Bolton Public Library
Board of Trustees
Meeting January 8, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
Joint meeting with the Bolton Board of Selectmen
Present: Roland Ochsenbein, Bob Zak, Chris Sterling, Curt Plant, Panny Gerken, Ken Troup
Also present: Jodi Ross, Kelly Collins, John Rodenheiser, Ann Hurd, Mickie Simpson
Minutes:
The minutes of the December 4th meeting were approved.
Library Construction Committee Voting Members:
Bob presented the three questions about voting members on the LCC: can the Library Director, who is not a resident in town be a voting member?; can a Library Trustee, who will also be voting with the other Trustees, also have a vote on the committee?; and, can an abutter (John Rodenheiser) be a voting member of the committee? After reviewing advice from town council, it was agreed that the Director and the Trustee can be voting members of the committee. Opinions were divided on whether an abutter can vote. Curt felt that the abutter was too much of a legal risk. Ann, as the owner of the abutting property stressed that the best interest of the library and the town was her first concern. Panny suggested that John be on the committee but not be a voting member. Mickie suggested John be a non-voting member until the site plan
is finalized. Ann suggested that John recuse himself whenever there was the slightest appearance that it might be necessary. Jodi pointed out that John cannot be forced to recuse himself, and he should formally disclose his status of abutter, as he had when applying for the position. It was suggested that John contact the State Ethics Commission for a ruling. During the discussion it was also pointed out that the current design was not influenced by the abutter. Roland also gave a brief history of other issues with another abutter whose multiple requests to keep increasing the setback from the rear library lot line directly led to a decision by the Building Planning Committee to move the proposed addition to an offset position to the east. Bob made a motion seconded by Roland that the Board of Trustees and Board of Selectmen vote to approve the charter as presented to include all members as voting members. Curt made a motion to amend the motion to exclude John as a voting member.
There was no second. The vote on the original motion was: Zak – yes, Ochsenbein – yes, Sterling – yes, Troup – yes, Gerken – yes, Plante – no.
The Board of Selectmen adjourned at 7:25 p.m., the Board of Trustees meeting continued.
Construction Committee:
Roland gave an update on the LCC. The committee met on December 13 with Jeff Nutting, a facilitator. They also met on December 28 where Mickie spoke about the Construction Manager at Risk program. They would like to have the RFP out by the end of the month. The LCC will inform all abutters of the dates of all meetings. The abutters will be informed that the agenda is on the web site, and they are welcome to attend the meetings. Roland will inform Jodi of this.
Capital Campaign:
Ann gave an update on the capital campaign. We have about $185 K to go. We will be putting our current cash into higher yielding CD’s. A gala event at the International sold out even before the general announcement. (It has since been announced that it will be moved to a larger ballroom at the International.)
Director’s Report:
The library will be removing any VHS tapes that are also in the library in DVD format.
Kelly has been interviewing candidates to replace Mary.
Budget:
The trustees will meet with the Advisory Committee on January 23 to review the budget.
Annual Report:
A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to approve the Annual Report as corrected by Kelly.
Future Agenda Topics:
Library web site – the trustees should set a long term goal for the library’s web site.
Holiday celebration:
The trustees and staff will have a small holiday celebration at the Tandoori Grill on Monday, January 16th.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55.
Respectfully submitted, the Trustees,
Robert Zak
Christine Sterling
Roland Ochsenbein
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