BAORD MINUTES, 9 May, 2002

MINUTES

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Thursday, May 9, 2002

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, Welch, Lawrence, Maxson, Quick and Luyt. Mesch arrived at 6:00. Also present were Judson (Counsel), McGuire, Nowinski, Schneider and Buchanan (Staff).

Motion by Lawrence, supported by Maxson to approve the minutes from the Regular Meeting of April 11, 2002. Carried.

McGuire reported that Counsel had completed a review of the Gosling-Czubak report on the underground storage tank at the Sixth Street location. The report recommends no further action at this time.

McGuire and Judson are still working with the City on the issue of the elevator at the Sixth Street facility. It may be possible to get some waivers for the elevator as is. The City would be willing to accept that solution. It’s not a safety issue, but there are certain codes that have to be met.

The Breton Group has met with community representatives to begin its feasibility study and will be meeting again next week.

The Library has recently experienced some water problems. First a humidifier backed up, then water came in during a rainstorm. In both instances, water leaked through the second floor ceiling. The insurance adjusters have been in, and now it’s just a matter of waiting for the repair work to be done.

The East Bay Branch has recently been painted inside, and some new shelving has been installed. The Woodmere building has also received a new coat of paint in some places, and wainscoting has been installed in the first floor hall.

The parking survey has been completed, and McGuire hopes to have the data compiled and a report ready for the next meeting.

A packet of materials from the recent staff in-service was included in the meeting packets.

The auditors have started their field work.

Quick reported for the Facilities and Services Committee that the Breton Group had met on April 29 with representatives from Long Lake and Blair Townships to gather information. Another meeting is planned for May 16 and 17.

The Intergovernmental Agreement has been completed. Judson will send it to McGuire, who will add a cover letter and send it to the various communities interested in branch libraries, with copies to the trustees.

The tctv2 issue is still open, as is the parking issue and prioritizing the do-do list.

Maxson reported that the Finance Committee had not met. A March financial report was included in the meeting packets.

Lawrence said that the Personnel Committee had not met, but she would like to schedule a meeting to look over the policies to see what might need to be reviewed and/or updated. She asked about the status of the Internet filtering law. McGuire said it was still in the courts, but the committee should meet to make some plans in case the court ruling goes against libraries. McGuire also suggested that the committee should look at the issue of non-resident support and fees, especially in relation to whether the issue should be put on the ballot for Elmwood Township voters again. Following brief discussion, Brown assigned this issue to the Finance Committee to study and make recommendations.

There were no other committee reports.

C. Downey, Fife Lake Public Library, reported that a recent “bucket brigade” fundraiser in cooperation with a hardware store in Fife Lake raised about $363 for the Library’s building fund. She presented a bucket to Brown. Quite a few people have attended FLPL’s Thursday evening programs. They may continue the programs on a monthly basis, rather than weekly, and the Friends will be taking over the planning and hosting of the programs. They will be having a Memorial Day garage sale. All items for the sale will be donated, and the sale is open to the public. This sale is always one of their biggest fundraisers. The next meeting of the FLPL Friends will be May 15, and on May 22 they will be having a party to celebrate their first birthday. An architect was at FLPL at the same time as the TADL Board meeting to talk about the design for a new Fife Lake library building.

Brown appointed Luyt to the Personnel and Policy Committees.

Brown reported that he had attended a Michigan Library Workshop in Ann Arbor on contracts for library personnel. The meeting was very informative, and he brought back a couple of copies of the handouts, if other trustees would like to review them. While he was in Ann Arbor he visited the new Ypsilanti District Library. The Library’s Community Relations Director gave him a tour, and he met with the Director. They doubled the size of their collection when they moved into their new building, and included money in the millage for renovation of their old building to be the downtown branch.

Luyt commented that he had attended the recent program by children’s author Christopher Paul Curtis. His program was terrific, and the room was full.

There were no further reports.

Motion by Welch, supported by Lawrence to go into closed session as requested by the Director immediately following public comment to review the Director’s performance evaluation, pursuant to Section 8(a) of the Open Meetings Act. Roll call vote was as follows:

Welch – yes Mesch – yes Quick – yes

Lawrence – yes Maxson – yes Luyt – yes

Brown – yes

Motion carried.

Motion by Maxson, supported by Welch to enter into a revised agreement with the Cherry Capital Cable Council for administering public access television through December 31, 2003. Carried.

Motion by Lawrence, supported by Mesch to amend section 3.10 of the by-laws to include the following: The secretary will retain the handwritten notes until the next regular meeting, at which time they will be circulated to each Trustee in attendance for review. After approval of the minutes, they will be sealed in an envelope noting the disposal date and then filed for safekeeping. Following discussion, Lawrence and Mesch amended the motion as follows: “Motion to insert in the Policy Manual the following: The secretary will retain the handwritten notes of closed sessions until the next regular meeting....” Motion carried as amended.

The meeting was opened for public comment. Schneider thanked the trustees who came to the Friends’ Annual Meeting on May 7. C. Downey thanked the TADL Board for their policies and said that the FLPL Board is reviewing their policies and using many of TADL’s.

There was no further public comment. The meeting was recessed at 6:30 p.m. and reconvened in closed session at 6:40 p.m. The closed session was adjourned and the open meeting reconvened at 7:50 p.m. There was no further business. The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,