MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE PLATTEKILL PUBLIC LIBRARY

MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE PLATTEKILL PUBLIC LIBRARY: October, 2018

Amended at the November 8, 2018 Board Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:01PM with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Present were:Lynne Ridgeway, President; Valerie Smith, Vice President; Joe Egan, Trustee; Will Farrell, Trustee; George Hickey, Trustee; David Padilla, Trustee; John Georghiou, Director; Mayleen Torres, Treasurer; Donna Ebanks, Secretary.

Trustee Luz Ledesma arrived at 7:03pm

Guests: Ben Antzak, President Friends of the Plattekill Library; Donna Egan; Rose Guerrier; Lisa Hickey; Mark Reynolds, reporter for the Southern Ulster Times.

Ben Antzak introduced himself as President of the Friends. On behalf of the Friends, Ben expressed the cooperation and willingness of the Friends to be of assistance to the Board and the Library.

Election of Officers:

Current Officers indicated that they were willing to be nominated. Nominations were taken from the floor.

Luz Ledesma nominated Lynne Ridgeway for President, and Valerie Smith seconded the nomination. On the vote:

Yes: Luz Ledesma; Lynne Ridgeway; Valerie Smith.

No: Joe Egan; Will Farrell; George Hickey; David Padilla

George Hickey nominated Will Farrell for President, and Joe Egan seconded the nomination. On the vote:

Yes:Will Farrell; Joe Egan; George Hickey; David Padilla.

No:Luz Ledesma; Lynne Ridgeway; Valerie Smith.

Will Farrell was voted in as President of the Board.

Luz Ledesma nominated Valerie Smith for Vice President and Lynne Ridgeway seconded the nomination. On the vote:

Yes:Luz Ledesma; Lynne Ridgeway; Valerie Smith.

No: Joe Egan; Will Farrell; George Hickey; David Padilla

Joe Egan nominated Luz Ledesma for Vice President and Will Farrell seconded the nomination. Luz accepted the nomination; on the vote:

Yes:Joe Egan; Will Farrell; George Hickey; Luz Ledesma; David Padilla.

No:Lynne Ridgeway; Valerie Smith

Luz Ledesma was voted in as Vice President of the Board, and Will led the meeting as the new President.

Correspondence: None

Secretary’s Report:

→ Motion to accept the September 13, 2018 Board meeting minutes was made by Joe Egan and seconded by Will Farrell. George Hickey and Luz Ledesma abstained; all others were in favor and the motion passed.

The motion to accept the amended August 9, 2018 Board meeting minutes was tabled to the November meeting.

Motion to accept the July 12, 2018 Board meeting minutes was tabled to the November meeting.

Mayleen Torres-Rivera reviewed the Bookkeeper’s report for the Board.

Will requested that the bookkeeper check to see if the $4,500 the Library received back from the attorney was deposited into the Capital fund as he has observed that the dollar amount in that category has not changed for months. John noted the current Bookkeeper’s report showed that it was it was not in the Capital fund as well. John said that he will review the accounts with Mayleen and will let Will know the status of those funds.

Items of note:

Budget & Finance Committee must schedule a meeting for November

Warrant of checks was circulated for signatures
Book budget for 2018 is near to being fully expended
John and Mayleen will work on preparing the 2019 purchase orders

→Motion to approve payroll was made by Joe Egan and seconded by Luz Ledesma; all in favor. Motion passed.

→Motion to approve the checks pending audit was made by Joe Egan and seconded by George Hickey; all others were in favor. Motion passed.

Director’s Report:

Was read and discussed

Will requested that John schedule a meeting date with the Library’s insurance broker and the Board for the purpose of reviewing the Library’s current coverage and policy. John noted the insurance broker recommended the Library expand their current policy to include employment discrimination. John also stated that the Directors and Officers insurance is with a different company and they (Director and Board) should consider having all insurance with one broker. Per John’s Director’s report, it was noted that Library press releases being submitted to SUT have not been printed since April. Mark Reynolds said that he will look into this matter.

John requested the Board make a motion to increase the salary of part-time employee Melissa Haselton to be equal to that of the fulltime employees. This request was made in consideration of her MLS degree and professional expertise. John stated that Ms. Haselton has not requested this increase. George requested the Personnel Committee meet to evaluate overall cost of providing this salary increase.

The Board engaged in a discussion regarding the renewal of the health insurance for three fulltime employees. Will requested that going forward the Board is provided with the health insurance rates several months prior to the date the Board has to vote on this issue.

→Motion to accept the Personnel Committee’s recommendation to renew the existing employee health care plan was made by Luz Ledesma and seconded by David Padilla. On the Vote: LL, yes; DP, yes; WF, yes; JE, no; GH, yes; DP, yes; LR, yes; VS, yes. Motion passed.

→Motion to table Melissa Haselton’s raise until the Personnel Committee meets to review the hours to determine the cost was made by George Hickey and seconded by Joe Egan. On the vote: WF, yes; JE, yes; GH, yes; DP, yes, LR, no; VS, no; Luz abstained. Motion passed.

→Motion to accept the revised Continuity of Operations Policy was made by Luz Ledesma and seconded by George Hickey; all other were in favor and the motion passed.

Unfinished Business:

The MHLS training session regarding strategic planning took place on 10/6/18 and was attended by Luz, Lynne and Valerie.

At 8:15pm, Luz Ledesma left the Board meeting

→Motion to table approval of the Official 2019 Library Calendar to the November meeting was made by George Hickey and seconded by David Padilla. On the vote: WF, yes; JE, yes; GH, yes; DP, yes; LR, no; VS, no. Motion passed.

New 2018-2019 Committee appoints are as follows:

Budget & Finance Committee:

Technology Committee:

Personnel Committee:

Facilities Committee:

Will indicated that the Technology Committee will be reinstated
Lynne declined assignment to the Policy Committee

Will noted that next month’s agenda will include a motion to discuss the Technology Committee and asked for a motion to table the Director’s evaluation to the November Board meeting.

→Motion to table the 2017 Director’s evaluation was made by Joe Egan and seconded by George Hickey. On the vote: WF, yes; JE, yes; GH, yes; DP, yes; LR, no; VS, no. Motion passed.

Mark Reynolds asked if there was an update on the status of purchasing the library property from the Town. Will said not at this time, but that the former committee consisting of him and Luz that had been in place to discuss the potential purchase will resume discussions with two Town representatives. Will noted that going forward discussions with the Library’s lawyer should be an open thread.

→Motion to recognize fully that the Board recognizes Lynne Ridgeway’s service on the Board was made by Will Farrell and seconded by George Hickey. On the vote: WF, yes; GH, yes; DP, yes; JE, yes. Motion passed.