NORTHVILLE DISTRICT LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting Minutes
Thursday, February 28, 2002-7:30 p.m.
Northville District Library Carlo Meeting Room

1. The meeting was called to order by Chair, Barbara Glover, at 7:35 p.m.
1.1 Roll Call
Present: Trustees Carolyn Blanchard, Barbara Glover, Jean Hansen, John Lorence and Joseph Oldenburg
Absent: Trustee Gail Barget and Trustee Thomas Thompson
Also Present : Julie Herrin, Director of the Northville District Library; Anne Mannisto, Assistant Director of the Northville District Library; Gail Stith, Administrative Assistant of the Northville District Library.
Guests: Beth Bialy, CPA, and Kristine Wood, CPA, of Plante & Moran; Lynne Hirschelman, NDL employee

1.2 Approval of Agenda
MOTION by Joseph Oldenburg, seconded by Carolyn Blanchard, to approve the Agenda. Motion approved.

1.3 Approval of the REGULAR minutes 1/24/02 
MOTION by Joseph Oldenburg, seconded by Carolyn Blanchard, to approve the regular meeting minutes of January 24, 2002. Motion approved. 

1.4 Correspondence
Barbara Glover reported that she received a copy of a letter dated 2/20/02 from James Carlo to the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan which stated a draft of $6,250.00 was enclosed as the first quarterly installment of the John J. Carlo Family Challenge grant on behalf of the Northville District Library Endowment Fund. 

1.5 Citizens’ Comments: there were no comments.

2. Presentation of the Northville District Library’s 2001 Audit 
The audit was presented by Beth Bialy and Kristine Wood of Plante & Moran, entitled Northville District Library Financial Report with Additional Information, November 30, 2001 (attached to original minutes).
Included with the copy of the 2001 audit report was a letter to Board Members from Plante & Moran dated 1/4/02 offering comments and recommendations for consideration. This letter was reviewed by Beth Bialy with Board members. The following items were brought to the Board’s attention:
The annual pension and health insurance costs have increased significantly and a long-range plan for dealing with these increasing expenses should be developed.
The Library should determine if the Reserve Fund’s fund balance is at an adequate level. Ms. Bialy suggested a percentage of a minimum of 10% but closer to 20% as a goal for the reserve account.
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has issued a new financial statement reporting model, which is a significant change to the financial reporting system, which will go into effect in the year beginning December 1, 2003. The Library will need to consider whether any new systems will need to be put into place in order to obtain necessary information for the new reporting model.
In addition, the following was also noted: $9,991 is due from the Debt Fund to the Operating Fund because of tax refunds. The largest library expenditure is Payroll expenses at 57% followed by utilities, books, and janitorial expenses. The retirement fund is only 62% funded due to an actuarial error from the city and also market conditions, but this is expected to improve. Barbara Glover requested that Note 9 of the report regarding the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan NDL endowment fund be changed to reflect the fact that $11,000 of donated contributions was transferred to the Foundation to establish the endowment fund.

3. Friends of the Northville District Library Report
Barbara Glover gave the Friends Report. At the Annual Meeting, three new Directors will be voted into office: Joan Bahl, Rich Potchynok, and Marvic Welch. Joan will be the new Recording/Corresponding Secretary, Rich will be a Director-at-Large and Marvic will be the new Assistant Newsletter Editor. The Board voted to use the name suggested by Anne Mannisto and will call the used book room downstairs “The Bookcellar” or possibly “The Book Cellar”. The Annual Meeting and the Spring Book Sale will coincide; the Annual Meeting taking place on Saturday, March 16, which will include a continental breakfast. Nine of the Friends attended the Friends of the Michigan Library meeting on February 14, where they received numerous ideas for more fundraising.

4. Director’s Report
Julie Herrin asked the Board to consider the following Sunday library closings: May 12 (Mother’s Day), May 26 (Sunday before Memorial Day), and June 9 (begin closing Sundays for the summer). MOTION by Joseph Oldenburg, seconded by Carolyn Blanchard, to close Sunday, May 12 and May 26, and to close Sundays for the summer beginning June 9, 2002. Motion approved.
Library Statistics: 8.8% increase over last January. Added another internet station bringing the total to seven regular and two express stations that cannot print but are used on a first-come, first-served basis for quick use.
Youth: 28 programs; 94 for the Valentine craft; seven weekly storytimes, three monthly, plus craft programs
Adult: Book discussion, 8, teen, 12


Programs: Over 100 attended the Lincoln program. The Feng Shui and Romance program had to be rescheduled and 36 attended. Julie and Anne attended the Grand Opening at the Plymouth Historical Society at the request of John Stewart.
Young Adult: Shari hosted 129 seventh graders from Hillside Middle School and 30 eighth graders from OLV for library visitation. Her Saturday craft had an attendance of 12 teens.
Building: Passed fire system inspection – need to replace terminals for battery. Work was done on heating/cooling system at a cost of $1,000.
Technology: A new server is necessary in order to put new firewall system on; however, this is within the budget.
Volunteers: Anne has two volunteers who have experience with computers. Sixteen hours of volunteer time were put in by youth.
Staff: Copy of a letter to Shari Fesko from the Library of Michigan was received by Julie praising Shari’s work on the summer reading project for teens presented around the state in January. Julie encourages participation by the staff in MLA and TLN, and Michael, Jeannine and Shari participate the most. Two meetings have been held with Unit 1 regarding union negotiations. The next meeting will be with Unit 2 on March 5. 
Visitation: John Stewart and Dr. Anderson, Director of Michigan’s History, Arts and Libraries, will visit on March 27th.
Tuesday, March 26, Purtan’s People, from radio station WOMC 104.3, will be reading in the library as part of “March Home with a Book”, the theme for March is Reading Month. 

5. Budget and Finance Review: Hansen
5.1 Bills Payable
MOTION by Jean Hansen, seconded by Carolyn Blanchard, to approve payment of bills over $1,000.00 as listed on the Northville District Library Bills List dated February 28, 2002. Motion approved.

5.2 Financial Reports
Jean Hansen presented the Financial Reports for the two months ending January 31, 2002 (attached to original minutes). $9,991.00 due from the Debt Fund to the Operating Fund because of the tax refund paid to Guardian Industries.

6 Board of Trustees Committee Reports
6.1 Development Committee: 
The Development Committee met on February 5, 2002, to review the 2001campaign and make plans for the 2002 campaign. The next mailing will be the first week of November. Julie and Anne are to put an article regarding the endowment fund in the Chamber of Commerce Newsletter and mention it at the luncheon. The committee will ask the Friends of the NDL to pay for the 2002 mailing. 
6.2 Personnel Committee:
The Personnel Committee met on February 5, 2002, in a closed session to discuss union negotiations and to discuss recommendations to the Board regarding Julie Herrin’s performance appraisal. MOTION by John Lorence, seconded by Jean Hansen, to approve the Personnel Committee’s recommendations for Julie Herrin of a 1.7% salary adjustment retroactive to February 12 and an additional five days of vacation. Motion approved.

7 Other Business: 
The Long-term Planning Committee will plan to meet in March.

8. Announcements and Comments:
Change Jean Hansen’s email address to jhansen@voyager.net

9. Adjourn:

MOTION by Jean Hansen, seconded by Carolyn Blanchard, there being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Motion approved.

Respectfully submitted,
John Lorence, Secretary

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