Minutes of Regular Meeting
ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
Elisha D. Smith Public Library Gegan Room
July 17, 2014
Call to order at 4:05 p.m. by President Murray.
Present: Eisen, Golz, Kiley, Murray, Nichols, VanderHeyden, Wicihowski and Kaminski (teen rep)
Absent: Crawmer
Also Present: Director Lenz, K. Beson (Head of Children’s Services), J. Bongers (Head of Adult Services), C. Brandt (Head of Support Services), K. Dreyer (Administrative Assistant) and library patron Lorin Ganzel
Public Comment/Communication
Director Lenz received a letter from Young, Schuster and Maslowski Attorneys at Law stating that the Menasha Public Library has been named as a beneficiary in the estate of Marsha Swilley.
Election of Officers
The slate of officers for the 2014/2015 term presented by the Nominating Committee were:
President: Murray
Vice President: Crawmer
Secretary: Wicihowski
President Murray asked for additional nominations from the floor three times. None were made. Nichols moved and VanderHeyden seconded to close nominations and elect the slate of officers as presented. Motion carried unanimously. Murray pointed out that the board policy is that no one shall hold the office of president for more than three consecutive one year terms, and the 2014-2015 year is Murray’s third term.
Appointment of Committees
President Murray made the following appointments to the Library Board’s Standing Committees:
Finance: Chair Murray, Eisen, Golz VanderHeyden
Policies & Personnel: Chair Wicihowski, Crawmer, Nichols
Building & Grounds: Chair Murray, Wicihowski, Kiley
Investments: Chair Murray, Golz, VanderHeyden
Fundraising: Chair Crawmer, Kiley, Wicihowski
Our new teen representative is MHS student Kayleigh Kaminski.
Consent Business
Motion to approve Library Board meeting minutes from June 19, 2014, and accept the meeting minutes of the Fundraising Committee from June 19, 2014, made by Eisen and seconded by Kiley. Nichols asked if a date, time, and place had been decided on for the chili cook-off. Lenz stated that the committee is meeting after the board meeting to discuss. Motion carried unanimously.
Authorization of Bills
Motion to authorize payment of the July list of bills from the 2014 budget as presented by Nichols and seconded by Wicihowski. Golz asked about the Naviant invoice. Bongers explained that it is for microfilm scanner preventative maintenance. Motion carried unanimously.
Director’s Report/Information Items
1. June Statistics. There were no questions regarding the statistics.
2. Budget Update. Lenz reported that 49.6% of the year has passed and 51.2% of the budget has been spent. Eisen asked if the amount of fines collected ($7,793.00) included fines that were written off. Lenz explained that it is only monies collected and that the $18,000 budgeted is based on past experience. At next month’s meeting Eisen would like mention of what percentage is written off for fines including Reading for Fines and Food for Fines.
3. Endowment Report. There were no questions about the endowment report. Golz met with Curt Detjen, President of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, regarding the investment of the Fox Cities Exhibition Center. He reported that 3% of the investment pool ($5,000,000.00) will be invested in Series B Bonds. They are still working on the conditions for approval for the investment, the bonds will be repaid from a 2-4% room tax in the Fox Cities not revenue, and 9 municipal units in the Fox Cities all have to approve the tax. All of these pieces have to be in place before the Community Foundation investment will be made.
4. Staff Reports.
• Beson reported that 812 children enrolled in the summer reading program. They just finished the last of the performer programs with attendance ranging from 160-250 people.
• Bongers reported that teen summer reading program sign-up is slightly down from last year and the adult enrollment is slightly up.
• Lenz reported that we leased a new public photocopier for $122.88 per month. We received a refund in the amount of $558.33 for the remaining annual maintenance on the previous photocopier. Also, the chemical feed control is no longer working and we need to replace the entire controller which will cost $1,500.
• The summer paperback book sale raised almost $300.
• Most of the mid-year reviews have been completed.
5. Strategic Plan Update. Lenz explained that the goals and objectives to the strategic plan that are blue have been completed and the ones in green are in process. Items completed on an annual basis are evaluated. Eisen would like to change the goal of library materials increase by 5% by 2018 to increase by 1% each year so that it can be measured, it is better defined and more achievable. Beson explained that there were 6-7 additional teachers getting teacher packets as a result of inviting them to the library. All the students of Maplewood Middle School came to the library in April. It is difficult to determine if they are coming in more since the young adults get lumped into the adult statistics.
6. Fundraising Committee Report. The Fundraising Committee is focusing on the chili cook-off. The Menasha Rotary Club is helping plan and give the event. The sign has been ordered for the aluminum can collection. Wicihowski made a sample book basket, which will raise funds in a silent auction at the cook-off.
Discussion/Action Items
7. Staff Restructuring. Lenz explained that the cities of Appleton and Neenah both recently completed wage studies. Comparison of wages with Appleton and Neenah showed a marked difference among aides/clerks and supervisors. She is proposing combining the aide and part-time clerk positions into a new position that does all support services, similar to Neenah’s library assistant position. Technology changes, changes to the amount of workload, and scheduling difficulties have already made this a de facto change. She proposes creating a new combined wage scale for that position: aides’ pay would increase when moved onto the new scale, part-time clerks’ pay would remain the same but their scale would top out quicker. No change would be made to the two full-time clerks’ position or pay grade. Also, the supervisors are being paid significantly less in comparison to Appleton and Neenah. Lenz proposed increasing the wage scale for supervisors to $51,140 to $68,765 annually and putting all three supervisors on the same step in the wage scale. This doesn’t amount to an immediate increase for two of them, but the scale would top out at a higher rate. Eisen asked how this would affect the budget. Lenz explained that this would cost $4,035 more for aides/clerks and $1,540 more for supervisors and that both amounts are covered by other changes made this year to the Administrative Assistant position and library maintenance staffing. There have been no talks about the City of Menasha changing the step system. Nichols suggested providing comparisons with other municipalities similar in size. The Finance Committee will discuss at their next meeting.
8. Set date/time for meetings of Finance Committee, Investments Committee and Buildings & Grounds. Lenz will conduct a Doodle poll for meeting dates and times.
9. Set date/time of this year’s board meetings. Consensus was that 4:00 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month is still good time for the board to meet.
10. Review of Trustee Essentials: Chapter 19. Nichols summarized this chapter, which focuses on library director certification. Next month, VanderHeyden will review Chapter 20. Murray asked that this rotation among board members to be alphabetical from now on.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:10 p.m. was made by Kiley and seconded by Eisen. Motion carried unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Dreyer, recording secretary
