Planning for Change

MBLC Director Rob Maier joined the CMRLS board for an October 20 meeting to talk about upcoming Regional consolidation. In an open dialog, he indicated that he is an active participant in a planning process that will begin in November. Though he is open to recommendations that could range from one to three Regions, he acknowledged that it is highly unlikely that any workable scenario would include six organizations.

The planning begins with two meetings facilitated by Linda Braun. On November 6, the staff of all six Regions will meet to talk about services and customer values. (Please note: the CMRLS office will be closed that afternoon, though delivery will continue as usual.) On December 14, each Regions board, along with some staff of Regions and the MBLC will meet to prioritize and establish a structure for planning. Workgroups will likely be formed. It is hoped that by early spring 2010, a plan for reformulated services will emerge. An orderly transition to the new model will take place in early to mid-FY2011.

CMRLS conducted an exercise to see if we could provide vigorous member service throughout an entire transition year in FY 2011. A reduction of $456,006 (28%) is sustainable for one year and only because we have traditionally paid for some services, notably databases, in one fiscal year for the next fiscal year. You can read more about both our “official” budget and “transition” budget on our annual meeting page at http://www.cmrls.org/about/annualmeeting.htm.