Fargo Public Library Board - August 25, 2020 Minutes
Fargo Public Library Board Orientation Committee Minutes for Tuesday August 25, 2020 at 4 p.m. held in the Fargo City Commission Chambers.
Committee Members Present: Mary Batcheller, Rachael Steenholdt, Whitney Oxendahl, Jan Ulfterts Stewart
Committee Members Absent:
Staff: Tim Dirks, Betsy Dauer
Others Present:
Mary Batcheller called the meeting to order at 4:05 PM. Jan Ulfterts Stewart arrived at 4:10 PM.
Order of Agenda:
A motion was made by Rachael Steenholdt to approve the Order of the Agenda. Whitney Oxendahl seconded the motion; motion carried.
Approve Minutes of February 25th Meeting:
A motion was made by Rachael Steenholdt to approve the minutes of the February 25th meeting. Whitney Oxendahl seconded the motion; motion carried.
Old Business:
Review of Identified Content:
The list of Identified Content in the packet for this meeting:
• Board Bylaws
• Annual Report Booklet
• Most Recent Board Packet
• Budget
• Organizational Stats
• Current topics of Discussion Per the Board
• Current Library Programs and Activities
• Strategic Plan Goals
• Organizational Chart
• List of Current Board Members
• Trustee’s Ethic Statement
• Letter from the Board President/Director
• Grid of Responsibilities
• Endowment Paragraph
• Organizational Timeline
• Professional Bio Director
New Business:
Identify Elements of Kentucky/Nebraska Documents:
Mary Batcheller stated she likes the ND document as it has most of the same information as the Kentucky/Nebraska documents but covers more information. Whitney Oxendahl stated she likes the board evaluation tool in the Nebraska documents. Jan Ulferts Stewart commented that any board evaluation would be made public record and that she would suggest a self-evaluation for each board member to complete on their own rather than a formal board evaluation.
Identify Elements of ND Public Library Trustee Manual:
The Grid of Duties and Responsibilities document was gone through line by line and adapted to fit the specific need of the Fargo Public Library Board.
A motion was made by Jan Ulferts Stewart to approve use of the Grid of Duties and Responsibilities as changed. Rachael Steenholdt seconded the motion; motion carried. Whitney Oxendahl was not present for this vote.
For the duty of an annual evaluation of the Director; the Committee would like to bring that to the Board at the next regular Board meeting to form a Subcommittee to work with City of Fargo HR to identify the roles of both the Board and City of Fargo HR along with identifying a tool to complete the evaluation annually.
After discussion of using the ND Public Library Trustee Manual, a motion was made by Mary Batcheller to not use the Kentucky or Nebraska documents. Rachael Steenholdt seconded the motion; motion carried. Whitney Oxendahl was not present for this vote.
The Committee discussed adding the North Dakota Open Records Guide to the list of Orientation documents. All agreed but no motion was made. Whitney Oxendahl was not present for this discussion.
A recommendation was made for Tim Dirks to go through the rest of the ND Public Library Trustee Manual and bring back the key elements he sees fit for Committee discussion at the next meeting. All agreed but no motion was made.
Public Comment:
No public comment
Next Regular Meeting:
The next Committee Meeting is scheduled for September 24th at 4pm.
The meeting adjourned at 5:37 PM.