Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Program Room 2B
Tom Bunger and Rita Lichtenburg.
President John Walsh called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m.
Sara Laughlin reported that the Monroe County Council forwarded the MCPL 2010 budget to the state Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) as presented. The Library Board will meet October 28 for final approval of the budget (15 days after County Council recommendation as required by law).
Sara Laughlin presented a list of 10 Long-Range Financial Planning Committee recommendations and her recommendations for assignments.
Regarding recommendation #1 (Prepare for reduction in income now by reducing operating expenses [assigned to director]), she noted that both the library renovations and the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) purchase will help to cut expenses by streamlining procedures. Additionally, she plans to engage a consultant next year to work on process improvements which should result in efficiencies.
John Walsh asked how this consultant study would differ from previous studies with Circulation and Technical Services. Sara explained that those studies were done by experts who made recommendations. This consultant will teach us how to make and follow through with changes.
Randy Paul asked how success on these types of changes would be measured. Sara explained that a “return on investment” study was done in connection with the RFP work for the RFID. Anticipated savings will come from having fewer lost books to replace and from needing fewer staff for check out and check in. Sara will provide the return on investment report to the board.
Fred Risinger suggested looking at the list of recommendations as a whole rather than individually and discussing any that the Board does not wish to pursue.
Randy Paul commented that he did not disagree with items 9 and 10 (both related to fundraising by the Friends), but was concerned that the Friends had not seen the recommendations. He noted that a May 23, 2007, Friends policy stated that the Friends did not want to be involved in fundraising. Sara Laughlin stated that John Steinmetz, treasurer of the Friends and Anita Harder, former treasurer, served on the Committee. Sara, John, and Anita recently met with Helena Walsh, president of the Friends. She believes they will recommend to the Friends Board that they take on the assignment of #9 (work to establish structure and policies to support an annual fundraising campaign). Randy Paul felt that there was a reason the Friends adopted their policy and was uncomfortable that a large part of the long-range plan involved the Friends conducting fundraising. Sara felt that the Friends would agree to help with an annual campaign.
Dave Ferguson noted that the Friends should be asked; if they chose not to do so, other avenues could be investigated. Randy Paul felt that if they chose not to do so they might also not want competition.
John Walsh asked if there were any time-sensitive items on the list. Sara noted that we are already working on some items such as a proposal for increasing fees, discussing fundraising with the Friends, and efficiency improvements.
Randy Paul felt that there would still be a two-year gap in the plan and felt that the $500,000 annual loss of COIT money beginning in 2012 was not being addressed. He felt that any sizable fundraising efforts were three to five years out and worried that no budget cuts had been made for 2010.
Sara Laughlin replied that building renovations and purchase of RFID would begin to address these issues. She explained that we have asked for the maximum allowable funding for 2010 and if we did not receive it we would have to make some adjustments.
Randy Paul feared that the budget would be balanced by cutting staff. Sara Laughlin reiterated that both the building renovations and the RFID would increase efficiencies and that staff could be reduced by attrition if necessary. She repeated her goals of increasing fundraising in 2010, 2011, and 2012, increasing efficiency, increasing fees, and achieving energy savings.
Randy Paul repeated his fear that the budget would be balanced by cutting staff.
Dave Ferguson felt that Randy Paul’s statement was an unfair characterization based on Sara’s statements.
John Walsh stated that at issue at this meeting was the list of 10 recommendations and moving forward with them.
Fred Risinger felt that there has been much discussion about the budget and there would continue to be discussion, but he believed that Sara Laughlin had presented a viable plan.
Dave Ferguson felt that Sara Laughlin had proposed some creative ways to save money whereas many other libraries were simply cutting hours or reducing materials budgets. He agreed with Sara’s plan to explore increasing fees and to explore fundraising at multiple levels.
Randy Paul commented that the RFID will cost between $500,000-$750,000.
Sara Laughlin noted that raising taxes would be difficult, if not impossible, but we could increase our fees for non-core services and our fundraising and “get leaner” if necessary.
The Board discussed recommendation #7, forming Board committees to work on various issues. Dave Ferguson felt that all committee meetings should be public. The board agreed and discussed combining committee meetings with work sessions or devoting some work sessions entirely to committee work.
Sara Laughlin suggested that the Board by-laws be reviewed annually.
John Walsh will draft a statement dealing with recommendation #7.Rita Lichtenberg spoke regarding living in difficult economic times and stressed the importance of the Library to the community. She felt that the public should be included in discussions and kept aware of events. She believed that the public could be instrumental in making inroads into the tax situation.
Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.
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Updated:
November 6, 2009
° http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/board/200910wrk.html
