Rochester Library Board Meeting – April 20, 2026 (Note: Source Materials Dated April 15, 2026)
Rochester Library Board Meeting – April 20, 2026
Note: The agenda and minutes list the meeting date as April 15, 2026, but the user-provided instruction specifies the meeting occurred on April 20, 2026. This summary follows the user-provided date.
The Rochester Library Board held a regular meeting on April 20, 2026, at 5:27 p.m. (adjournment time from source). All eight present members voted unanimously on all items; Leah Baethke was absent. The board received updates from partner organizations, approved consent agenda items including $150,094.90 in accounts payable, accepted the annual review of Library Director Karen Lemke, approved a Teen Library Council pilot project, updated four policies, adopted strategic plan measurements, and approved both a marketing plan and a data collection plan for the downtown parking pilot.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the agenda as presented (motion by Mary E Sancomb-Moran, second by Ryan Mihalak).
- Accepted the minutes of the March 18, 2026 meeting.
- Approved total disbursements of $150,094.90 for April 9, 2026.
- Accepted March 2026 monthly reports (including statistics, expenditures, income, revenue, programs).
- Accepted contracts signed by the Library Director.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Updates and Reports
- Rochester Public Library Foundation Report: Executive Director Brenda Kardock reported a new website (RPLMN Foundation.org and lovemyrpl.org), plans for quarterly e-newsletters, four new board members, and summer initiatives. She thanked Jeremiah for website work.
- Friends of the Rochester Public Library Update: Board President Val Kaliszewski announced a new website (RPLMNfriends.org), a city-wide garage sale on May 16, 2026 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Bookmobile Garage (with free dock with purchase), and extended bookstore hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
- Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (SELCO) Update: Board member Laura Wheatman reported policy review, legislative day attendance, and a planned reduction in the number of libraries in the SELCO network (membership agreements from the 1980s). Each library will be contacted individually to confirm participation.
- Planning Committee Update: Emily J Soltis reported that the committee reviewed key measurements for the strategic plan.
- Executive Committee Update: Steve Baule reported on a library van, Teen Library Council, moving board meetings to the second floor starting May, improving digital accessibility, and scheduling a Friends/Foundation board summit for September/October.
- Personnel Committee Update: Steve Baule presented the annual review of Library Director Karen Lemke, which the board unanimously accepted (motion by Adam F Nelson, second by Nicholas J Goetzfridt).
Discussion Items
- Teen Library Council Pilot Project: Youth services team will relaunch a Teen Library Council starting fall 2026. Seven teens will be selected (applications in July), with two designated as library board representatives (primary and alternate). The council will meet the second Wednesday of each month and report to the board.
- Policy Updates: The Policy Committee recommended updates to four policies: Cash Control Policy (changed 'money machines' to 'payment kiosks', added auditor language), Contract Approval Policy (deputy directors can approve contracts when director is away), Expenditure Policy (no changes, retains flexibility for supervisors), and Staff Ethics Policy (removed a sentence on equity/accessibility/anti-racism as it was deemed better placed elsewhere). Approved unanimously.
- Strategic Plan Measurements: Approved measurements including cardholder saturation rate (by census tract, targeting lower-income areas), percent of standard operating procedures documented (goal of 100%), percent of FTE cross-trained (for generalist preparation), completion of an advocacy plan by end of year. Board members discussed non-cardholder activity measurement and cross-training definitions.
- Parking Pilot Marketing Plan: Presented by staff member Jeremiah. A $13,000 campaign funded by the Foundation. Targeted audiences: families with children, newer renters, occasional users. Key messaging: "Stay a little longer, discover a lot more." Paid media includes Facebook/Instagram ($3,000), local digital ads (Rochester Local) and Google Ads, summer city mailer to 60,000+ households, video ads on YouTube and Disney+/Hulu ($6,000, estimated 300,000 impressions). In-library signage, email to 27,000 cardholders, partner channels (City/County social, RDA). Launches May pre-launch, full June 1. Measures: awareness, behavioral change (parking validations, length of stay), equity (new card registrations by census tract). Approved unanimously.
- Parking Pilot Data Collection Plan: Presented by Kate Putzman, Data and Outcomes Supervisor. Revised survey questions from last meeting. Logic: ask if used pilot; if yes, how extra hour spent (library, downtown businesses, lunch, etc.) and if it met needs; if no, why not. Also ask about hearing about pilot, support for donation to continue funding (Foundation/Friends), preference for satellite locations vs. downtown parking. Demographic questions to be added per board suggestion. Other data points: card registrations (total and same-day as validation), circulation by item type, program attendance, length of stay from parking ramp invoice (time in/out), cost of pilot. Board discussed correlation vs. causation, interest in children's book circulation and play area usage. Approved with amendments (including demographics and a drop-down for hearing about pilot).
Key Outcomes
- All motions passed unanimously (8-0, with Leah Baethke absent).
- Accepted annual review of Library Director Karen Lemke.
- Approved Teen Library Council pilot project.
- Approved updates to Cash Control, Contract Approval, Expenditure, and Staff Ethics policies.
- Approved strategic plan measurements.
- Approved $13,000 parking pilot marketing plan.
- Approved parking pilot data collection plan (with amendments).
- Meeting adjourned at 5:27 p.m.
Informational Items
- The library entrance sidewalk is closed due to construction; board member noted signage should clearly indicate library access is open.
Meeting Transcript
Rochester Public Library Board meeting. You can attend the data here in person in the library auditorium or stream the meeting by the library search channel. And the recording will be made available after meeting on the city's website. Other any public comments. Alright. Roll call for it. Emily is present. Here. Yeah. Here, Steve. All three feet. Okay, I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Thank you. All in favor. Motion is all right, motion passes. Rochester Public Library Foundation. It has been. So we have a new website started today, just like the library, and is RPLMN Foundation, which is kind of a mouthful. So we also got a secondary URL, lovemyrpl.org, which will be easier to communicate when we're, you know, on radio or T or something like that. We are looking to into the possibility of developing quarterly Enutha newsletters because the mailing is going away. And I'll be looking for library advocates and library lovers to highlight. So I'm looking at you guys. I might send you an invitation and see if you might want to talk about maybe why you joined the library board and why you think it's a great resource behind here. We also have new board members. We have four new board members. And Christy is from Premier Bank, Minnesota. Zachary is from IBM, Michael is from Mayo, and Jessica is from Eagle Rock Bank. We're working on our summer business assets and patron letter. We're working on RPO with a youth designated donor gift, but we're really excited to see how that's gonna take shape in the youth services area. And we'll be moving our board meetings to even ones that we can have both cross-bome stream. And I do really want to give a big shout out to Jeremiah because he's put on a lot of work on our website, the library website, and the friends website. I know he was working late nights and weekend hours, so if you have a chance to, please think too. Does anybody have any questions? Hi, I'm Val Kalashewski, President of the Friends, and uh like Brenda mentioned with the foundation. The Friends also has a new website. Um at launched today. Uh our URL is RPOMN friends.org. Um also, yes, thank you to Jeremiah for porting our original web pages from our old website onto the new one to get us started. Um then also um Pat Stevenson is our very creative, long-standing volume TO just loves selling things, and she came to asked me uh a couple of weeks ago. She said, Do you think I can have a sale in Bookmobile Garage? And I said, I don't know, I'll ask. And so I asked Jeremiah and he's like, I'm not sure we ever did that. And I said, um, yes, we have. Uh, when this building was first built, they thought with the store we weren't going to need to have large sales anymore. Well, within a year and a half, they had so much inventory that they couldn't move it through the store. We had um sale in the bookmobile garage in conjunction with Rochester First, and they did that for 11 years before we finally got permission to move all of our book sales here in the auditorium. So we did get permission. Um Pat has been collecting things that are not books. Um, and there's a city wide garage sale going on that same weekend. So Saturday, May 16 from 10 a.m.
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