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And with that, the Detroit Library Commission meeting is adjourned at 4:20pm.

The approval of the Routine Finance Report is approved.

The motion to approve the DPL FY2027 – FY2030 proposed budget was approved.

To clarify, the Representative from the DPL is the Chief Financial Officer, Antonio Brown.

The board is discussing the approval of the DPL FY2027 – FY2030 with a representative from the DPL.

Under the Committee on Finance, action item 5 is approved – the approval to allocate $250,000 to support the creation and support for a national search for the position of DPL Executive Director. There is some clarification that this is in preparation for a future time when a new director is needed.

Action items 1, 2, 3, and 4 all failed. There was some discussion and uncertainty within the board regarding which committees these items should be referred to. Commissioner Hicks expressed some frustration, suggesting that it is unclear how to effectively put ideas forward within the board.

The commission is now discussing action item 3 under the committee on finance: to "allocate 1.5 FTE’s (Full-Time Equivalent) to act as direct administrative support to the Board. Said positions should be a direct report to the Board." (from the agenda)

This first action item fails. As does the second, which seeks to allocate $200,000 for internal/staff legal counsel to advise the administration and Board in matters related to the Library.

…Furthermore he suggests that the dollar amount may be different, but he wants the idea to be put forward to the library.

A few of the commissioners suggest that the need for this should be assessed. Commissioner Hicks suggests that when these services are gone, it can be hard to quantify the need, and furthermore that the service ended because of Detroit's "period of austerity", as opposed to a lack of needing it.

The first action item – the approval to redevelop DPL’s municipal reference library with the $200,000 allocation per year for five years and then reassess the relative need for the above service including tract utilization/request for service – is being discussed.

The Committee on Finance is now presenting five different suggestions for inclusion in DPL's FY2027 proposed budget. They are listed in the agenda under line item XIII. Here is the link to the agenda again: detroitpubliclibrary.org/news/decembe...

…He suggests to the commission that it may be prudent to think of other repairs to make to the Knapp branch while it is necessarily closed for emergency.

The DPL rep presents that the Knapp branch's HVAC coil system is broken is a way where is cuts in and out (making it hard, obviously, to sustain service), and that a necessary closure to acquire parts and make repairs is necessary. …

… e.g. to streamline the acquisition of parts, and to consider acquiring new parts, rather than after-market parts that are acquired related to funding and the nature of emergency breaks requiring urgency).

Furthermore, there is agreement that a separate facilities plan may be necessary for the libraries to better organize their maintenance system …

The presenter from the DPL is responding to some concern from the commission regrading communication between the smaller branches and facilities (i.e. when a library needs building repairs, how can we ensure that maintenance is happening after that so that emergencies don't happen again).

A presentation is being shared regarding a facilities enhancement proposal (line item XI in the agenda).

Conference Technologies INC, out of Troy, MI, has been approved for a contract to upgrade the audio-visual system in the Main Library's auditorium.

Both of these policies under the Committee on Books and Literacy are approved.

There is some discussion regarding simplifying the language of the borrowing policy.

Per line item X on the agenda, the Library Lending Policy and Revised Library Borrowing Policy are being discussed. Again, the commission is referring to a separate packet that is not available to the public here.

The closed session is over and the meeting has been called back into session at 2:51pm.

The commission has now entered into a closed session starting at 2:20pm.

I'm not sure what the virtual/remote experience of this meeting is like, but I notice half the microphones are off and commissioners aren't necessarily speaking into the microphones.

Related to this, commissioner Bounds inquires about the recent temporary closers of some branches – to which the answer from the Director is that it has to do with HVAC systems and the old infrastructures being impacted by the cold. (So I guess even the warming shelters need a warming shelter!)