Switzerland County Public Library

Board Meeting Minutes

December 14^th, 2021

The regular monthly meeting of the Switzerland County Public Library Board of Trustees was held Tuesday, December 14^th, 2021 at 3:30 pm in the meeting room of the library. Attending were Debbie Margison, Mary Jane Rogers, Bruce Williams, Allan Bear, Diana Barry, Heather Peelman and Emily Fox. Not attending were Sharon Deck and Stacy Streett.

Rogers made a motion to approve the minutes of the two previous board meetings, seconded by Margison and passed unanimously. Reports of library activity and technology activity were shared. Circulation went up in November and the average number of patrons varies day by day. Evenings are still not busy but may pick up in the spring. The November and December programming calendars are full so the programmers may take a break in January. The Grinchmas program took place last weekend and brought in 54 people, and Peelman did outreach at Jeff Craig Elementary school by volunteering to be the Grinch in Christmas pictures. Adult Services Coordinator Samantha Minch is preparing to do a take and make cookie kit next week and it is expected to be in high demand.

Bills and claims were presented. Barry made a motion to approve the claims, seconded by Williams and passed unanimously.

Time for Public Comments

None.

Old Business

Fox erroneously thought the board did not have to approve the staff health insurance selection, so it was not voted on last month. The board voted to choose Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans for health, dental, and vision coverage for full-time staff members. The total for all three plans will cost the library approximately $24,000 in 2022. Margison voted to approve the selection, seconded by Rogers and passed unanimously.

Fox gave an update that Bear’s last meeting is January and Williams’s is in February. Michelle Hicks will replace Bear and Diane Sigmon will replace Williams.

Fox reported she has been in contact with FAST LLC out of Louisville about five additional security cameras. The representative has not been responsive to e-mails so if an official quote is not received by the January meeting, she will look into another company.

K2M Design has begun working on the facilities assessment. An architect was out to do an initial assessment and take pictures and will likely be out again soon. The full report should be available sometime next month.

Fox reported that Errol Judy cleaned the gutters and roof last week and discovered the tree on the east side of the building has caused some damage to the paint job. Fox passed the photos on to the architects at K2M to see if they had any suggestion for a solution. Barry asked if there was a warranty on the paint job that was done since it was less than four years ago. Fox said she would ask previous director Shannon Phipps. Peelman said she thought she knew the people who had done the job and would help contact them. Fox said she didn’t know if this had been a problem in the past and Bear said that this was the first time the roof had been painted.

New Business

Fox presented a resolution to remove the CARES Act Mini Grant Fund from the financial report beginning January 1^st. Rogers voted to approve, seconded by Margison and passed unanimously.

Fox proposed a change to the personnel policy to include a provision about providing health insurance to staff. She forgot to print the completed policy, so the matter was tabled until the next meeting to give everyone more time to look it over.

Fox proposed an end of year bonus between $200-$500 for all permanent staff members since it was mentioned in a State Board of Accounts End-of-Year webinar. Williams asked which fund this money would come out of and Fox said it would come out of the leftover personal services section of the operating fund, which would have approximately $16,000 left after the next payroll. Barry asked if the amounts were similar to other libraries and Fox said that each library varied depending on circumstances, but those amounts seemed to be reasonable. Williams motioned to approve a $500 bonus, seconded by Margison and passed unanimously.

Fox asked if the library could close an extra day during the New Year’s holiday so that staff could have their end-of-year staff meeting and holiday party. The consensus was yes, so the library will be closed on Tuesday, January 4^th.

Fox presented the meeting schedule for 2022. The board will continue to meet on the second Tuesday of the month at 3:30 p.m. but might need to change a meeting in the fall due to fall break. The board can decide to change the date later in the year.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.

Minutes recorded by Emily Fox.