GREENWICH FREE LIBRARY
JAN. 16, 2019 BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
The meeting opened at 7 PM. Present: Jim Nolan, Annie Miller, Claudia Blackler, Walter Grom, Terry Pendergrass, Audrey Fisher, Naomi Meyer, Cliff Oliver, Pat Lamb, Ellen Fronhofer, Jenny Lyttle, Sandy McReynolds.
The following was to be done at the retreat which was cancelled:
The meeting began with election of officers:
President Jim Nolan, Vice President Cliff Oliver, Secretary, Claudia Blackler, Treasurer, Paul Thurston.
Motion by Naomi Meyer. Seconded Audrey Fisher. All in favor.
The Greenwich Journal Press is the official paper.
The third Wednesday of every month at 7 PM is the trustee meeting.
Conflict of Interest Statement and Whistle Blower form was approved and signed by board members
This part of the meeting was adjourned.
Regular Board of Trustee Meeting:
The January minutes we read and accepted.
Jenny Lyttle President of the Friends of the Library gave her report. They have finalized the move of the books from the portion of the basement where the sales were held. She said at first it was upsetting as they enjoyed the book sales and they weren’t sure what they would do next. It turned out that it was a good move that made them rethink. They will enhance the role of books and they will be an extension of the library stacks. They will use one of the current Gill rooms. When their move and the building project is complete they will be open more. The board thanked Jenny for all her work in completing this task. They have someone to disassemble the shelving and refit them to fit the new space. Annie wrote the transfer station a thank you letter as they worked hard with all the recycled books that were brought to them. As an aside they mentioned that people came and took many of the books that they had left for recycling.
Board Recruit & Training:
Kristine Parillo is interested in joining the board and will be invited to the February meeting. Paul would like to step down as Treasurer so we are looking for someone to take this position. It was mentioned that since we use Quick Books this will be more of an overseer position.
Staff: Zena Pesta is the new Program Coordinator. She is familiarizing herself with the library, staff and patrons. Kelly Stone is leaving the end of the month.
Building: The bids are going out Thursday Jan. 17th. They are due back in 10-14 days. The basement clean out is almost complete. Annie has met with the architects and Rulyn and Kallie regarding furniture and cabinetry for new areas.
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Events: The grant was received for the Contra Dance. Planning will be done in the near future for this.
Financial: Annie met with Mary MacKrell to reorganize bookkeeping. The Annual Fund is $2500.00 from $10,000.00 goal. It was suggested we develop a thermometer for the front desk and our Facebook page showing where we are and what we need. Naomi and Annie will work on this. . It was mentioned that the Comfort Food program uses the NEON program so patrons can access funding progress. Jim will look into this.
We received LARAC grant of $485,00. The first payment (90%) of $4,498 DHPSNY grant received for Gill Room purchases. We received a total of $88,762.88 from our anonymous donor for 2018 and 2019 construction grant matches. The board will put together a thank you letter. We received $2500.00 from Betty Little.
Gill Room: Total volunteer hours: 47.5. The facebook page has seen a 45%-40% increase. Sandy has begun the order with the grant money to purchase new binders. They are currently filling in the gaps in the binder topic collection, updating obituaries/war records, cataloging the Kerr donation, adding to house records.
The retreat has been rescheduled for Saturday January 27th from 9-12 at Jim Nolan’s Pub! We will meet 1/22 with Annie to make final arrangements. JUST MEATS was suggested for the catering.
The meeting ended with an executive session for the Director’s evaluation.
Submitted by Claudia Blackler, Secretary