By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Wood County Library Board of Trustees raised the pay of the library director and fiscal officer.
The board on Monday also gave a $3,000 bonus to Assistant Director Michele Raine to acknowledge her job filling in for Director Michael Penrod while he was away on 12 weeks of family leave.
The trustees gave Penrod a 3.25 percent increase, bringing his salary to $91,753.
Linda Joseph, the fiscal officer, saw her hourly rate go up to $30 an hour from $29.05. Joseph works 22 hours a week.
Trustee Ellen Dalton said she’s “always amazed” by what Joseph can get done in that time. Joseph has held the position for 26 years.
Trustee Ken Frisch said that Joseph handles several different revenue streams coming into the library’s coffers. “When you have funding from a mixture of different sources with restrictions that apply to all those things, it’s absolutely critical that they’re all accounted for.”
Brian Paskvan, president of the board, praised Penrod for putting together a team that helped the library, “a community jewel,” run smoothly. “We appreciate what you do each and every day.”
The trustees praised Raine’s’s ability to step in during the busy fall season and fill in while Penrod was off.
Raine said that she could reach out to Penrod and Paskvan and needed, and had the support of the staff. “It’s a well-oiled machine.”
Overall, the trustees approved $40,000 for staff raises, which includes Penrod’s and Joseph’s pay hikes. The remainder will be used for raises for the library’s 40 employees.
The board also approved a temporary budget resolution for 2020. Penrod said the permanent appropriations will be presented to the trustees on March. The budget is just over $3.1 million.
The largest sources of revenue are about $1 million from the library’s levy, which will be on the ballot in year from now, and $1.5 million from the state’s Public Library Fund. The library also benefits from $180,000 raised by the Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library.
Those gifts, particularly the $140,000 raised at the foundation’s summer fundraiser, now called Novel Night, help boost the library’s materials budget.
The budget calls for spending $502,000 on materials That’s 16.4 percent of its total budget. The national average is 11.5 percent. But that, Penrod said, is not good enough.
The library spends $210,000 on print books and $168,000 on ebooks and digital content.
Print books, Penrod said, still have an important place in the collection. That’s especially true as publishers are limiting the number of ebook licenses.
The library can lease large numbers of print books of best sellers to meet the peak demand.
The balance of the materials budget goes for audio visual material, databases, software, and periodicals.
The trustees also renewed the library’s health insurance plan with Paramount. The cost will be 4.3 percent more than last year.
Penrod said that he and Joseph sought quotes from other companies and those ranged from 55 percent to almost 150 percent more than the current plan, and often for less coverage.
The library picks up 80 percent of employees’ health care. Employees will pay the same as last year.
Penrod also clarified how much the library will get in pipeline revenue this year. It will receive about $20,000 after all the fees are deducted.
Penrod said he will treat this as he does certain other endowments. It will be put in a bank account, and he will with to see how it grows, until a suitable need arises.
Paskvan said that this is the wise approach. Given the uncertainty of how much pipeline revenue will come in the future, it should not be used for the operating budget.
Penrod also reported that a $287,000 project to install a new chiller and condenser, replacing decades old equipment, is almost complete. The new equipment was put into the building Nov. 11, and Core Mechanical workers have worked weekends to install the equipment, Penrod said. Smith-Boughan will now take a week to program the new system.
The chiller dates back to 1974, and Smith-Boughan said it could no longer get parts for it.
A crane was back on the scene Monday morning removing old equipment that could not be carried out.
Also, at the meeting, Brian Paskvan was re-elected president of the board and Becky Bhaer was re-elected as vice president. Chet Marcin was elected secretary.
Penrod also announced that because of a new state law that greatly increases the cost and demands on those serving as notaries, the library will no longer provide the service.
