Library Board of Trustees

RECEIVED By Ellie at 8:42 am, 7/28/21 Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Location: Amesbury Public Library, Amesbury Room Wednesday, June 9, 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 7:02 p.m. by Laurie II. Secretary’s Minutes: A. (May 2021 meeting) – Need to fix spelling of Laurie’s name and typo in title. Brenda makes a motion to accept the minutes from May with typo fixes. Bethany seconds. Unanimous. III. Budget Report (May 2021): A. Budget is in a good place. Might go over in electricity because of all the air conditioners and air purifiers running. Working on spending down library books line. Anything left over will go to OverDrive. Laurie asks about the maintenance line. The stairs were painted, and that’s not reflected in current report. Erin will also double check the formula. Museum passes line will be going down because a bunch of renewals were just submitted. IV. Communications (May 2021): Laurie got a thank you card from Sarah for her retirement gift from the Trustees. Nothing in email. V. Director’s Report: A. New reference librarian, Skylis Reed, started on June 1. Tracey moved to full-time circulation position. Working on filling 18-hour position. Still working on lower-level door fix. Following up with DPW on next steps. Painters painted stairway to children’s room over Memorial Day weekend. Library opened fully to patrons as of June 2. Closed for prom, but turnout was low. Claire and Aimie are working on summer reading. Trying to get DPW to put up banner. Teen collection moved to non- fiction section so it’s closer children’s room and to keep it accessible while lower level is closed to patrons. Weeded nonfiction to make room. VI. Committee Reports: A. Preservation committee: Minutes in packet for both May and April meetings. Gail and Laurie met with Mayor. All capital projects are on hold, and money went to backdoor fix. Maintenance should be handled by DPW as much as possible, but Library does have a maintenance budget. Will be following up with Mayor for clarification on what we can pay for directly. Encouraged to use See, Click, Fix app to report issues. Discussed having Trustees review bylaws to clarify Trustees’ responsibilities versus the city. Subcommittee will keep prioritizing projects so they can advocate. B. Director review committee: Bethany will send out template. VII. Unfinished Business: A. Vacant positions update: See notes above. B. Budget (FY22): Budget got passed last night and is at MAR, so we should be removed from waiver status when the new fiscal year starts. Two new positions included in that budget. Aimie will be working on getting those posted when the new fiscal year starts. VIII. New Business: A. Opening update: Opened June 2, and it’s going well. A lot of positive feedback. Many patrons were excited about being able to browse for themselves. Some are still doing curbside, and curated is still popular. Two public computers so far, and that’s going fine. Fax machine is up and running. Haven’t gotten much resistance to wearing masks. Excited to have people back in the building. Museum passes are coming back. Looking at adding a few new ones. IX. Other: A. Tree work – Tree next to the library, near picnic tables, needs to come down for safety. Another tree is sick and needs to be treated. Got estimate for $1790 for care and treatment for that tree. Separate price for winter care and treatment. Will present that separately. Estimate for removing tree that needs to come down is $4500. Gail asks about the tree board and if they need to approve. Erin will check with Meghan. One could come from maintenance, and the other from state aide. Want to get the tree taken down before winter. Have arborist report to support that the tree needs to come down. Gail suggested that insurance might cover the removal of the tree. B. Elections – Laurie reminds people running to pull papers. Anne will check names from appointments last year so we can see if any of them are interested in running. X. Adjourn: Bethany makes a motion to adjourn at 7:43 p.m. Nicole seconds. Unanimous.