Meeting Minutes, Chili Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting

June 26, 2007

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

(Treasurer), Charles Havens, Judith Kharbas

Library Director: Jeff Baker

Interim Library Director:  Lee Ann Sperling

Town Liaison:  Michael Slattery

President Schuler convened the meeting at 6:02 PM.

Approved minutes of  May 22, 2007 meeting.  Executive session minutes kept in hard copy separately by Mr. Schuler and  Mr. Havens.

Approved abstract:  $58,877.24

CPL Board Vacancies:

Ms. Melville, Chairperson of the Search Committee , recommended that the two board vacancies be filled by Ms. Christine Reece and Mr. James Myers. Ms. Reece will fill the term of Colleen Behrndt who resigned and Mr. Meyers will fill the term of Jim Cuthbert who also resigned.  

Approved unanimously.  Action: Ms. Melville to forward the information to the Chili Town Board.  

Three additional qualified candidates were identified and will be given first opportunity to fill any future board openings.

Approved the meeting agenda with the addition of  new items from Mr. Lechner:

• treasurer’s report
• a report on the building HVAC  problems

Communications

Guests/Public:

None

Town Board Liaison: 

None.

Friends Representative:

None.

Director’s Report

General Information

• Library statistics through May were provided.
• Full staff meeting July 6 at 9:30am – Mr. Havens to represent the board.
• Friends of the CPL meeting – July 10 at 6:30pm – Ms. Meville to represent the board.

Follow-Up Items

• Purchasing Policy::  A draft of a revised policy has been submitted to Mr. Rich Stowe, Town Attorney, for  his review.  This is in response to the audit finding that the previous CPL policy was outdated.  The new policy requires prior board approval for items exceeding $2500 other than items for the collection.
• Physical Plant:  See the HVAC report below.
• Alesi Grant:  Notification of a $10,000 grant has been received from the New York State legislature.  A letter of thanks has been prepared.  Action: Mr. Baker to contact the Senator’s office to see if the Senator might attend a public session to thank him for his effort on behalf of the CPL – one of the upcoming concerts might be an appropriate venue.
• New Computers: The computers and copier have been received and installation is progressing well.  Details of the cost to date were supplied. With the exception of a few communication boards yet to be received,  the total cost is about $6,000 below budget.  The surplus has been identified as funding for technical support going forward. 

The leasing company for the previous hardware has been contacted to initiate its return.  It was recommended by Mr. Schuler that shipping insurance and careful documentation of its packaging  be secured to preclude future liability.

• Doty Endowment:  Mr. Stowe, Town Attorney, has responded that Mr. Doty’s attorney should do the preparation to better represent his interests.  Mr. Doty requested that the CPL pay these fees.  A motion was made that the CPL board  would pay attorney fees for the endowment  up to $750 payable upon its completion.   Approved 4-0 with Ms. Kharbas abstaining.
• Staff Workspace: A request was made to consider using the conference room as work space for two or three of the staff as a result of the cramped conditions.  Any decision was deferred to later in the year pending the computer installation and analysis by Mr. Baker of current space utilization.   

Action Items:

• Audit:  Ms. Tindale and Mr. Wager have concurred that the operating surplus is $185,240.  The CPL controlled portion of the surplus is on the order of $15,000. The remainder resulted from New York State mandated estimates used in budgeting employee benefit rates. Recommendations for action on the surplus were referred to the Budget Committee. It was moved that the audit dated March 12, 2007 be approved.  Approved  unanimously.
• Color Printing: It was moved that color printing be enabled for patrons at $1.00 per page. Approved unanimously. Action: Mr. Baker was asked to monitor the actual costs for a period of time as $1 per page may be high relative to expected cost. 

Committee Reports

Budget           

A meeting was held June 11th, the next is scheduled July 18^th at 9:30AM at Ms. Melville’s home.

Personnel

Meeting is scheduled for July 13^th  at 9:30AM.

Long Range Planning

Meeting is scheduled for July 10^th  at 9:30AM.

Treasurer’s Report

Mr. Lechner reported that a certificate of deposit at the Bank of Castile in the amount of $5,252.65 was renewed for six months at 4.75%.  Approved unanimously. 

Old Business

Audit

Item covered and completed under the Director’s Report.

Information on the MCLS Internet Task Force Recommendations

Mr. Baker reported that the MCLS board is leaning towards implementing an attempted compromise in its internet access policy  to balance the County Executive’s concerns relative to pornography and access to constitutionally protected material.  Sites would be unblocked with Library staff review against a documented Collection Development Policy. 

This might impact CPL in 2008 when the MCLS contract is up for renewal. Member libraries which currently block without exception could be expected to accept this new policy from MCLS. 

It was reported that the American Civil Liberties Union may test the system to judge access to constitutionally protected material.

Concerns with the situation as raised by members of the CPL board include:

·        Awareness of potential harassment legal claims filed by staff in response to viewing objectionable material as part of job expectations.

·        The practicality of the proposed solution relative to response time.

·        Availability and contents of the Collection Development Policy.

The board asked for a recommendation from Mr. Baker and staff on a path forward.

New Board Member Search

Completed as noted above.

Jim Cuthbert Gift

Completed.  Initiated a similar gift to the Friends of CPL to recognize Ms. Behrndt’s contributions to the CPL.

HVAC and Building Services

Mr. Lechner reported substantial progress on several maintenance issues using Monroe Piping. Monroe Piping was low bid and provided high quality work.

·        Solved multiple  issues with cooling the server room for $200.

·        Fixed the children’s drinking fountain, parts ordered for the adults for $400

Mr. Lechner worked with Monroe Piping and Mr. Carr to identify the issues with heating and cooling and developed a proposal for going forward, again based on low bids:

·        Balance air flow and report findings - $1200

·        Potentially reroute and install a variable damper with time control to increase tempered air to the main library from the multipurpose room – not to exceed $3200

Action:  Mr. Lechner to ask Mr. Carr to expedite resolving the long standing HVAC issues through Monroe Piping.

 New Business

Executive Session Policy

Mr. Lechner brought a recent article identifying the allowed reasons for executive session – this will be distributed to the board by Mr. Baker.

Mr. Schuler closed the meeting at 7:28PM.

Next meeting date/time:  July 24, 2007 at 6:00 PM in the CPL Multi Purpose Room.