— Trustee Minutes – January 8, 2024

Fitzwilliam Town Library Board of Trustees

Meeting Minutes for January 8, 2024

Present: Richard Marshall (serving as proxy chair), Nancy Fey-Yensan, Carole Beckwith, Pam Troccia and Brian Doerpholz (alternates), Director Kate Thomas and Assistant Director Cindi Beede

  1. Call to Order 

5:30 pm, quorum present

  • Approval of minutes of the December 4, 2023 meeting

Motion to approve, Brian/seconded, Pam/Unanimous in affirmative

3. Approval of minutes of the December 4, 2023 non-public meeting

Motion to approve, Brian/seconded, Pam/Unanimous in affirmative

4. Approval of the manifest – Circulated and approved

5. Chair’s Report – nothing transmitted for discussion

6. Library Director’s Report

  • Circulation was down slightly from last year this time (down 2%); but up 8% over last year overall
  • Programming attendance increased by 50% over last year; number of community meetings has doubled over 2022 numbers with triple the number of attendees, illustrating the central importance of the Library to the community as a central and essential convening space; unprecedented use of the Library
  • Personnel budget under by 15% at this time
  • Purchase of new 3-D printer completed and have ordered other improvements for the Library (including some related to results of the listening session held in July 2023).

      7. Old Business

       a. Meeting with the CIP Committee

  1. $20,000 for second floor requested this year; additional funds requested for subsequent year
    1. The CIP Committee makes a recommendation on amount; however, selectmen make final decision; conversations to be held this week; long range request has not yet been reviewed

b. Questions from Budget Committee regarding Library staffing

Non-public session– Brian Doerpholtz made a motion, at 5:50 p.m., under RSA 91-A:3, II (a) – Personnel, to move to a non-public session. The motion was seconded by Pam Troccia and approved by roll call of all Trustees present. 

At 6:14 p.m., a motion was made by Brian Doerpholtz to leave the non-public session and return to a public session.  The motion was seconded by Nan Fey-Yensan and approved by roll call of all Trustees present.

Public session resumed at 6:14 pm

A motion was made to seal the minutes of the non-public session by Carole Beckwith/seconded by Pam Troccia/ approved unanimously by all Trustees present.  

c. Review/Revision of Trustee Bylaws

Article IX was discussed and amendments proposed. Motion to proceed with amendments was made by Carole/seconded by Nan/unanimous in affirmative by Trustees present. These will be reviewed at next regular meeting.

d. Review/Revision of Meeting Room and Grounds Policy

A review of the current language related to meeting space policy was discussed as were proposed amendments. Additional language was proposed by the Trustees present to improve clarity for those seeking to use Library meeting space. Motion to proceed with amendments as per discussion was made by Brian/seconded by Pam/unanimous in affirmative.

8. New Business

none

9. Ongoing Business (e.g., Friends of the Library; Buildings & Grounds) and/or announcements

Friends: Planning for next event (Scandinavian comfort/cozy evening, February 7th)

Building and Grounds: Waiting for Engineer’s assessment of upstairs (next step, architectural review)

10. Setting date/time for next meeting – Next Trustee meeting (February 5, 2024 @ 5:30 pm)

11. Adjournment @ 6:44 pm – Motion to adjourn, Nan/seconded, Carole/Unanimous in affirmative

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Fey-Yensan

Trustee Secretary 2023-2024