Present: Cindy Binzen, Miriam Newman, Carol Wilson, Curt Albee, Marty Frank, Rebecca Seibel

Minutes of the September meeting were approved.

Librarian’s Report: Rebecca reported that the after-school program is going well. Between 12 and 16 kids are regularly attending. Fortunately, Isabel has been helping. Emily Z. attended a program at the Montshire about STEM activities and said she left with some promising ideas for inexpensive programs.

Rebecca said she missed the most recent deadline for Turrell funding but will make the Feb 1 deadline. We still have about $1,000 available in unspent money and should be in good shape until receiving the next grant, assuming that we do.

Rebecca is talking with Tori Lloyd about putting on special programs for seniors at senior lunch. The current plan is to do something on Nov. 30 — probably a presentation about scams that target seniors.

Rebecca will be taking the last week of October for vacation. It was a struggle, but she thinks volunteers are in place to staff the library. After vacation, she’ll be working on the annual statistical report for the state.

Rebecca concluded her report by notifying the board of her desire to step down, perhaps by February. She said she still loves working as librarian but would like to cut back. Ideally, she would figure out a way to reduce the amount of time she works without hurting the library. She said that she would welcome a creative solution that would allow her to continue being the librarian but give her the flexibility to take off for a few weeks when she wants.The board identified a couple of candidates to contact to see if they might be interested in being available to fill in for Rebecca for extended periods.

Treasurer’s Report: In Rachel’s absence, the latest financial statement was made available for review. Rebecca noted that imbalance between income and expenses is partly the result of the fact that the town’s last quarterly infusion of funds has not been received. Rachel did report that she met with an insurance agent to explore the possibility of insuring the building’s artwork. The estimate she received was that insuring the paintings would cost the library an additional $1,200 annually if the building remained without a security system; $75 annually if a security system were installed. The board expressed little interest in either option.

 Other Business: Curt reported that the masons who inspected the building never got back to him with an estimate for repointing the brickwork. He asked about when our next furnace-cleaning should take place, and records indicate not until 2017.

Marty agreed to write the annual appeals letter, which will be sent out at the beginning of November.

Next meeting will be Nov. 14

Submitted by Marty Frank