MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE PLATTEKILL PUBLIC LIBRARY: MAY, 2015
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Board of Trustees
May 14, 2015
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 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
Also present was auditor Jennifer Capicchioni, from the
accounting firm of Nugent and Haeussler, P.C. and Trustee Karen Adamson,
auditing the meeting via FaceTime.
Jennifer Capicchioni presented the Board with the final
report of the audit done by Nugent and Haeussler, P. C. Ms. Capicchioni
discussed her firm’s recommendations, and stated Library staff has implemented
actions that comply with these recommendations.
The firm has given the Library a clean opinion.
Public
Comment:
None
Correspondence
None
Secretary’s Report:
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Motion to accept the minutes of the April 9, 2015 Regular Board meeting
and the Special Board meeting of April 27, 2015 was made by Keith Canfield and
seconded by Joe Egan; all others were in favor.
Financial Report:
Barbara Jacobini reviewed the bookkeeper’s report.
The warrant of checks was reviewed and signed by all Board
members. Barbara clarified the
question of sales tax on purchases that staff makes on behalf of the Library.
Staff members should bring a tax-exempt form with them when making
Library purchases.
Follow-up of the previous month’s request for an
interpreter by a hearing impaired patron for Money Smart Week programs:
Barbara informed the Board she was able to hire two interpreters one
through a recommendation from the Esopus Library and another from a professional
organization within the funding threshold set by the Board. The interpreters
were excellent and the patron was very pleased.
The ongoing issue of the Friends tax-exempt status has been
resolved. Clerical errors on the
part of NYS have been rectified.
The Board agreed to request the Library’s law firm submit
itemized bills to the Library.
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Motion to set the amount of the purchase order for the law firm of
Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP to $5000 for legal fees for the remainder of
2015 was made by Joe Egan and seconded by Keith Canfield; all others were in
favor.
Barbara informed the Board that
according to information she and John received at a recent workshop presented by
the NYS Retirement system, the position of Board Secretary is considered to be
that of an appointed official. In
order to be in compliance with the NYS Retirement system the Secretary must be
formally appointed.
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Be it resolved that the Board of Trustees of the Plattekill Public
Library hereby establishes the following standard workdays for these titles and
will report the officials to the New York State and Local Retirement System
based on time keeping system records of their record of activities:
Title: Board Secretary
Standard Work Day: 6 hours
Name: Donna Ebanks
Term to expire: 10/31/2016
Days per month to be reported: 2
Resolution made by Valerie Smith and seconded by Keith Canfield, Will
Farrell abstained and all others were in favor.
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Motion to pay the 5/14/15 bills pending audit and the payroll for the
past month was made by Will Farrell and seconded by David Padilla; all others
were in favor.
Joe Egan left at 7:58pm
Director’s Report:
Was read and discussed.
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Motion to approve the annual report was made by Keith Canfield and
seconded by Will Farrell; all others were in favor.
Discussion ensued regarding the tax freeze efficiency plan.
The Board adopted the following resolution:
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The Board of Trustees of the Plattekill Public Library hereby adopts the
concept of patron-driven material purchases for up to 40% of the materials
budget for the years 2017 through 2019 inclusive.
Individual items would still be subject to the collection development
policy criteria. This is anticipated
to increase the efficiency of the service, saving 1% of the yearly budget.
Resolution made by Valerie Smith and seconded by Keith Canfield.
David Padilla was opposed and all others were in favor.
Committee Reports:
The Planning and Operations Committee met on May 7 to
finalize the third revision of the Nepotism Policy and create a Records
Retention Policy.
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Motion to accept the Nepotism Policy was made by Keith Canfield and
seconded by Will Farrell; all others were in favor.
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Motion to accept the Records Retention Policy was made by Keith Canfield
and seconded by Will Farrell; all others were in favor.
Unfinished Business:
The MOU between the Library and the
Friends was tabled to the June Board of Trustees meeting.
Lynne, Valerie, John, and Donna
attended the MHLS workshop titled Get to the Yes Vote on May 7.
New Business:
Lynne noted that all Board members received a schedule of
upcoming Trustees Essentials workshops.
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Motion to enter into Executive session at 8:28pm to discuss the Real
Estate transaction was made by Keith Canfield and seconded by David Padilla; all
others were in favor.
The
Board came out of Executive session at 8:37pm.
Keith
Canfield submitted his resignation from the Board effective 5/14/15 at 8:38pm
due to the fact
he
is moving out of the Library’s District. He
was thanked for his many years of dedicated service.
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Motion to adjourn at 8:40pm was made Valerie Smith: all others in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna Ebanks
Secretary
Attachments filed with original: Agenda
Bookkeeper’s Report
Circulation Statistics
Director’s Report