Library Board of Trustees

MEETING MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MARY RILEY STYLES PUBLIC LIBRARY Held in the Mary Riley Styles Public Library 120 N. Virginia Avenue Falls Church, VA 22046 February 27, 2019 1. CALL TO ORDER AND INTRODUCTIONS OF GUESTS Acting Chairperson Chet DeLong called the meeting to order at 7:00p.m. The following Board members attended the meeting: Chet DeLong Chrystie Swiney Kathleen Tysse Stephanie Oppenheimer Jeff Peterson Don Camp Youth Representative Tika Wallace (Unexcused absence) Council Liaison, Ross Litkenhous, and Planning Commission Liaison, Rob Puentes, were not in attendance. Others present for the meeting included: Library Project Manager Joel Timmins, Library Director Jenny Carroll and her assistant Claudia Gutierrez. City resident Sally Phillips was present as well. Mr. DeLong pointed out changes to the Agenda including moving the Library Report and Announcements up as requested by the Board and the added item, Library Board Management. 2. RECEIPT OF PETITIONS a. Sally Phillips Letter Ms. Sally Phillips, who is a former Board member, informed the Board that she is working with a group who are documenting contributions of women to Falls Church History. They envision having a series of approximately 75 biographies about influential women in the City of Falls Church. The project may include 5 notebooks of printed material and video recordings (in CD or thumb drive format) and would be donated after the library renovation/expansion. Ms. Sally Phillips requested the Board approve housing the project materials in the Local History Room. There were suggestions to have the biographies in digital formats and possibly included on the library webpage. Ms. Sally Phillips also mentioned that they wanted to have their own website for this project but it may be difficult for people to find the website. She asked if it could be included on the City's website. The Director commented that she would need to talk to Reference Supervisor Marshall Webster regarding digitizing material; the website is a separate issue. Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved to host the Contributions of Women to Falls Church History Project in the Local History Room. 1 3. APPROVAL OF THE JANUARY 16, 2019 MEETING MINUTES Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the January 16,2019 Meeting Minutes as corrected. 4. LIBRARY REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS • Lorri Culhane was hired for the Reference Librarian position to start March 3. She is a City resident and used to work for the library as a substitute. She was also a branch manager of one ofthe Fairfax County libraries. • Michelle Langham was hired for the Library Assistant I permanent part-time position at the Circulation desk and has already started. She used to be a library page and then a substitute Library Assistant I for the library. • The Director sent an email to the Board with all the information about the West Falls Church Project. There is a joint meeting with Boards and Commissions scheduled on March 11 at 7:00pm at the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School (MEH) Cafetorium. The Director informed the Board that this meeting will be considered a formal Board meeting and it has been published. The notes that will be taken will be considered library Board minutes. Board comments about the special exception application are requested to be delivered by April 3. The Board can discuss their comments at the March 20 Board meeting. The Board's practice in the past was not making any comments since the Board considered it outside their purview. What concerns the Board is the significant residential component of the project and the impact of the population increase on library services. There was a suggestion to make comments about directing funding to the library through voluntary concessions. The Director mentioned that for this particular project they will not consider individual concessions as related to her by planning staff. • The Library Foundation fundraiser is at the Pancake House tomorrow Thursday, February 28. Another fundraiser will be at the Cycle Bar on March 16. • March 22 is the staff workday and the library will be closed to the public. • The Director will attend the Council of Governments (COG) Library Director's meeting on March 15. Directors from DC Area and Maryland will be attending as well. • The Director will be out on April 10-12 to attend the Virginia Directors Bootcamp and the Virginia Public Libraries Director Association meeting. A Board member requested the Director give a report regarding those meetings at subsequent Board meetings. • There was an increase to Virginia public libraries State Aid to 60% of full funding by the General Assembly; the total amount of the increase is $500,000 for FY2020. For MRSPL this means an increase from $146,000 to $153,000. The Director thanked the Board members who emailed their representatives to support the library. 2  • City Schools Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan and City Manager Wyatt Shields signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for housing the library in the trailers at Thomas Jefferson ES during construction. City staff and the project manager will begin working items related to the temporary location. A Board member reported that there were positive comments at the PTA meeting about the library being temporary located at the Thomas Jefferson trailers. Mr. Peterson asked ifthe library staff is interested in the experience of working in different City departments while the library is under construction, since the library will be housed in a smaller location. The Director anticipates that there will be plenty ofwork for staff to complete including additional projects and that the number of service desks will increase from 3 to 4 based on the current layout of the temporary location. Teleworking will be an option for management team. The current plan has 6 classrooms - four of them will house collections, one room will be for programming and another one for staff. The library will also be open 2 hours less per week to accommodate school opening procedures. The idea of job experience outside ofthe library is something that could be explored. Mr. DeLong advised preparing an answer to the issue of having the same level of staff in a reduced space since Council has raised the issue before. The Board trusts the Director's judgement about having enough projects and work for staff while in the temporary location. If the Director feels that exploring the option of relocating staff to other City departments is necessary, she can discuss the issue with Mr. Wyatt Shields, City Manager. 5. LIBRARY FOUNDATION REPORT Mr. Camp informed the Board that they had a Foundation meeting in early February. He thanked Ms. Tysse for attending the meeting and for her enthusiasm. He emphasized the Pancake House fundraiser and added that Ms. Oppenheimer is helping the Foundation with a Cycle Bar fundraiser scheduled for March 161h. Cycle Bar will be donating 100% of the proceeds to the Foundation. The cost is $25 for a 45-minute class. There is the option to contribute on Cycle Bar's website if a person does not want to attend the class and the money will go to the Foundation. The Director suggested creating a flyer to advertise in the library and on social media. Mr. Camp mentioned that there are other businesses that would like to do similar fundraisers. The Foundation Board discussed having a dinner before the library goes under construction and a splashy event at the library grand re-opening. The Foundation will meet again on March 14. Ms. Tysse is organizing a small-scale fundraising committee to work with the Library Foundation; it includes citizens that are interested in helping the library. They will be attending next Foundation meeting. 6. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT No report 7. STUDENT LIAISON REPORT No report 8. ARTS AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL REPORT (CATCH) Ms. Oppenheimer informed the Board that there was nothing pertaining to the library. 9. LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE 3  The Director introduced library Project Manager Joel Timmins. Mr. Timmins informed the Board that they have been working with the Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR) Centennial on the cost estimate regarding the design development drawings. The cost given by the CMAR was over budget; they went through a value engineering exercise and were able to reduce it by $530,000. They were able to remove several items including smaller items not needed like metal lockers and reducing the hazardous materials allotment. Removing several items related to the HV AC system such as the RTU unit and the BAS system (which is a whole building control system that can monitor the system remotely) was part of the value engineering exercise. The current HVAC system would then remain in place. The Director added that the RoofTop Unit# 1 (RTU) is a concern with 4 years oflife expectancy. Public Works would have to factor in that expense to their maintenance budget. Ms. Swiney expressed that replacing the HV AC system may be more cost effective during construction and that the system has been a point of concern. Other areas that value engineering looked at were stormwater treatment and streetscape. Streetscape was not factored into the 2014 Master Plan Addendum; value engineering has looked at cutting the amount of pavers used, which is a significant portion of the cost. With those reductions the project is $750,000 over the bond amount. If the voluntary concessions from Founders Row and the leftover bond issuance fees were added it would further reduce this amount. The Director mentioned that in order to add the additional funds they have to go to Council and request adding that amount to the $8.3M in the approved CIP budget. The Board has written a draft letter to Council requesting that money. If Council approves adding those funds, the project will be overbudget approximately $210,000. This amount does not include making any adjustments to the Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment budget. FF &E could be reduced, it is flexible and there are ways to obtain money for it; one of them is through the library Foundation and fundraising. The Director mentioned that Councilman Ross Litkenhous is supportive of the request to add funds to the budget. The Director will be attending the Council work session on Monday, March 4. If Council agrees to add the funds to the budget, BKV Architect Mark Manetti can start work on the construction documents. The Board discussed the possibilities of Council approval of adding the funds and where additional funds to close the gap may come from including the Foundation. Mr. Camp reminded the Board that the Foundation feels that the renovation/expansion project is the City's responsibility to finance and that their contributions should go towards additional items such as programs and services. The Director stated that there is an opportunity for fundraising once more information about the FF &E budget is developed. There was a discussion about the money designated for contingencies, which is used to cover unforeseen conditions. That money could be used to cover the current gap in the budget, however it is early in the project to think about using the contingencies. The Director asked the Board if they feel comfortable about her and Mr. Timmins going to the next Council work session to ask for Council's support in using the voluntary concessions and leftover bond issuance fees. The Board agreed. The Director asked that Board members be present to show support at the work session. 10. LETTER TO COUNCIL RE: VOLUNTARY CONCESSIONS AND BOND ISSUANCE FEES After the Board discussed the letter, they made changes to wording and corrected the amounts of money stated. The Director will sent the letter to the City Clerk so she can include it in the Council packet for next Monday session. 4  Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the changes in the letter as revised. There was a concern about when Council will approve a budget amendment since it will need a vote. This may create a delay to the project since legally the architects cannot go forward at risk with the project. It is important to point out at Monday's Council meeting the urgency for the amendment to be approved because delays are a cost to the budget and will affect the timeline. There was a suggestion for the chair to write a letter to the library's Council liaison Ross Litkenhous to ask for support. The Director stated that she and Mr. Timmins will present the subject at the Council meeting and Councilman Litkenhous can express his support. If Council provides their support in adding funds to the budget, Mr. Timmins can give the architect notice to proceed (NTP). 11. LIBRARY BOARD MANAGEMENT The Board discussed how long a Board Chair should serve. The Board agreed that the responsibility should rotate among Board members. The Director noted that according to the Board's bylaws, when a Board member is reappointed, or Council appoints a new member, the Board has to vote for a Chair and a Vice Chair. If the Board wants to create service terms, the Board bylaws needed to be amended. The Board suggested that the Director look into other City Board/Commission's bylaws wording to define the limit of the service terms. The Board agreed officers should serve a one-year term with no more than two consecutive terms. In addition, the Board requested the Director include a draft of bylaws with the changes to the officers' service limits. 12. BUSINESS NOT ON AGENDA The Board discussed how the minutes are written. At their retreat in early February they discussed having summary minutes instead of detailed minutes. According to the bylaws and city requirements, the minutes are to be summary. The Board agreed that the default should be summary minutes with details given when the Board asks. 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 8:55p.m. Respectfully submitted, 5  Copies: Board of Trustees, City Manager, Library Reference Desk, Staff Bulletin Board, City Clerk, Library Web Page The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703-248-5032, TTY 711. 6  MARY RILEY STYLES PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES RESCHEDULED MEETING February, 27 2019 \ SIGN-IN SHEET NAME ADDRESS EMAIL ~~lv f) ht' l/0~ c!)-vv N J1l/a-:'J I'e.- Ft pft ;J(i vs~flvLuiSe..- ~ :s~(U\AM-LGV~ LltJD ';'. ~n/ !~ "'Cif k~ j I I NP '-".A~ 4 ,_ \.M.. <:PIA v ( Page 1