Present: J. Nicholas Noyes, Richard Mays, Gail P. Landy, Barbara Green, Dick Goettle, Nancy Woodward(alternate), Director Kate Thomas
Absent: none
The meeting was called to order at 6:02pm by President Nick Noyes.
The minutes of the November 9, 2015 were approved as sent. The minutes of the non-public meeting of November 12, 2015 were also approved. The manifest was reviewed and signed by the Trustees.
Treasurer Richard Mays is in the process of changing our bank statements to on-line only access to avoid the new $2.00 per month fee for paper statements from the bank. He will work with the bank to assure that Barbara Green also has access to the account information on-line. Hard copies of each monthly statement will be given to Director Thomas to reconcile with the library checkbook.
Nancy Woodward is in the process of making final edits to the long range planning document. She thanked community member Susan Curtain for her comprehensive editing suggestions.
The Trustees agreed to use the Director Evaluation tool that Dick Goettle presented to the Board in November. With a December 31st deadline date Dick indicated that he would resend the documents to Trustees to fill out and return in hard copy, or scan and e-mail to Barbara Green by Tuesday, December 15th. Staff will also be given evaluation form to be filled out regarding the Director. Gail and Barbara will collate responses. Barbara and Nick will go over results. Nick will do evaluation with Kate.
Dick Goettle gave a summary of the Budget Committee meeting on November 12th, indicating that the 6% increase in personnel lines were of concern to a number of Budget Committee members. The increases in supply lines were also questioned. For the future Kate will track expenditures strictly on supplies used to process new materials to see if some increases are due to purchasing more new materials than in the past. It was also suggested that for comparison sake, the Director get some quotes on having materials pre-processed by our vendors.
Nick Noyes indicated that in the past the library budget figures for group health insurance had not been based on any figures provided by the Town, resulting in an overage in that account of around $2,000 this year. These monies will be returned to the Town rather than continuing as a surplus the library gets into keep. A discussion ensued as to why the library has been allowed to keep any surpluses rather than returning them to the town as other departments do. Director Thomas will check on history of this.
President Noyes handed out a CIP projects list and asked for further suggestions. The town may be adding partial painting of the library exterior over the next four years. Trustees and Director will work to get cost estimates for suggested projects so we have enough detail to add them to next year’s CIP schedule.
The Director’s report included a 10% decrease in circulation from last year’s November but still up from past years. Twelve programs had an attendance of 79.
The furnace repairs have been completed. A recommendation was made by furnace repair people that not all heat be shut off to second floor.
The batteries for the emergency lights are still on order. Sprinkler system on the porch needs some replacement parts per Gene Cuomo.
Trustees approved the Director’s participation in a Webinar on Digitization of library materials, Wednesday January 20, 2016 at a cost of $60.00. President Noyes asked to sit in on the program.
The project to interfile the various genre of fiction is progressing with the science fiction already done. Mysteries are next.
The next library meeting is Monday January 4, 2016 at the library.
Meeting adjourned at 6:56pm
Respectfully submitted,
Gail P. Landy
Secretary