The Carbondale Public Library Board of Trustees met Sept. 14 to suggest pay raises for non-union employees.
Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the board:
Carbondale Public Library Board of Trustees
Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Meeting Room
4:30 p.m. 405 West Main St.
MINUTES
Call to order.
Called to order at 4:30 p.m.
Roll call.
Introductions, audience and visitors. Visitors are asked to introduce themselves at this time and present any
issues they wish to discuss. Visitors wishing to address specific agenda items will be granted two to five
minutes at the discretion of the President, not to exceed a total of twenty minutes. The Library Board may
cut short any comments that are irrelevant, repetitious, or disruptive. (Id. at 1425-26).
Present.
Barbara Levine, Vice President (1)
Joyce Hayes, Secretary (2)
Don Prosser, Treasurer (3)
Julian Pei (1)
Roland Person (1)
Harriet Simon
Sharifa Stewart (1)
Susan Tulis
Absent.
Philip Brown, President (2)
The number following the Trustee’s name indicates the number of absences this fiscal year.
Staff present.
Diana Brawley Sussman, Library Director
Gwen Hall Grosshenrich, Finance Manager
Visitors present.
None.
President’s report.
None.
Secretary’s report.
1. Approval of the August 10, 2016 minutes. Minutes: Roland Person moved to approve minutes with one
correction ($85-90 should read $85,000 - $95,000). Susan Tulis seconded. MOTION passed unanimously.
Correspondence and communications.
Received at thank you card from the Harvey Welch Golf Scramble for purchase of a tee.
Financial report.
1. Approval of bills payable up to and including bills due September 16, 2016 to October 15, 2016. Julian
Pei moved to pay bills, Joyce Hayes seconded. MOTION passed unanimously.
2. Acceptance of the financial report for August 2016. Larger bills include magazine renewals and other
subscriptions, as well as recent masonry work. No property tax money has been received. Last year the first
payment arrived on October 6th. Don Prosser motioned to approve the financial report. Susan Tulis
seconded. MOTION passed unanimously.
3. Discuss FY18 levy and budget priorities. The board suggested that the Library Director look at the City of
Carbondale’s raise for non-union employees. Some were not sure whether an overall cost of living increase
for all staff would be necessary, but asked the Library Director to make arguments as necessary for staff and
resources as needed. They are concerned that the total real estate value may go down this year, causing taxes
to go up—a deterrent to homebuyers. They asked her to create a budget that only raises the levy if, and to
the extent that, it is absolutely necessary.
Librarian’s report.
1. Building and grounds maintenance and construction.
a. Progress on south wall of the Brush building. Harlan Bohnsack completed all bid documents and plans.
The pre-bid meeting will be 9/27/16 at 2:30 p.m. The bids will be opened at the bid meeting on 10/4/16 at
2:00 p.m.
b. Masonry repair on roof. The project cost more than anticipated, but the work performed was well worth
it. There were problems likely stemming from both original construction and subsequent maintenance,
including missing flashing, crumbled mortar and mislaid drip edges. The masons were able to remove and
relay each stone by hand.
Other: We are switching suppliers for cleaning products, paper supplies and rug maintenance, which will be
more convenient and affordable.
2. Insurance. The board decided by consensus to increase the library’s property insurance deductible from
$1,000 to $2,500 in order to decrease the premium.
3. Social work internship program. Our social work internship program has become a vital community
service. More public libraries are developing social work programs as an extension of their information
services. Oak Park Public Library recently added a full time social worker, partly motivated by the need to
develop a more effective security model. In our program’s first year, students were supervised by professors
at SIU who volunteered for this extra duty, as we do not have a social worker onsite. SIU’s professors are no
longer able to do this. They helped us to locate a licensed social worker with whom we can contract for
supervision (for around $2,600 per year). This is very affordable in comparison to other library programs
and services. The board agreed by consensus that we should pursue this option to continue the program.
4. Discussion about the library’s role in finding solutions to violence in the community. We discussed this
briefly. The library is involved in many efforts to alleviate violence and to develop solutions to community
problems. The Library Director participates in community forums, co-chairs the Sparrow Coalition and
Nonviolent Carbondale, and the library’s programs promote cross-cultural understanding. Reading literary
fiction has even been shown to increase empathy and to reduce prison recidivism. Barbara Levine
commented that she believes we do a great job, “over and above,” on this issue.
5. Per Capita requirement: review Chapter 6, “Access,” of Serving Our Public 3.0: Standards for Illinois
Public Libraries, 2014. The board discussed the chapter. The library meets every point on the access list. We
could consider investigating standard #15 (improving access for those who cannot travel to the library).
6. Other. None.
Committee reports.
None.
Unfinished business.
None.
New business.
None.
Other.
None.
Adjournment.
Adjourned at 5:27 p.m.
Next Board Meetings for 2016 (all in Public Library meeting room, 4:30 p.m., second Wednesday of each
month): October 12; November 9; December 14.
Respectfully submitted:
Joyce Hayes, Secretary
Prepared by: Diana Brawley Sussman, Library Director