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: Approved Minutes - FCL Board of Trustees meeting 11/7/2019  ( 1489 )
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« : December 31, 2019, 03:32:58 PM »

Fairfax Community Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
November 7, 2019


Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 6:34 pm.
Present were Pat Gallant, Emily DiGiulio, Lisa Griswold, Eric Foreman, Ellen Holmes-Henry, and Chris Fearon.

Approval of Sept. 12, 2019 Minutes

A motion was made to approve the minutes of the September meeting and the motion was approved.

Treasurer’s Report

Eric Foreman gave an updated report on the accounts at the Union Bank. As of the end of September, there was $376.41 in the checking account, and $2,339.03 in the savings account. Eric reported that the 12-month CD was coming to maturity in several days and he spoke about the options going forward. Last year the minimum amount required to purchase the flexible interest rate CD was $5,000, but this year the amount has increased to $10,000.  However, the bank said that it would be possible to roll over the current amount of the CD for another year. There are two options: One is to roll over the flexible CD that we currently have, which has a return of .25 per cent; the other is to purchase a fixed CD that has a required minimum of $500 and returns .30 per cent. The decision was made to rollover the money and continue with a flexible CD.

Correspondence

Emily DiGiulio reported on recent correspondence. She received a letter from the Vermont Department of Libraries with information about the 2020 summer reading program; the theme is Imagine Your Story.

Emily has received several gifts in honor of Sharon Horr, the former town librarian. The money will be deposited in the library’s account until it is decided how to honor Sharon’s years of service to the library. Emily and Lisa will ask people who worked with Sharon if she had a particular interest that would guide how to honor her memory. Pat Gallant will write a letter to the family on behalf on  the Board of Trustees, conveying condolences and appreciation for Sharon’s contributions to the library.

Updates

School Renovations and the Community Library

There was a review of what was discussed at the Joint School Library meeting. Regarding the blinds for the library windows, John Tague said that we should wait to see what happens with the bond vote before addressing the blinds. Lisa Griswold attended the bond vote meeting after the joint board, and mentioned that the strongest advocates at that meeting seemed to be for music, drama, and sports.



Library Highlights since the Last Meeting

The Halloween candy donation drive was very successful, with a large amount of candy brought to the library. This candy was distributed to 19 households in town, which get many trick-or-treaters. They were very appreciative of the contribution to their candy coffers. And, there were 30 families that came to trick-or-treat at the library on Halloween.

Emily also reported that the Tea and Bristles adult program went well, and was attended by six people. She also stated that there will be a change to the tech support program offered by Josiah Witt, which will now be offered quarterly rather than monthly and people will sign up online. 

A number of recent kids’ programs have included Read to a Dog, story time, gaming week, and mad scientist lab, among others. A local Girl Scout group also did a program about tick safety. Emily has moved the book club to the first Thursday of the month. This time worked well for the participants and will eliminate the conflict with the regularly scheduled board of trustees meeting on the 2nd Thursday of the month. The next book discussion will be on December 5th and the topic will be Colson Whitehead’s new novel, The Underground Railroad. Emily reported that a recently retired kindergarten teacher will be a monthly guest storyteller. She also related that there have also been several donations of books since the last meeting.

New Business

Plan Evaluation of Library Director

Ellen Holmes-Henry and Chris Fearon offered to meet with Emily for her annual evaluation. Pat Gallant will review the evaluation form to ensure that it conforms to the job description that Emily received when she was hired last year. She will then share it with the rest of the trustees. The evaluation should take place before January in order to plan for the budget. Ellen and Chris will coordinate with Emily to set up a time in December to do the evaluation. Emily will complete a self evaluation prior to this meeting and will think about measurable goals for the upcoming year.

Community Survey: Next Steps

Eric said that he felt we should have been sending more reminders every week to the community on Front Porch Forum. Emily does post library events on Front Porch Forum, but it was stated that the trustees should take on the task of posting those reminders since the trustees are conducting the survey. Eric offered to post the reminders since he is a member of Front Porch Forum.

There was some discussion about whether to extend the time for the survey. There are currently 108 online responses, and a few new additional print versions, that still need to be entered online. It was decided to extend the survey for another month and to have it end on December 6.

Chris will follow up on a suggestion to check with Brad Docheff (Town Office) and Brian LeClair (Fairfax Recreation Department) to see if it would be possible to put information about the survey on those respective websites.

Ellen mentioned that she had read online about the community conversations that Bent Northrup Library held, and that others might find it interesting reading as we plan for the future.

Status and Future of Program Planning

Elizabeth’s time was increased by five hours this summer, and Emily reported that the additional hours has made it easier for the two of them to do planning together. Emily also said that they are planning to schedule three Cabin Fever Cafés this winter. Pat reported on the conversation she and Ellen had with Brad Docheff regarding staffing for programs. He said that if the trustees focus on improved programming, and therefore increase the budget for programs, it would be helpful to submit a program plan for the year that shows the types of programs and the approximate costs. Pat also wondered if it made sense to do something every Tuesday evening, and noted that people are looking for more evening programs. Emily also shared that she learned at a state library meeting that libraries should not charge the public for programming.

Scheduling for Staff Safety

An issue that has come up several times is staff safety when only one staff member is working at night. The possibility of having Mary Lou work more evening hours was put forth. Emily will broach Mary Lou to check if she might be interested. The issue of a second person working on Tuesday evenings, when there isn’t a program scheduled, is one that is intertwined with the budget discussions and strategic plan. Also, if Mary Lou worked Tuesday evenings on a regular basis it probably would be considered a permanent job, and not just subbing occasionally, and would need to be advertised as such. Emily was going to check with Mary Lou to see if she might be interested in working some additional Tuesdays. 

Budget Preparation—Getting Started

Eric said that he will prepare a draft budget as a starting point for discussions about the budget, which will need to go to the town in advance of Town Meeting Day.

Open Trustee Position

There will be two open trustee positions in March when the current terms of Eric Foreman and Chris Fearon come to an end. Both Eric and Chris have enjoyed their work with the Board, but will not be continuing. Discussion ensued regarding people to fill the positions. Emily and Lisa will reach out to two of the people mentioned as potential trustees to gauge their interest.

Set Date for Next Trustee Meeting

There are several major items to address in the next month or so, so it was decided to schedule an additional meeting on December 19th at 6:30 pm.

Adjourn

The meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm.


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