By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Wood County Library Board of Trustees was in a giving frame of mind when it met Monday. The board provided money for raises all around, including funds that allow Library Director Michael Penrod to adjust salaries.
This was prompted not just by generosity, but by a recognition that in the current climate with fewer people seeking jobs and inflation sweeping through the economy, that the library needed to increase pay to hire and keep employees.
“We want to be competitive in hiring employees and investing in employees, recognizing inflation is a factor,” Trustee Ellen Dalton in making the motion to provide a pool of $56,000 for raises to staff.
Later Trustee Ken Frisch moved to create a separate pool of $42,000 for market adjustment for library salaries.
This, Penrod said, will go toward boosting compensation for lower and medium paid positions.
Also, the cost for health insurance is decreasing, and that will be passed on to employees.
Frisch referenced the library’s hiring boom as the library emerged from the pandemic.
The library has recently hired 23 new staff members, bring its employment to 41.
This replaces the 15 people who were laid off in May 2020. Some of those laid off employees have returned. There have also been a number of retirements, Penrod said.
On one day in August, he said, they brought in 13 new employees for training.
The trustees also completed their evaluations of Penrod and Fiscal Officer Linda Joseph.
Joseph received a 7-percent raise. That included a 4-percent market adjustment.
Trustee Mike Sibbersen said that the trustees looked at others in her position with her experience and felt the raise was needed “to put her in better alignment” with her peers. Joseph has 33 years of experience, 29 of which were with the library.
Joseph’s compensation went up to $32.77 an hour from $30.60. Joseph works 22.5 hours a week.
Trustee Becky Bhaer said the library was fortunate to get such a high level of service in so few working hours.
The library consistently gets clean audits, and Joseph helped guide the library through the pandemic, said Brian Paskvan, president of the board.
This comes, said Trustee Ken Frisch, as she handles funds coming in from a variety of sources.
The board also gave Penrod a 4-percent raise, bringing his pay to $97,332.
Paskvan said Penrod has provided stellar leadership, including during the pandemic.
He brought the library through changing guidance on masks, shifts in schedules, hiring a third of the staff, and managing the existing staff. “We are incredibly grateful and pleased to give you this raise.”
Frisch praised Penrod’s giving the library staff the freedom to innovate, something that was essential during the pandemic, when so many services had to be re-imagined.
Bhaer said Penrod treats the board with respect and provides it with all the information it needs to do its job. “You make us a better board.”
She also praised him and previous boards with keeping up the facilities.
Dalton noted his close work with the city to develop the shared space between the library and what will become the new city building. Later in the meeting the board gave Penrod authority to make decisions on that project.
The board shifted money into capital improvement accounts. In 2022, it has about $500,000 in projects planned for next year. That includes work related to the purchase, demolition and landscaping of the house just to the north of the Carter House, a new heating plant, and the relocation of the book drop.
Penrod assured the board that a book drop will always be available, though it may a walk up, not drive through, for a short period.
The trustees also approved the budget for 2022. The budget calls for spending $3,722,498, a 16-percent increase over 2021. Penrod noted that a $445,000 transfer of money from the general fund to the capital fund is considered an expense. Without that, the budget increase would be 2.2 percent.
Penrod also announced that the No Show Novel Night raised $111,750 from 87 donors. Dalton said that the virtual event that takes the place of the live auction held in summer has the advantage of allowing people who cannot afford a ticket to donate.
