July 15, 2020 | Librarian BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES ~ Corrected & Approved Date of Meeting: Tuesday, June 2, 2020 @ 7:00 pm Members Present Nancy Heckel (Chair); Jen Call; Diane Lander; Marcy Vierzen, Betsy Anderson (Alternate); Elizabeth Geraghty (Library Director), Yvonne Howard Note: This meeting was conducted on ZOOM for all present. Public Present: No Members of the public were present; No guests were present. CALL TO ORDER: Roll Call, Introduction of Guests The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm by Chairperson Heckel, and roll taken. There were no Members of the public present, and there were no guests present, for this Board meeting. Review of Minutes Minutes from the May 5th meeting were reviewed with corrections made. Chairperson Heckel invited a motion to approve with revisions the minutes from the May 5th meeting. Board Member Lander made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Board Member Call. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative. Board Member Howard abstained, as she was not in attendance at the meeting. Correspondence The only correspondence noted for this meeting regarded clarification that a thank you note was sent to Susan Coulter for her annual donation to the library, which Alternate Board Member Anderson confirmed had been sent. REPORTS: Financial/Treasurer’s Report Chairperson Heckel noted that, in the process of setting up the Library account electronically for better efficiency, a banking error which showed up as a deposit in the amount of $5330.21 had been made to the Library account. When this is removed, the correct and current balance of the Library account will be $9,840.59. There are no new funds to accept into this account at this point, per Director Geraghty. Director’s Report Director Elizabeth Geraghty noted that the hours sign for the library is missing due to the fact that she is repainting it with the new hours of the library. Board Member Lander suggested that it may be wise to consider a sign which accepts slots with changeable characters so that the library sign does not require repainting whenever hours are updated. Director Geraghty further noted that the weeding through of all books in the library had been completed. Geraghty noted that Library Substitute Stansfield, a former library director, was at the library for 2 hours per week for 6 weeks and was instrumental in completing this task. The books which will not be part of the current and ongoing library collection and were not discarded (due to their condition) are currently being stored for a sale; money earned from the sale of these books will be utilized by the library to add to its collection. Director Geraghty shared with the Board some of the recommendations by the American Library Association regarding how to determine the relevance and utilization of the books kept vs. those not for the library collection. Summer Reading Director Geraghty noted that she had canceled all presenters for the Summer of 2020. There was no loss of money for this, as none of the presenters had been paid. Plans for summer 2020 reading include Director Geraghty and Library Assistant Snow doing story time videos. Curbside Director Geraghty noted that, if the library re-opening is approved for curbside, she plans to prepare craft kits for ages K-12. As well, Director Geraghty has a connection with a woman who does STEM kits for the Hopkinton Library, and can do some for the Sutton Library as well. There is no cost associated with these, as kits come with instructions and will involve materials and items commonly found in one’s household. Director Geraghty will continue to post on the Library website links to activities that are offered locally, and also activities that may be done for free. These may include organizations such as the Montshire Museum, the Kearsarge Indian Museum and the Audubon Society, among others. Director Geraghty then addressed the policies which various libraries have shared for restarting curbside library service. Alternate Board Member Anderson noted that the Town Council for Sutton, which also represents other towns, stated that if SFL is following the guidelines set forth by the Governor of NH and the CDC, it is safeguarded against litigation. There was further discussion over what constitutes a “safe” quarantine time for books, which is currently set at 72 hours for libraries of all different sizes in NH. There has been an increase in requests for books in the past several weeks in particular as more residents are out and about with the warmer weather. Board Members also discussed allowing patrons to have the option of having books they are interested in borrowing held for a longer period of time if they are concerned about safety or contamination. Board Member Call made a motion to open for curbside service only subject to approval by Sutton’s town lawyer and the health officer. Board Member Howard seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative. Evaluations Director Geraghty invited discussion regarding evaluation of other library staff Members, which Alternate Board Member Anderson has explored, and will explore further. Board Member Lander suggested that the NHLTA might be a good resource for this. Director Geraghty noted that the Directors at Newbury and Pillsbury libraries would be great resources and are always willing to share their knowledge and information. Building and Grounds With the end of the school year happening, Director Geraghty noted that her spouse had not had the opportunity to look at the outside library spicket. Regarding the drain concern, Board Member Call suggested that may be addressed at a later time. Friends of Sutton Library Director Geraghty noted that the $500 check from the Walmart grant had been received; these funds will be set aside for Summer of 2021 programming, rather than for programming for the Summer of 2020. OLD BUSINESS Budget There was extensive discussion over the request by the Selectmen to cut back the library budget, for cost savings measures, to the town, given the challenging set of circumstances which the pandemic has created. In reviewing the current budget, and each line item, there was a consensus that, at this point, the library is working with a barebones budget, and it does not seem sensible or feasible to cut the budget of the library, which already is very tight. Board of Trustees Members will alternate attending the Selectboard’s meeting on Mondays, in presence or via phone call in, to relay back to the Board matters pertaining to the library which may be discussed at those meetings. A schedule for this through a portion of the summer was laid out for Library Trustee Board Members to attend these meetings by phone or in person. MOU Chairperson Heckel invited feedback on the MOU. Board Member Lander had sent the MOU to the NHLTA for review and received positive feedback which she then forwarded to Chairperson Heckel. Board Member Lander will make the discussed revisions and disseminate those to the Trustees for review and feedback regarding line items. MASTER PLAN Board Member Lander noted that she had forwarded on to Planning Board Chair Wells the list she had compiled from what the Trustees had sent to her regarding suggestions for the Master Plan. Wells noted that the list is comprehensive, though his intent is to shorten the Master Plan, and to focus on a few broad goals. To this end, each department will have its own page at the end of the book in the appendix to further detail out their plans. Wells asked that the following three questions be considered in doing this, which will be helpful as the Selectmen make funding choices: Is there an overarching mission and long term mission for what might be? Are there short and long term priorities? Are there associated budgets? Originally this was requested for in July, though Board Member Lander indicated it may be fine to submit in August. Board Member Lander will send this out to Trustees, and after receiving feedback, will then forward on to Wells. LIBRARY WEB PAGE UPDATE No further progress on this, according to Director Geraghty and Board Member Vierzen, due to the impact of COVID on day to day life. RESETTING THE SFL Board of Trustees Meetings: The updated expenditure budget is sent to Director Geraghty on a monthly basis from Bookkeeper Himes at the town office; the timing of this report varies from month to month. Library meetings are not currently scheduled around the updated budgets. EMERGENCY PLANS Director Geraghty noted that she had been uncomfortable with some of the wording in the Library Emergency Plan, based on recent policies compiled by Alternate Board Member Anderson from other libraries. Chief Korbet agreed to review this further, and to make recommendations back to the Trustees in the near future. ATTENDANCE TO SELECTBOARD MEETINGS A schedule for Trustee attendance to the Board of Selectmen meetings, every Monday at 4pm, was established with the following Trustees attending on the noted dates, via phone or in person: June 15: Jen Call; June 22: Betsy Anderson; June 29: Diane Lander; July 6: Yvonne Howard; July 13: Marcy Vierzen; July 20: Nancy Heckel; July 27: Yvonne Howard. Director Geraghty noted that any Trustees not able to be part of the Selectboard meetings could contact her as a back-up in the event they are unable to participate. ADJOURNMENT OF TRUSTEE MEETING: Chairperson Heckel made a motion at 10:06 pm to end the SFL Board of Trustees meeting, seconded by Board Member Call. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative. Notes by: Marcy Vierzen, Recording Secretary