Library Board of Trustees

Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes - October 2023 Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Location: Amesbury City Hall Auditorium By City Clerk at 9:51 am, Nov 13, 2023 Wednesday October 11, 2023 7:00 PM Board of Trustees (BOT) Members present: Anne Campbell, Laurie Cameron, Delia Rinaldi, Brenda Rich, Bethany Sullivan, Pam Gilday, and Gail Browne APL Staff present: Aimie Westphal - APL Director and Meghan Fahey - Head of Archives 1. Call to order at 7:00 PM by Anne as chair. 2. Secretary’s minutes Motion to approve September minutes with minor edits by Laurie, 2nd by Delia, unanimous by all who were present at the September meeting. 3. Communications Anne scheduled and had a call with MBLC to discuss how other towns have funded library renovation projects with partner/other entity engagement. She will be following up on this conversation and presenting materials to the BOT in future. Anne will be attending the MLTA Annual Conference - Massachusetts Library Trustee Association - Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners) annual conference and training in Shrewsbury later this month. No other Amesbury BOT Trustees have signed up to attend this in-person event. 4. Budget report Aimie presents the FY2024 month 3 APL budget. As mentioned last month, Aimie will continue to share with the BOT her monthly “Salary Expended on Extra Hours – FY24” table. 5. Facilities report Aimie presents her monthly Facilities Report to the Trustees for October 2023. This document is included in the addendum (Addendum 1). A lot has happened this week! BIG news! The lower-level emergency door project is complete - as of today the lower-level space can now be occupied. The Friends of the Amesbury Public Library have been informed and the expectation is that they will set an opening date for the Used Bookshop to reopen. Collections are still offsite and will likely be returned by the end of this month, however it will take some time to unpack etc. 1  Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes - October 2023 7. Director’s report Aimie presents her monthly Library Director’s Report to the Trustees for October 2023. This document is included in the addendum (Addendum 2). For the Staffing bullet, Aimie will include the FTE level in parens going forward. The new website launch date is December 12. The new copier/printer does color and black ink prints (copies and printing). We currently charge 15 cents per page for black ink prints. Aimie has included a breakdown of area libraries and what they charge per page for color and black ink prints. Aimie suggests no change to the 15 cents per page for black ink prints. Aimie suggests instituting a new charge of 25 cents per page for color prints. Pam makes a motion that the Library charge 25 cents per page for color prints. Brenda seconds, motion passes unanimously. Note that the cost of ink is covered within the fixed-price device maintenance contract and there is no additional charge for how much ink is used. Staff is working on collecting some key statistics and will be presenting that information to the overall BOT (and Communications subcommittee) in future. 8. Sub-committee updates The Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Facility Master Plan Ad-Hoc Sub-Committee Met on September 14. Gail presents the meeting summary. This document is included in the addendum (Addendum 3). 9. Old business The Friends of the Amesbury Public Library are looking for new members, including a new board president. As discussed last month, the BOT will be setting up a rotation of 1 Trustee per month to attend the Friends monthly meeting to better facilitate cross communication. As mentioned above, the Friends of the Amesbury Public Library have been informed and the expectation is that they will set an opening date for the Used Bookshop to reopen. Aimie will be assembling and sharing drafts of all Library policies collectively for BOT review and feedback starting in CY 2024. 2  Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes - October 2023 10. Matters not reasonably anticipated in advance of the meeting. Meghan will be the speaker at the Amesbury Chamber’s annual dinner on November 16. The gutter conversation is still ongoing. Aimie reported that there were two gutter meetings; the first was Anne, Gail, Laurie, and herself. The second was with DPW, COS, the architect, Anne, and herself. Discussed how the $19K can best be used to help resolve the issues. Also discussed ways to divert the water away from the building. DPW will be creating a temporary means of water diversion. The FMP will ultimately help address planning and prioritizing for all matters/maintenance/upgrades surrounding the roof ice dam, failed gutter, and resultant water infiltration problems. In addition to and separate from the plantings/yard upkeep that Carol Finn and her volunteers do during the season, another area resident has volunteered to oversee the heavier-lift end-of-season maintenance and winter-readiness work that should also be done to the building grounds. This volunteer would like to have up to 5 volunteers for 2 days of shifts (Mondays and Tuesdays are only available days) to do the heavy stuff that DPW might otherwise be expected to do. Meghan is the contact for any such volunteers – Trustees are asked to reach out to their networks to seek volunteers for the job. 11. Adjourn: 8:14 PM. Motion to adjourn by Bethany, 2nd by Delia, unanimous. 3  Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes - October 2023 Addendums October 2023 -- APL Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes Addendum 1 – Facilities Report to the Trustees for October 2023 4  Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes - October 2023 Addendum 2 – Library Director’s Report to the Trustees for October 2023 5  Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes - October 2023 Addendum 3 – Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Facility Master Plan Ad-Hoc Sub-Committee Minutes for September 2023 6