Author: Eric Melton

You can continue to schedule notary appointments on this page for dates through 1/16. Notary appointments for dates after 1/16, need to be made on this page (the PC scheduling page).

The city’s revised Covid-19 policy is linked below. Please take special note of consequences of refusing vaccination (more information on the city’s role in getting employees vaccinated will be shared as I have it). Let me know if you have any questions.

Good Afternoon,

Attached is the updated COVID-19 policy. Please distribute to your employee groups.

As you have probably heard, the leave benefits associated with FFRCA expired on 12/31.  This is the act that offered 2 weeks of time for COVID exposure or illness, and offered 2/3 pay for school/daycare COVID related absences. The new stimulus package did not extend these.

At this time, we will be continuing the leave that was allowed in the FFRCA Act.  This does not “reset” the hours allowed, just allows for the rollover of time employees may still have.

Changes from the last version are highlighted in yellow.  Highlights include:

• Continuation of the FFRCA leave allowances
• Vaccinations – including language that employees who are eligible, and/or offered COVID-19 vaccinations but decline, will be required to use their accrued leave (PTO, etc.) for any COVID related absences.  There are exceptions for medical and religious grounds.  Declination forms will be distributed as needed.  Those who initially decline may decide at a future date to proceed with vaccination.  This is a work in progress, and we continue to fine tune timelines, etc.  Please let me know if you have specific instances which require discussion or resolution.
• PTO Bank – added language that will allow employees to convert any hours they accrued over the 420 cap into their sick banks.  This will need to be communicated to Payroll prior to January 31.

As has been the case since March, this information continues to change over time, and therefore our policies may be updated/amended as needed.

Thanks for your continued patience with all things COVID!

Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Cyndee

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MOmsdLxp6i9l0vJge6uh8RaSsVTDg54E/view?usp=sharing

Unless cases get crazy over the next couple of weeks like they did in November, we will reopen the library building to the public on Tuesday, January 19th. We will reopen with the same rules we were operating under throughout the fall: browsing and PC use by appointment with room for walk-ins. Curbside pickup will continue. Your supervisor will be in touch if reopening requires changes to your schedule. Let me know if you have any questions.

Case counts are down significantly from where they were in mid-November when we closed the building again to the public. We will remain closed through January 17th and reevaluate reopening for browsing and computer use by appointment prior to then.

The library board approved elimination of overdue fees on juvenile and YA books and audiobooks at last night’s meeting. This change will take effect 1/1/2021 and will include elimination of outstanding overdue fees on those materials as well. While we’ll wait to announce this exciting news on social media until January 1st, it’s not a secret. If you’re discussing unpaid fines for overdue J or YA books or audiobooks with a patron, feel free to mention that those will be eliminated at the start of the new year.

When the PS and YS desks are unstaffed, please forward calls to the circ. desk (601) or the extension where you’re working using the steps below:

1. Press “Features”
2. Press “Forward”
3. Press “Follow Me To”
4. Enter extension and save

Follow steps 1-3 then press “Clear” to cancel forwarding

Good morning –  What a year we have had!  I look forward each year to seeing many of you at our annual holiday potluck but Covid-19 is going to change yet another norm this year as we will have to bypass having a potluck!  Although we have had a challenging year, it also has been a rewarding year with the completion of many high profile projects such as the Pioneer Parkway recreation trail, the canoe/kayak launch at Lew Clarkson Park and the completion of the new city hall.  Every department has faced many issues brought on by the pandemic: public buildings closed to the public, public meetings held on Zoom, employees working from home, schedules being altered, quarantines, and isolations.  All of these challenges have been met by the utmost professionalism by our employees and what I am most proud of, through all this, the citizens of Johnston continued to receive the quality services they deserve and are accustomed to.  Thank you for your service and dedication to our community!!

As I look to the future, I thought it was important to give the Mayor and City Council as much notice as possible regarding my decision to retire. The City Council took action at the last Council meeting and approved my final contract as City Administrator with a retirement date of January 5, 2023 (my last working day will be October 18, 2022).  Regarding my replacement, the current Mayor and City Council will be requesting proposals from various executive search firms to recruit a new City Administrator.  The recruitment process will begin in March 2022.

In preparation for this transition, the Mayor and City Council took additional action and modified titles and the organizational charts for administration, affecting Cyndee Rhames and Teresa Rotschafer.  A copy of the chart is attached.

Cyndee’s new title is Director of Internal Operations/City Clerk.  The main change to her responsibilities now include all Human Resource (HR) issues.  The HR functions Teresa was performing will be completed by Cyndee, with the exception of labor negotiations, in which Teresa will still be involved. Cyndee will continue with her IT responsibilities and maintains her appointment as City Clerk.   Teresa’s new title is Assistant City Administrator/Finance.  Teresa will be continuing all of her responsibilities regarding the financial functions of the City and learning additional City Administrator responsibilities.  This will help with the transition to a new City Administrator.  The creation of the Assistant City Administrator position was not done as an automatic succession to the City Administrator position.  In fact, at this point Teresa has announced she would not be interested in the position.

As we approach the holidays, there appears to be reason for hope with the introduction of safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines.  I want to encourage you to continue doing the right things to make sure you and your family are safe.  If we hang on a little longer, I am hopeful the recovery from the pandemic will begin in early 2021.

Thank you for all you do and please have a Happy and Safe New Year!

Best wishes,  Jim

Each year around this time, the library services as a pickup/drop-off point for the Johnston Partnership’s gift/”Star Card” program. This year, the Partnership is asking for monetary donations to help purchase gifts for families in need. Information and a link to the Partnership’s website are included below.

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Information for Donors: Johnston Gives 2020 will look a little different than past years, but we still need your help. Our program continues to be open to JCSD students only. Typically we match children’s wants/needs with donors who purchase and return those items, which are distributed to the families before the holiday season. This year, we are creating a gift card program, where our participating families can choose a card to either Fareway or Wal-Mart, to purchase holiday needs or food for their families. When a JCSD family registers for our program, they will receive a gift card to either store in an amount proportionate to the children in their household.

The library will remain closed through January 4th. We’ll re-evaluate re-opening prior to then.

Hold and other Polaris notices will be re-enabled around 5pm today.

Several thousand patrons got an account expiration notice yesterday which maxed-out our email quota with Gmail. I’ve turned off all Polaris notices, including holds notices, until tomorrow when our 24-hour quota period resets. If you receive calls from patrons who say they have not received notification for a hold that’s become available, let them know that we’re aware of the issue and that notices will be back to normal tomorrow. Emails that get sent via our website, including appointment confirmations, have temporarily been switched to send via the city’s mail server and are currently working as normal. In order to avoid this issue when patron accounts expire again, patrons with expiration dates between now and the end of August 2021 have had their expiration dates spread across September and October 2021.

Library account expiration dates have been extended to 3/31/2021.

I know we’ve been receiving calls asking how long we’ll be closed. The true, but unsatisfying, answer is that I don’t know. My guess is that case-counts will continue to be high through the end of the year and we’ll likely keep the building closed to the public through December. For now, you can tell callers that we’ll be closed, as city hall is, at least through December 14th.

A quick tip when trying to find a name on the curbside list or any other text on a webpage: Press Ctrl+F to bring up the browser’s “find in page” function then type the text you’re trying to find.

We’ve had a lot of demand for notary services recently so we’re going to try offering it by appointment. For now appointments are available Monday-Thursday 11am-3pm. A link for creating a notary appointment has been added to our homepage. To create, cancel, or edit an appointment or to view the schedule, use the links on the left menu of the intranet. Patrons will be instructed to call the library when they arrive for their appointment and will be let in via the Commons doors.

The Library Foundation met last week to discuss their 2021 budget which runs January-December. They approved two major projects: a new teen area and face-out browser bins for picture books.

Teen Area

The Youth Computer Lounge, funded by the Foundation in 2015, is a great spot for older elementary-aged kids and younger teens. Older teens prefer to hang out in the east/adult side of the library in spots that are out of view of staff. The foundation agreed to fund a glass wall that will enclose the glass alcove adjacent to the Archive Room to turn it into a space for older teens. During the school day, the space will be open to all. After school, only teens will be admitted. Details on furnishing, amenities, and staffing are being discussed. Installation will occur in February or March. Music CDs will be moved to the style of bins that house the kids music CDs to open-up the area in front of the space.

Picture Book Browsing

The foundation’s other major project for 2021 is converting two sections of shelving in the YS area into face-out bins for picture books. The bins will be organized by categories–like “Animals”, “Holidays”, and “Characters”–to make browsing of one our most popular collections easier for patrons. Megan and Dreama are discussing categories, call numbers, and other details on how these books will be organized. The bins will likely arrive in February.

J & YA Overdue Fees

For several months, the library board has been discussing the idea of eliminating fines on juvenile and YS books and audiobooks. At last night’s board meeting, they agreed to include elimination of past fines on these materials as well when it is put to a vote at their December meeting. The measure would go into effect January 2021.  Going completely or partially fine-free has been a trend in public libraries in recent years as libraries seek ways to remove barriers to access particularly for lower income patrons. Research and anecdotal reports suggest that such a move does not correlate with significant increases in overdue items; does correlate with an increased rate of return of long-overdue items; and, not surprisingly, seems to prompt the return of patrons who avoided the library for fear of accruing fees. (See this page for a nice collection of articles on libraries’ experiences going fine-free.)

Beth and her staff have completed a guide to social services in Polk County for handing out to patrons when we reopen. I placed a copy at the circ. desk. You can also view it via the link below.

https://board.johnstonlibrary.com/2020-11/11c%20Polk%20County%20Resources%20Pocket%20Guide_Final%20For%20Printer.pdf

The following message was just sent to learning tool borrowers:

We typically ask that the library’s learning tools be returned inside the library. The library building, however, is currently closed to the public due to the recent spike in cases of Covid-19. Because of this, we’ve extended due dates on learning tools to December 15^th. When you arrive at the library to return your learning tool, please call us at 515-278-5233 and we’ll meet you outside to retrieve it. The hours when we can accept returns are included below. Let me know if you have any questions.

Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays 10am-2pm

Tuesdays & Thursdays 2pm-6pm

Saturdays 10am-1pm

Sundays 12pm-2pm

For those wondering, Brittany is the staff member who received a positive test result yesterday. Because we’ve all been masked around her and are generally keeping plenty of distance between each other, no staff members will be required to get tested or to quarantine.  For now, all part-time staff should plan to continue to come to work as scheduled. I’ll be talking with department heads about staffing and other issues related to the closure today and will keep everyone posted.

The bouncer station will be staffed periodically for the next couple of days. If the bouncer station is not staffed and you notice someone standing outside the front doors looking confused and trying to get someone’s attention,  peak your head out the Commons doors, explain that we’re closed and, if it’s relevant, that we’re still doing curbside.