By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Wood County District Public Library is eligible for $50,000 in CARES funding to help it cover some of the costs of opening to the public.
Library Director Michael Penrod told the Board of Trustees Monday that this money had recently become available, but he would get further details at a webinar on Tuesday.
Information he shared Wednesday explained that $18.3 million was available to Ohio’s public library. The funds were approved by the Ohio Controlling Board at the end of July.
Penrod reported that the library can apply for $50,000. Library districts can receive $25,000 for each building, and Wood County District has two, one in BG and one in Walbridge.
The money can be used to pay for personal protective equipment, masks, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies, technology to monitor occupancy or deliver online story hours, costs associated with COVID sick leave, unemployment costs from layoffs, and other items. This can be used for costs already incurred.
The application must be made within the week, though the library has until the end of the year to identify how the money was spent. Any unspent funds must be returned unless the program is renewed, Penrod said Wednesday.
At Monday’s trustees meeting, the board approved a change to its personnel policy to address the concern about library staff members visiting states on Ohio’s travel advisory list because of their high rates of coronavirus infection.
Those coming in from those states must quarantine for 14 days. Under the new policy, employees visiting those states, or hosting a visitor from those states, cannot come back to work for 14 days. They may use vacation time, or take unpaid leave, or, if possible, work from home, but not use sick leave.
The policy advises them to talk with the director before they travel.
As of Wednesday, the travel advisory is in place for four states – Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, and Nevada.
Trustee Ellen Dalton said that travel is a choice. “If you choose to travel or invite people to come visit, you need to know what the consequence is. People need to be aware of that.”
Penrod said if one person tests positive, half the staff may need to be quarantined, and the library could not operate with that level of staffing.
“That’s the main thing I’m trying to avoid, having to go back to where we were in April. We worked so hard to get where we are.” The library is opened Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday, 3-7 p.m., Friday, 1-5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Penrod also told the trustees that the library will not be used as a polling place in November.
The decision was made by the Board of Elections, he said, which is moving the precincts that cast ballots at the library to the new Veterans Building at City Park, where social distancing will be far easier to achieve.
Penrod said he received the news as he was starting to consider how the library could serve as a polling place given the meeting rooms used for voting are now being used for COVID-19 related needs.
