8/22/2023 BM

Board Meeting Minutes 8/22/2023 (html)

Tuesday, August 22, 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:
            Dmitry White                                                  Christy Davis, Director
            Ingrid Donnerstag                                           Stacy Higby
            Nancy Miller
            Michelle Sanguinetti                                       Public Present:
            Megan Smith (Zoom)                                     None

            Board Members Absent:
            None

CALL TO ORDER
Chair White called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.

REVIEW OF AGENDA

Changes under New Business:

Table Strategic Plan review until next month.
Add discussion of contract to replace flat roof.

OATH OF OFFICE

New Board Member Michelle Sanguinetti was sworn in.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Financial reports – Change “2019” to “2023”.
Page 4 – Change “State Library or Oregon” to “State Library of Oregon”.
Page 2 #1 - Change “Doug” to “Doug Yancey, CCRLS Director”.
Page 2 last line – End sentence after “subjective process”.

Motion: To approve the July 25, 2023, Board Meeting minutes as amended.
(Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Dmitry White).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.

FINANCIAL REPORT, JULY 2023
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:

Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances (as of July 31, 2023)
General Fund Statement of Cash Receipts (as of July 31, 2023)
General Fund Statement of Cash Disbursements (as of July 31, 2023)
Check Register – Citizen’s Bank (July 1-31, 2023)
LGIP Account Statement (as of July 31, 2023)
Purchase Order – Visa (closing date July 26, 2023)
Journal Entries (as of July 31, 2023)

Check Register
Question – Is this month’s payment to PGE unusual? No, the bill is higher in summer with air conditioning, but this amount is within range of regular. PGE rates are expected to go up as much as 14% in July and again in January.
Question – Is the payment to JD Power for automotive books? Yes, the Used Car Guide and Older Used Car Guide are purchased for Reference.

Motion: To approve the JULY 2023 Financial Report as presented, including checks #17401 through and including #17428, and all EFTs, for a total of $86,222.05.
            (Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Nancy Miller).
            Vote: Unanimously in favor.

PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
None.

OLD BUSINESS
1.         Review and approve step and wage structure elements of District Personnel Policy

Motion: To approve Part 3 of the Policy Manual: Payroll, Scheduling, and Overtime Practices as amended.
            (Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Megan Smith).
            Vote: Unanimously in favor.

2.         Parking Lot Committee – formed, met, meeting again
The Parking Lot Committee met on August 10, 2023. No decisions were made.

NEW BUSINESS

1.         Budget Appropriation Resolution 2024-2, Personnel Services
Dmitry noted that our Personnel costs for July were under 8.3% for the fiscal year to date, and asked if we will still need the Budget Resolution. Payroll will go up in September, when we add Monday hours back. Additionally, we still have staff members using excused leave for at least a few more months, which means we need to hire subs to fill some of those hours, although Christy is filling many of those hours by herself. We also try to budget 10% or $10,000 more than we anticipate needing in Personnel, so it’s less tight. Dmitry read the resolution aloud.

Motion: To adopt Budget Appropriation Resolution 2024-2 to increase the total personnel services by $9,000.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Nancy Miller).
Vote: Unanimously approved.

2.         Two new staff members joined the Library since last meeting
We have two new 20-hour-per-week Circulation Assistants. Sixteen candidates applied and six interviews were conducted. The process was competitive. Our two newest employees are Ando Ratsimbazafy and Amanda Jakub. Ando is originally from Madagascar and Amanda moved here recently from Lincoln, Nebraska. Christy will share their photos at the next meeting and reminded Board Members to please send a photo of themselves so that staff might also be able to recognize them.
3.         Annual Announcements
Director Davis made the following annual announcements:

Regular meeting place and time:

Silver Falls Library Program Room on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m., except for the April meeting, which follows the 5:30 p.m. Budget Committee Meeting.

Newspaper in which we will publish our legal notices and news releases:

The Canyon Weekly (because it is an adjudicated paper within Marion County). Budget announcements are also published in Our Town (because it’s more local and more patrons will be able to see them).

Locations where we will post information on Library activities:

Library website and Facebook pages
Library bulletin board and/or entrance to Library
Our Town

Attorney of record: No official attorney of record. The District has used Kelley and Kelley for land use issues and SDAO pre-loss legal services for policy and personnel issues.
Agent of record: Christy Davis, Library Director (designated by Board motion January 23, 2018).
Insurance agent of record: Doug Hartley, Hartley Insurance.

4.         Update policy section of Board Orientation

Motion: To approve change to Orienting New Board Members section of Policy Manual as presented.
(Motion by: Nancy Miller. Second by Dmitry White).
Vote: Unanimously approved.

5.         Discuss documents from Earthlight Solar
After Tristan Kuenzi from Earthlight Solar gave a presentation at a recent Silverton Chamber of Commerce Lunch and Learn event, Christy met with him to see if solar panels would be beneficial for the Library. Tristan reviewed a year’s worth of PGE bills and ran the numbers, then sent the summary document provided. There are grants and rebates available to help with the initial costs. The grant process begins in February, and we would need to budget for the project. An engineering study is the first step, and that cost is estimated to be $3,000-$6,000. Christy will invite Tristan to the Board Meeting in October, so the Board can ask questions and discuss further.

6.         Bi-Annual review of current Strategic Plan (tabled until the September meeting)

7.         Flat Roof
Matt Donoho from Valley Roofing sent a contract. We also received bids from Morq Roofing and Anderson Roofing. Christy had some questions for Matt, including clarification about change orders, which would be charged to us at a rate of materials plus $75/hour in labor. If approved tonight, the work would be scheduled for the last week of September or the first week of October and would take 4-7 days. We will need to inform the City about the work so that parking spaces can be blocked off for work vehicles and a dumpster.

Motion – To accept bid from Valley Roofing.
            (Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Michelle Sanguinetti).
Vote: Unanimously approved.

LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:

A reminder that our auditors, Isler CPA out of Eugene will be here on Monday the 28th from 9am on doing their audit fieldwork. Any Board member who wishes to be present or drop by should feel free to do so. Ring the doorbell or call the inside line if you decide to drop by so that we can let you in.
Our mural unveiling during Homer Days was a big success. We had over 100 people in attendance and the room was packed for Fred Parkinson’s presentation on the history of the flouring mill. We’re still receiving positive feedback about the mural and unveiling event when I am out and about in the community.
Because Summer Reading Program wraps up in less than two weeks, I will give you final total numbers of participants, program attendance, and library cards made during the weeks of the program in our September meeting.
Interest rates have gone up yet again since our last meeting at the Local Government Investment Pool. Last month interest rates were at 4.3% and now they are at 4.5%
We are pleased with the Our Town publications featuring the library for two articles in August. One was a write-up about our Cultural Passes and the other featured the mural process, subject, and unveiling event. There was also a mention of the library regarding the City of Silverton and the library’s ownership of part of the parking lot across the street, and how the City owns the library building.
The Friends of the Library Annual Booksale was successful. They and we ramped up the advertising for the sale and this year they made over $1,700. Last year was almost $1,200, and the year prior was over $900. They have not raised their prices in probably 15 or 20 years, largely because the point is to move the books.
Next week, I will be joining Dena from Youth Services and Dayana, our Spanish speaking Circulation worker at the back-to-school event at Oregon Child Development Coalition, also known as Head Start. We have translated a flyer for our Spanish collection and will have that, and Dayana, on hand at the event.

Challenges:

As you are all probably aware, one of our original-to-the-building HVAC units had a motor overheat on the evening of July 26th and created a great deal of smoke and bad smells in the library. 9-1-1 was called and it took the fire departments some time to locate the source of the smoke. The next day Loren’s HVAC, who is our provider under contract, came out to assess the damage and turn the other units back on as the fire department had cut power to all units. We’ve had a new unit installed that is working well. They will be back next week to finish hauling off the old unit and doing some additional wiring on the new one. Our systems do struggle to keep up when temperatures hover in the high 90s and 100s, but the building is relatively comfortable nonetheless.
I am a member of the Urban Renewal District Advisory Committee to the City of Silverton. The URD is a special, dollar-limited tax district that has specific parameters of geography and acceptable projects in the downtown core. We receive information about options and then we advise Council action. We are not a governing board but rather an advisory committee to the Council who is the governing body. That said, our meetings are recorded and we vote on recommendations to send on to Council. I am a member of this board because the Library District is what is known as an impacted district – meaning that monies going to the URD have been diverted from other districts such as the library, fire, drainage, and other special districts. It is part of the structure of URD advisory boards to have a representative from an impacted district.

Changes:

Because we lost our hauler for discarded and unsold books, we will be accepting donations in a much more careful and methodical manner in the future. Please be aware that many people will be understanding of this but that no matter how delicately we handle it, there will be those who get upset when we turn away their donations. Also, some folks in the past have dropped off items that were moldy, musty, or even covered in dirt, cat urine or rodent feces. We are simply going to have to diplomatically say no to many more donations in the future. Offerings will be viewed as to whether the library can use them in its collection or if we think they are in saleable condition by the Friends of the Library. We will set up a system to view a limited number of bags or boxes by appointment.
From a harm reduction subset of the Oregon Health Authority, the library has received a shipment of six boxes of Narcan which each contain two doses of the drug which counteracts the deadly effects of an opiate overdose. Management staff have watched a couple of training videos and we’ll be showing one of them to employees at our September full-staff meeting. Administering Narcan will be a choice that we will allow individual employees to make. We hope we never have to use it but feel that it is good to have it on hand and we are well aware that opiates are around our community and a growing problem. With the police moving down the street, the extra seconds could make a difference in saving someone’s life. Question – Does using Narcan open us to liability? No, Good Samaritan laws in Oregon hold us harmless if we use it in good faith.

Miscellaneous:

A question for the new board members: Is everyone receiving their emails from the @silverfallslibrary extension? Does anyone need help setting up mail forwarding? Dmitry will help Michelle and Megan. Board Members are reminded to try to remember not to reply from their personal email addresses.

No sick or vacation leave time has been utilized by the director so far this month.

ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA OPEN TO PUBLIC, BOARD & STAFF PARTICIPATION

Nancy read The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness by Ryan Dowd, and found it shifted and widened her perspective of trauma, as well as providing basic info that was really helpful.
Dmitry sent out a letter after the deaths of two patrons and a few other emotional and difficult recent situations. The staff dealt with those situations professionally, and Dmitry commends the staff and leadership for making the Library feel welcoming and safe.
Pacific Office Automation update – No new progress, but we will keep the Board updated in case they need to send a letter.
Election Department billing update – Christy emailed Brian Van Bergen, Elections and Recordings Manager for Marion County. He has not resolved the situation yet, but she learned something important. There is a difference between a contest where voters “Vote for three” as in our last election, and one in which voters vote for numbered positions. Vote for three is usually billed as one contest while numbered positions, even on the same board, are billed as separate contests. Christy will be sending him screenshots tomorrow and ask that we be billed as one contest, like we always have been, at least for this election since 1) we contacted them for an estimated cost and were told no more than $3500; 2) This change was not announced to districts; and 3) We weren’t notified in time to budget for an amount more than our last 5 elections combined. If he doesn’t agree to that, Christy will ask the Board to send a letter. Dmitry will draft the letter with Christy’s help.

Motion – To authorize Dmitry to draft a letter regarding high election costs to Marion County Elections Clerk, seeking individual input from other Board Members if needed.
            (Motion by Nancy Miller. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
            Vote: unanimously passed.

AGENDA SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

1. Strategic Plan review
2. SDAO best practices
3. Representative from Earthlight Solar to talk to the Board
ADJOURNMENT

Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 7:42 p.m.
            (Motion by: Ingrid Donnerstag. Second by: Michelle Sanguinetti).
            Vote: Unanimously in favor.

__________________________________________

The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 26, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.

            Approved: _________________________(date)

            _______________________________________
            Dmitry White
            Chair, Library Board of Directors
            Silver Falls Library District