Minutes of the Meeting
Fitzwilliam Town Library Board of Trustees
16 March 2020
Present via electronic meeting: Dick Goettle, Beth Lorenz, Pam Troccia and Library Director, Kate Thomas.
The Chair of the Board of Trustees has concluded that an emergency has necessitated waiving the requirement of the 24-hour advance posting of the Board Meeting being held electronically. The emergency has been determined to exist due to the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by the physical attendance of the Trustees.
Beth Lorenz called the meeting to order at 6:00.
The Trustees reviewed and signed the Library Manifest and Spending-to-Date Expense Report.
The minutes of the February 3rd meeting were reviewed; Pam Troccia put forth a motion, seconded by Dick Goettle, to approve them as submitted. Motion passed.
Kate Thomas presented her monthly report. Circulation showed an 18% increase from February of last year. This may reflect the relatively less harsh weather. Twenty programs were presented with a total attendance of 200 and overall attendance for the month of February was 1,156.
The importance of complying with the directives from the Government to avoid the spread of COVID-19 was discussed at length. The library has been closed to the public. However, Kate and Meredith are in the office taking calls and email requests for reading and viewing material. Those items are then left in the vestibule for the patrons to pick up while the interior door of the library remains locked. They are both using gloves and properly disinfecting items being returned to the library. All programs have been postponed until further notice. Any updates regarding closure/programs will be posted on the social media accounts of the Library. Kate will begin working on a Pandemic Policy for the library that will be presented to the Trustees for review. She will also be forwarding a copy of the Town Safety Policy that will be kept on file at the library as required by the NH Library Trustee Association.
Kate informed the Trustees that Dick Goettle will be stepping down as the Treasurer. The Board will be searching for a new Treasurer and Dick has volunteered to assist with the transition. The Trustees expressed their gratitude to Dick for his years of exceptional service.
The Board of Selectmen will be preparing the RFP for the warrant article that was approved to be used for the repairs to the North side of the building, the porch and possibly the fence. Dick has volunteered to represent the library in these discussions.
The five-year plan of the library will expire in 2021. This will be revisited at the April meeting of the Trustees.
Beth spoke of her discussion with Kayla of the NH Department of Natural & Cultural Resources regarding the application for a Moose Grant to help defer the cost of displaying items in the Locke Collection. One of the criteria that determines the approval of the grant is that the artifacts be native to NH. The items in the collection are not but were specifically given to a native of Fitzwilliam. Kayla is asking for additional information to make an assessment. If given the approval, Beth will move forward with completing the application and filing it by the deadline of May 1st. Given the current uncertainty of the course of the COVID-19 virus, it was decided to plan to be able to display some of the collection artifacts before year end in a secure and responsible manner.
The transfer of duties of the Treasurer and Alternate Trustee will be revisited at the April meeting of the Trustees. Pam Troccia volunteered to accept the duties of the Secretary.
The next meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday, April 6th at 5:45. The Chair will determine whether that meeting will be held electronically if the virus situation warrants.
Pam put forth a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Dick. Meeting adjourned at 6:42 PM.