Call to
Order: The September 2010
meeting of the Board of Trustees was held at the Library Annex at 119 S. Main
Street (next door to the historic Carnegie library). President Sue Derck called
the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
Roll Call:
The following were present: Board
members: Susie Thrasher, Barb Reighter, Corey Walker, Terry Wehrkamp, Geoff
Hyman and Sue Derck. Director Susan
Pieper, Assistant Director Diana Coy, and Wilma Mullins, Fiscal Officer, were
also present.
Additions/Corrections to the Agenda: Mrs. Pieper distributed an addendum
to the agenda.
Action Plan Recorder: Geoff Hyman will be the Action Plan
recorder for this evening’s meeting.
Minutes: Corey Walker moved to approve the August
2010 minutes. Geoff Hyman seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Status of
Ohio Public Library Fund (PLF):
Mrs. Mullins shared that the total amount we will receive this year is still
uncertain.
Payment of
Bills: Motion to pay
bills for August (Pay-X
13345-13399); (Finance 15284-15349) was made by Susie Thrasher and seconded by Corey
Walker. Motion passed
Additional Fiscal Officer Report:
Director's Report: Mrs. Pieper distributed a report of activities
in which she had participated, including the nomination of local citizen Ray
Keck for the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame.
State Library of Ohio Mobile Training
Lab: Mrs. Pieper
shared additional details regarding scheduling classes for the SLO Mobile
Training Lab. She will place a notification Facebook,
contact the Senior Center and other organizations who might be interested in
offering classes.
Director's Contract: Mrs. Pieper and the Board will begin
negotiations for her contract for the coming year.
Staff Kudos: Mrs. Pieper praised Kirk Baker for
his money-saving initiative when modifying the foyer pamphlet file. Mr. Ross
was also acknowledged for his money-saving actions of using scraps and found
items to repair and improve projects around both the library and the annex.
OLD BUSINESS
Connect Ohio: Mrs. Pieper provided an update
regarding the status of Connect Ohio: Every Citizen Online. The library may be
a curriculum training facility, teaching six hours of ECO classes each month
for approximately two years, receiving partial reimbursement from the
Reinvestment Act stimulus funds. Ohio's citizens who complete a six-hour course
may be eligible for incentives from their Internet Service Providers.
In addition,
Pieper updated the Board regarding COMNET, Inc., an organization made up of the
twenty plus telephone companies that serve Paulding County, and the status of
the fiber optic project as well as time-table for completion.
Pritchard Building Update: This building is now being referred
to as the Library Annex or simply, Annex. Terry Wehrkamp moved and Corey Walker
seconded the motion to allow the Director to enter into a lease agreement for
the front area plus front two offices with the Caring Sharing Food Pantry for a
cost of $200 per month. Motion passed.
The details of the lease will be sorted out by all
parties involved, with the County Prosecutor, acting as the library's legal
counsel, finalizing the final wording.
Action
Plan for September's Meeting
£ Pieper will continue with a review of
the Termination Clause in Personnel Manual and bring recommendations to the
Board. She submitted a possible revision for the Family Leave clause in the
Personnel Manual.
Motion: Geoff Hyman moved and Terry Wehrkamp
seconded the motion that the library will now only pay time and a half for
overtime and not offer a compensatory time option. Motion passed. Mrs. Pieper
will direct the staff to avoid overtime hours unless it has been approved by
the director.
£ Mrs. Pieper met with the County
Prosecutor and received direction and advise as to how
to proceed with a legal investigation of an employee who's employment has been
terminated.
£ Mrs. Mullins brought information to
the Board of how other libraries invest their levy monies. She informed the
Board that the libraries manage the funds the way she has been managing them --
keeping the funds in the checking account with some funds put in Star Ohio and
other investments.
£ Mrs. Mullins brought information
regarding money market interest rates offered by area financial institutions.
The Board had previously requested that $200,000 be transferred into a money
market account.
Motion: Susie Thrasher moved to rescind
the motion made earlier in the year for Mrs. Mullins to move $200,000 into a
money market account with First Financial Bank. Barb Reighter seconded the
motion. Motion passed with Geoff Hyman abstaining from vote.
Motion: Corey Walker moved to deposit
$250,000 (based on the highest interest rates being offered among county
financial institutions) into a Platinum Investment Account at Antwerp Exchange
Bank by October 1, 2010 or as soon as practical. Motion passed with Geoff Hyman
abstaining from vote.
£ Mrs. Mullins was unable to bring
information regarding the projection of what 10%, 20%, 30% and 100% reduction
in funds would look like (PLF) based on what we have received in the past
year(not using levy fund figures). She will bring this in October.
£ The Board had requested that Mrs.
Mullins calculate the amount of investments that have been spent for operations
from 2005 to 2009. Mrs. Mullins shared figures showing the total amount of
funds at the end of the years 2005 ($861,096), 2006 ($629,023) and 2009
($622,115) for a difference of $238,941. The board had purchased the Annex for
about $175,000 which when subtracted from that difference leaves $63,941 which
she predicts is the approximate amount that the Board has used out of
investments to operate the library. The Board requested that she bring figures
of the investment dollars differences from 2005 to 2009 and do not include any
other monies, just investment differences.
£ On August 18th, Pieper forwarded the
correspondence regarding current legislation addressing the county prosecutor
and the role of being the legal representative for public libraries.
£ Mrs. Pieper will re-send a letter to
ThyssenKrupp Elevators regarding 90 day notice to cancel elevator maintenance
contract effective December 31, 2011. She will reiterate and resend the
information quarterly during 2011.
£ The Director to date has not made arrangements
for the county insurance representative, Don Foltz to attend an upcoming board
meeting to explain the library's coverage. She will try to get this meeting
scheduled in October.
£ Because of the current existing
contract with ThyssenKrupp, Mr. Wehrkamp will wait until 2011 to bring options
for new elevator maintenance service.
£ Mrs. Mullins submitted the costs for migrating from a character-based
CMI system to windows-based CMI system. The cost is approximately $28,000. The
Board expressed concern that this option was the only one and they had to make
a decision without researching options, as the current program will not be
supported in 2011.
Motion: Geoff Hyman moved to approve
the expenditure of approximately $28,000 to upgrade the CMI accounting program
from character-based to Windows-based. President Derck called for a roll-call
vote: Walker - NO; Wehrkamp - NO; Thrasher - abstained due to lack of
information; Hyman - YES; Reighter - YES; Derck - YES. Motion passed.
£ Mrs. Pieper will transport the staff
in personal vehicles to the Staff Development Day near Piqua, Ohio on October
14, 2010.
Time Clock Issue: Mrs. Pieper asked the Board to
reconsider their directive to implement a time-clock system effective October
1, 2010. She shared a number of reasons and concerns. The Board respectfully
directed Pieper to go ahead with the implementation of a time clock system as
decided in August.
NEW BUSINESS
OHIONET Membership: Corey Walker moved and Susie Thrasher
seconded the motion for the library to join OHIONET in order to take advantage
of discount purchasing, continuing education and other benefits for a cost of
$300 per year. Mrs. Pieper is also directed to proceed with her plans to
purchase the database Ancestry.com for the discounted rate via OHIONET. Motion
passed.
Bookmobile Service: Mrs. Pieper shared an opportunity for
the library to purchase a used bookmobile (asking price $30,000). This
bookmobile is a smaller unit, not requiring a CDL license. A bookmobile will
provide library service to all of the villages and towns in the county and is
the most cost efficient way to do so. Due to impending funding uncertainties,
the Board would be unable to build additional branches, but they could provide
that service through this mobile unit. Mrs. Pieper shared a number of reasons
why the Board should invest in this unit.
After a
lively and passionate discussion, it was wholeheartedly agreed by all board
members that a bookmobile is a great idea; however, their concerns addressed
the initial and ongoing costs, the future of library funding, etc.
President
Derck asked if there was a motion. Corey
Walker moved and Barb Reighter seconded the motion for Pieper to proceed with
negotiations to purchase the bookmobile. After further discussion: Walker --
Yes; Hyman -- Yes; Thrasher -- Yes; Reighter -- Yes; Wehrkamp -- No; Derck --
Yes. Motion passed. Pieper will proceed with the process including phone
conversations with Walker present, negotiations of the price, physical
inspection and the actual purchase and driving the unit back to Paulding
County.
Air-Conditioning Replacement: Terry Wehrkamp moved and Corey Walker seconded
to approve a quote of $2420 for Fitzenrider to replace the air-conditioning
unit in the back workroom used by the Inter-Library Loan department. Motion
Passed.
Battle of the Books Rules Revision: Mrs. Thrasher moved and Geoff Hyman
seconded the motion to approve the rules revisions as submitted for the
2010-2011 Battle of the Books. Motion passed.
Status of the Paulding County Carnegie
Library Foundation: Mrs.
Derck will contact the CPA that is working on the Foundation non-profit status
to find out a time-table of completion.
Adjournment:
Terry Wehrkamp moved and Geoff Hyman seconded the motion to adjourn at
about 10:15 p.m. Motion passed. The next board meeting is scheduled for October
19th at the main library small meeting room - unless otherwise announced.
________________________________ ______________________________
Geoff Hyman, Board
Secretary Sue
Derck, Board President
GH:snp