MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 27TH, 2009 TRUSTEES MEETING

CHAZY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
January 27, 2010, 5 PM, Town Hall

CALL TO ORDER: George Brendler, President, called the meeting to order at 5:04 PM. Also present were: Trustees Emily Castine, Pat Neverett, Debby Powers, and Tina Trombly; Francie Fairchild, Library Director; Ken Burger, president of the Chazy Friends of the Library; Jim Bennett, Grant Writing Committee member; and Tim Castine, designer.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES:
The minutes of December 2, 2009, were accepted as read.
M (Trombly), S (Powers) PASSED

TREASURER’S REPORT:
The December 2009 financial report was accepted as presented.
M (Neverett), S (Trombly) PASSED

DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Director Fairchild stated that there will be several computer classes taught in Rouses Point on Digital Photography and Internet Basics on the 19th and 26 of Feb. Patrons are urged to sign up as space is limited.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
Christmas Book Fund Drive Results
Trustee Castine reported that she had set our approximately 100 request letters, and the proceeds from that drive amounted to $1475.00. There were thirty- six contributors. Trustee Castine will send thank-you notes to each donor.

Deeds Search
Trustee Neverett reported that she had checked into the deeds and found them very confusing. She read from the Deed of 1932 which indicated that our present Chazy Public Library building should be “preserved as a memorial.” This building is a real asset to us. Apparently, the Children’s Room is on Town property. Trustee Neverett will check on this at the County Clerk’s Office to ascertain whether that particular piece of property was ever deeded to the library from the Town of Chazy.
Ken Burger indicated that the Hubbell Family would be interested in purchasing the building as a Hubble Museum.

Policies Update
President Brendler emphasized the importance of having a policy covering every aspect of the library. The next two to be addressed are the evaluation and grievance policies.

CORRESPONDENCE
Appraisal
President Brendler noted he had received the appraisal of Dr. Clark’s office property. The office building has an estimated worth of $95,000.00, and the adjoining property, an estimated value of $11,000.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Old Lights
Director Fairchild told us that Stacey Sweet had offered $5.00 each for the old lights in our Children’s Room. The Board agreed to accept whatever she would offer.

Honeywell Winter Watchman
The Director reported having lost heat in the building from time to time. As a precaution, a Winter Watchman device has been installed. A red candle in the window will light up if the temperature drops below a preset minimum. The light is visible from the road and will alert those monitoring it.

Items in Town Safe:
These items are now in the Town Safe: Survey Map; Letter of Testamentary; and Appraisal of Dr. Clark’s Office and Property

President Brendler instructed the trustees to check the Template of Repetitive Yearly Activities entitled “Year At a Glance.”

Also, Brendler stressed the importance of our Organizational Meeting which should be held each May after the Annual Budget Vote.

Surplus Gates Funds
Trustees agreed to use the remaining Gates Grant funds to purchase new computers.
M (Neverett), S (Powers) PASSED

Liaison Between the Board and the Friends of the Library
Trustees approved a motion to ask Ken Burger or a representative of his choice from the Friends of the Library to serve as a liaison from the Friends of the Library to our Board and to continue in that position after his term as club president expires.
M (Neverett), S (Trombly) PASSED

Ken Burger, representing the Friends of the Library, asked about his group in terms of fund-raising and the to-be-created Foundation. He remarked that his group always rose to the occasion when asked to do fund-raising projects.
Consultant Bennett gave an explanation for the need for the two entities.

NEW BUSINESS
Annual Report:
President Brendler reminded Director Fairchild about the need to prepare for the Annual State Report.

Preparation for Yearly Audit
It was a consensus that the Trustees would not seek an audit this year.

Energy Audit
Trustees approved a request by President Brendler to pay $100.00 for an energy audit to be done on February 5, 2010 at the new site. This amount is refundable if we expend that amount for energy use.
M (Neverett), S (Trombly) PASSED

Public Relations Policy
Under “Patron Complaints”: if there are complaints from patrons they should be directed to the Director who in turn will give the patron the “Challenged Materials” form to fill out. “Patron Rules” remain as stated, and enforcement is up to the discretion of the Library Director. Trustees were advised to revisit the Library Bill of Rights.
The revised P-R Policy was accepted with the noted changes.

M (Powers), S Castine) PASSED
Project Progress Report
Project Lead Comments: Project Manager Brendler reported on his activities since our last meeting. He stressed the importance of coordination.
He stated that he had appointed a “Deeds Committee” with Trustee Neverett and Consultant Bennett as members. It was decided by the Board to rename this ad hoc committee, the “Legal Aspects Committee”.
REPORT FILED IN NOTEBOOK

Fundraising Chair Update: Trustee Trombly remarked that her committee had met in December and the brainstorming session that resulted in a number of doable activities. Their next meeting will be held on Feb. 3, 2010, at 5:30 PM in the library. Jim Lundy will be in attendance. REPORT FILED IN NOTEBOOK

Grants Chair Update: Trustee Castine gave a detailed report of her committee that had initially met on Jan. 26th. The committee will focus on 5 major sources at this point, three large grants and two smaller ones. Committee member Bennett gave Castine a packet of Library Capital Projects from the State of New York. REPORT FILED IN NOTEBOOK

Foundation Chair Update: Trustee Powers is working on a mission statement that is needed for the start up of our Foundation under 501C3 It will cost us $350.00 to file paperwork to create such. She and her Foundation Committee will try to get at least five area people to spearhead this foundation. Jim Bennett will help with the procurement of the 501C3. A checking account will be needed for the Foundation.

Construction Site Update:
President Brendler noted his preparation of the “Phases of the Plan” which he e-mailed to each trustee. This Plan serves as a guide that will evolve as we change and refine it.

Walk-Through Results
Tim Castine, designer, had questions concerning the fuel tank, the heating system, the septic line, and the water line. He and others will do another walk through on Friday, thé 29th, at 2:30 PM. He commented that we should study the building and take time to sense its beauty. The design should be something that draws people to it, something that energizes the area. Local artisans should be considered and be utilized in this project. He is proceeding carefully, noting Board Members wishes and concerns about the building details.

Brendler has met with Bob West of the Zoning and Planning Board and found him to be very positive. The local board will give us a letter giving its blessing to take to the Zoning Appeals Board. We hope to get a variance from them for the parking. We can apply for a variance without having a deed. We will definitely need a site construction permit.

To meet ADA requirements, Brendler has asked a rep from North Country Center for Independent Living to confer with us on handicapped access and design requirements. He will hopefully be able to give us a quote on Friday, January 29th.

Scott Shipley, from Canton, will make an energy audit on Feb. 5th at 2 PM. The electric company will be sending a report on our current energy usage from CPL. We should have the results by mid-March.
It would be provident to check with Peru Library’s Becky Pace about energy usage, as her set-up is comparable to ours.

REVIEW OF CURRENT MINUTES
Motions were repeated for accuracy and noted as correct.

Each committee chair was urged to keep Brendler informed.

NEXT MEETING: February 24, 2010, 5 PM, in Town Hall

ADJOURNMENT: Meeting was adjourned at 7 PM.
M (Trombly)

Respectfully submitted,

Emily Flachbart Castine
Secretary

February Story Hour with Valentine Theme

Saturday, February 6th, Carol Ladd directed a group of youngsters in creating Valentines.

They were left at the Library for other patrons to enjoy.

MINUTES OF DECEMBER '09 TRUSTEE'S MEETING

TRUSTEES’ MEETINGChazy Public Library

Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 5 PM, Town Hall

CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by President George Brendler at 5:05 PM with all trustees, Emily Castine, Pat Neverett, Debby Powers, and Tina Trombly, present, along with Director Francie Fairchild and guest, James Bennett, library consultant.

SECRETARY’S MINUTES:
Minutes of October 28, 2009, were accepted as read. M (Neverett), S (Trombly), PASSED

TREASURER’S REPORT:
Two monthly financial reports, October 2009 and November 2009, were received as presented. M Trombly), S (Neverett) PASSED

Trustees agreed to take $10,000 from the forthcoming school tax levy of $19,100.00 and purchase a six-month CD with it. M (Neverett), S (Trombly). PASSED

DIRECTOR’S REPORT: None this month.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
President Brendler noted that local writer Thomas Middleton, who had a book signing at the Friends’ Annual Book Sale last summer, has been receiving merited recognition from the media.

Trustee Castine remarked that the Adrian Carr concert actually brought in $300.00. And, Adrian sold $200.00 of his CDs. He and the After Five Brass, led by Frank Langr, were sent notes of thanks.

C-E-F Online Grant Course
President Brendler commented that he was waiting to hear from the Director of C-E-F about the dates some of us could attend this online course on grant writing. He will notify us as soon as he knows.

GATES GRANT

Trustees discussed earmarking the remainder of the Gates computer funds, to be spent within four years, for new public computers.

CHRISTMAS BOOK DRIVE

Trustee Castine has sent out 75 requests and will complete 25 more this week. It is important to have two well-marked receptacles for donations at the Christmas Get-Together, as last year there was some mix-up with money for CPL or the Friends.

LIBRARY OPERATING BUDGET CLARIFICATIONS

The $52,208 indicated on this C-E-F report as our operating budget contains the value of our CDs. Actually, the monies beyond the tax levy in CDs are technically not part of our operating budget. The $ 37,700 on the report actually reflects two years of tax levies.

NEW BUSINESS

Trustees tabled the idea of jointly creating a liaison between the Board and the Friends of the Library group. M (Neverett), S (Powers) PASSED

President Brendler will contact Ken Burger, co-president of the Friends’ group, to invite him to our meetings.

EVALUATION OF DIRECTOR

This year the trustees will not do a director’s performance evaluation.

SURVEY RESULTS

We had a 10% return, and 88% was positive. Comments were quite positive and supportive. Trustees agreed to publicize the results of the survey via local media ASAP. M (Trombly), S (Powers) PASSED

RESOLUTION

Trustees unanimously agreed to accept the proposed resolution penned by Trustee Neverett to conditionally accept Dr. Clark’s office property. M (Powers), S (Trombly) PASSED

CHAIRPERSONS APPOINTED

The following Trustee chairpersons will oversee these committees dealing with the new library project:
Project Management: George Brendler and Emily Castine
Fund Raising: Tina Trombly and Pat Neverett
This committee will find chairs for both large and small fundraising endeavors.
Grant Writing: Emily Castine

FOUNDATION CREATED

On the advice of library consultant Jim Bennett, the trustees unanimously agreed to create a Chazy Public Library Foundation. M (Trombly) S (Castine) PASSED

This will enable donations to be come tax-deductible. We have to apply to the federal IRS for a 501(c)(3) status. for the Foundation. Accountant Pam Keable will be asked to help with this. Trustee Treasurer, Debby Powers, will oversee the Foundation.

LIBRARY CONSULTANT ADVICE

Consultant Bennett stressed that it is necessary for us to speak with the Town’s code enforcement officer, Bob West, on the zoning and planning component of this project.

NEXT MEETING:

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, at 5 PM in the Town Hall. We asked President Brendler to invite Attorney Heather West to attend. We hope that the Executor will have the survey of the property completed before that January meeting.

ADJOURNMENT:

Our meeting was adjourned at 6:30 PM. M (Neverett)Respectfully submitted,Emily Flachbart CastineSecretary