ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY DISTRICT

MEETING OF THE BOARD

HEADQUARTERS BRANCH

MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2006

3:30 PM

 

The monthly meeting of the Board of the St. Louis County Library District was held at the Mahlon P. Wallace Headquarters Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., on Monday, March 20 at 3:30 p.m.  The agenda had been posted in all branches of the Library District at least 24 hours before the meeting.

 

ATTENDANCE:

 

            Library Board Members:

 

                        Richard J. Bagy, Jr., President

Jean Weinstock, Secretary

                        Chingling Tai, Member

 

Bettie Gershman and Kenneth P. Stricker were not able to attend.

 

            Others Attending:

 

Gary Holdefer, Interim Director; George Durnell, Interim Director; Charles Ford, Crotzer, Ford & Ormsby Counsel; Kristen Sorth, Manager, Human Resources; William Rodgers, Manager, Information Systems Technology; Jim Bogart, Development Manager; Tom Curran, St. Louis County; Mary Kay Lofgren, Rubin Brown; Jeffrey Winter, Rubin Brown; Lance Carlson, Arthur J. Gallagher & Company; Bob Williford, St. Louis County Library Reference Librarian and Sandra Williams, Executive Assistant.

 

The MINUTES, Monday, January 23, 2006, were approved by general consent.

 

The agenda was adjusted to hear the report of the auditors.

 

INDEPENDENT AUDIT – The Board received The 2005 Audit and Business Performance Analysis from Jeffrey Winter and Mary Kay Lofgren of Rubin Brown.  The Audit gave an unqualified opinion. The auditors reported that last year’s recommendations have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented.  The audit included the financial activity of the Foundation..

Mr. Winter and Ms. Lofgren left the meeting at 4:12 p.m. and the normal agenda resumed.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT:

 

The Treasurer’s Reports dated January 31 and February 28, 2006 were received by the Board, subject to audit.  Mr. Holdefer reported that over three million dollars of escrow taxes were released on March 4.

 

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DIRECTOR’S REPORT:

 

FAMILY COURT – Mr. Durnell reported that the agreement approved by the Board in January between St. Louis County Library and the Family Court of St. Louis County had been signed February 17th.  As of this date no rooms had been reserved for their use.

 

SPRINKLER MAIN LAW SUIT – Mr. Holdefer reported that he was asked to appear in St. Louis County Court to testify establishing the loss that occurred on March 22, 2004 at the Headquarters Branch when the sprinkler main broke.  No representative from the general contractor appeared. Judge Sherry ruled in favor of the Library.

 

REQUEST FROM CITY OF GREEN PARK – The City of Green Park requested permission to use the auditorium at Tesson Ferry Branch as a temporary City Hall in the event the City’s facility became damaged.  Staff expressed the following concerns if the request were for an extended length of time:  Hours of operation, problems setting up the auditorium, parking, property and general liability insurance.  The Board denied the request (Weinstock/Tai).

 

STATE LIBRARIAN–   Mr. Durnell reported that Secretary of State Robin Carnahan had appointed Margaret Conroy as the new State Librarian.  Ms. Conroy has been the director of Missouri River Regional Library in Jefferson City.

 

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS –The Board was given copies of an article that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star article about the findings of Special Collections Librarian Ruth Ann Hager.  Using death records, she identified the cemetery where Harriett Scott, wife of Dred Scott, was buried.

 

CLOSING EARLY FOR AUTHOR EVENT – The Board approved closing Headquarters at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 27, 2006.  Authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson will discuss their second book Peter and the Shadow Thieves of a series of prequels to the story of Peter Pan. All other locations will observe normal hours.

 

WIRELESS HOT SPOTS – Bill Rodgers reported to the Board about an inquiry from Charter Communications to provide wireless hot spots in Library branches.  The Board directed staff to negotiate a proposal for Board review at the next meeting.

 

MULTI-YEAR DATABASE CONTRACTS – Staff asked the Board for permission to prepare multi-year database contracts to provide a cost savings to the Library.  The Board approved the request.  The Board asked that a database usage report be prepared for the April meeting.

 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

 

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS – The Board accepted staff recommendations that quotes be obtained to upgrade the HVAC system at The Florissant Valley Branch, but not proceed with the proposal to remodel the branch which included a new auditorium and offices for the Youth Services staff.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

INSURANCE RENEWALS – Lance Carlson of Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, presented quotes for renewing the current insurance coverage with Firemen’s Fund and St. Paul/Travelers. The Board approved the renewals which were within budget (Weinstock/Tai). 

 

PERSONNEL MANUAL – The Board approved a revised Personnel Manual that reflects policies of sick leave; employment of relatives; redefining immediate family members for funeral leave, tuition reimbursement and cell phone usage (Weinstock/Tai).

 

POLICY – The Board approved a policy statement about staff use of Library computers for limited occasional personal reasons.  The policy states that all information stored, transmitted, received or contained on the Library’s computer system, including email is the property of the Library, and subject to review by the Library (Tai/Weinstock).

 

2006 PENSION CONTRIBUTION– The Board approved the request of the Pension Plan Board to $500,000 (Weinstock/Tai).

 

VEHICLE BID – The Board approved the low bid of Dave Sinclair Ford for $46,864 for two new Bookmobile towing units (Weinstock/Tai).

 

ST. LOUIS 2004 EXPOSITION – Mr. Bagy read a portion of a letter from an organization called St. Louis 2004 Exposition.  They requested the Library donate an old Bookmobile to their non-profit organization as part of a historic display.  More information on the group will be presented at the April Board meeting.

 

CLOSED SESSION (NEXT MEETING)

Mrs. Weinstock moved that the open meeting adjourn and reconvene in closed session pursuant to Section 610.021 subsection (1), (2), (3), (9), (11), (12), (13) and (14) to discuss matters relating to legal actions, causes of action or litigation; property acquisition or sale and any personnel matters involving hiring, firing, discipline and promotion. Dr. Tai seconded.  All voted in the affirmative.

 

The meeting adjourned at 5:12 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

____________________________________________                    __________________

Jean Weinstock                                                                                    Date

Secretary