WARRENVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT

MINUTES OF THE

REGULAR BOARD MEETING

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007 – 7:00 P.M.

 

ATTENDING: Trustees Arlowe, Brown, Clark, Goodman, Johnston, Stull and Walker

 

ALSO ATTENDING:Director Sandra Whitmer, Administrative Assistant Jackie Davis, Department Heads Joe Filapek, Leila Heath and Sue Larson.

 

1.                  Call to order – Trustee Johnston called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

 

2.                  Approval of the Agenda

Trustee Johnston removed #16, #17, #18, #19, and #21.  At the request of the Personnel Committee #20 was moved to #13.d under New Business as           Director’s Evaluation.

 

MOTION:  Trustee Stull moved to approve the agenda as amended.  Trustee Clark seconded.  Voice vote – all ayes.Motion carried.

 

3.                  Public Comments - None

 

4.                  Correspondence - None

 

5.                  Consent Agenda

 

Trustee Johnston read the Consent Agenda as follows:

 

a.       Minutes of the February 21, 2007 Regular Meeting

b.      Minutes of the February 21, 2007 Closed Session #1

c.       Minutes of the February 21, 2007 Closed Session #2

d.      Payment of non-general contractor bill in the amount of $2,315.00 with check #15695.

e.       Payment of regular bills for March in the amount of $35,778.16 with checks #15671 – 15694, 15696 – 15724.  Check #15720 is voided.

f.        Receive and file Building Construction and Investment Report for February

g.       Receive and file Financial Report for February

 

MOTION:  Trustee Clark moved to approve the consent agenda as read.  Trustee Stull seconded.  Roll call:  Trustee Stull – aye; Clark – aye; Arlowe – aye; Walker – aye; Goodman – aye; Brown – aye; Johnston – aye.  Motion carried.

 

6.                  Treasurer’s Report

 

Trustee Goodman reported that we are two-thirds into the fiscal year with 60.72% expended and that 104% of the taxes have been received.

 

7.                  Director’s Report

 

·                    Director Whitmer reported that she had met with Steve Larson on March 21, 2007 to begin updating the library’s Financial Plan.

 

·                    The library received official word from the City that the hotel/motel grant request for $3,000 was approved.Sue Larson has lined up some great musical acts for this summer to be performed outside in the Bob Walters Commons Area.

 

·                    National Library Week is April 15-21.  The library has imprinted book bags that will be for sale beginning that week along with refreshments and other activities.

 

·                    There have been numerous plumbing issues with the public bathrooms in the last month.  The plumber has been called and a firm was also hired to photograph the pipes.  

 

·                    A draft of the final Sub Area Plan was received from the City. Director Whitmer shared concerns regarding potential parking issues with the City’s Community Development Director, Ron Mentzer.   

 

·                    The staff Spanish classes will begin the first week of April.

 

8.                  Department Head Reports

 

a.       Circulation – Joe Filapek

 

Joe reported that 175 patrons have signed up for email notification.

 

b.      Adult Services – Leila Heath

 

Leila reported that some of the 300 books ordered for the Adult Spanish collection have been processed and are available to patrons.

 

c.       Youth Services – Sue Larson

 

The Youth Services Spanish collection is also growing.  Staff member Diana Abraham is currently ordering the materials and plans to inform the parents at storytime of the adult services collection.

 

El dia de los niños /Day of the Children, a special event, is scheduled for April 29, 2007.Activities include live music, games, crafts, etc. for families.

 

Jackie, Leila and Sue designed a three panel board highlighting the winter reading programs for a meeting “Nuts & Bolts of Programming”. They received many compliments.

 

Trustee Clark asked what “Buzz Marketing” was.  Director Whitmer stated that it is another word for “word of mouth”.  The library is currently working with two experts from Library Communications Strategies through a grant coordinated by the DuPage Library System and the North Suburban Library System.   The library’s campaign is to promote the online homework help services. On April 16th the two experts will be at the library to conduct two one-hour sessions for staff and trustees who are interested. 

 

9.                  President’s Report

 

a.       Trustee Johnson asked if anything is being done to put up the plaques for the Albright paintings.  Director Whitmer will check into getting new plaques made.

b.      The building design award received should be located somewhere other than the Board Room.

c.       Trustee Johnston explained that the agenda for the May board meeting will be divided in two, with the first half covering any and all old business, a break will be taken and then the meeting will reconvene to swear in new officers, elect officers, and conduct any new business

 

10.              Secretary’s Report – Trustee Stull

 

 Trustee Stull reported that she, Trustee Arlowe, and Director Whitmer       attended a meeting at DLS on the Open Meetings Act.  They learned that  closed meeting minutes cannot be permanently closed and any that are closed must be reviewed every 6 months.The library can adopt an ordinance so that closed meeting tapes are destroyed after 18 months.An ordinance can also be adopted so that a trustee can participate electronically in a meeting.

13.New Business

 

a.       Non-Resident Card Program

 

After discussion it was the consensus of the Board to continue to use thetax bill method to calculate the non-resident fee.

 

MOTION:Trustee Goodman moved to continue participation in the non-resident card program and to use the tax bill method to calculate the non-resident fee for fiscal year 2007-2008. Trustee Arlowe seconded.  Roll call vote: Trustee Stull – aye; Clark – aye; Arlowe – aye; Walker – aye; Goodman – aye; Brown – aye; Johnston – aye. Motion carried.

 

b.  Schedule Committee Meetings for F07-08 Working Budget Review

 

The meetings will be scheduled for:

  Wednesday, April 18th at 6:00 p.m. (review first draft)

Wednesday, May 16th at 6:00 p.m. (final review)

 

Director Whitmer will also go back for at least three years and report on what the actual taxes in the TIF were and what the library received.

 

c.Proposed Projects for Warrenville Library Foundation

 

Director Whitmer reviewed the list of proposed projects for the Warrenville Library Foundation. Adult Services has already booked two programs and if they are not funded by the Foundation, they will be funded by the library.

 

The trustees agreed that the projects were appropriate for the Foundation.  The Foundation may choose which programs to sponsor.

 

c.       Director Evaluation

 

Trustee Clark and Stull distributed a packet to each trustee and department head.  Trustee Stull stated that the forms can be electronically sent by Director Whitmer.The forms should be completed, printed out and then deposited in the mailbox named  “personnel committee” which is located with the trustee mailboxes by April 2, 2007.

 

There will be a closed session at the April board meeting at which Director Whitmer will not be present.

 

14. Trustee Comments

 

Trustee Stull

·                    She reported that she saw that in Schaumburg, along with several other libraries, that first, second, and third graders are reading to their dogs.

·                    She commented that the City Newsletter had a park district survey included in it and wondered if the library had been given the same courtesy. Director Whitmer will check to see if there was a fee to include the survey.

 

Trustee Arlowe stated that Warrenville is a very fortunate library. She had attended a meeting where the Director from Sugar Grove was commenting on their lack of funds and the cuts that have been made.

 

Trustee Brown stated that he really liked the addition of the wooden “New Book” displays. Director Whitmer stated that she was able to obtain them from the Winfield Public Library.  A small stipend was sent to them for the carts.

 

Trustee Walker stated that she would like to be at the May Board meeting, however, she will be out of town for approximately six weeks.She read her parting comments to the board stating that she had enjoyed working with the board and the staff.

 

14.                          Items for Information/Discussion

 

a.Non-library programs in meeting room

 

Director Whitmer stated that this was included on the agenda to clarify questions regarding a spiritual book discussion group that is currently using the meeting room. The woman in charge of the group had sent out a press release and the newspaper assumed that since the group was using the library’s meeting room that the library was sponsoring the group and published the library’s phone number.  

 

The staff does interlibrary loan the books for the group, which is also done for any book group in the community.

 

It was decided that the news release and any other publicity should include wording that states who the group is sponsored by and that they are not sponsored or endorsed by the library.

This wording should also be included in the meeting room policy.  The meeting room policy will be included on the April agenda to revise this section and include this wording. Director Whitmer will also contact the newspaper to request that the library’s phone number be removed from the press release.

 

b.Family Literacy Grant

 

Director Whitmer stated that the library has been formally approached to partner with the College of DuPage and School District 200 to teach English to Spanish speaking families and introduce them to library services. Activities relating to this grant will take place during the 2007- 2008 school year.

 

MOTION:  Trustee Brown moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:31 p.m. Trustee Goodman seconded.  All ayes.Motion carried.

 

Respectfully submitted

 

 

 

Heather Stull

Secretary