MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: CALL TO ORDER: REVIEW OF : CITIZEN S TIME: FRIENDS: Paula Benard, Jr., Geri Degurski, Robert Neufeld, Steve Wasserman, Ann Way, Adam Woodbury None Library Director Michael Wick, Recording Clerk Alison Varrell The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm. November 9, 2017 Minutes were reviewed. Motion to accept November 9 Minutes as amended: Geri Degurski Second: Rob Neufeld Motion carried: 5-0-0 (reflects 1 tardy) None Geri Degurski reported that the Board was happy to split the costs of the library s Wish List for furniture needs as per November s meeting. The Board still has questions regarding the Town s budget line items that can/should include furniture requests. Due to the Friends new Board members in January, Geri suggested that the Trustees and Friends Boards meet at that time to discuss concerns raised and future fundraising needs. Don Roberts will be reviewing their Financial Controls policy for 2018 (instituted in 2017) because he feels the current policy is too cumbersome. The Board expressed appreciation for the new Museum Pass Policy approved by the Trustees. The Friends have begun a fundraising affiliation with Amazon. Dallas Slade expects to finish the application before the holidays. A new application for the Friends is in development and will be ready for the Annual Meeting on January 18. The application will feature new rates: $10 per Student/Senior, $15/Individual, $20/Family, $50/Bronze (formerly, Sustaining), $100/Silver (formerly, Supporting), $200/Lifetime. Discussion was held regarding a possible future Platinum level for corporate/individual sponsorship of programs. Discussion of possible changes for future book sales was tabled until after January. A major point of discussion will be collection of books (donation cart, collection day(s), etc.).
(Page 2) Mike Wick suggested that perhaps some Trustees might want to attend the January 18 Friends meeting at 6:30pm. He will be thanking Don Roberts and Suellen McGillick for their years of service. POLICY REVIEW: DIRECTOR S REPORT: Staff Development, In House Laptop, Child Safety and Emergency Closing Policies were reviewed. Discussion was held regarding edits. Motion to accept wording changes as amended to the Staff Development Policy: Adam Woodbury Second: Paula Benard Motion to accept wording changes as amended to the In House Laptop Policy: Paula Benard Motion to accept wording changes as amended to the Child Safety Policy: Geri Degurski Second: Rob Neufeld Motion to accept wording changes as amended to the Emergency Closing Policy: Adam Woodbury Second: Paula Benard Mike reported the latest warrants to the Trustees. The Board is aware that warrants #T21/18, #T22/18, #T24/18, #T26/18, #T27/18, #T28/18 and #T29/18, were processed from November 7, 2017 January 8, 2018 for standard Library business. He also reported that warrants #T24/18, #T26/18 and #T27/18 were processed for Occupancy from November 7, 2017 January 8, 2018. Mike presented a revised 2018 Calendar of Holidays to account for the 3pm closing on New Year s Day (there is no full day closing). Motion to approve 2018 Calendar of Holidays as amended: Paula Benard
(Page 3) Mike reported that Nan Wang is working to integrate the Youth Services department s materials ordering within the Acquisitions module. Once the process is running smoothly, all other library materials ordering will be processed through the module. The Library received its FY 2018 Certification from the MBLC on November 13, 2017. The FY19 Action Plan was submitted to the MBLC before the December 1 deadline and was subsequently approved. Mike shared some of the highlights with the Trustees. Discussion followed. The proposed FY19 Budget was introduced. Mike shared that he found an error with the spreadsheet calculations, which would impact the budget estimations made for FY19. The budget will be over the 3.25% guideline. When Mike delved more closely into the accounting, he discovered that the spreadsheet was not accounting for some legacy issues (salaries, longevity, etc.). The Town has been notified. Mike also stated that Lig Meg funds might need to be used to increase the books budget in order to stay compliant with the MBLC. Steve queried whether the first state payment was received. Mike responded that $15,788.42 was received as the first payment and that the second payment will arrive some time in March. Discussion followed. Mike concluded that the Budget will be increased 3.67%. Motion to approve FY19 Budget as presented: Paula Benard Motion carried: 5-0-1 Mike continued his report explaining that the library has started a subscription to RB Digital Magazines (formerly, Zinio) to expand its e- content offerings. In order to partially fund the subscription, Tumblebooks will no longer be carried. Mike explained that youth patrons were mainly using Hoopla and Overdrive over Tumblebooks in any case. Paula queried how patrons might access RB Digital Magazines. Mike replied that they are available through the library s website and app. A staff meeting was held on January 9 that included departmental news, an overview of staff Microsoft email accounts and departmental uses of Microsoft Sharepoint. Sharepoint will be used more widely allowing for Wikispaces, et.al. to be phased out. Mike has done away with paper memos and is now using electronic communication with the staff.
(Page 4) MVLC Directors have expressed interest in hiring Warren Graham, the Black Belt Librarian, for professional development. Mr. Graham was the head of security at Winston-Salem Library and teaches how to handle difficult and dangerous situations with patrons. Mike believes that the staff would greatly benefit from his program. Mike contacted Warren for more information and discovered that he is retiring from full-time work so his speaking fees have increased. His rate is $1,900 a day plus meals and lodging. Steve supposed that the total cost would possibly be in the $2,500 range. Mike agreed but stated that five or six other libraries are interested in his services too. The cost could potentially be shared with those other libraries provided the program was booked in May (Boston has already requested a May date). Mike further explained that having Mr. Graham come would require closing the library for a day and giving the staff the day to attend. Mike expects the program to be from 9am-5pm. Discussion followed. Mike stated that he could do some more research for specifics. Motion to approve up to $3,000 from Lig Meg to cover contract costs with Warren Graham for professional development: Paula Benard Second: Adam Woodbury Tery Young requested email accounts from MVLC for the Trustees and Trustee Clerk. Login information was shared and distributed. Mike shared that the Holiday Toy Drive that was hosted in partnership with the Burlington Fire Department was extremely successful. The bin was filled 2 ½ times. Mike expects the Toy Drive will be back in the future. The members of A Good Yarn Knitting and Crochet Group expressed an interest in yarn-bombing taking mundane pieces of architecture and covering them with yarn the library. They would like to do it in June for Worldwide Knit in Public Day. Some proposals are to cover the posts in the stairwell, chair backs, chair legs, and hanging mobiles in the youth services department, etc. Mike has asked them for a list for his approval. The Youth Services Department is having another Winter Reading Program Read and Bead. The program will run from January 2 February 23. Youth patrons collect beads for reading, trade up and participate in raffles through their earned beads. (Page 5)
The Friends voted to provide half of the requested display furniture so Mike is moving forward with ordering. The damaged items have been discarded. The display cases for fiction and the second floor have an estimated time of delivery of February. Replacement furniture from donations (e.g. Fidelity) is being placed in the staff lounge, etc. The Recreation Department is arranging pick up and delivery. The report of an odor at the rear of the building was received earlier this month. Mary Hamel, the custodian, found a possible cause and a belt was replaced on the HVAC exhaust fan. However, the smell returned shortly thereafter. Town Facilities surveyed the issue and supposed that the issue could be a rusted heating unit located by a blower by the first floor public restrooms. Rich Reid will look into potential water damage causing the issue. Also, a pipe in the McIntire Room froze during the extremely cold temperatures in late December. The pipe was thawed with no damage. Town Facilities created more ventilation in the area of the frozen pipe to prevent a recurrence of the issue. Mike attended the MVLC Membership meeting on November 14 and received information related to the library s membership assessment and Overdrive fee--$49,925 and $3,276 respectively. This is a 2% increase from the last fiscal year, with the membership remaining the same and the Overdrive fee increasing by $1,043. Discussion followed. Mike and Carolyn were in contact with the Burlington Beautification Committee to provide input regarding decorative grass instead of boxwood trees at the front of the building. Mike and Carolyn believe the grass would be lower maintenance yet visually appealing. Paula stated that the donated bench previously discussed in November could be painted with correct preparation etc. Mike interjected that the Recreation Department might be able to get it picked up and delivered to Woburn for the painting. Paula responded that if they can do that then she will make sure it gets back to the library from Woburn. On December 20, the library received a $100 donation from TOPS as a thank you for the weekly meeting space they use in the library. Mike shared an address with the Chair for sending a thank you. Motion to accept the $100 donation from TOPS: Adam Woodbury Second: Paula Benard (Page 6)
Director Tasks: Mike explained that he has been working with the Friends regarding the wish list budget for the next calendar year. He has also been working with Department Heads to compile a list of events for the Winter Friends Newsletter. In November he was featured on the Burlington Cable Access program, Burlington and Beyond. Mike also attended a Chamber of Commerce meet-and-greet at Partners Urgent Care. Additionally, he has been working to create the library s budget for the Town due on January 12. Mike expressed an interest in attending the ALA in New Orleans being held June 21-26. Discussion followed. NEW BUSINESS: OLD BUSINESS: ADJOURNMENT: None. Mike asked the Trustees to sign the amended Collection Development and Museum Pass Policies so that they could be completed and recorded. Motion to adjourn: Rob Neufeld The meeting was adjourned at 8:54pm.