Library Board Meeting Minutes (Amended) — Thursday, February 20, 2020

February 24, 2020 | gladdenk

The Chairperson, Amy Watts, called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM.

Present:           N. Eggenberger, M. Farell, J. Lee, J. Pandit, D. Turner, A. Watts

Absent:            None

Also Present:  E. Davis, K. Gladden

  • CALL TO AUDIENCE   (L. Golden, D. McHugh, M. Nicholson, R. Noble, J. Parij, C. Spas, 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 — Director Eva Davis shared a “thank you” note from the Canton Goodfellows in appreciation of the library serving as a distribution point for the Goodfellows’ “No Child Without a Christmas” program application forms.
  • DIRECTOR’S REPORT
    • The financial reports showed the library 8% through the fiscal year. Income is trending high on Property Taxes, which were due on February 14; other income sources are at zero (State Aid, Penal Fines) as they are not traditionally received until later in the year.
    • On the expense side, Fringe Benefits are trending higher because payment for the full year has been made to MERS. Library Materials are higher because librarians are again ordering newly published items for their collections. Capital Outlay and Professional & Contractual are up because of a progress payment made to ENGIE Services for the Building Control System project, and advance payments made (airline flight bookings, hotel reservations) concerning the upcoming Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Nashville account for higher spending in Travel.
    • The annual State of the Township luncheon is on March 4; board trustees should let E. Davis know if they wish to attend.
  • TRUSTEE COMMENTS — Trustee Jasmine Lee asked if the board would consider requesting that additional information be included in the monthly board packet. She indicated that a graphic analysis of the Profit & Loss Budget vs. Actual monthly report, along with a similar report overlaid with the previous year’s data would be helpful to her, and possibly to any new board members in future, in interpreting possible trends in library spending. Accountant Debbie McHugh stated that she would investigate possible options within Quickbooks.
  • COMMITTEE REPORTS — None
  • UNFINISHED BUSINESS & GENERAL ORDERS
    • ​Review 2020 Board Agenda Planning Document — While several board trustees will be absent at upcoming meetings when 2021 budget components will be discussed, Trustee Don Turner urged that the board plans not be revised to accommodate individual circumstances. It was agreed to abide by the agenda planning document as originally presented in January.
  • NEW BUSINESS
    • 2021 Budget Discussion
      • MERS Pension —While MERS consistently alters their actuarially required contribution assumptions, Davis recommended that the library contribute $125,000 to the employee pension fund in 2021. This will keep the library on a continued path to 120% funding, which will hopefully be accomplished over a four-year period.
      • ​Library Materials — Davis recommended an increase in the materials budget to 15%. The majority of this increase would be dedicated to services and subscriptions (eBooks and download services like Kanopy and CloudLibrary), rather than to physical materials. She mentioned that, with an increase to 15%, the library would meet one of the primary standards that previously had precluded the library from achieving Excellent certification status in the State Library of Michigan’s Quality Services Audit Checklist (QSAC). (However, other requirements in the newly-revised standards may yet prevent the library from achieving the top certification status in 2020.)

      • Trustee J. Lee asked about the processes for selection and ordering of international language materials and also for the scheduling of international language programming. She expressed her belief that more recent physical and digital materials would be appreciated by Canton’s diverse demographic population, and requested that the selectors re-double their efforts to locate vendors that can supply them.

    • 2019 Endowment Fund Campaign Review — Davis reviewed a chart depicting fund activity from 2015 through 2019. There was a mass bulk mailing postcard campaign in 2019; the fund showed an increase of $108,000 over 2018. D. Turner stated that he had previously indicated a preference for a report that split out principal, earnings and contributions to the Endowment Fund. Davis said that she would make notes to include such information in next year’s report.
    • Community Survey Result — Trustee Nancy Eggenberger said that the presentation by Cobalt Community Research was much more engaging than the one from the previous community survey. Community Relations Department Head Laurie Golden offered background on the origin of the survey question concerning culinary skill-building programs. Davis said that the percentage of non-users had increased since the last community survey; more outreach to new residents might be necessary. Library hours is another area that will be looked into, as well.
  • CALL TO AUDIENCE – Friends of the Library Claire Spas said that there had been a change in officers on the Friends board, and that the Secondhand Prose Used Bookstore is doing well.
  • ADJOURN

The meeting was adjourned at 9:04 PM.