Board Meeting Minutes – August 4, 2025

In attendance were Vince Volpe, President, presiding; Nina North-Murphy; John Dubinsky, Jacque Land, Janet Rainford, Keith Savage, Vice-President and David Sweeney attended virtually. 

Also present were Chief Executive Officer Waller McGuire and staff members Amanda Bahr-Evola, Maryann Brickey, Tiffany Peck, Amanda Endicott, Cathy Heimberger, Mary Meyer, Joe Monahan, Lauren Mudge, Jim Slattery, Laura Stallings, Justin Struttmann, and Liz Reeves. 

The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. by President Volpe. 

Minutes: 
Mr. Schlafly's motion, seconded by Ms. North-Murphy, to approve the minutes of the July 7, 2025 meeting was approved. 

There was no public comment. 

Fiscal Affairs Committee: 
Committee Chair David Sweeney reported on the Fiscal Affairs meeting held July 31st, during which staff went over revenue projections based on early available information. The final Assessed Value Information for Tax Rates report is expected from the Assessor's Office on September 1st, and a second meeting of the Committee has been scheduled for September 5th to go over a draft budget with the Assessor's estimates included. After the Fiscal Affairs Committee makes a recommendation, the finished budget will be presented to the full Board during the September 8th meeting. The Library is required to have an approved budget submitted to the state by the end of September. 

Chief Executive Officer's Report: 
Mr. Struttmann reported on progress to repair tornado damage at Julia Davis and Cabanne libraries. Work is already underway to replace the custom-made 50-ton HVAC unit that was blown off the Julia Davis roof, which has to be in place before most other work can proceed. Our insurer has been supportive of complete roof replacement which needs to be complete before much interior work takes place. At Cabanne, work is underway to understand how much of the roof membrane was damaged and what work is necessary to repair it. In both cases, staff are working to move as quickly as possible, but we cannot get ahead of the insurance company's approval and agreement. Staff are also working with FEMA, but in some instances FEMA requirements are lengthy and staff are moving forward in order to get the libraries reopened as soon as is reasonable. 

The Library is three-quarters of the way through the current fiscal year. Mr. Slattery said that he expects the Library to be fully covered for tornado damage but noted there is a deductible that the Library will be responsible for paying $100,000 since the claim is considered "wind/ hail damage". 

Mr Slattery noted that total cash and investments as of June 30 was $44.7M which was $56k higher than June 2024, but $1.7M lower than May 2025. The Library has not had to tap 

reserves yet this year, but with the decrease in cash and short-term investments, he anticipates having to move money from the reserves in the next few months as planned. 

Tax Revenue for Real Estate, Personal Property and Surtax was consistent with last June and year-to-date all three sources are over budget for the year. In June 2024, the Library received $877k from the City for expiring TIF's. We did not budget to receive that amount of funds this year, but have only received $8,541 vs. a full-year budget of $450k. Year-to-date through 9 months, the Library has exceeded the full year revenue budget by $41k. Expenses: Through 9 months the Library's expenses should be roughly 75% of the budget and total operating expenses are 68.6% of the budget. Operating expenses for the month of June were $2.1M, which is considerably lower than most months, so it is suspected that there were some bills that did not get submitted on time last month. Salaries year-to-date are running at 71.8% of the full year budget and are 2.2% higher than year-to-date FY24. No new expense categories are appearing to be problematic, other than categories we have talked about in prior months. YTD Operating Expenses are about $88k lower than last year. 

Mr Struttmann summarized the Human Resources report as well as the negotiations with our health insurance provider, which are allowing the Library to stay with Anthem at an increased cost of 3%, well under the market average. 

Liz Reeves summarized the Foundation Report and said the Foundation has acquired 3 new board members: Nick Popielski, VP of Sustainability, Spire; Todd Spener, Founder and Managing Partner, Venmark Capital Advisors; Margaret Welch, Principal, MGW Communications. Ms. Reeves corrected the total of new dollars raised as of 7-25-25 to slightly over $964,000. 

New Business:
President Volpe stated that the proposed Art Acquisition Policy, Exhibit Display Policy, and updated Circulation Policy, which had been discussed during the prior Board meeting, had been included in the Board packets for consideration for approval. Mr. McGuire noted that Mr. Schlafly's suggestion that the Art Acquisition Policy include loans as well as gifts had been included in the version ready for vote. Mr. Volpe asked whether there were further questions and called for a vote. 

Mr. Land's motion that the Art Acquisition Policy be approved was seconded by Mr. Schlafly and unanimously approved. 

Mr. Schlafly's motion that the Exhibit Display Policy be approved was seconded by Ms. North-Murphy and unanimously approved. 

Mr. McGuire explained that the Circulation Policy had been updated and approved by the Board many times. The version before the Board has two changes. Rules for acquiring an eCard have been changed and strengthened when it was discovered that a widely distributed Tik Tok video was advising the public on how to cheat and receive downloadables for those not living in our district or qualified for an eCard. Staff have identified approximately 275 cards obtained through these methods, which have been revoked. 

The second change affects computer passes, which allow the public to reserve a computer without ID, primarily intended to help the unhoused. We are experiencing increased incidents at the Library and are looking for ways to deal with them. Public Safety traces many incidents to unidentified customers using computer passes. Staff believe there are reasonable alternatives and even the unhoused are regularly required to present ID to access different government and private services, which can also be used to access computers at the Library. Mr McGuire asked the Board to approve the updated Circulation Policy so these changes can be put into place. 

President Volpe asked for questions. Mr. Savage asked that staff work to make certain that other similar attacks are prevented. Ms. Rainford stated that allowing customers to use barcodes on phones can lead to vulnerabilities. Mr. McGuire responded that staff would work to control both vulnerabilities. Staff mentioned that the SLPL app had limited barcode vulnerability. 

Ms. Rainford's motion that the updated Circulation Policy be approved was seconded by Mr. Dubinsky and unanimously approved. 

President Volpe stated that the Conflict of Interest Policy required by the Missouri Ethics 

Commission was in Board packets. Mr. McGuire stated that the policy was exactly the same as prior years, and required approval every other year. 

Mr Dubinsky's motion that the 2025 Conflict of Interest Policy be approved was seconded by Ms. Rainford and unanimously approved. 

There being no further business, Mr. Volpe called for a motion to adjourn. 

Mr. Schlafly's motion that the meeting be adjourned was seconded by Mr. Land and unanimously approved. 

At the regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Public Library held on August 4, 2025, the following actions were taken: 

At 6:10 Mr. Schlalfly moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Mr. Land. The motion was approved unanimously.