MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7 2012 AT 7:00 PM
Present: Bruce Dodge, Scott Jones, Jami Bascom, Neal Brown, Mary Ann Grant, Gail Smith, Kristin Readel, Bob Marshall.
Minutes taken by Pat LaPree
7:04 PM: The meeting was called to order by Chairman Brown.
1) Review of the minutes of October 3 2012 meeting. One spelling error to be corrected was that Mary Ann Grant does not have an “e” on the end of Ann. On page two, paragraph one, subsection g: replace “…disbursed tot eh…” with “…disbursed to the…” Jami made the motion to accept the minutes as amended, and Neal seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous in favor of acceptance of the minutes. ACTION: Pat will have the amended minutes posted to the Town website.
2) Review of Action items from the last meeting:
a) Pat posted the September minutes and the preliminary October minutes to the Town website.
b) Gail will write an article for the Spirit about the Alexandria system for the next issue so it is close to Town meeting when it is published.
c) Mary Ann did obtain the figures needed for the budget from the Friends of the Library, revenues from copier and room rental fees. They are reflected in the budget that Neal took to the select board on Nov 1.
d) Gail did have Sanford come and replace the ignition diodes on the furnace and the bill will be paid before December 31 2012. She also inquired about permission to utilize funds from other line items in the current budget and was told by the Town office that there was no need for a formal request to do so, as long as the expenditures did not exceed the budget at the end of the year.
e) Scott has talked to Mike Borden and he has the first window ready for the Library. He has not yet talked to him about manufacturing a second window, as per discussion at last month’s meeting. Discussion followed about having the windows done by Mike versus a historical architectural company or another vendor. The pros and cons were discussed about each choice, and Scott reported that when he sought out other bids from contractors in Town, they were unwilling to spend the time to spec the job when they were unsure when they would be paid due to the nature of Town budgets. Mary Ann shared an article from the local paper abut a company from Lyndeboro, NH
that specializes in replacement windows for antique buildings. They have replaced all the windows in the Unitarian Church in Peterborough. Scott asked if the old part of the Library is on the Historic Register, and Gail said that it is not. Further discussion ensued as to how to best move forward with the window replacement project. Currently the plan is to replace one window at a time over a period of years, so no formal bids are needed. Bob suggested that the Trustees make it a future agenda item to make a plan for the replacement of the windows and collaborate with other Town building window replacement needs. ACTION: Mary Ann will contact Winn Mountain Restoration in Lyndeboro about a possible bid for window replacement at the Library.
7:34 PM Spending and Treasurer’s Report: Mary Ann provided a copy of the budget expenditures to date. She reviewed each line item with the Trustees:
a) Electricity remains at a $290.00/month average
b) Building Maintenance will have $107.00 left
c) Clerical wages will have a $148.00 balance after reimbursement from the Town for wages paid in January and February 2012.
d) Computer software money is gone.
e) Book money is gone.
f) Computer support/maintenance: Still has $860.00 in funds, but Andre has not submitted a bill for services. ACTION: Bruce will talk to Andre about any outstanding billing for 2012 and a contract for 2013.
g) Fire/Security System money is gone
h) Fuel: there is a current balance of $4169.00. There is about a half a tank of fuel now, so there will be at least one more delivery before the end of the year.
i) Programs/Entertainment has a $731.67 balance. $500.00 of it will be spent to pay for a new window in the old part of the Library. ACTION: Scott will contact Mike Borden about fabricating another window.
j) Part time wages will be expended in full. Discussion followed about whether to leave the whole amount in the line item and whether some of the monies left in the budget could be put toward anticipated expenditures for next year, there by decreasing next year’s budget. The Trustees agreed to take up this subject as an agenda item at the December meeting.
7:57 PM: Bob, as a member of the Planning Board, gave a brief description of the process by the Planning Board to develop a vision statement for the Town. He made a formal invitation to the Trustees to attend the public forum being held on December 1 at the Library on the concept of the development of a Village Heritage District. The presentation will include a review of the history of restorations in Greenfield, a review of the current ordinances and a discussion about how to go forward.
8:03 PM: Revisit the 2013 budget. Neal reported the outcome of the preliminary budget meeting with the Select Board. He said that when the Board heard the amount for the bids for exterior painting, they suggested a warrant article for the amount. Discussion followed as to whether the Trustees should bring forth a warrant article to cover all the pressing building maintenance needs into to one for fiscal year 2014. With the reduction of the $4800.00 for building maintenance and repair from the 2013 budget as well as reducing the line item for books by the amount that the Merrill fund contributes, the current budget for 2013 could be significantly reduced. Further cuts were made to several other line items to come in with a budget that will be flat or only slightly increased from the 2012 budget. ACTION: Neal will write
a new narrative to explain the new budget figures and send it to the Trustees via e-mail.
8:45 PM: Neal has sent the link to the New Hampshire Trustees Association survey to all the Trustees.
8:46 PM: Report on the new Library sign: Bruce reported that he has been working on the design and has been talking to a person who does laser etching. He is working on the design so that it will be more laser etching friendly and the design could be adapted to other mediums by that method, such as coffee mugs and tee shirts.
8:52 PM: Report on the Weston Lab trip: Neal reported that the trip was interesting and informative .Bob and Kristin also went on the tour. The cost of getting the seismograph is roughly $9800.00, and the training and set up by the Weston Lab staff is an additional cost. There are also further annual fees $2700.00. Funding resources for the program were included in the tour. Discussion followed about the cost and that it is a great program but probably too expensive for Greenfield and might there be another less expensive seismograph with a program and infrastructure attached to it like the Weston Labs offers.
9:02 PM: A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at this time by Bob and seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to adjourn the meeting.
The next Board of Trustees meeting will be on December 5 2012 at 7 PM at the Library.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patricia LaPree
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