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Home My Public Portal AboutDecember 6, 2016 minutes with linksTrustees of the Watertown Free Public Library December 6, 2016 Present: Sheppard Ferguson, Leanne Hammonds, Penelope Peoples, Raya Stern, Carol Tierney, Timothy Tracy, Trustees; Leone Cole, Director; Caitlin Browne, Assistant Director; Donald Bleech, Red Leaf Café Mr. Tracy brought the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Kyle Igo of Watertown Cable Access filmed the meeting. A round of introductions took place. Public Forum: No one signed up to speak. Secretary’s Report: Ms. Stern moved to accept the November 15, 2016 minutes, as amended; Ms. Peoples seconded. All voted in favor. Mr. Tracy took the meeting out of order to introduce Jenny DeRocher, the new part-time Circulation Assistant. Jenny majored in History at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and has known for a long time that she wanted a career in public libraries. She is a first-year MLIS student at Simmons with a focus on public history and archives. Watertown stood out for her among the libraries she considered in her job search. Red Leaf Café: Mr. Bleech has renewed all his licenses. Business has been a little slow for the last couple of months, but the vending machine is doing very well. He thought long and hard about getting one, but it is popular and has already been paid off. Mr. Tracy asked if the machine had any problems/breakdowns. Mr. Bleech said no: it’s a “smart” machine, works well, and has a telephone number to contact in case of a problem. He checks and replenishes the change dispenser frequently, and it has never run out. Mr. Bleech handed out his three-month report. Financial Report: Ms. Stern says that expenditures are on track for this time of year. Mr. Tracy asked whether we would have enough in the Full-time budget to cover the salary of a new custodian when one is hired. Ms. Cole said that we are not currently over budget and we can always transfer funds from Overtime, if needed. Overtime does not necessarily mean time and a half (but sometimes does). Bob McLaughlin will be back at work on Monday, December 12. The large expenditures in Building Maintenance were for HVAC repairs. $25,000 from the Town for historic map and photo preservation was added to the Book Processing budget line. Mr. Tracy asked about the timing for purchase of museum passes: we buy a full year’s worth of all passes, but they expire at different times. The Building Committee buys a few for Watertown patrons only. HATCH financials: Ms. Browne is pulling together volunteers to develop a curriculum for training the public and other volunteers on HATCH equipment. This work is funded by the Watertown Community Foundation grant, awarded in May. The grant funds must be spent by March 2017. Ms. Stern moved to accept the Financial Report; Ms. Peoples seconded. All voted in favor. Chairman’s Report: Open Meeting Law and “serial communications”: Mr. Tracy advises caution when discussing issues via email. It would be better to meet in person in small groups with fewer than 2 a quorum. Director’s Report: Personnel updates: Custodian Michael Circeo has resigned. Jeri Bayer will continue heading Project Literacy until Dec 24 and will stay beyond that as a temp and on contract to do tutor training. Jeri’s replacement will start in January. She created a literacy program in Wellesley and wanted to move on to something bigger and more diverse. Union contract: Once the Town Council approves the contract we will get a Memorandum of Agreement. They will then transfer money from a reserve account for the library. Anyone who retired after July 1 will get the same retroactive benefits as active employees, but those who resigned will not. School collaboration update: Ms. Cole handed out a memo about school collaboration and a Project Literacy potluck flyer. Update on historic maps and photos: Staff identified five items to be restored by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NDCC): two maps and three historical photos. Restoration will include digital facsimiles. Originals, rather than copies, will be framed and mounted in the corridor outside the Watertown Savings Bank room as the library has no place to archive them. Each piece will be fitted with Plexiglass, which protects from air and UV radiation. Ms. Tierney asked if the pieces would be secure in that location. Vandals could only damage the frames. Two maps have already been digitized. These five items are the main ones needing conservation. There may be a few more, but some are badly damaged. Ms. Cole is working to assess what we have. NDCC is asking $19,080 for the work we want to do. Additional costs would include insurance while the items are being processed and archival lighting for the hallway. No action by Trustees is needed since the money for this is already in the budget. Ms. Stern suggested that we preserve more maps and photos and rotate the display every few years. Update on new public records law: Ms. Cole went to a presentation by KP Law on the new law, which takes effect in January. Each municipality must appoint a Records Access Officer (RAO); for the Town this will be the Town Clerk. Ms. Cole could serve as RAO for Library. This law was passed to make it easier for people to request and get public records. The Town must respond to initial requests for records within ten business days and provide the requested records within 25 business days unless the requester agrees to more time. Ms. Cole will work with the Recording Secretary on requests pertaining to the Board of Trustees. Draft minutes of Trustee meetings are subject to these requirements. A patron banned from the library may request incident reports and any emails among the Trustees on the subject. The new law is unlikely to generate increased requests. WCATV has asked interns to make DVDs for our archives, but only written minutes are an official record of a Trustee meeting. Capital items update: no update. Ruth Griffin fund: no update. New Business: Child Safety/Unattended Adults policy: no changes are recommended at this time. Mr. Ferguson asked if there is a policy on taking photos in the library. Photography is permitted, but we ask that no photos be taken of anyone who doesn’t want it. Ms. Hammonds asked if we could 3 make the Children’s Room available for adult meetings after 7:30 or 8 pm. Ms. Browne said that would be sending mixed messages. Ms. Tierney suggested that the library adopt a uniform style for our posted policies. Brittany Byrd will look into creating a style sheet. Old Business: Library Director evaluation form revision: Mr. Tracy posed the question “What is the goal of the form?” and asked for responses around the table. He noted that until recently we hadn’t had a regular evaluation process and that revival of the practice was prompted by a desire to send a message to administration that the Director is doing a good job. Ms. Peoples noted that performance evaluation is an important motivational tool that acknowledges excellence and identifies areas where improvement can be made. Several Trustees feel that the current form is short on specifics and that broad categories like Planning and Community Relations need to be fleshed out with specific benchmarks and criteria— more meat on the deliverables, as one member put it. Ms. Peoples suggested that a detailed form developed by former Trustee Anna Kuwabara might serve as a model. Some Trustees would like to see Staff Management restored as a category, and there was discussion of 360 degree performance review (which may not work for such a small organization) and other ways of gauging staff satisfaction. A question arose about how other library staff are evaluated. Ms. Cole said that the Union has input on changes to the form. When staff get unsatisfactory reviews their step increases are withheld for six months until they improve. Ms. Peoples was asked to write a draft evaluation form, which she will present at a future meeting. Requests for Information: Caitlin reminded us that the Trustee Holiday luncheon will be on Monday, December 12, 12-2 pm. Next Meeting: January 2017, date to be determined. Mr. Ferguson moved to adjourn at 8:33 pm; Ms. Hammonds seconded. Respectfully submitted, Carol Tierney ENCLOSURES: Agenda; Draft November 15, 2016 Minutes; FY17 Year-to-Date Budget Report; FY17 1st Quarter Budget Breakdown; FY17 Funds and Grants; Burke FY17; Hatch Financial Report; Jennifer DeRocher cover letter and resumé; Northeast Document Conservation Center cover letter; Northeast Document Conservation Center Project #16-341_PIF; KP Law eUpdate: The New Public Records Law – Municipalities; Child Safety Policy; Unattended Adults in Children’s and Teen Rooms; Red Leaf Café 3rd Quarter Report; Library/School Collaboration Update, December 6, 2016