|
Bucks County Free Library Board MINUTES
OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 19, 2005
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the
was held at the James A. Michener Branch, Quakertown. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. Present: Mary Ann Garton, President, William Draper, Vice President, Jerry Balchis, Treasurer, Joan Bowman, Secretary, Linda Brinker, Steven Dilliplane, Martina Kominiarek, Executive Director, David Bauer, Business Manager, Jan O’Rourke, District Consultant, Javier Lanchang, Information Technology Director, Christina Snyder, Technical Services Manager, Carolyn Lechelt, Executive Secretary. Absent: Roberta Foerst and Janet Fricker, Assistant Director for Branch Libraries.
A MOTION to APPROVE the minutes of the Regular Meeting of June 21, 2005 was made by Brinker, SECONDED by Draper and unanimously APPROVED.
Staff Reports:
Diane Davis, Branch Manager, read comments made by staff
since they moved into the new building. Staff is enjoying the extra space and expressions of pleasure from
public. Reported on the Friends Group,
volunteers and branch statistics.
Report of the Executive
Director:
Update on state funding – State increase is approximately
3.5%. More State money will be targeted
to district; BCFL’s total increase will be 5.8% over last year. District aid will increase $80,000.
Jan O’Rourke and Janet Marnatti are working on a District Strategic Plan.
Executive Director asked Chris Snyder to give an update on
Strategic Planning. The Board received a
written report of the Strategic Planning progress which includes the retreat
and survey results. Ms. Snyder reported
that the retreat was a great success. She distributed a
Vision 2 - The vision of Bucks County Free Library is:
Mission 2: Within our libraries and outside our walls, BCFL will provide an
exemplary library experience to the residents of
A MOTION to ADOPT Vision 2 and Mission 2 statements as part of the Library’s Strategic Planning was made by Bowman and SECONDED by Draper. The statements will be posted on BCFL’s Staff Web site.
President thanked Ms. Snyder for all her efforts to make the retreat a success and for coordinating the Library’s Strategic Planning.
Javier Lanchang gave a update on the Consortium. He distributed a handout that showed two options (Plan A & B) that BCFL has offered to the CPLs [options appended to minutes]. Plan A & B also met the CPL’s request for cost information for their budget planning. CPLs must make their decision by July 31st. Each library will be able to choose their own option.
President stated that it has taken a long time to come up with a reasonable plan. It is hoped that we will know what direction we will be taking by July 31st. Mr. Lanchang will be preparing documents to spell out the relationship among libraries that will cover the next five years. Ms. Garton thanked Mr. Lanchang for all his efforts
The Executive Director, President and Treasurer met with the Commissioners last Wednesday to go over the options that BCFL was presenting to the CPLs. Discussion also held on Library’s goals for 2006 and what funding we would need from the County to realize these goals.
Report of Assistant Director for Branch Libraries (written)
Written Personnel Report submitted for June 2005.
Written Statistical Report submitted for June 2005. Report of Information Technology Director (written)
Report of District Consultant (written)
Ms. O’Rourke asked Linda Davie (Doylestown Reference Librarian) to give an informational report on research done by Ms. Davie on mail delivery to the Homebound. The District Consultant will write a grant to help pay for this project. Many of the recipients would qualify for free postage through the Library for the Blind and Handicapped. The President thanked Ms. Davie for her comprehensive and interesting report.
Ms. O’Rourke submitted a written final report to the Board on One Book One Bucks. The Kite Runner has been selected for next year’s program.
Report of Business Manager:
Will present a six months review of budget at the September Board meeting.
MOTION to APPROVE the payment of bills for June 2005 in the amount of $414,044.43 was made by Bowman, SECONDED by Draper and unanimously APPROVED.
MOTION to APPROVE the Financial Statements (subject to audit) of June 2005 was made by Bowman, SECONDED by Draper and APPROVED unanimously.
MOTION to APPROVE the 2004 audit was made by Balchis, SECONDED by Draper and unanimously APPROVED.
Board Reports:
Building Committee – A brief meeting was held before the Board meeting. Discussed was proposal to give permission for public to use Quakertown Branch Library’s Schweiker Meeting Room before and after library hours. A custodian [or other designated staff] would have to be present and users would have to pay for the actual cost of the custodian, in addition to regular fees. The same Meeting Room Policy would apply to off-hours use as for regular use. This is a pilot program only at the Quakertown Branch. Committee recommended approving this proposal. A MOTION to APPROVE the pilot program to make available to the public the Schweiker Meeting Room of the Quakertown Branch Library before and after hours of operation and to charge for the added cost of a custodian was made by Brinker, SECONDED by Bowman and APPROVED unanimously. Finance Committee: Chair reported that the Committee approved moving ahead with 401(k) Retirement Plan for eligible employees. Executive Director reported that the Library’s benefits manager had more closely examined the law, and determined that as a component of County government we should seek an additional 403(b) rather than a 401(k). He is now suggesting that the Library discard the idea of a 401(k) Plan and open another 403(b) plan that has better investment options, and will provide new proposals to the Finance Committee.
Contract for Library’s Auditors is expiring. Business Manager will prepare a RFQ. Decision needs to be made whether to have a 1 or 3 year contract. Business Manager will review bids with Board.
Request has been made to raise the per diem meal rate. It is presently $30 a day. Business Manager did research on what other organizations are paying. Request will be discussed at the next Finance Committee meeting.
Fundraising Committee: Committee met today. Chair reported that the new Development Director starts tomorrow and will need seed money to get started. The Committee recommends using the Board’s Endowment Fund ($35,000) for this purpose. A MOTION was made by Draper, SECONDED by Balchis, and APPROVED unanimously to give the Development/Fundraising Coordinator access to the Board’s Endowment Fund to use as seed money in his fundraising efforts.
Personnel and Technology Committees did not meet. Correspondence – submitted in writing. Meeting
was opened to Public Comment. Diane
Davis introduced Marie Duzak, President of Friends of the James A. Michener
Branch.
Unfinished Business:
Business Manager and Executive Director are in the process of revising the 2005 Budget. Executive
Director reviewed with the Board a list of proposed 2004 carryover expendi-
tures (totaling $176,384) to be spent in 2005.
·
ADA
Studies………………………..$11,500
·
Training……………………………..$ 5,000
·
Envisionware……………………….$60,000
·
Building
improvements………… ..$25,000
·
Doylestown
PBX……………………$35,000
·
Materials…………………………….$ 5,000
·
LV
staff………………………………$34,884
5
New Business:
Information Technology Director asked for permission to purchase Help Desk software. He received two quotes. He recommended approval of the Maintenance Connection quote of $11,682. The higher cost software can also be used by BCFL to track building and incident reports. The IT Dept. has budgeted $10,000 for purchase of this software. A MOTION to authorize the IT Director to purchase Help Desk Software from Maintenance Connection with budgeted funds was made by Brinker, SECONDED by Bowman and unanimously APPROVED.
Mr. Dilliplane asked about status of refurbishing the Doylestown Library’s public bathrooms. Still pending – waiting to receive bid from second vendor. There being no further business, a MOTION to ADJOURN was made at 6:45 p.m. by Brinker, SECONDED by Draper and so MOVED.
Respectfully submitted, Carolyn Lechelt
Executive
Secretary
APPROVED BY BOARD OF DIRECTORS SEPTEMBER 20, 2005 |
Copyright
© 2005 The Bucks County Free Library