Library Board of Trustees

RECEIVED By Ellie at 10:30 am, 4/9/21 Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Online Meeting – Public Participation p Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021 7:00 PM Members present: Anne Campbell (AC), Bethany Sullivan (BS), Brenda Rich (BR), Delia Rinaldi (DR), Gail Browne (GB), Laurie Cameron (LC), Michelle Lamott (ML), Sarah Downs (SD) Members Not in Attendance: Nicole Harry (NH) APL Director: Erin Matlin I. Call to order at 7:01 p.m. by Laurie II. Secretary’s Minutes: A. (January 2021 meeting) – Typo to fix bids in committee reports section. Bethany motioned to accept the minutes with the typo fix. Gail seconded. Unanimous. III. Budget Report (February 2021): A. Over in overtime budget due to staff shortage and needing to cover a few shifts. That should improve once public service role is filled. Everything else is on track. IV. Communications (January 2021): None V. Director’s Report: A. Still down two open staff positions. Public service position has been posted, and a few resumes have come in. Will be reviewing. A few closings due to snow. VI. Committee Reports: A. Long-range plan sub-comm.: Met on Jan. 27. Not submitting an actual long-range plan, but wanted to meet to talk about the community’s needs coming out of COVID. Erin and staff are working on a survey that will be circulated to the community. Will work on long range plan next year. Talked about getting guidance from Patty, the director at the Ipswich Library, because she’s doing a similar survey in another community. Meeting again Feb. 24. B. Finance sub-comm.: Met twice since last board meeting to talk about the budget. More details below. C. Preservation: Met on Jan. 26. Doors project, no update. Waiting for Freddy to finish hinges in the spring. Storage room, waiting on DPW for a timeline. Funding received from Charitable Trust for digitizing collections. Capital projects are on track. Front stairs are ongoing. Will meet again Feb. 23. Want to build consensus  with the board on projects that could be funded by the board. VII. Unfinished Business: A. Vacant Positions Update: See updates above. Will be reviewing resumes next week and hope to set up interviews for the first week of March. B. Budget (FY22) - Mayor asked for level service and level-funded budget. Level- funded requires more cuts due to required staff increases and would not meet our MAR. Level service is over 5% more than last year’s budget. Asked Erin to make budget that meets the MAR and would get us out of waiver. It falls between the two. Bethany prepared a letter explaining why the Trustees wants a budget that meets the MAR and all the things we would lose otherwise. Bethany sent letter to everyone for review. Budget is due to the Mayor this Friday, and Erin will present to the Mayor the week of Feb. 22. Board needs to approve budget tonight. In the level-funded budget, two positions are cut, and one of them is vacant. The other is an 18-hour library assistant in circulation. In the budget that meets the MAR, one position is cut (the vacant children’s assistant position). Books line is reduced in the level-funded budget. If we don’t meet MAR, we risk being de- certified. The difference is $28,000, and what it would cause us to lose would not be worth the savings. No guarantee that we would get a waiver next year. They might not be as flexible. If we’re decertified, the community would lose access to the consortium and all the materials and services that come with that, and all the digital resources. Cutting staff could lead to reduction in hours. Running out of options of what we can cut. Level-funded would have a huge impact on the community. Recommending we approve the level service budget. Erin can only send two budgets, so recommend sending level service and the one that meets the MAR. Prepared to send level-funded if they ask for it. Bethany makes a motion to recommend the FY22 budget in the amount $888,548.50, and the trustees will accompany this with a letter supporting the level service budget. Gails seconds. Unanimous. Laurie asks everyone to read the letter and send any edits to Bethany. VIII. New Business: A. Snow Closings – Have had a few closings and early closings due to snow. Traditionally the director has worked with the Trustees to close the library when needed due to weather. City hall wants to work together on that decision. Erin wants to avoid confusing staff. In the past we would go with the school closing, but now with schools remote, Gail suggests it makes sense to go with municipal closings. With nighttime hours and Saturday hours, Library needs flexibility to make that call on their own. Gail suggests communicating that to city hall. IX. Other: None. X. Adjourn: Bethany makes a motion to adjourn at 7:48 p.m. Brenda seconds. Unanimous.