The Chairperson, Michelle Farell, called the meeting to order at 7:31 PM.

Present:           Nancy Eggenberger, Michelle Farell, Jasmine Lee, Jane Pandit, Don Turner, Amy Watts

Absent:            None

Also Present:  E. Davis, K. Gladden

• CALL TO AUDIENCE  (L. Garrett, L. Golden, R. Havenstein-Coughlin, D. McHugh, M. Nicholson, N. Szczepanski) – None
• APPROVAL OF AGENDA

The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.

• APPROVAL OF GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

The minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

• COMMUNICATIONS — None
• DIRECTORS REPORT — The library received three checks from the Friends of the library at their annual meeting on Tuesday, August 14: $10,000 for the Endowment Fund; $ 2,200 for a new bench for the front of the building; and $2,000 for library collections ($1500 – International Languages, $500 – Large Print). The Friends also voted to amend their bylaws so that their fiscal year could be changed to a January-December calendar, in order to be in line with the library’s own fiscal calendar.

    The library is 58% of the way through 2018, as of July 31st.  The second State Aid payment has not yet been
    received, nor have the penal fines. Both are expected any day and will likely hit the financials next month. Due
    to payments made earlier in the year, Insurance and Capital Outlay are trending high but will fall in line as the  
    year progresses; all other expenditures are generally in line.

    Eva Davis reminded the board that there will be two meetings on September 20th: the Budget Hearing, to be
    followed by the regular General meeting. There will be a 15-minute presentation made by an energy consultant
    at the General meeting.

    Davis also reminded the board that they are eligible to attend the Michigan Library Association annual
    conference in October at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. Five library staffers (Community Relations
    Department Head Laurie Golden and librarians Lisa Boyd, Laura Fawcett, Dan Patton and Deborah Sobczak)
    will be presenting four programs at the conference.

• TRUSTEE COMMENTS — Trustee Nancy Eggenberger took part in the Prize Patrol for 62 Days of Summer, and said she enjoyed it.
• COMMITTEE REPORTS — None
• OLD BUSINESS  
  • 2019 Budget and 2020-2021 Projections (2nd Draft) — The board discussed the proposed Salary and Wages recommendation. E. Davis explained the history and structure of the library’s compensation system and the recommended 2019 salary budget increase of 3.9% , which includes a merit pool of 2.75%.

       Department Head Marian Nicholson further explained that the recommendations were developed from a 
       “worst-case scenario” and did not take into account personnel changes, unpaid leaves of absence, or other
        variables that historically lessen the actual salaries expenditures.

        Vice-Chair Don Turner expressed his long-range concern with the mechanism and method by which the
         salary budget is derived each year. He suggested moving away from the market-based model and
         proposed moving toward a fully merit-based method using an overall 1% salary line increase for 2019 and
         beyond. He stressed that the board must effectively manage structural expenses such as salaries so that
         they do not become a larger and larger portion of the overall budget.

         The board discussed this proposal, and the board’s consensus was to proceed with the 2019 salary budget
          as present. For future board discussions of the salary budget, E. Davis and M. Nicholson were asked to 
          bring the data showing the budgeted salaries for each year as a percentage of total income, compared to
          the actual salaries expenditures for those same years.

• NEW BUSINESS
  • Reschedule December 20, 2018 Meeting  — After a brief discussion, the board agreed to reschedule the meeting to Tuesday, December 18, 2018.

       N. Eggenberger moved and A. Watts supported a motion to reschedule the December board meeting as
       proposed.

       The motion passed unanimously 18/8-16-1

•     2019 Calendar of Board Meetings and Holiday Closures (1st Reading) — The board reviewed the proposed  
      calendar and will decide on final approval at the September General meeting.
• CALL TO AUDIENCE – None
• ADJOURN

The meeting was adjourned at 9:06 PM.