Steve Fosselman with the Grand Island Public Library will illustrate a trustee training model he calls "Intended Process", which he has used to involve and educate trustees on complex issues. Steve will use a real life example where results may vary from library to library, but it’s the process that makes it trustee education with the result of an informed decision free from too many "unintended consequences". NCompass Live - June 13, 2012.

1. NCompass Live
“Intended Process” as Director-Facilitated Trustee Education:
Nonresident Fees Case Study
Presented by Steve Fosselman,
Director
Grand Island (NE) Public Library
George, now is NOT the time to be
reminding me how less painful things
were for you because you stuck to
the #%!*@$ “intended process”!
June 13, 2012

2. A process you intentionally plan and follow
with the result of an informed decision
without intense pain or too many
"unintended consequences".
And how exactly do you
propose to survive the
winter after your
liposuction procedure?

8. The problem, in a nutshell:
After 40+ years of interlocal agreement between
the library and county, the county starts
experiencing budget problems after we report a
major bookmobile repair need. Despite good faith
negotiations by our library board to reduce
outreach (bookmobile) services while maintaining
free library cards, the county board unilaterally
breached this interlocal agreement for ALL library
services (bookmobile and free cards) for Hall
County residents outside of Grand Island.

9. Here are some approaches to making a complex
decision at the board level:
1) Problem is presented, free-for-all at board meeting, lots of
opinions, maybe some facts, make a decision, hope it
works
2) Problem is presented, director provides professional
judgment, then it is a free-for-all
3) Problem is presented, a process is mutually agreed upon,
board holds several monthly sessions with no decisions
made and board members freely commenting/questioning
but reserving judgment, director facilitates through
professional analysis at each meeting, and through the
process real learning occurs and informed decisions are
then made with fewer unintended consequences

10. Staying inside this box meets our community’s needs
Staying inside this box meets Straying outside this box doesn’t
our community’s needs meet our community’s needs
Learning
Organization

11. Some other benefits to choosing approach # 3 in our case study:
1) Study sessions served as public hearings that were attended by several
concerned citizens
2) Director met with more patrons about this than all other issues COMBINED in
past 21+ years, and almost all patrons went away with a better
understanding of the library’s situation and options for them to contact
county board members to address their concerns
3) Public information was also disseminated in stages and through various
means (including internet at www.grand-island.com/index.aspx?page=1018)
so the public was well informed about the real problem and need for a library
board solution
4) While emotions were part of the process, they were balanced by the
educational parts
5) Undue influences kept to a minimum both inside the board room and out
6) Other publics – staff, city admin, city council, county board – were well aware
of each step of the process and had sufficient input
7) This was a very transparent process, one leading our newspaper to conclude
“County should not be surprised by library fee proposal” and “Up-front vote”

12. Local government should
always be this open,
deliberate and exacting …
because of the library
board’s process
George Ayoub, columnist,
Grand Island Independent,
March 17, 2010

16. Board Discussion Pertaining to Nonresident
Services in City’s Program Prioritization Process

28. Board Discussion Pertaining to Nonresident
Services in City’s Program Prioritization Process

37. Does it necessarily follow that
cities with local sales tax should
provide free cards to
nonresidents? The facts do not
bear this out.
• 20 libraries in cities over
2500 had county funding in
2007 (Grand Island
excluded) – 75% of these
libraries had out-of-county
nonresident fees
• Overall, 77% of all libraries
in cities over 2500 charged
some form of nonresident
fee in 2007

39. City Services (Budget) or County Services (Budget)
Some Examples
City of Grand Island Budget County Budget
Grand Island Fire Rural Fire Districts
Grand Island Police County Sheriff
Grand Island Public Works County Roads
Grand Island Parks County Parks
Grand Island Public Library A county library is legally
possible but not budgeted by County -
service was through Interlocal Agreement

40. Objectives in making our March 2010 decision
(these had been covered in one way or another
throughout the process):
• First and foremost, our library cares for the library
needs of every non resident, we have many non
resident patrons who use the library regularly, and we
have made every attempt possible to provide such
service in accordance with an interlocal agreement
• Establishing a non resident fee is necessitated by the
county’s breach of contract which has left us with no
funding and no legal agreement to provide
comprehensive library services to non residents

41. • In the absence of such a legal agreement, the mission
of the Grand Island Public Library is fulfilled by state
statute and city code in remaining forever free to the
inhabitants of Grand Island, and extending service
through fees
• Non resident user fees in the absence of such legal
agreements are common in Nebraska and across the
United States
• Non residents for our purposes are classified as those
who do not inhabit the legal boundaries of Grand
Island

42. • Grand Island Public Library wishes to remain a
NebrasKard participant until further review, and so
some non residents using our library will be covered
by this statewide reciprocal borrowing agreement
• We have well-established the significant value of our
library services
• The board desires to institute a household card fee as
opposed to an individual card fee

43. • While the value of a household card fee can be
reasonably computed at over $100, libraries in
Nebraska as a business practice currently do not
assess household fees at a higher rate than individual
card fees
• After several possibilities were discussed, the board
decide on a fee of $40 per household which is very
reasonable fee for the service value and is only $5
more than the fee charged in 2000 to out of county
non residents (prior to NebrasKard)
• If/how non residents’ local sales tax might affect this
resulting fee will not be computed

44. • Some limited exemptions from a non resident fee are
reasonable
• The library is not obligated to cap its non resident
revenue budget
• In the future, fees may not be necessary given several
legal service models in place in state law that may be
open for discussion; however the library will only
entertain good-faith negotiations that include mutually-
agreeable terms.