Will County Gazette

New Lenox Public Library District Board Policy Committee met Oct. 22.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The meeting of the New Lenox Public Library District Board of Trustees Policy Committee was called to order at 6:30 p.m., by Trustee Broccolo on Wednesday October 22, 2018 at the New Lenox Library, 120 Veterans Parkway, New Lenox, Illinois.

Present were Trustees: President Edward Tatro, Louis Broccolo, Michelle Monbrod, and Bonnie Ulstad

Absent: None.

Staff present: Michelle Krooswyk: Director and Recording Secretary, Michael Stubler: Business Manager

Visitors: None

Audience to Visitors

 None.

New Business

Director Krooswyk provided a packet with the following policies that have been reviewed at the regular Board Meetings over the past few months. General Policies 101, 211, 215, 219, 220, 221, 305, & 308. Personnel Policies 105, 108, 110, 111, 204, 301, 306, 307, 308, 309, 312, &313.

A few policies were talked about in more detail. The first policy discussed was Personnel Policy 301: Standards of Conduct & Staff Corrective Action, more specifically regarding the dress code section. Director Krooswyk recommended taking out “Thongs and open-toed sandals” and “casual shoes” and replacing with a phrase such as “footwear that is appropriate for the position worked and/or duties assigned.” The Board recommended leaving it as is to be protected by insurance and ensure staff are safe.

General Policy 220: Digital Media Lab was brought up regarding the Equipment Check Out Agreement Form and the Credit Card Authorization Form. Director Krooswyk explained that since this policy was put into place, a big change has occurred. All DML equipment is now catalogued and will be checked out through Sierra, our ILS software. As a result, they will be responsible because they signed an agreement with their library card application stating that we are responsible for all charges and fines. If something goes missing or is damaged, the library can now bill them through Sierra and it takes an extra step out of the process. In addition, we utilize a collection company (Unique Management), so if it remains unpaid, Unique will contact them for us. Now that this in place, the two forms in policy 220 are duplicated and not necessary anymore. The trustees were concerned about not recovering the cost of an item if it goes missing or is damaged. Business Manager Michael Stubler reminded the Board that since it’s part of policy, monetary amounts in the policy will have to changed via an action of the Board, which means it is not as flexible. President Tatro was also concerned about retaining personal financial information. Trustee Monbrod mentioned the possibility of putting cash down for renting equipment to prevent loss. President Tatro asked for a list of equipment and their corresponding monetary value. Director Krooswyk said that she would request a list of prices for all the items in the DML that are able to be checked out. Trustee Broccolo preferred the option for patrons putting cash down for renting expensive equipment. Director Krooswyk responded saying that there is a careful balance we must achieve between keeping equipment safe and not losing money and also between making this equipment accessible, even to those that might not have the finances.

Finally, Director Krooswyk brought forward General Policy 211: Meeting Room Policy. To provide background, it was explained that recently the former Assistant Director’s office was converted into a meeting space and the Fire Marshall said that we could legally house 10 people in that room. She asked the Board if they were interested in turning it into a Meeting Room C that we charge for or making it another study room, which we would not charge. Trustee Broccolo asked why the library charged for meeting rooms in the first place. Director Krooswyk said that she would prefer to have the meeting rooms free for charge, and at the same time it is a good source of income for our library. Meeting rooms must be open to all viewpoints; the charge for the usage of the meeting room does prevent people from overbooking the room at a high frequency to allow for different groups to rent it. The comment came forward about charging for using the Board Room, and the Board agreed that the Board Room should be treated as a meeting room and be charged as such. The Board preferred to give the staff the flexibility to decide whether or not the new room should be designated as meeting room or study room.

Business Manager Michael Stubler informed the Board of the upcoming update to the Military Leave Policy due to the recent decisions at the Illinois Legislature.

Executive Session

None.

Adjournment

Trustee Broccolo moved and Trustee Monbrod seconded that the meeting be adjourned at 6:51 p.m. Motion passed with all in favor.

https://www.newlenoxlibrary.org/files/board/minutes/Policy%20Committee%20Minutes%202018-10-22.pdf