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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 2/7/2012 *PLEASE NOTE: Since the Glendale City Council does not take formal action at the Workshops,Workshop minutes are not approved by the City Council. 'Its% 6 GLEN1V,E MINUTES OF THE GLENDALE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP SESSION Council Chambers—Workshop Room 5850 West Glendale Avenue February 07, 2012 1:30 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Elaine M. Scruggs, Vice Mayor Steven E. Frate and Councilmembers Norma S. Alvarez, Joyce V. Clark, Yvonne J. Knaack, and H. Phillip Lieberman. ABSENT: Councilmember Manuel D. Martinez ALSO PRESENT: Ed Beasley, City Manager; Horatio Skeete, Assistant City Manager; Craig Tindall, City Attorney; and Pamela Hanna, City Clerk 1. NEW INTEGRATED LIBRARY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SYSTEM Presented by: Erik Strunk, Executive Director, Parks, Recreation& Library Cheryl Kennedy, Acting Director, Library Services This is a request to provide an update to the City Council on a new integrated library management software system (ILS) for the Glendale Public Library. The current Glendale Public Library ILS is in need of replacement and the Maricopa County Library District (MCLD) has offered to provide a new ILS at no cost, which will save the city approximately $347,000 in one-time costs and $35,000 annually in operating and maintenance costs. The Glendale Public Library currently utilizes an integrated library management software system called "Horizon." At the time of purchase in 2005, this system met the needs of patrons and staff. In 2007, the manufacturer of this system announced its intention to move towards a single integrated library management software platform (called Symphony) and would announce the "end of life" for Horizon in the future and no longer support it. Although no formal "end of life" date has been announced, the manufacturer has indicated that once announced, the Glendale Public Library would be expected to purchase the new Symphony software platform or move to a different operating system. As a result, the manufacturer has not 1 been developing new enhancements for the Horizon system and has instead focused research and development on the new Symphony platform. In 2010, the MCLD presented information at the Maricopa Association of Governments Management Committee meeting concerning services it could provide to municipal libraries by utilizing the special districting tax funds collected from all Maricopa County landowners. At this meeting, the MCLD indicated that it was committed to assisting any public library with the conversion to the "Polaris"ILS management system. As part of the city's ongoing effort to explore alternative funding sources and increase customer service for Glendale Public Library patrons, the city has had ongoing discussions with the MCLD to determine if it will fund and support a new ILS for the Glendale Public Library. The MCLD has agreed to purchase a new ILS for the Glendale Public Library and pay the costs associated for migrating, training, and annual maintenance, including upgrades. On December 2, 2011, the MCLD Director notified staff that the County would support an IGA formalizing an agreement between the city and MCLD for the Polaris ILS. On January 13, 2010, the MCLD presented information at the Maricopa Association of Governments Management Committee meeting concerning services it could provide to municipal libraries utilizing the special districting tax paid by all Maricopa County landowners. Glendale staff subsequently requested this assistance. The transition from the current ILS system to the new Polaris ILS will be seamless and provide Glendale Public Library patrons with a more intuitive, enhanced catalog interface; increased ease of use when searching for materials; increased seamless access to e-Books, optimized catalog enhancements for mobile device users; and replace an existing library management software system that will in the near future, no longer be supported. On January 19, 2012, the offer to provide the new Polaris ILS by the MCLD was presented to the Library Advisory Board by Cheryl Kennedy, the Acting Library Director. The members indicated their support of conversion and implementation for the Glendale Public Library. There are no budget impacts or costs to the city (including ongoing expenses). The MCLD will pay for the Polaris ILS, migration, training and annual maintenance costs. MCLD has already budgeted Fiscal Year 2011-2012 funds for the purchase of the new Polaris ILS for the Glendale Public Library. The MCLD offer will save the city approximately $347,000 in one-time costs and $35,000 annually in operating and maintenance costs. This is for Council information only. Staff is available to answer any questions regarding the information provided. Erik Strunk, Executive Director, Parks, Recreation & Library, provided the summary on this item as well as information regarding the Glendale Public Library operations. He noted the libraries in Glendale were a very busy part of the city's function. 2 Cheryl Kennedy, Acting Director, Library Services, provided information as to the benefits of the new Polaris ILS system which will replace Horizon. The new system will provide Glendale Public Library patrons with a more intuitive, enhanced catalog interface, increased ease of use when searching for materials, increased seamless access to e-Books and optimized catalog enhancements for mobile device users. Additionally Polaris is continually developing their product to meet the rapidly changing needs as technology changes, especially in mobile technology. Councilmember Clark asked if there had been any opportunity to obtain a grant from the County Library System to perhaps go in another direction other than Polaris, such as the Symphony system. Mr. Strunk explained the County Library District Director presented the Polaris System, given that they were using it, and offered to help pay for the city's cost transfer if they chose to use the system. He added Symphony had not been part of the conversation. Councilmember Clark asked if there had been any discussion about acquiring a like sum of money from the county in case they wanted to go in another direction. Mr. Strunk replied no. Councilmember Clark inquired if anyone had ever brought this option up. Mayor Scruggs asked who was at that meeting. Councilmember Clark was asking him what happened at a meeting that he was not representing the city department yet. Mr. Beasley was there, let's have him discuss it. Mr. Ed Beasley, City Manager, explained the city sent a letter requesting separate funding if possible to go our own route. However, we were told they could not do that without going back to their board and that was where the topic ended. Councilmember Clark asked if the library patrons in Glendale will receive the same level of service with the Polaris system as they would have using the older Horizon system. Ms. Kennedy stated that the Intergovernmental Agreement that will be created will have all that stipulated in the agreement. She added the Maricopa County Library District also uses the Polaris system; therefore they were very attentive to the system's requirements. Councilmember Clark inquired as to the number of library users the county has compared to Phoenix, which was not on Polaris. Ms. Kennedy explained Phoenix was on Polaris; however, not on the county's Polaris System. Councilmember Clark asked if it was known what the response times were should the system need maintenance. Ms. Kennedy explained there has not been any undue down time reported other than when updates are performed. Councilmember Clark wondered what undue down time meant. Mr. Strunk stated that no notable problems have been recorded by the Polaris users other than scheduled maintenance down time. He noted the relationship was structured so there was no serious or undue impact for those who frequent the library itself. Councilmember Clark asked if using the Polaris System would increase their access to additional e-reading materials and if so, by how much. Mr. Strunk explained that at the moment, the access to digital data was through Overdrive and a consortium of everyone in the valley that uses e- books. He noted the potential agreement presented was not about adding additional e-book access. 3 Councilmember Clark wondered how many cities were currently using Polaris on the county system. Ms. Kennedy stated it Mesa and Wickenburg. Councilmember Clark asked what the suggested duration of the contract would be. Mr. Strunk stated it was for two years with three renewable two year periods. Councilmember Clark noted that a lot of her questions had not been answered with clear and definitive answers and that makes her uncomfortable. She wondered why the city never pursued obtaining funds to purchase their own system. She believes there were a lot of unanswered questions regarding this system. Councilmember Knaack stated she believes this was a win-win situation because not only were they providing the system, but also the annual operating and maintenance cost. She stated she always thought libraries should be regionalized and believes this was a good first start for the future. She thanked staff for their presentation. Councilmember Lieberman stated he does see a lot of benefits for this system, but wonders why the county was pushing this, offering no cost to the city, if they use Polaris. Mr. Strunk indicated the county was not pushing this; however, at the Maricopa Association of Governments Management Committee meeting, this assistance option of Polaris was suggested which concerns services it could provide to municipal libraries utilizing the special districting tax paid by all Maricopa. Vice Mayor Frate stated the most important fact in all this was that the current system will have no support soon. He noted this was perfect timing for Glendale because otherwise the funds would have to come from taxpayer money. Additionally, this has already been paid for utilizing the special districting tax paid by all Maricopa. He supports this item and believes this was great news. He added he also sees this as a win-win situation that will greatly benefit the city and was not here to shoot the messenger as others seem to be. Councilmember Clark stated her intent had not been to shoot the messenger. However, her only concern had been to get value for the residents of Glendale who use the library system. She still believes this system should have been investigated thoroughly to ensure proper maintenance, response time and service. She was also concerned that only two cities had joined in the county system. She noted there was nothing wrong with asking questions to ensure everything was in order, even if it seemed like a great gain for the city. A brief recess was taken due to a fire alarm activation. Mayor Scruggs said she was just going to make some comments to follow up on some things that Councilmember Knaack said. A couple of years ago when there was legislation to try to remove cities that had their own library systems from that tax — county library tax — because it is a double taxation type of thing the legislation was unsuccessful. But the supervisor from District 4, Max Wilson, came to her and he said that Maricopa's vision — their supervisors — was that there should be one Regional Library System as Councilmember Knaack had brought up. She said he asked to begin discussions with the city of Glendale about how that would work, the initial idea on how the county saw it working was not something that the city of Glendale was comfortable with, but it was just one idea. She continued now two years later, the city finds 4 itself getting ready to go into a zero-based budgeting process, looking at what are essential services and what are not essential services; without any foreseeable future for building new capital improvements, but yet the county has built brand new libraries in Surprise, Avondale, Gilbert and Queen Creek with that money that we all pay in to the county library district. She said so there are opportunities to partner with the county. Mayor Scruggs said maybe a couple of years ago it did not seem very palatable, but now when the city is facing a different economic situation, it may be time to reopen those discussions and to see how everybody can reduce administrative costs by looking at a regional type of system of some sort — she didn't know what that would be. She said but to make that money that everybody pays in to go to help everybody and especially in the western area where it is so close to open Maricopa County land and so forth maybe West Glendale can have a library finally. She said she was just putting that out there. She continued as the city begins its budget discussions it may be something that the City Council may want to begin to discuss, and it certainly is a huge topic, not something that will be decided on in a month or two. But in these economic times the city needs to be more open to sharing — ideas of sharing. She said she just want to follow up on the comments Councilmember Clark had made. Well, that's the only item on the agenda does staff feel that they have the direction needed to move forward? Mr. Strunk replied yes. Staff will work with the county, draft the IGA and present it at an evening meeting in the near future. Mayor Scruggs said thank you very much. This meeting is adjourned. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m. 5