11.08.17 - EB Meeting

EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES

BERGEN COUNTY COOPERATIVE LIBRARY SYSTEM

River Edge Public Library

November 8, 2017

PRESIDING: Kurt Hadeler Mahwah

PRESENT: Cindy Czesak BCCLS

Christine Hartigan East Rutherford

Jennifer Breuer Glen Ridge

Mimi Hui Hasbrouck Heights

Matthew Latham Leonia

Laurence Bergmann Livingston

Tina DeLucia New Milford

Susan Meeske Old Tappan

Daragh O'Connor River Edge

Laura Rifkin Washington Township

Samantha McCoy West Caldwell

NOT PRESENT: N/A

ALSO PRESENT: Darlene Swistock Recorder of Minutes

GUESTS: Eric Lozauskas BCCLS

Gerry McMahon Franklin Lakes

Ruth Springer Garfield

Ellen O'Keefe Glen Rock

Monica Smith Hawthorne

Amy Babcock-Landry Livingston

Terrie McColl New Milford

Sai Rao North Bergen

Leonard LoPinto Paramus

Riti Grover Ramsey

Kurt Hadeler called the meeting to order at 9:45 am.

1. Minutes of the Meeting on October 26, 2017

It was MOVED BY: Christine Hartigan Seconded by: Matthew Latham

To approve the minutes.

All in favor.

Motion carried.

2. Public Portion

No members of the public spoke. Kurt Hadeler asked that going forward, especially at System Council, members of the public save their questions and comments for the Public Portion and Membership Hearing rather than speaking throughout the meeting. The By-Laws Committee felt this will more closely follow parliamentary procedure.

3. Treasurer's Report

Samantha McCoy presented the October 2017 P & L Reports.

October 2017

Of the 2017 Budget of $3,391,100

$3,355,544 has been received as of September 30, 2017

Leaving a balance of $ 35,556

Total expenses $3,291,962

Leaving a balance of $ 99,138

As of October 31, 2017, the account balances were:

Checking $151,446
NJ Cash Management $355,436
Scholarship $35,687

She also presented a narrative at the meeting. There were some questions and comments about the financials. The Program Services $50 entry was an adjustment made by the Spire Group. Hoopla is $163,000 over budget because it was so well received by the patrons and the pay-per usage jumped dramatically month over month; other consortia have experienced the same situation. BCCLS is transitioning to quarterly billing per the Spire Group's recommendation. Since the majority of BCCLS bills are due early in the year, there will be a semi-annual bill and then 2 quarterly bills in 2018. The unspent $49,500 for Computer Upgrades is a placeholder for the Windows 10 upgrade in 2018. A separate account will be established for Capital Improvements. A recommendation was made that the Executive Director post the budget vs actual reports at the beginning of each month and share it with the Treasurer and Executive Board. If Directors have questions about the budget phase-in numbers, they can contact the BCCLS office for assistance. The accountant directed BCCLS to report employee contributions (403b, FICA, medical insurance) as income to the budget; this will be discussed with the Spire Group. To offset the overage for Hoopla, CloudLibrary will be underspent; funding levels for CloudLibrary will be restored in 2018. The Finance Committee met with Cindy Czesak on Tuesday. She will review the Spire Group's recommendations with the Spire Group again and see how they can assist us going forward. In addition, she will search for additional training for the BCCLS staff, review the banking relationship and set up the budget in QuickBooks. It is anticipated that BCCLS will end the year with about $100,000 in reserves.

It was MOVED BY: Laurence Bergmann Seconded by: Daragh O'Connor

To accept the Treasurer's Report.

All in favor.

Motion carried.

4. Correspondence

a) Letter to Bergen County Executive – 2018 Grant Request

Cindy Czesak will modify the letter slightly and share it with the board before sending.

b) Letters to Bergen County Freeholders – Friends Breakfast

c) Letter from Glen Ridge Public Library – Selected Shorts

5. President's Report

Kurt Hadeler's report was previously distributed to the board members.

Kurt Hadeler introduced Cindy Czesak, Interim Executive Director, to the BCCLS staff on November 1. He summarized the Committee Chairs meeting on October 11. He is addressing the overlapping charges by consolidating the number of committees and is adjusting the timeline from January-December to April-March. He is working with the BCCLS attorney to merge the Bergen County Cooperative Computer Consortium into the Bergen County Cooperative Library System entity. The attorney advised that this can be accomplished by sending letters to the Directors explaining how the situation occurred and seeking their unanimous consent to merge the 2 organizations. He can file the documents to merge the organizations and then the by-laws can be amended. The attorney is also determining if ERISA paperwork needs to be filed for BCCLS; many years ago, the original Executive Director was told that it did not apply to BCCLS. Lastly, the Executive Director Search Committee will meet on November 14 and the initial stakeholder meetings will take place in early December. There were no further questions from the membership about his report.

6. Executive Director's Report

The report of Cindy Czesak, Interim Executive Director, was also previously distributed to the board members.

She met individually with the BCCLS office staff during her first week. She hopes to attend as many committee meetings as possible to see their structure and focus, and would like to invite Directors to informal meetings at the BCCLS office or BCCLS libraries. There were no questions from the membership about her report.

7. Committee Reports

a) Committee Chairs/Co-Chairs Meeting

The minutes and recommendations were distributed prior to the meeting. A discussion followed. The goal is to condense the current 19 committees to 9-10 committees and possibly 1-2 more. The committees will be larger and have sub-committees that will form as needed. Committee chairs may meet quarterly or semi-annually (possibly after System Council) to bring each other up-to-date. The committee timeline will change to April-March based on a recent survey of committee chairs; the majority of the chairs agreed to extend their commitments until March to assist with the transition. Budgets for committees can be included in the BCCLS budget. The Reciprocity Task Force talked about creating a task force to address the catalog backload and would also like to reconvene to discuss how the 2018 grant will be used. How do committees work together? There was talk about someone on the Executive Board acting as a liaison. Per the by-laws, Trustee Development is a standing committee; Kurt Hadeler will look into this further. World Languages will remain an important committee focus. Changes to committees are at the discretion of the BCCLS President, except for standing committees of the Executive Board and those required by the by-laws. Committee chairs will now post provisional draft minutes as soon as possible after their committee meeting and the minutes will be formally approved at their next committee meeting.

b) Collection Development & Reference Committee – Event Evaluation

c) Government Relations & Public Policy – Event Evaluation

d) Professional Development Committee – Event Evaluation

e) Youth Services Committee – Event Evaluation

Directors like the evaluation summaries and asked about having one for Circ Meetings and the Friends Breakfast going forward.

f) Committee Updates

By-Laws Committee – Gerry McMahon, Chair, advised that the committee is working on revisions and will present them at the Executive Board meeting in January.
Reciprocity Task Force – Mimi Hui, Chair, thanked the task force for their efforts, and also thanked Eric Lozauskas and Mike Grgurev of the BCCLS office, for their hard work and support in creating various custom reports. She said it shows that the membership is working together as a whole. Patrons often select a library based on convenience: parking, hours, driving distance and customer service. She advised that the net borrower surcharge and the reciprocity fees will be waived in 2018.
Technology Committee – Matthew Latham, Chair, handout out a summary of the committee's activity for 2017 and their efforts for a front-facing catalog. Eric Lozauskas explained that the Polaris proposal would either accelerate development of something already in the works or to develop something that is unique for BCCLS.
eBCCLS – Samantha McCoy, Chair, advised that they are still investigating other platforms and have additional meetings scheduled for later this month. The goal is for libraries to purchase and be able to share their collections with the membership.

8. Old Business

a) Township of Rochelle Park

Settlement check - received last week.
Referendum in November Election – the township voted 881-230 to municipalize their library. The township needs to take action before the BCCLS office can begin their work (migrating patron records back, setting up the network again, installing new computers, etc.) to bring them back into BCCLS. Cindy Czesak will be meeting with the Director of Rochelle Park to outline the process and will create a FAQ for libraries to use when questions arise from patrons. Cindy Czesak will also work with the PR firm to communicate the recent wins: Rochelle Park's overwhelming desire to return to BCCLS and the successful outcome of the Construction Bond Act referendum.

9. New Business

a) Policies & Procedures – Recommended Changes

Jennifer Breuer, Chair, reviewed the recommended changes and updates to Missing Items; Damaged, Incomplete and/or Mislinked Materials; Lost Cards; Local Fines; Unclaimed and Missing in Action Items.

It was MOVED BY: Christine Hartigan Seconded by: Laura Rifkin to approve the recommendations and procedures, and send the policy changes System Council in December. All in favor. Motion carried.

b) Construction Bond Act

Cindy Czesak advised that the NJSL has hired Tina Keresztury as a consultant to oversee the construction grant process. Now is the time for libraries to get their plans in order as the grant will be a competitive process.

c) BCCLS Office Training Room

Eric Lozauskas explained that libraries can use the BCCLS office training room for their own staff development training. An e-mail will be sent to all explaining the process.

10. Membership Hearing

Kurt Hadeler welcomed the 2018 Executive Board members: Gerry McMahon (Franklin Lakes), Matthew Latham (Leonia), Sai Rao (North Bergen) and Ruth Springer (Garfield, Trustee). The other new trustee, Brian Donohue (Roseland) was unable to attend the meeting. Kurt Hadeler thanked trustees Laurence Bergmann and Tina DeLuise for all of the wonderful work they did this year.
Laurence Bergmann thanked the members of the BCCLS Executive Board for the opportunity to serve on the Executive Board. It was a humbling and gratifying experience. When Livingston's next trustee rotation is up in 38 years, he is ready.
Terrie McColl said she was very glad that Cindy Czesak is here as the Interim Executive Director.
Daragh O'Connor offered to host an Executive Board meeting in 2018.

11. Next Meeting Executive Board: TBD

System Council: Thu, 12/7/17 @ 9:30 am – Franklin Lakes

12. Adjournment

It was MOVED by: Mimi Hui Seconded by: Tina DeLucia

To adjourn at 11:49 am

Unanimously approved.

dms: 11/12/17

11.08.17 - EB Meeting - Minutes