April 20, 2000 Minutes
Fargo Public Library Board of Directors
Minutes of April 20, 2000
President David Martin called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Present: David Martin, Larry Boulger, Virginia Dambach, Cathie Walstad, Ryn Pitts, Beth Postema, JoAnn Coste, Friends Liaison Bev Quamme
Order of Agenda
No motion was made to approve the order of the agenda. The meeting proceeded according to the agenda.
Minutes
Boulger made the motion that the minutes from the March 21 regular meeting be approved as read. Dambach seconded the motion; the motion carried. Pitts made the motion to approve the minutes from the April 10 special meeting as read. Boulger seconded the motion; the motion carried.
Statistical Reports
Postema highlighted the ODIN conference that she attended in Wahpeton. She noted that expenditures are under budget so far at this point in the year. In response to a question, she reported that the ODIN advisory council has endorsed a change in the cost allocation formula. This change still has to be approved by a higher education review board. The current estimated increase in cost is $5,000. This increase would be spread out over 5 years. She said that the library could absorb the entire $5000 in the budget because the increase had been anticipated. The Board discussed migrating from ODIN and the consensus was to put that process on hold.
Friends Report
Quamme reported that the Friends met on April 11th. First on the agenda was an update on the long-range planning process from four members on the Planning Committee: Boulger, Gale Chapman, Janet Geston, and Devin Mogck. Dambach and Dick Dittman presented a request for an additional $500 dollars; they previously were awarded $3778.00 at the March meeting. The additional $500 dollars was awarded for non-competitive games at the Centennial. The Friends will have a booth at the May 19th Centennial Celebration. Pencils and refrigerator magnets have been ordered for give away to the public. The Friends will have fliers for Friends of the Fargo Public Library memberships and 144 Mugs with the Fargo Public Library logo will be sold. The Friends annual meeting will be held May 9th at 7 p.m. They will vote on extending their Board from 9 to 12 members at that meeting.
The bylaws read that the Friends meet quarterly or as needed, which is to be determined by the president. They have always met monthly, but are looking to change that to September, October, November and January through May with a working meeting in July to prepare for the used book sale. They are also considering moving the meeting from the 2nd Tuesday to the 1st Tuesday of those months. They had a request for $800 for purchasing paperback books for the Youth Summer Reading Program in addition to the $1000 for the matching grant that was awarded at the March meeting. The $800 request was awarded.
The membership now stands at 187 households with 406 potential members on the database. Quamme reported on the April 13th Creative Word Power event. There were eight authors on the Panel with Steve Stark as moderator and 25 people in the audience.
Board President Report
Martin summarized the past and present activities and issues facing the Fargo Public Library. He said that the Board has been working in cooperation with City Hall and library staff and the public to resolve the issues concerning the Library Director position. Martin stated that the library and its Board operate with statutory authority in the state of North Dakota, however, the library functions as a department of the City government and library employees, including the Director, are City of Fargo employees.
Martin informed the Board, Fargo Public Library staff, and the public of Davis’ current status as the director of the library. Director Davis is not at work and has requested annual leave until the City of Fargo could act on his request for medical leave under the Family Medical Leave Act. Documentation is required to substantiate Davis’ medical leave request. Once the information is received, the City of Fargo needs to evaluate the information before a decision is made. Martin stated that this is the reason that there is no acting library director. If the City grants the medical leave, then the Board would need to look at how long the leave would last and the need to appoint an acting director for the duration of Davis’ absence. Martin asked that everyone try to work together to get this situation resolved, while still providing good service to the public.
Continuing Business
The long-range facilities planning process was highlighted by Boulger. Lawson is preparing a 70-page technical review of the library service model, which will be sent to the Fargo Public Library on May 5th, 2000. Boulger also announced the dates of the Planning meetings. There will be a Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 16th at 4:00 p.m. and a Public meeting on Tuesday, May 23rd at the Commission Chambers where George Lawson and Jeff Scherer will be reviewing the report to the community. The original Public Planning meeting was schedule for April 27th and Boulger discussed sending out cancellation notices and announcing the new date set for the Public meeting. Dambach suggested having the next Board meeting at 3:00 p.m. so the other Board members may attend the May 16th Planning meeting.
It was decided that the FPL would mail out cancellations for the April 27th Public meeting to the Friends. The Friends of the Fargo Public Library would mail out post cards informing other members of the May 23rd Public meeting date.
Dambach discussed the Centennial Celebration planning process. The Fargo Public Library Centennial celebration is scheduled for May 19th, 2000. Dambach displayed items that have been ordered for the event and thanked the Friends of the Fargo Public Library for their help. The supplement that was scheduled to run in the Forum on May 7th has been changed to Sunday, May 14th. On Monday the 15th of May from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., the drive by readings will take place in the west library parking lot.
The Literacy Program and position status was discussed. The Board approved a plan to fund a temporary position that the City Commission approved the library to advertise, recruit and hire a qualified person. The leave request from the library Director caused the interviewing process to be postponed. Bremer and Hilburn commented that there are qualified candidates and she questioned the hiring process in Davis’ absence. Dambach questioned to whom the Literacy Leader would report. Through discussion it was decided that the Literacy Leader would report to Postema. The Board gave permission for the library to begin the interview process.
The annual City/FPL budget preparation process/request. Coste reported that she has received no information regarding the status of the budget process other than the requisition for personnel submitted on April 1, 2000. The budget needs to be presented to the City in July.
Hiring of assessment/training consultant. Dambach commented that Kaspari was hired to help improve relations with the library Director and staff, but with Davis gone she believed implementation would be premature. It was decided that the FPL would continue to open at 11:00 a.m. on Friday morning even though it was not decided on what date Kaspari would begin training and assessment.
Tabled motion re: interim FPL grievance procedure. Dambach stated that there are policies for affirmative action, equal opportunity, and sexual harassment, but no procedures. She stated that she felt uncomfortable having a policy without procedures.
Martin called for a vote to defeat the tabled motion. The tabled motion was defeated.
Coste said that each Fargo Public Library employee has access to a City of Fargo policy manual.
New full-time employees visit Human Resources after they begin working for the City and receive a policy handbook. In addition, an updated handbook is accessible to employees at all times. Coste also said that at a Board meeting on March 16, 1993, a motion to adopt all City of Fargo policies was approved. Pitts made a motion to allow Dambach to represent the Board to urge Zavoral to adopt a step by step grievance procedure. Walstad seconded the motion; the motion carried.
New Business
Dambach discussed a Crisis Management Plan. Dambach independently wrote a document concerning the Fargo Public Library internal problems. She stated that because the crisis has attracted media attention, the Board has a responsibility to handle the crisis effectively. Walstad asked if the document was a definition of the problem or if there was more to the problem. Pitts and Dambach answered that the document addressed all the problems concerning the Fargo Public Library. Boulger said that he liked the idea of an outline of how to respond to the crisis. He also said that he liked the fact that Dambach included the positive things happening at the library. Dambach stated that she thought it was a good idea for the Board to have uniformity in the answers that they give to the public in regards to the crisis.
Pitts made a motion to adopt and incorporate the document into current activities and future plans. Dambach seconded the motion; the motion carried.
FPL Staff questions/concerns re: interim situation: Postema indicated that she asked Edie Discher to address the Board concerning staff questions during the interim situation. Discher said that staff’s biggest concern is having someone who is authorized to make decisions for the library. Martin said that in his conversation with City Hall, no one would be appointed Acting Director until a decision of whether to grant Davis’ medical leave was made. Discher stated that since the Technical Services Coordinator position is still vacant, there is no one in-house to update the library’s web page. The IT department has handled the web page changes, the staff believe that someone within the library is needed to handle technical duties. Discher said that Davis worked shifts at the Reference Desk before his leave. In Davis’ absence, the Reference Desk is short staffed and can not cover the hours that Davis worked. She asked if it would be possible to hire a temporary Reference librarian to cover Davis’ hours. The library has chosen five automation vendors to give a demonstration of their system.
Discher commented that someone was needed to represent the library in state meeting. It was decided that a decision of how to proceed would be made once Davis’ status is determined.
Walstad asked if volunteers would be able to cover the Reference Desk in Davis’ absence.
Discher did not know of any volunteer that is qualified to cover the hours. Walstad said that she knew of someone who may be able to fill the hours and would contact that person. Pitts said that she did not foresee any problems temporarily hiring a person to fill Davis’ hours. The Board reached a consensus to postpone the automation vendors’ presentations. Briggs said that a person was needed to represent the Fargo Public Library at the Centennial Celebration. Briggs suggested a member of the Board or an Acting Director to welcome the festivities. The Board agreed to wait for information of Davis’ leave request before making the decision of who will represent the Library at the Centennial Celebration.
Citizen’s Forum
A citizen questioned who is currently in charge of the library and asked why no one has been appointed to be in charge in Davis’ absence. Martin answered that an Acting Director cannot be appointed until the City decides to grant or deny Davis’ request for the Family Medical Leave Act.
Next Meeting
The next Board meeting will be on May 16th at 3:00 p.m. in the Fargo Public Library Mezzanine.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Respectively submitted,
Rhonda Roesler