SWAN LIBRARY TRUSTEES

MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 12, 2007 

Present:   Trustees Kevin Doherty, Terry-Lynn Corrigan, Julie Miller, Lynne Philipps, Margaret                     Golden, Mariadele Theodorakos, Pat Cammarata, Judy Christopher, Mitzy Peglow,  Dona Scharping, Library Director Susan Rudnicky

Excused:  Fran Lissow

Guests:    Ken Braunbach, Mary Anne Braunbach, Connie Mikels, Gloria Costello, Phil Greaser,

Harriet Greaser, Michael Bonafede, P. Patterson, Tom Taber, Leatha Taber, Laurie Groth, Dee Robinson, Louise Henderson, Nancy Neidert, Donna Wolcott, Athena Nichols, Barbara Reveles, George Miller, Penny Miller, Ellen Smith, Curtis Smith, Nicky McFarland, Larry Gaylard, Margaret Swan, Cindy Eibl, Ellen Eibl, Carrie Heise, Nicole Coleman, Cheryl Pool, Mike McFarland 

______________________________________________________________________________President Kevin Doherty called the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Swan Library to order at 7:00pm at the Pullman Memorial Church. 

Motion to Adopt the Revised Agenda, adding a motion requirement by the Planning Committee was made by Lynne, seconded by Judy.  Unanimously approved 

PUBLIC FORUM

Motion to open up the floor to comments from the public for 30 minutes, with 2 minutes allowed per speaker was made by Lynne, seconded by Pat.  Unanimously approved.  Many individuals expressed their views concerning their displeasure of the Board seeking funding for the site study of the Newberry building.  Some individuals were also in support of the Board’s efforts.    At 7:40pm Lynne announced the 30 minute time was up, the president Kevin chose to allow the three final members to speak. 

MINUTES

            Motion to accept the August 15^th meeting minutes with correction changing the stained glass front windows to leaded glass was made by Julie, seconded by Dona.  Unanimously approved.

            Motion to table the approval of the August 27^th meeting minutes was made by Pat, seconded by Margaret, pending the confirmation of the date adopted at this meeting committing funding to the library for the Newberry study.

            Motion to approve the report of the Survey meeting, including the actual survey with the report was made by Julie, seconded by Margaret.  Unanimously approved.

            Motion to note in the minutes that during the survey presentation, a question of the integrity of the survey was brought into question and that Dr. Andes stated that tampering of the results would have been very difficult to accomplish and that she was confident in the checks and balances of the documentation of results, was made by Julie, seconded by Margaret.  Unanimously approved. 

CORRESPONDENCE

            Numerous letters were copied and distributed to the board members for their review.  No action needed on any of them.

TREASURER’S  REPORT

            Motion to accept the August 2007 treasurer report was made by Dona, seconded by Terry.  Approved   Yes-10   No-0

            Internal Audit Review for August was conducted by Dele.  No discrepancies were found.

           Evaluation of the Internal Audit Review proved to be an informative, educational tool for new board members, but members felt that there was no need to conduct the review on a monthly basis, unless our auditor felt a necessity.  Therefore, new members are urged to review the checks one month, and Kevin will facilitate their scheduling. 

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Report in the board packet.  Susan highlighted that staff discussed customer satisfaction at their last staff meeting.  A suggestion of putting a suggestion box in the front lobby was made. 

 Susan also indicated that the Children’s Librarian reported that 91 children in one hour went through the library during a summer program.

COMMITTEE REPORTS 

Finance Committee  Kevin reported that a $100,000 CD at First Niagara was closed, with a teller check of $102,928.56 paid to the Swan Library Smith Barney Building Fund. 

            In addition, the operating reserve currently has approx. $34,000 balance in it, after all expenses were paid off.  The letter has been sent to the Albion Central School District to request our tax levy funding.

Personnel Committee   Pat reported that the committee met.  They ask that the board consider a change in the salary of Laurie Groth to better reflect additional duties and web design skills.  Motion to increase the salary of Laurie Groth to $9.74 per hour, eligible for the annual increase, effective September 1, 2007 was made by Margaret, seconded by Terry-Lynn.  Unanimously approved.  The finance committee indicated that there were funds available in the current budget to cover this increase.

            Pat also presented the goals for the Personnel Committee for 2007-08.  These included revision of the Personnel Manual, updating employee job descriptions and creating a salary schedule for employees. 

Building and Grounds   Kevin reported that they are waiting for a proposal from Panek’s for painting.   

Planning Committee Report   Lynne reported that they had a meeting with Ivy Partners of Victor NY concerning a capital campaign.  In addition to the committee members being present, Pat and Margaret also attended the meeting.  The committee asked the board to consider selecting Ivy Partners for leading our campaign.  

            Motion to contract with Ivy Partners of Victor, NY to conduct the pre-campaign phase of a capital campaign as outlined in the service agreement dated September 10^th from Ivy Partners, with a maximum expenditure of $22,000 for this service from the Smith Barney Building Funds was made by Lynne, seconded by Dona.  Unanimously approved.

Local History Committee   Susan handed out a Report of the Roswell S. Burrows Mansion Committee of August 24, 2007.           

Friends of Swan Library   Terry-Lynn reported that the group is still looking into the 501c3, a Holiday Sale is being planned, and there are still spaces available for the Dec. 1-2 NY City trip.

OLD BUSINESS

           Wi-Fi:  Motion to adapt the Lee-Whedon Policy on Wi-Fi use at the Swan Library was made by Terry Lynn, seconded by Julie.  Unanimously approved.

                        Motion to purchase the router for Wi-Fi and to contract with Time Warner for $90/month for Wi-Fi services was made by Dona, seconded by Dele.  Unanimously approved.  The board also asked that a report be made back to the board after 6 months.  The funds will come from the equipment purchase line item for the router and the service will be paid from the utilities line.

            NYLA State Conference:  Motion to approve $500 from the Conference line item for staff/friends to attend the NYLA State Conference Oct. 17-20, was made by Dona, seconded by Terry Lynn.  Unanimously approved.

NEW BUSINESS

Open Meetings Law:  Mary Anne Braunbach has called into question the legality of the August 27^th Special Meeting in regards to the Open Meetings Law.  Motion to defer the issue to Woods, Oviatt & Gilman for a written opinion was made by Pat, seconded by Terry Lynn.  Approved   Yes-6 (Julie, Pat, Terry Lynn, Margaret, Dona, Kevin)    No-3 (Dele, Lynne, Judy)    Abstain-1 (Mitzy)   

Board member ethics were called into question by Board member Pat concerning the request for additional funding for the Newberry Study being solicited in the Swan Library name by the “Newberry contingent”.  This may have been a complete misunderstanding of the “process” and interpretation from the complaining Gaines Town Board, and Kevin and Judy will clarify this with the town boards (specifically).

            Kevin has put together a list of questions the Board has for our attorney Patrick Malgieri concerning the lease/building/acquisition of a new building.  He will be attending our next board meeting to address these questions.

 NEXT MEETING

Regular Board Meeting October 10, 2007, 7pm at the Library

Respectfully submitted,  

Lynne Philipps, Secretary