Rumney Library Trustees - 3/20/2014

MEETING MINUTES – Approved May 14, 2014 BOARD OF TRUSTEES BYRON G. MERRILL LIBRARY Rumney, NH March 20, 2014 – 12:30 p.m. The meeting was opened at 12:30 PM. Present were Roger Daniels, Leina Smoker, Tom Wallace and Susan Turbyne. REPORTS 1. Review Draft Minutes: February 5, 2014 Meeting – It was moved (Roger Daniels) and seconded (Leina Smoker) to approve the minutes as read. The motion passed. 2. Treasurer’s Report a. Account Balances – Balances total $92,315.60 (Disbursement Acc’t - $366.85 , Library Endowment Acc’t – $87,982.16, Rumney Library Acc’t - $3,966.59 ) b. 2014 Income/Spending to date – We reviewed this report. 3. Library Director’s Report In spite of the cold, snow, ice and no break in the weather, we recorded 310 patron visits and checked out 519 items during the month of February. We celebrated ‘Take Your Child to the Library Day’ on February 1st and were very pleased with the turnout… 60+ folks joined us and that included three new families who have started regular visits to the library. The children made colorful bookmarks, listened to stories, and decorated cookies. Rachel did her magic and made three of the children’s bookmarks printable and we have been giving them out to our readers. Children left with a book to keep with the message… ‘We’re so glad you visited the Byron G. Merrill Library today… hope you will come back soon!’ ‘Wacky Winter Transports’ was a nice break from the winter doldrums and we had a lot of children playing with Legos and this all resulted in a very colorful display on our round table. And then, of course, we had my birthday celebration… cards, balloons, flowers, good wishes, lots of attention, and three cakes… it was a fun day for all. Earlier this month Dr. Seuss took center stage and everyone had fun reading stories, making Dr. Seuss hats, and posing for photographs. We were approached by a group promoting ‘Got Lunch Rumney’, a program to provide lunches to children from low income families over the summer. We have displayed the poster and explained the program to anyone interested. We have several projects underway to better serve our family researchers. We are cataloguing the town histories. A volunteer group is duplicating Rumney obituaries and putting together an alphabetical binder. Kathy Sobetzer gave us a copy of the Ellsworth cemetery records and that is now in a binder. We continued putting genealogical records into plastic sleeves. All of these items are now easier to locate which makes it easier with the weekly requests we receive. And, of course, we continue to purchase and process books daily, put things away, dust, collect dead flies and do whatever we can to make our patrons’ visits pleasant. OLD BUSINESS 1. “Lot Line Adjustment” with Rumney Baptist Church – Status – It was reported that this project is officially done. The lot adjustment has been taken care of and there is now land available for our proposed addition. The papers have been signed and recorded. 2. 2014 Town Meeting Results a. Budget – Article 27 o Expenditures from L. Little and Ralph Berg Funds in 2014 authorized – $366.85 is available from the Berg donation. We also have $1,000.15 available from the Little fund. b. Addition to Capital Reserve – Article 29 passed at town meeting which added $25,000.00 to our capital fund. c. Bond issue – Article 2 o Completion of Phase 2 – The tasks left to complete ‘phase 2’ are: finalize the design, produce final drawings for bidding and construction, and request bids. Approximately $28,000.00 remains in the fund for this work. The remaining architect’s and historian’s fees will use $23,000.00 +/-. o Construction Funding Proposal – We reviewed ideas of how to go ahead with the ‘accessibility” project’. We agreed to talk with the Selectmen and seek their support. It was reported that a number of Townspeople have expressed their disappointment that Article 2 did not pass and their continued support for the project. It was also reported that group(s) are forming to help with fundraising. It was agreed, also, to continue to look for grants. o There was discussion as to how the Town Meeting presentation might have been improved. One suggestion was to pose questions that addressed specific questions of the voters. A second suggestion was to provide more emphasis on the value of the library to the Town. 3. Status: Installation of safety valve discharge piping per boiler inspection recommendation. Carl Doe has been reminded. NEW BUSINESS 1. Election of Trustee Officers – The officers will continue in their present positions: Chair – Roger Daniels, Treasurer – Tom Wallace, and Secretary – Leina Smoker. 2. Other New Business – none The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 pm.