Library Board

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY Approved 02/18/2021 Minutes of the Regular Meeting January 21, 2021 Present: Absent: Also Present: Others Present: Sue Carpenter Sarah Palfrey Linda Durfee Sarah Scharf Meredith Hartery Judy Panagakos Penny Pugh Call to order The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Morgantown Public Library convened via Zoom Video Conferencing on January 21, 2021. The meeting convened at 9:01 am, Judy Panagakos, President presiding, Sarah Scharf, secretary. Approval of the Minutes ● November 19, 2020 – Sue Carpenter moved to approve the minutes as presented. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM ● None CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS ● Sarah Palfrey reported that the library received several Christmas cards with messages of encouragement. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES/OFFICERS ● President – None ● Treasurer ○ Approval of Checks - Financial statements were distributed via email. Penny Pugh moved to approve checks as presented. The motion passed. REPORT OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR & BRANCH UPDATES ● The HVAC upgrade is completely installed, functional, and paid for. ● Installation of the three replacement doors is complete. Trim and finishing work should be completed in the next two weeks. ● The Paul Atkins estate lawyer contacted us with an update. Another $50,000 disbursement will be sent shortly. ● Sarah Palfrey completed a midyear review of the budget. Everything is on track, and overall revenue is only down 6%, not including the budget adjustment that the City is reinstating. ● The WVLN merger is complete, aside from small needed adjustments to holds and ILL workflows. One benefit of the merger is more local control, and the opportunity for patron- driven acquisitions. Next phase: WVLC will join WVLN, which may take 2-3months. Once Board Minutes – January 21, 2021 – Page 2 complete, the EBSCOhost module will be searchable in the online catalog. E-books and audiobooks could also be incorporated into the discovery service, but it will require a lot of upkeep. ● An update to the LibraryAware account will allow us to offer a mobile app to patrons. ● Basement Flooding situation: ○ After a building engineer worked with us to pinpoint the cause of the repeated flooding, MUB took responsibility and repaired a detached pipe under the sidewalk. As extra insurance, a pump is installed under the floor to prevent any backflow. The sump-pump in the subbasement has been upgraded, and Darrin Baker is looking into a water alarm system. ○ The library is still waiting on quotes for carpet replacement and paint. Doorframes and the tile in one bathroom also need replaced. ○ Traveler’s Insurance through the City of Morgantown initially determined that our flooding events occurred too far apart to qualify as one claim. Kelly Funkhouser is working with the insurance company to hopefully renegotiate settlement payments. The Board recommends that the city attorney talk directly to Insurance company, too. ○ Sarah Palfrey commended Darrin Baker, Tim McCullough, Bonnie Dwire, and Ellen Hathaway for their extra help during this stressful time. ● Sarah Palfrey discussed the job posting for Public Services Manager. This employee would provide training and support to all branches. There are not many applicants yet. The Board recommended that Sarah Palfrey inform current applicants that process is on hold, and repost the job in the coming months. The library may need to hire another temporary desk employee in the interim ● The library has purchased the Homelessness in Libraries program. Training will be required for all employees, and will be empathy-driven with a focus on communication techniques. The library is assisting local non-profits (e.g. Literacy Volunteers, Spark and YCF) in adjusting their grant funded programs. BRANCH UPDATES ● Foot traffic has picked up at Cheat Library, but still slow at Clinton and Clay Battelle. ● All branches are excited about summer program planning ● Sarah Palfrey will be asking all branches to complete monthly reports soon. UNFINISHED BUSINESS ● COVID-19 plan – The federal government Covid Pay requirement (up to 2 weeks at 100% salary) has expired. Sarah Palfrey would like the library to continue to offer this benefit through March to all employees without using sick time, since the government has extended the tax benefit expiration. ● Investment Policy – ○ Judy Panagakos will edit the document to include suggested changes, including appending with specific WV regulations, and correcting the “Purpose” statement. She will circulate a Board Minutes –January 21, 2021 – Page 3 new version to the committee via email. ○ Discussion followed about clarifying the role of the treasurer, and centralizing all of the banking to United Bank. NEW BUSINESS ● The library received the City of Morgantown’s Request form for FY22. (Levy funds are holding steady). After a brief discussion about the possibility of asking for an increase from FY21’s $845,581, Sue Carpenter moved that we keep the amount the same as last year for our allocation. The motion passed. BOARD COMMENTS ● Judy Panagakos asked about planning a Staff Appreciation day. The Board intends to discuss ideas during the next meeting. One suggestion so far is to purchase gift cards from a downtown business. ADJOURNMENT – Linda Durfee moved to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:13 am. NEXT MEETING - February 18, 2021 at 9:00 am via Zoom.