Urbana Free Library Board Meeting

The Urbana Free Library Board of Trustees Minutes of a Regular Meeting Held on Tuesday, February 13, 2018 CALL TO ORDER The Urbana Free Library Board of Trustees met in the Lewis Auditorium of The Urbana Free Library on Tuesday, February 13, 2018. The meeting was called to order by the president, Chris Scherer, at 7:00 p.m. OATH OF OFFICE Beth Scheid administered the Oath of Office to Barb Bennett. Barb is finishing out Mark Netter’s term through June 30, 2020. ATTENDANCE Present: Geoff Bant, Barb Bennett, Barbara Jones, Anna Merritt, Beth Scheid, Chris Scherer, Michael Weissman, and Jane Williams Absent: Jared Miller Staff present: Becky Brown, Dawn Cassady, Celeste Choate, Rachel Fuller, Carol Inskeep, and Anke Voss Also present: Shauri Gonzalez and Simon Rosenzweig ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, MODIFICATIONS OF THE AGENDA None. APPROVE THE AGENDA It was moved by Michael Weissman, seconded by Jane Williams, and passed unanimously to approve the agenda as presented. CALL FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION There was a call for an executive session for personnel matters pursuant to 5ILCS 120/2 (c) (1). PUBLIC COMMENT None. PRESENTATIONS Lynnette Correa-Velez, Project Read site coordinator for Urbana Adult Education, spoke to the Board about the need for tutors. In 2003, the Department of Education found that 40% of adults were functionally illiterate. Illinois statistics showed that 19% of Illinois adults were below a ninth grade level in reading and math abilities. Project Read is a national organization started 40 years ago to help meet this need. Budget cuts derailed the project for a few years, but Project Read was refunded two years ago by the Illinois State Library and the Secretary of State. Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of February 13, 2018 – Page 2 Lynnette said that the organization needs tutors for ESL, math, and reading. The commitment is for two hours a week. Tutors and students meet in public places like the Library. Carol Inskeep continued the presentation by explaining that the Library is one of four of the local Project Read drop in sites. Times are set up, and tutors help anyone that drops in. Carol said that the Library has had two drop in sessions so far, and both were well attended. The Library is a wonderful and safe location for tutoring, and the tutoring helps promote the Library and what it does. Lynette encouraged everyone to consider signing up for tutor training. Project Read is helping people improve their quality of life and work situations, and she appreciates the Library helping to get it out into the community and not just at Urbana Adult Education. Celeste Choate gave the Board an overview of Munis, the new financial system being implemented by the City and the Library. The Library will be a subset, or department, of the City in the system. In setting up for the system, the Library has separated out some things, such as specific lines for the IT Department, and consolidated other things, such as combining two funds into the general fund. Budget lines will no longer start with L05, L10, L25, or L30. Funds will now be in either 802, the general fund, 810, the trust fund, or 820, the building fund. There was discussion about how reports will change and the added securities of the new system. Celeste explained to the Board the process for preparing the FY19 budget. The Library looks at the State budget to estimate whether there will be revenue from there. Staff also create wish lists and long term capital expense plans, to anticipate future needs and expenses. Celeste will be working on requests to the Foundation and the Friends of the Library for funding. The Board will receive a draft budget at the March meeting and a final budget at the April meeting. Then the budget will go to the City for approval. The City is planning to lessen the FY19 budget by $500,000 (or find additional revenue) and $750,000 in the FY20 budget. Celeste proposed to the Board that the Library begin the Strategic Planning process in September. She handed out a timeline of select Library initiatives, showing programming and new hires. Two new positions will have an influence on the timing of the Strategic Plan process, the Assistant Manager of Adult & Youth Services for Programming & Outreach and the Development & Promotions Director. Summer Reading Program and the 100th Birthday Celebration are staff-intensive programs occurring in the next few months. The City is initiating a Visioning process for the Lincoln Square space. The Library will observe the ways that the City collected community in-put and the successfulness of those mechanisms. ACTION ITEMS (CONSENT AGENDA) It was moved by Michael Weissman, seconded by Beth Scheid, and passed unanimously to approve the consent agenda as presented. ACTION ITEMS (INDIVIDUAL) It was moved by Anna Merritt, seconded by Barbara Jones, and passed unanimously to appoint Beth Scheid to fill the Vice-President position to finish out Mark Netter’s term. Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of February 13, 2018 – Page 3 It was moved by Jane Williams, seconded by Michael Weissman, and passed unanimously to approve the payment of the Champaign Public Library invoice for $39,034.05. It was moved by Anna Merritt, seconded by Jane Williams, and passed unanimously approve the purchase of Local History Online Servers for up to $12,500. It was moved by Michael Weissman, seconded by Barbara Jones, and passed unanimously to approve the Circulation and Interlibrary Loan Policy as amended. DISCUSSION ITEMS As required by the Per Capita grant, the Board discussed a process for reviewing the Board of Trustees Bylaws. Geoff Bant asked Celeste if she would review other libraries’ Board bylaws to see if there were parts that maybe could be incorporated into The Urbana Free Library’s Bylaws. Celeste agreed, but asked to wait until after the budget preparations in March. Anna Merritt suggested that the Board divide up the Bylaws and review the sections at the upcoming meetings. Celeste suggested reviewing the sections at the September, October, and November meetings, so that the Board was prepared to affirm the Bylaws at the December meeting. REPORTS OF LIAISON OFFICERS Friends of the Library The Friends’ next meeting will be in March. The Urbana Free Library Foundation The Foundation will be electing their Board members in April, and there are two openings on the Board. Celeste asked the Library Board for recommendations to fill these vacancies. Illinois Heartland Library System Geoff Bant reported that now that funding has come in, IHLS has been able to start hiring for positions that have been vacant over the past year and a half. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS Celeste reported that Rachel Fuller, Anke Voss, and she have met with representatives from the iSchool at Illinois about a new apprenticeship program. Right now the Library has unpaid practicums, who are here for a few months and are focused on their school needs, or paid interns, who are here for a year or so and help at the AYS service desks. The apprenticeship program will allow two students to link a practicum experience with an independent study. The iSchool will give each student a $5,000 stipend and full fee waiver during the independent study semester. The program gives the students more experience and helps the Library, too. Rachel Fuller told the Board about a collaboration between the Library, Urbana Middle School, and the Fab Lab. One hundred middle school students designed two to three inch bugs for 3-D printing. The Library and the Fab Lab will be printing the students’ creations. Due to budget concerns, the City has decided to not move forward with the Guaranteed Energy Savings Project, but the Library still needs to replace the chiller and repair a compressor. The Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of February 13, 2018 – Page 4 Library has decided to work with Henneman for these projects. Depending on how quickly the negotiations go, there may need to be a special Board meeting before the March 13 meeting. Michael Weissman asked the Library to look into modern variable speed units. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS None. CLOSED SESSION At 8:14, it was moved by Beth Scheid, seconded by Anna Merritt, and passed by roll call vote to move into closed session pursuant to 5ILCS 120/2 (c) (1) to discuss personnel issues. Yes votes: Geoff Bant, Barb Bennett, Barbara Jones, Anna Merritt, Beth Scheid, Chris Scherer, Michael Weissman, and Jane Williams No votes: None. At 9:03, it was passed by roll call vote to move back into open session. Yes votes: Geoff Bant, Barb Bennett, Barbara Jones, Anna Merritt, Beth Scheid, Chris Scherer, Michael Weissman, and Jane Williams No votes: None. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m. ________________________________________ Becky Brown, Recorder ________________________________________ Beth Scheid, Vice-President/Secretary/Treasurer Date Approved:__________________________ This meeting was taped for later broadcast on cable television. Supplementary information is available in the Board packet of February 13, 2018.