RUPERT J.
SMITH LAW LIBRARY OF ST. LUCIE COUNTY, INC.
Meeting
Minutes - October 5, 2007 at 11:30 a.m.
Honorable
Attendees: Honorable
Absentees: James T. Walker, Esquire,
Trustee and Paul Fanning, Esquire, Trustee
I. Previous Minutes:
Mr.
Wilder made a motion to approve the August Meeting Minutes as prepared by the
Secretary. Ms. Lewis seconded the motion
and it was carried unanimously.
II. Financial
Reports/Proposed 2007/2008 FY Budget:
The
July and August 2007 Financial reports provided by the County were
approved. Ms. Lewis moved to approve
the reports as presented. Mr. Wilder
seconded the motion and it was carried.
Discussion was had concerning the downward
turn in revenues. Ms. Everlove commented
that our revenues have slipped the last four months. She is not sure if it is just a summer slump
or what. However she did look at last
year’s records and did not see the
trend, certainly not this dramatic. Ms.
Everlove stated that she’s not quite sure how to interrupt that as four months
are not quite enough time to judge, but she wanted the Trustees to now that the
money is not growing the way that it was.
Judge Conner asked how much it has slipped. Ms. Everlove stated that an average month for
us has been around twenty-six thousand dollars and the last four months have
average around twenty-three thousand.
Not one of the last four months has hit the average. We’re probably ten to fifteen thousand
dollars off of the projection or what Ms. Everlove would have expected to come
in during those four months. Mr. Wilder
stated that it appears that we are down about 10%. Judge Conner asked if the revenues are still
well above the expenses. Ms. Everlove
stated that they are this year, but she is concerned about next year if this
trend continues.
Ms. Everlove distributed a handout which contained the Proposed Budget
for the Law Library’s Fiscal Year 2007/2008.
She separated out what she feels will be the expenses related to the new
library. The budget proposal discloses
$129,000.00 under equipment. Judge
Conner inquired if this is the shelving.
Ms. Everlove replied that most of it is the shelving and she is
also figuring something for the Light
Board, chairs, computers and any other necessary equipment.
The balance sheets shows that Ms.
Everlove estimates that we will still make about $293,000.00 this year, our fiscal
year, based on the August Financial Statement.
She believes that
our
expenditures will be about $288,000.00.
This is perfect, a small percentage under. However, next year, if our revenues continue
the way they’ve been for the last few months, we will be lucky to see
$290,000.00. Ms. Everlove believes that
the revenues will pull back up, but she is still a little nervous as to whether
or not they will be back up to where they were.
The expenditures on the other hand are a huge deficit. Mr. Wilder commented that a lot of the
projected expenditures will be due to the move.
Ms. Everlove reported that out of the $446,000.00 projected in expenses,
$137,000.00 of it is related to the move.
However, if you do the math, we are still coming up short. We still aren’t covering our expenses,
although we are close, very close, it’s about $10, 000.00 to $15,000.00 off
what we need. We could probably, with
our reserves, at $286,000.00 we could go on forever that way or at least a good
fifteen years. But, if we are coming up
short $15,000.00 next year, and then that will be $20,000.00 or $25,000.00 and
assuming that our revenues are stagnating, we could chew up $130,000.00 fairly
quickly. Ms. Everlove stated again that four
months could just be a glitch. It is not
really enough time to say.
Ms. Everlove stated that at the same
time she I saying we might not have enough money, she’d like to discuss labor
costs. She stated that Ms. Atkinson has
not had a raise since taking over as secretary and Everlove & Associates
has not had a raise in three years. The
proposed budget shows an increase of $400.00 per month for Everlove &
Associates and $35.00 per month for Ms. Atkinson. Further discussion was had concerning the
proposed budget.
Judge Conner stated that he wants to
make sure that we come back in January and look at what the revenue
stream. We need to see if this is going
to be an ongoing trend or it is going to pick back up. He stated that it may be necessary to cut
back on additional hours if the revenues do not pick back up. It was decided that the approval of the
proposed budget should be tabled until the next meeting when the other Trustees
will be present. Ms. Everlove stated
that she will send a copy of the Proposed Budget to Mr. Walker and to Mr.
Fanning.
Further discussion was had
concerning the cost and time frame of the move.
Ms. Everlove stated that we need to be at least two months ahead of the
move just to order the shelves. Judge
Conner stated that if it will cost less to order the shelves earlier, we may
want to ask the County if the shelves could be stored at the Sam’s
warehouse. He stated that he would ask
Roger Shinn. Ms. Everlove is to get a
number on the physical space that it will take to store the shelves. Ms. Everlove stated that there is also the
issue of the cost of moving the shelves if we store them. Judge Conner stated that he would check with
the Sheriff to see if he has the equipment to move the shelves. He asked Ms. Everlove to find out how the
size and weight of the largest box.
Ms. Everlove stated that the Ten
Year Plan has been brought up to date and is attached to the proposed budget
handout. She pointed out to the Board
that very little of the money is actually going for new shelves. We are gaining 1270 linear feet of shelves
and to put that into perspective, a typical bookcase is about twenty linear
feet, so this if giving us fifty shelves, fifty bookcases. The good news is that this is more than Ms.
Everlove said we had to have to get through the next ten years the last time
she updated the Ten Year Plan. The bad
news is that the space is such that we are going to have a hard time ever
adding anything on again in that space.
We will probably have to cut print subscriptions by 2020, even at that we
will still have about 150 years in case law in print. More than the space, Ms. Everlove is
concerned about the cost of the move.
Our shelving contractor is giving us a quote of almost $115,000.00. This quote will purchase the new shelving at
twelve hundred linear feet. It will
purchase rails for most of the stationary metal shelves that we now have,
because they have to be converted to rolling shelves. It will repurchase all of the wooden shelves
that we can no longer buy rails for when we move them. It also pays for the supervision of the
breakdown of the shelves, the move of the shelves and the reassembly the
bookcase that can be reused. This is
using the Sheriff’s trustees as the actual labor. This works out to more than $90.00 per linear
foot gained or about $1,900.00 for a standard bookcase. What we are really paying for is to move what
we’ve already got. A few years ago we
paid $12.00 per linear foot for the bookshelves. We are spending $80,000.00 to move what we
already have. Ms. Everlove stated that
is $80,000.00 we would not have to spend if we didn’t have to move. Judge Conner’s response was that the
shelving would have to be replaced and/or repaired over the years, so we would
be incurring some of the expenses anyway.
He further stated that the move has to happen because of the dire need
for additional court space.
Ms. Everlove stated that she was
hoping to prevail upon the County to pay for the move. Judge Conner stated that unfortunately the
entire State is in this crisis over taxes.
He doesn’t see the County Commission being in a position to help out,
especially when the library has a reserve account. Mr. Wilder stated that he doesn’t know if we
want to bring this to the County necessarily at this point. Ms. Lewis stated that when the library was
looking at rough times, the County was ready to pitch in, but at this time and
when the library’s reserves, she wouldn’t think it would be a good time to ask.
Ms. Lewis stated that she is very
concerned about the downward trend in revenues.
Judge Conner stated that he suspects that due to a downturn in the
economy, people are not traveling as
much and therefore there are not as many traffic tickets and citations being
issued. Ms. Everlove stated that it could also be on
the criminal end, realizing that the Law
Library will be the last to receive funds.
Judge Conner stated that he would be surprised as he thought that Judge
Walsh was doing very well with collection court. Ms. Everlove explained that she had tried to
contact Court Administration to see if their revenues had been affected, but
was unable to reach anyone. She will
continue to try to obtain this information
Ms. Atkinson presented a copy of the
Annual Financial Report to the trustees and reported that this was filed on
time this year.
III. Law
Library Security:
The issue of security for the new
Law Library was discussed. Judge Conner
indicated that he thought he remembered that there would be security, either
Wakenhut or Deputy on duty in addition to metal detectors. He stated that he needed to get with Lt. Doug
Hardie, Court Security to verify that the Sheriff has included security in his
budget for the Law Library. Ms. Everlove
stated that she needs to find out if metal detectors will fit in the Law
Library. Judge Conner stated that Ms.
Everlove needs to discuss this with Mr. Drittenbaus, the architect, as all of the security issues were
discussed for this renovation and that he would be very surprised if Mr.
Drittenbaus did not factor in metal detectors at the doors. Ms. Everlove stated that she had never
discussed this with Mr. Drittenbaus.
Ms. Lewis stated that she wanted to make sure that there was physical
security for the Law Library as well as the metal detectors. She is not willing to ask someone to work
after hours without this security.
IV. Judges’ Portrait:
A copy of the proof for the Judge’s
portrait was presented. Everyone present
and seemed pleased with the results. At
the next meeting it will be decided
V: COSA:
Mr. Wilder reported that he had
renewed the Law Library’s membership with COSA.
COSA now has a website with links to other web sites. Mr. Wilder made a motion to allow a link to
the website for the Rupert J. Smith Law Library of St. Lucie
County. Ms. Lewis seconded the motion and it was unanimously
carried. Judge Conner signed the release
as the Chairman. The contact e-mail is
to be Ms. Everlove.
VI: Annual
Florida State/County Court Law Library Conference:
Ms. Everlove stated that Mr. Walker
asked that she bring to Board’s attention that next weekend is the annual
Florida State/County Court Law Library Conference. Ms. Everlove and Eppy are both attending the conference. Mr. Walker wanted to let the Board know just
in case one of the Trustees wanted to attend the conference.
VII:: As
no further discussion was to be had, the meeting was adjourned.
Dated: November _______, 2007
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Burton C. Conner, Chairman
________________________________________
James T. Walker, Member
________________________________________
Jim Wilder, Member
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Paula A. Lewis