In attendance were Vince Volpe, President, presiding; and Keith Savage (arrived at 5:33 p.m.), Vice President; Nina North-Murphy, Tom Schlafly, and David Sweeney. John Dubinsky, Jacque Land, and Janet Rainford attended virtually.
Also present were Chief Operating Officer Justin Struttmann and staff members Maryann Brickey, Jon Drakesmith, Amanda Endicott, Cathy Heimberger, Liz McArthur, Mary Meyer, Joe Monahan, Liz Reeves, Lauren Mudge, Jim Slattery, and Jen Wiese. Counsel Lisa Stump from Lashly & Baer attended virtually.
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by President Volpe.
Minutes:
Mr. Schlafly's motion, seconded by Ms. North-Murphy, to approve the minutes of the September 9, 2024 meeting was approved.
There was no public comment.
Reading of Communications:
Mr. Volpe read an email from Beau Herndon, SLPL Foundation member, providing compliments to the Creative Experience resources and staff that helped his wife's small business launch. Ms. Meyer presented examples of the types of products that customers can make.
Chief Executive Officer's Report:
Mr. Struttmann presented the Chief Executive Officer's report on behalf of Mr. McGuire. Mr. Struttmann distributed a copy of the Staff Development Day booklet that describes the training sessions that are provided to staff on October 14, 2024. Ms. Brickey, who is one of the two chairpeople for the Staff Day Committee, thanked the board members for allowing the Library to close on that day.
Mr. Struttmann highlighted two items from the Monthly Report. First, the active cardholder figure has continued to increase over the past several months, eclipsing 100,000 in August. Mr. Schlafly asked how many of the 100,000 are not residents. Staff promised to provide additional details to respond to this question. Secondly, Mr. Struttmann relayed the story about the young customer at the Festival of Nations who was excited to see themself represented in the free books that were being distributed.
Ms. McArthur shared information about the updated Public Services report. She explained that this month the report includes metrics regarding the usage of the collection broken out in further detail by category and location.
Mr. Slattery presented the financial report. August had three payroll expenses in 2024, compared to only two in 2023, which explains the large variance in compensation and benefits. The Library is still on track to end FY 2024 as reported last month. In September, the Library paid about $668,000 for the interest payment on the bonds. The Business Office is working on closing out FY 2024 in preparation for the audit.
Mr. Drakesmith discussed the Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency's Cyber Hygiene report, which was included in the board documents. Technology reached out to CISA in August to initiate an initial scan. Staff were able to quickly clean up the cyber vulnerabilities that they found and will continue to run this report on a weekly basis. Based on the report, the Library has no known vulnerabilities. This is one of many cybersecurity efforts that the Library has instituted.
Ms. Wiese presented the HR report. August is a month during which the HR team gears up for Open Enrollment, which occurs in early September each year.
Ms. Reeves presented the Foundation report. The Foundation is anticipating transferring just over a million dollars to the Library, about $125,000 over initial budget estimates, to support programming and projects. The Burgess Family Foundation is funding programming for the first time with a two-year commitment totaling $50,000. Mr. Slattery added that the reason that the Foundation transfer was higher than expected is because of the favorable performance of the financial market.
Election of Officers
Mr. Schlafly, chair of the nominating committee, reiterated last month's nominations of Vince Volpe for President and Keith Savage for Vice President for reelection to another two-year term. Mr. Dubinsky's motion, seconded by Mr. Sweeney, was unanimously approved.
Mr. Schlafly's motion, seconded by Ms. North-Murphy, to go into Executive Session to discuss legal issues and individually identifiable personnel records was unanimously approved by roll call vote at 5:57 p.m.
At 6:50 p.m. the Board came out of Executive Session and Mr. Schlafly moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Ms. North-Murphy. The motion was unanimously approved.
At the regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Public Library on October 7, 2024, the following actions were taken:
| Mr. Schlafly moved: |
that the Board approve the minutes of the September 9, 2024 meeting. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Dubinsky, Mr. Land, Ms. North-Murphy, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Schlafly and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Ms. Dubinsky moved: |
President and Vice President for the board, respectively. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Savage, Mr. Dubinsky, Mr. Land, Ms. North-Murphy, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Schlafly and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Mr. Schlafly moved: |
that the Board go into Executive Session to discuss legal matters and individually identifiable personnel records. MOTION APPROVED BY ROLL CALL VOTE (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Savage, Mr. Dubinsky, Mr. Land, Ms. North-Murphy, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Schlafly and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Ms. North-Murphy moved: |
that the Board come out of Executive Session MOTION APPROVED BY ROLL CALL VOTE (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Savage, Mr. Dubinsky, Mr. Land, Ms. North-Murphy, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Schlafly and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Mr. Schlafly moved: |
that be meeting be adjourned. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Savage, Mr. Dubinsky, Mr. Land, Ms. North-Murphy, Ms. Rainford, Mr. Schlafly and Mr. Sweeney.) |
