ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD
343 S. FIFTH AVENUE, ANN ARBOR, MI
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
19-133 I. CALL TO ORDER
President Song called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
19-134 II. RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION FOR DISCUSSION OF REAL ESTATE
19-135 III. RECONVENE TO REGULAR MEETING AT 7:00 P.M.
President Song reconvened to the regular meeting at 7:06 p.m.
19-136 IV. ATTENDANCE
Board Present: Dharma Akmon, Victoria Green, Jim Leija (arr. 7:10 p.m.), S. Kerene Moore, Colleen Sherman, Linh Song, Jamie Vander Broek
Board Absent: None
Staff: Josie Parker, Eli Neiburger, Len Lemorie, Rich Retyi, Karen Wilson (recorder)
19-137 V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
(Item of action)
Secretary Moore, supported by Treasurer Sherman, moved to approve the agenda as presented.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
19-138 VI. CONSENT AGENDA
(Item of action)
CA-1 Approval of Minutes of July 15, 2019
CA-2 Approval of July 2019 Disbursements
Treasurer Sherman, supported by Trustee Akmon, moved to approve the consent agenda.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
19-139 VII. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
There were no citizens’ comments.
19-140 VII. FINANCIAL REPORTS
Josie Parker, Director
Director Parker reported that monthly financials will be presented at the October Board meeting.
19-141 IX. COMMITTEE REPORTS
19-142 A. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President Song reported the committee met earlier this evening and reviewed the process of the strategic plan and the 2018-2019 audit. A brief discussion on the November 11th staff day was also held.
Vice President Leija arrived at 7:10 p.m.
19-143 B. BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Treasurer Sherman reported the committee consisting of herself and Trustees’ Akmon and Green met and discussed the audit process. The committee also reviewed the process for financial reporting. The next committee meeting is scheduled for October 31st to review the draft audit to be presented at the November Board meeting.
19-144 C. STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE
Trustee Vander Broek reported that individual Board member interviews with Bridgeport were underway. Bridgeport will then schedule interviews with staff. The next committee meeting is scheduled for September 30th.
19-145 X. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Josie B. Parker, Director
Director Parker presented her written report and highlighted the following:
Statistical information was presented on Malletts Creek Branch re-opening with new bookable meeting rooms and the collection switched to categories. July saw fifty-one self-bookings of meeting rooms and August saw eighty room bookings. Circulation has seen an increase of 20% with the new category system.
Summer Game statistical information was presented. There was a 16% increase of active players with over 50% more points earned overall. 3546 players recorded Josie’s Code. Over 14,596 prizes were ordered. This number does not include the books distributed for the classic game.
Pittsfield Branch Library closes on Monday, September 23rd. Bookable meeting rooms will be constructed and consideration is being given to moving the Bernoulli machine. The collection will be converted to categories. During the closure Pittsfield holds will be moved to Westgate. The lockers at Pittsfield will not be operational during the closure.
Traverwood Branch Library will close in December after Pittsfield has re-opened. One bookable meeting room will be added at Traverwood, the floors will be sanded and new carpeting will be installed. The collection will be converted to categories. During Traverwood’s closure holds will be moved to Downtown.
The new location of the Downtown Library drop box will be opened later this month. We have asked for two short term parking spaces in front of the Downtown Library on Fifth Avenue to replace the ones being lost on William Street to the bike lane.
An RFP is being developed for consideration of a café in the front corner of the Downtown Library facing William Street and Fifth Avenue. Codes allow for the business with window service on William Street. Utility issues are being investigated. The books on CD collection would be moved from that area. The Board would approve the vendor.
A summary of public and staff comments was reviewed.
19-146 XI. OLD BUSINESS
18-049 A. UPDATE ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Len Lemorie, Facilities Manager
Facilities Manager Lemorie noted as stated earlier the Pittsfield Branch closes September 23rd for painting, cleaning, new bookable meeting rooms and collection reassignment.
He reported that construction figures will be brought to the Board in October for renovation of the 4th floor meeting room. Work includes moving and increasing the size of the podcast room, creation of a green room, removal of the half wall in the room, additional equipment and creating an entrance to the staff area. The capacity of the room will go from 120 to 180 which will make it a main program room. Preliminary construction estimates are $392,000 for construction and $150,000 for equipment.
Facilities Manager Lemorie reported that back-up generators are still being investigated and he hoped to have more information for the Board in October.
17-166 A. REVIEW OF THE 2017 RESERVE ADVISORS STUDY
Len Lemorie, Facilities Manager
Facilities Manager Lemorie reviewed the 2017 Reserve Advisors Study on the Downtown Library building. This study provided an in-depth breakdown of maintenance issues of the building.
Facilities Manger Lemorie outlined steps being taken to address the various issues noted in the report. He also noted that the recent branch closures allowed for maintenance work in those locations to be addressed.
1-147 II. NEW BUSINESS
19-148 A. VOTE FOR CLOSED SESSION AT THE OCTOBER 21, 2019 REGULAR BOARD MEETING FOR DISCUSSION OF REAL ESTATE
(Item of action)
Roll call vote
Vice President Leija, supported by Treasurer Sherman, moved for a closed session for discussion of real estate at the October 21, 2019 Board meeting.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Leija, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
19-149 XIII. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
Dave
Hey all, so I have two comments. One’s kind of a question but I’ll give the short comment first. With the Downtown café consideration I was thinking about the logistics of having a window service open while the library is open and just thinking, like well, if you have two points of service then managing crews first in line is probably hard for the café and people might try to plot for other silliness. If you only keep one point of service when the library is not open having outside when the library is open and having inside would draw more people into the library. So just something to consider. The other thing that I was kind of curious about and this kind of goes to Eli is, I know that I’m not really supposed to ask questions but it would be cool if maybe for the next board meeting open session having some numbers for summer game as to, I don’t know if the AATA tracks how many people use the library fare, that would be cool. As well as looking specifically at event codes and seeing how many people did that versus other codes. Thank you.
19-150 XIV. ADJOURNMENT
President Song adjourned the meeting at 8:19 p.m.