Library Board Meeting Update

Submitted by Stephen Kight

At its regular meeting, held last evening at the Cumming Library, the Library Board engaged in the following activities:

• Watched an impressive video about the Teen Advisory Board (TAB), a collaborative effort from Cleo Joyce, Kayla Bolton, Sariah Homan, Page James, Lynette Steritz, and Leslie Marinelli.
• Approved a revision to the Library’s Interlibrary Loan Policy, effective January 25, with the following changes:
• Forsyth County Public Library borrows items from beyond the 48 contiguous states, particularly Alaska, when the need arises.  Leaving the word “continental” in the policy is no longer accurate.    
• The proposed revision reflects that the lending library controls the renewal option of a loan as well as the time period of the loan.
• Certain requested loans require additional costs for the lending library to loan the item.  FCPL patrons are contacted and given the option to pay the additional costs to borrow the item.  The requested update reflects that once the loan is initiated, patrons must pay this additional cost whether or not they ultimately check out the item once it arrives at FCPL.
• The proposed revision removes the phrase “(owing less than $10.00 in fines and fees)” following the statement that “{P}atrons must be in good standing at the time of the ILL request.”  The Library Cards and Borrowing Materials Policy, which was revised in May 2021, uses $15.00 as the threshold.  The removal of a specific amount accommodates future updates to circulation policies and procedures.
• Specific language is inserted to indicate that a patron may not purchase a replacement copy of an item in lieu of paying replacement costs.
• Awarded the HVAC replacement contract to Maxair Mechanical LLC for 15 units at Cumming/Administrative Offices, Sharon Forks, and Hampton Park in the amount of $186,429.
• Awarded the landscape services contract to Visionscapes, Inc. for the period February 1, 2022-January 31, 2023, with the option to renew for two additional years, for the amount of $58,755.
• Approved the sole source purchase of two FLX AMH (automated materials handling) systems for the Post Road Library (estimated $285,000) and future Denmark Library (estimated $300,000) from Bibliotheca. Funding for the Post Road system will come from library fund balance; funding for the Denmark system will come from capital project funds.
• Approved the increase of Forsyth County revenues and Personnel expenses by $159,210 to fund pay increases for employees, approved the increase of Forsyth County revenues and Materials expenses by $37,500 to fund an increase in Materials purchases, and approved the increase of State revenues and Operations expenses by $1,500 to reflect a Sandra Deal Summer Reading Grant.
• Approved FCPL’s Fiscal Year 2023 proposed budget as presented, including revenues of $8,530,031, expenditures of $8,734,075, reserves of $262,000, and $466,044 in budgetary fund balance.
• No action was taken on the 2023 County budget request.  The Board decided to take action at the February 14 meeting.