MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE PLATTEKILL PUBLIC LIBRARY: APRIL, 2015
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Board of Trustees
April 9, 2015
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM with the Pledge
of Allegiance.
Present were: Lynne
Ridgeway, President; Valerie Smith, Vice President; Keith Canfield, Trustee;
Joseph Egan, Trustee; Will Farrell, Trustee; David Padilla,
Trustee; John Georghiou, Director; Barbara Jacobini, Bookkeeper; Donna Ebanks,
Secretary
Excused: Karen Adamson
The Board observed a moment of silence in memory of the
passing of Lynne Ridgeway’s father.
Lynne reported that because Karen would not be present at
this evening’s meeting, Rebekkah Smith-Aldrich, of MHLS, thought it best for
her presentation to be rescheduled, as it was intended to be an effort in team
building and would be most beneficial when it can be presented to the entire
Board.
Rebekkah will not be able to attend the next Board meeting
on May 14; however she is available on May 20 or 27.
Nugent and Haeussler, accounting firm for the Library, will be present at
the May meeting to report on the completed Fiscal Year 2014 audit.
Karen Adamson will be present at the May Board meeting as well, via Skype.
Karen will log into the meeting using a computer at a public location so
that any member of the public that wants to participate may.
Public Comment:
None
Correspondence
None
Secretary’s Report:
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Motion to accept the minutes of March 14, 2015 was made by Keith Canfield
and seconded by Valerie Smith; all others were in favor.
Financial Report:
Bookkeeper Barbara Jacobini reviewed the financial reports
for the Board. Items of note
included the following:
®
Motion to approve an expenditure of up to $300 for a hearing impaired
interpreter for Money Smart programs during the week of April 12, 2015 was made
by Joe Egan and seconded by Keith Canfield; all others were in favor.
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Motion to pay the bills pending audit was made by Keith Canfield and
seconded by Will
Farrell; all others were in favor.
→ Motion to
approve the payroll for the past month was made by Keith Canfield and
seconded by Will Farrell; all others were in favor.
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Motion to approve the Cablevision purchase order for $632 for the year
2015 was made
by Keith Canfield and seconded by Joe Egan; all others were in favor.
Directors Report:
Was read and discussed.
The Board had an opportunity to examine a sample of fiction
and non-fiction books that were withdrawn from the Library’s collection, as
they were outdated, damaged, or otherwise unacceptable for circulation.
John addressed the question of the Library not purchasing
current best-selling books that was raised at the March Board meeting.
John stated the Library’s current demographic is not requesting many of
these items. Staff does purchase
books that patrons specifically ask for. John
said that he will incorporate this information in the newsletter.
The Director also informed the Board the Library is now
required, according to Governor Cuomo’s laws, to create an Efficiency Plan
that saves 1% of the budget by becoming more efficient.
David asked what the status was of the Library’s digital
collection. John stated that
Mid-Hudson purchases the digital collection for the system, but member libraries
could contribute additional funds to increase this collection. Again, our
patrons do not request these often, so it is not an efficient use of our
taxpayers’ funds.
David requested John provide the Board with a list of
titles the Library has purchased for the year to date.
Valerie noted that book purchasing is a territory for staff and not the
Board.
Committee Reports:
The Planning and
Operations Committee met on April 1, to revise the Nepotism Policy, originally
presented to the Board at the March meeting.
Discussion ensued
regarding the Director handling disciplinary issues pertaining to employees that
are related. Valerie said the
Committee would revise the proposed policy again and present it at the next
meeting.
Unfinished Business:
·
The Directors evaluation conference was completed on April 7
Lynne noted Advocacy Day was very well attended and that
coupled with the email campaign was very effective in achieving an additional
$5M in the state’s Library budget. MHLS
and NYLA make it extremely easy for all library supporters including trustees to
contact their elected officials.
New Business:
Authors Day Dinner is on April 16 and reservations are due
to Mary by April 10, 2015; please advise Mary if you wish to attend.
MHLS workshop titled “Get the Yes Vote” is on Thursday,
May 7; register at Midhudson.org.
At Lynne’s request, MHLS generated a list for FY 2014 of
all workshops and training sessions attended by the trustees.
Any trustee that has not attended the MHLS Essential
Trustee training is required to do so.
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Motion to enter into Executive Session for a Real Estate transaction and
Personnel
Issue regarding a specific
individual was made at 8:58pm by Keith
Canfield and seconded by David Padilla; all others were in favor.
The Board came out of Executive Session at 9:35pm.
Joe has found someone who can help with our computers and
should provide details to the Technology Committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:38pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna Ebanks
Secretary
Attachments filed with original: Agenda
Bookkeepers Summary
Directors Report