Burlington Public Library Meeting Room

The Burlington Public Library Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 in the Burlington Public Library meeting room. Present were Pat Hoffman, Yvonne Braunschweig, Scott Johnson, Dianne Boyle, Ed Johnson, Steve Rauch, and Penny Torhorst. Excused were Kay Pockat, and Pat Hurley. Also present were Gayle Falk, and Linda Berndt.

Torhorst called the meeting to order at 4:00.

Minutes of the August 28, 2007 meeting were approved. Hoffman moved, and Braunschweig seconded. Motion passed.

The September General Fund Bills, Prepaids, Reimbursements and August General Fund Deposits were approved. Braunschweig moved approval and Hoffman seconded. Motion passed. The September Trust Fund Bills and the August Trust Fund Deposits were approved. Braunschweig moved and Boyle seconded. Motion passed.

New Business:

County Funding: The City of Racine was supposed to be receiving money from a settlement regarding the sewer agreements with Caledonia and Sturtevant. The money was designated to be used to support the zoo, museum and library, and was designed to help offset the use of these facilities by county residents that did not pay taxes in the city of Racine. Because the city of Racine cannot show that this money was given to the library, Racine County is refusing to reimburse county libraries at 100%--claiming it has already paid the City of Racine money towards the city’s library costs. We do not know how this will be resolved.

WLA Conference: WLA conference is the week of October 16^th in Green Bay. Gayle, Judy, Carole and Ruhama are attending. Ruhama is also presenting at the conference.

CD Renewal: We have a CD maturing on October 13^th. The board instructed Falk to go for the highest rate for one year or less.

Friends Group: Falk said that she thought it was time that we the decisions to get the group going. Berndt has researched Friends groups and handed out copies of sample bylaws and other information. There was discussion and it was decided that the Board members would review the handouts and then at the next meeting we would draft some bylaws for our group.

Ruhama Kordatzky Bahr, our children’s librarian, has turned in her resignation to pursue other ventures. She was invited to the Board meeting so the Board could convey their best wishes in her future endeavors. Ruhama’s husband, Chip also came and cake was served.

Committee Reports:

Personnel Committee met and discussed what their options were in filling the Children’s Librarian position. It was decided to hold off on hiring while we consider options. It was also recommended that the job be divided into separate part time positions for the time being. Carole and Gayle would help fill in on reference hours that Ruhama used to cover. Barb Lebak would fill in on Ruhama’s Wednesday night reference shift. Elena Spiegelhoff would continue to cover after school hours and provide liaison to the schools with the book bag program. Additionally, she will begin reading reviews for purchasing materials. This would leave 24 hours needed to do programming and storytime duties.

The Finance Committee met and discussed with Falk the proposed budget. It comes with a 1% increase overall and a 3% increase in city revenue. There is, of course, not much room for changes. Torhorst moved and S. Johnson seconded the motion to approve the proposed budget as presented here tonight. Motion passed.

Old Business:

Strategic Planning: Falk wanted the Board to make some decisions as to the timeline of the DVD project. Discussion followed on how to proceed. The Board has already approved the project up to $5,000.00. Hoffman moved and Braunschweig seconded the motion that Hoffman would talk to Matt Nie and see if he was interested in pursuing the project. Motion passed.

Falk wanted to discuss the 100^th Anniversary for 2008. She wanted to know how much the Board wanted to be involved in the planning of the Anniversary year. It was asked how soon the Friends Group would be up and running. It is hoped that it would be in January. The Board suggested that at the next meeting we take a half an hour and brainstorm ideas for 2008 and then let the staff plan them further.

Director’s Report:

Falk reported that the Management Team will be going on a shopping trip to Barnes & Noble on Friday, September 28^th. She has money leftover from lunch on the last shopping trip so she doesn’t need to ask for lunch money.

The Board would like us to go ahead with more of the roof railing project and get at least one more section done. Falk will get a quote and then what it will cost to do the whole Pine Street side of the roof.

Falk will have an update of the equity fund at the next meeting. We need further information on the figures we have received.

BPL in the News: Board discussed the article on the Hollywood Librarian screening in Racine. Ruhama was interviewed for a side article about librarians today.

Meeting was adjourned at 5.00 p.m. Hoffman moved and Braunschweig seconded. Motion passed.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 23^rd at 4:00 PM at the Burlington Public Library.

Respectfully submitted,

Yvonne Braunschweig
Secretary