January / February / March / April / May / June / July / August / September / October / November / December /
Suffolk County Library Association (SCLA) Minutes
Friday, January 19, 2024
Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
In attendance:
Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 10:04am by Anthony Giansante. Seconded by Robert Johnson and Charlotte Buckleman.
Announcements:
Motion to approve the December 2023 meeting minutes by Robert Johnson with no corrections. Seconded by Colleen Navins and Wonda Miller.
Presidents Report: Colleen Navins reported:
The Homelessness in Libraries program on Thursday, February 29th is almost full. The Board agreed to increase the registration from 30 attendees to 50.
Stephan Ingram can give another tutorial on how to create events. This will ensure that the proper procedure is being followed.
Colleen thanked the board members for their ideas about Advocacy Day giveaways. Tote bags will be made that will have some SCLA swag along with snacks that will be given out on the day bus.
There will be a mixer sponsored by SCLA, PLDA, and CLASC on Thursday, March 28th from 6:00-9:00pm at James Joyce in Patchogue.
Motion to approve funds not to exceed $4000. Seconded by Bob Johnson, Vicky Urbelis, Patricia Cruz.
Treasurer’s Report: Wonda Miller reported:
January annual disbursement of $500.00 to divisions.
I’ve had a couple of inquiries recently about refunds from events. I think we should consider developing a Refund policy/or procedure to maintain consistency across divisions, and situations. I’d like to do a little research to see what is done at other organizations and create a draft policy.
NOTE: Decided no refunds unless there is an extenuating circumstance, approved by the Division President, Division treasurer, SCLA President and SCLA Treasurer combined – reflected on a Disbursement form.
Recommend hiring Al Coster of Baldessari and Coster LLP accounting firm for doing our 2023 taxes and providing an end of year financial statement.
Pricing and level options are:
Tax filing form 990-ez $450.00 to $800.00 depending on how much he needs to work in our excel files.
A compiled financial statement would be $900.00 – show an overview of annual financial activity and standing. This is what he does for NCLA.
I’d like to make a motion to hire Al Coster to complete our taxes year, I’d recommend adding the compiled financial statement for this year.
Motion to approve $1500 tax audit/financial statement. Seconded by Bob Johnson and Morgan Tamburro.
Financial Reporting:
December:
SCLA began with a starting balance on December 1st of $100,274.81.
December income was $1449.63 which includes membership dues and event fees, an uptick in membership with the renewals coming out for January.
December expenses were $4622.17, including reimbursements to divisions.
The closing balance for December was $97,417.88.
With a total of $491.52 in pending disbursement checks.
Overview of the year:
Chart below shows total income and expenses, with an annual profit of $20,189.92. Please note that October is the first month that LILC funds were included in the reported bank balance so there is an increase of about $500.00 to the end of the October balance that is not from regular income and expense reporting.
| 2023 Annual Review | |||
| Income | Expense | Closing Balance | |
| January | $6,021.12 | $3,425.52 | $79,323.45 |
| February | $2,738.00 | $304.21 | $81,757.24 |
| March | $1,790.00 | $354.88 | $83,192.36 |
| April | $5,869.00 | $566.21 | $88,495.15 |
| May | $1,728.00 | $3,841.25 | $86,381.90 |
| June | $3,889.00 | $1,706.17 | $88,564.73 |
| July | $984.00 | $63.52 | $89,485.21 |
| August | $326.00 | $6,333.71 | $83,477.50 |
| September | $1,204.00 | $8.66 | $84,672.84 |
| October** | $20,202.10 | $6,443.20 | $98,931.85 |
| November | $2,451.61 | $793.04 | $100,275.42 |
| December | $1,449.63 | $4,622.17 | $97,417.88 |
| Totals | $48,652.46 | $28,462.54 | |
**Shows inclusion of LILC funds
Major income sources: $17,817.00 membership, $14,750.11 LILC, $16,085.35 from other sources (events).
Division Reports-
DASL: Bruce Seger reported: No report.
RASD: Patricia Cruz reported:
Met on January 2nd. January 9th PR and marketing and CATS- managing library website program. January 10th- outreach held a program on human trafficking. LILC program has been approved.
CATS: Robert Johnson reported: Five CATS sponsored programs have been approved for the Long Island Library Conference.
SSD: Katherine Regina reported: No report.
YASD: Ashley Sabatino reported: YASD had their first meeting in early January. They are having a joined Nassau and Suffolk meeting on Friday, February 9th on Zoom. Fran Romer will be on April 11th. More details about Fran Romer will be sent out shortly.
Committee Reports-
Annual Dinner: Michele Cayea reported: No report.
Archives: Bruce Seger reported: No report.
Civil Service: Erin Kanelos reported: No report.
Community Service: Michele McCauley reported: I would like to introduce myself. I am new to the committee and very excited to be a part of a great team. I’ll be partaking in different charity events in the Fall and in the Spring, plus the Toys for Tots. It’s a pleasure to be here and I look forward to working with everyone. If anyone ever has any ideas or thoughts that they would like to share with me on Community Service ideas I would be happy to hear them!
Continuing Education: Vicky Urbelis and Charlotte Buckleman reported: If anyone has a program that offers continuing education, please remember to send the roster to the membership email. Everyone should be keeping track of their individual continuing education.
ELSA: Katherine Regina reported: No report.
Intellectual Freedom: Bruce Seger reported: No report.
LDA Award: Noel Reich reported: The google form and brochure from last year are being updated and the call for nominations will be posted by the end of the month!
Legislative: Samantha Alberts reported:
Registration for the February 7 Advocacy Day bus is going well. We still have some space, so if you are considering going up on the bus that day, please register soon.
Advocacy Day 101 sessions are scheduled on Jan 30 and Feb 1 for all staff attending Advocacy Day please visit the SCLS calendar to register.
Gov. Hochul’s budget book has been released, and it includes an increase in Library Operating Aid to $102.1M, the same level of Construction Aid as last year, and $3M for NOVELNY. This is a great starting point for our advocacy efforts.
Long Island Library Conference: Brian Adams reported: Planning is moving along and attendee registration is open. As of today, 12 out of 68 vendor tables have been sold. There were 34 program entries and 24 were selected.
LILPA: Noel Reich reported: LILPA held its 4th Mock Stonewall Awards on January 11th with 18 participants. Pageboy by Elliot Page, Grandad’s Pride by Harry Woodgate and Dear Mothman by Robin Gow were the winning titles with Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson and The Luis Ortega Survival Guide by Sonora Reyes earning the honors spots. A full book list can be found on our website! The LILPA website has several new additions including a Queer Resources page and the LILPA Virtual Reference Desk. We have also put out the ‘save the date’ for Pride 2024- LILPA will be marching in the Long Island Pride on June 9th from 12-5 at Huntington Village, all are welcome.
Long Range Planning/Marketing: Colleen Navins reported: Colleen is updating the membership brochure and asked Stephen Ingram if information on the website can be updated. Colleen is still working on the mentorship collaboration with PLDA.
Membership: Vicky Urbelis reported. There are 402 active members to date.
Networking: Morgan Tamburro reported. Morgan is working on networking ideas for the Long Island Library Conference. She has an idea for a fall event which involved partnering with PLDA for the first annual kickball tournament. Morgan will reach out to the Town of Brookhaven to see about using a baseball field. She would like for it to be a potential fundraising event.
Nominating: Anthony Giansante reported: If anyone knows someone who is interested in running for a position, please let Anthony know. It’s never too early to begin to generate interest.
Scholarship: Brian Schwartz reported: No report.
Student Outreach: Colleen Navins reported: No report.
Website: Stephen Ingram reported:
Basic website/facebook maintenance and posting of events.
Facebook insights: 1.1k followers
Google Analytics Behavior overview using GA4 reporting
December 1222 page views
Updated SCLA, CATS, RASD, CARE Committee wordpress sites to latest security updates.
Monitor and approve listserv posts
Updated listserv members
Created Wild Apricot Events
Liaisons-
CLASC: Kim Zettwoch reported: No report.
LILRC: Sally Stieglitz reported: I would like to take a moment to highlight LILRC’s member services, in case everyone is not familiar with them. LILRC offers a wide array of services including archival services, digitization services, traveling exhibits, grants for digitization, technology assistance, and innovation projects, repository services, member discounts, Ask A Lawyer and Ask an Archivist, , repository services, and resource sharing. For more information, please visit the LILRC website, and select Membership and then Member Services.
NCLA: Syntychia Kendrick-Samuel reported: 2024 will be a milestone year for NCLA, it is our 90th Anniversary as an Association. It is our hope that our colleagues in Suffolk County will be on hand to celebrate with us as the year progresses. The majority of our Executive Board meetings will be on Zoom. The meeting dates and Registration links can be found on the calendar on our website.
We encourage you all to stop by at our future meetings.
PLDA: Shauna Scholl reported: The mentorship program is underway and we’re hoping to get a good turnout for Advocacy Day.
SCLS: Kevin Verbesey reported: No report.
NYLA: Lisa Kropp reported: No report.
Old Business: None.
New Business: None.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:17am by Anthony Giansante. Seconded by Robert Johnson, Patricia Cruz, and Morgan Tamburro.