Executive Committee Meeting Minutes - Parkland Regional Library

Executive Committee Meeting MinutesApril 11, 2013Present:Debra Smith, Sheila Church, Lynda Haarstad-Petten, JeanKnudtson, Philip Massier, Richard Poole, Randy Saler, JanineStannardAbsent with Regrets: Nathan Cooper, Daryl ShillingtonStaff:Guest:Ron Sheppard, Anna Alexander, Donna WilliamsRob FisherMeeting called to order at 10:05 a.m. by Smith.1. Acceptance of the agenda:Addition to the agenda – #18.a– Library CardsMotion by Massier to accept the amended agenda with the above addition.CARRIED2. Acceptance of January 31, 2013 Executive Committee MinutesMotion by Poole to approve the January 31, 2013 minutes.CARRIEDStannard entered the meeting at 10:10 a.m.3. 2012 Draft AuditRob Fisher from Collins Barrow entered the meeting. Administration invited RobFisher to present the audit because of the change in accounting standards and thoserequirements necessary with the respect to the presentation of the financialstatements.Fisher reviewed the audit. The new accounting standards focus more on equity.Fisher reported it was a clean audit. The biggest change was made to the Statementof Financial Position from previous years. Assets are broken into Financial Assetsand Non-Financial Assets.In the new accounting standards, accrued sick pay must be included in the liabilitiesunder accounts payable and accruals. This accrued sick time is an average over athree-year period resulting in an adjustment of $44,500. Another major adjustment isthe change in the way the $39,646 realized gains on investment is presented.In the Notes to the Financial Statement, #9 Accumulated Surplus under the Internallyrestricted section, the unallocated year-end line with the amount of ($11,722) wasremoved and this amount will be added to the top line Unrestricted Operating fundchanging that amount to $138,278 for the final draft to the Board.

Motion by Knudtson to recommend that the Board approve the audit as amended.CARRIEDSheppard reported that there were no recommended changes from the previous yearand the auditors did not have any new recommendations for this year.Fisher left the meeting at 10:48 a.m.4. PRL LawsuitSmith asked for a motion for meeting to go in-camera.Motion by Church for meeting to go in-camera at 10:50 a.m. Alexander andWilliams left the meetingCARRIEDMotion by Saler for meeting to go out-of-camera at 11:08 a.m.CARRIEDAlexander and Williams re-entered the meeting.5. Extra Provincial Grant MoneyTo help offset the costs of the implementation of the new and updated resourcesharing policy, the government offered a $25,000 one-time grant to all 16 nodelibraries. Parkland is using this grant to offset the cost of the computer purchases forlibraries this year to reduce the expenditure from approximately $75,000 to $50,000.Sheppard sent a thank you letter to Minister Doug Griffiths.6. PRL Wage and Salary ReviewAs part of Sheppard’s performance appraisal, Sheppard was instructed to look atParkland’s wage and salary grid in 2013.After comparing PRL’s salary grid with salary grids from other library systems andsome online sources, it was found that Parkland’s salary grid is still reasonablycomparative. Administration does not believe changes should be made to the wageand salary grid in 2014. With the termination of the Alberta Multilingual BookConsortium and the school contracts, it is not completely clear how this will affectParkland’s budget. Also municipalities are starting to hesitate to approve at theincreases to the requisition. Moreover provincial funding levels have leveled off.Administration will continue to monitor wages to ensure they remain as competitiveas possible within the limits of Parkland’s budget. There will be no changes to thecurrent grid in 2014.Motion by Poole to accept for information the PRL wage and salary review aspresented.CARRIED7. PRL Budgeting ProcessSheppard and Williams have been discussing the presentation of PRL’s three-yearbudget. Administration is recommending that we alter our budget document byeliminating the third year of the projections. In the three year budget projections,

there is an estimated increase in expenses but no estimated increase in revenue. Thisfalsely inflates projected increases to the requisition and causes some municipalitiesconcern. A suggestion was made to estimate the revenue with a 2% increase fromyear to year.The Executive Committee suggested administration to keep increases in therequisition at approximately 3%.Motion by Massier to leave the budget document with the three-year projections.CARRIED8. Olds’ Payment of PRL RequisitionSheppard gave an update regarding the Town of Olds and their requisition payment.The Town of Olds is still refusing to pay the requisition charged to the Town of Oldsusing the current population figures. Sheppard wrote a letter to the Board Chair ofthe Olds Municipal Library stating that because of the shortfall in payment from theTown of Olds, the allotment amount for the Olds Municipal Library would be cutback. The allotment is usually issued in January for the whole year. The allotmentfor the Olds Municipal Library will be issued quarterly using the same populationstatistics as the Town of Olds is paying for their requisition.Sheppard is attending a town council meeting at Olds on Monday, April 15. At thismeeting, Sheppard will inform council that PRL will need an answer back on whetherOlds will pay PRL’s requisition based on the current population figures since theExecutive Committee will want to discuss next steps at their May 16 meeting. Smithis hoping to attend the April 15 meeting as well.9. School Library Service ContractsSheppard met with Gerry Varty from Wolf Creek on March 22 to discuss thetermination of school library service contracts. Included in the package was asynopsis letter outlining the decisions made at this meeting. Parkland still plans onterminating the school library service contracts the end of August 2014.10. Review of Outlet Annual ReportsSheppard reviewed the synopsis document for the annual reports of Parkland’s fouroutlet libraries. The annual reports were submitted to Municipal Affairs but needformal approval.Motion by Knudtson to accept the annual reports for Brownfield Community Library,Nordegg Public Library, Spruce View Community Library, and Water Valley PublicLibrary as presented.CARRIED11 Policy on Services to Persons Unable to Use Conventional Print Materials or inLanguage Other Than EnglishThe policy on Services to Persons Unable to Use Conventional Print Materials or inLanguage other Than English is required by Libraries Regulation. Parkland mustrevise this policy due to the end of Visunet Canada Partners Program through TheAlberta Library and the end of the Alberta Multilingual Book Consortium.

The policy currently reads:4.12.1 Non-Print Resources Through its membership with The Alberta Library (TAL), Parkland RegionalLibrary has access to the Visunet Canada Partners Program. The VisunetPartners Program is available to all qualifying residents of the Systemthrough their public library.Individual patrons with a valid Parkland Regional Library card may alsorequest audio books from PRL’s in-house collection through interlibrary loan.New:4.12.2 Resources in Languages Other Than EnglishParkland Regional Library provides books to public libraries within theSystem in languages other than English through its subscription to the AlbertaMultilingual Book Consortium collection.4.12.1 Non-Print ResourcesIndividual patrons with a valid Parkland card may request audio books anddownloadable e-audio books from PRL’s in-house collections and audio booksthrough interlibrary loan. Other resources and materials will be provideddepending on circumstances and availability.4.12.2 Resources in Languages Other Than EnglishParkland Regional Library provides materials within the system in languagesother than English through interlibrary loan and through various free andlicensed online resources.Motion by Poole to recommend that PRL Board approve the policy on Services toPersons Unable to Use Conventional Print Materials or in Language other ThanEnglish as presented.CARRIED12. Doctor’s Note RequirementRecently one of PRL’s staff members who had been off work sick for some timeasked the doctor for a note in compliance with PRL’s Human Resource Manual. Thestaff member was told that doctors can charge for this service. Parkland’s HumanResource Manual states:Return to Work:An employee will not be required to provide a doctor’s note if they are absent dueto illness for up to three consecutive days.If an employee is on sick leave for more than three consecutive days, a doctor’scertificate will be required to be presented on return to work. Doctor’s notes areto be presented to the Director.

Administration staff did some research and found that third parties should request adoctor’s note after a person has been sick for five days and that physicians couldcharge for this service. After some discussion, the Executive Committee suggestedthat the procedure remain the same. Administration will take no further action on thismatter.13. Minister’s AwardsParkland Regional Library was nominated for a Minister’s Award for Excellence andInnovation in Public Library Service by Camrose Public Library for our recent ITinitiatives. Parkland was informed that our nomination was not successful.14. Lion’s Club DonationSheppard is attending the Alix Lion’s Club meeting on April 11 to accept a donationof $1000 to purchase downloadable e-audio books. To date, Parkland has receivedabout $3,600 towards the e-audio book collection.15. Staff UpdateSheppard gave an update on the staffing at Parkland. One of PRL’s librarians hadtheir employment ended in February. Another librarian, Joanne Mokry is leaving inApril to start a new position in Medicine Hat; two of PRL’s cataloguers, WayneWedman and Margaret Wedman are retiring the end of April. Parkland also hired oncontract a communications coordinator, Meredith Bratland. Interviews are beingconducted to hire a librarian.16. Vision StatementSheppard reviewed PRL’s new Strategic Plan and Work Plan with staff at the March13 staff meeting. After the plan had been reviewed, the only feedback from staff wasthat the Vision Statement was grammatically incorrect. The current Vision Statementwas developed by the PRL Board in 2009 as part of the 2010-2012 Strategic Plandevelopment process.The current Vision Statement reads:Parkland Regional Library is a leader for its members to achieve excellence inlibrary service.It was suggested that it be changed to:Parkland Regional Library is a leader in assisting its member libraries to achieveexcellence in service.Motion by Petten to recommend to the Board that PRL’s Vision Statement bechanged as presented.CARRIED17. February 28 Board Evaluations / Survey Form ResultsSheppard reviewed the evaluations and survey form results from the February 28Board meeting. The comparison results from the surveys for importance and priorityon nine key service areas were basically the same in both surveys. The committeesuggested these same questions be sent to the individual library boards and to thelibrary managers to see how their results would compare with the results from theParkland Board.

18. Update to Human Resource Manual Appendix IIncluded in the package was updated Appendix I from the Human Resource Manualwhich shows the increases to Blue Cross and LAPP. This was brought forinformation only.18a. Library Card RenewalPetten asked Sheppard it there was any way that an email notification could be sent topatrons for a reminder of the renewal of their library member cards the same way asnotifications are sent when library materials are due. Sheppard will ask MarquitaBevans, Head of Technical Services and System Librarian, if this would be possiblein Horizon.19. Board AgendaSmith asked that 3.2 – PRL Lawsuit be removed from the Board Agenda.20 AdjournmentMotion by Massier to adjourn the meeting at 12:10 p.m.____________________________________Chairman