Switzerland County Public Library

Board Meeting Minutes

March 8^th, 2022

The regular monthly meeting of the Switzerland County Public Library Board of Trustees was held Tuesday, March 8^th, 2022 at 3:32 pm in the meeting room of the library. Attending were Mary Jane Rogers, Michelle Hicks, Diana Barry, Diane Sigmon, Heather Peelman and Emily Fox. Not attending were Sharon Deck, Debbie Margison, and Stacy Streett. Becky Stambaugh and Carrie Colvin from K2M Design were also present.

Rogers made a motion to approve the minutes of the previous board meeting, seconded by Hicks and passed unanimously. Reports of library activity and technology activity were shared. Circulation has raised slightly and program numbers are steady. The library received new computers and the old ones will be recycled in the next few months.

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

Time for Public Comments

None.

Old Business

Fox reported she forgot to submit an ad in the newspaper asking for bids for mowing. Since bids are not a requirement, she contacted Jason McCreary and asked if he would mow again for the same rate. He said he would do it for $50 per mowing instead of $40 due to rising gas prices. Discussion was held. The board agreed to hire him by consensus.

Rogers asked if there was updated information about our snow removal invoices. Fox said she contacted Allan Bear and Parham Excavating about the cost and the invoice was only for the half of the parking lot closest to the library and along the side of the library. Fox said Streett was going to ask a few other businesses how much they would charge for snow removal so the library might switch companies in the future.

New Business

Stambaugh and Colvin presented the completed facilities assessment and two concept designs for the new outdoor learning lab. Discussion was held on the two designs. The board’s consensus was to allow the staff who will use the space to determine what the highest-priority needs for the design should be. Fox and Peelman will work together in the coming weeks and contact K2M Design with their ideas.

Fox said she received a quote from Security Advantage for five new security cameras inside and outside of the building. The quote was $5920. Half of the money would be paid up front and the other half would be paid after the job is completed. Since the library received a grant from the Vevay-Switzerland County Foundation for $8000, the original estimate, the extra money can be used for the outdoor learning lab. Hicks motioned to accept the proposal, seconded by Rogers and passed unanimously.

Fox said she discovered at her most recent director’s meeting that SCPL is the only library in the region to not use the federal mileage rate. She said with gas prices raising it makes sense to raise the rate. Hicks asked what the current state and federal rates are and Fox said the state uses a scale but the current amount is $0.41-42 and federal is $0.58. Rogers motioned to change to the federal rate, seconded by Barry and passed unanimously.

The emergency/disaster recovery policy and public health emergency policies were reviewed. No changes were suggested. Fox mentioned that the public health emergency expired on Friday while she was away from work. Since the emergency status was renewed at the last minute throughout the pandemic, there was not time to warn the Saturday employees that they would go back to being paid for actual hours worked instead of the full 8 hours. Fox requested that the two employees be paid the full 8 hours just this one time since they did not have warning that they would only be paid for 5 hours. The board agreed that was acceptable by consensus. Beginning Monday, March 7^th, all pandemic protections are revoked.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:52 p.m.

Minutes recorded by Emily Fox.