MARINet Board Minutes

To: MARINet Board and Interested Parties

From: MARINet Staff

CC: Val Morehouse; Glade Van Loan

Date: 04/19/99

Re: 03/18/99 Meeting at Marin County Civic Center, Room 410B, 9 A.M (Approved).

Attending:

Board Members---Debbie Mazzolini, MARINet Board Secretary (Belvedere-Tiburon Public Library); Anne Montgomery (Mill Valley Public Library); Carol Starr (Marin County Free Library); Sara Loyster (San Anselmo Public Library). Staff---Val Morehouse (MARINet Systems Administrator). Absent: Vaughn Stratford (San Rafael Public Library); Mary Richardson, Board President (Sausalito Public Library).

Approval of the Minutes was tabled until the next regular meeting due to the absence of some Board members. Approved Minutes of previous meetings can be found online at http://marinet.marin.org the MARINet Home Page under "About Us". This meeting is actually an extra meeting requested by Systems Administrator Val Morehouse to familiarize Board members with the MARINet budget documents before the Retreat. If adjustments are needed there will still be time to prepare the information before the Retreat. Before starting the budget portion of the meeting, Val asked for names of any staff members who had left employment in the past month.

 Final Audit Report Replacement Findings

 Val Morehouse pointed out that each Board Member's meeting packet contained copied of the replacement "Findings" from the Auditor's Office as requested by Board Members during last month's Report from the Auditor's Office. These should be kept with the blue bound copies of the audits.

 Budget Working Documents for FY 1999-2000

 Val directed Members attention to the Budget working documents contained in their packets. The objective of today's meeting is not to pass the Budget, but to become familiar with it, identify any additional information needed, understand budget history and trends, and pinpoint any errors which need to be corrected before the Retreat. The reason for the expanded set of working documents is to reflect the planning efforts of the previous retreat, the MARINet goals, the Technology 2002 plan required by the California State Library, and the many changes that have occurred in MARINet in the past year and a half. Val mentioned that she has included a copy of the preliminary Agenda for the Retreat, so that Board Members can make further Agenda adjustments based on today's discussions.

Budget Presentation

 To begin, Members reviewed copies of the Monthly Budget Report showing MARINet's expenditures and projected encumbrances as of March 11^th. The report is cumulative from July 1st this fiscal year. Next, they reviewed the cumulative report on the status of the Sinking Fund (used for capital expenditures), including interest earned as of the last update received from the MARS system. Val Morehouse then went over the proposed cost sharing calculations, which result in weighted percentage shares of MARINet costs allotted by library, based on population, system-wide circulation, and holdings. 

The group moved on to the Proposed Budget. Val discussed the spreadsheets showing historic expenditures, the status of the current budget, and the logic behind each line in the proposed budget. She pointed out certain assumptions which could affect the budget next year and in coming years, and alerted Members to planning issues that would affect their own internal budgets. For example, the need for planned replacement of aging PC's. Planning assumptions are included at the top of the proposed budget. The telecommunication line could be greatly affected by adding the cost of frame relay circuits to the total. Val obtained an add-on figure from Scott McKown of MIDAS, which can be plugged in if the decision is made to have a centralized MIDAS billing with MARINet. Inclusion of frame relay in the MARINet budget will also affect how ERATE applications will be filed on April 6^th. Currently each library is paying its own frame relay.

 Another possible increase will occur if Larkspur Public Library decides to join MARINet. Val showed which lines would be affected by that, and discussed the impact on staff, which is reflected in increases in the staffing line. Part of Larkspur's costs could be used to buy the staff needed to serve the growing membership.

 Then Val discussed how she arrived at the estimated amount for carryover, which can be used as an offset against the new total. Two methods of calculating the sinking fund share were discussed, with the resulting differences in bottom line. These included using the carryover to offset the total. The group viewed how the carryover would affect each libraries' actual share.

 The list of possible capital projects was discussed. Val told the group that at the Retreat she will be present a proposed timeline for moving into Millennium. The timeline could affect the budget projections depending on how fast the Board decides to move into Millennium modules. For the next year's budget, between the sinking fund, the carryover, and certain proposed reallocations within the operating budget, the ability to move forward on certain FY 1999-2000 capital projects looks very good.

During a last perusal of the working documents, some typos were discovered. These will be corrected and the documents reprinted for the Retreat. The Board then considered the preliminary Retreat Agenda. Several items were added, and in the interest of time flow, the Agenda was divided into morning and after lunch discussions to enable the group to track its progress.

The next meeting will be the annual Board Retreat, Mar. 25th at Green Gulch, 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

Attachments:

 Agenda for the March Meeting

 Preliminary Agenda for the March 25^th Board Retreat

MARINet Monthly Budget 98-99 Report by Category as of 3/11/99.

Draft Cost Formula (Corrected)

Sheet Explaining how the Cost Formula is Calculated

Spreadsheet showing two ways of applying the carryover and effects on library cost shares.

Spreadsheet showing status of the Sinking Fund

Spreadsheet showing three-year budget project, plus several historic budgets for perspective.

Spreadsheet showing proposed budget for 1999-2000 with carryover applied two ways.

Offbudget carryover funds expected to be available to apply against 1999-2000 operating.

 Technology 2002 Plan submitted to the California State Library.

 Replacement findings from the Auditor as requested by the Board.

 Memo from Val Morehouse to Marin County Auditor requesting Inventory Diskette and copies of working papers.

 Marin Independent Journal Article "A free library comes with a price", 3/11/99

 C:\data\board\990318m.doc vm