NORTHVILLE DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting Minutes
Thursday, February 28, 2008 – 7:30 p.m.
Northville District Library Carlo Meeting Room
1. Chairperson Robert Sochacki called the
Regular Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
1.1 Roll Call - Present:
Trustees Alan Somershoe, Jean Hansen, Deborah Stanifer, Robert
Sochacki, Joe Corriveau and Judy Sherman. Also
present: Julie Herrin, Director; Anne Mannisto, Assistant
Director; Judith Williams, Administrative Assistant; in audience,
Denise LaMotte and Al Smitley, library staff members; Beth Bialy and
Andrea Krasna, Plante & Moran LLPC.
Absent: Peggy Koppy.
1.2 Approval of the Agenda:
MOTION: Robert Sochacki pointed out an error in the
agenda. Jean Hansen made a motion to accept the agenda as
corrected. Joe Corriveau seconded the motion.
Motion passed.
1.3 Approval of the Regular Board Meeting
minutes January 24, 2008: MOTION: Jean Hansen made a motion
to add an omitted budget change to the January 24th minutes, reflecting
the elimination of the expense line for Rental Books, adding that
$2,500 to the expense line for Books and Subscriptions, and to accept
the minutes as amended. Alan Somershoe seconded the
motion. Motion passed.
1.4 Correspondence: Judith
distributed mail to the Trustees present. This was an
invitation to a fund raiser for Growth Works in Plymouth, MI that the
Trustees had been notified about by Julie via e-mail.
2. Citizens’ Comments: None.
3. Audit Review: Plante
& Moran LLPC - Beth Bialy and Andrea Krasna. The
audit was presented for the Trustees review. Beth Bialy noted
that the Library has again received an unqualified opinion, which
indicated that the reporting standards of the Library are in compliance
and meet the highest standards. The Management Discussion and Analysis
was reviewed. Andrea Krasna then directed the Trustees to the
Balance Sheet which shows a decrease in capital assets due to a more
accurate estimate on the value of Books with a useful life of more that
one year. Plante and Moran suggested that the Library
purchase a software package that would track and manage the Library’s
assets more efficiently. MOTION: Jean Hansen made a
motion to accept the Audit as presented by Plante &
Moran. Deborah Stanifer seconded the motion. Motion
passed.
4. Director’s Report:
Statistics: The circulation statistics for January 2008 show
an increase of just over 1%, even though the system was inoperable for
5 days. Remote usage of the databases remains high.
The count of Library Card Holders is relatively high.
Wireless access is averaging 275 to 350 users per month.
Youth Programming: There were 785 children attending 34
different youth programs in the Library this month, with 157 attending
the Pippin Puppet program. The Library had 2 visiting classes
from Main Street School and a Daisy Scout Troop visited the Library to
work on their Leaf Badge.
Adult Programming: The Adult Book Discussion had 19
participants. The Foreign Film hosted 23 and the Internet
Classes had 9 students at the Basic and 8 students at the Advanced
class. The upcoming Baseball Pioneer Era program, scheduled
for Wednesday, March 19, will feature author Peter Morris and members
of the vintage baseball team, Eclipse. This event will also
honor Library Staff member Al Smitley, who has received the national
“Batting for Literacy at your Library” award, in conjunction with the
“Step up to the Plate at your Library” program of the American Library
Association. There will be a program in April featuring
Beekeeper Dyanne Tracy, following the March Book Discussion of the
novel “The Beekeeper’s Apprentice” by Laurie R. King. Mystery
writer Willetta Heising will visit the Library in May to discuss
mysteries and her books “Detecting Women” and “Detecting
Men”. Also in May, the Library will feature Michigan Notable
Author Mark Hoffman, who will discuss his book “My Brave Mechanics: the
first Michigan engineers and their Civil War.” There is a
Northville connection with references to local residents in the book.
Teen Services: Teen Librarian Suzanne Schimanski-Gross and
Trustee Robert Sochacki will be attending the next School Board Meeting
to promote the Battle of the Books and encourage School Board Members
to attend the competition. The registration for the Battle of
the Books stands at 205 participants on 46 teams.
Presentations have been made to the public middle schools regarding the
Battle of the Books and packets of information were sent to the private
schools. The Dance, Dance Revolution held on January 25th had
43 participants, and 4 teens participated in this month’s Book
Discussion.
Staff: There were 63.25 hours of Volunteer assistance this
past month. Julie and Anne are currently developing job
descriptions for the additional staff members that were approved at the
last Board Meeting. Julie and Anne will be attending the
Public Library Association conference in Minneapolis next
month. Staff members have attended a webinar on Morningstar
and some staff members will be attending a seminar on Teaching
Technology in Libraries and a workshop presented by Midwest Tape on
using their database. Jeannine Davidson will be attending the
Realistic Fiction workshop.
Public Relations: The Spring Newsletter is going out the
first week in March. The Library has received great print
coverage during the past weeks. The Friends of the Library
will be sponsoring a booth at the Taste of Northville on Saturday,
March 8; Anne Mannisto and Judith Williams will
assist.
Technology: Michael has replaced all of the public computers
and has loaded Rosetta Stone onto these workstations for public,
in-house access.
Collections: The Library is reviewing Reference USA’s
International Business Database “One Source” for addition to the
Database collection.
5. Friends Report: In the
absence of a representative from the Friends, a letter from Paul Snyder
was read. The Friends have acquired a new software package
designed to track memberships, donations and other information vital to
the operation of a non-profit organization. The membership
committee is preparing an insert to be placed in the Northville
Record. The Friends will be co-sponsoring the Book and Author
Luncheon at the Fox Hills Country Club again this year. This
event is scheduled for Wednesday, May 14.
6. Budget and Finance Review:
Deborah Stanifer
6.1 MOTION: Treasurer Deborah
Stanifer made a motion to approve payment of the balance of Northville
District Library bills over $1,000 for February 2008, as presented to
the Board. Jean Hansen seconded the motion. Motion
passed. Deborah reported that the Finance Committee has been
working on the Library’s Five-Year Plan and plans to complete it at
that the next Finance Committee Meeting, on Tuesday, March 18th at 3:00
p.m.
6.2 The Board was given draft copies of
the Financial Report for the Operating Fund for January.
Everything seems to be in good stead for the Fiscal Year so far.
6.3 MOTION: Deborah made a motion to have the Debt Payment of
$363,000 transferred to meet the required due date of March
31. Jean Hansen seconded the motion. Motion
carried.
7. Committee Reports:
Personnel Committee
Robert Sochacki, the 2007 Personnel Committee chairperson, passed out
copies of Julie Herrin’s performance evaluation for the Board to
review. He noted that the process went well and appreciated
Julie’s preparation of achievements in the elements that made up the
evaluation.
7.1 Judy Sherman, the 2008 Personnel
Committee Chair, then offered recommendations to the Board for the 2008
salaries for Judith, Anne and Julie. The Personnel Committee
recommended a 3% increase for Judith, effective March 1. This
brings her annual rate to $45,346.78. MOTION: Jean Hansen
made a motion to accept the Personnel Committee’s
recommendation. Alan Somershoe seconded the motion.
Motion passed.
7.2 The recommendation for Anne Mannisto
is an increase of 4%, which reflects her increased responsibilities and
additional workload during Julie’s 2007 medical leave. This
increase will bring Anne’s annual rate to $69,000. MOTION:
Jean Hansen made a motion to amend Anne’s current contract and accept
the Personnel Committee’s salary recommendation. Deborah
Stanifer seconded the motion. Motion passed.
7.3 The Personnel Committee recommended a
new two-year contract for Julie Herrin with a 3% salary increase during
the first year of the contract. This increase will bring
Julie’s annual rate to $81,973.58, which is in the middle of the
Directors salaries for Class IV Libraries. MOTION:
Joe Corriveau made a motion to accept the Personnel Committee’s
recommendation. Alan Somershoe seconded the motion.
Motion passes.
Facilities Committee
7.4 Fire Suppression System- The
Facilities Committee Chair Alan Somershoe reported that following a
discussion with Michael McEvoy and a brief inspection of the Server
Room and the equipment housed within, it is their recommendation that
the Library proceed with the application for a Risk Avoidance Program
Grant (RAP) through the Michigan Municipal Risk Management
Authority. There is concern regarding whether one of the
walls in the Server Room is currently fire proof. The
committee discussed the advantages of proceeding with the recommended
Sinorex™ Fire Suppression system and suggested that the Library proceed
with the system, even if it does not receive the RAP Grant.
Julie will complete and submit the Grant Application.
7.5 Energy Assessment – The Facilities
Committee reported that a representative from ATI Group had attended
the Facilities Committee meeting as a follow-up to an energy assessment
conducted by 3 ten-year-old boys who were competitors in the First Lego
League competition. ATI Group requested an opportunity to
submit a proposal for a comprehensive Energy Audit of the
Library. The Facilities Committee agreed that they could
submit a proposal, with the understanding that subsequently any work
that is proposed may require the competitive bidding process.
ATI Group will submit a proposal for a comprehensive Energy Audit of
the Library for the Facilities Committee’s review.
7.6 Landscaping – The Facilities
Committee reported that Juliana Cerra had submitted a proposal for
landscaping around the Library Kiosk as requested by Julie.
Juliana also included pricing for replacement of the viburnum hedge row
that lines the garden, stairway and lower level curve of the retaining
wall. The viburnums would be replaced with hardy
boxwoods. Julie reported that funding for this project has
been requested from the Friends as part of this year’s Wish List from
the Library and she feels confident that the Friends will approve the
request. The Facilities Committee recommends that the Library
proceed with this landscaping project.
8. Announcements and Comments:
Julie directed the Board Members attention to the portrait of John
Carlo and showed them the contrast between the old portrait and the
restored portrait. Local photographer Steve Fecht restored
the portrait and Sherrus Gallery mounted and re-framed the
portrait. Both of these merchants then donated their work to
the Library. Julie noted that she is contacting them both to
express the Library’s gratitude.
The Finance Committee Meeting for February will be held at 3 p.m. on
Wednesday, March 18, 2008.
The next regular meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 20,
2008, in the Carlo Meeting Room. This meeting date is the
third Thursday due to Julie and Anne attending the PLA Conference.
9. MOTION: Chair, Robert
Sochacki asked for a motion to adjourn. Alan Somershoe made a
motion to adjourn. Judy Sherman seconded the
motion. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Joe Corriveau
jw: 2/7/2008