July 2006 Board Minutes

Thorntown Public Library

124 N. Market St.,
Thorntown, IN 46071
Phone: 765-436-7348 Fax 765-436-7011

Vice-President John Merson called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. In attendance were Teresa Carter, Stephanie Jones, Deanna Brueggert, Ron Guinn, and Patty Ramsey. Absent was Eric Ragsdale. Also present were library director Karen K. Niemeyer and treasurer Barbara Darnell.

The minutes of the June 12 meeting were amended to include additional claims paid in June. Karen explained the roof repair claim and showed pictures of the repair and cleaning work that was necessary. Stephanie moved and Ron seconded that the minutes of the June meeting be approved; motion carried.

Barbara provided the treasurer’s report. The ending cash and investment balance (all funds) is $499,085.66. Disbursements for June total $121,856.61 and receipts total $184,061.74.l After discussion, Patty moved and Teresa seconded approving the register of claims; motion carried.

Barbara and Karen explained the way the levy excess fund works. In June the board earned $7.84 interest on the $2000 deposited from the operating fund into MBIA and $31.39 on the $8000 deposited from the fountain fund. The board is pleased with MBIA’s performance. In order to earn greater interest, John recommended transferring more funds to the MBIA account. Deanna proposed keeping long-term savings in CD’s because interest rates are going up. A motion by Deanna, seconded by Ron, was made to transfer $78,000 from operating cash balance to MBIA; motion carried.

Barbara had prepared appropriation reports for the board. These showed that at the end of the second quarter expenses are on target, with 53.86% of the budget expended as of June 30.

Under old business Karen recommended that we advertise the 2007 budgets and hold a public hearing at the August 14 regular meeting. The board agreed by consensus.

Under new business Karen explained her concerns with myspace.com and other social networking web sites. She explained reasons for blocking these sites on the library’s public computers. The board strongly supported her decision.

Karen and Barbara had met with Dick Galvin to discuss the Workers’ Compensation policy. The board is paying an additional $236.00 over the April payment because of several seasonal employees and a change in how the board is being charged for the homebound route driver.

Eileen Davis, architect with Veazey, Parrott, Durkin & Shoulders, and Dave Deckard, an engineer with Deckard Engineering and Surveying of Crawfordsville, addressed the board to present their proposals for a solution to the water detention situation. Eileen was only able to obtain one price quotation by our meeting time but expects additional prices by the end of the week. She recommended that the board wait to compare prices before deciding to go ahead with the project. .

Dave explained how his engineering design is intended to increase the safety factor of the water control on the library site. His plan is to leave the current check valves in place and add two pumps to transfer water to a detention basin on the lots east of the library’s east parking lot. There is no control over the amount of water flowing through the town’s storm sewer in the alley. The entire basin is designed to completely fill before the water covers the grates in the present east parking lot. On the outside chance that this would ever happen, library staff would gain time to employ sand bags, a sump pump, or some other method of keeping water out of the building. The slope of the basin would not prevent the area from being used for other purposes, including a future parking lot. The basin would be about 2 ½ feet deep at the maximum depth. It would slope from north to south and have a ridge built around most of the sides. The board felt an emergency power source, such as a generator, would be necessary in case of a power outage. There will be alarms on the pumps to warn of water too deep for them to handle. Ron asked if the pumps would grind up leaves, mulch, and other debris. They will not, but an upgrade is available. Eileen and Dave felt that these standard pumps would be satisfactory for the library’s needs. As long as the area is in sod, the board may expect percolation through the soil. If gravel or asphalt is brought in, the area will lose much of that percolation.

After lengthy discussion, the board agreed to wait until additional quotations have been received and some alternative prices obtained on generators and other additions to the original request for quotations. The board also discussed excluding a replacement sidewalk and curbing from this project in order to add generators and keep the price under the $50,000 limit for quotations. Any project over $50,000 will have to be advertised for bidding. The quotations must be opened at a public meeting. The board set a 7:00 p.m. meeting for July 17 to accept all quotations; Karen will advertise properly.

The board agreed to have the dying tree at the north end of the vacant lots removed. Karen will talk to the Thorntown Utilities about their removing the tree at no cost.

Kurt Stevens from KD Solutions gave the board a presentation on energy conservation and recommendations for how to save money on heating, ventilation and air-conditioning. He told the board that the present energy costs are too high and that he could probably save 20% by making the systems operate more efficiently. The process would take him a year. The board decided to wait until the water detention costs are known before voting on adoption of this program. This issue will be addressed at the August meeting. Karen has checked on his references and been given total approval of his work. John as reservations about the necessity of hiring Mr. Stevens and suggested a trial period before committing to the entire one-year fee of $8400. The board will take this proposal under consideration but not act yet.

Karen has obtained prices from Mike Marsh for painting, cleaning, and repairing several exterior surfaces on the Carnegie portion of the building. His total quotation was $1930 for several different projects. Karen explained the various problems that need to be addressed. Marsh’s prices are for labor only; the library will purchase the paint. John offered to bring in his power washer and talked Ron into helping him clean the limestone to save $525.00. Deanna moved that Mike Marsh be hired to do the exterior painting for $1405, and Ron seconded; motion carried. Teresa moved that the board also hire Mike Marsh to clean the limestone and that cleaning materials be included in the price of $525. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.

In the Director’s Report Karen reported that earlier in the day she had given a tour to a delegation from Kingman (IN). They were impressed by the facility.

On August 14 at 6:00 p.m. will be the public hearing on 2007 budgets. This will be followed by the regular meeting.

On July 11 Jungle John will be at the library with his unusual animals. A big turnout (100-150) is expected for this program that is part of the library’s youth summer reading program.

On a personal level, Karen reported that she has had good reports about her health but is continuing treatments for her hoarseness.

Crown Distributing has contacted Karen to tell her that Flaugher, Inc., has not yet paid them for labor to reinstall carpet in the head librarian’s office. That carpet had been saturated by a rain that ran in at floor level on the second floor, east side, because mortar and caulk were missing from the east side of the building.

There being no further business, Teresa moved and Ron seconded that the meeting be adjourned; motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:42 p.m.

Thorntown Public Library Board of Trustees
Special Session
July 17, 2006
MINUTES

The July 17 special meeting of the board was called to order at 7:10 p.m. Present were Ron Guinn, Stephanie Jones, Patty Ramsey, and director Karen Niemeyer. Also present were Dave Deckard, president of Deckard Engineering and Surveying, Nick Worden, Graduate Architect from Veazey, Parrott, Durkin & Shoulders, and Craig White, who was the owner’s project representative for the library’s building project. John Merson arrived at 7:30 p.m., making a quorum.

Mr. Deckard and Mr. Worden did not have the quotations we had expected them to have for the water detention project and reported that some contractors needed more time to prepare proposals.

There was extensive discussion and a few changes to be made to the original design. These include omitting sidewalks and curbs at the north end of the water detention basin, omitting the addition of a trench drain at the top of the steps on the west side of the building, adding a generator as backup power for the sump pumps, and obtaining pricing on a French drain for the south entrances.

Karen provided the board and engineers with pictures of the July 11 rain which caused flooding into the library at the west and south entrances during a special animal program in the program rooms. The water was quite high (5”) in the east parking lot but did not enter the building and receded quickly. The backflow valves worked properly, allowing the retained water to enter the alley storm sewers when their level could accommodate the additional flow.

John arrived late and after listening to a recap of the discussion, he suggested making the proposed 12” drain (replacing the current French drain) at the west entrance even larger. Craig suggested that there was no need to add the drain at the top of the west side steps and that the money might be better spent addressing some of the other flooding problems.

It was agreed to open quotations at the regular August 14 board meeting, thus giving prospective bidders additional time to submit proposals that include the changes discussed at this meeting. Joe Lovell, Thorntown, was the only contractor to have proposals ready for the July 17 meeting. The board would like to see additional quotations before making a decision.

Karen reported that half an inch of water was in the elevator pit and that she had called Midwest Elevator Repair to deal with it. Craig reported that the elevator drain leads to a perimeter drain around the elevator pit and that this leads to the perimeter drains around the building. When the town’s storm sewers are running full in a heavy rain (the July 11 rain was 3 ½ inches in 45 minutes) the elevator drain has nowhere to send water that needs to be carried away; this is one more problem that should be resolved with the revised drainage plan.

By consensus the board agreed to postpone discussion on the proposal by KB Solutions for fine-tuning the heating and cooling system. Karen will notify Kurt Stevens that it will be discussed at the August 14 meeting.

The temperature in the Guinn Genealogy Center was 88 degrees during the meeting, and Karen has called ECS to come on site to check controls and fans. Other areas of the library are also experiencing rising temperatures, some of which may be due to the warming of the exterior bricks. The night setting of the air conditioning may be adjusted from its 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. settings to 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.

Ron moved and Stephanie seconded a motion to approve additional claims; motion carried.

There being no further business, Ron moved and Stephanie seconded a motion to adjourn; motion carried, the meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.