Library Board of Trustees

RECEIVED By Ellie at 10:04 am, 7/6/21 Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Online Meeting – Public Participation Wednesday, May 12, 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), Nicole Harry (NH), Sarah Downs (SD) Members Not in Attendance: None APL Director: Erin Matlin I. Call to order at 7:00 p.m. by Laurie II. Secretary’s Minutes: A. (April 2021 meeting) – Anne pointed out that the date needs to be fixed. Erin noted other typo fixes in packet. Brenda makes a motion to accept the minutes from April 14 with typo fixes. Michelle seconds. Unanimous with Nicole abstaining. III. Budget Report (May 2021): A. Spending is on track. Spending down library books line to meet state aide requirement. Will contribute anything left to OverDrive since that has been especially popular during the pandemic. Invoices will be reflected in June budget. Gail asks about amount for the phone line being lower. Erin will look into it. IV. Communications (April 2021): None V. Director’s Report: A. Lucas Berrini started on May 3 as head of public services, adjusting well and already has some ideas for updates and changes. Interviewed for reference librarian position. Offered position, and the person accepted. Skylis Reed will be starting next week. More changes coming in the new fiscal year. Still trying to address the storage room in the lower level. Following up with DPW. No longer quarantining items, based on new recommendation from the state, so patrons will be getting materials faster. Patrons can go in and out using the ramp, just asking them to maintain social distance. Hoping to introduce browsing for fiction and nonfiction only starting June 1, no appointments. If it’s overwhelming, they will introduce appointments. Children’s room will not be open yet. Amesbury room is still closed. May use it for space for people to read the paper one or two at a time. VI. Committee Reports: A. Preservation committee: Minutes will be coming next month. Met on April 27. At that time there was still had no access to downstairs/vault due to basement door/wall failure issue. Architect’s report has come in. Laurie and Gail meeting with Mayor next week to get clarification on how that project will move forward. Bid deadline passed for window restoration project, but concerned it will be put on hold until basement door/wall failure is addressed. Front stairs project seems to be on hold. Morrill Electric did walkthrough/audit. Waiting to hear back about action plan/more thorough assessment. Some patrons were concerned about trees. Meghan had an arborist come out and inspect. Trying to make sure capital projects and repairs are going ahead. Will continue to meet monthly. VII. Unfinished Business: A. Vacant Positions Update: See notes above. Internal candidate applied for full-time circulation position, moving from 18-hour position to full-time. Hope to post 18- hour position soon. B. Budget (FY22): Presenting to City Council on May 20 at virtual meeting of the finance committee. Met with Mayor, and they will meet our MAR. That means the Library won’t have to apply for a waiver and will be out of waiver status if the council approves. Don’t anticipate issues with that. With the new budget, hope to be adding part-time local history position. No public comment at the May 20 meeting. Laurie suggests sending a letter or email to show our support. Bethany suggests adapting letter Bethany sent to Mayor. Gail suggests sending it to the finance committee. C. In-person Meetings (Decision, when?) - Laurie sent an email. Everyone agrees to going back to meeting in person starting in June. Second Wednesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall. Plenty of space to social distance. Caitlin will show Anne and Erin some tools we can use. Laurie will follow up with details. Gail asks if it will be broadcast. Laurie says it will not, but it will be open to the public. VIII. New Business: A. Juneteenth Independence Day – June 19th - Close? - Juneteenth became a state holiday. City Hall not affected because it falls on a Saturday this year. Erin spoke with the Mayor, and she would like to be involved in the final decision. Based on union contract, if the Library closes, those scheduled to work Saturday will get a paid day off. Those not scheduled to work, no change. Erin checked with other libraries, and they are all handling differently. Erin thinks we should close. Brenda agrees if state has declared it a holiday, we should follow suite. After this year, it will go in the union contract, and we can follow that. Want to give our recommendation to the Mayor for this year and go from there. Board’s consensus is to follow the state law and close for the day this year. Erin will follow up with the Mayor and communicate that. After budget season is over, Laurie, Erin, and the Mayor will discuss where the  Trustees responsibilities lie in decisions like this so everyone has clarity. IX. Other: A. Survey - Brenda asks what’s happening with the results of the survey. Got about 140 responses. Erin gathering the responses and organizing the info, and will be sending that data to the long-range planning committee. B. Laurie will send out an email to the trustees about the gifts for the two retirees. C. Elections – Those up for election received a letter from the city about pulling papers. All up for a four-year terms. Have until July 23 to pull papers. Have until July 27 to turn them in. X. Adjourn: Bethany makes a motion to adjourn at 7:52 p.m. Nicole seconds. Unanimous.