Board Minutes

2021

Library Board Meeting
Wells County Public Library
200 W Washington St Bluffton, IN 46714
Large Meeting Room
Tuesday, March 9, 2020
Meeting Minutes
6:30 p.m.

Present: Brown, Gentis, Johnson, Minniear, Stauffer, Tabor

1. Call to Order: President Dustin Brown called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m.
2. Public Input: None
3. Consent Agenda: Tabor moved to accept the Consent Agenda; Stauffer seconded. Passed 6-0.
a. February 9, 2021 Board Meeting Minutes
b. Librarian’s Report
c. Treasurer’s Report
d. February 2021 Register of Claims
4. March 1-9, 2021 Register of Claims: Minniear moved to accept the March 1-9, 2021, Register of Claims in the amount of $137,191.61; Johnson seconded. Passed 6-0.
5. Correspondence: WCPL received a certificate of thanks from the Census Bureau for assisting with the 2020 Census.
6. Staff Report-AARP Tax Assistance: Jason Habegger reported on the tax assistance offered by the library. This year from January–March 9, the library has had 150 phone interactions and 433 desk interactions concerning tax assistance. The numbers are higher than in 2020 because of COVID; also, Huntington and the Wells County Council on Aging did not offer this service in 2021; Allen County offered only limited services. The Board agreed that this is an important service to our patrons, and it appreciates the efforts of the staff in offering this service.
7. Committee Reports
a. Building: The Cannem work should begin on March 16th (tentative date). The work is expected to take one week to complete. Concerning the leak along the roofline: it was discovered that some insulation had slipped out of position, causing condensation to build up. The insulation has been moved back into position, and the leak has not been noticed. Hopefully, that takes care of the situation.
b. Budget: Nothing at this time
c. Policy and By-laws
i. Circulation and Collection Policies: These policies were read, and some changes were suggested.
d. Public Awareness/Outreach: Statistics are available for the Winter Reading Program, as well as for Programming Services and Collection / Registration for the months of January and February. They may be viewed online in the March 9 agenda.
e. Nominating: Nothing
f. Director Evaluation: Nothing
8. Unfinished Business: None
9. Personnel Updates
a. New Hires: Due to the resignation of KaylaAnn, some personnel changes and new hires have been made. Betty Maloney has been hired as a Clerk 1 at the Ossian branch for 12 hours a week at $10.44 per hour with no benefits; Stephanie Rinkenberger has been hired as a Circulation Clerk 1 for 12 hours a week at $11.41 per hour with no benefits; and, Liz Paff will be moving from Media Services to Adult Services. Stauffer moved to accept these changes as presented by Sarah; Gentis seconded. Passed 6-0.
10. New Business
a. Wells County Foundation Distribution: The Board of Directors of the Wells County Foundation, Inc., has approved a 5% payout for distributions made in 2020 on endowed funds. This year we may choose to accept $20,400 in annual payout. Tabor moved that we take our distribution for 2020 in 2021; Gentis seconded. Passed 6-0.
11. Other Items for Consideration
a. Director Updates: At the Department Head meeting, discussion was held on changing the restrictions to teens on our internet user agreement, consistency with allowing free print jobs, quarantining of materials, updating of the borrowing materials chart, addition of bib records for newspapers, assessment of the staff review structure, the spring In-service, and the updating of the WordWise category of Religion.
Plans for the Children’s Book Festival are underway; the author is still willing to come.
In-person story times started this week; we have received much positive feedback from parents. The Friends of the Library received $1,208.91 from the last book sale.
COVID Quarantine Updates: The CDC now says it is very rare to contract COVID from surfaces. Therefore, we will stop quarantining books and materials. Drinking fountains will be open for those who choose to use them; water bottle fillers are still available.
The Children’s Room will continue to switch out toys daily until Wells County is blue for three or more weeks. Toys will continue to be washed regularly with Dawn dish soap and water. The residue left from Clorox wipes is not harmful. Hand sanitizer and wipes will remain available to patrons.
b. Holiday Closings: All day on Friday and Saturday, April 2nd and 3rd
8-1 on Friday, May 21st due to In-service
All day on Saturday, May 29th, and Monday, May 31st
12. Roundtable: Nothing
13. Next Meeting Announcements:
a. Regular Meeting– Tuesday, April 13, 2021, 6:30 p.m. at Bluffton in the Large Meeting Room
14. Adjournment: President Dustin Brown adjourned the meeting at 7:29 p.m.