Tuesday, July 20, 2010

 

 

Call to Order: The July 2010 meeting of the Board of Trustees was held at the main Carnegie library in Paulding. President Sue Derck called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. There was no Board of Trustee meeting held in June.

 

Roll Call:  The following were present:  Board members: Susie Thrasher, Barb Reighter, Corey Walker, Geoff Hyman and Sue Derck. Board member Terry Wehrkamp was absent.  Director Susan Pieper, Assistant Director Diana Coy, and Wilma Mullins, Fiscal Officer, were also present.

 

Action Plan Recorder: Pieper and Coy will record an action plan for the August meeting.

 

Citizen Participation: Mr. Jim Hooker and Mr. Ron Etlzer of the Payne Friends of the Library presented information regarding the cost of a new roof on the building that houses the Payne Branch Library. The cost to replace the roof is approximately $20,000. Sara Molitor, the Branch Manager of the Payne Branch, had already requested that $10,000 of her Lela Jeffery funds be made available for the replacing of the roof. After asking questions regarding moisture, sewer gas smell, integrity of the timber or framing beams, condition of the second floor, etc., the following motion was made:

 

Payne Branch Library Roof: Corey Walker moved and Susie Thrasher seconded that a new account be created for a Lela Jeffery Building Improvement for the Payne Branch (100.06.55430) and that $10,000 be transferred from the Payne Branch Lela Jeffery Books account (100.06.54130) into the new Building Improvement account to be used to pay a portion of replacing the roof of the Payne Branch Library. Motion passed.

 

It was pointed out to Mr. Hooker and Mr. Etlzer that an invoice for $10,000 should be sent to the library’s fiscal officer for payment upon completion of the work.

 

Minutes: Corey Walker moved to approve the May, 2010 minutes as corrected. Barb Reighter seconded the motion. Motion passed.

 

Executive Session: At 6:25 p.m., Corey Walker moved that pursuant to ORC 121.22(G)(1) the board go into Executive Session to consider personnel issues. Geoff Hyman seconded the motion. A roll-call vote was in the affirmative. At 7:10 p.m., Mr. Walker moved that the board move back into open session. Mrs. Thrasher seconded. A roll-call vote to move into open session was in the affirmative.

 

Status of Levy revenue: Mrs. Mullins informed the Board that she continues to work on moving levy funds out of the checking account into an interest-bearing money market account as directed by the Board at the May 2010 meeting.

 

Status of Ohio Public Library Fund (PLF): Mrs. Mullins informed the Board that she has received approximately $52,000 from Ohio’s Public Library Fund (PLF) which continues to be less than this time last year.

 

Financial / Fiscal Officer: Motion to pay May bills (Pay-X 013050-013202); (Finance 015070-015173) was made by Geoff Hyman and seconded by Barb Reighter. After a general discussion and review of the bills, the motion to pay the bills passed.

 

Board President Derck reminded Mrs. Mullins that the levy funds must be moved into an interest-bearing money market account and that bills must be paid in a timely fashion. The Board does not want to incur late fees and all vendors, especially local vendors and employees should not have to wait. Mrs. Mullins reminded the Board that she pays bills twice a month.

 

Fiscal Officer Additional Report: The Board inquired about the status of the VISA reports that they requested at the May meeting. Mrs. Mullins informed them that she did not have the time to prepare the extensive reports. She asked if she could copy the check stub for the VISA payment as this has the information they might need. The Board agreed to look at the stub to see if this would be enough information.

 

The Board also discussed reimbursing the rainy day fund in the amount that had been withdrawn over the past few years. Mrs. Mullins was directed to determine the amount used for operations out of the investments and bring that figure to the board in August for further action.

 

Mrs. Mullins reminded the Board that they requested the name of the 100.01.51900 fund (Employee Other Benefits) be renamed “Employee Contingency”. The new name has already been applied to the expense report.

 

Director's Report: Mrs. Pieper shared a number of activities over the past two months including community events such as judging the Paulding County Fair King/Queen contest and the Showman of Showman (horses) class, participating in the John Paulding Days parade, and providing library information at the Alco Community Days. Pieper also designed new “Welcome to the Library” bags for new patrons that will begin system-wide distribution in September, Library Card Sign-Up Month.  She made many branch visits, hired a new employee, participated in the Summer Reading Program by reading to children, designed new signage and created new web pages for teens and the Friends of the Library in Antwerp and Oakwood.

 

Staff Kudos: Mrs. Pieper shared that she will bring SRP statistics to the August meeting. She congratulates the team for another successful summer.

OLD BUSINESS

 

Elevator Contract: Mrs. Pieper distributed an e-mail from Mr. Wehrkamp regarding the status of the current elevator contract. He has an upcoming meeting with an elevator company representative at which time he will share the library concerns and provide a letter stating we wish to be released from our contract (90 day notice).

 

Corey Walker moved that the library give a 90-day notice to cancel our elevator contract to the ThyssenKrupp representative at a meeting scheduled on July 27th at the library. Geoff Hyman seconded the motion. Motion passed.

 

Ohio Plan: Mrs. Pieper informed the Board that she has been unable to connect with the Ohio Plan representative. She will continue her efforts.

 

CMI Maintenance Agreement: Mrs. Mullins informed the Board that she is waiting until she takes a Quick Books class before she renews and/or upgrades or cancels the CMI accounting software account.

 

Ancestry.com and other Databases: Mrs. Pieper requested that the Board allow her to review and determine library patron needs for specific databases. She will bring recommendations to the Board. Ancestry.com is one of the databases being considered.

 

Meeting Room Rental Fee: Mrs. Pieper said she will find out definitively if the library can charge a fee for the meeting room. This will provide revenue if the Board continues with plans to remodel a room in the annex as a public meeting room facility.

 

Pritchard Building: Mrs. Pieper provided an update in plans for the Pritchard Building, now being referred to as the Library Annex. She shared ideas about a new public meeting room, storage space and a Board Meeting Room. The Board suggested that perhaps the Fiscal Officer could use some of the space for offices. As plans develop it will be clear the direction we need to go. The Board directed Pieper to go ahead with preliminary plans so that a cost may be determined for each project.

 

Gaming Grant Update: Mrs. Pieper informed the Board that she applied for and was awarded a $1,500 federal grant to introduce gaming (board games, video games, etc.) in the library for youth. The grant will allow the library to purchase Wii Consoles for each location as well as a bundle of video games and board games. Gaming has proven to be an effective tool in attracting non-library using youth to the library.

 

Cooper Grant Update: Mrs. Pieper informed the Board that the library received a $10,000 grant from the Cooper Foundation for computers. The ten-year old computers in the lab are being replaced as well as two computers at the Cooper Community Library. A press release and photo with a representative from the Cooper family will be sent when the upgrades, updates and replacements are finished.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Personnel: Mrs. Pieper shared that she hired Stephanie McCullough as a thirty (30) hour library clerk at the Antwerp Branch Library. Starting date was June 1, 2010. Entry level starting pay was $8.27 per hour.

 

North Driveway Dip: Corey Walker moved and Barb Reighter seconded to approve the recommendation of the Director to have the sinking driveway north of the library repaired. Motion passed.

 

Travel Request: Mr. Walker moved and Barb Reighter seconded to approve travel to a Polaris User Group meeting in Columbus for Michele Sidle and Heather Hunt. Motion passed.

 

Rural Conference: Any action regarding Pieper attendance at the Rural Libraries Conference in Denver in October was tabled until August.

 

Concrete Pad for Book Drop: Corey Walker moved and Barb Reighter seconded to approve the expenditure of funds not to exceed $300 to have a concrete pad poured to level the book drop. Motion passed.

 

Part-time Library Clerk: Barb Reighter moved and Corey Walker seconded to approve the hiring of a 25-hour per week part-time library clerk assigned to the main library circulation department. The work load has increased dramatically for the circulation staff with new inter-library loan requests since library patrons can now request items from hundreds of libraries throughout Ohio. All materials are processed through the main library and distributed to the appropriate location. Motion passed.

 

Transfer: Susie Thrasher moved, Barb Reighter seconded and the motion passed to approve the following transfer:

 

Amount:           From:                                       To:

$2,000              Contingency                              Land Improvements

                        100.01.518910                           100.01.55210

 

Additional Transfers: Corey Walker moved, Geoff Hyman seconded and the motion passed to approve the following transfers totaling $53,500:

 

Amount:           From:                                       To:

$5,000              Employee Contingency              Professional Workers Salary

                        100.01.51900                             100.01.51120

$22,000 Employee Contingency              Office & Clerical Salary

                        100.01.51900                             100.01.51140

$1,000              Employee Contingency              Service Workers Salary                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  100.01.51900                             100.01.51160

$5,500              Employee Contingency              Unemployment Compensation

                        100.01.51900                             100.01.51670

$10,000 Employee Contingency              Furniture & Equipment

                        100.01.51900                             100.01.55510

$10,000 Building Improvement                Furniture & Equipment

                        100.01.55410                             100.01.55510

           

 

Adjournment:  Corey Walker moved and Geoff Hyman seconded the motion to adjourn the July meeting at 9:27 p.m. The next board meeting is scheduled for August 17 at 6:00 p.m. at the main Carnegie Library, unless otherwise announced.

 

 

____________________________         ____________________________

Geoff Hyman, Board Secretary                 Sue Derck, Board President

GH:snp