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Minutes

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Grafton Public Library Trustees Meeting Minutes

April 30, 2015

 

Attending:  Bob Donald, Andrea Dunmire, Lucia Corwin, Christopher Schemm, Deborah Toomey and Michelle Dufort

Bob Donald brought the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.

The minutes from the March meeting were approved.

Public Comment

There was not public comment. Christopher suggested that each Board member talk to one community member about the library to bring public comment to the library.

Librarian’s Report

Michelle is meeting with Rob Fish, a consultant recommended by the Vermont Department of Libraries to work on the GPL website and update it.

Building and Grounds

While not visible from the Library perspective, the white pine at the back of the grounds is severely damaged and needs to be removed. Thanks go to Chris Wallace who notified Michelle of its condition. There are also several dead limbs on the maple tree that need to be pruned out. Lucia Corwin will contact several tree services for estimates. Suggested: Jordan Fletcher, Melvin Rice, and Pete’s Tree Service.

There is an issue with the public toilet. Sometimes when flushed, it will continue to run, depleting the library well. Christopher Schemm assessed the problem and indicated that the interior is not standard issue so a plumber will be needed to repair it. The Board then discussed writing a policy allowing the librarian to contact appropriate repair personnel if the repair is estimated to be under a certain dollar amount. Bob Donald will write up a policy and present it to the next Board meeting. In the interim, Bob Arbuckle will be contacted to see if he is taking any local customers (he’s not).  A plumber will have to be contacted to correct the situation.

Kate Anderson submitted an estimate on yard work around the Library for $250. Her work would include pruning the rhododendrons, cleaning up the flower beds, mulching and edging. If any monies remain after this work is completed, she has offered to include setting a drip edge for the rain gutter. Her estimate was approved and Michelle will contact her to begin.

Lucia reported on her meeting with Ivor Stevens regarding filling the sinkholes on the Library lawn. The Board felt that his estimate of $1,340 may be a bit high although all agreed Ivor does excellent work.  The Board asked Lucia to contact Jamie Gregory to obtain his estimate and ask both men when they can get the work done. The hope that the work could be completed prior to the Memorial Day ceremonies on the lawn seems to be unreasonable. Concern about people attending the ceremony getting injured from sinkholes was discussed and it was decided that if they were not repaired by then, the tape used for the book sale would be placed around them.

In regard to the structural issues with the Library floor, Michelle reported the Patrick Cooperman has the name of the structural engineer who worked with him when he was on the Board. A full assessment was made regarding the Library underpinnings, and this information may be on file with the engineer. Bob Donald indicated that this was good news and that he’d call Patrick.

Lucia will ask Dean Silver to provide an estimate on painting the front of the Library.

Annual Volunteer Brunch

This will be held on June 14th and assignments to Board members will be made at the May Board meeting.  Last year we used cups and saucers courtesy of Jerry Stevens. Deborah reported she had an insufficient number of cups to meet the need. Lucia offered to contact Barbara Rogers to see if we might borrow them from the Chapel.

Automation Project Update

The juvenile 600 and 700’s (Dewey) have been entered, so the Library is moving on this well. Michelle will send out overdue notices (by phone?) to try to recover books so they may be entered into the system. Books not returned will be deleted from the collection. It is hoped that scanning is not an onerous task and that the Library automation will be completed by fall.

Treasurer’s Report

The library is within budget so far. Funds will be withdrawn from the Jerald L. Stevens Memorial Fund at the end of the fiscal year to pay for the librarian’s health care and the salary of the assistant librarian.

 Michelle asked to use funds from the Windham Foundation grant to cover the cost of Deep Freeze, a computer program that will not allow downloading on any library computer. She had to spend an inordinate amount of time removing malware from one of the computers and installing Deep Freeze would help prevent the downloading of malicious software. This was approved.

Strategic Plan

A strategic plan will not be started until automation is completed.  Lucia is ready to get started organizing the process. She and Deborah will meet to review materials obtained at the strategic planning meeting they attended at the VDOL. Michelle reminded the Board members that information on Strategic Planning is available on the VDOL website at: http://libraries.vermont.gov/services/public_libraries/strategic_planning.

Other Business

Bob thanked Andrea Dunmire for her help in validating the Library timesheets. Bob was away and unable to certify prior to leaving. In the future, Bob indicated that he would contact a member of the Board to fulfill this function when he would be unavailable.

In June, Michelle will begin advertising “Passport to Vermont” an initiative of The Vermont Department of Libraries. This allows the “Passport” holders to use any library in Vermont

 

The daytime program on grief and the book discussion of “To Kill a Mockingbird” were excellent according to Deborah, who attended. Both were well attended and provided good information. Michelle announced that the postponed evening meeting, “Support for People Experiencing Grief” has been rescheduled for Wednesday May 6th at 6:30 p.m.

 

The next meeting of the Board is in three weeks on Thursday, May 21st.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Deborah Toomey