Board Meeting Minutes 7/25/2023 (html)
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICTSilver Falls Library Program Room and via Zoom
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Ingrid Donnerstag Christy Davis, Director
Dmitry White Stacy Higby
Nancy Miller
Megan Smith Public Present:
Board Members Absent:
Michelle Sanguinetti
CALL TO ORDER
Vice-Chair Donnerstag called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
Additions under Old Business:
OATH OF OFFICE
Newly elected Board Members Megan Smith and Nancy Miller took the Oath of Office.
ELECTION OF BOARD OFFICERS
Motion: to nominate Dmitry as chair (Ingrid, Megan seconds)
Vote: unanimous
Motion: to nominate Ingrid as vice-chair (Dmitry, Megan seconds)
Vote: unanimous
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion: To approve the June 22, 2023, Board Meeting minutes as corrected
(Motion by: Megan Smith. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
FINANCIAL REPORT, JUNE 2023
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
Question - Are these reports fairly consistent from month to month? Answer - No, our tax revenue comes mostly in November, with additional larger payments in the spring. In addition, publishers put out more books during specific times of the year. Performers and program expenses are higher during Summer Reading. Reference materials are mostly on standing orders, so they come in and are billed randomly throughout the year. Unscheduled income can come from grants, rebates, county timber sales. This is the final financial report of the 2022-2023 fiscal year and revenue is slightly higher than projected and expenses were slightly lower, so that’s good. This was our first year of strictly cash basis accounting.
Check Register
What is the payment to Christy for $35.71? She purchased refreshments for two staff meetings.
Motion: To approve the JUNE 2023 Financial Report as presented, including checks #17370 through and including #17400, and all EFTs, for a total of $100,188.43.
(Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Nancy Miller).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
None.
OLD BUSINESS
1. CCRLS staffing issues
A seasoned courier who used to work for CCRLS has returned, accepting the open courier position. Doug Yancey, CCRLS Director, met with the dean at Chemeketa and figured out how to make the IT position more competitive by making it salaried, etc. There are high hopes that this will draw out some good candidates.
2. Review and approve step and wage structure elements of District personnel policy
3. Parking lot issues – form committee and set first meeting date for prior to August board meeting
Question - Would Stacy be able to provide staffing? Answer – Yes, and Christy will also attend the committee meetings.
Board Chair Dmitry White appointed Michael Milhausen, Jeff Gunter, Ingrid Donnerstag, Megan Smith, and himself to the committee. Christy will send email with 3 times she and Stacy are available to staff committee, during the day.
4. Postal incident follow-up
The Office of the Inspector General for the USPS replied to Christy’s formal complaint, then sent the complaint to the USPS Office of Consumer Affairs. After waiting two weeks, Christy called that office. Susie Wightman, “the person who gets to the bottom of these things” called Christy back the next day. Since the initial complaint, we’ve learned that the postal worker who used profanity and homophobic hate speech to the library employee was not the postmaster, but a floating staffer who works at both Silverton and Mt Angel post offices. Susie asked for personal documentation from the employee involved; and followed up with both the Silverton and Mt Angel postmasters. The postal employee was spoken to about the incident, and the Mt Angel postmaster has apologized. Today, the postal employee was very friendly and professional with the library employee. The library employee was also contacted by Senator Jeff Merkley’s office today.
5. Pacific Office Automation (POA) update
We received the $222 rebate that we should have received when we signed the new contract in 2018.It looks like we will also receive a credit of $265 for the years of overcharging plus maybe another $90 for overcharged taxes. Lindsay Roll from POA has been really helpful and is trying to get our relationship “back to neutral”. We have to give at least 60 days’ notice if we don’t want to renew the lease and have to pay to ship the old copier back anywhere they say. We might be willing to sign with them again with some improvements and the same rates. We’d like to have a coin changer that can be adjusted (for color vs black and white), and a better, faster copier. We will try going out for an RFP at the end of the lease.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Approve and accept Nancy Miller as 3rd check signer for the Local Government Investment Pool and Citizens Bank
Motion: to appoint Nancy Miller as 3rd check signer for the Local Government Investment Pool and Citizens Bank.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: unanimously in favor.
2. Review of District’s Financial Status and History
The Board received documents showing the financial history of the library, including the years since the Inez Green bequest and the years since Marion County computerized their records. Questions about the bequest come up during every budget committee meeting. The bequest was unrestricted and went into the general fund. It has been spent and replenished many times over and allows the Library to ride out the months between the end of the fiscal year in June and November, when the tax revenue comes in, without having to take out loans. Personnel expenses have been steadily increasing, but it’s manageable. Starting in 2013, the estimated tax revenue growth has been pretty much guaranteed to be at least 3% but County settlements and new properties cause it to increase.
3. Staff Organizational Chart (and staff photos!)
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA OPEN TO PUBLIC, BOARD & STAFF PARTICIPATION
AGENDA SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS
1. Bi-Annual review of current Strategic Plan
2. Report from first Parking Lot Committee meeting
3. Update one item on Board Orientation policy section
4. Update from Earthworks solar – Christy will send info to Board
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 8:04 p.m.
(Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Nancy Miller).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
__________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.
Approved: _________________________(date)
_______________________________________
Dmitry White
Chair, Library Board of Directors
Silver Falls Library District
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICTSilver Falls Library Program Room and via Zoom
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Ingrid Donnerstag Christy Davis, Director
Dmitry White Stacy Higby
Nancy Miller
Megan Smith Public Present:
Board Members Absent:
Michelle Sanguinetti
CALL TO ORDER
Vice-Chair Donnerstag called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
Additions under Old Business:
- Pacific Office Automation update
OATH OF OFFICE
Newly elected Board Members Megan Smith and Nancy Miller took the Oath of Office.
ELECTION OF BOARD OFFICERS
Motion: to nominate Dmitry as chair (Ingrid, Megan seconds)
Vote: unanimous
Motion: to nominate Ingrid as vice-chair (Dmitry, Megan seconds)
Vote: unanimous
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
- The meeting between us and Mayor Jason Freilinger and City Manager Pro Tem Kathy Zaragoza was held on June 13th at the Library. Christy has emailed SDAO to find out about discussing the parking lot negotiations in Executive Session but hasn’t heard back yet.
- New Business, number 8 - Change “subcommittee” to “committee”.
- In the Directors report, “Department or Revenue” should be “Department of Revenue”.
- In the Director’s report, strike “a” from 6th sentence in first bullet point.
Motion: To approve the June 22, 2023, Board Meeting minutes as corrected
(Motion by: Megan Smith. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
FINANCIAL REPORT, JUNE 2023
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
- Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances (as of June 30, 2023)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Receipts (as of June 30, 2023)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Disbursements (as of June 30, 2023)
- Check Register – Citizen’s Bank (June 1-30, 2023)
- LGIP Account Statement (as of June 30, 2023)
- Purchase Order – Visa (closing date June 26, 2023)
- Journal Entries (as of June 30, 2023)
Question - Are these reports fairly consistent from month to month? Answer - No, our tax revenue comes mostly in November, with additional larger payments in the spring. In addition, publishers put out more books during specific times of the year. Performers and program expenses are higher during Summer Reading. Reference materials are mostly on standing orders, so they come in and are billed randomly throughout the year. Unscheduled income can come from grants, rebates, county timber sales. This is the final financial report of the 2022-2023 fiscal year and revenue is slightly higher than projected and expenses were slightly lower, so that’s good. This was our first year of strictly cash basis accounting.
Check Register
What is the payment to Christy for $35.71? She purchased refreshments for two staff meetings.
Motion: To approve the JUNE 2023 Financial Report as presented, including checks #17370 through and including #17400, and all EFTs, for a total of $100,188.43.
(Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Nancy Miller).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
None.
OLD BUSINESS
1. CCRLS staffing issues
A seasoned courier who used to work for CCRLS has returned, accepting the open courier position. Doug Yancey, CCRLS Director, met with the dean at Chemeketa and figured out how to make the IT position more competitive by making it salaried, etc. There are high hopes that this will draw out some good candidates.
2. Review and approve step and wage structure elements of District personnel policy
- The yellow highlights are changes already discussed by the Board. The green highlights are new proposed changes.
- #1 - Substitute positions do not currently qualify for step increases. Employees who have worked as a sub for many years would never progress beyond the lowest step. At 1040 hours, they have put in the same hours as a part-time employee does in a year. We’d like to propose adding this as a potential benefit for long term subs. Question - Do other libraries have a pool of subs? Answer – We don’t know. It depends on their municipalities and budgets. Typo – change “complete” to “completes”. Change “an additional” to “every additional”.
- #4 – Prior to 2019 we didn’t have regular step increases, just merit-based SMILE (Skill-Merit-Initiative-Loyalty-Enthusiasm) increases, within a percentage determined by the Board. It was a very subjective process. So, we changed to a stepped wage increase schedule. There were times when a bonus was appropriate and was always given with Board approval. Remove the first sentence. Change the last sentence to “Such a bonus must be approved by the Board and paid from the Personnel budget line.”
- #3 – This year, the step wage increase schedule was adjusted to make up for years when unusual increases (like $1/hour for Circulation assistants only, or $2/hour for the whole staff) have over time skewed the percentages; but longevity increases were not taken into account on the final schedule. For those two employees, their 2% longevity increase put them back at step 17 of the new schedule. When we discovered this, we moved them to the top of the steps for their positions, which will be an unplanned fiscal impact. Moving them to the top plus 2% would be an added fiscal impact that we can’t afford. We are already at the upper end of the range that similar libraries pay their staff. Step increases are 2% and when the Board approves a COLA increase, the entire step schedule is adjusted accordingly. Long-term employees also receive vacation accrual increases at a rate based according to the Policy Manual. Change text to “Commencing on the July 1st following the anniversary date of the 20th year of employment, a District employee is eligible for, but not guaranteed, up to a 1% annual increase above their base pay. In years where there is a COLA, these employees will be granted either the 1% increase or the COLA, whichever is greater.”
- Stacy will make the changes above and bring the policy section back to the Board for a vote during the August meeting.
3. Parking lot issues – form committee and set first meeting date for prior to August board meeting
Question - Would Stacy be able to provide staffing? Answer – Yes, and Christy will also attend the committee meetings.
Board Chair Dmitry White appointed Michael Milhausen, Jeff Gunter, Ingrid Donnerstag, Megan Smith, and himself to the committee. Christy will send email with 3 times she and Stacy are available to staff committee, during the day.
4. Postal incident follow-up
The Office of the Inspector General for the USPS replied to Christy’s formal complaint, then sent the complaint to the USPS Office of Consumer Affairs. After waiting two weeks, Christy called that office. Susie Wightman, “the person who gets to the bottom of these things” called Christy back the next day. Since the initial complaint, we’ve learned that the postal worker who used profanity and homophobic hate speech to the library employee was not the postmaster, but a floating staffer who works at both Silverton and Mt Angel post offices. Susie asked for personal documentation from the employee involved; and followed up with both the Silverton and Mt Angel postmasters. The postal employee was spoken to about the incident, and the Mt Angel postmaster has apologized. Today, the postal employee was very friendly and professional with the library employee. The library employee was also contacted by Senator Jeff Merkley’s office today.
5. Pacific Office Automation (POA) update
We received the $222 rebate that we should have received when we signed the new contract in 2018.It looks like we will also receive a credit of $265 for the years of overcharging plus maybe another $90 for overcharged taxes. Lindsay Roll from POA has been really helpful and is trying to get our relationship “back to neutral”. We have to give at least 60 days’ notice if we don’t want to renew the lease and have to pay to ship the old copier back anywhere they say. We might be willing to sign with them again with some improvements and the same rates. We’d like to have a coin changer that can be adjusted (for color vs black and white), and a better, faster copier. We will try going out for an RFP at the end of the lease.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Approve and accept Nancy Miller as 3rd check signer for the Local Government Investment Pool and Citizens Bank
Motion: to appoint Nancy Miller as 3rd check signer for the Local Government Investment Pool and Citizens Bank.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: unanimously in favor.
2. Review of District’s Financial Status and History
The Board received documents showing the financial history of the library, including the years since the Inez Green bequest and the years since Marion County computerized their records. Questions about the bequest come up during every budget committee meeting. The bequest was unrestricted and went into the general fund. It has been spent and replenished many times over and allows the Library to ride out the months between the end of the fiscal year in June and November, when the tax revenue comes in, without having to take out loans. Personnel expenses have been steadily increasing, but it’s manageable. Starting in 2013, the estimated tax revenue growth has been pretty much guaranteed to be at least 3% but County settlements and new properties cause it to increase.
3. Staff Organizational Chart (and staff photos!)
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
- Our three new board members survived their 2 hour and 15-minute orientation on the 18th. We covered a lot of territory. Nancy and Michelle are signed up for the Library Board Rights, Responsibilities and Liabilities training in August and Megan is signed up for the Board Ethics course in September, both presented in Salem by SDAO.
- We are working well with our new auditors, Isler CPA out of Eugene. Stacy and I have both put in several hours of work over the last two weeks uploading documents to the secure portal and giving them a backup copy of our QuickBooks accounting. They will be doing their in-person audit visit all day on Monday, August 28th. Any Board member who wishes to be present or drop by should feel free to do so. This is not required but the invitation is there.
- As always at this time of year, we received notification of the Ready to Read grant from the State Library of Oregon. Each public library in Oregon may apply for the grants which have pre-set dollar amounts based on population of youth under 18. The dollar amount varies only slightly each year. Our amount for the upcoming year is $4,244 dollars. These monies pay for the many events, activities, performers and book prizes for our youth SRP participants.
- Summer Reading statistics roundup is great. 73 adults signed up, 622 kids, and an unprecedented 195 new library cards made since June of 2013.
- Mural preparation. Our custodian Nathan and I (with some assistance from Stacy) power-washed the front and south sides of the library this Monday in preparation for the mural unveiling – but also because it really needed it! We did the sidewalks too. We rented from ACE and did it ourselves as the last time we hired washers it was around $1K. Dave Laycock, contractor/proprietor of Renaissance Carpentry has come by to caulk the holes left by the lettering, and to do touch up paint and measuring or where the mural and refurbished lettering will go. We have some additional signage ideas for the front entryway of the building that I will share with the board later, perhaps when we can stand in front of the building together. A reminder that the event is Saturday, August 5th at 2pm with a presentation on the history of the Fischer’s Flouring Mill immediately to follow.
- Last month our total Dolly Parton number was 397 and this month we’re at 409 kiddos signed up since the program started, with over 190 currently enrolled.
- Interest rates have gone up again at the Local Government Investment Pool from 4.05% to 4.3%.
- We lost two of our patrons last week, both of them members of what we consider to be vulnerable populations. It has been hard on the staff to digest as we do grow relationships with our patrons and are concerned with their welfare outside the library as well as within. Today some of us were able to meet one of the daughters and son-in-law of one of the patrons and they walked around the library to see firsthand the library that their mother had talked of fondly.
- We have lost our service for passing along discarded book and donated books that do not sell in the Friends book sale spinners or big book sale. This is actually a crisis because of the volume of books and the shortage of storage space at the library. I am working on a solution, but it could be challenging to pivot on such short notice, especially with the big book sale coming up during Silverton Arts Festival on August 18th and 19th. It is following this sale that we often have anywhere from 80 to 100 boxes of unsold books that we need to find a home for. They cannot remain in our program room, and they cannot be returned for storage at the Elks Lodge. Nancy volunteered to scan in bar codes for Better World Books.
- Rio, one of our regular part-time circulation assistants is leaving us this month. She needed full-time employment due to a change in living arrangements and also her new job covers full health benefits. We hate to see her, and her service dog, Aden, leave the library. Because of this resignation and some job-sharing changes of two other employees, this opens up two 20-hour part-time circulation assistant positions. None of our subs currently wish to apply to be permanent part time so we are interviewing 6 of 16 applicants, hoping to find two qualified and available candidates to work in Circulation.
- In the upcoming weeks we will need to send out formal requests for bids for the flat part of our library roof. We got three or four budget number quotes earlier in the year when we were building the budget. We hope to hear back from the company who gave us the best quote. A reminder that this is for flat roof work and not shingle work.
- Stacy and I attended the City County Insurance annual meeting about insurance changes and enjoyed the new staff and the decent lunch and the good information regarding the minimal changes to our insurance rates and benefits.
- A reminder to all Board members. Emails sent out to all of you should never be replied to as a reply all. This constitutes a meeting under Oregon Law. I pass along information only and do not request group response. Any time 3 or more of you are gathered, it is considered a Board meeting.
- I would very much like to do something for Kathy Beutler who served the Library District for over 16 years as board member and who singlehandedly landscaped around the new building and did much over the years to keep it going.
- Upcoming budgeted tasks include getting official bids for the flat roof part of the building and also scheduling Oregon Corrections Enterprises to start building our new Reference service area.
- Director’s time off since last report: 12 hours of vacation and 1.5 hours of sick leave.
ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA OPEN TO PUBLIC, BOARD & STAFF PARTICIPATION
AGENDA SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS
1. Bi-Annual review of current Strategic Plan
2. Report from first Parking Lot Committee meeting
3. Update one item on Board Orientation policy section
4. Update from Earthworks solar – Christy will send info to Board
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 8:04 p.m.
(Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Nancy Miller).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
__________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.
Approved: _________________________(date)
_______________________________________
Dmitry White
Chair, Library Board of Directors
Silver Falls Library District
