Westchester Library Board of Trustees met Monday, Nov. 14.
Here are the minutes as provided by Westchester Library:
WESTCHESTER LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES LIBRARY BUILDING COTW MEETING MINUTES
10700 CANTERBURY ST.
November 14, 2016
WESTCHESTER, IL 60154
1. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Swearing in of Elizabeth Hunter as appointed trustee by Village President Sam Pulia
3. Roll Call: 7:05 PM by President Cathy Kuratko. Present were President Cathy Kuratko, Trustee Elizabeth Hunter, Secretary Demitrus Evans, Treasurer Jerry Chenski, Trustee Sandy Laszkiewicz, Vice President John Lamberti Absent: Trustee Jenice Hampton. Also Present: Director Fidencio Marbella, Assistant Director Bonnie Schwanz, Business Manager Allison Muzal, Village President Sam Pulia
4. Public Comment - Comments from President Sam Pulia regarding running for office
5. New Business
A. Financial Advisor, Matt Krajniak, who changed brokerage firms from Waddell & Reed to Focus Financial, explained why and gave out information. Focus is not restricted to investment products from just one firm. The expenses will not change should we move our investments from Waddell & Reed. There were questions raised as to whether we should to stay with Waddell & Reed with a new Waddell advisor or move our investments to Focus Financial with Matt Krajniak.
B. Policy Review:
6.70 Conference Attendance- Discussion that the Board would approve Library Director expenses, no dollar amount specified.
6.72 Payment in Lieu of Health Insurance- If an employee is eligible and turns down health insurance coverage they receive 1/2 of what the library would have paid in premiums. The library still saves by not having to provide coverage. Only one employee has selected this option.
6.74 Job Description- Business Manager Allison Muzal is updating all of the job descriptions. Descriptions are available to the public online when ads are run to fill vacancies.
6.75 Discipline Philosophy - This policy is different from the actual discipline process.
C. Library Improvement Ideas
No final date yet for website but Olive Street does have our content. Director to ask for a “substantially complete date.”
HVAC- 20/10 Engineering is reviewing documents
Restrooms- plan to open Adult restrooms tomorrow and then begin demolition on youth restrooms. Dumpster will be on site for demolition debris.
Workroom - wiring not yet complete, electricians will be out tomorrow, phone work will be completed by end of week. All workroom tasks should be complete by early next week and the board will do a walk through, but may look at workroom tonight.
Programs - We were going to do one for drones, but the company we asked cannot do it because we are too far (they’re based in Highland Park). Chocolate making program scheduled for week of Valentine’s Day. The last food oriented program went well.
3D Printing – staff will present a written proposal at December’s COTW. There has been some interest from the community, but the board would be interested to know the percentage of interest.
D. Review of Resolution 2016-04 Levy for Fiscal Year 2017-18. Levy and budget numbers were provided by the Village. Levy request was for $1,285,598 vs. $1,270,509 from the previous year. We will budget for $1,234,125, an increase of about $8,000 but this increase will have go to payroll due to the Cook County ordinance raising the minimum wage and due to the federal changes anticipated in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Also affecting our 2017-18 payroll expenses is the Cook County ordinance mandating paid sick time for all employees - one hour earned for every forty hours worked up to a maximum of forty hours earned sick time annually. The library does anticipate additional funds from the state’s Personal Property Replacement Tax (PPRT) and from the state library’s annual per capita grant.
6. Unfinished Business-
A. Chamber Luncheon will be Tuesday December 6, 2016. B. African-American contractors’ event C. Dropbox changes will require a library email address to access. This change was made to restrict library business to library email addresses as protection against FOIA requests for the board’s personal email addresses.
7. Public Comments: None
8. Board Member Comment: The Board welcomed Elizabeth Hunter to the board. Discussion was held regarding possible programming on autism.
9. Motion to adjourn at 8:06 PM was made by President Cathy Kuratko, 2nd by Treasurer Jerry Chenski, motion approved 6 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent.
Submitted by Secretary Demitrus Evans
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