MINUTES

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Thursday, December 13, 2001

Traverse Area District Library

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

            The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by President Brown.  Present were Brown, Mesch, Welch, Lawrence, Maxson, Schermerhorn and Quick.  Also present were Roe (Counsel), McGuire, Nowinski, Schneider and Buchanan (Staff). 

 

            Motion by Welch, supported by Schermerhorn to approve the minutes from the Regular Meeting of November 8, 2001.  Carried

 

            McGuire reported that he had received five responses from architects to the Request for Qualifications related to designs for a prototypical branch library.  Brown referred the responses to the Facilities and Services Committee for review.

 

            McGuire said that he had heard comments from a number of employees about how much they appreciated Brown’s  remarks (expressing appreciation to the staff) at the staff holiday party.

 

            Maxson inquired about the status of the Friends’ store.  McGuire said that he had not been able to reach the person responsible for the renovation work.  He said that no deadline had been included in the contract.  Brown requested that Counsel determine if there is anything that can be done to motivate the manufacturing company to speed up the process.

 

            Quick reported for the Facilities and Services Committee that a resolution regarding a branch in Long Lake Township was an agenda item.  The Could/Should Do list will be reviewed by the committee in January, with recommendations to be presented to the full Board at the February regular meeting.  They hope to have recommendations regarding the architectural RFQ’s for the January meeting.  Brown said that all of the trustees should feel free to pass along any comments regarding the RFQ’s to the Facilities Committee.  Quick also reported that the committee still has tctv2 on its agenda.  Fife Lake’s needs study has been moved to an ad hoc committee chaired by Lawrence

 

Maxson reported that the Finance Committee had met prior to the Board meeting to discuss recommendations regarding two agenda items and Fife Lake Public Library’s letter regarding member library funding.  Maxson will responding formally to FLPL’s letter.  A financial report for October  was included in the meeting packets. 

Lawrence reported that a revised draft of the Personnel Committee’s recommendations regarding trustee orientation had been distributed prior to the meeting.  She asked for comments on the revised draft.

 

There was no Personnel Committee report.  Counsel is currently reviewing the Director’s Evaluation form.

 

Julie Gray, Fife Lake Public Library, thanked Lawrence and Quick for meeting with her and some of the FLPL trustees.  The feasibility study report was presented at their Board meeting the previous evening.  Due to some typing errors, the report needs to be redone, so a copy was not available for the TADL Board at this time.  A Christmas Tea hosted by FLPL raised almost $700 for their building fund. 

 

There were no other Member Library reports.

 

Schneider reported that the Friends are working very hard on plans for activities to celebrate their 20^th anniversary in 2002.  Among other things, they will be hosting a reception to honor Fifth Third Bank, which is underwriting the anniversary activities, and they have secured Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States, for a program in September.

 

Brown reported that he had received a letter from Karen Rosa, Long Lake Township Supervisor, following up on a meeting between representatives of TADL and Long Lake Township regarding branch development.

 

There were no other reports or communications.

 

Motion by Welch, supported by Mesch to adopt the amended budget as recommended by the Finance Committee.  Carried.

 

Motion by Lawrence, supported by Mesch to authorize repairs to the roof of the 1966 addition on Sixth Street not to exceed $32,000.  Following discussion, motion by Maxson to postpone action on this item until the next meeting to allow time for Counsel to discuss and clarify some points with the City.  Motion to postpone carried.

 

Motion by Maxson, supported by Quick to adopt a resolution supporting the establishment of a branch library in Long Lake Township.  Carried.  Maxson said that Long Lake has sent a memo regarding the site for a branch and wondered whether it should be acted on at this time or referred to committee.  Brown referred the memo to the Facilities and Services Committee for review.

 

Motion by Welch, supported by Mesch to adopt a resolution amending the Library’s 401k plan.  Carried.

 

Motion by Lawrence, supported by Maxson to adopt the schedule of days the library will be closed during 2002 as proposed by the Director.  Carried.

The meeting was opened for public comment.  L. Blakkan thanked the Board for passing the resolution regarding a Long Lake Township branch and asked what residents can do to speed up the process. M. TerBeek reported that the Long Lake Reading Room hosted an open house on December 8 that was well attended.  J. Gray, FLPL, added to her earlier report and requested that FLPL be included in any district-wide feasibility study. 

 

In response to a suggestion from Welch, Brown asked McGuire to look at the needs of the Long Lake Reading Room and consult with Counsel and report back to the next meeting as to the possibility of providing assistance to the Reading Room.

 

There was no further public comment.  The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Dawn Buchanan, Recording Secretary

Douglas Brown, President

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