Library Board approves Remote Work Policy required by MIOSHA

MIOSHA requires the Belleville Area District Library to have a Remote Work Policy in place during the pandemic that requires any staff member who has work that they can do at home to do so.
Library Director Mary Jo Suchy told the library board at its regular meeting, by Zoom, on Dec. 8, that much of the library staff work is interaction with the public, but those in professional positions can work on planning and other things.
“Some you just have to rely on the honesty of the individual,” Suchy said.
“Basically, it’s the reality of the pandemic,” said board chairperson Sharon Peters.
Suchy said libraries must have the policy under law and the policy was created by a library attorney who furnished it to libraries across the state.
The library board unanimously passed the policy. It is implemented as a supplement to the Library’s Preparedness and Response Plan that prohibits in-person work for employees if their work can be completed remotely.
Suchy said the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID order that took effect Nov. 18 reduced the library’s maximum occupancy to 30%.
That 30% equals about 60 people in the library, counting the staff, she said.
She said indoor gatherings are restricted at this time, hence the need to return to Zoom library board meetings. The Nov. 10 regular meeting had been in person, the first in-person meeting since March.
Suchy said the library has purchased in-room air filters for the staff workrooms in order to increase the air exchange in those rooms. The filters are capable of filtering to .10 microns and can assist in reducing the potential of COVID airborne transmission, she said.
In addition, the library has purchased in-room humidifiers for the staff workrooms, Suchy said.
She said other libraries in southeast Michigan have had to close temporarily due to discovering an employee who has tested positive for COVID. Libraries that have had to close for deep cleaning and staff contact tracing and quarantining include Canton, Novi, Westland, Pontiac, Bloomfield, Baldwin, and Oxford.
“Hopefully we can get through until there is a vaccine,” she said.
Suchy also reported the exterior wireless access points at the library have been installed.
“Punching through the walls to run the wires to the outside proved to be a very difficult process, but Dean and George persevered,” Suchy said.
She reported all library programs are virtual now and most likely will be for the next few months.
“Thanks to the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce, Santa made an appearance to the kids from within our circular entryway,” Suchy said. “Children were able to wave at Santa through the glass in the hour before the WinterFest fireworks and place their letters in his mailbox.”
She said the children had a mike to talk to Santa, who wore a mask, and got a picture taken on the bench in front and each child got a bag of goodies.
At the hour-long meeting on Dec. 8, the board also:
• Approved authorizing the library director and the board president as signatories for MERS contracts;
• Approved regular meeting dates for 2021 as 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. Notices of special meetings will be posted at least 18 hours before the meeting;
• Approved 13 days the library will be closed in 2021 for holidays plus April 2 for a staff training day. “We took away Strawberry Festival because there’s no Strawberry Festival,” Suchy said. “That’s a big change for the community,” board chairperson Sharon Peters said. “It’s a positive change,” board members John Juriga and Mary Jane Dawson said together. “That’s from our Belleville residents,” chairperson Peters said, implying they should know what they are talking about since they live in the city where the festival has been held;
• Heard Joy Cichewicz give a report on the previous week’s building committee meeting. She said the dishwasher is fixed, the key panel installed, and there was a lengthy discussion on a program for temporary art display. She said the library gave Hennessey Engineers, which works for the city, $80,000 for their services. She said they are done with 90% of the testing and they have to follow up with Rick Rutherford on the refund. She also said the Belleville Police Department asked for plans of the new library building and she gave it to them “five minutes ago.” Juriga said they should check with Belleville Fire Department and Van Buren Township want plans, too;
• Heard Cichewicz and Suchy report they talked with architect Dan Whisler on ways to make the building safer during the COVID crisis and Whisler presented a plan totalling $125,000, including needle point bipolar ionization. Suchy said she checked to see if the library had the money for this and it does so they are doing the whole plan suggested by Whistler;
• Heard Peters say there are extra telephone poles in the parking lot that are yet to be removed by AT&T and Comcast. She said people are telling her we’ve made parking spaces in front of poles. “The parking lot will look better after the poles are gone,” she said;
• Heard Juriga say he was walking by the parking lot the previous Sunday and he noticed kids on bikes were enjoying the area, but no skateboarders. He said the bike riders were going down the bioswale and, “That’s an attractive nuisance.” Peters said skateboards wouldn’t work there because there are stones at the bottom. “They’d only do it once,” Dawson said;
• Also heard Juriga say he registered the humidity in the building and it registered 17, “not as good as it should be. I’m glad you’re getting a humidifier”;
• Agreed to move the director’s evaluation to January; and
• Watched a brief video on how to get a library card, put together by Jackie Douglas. Her sister Noelle is doing some artwork for the Sumpter Branch, Peters said. Both sisters are very talented, she said;
• Learned the newly elected 34th District Court Judge Lisa Martin has agreed to come to the next meeting on Jan. 12 to virtually swear in the four newly elected board members.