MINUTES

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Thursday, August 10, 2000

Interlochen Public Library

(minutes are unofficial until approved by the Board of Trustees)

 

            The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Vice President Brown, who presided.  Present were Brown, Maxson, Mesch, Lawrence and Schermerhorn.  Welch and Senger were absent.  Also present were McGuire, Nowinski, Schneider and Buchanan (Staff), and Dale VanderWal (Auditor).

 

            Brown thanked Interlochen Public Library for their hospitality and praised their newly remodeled facility.

 

            Motion by Mesch, supported by Lawrence to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of July 13, 2000.  Carried. 

 

            McGuire told the trustees that Senate Bill 936 has passed the House and been signed into law as Public Act 212.  This law requires public libraries to establish policies and procedures to prevent minors from accessing pornography on the Internet.  He said that there would be a statewide teleconference addressing this issue on August 17 with a downlink site in Traverse City.

 

McGuire also announced that the Grand Traverse Heritage Center (the old library building) would be having an open house on Sunday, August 13, 1:00-5:00.

 

Maxson reported that the Building Committee met and walked around the outside of the building to look at various points of concern.  Correcting the outside book drop will probably cost about $20,000.  Nothing has been determined yet regarding the noise around the air conditioning units.

 

Maxson reported that the Finance Committee had met with the auditors to review the audit and will be meeting again soon to discuss the draft 2001 budget.  A financial report for June was included in the meeting packets.

 

Brown reported that part of the Personnel Committee had met.  The whole committee will try to meet before the next regular Board meeting.

 

Judy Anderson, Interlochen Public Library, welcomed the TADL Board and guests to IPL and introduced John Trezise, IPL Board President, and Pat Trezise and Shirley Murray of the IPL Friends.  She reported that their Summer Reading Club, which was very well attended, would end on August 15 with a pizza party.  Saturday, August 12, there would be an open house in their remodeled facility.  The IPL Friends’ annual meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 12, and will include a potluck and author Jack Driscoll as guest speaker.

 

Julie Maxson, Peninsula Community Library, said that she has noted renewed interest in all of the libraries in the District since the opening of the new TADL facility.  PCL has had six fundraisers in the last three months, raising almost $8,000.  Their new chairs have arrived, and they have two CD spinners that they no longer need if anyone knows of another library that could use them.

 

Shirley Murray, TADL and IPL Friends, reported that she had attended the American Library Association Conference in Chicago and accepted the Baker & Taylor/FOLUSA award on behalf of TADL.  She said it was a real thrill for her, and Schneider deserved a lot of the credit for this award coming to the TADL Friends.  Also at the ALA Conference, she completed library advocacy training and is now available to give presentations.

 

McGuire mentioned a letter that was included in the meeting packets regarding a parent’s concern about a compact disc checked out by her son and the Library’s policy of not restricting materials based on the age of the patron.  He suggested that it might be time to review this policy.  Brown directed the Policy Committee to review the writer’s concerns and the current policy and bring back recommendations to the full Board.

 

Dale VanderWal presented the 1999 Audit Report and reviewed various points noted in the report.  The report was clean except for violations of various line items in the budget (not a material weakness), and problems in accounting for the book collection, which was considered a material weakness. This latter problem has been discussed with Staff and the Finance Committee, and McGuire is putting into place new procedures to address the problem.  VanderWal thanked the Board and Staff for their help during the audit.  Brown and Maxson said that they felt that the Finance Committee had a good discussion with the auditors, and Maxson complimented McGuire on his response to the issues raised.

 

Motion by Maxson, supported by Mesch to accept the 1999 Audit as presented.  Carried.

 

Motion by Maxson, supported by Lawrence to set a public hearing for the 2000 Budget at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, September 14, 2000.  Carried.

 

In response to a question from Schermerhorn, Brown explained how previous Strategic Planning sessions had been conducted.  McGuire asked that the trustees let him know when they are not available, and he will check with the facilitator to try to arrange another session.

 

            The meeting was opened for public comment.  P. Trezise said that she was representing the League of Women Voters’ Library Action Committee.  There was no further public comment.

 

            Schneider mentioned that there had been a lot of library referendums on primary election ballots, and many of them passed.  Elmwood Township will have a renewal of millage for TADL on the November ballot, and the Friends are ready for an educational effort.  He (Schneider) is on a Library of Michigan committee looking at library funding in the State.  The committee has hired a consultant, who will present his findings at the Michigan Library Association Annual Conference in October.

 

            In response to a question from J. Maxson, PCL, regarding email, McGuire reported that Microsoft Outlook will be installed at all member libraries.  TADL staff is currently being trained on Outlook. 

 

There was no further business.  The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Dawn Buchanan, Recording Secretary

John Welch, President

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