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2004 Minutes

January	April	July	October
February	May	August	November
March	June	September	December

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Minutes of the Regular Monthly Meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

January 21, 2004

 

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Bill Surbaugh, Mary Rock, Stan Kilburn

 

Trustees Absent

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Martha Green, Sheila Love, Carolyn Metz, Melanie Johnson

 

Others Present

None

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the Main Library.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Stan Kilburn to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held December 17, 2003. Motion carried.

 

Rhea has examined the bills, found them to be in order subject to an outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Chuck Lacey seconded. Bill Surbaugh said it would be helpful to have the annual budget for our income on the Revenue Report so we can see the progression of this. Tonya said it would be on there next month. Motion to pay the bills carried unanimously.

 

A motion was made by Rhea and seconded by Mary Rock to approve the Resolution to Pay Bills with Prior Approval. This resolution has to be approved annually. It is permission to pay such things as insurance premiums, payroll, and utility bills between board meetings. Motion carried.

 

Sarah told the board about the plans to celebrate Anderson Public Library’s centennial in April 2005. A committee has been formed to start the planning on this large event. The Fine Arts Center also has a committee for this since they are in the original building. We will be meeting with their committee soon to plan how we can work together to make this a big event for the city and for the library. The programming money we receive from the Friends is not enough to cover this big of an event. Sarah would like permission from the Board to hold any undesignated gift money we receive in a special fund to be used for this event. We might bring in a big name author. This would be in addition to the distribution from the Foundation. There are also some opportunities for grant money that could be received. Sarah is meeting with Marlene Carey of St. John’s Hospital next week for some ideas she has used in events of this type. Bill Surbaugh made a motion that all undesignated gift money be held in a special account to be used for the centennial celebration. Rhea Parshall seconded the motion. Bill would like for the Board to be kept informed of the status of this fund and the plans being made for the celebration. The motion was carried unanimously.

 

Paul Muething appointed the following people to the Nominating Committee; Mary Rock, chair, Bill Surbaugh and Joni Brinkman. They will bring a list of candidates to the meeting in February.

 

Next on the agenda was the review of policies. Linda Manderson proposed that benefit time for part-time staff be accrued after one month of employment. It is now six months. Administration would also like to implement an Absence Policy that would explain just how benefit time is to be used. Paul questioned the turn over rate for part time staff.  Linda said that it has gone down over the last 2 years. Chuck wondered what the cost to the library would be for changing these benefits. There would be no cost because those hours have already been budgeted for that position. He wondered if after benefits are exhausted, is everyone treated fairly? Sarah said we strive for consistency all the time. Linda is working on an Absence Policy. Paul feels that this issue should be included in that policy. Stan Kilburn feels the board should act on both of these at the same time. The Board had no specific objections to the proposal for time off benefits. Paul would like a report as to the cost to the library for this new policy to be implemented. Bill wants to make sure the Absence Policy has adequate wording in it giving the Director and Assistant Director consistency and flexibility in implementing it. Motion carried.

 

Montie presented other policies with proposed changes. The Circulation of Materials Policy needs to have DVDs added for customers ages 18 and older. Stan Kilburn asked why we don’t make delinquent customers pay all their fees, instead of just partial payment, before they can checkout materials. Sarah said for years the policy has been that customers have to pay at least 25% of their fees in order to continue to checkout materials. She feels we would be punishing them if they are making payments and we refuse to let them check out materials. Rhea asked how the current system is working. Martha Green, who works in Circulation, explained how most customers are willing to pay the 25%. Sarah said that Circulation staff does an admirable job of dealing with and taking care of customers. Bill said he felt the current system is ok for minor violators but he feels we need to look at what is due us and have a tougher policy for people who owe larger amounts. Mary Rock said we have to look at the mission statement of why we are here and if they pay 25% each time they check out something the balance will soon be paid. Paul feels there should be some judgment involved here and he feels staff should be given the freedom to handle this responsibility. Chuck asked if our current procedure would stand up in court in a discriminatory lawsuit. Sarah said people pay their fees because they want to use the library. Bill said our first responsibility is to the taxpayers. Stan Kilburn suggested changing the policy by removing the word partial and having the sentence read pay 25% until the full balance is received. Bill would like for Sarah to let him know at the next meeting how much money owed is past due. The rest of the policy revisions were reviewed. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to approve the adoption of the policy changes as presented. Rhea Parshall seconded the motion, carried.

 

Montie presented the 2003 accomplishments toward the 5-year Plan. Staff mostly exceeded goals, in many cases the goals were greatly exceeded. Montie said this means that the board members are trustees of an organization where dedication, commitment, creativity, initiative, and just plain hard work are self evident and highly valued. Stan said he feels the Budget Committee needs to look at these accomplishments when it comes time to evaluate salaries. Paul complimented Sarah, Montie and the entire staff on all the great things that were accomplished in 2003.

 

 

Carolyn Metz gave her report on the Circulation Department. She said the phrase that describes Circulation for 2003 is “energy and persistence conquer all things.” Seventeen circ staff checked out 1,400,075 items at the front desk and gave excellent customer service to 41,829 people each month. Carolyn shared 2 stories with the board; one customer said he was surprised the library catered to the tastes of so many different people and another customer got her library card and said she had lived down the road from the library for 58 years but this was the 1^st time she had ever been in the library.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. Judy Kratzner and Marianne Cochran from RSVP were presented the Scott Mellinger award, which goes to the person or group who best supports Triad. Faye Terry from the Indiana State Library will be here for the March meeting to answer any questions about bringing unserved townships into the district. At the December meeting the board had asked Sarah to consult with the Insurance Advisory Committee regarding the need for the Director and Officers Liability Insurance. She did and they said it is very necessary and the library needs to keep that insurance in force. Stan asked if flyers could be sent to people in the Lapel community about our Outreach services. Melanie said the people who deliver meals to homebound people in Lapel have our brochures and deliver them to those customers. Melanie will work on a way to let more people know about this service. Stan also said he stopped in the Lapel Branch and talked to Bonnie about Children’s programming there. He is happy with the progress being made in this area. The State Board of Accounts exit report regarding our audit was held. Everything was fine and the auditor signed off on 2001 and 2002.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. Bill Surbaugh wants Sarah to thank Russ for getting the 2-way sign out front by 12^th street. Rhea said the board should do a little better job of giving “warm fuzzies” to the staff.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary,

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

February 18, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Bill Surbaugh, Mary Rock, Stan Kilburn

 

Trustees Absent

None

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Martha Green, Sheila Love, Carolyn Metz, Russ Jones, Frank Lucas, Marcia Murphy, Shauna Sargent, Amanda Johnson

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Miami Room of the Main Library.

 

A demonstration of the new Vision Athena equipment was presented. Dean Melton, with the Center for Interactive Learning, explained how the equipment works and some of the many things that could be done with it. Promptly at 4:16 we were connected with Milicent Wright of the Indiana Repertory Theater. She said they have used interactive learning for several years and do lots of programs with school age children.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Bill Surbaugh to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held January 21, 2004. Chuck questioned part of the wording in the minutes in regard to the cost involved with changing the starting date of accrued benefit time for part-time staff from 6 months of employment to 1 month of employment. Paul mentioned that issue would be talked about later in the meeting. Chuck wondered if the wording should be changed because he feels there is cost involved. Paul said the minutes reflect that there would be no additional cost to the budget. The hours are already budgeted for. This is very limited time off, 4 hours per month of vacation and sick time for each person. Full-time staff accrue benefits after one month and Sarah would like to make it consistent for all staff. Bill also felt the wording was not as clear as it could be. Paul said he felt the minutes reflected what was said at the meeting. This will be discussed further a little later on in today’s agenda. Paul noticed that the minutes say at the bottom of that same paragraph there was a motion that carried on that issue. The item was tabled, there was no motion made. The wording “motion carried” will be deleted. Motion to approve the minutes as corrected carried. A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Joni Brinkman to approve the minutes of the Board of Finance meeting held January 21, 2004. Motion carried.

 

Rhea has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Chuck Lacey seconded the motion. Rhea wondered why there was information distributed about the bills from Vasey. Bill said he had asked for copies of the invoice because it is a very substantial amount of money. There were no details on the invoices so he asked for copies of work orders. He had concerns that the Board is supposed to use local people and he feels we have local people who can do this work. Joni said she feels the Board is nit picking and she thought the policy was to use local vendors if it is best for the library but there could be many different reasons not to use one. Bill agrees with that. Joni said she feels it is Sarah’s job to look at the bills. Paul said he thinks the board has already discussed this issue of allowing staff to do their job and take care of the day-to-day expenses of the library. Joni said she thinks it is an insult to staff. Chuck said when he questions things it is never meant to be an insult. However, he does think a claim for $5,000 is not nit picking. Sarah said staff is always happy to answer any questions the Board might have. Rhea mentioned that Russ has saved the library thousands of dollars since he has been here and we need to have faith in him. Paul wants to make sure all staff understand the bidding process and the limits. Paul questioned the claim to Manpower. He would recommend that the library look to eliminate temporary labor and replace with permanent employees. Sarah explained how we go about deciding if we use a temporary employee. When there is notice that someone is going to be off an extended period of time Sarah and Linda work with the department manager to see if an adequate level of staffing can be maintained during that time and if we can handle this in-house. In a situation where staff cannot work enough extra hours (such as Lapel staff) to cover all the hours we are open we hire a temp. We always look at in-house first. In 2002 we spent over $48,000 in temp services. Last year we spent $10,827 and we stayed within the budget for salaries. Last year’s amount was actually less than what we would have paid for a permanent part-time staff person. Sarah would like to hire a couple of “floaters” to be able to fill in when and where needed if the Board eliminates the use of temporary labor. Paul said that given the fact this item has been cut so dramatically and the fact that it is less expensive to hire temporary people, he feels we should continue to use temps as Sarah sees the need for them. Motion to pay the claims carried. Sarah asked Bill Surbaugh about a claim that he objected to on last month’s bills. He signed the claim form approving everything but that claim but it was not discussed during the meeting. He will have to go back and look at his notes and let  Sarah know which claim that was. Bill will call Sarah tomorrow to let her know.

 

A motion was made by Joni Brinkman and seconded by Rhea Parshall to accept the LSTA grant from the state. Chuck said it seems like the Certificate of Resolution provided is too general to be effective. Sarah said this comes directly from the State. We have a copy of the whole packet they provide; this Certificate is just one page of the entire packet. Marcia explained that this grant is to help serve our Hispanic customers. The four components of the grant are staff training, collection development, ESL and family literacy, and programming. Motion to approve the signing of this grant carried.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Rhea Parshall to approve the Resolution for the Executive Session held January 21, 2004. Motion carried.

 

Next on the agenda was the election of Board officers. The nominating committee (Mary Rock, chair, Bill Surbaugh and Joni Brinkman) recommends the slate of officers remain the same as the current officers. A motion was made by Mary Rock to elect Paul Muething as President, Joni Brinkman as Vice President, Chuck Lacey as Secretary, and Rhea Parshall as Treasurer. Motion carried unanimously.

 

Linda Manderson explained the benefits request for part-time staff. After much discussion of this benefit it was determined that a new absence policy would not be needed. The changes can be made very simply in the employee handbook. Linda would just like approval to implement benefits for part-time staff after one month of employment. Bill asked if there was a stated probation period for new staff. No, there is extensive training and orientation for each new staff member. Linda said there are initial 3 months evaluations but no probation period. Stan wondered how a new employee who works 20 hours could be evaluated as fairly as a new employee who works 40 hours. How can you evaluate their work after the same time frame when it would be half as many hours? Linda said all departments have a training checklist and an orientation list that all new staff must complete. There usually is a difference in job descriptions between full and part time staff. It is the manager’s judgment as to whether staff has met the requirements necessary. Stan thinks maybe we should think about waiting 90 days to give them benefits. The turnover rate has decreased but the highest turnover rate is with part time staff. Stan is worried about things being consistent. Sarah said this would be consistent with benefits for full-time staff. Bill wants to make sure there is consistency in all policies. It was the absence issue where inconsistencies were mentioned, not with all policies. A motion was made by Joni Brinkman and seconded by Mary Rock to approve benefits for part-time staff after one month of employment. The vote was taken by a show of hands. Motion carried unanimously.

 

 

Sarah noticed that Bill had approved the claims for payment with the exception of the one to Vasey’s. This needs to be mentioned during the meeting so it can be in the minutes. He said that he voted yes to all the bills with the exception of the Vasey’s bill. It was so noted.

 

Marcia Murphy told the Board about the Madison County Reads Together! Program. A group of county librarians and CAPE members met and decided they had a common purpose; to get children to read more and to get parents to read to their children more. They were all doing this in their separate ways. They decided to do something together, the One Book, One Community program. Marcia wrote a grant to United Way, which we did not get. We did get $2,500 from the Madison County Community Foundation. The group chose the book Shiloh, which is written by Anderson native, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. This program will be kicked-off March 1 and will end with the author coming to Anderson and visiting the libraries the end of April. There will be many book discussion groups and people will be encouraged to read the book, read it to someone, pass it on to someone else and share their thoughts on it.

 

Linda Manderson gave a report on the Human Resources Department. She told about some of the things she routinely does such as management of recruitment/hiring process, new employee orientation and tours, staff development and training for all staff. We have 93 employees as of today. She talked about comparative turnover rates and total library usage increases.

 

Paul reminded the Board that the Andrew Carnegie Award nominations are due next month. Sarah will ask the staff if they have any candidates they would like to nominate. She will forward these to Paul to send to the Board.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. We have received our property tax check from last year. The spring tax draw will also be late and Sarah has told staff to wait on making any large purchases and we will wait to do the Extension roof, carpet and van until after that check is received. Bill Surbaugh asked Sarah about the report on fines and fees. As of right now there are 6,333 customers who owe a total of $529,410.44. This figure is from the beginning of the Dynix system, which is 12 years. The current procedure is to purge customers after three years if they don’t use their library card. But people who have balances on their cards do not get purged. Sarah wonders if this procedure should be changed. Sarah and Alice have turned over 8 or 9 names to Unique Management of some of the older accounts to see if they can collect anything on them. Stan asked permission to attend the Lapel Town Board meeting tomorrow night to represent the library in the process of vacating the alley beside the Lapel Branch. There is no problem with this, attending this meeting is just a formality. He will let Sarah and Jim Freeman know what happens.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. He thanked Marcia for being so aggressive about going after grants. He also thanked Linda for putting together the numbers he had asked for. A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Rhea Parshall to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

 

 

Respectively submitted,

 

 

Secretary,

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

March 17, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Bill Surbaugh, Mary Rock

 

Trustees Absent

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Stan Kilburn

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Martha Green, Carolyn Metz, Russ Jones, Marcia Murphy, Dwayne Hunter

 

Others Present

Faye Terry, Indiana State Library

Amanda Wamsher, AU student

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the Main Library.

 

Faye Terry, from the Library Development Office at the Indiana State Library, spoke to the board about bringing unserved townships into our library taxing district. There are two ways to do this. If you want to only take in one township or part of one township you have to go through the Township Trustee and the Township Advisory Committee of that township. If they don’t agree with this a petition can be carried. All registered voters in the township are eligible to sign the petition either for or against the expansion. There has to be at least 20% of the voters in favor of the expansion for it to pass. The deadline to file a petition is March 1 in order for the board to approve a budget with the new tax figures to be implemented the following year. Faye advised the Board to find out how many registered voters there are in the township before we start the process. She also advised inviting the Township Trustees and the Advisory Board members to visit the library and to let them know exactly what services we offer. The very first step is for the Board to sign a Township Expansion Resolution to present to the Township Trustee and the Advisory Committee. Sheridan Public Library just went through this process. It might be good to contact them. We can design our own petition but it does have to be approved by the Clerk of the Circuit Court. They are also the person who verifies the signatures. If you want to take in two or more townships, or parts of townships you get approval at the county level which would be the County Commissioners. Partial townships are defined areas. We need to make sure we get school boundary information. Faye handed out samples of how to figure the tax rate and revenue scenarios but she recommends we get actual tax bills to do our own charts.  She also thinks it is best to talk to other libraries who have gone through the process. We will need signatures from 2 of the 3 Township Advisory Committee members. The Board thanked Faye for her information.

 

Linda introduced Dwayne Hunter, new Security Services Manager. He has extensive loss prevention training. Chuck asked what the main purpose of the security manager is. Sarah said it is to focus on a safe and secure facility, teens, skateboarders, and all facets of security. He is meeting with Bill Casey from Anderson Police Department to address some of these concerns. He wants the police department to know that we do a lot for this community.

 

A motion was made by Chuck Lacey and seconded by Joni Brinkman to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held February 18, 2004. Motion carried.

 

In the absence of Treasurer Rhea Parshall, Mary Rock has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Joni Brinkman seconded the motion. Carried.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Joni Brinkman to approve the Resolution Relative to Advance Draw. Motion carried.

 

We have received an extra $85,919.75 in COIT money. According to State Code, this money has to be deposited in our Rainy Day Fund. We currently do not have one. A motion was made by Joni Brinkman and seconded by Bill Surbaugh to approve the Resolution to Establish a Rainy Day Fund. This fund can be used for any future library needs. Motion to accept this resolution carried.

 

Paul asked Bill Surbaugh about a claim that he objected to on the bills. He signed the claim form approving everything but claim #28285. Bill said that is the claim for Vasey and he believes our policy states a competent local contractor be given preference. He believes we have from 1-3 contractors who could and should have been used.

 

Next on the agenda were the Carnegie Award nominations. Paul has received 3 nominations. They are Paul Newburn, who was a trustee for 25 years and helped gain public support for the new building; Marsha Grove, former Director who had wonderful vision for APL with renovation and with staff she increased circulation by 88% in her 5 years here; and Bob Meyer, who is actively involved with Friends of the Library, ESL classes and literacy. After some discussion it was decided to table this item until the April meeting.

 

Sarah would like direction from the Board as to the next step of bringing un-served townships into the district. Paul would like for the board members to read the materials received today before a strategy is put into place. Sarah knows we have public support out there. The Board feels we should go with approval by the County Commissioners but we need to know what we are going to ask for. Joni Brinkman and Bill Surbaugh are appointed to the Board by the Commissioners and Paul would like for them to serve on the committee. This subject will be on the April agenda.

 

Marcia Murphy gave her report on the Children’s Department. She said that circulation of children’s materials is up an average of 10% and circulation of adult materials is only up an average of 6%. She feels that this means children are reading more and parents are checking out more materials to read to their children. She said her staff does an awesome job of promoting the library both inside and outside the building. Marcia’s goal was to be in the top 10 libraries in the state in terms of circulation, programming and collection for children. In 1997 we were at the bottom of the list. In 2003 we were #3 in the state! Chuck said he has observed that Marcia enjoys her job. Paul thanked Marcia and her staff for all their hard work and for reporting such wonderful news.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She reported that letters have been sent to all the appointing bodies thanking them for their appointments and highlighting some of the wonderful things we have done in the past year. Madison County Reads Together has been very well received. She reminded the Board that next month they are supposed to review the By-Laws but with the agenda already becoming full it may be postponed to a different date.

 

Paul asked if we had a clear and specific policy for zero tolerance for unethical and illegal behavior. Linda said we have an Employee’s Code of Ethics Policy. Paul suggested they review that policy when they review the By-Laws.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. Chuck thanked Sarah for inviting Faye Terry to the meeting. A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.

 

Respectively submitted,

Secretary,

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

April 21, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Bill Surbaugh, Mary Rock, Greg Fisher

 

Trustees Absent

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Martha Green, Carolyn Metz, Russ Jones, Marcia Murphy, Melanie Johnson

 

Others Present

Joe McClain, Safety Board

Jana Thornburg, City Court

Teri Bruner,  Friends

Jean Pettigrew, Don Johnson

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the Main Library.

 

In the absence of Secretary Chuck Lacey, President Muething appointed Mary Rock as Secretary Pro-tem.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Joni Brinkman to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held March 17, 2004. Motion carried.

 

The newest Board member, Greg Fisher, was introduced. He has been appointed by  South Madison and Frankton/Lapel School Corporations. He is a Lapel native. He is senior designer at Fisher Brother’s Furniture and Interior Design. He also is a former teacher. We are very happy to have him as a member of the Board.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Joni Brinkman seconded the motion. Greg Fisher noticed a spelling error of a vendor’s name. Sherwin Williams will be corrected. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

Next on the agenda was the approval of the resolution to accept the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. This grant was for $3,000 and will be used to purchase a digital video camera, digital editing software, and a media computer to be used with Vision Athena. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to approve this resolution. Rhea Parshall seconded, motion carried.

 

Sarah proposed increasing the mileage reimbursement for staff from .28 to .34 per mile. The state rate has gone up to .34 per mile. A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Joni Brinkman to increase this rate effective tomorrow. Carried.

 

There have been 3 nominees for the Carnegie Award; Paul Newbern, Marsha Grove, and Bob Meyer. A letter was received in support of giving the award to Mr. Newburn. He was a 25-year member of the library board and was very instrumental in determining that a new library building was needed and helping to establish funding for the new library. A vote was taken and Mr. Newbern was declared the recipient of the 2004 Andrew Carnegie Award. Since he is deceased, this award will be presented to a member of his family at the May meeting.

 

Paul appointed the Personnel and Budget committee. They are Rhea Parshall, chair, Bill Surbaugh and Greg Fisher.  Paul will serve as an ex-officio member.

 

Paul appointed the following committee for un-served townships; Bill Surbaugh, chair, and Joni Brinkman. They are appointed by the County Commissioners. Again, Paul will serve as an ex-officio member. This committee will form a plan on how to bring new townships into the district.

 

Sarah has received a request from the City to have free use of 4-6 parking spaces in our Northwest parking lot for City Court personnel. These spaces would be used Monday through Friday 8:00-4:00. Sarah’s concern is that all our parking spaces are badly needed when we have programs and large meetings going on. Paul would like to give the city the spots they requested but in turn they help us police the lots to keep non-library customers out. Jana Thornburg, from City Court, said they always announce at the beginning of court that people who are parked in unauthorized areas could be towed or ticketed. The city employees will have tags in their cars and Joe McClain, from the Safety Board, said the city would provide signage for these spaces. He considers this a short-term solution to the parking problem. The city is working on ideas for providing more parking in the downtown area. Bill Surbaugh made a motion that we honor the city’s request for 6 parking spaces in the northwest corner of the lot. Rhea Parshall seconded the motion. The motion includes the city providing signs indicating who their spaces are for and a minimum of 3 signs for the lot that say parking for library customers only, others towed at owner’s expense. Sarah would like to approve the signs before they are made. The board expressed their appreciation to the city for asking permission to use our lot instead of just doing it without asking. Motion carried.

 

Sarah reminded the Board it is time to start the budget process for 2005. There is a set timetable that has to be followed; advertising the levy, conducting a public hearing, approval of the budget and having it certified by the state. She has started the process by gathering information from managers as to equipment needs for the next year. Staff are getting estimates for contractual services. Sarah looks at departments and staffing to see if it meets the demands of our customers. She also has to look at the past and the present. For example, for things such as supplies, she looks at what we did last year, where we are now, and what we will need for next year. Tonya gives Sarah information regarding salaries and merit increases. Tonya also complies figures for PERF and health insurance rates. After Sarah has a draft ready she will contact the Budget Committee and set up a meeting. Tonya is going to talk to the board next month about tax levies. Tonya will get information about all the changes the state has made at the workshop she is going to.

 

Terry Brunner, President of the Friends of the Library gave the annual report on that group. She thanked the staff of the library and the volunteers for all their support this year. As of April 2004 there are 255 members of the Friends. This is above the total membership for 2003 of 219. Since 1992 the Friends have given $210,556.89 to the library. The book sales continue to attract more customers and bring in more money. In 2003 the volunteers worked a total of 2,422.75 hours. The Board expressed its appreciation to the Friends.

 

Alice Milley’s report on the Technical Services Department was postponed until May.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She reported that Indiana’s First Lady, Mrs. Kernan, would visit us tomorrow morning. She will take part in a storytelling program in Children’s. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor will be here tomorrow evening which will wrap up Madison County Reads Together. There has been a total of 642 children who have participated in “Paws to Read”. Sarah reported that we have termites downstairs in the Circulation Department. Russ is getting estimates from exterminators. We did receive an advance draw of $100,000 from the County.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. He thanked the staff for all the hard work that has gone into Madison County Reads Together. It has been an outstanding program. A motion was made by Joni Brinkman to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

 

 

Respectively submitted,

Secretary,

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

May 19, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Mary Rock, Greg Fisher

 

Trustees Absent

Bill Surbaugh

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Martha Green, Carolyn Metz, Russ Jones, Amanda Johnson, Sheila Love, Judy Kratzner, Alice Milley, Becky Gremes

 

Others Present

Jim Freeman, Library Attorney

Janice Newbern, Penny Conley

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the Main Library.

 

The 2004 Andrew Carnegie Award recipient is former Board member Paul Newbern. Paul Muething read a very nice tribute to Mr. Newbern. The Carnegie Award plaque was accepted by his widow, Janice. His daughter, Penny Conley, was also present.

 

A motion was made by Joni Brinkman and seconded by Rhea Parshall to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held April 21, 2004. Motion carried.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Joni Brinkman seconded the motion. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

A motion to approve the Resolution for the Executive Session held April 21, 2004 was made by Rhea Parshall. It was seconded by Joni Brinkman. Motion carried.

 

Two members of the library’s Teen Advisory Board attend Highland High School and live in Richland Township. Samika Branham, Teen Librarian, would like permission from the Board to grant both of them a free three-month library card so they will be able to participate in the teen summer reading program. Rhea made a motion to grant these cards. The motion was seconded by Joni Brinkman. Chuck asked if this would set precedence for other groups to ask for this privilege. These two teens are not part of an outside group; they work with our teen librarian to promote the library. Rhea mentioned that they are not adults and are not taxpayers. Paul feels this points out the need to have library service in Richland Township. Hopefully this will help tell the community that the interest is there. Motion carried.

 

Sarah reported that we would probably not receive any tax money from the Auditor until September. She would like permission to borrow from the Indiana Bond Bank. Tonya will file the paperwork and the board will have the Resolution to sign next month.  A motion was made by Chuck Lacey and seconded by Joni Brinkman to borrow this money. Motion carried.

 

The collection agency we are using, Unique Management, will only try to collect on current accounts. Sarah has talked to a local company, AllianceOne, at the request of Bill Surbaugh. They have offered to take 100 of our older accounts (1997-1998) and try to collect on them. If there is no recovery there is no charge. If they do collect any money they take 30% of what they recover. Jim Freeman feels this is not a conflict of contracts. There was some discussion about paragraph 7 of the contract regarding NSF checks. It was also stated that paragraph 13 pertaining to the laws of the state of Pennsylvania needs to be changed. A motion was made by Chuck Lacey to give Sarah permission to sign the contract with AllianceOne. Jim Freeman suggested that the board give Sarah the discretion to talk to them about paragraphs 7 and 13. Chuck modified his motion to reflect this. Joni Brinkman seconded the motion. Paul asked how it will be determined as to which accounts will be turned over to this agency. Alice Milley will select the accounts. Motion carried.

Tonya handed out a budget preparation sheet and a financial term glossary summary. She attended the budget workshop for public libraries that is held every year. She reminded the Board that we always advertise the dollar amount of the taxes to be raised, not the tax rate. She explained the difference between the tax levy and the tax rate. The Department of Local Government Finance has, for years, determined the maximum levy. The Board can decide to tax at a lower levy, which we have done in the past. As of 2003, if you didn’t tax at the maximum levy you lost the difference in available levy. Chuck stated that the Board has always asked library administration how much money do you need to operate and we will get it for you. That figure has always turned out to be a lower tax rate. He said we didn’t lose that money because we didn’t have that money to start with. Sarah said we could have had more funds if we taxed at the max. The Department of Local Government Finance determined that the growth factor for 2003 was 4.7%. The 2004 growth factor rate will be determined in June. The growth factor is based on the assessed valuation of all non-farming personal property within the whole state. They take this figure and average it. Chuck Lacey pointed out that the Board did not reduce the amount of money to run the building. They have never reduced the budget based on growth or need. Tonya said in 2004 we were almost $240,000 under our maximum tax levy.  Sarah said we have not received all we have asked for; cuts have been made such as merit and raises. We do always work with what is given us. The growth rate is new terminology for determining the maximum levy that we have always been given.

 

Judy Kratzner gave her report on RSVP services. She thanked Paul for attending their council meetings. They operate on a $60,000 range budget. They have received approval to get a VISTA person. This is a one-year internship position. They are currently in the second year of a three-year grant. Governor Kernan has appointed Judy to his Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease and Related Senile Dementia. There is a link on the library’s web page for RSVP.

 

Alice Milley gave her report on the Technical Services Department. She said they are the behind the scenes department. They survived the migration to Horizon. An update is expected on August 11. They process approximately 5,000 items a month. Currently the back issues of serials are being weeded.

 

Russ Jones gave an update of the Variable Air Volume (VAV) Control process. He and Jerry have installed at least one box in each room of the building, over 70 of them altogether. This will enable them to turn off certain areas when they are not being used. For example, they turn off the heat and air in the Administration Area in the evenings and on the weekend. This will save a lot on utility bills. The library is a test site for Honeywell, which means we get free upgrades and new software for the system. This system will also help with troubleshooting and diagnostics on our system. Russ estimates this will save at least $600 a month on utilities. Vasey’s has agreed to go ahead and sell us the controls and wait until the tax check comes in to bill us. The T-8 bulb replacement is complete. Baxter’s will do the work on the termite problem. Russ feels they have the best plan at the middle price. The only area affected is the Circulation workroom. They will be doing core drilling around the building to inject chemicals. There will be an annual fee of $679. This includes checking for termites at various intervals. The cost to treat the entire building the first time is $6,790. Russ and Jerry will be the only ones who will be able to adjust the temperatures in the building but all his staff will be able to check to see if there is a problem.

 

Sarah showed the board a request from the Indiana Library Federation’s Legislative Committee. They are asking board members to do a short survey on which legislators they might know. The Committee is looking for directors and trustees to help with a grassroots effort against property tax replacement measures. Sarah asked the board to fill these out and return them to her if they know any of our local legislators.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She will be on the radio in the morning promoting the summer reading program. She reported that the Computer Services department made 145 repairs, upgrades and adjustments to existing equipment for a total of 65 labor hours. They do a wonderful job and save us lot of money by doing this in-house. She reminded members that we meet at Lapel in June. Paul mentioned that Sarah has been appointed to the Indiana Library Federation Executive Board.

 

Paul presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Mary Rock. She has done a wonderful job on the board and we hate to see her leave.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. He thanked the library staff for all the great things that have gone on this month. He asked the board to spread the word about all our great services.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary,

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

June 16, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Bill Surbaugh

 

Trustees Absent

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Greg Fisher, Adair Gibbs

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Carolyn Metz, Russ Jones, Edra Waterman

 

Others Present

None

 

 

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. at the Lapel Branch.

He thanked Edra and her staff for hosting the meeting and stated that the Board always enjoys going to Lapel.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Chuck Lacey to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held May 19, 2004. Motion carried.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Bill Surbaugh seconded the motion. Bill said last year when the board discussed the LIRF budget the heating and air conditioning system would be a project in excess of $75,000. He was wondering when that bid was going to come in. Russ Jones said we will not spend $75,000. Bill asked Russ if he has 3 quotes since the work will be over $25,000. Russ said he did. Chuck Lacey commented on the claim to Morningstar. This is a company that provides a mutual fund service. The subscription costs the library $795 annually. He feels this money could be better used buying more books. He also feels there are cheaper services available. Sarah said this service is a standard in libraries and it is very heavily used. If we drop it we would have many angry customers. Chuck also questioned the payment to the library attorney. He wanted to know if this included the $100 retainer fee. Tonya explained that this was a 2-month claim. The retainer is $150 a month. The claim also includes a few other fees for work done by the attorney. Paul would like for Tonya to research what services are covered by the retainer fee. Bill asked for clarification regarding funds # 247 and #209. Fund 209 is Friends money and fund 247 is for the Centennial celebration. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh to authorize the President and the Secretary of the Board to sign the Bond Bank Resolution on behalf on Anderson Public Library. Rhea Parshall seconded the motion. We are borrowing approximately $424,000. There is no need to specify the amount because the Bond Bank does not have their underwriting of the loan but the amount is based on cash flow. When we get our tax check we will wire transfer the money plus interest to the Bond Bank. This has to be done within 3 days. Motion to sign the resolution carried.

 

President Muething pointed out that on the claims to be paid Bill Surbaugh approved them with the exception of claim #2721 to Vasey. This needs to be included in the minutes.

 

Sarah would like permission to close the library on April 29, 2005 for Staff Development Day. She is moving the date up a little since there are staff who have children in schools who get out early and they plan their vacations in May. A motion was made by Chuck Lacey and seconded by Bill Surbaugh to approve Sarah’s recommendation. Motion carried.

 

 

Next on the agenda was a budget presentation by Linda Manderson. Her part of the budget information pertains to personnel. We have 14 departments with 96 employees. Personnel costs are about 60% of the total budget. Sarah looks at all personnel issues such as staffing needs, recommendations by department managers for upgrades in job classifications, and upcoming known retirements and vacancies. She determines if vacant positions should remain full time ones or changed to 2 part-time positions, and looks at equities in current wages and benefits. Chuck asked how equity on current wages is evaluated. Linda said it is an overall view that includes looking at positions in other library systems. Linda said the skills required from our staff are somewhat higher than many clerical positions. She reviewed what some of those skills are. APL wants to retain strong performers. We have very detailed job descriptions for everyone and a strict performance appraisal process. At Staff Development Day last month 7 staff were honored who have a combined total of 95 years experience working at APL. The library customers benefit from this. These staff know how the entire library works, not just their specific area. So far this year we have had 17 positions turn over. We have increases in many areas, not just circulation. Paul asked if the library is doing anything to assure there is diversity in the work force. Linda feels our strict qualifications impact who applies for our positions. We advertise all our job descriptions on our web site and we advertise in the local newspaper. All of our employment ads reflect that APL is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Bill Surbaugh would like for us to contact the business schools in the area to see if we can plug into their placement offices. He would like for Sarah to contact Dr. Dolly at Ivy Tech to see if they  can come up with some suggestions. Sarah has just recently met Dr. Dolly and will be glad to call her to set up a meeting. Chuck asked if we have a policy on diversity. He feels the board should pass one. Sarah read from our handbook how we are covered under ADA guidelines and federal equal opportunity laws. Bill said he thinks the law requires that any employer with over 15 employees be pro active in the diversity issue. We need to demonstrate that we make a bona fide effort to recruit minorities. The Board feels it is the right thing to do. Chuck feels we need a written policy addressing this. Bill asked Sarah to evaluate this issue and bring a recommendation to them.

 

Edra Waterman gave her report on the Lapel Branch. She said the Lapel community is very supportive of the Lapel branch. The merchants in town donated some very nice prizes for the Summer Reading program. The community is very family oriented. The library operates with a staff of 6 people. They are implementing a new service, Author Alert, which will notify customers if a book comes in by their favorite authors. Edra is working hard to make sure Lapel customers know they are part of Anderson Public Library and are able to enjoy all the  many benefits as the customers who visit the main library. Children’s programming has been very successful and Edra would like to expand family and adult programs. Linda told the Board that Edra also does the adult book selection for all of APL. Chuck asked how she knows what to buy. Edra says she knows our community very well and she reads lots of reviews.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. Our 2004 budget has been certified. On June 4 there was an extensive virus on all the library computers. The CTC staff worked very hard to eliminate it, saving the library lots of money. Summer Reading is going very well. As of 10:45 this morning there were 1,001 children signed up. For the first 15 days of June we have circulated 17,000 more items than this time last year. Staff has done an excellent job of promoting summer reading. Sarah said we have been incredibly busy in every department. Rhea said that she is pleased the café is doing well. Sarah met with the new owners on June 4. They are still very busy with all the changes they are making. They have made some menu changes which will be posted on our website soon. Bill said he noticed in the bills that we have monthly service agreement payments. He said some places will give you an 8-12% discount if you pay annually. Tonya will investigate this possibility. Paul asked if there have been any building problems. There was a small leak in the Extension building roof. The roof will be replaced this fall out of LIRF money. Russ is in the process of getting estimates for this work.

Paul mentioned that Sarah has not had an evaluation for several months. He handed out the evaluation forms, and asked that they be completed and mailed to him. He will then combine the information for the Executive Session to be held in July. He had Sarah do a self-evaluation to provide information about her duties, which he also distributed. He asked the evaluations be returned to him by July 1.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. Bill thanked the Board for presenting the Carnegie Award to Paul Newbern. Paul read a thank you card from Mr. Newbern’s wife. He also read a thank you letter from the City Courts thanking the board for the use of our parking spaces. Chuck mentioned this parking for city court might become a larger problem due to lack of premium parking space in the downtown area. Sarah mentioned that she had sent a letter to Dr. Long, Superintendent of ACS, recapping all the services APL gave to the school system this past school year and letting him know we are looking forward to next year. Chuck mentioned that it was always nice to visit Lapel.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Bill Surbaugh to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary,

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

July 21, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Bill Surbaugh, Greg Fisher

 

Trustees Absent

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Kelly Evans, Elaine Mathews, Edra Waterman

 

Others Present

Emily Whitsett, APL Intern

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the main library. The Board immediately broke for an Executive Session.

 

When the regular meeting was resumed, a motion was made by Chuck Lacey and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held June 16, 2004. Bill Surbaugh made one correction. In the first paragraph on page 2 it needs to state that any employer with over 50 employees be pro active in the diversity issue. The change was made and initialed on the original copy. Motion to approve the minutes as corrected carried. A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the minutes of the Budget Committee meetings held on July 7 and July 14, 2004. Motion carried. Rhea thanked Montie for compiling the Board and Staff accomplishments that were given to the Budget Committee.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published, Bill Surbaugh seconded. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

Rhea Parshall, Chair of the Budget Committee, gave a report on health insurance renewal. The committee has met 2 times and reviewed the 7 options presented to them. Each committee member evaluated the options and reported on which one they preferred and provided justification for their choice. After much discussion, the committee recommends Option 2, which is an 80/20 cost split. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to accept the Budget Committee’s recommendation. Chuck Lacey seconded the motion. Rhea Parshall said that Joni Brinkman, via email, said that Option 2 was O.K. but she thought the $1,000 deductible is too high. Rhea agrees with this. Sarah said that Option 2 means the following changes for staff; deductible increases from $500 to $1,000; office co-pays increase from $20 to $25; one prescription cost increases from $25 to $30; and there is an increase in premiums. Bill said that he would hope the Board and staff would start earlier next year to find ways to cut costs and explore ideas for alternative options. Sarah reported that we had a high loss ratio this year, 138% of premiums paid out. Sarah said that staff has gone through many changes in coverage in the last few years. She recommended an option that would change the cost split to 84/16 so the impact on staff would not be so huge. The committee did not choose this option. Bill said the Board is taking on 80% of the increase. Sarah said the library has a much larger budget than individuals do. She had given a chart to the Budget Committee showing the impact on salaries. She said it is especially hard on the 104 positions. Rhea said the chart shows gross salaries, not take home pay so that is an even bigger impact on the staff. Since Chuck was not at the budget meetings Sarah wanted to let him know that she feels we need to do what we can with the insurance budget in order to get and keep good staff here. She made a recommendation to the Committee to put less money in the Library Improvement Reserve Fund or put less money in the operating balance. She feels that we could put $125,000 in LIRF, which would leave $61,500 to put toward health insurance. Bill said LIRF is for non re-occurring expenses. Health insurance is a fixed cost

and should be viewed as part of a compensation package. Rhea asked why the Board couldn’t give staff a break this year and start investigating new possibilities to implement next year. She said a building is a building but the people who work here make the interior beautiful and she feels the Board needs to support them as much as they can. Chuck said in order to keep good people we need to be competitive with other agencies. Bill said Option 2 significantly breaks the 5% cap set by the Board. Greg Fisher asked if, at the appropriate time, some of this emphasis could be transferred to salaries. Because salaries affect all staff and health insurance does not. Rhea asked Paul his opinion. He said he would hate to see LIRF money used to pay insurance. He also feels the 80/20 split is fair and the best solution. Most companies are at 50/50. A motion to approve Option 2 is on the floor. The vote was taken. It was 3 for and 1 opposed. Motion carried by majority.

 

 

Next on the agenda was the approval to advertise the 2005 tax levy. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to advertise the 2005 levy at the maximum amount. Rhea Parshall seconded. This is an increase of 4.95%. The Board cannot go over this amount but they can go lower than it. Motion carried unanimously.

 

Sarah would like permission to transfer 2 art prints that were found in the basement to the Friends. A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Rhea Parshall to do this. Motion carried.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Rhea Parshall to approve the Resolution for the Executive Session held at the beginning of this meeting. Motion carried.

 

Montie Manning gave an overview of the six-month accomplishments staff have made toward the 2004 Goals and Objectives. He thanked managers, staff, Sarah, and Lova for their help with the document and the Board for approving these goals. Customer service is very important as seen in Goal A. We are reaching out to the Hispanic population by offering bi-lingual story times and staff Spanish classes. Interlibrary Loan requests are well over goal at 57%. Programming stats are already at or very near 100% of goal. The Summer Reading Program has been very successful with 1,555 children, 604 adults and 203 teens signed up as of June 30. Steve Merritt is serving 76 customers with Homebound Services monthly. Sixty two percent of our library population has a library card. Montie also mentioned the fine job Community Relations staff did to coordinate Maggie Kernan’s visit to the library. Rhea thanked Montie for such a fine report.

 

Elaine Mathews gave a report on Reference Services. In 2003 Reference staff answered 80,295 questions. Teen Services has been very successful with programming. We received a grant and a set of videos to do programming on Human Rights. We will be partnering with Amnesty International to do these. More and more people are using resources on line, not hard copies of materials. Reference constantly looks for ways to save money, such as canceling subscriptions to some of our resources that are now available on line. Customers now have the ability to access our databases from home.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She mentioned how hard staff have worked promoting Summer Reading and the numbers for that are fabulous. The tax payment won’t be here until late September. We may have to transfer funds.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. Linda Manderson introduced Emily Whitsett. She has interned here part time since May, working in all departments. She is thinking of pursuing a Masters in Library Science and wanted to come here and experience all aspects of the library.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Chuck Lacey to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

August 18, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Bill Surbaugh, Greg Fisher, Pat Dolly

 

Trustees Absent

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Kelly Evans, Edra Waterman, Frank Lucas, Russ Jones, Shawn Henson, Carolyn Metz, Beth Hull, Becky Gremes

 

Others Present

Jim Freeman, Library Attorney

 

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the main library.

 

Sarah introduced Dr. Pat Dolly. She is our newest Board member and was appointed by the Madison County Council. Dr. Dolly is Executive Dean of Ivy Tech State College. She said she is looking forward to serving on the Board and also working with us in forming a relationship between the library and Ivy Tech faculty and students. Linda Manderson introduced Kelly Evans, the new Reference Librarian, and Beth Hull, new Teen Services Librarian.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Chuck Lacey to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held July 21, 2004 as mailed. Motion carried.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Greg Fisher seconded. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

The next item on the agenda was a report on Bixby’s. Their last day of business was August 7. There are still a few items that need to be removed and they need to do some cleaning. The owners are going to continue to pay the lease through December. They are also going to work very hard to find someone to buy the business. Sarah recommends leaving the structure in place so anyone who is interested in opening up a business can see what it looks like. Bill gave Sarah the name of a company in Noblesville for her to contact to see if they are interested. Chuck asked Sarah if she thought a perspective buyer would involve themselves   based on the financial figures. Sarah said she believes there should be an owner/operator in there to save on labor costs. They also need to advertise and promote their business.

 

At the June Board meeting Chuck asked if we had any type of Diversity Policy. We do not. Linda has written a Diversity Policy for review by the Board. Chuck said he had called Floyd Edwards, Human Resources for the city, to see how this policy compares with what they have. Mr. Edwards said it is almost exactly what they have. Linda has done much research, looking at policies from other libraries and other organizations. Bill said he thinks the policy is fine except that it is deficient in one area. He thinks employment law requires that employers take constructive, positive action to seek out applicants from minorities. He thinks we should seek out places to recruit minorities. Linda has searched and is not aware of any such law. Chuck asked how we would word this. Bill suggested Linda contact Rod English at Delco Remy America to see what they have. Chuck asked her to also talk to Mr. Edwards. Linda will do some more research. This item was tabled to a later date.

 

President Muething noted that Bill Surbaugh approved paying the bills with the exception of claim #28967.

Frank Lucas gave a report on Computer Services. He wanted to let the Board know what he and his staff have been doing. They are charged with writing the specifications for, purchasing, installing, repairing, and upgrading all the computers in the system. That is a total of 181 computers. They also provide support and training for the public and for staff. They are responsible for maintaining and keeping up with 10 file servers. They also maintain all related equipment, such as the Vend a Card machines, Vision Athena equipment, and even telephones. Computer Services staff has to be proficient in hundreds of software packages. The past 6 months, in the Technology Center only, there were 65,985 log ins at the computers, staff answered 7,480 in person questions, 1,063 telephone questions, and they touched a piece of equipment 6,754 times. Last spring they spend 135 man-hours on a very destructive virus. That would have cost around $29,386 if an outside vendor had fixed the problem. As a final statistic, Frank shared that there are over 2,000,000 “hits” on the library’s web site a month. Last month they put in a new software program to virtually eliminate spam e-mail and advertisements. The Board thanked Frank for such a great report. Frank said he has a wonderful staff.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She distributed a handout for Summer Reading Program totals. It was a huge success. Sarah has begun working with 2 groups; 4Community is working with teens to make sure they are ready to go to work or go to college by age 20. She has also contacted Tim Long who is trying to create a database of 3 and 4 year olds in the community to work on having those children ready to enter school. The library would like to be involved with this. Sarah would like for the Board members to give her 1-5 names of groups or individuals in the community who need to be kept aware of what’s going on at the library.

 

We would like to have input on how the Board members feel the meetings are going. Paul distributed a questionnaire and asked that it be filled out and returned before leaving.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. Being none, a motion was made by Greg Fisher and seconded by Bill Surbaugh adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

September 15, 2004

Trustees Present

Paul Muething, President

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Greg Fisher, Pat Dolly

 

Trustees Absent

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Bill Surbaugh

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Montie L. Manning, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Edra Waterman, Alice Milley, Stephanie Striegel, Russ Jones, Garry Bailey, Gene Vincent

 

 

Others Present

Jim Freeman, Library Attorney

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the main library. He appointed Pat Dolly as Secretary Pro-tem in the absence of Chuck Lacey.

 

Linda Manderson introduced new staff members, Stephanie Striegel who was promoted from Community Relations Associate to Community Relations Manager and Gene Vincent, who was hired as Security Services Manager.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the minutes of the public hearing on the budget held August 18, 2004. Greg Fisher made one correction. The third paragraph, 2^nd sentence, should read, “There was none made.” Motion to approve the minutes as corrected carried. A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Pat Dolly approve the minutes of the regular meeting held August 18, 2004. Motion carried.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the bills and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published, Greg Fisher seconded. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the Library Improvement Reserve Fund Transfer Resolution. Every year the Board budgets $186,500 in this fund to be used for things like building equipment and computers. Now that we have received our tax check we can move this appropriated money to that fund. Motion to approve this Resolution carried.

 

Next on the agenda was the approval of the 2005 operating budget. Sarah thanked the Budget Committee for all their hard work. She feels this is a good budget and one the library can operate with. It includes a 2% cost of living increase, a 2% merit increase, a full time position for the Business Office and a part time position for Circulation.  Rhea Parshall said the Budget Committee came to a consensus and proposes this budget be accepted. A committee submitted this motion so no second is needed. Paul asked if there was any discussion on the proposal. Greg Fisher said he feels a 3.5% increase in the levy was not necessary when a 3% increase would cover the budget. He feels this way because of the financial shape of the county. He thinks we might at some point generate some resistance if it becomes known that we could have gotten by with the 3% increase. Paul Muething said the Department of Local Government Finance has always recommended that we ask for the maximum levy we can which this year is a 4.4% increase. Anderson Public Library has a history of always acting responsibly and has never asked for the maximum levy. The 3.5% increase the budget committee agreed on is 20% less than we could have asked for. The dollar amount of the .5% additional increase in the tax levy is $17,536. The operating budget will not change, the operating balance will. The operating balance is usually used as a cash flow tool. Tonya said if we lower this year’s tax levy it would reduce next year’s capabilities. Sarah said we are growing and can’t go by the rest of the county. As the economy in the area goes down our business goes up. People are using the library and help from library staff to find jobs online, write resumes, do interviews and obtain other information they need. Sarah said we would be short changing ourselves down the road if we do not pass the 3.5% levy. Greg wants to make sure 3 aye votes will pass the budget. A majority of the quorum is needed to pass the motion. After some discussion on that subject, and Roberts Rule of Order was checked, it was confirmed that in order to pass the budget we would need a majority of those present. The vote on raising the tax levy 3.5% was taken by show of hands. Voting in favor were Rhea Parshall, Pat Dolly, and Paul Muething. Voting against was Greg Fisher. Motion carried by majority.

 

 

A motion was made by Greg Fisher and seconded by Rhea Parshall to approve the Library Improvement Reserve Fund budget of $186,500. Sarah would like to spend $65,000 next year to replace the roof at Lapel and upgrade our Sonitrol equipment. Motion carried.

 

All the money in the LIRF fund for this year has not been spent. Russ Jones would like to upgrade the heating and air conditioning system in the Extension building at a cost of $8,800. This would tie in all of their controls to the ones at Main. They will also add a humidistat. The thermostats there will have an override option to control the temperature when the building is empty. Eventually he would like to put the same system at Lapel. Sarah feels we need to do this. We saved money on the carpet and the roof at the Extension building. Rhea Parshall made a motion to give Russ permission to spend the $8,800. Pat Dolly seconded, motion carried unanimously.

 

There is enough money in lapsed salaries to fill the new Bookkeeper position immediately instead of waiting until the first of the year. Sarah said staff in the Business Office is struggling with all of the duties they have and they need the extra person. Pat Dolly made a motion to approve this request. Greg Fisher seconded, motion carried.

 

Last month Linda Manderson presented a proposed Diversity Policy to the Board. It was tabled in order for Linda to get more feedback from a few other people. She talked to Baker and Daniels employment law specialists in Indianapolis. They said the policy was fine. They only made one change by taking out one word, which makes no impact on the document at all. A motion was made by Greg Fisher and seconded by Rhea Parshall to accept this policy. Motion carried. Paul thanked Linda for her work on this.

 

Melanie Johnson gave her report on Extension Services. They encompass the Community Bookmobile, School Bookmobile, Outreach Services, Jail Service, the internal courier service and RSVP. In a 2 day period at the Anderson Community Schools free and reduced lunch sign up program 276 people came on the Bookmobile, 99 new library cards were issued, 8 lost cards were replaced and 11 customer records were updated. They have added a Bookmobile stop at the NAACP Headquarters for students being tutored there after school. Ed Smith, library courier, has moved 3,717 bags, boxes, or tubs between the library facilities so far this year. Steve Cooper did a presentation at the National Bookmobile Conference on Jail Services. Steve Merritt has 84 homebound customers and provides services to 9 facilities for seniors that he visits twice a month. He not only delivers materials, he also does programming. Pat Dolly would like for Melanie to see about the possibility of making a bookmobile stop at the police sub-station. There is a cellular connection on all the trucks so staff can communicate with Main.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. We received our tax check on September 3. Our customers now have access to the library database from home via Remote Patron Authentication. Mark Kratzner, Circulation staff member, overheard some young males talking and observed them hiding CDs in the top of one of the magazine-shelving units. He alerted Security who found 45 items hidden with a replacement

value of over $1,400. Maintenance staff dismantled the shelf. Montie has announced his resignation, effective October 8. He has taken the position of Director of Alexandria Public Library.

 

Before Paul asked for comments from the floor he thanked Rhea, as Chair of the Budget Committee, for all her hard work. She said it is hard to do as much as we can for staff and still be sensitive to our community. Paulalso thanked Sarah, Tonya, Edra, Montie, Greg and Bill for serving on the committee.

 

Lova Gay thanked the Board for re-instating the merit raise and she also thanked the Board for keeping us in good financial shape so we are not in the same shape as the other governmental entities in the area.

 

Linda introduced Garry Bailey, newest Circulation Page. Garry said as a homeowner in the district he feels the library is well worth the tax dollars he pays.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Pat Dolly to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary,

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

October 20, 2004

Trustees Present

 

Paul Muething, President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Greg Fisher

 

Trustees Absent

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Bill Surbaugh, Pat Dolly

 

Staff Present

 

Sarah Later, Director

Edra Waterman, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Stephanie Holloway, Russ Jones, Christie Hamm, Beth Oljace, Carolyn Metz

 

Others Present

9 AU students

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the main library. It was asked that approval of the bills be moved further down on the agenda. Approval granted.

 

Linda Manderson introduced new staff members Edra Waterman, who was promoted from Lapel Branch Manager to Assistant Director of the library system, and Christie Hamm, who was newly hired as Children’s Services Manager. Paul also welcomed all the Anderson University students who attended the meeting.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held September 15, 2004. Motion carried.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the Resolution Relative to Advance Draw. Sarah explained that twice a year we are allowed to ask for an advance draw on our tax money. Motion to approve this Resolution carried.

 

Every 2 years we are required by state law to go out for bids on our Cash Management Account. Tonya needs approval to solicit bids from the various banks in the district. Chuck Lacey made a motion to approve this process, seconded by Greg Fisher. Chuck asked what the Cash Management System involves. Tonya explained this was a sweep account, which means the bank sweeps the money every night into an investment account and then back again the next morning into the main account. This earns more interest for the library. Motion carried.

 

A motion was made by Greg Fisher and seconded by Chuck Lacey to approve the 2005 Salary Schedule. Chuck asked how this schedule differs from last year’s. Sarah explained it reflects the 2% cost of living allowance approved by the board. Chuck asked if we have any 104 employees who are not at the level shown. Sarah said 104 staff will be hired at $9.83 per hour in 2005 and in 2004 they would have been hired at $9.64 per hour. Staff fall into various pay rates within their grades based on longevity and merit increases received. Paul asked what happens if an employee is at the maximum level on the schedule. Sarah would bring it to the board and ask that they adjust the schedule. Motion to approve the 2005 Salary Schedule carried.

 

A motion to approve the 2005 Holiday Schedule was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher. These are the same holidays we have been closed for the last several years. Motion carried.

 

Next on the agenda was the approval of the Direct Deposit Policy. Sarah pointed out the new recommendation form she has created. Some of the board members said they like this new format. Sarah recommends this new policy go into effect January 1. Greg asked where this savings comes from. Sarah said a fee is assessed against our bank account for every check that is cashed on it, so the fewer checks that are cashed will save us money. Tonya said it also saves the cost of doing replacement checks and there will no longer be checks coming back with the bank statement so staff will not have to manually reconcile these. There are about 35 staff members who receive full or partial paychecks that are not direct deposited. Staff will have to change to direct deposit unless they submit a letter explaining why it would cause undue hardship. Chuck asked if we had a definition for “undue”. Not at this time. Tonya said it is not a staff decision whether or not to participate; they must participate unless undue hardship is proven. There are many businesses requiring this. A motion to approve this Direct Deposit Policy was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Chuck Lacey. Motion carried.

 

Unique Management now has a small balance program where they will try to collect on accounts that are between $10.00 and $24.99. These accounts will not be credit reported by Unique. Currently we only use them to try to collect on accounts of $25 or more. Greg asked if we know how much is owed to us in this range. Sarah is not sure but she thinks it is a lot. Chuck asked if there was a cost to us involved. Sarah said it is a flat fee of $2.95. With the current program we are on for the larger accounts we are paying $4.95 for each account we send to them and then an extra amount might be charged depending on how far they have to go with the account. They have a program that is a flat fee of $8.95 per account no matter how much they have to do. Sarah has already told them to start this new rate. Chuck feels there is a public impact that needs to be discussed. He thinks there may be some people casting aspersions upon management that is so “money minded”. Sarah said we do get people in who get angry but they pay their bills. There is no public outcry. People who have overdue materials are sent 4 notices. There is a 42 day turnaround time before they are sent to collection. They also have the option of a payment plan to pay fees. Chuck moved to have Sarah sign the contract with Unique Management for the collection of accounts between $10.00 and $24.99. Rhea Parshall seconded, motion carried.

 

There is money left in the Library Improvement Reserve Fund. Sarah would like to request 3 items on which to spend this money. The Sonitrol equipment at the Extension building needs to be updated. Several times Sarah has been called at 11:00 or later at night to come over and check the building and re-code it out. The cost to upgrade this system will be $6,170. The second request is to replace the cabinets in the public restrooms on the first floor and at the Extension building. Gentry’s said it would not be cost effective to re-cover what we have, it would be less expensive to install new ones. Russ has a quote from them for $5,400 to build these. Maintenance staff will do all the plumbing. The third request is for the re-painting of the fountain out front. The last company who painted it did a bad job. The paint is peeling. Russ tried very hard to get this company back to re-paint it. Our attorney found out that this company has since filed bankruptcy. We are an unsecured creditor so we will not be able to make a claim against them. Russ found a person who paints fiberglass boats and he submitted a quote of $8,800. Paul asked if we really need a fountain. It costs a lot of money to maintain it. He would like to do a little more study on what these costs are before making a decision on what to do. Staff will come up with some other options and report on it at the November meeting. Chuck asked what was included in the Sonitrol update. This is all for the Extension building. It replaces and/or upgrades the current equipment. It includes new contacts, keypads and sensors. Russ can do a lot of the repair work and can do some of the wiring. We are happy with Sonitrol. We pay them an annual monitoring fee for the whole library system of $2,337. A motion was made by Chuck Lacey and seconded by Greg Fisher to use the excess LIRF money to do the Sonitrol update and the installation of new cabinets in the restrooms (not to exceed the $5,400 quoted for them). Motion carried.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the claims and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Greg Fisher seconded. Motion carried.

 

Beth Oljace gave her report on the Indiana Room. She said in their world everything old is always new again.

 

They are the local history and Genealogy department of the library. It is always very exciting to be able to help someone find his or her family records in some form. They did their 1^st Genealogy Day in Lapel, which included a timeline history of the town. It was very well received. She is currently working on one for this building. April 20, 2005 we will celebrate the centennial of the dedication of the Carnegie building. She brought some old photos of library life back then. She also had a “pre Carnegie building” photo of the library. She would also like to do a timeline program for the Chesterfield community. Beth shared with the board that she was Cataloger for the library for 12 years before she became manager of the Indiana Room. Many records of Madison County were destroyed in a fire at the Court House in 1880. They have most Anderson High School yearbooks since 1914.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She reported we circulated our 1,000,000^th item this year on October 14. Last year it took us until October 20. The roof at Extension is done. The carpet is being installed now. Sarah and Melanie are still working on replacing the van. The parking lots across 12^th Street and the one at Lapel have been re-surfaced and re-striped. Anderson Public Library was ranked #10 in the nation on the Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings for libraries within our population category. This is based on fifteen different factors. We hosted the Indiana Library Federation District 8 conference on October 8. The comments were included in the board packets. Mystery @ the Library was Friday night and very well liked by all.

 

Paul mentioned that Anderson Fire Department no longer has use for the 1938 Howe fire truck that the library lent them for display. Paul would like the board to think about what to do with this truck. The Anderson Military Museum has expressed an interest in this truck. He would like this added to the November agenda.

 

Paul once again welcomed Christie to the staff, congratulated Edra on her promotion, and thanked Beth for a very good presentation.

 

When Paul asked for comments from the floor, Chuck asked the AU students if any of them would like to comment on the meeting. One of the students said it was very interesting to see how things work “behind the scenes” of the library. She also said she has friends from out of town who are awed by this library.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the

Anderson City, Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

November 17, 2004

Trustees Present:

Paul Muething, President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Bill Surbaugh, Pat Dolly, Greg Fisher

 

Trustees Absent

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Edra Waterman, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Stephanie Holloway, Russ Jones, Christie Hamm, Carolyn Metz

Jill Campbell

 

Others Present

Jim Freeman, Library Attorney

1 AU student

John Krieg, Anderson Military Museum

Joe McClain, Anderson Military Museum

 

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the main library.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held October 20, 2004. Motion carried. Bill Surbaugh asked if it was correct that Unique Management does not turn over accounts for credit report between $10 and $25. Sarah replied yes, that is how they handle their small balance program.

 

Linda Manderson introduced new staff member Jill Campbell. She is the Assistant Manager of the Reference Department. Jill comes to us from the Indiana State Library.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the claims and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Chuck Lacey seconded. Paul reminded the Board to please contact Sarah or Tonya with any questions they might have about the claims before the meeting. If there is an objection to a claim it needs to be addressed during the meeting. Chuck asked if the email questions become part of the minutes. Tonya keeps a copy of all of them. Chuck feels some of the questions are pertinent and feels they should be available. Sarah said we could start copying them. Bill said he feels most users of the CCH Tax Guide service are computer literate and have access to a computer. Since this service is available on the Internet he thinks this money should be spent wiser. Edra said that the information we subscribe to is not available on line. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

A motion was made by Chuck Lacey and seconded by Rhea Parshall to approve the Resolution to Accept Credit Card Payments. Chuck asked what credit cards we will be taking. Only Visa and Mastercard. Our charges, through National City Bank, will be lower because we are a governmental agency. There is a one-time cost of approximately $2,000 to purchase the swipe machines. There will be 2 machines at Circulation and one at Lapel. Sarah feels this is a wonderful convenience for our customers. There will be no minimum on the amount of payment received. Paul has 2 concerns. Will there be any process for giving credit to a card? Sarah and Tonya said we would probably not issue credit because we have to issue any refunds by check, per the State Board of Accounts. Tonya will check on that. He also asked if there would be any liability associated with this and if so, will our insurance cover it? We have a crime policy that protects against employee fraud but they will check on this also. Chuck asked if there was a maximum amount that can be charged. It would be up to the limit of the card. The basis for doing this is not only better customer relations but also less cash handling and less cash balancing by staff. Bill asked if we would require payments to be made in full. Our current policy says they can pay 25% at a time. The vote was taken, and the motion carried. A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Pat Dolly to approve the Credit/Debit Card Policy. Chuck wanted clarification of “payment of any library related charges”. Sarah said this would cover things such as fees, lost materials, PLAC and non-resident cards, meeting room charges and anything anybody has to pay for in the building. They have to come in with their card; we will not accept any numbers over the phone. Motion to accept the policy carried.

 

Next on the agenda was the Resolution Regarding Rotary. The Board approved Sarah joining one service club when they hired her. The library cannot pay for the membership out of library operating funds. If approved, Sarah’s salary will be increased to cover the cost of her membership. This is $650 for the cost of the membership and $162.50 to cover taxes because of this salary increase. This is only for one year and will be reviewed annually. It is Sarah’s choice what service club she joins. A motion to adopt this Resolution was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Bill Surbaugh. Motion carried.

 

The library has a petty cash account of $250 at National City Bank that has not been used in over 10 years. It is Sarah’s recommendation this account be closed and the internal cash fund be increased. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to accept Sarah’s recommendation. Chuck Lacey seconded the motion. Chuck asked about the history of this account. Tonya is not sure, but the account has just been sitting there for years. Chuck asked who is responsible for balancing cash every day. The Business Office staff does this and the staff at Lapel balances the money there. There is a very extensive system of checks and balances to satisfy the State Board of Accounts. Motion to close this account carried.

 

In April the Board voted to increase mileage reimbursement from .28 to .34 per mile. There needs to be a formal Resolution adopted for this. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to approve this Resolution. Rhea Parshall seconded, motion carried.

 

Frank Lucas presented the 2005-2007 Technology Plan for approval. This is required each year by the State to keep us eligible to receive grant money and substantial e-rate discounts. The Tech Team has met at least 4 times this year to work on this plan and they submit it for approval by the board. Bill Surbaugh commended the plan for the continued efforts of collaboration. Further consortium efforts may include Ivy Tech. Chuck asked how the technology inventory has changed in the last year. It has remained pretty much the same. A motion was made by Greg Fisher and seconded by Rhea Parshall to approve this plan. Motion carried. Rhea thanked Frank for all the hard work on this.

 

Edra Waterman presented the 2005 Goals and Objectives. Several of the numbers have been increased. We look at past experience and future expectations to revise these goals. There are a couple of things we are currently doing that were not part of this document so we added them. One of the new objectives is to have a Teen Advisory Board who will offer input into teen collections and teen programming. We also added getting input from the Lapel community on what they would like to see more of. We already do this each year at the Village Fair. Circulation/AV staff would like to do a program annually to highlight AV resources, possibly bringing in an audio book reader or having a movie discussion. Chuck asked if we have a specific plan to get more people to use our resources. We cannot pay for advertising. Word of mouth is the best way. Staff are continuously out in the community promoting our resources. The Herald-Bulletin publishes almost 100% of our releases. Pat said our logo is always a form of marketing. Bill would like to see us establish some kind of minimum attendance guidelines for programs. Bill thinks we need to come up with a conservation plan to address energy savings and recycling. A motion was made by Chuck Lacey and seconded by Greg Fisher to approve the 2005 Goals and Objectives. Motion carried.

 

Pat Dolly asked where we are on strategic planning. Half of the funds were designated in the 2005 budget. We need to start working on this in January. The Board needs to give Sarah direction on how they want to proceed. Bill recommends having a one-hour meeting sometime in the 1^st quarter of next year to talk about this process. The Board will set a date to meet at the December meeting.

 

The library owns a 1938 Howe fire truck. In November 2002 we loaned it to the Anderson Fire Department. They are no longer interested in having it so possession has reverted back to us. The Military Museum in Anderson currently has this truck on display. Joe McClain, from the Military Museum, spoke to the Board. He said there is a codicil involved that needs to be addressed. This vehicle is actually a hybrid of 2 vehicles, an International frame put on a Chevrolet chassis. The library on 10/18/84 purchased this truck from Dick Sullivan for $1,100. According to Mr. McClain, the only value it has now is to the Anderson area. Mr. McClain would like for the library to give this truck to the Military Museum as an unconditional donation. Their intent would be to keep it on display. They would have to maintain it for at least 3 years but it could eventually be sold. Sarah said in the appraisal the library has, this truck was appraised at $30,000. Chuck Lacey made a motion to transfer ownership to the Military Museum in accordance with their donation form. Rhea Parshall seconded the motion. Bill Surbaugh asked Sarah if she would like more time to investigate things. Yes, she would. Sarah asked if the museum would accept it as a conditional donation. They have never done that. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to table Chuck’s motion on this issue until the December meeting. Pat Dolly seconded. More information needs to be gathered before the Board can make its decision. Motion carried. A final decision will be made at the December meeting.

 

The decision on the fountain was tabled at the last meeting. The fountain was not a donation; it was part of the project of the new building. It will cost $8,800 to re-paint it. The Board needs to decide if they want to keep it as a fountain or do something else with it. Chuck suggested replacing the water with lighting, dirt and plants. Bill Surbaugh said we have spent a lot of money on the fountain and he feels it is time to do something different with that space. Sarah is to give a recommendation on alternative options to the Board in February.

 

Currently schools, churches and businesses in the library district are eligible to get Corporate Cards. We have issued a Corporate Card to the Madison County Council of Governments, which is a governmental agency. Sarah needs direction on if we should continue to issue cards to these agencies in the future or if we should tell them their card expires at the end of this year. There are 4 authorized people who can use each Corporate Card. We hold these cards at the desk and only people listed on the card can use it. The cards are renewed every year. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to allow any governmental units within our taxing district to have a Corporate Card to be used within our policy. Rhea seconded the motion. Paul thinks this is a good opportunity to put library materials into the hands of more people. Motion carried.

 

Russ Jones gave his report on the Maintenance Department. He feels their main duty is to keep the building clean, safe and comfortable for customers and staff. One of the safety things they have done this year is to upgrade the emergency lighting at Main and install emergency lighting at Lapel. They have bought a new piece of carpet cleaning equipment that cuts drying time from 6 hours to 30 minutes. He is furthering the energy savings by switching to a new version of T8 bulbs, as the lights need to be changed. Only the bulbs will be changed, not the ballasts. The Board thanked Russ and his staff for all their effort.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She reported Children’s has started a new fall reading program, Turn Over a New Leaf. It is being very well received. The County Council reappointed Chuck Lacey for another four-year term. Chuck asked if there was any type of summary sheet that shows why we are not # 1 on the Hennen’s rating. It is rated on 15 different categories but there are no summary sheets available. The information is generated by reports we have to give to the state every year. Greg mentioned that of all the states listed, Indiana was 3^rd in rankings. Sarah gave credit for this ranking to the staff. There will be a report on the café at the December meeting.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. Bill said he thought the Committee for Un-served Townships should meet before strategic planning is started. Russ added that we are no longer able to recycle books and asked the Board if they knew of anyone who would accept them. They did not. Tonya invited the board members to attend the staff Christmas party on Friday, December 10 at Davis Park. Please let her office know if you plan to attend. Paul noted that Bill Surbaugh approved the claims for payment with the exception of the claim to Vasey’s. Paul thanked Frank, Edra, the staff and Russ for their work and again welcomed Jill.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Secretary

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

____________________________________________________________________

(Return to the Top)

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the Anderson City,

Anderson, Stony Creek and Union Townships Public Library Board of Trustees

December 15, 2004

Trustees Present:

Paul Muething, President

Joni Brinkman, Vice President

Chuck Lacey, Secretary

Rhea Parshall, Treasurer

Bill Surbaugh

Greg Fisher

 

Trustees Absent

Pat Dolly

 

Staff Present

Sarah Later, Director

Edra Waterman, Assistant Director

Lova Gay, Recording Secretary

Tonya Carman, Business Office Manager

Linda Manderson, Stephanie Holloway, Russ Jones, Christie Hamm, Carolyn Metz, Gene Vincent,

Kendra Parks

 

Others Present

Jim Freeman, Library Attorney

Joe McClain, Anderson Military Museum

President Muething called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the main library.

 

A motion was made by Rhea Parshall and seconded by Bill Surbaugh to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held November 17, 2004. Motion carried.

 

Rhea Parshall has examined the claims and found them to be in order subject to any outside audit and made a motion to accept the claims for payment as published. Joni Brinkman seconded. Bill Surbaugh commented it would be very helpful when working on the budget to confine our year-end purchases to items that relate to the current year. He said it makes it very difficult when we pre-pay items in evaluating the budget. He feels items should be paid in the year they are budgeted for. Sarah said we got our check very late in the year and these are this year’s items. He feels we just need to be consistent on the way we pay things such as dues and maintenance agreements. Chuck asked if we would be starting 2005 with about $1,050,000 in the operating fund. Tonya said that is a pretty accurate figure. We are building back our operating balance. Chuck feels staff is doing a very good job of implementing the budget. Chuck asked if the carpet cleaning equipment we bought is a replacement or a new activity. Russ said it is a new activity. This machine has a 30-minute dry time instead of a 6-hour one. There should be no need to contract out any carpet care. This claim also includes a new cordless vacuum that can be used when the building is open for minor clean ups. Motion to pay the claims carried.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh and seconded by Rhea Parshall to approve the 2004 Transfer Resolution. At the end of every year we need to move money from line items that have been under spent to items that have been overspent. Tonya explained that because of the way our budget is set we have to budget out 18 months in advance. Amounts of line items may not always be guessed right on the nose. The State Board of Accounts allows us to transfer funds from one line item to another to cover these expenses. We have not overspent our budget.  Motion to approve this resolution carried.

 

The next item on the agenda was the approval of the 2004 Encumbrance Resolution. Sarah said we have not spent all of our book budget money. In order to maintain the 18% of our budget that we spend on books we need to encumber $41,677.37 to Baker and Taylor for materials to be bought in 2005. Bill Surbaugh made a motion to approve this Resolution. Motion seconded by Chuck Lacey. Carried. Bill Surbaugh asked Tonya for an estimate of how much we under spent our budget after encumbrances. She said between $50,000 and $60,000.

 

As required by law every 2 years we have to advertise for bids for our Cash Management System. This has been done and it is Sarah and Tonya’s recommendation to stay with National City Bank for this service. Their fees are lower. There were 6 bids received, 2 of which were eliminated. Chuck Lacey made a motion to retain National City Bank to manage our Cash Management System. Rhea Parshall seconded the motion. Carried.

 

At the last meeting more information was wanted about the value of the fire truck. This issue was tabled until today’s meeting. In 1996 Independent Appraisals, Inc made an appraisal of $30,000. They said they were not experts in licensed vehicle appraisals. There has been some interest from the Madison County Historical Society in the truck. Greg Fisher wondered what has happened with the value in the last 8 years. Jim Freeman suggested Sarah call John Gambs in Lafayette to ask him where we could get a proper appraisal made. Joe McClain, of the Military Museum, said if the Madison County Historical Society has a desire for the truck he would not stand in the way of them receiving it. Jim Freeman said that, under State law, if we transfer it to anyone other than another governmental agency we will have to get a value on it. We do have the title to it but it does not show up on our personal property list since we transferred it to the fire department to display. Bill Surbaugh recommended Sarah investigate the interest that both the Military Museum and the Historical Society has to find a home for the truck in Madison County soon and that we attach an appropriate restriction that it cannot be sold. Tonya will do the research with the State Board of Accounts to find out what we have to do legally. Joe McClain would like to withdraw interest from the Military Museum if a codicil is attached to the agreement. They also would like to charge some amount of rent for storage of the truck. This issue still stands as a tabled motion. Bill suggested Sarah let the Board know if she is able to get any information regarding the truck’s value so they can have it before January’s meeting.

 

Paul appointed the Nominating Committee. It is Chuck Lacey, chair, Greg Fisher and Pat Dolly.

 

The lease with Bixby’s expires December 18. Sarah recommends enforcing the terms of the lease and instructing the owners to return the area to its original condition. There would be expense involved, such as getting a dumpster, if library staff cleared out the area. We can charge rent on a holdover clause since they have not vacated the premises. They would become month-to-month tenants as long as their equipment is in there. Paul said there have been 2 people express an interest in running the café, but they are having problems with the owners over the value of the equipment that is in there. Jim said we might be able to negotiate an agreement with the owners about the equipment and the rent. Bill thinks a café is still a brilliant idea and thinks we should spend a little time investigating all our options. We need to get the fair market value of the cost to return the area to its original condition. If there is not a holdover clause in the lease there will be a Tenants at Sufferance clause. It is up to the Board to decide what to do. Sarah recommends putting vending machines in that area. She said the café caused the library problems every single day. She feels customers associate that service with the library. Joni feels the Board needs to decide what they want to do before a letter is sent to the owners. Paul suggested sending them a letter telling them they need to vacate the property and return it to its original condition and until they do that we will keep charging them rent. Tonya will check to see if the property taxes have been paid. Jim Freeman will send the letter. The Board would like to have a response by the first week of January. Paul will let the Board know of any correspondence he or Sarah receives from the owners.

 

Strategic Planning will start in late February or early March. This will give us time to include the incoming County Commissioners in the planning process. A specific date will be set at the January meeting.

 

The Director’s appraisal form has been changed. It is now more like the one the rest of the staff receives. There is more of an explanation of the number levels. Paul asked the members to review the form and let him know of any comments they may have.

 

Edra Waterman presented the results of the Output Measures surveys that were done in October. We have a 97% fill rate of questions asked and 99% of our customers are either satisfied or very satisfied with our services.

(December, 2004, cont.)

 

She would like for the Board to review the comments. They are wonderful and Edra thinks it is important that people took the extra time to write comments after they filled out the survey. There were a total of 1,225 surveys filled out. Bill Surbaugh said he thinks it would be helpful to do a random survey of residents as a part of strategic planning. The Board complimented the staff on the wonderful survey results.

 

Stephanie Holloway gave her report on the Community Relations Department and its staff. She has been a library employee for 3 ½ years, Lova Gay has been here for almost 10 years and Kendra Parks has been part of the staff since September. They are the media and marketing department for the library. They also partner with Computer Services to keep the web site up-to-date. This year staff has done 140 different printed publications for library programs. Kendra has redesigned the library newsletter. Starting in January “More Than Just Books” will be sent to 8,185 households. There have been 1,082 meetings booked for 2005 so far. Rhea Parshall said she enjoys reading the weekly articles in the Herald-Bulletin written by library staff.

 

Gene Vincent gave his report on Security Services. He thanked Sarah, Edra, Linda, Russ, and the rest of the staff for making him feel welcome and helping him get settled. Since he started he has updated the weather radios, the in house radios and the cell phones. The Sonitrol update at the Extension building has helped Security a great deal with troubleshooting problems. There have not been many problems with the parking since the city court has been open. Signs have been added to highlight the Central Avenue lot. Security mirrors have been installed in the AV area to help staff monitor security issues. Some of the things he would like to do next year is create a new database for Security to use. ACT guidelines and behavior guidelines training will continue. Chuck asked how many Security staff he has. There are 2 full time and 1 part time staff.

 

Sarah gave her Director’s report with information on all departments. She reported that we have received our advance draw of $500,000. Children’s fall reading program, Turn Over a New Leaf, was very successful with 214 children receiving new books. She pointed out the wonderful job staff did with decorating the library for the holidays. The Foundation’s annual report had a very nice picture of a child reading Shiloh in it. Sarah thanked the Board for all their support and hard work this past year. She also thanked the staff, saying they make Anderson Public Library a very special place to work. Chuck and Rhea also thanked Sarah and the staff.

 

Paul asked for comments from the floor. Jim wanted to know if there were certain percentages of our collection for certain types of materials. Edra answered that it is based on customer wants and needs. There is a collection development policy in place. Paul thanked the staff for their reports.

 

A motion was made by Bill Surbaugh to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Secretary

Anderson Public Library

Board of Trustees

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