Date: January 9, 2023

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM. Present were Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Emily Sosnoff, Bruce Williams, and Librarian Rebecca Cook.

As an emergency meeting the board discussed a proposed Poultney Public Library FY2023-24 budget cut of $7,464 incurred by the Town of Poultney to accommodate Road Crew and Rescue Squad needs.  After discussing possible cuts, the board could not in good conscience support more than a $3,200 decrease to the library’s budget. The Board of Trustees’ decision was unanimous.  A second Budget was drafted by Rebecca Cook, and Bruce Williams will plan to bring it to the town tomorrow.

     Meeting adjourned at 6:27 PM.

     The next regularly scheduled meeting is January 17, 2023 at 6 PM.

     Respectfully submitted,

     Emily Sosnoff

Date: November 15, 2022

The meeting was called to order at 6:00PM.Present were Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Emily Sosnoff, Bruce Williams, and Librarian Rebecca Cook.

Minutes from the October 18, 2022 meeting will be read at the next Regular Board Meeting Tuesday, January 17, 2023

The 2023-2024 Budget Information Sheet was discussed at length reflecting the 2023

 8.7% Cost of Living increase. After much deliberation members of the board were all in agreement to approve the 2023-2024 Budget. Rebecca Cook will present the proposed budget to Paul Donaldson.

In addition the board decided to “table” the security camera project until the budget passes. The quote from Royal will be discussed at the next meeting. Thankfully there are two library staff on duty at all times related to an increase in suspicious activity of a group of 6-7 middle school and teenage kids coming to the library now that the weather is colder. A new yellow sign has been hung on the library side door making patrons aware that security cameras are in use in hopes to deter unlawful acts.

       Meeting adjourned at 6:53PM.

      The next regularily scheduled meeting is January 17, 2023 at 6PM.

      Respectfully submitted,

      Emily Sosnoff

Date: October 18, 2022

Poultney Public Library
Regular Meeting
Date: October 18, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Poultney Public Library

The meeting was called to order at 6:01 P.M. Present were Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Emily Sosnoff, Bruce Williams, and Librarian Rebecca Cook.

We made no changes to the agenda.

We reviewed minutes of the July 19, 2022 meeting and made no changes.

We reviewed the quarterly reports which are for the first quarter of FY 2022-23. A check for $118.68 was shared with the town for this quarter. $255.62 was made this quarter in credit card sales using the new service. Telephone and internet costs will decrease once the Federal E-Rate grant is received. Grants from the Federal Govn. have been slow related to relief focused on the pandemic. Circulation is higher now than in 2020 and 21, but still not quite up to 2019 levels. A new downloadable App called the Palace Project is available to patrons for E and Audio books that offers a collection of Westerns for those interested.

Finally, new in building repairs and maintenance, the front entry will be repaired by Wolf Mountain Stone and Masonry. A quote of $3,850. was given to Bruce, and was approved by Paul Donaldson to start the work on this project. Also Alan-Glen Burnell will grind down the curb so that the sidewalk will no longer flood and ice over. Due to illness, Vinnie Covino will not be asked to help complete the camera expansion project. Instead Rebecca has reached out to Royal, and awaits a quote from them. Currently there are 8 cameras, but with ongoing increased criminal activity on Main St. 16 cameras would be better. We have decided to hold a vote with board members via e-mail or phone to approve the work on this project A.S.A.P. once a quote has been received.

Programs and events have been well attended. 80 children completed the Summer Reading Program. The Stuffed Animal Sleepover required 80 prizes, 20 more than were expected. The outdoor Pumpkin Decorating Party held October 14th had 111 attendees. It was a great opportunity to use up old craft items. 3 gallons of cocoa, one gallon of cider, 30 cotton candies, and all other goodies were devoured by attendees. A scavenger hunt with 50 items hidden in the library will be set up for kids to find and then enter a prize drawing. A 0.5K race from P.H.S. to the library will take place on Oct. 29th. Bob Williams, Nicole from the Original Vt store, and the Viking group from the VT Fairy Tale Festival are all helping out with this funny event. Donated prizes will be awarded to racers. Story Time with Santa is slated for Dec. 3rd and is tentatively planned to be indoors at the ongoing requests from library patrons. Depending on Covid concerns this may have to change. Holiday at Hogwarts will be a drop-in event Nov.29th where kids will work thru stations of Harry Potter themed items. The library will be using leftover wands and pins from the Fairy Tale Festival, and if have any left over will sell them as stocking stuffers during the holidays. Story Time has been so well attended that the library has decided to switch to A.M. hours instead of P.M. to decrease the amount of people coming now that flu season is upon us.

In old business credit card processing is going very well. Library patrons are happy to be able to use their credit cards to pay for items instead of cash. Jean and Rebecca have been trying to increase the library credit card line by $5,000. They are awaiting a meeting with a helpful M&T Bank associate whom they’ve been playing phone tag with. Jean Davis made a motion to adopt the Social Media Policy draft2. Ennis Duling seconded the motion, and it was approved unanimously. The VT Fairy Tale Festival was a huge success for the library. Their Harry Potter booth was very well received by other event participants as well as attendees. In fact Rebecca read a letter from the VT Fairy Tale Festival congratulating the library on their creativity, and for being a role model for other libraries.

As for new business a Hills&Hollows grant enabled the library to start a Dial a Story Program for those unable to make it to the library, and to purchase Yoto units. Staff and locals read and record stories for people to listen to on a special library line. There are up to 99 options, including historical pieces, to choose from. The Yoto units are very popular and were all checked out from the library in their first 48hrs of circulation. They are small audio players for birth-12yrs of age that play music, stories,etc… The library bought $650 worth of popcards to fill the Yotos. The library is applying for the Stewart Holiday Match to purchase more. Niche Academy could offer library patrons technical support that could potentially free up time for Rebecca and Racheal from fielding those types of questions. It has a $760 annual fee, but is currently on the back burner, and will be discussed at a later date.

Meeting adjourned at 7:10 P.M.

The next Regular Board Meeting is our Budget Meeting on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 6 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,
Emily Sosnoff

Date: July 19, 2022

Poultney Public Library
Regular Meeting
Date: July 19, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Poultney Public Library

The meeting was called to order at 6:10 PM. Present were Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Emily Sosnoff, Bruce Williams, and Librarian Rebecca Cook.

We made no changes to the agenda.

We reviewed minutes of the April 28, 2022 meeting and made no changes. 

We reviewed the quarterly reports which are for the last quarter of FY 21-22. In the General Account we have a balance of $5,557.90 but some of that will have to go to the Town. The cart book sales are going well.They are producing as much income our former one-day book sale did with much less effort. We do need to raise $4,000 for the Town. It will come from book sales, fines, fees, and the copier. In addition, Pawlet and Middletown Springs use our courier service and they will pay roughly $1200. This will help with the money we need to raise for the Town. The Special Account and investment funds were earmarked specifically for library needs and never to be used to balance the general account. As such we withdrew $15,000 from the Special Account and invested it with Edward Jones. The Silent Auction made $519. We are getting an adult tricycle. Carl Hostetter donated the money for it and Tim Johnson brokered the deal. Rebecca has added an additional year into the Circulation Report. We are not yet back to pre-covid levels but circulation is increasing consistently. Patron Registration and Computer Use is increasing. Some of that is from new property owners using our computers for real estate forms. Some is also from more accurate counting. Hoopla use is up but Kanopy is down somewhat. Listen Up Vermont is down as well but that is most likely due to purging of non-residents who can no longer use it without extra payment.

There is very little to report concerning building repairs and maintenance. Much storage in the basement has been freed up to house equipment that we check out, such as snowshoes and bicycles. There has been no activity on the holes in the tile, nor on the grinding down of the curb so that the sidewalk will no longer flood when it rains.The camera expansion project needs to get moving.There has been an increase in theft. The library had to close its Little Free Blockbuster, a project where people could borrow free DVDs, but they were not being returned. Rebecca will nudge Vinnie Covino about the camera project. Bruce put oak supports on the stacks which makes the stacks much more stable. He also tightened some bolts at the stacks.

Concerning covid issues, patrons have been quite happy about the library returning to its pre-covid hours.The library has over 900 covid tests to give to patrons that request them. Ours have been re-certified so they are good until 12/31/22. They are being used. 

The Summer Reading Program is proving popular. 73 kids have signed up for the summer reading bingo challenge. 36 have signed up for the pre-reader challenge. There have been 3 story hours with attendance in the high 40s for each. Rockin’ Ron had 83 attendees. The stuffed animals sleepover was well-received. We have averaged 120 patrons/day since school got out.

We had money in the computer budget line and Rebecca set up a credit card account through Square, a financial services company.They had the lowest fees and the fewest hoops to jump through.For every transaction (scan, tap, or swipe) the fee is 2.6% of the amount plus $0.10. If the transaction is manually entered the fee is higher, 3.5% plus $0.15. It is linked to the Special Account. If the money does need to go to the Town we will write a check.We will require a minimum amount of $5.00, which is what most businesses do. We decided that we would absorb the fees. Since people like to use credit cards if they need to pay a book replacement fee we will need to review the book replacement policy, as we may need to change the fees we charge to replace books. We will review it at the October meeting. Rebecca wrote a draft Social Media Policy. We reviewed it and we will vote on it at the October meeting.

The Board has nominated Emily Sosnoff to replace outgoing Jean Roberts who resigned to move to Virginia. Jean Davis made a motion to appoint Emily to fill Jean’s vacancy. Ennis Duling seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. Jean Davis also made a motion to have co-secretaries. Ennis Duling seconded the motion, and it was also approved unanimously. Emily Sosnoff will be the Recording Secretary, and Nancy Luzer will be the Corresponding Secretary.

Meeting adjourned at 7:04 PM.

The next regularly scheduled meeting is October 18, at 6 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Luzer

Date: April 28, 2022

Poultney Public Library
Re-scheduled Regular Meeting
Date: April 28, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Meeting opened at 6 PM

Present were Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts, Bruce Williams

Changes were made to the agenda to include a financial report from Jean Davis and an announcement from Jean Roberts.

Minutes of the previous meeting were read.

The windows were finally paid for.

Jean R. stated she was resigning from the board as she and Jeff will be moving to Virginia once he retires. As this will happen sometime in the summer, this will give the board time to appoint someone before the July meeting.

The general account looks good. Rebecca is looking into buying an iPad that links to cell service for use with the BikeMobile this summer. This will enable borrowing transactions to be made in areas without wifi connections. She will use leftover monies from the travel and education line. The Special account looks very good. Jean D. passed out the investment sheet. The CDs did not roll over as they came due, but were instead put into the money market. This put a great deal of money into a place that is not earning interest. Jean D made a motion “to move all but $10,000 out of the money market plus $15,000 from the Special account and invest these monies equally in the 4 funds held by Edward Jones”. Nancy seconded the motion which passed unanimously. The investment funds are doing quite well, despite the recent downturn in the market.

Circulation numbers are slowly rising. Patron registration is pretty steady. Computer use and wifi use are still down. Rebecca thinks it is because of the number of patrons who now have computers at home due to changes wrought by the pandemic.

In COVID discussions, Rebecca feels we should go back to our regular hours starting May 2. She would stop closing an hour for cleaning and be open Saturday without appointments. She feels there is rising patron aggression towards the staff for keeping the COVID protocols when there have been so many restrictions lifted in other areas. All agreed that she could reopen to pre-pandemic hours with the caveat that if it was warranted she could again impose our COVID policies. She will continue to keep program pre-registration and limit the number of participants, also try to keep as many programs outdoors as possible.

There still has been no action on the front of the building. The missing tiles are really beginning to be a safety issue. The town will not give us ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money for the project without a quote on the cost of repairs, yet contractors cannot give a quote without knowing what lies underneath. Bruce is hopeful of a contractor he knows being able to give us an estimate shortly. Time is of the essence with these monies.

The policy statements for trustee, unattended children, internet/wireless use and the guidelines for library behavior were all reviewed. As usual, Rebecca made our job easy by going over all of them beforehand and highlighting the bits that needed updating. All her suggestions were accepted. She will also draft a “social media” policy for our FaceBook page which will state that the posts are only to be library oriented, and that any offensive or inappropriate comments can be deleted by her. This policy will be presented at the July meeting.

There was some discussion about the proposed mural by Stone Valley Arts. It was unanimously agreed that we do not want to participate in the project.

The Vermont Dept. of Libraries has allocated $1600 for us of ARPA money to be used for inclusion materials. Rebecca is interpreting inclusion to mean physical, to which end she proposes to use if for large print materials, Play-A-Ways and Launch Pads for adults. These additions would reach those with sight impairment, cognitive difficulties and economic struggles.

The discussion of finding someone to take Jean R’s vacancy was somewhat hampered by the fact that only Jean and Rebecca knew most of her suggested people. It was decided that Rebecca would reach out to our first choice, and if that person was not interested, go from there to another of the 5 she had presented to us.

Discussion over whether or not to acquire a Square Credit Card for the library to use for folks who want to donate, pay fines, buy books or whatever else by credit card was thorough. It was decided to have Rebecca pursue the idea and see if it is indeed viable.

The Blockbuster DVD box is doing well. We have a silent auction going on with great donated items. The end date for that is May 13.

Meeting adjourned 7:28 PM.

Next regularly scheduled meeting is July 19, 2022.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: January 18, 2022

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Regular Meeting

Date: January 18, 2022

Time: 6: 00 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Meeting opened at 6:12 PM

Present were Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts, Bruce Williams

No changes were made to the agenda.

In response to our meeting with the Selectboard, the town had a lawyer look at the Supreme Court Document dealing with library budgets and select board governance and determined that the case in question had to do with rescinding a budget that had been passed by voters.  Therefore it was not applicable to our situation.  They then cut our budget $11,000.  Rebecca has hopefully found a way to deal with part of that deficit.  She recalled that Paul had said during our meeting with the Select board, that if she was in the town pool for insurance it would decrease our budget line.  No one seems to know why we have had to have our own budget for this as none of the other town departments do.  To explore this further, Bruce will try to get a meeting set up with Paul, Rebecca and himself to see if she can indeed be part of this pool, as we thought she was all along.  After they meet, the trustees will reconvene to re-adjust our budget.  At this point they have allocated us $179, 537.

In our quarterly reports we have raised almost 2/3 of the $3000 that we give to the town and we are only halfway through our fiscal year.  All that without our annual book sale.  Rebecca feels we shall have no problem raising the rest of the amount.  In the Special account it was seen that we have received many donations, some which are quite substantial.  Our Vermont handmade raffle netted $817.  We also received $5000 from the Maslack foundation again. 

Circulation stats still not up to pre-COVID numbers, but better. 

Rebecca passed out fun facts about the most circulated items. These sorts of fliers used to be posted on our bulletin board, but few people took the time to read them.  Now we have a 32” screen TV mounted on the wall by the entryway which runs a loop of all the posters, fliers, notices etc. that the library generates.  Patrons, standing in line to check out, now are much more apt to read and be informed of the library’s doings.

In COVID issues, we are staying status quo for now, knowing Rebecca can implement stricter protocols according to our policy as she feels the need.

The windows upstairs are in, however the Town still has not paid the restorer, even though they have had the invoice for 45 days.  We are also discouraged that no action was ever taken on our front tile and sloping sidewalk issues.  These are both poising to become serious safety issues.  When it warms up, Bruce is going to make a temporary fix to the hole into the cellar even though we are afraid that then the town won’t fix it properly.  Something has to be done.  The damage is becoming significant.

Rebecca would like Vinnie to come and provide a quote for some more and improved video security cameras, especially on the sides of the building and out back.  We all agreed it was important.

We’ve had positive feedback on the non-resident memberships for online borrowing.

Jean R made a motion to “Assign 2 trustees to be signatories for any and all legal items for the Poultney Public Library, the two being Jean Davis and Nancy Luzer”.  Ennis seconded the motion.  It passed unanimously.

In new business, we have $1555 left from last year’s Maslack money.  Rebecca wants to use $540 to buy playaways of the rest of the Harry Potter books, and $999 for an Owl Camera system.  This system allows meetings with a limited number of attendees to also include those joining in virtually.  The camera sits in the middle of the table and senses who is speaking, then focuses on that individual, moving to the next speaker automatically.  Thus, those watching at home can feel more included in the discussions that are taking place. This would allow for more program offerings as we would be able to limit the in-house attendance without affecting the wider audience, thus having almost no limit to the number of participants who could join in.  This system is does not rely on one platform, such as Zoom, but is able to be used on a variety.

Meeting adjourned at 7:11 PM.

Next Regular Board Meeting is Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 6PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: November 30, 2021

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Re-Scheduled Regular Budget Meeting

Date: November 30, 2021

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts, Bruce Williams

Meeting opened at 6 pm.

No changes were made to the agenda.

Budget discussion centered around how to bring the staff salaries into line to better reflect each person’s duties and responsibilities.  Rebecca passed out a revised fact sheet she had composed of her library employee salary study.  She also found in her research a Supreme Court Docket concerning the Hartford Board of Library Trustees vs the Town of Hartford.  The trustees were in a dispute over which governing body has the authority to manage the library, including determination of salaries and budgets. The ruling by the Supreme Court was that the Town cannot “infringe upon the Board’s ‘full power to manage’ the library.” This is because they are an elected board. This information may come in handy.

The budget was approved unanimously. We level funded just about everything except the salaries, and insurance, etc. The overall increase was 9%.

Bruce will see when we can meet with the Selectboard to present the budget. 

Meeting adjourned 7:00 pm.

Next regularly scheduled meeting is January 18, 2022 at 6pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: October 21, 2021

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees
Re-Scheduled Regular Meeting
Date: October 21, 2021
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts, Bruce Williams

Meeting opened at 6 pm.

The agenda was accepted.

Minutes of the July meeting were read.

In old business, no sidewalk project was done in the village this year, which meant we were not able to piggy back onto any work to get our walk leveled. There is still hope that we can get it addressed before winter as there is some street paving going on and that means projects are still being started in the village.
Since July 1 we have made $1600 on our mini, ongoing book sales. This has us all feeling that we made the right decision to give up our huge one day sale.
General account looks good for the first quarter. We are slightly over in a few lines, but the total of expenses for the quarter is almost exactly a quarter of the yearly total, which is not too bad. The special account is stable with income exceeding expenses slightly.
Circulation numbers are starting to go up again, although they haven’t reached pre-COVID statistics. Computer use is still down which Rebecca feels is going to be the wave of the future due to the pandemic online schooling which resulted in many more households acquiring laptops in order to continue their learning.

Rebecca handed out colorful sheets, one that highlighted our 2020-21 fiscal year and one that is a library employee salary study. These were discussed as visuals to hand to the select board when we present our budget in order for them to see that we seriously need to upgrade our pay for our staff. This we will do after our re-scheduled budget meeting on November 30. We are hoping to get on the select board agenda for December 13.

We did not open fully September 1 due to the raging nature of the Delta variant. The library is still operating with limited hours and other COVID protocols per our pandemic policy.

The restoration person has taken all the upstairs windows out, leaving storms in place, to begin renovation on them. When they are re-installed he will give recommendations about which storms should be replaced. Some of the masonry around the frames also will need attention. There was a leak from the plumbing above the children’s room. As it was only accessible from below, there now is a rectangular hole in the ceiling in which Bruce hopes to install an access door for future plumbing issues. There probably will be more as the pipes upstairs are in poor condition.

The non-resident paid membership for those who want to access our digital offerings was set at $20 per year. Those that borrow only physical materials will continue to have free use.

Going forward, book donations will be in limited amounts and at the librarian’s discretion. The mini sale will continue through the winter.

Currently the only programming offered is gaming night which has pre-sign ups and is limited to 18 people per session. Rebecca is thinking of offering book discussion with a remote option for those who are not yet comfortable with in person meetings. She acquired several sets of more recent books from Winhall Library that will save her from buying or scrounging to borrow sets.
The Santa event will be the same as the previous year with a video of the story time to be sent to GNAT-TV and PEG-TV. There will also be the “stealth” lighting of the tree and instead of the Grinch, this year’s guest for the ride around town will be the Bumble from Rudolph.

Starting in November there will be a raffle of handcrafted items that have been donated by members of the community. Tickets will be $5 each or 5 for $20 with the purchaser choosing which items they want to try for.

Meeting adjourned at 7:13 pm.

Next meeting is November 30 at 6pm for budget.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: July 20, 2021

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Regular Meeting

Time: 6:00PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.

Meeting opened at 6 PM.

Agenda was accepted.

Minutes of the April meeting were read.

The General account report for the end of the year showed we had $9,634 left over.  We were even able to give the town the $3000 that we budgeted for them without our doing the big book sale.  Rebecca used the education fund money to buy a wireless mic set up similar to the one that she has been borrowing from Shelburne Library.  This will be a great asset for programs. The building maintenance line was over because of the many little jobs she had taken care of for the upstairs such as painting and electrical and also due to the condensate pump installation in the basement.

In the Special account we spent a bit on the heat pump for upstairs. Otherwise, looks good.  The balance is at $19,527.

Statistics are finally on the rise in all categories.  People are returning for in-person library use in a big way.  July 19 saw 114 people come through the doors.

The building to-do list is coming.  Rebecca cornered Paul when he was in the building and showed him our front entryway tile problem with the leaks and the missing tile, and the dip in the sidewalk to the street that is problematic in any wet weather.  She tried to emphasize how serious these issues are and really need to be addressed.  We will hope he took heed, finally.  It is also hoped he moves quickly on the Historic Building grant as it is time sensitive.  It would be good to get the windows done before winter.

In COVID-19 news, we will wait until September 1 to open back up to full operating hours.  We will only do so if the new DELTA variant is still quiet in our area.  If it sweeps in, we may be ordered to go back to pandemic policies, which we now have in place.   Meanwhile the computer tables will be put in use again as we let folks bring in their laptops, with staff wiping down the surfaces after each use.  Fines for overdue materials will not be reinstated as most are being returned after being sent a reminder.

Rebecca brought up the idea of charging non-residents a library card fee as there is a growing tendency for some to get a free card from us only in order to use our hoopla and Kanopy online services.  We are charged for each item borrowed from these.  As there are many non-residents who only borrow physical items, Rebecca has proposed we have two non-resident cards to offer.  The first would be for those who only want to borrow physical items and would be free, the second would be for those who also wanted to borrow from the online services and would be charged a fee to help cover the costs incurred.  After stating that she can set up each type of card to reflect their borrowing privileges, we only need to decide what the fee will be.  This we will do in October, with a target date of implementation January 1, as we think it an excellent idea.

For some unaccountable reason, the town issued paychecks after the first of July which included the minimum wage increase that was to be implemented in the coming year.  This has highlighted the growing unrest among Denise and Racheal as Erin, who works the least amount of hours and has the fewest responsibilities, is making close to Denise’s wage which in turn closes in on Racheal.  This is a serious matter which we will address at our October meeting, and doesn’t even touch on the fact that we did not budget for this extra half year of increased wages. 

Meeting adjourned 7:08 PM.

Next Regular Board Meeting is Tuesday October 19, 2021 at 6 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: April 20, 2021

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Regular Meeting

Time: 6:00PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present: Rebecca Cook, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams. Absent: Jean Davis.

Meeting opened at 6 PM.

Agenda was accepted.

Minutes of the January meeting were read.

In old business, 131 people watched the Flea Circus on Facebook that was put on by Ed P. for one of our programs that had to be held virtually. Very satisfying.

We raised $520 from the TV raffle. Half of the money we kept with the other half going to the Vermont Fairy Tale Festival.  The organizers told Rebecca our library is one of the hardest working ones for them, and that they wanted her to keep the money and use it towards our booth at the next Festival.

The disgruntled patron did go to the Select board. After a long and rambling rant, the person threatened the board with violence with the end result being that this individual is now barred from those premises. We all hope this patron gets the help they very obviously need.

The librarians have handed out 100 craft kits and 122 folks took up the offer for the Shrinky Dink kits to take home and make a Mr. Roger’s cardigan key chain.

The general account looks as it should for this point in the year. In the special account we received $5000 from the Horridge estate. We also received $2500 from Ultravation which is to be used for buying our Charlie Cart. Rebecca hopes to be able to team up with PEGTV and do broadcasts of cooking demonstrations until such time as she can have in-person events with it. We had two outstanding checks, one for $100 and one for $1000, which have been added back into the account as it has been over a year since they were issued. Statistics still are lagging as we continue in pandemic operating mode with reduced hours and limits of people in the building at one time.

In COVID 19 news, starting May 1 there will be no more mandated contact tracing. The books will no longer be quarantined, but will still be wiped down as they are returned. Starting June 1 indoor gatherings of 1 unvaccinated person per 50 square feet will be allowed. This would put our program room at a 12 person limit, allowing small programs such as book discussion and game night to resume, with pre-registration so that the limit can be upheld. Also on this date our patrons from other states, notably our Hampton folks, will be able to come back in the building. On July 4, masks and physical distancing will no longer be mandated, but still encouraged. We will all think about how we want to implement that particular policy with regard to staff.

Jonas Rosenthal pledged money from the Poultney Recreation Program to buy more outdoor equipment and games for patrons to check out. These have proved very popular. Rebecca already has games in mind for purchase, among those being lawn darts which are now revised and no longer post threats of impalement from wild throws. The woman who previously donated kayaks for fundraisers has been unable to find them to buy these last two years. Instead, her gift to us was a cotton candy machine as she feels that it would be great for children’s programs. These, and others who support us, such as Dr. Scott who is donating proceeds from the sale of his matted photographs to us, are very heart warming. It gives Rebecca hope that if our budget is every put on its own ballot line that we will have the support to approve it.

On our building “to do” list, the only thing accomplished was the installation of the heat pump for upstairs. The pressing issue of the tile in the outside entryway, and the window replacement grant having a finite timeline, are two items that Bruce is hoping to settle with Paul. The other items are ongoing and may one day be accomplished.

Jean R made a motion to authorize the use of the special fund to pay for the heat pump upstairs. Nancy seconded, the motion passed.

We have another raffle going for the Spring. In food for thought, Rebecca asked us to consider the idea of never doing another book sale. We all agree that it is a monumental amount of work for all of us. In seeking alternative ways to raise the money we forfeit by not having a one-day sale, she is trying an experiment of putting a cart of books for sale out front using the “donate what you want” angle. If this goes well, she will keep doing this all summer. She also has Thaddeus Mulder, 14 years of age, selling our more valuable books online with the incentive of a 10% commission on every sale.

Meeting adjourned 7:20 PM.

Next Regular Board Meeting is Tuesday July 20, 2021 at 6 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: January 19, 2021

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Regular Meeting

Time: 6 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present were: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.

Meeting opened at 6 PM.

The agenda was accepted.

Minutes of the October and December meetings were read.

In old business, the Vermont Historic Preservation really wants to give us money to replace the windows upstairs.  They are willing to give us a grant of up to $10,000 towards the project.  They also found a grant to pay for half of the hiring fee to have someone come out and assess the windows.  Accordingly, a gentleman came to look at the windows and gave us a brief overview of what he would put in the grant for us.  As his normal fee is $500, we were happy to only have to pay $250 for his expertise. He thinks he will be able to have the grant application ready in about a month. 

Jason will come in the spring to do the drain for the humidifier as we will not need it until then and he is very busy during heating season.

Rebecca and Rachael’s Santa Face Book story time was picked up by PEGTV and GNATV, both of which aired them three times a week.  Very gratifying!  The Santa parade was a huge success with Rebecca following in a truck with her daughter Olivia in a Grinch costume.  The streets were filled with family groups to watch.

The kitchen floor is finished.

The general account looks fine.  A discussion was had concerning Erin’s hourly wage bringing her salary almost up to Denise’s.  As there is a big difference in their jobs we feel that Denise should be fairly compensated as Rebecca is afraid we may lose her over this.  However, the Select board put an end to that idea.   For now.

The special account looks good.  Circulation is good for our limited hours.  Hoopla and Kanopy use is picking up.  Rebecca is still putting up craft bags for our younger patrons.  They are well received.

There was some discussion concerning an incident involving an angry person calling and being very unpleasant on the phone to Denise and Rebecca.  Because this person said they were going to the Select board with their complaint, Rebecca wrote up a detailed report of the happening to share with both us and the board.  We agreed that it would be beneficial for Rebecca to write up a standard response to this sort of disgruntled patron call that would help the staff to be able to hang up if the person got out of line.

Book Sale will be canceled this year.  To offset this, the library will raffle off a huge, curved television that was given to Rebecca last year in anticipation of a fund raiser for the Fairy Tale Festival.  Because of the COVID pandemic, that fundraiser was not held.  The original idea was for half the proceeds to go to the Festival and half to Poultney library.  We will honor that sentiment and sell the tickets for $5 each or 5 for $20.

This spring and summer will see all three senior staff, at different periods, away from the library for large amounts of time.  In anticipation of there being days when only 1 person is working, a pool of substitutes will be put together.  These will be drawn from young people who are very familiar with the library and who have demonstrated a willingness to help out.  They will be trained for limited things such as circulation desk, shelving, etc. and will be employed mostly to ensure that the staff will not be overwhelmed when working alone. 

February 6 Rebecca is launching a “Take the library home to your child” day as a counter point to the regular “Take your child to the library” day.  She will incorporate a way for the children to come individually and pick out a movie, get a goodie bag of treats, watch Ed P. and his amazing Flea

Circus virtually and other fun things to make it special.

Meeting adjourned at 7:10 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Trustee

Date: October 20, 2020

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Regular Meeting

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present were: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.  Absent: Ennis Duling.

Meeting opened at 6 pm.

The agenda was accepted.

Minutes of the last meeting were read.

In the General Account there were a few discrepancies which Rebecca will tell Neisja about.  The Special Account looks good with a balance of $16,523. 

Circulation is still down, which is to be expected as we are still in diminished hours.  Rebecca gave us some interesting Fun Facts concerning searches done in our catalog. 

The roof work has been done but we are still having issues.  Firestone and the VT Roofing Company are really working to find the problem.  There is no resolution to our ongoing problem of the leak in the mosaic tiles out front.   At this point nothing can be done until spring when we hope the Town will step in and take care of it.  Meanwhile Bruce will continue to stuff it with caulk.

Upstairs, Bob Santos has given us a figure of  $500 to $600 to refinish the kitchen floors.  Under the layers of linoleum and lauan, is hardwood.  Rebecca has also found a basic electric stove at Home Depot for about $450, with a $25 take away fee for the old stove.

Also upstairs, Royal Glass gave us a quote of $10, 664 to replace 8 single or double hung windows and 1 picture window.   Vermont Historic Preservation has a grant that would give us $5000 towards it if we were the recipients.  Rebecca will be applying for that.  We feel that perhaps the Town will be willing to help us with this if can show we are making an effort to help with the cost.  

The chimney is in bad repair, however we feel that is the Town’s responsibility. 

Jason Coltey is coming to look at the front desk radiator, as which time Rebecca would like to ask him about putting in a drain for the humidifier in the basement.

Jean D. made a motion to hire Bob Santos to do the floor, for Rebecca to buy the stove and to hire Jason to do the drain.  Nancy seconded, all were in favor and the motion passed.

The Town is requesting that the library employees get the same vacation and holiday time as the Town employees.  According to this new change, our employees will actually get more time then previously.  Jean R. made a motion, seconded by Jean D. that we adopt these new vacation measures to stay in line with the Town.  All were in favor and the motion passed.

The 5 Phase Emergency Operation Plan was discussed.  Nancy then made the motion to adopt The 5 Phase Emergency Plan proposed on August 7, 2020.  It was seconded by Jean D. All were in favor and the motion passed. 

In Old business,  all the leftover book sale items were sent to Better World Books.  There were almost 80 boxes. We will get a small percentage of each sale from these items.

The donation jar fundraiser is going well.

The Launchpads are a resounding success.  There are many requests for more, and for an older age group.  Rebecca is looking for ways to get money to buy more.

Summer Reading Program went amazingly well, considering all the restraints in place.  There were many participants who were very happy to have something to do.

Rebecca has been making craft kits to hand out to the kids, seasonally themed, that she has pulled together from old craft things, supplemented with a few new acquisitions. 

Food for Thought:  should we charge for certain library patrons to have a card?  This question was prompted by out of town users, who have a library in their town but got a card with us to use solely to access our digital offerings.  As we pay for these per use, it bears thinking about.

The Santa event will be re-vamped.  Rebecca is doing a story time video in front of a winter backdrop which will include a visit from Santa.  She will also video the tree lighting, which will be done without announcement so that there will be no crowds, and then Santa will ride around the village on a firetruck, and she will follow in her truck, with appropriate costuming, as a way of bringing a bit of the holiday to the 150 folks who won’t be coming to the library for a Santa event.

The state of Vermont will be raising the minimum wage to $11.75 as of January 1, 2021.  This is more than we budgeted for and we will have to pay it, somehow.  The next raise on January 1, 2022 will be to $12.55.  This seriously impacts us as it raises Erin’s wages to be very close to Denise’s.  This is a matter to be discussed at our budget meeting in December.

The next regular Board Meeting is the budget meeting, Tuesday, December 1, 2020 at 6pm.

Meeting adjourned 7:35 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: July 21, 2020

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

                                                                            MINUTES

Present were: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.

Meeting opened at 6:15 pm.

Agenda was accepted.

Minutes of last meeting were read.

Follow ups were: Roof leaked again in a very recent storm, and in the new addition on the south end.  Rebecca has had no luck in getting any of the people involved in roofing to respond to her emails or phone calls. She is keeping at it, but it is very frustrating. 

The Hills and Hollows grant of $1500 maybe be used for other things besides programming as no programming is happening.  The grantors also said the usual time frame won’t be applicable this year.  The Play Away company that Rebecca had ordered units from did not send the materials due to the pandemic, and then went out of business.  She found another company to deal with and received her order right away. 

Rachael has started getting her retirement benefits, however Bruce said the Selectboard is deciding if she will get the money due her from this past year when she did not receive it, even though we had budgeted for it.

The Coronavirus re-opening policy was amended to read “10 patrons” in the building at any one time, from the previous “15”.

The General account did not have figures from the Town as Neisja left on vacation without providing them to Rebecca. By Rebecca’s accounting, we ended the fiscal year in the black, even without our book sale being held.    She is thinking of putting a note on the donation jar along the lines of “did you know that if every patron donated $1.25 then we could make up what we lost by having no book sale?”

The Special account looks good.

Circulation statistics were noted with COVID-19 shut down dates, which reflect an obvious drop in numbers.  However, there were more than 130 folks through the doors on the first day of Summer Reading Program.  10 at a time, of course.

The Building To Do and Wish List items were discussed, but no action taken on any of the items.

In Old business, the quarantine time the staff gives of 5 days for materials is one day more than the Dept. of Libraries says is adequate for dispelling any virus that might be on them.  The State wants an outline of procedures detailing how the library will proceed to open up fully when the Governor gives libraries the OK to do so.  They also want an outline of procedures detailing how the library will proceed if we have to shut down again.

The front garden was totally redone by Mr. Stackpole, from digging up and removing the old shrubs to adding new dirt and plantings.  He also did the side garden.  He donated all his labor and the flowers, billing only for the shrubs.  The cost of these was $425.95.  Jean R. made a motion to pay him from the special account.  Nancy seconded and the motion passed.

In New business, the company we purchased the Play Aways from offered us a deal on Launch Pads.  These are self contained tablets, loaded with educational, interactive programs and games that children can use without being connected to the internet, as there are still many who do not have access to it.  These usually cost well over $100 apiece, however the deal offered to us is 10 for $999.  As we have almost $3000 from the Maslak Foundation and the Hills and Hollows grant unused, Rebecca wanted to know if she could use the grant monies to purchase 10 of the Pads. Ennis made a motion that she should do so, seconded by Jean D.  Motion passed.

The DOL said that our Movie license, which normally is just for indoor showings, would be valid until the end of this year for outdoor showings as well.  Rebecca will measure the front yard and see if it would be possible to show movies out there with room for folks to social distance.  It will be great if she can make it work, as movie nights are always popular.

The other outdoor activity the library is participating in is at the Slate Valley Trail off of Route 140.  This is a story walk done on the Bumper Car trail and is Paul Galdone’s version of The Three Billy Goat’s Gruff.  Rebecca purchased two paperback copies, dismantled them, put pages together, laminated them and placed the mounted pages along the path.  There are also small trolls available for those who might like to have one with them as they walk along and read the book.

Meeting adjourned at 7:15 pm.

Next regular meeting Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 6 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: May 28, 2020

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Coronavirus Pandemic Meeting

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present were:  Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts, and Bruce Williams.

Meeting opened at 6 pm.

Minutes of the last meeting were read.

Follow ups were:

The roof did get fixed.  Rebecca purchased a tile cutter to trim the ceiling tiles that will replace the stained ones, once social distancing is relaxed so she and Bruce can work together.

We did receive the Hills and Hollows grant of $1500.  Rebecca is asking for a time extension to use it in as the COVID-19 situation has disrupted our programs, etc.  We also received Stewart’s matching money which was used to purchase more Play Away units.  These have not been shipped yet due to the pandemic.  

Rebecca’s Facebook story hours are going well and get many viewings.  

Racheal’s retirement funding still has not been resolved. Paul’s explanation was that it wasn’t mandatory.  It was pointed out that she is eligible and had been told she would be receiving retirement benefits.  Paul than suggested that since it was the end of the year, perhaps she would be willing to wait until July when the new fiscal year begins.  This was countered with the fact that we have budgeted for it, the money is there and she was to have been given it all year.  Bruce is going to talk to Paul and hopefully straighten this out.

The pandemic re-opening procedures, policy and State recommendations were then discussed.  Rebecca’s proposed policy (for re-opening) was accepted with the revised maximum occupancy number being ‘15, including staff’.  Target date for opening is June 15 by which time she feels that staff training on the new procedures will be completed.

June 1 is the 125^th anniversary of the library.  Rebecca will do her story hour on Facebook at 3pm, the time the library first opened, and will read a birthday story.  She will also show old photos of the library.  A far cry from all the programs and special events planned for our 125^th!  But glad she is doing it.

Meeting adjourned at 7:11 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: January 21, 2020

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present were: Rebecca Cook, Ennis Duling, Jean Davis, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts, and Bruce Williams.

Meeting opened at 6 pm.

The agenda was accepted.

Jean D. gave a report on our investments.  A CD came due this week which we agreed could be put into the money market.  Our initial investment of $121,142 has grown to $128,400 since we switched over to Edward Jones in February 2019.

Minutes of the October and December meeting were read and accepted.  We are still waiting for Gen Flex to come and look at the roof.  The elderly couple which were so problematic have relocated to another town.  The tech equipment purchased for the Santa event was very successful.  People are still commenting on it.  About 160 people came, less than last year but still a very respectable number.

In quarterly reports, we are overall about ½ way through the budget at the half year mark.  Racheal still has not received her retirement benefits, even after it was brought to the Select board’s attention. 

The statement for Special Accounts showed there was $166 surplus which Rebecca cannot account for, unless there was an error in a deposit that neither she nor the teller noticed.  She has filed it under “misc”.  The Hadeka memorial fund is at $2135. We received $5000 from the Maslack Foundation again.  These monies help to greatly expand our programing.

Statistics did not have any comparisons to last year’s same quarter, as Mandarin did not generate any for us when we migrated to Apollo.

Jon Hill finished laying our entry way and bathroom floors, billing us only $100 for materials.  As he is the owner of Greenstone Slate and not a slate layer by trade, this was an extremely generous donation of his time and labor.

Evening story time is doing well.  The January program of “Glow in the Dark” stories brought in about 50 people.  It was so well received that another one is planned for the spring.

Rebecca is using recommendations from preservationists to come up with a way to display Sonya Hughs’s quilts.  Bruce will try to use these ideas to come up with a workable solution.  Her son David has donated $1000 in her memory which we will use towards this project.

Rebecca has filled out grant applications for Hills and Hollows and also Stewarts.  She is looking for help from Hills and Hollows to bring more adult and all age programming to the library this year as part of our 125 year celebration.   She also is looking at the Vermont Humanities Council for speakers.  If we were to receive the Stewarts grant, that would be used to purchase more “Play Away” audio for children. 

After a discussion about the various disc resurfacing machines available, it was agreed that Rebecca will keep track of how often one could be used in the next few months.  This way we will have some data to work with at the next meeting to decide if purchasing one would be worth doing.

Meeting adjourned at 6:56 pm.

Next regular meeting is Tuesday, April 21,2020 at 6pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

Date: October 15, 2019

Poultney Public Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Poultney Public Library

MINUTES

Present were: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.

Meeting opened at 6:11 pm.

The agenda was accepted.

The minutes of the last meeting were read. In updates to those minutes: our final book sale total was $2005.  We gave away 2500 books during the Free Book “Sale”.  After the last books are packed up we may have $200 more to add to that total.  Roger from Vermont Roofing is hoping we can get the Gen Flex tech rep here to meet with himself and Bruce to figure out how to fix our roof. 

We received $29 from Shaw’s reusable bag program.  The new pass policy was enforced a few times with freezes on patrons.  No one complained bitterly and the return of passes in a timely manner has improved.

Rebecca has been updating and adding content to our website.  She also rearranged the adult room to make space for another reading nook.  This space holds two upholstered chairs that have been stored upstairs.

In the General account, Neisja has $1000 unaccounted for which she put into our postage/misc line.  There are other small glitches that Rebecca is trying to figure out.  It is frustrating that she has to spend time on this when it should not be an issue.  The Special account was quiet.  Circ is down a bit as Sept. was a quiet month.  This has given the staff time to work on various projects.  Computer use and downloaded resources were up.

Inventory has been started.  Apollo is very user friendly in this process.  The library will close for one day to finish up.

Rebecca has been having an ongoing issue with an elderly couple.  She finally has found a person at  the Castleton medical center who may be an advocate for them and be able to get them the help they need.  As this couple takes up a lot of Rebecca’s time, we are hopeful that this proves true.

Summer reading program was very successful.  There were 12 teens for the lock in—record number!

The front entrance project is going to be more involved then at first was thought.  The cement slab of the walk that is next to it will have to come out and there is really no way of knowing what will be found once the tiles are all up.  Bruce has found someone to do the work, however we are hoping to have the Town commit to the project.  If that doesn’t happen we may be faced with both the cost of the entrance and also the roof.

A long time patron and avid reader passed away recently.  Her request was to send donations to the library.  So far we have received $1600.

Rebecca attended the Association of Rural and Small Libraries conference.  She said it was fantastic and went all four days.  As it was in Burlington for the first time it was easier for her to do so. She came away with a great deal of useful ideas to think about.  One of these is a machine that will mend books which we encouraged her to purchase.  It will be extremely useful to fix new books that have chunks of pages fall out after one circulation.  The other useful idea is a dvd refinisher that will restore scratched dvds, allowing them to be circulated a few more times before having to be replaced.

Meeting adjourned at 7:12 pm

Next meeting is December 3 at 6 pm.  This is the annual budget meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Roberts

• Minutes of the July 16, 2019 meeting.
  
  Present were: Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.
  
  Meeting opened at 6:01 pm.
  
  The agenda was accepted with no changes made.
  
  The minutes of the April meeting were read. In the general account although Rebecca and Neisja’s totals for the quarter were not the same on many lines, the areas which went over budget were balanced out by the ones which were under. On the bottom line we had $12,642 not spent. The town will absorb this, as they have absorbed our deficits in the past. The special account looked fine. In statistics, circulation was down slightly for the quarter, registration was up. The computer use was down slightly from last year at this time. The audio borrowing from Listen Up Vermont was quite good.
  
  Summer reading program is doing well. There are more programs going on this summer which are well attended. The telescope is a success.
  
  Book sale netted $1642 on the day and $187 since, with a total of $1830 so far. Better World Books has a new way of accepting books. The donor scans the ISBN of the book and immediately knows if it is one that they will take. So far we have sent 6 boxes. It remains to be seen if this is the best way to get rid of our book sale leftovers.
  
  The summer raffle of a kayak, birdhouse and afghan brought in $429.
  
  The air conditioners needed some attention. After several false starts, Rebecca found Chris Hurley who was prompt and thorough in cleaning out the air conditioners, both inside the building and out. She found him very satisfactory. The leaking of the roof during the one of the last driving rainstorms lead to many phones calls for help. The successful one was to Vermont Roofing out of Rutland. They fixed areas on the roof and then, when it leaked again during the book sale storm, Roger Louiselle, vice president of the company, came out to try and figure out what was going on. When he was unable to replicate leaking in that area, he gave Rebecca his personal cell phone number for her to call him as it is happening (if it does) so he can see for himself what is going on.
  
  During these same storms we have had leaking in the basement due to the deteriorating of the tile entryway. There is an actual hole now that leads to the cellar and exposes the wood beam that the cement is on. Bruce is going to contact Myron White to remove all the tile and lay down a solid cement entrance before we have any more damage done to the building. We will see if he can also find a way to stabilize our new veggie bench so we can have it next to the building in the garden area, and not on the walk to the side door which is where it is now. The bench was created for the town and was put in front of the co-op on Main Street. When the co-op closed it was thought that the library was a good place for people to continue to use it.
  
  Shaws has named the library July’s beneficiary of their “give back” bag program. The bags sell for $2.50, $1.00 of which is given to the library.
  
  There was some discussion about the proposed changes to the park pass policy. Currently, late returns are subjected to fines. These do not seem to be making an impact on repeat offenders. The proposed change would deny the offender pass use for certain intervals, depending on the lateness of the return as in one day overdue, the loss of passes for a week. Two days, no passes for two weeks and three days or more overdue, loss of pass privileges for the season, plus billing for pass replacement. Ennis made a motion to accept, it was seconded by Nancy, all were in favor.
  
  Rebecca wrote a draft to clarify our position in regards to a statement made on the Facebook page of the Welsh-American Genealogy Society. The wording makes it seem as if their proposed library for the displaced GMC Welsh Room books is linked to the Poultney Public Library’s expansion project. The piece Rebecca will put on our own Facebook page, web page and around the library clarifies that we are not involved with them, in a very non-confrontational way. Hopefully that will help folks understand that the WAGS project is separate from ours.
  
  The Apollo feature “Gabby” is taking off quite well. So far there have been 160 text messages to 29 phone numbers. Patrons who are contacted by text are more apt to bring their overdue materials in, which saves on postage. The staff is very pleased with “Gabby”. Another feature of Apollo is the tally at the bottom of each due date slip that states what the patron saved by borrowing the materials instead of buying them. This quarter the savings added up to $98,000. We feel these statistics could be very useful in the future!
  
  Meeting adjourned at 6:58 pm.
  
  Next regular meeting is on October 15 at 6pm.
  
  Respectfully submitted,
  Jean Roberts

• Minutes of the April 16, 2019 meeting.
  
  Present were Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.
  
  Meeting opened at 6:01 pm.
  
  The agenda was accepted with no changes to be made.
  
  The minutes of the special February 5 meeting were read.
  
  Jean D. reported that there were no quarterly statements from Edward Jones yet, so she will check into that.In the general account, Rebecca and Neisja’s numbers are far apart for books and binding, also for computer replacement. However, Neisja has us with more money left over so Rebecca will just wait and see how things are next quarter. Overall things look ok. Bruce will go see Paul about the our leftover building money so we can move forward on our other projects. He also will inquire about the village WiFi repeaters as Rebecca has ideas about how to upgrade them. The one on our building seems to be the only one working right now.
  
  In the special account there is a little more activity as the library did a fund raising for the Vermont Fairytale Festival, and the Women’s Club also used the library to purchase raffle tickets for a basket raffle they are having. Mr. Hostetter donated to our Stewart’s Holiday Match to help Rebecca buy telescopes for summer reading program activities. He also has been sending her books to help understand the telescope and the night sky. This year’s reading program theme is “A Universe of Stories” and Rebecca intends to have a few “looking at the night sky” events.
  
  Circulation statistics are the first ones run by the new Apollo system. No computer stats were done as Rebecca had to figure out how to get them. She will have them for us at the next meeting. Another new Apollo feature is Gabby. This is a program that will accept and send text messages to patrons who wish to avail themselves of this feature. A special phone number will direct the incoming texts to the circ desk where they will be responded to during open hours. It should be live this week.Agnes from Royal Glass came to re-key all the doors so that one key does all the locks, both in the library and upstairs. There is a sub key for the side door so that program room users will not have access to anything other than the room.
  
  July 6 is Book Sale Day.After a brief discussion about Green Mountain College’s dissolution and what may happen with their collection of books, historical documents and the Welsh Room, Rebecca walked us through the new library website and catalogue. We liked them both.
  
  Meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm.
  
  Next meeting is July 16 at 6 pm.
  
  Respectfully submitted,
  Jean Roberts

• Minutes of the re-scheduled July meeting, July 31, 2018.
  
  Meeting opened at 6:30 pm.
  
  Present were Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.
  
  There were no changes to the agenda.
  
  Minutes of the last meeting were read.
  
  Rebecca passed out the General Account for the end of the year. The health insurance line was in the black with $5473.28. Rebecca supposed that perhaps the town employees all had a healthy year. The clerk line was in the red as Denise has been in more often, covering for staff. This cost was offset by many other items, the end result was that we were in the black for the end of the year by $6129.99. The special account looks good. Circulation was up in everything. With the new ILL system we have more or less exploded in the request department with the result that we sent out a record 379 items this year.
  
  The new hours are going well for both patrons and staff. Closing now at 7pm, gaming night on Thursday is now happening after hours. It is still going strong, led by Tim Johnson. Tim was the winner of the kayak raffle.
  
  There are a few building projects left to be done. As yet we do not have a firm number on how much money we actually have left over from our renovation. Once we have that figure it will be easier to prioritize projects. Bruce will paint the bulkhead doors and other odd jobs, but getting the slate flooring installed in the vestibule and bathroom, cutting off the old sign supports, repairing the mosaic in the entryway and many other jobs will need to be done by hired workmen. Which will be easier to do once we know how much money we have to work with.
  
  Summer reading program is coming to a close on August 6 with a make your own sundae party and a flea circus. The teen lock-in night will be August 17.Book sale total hit $2000 with more coming in as the priced books in the program room get sold. August 23 to 25 Rebecca would like to have all the boxes of leftover books brought into the program room to be given away. She envisions running it just like the book sale, only folks wouldn’t have to pay for them. This would only be for the $.25 and $.50 books. The specially priced ones would still have to be purchased. In this way we can hopefully get rid of a good deal of our unsold books.
  
  There is $850 in the Pat Roberts Memorial fund. Jean R. made a motion, seconded by Ennis, to use the money to purchase a locking glass fronted book cart, on wheels, to house and safeguard all of our genealogy materials. Motion passed.
  
  A no trespassing warrant was served on a gentleman who made a female patron uncomfortable with his actions. As this was caught on our security tape, Rebecca was able to verify the complaint and notify the sheriffs office. The warrant is good for two years. Afterward Rebecca found that he had also made some of the staff uncomfortable, whereupon it was stressed that these things should always be shared with the director.
  
  Nancy suggested we could use one or two more comfy chairs for folks who want to sit in a quiet place, as the ones available either face another chair or are in a more prominent place. Rebecca has also thought of this, as there are two more of the red chairs upstairs. The problem becomes where to fit another chair in. She will consider it some more.
  
  Meeting adjourned at 7:36 pm.
  
  Next meeting is October 16, 2018 at 6:30 pm.
  
  Respectfully submitted,
  Jean Roberts

• Minutes of the April 17, 2018 meeting.
  
  Meeting opened at 6:32 pm. Present were Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams. There were no changes to the agenda.
  
  Will Casey finished our front doors. We are waiting to get them re-keyed. Bruce is investigating the possibility of enclosing the vestibule with glass from the frame of the interior door to the ceiling. This would help to keep heat in the winter, cooling in summer, from escaping whenever the exterior door is opened.
  
  Dawn suffered a foot injury and has of yet not been able to work on our website. She will be starting on it soon.
  
  Rebecca handed out the general report for the third quarter. DOL has begun certification core workshops again. The travel and education line does not have enough in it for travel expenses for staff so Rebecca will use Maslack Foundation money, with our approval, to fund her upcoming trip to Fairlee and leave the travel money for Racheal and Denise who will be attending workshops this summer.Statistics showed circulation down a bit this quarter which is not surprising given the weeks of bad weather and the amount of sickness in the community. Patron visits averaged at 464 people per week. Both doors now have working counters installed.
  
  Our current OPAC system, Mandarin, is having many issues lately. Rebecca is considering other companies that might better serve our needs. ‘Apollo’ by Biblionics is one that caters to small public libraries. She is getting information about it and hopes to get a sample to see if it would work for us.
  
  Jean D. handed out information on our invested funds. We have $111,966 available at this time.
  
  Rebecca is working on the float for the parade in July and also on children’s programming for the summer. This week Ashley Wolfe will be coming through a CLiF grant. We will give out books to all children who attend. Our CLiF programs are always in the summer so Rebecca is curious to see how a spring break one will be received. In the teen room we now have a gaming system thanks to the Stewart’s Holiday Match program. It will be available for 12 to 20 year olds with no game having greater than a ‘T’ (for teen) rating. Vinnie is going to give us an updated quote on the cost of adding security cameras to our system to take care of some blind spots. These areas include both east, west, and south sides of the exterior and places inside the new addition. A proposal by Rebecca to have an annual written staff evaluation was met with approval by all.
  
  There was a good discussion about the idea Rebecca put forth concerning a way to increase our library hours without having to increase our expenses. She feels the existing hours of :Monday & Friday 10:30 to 5Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 2 to 8 open hours totaling 34Saturday 10 to 1could be changed to:Monday & Friday 10 to 5Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 12 to 7 open hours totaling 38Saturday 10 to 1 (no change)This gives us 4 more hours of operation. If the staff is directed to come in a half hour early instead of their customary 1 hour (prep time) we should be able to keep within our budget. We decided that Rebecca had done a fantastic job of figuring a way to increase hours without increasing cost. At Bruce’s request a motion was made (by Jean R) to change the library operating hours effective July 1 and to be revisited six months thereafter. Nancy seconded, the motion was passed unanimously.
  
  We all commended Rebecca on her “Across the Fence” appearance on WCAX-TV to talk about children’s books.
  
  Meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm.
  
  Next meeting is July 17, 2018 at 6:30 pm.
  
  Respectfully submitted,
  Jean Roberts
  
• Minutes of the January 16, 2018 meeting.
  
  Meeting opened at 6:30 pm.Present were Rebecca Cook, Jean Davis, Ennis Duling, Nancy Luzer, Jean Roberts and Bruce Williams.
  
  There were no changes to the agenda.The minutes from the last meeting were read. In regards to the resistance of the town manager to adding additional open hours to the library, Rebecca feels that the main objection he has is that there may not be enough work to have two full time employees. Rebecca is now logging every hour she works on library matters that are above her paid time, such as reading book review journals while at home, coming in early or staying late, etc. so Paul will be aware of how much work there really is to running the library.
  
  The general budget for the second quarter was handed out. All looks fine. We did get the E-Rate rebate which will cover the deficit in the computer upkeep line. Special accounts look good and all the circ figures are up.
  
  In building repairs and improvements, Will Casey has been working on our old front doors. The library’s main door is almost finished. He is just waiting to see if it can be hung the way it was, swinging inward, as we have other handicap accessible doors, or if it must be outward opening to accommodate ADA standards. While the door to the upstairs is being refurbished, a temporary plywood door is in place. Will has also been working on odds and ends that need attention inside the building, such as replacing the water damaged ceiling tiles. Bruce has found someone to fabricate our sidewalk railing—Terry Morse. He will not install it, however John Russell Corp. will do the installing to his specifications.
  
  The library will not be doing any projects or events (excepting game night and library yarns) until the school break in February. This will give Rebecca time to catch up on back paperwork and other jobs. She applied for a booth at the September “Viking Invasion” to be held at the Sherburne Library. She also is working on ideas for a 4th of July float with the staff, using the summer reading program theme of “Libraries Rock” with a musical slant and is thinking of having several programs having to do with our slate industry.
  
  Dawn has been hired at a flat rate of $100 to update our website. The money raised from the quilt raffle will be added to the money from the Vermont Country Store towards large print books.
  
  Book sale will be July 7.
  
  The next regular meeting will be April 17 at 6:30 pm.
  
  Meeting adjourned 7:15 pm.
  
  Respectfully submitted,
  Jean Roberts