MINUTES

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Thursday, April 10, 2003

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 Mesch.  Present were Mesch, Lawrence, Maxson, Welch and Luyt.  Brown and Quick were absent.  Also present were Judson (Counsel), McGuire, Schneider and Buchanan (Staff).

 

Motion by Luyt, supported by Welch to amend the agenda to add as item c. under New Business:  Authorization to pay cooperative membership fees to the mid-Michigan Library League.  Carried.

 

Motion by Lawrence, supported by Welch to approve the minutes from the Regular Meeting of February 13, 2003.  Carried.

 

The next order of business was presentation of the Annual Director’s Report to the Board.  McGuire reminded the trustees that the written report had been sent to them in the packets for the March meeting, which was subsequently cancelled.  He briefly reviewed the report and responded to comments from the trustees.

 

McGuire reported that TADL had hosted the Governor on the last Friday in February for a session with community leaders about the State budget.  The meeting room was packed, and the session was broadcast live on tctv2.  He commended the staff and the cleaning crew for their efforts in assuring that the Governor’s visit went well.

 

As reported at a previous meeting, TADL was nominated for the Grand Traverse Area’s first annual Celebrate the Arts and Culture awards, in the “Organizations” category.  The Library did not win, but it was an honor to be named one of three finalists out of all the cultural organizations in the area.

 

The first ever National Overture of Education and the Arts was celebrated in Traverse City the week of April 6-12.  Barbara Nowinski was the Library’s liaison for the program.  There were a lot of things happening during the week.  McGuire urged the trustees, if they had not already done so, to attend some of the events or check out the items from the Library of Congress that were on display at the Dennos Museum. 

 

            The Library received a donation of more than 2000 books from the Book Warehouse.  Some of the items were added to the collection, and the rest were given to the Friends to sell.

 

            Representatives of TADL and Long Lake Township recently met with the architect to review some changes to the floor plan for the Long Lake Branch Library.  When the architect’s revisions are received, the Facilities and Services Committee will meet for a final review of the design.

 

            The agreement with Blair Township supporting the concept of a branch library in that township is due to expire May 8.  Prior to that representatives from TADL will meet with Blair Township officials to discuss their plans so that the TADL Board can decide at the May regular meeting whether to extend the agreement.

 

            An in-service for TADL staff is scheduled for April 25.  All member libraries are invited, as well as trustees.  Items on the agenda will include the USA Patriot Act and Michigan’s ATLAS resource-sharing project.

 

            LSTA grant awards are scheduled to be announced on May 1.  The next Regular Board meeting is May 8, and a decision as to whether to accept the grant and participate in the resource-sharing project will need to be made at that meeting.  McGuire would like to have a Study Session on May 1 at 5:30 to review the ATLAS projects and other items that will need to be decided at the May meeting.

 

            Staff has given the Policy Committee some suggested revisions to the Records Retention Policy.  Staff and the Committee hope to have the policy ready for Board action at the May meeting.

 

            The Friends’ Annual Meeting and dinner will be Wednesday, April 30.  The meeting will include election of officers and a speaker, Roger Mendel, Director of the Mideastern Michigan Library Cooperative.

 

            Library and Friends volunteers will be recognized at a Volunteer Recognition Party on Wednesday, May 14.  Trustees are urged to stop in if possible to meet some of the volunteers.

 

            McGuire introduced Grace Rudd from the Law Library, who gave a written and oral report about the Law Library and responded to questions from the trustees.

 

            Maxson said that the Finance Committee had not met.  The February financial report was included in the meeting packets.  Maxson said that the March report would be available in a few days, and then the committee would meet to review the first quarter budget figures.  Mesch asked that the March report be sent to all trustees as soon as it was available.

 

            Luyt reported that the Personnel Committee had met shortly after the February Board meeting.  As the members of the committee had changed, this was an organizational meeting to set goals and strategy, so there was nothing to report to the Board.

 

            Lawrence reported that the Policy Committee had met twice since the last Board meeting to discuss policies related to the USA Patriot Act.  They also discussed the possibility of presenting a local forum on the act.  Staff is working on lining up speakers to present all sides of the issue.  Judson will be attending a Privacy Conference in Chicago on May 12 and 13 at which the Patriot Act and other privacy-related issues will be addressed.

 

            There was no report from the Facilities and Services Committee.

 

            A written report from Fife Lake Public Library was included in the meeting packets.  No one from FLPL was present to elaborate on the report.

 

            J. Ransom, Interlochen Public Library, handed out a written report and briefly reviewed it.  In the future she will send her report in time to have it included in the meeting packets.

 

            J. Maxson, Peninsula Community Library, reported that their circulation has increased in eleven of the last twelve months, and patrons are coming to the Library for a wider range of services, not just books.  Every year they close for a day in May to do an inventory.  This year the inventory is almost done already.  It is a good way to find damaged and missing items.  On April 28 they will be hosting a Container Gardening class and already have 30 people signed up without publicizing it.  Three of their staff members and five trustees will be attending the Rural Libraries Conference on Mackinaw Island in May.  On April 24, PCL will celebrate El Día de los Niños y el Día de Libros (The Day of (for) Children and Books) with books read in Spanish and Mexican food.  Because they serve a large migrant population, they are trying to build their collection of books in Spanish.

 

            Gay Travis, Kingsley Public Library Friends, reported that they are making progress toward the goal of a new library building.  The Kingsley Village Council has officially dedicated the land next to the park for a library.  The KPL Friends have two fundraisers coming up:  On April 11 they will host “April in Paris” at Kingsley High School, with the high school jazz band performing, dancing and refreshments; donations will be accepted at the door.  On June 19, 2:00-8:00 p.m., they will host a spring garden walkabout, touring five gardens.  Tickets will be $5 in advance, $7 the day of the walkabout, and will be available at all Member Libraries.  Representatives of the KPL Friends will be meeting with the Breton Group at 7:00 p.m. on April 30 to talk about their capital campaign.

 

            Motion by Welch, supported by Lawrence to enter into an agreement with the American Red Cross to serve as a secondary emergency shelter.  Carried.

 

            Motion by Luyt, supported by Maxson to authorize payment to Fifth Third in the amount of $498,306.25 for bond principal, interest and fees.  Carried.     

 

            Motion by Maxson, supported by Welch to authorize payment to Mid-Michigan Library League in the amount of $30,262.75 for cooperative membership fees.  Carried.

 

The meeting was opened for public comment.  There was none.  The meeting adjourned at 6:12 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Buchanan, Recording Secretary                

Shirley Mesch, President

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