AADL Board Meeting - January 21, 2020

[00:00:07.50] [GAVEL POUNDS]
[00:00:08.35] LINH SONG: We call this meeting order. Welcome, everyone. Happy New Year. Karen, can we get attendance, please?
[00:00:15.20] KAREN WILSON: Yes.

[00:00:20.89] LINH SONG: And then my remarks. It's me. I'm on. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I've prepared a little something, so I appreciate your patience. So in preparing for tonight's meeting, I looked through comments given by past board presidents going back over the last decade. In 2011 Board President Leary reflected on a number of awards given to the AADL in the previous year. A Five Star ranking from the Library Journal, MLA's Trustee Citation of Merit Award for ADDY awards, Literary Arts awards at the Kerry Town Book Fest, Library Journal's Movers and Shakers Tech Leader, and the Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library and AADL receiving clean audits. And receiving a clean audit is as a reward in itself.
[00:01:10.11] The remainder of that January 2011 board meeting went on to discuss renewing Westgates lease, looking at early examples of the tools collection and formulating our website terms of use policy. And here we are now in 2020, beginning a new decade with a new website, an expanded branch at Westgate. An extensive tools collection that allows us to make art and music, explore and understand science, prepare our homes, and catch a glimpse of the universe.
[00:01:36.51] We also have the Secret Lab, Fifth Street Press, Pulp Magazine, The Archives, an entire season of festival celebrating the literary graphic and independent arts. What's remarkable is how the AADL continues to maintain a high level of excellent programming and outreach. We are, again, a Five Star ranking library for the 12th year in a row. We are recognized in our city, townships, region, and nationally in ways that supports our reputation as an innovative and responsive community center.
[00:02:06.36] The AADL, its staff and leadership demonstrates how institutions can weather challenges without wavering from our mission as a public entity to create opportunities to learn, understand, and commune with one another. The AADL study path over the past decade is what brought most of us to the sport. Over the past three years, we've kept going by exploring what our options are to maintain all of our buildings. And we've welcomed new trustees. We stand as an independent institution ready to welcome the next decade. Thank you. I'm looking forward to the work ahead.
[00:02:43.58] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you.

[00:02:44.23] LINH SONG: Sure. All right. Moving on to elect the library board officers. This is a roll call vote to-- I guess, to call for some nominations?
[00:02:58.64] JOSIE PARKER: Call for nominations.
[00:03:00.52] LINH SONG: Call for nominations.
[00:03:03.47] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I'd like to nominate Linh Song for president.
[00:03:06.86] JIM LEIJA: I would second that nomination.
[00:03:10.49] LINH SONG: Thank you. We'll do a roll call vote.
[00:03:12.95] JIM LEIJA: It's discussion.
[00:03:14.61] LINH SONG: Oh, that's right. Yes.
[00:03:16.91] [LAUGHTER]
[00:03:19.28] Were there any other nominations? All right. Any discussion? Thank you. Should we do a roll call vote then, please?
[00:03:33.53] KAREN WILSON: Sure. Dharma Akmon?
[00:03:35.40] DHARMA AKMON: Yes.
[00:03:36.71] KAREN WILSON: Victoria Green? Jim Leija?
[00:03:39.17] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[00:03:39.59] KAREN WILSON: Kerene Moore?
[00:03:40.58] KERENE MOORE: Yes.
[00:03:41.82] KAREN WILSON: Colleen Sherman? Linh Song?
[00:03:44.09] LINH SONG: Yes. Thank you.
[00:03:44.86] KAREN WILSON: Jamie Vander Broek?
[00:03:45.64] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yes. Thank you. Victoria, good timing. It's OK.
[00:03:51.48] JIM LEIJA: Would you like to vote for president?
[00:03:54.11] [LAUGHTER]
[00:03:54.57] VICTORIA GREEN: I knew I [INAUDIBLE].
[00:03:57.75] JIM LEIJA: You still have a chance.
[00:03:59.16] VICTORIA GREEN: OK, I'm still in.
[00:04:00.75] JIM LEIJA: Karen, would you call for Victoria's vote? The nominee is Linh Song for president.
[00:04:08.33] KAREN WILSON: Victoria Green?
[00:04:09.74] VICTORIA GREEN: Yes.
[00:04:10.86] LINH SONG: Thank you.
[00:04:11.59] VICTORIA GREEN: My apologies to my colleagues.

[00:04:15.45] LINH SONG: Thank you. Moving on. Accepting nominations for vice president. I would like to nominate Kerene Moore. There--
[00:04:28.21] JOSIE PARKER: There should be a second.
[00:04:29.43] LINH SONG: Is there a second?
[00:04:31.37] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I'll second that.
[00:04:34.61] LINH SONG: Discussion? Any thoughts? All right, thank you. Karen, can we have our roll call vote?
[00:04:44.44] KAREN WILSON: Dharma Akmon?
[00:04:45.80] DHARMA AKMON: Yes.
[00:04:46.40] KAREN WILSON: Victoria Green?
[00:04:47.32] VICTORIA GREEN: Yes.
[00:04:47.74] KAREN WILSON: Jim Leija?
[00:04:49.36] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[00:04:50.12] KAREN WILSON: Kerene Moore?
[00:04:51.15] KERENE MOORE: Yes.
[00:04:51.86] KAREN WILSON: Colleen Sherman? Linh Song?
[00:04:54.06] LINH SONG: Yes.
[00:04:54.44] KAREN WILSON: Jamie Vander Broek?
[00:04:55.60] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yes.

[00:04:56.57] LINH SONG: All right, thank you. Moving on to treasurer. Any nominations for treasurer?
[00:05:07.65] LINH SONG: I'll run the nomination. I'd like to nominate Dharma Akmon for treasurer.
[00:05:11.19] KERENE MOORE: I second.
[00:05:12.60] LINH SONG: Great, thank you. Discussion? Thank you for reminding me about this nonsense.
[00:05:17.19] [LAUGHTER]
[00:05:18.15] JIM LEIJA: They're resident.
[00:05:19.41] LINH SONG: Yes.
[00:05:19.80] JIM LEIJA: Robert's Rules of Order. I want to discuss only to ask the question-- there is a senior member of the board-- or more tenure member the board, Victoria Green, who I know has not served in an executive role. And I just want to consider whether or not, Victoria, you'd like a nomination given that this is your last year of your current term? And open that up just for comment. We're not really allowed to discuss this otherwise so--
[00:05:56.97] VICTORIA GREEN: So I'd just like make a statement, which is, first of all, I appreciate your vote confidence in me and thinking that my interest might align with the good of the board. But my perspective on this is, I got no personal skin the game. I have every reason to think Dharma will be an excellent treasure.
[00:06:10.15] DHARMA AKMON: Thank you.
[00:06:10.90] JIM LEIJA: So, thank you.
[00:06:11.90] VICTORIA GREEN: I don't think there's any point in arguing. That's my perspective.
[00:06:16.26] LINH SONG: Great. Thank you for the discussion. Roll call vote.
[00:06:22.30] KAREN WILSON: Dharma Akmon?
[00:06:23.74] DHARMA AKMON: So I do vote for myself.
[00:06:25.30] [LAUGHTER]
[00:06:27.98] KAREN WILSON: Victoria Green?
[00:06:29.14] VICTORIA GREEN: Yes.
[00:06:29.50] KAREN WILSON: Jim Leija?
[00:06:30.49] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[00:06:31.21] KAREN WILSON: Kerene Moore?
[00:06:31.81] KERENE MOORE: Yes.
[00:06:32.11] KAREN WILSON: Colleen Sherman? Linh Song?
[00:06:34.18] LINH SONG: Yes.
[00:06:35.02] KAREN WILSON: Jamie Vander Broek?
[00:06:35.86] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yes.

[00:06:37.26] LINH SONG: Great. Thank you. And lastly, secretary. Entertaining nominations for secretary, please.
[00:06:47.76] KERENE MOORE: I'd like to nominate Jim Leija.
[00:06:52.35] JIM LEIJA: I'll second that. I think I'm allowed to second that.
[00:06:53.60] [LAUGHTER]
[00:06:57.02] LINH SONG: Would you like to lead discussion?
[00:06:58.71] [LAUGHTER]
[00:07:01.91] Any other nominations? Discussion? I will say something. I think Jim is the longest serving board member at this point, and has served on the executive committee-- I think you've served every officer role.
[00:07:18.52] JIM LEIJA: Except President.
[00:07:19.31] LINH SONG: Except president.
[00:07:19.87] JIM LEIJA: That's right. This would be second-- this would be my third.
[00:07:24.02] LINH SONG: That's-- and you have two more years to your term.
[00:07:28.09] JIM LEIJA: Right.
[00:07:28.70] LINH SONG: So there's time.
[00:07:30.12] [LAUGHTER]
[00:07:31.11] There's time for Jim. And he is in-- is it how many years now that you've been on the board between your--
[00:07:39.75] JIM LEIJA: Six years.
[00:07:40.41] LINH SONG: Six years?
[00:07:41.13] JIM LEIJA: Six years, yeah.
[00:07:42.33] LINH SONG: Yes. So he's the most senior member of the board. I appreciate the effort and your willingness to serve.
[00:07:47.59] JIM LEIJA: Thank you.
[00:07:48.89] LINH SONG: Great. Karen, can we have our roll call vote, please?
[00:07:51.92] KAREN WILSON: Dharma Akmon?
[00:07:53.30] DHARMA AKMON: Yes.
[00:07:54.48] KAREN WILSON: Victoria Green?
[00:07:55.10] VICTORIA GREEN: Yes.
[00:07:55.55] KAREN WILSON: Jim Leija?
[00:07:56.44] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[00:07:56.78] KAREN WILSON: Kerene Moore?
[00:07:57.79] KERENE MOORE: Yes.
[00:07:58.27] KAREN WILSON: Colleen Sherman? Linh Song?
[00:08:00.65] LINH SONG: Yes.
[00:08:01.06] KAREN WILSON: Jamie Vander Broek?
[00:08:02.21] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yes.

[00:08:03.99] LINH SONG: Great. Thank you. And with that, we have our officers. We need to do an oath. Is that right?
[00:08:13.06] JOSIE PARKER: You sit here and say-- you sit right here and do it.
[00:08:16.45] LINH SONG: All right.
[00:08:17.09] JOSIE PARKER: All on you, so then you're fine.
[00:08:18.89] LINH SONG: All right. Ready, folks?
[00:08:20.18] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[00:08:20.54] LINH SONG: All right.
[00:08:22.01] EVERYONE: I, do you solemnly swear that I will abide by the bylaws, rules, and regulations of my office as to the best of my ability.

[00:08:34.16] LINH SONG: Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And congratulations. It will be an excellent year. Officers relinquish control to new officers. Is that is that just like a--
[00:08:45.95] JOSIE PARKER: That's if you needed to change anything here.
[00:08:48.29] JIM LEIJA: Would you like me to hand you the gavel?
[00:08:50.13] [LAUGHTER]
[00:08:50.71] JOSIE PARKER: You don't have to do it tonight, because you don't have specific places. So it's up to you.
[00:08:57.53] LINH SONG: I think they were pretty comfortable--
[00:08:59.59] JIM LEIJA: We're fine.
[00:09:00.28] LINH SONG: --sitting where we are.
[00:09:01.48] [LAUGHTER]
[00:09:02.29] I can still-- I can sense your presence across from there.
[00:09:07.50] [LAUGHTER]

[00:09:08.29] Good. Good. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda, please?
[00:09:15.20] JIM LEIJA: I move to approve the agenda.
[00:09:16.31] KERENE MOORE: I second.
[00:09:19.14] LINH SONG: Any discussion? Great. All those in favor?
[00:09:24.18] EVERYONE: Aye.
[00:09:25.28] JIM LEIJA: Oh, I had one.
[00:09:26.54] LINH SONG: Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
[00:09:27.36] JIM LEIJA: It's good. I am in favor. But I want to add one note, which is it is my understanding based on the but-- based on the agenda, that we are not-- that we are hearing a draft of the strategic plan proposal today.
[00:09:46.59] LINH SONG: Right.
[00:09:47.28] JIM LEIJA: But we are not taking an action to-- the plan is not to take an action to vote or approve or--
[00:09:56.79] LINH SONG: I think--
[00:09:58.04] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: It's on the agenda for today.
[00:09:59.09] LINH SONG: It's on the agenda--
[00:09:59.38] JIM LEIJA: Is it on the agenda to approve?
[00:10:00.41] LINH SONG: Yeah--
[00:10:00.69] JIM LEIJA: OK, great.
[00:10:01.20] LINH SONG: --to approve.
[00:10:01.46] JIM LEIJA: Thank you.
[00:10:02.06] LINH SONG: And I think--
[00:10:02.41] JIM LEIJA: Just clarifying.
[00:10:02.84] LINH SONG: --there's discussion from committee reports that will-- I think will inform--
[00:10:06.83] JIM LEIJA: Great.
[00:10:07.10] LINH SONG: --the vote.
[00:10:07.91] JIM LEIJA: OK. Oh, wait. It's in new business. I got it. OK.
[00:10:10.10] LINH SONG: Yeah, and speak to some of the questions that folks have about that.
[00:10:13.49] JIM LEIJA: Great. But thank you. All right, all those in-- we had a second on that motion, is that correct?
[00:10:19.47] KERENE MOORE: Yes.
[00:10:19.85] LINH SONG: OK, great. All those in favor?
[00:10:23.16] EVERYONE: Aye.

[00:10:24.44] LINH SONG: Any opposed? Great. So the motion passes. Consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda?
[00:10:36.02] KERENE MOORE: Motion to approve the consent agenda.
[00:10:38.06] LINH SONG: Thank you.
[00:10:39.53] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I second.
[00:10:40.10] LINH SONG: Great. Thank you. Any discussion? Great. All those in favor?
[00:10:47.34] EVERYONE: Aye.

[00:10:48.46] LINH SONG: Opposed? OK, great. Motion passes. Moving on. Citizens comments. Karen, do we have anyone sign up for citizens comments?
[00:11:01.46] KAREN WILSON: I have not seen any yet.
[00:11:03.28] LINH SONG: All right. All right. We do have time at the end of the meeting, so if anyone is so moved and inspired.
[00:11:12.33] JOSIE PARKER: I would like to acknowledge-- although, I don't think they're going to say a word-- I would like to acknowledge three young men from Skyline High School who are here for their government class. Guys, wave. Just wave.
[00:11:22.95] LINH SONG: All right.
[00:11:23.92] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you. That's all.
[00:11:25.86] LINH SONG: Thank you. Thank you for joining us tonight. We always appreciate having students in the audience. Please, run for office.
[00:11:34.90] [LAUGHTER]
[00:11:36.27] JIM LEIJA: Seriously.
[00:11:36.99] LINH SONG: Really.
[00:11:37.85] [LAUGHTER]

[00:11:39.60] All right. Great. Moving on to financial reports. Josie.
[00:11:43.59] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you. So you have the two months of financial reports in this packet. And they are the November-- ending November-- end of November and end of December financial reports. So I want to-- the thing I want to point out-- and I have the advantage. I took them out, so I'm looking at the front pages of each month where you can see the general fund balance graph and where the change is. And you can see where the money was transferred out of the general fund into the capital-- I always get it wrong. So I'm trying to make-- capital fund.
[00:12:22.65] So that you see that drop. I want to make sure everyone sees that in December financials that you voted to do that. And then that money was transferred. So it shows up-- it shows up there as a dip in that graph. So you can see the fund balance activity, and that's where that is noted in the fund balance activity. So each of these months show in the summary, the revenue, the expenditures, revenue over under, and grants and memorials.
[00:12:53.64] Under expenditures-- and there's a sentence at the end of every one of these paragraphs that gives you that current view. Not the accrual view, but the current view in that sentence. So you have both here. They're not drawn out that way, pulled out that way. So actual cash receipts are at 97.45% of the budget.
[00:13:20.23] And actual cash expended in December is 47.53% of the budget. And that, if you look up that revenue over under expenditures, you're getting the numbers in accrual, which show up in the financial statement. But that last sentence is your actual. Is that helpful?
[00:13:36.90] DHARMA AKMON: Last sentence where? I'm sorry. I'm having trouble--
[00:13:38.82] JOSIE PARKER: If you're in the financial summary, In Dec-- I'm sorry.
[00:13:41.14] DHARMA AKMON: Like what page?
[00:13:42.63] LINH SONG: Page 33.
[00:13:43.31] DHARMA AKMON: OK. OK, thanks.
[00:13:46.71] JOSIE PARKER: I'm just showing you how we did this to help with the understanding between accrual summary, and then the sentences or the actuals, for those of you who've asked for that. OK. So I want to make sure you see that. And then you have the statements of revenue and expenditures in the general fund that look-- that are the governmental accounting format. So I want to make sure everybody is comfortable with that. And to ask you if there are any questions?
[00:14:23.60] Also in this, on the statement of revenues and expenditures for each month, you have your percentage year to date, which shows you where we are on the lines. And I'm looking at December. And the only place where we are well over is in accounting and auditing. And that will stay that way through the rest of this year. And at the end of the year, we'll have a vote to adjust that bond at the end of the year, when we do that routinely in June.
[00:15:03.04] But right now, we're not seeing any indication of any lines going over budget in this budget this year, except that one. And we all understand what that's about.
[00:15:15.31] LINH SONG: And the batteries-- no, not the batteries. That we're approving today-- or that we have proved before, that's coming out the capital--
[00:15:26.04] JOSIE PARKER: You--
[00:15:27.25] LINH SONG: Can you remind--
[00:15:27.88] JOSIE PARKER: Is it capital?
[00:15:28.39] ELI NEIBURGER: Tonight's resolutions capital outlay.
[00:15:29.56] JOSIE PARKER: Tonight's for the resolutions capital outlay? But we didn't approve-- we didn't approve a battery-- we haven't had a resolution about that?
[00:15:36.39] LINH SONG: No.
[00:15:36.58] JOSIE PARKER: No. No.
[00:15:37.61] LINH SONG: It's just the--
[00:15:37.78] JOSIE PARKER: You had a resolution last month about the fourth floor.
[00:15:40.88] LINH SONG: OK.
[00:15:41.29] JOSIE PARKER: And that money is coming out of the capital fund. Tonight, Len's going to talk to you about HVAC, and that's coming out of operations. That's coming out of the budget that you've approved. Because of the amount-- and he'll talk to you about that when he talks to you about that, about why.
[00:15:59.14] VICTORIA GREEN: So, Josie, I just want to call out one other item, which is substantially different for the budget versus the actual. But it's the direction we like it, which is that we've got more we way more interest income than we originally budgeted for this year. I know we already talked about that a little bit in the idea of whether that's a time or something to work out for the budget next year. But it is a, we got more interest income.
[00:16:19.93] JOSIE PARKER: And that's just how things are-- how things are invested?
[00:16:22.63] VICTORIA GREEN: Yeah.
[00:16:22.90] JOSIE PARKER: And how well they're doing at a time-- an important time. Any other questions or comments about the budget for me? Concerns about the summary? OK. Thank you. Great.
[00:16:44.74] LINH SONG: Thank you, Josie.
[00:16:45.64] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you.

[00:16:48.19] LINH SONG: Moving on. Executive committee did not meet. I think we had a pretty productive meeting last time we met. We didn't see a reason to really convene, especially as we're looking at the election of different officers. So I have nothing to report from executive committee. Strategic plan, strategic planning committee?

[00:17:15.07] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: We met-- was it last week? Feels like longer ago. So we met last week, basically, just to review the proposed document that is in front of you. We made one small change to the narrative introduction. And then we also reviewed the feedback from the staff on the plan-- well, mostly on the values section of the plan.
[00:17:41.02] And that was a really positive experience just to get a sense of how the staff feel about the values we're proposing for tonight. And the comments were incredible and it was a real pleasure to get the opportunity to read them. Like a lot of surveys that you might fill out, I think there is an expectation that you have filled out something that will not be distributed-- that it won't be like posted on the internet for everyone to see. So that feedback is something that the board members will be able to view, but it's not something that we're going to distribute publicly. And that's just in the interest of the privacy of the people who filled it out.
[00:18:23.71] But I can assure you that the respondents were very positive about the new values. And it made me feel very proud to be associated with this organization. But, otherwise, I think we're going to cover the strategic plan in more detail in a few minutes here. And then vote on it, so-- unless there's something else someone wants to add from-- Victoria or Linh?
[00:18:53.49] LINH SONG: I just-- I was really struck by the staff survey results and how quickly they responded. I think it was right before the holiday, so that's-- I think we were we were a little worried and staff really came through and were really thoughtful. And I think very few people actually like taking surveys, so I appreciated their candid responses. And I feel like this strategic plan is is informed by what staff would like to see. It's exciting. I don't know. Victoria, you had some thoughts. Do you have any thoughts?
[00:19:35.65] VICTORIA GREEN: I mean, I can add to that in that I was overwhelmed with gratitude at how engaged the staff were. And the things that the staff are living that we're writing on pieces of paper and how that speaks to the health of the organization. I'm trying to think if there's anything else operationally we did as a committee. But I think your summary was accurate. And we're going to discuss the plan in more detail.
[00:20:00.30] LINH SONG: Great. Thank you. Thank you for making sure we actually met. [LAUGHS]
[00:20:07.60] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Oh. I mean, thank Karen for that.

[00:20:09.51] LINH SONG: Yes. Thank you, Karen, for organizing this. Great. Anything else? Any other-- any thing else to report out for strategic? OK. Planning, thank you. Moving on to Josie, directors report, please.
[00:20:22.88] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you. So in front of you is a photograph of Traverwood, and where the new bookable meeting room will be. It's just to the west of the existing computer lab, if you're familiar with Traverwood. And behind it on-- that wall behind it is staff wall. On the other side is staff lounge-- staff area. So that's Traverwood.
[00:20:47.86] And these are some photographs that were in local media about the voting machine project study that was held here over the summer. And we were very happy to do it. And I sent you the study results so that you could see what happened. I sent you the URL for the study results. We were very happy about this and people flocked. They didn't have any problems signing up, stepping in line, waiting to do this. So it was a good study to see how people vote, what makes sense electronic voting and what doesn't. Glad to be a part of it.
[00:21:21.70] We are, as far as we know, the only satellite caucus site for the Iowa caucus in Michigan. And it will be February 3rd at 7 PM down here in the FreeSpace. So if you're interested in being part of the Iowa caucuses satellite site, these are for people who live here who are Iowans, who can't vote in Iowa because they're not there, and they want to be part of it. Am I correct? I got it right? Right? So they're here. And we'll see how many Iowans there who are going to show up at the AADL. So it should be fun. Iowa night, and that's coming up.
[00:21:59.47] This is fourth floor meeting room construction. This is the-- the curtain wall it's been put up that blocks off people now from the area of construction. That's the atrium, that used to be the walkway area to the boardroom doors-- to the big board room doors. Downtown Coffee Bar RFP was sent out 13 to 19. Operators of coffee shops in Washtenaw County. Responses are due back on the 14th of February. I've had one phone call for clarification information today, which was nice.
[00:22:30.54] So we're showing you where it will be. On the corner of the building at Fifth and William. Somehow the other will work this out with the window-- walk up window taking advantage of the bike lane traffic. So it will be what will move the books-- the materials are in that corner and take out the walls that were the old dropbox to make space for this. And if I'm remembering correctly, looking at Len and Eli, we would begin this in the fall. So it would not happen this summer, because too busy time for us-- too much going on so we'll do it that way.
[00:23:08.73] LINH SONG: So is this space considerably smaller than Sweetwaters at Westgate then?
[00:23:13.17] ELI NEIBURGER: Much, much smaller.
[00:23:14.16] LINH SONG: It is?
[00:23:14.31] JOSIE PARKER: Much smaller.
[00:23:14.50] ELI NEIBURGER: About 1/3 of this.
[00:23:15.53] LINH SONG: OK.
[00:23:15.87] JOSIE PARKER: Yep, much smaller.
[00:23:17.27] LINH SONG: OK.
[00:23:18.56] JOSIE PARKER: It's part of the whole walk-up window idea.
[00:23:20.96] LINH SONG: OK.
[00:23:21.61] JOSIE PARKER: Yep. OK. So Chef Keegan has been hosting cooking and baking events at AADL for years. But earlier in the month, he covered what he knows best, the art of bread making. And it led to new found respect for croissants and some seriously delicious looking loaves and all the feedback. WAPUR, the Washtenaw Area Pickup Robotics high school robotics competition was a great time. And it featured teams from throughout Washtenaw County playing robot volleyball. And these are a few photos from this event.
[00:23:54.70] And this was held at the U of M Sports Colosseum. We are-- this building can't do it. It did it once, we won't ask it to do that again.
[00:24:04.06] LINH SONG: It was fun.
[00:24:04.99] JOSIE PARKER: It was very fun, but--
[00:24:06.28] LINH SONG: It was a lot happening in one day.
[00:24:07.45] JOSIE PARKER: But whoa, was it intense, and so we won't be doing that again. And it wasn't so much about the noise, it just was about the space.
[00:24:13.06] LINH SONG: Oh, sure.
[00:24:13.46] JOSIE PARKER: We needed more space. The AADL and the North Coast Modular Collective have been partnering on music events. And a January hands-on event welcomed more than 75 people into-- who took part in demos and tried their hands at DJing, sound editing, and more. And if I'm looking at that picture, is that this Secret Lab Annex?
[00:24:35.56] ELI NEIBURGER: No, it's just the Secret Lab.
[00:24:36.28] JOSIE PARKER: It's just the Secret Lab? OK. OK. I love this one, because I'm one of the fans of the Bernoulli exhibit at Pittsfield. This is a young man from 2010 to 2019 standing at the Bernoulli in Pittsfield. Though, through one-- through the life-- or the growing up of one fella.
[00:24:55.65] LINH SONG: Wow.
[00:24:56.94] JOSIE PARKER: And I will say, I don't know how old he was in '10, but Pittsfeild opened in '06. So he was probably an infant. I mean, I can guess know how old he is there, if he's two or three he wasn't born yet, but anyway I loved it. I thought it was great. This one is two feel good messages. So you can read them for yourself. So shout out to the woman in front of me, she's checking out what looks like 25 books. This is the vibe I want to bring into 2020 @wellreadwomen.
[00:25:28.65] And then the other one is, and thanks to the AADL Westgate branch for organizing the kids section by category. Makes it so much easier when my daughter wants only cat books and dragon books, including the one about the dragon who takes care of a cat.
[00:25:40.50] [LAUGHTER]
[00:25:42.27] And everyone who works here is laughing because they've had that question. This one is special. Laurie Damon May posted a request on the Ann Arbor Townie's Facebook page asking for help tracking down newspaper articles about her grandfather, Everett Fox, who's pictured here. Who owned a small grocery store in Ann Arbor and was a school crossing guard who was hit by a car running a red light in 1969.
[00:26:11.10] AADL staff are helpful no matter where people ask for help. And Eric Klooster, who's here tonight, who's the father of one of these young men and did not know we were going to do this, was quick to offer our help and involved the archives team and Darla Welshons. The archives team found and digitized a number of photos and articles related to Mr. Fox, including coverage of his recuperation after being hit by that car, a photo of him receiving a certificate of appreciation for his service to the city in 19 sadly-- and then sadly, his obituary in 1971. And we do know his death was not related to this accident.
[00:26:47.39] Mr. Fox's granddaughter was overjoyed that the AADL was able to provide information about her family. And we, as always, were happy to help. Thank you Eric. And finally, of the comments, in early December someone decided to wade back into the, who actually uses libraries these days question. And despite the library skeptics residing in the village of Cullingworth in West Yorkshire, England, he heard from plenty of folks who love the AADL.
[00:27:29.12] So you're getting the list here. Quite a few. Quite a few. And finally, Linh's already mentioned it, but for our twelfth year in a row-- for a dozen years, the AADL is a Five Star library. From Library Journals, Five Star-- Star's library. I want to thank all the staff who make it possible. It's about who comes, it's about what they do, it's about using the library. It's not about how much money we spend or how many people work here, how many buildings we have. It's about the public coming in and the public coming through the website. The public using our services.
[00:28:12.40] And that we provide them in the way we do makes that possible. And it's a shout out to every single person who's worked here this year and the last 12. I'd also like to take this opportunity to congratulate West Bloomfield Library's also a Five Star, as well as Richland Community. It's the second year in a row Richland has been a Five Star library. Kent District is a Four Star. Hopkins District, which is on the west side of the state, south of Holland, but north of Lansing, between 96 and 94 is a Four Star. Kalamazoo District Library is a Three Star. And Litchfield, which is in the southwest part of the state near Jonesville is a Three Star.
[00:28:54.76] And I think Litchfield, if I'm not mistaken, was Library of the Year a number of years ago in Michigan for different things they were trying to do. So I'm very proud to be-- we're very proud for AADL to be a part of a list of this many libraries in Michigan with stars. I don't know that it's been-- the list has been this long. And I'm very happy about this. So thank you. I'm very happy a dozen years to be at the-- in the Five Star list. That's my work.
[00:29:24.88] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Congratulations, Josie-- and everyone.
[00:29:25.63] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you.
[00:29:26.56] LINH SONG: I made a comment on online that 12 years completes a full Asian Lunar Year Zodiac Cycle. That means I think it's supposed to mean it'll bring you luck for the next 12.
[00:29:45.34] JOSIE PARKER: That's good. I'll take-- that's perfect.

[00:29:46.87] LINH SONG: So that's quite an accomplishment. Thank you. Thank you to everyone. Great. Moving on to the-- with the agenda old business. We have a presentation on the draft of the 2020 Strategic Plan with Kerry Sheldon and Anica Madeo from Bridgeport. Is Anica here?
[00:30:07.96] KERRY SHELDON: She is not. We arm wrestled for the honor of coming tonight, and I won because I've been working out. So it's such a pleasure to be here today. And thank you so much for-- for the opportunity to work with the library for all the reasons that you just covered in Josie's beautiful directors report and more. It is both fun and exciting and inspiring, and we always learn when we work with you on preparing the strategic plan.
[00:30:33.67] So I thought I would just offer a few comments to kind of get us grounded in how did, we get to this point? Where did we come from? How did we get here? What's before you tonight, and why? Why we arrived where we arrived. And I admit, I needed to cast my own mind back and flip through the file and sort of, where did we start and how did we-- So I refreshed my memory so you wouldn't have to. And I'll just narrate some of the milestones.
[00:30:57.32] As you recall, really, last spring is when we got a call from Josie and said, my goodness, what do you know? Our strategic plan is sort of at the end of its term. And it felt like it had been 10 minutes, but we were like, holy smokes. It's been three years. So came back, and we're delighted to do that. And I'm always happy for the opportunity. And so we began as we often do with individual interviews with each of you, just to develop a current understanding of the landscape, interest, needs.
[00:31:24.58] There had been changed in the board since the last time we did strategic planning. So it's really important and helpful for us to get to know who's with us, who are our traveling companions. We convene the strategic planning committee, who then met with us regularly and were very patient with us. And with the skillful help of Karen, to find time on people's calendars. Linh and Jamie and Victoria were really useful sounding boards as we gather data and brought it back to talk about what it meant.
[00:31:50.08] And Anica facilitated the board retreat in May-- in spring to talk about, OK, so where are we? What are we looking for? What if we accomplished and we're ready to set aside? And how do we set our sights for the future? And what are the themes of that conversation is really the patron experience. Thinking about the library as a place where people come and people use the library. And how do we want to be responsive to that moving into the future?
[00:32:12.85] Also worked with the management team. There were some sort of emerging focal areas and thoughts, themes that arose both from the interviews and from the board retreat. And just briefly, I would name them as-- one of the questions we asked was, what do you want this strategic plan to do for you? The last time, it was a pretty operational strategic plan. It was almost-- we joked, but it was close to things that you could kind of check off the list. And it gave you an implementation timeline and things you wanted to do.
[00:32:42.19] And what we heard resoundingly from the board was, we need it to be a little bit different altitude this time. We want something that we won't turn around and say, oh, my gosh, it feels like it's been 10 minutes, but it's been three years. And the strategic plan is now at the end of its term. We want something it'll be a little bit more resilient. Not necessarily tell us exactly how we're-- what decisions we're going to make in the next 18 months. But really give us stronger guideposts for how we will make those decisions. And a lot of that-- I'm sort of doing a spoiler for Josie's letter, which really clearly lays out what the document is and is not. And I'll get to that in just a minute.
[00:33:18.79] So we wanted to test out that philosophy-- that theory with the management team and say, does that give you what you need in order to operate the library? And they just about burst with joy and said, yes, please. That would be great. And they were really grateful for the trust that the board has in them for stewarding the operational aspects of the library. And they were warmly embracing the idea that it could be something a little bit higher level.
[00:33:44.69] So we started to move on that, started drafting in the summertime. We really focused on the values because there was a sense that the values, as they were articulated in the existing strategic plan, which had been the same values as they had been for going on 15ish years. And there was a sense that while the concepts embedded in those values still remain true, and we felt them and lived them every day, the language could be updated. And we kind of want to just take the time to look at that and make sure that we're there trueing it up for the times.
[00:34:17.25] And so that's where we focused. And from there, we really we discussed-- we'd started putting drafts together, putting them before the strategic planning committee, sitting with the management team once we thought that we had it mostly right. And really wordsmithing. Discussing what each word meant. Because if you want it to be brief and you want it to be high level, you have to be careful with a high level brief words that you're using. And so I thought a lot of really rich discussion came out of those conversations. It was very helpful.
[00:34:45.58] So we tested that out with the management team. And that was part of where we started to get the sense, oh, my gosh. There's so many great stories here. Because people could immediately say, this is what welcoming means to me. This is what adaptable means to me. And here's how we practice that every day. Here's how I see it on the front lines at all of our branches. So we got our words around it. And we felt good in what they said.
[00:35:09.35] Enlarge, the staff survey was shortly before the holidays, and so the two things that you have before you tonight-- this sort of brings us to current day-- are the-- I believe there was like a high level summary of what the staff survey results said. Hugely positive. A few people have spoken to this already. Immediate response, 75 people took the time. And they were open ended questions, and so people took the time to often write a paragraph or so of really what these values mean to them, how they resonate. Strongly positive. And then the second document you have is the actual strategic plan itself.
[00:35:45.40] So just a few words about that. Couple highlights just to kind of focus our attention. Josie's letter kind of says it all in terms of what the document is and what it is not. And I mentioned that already. And that's what it is is those values. It's a statement of belief for the library. And I've heard we've mentioned the term in previous strategic planning and in the current one that we really want to understand what the secret sauce is. And it's often been phrased as Josie Secret Sauce-- Leadership's Secret Sauce.
[00:36:17.88] And what we learned through this process that was so invigorating was that it is not Josie or Eli or the Leaders or the Management Team's Secret Sauce. It is AADL's Secret Sauce. It permeates the library. And so we wanted to document that and articulate that. And that's really the substance of what the strategic plan is this time.
[00:36:36.63] It's the context that you're working within. Major trends, major influences that you have been responsive to and anticipate that there will-- those will continue and there will be new ones. And what will we hold true to, what do we believe in that will guide us into the future? And so that's the substance of the document.
[00:36:54.69] It does provide that flexibility. Not knowing what the next major trend is. Not knowing the particular and specific decisions that will confront you in the years to come. How will we arrive at those decisions? And what will we be guided by? So the plan itself is deliberately, intentionally not time bound. We often say on the title, 2020 to 2023 would be a very traditional way to present a strategic plan. And this one we'll just say, adopted or published January 21st. Should you adopt it tonight, 2020.
[00:37:28.56] And then it will guide you until it doesn't guide you anymore. And you'll know when that happens when it happens. It really just lays claim to what's important to AADL moving forward and sets you up to have that common foundation as leadership changes and as boards change and elections happen to know what's true for the library and what we believe to be true into the future.
[00:37:50.24] So with that, very brief, but I hope sort of at least a narration of how we got here and what is before you tonight, I am very happy to welcome additional questions, reactions, concerns that you might have.
[00:38:02.94] LINH SONG: Is there any way that we can pull up the page of the draft on what defines us with the vision and mission? Only because-- think for folks who are-- I know we have faithful viewers on YouTube who probably already have the board packet and are following along. But with the students here, if you don't already have the packet-- oh, you do have a copy?
[00:38:31.00] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah, it's on the--
[00:38:31.74] LINH SONG: It's up here. OK.
[00:38:32.41] KERRY SHELDON: Page 9.
[00:38:33.05] LINH SONG: Yeah. That might be-- OK, so there's copies on the side there if you haven't grabbed the strategic plan and want to follow a little bit along.
[00:38:41.72] JOSIE PARKER: Eli's trying to pull it up.
[00:38:42.70] LINH SONG: Thank you. Only because I think the bulk-- it seems like the bulk of the work was really focusing on the page that says, what defines us? And then everything else kind of flowed from there.
[00:38:56.92] KERRY SHELDON: Definitely.
[00:38:57.44] LINH SONG: Right?
[00:38:57.97] KERRY SHELDON: And if helpful, while we're pulling it up, I can also just read it. They're brief enough--
[00:39:01.84] LINH SONG: Yeah.
[00:39:02.63] KERRY SHELDON: --due to how careful we were that we could just read them out. And sometimes it also lands differently when you hear it audibly. So I'll start with the values, because the vision and mission statements remain the same. So the values that came out of the original value-- or the most recent values, and now are present in this strategic plan are welcoming. Everything we do is designed to create an exceptionally welcoming patron experience. Equitable, we work to dismantle barriers to opportunity so everyone can take full advantage of what AADL has to offer.
[00:39:40.36] Open, we are fierce protectors of intellectual freedom and individual choice. Responsible, we are careful stewards of resources recognizing our central directive to advance the public good. And adaptive, we honor our history while remaining nimble, creative, and flexible to respond to our patrons interests.
[00:40:05.11] LINH SONG: Thank you. I think that helps us. I kind of get a sense of where we're really coming from. The center point of what we're trying to do, how things-- what hasn't changed and what has changed. Are there any questions for Kerry or any thoughts about-- I really like the choice of this picture with the dinosaur.
[00:40:28.37] KERRY SHELDON: I owe that to Rich. I asked, send me lively pictures. And we got a dragon. Speaking of dragons and cats.
[00:40:34.94] LINH SONG: Oh, right.
[00:40:37.84] KERRY SHELDON: And I would also invite-- some of the debates around the particular words, I don't want to step in front of the strategic planning committee to also talk a little bit about why this word not that one, what do we mean by?
[00:40:49.99] VICTORIA GREEN: So what I would say about it-- about any kind of document like this, is you're never done with wordsmithing. And it's something-- you're never going to get everybody in the room to agree to every single word. And sooner or later, it's just time to go. That's how I felt about it. And that we could have like sat there and done 10 more drafts and changed five words, and the likely impact of that isn't small. So I think we did plenty of refining. That's my take on.
[00:41:15.30] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah. I mean, these are very different than the values that we started with when we were having discussions. So I feel really good about the productiveness of our discussions, of you're working with the management team and the staff to understand how they felt about things. Interviewing us about how we felt about the present values of the library, or what could be considered a value in the future. And I feel really good about what you've come up with.
[00:41:52.91] LINH SONG: And then retreat, too. So this is also using feedback from--
[00:41:57.10] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Right.
[00:41:57.35] LINH SONG: --the retreat.
[00:41:59.51] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Right.
[00:42:02.12] KERRY SHELDON: I wonder for the people who didn't travel the wordsmithing path with us, how did this document read to you?
[00:42:09.18] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I mean, I think that-- so we had values that, like you said, still resonated with people in a lot of ways. But they were due to be updated and refreshed, and to really reflect the organization as it presently operates. And I think that the values that you and Anica initially brought to us-- to me, they didn't-- I feel awkward saying this in such a public forum.
[00:42:36.15] KERRY SHELDON: You can say it. It's not like we're on camera or anything.
[00:42:37.16] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: They did not hit the mark. I think they didn't represent the AADL that I know.
[00:42:42.28] KERRY SHELDON: Yeah.
[00:42:42.99] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: But sometimes it's hard for me to know that if AADL that I know is the same AADL that everyone else knows. So we had a productive discussion about that. Because I think to me, I sometimes have to remember that this place has grown and changed and evolved a lot since I worked here. And that sometimes, if something doesn't seem right to me, I might be projecting too much of my own past history into it and not thinking enough about what the organization is like now.
[00:43:16.38] So I think what we arrived at is-- it very well reflects the organization that I think I know now, even checking myself for that bias that I was mentioning. And seeing the staff feedback, to me, the thing that really had the money for me about the staff feedback was that so many people didn't say, this is what I do or this is how I enact these values. To me, it was pervasive that people would be like, this is how I see my co-workers doing this. Or I witnessed this. I watch my co-workers do this every day.
[00:43:52.29] And that was really moving. It was very much focused on the staff as a community of people that do something together. It was not-- yeah, so it really caught me off guard like how emotional we all were. Just the people who work here, I mean, man. a are a very lucky community. So I think we've evolved-- the words have evolved to match what I think represents the values of this organization. But I'm interested in, like you said, the others, Dharma and Jen and Kerene.
[00:44:27.55] KERENE MOORE: I think it's very powerful, especially the values and how brief they are and how encapsulated it is for everybody probably who takes a minute to read them, it's really powerful.
[00:44:41.54] DHARMA AKMON: Yeah. Especially, because I can remember the discussion I think you and I were in. And I remember, especially about the open one-- the wordsmithing. And now everything feels very succinct. And I don't wonder at all what it's about.
[00:44:53.03] LINH SONG: Yes. Yeah.
[00:44:53.86] DHARMA AKMON: So I think it's good.
[00:44:56.77] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, I mean, I have a very positive response to this part of the plan. It all-- it feels very realized in the sense of what the culture feels like to me, or like what the aspiration for the cultures is like here.
[00:45:16.22] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: There can be a fine line between wanting to steward resources responsibly and having kind of a parental attitude about them. And I think that where we arrived here, more accurately reflects the way that resources are stewarded by this organization. And maybe where we were headed initially was a little bit more prescriptive. And I think that that is not a word I would ever use to describe what goes on here.
[00:45:47.13] KERRY SHELDON: And I think that's a fair characterization of the feedback that we got the first round of the draft values that we put in front. it was a little too specific. It was a little bit too--
[00:45:58.97] KERENE MOORE: Political. I remember saying that it was almost partisan.
[00:46:02.72] KERRY SHELDON: Yeah. Taking a stand.
[00:46:04.07] KERENE MOORE: And that does not-- yeah, it's no longer partisan, so to speak.
[00:46:08.15] KERRY SHELDON: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:46:09.17] JOSIE PARKER: So I'm hearing support from everyone for these values in the strategic plan?
[00:46:14.37] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Mm-hmm.
[00:46:15.24] LINH SONG: And I like how it's laid out too. So if you look at the entirety of the document how it goes from, we had talked about giving an overview-- a reflection of the community that we serve and the challenges that the community faces. And the role that the library can-- or already does play in meeting these challenges. I mean, I like how we cover income inequality, social isolation, the digital revolution.
[00:46:43.08] So it's not just one thing that's hovering on the horizon, right? Where it's not-- I don't know, Y2K.
[00:46:50.62] [LAUGHTER]
[00:46:51.01] What are we going to do with Y2K? I mean, these things happen where there's just to-- I like how we're not preparing for this inevitable hovering darkness or anything, right? I think it's a really hopeful-- I mean, there's serious challenges that our community is experiencing, and there's definitely a role for us to help address them. And so I'd like the breadth of the strategic plan. And I like how it leads to the values-- the vision, mission, and values. So it's not like this is at the very-- this is not the cover. It's like a story that kind of progresses towards it.
[00:47:32.19] So I hope that helps make sense to folks who are following along. I think that was the intention. Yes? Maybe?
[00:47:41.25] DHARMA AKMON: So I hope I'm not jumping ahead or not quite getting this, but just in terms of how this gets enacted-- and maybe this is a question for Josie. I know we deliberately kept a high level, but still is a guiding document, how do you see it being actualized and--
[00:47:54.66] JOSIE PARKER: When you-- we look at it and the staff looks at it, and the few people who've had a chance-- and I know we'll have a lot more discussion about it now that it's generally seen. I'll get a lot of recommendations about how to enact it, where to work through it. And I can give you an example of something that fits this. It came out-- it's come our way this week. And I actually have a meeting Friday.
[00:48:21.90] The county is trying to put together mental health first aid throughout the community. And they've identified public libraries as a place to begin to discuss that. How that happens. Where that can happen. Where the structures are already in place, and where the knowledge is within the staff. And they've asked us to work with them before its launched to talk about what that looks like and how that might happen.
[00:48:51.12] That gets to some of your major issues here with poverty, people who are living in isolation, and how, at the public library, we can help people get what they need and know where to go to get what they need. And one of the-- one of the examples-- I mean, we're talking here about other ways we can do some of the things we do and support the work of others in the community who are also really strategically working along the same lines. And so it's not seeing the library as the book warehouse, it's seeing the library as a partner-- a true partner in the community through this plan to do some of this.
[00:49:35.40] And so it's-- well, when you take it as, that's one level. But there's also the arts, and theater, and craft, and fun, and dinosaur camp. And that all that can happen here. And all that can happen within this plan. So I'm kind of going round about it. But I have no trouble seeing the library enact this plan in my head knowing who I have working here, and how they'll go about this.
[00:50:03.39] And I just gave you an example of an opportunity that's come to us because of what we already do by people who do something for a living that we actually don't do for a living. But they recognize we definitely have an impact on what they do. And so we're going to bring those two things together and see if we can't do more to help people in the community with-- who have mental health challenges. That help answer that question?
[00:50:31.33] DHARMA AKMON: Yeah. It's also interesting that as you said that, I realized reading through this and not once do we mentioned information, materials, books. I mean it's--
[00:50:43.26] JIM LEIJA: It's in the mission and vision.
[00:50:44.16] JOSIE PARKER: It's in the mission and vision.
[00:50:45.20] JIM LEIJA: So it's at the highest level.
[00:50:47.75] DHARMA AKMON: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:50:49.41] [LAUGHTER]
[00:50:51.52] I forgot about that part.
[00:50:52.61] JOSIE PARKER: None of that's going away, right?
[00:50:54.68] DHARMA AKMON: Yeah.
[00:50:54.81] JOSIE PARKER: And the point is, it doesn't have to.
[00:50:56.81] DHARMA AKMON: No.
[00:50:57.93] JOSIE PARKER: And we don't want it to.
[00:50:59.24] DHARMA AKMON: Yeah. Yeah. So they're underlying values? Yeah.
[00:51:02.19] JOSIE PARKER: Right.
[00:51:03.60] VICTORIA GREEN: So I just want to add one thing to what you said, Dharma, which is-- I thought it was a great question asked Josie about how the staff and the AADL will enact the-- and make a living document, in effect, the strategic plan. The other question, of course, is how will we do that, right? I mean, these are also our guiding principles when we have decisions that are brought to us. But that's not to say that there isn't going to be-- or even when we decide what to spend our time on, right?
[00:51:28.77] And that's not to say that something isn't going to come up that isn't covered in the strategic plan, right? I mean, this is not supposed to saying don't do anything that isn't specifically mentioned here. But this is a document we all have to be comfortable-- also ourselves enact it.
[00:51:44.28] DHARMA AKMON: Well, also like, how do you keep these at the forefront so we don't forget. And I mean, even as a board-- probably even more so as a board because we don't come together as much as you all do with some stuff, but how can we make sure that we remember?
[00:51:56.56] LINH SONG: Well, as treasurer--
[00:51:58.17] [LAUGHTER]
[00:52:00.63] JOSIE PARKER: [INAUDIBLE]
[00:52:02.59] LINH SONG: Yeah, that's where you'll be enacting it and leading that communities.
[00:52:06.63] DHARMA AKMON: So I'll just tattoo them right here.
[00:52:07.69] LINH SONG: Please.
[00:52:07.95] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah, right.
[00:52:09.15] [LAUGHTER]
[00:52:12.47] JIM LEIJA: I have-- I'm struggling conceptually with something and-- maybe two things. And I'm not sure which to address first. So one is that this is even less specific than I imagined it would be. And it feels very uncomfortable to me in that way, and very different in the sense that it does-- it doesn't prescribe specific measures of accountability and success. And I am willing to lean into that given that I have a very high level of trust in our current leadership and staff here.
[00:53:08.72] But I do think Josie it means that the onus falls even more heavily on you to define what the measures of success are in very, very specific ways as we move through the plan. I also do just want to say that on the flip side of a coin where there's very little prescribed in the plan, that there's a vulnerability for all of you when the board changes. And there are others here that might want something different. So I'm making that statement [LAUGHS] and we can discuss it. That's the first thing.
[00:54:00.52] I am fundamentally I think really struggling with the language on page five related to a shift conceptually from thinking about groups to addressing the individual. As someone who thinks like a sociologist and believes that really social change and impact really come on the group level and actually don't necessarily operate on the individual level as productively, this is a really difficult conceptual shift for me to sign on for. Speaking specifically about paragraph three, which is rather the name populations and so on.
[00:54:55.90] LINH SONG: Which we've done before like naming seniors in youth.
[00:54:59.47] JIM LEIJA: Yes. So there are also a couple of words in here that I will say are really complicated. And they are novelty and innovation. I've been part of the non-profit sector for most of my career and went through a period where funders wanted to fund novelty and innovation, which had to do almost exclusively with technological innovation. It was code for the internet, essentially, and social media, and web 2.0. And that shift in funding was-- I also think came at the expense of conversations about accessibility for very specific groups of people.
[00:55:51.91] And we have entered back into a funding mode in the non-profit sector that is now focused very specifically on questions of accessibility and equity. If you, like me, believe that things like social economic inequality are real and racism is real, I do believe that that has to be sort of addressed and dealt with on the group level, as well as the individual level. And especially, as an institution that moves a lot of resources and groups through its doors and through its books.
[00:56:35.80] LINH SONG: And partnerships.
[00:56:36.58] JIM LEIJA: And partnerships. I feel squeamish about this. And--
[00:56:42.54] LINH SONG: I don't think that was the intention.
[00:56:44.14] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: So Jim-- I feel really strongly, so I'd like to speak in a second if you have a chance.
[00:56:48.56] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, so that is my-- that's kind of-- this landed on me very strangely. I also want to say that I am reviewing this language with a very limited time to actually sit and ponder and think about it. I received this language like 26 hours ago, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to really absorb the nuance of it.
[00:57:15.69] LINH SONG: Was this in the board packet?
[00:57:17.44] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: No.
[00:57:17.78] JIM LEIJA: No.
[00:57:18.26] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: It came out--
[00:57:18.76] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[00:57:19.60] LINH SONG: We had it because we're on the committee. Right.
[00:57:21.97] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: So I wouldn't say it that this plan is as much a standalone document as it is the evolution of every strategic plan that this library has ever had, because they sort of feed into each other. And if you and I watched in the last strategic plan--
[00:57:37.09] JIM LEIJA: Oh, yes.
[00:57:38.02] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: --this library be force fed specific things that they needed to focus on. Specifically, seniors and youth that I watched as an employee, everyone already focus on for-- intensely. So that to me felt really-- well, it was hard to watch, because I know this library already cares about people a lot. And one of the things I think this library does that is especially unusual-- but also fabulous-- is that every program is for anyone.
[00:58:11.29] If I am interested in making a duct tape wallet-- which was the thing when I was a employee-- I could go do that, even though I'm not 16. And so I think that's one of the things that the kernel of that expanded into what this library does now. And so I think that when you see individuals there, that's what we're talking about. We're talking about this library being for-- and libraries in general, I think are for individuals.
[00:58:34.87] Every person who goes into a library gets to do whatever they want in the library and use whichever resources they want. And they don't have to experience the library as part of a larger group. So I think it's that lack of prescriptivism where that's how I see that phrase landing. I can understand it feeling differently to you when you read it. But this is how I feel when I read it. And hearing you critique it made me feel strongly.
[00:59:08.67] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[00:59:08.95] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: That's what I'd like to say.
[00:59:13.67] JIM LEIJA: I mean, I think this is complicated. This is a very-- but it's also like a wholesale idea, which says, we used to think about groups. And now, we're going to think about individuals. And I just don't think it's that clear cut. And I totally agree with you. I'm not interested, actually, in prescribing. And in fact, I want the staff to really think about, what are the bridges that really need to be built? And I think they do that a lot of that every day.
[00:59:44.78] And I fundamentally, as someone who is a programmer in my professional life, I mean, the idea that you designed for everyone is often a stand-in that you designed for people who are predominantly white and middle class, and are avatars for people who can get here, that have the means to be here, at the time to be here, the resources to be here. And I don't think we mean that when we say everyone.
[01:00:14.51] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: No, no, no. And I don't think that's what's going on here.
[01:00:15.95] JIM LEIJA: And that's why I'm scratching at it.
[01:00:18.35] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah, I feel that.
[01:00:19.61] VICTORIA GREEN: So what I suspect is that you two actually agree.
[01:00:23.72] JIM LEIJA: Yes, we do.
[01:00:25.11] [LAUGHTER]
[01:00:26.29] VICTORIA GREEN: And I suspect that everyone agrees within the library. And that this is more of a language issue than an actual, what direction should the library be going? And that makes me want to fix the language. So I--
[01:00:42.63] LINH SONG: Is it like you want to fix the language enough--
[01:00:43.78] VICTORIA GREEN: I can't fix the language on the fly. I think that the only way to do that is to delay.
[01:00:48.55] LINH SONG: Right. She has-- I mean, it's still on the agenda for our vote.
[01:00:55.20] JOSIE PARKER: But you don't have to take it.
[01:00:56.70] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Right
[01:00:57.39] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:00:57.90] VICTORIA GREEN: Or we can not adopt it and adopted next month.
[01:00:59.96] LINH SONG: Well, let's continue this discussion a little bit more. Any other?
[01:01:03.69] KERENE MOORE: I agree with Jim. I think that there's-- I think that it spoke so much to the shortcomings of the prior strategic plans that it almost felt negative. Like, we are not doing that, that we forget about the positive things and the fact that we do focus on those things and we do care about those things already. It just it's a little bit too negative. You know what I mean?
[01:01:31.54] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:01:32.43] KERENE MOORE: We know what was wrong with the prior plans, and it's good that we've articulated that. But there is a way to refocus on the positive and still embrace the things that we do agree on and care about, without making the valuable things about those-- about minorities, for example. Without making groups feel like they're being thrown under the bus.
[01:01:57.63] LINH SONG: Right.
[01:01:57.78] KERENE MOORE: Because we're focusing on the individual, right, if it can come off wrong. And again, we did only have 26 hours to look at it, so I don't think there's anything wrong with tabling it. And I understand that you guys have really worked hard on this.
[01:02:14.76] [LAUGHTER]
[01:02:15.55] I don't want to be that person.
[01:02:18.96] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: No, I think we can take it.
[01:02:21.15] LINH SONG: Yeah.
[01:02:21.54] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: But I'm curious if Kerry has anything to say. I mean--
[01:02:25.32] KERRY SHELDON: Yeah.
[01:02:25.98] [LAUGHTER]
[01:02:26.98]
[01:02:27.38] JIM LEIJA: Kerry always has something good to say.
[01:02:28.38] [LAUGHTER]
[01:02:29.24] KERRY SHELDON: I can solve this. No, I'm just kidding. So I want to express appreciation for what you're saying first and foremost. Because I think this was a topic of really rich discussion throughout the process. And apologies that there was a short time frame for you to kind of process and get up to speed. That was probably too high of an expectation.
[01:02:48.87] Just to narrate some of the discussion points that we had with this strategic planning committee was part of-- it was more than a reaction to, well, we don't want to focus on seniors and teens this time. Which were to sort of demographic groups who were identified last time.
[01:03:04.92] LINH SONG: We always focused on seniors and teens. I just want to make sure we all know that.
[01:03:10.40] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[01:03:10.80] KERRY SHELDON: And that was sort of the recognition of, there's no need to name groups in the plan in part, because we don't want-- and I heard this term-- we don't want groups of people to feel hunted like there's a you, you, the person who looks this way, or a person who came to this one thing, can you speak on behalf of an entire group of people? That's not what the library is here to do.
[01:03:35.13] And that there is this really strong heartfelt attachment to the idea of, we are here for everyone and you can take-- we're not going to tell you what you should or could take. We're not we're not, in terms of classes or participating in events, we're not going to tell you what books you can or cannot check out. That's totally not our role. And so that was more the flavor of the discussion about the transition away from thinking about groups, which felt a little paternalistic and a little bit homogeneous thinking of all the participants-- or all the people who belong to a group being of that group.
[01:04:12.24] And so that was really the emphasis of the choice of language. It's not to say-- I mean, and Josie and Eli and others could speak to this more, I don't want to speak on behalf of staff and leadership. It's not to say that you won't do certain things for groups of people who want to affiliate as a group and want to come to the library and say, I have a group of people and we were interested in this and that. It's not that the library would refuse to be responsive to that or would refuse to seek-- to seek to learn the interests of different groups in the community.
[01:04:47.54] It's that the strategic plan itself would not name them, because as soon as you name them, A, you're probably already doing work for them. And you probably already have a lot of programs that would be appealing to many members of that group of people however you're defining it. So it leaves that flexibility on the implementation on the ground. And I totally-- no pride of authorship, we don't take it personally, it's language. And these are really good ideas that are important to talk about before you adopt them. So please don't feel like anybody's offended. It's perfectly fine to debate the language.
[01:05:24.05] LINH SONG: I think for just addressing things in different ways in different parts of the other plan. I mean, one of the values is speaking to being equitable-- that our work is equitable. So if it's a matter of just kind of adding a little bit more context behind that, then-- and trustees feel that that's--
[01:05:49.60] KERENE MOORE: I just feel like in that-- what is it-- third paragraph that Jim cited, there's sort of one half of the sentence that says, in addition to supporting the tried and true portfolio of beloved programs. I mean, there's a lot of programs that we do here that are focused on certain demographics--
[01:06:11.33] JIM LEIJA: Individual groups and demographics, yeah.
[01:06:11.93] KERENE MOORE: --that are amazing and wonderful. And it's almost like we are just like, yea, yeah. And that's all. They're beloved, but they are a big part of what makes this library so welcoming. And the paragraph has two powerfully negative. You know what I mean? That's all. We all love individuals, too. And so I did that a well and we can give them their say, but we don't want to--
[01:06:39.74] LINH SONG: Diminish.
[01:06:41.41] KERENE MOORE: We are doing great work in that area and you wouldn't know it from reading that paragraph.
[01:06:47.58] LINH SONG: Yes.
[01:06:48.80] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: So I don't want to speak for Linh on this, but personally, I think one of the things that has changed the most about the board, honestly, Jim, since you've come on is that we have honest and open discussions like this all the time that are videotaped. And that doesn't bother me that--
[01:07:02.86] LINH SONG: With a transcript.
[01:07:03.29] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I'm happy to have these discussions--
[01:07:04.25] LINH SONG: A searchable transcript.
[01:07:05.15] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: --publicly with you.
[01:07:06.47] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:07:07.33] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: So I think it would be fine to like take this important and substantive feedback, refine this a little bit more, and vote on it next month.
[01:07:16.55] LINH SONG: Next month.
[01:07:17.07] JIM LEIJA: This has been very helpful just to understand the sort of-- how much of that is a-- actually like framing it as a reaction to what came before. Because, of course, I have the memory of that. And also to be reminded in the-- within the conversation that we talk about work with groups here joyously all the time. And so we just doesn't feel right to me to make such a hard left on that.
[01:07:46.49] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah, I understand.
[01:07:47.81] JIM LEIJA: And I will say, there's a tiny bit of irony in talking about social isolation, and then saying, the individual is like the best thing, right? So I want to find the both and here that-- and I don't think it's very far away.
[01:08:03.81] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: No, I hear you.
[01:08:04.77] JIM LEIJA: And I'm hearing people like--
[01:08:07.09] DHARMA AKMON: I think it's articulated the way that you intended. That's what I think.
[01:08:09.96] VICTORIA GREEN: Its a language problem.
[01:08:10.89] DHARMA AKMON: Yeah.
[01:08:11.16] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:08:11.34] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah.
[01:08:12.05] KERENE MOORE: And it's important, the fresh perspective that Jim and I have.
[01:08:15.07] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Well, right. Exactly.
[01:08:15.54] KERENE MOORE: That's an important thing.
[01:08:17.31] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I also think that we can let that past go. And it's easier to do that when you all see it without carrying that past and are like, why are you being negative? This is like the happiness here, people-- happiness.
[01:08:30.82] [LAUGHTER]
[01:08:31.38] LINH SONG: What's wrong with groups?
[01:08:32.06] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I am overcome with the way that we used to do things and like-- so I think that no one else knows-- needs to have that be so present probably.
[01:08:42.81] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:08:43.37] DHARMA AKMON: Can you say more about the-- I was looking, you were talking about the concern with words like innovation and what was the other one?
[01:08:49.55] JOSIE PARKER: Novelty.
[01:08:50.02] JIM LEIJA: Novelty.
[01:08:50.36] DHARMA AKMON: Novelty. And I didn't see that in here as I was flipping through. Can you just say more about--
[01:08:56.42] KERENE MOORE: Same third paragraph.
[01:08:57.09] JIM LEIJA: It's the same paragraph.
[01:08:57.71] DHARMA AKMON: It's the same paragraph? Oh.
[01:08:58.95] LINH SONG: Yeah.
[01:08:59.75] JIM LEIJA: It's like the fourth or fifth line, push the boundaries in terms of novelty and innovation. Which I think are-- frankly, I think are important words still, but I liked-- I personally like them to sort of live alongside words like inclusivity and social bonding. Or like that there are-- that being the most-- being novel isn't necessarily always the most important thing, but like being welcoming and--
[01:09:30.26] DHARMA AKMON: Sure.
[01:09:30.83] JIM LEIJA: --like all the other-- the values that go along with it. It was just such a-- and I think-- I don't mind those words stay in, but I just would like-- they're like slight trigger words for me in the context of the work that I do.
[01:09:45.27] KERENE MOORE: And I think they weren't for me.
[01:09:47.12] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:09:47.33] KERENE MOORE: For me, it was tools and robots and the events that we do. And I can totally see how it was a trigger for you. But for me, it was actually, but that is what we do. We do a lot of things that other libraries don't.
[01:09:59.27] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, that's right.
[01:10:00.17] LINH SONG: We do that novelty programs like paint with Bob Ross.
[01:10:03.08] KERENE MOORE: Right, and not as technical internet oriented, digitized. So I didn't-- but I can see how you--
[01:10:11.89] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I feel you. I mean, I'm an art librarian who works in a tech center.
[01:10:17.33] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:10:17.99] [LAUGHTER]
[01:10:18.95] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: So I have the same triggers, and, yeah, I feel that. I think that we can address that.
[01:10:25.40] JIM LEIJA: Also, I personally succumb to those words in very specific ways of the course of my work. And I feel like I have to-- I am also responsible for repairing damage that I contributed to by getting behind some of the things that those words did, and have done, and still do. I think that's important. But the other thing I want to say is that, the one-- the big thing about this. Not the one thing, the big thing about this is that there's just an extraordinary amount of work to reach such a kind of elegant, straightforward piece of planning and writing. And so I'm just very appreciative of that. And I love coming in at 11:55 PM and just like burning the house down.
[01:11:11.77] [LAUGHTER]
[01:11:12.76] LINH SONG: It's just one paragraph.
[01:11:14.64] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:11:14.98] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: It's just a paragraph.
[01:11:16.43] LINH SONG: Well, let's do this. Can we talk a little bit about the process? So we're working-- if we can we consider tabling this for a vote for approval next month, there's also the issue of when we initially had gone through-- when we had introduced the idea of doing-- working through the strategic plan, there is an element of community input. And this was a-- this is a comment that we had received over email. So can we just kind of walk back a little bit where are we had welcome committee input, and then what happens after board approval? Do you want to take that, Jaime?
[01:11:56.24] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah. Well, of course, we welcome community input every board meeting. And we have discussed the strategic plan throughout the year at each-- almost every board meeting. We also held a retreat in-- oh, my gosh. I feel like maybe a zombie.
[01:12:14.15] KERRY SHELDON: May.
[01:12:14.45] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: May, thank you. In a month of the year. And that board retreat was specifically scheduled this year, and in the most recent past, to be a little bit more friendly to people who work during the day and are able to come to things like that at their leisure. So we also took feedback. There were only a few people who took us up on attending such a meeting. But those were a couple of the ways that we received feedback over the course of this process.
[01:12:43.90] VICTORIA GREEN: So I agree-- and that's sort of how we approached it-- that it was a little bit front-loaded maybe, some of the engagement. And I wonder if now that we have a draft, if there is a way to-- frankly, I'm not sure-- a way to give people the opportunity to see the draft and to give us comments, so that if we-- we have it on the back-end to, in addition to front-end.
[01:13:12.38] LINH SONG: I think if we-- I mean, we can also and by public comments and suggestions as we implement it. I mean, this is such a vague-- I mean, we've got specific ideals, but to actually actualize it given how-- Josie's example of breaking with the county and mental health issues, that maybe there are other ideas that will pop up in the community too. So I mean, that's-- I don't think this is--
[01:13:38.96] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I feel that way, too.
[01:13:39.44] LINH SONG: --prescriptive where it would block any additional comments or participation after we vote on it.
[01:13:47.75] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Right.
[01:13:48.11] LINH SONG: There's a whole year ahead of us, or however long it will take to implement this until the board decides to undergo this process again. So there's unwritten opportunity I think as we roll this-- actually roll this out.
[01:14:03.63] VICTORIA GREEN: So I agree with you, Linh. And I would also say that this is a better plan for the library at this moment than what is the current plan. So that's the cost of delay. It's like, this is clearly better than what we are currently operating under for this moment and this board, and our patrons in our community. But given that, I think we-- I believe that we are trending most likely towards not accepting this as done at this moment.
[01:14:29.17] Can someone remind me how it'll be publicized as part of this meeting? Is it part of our board packet? Is it only visible sort of the way to people in the larger community through what we're showing on the screen? Or is it an attachment to the meeting itself?
[01:14:41.78] ELI NEIBURGER: The document will be attached to the page for the meeting.
[01:14:46.72] VICTORIA GREEN: So maybe we could at least invite people or publicize that fact to some extent to get any feedback at something as simple as, if you have comments on it or want to take the time to review it before it is officially adopted--
[01:15:00.64] LINH SONG: You can email staff, give public comments before the next meeting. Public comments at the end of this meeting, if anyone wants to. If they're so moved again.
[01:15:11.51] VICTORIA GREEN: Is there a downside to doing this? I can't think of a downside.
[01:15:14.05] LINH SONG: No. I mean, given how vigorous the discussion has been and how strong folks are-- the viewpoints are, I think it's worth revisiting next month. So, Karen, can you remind us how we can-- we need a vote to--
[01:15:31.82] JOSIE PARKER: Motion to take--
[01:15:33.22] LINH SONG: Yes.
[01:15:34.87] JIM LEIJA: Do we do that now, or do we do it when we get to--
[01:15:37.52] KAREN WILSON: It's under new business.
[01:15:38.61] JIM LEIJA: It's under new business?
[01:15:39.40] LINH SONG: Yes.
[01:15:39.70] KAREN WILSON: It's under new business [AUDIO OUT].
[01:15:41.80] JIM LEIJA: So we should wait to do it then?
[01:15:42.87] KAREN WILSON: Yeah.
[01:15:43.17] LINH SONG: Yeah, because we're still under old business.
[01:15:45.10] JIM LEIJA: That's right.
[01:15:45.54] VICTORIA GREEN: I have a proposal, let's leave it as is. And let's just all say no.
[01:15:50.10] [LAUGHTER]
[01:15:51.38] That would work.
[01:15:52.24] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Victoria.
[01:15:52.73] VICTORIA GREEN: That would work.
[01:15:53.71] [LAUGHTER]
[01:15:54.69] KERENE MOORE: Accurate, I know.
[01:15:56.68] [LAUGHTER]
[01:15:57.10] LINH SONG: I think we can vote to table it.
[01:15:59.37] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: I think that would technically work, but that sounds-- because that's overly negative.
[01:16:02.96] LINH SONG: Yeah. I think where we're going to revisit-- we'll have another discussion. But we should release Kerry. Yes.
[01:16:12.74] [LAUGHTER]
[01:16:15.44] KERRY SHELDON: I thought that was a great discussion, and I was taking notes. And I'm happy to turn around the language. I think for simplicity, I might turn around the language on that one paragraph fairly quickly and have your review. And then you can look at it in its totality. If I may, I would like to just say one word about the community engagement piece, because we did ask it several times distinctly along the path to creating the strategic plan. And it was always top of mind for us.
[01:16:42.31] And that the challenge with doing community engagement well is that it works best when you have a specific question to ask. Sometimes, if you want to know how to engage a group most successfully, what do you need and how have the needs of you and your peers-- have they changed since the last time we did a strategic planner? How well are our programs working?
[01:17:04.39] And because we started to really focus on a different altitude-- and it wasn't about programmatic, and it was about values, those are yours to name, to articulate, to live. And the thing that we always say Bridgeport about values is, they're not really values until they're hard.
[01:17:23.15] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:17:23.77] KERRY SHELDON: Until you'd rather not choose them, because it makes it harder for you. It's a little more uncomfortable, you're going to have to have a difficult conversation. And so I just want to offer that as a framing for when you do receive feedback, just remember that the values are yours. And it's fine-- and the conversation about individual and groups I thought was amazing and helpful, and really informs the way that will articulate that in the next round.
[01:17:48.22] LINH SONG: Good.
[01:17:48.88] KERRY SHELDON: Just be discerning when you get feedback about your values, because they're yours.
[01:17:52.25] JIM LEIJA: Mm-hmm
[01:17:53.32] LINH SONG: Thank you.
[01:17:53.88] KERRY SHELDON: And thank you. I really appreciated this conversation.
[01:17:57.05] LINH SONG: Thank you, Kerry.
[01:17:57.67] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Thank you, Kerry.

[01:17:57.97] LINH SONG: Thank you. Great so we'll keep moving on to old business. And then work with staff on how this will be reworked and reviewed again by the entirety of the board. All right, thank you, everyone. That was nicely done. Thank you. OK, moving on to updates on construction projects with Len.
[01:18:21.85] LEN LEMORIE: Good evening.
[01:18:22.51] LINH SONG: Good evening.
[01:18:23.83] LEN LEMORIE: Josie mentioned some of this earlier. Pittsfield, we've received the glass for the two small meeting rooms in the back. We've got electrical work going on this week. The acoustic baffles are going up in the large meeting room, which is really exciting. We get to see all those looking work.
[01:18:39.31] Traverwood, the relabeling is going really well. We're right on schedule.
[01:18:43.12] The reading room side of the building, the flooring has been done, shelving's back, materials back on the shelving. We're shifting now to the program side of the room. I think this Thursday and Friday, the workroom and the office in the back are going to get carpeted and painted. So it's going really well. Fourth floor, the dust wall is up. We've moved some doors around and demolition should start really soon, which is kind of the exciting part for some of us.
[01:19:11.13] [LAUGHTER]
[01:19:12.34] There's a couple things in that room that are unique to the room that we've had a lot of conversation about, how is that going to come out of the room? So there's many people and staff that just want to see, or have a chance to maybe take some of that out.
[01:19:23.56] LINH SONG: The curved wall?
[01:19:24.67] LEN LEMORIE: The curved wall is number one on the list. But there's a couple of things, yes.
[01:19:28.42] LINH SONG: All right.
[01:19:28.78] LEN LEMORIE: So everything's on schedule as of now. And, hopefully, we'll have most of the fourth floor demo by March 1st, it's what we're looking like. There's some longer lead times on some of the podcast room, windows, doors, that type of stuff. But we're really optimistic it's going to-- everything's going to go smooth. Any questions?
[01:19:50.50] VICTORIA GREEN: Len, you said March 1st for the demolition? When do we expect to have it up and done and available?
[01:19:54.88] LEN LEMORIE: Well, really we have we have the room booked in March. So the demolition needs to happen, painting, flooring, that type of stuff. All the finished work should be between now and March 1st. And then there's--
[01:20:06.64] JOSIE PARKER: He said demolition, but he meant--
[01:20:08.35] VICTORIA GREEN: Oh, OK.
[01:20:08.92] LEN LEMORIE: I'm sorry.
[01:20:09.34] JOSIE PARKER: He meant-- you did say demolition would be finished by March 1st, but--
[01:20:12.13] LEN LEMORIE: Yes. Demolition's only can take about a week or so.
[01:20:14.99] LINH SONG: OK.
[01:20:15.52] LEN LEMORIE: That's the easy part, right? Just come in and take everything down. So no, demolition should only take about a week or so, then construction itself for the carpenters work, moving the lighting-- the biggest part of the job, which we're still having conversation about is actually moving some of the sprinkler heads. We need to get a drawing for that so we can get it to the Fire Marshall and have that conversation.
[01:20:36.87] But the work itself is just really a few weeks. And then there's some specialty work. The lighting, the HVAC, the fire suppression, that type of stuff. But we planned on having it-- and that's what we've asked of the contractors that, by March 1st we're able to use the space even if we're not complete. So that's kind of our drop deadline for the fourth floor.
[01:20:57.26] LINH SONG: Festival season starts--
[01:20:58.88] LEN LEMORIE: Yes.
[01:20:59.45] LINH SONG: --so that's why we're-- all right.
[01:21:02.21] LEN LEMORIE: Yeah, I've been kind of watching the calendar. I had a meeting with our construction manager today. We looked at everything to make sure we were both comfortable with our dates. And we were, so I'm optimistic that now that we're getting going-- we had to go back to plan review for one thing, so it's slow going, but it's going it's going to be-- I'm excited about the space early.
[01:21:22.98] ELI NEIBURGER: We have 25 events up there in March, so it needs to be done.
[01:21:26.15] LINH SONG: Oh, my god. That's insane.
[01:21:26.31] [LAUGHTER]
[01:21:27.22] LEN LEMORIE: Yeah, we have a deadline on this one so we can't drag our feet. But it really is-- the actual construction schedule of this is a it's just a few weeks now that we're going.
[01:21:37.26] LINH SONG: Great. Any questions for Len? Thoughts? I will-- a part of me will miss the Model UN style of the fourth floor as a former Secretary General of Model UN. But I'm glad to see it go if it means accommodating more events and more patrons. So thanks.
[01:21:58.62] LEN LEMORIE: Yeah, the more we've talked about with staff and the construction manager, the more I'm getting excited about it. We're going to see how we're going to be able to use the space in different ways, and it's going to be really nice.
[01:22:11.64] LINH SONG: Great. If you find any additional space along the way--
[01:22:15.01] LEN LEMORIE: Let's go up.
[01:22:16.19] LINH SONG: --let us know.
[01:22:17.16] LEN LEMORIE: Will do.
[01:22:17.57] LINH SONG: Thanks Len. Great.
[01:22:19.08] LEN LEMORIE: Thanks, guys.

[01:22:19.65] LINH SONG: Thank you, Len. All right moving on to new business. We've invited Jim Greene from Dykema to cover the role of the board, board bylaws, and the role of the director. So, Jim, if you're-- Yeah, so this is something I had asked to work with Josie to invite Jim. Because I feel like we've got two new elected trustees from the past election last year, and then the remainder of us who were elected in 2016.
[01:22:51.96] It felt like it was a good time. And maybe, hopefully, an annual tradition to kind of review our roles and responsibilities, if you haven't already tattooed it on your arm. So along with our vision, mission, and values, this is a good time for her to have this review with our general counsel. So thank you for joining us tonight.
[01:23:13.41] JIM GREENE: Well, thank you for inviting me. I think I've represented the board now for approximately 25 years and have met many different board members during that period. Some that had a light operating at a very high altitude, and some who like to operate at a very low altitude. So I was very encouraged by the conversation that preceded my being up here in the direction which you're hitting on your strategic plan.
[01:23:50.31] Of course, that kind of thinking-- that kind of direction leaves a lot of room for things to evolve as you go. And the emphasis, as you've I identified already, is on the strength of the leadership that you retain and on communication, openness, and transparency. Because in your rule as board members, if you just look at some of the high-level responsibilities that you have, one of them clearly is planning for the future. And how you plan for that future, if not in advance by virtue of coming to consensus, a one of kind of reacting as we go to the leadership that's brought from the administration.
[01:24:49.19] Then that is going to put a greater emphasis on how you communicate and how you articulate the needs of the board so that you don't have a fundamental disconnect between where the administration's going. Because you've given pretty much open field to operate, versus what you're feeling the administration-- what direction you feel the administration should be going in. It's exciting. It is innovative, based on what I've seen. I've seen a lot of strategic plans and have seen them all being shelved because they are very, very detailed, very prescriptive, very, operational.
[01:25:34.92] And of course, as soon as you draft it, things have changed and there's a massive disconnect with the plan. So I like it. I like what I'm hearing. I think it's exciting. And it's clear that this board recognizes that one of its fundamental jobs is planning for the future. You've spent a lot of time in that strategic plan talking about your values, your mission, and your role. Which is, first and foremost, one of your primary responsibilities.
[01:26:12.69] Another major responsibility is monitoring the effectiveness of the organization. That is everything from budgeting to looking at the financial reporting, looking at community satisfaction with the programs that you're offering. Another is advocacy for the library itself with the community, making sure that you're in tune with what the community needs and desires. And that you're articulating that effectively for the benefit of the administration. Another, obviously-- and probably one where you spend a fair amount of your time, like most boards, is adopting policies.
[01:26:59.72] Because it's policies that serve as the foundation in the guideposts for what the administration does on an ongoing day-to-day basis. And, of course-- I'd put this at top my personal list if I was on the board, and that is hiring in evaluating the director. Because the director articulates the vision and direction from the board to the staff through all of the programming that the library supports. Now, what does the director do? The director's responsible for all the day-to-day operational issues.
[01:27:45.49] If the board stays focused on policy, vision, mission, strategic planning, monitoring the effectiveness of the organization, that's a full plate. The day-to-day management of the operation, direction of the staff, coordination of all the work of the library is typically that of the director, not the board. What are some of the duties? Well, most of the duties of the director are probably encompassed in a very detailed job description. And I'm sure Josie has one.
[01:28:26.50] Its oversight of the budget, preparing reports for the benefit the board, serving as advisor to the board on not only your policies, but your finances, your planning. Library performance, this is where the board looks to for its fundamental information. So that you understand how the library is doing, that information comes through the director. If you can articulate the type of information that you need to give you fundamental comfort, she can ensure that that information is forthcoming from the staff, either through the finance director or construction managers, and all the other people that support you.
[01:29:17.75] She manages the libraries collections for the community. Does all the hiring, and training, the supervision, scheduling of staff. Supervises circulation of library materials. Supervises the maintenance of all facilities and equipment. Works with the board and the community in planning library services. These are fundamental functions of the director. And the board, on a day-to-day basis, doesn't need to get down into the work of the director. If you stay focused on the fundamentals of what a board does, you will be given all of the information that you need to give to the director.
[01:30:05.66] Now, what are the ways in which some of these roles intersect but differ? Still with just a couple. The library director will draft policy. She'll interpret the feedback that she gets from the board. And she'll present it to the board in draft form. It's up to the board then to provide feedback and to, ultimately, adopt a policy. But the role of preparing the drafts, the role of collecting all that data and information is that of the director.
[01:30:43.75] The board hires and-- fundamentally, the board hires and evaluates the director. It's the director who hires and evaluates all the staff of the library, not the board. The board, if you're dissatisfied fundamentally with direction that the-- is coming through the director, that's where your communication should be focused. Because that person should then be able to interpret your will in terms of how staff are compensated, in terms of how staff are trained, if they're not trained properly.
[01:31:34.92] The director will also prepare a budget for you. But, first and foremost, what goes into that budget? Well, there's a lot of assumptions that go into the preparation of a budget. And that document-- that series of financial reports should all be coming up to the board from the director through her staff. The board gives feedback, and the board is ultimately responsible for approving that budget. Now, you've also had on your agenda a little bit for some comments about the bylaws.
[01:32:14.41] I've read through the bylaws again. a It's pretty detailed instrument, as it should be. Because it is a governing document. It describes how you're going to do your business. It establishes your organizational structure, describes the rules and responsibilities of your officers, of the director, of you're board committees. I noticed that in your committee structure you have-- we had some dialogue about this a few years ago, as I remember.
[01:32:46.06] And you settled in on two standing committees, your executive committee and your budget and finance committee. Two very basic and important committees. But then you also allowed for the flexibility of appointing a special committee from time to time, such as what you did with your strategic planning. That's all great, and it should be given you the kind of information, the kind of feedback that you need in order to operate effectively as a board. Of course, you can add additional committees as time permits.
[01:33:23.11] But as I indicated, I think what I've heard and was able to observe and just the brief under changes this evening on the strategic planning committee leaves me very, very assured and very confident that the board understands its role, understands and trusts the role of the director. And now the two can effectively support one another. So I'd be happy to respond to any questions you have. If there's any blurring of lines or something like that, but I'm pretty comfortable overall.
[01:34:06.17] LINH SONG: Thank you. I think this is kind of like a health check. I feel like that's our annual--
[01:34:15.44] [LAUGHTER]
[01:34:15.92] --bylaws, duties. And just on-- and it's really-- I think it's really helpful also to frame our relationship with Josie and also emphasize how we're a governing board. Programs happen through Josie and through staff, and not through the board. Especially as an independent entity, that's worth reminding now and then. So I am glad we passed our health assessment.
[01:34:47.72] JIM GREENE: Things have evolved a long way from the first board.
[01:34:52.97] [LAUGHTER]
[01:34:55.04] They had a lot of--
[01:34:56.87] JOSIE PARKER: I wasn't here.
[01:34:58.49] JIM GREENE: They had a lot of work to do when they--
[01:35:00.05] JOSIE PARKER: They had a lot of-- they had a lot of work to do.
[01:35:01.22] JIM GREENE: --when you're first established.
[01:35:02.12] JOSIE PARKER: Yeah, they had a lot of work to do.
[01:35:04.04] JIM LEIJA: It's also a great, Jim, just to hear from you about the long view on all of this, because you've really-- you've seen it all, so it's pretty-- it's just great to hear from you at this moment in time as we're kind of pushing into the next.
[01:35:18.80] LINH SONG: The next decade.
[01:35:19.91] JIM LEIJA: The next decade of the library.
[01:35:22.43] JIM GREENE: Very good. Thank you.
[01:35:23.55] JIM LEIJA: Thanks a lot.
[01:35:23.87] LINH SONG: Thank you so much.
[01:35:25.13] JOSIE PARKER: Thank you, Jim.
[01:35:25.76] JIM GREENE: You're welcome.

[01:35:27.14] LINH SONG: All right. Moving on. Under new business, we have the approval and board meeting dates for 2020.
[01:35:33.83] JIM LEIJA: I would move to approve the board meeting dates for 2020.
[01:35:37.96] LINH SONG: Discussion?
[01:35:38.28] JIM LEIJA: No, second.
[01:35:38.60] DHARMA AKMON: Second that.
[01:35:39.80] LINH SONG: Oh, great. Discussion? Yeah. Victoria?
[01:35:45.23] VICTORIA GREEN: So I have a discussion item, which I think has come up before.
[01:35:48.11] LINH SONG: Yeah.
[01:35:48.39] VICTORIA GREEN: I know that statistically we do not hold that August meeting. What's the impact-- and what we've done in the past always is we put it on the calendar, and then we remove it when we decide we have no business. I mean, that's the reason in effect that we don't have an August meeting. And I wanted to ask what the impact is? Since statistically we have not had an August board meeting in the last couple of years, what's the impact of doing it the other way? Of not canceling it, and then deciding we need it? Is that more difficult for us in some way?
[01:36:20.14] LINH SONG: I kind of feel like it's better to have it on the calendar given that, especially since we spent a year in closed session with real estate discussions--
[01:36:27.30] DHARMA AKMON: I was going to say, didn't we actually have the August meeting this year? I think we did.
[01:36:30.74] LINH SONG: We did.
[01:36:31.43] DHARMA AKMON: Oh, well, forget my comment.
[01:36:33.78] JOSIE PARKER: The other thing that I'll say is, rooms here are at such--
[01:36:37.14] VICTORIA GREEN: Yes, I was thinking about rooms.
[01:36:38.07] JOSIE PARKER: -- are at such demand--
[01:36:38.65] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:36:39.15] JOSIE PARKER: --this puts it on the calendar, this books room. And it's easier to back out of it than to add it, just from space-- just for space.
[01:36:48.08] LINH SONG: Yeah, I just want to-- I only meant that there can be things that come up and it'd be hard to-- and I was looking at old board minutes back to 2010-2011, I saw, actually, December meetings were voted--
[01:37:01.59] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, we often-- it's happened a few times.
[01:37:03.90] LINH SONG: We've got flexibility. OK. Is there anything else?
[01:37:06.98] JIM LEIJA: The other thing, this is my annual, I like to say we are the masters of our own destiny. So if a Monday evening meeting does not make sense for this board as it is right now, it is something we can consider changing. Although, of course, it has an impact on where we can have the meeting. And it's just worth reminding ourselves that we are the masters of our own destiny, we don't have to do things the way that they've always been done. We can think differently about how we have this meeting to address concerns in the community or our own availability.
[01:37:42.83] And I also-- this is a different topic, but it might be interesting to think ahead to-- if we want to move the meeting around. And do we have the capacity to do that given our streaming and all of that, which we have done in the past, but we have not done in a while.
[01:37:59.18] DHARMA AKMON: So just to comment on that, I mean, Monday night works as well for me as any night. But the only thing is competing with the city council. And I sometimes do wonder about how we have to possibly lose people to that.
[01:38:13.31] LINH SONG: I think in the past couple years, I've seen folks give comments here and just sprint to city council that had-- last couple blocks. And city council has reliably gone longer than our meetings. And, it seems like that's a longstanding tradition that probably won't change. So I don't know if-- and then plus we also welcome comments at the end, so if folks want to go to city council first, if they've gotten a three minute slot to speak during public comments, they can-- I feel like they can-- folks can still participate in both in some capacity. Unless folks have heard otherwise.
[01:38:58.23] VICTORIA GREEN: No, I agree with you, Linh. Which is why I think it's a theoretical problem. We haven't seen it be an actual problem.
[01:39:04.01] DHARMA AKMON: I think these chairs would be full it wasn't-- I'm kidding.
[01:39:06.85] LINH SONG: I know.
[01:39:07.58] [LAUGHTER]
[01:39:07.98] I encourage everyone, especially the teens, to attend city council so you can get the full breadth of Ann Arbor's governance. All right, any other thoughts or discussion on this before we vote on our 2020 calendar?
[01:39:25.03] KERENE MOORE: It's just that I've definitely made Tuesday and Thursday evening commitments based on the Monday. So please don't. Yeah.
[01:39:33.99] [LAUGHTER]
[01:39:35.66] JIM LEIJA: I personally have no desire to change this. But I always say that because I wish someone had said that when I first started on the board. Because I felt powerless to change it.
[01:39:45.58] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yeah, I agree. I think I wouldn't never want someone to feel like that we couldn't change it. That they were silently suffering with some sort of conflict.
[01:39:53.81] [LAUGHTER]
[01:39:54.63] So it is a good reminder.
[01:39:55.97] LINH SONG: Yeah, please do not silently suffer as a trustee as an elected official.
[01:40:00.95] JIM LEIJA: Well, at least not over the meeting schedule.
[01:40:02.92] LINH SONG: Yes. Great. Fantastic. All those in favor?
[01:40:09.87] EVERYONE: Aye.

[01:40:12.41] LINH SONG: Opposed? Great. Motion passes. Moving onto the approval board budget and finance committee appointments. Can I get--
[01:40:22.98] JIM LEIJA: You make the appointments.
[01:40:24.12] LINH SONG: Yes, I will-- so.
[01:40:26.08] JIM LEIJA: And that's it, right?
[01:40:26.81] LINH SONG: That's it. And there's no motion. So I gave a lot of consideration over this considering that we have new officers, and then also looking at the timing of new trustees and senior trustees, who've been on for a while. And just giving folks a chance to participate. And after discussing it with the full board, I'd like to see on the executive committee myself, President, Kerene, Vice President, and Secretary Jim-- Jim Leija. So that bakes the three officers.
[01:40:59.51] Our executive committee for finance and budgeting we have Dharma as Treasurer, Victoria has agreed to continue to serve on budget and finance. Thank you very much. And we have a new trust-- a trustee participating in budget finance, Jamie Vander Broek. So those are the appointments for both committees. All right. Karen, are we OK to move--
[01:41:24.55] JOSIE PARKER: There's no voting.
[01:41:25.18] LINH SONG: --on? Is there a vote?
[01:41:27.64] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: It says action.
[01:41:29.00] KAREN WILSON: I'd have to look at the bylaws.
[01:41:30.56] JIM LEIJA: I think the bylaws are--
[01:41:32.00] LINH SONG: Did Jim leave?
[01:41:33.62] [INTERPOSING VOICES]
[01:41:36.02] VICTORIA GREEN: I believe that--
[01:41:36.89] JOSIE PARKER: Did the board approve?
[01:41:38.82] JIM LEIJA: This is the-- yeah, this is a strange--
[01:41:41.99] LINH SONG: I'm trying to remember.
[01:41:43.16] JIM LEIJA: We've had these glitches.
[01:41:43.61] JOSIE PARKER: You could do it.
[01:41:43.74] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, we've discussed this before, actually.
[01:41:45.49] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: That's true. We can do it--
[01:41:47.03] LINH SONG: Great. Can I get approval of my duty appointment, please?
[01:41:51.39] VICTORIA GREEN: Motion to approve.
[01:41:53.24] JIM LEIJA: Second.
[01:41:55.59] LINH SONG: All those in favor?
[01:41:57.88] EVERYONE: Aye.
[01:41:58.88] LINH SONG: Opposed? Great. Thank you. So we'll just have that exercise on record. So just, I guess, better safe or--
[01:42:05.63] JOSIE PARKER: Better safer.
[01:42:06.25] LINH SONG: --safe than sorry.
[01:42:06.83] JOSIE PARKER: And we'll check it, double check it.
[01:42:08.12] JIM LEIJA: Yeah.
[01:42:08.42] JOSIE PARKER: If it's in there, we did the right thing. It's not in there, we didn't do a wrong thing.
[01:42:12.70] LINH SONG: I really do hope those can-- please, keep those positions.
[01:42:18.13] VICTORIA GREEN: It does say the president shall preside and appoint committees with the approval of the board.
[01:42:22.72] LINH SONG: Great. Perfect. OK. Fantastic. Thank you. Thank you for looking that up.
[01:42:26.39] JIM LEIJA: But I think that the gray areas that we actually don't-- that's sort of like--
[01:42:31.80] VICTORIA GREEN: What's approval?
[01:42:32.92] JIM LEIJA: The board just--
[01:42:33.49] LINH SONG: How the approval--
[01:42:34.00] JIM LEIJA: --allows the president to do that, is the approval process.
[01:42:37.66] JOSIE PARKER: So it's not clear?
[01:42:38.50] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: It's not like a resolution?
[01:42:38.98] JIM LEIJA: Yeah, it's like a gray area.
[01:42:41.36] LINH SONG: We should have kept Jim Greene here.
[01:42:42.67] JIM LEIJA: That is the tradition of the bylaw at least.

[01:42:45.87] LINH SONG: Thank you, Josie, for verifying that. And, Karen, too. Thank you. All right. So moving on to a resolution adopting 2020 Strategic Plan.
[01:42:56.65] JIM LEIJA: I would move to table this resolution to the next board meeting.
[01:43:00.31] INTERPOSING VOICES: Second.
[01:43:00.68] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Seconded. I'm sorry.
[01:43:02.22] LINH SONG: Great. I need to see-- any additional discussion? Great. All those in favor?
[01:43:08.13] EVERYONE: Aye.

[01:43:09.11] LINH SONG: Opposed? Great. Thank you. Thank you for noting that, Karen. A resolution authorizing the HVAC replacement for the downtown library.
[01:43:22.37] LEN LEMORIE: I'm back, but only if I need to be.
[01:43:24.08] JIM LEIJA: Let us move first.
[01:43:25.73] LINH SONG: Yeah. Can I get a motion?
[01:43:27.19] JIM LEIJA: I would move to award Goyette Mechanical with HVAC repairs replacement in the downtown library building in the amount of $99,026. And that all resolutions and parts of resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded.
[01:43:44.10] LINH SONG: I'll Second. Discussion?
[01:43:47.65] JIM LEIJA: Len, would you like to give us the overview?
[01:43:50.54] LEN LEMORIE: Yeah, so the work is to replace air handler two, which actually serves this room that we're in now. That's a picture of it. It's from 1975.
[01:43:57.45] LINH SONG: Eww.
[01:43:58.46] [LAUGHTER]
[01:43:58.91] Where exactly is it?
[01:44:00.26] LEN LEMORIE: It's in a room not far from here. Right down the hallway.
[01:44:02.80] LINH SONG: OK.
[01:44:04.13] LEN LEMORIE: If you pan down, there's actually a newer air handler that was put in-- I almost took a picture of it just as comparison-- that was put in when they did the parking structure for Library Lane. They don't look anything alike. So that's been there while. It does-- it serves this space only. The other part of the work is for next door in the Secret Lab. We're running into an issue in the basement where we've made investments in equipment in the lab, whether it be letter press or the type.
[01:44:31.28] And it's the humidity down here. And we're having a hard time controlling it, so this project is to replace the air handler, because the valves on that-- which is it's a hydronic unit, so heating and cooling come from water. And one of the valves on that's frozen. So it just does what it does. It'll heat, but it won't cool as good as it should. It doesn't serve the space as well as it could.
[01:44:55.84] LINH SONG: That isn't black mold up there?
[01:44:57.69] LEN LEMORIE: No, that's actually rust that we've painted so it's stopped rusting, because that works.
[01:45:02.36] JOSIE PARKER: We would not be here if that were black mold.
[01:45:03.65] LINH SONG: Well, I mean, I wanted to check.
[01:45:06.89] JOSIE PARKER: Just a sec.
[01:45:07.61] LINH SONG: Maybe paint a different color next time.
[01:45:11.02] [LAUGHTER]
[01:45:11.47] JOSIE PARKER: Be clear here.
[01:45:12.38] LINH SONG: Yeah, sorry.
[01:45:13.44] LEN LEMORIE: Yeah, in the summertime, when that's actually cooling-- so you have basically chilled ice cold water running through that unit, it's just condensating.
[01:45:20.57] LINH SONG: OK.
[01:45:21.08] LEN LEMORIE: And that's what causes that. It's warm in that basement, and then you have that, and it's just doing its thing. Next door, it is to put in a mini split, which will go in the small unit outside. And then it'll have fan heads in the room, so it'll basically have its own environment next door.
[01:45:38.15] LINH SONG: Oh, nice.
[01:45:39.14] LEN LEMORIE: Except for fresh air. And so there'll be a sensor there that brings in outside air when it needs to be. Other than that, we'll be able to control that environment and get that humidity down probably about 25-30% in that room.
[01:45:52.14] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Wow. That's good.
[01:45:52.91] LEN LEMORIE: So it'll be--
[01:45:54.02] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: What is it now?
[01:45:55.42] LEN LEMORIE: We've had times it's been about 78%.
[01:45:57.29] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Oh, that's not good.
[01:45:58.67] LEN LEMORIE: No. No, it's not. So we did some things over the summer. We got it down around 50, but we weren't able to just-- we weren't able sustain it for a long period of time. We have programs in there, and then it'll take days to recover. This unit will take hours to recover.
[01:46:14.91] VICTORIA GREEN: So, Len, I hear sort of two big things. One, replace an air handler. And two, install mini split systems specifically to address the needs of the Secret Lab, which is both about the specific needs. But also people's comfort. I mean, 78% humidity strikes me as too high for anywhere in this building.
[01:46:31.13] LEN LEMORIE: It is. Believe it or not, you don't notice the humidity is so much. We had a staff member here that was-- that worked in the lab when I started working here, and they talked about the temperature a lot. The people in their work they're now and the librarian and that's over the letter press really addressed it a lot of different ways. And that's where the-- when the humidity came into it.
[01:46:49.58] You don't notice the humidity as much as-- it's just inconsistent. There's times it's too hot, it's too cold. It's just been hard to keep it at a temperature and humidity. And when you're not thinking about it in ways of just humidity, you don't think about it. But it definitely impacts the temperature of the space. So it's help from staff that help us kind of pinpoint what the problem was.
[01:47:13.40] VICTORIA GREEN: Does the new Air Handler offer us any opportunities for increased energy efficiency?
[01:47:18.71] LEN LEMORIE: Not the unit itself, but the controls, yes. The unit itself is size by-- so it's a six-ton unit replacing a six-ton unit. It is more efficient, just because it's 25-- it's 45-years newer. The energy efficiency we have is basically through the controls-- the building controls that we have set up. So we have our occupancy.
[01:47:40.43] About 10:00 at night our buildings actually shut down. And they'll allow it to either get warm enough or cool enough, and they do that thing. All the set points are there. We have been tracking-- so Pittsfield, we change the control that Pittsfield I think it's-- we're coming up on two years. And to the same controls we're doing downtown. On like regular cold months, we've cut the gas consumption in half just from controls, no new equiptment.
[01:48:05.82] JOSIE PARKER: That's awesome.
[01:48:06.55] LEN LEMORIE: And that's just the programs making the decisions. We tweak it. We play with it, but Pittsfield was using between 6,000 and 7,000 cubic feet of gas a month for it to heat the building. Our last bill that we just looked at for December was 2,800.
[01:48:21.45] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Wow.
[01:48:22.08] VICTORIA GREEN: Congratulations.
[01:48:23.07] LEN LEMORIE: Well, there was a cool-- it wasn't a terrible December either, so the temperature helped. But it's still a lot lower than what it was. And we've done the same thing at Traverwood. We've seen a similar thing at Traverwood, but at Traverwood it's actually less energy-- electric consumption, not gas. So each building's unique. But, yes, this will be much more efficient. But it's more about how we program it with the control-- building controls versus the equipment themselves.
[01:48:50.52] VICTORIA GREEN: We're going to get bigger bang for buck there.
[01:48:52.08] LEN LEMORIE: Yeah, because a mechanical engineers going to say, you need this many tons of cooling, this many BTUs of heating, or this many cubic feet of air. And from there, it's all building controls.
[01:49:03.00] VICTORIA GREEN: And then a separate question I have is the new mini split system that would be installed, do we have multiple options at multiple price points, which have a different carbon impact?
[01:49:11.67] LEN LEMORIE: We spec'd the same-- I had-- all the contractors that bid it, we spec'd the same unit. Because we didn't want to have someone pricing-- basically, pricing out a cheaper unit that-- we priced out a Mitsubishi that we're comfortable with, that is a reliable, efficient system. And on the cooling side of it, it's the SEER rating. And it's usually-- it's all technical terms, but 12 is the lowest end, 21 is the high end.
[01:49:43.36] And I think there's an acronym-- it's an acronym, obviously. I think it's energy efficiency ratio. These are all between 12 and 14. So they're as low as they can be for what we could buy commercially.
[01:49:56.24] VICTORIA GREEN: Are there more efficient items that are available? I mean, I guess one question I have is, can we-- you're asking us-- I mean, it's our decision about how much money we spend, in effect. And is there an option that you guys put off the table because you said, I think that's more money than the board will want to spend?
[01:50:10.64] LEN LEMORIE: The only option that we took off the table-- and it was based on money, was a-- Liebert is what the manufacturer is. It's for server rooms. It wasn't because it was more or less efficient, it was because it wasn't ideal for the space.
[01:50:25.99] VICTORIA GREEN: I see. So you're saying there isn't a decision for the board to make where we spend more money and get a different energy efficiency?
[01:50:33.17] LEN LEMORIE: No, like I said, we had a Liebert unit priced out that was probably 40% more than this unit. But that's something you're going to see in a server room or an IT closet or something like that. And it's more circulating air versus this is definitely working inside outside and with the house system. The most efficient for it would be the thermal heating and cooling. And we don't have space for that.
[01:51:02.81] VICTORIA GREEN: Right. And this project is not that scale?
[01:51:05.18] LEN LEMORIE: No. Well, yeah. I mean, it's a-- I think we would entertain it if we had, but you have to have space outside for wells and all that stuff. And we just don't have that space.
[01:51:14.27] VICTORIA GREEN: So I've been monopolizing your time.
[01:51:15.86] LEN LEMORIE: No, it's good.
[01:51:18.17] LINH SONG: Is this is something that we had anticipated in our building assessment?
[01:51:21.83] LEN LEMORIE: Yeah, the reserve study we did with O'Neill. This was-- the air Handler two was part of that. The reason we packaged them together-- because we've actually been working on this for most of this year, we wanted to replace air handler two, and it served both rooms. But we couldn't do that because the demolition. The pipe or-- the duct sizing, it just wasn't going to allow it. We'd have to double the duct size in and out of here, and there's not the ceiling space. We'd had the lower ceilings and quite a bit of work. But that was our first approach was, can we just replace this and have it serve the whole basement? And it turned out that was just too costly.
[01:51:57.42] LINH SONG: OK. Great. Thank you. Any other additional questions for Len? Thank you for-- thank you for the picture.
[01:52:07.37] [LAUGHTER]
[01:52:08.36] LEN LEMORIE: If you ever want a tour,
[01:52:09.81] JIM LEIJA: That is not black mold.
[01:52:11.52] [LAUGHTER]
[01:52:13.21] LINH SONG: Well, when you say air handlers, I mean--
[01:52:15.35] JIM LEIJA: I know.
[01:52:16.25] LINH SONG: So this is very helpful. Thank you. Great. So moving on. We need to vote on this resolution. All those in favor?
[01:52:25.76] EVERYONE: Aye.
[01:52:26.27] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[01:52:26.58] LINH SONG: Opposed? Great. Fantastic. Let's see where we are.

[01:52:31.11] JIM LEIJA: I would like to move to vote for a closed session at the February 2020 regular board meeting for discussion of real estate and opinion of council.
[01:52:38.68] KERENE MOORE: I Second.
[01:52:40.11] LINH SONG: Great. Any discussion? Great. All those in favor?
[01:52:43.01] JOSIE PARKER: Roll call.
[01:52:43.31] JIM LEIJA: Roll call.
[01:52:43.74] LINH SONG: Oh, sorry. Roll call. That's right.
[01:52:46.37] KERENE MOORE: Roll call.
[01:52:47.83] KAREN WILSON: All righty. Dharma Akmon?
[01:52:50.09] DHARMA AKMON: Yes.
[01:52:51.22] KAREN WILSON: Victoria Green?
[01:52:51.84] VICTORIA GREEN: Yes.
[01:52:52.23] KAREN WILSON: Jim Leija?
[01:52:53.12] JIM LEIJA: Yes.
[01:52:53.47] KAREN WILSON: Kerene Moore.
[01:52:54.33] KERENE MOORE: Yes.
[01:52:56.17] KAREN WILSON: Linh Song.
[01:52:57.07] LINH SONG: Yes.
[01:52:57.72] KAREN WILSON: Jamie Vander Broek?
[01:52:58.47] JAMIE VANDER BROEK: Yes.

[01:53:01.76] LINH SONG: Great. Thank you. And now we're ending. We're near the end. Citizens comments? We have-- we have someone?
[01:53:11.40] KAREN WILSON: Citizens comments, I have one at this point. Dave.
[01:53:13.55] JIM LEIJA: Dave.
[01:53:17.82] LINH SONG: Come on up. You're the-- you're our first comment of the new year.
[01:53:22.47] DAVE: Hi. Happy new year and decade. I missed part of the--
[01:53:26.85] ANNOUNCEMENT: Your attention, please. The library will close in five minutes. If you have materials to check out, please go to a self-check station or to the circulation desk now. Thank you.
[01:53:42.36] DAVE: I was saying, I missed part of the early discussion. But I caught on when discussing the strategic plan page 5, which had the one paragraph with a lot of focus. My eyes drifted down to the paragraph below it that starts prioritizing patron privacy. And that led me to recollect that various individuals may have a harder time providing comments than others. And to my knowledge, the comments on the website says, if you remain anonymous, you won't get a response.
[01:54:22.05] And comments here, as well have to be done in person. So there are many demographics, many individuals who might be discouraged from commenting just because if you don't get a response, they ask, oh, is somebody gonna read it? But also for other reasons, they may not be able to comment safely. And so I just wanted to mention that. It was not the point of the paragraph, but that's what triggered it.
[01:54:52.84] LINH SONG: Thank you.
[01:54:53.87] VICTORIA GREEN: Thank you.

[01:54:55.78] LINH SONG: Any other comments from folks? All right. Thank you very much, Dave, for starting us off. And I think we're at adjournment. Thank you. That's the end of our meaning.
[01:55:11.02] JIM LEIJA: Bravo.
[01:55:13.20] NARRATOR: This program was recorded on January 21, 2020, at the Ann Arbor District Library.