Open Enrollment Instructions

Hello,

This is just a reminder that open enrollment for COH benefits is happening now. Here is a link to navigating the Open Enrollment form on Employee Self Service.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks,

MR

Service Animals at HPL

Hello,

Attached is a link to information regarding service animals as pertaining to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). HPL has always been committed to complying with ADA regulations, and as staff, it is important that we remain informed of issues relating to ADA compliance.

Here is a link to the U.S. Department of Justice's regulations regarding ADA and service animals: http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm

Please review the attachment so that you are aware of what is expected of you in regards to service animals in the library. The most important points include:

• Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.  
• Only dogs are recognized as service animals under titles II and III of the ADA
• A service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.
• Service animals are permitted to accompany people with disabilities in all areas where members of the public are allowed to go.
• Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless those devices interfere with the service animal's work or the individual's disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.

Please also note that staff are only allowed to ask TWO questions to customers with service animals:

1. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

Staff CANNOT ask about the person's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

A person with a disability CANNOT be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless:

• the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it
• the dog is not housebroken.

If there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal's presence.

Finally, people with disabilities who use service animals cannot be isolated from other patrons, treated less favorably than other patrons, or charged fees that are not charged to other patrons without animals.

More information is provided in the link above. More information about service animals can also be found here: http://www.dars.state.tx.us/serviceanimals.shtml.

Again: it is your responsibility to know this information and to treat customers using service animals in accordance with the ADA policy provided above and, as per HPL standard, exceptional customer service.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me.

Thank you,

MR

Donation Alert: "100: Houston Ship Channel, 1914-2014"

From Sara Karow:

Good afternoon,

Please be on the lookout for copies of the book “100: Houston Ship Channel, 1914-2014” arriving in the mail – this is an approved donation.

It is a large glossy hardcover that is being donated through the organization Promote Houston Ship Channel 2014 in celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the Ship Channel.

There has apparently been a communication glitch and my contact, Leslie Herbst, has been mailing copies to individual locations rather than sending the agreed-upon number of donated copies to me.  The item will include a letter of donation from Ms. Herbst.

If you receive this title in the mail, please send it to my attention ASAP.  Do not add it to your local booksale or to Friends.

As always, please make sure this message is shared with anyone in your units that handle incoming mail and gifts.

Thanks to Brandon Pope for bringing this to my attention!

Rules of Conduct Change

From Roosevelt Weeks:

Team –

This is to let you know that HPL’s Rules of Conduct have been updated and made available for staff and the public on the HPL webpage.  You can find the updated rules here:  http://houstonlibrary.org/library-rules-policies. 

Updated signage is currently being prepared and will be distributed to locations by the end of the month.  Please take this time to remove signage from your location that includes the old rules, and refer to the rules on the internet in discussions with customers.

The updated rules are the result of work by the Executive Leadership Team, representatives from Customer Experience and the City’s Legal Department.  The rules needed to be revised to incorporate the recent change in definition of Library “premises” to include the “building and any city-owned property, plaza, green space, or walkway around the building.”  (City of Houston Code of Ordinances, Chapter 24, Sec. 24-5).

Significant changes include:

• A ban on smoking of any type on library premises, as described above.
• An addition to the rule on customer clothing, to include a prohibition on clothing that “exposes underwear or private body parts.”
• A change to the rule pertaining to the size of bags, etc., allowed, which is now no more than three feet in length.

There are several other changes to wording in the new rules.  Please become familiar with the entire list at your earliest convenience.

John Middleton is scheduled to attend the March Customer Experience Managers Meeting to discuss these changes.  In the meantime, Customer Experience staff should contact Laurie Covington if you have questions.

All other staff can contact John at 832-393-1681.

Thank you.

Open Enrollment Information

Hello,

I've created a new temporary section for Open Enrollment documents on the group blog. Please read and review those documents as needed so that you are aware of changes to your benefit plans and what is required of you during open enrollment.

Below are dates, times, and locations for open enrollment meetings. Please let me or Jose know which you would like to attend. Based on staffing, we may be able to accommodate the request or will work with you to schedule attendance to another session.

Date - Time - Location - Address

Tuesday, March 24 - 10AM - Bob Lanier Building - 611 Walker - Garden Level Auditorium

Friday, March 27 - 10AM - Carnegie Library - 1050 Quitman - First Floor Building/Computer Lab

Thursday, April 02 - 10AM - Bob Labier Building - 611 Walker - Garden Level Auditorium

Friday, April 03 - 10AM - Park Place Library - 8145 Park Place - First Floor Building/Computer Lab

Friday, April 03 - 2PM - Oak Forest Library - 1349 West 43rd Street - First Floor Building/Conference Room

Tuesday, April 07 - 9AM - Central Library - 500 McKinney - Concourse Level/Meeting Room

Tuesday April 07 - 10AM - Bob Lanier Building - 611 Walker - Garden Level Auditorium

Thursday, April 09 - 11AM - Stella Link Library - 7405 Stella Link - First Floor Building/Computer Lab

Tuesday, April 14 - 2PM - Park Place Library - 8145 Park Place - First Floor Building/Computer Lab

Thanks,

MR

2015 Open Enrollment

From Roosevelt Weeks:

The City of Houston 2015 Benefits Open Enrollment begins Monday, March 16, 2015 and continues through Wednesday, April 15, 2015.

This is an ACTIVE ENROLLMENT, therefore employees must make one of the following selections, or be defaulted into the Open Access Plan on May 01, 2015:

• Re-enroll into a medical plan of your choice,
• Elect a medical plan (new participants),

***If you previously WAIVED medical, dental, or vision coverage, you do NOT need to do anything to retain your WAIVED status.***

All elections must be made electronically using Employee Self Service (ESS) at https://portal.houstontx.gov/irj/portal, Monday, March 16, 2015 through Wednesday, April 15, 2015.

During Open Enrollment You May

• Enroll in plans
• Medical 
• Dental 
• Vision
• Change plans
• Add or drop dependents to/from these plans
• Waive coverage
• Enroll/Re-enroll (optional) in the Healthcare Flexible Spending Account
• Enroll/Re-enroll (optional) in Supplemental Insurance
• Elect/waive the voluntary disease prevention discount (smokers vs. nonsmokers)
• Enroll/Increase/Decrease/Waive (optional) Voluntary Life Insurance and/or update beneficiaries

For more information regarding the 2015 Open Enrollment, visit the City's Open Enrollment site at www.houstontx.gov/oe.

Employees are encouraged to go to the Employee Self Service website (https://portal.houstontx.gov/irj/portal) to review their current benefit elections and deductions.

Quick Previews - Comparison Chart

Medical

This year, if you are a non-tobacco user and you earn 500 wellness points by March 31, 2015, then you qualify for the lowest available contributions.

Dental

Vision

Prescription plan changes for 2015

• Prescription drugs for heartburn, ulcer, and stomach acid conditions like Nexium and Zantac, which have an over-the-counter equivalent, will be removed from the pharmacy formulary.
• New free medications added to Cigna Home Delivery, including generic and brand name asthma drugs, generic cardiovascular and high blood pressure drugs and brand name insulin.
• Tobacco cessation prescription and over-the-counter drugs are provided at no cost.
• Some drugs are changing tiers, mostly moving from preferred brand to non-preferred brand.

Healthcare Flexible Spending Account

Supplemental Insurance Plans through AFLAC

• Hospital-Indemnity Plan
• Accident/Disability Plan
• Personal Cancer Protection Plan

Contact Information for Benefits

Reminder: Wellness Points

Hello,

Just a reminder: we are rapidly approaching the March 31, 2015, deadline to earn and report your Wellness incentive points. Don't let the clock run out on your discount. Don't wait until the last minute. Check your points on My-Cigna.com.

If your points total is less than you expected, remember that most points are self-reported, but some are automatically loaded such as preventative care visits. If you went to all doctor's appointment in the last 30 days, check your points again in a week.

By now, most of you know how this works. Anything less than 500 points = no $600 discount on your 2015 plan contribution.

*Note about physical activity points: You can only log points for physical activity one month at a time. If you have waited until now to update your logs, you will only earn points for one month.

Thanks,

MR

Reminder: SRP Books

Hello,

To all staff responsible for ordering SRP books: please make sure to submit all requests for this year's SRP books to Russell Wagner in Programming. Just like last year, Russell will be handling all of the book shipments from Programming to the Neighborhood Library branches.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks,

MR

New Electronic Statistics Forms

Hello,

As discussed in February's staff meeting, we are going to start recording programs and reference/directional questions on a Google form. This experiment starts today and will continue through March. In this month's staff meeting, as a group, we will discuss the impact, limitations, and overall experience of this new recording method. Again, this is a temporary experiment to see how such electronic record-keeping would fit in our normal workflow. I highly encourage staff to share feedback while this is taking place as well as at March's staff meeting.

All statistical forms (including the new ones) are broken down by branch and have been placed at the top of the links list for easy accessibility. Please use the correct forms for the branch at which you are staffed for that day.

For reference and directional questions, please try to record question counts after each customer transaction or prior to leaving the public floor. If you accidentally document the questions on the old statistics form, that is fine, but please do not duplicate those numbers in the electronic form. Jose and I will be pulling statistical information from both the paper and electronic forms, so do not worry about  your questions not being counted.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, and concerns. I look forward to your feedback.

Thanks,

MR