Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Tom Bunger, Antonia Matthew, Janet Patterson, and Kate Paul.
President John Walsh called the work session to order at 5:46 p.m.
John explained the Monroe County Public Library is required to give a three-year Capital Projects Fund plan every year to the County Council and asked Sara to update the Board regarding the current status of the plan.
Sara referenced the CPF document in the Work Session packet, which is now in the format required for submission. There are no substantive changes from the draft presented at the February Work Session, but there is one tiny change on page 2F, where the correct number in the “Sources and Estimates of Revenue” for Auto Excise and Financial Institutions Tax Revenues is $38,842, not $38,843.
John asked Sara to remind the Board about the timeline for approval.
Sara said that the Board must make any final adjustments to the CPF plan at the March board meeting and recommend they send it forward for a public hearing, to be held just before the April Board meeting.
Bonnie said she will send public notices to the newspapers on April 2.
Sara said the public hearing will have a separate agenda, similar to that for the budget.
Sara said that, following the public hearing and approval by the Library Board, the Library will submit the CPF plan documents to the County Council and that will begin the Council’s approval process, which also includes publication of the budget and a public hearing and must be completed before July 31.
John said last year the Library hosted a breakfast meeting and invited members from the community. The Library showed a Powerpoint presentation which highlighted some of the plan. He said the Board might want to do something similar.
John asked for questions from the Board. He asked Bonnie or Margaret to find out when they did the breakfast along the timeline last year.
Margaret and Sue confirmed that it was in March.
John said we need to prepare the Powerpoint and hold some kind of meeting before the CPF document gets to the County Council.
Sara promised to begin work on the presentation and asked Board members to let her know what other information they would need.
Sara said that the board didn’t have time to talk about this at the last Work Session, but comments at the Board Meeting had caused her and staff to revise the draft. IU adjunct instructor Steve Higgs noted that his journalism students did not have press credentials. Michael White also pointed out that many members of the press no longer carried credentials. Sara said the basic principles of the policy remain. Those who wish to take photographs of individuals in the Library have the sole responsibility of gaining permission from those individuals. The library doesn’t allow commercial photography. The library reserves the right to take document its own services and programs. She thanked Steve and Michael for their input and said she believed the policy is simpler and more welcoming than it was before.
Penny said with everyone having photo phones it is almost impossible to keep people from taking photos.
Sara said it is hard to control that but the policy makes it the individual’s responsibility to get permission before taking a picture.
John asked if Tom Bunger has reviewed the policy.
Tom said he had reviewed it and felt the changes were appropriate.
Michael White talked about independent journalists. Because the nature of journalists had changed, they are not required to document their credentials.
Penny said if she was a parent or grandparent and someone wanted to take pictures of her child, she might be uncomfortable.
Sara said the policy says that the photographer must ask first.
Penny asked if the journalism professor could email a list of students.
Tom said he felt that would be a policing nightmare. He reiterated Michael’s comments that the Library is a public place.
Sara said we have the best reference librarians right here. If an individual were concerned about whether someone were representing media, they could check it out.
John asked for any further questions or comments. There were none.
Penny said she attended several of the meetings of the Employee Forum Action Committee (previously known as Solutions Plus), but she had been unable to attend the last few meetings. She kept up with the meetings by reading drafts on the Library’s Intranet.
Chris Jackson was invited to address the Board. He began by explaining the process. The existing policy left job classification decisions to the director alone. The revision began with the EFAC, and had been reviewed and recommended by the managers and the director, with input from the Library’s legal counsel and many suggestions from staff and many revisions before ending up with the revised policy language and procedures for implementing it. He said he felt it was ready for Board approval and was happy to field any questions.
Fred asked Chris if he could tell the Board what topics were the most important to staff.
Chris said the the staff was interested in transparency. The proposed procedures address that by included a 90 day notice period unless there is an emergency. The procedures also call for a Job Classification Committee.
Fred asked Sara if she felt comfortable with the proposed changes.
Sara said yes, she has seen several drafts and had made recommendations about changes to align with the Indiana Code language that reserves the authority for hiring to the Board. In an earlier draft, it appeared that the JCC would make a final decision. EFAC agreed; the current proposed language allows the JCC to make a recommendation to the director and Board. The director may make an independent recommendation.
Fred asked if the JCC would be a standing committee.
Sara said no, the JCC would be constructed each time there was a proposal to create a new position, reclassify a position more than two pay grades, or eliminate a position, with the relevant manager for each position and the other members as described.
Chris said the JCC would make recommendations for both upward and downward changes in classification.
Penny asked if a change in hours would be included.
Chris said yes, that would really be a new position.
John said sometime there could be the possibility of the director’s recommendation being in contrast with that of the committee. He is thinking about the IU library, where there was some resentment when existing positions were not filled and people were hired for new positions at a higher salary. John thinks this is a good plan but board needs to be aware that there might be differences in the recommendations.
Sara said this sets up a process for input.
Chris said the committee understood that substantial changes to the Library’s mission or budget changes might require cutbacks. They hope that wouldn’t happen, but they did keep that in mind.
Penny added that the EFAC group had worked very hard and should get a pat on the back.
John thanked everyone who worked on this.
John asked if any member of the public wished to comment. There were none.
The meeting adjourned at 6:12 p.m.
Contact
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Updated:
June 3, 2008
° http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/board/200803wrk.html
