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You are here: Community » Director Briefing » Director Briefing - July 9, 2024

Director Briefing - July 9, 2024

09 Jul 2024 - 12:47 | Version 5 |

High Demand Holds

The Women by Kristin Hannah is flying off the shelves! It looks like over 150 patrons are eagerly waiting to check out this book. To help libraries meet the demand, the System is purchasing a few extra copies to distribute and fill holds. So, if you happen to see copies labeled "OWWL Library System" on your holds shelf, that is why.

In the spirit of cooperative collection development, we'll continue monitoring the most popular holds and see what we can do to help with other high-demand items.

Central Library Hotspots Now Available

To bridge the digital access divide, there are now six Verizon hotspots available through the Central Library. These are functional anywhere with cell service.

Hotspots can be put on hold and checked out for one week with no renewals. Patrons will sign a Lending Agreement, included in the hotspot kit, which staff will hold until the hotspot is returned.

Check out the LibGuide here for detailed explanations and promotional flyers. Any additional questions can be directed to Jessica Winum at Geneva.

This Week in OSC Audits

Audit Key Findings Takeaways for Libraries
Town of Gorham

The Board did not develop and adopt realistic budgets, a financial plan or fund balance and reserve policies. As a result, the Town maintained unreasonable fund balance levels and likely levied more taxes than necessary.

  • From fiscal years 2020 through 2022, the Town-wide (TW) general, Town-outside-Village (TOV) general, TOV highway, sewer and water funds combined generated a total of $1.6 million in operating surpluses.
  • In 2021, sales tax revenues totaling $230,000 were inappropriately recorded in the TW funds instead of the TOV funds, given property taxes were levied in the TOV funds.
  • An excessive $1.5 million of unrestricted fund balance was maintained in the TW general fund as of December 31, 2022.
  • Budget transfers were made at year end, rather than as necessary throughout the fiscal year, resulting in appropriation accounts being over expended.
  • Libraries need to develop realistic budgets, reserve funds, and financial plans to show their community that they are appropriately handling the assets given to them.
  • All money needs to be accounted for in the budget or in designated reserves.
Town of Gorham

Town officials did not always procure goods and services in accordance with Town policy, statutory requirements and good business practices. As a result, there is an increased risk that the Town paid more than necessary for goods and services or made purchases that were not for Town purposes.

For example, we reviewed:

  • 65 individual and aggregate purchases totaling $2.5 million and determined 16 purchases totaling $468,738 were not competitively bid. Officials also did not comply with purchasing policy requirements for 41 purchases totaling $1.4 million.
  • All nine professional services vendors totaling $1.1 million and determined officials did not seek competition when procuring any of these vendors. Two of these vendors lacked written agreements detailing the services to be provided and their cost.
  • All 116 credit card purchases totaling $29,562 and determined 12 purchases totaling $3,736 did not have adequate supporting documentation to indicate they were appropriate Town purchases.
  • It's not enough to simply have a procurement policy; Trustees need to follow that policy, too.
  • These policies also note who is responsible for soliciting quotes, but the final expenditures must be approved by the Board. Education Law does not allow Library Boards to designate this authority to someone else.
Ardsley Union Free School District

The Board and District officials did not effectively manage the District’s fund balance and reserves. The Board and District officials’ consistent budgeting practices of appropriating fund balance that is not needed and maintaining unreasonable reserve balances circumvents the statutory limit on surplus fund balance and lacks transparency. As a result, the District levied more taxes than needed to fund operations.

  • The Board and District officials overestimated appropriations from 2017-18 through 2021-22 (excluding 2018-19) by an average of $4.1 million, totaling $16.5 million.
  • The District appropriated fund balance at an annual average of $2.9 million from 2017-18 through 2021-22 while it had an operating surplus in each of those years averaging $1.1 million. As a result, the appropriated fund balance was not used to fund operations and taxpayers were taxed more than necessary.
  • Three reserves totaling $9.6 million as of June 30, 2022, were not reasonably funded or used during the five-year audit period.
  • Another reserve fund audit. Again, have a policy and separate funds for different reserves.
Farmingdale Union Free School District

District officials did not properly monitor, approve and control overtime. Officials also did not ensure all overtime payments were necessary and properly supported. As a result, there is a significant risk that employees may have been paid for unnecessary overtime work that could have been avoided with adequate planning. We determined that the Board of Education (Board) and District officials:

  • Did not establish adequate overtime controls or adopt written policies and procedures to ensure overtime was incurred only when necessary and unavoidable. They also did not ensure all overtime was preapproved and monitored.
  • Paid 20 employees $167,034 for nonemergency overtime work, including routine job duties and planned events, without written preapproval.
  • Did not budget for overtime separate from other payroll expenditures. As a result, District officials did not have adequate information to properly monitor the overtime budget and expenditures.
  • Does your library keep proper time records for employees? It should be doing that, especially for hourly employees.

Upcoming Trustee Education Sessions

For your Trustees who still need to fulfill their two hours of CE, here are a few upcoming opportunities for them.
Title Date Link
Board Organization: Oaths, Terms, Charters, and Bylaws Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at 5 PM Registration
Q&A for Wyoming County Trustees Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 6 PM
at Eagle Free Library in Bliss 		Registration
Trustee Handbook Book Club: Governance Structure: The Role of Board Officers and Board Committees Tuesday, October 15, 2024 Registration
Sustainable Funding for Libraries - Preparing for FY 2025 Monday, November 4, 2024 at 5 PM Registration
2024 FAQs with Ron Part II Wednesday, December 4, 2024 at 5 PM Registration

HBR: Tip of the Day

Develop—and Retain—Your High Performers

While most employees strive to excel, being a high performer can come with drawbacks, including high-pressure goals, meeting overload, and reduced flexibility. Retaining your high performers—and developing new ones—is critical in today’s uncertain, fast-paced business environment. Here’s how to do it.

Minimize meetings. Cut down on unnecessary meetings to free up your employees’ time for truly impactful work. This means establishing a simple, predictable weekly meeting schedule for your team, as well as optimizing your one-on-ones.

Measure motivation. Use surveys regularly to assess your team members’ motivation and understand what excites or creates stress for them. For example, ask: What habits does the team want to improve? What are some specific ideas to improve those habits? Then create quarterly improvement plans to address any pain points.

Mentor high-potential employees on key skills. To ensure your high performers feel challenged and your developing employees are growing, schedule quarterly skill-development meetings for each of your direct reports. Use that time to identify one concrete, high-leverage skill (think problem-solving or leadership) for them to improve in the next quarter.

This tip is adapted from “3 Ways to Build a Culture That Lets High Performers Thrive” by Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi.

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