RAMAPO CATSKILL LIBRARY SYSTEM BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING NOVEMBER 16, 2009 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S REPORT

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1 RAMAPO CATSKILL LIBRARY SYSTEM BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING NOVEMBER 16, 2009 BOT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S REPORT PARKING LOT EXPANSION PROJECT Work on the parking lot expansion project has been completed. However, Merv Ayers, an engineer with Eustance & Horowitz, representing the Town of Wallkill identified seven (7) issues that require a response from our engineer (Amador Laput, Fellenzer Engineering). On Friday, November 6, I was told by Amador Laput that he submitted a response to Merv Ayers and his recommendations to deal with the outstanding issues were accepted. I expect that the contractor, Monaco Landscaping, will begin to address these issues during the week of November 9. I fully expect all items to be resolved and approved before the end of November. RCLS MANAGERS PRESENTATIONS Anthony Castaldo, ANSER Manager and Network Administrator, is scheduled to make a presentation. 501(c)(3) APPLICATION We submitted our Petition for Amendment of Charter to the Regents of the University of the State of New York and the Resolution of a Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Ramapo Catskill Library System approving the charter amendment to the Division of Library Development (DLD). I spoke with Maria Harzapis, Library Development Assistant, DLD, who informed me that our request was received and will be on the December agenda of the Board of Regents (December 14 and 15). She explained that a request for a charter amendment must be submitted two months prior to the meeting at which it will be considered. She did say that she would see if it is possible to move our request forward to the November meeting. We submitted all of the additional documentation required by the IRS, except for a copy of the amended charter. In addition we requested a 90 day extension of our deadline to submit the outstanding document. We received a letter on October 7 indicating that the IRS received our documents and that we have been given a 90 day extension to submit a copy of the amended charter. This gives us until December 29, The letter also indicated that our case has been closed, but if we submit the requested information by the 90-response date we will reopen your case without any additional user fee payment. RCLS Executive Director s Report Page 1 of 5 November 16, 2009

2 VARIANCE REQUESTS FOR 2008 We submitted all of the Variance Requests approved by the Board at the September meeting. When I returned from the NYLA Conference on Monday October 13 I found a letter from Cassandra Artale, Library Development Specialist, DLD stating that they were returning the variance requests submitted by RCLS for the Cragsmoor and Livingston Manor Free Libraries because New York s Minimum Standards for Public Libraries do not require a handicapped accessible rest room at the present time. In addition, I was informed via a telephone call that the Albert Wisner Public Library must submit a Variance Request. Originally I was told that they would not be required to submit one because they will be opening their new library building on November 15, I pointed out that the RCLS Board will not be meeting again until the day after the new building opened. However, the Variance Request is still required. RECOMMENDATION: That the RCLS Board passes a resolution to approve and submit the variance request from the Albert Wisner Public Library as presented. SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC October 22, 2009 was the first anniversary of our solar photovoltaic system. Over the year we generated 21.9% of total electricity we required. As a result we saved $7, CHANGING THE APPRAOCH TO DECISION-MAKING WITHIN RCLS Attached is a copy of a letter from Robert S. Devino, Director of the Finkelstein Memorial Library (FML), dated September 29, Part of the letter addresses the fundamental unfairness of the current system of decision-making within RCLS, which is based a majority vote by member library Boards of Trustees with each library getting a single vote. On behalf of the FML Trustees he requests that the RCLS Board consider the idea of apportioning member library votes based on the population of the libraries. He notes that the FML Trustees are willing to with the RCLS Board to draft language to change the RCLS voting procedures. LETTER FROM NEIGHBOURS ABOUT PARKING LOT EXPANSION We received a letter from Warren and Bernice Hums who live on Keystone Park behind our property. They wanted to let us know that we did a beautiful job on the parking lot expansion. RCLS Executive Director s Report Page 2 of 5 November 16, 2009

3 DIRECTOR S MEETINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES September 23 Directors Association Meeting headquarters September 24 RCLS Managers meeting headquarters Meeting with Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt along with representatives from the libraries in her constituency Goshen Regional Trustees meeting Fallsburg September 28 Yom Kippur day off September 29 System Services Committee meeting location TBA September 30 Direct Access Committee meeting location TBA October 2 October 6 October 7 October 8 October 12 October 14 to 17 October 19 October 20 October 25 November 3 Legislative Breakfast and Annual Meeting Wallkill Directors Association Executive Committee meeting headquarters RCLS Orientation scheduled headquarters Community Forum for USNY Statewide Educational Technology Plan Yorktown Heights Columbus Day office closed NYLA Annual Conference Niagara Falls Meeting Fallsburg Trustees Fallsburg Meeting with Sunshine Hall Trustees Eldred 50 th Anniversary Celebration Central Valley Detecting and Protecting Your Digital Footprint workshop Sloatsburg One-on-one meeting with Jennifer Bradshaw, Director, Woodbury Public Library Highland Mills One-on-one meeting with Ginny Neidermier, Director, Josephine-Louise Public Library Walden November 4 Directors Association meeting headquarters RCLS Executive Director s Report Page 3 of 5 November 16, 2009

4 November 6 SUPLA meeting Liberty One-on-one meeting with Beverly Arlequeeuw, Director of the Port Jervis Library Port Jervis. November 9 Advocacy & Fundraising Committee meeting headquarters November 11 Veteran s Day office closed November 12 RCLS Managers meeting headquarters Westchester Library System Annual meeting White Plains November 15 Albert Wisner Public Library Grand Opening Warwick Upcoming meetings and events November 18 & 19 INTEROP Conference (Business Technology) New York City November 20 Unconference - Solutions for Hard Times: Cutting Costs While Improving Services Highland November 23 ANSER Committee meeting headquarters November 24 System Service Committee meeting Chester November 26 & 27 December 2 December 3 Office closed for Thanksgiving Mid-Hudson Library System - Public Library System Funding Panel Poughkeepsie RCLS Managers meeting headquarters December 18 Staff Appreciation Party RCLS Executive Director s Report Page 4 of 5 November 16, 2009

5 RCLS Executive Director s Report Page 5 of 5 November 16, 2009