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West Fargo Public Library Board of Directors
Meeting Date: August 19th, 2021
Time: 5:30 P.M.
Place: West Fargo City Commission Chambers and streamed live on YouTube
Roll Call:
Liann Hanson, Tony Stukel, Jodie Haring. Absent: Commissioner Mandy George, Alanna Rerick. Also
attending, John Shockley, City Attorney, Carissa Hansen, Library Director, Maria Kramer, Deputy
Director of Public Services, Kirsten Henagin, Adult Services Manager, and Alisha Reis, Office
Coordinator.
1. Call to order
Hanson called the meeting to order.
2. Approve order of agenda
Stukel moved and Haring seconded to approve the order of the agenda. No opposition. Motion
carried.
3. Consent agenda - approve the following:
Haring moved and Stukel seconded to approve the consent agenda. No opposition. Motion carried.
a. Approval of Minutes – July 8th, 2021
b. Approval of Financial Reports
Regular Agenda:
1. Discuss findings related to question of library mill cap
• At the July meeting, it was discussed that the City of West Fargo can allocate any
number of mills it wants to the library or any city services as long as it stays within
the City-wide mill cap that is outlined in the Century Code. A memo was included
in the August Board packet with more detail regarding the library mill cap. The
Library Board discussed and provided feedback. Next step, Shockley will finalize
the memo and add the statement of, there is no predetermined maximum of mills
that can be allocated to the library other than what is outlined as a cap for cities as
a whole.
2. Outlook of remainder of 2021 library activity and Board meetings
• Hansen gave an overview of agenda items she anticipates bringing forward at
Board meetings from September through December 2021.
3. Strategic planning: review of identified community needs and staff SWOT analysis
• Maria Kramer, Deputy Director of Public Services, gave an update on the library’s
strategic planning. The Board was asked to provide input and feedback & to consider
what are the advantages & disadvantages of prioritizing one goal area over another.

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Library administration recommends moving forward with strategic plan goals 1-4
outlined in the attached memo. Hansen will bring a completed draft plan to the
Library Board for approval in September.
4. Review and approve Meeting Room policy revision (Action)
• Haring moved and Stukel seconded to approve the Meeting Room policy revision. No
opposition. Motion carried.
5. Review and approve Circulation Limits policy revision (Action)
• Stukel moved and Haring seconded to approve the Circulation Limits policy revision.
No opposition. Motion carried.
6. Director’s Report
Hansen presented the following items for the Director’s Report:
• Hansen highlighted a few items from the library’s mid-year report on 2021 initiatives
and projects.
The Little Red Reading Bus Fundraising in partnership with the Friends of the
o
Library.
• Update on stats for the month of July. The program attendance for the summer of
2021 has exceeded the attendance for the summer of 2019 within the same set of
months. There have been more new library cards issued this summer than in any
recent summers. The library was very close in having as many summer reading
programs registrants in the summer of 2021 as in the summer of 2019. But, summer
program completion went from 10,000 hours in 2019 to over 14,000 hours read in
2021.
• Hansen applied for a Main Street Excellence award for the Little Red Reading Bus.
• The Library was featured on Valley News Live on Wednesday, August 11th from 5:00
am – 7:00 am. The library’s presence on the show over these two hours, equated to a
nearly $10,000 value in paid advertising necessary to have the same outreach. The
broadcasting of the bus also resulted in having 500 attendees at the library’s RED Fest
event on August 12.
• It was determined during the 2021 budget planning cycle that the Cash Wise book
vending machine would be decommissioned in 2021. Hansen plans to move forward
with decommissioning it by the end of October as the maintenance contract ends in
November. There will be advance public notice put out.
• The library will be participating in West Fest on September 18. The Little Red Reading
bus will be in the parade. Hansen invited the library board to walk with the bus in the
parade.
• Library staff have started masking internally again and continue to strongly encourage
mask wearing among library patrons per new CDC guidelines.

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• Board members now each have their ownwestfargond.gov email to conduct library
business.
• Kirsten Henagin, Adult Services Manager gave a programming update.
7. Other Business
• No other business.
8. Adjourn
• Stukel moved to adjourn, Haring seconded. No opposition. Meeting adjourned. Next
meeting: 5:30 P.M., Thursday, September 9th, 2021.