. The community’s biggest concern was the quality and size of spaces. The community would like more multi-purpose rooms, more random seating and more study rooms. Most of the respondents live close to the branch and either walk or bike, which is why location is so important to many. 

Omni was restricted by the Board in providing actual designs, but identified four “big picture” options as the next step:

• Renovate the existing library building and include an addition
• Renovate another existing building
• Demolish the existing building and rebuild on the same site
• Build an entirely new branch but where?

Omni advised of significant challenges in renovating the existing building as to where to put the addition. If put in the back, there’s a significant grade and also the acreage itself is likely still too small. Someone suggested building a second story, which Omni indicated would be the best way to add space; however, there would be a significant cost. In addition, the existing underground structure, built in the 70s, may not support the added load, especially a library with books and other materials adding weight. The representative from the City of Florence, Eric Hall, also indicated such a renovation would likely be more costly than building a new building from the ground up. 

Board member Deborah Dutton-Lambert (DDL) asked about renovating space within Florence Mall. The representative from the City of Florence indicated that a reciprocal easement agreement would need to be negotiated for such a space, which is very difficult to accomplish as well as being a very lengthy process; it could well take up to 15 years to accomplish. With regard to building something from scratch within the immediate area, there is an issue with the acreage needed and the City has nothing available within a 1.5-mile radius that would meet the needs required by a new Florence branch. 

The Board will continue reviewing Omni’s proposal in order to determine the best option for the branch. 

Public Comment
There was no attendance by the public at this meeting.

Executive Director’s Report
No significant issues on this report were covered at the meeting.

Accountant’s Report
The accountant was on vacation so only the finalized report for April was provided. Nothing was provided for May.  

Business
Board Member Emily Meyers (EM) proposed creating a subcommittee to determine the best option for the Florence branch. It was decided the subcommittee would comprise 6-7 persons, including library staff, two community members and one of the county administrators; Chairman Jackson and Board Member Dave Rich (Rich) would represent the Board on the subcommittee. Executive Director Carrie Herrmann (CH) will draft a community engagement application. The charter for the subcommittee will be written and submitted for the July Board meeting.

EM made a motion to accept the fiscal year 2027 budget draft absent the solar panel cost for the Hebron branch, which was removed until such time as an applied-for grant is received for the project. The Board accepted a budget of $11.1 million in revenue, about $11.28 million in operating expenses, and another $300,000 for capital spending. It was also agreed that the budget would adopt a line item for potential staff reductions. CH indicated that the new, much more stringent budget may reduce staff professional development and employee student loan increases as well as only filling critical staffing positions. CH is also looking at a decrease in the public relations budget, and she and the staff are planning to remove the WIFI hot spots. Also, the 100 Books Before Graduation program will likely be discontinued, but no early childhood programs. 

The Board’s attorney provided a review of the roles and statutory responsibilities held by the Board versus the operational mandates of the Executive Director. The Board basically oversees the budget, library policy, benchmarking and ensuring the Board gets all reports relevant to their oversight responsibilities from the Executive Director. Ex-officio Member Chet Hand (Hand) indicated that although he’s been told several times that some documents requested were withheld as operational only, he argued that even in that case, they still should be provided at the Board’s request as they could be needed for budgetary and policy purposes. 

There was also discussion about the level of minutes the Board would like to see moving forward. A couple of Board members and Hand advised the advantages of recording the meeting and possibly even using an AI tool to prepare the minutes. A motion was made to scale back the minutes to posting Board actions only and to obtain the relevant equipment needed to provide for future audio recordings as well as providing all written materials, which would be posted to the website as public records. 

A review was conducted by the Board of the Collection Development Policy. CH confirmed the BCPL is moving towards a reduction in hard copy newspapers and periodicals and pushing more digitally. DDL brought up public commenter Barbara Jacobson’s request that the Epoch Times be provided by the BCPL and feels that not considering her request means the Board is not considering the values of the community. Hand confirmed that he had recently spoken to Ms. Jacobson, who was fine with providing the Epoch Times in a digital format. CH is reviewing and evaluating the terms of use to add the Epoch Times as digital reading material. Further discussion on this issue will be conducted at the next meeting.

The Board also discussed the current framework used to evaluate staff, referred to by CH as the performance management system. CH said the specific model used by the BCPL is used by most other library systems and is a non-merit based graded schedule. CH continues to push back against a merit-based salary schedule, whereas Hand and other Board members do not feel comfortable with providing raises to library staff regardless of their performance throughout the year. 

Due to time constraints for several of the Board members, this will be discussed further at the next meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 7 p.m.