Present: Curt Albee, Cindy Binzen, Rachel Kurland, Rebecca Seibel, Miriam Newman, Marty Frank 

Minutes from the December meeting were adopted. 

Librarian’s Report:

Rebecca noted that the new DVD spinners had arrived, thanks to Curt and David McWilliams. The third one has been put in the loft, but probably won’t work because it’s too crowded when a children’s program is in progress. The board agreed that we should try to sell the old unit and keep the third of the new spinners in the basement. 

The inner front door became impossible to open last week, so Rebecca called Gatekeeper, a local locksmith. Just before the locksmith arrived, Mark Chute returned the door to a functional state by playing with the doorstop. Rebecca cancelled the service call, but soon received an email notifying her that we would be billed because the locksmith was only five minutes away. The $97.50 bill that arrived struck everyone as excessive, and Rebecca will write to the company to ask it to reconsider.

The Turrell Foundation has informed us that we will receive a $2,000 grant in March to support our children’s programming. Rebecca will apply to the Bryne Foundation for a grant to supplement that and perhaps cover the full cost of the programming.      

Misc. Stuart Smith’s benefit concert is scheduled for April at the church. Mike Hebb has offered to take out the brambles and otherwise open up the library’s property behind the building to make it more attractive and potentially useful. Marty checked with the Secretary of State’s office and discovered that no articles of incorporation have ever been filed. Rebecca will take care of the paperwork, which will cost the library $125. Rebecca received a loan agreement to sign allowing the Indian artifacts owned by the library to be housed at the Vermont Archaeology Heritage Center until they are repatriated.

Treasurer’s Report:

Rachel presented the final draft of the 2016 budget, which adjusted for a substantially smaller allocation from the endowment fund by lowering the raise for the librarian to 1 percent, increasing the expected revenue from grants, and making minor adjustments to other several expense line items. The budget will also increase the hourly pay of the assistant librarian to $14.50. The budget was adopted unanimously. Rachel also reported that the Library Investment Committee has decided that the allocation of portfolio assets of the endowment fund should be adjusted to a more aggressive 70-30 stock-bond ratio in recognition of the fact that the library has no plan to draw upon the fund in the near future. 

Next meeting will be Feb. 8.

Submitted by Marty Frank