October 10, 2019 | Librarian TOWN of SUTTON SUTTON FREE LIBRARY 5 Corporation Hill Road Sutton Mills, NH 03221 Board of Trustees June 4, 2019 Regular Meeting Corrected and Approved Minutes Board Members Present: Nancy Heckel, Treasurer and Acting Chairperson; Jennifer Call; Yvonne Howard; Diane Lander; and Elizabeth Geraghty, Library Director Board Member Absent: Diane O’Neil, Chairperson, and Betsy Anderson, Alternate Trustee Public Present: No members of the public were present Call to Order Acting Chairperson Heckel called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. and then called the roll. Library Director Geraghty will ask Bill Bastille, Sutton resident and past president of the Sutton Free Library Board of Trustees, if he has an interest in being an Alternate Trustee. If he does, Library Director Geraghty will invite him to attend a Board of Trustees meeting to meet with the Board. Approval of Minutes Corrections to the May 7, 2019 regular meeting minutes: Page 2 under Treasurer’s Report: “Librarian Geraghty stated that the donation in memory of Beth Cernek is to be designated for the gardens.” Change to: Library Director Geraghty stated that the 2019 donation in the memory of Beth Cernek has no stipulations. However, previous donations in the memory of Beth Cernek had been designated for the garden and the sense of the Board was to designate this donation for the garden as well. Page 3 under Old Business, Paragraph 4: “At the last meeting, Board Member Heckel….” Change to: Board Member Anderson…. Page 3, Announcements and Next Meeting: “The NHLTA annual meeting….” Change to: Board members O’Neil and Call are considering attending. The BOT will pay for the registration fee. Motion: Board Member Call moved to approve the minutes of the May 7, 2019 regular meeting as amended. Board Member Howard seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative. Correspondence No correspondence Public Comments No public comments Reports Treasurer’s Report Balance as of last meeting (May 7, 2019): $11,381.66 Deposits: Fritz Pratt quarters for $54. Checks: State of NH for a water analysis for $85 Balance as of this meeting (June 4, 2019): $11,350.66 Library Director Geraghty asked that, in the future, donations in the memory of Beth Cernek be identified in a separate line item. Also, Heidi Thoma, the Previous Library Director, recently mentioned that, contrary to what the Board had thought, the Beth Cernek donation funds have never been designated for or used for the garden. Library Director Geraghty said that she hopes to review the general ledger accounts in late June and be able to bring a proposed draft general ledger to the July meeting. Board Member Call asked about reimbursement for the 2019 NHLTA annual meeting registration fee. She was advised that the registration fee will be reimbursed from the Sutton Free Library Trustee account. Library Director’s Report Last meeting, Library Director Geraghty asked for permission to put a book order in for $530.66. The invoice received is for $552.52. The invoice can differ due to backorders, etc. Library Director Geraghty now asked for permission to pay the invoice of $552.52. Motion: Board Member Howard moved to fund $552.52 for book acquisition. Board Member Call seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative. The Friends of the Library is supporting a new Mah Jongg group. The group is meeting at the library on Monday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Shannon Storm is the instructor and currently there are 4 people learning the game. Anita Blakeman has asked for ways the Friends of the Library can help. The Friends funded the majority of the summer reading program. The library currently has passes to the Fells, Currier Museum, and NH State Parks, but could have additional ones, for example, to Strawbery Banke. Also, the Friends maybe could help with determining where to place and who would need to give permission for Little Free Libraries. Board Member Call asked if Little Free Libraries could be placed at state parks. Board Member Howard will call and ask Rollins State Park. In the fall, the High School Woodworking teacher could ask if any seniors are interested in a Little Free Library senior project. The Library received a donation from the Dunbar Free Library in Grantham. The donation consisted of 14 adult books, 3 adult audio books, and 1 juvenile audio book. Joan Rodewald, a Sutton resident, called Library Director Geraghty letting her know that a Sutton resident, who was a composer, had recently passed away and had a large number of books to donate. Many are first editions or signed copies. Others are Jewish studies and music studies. There also are sheet music and old maps. The Library now has it all. And there were 3 bookcases that Library Director Geraghty used when she reorganized the downstairs room. Pat Lomans continues to volunteer her time by selling books, CDs, and DVDs for the library online (eBay). The May 25, 2019 edition of the Concord Monitor had a very nice article about the Sutton Free Library and the Library’s Book Club. The title of the article is “Sense of Place: Sutton Free Library, Sutton.” The CLiF grant ends June 5th. Jim Arnosky, a Vermont artist, writer, illustrator, and naturalist, will read a story to the elementary students and each student will receive two free books. Board Member Anderson and Library Director Geraghty are in the process of preparing a binder of the Library’s policies, which they will email to the Library Trustees before the July meeting. Once the Library trustees review, revise, and approve the policies, the binder will be submitted to Town Counsel for approval. Building/Grounds Committee Report Library Director Geraghty said that Mr. Geraghty had walked the library property to look for the “sink hole” that is supposedly by the river and did not find any such sink hole. Board Member Call contacted Darragh Madden, Irish Electric in Hopkinton, and discussed the Library’s electrical needs. Mr. Madden said that, for this building, phantom load management is not worth it. Too many subsystems would be shut off (e.g., email, router (wi-fi), phone). He also said that the thread on the light fixtures probably can be changed versus having to replace the light fixtures. Mr. Madden will send the Library an itemized estimate. Board Member Call will contact a 2nd electrical company for an estimate. H. R. Clough came last week to fix and service the air conditioner, which included cleaning the inside and outside coils. The service technician said that H. R. Clough does not clean the ducts as doing so usually leads to maintenance problems. The service technician also tried to turn on the back water spigot, but it would not work. Having the air conditioner serviced/cleaned once a year needs to be added to the maintenance list. Library Director Geraghty provided an update on the ramp project. Board Member Anderson had talked with Town Administrator Phillips about the Architect, Kelly Gale. At that time, the plans for the ramp and bathroom modifications were expected to be completed soon. Then Heidi Thoma, previous Library Director, emailed with Architect Kelly Gale, who said she planned on completing the draft plans for the ramp and bathroom modifications by June 12th and to give the final stamped plans to Town Administrator Phillips on June 15th. This would allow the RFP to be posted by June 21st and the bid for the contract to be awarded by the end of July. The Board also discussed contacting Dig Safe and informing it of all the Library utility providers, but decided that the contractor would do this. Library Director Geraghty will ask Board Member Anderson to update the “2019 SFLBT Maintenance Repair Priority List” to reflect the May 7th Board discussion and to add painting the outside pole to the list. Painting the pole could be a high school or Eagle Scout project. Board Member Call will prepare a maintenance schedule and a list of business providers. The highway department has agreed to dig out the septic covers when the septic is to be pumped. The highway department needs 7 to 10 days advance notice and the septic covers need to be flagged. The Sutton Free Library – State of the Building Report, Fall 2013 noted that the overflow outlet pipe is directed into the river and does not meet current building codes. Given the new septic system was installed post 2014, the Board assumes this is no longer an issue. Board Member Anderson contacted about 10 Directors or Trustees of small libraries and asked if their libraries had Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) with their Towns. One library did, the others had no official MOUs. Board Member Call suggested a MOU would be helpful in clarifying which repairs and expenses were to be paid from the operating budget and which from the Library Trustee account. Acting Chairperson Heckel said the Board would be more comfortable having a MOU especially as the Town employees and the members of the Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee change over time. Acting Chairperson Heckel volunteered to draft a MOU and bring it to the August or September meeting for the Trustees to review and revise. Friends of Sutton Free Library Report No update on the Friends June meeting was provided. Old Business Little Libraries were discussed as part of the Director’s Report. New Business The Board Members supported the revised format for the agenda and the minutes and posting agendas, minutes, and notices on the Town’s web site. The Board briefly discussed the Library having its own web site, which the Board prefers to the Library web pages being included in the Town’s web site. Board Member Lander volunteered to review and prepare a draft revision of the Library Bylaws, to include listing the process for posting meeting notices, public hearings, etc. Board Member Lander will ask Chairperson O’Neil and Board Member Anderson for a copy of the most current Library Bylaws. The Sutton Board of Selectmen met on Monday June 3rd. An agenda item under Old Business was ….. Memo to Boards, Trustees and Committees regarding Process. Town Administrator Phillips advised Library Director Geraghty that the Select Board would inform the Library Board of Trustees at a later date as to how this might affect the Board. Announcements and Next Meeting Board Member Call gave a summary of the 2019 NHLTA annual meeting. The focus was on advocating for the Library. Other topics included cost of some renovations, grants for older buildings to be able to do restorations, and some funds from the Moose Plates can go back into renovating/restoring Town buildings. The next meeting is scheduled for July 2, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. Adjournment Motion: There being no further business, Board Member Call moved to adjourn the meeting. Board Member Howard seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously in the affirmative. The meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Diane M. Lander, Recording Secretary