ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES
AGENDA
4:00 p.m. Thursday, October 15, 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 October 2009.
CONSENT BUSINESS (Motion to approve all unless separate consideration requested):
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting September 17, 2009.
INFORMATION ITEMS/DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
3. John Nebel
4. Emergency Response
5. Statistics.
6. Endowment Donation.
7. Meeting Room Use.
8. Unspent Library Funds.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
- 2010 Budget.
- Director’s Performance Review.
- Trimming the Tree.
- Robert’s Rules of Order.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
13. ADJOURN
UPCOMING MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES
(Including requests for business items for future meetings)
· Library Board Meeting – November 19 at 4:00 pm
· WLA Annual Conference in Appleton – Oct 20-23
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 – October 2009
1. Bills. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of bills as presented for October 2009.
CONSENSUS ACTION ITEMS:
2. Minutes. Minutes of Board meeting September 17, 2009. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
3. John Nebel. At our October 5th Finance Committee meeting, John collapsed. He was taken to the hospital and at this time of my writing is still there. Thank you so much to Rick Carlson and Paul Eisen for their calm heads as well as Kathy Hannah for rushing to our aid with the AED. According to the latest report we’ve had, his recovery is going well.
4. Emergency Response. I want to take the time to honor the effort by the Neenah Menasha Fire Department. They responded so quickly to the event on Oct. 5th. They were sensitive not only to the needs of the victim, but to the needs of our staff and patrons. We could not have asked for faster, better or more understanding aid.
After the event on October 5th, we are adjusting some of our procedures in case of an emergency. We will have lists of staff members on the CPR team at every desk as well as having an outline for those not on the team telling them what sorts of collateral aid they can lend the CPR team in a crisis. We are also planning a drill in the future to run through a similar event.
5. Statistics. In 2008, we saw in increase of 37% in September, our largest increase of the year. This year, we held our own with a slight decrease of 1%. The adult circulation rose by 5.3% overall and the children’s circulation fell by 7.4%. In 2008, children’s had seen an increase of just over 47%! I was pleased to see that after such a remarkable month in 2008, we did not see larger decreases this year.
6. Endowment Donation. In September, we received a donation of $200 from Transportation Environment Management, Inc. for use of our meeting rooms.
7. Meeting Room Use. I want to make sure everyone on the Board knows how well-used our meeting rooms are. We are constantly getting compliments on our facility, the way we set up rooms for groups, and the fact that we don’t charge. We are fortunate that some of the groups give us donations for their use of the space. My thanks go to Kris for her skill at dealing with the needs of so many bookings and being always calm and sympathetic to people’s requests. Our meeting room reputation seems to spread primarily by word of mouth as one group uses us and then tells people about it.
8. Unspent Library Funds. In your packet you will find an opinion from the Assistant Attorney General Robert M. Hunter that is focused primarily on MOE but speaks also to the handling of unspent library funds at the end of the budget year. See page 3 for the pertinent parts. You can also view the document online at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/pdf/agwashburn.pdf. The important line is “the library board may not give (or lapse) the funds back to the funding authority.” Many libraries in the area are not handling this correctly at this time, including Neenah and Appleton. Now that it has been brought to our attention, we need to change our procedures. I have spoken about this with the city comptroller and the mayor. Steve Process, director at the Neenah Public Library, took it to their city attorney and he agreed with our reading of it. I will be asking our new city attorney to look at it as well. As it stands now, it looks like the library will retain all funds at the end of the year and will continue to have discretion over how they are spent. Once this is clarified by our city attorney, we can talk about what to do with those funds.
DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS:
9. 2010 Budget. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Finance Committee did not meet to address the 2010 budget. We will instead address it as a full board. I provided copies of my recommendations for the budget lines at the September board meeting. As I mentioned then, we are being held to MOE, Maintenance of Effort, this year. That means a loss of about $22,000 from city funding. We are receiving an increase in county funding that offsets much of that loss. However, we have to also figure in increases in salaries, wages, and benefits. You will see that much of the reduction is taken from the materials budget. I wanted to preserve our programming which has worked so well to bring in new users. This budget allows us to continue our great services, preserving our existing hours and keeping all staff. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of 2010 Budget.
10. Director’s Performance Review. I emailed out copies of the previous form used by the board for my evaluation. This is the time to discuss any concerns you have with it. The board may also like to discuss the schedule for 360 Evaluation involving staff, which could occur as early as next year. REQUESTED ACTION: Approval of tool for Director’s performance review.
11. Trimming the Tree. As you know, we trim our large spruce next to the library at holiday time. It used to be a much simpler process when the tree was smaller, but it has grown so large that it is becoming very difficult. We had larger bulbs that we used to use and so many strands of lights were needed to cover the tree that the fuse was being blown. Last year, we moved to LED lights and they did not hold up to the weather, with several of the strands no longer functioning. Our Building Supervisor, Adam Alix, would like to get some sense of how important it is to the board for the tree to be trimmed or whether we can trim a smaller tree on the library grounds instead. REQUESTED ACTION: To trim or not to trim.
12. Robert’s Rules of Order. Rick Carlson will be doing a presentation on Robert’s Rules of Order. I will need a volunteer for Essential #12.
