the-compact
Board Of Trustees Thursday, December 18, 2025 · 44 min

Bloomfield Township Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting on December 16, 2025

Summary

The city council meeting covered various topics, including a moment of silence, AV equipment upgrades, employee benefits, budget discussions, and committee assignments.

  • Discussed recent global events and upgrades to the community room's AV equipment.
  • Approved awarding the construction management services bid to McCarthy and Smith.
  • Extended the vending contract and discussed the director's evaluation process.
  • Discussed committee responsibilities, shared duties, and communication.
  • Approved committee assignments with new roles to be assumed in January.

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Topics

Transcript

Click any timestamp to jump the video to that moment. Auto-transcribed; expect occasional errors on proper nouns.

  1. okay let's uh call the meeting to order um does anyone have any request to remove an item from the consent agenda nothing from me okay then can i get a motion to approve the order of items for the regular and the consent agenda a second all favor aye thank you uh hey president's verbal report so i hope you guys have to spin around i know keith did but this place is alive with not the sound of music or christmas but teenagers studying and it's fantastic it's jammed there's people sitting on tables i know it's lovely i'd really like to see them it's two days in a row the parking lot's been packed and it's been jammed last week of school next week next week they got white boards up and everything so that's good there's actually three things i want to talk about one that's the first one the second one is i don't know if you guys had a chance to read uh terra's essay on challenged books in the comments if you haven't i commend it to you that was a very well written i like i've never heard the phrase challenge books as opposed to banned books we talked about challenge books i thought that was i've read that twice and then so this one's a little bit personal for you this uh this has been a crazy weekend um there's been so much public insanity with so many deaths um globally at the same time including you you you you alma mater which is it's a real personal court you see it every day and you know it is um it's just something that hits differently when you know this the buildings and the streets and the kids that are you know friends of mine's kids in the basement you know crying might want they just want to come home so um i just wanted to maybe ask if you don't indulge me if you want tells me if you're just a moment of silence to commemorate all those people and uh all the people that are still struggling could i add um those danny's been in my prayers because of hanukkah and what happened thank you thank you thank you thank you um well yeah i was going to notice that it's a little bit busy tonight i hope you all found parking spots because people were certainly yeah yeah i knew

  2. and then so this one's a little bit personal for you this uh this has been a crazy weekend um there's been so much public insanity with so many deaths um globally at the same time including you you you you alma mater which is it's a real personal court you see it every day and you know it is um it's just something that hits differently when you know this the buildings and the streets and the kids that are you know friends of mine's kids in the basement you know crying might want they just want to come home so um i just wanted to maybe ask if you don't indulge me if you want tells me if you're just a moment of silence to commemorate all those people and uh all the people that are still struggling could i add um those danny's been in my prayers because of hanukkah and what happened thank you thank you thank you thank you um well yeah i was going to notice that it's a little bit busy tonight i hope you all found parking spots because people were certainly yeah yeah i knew something was going on yeah it's like halloween um well the work had to upgrade the av equipment in the community room has started it started on monday and it's been going really well they've already installed the new screen the new projector the new video conferencing cameras and they were just starting to do the control panel at towards the end of their day um so that should be done by the end of the week and i'm not excited about that that's fast yeah that's really great when would be our next event to test it out i don't know do you remember what the first event in there is that that will utilize the av i am not sure offhand i can't until january yeah we have the room blocked through the first week of january in case there's any last night things to finish up and also to allow for staff training and then there is an event um on saturday june 10th but that is january i'm sorry january it should be june january 10th um but that's a um a puzzle tournament i believe so i don't think they are using the av system

  3. busy tonight i hope you all found parking spots because people were certainly yeah yeah i knew something was going on yeah it's like halloween um well the work had to upgrade the av equipment in the community room has started it started on monday and it's been going really well they've already installed the new screen the new projector the new video conferencing cameras and they were just starting to do the control panel at towards the end of their day um so that should be done by the end of the week and i'm not excited about that that's fast yeah that's really great when would be our next event to test it out i don't know do you remember what the first event in there is that that will utilize the av i am not sure offhand i can't until january yeah we have the room blocked through the first week of january in case there's any last night things to finish up and also to allow for staff training and then there is an event um on saturday june 10th but that is january i'm sorry january it should be june january 10th um but that's a um a puzzle tournament i believe so i don't think they are using the av system for the puzzle tournament it is we are hosting another photo contest 2026 photo contest this will be our 10th annual photo contest that's going to kick off january 12th with the theme small wonders and our description is that township residents are invited to capture the beauty of the tiny details all around us whether it's the intricate patterns of textures the charm of miniature objects or the smallest creatures that are often overlooked the deadline for submission is march 15th and then there will be a reception on saturday april 18th to announce the winner you continues to be a popular thing that we do I wanted to mention that the township has been working on improving their some of their benefits that they offer in order to be a more attractive employer to attract new applicants and also retain the staff that they have they're making some adjustments to the retirement benefits and we follow along with what they do because they

  4. for the puzzle tournament it is we are hosting another photo contest 2026 photo contest this will be our 10th annual photo contest that's going to kick off january 12th with the theme small wonders and our description is that township residents are invited to capture the beauty of the tiny details all around us whether it's the intricate patterns of textures the charm of miniature objects or the smallest creatures that are often overlooked the deadline for submission is march 15th and then there will be a reception on saturday april 18th to announce the winner you continues to be a popular thing that we do I wanted to mention that the township has been working on improving their some of their benefits that they offer in order to be a more attractive employer to attract new applicants and also retain the staff that they have they're making some adjustments to the retirement benefits and we follow along with what they do because they administer our benefits so I've been talking with the HR benefits coordinator there about some changes that they're making and wanted to give you a preview of those these will impact our budget in 26 27 so there is a pension program but that pension was closed in 2011 and so all those of us hired after 2011 have the opportunity to participate in a 401 a plan a 457 and a retiree health savings account both how chip in the library contribute to the 401 a plan and the RHS the retiree health savings account and the township is proposing increasing the 401 a contribution from 10% to 13% this will cost the library about $30,000 more annually and the RHS contribution is it's a flat fee based on how long you've been in service, and that will be an increase of about $4,000 per year. So I think that we should go along with this. The Township administers our benefits, so it's good to be in line with what they're doing,

  5. making some adjustments to the retirement benefits and we follow along with what they do because they administer our benefits so I've been talking with the HR benefits coordinator there about some changes that they're making and wanted to give you a preview of those these will impact our budget in 26 27 so there is a pension program but that pension was closed in 2011 and so all those of us hired after 2011 have the opportunity to participate in a 401 a plan a 457 and a retiree health savings account both how chip in the library contribute to the 401 a plan and the RHS the retiree health savings account and the township is proposing increasing the 401 a contribution from 10% to 13% this will cost the library about $30,000 more annually and the RHS contribution is it's a flat fee based on how long you've been in service, and that will be an increase of about $4,000 per year. So I think that we should go along with this. The Township administers our benefits, so it's good to be in line with what they're doing, and we wanna remain competitive and offer nice benefits to our employees. So as Kathy and I work on the budget in these next few months and weeks, we'll really look at how we need to balance to achieve that. That's $34,000 total. And then I just wanted to thank the Friends for approving the entire wishlist that, yeah, with the whole wishlist at their November meeting for a total of $28,100 to support a variety of different requests, programming, displays, marketing materials, and our wonderful Adaptive Umbrella workshop that Jen Taggart puts together. Yay! Yeah. Wonderful. Yeah, that's terrific. And that's all I had to report. Do you know their current balance? Funds balance? It's about $220,000. Do they invest in it? Mm-hmm. Yes. Some of them. They have a reserve fund, and they work with Matt Whitty, actually. I'm sure it's a company as well. Wonderful, thank you. The next item is the budget.

  6. so it's good to be in line with what they're doing, and we wanna remain competitive and offer nice benefits to our employees. So as Kathy and I work on the budget in these next few months and weeks, we'll really look at how we need to balance to achieve that. That's $34,000 total. And then I just wanted to thank the Friends for approving the entire wishlist that, yeah, with the whole wishlist at their November meeting for a total of $28,100 to support a variety of different requests, programming, displays, marketing materials, and our wonderful Adaptive Umbrella workshop that Jen Taggart puts together. Yay! Yeah. Wonderful. Yeah, that's terrific. And that's all I had to report. Do you know their current balance? Funds balance? It's about $220,000. Do they invest in it? Mm-hmm. Yes. Some of them. They have a reserve fund, and they work with Matt Whitty, actually. I'm sure it's a company as well. Wonderful, thank you. The next item is the budget. to go first if anybody has any things on page four you've got uh section six here i had a question you'll see two of these are related to the newsletter there's the 10 000 in postage and the 7 000 in printing what is the what does the newsletter cost us and do we fee annually and do we feel we're getting the benefit of the spend yes definitely getting the benefit for each time that we send out the newsletter and we send it out quarterly it's less than a dollar per copy per household so there's a copy that goes to every household in the township so between postage and the printing it's less than a dollar each it's the only marketing piece that goes to every single household in the township so whether or not they're folks who use the library they have an opportunity to hear what the library has to offer they're taxpayers so they should get that notice um we so not only is it the only thing that goes to everybody's home but it is probably our biggest most um effective marketing tool we can tell when the newsletter has landed in mailboxes because we see an uptick in calls and we see an uptake in registrations um the main reason that uh adult

  7. to go first if anybody has any things on page four you've got uh section six here i had a question you'll see two of these are related to the newsletter there's the 10 000 in postage and the 7 000 in printing what is the what does the newsletter cost us and do we fee annually and do we feel we're getting the benefit of the spend yes definitely getting the benefit for each time that we send out the newsletter and we send it out quarterly it's less than a dollar per copy per household so there's a copy that goes to every household in the township so between postage and the printing it's less than a dollar each it's the only marketing piece that goes to every single household in the township so whether or not they're folks who use the library they have an opportunity to hear what the library has to offer they're taxpayers so they should get that notice um we so not only is it the only thing that goes to everybody's home but it is probably our biggest most um effective marketing tool we can tell when the newsletter has landed in mailboxes because we see an uptick in calls and we see an uptake in registrations um the main reason that uh adult teen decided to cancel that author that we had we had requested a few months ago was that registrations were only at like 15 or 20 and that was after the newsletter had gone out and once the newsletter goes out if it's going to click it's going to click so it's beneficial there was one there's a payment to innovative interface for a hundred grand for Sierra cloud hosting and I just raised a question in my mind are we how how are we managing our IT Smith who is signing off um Paul and I review those together so Sierra is our ILS or integrated library system which is the the database that runs our whole library operations patron database catalog access access yeah so it's that's a big bill but that's in it we would not operate this kind of like the operating system of the library yeah and then do you review that is there some IT budget that I either see or don't see it's or is it on ad hoc basis no it's in the it's in the budget it's the computer equipment line that you noticed it is over this yeah that line item yeah I'll

  8. see an uptick in calls and we see an uptake in registrations um the main reason that uh adult teen decided to cancel that author that we had we had requested a few months ago was that registrations were only at like 15 or 20 and that was after the newsletter had gone out and once the newsletter goes out if it's going to click it's going to click so it's beneficial there was one there's a payment to innovative interface for a hundred grand for Sierra cloud hosting and I just raised a question in my mind are we how how are we managing our IT Smith who is signing off um Paul and I review those together so Sierra is our ILS or integrated library system which is the the database that runs our whole library operations patron database catalog access access yeah so it's that's a big bill but that's in it we would not operate this kind of like the operating system of the library yeah and then do you review that is there some IT budget that I either see or don't see it's or is it on ad hoc basis no it's in the it's in the budget it's the computer equipment line that you noticed it is over this yeah that line item yeah I'll point it out to you when we review the budget in March I'll show you all the we have them all itemized and then on the other checks on page six at the top long lake market for 16 what was that that was for lunch for staff development day it's the mid Midwest collaborative for library services it's a library consortia that we're a part of they do some make group discounts possible they do a lot of training and networking that one I can't remember what that one was for but. And the fire department what did we spend there? Was that the inspection? No we bought new AEDs. Oh okay. We were told that ours were outdated. Anybody else have any questions on the expenses? I do I have one the Straker sales one it was mentioned under new vendors and then it was listed down on page six I think it was for way down at the bottom yes Straker sales oh man you guys stop me I don't know what that's for. I feel so let me do a it's yes

  9. equipment line that you noticed it is over this yeah that line item yeah I'll point it out to you when we review the budget in March I'll show you all the we have them all itemized and then on the other checks on page six at the top long lake market for 16 what was that that was for lunch for staff development day it's the mid Midwest collaborative for library services it's a library consortia that we're a part of they do some make group discounts possible they do a lot of training and networking that one I can't remember what that one was for but. And the fire department what did we spend there? Was that the inspection? No we bought new AEDs. Oh okay. We were told that ours were outdated. Anybody else have any questions on the expenses? I do I have one the Straker sales one it was mentioned under new vendors and then it was listed down on page six I think it was for way down at the bottom yes Straker sales oh man you guys stop me I don't know what that's for. I feel so let me do a it's yes striker sales LLC. Strikers the medical equipment. Right that's what I was thinking too when I'm that's not what I will have to get back to you guys on that one. Okay thank you. On the budget itself you know the revenue line I think we're doing great on the expenses I just had a couple of questions you guys remember the format so we're two thirds of the way through the year some of these items the repairs I know that was up last time but that's at 114 just your thoughts on that Tara and then the grounds maintenance computer system maintenance and postage are all above yeah post we're aware of all those and we will amend them when we do our March budget review postage just keeps going up so we didn't budget enough for that we've had some unexpected HVAC repairs that are causing that maintenance line to go up computer and equipment I know there was some unexpected expense that is not coming to my mind off the top of my head but yeah when we do the March

  10. guys stop me I don't know what that's for. I feel so let me do a it's yes striker sales LLC. Strikers the medical equipment. Right that's what I was thinking too when I'm that's not what I will have to get back to you guys on that one. Okay thank you. On the budget itself you know the revenue line I think we're doing great on the expenses I just had a couple of questions you guys remember the format so we're two thirds of the way through the year some of these items the repairs I know that was up last time but that's at 114 just your thoughts on that Tara and then the grounds maintenance computer system maintenance and postage are all above yeah post we're aware of all those and we will amend them when we do our March budget review postage just keeps going up so we didn't budget enough for that we've had some unexpected HVAC repairs that are causing that maintenance line to go up computer and equipment I know there was some unexpected expense that is not coming to my mind off the top of my head but yeah when we do the March budget we'll amend those lines so that they come out not over I don't recall when when taxes come in and our expenses align is that in March or that really doesn't happen it doesn't really happen well the revenues are gonna they're starting to come in now because it's on the December tax bill yeah so those tax revenues are starting to come in you'll see it reflected on next month's revenue and expense balance but we have that fund balance which keeps us going through the eight months before that comes in so now we we approve the spend and there's a motion on page 11 I'm happy to read I move to approve monthly there's a motion on page 11 I'm happy to read I move to the next month's revenue cash discussions in the form of the checks noted for a grand total of 549 488.91 of the amounts noted in the resolution second all in favor hi thank you then they call the public nicole thank

  11. is not coming to my mind off the top of my head but yeah when we do the March budget we'll amend those lines so that they come out not over I don't recall when when taxes come in and our expenses align is that in March or that really doesn't happen it doesn't really happen well the revenues are gonna they're starting to come in now because it's on the December tax bill yeah so those tax revenues are starting to come in you'll see it reflected on next month's revenue and expense balance but we have that fund balance which keeps us going through the eight months before that comes in so now we we approve the spend and there's a motion on page 11 I'm happy to read I move to approve monthly there's a motion on page 11 I'm happy to read I move to the next month's revenue cash discussions in the form of the checks noted for a grand total of 549 488.91 of the amounts noted in the resolution second all in favor hi thank you then they call the public nicole thank you for joining us hello the soc would like to formally invite the board of trustees to the staff party that will be on january 10th at the tavern there will be food and board games so please join us sounds like a lot of fun did we approve the remaining items on the consent agenda did i i missed that part i'm sorry uh we approved the order of items and there was nothing removed i thought we had to prove it regardless we can move it i get a second second all in favor hi anything to make you happy knowing thank you for the input just trying to make them in exactly um this is terrific and when do we need to have the sent by december 29th yes okay anything else no that's all thank you oh thank you thank you thank you nicole anybody have any unfinished business take us to the new business take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right It's not me.

  12. noted in the resolution second all in favor hi thank you then they call the public nicole thank you for joining us hello the soc would like to formally invite the board of trustees to the staff party that will be on january 10th at the tavern there will be food and board games so please join us sounds like a lot of fun did we approve the remaining items on the consent agenda did i i missed that part i'm sorry uh we approved the order of items and there was nothing removed i thought we had to prove it regardless we can move it i get a second second all in favor hi anything to make you happy knowing thank you for the input just trying to make them in exactly um this is terrific and when do we need to have the sent by december 29th yes okay anything else no that's all thank you oh thank you thank you thank you nicole anybody have any unfinished business take us to the new business take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right take us to the new business all right It's not me. So our first item is to talk about PA 152, which, as you know, we do this every December. PA 152 is a law that says public employees have to pay part of our health care premiums, and it provides several different methods by which to figure out how much that payment is going to be. There are three options. One is the hard cap option, which the state always gives us a number and says we can't go over that amount for single and family. There's an 80-20 option, which says the library pays 80, the employers pay 20 percent. Or we can say that we're exempt, but we can't do that by definition of how we're defined as a government unit. The township does exempt itself, by the way. So I've included information here about the different options and how much they would cost the library and how much they would cost the employees. This year, the more beneficial to the employees option is the 80-20 option. The rate still goes up a little bit. I think it's about 9 percent. But I would like for you to consider that option as the one that we're picking this year to set the rate for health care premiums for employees.

  13. So our first item is to talk about PA 152, which, as you know, we do this every December. PA 152 is a law that says public employees have to pay part of our health care premiums, and it provides several different methods by which to figure out how much that payment is going to be. There are three options. One is the hard cap option, which the state always gives us a number and says we can't go over that amount for single and family. There's an 80-20 option, which says the library pays 80, the employers pay 20 percent. Or we can say that we're exempt, but we can't do that by definition of how we're defined as a government unit. The township does exempt itself, by the way. So I've included information here about the different options and how much they would cost the library and how much they would cost the employees. This year, the more beneficial to the employees option is the 80-20 option. The rate still goes up a little bit. I think it's about 9 percent. But I would like for you to consider that option as the one that we're picking this year to set the rate for health care premiums for employees. Is it always that option? It's not always. Okay, it goes back and forth. Yeah, you can see there's a little history here on page 31 of when we've chosen which one. It depends on, like... know that there have been times when our budget has been more uh tightly stretched and we've chosen the hard camp option i haven't been here as long as some others so for me it's owens it's three now but okay anybody have any questions no but i'm moved to adopt the 80 20 option as stated in pa 152 effective january 1st 2026. thank you for the recommendation thank you second all in favor all right thank you so much thanks for laying it out yeah and making the um making it easy for the personnel committee of judy and joe yes yes you're so welcome thank you well i think also the recommendation that you've all made to support employees i think it's really obvious so they appreciate that all right well we're on to our construction manager rfp award uh which is uh why jared is joining us tonight thank you jared for being here um i think you've all met jared but he

  14. But I would like for you to consider that option as the one that we're picking this year to set the rate for health care premiums for employees. Is it always that option? It's not always. Okay, it goes back and forth. Yeah, you can see there's a little history here on page 31 of when we've chosen which one. It depends on, like... know that there have been times when our budget has been more uh tightly stretched and we've chosen the hard camp option i haven't been here as long as some others so for me it's owens it's three now but okay anybody have any questions no but i'm moved to adopt the 80 20 option as stated in pa 152 effective january 1st 2026. thank you for the recommendation thank you second all in favor all right thank you so much thanks for laying it out yeah and making the um making it easy for the personnel committee of judy and joe yes yes you're so welcome thank you well i think also the recommendation that you've all made to support employees i think it's really obvious so they appreciate that all right well we're on to our construction manager rfp award uh which is uh why jared is joining us tonight thank you jared for being here um i think you've all met jared but he is the project manager for c2ae on our library design project um and he has been uh doing the heavy lifting on our construction management services rfp process so um c2ae released in an rfp um on october 16th and received eight proposals um jared reviewed those proposals very thoroughly and recommended i'm sorry we received five proposals jared reviewed those proposals and narrowed it down to three firms um to interview and there's lots of detail in the board packet about jared's thought process with that um evaluation and also catherine and i did a similar evaluation so we narrowed it down to three companies off construction frankly weldon sons and mccarthy and smith and invited them on site for interviews and jared and catherine and i spent the day interviewing those three firms um all three firms are really terrific and could completely

  15. why jared is joining us tonight thank you jared for being here um i think you've all met jared but he is the project manager for c2ae on our library design project um and he has been uh doing the heavy lifting on our construction management services rfp process so um c2ae released in an rfp um on october 16th and received eight proposals um jared reviewed those proposals very thoroughly and recommended i'm sorry we received five proposals jared reviewed those proposals and narrowed it down to three firms um to interview and there's lots of detail in the board packet about jared's thought process with that um evaluation and also catherine and i did a similar evaluation so we narrowed it down to three companies off construction frankly weldon sons and mccarthy and smith and invited them on site for interviews and jared and catherine and i spent the day interviewing those three firms um all three firms are really terrific and could completely do a great job as being our construction manager but you can see that there is a difference in their fees and um at the end of the day mccarthy and smith really rose to the top through their interview process they were really excited to be here very enthusiastic they seemed like they were already part of our team just really positive and relaxed they're catherine and i are really interested to hear their communication plan and their communication plan was very detailed they talked about doing a lunch and learn for staff they talked about having powerpoints available for us each week photos that they talked about having powerpoints available for us each week photos that we can use in our social media um you And their processes of value engineering and working together with our C2AE and library team was just, they just explained it really well. It seemed very, very thorough. Their fee is on the lower side compared to the other firms, as you can see. And they are proposing a flat fee instead of a percentage of the construction costs as the other firms are. It's a surprise to me to recommend McCarthy and Smith to you all. I thought that I would be fighting to award it to Riewold, and Riewold could do a great job, but McCarthy and Smith just had a little bit extra oomph, and you know, fresh eyes are good once in a while, and so I'm really excited about this recommendation. Jared, do you want to add anything?

  16. interviewing those three firms um all three firms are really terrific and could completely do a great job as being our construction manager but you can see that there is a difference in their fees and um at the end of the day mccarthy and smith really rose to the top through their interview process they were really excited to be here very enthusiastic they seemed like they were already part of our team just really positive and relaxed they're catherine and i are really interested to hear their communication plan and their communication plan was very detailed they talked about doing a lunch and learn for staff they talked about having powerpoints available for us each week photos that they talked about having powerpoints available for us each week photos that we can use in our social media um you And their processes of value engineering and working together with our C2AE and library team was just, they just explained it really well. It seemed very, very thorough. Their fee is on the lower side compared to the other firms, as you can see. And they are proposing a flat fee instead of a percentage of the construction costs as the other firms are. It's a surprise to me to recommend McCarthy and Smith to you all. I thought that I would be fighting to award it to Riewold, and Riewold could do a great job, but McCarthy and Smith just had a little bit extra oomph, and you know, fresh eyes are good once in a while, and so I'm really excited about this recommendation. Jared, do you want to add anything? I think you hit the nail on the head, and if anything, you know, I think more than anything, McCarthy and Smith, they really talked to us about, you know, how they could help meet the needs of our project versus just kind of answering questions and telling us what their process and what their approaches to, you know, the specifics that we were asking. I thought McCarthy and Smith really went above and beyond with trying to understand where we were at in the process and where they would fit into that and how they could help more than anything. I also appreciate their body of work and the fact that they've done a lot of libraries, but also specific... First of all, something I'm trying to call you further救 me. Okay. to businesses that are open to the public and i think that's you know one of the great challenges of this project especially between now and finishing um so i really appreciated

  17. It's a surprise to me to recommend McCarthy and Smith to you all. I thought that I would be fighting to award it to Riewold, and Riewold could do a great job, but McCarthy and Smith just had a little bit extra oomph, and you know, fresh eyes are good once in a while, and so I'm really excited about this recommendation. Jared, do you want to add anything? I think you hit the nail on the head, and if anything, you know, I think more than anything, McCarthy and Smith, they really talked to us about, you know, how they could help meet the needs of our project versus just kind of answering questions and telling us what their process and what their approaches to, you know, the specifics that we were asking. I thought McCarthy and Smith really went above and beyond with trying to understand where we were at in the process and where they would fit into that and how they could help more than anything. I also appreciate their body of work and the fact that they've done a lot of libraries, but also specific... First of all, something I'm trying to call you further救 me. Okay. to businesses that are open to the public and i think that's you know one of the great challenges of this project especially between now and finishing um so i really appreciated that and that the experience that they're bringing there yeah they demonstrated great understanding of how to phase a project and keep the project moving while in an occupied building and they it's clear that they understand libraries and the kinds of things kinds of activities that we have here i like your comment here about they feel like they're part of the team or you felt that they could just fit in and be part of the team which is really important i think yeah i was a little confused about your comment because we see the costs here on page 35 but how did you derive these if the other two were using percentage base jared you want to speak to that did you hear that question yeah so what and you know what we did is we asked for uh you know if fees based on a you know our estimated cost at the time 4.5 million in hard construction costs pretty uh a pretty big definition of where we were at in the project and uh you know kind of gave uh each of the better

  18. of this project especially between now and finishing um so i really appreciated that and that the experience that they're bringing there yeah they demonstrated great understanding of how to phase a project and keep the project moving while in an occupied building and they it's clear that they understand libraries and the kinds of things kinds of activities that we have here i like your comment here about they feel like they're part of the team or you felt that they could just fit in and be part of the team which is really important i think yeah i was a little confused about your comment because we see the costs here on page 35 but how did you derive these if the other two were using percentage base jared you want to speak to that did you hear that question yeah so what and you know what we did is we asked for uh you know if fees based on a you know our estimated cost at the time 4.5 million in hard construction costs pretty uh a pretty big definition of where we were at in the project and uh you know kind of gave uh each of the better an opportunity to you know show us how they come up with their costs and where those you know how those fees are derived from uh i personally like to see the the fixed cost um you know the kind of a variety of ways that that question could have been answered to see it answered as a fixed cost rather than a percentage of destruction uh was refreshing because what they were doing was offering um you know this is how much we uh you know it's going to cost us to meet the needs of your project uh not saying you know okay if this is a 4.5 million dollar versus a 4.3 million dollar uh construction cost you know that we're going to get into the weeds are uh you know moving our fee around uh i like to see that flat fee because then we know that the the contractor isn't incentivized to make the project cost more you know it's an upfront uh this is our fee for the scope as we understand it and that's not fluctuating based on the overall cost of the project uh as far as being compared to the other numbers what we did is we we went off to that 4.5 million dollar cost and just kind of uh estimated based on a percentage uh where those other fees would be uh from that number just to try to try to make it more apples to apples even though um you know they're as i noted in my summary there it's not necessarily apples to apples in these comparisons because of the way that uh the

  19. an opportunity to you know show us how they come up with their costs and where those you know how those fees are derived from uh i personally like to see the the fixed cost um you know the kind of a variety of ways that that question could have been answered to see it answered as a fixed cost rather than a percentage of destruction uh was refreshing because what they were doing was offering um you know this is how much we uh you know it's going to cost us to meet the needs of your project uh not saying you know okay if this is a 4.5 million dollar versus a 4.3 million dollar uh construction cost you know that we're going to get into the weeds are uh you know moving our fee around uh i like to see that flat fee because then we know that the the contractor isn't incentivized to make the project cost more you know it's an upfront uh this is our fee for the scope as we understand it and that's not fluctuating based on the overall cost of the project uh as far as being compared to the other numbers what we did is we we went off to that 4.5 million dollar cost and just kind of uh estimated based on a percentage uh where those other fees would be uh from that number just to try to try to make it more apples to apples even though um you know they're as i noted in my summary there it's not necessarily apples to apples in these comparisons because of the way that uh the fees were presented so it tried to make it as readable uh and comparable as possible although these uh numbers were displayed differently um another thing that you know we did when assessing the fee was We had a similar series of questions for each of the CMs in the interview. What I wanted to do is just kind of open a dialogue and see what their process was for coming up with these fees and their developing a schedule of values and their billing process. And I think above and beyond, I like the answers that we got from McCarthy-Smith that just found that they were more adaptable and kind of workable to the terms that I would say are preferable to the library than the other two firms. Jared, what about the notes that they've got? Doesn't include site-related costs, temporary barriers, control signage. I get that dumpsters, construction dumpsters will be provided, not by them, but I mean, I'm kind of struggling with the amount of items there and who is responsible for those.

  20. summary there it's not necessarily apples to apples in these comparisons because of the way that uh the fees were presented so it tried to make it as readable uh and comparable as possible although these uh numbers were displayed differently um another thing that you know we did when assessing the fee was We had a similar series of questions for each of the CMs in the interview. What I wanted to do is just kind of open a dialogue and see what their process was for coming up with these fees and their developing a schedule of values and their billing process. And I think above and beyond, I like the answers that we got from McCarthy-Smith that just found that they were more adaptable and kind of workable to the terms that I would say are preferable to the library than the other two firms. Jared, what about the notes that they've got? Doesn't include site-related costs, temporary barriers, control signage. I get that dumpsters, construction dumpsters will be provided, not by them, but I mean, I'm kind of struggling with the amount of items there and who is responsible for those. So we followed up on that with them in the interview, and they provided a pretty clear answer that they consider those a percentage of hard construction costs. So while they didn't include those in their general condition fee totals, those would be fees that they would cover under the construction contract. They also explained that they don't bill any markup for those, that they consider that a line item within the schedule of values of the hard construction costs and that they would just bill us that cost for those. If anybody wants to know what they're doing, they'll be doing that. But I think, there's something they're going to do in the middle of a year? kind of it would be like a built-in line item um for site related costs rather than a fee that we're paying them okay so the other two have some cost in miscellaneous what would that be so those were specific to uh bonding and uh general liability insurance and we did note on the rewalt um proposal it had said that gli was included in the cm fee and we followed up with them in the interview and they noted that that was a mistake and that was actually a separate fee so when we put that table together it's kind of looking what category to place that in but uh

  21. So we followed up on that with them in the interview, and they provided a pretty clear answer that they consider those a percentage of hard construction costs. So while they didn't include those in their general condition fee totals, those would be fees that they would cover under the construction contract. They also explained that they don't bill any markup for those, that they consider that a line item within the schedule of values of the hard construction costs and that they would just bill us that cost for those. If anybody wants to know what they're doing, they'll be doing that. But I think, there's something they're going to do in the middle of a year? kind of it would be like a built-in line item um for site related costs rather than a fee that we're paying them okay so the other two have some cost in miscellaneous what would that be so those were specific to uh bonding and uh general liability insurance and we did note on the rewalt um proposal it had said that gli was included in the cm fee and we followed up with them in the interview and they noted that that was a mistake and that was actually a separate fee so when we put that table together it's kind of looking what category to place that in but uh it did confirm that that would be a miscellaneous cause they're not included in their cmd no i think we got to go with what the team feels they're going to be comfortable with yeah i think there's a resolution i moved to approve awarding the construction management services bid to mccarthy and smith two four three one seven endoplex circle farmington hills michigan four eight three three five second thank you so much thank you Jared yep thank you thanks thank you Jared we'll be in touch about next steps okay thank you for all the RFP work you guys interview I didn't do it we didn't do it this time we were there for the interviews but Jared really managed the whole process yeah

  22. when we put that table together it's kind of looking what category to place that in but uh it did confirm that that would be a miscellaneous cause they're not included in their cmd no i think we got to go with what the team feels they're going to be comfortable with yeah i think there's a resolution i moved to approve awarding the construction management services bid to mccarthy and smith two four three one seven endoplex circle farmington hills michigan four eight three three five second thank you so much thank you Jared yep thank you thanks thank you Jared we'll be in touch about next steps okay thank you for all the RFP work you guys interview I didn't do it we didn't do it this time we were there for the interviews but Jared really managed the whole process yeah he made it quite easy yes yes including providing a lot of extra information you guys to read I'm really glad we went through that process I am too I am too are you I am yeah yeah I mean if for any thing just if anything had gone wrong if we'd picked Rewild if something had gone wrong we'll never really know yeah but at least I think we feel better that yeah and they really they really were really enthusiastic they talked a lot about their experience on the Clinton McComb library project which had um they built a dome on that library and the dome was actually built by a man in Arizona and then disassembled and then shipped here and built oh can we get a dome I mean, they have a dome of swords. Well, yeah. They talked about their experience at the Grosse Pointe Public Library, moving and storing this very valuable art piece that they had, and we have an art piece that we're going to be moving to. So there are a lot of parallels that just made them seem like they were the right choice.

  23. it this time we were there for the interviews but Jared really managed the whole process yeah he made it quite easy yes yes including providing a lot of extra information you guys to read I'm really glad we went through that process I am too I am too are you I am yeah yeah I mean if for any thing just if anything had gone wrong if we'd picked Rewild if something had gone wrong we'll never really know yeah but at least I think we feel better that yeah and they really they really were really enthusiastic they talked a lot about their experience on the Clinton McComb library project which had um they built a dome on that library and the dome was actually built by a man in Arizona and then disassembled and then shipped here and built oh can we get a dome I mean, they have a dome of swords. Well, yeah. They talked about their experience at the Grosse Pointe Public Library, moving and storing this very valuable art piece that they had, and we have an art piece that we're going to be moving to. So there are a lot of parallels that just made them seem like they were the right choice. Also, they used the word over-communicate, which is my favorite thing in here. So, yeah, so thank you for that. All right, moving on to our next item, which is requesting to extend our vending contract. So as stated in the memo, the vending contract is up at the end of March, and we normally put out an RFP in December and go through that whole process for vending services. But because we have no idea, well, we have an idea of what we're going to be requesting in a while. We don't know for sure, and we thought it made a lot more sense to just keep our correct contractor through this transitional time, and then when we have a little bit more solid information, put out an RFP later. So I'm just asking for your permission to extend that for up to a year until we can kind of solidify what we need from a contractor. Are they aware that we're moving? Are they learning how are you able to do them without ret sino? Is they going to work? What about getting out of our way? Because they're trying to make an auditory technique? Um, so I had a forward-

  24. So there are a lot of parallels that just made them seem like they were the right choice. Also, they used the word over-communicate, which is my favorite thing in here. So, yeah, so thank you for that. All right, moving on to our next item, which is requesting to extend our vending contract. So as stated in the memo, the vending contract is up at the end of March, and we normally put out an RFP in December and go through that whole process for vending services. But because we have no idea, well, we have an idea of what we're going to be requesting in a while. We don't know for sure, and we thought it made a lot more sense to just keep our correct contractor through this transitional time, and then when we have a little bit more solid information, put out an RFP later. So I'm just asking for your permission to extend that for up to a year until we can kind of solidify what we need from a contractor. Are they aware that we're moving? Are they learning how are you able to do them without ret sino? Is they going to work? What about getting out of our way? Because they're trying to make an auditory technique? Um, so I had a forward- potentially looking for some different options okay yep and they're our current vendor is working on exploring some ways to do some pilots and test out some new equipment yeah okay I moved to extend the vending services contract with jh2 vending LLC for up to one additional year March 31st 2027 all second all in favor great thank you so yeah all right and then the last item is the director's evaluation process which starts at this time of year so I met with the personnel committee a couple weeks ago and they had some suggested revisions for the evaluation form which was to take out technology and a base innovation and answer in a section about building which makes sense and I don't know why we didn't

  25. potentially looking for some different options okay yep and they're our current vendor is working on exploring some ways to do some pilots and test out some new equipment yeah okay I moved to extend the vending services contract with jh2 vending LLC for up to one additional year March 31st 2027 all second all in favor great thank you so yeah all right and then the last item is the director's evaluation process which starts at this time of year so I met with the personnel committee a couple weeks ago and they had some suggested revisions for the evaluation form which was to take out technology and a base innovation and answer in a section about building which makes sense and I don't know why we didn't think about that before sorry and so as we've done before i will write up my list of accomplishments for the year email it out to the group and then you will work through the personnel committee which is joan and judy to provide your feedback and then it will culminate in february where you decide if you're going to remove my contact i'll provide salary information as well including um what we the results for the dslrt survey what other library directors are making and this is what we do annually and do we do it for all of the staff uh you guys just do it for me and then um all the managers and supervisors do this process for all staff we're a little bit later we start that process like mid-january through mid-march and this is their requirement that this be annual well the requirement i require it of the staff uh it's one of your three main duties to evaluate the library director so as unpopular as this may be we my company we do this every 18 months and again it just

  26. answer in a section about building which makes sense and I don't know why we didn't think about that before sorry and so as we've done before i will write up my list of accomplishments for the year email it out to the group and then you will work through the personnel committee which is joan and judy to provide your feedback and then it will culminate in february where you decide if you're going to remove my contact i'll provide salary information as well including um what we the results for the dslrt survey what other library directors are making and this is what we do annually and do we do it for all of the staff uh you guys just do it for me and then um all the managers and supervisors do this process for all staff we're a little bit later we start that process like mid-january through mid-march and this is their requirement that this be annual well the requirement i require it of the staff uh it's one of your three main duties to evaluate the library director so as unpopular as this may be we my company we do this every 18 months and again it just i'm not suggesting we do that which is data point it's just one less process you know it takes a little bit of the process now but you also get pay adjustments every 18 not every 12 months okay people yeah um it works really well to do the same thing at the same time of year for us is there precedence at the top chip too is it dumb evaluations i have i don't know i don't know how they handle it i've got to think the majority of companies and like landed places are annual i don't think so i was shocked when i got there i was like where's my pay rates they're like six more months pretty that process sounds good to me any comments no it sounds like something i've seen at least 40 times so if if each trustee could send

  27. as unpopular as this may be we my company we do this every 18 months and again it just i'm not suggesting we do that which is data point it's just one less process you know it takes a little bit of the process now but you also get pay adjustments every 18 not every 12 months okay people yeah um it works really well to do the same thing at the same time of year for us is there precedence at the top chip too is it dumb evaluations i have i don't know i don't know how they handle it i've got to think the majority of companies and like landed places are annual i don't think so i was shocked when i got there i was like where's my pay rates they're like six more months pretty that process sounds good to me any comments no it sounds like something i've seen at least 40 times so if if each trustee could send um they're formed to both judy and myself and i'd like to see what tara writes first oh yes yes she won't actually send it to us until january right and then we send it back right later in january yeah our dates are i always get myself like a month ahead and i think oh no you're right let's be sending it i will send out my comments before the end of the year and i will include the form in that email send it to all of you and then you will send your comments email send it to joan and judy Right. And I put the deadline that's in the memo is January 16th, yes, because our closed session meeting is in February, when we decide to remove your contract. So if you can, a note to all the trustees, if you can send it both to Judy and myself, and we kind of tag-team, you know, Judy does some things, I do other things, and thanks

  28. so if if each trustee could send um they're formed to both judy and myself and i'd like to see what tara writes first oh yes yes she won't actually send it to us until january right and then we send it back right later in january yeah our dates are i always get myself like a month ahead and i think oh no you're right let's be sending it i will send out my comments before the end of the year and i will include the form in that email send it to all of you and then you will send your comments email send it to joan and judy Right. And I put the deadline that's in the memo is January 16th, yes, because our closed session meeting is in February, when we decide to remove your contract. So if you can, a note to all the trustees, if you can send it both to Judy and myself, and we kind of tag-team, you know, Judy does some things, I do other things, and thanks to Lyndon, she revised the form for us, and can I tell them, and used AI to do part of it. Yeah, somehow it didn't hallucinate or anything. I proofed it so it wouldn't. No, I did say, give Tara a raise. Like, we can't say that, we can't say that. Big raise it said. So, anyway, so we thank Lyndon for doing that, and yes, and it's an annual process, and that's what we do. Three primary duties. That's what we do. All right. Some more to come on that. Stay tuned for emails. Okay. So, which I believe takes us to... Okay. Okay. Once we've got to ask. Good. Thank you. I think we have this carryover item of our committee responsibilities and it's fortunate the two members aren't here just keep that in mind

  29. and we kind of tag-team, you know, Judy does some things, I do other things, and thanks to Lyndon, she revised the form for us, and can I tell them, and used AI to do part of it. Yeah, somehow it didn't hallucinate or anything. I proofed it so it wouldn't. No, I did say, give Tara a raise. Like, we can't say that, we can't say that. Big raise it said. So, anyway, so we thank Lyndon for doing that, and yes, and it's an annual process, and that's what we do. Three primary duties. That's what we do. All right. Some more to come on that. Stay tuned for emails. Okay. So, which I believe takes us to... Okay. Okay. Once we've got to ask. Good. Thank you. I think we have this carryover item of our committee responsibilities and it's fortunate the two members aren't here just keep that in mind I agree with the sentiment that this should be a shared responsibility to attend those meetings I don't think it's I do appreciate they are they are tedious and um I honestly don't feel like I have much well now I will say Keith and I were to share the duty and I oh okay I guess I forgot that you said that and you never I know it asked me to attend and then you never called well again if you know if the board decides that that's not a valuable use of your time you don't have to go to the meetings this was a precedent that was set a few years ago and it is really valuable um just to have that shared point of view there and it creates a nice connection between the friends and the trustees I mean I I don't think we should dissolve the meeting um I would was it Judy I can't remember Judy or Danny unfortunately not here or was it you

  30. fortunate the two members aren't here just keep that in mind I agree with the sentiment that this should be a shared responsibility to attend those meetings I don't think it's I do appreciate they are they are tedious and um I honestly don't feel like I have much well now I will say Keith and I were to share the duty and I oh okay I guess I forgot that you said that and you never I know it asked me to attend and then you never called well again if you know if the board decides that that's not a valuable use of your time you don't have to go to the meetings this was a precedent that was set a few years ago and it is really valuable um just to have that shared point of view there and it creates a nice connection between the friends and the trustees I mean I I don't think we should dissolve the meeting um I would was it Judy I can't remember Judy or Danny unfortunately not here or was it you that or maybe it was Shane that said each person should take a turn throughout the year I think my sentiment was we this could be a shared responsibility and it'd be somewhat disingenuous me to say that because I'm the one I literally have a standing meeting at the same time unless there's like we have I think one maybe in November we don't have that meeting I'm referring to but but I think that I would you like to get off that committee or would you like to have help well I I guess I would like to get off of it but you know I also feel a responsibility so if there could be some sharing I think that would be great yeah yeah I am really happy to do a lot of it because it is the day after our meetings they've made and I could attend virtually yep I feel like I can at least be in town and be available I I did feel like there's value in us being a part of it to whatever extent whether that's to support you I think they appreciate the relationship and so I am

  31. that or maybe it was Shane that said each person should take a turn throughout the year I think my sentiment was we this could be a shared responsibility and it'd be somewhat disingenuous me to say that because I'm the one I literally have a standing meeting at the same time unless there's like we have I think one maybe in November we don't have that meeting I'm referring to but but I think that I would you like to get off that committee or would you like to have help well I I guess I would like to get off of it but you know I also feel a responsibility so if there could be some sharing I think that would be great yeah yeah I am really happy to do a lot of it because it is the day after our meetings they've made and I could attend virtually yep I feel like I can at least be in town and be available I I did feel like there's value in us being a part of it to whatever extent whether that's to support you I think they appreciate the relationship and so I am happy to do it more than others if if need be I guess it doesn't I'm happy to. Well we have six trustees and if available we could each do two or not well let's change enough because apparently he has one month where he's free. I worked at one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Really? I did. I guess I'm missing something. I mean I recognize there's significant importance to the library but I don't. So that would be my suggestion is that but we would have to schedule each other. You just have to communicate yeah unless you could either set a rotation in advance or maybe if you could I know you guys do a lot of scheduling for us but maybe if you could send us a note when they set the meeting just make one tomorrow for example. They're always the third. Yeah third Wednesday at 10 a.m. 10 30.

  32. whatever extent whether that's to support you I think they appreciate the relationship and so I am happy to do it more than others if if need be I guess it doesn't I'm happy to. Well we have six trustees and if available we could each do two or not well let's change enough because apparently he has one month where he's free. I worked at one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Really? I did. I guess I'm missing something. I mean I recognize there's significant importance to the library but I don't. So that would be my suggestion is that but we would have to schedule each other. You just have to communicate yeah unless you could either set a rotation in advance or maybe if you could I know you guys do a lot of scheduling for us but maybe if you could send us a note when they set the meeting just make one tomorrow for example. They're always the third. Yeah third Wednesday at 10 a.m. 10 30. It's a Sunday meeting. The meetings are listed at the end of the board pack and when the dates are meetings. It'll be harder we'll just go about our lives and forget about it. Okay. So if we get an email you know the week before hey guys reminder who's there's a friend who's going to go we'll just pick something. I may have an 11 o'clock meeting tomorrow but otherwise I'm happy to step in in January. I think meeting tomorrow is not at 10 30. 10 30 yeah okay well i i can do tomorrow if someone could take so it's not like i'm gonna get out of it so it's okay if you'll be there it will be your swan song okay okay so um third wednesday third wednesday yeah it's like the day after our our meeting not every month but almost every month there's usually like one or two months well sometimes so i might be able to take the 21st of january because my meeting was moved oh sure now you tell us

  33. tomorrow for example. They're always the third. Yeah third Wednesday at 10 a.m. 10 30. It's a Sunday meeting. The meetings are listed at the end of the board pack and when the dates are meetings. It'll be harder we'll just go about our lives and forget about it. Okay. So if we get an email you know the week before hey guys reminder who's there's a friend who's going to go we'll just pick something. I may have an 11 o'clock meeting tomorrow but otherwise I'm happy to step in in January. I think meeting tomorrow is not at 10 30. 10 30 yeah okay well i i can do tomorrow if someone could take so it's not like i'm gonna get out of it so it's okay if you'll be there it will be your swan song okay okay so um third wednesday third wednesday yeah it's like the day after our our meeting not every month but almost every month there's usually like one or two months well sometimes so i might be able to take the 21st of january because my meeting was moved oh sure now you tell us next one i can't the next one i can't but again so if somebody sends a note like on the 14th i'll happily you know chime in with my hopefully continued availability all right i will do that otherwise keith you okay yeah we owe you one yeah first pick next year great but otherwise committee assignments are staying the same it sounded like right other than that yes okay great and then everyone assumes their new roles in january our new secretary and our new vice president yes and um we'll have to do bank signatories all over again okay you you you you you you okay so um i guess i must have missed that oh yeah i think you weren't here that was november uh where you got elected to be secretary and joy is vice president shane is president uh you'll have to well your signature goes on the minutes each month but tonight before you leave we're going to have you sign a piece of paper so we can have your digital signatures and then we can just apply those and then you as the no the secretary has to sign the most monthly

  34. next one i can't the next one i can't but again so if somebody sends a note like on the 14th i'll happily you know chime in with my hopefully continued availability all right i will do that otherwise keith you okay yeah we owe you one yeah first pick next year great but otherwise committee assignments are staying the same it sounded like right other than that yes okay great and then everyone assumes their new roles in january our new secretary and our new vice president yes and um we'll have to do bank signatories all over again okay you you you you you you okay so um i guess i must have missed that oh yeah i think you weren't here that was november uh where you got elected to be secretary and joy is vice president shane is president uh you'll have to well your signature goes on the minutes each month but tonight before you leave we're going to have you sign a piece of paper so we can have your digital signatures and then we can just apply those and then you as the no the secretary has to sign the most monthly motion um for the spend every month too it's the vice president or the secretary it is listed as both on the sheet okay so it's either it's either okay so you'll let us know i really just asked judy because of her comments about the pen every month we need you to sign things before you leave but yeah it's either the vice president or the secretary according to the sheet and that will be effective in january okay what's this that came in our packet that's the update of the bylaws to reflect the 6 30 start time oh okay there's some good information on here i didn't realize all that so thank you nothing else changed okay i didn't say new information good information and anybody else down there Do you have anything else? I do not. Okay. I move to adjourn the meeting. Second. Happy Holidays!