James A. Tuttle Library
45 Main Street, Antrim, NH 03440
Board of Trustees Meeting
January 12, 2009
Present: Nancy Benda (Treasurer), Kathryn Chisholm (Library Director), Janis King, Connie Kirwin (Secretary), and Margaret Warner (Chair)
Guests: Neal Cass (Town Administrator) and Kristin Readel.
· Kristin announced that she had been awarded two grants for which she had made applications for the library. One grant, Picturing America, is a new initiative from the National Endowment for the Humanities in cooperation with the ALA (American Library Association). The program provides masterpieces of American art in a collection of art quality laminated double sided posters and 40 images plus a guide and resource book.
The second grant will be a visit from a representative from NH Public TV who will talk about the Reading Rainbow Authors and Illustrators contest for K–3rd grades. The winners will be published on the PBSKids Reading Rainbow website for a year and the stories will be shared thru the Reading Rainbow TV show.
· Neal discussed the harmonious relationship between town government and the Library. Janis brought up policy issues such as Family Leave, holiday pay, and the sick and vacation accrual policy along with other policy items that are different between the Library policy and the Town policy. She will meet with Neal within the next couple of weeks. Neal expressed his offer to help any time we need assistance and will maintain an “open door” policy to continue the harmonious relationship between the Town and the Trustees. He thanked the library for their efforts in lending comfort and assistance plus food and a warm place to rest to people during the ice storm. Neal announced that the CIP has recommended to the Board of Selectmen that the purchase of a generator for the Library be placed
on the warrant. There was general discussion on the budget, the expectations of the Board of Selectmen and the economic situation in town. The public budget hearing is scheduled for February 10 at 7 pm.
Minutes of the 12/08/2008 meeting were approved as submitted.
Treasurer’s Report:
· A policy for bounced checks was discussed. Kathy will prepare a policy for the February meeting.
· Discussion on donation categories and the cash register. It was decided that donations will be recorded as either cash or check. With the change in bank accounts Nancy stressed the need for having the monthly cash register reconciliation completed by the first of each month.
· Library funds are at budget. Town funds are over budget for the year 2008 in the fuel oil expense line and in payroll.
· There was a lengthy discussion on 2008 staff hours and proposed 2009 staff hours. Many options were put forth and discussed. The Board directed Kathy to meet with her staff and create a new staffing schedule for a maximum of 108 weekly hours, to be effective as of February 2nd. She will present the new schedule to the Board at the February meeting. The new schedule will cover the continuation of library services at the current 29 hours per week.
· There was discussion on the use of sick time. Per the personnel policy the use of sick time can be used to take care of the employee’s sick immediate family.
Director’s Report:
· See attached.
· Discussion on 2009 holidays. It was decided that the Library will observe 11 holidays and use the floating holiday for Christmas Eve, December 24. The holidays for 2009 will be:
Jan 1 (New Year’s Day), Jan 19 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), Feb 16 (President’s Day), May 25 (Memorial Day), July 4 (Independence Day), Sept 7 (Labor Day), Oct 12 (Columbus Day), Nov 11 (Veteran’s Day), Nov 26 (Thanksgiving Day), Dec 24 (Christmas Eve), Dec 25 (Christmas Day).
· Kathy is waiting for capacity numbers from the Building Inspector in order to complete the meeting space policy
· The Friends of the Library had another meeting and are making plans for programs and projects for the coming year.
Old Business:
· Discussion on the by-laws was tabled until the February meeting.
· Kathy will ask Michaela about the loan agreement for the rugs that were installed in the reading room. Margie will check with Neal Cass about a special insurance rider for the rugs.
New Business:
· Connie compiled the Public Access Computer use statistics. There was a 66% increase in the number of patrons and a 45% increase in the number of hours used.
· It was agreed to accept the contract for computer services from Allan Treadwell for 2009.
· Colleen Giffin and Ron Haggett are running for the Library Trustee positions in the 2009 elections. Margie will invite them to the February meeting. Connie reminded everyone that there is a description of the duties of Library Trustee from the NHLTA on the Trustee section of the Library website.
· Updating the website was discussed. Kathy will take care of it.
Next meeting: February 9, 2009 at 7:30 pm at Tuttle Library.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Kirwin, Secretary
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