ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD
343 S. FIFTH AVENUE, ANN ARBOR, MI
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017
17-120 I. CALL TO ORDER
President Vander Broek called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
17-121 II. ATTENDANCE
Board Present: Jim Leija, Jan Barney Newman (arr. 7:07 p.m.), Colleen Sherman, Linh Song, Ed Surovell (arr. 7:07 p.m.), Jamie Vander Broek
Board Absent: Victoria Green
Staff: Josie Parker, Eli Neiburger, Karen Wilson (recorder)
17-122 III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
(Item of action)
Trustee Sherman, supported by Treasurer Leija, moved to approve the agenda.
AYES: Leija, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 4-0.
17-123 IV. CONSENT AGENDA
(Item of action)
CA-1 Approval of Minutes of June 12, 2017 and June 19, 2017
CA-2 Approval of June 2017 Disbursements
Treasurer Leija, supported by Trustee Sherman, moved to approve the consent agenda.
AYES: Leija, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 4-0.
17-124 V. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
Jackson Potter
My name is Jackson Potter and also I would like to say that people are hiding the codes really well, and also following the points good. Like 200 and once I found one that was 300. And there were Olympic banners, and they were 1,000. Also they have things that you can get more points of like reading, but you can only get 1,000 points a week. And if you get over the amount, it shortens the amount to whatever points it needs to. If you get 2,000 points or just 1,000, then it just sets it for, let's say that that book was really long, and you were at 942, and you went over. Well, that would bring you to 912 maybe weekly, say it was just more like 958. Then it would shorten it to some more points under. Also, I didn't do the calculation yet, but I would estimate 50 points added or more, more or less. And also I hope that you have a good summer game, and that's all for right now.
17-125 VI. FINANCIAL REPORTS
Bill Cooper, Finance Manager
Finance Manager Cooper presented the June 2017 financials in the Board Packet. He noted that four line items were currently over budget and will be adjusted with the budget resolution later in the meeting. Line items over budget include Professional Services, Materials, Software Licenses/Maintenance and Repairs and Maintenance. He reported that year to date total expenditures were under budget by $816,405.
17-126 VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS
17-127 A. DIRECTOR’S EVALUATION COMMITTEE
Vice President Song reported the committee met on July 11th. The committee consists of President Vander Broek, Vice President Song and Treasurer Leija. The committee reviewed a proposal submitted by Bridgeport Consulting for the amount of $10,000. The committee requested Bridgeport creates an evaluation document for the Director as well as a description of essential duties and functions of that position. The committee requested refinements to the Bridgeport proposal and hopes to meet later in the month.
17-128 B. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President Vander Broek reported the committee met about Strategic Plan 3.3. As a starting point in this process the committee recommends that Director Parker commission an assessment of the Downtown Library building. Director Parker noted the last full review of the building was in 2006. Figures were updated in 2012 and in 2016 Facilities Manger Lemorie provided updated figures on maintenance costs alone. The committee is still discussing the process needed to advance this goal.
Director Parker reviewed the process that was previously used in the past before seeking a bond issue. Director Parker reminded the Board that as a governmental unit they are able to bond without a millage request, but if there is a downturn in the economy, and less millage is captured, the bond note is paid first followed by operations costs.
Director Parker noted that an assessment report regarding the Downtown Library building should be available by the September meeting.
17-129 VIII. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Josie B. Parker, Director
In addition to the written report in the Board packet, Director Parker highlighted:
To date the summer game has 17% more players in the first month, earning 70% more points in comparison to last year.
On July 28th Director Parker will be speaking to members of the Verdant Stewardship Urban Wood Tour as they end their tour at the Traverwood Library.
After one month of partnering with AAATA promoting The Ride and the Summer Game, there have been 2,500 redemptions of exterior bus codes and about 662 of interior bus codes. On Saturdays library card holders can ride the bus for free. An additional code can be found on the AAATA website.
The Downtown Development Authority has posted their annual State of the Downtown report on their website.
June event attendance was viewed showing a total of 210 events. Attendees numbered just over 11,000 adults and just under 11,000 kids and teens.
Our Summer Fest at Veterans Park last Saturday had over 1,000 people in attendance. Roughly twenty volunteers and a number of staff oversaw this event. Director Parker also thanked city staff who secured the permit for use of the park.
Public comments and tweets were viewed.
17-130 IX. OLD BUSINESS
16-154 A. AADL STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL 3.3: REIMAGINE THE ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY’S DOWNTOWN PRESENCE
(Item of discussion)
Director Parker reviewed options available to the Board to educate them in determining what direction to take with the Downtown building.
• Engage a bonding company to inform the Board of all legal options, including risks and advantages
• Donate development
• A combination of both
It was consensus of the Board to authorize the Director to schedule a presentation on bond proposals and their process for educational purposes.
The Board discussed the creation of an advocacy/ambassadors group. Board members discussed pros and cons of this type of group and requested the Director to recommend an outline/process on how to proceed.
16-201 B. UPDATE ON TRAVERWOOD BRANCH LIBRARY CAPITAL PROJECT
Len Lemorie, Facilities Manager
Facilities Manger Lemorie reported the Traverwood project is 95% completed. Concrete work is done. Work is continuing on the rain gardens and trees will be planted this fall.
16-154 C. AADL STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL 4.3: IMPLEMENT THE NEW WEB PRESENCE - UPDATE
Eli Neiburger, Deputy Director
Deputy Director Neiburger gave an update of the website upgrade. The tentative timeline closes access to the website on January 1st and unveils the new site on January 2nd. MeLCat requests will freeze in September. Staff is working on solutions for these types of requests. Near the end of December requests for materials will be frozen and resume shortly after the upgrade. Fines will not carry over and this impact has been reflected in the budget.
New features will include patron suspended requests; custom notices/alerts; more bookable rooms and tools; improved events engine; improved lists and reviews; site-wide mobile theme; new music archive and search integration including eBooks.
Views of the new website were shown including computer, tablet and mobile. Website feature pages were also viewed.
Deputy Director Neiburger recognized Troy Leonard for his work on this project.
17-131 X. NEW BUSINESS
17-132 A. RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE 2016-2017 APPROVED BUDGET
(Item of action)
Bill Cooper, Finance Manager
Treasurer Leija, supported by Trustee Sherman, moved the Board resolves to transfer $2,423.00 from Salaries and Wages to Professional Service; to transfer $2,675.00 from Salaries and Wages to Software Licenses/Maintenance; to transfer $2,035.00 from Salaries and Wages to Repairs & Maintenance; to transfer $15,745.00 from Salaries and Wages to Materials; that all resolutions and parts of resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded.
AYES: Leija, Barney Newman, Sherman, Song, Surovell, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
17-133 B. CANCELLATION OF AUGUST BOARD MEETING
Trustee Sherman, supported by Treasurer Leija, moved to cancel the August 21, 2017 Ann Arbor District Library Board of Trustees meeting.
AYES: Leija, Barney Newman, Sherman, Song, Surovell, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
17-134 XI. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
Ann Dilcher
My name is Ann Dilcher and the few things that I wanted to comment on besides getting my points was that the event on Saturday was wonderful. We attended that with several kids and really enjoyed that. I had one question that was interesting to me that I was wondering on both your discussion on the executive evaluations, and then also all the work with the downtown library center, and is there a dollar amount? Is it the dollar amount that Josie can approve? Is it over that, that you have to go out for RFPs? Or is it just up to the decision of the board in terms of when you go out for RFPs for work? [Director Parker responded that if a proposal is anticipated to be above $32,000, RFPs are solicited. She also provided the location in the AADL Policy Manual where this information could be found.] Oh, OK. Well, for transparency, and community interest you would be in trouble not doing that in this community, I would expect. And then my other comment was on your discussion about getting citizens involved, and having ambassadors or committee. I would recommend that very quickly you start thinking, as you think about the downtown project, I would hesitate to call it a building committee because you don't know that you're doing a building, or anything related to that. But what your downtown library committee might be if you're looking out six months or nine months, what group you're getting together that it doesn't have the voting decision, but can do a lot of that work with a couple of the board members on that committee. That's something I see typical that a lot of the libraries do. Maybe has plan commission people, Friends people, and has that group who can do a lot of that heavy lifting, and then bring that to your committee. So when you talk about what you're looking for ambassadors to do or not, I think starting to think of what a downtown library committee might be created would be a good thing to start thinking about.
17-135 XII. ADJOURNMENT
President Vander Broek adjourned the meeting at 8:47 p.m.