The West Fargo Library Board voted Dec. 11 to approve 17 updated employee policies adopted by the City of West Fargo and to acknowledge the full city policy manual, following a presentation by the city's senior administrative official.

Senior Director of Administrative Services Nick Lee told the board the city engaged Lexipol to provide boilerplate policies that were reviewed by city legal counsel and adapted to local practice. "We took those policy statements and kinda marry them to these boiler plate statements," Lee said, adding the goal was to provide clearer guidance and a place for staff to reference established expectations.

Why it matters: the adopted policies standardize procedures across city departments while allowing the library to keep a library-specific chapter and reference city policy numbers. The package includes an expanded ADA compliance section, clarified rules on social-media expression and guidance on subpoenas and court appearances; it also formalizes an encumbered-funds carryover process and updates leave accrual rules.

Board members asked whether the Library Board may deviate from city-adopted policies; Lee said the Commission had approved the policies and that Policy 101 gives the library the mechanism to add a chapter specific to library operations. "You'd have to have, you know, something put together to deviate," Lee said. He added that "Policy 101 just establishes this new process of the manual" including an employee-acknowledgment feature through the Lexipol system.

On leave and accruals, Lee and staff explained the update changes accrual to be based on hours actually worked in a pay period rather than granting full accrual if any hours were worked. The military leave policy was clarified to define what counts as a "day" for the state's 20-day paid leave entitlement (and additional days if mobilized). The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) remains an unpaid job-protection entitlement, Lee said.

The board moved, seconded and approved the package by voice vote. The motion to approve the listed new and updated policies (17 policies presented) passed, and the board also voted to acknowledge the entire City of West Fargo policy manual.

The board discussed but did not change the process for library-specific policies; Lee said the library's chapter would be presented as a reference and that the system will surface adopted policies in Lexipol so the board can review them at its next meeting.

What's next: the policies will be reflected in the city's Lexipol system and will be available to staff for acknowledgment through the platform. The board did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the chair announced the motions passed by voice vote.