Board of Public Library Trustees

Draft of Minutes of Board of Trustees Meeting of September 23, 2021 Salem, Massachusetts September 23, 2021 A meeting of the Board of Trustees was held via Zoom on this date at 4:07pm with Trustees April, Austin, Marte, Morin, Rourke, and Trustee Buckley present and presiding. Mayor Driscoll was absent. Miss Mansfield was present. Approval of draft minutes from June 17, 2021 UNANIMOUS. Architect Ray Guertin met the Trustees and went over the library’s current projects including the rooftop stairway repairs and the fountain bid. Mr. Guertin had received the front end bidding documents from the City and is in the process of editing the boilerplate language and will add in the written pieces that Trustee Morin worked on. A meeting was planned for the following week to discuss the fountain’s aquatic features. Mr. Guertin is aware of the ongoing leaking in the basement level and plans to work on a drainage strategy for the basement hallway where water has been pooling during heavy rainstorms. Current Library Use and Financial reports were distributed. Miss Mansfield reported that the library reopened on Sundays beginning on September 12, 2021 and planned to close on Halloween weekend for both Saturday, October 30th and Sunday, October 31st. Miss Mansfield reported that Salem was fifth highest in NOBLE for circulation of physical items in June and July, and was sixth highest in August. Trustee Morin noted that the libraries with the highest circulation numbers were able to increase their statistics by 49% by allowing autorenewals. Salem was second highest in June and third highest in July and August for Overdrive/Libby circulation. Miss Mansfield noted that she had followed up with the schools about the zero usage of the library’s Overdrive collection and learned that they were no longer able to connect due to a system upgrade. Trustee Austin suggested that Miss Mansfield contact Superintendent Zrike. Financial reports were distributed. Miss Mansfield noted that Peter Avila completed the annual accounting and tax filing for the Trustees, which used up most of the unrestricted funds in the checking account. Discussion of paying for architect fees followed. Miss Mansfield noted that the Trustees traditionally pay the architect fees for all building projects in order to maintain oversight on projects. It was decided that architect fees associated with the fountain project would be paid from the fountain fund. Architect fees for other building projects would be paid from the checking account. Trustee April made a motion to transfer $5,000 from the investments to the checking account for programming, architect fees, and ancillary expenses with an additional $5,000 retainer for architect fees if needed. Seconded by Maria Buckley. UNANIMOUS. Discussion of reinstating overdue fines followed. Miss Mansfield noted that NOBLE would begin sending notifications about long overdue items on October 4th and would restore blocks on patron accounts for lost items and begin assessing replacement fees on October 18th. The Trustees agreed that this would be a good time to reinstate fines and would like patrons to be aware of the changes before the fines are reinstated. Miss Mansfield reported that the main door and entryway restoration was completed and shared a slide of the before and after photographs. Miss Mansfield reported that a major repair was completed on the roof drain pipe that has been causing significant leaking in the boiler room. Miss Mansfield noted that most of the $10,000 allocated from capital funds has been spent. Miss Mansfield reported that the library hosted the annual children’s event for the Salem Literary Festival on September 11th. Miss Mansfield noted that the staff time and effort required to pull off the event was significant this year. The Trustees weighed the benefits of participating and decided that the staff should not take on the event next year if it is burdensome. Miss Mansfield reported that the October resident only parking signs were put up at noontime and that the restrictions would impact patrons Monday-Thursday from 5:00-9:00pm, Saturdays from 12:00-5:00pm, and Sundays from 1:00pm-5:00pm. Meeting adjourned at 5:24pm.