Library Advisory
Board Minutes
Cascade Township Library Advisory Board Meeting
Cascade Township Library Advisory Board Meeting
Monday, June 6, 2005 at 7:00 p.m.
Attendees:
Charles Fry, Library Advisory Board Chairman
Diane Cutler, Cascade Library Branch Manager
Laura Weld, Cascade Library Asst. Branch Manager
Barbara Kalinka, Board member
Debbie Straub, Friends President
Holly Sturges, Board Member
Maureen Sullivan, Board Member
Lynne Marie Quinlan, Board Member
Ron Goodyke, Township Clerk
Excused Attendees:
Ed Dupke, library Advisory Board Co-Chairman
Pamela Vander Ploeg, KDL Facilities Planning
Absent:
Brian Currier, Township Trustee
Approval of April 4, April 18, and May 2, 2005 Minutes: Ron Goodyke
motioned for approval of the April 4, April 18, and May 2, 2005
Library Advisory Board Minutes. The Board unanimously seconded. All
were in favor, none opposed. Motion carried.
Charles Fry noted that he had gratefully received a letter from
Martha Smart, KDL Director mentioning Cascade Township Library had
received an award from On the Town magazine, The Silver Townie Award
for Best Library.
Branch Report: Diane began by saying that some may have noticed the
new sign that was put in place due to the concern of the former
Friends President Maryann Warnock as she was concerned about the speed
of the traffic coming into the driveway with the number of adults and
children crossing that drive. The library looked at changing the
island, however it would have changed the drainage of the parking lot
and would be very costly. The sign was put in place early Friday
morning and Diane spent a good portion of that day talking to people
in the parking lot to see what would help to make the sign more
visible as people were driving right by it. She will be working with
others to try to come up with a solution that is not too costly.
Diane reported that the Kent District Library has a group of
volunteers called the Facilities Team. Diane is a member of that team.
They are looking at a number of issues with the KDL branches, such as
accessibility, proper amount of signage, attractive signage, posted
hours, can you tell if the branch is open from the street, etc. All
members of this team have gone out to shop all 18 branches of the
library. Comments towards the Cascade Township Library were positive.
Shoppers to this branch felt that they liked the displays and tax
forms. They felt there was excessive signage for cell phone use and
Diane noted that there are 60 cell phone usage signs in the library.
Diane also reported that the comments were all positive in regards to
the Friends book sale area.
Chuck commented that he felt there was a nice amount of positive
attitude signage in the library.
Diane mentioned that Sunday, June 5, 2005 was the first Sunday in 4
years that the library was closed. The library's new summer hours went
into effect.
Diane also noted that the Summer Reading Club started June 6, 2005.
There have already been some signups. The library held 50 programs
during the summer of 2004 with a total attendance of 2,500 children.
The library is especially looking forward to this expansion project
for these reasons.
Diane mentioned that one of the summer programs is called Paws Into
Reading. This is a new program where therapy dogs will be in the
library on Thursday nights for the children to read to them. The
premise is that children will come into the library and read to a dog
for 15 minutes to improve their reading skills. This program was
piloted at Grandville in 2004 and the state of Utah has had this as a
year round program for about 10 years. One 3rd grade Grandville boys
mother credits this program with helping her son achieve grade level
reading skills in just one summer. Diane spent hours this last winter
with her two dogs in training for this program. All dogs entering this
program must have gone through the training program in order to
receive liability coverage. Diane noted that she will be working
during this program as a volunteer. Seven dogs and six children are
signed up for this program thus far. More flyers will be going into
nearby veterinary offices during the week.
Friends Report: Debbie invited anyone that would like to help with
the Fourth of July to contact her as they do still have a need for
volunteers. The sale will be held at the Cascade Township Library
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Debbie noted that Friends voted to fund the upcoming Early Literacy
group and will have 4 more programs this year.
Debbie mentioned that during the Friends meeting, June 6th, they
have determined the need for restructuring. No one at this time wants
to take a leadership role in an officer position, however they do have
enough volunteers for all other positions. They are considering moving
the meeting times to a different time of day in order to accommodate
those that may hold full time positions elsewhere and cannot commit to
daytime meetings. They are also considering cutting back on the amount
of meetings per year, as some complaints have been that there are too
many meetings. The annual election for officers is held at the July
meetings.
Chuck offered best wishes for the new election.
Debbie stated that since no other person was up for election at the
July meeting, she would remain Friends President until December 2005.
Marilyn Meijer will be taking over for her in January 2006. Lynne
Marie will also be staying on at this time.
Ron offered that he was glad to hear she would be staying on for
the time being as this was a critical time for the LAB.
Debbie stated that they are not at a loss for volunteers to help
with committee issues and volunteering. It's the leadership roles that
they are having a hard time finding replacements for.
Ron asked if Friends had considered any paid staff positions if
they were profitable enough. Debbie replied that this was taken into
consideration, however others had questioned whether or not this was
proper when most of the positions are on a volunteer basis. She also
noted that there is not a guaranteed income. It all depends on what is
brought in by book sales.
Lynne Marie added that if some of the administrative tasks were
handled by other volunteers, there would be a lot more accomplished by
the President and Vice President of Friends. The responsibilities of
these two positions can be overwhelming causing the people in these
positions to get burned out.
Debbie estimates that there are approximately 1,000 boxes of books
for the Fourth of July sale at this time.
Debbie mentioned that Lynne Marie spoke about the Imagine the
Possibilities campaign at the June 6th Friends meeting. It was fairly
well received. People seemed interested in the tiles, however the
comment that came up quite often was the writing on the tile. Most did
not seem to care for the quality of the printing. They did like the
concept of the tile and the size though. Debbie suggested that they
find someone else to do the writing. The Friends group agreed with the
price and they liked the stacking of the books.
Lynne Marie distributed a copy of the new brochures to everyone in
the meeting room that has the order form on the inside and shows how
the tiles will be displayed. Lynne noted that there are some
corrections that need to be made to the brochure before the final
printing.
Debbie summarized the Friends Report by stating that the Friends
Committee had voted to give the fundraising committee a check for
$15,000.00, which Lynne Marie gave to Ron. All were in applause.
Debbie also stated that the Friends Committee will consider donating
more to the Library Expansion after the Fourth of July Book Sale,
sometime in late summer or early fall.
Ron stated that he will contact Fred to inform him of this
contribution. He feels that this gift is great timing and just what
they needed to push things forward. Very appreciated!
Lynne Marie stated that the Friends gave a book sale to the
Alliance of Friends, for the KDL endowment fund. The Friends donated
$750.00 to the ad in the Cascade Directory in partnership with the
township and $2,350 to the Literacy Program.
Building Plans Update: Chuck stated that they will be opening bids
on July 5 between 9-10 a.m.
Chuck added that they have selected 5 contractors to bid the
library project.
Campaign Finance Committee - Public Campaign: Maureen stated that a
copy of each brochure will be mailed to every person in Cascade and
Ada in addition to all Friends members.
Lynne Marie added that the Friends Committee has requested 350
copies of the brochures.
Ron noted that the Cascade and Ada Townships will be paying postage
for the brochure mailings. They will be using a company referred by
Cascade Township to prepare the brochures and mail them.
Laura Weld started a discussion on what will be allowed or what
will fit on a spine of the book tiles.
Chuck noted that there will be a group of volunteers that will get
the donation forms ready for the artist. These volunteers may have to
make some calls on what will be proper and what will fit on the
finished tile.
Diane mentioned that she will be at the Friends Book Sale on the
Fourth of July selling book tiles.
Lynne Marie mentioned that some Ada residents would like to form a
group to petition Ada Township and would like reconsideration of their
vote not to give money to the Cascade Library fundraising campaign.
Lynne also noted that she has 4 people that have asked to be treated
like a major donor.
Ron noted that the project is at the point where they should now be
able to go more public looking for donations due to the amount of
money that they still need to raise. Ron stated that the numbers are
looking very positive so he is anxious to see the numbers that come in
on July 5.
Chuck noted that they have built 12% or $300,000.00 into the budget
for contingencies. Chuck noted that there is a Township Board meeting
on June 22nd at 7:00 pm. They will present the expansion details to
the Township at that time and would like everyone to be in attendance.
The LAB is on the township meeting agenda.
Ron noted that we are at $470,000.00 out of $700,000.00.
Ron brought discussion up on the Skutt and Good funds. By mid-July
they can transfer all of these funds to the construction fund. If the
fundraising goes well and they do not need the Skutt and Good funds,
these funds can be used to implement programs.
Ron stated the Library Fundraising Committee request that the
Advisory Board direct the Township Treasurer to transfer the balance
of the Good and Skutt funds to the Library Construction Account. This
would be done as the Certificates of Deposit mature. It is understood
that if some of these funds are not needed to cover construction
costs, they will remain in or be returned to the Advisory Board's
account.
The current balances are as follows:
Donation Amount Value (1-1-05) After Pledge
(Made early 2005)
Skutt: $112,083.25 $149.606.35 $99,606.35
Good: $50,478.54 $ 67,210.69 $17,210.69
Total $216,210.04 $116,817.04
Lynne Marie moved to approve that the LAB recommend the use of the
entire amount of the Skutt and Good funds for the Cascade Library
Expansion.
Chuck asked if this motion was approved. Approved by all.
Discussion closed.
Chuck noted that they have other library funds that have been
transferred into the Library Construction Account and are asking the
township for up to $200,000.00 from the general fund.
Chuck stated that some items were removed from the bid requests
such as tables and chairs that will have to be put back in later. They
also changed the sidewalk around the outside of the building to pads
at the fire exits only. A considerable savings of approximately
$50,000.00 was due to making a change to materials to the back of the
building. They will be using a decorative cement product. They have
also taken out the requests for bidding some specialty millwork that
can be done at a later time. He also feels that the public campaign
for contributions will allow for these items to be put back in.
Chuck stated that he feels the Cascade Township Library will be
saving taxpayers quite a bit of money because they will be able to use
the new meeting room in the addition. The savings could be as much as
$2,000,000.00 because there will not be the expense of building and
maintenance on a new building strictly for the township.
Debbie noted that this was becoming more of a community center and
Ron agreed.
Ron noted that the real focus of this entire project is the
children.
Chuck noted that he wrote a letter to Supervisor Julian to thank
them for the high level of cooperation they are receiving from the
township board. He stated in the letter that he looks forward to the
township holding meetings with residents in the new library addition
thus allowing the Cascade Township Library to be one of the most used
buildings in the community. Chuck feels that residents will also use
the library when they come in to attend meetings. Overall this will
only strengthen the community.
Ron noted that the building funds in the bank are $320,000.00,
Goods and Skutt funds are $112,000.00, a potential gift they are
expecting of $3,500.00, the donation received from Friend's of
$15,000.00. When the township did the budget for 2005, they budgeted
$260,000.00 dollars to make a payment on the building fund loan. They
will not have to make this payment so the $260,000.00 has been
transferred into the Building Construction Fund. The township through
its manager has committed $200,000.00 and $2,400,000.00 in the Library
Reserve fund, which they have always counted on for the Building
Construction Fund. There is another $60,000.00 conservatively, that
they will earn from the public.
Ron stated that this is not going to cause a financial difficulty
for the township, will be repaid in 10 years and have a fund balance
left. There will be no increase in taxes for the township.
Chuck reaffirmed his earlier statement that a committee is really
needed to go over all of the tile donation information. More
discussion is needed in this area to develop a standard for adding a
book title and name of the donor.
Diane noted that the next scheduled meeting is the first Monday in
September.
Diane also mentioned that she would be gone for 3 weeks of vacation
in August. She will be here for the first week of August.
Chuck mentioned that he would be gone for 3 weeks in July. They
would both like to see the groundbreaking ceremony proceed even in the
event that they are unable to attend.
Maureen brought up the subject of worker/public safety and library
services during the construction phase.
Chuck noted that the large construction companies are used to
dealing with these issues and advice can be taken from them.
No further discussion.
Next Meeting:
The next Cascade Township Library Advisory Board meeting will be held
on September 12, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. in the Library's Program Room.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30.
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