Minutes for the Sept. 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 August meeting were accepted.

Librarian’s Report: Melissa told the board that she had placed an order for books and other new items for the collection and that the materials had been processed. She plans to publicize the acquisitions tomorrow. September’s order will be completed by the end of the week. Returns of materials taken out while the library was completely shut down are still coming in, although the vast majority have been returned. Melissa said she hasn’t reached out to volunteers yet to get more help in part because the return of cold weather is imminent and the building will have to be more closed up as a result. That has raised uncertainty about how the library’s operating hours may be affected. Melissa will be meeting with Sarah Rogers this Thursday to discuss plans for after-school activities this fall and also what Sarah might do with the Wordpress website to keep it fresh. 

      The Kanopy and Overdrive services are getting normal use. Most of the magazine subscriptions have been renewed through a subscription-management company that Melissa said was able to get the same price or a lower one for most of the periodicals. When Marty asked why the line item for periodicals for 2020 was significantly higher than the previous year-to-date amount, Rachel suggested it was probably just a matter of timing of when the expenses were incurred. Melissa noted that the laptop issue still hasn’t been resolved. The defective screen on the computer was fixed, but it’s still slow and seems to interfere with the barcode reading process. Mike Tisdale believes the computer is basically inadequate because of its older operating system and is supposed to make a recommendation about what might be a good replacement. Melissa believes an up-to-speed laptop might be helpful for a number of things.

Friends’ Report: Cindy reported that friends are meeting tomorrow night and they might discuss the possibility of arranging an online artisans marketplace in lieu of the holiday sale. If that occurs, a percentage of the sales would go to the library.

Treasurer’s Report: Rachel reviewed the most recent profit-and-loss statement that was distributed before the meeting. The statement doesn’t include the most recent book order; the line item for technology purchase is incorrect. Rachel is still trying to sort out billing issues with the solar company. After reviewing previous bills, she has submitted to the company a figure that she believes represents our outstanding balance — we’re in arrears by about $25 — and is waiting to hear back from them. Kerry Claffey had filed for an extension for the filing of the 990 tax form, which is now due at the end of September.

Miscellaneous: Cindy said the roof repair was done by Rocky, who discovered the need to do substantially more work than replacing the single piece of slate. He believes there might be yet more work to do on the back roof. Curt said he emailed Ken Frank about fixing the masonry repair and continues to wait for a reply. He did have a meeting with him over summer at which point Ken said he intended to return and do the work. Curt said he’ll keep trying but the window for masonry work will be closing soon. Bergeron’s landscaping service came last week with topsoil and compost. The job took about a half day to complete and Curt thinks the lawn around the septic tanks looks quite good now — although the drought has forced him to water the area daily. His next project will be to come up with some sort of fix for the leak in the basement. 

Cindy talked to Ed Eastman who plans to do some spot cleaning on the rug in back; he also plans to cut back to once-a-month cleanings until more frequent ones are warranted. The board agreed that it’s time to put up the new front sign, even though the hours don’t correspond with our pandemic schedule. Cindy has done some research into air purifiers and has primarily learned that they’re unavailable. The Department of Libraries will be consulted to see what it advises about what we might do during cold weather when we can’t use open windows for ventilation. 

Marty made a motion to switch our meeting times from 7 to 6:30 and change our meeting place to the homestead as long as our hours remain modified because of the pandemic. Carol seconded and the board voted unanimously in favor. Marty will prepare the appeals letter for review before the next meeting. That meeting will take place on Oct. 19 at 6:30 at the homestead,  a change necessitated by the holiday. (The meeting date was changed to Oct. 14 after the meeting when it was discovered the homestead wasn’t available on the 19th.)

Marty moved to go into executive session to discuss personnel at 7:36; Carol seconded and the board voted unanimously to do so The board remained in executive session until 7:56 and then adjourned.

Submitted by Marty Frank