Minutes of the Burlington Public Library Board of
Trustees.
The Burlington Public Library Board of Trustees met
on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 in the Burlington Public
Library meeting room. Present were Ed Johnson, Penny
Torhorst, Yvonne Braunschweig, Scott Johnson, Pat
Hurley, and Jim Beardsley. Excused was: Kay Pockat, Barb
Beere, and Pat Hoffman. Also present were Gayle Falk and
Linda Berndt.
Ed Johnson called the meeting to order at 4:00.
Minutes of the December 14, 2004 meeting were approved.
Beardsley moved and Torhorst seconded. Motion passed.
The January General Fund Bills, Prepaids,
Reimbursements, and Late December Prepaids and December
General Fund Deposits were approved. Torhorst moved and
Braunschweig seconded. Motion passed. The January Trust
Fund Bills and the December Trust Fund Deposits were
discussed and approved. Braunschweig moved and Torhorst
seconded. Motion passed.
Committee Reports: No committee reports.
Federated Library Report: No Federated Library
report.
Old Business:
The HVAC project is essentially complete and the
consultant has performed the preliminary installation
inspection. We are waiting for final adjustments.
New Business:
CD Renewal: We have a $10,000.00 CD maturing soon.
Members considered rates available. Braunschweig made
the motion to renew the $10,000.00 CD plus $5,000.00
from the trust checking account for 1 ½ years at the
rate of 3.35 or the best rate available upon renewal.
Torhorst seconded. Motion passed.
Personal Choice Holiday: City employees represented
by a union will receive Good Friday as a day off in
their new contract. Since we plan to be open on Good
Friday Falk asked that the staff receive an extra
personal choice day instead to be used some time during
the year. Torhorst moved and Braunschweig seconded the
motion to allow the staff to receive an extra personal
choice day. Motion passed.
Recycled ink cartridges: We have been recycling our
empty ink cartridges and have received $60.00 so far.
The Board felt that we should encourage the public to
recycle their empty ink cartridges here, too. It was
discussed and decided that the money should be put into
the grocery fund to be used later for a larger project.
Program funds: Falk asked the Board for money from
the Friends account again this year to be used for
programming. We normally ask for $600.00 for the
Children and $400.00 for the Adult Department. This year
Falk would like to add $200.00 for the Adult Book
Discussion Group. Carole Rybarczyk is having a
performer/speaker at one of her Book Club meetings.
Torhorst moved and Braunschweig seconded that $1,200.00
should be taken from the Friends account and moved to
the general Program fund. Motion passed.
Personnel evaluations: We have been asked to give a
copy of our personnel evaluations to City Hall for
employee files there.
LSTA: The LSTA grant we received for service to
seniors included $5,000.00 to be used to make our
Jefferson Street door handicapped accessible. This
amount, along with money in the Puntenney memorial fund,
would provide a large portion of the cost of the
project. The original bids for that project (gathered
two years ago) were in the range of $7,500.00. Falk
wanted the Board’s approval to have more bids drawn up
for the project, including alternative methods of
designing the door. The Board instructed Falk to gather
bids for the door, with the understanding the Board
would consider additional project funds from the trust
account.
Continuing education: Falk reiterated that it has
been the policy of the Library to encourage education to
help staff members advance to other jobs here. We
currently have a desk clerk who is training to provide
reference, and Falk wants her to take an Internet
reference class through the University of Madison. We
will have many demands on our continuing education funds
this year, and Falk may need to ask for additional funds
later in the year.
Falk has completed her Spanish class and has had
opportunities to use what she learned with patrons.
Magazine weeding: Friday, January 28th is
magazine weeding day. The staff will be removing two
years of back magazine issues. We will be keeping the
current year upstairs and two years downstairs in
storage. Since we now have an online database that
provides back issues, our copies downstairs are not used
much. Each issue being removed has to be scanned and
removed from the database. We have several patrons and
staff that are willing to take the old issues. The
leftover issues will be recycled.
Annual Report: Falk has prepared the Annual Report
for Board approval. Items included in the report are
circulation numbers, lists of people who work at the
Library, expenditures, income, trust fund balance,
affirmation that Lakeshores is providing adequate
support, and an accounting of trust funds. This report
is sent to the State of Wisconsin and needs to be signed
by the Library Board President. Braunschweig moved and
Torhorst seconded the approval of the Annual Report.
Motion passed.
Overdue Notices: Falk read the Board an overdue
notice from another library stating that failure to
return books is considered theft under state law. Falk
is investigating sending a personal letter containing
that wording after the present overdue notices have been
sent by the library. The Board agreed that we needed the
additional letter.
Literacy: The Literacy Council would like to use our
Conference room for tutoring two evenings a week, but
they need to keep a file cabinet here to store records
of program participants. Lack of space is always a
problem at the library, and it would be difficult to
find a place that would be accessible to the tutors but
not available to the public. After discussion, the Board
agreed that a locked file cabinet could be placed in the
corner of the conference room on a trial basis for six
months.
Cell phones: The police chief has received a grant
which included collecting old cell phones and
redistributing them to people who are in abusive
situations. The phones can only call 911 and are to be
used in an emergency. The library staff will distribute
the phones free to anyone who asks for one.
Falk showed the Board a thank you from a staff member
who has been ill, and received donated sick time from
other staff members.
Directors Report:
Monthly Report: Falk reported that our annual numbers
have been steady compared to last year.
In the News:
There is an article on Lake Geneva Library stating
that, due to budget cuts, they will be cutting hours on
Saturday and be closed on Sunday. Because of staff cuts
they will not provide tax forms for the public this
year.
There was a clipping regarding a job opening at
Elkhorn library.
There was a Thank You from the staff for the water
cooler.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00. Braunschweig moved and
Hurley seconded. Motion passed.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 22nd
at 4:00 PM at the Burlington Public Library.
Respectfully submitted,
James Beardsley
Aldermanic Representative
