MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OLD BRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY
February 12 , 2003
Present: Steven Goldman, President
Mary Chamberlain, Vice-president
Mary Gannon, Treasurer
Joseph Nuzzo, Secretary
Barbara Cannon, Mayor
Arthur Freihon, Superintendent of School's Alternate
Louisa Colon, Mayor's Alternate
Margery Cyr, Director
Maria Nowak, Executive Assistant
Absent: Rita Peterson, Trustee
Roman Soho,r Trustee
The President called the meeting to order at 7:35 p. and announced that the meeting had been advertised and would be conducted in accordance with the Sunshine Law. The Secretary called the roll.
Minutes
Motion: made by Arthur Freihon, seconded by Joseph Nuzzo, to approve the minutes from the January 8, 2003 meeting as amended. Unanimously approved.
Finance
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Mary Chamberlain, to approve the bill listing in the amount of $115,421.04 as presented. Unanimously approved.
Budget FY 2002/2003
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Arthur Freihon, to approve the budget FY02/03 in the amount of $1,684,035.00. Unanimously approved.
Budget FY 2003/2004
Mrs. Cyr informed the Board the Library's first draft budget needs to be given to Finance Director, Himanshu Shah, by March 21.
Mrs. Cyr reported she attended a meeting on Monday with other Township department heads and the Mayor. The Mayor did not have good news for the FY 2003/2004 budget. She would like all departments to do more for less money.
Library Audit
Mr. Goldman stated he is pleased to see again an audit with no suggestions or comments.
The Board all agreed that it is not necessary to meet with the auditor.
Statistics
The Board was pleased to see that the yearly statistics for 2002 were up. Statistics were placed on file.
2001 New Jersey Public Library Statistical Report
Mrs. Cyr provided the members of the Board with statistical information comparing per capita costs for the various area libraries. The per capita cost in Old Bridge is very low compared to other libraries in our area with smaller populations.
Mr. Goldman noted that volumes owned by the library per capita had been a concern of the consultant hired when the library was looking for a new Director. Mrs. Cyr said this is definitely something that must be addressed in the library's budget.
Mrs. Cyr said she was pleased to see the report shows the library has enough professional staff, but of serious concern to her is that the level of support staff in comparison with other libraries in the state, places the Old Bridge Library at lower than the 50th percentile. This indicates that our professional librarians are spending time on nonprofessional tasks at the expense of professional duties that need to be done. The report shows the library is offering a large amount of service for the limited amount of dollars it has to work with.
Library Board Meetings
Motion: made by Mary Chamberlain, seconded by Mary Gannon, to approve changing the Board meetings start time from 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm effective the March 12, 2003 meeting to accommodate various trustees. Unanimously approved.
Personnel
Resignation
Motion: made by Arthur Freihon, seconded by Mary Gannon, to accept the resignation of Barbara Elieff, Head of Electronic Resources, effective April 4, 2003. Unanimously approved.
New Appointment
Motion: made by Mary Chamberlain, seconded by Arthur Freihon, to approve the hiring of Catherine Colarusso and Susan Pastuszak, part-time Library Assistant I's, effective January 17, 2003 at an hourly rate of $11.27. Unanimously approved.
Motion: made by Arthur Freihon, seconded by Joseph Nuzzo, to approve the hiring of Laurence Harbor Branch, part-time Library Assistant I, effective February 5, 2003. Unanimously approved.
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Arthur Freihon, to approve the hiring Circulation page, Keith Berg, effective January 23, 2003 at an hourly rate of $5.25. Vote: 5 yes; Joseph Nuzzo; abstain
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Arthur Freihon, to approve the hiring of Circulation page, Wing (Wendy) Chan, effective January 23, 2003 at an hourly rate of $5.25. Unanimously approved.
Re-Appointment
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Arthur Freihon, to approve the re-hire of temporary part-time Reference Librarian, Dennis Schaub, effective January 18, 2003 at an hourly rate of $20.64. Unanimously approved.
Maternity Leave
Motion: made by Joseph Nuzzo, seconded by Mary Chamberlain, to approve a three month maternity leave for Young Adult Librarian, Theresa Wordelmann, effective March 2, 2003. Unanimously approved.
Personal Leave of Absence
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Mary Chamberlain, to approve Periodicals/ILL Department, part-time Library Assistant I, Evelyn Arazdon, personal leave of absence, three days paid and 14 days unpaid. Unanimously approved.
Evaluation Forms
Mrs. Cyr shared with the members of the Board a draft of the new evaluation form that the department heads are discussing. The Board agreed that the evaluation form used by the Library is an administrative decision.
Personnel Committee
Mrs. Cyr reported she had meet with the Personnel Committee and was given the guidance on several personnel matters.
Library Building
Roof Repair
Mrs. Cyr reported that the contractor is about 90 percent complete. The soffit work still needs to be done, but due to the extremely cold weather, they have not been able to complete the job. Mrs. Cyr said Mike's Roofing has been a pleasure to work with. They have agreed to come back to the Library when called upon for any new leaks or additional problems.
The Board also agreed Mrs. Cyr should start working on the capital budget for future roof replacement. Mrs. Cyr said she has already spoke with Mr. Shah about this and will begin a more extensive discussion about it with him.
Lighting Retrofit
Mrs. Cyr said the bids will be opened at the Township on March 19, 2003 at 10:00 a.m.
Gas Odor
Mrs. Cyr reported that the Library was evacuated one morning last week due to an odor of gas in the building. PSE&G and the Fire Department examined the building and assured her there was no gas leak. When one of the burners in a unit turns on, the gas smell gets sucked into the building always originating in the Electronic Resources office and spreads across the rear of the building. Mrs. Cyr reported that although there is no gas leak, any odor of gas requires that normal evacuation and inspection of the building needs to take place. Mr. Goldman asked Mrs. Cyr to stay on top of this continuous problem.
Library Services
Passport Service Pictures
Mrs. Cyr reported to the Board she is looking into the cost of a digital camera for the purpose of taking Passport pictures, but at the present time there is no physical location to set up the area for this service.
Volunteer Reception
Mr. Goldman reported to the Board how pleased he was with the Volunteer Reception held on January 31, 2003. This event will definitely be an annual one.
Mayor Cannon complimented the Committee on the setup of the event which was held in the reading area of the Library. All the Board members who attended the event all agreed what a terrific evening it was.
Shop-Rite of Old Bridge donated $100 and Commerce Bank donated $500.
Maria Nowak informed the Board Arlene Robinson donated all the paper goods. The balloons came from Arthur Freihon. The cost of the four food platters was $227.96 and the cost for having the balloons blown up was $16.71 for a total cost of $244.67 leaving $355.33 leftover for next year's Volunteer Reception.
The Board asked Mrs. Cyr to write both Tim Niland and Theresa Wordelmann a letter for their personnel files thanking them for the great job they did on the reception. Mrs. Cyr reported that each member of the Volunteer Committee had received a memo of thanks for their participation. She suggested that Mr. Goldman, in his role as Board President, write a memo to Mr. Niland and Mrs. Wordelmann. Mrs. Cyr and Mr. Goldman will work on this memo. Thank you letters have been sent to all the vendors who made donations for the reception. Letters with attached Certificates of Appreciation went out to the volunteers who were unable to attend.
Library Monthly TV Cable Show
Mrs. Cyr reported the Library will be producing a Library Cable TV Show. Mrs. Cyr, Mr. Niland and Mrs. Wordelmann met with Sharon Colucci from the Township Cable Channel. The show will be in a magazine format with two anchors and run for thirty minutes. The Library will advertise for teens in the community to serve as reporters and camera people.
Mrs. Cyr said the show will need a creative team. A memo has been sent out to the staff asking if anyone would be interested in working on this project.
Emergency Procedures
Mrs. Cyr reported emergency procedures are still being worked on. After Friday's snow storm Mrs. Cyr said she clearly sees some of the procedures which are in place now do not work.
Miscellaneous
9/11 Memorial
Mayor Cannon reported to the Board that the location for the 9/11 Memorial will be by the trees on the corner of the Library lot on Cottrell Road. Ground breaking for the memorial should be late spring or early summer and hopefully having it completed by September 11, 2003.
New Jersey Library Association Conference
Mrs. Cyr reported the NJLA Conference will be held at the Hilton in East Brunswick, March 31 through April 2. A trustees program will be held on Tuesday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Trustee Recognition
Mrs. Cyr asked the Board about giving Dr. Robert Lipp a plague recognizing and thanking him for his years of service on the Board. The Board all agreed and it was decided to invite Dr. Lipp to the April 9, 2003 Board meeting. Mrs. Cyr will investigate the purchase of a plaque.
Department Reports
The Board reviewed and accepted all department reports.
Coffee Cart
Mrs. Chamberlain reported the two year contract with the Coffee Cart is up on June 1, 2003 and a month notice must be given to them as to what the Board decision is in whether the cart stays or goes.
Mrs. Chamberlain reported she went to the cart this evening and ordered a tuna sandwich, but the cart had no tuna nor did they have rye bread and has always had stale pastries from the cart. She feels the wrong people are running the cart. Mr. Goldman said he feels the cart is not being managed properly nor is he making any effort to build the business up.
Mrs. Cyr said she agrees with Mrs. Chamberlain. She likes the idea of the cart and does not think it is a problematic in the library building, but has not been pleased with the management of the cart; the selection of foods is poor and the staff is not supervised particularly well.
Mrs. Cyr said, she is inclined to say their contract should not be renewed. Mr. Goldman has no problem in not renewing their contract, but would like to see the coffee cart replaced with another one. The Board all agreed the coffee cart contract should not be renewed. The cart is not working out like they had hoped.
Mr. Goldman asked Mrs. Cyr to speak with Attorney Scott Smith on how to handle this issue.
Executive Session
The Board went into Executive Session at 8:40 pm.
The Board went back into Public Session at 9:05 pm.
Mr. Goldman announced the Board discussed matters of personnel and the following action was taken:
Motion: made by Mary Chamberlain, seconded by Mary Gannon, to approve a 4% salary increase for Executive Assistant, Maria Nowak, retroactive back to January 1, 2003. Unanimously approved.
The Board asked Mrs. Cyr to call Mike Ferro from Ferro & Sons Electric and ask him for a proposal for monthly maintenance on the present lighting system to include changing of light bulbs.
Adjournment
Motion: made by Joseph Nuzzo, seconded by Mary Gannon, to adjourn the meeting at 9:10 pm. Unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Nuzzo, Secretary
Library Board of Trustees
Date Approved: March 12, 2003
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