PRELIMINARY MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
Present; Bob Marshall, Bruce Dodge, Neal Brown, Mary Ann Grant, Kristin Readel, Gail Smith, Jami Bascom.
Absent: Scott Jones.
Minutes recorded by Patricia LaPree.
7:01 PM – Chairman Brown called the meeting to order.
1) Review of preliminary minutes from the Trustees meeting on November 6:
One correction was cited: line 64, change “accept” to “adopt”.
Bruce made the motion to accept the minutes as amended. Neal seconded the motion, and the vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the amended minutes. ACTION: Pat will amend the minutes and have them posted on the Town web site.
2) Review of the action items in the November 6 minutes:
a) Pat did amend and post the minutes from the October 2, 9 and 16 meetings.
b) Mike Borden has not yet installed the windows. He plans to do it on 12/13/13 and will have the invoice submitted by the end of the month.
c) Kristin has not heard from Peterborough Public Library about her inquiry regarding their policy on public use computers.
d) Bob and Neal have not worked on the Library Director job performance evaluation document.
e) The architectural rendering of the proposed parking design for the Library has been forwarded to the Town Administrator, Aaron Patt.
7:08 PM – Treasurers Report:
The Trustees were provided with a year to date report of expenditures provided by the Town office. A review of the budget line by line showed that the total spending of the budget is at 90% as of 12/03/13. There are a few outstanding invoices to be paid, and there will probably be one more fuel delivery before the end of this year. There was a discussion about how to continue to be as efficient in writing the budget for 2014. The use of Merrill Fund monies along with the Town budget has provided the Library staff with adequate monies for the purchase of books this year, and that the Merrill fund disbursement fluctuates every year. Bruce spoke about how frustrating for him and the staff it has been to get Microsoft Excel on to the Library computer system. It is still in the process of being
installed, and when it is available, the staff and the Trustees will have access to hard numbers for expenditures throughout the year. Bob suggested that the Trustees put it on the August 2014 meeting agenda to begin to review the 2014 expenditures, and compare those to the 2013 expenditures as a place to begin developing the 2015 budget. Mary Ann asked for feedback from the staff and trustees about how best to split the resources of the Merrill Fund. This will be discussed at the March 2015 Trustees meeting.
The motion to accept the Treasurers report was made by Jami and seconded by Bruce. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the report.
7:35 PM – Librarians Report:
a) Gail provided the monthly use statistics to the Trustees. Circulation and Inter Library Loan requests are up from December 2012.
b) Kristin shared the Digital Inclusion Survey that the Library participates in with the Trustees.
c) The Greenfield Elementary first and second graders are again participating in a reading group at the Library.
d) There have been five entries for the Library logo contest. The Trustees looked at the entries. ACTION: Bruce will scan all the entries and send them to the Trustees for further consideration.
7:45 PM – Policy sub committee report:
The policies that were adopted at last months meeting have been corrected and put into the policy manual. The subcommittee will reconvene in January 2014.
7:47 PM- New/Other business:
a) The Trustees and the staff briefly reviewed how the November 7 budget meeting went with the Select Board. The staff and trustees were well prepared to answer any questions about the budget. To date, there is no scheduled meeting with the Library staff and the Budget committee before Town meeting.
b) Neal reported that the Town Administrator has given the parking lot plans to the Select Board, but has not yet talked to them about it. Neal will follow up with Aaron after Town meeting.
c) The report on the status of the Library being incorporated into the Town emergency plan is tabled at this time.
8:00 PM – Bruce made the motion to adjourn the meeting at this time, and it was seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in favor of adjournment.
The next Trustees meeting will be at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at the Library.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patricia LaPree
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