In attendance were Nina North-Murphy, President, presiding; John Dubinsky, Alison Ferring, Janet Rainford (virtually), Keith Savage, Tom Schlafly, and David Sweeney.
Also present were Chief Executive Officer Waller McGuire and staff members Maryann Brickey; Tiffany Davis, Jon Drakesmith, Cathy Heimberger, Mary Meyer, Daisy Porter-Reynolds, Anna Strackeljahn, Joe Monahan; Justin Struttmann, Jen Wiese, Liz Reeves, and Lisa Stump, Lashly & Baer.
The meeting was called to order at 5:32 p.m. by President North-Murphy.
Minutes:
Mr. Schlafly's motion, seconded by Ms. Ferring, to approve the minutes of the February 7, 2022 meeting was approved.
Public Comment:
President North-Murphy said the Board has received one email that has been provided to them. Since it involves personnel issues, we will not be reading it out loud, but each Board member has received a copy.
Chief Executive Officer's Report:
The Library was closed for three days last week due to weather. The financial reports were sent out this morning. Revenue is tracking ahead of last year in terms of timing - it is too early to determine whether Library revenue will be higher than budgeted. The budget report is tracking entirely as expected at this point. Mr. Savage reported on behalf of the Fiscal Affairs Committee that the Committee had met on February 16 with the Library's auditors, Rubin Brown, to go over the 2021 audit. The committee had an extensive discussion with the auditors, who presented an unmodified clean report on the Library's financial audit. The Committee recommended the Board accept the 2021 audit. Mr. Dubinsky's motion, seconded by Mr. Schlafly, that the 2021 audit of the Library's finances performed by Rubin Brown be accepted was approved. The City mask mandate expired Saturday night and the Library stopped requiring masks on March 6th. No problems were reported at the five regionals that were open. The Library is still limiting in-person programming. All hotspots acquired with Emergency Connectivity funds have been checked out as of February 22. The Library is currently processing the 4000 Chromebooks and plan to get them out to branches/Central in early April. The new ILS system will go live next week. Starting tomorrow, the Library will be having downtime, so will not be able to update library cards in the system. If your card is expired or will expire soon, please stop at a desk on your way out tonight and staff can help. The Board asked that staff do what is reasonable to maintain good public service while the ILS migration is underway. Liz Reeves summarized the Foundation report that was sent out last week.
Executive Session
President North-Murphy called for a motion to go into Executive Session to discuss personnel and legal issues. Ms. Ferring moved to go into executive session, seconded by Mr. Dubinsky. Nina North-Murphy, John Dubinsky, Alison Ferring, Janet Rainford, Keith Savage, Tom Schlafly, and David Sweeney unanimously approved the motion to go into Executive Session.
At 6:19 p.m. the Board came out of Executive Session and Mr. Dubinsky moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Mr. Schlafly. The motion was approved unanimously.
At the regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Public Library on March 7, 2021, the following actions were taken:
| Mr. Schlafly moved: | that the Board approve the minutes of the February 7, 2022 meeting. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Ms. North-Murphy, Mr. Dubinsky, Ms. Ferring, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Savage, Mr. Schlafly, and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Mr. Dubinsky moved: | that the 2021 financial audit completed by Rubin, Brown be accepted.. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Ms. North-Murphy, Mr. Volpe, Mr. Dubinsky, Ms. Ferring, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Savage, Mr. Schlafly, and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Ms. Ferring moved: | that the Board go into Executive Session to discuss legal matters. MOTION APPROVED BY ROLL-CALL VOTE ( In favor Ms. North-Murphy, Mr. Dubinsky, Ms. Ferring, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Savage, Mr. Schlafly, and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Mr. Dubinsky moved: | that be meeting be adjourned. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Ms. North-Murphy, Mr. Dubinsky, Ms. Ferring, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Savage, Mr. Schlafly, and Mr. Sweeney.) |
