The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bucks County Free Library was held at the Library Center in Doylestown. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. Present were:  Joan Bowman, President; William Draper, Vice President; Jerry Balchis, Treasurer; Mary Ann Garton and Steven Dilliplane, Board Trustees;  Martina Kominiarek , Executive Director; Sue Ziegler, Public Services Director; David Bauer, Business Manager; Janet Fricker, District Center Librarian;
Diane Kraus , Union Steward/Doylestown; and Pam Riley, Executive Assistant. Roberta Foerst, Secretary, and Det Ansinn, Board Trustee, were absent.

 

A MOTION to APPROVE the minutes, as corrected, of the Regular Meeting of
July 17, 2007 was made by Garton, SECONDED by Dilliplane and unanimously APPROVED.

 

 

STAFF REPORTS

 

Report of District Center Librarian/Doylestown

Janet Fricker presented a slide show of July’s First Friday Event. This month’s theme was Harry Potter Night at the Library in celebration of the release of the seventh novel in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowlings. Harry Potter Night included many themed games, crafts and displays, and the library was decorated to resemble many of the scenes from the book. Attendees from the community got into the spirit of the event by dressing up as characters from the book, as did library staff. The slide show was a great way for everyone to see the time and effort that went into preparing for this event.

 

 

Report of Executive Director: 

Martina Kominiarek informed the board of the upcoming dates for the Community Planning Sessions, which will be held on September 5 and October 10, 2007 from
3:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Township Library of Lower Southampton in Feasterville. She explained that these sessions are an opportunity for community members to meet and discuss their visions for our libraries. There are approximately 25 people on this Community Planning Committee representing many different organizations in the Bucks County area. At the conclusion of this session we will have their ideas on the top 5-7 areas in which the library should focus their efforts. Then, these ideas will be presented to the BCFL board at the September board meeting for their comments. Additionally, a website will be kept up to date as decisions are made by the committee and staff. Additional dates are scheduled for February 14 and 15 for full-day workshops on policy development.

 

 

Report of Public Services Director (submitted in writing)

 

Sue Ziegler reported on the strategic planning training sessions that were held recently to inform staff of the upcoming process. She said even with the quick turnaround in scheduling the sessions, they were well attended by staff members. In total there were 145 people with a lot of good feedback received from them.

 

Report of System Services Director (submitted in writing)

 

 

Report of District Consultant (submitted in writing).

 

 

Report of Youth Services Consultant (submitted in writing)

 

 

Report of Collection Management Director (submitted in writing)

 

 

Report of Technical Services Manager (submitted in writing)

 

 

Report of Business Manager

 

MOTION to APPROVE the payment of bills for July 2007 in the amount of $369,851.92 was made by Draper, SECONDED by Garton and APPROVED unanimously.

 

MOTION to APPROVE the July 2007 financial statements (subject to audit) was made by Draper, SECONDED by Balchis, and APPROVED unanimously.

 

David Bauer reported on an Affinity Program offered by Commerce Bank. Basically, it is a fundraising tool implemented in conjunction with the bank whereby BCFL would garner funds based on the number of library patrons who use Commerce Bank and agree to participate. He explained how the program works and distributed brochures as well. Library patrons would inform the bank that they want to register for this program. Then, contributions would be paid annually to BCFL based on the average balance of members’ accounts. Members’ account information would be kept strictly confidential. He said that Commerce Bank would provide us with the information and brochures needed to get started, but that the libraries would have to set up an area to make the brochures available. Board members discussed whether we would be setting a precedent for which other enterprises might choose to engage us as well and whether we want to engage in fundraisers that market other companies. It was determined that a decision would not be made at this time.

 

 

Board Committee Reports:

 

President’s Report – (submitted in writing)

 

The BCFL Board President thanked everyone who were able to attend the strategic planning session for board members at the Warminster Township Free Library.

 

Michael Kumer has been enlisted to give a workshop to BCFL board members and interested CPL board members on Thursday, November 8 with the location to be determined. Joan Bowman asked that board members review his offerings and rank them as to what each person feels is a high priority and a low priority. She asked that they e-mail her as to what they would like to see included at the seminar.

 

The Board Committees did not meet.

 

 

Correspondence - None

 

 

Public Comment - Meeting was opened to Public Comment.  No public in attendance. 

 

 

Unfinished business

 

Policy Review – Behavior :  On the counsel of our attorney these policies are being written with the mindset that we need to have them in writing and posted in the library. If someone’s behavior is an infraction of one of our rules, we can then enforce the rule, citing the written policy which lists the consequence for their actions. One change in the policy is a more lenient attitude towards conversation in the library as well as food and drink. Board members discussed some minor wording issues and the order of the rules.

 

Policy Review – Unattended Children: Our attorney is looking at state and federal laws on children left alone. Currently, it is not staff members’ responsibility to report child abuse or neglect. We are checking with our attorney to see if we choose to do so, are we within the law? Again, some minor wording issues were addressed.

 

Policy discussion will continue at the next board meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Business

A MOTION to approve the 2007-2008 Application for State Aid was made by Garton, SECONDED by Balchis and so MOVED.

 

A MOTION to approve the 2007-2008 Plan for the Use of DLC Aid & Minimum Standards was made by Garton, SECONDED by Balchis and so MOVED.

 

 

There being no further business, a MOTION to ADJOURN was made at 6:54 p.m. by Balchis, SECONDED by Garton and so MOVED.

  

        

Respectfully submitted,

 

                                                                               Pamela J. Riley

 

Executive Assistant