Meeting Minutes, Chili Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting - APPROVED

January 22, 2008

Board of Trustees:   Ed Schuler (President), Glenda Melville (Vice-President), James Lechner

(Treasurer), Charles Havens (Secretary), Judith Kharbas, Christina Reece, James Myers

Library Director: Jeff Baker

Town Liaison:  Michael Slattery, present.

President Schuler convened the meeting at 6:04 PM.  Mr. Lechner absent.

Mr. Schuler welcomed Supervisor Dunning who was in attendance.

Approved minutes of  December 18, 2007 meeting by six in favor, none opposed. 

Approved abstract:  $10,701.20  by six in favor, none opposed.

Approved the meeting agenda with the addition of an Executive Session for consideration of the revised CPL Personnel Policy.

Communications

Guests/Public:

Mr. Rettick: complements to Mr. Baker concerning improvements to the CPL web site.

Town Board Liaison: 

None.

 Friends Representative:

None.

Director’s Report – January 2008

Board, Director, Public Officials and Guest’s  discussion as noted.

General Information:

·         CPL Statistics – Distribution of January-December 2007 CPL statistics.

Year on year growth noted: circulation +5%, door count +2%, reference requests +4%, programs +10% and program attendance –4%.  The decrease in program attendance was driven by rain on the two largest outdoor programs of the typical year – the concert and the equipment display.

Discussion on availability of  Town space for additional programs: Mr. Dunning indicated there would be an effort to better utilize town resources for the library and other Town entities.  Discussion of Library and Recreation Department cooperation on programs: Mr. Baker meeting with Mr. Curley to pursue.

·         CPL Reference and Circulation Staff Meeting – Friday, February 1^st at 9:00.

·         Friends of the CPL Board Meeting – Tuesday, February 12^th at 6:30 pm – Glenda Melville to attend.

·         CPL Full Staff Meeting – Friday, March 7^st at 9:00 – Glenda Melville to attend.

·         CPL New Web Site Address (www.chililibrary.org):  To make it easier for patrons to remember how to get to our library’s website, we have registered a new domain name, resulting in the new web address: www.chililibrary.org.   Patrons can still access our library homepage by using www.libraryweb.org/chili .

·         CPL Director’s Blog:  The director has created a director’s blog as another way to communicate with the community regarding library events and activities, and advances in the library field.  Patrons can access the CPL Director’s Blog by visiting the library’s homepage. 

·         CPL Staff News Blog:  The library has created a blog only accessible to staff so they can communicate with each other and keep up to date on changes in policies and procedures at the library.

·         Staff Picks:  Staff Picks is a new feature on the library’s homepage.  With Staff Picks, the library staff offers suggestions of material new and old owned by the library for patron’s reading and listening enjoyment.   The list is updated regularly.

·         Library Board on the CPL Webpage, and Gates-Chili Post:  The new Library Board photo is now on the CPL webpage and was in the Gates-Chili Post. 

·         Passport Services Program:  CPL in conjunction with the town and the Monroe County Clerk’s Office ran a successful Passport Services for the Community program on January 16, 2008.  90 individuals registered.  We are looking to have this program on a quarterly basis.

Follow Up Items: 

·         Multipurpose Room - There is now heat in the Multipurpose Room.  It is activated when the ceiling vent is opened.  The temperature is set for 70 degrees.  The work was done by Monroe Piping and is paid for by the town.

Observation that the room is still relatively cool on  very cold winter days such as the day of the meeting. There may not be much more than can be done but Mr. Baker to pursue with the Works Department.

·         Susan John Visit - Susan John visited the Chili Public Library January 12, 2008.  She read three stories to children in the library’s Storytime Room for our Winter Stories program.  Supervisor David Dunning was also present.

Memorial Fund Request: 

·         The Director’s request for items to be purchased through the Memorial Fund:

This request is to use the Memorial Fund for these  nonrecurring items in consequence of the Town’s 2008 appropriation deleting these items from the Library budget.  Mr. Lechner was consulted and he agreed that these are an appropriate use of  the Memorial Fund.

The expense request was approved by the Library Board six in favor, none opposed.

Ms. Kharbas asked Mr. Baker to prepare a press release to acknowledge the generosity of the Memorial Fund contributor’s.

Mr. Baker also noted that the Friend’s have indicated willingness to support Young Adult Program expenses that were unfunded in the 2008 appropriation.

State News:

·         Public Library Construction Grant - Public libraries in New York State may now apply for a Public Library Construction grant for projects that will take place from July 2008-June 2010.  Any project would have to start June 2009 at the latest.  The deadline for submission of 2008-2011 applications for the Public Library Construction Grant Programs (both the $14 million capital program [if funded for 2008] and the $800,000 annual, ongoing program) from the public library systems to the State Library will be Friday, September 12, 2008.  This due date takes into full consideration the amount of time necessary for the various required levels of application review.

Discussion: .  Given that the library is undersized and is seeing continuing growth, the proposal in the 2008 Town budget to pursue library space planning at the Town level was welcomed by the Library Board as an alternative to a Library Board funded analysis. The Town’s task force for capital planning including library space planning has not been created at this point.  The Library Board expressed their sense of urgency relative to this planning process as it may be necessary to compete for the State funds such as the ones above in order to implement any short term remedies.  Mr. Dunning and Mr. Baker will discuss in their next regular meeting. 

Additional discussion on the Governor’s initial budget request that will potentially negatively affect the current MCLS cost sharing structure starting in 2009.

System News

·         The Monroe County Library System is arranging visits to the state legislators in order to advocate for System fund increases in the State Budget.  Assemblymember Susan John’s appointment is 2 p.m. on February 7, 2008 at her local district offices (840 University Avenue).  MCLS has asked the library directors and trustees who live in her district if they could be available to meet with her.  These meetings usually last one hour or less. 

Mr. Myer’s will attend.

Committee Reports

Budget           

Mr. Baker:

·         He will schedule a budget committee meeting as soon as practical to discuss the proposed hiring of a full time young adult  librarian. 

·         A summary of 2007 expenses will be needed to assess the unspent accumulated appropriation. The Senator Alesi $7,500 grant check has been issued.  The Representative John’s $50,000 grant was not posted in the Dormitory Authority web site as expected – Mr. Baker to pursue.  With that, the 2007 surplus would be on target for the $35,000 projected in December.

·         Bids requested to complete the 2007 financial audit.

Personnel

The revised  personnel policy was presented to Library staff – issues raised were discussed by the Board in Executive Session as a personnel issue.

Long Range Planning

None.

Grants

            Mr. Baker: requests to Representative Johns and Senator Alesi have been submitted.

Old Business

Mr. Baker will discuss short term disability coverage with  Ms. O’Meara and Mr. Stowe.

New Business

None..

Comments from Guests

None.

Mr. Schuler adjourned to executive session at 6:50PM for discussion of the staff response to the new  personnel policy.  No actions taken in the executive session.

Next meeting date/time:    February 26, 2008 at 6:00 PM CPL Public Meeting Room.