ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD
343 S. FIFTH AVENUE, ANN ARBOR, MI
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2014
14-331 I. CALL TO ORDER
President Rosenthal called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
14-332 II. ATTENDANCE
Present: Head, Kaplan, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Rosenthal, Surovell
Absent: None
Staff: Hadler, Parker, Wilson (recorder)
Others Present: William Stapleton, Hooper Hathaway, P.C.
14-333 III. RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION FOR DISCUSSION OF REAL ESTATE AND OPINION OF LEGAL COUNSEL
14-334 IV. RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING AT 7:00 PM
President Rosenthal reconvened the meeting at 7:02 p.m.
14-335 V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
(Item of action)
Trustee Kaplan, supported by Trustee Leary, moved to approve the agenda.
AYES: Head, Kaplan, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Rosenthal, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
14-336 VI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF OCTOBER 20, 2014
(Item of action)
Trustee Leary, supported by Secretary Head, moved to approve the minutes of October 20, 2014.
AYES: Head, Kaplan, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Rosenthal, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
14-337 VII. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
Kathy Griswold
Good evening. First I want to say that I am really thankful for everything that the library does. And I recently read that there’s going to be more outreach services for some of the homeless that are in the library and appreciate everything that’s done in terms of letting people spend time in the library especially when it’s really cold. I’m aware of many of the programs that are coordinated with the Ann Arbor Public Schools, however, given the capacity of this library and this community I think that there is always room for more and I’m really concerned about the school to prison pipeline for students that aren’t reading at grade level, the third grade, which I am sure all of you are familiar with. And today when I was looking at the Ann Arbor Public School Foundation grant recipient, two of the schools received funding for books. They mentioned how important it was to get books in these low income neighborhoods. Also when I looked at the finalist for the Knight Foundation Grant, one of the themes that I saw was reaching out to under-served populations. One of the finalists had a techno bus and they said they were going to use it to address the digital divide and take computers and tablets into neighborhoods where the students didn’t have access. I just hope that we’re able to reach out more, because I know many people, especially single mothers who in this community and they just, a lot of times they don’t have time. They have good intentions, but they just don’t have the time to get their kids down here or to one of the branch libraries. So I don’t know how we can reach out. I also received an email from someone who said my middle school son has a friend whose library card was taken away because he had overdue fines, is there anything that we can do? One of the other Knight Foundation finalists they were, had an outreach program where they specifically identify people who used to have a library card that didn’t anymore, assuming that those were people who probably needed it the most and they were going to use their grant funding to reach out to these people and probably to pay off their fines. And in the case of this middle schooler, his fines were from when he was in elementary school, and there is no way, I mean even a fifth grader can be responsible for driving down to the library and returning a book. So again, I hope we see what we can do for some of our underserved population. And the last thing is, I just have a picture of the step over at Traverwood Library. It’s still there, it’s full of water and slippery leaves. I put it into the A2 fix-it system and you can get more information there. Thank you.
Director Parker asked for Board permission to respond to the Ms. Griswold’s comment regarding the step at Traverwood. Permission was granted by President Rosenthal. Director Parker stated she has talked with the City regarding the repair of the step at Traverwood and it is in their system and will be repaired on their time frame.
14-338 VIII. FINANCIAL REPORTS
CFO Hadler reported the October report showed an unrestricted cash balance over $15.6 million. Tax receipts over $11.1 million, reflecting 96.1% of the budgeted amount, have been received through the end of October. Budget versus actual showed an operating surplus of just over $90,000. The fund balance stands just above $8.3 million. Seven line items are over budget and should come back into line later in the year.
14-339 IX. APPROVAL OF DISBURSEMENTS
(Item of action)
Trustee Leary, supported by Secretary Head, moved to approve the October 2014 disbursements.
AYES: Head, Kaplan, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Rosenthal, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
14-340 X. COMMITTEE REPORTS
14-341 A. COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Chairperson Head reported the committee consisting of herself and Trustees Leary and Rosenthal met on November 12th. The committee reviewed communication and outreach activities, discussed possible talking points for board members and briefly reviewed the communication section of the strategic plan. AADL is once again a 5 star library. The success of the AADL newsletter was also discussed.
14-342 B. FACILITIES COMMITTEE
Chairperson Leary reported the committee consisting of herself and Trustees Barney Newman and Surovell met on November 10th. The committee discussed the move of the Friends bookshop to the first floor, that concrete bids have been requested for the front porch project, reviewed the Green Road lease being proposed under New Business and commented on the ongoing facility improvements to the downtown and branch libraries.
14-343 XI. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Parker reported that AADL participated in the American Library Association International Games Day on Saturday, November 15th. Minecraft Hunger Games was run on our Minecraft server with 50 participants here and over 94 participating libraries worldwide. The final victor was a young girl from Providence, Rhode Island.
AADL partnered with the Jewish Community Center for two special author events in November as part of the 2014 Jewish Book Festival.
A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki has been selected for the Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti Reads 2015. The author is scheduled to appear at the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads event on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at Rackham Auditorium.
AADL has been recognized again as a 5 Star Library by Library Journal. This annual ranking is done within budget categories and reflects the usage of libraries by their public. Congratulations were sent to the West Bloomfield Public Library on its 4 Star achievement this year.
14-344 XII. NEW BUSINESS
14-345 A. RESOLUTION TO EXTEND THE TERM OF LEASE FOR THE SPACE THAT HOUSES THE ANN ARBOR NEWS ARCHIVE
(Item of action)
Vice President Murphy, supported by Trustee Leary, moved that the Board resolves to extend the lease with Green Road Associates LLC for one year commencing January 1, 2015; the annual rate will be $42,000/year; that all resolutions and parts of resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded.
AYES: Head, Kaplan, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Rosenthal, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
14-346 B. RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO BARBARA MURPHY
(Item of action)
Trustee Surovell, supported by Trustee Leary, moved that the Ann Arbor District Library Board would like to officially thank Barbara Murphy for her thirteen years of outstanding service as an Ann Arbor District Library Board Trustee; that the Ann Arbor District Library Board would like to recognize Barbara Murphy for her dedication, leadership, and commitment to the Library, community and staff; that all resolutions and parts of resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded.
Board members expressed their appreciation of Trustee Murphy.
AYES: Head, Kaplan, Leary, Barney Newman, Rosenthal, Surovell
NAYS: None
ABSTAIN: Murphy
Motion passed 7-0.
On behalf of Administration and Staff, flowers were presented to Trustee Murphy.
Trustee Murphy expressed her appreciation and thanks to all.
President Rosenthal presented Trustee Murphy with a plaque in her honor which will be placed on one of the interior trees at Traverwood acknowledging her service.
14-347 C. VOTE FOR CLOSED SESSION FOR DISCUSSION OF REAL ESTATE AND OPINION OF LEGAL COUNSEL AT THE DECEMBER 15, 2014 REGULAR BOARD MEETING
(Item of action)
(roll call vote)
Trustee Leary, supported by Secretary Head, moved to hold a closed session at the December 15, 2014 regular meeting for discussion of real estate and opinion of legal counsel.
A roll call vote was taken.
AYES: Head, Kaplan, Leary, Murphy, Barney Newman, Rosenthal, Surovell
NAYS: None
Motion passed 7-0.
14-348 XIII. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS
There were no additional Citizens’ Comments.
14-349 XIV. ADJOURNMENT
Vice President Murphy, supported by Treasurer Barney Newman, moved to adjourn the meeting.
President Rosenthal adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m.