ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
AGENDA
4:00 p.m. Thursday, August 20, 2009
Gegan Room
(If Board Members cannot attend, please notify the Library Office)
CALL TO ORDER:
PUBLIC COMMENT:
AUTHORIZATION OF BILLS:
- List of bills for July 2009.
- List of bills for August 2009.
CONSENT BUSINESS (Motion to approve all unless separate consideration requested):
3. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting June 18, 2009.
4. Minutes. Minutes of Nominatio Committee meeting June 18, 2009.
INFORMATION ITEMS/DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
5. Statistics.
6. Welcome New Board Members.
7. 2010 Library Budget and MOE.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
- Election of Board Officers.
- Appointment of Standing Committees.
- Day/Time of Board Meetings.
- Request for Reconsideration Form Update.
- Staff Retreat Closing.
- Fund-Raising Discussion.
- Trustee Essentials #10.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
15. ADJOURN
UPCOMING MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES
(Including requests for business items for future meetings)
· Library Board Meeting – September 17 at 4:00 pm
Menasha aldermen may attend meetings of this body. A quorum of the Common Council, Board of Public Works, Administration Committee, or Personnel Committee may attend this meeting. No official action of any of those bodies will be taken.
ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY
DIRECTOR’S REPORT – JULY 2009
1. Bills. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of bills as presented for July 2009.
2. Bills. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of bills as presented for August 2009.
CONSENSUS ACTION ITEMS:
3. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting June 18, 2009. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval.
4. Minutes. Minutes of Nomination Committee Meeting June 18, 2009. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
5. Statistics. July was another busy month at the library. We saw our circulation increased overall by 7.7%. The increase came from many of the libraries collections, including books, music CDs, DVDs, and our kits for teachers. Our average for the year at this point is a 7% increase and that is after our record year last year. We are doing very well.
6. Welcome New Board Members. Please join me in welcoming Gary Wisneski and Dave Gundlach to the library board. Gary will be taking the place of Ros Stanke on the board. Dave will be an interim replacement for Keith Fuchs until a new superintendent of schools is hired. Welcome!
7. 2010 Library Budget and MOE. MOE stands for Maintenance of Effort. For libraries to be members of a library system (Winnefox in our case) both the county and municipality that fund them must not fall below MOE: [Wis Stats 43.15(4)(c)(5)]. MOE for libraries in the state is the average of the last three years of funding.
If a community fails to meet MOE, the library loses their membership in their library system. It makes a modern library nonfunctional. We would lose email service, delivery between libraries, access to the shared online catalog, access to the shared circulation system, connection to the computer timing software and much more.
After a preliminary budget talk with the mayor, it is expected that the library will be held to MOE. That means that our budget will be reduced by approximately $22,000 from our 2009 level. In addition, health insurance will be increasing by 8%, retirement by 6%, electricity by 9% and salaries/wages will be increasing by 1%. So the big question with the budget is where to cut. I am afraid that the only area we can take a large cut is our materials budget, though I will be suggesting cutting smaller budget amounts from library performers, program expenses, library supplies and travel/training.
The state does actively enforce MOE requirements for libraries. In your packet you will find a newspaper article on Sheboygan considering cutting their library below MOE earlier this year.
Once the new Finance Committee has been formed, we will be meeting before the September board meeting to decide on budget lines and our budget request to the City.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
8. Election of Board Officers. The Nomination Committee met following the June Board Meeting. They will present their slate of nominees for board officers at the meeting. Nominations from the floor will also be accepted. REQUESTED ACTION: Elect Board officers.
9. Appointment of Standing Committees. Board members need to be appointed to the board’s standing committees. At this time, we do not have any ad hoc committees. The four standing committees of the board are Finance, Policies & Personnel, Building & Grounds, and Investment. A maximum of three board members may be on each committee to avoid issues with quorums. Chairs for each committee must be appointed too. REQUESTED ACTION: Appoint committee members and committee chairs.
10. Day/Time of Board Meetings. At this meeting each year, the board looks at the day and time of our monthly meetings and sees if a change is needed. It works best to have our meetings this late in the month so that bills have arrived, but the day of the week and time can be flexible. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve day and time for board meetings, if change is needed.
11. Request for Reconsideration Form Update. It shows how rarely our request for reconsideration of library materials form is used that the version we had in place was obviously typed on a typewriter. In your July packet, you will find the new version of the form based on the recommendations of the American Library Association. The new version will be made available on our website as well. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve updated Request for Reconsideration Form.
12. Staff Retreat Closing. I have planned a staff retreat for Friday, October 30th. The entire staff will get to hear Jeff Russell speak about Resilience in the Age of Uncertainty. I am asking for the library to be closed the morning of that day, so that all staff can attend. The library would open at 1:00 pm that day. REQUESTED ACTION: Approve half-day closing on Friday, October 30th.
13. Fund Raising Discussion. John Nebel asked for the discussion to continue at the July board meeting about fund raising to help with the elimination of the staff’s 1% increase in July.
14. Trustee Essentials #10. Paul Eisen will be doing a presentation on Trustee Essential #10. Please make sure to have read it yourself and bring any questions you have. I will need a volunteer for Essential #11.
