GALE LIBRARY
Established 1892
16 South Main Street
Newton New Hampshire 03858
(603) 382-4691
DATE: Wednesday January 11, 2017
TIME: 10:00am
LOCATION: Gale Library, 16 S Main Street
MEETING MINUTES
I. Call to Order: 10:08 a.m.
II. In Attendance: Lynne Camp, Chairperson; Kathy Meserve, Treasurer; Anne Banks, secretary; Terry Caswell, Director; Jean Maggio, Alternate.
III. Minutes from the Previous Meeting (December 14, 2016):
Kathy motioned to accept the minutes as written. Lynne seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
IV. Correspondence and Communications: Lynne read a thank you note sent by Terry to the Trustees thanking the Trustees for the Christmas donation made to a favorite charity in her honor. We also had all received the NHLTA Newsletter. We discussed several upcoming NHLTA sessions, including a webinar to be held on February 8 at noon. The topic will be ‘A Primer on Public Meetings’. We are all interested in learning more about this topic, so some of us will register for it on the NHMA website in order to sign in that day.
V. Library Director’s Report: Some of the topics on Terry’s report this month were to be covered later in the meeting. Please read further down for more information.
Lynne motioned to accept the Director’s report as written. Kathy seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
VI. Treasurer’s Report: Kathy pointed out that Terry had used all of the additional income monies that we were required to spend within fiscal 2016, as well as 100% of our budget appropriation. The Trustees thanked Terry for her excellent management of the Library’s funds. The Trustees also had received a check from the town for the remainder of the 2016 Appropriation money.
Lynne motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report as written. Anne seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Unfinished Business
VII. Record Retention: Terry had inquired if she could destroy some of the very old records that are down in the Library basement. Kathy did some research and found on line the RSAs pertaining to record retention for NH municipal organizations. Of particular interest were those RSA concerning paid invoices. The RSA covering retention requirements, RSA 33-A, appendix B, states that ‘Invoices and bills [must be kept] until audited plus one year. Our records of this type are audited each year, usually in March. This would mean that all of 2014 invoices, plus any from previous years, were audited no later than March 2015. The one year retention period was up in March of 2016; therefore, we can now destroy all paid invoices and bills for 2014 and before. Terry will begin reviewing the old records as time allows. She will separate out any
that she feels should be shredded for privacy or security issues. On a related topic, Anne asked if Terry could provide a flash drive for the complete set of approved minutes from 2016 meetings. Kathy said she also needed one for her files. Terry will give the appropriate flash drives to Anne and Kathy today before we leave.
VIII. Library Mission Statement Review: Terry provided us with copies of the Mission Statement.
Lynne moved to accept the Mission Statement as currently written. Anne seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The Trustees signed the Mission Statement. Terry will file it with the Library Policies and see that it is posted on the website.
IX. Building Maintenance: As Terry noted in her Director’s report, the railing at the top of the attic pull-down stairway needs to be repaired or replaced. In addition, the plow caused some damage to the library building during last week’s storm. Terry has reported both items to Nancy Wrigley at Town Hall. Terry also has been waiting for Emmanuel Engineering in Stratham, NH to come out and inspect the fire exit stairway for structural soundness, as requested by Ron Lemere. She was told they should be out to the Library sometime this week.
New Business
X. 2016 Budget Review: All present agreed this topic had been covered earlier in the meeting during our discussions of the Treasurer’s Report.
XI. Time Line for Town Meeting: Kathy will plan to attend the January 16 Bond and 2017 Budget Public Hearing, mainly to observe the discussions. Lynne and Kathy will both attend the Deliberative Session on February 4. Anne will be out of town on that date. Kathy will be filing papers later this month for her Library Trustee Candidacy.
XII. Front Entrance: Terry heard back from David Noonan of Wrought Iron in Manchester with a proposal for installing a railing on the front walkway, similar to what he did at the Kensington Town Hall. Terry had sent him pictures of the Library structure and the walkway. After some discussion the Trustees agreed that Terry should submit the proposal from David Noonan to Nancy Wrigley. On another topic, the back door lock continues to be an issue. At our next meeting we will review the bids for solutions we had received from two contractors earlier this year. We will reevaluate the bids, thinking it might be worthwhile to try again to get funding to fix the problem.
XIII. Acceptance of Donations: Patrons-$2.87 and Books; Mrs. Thayer – Historical Painting; Drawer Overage, - $20.00:
Lynne moved that we accept $2.87 from patrons; Books from patrons; Historical Painting from Mrs. Thayer; Drawer overage of $20.00. Kathy seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
XIV. Friends’ News: The Friends’ Christmas Basket Raffle was very successful last month. They asked for input from the Trustees as to whether it might be all right to have fewer baskets next Christmas, thinking quality versus quantity. We all supported that idea. The Friends will have a Bake Sale at the elections in March. They have asked if any of the Trustees could help out that day, and several of us volunteered to do so.
XV. Monthly invoice Review and Initialing: Review and initialing of invoices was done at this meeting.
XVI. Next Trustee Meeting: Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 10:00 am.
XVII. Meeting adjourned at 11:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Anne D. Banks
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