BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012
5:00 PM
In Attendance: Jan Mitchel-Love, Hope Brisette, Laura Senes, Duane Whitehead, Deb Wright, David Buckley, Carolyn Frisa, Célina Houlné, Debbie Wetzel
AGENDA: Called to order at 5:05pm.
1. Additions or changes to agenda – None.
2. Public comment (3 minutes in person) – None.
3. Approve Minutes of Board Meeting – May 10, 2012
• Change to record presence of Deb Wright. Motion to amend and approve by Steve and seconded by Laura, approved unanimously.
4. Director’s Monthly Report & Financial Report
• Two Changes to Summer Program Brochure: Mark Breen will be presenting July 9 at 7pm for Myth-steries: Stories in the Sky. Puppets Dream Big will be on July 12 at 5pm.
• Please read the email sent by Célina about Library Advocacy – Commitment Online Educational Program, especially relevant for Communications. Register directly online.
• Célina reviewed the Director’s Report previously sent to the Trustees.
• Preparing for summer session (today was first day of summer break).
• Sam is redesigning the website using Adobe Cloud. Once in place, this will incur a monthly fee of $50.00, hopefully starting in July.
• Electrical engineer is coming Friday June 15 at 2pm to review cable/fiber optic plans. Célina is sourcing estimates from two telephone companies for design for new phone system lines.
• Célina is finalizing job description (part-time public services position) and will interview in July, hire in August. This will be a 20-24 hour position.
• So far progress is going well on renovation project. Minor delay in the temporary lift, but it has shipped out and is on the way.
• Roofer visited this week and informed Célina that the slate is the best quality slate (no longer available). He thinks there will be approximately ¼ to 1/3 that needs to be replaced (less than initially thought). A similar kind of slate can be sourced from Canada for replacement pieces. Deb Wetzel is going to talk to roofer about keeping some of the broken slate for fundraising projects.
• While dumpsters are here, Waste Management Service is on hold since rubbish can be thrown into dumpster (saving of approximately $40/month).
• Budget report for month shows RFPL is slightly under annual budget.
• Friends will have table at Saxtons River Parade selling popsicles and frozen candy bars. They need volunteers to help run the booth.
• Because the new position will only be part-time, Célina plans to raise the existing part-time positions to the next pay level (Grade 4). This is still one level below the recommended pay grade for their positions. Jan requested that Célina present information to let us know what would be necessary to raise pay levels to a more competitive level over the next few years.
5. Renovation Project Update
• Primary work is going on in basement, attic and exterior of building.
• Discussion this week about sprinklers in the top floors and other locations in the building.
• Rory Brennan has been stabilizing the plaster in the third floor.
• Jan asked for an estimated time of arrival for elevator. It should arrive next week and will then take a couple of days to install once it arrives.
• Someone will be cutting the grass outside in the next couple of days.
• Someone reported unsafe practices being done by roofers to OSHA, but OSHA came and found no infractions.
• David asked that Duane find out from Baybutt what has not yet been finalized in terms of contracts for the project.
• Steve asked that Duane make sure the new slate looks good with the old slate (either a close match or if different, mixed in a way that is inconspicuous).
• David proposes a Renovation Committee Meeting / Tour be held June 26 in morning or midday (exact time to be determined).
6. Committee Reports and Issues
a. Policy – Leaves
• See revised policy concerning leaves. Part-time and full-time employees will both get pro-rated sick leave and vacations days.
• Carolyn motioned to adopt the policy changes as written; seconded by David. Discussion followed. Approved with one abstention and one no vote passes.
b. Building
• Nothing to report.
c. Historical Collection
• Nothing to report.
d. Communications – Fundraising
• Deb Wetzel reports the Christmas Spectular program is underway and passed out flyers. These 15 tickets need to be sold ASAP to secure deposit funding.
• Fundraising Brainstorming session tonight at 7:00pm.
• Excellent job on plant, book and bake sale.
e. Finance – Projection
• Nothing additional to report.
f. Personnel – Part-time position, Directors’ Evaluation Update
• Evaluation forms were sent by Jan earlier today. They are due June 22, 2012.
7. Discussion about tonight’s Fundraising Open Meeting
• Duane has several questions he feels the Trustees may need to address?
1) Do we need to hire a consultant to help with this process? Preferably not since this would require additional money. Hopefully brain storming session will come up with good ideas.
2) What about funding needed for fundraising? This will hopefully also be discussed at tonight’s meeting and will involve donations. A budget will eventually be necessary once fundraising plan is place.
3) What kind of training is appropriate for fundraising? Jan has had capital campaign training. Carolyn suggested that someone attend the September 17-18: Maintaining, Adapting and Fundraising for Public Buildings session hosted by the Preservation Trust of Vermont.
4) What amount of money are we looking for
$106,000 for solar
$20,000 for restoring leaded windows
$70,000 for furnishings
$10,000 for landscaping
TOTAL: $206,000
5) Will fundraising be a Library driven or Community driven? Hopefully community. Separate account would be setup and run through the Friends of the Library for non-profit reasons. Duane passed out helpful information on campaigning to Trustees.
8. Review Agenda Items for next meeting and set date
• July 12 at 4:00pm at Library.
9. Move to adjourn meeting made by Steve, seconded by David and unanimously approved at 6:30pm.