The Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County

Board ofLibraryTrusteesMeeting

Minutes from April 17, 2017

Oakland Library~5:00P.M.

Board members present wereKarl Schwalm, Cosette Harman, Carol Newman, Wanda Guard,Tina Buckel and Wendy Sharpless.Staff members present were Ann Leighton andGeorgie Dawson.

Karl called the meeting to order at 5:00p.m.

Minutes from previous meeting were reviewed by the group. Wanda motioned to accept the minutes andWendy seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

The Director’s Report was received and discussed by the group.

  • Ann briefly discussed the WMRL facilities study with the Trustees. She explained that a facilities study would help each library system in the region to obtain funding for new buildings or major renovations of existing buildings. WMRL expects to obtain grant money to pay for the study itself.
  • Rush Excavating will begin repair work on the roof drains of the main library during the week of April 24. Roger Tichinel had realized that the roof drains in the main library were not draining properly. Because the drains run the width of the library above the dropped ceiling, if they stopped draining altogether the main library could have a major flooding event.
  • Ann discussed the pros and cons of installing new roof units at the main library that would contain gas heat as well as air conditioning.

Items of Old Business were discussed.

  • Georgie updated the group on the progress of installing the new phone system. She did not know whenthe county employees will have completed the installation process.
  • Ann informed the Trustees on the current status of the Grantsville Branch electrical repairs. She said that Rush Services had gone to make the repairs, but they had ordered the wrong parts. Beitzel Corp. repaired the air conditioning unit and put cooling fluid in that would reveal any leaks. They will check in a few months to see if there are any leaks.
  • The group discussed multiple options for lettering on the library vans. Wendy motioned for Ann and Georgie to decide on lettering for the vehicles. Carol seconded the motion. The motion carried.
  • The group discussed new options for the library’s investment fund, including a discussion about Vanguard. Cosette motioned to discontinue investing with First United Bankand to go with Jason Burkett from Edward Jones in LaVale, MD. Carol seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Items of New Business were discussed.

  • The group discussed a request by the Friendsville Branch Manager to have Summer Reading Club activities from 10AM to noon on Wednesdays during July. Ann was asked why she was bringing this to the trustees, and she explained that library policy does not allow the public to be in a library building during hours that we are closed, so the trustees would have to give permission for Michele Liston to do this. Tina Buckel motioned to allow this as long as there is no additional cost to the library. Wendy seconded the motion. The motion carried.
  • Ann asked the group to consider passing a policy to allow staff members to donate annual leave to another member of the staff who was having a personal or family emergency. There is no longer an immediate reason to consider this, so the group asked Ann to find out if the Garrett County government has a policy like the policies of the Maryland state government and the federal government.
  • The group discussed when to hold an open house to welcome Thomas to the community, as well as an article in the Republican newspaper. Ann stated that Bonnie Winters regularly writes articles for the newspaper and could be assigned the task. Karl said that she should email Thomas to ask him what he would want to have included in an article.

The next Trustee meeting will be on May 15, 2017 at 5:00PM. The meeting is scheduled for the Grantsville branch.

Wanda motioned to adjourn the meeting at 6:20PM. Carol seconded the motion and the motion carried.