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Minutes
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Grafton Public Library
Emergency Board Meeting
3/15/20
Present: Patrick Spurlock, Mary Beth Culver, Lucia
Corwin, Michelle Dufort, David Whittall
Jay Maciejowski via telephone
Public: Galen Pinkham
Meeting called to order at
10:08 in order to consider modifications to operation of the library due to
concerns regarding COVID-19.
Public Comments: Galen shared state determining that due to
concerns regarding COVID-19 students are able to stay home without penalty and
that schools are currently being encouraged to stay open, and yet Green
Mountain schools are closing. He also
commented that the library’s restroom is one of a few in the community. He seemed to appreciate the complexities of
the decision at hand.
There was discussion about
the potential need to go into executive session as the discussion to close
would inherently involve personnel issues.
Michelle did not feel the closure discussion qualified for executive
session. Patrick felt that the human
resources nature of the discussion qualified and commented that the state has
been softening meeting rules during this crisis.
The board asked Michelle for
her reasons for recommending closure.
She shared that the majority of our patrons fall into the high risk
elderly category. Further, our volunteers also fall into that category. One volunteer has already stated that she
will not be in until further notice.
Managing disinfecting the building surfaces and materials is already
becoming burdensome and is likely to increase.
Maintaining disinfectant supplies is already becoming challenging. Finally, she stated that authorities are
identifying that people can be carriers of COVID-19 while being symptom
free. She feels continuing normal
operations could put our patrons, volunteers and staff at risk. She also shared that an ever increasing
number of libraries have closed. Many of
them have gotten creative with how to continue to provide services and she
would like to follow their example.
Services she anticipated offering during any closure included drive-in
pick up of books, DVD, and other materials, delivery of books, access to
puzzles and games, and on-line services.
She also plans to explore on-line book discussions. Jay recommended looking at the Craftsbury
Library’s notification for both wording and their list of services still
available.
Moved to Executive Session
Came out of Executive Session
We are all very torn about
closing the library. The demographics of
the Grafton library are very different than those of even our neighboring
libraries. Our elderly patrons still
need access to our services, but at the same time they could be put at
risk. Students unable to attend school
may need access to our computers and internet, but could be at risk and put
others at risk. The board voted 4 to 1 to
a temporary closure of normal operations due to the threat of COVID-19,
effective Monday, March 16 through April 12, 2020. The closure and employment
compensation will be reevaluated in one month, on or about April 12th.
Access to services in the
library (primarily use of computers) will be offered by appointment so that
numbers and sanitation can be managed. Other
services and projects discussed included: drive-up book access, book delivery,
acting as a communication hub for the community, the various community
organizations, and persons in need of resources, developing and offering
on-line book discussions, weeding out the current book collection, updating the
book sale room, development of new fundraisers to potentially offset any losses
from the TIAA account, and updating a variety of spreadsheets and data
collection.
In an effort to be both
fiscally responsible and supportive of our staff during the closure, employees
will be expected to document how their time is spent in service to the
library. Michelle can work with the
other employee to identify projects appropriate to her availability and skill
set. This will be done through an
addendum to the regular time sheet.
Michelle will email these to the board.
The closure and employment compensation will be reevaluated in one
month, on or about April 12th.
Michelle will develop a
public notice. Board members should
review the notice by 6:00 this evening.
Michelle will post the notice at the town hall, post office, on
Facebook, the library website, Grafton news, the Athenian, and on the library door. She will also alert the volunteers.
Our next regularly scheduled
meeting is March 26th. In
anticipation of not being able to meet in person, Michelle will coordinate a
test run of gotomeeting.com for tomorrow night at 6:00. We will also need to get current financial
information from Barbara Friedman on the TIAA accounts.
Meeting adjourned at 11:20
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Beth Culver