Library Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes
On motion of McIntosh, seconded by Hemes, the Board unanimously approved the September 21, 2005 meeting minutes. (Sarnecki, Malueg, Piergrossi, and Wiswall abstained.)

Statistical Report
The statistical report again showed an increase of 13% for the month of September, making circulation up 5% for the year. Books, books on CD, and DVDs have all increased in circulation. More receipts are being collected (primarily due to the collection agency). Proces noted that more programs have been offered to the community.

Bills for consideration
On motion of Sarnecki, seconded by McIntosh, the Board unanimously accepted the September bill payment report.

Trust fund reports
Proces presented the trust fund reports from the Finance Dept. and the trust companies.

2006 budget request - CIP
Proces again presented the photographs showing the condition of the upper cooling coil in the Air Handling unit (AHU) for Board members who weren’t present at the last meeting. Apparently the former humidification system, which has been replaced, caused early aging of the cooling fins and the coil must be replaced for the AHU to work properly. Because there were not enough Board members present at the September meeting to vote on this matter, the director made the city aware of this problem and the mayor placed this item in the 2006 Capital Improvement Program budget pending library board action. On motion of Sarnecki, seconded by McIntosh, the Board unanimously approved the recommendation to request $15,000 to replace the upper cooling coil in the Air Handling Unit.

Security camera upgrade
The Board had approved a security camera upgrade to a digital system along with a camera covering the parking lot at the July Board meeting. After reviewing the situation with the security consultant Proces would like to change the request. The view of the parking lot would not be very useful as only a small area would be seen or else everything would be very far away. A tilt/pan/zoom camera would be too expensive for the library’s needs. After discussion with staff the director requests adding two cameras to the checkout desk along with the upgrade to a digital system. On motion of Widener, seconded by Hemes, the Board unanimously approved the recommendation to accept the proposal from Suburban Electric for installation of a digital security camera system and to add two cameras to the Checkout desk area for up to $10,500 from the building trust funds.

Fire Door holders
The Fire Department advised the library that it could no longer leave fire doors open during working hours. (The library has three fire doors that had been routinely left open when employees were present.) These doors are located between the Circulation Work Room and the Book Drop Room; the back hallway and the delivery area; and the delivery area and the Custodian’s Work Room. Now that the doors are closed employees cannot hear telephones ringing, other employees calling for them, deliveries being made, or hear someone knocking on the delivery doors, etc. Some of these areas also experience significant temperature variations with the fire doors closed. Effectively, these employees are now cut off from the rest of the building. The only alternative to keeping the doors closed, suggested by the Fire Dept., would be to have fire door holders installed and have them connected to the library’s security system control panel. The doors may remain open but, in an alarm event, the doors automatically close. Proces recommended that the Board accept a proposal from Suburban Electric to install three fire door holders and door closure devices and wire them to the security system panel for up to $3,500 from the building trust funds. On motion of Irish, seconded by McIntosh, the Board unanimously accepted the recommendation.

2006 budgets
The Mayor is recommending a 10% reduction to all training, conferences, and meetings across the board. Insurance estimates have been lowered due to the new HRA option. The HVAC repair has been slated in the CIP budget as a necessary item. The budget workshop with the Common Council will be scheduled shortly and Proces will advise all Board members of the time and date.

Circulation Per Capita
Hanes noted that the statistics provided by USA Today, Winnefox Library System, and our library show just how well our library is doing in regards to circulation of material. Our library, at 15.8 circulations per capita, is higher than the highest state (Ohio – 14.6) and the Winnefox Library System as a whole (12.2). The sate of Wisconsin ranked fourth in the nation at 10.2.

Summer Library Programs
Proces reported on the summer library programs. The Youth and Adult programs were very successful with large increases in participation in both programs. Thanks to Youth & Adult Department staff for all their hard work.

2005 Public library rankings
Proces reported that Neenah Public Library has regained the top spot among Outagamie and Winnebago county libraries based on Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings, published in the October issue of American Libraries.

Winnebago County representative
Widener reported that little has happened concerning the 2006 county budget since the last Library Board meeting. The County Board will be meeting on 10/31/05 to discuss the budget and a possible .5% sales tax. He will report at the next meeting.

Announcements
Proces reported that the recent Friends of the Neenah Public Library book sale was very successful and credited the many Friends members, volunteers, and staff that helped to make it so worthwhile. Over $5,000 was raised for library programming.

Next regularly scheduled meeting
The next regular meeting will be held on November 16, 2005, at 4:00 p.m. in the Carpenter Conference Room.