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January 2023 Board Meeting Minutes

ADDISON TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

MEETING MINUTES 

January 17, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m.

Call to Order: The Library Board President called the meeting to order at 7:22PM. in the Addison Township Public Library, 1400 Rochester Rd, Leonard, MI 48367

Board Members Present: J. Baldiga - Yes, J. Eller - Yes, J. Elsarelli - Yes, Kara King - No, Marilyn Szost - Yes

Pledge of Allegiance:  All in attendance participated.

Approval of Agenda: M. Szost moves to approve the agenda,  2nd by  J. Baldiga with correction of 2022 to 2023.  Correction made immediately All in favor, motion carries.

Call to Audience: M. Frost congratulates J. Elsarelli in his role as President elect and the first meeting of the new year.   J. Elsarelli comments how the  board members compliment one another in their roles as Board members.

Linda Hodges, Friends of the Library Treasurer, shares that new members have joined the Friends of the Library and new role positions are taking place.  

Consent Agenda:

  • Approval of the November 15, 2022 meeting minutes. 
  • Approval of the December 6, 2022 meeting minutes
  • Approval of the November 2022 and December 2022 bills and expenses as paid

 J.Eller moves to accept all as provided.  M. Szost 2nd. All in favor - none opposed, motion carries.

Financial Report:

  • Review proposed separation of operational budget and building budget; Treasurer Szost delegates to Director Walker to share the review of the 2022 year.  Noted is a substantial increase in utilities & TLN.  J. Baldiga shares seeing the TLN rebate called e-rate in the past. Director confirms this will again be shown.  M. Szost motions to move $50,0000.00 from LGIP financial account to the savings account.  2nd J. Baldiga.   Roll call vote;   M. Szost - Yes, J. Baldiga - Yes, J. Eller - Yes, J. Elsarelli - Yes, Motion approved.

  1. Elsarelli had a question regarding the 2022 audit which is complete.  Suggestion to approve a signing agent for the 2022 tax filing and the audit.  Designate signee of both the audit and tax filing to be the Treasurer.   A motion to add the Treasurer, M. Szost, for this purpose and for the letter of engagement and the 990 tax, was made by J. Baldiga. 2nd by J. Eller.  All in favor - motion carries.

Director’s Report: Director shares report and the increase in the patron numbers, circulation ,and overall  increase in business.  Highlights of the month included a visit by Santa during story time that created such positive excitement. A new streaming service called Hoopla was launched, creating new tech clerk position, collection & development methods, and summer reading program preparation are all in progress.  Director is working on a  job description for a new library tech position.  Discussion in regards to Board input took place. *The Director will work with the Personnel Committee regarding hiring positions.  J. Baldiga moves to accept the directors report, M. Szost 2nd, open for discussion.  All in favor, motion approved.

  • Google Analytics - Door Count -J. Baldiga states that numbers shared from the web site have informational value such as showing trends which may allow the Library staff & Board to make adjustments where there are overage or lack. The Director's suggestion is to include them annually.  The number is pulled monthly and currently in the regular report.   
  • Graph showing library trends - done as above

Committee Reports: 

Site Selection:

  • Update on property value estimate for current donated land - M. Szost moves to table this until the next meeting.  J. Baldiga, 2nd - All in favor - motion approved.

New Building: 

  • Progress update on purchase of new build site - J. Elsarelli shares positive progress 
  • Supervisor Bruce Pearson and Gene Louwaert addressed the Board.

Supervisor Pearson addressed the Board and audience.  In 2010 he advocated with Manni Yasso for the $1000.00 month rent for the current location of the Addison Township Public Library.  That time frame has passed along with Mr. Yasso.  His son, Chris, has taken over the building and the price of rent has increased substantially.  Bruce agrees that the Library is a very important community component.  Certain grants are not available to libraries that are under a lease|rental agreement.  Having ownership of the building  would open the door to apply for such grants.  President Elsarelli met with Supervisor Pearson to get advice on proceeding forward.  Supervisor Pearson met with Gene Louwaert and J. Elsarelli who all investigated the possibility of purchasing a piece of property that would have been going to auction for back taxes & foreclosure.  Gene Louwaert negotiated the property for $80,000.00 and had the property perk test with positive results for perk.  

Gene shared next steps.  Perk test was done with the help of Mark Smith donating the use of an excavator.  (Thank you Mark).  Perk test done, continued actions on hold due to the need of a site plan drawing to proceed.  Planning commission meets next month  2-14-23 and it is suggested to have this done as to have an ordinance change written out for the proposal.  The Board sees this as an opportunity in front of us to start over using Houston-Kennedy for surveying.  Gene has confirmed Houston-Kennedy can honor a new timeframe.  The question arose if Houston-Kennedy will prepare the site plan needed by the  health department.  Gene will pursue this information and further opportunity of work for this site.  Mr. J. Shenden did not want donated property to be sold; it was donated for the people of Addison Township.  Supervisor Pearson will present to the board and Mr. Schenden the request of the township taking the property and utilizing it as green space for the residents.

 Gene Louwaert has made the purchase of the property on the library's behalf.   J. Eller moves to request & give permission to Gene Louwaert with the advisement of Supervisor Pearson, to commission Houston-Kennedy on behalf of the Library Board to prepare the survey and needed site plan for the health department, and to investigate the possibility of having Houston-Kennedy continue with future plans & final site plans.  2nd by M. Szost.  All in favor, none opposed. Motion carries.

  1. Szost moved to have J. Elsarelli added as the representative of the signee of the purchase agreement for the new property.  2nd by J. Baldiga - All in favor, none opposed.  Motion carries.  

Gene recommends meeting with the architect to update plans with a basement to keep up with a new timeline to consider March as a potential start date.   Building committee will meet to make these changes and then follow up with Gene. 

Policy:

  • Review and|approval of the Collection Development Policy - follows library mission statement - M. Szost moves to accept the CD policy as amended.  2nd J. Baldiga.  All in favor - motion approved.
  • Audit signator procedure - approved representative above under the financial report to be the Treasurer, M. Szost.

***Finance: Board member on this committee for grants and additional operations- nothing outside of normal operations.

Personnel: 

  • *Applications submitted for vacant Library Trustee position - application submitted by Chuck Meininger - currently the President of The Friends of the Library.  The board points out on page 46, chapter 2 of the Michigan Public Library Trustee Manual that suggests holding office on the Friends of Library and being a Library Board Trustee could be looked at as a conflict of interest.  Chuck is not at this evening meeting so this point is tabled until the next meeting. Motion M. Szost to table until the next meeting and communication with Chuck Meininger takes place.  J. Baldiga 2nd.   All in favor.   Motion carries.  J. Baldiga will represent the Personnel committee by contacting Chuck.
  • The Director is seeking a Clerk supervisor in lue of hiring an  Assistant Director.  Someone has been approached for this position - this will be taken on with the personnel committee.

*Policy committee is to revisit the verbiage of the employee handbook regarding the hiring of new employees.  *The Personnel committee will make suggestions to the policy committee about the hiring procedures.

Capital:  

  • Brick fundraising campaign - No bricks sold recently
  • Federal HUD grant status - received HUD changes which do not currently apply to the Library

Compensation: Committee currently has no tasks as an ad hoc committee.   J. Baldiga motions to abolish the compensation committee and reinstate as needed.  M. Szost 2nd.  All in favor -  motion carries.

Communication:  None

Old Business: 

  • Ipad & Kindle future plan - Director equipment inventory.  This will fall under the New Tech position when it is filled.

New Business:

  • Increased Security at library (security cameras and motion detectors)  

The Library currently has no security other than fire monitoring.  Director sees it as a necessity to have motion detectors & cameras, for the safety of staff & patrons.  Thumb Alarm system has given the best price quote and is able to tie in with the current fire monitoring system.  J. Baldiga moves to authorize the Director to approve the quote from Thumb Alarm and move forward with the security process as shared.   2nd by M. Szost.   Roll call vote; M. Szost - Yes, J. Baldiga - Yes, J. Elsarelli - Yes, J. Eller - Yes.  None opposed.  Motion approved.

  • Review of the current library’s payroll process - D. Lamsa, CPA has requested a $50.00 per month increase for her services as her responsibilities have increased.  Discussion took place.  Confirmation of files being backed up to the ATPL & CPA office was given.    J.Baldiga motions to accept the increase to $600.00 monthly beginning January 1, 2023.  2nd M. Szost.   Roll call;  M. Szost - Yes, J. Baldiga - Yes, J. Eller - Yes, J. Elsarelli - Yes. None opposed.  Motion approved.
  • 2023 Budget Adjustments - Director points out income line item for the Building fund was created, fire monitoring | security system will increase, CPA will increase, streaming services, download destination increase (shared automation)- overall increase due to increase in the collection & development and the projected 2023 income would be short.  Suggestion to make available a maximum of $10,000.00 as usage from savings | fund balance to cover the shortages as needed. President cautions “Spending more than you make” theory.  One time expenses vs. operational that should be budgeted.  J. Baldiga moves to accept the adjustments to the 2023 budget. 2nd M.Szost. Roll call:  M. Szost - Yes, J. Baldiga - Yes, J. Eller - Yes, J. Elsarelli - Yes.  Motion approved.  
  • Documentation storage and account password|login- going forward all accounts are officially library accounts (personal accounts are not to be used for library business) and all information|communication|logins are to be kept on premises in a specified area.
  • Update planning for the Addison Township Public Library Board By-Laws - as a living document it can be amended as needed.  Special by law committee was established consisting of M. Szost & J. Elsarelli.
  • 2023 Meeting dates. - board confirmed to be posted M. Szost moves to accept posted meeting dates for the 2023 meeting year J. Baldiga 2nd. All in favor. Motion carries..

Mary Frost was presented with a 10 year award of appreciation for years served on the ATPL Board.

Public Forum: Lyn Henderson - asks what can staff say to the public in regards to the building project?  - Answer - we are seeking site plan approval for a new build site.  

Patty Hacht - requests login for the library website to be more user friendly.  Director will look into making login easier.  

Linda Meininger - Friends of the Library next meeting will be 2-8-23 at 1:30PM at the township hall.

Next Meeting: February 21, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m. (unless otherwise posted)

Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by J. Eller, 2nd M. Szost. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at  10:07pm

Respectfully submitted,

Jennie Eller

Recording Secretary