Trustee Newsletter December 2020

2021 Advocacy

Advocacy in 2021 is going to look quite a bit different than it has in previous years. Library Advocacy Day will be virtual and local appointments will most likely follow suit. NYLA has a list of updated legislative priorities that will be released soon. We are primarily going to focus on State Aid to libraries and NYS Construction Aid.

Following the November elections, we do have two new legislators to introduce our libraries to--Jeff Gallahan (R) will be replacing Brian Kolb in the 131st Assembly District and, and Samra Brouk (D) will be replacing Rich Funke in the 55th Senate District.

Ontario County

• NY Assembly–Jeff Gallahan, 131st District
• NY Senate–Pamela Helming, 54th District
• NY Senate–Samra Brouk, 55th District

Wayne County

• NY Assembly–Brian Manktelow,130th District
• NY Senate–Pam Helming, 54th District

Wyoming County

• NY Assembly–David DiPietro, 147th District
• NY Senate–Patrick Gallivan, 59th District

Livingston County

• NY Assembly–Marjorie Byrnes,133rd District
• NY Senate–George Borrello, 57th District
• NY Senate–Patrick Gallivan, 59th District

System-Wide Delivery

We continue to closely monitor the ongoing public health concerns in the Finger Lakes region to guide decisions on system services to the 42 OWWL libraries including delivery. As of November 1, all libraries are recieving two deliveries per week. We have a System-wide plan in place should one of our counties fall into a Yellow, Orange, or Red Micro-Cluster Zone.

While it is our hope to continue providing delivery to the libraries, all decisions regarding delivery will continue to be made with guidance from local and state government agencies. We will continue to adhere to all Executive Orders issued by New York State as well as the mandates in NY Forward. The safety of our drivers, system staff, member library staff, and the library communities will remain the priority.

We will continue to update Directors on all decisions as they are made so they can prepare appropriately and publicize relevant information to their communities.

Monthly Board Meetings

The Executive Order allowing the suspension of in-person meeting requirement of Open Meetings Law has been extended until January 1 2021. We encourage library Boards to continue to take advantage of this provision for as long as they are able. If there are any questions or you would like assistance setting up an online meeting of the Board of Trustees, please reach out.

2021 Trustee Workshops

Last call! To help plan our 2021 Trustee Workshop schedule, we're asking Trustees and Directors to complete this quick questionnaire to let us know what they are interested in learning about.

The Community Web on Owwl Docs is the best place to find all of the information we discussed in 2020.

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