ELISHA D. SMITH PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Elisha D. Smith Public Library
Gegan Board Room
September 26, 2018
Called to order at 4:02pm by Chairman Englebert
Present: Chairman Englebert, Vice Chairman Golz, Trustee Franzoi, Secretary Halverson, Trustee Lane, Trustee Schwerbel, Superintendent of Schools VanderHeyden, Trustee Witt and Teen Representative Genz
Absent: Ad Hoc Trustee Hermans and Trustee Turner
Also Present: Director Lenz, Adult Services Supervisor Bongers, Support Services Supervisor Brandt and Business Manager Dreyer
Public Comment/Communication:
· Congratulations to Jim Englebert who was named the Wisconsin Library Association 2018 Trustee of the Year. He will be recognized at the WLA Annual Conference in La Crosse at the end of October.
· John Jacobs, City of Menasha Director of Administrative Services, explained how WCA (UMR is the claims processor) is expected to increase the city’s health insurance premiums by 12% based on our claims and their current contract. The city is shopping and may consider another provider. The city is also considering collaborating with Menasha Utilities’ provider to possibly provide two health insurance options to employees. Due to state-imposed expenditure restraints, the city has a spending limitation for the 2019 budget. The city is on track to fund the 27th pay period in 2020. In order to establish a fund for banked sick leave payouts to retirees from any city department, including the library, a funding mechanism where 1% of the wages of active employees who are eligible for sick leave will be created and included in the 2019 budget and thereafter. Banked sick leave can be used to continue the city’s health insurance, go onto a spouses plan or in the health insurance marketplace. Jacobs is requesting a change in the library’ Personnel Policy D.2.g. so that it mirror’s the city’s policy. The city requires that employees report to work every day of their last month of employment without using vacation, holiday or floating holiday to extend employment. The Personnel and Policies Committee will meet to review this recommendation. The mayor’s 2019 budget will be delivered to the council in mid-October. (John Jacobs left the meeting at 4:34pm.)
Committee Assignments
New committee assignments made by Chairman Englebert include adding Lane to the Finance & Investments Committee and creating the ad hoc Strategic Planning Committee (Chairman Halverson, Englebert and Turner).
Consent Business
Motion made by Franzoi, seconded by Golz to approve the Library Board meeting minutes from August 22, 2018, accept the Marketing & Resource Development Committee minutes of September 4, 2018 and accept the ad hoc Strategic Planning Committee minutes of August 29 and September 20, 2018. Halverson asked to modify the September 20 minutes to say SurveyMonkey instead of SurveyMoney. Motion carried unanimously.
Authorization of Bills
The invoices from ACC were for bi-annual maintenance agreements. Motion made by Golz, seconded by VanderHeyden, to authorize payment of the September 2018 bills from the 2018 budget, endowment and WALS fund. Motion carried unanimously.
Unfinished Business
Karla Smith, manager of the Winnefox Area Library System (WALS), prepared an explanation for the 3.5% increase in WALS fees for 2019. It was distributed to trustees prior to the meeting.
New Businiess
1. August Statistics.
Overall circulation is down 2.1% for the year. Meeting room use, digital circulation, WiFi service, and the number of reference questions answered continue to rise.
2. 2018 Budget Status.
As of September 18, 71.5% of the year has passed and 70.5% of the library’s budget is spent.
3. Committee / Staff Reports.
· The ad hoc Strategic Planning Committee has prepared a timetable. Staff input has been completed. Trustees will be asked to help with the SWOT Analysis, GAP Analysis and Preliminary Plan. Community Focus Groups will be held in January and February. The committee will meet on October 8 to schedule focus group dates, discuss the process and determine who to invite.
· The Marketing & Resource Development Committee will include part of the strategic plan in the annual report/brochure for influencers in the community.
· Library staff attended a morning in-service on September 21 in the old library at the Menasha High School. Presentations were on the strategic planning process with Trustee Turner, changes to personnel policy to take effect at the start of the new year, retirement benefits with the city’s human resource manager, patron confidentiality, and human trafficking (courtesy of Five Stones and an MPD Officer).
· The city held a budget workshop on September 18 with aldermen and department heads to discuss capital expenses for the next few years.
· The Friends of the Menasha Library held their fall used book sale earlier this month.
· Summer reading program reports from the Children’s and Adult Services Departments were distributed to trustees.
· A city-wide luncheon was held on September 18 to recognize staff and their work anniversaries. This year we honored Sarah Konrad for 10 years of service, Sara Page for 25 years, Shannon Ely for 30 years and Ruth German for 45 years.
· The Fox Cities Book Festival will be held October 8-14, 2018. A schedule was distributed.
4. 2019 Budget Request.
The library’s 2019 budget request includes less than a percent increase in city funding from this year. Motion made by Golz, seconded by Halverson to approve the adjusted 2019 budget as presented. Motion carried unanimously.
Action Items
· Turner is the new Executive Director of The Trout Museum of Art and they hold their board meeting on the same day and time as ours. We may have to revisit our meeting time/date.
· Motion made by Franzoi, seconded by Witt, to close at 4:00pm on Monday, December 31 (New Year’s Eve). Motion carried unanimously.
· At the last meeting the Investment Committee minutes recommended transferring funds from the Memorial Fund at the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, Inc. to the checking account held at Nicolet Bank: 10% from the Graves Fund, 5% from the Howe Fund, 5% from the Vollmer Fund and 5% from the Loescher Fund. They also recommended that the annual disbursement from the Endowment Pool that was deposited into the General Fund be divided between Children’s Programming and the General Fund per the 2018-2019 Endowment Budget. These items were not voted upon. Motion made by Franzoi, seconded by VanderHeyden to approve these transfers as presented. Motion carried unanimously.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn made at 5:10pm by Witt, seconded by Franzoi. Motion carried unanimously.
Respectfully submitted by Kathy Dreyer, recording Secretary
