MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Page 1 of 7
DATE: February 10, 2011
LOCATION: Midland Public Library Boardroom
PRESENT: L. Campbell, J. Swick, J. Pack, B. Gorski, U. Schmid, G. Canning
REGRETS: B. Desroches, V. Nihill
STAFF: G. Griffith, Recording Secretary, B. Molesworth, CEO
ITEM
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1.
Call to Order
J. Swick called the meeting to order at 6:58 p.m.
2.
Approval of the agenda
Additions:
8.
New Business
8.1
Christmas & New Year’s Closing
Moved by: J. Pack
Seconded by: G. Canning
That the agenda be approved, as amended.
3.
Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting
Moved by: J. Pack
Seconded by: L. Campbell
That the minutes of the Board meeting held on January 20, 2011
be approved.
4.
CARRIED
Election of the Executive?
Chair, Vice-Chair, Finance Committee Chair
B. Molesworth informed the Board that the new Board representative
from the Township of Tiny still has not been appointed. With two other
Board members away, he wondered if those present would prefer to
wait until the next meeting to elect the new Executive or would they like
to move ahead now. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea to wait.
J. Swick agreed to continue as Acting Chair for this meeting.
CARRIED
MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Page 2 of 7
DATE: February 10, 2011
LOCATION: Midland Public Library Boardroom
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ITEM
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4.
Election of the Executive? - continued
Moved by: B. Gorski
Seconded by: J. Pack
That J. Swick continue acting as Board Chairman for the meeting of
February 10, 2011.
5.
6.
Business arising from the minutes
5.1
Non-Resident Fees
B. Molesworth received an e-mail with a draft contract from the
Township of Tiny. The contract has been re-written to reflect the
negotiated changes in the amount of the annual fee and the
removal of Tiny’s cap. It will be presented at the next meeting of
the Township of Tiny Council.
5.2
Partnership with MARC
B. Molesworth is still working with our partners on planning 4
events, the first of which will be held during March Break. On
Saturday, March 19th at 2:00 p.m. the U of T Astronomy
Department will be presenting a programme which is geared to
youth at risk. The second event will be held on Saturday, April
2nd. The presenter is a magician with an environmental
message. The third event will be put on by Dave Brunelle, the
regional co-ordinator for the War of 1812 anniversary
celebrations. Victoria Evans, who does outreach for Parks
Canada, will put on a reptile presentation for the fourth event to
be held Saturday, April 30th.
B. Molesworth will be meeting with the Librarian from
Penetanguishene to develop advertising for the events, which
will all be free.
Approval of the accounts
B. Molesworth, in the absence of a Finance Chairman, explained the
accounts for the month of January. Several items that have been paid
out in January are annual or semi-annual fees, so the total is higher
than it normally would be. A question was raised about the membership
to the Ontario Historical Society. B. Molesworth explained that he
CARRIED
MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Page 3 of 7
DATE: February 10, 2011
LOCATION: Midland Public Library Boardroom
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ITEM
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6.
Approval of the accounts - continued
thought they would give us advice in relation to the Ste. Marie
collection.
There was also a question about the item Furnace Control Training.
B. Molesworth explained that we sent someone from Hooks for training
on our new mechanical systems as they will be taking care of the
maintenance of same. B. Gorski asked whether the Hydro bill was
where it should be. It has dropped, but we’re in a part of the season
where we’re using gas for heating, so we’re still not sure.
L. Campbell asked how we purchase e-reader books. B. Molesworth
provided some background. We are part of a consortium of 14 Public
Libraries that purchase e-reader books through the County of Simcoe.
Circulation of these titles jumped dramatically in January as many
people received an e-reader for Christmas. As a result, most of the
titles are out. B. Molesworth met with Staff and the County Librarians
about contributing monies for increased purchasing. It looks like there
will be an injection of about $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 to purchase more
titles. The average price per title is around $15.00 to $20.00.
A question was asked as to whether we could setup an e-reader
lending service. J. Swick asked that we leave this question to the
Agenda item Chief Librarian’s Report.
Moved by: B. Gorski
Seconded by: L. Campbell
That the accounts for the month of January 2011 totalling $41,296.26
be approved.
7.
Reports of Board Committees
7.1
Finance Committee
B. Molesworth distributed the Library’s Financial Statement as at
January 31, 2011. He pointed out that a computer software
expense had been wrongly entered as a Capital expenditure. It
will be moved over to the Operating side.
CARRIED
MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Page 4 of 7
DATE: February 10, 2011
LOCATION: Midland Public Library Boardroom
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ITEM
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7.
Reports of Board Committees - continued
J. Swick questioned the amount of $135,145.00 for the debt
charge in the Capital budget. B. Molesworth will check with Town
Treasurer, S. Gignac. The report was adopted.
7.2
Fundraising Committee
B. Molesworth explained that he had left the Committees part of
the Agenda in place as these were the Committees that had
existed during the tenure of the previous Board.
There was no Fundraising Committee report.
7.3
Building Committee
B. Molesworth reviewed the staffing situation in the expanded
building particularly in relation to janitorial. We asked for more
part-time hours to keep up with the cleaning but were denied that
position. The current Custodian is having trouble keeping up.
B. Molesworth is looking at contracting out things like having the
carpets steam cleaned twice a year at a cost of $2,000.00 per
cleaning and having the windows washed once a year at a cost
of $1,600.00 The washrooms need to be kept up. B. Molesworth
asked Service Master for a quote to come in weekly for a
thorough cleaning. The cost would be $4,200.00 There is a
Building Maintenance line in the Operating Budget but it was set
thinking we would get a new cleaning position. A co-op student
has approached us about doing a placement here.
B. Molesworth spoke to him and his teacher and it has been
agreed that his primary focus will be janitorial. He will start
Monday and work half days until the middle of June.
A tender will be let to have the carpets cleaned. The windows
may not have to be done this year.
B. Molesworth also reported on another building issue. A heating
coil situated in the dropped ceiling near the Main Desk burst. We
were lucky it happened while we were in the building as water
poured out of the ceiling. Another pipe in a basement wall of the
old part of the building also burst. It cost $2,500.00 to have these
repairs made. There are old valves that were not part of the new
construction that are starting to fail.
MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Page 5 of 7
DATE: February 10, 2011
LOCATION: Midland Public Library Boardroom
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7.
Reports of Board Committees - continued
Replacing them and having them hooked up to the new
electronic reporting system will cost $14,000.00. We can leave it
and put it in next year’s budget and hope there are no more
failures.
There is also a leak in the atrium. We have had people in to look
at it and replace pieces, but it is still leaking. The contractor
thinks the water is coming from higher up, between the newer
steel roof and the old roof. They are coming in to take a piece of
the roof off to see if this is the case.
B. Molesworth went on to say that at the end of his report, he felt
that these are things the Board needs to know about as there will
be costs related.
J. Pack asked what the status of the clock tower clock was. We
are waiting for parts was the answer.
In relation to staffing, U. Schmid asked if we had looked at using
volunteers to fill in for staffing shortages. She wondered if we
could take advantage of the 40 hours of volunteer work students
have to do. B. Molesworth responded that training is required to
perform Library duties. The 40 hour time period is not long
enough to make it worthwhile. L. Campbell stated that the
hospital doesn’t use student volunteers either. It was pointed out
that we do, at times, use these students to clean books and
shelves and the co-op student is a volunteer. Consistency is a
problem as volunteers change over.
7.4
Report from the Friends of the Midland Public Library –
New Executive Liaison?
B. Molesworth reported that a small group of the Friends have
met and are looking at forming an Executive. He went on to say
that, in the past, there had been a Library Board member that
acted as liaison between the Friends and the Board.
MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Page 6 of 7
DATE: February 10, 2011
LOCATION: Midland Public Library Boardroom
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ITEM
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7.
Reports of Board Committees - continued
B. Molesworth attends their meetings. The previous Board
liaison was former Library Board Chair G.A. Walker. Perhaps
when the Library Board Executive has been voted in we can revisit the issue.
J. Pack asked for a little background on the Friends group and
what they do. B. Molesworth stated that they usually have run
fundraising events like book sales, dinner/dances and we sell
book bags for them. The money is kept in their account and
when a need arises we approach the Friends for financial
support.
8.
New business
8.1
Christmas and New Years Closing
B. Molesworth told the Board that Staff vacations are being
planned for the year and some are looking at taking time over
the Christmas period. Christmas and New Years both fall on a
Sunday this year, a day we are normally closed, so we need to
decide which days we will close in lieu of the stat holidays. The
Board usually helps make this decision and then tables a motion.
Questions were asked about when it was busier. It was stated
that the days leading up to Christmas tend to be less busy than
the days in between Christmas and New Years. In order to be
consistent, it was agreed that the Saturdays before Christmas
and New Years would be closed days. J. Swick called for a
motion.
Moved by: J. Pack
Seconded by: U. Schmid
That the Board approves closing on Friday, December 23rd at 1:00 p.m.
and completely on Saturday, December 24th and closing again at 1:00p.m.
on Friday, December 30th and completely on Saturday, December 31st.
CARRIED
MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Page 7 of 7
DATE: February 10, 2011
LOCATION: Midland Public Library Boardroom
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ITEM
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9.
Information
9.1
Correspondence – SOLS re: Trustee’s Council
B. Molesworth has correspondence inviting a Board member to
serve on the Southern Ontario Library Service Trustees’ Council.
This item was deferred until the new Library Board Executive is
elected.
9.2
Chief Librarian’s Report
In an additional report, B. Molesworth reported that our
Information Technology Technician, A. Hamelin, has tendered
his resignation effective Friday, February 25th. A job ad has gone
out through S. Beatty at the Town Office and we have
approached our contact at Georgian College. We hope to hire
soon.
On another matter, the Township of Tiny has recommended their
representative to the Board, to Town of Midland Council. Her
name is Maureen Pearce. We await Council’s approval.
E-Readers
The possibility of purchasing E-Readers to lend was discussed. We
have always purchased materials in multiple formats, whether they be
books or movies. We have regular print, large print, audio-books, DVDs
and now e-books, but we have not purchased DVD players or cassette
or CD players to lend out to patrons to play them on. Formats change
so quickly that whatever readers or players you purchase would be
obsolete in no time.
It’s impossible to say how things will progress in terms of e-books. It will
depend on how quickly the public takes to this new format.
10.
Adjournment
Moved by: J. Pack
That the meeting be adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
__________________________
Chairman of the Board
_________________________
Chief Librarian