Richmond Free Library Trustee’s
Minutes – May 4, 2017
Present: Ellen Crary, Laurie Dana, Keith Franz, Jenna Bisset, and Rebecca Mueller
Absent: Kristen Hayden-West
Welcome
Laurie called the meeting to order.
April Minutes
Keith moved to accept the April minutes and the motion carried unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report
Keith reported that for the budget report through the end of March, about 70% of the budget has been expended, and we are 75% through the budget year, so we are in good shape. He reported that we are over in the salary line item and under in water—see Library Director’s report for more on these items.
Vote for RFL Board Position
Keith nominated Laurie Dana for the position of Board Secretary for the coming year and the motion carried unanimously.
Library Director’s Report
- To come in line with Town HR policies and Workmen’s Comp rules relating to maintenance staff, the light maintenance worker who has been working for the library for years now needs to be paid as a part-time employee. His rate of compensation will not change. $6,000 from the maintenance budget will be moved to the salary line item to address this.
- The Town has asked employees to update their Job Descriptions in advance of reviewing the Town’s salary schedule. Rebecca has completed revised job descriptions for all staff and she handed out her revised job description for review. There were several comments on how her job description has changed, primarily due to the rapid changes in technology and the Library Consortium.
- The water charge for last month was $100 less due to the discovery and correction of several leaks including a toilet that was running, a dripping faucet and a leak in the radiant floor heating where mice have chewed through the rubber.
- Rebecca will be contracting with a company to get the mouse issue under control by setting bait traps in the crawl spaces.
- Library staff attended a training on April 17, which was supposed to provide information on how to recognize and deal with those who might have mental health or other issues. The training content was not as expected but some information was gained. There is a training planned for staff on what to do in an “active shooter” scenario.
- Summer programming is set and will be GREAT!
- Rebecca has received 2 bids for replacing the carpeting in the stairway, back of community room and two youth spaces. She and the staff are in the process of selecting carpets & colors.
Conservation Fund
Judy Rusovski (spelling?) recently spoke to Rebecca to encourage the library to apply for Conservation Funds to for part of the roof repair work and assured her that “not all” of the funds were spent on the Andrews land. Jenna commented that we should move forward on this quickly since we had been “invited” to apply. Laurie will talk with Kristen Hayden-West about contacting Judy and then working with Jen from the library staff to draft a request. Trustees felt that we should apply for funding to do the work on the Steeple (at least repair of trim and unstable elements) and draw from Jan’s assessment and pricing to prepare the request.
Strategic Plan for 2018-2020
Ellen reported she had done some research on other library strategic plans and showed us a sample of an info-graphic style plan from the Norwich Library which Trustees felt was an interesting approach. Laurie reviewed some of the steps that went into the last Strategic Planning process. The Trustees felt that this process could be somewhat streamlined from the last time and are in favor of a Survey that could be available as a Survey Monkey online as well as in hard copy. It should be advertised in Front Porch Forum, Times Ink, on the Library website and at other venues (Farmers Market table? July 4th table?). There was some discussion about simplifying the questions and shortening the survey. The next step could be a focus group or community meeting to present and discuss the results of the survey. Laurie will find and share the survey from last time with the Trustees and further discussion will take place at the June meeting.
July 4
The Trustee’s “usual” practice of having a water and book sale on the lawn was described for Jenna. There was some discussion about Trustees marching in the parade (with or without a float) perhaps in costume. Several trustees were interested in pursuing this discussion.
Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Richmond Free Library Trustees will be Thursday, June 1. Note there will be no Library Trustee’s meeting in July due to July 4th outreach effort.
Agenda items:
Report back on Conservation Fund application status
July 4th planning
Strategic Planning process, review and rewrite community survey
Respectfully submitted,
May 5, 2017
Laurie Dana, Secretary
