DEARBORN DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES

LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING

June 9, 2006

 

1. ATTENDANCE

In attendance were:  MR. MARCEL PULTORAK, Vice-Chairperson;

DR. ALEX SHAMI, Secretary-Treasurer; MRS. CANDYCE ABBATT,

MRS. DIANE PEPPER, MR. ROBERT TAUB, MR. RONALD WATTERS, Commissioners;

MRS. MARYANNE BARTLES, Library Director;

MRS. JULIE SCHAEFER, Administrative Librarian; MRS. MARGE ECKERT, AAUW.

EXCUSED:  MRS. NANCY ZAKAR, Chairperson; MRS. SYLVIA PRESSMAN,

MR. DAVID SCHLAFF, Commissioners.

 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the May Commission Meeting were approved as submitted.

 

3. ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Mr. Pultorak explained that as stated in the Commission by-laws this meeting is the annual meeting of the Library Commission in which the Commission is required to elect officers. Mr. Taub stated that if the current group of officers is reelected it would be their third consecutive term.  In the past most officers have served for three years.  Mr. Taub motioned to elect the current slate of officers again, seconded by Mr. Watters, all approved.

 

4. LIBRARY COMMISSION BY-LAWS

Mr. Pultorak stated he appreciates that all of the Library Commissioners are volunteers and have busy lives.  However, we have been having trouble getting a quorum of Commissioners in attendance at the meetings. He would like to propose that Commissioners call Carla, the Library Administration secretary, and let her know if you will attend the meeting or not.  Carla will then call the Commissioners she has not heard from on the day of the meeting and advise the Chairperson and/or Vice-Chairperson if there will not be a quorum at the meeting.  Mr. Pultorak will email the Library Commissioners who are not at today’s meeting to notify them of this.  Mrs. Abbatt discussed the possibility of allowing Commissioners who can not attend the meeting to participate by phone.  Mr. Pultorak stated that it may be possible to amend the by-laws to allow this.  He will check with Corporation Counsel and advise the Commissioners at the September meeting. 

 

5. FOUNDATION MEETING-UPDATE

Mrs. Bartles reported that the Library Foundation did not have a quorum present at their last meeting.  However, their by-laws do allow them to vote on issues via email.  They had quite a few items on their agenda. Steve Roberts is working on the business plan. Janine Brycz is working on the marketing strategy but was not able to attend the meeting.  Ann Knoop is working on the liability insurance information for the Foundation.   The Board also reduced the amount of furniture they felt they would need from what was recommended by the designer for the Foundation Office to keep costs down.  Mr. Pultorak stated that he has spoken with Bill Irving regarding the service agreement and Bill states that he is working on it.  Mr. Pultorak hopes that he will have something more concrete to present to the Foundation Board at the next meeting. The Foundation Board asked to have the Children’s presentation prioritized and have costs attached.  Maryanne Bartles and Julie Schaefer are working on this. 

Two of the original Foundation board members, Najim Saymuah and Gerry Haliburda have resigned.  They may also lose an additional member as Stacey Kulick just had a baby.  Another member of her law firm may be interested in serving on the board if she does resign.  Two new members have been nominated to the Foundation Board, Judy Patrick and Nancy Auffenberg.  Their nominations will be voted on via email.  The next meeting is June 27, 2006 at 7pm. 

 

6. BUDGET UPDATE

Mrs. Bartles reported that the operating budget has passed the City Council as submitted.  However, she has not received permission from City Administration to fill the four vacancies that we have currently.  Mr. Pultorak stated that we may need to look at job sharing.  Mrs. Bartles stated that we have tried that in the past and it does not work well. Mrs. Bartles has a meeting on Monday with Mark Guido regarding these vacancies. We are hoping to be able to fill the Processing Supervisor position as well as an additional Processing position. Mrs. Bartles spoken with Human Resources and the Legal Department to determine what some of our options may be in terms of staffing.  With Julie Schaefer and Tara Gnau’s assistance Mrs. Bartles has come up with three scenarios on how to handle this situation, one of which she feels is a win-win situation for the City and for the library. It will allow us to put the right people in the right position which is critical to an operation as well as saving the City money. Mr. Watters asked if it would be advisable for the Library Commission to draft a letter to the City Administration regarding this situation.  Mr. Pultorak stated that it might be a possibility at some point in the future.   

 

7. CHARTER COMMISSION UPDATE

Mr. Pultorak stated that he understands that the Charter Commission plans to review the libraries portion of the City Charter at their next meeting.  Mr. Pultorak spoke with Mayor Guido and Mark Guido regarding the proposed City Charter changes.  The Mayor has proposed to empower himself to determine which City departments will operate and how they will operate.  The Mayor has presented his proposal to the Charter Commission.  Mr. Pultorak stated that he stressed to the Mayor that the Library Commission as a body certainly felt that the library is important and that the City has a significant investment in the library facilities and collections. They also discussed staff reductions, not only at the library but the City in general.  The staff reductions are coming from non-police and fire employees as those positions are protected by current charter amendments.  This is putting tremendous pressure on other City departments to absorb the reductions.  Also, the State of Michigan has recently combined the Library of Michigan with the Historical Department to create one department.  There has been talk around the City of doing a similar thing here such as storing all the historical artifacts from the museum at the libraries and closing the museum.  Mr. Pultorak discussed with the Mayor the need to have someone maintain those types of archives and the amount of work involved would require a lot of staff time.

Mrs. Bartles stated that the library is due to present to the Charter Commission on June 13th at 5:30pm.  She was advised of this by Corporation Counsel.  There was not a formal invitation from the Charter Commission and they have not given any information on what they want to see from us.  We feel that the Charter Commission charge is to look at what City departments do so we will present a short PowerPoint presentation which explains the libraries and their services as well as the role of the Library Commission. We will use the presentation time as an opportunity to sell the library.  Mr. Pultorak stated that the minutes of the Charter Commission are posted on the City Clerks page of the City website but are only updated through the May 2, 2006 meeting.  Agendas are not posted.

 

8. CELL PHONE UPDATE

Mrs. Bartles reported that it was difficult for Steve Smith to do because of the way our software works but he was able to add a floating icon was added to the public Internet stations screensavers that displays a cell phone with the “no”  sign along with the statement “As a consideration to others please silence your cell phone”. We also added signage as you enter the building.

 

9. NEW BUSINESS

1.   VOLUNTEER UPDATE- Mrs. Bartles stated that the City has applied for a Cool Cities grant from the State of Michigan for approximately $100,000.  The City is hoping to use the money to renovate the lower level of Bryant and to add a welcome center.  The Chamber of Commerce may also rent space from the City for office space and they would run the welcome center.  Tara Gnau is at Bryant today showing the officials from the State around Bryant.  Ms. Gnau did prepare the volunteer report for the Commission.  It lists how many volunteer that the library has.  At the upcoming volunteer luncheon we will be giving out awards based on years of volunteer service given to the library. Ms. Gnau is also working on a volunteer satisfaction survey. 

2.   Mr. Taub would like the Library Commission to send a letter of congratulations to the Mayor on his appointment as president of the Council of Mayors. 

3.    Julie Schaefer reported that the libraries have been dealing with the problem of unattended minors for many years.  The Legal Department has drafted an ordinance that is currently being considered for adoption by the City Council.  The ordinance states that children under six can not be left unattended in public places without the supervision of someone 13 years of age or older.  If adopted the ordinance will go into effect on June 29th.  We will need to incorporate the language of the ordinance into our code of conduct.

4.   Julie Schaefer announced that the Summer Reading Program wrap up party will be held on Friday, August 18th at HFCL.  The Mayor will attend to present awards to the grand prize winners.  A reminder email will be sent to the Commissioners closer to the event date.  Mr. Watters stated that he would like to have a calendar of library events.  Mrs. Schaefer explained that if the Commissioners signed up for Book letters programming newsletters they would receive emails that give information about upcoming events.  We will send the Commissioners information about signing up for Bookletters.

5.   Mrs. Bartles reported that money has been budgeted to renew the Library Commissioners Michigan Library Association memberships.  Mrs. Pepper reported that she had already paid her membership fee.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.