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Library Minutes 09/07/2015

Meeting date: 
Monday, September 7, 2015

MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2015

Present: Neal Brown, Jami Bascom, Bruce Dodge, Bob Marshall, Mary Ann Grant, Julie Steenson

The minutes were recorded by Patricia LaPree.

 

7:03 pm – The meeting was called to order by Chairman Brown.

Julie presented a slide show of her trip to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. She returned with 258 books, with a value of $6202.58. Books will continue to be available to our Library over the next two years, as frequently as monthly, and the only stipulation is that the books can never be sold; they must be donated. Our library is the first in New Hampshire to take advantage of the program at the Library of Congress. The Trustees thanked Julie and her husband for their hard work in obtaining and transporting the books back to Greenfield.

There are keys to the Trustees filing cabinet at the Library. Neal and Jami have the keys.

Review of the minutes of the August 5, 2015 meeting. The motion was made by Bruce to accept the minutes as presented, and it was seconded by Jami. The vote was 3-0 in the affirmative to accept the minutes as final minutes. ACTION: Pat will have the minutes posted to the Town website.

7:13 PM –Performance evaluations:

Julie’s performance evaluation has been completed by the Trustees. Julie has also completed the evaluations for her staff. A brief discussion followed about some slight changes that will be made to the Director’s evaluation, such as the Trustees developing short and long term goals for the Library. The goals will be developed by the Trustees and the Director in the form of a subcommittee. Bob suggested that a chronological list of noteworthy events be complied every year by the Trustees. ACTION: A list of noteworthy events will be started by the Trustees and disbursed electronically in order to finalize the list for 2015.

7:24 PM - Treasurer’s Report:

     Mary Ann provided the year to date report on the Town budget and the monthly statement    

       for the Library checking account. There was a discussion about the electric bill stabilizing

       after a few months of fluctuation, and that the heating fuel costs for year to date are under

      budget, due to the lower cost of oil this year.  The motion was made by Bruce to accept the

       report as presented and it was seconded by Neal. The motion passed 3-0 in the affirmative.

7:28 PM - Library Director’s report:

Julie provided the Trustees with a thorough report of usage and statistics for the last month and year to date. Julie spoke about the increased usage of the Library has led to increased interaction with all the Library staff and is keeping everyone very busy. Public computer use has increased 600% since January 2015. There also continues to be great turnouts at the events the Library is sponsoring. The Trustees thanked Julie for the comprehensive statistics. Julie also reported that there were two incidents at the Library recently that involved calling the police for assistance. A discussion followed as to how best to implement the behavioral code of conduct without denying any group the right to use the Library. The incidents involved residents form Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center. ACTION: Julie will invite Jon Dash; administrator of residential services at CMRC to the trustee’s meeting in October.

8:00 PM – First draft of the 2016 Town Budget

1) Julie presented the Trustees with her tentative 2016 budget in three different forms, each one of which has different bottom line numbers and have different service( to the patrons) models. In all three models, her priorities are: safety and security for the patrons and staff, decreased stress on part time staff due to a large increase of usage of the Library by the patrons, and that a part time Director is no longer tenable, again due to the increase in Library usage. She reviewed the three models with the Trustees in detail.  One does not change the Director’s position to full time or increase open hours. The other two models do increase the Director’s hours and part time staff so that no one works alone in the Library during open hours, as well as increases open hours and upgrades in technology for patrons and staff. A discussion followed about the pros and cons of a full time Library Director, and that some line items that the buildings and maintenance crew will take over and that will eliminate expenditures from the Town budget next year for the Library will decrease the bottom line of the budget and allow for flexibility in the 2016 budget. The Trustees agreed to the service model and asked Julie to finalize a budget numbers for 2016. ACTION: Julie will finalize her budget and bring it to the October Trustees meeting.

9: 05 PM – New/Other Business:

The Friends of the Library have cleaned the basement! The items were donated to an organization from Foxboro, MA, and they are given to people all over the world that are in need. They came and picked all the stuff up.

Mary Ann will update the status of the Merrill fund for the next Trustee meeting.

The Memorandum of Understanding with the Town will go forward to the Select Board for their review. A discussion followed about whether losing the autonomy of the maintenance of the building to the Town will be the best decision. The Trustees agreed that the MOU will be in effect for a year and then be reevaluated. Jami expressed that she would still like to have the document reviewed by a lawyer after the first year that it is in effect. ACTION: Julie will adjust the MOU and give it to the Town Administrator to bring it to the Select Board.

9:24 PM- The motion to adjourn the meeting at this time was made by Jami and seconded by Bruce. The vote was 3-0 in the affirmative. The next meeting of the Trustees will be Wednesday, October 7, 2015 @ 7:00 PM in the Wensberg Room.

Respectfully Submitted,

Patricia LaPree