ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD
343 S. FIFTH AVENUE, ANN ARBOR, MI
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020
20-101 I. CALL TO ORDER
President Song called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.
20-102 II. ATTENDANCE
Board Present: Dharma Akmon, Victoria Green, Molly Kleinman, Jim Leija, S. Kerene Moore, Linh Song, Jamie Vander Broek
Board Absent: None
Staff: Josie Parker, Eli Neiburger, Len Lemorie
20-103 III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
(Item of action)
Roll call vote
Vice President Moore, supported by Secretary Leija, moved to approve the agenda as presented.
Trustee Vander Broek, supported by Secretary Leija, moved to amend the agenda adding under New Business Discussion of Recent Black Lives Matter Protest.
The amendment to the agenda was voted on.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Kleinman, Leija, Moore, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
The amended agenda was voted on.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Kleinman, Leija, Moore, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
20-104 IV. CONSENT AGENDA
(Item of action)
Roll call vote
CA-1 Approval of Minutes of May 18, 2020
CA-2 Approval of May 2020 Disbursements
Vice President Moore, supported by Treasurer Akmon, moved to approve the consent agenda.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Kleinman, Leija, Moore, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
20-105 V. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
Thor Ham
Hi Board of Trustees, my name is Thor Ham and I am going into 6th grade. My question for you is how do you plan to reopen and keep the libraries safe? Another thing that I have is how will summer game prizes be delivered; if the summer game shop is open? Thank you for all that you do.
Audio Comment submitted:
Hi, this is in response to the Summer Game. I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work. I just love the game and I’m trying to submit a citizens comment. The games are great and my family loves them. Keep up the good work.
Deanna Lynch
I, Deanna Lynch, just want to thank the Ann Arbor District Library for having the best summer games program and for also doing the Bummer Games to help with the covid stay at home order boredom. The Summer Games is one of my favorite part of Summer.
Kanchan M.
Hello, My name is Kanchan. I just want to say I truly appreciate AADL. It's not just a library but a lot more than that. In this crazy time AADL Bummer games and AADL TV have been a lovely friend. Participating in the Bummer game gave me that little escape from all chaos, negative, disheartening news around me. Plus I learn something new with every badge! Thank you so much AADL and its lovely kind librarians and staff. I miss talking to our Library people and their energy and kindness they show in all events. I miss volunteering for AADL and can't wait for time when it is safe for everyone to bring back volunteering. Looking forward to summer games. Thanks again AADL.
Cherie Burkheiser
All of our activities this year have been cancelled and we are very glad the Summer Game wasn’t among them. Thank you also for adding the Bummer Games when everything closed down. ~ the Burkheiser family
General question: since the meetings are streamed to YouTube, does that mean the meetings (and therefore the codes) are available at anytime after the meeting has happened? This would be great for those unable to watch live.
Christina Bell
Hi, My name is Christina Bell and I would like to leave the following comment for the board of AADL: Thanks so much for all the hard work you put into AADL. My kids and I have have lots of fun reading and doing the summer game.
Evan Max
This is Evan. This is a citizens comment. I want to tell you if you do curbside pickup the people will be very happy because the old people don’t want to get out and pick it at the lockers and go inside to pickup. This comment is for the Board meeting.
Audrey
I really enjoyed the bummer games! Thank you for all the work and dedication during the virus shutdown. I really appreciated everything the library was doing and putting out. I am also very happy with the planned roll out for how the reopening is going to work.
Susan Collet
Dear Board of Trustees, COVID related measures caused Ann Arbor citizens to have a decrease in city of Ann Arbor services. The availability of library, public transportation, and parks and recreation programs have been impacted. The citizens of Ann Arbor should receive a reduction in the amount of property taxes required since the amount spent must have decreased.
Kathy Scott
Thank you for your thoughtful responses and hard work of all the staff to the library closures: the holds and due dates management, the Bummer Game, the AADL TV, video storytimes and other events, As always, the AADL staff is amazing.
Jennifer and Amber German
Hello! My daughter and I each have a Citizen's Comment for today's Board of Trustee meeting. The first, from my daughter "Good job running the library. Thank you."
Jennifer German-Video presentation
Hello, Ann Arbor District Library Board of Trustees. I just wanted to give you a message about how much my family loves the AADL. I’m going to use the word love a lot and maybe just a couple of suggestions or requests for the summer game. So first, I mean, I love that I can rent, borrow rather, a telescope pretty much anytime it’s so amazing to be able to use that and I’ve seen Saturn’s rings, I’ve seen the specks of lights around the moons of Jupiter. It’s just crazy and amazing and I love it. Also the fact that I can borrow DVD’s and not have to buy them or pay for them, for the movies before I know I like them. That is great for me. My youngest daughter, she’s almost five. She loves going to the branches with the touch screen laptops in the kids section because its an actual computer she can control and use on her own. So that feels like it empowers her. My oldest daughter is an avid reader and I’m not even sure the Ann Arbor District Library has enough books for her but I certainly can’t keep up buying books for her with the amounts that she reads. The library is immensely helpful for both of us. She loves going, picking out books, new ones even ones she’s read over and over. So thank you all for that. My family, we also love the summer game because it’s something we can do as a family. We’ve been doing it for years. My youngest is now doing her own profile. So, I wanted to show you, you can see the t-shirt, the hat, a prize we really like. We loved dottie, I mean I’ve worn her out, the zipper is broken and I would love to get another one but the other coolers, I’ve got a couple of these work great and lunch bags. My favorite prize is actually this messenger bag. But the reason it’s my favorite is because my older daughter three years ago spent so much time earning the points going and doing all, finding the codes out and about at the libraries, at the parks and everything and we had so much fun together and she wanted to earn the 20,000 points to buy this for me. And she did. I was so proud of her for that and I just, I love it and it’s still a great memory for me. So thank you. Personally I love collecting pins. Those are really great. My oldest daughter has your sg pants collection, owl, giraffe, fox and unicorn. We started the year after owl pants. Anyone out there that has one my daughter would love to complete her collection. And then personally I also am a AADL solar system ambassador and the patch you gave out last year I loved so much I put it on the shirt that I use for my presentations. So thank you so much for all that the library does for me and my family and community.
Ashley Recker
I have always been a huge AADL fan, but this pandemic has highlighted what a wonderful resource for this community AADL is. From the bummer/summer game to downloadable resources to audiobooks available through overdrive, I am so thankful you all were here to keep me sane while everything else is so abnormal! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Megan & Maddie Kanous
Thank you very much for all of your efforts while your branches were closed during March thru June. My family appreciated all of the AADL.TV content that your staff provided these last few months, especially virtual story time. We were lucky enough to be able to use Libby and Overdrive to check out digital books. We are looking forward to the Summer Game and hope that everyone stays healthy as AADL begins to work towards physical check outs.
Thank you for the Story Times that we watched on TV. I can't wait to check out more books. -Maddie Kanous, Age 8
Amanda Hess
Hello board, Please bring back popular prizes from years past (2011-2017). Whether you put them in the current year shop or the classic shop is up to you. Thank you.
Edward Vielmetti
To the board, Thank you and all the staff for the work you have done to keep the library going during the time of no libraries, and I'm so much looking forward to Opening Day again. Thanks again.
Susan Vaughn
Hi, my name is Susan Vaughn and I want to express my gratitude for the staff for making the Bummer Game. I appreciate all the hard work that went into it along with AADL TV. It was something to look forward to when shut down. Thank you all.
Harper, Anna, Makenzie Rumschik
The summer game is our favorite! We love to get slurpies and go code hunting. The park ones are our favorites. Thanks for putting it together for us! PS - we walked around the downtown library looking for Josie's code and didn't find anything, so we'll gladly take a hint...Player - Harper (aka: Anakin), Anna (aka: Lucy), Makenzie (aka: Elsa)--Mark Rumschik
Zawacki Family
Hello, This is a comment from the Zawacki family (Molly, Jay, Sylvie and Gus). Thanks for all the activities and badges while you've been closed! We really enjoyed the bummer game badges and are looking forward to the summer game ones next. As a parent I found myself gaining a grudging appreciation for some of the youtubers I learned about, and we also liked participating in the trivia shows. Also, thank you for supporting Overdrive eBooks, which allowed us to continue some our favorite series during the shutdown. Last but not least, long live Finny Flinger!
Jeanne Getty
Thank you very much to the AADL staff for the Bummer Game during the Coronavirus pandemic! Mid-March was a troubling and stressful time as Ann Arbor businesses closed and work conditions changed, and everything was depressing news….until the wonderful email from the AADL announcing a Bummer Game!! Suddenly, there was good news, great humor, and a fun challenge to keep our spirits up. The humor of the Bummer Game was well-needed, and the game was challenging, educational and fun.
Thank you to the AADL for your efforts to produce the Bummer Game during a tough time in Ann Arbor, it was great fun!!
Cecilia Hendricks
I'd like to thank the library for their flexibility over the past three months. The Bummer Game was a wonderful distraction during the worst of the pandemic, and I'm so pleased to have the summer game again even if it will be different this year. Thanks so much for everything you're doing.
AADL Fan
This is a great way to get people to watch a board meeting! I love the aadl summer game! Signed, An AADL Fan!!
Joy Schultz
Good evening! I wanted to share my gratitude for the Bummer Game, the Summer Game, and how responsive everyone has been to questions about reopening! Thank you all very much.
Jasper Wise
Hello, name is Jasper Wyse, I am 10 years old. I wanted to let the Library Board know that I love the summer game, it was fun when you did the key badges over the school year last year, it would be nice if you could do that again! You are the best library ever, hopefully I can come back soon! Thank you so much Board!
Stephanie Pocsi-Morrison
Hello! I wanted to thank everyone at the library for their hard work and dedication to the community! I am so thankful to benefit from the work that y'all do and I will continue to support in any way I can. Again thank you all!
Shannon, Bret, Graham, and Ian Hautamaki
Hi members of the AADL Board, This was supposed to be my year to not chicken out and speak in person at a library board meeting! Unfortunately, COVID has other plans for all of us. I just want to say that my family really appreciates all you do and especially have been doing to keep us engaged in learning and reading even though we have to be socially distant. We can’t wait to come back and enjoy programs in person, obviously when the time is right. Thank you also for taking care of your amazing staff and thinking about their health and safety long term when it comes to reopening. Our family has two little boys, Graham and Ian, ages five and two, and right now the library story times are totally their jam. It’s really quite funny to watch them emulate Christopher, Ellie, Allison, and Amanda’s mannerisms because they “see” them so often. But long term, we would love to see a remodel of the downtown branch especially with a better Teen section. We love the kid area there, but it does feel catered to the especially young. Kids only get bigger, and the current teen area near the main lobby not that conducive to either socializing or studying. Other ideas we have are a better mobile site or app for renewing or checking out books. Oh and would it even be possible in a post-COVID world to have different shaped cake pans to check out? Mostly all praise and love, and please let us and the community know what we can do to make the library run even better post-COVID. Looking forward to playing the Summer Game this year as well. Fingers crossed we can get an AADL shirt in a 2T for Ian! All our best.
Himaja Motheram
I want to say a big Thank You to everyone at AADL who worked so hard throughout the beginning of the virus outbreak till now to create online resources and programs for the community.
Latitude & Tom Brown
Will there be vintage summer game pins in the shop this year? We are very excited for the summer game.
Alex Kate
Hi! Thank you so much for adding the Bummer Game onto what is already an amazing Summer Game program. I'm curious if there is any plan to bring back Nerd Nite events in a virtual way?
Elaine Wong
Love the Summer Game. We have been introduced to so many new things and learning so much as a result! Happy to see the faces of the Board of Trustees!
Ganesh Pal
Hi, thank you for all the work you put in. This is the only reason I read in the summer. The badges are interesting and help me in trivia nights.
Anne Yu
Our family loves the AADL! Keep up the great work.
Hajar Mek
Hello AADL Board of Trustees. You are all so kind to do the bummer game during Covid. I'm just curious, how do you choose AADL board members? Thank you for all you do, I really appreciate it.
Jenny Clark
I love these live board meetings. The cake pan loan idea would be great!
20-106 VI. FINANCIAL REPORTS
Josie B. Parker, Director
Director Parker reviewed the Financial Reports presented in the Board Packet. Cash has decreased by $1.2 million at the end of May. Tax receipts are at 97.7% of the budgeted amount with just under $400,000 outstanding for collection. She noted the fund balance has increased from April to just over $8.2 million in May. Actual cash receipts are just over $17.7 million.
Year to date revenue over expenditures is at $1.8 million. Actual cash receipts are at 100.01% of the budget with actual expenditures at 87.34% of the budget.
Under Grants & Memorials the Friends contributed $75,000 this fiscal year with expenditures of $73,455 leaving a balance of $65,970 in Friends donations. The archives grant fund currently is at $45,352. The Ladies Library Association has committed $250,000 towards the purchase of a digital screen and an anonymous donor has pledged funds towards the balance of the purchase. Those funds are anticipated to be received by the end of June.
Budget lines that need adjusting are being addressed in a resolution later on the agenda.
20-107 VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS
20-108 A. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
(10 minutes)
President Song reported the Executive Committee met earlier today and discussed the Black Lives Matter topic, having no Board retreat this year and preparing for a candidates’ event next week. The Library Board will have four seats open in the November election.
20-109 VIII. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Josie B. Parker, Director
Director Parker reviewed AADL’s service phasing plan based on the MI Safe Start Plan’s Stage 4 through Stage 6 for reopening during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
An all staff meeting was held via Zoom to review the transition to back to work for all staff. 215 staff members attended the two hour meeting.
The Library is calling for stories related to the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter book discussion series is being held on Zoom. Book recommendations are being provided online and in AADL newsletters. A call will be going out to design a Black Lives Matter mural for the Downtown Library fence on Library Lane.
AADL TV has had 91,000 video views and 625,000 minutes of watch time. AADL has sent out three newsletters in June with a total of 40,600 opens.
Summer Game banners are on AADL branches, street flags and the AADL truck. Codes will also be on the exterior of AAATA buses. Over 100 parks located within the city will have codes. Township parks will be used in future summer games.
PPE is readily available to staff coming back into work. Staff space is being adapted to promote social distancing.
A summary of public and staff comments was viewed.
20-110 IX. OLD BUSINESS
18-049 X. A. RESOLUTION TO INCREASE THE PROJECT SCOPE OF PUBLIC MEETING SPACES IN AADL BRANCHES
(Item of action)
Roll call vote
Secretary Leija, supported by Trustee Vander Broek moved, the Board resolves as follows: To increase the project scope of public meeting spaces in AADL branches to include acoustical treatments at Malletts Creek, Traverwood and Pittsfield Branches; to increase the project scope at Traverwood Branch to include construction of a cold storage room and installing a track system for the program room doors; to authorize the Capital Project Funds total project increase of $168,837.10; that all resolutions and parts of resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded.
Associate Director Lemorie reviewed the additions to the project. He noted that the original project budget was approved at $569,000.
This project is separate from the Downtown Library 4th floor project which will be reviewed next month along with a proposal for generators in the branches.
Director Parker noted that the Café project for the Downtown Library has been placed on an indefinite hold.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Kleinman, Leija, Moore, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
20-111 XI. NEW BUSINESS
20-112 A.RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE 2019-2020 APPROVED BUDGET
(Item of action)
Roll call vote
President Song, supported by Secretary Leija, moved the Board resolves as follows: To transfer $50,000 from Salaries & Wages to Custodial Services; to transfer $150,000 from Salaries & Wages to Accounting & Auditing; to transfer $20,000 from Salaries & Wages to Property Insurance; to transfer $50,000 from Salaries & Wages to Communications; to transfer $20,000 from Salaries & Wages to Copier Expense; to transfer $160,000 from Salaries & Wages to Capital Outlay; that all resolutions and parts of resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Akmon, Green, Kleinman, Leija, Moore, Song, Vander Broek
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
20-113 B. BLACK LIVES MATTER
(Item of discussion)
Trustee Vander Broek led the discussion on recent events around Black Lives Matter. She noted that AADL staff is thinking and programming on this topic and felt that it was time for the AADL Board to discuss and provide a statement.
Comments from the Board included:
- Asking staff to closely examine progress working towards recruiting, retaining and promoting a diverse staff.
- That the Library should be a voice and a public accommodation that serves everyone.
- Thinking about safety and how AADL operates and safety for more vulnerable users. Revaluate how we define safety.
- Making sure that staff training is cohesive system-wide.
- Need to consider issues outside of the box and consider those options.
- How AADL works with AAPD.
- Determine whether changes are needed to customer service.
- Do a more thorough policy review over the next year.
- Choose some time for a retreat over next the year with anti-racism training. Concept in learning that anti-racism is different than diversity and inclusion training.
- Encourage programs dismantling racism and white supremacy.
- Work currently being done at AADL is progressive.
- Continuation of this topic at next month’s meeting.
- Presentation from staff on becoming more anti-racist and the how applied in the hiring process.
20-114 XII. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
Barbara Lawrence
As a winter visitor to A2, I had heard about your summer games from my daughter and son-in-law, but had never participated before your Bummer Games gave me some activities to enjoy here in quarantine at an adult-care facility in Florida. You have made many good times for me since I started in May, though it took help from you for my final badge. Since the Summer Games started, I have completed the badges that do not require me to physically be in A2 (or have chalk and a sidewalk). I plan to see how much I can complete this summer. I just wish I could get a library card. Thank you for a way to keep my mind active.
Aarna Kirankumar Desai
Love aadl would like to say a big thank you to everyone at AADL for making summer game and bummer game possible. And you could do all this in these hard times. Big THANK YOU!!!!! To all of you guys at aadl!
Swarup Sathe
Thank you for all that you do.
Diane ‘Bogie’ Bogenrieder
Great explanation on finances. And a fantastic way with the Summer Game getting folks interested in the Board meetings.
Lily
Thank you to AADL for being inclusive and amazing! I'm very grateful for the summer game, event, and catalogue. My question is what will AADL be doing as an active ally in current times?
Hillary Watson
Whose board positions are open in this year's election?
Jenny Clark
Thank you for explaining "freezing". Makes much more sense to hear it than the email did.
Diane ‘Bogie’ Bogenrieder
Parks with codes is great addition.
Aynsley Martindale
So excited for how you guys have made the summer game happen this year! My daughter and I have particularly enjoyed watching Storytime With Ellie on Mondays. - Aynsley (and Delia) Fant
Hillary Watson
This is a great conversation, I really appreciate being able to listen in.
Sorkin Family
Hiiiiiiiiiiii
Beth Manuel
Thank you for bringing this up, Jamie!
20-115 XIII. ADJOURNMENT
President Song adjourned the meeting at 9:06 p.m.