NORTHVILLE DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 24, 2005 – 7:30 p.m.
Northville District Library Carlo Meeting Room

1. Chairperson Jean Hansen called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
1.1 Roll Call - Present: Trustees Jean Hansen, Gail Barget, Alan Somershoe, Judy Sherman, Robert Sochacki, and Deborah Stanifer; also present: Jim Morche, newly President of the Friends; Julie Herrin, Director; Anne Mannisto, Assistant Director; and Judith Williams, Administrative Assistant.
Absent: Trustee Anne Bright.
1.2 Approval of the Agenda. MOTION: Gail Barget moved to accept the agenda as revised, switching the order of presentation of the Audit Information and the Friends Report. Judy Sherman seconded the motion. Motion passed.
1.3 Approval of the regular Meeting minutes for February 23, 2005. MOTION: Gail Barget moved to accept the February 24, 2005 minutes as corrected. Alan Somershoe seconded the motion. Motion carried.
1.4 Citizens’ Comments: None.

2. Correspondence: None

3. Audit Report: Beth Bialy and Kristy Latchaw of Plante and Moran presented the 2004 Audit findings to the Board. The Library was issued an unqualified opinion by Plante and Moran, which is the highest rating possible. It was noted that this year’s Financial Report has been changed to reflect a full accrual accounting method due to the newly initiated GASB 34 requirements. Beth Bialy also indicated that all future audits would require that a Management Discussion and Analysis from the Director be incorporated into the Financial Report. She also discussed the advisability of establishing a new line item within the Reserve Fund to designate money that will begin to be required to fund Retiree Health Care. Starting in 2010, the Library will be required to place these funds in a Trust Fund, which can be invested differently than the Reserve Fund. The Library Board also questioned Beth on the Investment Policy of the Library. She related that Michigan law limits library investments to bonds, CD’s, commercial paper at the two highest ratings, and mutual funds. The J Fund that the Library currently utilizes is Comerica Bank’s Governmental Asset Investment Fund. Julie will contact Comerica to inquire if there are other funds that the Library might invest in with a higher return.

4. Friends Report: Jim Morche, the new Friends President elected at the March 19th Annual Meeting, gave a brief overview of his personal background and his experience with the Friends Board over the past two years. He reported that all incumbent Friends Board Officers were reelected and that three new members were elected to the Board: Dr. Eugenie Beall, Recording Secretary and Newsletter Editor; Karen Dossett, and Eileen Dunn. Jim reported that the Friends are working to expand the Board to relieve the workload of the current Board Members. Jim reported that there would not be a Spring Used book sale this year, and that plans are still being formulated for the spring Book and Author luncheon. He thanked Anne Mannisto for the informative program on the history of the Library, which was presented at the Annual Meeting and reported that the Friends are reviewing the Library’s Wish List for 2005.

5. Director’s Report: Julie Herrin reported that the library’s circulation statistics for February were up over last year. Wireless usage is at its highest since the program started. The Youth Computer usage remains steady. In-library usage of databases shows 834 accesses, with remote access at 497. Remote Catalog usage is at 1,714, while there were 23,866 visitors to the Library Web Page. The Door count is up 14.4% to 13,202 patrons.
Youth Programming: Julie reported that there were 22 story times and special activities for children this past month. All four of the TOT spring story times are full, as are the story times for 4 & 5 year olds. Little Me Story Time had 63 attendees, while the Spring Craft event had 65 participants. The Reading Month event has given 104 paperback books to children who have read 10 or more books this month. Story time with WOMC’s Dana Masucci was held earlier this evening.
Adult Programming: Jeannine was a judge for the Senior Center Spelling Bee. This month’s book discussion had 10 participants. The daytime DIA program had 28 attendees, while the afternoon program had 5 in attendance. Jeannine visited 6 outreach locations and presented to 105 people and arranged 3 homebound deliveries. Joe Gagnon, the Appliance Doctor will be the featured program on March 31, 2005.
Teen Programming: There were 11 attendees to the Teen Movie and Munchies this month. The book discussion, “Cheating Lessons”, with author Nan Willard Cappo, has 13 teens registered.
Staff: Julie reported that Denise LaMotte started as Reference Clerk on Monday, March 21. This brings us now to full staff.
Facility: Julie reported that the two Mechanical Engineering Firms that were referred to us by Duce Simmons have contacted Judith to provide a proposal related to the HVAC issues in the library. Their proposals will be submitted by April 8, after which the Facilities Committee can schedule a meeting to review their suggestions for future repairs, maintenance or changes to the HVAC system.
Public Relations: Julie reported that the Library along with the Friends of the Library participated in The Chamber of Commerce event, “Taste of Northville”. The Library’s display explained many of the free services offered at the Library while the Friends passed out cookies and free paperback books. Children’s Books were very popular. Julie also spoke at the Downtown Planning Meeting. Julie also passed around information on the Ernie Harwell and Alan Trammell baseball fundraiser for libraries to be held at Comerica Park on May 15. Anne reported that the Customer Service Brochure has been sent to the printer and will be available for National Library Week.
Collections: Julie reported that the Library is requesting assistance from the Friends to begin digitization of historical documents. The Michigan Library Digitization Task Force is moving forward with plans for the application and award process for $965,000 in 2004-05 state funding. Libraries statewide can apply for grants to digitize materials currently in the possession of libraries in the state to preserve, store, and make these digitized images accessible via the Michigan eLibrary. Applications forms will be finalized soon and Al is attending a workshop on April 21. The assistance from the Friends to begin this project will put us in good position to qualify for Grant monies.

5. Budget and Finance Review: Jean Hansen
5.1 Bills Payable: MOTION: Jean Hansen presented the list of bills for March. Robert Sochacki made a motion for approval of payment for the expenses of the Northville District Library Bills List over $1,000 for March 2005, as presented to the Board. Gail Barget seconded the motion. Motion passed.
5.2 Financial Reports: Jean Hansen distributed Financial Reports from November 04, December 04, and January 05, which were revised due to the completion of the Audit. The Financial Reports for February were also presented for review. She noted that 96% of the Library’s Operating Revenue has now been received. Jean requested a motion to transfer a balance of $4,015.36 to the Debt Fund. This money was deposited in the Library Operating Fund in error by the City of Northville. The Funds should have been initially deposited in the Debt Fund. MOTION: Alan Somershoe made the motion to transfer $4,015.36 from the Operating J Fund to the Debt Fund to correct the error made by the City. Robert Sochacki seconded the motion. Motion passed. Jean Hansen also requested a motion to pay the Library’s Debt Payment that is due on April 1, 2005. MOTION: Robert Sochacki made the motion to transfer $315,650 from the Debt Fund to US Bank Corporate Services to pay the Library Debt payment due on April 1, 2005. Judy Sherman seconded the motion. Motion passed. Jean Hansen also requested a motion to authorize the electronic transfer of $115,538 from Operating to Reserve for 2004, with allocations to Facilities Preservatoin and Retiree Health Care. MOTION: Alan Somershoe made the motion to transfer $50,000 to the Facilities Preservation Line of the Reserve Fund. Deborah Stanifer seconded the Motion. Motion passed. MOTION: Alan Somershoe then made the motion to transfer $65,538 to a Line Item to be established as “Retiree Health Care”. Gail Barget seconded the Motion. Motion carried.

6. Committee Reports:
6.1 Alan Somershoe reported on the Personnel Committee’s meeting to establish the administrative staff salaries for 2005 held on February 28, 2005. The Committee made the following salary recommendations:
· Director’s contract salary to be increased from $67,500 to $75,000 to be retroactive effective March 1, 2005.
· Assistant Director’s contract salary to be increased from $59,500 to $62,500 to be retroactive effective March 1, 2005.
· Administrative Assistant salary to be increased from $39,500 to $41,500 to be retroactive effective March 1, 2005.
In addition to the wage increases, the Personnel Committee is initiating an employee contribution to the medical insurance premium, to be included in the contracts for the Director and Assistant Director and making it procedure for the Administrative Assistant. The employee contribution will be 10% of the premium for a single employee and 20% of the difference of the premium to cover a spouse or family of an employee. The Personnel Committee’s recommendations were discussed. MOTION: Alan made the motion for the Board to pass the recommendation for the increase in the Directors contract salary to $75,000 with the appropriate contribution toward medical insurance premium. Judy Sherman seconded the motion. Motion passed. MOTION: Alan then made a motion for the Board to pass the recommendation for the increase in the Assistant Directors contract salary to $62,500 with the appropriate contribution toward medical insurance premium. Deborah Stanifer seconded the motion. Motion passed. MOTION: Alan Somershoe made a motion for the Board to pass the recommendation for the increase in the Administrative Assistant’s wages to $41,500 with the appropriate contribution toward medical insurance premium being established as policy for this position. Gail Barget seconded the motion. Motions passed. Deductions for the employees’ contribution toward medical insurance premiums will be withheld twice monthly on a pre-tax basis and will begin effective with the first paycheck of April 2005.
6.2 Policy Committee: The meeting scheduled for March 9 was rescheduled for Monday April 4, at 6:30 p.m.
6.3 Facilities Committee: The Facilities Committee scheduled a meeting for April 25 at 6:30 in the Carlo Meeting Room to review the information expected from the two Mechanical Engineering Firms related to the HVAC system.
6.4 Development Committee: The Board reviewed the correspondence from the Community Foundation related to the monetary distribution available to the Library this year. MOTION: Robert Sochacki made a motion to allow the funds to be reinvested in the Library’s Endowment Fund rather than having the Library take the distribution available for this year. Gail Barget seconded the motion. Motion carried.

7. Other Business: The Board discussed the proposal received from the WJSchroer Company as the “next step” in the development of a Strategic Plan for the library. The Board determined that they are seeking assistance to establish two or three major goals to meet the needs of the library, to develop a plan that is workable, to create a minimum of task forces to guide the progress to attain established goals, and to seek assistance in updating the Strategic Plan and measure progress annually. The Board agreed with Mr. Schroer’s proposal on the importance of having a preliminary Strategic Plan meeting with the Board, Staff members and other interested persons who attended the presentation on the findings of the Community Satisfaction Survey. This would be an important step toward updating the Library’s existing Strategic Plan.

MOTION: Alan Somershoe made the motion to establish an initial budget of $10,000 to begin the strategic planning process with the WJSchroer Company as outlined in the March 4, 2005 proposal. Robert Sochacki seconded the motion. Motion passed. The Board also agreed that it would be important to inform the Community of the findings of the Satisfaction Survey and to thank survey responders. We would also share why we believed the survey was important and what we learned by doing it. Anne Mannisto will explore how this information will be distributed

8. Announcements and Comments: The next Board meeting will be held in the Carlo Meeting Room of the Northville District Library at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 28, 2005. MOTION: Alan Somershoe made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Robert Sochacki seconded the motion. Motion passes. Meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted

Robert Sochacki
jw: 3/29/05