Russell Library Governance Committee

Governance Committee of the Russell Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting, May 3, 2023, 5:00 PM (Online meeting via Zoom) DRAFT Minutes Present: Brandie Doyle (Assistant Director), Jennifer Hadley (recorder), Gregory Harris, Cynthia Sanders (Chair), Sarah Schulenburg Not present: Thomas Russell IV 1. Call to Order: Trustee Sanders called the meeting to order at 5:02 pm and reviewed the community dialogue guidelines. 2. Approval of Minutes – Trustee Schulenburg noted a correction to the spelling of her name. a. MOTION: Trustee Sanders moved and Trustee Schulenburg seconded to approve the minutes from the April 5, 2023 Governance Committee Meeting. The motion passed unanimously. 3. Public Comment: No public present. 4. Unfinished Business Trustee Sanders noted that Computer/Internet Use Policy was presented to the Board at the last Board meeting and was approved. a. Meeting Room Use Policy Assistant Director Doyle reviewed the status of the policy. The changes discussed previously have been approved by staff. We discussed whether it was necessary to further limit the number of times organizations may reserve meeting spaces per month. The current limit of three has not presented a problem or barrier to others, so it will be kept at three. We will probably want to revisit the policy in one year, as the library may start renting space. Trustee Harris moved and Trustee Schulenburg seconded to present the policy to the full Board at the next meeting. b. Anti-bullying policy (Workplace Anti-bullying policy) Assistant Director Doyle reported that the city policies referred to at the last meeting seem to achieve what Russell Library wants. They are worded more as non-discrimination instead of anti-bullying. She will keep an eye on whether modifications need to be made but for now it seems best to follow the city policies. Existing policies empower staff to address any bullying. c. Personnel Policy compilation The Board approved the policy in 2011. This committee should review the Middletown policies before signing off on them again although we are bound to them already because the BOT endorsed them. These policies stay in effect through employees’ contracts. The suggestion was made to move the section on city policies up towards the top of the document, after ethics, to give them more visibility, as well as to link to these policies. It seems that we won’t need a standalone policy. Discussion: We noted that there is no specific mention of upward bullying and bullying is not defined. Ethics are aligned with ALA ethics. The job sharing section was removed. Assistant Director Doyle will review the section on requests for references. The policy can  link to FMLA text or it can be copied into our policy. The union contract includes reference to it. Russell Library is committed to following FMLA although it is not subject to it because staff numbers are under 50. 5. New Business: None 6. Discussion of Items to Be Placed on Next Agenda under New Business a. Meeting Space policy b. Personnel policies c. Anti-bullying policy (Workplace Anti-bullying policy) 7. Announcements: Trustee Sanders will soon be finishing her interim term on the Board. She will remain in the Company. The committee thanked her for her service. 8. Open Forum/General Good and Welfare: None 9. Additional Public Comment: None 10. Meeting Adjournment: Trustee Harris moved and Trustee Schulenburg seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously, and the meeting adjourned at 6:02. Next meeting: June 7, 2023 Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Hadley