Board Meeting Minutes 6/22/2023 (html)
Tuesday, September 25, 2023
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICTSilver Falls Library Program Room
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Dmitry White Christy Davis, Director
Nancy Miller Stacy Higby
Megan Smith
Michelle Sanguinetti (Zoom) Public Present:
None
Board Members Absent:
Ingrid Donnerstag
CALL TO ORDER
Chair White called the meeting to order at 5:39 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
Additions under New Business:
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion: To approve the August 22, 2023, Board Meeting minutes as amended.
(Motion by: Megan Smith. Second by: Nancy Miller).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
FINANCIAL REPORT, AUGUST 2023
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
Statement of Cash Disbursements
Check Register
Motion: To approve the AUGUST 2023 Financial Report as presented, including checks #17429 through and including #17456, and all EFTs, for a total of $111,809.54.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Megan Smith).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Parking lot committee update
There isn’t much to report. The committee clarified what they want to do, gathered information, and started staking out an official position. They will meet again on October 13th and bring information back to the Board at the October Board Meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Discuss SDAO Best Practices requirements and review updated Emergency Procedures Plan
Each year SDAO invites members to participate in the Best Practices program. This year’s theme is Emergency Procedures. Christy and Stacy started going through the Library’s existing plan and noted it was very out of date. They made updates and edits throughout the manual, and it will be presented to staff at the next staff meeting. Christy also had to watch several trainings, although many of the links provided by Oregon Emergency Management were broken. Question – How often does the staff do emergency response drills? Not often, it’s probably time for another fire drill. The manual needs to be general, but each person working needs to be aware of what they’re supposed to do in each department. For example, when the HVAC unit was overheating last month, staff went through and cleared the building just as they should, but then gathered at the book drop instead of across the street, like the manual says. Dmitry noticed that needle sticks weren’t specifically mentioned in the body fluids section. Christy and Stacy will add it. Question – Does the section about threatening/dangerous library users include language about guns? It includes weapons. Question – Have we had active shooter drills? The police gave us training in 2018, and Christy showed staff the Run-Hide-Fight training video. It’s probably time for another active shooter drill. There is heightened awareness, and the approach has changed, but the drills can be stressful or traumatizing. Nancy mentioned that giving people advance warning of the drill is helpful.
2. Review memo regarding sole source procurement for HVAC
Last year’s letter from Isler mentioned a deficiency that they didn’t talk to us about in our meeting, but it came up again this year. The deficiency was that we didn’t follow procurement requirements when purchasing new HVAC units. There are two exceptions where sole source procurement is allowable: 1) emergency situations, and 2) the system’s complexity. Christy wrote a memo focusing on both independently from John Maine from Loren’s, who wrote his own letter, more focused on the system’s complexity. Writing the letter and memo doesn’t mean we won’t be considered non-compliant with the Secretary of State, but it is what the audit firm recommended. When the library building was expanded in 1994, the architect called for 7 individual smaller units rather than a large commercial system that would usually be installed in a building of this size. The different units are different sizes, and sometimes cost under and sometimes over the State of Oregon’s $10,000 procurement threshold (which is changing). The system is also software controlled, and Loren’s has access to that software. Having another contractor prepare a bid would require them to meet with Loren’s to have the system explained in its complexity. Additionally, we have a service maintenance agreement with Loren’s, which includes priority scheduling, no extra charges for after-hours or emergency services, bidding on a whole job and completing that job without additional costs, and more.
Motion: to acknowledge the Library Director’s memo and the letter from Loren’s as written documentation of facts known to the Board since at least the beginning of this fiscal year, and the Board is in agreement with the letters and facts therein and believe the circumstances documented provide an exception to ORS279b.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Nancy Miller.)
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
3. Bi-Annual review of current Strategic Plan
4. Pacific Office Automation letter
Christy and Stacy called Dmitry this week about our copier lease overpayment reimbursement. POA has committed many errors but last week the POA rep offered a deal where we would sign a new contract in order to get our money back. Dmitry wrote a strongly worded letter stating it would be irresponsible to sign a new contract when they have failed to meet the obligations of the current contract, and that they are causing us to overspend taxpayer money. The letter also said we want them to adjust our bills, refund what we are owed, and mark everything paid before the next invoice or tell us why not. Our current contract ends in May 2024 and we have to let them know at least 60 days in advance of that if we are not planning to renew. We have to ship the copier wherever they say at a cost of $500 if we don’t renew. We have talked about having a copier on the reference counter, but people like to have privacy and autonomy when making copies. Question - Is there a way that instead of having the expense of a coin-op, people could pay for their copies and we give them a card or something or is there another way to get around the coin op? That’s how it currently works with our internet printing but none of the other libraries that have copiers Christy has talked to use that system. Most copier lease companies provide copiers for offices without monetary exchange, which is why only a few have coin-op capabilities. We also use the copier for library copies. We could buy one, but it would be obsolete in 5 years. Is the Board ok with sending out the letter from the chair? Yes, POA still might be the best option even though we’ve received terrible service, but we need them to make things right.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA OPEN TO PUBLIC, BOARD & STAFF PARTICIPATION
Dmitry communicated with Cody from Isler who said we’re excellent and easy to work with.
AGENDA SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS
1. October – Tristan from Earthlight Solar will present and answer questions about library utilizing solar power. Will we need 3 bids? Most likely.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 7:39 p.m.
(Motion by: Nancy Miller. Second by: Dmitry White).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
__________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 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
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Dmitry White Christy Davis, Director
Nancy Miller Stacy Higby
Megan Smith
Michelle Sanguinetti (Zoom) Public Present:
None
Board Members Absent:
Ingrid Donnerstag
CALL TO ORDER
Chair White called the meeting to order at 5:39 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
Additions under New Business:
- Letter to Pacific Office Automation
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
- Page 3, item 5 - strike sentence about penciling out.
- Page 4, last bullet - strike from “I am reminding” to “We receive”.
- Under Changes, 1st bullet - strike from “Most people believe” through “condition”.
- Under Changes, 1st bullet - strike “just don’t want to pay for disposal and”.
- Under Changes, last bullet – strike from “In that same vein” to “willing to do”.
- Old business item 1- delete colon after Megan’s name.
Motion: To approve the August 22, 2023, Board Meeting minutes as amended.
(Motion by: Megan Smith. Second by: Nancy Miller).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
FINANCIAL REPORT, AUGUST 2023
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
- Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances (as of August 31, 2023)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Receipts (as of August 31, 2023)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Disbursements (as of August 31, 2023)
- Check Register – Citizen’s Bank (August 1-31, 2023)
- LGIP Account Statement (as of August 31, 2023)
- Journal Entries (as of August 31, 2023)
Statement of Cash Disbursements
- Why are there negative numbers for Adult Spanish Fiction, Replacements, and Youth Spanish books? Those are returns that exceeded the amount spent this month.
- The heading reads August 2022 instead of 2023 on page 2. Stacy will correct.
- Is the large expenditure in Building Maintenance for the roof? Yes. Is it done? No, the project has been pushed back due to the weather, and the charge is the deposit for the roofing materials.
Check Register
- What’s DEMCO? They sell library supplies like book tape, magazine covers, special glues, etc.
- What is the payment to Christy for $22? Reimbursement for refreshments at full staff meeting.
- Are magazine purchases down? Yes, they go out of print more often lately.
- Can the Splits be listed out? Yes, we can but doing so can add many pages to the packet. Stacy will check to see if it can be done just for deposits.
Motion: To approve the AUGUST 2023 Financial Report as presented, including checks #17429 through and including #17456, and all EFTs, for a total of $111,809.54.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Megan Smith).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Parking lot committee update
There isn’t much to report. The committee clarified what they want to do, gathered information, and started staking out an official position. They will meet again on October 13th and bring information back to the Board at the October Board Meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Discuss SDAO Best Practices requirements and review updated Emergency Procedures Plan
Each year SDAO invites members to participate in the Best Practices program. This year’s theme is Emergency Procedures. Christy and Stacy started going through the Library’s existing plan and noted it was very out of date. They made updates and edits throughout the manual, and it will be presented to staff at the next staff meeting. Christy also had to watch several trainings, although many of the links provided by Oregon Emergency Management were broken. Question – How often does the staff do emergency response drills? Not often, it’s probably time for another fire drill. The manual needs to be general, but each person working needs to be aware of what they’re supposed to do in each department. For example, when the HVAC unit was overheating last month, staff went through and cleared the building just as they should, but then gathered at the book drop instead of across the street, like the manual says. Dmitry noticed that needle sticks weren’t specifically mentioned in the body fluids section. Christy and Stacy will add it. Question – Does the section about threatening/dangerous library users include language about guns? It includes weapons. Question – Have we had active shooter drills? The police gave us training in 2018, and Christy showed staff the Run-Hide-Fight training video. It’s probably time for another active shooter drill. There is heightened awareness, and the approach has changed, but the drills can be stressful or traumatizing. Nancy mentioned that giving people advance warning of the drill is helpful.
2. Review memo regarding sole source procurement for HVAC
Last year’s letter from Isler mentioned a deficiency that they didn’t talk to us about in our meeting, but it came up again this year. The deficiency was that we didn’t follow procurement requirements when purchasing new HVAC units. There are two exceptions where sole source procurement is allowable: 1) emergency situations, and 2) the system’s complexity. Christy wrote a memo focusing on both independently from John Maine from Loren’s, who wrote his own letter, more focused on the system’s complexity. Writing the letter and memo doesn’t mean we won’t be considered non-compliant with the Secretary of State, but it is what the audit firm recommended. When the library building was expanded in 1994, the architect called for 7 individual smaller units rather than a large commercial system that would usually be installed in a building of this size. The different units are different sizes, and sometimes cost under and sometimes over the State of Oregon’s $10,000 procurement threshold (which is changing). The system is also software controlled, and Loren’s has access to that software. Having another contractor prepare a bid would require them to meet with Loren’s to have the system explained in its complexity. Additionally, we have a service maintenance agreement with Loren’s, which includes priority scheduling, no extra charges for after-hours or emergency services, bidding on a whole job and completing that job without additional costs, and more.
Motion: to acknowledge the Library Director’s memo and the letter from Loren’s as written documentation of facts known to the Board since at least the beginning of this fiscal year, and the Board is in agreement with the letters and facts therein and believe the circumstances documented provide an exception to ORS279b.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Nancy Miller.)
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
3. Bi-Annual review of current Strategic Plan
- The conversational Italian language group is now on the calendar for 4 sessions. While it’s important to have library-directed programs led by staff where we create the content, not every program should be led by library staff. Experts in the community should be coming to teach and share their expertise.
- Question – Where did the teen summer interns work? Mostly in Youth Services and Tech Services.
- Going to the farmers market was really smart for the Friends to increase visibility and enthusiasm. They signed up several new members.
- Question - Does the bid for the reference desk include new desk or rearrangement? It will be a new desk configuration. The project will be scheduled after the roof work is done.
- Question - Could you explain the STEAM program? STEAM stands for Science Technology Engineering Art Math. The program comes with specific lessons or tasks like circuits or robot coding.
- Christy made a Facebook post about our homebound program last week that got a lot of likes and nice comments. The Circulation Supervisor Tina does the deliveries right now and we have a volunteer ready to take over deliveries as the program grows.
- Recruiting for the Teen Advisory Board is ongoing. Dena is worried about whether she can get teens this fall. Nancy suggested talking to the high school librarian.
- We spent a lot of time developing the Strategic Plan, and Dmitry encourages new our board members to review and provide new input on this ongoing program of improving and adapting the library.
- Our only Spanish speaking staff member resigned to have another baby but will still do translations for us on a personal services contract basis.
- We dedicated 5% of our Books budget to Spanish language items. The children’s materials circulate really well, but adult materials don’t. There are patrons in Salem and Woodburn who are checking out our Spanish materials, but we’d like to promote more to local folks. The planned Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC) event was cancelled, but the flyers we made for it will be laminated and taken to taco trucks, Los Girasoles, Ixtapa, St Paul’s Church and Lutheran Immanuel church. We will talk to Spanish speaking employees there and try to get it on Parent Square. Other suggestions include Somos Hispanos Unidos legal aid office, Solecitos bilingual preschool, the Read Under the Stars events at elementary schools, ELL teachers with connections in all the buildings. Chirsty may divert some of the Adult Spanish materials budget amount to Youth Services for Spanish materials.
- The Board was impressed with the progress in each area.
4. Pacific Office Automation letter
Christy and Stacy called Dmitry this week about our copier lease overpayment reimbursement. POA has committed many errors but last week the POA rep offered a deal where we would sign a new contract in order to get our money back. Dmitry wrote a strongly worded letter stating it would be irresponsible to sign a new contract when they have failed to meet the obligations of the current contract, and that they are causing us to overspend taxpayer money. The letter also said we want them to adjust our bills, refund what we are owed, and mark everything paid before the next invoice or tell us why not. Our current contract ends in May 2024 and we have to let them know at least 60 days in advance of that if we are not planning to renew. We have to ship the copier wherever they say at a cost of $500 if we don’t renew. We have talked about having a copier on the reference counter, but people like to have privacy and autonomy when making copies. Question - Is there a way that instead of having the expense of a coin-op, people could pay for their copies and we give them a card or something or is there another way to get around the coin op? That’s how it currently works with our internet printing but none of the other libraries that have copiers Christy has talked to use that system. Most copier lease companies provide copiers for offices without monetary exchange, which is why only a few have coin-op capabilities. We also use the copier for library copies. We could buy one, but it would be obsolete in 5 years. Is the Board ok with sending out the letter from the chair? Yes, POA still might be the best option even though we’ve received terrible service, but we need them to make things right.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
- A three-member team from Isler, CPAs out of Eugene was here on September 28th and complimented us – especially Stacy – on how quickly and thoroughly we respond to their requests for documents. We load all requested items into a secure share file system provided by the audit firm. As discussed earlier, the only thing they found that needed to be addressed with an explanatory memorandum was the reasoning behind the District’s sole-sourcing of HVAC replacement components.
- Our Summer Reading Program statistics are in: From the period of June 13- September 6 we had over 62K items circulated. This is 91% of what we did last year, and 82% of our pre-COVID 2019 summer. 628 youth signed up for the program with 362 finishing all tasks. The Youth Services department handed out 447 brag tags, 120 activity kits and 220 art kits. Traditionally, Adult Services has about 10% participation as youth. This year 77 adults signed up and 34 completed 50 hours of reading or more. One of the best things about the summer was that the Circulation department made 325 new library cards during the SRP period. These cards represent both individuals and families, and established residents as well as newcomers.
- Interest rates have gone up yet again since our last meeting at the Local Government Investment Pool. Last month interest rates were at 4.5% and now they are at 4.8%.
- Thanks to the help of many people, and especially members of our Friends group, we were able to donate both locally and throughout the region, the many boxes of books left over from the book sale. Teen interns and Friends scanned all of the remaining books with a barcode scanner to assess their eligibility for resale through Better World Books. As of today, we have sent over 40 boxes of books to this non-profit, library-supporting online vendor. So far, the Friends have over $125.00 in their account with BWB. Checks from BWB to the Friends are sent out quarterly.
- Staff appreciate that the Board shared their photos. We have them posted in the break room.
- Youth Services has added a second story time now on Fridays. Our Thursday story time has grown to capacity and so we are returning to our pre-COVID schedule of a second story time on Fridays.
- Last month Youth Services staff and I had planned to attend the Oregon Child Development Coalition’s back to school fair for Head Start. Sadly, that event was cancelled on short notice. The good news is that it did prompt us to make promotional materials which we now need to distribute.
- We have lost our sole Spanish speaking employee. She opted to resign rather than take maternity leave again. We will miss Dayana. We can still do personal services contracts with her for Spanish translation though.
- As noted earlier, we have multiple transactions that are not yet resolved that include the bill for the May 2023 board of directors’ election, the payment-lease dispute with Pacific Office Automation, and the start date for Valley Roofing to work on the building.
- As you all probably know, there are currently no official government rulings regarding COVID-19 protocols. The Silver Falls School District is following the guidance of the Oregon Health Authority and also treating COVID much like any other spreadable illness. The text from the Oregon Health Authority currently reads:
If you are infected with COVID-19 you do not need to isolate for a set number of days. However, you should be aware that you can get others sick. If you have COVID-19:
- Stay home until you have not had a fever for 24 hrs without using fever reducing medication and other COVID-19 symptoms are improving.
- Avoid contact with high-risk individuals like people who live in congregate care facilities or people with immunocompromising conditions for 10 days.
- Mask when you are around other people in the 10 days after you become sick or test positive.
- If you have a severe case, are hospitalized or are severely immunocompromised please follow the recommendations above, avoid contact with high-risk people and mask for 10-20 days. Please contact your healthcare provider for advice on how long to isolate.
- Library staff watched a couple of brief training videos on administering Naloxone at our last full staff meeting. Staff know that calling 9-1-1 and using a buddy system and good communication are required in any emergency. Administering Naloxone or CPR are decisions left to individuals on staff. Any life-saving attempts made on members of the public by library staff in good faith are covered by good Samaritan law.
- Director’s time off since the last meeting: 28 hours vacation, 4 hours sick leave.
ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA OPEN TO PUBLIC, BOARD & STAFF PARTICIPATION
Dmitry communicated with Cody from Isler who said we’re excellent and easy to work with.
AGENDA SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS
1. October – Tristan from Earthlight Solar will present and answer questions about library utilizing solar power. Will we need 3 bids? Most likely.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 7:39 p.m.
(Motion by: Nancy Miller. Second by: Dmitry White).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
__________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.
Approved: _________________________(date)
_______________________________________
Dmitry White
Chair, Library Board of Directors
Silver Falls Library District
