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Joint POLICY and HUMAN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees
920 Waukegan Road, Deerfield, IL 60015
6 pm
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Agenda
1.
ROLL CALL AND CALL TO ORDER
2. OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PUBLIC TO ADDRESS THE BOARD, and CORRESPONDENCE
3. OLD BUSINESS
4. NEW BUSINESS
a.
5.
Discussion of the revised Employee Handbook, and recommendation to the full Board regarding
approval
EXECUTIVE SESSION
6. ADJOURNMENT
The Deerfield Public Library is subject to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Individuals with disabilities who
plan to attend this meeting and who require certain accommodations in order to allow them to observe and/or participate in this meeting, or
who have questions regarding accessibility of the meeting or the facilities, are requested to contact Mary Pergander at 847-945-3311 to allow
the Library to make reasonable accommodations.
�Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees
Joint Policy and Human Relations Committee Meeting Minutes
January 14, 2015
1)
ROLL CALL AND CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. at Deerfield Public Library, 920 Waukegan Road,
Deerfield, Illinois.
Present Committee members: Marla Bark Dembitz - Policy Chair, Ken Abosch - Human Relation
Chair, Michael Goldberg, and Ron Simon
Absent: none
Staff: Mary Pergander, Director; Trisha Steele, Business Manager
2)
OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PUBLIC TO ADDRESS THE BOARD, and CORRESPONDENCE
No member of the public addressed the Board.
3)
OLD BUSINESS
None.
4)
NEW BUSINESS
a. Discussion of the revised Employee Handbook, and recommendation to the full Board regarding
approval
Ms. Mary Pergander presented a brief overview of the existing Employee Handbook, which was
developed by The Management Association and reviewed and approved by managers and the
Board. That was several years ago. For this revision, the existing manual was reviewed and the
order changed to a more logical sequencing by Ms. Trisha Steele, then it was sent to a labor
attorney at The Management Association. The attorney revised many sections and added
several new sections. The Library management team has reviewed this and there are still some
questions needing further exploration, but it is Management's hope to have these committees
recommend approval to the full board next week so we can begin to share the changes with
staff.
Ms. Steele presented an overview of the reorganization of the manual, and suggested a means
of proceeding with the Committees' review. Since the first topic for review could have a
financial impact on Ms. Pergander who recently announced her retirement, Ms. Pergander left
the room for this portion of the discussion.
Ms. Steele discussed options for the disposition of unused accrued leave at the end of
employment, both in retirement and other separations. She explained past and current
practices for the Library, other libraries, and the Village. The impact on health insurance and
pension was discussed. It was decided that the policy should be to pay out any unused accrued
leave, such as vacation, holiday, and personal time, in a lump sum at the end of employment.
After Ms. Pergander returned, Ms. Steele continued with the safety-related items, including the
specific incorporation of the term "firearms" into the handbook sections related to safety,
weapons, and violence in the workplace.
�I
Joint Policy and Human Relations Committees
January 14? 2015
For the topics related to medical marijuana, Ms. Steele described The Management Association
recommendation that in spite of the State of Illinois allowing medical uses, since the Federal law
has not changed our polices should still exclude even the State-allowed medical uses of
marijuana for employees who may be under the influence in the workplace. Mr. Ken Abosch
commented that his corporate clients in Colorado are grappling with these same issues. Some
committee members expressed surprise that even employees with a prescription could be
disciplined if they are under the influence during working hours. Ms. Pergander clarified that we
do not do random nor routine drug testing, but we do conduct drug testing for cause.
There were several questions related to the topic of driving for Library business. What if an
employee who has a license does not own a car and therefore does not have vehicle insurance,
and needs to drive a vehicle for Library-related reasons, such as to attend a conference or to
drop off materials at the school. Although rental cars and the library vehicle carry insurance, the
form being recommend requires the employee's insurance number. This may be modified.
Also, Mr. Abosch expressed that the wording and specificity of the section on cell-phones and
two way radios and also the section on driving for library business seem "Big Brother"-ish - very
detailed about how to use such devices which seemed more procedural and prescriptive than
policy-focused.
He expressed concern over the implication that we will discipline employees who violate the
prescribed behaviors on their own time. One sentence refers to phone use while commuting to
and from work, which Mr. Abosch, Mr. Ron Simon, and Ms. Marla Dembitz questioned. Ms.
Steele will review this portion with The Management Association.
The next set of topics related to equal employment opportunities for those who are pregnant or
for employees experiencing certain situations related to military service. The addition of new
information regarding these conditions were discussed, including adding the term "pregnancy"
and related conditions to the rules for harassment, accommodation, and so on.
Ms. Steele described the changing liabilities related to background checks and references, as
they relate to the new handbook language. She also said we plan to add more details such as
specifying the types of criminal background checks and sexual registry checks we conduct, to be
more disclosing. Employees must now specify the type of information we are authorized to
share on their behalf, but in general we are more limited in what we can share than has
sometimes been our past practice. Mr. Simon expressed concern that providing only dates of
service and other limited information does not provide sufficient evidence of performance,
especially for excellent performers who could be implied to have failed with such sparse
information. Ms. Steele said she was also told that failing to disclose a serious performance
issue, such as theft, could make us liable to the next employer. Several committee members
expressed incredulity, and asked Ms. Steele to confirm this through another source. Mr.
Michael Goldberg volunteered to discuss the issue with the labor attorney at The Management
Association and requested that Ms. Steele provide that information for him. Mr. Simon also
requested that Ms. Steele see if there can be a distinction between what is done for letters of
reference vs. reference calls.
For the topic related to vacation leave, Ms. Steele left the room, because the recommended
change directly impacts her (and another staff member). Ms. Pergander explained that the
Page 2 of3
�Joint Policy and Human Relations Committees
January 14, 2015
current vacation leave policy, created many years ago, allocates different amounts of vacation
time to managers based on whether the management position is a librarian department head or
a non-librarian manager. She said that no other libraries we have identified still allocate
vacation in this manner. The committee members agreed with the changed to have all
managers have the same allocation as librarian department heads.
Ms. Steele showed the Board the new chart allocating Personal Days. They recommended
additional changes to clarify that this is an annual allocation of three days, and that this chart
applies only to the first year, based on the month of hire.
Ms. Steele explained that three policies, which are established outside of the personnel policy
such as the Library's Ethics Ordinance, used to appear in the body of the handbook. They are
now set as Appendices in the back, with a brief summary in the main body of the Handbook.
Mr. Simon made a motion to accept this draft Employee Handbook and to recommend approval
by the full board next week, knowing that some language is still being finalized, and
recommending a review again in 60 days of the areas still being discussed. The sections to
review in the next 60 days are:
• 111-9
Reference and Background Checks
• IV-10 Social Media Use
• V-14.2 Electronic and Telephone Equipment Use
• V-14.4 Business Use of Automobile
• V-14.3 Cellular Phones, 2-Way Radios, and Phone Use
Seconded by Mr. Abosch. The motion was approved.
The committee members also suggested that this be listed in the agenda for approval based on
the committee recommendation, and that a copy be made and circulated at the regular board
meeting rather than including a copy of the 80+ page document for all board members in the
board packet.
Mr. Michael Goldberg requested that the statutes related to Board member fees and fines be
included again in the Board packets, and that the topic be added to the regular board meeting
agenda again. Ms. Pergander will follow through.
5)
EXECUTIVE SESSION
None.
6) ADJOURNMENT
At 7:00 p.m., there being no further business, Mr. Goldberg made a motion to adjourn the meeting,
seconded by Ms. Dembitz. The meeting was adjourned.
Ken Abosch, Secretary
Minutes approved by the Board on
Page 3 of3
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees Meetings
Subject
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Public Library Governance
Description
An account of the resource
This collection consists of meeting minutes created around or after meetings of the Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees as well as supporting materials such as village ordinances, salary scales and land agreements.
Creator
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Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees
Source
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Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees
Publisher
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Deerfield Public Library
Date
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1966-2013
Language
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English
Identifier
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DPL.0002
Coverage
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Board meeting minutes from the Deerfield Public Library Board of Directors are held on the Deerfield Public Library Website until they are five years old, and are then moved to this collection.
Still Image
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Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Policy and Human Relations Committee Meeting Minutes -- January 14, 2015
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Abosch, Kenan
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Deerfield Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1/14/2015
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Dembitz, Marla Bark
Goldberg, Michael
Simon, Ronald
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DPL.0002.774
Accrued Leave
Background Checks
Colorado
Criminal Background Checks
Deerfield Public Library
Deerfield Public Library Accommodation Policy
Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees
Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees Fines and Fees
Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees Human Relations Committee
Deerfield Public Library Board of Trustees Policy Committee
Deerfield Public Library Employee Handbook
Deerfield Public Library Ethics Ordinance
Deerfield Public Library Harassment Policies
Deerfield Public Library Personal Days
Deerfield Public Library Personnel Policy
Deerfield Public Library Vacation Leave
Deerfield Public Library Vehicle
Drivers Licenses
Equal Employment Opportunities
Federal Law
Health Insurance
Illinois
Kenan Abosch
Labor Attorney
Letters of Reference
Liabilities
Marla Bark Dembitz
Mary Pergander
Medical Marijuana
Michael K. Goldberg
Military Service
Pension Plans
Pregnancy
Reference Calls
References
Rental Cars
Ronald Simon
Sexual Registry Checks
The Management Association
Trisha Steele