District Library Board gives 3.5% raise to Director Suchy

Belleville Area District Library Director Mary Jo Suchy was given a 3.5% raise in pay by the library board during its regular meeting on Jan. 14.
Board treasurer Tonya Stoudemire, a member of the personnel committee, said inflation was 2.7% and the committee didn’t want to just keep up, but to give more.
This would be in addition to her 2024 salary of $99,158.
Personnel committee chairwoman Linda Priest said director evaluation forms were distributed in December to all board members for the anonymous evaluations of Suchy.
She read a three-page evaluation, beginning by saying the comments showed Suchy was performing her job at a very high level.
Priest explained the completion on goals for 2024 and plans for her new goals in 2025.
After the evaluation, board members gave their own compliments to Suchy on how she runs the library and interacts with staff and visitors.
“Our director has institutional knowledge and was deputy for a very, very long time before becoming director,” board president Sharon Peters said.
Suchy said she started in 1987, knowing she would be working to get librarian credentials, and she’s been here ever since.
Cichewicz said Suchy “is truly one of the peremier directors in our state” and Priest added, “It’s great to work with her. She doesn’t make you feel stupid when you ask a question.”
Suchy said, “They teach us in library school there’s no such thing as a dumb question.” She added, “I’m in love with this community.”
In other business at the Jan. 14 meeting, the board:
• Heard treasurer Stoudemire present the financial audit for 2023-24 by Alan C. Young and Associates, which she said was a clean audit. The total revenues on June 30, 2024 were $3,409,220 and the total expenditures were $3,135,080. The fund balance on June 30, 2023 was $6,017,000 and the fund balance on June 30, 2024 was $6,291,140;
• Heard Suchy ask the board to make adjustments to two parts of the salary policy, increasing the maximum pay of a director’s position to $99,600 and librarian position to $60,320. Also, a library intern position pay from $17 to a maximum of $18. She said they weren’t hitting the top figures in the policy until this year. The board voted unanimously to make the changes. She said the raises for staff are going to be 3.5%;
• Heard Suchy announce the monthly Memory Café for people having memory difficulties and their caregivers has become very popular. They frequently work on an art project which is placed on temporary display in the library lobby. She said jazz nights resume at the library with The Aston Neighborhood pleasure Club on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. February features Elder Master Storyteller Ivory Williams from the Detroit Association of Black Storytellers on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 6:30 p.m. “Michigan Roots, African American Migration in Michigan” will be presented at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 10, by Rozlyn Kelly;
• Learned the new solo exhibit in the atrium of the library are artworks in several media, all by Danielle Whitehead. The exhibit will be there for three months;
• Heard Peters urge board members to attend the annual meeting of the Friends of the Library at 11 a.m. on Jan. 25. “We would not be where we are without the Friends,” she said. Suchy added that the Friends will be celebrating their 40th year; and
• Learned the new stair treads have been installed, children’s story times resumed after the holiday break and “Game Day! Game Day!” that was such a success during the Belleville High School football season, is being brought back for the basketball season.