Unapproved Minutes of the FCL Library Trustees October 15 2015

[Rev. Elizabeth]

Fairfax Community Library
Trustees’ Meeting, October 15 2015

The meeting was called to order at 6:25.  Present were: Debbie Landauer, Janel Gamm, David Dumas, Kyle Metayer, Liz Griffin, and Pat Gallant.

There was no correspondence.
Public Input
David Dumas can to speak about starting a Friends of Fairfax Community Library group.  He has considerable experience with such organizations and has done research into organizing such a group in Fairfax. The group would need to begin with a small executive  board, have by-laws and a mission statement, create an operating agreement between the Friends and the library, and apply for 501c-3 status. With a draft of the written documents in place, the group can hold a membership drive and apply for 501c-3 status.  The filing fee would be paid for by the Friends group, and the library would have no fiscal connection or responsibility toward the Friends group.
The fee for membership would be established, and an individual could donate time in lieu of the fee if necessary. The Friends’ board would write their own mission statement, and David indicated that there are many available that could be used as guidelines. The group would also clarify to the Select Board that money raised by the group would not be a part of the library budget, nor could the town reduce the library budget in anticipation of donated funds for the library.  The board of the Friends and of the Library would have a non-voting member on each other’s board. The library trustees would have the final say over accepting or rejecting donations from groups or individuals.

 In David’s experience, many Friends groups raise substantial funds through book sales. This would, however, necessitate a place both to store and sort books.
Debbie suggested that any funds raised might be used, among other things, to: provide some sort of activity bus so that youth without other sources of transportation could stay after school to participate in activities; purchase the prizes and tee shirts for the Summer Reading Program; fund author visits. 

Kyle made a motion to endorse the development of a Friends of Fairfax Library Group.  It was seconded by Liz and passed.

Old Business

Having added two members to the trustees, effective 2016 Town Meeting, there was discussion about whether or not terms needed to be staggered so that the board would experience an influx of new members at one time.  After charting membership expiration dates of the various members and the potential new members, it was determined that this was not necessary.


New Business
Library Assistant
Keagan Calkins, the library assistant has said she was resigning because of the lack of benefits and the costs of child care. She will be submitting a letter of resignation, and Debbie will hold and exit interview with her.
Debbie would like to make this job full time, 30 hours, with the attendant benefits.  She believes that the time needed for the community calendar, the outreach described by the Strategic Plan, and the need for someone with technical expertise to handle the library’s technological needs would warrant the addition of the additional 8 hours. At the moment the staff is very busy and cannot spare the time to work on these concerns.
Mary Lou Opper, who has been substituting for Keagan has remarked that the tasks performed by the assistant are diverse, interesting, and being self-directed is a benefit.  She stated that there is always something to do, and that sometimes the library is very busy.  Mary Lou also observed that the current structure of the hours could be a drawback as the assistant works two evenings and Saturday.  Also, having no benefits means the assistant cannot take any sick or vacation days.
The trustees acknowledge that  if indeed this change from part time to full time is approved, it could not  occur until the budget is voted on at Town Meeting

Community Calendar.
Debbie held a meeting of groups interested in a Community Calendar. Seven representatives attended and those  not present expressed interest via email.  Debbie estimates this calendar project would take 3 hours a week of the library assistant’s time. Debbie met with Colin Santee of the Fairfax Recreation Department and the Rec. Dept. will pay for the annual fee for the platform needed to create this calendar, the funding coming from existing healthy communities grant monies initially.

Program Planner
Nicole Vance has been Program Planner since January 2015 and, everyone agrees, has brought many interesting programs to the community.  The library director and the trustees believe she should be given a raise.
The board will discuss these items as detailed discussion of the budget is conducted at the next meeting.

The meeting moved into executive session at 8 PM to discuss the Library Director’s salary.
The board ended executive session at 8:30.

The next meeting will be held October 22,  2015 at 6:15 in the Fairfax Room.

Respectfully submitted

Rev. Elizabeth Griffin, secretary.