Library continuing improvements, management agreement discussion
Officials at the Great Falls Public Library are continuing on their improvement plans and a number of projects are underway.
Earlier this year, the bandshell was demolished in Library Park, behind the library, due to multiple complaints from area residents and library patrons.
Summer concerts are continuing in the park normally and the library is reinstalling electrical power to the park since the old conduit underground had broken, Director Susie McIntyre told the board during their June and July meetings.
They opted to run power overheard at a significantly lower cost than digging to run new conduit underground, she said.
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Library officials and their consultant, Cushing Terrell, are continuing development of the master plan remodel design.
The remodel is a separate funding campaign from the mill levy that voters approved last summer.
McIntyre said that the consultants are meeting with staff and specific stakeholders about the remodel for ideas and that there will be more public meetings throughout the process.
She said once there are some draft design options, they’ll solicit public feedback.
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Sandy Rice, a representative to the board from the Great Falls Public Library Foundation, said that there was discussion in those stakeholder groups about the third floor space used for the two annual book sales.
Those book sales, organized by local nonprofits, generate about $20,000 for the library annually through the sale proceeds and rental fees, Rice said.
McIntyre said there’s been discussion on managing sound in libraries and making them more friendly spaces for adults, as well as kid play, while also maintaining traditional quiet space.
She said there’s research showing that among the top five reasons people go to the library is for a quiet space to study or read.
“That is a luxury to have a quiet space,” she said, so the designs are looking at having louder spaces on either the lower level or upper floor and having a quiet floor.
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Library board members also discussed the format of their annual report to the City Commission following criticism from some commissioners and members of the public last year over that process.
McIntyre said she was recommending having a professional written annual report drafted that could then be sent to the city and county commissions, and be made publicly available.
Board members said they supported that idea and McIntyre said she’d get pricing options and bring it back to the board for formal consideration at a future meeting.
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The library and city officials are continuing their discussion of the 1993 management agreement that has been a sticking point for Commissioner Rick Tryon after the failure of the public safety levy in November since the agreement includes seven mills for the library.
The library is a city department but it also receives funding from Cascade County and serves the county. The bulk of its funding comes through city taxpayers, previously in the form of a $350,000 annual subsidy from the city general fund, plus the seven mills in the agreement and two voted mills.
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The November 2022 vote approved a change to the city charter increasing the number of voted mills from two to 17 for library operations.
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The 1993 agreement includes a number of details on how the library is funded and managed.
City Commissioners did update city code regarding the library several years ago, but did not recommend changes to the 1993 agreement.
Whitney Olson, library board chair, said in June that they were having good conversations, largely around the agreement term length, funding mechanisms and the structure of the library within the city government.
In June, she said it was “still so in flux” that it would be premature to talk about what the city wants, but that they had gone through line items on what they wanted added and staff was reviewing those suggestions.
During the library board’s July 23 meeting, Olsen said they had met that morning with city officials and were working through “some very difficult and complex issues. We’re in the thick of it.”
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She said they’d have a written report to present to the board once both parties have reached agreement on drafts to bring to the full boards.
In June, the board conducted its annual performance review of McIntyre, as director.
She did not waive her right to privacy so the board conducted the review in closed session. McIntyre said she believed it’s important to have an honest discussion about performance.
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Going into closed session, Noelle Johnson, board member, said she didn’t understand the process and that there was no form for board members to fill out.
Olson said they’d be following the same format City Commissioners used for the city manager’s review.
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The board went into executive session for about an hour and a half, returned to open session and discussed their review.
Olson said they discussion the strategic plan and what they’re seeing as well as some next steps.
One of the goals of the library’s strategic plan is to create a safe and accessible library for the next 50 years, which is mostly addressed in the remodel master plan.
“We appreciated that Susie has the vision for the this organization, that she sees the big picture and knows how to take us forward,” Olson said.
The board discussed how McIntyre had taken on a lot over the years and was glad to see more staff coming on board and shifting tasks, Olson said.
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Olson said the board wanted to see more effort put into public outreach about library services, particularly those that aren’t as well known like reserving rooms or notary services.
Olson said the “shining star” of McIntyre’s evaluation this year was being named the Sheila Cates Librarian of the Year by the Montana Library Association in April.
The award recognizes a librarian for “distinguished service to libraries and leadership in education and training for librarians,” according to the association.
McIntyre was named GFPL director in 2019 and has worked at the library for almost 19 years. She previously served as the health educator/resource librarian for the Seattle and King County Public Health Department for nine years, according to the library.
She holds an administrative certification from the Montana State Library, Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington, and Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montana, according to the library.
“I’m just very thankful that we have such a dedicated library director,” said Shannon Wilson, the City Commission’s representative to the library board.
Noelle Johnson said she felt like it was more of an evaluation of their strategic plan than the director.
She said she appreciated the conversation but didn’t think they reviewed McIntyre’s performance.
Olson asked Johnson if she was said she hadn’t been giving the opportunity to review McIntyre’s performance, to which Johnson said yes.
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Samantha DeForest, library board member, said to Johnson, “I specifically asked up there if you brought any comments or anything you wanted to talk about. I’m just very surprised by what you say now because you were given every opportunity to talk about what you wanted to talk about.”
Johnson said that it seemed to her that a review should include a form or survey sent out to library card holders.
DeForest said that the other had asked Johnson if she was expecting a form, what questions did she think would be on it and that she could have asked those during closed session.
Johnson said she had emailed one board member asking if there was a form.
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Olson, board chair, asked if there was a reason she’d sent that to a board member rather than the chair or full board. She asked Johnson to let her know in the future if there’s something she thinks should be included on the agenda and address those concerns before a meeting when possible.
“I would encourage you to be transparent with us here to share your thoughts on Susie’s performance,” Olson told Johnson and asked Wilson to explain how the commissioners had conducted the city manager’s review earlier this year.
Wilson said commissioners also met in executive session and took turns pointing out strengths any problems and that the city manager interacted with them to discuss. Commissioners then came back to open session to discuss the review and recommendations on the city manager’s contract.
“Just as we did today,” she said the library board’s evaluation with McIntyre. “We mirrored the process exactly.”
The library director is a department head position hired by the city manager and is not contracted by the library board.
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Johnson voted against accepting McIntyre’s review since she didn’t feel it was a review and that every board member had the right to vote how they wanted to.
“Pressure from you asking the same question was inappropriate,” Johnson said to Olson. “Even if I vote no, the outcome is the same.”
Olson said, “I wasn’t pressuring your vote, we don’t understand why you do vote for things or do not vote for things. If you’re interested in transparency, we would like you to be transparent with us. We want to know how you feel about things instead of not addressing the situation and just saying that you don’t agree with something. You pride yourself on wanting to change things but we don’t hear what those changes are, we just hear I don’t want that.”
Johnson responded, “I said I don’t think we conducted a performance review” and proposed that next year, they come to the meeting with a better explanation of what the evaluation process entails.
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