Urbana Free Library Board Meeting

The Urbana Free Library Board of Trustees Minutes of a Regular Meeting Held on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 CALL TO ORDER The Urbana Free Library Board of Trustees met in the Lewis Auditorium of The Urbana Free Library on December 12, 2017. The meeting was called to order by the president, Chris Scherer, at 7:00 p.m. ATTENDANCE Present: Geoff Bant, Barbara Jones, Anna Merritt, Jared Miller, Beth Scheid, Chris Scherer, Michael Weissman, and Jane Williams Staff present: Becky Brown, Dawn Cassady, Celeste Choate, Rachel Fuller, Anke Voss, and Kathy Wicks Also present: Jaime Frausto, Shauri Gonzalez, Michele James. Simon Rosenzweig, and Scott Tess ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, MODIFICATIONS OF THE AGENDA None. APPROVE THE AGENDA It was moved by Michael Weissman, seconded by Barbara Jones, and passed unanimously to approve the agenda as presented. CALL FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION There was no call for an executive session. PUBLIC COMMENT None. PRESENTATIONS Scott Tess gave a presentation on the GESP, Guaranteed Energy Savings Project, which the City and Library are participating in together. He explained that the purpose is to take advantage of a specific pathway allowed in the State statutes to do facilities improvements to hopefully avoid emergency repairs or replacements, improve the comfort and safety of staff and public, and reduce utility expenditures. The City and Library have gone through the process to select a vendor, and are now in the process of looking over the vendor’s recommendations to choose the best projects. The State statute says that the project must pay for itself in a twenty year period. Some project savings will be easily measured, and others will use the first two years to create a model to project the twenty year savings. If the project does not pay for itself, the vendor must make up the shortfall, according to the State statute. The Board will be kept informed about which projects seem most likely and the financing options for the projects. Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of December 12, 2017 – Page 2 Jared Miller created a Jeopardy style quiz using chapters 1 – 5 in the Trustee Facts File. Board members formed teams to answer the quiz questions for a fun look at the five chapters. Kathy Wicks reviewed chapter 12 from Serving Our Public to meet the Per Capita Grant requirement. Chapter 12 covers safety, and Kathy reported that the Library meets the standards. She included the safety checklist in the Board packet. Staff have been updating the Disaster Plan and an Emergency Plan Quick Guide, which is an easy to use flip chart. Floor plans posted around the building have been updated to include the locations of fire extinguishers, pull stations, and emergency kits. An emergency kit has been added to the auditorium, which functions as the Library’s tornado shelter. The updated Disaster Plan will be made available to the Police and Fire Departments when it is completed. ACTION ITEMS (CONSENT AGENDA) It was moved by Anna Merritt, seconded by Jared Miller, and passed unanimously to approve the consent agenda with one minor word change in the November minutes. On page 3, the third paragraph, the wording was changed to “than legislation” rather than “that legislation”. ACTION ITEMS (INDIVIDUAL) Mark Netter has resigned from the Library Board. It was moved by Anna Merritt, seconded by Beth Scheid, and passed unanimously to thank Mark Netter for his years of service on the Board via Resolution 2017-13. It was moved by Beth Scheid, seconded by Jane Williams, and passed unanimously to approve the FY18 Budget Amendment as presented. DISCUSSION ITEMS The Board discussed the Respectful Work Environment Policy which has been updated in order to comply with the new Illinois Public Act 100-0554 on sexual harassment. The Board will approve the policy via resolution at the January 9, 2018, meeting. REPORTS OF LIAISON OFFICERS Friends of the Library The Friends will not be meeting again until March 2018. The Urbana Free Library Foundation The annual letter has been sent out, and donations are coming in. Illinois Heartland Library System Geoff Bant reported that IHLS is having an extra meeting next month, so that they can vote on the Illinois Public Act 100-0554 on sexual harassment before the January 16, 2018 deadline. Rachel Fuller has been selected to serve on the Illinois Heartland Library System’s Nominating Committee for fiscal year 2018. Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of December 12, 2017 – Page 3 The IHLS Board has a current opening. They would like to fill it with someone from the Champaign-Urbana part of the state. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS Celeste reported the Library has placed a request on the website soliciting ideas for the development of the corner lot, and ideas are coming in. All ideas will need to be viewed in consideration of the M Core Project, which is the improvement of Green Street from Race Street through Campus and into Champaign. The Library owns the north and south parcels of land at Green and Race. Celeste also informed the Board that part of the Green Street construction project will affect the Library’s Green Street parking lot entrance. Alternative entrances are being investigated. Celeste asked the Board to contact their legislatures to ask them to vote in favor of net neutrality. The vote is scheduled for December 14, 2017. Anna Merritt complimented Barbara Jones on her letter to the editor in the News-Gazette. BOARD PRESIDENT REPORT Chris Scherer asked Barbara Jones and Jane Williams to serve on an Ad Hoc committee to bring forward a nominee a the January 2018 Board meeting to serve as Vice-President to finish out Mark Netter’s term in FY18. The committee will bring forward a full slate of officers for the April meeting for FY19. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS None. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:27 p.m. ________________________________________ Becky Brown, Recorder ________________________________________ Beth Scheid, Secretary/Treasurer Date Approved:__________________________ This meeting was taped for later broadcast on cable television. Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of December 12, 2017 – Page 4 Supplementary information is available in the Board packet of December 12, 2017.