Board Minutes

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of the Regular Meeting
July 17, 2007

The regular meeting of the Des Plaines Public Library Board of Trustees was held in the second floor conference room on Tuesday, July 17, 2007. President Noreen Lake called the meeting to order at 4:02 p.m.

OATH OF OFFICE

President Noreen Lake administered the Oath of Office to Trustee Maria Bahamon, Trustee Eldon Burk and new Trustee Matthew Bogusz.

ROLL CALL.

Roll call indicated the following board members were present: Maria Bahamon, Matthew Bogusz, Eldon Burk, William Grice, Noreen Lake, George Magerl, Rhys Read, Elaine Tejcek.

Also Present: Sandra Norlin, Hector Marino, Leslie Steiner, Carol Kidd, Margie Borris, Gary Valente, Judy Clar, Wayne Serbin.

Members Absent: Jerry Mahony.

CONSIDERATION OF THE AGENDA.

Sandra Norlin asked that E. Library Comparison Report and F. Library Water Usage be added to the agenda under IX. New Business. George Magerl asked that A. Non-Resident Fee Calculations be added to the agenda under VIII. Unfinished Business.

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by William Grice, to accept the agenda, as modified. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Leslie Steiner, Head of Public Information, stated that she will retire on July 24 and that it was a pleasure to work with the board and the staff of the library

Wayne Serbin, 835 Pearson Street, asked what the library was doing to promote high school attendance and Sandra Norlin responded that the library currently has a teen advisory board that helps plan programs for teens and that programs for teens have included preparation for SAT and finals week study groups. William Grice stated that the Teen Advisory Board (TAB) won a Super Star Volunteer Award from the City of Des Plaines.

CITY COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE – Alderman Martin Moylan.

Alderman Moylan was not in attendance.

CONSENT AGENDA

MOTION by George Magerl, seconded by Elaine Tejcek, to accept the Consent Agenda, as written. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Following monthly reports to be reviewed and placed on file for audit:

1. Over the Counter Receipts $ 13,302.53
2. Petty Cash Expenditures $ 0.00
3. Budget Expenditures for June $ 458,058.56
4. Expenditures Year to Date $ 2,756,280.45
5. Revenue for June $ 18,327.52
6. Revenue Year to Date $ 2,968,705.11

MOTION by George Magerl, seconded by Elaine Tejcek, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures authorized by the Library Director and Board Representatives for library Warrant Registers as follows:

June 04, 2007 $ 59,672.52
June 18, 2007 $ 58,531.64
Total $ 118,204.16

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Bahamon, Bogusz, Burk, Grice, Lake, Magerl, Read, Tejcek. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by George Magerl, seconded by Elaine Tejcek, to approve, subject to audit, expenditures for salaries made by the Library Director as follows:

June 07, 2007 $ 124,061.91
June 21, 2007 $ 121,884.08
Total $ 245,945.99

ROLL CALL VOTE: AYES: Bahamon, Bogusz, Burk, Grice, Lake, Magerl, Read, Tejcek. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT
July 17, 2007

Please note: I have received no official requests for confidential information since my last report.

PERSONNEL

New employee for June/July, 2007: Jonathan D. Oswald, Page.

Resignations/Separations: Liezl Oliveros, Technology Page; Carolyn Romin, Melissa Zulaski, Jennifer Ortigoza, Stephen Galt, Christopher Ponce, and Meghan McQuillan, Pages; Allen Cummins, Processing Clerk.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Several department heads are attending the Trends Discussion Meetings conducted by Miriam Pollack. Ms. Pollack will be facilitating our Board Staff Strategic Planning retreat on September 15.

I have approved Tuition Reimbursement awards to six staff members for the fall semester.

PATRON SERVICES

I hope you all had the pleasure of seeing the debut performance of CartWheels, the library’s centennial book cart drill team, led by Gail Bradley. Brief video clips of the practice and the parade are available on the library’s Website. Karen McBride has introduced PlainTalk, a blog for conversations on a variety of topics of interest to Des Plaines residents.

Plans for the Harry Potter Extravaganza on July 20/21 are in place. Registration for the event is going well, with 52 children registered to date.

All of our Summer Reading Clubs have excellent participation, exceeding the enrollment of last year at this time. In Youth Services, 1795 children have registered; in the Adult department, 131 adults and 59 teens have registered. The Friends of the Library are sponsoring programming and prizes for all of the SRCs.

The circulation count is down slightly from June, 2006, but it is good to see that the use of fiction is up in the Youth Services department. DVD circulation from the Adult Collection continues to increase. Please note the significant drop in use of our video collections. Self Check was used for 48% of our circulation from the main library in June. The numbers from use of our online reference products are being adjusted. The Gale Group was not able to provide us with accurate counts for the past three months. Computer use also remains active, with over 8,000 uses in the Adult department and nearly 1800 in Youth Services for the month of June.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

I was on vacation from June 25 through July 3. Since my return I have attended the North Suburban Library System Board Management Affairs Committee meeting on 7/9, the Library Production Studio Advisory Committee meeting on 7/10, and the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Meeting on 7/12.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

George Magerl stated that he thought the formula for determining the Non-Resident Fee was stated incorrectly. Sandra Norlin stated that she would review the formula with Carol Kidd.

NEW BUSINESS

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by William Grice, to declare the following equipment surplus and obsolete property and to dispose of the equipment according to library policy. VOTE: AYES: None. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Maria Bahamon asked what would happen to the bookdrops and Sandra Norlin responded that they will be offered for sale to other libraries. Sandra also stated that the Friends of the Library would be asked if they wanted to use the book drops for collecting donated books.

Make- Model Description Status
(2) Kingsley Ultra capacity 500 books Useable
Legend Series #0315 All steel and welded construction
Side door with padlock and key
Tan color
52”L x 43” W x 46” H 277 Wt.
(4) transport carts

George Magerl will attend the August 6 City Council meeting, Maria Bahamon the August 20 meeting and Noreen Lake the September 4 meeting and Elaine Tejcek the September 17 meeting.

Sandra Norlin reported that the agreement between the Des Plaines Public Library and the Village of Rosemont for Mobile Library Service to Rosemont will renew automatically on September 1, 2007, unless either party terminates the agreement.

Sandra Norlin recommended that service be offered to Rosemont for another year at an increase of 3.7%, which is the latest increase shown in the Consumer Price Index for the Chicago area. The new cost would be $12,237.00.

Eldon Burk suggested that the amount be rounded to $12,300.00 and asked that the agreement be reviewed in six months and adjusted to reflect changes in fuel costs.

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by Rhys Read, to renew the agreement to provide Mobile Library Service to the Village of Rosemont for 2007/2008 in the amount of $12,300.00, which is an increase of 4.2%, and to review the contract in six months and adjust the amount of the contract to reflect changes in fuel costs. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS:

President Lake invited members of the Board to attend the 2007 First Lady’s Luncheon on September 8, 2007. The proceeds go to the Healthy Community Partnership Foundation

MOTION by William Grice, seconded by George Magerl, to pay for tickets for Library Director Sandra Norlin and Board President Noreen Lake to attend the 2007 First Lady’s Luncheon and if they cannot attend to offer the tickets to a board member or library staff member. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Sandra Norlin explained the library comparison report that was included in the Board packet and distributed a Management Profile with statistical information for the Des Plaines Public Library from 1995 – 2006. The Board directed Sandra Norlin to send the statistical information to the Aldermen.

President Lake stated that at the July 16, 2007 City Council meeting, Alderman Walsten stated that a Des Plaines resident was concerned that the library’s water usage was excessive due to toilets that flush twice. Gary Valente, Head of Building and Security Services, explained that the newer toilets use less water and the double flush helps to keep the drains clear, which results in fewer plumbing problems.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The library will host a party for children on Friday night, July 20 to celebrate the release of the final Harry Potter book.

The Relay for Life team raised over $9,000.00 at the all-night fund raiser held at Maine West High School.

Noreen Lake congratulated the CartWheels on their great performance while marching in the Fourth of July parade.

Noreen Lake and the Board of the Trustees thanked Leslie Steiner for her many years of service.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by William Grice, to close nominations for slate of officers for the Library Board of Trustees for 2007/2008. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION by Eldon Burk, seconded by Elaine Tejcek, to reaffirm the slate of officers, Noreen Lake, President, Jerry Mahony, Vice President and Carol Kidd, Secretary, by acclamation. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Noreen Lake took the oath of office for President and Carol Kidd took the oath of office for Secretary. Jerry Mahony was not in attendance and will take the oath of office at another meeting.

President Lake distributed the new committee assignments.

The Management committee will meet Wednesday, August 15 at 4:15 p.m. to discuss policy review, position descriptions, and recommendations from the Management Association salary survey.

The Finance committee will meet on Wednesday, September 5 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss recommendations for the 2008 budget.

The Planning committee will meet on Tuesday, August 21 at 5:30 p.m. to finalize plans for the board retreat on Saturday, September 15.

MOTION by Rhys Read, seconded by Elaine Tejcek, to adjourn the regular meeting. VOTE: AYES: All. NAYS: None. MOTION CARRIED.

Meeting adjourned at 5:22 p.m.

Minutes prepared by Carol Kidd