February 2019 Board Minutes

Greenwich Free Library

February 20, 2019 Board of Trustees Meeting

Meeting Opened at 7pm. Present: Annie Miller, James Nolan, Cliff Mealy, Naomi Meyer, Teri Pendergrass, Walter Grom, Chris Ruland, Pat Lamb, Audrey Fischer, Kristin Perillo, Sandy McReynolds and Bill Tomkins

  1. The February minutes were read and accepted.
  2. Board Committee reports: The 6:15 meeting time before the regular meeting works.
  3. Board Recruitment and Training: Edit new board member questionnaire. Develop an “onboarding” packet for new board members. Annie will email samples to Audrey
  4. Events: New staff member Zena Pesta will be working closely with this committee.
  5. Paint and Partake fundraiser – March 8th.
    1. Naomi Meyer will lead the instruction and will look for a helper.
    1. Wine will be provided by Victory View Vineyard.
    1. Time 5:30-8
    1. 24 people
  6. Plant Sale –  Town Commons, May 11
    1. Desk volunteer Karen White is working with Andrea Grom – our volunteer grower
    1. Looking for folks with trucks to help deliver plants to the sale. Audrey and Naomi
    1. Start advertising the 1st week of April. Encourage donations from the public
    1. Annie will send pr from previous years to Zena and get insurance certificate
  7. Dance – St Joseph’s Parish Hall, May 20th
    1. Time 5:30-9
    1. Family, square and contra dance following 2017 schedule. We had better attendance and more young families than in 2018
    1. We will have a bake/beverage sale
    1. Chris Ruland is the pint person, will contact Hubbard Hall re: their contact list for dances and get in touch with Zena for further coordination
    1. Annie will send pr from previous years to Zena and get insurance certificate
  8. Building: Will begin monthly walk-throughs to identify and make plans to address building issues
  9. Fundraising and Finance: Consolidate all annual fund donation records into one document. Begin annual fund process earlier. Identify potential donors/larger donors. Take a look at investments.
  10. Marketing and PR: Currently working with Events committee on an as-needed basis.
  11. Policy: Will review progress made in the fall and continue.
  12. No public Comments
  13. Gill Room Report
  14. The first order of archival binders has arrived and documents are being transferred.
  15. Gill History Facebook page is getting traffic
  16. Friends Report
  17. Books have been moved/disposed of
  18. Working with Lisa Hayes on layout for the new room
  19. Joan Lapham is reviving her post card project. Post cards and note cards will be for sale and for library use – to thank donors.
  20. Director’s Report

Greenwich Free Library – Director’s Report to the Board – February 20, 2019    Annie Miller

SALS:  Figures for January: New cards issued – 10 / Borrowers – 473/ Patrons – 3,404/ Holdings -26,798/ Check outs – 3,479/Holds filled – 686/ Items added – 139/ WiFi clients 380/ Computer usage 413 sessions / Door Count 3,752/ Staff hours 410.25 Annie 125.5 /Volunteer hours 169

Financial:

Annual Fund donations to date $8007. Last year’s donation from Ted $2,240

Working with Mary to get bookkeeping fully tweaked.

Plant Sale and Paint and Sip are in the works.

            Zena is starting to take over PR and organizing duties.

Meeting with Lions tomorrow to ask for Better Readers Partners funding

$6,000 grant for the Gill Room to add items to NY Historic newspapers 

KEY PRIORITIES:

Literacy Education Goal: Enhance and expand programs that provide community members with more broadly defined literacy-based learning opportunities

Initiating Census 2020 plans

Preservation and Access to Local Historical Documents Goal: Enhance access to an expanded collection of paper, photo, and digital sources and documents related to the history of the greater Greenwich community.

          Met with Sandy to work on Community Memory Grant

            Attended Dumbarton Mill meeting

Lifelong Learning Goal: Create innovative learning opportunities for community members of all ages

Community Engagement Goal: Improve service of, integration into and recognition by the community

822 Facebook followers

2018 Summary/ 2019 Forecast Reports to Town and Village.

Several meetings with GYC re: collaboration. No firm plans yet

Zena has made several contacts with the High School. Has organized an art show in May

New Website

Facility Enhancement Goal: Provide a comfortable and welcoming physical environment that supports our programs and services.

          Community room count: 446

Construction 2016-17: About $7,000 left. Must be spent by June 30.

Priority is managing water at the rear of the building

Construction 2017-18:

  • Bids in – to be accepted by the board
  • Bill Tomkins has been a huge help!

Construction 2018-19: I was notified by SALS that, because some applicants were unable to implement their projects, there was money left to divide among the remaining applicants. Our share will be $4,671

Other:  2018 Annual Report to the State completed.

Volunteer Party!

Advocacy Day is February 27th

  • Audrey Fischer will work with Annie on voter information – changes in State laws
  • Old Business
  • Trustees signed Whistlerblower and Conflict of Interest Statements
  • New Business
    • Approved annual report to the state. Cliff/ Walter
    • Approved FH Alexander as the contractor for the basement renovation. Cliff/Teri
      • Discussion of safeguards against previous problems with slow work: bond/project manager
  • Accepted annual contract with SALS Naomi/Cliff
  • Invitations to the SALS Annual Meeting were distributed

Adjourned 7:58 Teri/Audrey

Respectfully submitted Annie Miller