Director reports budget pacing, staff plans and building/landscape proposals as library moves toward a new facility

Library Director Tiffany Anderson briefed the Richfield Public Library Board on financials, staffing and larger capital planning at the Feb. 14 meeting.

Financials and staffing Anderson said the library had used about 60% of its annual budget with roughly 67% of the fiscal year elapsed. She plans to review line-item variances and present a budget outlook at the March board meeting. Anderson told the board she expects to shift existing funds to cover higher temporary-employee costs this fiscal year and to evaluate whether to promote a longtime part-time employee, Heidi, to full-time. The director said offering a full-time position to current in-house staff is the first preference under the library’s hiring practices; promoting Heidi would add benefits and change wages, which Anderson said she would incorporate in next year’s budget planning.

Anderson described workforce scheduling tradeoffs: a full-time employee could reduce the need for multiple high-school workers and would let some existing employees avoid five-day schedules. She also said she posted a city job opening and noted state child-labor rules permit hiring individuals age 14 (and, in limited cases, age 13) for certain part-time hours, which the director raised as background for hiring student workers.

Capital projects and facilities Anderson gave updates on several facility-related items. She reported receiving an initial contractor bid of about $5,600 to re-oil the building’s shake roof; the bid lacked an itemized breakdown of labor and materials, so Anderson said she will solicit additional bids. She said her husband, Jeff, who does landscape design as a side hobby, would prepare draft landscaping plans to replace problematic hedges and lawn strips on the south and east sides of the building; Anderson said she will consult city staff about removing turf and reconfiguring a small parking strip.

On larger facility planning, Anderson said staff will tour a new library facility in Roosevelt on March 8 to gather design ideas for a proposed new community center/library. She said her husband overlaid the Roosevelt design on a property known as the Apple Tree Inn and that city staff responded positively to the concept at an initial conversation.

Other notes Anderson said she is reviewing resumes for open positions, pursuing a small friends-of-the-library grant, and will present a refined budget and staffing proposal at the March meeting. The board did not take action on capital matters at the Feb. 14 meeting; Anderson said she expects to have more concrete cost estimates and design concepts to show the board next month.