MEETING MINUTES
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SCARBOROUGH PUBLIC LIBRARY
December 17, 2020
4:30 PM – Video Conference

Meeting called to order 4:31 PM by Bill Donovan.

Attendees: Nancy Crowell, Director of Scarborough Library, Emily Ward, Joyce Clark, Judy Johnson, Peter Hatem, Bill Donovan, Susan Powell, Catherine Morrison, Assistant Library Director, Lenore Rapkin, Jon Anderson Town Council Liaison, Anne Janak, Audra Sinclair

Adoption of Minutes of November 19, 2020
Motion to adopt minutes made by Peter Hatem and seconded by Susan Powell. Motion passed unanimously.

Consent Calendar: 

  • Building Expansion Committee Minutes, no meeting
  • Community Relations/Development Committee Minutes, no meeting 
  • Investment/Finance Committee, no meeting
  • Personnel, Nominating, Governance Committee, 12/3/2020 
  • FOSL Board Notes, 12/10/2020 

Motion to adopt consent calendar made by Susan Powell and seconded by Joyce Clark. Motion passed unanimously.

Library Directors Report

  • The library was closed today due to the weather.  Several library employees were able to attend a zoom conference today on understanding bias and prejudice
  • PPE Loan has converted to a grant, and appropriate changes made to the budget
  • A recurring theme in department head meetings right now is how long we can stay open and what would cause us to close. 
  • Guidance is starting to come from the Maine state library. 
  • Emily Ward asked where people could go if they lose power and heat at home; in previous times, the library was available. There are several spaces open in the safety and town hall building that can be made available.

Town Councilors Remarks

  • The Town Council approved moving forward with the purchase of the Masonic Lodge and talks continue around the extension of the lease at the House of Lights.
  • The School board will be moving forward on the school expansion investigation project but at a slower timeline. They are unlikely to move to a referendum in November. 

President’s Remarks

  • Masonic Lodge is likely to be purchased by the town in Dec/Jan; sale price of $350,000.  
  • Bill and Nancy discussed the Masonic lodge for services. They are agreed that it does not have the structural needs for books and shelving.
  • The House of Lights could be a viable option, and they will stay in touch with Todd.


Unfinished Business: 
Fundraising Feasibility Study – Status report – Bill Donovan

  • A list of people to interview regarding the giving capacity of the community was made
  • The number is manageable; the interviews will start in early January through February.
  • Plan still on schedule; we will finish the assessment by late winter, allowing us to know what kind of position we are in.
  • The next meeting of the oversight committee is in January.

Amendments to the Personnel Handbook for Earned Employee Leave Act 

  • We have accomplished this by creating a new category of employees that will fit the definition needed for paid time off. It will require us to do some monitoring for the accrual of time.
  • Payroll company doesn’t yet have their structure in place to support this.  
  • Judy Johnson asked what other libraries are doing.  
  • Nancy shared that other libraries are struggling to figure out how to adjust to this.  

Motion: Approve amendments to the Personnel Handbook to conform to the Earned Employee Leave Act and accept changes to the holiday, inclement weather, personal day, and flexible spending account statements as presented.

  • Motion made to waive a second reading made by Emily Ward and seconded by Lenore Rapkin. Motion passed unanimously. 
  • Motion made to adopt made by Susan Powell and seconded by Emily Ward. Motion passed unanimously.

Report from the Finance and Investment Committee on the line of the credit application 

  • We have everything we need to submit the line of credit application except the plan on how we are going to pay it back
  • Nancy can draft something and share it with the right committee in the next week or two
  • Repayment options depend on how much we intend to borrow
  • We may not be able to ask the town for funds to repay the loan without their approval of the project. 
  • The city has not approved an additional amount of money beyond the 140K, and the results of that would mean that we could not roll this loan into the cost of the referendum
  • We need to get the town side understood, so we don’t put ourselves at risk

Discussion on formation of Citizen Campaign Committee and PAC (Political Action Committee)

  • Our PAC would be at the municipal level, not the state
  • Nancy has been in touch with Tody Justice about the rules around creating the PAC
  • We need to determine a president and a treasurer of the program
  • Jon Anderson will not participate in these conversations given the unique rules of the PAC in this scenario
  • The PAC is not required but does provide a cleaner process around campaigning for an issue. 

New Business:

  • Nancy continues research on how, where, and how much it would cost to relocate the collection during renovations.

Adjournment
Motion made to adjourn made by Anne Janak and seconded by Susan Powell.  Motion passed unanimously.

The meeting adjourned by Bill Donovan at 5:27 PM.

Meeting Date
Tags
Earned Employee Leave Act
Citizen Campaign Committee and PAC