ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD
343 S. FIFTH AVENUE, ANN ARBOR, MI
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2019
19-036 I. CALL TO ORDER
President Song called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.
19-037 II. ATTENDANCE
Board Present: Dharma Akmon, Victoria Green, S. Kerene Moore, Colleen Sherman, Linh Song, Jamie Vander Broek
Board Absent: Jim Leija
Staff: Eli Neiburger, Len Lemorie, Karen Wilson (recorder)
Staff Absent: Josie Parker, Bill Cooper
19-038 III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
(Item of action)
Treasurer Sherman, supported by Trustee Akmon, moved to approve the agenda.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
19-039 IV. CONSENT AGENDA
(Item of action)
CA-1 Approval of Minutes of February 18, 2019
CA-2 Approval of February 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.
19-040 V. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
David Diephuis
So the annual report came through the email recently and this weekend I started looking at it. I kind of love data so I started looking at some of the old annual reports and said how does this data inform our understanding of what questions that bring to mind. So this afternoon I had some time and went through and ended up collating a little bit here for you. The first page sort of, you know, what the millage rates been over the years. The total expenses, total revenue and also where we get most of our money and where most of the expense go. Not a lot there, just one question that did come to mind is as you see on employment expenses why has that jumped a million dollars in the last three years? I sure there are very good reasons for it, I can think of a few off the top of my head. These are the type of questions that get informed by our data. The second page is sort of a history of material circulation. All of the materials that are available for circulation as well as the program attendance over that past few years. As you can see the circulation of materials has substantially dropped over the past decade. I’m sure there are great reasons for that, how we stream our video, our audio, maybe how we even keep track of this data. I don’t know but that’s sort of a question in my mind why has it changed so much? The third question is about program attendance. As you can see our program attendance has increased by almost double. More than double in the last ten years. We ask our self are we going to be able to double this again in another ten years. What’s it going to take to do that? How much money is it going to cost? What facilities are we gonna kind of need? So these are the kinds of questions that came to my mind as I’ve looked at this data. So my point for you is to ask you to look at these annual reports and see what questions it brings to your mind as you are seeing these trends over the longer period and the shorter period. Thank you for your time.
Dave
Hello, so this is just a cool type of comment. I noticed while browsing the events on the library’s website that this Board meeting was on there. And I thought that’s cool because it’s now not just advertised on that piece of paper at the front door. It’s not in the adult program, but hopefully it will be in the future.
19-041 VI. FINANCIAL REPORTS
Eli Neiburger, Deputy Director
Deputy Director Neiburger presented the February 2019 financials. February tax receipts of $15,769,659, 97.4% of the budgeted amount was received. The fund balance sits at $14,264,347.
The Friends of the AADL Fund is at $27,825.83; the Archives Grant is at $47,942.22; The City Lore grant has been expended. There were no capital project fund expenditures. Year-to-date revenue over expenditures was at $6,301,613. No line items are over budget.
19-042 VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS
19-043 A. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President Song reported the Executive Committee met with attorney Jim Greene and reviewed the Board Bylaws. The Executive Committee will consist of herself, Vice-President Leija and Secretary Moore. President Song will meet regularly with Treasurer Sherman. The committee will be reviewing the trespass policy next month.
Treasurer Sherman reported the Executive Committee also reviewed the compensation study which was last looked at three years ago. Administration is asking to bring the base wage from $9.50 up to $12.00. State law will require a minimum wage of $12.05 by 2030. The Committee asked for the salaries over the last ten years to understand the trends.
19-044 B. BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Treasurer Sherman reported the Budget and Finance Committee consisting of herself, Trustee Green and Trustee Akmon met and reviewed the RFP to complete the 2018-2019 audit that was sent out to eight accounting firms. The Committee will be interviewing the short list of candidates the second week of April. The Committee is establishing its own criteria for the interviews. Trustee Green noted that the scope of the audit remains the same as in the past.
19-045 VIII. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Eli Neiburger, Deputy Director
In addition to Director Parker’s written report in the Board Packet, Deputy Director Neiburger noted that the directional graphics in the Downtown lobby area went up today. Other changes to the lobby included replacement of the high-beam ceiling lamps with LED lights which are also dimmable, new shades, flooring and paint.
Two thousand books have been provided to Motts Children’s Hospital for their Book Babies initiative. Board books will be provided to families with 0-12 month old babies in the congenital heart unit.
Beginning April 8th, the Malletts Creek Branch Library will be closed up to eight weeks for the addition of two bookable meeting rooms, new flooring and rearranging of the collection. Advertising will be placed in the Ann Arbor News and the Ann Arbor Observer notifying the public of the closure along with signage and information on the website. All holds will be moved to Westgate.
Downtown fourth floor work in the staff area begins the first week of April. New carpet will be installed along with workstations.
Westgate will see twelve new IPads this month for in-house use.
Deputy Director Neiburger reviewed the listing of upcoming “Festival Season” activities scheduled from March 30th through August 31st.
The annual report emailed on Friday, March 15th has had over 15,000 views to date.
Public and staff comments were reviewed.
19-046 IX. OLD BUSINESS
18-049 A. UPDATE ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Len Lemorie, Facilities Manager
Facilities Manager Lemorie reported that the Downtown Library closure and renovation went very smoothly. He thanked Andra Williams, Maintenance Supervisor and the maintenance staff for the work they did during this closure.
The fourth floor staff area project is slated to start soon and to be completed by April 22nd.
As reported by Deputy Director Neiburger, Malletts Creek is scheduled to close April 8th for construction and replacement of the carpeting and cork floors.
19-032 B. RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE CHARGE
(Item of action)
Trustee Vander Broek, supported by Secretary Moore, moved that the charge to the Strategic Planning Committee is to act as a steering group for the planning process that includes the entire Board of Trustees and the AADL staff; to engage at their discretion an external consultant to facilitate the process with the staff and Board; to plan at minimum three facilitated substantial conversations with a quorum of the Board at regularly scheduled public Board meetings that will determine the time period the Strategic Plan will cover and the components and structure of the plan and that one of the three meetings will be structured as a town hall style event that includes an invitation for the public to engage in conversation with the Board about the future of the Library and to provide a Strategic Plan document for Board review and approval no later than January 1, 2020; that all resolutions and parts of resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded.
Trustee Green requested clarification on a town hall style event. The Board discussed the town hall language.
Trustee Green, supported by Trustee Vander Broek, moved to amend the motion to plan a minimum of two facilitated substantial conversations with a quorum of the Board and in addition an additional public meeting with a quorum of the Board be structured as a town hall style event.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
The amended motion was voted on as follows:
AYES: Akmon, Green, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
19-047 X. NEW BUSINESS
19-048 A. PROPOSED REVISED 4.1 MEETING ROOM USE POLICY
(Item of discussion)
Treasurer Sherman read the proposed revised meeting room use policy. Deputy Director Neiburger gave background information on the proposed policy change.
Trustee Green inquired about including a statement regarding no discrimination with access to the library to all groups.
Deputy Director Neiburger noted that we do have such statements in our other policies and this can be included in this policy.
The policy will be brought to the April Board meeting for a vote.
19-049 B. APPROVAL OF BOARD RETREAT DATE OF MAY 14, 2019
(Item of action)
Trustee Vander Broek, supported by Treasurer Sherman, moved to approve the Board Retreat date of May 14, 2019.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
19-050 C. PROPOSED REVISED 6.5 SMOKE-FREE POLICY
(Item of discussion)
The Board reviewed the proposed smoke-free policy. Deputy Director Neiburger noted that the policy was changed to align with state law and that vaping has been a problem in the library.
The policy will be brought to the April Board meeting for a vote.
19-051 D. VOTE FOR CLOSED SESSION AT THE APRIL 15, 2019 REGULAR BOARD MEETING FOR DIRECTOR’S EVALUATION
(Item of action)
Roll call vote
Treasurer Sherman, supported by Trustee Vander Broek, moved for a closed session for the director’s evaluation at the April 15, 2019 Board meeting.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Moore, Sherman, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 6-0.
19-052 XI. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
There were no additional citizens’ comments.
19-053 XII. ADJOURNMENT
President Song adjourned the meeting at 8:00 p.m.