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August 12, 2015 Trustees of the Gale Library Minutes
GALE LIBRARY
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Established      1892                                                                                                                               
16 South Main Street
Newton New Hampshire 03858
(603) 382-4691
        
DATE: Wednesday August 12, 2015
TIME: 10:00am
LOCATION: Gale Library, 16 S Main Street

MEETING MINUTES
  • Call to Order: 10:10 A.M.
  • In Attendance: Lynne Camp, Chairperson; Kathy Meserve, Treasurer, Anne Banks, secretary; Julie Lamere, alternate; Terry Caswell, Director.
  • Minutes from the Previous Meeting (06/10/2015): Kathy motioned to accept the minutes as written. Lynne seconded. Minutes accepted unanimously.
  • Correspondence and Communications: Terry heard back from Audrey Blodgett of the Department of Justice, confirming that she had received and approved the Investment Policy we had approved and signed at our last meeting. Terry also asked if we had all received the latest NHLTA Newsletter. Lynne called to our attention there is a free Trustee Orientation Workshop scheduled for October 15th from 10am to 1pm. Several of us expressed interest in attending, and will plan to register on-line as requested, a week before the workshop. Terry mentioned a survey that was emailed to us to help the NHLTA leadership plan for next year’s annual NHLTA meeting. Several of us were not able to open the link; Kathy will try to forward us the link that she was able to use. Terry had one more topic under correspondence: a thank you card from Nancy Wrigley for a small gift Terry brought Nancy from the Trustees and library staff to welcome her back from her leave of absence.
  • Library Director’s Report: Kathy inquired how many programs we had to schedule off site over the summer thus far. Terry responded there were two, with one more scheduled for fall. Kathy just wanted to be sure we were tracking this statistic for future needs. Lynne motioned to accept the Director’s report as written. Anne seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
  • Treasurer’s report: Kathy used the new programs and report formatting for this month’s treasurer’s reports. We all agreed we liked the new format. Lynne motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report as written. Anne seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
  • Unfinished Business:
  • Building Maintenance Review: Atkinson Electric will be here today to troubleshoot and hopefully fix the 2 banks of lights in the J room that have been out of service for a few days. Town Hall will pay for the repair but they want Terry to let Nancy know how much it will cost. On another topic, Terry has gotten one estimate for replacement of the wall-to-wall carpet upstairs, but is hoping to get another. Several of us suggested she contact Rugs and Rolls in Plaistow. The Friends have expressed interest in helping pay for the new carpet. Kathy asked if the faucets have stopped dripping, and Terry said that they had.
  • Staffing Update: Terry has found 2 good candidates to add to the staff, both of them high school students. Rather than hire them as Library Assistants, she would like to bring them both on as Pages. We reviewed salary requirements, because it has been a while since we last had anyone in the Page position. Based on the grade and level salary steps used by the town, we decided to offer the starting salary at grade IV step 1 which is $8.73, with an upgrade after 90 days to grade IV step 2 which is $8.95. Lynne moved to authorize Terry to fill two Page positions at the salary mentioned above, with upgrade after a 90 day orientation. Kathy seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
  • New Business:
  • Memorial Bench for Lisa Fortin: The bench has been installed as planned just outside the back door of the library. Terry will arrange for publicity in the Carriage Town News to let the community know this has been done.
  • Page Position/Float: Please see Staffing Update above.
  • Annual Water Testing Results: All tests have been passed successfully.
  • 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Reading Project: This is an area project to promote literacy by reading to your children. Terry has ordered 50 book bags to award those children who have read 100 books before they start school.
  • AED Unit Maintenance Review: Terry wanted us to be aware that the Safety Committee has been talking about the need to update existing AEDs to be sure they conform to current standards, as well as moving towards uniformity of equipment throughout the departments served by the Safety Committee. Anne volunteered to contact Bill Wood of the NH Department of Safety to help us assess the library’s responsibility in all of this. Terry also suggested that we put money in the annual budget for CPR/AED training.
  • Newton Town Day: This year Town Day is set for Saturday, October 3 from 1-5 pm. All activities are planned to take place on Merrimac Rd. at the Safety Complex. After some discussion it was decided the library will offer ‘Story Time’ during the afternoon. We are hoping the town can provide us with an area off to the side, possibly with a place to put a canopy. The reader will probably also need a microphone. At this time, the Town Day committee is only asking for a commitment to participate, which Terry will give them, with details to follow.
  • Arranging for USPS Mail Delivery: Terry advised us the cost of having a PO box will be going up, and that Town Hall has decided to have the mail delivered to them instead. If we agree that the library should do the same, Terry will write to the Newton post office to request mail delivery directly to the library at 16 South Main St. She will advise them of the hours of operation, and direct them to have the mail carrier leave the mail in the book deposit box if they come while the library is closed. This will result in some savings by allowing the library to eliminate having a PO box. Terry wasn’t sure if the PO would refund us a prorated amount based on the time remaining on our current term, or if their policy doesn’t allow for that.
  • Acceptance of Donations – Patrons – June/July - $2.00; Drawer Overage - $30.00; Bk. Book Review Circle - $49.04; Friends of the Library – glass table top and Memorial Bench Donation: Lynne motioned to accept the donation of $2.00 from patrons, $30 drawer overage, $49.04 from the Book Review Circle, and a glass table top and Memorial Bench Donation from the Friends. Kathy seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
  • Friends’ News: The Friends will be meeting next on September 8. They are planning a book and White Elephant sale at Estabrook’s garage on September 19th. The Friends may need helpers on that day; Lynne~and others volunteered to help depending upon their schedules.
  • Monthly invoice Review and Initialing: Review and initialing was done at this meeting.
  • Next Trustee Meeting: The next meeting will be on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 10:00 am.
  • Meeting adjourned at 12:05 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Anne D. Banks