Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tom Bunger, Sara Collins, Rita Lichtenberg, Antonia Mathews, Kathy Myer, Kate Paul, and Jim Whitlatch (and the H-T reporter from Nov. meetings; check for correct name spelling).
President Steve Moberly called the work session to order at 5:46pm in Program Room 2B. Steve stated that the Ellettsville Branch addition and Public Comment was left off of the agenda, but if time allows he would really like to squeeze it in and get both topics on the agenda.
Steve Moberly turned the agenda topic over to Jim Whitlatch. Jim stated Sara Laughlin had requested two changes, both on page 2—to remove volunteers (supervisors who manage volunteers from the document) and to change "employee" to "regular employee", to distinguish from "temporary employee." Sara said that the personnel manual includes definitions of regular employee and temporary employee.
Steve asked a question about a deletion on page 1, where there was a 1 and a paragraph sign). Sara replied that it was just a change in the page number.
Steve stated he had brought his draft from last time, and after looking over it, he didn't see any other changes from that draft.
Steve asked if there were any questions from the members of the Board or any revisions they wished to see in this draft. There were no comments from the members of the Board.
He asked if there was any public comment. There was none.
Steve announced that this resolution will be the first item after the routine business on the agenda for the next board meeting, Wednesday, December 19. Members of the public can express their opinions (pro or con) at that time the Board will vote on the resolution.
Sara Laughlin thanked Joe McConnor from Bunger and Robertson for going over the insurance proposal with a fine tooth comb. Sara presented an insurance proposal, and stated we had 3 bids (the first 5 on the package that we took bids on are with the May agency, which included: Commercial Property, General Liability Commercial Auto, Crime, and Commercial Umbrella) Sara distributed an insurance summary to the Board and quoted the bids. Sara stated the Board needs to approve the full insurance package.
Steve Moberly asked if the Board will be doing this at the December 19 meeting. Sara replied yes. Steve asked if the Board had any questions or concerns. Steve stated that we aren't required to bid insurance, but we did this to try to save tax payers money, and have saved about $10,000 which is very good.
Sara added that protection against sexual – sexual abuse and child molestation is included in our insurance package, which it hasn't been in the past.
Steve asked Sara to confirm that all of the insurance would be at the May agency. Sara confirmed the first five on the list are.
Penny Austin stated that she is glad to see we went local and are spending significantly less. She reminded the Board that when we budgeted in September, we budgeted less.
Sara Laughlin stated that the Board has some serious decisions to make regarding health insurance for staff. She asked Ginger Ziglar Thomas to report on the health proposals.
Ginger presented a Powerpoint presentation summarizing timing for renewal, the Anthem offer for 2008 including a 28.1% increase, data on the number of library employees participating, and details about a Flexible Spending Accounts that would allow employees to set aside a portion of their earnings before taxes to offset health and dependent care costs.
Discussion followed regarding the Flexible Spending Accounts. Penny Austin and Fred Risinger supported this and explained their positive views about it.
Bonnie Estell spoke to the Board about 4 options for health insurance for 2008: 1) current plan with higher employee contribution rate, 2) current plan with higher medical deductible and higher out-of-pocket maximums, 3) current plan with higher pharmacy deductible and co-pay, and 4) different Anthem plan with significantly higher deductibles, designed to keep employee contributions the same as in 2007.
Randy Paul asked how much the library staff would have to pay. Bonnie replied that it would depend upon the plan chosen; and if a staff member were single or had a spouse and/or dependents.
Penny Austin asked when staff can sign-up for health insurance. Bonnie replied it is always at the first of a year.
Bonnie went over employee contribution rates.
Linda Hunt asked for more information on the higher costs (15% increase that is indicated on the sheets).
Fred Risinger stated that a single employee's premium will jump 6% if we increase the premium to 28%.
Fred asked what the increase would be for a 37.5 hr employee, and Bonnie went over a spreadsheet showing the employee amount per pay period. Fred explained the part he didn't understand was in column 3 and 4 where it appears employees will be paying less but the library's premiums are more. Sara Laughlin went over the employee contribution and benefits in response to Fred's concerns.
Randy asked if his understanding was right that no insurance company was willing to cover the library because we didn't paid as much in premiums as the insurance company paid out to our employees in 2007. Sara confirmed that. She added that individual health information is private and protected by the HIPPA law, so we don't have any details about claims.
Randy asked what the staff felt about this and if they had a choice over the options. Sara replied that the staff have choices and are not equal in both choices. Sara reported that staff had six opportunities to attend a session where the options were presented and give their preferences. 32 chose option 1 (higher employee contribution), 28 chose option 2 (higher medical deduction and slightly higher employee contribution), 26 chose option 3 (higher Rx deduction and slightly higher employee contribution) and 12 chose option 4 (much higher deductions and same employee cost).
Randy expressed concerns about lower paid employees, and wondered what would be easier on the lower paid employees. Fred responded that it just depended on their medical needs. Randy replied that he isn't asking for detailed information. He just wants to know if the Board can get preferences of lower paid employees. Ginger commented that paid amounts may not be the answer to help a lower paid employee. Randy reiterated that the only thing he was asking was what the lower paid employees are saying. Sara replied that she felt that the lower employees are really feeling pinched by a higher employee contribution. Bonnie showed a slide on the amount employees would pay per pay period.
Randy asked if someone could confirm that it will be better for these staff if we didn't have higher employee contribution rates. Sara responded yes, but stated that these staff are not all lower paid employees.
Randy asked how much discussion with staff had occurred in meetings or committee discussions. Bonnie replied that we offered 6 staff meetings for insurance discussion last week.
Fred commented on the current plan and how much the benefits were. He said it seemed to him that the plan he would have picked would have been current plan with higher medical deductible and higher out-of-pocket max. Penny reminded that we just saved $10,000 from another plan, which we could use with this plan. Discussion followed regarding the costs of the proposals.
Fred suggested the staff and Board continue to do a little research from now until next month, and stated we may be able to figure out what we can do. He asked for more information about the staff's opinion; especially the group who said they would never consider a higher employee contribution.
Sara reminded the Board that if it found more money, it would lower employee contribution some.
Randy asked Ginger to explain what type of plan this is. Ginger responded that it is a preferred provider organization—Anthem with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Penny asked if choosing health insurance is something we do every year. Sara replied that we do this every year, but this year we were hit with an unusually large increase. Steve added that last year we got a 0% increase.
Randy stated that there's a bigger problem here than what these options are. He asked if we were back to throwing darts or if we are going to make a decision.
Rita Lichtenberg from the public asked to speak. She asked if there were any possibility that there could be an incentive program to help encourage people in the right direction. Sara replied that it certainly is a direction we need to head, but it's not something that would produce reductions in health insurance costs before January 1.
Randy stated that the choices of those who go paycheck to paycheck are understandable. Otherwise these preferences don't tell us much.
Fred responded that it showed whether people preferred higher pharmacy deductibles or higher medical deductibles.
Sara expressed her strategy on what she thought staff were looking at in staff preferences, which is based on incomes and what staff can afford. Discussion followed.
Randy stated that the people most vulnerable would be affected; pharmacy expenses and premium expenses are cashable and that's a problem for the average cost-of-living employees.
Bonnie went over the cost and benefits power point slide again.
Randy expressed concerns about single parents who had dependents.
Penny added that if they are at a living wage, they could receive government help from Hoosier health care.
Randy asked if it would help in general if we did get prescription drugs lowered. Bonnie replied some staff may choose not to have insurance at all.
Sara encouraged the Board to ask questions as they want in the work session and/or give staff direction to prepare other options.
Fred acknowledged that it would be a tough choice and reminded that he needed to hear staff opinions.
Ginger added that we must work within the parameters we have and that there are a lot of options.
Sara suggested that the cost of the staff contribution will still go up 28% regardless of what we do.
Steve Moberly stated that we will have this same discussion every year, but there will have to be a limit at some point.
Randy asked if it was possible to take money out of the Rainy Day Fund to pay for the increased cost. Sara responded that she wouldn't recommend it, since the library will have to keep paying every year and the library would have to take the money out of its operating fund, which would drive up the personnel percentage of the budget.
Fred stated he didn't t think he would support this, as he doesn't think we should dip into other parts of the operating budget.
Randy asked whether the $50,000 the Board set aside for a salary study could be used. Sara replied that money was in the Rainy Day Fund.
Janice stated that health insurance increases are a national trend which the school system is also facing. Many large companies are doing away with their insurance for staff. Their administrators are beginning to pay more than they have ever paid before. She felt this was something we would not solve this year.
Steve replied that we can't absorb the whole hit with the insurance increase. Steve asked Sara if she was talking about $100,000. Sara replied that it was more like $40,000 or $50,000.
Bonnie added that if the library took the $10,000 and used it to offset family insurance costs, it would help at least 15 staff members.
Steve replied that he didn't think the library should treat employees differently because of their family status. Bonnie replied that we don't treat them the same now.
Steve Backs asked to speak to the Board. He questioned what happened to the money budgeted for a 15% increase that didn't materialize in 2007 and asked if it was responsible to move the savings to the Rainy Day Fund.
Randy asked if we could look at the budget numbers again and try to figure out a way to help.
Janice said that, looking at the staff preferences, it seemed clear to her that option 4 (much higher deductions and same employee cost) had been ruled out, leaving options 1, 2, and 3.
Steve Moberly advised staff to work on this and get more information back to the Board, so the Board could have it by Monday of next week at noon.
Randy stated it doesn't make sense to him that we can't take the money ($50,000) out of the Rainy Day Fund.
Sara responded that if we needed to find the money next year, and we don't have the $50,000 in Rainy Day, we would be in a pinch.
Steve asked Bonnie how the money in the Rainy Day Fund can be used. Bonnie responded that it can be used for anything that the Operating Fund can be used for.
Randy stated he thinks we need to look into this further. Steve agreed with Randy and directed the staff to continue to develop options.
Steve Moberly presented the 2008 salary schedule.
Sara Laughlin explained that the Board needs to adopt this at next week's meeting and stated that the living wage is still highlighted with little box around it.
There were no questions or comments about the salary schedule.
Sara Laughlin presented the 2008 holiday/closure schedule and stated that there is no change on this from last year.
There were no questions or comments about the holiday/closure schedule.
Sara Laughlin presented information on the partnership agreements with the library and local non-profit organizations.
El Centro Comunal Latino pays the library rent through their partnership. Sara stated that this partnership for tutoring Spanish speaking resident began as a pilot project last year, and the library is very happy to renew the agreement. Steve pointed out that he found one typo that needs to be fixed on page 3, 5th line "breath" should be "breach". Penny added that there was also a typo in the top line.
Sara then presented the Bloomington Parks & Recreation-Banneker partnership and stated the only change in this year's partnership is that we would meet annually rather than monthly. Sara said that she, Josh Wolf, and Chris Jackson went over to talk to Bev Johnson and Leslie Brinson at the Banneker Center. They agreed that it was a good idea to have a "how's-it-going meeting", but definitely not every month.
Penny Austin asked how it is going at Banneker. Sara replied that there was not much circulation, and program attendance was low, but at the meeting, the library staff discovered that children are using the collection without checking items out. Many of the them don't have library cards. Sara stated that the library is trying some new programs there.
Randy asked what we do with the fines. Linda responded to Randy that Sara said the parents have fines there, not the children. Sara stated that parents can pay off fines.
Steve asked if there were any other questions about the Banneker contract. There were none.
Sara next presented information on the CATS contract with the City of Bloomington. Sara stated the only difference this year is that they have increased their funding to $306,638.
Michael White stated that these are the standard contracts and that this money comes from use of the public way; the cable operators string their fiber; federal law allows the government to collect 5% in franchise fees. CATS and library contract with the County and City Councils to run the community access station.
Sara noted that she thought the contract would be ready to put on the December agenda, but it will not be signed by the City until January, so she requested moving it to the January agenda.
Steve asked if someone has contacted the City to let them know we want this on our January agenda. Sara replied that Michael has.
Michael spoke briefly about the second CATS contract with the City. He reminded the Board that Hoosier Net, which used to be located in the library, is no longer here. CATS had a close relationship with HoosierNet. When they left, took over some services without receiving any revenue. This agreement will provide support for digitizing a 30-year archive of public meetings, moving to an electronic file, and updating the website to make it a friendlier user interface. There should be another $20,000 in 2008 to continue support.
Sara next presented the CATS contract with Monroe County and with the Town of Ellettsville.
Steve asked if Michael had any comments regarding these contracts.
Michael stated the contract with Ellettsville is the biggest ever received.
Fred wondered if the funds will go down. Michael replied that AT&T is stringing their own wires, but hopefully it will all equal out.
Bonnie explained the resolution allowing the Library to borrow from LIRF if the second tax settlement for 2007 is not received before the end of the year.
Steve asked if this was insurance in case the Library doesn't receive money on time.
Bonnie replied yes, if the Library receives its settlement before the Board meeting on December 19, the Board won't have to vote on this.
Sara reported that the State Board of Accounts had completed an examination of 2005 and 2006 (not an audit) in October. Steve Moberly received the report. It is a clean report with no findings and no write-ups.
Steve read the final statement in the report which indicated for 2005 & 2006 (two years being audited) that there were no deficiencies or criticism about our library management. He noted that, for the first time ever, we have an asset inventory, thanks to Bonnie. The asset inventory will help us plan for how much money we need to set aside for capital improvements.
Randy stated that he would like to pass on this in tonight's meeting, and will bring it up sometime next year.
Sara apologized for leaving the Ellettsville Branch addition off the agenda, but reminded the Board that she asked them last time if we could have additional footage with the Ellettsville expansion.
Randy raised some questions about whether the area currently used for children's services at Ellettsville would continue to be used for that purpose.
Steve also remembered that the Board told the County Council that the new addition would add to the current space, not replace it.
Sara said her understanding had come from the architect's drawing, which suggested that the current space would become a comfortable seating area. She now understood that the drawing was not an accurate reflection of the intent.
Sara reported that she had spoken with County Council member Vic Kelson and he said he would check with a couple of council members to see what they remembered. He did not remember details, just that there would be a new room for children in Ellettsville. He stated that the Council did not want to micromanage the Library's decisions. He felt if the Library could build for less than budgeted, that would be fine; if it could get more square footage, that would also be fine. Sara noted that Mickey Needham was not here to speak on this project, but that she had developed several creative options for using the entire space for children's and family purposes.
Randy said that he has changed his mind and now believes the Library is ready to move forward. Randy reported that the people at Ellettsville he has talked with have expressed no concerns.
Steve asked if the Board had any other questions on Ellettsville. There were no additional comments or questions.
Steve asked Bonnie if the Board was going to sign the Ellettsville contract next week. Bonnie said the contract would be ready.
Antonia Mathew spoke in support of the union. She offered appreciation for the support of the Board.
Bara Swinson asked Sara how many staff members voted on the health insurance options Sara replied that 51 employees voted.
Chris Jackson if these people were getting insurance.
Ginger stated that every staff at the meeting on insurance was insured.
The meeting adjourned at 7:19pm.
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Updated:
January 30, 2008
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