Library Board Minutes 03/13/23
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Board Meeting Minutes – 3/13/23
The meeting started with a prayer said by Pasture Keith from Our Lady of the Valley Roman Catholic Church. It was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance (Item 3), led by Board of Trustees member Dave Ochenreider.
Item 1- Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 10:03 a.m.
Item 2- Member Roll Call: Present were Chairman John Shewalter, Vice Chair Brian Shoemake, Dave Ochenreider, Dee Mounts, Director Vanja Anderson, Assistant Director Shanna Gibbons, Children’s Director Alysha Wogee, District Attorney Brian Kunzi and library Liaison/Commissioner Frank Carbone. Guests present were members of the public.
Item 3- The Pledge of Allegiance was recited prior to the call to order.
Item 4- Trustee/Director/Liaison Comments: Nothing to share from the Board of Trustees, Director or Liaison at this time.
Item 5- Approval of the Agenda: Item 7 (Emergency item) was stricken from the agenda. Brian Kunzi also asked for item 12 (discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve, or reject an HVAC maintenance contract for 2023 with Jonaire, Inc., for $3,840.00) to be stricken. He apologized for it having not been caught sooner. Kunzi would like the Board of Trustees and District Attorney’s office to work together, in coming up with a standard agreement prior to approval for contracts.
Item 6- General Public Comment:
Each member of the public will be given 3 minutes to speak on items concerning the library.
Jane Goodrow- She is tired of being told by the Board of Trustees that the public’s questions cannot be answered, or agenda items cannot be explained during the meetings. She feels the board is doing the public a disservice. She presented a cover sheet for the open meeting laws from the attorney general. It describes what is good for people and what is not in relation to public comment. It also highlights NRS 241.0203. There are different ways the board can construct public comments. It would make sense for comments to happen before an action is taken. The issues seen during the meetings are from a lack of discussion for the agenda items on the board’s part. She would like the board to follow the statutes.
Item 8- Approval of the Minutes: Brian Shoemake made a motion to accept the minutes of the February 13, 2023, Library Board of Trustee’s meeting. Dee Mounts seconded the motion. There were no public comments.
Board Discussion: John Shewalter made a comment that he felt like the minutes did not translate the last meeting well. He felt they were missing the spirit of the meeting and what was said, but he would still approve them. Dave Ochenreider also mentioned that his name was spelled wrong. The mistake was corrected and a motion was made by Brian Shoemake and seconded by Dee Mounts to amend the minutes. The amended minutes were approved as a vote of 4-0.
Item 9- Presentation of Treasurer’s Report: Director Anderson presented the treasurer’s report on expenditures and revenues for February 2023, as found in the backup. There were no public comments.
Board Discussion: Shewalter stated that a while ago we added a fee for our library notary service. His questions included: What kind of an impact, positive, negative or zero has that had on our notary activity? What is the traffic like? Did adding the fee negatively impact services? Shewalter laughs after seeing Ms. Wogee’s reaction to his questions. She said that the notary is busy every day. Shewalter asked if prices need to be increased due to the success? Library directors said no. Director Anderson said that the collector’s report shows the monetary impact the notary service has made for the library.
Furthermore, Shewalter addressed Director Anderson with another question. He asked, when going back to the expense report, are there any line items that have worked over the budget, given how much time we had left in the fiscal year that needs be concerned? Director Anderson said that she thinks that the library is where it needs to be. She did move some money around. The library was running low with its book budget. Shewalter had asked Director Anderson for some specification. She explained that she moved some money from software and programs into the book budget, since there was additional money in that category. Other than that, the library is good. She noted that the board will see that these numbers will be different than previous ones, due to that transfer. Shewalter said that he wanted to make sure that the expenses were in-line with the budget. He ended with saying very good!
Item 10- Approval of Payment Vouchers: Shoemake made a motion to approve the payment vouchers for the period of February 2023, to March 2023. The motion was seconded by Ochenreider. There were no public comments.
Board Discussion: Shewalter began off with stating that he did not see anything unusual. He asked Director Anderson if there was anything unusual in the petty cash expenditures. She mentioned that we finally got our credit card. There was some confusion, but Director Anderson corrected the situation by saying that petty cash purchases are primarily for places like the Dollar Store. Shanna Gibbons also mentioned that the Amazon account also uses the credit card, so the credit cared and petty cash balance each other out. Shewalter said, fair enough, when he understood the push and shove with the credit card.
Furthermore, Shewalter asked about how the electricity bill is trending? Director Anderson is thinking about making a spread sheet, so that the board can see what our savings are with the new lighting. She asked if the board would like her to put it in their board packets. Shewalter said he did not see any backups for it, that he is just asking. Finally, he asked how is the electricity bill trending? Director Anderson said that as compared to other years, the library is about the same.
Item 11- Presentation of Librarian’s Report: Director Anderson read her report, that can be found in the backup. Shanna Gibbons reported on the February 2023 library activities, which included patron traffic, books checked out, books returned, internet usage, website usage and materials added. See report in backup for more information. Furthermore, Alysha Wogee reported on the children’s programs: STEAM, Baby Time, Story Time, no Train Workshop, no Game Day, no Holiday Parties, and Teen Library Club. The board asked Ms. Gibbons about how Mango Languages is doing. She said it has had positive reviews and some of the public is interested in participating from the audience. The board also asked Ms. Gibbons what book swaps are. She explained that they are donated books that patrons can take for free, bring back when they are done reading and swap out for others.
Item 13- Trustee/Director/Liaison Comments:
Shanna Gibbons- Talked about the upcoming Blood Drive, Easter Basket raffle (on display now), and that Fine Amnesty starts today and will run for the next two weeks.
Alysha Wogee- Talked about the upcoming children’s Summer Reading Program. She mentioned that the children’s department has all their presenters booked, the space at the park they will be using is booked and kindly asked the public to please tell their loved ones about the event. It will be happening in the month of June. The theme is “All Together Now.”
Dee Mounts- Brought up the Dog Story Time program for children. She said that she has a release of liability form ready and it will be headed to Ms. Wogee sometime this week.
Brian Shoemake- Asked what has been happening with the process of selecting a new board member.
In answer to Shoemake’s question, Frank Carbone came to the podium and said that he has not seen the next agenda.
John Shewalter- Addressed Ms. Goodrow’s comment concerning public comments during agenda items. The board is in line with the NRS’s. Time is limited and no exchanges can happen. It is a clean 3-minutes for the person to speak. He appreciates her comments.
Brian Kunzi- Thinks Mango Languages is a great program. He would like to see more information on it out in the community. In regard to Ms. Mounts comment, he wants all release of liability forms to go to the District Attorney’s office.
Item 14- Adjournment at 10:38 a.m.