Morrill Memorial and Harris Library Investment Committee

Minutes of May 17, 2016 Meeting

Present:  Cindy Stableford, Betsy Ruml, John Hawkins, Gretchen Rittenhouse, Rachel Kurland

Portfolio review (Betsy Ruml):

1.     Our portfolio is relatively stable – despite the market fluctuations, we are currently up 2.77% from 2015 year end.    All funds are up at least a bit, with fixed income investments showing the greatest gains.

2.     Current balance is $257,048.98:  66% equity, 34% FI and cash.  Cash balance is $10,286, close to the $10,000 target.

3.     At the January 5 meeting, the committee discussed changing our target equity/FI allocation.  By e-mail on January 22, we agreed to defer making any changes until we reviewed market conditions and further research at the May meeting.  Thus, following up on our discussion in January re possibly changing our target allocations from 65/35 equity/FI to 70/30, Betsy presented a graph comparing results since 2008 of the S&P 500 to a representative 60/40 portfolio.  While the trend line is similar and the results are roughly equal for both at this point in time, the S&P is clearly more volatile.  Committee members expressed discomfort with increasing the risk, especially given current market instability.  Betsy has prepared a worksheet that will serve as a valuable tool if we choose to re-balance in the future.

4.     The committee made no changes to our current positions.

Minutes of January 5, 2016 approved with one spelling change (Turrell, not Terrell).

Rachel provided the Library Board report:

1.     There have been no budget surprises.

2.     The library received private funds for the restoration of the Justin Morrill portrait, which is now complete.

3.     Received $2,000 Turrell Grant in March from the Byrne Foundation for Children’s Librarian salary.

4.     The cost of clearing the “Back 40” was higher than expected but volunteer efforts have kept the extra expenditure reasonable. 

Cindy Stableford reported for the Friends:

1.     Membership drive request mailed today.

2.     Getting ready for the book sale.

3.     Typically donate 5% of amount in the Friends’ checking account to endowment in June – this year we can expect about $900.  (Betsy suggested that Cindy determine how much the Friends have give to the Endowment over the years as another example of the valuable work done by this group.)

Report from the Chair (Cindy):

 Cindy moved $173.61 from the restricted funds per plan.

The meeting was adjourned.  Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 9AM at the Library.

Respectfully Submitted,

Gretchen Rittenhouse

Secretary