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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-29-2021 Special Board Meeting AgendaIf you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Jen Miller, Iowa City Public Library, at 319-887-6003 or jennifer-miller@icpl.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. 1 LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES April 29, 2021 Electronic Special Meeting - 5:00 pm ZOOM MEETING PLATFORM Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting is being held because a meeting in person is impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19. You can participate in the meeting and can comment on an agenda item by joining the Zoom meeting via the internet by going to: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qc-6urjwrHdZdBysi0yHIigCIbsexZblt If you are asked for a meeting ID, enter Meeting ID: 997 4760 7172 to enter a “Waiting Room” for the meeting. If you do not have a computer or smartphone, or a computer without a microphone, you may call in by telephone by dialing (312) 626-6799. When prompted, enter the meeting ID: 997 4760 7172 Providing comments in person is not an option. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Jen Miller, Iowa City Public Library, at 319-887-6003 or jennifer-miller@icpl.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. 2 LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES April 29, 2021 Electronic Special Meeting - 5:00 pm ZOOM MEETING PLATFORM Wesley Beary, President John Beasley Kellee Forkenbrock Derek Johnk, Secretary Carol Kirsch, Vice-President Robin Paetzold Tom Rocklin Hannah Shultz Monique Washington 1. Call Meeting to Order. 2. Public Discussion. 3. Items to be discussed. A. Return to Working Onsite Plan B. Needs for In-Person Board Meetings 4. Adjournment. To: Library Board of Trustees From: Elsworth Carman Date: April 29, 2021 Re: Return to Working Onsite Plan As part of my Director’s Report in the April Board packet, I outlined our plans to bring all staff back to work in the Library building by the second week of May. I am pleased to revisit this topic with the Board and optimistic you will support our decision to move forward. The summary from the April packet is below. When the building was closed due to confirmed community spread of COVID-19 in March of 2020, staff did an exceptional job shifting from onsite work to working from home. Depending on position type and individual role within the agency, staff were asked to manage different sorts of tasks and projects remotely. Throughout the past 13 months, working from home has changed in many ways (including periods of COVID-Admin pay for all and furlough for some staff). I am grateful to all staff who flexed and adapted to new or different work arrangements; they championed a difficult experience with dedication and grace. Things have changed significantly since those early days of COVID-19 awareness. We know so much more about the virus, how it is spread, and how to protect ourselves and those around us. We have adapted our work spaces, practices, and styles to better accommodate safety in the workplace, and with the vaccine becoming more available every day, we are hopeful that soon things will return to a pre-COVID “normal.” While working from home has served us fairly well in many ways, it has also created obstacles to effective communication, feelings of disconnectedness from work and colleagues, and strained the networks we rely on to provide cohesive, proactive service. While some staff have made it through our closure fairly easily, others are feeling isolated and unheard. It is time to recommit to our pre- COVID communication norms and reform the departments and work groups that keep staff engaged and empowered to do their work. This is an ideal time to begin bringing all staff back to work in the building. Many staff are already here some or all of the time, but committing to getting everyone back into the facility will allow us to more effectively cover desk shifts, begin to regrow outreach, reestablish committees and taskforces, make plans for extending hours, and undertake additional parts of our former work. We have identified work spaces for all staff who need an option outside of their regular stations, since not all workrooms accommodate social distancing. We will continue to take workplace safety very seriously, and have limited options in place for staff who need COVID-19-related temporary flexibility in their schedules. We are carefully watching the percent positivity rates in Johnson County, but are tentatively planning on having all staff back in the library by the second week of May. The City of Iowa City has created a Flexible Work Arrangement form for staff to complete if their individual circumstances require temporary work from home arrangements, and the Library will continue to honor this process for staff who need adjusted schedules. We anticipate continuing to use Zoom and other social-distancing- friendly tools for large meetings until it is safe to shift to larger group gatherings. While significant in some ways, bringing all staff back to the building will not be a huge change. The majority of staff are already working from the building most of the time, with at least 22 full-time staff and 20 part-time staff currently 100% onsite. We have 82 active staff right now. We have two interns working all of their hours offsite, and approximately 6 permanent staff working 50% or less of their hours onsite. The remaining staff are working 50% or more of their hours onsite, with an average of 76% of work time in the Library. We were able to accommodate all requests for alternative work arrangements for staff who wanted a work station outside of their regular department. To: Library Board of Trustees From: Elsworth Carman Date: April 29, 2021 Re: In-Person Meeting Options: Discussing Board Needs At the last Board meeting, there was interest in exploring options for in-person meetings. We are fortunate to have a large space (Meeting Rooms A, B, and C, combined) to work with and dedicated, skilled IT and Facilities departments to support this work. Since our Board meetings are active and dialog-heavy—as well as subject to the Iowa Open Meetings Law—we want to ensure we proceed in a planful, informed way. In order to best meet the Board’s expectations with options for in-person meetings, we would like to hear more from the group about the following specific needs. Technical & Work Layout: What kind of work surface do Trustees need during in-person meetings? What kind of microphone access do the Trustees need during in-person meetings? How many Trustees need access to a power supply during in-person meetings? Logistic Layout: How important are clear sightlines between Trustees during in-person meetings? How important are clear sightlines between Trustees and the Leadership Team during in-person meeting? How important is it to have hybrid meeting options, where some Trustees could be in-person and others could participate via Zoom? How important is it to have hybrid meeting options, where some of the Leadership Team be in-person and others could participate via Zoom? If a hybrid model was developed, how important is screen visibility to Trustees? Public Attendance Layout: How important is it to have a hybrid meeting option, where some Public and Staff could be in-person and other participate via Zoom? Would Trustees like to plan a phased approach to in-person meetings? I am confident that Library staff will be able to craft layout options—informed by the discussion at the Special Meeting—in time to include them in the regular May Board meeting packet. This will also allow time to ensure our plans align with emerging expectations from the City of Iowa City related to meeting access and recording practices.