November 2022 Minutes

APLE General Membership Meeting

November 18, 2022, 6:30 p.m. Zoom

1. Officer Roll Call

• Teresa Alvarado

• Steve Nichols

• David Lutz

• Jozi Heckel

• Morgan Rinckey
  
  

Meeting starts at 6:30

Attendance 15

1. Officer Reports

   1. Chairs

      1. Morgan Rinckey is a new trustee

   2. Treasurer

      1. No treasurer report

2. Old Business

   1. Staff engagement survey- We were surprised and happy to see the sharing of keywords from the staff engagement survey at the town hall. Especially being candid about negative phrases. The chairs got questions about how the survey got data from each location if it was anonymous. HR submits demographic information to Energage, and Energage sends us a personal link that gathers basic demographic information. The long responses went to Irene and Rhonda and they are not sharing the specifics with admin or managers.

      1. We don’t know what or how much will be shared.

      2. It was nice that there were many responses

      3. Admin will meet with every agency and create a plan based on the responses. They will work on addressing or fixing issues brought up in the survey.

      4. Question: Will Main departments get individual attention/plan? 7 or more people need to be in a department to be reviewed separately. So Main departments will be lumped together, and smaller agencies will have librarian and clerk answers lumped together.

   2. Merchandising

      1. Steve will potentially be on the merchandising team next year so there will be more APLE representation.

      2. Merchandising is not working well at Sanger

      3. Merchandising is going well at Reynolds Corners because of staff involvement

      4. Kristie Lanzotti and Allison Fiscus came to the HR meeting with Teresa and Steve

         1. Kristie and Allison said that merchandising information was given to managers prior to the roll out and there were things the managers were supposed to finish before the big moves

         2. They agreed that merchandising training would be valuable before the move

         3. With the new merchandising, the goal is to maximize the space for new items and to keep new items displayed longer.

      5. Many were upset because they didn’t know the change was happening. Better communication would solve this.

3. New Business

   1. If you use Comics Plus and see content not suited for kids, email Steve or Kristie Lanzotti because there isn’t a kid’s filter

   2. Annual Leave. Request Annual Leave on the APLE Annual Leave Request Form paper by November 30 for next year- it is seniority based.

      1. Managers have a 2-week deadline to respond after November 30

      2. After November 30 when you submit AL through Kronos- management has a week to respond

      3. Email Teresa or Steve if your AL isn’t addressed

         1. The Ready to Read team is having particular troubles with requesting AL because it is hard on the team.

   3. Active enrollment

      1. HR is meeting with all of the branches to go over active enrollment

      2. We have a vision insurance option. And the FSA would work on glasses.

      3. Long term and short-term disability are offered by it is not listed on the HR JotForm

   4. Contract books

      1. The contract books are out (sorry about the font)

   5. Graphic design positions

      1. There is movement in the communications department. And they are changing the graphic design position to be a “digital content creator” which would handle confidential information and not able to be part of APLE

   6. Innovation Accelerator

      1. Innovation accelerator is not anonymous, but you can choose that Jason can see it and it is anonymous to everyone else

         1. Question: How quickly do they get posted or addressed? We will find out.

   7. Safety

      1. West Toledo closed due to a threat made to a guard. There was an incident at Sanger where someone said they had a gun.

         1. There was a lack of communication to staff at West Toledo and Sanger

         2. Main teen is having a public safety meeting with Jeff Sabo

         3. If there is a safety incident at your agency, let Steve or Teresa know as well.

         4. We would like more training to be able to react properly. We can control training and communication

         5. January 12 is the next safety committee meeting

         6. Ready To Read has safety issues when they leave Main there is no one else in the parking garage. We will ask that a guard is in the lot from 7:45-8:45.

   8. Open floor

      1. Birthdays- some people are uncomfortable with the gift cultures at their branches. How does everyone do birthdays at their branch?

         1. Ready to Read- staff will bring in a treat to share for their birthday

         2. Main teen has a big gift culture

         3. West Toledo has parties and has a big gift culture

         4. Sanger circulates a card

         5. Mott has a big poster that everyone signs

         6. Waterville has a sunshine fund where they contribute money for birthdays or baby showers and whatever is left goes to the holiday party.

4. Adjourn 7:48 p.m.