Minutes Meeting-Board of Trustees Highland Public Library 30 Church Street Highland, NY 12528 Thursday, February 25, 2016 In attendance: Trustees Mark McPeck, Darlene Plavchak, Joanne Loewenthal, Nancy Hammond, Fran Brooks, Melissa Burdash. Library Director Julie Dempsey. Friends Liaison Angela Grieco. Excused-Eric Norberg I. Call to Order 6:06pm II. Pledge III. Minutes-Move to accept with corrections (add Angela to “in attendance”) N. Hammond. Second F. Brooks. Approve-all. IV. Financial Report- reviewed, went over questions. Move to accept-F. Brooks, second-N. Hammond, approve-all. V. Director’s Report A. Accountant update-working out much better for both the Library and the accountant. Everything looks good for now, still considering BPP for bond accounting, providing a clean separation to oversee bond. B. BAN-If amount will be decreased (ie. applying grants) it must be done during the BAN, not the bond. May be helpful to renew BAN for full amount rather than convert to bond at this time. C. Meeting with Meghan- to discuss furniture and flooring. Check out Saugerties for ideas. Prefer tile to carpet to not show dirt and wear in high traffic areas. Talked to staff for input. Hearing what didn’t work for Saugerties helps us to not make the same mistakes. D. Advocacy Day- Julie will attend both Tues and Wed next week. People writing in about what they love about the library will be shared, as well as “how much money the library saves our family” E. Middle School boys-complaints about noise and language. Policies are being enforced, parents are notified as needed, kids are/will be suspended (unless with an adult) for repeated offenses with no improvement of behavior. F. Long range plan-time to revisit plan of service, consider focus groups, inviting community members to share their opinions. Will be open to the public (similar to charettes). Julie to talk to Rebecca to get guidance in setting up, and shoot to hold in December. VI. New Business A. Treasurer/ Admin assistant position- Not having a treasurer puts us at risk for bad outcome during audit. Need paid employee, not BOT member to do it. BOT appoints, she would take oath, then be appointed. She would attend meetings and work as admin assistant if position approved by BOT (These are 2 separate, unrelated positions). Treasurer will be a yearly appointment, with a stipend. Will be signatory of checks. Be it moved, we shall create an annual position of treasurer, with a quarterly stipend of $1250 ($5000 per year). This treasurer will be a signatory of checks. Stipend to be reviewed each year. Moved N. Hammond, Second F. Brooks, Approve all. Be it moved, the BOT hereby appoints Lisa Gill to the treasurer position, as described above. Moved-F. Brooks, Second-J. Loewenthal. Roll Call- D. Plavchak-yes. Melissa Burdash-yes. Joanne Loewenthal-yes. Fran Brooks-yes. Nancy Hammond-yes. Mark McPeck-yes. Eric Norberg-absent. B. Vote Date-Operating budget vote. Looking at April 27th. Monthly meeting must be held before the vote, and will therefore be moved to April 26th. C. Tax Cap Override Resolution-must be moved and approved before we can discuss vote. See attached motion. D. Budget-Finance Committee met and came up with 1% tax increase to cover 3.3% increase in operating cost increase. We will vote on this at next meeting. VII. Old Business A. Accountant-covered in Director’s Report B. BPD-will vote next month C. Zumtobel-Paul met with them. They’d like to provide the entire lighting package for the new building project at a “deep discount”. High quality product, but even with discount, it may be $$$. Paul will review once he has the package and compare with his engineer. If >$10,000, it must go out to bid. If package is not free, we can include it in the RFP as an OPTION. VIII. Committee Reports A. Personnel- working on policies, compensation/benefits package, as well as yearly review for Julie. B. FInance C. Construction D. Fundraising-tiles are here! We will charge $15 for one tile, $10 each if you buy more than one. We will hold some events at the library to get kids in to buy and paint them. Also, planning a community yard sale- charge per spot, maybe contact cupcake lady and hot dog truck to participate. Summer reading theme is exercise your mind. Possible bike-a-thon? IX. Friends Liaison-Rita Downing passed away, donations being sent to Capital Fund. Service will be April 8th. Regular meeting this Saturday. X. Adjournment- 7:54pm Moved by N. Hammond, second D.Plavchak.