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MILWAUKEE COUNTY FEDERATED LIBRARY SYSTEM
Board of Trustees
Regular Meeting Held Monday, November 10, 2003
At
Milwaukee County Federated Library System
709 North Eighth Street
Milwaukee, WI 53233
ROLL CALL
Present: Mike D’Amato, President
Dick Maslowski, Vice President
Paul Ziehler, Treasurer
Ryan McCue, Trustee
Martin Schreiber, Trustee
Staff: Doris Nix, Director
Jim Gingery, Library Systems Administrator
Judy Kaniasty, Business Manager/Personnel Assistant (Recorder)
Others: Donald Bulley, South Milwaukee Public Library Board
Beth Carey, Shorewood Public Library
Terri Delke, Greenfield Public Library
Bruce Gay, Milwaukee Public Library
Kate Huston, Milwaukee Public Library
Paula Kiely, Milwaukee Public Library
Pat Laughlin, Hales Corners Public Library
I. CALL TO ORDER. President D’Amato called the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System Board of Trustees to order at 9:08 a.m.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. Trustee Schreiber moved and Treasurer Ziehler seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held Monday, September 29, 2003 as presented in Attachment A of the agenda packet. Unanimously approved.
III. PUBLIC COMMENT. None.
[Trustee Schreiber requested that the MCFLS/MPL Resource Library Agreement agenda item be discussed first since he had a limited time available to attend this meeting this morning. The Board agreed. The minutes are shown in numerical order, however.]
IV. TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE – REPORT
A. TAC Reports – October and November 2003. Director reviewed Exhibit 1attached to these minutes, which are the minutes of the October TAC meeting prepared by TAC Chair Tracy Blaschka. Treasurer Ziehler questioned whether the Maintenance of Effort issue was addressed at all during budget discussions. Director Nix responded that member libraries are aware that MCFLS should be alerted immediately since that situation, if it were to occur, would place MCFLS out of compliance with the State. Director Nix noted that this topic is a statewide concern. Vice President Maslowski moved and Treasurer Ziehler seconded a motion to accept and place the report on file. Unanimously approved.
V. REPORTS
A. Finance and Personnel Committee.
1. Financial Report – September 2003. Treasurer Ziehler noted that Attachment B of the agenda packet looks on target for this time of the year. The Finance & Personnel Committee recommends approval of the report as presented. Treasurer Ziehler moved and Vice President Maslowski seconded a motion to approve the report as presented. Unanimously approved.
2. 2004-05 Bargaining Unit Agreement. Treasurer Ziehler reported that Attachment C of the agenda packet reflects the outcome of the two-year union agreement contract negotiations. Director Nix reported that Business Manager Judy Kaniasty, represented MCFLS during negotiations this fall. The Finance & Personnel Committee recommends approval. Treasurer Ziehler noted that MCFLS received notification last week of acceptance in the State Health Insurance Program, which has been budgeted for in 2004 in anticipation of acceptance. Treasurer Ziehler moved and Vice President Maslowski seconded approval of the 2004-05 bargaining unit agreement as reportedly negotiated. Unanimously approved. [Trustee Schreiber left the meeting at 9:30 a.m.]
3. 2004 Line Item Budget and Narrative. Treasurer Ziehler referred to Attachment D and reported that the Finance & Personnel Committee reviewed the 2004 budget and recommends approval with the modification of the addition of the 2003 LSTA Grant amount of $38,000 be inserted appropriately since it was inadvertently left out. Treasurer Ziehler moved and Vice President Maslowski seconded approval of the 2004 budget as modified. Unanimously approved.
4. MCFLS/MPL Resource Library Agreement. Treasurer Ziehler reported that the Finance & Personnel Committee has no recommendation to bring forward on this agreement at this time. Currently the amount of the contract is $1.3 million and failing a new agreement being negotiated, the 2003 contract continues for 2004. Treasurer Ziehler’s main financial concern is in 2005 when the MCFLS portion of reciprocal borrowing is projected to be over $500,000 with absolutely no funds set aside for this expenditure. MCFLS would consider an amount somewhere between $500,000 and $750,000 for the MCFLS/MPL Resource Library Agreement to meet current fiscal obligations.
Trustee Schreiber, who also serves on the Milwaukee Public Library Board, noted that Milwaukee would like to settle this without the State needing to mediate. Milwaukee does not feel it is fair to reduce the amount of the contract to fund the MCFLS reciprocal borrowing subsidy. Trustee Schreiber moved and Vice President Maslowski seconded a motion (for the purpose of discussion) to extend the current contract for one year at the cost of $1.3 million. Vice President Maslowski stated that at a MCFLS Board meeting several month ago notice was made of our inability to meet financial obligations in 2005 under current conditions. All MCFLS Board members appreciate all sides of this issue, however MCFLS does not have the money in 2005 to continue funding the Resource Library Agreement at $1.3 million with the reciprocal borrowing commitment hanging overhead. State funding is uncertain and he believes MCFLS needs to sit down with Milwaukee as soon as possible to determine the best solution with a $600,000 deficit for 2005. The County is not willing to levy a tax and a solution needs to be found. After discussion, the motion was withdrawn by Trustee Schreiber.
To alleviate the immediate City of Milwaukee budget concern, the MCFLS Board will send a letter to the City of Milwaukee Comptroller stating that the State Statutes require that the $1.3 million be paid and that amount is budgeted in 2004 for the MCFLS/MPL Resource Library Agreement.
4. MCFLS/MPL Resource Library Agreement. (continued)
President D’Amato presented a proposal, shown as Exhibit 2 attached to these minutes, (which he also recently shared with the ICC Library Study Committee) as an option to be considered by the MCFLS Board which freezes reciprocal borrowing payments and only requires a payment of $25,000 for the Resource Library Agreement but transfers the Milwaukee reciprocal borrowing payment to MCFLS.
There was unanimous consent to appoint a committee to develop a 2005 budget.
5. Director Recruitment Process Discussion. Treasurer Ziehler reported that the Search Committee met last Friday and interviewed one candidate and will be holding additional interviews in the near future. No action was taken at this meeting. Treasurer Ziehler noted that this meeting was not noticed and probably should have since the Search Committee consists of the Finance & Personnel Committee members. The oversight was not noticed by him until after the meeting was over but he wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention. Search Committee Meetings will be noticed properly in the future.
6. Final Reciprocal Borrowing Numbers – Payable in February 2004. Treasurer Ziehler presented Attachment E of the agenda packet for informational purposes.
B. 2004 MCFLS Board of Trustees Officers. Appointment of a Nominating Committee or Reaffirmation of Current Officers Pending Appointment of New Board Members. Vice President Maslowski moved and Treasurer Ziehler seconded a motion to reaffirm the current slate of officers at this time. Unanimously approved. Trustee McCue noted that nominations for MCFLS Board nominations closed last Friday and one person which would serve as a citizen member is in the works and a local library board member slot still needs to be filled.
C. Resolution of Appreciation to Doris Nix. President D’Amato read and presented a framed copy of Attachment F of the agenda packet to Doris Nix. Treasurer Ziehler moved and Trustee McCue seconded a motion to adopt the resolution as presented. Unanimously approved. Treasurer Ziehler noted that Director Nix will be on the payroll until 1/2/04 and an Interim Director will be named if necessary after that time.
D. NEXT MEETING DATE – December 8, 2003. Listed here for informational purposes.
VI. ADJOURNMENT. With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned by unanimous consent.
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