Review and approve acceptance of a gift of $500 or greater.

Donna Osborne said the Talking Book Program had received a gift of $175,380.73 from the estate of Mary Jo Edele and requested approval to accept the gift. Vice Chair Holt moved to approve the gift and Commissioner Garza seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Responding to commissioners’ questions about how the money will be spent, Ava Smith said that the 86^th Legislature granted the agency the ability to advertise Talking Book services so a portion will be used for that. She said other projects under consideration are an electronic Braille program and a second recording studio to meet the demand for recorded books. A second location with ample parking could result in recruiting additional volunteers, she said. Commissioner Garza suggested staff look into providing Lyft or Uber services to the recording studio. Responding to a question from Vice Chair Holt, Mark Smith said staff are looking at a possible second location that already has recording equipment. Vice Chair Holt asked about the possibility of investing the funds so that they would earn money. Donna Osborne said that the agency is required by statute to deposit the funds in the state treasury.

Review and approve contracts greater than $100,000, contract renewals, and amendments.

Jennifer Peters requested approval to renew the American Chemical Society database contract for a one- year period from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 at a cost not to exceed $1,550,000.00. Commissioner Givens said that this is a first-rate database and moved approval of the contract. Commissioner seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Jelain Chubb requested approval to extend an existing contract with Preservica, effective January 1, 2020 for one year in an amount not to exceed $108,950.00. Preservica provides the electronic records system that is the platform for the Texas Digital Archive. The system ingests, manages, preserves and stores archival e-records and makes them accessible to staff and the public.Vice Chair Holt moved to approve the contract and Commissioner Garza seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Report of the Audit Committee and consideration of committee recommendation regarding Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Audit Plan.

Commissioner Givens reported that the commission’s Audit Committee met in Austin on September 6, 2019 and that all members of the committee were present as well as Chairman Waters. Commissioner Givens said the committee approved the auditor’s proposed FY2020 audits and moved they be accepted. No second required. The motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Givens said the committee also approved recommending the 2020-2022 Internal Audit Plan and moved the commission accept the recommendation. No second required. Motion passed unanimously.

Report on 86^th Legislative Session changes affecting commission roles and responsibilities.

Sarah Swanson provided an overview of bills that passed during the 86^th Legislature that are the most pertinent in affecting commissioners’ duties with regard to the Public Information Act, Open Meetings and other legislation and answered questions from the commissioners. She said that HB 3834 establishes new annual training requirements and cybersecurity training and that she will be discussing this later in the meeting. No action required.

At this point in the meeting, Chairman Waters recessed the meeting for a break at 9:55 a.m. and called it back to order at 10:05 a.m.

Report on status of implementation of Sunset requirement regarding commission training.

Sarah Swanson said that HB 3834 updated the training required for all state agency commissioners and that it is an across the board standard training for all commissioners. She has been working on a training manual and provided a copy of the Table of Contents to each commissioner. She said the training will have to be completed before the next commission meeting in February and that each commissioner will receive a training manual, per the legislation, but that it will be electronic so that she can keep it updated and provide links. Additional training including IT training will be referenced in the manual. No action required.

Report and approval of TSLAC plans to sell replicas of state archives.

Gloria Meraz requested approval of a plan to sell replicas of items in the State Archives as mandated by the 86^th Legislature. She said the initial plan will be to sell a small catalog of items online and in the Zavala Building and eventually the Sam Houston Center in Liberty and to use the program to promote agency activities and increase awareness of the historical records of Texas. She noted that revenue generated by sales is to be directed toward the purposes of preservation, digitization, archives information services, and education. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the plan and Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Report on records storage study and Promontory Point project.

Mark Smith reported that the Texas Facilities Commission is on track to complete the build-out of property on Promontory Point in Austin for increased records storage and should be wrapped up by September 2020. He also reported that a records storage study required by the 86^th Legislature concluded that adding 60,000 square feet to the State Records Center is the most cost-effective approach to increase storage for the agency. This study finding is in line with what the agency had requested from the legislature in order to increase storage, he said. The agency did not receive those funds in this legislative session, he said. No action required.

Discussion of request from Legislative Reference Library to transfer legislative records.

Mark Smith reported on the status of transferring records to the Legislative Reference Library and that the agency’s General Counsel had thoroughly reviewed HB 4181 and HB 1962 regarding that transfer and found a number of significant conflicts between the bills. He said her finding is that the bills are contradictory and that they may not actually give authority to transfer the records. Staff contemplated seeking guidance from the Attorney General on the issue but because the agency doesn’t have support from some key offices, he said staff are not comfortable moving in that direction to seek an opinion.  In the meantime, the agency received a letter from Legislative Reference Library Director, Mary Camp, requesting transfer of specific records. Staff are disappointed in the outcome of this for the agency and for the people of Texas, he said. The agency has preserved and protected these records and provided access to them to the public for 110 years. Now, under HB 4181, most of the records fall under legislative privilege and will not be available to the public, he said. 

Director Smith said staff are working to transfer the records in an orderly and secure fashion.  

Commissioners expressed concern about ensuring the secure transfer of the records, obtaining documentation for all transfers, concerns about how the LRL will store the records, and length of time the transfer will take and cost of the transfer. Jelain Chubb said staff are ready to begin the transfer on November 12 and will assume all costs for the transfer.

After further discussion, Director Smith told the commission that no action on their part is required.

Executive Session under the Open Meetings Act, §551.071, Consultation with attorney.

Chairman Waters said there was no need to hold an Executive Session during this meeting.

Report of the Director and Librarian.

In addition to a written report of agency activities and initiatives, Mark Smith noted that this is Ava Smith’s last meeting as she will retire December 31, 2019. He said that Ms. Smith has presided over great changes in the Talking Book Program including receiving the 2012 Library of the Year award, the shift from print to digital and many other changes. He also announced that the agency would close on Friday, November 8, for a day of staff training. He also updated the commission on the pending embargo on e-books by the publisher MacMillan and that a number of libraries will be boycotting the publisher as a result of the limits MacMillan is putting on e-books. Director Smith will be at the Chief Officer of State Library Agencies meeting in a week and the CEO of MacMillan will be present to talk to state librarians regarding this issue. No action required.  

Approval of appointment to the Library System Act Advisory Board.

Jennifer Peters requested appointment of John Melton, Library Manager of the Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library. Mr. Melton has over 28 years of library experience in public, academic, law, county and district library environments and 24 years of supervisory and management experience. 

Commissioner Mann moved approval and Vice Chair Holt seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Review and approve Tech Academy Grants.

Jennifer Peters requested approval for funding of 2020 Library Technology Academy grants in the amount of $11,000 each to nine libraries with service populations under 30,000. The libraries receiving grants are:

1. Atlanta Public Library – Atlanta, TX
2. Balch Springs Library - Learning Center – Balch Springs, TX
3. Bonham Public Library – Bonham, TX
4. Charlotte Public Library -- Charlotte, TX
5. Dickinson Public Library – Dickinson, TX
6. Dublin Public Library --- Dublin, TX
7. The Library at Cedar Creek Lake – Seven Points, TX
8. Nancy Carol Roberts Memorial Library – Brenham, TX
9. Riter C. Hulsey Public Library – Terrell, TX

Commissioner Tocker moved approval and Commissioner Garza seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Authorization to propose new 13 TAC 2.76, Enhanced Contract Monitoring.

Donna Osborne said that each state agency is required to establish by rule a procedure to identify each contract that requires enhanced contract or performance monitoring and to submit information on the contract to the agency’s governing body. She requested approval to propose new 13 TAC 2.76 Enhanced Contract Monitoring that will meet that requirement. Sarah Swanson said she reviewed the rules and they are in line with the statute. Vice Chair Holt moved approval and Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Authorization to propose amendments to 13 TAC 2.51, Public Record Fees.

Jelain Chubb requested approval to propose amendments to 13 TAC 2.51, Public Records Fees. Vice Chair Holt moved approval and Commissioner Garza seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Authorization to adopt proposed amendments to 13 TAC 6.10, University Records Retention Schedule.

Craig Kelso requested authorization to adopt proposed amendments to 13 TAC 6.10, University Records Retention Schedule, noting that two comments were received during the posting period and were added to the proposed amendments. The schedule establishes the minimum length of time a records series must be retained by a public university or institution of higher education in Texas before destruction or archival preservation. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the amendments and Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Discussion of timeline for adoption of Texas State Records Retention Schedule.

Craig Kelso requested authorization for the commission’s Archives and Records Committee to review the Texas State Records Retention Schedule in January and approve for posting to the Texas Register. If this timeline were adopted he said, the agency would come close to meeting the goal of adoption by April 2020 as set by the 86^th Legislature. The schedule had been reviewed and amended by a committee of state agency records managers and is currently under review by all state agency records managers, he said. Once completed in December, staff will amend the schedule and have it ready for review at a committee meeting in January, he said, and to present the amended schedule for final approval by the commission at its April meeting. Commissioner Givens moved to authorize the commission’s Archives and Records Committee to approve posting the schedule to the Texas Register after reviewing and recommending changes. Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Future commission meeting dates

Mark Smith reviewed future commission dates for 2020 as follows: February 20-21, 2020, April 17, 2020 and June 5, 2020. Director Smith asked if the commission would like to select an August meeting date. Since the agency’s Legislative Appropriations Request will be due in early August, he suggested August 3 for a meeting date and asked commissioners to check their calendars and report back on their availability.

Report on agency expenditures summary.

Donna Osborne provided a written report on agency expenditures and answered questions regarding the report. No action required.

There being no further business, Chairman Waters adjourned the meeting at 11:47 a.m.