BOARD MINUTES, 13 June, 2002

MINUTES

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Thursday, June 13, 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, Mesch and Luyt. Also present were Judson (Counsel), McGuire and Buchanan (Staff).

Motion by Welch, supported by Maxson to approve the minutes from the Regular Meeting of May 9, 2002. Lawrence noted a typographical error in the Facilities and Services Committee report. Minutes were approved as corrected.

McGuire reported that the audit fieldwork has been completed. He had a little trouble getting the type of information the auditors needed for the book collection valuation, but that has been resolved, and the audit should be completed by the end of June.

A Federal Circuit Court has found the CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) to be in violation of the First Amendment. The provision of the act tying funding to filters was struck down. The Library still needs to comply with the Neighborhood Children’s Internet Protection Act. McGuire believes the Library is in compliance with that act, but has asked Counsel to review it to be sure.

Representatives of TADL and architect Ken Richmond met with representatives of the communities interested in opening branch libraries. McGuire felt that the meeting went very well; in fact, Richmond received a round of applause at the end of the meeting.

Compilation of the data from the parking survey has not been completed.

Brown has been elected to sit on the Trustees Roundtable of the Michigan Library Association. Results of the election for chair-elect of MLA’s Public Libraries Division (for which McGuire was a candidate) are not in yet.

Maxson asked about the status of the elevator in the Sixth Street facility. Judson said that Roe is working on this, and architect K. Richmond has been retained to study the historical requirements. At this time it appears that the status quo may be accepted, and TADL won’t need to put any more money into it.

Quick reported that the Facilities and Services Committee had met twice. On June 6 they met with Mark Morrow for an update on the status of the branch feasibility study. Morrow requested additional information, which has been forwarded to him. The second meeting was the one with Richmond that McGuire mentioned. Quick said that Richmond will be prepared to make a presentation at either the next regular meeting or a special meeting. Brown suggested that this be done at the regular meeting.

Maxson reported that the Finance Committee had met to consider alternative sources of revenue from non-resident users. Committee members and staff are working on some of the ideas that were suggested. A financial report for April was included in the meeting packets.

Mesch handed out the draft final copy of the Director’s evaluation document. She asked that all trustees review it and forward any comments to a member of the Personnel Committee by June 20. After that date, the committee will finalize the document. Welch asked if the committee anticipated the process taking as long every year. Mesch said that since the committee has now had some experience with the document and the process, it shouldn’t take as long in the future.

Lawrence reported that the Policy Committee had met with McGuire and Roe to discuss CIPA. They’re all relieved not to have to deal with it, at least at this point. In response to a question from Mesch, McGuire explained the Universal Service Fund, which was the funding in question in this act.

J. Anderson, Interlochen Public Library, thanked the TADL Friends for their donation to IPL’s Summer Reading Program, which starts July 9. They will have six programs and this year are adding three science programs on Friday mornings, one of them to be presented by the ranger at the Interlochen State Park. By September IPL hopes to have in place a books-by-mail program for shut-ins. They have looked at similar services at other libraries and have wanted to do this at IPL. The service will be limited to residents of their service area.

J. Maxson, Peninsula Community Library, also thanked the TADL Friends for their donation, which will allow PCL to hire a professional entertainer for their Summer Reading Program. Recently, for the first time, the Traverse City Area School Board held their regular meeting at PCL, and PCL was able to showcase their library and the partnership they have with the Old Mission School. They have finished their annual inventory and are almost at the end of their fiscal year. They’re planning their summer story hours, with a final party on the Grand Traverse Dinner train and refreshments in TADL’s Children’s Garden. PCL has staff people who regularly take books to shut-ins. They will be interested in how IPL’s mail program works out.

C. Downey, Fife Lake Public Library, raised $850 (less than usual) at their Memorial Day garage sale fundraiser. Their Friends’ birthday part went well. They lost two board members, but gained two new ones, and will be doing a phone-a-thon membership drive soon. Their Thursday evening programs were temporarily suspended but will start again this month. On July 4 they will have a book sale and bake sale during Fife Lake’s Fourth of July activities. The FLPL Board has met with architect Richmond to go over the agenda for the feasibility study. She also thanked the TADL Friends for their donation for the Summer Reading Program.

E. Kage, Friends of TADL, thanked the trustees who attended the Friends’ Annual Meeting. For the first time in two or three years, the Friends have a full Board. The Gift Shop opened June 3, and the grand opening will be June 14. She thought that the first week of the shop went pretty well. Their next Board meeting will be a work/study session to bring the new Board members up to speed. In August they will be conducting a membership drive. They are working with McGuire to come up with a process for mailing membership materials to TADL’s patron list.

Motion by Lawrence, supported by Welch to enter into an employment agreement with Teamsters Local 214 as negotiated and as outlined on the “Tentative Agreement.” Carried.

Motion by Maxson, supported by Luyt to amend the employment agreements with administrative staff to revise the method of calculating employee health insurance co-pays and to include employee-only vision insurance. Carried.

Motion by Welch, supported by Mesch to enter into a revised agreement with the Breton Group dated May 2002 as proposed. In response to a comment by Quick, Welch and Mesch amended their motion to include in the agreement a limit of 110 on the number of interviews to be conducted. Motion carried as amended. The additional cost will be $4500-$5000, and Brown asked that the necessary budget adjustments be made at the next regular meeting.

Motion by Maxson, supported by Lawrence to authorize payment in the amount of $31,992.05 to the Mid-Michigan Library league for membership in the cooperative. Carried.

Motion by Quick, supported by Luyt to change the date of the next regular board meeting to July 18, 2002. Carried. Brown suggested that when the meeting schedule is set at the beginning of each year, the July meeting should automatically be set for the third Thursday instead of the second Thursday.

The meeting was opened for public comment. There was none. Welch mentioned that architect Richmond is still working without a contract, and Judson accepted responsibility for the lack.

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

Respectfully submitted,