The main branch of the Chattanooga Public Library is located on Broad Street between 10th and 11th streets in downtown Chattanooga.In other businessThe Chattanooga City Council voted on the final reading of the application process for venues and bars to play music downtown at 85 decibels. The permit will cost venues at least $1,750.
Library director Corinne Hill attends a Chattanooga Public Library board meeting Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, in Chattanooga.The Chattanooga Public Library's lax rules for travel reimbursement and leave time that the city auditor found led to suspected fraud have been eliminated.
On Tuesday, the library's governing board adopted the city's policies related to personnel actions, leave time requests and overtime pay and decided not to make any exemptions for current library employees.
A board subcommittee and Library Director Corinne Hill, who was mentioned in the critical audit, originally suggested that library employees should be grandfathered into the library's current system for leave requests. But board member Tom Griscom argued that the library didn't need to pick and choose which policies to comply with.
"This is where we've gotten into trouble," Griscom told the board. "And I'm tired of it."
Under the new plan, some library employees will lose a few days of leave time, but retiring employees can benefit -- the city will buy back up to 60 days of accumulated leave time, a more generous buy-back than the library policy.
That means the library could be looking at an extra $230,726 expense for the 14 employees eligible to retire this year.
"It's a significant cost to move in that direction," Hill told the board.
While more than two dozen library employees petitioned the board to get more information to their representatives in the Service Employees Union International, the board decided to vote on the changes without consulting the union.
Kate Sheets, a representative with SEIU Local 205, said she believes the library board violated the city's memorandum of understanding by not first discussing significant changes for employees with the union.
In response to the lack of controls for employees noted in the audit -- City Auditor Stan Sewell found employees were still requesting vacation time in a little black book -- Hill told the board she would hire Richard Beeland, the city's personnel officer and former Mayor Ron Littlefield's spokesman, as chief administrative officer to oversee vacation and travel requests for library employees.
In August, Sewell released his investigation that found Hill and her top employees, Assistant Director Nate Hill and Systems Administrator Meg Backus, had taken weeks of unreported vacation time and found excessive reimbursements of nearly $3,000. Backus and Nate Hill were also reported to the state comptroller's office for suspected fraud.
Sewell also found there were no checks and balances from the board of directors and for three years the board had functioned without any bylaws on the books.
At Tuesday's meeting, the board adopted a lengthy set of bylaws that spells out members' authority, governing control, a codes of ethics and any conflicts of interest. The city attorney's office will also write a memorandum of understanding between the library and Chattanooga to better define their relationship. While the library is a city entity, it still retains some independence with a separate governing board.
Contact staff writer Joy Lukachick Smith at jsmith@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.