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AADL Board of Trustees Meeting - February 18th, 2019

When: February 18, 2019 at the Downtown Library

Watch the February 18th, 2019 Meeting of the AADL Board of Trustees. Select an agenda item below to jump to that point in the transcript. 

For more information, please see the Board Packet for this meeting

 

19-021 I. CALL TO ORDER

19-022 II. ATTENDANCE 

19-023 III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA (Item of action)

19-024 IV. CONSENT AGENDA (Item of action) 

CA-1 Approval of Minutes of January 22, 2019  

CA-2 Approval of January 2019 Disbursements  

19-025 V. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS  

19-026 VI. FINANCIAL REPORTS Bill Cooper, Finance Manager 

19-027 VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS  

19-028 A. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

19-029 VIII. DIRECTOR’S REPORT Josie B. Parker, Director 

19-030 IX. OLD BUSINESS  

18-049 A. UPDATE ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS  Len Lemorie, Facilities Manager 

19-031 X. NEW BUSINESS

19-032 A. STRATEGIC PLAN COMMITTEE (Item of discussion and action)

19-033 B. BOARD RETREAT DATE (Item of discussion and action)

19-034 XI. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS 

19-035 XII. ADJOURNMENT   

Transcript

  • [00:00:05.24] LINH SONG: OK. Let's call our meeting to order. Karen, do we have attendance?
  • [00:00:12.76] KAREN WILSON: I have attendance. Yep.
  • [00:00:15.08] LINH SONG: OK. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?
  • [00:00:19.60] JIM LEIJA: I move to approve the agenda.
  • [00:00:22.54] LINH SONG: A second?
  • [00:00:23.37] KERENE MOORE: I second the motion to approve the agenda.
  • [00:00:26.09] LINH SONG: OK.
  • [00:00:28.07] JOSIE PARKER: Any discussion.
  • [00:00:29.06] LINH SONG: Any discussion on the agenda?
  • [00:00:33.48] JIM LEIJA: I don't think so.
  • [00:00:36.28] LINH SONG: No discussion?
  • [00:00:37.39] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Looks good.
  • [00:00:38.49] LINH SONG: OK. Great.
  • [00:00:39.74] JOSIE PARKER: All in favor.
  • [00:00:40.42] LINH SONG: All in favor?
  • [00:00:41.27] JIM LEIJA: Aye.
  • [00:00:42.25] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Aye.
  • [00:00:42.73] JOSIE PARKER: Aye.
  • [00:00:43.22] LINH SONG: OK. Any opposed? All right. Great. Let's see. So let's move on to the approval of our minutes--
  • [00:00:52.56] JOSIE PARKER: The consent agenda.
  • [00:00:52.85] LINH SONG: --or, no, the consent agenda.
  • [00:00:54.50] JIM LEIJA: I move to approve the consent agenda.
  • [00:00:56.53] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Second.
  • [00:00:57.01] LINH SONG: All in favor.
  • [00:00:58.93] ALL: Aye.
  • [00:00:59.34]
  • [00:01:00.04] LINH SONG: Discussion-- is there any discussion?
  • [00:01:01.38] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Oh. Looks good, again.
  • [00:01:04.00] LINH SONG: All right.
  • [00:01:04.60] JIM LEIJA: [LAUGHS]
  • [00:01:05.00] LINH SONG: All in favor?
  • [00:01:06.54] JOSIE PARKER: Aye.
  • [00:01:07.04] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Aye.
  • [00:01:07.36] JIM LEIJA: Aye.
  • [00:01:07.69] LINH SONG: Great.
  • [00:01:10.59] JOSIE PARKER: Citizens' Comments.
  • [00:01:12.04] LINH SONG: Do we have any one signed up for Citizens' Comments, Karen?
  • [00:01:15.46] KAREN WILSON: I do. [INAUDIBLE]
  • [00:01:19.52] AUDIENCE: We want to talk about lighting issues. OK.
  • [00:01:22.09] JIM LEIJA: Come to the podium, please.
  • [00:01:23.06] JOSIE PARKER: You have three minutes, sir.
  • [00:01:24.10] AUDIENCE: OK. Can we wait until my associate gets here?
  • [00:01:26.25] JOSIE PARKER: Not unless you want to wait until the very end of the meeting.
  • [00:01:28.14] JIM LEIJA: Wait till the end of the meeting.
  • [00:01:28.62] AUDIENCE: That's fine. That'd be fine.
  • [00:01:29.59] JOSIE PARKER: OK.
  • [00:01:30.14] LINH SONG: OK
  • [00:01:33.15] JIM LEIJA: Any others?
  • [00:01:37.45] LINH SONG: OK. Great. Let's move on to Bill with financial reports.
  • [00:01:44.89] BILL COOPER: Good evening, everybody.
  • [00:01:46.87] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Good evening.
  • [00:01:47.65] BILL COOPER: You have my report for January there in front of you. As of January 31, 2019, we have collected $15,686,663 of our budgeted tax receipts. That's about 96.9% of that.
  • [00:02:07.28] Total revenue, cash revenue, collected to date as of January 31 is $15,953,420. There were no budget items that were over budget.
  • [00:02:22.67] For the grants, we did expense the remaining $600 of the City Lower Grant. So Victoria, last week you had a question about that. That was for our Becoming American series. So unless anybody has any questions, that's all I have.
  • [00:02:43.21] JIM LEIJA: I'm just really impressed that your projections are very closely aligned with how you're spending it. The variance is very modest. So yeah, it looks good.
  • [00:02:55.55] BILL COOPER: Thank you.
  • [00:02:56.99] DHARMA AKMON: Thank you.
  • [00:02:58.09] LINH SONG: Great.
  • [00:02:58.55] BILL COOPER: Great.
  • [00:02:59.70] LINH SONG: Thank you, Bill. Great. Moving on-- committee reports. The executive committee met earlier, before our board meeting, and we went through a couple items that will be coming up in next month's meeting.
  • [00:03:17.32] It's a couple policies that we're taking a closer look at. We had Josie and staff take a look at, or she's having us take a look at, too.
  • [00:03:28.80] It includes FMLA compliance, revision on meeting-use policy. And then we took a closer look at our trespass policy, too. So we'll-- I don't know. Anyone in the committee wants to speak, too, or discussions? I--
  • [00:03:49.75] JIM LEIJA: We're gonna--
  • [00:03:49.82] LINH SONG: --think we're pretty early on.
  • [00:03:51.25] JIM LEIJA: Yeah. We'll have first-read of policies at the next full board meeting. And then the new policies will go up for vote in April. And I think we're looking at minor but meaningful changes, in terms of meeting room use and smoking policy in the building. So yes.
  • [00:04:17.22] VICTORIA GREEN: Are there goals that you all have been discussing that you're trying to reach with revising the policies?
  • [00:04:21.70] JIM LEIJA: Josie is bringing these forward as tweaks that need to be looked at based on building use, essentially.
  • [00:04:28.96] JOSIE PARKER: Some of it's legal. Some of it is changes in the law by FMLA, the changes in the law where we're updating our policy.
  • [00:04:38.71] And we had to open contracts to do that, so we've been working with the unions on that. And then the policy changes are use of the building, smoking, and then the trespass, looking at exactly how we handle those.
  • [00:04:53.80] So it's the building room use one I'm bringing because of case law that's happening around specific uses of public buildings. And then the smoking one is about vaping, for the most part, and how we're wanting to add that into our policy about no smoking in the library.
  • [00:05:15.08] JIM LEIJA: You'll look at full policy and language and have time to ask--
  • [00:05:18.47] VICTORIA GREEN: We'll have the chance to talk about it?
  • [00:05:18.51] JIM LEIJA: --questions and talk about it.
  • [00:05:19.63] JOSIE PARKER: You'll have the old policy with the redaction and what the new policy will look like. And you'll have a month to consider it before you vote on it.
  • [00:05:27.22] LINH SONG: In April.
  • [00:05:27.95] JOSIE PARKER: Yep.
  • [00:05:29.23] LINH SONG: Great. Any other-- Kerene, did you want to say anything, or--
  • [00:05:33.16] COLLEEN SHERMAN: I have a question. Was I supposed to go to this meeting?
  • [00:05:35.47] LINH SONG: No.
  • [00:05:35.86] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:05:36.57] LINH SONG: We're going to rotate folks out. I think because where our schedules are, kind of-- so depending on, I think, what's on the agenda, we'll figure out--
  • [00:05:46.00] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK. So Kerene came to the meeting?
  • [00:05:47.56] LINH SONG: Yes.
  • [00:05:47.81] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK. Can you be transparent about that, please, and make sure that we know when the meetings are happening in advance?
  • [00:05:53.65] I think that's a reasonable thing to ask-- to know when executive committee meetings are happening, for it to be communicated about, because I had no idea that it was going to be an executive committee meeting.
  • [00:06:03.34] It's OK that you're rotating. I simply want to know when there's going to be a meeting. Like, this is a surprise. Surprises-- not like you had some policy. I just didn't know you were actually having a meeting.
  • [00:06:15.43] It's not a big deal. I just didn't know. And this also doesn't mirror the past, how things have gone in the past. This is a new thing. This is a change.
  • [00:06:23.58] JIM LEIJA: It's not a change. We've--
  • [00:06:25.22] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Wait, did you rotate Ed out? Because I don't think Ed came to a single executive committee.
  • [00:06:30.96] JIM LEIJA: It's not a change in terms of the cycle. So the executive committee has been meeting pretty regularly in the hour before the full board meeting for, probably, the last two years.
  • [00:06:42.70] LINH SONG: Two years, yeah.
  • [00:06:43.22] JIM LEIJA: And I think the question of rotation--
  • [00:06:46.22] LINH SONG: This is the first time our group has met.
  • [00:06:47.38] JIM LEIJA: It's the first time that this group has met. And in full transparency, I think it's really the president's prerogative to call the executive committee meeting.
  • [00:06:54.85] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:06:57.88] JIM LEIJA: And also to determine who is invited to that meeting of the executive officers. And only three of us can participate. So as an executive officer, I think that it is important for all of the executive officers to know that a committee meeting is happening. And I think that's great feedback.
  • [00:07:15.28] LINH SONG: Yeah. I mean--
  • [00:07:15.85] JIM LEIJA: And also--
  • [00:07:16.24] COLLEEN SHERMAN: I'm not trying to be hostile.
  • [00:07:17.92] JIM LEIJA: No I think it's--
  • [00:07:19.03] LINH SONG: We had committed to it a week ago.
  • [00:07:22.11] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:07:22.59] LINH SONG: A week, or so, ago.
  • [00:07:23.47] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:07:23.84] LINH SONG: And it was just, really, according to our schedules and--
  • [00:07:26.01] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:07:26.72] LINH SONG: --some of the things that we knew that we wanted to talk about.
  • [00:07:29.63] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:07:30.07] LINH SONG: So I can give you a heads up.
  • [00:07:32.20] COLLEEN SHERMAN: But you're saying we knew what we talked about. And I'm on the executive committee.
  • [00:07:36.13] JIM LEIJA: You are not on the executive committee. You are an executive officer.
  • [00:07:39.08] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:07:39.67] JIM LEIJA: You are only on the executive committee when you are invited to go to an executive committee meeting--
  • [00:07:44.00] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:07:44.11] JIM LEIJA: --by the president. It's a weird thing. It's part of our bylaws--
  • [00:07:47.73] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Yes. OK.
  • [00:07:48.10] JIM LEIJA: --because only three of us can meet at a time.
  • [00:07:50.54] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:07:50.83] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:07:51.12] LINH SONG: Because if there's four of us, then we are under Open Meetings Act.
  • [00:07:55.69] COLLEEN SHERMAN: So "we," as the two of you-- the president and the vice president. We should think of it that way?
  • [00:08:01.27] JIM LEIJA: I mean, it's the president's discretion.
  • [00:08:03.25] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK. OK.
  • [00:08:03.93] JIM LEIJA: So I don't necessarily-- I don't call the meetings as vice president. Linh calls meetings as the president.
  • [00:08:08.77] LINH SONG: Right. I call the meeting.
  • [00:08:09.04] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:08:09.28] JIM LEIJA: And she can make the assignments [INAUDIBLE]
  • [00:08:11.21] COLLEEN SHERMAN: So there's going to be times you don't go because you're out of town or you're traveling or for whatever reason.
  • [00:08:15.14] JIM LEIJA: Or if Kerene doesn't go.
  • [00:08:16.54] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:08:16.86] JIM LEIJA: Or whomever.
  • [00:08:17.63] LINH SONG: Right. So we'll figure it out.
  • [00:08:18.70] JIM LEIJA: Or if Linh doesn't go.
  • [00:08:19.42] COLLEEN SHERMAN: But I've always assumed that there's a meeting before the board meeting. And--
  • [00:08:22.97] JIM LEIJA: Yes, I think that's a fair assumption, although we have not discussed a pattern of meetings.
  • [00:08:27.31] LINH SONG: I mean, it just a matter of convenience since we're all right here--
  • [00:08:31.53] JIM LEIJA: Yep.
  • [00:08:31.89] LINH SONG: --before the board meeting but the executive committee has convened. But it's very easy for me to give you notice.
  • [00:08:39.40] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:08:40.04] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:08:40.54] LINH SONG: Yes. I can do that.
  • [00:08:42.50] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Awesome.
  • [00:08:43.11] LINH SONG: Thank you.
  • [00:08:44.28] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Now that I understand, it's not a big deal.
  • [00:08:48.50] LINH SONG: Great. So executive committee report, moving on to Josie. Director's report.
  • [00:08:56.19] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah. Director's report. Thank you. So you have the written record and then the slides. This is one of the photographs from the Dunbar Exhibit which is up on the second floor. And it's in the northeast side of the building. So if you go up there, it's absolutely wonderful.
  • [00:09:19.81] And this is from the website, from the county's website. I talked about the GIS mapping of library districts-- this is a first. This has never been done before.
  • [00:09:28.34] And so Alex Pierzchala staff started doing this for us. And then we talked to people with the county, they took it on.
  • [00:09:36.85] So if you want to know exactly where the boundaries are of all of the library districts in the county, you can see it. And you know where you live. It's really nice. We're really grateful.
  • [00:09:47.42] COLLEEN SHERMAN: So helpful.
  • [00:09:47.71] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah. So helpful. Right. The Downtown Library reflooring will begin Monday and will end by the 9th of March. If we can open it sooner, we will. But we know it'll be done by the 9th.
  • [00:10:04.86] The Delta Sigma Theta did a step show here Friday evening. It was amazing, and over 200 people were in the lobby. So I just thought you just know about that.
  • [00:10:16.11] These are from the library from the director's report. These are updates, a little bit from what's printed in the director's report. Malletts Creek begins April 8. Pittsfield and Traverwood in September and October. We've pushed it.
  • [00:10:28.46] Fourth floor staff area renovations underway. The final timing is depending on furniture shipment. And we're working on that, but it's starting. That's happening. You'd see wallpaper coming down if you were up in the admin area.
  • [00:10:43.17] The iPad replacement and upgrade at Westgate in the children's area will be completed by March 30. Malletts will get the same upgrades during the closure. So we'll be moving iPads into the children's areas throughout the system as we do these upgrades and closures.
  • [00:11:00.74] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Can I ask a question about that?
  • [00:11:02.40] JOSIE PARKER: Mhm.
  • [00:11:02.84] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: So the iPads-- as a mother of a preschooler [LAUGHS]-- I'm curious. Like, what's new about the new iPads that-- are they going to be significantly different or more stable or something? Sorry.
  • [00:11:16.39] JOSIE PARKER: Stable is important. Yeah.
  • [00:11:17.70] ELI NEIBURGER: The difference is, on the new ones, Minecraft works.
  • [00:11:19.87] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:11:20.76] On the old ones--
  • [00:11:21.54] JOSIE PARKER: And it doesn't crash them.
  • [00:11:22.15] ELI NEIBURGER: --it didn't work.
  • [00:11:22.51] JOSIE PARKER: And it crashed them.
  • [00:11:23.50] ELI NEIBURGER: That's the difference.
  • [00:11:23.92] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: [LAUGHS] OK.
  • [00:11:24.88] ELI NEIBURGER: They would fill up the iPads with their Minecraft worlds, and then nothing would work.
  • [00:11:28.30] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Oh.
  • [00:11:28.57] ELI NEIBURGER: So the ones that have slowly disappeared at Westgate since opening have been ones where Minecraft ate the iPad. So we now have a method by which Minecraft gets uninstalled and reinstalled every night automatically, so it will keep working. So Minecraft for everybody.
  • [00:11:42.94] VICTORIA GREEN: I'm sorry. Can ask a more basic question about--
  • [00:11:45.31] JOSIE PARKER: Yes, you can.
  • [00:11:45.55] VICTORIA GREEN: --iPads? I hear iPad, and I think portable thing you carry around. Are these in a fixed location?
  • [00:11:50.31] ELI NEIBURGER: They're in a heavy base that sits on top of the table. It's, like, locked into a case.
  • [00:11:58.40] JOSIE PARKER: OK.
  • [00:11:59.32] LINH SONG: Thank you, Eli.
  • [00:12:02.17] JOSIE PARKER: All right. This is the summary of comments. This was one final event that was related to the Washtenaw Read.
  • [00:12:11.30] And Michelle Kuo sent another very nice note. "Thank you for reading. It was such a thrill to meet AADL library staff and readers and be so welcomed in Ann Arbor earlier this month. Thank you."
  • [00:12:21.29] So nice that we're still-- and you have in front of you the poem that was written by Patrick from Reading with Patrick that our staff printed, by hand, in the letter press lab here in the Secret Lab. So it's inside this. We said to you last month that we would have this for you-- now you have it.
  • [00:12:47.22] This is the Dunbar Center. Oh, so I'm not sure I can see the slide. But this is about the exhibit upstairs-- another slide. I don't have notes on this.
  • [00:13:02.72] ELI NEIBURGER: Omari's article.
  • [00:13:03.52] JOSIE PARKER: Oh, thank you. That's what it is. WEMU's Art and Soul segment with Lisa Barry and Omari Rush talked about a lot of things going on in Ann Arbor. But they really highlighted-- thank you, Eli-- they really highlighted the Dunbar Center Exhibit and encouraged people to come and look and talk about the history of the Dunbar Center.
  • [00:13:22.82] It has been there since 1923. It was named after a well-known author. It started out as an effort to help African-American men find housing who were working in Ann Arbor, in a very segregated Ann Arbor.
  • [00:13:38.54] And then it changed location. Its name changed, and its mission changed, somewhat, to be more of a broader community center for a larger population. And so it's really amazing to go upstairs and look at it.
  • [00:13:53.66] This is a father who we've seen pictures of for years. And this is his little fella who's not so little anymore. And we have featured papabeardown before, but here he is with a not so little guy. And he was in the library during one of the coldest days of the year beating cabin fever.
  • [00:14:11.90] This is another young man. He was at Westgate, and he was making some new friends on Monday morning when it was cold.
  • [00:14:20.38] February means Blind Date with a Book, or DVD-- a blind date with a DVD. And this patron shared this photo with the caption "Valentine's Day Plans."
  • [00:14:31.75] This is one of the notices we sent out about being open during all the very cold weather. The end of January and February brought some weather challenges to us. And we said, "HECK YEAH, WE'RE OPEN!"
  • [00:14:43.75] And then we also assured people through a couple more nice, cuddly, warm-type notices that we were open. The dogs we didn't have. The fireplaces we do. You just have to go to the right place.
  • [00:14:57.17] DHARMA AKMON: You have to show the moving picture, though, of the dog. Wasn't its ear, like, flapping in the--
  • [00:15:00.65] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:15:01.06] JOSIE PARKER: Oh, from the heater? Yes, yes. Yes.
  • [00:15:05.83] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Was the door counter up? Were the door counters up?
  • [00:15:07.54] JOSIE PARKER: Well, I was just fixing to tell you--
  • [00:15:09.04] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Oh, sorry.
  • [00:15:09.49] JOSIE PARKER: --that-- no, that's OK-- for the first two polar vortex days AADL welcomed 7,600 people through the door across the system. Normally, we average about 5,000 on a regular day, so it was down. But that's a lot of people.
  • [00:15:27.23] We also received dozens of positive comments on social media and hundreds of likes about being open. This is a cub scout troop that couldn't meet in its normal place because of the shutdown and all the-- not the shutdown, excuse me. I'm getting my words all mixed up here.
  • [00:15:47.45] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:15:47.90] We did not shut down at the public library in Ann Arbor. And this cub scout group met at Pittsfield because of that. They were able to come and meet, and they aren't the only ones.
  • [00:15:57.04] You saw in your ephemera a lovely letter from a gentleman who used Pittsfield for math testing because they could not get into their normal location because of closures. And it's a great letter. So if you haven't looked at it, do, because they also used Pittsfield.
  • [00:16:19.06] We debuted our AADL Tools video last board meeting for you, but we shared it with our patrons afterward, delighting our fans and listing comments like "amazing," "so good," "brilliant," and "Theramins, really?" Happy about that.
  • [00:16:35.62] Finally, we launched two new social media channels for the AADL archives. And we are now aadlarchives on Twitter and Instagram. The channels are still small, but they're growing steadily.
  • [00:16:48.13] And so far we've featured photos and stories from Ann Arbor's past on snow, summertime, Martin Luther King Day, black history, and more. So these are some of the pictures. For those of you-- if you go back one. Can you guys go back?
  • [00:17:00.88] ELI NEIBURGER: Of course. Yep.
  • [00:17:01.65] JOSIE PARKER: If you knew Letitia Burr?
  • [00:17:03.51] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:17:04.10] JOSIE PARKER: On the top row at the end. She was Citizen of the Year a number of years ago. She was a fabulous person.
  • [00:17:11.61] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I love this account. You should all follow it.
  • [00:17:14.53] LINH SONG: I like how there are summer scenes in there.
  • [00:17:16.76] JOSIE PARKER: Yep. Look at it hanging from the diving board. I bet that Vets Park. It's it Vets Park?
  • [00:17:22.08] LINH SONG: I think it's Vets Park.
  • [00:17:23.44] JOSIE PARKER: Is it Vets--
  • [00:17:24.58] AUDIENCE: It was a little pool that's still around.
  • [00:17:26.43] JOSIE PARKER: Oh. OK. Fun. So anyway, those are things we wanted you to know about. So if you have any questions about my director's report, I'll be glad to take those.
  • [00:17:38.30] LINH SONG: Josie, with the clos-- we are going to be closed, though, for--
  • [00:17:42.96] JOSIE PARKER: We are. We're going to be closed beginning Monday and for a week and a half, for sure, maybe a little bit longer. And we've let all our partners in the community know that we're not going to be open so that there's preparation around the fact that the library is not going to be open.
  • [00:17:58.92] LINH SONG: Mhm.
  • [00:17:59.42] JOSIE PARKER: Our closure is timed for our slower time of year. And we pushed it as far out of the hard, cold weather as we could. But we can't really take it into the spring or summer for our closure. We can't do it for our business.
  • [00:18:17.48] LINH SONG: Are there other notices being put out at Storytimes?
  • [00:18:20.13] JOSIE PARKER: The website is noticed. All the doors are noticed.
  • [00:18:23.42] LINH SONG: OK.
  • [00:18:24.28] JOSIE PARKER: Social media-- it's already been out on Facebook. We've already gotten some feedback about it. So we've started telling the public a week ago that this was happening.
  • [00:18:35.76] LINH SONG: Like at Storytime? Is there a verbal notice during where folks who are coming in regularly but might not be on social media, or?
  • [00:18:45.98] ELI NEIBURGER: Any of the story tellers that were affected are telling their audiences--
  • [00:18:49.84] JOSIE PARKER: Right. And they're telling them where their options are.
  • [00:18:53.32] LINH SONG: Great.
  • [00:18:53.83] JOSIE PARKER: So it's Downtown that's closed, not anywhere else.
  • [00:18:56.71] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:18:56.92] JOSIE PARKER: So there are Storytimes everywhere else. So hopefully people, like-- well, for today, it's a holiday. Storytime this morning at Westgate? There were 130 people there.
  • [00:19:07.32] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:19:07.70] That's a lot more people than usual.
  • [00:19:09.28] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:19:10.51] So staff are able to anticipate. They're going to have larger crowds at Storytimes that we've programmed around it, so we're trying to compensate.
  • [00:19:19.99] The other thing I should say publicly is that holds, if a person picks their holds up at Downtown, they'll be picking them up at Westgate. The holds for Downtown patrons will be separate from the holds that are currently at Westgate.
  • [00:19:34.54] So there'll be two sets of holds. That's something that we want people to know. We are going to suspend those holds for the duration of the project. So the seven-day hold period for Downtown holds will not count. Your hold will be there.
  • [00:19:52.51] LINH SONG: OK. Nice.
  • [00:19:53.56] JOSIE PARKER: If you have a hold notice that says you have a hold to be picked up and you're a Downtown patron at Westgate, it's going to be there until the project is finished, until you pick it up, because we don't want anyone to miss their hold out of confusion.
  • [00:20:10.53] VICTORIA GREEN: And Josie, if someone is trying to request an item which is on the shelves downtown, will there be a way for them to get it during those--
  • [00:20:18.35] JOSIE PARKER: Mhm, mhm.
  • [00:20:19.13] VICTORIA GREEN: --closure days?
  • [00:20:19.76] JOSIE PARKER: The library's closed, but we're working. It's the front lobby area, the whole front lobby area, will be--
  • [00:20:28.65] VICTORIA GREEN: Right.
  • [00:20:29.18] JOSIE PARKER: You can't go into it. So the collections in that area, we're going to be moving them. So we'll have access to them elsewhere.
  • [00:20:37.01] So yes, we'll be still pulling holds. I think DVDs, maybe, there'll be some period of time when we can't get to the DVDs. But it won't be, like, the whole time.
  • [00:20:45.61] LINH SONG: OK.
  • [00:20:46.32] JOSIE PARKER: Yep. pretty much. Right? So--
  • [00:20:52.36] LINH SONG: Are we all set?
  • [00:20:53.22] JOSIE PARKER: --anything else?
  • [00:20:55.88] LINH SONG: No? Great. So moving on--
  • [00:21:01.05] JOSIE PARKER: I will say, Eli's going to take-- oh, and he's going to talk in Len's place. Len had a family situation, so he's not here this evening. So Eli's going to take care of this.
  • [00:21:12.43] ELI NEIBURGER: OK. So just an update on the various construction projects. The Downtown Library, as we talked about, will close on Monday. Carpet and new vinyl flooring in the lobby.
  • [00:21:23.80] We also have new lighting coming in the High Bay area, and within the lobby, as well, to replace the hanging lights that have been there forever with LEDs. That will be happening-- they came today, but they brought the wrong fixtures. So they'll be coming back.
  • [00:21:39.02] But that is actually work that is doable while the library's open. So if they don't make that during the closure, that work will just continue because we can rope off part of the lobby for that work.
  • [00:21:46.89] We are also doing paint in the lobby, and some new directional vinyl will come after the paint is cured. The paint has to cure for three weeks before we can put the new signage on there.
  • [00:21:57.50] For example, the new books will have a nice, new sign that says "New Books." The teen area will have nice, new graphics on the wall-- a comic, graphic novels.
  • [00:22:05.47] JOSIE PARKER: Holds.
  • [00:22:06.19] ELI NEIBURGER: Holds. And the kids area will no longer be the '90s-era Kids' Connection.
  • [00:22:12.67] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:22:13.41] It will have a nice, fresh look.
  • [00:22:15.70] COLLEEN SHERMAN: No way.
  • [00:22:16.18] ELI NEIBURGER: Yes. That's just the entrance going into the kids' area where the Velcro polka dots are falling off the walls and such.
  • [00:22:22.54] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:22:23.23] So that's coming. Those are the plans for the Downtown Library. Because the carpet is all throughout the lobby, we need to move all the shelving that is in there.
  • [00:22:32.44] So the majority of the time is staging the shelving, moving it to where the new carpet is, letting them put the carpet where the shelves had been, et cetera. So as we said, we'll have access to some of the DVDs and Blu-rays, some of the lobby collection during that time, but not all of them.
  • [00:22:49.66] However, a lot of that stuff, the stuff that's most in demand, is in circulation. So when it comes back, it'll still fill holds.
  • [00:22:55.80] JOSIE PARKER: Mhm.
  • [00:22:56.16] ELI NEIBURGER: OK?
  • [00:22:56.89] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah, it won't go-- it'll stay in the back area. Does that help you? And we're here. I mean, the staffers, we're staffing.
  • [00:23:03.46] We're using that time down here for projects that are hard to do when there are people in the building. So we're shelf reading, making sure what's on the shelf is actually showing as on the shelf and in the right place-- a lot of things like that, different things.
  • [00:23:17.48] ELI NEIBURGER: Then, on April 8, Malletts Creek Branch will close for renovations. It will be approximately six weeks. We'll know a little bit more as we get closer.
  • [00:23:25.93] That includes all new flooring throughout the entire branch, complete rearrangements of all the shelving-- so every shelf, there's a number of new shelves coming-- new computers, new kids' computers.
  • [00:23:36.43] As well as, we will be bringing the category system that we use at Westgate to Malletts Creek during that time. So you'll have a whole new group of people who are upset about that--
  • [00:23:45.13] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:23:46.06] --as that has been changed.
  • [00:23:47.06] JIM LEIJA: Imagine seeing a whole new set of--
  • [00:23:47.77] ELI NEIBURGER: Yes.
  • [00:23:48.03] JIM LEIJA: --comments.
  • [00:23:48.56] LINH SONG: Or fans. Or fans.
  • [00:23:50.41] JIM LEIJA: Or fans.
  • [00:23:50.89] ELI NEIBURGER: And of course, the big advantage of the category system is that it helps patrons be more independent and access more of a collection by themselves.
  • [00:23:57.48] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:23:58.83] ELI NEIBURGER: But there's definitely a certain type of audience for which it makes things a little bit difficult.
  • [00:24:04.16] JOSIE PARKER: And part of the time on this, too, is, remember, we're adding space. We're adding meeting rooms. And it's glass and frames into the concrete where there is heated water.
  • [00:24:18.58] So they have to be able to go through that concrete. And if they hit one of the tubing parts, then they have to repair it. So those things, that takes longer than just carpet and paint.
  • [00:24:31.75] ELI NEIBURGER: Those two new meeting rooms, when it opens, will be bookable, the same way that the Westgate meeting room is open. They'll both have screens in them. And so that will be nice, new features for Malletts. So those have been heavily in demand.
  • [00:24:44.17] Then, the fourth floor project, as we talked about, the furniture has been ordered. We're just working on timelines for that. That really only disrupts the staff, so that'll be something that we work on staging as the furniture gets closer to arriving.
  • [00:24:56.32] That'll probably happen during the Malletts Creek closure. So the actual installation of the furniture, we still are working with some of the trades on that.
  • [00:25:03.86] So you'll see, when you come to visit the fourth floor in April and May, you'll see a completely new staff experience back there. So that's coming.
  • [00:25:14.32] Then, as we looked at the timing, we did decide that it was best to wait until after summer to close Traverwood and Pittsfield. Each one of them could need to be closed for a month. Again, we'll know better as we know with trades who's going to be available and what the timing will be.
  • [00:25:30.91] But at Pittsfield, we're adding two small meeting rooms and converting the computer room into a larger meeting room, which is, tentatively, called Son of Free Space. We obviously won't actually call it that.
  • [00:25:42.95] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:25:43.45] But it's the same model. It is a 35-person room that is self-bookable online, just like Free Space. So that will be coming up at Pittsfield.
  • [00:25:52.45] Then at Traverwood, there's only room to add one meeting room. But it will be meeting room with a screen and a sliding glass door. And that will be where the four computers outside the computer lab currently are.
  • [00:26:02.22] So we'll be replacing those four computers with a meeting room, doing some mild rearrangement there, as well. We will be taking that opportunity, at least, to de-interfile the youth non-fiction, which is currently scattered in with all the adult nonfiction.
  • [00:26:15.30] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:26:16.01] ELI NEIBURGER: That will be pulled out separately so it's in its own section.
  • [00:26:18.56] JOSIE PARKER: And some floor work there, as well.
  • [00:26:19.65] ELI NEIBURGER: And some floor work there, as well.
  • [00:26:21.94] VICTORIA GREEN: Eli, you said "outside the computer lab." The computer lab is staying at Traverwood?
  • [00:26:26.54] ELI NEIBURGER: Yes, at Traverwood. It's just there's four computers that are outside the lab from when we used to have classes that would be for that. But now those four computers, there's relatively little usage at Traverwood.
  • [00:26:38.60] So our warn percentage is what we look at to know if we have enough computers. The warn percentage there is very low, meaning the percentage of sessions that couldn't use a computer as long as they wanted to, but they received a warning that someone else was waiting.
  • [00:26:50.36] VICTORIA GREEN: And the computer lab is used, I assume, not primarily for instruction, but, instead, individual use?
  • [00:26:54.56] ELI NEIBURGER: We do very little instruction at the branches. Most of the demand dried up for that. So it is really just a public computer lab.
  • [00:27:02.06] At Pittsfield, the main computer lab will be turned into the meeting room. And there will still be the 10 computers outside the meeting room that are there now.
  • [00:27:08.69] VICTORIA GREEN: And we have every reason to think that's enough based on--
  • [00:27:10.98] ELI NEIBURGER: It's definitely enough. The usage there of the public computers is very light.
  • [00:27:15.23] JOSIE PARKER: And has been--
  • [00:27:16.50] ELI NEIBURGER: Has been, yeah.
  • [00:27:17.01] JOSIE PARKER: --since it opened.
  • [00:27:18.19] LINH SONG: That's interesting.
  • [00:27:19.86] ELI NEIBURGER: That's about it for the construction projects. Any questions about any of that?
  • [00:27:22.69] LINH SONG: When was Malletts opened?
  • [00:27:24.22] ELI NEIBURGER: 2004.
  • [00:27:24.93] JOSIE PARKER: Yep. January 4, 2004.
  • [00:27:27.50] ELI NEIBURGER: Yep. Then Traverwood opened in 2006-- no. Pittsfield opened in 2006, and Traverwood opened in 2008.
  • [00:27:33.42] LINH SONG: And this is the first major update since Malletts opened?
  • [00:27:35.33] ELI NEIBURGER: No. Actually, we've done some significant cosmetic renovations at Malletts. Malletts got carpet once before.
  • [00:27:42.13] JOSIE PARKER: When it was 10.
  • [00:27:42.96] ELI NEIBURGER: Yeah, when it was 10 years old. So that's five years ago.
  • [00:27:45.92] LINH SONG: OK.
  • [00:27:46.84] ELI NEIBURGER: And also, Pittsfield already got its re-carpeting. That was just over a year ago.
  • [00:27:52.07] JOSIE PARKER: Right, the year after Westgate.
  • [00:27:54.15] ELI NEIBURGER: Yep. So Traverwood is the one where the carpet is the oldest at the moment. And so that will be part of that project, as well.
  • [00:28:02.03] LINH SONG: It's just amazing. I feel like it just opened.
  • [00:28:04.71] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Yes, I was thinking the same thing.
  • [00:28:07.52] VICTORIA GREEN: Eli? And at Traverwood where-- I'm sorry, not Traverwood-- Malletts Creek, where are we sending people's holds and stuff to? Where do we expect people to go?
  • [00:28:16.04] ELI NEIBURGER: That's a little bit trickier because it's not as obvious of a solution. Well, as we get a little bit closer to that, we'll look. And we might reach out to people and see where they'd like them to go. It's a little bit tricky.
  • [00:28:26.42] I would suspect Westgate remains the easiest place for people to get to. And it's the place that has the most room on its hold shelves. So Westgate is likely to be the recipient of closure hold shelves during that time. Any questions?
  • [00:28:41.39] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: We talked before--
  • [00:28:42.58] [MICROPHONE SCREECHING]
  • [00:28:42.87] --whoa. Sorry.
  • [00:28:43.27] ELI NEIBURGER: Get closer to your mic.
  • [00:28:44.77] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Get closer to it?
  • [00:28:45.38] ELI NEIBURGER: Closer to it, yep.
  • [00:28:46.80] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: So we talked before, I think just one-on-one, about my nerdy librarian issue with the bisac--
  • [00:28:51.91] ELI NEIBURGER: Yes.
  • [00:28:52.45] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: --little kids' shelving, and that's just that it's very granular. And you mentioned--
  • [00:28:57.03] ELI NEIBURGER: We are removing lots of categories.
  • [00:28:59.34] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: OK. So can you explain that a little bit more?
  • [00:29:01.02] ELI NEIBURGER: Yeah, so we have a process right-- you know, Westgate was an experiment. And part of the thought was, well, what if it's a book about a turtle that wears a hat?
  • [00:29:09.19] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Exactly.
  • [00:29:09.45] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:29:10.30] ELI NEIBURGER: Then, that might be a different section. So we've discovered that it's OK to put the books with the turtles that don't wear hats with the books about the turtles that do wear hats.
  • [00:29:18.13] Right? Because that's not something a turtle would actually do. Right? That puts it in fiction versus nonfiction. Turtles don't wear-- anyway.
  • [00:29:24.40] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:29:25.70] So one of the projects that we're doing right now is decreasing the number of categories, particularly in the children's picture book section, based on our experience at Westgate. There is an element with these types of categories where you make the categories in the hopes that we should have books about turtles that wear hats. Right?
  • [00:29:42.91] But that's much more driven by the market than it is by our divisions. Right? So we are decreasing the number of categories before we do Malletts.
  • [00:29:50.20] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: OK.
  • [00:29:50.89] ELI NEIBURGER: And we'll see how it goes from there. So thank you.
  • [00:29:52.81] VICTORIA GREEN: And we expect the categories to be the same at the two locations so that if you're used to one already--
  • [00:29:57.37] ELI NEIBURGER: We will be going back to fix the one at Westgate after Malletts is done. It's a different type of project because we can move a lot of them all at once and then have the shelvers do the relabeling.
  • [00:30:07.93] Whereas, at Malletts during that closure, we have to relabel 45,000 items. So it's a much larger-scale project. That'll be the focus. After that's done and open, then we'll work on getting Westgate caught up with that.
  • [00:30:19.01] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Jamie, why did that become, sort of, a flag for you, an issue for you? Did you see problems with it when you went out with her?
  • [00:30:27.91] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Well, it's because, like, is this book about friends? Is it about going to sleep? It's just, like, once you get into an author, I think, with a little kid, you want to see all the Karma Wilson--
  • [00:30:36.51] S. KERENE MOORE: Yeah.
  • [00:30:36.79] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: --books about the bear. But it starts to be a little bit silly with the books for very young children, I think. I do totally see the advantage for people as they get older when they get really into a niche interest area, like, within mysteries, for example.
  • [00:30:52.81] But no matter what, I think you have to draw the line somewhere. And it's always going to be perfect for some people and not great for others. But the children's picture books were just, kind of, hilariously granular.
  • [00:31:04.48] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:31:05.17] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: You'll have to check them out at Westgate before we change them.
  • [00:31:06.52] COLLEEN SHERMAN: I will have to.
  • [00:31:08.23] JIM LEIJA: I also like the opportunities for librarians to get involved, so--
  • [00:31:12.28] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah.
  • [00:31:12.89] JIM LEIJA: --if you can't find something.
  • [00:31:16.70] LINH SONG: So Eli, will--
  • [00:31:17.97] ELI NEIBURGER: Any questions?
  • [00:31:18.25] LINH SONG: --any of this work-- if it goes into the summer, will it impact Summer Games?
  • [00:31:22.90] ELI NEIBURGER: No. The whole idea is to avoid summer.
  • [00:31:25.24] LINH SONG: Just avoid the summer.
  • [00:31:25.66] ELI NEIBURGER: Yeah. That's why we're starting the Malletts project as early as we are. And that's why the Traverwood and Pittsfield projects are not beginning until after summer, because it's just not realistic to take one of our branches offline during the summer, excepting biohazard incidents, of course.
  • [00:31:39.56] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:31:39.95] LINH SONG: Yes. Mhm. Great. Any other questions for Eli?
  • [00:31:44.93] ELI NEIBURGER: All right.
  • [00:31:45.65] LINH SONG: Thank you.
  • [00:31:45.92] ELI NEIBURGER: Thank y'all very much.
  • [00:31:46.83] COLLEEN SHERMAN: That didn't take 30 minutes at all.
  • [00:31:49.07] JIM LEIJA: Thank you.
  • [00:31:52.53] LINH SONG: New business. So moving on to Strategic Planning Committee. We had talked about this last month, about how our strategic plan will be jumping into in another series of discussions and a new strategic plan.
  • [00:32:13.36] And we had talked about a formation of a committee-- there isn't a motion, but it's just an open item of discussion. Is that right?
  • [00:32:22.97] JOSIE PARKER: Yep. You have a meeting.
  • [00:32:27.17] LINH SONG: Yes. So we had worked with Bridgeport Consulting in the past to do strategic plan work and then, also, actually for a board retreat before a bunch of us were actually on. I think the--
  • [00:32:46.33] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Last two board retreats with [INAUDIBLE]
  • [00:32:48.42] JOSIE PARKER: Mhm, mhm.
  • [00:32:49.42] LINH SONG: Yes.
  • [00:32:50.15] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Oh, possibly last three.
  • [00:32:51.31] JOSIE PARKER: Three.
  • [00:32:51.66] LINH SONG: No, I think Francine did one.
  • [00:32:53.56] JOSIE PARKER: But that was Bridgeport.
  • [00:32:54.40] LINH SONG: It was still Bridgeport. Right. Still Bridgeport. So we've reached out to see who might be available, and I think we're still trying to-- oh, no. We do have a meeting on the books that's coming up. I think it would be interesting to see what our options are and see if we want to do something a little bit different than we've done in the past.
  • [00:33:14.18] And I think in the past couple of years, we've gone from-- I think there's room for creativity, instead of just coming out with a standard report on where we've-- I think we've met the majority of our goals from our last strategic plan.
  • [00:33:34.97] And a lot of credit to the staff, but it would be interesting to see what our options are and how we think about where we are with this building, where we are with new board members, where we can engage the community. And this is where the committee can really guide us on this. Did you have any--
  • [00:34:01.64] JOSIE PARKER: No. I don't. I just knew you wanted to-- you had talked about it.
  • [00:34:05.32] LINH SONG: Yeah.
  • [00:34:05.73] JOSIE PARKER: And the strategic plan that we're currently in ends in June. And we're, essentially, we've reached it, I mean, for the most part. And we feel really great about that, that we've achieved so much of it.
  • [00:34:20.55] But the process can, you know, it's been more than one type of process over the 20 years I've been here. Sometimes the library board takes it with the staff and works it out as a group, you know-- public conversations, or not so organized and structured with a consultant.
  • [00:34:44.73] And then there have been consultants who have come in and done the same thing, just as facilitators of those conversations, not leading the ideas. Then there have been consultants who have led the ideas. So it's in various plans.
  • [00:35:00.27] And also, I think something that you're going to have to-- I think we all have to-- grapple with is the strategic plans have gone from being 15-year plans, 10-year plans, five-year plans, to three.
  • [00:35:13.38] And there are some places where you're reading that two is enough, or two is long enough, depending upon what you're trying to accomplish. So the duration of the plan, I think, the decision about that is going to be as important as any other part of what we do.
  • [00:35:31.29] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:35:32.66] JIM LEIJA: It would be interesting to think a little bit about-- this is coming to mind because we've had, what, our 20th anniversary as a district library in '98?
  • [00:35:44.48] JOSIE PARKER: No, '96.
  • [00:35:45.26] JIM LEIJA: '96. It was 20 years in 2016.
  • [00:35:50.10] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah.
  • [00:35:51.14] JIM LEIJA: And to imagine what 40 looks like--
  • [00:35:57.24] JOSIE PARKER: Mhm.
  • [00:35:59.08] JIM LEIJA: --as a, kind of, big vision exercise adjacent to the next two- or three-year incremental plan, especially with a new set of board members, almost entirely, than were around, certainly, for the last round of strategic planning.
  • [00:36:20.55] And I have a couple of questions. But I want to say one thing, which is because I absolutely adore Kerry Sheldon, and I love working with Bridgeport.
  • [00:36:32.28] And I've worked with Kerry a lot, and she is a great colleague. But I would not be living up to my own ethics if I didn't say if we're going to hire a consultant, we should just see what's available.
  • [00:36:45.02] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:36:45.71] JIM LEIJA: So I would just ask the committee, or whomever, as you're moving forward, because I know there's going to be a meeting with Kerry to discuss the possibility of moving forward. But I would just say it's always in our best interest to make sure that we're looking out and seeing who's available to us and for how much.
  • [00:37:03.97] And then I would also just say I would, sort of, toss it to you Josie. And think about what do you think you need right now as a staff, in terms of this kind of facilitation.
  • [00:37:12.72] I certainly think the board could benefit from some rigorous facilitation around how we want to operate, but in terms of your thoughts about what the staff needs and what level of touch you want.
  • [00:37:26.28] JOSIE PARKER: I think we had great success here on a couple of strategic plans where the staff, people who wanted to be involved in it said they wanted to be involved in it--
  • [00:37:38.45] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:37:39.25] JOSIE PARKER: --and then got together and started talking about the same thing-- where do you see the library in 20 years? Where you see the library in two, five? And the staff came up with some great objectives, and, pretty much, some big directions.
  • [00:37:56.39] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:37:57.12] JOSIE PARKER: And then, at the same time, the library board, through facilitation-- a different facilitator-- were able to take those ideas and that information and then ask a lot of questions and then come up with a plan. This was not one in the last five years. This was prior.
  • [00:38:15.52] And I think we have a staff now who would enjoy that and would like to have the opportunity. They need to do that first before it comes to you.
  • [00:38:28.26] JIM LEIJA: Mhm.
  • [00:38:29.61] JOSIE PARKER: They need the freedom of that. And while I am sometimes in the room, I'm not in the discussion while this is happening. So I tell you that right away.
  • [00:38:45.36] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Can you say more about why, about the reason behind that? I'm really curious.
  • [00:38:49.02] JOSIE PARKER: Why I'm not?
  • [00:38:49.83] COLLEEN SHERMAN: No, why the staff wants-- why they would do the work beforehand, and then bring it--
  • [00:38:57.39] LINH SONG: Well, I think if Kerry asks-- I think those consultants need it beforehand.
  • [00:39:03.42] JOSIE PARKER: Well, this is minus consultant. There's no consultant involved.
  • [00:39:06.95] JIM LEIJA: It's a sort of self-facilitated process.
  • [00:39:08.91] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK. On the staff side.
  • [00:39:11.01] JOSIE PARKER: This is the staff side. They know, I mean they can, they're in the profession. They're visiting other places. They have ideas about what could happen here. They are in the community in other ways other than their jobs. And so they bring that to the conversation.
  • [00:39:30.18] My role, and Eli's, is to ask questions along the way, poke and ask questions, and get people to think in a certain more, or to say what are the consequences of that kind of thing-- not to put the damper on or shut something down, but to help people think creatively and feel comfortable doing it.
  • [00:39:53.83] And it's like, there are no bad ideas. There are just a lot of ideas. And then we'll have to figure out which ones are possible.
  • [00:40:00.52] The other side of that is what does all that cost? And so then the management team looks at it and gets into it about what does all that cost. And I think that we do that.
  • [00:40:12.56] And think about it as a frame, a framework of something-- not the build-out, but the framework. And then you see that, you get that.
  • [00:40:22.84] And if you feel that you need facilitation to fill that in, to dress that up, then we do that. I mean, that's up to you. It's entirely up to you.
  • [00:40:36.57] But it's been very successful here to do it that way. And personally, I would enjoy it if we could do this one that way. And I know the staff would love to be able to get hold of that.
  • [00:40:48.43] LINH SONG: We have some elements of it from when we worked with the architecture firm.
  • [00:40:52.31] JOSIE PARKER: Yes.
  • [00:40:52.66] LINH SONG: And we have the beginnings of that. And that experience seemed to be pretty positive with staff.
  • [00:40:57.93] JOSIE PARKER: Yes, it was. And the meeting was a ton of people. No one was afraid to put an idea up. All the ideas went to the firm.
  • [00:41:07.92] For the most part, I think people can see the ideas or see aspects of the ideas in that report. That's what I would say to you I would try to do.
  • [00:41:18.72] COLLEEN SHERMAN: So with this strategic plan, more so than any strategic plan I've ever witnessed, you've had buy-in, like universal buy-in. Watching how it's been implemented, it's been pretty marvelous for me to see.
  • [00:41:29.70] Like, oh, this is a strategic plan that doesn't live on the shelf. It's on the website. People can read it at any time. Do you think that, sort of, origin work that you did-- where it was, OK, everyone had a voice-- is that part of what the success is?
  • [00:41:44.49] JOSIE PARKER: I think it leads to success. The plan we have now wasn't born this way. It was a board document.
  • [00:41:52.35] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:41:52.92] JOSIE PARKER: The staff have had to respond to that document. So what I would say to you is that because they have, and because they've done it the way they have, it tells me that we can go back to a time when we brought you that framework--
  • [00:42:09.39] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:42:09.80] JOSIE PARKER: --and it will be better even than what you have now.
  • [00:42:14.16] LINH SONG: Linh's point about the process of working with the architect is a really good one because that process is super dynamic. And if we had a voice, we had a place, the staff had a voice, the staff had a place-- What was the staff's feedback on that outcome?
  • [00:42:32.55] JOSIE PARKER: It's all been positive from what I've heard and what management's heard.
  • [00:42:36.35] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK. Great.
  • [00:42:36.95] JOSIE PARKER: They've all seen it. Management staff were able to feedback on it directly to us. The general staff, I think, of those who are interested in it, have read it. They've asked questions in meetings.
  • [00:42:51.73] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK. You had said something about have the staff work together without the facilitator early on, have them work collaboratively. Now, you can't have the entire staff. Right? So there's going to be representative staff
  • [00:43:02.41] JOSIE PARKER: Not everybody signs up for it.
  • [00:43:04.30] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Oh.
  • [00:43:04.54] JOSIE PARKER: Not everyone's interested.
  • [00:43:05.89] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Anyone who wants to do it can do it?
  • [00:43:07.54] JOSIE PARKER: Generally.
  • [00:43:07.86] COLLEEN SHERMAN: That's really unusual.
  • [00:43:09.16] JOSIE PARKER: It depends on how many people. It depends on what they bring, why, and how we'd organize it. And we try our best to make sure everybody who wanted to be involved had a say. But eventually, you get to a smaller group. And smaller, for us in those days, was 15 or 20 people.
  • [00:43:26.44] COLLEEN SHERMAN: OK.
  • [00:43:28.21] JOSIE PARKER: And that's what I would recommend.
  • [00:43:33.36] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I have something to add, I think, to that. I wrote down that I think strategic plans are helpful to set goals because they make them clearer to everyone.
  • [00:43:44.14] And I do think that, to Colleen's point, that you've been especially-- you've been really good throughout the whole life of it. I feel like usually I watch a strategic plan go [decreasing noise]. You know? And everyone's like, we have a strategic plan.
  • [00:43:57.34] But I think that you were really diligent the whole three years in making sure you checked everything off. I agree with you that that does suggest that the staff should be much more involved.
  • [00:44:06.88] But Linh and Colleen bringing up the architect makes me think about how nice it can sometimes be to have someone who has nothing to do with an organization help with a process. So maybe we do still need some assistance.
  • [00:44:17.77] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah. And I'm not suggesting you don't. I think that the staff part likely doesn't. But once you get that part, you have facilitation to bring the board into it and perhaps staff, still.
  • [00:44:31.00] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Right, right.
  • [00:44:31.51] JOSIE PARKER: And you may decide you want the public's input at that point, and how you would do that.
  • [00:44:37.28] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Cool.
  • [00:44:37.49] JOSIE PARKER: Because we've done that before, too.
  • [00:44:39.72] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Great, great. I really like Jim's point about looking further forward. And then I guess I just wanted to mention-- oh, and also that it could be helpful to the board because I don't think that we were super clear with ourselves last time.
  • [00:44:51.82] But we probably could continue to use some help with our own structure and where we want to get to as a group over the next few years. And there was one last point. Oh, and that you guys are just, like, really obviously over-achievers, so we might as well make use of that.
  • [00:45:08.04] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:45:12.85] I think we can expect a lot. I mean, why not?
  • [00:45:16.49] JOSIE PARKER: Why not?
  • [00:45:18.51] LINH SONG: I would like to see-- I mean, we have a strategic plan, but it's not an operations document. Right? And I would really love to see it be more aspirational.
  • [00:45:30.57] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Yeah.
  • [00:45:32.83] LINH SONG: We've been on the board for a while now. And I think we have a better sense of how the library works, how the community uses the library, and what the potential is in our programming.
  • [00:45:48.64] It'd be really interesting to see from staff because staff is the most directly-- you work directly with the community. Right? You're in the thick of it. And we have the director's report, but it would be really, really interesting to see what kind of ideas can bubble up that wouldn't bubble up otherwise.
  • [00:46:07.96] JOSIE PARKER: Mhm.
  • [00:46:10.33] LINH SONG: And I'm sure, if we look at programs and we know that we have amazing staff with amazing, creative ideas, I would have never imagined that we'd be hosting Bob Ross painting sessions. Right?
  • [00:46:22.83] But I'm sure there's bigger ideas bubbling that we haven't even heard of. I'm really anxious to see what-- you know, maybe there is this vision that's out there beyond what we deliberate on every month that we're just not aware of.
  • [00:46:41.23] Good. So in formalizing the strategic plan committee, is this the point where I appoint folks?
  • [00:46:48.04] JOSIE PARKER: You don't have to. This was a discussion. You don't have to-- it's an ad hoc committee, so it's at your discretion.
  • [00:46:57.21] LINH SONG: So I would like to ask folks, the trustees, to volunteer for this. I mean, everyone has really tight time commitments. So we already have the executive committee, and we have the finance committee.
  • [00:47:11.44] And then this, being an ad hoc committee, if you're interested in this, if you could express your commitment to myself and Josie, and then we can start organizing how we would meet and start brainstorming how we would like this to be structured. We have a board retreat coming up, which leads to the next item in this--
  • [00:47:34.13] JIM LEIJA: In order to form the committee we have to vote on that. And we also have to give the committee a formal charge, if I recall the bylaws correctly.
  • [00:47:44.66] JOSIE PARKER: Right. Correct.
  • [00:47:46.21] JIM LEIJA: So I don't know if we--
  • [00:47:47.85] JOSIE PARKER: You could. This evening you could have a motion to form the the committee and charge it to develop a strategic plan for an undetermined number of years for-- I mean, you can do that. But you don't have to populate it tonight.
  • [00:48:02.79] LINH SONG: Not tonight. OK. Great. Can I get a motion to form a strategic plan committee?
  • [00:48:10.40] VICTORIA GREEN: Sure. Sure.
  • [00:48:12.80] JIM LEIJA: You're so moved.
  • [00:48:14.79] COLLEEN SHERMAN: I'll second.
  • [00:48:17.27] LINH SONG: Any discussion, further discussion?
  • [00:48:19.94] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I just want to volunteer for it.
  • [00:48:21.63] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:48:23.01] I mean, I'll text you but--
  • [00:48:23.63] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:48:24.46] JIM LEIJA: Jamie, back in the fray.
  • [00:48:26.07] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:48:30.63] JIM LEIJA: So I would get a little more specific and-- I'm always a little rusty at how to do this. But I would--
  • [00:48:39.14] JOSIE PARKER: It has to have a period of time. So you could--
  • [00:48:40.77] JIM LEIJA: A period of time associated with it. So I would recommend a year.
  • [00:48:43.70] JOSIE PARKER: OK.
  • [00:48:44.58] JIM LEIJA: One year from today.
  • [00:48:45.90] VICTORIA GREEN: And we probably want three members.
  • [00:48:47.44] JIM LEIJA: And you can have only three members of that committee. And you could also, theoretically, have non--
  • [00:48:55.77] COLLEEN SHERMAN: An alternate.
  • [00:48:57.13] JIM LEIJA: --non-elected board members on any committee if you wanted.
  • [00:49:00.19] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Right.
  • [00:49:04.65] JIM LEIJA: And I might also try to find some language about what the charge of the committee is.
  • [00:49:09.05] LINH SONG: Mhm.
  • [00:49:10.04] JIM LEIJA: And as we move down this path-- so as we're passing the resolution to accept the committee, I would say it's to establish the committee for one year, and that we would also build in at least one date sometime in the next six-month window to hear back from that committee formally about progress, if not sooner than that. So that would be my--
  • [00:49:39.30] LINH SONG: That works. That's quite a charge.
  • [00:49:41.85] JIM LEIJA: And the third--
  • [00:49:42.38] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:49:43.17] --question--
  • [00:49:44.10] VICTORIA GREEN: And would we want a chair for the committee?
  • [00:49:46.79] JIM LEIJA: You would-- [LAUGHS] --is whether or not the committee-- the board is charging the committee, or giving the committee the charge to, sort of, interview and recommend consultants.
  • [00:50:02.72] LINH SONG: Oh, outside the executive committee?
  • [00:50:05.09] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:50:05.66] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Well, you could leave it vague. I mean, you wouldn't want to make it too prescriptive, their process.
  • [00:50:13.39] LINH SONG: Yeah.
  • [00:50:13.79] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: But it would be, like, implicit in the charge that they have to do the thing, and so they can figure out how they want to do the thing. Right?
  • [00:50:21.10] COLLEEN SHERMAN: I like the idea of-- I mean, we always talk about hiring consultants in open sessions. Like, have the committee come back--
  • [00:50:28.25] JIM LEIJA: With a recommendation.
  • [00:50:29.54] COLLEEN SHERMAN: With a recommendation on hiring a consultant, not hiring a consultant. Give an update. And another point I wanted to make-- it seems to me that our director should be officially a member of the committee. Correct? I mean, that's pretty standard protocol.
  • [00:50:44.84] JOSIE PARKER: It's normal and typical.
  • [00:50:46.23] JIM LEIJA: Yeah. Someone would staff the committee, and it would be the director. Yeah.
  • [00:50:50.42] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Right.
  • [00:50:50.77] LINH SONG: Great.
  • [00:50:52.01] JIM LEIJA: Just to respond to Jamie-- the charge can be as-- I mean, the board decides how specific or not the charge is. Right? So all of us do.
  • [00:51:01.31] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: No, no, no. I guess I was just putting in a plug for, maybe, we don't want to be too--
  • [00:51:05.39] LINH SONG: Flexibility.
  • [00:51:05.65] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: --prescriptive, because we're kind of working on our feet right now. So if we're like--
  • [00:51:08.06] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I like doing this.
  • [00:51:10.92] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:51:11.86] It keeps everybody on their toes.
  • [00:51:13.46] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:51:13.91] I've also written this resolution before so--
  • [00:51:16.28] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:51:18.52] --and amended it in real time. It's giving me flashbacks.
  • [00:51:21.10] COLLEEN SHERMAN: What if we vote on Victoria's motion to form a committee, and then we come back next month and we have recommendations to further that?
  • [00:51:29.48] LINH SONG: Yes.
  • [00:51:29.90] JIM LEIJA: So I would--
  • [00:51:30.96] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Do we need--
  • [00:51:31.52] LINH SONG: We don't need the charge tonight.
  • [00:51:33.07] JOSIE PARKER: No.
  • [00:51:33.80] LINH SONG: It's just for me. I think we can just go ahead and-- because it seems like there is more that we can build on to charge the community.
  • [00:51:40.81] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Yeah.
  • [00:51:41.55] LINH SONG: But let's go ahead and-- we were at Victoria's second. Right?
  • [00:51:46.98] JIM LEIJA: And I believe that we have to-- now, this is where it gets weird, because to add the term what do I have to do? Do I have to move to amend--
  • [00:51:59.32] JOSIE PARKER: No. You're fine.
  • [00:52:00.08] JIM LEIJA: --to say one year?
  • [00:52:01.30] JOSIE PARKER: You're fine. You're fine. You're establishing it. And the duration is for one year from this meeting.
  • [00:52:06.76] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
  • [00:52:07.47] JOSIE PARKER: All right.
  • [00:52:07.78] JIM LEIJA: Thank you.
  • [00:52:08.36] LINH SONG: For three members. All in favor?
  • [00:52:13.13] COLLEEN SHERMAN: Aye.
  • [00:52:13.49] JOSIE PARKER: Aye.
  • [00:52:13.84] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Aye.
  • [00:52:14.14] JIM LEIJA: Aye.
  • [00:52:14.90] LINH SONG: Opposed? Great. So motion's passed. Great. Thank you. That was a nice beginning. Thank you.
  • [00:52:26.26] OK. So moving on to board retreat date. Josie had given us a, kind of, calender over the next couple of months on room availability for our board retreat.
  • [00:52:40.69] And the executive committee kind of took a quick look at it. And then we quickly came to the conclusion that it's impossible for us [LAUGHS] to coordinate by just looking at available dates.
  • [00:52:51.28] But one thing that did come up was that-- and these are available dates for spaces here in the Downtown Branch and at Westgate and, I think, Traverwood-- but there's also the possibility of not meeting in the library, too. So our schedule takes priority.
  • [00:53:08.31] JIM LEIJA: Mhm.
  • [00:53:11.46] LINH SONG: So where we left the discussion was that we would ask Karen to message everyone and help coordinate multiple dates and see what would work best for us.
  • [00:53:20.08] DHARMA AKMON: Can I ask a question just about the retreat? Is this something that happens every year, or what's--
  • [00:53:25.09] LINH SONG: Every year. Last year we were at Westgate. And the one thing that we did last year was that we had pushed the retreat till later in the day so that we could accommodate folks coming off of work. But it didn't really look like it had much of an impact on the number of folks who could come.
  • [00:53:42.70] JIM LEIJA: Mhm.
  • [00:53:43.42] LINH SONG: Generally, it's some staff, ourselves. I always thought that there'd be tons of reporters [LAUGHS] for some reason, because I feel like it's the most exciting thing to happen in town.
  • [00:53:54.58] JIM LEIJA: There's always the newspapers.
  • [00:53:56.20] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:53:56.93] LINH SONG: Yeah.
  • [00:53:57.59] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:53:59.02] DHARMA AKMON: And it's usually facilitated, or--
  • [00:54:01.23] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah.
  • [00:54:01.74] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:54:01.99] LINH SONG: Facilitated.
  • [00:54:02.40] JIM LEIJA: And it has been, recently, a chance to sort of step outside of operational business and just give ourselves a sort of super-sized space to talk about more strategic and long-term planning.
  • [00:54:16.79] LINH SONG: And also get to know each other a little bit better and why we decided to run for office or our connections to libraries, library systems, our love for books.
  • [00:54:28.96] I think the last retreat, it was really nice to hear from Jan Barney Newman and Ed Surovell and their memories of the library and, then, how they've looked back on their service to the library. So it's a nice opportunity, I think, to--
  • [00:54:43.30] JIM LEIJA: Connect.
  • [00:54:44.13] LINH SONG: Yeah, to connect.
  • [00:54:46.68] JIM LEIJA: It's likely to happen on a weekday, during the workday. So that's another thing, just for people to be aware of in terms of when-- I mean, this is why it's going to be a little bit of a challenge to schedule.
  • [00:54:57.37] DHARMA AKMON: And it's also public?
  • [00:54:59.13] JOSIE PARKER: Yes.
  • [00:54:59.53] JIM LEIJA: It is.
  • [00:54:59.96] LINH SONG: It's also public.
  • [00:55:00.17] JIM LEIJA: It is a public meeting. I would just say, because I was just thinking about not a library space, that if we do use a space, it should be accessible by public transportation--
  • [00:55:09.29] LINH SONG: Right.
  • [00:55:09.63] JIM LEIJA: --which, I think, goes without saying. Although, we have used space, at times, that is not very accessible by public transportation.
  • [00:55:15.03] LINH SONG: So we've met--
  • [00:55:15.75] JIM LEIJA: Yep.
  • [00:55:17.10] LINH SONG: You've met the folks--
  • [00:55:18.51] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:55:18.79] LINH SONG: --who were on the board at the time-- I think Gladwin barn. Where else? Where else has it--
  • [00:55:24.66] JOSIE PARKER: We've met in Dykema's boardroom. We've had it at a bank boardroom. But those were accessible. Gladwin's barns not so much.
  • [00:55:33.72] JIM LEIJA: It's a wonderful problem that all of our space is being used, and we can't--
  • [00:55:38.13] LINH SONG: Yes.
  • [00:55:39.24] JIM LEIJA: You know, we don't get right of way to it.
  • [00:55:41.82] LINH SONG: And it's for a long stretch of time. So it's not just--
  • [00:55:46.28] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:55:48.67] LINH SONG: How long has our board retreat been?
  • [00:55:50.58] JOSIE PARKER: Been four hours.
  • [00:55:51.55] LINH SONG: It's been like four hours.
  • [00:55:51.88] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, like a half a day.
  • [00:55:52.51] LINH SONG: That's pretty long. So any discussion on rules of the board retreat or anything that our new trustees are wondering about?
  • [00:56:06.47] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Well, before we talk about that, did you want to try to get some dates on the table tonight? Or do you just want to warn us that it's going to be hard?
  • [00:56:14.63] LINH SONG: We just wanted to warn you that it was coming. So what we had looked at were April, May and, then, hopefully not going too far into June.
  • [00:56:25.34] But you know, considering we've got-- there's public school. Spring break is end of March. And then there are holidays that are coming up in April, another holiday-- or Memorial Day-- end of May.
  • [00:56:41.05] So it sounds like we have-- if I say that we have a 2, 2 and 1/2 month time to consider, it really ends up being a much shorter, or a fewer number of possible times to meet. But through the magic of Karen, I think, and over emails--
  • [00:56:58.63] JIM LEIJA: [LAUGHS] Yes.
  • [00:56:59.33] LINH SONG: --I'm sure we can come to a couple possible situations.
  • [00:57:02.55] DHARMA AKMON: A Doodle poll, maybe.
  • [00:57:04.15] LINH SONG: Yes. Or a Karen--
  • [00:57:07.10] JIM LEIJA: A Karen poll.
  • [00:57:08.19] COLLEEN SHERMAN: A Karen poll.
  • [00:57:09.51] LINH SONG: Please answer Karen. Don't leave Karen hanging.
  • [00:57:12.43] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah, watch your AADL email.
  • [00:57:13.91] LINH SONG: Yes. Please. Great. Anything else about the board retreat? Any thoughts we can get out early on?
  • [00:57:22.71] JIM LEIJA: I am curious to know what the sort of focus will be and what we think the focus will be, but not that we need to talk about that right now.
  • [00:57:30.87] LINH SONG: Right. Yeah, I think the last board retreat was a nice opportunity for staff to report out beyond what they normally report out at board meetings. So like, Eli had presented this amazing presentation on our door counts, how door counts happen, the use of the library over time. Right?
  • [00:57:50.22] So it's more in depth. I mean, I really enjoyed that. And then we had, was it Richard Murphy one year come and speak about library spaces and urban planning?
  • [00:58:01.47] JIM LEIJA: Yeah. I guess I'm just wondering if the kernels of what we're going to talk about are on your mind or on Josie's mind.
  • [00:58:08.19] LINH SONG: Well, I mean, we have our five-month report from the architecture firm.
  • [00:58:11.70] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
  • [00:58:11.97] LINH SONG: And so that's something that we can work off of.
  • [00:58:14.61] JIM LEIJA: Mhm.
  • [00:58:15.63] LINH SONG: And then there's where the strategic plan committee can really help guide us.
  • [00:58:19.68] VICTORIA GREEN: So I'd actually be interested in seeing old strategic plans, like the first one.
  • [00:58:24.45] LINH SONG: Oh.
  • [00:58:24.83] VICTORIA GREEN: Like 20 years ago, what did the strategic plan look like? They're available on the website, not going back that far. They're going back, maybe, 10 years.
  • [00:58:32.28] What did they-- because some of this gets to my thought about how can we prepare for the future 20 years from now when we know we don't know exactly how the library's going to be used. Right? And what were people thinking 20 years ago? And how well does it mesh with the library that we have today?
  • [00:58:46.95] JOSIE PARKER: You got it?
  • [00:58:47.23] ELI NEIBURGER: I don't have it handy, but I remember distinctly a particular line item from the 1996 strategic plan, which was the internet is a fad, and it will blow over.
  • [00:58:55.86] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:58:56.35] LINH SONG: Yes.
  • [00:58:57.85] VICTORIA GREEN: I want to put my name on that--
  • [00:58:58.99] LINH SONG: I was hoping that it would have said that we would have had a new Downtown Library.
  • [00:59:02.17] JOSIE PARKER: No, no. It was about the technology being evil.
  • [00:59:04.98] ELI NEIBURGER: The director did say that at that time. Ray said, when the library opened in 1989, it would be amazing to see what we have in 20 years.
  • [00:59:14.25] LINH SONG: And here we are.
  • [00:59:15.50] JOSIE PARKER: Mhm.
  • [00:59:16.70] LINH SONG: Well, I'm glad the internet is still here.
  • [00:59:18.63] [LAUGHTER]
  • [00:59:20.17] Good, good. OK. Great. Any other final comments about the retreat? Great. Thank you. So Karen will follow up with us. Thank you, Karen.
  • And I'll apologize in advance. That will be fun, I'm sure. Do we have any Citizens' Comments, then?
  • [00:59:37.42] KAREN WILSON: We do. We have the gentleman earlier today, Jeff Coback and Kevin Austin.
  • [00:59:42.12] LINH SONG: Great. Can you please come up to the podium? And then you have three minutes.
  • [00:59:50.74] AUDIENCE: Thank you.
  • [00:59:52.34] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you.
  • [00:59:53.09] AUDIENCE: The gentleman passing out the booklets to you-- and I'm sorry I didn't bring more-- is our sales associate. I'm one of the principals of a company called Expert Lighting Group.
  • [01:00:03.02] We are a very professional lighting company. Unique resume in that I have been a lighting manufacturer for a 45- or 50-year career. I would tell you 55, but it will make me sound way too old. But it would be the truth.
  • [01:00:19.34] My partner is actually one of only 400 certified lighting efficiency professionals in the state of Michigan. And he was hired by DTE to sit in residence at Ford Land for 3 and 1/2 years, and he actually wrote all of the specifications for Ford Motor for LED lighting in plants and office facilities.
  • [01:00:40.41] He left. He started his own business. I joined him as a collaborating partner. And we do sophisticated, retrofit LED lighting projects-- industrial, commercial, and otherwise.
  • [01:00:52.28] We have learned how to use tools that the state of Michigan provided for municipalities and school systems to make projects cash flow-free from day one. We're good at it. Frankly, we have done it repeatedly.
  • [01:01:10.73] My sales associate, Mr. Ost, sitting over there, called me this morning after he met with one of you and told me about the project at a glance. And with the number of burn hours you have, I am telling you that we can probably, without question, reduce the utility costs for lighting this library by 70%, and do it, probably, without costing a nickel of the capital budget.
  • [01:01:35.81] I know that may sound too good to be true. It's actually relatively straightforward. We're professional enough to do it, number one. And number two is it's really utilizing the tool kit that the state of Michigan will put in place for exactly this purpose.
  • [01:01:55.35] Eli and I have spoke for a brief second, and I'd be glad to stay around afterwards and explain further. But my favorite line, and I'll use it for you in closing, is if light was water, everybody would be rushing to call a plumber.
  • [01:02:11.31] [LAUGHTER]
  • [01:02:11.73] The bottom line is you have no idea how much of the resources of this library you are wasting in the utility bill that pays your lights because, unlike a leak in a sink or a toilet or whatever, you can't see it, touch it, or feel it. But believe me, it's there.
  • [01:02:30.21] So again, I would be glad to explain what we do. It sounds like you're in the right frame of mind and position, given the other renovation work that's going on at this branch. And the same, by the way, holds true and is applicable for the other branches.
  • [01:02:46.98] I will tell you that there are a number of seemingly cost-sharing or cost-saving methods to do projects. Most of them are blind and do not inure to the benefit of the buyer. The system the state put in place absolutely does. Thank you.
  • [01:03:07.88] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you.
  • [01:03:08.67] LINH SONG: Thank you. Great. Karen, do we have any other additional comments? Great. Well, thank you. I think we have come to an adjournment. I will go ahead with the gavel. Thank you, everyone.
  • [01:03:24.51] [GAVEL POUNDING]
  • [01:03:25.41] JIM LEIJA: I feel like you have a firm--
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February 18, 2019 at the Downtown Library

Length: 01:03:35

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AADL Board Meeting