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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/03/2008 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2008 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, November 3, 2008 at 6:00 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lundberg, Ballew, Ralston, Woodrow and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Matt Cox, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Wylie was absent (excused). Present from the Library Board were Board Chair Betty Adams and Board Members Trevor Lian, Jocelyn Harley, Kristin Dahlin and Marilee Woodrow. Also present was Library Director Rob Everett. 1. Joint Meetin,g with Library Advisory Board. Library Director Rob Everett presented this item. He said this was his first bi-annual joint meeting of the Library Board and City Council. The Board would be describing their activities and accomplishments over the last two years. The Library and City were fortunate to have such a committed and talented Board to insure the continued success of the Library. He introduced Board President Betty Adams. Ms. Adams had served on the Library Board since 2005, and served as Board President since last July. Betty would be leaving the Board the end of December, and Mr. Everett thanked her for her leadership and support during her years of service. Library Board Chair Betty Adams thanked the City Council and Mayor for the opportunity to come before Council. 2008 had been a year of renewal with the hiring of new Library Director Rob Everett. Mr. Everett had been charged with breathing new life into the Library staff, Library Board, Friends of the Library, and Library Foundation. She said tonight the Board would outline some of the goals and targets Mr. Everett had set for the Library. The Board had some great new members. She introduced the remaining members of the Board and gave a brief summary of the attributes they brought to the Board. Board Member Woodrow discussed some of the highlights of the Springfield Library. She had been impressed with the expanding imaging connection she had seen coming forth from the Library. She believed the ongoing efforts for the events and outreach that she had been apprised of since becoming a Board member would make more of a connection with the community at all age levels. The ongoing marketing initiative was showing great returns this year, starting with the 100th anniversary of the Library in 2008. The marketing committee was made up of staff librarians, chaired by Jenny Peterson. She discussed past marketing projects, including the City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 2 READ poster series which would be continuing, the Library logo design, the Artists and Music series and Library website. Board Member Woodrow said the Library had a very successful year and received a record breaking amount in funds through grants and fundraising. The Library had conducted two very successful staff recruitments and now had a full staff, including the new director and the new Latino liaison. Staff initiated a fundraising effort which brought in $8250 through community contributions, many of which were $100 contributions from individuals. 1600 people attended the gala Centennial Celebration Open House in April and everyone had a great time. The first "Why I Love My Library" Contest was held for entrants of all ages. Over 50 entries were displayed in the Library. She discussed the new READ III poster series and those that would be included on those posters. The Youth Services Department realized a dramatic increase in youth program participation. Overall attendance increased by almost 1400, with a total of 7550 children and their families participating in programs. The Library was successful in receiving multiple grants, totaling $49,560. She described the different grants awarded. Board Member Woodrow said the Springfield Arts Commission functioning under the umbrella of the Library, had a successful Youth Art Show with 1500 students completing art pieces. The commission partnered with Willamalane for the second annual Great Outdoor Art Contest. The City Hall Gallery continued to showcase diverse artwork and the commission awarded $3400 in grants to community art-related projects. The Library partnered successfully with other agencies in the community. Support for and advocacy of Early Childhood and Family literacy were a Library focus in these partnerships. The Library's public face through these activities upheld the Library as a vital resource in the Springfield community. Councilor Ballew noted that there were 1600 people that went through the Library to trick or treat on Halloween. Board Member Jocelyn Harley discussed current Library use and trends. She said the Library was a popular destination for the citizens of Springfield. During the past year, the Library had hired a new director and appointed three new Library Board members, and they revitalized the Library Foundation and Friends of the Library. The Library had a new Library technician serving as a Latino liaison, strengthening ties to the Springfield Latino community. Teenagers were attracted to activities, thanks in part to the creation of the Teen Advisory Board and programs such as the Teen Gaming Club and Teen Short Story Contest. Adults were also coming to the Library, using the internet and word processing. The Library's website received over 27,000 visits, up 32% from the previous year. Use ofthe traditional resources of the Library (books, movies, magazines, etc.) increased as well. Board Member Harley said the new director had met with all the Library support groups since his appointment in June. One of his major goals was to revitalize these groups with new members, of which she was a part. The Teen Advisory Board now had nine members. The Library continued to help the Latino community with translation assistance. Over 180,000 people visited the Library in the last fiscal year, up 6500 from last year. Attendance at events had also increased over the last year. Technology was very popular including wireless capability. She discussed the one time increase in the budget for materials and the items which were processed City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 3 with those funds. The Library continued to use volunteers for shelving. The current number of volunteers was 40 and they logged over 3000 hours last year. Board Member Kristin Dahlin provided a status report on Library support groups. She noted there were four main citizen based support groups: the Library Advisory Board. The Springfield Public Library Foundation Board of Directors, the Friends' of the Springfield Public Library, and the Springfield Public Library Volunteer Program. Staff recognized that the heightened visibility of the LibrarY around the 100th anniversary was a great time to revitalize these groups in the community. In an effort to do that, they had added three new members to the Library Advisory Board, reconvened the Library Foundation Boai'd, and worked with the Friends of the Library to strategize about membership drives and potential fundraising targets. The Library Advisory Board was full strength and, following direction from the Council, ready to move forward to help I staff plan, develop and advocate for the most effective Library service possible. The Foundation I Board of Directors was now headed up by Mikf1 Harman, Springfield Police Department Service Bureau Manager, as President, along with assistance from Vice-President Jan Hilton and Treasurer Maureen Sicotte. Soon Councilor Ballew would be joining that group, along with Ms. Dahlin, and representatives from the School District and the Springfield business community. The Foundation Board voted to assume sponsorship oflast year's Centennial Authors and Music series in a way to raise awareness of the Library and the Foundation's fundraising efforts. The Friends of the Library continued to support the Library collections and programming through their ongoing fundraising efforts, focused mainly on the perpetual used book sale staged in the Library and a holiday gift wrapping event hosted by Borders Books. They were planning a new membership drive as well as working with the Library to establish clear fundraising goals for the coming year. She noted the Library volunteers and their service to the Library. Board Member Trevor Lian discussed the Library challenges and opportunities for 2009. He said the Board was looking forward to meeting the challenges, not only to maintain the level of quality we currently had, but to increase it as well. They hoped to do that through quality access, quality delivery and quality partnerships. He discussed open hours. Public access to the Library and materials was limited by a relatively low number of hours per week in which the Library was open. It was currently open 32 hours per week, lower than the standard of about 50 hours for cities our size. Finding a way to increase hours to provide better service was essential. The world was rich in technology and media and the Library needed to adapt to those expectations. To do that, they needed to increase current collections, provide downloadable books, online reference services, and databases in ways the Library could be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. He noted that the Library was outgrowing the space it currently occupied, even after the expansion about eight years ago. Exploring the feasibility of a new facility was becoming a high priority. As the City grew, every department at City Hall grew. As the City grew, it was essential the Library looked at ways to access and deliver quality Library services to all City residents, including those in outlying areas. There were great opportunities to deliver books to care facilities and hospitals. Finally, it was important to develop non-general fund revenue streams with options such as grants, fundraisers, and collaborations. The Library faced significant staffing shortages in the last year, but maintained the core focus of providing quality service to the public. He recognized Mr. Everett for his outstanding work. He felt the Board, with Council's guidance, could face the challenges that lie ahead. Ms. Adams discussed the Library Board's Work Plan for the 2008/09 fiscal year. Their goal was to meet with each of the Library community support groups to discuss common missions and the City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3,2008 Page 4 role each would play in accomplishing the mission. They would work to develop communication protocols to keep parties informed about the advocacy and fund raising activities of each group, and assist and advise them in identifying fund raising targets and goals. They had various people approach them wanting to help in some way and Mr. Everett had met with a group that wanted to help. The Board planned to work with Library staff to develop strategies for addressing current Library needs, such as open hours and collections and services. They would advise and consult with Library staff in designing and implementing a community survey about Library service, and to assist the Library director in developing a work plan that responded to Council's request for information about Library funding alternatives and service configurations. They would provide Board recommendations based on that information. The Board would review proposed Library policy changes, inform and advocate for the value of Library service to the community, work with Library staff to forge mutually beneficial partnerships with other public service agencies and community service clubs. They would also recruit and recommend new Board members and elect a new Board President. Councilor Woodrow asked Mr. Lian about online services. He said cities sometimes shared software and he asked if Springfield should contact another city library to share reference software. Library Manager Jenny Peterson said one of their databases was shared with the Siuslaw Library and Cottage Grove Library. They had shared that database for about three years. The main periodicals database offered by the Library was partially subsidized. The State paid half and the City paid the other half of about $3000. They continued to look for those opportunities. Mr. Everett said the report heard and the wonderful things accomplished over the last year were because of the wonderful Library staff and Board. Ms. Adams agreed that Springfield Library staff were fantastic. She said the advertising budget had been very helpful in the past year. She noted that KPNW often led offtheir news with what was going on at the Springfield Library. The Register Guard also had a lot of advertisement for the Springfield Library. Mayor Leiken said his two boys grew up around this Library. He was thankful for the Library staff and appreciated their professionalism. He thanked Debbie Steinman for stepping in as interim director before Mr. Everett was hired. Councilor Ballew said the schools had their own libraries and that would be a good place to start talking in terms of partnerships in areas such as purchasing. Mr. Everett said he had met with the School Superintendent, Nancy Golden, and asked if the district could have a presence on the Foundation Board. They would be appointing Hai Nguyen, the Education Media Staff with the school district, to serve on the Foundation Board. Superintendent Golden was interested in doing joint grant applications. All of it would take time, but they were looking at all possibilities. Mayor Leiken said it was frustrating to see how little of the Federal budget was going to cities. During goal setting, Council looked at and focused on what we did well. There were areas where the City government was having challenges continuing to operate. He asked Mr. Grimaldi if City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 5 there were TEAM Springfield opportunities or University of Oregon opportunities. He asked staff to look into those possibilities. He noted that it was apparent Mr. Everett had a lot of energy, and that was important for our Library to continue having successes. He could see that the Library had a very supportive board, and said it was exciting to see youth on the Board. He felt it was important to tap into the technology. The Teen Advisory Board was a great way to expand that portion of it. There was a lot of good energy on the Board and he asked what the Council could do to support the Library to help them keep it open at least during the current hours and possibly expanding. Mr. Everett said he wanted the Library to earn its way as a viable City agency. He asked for the opportunity to describe to the Council at a future work session how the Library plays a role in economic development. He could demonstrate how the Library bringing in the kind of demographic the City wanted could translate into foot traffic for small businesses. The Library would like to be useful to the City and the overall Council goals. He would expect that he, the Library Board and Library staff would pull together for the common good and common goals to develop this city. Library services were important economically and educationally. He noted ways the public needed to be guided to access the right information on computers and the internet. Those were some of the ways the Library could play an integral role in our community. Mayor Leiken said in the twelve years he had served the City, the City had never been flush regarding the budget, but Springfield had always thought outside of the box. He looked forward to Mr. Everett's continuing messages to the Budget Committee and the Council as they put forth goals for the community. He asked Mr. Grimaldi ifurban renewal funds could playa part in helping the Library. Mr. Grimaldi said urban renewal could have a possible role with facility expansion. Ms. Adams said the Library drew families to downtown. With urban renewal, if the business surrounding the Library could be more family friendly, that would help with the redevelopment of the area. Councilor Lundberg noted the group that was looking at what to do with downtown. She talked about activities that could be scheduled to keep businesses, the Library and City Hall open during those special events. Those types of activities could bring in some of those people. Ms. Adams noted some of those events. Councilor Ballew said she was intrigued with the economic influence of the Library for downtown. She would be interested to hear more of Mr. Everett's thoughts and asked if he could report back to Council in more depth. Mr. Everett noted the basis for his information. Councilor Ballew said as the Library did their marketing, they could address new businesses and increase the visibility of the Library and other cultural things in downtown. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2008 Page 6 Councilor Pishioneri suggested Mr. Everett contact Mike McKenzie-Barr, Lane County Economic Steering Committee, regarding Lottery funds. They allocated those funds each calendar year in February or March. Mayor Leiken said that was a great idea. Ms. Adams thanked Councilor Ballew for serving as the Council liaison to the Library Board. Mayor Leiken thanked the Board for sharing with the Council. He heard a lot of passion and truly appreciated that. It was a good group and he was very impressed. He thanked Mr. Everett, the Library Board and Library staff. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:48 pm. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa Attest: AmY~ City Recorder