MINUTES OF THE

BAY COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

REGULAR BOARD MEETING

January 18, 2006

Ella Jane Martini, Chairperson, called the regular board meeting of the Bay County Library System Board of Trustees to order at 5:15 p.m. on January 18, 2006 in the County Commission Chambers, Bay County Building. 

Roll call present:  Derald Adcock, James Davison, Mark Kaplenski, and Ella Jane Martini

Excused:                Howard Wetters

Other:                   Georgianne Adcock, Kevin Ayala, Marilyn Kaeckmeister, Steve List,

                            Fred Martini, Mary McManman, Judy Mullison, George Mullison,

                            Fred Paffhausen, Sheila Pearsons, Mary Schoberth, Eileen Schulz,

                            Dee Sweeney, Denise Trudell and Sarah Wohlschlag

MINUTES

Motion by D. Adcock, seconded by J. Davison, to approve the minutes of December 14, 2005 Regular Board meeting and the Closed Session minutes from November 9, 2005 and November 30, 2005 Closed Session meeting.  Motion carried. 

BILLS PAYABLE

James Davison commented that legal fees were quite high, referring to check #35225 – Braun Kendrick Finkbeiner for $5,489.00.  He believes they are an exorbitant amount and does not agree with some of the charges listed on the invoice.  He asked to discuss these charges with the Director and Business Manager sometime soon.  Mark Kaplenski agreed and would also like a clearer understanding of how these charges came about.  M. Kaplenski also questioned check #35318 – Consumers Energy for $20,732.22.  He asked if this amount would be a normal charge for the Wirt Library.  Kevin Ayala responded that Skanska will be reimbursing the Library for this charge as it would come from the GMP for Wirt Library.  M. Kaplenski asked for an explanation on check #35311 – Bay County Treasurer Indirect Cost - $2,133.46.  K. Ayala explained this is for the work they do directly for the Bay County Library System such as working with the Library’s deposits; etc.  Everything that is done at the County for the Library is billed as an indirect cost.  He is of the opinion to take care of as much as possible in house to help reduce the indirect costs to the Library. 

M. Kaplenski offered a friendly amendment to the motion to pull check number #35225 from the bills.  J. Davison supported the motion.

Motion by D. Adcock, seconded by J. Davison, to approve the bills as presented, numbered: 35208 – 35356 and 4348-4382, for a total payment of $483,920.48.  Motion carried.

M. Kaplenski suggested that a board trustee meet with K. Ayala and F. Paffhausen to discuss each of these charges.

Motion by M. Kaplenski, seconded by J. Davison, to direct the Business Manager and Director to further discuss check #35225 with Library Board trustees.  Motion carried.

E. J. Martini asked F. Paffhausen to schedule this meeting.

FINANCIAL REPORT

December 2005 Financial Report

December 2005 Penal Fine Report – K. Ayala explained that he did not receive the Penal Fines for December in time for board packet distribution.  He believes he will have the calculation from the County by the end of the week and will contact trustees with the amount.

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by D. Adcock, to receive the December 2005 Financial Reports.  Motion carried.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT – F. Paffhausen shared that in addition to his report, he has requested a 30 day extension to a Step 3 grievance.  Marilyn Kaeckmeister and Mark Maul will be representing employee Sue Paveglio, who will come to the board and explain the grievance from their perspective and what management’s response has been.  F. Paffhausen explained he was not prepared to discuss it at this meeting given the many agenda items to discuss; and understood from the chairperson the need to conclude this meeting fairly soon as some trustees have other commitments this evening.  It will be on the next board meeting’s agenda and trustees will receive the correspondence pertaining to the grievance before that meeting.  J. Davison asked about the 2005 Policy Manual and Standard Operating Manual changes and corrections, noting his comment that he would bring these back to the board.  He asked that these changes and corrections be brought back first to the Personnel Committee meeting prior to going to the board.  F. Paffhausen agreed that he would first bring these to a Personnel Committee meeting.  He shared that he is aware J. Davison came to the office to meet with him at his request but was called away by the County Chairman at the last minute.

E. J. Martini asked F. Paffhausen if he intended to have tour guides available at Wirt Library to walk interested individuals through the building who would be well trained with information on the Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library.  She suggested there would be a daily scheduled time for these to take place after the Library is opened to the public.  F. Paffhausen responded that he was not certain if there would be enough staff to do so but suggested members of the Friends of the Bay County Libraries may be interested in conducting these tours. 

E. J. Martini asked if the Assistant Director and Managing Librarian positions for the Wirt Library have been posted.  F. Paffhausen responded the position of an M. L. position has been posted in the Bay City Times and also sent to Career Builders, one of the largest Internet employment agencies.  The Assistant Director position has not been reposted; he shared that he wants to change the education parameters of the job description to include not only a Masters in Library Science and or a Masters in Business Administration or in Public Administration, in an effort to widen the pool of applicants.  As a result from the first posting, only one person applied in house.  He has a Masters in Business Administration but does not have a Masters in Library Science.  By how the position was first posted, requiring a Masters in Library Science, he would not qualify for the position. 

E. J. Martini shared that she has just been made aware that the Alice & Jack Wirt Public Library will not be open on Friday evenings.  She believed it was the intent that when Wirt Library was opened to the public, it would be opened Friday nights and the Sage Branch Library would not be.  F. Paffhausen responded that is not the case; referring to a report he presented at a past meeting where he explained there was little usage of the Library on Friday nights and recommended the Library close at 5:00 p.m. and not have any branch open on Friday nights.  The hours he recommended would be Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 9:00 – 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. He pointed out that the only reason the Library offered Friday night hours was because of Sage Branch Library being opened at the Bay City Mall during the renovation period.  Once the Sage Branch Library was re-opened it had been decided to keep the Friday night hours.  By doing this it did create a staffing problem to be able to fill these hours with the staff that was available.  Given the fact that it is not the highest circulation time and that it had not been offered prior to the renovations, F. Paffhausen felt safe in suggesting to maintain a 9-5:00 p.m. schedule for Friday and Saturday.  This would alleviate finding staff to work these hours and increasing the number of staff hours as there would need to have approximately 7 – 8 employees to work at Wirt Library to cover Friday evening hours.  E. J. Martini suggested the Library proceed as is recommended by the Director and if the need is there, can always add Friday evening hours at a later time.

M. Kaplenski asked about the suggestion he had heard to set aside an evening prior to opening Wirt Library to the public to invite certain boards in to tour the Library.  F. Paffhausen responded that it had been suggested by E. J. Martini to hold an open house for elected officials here in Bay County along with Department Heads from the County.  He shared that this cannot be done until a Certificate of Occupancy is received for the building, which he understands from Tom Haag, site manager, should be granted by the end of the month.  Just today he received permission from the City to allow the offices and staff to move into the building and to work from there.  Prior to this the move had been scheduled for last Friday but due to circumstances was not able to take place.  M. Kaplenski asked to see the list of invitees for the special open house.  He agrees that there has been much work done by these officials and boards over the course of these projects however he is not comfortable making a distinction between the public and elected officials.  He would like to see the list and discuss it further.

M. Kaplenski asked on the status of the two vacant positions, Managing Librarian for the Wirt Library and for an Assistant Director of the Bay County Library System.  F. Paffhausen responded these positions were posted which resulted in three resumes received for the Managing Librarian position, two with the required degree but not necessarily the expertise and the third person had just a high school degree.  This position is being reposted on MichLib and CareerBuilders.com to cover a wider area and hopefully increase the number of applications.  These positions were posted internally with no applications received.  M. Kaplenski commented if there has been any evaluation as to why no one has applied.  He raised the concern that other area libraries are able to fill positions as these but the Bay County Library System seems to not be able too.  F. Paffhausen responded the key positions that were left vacant at the Bay County Library System were due to those individuals choosing jobs closer to their home; increased wages; etc. 

M. Kaplenski requested that for future meeting agendas, items that are included in the Director’s report be listed separately to be certain that trustees are aware of items needing further action.

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by M. Kaplenski, to receive the Director’s Report.  Motion carried.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

No Public Input.

CORRESPONDENCE

Please Tell Us What You Think – Lyle Crispen and Ken Lazarowicz

Letter – Jeffrey Donahue – White, Schneider, Young & Chiodini, PC

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by D. Adcock, to receive the correspondence.  Motion carried.

Letter – Bay City Garden Club – E. J. Martini explained trustees were handed the letter from the Bay City Garden Club this evening.  She asked for a motion to receive this letter and to approve the request that the Bay City Garden Club work exclusively with Steve List.

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by M. Kaplenski, to receive the communication from the Bay City Garden Club and approve their request to work exclusively with Steve List.  Motion carried.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Personnel Committee – J. Davison, Chairperson – No meeting-no report

Finance Committee – H, Wetters, Chairperson – No meeting - no report

Millage Renewal Committee – Mark Kaplenski Chairperson – M. Kaplenski reported there is now a committee formed to begin working on the millage renewal for the Library.  Those people who have agreed to work on the committee along with M. Kaplenski are as follows:  Kevin Ayala, Don Carlyon, Jim Davison, Linda Heemstra, Judy Mullison, and Stu Reid.  He shared that it is his intentions to add one other person to this board.  He has met and discussed the renewal with everyone on the committee and truly appreciates their involvement.  He reminded all that this is an operating millage for a renewal only; it is the millage that keeps the doors open of the Library and offer service to the taxpayers.  He made it clear there would be no request for an increase to this millage even with the increased size of the buildings, Library board trustees and staff is very focused on working within the constraints of the budget.  M. Kaplenski shared that the millage committee will be conducting their first meeting on February 8, 2006.  He invited anyone interested in helping with the millage renewal campaign to contact him.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Library Millage renewal – August Ballot – F. Paffhausen reported from a Committee meeting he attended yesterday at the County Building, where two actions were taken, one to rescind the motion made in 2004 to hold all millage renewal votes at the November General Election ballot, then referred it to the County Commission meeting held immediately following the committee meeting.  At the County Commission meeting the motion to rescind was approved.  The ballot proposal for the Library was discussed.  Only one question was raised from Commissioner Kilda who asked if the request was approved, would it result in any increased cost.  It was explained that it would not; only if there was to be a special election for the Library’s millage renewal, which would cost several thousand dollars.  The question for an August Primary will now appear on the Ways and Means committee agenda on February 7, 2006 and then move to the County Commission meeting immediately following, for adoption. 

He took this time to explain that earlier today one radio station had reported other reasons, which were incorrect, as to why the request had been made to move the millage renewal vote to August ballot.  K. Ayala had called the radio station to request that a correction be made as this has caused concerns for staff and the public as the Library had received calls questioning the statement.  The radio station, WSGW, would not supply the source of whom the comment was from.  F. Paffhausen has spoken with Commissioner Kim Coonan who suggested that he contact reporter John Hall and ask that he air a retraction from the original report.  F. Paffhausen stated he will send out an email to staff explaining the error and what the correct information is that they can convey to the public.

Pension qualifying hour increase request – F. Paffhausen explained that the request for increasing the hours from 800 to 1,000 needs to be resubmitted.  He explained that this request was originally submitted last November to Commissioner Coonan, who asked for additional material as well as input from staff that this change would affect.  Although this information was collected at the end of last year, as of January 1, 2006 Commissioner Beson is now the chair of Human Resources and this request now needs to be submitted to him.  F. Paffhausen will be submitting the request to Commissioner Beson.

OTHER

Donor Recognition Wall Plaque – Judy Mullison gave a brief presentation on the donor recognition wall for the Wirt Library and each of the Library branches.  She and Linda Heemstra, met with Larry Grawburg to discuss with him the design for these plaques.  His company has done donor recognition walls for Bay Medical Center, Delta College, SVSU, etc. who were all very pleased with his work.  At this time there has been no discussion over price, only the design of the plaque, which J. Mullison shared colored photos with the board.  After reviewing the design trustees were in agreement to continue with Larry Grawburg and approved the design they were shown.  J. Davison asked how this plaque will coordinate with the Buy A Book campaign plaques.  J. Mullison responded this plaque would be display at each library in a designated area; and would not conflict with the Buy-A-Book plaques, as those will be distributed throughout the library as they become purchased.

Motion by D. Adcock, seconded by J. Davison, to approve the concept for the Donor Recognition Plaque.  Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS

Opening Date for Wirt Library – E. J. Martini announced the opening day for the Wirt Library will be February 14, 2006.  She shared that she would like to proceed with holding an open house on February 12, 2006.

Dedication for the Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library – J. Davison commented that he agrees with F. Paffhausen’s suggestion to hold the Grand Opening for the Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library during National Library Week.  He suggested he would prefer to hold the Grand Opening during the week as the other three were.  He is not in favor of holding this during the weekend.  F. Paffhausen responded that his suggestion to hold it on the weekend, suggesting a Saturday afternoon, was due to the availability of speakers as they most likely have an 8-5 job they would need to work around as well.  He said that he has had good turnouts with holding grand openings on either a Saturday or Sunday with others that he has been involved with. 

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by M. Kaplenski, to give authority to staff to pick a day, Monday through Friday during National Library Week, for the grand opening for the Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library.  Motion carried.

Wirt Library Parking Lot Lease agreement – K. Ayala explained the agreement before trustees is an agreement between the Bay County Library System and the Scottish Rite property.  They have agreed to rent 30 parking spaces to the library at $10/space.  He pointed out the requirement of 180 day notice to the Library if they wish to end the contract.  The Scottish Rite noted in the contract that there will be three or four days per year where they will need the entire parking lot for meetings they will hold there.  They agreed they would give a couple weeks notice when these are schedule to allow time to find alternate parking for those days.  They also requested they will not be held responsible for any accidents that may occur in the lot.  K. Ayala responded that he has checked with the Library’s insurance agent and has been assured this property can be covered under the Library’s policy.  He offered to have this contract reviewed by the Library’s attorney if the board felt it necessary.  If this is approved, Library staff could begin parking at this location on February 1, 20006.  M. Kaplenski believes this is a good solution to the problem the Library was facing for staff parking.  He thanked E. J. Martini and K. Ayala for working this out for staff. 

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by D. Adcock, approve the agreement between the Bay County Library System and the Scottish Rite Association for parking spaces and to authorize the chairperson to sign the contract.  Motion carried.

Auction/Sale of old, unused furniture – K. Ayala asked that trustees determine what they would like to do with the old, unused furniture left from both the Auburn and Sage Branch Libraries after they moved back into the renovated buildings.  In addition to the furniture left from these two projects, there will also be some once the Bay City Branch moves into the AJWPL along with some from the Administration office.  He is suggesting that once the collection and staff have moved out of the Bay City Branch building, it would be an ideal time to hold an auction for this equipment.  He pointed out that the Library has used a local Auctioneer for past sales at Sage Branch with good results.  There are other businesses here in Bay City that deal with selling items such as EBay does, however after talking with them, he was told that they are not set up to deal with the large shelving units and equipment the library has to sell.  J. Davison asked if there was an estimated cost for this service.  K. Ayala responded the last time this auctioneer worked for the Library his payment was a particular piece of furniture and payment for the advertisement of the sale.  He is looking at doing this by the first of March as it is intended to hand over the building to the new owners by the end of March.  J. Davison asked that K. Ayala bring back a price to the next meeting for trustees to review. 

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by M. Kaplenski, to refer the auction of old, unused furniture discussion to the next meeting.  Motion carried.

CLOSED SESSION to consider the sale or lease of real property, (as provided for under P.A. 267 of 1976).

Motion by J. Davison, seconded by D. Adcock, to adjourn for Closed Session at 6:12 p.m. 

Roll call: D. Adcock – yes; J. Davison – yes; M. Kaplenski – yes; E. J. Martini – yes.  Motion carried.

Trustees returned to open session at 6:35 p.m.

J. Davison did not return to open session meeting.  Left the Closed Session meeting at 6:23 p.m.

OTHER

Compensation Time - Derald Adcock shared that he has been made aware that the non-represented employees of the Library are not compensated for the additional time they spend over their forty hour work week attending meetings and such, are not compensated for this additional time.  He believes it to be unfair practice and asked that this be deferred to the next Personnel Committee meeting for further discussion. 

Motion by M. Kaplenksi, seconded by D. Adcock to adjourn the meeting at 6:39 p.m.  Motion carried.

___________________________                                          _______________________

Derald Adcock                                                             Eileen Schulz

Secretary/Treasurer                                                                  Recording Secretary