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Home My WebLink About12-01-2021 Library Board Minutes COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY 3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, December 1st, 2021 Approved 1/5/2022 ATTENDANCE INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC Members of the public who wished to attend could do so in-person, by calling 1-312-626-6799 and entering meeting ID 832 1433 7849 and passcode 654514, or by Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83214337849 at the scheduled meeting time. For questions please call the library at 763-706-3690. The meeting was called to order in the Library Community Room by Chair Tricia Conway at 5:32pm. Members physically present: Tricia Conway; Teresa Eisenbise; Carrie Mesrobian; Gerri Moeller; Nick Novitsky (Council Liaison). Members remotely present: N/A. Members Absent: Christopher Polley. Also present: Renee Dougherty (Library Director); Nick Olberding (Recording Secretary). Public physically/remotely present: N/A. 1. The Minutes of the November 3rd, 2021, Board Meeting were moved and unanimously approved. 2. Operating Budget Review: At 91% through the year, 77% of total budget has been expended. a. Bill Lists and Operating Budget were merged into one spreadsheet with the new BS&A Financial Software. b. The Board will no longer get detailed Bill Lists, but at the meetings we are able to explore the budget lines in more detail, and view the accompanying invoices and expenditures. c. Past Bill Lists were always a summary of past expenses, not future purchases. As an advisory body, the Library Board is not required to approve expenditures. Community Forum: An opportunity for community input. No Public in Attendance at this meeting. Old Business: 3. Staffing Update: Youth Services Librarian & Library Supervisor: The position of Youth Services Librarian received 35 applications; 8 were interviewed; 2 will be offered a second interview, and we hope to have someone in place by January. The part-time Library Supervisor position garnered 7 applications; the hope is to hold interviews with all applicants who are still interested later this month. New Business: 4. Thank You Card from Brianna Belanger: The Board received a card from previous Youth Services Librarian thanking them for their service, and for always supporting her programs and initiatives. 5. Proposed Revision to Public Service Policy: No substantial changes; updated to be more in-line with current practice. A paragraph regarding temporary residences was removed; so was a paragraph about account look-ups. A motion was made to approve the revised Public Service Policy; it was moved and approved unanimously. 6. Proposed Revision to Unattended Children Policy: The Director made updates to some of the language, but the underlying policy did not change much. The Board was kind of surprised by the need for such policy, and agreed that it is difficult to gauge at what age a child needs to be in order to be unaccompanied in the library. Children mature at different rates, and some are more well-behaved than others; this policy is mainly concerned with behavior (if a child appears too young to be unsupervised, but is quietly reading/studying, there isn’t actually an issue). Staff will generally be more understanding and lenient with youth, and give more warnings for behavior than is stated in the policy, but it is important to have it as a guideline. The policy determines staff behavior if an unaccompanied child is still in the library at closing time. A motion was made to approve the revised Unattended Children Policy; it was moved and approved unanimously. 7. Rescind the Telephone Look-Up Policy: Recommend rescinding this policy as it is an outline of procedure. The policy is covered in the Data Privacy of Library Records Policy revised in 2020. A motion was made to rescind the Telephone Look-Up Policy; it was moved and approved unanimously. 8. Proposed Revision of Request for Reconsideration: The Board was thankful to be updating this request form due to challenges occurring across the country in school libraries. On reconsideration request has been received in the last ten years but the policy should be reviewed for currency. The revision of the Reconsideration Form was Tabled till the next meeting, but these are some issues discussed: a. It is up to the Director to review these forms, and the Board made said they are more comfortable with the Library Director handling these situations, rather than the Board being the deciding body. They do not need to be involved in the decision, but should be informed of them. b. The Board felt like there might be a need for an accompanying policy to go with this form (although the Collection Development policy somewhat applies here), or at least more information included on the form regarding the process of these requests and what to expect after submission. c. The Library should respond to all such requests, regardless of outcome. d. The questions on Page 2 should be REQUIRED. e. Only residents of Columbia Heights should be able to submit Reconsideration Request Forms 9. CHPL Public Arts Sub-Committee: This was added to the Agenda because the Board expressed interest in discussing it at the November meeting. Most of the current Board Members were not involved in the formation of the Sub-Committee, and are not knowledgeable on the progress of the group, which has been dormant since 2018. More information will be compiled and the Art Sub-committee will be explored more at a future meeting. They haven’t forgotten that a couple members of the CHPL Foundation expressed interest in joining the group, and they will be updated them when the Board makes a determination about the future of the sub-committee. From the Floor: • City Council on Overdue Fines: The Board’s recommendation to eliminate overdue fines will be discussed at the January 2022 Council Work Session. • Fee Schedule 2022: Unique Management (Collection Agency) has increased the cost per referral from $8.95 to $11.65, so the Director asked for approval to increase the fee charged back to patrons sent to collections from $10 to $12. The Board felt this was fair, as it is just to cover the cost; a motion to approve the Collections Referral Fee from $10 to $12 was made; it was moved and unanimously approved. • If Board Members are interested in suggesting Agenda items for future meetings, or submit research they’ve done for a meeting, send Renee Dougherty (rdougherty@columbiaheightsmn.gov) an e-mail and CC: Nick Olberding (nolberding@columbiaheightsmn.gov) ahead of the meeting date. • In order to find more direction for the Board over the next few years, at the next meeting Board Chair Conway would like the group to revisit strategic planning data from several years ago (those meetings were nearly 3 years ago, so it will be right on schedule with what the group had laid out). The Board, if possible, would like to know what goals the City and School District have as well; maybe there are ways to work together to more successfully attain some of these shared goals; Council Liaison Novitsky mentioned that budget planning documents submitted by each department include information on these types of goals and initiatives. Also, the City is still working on putting out the Community Survey which should provide some insight on what residents see as priorities. There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made at 6:37 pm, and moved. Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Nicholas P. Olberding Recording Secretary, CHPL Board of Trustees