Russell Library Board of Trustees

Governance Committee of the Russell Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting, June 1, 2022, 5:00 PM (Online meeting via Zoom) Approved Minutes Present: Ramona Burkey (Library Director), Brandie Doyle (Assistant Director), Jennifer Hadley (recorder), Gregory Harris, Thomas Russell IV, Cynthia Sanders (Chair), Alison Williams 1. Call to Order: Trustee Sanders called the meeting to order at 5:05 pm and reviewed the dialogue guidelines. 2. Approval of Minutes a. MOTION: Trustee Hadley moved and Trustee Sanders seconded to approve the minutes from the May 4, 2022 Governance Committee Meeting. The motion passed unanimously. 3. Public Comment: No public present. 4. Unfinished Business a. Unattended Children’s Policy – Trustee Hadley moved and Trustee Harris seconded to approve the policy. During discussion, Trustee Hadley and Trustee Harris asked additional clarifying questions about the policy and made suggestions for changes. Trustee Harris had suggested removing section 3 about requiring caregivers to pick up children 30 minutes before closing, since younger children should already be attended, and children 12 and up can be on their own. Assistant Director Doyle had asked Jenn Billingsley, Head of Youth and Family Services, about this change, and she did not object. The 30 minutes timeframe is also open to much interpretation and could be applied differently to people. How are children defined? Trustee Russell commented that language in #3 reminds people to get ready to leave and that age categories could be helpful. Appropriate behavior is as defined in the library’s Code of Conduct. How would staff approach people and ask their age ? How about addressing caregivers for adults in this policy? Assistant Director Doyle suggested running this by Jenn Billingsley and then bringing any comments to the full Board meeting in June so that the Board could act then. She thought staff might want more specificity about what should be done, e.g., that police will be called. Trustee Harris proposed a friendly amendment that Assistant Director Doyle show the revised policy to the library leadership team and the head of the children’s department and then bring the policy and any comments to the full Board meeting in June to be discussed and voted on. Trustee Hadley accepted the friendly amendment. The motion passed unanimously. We would like to get the policy approved at the June meeting. 5. New Business  No new business. 6. Discussion of Items to Be Placed on Next Agenda under new Business a. Whistleblower policy b. Schedule of policy review c. Personnel policy compilation 7. Announcements None 8. Open Forum/General Good and Welfare We set a date for September 2022 meeting: Trustee Sanders will not be available Sept. 7 so we agreed to change the date of our next meeting to Sept. 14. 9. Additional Public Comment: None 10. Executive Session to discuss strategies and negotiations about pending claims or pending litigation involving the agency or a member: Not needed. Trustee Russell asked if a library card swipe system could ever be used to provide some security about who can enter the library. Provision would be made for guests. Russell Library does not have this technology, but Assistant Director Doyle does hope that library cards could be used for parking across the street from the library. The library has had active shooter training before the pandemic. It is time to have another training. 11. Meeting Adjournment: Trustee Harris moved and Trustee Russell seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:04. Next meeting: Sept. 14, 2022 Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Hadley