ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2006
07-084 I. CALL TO ORDER
President Leary called the meeting to order at 6:36 p.m.
07-085 II. ATTENDANCE
Present: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
Staff: Cantu, Davis, Nieman, Parker, Pollock (Recorder)
07-086 III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Trustee Cahill supported by Vice President Head, moved to approve the agenda.
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-087 IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF BOARD RETREAT, SEPTEMBER 29,2006
Trustee Surovell, supported by Treasurer Barney Newman, moved to approve the minutes for September 29, 2006.
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-088 V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF OCTOBER 16, 2006
Trustee Surovell, supported by Secretary Greene, moved to approve the minutes for October 16, 2006.
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-089 VI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 13, 2006
Treasurer Barney Newman, supported by Trustee Cahill, moved to approve the minutes for November 13, 2006.
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-090 VII. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
Glen Modell, Systems Specialist
Ann Arbor District Library
Good evening, my name is Glen Modell, and I have worked at the Ann Arbor District Library for 31 years. I am here once again because I believe that the current audit for fiscal year 2005-2006 is inaccurate in the area of retirement benefits.
Everything that I said about last year’s audit applies to this year’s as well, except for the page numbers and paragraph designations. Last year, I referred to pages 23, paragraph G; page 24, and page 25. In this year’s audit, the corresponding sections are page 22, paragraph E; page 23, and page 24.
As you know, I have at various times criticized earlier AADL audits on similar grounds. If you have any questions about my objections to the library audits, I would invite you to review the packet I gave you in June of 2006. Thank you for your time.
07-091 VIII. FINANCIAL REPORT
Associate Director Nieman reported the following:
94% of budgeted tax receipts were received through the end of October.
The fund balance is currently at $5.4 million. There are six expenditure items currently over budget, mostly due to large payments made over the year.
The only out of the ordinary item for this month was that $46,000 was spent on the Pittsfield Branch for the last few invoices and expense items for the sign.
In addition, $24,000 was spent on the Northeast project during the month of October.
Finally, this is the first month that the check register has been included in the Board packet.
07-092 IX. APPROVAL OF CHECK REGISTER
Treasurer Barney Newman, supported by Trustee Murphy moved to approve the inclusion of the check register with the financial report.
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-093 X. ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF CHECK REGISTER
Trustee Cahill, supported by Vice President Head, moved to acknowledge receipt of the check register .
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-094 XI. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Parker reported the following:
Would like to acknowledge Sherlonya Augustine, the new Interim Manager of Youth Services.
Westgate will be closed first week of December to replace all of the carpeting.
07-095 XII. OLD BUSINESS
06-125 A. UPDATE ON NORTHEAST BRANCH
Associate Director Nieman reported the following:
We are waiting on the building permit, as well as the contract for earth work. O’Neal Construction can be ready to break ground with as little as three days notice.
07-024 B. UPDATE ON STATUS OF FRIENDS OF THE ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY
Director Parker reported the following:
Good news was received as of this evening. As of earlier this week, the FAADL was not able to commit to the interim agreement due to the time constraints of the treasurer. She is completing the financial compilations.
FAADL President Eric Owen informed Director Parker that the financial compilation will be completed this week. Eric Owen and Director Parker will meet on Friday, November 24th and enter into an interim agreement.
The bookshop may be open in early December.
07-096 XIII. NEW BUSINESS
07-097 A. RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT RECOMMENDATION FROM O’NEAL CONSTRUCTION TO AWARD LANDSCAPING CONTRACT FOR THE NORTHEAST BRANCH PROJECT
Trustee Murphy, supported by Trustee Cahill, moved to award the landscaping contract for the Northeast Branch Project to Crimboli Nursery, Inc.
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-098 B. LSTA GRANT PROPOSAL
Director Parker reported the following:
Grant proposals are not usually presented at Board meetings. However, if the library proceeds with this, we will receive federal funds for this project and will act as the fiscal agency. This will be an item to be voted on at the December Board meeting.
Amy Cantu
Chair of the Making of Ann Arbor Committee
Thanks for giving me this opportunity, both as a staff member at the AADL, and also as a Chair of the Making of Ann Arbor Committee.
The Making of Ann Arbor is a collaborative partnership of the downtown Historical Library, Ann Arbor District Library, and U of M Libraries to digitize text images and put them online at the Making of Ann Arbor website.
We are interested in pursuing an LSTA (Library Services Technology Act) Grant through the State of Michigan to digitize the 19th Century newspaper, the Signal of Liberty, with AADL acting as the fiscal agency, and I presume myself as the grant administrator.
The Signal of Liberty was a newspaper published, starting in 1841, by the Reverend Guy Buckley, a local Methodist minister active in the Underground Railroad here in Ann Arbor. It is unique a historical document of history and anti-slavery organ in Ann Arbor in the State of Michigan at that time, used by K-12 students, and researchers across the State.
The document is at the Bentley Historical Library, it consists of 670 two-sided oversized pages. The proposal is to digitize the pages and offer optimum character recognition so that the document is keyword searchable online at the Making of Ann Arbor website. We are also interested in article-level data, and have that part of the grant, so that the articles are searchable online by article titles and headings.
The cost for this project is roughly $5,000, which is also the minimum requirement for the LSTA grant. Letters of support have been received from historians across the State of Michigan.
07-099 C. PRESENTATION BY INTERN MIRIAM HOELSCHER FROM TUBINGEN, GERMANY
Miriam Hoelscher is an intern in the Youth Department of the Ann Arbor District Library. Miriam thanked the Library Staff and Board for the opportunity and is looking forward to putting her experiences here into practice when she returns to Germany.
07-100 D. STRATEGIC INITIATIVE III FACILITIES, GOAL 1. RENOVATE OR REPLACE DOWNTOWN LIBRARY
This is a continuation of discussion that began at the Board retreat. Our goal is to evaluate possibilities discussed at retreat. Questions were raised about the future of this building. Do we renovate, replace, or relocate the downtown library?
The downtown library was most recently renovated in the 1990’s. Director Parker would like to issue an RFP for a needs assessment for the Downtown Library in January. She will bring an RFP for review to the December Board Meeting.
Also discussed was Ann Arbor’s city council public hearing, which is scheduled for November 27th.
07-101 E. VOTE FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION AT THE NEXT REGULAR BOARD MEETING FOR OPINION OF COUNSEL
Trustee Cahill, supported by Vice President Head, moved to vote for executive session at the next regularly scheduled Board meeting for opinion of counsel.
A roll call vote was taken:
AYES: Cahill, Greene, Head, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
07-102 XIV. ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m.