BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES 

APPROVED 

Date of Meeting: Wednesday, July 7, 2021 @ 7:00 pm 

Members Present: Nancy Heckel (Chair); Jen Call; Emily Cooper, via Zoom for initial part of meeting and then in person for remainder of meeting; Nancy Glynn (Secretary) via Zoom; 

Marcy Vierzen (Treasurer) arrived at 7:08 pm; Betsy Anderson (Alternate) To meet 

the quorum Betsy stepped in for Marcy until Marcy’s arrival at 7:12pm; Elizabeth 

Geraghty (Library Director) 

Members Absent: 

Note: This meeting was conducted on ZOOM for all present. 

Public Present: No members of the public were present; No guests were present. 

The Board met in person at the Sutton Free Library for their Board of Trustees Meeting. The public, per the Governor’s Executive Order 2020-04, Section 8, Emergency Order #12 Section 3, had the option to Zoom in to this meeting. 

CALL TO ORDER: 

Roll Call, Introduction of Guests 

The SFLBOT meeting was called to order at 7:03pm by Board Chair Nancy Heckel, and roll taken. There were no members of the public present, and there were no guests present. Further, no members of any households of Trustees were present within listening of this meeting. 

Review of Minutes 

Minutes from the 6/8/2021 meeting were reviewed with corrections made. Board Chair Heckel invited a motion to approve, with revisions, the minutes from the 6/8/2021 meeting. Board Member Jen Call made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Board Member Marcy Vierzen. The motion was carried unanimously in the affirmative. 

Correspondence 

Director Elizabeth Geraghty reported Sutton Free Library received a bill from Eco-Communications relative to the ad that was placed in The Shopper. Director Geraghty also reports that she has bank statements for Board Member Marcy Vierzen. 

REPORTS: 

Old Business 

Financial/Treasurer’s Report 

Board Member Vierzen noted the beginning balance of the Trustee Account for Sutton Free Library in May was $9,839.28. Board Member Vierzen reported little activity on the account. A transfer of $198.50 was made from the Operating account to the Trustees incorrectly on 5/12/21 and transferred back into the Operating Account 

from the Trustee Account on 6/30/21. A bill from Baker & Taylor in the amount of $79.30 was paid from the Trustee account, from Restricted Funds (Books & Media). 

The bank balance on the Trustee account at the end of June was $9,563.90. 

Director’s Report 

Library Director Geraghty reports the opening of the library to in-person browsing will start on July 19th. Hours will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8:00-1:00, or as scheduled by request. Director Geraghty reports that she has made phone calls with local patrons to see about scheduling an appointment to come to the library now that the schedule is adjusting. Director Geraghty also reports a strong turnout for the first week of story time. Attendance was average for what they would normally be prior to Covid-19 and also reports seeing some new families attend as well. 

SFLBOT and Director Geraghty had a discussion about opening for evening hours as well as communication of the reopening of SFL for browsing. Alternate member Betsy Anderson volunteered to create a flyer to inform the community. 

Director Geraghty reports that she has added a tab on the library website for SFL Annual Report submission as well as a tab for minutes. The website was crafted using WIX. Originally Board Member Vierzen and Director Geraghty were utilizing the free version of WIX. In order to link the previous website with the new website WIX Pro needed to be purchased. Director Geraghty purchased WIX Pro at half price utilizing funds that were set aside for training. 

Director Geraghty reports that she is applying for a grant that is due on August 6th. The hope for this grant would be to potentially have a bulletin board installed or to create activity bags for patrons to be able to check out. 

Story Walk: 

Director Geraghty reports that SFL was approved for a grant that would create a “Story Walk”. Director Geraghty reports that she did research for the 19 mounts from Barking Dog. The Story Walk would require posts as well of which Director Geraghty is continuing her research on how to acquire the posts. The Story Walk would need to be discussed with the Selectman as soon as possible as the grant money must be spent the month of July. A motion was made to approve the purchase by Board Member Vierzen and was seconded by Board Member Call. The motion was carried unanimously in the affirmative. 

Summer Reading: 

Library Director Geraghty and Assistant Librarian Kristin Snow crafted bingo boards to encourage summer reading. In years past, the bingo boards were crafted just for children but this year there are boards for a variety of ages. The bingo boards are available for pre-k, kindergarten to first grade, second grade to fifth grade, sixth to eighth grade, eleventh and twelve grade and adults. Director Geraghty reports that the “free space” on the bingo cards are to encourage patrons to utilize the museum passes the library has to offer. 

Museum Pass Update: 

Library Director Geraghty was happy to report that in her efforts to purchase passes for Strawbery Banke that the library already had a membership that has a 2 year time frame. This allowed Director Geraghty to purchase an additional pass to another museum. Director Geraghty purchased passes for the Currier and the Kearsarge Indian Museum out of the Operating budget. An ask was made to the Friends to cover the cost for the McAuliffe museum passes. For now, the library has passes for The Fells, New Hampshire State Parks, The Currier Museum, Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, the American Precision Museum and Strawberry Bank. Director Geraghty will add any New Hampshire State Park limitations to the website. 

Building and Grounds 

Board Chair Heckel reports having a conversation with Lorri over protocols for repairs at SFL. Board Chair Heckel also asked about a designated “handy-man” that the town utilizes for projects. Board Chair Heckel also delivered the invoice from Capitol Alarms for the panic button, fire alarm and cameras. Once approved, Board Member Call will make the appointment. 

Board Chair Heckel also delivered the invoice for the flushing of SFL pipes to Town Administrator Ellie Phillips. The town will pay out for this repair. 

SFL BOT and Director Geraghty discussed having a written procedure for future repairs that need to be made. NEW BUSINESS: 

Evaluation: 

Board Member Vierzen reports that the evaluation has been circulating but with very little response from the community. There have been 17 evaluations filled out and none of which were paper copies. Responses on the evaluation were interesting in identifying ways for SFL to improve. SFL BOT discussed extending the deadline for the evaluation to August and adjust accordingly based on response submissions. A copy of the evaluation will be shared with all patrons who come to the library in-person. 

The next Sutton Free Library Board of Trustees Meeting is Thursday, August 5th at 7pm. Board Member Vierzen made a motion to adjourn the meeting, and this was seconded by Board Member Call. The motion was carried unanimously in the affirmative. The Board of Trustees meeting ended at 9:12 pm.