Library Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes
On motion of Sarnecki, seconded by Hemes, the Board unanimously approved the October 19, 2005 meeting minutes.

Statistical Report
The statistical report again showed an increase of 10% for the month of October, with circulation up 6% for the year. Proces noted that it is possible to break the library’s all time high circulation figure this year. Revenue is up. Programming numbers are up. Movie night attendance has been increasing, with 60 people attending the last movie. Story time attendance is up 41% for the month of October. The more people brought into the library, the higher the circulation.

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

Automatic Control Technical Support Plan contract
Energy Control and Design, Inc. has held our technical support plan contract for the last five years and has been very effective in helping with the problems the library has experienced with the HVAC system. The price for the next contract has increased by $684/year, but again would be locked in for five years. On motion of Sarnecki, seconded by Piergrossi, the Board approved the 2006-2010 technical support contract with Energy Control & Design for HVAC automatic controls for $4,965/year.

Mechanical Equipment Preventative Maintenance Agreement
The HVAC mechanical equipment preventative maintenance agreement has also been advantageous for the library. The price would be increased by $630/year, but again would be locked in for five years. On motion of Sarnecki, seconded by Piergrossi, the Board approved the 2006-2010 mechanical equipment preventative maintenance agreement with Energy Control & Design for HVAC mechanical preventative maintenance for $4,180/year.

Records retention
Proces noted that the state Public Records Board would be reviewing a public records schedule of retention for public libraries. When it is adopted, Proces will edit it for our situation and present it to the board. That schedule then trumps any local library or city effort.

E-mail as public records
Proces explained to the Board that e-mails are public records and that many must be retained by law. The City Attorney had recently sent an e-mail retention procedure to all City employees, with a form to return acknowledging receipt of the procedures. Proces explained to the City Attorney that we could not follow the City procedure because we are not on its computer system. Proces noted that the library would follow the spirit of the procedure, talk to Winnefox about implementing an e-mail retention policy for the library system, and write a library procedure for our use. Proces stressed that Library Board members are subject to this law also. He noted that in order to be safe Board members should store, in electronic format, any e-mails that they have sent regarding the library. Further, Board members should store any e-mails received regarding the library, unless it was sent by a library employee (who must save it). Safe storage time would be seven years. He noted that when an e-mail retention procedure is developed, it would also cover library board e-mail retention rules.

Public records requests
Proces reported that the City Council had recently changed the City’s public records request ordinance and that the library is legally bound to follow it. The new ordinance makes the library director the custodian of the records for library matters and the assistant director has been appointed as the deputy custodian. Proces will be writing a procedure to cover various contingencies for public records requests. The library will again differ from the City in that there are two laws which must be factored into our procedure that do not apply to the rest of the City: the federal USA PATRIOT Act and the state privacy of library records laws.

Planning for director’s performance evaluation
A meeting was set for the Library Board’s Finance & Personnel Committee for Wednesday, December 14, at 4:00 p.m., for the director’s performance evaluation.

2006 budget
Proces reported that the city budget would not be passed until the Council meeting set for that evening since Alderman Ahles wasn’t able to attend the previous evening’s meeting. Proces noted that only one person spoke at the meeting and the meeting went smoothly. There were interesting comments from the Mayor and Council President Stevenson regarding that without knowledge of what will happen at the state level it is difficult to do long term planning.

Winnebago County representative
The 2006 county budget for public library services to township residents passed at the same level as 2005, resulting in $14,757 less for Neenah than had been requested for 2006. That cut in potential revenue, by contract, reduces the county’s debt service payment for the new library, not the 2006 library operating budget request, which is up 2%.

Announcements/Future agenda items
Malueg mentioned that a new director for Oshkosh Public Library and Winnefox Library System had been selected. She noted that the Winnefox and OPL boards must ratify the selection. Malueg stated that all four of the groups conducting the search and interviewing the candidates chose the same person and that it was a very positive experience.

Malueg questioned if anything had ever been done as far as setting up a library foundation. Proces acknowledged that it had been talked about at previous meetings and the consensus at that time was that the current trust funds were adequate. He noted that anyone might contribute through Community Foundation or directly to the library. Proces asked if the Board would like additional information regarding setting up a library foundation and the response was that it was not necessary at this time.

Next regularly scheduled meeting
The next regular meeting will be held on December 21, 2005, at 4:00 p.m. in the Carpenter Conference Room.

Adjournment
At 4:54 p.m., on motion of Malueg, seconded by Sarnecki, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn.