OHIO COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
Members Present:
Mr. Ted Hess, Mr. Tom Stephan, Dr. Patricia Burkhart, Dr. Roberta DiLorenzo, Mr. Scott Reed.
Members Absent:
None
Also Present:
Dottie Thomas, Director; Louis Horacek, Assistant Director, Amy O'Brien.
Call to order:
The meeting was called to order by Mr. Hess at 7:05 PM
Mr. Hess welcomed Mr. Reed to the Board.
Minutes
Dr. Burkhart moved that the minutes of the December meeting be approved. Dr. DiLorenzo seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Financial Report:
The financial report was presented.
INVOICES AND WARRANTS
Dr. Burkhart moved to approve the financial report and pay the bills. Dr. DiLorenzo seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Dr. Burkhart commented on the drop in circulation at Hildebrand Memorial Library in December, and also noted the drop in adult circulation at the main library.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Ms. Thomas distributed a director's report. See attached document for contents of the report.
Mr. Hess asked that a schedule of insurance coverage be prepared for the Board before the next meeting. Dr. Burkhart asked if newspaper coverage of our activities was as good as it could be.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ms. Thomas reported that Ye Olde Renovators had offered to donate doors for the bookshelves in the Morrow Room. She reported that a new bookmobile driver, David Dutton, had started January 12. Ms. Thomas passed around a letter from Honeywell indicating that we need to determine if our HVAC system is Y2K compliant. Mr. Stephan suggested that we contact both Honeywell and our regular maintenance provider about the issue, and said that Honeywell would probably be best equipped to handle it.
Ms. Thomas reported that our roof had developed a leak; but the materials were under warranty and the manufacturer, Versico, had authorized Mansuetto Roofing to make repairs.
Mr. Hess passed around a letter from Landers Bonenberger to County Administrator Greg Stewart asking for consideration of the library's levy rate at the January 7 County Commission meeting.
OLD BUSINESS
Collection Development Policy
Ms. Thomas distributed copies of the current materials selection policy and the draft of the new policy for consideration at the next meeting.
Revision of Library ByLaws
Ms. Thomas distributed copies of the bylaws showing the current text and suggested changes. Mr. Stephan said that we need to make sure it is legal to have anyone besides the Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer sign checks. Mr. Hess found the section of the legislation and said that the library was bound by the legislation to have only Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer sign checks, and suggested changing the bylaws to read exactly as the legislation reads.
Annual Audit
Ms. Thomas recounted the recent history of the library's audits. She said that the most recent audit was for the year ending June 30, 1996, which was done in 1997, and that we now have to have audits for the years ending June 30, 1997 and June 30, 1998, and should be preparing for an audit for 1999. She said that so far two firms have responded to our request for bids.
NEW BUSINESS
Partial Funding for a Public Access Computer in the Children's Dept.
Ms. Thomas said that there remained a balance of $1306 in the Friends of the Library Account, which was intended to purchase a computer. The other computer purchased by the Friends cost $1800, and she asked the Board to approve the library's paying the remainder of the cost.
Mr. Stephan moved that the library make up the difference out of capital funds. Dr. Burkhart seconded.
Vote:
Mr. Hess yes
Mr. Stephan yes
Dr. Burkhart yes
Dr. DiLorenzo yes
Mr. Reed yes
Discussion of Hospitalization Benefits
Ms. Thomas reported that an employee had asked if it was an option to decline hospitalization benefits. She asked if the Board had ever made hospitalization mandatory for full-time employees, or if the Board had ever considered the issue. Mr. Stephan said that the Board had never considered it, but that it might be a condition imposed by the insurance company. Dr. DiLorenzo said that in all the school systems she had been involved with the issue had come up and the insurance had always been mandatory and that there had also been a question of whether the employee might be paid cash instead of the insurance. Mr. Reed said that it was typical in the private sector for the insurance to be optional, but that employees would not be paid for not taking insurance. Dr. Burkhart said that Wheeling Jesuit University allowed employees to either receive insurance or receive the cost of the insurance. Dr. DiLorenzo said that the library should be sure it did not fall below some required minimum number of covered employees.
Preparation of Hildebrand Branch for Gates Grant
Ms. Thomas said that she had received informal notice that the Gates Library Foundation grant to the library had been approved, and that the Foundation would be holding a regional workshop at OCPL on February 10.
Dr. Burkhart said this would be a good opportunity for a system-wide evaluation of staffing, services and hours, especially in regar to Warwood's branch facility; but also in regard to the main library. Sunday hours, evening hours and opening hours need to be evaluated. The Boardrequested that an analysis of service hours be begun. Ms. Thomas said she would being a preliminary report to February's meeting.
Donation of Card Catalog Stands to Mount De Chantal Academy
Ms. Thomas said that Amy O'Brien had relayed to her a request from the principal of Mount De Chantal for a small card catalog currently in the storage area. Dr. Burkhart moved that the library give it to them if they want it. Mr. Reed seconded the motion.
Vote:
Mr. Hess yes
Mr. Stephan abstained
Dr. Burkhart yes
Dr. DiLorenzo yes
Mr. Reed yes
Mr. Stephan said that he felt obligated to abstain to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Request for Legislative Digest Funds and Discussion of Library Appreciation Day
Ms. Thomas suggested asking for funds for new security gates to replace the current ones which are no longer supported by the manufacturer. She also said we should ask for funding to ensure that all our equipment was Y2K compliant. She said that in conversation with Mr. Hutchins he had said that one-time projects stood the best chance of approval by the legislature.
The board agreed informally to present the requests to the legislature.
Ms. Thomas said that there would be no Library Appreciation Day dinner, that instead there was supposed to be a lobbying day on Feb. 2, followed by a reception at the Cultural Center. She said that she would be meeting with the legislators that day, but could not justify a bus to the reception.
Financial Report
Dr. Burkhart asked to return to the financial report. She said that she noticed that the budgets for on-line expenses, periodicals and children's programming were mostly spent. Ms. Thomas said that the first two reflected one-time annual payments and that she had told Ms. Taylor that programming expenses would have to be kept down for the rest of the year, since the annual budgeted total could not be exceeded. Ms. Thomas said she would investigate the on-line services and periodicals to determine if she was correct in her assessment. She stated she would report her findings to the board in February.
Loan of Pictures to WNHAC
Ms. Thomas reported that Beverly Fluty, as a member of the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation had asked for permission to borrow some pictures from the Brown Collection for a meeting in Charleston. Mr. Stephan moved to approve it. Dr. Burkhart seconded the motion.
Vote:
Mr. Hess yes
Mr. Stephan yes
Dr. Burkhart yes
Dr. DiLorenzo yes
Mr. Reed yes
Inclement Weather Policy
Ms. Thomas said that the issue of an inclement weather policy had come up. She asked if the Board wished to develop one. The feeling of the Board was that a policy was not necessary at this time, but that the decision to close the library rested with the Board. Ms. Thomas should attempt to call first the President, then the Secretary-Treasurer, and finally any Board member to determine if the library should be closed.
Publicity Issues
Dr. Burkhart said that the library should be receiving more publicity in the newspapers. Dr. DiLorenzo suggested a connection with the Wheeling Park High School Television Class taught by Caroline Ihlenfeld.
Executive Session to Discuss Evaluation of Personnel
Dr. Burkhart moved to go into executive session at 9:10 PM to discuss personnel matters. Dr. DiLorenzo seconded.
At 9:20 PM the Board returned from executive session.
Mr. Hess said that he had reported to the Board on the evaluation of the director.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM.