Board of Trustees Meeting
March 25, 2015
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Carroll County Public Library
Board of Trustees Meeting
Finksburg Branch
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Minutes
1.
Roll Call and Declaration of Quorum
Ms. Piazza called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. and declared there was a quorum present.
Present:
Kathleen Campanella
Joyce Muller
Keir Knight
Cynthia Piazza
Ellen Morse
Richard Soisson
Staff Present:
Anita Crawford
Erin Gambrill
Heather Owings
Darrell Robertson
Stephanie Szymanski
Tony Eckard
Bryan Hissong
Lisa Picker
Muffie Smith
Lynn Wheeler
Mark Foley
Bob Kuntz
Scott Reinhart
Dorothy Stoltz
Also Present: Ted Zaleski, Director of Carroll County Management & Budget
2.
Minutes of February 25, 2015
Mr. Soisson moved to approve the Minutes of February 25, 2015. Ms.
Campanella seconded. Approval was unanimous.
3.
Financial Statement
Mr. Eckard reviewed the Variance Report ended February 28, 2015. Total cash balances are at
$1.9 million. Income statement reflects revenues $115,000 behind budget. Salary savings are at
$63,000. Contractual cleaning will be overspent at the end of the year. All other overspent items
should catch up to budget by the end of the year and staff estimates $70,000 for carryover in FY
16. Special Funds activity reflects eBook spending of $50,000. Grant activity is normal. The
Community Foundation account balance is at $56,000 and includes $250 from William and Janet
Brown.
4.
Correspondence & Announcements
a. Confirmation of Ms. Campanella’s re-appointment and Ms. Muller’s appointment to
the Board have been received from the Commissioners’ office.
b. Gerstell Academy sent a thank you to the Finksburg Library for branch’s hosting the
school’s “Our Night To Shine”.
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March 25, 2015
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c. Kati Townsley, Executive Director of the Carroll Tech Council sent a thank you and
photos of her participation in the Westminster branch’s recent Celtic Cantor celebration.
d. Pat Donohoe, author of The Printer’s Kiss sent a thank you email to Ms. Wheeler, Ms.
Muller and the Mt. Airy Branch staff for a fun and engaging book talk on March 22.
5.
Citizen’s Time
Ms. Piazza asked Mr. Zaleski to address the Board. Mr. Zaleski said that in economic terms,
things are better than before, but there is not a lot of room to support new initiatives. One
initiative the Commissioners may take on is an effort to reduce drug abuse problems in the
County. Tomorrow is the first day of agency budget hearings before the Commissioners, the
library is second on the presentation list. The community meetings that take place at the end of
April will be held at libraries. Mr. Zaleski thanked the library staff for their accommodation in
setting up these meetings. The Board thanked Mr. Zaleski.
6.
Director’s Report
Ms. Wheeler introduced staff members Heather Owings, Adult Services Supervisor at North
Carroll, North Carroll Branch Manager, Darrell Robertson, library associate, Mark Foley
representing the Staff Association and Finksburg staff members Erin Gambrill and Anita
Crawford. Circulation was up 5.6% in February and is down 2.6% for the year. We opened late
3 days and closed one day for snow. Visits are at 712,108, which is a slight increase over last
year. Total Sunday circulation is 58,598 through March 15. Both Sundays that branches were
open in March have exceeded 3,000 circs. Branches were closed on Sunday, March 1 due to
snow.
We were honored to receive a Thumbs Up from the Carroll County Times in recognition of the
excellent tech learning events taking place at the Eldersburg Branch.
Ms. Wheeler reported on the success of the first Mt. Airy Battle of the Books and “An Evening
with Karen Abbott.” Ms. Wheeler thanked Ms. Muller for her coordinating role, and the
McDaniel College staff for clearing the parking lots and sidewalks and preparing the room for
the event despite the fact that the College was closed due to snow. Former executive director of
the CC Humane Society and Great Reader, Great Leader, Nicky Ratliff has been a guest reader at
PAWS to Read events around the system. The African American Read-In, in partnership with
CCPS and the NAACP was a very successful and inspirational event.
Ms. Piazza and Ms. Campanella plan to attend the budget hearing with staff. The Budget Office
has recommended a 2.5% increase in funding over FY 15. In response to inquiry from Mr.
Knight, Mr. Eckard responded that a 2.5% increase is approximately $220,000. Beyond the
Budget Office’s recommendation, library staff will ask the Commissioners to reinstate the Tech
Replacement line in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan.
Ms. Wheeler asked staff to come up with ideas to enhance service on Sundays, one idea was to
have Saturday delivery so that customers can pick up reserves on weekends. Muffie Smith, Scott
Reinhart and delivery driver Bernie Michaels came up with a plan for Saturday delivery, which
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March 25, 2015
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we started in mid-March. It takes Mr. Michaels about 4 hours to make the Saturday delivery.
Branch staff are so pleased with Saturday delivery that we will now be offering it year-round.
Ms. Wheeler gave an update on Passport Services. The application has been received and staff
hope to have it completed by May 1.
Upcoming Events include: Friday, March 27, 8:30 am, Best Western - Regina Calcaterra, author
of Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood
on Long Island ; Wednesday, April 22, 7 pm, Board Meeting, Mt. Airy Branch; Tuesday, May 5
– National Legislative Day, Washington, DC; Wednesday, May 6 – Friday, May 8, MLA,
Clarion, Ocean City; Saturday, June 6, 9:00 – 4:00 – Friends Mini-Golf Event, Eldersburg. Ms.
Wheeler encouraged Board members to attend an upcoming Battles of the Books.
7a.
Finksburg Branch Report
Bryan Hissong, Finksburg Branch Manager welcomed everyone to the branch and highlighted
activity over the past year. Mr. Hissing said he is very proud of the staff members’ creativity and
showed photos of some of the successful events including Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s
Library, Coffey Music’s instrument petting zoo, an Easter egg hunt in partnership with the
Roaring Run Lions Club and the Farm to Fork event. Staff members have held very popular
craft programs. Mr. Hissong showed an animation clip about CCPL activities, produced by
Kayla Houck, a page who is also a student at McDaniel. Erin Gambrill, Children’s Services
Supervisor and Anita Crawford, Circulation Manager told the Board about their upcoming event
featuring a showing of the cult film, The Room and a visit with author and film co-star Greg
Sestero, who wrote a book about being in the movie, called The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside
The Room. The program will be held at the Arts Council on May 15. The Board thanked the
Finksburg staff for their presentation and for their work to engage customers of all ages.
7b.
Internet of Things (IOT)
Bob Kuntz introduced the Board to The Internet of Things (IOT) which is a proposed
development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them
to send and receive data. Mr. Kuntz said that a newer version of IP addresses will be required in
order to allow exponentially more devices to be connected to the Internet. There was discussion
about costs, equipment development, information storage, privacy and control of information,
and the impact it could have. Mr. Kuntz spoke to the example of the impact IOT could have on
the health care industry. Regarding library impact, he noted a pilot project underway at
Finksburg using iBeacons, which will allow CCPL to send information to customers in the
building on books or events of possible interest. The Board thanked Mr. Kuntz for the
presentation.
9a.
Finance Succession Plan
Mr. Eckard reviewed the Finance and Analysis department’s succession/emergency plan. The
plan was created with internal controls and the importance of segregation of duties in mind.
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March 25, 2015
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CCPL has service agreements with software vendors, auditors, etc., who could help ensure
continuity of operation. The department has many procedural manuals in place to assist staff in
handling varied duties when needed. The staff has worked diligently to create detailed
procedures for specific tasks and processes. One example is the processing of payroll, which is
very detailed with multiple processes. The Board thanked Mr. Eckard for his report.
9b.
Friends Report
Ms. Muller reported on CCPL Friends’ recent activity. The Friends Board met in March and
continue to plan for the Mini Golf fundraising event on June 6 to support Battle of the Books. So
far they have sponsors for 17 of the 18 holes and are looking for entertainment sponsors and an
overall event sponsor. Friends Board member Kym Byrnes is creating short videos of library
customers talking about how much they love the library. The Friends have had “Join the
Friends” banners made that will be hung on the branches after the Sunday hours banners come
down at the end of April. Friends Board member Nancy Lynch is working to have local
celebrities participate in the tournament. Ms. Muller also reported that Friends’ Board President
Carol Kershner is recuperating from major surgery, she hopes to be back before the golf
tournament. The Board thanked Ms. Muller for the report.
9c.
Rubber Stamp Collection
Heather Owings, Adult Services Supervisor at the North Carroll Branch presented a staff
proposal to create a pilot circulating collection of rubber stamps, which are used extensively by
the “maker’ community. The idea came from a recent visit she took to the non-profit Station
North Tool Library in Baltimore where tools can be borrowed. She also studied the Wild Rose
Branch of the Patterson Memorial Public Library in Wisconsin, which is currently circulating
donated rubber stamps. Ms. Owings gave information on the benefits of crafting and passed out
examples of stamps and cards made with the stamps. CCPL staff is proposing that rubber stamps
be circulated in VHS cases (4-6 per case). The collection would only be housed at North Carroll
but could be returned to any branch. Stamps could be checked out for 7 days with 20 renewals if
there are no holds, overdue fines would be $.25 per day with a $5 maximum, a $1 cleaning fee,
replacement cost is $5 and initially there will be a 5-set limit per checkout. There was discussion
about other types of reusable items such as tools and cake pans that could be circulated. Plans
are not to purchase any stamps but to develop the collection from stamps donated by customers.
Ms. Wheeler said that Ms. Owings and Branch Manager Darrell Robertson would report on the
summer pilot at the September meeting at the North Carroll Branch.
Ms. Campanella motioned to approve the pilot Rubber Stamp Collection as
proposed by staff. Ms. Muller seconded. Approval was unanimous.
Mr. Knight noted the creativity of the CCPL staff and congratulated them on their work to get
out and be part of the community.
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March 25, 2015
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9d.
Board Member Vacancy
Ms. Wheeler suggested that the Board begin the process of finding suitable candidates for Mr.
Knight’s Board position, as his term ends in December. She suggested that the Board have a
name(s) by June to submit to the Commissioners. Ms. Wheeler noted that Ms. Campanella lives
between Eldersburg and Mt. Airy, so she could serve as representative of either area, therefore, a
replacement could come from either Eldersburg or Mt. Airy. Mr. Soisson suggested looking for
folks who have never served before. There was discussion of looking to the CCPL Friends
Board. Ms. Wheeler pointed out that there are no current Friends Board members who live in the
Eldersburg/Mt. Airy area, except Ms. Lynch, who recently completed two terms on the Board of
Trustees. Mr. Knight asked the Board to keep in mind the uniqueness of the Mt. Airy area in
regard to its proximity to three other counties. Ms. Piazza asked Board members to start thinking
of county residents who could be considered for the position.
10.
Adjournment
Mr. Soisson motioned to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Morse seconded. Approval
was unanimous.
The meeting adjourned at 9: 12 p.m.
Cynthia Piazza
President