CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by President John Hunziker. Also attending were Dan Berndt, Cynthia Daube, Don De Keyrel, Ann Farnell, Chris Fischer, Frank Iossi, Phil Karsell, Jean Michaels, and Dave Nelson.
Others Present: David Koch, Windsor Financial; Tom Dyer, Communications Director; Kathy Olson, Administrative Assistant.
MINUTES
Frank Iossi moved, Cynthia Daube second to approve the meeting minutes of January 29, 2003. Motion approved.
LIBRARY BOARD AND DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Kathy Olson updated the Board on anticipated budget cuts that the library will be facing in 2003 and 2004 because of the proposed loss of local government aid (LGA). The library has already made some adjustments in its 2003 budget in anticipation of a 5% decrease. The situation for 2004 could be much worse and the Library Board has already had preliminary discussions on what cuts would be necessary if we receive a budget cut of 10%-20%. A cut of this magnitude would most likely result in reduced hours and staff layoffs.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Advocacy Committee has not met.
Finance Committee
Frank introduced David Koch, head of Equity Research at Windsor Financial, and the Library Foundation's investment manager. Windsor Financial currently manages about $2 billion and a growing number of foundation endowment accounts.
Windsor Financial received the funds at end of November. They have started investing but are being cautious. Interest rates are at all time lows which makes for a difficult environment to generate returns.
Analysts see 2003 as tenuous regarding investments. Consensus has the economy growing at less than 3%. They don't see significant pickup in earnings or spending. The Federal Reserve most likely will not lower interest rates further; however rates also should not rise until there is a chance for sustainable recovery.
We could be in this environment of low returns for a period of years.
In a normal market environment, the funds would be fully invested in 3-12 months.
Development Committee
The committee met last week and discussed the library's mission, Foundation's mission, and how to get people to contribute and at what level. The committee is anticipating creating a mailing list and looking at gifts of $100s or $1000s from most people. The committee also anticipates approaching local businesses for larger amounts.
Tom has begun drafting a brochure for solicitations.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
The next meeting date will Wednesday, April 23, at 4:45 p.m. in Meeting Room B.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jean Michaels
Secretary