Personnel Update
Included on this month’s board agenda are requests to appoint two full-time Operations Department personnel. Following Ric Taras’s recent retirement, his position as Operations Working Supervisor was posted, and a committee consisting of Jen Ferriss, Kelly McCombs, Jamie Chabot, Dan Salmon, and Paul Mays of Butler Rowland Mays Architects interviewed three candidates for his successor. We are pleased to be united in our choice to offer a promotion to Rob Peck, a full-time Building Maintenance Worker in the department to fill the position. Rob’s promotion created a vacancy for a full-time position in the department, which are pleased to offer to part-time Building Maintenance Worker, Koby Tricell. A part-time vacancy has been created by Kolby’s transition to full-time, and is currently posted.
Encroachment / Spill
During the weekend of the Belmont Stakes, a grease/oil bin shared by Noah’s, Fillies on Phila, and Bailey’s overflowed, spilling cooking oil into the library parking lot. The oil receptacle sits next to a dumpster behind Fillies that is shared by the three restaurants, and there is conjecture about whether it overflowed by filling with rainwater when it was left open by restaurant workers, or whether it was jostled by a garbage truck emptying the dumpster. In any event, the spill was spotted by library workers after several vehicles had driven through it. These staff attempted to soak up the spill with kitty litter. The manager of Bailey’s indicated that the receptacle was shared among the three, and contacted KPM Restoration for cleanup. Because of the size of the spill, and much of it being directed toward the storm sewer, I notified the DEC. Oil barrels, trash, and other items not belonging to the library were removed from library property. The spill has hastened the demise of paint demarcating the fire lane, which will need to be re-striped.
New York Library Association Membership
We have renewed out annual institutional membership in the New York Library Association, which includes individual memberships for a number of library staff. There is a Trustee membership category that could be supported by the library; however, a Trustee must apparently be the main point of contact for board membership.
Policy Review
As our new fiscal year begins, we will renew our efforts at periodic review of library policies. Included in this month’s packet is a draft of a new policy that particularly addresses criteria for library programs, as this method of delivering content becomes an increasing aspect of our work.
Recently-planned programs about potentially controversial topics highlight the need for a dedicated policy.
Meetings, Programs, and Community Activities:
Once again, I drove the library van in the Flag Day parade on June 13, following a contingent of library staff and their family members.
Along with Heather Crocker and Jennifer Ferriss, I met with representatives of the City to touch base about potential changes to the traffic pattern on Henry Street to accommodate bike lanes between Lake Avenue and Congress Park.
On a day notable for a tornado watch, my June 18 discussion of Lives in Ruins: Archeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson drew a smaller group of 8 intrepid attendees rather than the typical 15. The July discussion selection, The Dig: A Novel Based on True Events by John Preston is similarly inspired by this year’s summer reading theme, “Unearth a Story.”
