Warsaw Community Public Library Board of Trustees Monday afternoon adopted the library’s 2016 budget and 2016-2020 strategic plan and approved several maintenance bids.
There are two funds in the library’s budget, the general and the rainy day. The rainy day fund for 2016 is $269,000, with the general fund at $3,133,000, according to WCPL Business Manager Renee Sweeny.
Library Director Ann Zydek reviewed the strategic plan with the board. The plan states the three main things the library offers are access, resources and spaces.
After a 15-minute review of the plan, board member Catherine Cindrich told Zydek, “I think you did a great job,” and she made a motion to pass it, which was approved.
Zydek stated that she wasn’t the only one who worked on it as the library’s department heads also provided input.
The technology committee is also starting to work on the technology plan for 2016-18, Assistant Director Joni Brookins reported.
She also said the library had an analysis of its WiFi done last week in its building. Brookins said the library was “set up for coverage, not density,” but the library was determined to be set up well for its WiFi. Upstairs was “really pretty good” while the downstairs has a few weak points, but only two more access points are needed to improve it.
Facilities Manager Bruce Hively gave the board a report on the building and equipment.
“As you have read, throughout the summer we’ve had continuing issues with the HVAC system. And going back through history with Ann, that’s been a continuing thing ever since the building was built. We think we finally have the compressors under control. The compressors we’ve just replaced. The compressors were covered under warranty, so we didn’t have any output there as far as money,” Hively said.
As that work was being done, it was found that “the control board on the chiller compressor area itself has probably been causing the issues for some time,” he said. A new one will cost $5,000 to $8,000, but that won’t be until next year.
On the boilers, he said they found some minor issues but there really shouldn’t be any major problems with them.
He then presented three new projects, with the board taking action on two of them.
The first project is two new electronic library signs, which a $30,000 Dekko Foundation grant helped pay for, and Hively said they got three bids on that. He suggested they go with the lowest bid of $66,880 from Graycraft Signs Plus of Warsaw. The other two bids were $69,200 and $71,900. The board approved the Graycraft bid, with Graycraft expecting the work to be done by Dec. 9, weather permitting.
The second project is for a leak in the cataloging room. Hively said he asked three companies to bid on it, but Robinson Construction didn’t have the time for it and it’s a pretty small project. The two bids he was able to get were for $7,690 from D&C Construction, South Whitley, and $12,339 from DJ Construction, Elkhart.
“I talked with both contractors and made sure they had everything covered, especially D&C since their price was considerably lower. They said they’ve got everything covered. We have worked with them in the past,” Hively reported.
He recommended the lower bid and said D&C’s start date is Nov. 2, with completion in two to three weeks. The board approved awarding the bid to D&C.
The third and final project is for exterior lighting, which Hively said they are still waiting for another bid to come in on. He said it’s been difficult to have contractors bid on that lighting project.
“Last year we started having a lot of problems with the in-ground lighting. It’s been there for 30 years, it’s not waterproof anymore. Water gets in there and starts blowing out the ballast and deteriorating the wiring,” Hively explained.
To address the issue, he said the library has been working with SRKM Architecture to come up with a plan to address all the library’s building, in-ground and parking lighting. SRKM put a bid package together for the library, but only received one bid so far. They’re waiting on one more to come in, and Hively requested they get a third.
“We had sent out four requests for bids. One of the contractors we used stated it was too big for them. There was some underground boring required out in the parking lot that they weren’t comfortable in doing so they backed out on it,” Hively said.
Until all three bids come in, he said he had nothing else for the board on that.
Zydek said they are also asking for alternative bids on the project as well.
In one last piece of business, Zydek said the library would have an organizational meeting following the regular meeting to see if there was interest from the community in forming a Friends of the Library organization.
The library last had a Friends group about 20 years ago and the organization helped WCPL with its building project at that time. The mission of a new Friends group could include fundraising, library promotion and marketing, advocacy or creation of a strong library volunteer force, among other things.
(Story By The Times Union)
