Public Library Board May 20
The Board meeting started with a public presentation by Boone County Commissioner Jesse Brewer. Brewer proposed, for the Library Board’s consideration, a public employee homebuying assistance program. This program would cover public employees such as firefighters, law enforcement and first responders, teachers, etc. who reside in Boone County and who do not currently own a home. This would also apply only to household incomes below a certain level. The program would essentially be a Northern Kentucky Area Development District (NKADD) grant program. Brewer indicated this would be operated similarly to how the FHA operates. The Boone County fiscal court, as part of their fiscal year budget, has put a place mark of $150,000 in its budget to help fund this program. The purpose of the program is to prevent good employees from leaving and going across the river to Ohio because they can’t afford housing. At this point Brewer is just trying to see if he can garner interest among various entities such as the Boone County Library system to be donors to the program. Brewer has talked to Florence and Union and is looking for a $25,000 to 50,000 donation/contribution from each entity. If the program doesn’t work, the contributions would be refunded to the donating agency. Right now Brewer is just presenting this for the Library Board’s consideration, confirming that the library is also in the middle of its budget process. After Brewer left, the Board indicated they may wait to see what other agencies are willing to do and appeared to take a “wait and see” approach.
The independent accountant reported that total fiscal year-to-date assets are $18,496,000. Total expenses are $6,485,000. The Foundation received $10,657 net deposits.
Director Carrie Herrmann provided an update regarding the Chapin Memorial Library (CML) in Petersburg. She started with metrics for the month indicating there are still few users, although those users are considered “super” users. The issue seems to be staffing the library. The few responses the library received garnered only one qualified interested candidate. The library’s human resources department has also expanded the candidate search within the library system to see if anyone would be interested. Since a second staffer is needed to satisfy safety requirements, the library unfortunately remains unstaffed.
The new Walton library is progressing mostly on target.
Director Herrmann presented her fiscal year 2025 proposed budget to the Board. The budget reflects an increase in fines/fees and the programming budget has been increased by 14%. Budgeted increases of 5% each for collections such as books and e-materials was proposed. Additionally, the budget will include the cost of adding outdoor musical instruments at the Hebron branch to be more engaging for children. Herrmann also proposed to budget a 20% increase for health insurance benefits. A 5% wage increase was proposed for library staff. An additional 14% was proposed to be added for the new Walton branch completion, staffing, etc. Herrmann’s proposed budget was approved by the Board.
The next item on the agenda was another approach by Drees regarding the Hebron library’s unused acreage. A Drees representative was present but didn’t get a chance to speak. The Board did agree to have its own appraiser review the appraisal provided by the Boone County-Florence water works for an underground water tank to be erected on land behind the library. However, before the Drees proposal for the library’s land was discussed, Board member Dr. Meyers indicated she felt it was not fair to the community to review the Drees proposal based on a 13-year-old land use study, especially given public comments at the last meeting requesting more green space and less development. Board members Meyers and Lange both indicated they are not interested in any further development of the library’s land at this time.
Next, the Boone County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is seeking a site in Boone County to locate a Revolutionary War Monument plaque as part of the 250th anniversary of the United States. This monument will recognize Boone County residents who participated in the Revolutionary War. The Chapter has approached the main Boone County library and will donate a rock to put this plaque on. There will be no cost to the library. A motion was made and passed by the Board approving the acceptance of the monument to be placed outside on the main library’s property.
The Board then entered a 20-minute closed session to discuss Board member recruitment and for further review of the applications received. Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore had indicated that he plans to reject both candidates offered for one of the open positions and the library has 30 days to send two new names to KDLA, which will then send the names on to Judge Moore. Two new candidates were selected (referred to as Candidates A & C) to be sent on for consideration.
As part of the attorney’s report, the library’s legal counsel stated he would have to explore the legality regarding Brewer’s public employee home buying assistance program. In addition, the contribution requested may very well be above IRS limits and therefore would be taxable.
The Foundation received an anonymous $100,000 donation to split among all three county libraries (Boone, Kenton and Campbell) to help fund the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, with a possibility that donation may be renewed for another $100,000.
As part of the Director’s report, Herrmann indicated one of the PCs in the library was stolen by a man and a woman. However, they have the incident on film and one of the staff recognized the woman as someone he went to high school with. All information has been forwarded to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office to pursue. In addition, two patrons have been banned from the library premises due to aggressive behavior with staff and patrons requiring law enforcement intervention, one for six months and one for three.
The last item on the agenda was reserved for public comment. About five Petersburg residents attended. One accused Director Herrmann of wanting the CML to fail as a staffed library and to keep it as an “express” library with just lockers. The residents still believe they are being underserved and that their tax dollars should count for something. They believe they are being treated as stepchildren by the library system. Board member Jackson asked about the salary being offered. The HR director indicated it’s a competitive salary of $13.20/hour, the same as provided to other staffers with the same qualifications.
Barbara Jacobson also appeared again regarding the majority of left-leaning periodicals at the library such as The New York Times, USA Today, Time, Newsweek, and the Louisville Courier-Journal. Ms. Jacobson indicated that her offer to donate the cost of a year’s subscription to the conservative Epoch Times was rejected by the library. Ms. Jacobson stated she doesn’t believe the library system is respecting the wants of the community. She requested the Board reconsider her request and show that they are not being discriminatory against conservatives.