LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING, December 2, 2003

Present:            Commissioners Jerold Duquette, Grisel Gonzalez, Jennifer Dugan Murphy, Helen Boyle, Patrick Markey, Bettye Webb

Staff Lee Fogerty, assistant library director; Emily Bader, library director; Carol Leaders, clerk

Citizens 17 citizens from 6 library branches

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Patrick Markey.  The minutes were approved.  It was announced that Commissioner Dugan Murphy has resigned due to her election to the School Committee.

The next meeting of the library commission will be on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 at 5:30 in the community room of the central library.

Ginna Ondricek reported on the first meeting of the Forest Park branch library advisory committee which met on Monday, December 1.  Ten or twelve people attended the meeting which was chaired by Jeanne Kaiser.  Branch manager Reggie Wilson presented his annual goals which included a Russian language reading group and purchase of new books.  Building a ramp into the building was cited as the group’s number one goal.  The need for better lighting on the front steps was also cited.  The Forest Park branch library advisory committee wants to cooperate with the commission and the library director on this and other projects and is especially eager to add more volunteers to those now helping out at the branch.  New volunteer projects would include sprucing up the basement community room.  The group’s next meeting is set for January 5, the first Monday in the month.  Chairman Markey asked that the library director see that the meeting is posted on the library website in case others want to attend, and he urged other branches to form similar advisory committees.

Chairman Markey reported on the outcome of a meeting with SLMA president Joe Carvalho and association attorney David Shrair on the issue of handicap parking and the closed and locked gates at the quadrangle.  The SLMA position is that there will be no handicapped parking in the lot between the Science Museum and the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum and, similarly, the bollards behind the central library will not be removed to provide handicap parking there.  Neither will the any of the locked gates be opened.

Chairman Markey also reported on discussions with the state and the city law department relative to the closed and locked gates to the Quadrangle.  Kathy Breck of the city law department said that in 1995, the SLMA received a $400,000 Heritage Park grant on condition that they allow the people of Springfield access to the Quad for 20 years.  Last year, citing vandalism, they sought and received permission from the state to fence the Quad and limit public access to the hours between 7am and 8pm.  At present, all gates remain closed and locked, except for the one from the Edwards Street parking lot which is open during the day.  Although permission was to have been obtained from the state before the gates were permanently closed, only recently did attorney Shrair make such a request.  After talking with the state, it was Mr. Markey’s understanding that permission to close of the Quad has been denied.

The commission reviewed its draft bylaws section by section.  The newly revised draft will be posted on the library department website (www.springfieldlibrary.org) within the next few days.

Chairman Markey summarized a letter from the Urban League asking that the library department provide a substantial amount of maintenance services in lieu of the $12,000 annual rent  previously requested.  The commission voted unanimously to turn down the request and to ask the Urban League to make another offer.

Chairman Markey described the sequence of events which led to last night’s referral to the city auditor a request to the city council from the SLMA for home rule legislation exempting the agreement between the city and the Association from public procurement laws limiting municipal contracts to three years and extending the city’s lease for the central library and some of the branches to 25 years and also exempting library employees from civil service status.  Mr. Markey said he learned the matter would come before city council the very day of the meeting.

Commissioner Dugan Murphy described a request from the Department of Elder Services for paid volunteer slots for senior volunteers whose paid library experience would be in preparation for unsubsidized employment in the library system or elsewhere.  A meeting will be scheduled between representatives of that department, library director Bader and the newly hired volunteer coordinator.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 with several agenda items carried over until the next meeting.

After the public meeting, the commission held a brief closed meeting to discuss a personnel matter.