At its meeting Thursday afternoon, the Board of Library Trustees voted unanimously on the steps it will take to hire a new director and assistant director in conjunction with the town’s Human Resources Department.

Near the meeting’s end, the board also voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Nanci Hill, one week after she formally resigned as director.

This has been a challenging period for the Hopkinton Public Library. The Independent reported Tuesday that Hill and assistant director Jak Miller are leaving their respective positions. Miller’s last day will be Sept. 4, while Hill already has departed.

The Select Board agenda released Thursday noted the board will vote to approve Town Manager Elaine Lazarus’ appointment of Julia Schroeder and Ranya Sandakli as senior library assistants.

Joint approach for hiring process

Mary Zeinieh from the town’s Human Resources Department led the discussion. She explained the steps that must be taken to fill this high-level position.

“This is a process that we’ve run before,” said Zeinieh. “But there are decisions and choices that you have to make.”

Zeinieh added that she will be the board’s HR liaison in this process, as she specializes in recruitment. She suggested that the town may receive as many as 75 applications for the director’s position.

The first step is for the board to review the job description “and make sure it still accurately reflects what we want,” said Zeinieh. Members will be able to email modifications to her.

She added that she has requested that the Select Board approve of the job posting at its Sept. 8 meeting. The earliest that the job can be posted is Sept. 9. In order to do that, the Board of Library Trustees needs to approve of the wording before the Select Board meeting so that it can be incorporated into the posting.

Added Zeinieh: “[I]f we work together, I think we can get there.”

Zeinieh suggested that the board appoint a liaison to serve on the interview panel. Members unanimously chose Susan Porter, who said she is a veteran of this process. The panel also will include department heads and library staff members.

The wording of the job posting will be used to create candidate screening questions. Applicants who do not meet the minimum criteria will not be considered, Zeinieh stressed. HR will develop the questions for the initial interview round. Two rounds are expected before the finalists appear before the Select Board.

She added that she will employ the same strategy in the search for a new Parks & Recreation Department director. Jon Lewitus will be taking the director’s position at the Sudbury Park & Recreation Department as of Sept. 9.

Communication concerns arise

While Zeinieh stressed a collaborative approach, members Anne Beauchamp and Jessica McCaffrey called her out for addressing her presentation to chair Warren Carter rather than to the full board.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but actually we make decisions as a board,” said Beauchamp.

Zeinieh said she was asking the chair if he would like to present the information rather than her.

“Just to clarify Anne’s point, the board makes decisions through the chair,” stressed McCaffrey. “So the questions can be presented uniformly to the board.”

Some muffled discussion occurred. Then Carter said, “I’m all for that.”

Said McCaffrey: “I think you totally disregarded what we just said.”

“Just speak to the group, that’s all,” she added.

After this exchange, the board voted unanimously on Zeinieh’s request to email redacted applications to board members separately for their individual review.

Added Zeinieh: “So now my goal is to help you out, keep the process moving forward.”

Her objective is to make sure that “at the end, we are all comfortable with who we’ve selected.”

To that end, she agreed that Beauchamp could consolidate members’ feedback in the interest of time. Porter will review the new document for accuracy before forwarding it to Zeinieh.

After the job description is posted, Zeinieh will give applicants a “priority deadline” of three weeks from the posing date. Applications can be submitted after that time, but they will be reviewed after the first batch.

Staff shortage solutions emerge

The chair asked if an acting or interim director could be brought in to provide stability for library staff.

Because of the staff shortage, Zeinieh said HR has approved of paying a stipend to two current supervisors. They are Danielle Wolber, the reference and technology supervisor, and Allison Keaney, the circulation and technical services supervisor. Each will take on half of the director’s duties.

Miller will serve as “a sounding board” for them and be paid on a per diem basis, Zeinieh added.

Beauchamp expressed concern that Wolber and Keaney could become burned out.

Wolber added that once the new employees have been trained, some current tasks performed by her and Keaney could be handed off to them, at least for the time being.

Zeinieh suggested that an interim director be brought in. She also said that the assistant director position should not be posted until after the director has been chosen. Zeinieh said the director should have input in choosing the assistant director. Board members agreed.

Beauchamp said the assistant director description may need to be revised.

Library hours may be cut

Wolber noted that once the director and assistant director positions officially are vacant, “the library as a whole will be down approximately half of its full-time people and approximately one-third of our full-time equivalents.”

Because of the staff shortages, Wolber said closing the library on Sundays is “one of the least impactful and most effective ways to save some hours.”

Other potential options for consideration are reducing evening hours on Thursdays and only opening the library on alternate Saturdays until the full staff is in place.

Miller noted that the library is open 60 hours per week; the state requirement is only 50.

Beauchamp stressed that “foot traffic” and “special population programming” times be taken into account when deciding on reducing hours to “protect that equity.”

Carter: Hill was asked to stay

Carter told the board that he spoke with Hill on Aug. 28.

“My only real question was, ‘Are you sure?'” he asked Hill about her resigning.

Her reply to Carter was, “I’m ready to move on. I think it’s the best thing for everybody.”