MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OLD BRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY
June 12 , 2002
Present: Steven Goldman President
Mary Chamberlain Vice President
Mary Gannon Treasurer
Rita Peterson Secretary
Dr. Robert Lipp Trustee
Joseph Nuzzo Trustee
Roman Sohor Trustee
Barbara Cannon Mayor
Louisa Colon Mayor's Alternate
Arthur Freihon Superintendent of School's Alternate
Margery Cyr Director
Maria Nowak Executive Assistant
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 Secretary called the roll.
Minutes
Motion: made by Joseph Nuzzo, seconded by Louisa Colon, to approve the May 8, 2002 Board minutes as presented. Vote: Seven yes; three abstained
Statistics
The Board was pleased again this month to see statistics still on the rise. Statistics were placed on file.
Library Stationery
Mrs. Cyr distributed a memo received from Mr. Shah suggesting that the Library's web site address be changed on the Library's stationery. His memo expressed concern that the Library was advertising for another agency and not the Township.
Mrs. Cyr replied to Mr. Shah that the Library's Internet address: http: //www.lmxac.org/obpl/ reflects the computer site which is hosting the Library's web site. This address cannot be changed unless the hosting site for the web page is also changed. There is no intent to advertise any agency with the address.
Mayor Cannon said Mr. Shah's concern is the Township is trying to promote their web site which the Library is attached to. Mrs. Cyr explained that the Library's web site is not attached to the Township web site. The Library's website is hosted by the LMxAC computer server. All the Library employees' e-mail is also hosted by LMxAC. It is only one portion of the service that is provided to members of their automation consortium. There is no additional cost for this service; it is part of the package. All the libraries in the consortium are hosted by the LMxAC server. The Library's web site has a link to the Township web site; and there is likewise a link from the Township web site to the Library's web site.
Ms. Cyr said the next time the Library orders new stationery, the Township's web site address can be included on the stationery.
FINANCE
Motion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Mary Chamberlain, to approve the bill listing in the amount of $138,284.50 as presented. Unanimously approved.
Budget 02/03
Mrs. Cyr and Mr. Goldman met with the Mayor and Mr. Shah to discuss the Library's proposed operating budget for the next fiscal year. At this meeting, $53,000 was cut from the Library's proposed budget: $33,000 from Personnel and $20,000 from Utilities. The Board discussed at length the Library's budget cut as recommended by Mayor and Township administration. Extensive discussion was held about the potential impact on personnel and services. No decisions were made about how to handle the cuts at this time.
Fiscal Year 01/02
Mrs. Cyr announced that the end of the fiscal year is nearing. The budget is on target and the Library is exactly where it should be; it is anticipated that there will be no excess monies from the budget.
Mrs. Peterson asked if the Library has ordered all the computers needed.
Mrs. Cyr said that the township ordered $12,000 in computers and equipment for the Library from the Capital Budget and the Library has ordered the balance of the computers. Upgrading the computer equipment is essential as the operating systems and memory on the older computers is insufficient for the software and the variety of tasks required by the Library at this time.
Dr. Lipp asked if the Library has looked in leasing computers; with leasing it is possible to upgrade the computers every three years.
Mrs. Cyr said she would ask the Head of Electronic Resources to look into this when she returns from maternity leave.
Library Board Meetings
Mr. Goldman asked for a vote on starting future Board meetings at 7:30 p.m. instead of 8:00 p.m.
Motion: made by Arthur Freihon, seconded by Joseph Nuzzo, to approve starting future Board meetings at 7:30 p.m. Vote: Seven yes; two no
PERSONNEL
Resignation: made by Mary Chamberlain, seconded by Louisa Colon, to accept the resignation of Electronic Resources/Reference Librarian Kenneth Kaufman effective June 21, 2002. Unanimously approved.
Resignation: made by Dr. Robert Lipp, seconded by Arthur Freihon, to accept the resignation of Circulation page Stephanie Freeland effective June 2, 2002. Unanimously approved.
Promotion: made by Mary Gannon, seconded by Rita Peterson, to approve the promotion of Technical Services/Circulation page Patricia Byrnes to Library Assistant I in Technical Services effective May 12, 2002. Unanimously approved.
Evaluation of Director
Mr. Goldman said he will speak with Mary Chamberlain in regard to the Personnel Committee meeting with the Director, Margery Cyr, in September to discuss her annual review.
LIBRARY BUILDING
Lighting
Mario Barone met with the Building and Grounds Committee on May 30, 2002 and presented them with his initial lighting design. In this plan, the existing lighting will removed and replaced with two types of lighting. There will only be two types of fixtures and two types of light bulbs; no lighting higher than ten feet.
Mr. Nuzzo felt this plan would be the most cost effective all around. Mr. Barone will address areas in the building where there is no lighting. Mr. Nuzzo said the plan is a very good plan.
Mayor Cannon said the design is totally in the hands of the Library Board.
Mr. Goldman said with the help of Joe Nuzzo and Custodian, Darren O'Keefe, the Library has temporarily gotten the lighting situation in better shape, although bulbs are starting to pop again.
Mr. Goldman said the lighting project is moving forward.
Roof
Ms. Cyr reported at their June 10, 2002 meeting the Township Council approved the James Cummins contract for oversight of the roofing repair project. Ms. Cyr informed Mr. Vitale and asked him to contact Alayne Shepler about the status of the bid process.
Mr. Goldman said at this point it does not matter when the bid goes out as the job will not be started until September when it will be less expensive.
Exterior Washing of Building
Mr. Goldman informed the Board that custodians Darren O'Keefe and Dale Maharaja along with a community service person have completed power washing the building on the side of the ice arena. They are now working on the Cottrell Road side. The windows are being washed at the same time.
LIBRARY SERVICES
Strategic Planning
Mrs. Cyr informed the Board it is time to start looking into the future of the Library and what the community wishes the Library to do for them. In the fall she would like to begin work on strategic planning for Library services for the community. She recommends that a consultant be brought in to work on the visioning project with the community, the Board and Library staff.
Mrs. Peterson said this has always been her goal for long term strategic planning, but given the financial problems the Library is in now; how would we pay for a consultant?
Ms. Cyr said she does not have the answer, but if the Board is in agreement she will start looking at consultants and will determine what the cost might be.
The Board agreed and asked Ms. Cyr to come back to them in July with a report.
Staff Meetings
Mrs. Cyr asked the Board to consider a 9:30 a.m. opening time on Friday mornings. This opening time would be consistent with the opening time the other days of the week. The extra half hour will enable the Library departments to meet on a regular basis. Department meetings will be scheduled regularly so that the members of each department can discuss department issues as a group. Communication, especially in the large departments such as Circulation and Reference, is very problematical because there is no time within the Library's current operating hours to allow for such interaction without the public's presence.
Motion: made by Dr. Robert Lipp, seconded by Mary Chamberlain, to approve opening the Library on Fridays at 9:30 a.m. starting July 12, 2002 on a trial basis for three months in order for departments to hold staff meetings.
The Board asked Mrs. Cyr to report back to them in October to let them know how it is working. At that time the Board will determine whether to continued opening at 9:30 a.m. on Fridays on a permanent basis.
CIPA
Mrs. Cyr reported CIPA was decided to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. She is in the process of trying to read their ruling. The Library's Internet policy needs to be looked at to make sure it is current and effective. This will be done in the near future.
Staff Day
Mrs. Cyr reported to the Board Staff Development Day went extremely well. The Staff Development Team should be commended for their work in organizing this day.
Maria Nowak reported the survey filled out by staff indicated many enjoyed the day.
Notary Services
The Mayor asked that the Board re-open discussion of the Notary Policy and the issue of charging fees for notary services and the fact that the individual notaries keep the fee. The Mayor said that she understands that the fee has been discussed for a long time and she may not disagree with the idea of charging a fee, but she never imagined that the notaries would keep the fee themselves.
Mrs. Cyr informed the Board the fee is statutory. New Jersey Statutes states the payment of this fee goes to the notary. Mary Gannon questioned the fact that training, purchase of supplies and insurance was paid for by the tax dollars that support the Library. This service is becoming an expensive service to offer now. Mrs. Gannon believes if there is any fee collected it should be used to reimburse the Library for these expenses.
The Mayor asked if there was any provisions for the fact that the service is being offered by a public entity as a public service. The notaries are only serving in that capacity as part of their job here.
There was discussion about whether or not the fees collected by the notaries needed to be reported as income for taxing purposes. Mary Gannon asked if the Library would be responsible for reporting that income. Mrs. Cyr has looked at the IRS regulations and miscellaneous income less than $600 is claimed without a 1009 form from the employer.
Mr. Goldman said that the law says that they are entitled to collect a fee. The Library's attorney has expressed his opinion that the notaries are entitled to keep the fee. The Mayor believes that if the fee is to be kept by the notaries, the notaries should be required to pay for training, supplies and all costs associated with the service.
Mary Chamberlain explained that the notaries have attended notary training and each notary has been informed as part of the training that the fees were paid to the notaries themselves. The Notary Committee discussed this and a possible alternative of paying a stipend to the notaries rather than collecting a fee. The Committee did not recommend a stipend because of the impact it would have on the Library's budget.
The Mayor expressed concern that implementing a stipend for this service might set a bad precedent for future services.
Roman Sohor suggested that a solution to be considered would be eliminating the Notary Service. Mary Chamberlain said that every director has wanted to eliminate the service with the exception of Mrs. Cyr.
The members of the Board agreed that the payment of the fee by the notary customer while he is already paying taxes to support the service seems to be a double payment for the service.
Mrs. Cyr called other libraries to ask about their policies in regards to the notary fee: East Brunswick charges a fee and keeps the fee; North Brunswick does not charge a fee; Plainsboro does not charge; Centreville does not charge a fee because their only notary is a "nice guy," they ask for a donation of $2.00.
Mrs. Cyr would potentially collect $265 over the course of a year should she charge a fee for notary service. The notaries are scheduled for certain hours of service and the hours are divided fairly evenly among the notaries. The expected approximate earning from the service would be about the same for all the notaries.
Roman Sohor expressed the opinion that the value of training and other supplies should be considered as taxable income as well as the fee that is collected. He said that if the Library does not report this, it may be susceptible to penalties from the IRS. It may be that the value of these expenses is greater than the total of the fees collected over the course of a year.
Mrs. Cyr asked the members of the Board to consider how much time and money in terms of staff time and legal fees did the Board wish to devote to the continuation of this service. The Mayor asked if this would set a precedent for the development of future services. Mrs. Cyr expressed her belief that any service established by the Library should conform with any statutory requirements for that service.
The members of the Board agreed that the reporting of miscellaneous income must be in its entirety, which includes the value of training and other expenses involved. Mr. Goldman asked Mrs. Chamberlain and Mr. Sohor to meet with the notaries to discuss this issue. A report will be made to the Board about this at the next meeting.
The Board decided Ms. Cyr, Roman Sohor and Mary Chamberlain should meet with the notary staff to remind them they are responsible for reporting their notary earnings to the IRS.
Library Polices
Ms. Cyr reported the circulation team has completed their work on recommendations for the Circulation Policy. The department heads are working on the revisions; as soon as they are completed, they will be submitted to the Policy Committee.
Mary Gannon said she will be ready to work on policies as soon as school ends. The Library Board By-laws will be worked on first.
Correspondence
The Board reviewed and accepted all correspondence.
Department Reports
The Board reviewed and accepted all department reports.
Adjournment
Motion: made by Mary Chamberlain, seconded by Arthur Freihon, to adjourn the meeting at 9:50 p.m. Unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Rita Peterson, Secretary
Library Board of Trustees
Date Approved: July 10, 2002
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