July 13, 2020
Library Board Meeting
A regular meeting of the Lone Cone Library District Board was held on July 13, 2020, at 6:00 p.m., in a Zoom meeting. Said meeting was posted with the link and password in accordance with the Sunshine Law.
PRESENT: Lucinda Carr, Carrie Andrew, Emily Haight, Brandi Platt, Cady Metzger, Rheanna Xavier
GUESTS: Kristen Parrino, Patti Jo Royer, Rhonda Oliver
CALL TO ORDER
President Lucinda Carr called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
A motion was made by Emily Haight, seconded by Cady Metzger, to approve the agenda as presented.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Library Board considered the minutes of the June 8, 2020, regular Library Board meeting for approval.
A motion was made by Cady Metzger, seconded by Emily Haight, to approve the minutes from the June 8, 2020, regular Library Board meeting as presented. All voted yes. Motion passed.
CALL FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
Patti Jo Royer asked for President Lucinda Carr’s mailing address. Lucinda said that any mail for the board members should be sent to the library to be forwarded from there. There was no other public comment.
MONTHLY BUDGET REVIEWS
Library Director Carrie Andrew reported that next month, the Telluride Foundation grant for the lunch program will be visible for review.
It was reported that the majority of the books purchased went towards the State Grant.
It was reported that our other lease payment comes in September.
President Lucinda Carr had questions about the insurance and would also like to see the COVID-19 expenses listed separately. Library Director Carrie Andrew addressed this and said that she had budgeted, but she didn’t estimate enough and the rates had also gone up.
Patti Jo Royer wanted to remind us that the outside lights have been left on almost all night. She was informed that the new maintenance person does work later at night, but we would remind them to make sure to shut lights off. Everyone present was also informed that there is a sweep that goes through at midnight to ensure all lights are shut off.
MONTHLY REPORTS Q&A
Library Director Carrie Andrew reported that our lunch program was based off of what the school lunches were during the closure at the end of the year. They were averaging around 20 lunches per day. The grant for the lunch program was written for 20 per day with the condition that we could ask for more if the need was greater. If the program goes well, there is potential for the program to continue on Fridays through the school year. It wasn’t limited based on need, but it was offered to all kids. We were told that we could work with All Points Transit to deliver if there was a need for it. Board Member Rheanna Xavier asked about what they do for food on Saturdays and Sundays with there being such a large number in the community on free and/or reduced lunches. The rest of the group present weren’t sure about anything other than the food bank being offered. Carrie reported if the need is that great and we have the capacity and staff to do so, we could possibly do something for Saturdays and Sundays.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Library Director Carrie Andrew reported that we are still working on the plants and landscaping and are hopeful the dead ones will be replaced next week. Board President Lucinda Carr inquired about how the watering went. It went really well, there were a couple of issues with valves coming off and there was some flooding. It was all taken care of. At this point, some of the weeds need to be trimmed. Our maintenance person has been working on the amphitheater area and it is starting to look really nice.
It was reported that we are still looking for new staff. Our Library Programmer gave her resignation yesterday, so we will be advertising for that position. We have had someone apply for the circulation position that has a great background and is multilingual. The Voices of Norwood Program hasn’t started and it will be readdressed in the future, but a great deal of time has been spent on personnel matters in the last month.
It was reported that during the meeting with the Health Director last week, they had procedures for us to reopen. The date we are aiming for to open is July 20th. The community calendar is almost ready to launch. We are hoping to get a kiosk (separate computer) for patrons to be able to sign up for SWAP, WIC and other similar programs. Board President Lucinda Carr was curious about the public and weekly meeting that Carrie has been attending and asked how many other directors have been attending and what their feedback is on reopening? Carrie reported that 30-50 directors have been present at each meeting. In the last survey, around 48 libraries were open for physical, in person usage. Some were mandated to wear masks and some were optional. Nederland never closed its doors as they were deemed an essential service. Some have been open for a few weeks. No one from our neighboring libraries have been present, but Montrose opened their doors back up on June 20th. Some libraries weren’t doing curbside services, but now are, some still aren’t offering it. It has been varied across all of the libraries. Through the use of Slack, an ongoing communication channel for staff, different procedures and policies have been created for COVID. There is an employee screening that will need to be filled out by staff before their shift and before they come into the building. With the decrease in staff, the study rooms will not reopen at this time. The first week of opening there will be a staff greeter by the entrance to ensure mask usage and hand sanitization. Computer usage will be 45 minutes per session, 11-12p.m. will be for the most vulnerable patrons. If anyone can acquire Lysol spray, please get it and the library will reimburse you. We will still be offering curbside service for patrons that feel uncomfortable coming into the building. A new person was hired for the Friday shift, he started last week and we will be able to add him more regularly after October. We can look at doing more virtual programs to engage the community more.
A motion was made by Emily Haight, seconded by Rheanna Xavier, to have the staff go back to hourly pay with the condition that if we are forced to go back into closure, the staff will go back to pandemic pay. All voted yes. Motion passed.
EXECUTIVE SESSION PER §24-6-402(4)(F) C.R.S, CIRCULATION ASSISTANT
There was no need for the executive session.
BOARD MEMBER REPORTS
The new board members received a lot of information to look over. As we move forward, the State Library is going to do some virtual trustee training. The CalCon conference will be virtual this year and is in September. We will be able to watch them live and can also view afterward. Library Director Carrie Andrew will be presenting this year about Capital Projects. All of the staff will have some access to the conference this year.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
OPEN BOARD SEATS: Our guest, Kristen Parrino, has expressed interest in joining the Library Board. Kristen is on the Prime Time Board and has been in early childhood education for about 18 years. She runs the preschool in Naturita and has helped with their Summer Reading Program for the last six years. She has been helping Jessica Johnson with the program in Norwood and is hoping to get more kids involved and would like to bring her early childhood experience to the board. Library Director Carrie Andrew informed Kristen that the library does have a conflict of interest form that she would need to fill out before being assigned to the board for transparency, stating that if she continues helping the library during the summer, it is known that this was a pre-existing partnership before her interest in joining the board. Kristen understands and would still love to be on the board and be able to provide input and expertise from her side. Carrie informed Kristen that she needs to email a letter of interest, with Lucinda and/or Carrie CC’d, to the Board of County Commissioners.
NEW BUSINESS
EXPLAIN BOARD MEMBER EMERGENCY CONTACT LIST: The Board members are listed on our website, but there is not contact information. The Board is in agreement of creating an email called boardchair@loneconelibrary.org that will forward to the Board President and they can then reach out to the rest of the Board. The Board was also informed that their information is accessible to the staff in the event of an emergency and Carrie is unavailable, they would need to be contacted. It does go down the list in order of hierarchy.
It was reported that President Lucinda Carr’s term is officially over, but she re-upped. When November comes, we will need to have elections as Lucinda will no longer be President and the others need to take that into consideration. Lucinda is willing to stay on to help with overlap and succession planning.
It was reported that the staff have all been working really hard to come to the realization that we are actually in the new building and there is a lot more to consider now, it is more than just books, there are personnel and HR matters that arise. The first six months was spent developing new policies and procedures and changes in staff. There is still a lot of unknown and all of the policies and procedures are still having to be revised.
A motion was made by Emily Haight, seconded by Rheanna Xavier, to skip the August meeting unless it is necessary. All voted yes. Motion passed.
It was reported that the first draft of the 2021 budget will be presented at the September Board Meeting.
DE-GALLAGHERISING: Everyone had a chance to look at the documents Library Director Carrie Andrew sent out about the Gallagher Amendment. The Board was in agreement to help educate the public about the Gallagher Amendment and encourage them to read up on it better understand the issue.
A motion was made by Cady Metzger, seconded by Emily Haight, to table the Gallagher Repeal Work until 2021. All voted yes. Motion passed.
MOTION TO ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 8:06 p.m.