Board of Trustees Meeting – Feb. 15, 2024

Meeting Minutes

Documentation

• Meeting Minutes for Approval – January 9, 2024
• Professional Staff Reports
• Director’s Report
• Financial Report January 2024, FY24 YTD Book & AV Breakdowns

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by K. Penders.

Public Comment

None.

Vote to Accept Gift Donation of $75 to Boyden Library by Kathleen Belko in Memory of
Robert Woods:

J. Ooi made a motion to accept the gift donation of $75 to Boyden Library by Kathleen Belko in memory of Robert Woods with no restrictions. J. Parlapiano seconded.

Passed 4-0-0

Vote to Accept Gift Donation of $50 to Boyden Library by Robert F. Boutilier in Memory
of Elizabeth Ekstrom:

C. Igo Freeman made a motion to accept the gift donation of $50 to Boyden Library by Robert F. Boutilier in memory of Elizabeth Ekstrom with no restrictions. J. Parlapiano seconded

Passed 4-0-0.

Vote to Accept Gift Donation of $25 to Boyden Library by Marlene Wurster in Memory of
Elizabeth Ekstrom:

J. Parlapiano made a motion to accept the gift donation of $25 to Boyden Library by Marlene Wurster in memory of Elizabeth Ekstrom with no restrictions. J. Ooi seconded.

Passed 4-0-0.

Approval of Meeting Minutes

B. Buckland put forth an amendment to the portion of the January 9, 2024 meeting minutes, striking the word “executive” from the Friends’ report. J. Ooi also put forth an amendment to remove a duplicative word from the second page of the minutes under the AED discussion.

Ooi then motioned to approve the January 9, 2024 meeting minutes as amended. C. Igo Freeman seconded.

Passed 4-0-0.

Correspondence:

None

Friends’ Report

B. Buckland gave an update from the Friends. Their annual meeting was held on February 7, 2024. The full nomination slate was approved and the board will continue with one update: Colleen McManus is now the membership chair. The board has two new members: Betsy Lorusso and Maureen “Mo” Ryan. The next annual meeting will be held on February 5, 2025.

The Friends’ regular meeting was held immediately following the annual meeting. The 2024 budget was approved, allowing for small increases in adult, teen, and youth programming support, as well as a small increase to cover the rising costs of administration.

The membership drive is going well with many renewals and some new members as well. Book drives will be held on March 16th and April 13th to supply the next book sale on May 9-11, with set up happening on May 8th. There is a second April date earmarked in case they need additional donations. Donors will no longer be required to sign up for a specific time slot to drop off books
as they have been since COVID.

The Friends are sponsoring the materials for the 2024 Community Reads as well as the murder mystery program for teens and adults. Additionally, four Friends will be attending the author talk to help out and sell copies of the book, which will be provided by An Unlikely Story in
Plainville.

Professional Staff Reports

L. O’Neill provided updates from professional staff. Kathy Bell-Harney did a wonderful job putting together slides for the AdCom meeting and the promotional materials for the Community Reads, including posters, bookmarks, and brochures.

In terms of general updates, the Library has been getting around twenty teens after school every day, requiring staff attention and monitoring. The chrome books have arrived and the kids’ coding club will be kicking off in March.

Financial Reports

L. O’Neill provided an overview of the latest financial reports, highlighting that the adult AV budget line is almost tapped out and it should be considered for budget increases in the future. Overdrive is the largest source of debits from this line item. The library supplies line is essentially at zero, which goes to show how much programming the Library has been doing. Total operating expenses were at about 62% at the end of January.

J. Ooi inquired about the databases budget line. Currently, the Children’s Department has spent
less on databases than adult, but they will even out throughout the remainder of the fiscal year as
E. Brelsford is working to secure more.

Director’s Report

L. O’Neill provided a Director’s report. In regard to library operations, new phones were installed today. There are some kinks to work out, but they are set up and ready to go. The pods have been up and running smoothly. R. Spinner has been managing bookings and tracking walkins.

In programs and services updates, the Library had 185 programs in FY22, 416 in FY23, and has already had 330 programs in FY24 from July to January. L. O’Neill has submitted two capital requests for the Library’s five-year plan. The first is for a bookmobile, which run around $300,000 new and $40,000 used. The request was submitted for $75,000. The second capital request is to put up a wall in the alcove to extend the teen room as well as to erect a partition for the makerspace in the café. The request was submitted for $25,000, with Facilities estimating that most of the work can be done in house.

L. O’Neill mentioned under personnel updates that her two-year anniversary is coming up, which means her annual review will need to be conducted soon. K. Penders advised that the Director’s review is usually done in the spring, so this is a good time to revise and distribute the review, a duty of the clerk. Further, he suggested that the review be conducted before the Town election so that the outgoing Board members can provide input. C. Igo Freeman put together the review last
year, which J. Ooi, as the new clerk, can work from this year. The Board would like to circulate the review documents by the March Board meeting, conduct the review in April, then have time to review and meet before the Town election.

New Business

Vote to Close Boyden Library at 4:30pm on 3/27/24 for the Community Reads Author Event:

L. O’Neill asked the Board to vote to close Boyden Library at 4:30pm on March 27, 2024 for the Community Reads author event as has been done in years past. This allows time for staff to set up the Community Room, Fuller Room, and Reading Room before the author meet and greet starts.

J. Parlpiano made a motion to approve closing Boyden Library at 4:30pm on March 27, 2024 for the Community Reads author event. J. Ooi seconded.

Motion passed 4-0-0.

Old Business

FY2025 Budget Update – Discussion and Possible Vote:

The Board voted on a Library budget in December, with the primary focus to fund a full-time teen librarian and continuing to meet the requirements of the MBLC. L. O’Neill and K. Penders discussed the Library’s priorities with Town Manager Paige Duncan and Finance Manager Marie Almodovar, and were asked to make budget cuts due to a large Town deficit. Per the Town’s request, $10,000 was cut from the Library’s expense budget while the salary line item remained intact in order to renew the full time Teen Librarian request. P. Duncan recommended striking the $24,000 allotted for this, but reinstated the original $10,000 cut. L. O’Neill and K. Penders met with one of the assigned AdCom Liaisons last week for one hour, walking through the line items and answering any questions to prep for the meeting.

The AdCom meeting was moved from 2/14 to 2/15, immediately preceding this Board meeting. L.O’Neill presented on all that the library has accomplished in 2023 with an emphasis on programs and the need for a full-time teen librarian. After responding to various questions from AdCom, L. O’Neill and K. Penders made the ask that the Town respect the Library and its Trustees, and let the Library decide where to cut $24,000 from the budget to keep the bottom line the same. This would be $24,000 less than the budget that the Board approved in December and accounts for a 2.5% overall increase. The final takeaway is that AdCom needs to discuss the
Library’s request.

C. Igo Freeman made a motion to give authorization to K. Penders to work with L. O’Neill on an amended budget in a manner that would support the teen librarian position should AdCom approve the ask. J. Parlapiano seconded.

Passed 4-0-0.

2024 Community Reads Update:

L. O’Neill provided an update on the 2024 Community Reads for March. This year’s book is The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. When patrons check out a copy of the book, they will receive a keychain of a violin with “Boyden Library Community Reads” on it. The month is full of themed programming with a string quartet kicking off events on 3/4, a murder mystery on 3/7, a children’s fiddlesticks program on 3/9, teen book club on 3/9, a virtual program on the world of valuable string instruments on 3/11, a movie night featuring The Red Violin on 3/25, an adult book club on 3/26, and the culminating event on 3/27, a meet and greet and talk with the author. L. O’Neill and J. Parlapiano will work together on a cookie or something similar for the opening event. L. O’Neill asked for one Board volunteer to greet attendees at the door with a staff member for the author event. The Board agreed and will designate a member at the March meeting.

C. Igo Freeman made a motion to authorize expenditures not to exceed $1,500 for food associated with the 2024 Community Reads, to be funded from the Boyden Memorial Fund. J. Ooi seconded.
Passed 4-0-0

Quotes for Intercom System – Discussion and Possible Vote:

L. O’Neill has now secured three quotes for an intercom system. She is currently working with the Town’s IT department to determine how many speakers they would advise for the Library. The Board will discuss the matter again in March once more info is obtained from IT. Funds for this project will likely come from Beyond Books, as it was noted that projects must total $25,000 or more to be considered for CIP.

Quotes for AEDs – Discussion and Possible Vote:

L. O’Neill met with a representative from CF Medical, who came recommended from the Fire Department, regarding AED options for the Library. The representative discussed the merits and drawbacks of three models: Philips, Zoll, and Light Pak. The Philips model was the frontrunner, having prompts that follow along with user actions, an alarm that sounds when the unit is out of service and specifies what needs to be addressed, and has the option for training pads to assist staff in learning about and staying up to date on AED use. The only drawback to the Philips is that its pads need to be changed out every two years as opposed to the five years of other models. All three models have a five-year battery life. The rep is available to give free, basic training on the specific model of AED the Library chooses and the Fire Department will provide CPR certification training.

L. O’Neill put forth the recommendation to purchase three Philips AEDs and three AED cabinets, totaling an estimated $6,300. J. Ooi inquired if the AEDs were in the Library’s proposed budget, which they were not. J. Parlapiano inquired if that meant we needed to find funding for this purchase, which L. O’Neill confirmed. J. Parlapiano also inquired about the installation and L. O’Neill advised that Facilities would manage that aspect.

J. Ooi motioned to approve quote number 60723 from CF Medical for the procurement of three AEDs and the necessary supporting equipment as described on the quote, as well as an additional $1,000 for cabinets to secure the AEDs, with funds coming from Beyond Books. J. Parlapiano seconded.
Passed 4-0-0.

Adjournment

Respectfully submitted,
Renee Spinner