Library Board

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY Minutes of the Regular Meeting September 16, 2021 Present: Absent: Also Present: Others Present: Sue Carpenter Meredith Hartery Sarah Palfrey Linda Durfee Kelly Funkhouser 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 September 16, 2021. The meeting convened at 9:02 am, Judy Panagakos, President presiding, Kelly Funkhouser, secretary. Approval of the Minutes  August 26, 2021 - The minutes were approved as presented. Sue Carpenter moved. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM – None CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS – None REPORTS OF COMMITTEES/OFFICERS A. President – None B. Treasurer – 1. Financial Statements – Financials were reviewed and filed for audit. 2. Approval of Checks – Penny Pugh moved that the checks be approved as presented. The motion passed unanimously. REPORT OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR & BRANCH UPDATES  Visits and circulation were down for August which is typical. August is not one of our busier months. The number of cards issued and borrows were higher in August than in July.  The electrical service for the City of Morgantown building next door is scheduled to be put underground. The Morgantown Public Library is part of that electrical circuit and will be without power and closed Friday, Saturday, and Monday. The electric should be restored Tuesday, for normal operating hours. Book Drops will be emptied every two hours. Penny Pugh asked how the public is being notified of the closure. Sarah Palfrey said that a post was made yesterday and an email distributed this morning. The Aull Center will remain open.  Corina Chang and Shelby Donnelly will set up for the Morgantown Farmer’s Market on Saturday and promoting our new app, doing new cards, and registering patrons for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten.  The Morgantown Public Library was invited to take part in the Therapy Services LLC’s mini carnival that celebrates their 25 years of service that will be held Monday. The library will take costumes and dress up for the children. Therapy Services LLC offers Speech, Occupational, Physical and Massage Therapy. Their 47 employees help children and adults at three locations in Morgantown, Bridgeport and Weston.  There have been 600 downloads of the new Morgantown Public Library System app. This far exceeds Sarah Palfrey’s expectation of the 200 range for the first month. Thanks to Corina Chang for doing such a great job. The Resting Book Face stickers have been very popular.  The Morgantown Public Library will be completing a COVID waiver and submitting the waiver to the West Board Minutes – September 16, 2021 – Page 2 Virginia Library Commission. This waiver requires a board signature. It is being filed because the library’s local expenditures were down due to two positions were unfilled and there was a gap between retirement and hiring of one position. Judy Panagakos will sign the document.  Moving to a new Voice Over IP phone system is being reviewed. Sarah Palfrey and Kelly Funkhouser have talked with one vendor that insists on a 5-year contract. Sarah will obtain a quote from the City’s vendor.  MPLS received a quote from OT to re-cable the building with fiber. Fiber comes into the building but is not throughout the building. We are not able to utilize all of the bandwidth we have access to right now. The quote is about $65,000. Tim Povroznik, IT Specialist with the City of Morgantown, indicated there is nothing extravagant or unnecessary in the quote document. thought it sounded like a good deal. Submitting to the City to pay for with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The elevator, the roof, and the cabling could be paid through these ARPA funds. Alex Stockdale, Deputy Director of Engineering & Public Works with the City of Morgantown, is looking into elevator replacement for the City. Sarah has spoken with her to see if the Library can be included in this.  Sarah Palfrey attended her first Monongalia County Broad Brand Initiative meeting. The consultant group welcomed the library’s participation.  There are currently two open positions: A part-time temporary position to cover for Charlotte Chung’s maternity leave at Cheat Area Public Library from present through January and a part-time position at Clay- Battelle Public Library that has children’s programming duties associated with it.  The West Virginia Library Association will be in person in October. They will be offering masks to everyone. A couple of staff members will be attending.  Personnel wise, it is tense. The two groups, people with children under 12 versus those that don’t, have very different views on COVID procedures.  Branch updates: The water heater was replaced at Clinton District Public Library. The Clay-Battelle Public Library siding repairs are still on track for next month. A contractor was found for the concrete work at the Cheat Area Public Library. Cheat Area is still doing their outside In Tents Storytime with a lot of attendance. UNFINISHED BUSINESS  COVID-19 plan – o The Monongalia County Commission has returned to requiring masks in the building for staff and visitors to all county owned facilities. The Monongalia County Health Department highly recommends/suggests wearing of masks inside all building. o Sarah Palfrey presented results of a staff survey. o Masks up is the new policy for in the library buildings. This policy will be mandatory for patrons, visitors, and vendors. o Curbside delivery is still available and probably always will be. o Linda Durfee moved that the library system will return to required masks for patrons, visitors, vendors, and staff. Discussion consensus is that this mask policy applies to outside programming. The motion was amended to include on premises and off premises by Linda Durfee. The motion passed. o Program planning is currently finalized two months in advance. Sarah Palfrey asked for guidance on planning and using larger facilities for the same sized programs. The consensus is to continue to plan indoor programming using larger facilities and, based on current COVID climate, the plans may need cancelled. o Ohio Public Libraries have all been giving at home COVID tests with curbside service. Sarah Palfrey will obtain more information. Book Dash deliveries could include the tests. Board Minutes –September 16, 2021– Page 3  Health Insurance – The proposed staff letter was discussed. The board recommended changes will be made and the letter will be distributed to the staff.  Investment Committee – Judy Panagakos presented the confirmed members of the new Investment Committee: o Gulnara R Zaynutdinova, Ph.D., Finance Professor at WVU o Joe Lemine, Retired, Clear Mountain Bank o Kaylon McInelly, WVU Foundation o Susan Arnold, Director of Research Services, WVU Health Sciences Library o Jennifer Cunanan, WVU Foundation Judy will compile biographies to share with each investment board member and coordinate a meeting in October. NEW BUSINESS –  Your Community Foundation Spend for 2021 (Start Up Awards) – Sarah Palfrey has put out an option for Start Up Awards with the categories of collection development, furniture, equipment, professional development, etc. Last year’s awards were $5,241 and this year $11,600 has been requested. The available draws are $1100 and $18,000 from the YCF accounts. Sarah would like to pull $10,000 from the YCF accounts. Penny Pugh moved that the library draw $10,000 from the Your Community Foundation Fund to fund the Start Up Awards. Penny thinks this is a wonderful program, has so many positive aspects and is a good use of a tiny amount of money. She expresses her congratulations. Motion carried. BOARD COMMENTS – None. ADJOURNMENT – Sue Carpenter moved to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:34 am. NEXT MEETING - October 21, 2021 at 9:00am