NORTHVILLE DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 22, 2007 – 7:30 p.m.
Northville District Library Carlo Meeting Room

1.    Chairperson Alan Somershoe called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.  
1.1    Roll Call - Present:  Trustees Alan Somershoe, Jean Hansen, Robert Sochacki, Judy Sherman, Deborah Stanifer, Joe Corriveau and Peggy Koppy.  Also present: Anne Mannisto, Assistant Director; Judith Williams, Administrative Assistant; and Jim Morché, President of the Friends.
Absent:  Julie Herrin, Director.
1.2    Approval of the Agenda:  MOTION:  Jean Hansen made a motion to accept the agenda as presented.  Deborah Stanifer seconded the motion.  Motion passed.
1.3    Approval of the Regular Board Meeting minutes of February 22, 2007:  MOTION:  Jean Hansen pointed out several errors to be corrected in the minutes.  Deborah Stanifer made a motion to accept the minutes of the February 22nd meeting as corrected.  Jean Hansen seconded the motion.  Motion passed.  The report of the Special Meeting on Strategic Planning, held on February 28, was reviewed and will be kept as an attachment to the February Board Meeting minutes.
1.4    Correspondence:  Anne Mannisto passed around an e-mail that thanked Dorie Freebury, Head of the Youth Department, for her assistance in locating information that was ultimately used in the design of a hand crafted guitar.  Anne also passed an email thank you note from Julie Herrin to the Board of Trustees for the Great Harvest Gift Basket that she received following her recent knee replacement surgery.  

2.    Citizens’ Comments: None

3.    Director’s Report:  In Julie Herrin’s absence, Anne Mannisto presented the Directors Report.  
Statistics:  Anne reported that the February door count was down almost 14%, while circulation was up almost 7% from February 2006.  Wireless use continues to increase.  Database accesses from remote locations were 764, while use within the Library was 592.  A large portion of the remote database access was to Rosetta Stone, the new language learning database.  The Internet Computers were down for one day in February, perhaps accounting for the slight drop in usage.  The supervision of Internet access is also stricter.
Youth Programming:  The Drop-in Evening Storytime had 23 participants this month, which ties the record set last month.  The Little Me Storytime had 41 in attendance.  The Youth Department held 21 programs this month with a total of 525 attendees.  The “March is Reading Month” celebration currently has 87 children registered to earn paperback books by completing their reading logs.  The Magic Show was a huge success with 144 in attendance.  Substitute Librarian Kelly Wetschka is now assisting with group visits to the Library.  There were 3 group visits this month: 2 from Main Street School and a Brownie Troop, with a total of 57 children.  
Adult Programming:  The Adult Book Discussion hosted 14 this month.  The Gardening program, featuring Janet Macunovich, had a total of 37 people attending the two programs that the Friends generously helped to pay for.  The movie had an audience of 11 with an interesting discussion following the movie.  The Adult Department held two Internet Classes, with attendance of 6 and 8, and 2 Saturday tutors assisted 4 people with one-on-one help.  The Outreach this month totaled 5 facilities visits reaching 103 seniors and 3 homebound visits.
Teen Services:  The Teen Services Librarian has 109 middle school students registered for the Battle of the Books.  Plans are being finalized for the final team competition on Tuesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. at the Northville High School Cafeteria.  Local area “Celebrities” or officials, possibly from the School Board, Township and City Government, as well as from the Library Board, are being recruited to attend.  
Public relations:  The Spring Newsletter, covering events from March through May, was mailed out in early March.  The next issue of the Newsletter will go out in early June.  The Library and Friends participated in the Taste of Northville, giving away books and candy to a very enthusiastic crowd.  
 Facility:  The shifting on the lower level is almost completed.  Librarians Karen Fehl and Patricia Garavoglia have added book displays to the new slat board ends of the new lower level shelving.
Staff:  Several staff members participated in the “Friends Fast Forward” Annual Meeting.  They answered questions and put on presentations about Library collections.  Karen Fehl attended an MLA workshop at CMU, on Information Literacy, dealing with search engines, blogs and RSS feeds.  Teen Librarian Suzanne Schimanski-Gross will be attending Spring Institute to learn about Teen services.  Al Smitley will be connecting to an online Webinar next week on Digitization.
Contract Status:  Anne reported that the wage and health care benefit changes have been implemented.  Staff will be getting their H.S.A. checkbooks next week.  Two staff members have reduced their coverage or opted out of Library paid health insurance.  Premium contributions are being deducted from paychecks of participating staff members.  The renewal increases for the new Flexible Blue Plan, which take effect in June, are much less than the former PPO coverage.  The Flexible Blue Plan increased 11.42% while the PPO increased 17%.  The total funding of the Health Savings Accounts is $23,750.

4.    Friends Report:  Jim Morché reported that the Friends sent Julie a basket of flowers and best wishes on her recovery from her knee replacement surgery.  The Friends will provide daily treats for Library Staff during National Library Week.  The Friends annual membership drive will begin on March 30.  The Library will be handing out Friends membership applications with new library cards.  The next issue of the Friends Newsletter will be mailed out in mid April.  The Friends Book and Author Luncheon will be on Tuesday, May 1 at Fox Hills, and will feature Steve Lehto, author of “Death’s Door,” a non-fiction account of a fatal fire in upper Michigan in the early 1900’s. Tickets will be for sale at the Circulation Desk of the Library.  The Fall Book Sale is scheduled for September 20 through 23.  

5.    Strategic Plan Report:  Anne Mannisto distributed a corrected sheet on Strategic Plan implementation costs that she had initially sent to the Board Members via e-mail.  The data that was then reviewed related to the development and establishment of a revised web page for the Library, including decentralization of the website administration and creation of an e-mail newsletter.  (Identified as Item 4.1, 4.2 and 1.1)  MOTION:  Jean Hansen moved that the Board accept the recommendations and approve the requested funding to proceed with the Web Page development, decentralization of the website, and establishment of an e-mail Newsletter as set forth by the Task Forces.  Robert Sochacki seconded the motion.  Motion passed.

A discussion on the reorienting and expansion of shelving on the upper level Adult Fiction and Audiobook collection area followed (Identified as Item 5.2).  There was expressed concern that the seating area near the fireplace be kept as close to the current size as possible so as not to affect the ambiance of the seating space.  MOTION:  Robert Sochacki made a motion to approve the funding needed to proceed with the reorientation and expansion of the shelving in the Adult Fiction Area as proposed originally by Library Design, following an additional review of the proposal for cost and space requirements.  Deborah Stanifer seconded the motion.  The motion passed.  

MOTION:  Jean Hansen made a motion to authorize the funding required to implement the necessary steps to hold a Teacher Open House in the fall of 2008 (Identified as Action Step 1.4)  Deborah Stanifer seconded the motion.  The motion passed.

Jean Hansen suggested that the Board of Trustees hold a Study Session to review in depth the topic of a building expansion, before identifying action steps for this Strategic Goal.  The Board will have  the opportunity to examine information submitted by the Architectural firm of Duce Simmons, which reviews possible expansion options that the Library might consider, given its current limited land situation.  A date between the April and May regular Board Meetings will be selected for the Study Session, after Julie returns to work.  
 
Budget and Finance Review:  Deborah Stanifer
6.1    MOTION:  Deborah Stanifer made a motion for approval of payment of the Northville District Library Bills List over $1,000 for March 2007 as presented to the Board.  Judy Sherman seconded the motion.  Motion passed.  
6.2    Deborah reviewed the Draft Financial Reports for February and reported that nearly 90% of revenue has been received.  MOTION:  Deborah made a motion to transfer electronically $346,250 from the Debt Reserve fund to U. S. Bank for the Debt payment due April 1, 2007.  Robert Sochacki seconded the motion.  Motion passed.  
The next Finance Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, April 24, at 4:00 p.m.
 
6.    Announcements and Comments:  
The next scheduled Board of Trustees Regular Meeting is Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. in the Carlo Meeting Room of Northville District Library.  

9.    Alan Somershoe asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting.  MOTION:  Robert Sochacki made a motion to adjourn.  Peggy Koppy seconded the motion.  The meeting was adjourned at 9:06 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Judy Sherman
jw: 3/28/07