District Library Board meets in new library with safety precautions

The Belleville Area District Library Board met in person at the new library on Nov. 10, the first time it has been able to do this since the March 10 meeting, after which COVID-19 shut down public meetings.
The full board met Nov. 10 in the library’s first-floor, large Cozadd meeting room. Each sat at a separate table six feet apart and each wore a face mask. Although there was space for the public, there were no members of the audience.
The 54-minute meeting was recorded and is available on YouTube.
Library Director Mary Jo Suchy told the board she really likes the new parking lot that has been topcoated and striped.
“I never thought I’d fall in love with a parking lot,” she said. Fourth Street in front of the library is still under construction, but the parking lot is available from Charles Street and the alley, she said.
Suchy said the contractor who will be doing the snow removal came by earlier that day to check out the parking lot.
Board member John Juriga said the city will be clearing the alley.
Board member Joy Cichewicz, chairperson of the building committee, said, “We’re getting towards the end of this,” referring to all the zeros on the paperwork from the builders.
She said they are getting a quote on a special ventilation system that is important to keeping COVID-19 at bay.
Suchy said she would like to do something special for the project’s site superintendent Dean Kokkales of O’Neal Construction.
“He has become part of our library family and will be greatly missed,” Suchy said. “He has assured me that he will always be available for questions well into the future.”
Juriga agreed that Kokkales was like a member of the staff.
Board member Mary Jane Dawson said he is very patient and, “never rolls his eyes when we ask him a question.”
Suchy said they are continuing to work with architect Dan Whisler and Jennifer Michalski on the remaining donor signage, library display products, window treatments and other items. She said the AV installer was at the library two weeks earlier to refamiliarize himself with the library system and onsite training for staff is coming.
She said the staff informally learned how to use many facets of the system, but look forward to fully utilizing it.
In other business at the Nov. 10 meeting, the board:
• Heard board chairperson Sharon Peters congratulate the incumbent board members for being reelected in the Nov. 3 general election. “Our team stays together,” she said and board members applauded;
• Heard Juriga say he got permission to go up on the roof earlier that day before the weather turned and Suchy and Hilary Savage went with him. He said they laid out exactly where the bee hives were going to go;
• Approved the MERS (Municipal Employees’ Retirement System) Defined Contribution Addendum for retirement for full-time positions based upon their gross wages, effective Jan. 1;
• Discussed a dedication plaque that would list the architect, construction manager, and builder, plus listing the library director and members of the board in 2020. Juriga, who is on the building committee, wanted the building committee listed as well, since they put so many hours into the project. Mary Jane Dawson, also a part of the building committee, suggested instead having asterisks, the size of a 2 or 3-carat diamond, next to the names of the board members who were on the building committee;
• Heard Peters say the board intends to wait for the grand opening of the building until we won’t have to wear masks and stay six-feet apart. She suggested this was a good time to look at the changing of the library logo and Suchy said their graphic designer has been working on that. The logo will be presented to the marketing committee, made up of Alma Hughes-Grubbs and Dawson;
• Heard Suchy say the use of the Sumpter Township Media Center is pretty light and they’ve got to get the word out that it is open. She said they can have six people there at once; and
• Heard Peters say the numbers on the use of the new library are looking good, but the recent COVID numbers are not good. She said she hopes the board will be able to meet in person for its last meeting of the year on Dec. 8.