BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2010
MASHPEE LIBRARY CONFERENCE ROOM
Present: David Burton, John Kowalski, Jane Dolan, Carlo D’Este, Nancy Soderberg, and Helene DeFoe, Library Director.
Absent: Patricia Gamache, and Dianna Smith.
Also Present: Mark Gildea, Attorney
PersonNameBarbara Notarius, President of Mashpee Friends of the Library
David Burton, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. He welcomed Attorney Mark Gildea and thanked him for coming tonight. David also welcomed PersonNameBarbara Notarius on her return to the placeCape and congratulated her and the Friends on their efforts toward the building of the new Library.
Staffing Crisis
David said the focus of the meeting tonight will be directed largely to the staffing crisis situation. David said that Trustee members Carlo D’Este, Jane Dolan, and Nancy Soderberg attended the Board of Selectmen meeting on Monday evening, May 10th. Unfortunately, the result so far is that Town will not accept the $15,000 offered by the Friends to be used to contract with temporary staffing.
Jack Kowalski commented as to the Friends’ $75,000 gift. He said this Board labored under the misconception that the $75,000 was available to be re-gifted to the Friends to be applied toward hiring temporary staff for the long-term. Because we were told many times from the Town Manager that the funds existed we agreed not to take the petition to the Town Meeting to create additional library staff. On at least 4 or 5 occasions, we were assured by the Town Manager that was the case. It never was the case because it was a line item in the building fund budget for the library. Jack added: To keep it clear, it is gone and now we have to move forward. Since that is the case, Jack said we’ve asked Mark Gildea to be here tonight. Mark is an attorney for the town of
CityBridgewater and has a number of years of experience not only with the town of CityBridgewater but also CityplaceBrockton and is versed in these problems.
Mark Gildea addressed the Board. He said the placeCityBridgewater library is only opened 15 hours because of budget cuts. They’ve lost their accreditation and certification and are at risk for the state to ask them to pay back certain grant funds they’ve received. Mark said it is not a problem unique to placeCityBridgewater; it is happening state-wide. It is a tough issue that all boards across the state have to face. Mark mentioned that Rick Pomroy, the project manager for the library building project, is from placeCityBridgewater so Mark happened to call him and asked Rick about the issue of the $75,000. Rick said the roof panels would not have gone forward unless the Friends came forth with the money. In the end it helped them save money by getting a lot of
rebates and refunds from the Commonwealth. Mark said he spoke with Rick Pomroy again today and he indicated there is going to be a surplus. So, what happens to the surplus? Mark suggested there may be an opportunity to capture some of that money for the library. Mark said he and Rick agreed that the worse thing that could happen is after building this building to have the reputation of the library and the project tarnished in any way by a fight over funding for library staffing. David Burton commented…we don’t want to tarnish it; we want to staff the library.
Mark Gildea suggested if the Board would like to authorize maybe one Library Trustee and Mark to sit down with Rick Pomroy and another Town representative and try to have cooler heads prevail. Mark said he is impressed with all the ways the Board has gone about trying to accomplish this. He said he thinks there would be significant liability exposure and that liability is to the Town.
There was an in-depth discussion. Some of the various issues/comments made included the following:
Mark Gildea
· Library Trustees can hire Library Director, but not other library employees.
· Since this Board not involved in union contracts, they cannot approach the union.
· Just signing contract could be violating bidding and procurement laws.
· Why not make a gift of money from Friends to the Town for temporary staffing purpose? Response: That was done, but Town did not want to do that per Selectmen meeting May 10th.
· Does it do you any good just to put the finger in the dike?
· Temporary staff through agency. If under direction/control of library, then they are under municipal employees.
· For services, obligated under General Laws to solicit bids or get 3 quotes.
Trustees
· For last 6 years we’ve tried to create staffing positions—create, not hire—by creating we could have maybe hired temporary staff now.
· Library staffing currently made up of some union employees; some non-union part-timers; a seasonal employee.
· Town Manager going back to Town Counsel to look further into having Friends funds taken by Town for temporary staffing. Jane Dolan said at the May 10th Selectmen meeting she offered to be present when Town Manager meets with Mr. Costello on this, but Town Manager said “no”. Jane Dolan said she e-mailed the Board of Selectmen and thanked them for considering this further.
· Jane Dolan said after listening to Mark Gildea, she does not think it is a good idea for anyone but the town to employ temporary staffing.
· Carlo D’Este feels there is nothing but buck-passing being done by Town and feels we’re being stonewalled.
PersonNameBarbara Notarius
· Friends is a nonprofit entity and has no standing to do anything about hiring staff.
· If more important to have staff, Friends could cut materials budget and put to staffing if we could find a way to use these funds for staffing purpose.
· Friends not willing to administer the money.
· Barbara went to a state-wide meeting about a year ago and during the workshop met someone who had been a library director who said the first year the town didn’t support the library they went to the state and the state gave them a pass; they did this the second year, but the third year the state withdrew their accreditation. The director said what they should have done was shut the library down the first year and the town would have responded at that point.
· We need the community to stand up and be heard.
· With size of library and limited staffing, it is unsafe. If something bad happened and they’re sued, then they’ll wish they hired.
Mark Gildea exited the meeting with the heartfelt thanks of the Board of Library Trustees.
Discussion
Helene reported that after the last meeting Helene was told to go ahead and bring in the help so 2 people are now working in the library—one in the Children’s Room and one on the circulation desk.
David Burton exited the meeting, but the meeting continued since a quorum was still present.
Action Items
1. Jack Kowalski to contact Mark Gildea to do a letter to the Board of Selectmen and make them aware of exactly what the situation is in terms of what happens if we can’t solve our staffing problem, including the risk of having to pay the grant money back to the state.
2. Meeting to be scheduled for early next week if possible with Mark, Rick Pomroy, Jack, and Town representative.
Approval of Minutes
Jane Dolan motioned to accept the minutes of the Meeting of April 29, 2010 as presented; John Kowalski seconded this motion; and the motion was unanimously approved by all present.
Nancy Soderberg motioned to accept the minutes of the Emergency Meeting of May 5, 2010 as presented; John Kowalski seconded this motion; and the motion was approved, with Carlo D’Este abstaining.
Planning and Construction Committee…Nancy Soderberg provided the latest update and handed out copies of Rick Pomroy’s update reports on the library building project for the Trustees to review.
Adjournment…
Nancy Soderberg motioned to adjourn the meeting; Jane Dolan seconded the motion; and it was unanimously passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jean Giliberti
Recording Secretary
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