Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 11, 2019 4:00pm-6:00pm Crisfield Library
Present: Marlena Turner (Vice President), Lois Outten (Treasurer), Karen Riggin, Father Robert Laws, Marilyn Cottman, Beth Holmes-Mason, Ed Goyda (Director), Jaime Bradshaw (Branch Manager), Kayla Leimbach (Branch Manager), Nora Hoffman (Administrative Assistant).
Absent: Ann Smith (President).
Call Meeting to Order
Vice President Marlena Turner called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of October 9, 2019. Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2019 – October 31, 2019. Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2019 – November 30, 2019.
A motion to approve the Consent Agenda was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Lois Outten and was unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Jaime Bradshaw spoke about the Crisfield Library's annual Harvest party with a total of 208 in attendance. They also had successful fall themed crafts in October & November with 35 in attendance for October's Pumpkin Painting Family Night and 12 adults for their Wooden Mason Jar Craft. Marketing Associate Lorna Crockett hosted a table at the Ward Museum's Quack or Treat event and Ms. Bradshaw attended the first Branch Manager's interest group at ESRL. Staff at the Crisfield branch has received great feedback regarding the winter program booklet and are planning spring programming.
Princess Anne : Kayla Leimbach spoke about the Princess Anne Library's joint Halloween event with the Town of Princess Anne with an estimated 1,000 community members in attendance. The November Crafty Corner group created 20 hand-made Christmas cards to be sent overseas to deployed troops via the United Soldiers and Sailors of America's "Operation Christmas Cards" program. Youth Services Coordinator Rebecca Pratte is continuing the distribution of her Early Literacy Kits & hosted a table at the Judy Center's Community Baby shower. The Library also participated in the town's Christmas Parade & is working on preparations for our First Annual Noon Year's Eve Party.
Library Director7apos;s Report
Mr. Goyda presented his Director's Report for October and November 2019.
Core Services
Computer Upgrades: All desktop computers would be upgraded before Microsoft ends support for Windows 7 on January 14.
Corbin Gallery Collection: The materials for the Arts Collection at Corbin Gallery & Studio had been added to the catalog.
Fine Free Libraries: Worcester went fine-free November 1, Dorchester would join on January 1.
Programs: Our winter booklet had been published and the spring program schedule is set. We were currently pricing options for summer performers.
Community Outreach
Quilt Raffle: The Quilt raffle was won by Linda Cobb of Cedarville, NJ, with a ticket purchased at the Skipjack Festival.
Community Partnership
Health Department: The Health Department would be continuing their diabetes prevention classes at the Princess Anne Library.
Lower Shore Workforce: We were working on a grant from the Lowe Shore Workforce Alliance to provide job seeker assistance on rotating days at the Princess Anne and Crisfield Branches.
Nabb Center: We had hosted the Nabb Center in Princess Anne on October 11 as they digitized patrons' materials on Eastern Shore Baseball.
Oyster Drop: We would be hosting the Crisfield Oyster Drop on New Year's Eve.
PRMC Grant: PRMC would be providing funding for a Health Literacy Collection, initially at the Princess Anne Library. Technical Services Coordinator Michele Henry was assembling a material's list for their review.
Touch-a-Truck: We would be combining Touch-a-Truck with Princess Anne Street Fest on May 2.
Internal Development
HR Audit: Mr. Goyda and Ms. Bradshaw had reviewed the Human Resources Audit from Christine Walters with FiveL. Mr. Goyda detailed that FiveL had recommended numerous small changes to personnel-related documents, such as striking "Relationship" from the Emergency Contact Form because it could compel an employee to reveal information regarding a protected class. He stated that these changes had not been completed yet, but that work was underway, and that, as they were procedural documents, he would not be submitting each document for Board review.
Mr. Goyda noted that Ms. Walters had made several changes and asked pointed questions regarding the Employee Handbook and that he would later present the revised policy as a governance matter.
Temporary Transitional Workers: Mr. Goyda detailed an offer from Transitional Work Solutions to place a Worker's Compensation recipient who was eligible to return to work, but not his position, at a temporary, volunteer assignment at the Library. Mr. Goyda had vetted the company, reviewed documentation regarding such arrangements, and contacted the Labor Law Hotline provided by our insurer, LGIT, to guard against any risks in such an arrangement. Ultimately, the proposed volunteer returned to his position before the temporary assignment began.
Ms. Outten requested more information on the program and discussion continued.
Trustees Manual: Mr. Goyda distributed copies of the revised Maryland Library Trustees Manual and the revised Laws of Maryland Relating to Public Libraries.
Governance
Board Reappointment: Beth Holmes-Mayson was appointed to her first full term by the County Commissioners on October 15.
Retirement System Payments: Mr. Goyda requested a motion to confirm the November 22 online vote to consider the retirement payment to be part of the payroll process and issue it via ACH. Said vote followed revisions to State Law and correspondence from the Retirement System regarding payments via check being received a day after the paydate.
The motion was made by Robert Laws, seconded by Marlena Turner and was unanimously approved.
Employee Handbook Revisions: Mr. Goyda noted that Ms. Walters had made several substantial changes to improve the compliance and clarity of sections such as Equal Employment Opportunity, Americans with Disabilities Act, Harassment/Sexual Harassment, Drug and Alcohol Free Workplace, Parenthood Leave, and Military Leave. She had also made minor language revisions throughout the document. Ms. Walters had direct feedback regarding certain sections of the handbook and asked questions regarding sections that caused Mr. Goyda to rethink the practical effects of policy. Mr. Goyda detailed, as follows, the notable changes in the handbook that will impact operations:
- The inclusion of "hourly employees" as distinct from "part-time employees" caused Ms. Walters to assume that the latter were salaried. The distinction is in fact that "hourly employees" means, simply, "pages" and that they do not receive leave time. Mr. Goyda noted that the page position has advanced to include most of the duties of the assistant, and that it is only an age-based distinction. Mr. Goyda's suggested revisions strike the "hourly employees" section, placing pages on the same pro-rated leave schedule as other part-time employees.
- Ms. Walters noted that the section regarding breaks discusses shifts under 4 hours and 8 or more hours. Two 15-minute breaks have been added for shifts that are more than 4 but less than 8 hours, filling a logistical gap.
- The Moonlighting policy has been struck, given questions from Ms. Walters assuming it's only applicable to full-time employees, historical issues from it in fact being applicable to part-timers, and the fact that a policy regarding moonlighting leading to behavior that requires corrective action is ultimately redundant with our general ability to address such behavior.
- Due to a Department of Labor letter stating that conditional tuition repayment (if the employee leaves service within two years) conflicts with exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the repayment requirement has been struck.
- Per a Maryland Attorney General's opinion, the line requiring direct deposit has been struck.
- At Ms. Outten's suggestion, given leniency regarding cross-branch shifts for part-time employees, the relevant verbs have been changed from "will" to "may."
A motion to approve the changes was made by Lois Outten, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mason and was unanimously approved.
Financial Policies Manual : Mr. Goyda discussed this new manual, which comes out of best practices from the University of Georgia Financial Management Classes and was adapted to local practices. Ms.
Outten had asked Mr. Goyda to note that the manual introduced the concept that the Board should authorize all grant applications.
A motion to approve the manual was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Marilyn Cottman and was unanimously approved.
Financial Procedures Manual : Mr. Goyda discussed this manual that was written to document procedures. It also came out of the University of Georgia classes, but was written for a much larger organization and mixed policy and procedure. Mr. Goyda stated that he had discarded most of the contents and used the outline to document actual practices.
A motion to approve the manual was made by Lois Outten, seconded by Robert Laws and was unanimously approved.
Privacy and Confidentiality Policy : Mr. Goyda noted that this type of policy had been raised on the directors' email list, with the particular concern that libraries do not have much, if any, control over the way third-party services (e.g., Overdrive checkouts being sent through Amazon to patrons' Kindles) protect or do not protect patron privacy. He stated that this document was created to give patrons details of the way that the Library handles their data and to note that third-party services may not be as rigorous.
A motion to accept the policy was made by Beth Holmes-Mason, seconded by Marilyn Cottman and was unanimously approved.
Security Camera Policy: This policy also came from directors' discussion. Maryland code prohibits the public inspection of any record that contains "other identifying particular assigned to the individual" and "identifies the use a patron makes of that library's materials, services or facilities," making all security camera footage with a patron in it confidential. This also lays out the use of camera footage in addressing violations of law or library policy, and prohibits public access to the footage unless a police report has been filed and the request comes via law enforcement.
A motion to accept the policy was made by Marlena Turner, Seconded by Beth Holmes-Mason and was unanimously approved.
Travel Policy: Mr. Goyda stated that this was a companion piece to the financial policies, that significant portions of it repeat mileage-related content from the Employee Handbook, and that the critical part is that it formalizes policies regarding multi-day travel, meals & incidental expenses, based on the State's procedures for its staff, scaled down significantly to our organizational size.
A motion to accept the policy was made by Beth Holmes-Mason, seconded by Marilyn Cottman and was unanimously approved.
A motion to accept the Director's Report was made by Robert Laws, seconded by Karen Riggin and was unanimously approved.
Executive Session
A motion to enter executive session was made by Beth Holmes-Mason, seconded by Lois Outten, and unanimously approved with roll call taken at 4:45 p.m.
The Board discussed the director's performance review.
The Board discussed Fair Labor Standards Act issues raised by Ms. Walters' HR Audit.
The Board discussed the pages' hourly wages that would be less than what the Maryland minimum wage on January 1.
The Board discussed Caitlin Kilby's resignation.
The Board discussed the proposed appointment of Brittany Jackson to Library Assistant at the Princess Anne Library.
A motion to exit executive session was made by Marlena Turner, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved with roll call taken at 4:45 p.m.
A motion to authorize Mr. Goyda to advance part of Ms. Bradshaw and Ms. Henry's July raises to insure that they meet the increased FLSA salary threshold as of January 1 was made by Marlena Turner, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
A motion to authorize Mr. Goyda to increase the pages' hourly wages to meet the Maryland minimum wage as of January 1 was made by Robert Laws, seconded by Marlena Turner, and unanimously approved.
A motion to accept the resignation of Caitlin Kilby was made by Lois Outten, seconded by Beth Holmes- Mayson, and unanimously approved.
A motion to appoint Brittany Jackson to Library Assistant was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Marilyn Cottman, and unanimously approved.
Adjournment
A motion to adjourn was made by Marilyn Cottman, seconded by Marlena Turner, and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 4:54 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Kayla Leimbach
Princess Anne Branch Manager