September 19, 2023 at 6:00 PM - Policies Committee Meeting

Description:  Establishment of a quorum

Description:  The recommended changes can be found (highlighted in yellow) on pg. 10 of the attached file.  (The Fixed Assets policy begins on pg. 9.)

During our audit work we realized that our current policy does not address not issue of architect fees or other professional services related to capital improvement projects, and so our auditors recommended that we add language to indicate that these fees are included in the capitalized value for building projects.  We also realized that books and materials were not listed as a category of fixed assets even though we do report them as a fixed asset.  The difference being that we calculate a single value for the total collection rather than itemizing individual additions to the collection. 

Description:  Based on the advice of the Library's attorney, Phil Lenzini, I recommend removing the "Expiration of Work Authorization" section from the Employee Selection Process policy in our Employee Handbook. 

We do not sponsor or employ foreign workers through programs such as the H1B visa program, so the only expiration of work authorization we might encounter is with DACA recipients.  Our attorney has advised and the attached documentation from the US Dept. of Justice website shows, employers are not required or encouraged to ask employees about their immigration status and are not required to reverify employment authorization.  Phil's legal opinion is that the library is better protected, since there is no obligation for us to reverify, if we don't require employees to provide this information to us. 

Description:  Our staff Leadership Team has completed our review of the Library's Public Service policies and the attached document shows our recommended revisions.  (Language to be deleted is crossed out and language to be added is highlighted in yellow.)