Town of Sutton

TOWN of SUTTON

SUTTON FREE LIBRARY

5 Corporation Hill Road

Sutton Mills, NH 03221

Board of Trustees October 1, 2019 Regular Meeting

Corrected and Approved Minutes

Board Members Present: Diane O’Neil, Chairperson; Nancy Heckel, Treasurer; Jennifer Call; Yvonne Howard; Diane Lander; Betsy Anderson, Alternate; and Elizabeth Geraghty, Library Director

Public Present: Robert DeFelice, Chair of the Sutton Budget Committee

Call to Order

Chairperson O’Neil called the meeting to order at 6:47 p.m. and then called the roll.

Public Comments

Robert DeFelice, Chair of the Sutton Budget Committee, said he had reviewed the current Library Town approved budget and the associated line items.  The Board Members then told Mr. DeFelice that they were renaming, revising, and/or deleting some of the budget line items to better reflect Library expenditures and discussed some of the changes with him.

The Board Members asked Mr. DeFelice to explain Town preferred practices for managing the Library’s Town appropriated budget.  Of particular interest to the Board Members are:

The Library Trustees are to let the Board of Selectmen know if any line item is going to go over its approved amount and to provide the reason(s) for the overage, even if the total budget will not exceed its approved amount.  And it is best to notify the Board of Selectmen prior to the expenditure.

Because the Town increased the Capital Reserves last year, the Town is trying to keep the budget flat this year and the Trustees will need to explain to the Budget Committee any proposed budget increase.  The Library needs to ask separately for any Capital Reserve request.

The Library Maintenance Fund has now been rolled into the Town Building and Maintenance fund.  This was approved at the last Town Meeting.  

Mr. DeFelice prefers any supplemental material be brought to the Budget Committee meeting and not be sent to the committee beforehand.

Mr. DeFelice provided a printout listing the names, dates of creation, and balances for the nine individual Library trust funds as well as the overall account balance.  This account is not part of the Town budget. Only the interest income is spendable. It can be used for literacy purposes and books, and what is not used is rolled forward.  The printout shows $2,618.59 interest available to spend.

For the Library ramp, $20,000 was originally approved, over $10,000 has been spent on engineering plans, and just over $7,200 is left in the budget.  Board Member Call just received the final plans for the ramp. Mr. DeFelice also recommends the Library has a separate warrant article from the ramp warrant article for the ADA bathroom upgrades.  Board Member Call and Library Director Geraghty will attend the October 7th Board of Selectmen meeting to discuss the warrant articles.

Approval of Minutes

The Board discussed suggested corrections to the draft minutes of the September 3, 2019 regular meeting.

Motion: Board Member Call moved to approve the minutes of the September 3, 2019 regular meeting as amended.  Board Member Howard seconded the motion. The motion carried with Chairperson O’Neil, Board Member Call, Board Member Howard, and Board Member Anderson voting in the affirmative.  Board Member Anderson participated in this vote as she attended the September 3, 2019 meeting and was designated to sit for Board Member Lander. Board Members Heckel and Lander abstained from voting as they did not attend the September 3, 2019 regular meeting.

There were no suggested corrections to the draft minutes of the September 26, 2019 special meeting non-public session.

Motion: Board Member Call moved to approve the minutes of the September 26, 2019 special meeting non-public session as written.  Chairperson O’Neil seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative with Board Member Howard abstaining as she did not attend the September 26, 2019 special meeting.

Correspondence

No new correspondence.

Reports

Treasurer’s Report

Balance as of June 26, 2019: $10,723.14

Checks: Shelburne Museum $100.00, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum $195.00, and Board Member Call (NHLTA conference) $75.00.

Balance as of July 24, 2019: $10,353.14

No transactions from July 25th 2019 through August 21st 2019.

Balance as of August 21, 2019: $10,353.14

Library Director Geraghty presented the Board with a $200.00 check from Pat Lomans for online book and CD sales.

Motion: Board Member Heckel moved to accept the funds.  Board Member Call seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative.

Motion: Board Member Howard moved that funds received from (a) all future Sutton Free Library online sales, to include book, CD, and other media sales; and (b) all future ongoing book sales in the Library be allocated to the Library collection.  Board Member Call seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative.

Library Director’s Report

The Library is still looking for someone to snowblow.  The person must have liability insurance.

Building/Grounds Committee Report

Board Member Call spoke with Capital Well about the water testing results.  Capital Well suggested that the stagnant lead and iron levels found do not warrant a filtration system and recommended, if water would be needed during the day, flushing the system when opening the Library by letting the water run for a few minutes.

Board Member Call reported that TDS fiber for internet and Wi-Fi is now available.  With the upgrade, internet speed would go from 5Mbps to 50Mbps. There would be a slight increase in the monthly fee and a one-time shipping fee for a new modem.  Library Director Geraghty stated that such an upgrade would be greatly appreciated.

Motion: Chairperson O’Neil moved to upgrade the Library to fiber optics.  Board Member Heckel seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative.

The Board also discussed but did not decide on adding TDS Security, which comes with an additional small monthly fee.

Friends of Sutton Free Library Report

The Friends are not interested in helping to weed the gardens or to spread mulch in the gardens.

Old Business

As the Library’s proposed 2020 budget is to be submitted tomorrow, updating the Action Items list was deferred until the Board’s next regular meeting.

New Business

2020 Proposed Library Budget

The Board Members reviewed the proposed line items and the proposed allocations for each line item and prepared a proposed budget.  This was a lengthy, detailed, and candid discussion.

Motion: Board Member Heckel moved to approve the proposed 2020 Sutton Free Library budget with the agreed upon modifications and for the budget to be submitted on Wednesday October 2nd.  Board Member Howard seconded the motion.  The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative.

Library Director Geraghty will email the approved proposed 2020 Sutton Free Library budget to the Town Administrator.

Announcements and Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for November 5, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

Adjournment

Motion: There being no further business, Chairperson O’Neil moved to adjourn the meeting.  Board Member Call seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative.  The meeting adjourned at 10:53 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Diane M. Lander, Recording Secretary