City of Santa Fe Library Board met Jan. 18.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
Members Present:
Member Marie Schow
Member Elizabeth Alarid
Member Sarah Jacobs
Member Brecken Larson
Member Rebecca Phillips
Members Excused:
Member Carlo Brady
Member Richard Ryan
Others Attending:
Maria Tucker, Library Division Director
Gail Vigil, Contracts Administrator
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION: Member Phillips moved, seconded by Member Alarid, to approve the as presented.
VOTE: The motion was approved on the following Roll Call vote:
For: Member Schow, Member Alarid, Member Jacobs, Member Larson, Member Phillips
Against: None
Abstain: None
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a. Approval of November 16th Minutes
MOTION: Member Alarid moved, seconded by Member Larson, to approve the minutes as presented.
VOTE: The motion was on the following Roll Call vote:
For: Member Schow, Member Alarid, Member Jacobs, Member Larson, Member Phillips
Against: None
Abstain: None
5. PUBLIC COMMENT
6. DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Maria will send her written report after the meeting.
Working on the City budget under a quick turn-around. First draft due on January 19. All frozen positions should be restored.
Maria thinks Library can account for a 3% increase in some areas.
GO Bond a little lower this year than the last two years because the Legislature decided that libraries weren’t spending enough. The money is given in a lump sum, and then spent continuously over the fiscal year. Legislature may not understand that the remaining balances are spent over the course of the fiscal year. Hopefully they will consider an increase in future years. Reaching out to Legislators and encouraging support for library funding and increased GO Bond funding would be helpful.
Staffing Updates
Hired two library technicians atthe December Rapid Hire event. Fourlibrary technicians have started along with a new librarian for Main, Esther Rizik. Megan Atencio and Lydia O’Reilly, formerly library technicians, have been promoted to Librarians. We are excited to promote our wonderful staff. We have a part time librarian starting at South Side. Walter Cook and Donvan Troelsen have resigned. We y have a librarian and project administrator position working through the hiring process. We still have two full-time youth librarian positions and several library technician positions open. Staffing levels are improving. We are getting ready to reopen La Farge, hopefully by February 15. Staffing remains crucial, although it is improving.
All the water fountains at Main have been replaced. Main is having HVAC issues. We continually have maintenance issues with our branches. A few donor tiles fell and need to be repaired. We are hoping to replace the elevators at Main this year. Some art at La Farge is being restored. The Career Online High School program has one student enrolled who is about half way through. We may have our first graduate this year! We will begin recruiting for another cohort.
South Side has some maintenance issues. The bulk of our programing is taking place there because it is more conducive for COVID-safe practices. We gave away ginger bread house kits, Desert Choral gave a performance, and we had an artisan card workshop. We also participated in a nation-wide event for the launch of the James Webb telescope. 388 adults attended programs in December. 407 children attended programs in December. There were 795 attendees for events in December with 78 of those on line.
The new collections manager is working on reducing our hold ratios. We are also looking at eBooks. How do we meet demand when the expenses are rising? We are updating the PC’s at La Farge ahead of reopening and also working on the Managed Vendor Service Contract for our laptop loaning program. Friends of the Library is supporting a new contract for public copiers at the branches. Becca: About speaking to Legislators. Will the State Library give us some guidance for the language to use or avoid when speaking with our Legislators?
Maria: Library day at the Legislature, whether it will be online or live, but we can attend that event. The State library does provide guidance for advocacy vs lobbying.
Zella: Any contact with the Finance office about the CD that was recommended to be transferred to the Friends? The interest earned on the current CD could be given to the Library.
Maria: They have been very busy with the budget cycle and are also under-staffed but will reach out for information since the Library could use the funding now.
Zella: The key is that the CD has to be transferred first before the interest can be disbursed. Barry was going to present a recommendation to the City Attorney and the City Attorney was going to issue an opinion to City Council to agree to the transfer. It would be good to make the transfer before the end of the fiscal year.
In 2004 there was a donation of $250K that the City put into a cd. Four years ago, someone in Finance approached the library about transferring the funds to the Friends of the Library because the Friends earn a better Return on Investment. The original donation would be transferred to the Friends, but the interest earned on the CD could be added to the Library’s budget. The accrued interest was around $15k.
Maria will check with the new City Manager.
Marie: Great job on hiring! It’s exciting to hear about the progress.
Maria: It’s still a big challenge to recruit librarians.
7. PRESIDENT'S REPORT
a. Standing Report: Friends of the Library
Zella Cox
zella@santafelibraryfriends.org
The Friends had begun to emerge from the COVID restrictions and return to some of the benefits for members. The Friends had arranged to have an author that had written a book about Tony Hillerman make a presentation. A number of people signed up, but it wasn’t worth the risk to proceed. Book sales continue. Friendsreceive book donations on a coordinated basis. Zella was able to get Maria on the Friends of the Library credit card. The Friends Board agreed to restructure their meeting schedule from monthly meetings to quarterly meetings. Bylaws state no less than quarterly meetings. The current President for the Friends of the Library Board needed this accommodation. The Friends Development Director has resigned. The Friends will collaborate with the Board President on how to proceed.
There are plenty of funds available. There was $295K available at the start of the fiscal year for library support. Friends will probably start their budget planning process at the start of April. The Friends now follow the same fiscal year as the City.
There were no questions for Zella.
8. NEW BUSINESS
9. OLD BUSINESS
a. Library Board Vacancies
Maria Tucker, Library Director
505-955-6788 / metucker@santafenm.gov
b. Library Annual Objectives & Strategic plan Maria Tucker, Library Director
505-955-6788 / metucker@santafenm.gov
Library Board Vacancies. We received information from Amber Baca that Brecken Larson will be put forward asthe County representative on January 25. Gail and Maria are working to figure out if we identify new Board members from available applications or repost for the positions.
Marie: Is there a closing date for county representatives?
Maria: They may need to re-open the application. Once Brecken is moved over to the County side we need to renew the terms for Becca and Marie and fill the empty City seat. We may be able to vote on new/renewed members next month.
Strategic Plan:
Meghan McGarrity has been helping. Maria will follow up on next-steps. Maria wants to meet with staff/managersto do strategic planning/budget planning. We haven’t been able to do that yet. Managers meeting would be the next steps to identify their strategic focus. Maria is looking for funding to assist with the project.
Marie: Keep us posted. Working with Meghan was very helpful.
Marie: Agenda concluded. The agenda shows there is no meeting scheduled. Is that because the Board just voted on dates? Gail: we changed our process and we are doing a notice of meeting for the year. The meeting dates will get filled in.
10. NEXT MEETING: February 15 2022
11. ADJOURN
https://santafe.primegov.com/public/portal
