OHIO COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
Members Present:
Mr. Ted Hess, Sr. Mary Jude Jochum, Mr. Mike Baker, Miss Sally Carroll
Members Absent: Mr. Charles Monfradi
Also Present:
Dottie Thomas, Library Director, Louis Horacek, Assistant Director, Reporter Michelle Blum
Call to order:
Mr. Hess called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M
Minutes
Mr. Baker moved that the minutes of the March meeting be approved as distributed. Sr. Mary Jude seconded.
Vote:
| Mr. Hess | yes |
| Sr. Mary Jude | yes |
| Miss Carroll | yes |
| Mr. Baker | yes |
| Mr. Monfradi | absent |
Financial Report:
The Financial Report for March was distributed with the board package. Mr. Hess asked what the item 'ESPPS' was. Ms. Thomas said she would check.
INVOICES AND WARRANTS
Sr. Mary Jude moved to approve both Financial Reports and approve payment of invoices and warrants; Miss Carroll seconded the motion.
Vote:
| Mr. Hess | yes |
| Sr. Mary Jude | yes |
| Miss Carroll | yes |
| Mr. Baker | yes |
| Mr. Monfradi | absent |
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Ms. Thomas distributed a written director's report.
Mr. Hess asked if a summary of the library's current health insurance plan was available. Ms. Thomas said that was and the she would prepare copies for anyone who wanted it.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ms. Thomas distributed a testimonial to the library from Robert L. Flowers.
Mr. Hess said that he had spoken with Bob Klug of JP Morgan Chase (formerly BankOne) about the library's trust account. He had reported that the account was down 1.3 % at the end of the first quarter, which was less than others had lost. He said that they had not yet moved the account to 70% equity as requested at his last visit because of recent poor market conditions, but would as soon as it conditions permitted.
Mr. Baker asked Ms Thomas to get a summary of the current administrative fees is paying to JP Morgan Chase, and what the new fees will be, from Mr. Klug,.
OLD BUSINESS
Paving the Parking Area
Ms. Thomas said that Klug, Wilson and Lash had all been approached for quotes and she hoped she would have something well before the next meeting.
Also, a firm had been called to give an estimate for cleaning and repairs to the ceiling.
NEW BUSINESS
2005-6 Budget
Ms. Thomas presented a budget for 2005-6 based upon an estimate of the County Commission and Board of Education revenues.
She said she had prepared the estimate of income from the account with JP Morgan Chase before talking to Bob Klug, and that she would be correcting the figure.
She said that the income being taken from the Endowment Trust was cutting into the principal at the current rate of 7%. She said that Bob Klug had told her that 4% would be a more realistic figure.
Personnel in the budget was based upon a 3% across-the-board raise, plus the addition of 35 hours of parking attendant/security guard time (as two part-time positions)
Postage was reduced because the library would change the way that overdues were handled: the first approach to patrons with overdues would be a telephone call and only one overdue notice would be mailed rather than two.
The cost of the audit increased because of the demands of accounting under GASB.
Mr. Hess asked how the periodicals budget was dropping. Ms. Thomas said that she was considering dropping Infotrac, a periodical database duplicated by Ebscohost provided free of charge by the state. Infotrac costs $4,728 and has risen approximately $225 annually for the past several years.
Mr. Hess asked about utilities. Ms. Thomas said that gas would probably go over-budget this year, and that she had provided for more in the new budget.
Mr. Hess asked why health insurance was down. Ms. Thomas said that it represented one less full-time employee. Three people had resigned in the past year, and been replaced with two full time and two part-time people. She said that it could possibly be even less if we use a lower-cost insurance plan.
Mr. Hess asked Sr Mary Jude and Mr. Baker to act as a committee to study insurance and pay increases.
Discussion of Parking and Future Planning
Ms. Thomas distributed a list of possible questions related to parking problems and the library's location to be discussed in focus groups. She said she hoped to set up meetings targeted to different demographic and interest groups.
Mr. Baker said she should remove the question specifically mentioning the Soup Kitchen and Northwood.
Mr. Baker suggested adding questions about how far a person could walk and whether they have ever entirely given up the idea of going to the library because of parking.
Mr. Baker suggested approaching nursing and care homes and assisted living facilities about the possibility of bringing groups to the library in their vans.
Mr. Hess asked what Ms Thomas hoped to accomplish with focus groups. She said the Board would hear what the public thinks about library services and the parking dilemma. From the general input and ideas of the public, improvements to library as well as potential solutions to the parking problem could be identified. Mr. Baker said the public would recognize that the Board is concerned and the meetings would be a good public relations move for the library.
Mr. Baker suggested approaching Hopeful City and the East Wheeling Business Council and ask them to co-host a meeting.
Mr. Hess asked Sr. Mary Jude, Mr. Baker and Miss Carroll to constitute a subcommittee to work on the issue. Ms. Thomas will coordinate.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM.