Preliminary Minutes
Trustee Meeting
Stephenson Memorial Library
Wednesday July 7, 2010
7:00 p.m.
Minutes taken by Bob Marshall
Attendance: Neal Brown, Gail Smith, Mary Ann Grant, Bob Marshall
Neal asked Bob and Mary Ann to sit in as voting members.
1. Minutes: Neal referenced the June minutes to clean up any left-over business. Bob reported that he hadn’t contacted Catherine re: the Allen-Mathewson furnace cleaning but would do so tomorrow morning. Mary Ann Grant reported on her discussion with Catherine regarding the $6,000 in our budget for heating oil that is unexpended. Catherine said that the Town was considering joining with the Conval School District on oil purchases but no decision has been reached to date. From April 08 to April 09, we used 1,656 gallons of heating oil. Mary Ann will follow up with Catherine to see if a decision is coming and to see how much will be spent from that line item in our budget.
Mary Ann saw Kevin McDonald on July 6 about the wet basement. He does not think that this would be a job for inmate work crews. Bill Harper will meet with Kevin to give him his assessment of what needs to be done.
Mary Ann also reported that the maintenance list that was given to Matt has not been seen by Kevin. He will see Matt and follow through on the list.
Mary Ann reported that the front roof work has been completed and she will consult with Catherine to assure that Kevin inspects to certify completion so that the invoice can be paid in a timely fashion.
Mary Ann also reported that she had been in touch with Adele Knight, a Library Trustee for many years in Dublin, who assured her that there is no RSA that prevents alternates from serving as officers. The State Library recommendation that that not take place is based on the fact that often, alternates don’t attend the meetings on a regular basis and an officer had an obligation to be present to assure the smooth operation of the meetings. It was decided that Mary Ann would continue as Treasurer.
Neal then asked if there were any amendments, omissions, corrections to the minutes. There being none, the minutes were accepted by a unanimous vote.
2. Treasurers report: 7:45 p.m.
Mary Ann reported on the balances left in our budget line items. The Wensburg Account has a balance of $107.51 and our Checking Account has a balance of $4616.54. In addition we noted an income report of $173.40 for copies. When asked where that money goes, Gail reported that it goes into petty cash. A discussion of the sources and expenditure of petty cash ensued. Gail reported that sources of income included copy charges, Conscience fund (fines/donations) and some book sales.
Gail shared her expenditures list showing the use of a Bank credit card and a Staples Credit Card for Library expenditures. She noted that this was how the Library makes purchases for many items. We noted that our general supplies/postage account has been exhausted, a reflection of the need to budget more money for those expenses in the future. Neal noted that we needed to find monies elsewhere in our budget that could be transferred to the supplies account to remedy the shortfall for this year in that account. Mary Ann said that Adele Knight had also told her that a Budget Conference designed to help Libraries create their budgets would be held in the fall and urged us to attend. Moved and seconded to accept the report as printed. Accepted by unanimous vote.
3. Library Director’s report: 8:11 p.m.
Gail presented her library use statistics. We noted that computer use is up this year. Gail noted that visitors fluctuate from month to month and year to year so it is difficult to determine specific causes for the differences from one year to the next. Moved and seconded to accept the report. Accepted by unanimous vote.
4. Meeting Room Policy: Gail reported that she felt that item #5 in the Meeting Room Use Contract requiring that a $1,000,000 liability policy for use was unreasonable and may be interfering with the ability of the Library to generate revenue from the use of the room.
Gail also noted that there were two separate policies for Library use, the one for the Wensburg Room and one for the upstairs. The Trustees felt that due to the number of computers and other materials in the upstairs room and due to the fact that we now have the Wensburg Room for meeting space, we should no longer allow general public use of the upstairs space. Mary Ann will investigate these concerns and report back in August.
Gail has received a memo from the Administrative Assistant requiring attendance at a Loss Management workshop being conducted by the Town. The memo noted that she will be paid for her attendance and she was concerned that the workshop was on a day when the Library was closed.. She wanted to know if she should attend or if a Trustee would be interested in representing the Library. It was felt by the Trustees that this was a meeting that she should attend since she is the manager of the Library. The Trustees were concerned about where the extra pay would come from since this cost was not a part of our Wages/Salary account. Gail will attend and find the answer to the payroll question.
5. Report on the Sanford HVAC proposal: 8:47p.m.
Neal reported on his discussions with Dale Sanford. Dale has proposed a basic annual cleaning service with 24/7 emergency service for a cost of $270. In addition to burner service, he will inspect/clean air handling systems and replace filters. In addition, he will replace the two thermostats that are broken for $200. We are not clear on additional costs associated with an estimate from 1/25/2010. Neal will investigate that further. Though he felt like this was a good proposal, Bob suggested that we should wait for a final vote on this issue until August when regular members will be back and have an opportunity for input.
6. CIP request from the Planning Board: 9: 05 p.m.
Bob spoke about this year’s CIP this will be a full scale CIP for the next 10 years. Bob noted that repair of the wet basement was an urgent priority for 2010 and that, as revealed in earlier minutes tonight, work was under way to complete that this year. It was also noted that the roof had been repaired this year…a year earlier that projected on the last CIP. Other proposals from last year included workspace and book shelf work and paving the parking lot. Bob asked about expansion of the Parking lot. Little space is available and a proposal to buy a small piece of land was rejected because of exorbitant price. The group agreed to continue discussion of this issue at our August meeting.
7. Library Job Description: 9:13 p.m.
Gail presented a list of the duties that she had prepared several years ago at the request of Selectmen who were looking to develop job descriptions for managers in Town. This is a list of the duties that she currently does. The Trustees will review this and continue discussion at our August meeting.
9:17 p.m. Meeting adjourned
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