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HomeMy WebLinkAbout072502PORT TO«'NSEND LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING • Port Townsend Library July 25, 2002 Present: President Kate Schumann, Lamy Thomas, Deb Carroll Excused: Bill Maxwell, Eileen Price Staff: Linnea Patrick (director), Carol Costello (minutes), Carol Cahill (staff), Beth deJarnette (staff) Guests: David Timmons (city manager), Julia Owens President Kate Schumann called the meeting to order at 9:10 AM. The minutes from the June 20`s meeting were approved as read. Communications: Linnea told the group that former board member John Sullivan is very ill. Linnea will call or write a letter to a patron who complained about the computer keyboard noise in the library. Ray Serebrin, the new director of the Jefferson County Rural Library District, had hoped to attend today's meeting, but had a schedule conflict. He has rescheduled for the August meeting. Director's Report: Linnea shared pictures that she took of several libraries that she recently visited in the midwest. Washington State Library Statistics for 2001 show that in the state per capita, Port Townsend Public Library is second in circulation, seventh in reference transactions, and sixth in expenses. 0 Also see attache8 written Director's Report Friends: The Friends will have a booth at the Uptown Fair in August. The next book sale will be held in October. Foundation: The Foundation will be balloting to appoint new members. Staff: Carol Cahill gave an update on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's gift of computers to the library. The library will receive four new public computers, with software in September. The library will be closed September 9`h and 10`h for staff training. The library's computers will connect to the K -20. network soon. Carol Cahill recently attended a Library Council of Washington meeting. She reports that the Washington State Library is still in a state of stress. Carol Cahill is working with City University to support their masters in teachers program. They have donated $700 to the Friends of the Port Townsend Library for books to support their students' coursework. Beth told the board about the children's summer reading program. Approximately 200 youth are participating. The Port Townsend Card Company has donated many books to the library to support the "read 5, get 1 free" summer program. When the library spends $100 at the PT Card Company, the company donates another $100 worth of books to the library. U. 1�)sturday pianist Lisa Lanza will present a French water music program. There will be a craft for the children afterward. The Friends are paying to have the piano tuned, and also buy materials to augment the summer program. Twenty -two teenagers meet every Thursday this summer to discuss books and write book reviews. They recently attended a Shakespeare in the park performance in Lynnwood. The teens are looking forward to a poetry reading at the Fort W,­-den bunkers. a round table discussion nn history of public libraries, and a sleep over party at the .,, if the summer. PTTV has shown a several of the summer programs on prime time. Beth and several teenagers have learned to operate the cameras. No committee reports Old business: Long range plan: In place of the formal planning process that was done in 1997, Linnea showed the board the compilation of results of the planning session done with the board, staff, and Friends of the library. She had asked the groups to write down what they already know about the library and how it functions and what it needs. She asked city manager David Timmons to share what he already knows. Dave explained to the board about the "financial chaos" that has come to the state and county governments. He expects that it will "trickle down' to the city government soon. He is anticipating that the county will again be looking to pass on more costs to the city, especially for health services. Over the years, many studies have been done in the city regarding the deficit of facilities, no action has been taken. The police, fire, and public works departments are in crisis. These departments need to be able to survive catastrophic events and continue to operate. Dave suggests that the library avoid "traditional institutional barriers." Soon it may be again time to approach the Jefferson County Rural Library with talks of annexation. David says be creative and pro active. In order to simplify the budget we need to ask what really matters and what will really make a difference. The city revenue drives the budget. Larry asked David what he thought about the next ten years for the library. David replied, "stable." David mentioned the service population of Port Townsend vs. base population. Fort Worden has one million visitors a year. That puts a strain on city services. There needs to be a way to tax the service population. Perhaps an admissions or utility tax can provide more revenue. Only 48% of the city property is taxable. David suggests a lid lift levy or annexation for the library. Linnea will be retiring at the end of 2003 or the beginning of 2004. It is important to have the annexation issue solved in order to recruit a new director. David encouraged Linnea to prepare a two -year budget ahead of time. Linnea verified that we should resume annexation talks with Jefferson County Library this fall. Larry thanked David for coming to the meeting and sharing information regarding city revenues and plans. 40 Discussion f a oint meeting between the Port Townst— Library board and the Jefferson RL. al I arary District board is postponed until the August meeting. The next meeting of the library board will be August 220d at 9:00 AM. The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 AM.