Minutes from August 3, 2011
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:45 p.m.
Attendance: Patty Furness, Garry Kalajian, Bea Howe, Lorraine MacLeod, Rod Jones, Meg Fearnley, Nola Jordan
1. The Secretary’s Report was accepted as presented.
2. A motion was made and passed to accept gifts and donations to Brown Memorial Library in July in the amount of $1,197.00. The Treasurer reported that $942.00 came from the July 2 book sale. A new Dell computer (CPU only) was purchased for $549.99 and has been installed. It will be paid for out of the Payson Fund.
3. The Librarian’s Report was presented and discussed. Our circulation numbers remain strong and twice as many e-books were downloaded last month as in June. Meg mentioned that she has heard that other libraries, particularly in the Lakes Region, have been experiencing a drop in patron usage. Patty commented on what a great job Meg did with this evening’s program on India – the children who attended seemed enraptured.
4. Under Old Business, the Trustees expressed their appreciation to Sarah Chaffee for once again doing a fabulous job with the library garden, to Denis Murphy for stabilizing the broken steps at no cost, and to the owners of the Bradford Market for donating Indian food for the children to taste this evening.
5. As neither Garry nor Meg have had time to do their research, the Trustees decided to postpone discussion of copier fees until the September meeting.
6. Under New Business, Bea reported on an on-going problem with our fire alarm. The system dials the Concord Fire Department once a day to confirm that it’s working properly. By law we must have two phone lines or two ways of making contact. The system is supposed to alternate between the two lines. But we’ve been having a lot of trouble with one or both lines not working with the result that the Fire Department has to contact someone to make sure everything is okay. They theorized that the dialer might be the source of the problem, and Electronic Security Protection replaced the dialer and some other items for a total cost of $859.00. But the problem remains. ESP cannot reduce the bill but they have agreed to provide a back up dialer in case something goes wrong with this one. They have offered to take over monitoring from the Fire Department at a cost of $264.00/year. We would give up our second dedicated landline (which costs us $40.00/month) and instead use either a cellular phone or a two-way radio provided and installed by ESP. That service would run $180.00/year. Installation of the cellular phone would cost $250.00 and the two-way radio (if the cell phone doesn’t work in Bradford) $350.00. We should make up those costs through what we’d be saving on our phone bill. The Bradford Fire Chief thinks this is a good idea and the Trustees agreed. Bea will be in touch with ESP.
7. Bea reported that we have received Ayer and Goss’s prepay offer for our oil — $3.69/gallon. This is a dollar more than last year. She thinks the price is too high and is not inclined to sign the contract at this point. Fuel costs are going to be a difficult issue for all public facilities as well as for homeowners. After considerable discussion, the Trustees agreed that the wisest course of action right now would be to check with Town Hall and see what they are planning to do and, if possible, to piggyback on their contract.
8. Bea reported that she has begun to think about the 2012 budget though she does not actually put it together until after the third quarter. Last year we managed a zero per cent increase. The Trustees agreed that not asking for any increase two years in a row would be extremely difficult. Bea will prepare a budget that gives employees a 2% raise and that is as bare bones as possible while still meeting our basic needs.
9. Due to time constraints, discussion of library policies was postponed until the next meeting.
10. The Masons have said that all we need to provide for the August 20th fundraising dinner is desserts – they will not only provide the main meal but will do all the work. Each year they pick an organization or cause to support and this year they chose the library. We are grateful indeed!
The next meeting will be Wednesday, September 7, at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan, Secretary