##VIDEO ID:ITc8h4usxUk## which works the city Barrel's m is that what we're about it's a good way great all right well we're all here except for Kevin with us today but everybody else is here so great um we have no visitors I know maybe um and we have our agenda in front of us and if there are no changes or additions from the or questions about bills or anything or if anybody had any about our minutes from last time entertain a motion support support all those in favor all right moving on super duper we are Distributing free take and create kits these are um they teach you to sew and so they come with instructions there are videos online they are felt mittens and heart shapes that you then sew and there are ribbons and there are buttons and six um patterns or six crafts that you can make from each kit and this is part of the arrowhead library system and Minnesota art cult and cultural heritage fund that makes that possible those are a lot of fun we have some over there if you guys want to take some home for anyone visiting over the weekend I've been doing a lot of work with sundu this month and um we had Jeremy come in and update our public computers so the strategy right now is that we will completely replace staff computers they need to be uh they cannot be halfway fixed to make them work and this will allow us to do that rolling replacement strategy discussed so these staff computers uh will be replaced where I'm getting the bids and I'll bring those to you guys so that we can take a have a a look and a talk about what I'd like to purchase the uh public computers can get a little repair a little upgrade thing that makes it happy for uh installing the windows 11 update so those will will be able to extend their life a little while longer while we focus in on the staff computers and then we can return to the public side next year or later in this uh upcoming year and decide whether we want to look at some different choices or sort of stay with PC Mac like we have right now or whatever arrangement of devices that can be a next phase um Jeremy was here working with me this week to install anti- malware and and antivirus software on all of our devices that can receive it that will be um an annual increase that will be an increase that has a subscription license that would increase our budget I think it's at 11 or $1,300 for automation line but more to come on that we so that was with Jeremy and that was great and uh we're still moving along on those things we have had a fiber optics box thing in our server closet and the fan was dying on that and that is serviced by Northeast service Cooperative who came out this week as well and um they fixed that and we just had today Great Lakes alarm came up because we've had uh starting last week we were getting many trouble signals and false alarms on the building and um burglary alarms in the middle of night and all kinds of things but it's related to a sensor on the front door that um was not reporting and then we confirmed that it wasn't a reporting issue it needed to be updated so that happened today and I'm hopeful because I like to sleep at night yes um so that's technology leading into the the building with the alarm sensors I suppose um the safety door and know you had questions at the last meeting the hardware has been updated and it is now lockable okay great that's what I think I have for you today any questions okay thanks and we had appreciative of the information we got that than you like oh yeah this is good information to have I'm going do that looking at our fund statements does anybody have any comments or thoughts about that okay all right then we have our our budget update which is all good news yeah so um the city finalized insurance rates in November and it's an exciting year because there is a decrease the decrease was about 4% for singles and 2.4% for families so our budget was adjusted down um $9,600 which is a 2% decrease from our original request we requested a 99.8% decrease and we are now at a 7.8% um increase for the coming year there's nothing to do and this does not change our level of Library service so that's that's it that's good new okay now for the temper okay yeah um we had talked about how our volunteers who like to take care of our Gardens are not able to continue and we have not been able to find volunteer Replacements um the board recommended that we look at Professional Services I have only been able to find one I conferred with a couple of people at City Hall and a members sitting at the table here and this is this is all that I I was only able to find one company um the for bid laws or Contracting laws for a city of our size if a contract is under $10,000 then uh we are we try to get two quotes or more if practical and in this case I'm not sure if it's practical for me to provide you a quote for someone in duth if we're going to have regular maintenance on our garden so in that case unless anyone knows of another landscaping company this is the quote that I have this is um tap rot Landscaping which is owned and operated by Alyssa Burns who did the original um landscaping for us around this building at the 2011 update she's very passionate about this garden and would do such a great job for us her proposal uh starts with what it would take to reclaim the garden and then after that the annual um maintenance is listed here and just as we're starting to move into the new year that's um a fee that we don't that we didn't include in next year's budget that will be recurring so when we look at the 2026 budget we have these two increases that do represent a 1% increase that uh we can talk about later she's really good there's really no reason to hunt down anybody else no yeah I would agree I couldn't think of anybody else who's doing anything right now who would do it she do this year then since it's not in the budget but I'm out of cash reserves so this this is a good question before you make your motion that we can't you can just have it direct me to take it out anyway you have healthy reserves in both places um but you could also do it this year as a one-time thing that has the Reclamation and then the maintenance throughout that year and then plan it into the budget for recurring expense after oh I see yeah makes sense yeah so um yeah I would think that was good does anybody want to make that MO motion I'll move a second all right is the motion specific to the yeah to doing the pulling out the money now and then having an in 215 this year and then 211 thanks who Moved sorry and seconded I I moved and Su seconded I sat silently I and I sat silently yes and you did it really well yeah all right all those in favor bye good now on to the review so Sarah so as I mentioned last month I think as the board you know we have a policy for reviewing the director I think it would be good to resurrect that practice it's good to give feedback it's a good way to a dialogue regularly with the director about what our expectations of the board are um and how the director is Meeting those expectations so and knowing that she's also reviewed by the city we don't want to duplicate that work so we want it to be something that looks at different than the city's review process because that process should stay obviously I think before we proceed we should kind of talk about whether we are a governing board or an advisor board governing board and I'm looking at the the Minnesota public library trustee handbook as well as I I did look at some of the library law and statute um the governing board a governing board hires the librarian the governing board is also in charge of all the finances of the library of personnel policies etc etc um we do not do that and I don't know about anybody else but I personally do not want to do that an Advisory Board as far as when it comes to evaluating or or doing a an evaluation of the librarian or a review of The Librarian advises those the advises the administrative board or the administrators and you know basically we could say you know we think Amanda We Believe Amanda is doing a wonderful job a b c d and e and we pass that on to you and we do not do the review does that make sense yes I mean I see that okay um so my point is yeah first of all yeah yeah let's decide what kind of board we are and then let's not talk so much about the review but rather what kind of advice shall we say we would give the reviewers does that make sense if we were to decide we were more on the advisory side than on the governance side yes and we are because we don't take we're not in charge of the finances we do approve the we do approve do and the budget yeah because the monies are coming from the county and the yeah we're not in charge of the monies but we request them in the form of the budget which is approved which we then are fiscally responsible for yeah can be going back to the going back are we do we have I don't think we have the ability to or the power to fire Commander no that's that's through the city so that that puts me more on the advisory we we can yeah as as but we do are supposed to hire the director we don't directly hire the director I don't think do we I was I have not been around for hiring so I don't know yeah I guess yeah more a joint process yeah I mean we have it doesn't fall upon or does it fall upon us or do we advise and are part of the hiring team well we definitely would be part of the search to find it here's here's the duty of the board if it is and I did look at Parts many of the boards in Minnesota are governing boards but there are some advisory boards so among the things that the library and um a governing board does we not only appoint a qualified Library director and other staff is necessary establish the compensation of employees and remove any of them for cause okay with the approval of the council or the board of the county the library board May purchase grounds and under direct a library building there on I mean this I think goes beyond a lot of what we do I mean we don't hire the library staff we don't approve their compensation although it says as necessary well now Ramsey County and Anoka County have advisory boards and their powers and Duties are this is the Ramsey County board but it's the same for an NOA okay um the Ramsey County Library Advisory Board shall provide advice and make recommendations on matters pertaining to County Library Services the Ramsey County Library Advisory Board shall provide recommendations regarding integrated County Service delivery that impacts or is enhanced by Library services and uh and so on okay it's a very Minnesota is not very clear I did look up and this may or may not be irrelevant so I won't go into it unless you're interested Maine has a library trustee handboard that talks about what The Advisory Board does in it's in Maine not in Minnesota right so and what this I mean I don't have my manual with me but I I'm sure it must say within there what it is that give this I don't have it my head under our The Joint agreement between the county and the city Define it well what I um found in the bylaws here um duties of the Board of Trustees determine number uh seven different items so willing to read all seven but if you get Bo or no please number one determine the policy of the library and develop the highest possible degree of operating efficiency in the library number two select and hire competent Library director number three advise in the preparation of the budget approve it and make sure that adequate funds are provided to finance the approved budget number four through the director supervise and maintain buildings and grounds as well as regularly review various physical building needs to see that they meet the requirements of the total Library program number five maintain a long range plan for the achievement of service and administrative goals number six study and support legislation which will bring about the greatest good to the greatest number of libraries number seven cooperate with other public officials and boards and maintain vital public relations so it's kind of a mix it's kind of a well it's that sounds more advisory really because it doesn't get into Personnel matters it doesn't um among other things but he used the word higher they did use the word hire much in the same way I suppose it's kind of like how you are with your administrator as we are with ours in terms of like we're approving the budget and we do all that and we do we would do the hiring you know if that were to come about um but like the day-to-day mechanics of running the city is not what we don't get into that although you know if a personnel has problems I mean they follow the chain of command and it doesn't with us so and that way you know and I guess we also us the city council yeah as a council I'm sorry as a council that's what we would do and I assume it must be similar at the county level as well well the reason I bring this up is I I think Sarah makes a really good point or or ano made the point anyway of not duplicating yeah yeah absolutely and I think that we can do that with what we have begun here at least when I was unfortunately I dropped this and everything I mixed together so um before I get yeah out the cards and so that really I mean I'm thinking it might well be more appropriate in from my from my point of view maybe not from anybody else's but from mine um that we perhaps do sort of an evaluation But ultimately you're doing the review performance review and we essentially advise does that make sense to say advise yeah I mean eventually I mean my thought is we we do piece we do our piece and then we we would give that to Mike or rabina or whoever in the end yeah historically we've done this correct yes yeah okay and historically because I don't have the history was it a real review or was it more of an advisory thing essentially to say you know she's doing a he he or she is doing a good job and War we think that the library director is could perhaps do more I don't know do more better PR or do better programming or you know have better movies for the winter well you know we I I don't think any of us were there for the last review so Amanda was except Amanda I I I do remember us looking over the review that was used the time before MH which was pretty much duplicated of what the city did and that's and we had that conversation why are we doing the exact same thing and for whatever reasons that was a couple years ago and then we dropped it um we made some decisions and then all of a sudden here we are a couple years later like well maybe we should yeah well I mean I'm not I'm not against some kind of a a review but I don't think we need to duplicate and I don't think it's our job to decide um you know who gets raise and how much all of that so I think that puts us more in the category of advisory I mean we are the board we do have opinions and and from what we see you know that yeah yeah I I see inconsistencies and conflicts within the policies and it's probably a conversation we should have with Mike Roth as well okay um I mean because we actually did not hire Amanda the city hired Amanda right and when we went through that process there was a little bit of push back from Mike I'm just like wait what you guys don't do the hiring it's like well that's good idea to be involved and he's like Okay who wants to be involved and you know there was a good number of people who wanted to be involved exactly no I mean I think so it's a Cooperative thing but as far as like the law or the actual Authority is concerned I think that's in the city so it seems more advisory but but I think a review is very important still it doesn't have to be an authoritative or a punitive it's just a collaborative you know yeah and conversation yeah and I think it would still beho us to have Mike involved in that he can certainly give more perspective on his process he raised the question that because well I think if we look at what like the city was uh was doing in their review um you know those are things you can be like yep you know a good chunk of that isn't anything that we know about or care we care but it's operations right and our government yeah and that's specific to the library I think when we talked about this review before we wanted things that were more specific to this job this is this is not yeah and so Sarah did you start putting one together is that what I saw in my packet that I well and if I might my memory is that the review should be based on uh the Strategic plan that the board develops and that's kind of your basis for what to go off of and so that's what we developed and um and that would be the guide and versus whatever the city does yeah it's not duplicate right exing back to why we walked away from this before because we spent a lot of time on it and I think we decided that it wasn't fair to review Amanda on a year of Co yeah that was right isn't that where we why we walked away from it wasn't that we weren't up to it it was that it wasn't yeah there's too much stuff in the air there's it was just crazy it wasn't no that makes perfect sense yeah and that was the that's what started it and then knowing that you know looking at what the review is that she was getting from the city anyway yes that's where we're like you know what what are we doing you yeah like she's had a review and we're goingon to review her too yes double Rie um but anyway getting to what so you put the piece together right yes so I took what was in policy G yeah and put it into a format that was a little more legible and didn't include a lot of the operational aspects yeah I thought that was what I was seeing and I was thinking like yeah so we'll just I mean kind of a mini review but it's review it's still talking about the things that we care about as um the library just is so and nicely specific to the position as opposed to this exactly exactly and then and of course we can adopt any method we want right this is the so that's the policy the is it also not in here no it is it is it's the next pages okay be on this even yeah okay I didn't get that far so Amanda when you look this over does this feel like a fair representation of what you're doing I think it is a very nice look at the director's role I mean relative to us um who us the trustees yes um I would want you to be very careful to look through each and every bullet point and ask yourself can I answer this question without being um escorted behind the desk or can I answer this question without having to hear from Amanda first um I think that what you're wanting is to provide feedback um actually I should ask what is your goal what what do you want me to hear from you um in this format and um see there are certain things like the very first one the library director made an effort to connect with Library patrons in a positive way by recommending titles listening to their comments needs Etc okay I'm a library Patron I'm a frequent Patron and I might if Amanda's at the desk talk to her about that but other than my own experience let's say I don't know if she does it with everybody really it's true because I'm I'm not here to see that some of this is is too specific too specific but it's a we could probably smooth out I think you're right we're doing I think you're absolutely right and some of its wording the second one the director sought out opportunities to share Library information with patrons I would just change that with the community Through radio interviews book talks and other Library promotions I don't know about book talks but certainly I know Amanda does radio interviews yeah and there are promotions I mean you know it's things like that so that's a p that's a picky one but I think it's important would be important to change that to community for example I'm not trying to edit all of them I mean I think we can you know go through and I I think these categories like if we look at the broader categories that inv bold I think that those all make sense yeah that's definitely our world like we can speak to those things um to some degree and maybe you know since Sarah has synthesized this down some you know we can take it on ourselves to go the next step maybe like eliminating some of these and then coming together with like okay here's where we're all coming together and agreeing like these points within this area are things that we would like to have in the you know this is a little well it's not really a side issue because we already brought it up about hiring and that the board did not hire the library director I I hope that at some point we can maybe change the bylaws or something to say that when the library director is what in the process of being hired during that process we the board have a role to play and maybe be a little bit specific that I don't know maybe we would sit in on interviews or we would review resumés or whatever it might be we don't have to decide that all tonight but I would certainly like to have that maybe in a change in the bylaws or something so that we really have um a role in that and perhaps too and I don't know I don't I'm just going to throw it out there I don't know how this how much sense this makes but for you know other let's say let's say somebody decides to fire the library director it's not our job I guess to fire the director if we don't hire the director but we should have at least some knowledge of what's going on if that sort of thing is proposed or happens so again I'm thinking let's let's kind of do a big let's just think about that maybe we can come back after we take care of this we can come back and consider some of yeah and I think I would yeah I'll go over what we have already and see go back and look through agendas and things like that just to get an idea of like what has been happening right and then I'll talk with Mike too and just clarify my understanding and I can definitely bring that back to you know and there might be there might be as we as we go forward and think about some of these things there might be some other roles like I don't know let's say somebody proposes to build another new library facility at some point in time um we should have input on that and we might think about some of these things that are not happening right now but could happen within the next 10 15 years yeah does that make sense yeah yeah sure yeah I will yeah take that on I'll talk with Mike and go back and see what we've done in the past and check it out so what did we do and if anybody objects to that could you just say tell tell me I know this is min nice I mean I think well Nancy I just think we'll we'll see what we already have the capacity what is what is our role what has been our role like you know maybe we've been outside of it or maybe we've been inside of it yeah I think it would be I would personally coming into this is somebody who didn't know anything and sometimes still feels she doesn't know anything um I would like to know what our role is yeah and have it aligned to what's written down exactly exactly change the way we do business or we change the bylaws no I I mean no that that's very I mean here it says we we we hire the library director well we didn't hire the library director yeah they certainly need to be updated they're first published in 93 and last aded in 2015 so um out of date but um Erica sent out some really wonderful links to videos which kind of help uh give understanding of roles and responsibilities um and also to answer Amanda's question of what we're looking for what the purpose is in my mind it's just kind of the dialogue the back and forth feedback and I feel like we have opportunities to do that monthly yeah um and so a part of me feels like an annual review is kind of just jumping hoops um but I think it is important to have a formal process and to have you know documentation and goals and review those and and that sort of thing as well if the city does an annual review and they do then I think it's important that we at least have an opinion to give the city absolutely and maybe that that would be our thing too is as we develop this and maybe and like like Dave was saying you know we had we do have this opportunity monthly to have these conversations but it is still good to have that once a year than and maybe what we can do is try to align ours with the city so that we can drop ours in as they're doing the review so you know Mike can go into that with our information to you know even though it doesn't necessarily typal it wouldn't align it wouldn't completely align because we can't talk about Personnel matters we don't know about that that's not our uh there are you know other operational things that that we we don't know about we're not privy to we can't we can't comment out of of our own knowledge yeah and it would be good for him to know though what we see on that maybe this review really is how the administrator works with the board and prepares for the board and provides us with information yeah well that's exactly there's um there I uh it's been used in several different churches and I I pulled it out of some many articles um and it's what we use with uh my church board we have the last couple years is as we do a two-way and we ask three questions what do you want where do you want more for me where do you want less for me and what do you want me to keep doing the same so it's you know so she says okay I need you guys to I'm carrying the ball here you guys need to you know pull up some of your stuff step up and bring some of the stuff or you know um and we can say well it sounds like you're really focused in this one area and it's and it's uh pulling things pulling time and attention CU she's only one person uh that she needs to we need to figure out together how she can like go that or Empower us to help or empower the staff to help you know yeah so I think yeah along with in these things so it's where do we want more from her where you know and also from you know and and in the meetings uh you know okay well we really missed this last year last year as the board we weren't paying attention or she wasn't paying attention and you know so we really need to make sure that every month we check in on this yeah well I think it's I think it's pretty fair that Amanda gets or the director whoever that is gets to um what I don't want to say evaluate but any feedback yeah feed provide feedback yes thank you thank you sir and two were you love it when people help me talk when uh when you said administrator you meant administrator right I I meant director oh okay okay yeah that's I was like do we Mike is willing to come to the library board and discuss use the wrong word there okay just making sure okay at times I think that could be helpful too it's not always relevant to our role but I think it can just that perspective can help us understand our role too yeah if we are an Advisory Board then um I I don't know I guess it's fair to ask Amanda what she would like from us well I think any way would be good sure that's that's what we want we want that to work for her there's no point care like you don't you know do a review not do a review but it's important but I definitely want you to have an Avenue for communicating feedback to the director that feels comfortable for everyone and that allows us to be thoughtful in a thorough way um I think we can come to our board meetings monthly and provide some thoughts or feedback but to get everybody's thoughts and feedback on a on a topic could be helpful um I'm very interested in the format that Sarah's choosing that it's not intended to rate the director like you know five stars out of however many um but it really is what are we feeling are the strengths in a particular area and what are we feeling our areas of Improvement or refinement one of the things that I thought of when I was looking through this was um I I almost wonder if I could get my thread back is the library performing the way when you think of your your dream Library there's the Strategic plan right where we say what would the the most amazing incredible library for our community possibly be and let's think about it as the in the future 5 years from now and let's make a plan that's going to incrementally help us get there but then I think there's room also for us to step back and go what like comments of the strengths in this area like what are you loving about the library and where is it performing really well what are we seeing as this Library strengths what are we seeing as this library's weaknesses and how can the director help us cultivate that that picture can this tool in any way help inform um The Daily operation picture as opposed to incrementally moving forward can it um I'm not sure but can you can you kind of feel the difference of what those questions are like um and then I just want to make sure that the tool is useful and usable for you all um as I mentioned earlier just making sure that you feel that you can comment on the sections that are there so that um the the feedback can be collected and delivered and I can share with you that the city's new evaluation process um has room for your feedback to come in and be incorporated uh there is in here the manager self- review there's a section in here that's specific to my departmental responsibilities including collaborating with the board and I could imagine that any feedback you'd be willing to give could be used in that area to reflect your um expect any expectations that could come out of the feedback that you're providing positive and negative and then in that way the um the administrator would be responsible for helping the director meet those expectations I think in there there's there's sort of an overall over overall score like how how do we feel that you're doing overall and I think that maybe that's what we could do too just so it can functionally fit into we can give this whole thing but maybe have an overall like that we can give to Ravina that's the person who's doing the HR stuff for the city so that will fit into her little Matrix there as well and I I think too as we as we're going through these a lot of them are really good but you know some of them seem kind of I don't know the library director used proper grammar in communication public in the Library St and when she drank her tea she had her little pinky up yeah I mean I was thinking that what we could do is really of us you know can go through these and just sort of Mark ones that we feel like these are good we should have this maybe not so much and then we can come back again and go over it and be like okay let's refine for each category what we yeah really think are important and and really to to to I don't know maybe I'm beating a dead course but to the the whole thing there's some of them are so terribly specific again communication the library uh director responded to communication with Library patrons personally and thoughtfully I don't know that I'd have to be in here 24 well the library is not open 24 but I have to be something of a survey to get those kind of questions answer yeah I don't know that that's our role either I mean I we we're looking at a more Global I like what Amanda said about let's imagine the library future yeah and maybe as we're going not only striking the ones we yeah don't like we can just add in what makes I am so glad that Sarah did this though because it is a wonderful place to start I helped us think about it yeah yeah that's great M mels you have something more to add so homework for next time is to go through this and um either strike or CH and just bring those suggestions back to the full board yeah to share and discuss and and I know in some of the stuff I was reading they were talking about having a you know maybe a subset of us doing the review but I actually do think it would be best for us to do it as a subset of how many people are we not that many so I don't we've done away with this so if we have a forum it's an official meeting yeah and I don't think I want to deliver a review to an employee at official meeting oh we would have a Clos meeting okay yeah I can do that for reviews yeah yeah anything that's personel like that once we're Beyond this and we're actually talking about stuff then we have to close the meeting okay well we don't have to we can um well and it needs to be in consult with the employee right um on whether or not it would be open does she which most employees wouldn't right employees would not want that it's just that um that's the stipulation yeah and I guess I wouldn't want that right now any I wouldn't recommend it no in the old days our board meetings were in this room and lovely and the public could attend but didn't and now it's streamed and archived Forever on the internet and so for that reason I would be less comfortable with an open meeting to close a meeting logistically speaking you would need the City attorney and the administrator on board so logistically there there may be some things that we need to work through um including how to get all of your feedback compiled if I'm not available to do that um Mike has mentioned a few times that there's a consultant working with the city and her name is Ravina claxon and she is available uh for our board for fee to consolidate um your feedback for you if you want to go down that Avenue but maybe you just want to start with what's the what are we what is the tool what do we want to use and then we can figure out how to logistically make it work in terms of closing meetings and all of that I would say that if you are on board and supportive of delivering this information to the administrator um in a timeline and working cooperatively to integrate their interview uh their review process with your feedback you would want to adopt something where everything was completed somewhere as around um November for the timeline of what they're doing for the city November December January yeah yeah plenty of time we still got 10 months to figure sure and I know Mike would love your feedback yeah that's great and I'll already yeah all right so I think we're at a fair point uh so at this point you all are going to mark up yep do you want to each send me your thing and I make a new Fresh one or how would you what would be useful what would be the useful thing to show up in the board packet next month good good question we'd get it done faster if we submitted it rather than started just going over our ideas at a meeting last time point I was trying think about getting suppose most of us could stop by or something to get okay well and I think if we're going to submit it let's have a date at which we should submit it like you usually send the packet of week before maybe before that a week before that or 10 days before that or how because if she's going to it's the Thursday before that I need to get the board packet out so if I had things by the Tuesday the week before like what is what is the exact date in January it's the 4th Thursday so the meeting's the 27th the meeting is the 23rd and if I had content by the 14th I should have time to to okay create some kind of a composite or compil it yeah for your meeting good that worked for everyone all right you say the 14th yeah yeah well the 14th January 14th 202 [Laughter] Mike quarter quarter through the I will that guy and I will I mean compation and that's it yeah I'll talk it through Mee which will be out there a bit yeah yeah all right well if there's nothing more anybody have anything more then I would say we're returned than everybody work tonight have homework you do how are you doing oh just so busy I'm so far behind oh feel like it should have been a week ago this is I'm in a perfect spot here