Library Board evaluates Director Suchy, gives her 2.5% raise in pay

Last year when the Belleville Area District Library Board wanted to give the library director a raise, she used the money to help pay for other expenses in the library.
This year, the board’s personnel committee recommended a 2.5% raise for Director Mary Jo Suchy and told her she had to take it. Before the raise, her pay was $77,251.
It is estimated the population covered by the district library is 42,361.
Personnel committee chairwoman LaChelle Reed Caver said she told Director Suchy that she can’t refuse this raise or they’ll give her more days off.
Board chairwoman Sharon Peters said Suchy works 24/7 and when she takes days off, she ends up working.
Although she could have asked for her evaluation in closed-door session, Director Suchy allowed her evaluation in open session.
All the board members had turned in evaluation forms and all the comments were between “outstanding” and “above average.”
She was found “outstanding” in 16 areas and “unsatisfactory” in one.
In other business at the one-hour-and-24-minute meeting the board:
• Approved the job description for a Technology Manager who, once hired, would eventually supervise the satellite location in Sumpter. Salary range is $47,000 to $62,000. Board chairperson Peters said the libraries are not obsolete, as some say. They are getting more sophisticated than ever before. Caver said the new technology manager will take some of the responsibilities off Suchy. Peters said they’ve got to start staffing up for the new library;
• Heard Director Suchy note that the district library is paying the library millage as it pays Belleville’s winter taxes on the house next door that it owns. The house will be razed by the end of the year to make way for the library/city parking lot;
• Heard Peters say there is an updated floorplan for the Sumpter Township site based on measurements. She said they have given the proposed legal agreement on the building to Sumpter and are waiting for their township attorney and board to respond. Also they hopefully are moving toward getting all the legal details done with the City of Belleville;
• Approved amendments to two of the policies approved at the last meeting: Permanent Art Acquisition and Art Display Policy and the Temporary Art Exhibits and Displays Policy. The art committee met the night after the policies were approved by the board and made some suggestions in the language. The third policy was not amended;
• Listened to reports from Treasurer Tanya Stoudemire on finances and the audit draft budgetary comparison schedule of the general fund — both favorable reports. Suchy said the complete audit will be ready for the next meeting on Jan. 9;
• Heard Peters report on the Art Committee for the new library. She said the Friends of the Library appointed Donna Gilkey Lavin as its voting member on the Art Committee. The Belleville Area Council for the Arts has appointed Barbara Miller as its voting member. The library board will have two voting members and three board members — Mary Jane Dawson, Alma Hughes Grubbs, and John Juriga — are interested in the two posts. Peters said she will make the appointment at the Jan. 9 meeting of the board. She said this board will select two artists for the Art Committee and John Douglas Peters is expected to be one;
• Heard Juriga say he would like to see stuff recycled from the present library building when it is being demolished, rather than taking everything to the landfill. “The beams are wonderful,” Juriga said. He was told they would have to get with the construction manager on recycling, which is difficult when demolishing a building. “They don’t like to do it,” Juriga said;
• Heard Suchy announce that the groundbreaking for the new library building has been set for 11 a.m., Saturday, April 14, and she’d like to have a brunch for those who attend. Many people who helped to get the library approved will be invited to attend; and
• Heard Peters pointed out the new sign that has been put up on the new library site to engage the community.