Policy Committee Meeting Agenda: Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Board of Trustees Policy Committee Meeting
Tuesday
, February 3, 2015
6:15
pm
Location:
Youth Program Room


Click here to download a .pdf of this agenda: Policy Agenda 3 Feb 2015

Agenda

  1. Call to Order
  2. Public Comment (3 minutes per person)
  3. Additions/Approval of Agenda
  4. Approval of minutes from 13 Nov 14 and 20 Jan 15 meetings
  5. Communication Repository and Public Record Request Policy
  6. Trustee Standards of Conduct Policy
  7. Trustee Rules of Procedure Policy
  8. New business
  9. Adjourn to next Meeting (Date TBA)

MEETING CANCELLED: Historical Collections Committee Special Meeting Agenda: Monday, February 2, 2015

Please note that this meeting has been cancelled.

 

ROCKINGHAM FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
NOTICE OF HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING

Click here to download a .pdf of this meetingHCC_WarningAgenda_02_02_2015_SpclMtg
Monday, February 2, 2015
at The Rockingham Free Public Library, Youth Department Meeting Room
9:00am to 10:00am
AGENDA
1. Call to order
2. Additions or changes to agenda. Adoption of agenda.
3. Approve minutes of December 15, 2014 meeting
4. Public comment (3 minutes in person)
5. Plan for moving collection back to library – Update if Necessary
6. Display and Exhibit Planning – Update if Necessary
7. NEH Grant Project and Intern
8. Historical Collections Librarian Training
9. Review Pocket Response Emergency Plan
10. Review Collections Management Plan
11. New Business
12. Review agenda items for next meeting if applicable
13. Adjourn

Board of Trustees Meeting Agenda: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting
Tuesda
y, January 27, 2015
6:15
pm
Location:
Youth Program Room

Click here to download a .pdf of this agenda: Board Agenda2 27 Jan 2015

Agenda

  1. Call to Order
  2. Additions to Agenda for routine administrative matters and/or pressing matters that will require ratification at a future meeting
  3. Public Comment (3 minutes per person)
  4. Approve Minutes of November 25 and joint Selectboard meeting December 16, 2014
  5. Director’s Report
  6. a.  Highlights (5min limit)
  7. Financial Reports
  8. Committee Reports
  9. Policy. Standards of Conduct
  10. Other committees
  11. Bylaws Revision
  12. Unbudgeted funds priorities, long term planning
  13. New Business
  14. Review and Approve Warrants
  15. Adjourn to next Meeting: February 24, 2015, 6:15 PM

Personnel Committee Meeting DRAFT Minutes: January 15, 2015

Rockingham Free Public Library

Personnel Committee Meeting Draft Minutes

January 15, 2015 at 5:00pm, RFPL Youth Department Program Room

Click here to download a .pdf of these minutes:  PC_01_15_2015_DraftMinutes

Committee Members in Attendance: Carol Blackwood, Pat Fowler, Doreen Aldrich and Carolyn Frisa.

Library Personnel: Célina Houlné (Library Director)

Members of the Public: Hope Brissette (RFPL Board Member attended as Member of the Public)

 

Call to Order:   Chairman Blackwood called the meeting to order at 5:04pm.

Public Comment:   None.

Additions/Approval of Agenda: Add review of minutes from November 20, 2014 and December 15, 2014 Personnel Committee Meetings. Fowler moved to approve the agenda with this addition; seconded by Aldrich; unanimously approved.

Fowler moved to approve the minutes of the November 20, 2014 Personnel Committee Meeting; seconded by Aldrich; Aldrich noted “enquired” should have been “inquired” under Public Comment. Minutes were unanimously approved with this correction.

Frisa moved to approve the minutes of the December 15, 2014 Personnel Committee Meeting; seconded by Aldrich; Frisa noted her name was misspelled in the first paragraph. Minutes were unanimously approved with this correction.

The annual evaluation of the library director was discussed by the committee. Discussion included sample review procedures and forms found by Frisa on the American Association of Libraries website, particularly the review procedure used by the Mid-Hudson Library System Trustees. Copies of procedures and the evaluation form will be provided to committee members for review at their next meeting. Blackwood asked committee members to provide other evaluation forms and procedures for additional consideration if they wished to do so.

A timeline for the evaluation process was also discussed and initial recommendations are for a three-month period, starting in September 2015 and ending in December 2015.

  • September: Personnel Committee provides trustees, staff and other reviewers (if applicable) with evaluation form and explains evaluation procedures, including submission deadline for forms.
  • October – November: Personnel Committee reviews evaluation forms and meets with library director.
  • December: Personnel Committee presents director evaluation findings to Board of Trustees.

Brissette (acting as member of public) asked if committee members would be looking at the form used in the past few years to review the library director. Frisa replied she had looked at this and was familiar with it since she has

 

filled it out for past evaluation periods and that the content of the form is very similar to the Mid-Hudson Library System’s evaluation form.

Potential weight percentages of different types of evaluation reviewers were discussed. Reviewers would fill out the same form. The library director would also be expected to fill out the same form as a self-evaluation. Initial recommendations may consist of the following, but more research into this topic is necessary:

  • 40% Trustee Evaluation Forms
  • 20% Staff Evaluation Forms
  • 10% Outside Evaluation Forms which may include Town Manager, President of the Friends of the Library and one other familiar with the work of the library director.
  • 30% input from monthly director evaluation reviews by Personnel Committee

Frisa asked the committee what the current goals are for this project. The committee agreed to provide a proposed written procedure, including a timeline, and an evaluation form for the annual evaluation of the library director to hand over to the new Personnel Committee in March 2015.

Brissette (acting as member of public) asked if committee members would include deadlines with the timeline. She also stated the director needs to take a “class” not a “webinar” or “seminar” to meet the requirements of her contract.

Executive Session: Fowler moved to enter executive session at 5:55pm to discuss the library director’s monthly evaluation [evaluation of a public employee] where premature general public knowledge would clearly place the Rockingham Free Public Library at a substantial disadvantage and that Library Director Houlné be invited to attend; seconded by Aldrich and unanimously approved. The committee came out of executive session at 6:34pm and no action was taken.

New Business: No new business was discussed.

Adjourn to Next Meeting Date: The next Personnel Committee meeting date was set for 5:00pm on February 17, 2015 in the Youth Department Meeting Room at the Rockingham Free Public Library. Frisa moved to adjourn; seconded by Fowler; unanimously approved at 6:40pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Carolyn Frisa, Committee Secretary, January 20, 2015

Policy Committee Meeting: Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Board of Trustees Policy Committee Meeting
Tuesday
, January 20, 2015
6:15
pm
Location:
Youth Program Room

Click here to download a .pdf of the agenda: Policy Agenda 20 Jan 2015

Agenda

  1. Call to Order
  2. Public Comment (3 minutes per person)
  3. Additions/Approval of Agenda
  4. Approval of minutes from 13 Nov 14 meeting
  5. Communication Repository
  6. Trustee Standards of Conduct
  7. Rules of Procedure
  8. New business
  9. Adjourn to next Meeting (Date TBA)

Joint Board Special Meeting DRAFT Minutes: Tuesday, December 16, 2014

JOINT BOARD SPECIAL MEETING
Rockingham Selectboard & Rockingham Library Trustees
Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Click here to download a .pdf of these minutes:  JBSDraftMinutes

Present:

Selectboard: Thomas MacPhee, Susan Hammond, Ann DiBernardo, Joshua Hearne (Absent: Peter Golec)

Library Trustees: Carol Blackwood, Ray Massucco, Carolyn Frisa, David Gould, Jan Mitchell­-Love, Hope Brissette, Patricia Fowler, Karin Fischer, Doreen Aldrich

Also Present: Willis Steams, II, Municipal Manager; Kerry Bennett, Recording Clerk; Celina Houlne, Librarian; Deborah Wright; Joel Love; Jim McAuliffe; Elayne & Arnold Clift

Press: Joey Powers, FACT8; Domenic Poli, Brattleboro Reformer; Susan Smallheer, RutlandHerald

Call to Order: Meeting was called to order at 6:25p.m. by Selectboard Chair Thomas MacPhee. Additions to the Agenda for Routine Administrative Matters and/or Pressing Matters that willrequire ratification at a future meeting: None

 

Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda: None

Agenda:

  1. Library Budget & Discuss Debt Owed to Town General Fund: Steams distributed a handout outlining the Library renovation expenses as well as the Library Operating Fund Balances and Capital Fund from FY2006 to present showing a FY2015 YTD amount of$30,684, a total fund balance of $330,657, and a capital deficit of$96,126. Steams noted that the amount in the operating fund of$30,684 will definitely be around $150,000 deficit by June 30. It was clarified, however, that after the audit is complete in the fall of each year the library operating budget pays the Town what is owed.

MacPhee did note that it is unlikely that the lawsuit with SMP Architects will be settled before Town Meeting in March and the two boards need to decide how to best inform the public of the deficit and what plans are in place to rectify this.

 

Pat Fowler asked how the library could pay the town back without waiting for the audit to be complete. Steams stated that year to date financials are available monthly and it would show what deficit there was at that time.

 

MacPhee asked what it should say in the Town Report. Steams stated that it is known that the renovation project exceeded the bond amount and the public needs be aware of how this is being dealt with. Massucco stated that taking the amount owed out of the library’s reserve funds would all in one year would be devastating. Massucco noted that a few years ago there was a special article on the Town Meeting Warning to add a penny to the tax rate to help with the deficit resulting from Tropical Storm Irene and suggested this may be an option to investigate further. Blackwood asked about a warning article for a one-time request of 2%. MacPhee stated that this would be 2 cents on the tax rate.

 

Joel Love stated that it seems to him that this started out as two blended together conversations, one of which was the incremental overage during the years and is really surprised that this has been going on since 2006 and hasn’t been reported to the Board and the Boards heard basically that they have had a surplus every year in terms of their operational expenses and would seem that there should be a look into the root cause. Love stated that the other thing he is wondering about is there seems to be a mingling of capital expenditures and didn’t hear an explanation whether some of those capital expenditures were a result of what was voted on in the year for being a capital expenditure. Love stated that it seems that this is a very complex and long-standing issue and probably requires a little bit of thought before anything is done about it as it has apparently been going on for a long time. Love also stated that his wife is one of the board members and she knew nothing about this incremental creep where things have not gotten paid for.

 

Jan Mitchell-Love stated that what her understanding is, and believes the other board members will agree, is that at the end of the year when the library runs over, the savings is dipped into and this is turned over to the Town. However, it is not turned over in the same fiscal year so it looks like nothing shows but the library did pay but paid later and the reason being that it is not known until the next fiscal year how much is owed. Stearns stated again that this is normal in the accrual system that is used.

 

Jim McAuliffe stated that this is not complex at all, that the elephant in the room is what started out as a $158,000 deficit in the capital project. McAuliffe noted that how the operational funds are paid back is handled as well as can be. However, the issue for the public is the deficit and ifthe $158,000, because of savings in the budgets is more like $100,000 the question for the public is how is the Library going to pay off the deficit, and the other part of the public interest is the perception that the Library has funds of their own in different accounts. McAuliffe stated that he has heard rumors that it is a couple hundred thousand dollars but has no idea. However, if the boards want to be transparent they need to say how it is going to pay off whatever this number is. McAuliffe stated that the idea of raising more taxes to pay this off is a double hit to the taxpayer.

 

Arnold Clift felt that the boards should get back to the issue of the overrun on the renovation project. Clift also noted that the renovation project was a renovation of a building owned by the Town, not by the Library, the Town raised the bond and the Town has the responsibility to repay that bond. Clift stated that the suggestion that this overage should be paid out of the assets of the Library is totally contrary to accepted accounting principles. Clift noted that there is mediation coming in a month or so and that doesn’t mean the boards need to say today on what is unknown. If the mediation comes up with zero or very little then address the problem at that time.

 

Stearns stated that this is exactly how he feels, that we should wait and see what happens at mediation. However, at Town Meeting in March there will need to be some uniform front presentation of a plan.

 

Carolyn asked if the legal activity does not result in the Town being repaid, could a special meeting be called to address that. MacPhee stated that the Town Report has to go out and there has to be something stated in that for the public.

 

After discussion it was decided that an acknowledgement of the overrun of the Library renovation project would be in the Town Report with a brief explanation and the plans to recover these losses through the law suit.

 

Executive Session- No executive session was necessary. Other Business: None

Adjourn: Ann DiBernardo made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:20p.m. Motion was seconded by Joshua Hearne. Motion passed unanimously.

 

 

 

 

 

Attest: _                                                           _

Kerry Bennett, Recording Clerk