Unapproved Minutes of the FCL Library Trustees August 17 2015

Fairfax Community Library Trustees’ Meeting
August 17 2015
6:30
The meeting was called to order at 6:33 by Pat Gallant who agreed to chair the meeting since
we currently have no chair. Present were: Debbie Landauer, Pat Gallant, Patti Reaves, Liz
Griffin, and Janel Gamm.
There was no correspondence.
There was no public input.
A motion was made by Janel to approve the minutes of the June 22 2015 meeting. It was
seconded by Patti Reaves and passed.
Debbie indicated that the summer had been busy, and the first three weeks were especially
busy. Alex Hamel, the student employee has done very well, and his employment ends Monday
the 24th. Fall hours for the library will begin on August 31st.
Our library assistant, Keagan, has had her baby, and will return to work mid October. Mary Lou
Opper is performing well as her substitute.
There were 200 registered participants in the summer reading program, and 2875 books were
recorded as having been read by the youth. All prizes were given away, and everyone believes
that the program was a successful one.
Janel, the treasurer, reported that there is 5015.50 in the savings account and 178.48 in the
checking account.
Debbie reported that the town clerk has sent a statement showing the current balances of
various line items and everything is on target for this time of year.
A motion was made by Liz to accept her report. It was seconded by Pat G. and passed.
New Business
We discussed the possibility of increasing the number of trustees to 7. Currently, with the
resignation of Toni, we are only 4, thus we would need to seek three more trustees.
After tossing ideas back and forth concerning when to change the bylaws, which would need to
be done as they indicate a board of members, and when to solicit three new members we
reached a resolution.
We concluded that we would change the bylaws
( by voting) in January and increase the
number of trustees to 7. If Fletcher agrees to pay a flat annual fee so that all Fletcher residents
are library patrons, we may solicit a trustee from that community (with appropriate amendment
to ByLaws
to allow this.)
The trustees resolved to increase their number to 7, beginning in March 2016. A motion was
made that at the January 2016 meeting the bylaws would be changed to increase trustees to 7.
The motion was made by Liz and seconded by Janel. All approved.
The Joint Board has a meeting scheduled for October 15. At that meeting the group should be
voting on the updated policy. There are some parts of the policy that are still under discussion.
Debbie has checked with the Vermont Department of Libraries, to whom we are responsible,
and they have said that it is possible to vote on the parts of the policy upon which we all agree.
Since Toni Jiwatram, our chair, who also chairs the Joint Board meeting, has resigned, and two
of our members will be away, we are requesting that the meeting be postponed until November
5 or 12 so that we can replace our chair.
A member of the Fletcher Selectboard, Todd Pritsky, approached Debbie about the possibility
that the town of Fletcher pay a flat fee to the library so that all residents are members of the
Fairfax Community Library with all attendant privileges. Currently Fletcher residents have to pay
a nonresident
fee. Since Fletcher students come to BFA for high school they can use the
library, but parents need to pay the nonresident
fee. This has caused some confusion.
Currently there are approximately 120 Fletcher members, and in 2015 approximately 1004
library items were checked out by Fletcher residents. Debbie estimates that a $24.50 fee per
resident would be adequate to cover costs. This is equal to the Fairfax 2015 per capita support
of the library.
There was a discussion about how this might impact the use of the library. Debbie will
recommend, based on the above figures, that an annual fee of $3700 would suffice. The
amount will be reviewed annually and adjusted if necessary based on the number of Fletcher
users. Debbie will inform Todd Pritsky of this proposal.
Liz then made a motion to recommend to the Fletcher Selectboard a fee of $3700 per annum so
that all Fletcher residents would have library membership with all the privileges Fairfax residents
have.
Liz asked Pat Gallant, who had run the meeting if she would be willing to be interim chair.
Liz made the motion to recommending that, and Janel seconded the motion. Pat Gallant will be
our interim chair.
The meeting adjourned at 8:10
Respectfully submitted,
Elizabeth Griffin, Treasurer.