MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014
Present: Neal Brown, Bob Marshall, Bruce Dodge, Mary Ann Grant, Jami Bascom, Gail Smith, Kristin Readel.
Absent: Scott Jones.
7:05 PM – Chairman Brown called the meeting to order.
Review of preliminary meeting minutes for December 4, 2013:
The Trustees reviewed the minutes. Bruce made the motion to accept the minutes as written. The motion was seconded by Bob, and the vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the minutes. ACTION: Pat will have the minutes posted on the Town website.
7:08 PM – Treasurers report:
Mary Ann provided the Trustees with the report of year to date expenditures and line item balances as of December 31. 2013. To date 94.4% of the budget has been expended. The remaining amount to be expended is mostly in wages and heating fuel. Mary Ann will obtain another report from the Town after January 10, 2014 to have the most accurate numbers for the 2013 budget. A discussion followed about the spending overage in the book budget. The staff report that they felt that they paid very close attention to the expenditures through out the year and are unclear as to how the overage occurred. Jami noted that the accounts payable cycle for the Town to pay invoices and the vendor billing cycles contribute to the variance. Bruce reported that when the excel spread sheet is up and running on the Library staff computers, the
expenditures and available balances will be available to the staff in real time and will streamline the process for the staff to use their funds in all areas of the budget. The trustees and staff also discussed that the energy usage for the Library in 2014 will be closely monitored in order to assess how much savings might be realized from physical plant upgrades in the future.
Jami made the motion to accept the report as presented, and Bruce seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to accept the Treasurers report.
7:33 PM – Status of the window installation project:
Mike Borden has yet to install the new windows in the Library. The windows have been fabricated and purchased. ACTION: Bob will talk with Mike as soon as possible and get him to commit to completion of the project or to returning the money to the Trustees and another carpenter will be hired to finish the job.
7:35 PM – Librarians Report:
1) Gail provided statistics for usage of the Library in December and as compared to December 2012. Usage was down in all areas from 2012, and Gail and Kristin noted that it probably had to do with increased cold and bad weather. The Library continues to be utilizes by the community with group meetings and activities for both children and adults.
2) Kristin reported that she attended her first New Hampshire Library Association executive council meeting as the president of the Children’s Librarians of New Hampshire. A discussion followed as to how Kristin will be compensated for her participation in the Library Association and as chairman of the Children’s Librarians, and whether it will be out of dues and professional expenses or part time wages, and no decision was made at this time. The Trustees want to thank both Gail and Kristin for their hard work, contributions and lively input at the Trustees meetings.
7:50 PM – 2014 Budget submission and Town Report:
Neal provided the 2014 budget with narrative and the Town report that he had written for submission to the Town Office on January 10. A discussion followed about the content and the format of the Town report. Kristin provided some factual corrections in the content. Mary Ann suggested adding a couple of goals for 2014, and the decision was made to include the goals of pursuing the parking lot improvements, improvement of the physical plant and getting a new sign and logo for the Library. ACTION: Bob and Jami will reformat, correct and add the goals to the report and have it to the Town Administrator by January 10. Bruce, Jami and Neal went to the Board of Selectmen with the proposed budget, and the Board asked that the part time wage increase be reduced from 4% to 3% for 2014. The Trustees and staff have had no
feedback from the budget committee on the proposed budget for the Library. ACTION: Neal will adjust the wages to 3% in the budget.
8:15 – Bruce’s sign mock up and logo designs from the logo contest:
Bruce provided the Trustees with the templates he designed for the sign and the logo entries. A winner has not yet been chosen for the logo contest. A discussion followed about how best to use the entries, and that the clean and simple designs are most appealing, as well as something that will jump out and become associated with the Library when it is seen by the public. Bruce made a motion to bring in Beechleaf Design in for a consultation on the designs. The motion was seconded by Jami and the vote was unanimous in the affirmative to consult with Beechleaf. ACTION: Jami will contact Rose Lowry, owner of Beechleaf, and ask her to come to the next Trustees meeting.
8:40 PM – Report on the status of the progress on the parking lot upgrade:
Neal reports that there has been no movement forward on the proposed design with the abutting property owners. The Trustees will meet with the owners and present the proposed design to see what they think of it and to get a sense of what it might cost the Library to go forward with the project, and then go forward with a proposal to the Town. ACTION: Neal will contact Aaron Patt, Town Administrator, and Beth Mangini, property owner, and meet with them together about the proposal.
8:53 – Other/New Business:
1) The Policy committee has not met since the last Trustees meeting.
2) Neal and Bob are continuing to meet with the Emergency Management committee.
3) The Monadnock Area Library Trustees meeting is on January 19 at the Dublin Library.
4) Jami noted that the trustee whose term is up for re-election this year needs to decide if they want to run again and that the filing date is January 22.
5) Bob suggested that the Trustees begin to formally log the achievements and accomplishments of the staff and trustees over the last few years and going forward, because it will be useful information for the community and for the Trustees.
9:02 PM – Bruce made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Jami seconded, and the vote was unanimous in the affirmative to adjourn the meeting at this time.
The next Trustees meeting will be on Wednesday, February 5 at 7:00 PM at the Library.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia LaPree
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