Minutes for the Oct. 14 Trustees Meeting

The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. in the education center at the Morrill Homestead. Present were Cindy Binzen, Rachel Kurland, Curt Albee, Carol Wilson, Melissa Strayton (librarian) and Marty Frank.

Minutes from the September meeting were accepted.

Librarian’s Report: Melissa reported that she recently stocked up on all sorts of supplies for the library. Someone responded to our solicitation for a filing cabinet, and it has been placed in the space that had been the previous home of the wheeled shelving cart, which is now being used for returns. In response to the school extending its hours to 3, Melissa is altering our operating hours by staying open until 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays to accommodate families. That means the library will now be open 20 hours a week. Melissa said she’ll make an announcement on the listserv and Facebook. Another change Melissa has made — in response to the most recent guidance about the handling of such materials — is to quarantine materials for a week before putting them back in circulation. 

The library has been busy. An email Melissa sent out seeking volunteer help resulted in a number of people stepping forward. She continues to order for the collection and publicize new acquisitions on the listserv, Facebook and the website. Melissa distributed a time study to the board, which prompted a discussion of Melissa’s typical day.

Melissa said that the state approved our application for a $520 grant, which will cover half the cost of the courier service. During a discussion of what sort of changes will be made to operate in the cold weather during the pandemic, Cindy said that she had an older air purifier that she could make available to the library (none seem to be available for purchase in the stores). She’s also on the hunt for a HEPA filter for the furnace. Melissa said that if the number of cases start rising significantly, she’ll consider getting stricter about in-person visits to the library. Cindy pointed out that going back to all curbside service remains an option.

Melissa met with Sarah to review how summer programming went and to plan for after-school programming. She and Sarah are focusing are maintaining the library’s connection with young families in town. Sarah’s looking for new material to post on the website she created, and she and Melissa are also making plans for monthly socially distanced programs at the library.

Melissa hasn’t had a chance to review the website to recommend what changes might be made. The Friends will hold their annual meeting Oct 22 online at which time they will elect new officers.

Friends’ Report: Cindy said the Friends will hold a raffle and sell wreaths in lieu of the holiday sale. 

Treasurer’s Report: Rachel said we’re doing OK financially. An expense item under technology in the profit and loss statement still needs to be corrected — an expense of $849 was mistakenly entered twice. Our struggles with Ecogy continue: Rachel recently received an email that, in addition to our regular monthly bill, said we owed them more than $400 for the “true-up,” but without any sort of accounting for how they arrived at that figure. She will continue to fight to achieve clarity. 

Miscellaneous: Curt said he has made no progress with the mason. He plans to check on the leak in the basement. A furnace cleaning has been scheduled for December, and the basement will need to be cleaned up before. The grass is growing in the front in the area around the septic tank. Although Miriam won’t be able to attend our meetings for a while, Cindy thinks we’ll still be able to consult her if we need legal guidance. Everyone one the board felt comfortable with that arrangement. This year’s appeals letter is all set. At Cindy’s suggestion, we’ll wait until after the election to mail it out. Cindy will get the mailing list, and Marty will take care of printing and buy whatever materials are needed

Cindy noted that budget work will begin next month. Marty moved, Curt seconded, to go into executive session to discuss personnel at 7:45. The board returned to regular session at  8:17.

The board will meet in the education center at the Homestead on Nov. 9 at 6:30.

Submitted by Marty Frank