PRELIMINARY MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013
PRESENT: Bob Marshall, Bruce Dodge Neal Brown, Mary Ann Grant, Kristin Readel, Gail Smith, Jamie Bascom, Scott Jones.
Minutes recorded by Pat LaPree.
7: 05 PM - The meeting was called to order by Chairman Brown.
Review of the October 2nd, 9th and 16th minutes. There were two grammatical corrections to the October 2nd notes: on line 7, Change David to Bruce, on Line 8, capitalize Wood.
7:11 PM - The motion was made to accept the minutes of all the October meetings as amended and written by Bruce, and seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the minutes. ACTION: Pat will amend the October minutes and have all three October meetings notes posted to the Town website.
7:12 PM – Treasurer’s report:
Mary Ann provided to the Trustees a year to date report of expenditures and remaining balances in the budget provided by the Town office.
The current Library checking account balance, as of November 4 2013, is $4895.21.
A discussion followed about the balances left in various line items and how to most effectively spend remainders before the end of the year. Overall, the budget has been efficiently spent and the end of year expenses must be invoiced by December 31, 2013 to come out of this year’s budget. It was discussed that the Merrill Fund book monies remaining should be used for book purchases in January and February 2014. The windows purchased with encumbered funds from 2013 still need to be installed. ACTION: Scott will contact Mike Borden about installation of the purchased windows and invoicing the job by 12/31/13.
Neal discussed the process of the Trustees and the Library Director in preparation for the Board of Selectmen budget meeting with them on November 7. The Trustees are available to provide guidance to the Library Director to spend the remaining 2013 budget.
7:53 PM – The motion to accept the Treasurers’ report was made by Neal and seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the report.
7:54 PM – Librarian’s Report:
Gail provided statistics for usage of the Library in October 2013 and as compared to October 2012. 1582 books were checked out in October 2013 as compared to 1093 in October 2012. The computer usage is also significantly increased from 2012. A discussion followed about how the Trustees can increase the Town’s knowledge of the things the Library can and does provide to the community. Bruce asked if there is a way to track actual foot traffic numbers in the Library, and it was determined that , aside from a physical count by the staff of everyone who walks through the door, there is no way to capture that data beyond book check outs and card holder numbers. It was also discussed as to how best invite other department heads and the board of Selectmen to the Library so that they have a better idea of the usage and
advantages of the Library to the community and to the administrators of the Town government.
8:15 PM – The motion was made to accept the Librarians report by Jami and seconded by Neal. The vote was unanimous to accept the report.
8:16 PM – 2014 Budget report:
The budget that was developed in the October meetings will be presented to the Board of Selectmen on November 7 at 6:30 PM. Neal has written the narratives to accompany the requests for spending in books and part time wages, which are the two largest line items.
8:20 PM – Policy Statement Report:
Jami provided the Trustees with the list of things the committee wants the Trustees to use in reviewing the policies. A discussion followed about the two new policies from the committee:
1) Equipment use policy: The Trustees have reviewed the policy, and Neal made the motion to accept it with one grammatical correction. The motion was seconded by Bruce, and the vote was unanimous in favor of the adoption of the policy.
2) Computer use agreement policy: The decision to adopt the policy was tabled after a lengthy discussion about the parts of the policy as written that will be challenging for the Library staff to enforce. ACTION: Kristin will talk with the Peterborough librarian about how they manage public access computer usage.
3) The motion to accept the credit card policy was made by Neal and seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous to accept the policy.
8:49 PM – Library Director Performance Review forms:
Neal and Bob devised a performance review for the Library Director and provided the draft to the Trustees. A discussion followed about the content of the review. Jami noted that several areas of the evaluation will require the Trustees to have a thorough knowledge of the Director’s responsibilities. ACTION: Bob and Neal will take the performance review back and fine tune it. They ask that the Trustees provide any feedback to them in the interim.
9:00 PM – Discussion about the parking lot design:
Sheldon Pennoyer provided the Trustees with a more complete diagram of the future parking lot design after the meeting in October with him. The design provides for approximately 22 parking spaces and specific acreage needed for the project. The motion was made to accept the plan by Bruce and seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous to accept the plan. Neal made a motion to give Mr. Pennoyer a gift certificate to the Riverhouse Cafe in appreciation for the work he put in to the project, and the motion was seconded by Bruce. The vote was unanimous to give the gift. ACTION: Neal will give the architectural rendering of the parking lot project to the Board of Selectmen and the Town Administrator.
9:11 PM – Other/New Business:
Neal reported that he has met two times with the Emergency planning committee as the Library representative.
9:12 PM – Bruce made the motion to adjourn the meeting at this time. The motion was seconded by Neal. The next Trustee meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 4 at 7 PM at the Library.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patricia LaPree
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