Library Board Meeting Update

 Submitted by Stephen Kight

Following is a summary of last evening’s Library Board meeting, held at the Cumming Library.

·         The Board was introduced to new Communications Manager Leslie Marinelli and heard a report about recent and upcoming programming and outreach activities. 

·         The Board engaged in a conversation about governance of the Forsyth County Public Library, especially our relationship with Forsyth County Government.  Mary Helen McGruder (Board Chair) and Anna shared that there are many new staff in high level positions at the County, resulting in several questions and conversations about this topic.  Anna shared the results of a survey she had sent to the directors of the 15 other public libraries in the state that, like FCPL, are considered to be single-county urban libraries.  There were 12 responses, with the following results.  (Note that the results do not include FCPL.) 

o   In 66.7% of these systems, the Director reports to the Library Board of Trustees; in 25%, the Director reports to both the County Manager and the Library Board of Trustees.

o   In 33.3% of these systems, the Library is considered a County department.

o   In 66.7% of these systems, Library staff members participate in Teachers Retirement System of Georgia.

o   In 58.3% of these systems, Library staff members participate in the State Health Benefit Plan.

o   In 50% of these systems, the Library has separate IT staff from the County.

o   In 50% of these systems, the Library has separate HR staff from the County.

o   In 66.7% of these systems, the Library has separate Finance staff from the County.

o   In 33.3% of these systems, the Library has separate Facilities staff from the County.

o   In 50% of these systems, the Library pays Library employees; in the other 50%, the County pays employees.

o   In 54.5% of these systems, Library paygrades and position classifications are administered by the Library; in 27.3%, they are administered by the County.

o   In 41.7% of these systems, the County always funds pay increases for Library staff that are comparable to those for County staff; in 33.3%, the County never funds these increases.

o   In 58.3% of these systems, the County enters into contracts for Library construction.

o   In 70% of these systems, the County controls construction budgets once funds are allocated.

The Board had also reviewed several related documents that were included in the packet that had been mailed to them prior to the meeting, including excerpts from the Library’s Constitution and Bylaws, the Memorandum of Agreement with Forsyth County Government, and the Official Code of Georgia.  The Board did not take any action following this conversation.

·         The Board approved the increase of the contract amount with McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture for professional architectural services from $568,800 to $572,600.  This additional $3,800 will pay for MPS to conduct two community input meetings, which will be held in October or November. 

·         The Board approved the award of the janitorial services contract to Building Maintenance Service, Inc., our current janitorial services provider, for the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, with the option to renew for two additional years, for the amount of $60,420 annually. 

·         The Board discussed the Library’s landscape services bid process but did not take any action following the conversation.  The Library is exploring the possibility of partnering with the County’s Public Facilities Department on certain services, including landscaping, with the anticipation of getting better service and pricing. 

·         The Board accepted the staff recommendation to reject all bids submitted for HVAC preventive maintenance services and to solicit quotes on an as needed basis. 

·         The Board elected officers for the upcoming year, retaining the current slate: 

o   Chairperson                            Mary Helen McGruder

o   Vice-Chairperson                   Christy Winters

o   Secretary/Treasurer               Kristin Morrissey 

·         Holly Barfield and Stephen Kight gave a presentation about the Cumming Library renovations and provided tours to Board members following the meeting. 

·         The Board gave approval to increase Donations revenue and Operations expenses by $2,900 to reflect a grant from the Forsyth County Arts Alliance Fund at the Forsyth County Community Foundation for arts-related programs.  This grant is for virtual author talks, virtual writing workshops, and other arts-related programming.  The grant requires a $2,900 match, which will be paid from the existing programming budget. 

·         The Board gave approval to increase Federal revenue by $42,771.40 and Materials expenses by $27,638.05 to reflect an ARPA Digital Inclusion Grant and Operations expenses by $15,133.35 to reflect an ARPA Tech Grant received from GPLS. The Digital Inclusion Grant will fund the next phase of the Forsyth County News digitization project, covering issues from May 2004 through December 2012.  The Tech Grant will cover the cost of two new Dell servers, which are needed to resolve issues resulting from increased usage of the eLibrary during the pandemic. 

·         The Library also received an ARPA eBooks Grant that does not impact our budget.  GPLS paid a specific amount per library system directly to OverDrive, with FCPL receiving $15,133.35 in vendor credits.  We chose to focus spending on eBook items at the juvenile and teen level, purchasing 568 juvenile eBooks and 339 teen eBooks.