Crisfield Library
100 Collins St.
410-968-0955
Open today
9 am - 4:45 pm
Ewell Library
4005 Smith Island Rd.
410-425-2181
Closed today
Princess Anne Library
11767 Beechwood St.
410-651-0852
Open today
9 am - 4:45 pm

BOARD OF SOMERSET COUNTY LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Crisfield Library

Present: Tom Brice, Board President; Ann Smith, Board Vice President; George Milbert, Board Treasurer; Keisha Evans, Board Member; Marlena Turner, Board Member; Heather Hurst, Board Member; Marilyn Cottman, Board Member; Lois Outten, Associate Board Member; Ed Goyda, Library Director; Rose Donoway, Princess Anne Branch Manager; Gabe Stuckey, Crisfield Branch Manager and Jan Gorely, Administrative Assistant. Absent were Jim Riley, Associate Board Member and Linda Riggin, President Somerset County Library Foundation.

Call Meeting to Order

President Brice called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m.

Consent Agenda

Approve minutes from the regular meeting of February 8, 2017

Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2016 – February 28, 2017 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017

President Brice asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Ms. Smith, seconded by Ms. Evans and the Consent Agenda was unanimously approved.

LIBRARYADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT – Ed Goyda

Mr. Goyda reviewed his report with the board. He stated that the County's budget for FY 2018 will be flat and they are keeping our funding flat as well. Health insurance increase costs which were projected to be as high as 15% will be increased by 4.5%.

Mr. Goyda reported that he is doing a Collection Study in both Princess Anne and Crisfield to find out where the collection needs improvement.

In partnership with the Crisfield Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Goyda and Jesse Drewer will be meeting with Linda Thompkins-Baldwin from the State Library Resource Center to discuss adding a collection of Crab Derby program brochures to Digital Maryland. The Crab Derby will be celebrating its 70th anniversary this summer.

Mr. Goyda reminded the Board that all staff will be going to the Maryland Library Association conference on Thursday, May 11th in Cambridge. The libraries will be closed that day.

Polaris, the new circulation system, is still on track. Training will begin in June and July for staff and the new system will go live to the public in August. This system will create a consortium among eight counties on the shore. We will be seeing an increase in the number of items circulating.

Adam Gidwitz, a visiting children's author, will be at the Crisfield Library on May 24th. The fourth grade classes from Woodson Elementary and Greenwood Elementary will be attending his presentation—about 145 students.

SimpleE is a new app in development by St. Mary's County Library (on behalf of the Department of Library Development and Services (DLDS). This app would allow one-stop access to most library collections. Maryland would be the second jurisdiction in the country, after New York Public Library, to roll out this app.

Concerning the Story Corps project, Eddie Somers, President of Smith Island United, has provided contact information for Jana Kopelentova Rehak from the University of Maryland. Ms. Rehak has spent several years collecting oral histories and digitizing documents about the island. She has applied for a grant and would like to partner with us on this project. Mr. Goyda, Ms. Donoway, and Ms. Cottman will be getting a ride with the Department of Natural Resources next Tuesday to visit Smith Island and talk to the staff there.

President Brice asked for a motion to accept the February/March Director's written report. Motion was made by Ms. Evans, seconded by Mr. Milbert, and it was unanimously accepted.

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Mr. Goyda met with John Redden, the new Director of Public Works for the County. Mr. Redden will have county personnel take care of the trash that is being blown into the retention ponds when they are mowing in Crisfield.

The Princess Anne Children's Room Renovation is scheduled to begin on April 17st. County maintenance staff will move furniture, we will paint the room, and Value Carpet One will be installing carpet at the start of May. We plan to have the room reopened on May 8th.

Crisfield Update

Mr. Goyda has been informed that Becker Morgan is working with their acoustical engineers to devise a solution to the noise issues in the meeting room and children's area.

Cameras were installed in the library on April 5th. Delaware Elevator has installed the key operated buttons for the lift and Anderson Fencing has completed the fencing under the building. CertainTeed Ceilings will be replacing all tiles under a warranty claim from Charles Cavanaugh.

We are still working on finishing up the commissioning of the building and turning it over to the County.

The County has transferred ownership of the Corbin Library to the City of Crisfield.

Branch Highlights

Ms. Donoway reported that the Princess Anne Branch continues to have good attendance at the programs that are being offered at the library such as Play Pals, Senior Moments, Quilters, Stitchers and More, children's programs, book discussion group, and craft programs. Ms. Price, the new Youth Services Manager, facilitated a sewing project with a local Girl Scout troop. There were 16 girls in attendance! WiFi usage continues to grow. The second annual 5K Run to kickt off summer reading programs will be held on June 17th. ESRL technicians have recently installed Windows 10 on all of the patron computers. Since we are the smallest library in the consortium, we are the "test" case for this new version.

Mr. Stuckey reported that the number of visits and circulation at the Crisfield Branch continues to increase compared to the Corbin Library. WiFi usage is still increasing. Mr. Stuckey stated that he continues to go to the nursing home each month. The Judy Center is also offering Play Pals at the Crisfield Library and it is well attended. Learning programs such as the GED classes, instruction on the use of the 3D printer, and computer classes are offered, as well as cooking demonstrations and book discussions. The library will have a table at the Strawberry Festival on May 13 in Marion. Ms. Lewis is working on the booklet for the summer programs. The meeting room is getting a lot of use and we have had to turn people away.

Grant Update

The third quarter report for the capital grant has been submitted to DLDS.

We applied for a $3,000 Innovation Grant from DLDS to purchase educational manipulatives for the Children's Area in Princess Anne.

Governance:

The proposed Trump administration budget cuts the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences which includes the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Last year we received $9,000 from that grant which was used to pay the tuition for JoAnn Price.

Bills have passed in the State Senate and House separating DLDS from the Department of Education. This protects the State Library from funding cuts due to intra-departmental budget shifting and allows the State Librarian, Irene Padilla to speak more freely on behalf of Maryland libraries.

The Director asked the Board's approval to select the firm TGM, LLC as the auditors for this year's audit. Mr. Brice asked for a motion to accept the firm TGM, LLC as the auditors for the

Somerset County Library System for FY 2017. Motion was made by Ms. Smith, seconded by Ms. Turner and the motion was passed unanimously.

Personnel Changes:

Resignation of Florence Chambers, Technical Services Assistant Mr. Brice asked for a motion to accept the resignation of Ms. Chambers. Motion made by Ms. Smith, seconded by Ms. Evans and the resignation was accepted.

Michele Henry promoted to Technical Services Assistant and Terron Corbin promoted to the Library Assistant position.

Mr. Brice asked for a motion to accept the promotions of Ms. Henry and Mr. Corbin. Motion made by Ms. Hurst, seconded by Mr. Brice and the promotions were accepted.

Policy Review Committee

Mr. Goyda reported that the Policy Review Committee met and completed their review of the By-Laws, Employee Handbook, Rules of Conduct and Volunteer/Intern Policy. A summary of the proposed changes follows:

By-Laws

Summary of Policy Changes

  • Clarifies that Associate Trustees do not regularly attend Executive Sessions (2).
  • Brings the rules regarding signatures on checks into line with practice (14).
  • Removes the postal requirement on the President's letter to members regarding non-attendance (20e).

Employee Handbook

  • Removes the welcome page and signature page from the Handbook to a separate Welcome Packet.
  • Updates language in the Equal Opportunity Statement (2.4), Harassment/Sexual Harassment (2.6), Drug Free and Alcohol Free Workplace (2.7), Fair Labor Standards Act (3.1), and Military Leave (6.14) sections.
  • Simplifies Emergency Closings to require notification of Board, staff, and media and use of library voicemail, website, and social media without specifying procedures or specific media (2.9). Incorporates language into Conflict of Interest Policy providing direction regarding conflicts or potential conflicts on the part of the Director or other staff (2.10).
  • Strikes the excerpt from Maryland Regulations regarding staff certification in favor of a reference to the law.
  • Strikes restrictions on using leave during probation (3.3, 6.5).
  • Allows lunch breaks to be used at the start or end of a shift, with prior permission, to deal with an operational issue (3.2).  Requires background checks (3.9).
  • Adds language in Confidentiality distinguishing between a warrant and a subpoena (3.11).

  • Requires direct deposit (5.1).  Changes Tuition Reimbursement policy to Tuition Payment and changes requirement from a passing grade to a 3.0 GPA (6.16).

Rules of Conduct

  • Adds best practices language establishing the intent to enforce in a fair and reasonable manner and endorsing the staff's ability to enforce.
  • Simplifies and adds specificity to the list of prohibited behaviors.
  • Adds language restricting adults without children from children's room and teen area.
  • Modifies rule regarding patrons with "severe illness" to "contagious illness" and moves it from the Safe Child policy to the main Rules of Conduct. In the Safe Child Policy, changes "responsible person (age 16 year or older)" to "reliable person at least 13 years old" to reflect Maryland child neglect law. Incorporates a behavioral management matrix to enable consistent enforcement across branches and shifts.

Volunteer/Intern Policy

  • Incorporates the Foundation into the policy to clarify status on volunteers working at the Foundation's direction.  Requires background checks.  Removes procedural documents, such as the application and the orientation agenda, from the policy.

President Brice thanked Ed, Marilyn and Lois for taking the time to meet, review and make the necessary changes to the policies and presenting them to the Board for approval. He asked for a motion to accept the recommendations of the Policy Review Committee. Motion was made by

Ms. Evans, seconded by Ms. Hurst, and the motion was passed unanimously.

Mr. Goyda also stated that he will be working on a 3D-printer policy in the future as well as Circulation and Collection Policy after the implementation of Polaris.

The meeting adjourned at 4:38 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jan Gorely

Administrative Assistant