May 15, 2007 Board Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING
ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
May 15, 2007

Call to order and roll call at 4:02 p.m. by President O'Brien
Present: LaFaive, O'Brien, Stanke
Absent: Butler, Eckstein, Englebert, Foth, Fuchs
Also present: Director Saecker, M. Loch-Wouters (Head of Children's Services), K. Seefeldt (Administrative Assistant)

Per State Statute 43.54(1)(e), members present voted to continue the meeting with a lack of majority quorum.

Authorization of Bills

1. Motion to authorize payment of May list of bills from the 2007 budget by LaFaive, seconded by Stanke, and carried unanimously.

Consent Business

2. Approve minutes from the Library Board meeting of April 17, 2007.
3. Approve minutes of the Building & Grounds Committee meeting of May 8, 2007.
Motion
Motion to approve minutes from the Library Board meeting of April 17, 2007 and the Building & Grounds Committee meeting of May 8, 2007 by LaFaive, seconded by Stanke, and carried unanimously.

Director's Report/Information Items

4. Statistics. The library lent 36,640 items in April - a 7.5% increase over April '06. Book lending was up 10.3 % in the Adult Department and 6.7% in the Children's Department.
5. Signage. We received a quotation from Orde Sign, which included the cost of the sign and the cost of the electronic message center component. Considering that the message center accounts for two-thirds of the $20,000+ cost of the sign, the committee decided to proceed with plans for a lighted sign without the component. The sign will be constructed so that if we choose to raise funds for the message center in the future, that component may be added without much difficulty. LaFaive still favors having a message board, and asked the committee to consider the option of installing one that is manually operated. This will be included for discussion at the next Committee meeting.
6. New Website. Our new website is nearly complete. Dir. Saecker encouraged Board members to check it out, in particular the children's and teens' sections. We will begin using the new site in June, with a soft debut in mid-May. LaFaive stated that he had recently visited the new website and noted that it was very well done.
7. Fox Valley Library Council. Dir. Saecker is now President-Elect of the Fox Valley Library Council. This Council supports public, academic and school libraries in the Fox Valley and in all of Winnefox's service areas.

Discussion/Action Items

8. Adult Services Department Head. The position has been offered to Joe Bongers, who currently works in the Reference Department at Neenah Public Library. Dir. Saecker recommended that he start at Salary Step 5 on the Librarian III Supervisor scale and that he receive a vacation bump in 2009 to the five-year service level of 3 weeks. He is scheduled to receive a 1.5% cost of living adjustment on September 1 along with other eligible library employees.
Motion
Motion to approve hiring Joe Bongers as Adult Services Department Head starting at Salary Step 5 of the Librarian III scale with an increase to 3 weeks vacation in 2009 by LaFaive, seconded by Stanke, and carried unanimously.
9. Act 150 and Act 420. Relative to Act 420, an agreement has been reached to not bill Outagamie Waupaca Library System for their usage as long as they do not bill libraries in Winnebago County. This decision allows us to continue to operate under the existing agreement we have with that library system.
Motion
Motion to continue supporting the existing usage agreement between Outagamie Waupaca Library System and Winnebago County by Stanke, seconded by LaFaive, and carried unanimously.
Calumet County has requested that we provide a bill to them to meet the requirements of Act 150 for costs incurred by rural county residents who have checked out items from our library. They have also asked that we phase in the new rates over a 3-year period. Until now, Calumet County has been paying us 35% of the actual costs. Act 150 requires that we be paid a minimum of 70%. Dir. Saecker presented the following three-year repayment plan for the Board's consideration: 2008 (50%) $49,970, 2009 (60%) $59,964 and 2010 (70%) $69,958. Discussion ensued.
Motion
Motion to approve billing Calumet County using the three-year plan as presented with the understanding that it may be amended in further negotiations by Stanke, seconded by LaFaive, and carried unanimously.
10. NOVUS - Online Agenda & Minutes System. The City is using NOVUS software to prepare agendas and minutes. The system has proven to be complicated and time-consuming. The platform that we are using for our new library website allows the entire site to be keyword searchable. This gives patrons and community residents the ability to search our minutes and agendas and to view them in their entirety with ease. Dir. Saecker recommended that we continue to use our website rather than NOVUS to make minutes and agendas readily available to the public
Motion
Motion to approve using the library's website rather than NOVUS to make minutes and agendas available to the public by LaFaive, seconded by Stanke, and carried unanimously.
11. Library Hours. Dir. Saecker has reviewed our usage patterns over the past few months. Circulation is fairly evenly spread out over the course of the day, except for the early morning period of 8:30-9:00 a.m. which tends to be low. Dir. Saecker believes it would not be prudent to consider restoring Sunday hours unless funding cuts which eliminated those hours are restored. She also noted that our library closes earlier on Fridays than others in our library system. We may want to consider implementing a change that would allow us to remain open until 6:00 p.m. on that day. She recommended that the Long Range Planning Committee address the issue of library hours.
12. Board/Staff Social. In previous years, library staff were given an opportunity to get to know our Board members by means of a social gathering at a local restaurant. Appetizers were provided courtesy of the library. Dir. Saecker would like to start that tradition again, perhaps gathering one evening on the deck at Naut's Landing. This will be brought up for discussion at the July meeting when new Board members are present.