MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OLD BRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY
May 8, 2002
Present: Steven Goldman President
Mary Chamberlain Vice President
Mary Gannon Treasurer
Joseph Nuzzo Trustee
Roman Sohor Trustee
Louisa Colon Mayor's Alternate
Arthur Freihon Superintendent of School's Alternate
Margery Cyr Director
Maria Nowak Executive Assistant
Absent: Rita Peterson Secretary
Dr. Robert Lipp Trustee
Barbara Cannon Mayor
Guest: Henry Vitale James Cummins & Company
The President called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m. and announced that the meeting had been advertised and would be conducted in accordance with the Sunshine Law. The Vice President called the roll in the absence of the Secretary.
Mr. Goldman suspended the regular order of business and turned the meeting over to Mrs. Cyr for discussion of the Library' roofing repair project.
Mrs. Cyr introduced Consultant Henry Vitale from James Cummins & Company. Mr. Vitale has worked with the Library for many years on the examination of the roof and its prognosis for repair and eventual replacement. A set of specifications has been completed for the roof repair project and is ready to go to the township for bid. Mr. Vitale has also provided the library with a proposal for the services and monitoring of the repair job.
Mr. Vitale reported to the Board the repair work will cost between $15,000 - $20,000. The repair of the roof will hold the Library over for a time period until the Township can develop a capital budget for total roof replacement.
Mr. Vitale recommends the bids should go out now for work to commence in September, after Labor Day. Pricing is high in the summer months. He also suggested the Library move forward to replacement within three to five years before the Library has a catastrophe failure. Mr. Vitale said the cost of total roof replacement could cost approximately $1,500,000.00.
Mr. Vitale gave Mrs. Cyr a list of in-house items that the Library can do for maintenance of the roof.
Mrs. Cyr has sent the specifications to Township Business Administrator, Alayne Shepler, for Township bidding and will further discuss this with her.
Mrs. Cyr will provide Bob Heims at the township with the whole packet and ask him to walk it through the system.
After discussion of the project and the proposal for monitoring services provided by the Cummins Company, the Board unanimously agreed that proper oversight was essential during the construction process to avoid future problems as has been evidenced by past construction and their later deterioration. Mrs. Cyr will pass this request along to Mrs. Shepler.
Minutes
Motion: made by Arthur Freihon, seconded by Louisa Colon, to approve the April 10, 2002 Board minutes as presented. Unanimously approved.
Statistics
The Board was pleased to see March statistics are on the rise. Statistics were placed on file.
FINANCE
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Mary Chamberlain, to approve the bill listing in the amount of $118,887.95 as presented. Unanimously approved.
Auditor for FY 01/02
Mary Gannon reported that the finance committee had met to review several company profiles. The finance committee recommendation is that the current auditor, Robert Hulsart & Company, be retained to perform the FY 01/02 Annual Audit.
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Mary Chamberlain, to retain the services of auditor Robert Hulsart & Company for the fiscal year 2001/2002. Unanimously approved.
Budget Hearing
Mrs. Cyr reported that she and Mr. Goldman met with Himanshu Shah, Scott Wolman, Alayne Shepler and Mayor Cannon on the library's proposed budget for 2002/2003. The library's budget was cut by $53,000. $33,000 was cut from the personnel line item and the Library was directed not to fill the Public Information Officer position at this time. The utilities line item was cut by $20,000. After much discussion about both the PIO position and the utilities line, the Board expressed concern that the PIO position had been created by eliminating another position and was not itself a budget increase. The PIO position is essential if the library is to inform the public of its services effectively, and also to obtain additional funding from non-municipal sources.
Mr. Shah indicated that by June they would have a clear idea of what the fiscal picture was going to be. Mrs. Cyr would like to wait until June before going back to Mr. Shah and the Mayor to ask them to reconsider these decisions.
Mr. Goldman said this is not final, but the Mayor and Mr. Shah did inform them this would be a tough budget year.
Fiscal Year 01/02
Mrs. Cyr reported she and Mrs. Nowak are looking very carefully at the budget as the end of the fiscal year approaches. The Library is looking at both over-expenditures and under-expenditures in the line items.
Mrs. Cyr said the Library is looking at those projects which need to be completed by the end of the fiscal year.
PERSONNEL
Trustee Training
Mr. Nuzzo reported that he and Mr. Freihon attended the Trustee Meeting at NJLA and that the meeting was informative. The new New Jersey Trustee Manual was distributed.
Mrs. Cyr has spoken with Bob Fortenbaugh from the State Library about annual trustee training sponsored by New Jersey. Old Bridge Library would like to host the trustee training this year. Mr. Fortenbaugh hopes to have something arranged by the end of May. Should this training not work out, Mrs. Cyr will schedule training for the trustees by an outside consultant.
Electronic Resources Temporary Position
Mrs. Cyr reported the temporary position in the electronic resources department has been offered to a librarian. At this time she has unofficially accepted; Wendi Smolowitz is on vacation this week and will finalize the official paperwork on her return.
Staff Newsletter
The new Staff Newsletter was review and discussed. The Board unanimously approved of the newsletter.
LIBRARY BUILDING
Lighting
Mrs. Cyr reported she has spoken with Mario Barone and the lighting design is ready to be presented to the Board. Mr. Barone is in the process of gathering sample materials he wants to share when he meets with the Board to discuss the lighting design. It is anticipated that this will be ready within the next couple of weeks.
Mr. Goldman asked that a separate meeting be set up with Mr. Barone once he is ready to present his design.
Roof
Mr. Goldman asked Mrs. Cyr to inform Alayne Shepler that the library's building and grounds committee would like to work with the township on the roof project.
Vestibule Flooring
Mrs. Cyr said there was nothing new to report at this time.
LIBRARY SERVICES
InterLibrary Delivery Services
Mrs. Cyr reported the new courier service started on May 7, 2002. The Library will receive deliveries four days a week.
Team Work
Ms. Cyr reported the teams have done some very good work and creative thinking. This round of team work will conclude in the fall. Some recommendations have been made and are in the process of implementation; others are still under discussion. The new teams will be discussed and created by the management team to begin in the late fall.
Problem Patron
Mrs. Cyr asked the Board to discuss an incident that occurred with a patron outside of the Library building after closing in executive session due to privacy issues.
Policy Committee
Mr. Goldman asked that the policy committee start working with the director on reviewing library policies and the Library Board of Trustees Bylaws. The circulation team is currently developing recommendations for a new circulation policy; and the collection development committee is working on amending the selection policy. Both of these drafts will be discussed by the management team and then brought to the policy committee of the board for review, discussion and approval. Mrs. Cyr will schedule a meeting of the board's policy committee to begin a review of the Bylaws for the Trustees.
Correspondence
The Board reviewed and accepted all correspondence.
Department Reports
The Board reviewed and accepted all department reports.
The Board went into executive session at 8:25 p.m.
The Board went back into a public session at 8:38 and announced a matter of possible litigation was discussed. No action was taken.
Adjournment
Motion: made by Arthur Freihon, seconded by Roman Sohor, to adjourn the meeting at 9:05 p.m. Unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Chamberlain, Vice President
Library Board of Trustees
Date Approved: June 12, 2002
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