Library Minutes 01/06/2016
MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016
PRESENT: Bruce Dodge, Neal Brown, Bob Marshall, Julie Steenson, Library Director.
Absent: Jami Bascom, Mary Ann Grant
Guest: Ken Paulson
The minutes were recorded by Pat LaPree
7:03 PM – The meeting was called to order by Chairman Brown. Neal appointed Bob as a voting member in Jami’s absence.
Review of the 12/02/15 minutes:
There was one correction. On line 63, change “four staff” to: three staff and one volunteer”.
The motion was made to accept the minutes as amended by Bruce and seconded by Neal. The vote was 3-0 in the affirmative to accept the amended minutes. ACTION: Pat will have the final minutes posted to the Town website.
7:05 PM – Mary Ann and Jami arrived to the meeting. Bob was relieved of his voting appointment at this time.
7:06 PM – Treasurer’s report:
Mary Ann provided the Trustees with the year to date expenditures and revenues.
The final budget expenditures for the end of 2015 will leave $119.93 in the Town budget unspent. This includes having paid the outstanding invoices not reflected in the Town’s report. The current Library checking account balance is $ 2273.69.
The motion to accept the Treasurer’s report as presented was made by Neal, and seconded by Bruce. The vote was 3-0 to accept the report.
7:12 PM: Review of the 2016 budget and reports for the Town Report:
The report will include the Library Director’s report and the Treasurer’s report for 2015.Julie has her first draft and Mary Ann will include her report with Julie’s.
Neal has drafted an article for the February/March issue of the Spirit, which will highlight the many achievements at the Library due to Julie’s leadership and the resident’s support.
There was a lengthy discussion about the 2016 budget. Jami had questions about several line items and Julie provided the rationale behind the figures in the areas of part time wages, computer equipment and general supplies. The Trustees agreed to have a final review of the 2016 proposed budget at their March meeting. The public hearing for the proposed 2016 budget will be on February 4, 2016.
7:45 PM – Trustees/Select Board plan for Library basement repairs:
The Trustees will draft the language for the 2016 warrant article requesting $15000.00 be placed in a capital reserve fund for the purpose of repairing the Library foundation in 2017. The Trustees will obtain and pay for the civil and structural engineering studies for the work, and outline specifics in the bid requests based on those studies.
A discussion about the language of the warrant article ensued. Ken Paulsen suggested to the Trustees that the language for the warrant article and the capital reserve request be consistent. He also suggested the language might include that administration of the capital reserve funds will be overseen by the Library Trustees, and that the need be for Library maintenance rather than just basement repairs. A motion for Neal to work with Town Administrator, Aaron Patt, to write the warrant article for request for capital reserve funds in the amount of $15000.00 be allocated for Library maintenance for submission at the 2016 Town meeting was made by Jami and it was seconded by Bruce. The vote was 3-0 in the affirmative to go forward with the warrant article. ACTION: Neal will arrange a meeting with Aaron to develop the warrant article and send the draft electronically to the other Trustees for final review.
Bob has agreed to contact the civil engineer and the structural engineer that were recommended by Bill Harper and get their information together for the 2016 Town Meeting. The motion was made by Bruce to appoint Bob as the Trustee’s representative to obtain the engineer’s plans. The motion was seconded by Jami. The vote was 3-0 in the affirmative for the motion. ACTION: Bob will contact the civil and structural engineers and have information available for the February 6 Budget hearing if possible.
8:05 PM – Librarian’s report:
Julie provided her monthly and year to date report and statistics for the Trustees to review.
Julie brought up that the Code of Conduct policy that was adopted in 2015 states that children under 12 years old be accompanied by someone 16 years or older. Middle school children have been coming to the Library to do homework after school and are dropped off by the bus. Julie would like to change the policy to state children 10 years old and younger must be accompanied by someone 16 years old or older so the middle school children can continue to use the Library after school. The motion was made by Jami to amend the policy as suggested by Julie, and the motion was seconded by Bruce. The motion passed with a 3-0 vote to amend the policy.
Julie reported the Concerned Citizens of Greenfield will be meeting in the Wensberg Room in January.
Jami thanked Julie for putting the statistics on separate pages in her report.
Julie brought up the trend for Libraries going “Dewey Free”, and that she would like to have the Library changed over within the next year. She explained what Dewey Free would entail; the organization of books in the Library to be more by subject and more like bookstores are organized for ease of use by patrons. Bruce noted that this is an example of the topics that could be addressed in a strategic planning meeting between the Trustees and the Library Director. It is a 2016 goal to have strategic planning meetings.
Julie provided a draft of her report for Town meeting report. Bob noted that the Town budget funds 25% of the total value of the book expenditures for the Library.
The Trustees discussed with Julie how she might arrange future Director Reports with bullets of the items enclosed in the report at the beginning of the report so that nothing is missed by the Trustees.
Julie will be attending the mid-winter meeting of the American Library Association in Boston from January 8- January12. She will be going at her own expense.
9:05 PM – New/Other Business:
There was a discussion about how to get people to come to the Town meeting to support the Library. Neal asked Julie to write a list of patrons that the Trustees can reach out to and ask for attendance and support at town meeting.
Julie provided the Trustees with an article: “Build a Better Board of Trustees”. It will be discussed further at the February Trustees meeting.
The Friends of the Library will have a yard sale/bake sale in the Wensberg Room for Winter Carnival on January 30.
9:21 PM – The motion to adjourn the meeting at this time was made by Bruce and seconded by Neal. The vote was 3-0 to adjourn the meeting.
The next meeting of the Trustees will be held on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 7:00 PM in the Wensberg Room.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia LaPree