08-24-2015 LIBMHutchinson Public Library Board Meeting
Monday, August 24, 2015, 4:30 pm
Attending: Jon Ross, Dianne Wanzek, Jack Sandberg, Gerald Grinde, Steve Bailey, Mary Christensen, Julie
Lofdahl, and Pam Dille, Ex -Officio
Missing: none
Jon Ross called the meeting to order. The Minutes from the July 27, 2015 meeting were reviewed. Motion to
approve by Jack Sandberg, seconded by Dianne Wanzek. Minutes approved as written.
Old Business:
Legacy -sponsored MN Author Connie Clare Szarke Visit --- Saturday, August 15, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at
Woodstone Senior Living Center. Twenty people attended the event. Small number but was a very hot day.
Gerry attended thought interesting and entertaining. Ms. Szarke is an award winning author and a retired
teacher. She talked about the writing process and need for different elements to make tension. Talk will be
broadcast on cable 10. Pam is enjoying her second bookA Stone forAmer.
Legacy -sponsored MN Arboretum/Mpls. Institute of Arts Bus Trip --- Thursday, September 10tH
Very popular event. Tour is full with a waiting list of five for Hutchinson. Those on waiting list may get to go if
buses for other towns do not fill up.
Report on recognition of former library board members ---
The books that were going to be purchased ended up being very expensive, so $25 gift certificates from
Barnes and Noble were given to them to purchase a book of their choice.
Used Book Sale --- September 18 & 19
Volunteers and City employees will start bringing the books out of the library the morning of September 18.
Friends of the Library line up the volunteers. If anyone wants to come and arrange books, you can. Come
between 8:00 and 9:00 am. Sale starts at 10:00 and goes until 5:00 pm. Money goes to Friends. Friends funds
the summer reading program and a majority of the audio books. They give the library around $12,000 to
$15,000 per year.
New Business:
2016 budget requests from cities and counties ---
A formal letter went out with a request of 1% increase in Hutchinson (last year 3%) and McLeod County. Since
Winsted has not given, PLS suggested they give $6,000 to start. Pam needs to set up a time to present to
Hutchinson City Council.
Many patrons use the library for more than checking out books. Patrons who may not have the resources at
home use the library to access the Internet to search for jobs, print resumes, etc. Today the computer usage
was backed up most of the day, so the two laptops were checked out by patrons. Many people bring in their
own laptops to use WIFI. The WIFI usage is much increase from last year.
Elevator repair ---
On July 25 power went out and left elevator stuck between floors. Maintenance person had to come out and
they were here less than % hour for a $500 service call billing. Pam called and most was for mileage. Pam
wrote letter saying that she was not happy with the service after spending approximately $9,000 for the
recent upgrade. No response to phone call or letter as of today.
Library volunteer force
Pam looked at the dollar value of the regular volunteers of the library. Volunteers are trained by staff to
process new books, shelf books, repair books, prepare spread sheets, dust books, and several other
miscellaneous tasks. All volunteers sign a statement of confidentiality. Grantspace.org site values volunteers
at $23.07 per hour. With the volunteers that the library uses, this is equal to about a one full-time person per
week position. This brought to forefront what would happen if we had no volunteers. The work would not
get done or get done on a much delayed time frame.
New hires
These new hires are pending PLS approval: Mariah Ralston (LA 11); Mckenzie Ebert (LA 1); Sydney Hlavka (LA 1)
Three employees are now away at college. Mariah will work two days in Litchfield and two to three days in
Hutchinson for seven hours a week with some weekend work. Mckenzie and Sydney will work three to nine
hours a week. LAII is a supervisory position with a wage of about $10.85 and LAI has a wage of about $9.75.
Meeting adjourn: 5:16 pm
Next meeting: September 28, 2015 at 4:30 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Julie Lofdahl, Secretary
August 2015 Donations
Hutchinson Kiwanis Club for Library Lego Club start-up: $900.00