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November 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, November 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; Terry Caswell, Director; Julie Lamere, alternate.
  • Minutes from the Public Meeting held on 10/10/2015: Lynne motioned to accept the minutes as written. Kathy seconded. Minutes accepted unanimously. Minutes from the Nonpublic Meeting held on 10/10/2015: Lynne motioned to accept the minutes as written. Kathy seconded. Minutes accepted unanimously. Minutes from the Public Meeting held on 10/14/2015: Kathy motioned to accept the minutes as written. Lynne seconded. Minutes accepted unanimously. Minutes from the Nonpublic Meeting held on 10/14/2015: Kathy motioned to accept the minutes as written. Lynne seconded. Minutes accepted unanimously.
  • Correspondence and Communications: Terry received a letter from the NH Department of Environmental Services regarding water testing. We received the letter because we are in an area potentially affected by gasoline contamination from MtBE. VOC testing will be required, but is paid for by the state out of settlement funds. The state will also pay for any necessary remediation. Terry will go forward with the testing as directed. On another topic, Kathy received correspondence from Adele Knight asking if our Board of Trustees would be willing and able to host a regional meeting of Library Trustees. They are also seeking someone who could report on news within our region. After some discussion we all felt we do not have a large enough space to host Trustees from all over our region. Regarding reporting on news, we felt our three person Board also did not have the resources to spend on that effort. Kathy will decline Adele’s request on our behalf.
  • Library Director’s Report: Kathy asked how many attendees there were at the Marble River String Band concert. Terry reported 18 people attended. She also reported that 93 people of all ages came to Trick or Treat at the Friend’s Halloween Party from 5-8 on October 31. Kathy asked about the Fire Safety display that the Newton Fire Department shared with the library during Fire Safety month. Terry explained she had requested that they do that. Kathy then suggested that we invite Fire Chief Alcaidinho to tour the library. Terry agreed that was a good idea and will reach out to him. If possible some of the Trustees will also be present when he comes. Terry also reported that she has contacted Tony Iuele at Atkinson Electric to install 2 accent lighting panels up in the J room. She has already spoken to Nancy at town hall about it. Approval is pending. Lynne motioned to accept the Director’s report as written. Kathy seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
  • Treasurer’s report: We are on schedule to cover the budgeted expenses with our balance on hand. We do have concern over meeting the additional 27th week of payroll about which we have just been notified by town hall. The bookkeeper, Rick Milner, will work with us and with town hall to review options so we can work this out. On another topic, Kathy was able to accommodate the Friends’ request to make a donation in Lisa Fortin’s name of some previously purchased books. This is not a best practice however, so next month we will work on our Donations Policy so we can avoid such situations in the future. Lynne motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report as written. Anne seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
  • Unfinished Business:
  • Final 2016 Budget Review: We discussed the budget as tentatively set at our last meeting. We deemed no additional changes are needed. The selectmen will review our budget on the evening of November 17th. Kathy, Lynne, and Anne plan to attend. Anne motioned that we accept our proposed 2016 Budget as formulated at our last meeting, and authorize Terry to send the Budget to town hall. Lynne seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
  • Director’s Annual Evaluation: Terry was asked if she understood the review and list of goals she was given for the coming year, and if those goals were specific enough. She replied that she did and they were, and that she was looking forward to working on them.
  • Open Alternate Trustee Positions – Lynne had invited 3 interested parties to attend our Meeting today, Of the three, one could not attend and the other two  did not reply to Lynne’s meeting reminder. Lynne will reach out to them again, and we will try to think of others to invite. Further discussion was tabled until December.
  • USPS Mail Delivery: Terry has learned that in order for a mail carrier to get out  of the truck and enter the building they usually require that you be receiving 50 or more pieces of mail per day. We would not qualify by that measure. We discussed putting a mailbox out by the street, but that is not practical given our physical location, especially during the winter. For now the Library will continue to pick up the mail at the PO as they have all along.
  • Board of Trustees Bylaws: Terry will scan and send out copies of the Bylaws that Kathy found. This topic was tabled until our December meeting to give us time to review the existing Bylaws.
  • Parental Permission for Criminal Background Check forms for new employees: The Trustees decided to add the consent for background check to the existing consent form we have for general consent for minors. Terry will add the permission to perform a criminal background check to the existing form and bring the revised form next month for our approval.
  • New Business:
  • Gold Circle School Partnership Award: Sue went to Manchester to accept the award on behalf of Gale Library for all that the library does with the school in Newton.
  • Trustee Bootcamp: Anne reported that many of the smaller towns face the same challenges we do regarding filling the Trustee positions. Some have expanded their board to 5 persons so that they always have a quorum. This step would also have the result that not all of them need to be officers, so they can fill in for each other without taking on double responsibilities. There were many questions on how to run and report on a nonpublic sessions. The leaders did confirm that you need to post the meeting ahead of time, even if the only topic on the agenda is nonpublic. Strategic Planning was also covered, but Anne did not find the discussions helpful. She will send a note to the NHLTA to ask them to consider adding Strategic Planning as a topic at next year’s meeting.
  • 2016 Holiday and Trustee Meeting Schedules: Holiday schedule was set. Terry noted that for 2015 we approved that the Library would close early on the day before Thanksgiving and those hours not worked would be considered bonus hours for the staff, who would be paid for the whole shift. She asked that we do the same for 2016 and all agreed. Trustee meeting schedules were also set. Kathy motioned to accept the 2016 list of holidays and the schedule of Trustee meetings as discussed. Lynne seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
  • Acceptance of Donations – Patrons – $30.70; Friends of the Library – $39.28 (Memorial Books) and $34.20 (Seasonal Plants); for a total of $104.18.: Lynne moved to accept $30.70 from patrons, $39.28 from the Friends for Memorial Books, and $34.20 from the Friends for Seasonal Plants for a total of $104.18. Anne seconded the motion. Kathy moved to also accept the donation of a print from a patron and a collection of books from another patron. Lynne seconded the motion. Both motions passed unanimously.
  • Friends’ News: They still plan on having the rugs cleaned for us, but will wait until the spring. They will have bake sales at both the February and the March elections, and have put together about 40 Silent Auction baskets thus far. They are considering ordering new book bags in the spring. Also, they had a new member attend this month.
  • Monthly invoice Review and Initialing: Review and initialing of invoices was done at this meeting.
  • Next Trustee Meeting: Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 10:00 am.
  • Meeting adjourned at 12:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,

Anne D. Banks