In attendance were Vince Volpe, President, presiding; Keith Savage, Vice President; and Tom Schlafly. John Dubinsky, Alison Ferring, Jacque Land, and David Sweeney attended virtually. Lisa Stump attended from Lashly & Baer.
Also present were Chief Executive Officer Waller McGuire and staff members Maryann Brickey, Tiffany Peck, Jon Drakesmith, Amanda Endicott, Cathy Heimberger, Mary Meyer, Joe Monahan, Lauren Mudge, Liz Reeves, Jim Slattery, Laura Stallings, and Justin Struttmann.
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by President Volpe.
Minutes:
Mr. Land's motion, seconded by Ms. Ferring, to approve the minutes of the August 4, 2025 meeting was approved.
There was no public comment.
Communications
Mr. McGuire noted two communications sent to the Board. First, a letter to the Board had been posted online asking that the Circulation Policy change halting the issuance of computer passes be reconsidered. Since the letter had never actually been sent, and because the change had only been put in place the prior week and had gone smoothly to date, Mr. McGuire recommended that the discussion be tabled for now. The Board concurred.
Second, Mr. Dubinsky had received a fundraising email that appeared written on behalf of the St. Louis Public Library stating that books had been banned by the current administration. He had forwarded it to the Library to be investigated. Mr. McGuire stated it appeared to have been sent on behalf of an existing PAC, and while it seemed unscrupulous, it carefully avoided actionable misrepresentation. No other Board member had received the email. Mr. Dubinsky said that he thought it important that the implication that books had been banned at the Library be refuted. Mr. McGuire stated that no books had been banned or removed from the St. Louis Public Library collection at the behest of any government entity.
Fiscal Affairs Committee
Committee chair David Sweeney reported that the Fiscal Affairs Committee had met extensively on September 5th to go over the proposed FY'26 budget in detail, and that the draft budget document had been sent to Board members after the Committee voted to recommend it be accepted by the full Board. He asked the Library's CFO, Jim Slattery, to summarize his report to the committee.
Mr. Slattery summarized the detailed budget documents sent in the Board packet. The Library has budgeted for $36.4 million in revenue based on City Revenue Office assessments. The budget provides for $32.1 million in operating expenses, $2.2 million in bond payments, and $4.4 million in
capital expenses. Total Library expenses for FY'26 are budgeted at just below $38.7M. The staff proposes a $2.3 million deficit budget.
Mr. Slattery discussed how the proposed 2025-2026 budget compares to the 2024-2025 budget, which included a deficit of $5.3 million and which he now calculates will be a $2.6 million deficit. He described the Library's cash reserves and investment in capital improvements. He outlined the assessments, interest income, and rebate on which the revenue estimate was based, and the balance between commercial and residential real estate revenue. He then summarized the major elements of the proposed expenditures, including salary & wages, benefits, and capital improvements.
Mr. Sweeney stated that the Fiscal Affairs Committee had gone over the proposed budget in detail, thanked Mr. Slattery for the thoroughness of the budget documents and reports, and recommended that it be adopted as proposed.
Mr. Schlafly's motion, seconded by Mr. Savage, that the proposed 2025-2026 budget be adopted was unanimously approved.
Chief Executive Officer's Report:
Mr. McGuire thanked the Board for their approval of the budget, and the staff for a clear, well-organized and participatory budget process that had gone very well.
He noted that the efforts in the state legislation to alter property tax collection in Missouri were not going to move forward in the current special session. Indications are that more efforts will be made in the next legislative year, and the Library will need to research these and possibly react. There was discussion about the possible effects of this legislation, the interaction with the Hancock Amendment, the difference between property tax revenue on rural and urban communities, and the possible benefits of statewide lobbying on behalf of libraries.
Mr. McGuire noted that because the budget was the major item for the September meeting, he wasn't going to go into individual reports that had been sent out the prior week and that were all tracking as expected. He asked Mr. Slattery to summarize the financial reports sent out on the current fiscal year, and Mr. Slattery noted that revenue was coming in above estimates and expenses were slightly down, which resulted in the predicted deficit being reduced to $2.6 million.
Mr. Schlafly's motion that the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Mr. Savage, was unanimously approved.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:10.
At the regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Public Library on September 8, 2025, the following actions were taken:
| Mr. Land moved: |
that the Board approve the minutes of the August 4, 2025 meeting. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Savage, Mr. Dubinsky, Ms. Ferring, Mr. Land, Mr. Schlafly, and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Mr. Schlafly moved: |
that the proposed 2025-2026 budget be approved. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Savage, Mr. Dubinsky, Ms. Ferring, Mr. Land, Mr. Schlafly, and Mr. Sweeney.) |
| Ms.Schlafly moved: |
that the meeting be adjourned. MOTION APPROVED (In favor Mr. Volpe, Mr. Savage, Mr. Dubinsky, Ms. Ferring, Mr. Land, Mr. Schlafly, and Mr. Sweeney.) |