NORTHVILLE DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 28, 2010 – 7:30 p.m.
Northville District Library Carlo Meeting Room
1. Chairperson Robert Sochacki
called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
1.1 Roll Call - Present:
Trustees Robert Sochacki, Alan Somershoe, Judy Sherman, Jean Hansen,
Mike DeFrancesco and Joe Corriveau. Also present:
Julie Herrin, Director; Anne Mannisto, Assistant Director; Judith
Williams, Administrative Assistant; and Paul Snyder, President of the
NDL Friends. In the audience: Library staff members Suzanne
Schimanski-Gross, Judy McIntosh and Judy DeFrancesco. Also
attending: William Schroer of WJSchroer Co.
Absent: Trustee Jim Morché.
1.2 Approval of the Agenda:
Julie Herrin requested that William Schroer’s presentation of the 2009
Community Survey results be moved to position #3 on the agenda as a
courtesy to allow him an earlier departure time.
MOTION: Jean Hansen made a motion to approve the agenda as
revised. Alan Somershoe seconded the motion. Motion
passed.
1.3 Election of Officers for
2010: Robert Sochacki asked for nominations for the
Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for 2010.
MOTION: Jean Hansen made a motion to nominate Joe Corriveau
as 2010 Chairperson. Judy Sherman seconded the
Motion. Motion passed. The Board confirmed Joe
Corriveau as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for 2010.
The meeting was then turned over to Joe Corriveau as newly elected
Chairperson. MOTION: Joe Corriveau made a motion to
nominate Robert Sochacki for Vice-chair of the Board. Mike
DeFrancesco seconded the motion. Motion passed. The
Board confirmed Robert Sochacki as Vice-chair for 2010.
MOTION: Robert Sochacki nominated Mike DeFrancesco for
Secretary of the Board for 2010. Judy Sherman seconded the
motion. Motion passed. The Board confirmed Mike
DeFrancesco as Secretary. MOTION: Robert Sochacki nominated
Jean Hansen for Treasurer of the 2010 Board. Judy Sherman
seconded the motion. Motion passed. The Board
confirmed Jean Hansen as Board Treasurer for 2010.
1.4 Approval of the Regular
Board Meeting minutes for December 17, 2009: MOTION:
Robert Sochacki moved to accept the minutes for the Board Meeting of
December 17, 2009 as corrected. Alan Somershoe seconded the
motion. Motion passed.
1.5 Resolution 10-01 – Schedule
of 2010 Board of Trustees Meeting Dates: Secretary
Mike DeFrancesco read Resolution 10-01 which lists the dates of all
Regular Board Meetings for 2010. Joe Corriveau noted that the
meetings in March, November and December of 2010 will be held on the
3rd Thursday of the month due to the PLA Conference in March and the
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in November and December.
He then asked for a motion to approve Resolution 10-01.
MOTION: Alan Somershoe made a motion to adopt Resolution
10-01 as presented. Jean Hansen seconded the
motion. Resolution 10-01 was passed by a unanimous roll call
vote of the Trustees in attendance.
1.6 Appointment of 2010 Board of
Trustees Committee Members: Chairperson Joe
Corriveau discussed appointments to Committees for 2010.
Appointments to the four committees were made as follows:
Finance Committee: Jean Hansen
(Chairperson), Alan Somershoe and Mike DeFrancesco
Policy Committee: Judy Sherman
(Chairperson), Jean Hansen and Joe
Corriveau
Personnel Committee: Robert
Sochacki (Chairperson), Judy Sherman, Joe Corriveau and Jim
Morché
Facilities Committee: Alan
Somershoe (Chairperson), Robert Sochacki, Joe Corriveau and Mike
DeFrancesco.
1.7 Citizen Comments:
None
2. Correspondence:
None
3. Following an introduction to
the Board members, William Schroer presented findings from
the Community Attitude, Awareness and Usage Survey conducted in
November 2009 for the Library. This presentation compared the
current results to answers gathered in 2004. Mr. Schroer will
provide a complete written report on the Survey findings, which Julie
will share with the Board Members and which will be used to update the
Library’s Strategic Plan.
4. Director’s Report:
Statistics: Julie noted that December is
traditionally the Library’s slowest month. Circulation,
however, continued to rise over last year and remote database and
catalog usage have also risen.
Youth Programming: The Youth Department
Storytimes began again this week. All sessions for tots as
well as for four and five-year-olds are full. The Lap-sit
Storytime had 53 attendees this month. The Drop-in Evening
Storytime had 30 attendees and the Thursday morning Drop-in Storytime
also had 30 attendees.
Adult Programming: The Adult Foreign Film
Series hosted 52 viewers this month. The program on Job
Searching had 22 attendees and the Couponista Program had 21.
Allison Brueckner, the new Digital Services Librarian, presented an
information session on Social Networking attended by 22.
Teen Programming: The 2010 Battle of the
Books event planning continues. Suzanne Schimanski-Gross
reported that registration for new Battle of the Books teams has ended;
however, teams may still add additional members. The Library
Arcade held on Saturday, January 16, had 17 teens in
attendance.
Facilities: Julie reported that she and Judith
recently had a meeting with Napoleon Wolfe, a green lighting consultant
about ways to provide better Library lighting as well as to save
money. Julie reported that she has agreed to allow him to
provide low cost test solutions to a few areas where there are major
concerns about lighting, especially given the high cost of alternative
proposals received for other suggested lighting solutions.
Audit: Julie also reported that the audit
for Fiscal Year 2009 was completed successfully and that a
representative from Plante and Moran will present the audit at the
February Board Meeting.
Live Chat Reference: Virtual Reference, a
chat reference application where questions will be answered
interactively online, will be operational on February 1,
2010.
Facilities: Thirteen new images from the
Picturing America initiative from the National Endowment for the
Humanities are now on display in the Library.
5. Friends Report:
Friends President Paul Snyder reported that the anticipated monthly
payment from Mission Based Books is in excess of $700 and sales in the
Book Cellar have not declined as predicted. Paul noted that
the Friends were in the process of reviewing their by-laws and planning
the Annual Meeting to be held on Sunday, March 21. The
Friends volunteered to deliver about 100 books to Allen Terrace,
assisting the Library with this outreach program. The Books
for Babies project is finally underway. The Friends will be
providing this literacy-promoting package to local families with new
babies.
6. Budget and Finance Review:
6.1 MOTION:
Treasurer Jean Hansen made a motion to approve payment of the
Northville District Library List of Bills over $1,000 for January 2010
as presented to the Board. Robert Sochacki seconded the
motion. Motion passed.
6.2 Jean distributed the draft
Financial Reports for December. She explained that
very little revenue has been received during this first month of the
Fiscal Year which is why the loan from the Reserve Fund was
necessary. The expense for Fringe Benefits is high due to the
annual contribution to the H.S.A. and H.R.A. funds for eligible staff
members. Jean also reported that the Retiree Health Care
Trust account had realized interest in excess of $20,000 this past
year.
7. Announcements and Comments:
The next Finance Committee will be held
on Tuesday, February 23 at 10:00 a.m. in the Carlo Meeting
Room. The February Regular Board Meeting will be
held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 25, 2010, in the Carlo Meeting
Room.
Robert Sochacki made a motion to adjourn the Regular January Board
Meeting. Mike DeFrancesco seconded the motion.
Motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mike DeFrancesco
JW 1/29/2010