Morrill Memorial and Harris Library Investment Committee

Minutes of February 24, 2022 Meeting

Present:  Cindy Stableford, Betsy Ruml, Gretchen Rittenhouse, Rachel Kurland, Rebecca Seibel

The Committee met with Kimberly Robinson, Senior Portfolio Manager at Mascoma Wealth Management regarding the Library’s intent to transition the day-to-day investment management of the endowment from the LIC to professional management.  Kim, who has been at Mascoma since 2002 and acts as both a portfolio and relationship manager for clients, outlined the following:

·     Mascoma Wealth Management (Mascoma) acts as a fiduciary – Kim and her team are salaried employees of Mascoma Savings Bank and earn no commissions.  Mascoma is paid for its service through a management fee, which is .5% annually, paid quarterly based on average daily balance over previous quarter.

·     Kim and her colleagues work as a team, so there is always someone available who is familiar with our needs.  They meet each week to review investments and portfolios.

·     In her work with the LIC, Kim would learn the Library’s goals, objectives, and risk tolerance and use the LIC’s priorities and guidelines to choose investments from an approved list of funds and ETFs.

·     They use the Fidelity trading platform, but investment is not limited to Fidelity products.

Betsy noted that the Trustees are interested in continuing the ESG approach, which Kim said that Mascoma is prepared to accommodate, as they do with many clients.  They have two ESG core portfolios of ETFs – moderate and growth – but can customize to meet other goals.  Betsy said that the Trustees have chosen a growth objective due to their long-term (10+ year) outlook.  Kim also noted that a 3-5% cash position is their usual portfolio stance, but that cash position will be guided by the Library’s needs.

Next steps:

·     Kim will provide their ESG Approved/Focus list

·     She will need information and electronic signatures from “control” person(s) and will send out forms.

·     She will need information re the Library:  Legal name, address, tax ID #.  Rachel will fill out this form.

·     She will need an updated copy of our current fund statement.  We specify to her which positions to move, as we are leaving the restricted investments with Vanguard.

Other Business

Minutes of the 1/18/22 meeting were approved.

Betsy, Cindy, and Rachel were designated as the “Control Persons”. Rachel may appoint someone else in her stead – TBD.

Cindy and Betsy reviewed a draft of the updated Rules of Operation.  They believe that they are in good shape overall and ready for the transfer of responsibilities to Mascoma.  Rachel will present them to the Trustees for approval.

The meeting was adjourned. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 9AM at the Library.

Respectfully Submitted,

Gretchen Rittenhouse

Secretary