MEETING –BOARD OF TRUSTEES HIGHLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY 14 Elting Place Highland, NY 12528 Thursday January 28, 2021 MINUTES In attendance: Melissa Burdash, Julie Kelsall-Dempsey, Darlene Plavchak, Fran Brooks, Mark McPeck, Nancy Hammond, Laura Finch, Eric Norberg CALL TO ORDER 5:01PM Minutes: November 2020 Move to accept - Nancy, Second- Fran, Approve-all. Financial report: 1. Be it resolved to approve the warrants attached for operating expenses for the months of December 2020 and January 2021 [Discussion to clarify Metro sound pros (for repair needed for outdoor displays), TopSeed (snow removal and possibly fall clean up. Julie will pull file to verify and let us know), Dia museum passes (new museum passes, used Friends funds to purchase), Amazon late fees]. Move-Fran, Second-Nancy, approve-all. 2. Be it resolved to accept the November and December 2020 financial reports as prepared by Rose Woodworth, accountant. [Discussion-we are about ½ way through fiscal year. With the extra expenses of Covid prep, things are tight. Current spending freeze on all non-essential items. Only new materials for now will be best seller to try to preserve budget.] Move-Eric, Second-Mark, approve-all. Director's Report: Food/personal items Jan-Feb- for Community Action. They still (always) have a need for food donations. Once personal items drive ends next week, we will start Food Drive to run through March/possibly April. As per Laura’s suggestion, will look into putting reminder on receipts or bookmarks. Current service status-Covid- Currently only by appointment for curbside pick up. Sara is starting to do at home delivery when she can safely do so. Julie monitors covid dashboards for Ulster County and the town of Lloyd. Once numbers have decreased and stabilized, we can begin to let patrons back in for limited time in limited numbers. (Shooting for Feb 15th). Once reopened, staff will have to be shuffled to account for increased workload with having patrons back in the building. There will be some staff overlap, but PPE and distancing practices will be in place. No exact metric as of yet, depends on comfort level of director and staff, as well as trends. Julie will evaluate to develop metric. Grants update-Sawyer- for Covid items Jacobson- still waiting for the $8000 grant from last year. Staff covid update-one staff case, any staff contacts in the building were alerted and tested. Patient has been out for 3 weeks, currently recovered and back at work. Friends donation 2021 and 2022- $2000 each year. To be used for museum passes. Budget vote- April 28th or move to May 5th or 12th?- Will plan on May 5th Budget- preliminary information- tax cap at 3.52. We are making cuts but hoping for more substantial increase. Full report from Financial Committee next month. Old Business: NYS required Pandemic Plan 2nd reading, move to accept- Fran, second-Eric, approve-all New Business: Juneteenth Holiday-slated to be recognized as state holiday. Considering closing vs. offering Juneteenth educational program. TBD. https://www.cs.ny.gov/attendance_leave/2021_legal_holidays.cfm Strongly encourage Covid vaccine when plentiful-hopoing to get Library staff same status as teachers to allow for vaccination. Will not likely make mandatory for staff, but will strongly encourage once possible. Standing Committees: Facilities-No report Personnel-no report Trustee Training- no report. Friends Liaison- Leslie Benson/ Eric Norberg- Currently only Board meetings, done virtually. Public Comments-none Other- Considering Touch a Truck and other outdoor, socially distanced programs and fundraisers for when the weather allows. Next meeting- still virtual, Feb 25th Adjournment: 5:40pm.